Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Jehovah the keeper of his people.

A Song of Ascents.

⁴³ And Laban answered and said unto Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the children are my children, and the flocks are my flocks, and all that thou seest is mine: and what can I do this day unto these my daughters, or unto their children whom they have borne? ⁴⁴ And now come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. ⁴⁵ And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. ⁴⁶ And Jacob said unto his brethren, Gather stones; and they took stones, and made a heap: and they did eat there by the heap. ⁴⁷ And Laban called it ^[a]Jegar-saha-dutha: but Jacob called it ^[b]Galeed. ⁴⁸ And Laban said, This heap is witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed: ⁴⁹ and ^[c]Mizpah, for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we are ^[d]absent one from another. ⁵⁰ If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take wives besides my daughters, no man is with us; see, God is witness betwixt me and thee. ⁵¹ And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar, which I have set betwixt me and thee. ⁵² This heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap and this pillar unto me, for harm. ⁵³ The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the ^[e]God of their father, judge betwixt us. And Jacob sware by the Fear of his father Isaac. ⁵⁴ And Jacob offered a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brethren to eat bread: and they did eat bread, and tarried all night in the mountain. ⁵⁵ And early in the morning Laban rose up, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them: and Laban departed, and returned unto his place.

32 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. ² And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s host: and he called the name of that place ^[f]Mahanaim.

¹⁴ Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them in the sight of ^[a]the Lord, that they strive not about words, to no profit, to the subverting of them that hear. ¹⁵ Give diligence to present thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, ^[b]handling aright the word of truth. ¹⁶ But shun profane babblings: for they will proceed further in ungodliness, ¹⁷ and their word will ^[c]eat as doth a gangrene: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; ¹⁸ men who concerning the truth have ^[d]erred, saying that ^[e]the resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some. ¹⁹ Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, ^[f]The Lord knoweth them that are his: and, ^[g]Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. ²⁰ Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor. ²¹ If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the master’s use, prepared unto every good work. ²² But flee youthful lusts, and follow after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. ²³ But foolish and ignorant questionings refuse, knowing that they gender strifes. ²⁴ And the Lord’s ^[h]servant must not strive, but be gentle towards all, apt to teach, forbearing, ²⁵ in meekness ^[i]correcting them that oppose themselves; if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth, ²⁶ and they may ^[j]recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, having been ^[k]taken captive ^[l]by him unto his will.