Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
11 (A)Teach me Your way, O Lord;
I will walk in Your truth;
(B)Unite my heart to fear Your name.
12 I will (C)give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart,
And will glorify Your name forever.
13 For Your lovingkindness toward me is great,
And You have (D)delivered my soul from the [a]depths of [b]Sheol.
14 O God, arrogant men have (E)risen up against me,
And [c]a band of violent men have sought my [d]life,
And they have not set You before them.
15 But You, O Lord, are a God (F)merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and [e]truth.
16 (G)Turn to me, and be gracious to me;
Oh (H)grant Your strength to Your servant,
And save the (I)son of Your handmaid.
17 (J)Show me a sign for good,
That those who hate me may (K)see it and be ashamed,
Because You, O Lord, (L)have helped me and comforted me.
Sarai and Hagar
16 Now (A)Sarai, Abram’s wife had borne him no children, and she had (B)an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. 2 So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. (C)Please go in to my maid; perhaps I will [a]obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 After Abram had [b]lived (D)ten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her maid, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4 He went in to Hagar, and she conceived; and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her sight. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “(E)May the wrong done me be upon you. I gave my maid into your [c]arms, but when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her [d]sight. (F)May the Lord judge between [e]you and me.” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your maid is in your [f]power; do to her what is good in your [g]sight.” So Sarai treated her harshly, and (G)she fled from her presence.
7 Now (H)the angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to (I)Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, (J)where have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9 Then the angel of the Lord said to her, “Return to your mistress, and submit yourself [h]to her authority.” 10 Moreover, the (K)angel of the Lord said to her, “(L)I will greatly multiply your [i]descendants so that [j]they will be too many to count.” 11 The angel of the Lord said to her further,
“Behold, you are with child,
And you will bear a son;
And you shall call his name [k]Ishmael,
Because (M)the Lord [l]has given heed to your affliction.
12 “He will be a (N)wild donkey of a man,
His hand will be against everyone,
And everyone’s hand will be against him;
And he will [m]live [n](O)to the east of all his brothers.”
13 Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “[o]You are [p]a God who sees”; for she said, “(P)Have I even [q]remained alive here after seeing Him?” 14 Therefore the well was called [r]Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between (Q)Kadesh and Bered.
15 So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.
Message to Ephesus
2 “To the angel of the church in (A)Ephesus write:
The One who holds (B)the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks [a](C)among the seven golden lampstands, says this:
2 ‘(D)I know your deeds and your toil and [b]perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you (E)put to the test those who call themselves (F)apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; 3 and you have [c]perseverance and have endured (G)for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. 4 But I have this against you, that you have (H)left your first love. 5 Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and (I)repent and (J)do the [d]deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your (K)lampstand out of its place—unless you repent. 6 Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the (L)Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 (M)He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (N)To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of (O)the tree of life which is in the (P)Paradise of God.’
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