Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 86
Lament and Petition
A Davidic prayer.
1 Listen, Lord, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.(A)
2 Protect my life, for I am faithful.(B)
You are my God; save Your servant who trusts in You.(C)
3 Be gracious to me, Lord,
for I call to You all day long.(D)
4 Bring joy to Your servant’s life,
because I turn to You, Lord.(E)
5 For You, Lord, are kind and ready to forgive,(F)
rich in faithful love to all who call on You.(G)
6 Lord, hear my prayer;
listen to my plea for mercy.(H)
7 I call on You in the day of my distress,
for You will answer me.(I)
8 Lord, there is no one like You among the gods,
and there are no works like Yours.(J)
9 All the nations You have made
will come and bow down before You, Lord,
and will honor Your name.(K)
10 For You are great and perform wonders;
You alone are God.(L)
11 Teach me Your way, Yahweh,
and I will live by Your truth.
Give me an undivided mind to fear Your name.(M)
12 I will praise You with all my heart, Lord my God,
and will honor Your name forever.(N)
13 For Your faithful love for me is great,
and You deliver my life from the depths of Sheol.(O)
14 God, arrogant people have attacked me;
a gang of ruthless men seeks my life.
They have no regard for You.(P)
15 But You, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,
slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth.(Q)
16 Turn to me and be gracious to me.
Give Your strength to Your servant;
save the son of Your female servant.(R)
17 Show me a sign of Your goodness;
my enemies will see and be put to shame
because You, Lord, have helped and comforted me.(S)
Hagar and Ishmael
16 Abram’s wife Sarai had not borne any children for him, but she owned an Egyptian slave named Hagar. 2 Sarai said to Abram, “Since the Lord has prevented me from bearing children, go to my slave; perhaps through her I can build a family.” And Abram agreed to what Sarai said.[a] 3 So Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar, her Egyptian slave, and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife for him. This happened after Abram had lived in the land of Canaan 10 years. 4 He slept with[b] Hagar, and she became pregnant. When she realized that she was pregnant, she treated her mistress with contempt. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “You are responsible for my suffering![c] I put my slave in your arms,[d] and ever since she saw that she was pregnant, she has treated me with contempt. May the Lord judge between me and you.”(A)
6 Abram replied to Sarai, “Here, your slave is in your hands; do whatever you want with her.” Then Sarai mistreated her so much that she ran away from her.
7 The Angel of the Lord(B) found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 He said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?”
She replied, “I’m running away from my mistress Sarai.”
9 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “You must go back to your mistress and submit to her mistreatment.”[e] 10 The Angel of the Lord also said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring,(C) and they will be too many to count.”
11 Then the Angel of the Lord said to her:
You have conceived and will have a son.
You will name him Ishmael,[f]
for the Lord has heard your cry of affliction.
12 This man will be like a wild donkey.
His hand will be against everyone,
and everyone’s hand will be against him;
he will live at odds with[g] all his brothers.(D)
13 So she called the Lord who spoke to her: The God Who Sees,[h] for she said, “In this place, have I actually seen(E) the One who sees me?”[i] 14 That is why she named the spring, “A Well of the Living One Who Sees Me.”[j] It is located between Kadesh and Bered.
Blessing the Children
15 Some(A) people were even bringing infants to Him so He might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them. 16 Jesus, however, invited them: “Let the little children come to Me,(B) and don’t stop them, because the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I assure you:(C) Whoever does not welcome(D) the kingdom of God like a little child(E) will never enter it.”
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