Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer Against the Enemies
A song of Asaph.
83 God, do not keep quiet.
God, do not be silent or still.
2 Your enemies are making plans.
Those who hate you are getting ready to attack.
3 They are making plans against your people.
They plan to hurt those you love.
4 They say, “Come, let’s destroy them as a nation.
Then no one will remember the name ‘Israel’ anymore.”
5 They are united in their plan.
These have made an agreement against you:
6 the families of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites,
7 the people of Byblos, Ammon, Amalek,
Philistia and Tyre.
8 Even Assyria has joined them
to help Ammon and Moab, the descendants of Lot. Selah
9 God, do to them what you did to Midian.
Do what you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River.
10 They died at Endor.
Their bodies rotted on the ground.
11 Do to their important leaders what you did to Oreb and Zeeb.
Do to their princes what you did to Zebah and Zalmunna.
12 They said, “Let’s take for ourselves
the pasturelands that belong to God.”
13 My God, make them like the tumbleweed,
like chaff blown away by the wind.
14 Be like a fire that burns a forest
or like flames that blaze through the hills.
15 Chase them with your storm.
Frighten them with your wind.
16 Cover them with shame.
Then people will look for you, Lord.
17 Make them afraid and ashamed forever.
Disgrace them and destroy them.
18 Then they will know that you are the Lord.
They will know that only you are God Most High over all the earth.
17 So Jacob put his children and his wives on camels. 18 Then they began their journey back to Isaac, his father. He lived in the land of Canaan. All the flocks of animals that Jacob owned walked ahead of them. He carried everything with him that he had gotten while he lived in Northwest Mesopotamia.
19 Laban was gone to cut the wool from his sheep. While he was gone, Rachel stole the idols of false gods that belonged to him. 20 And Jacob tricked Laban the Aramean. He did not tell Laban he was leaving. 21 Jacob and his family left quickly. They crossed the Euphrates River and traveled toward the mountains of Gilead.
22 Three days later Laban learned that Jacob had run away. 23 So Laban gathered his relatives and began to chase Jacob. After seven days Laban found him in the mountains of Gilead. 24 That night God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream. The Lord said, “Be careful! Do not say anything to Jacob, good or bad.”
The Search for the Stolen Idols
25 So Laban caught up with Jacob. Now Jacob had made his camp in the mountains. So Laban and his relatives set up their camp in the mountains of Gilead. 26 Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? Why did you trick me? You took my daughters as if you had captured them in a war. 27 Why did you run away without telling me? Why did you trick me? Why didn’t you tell me? Then I could send you away with joy and singing. There would be the music of tambourines and harps. 28 You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters good-bye. You were very foolish to do this! 29 I have the power to harm you. But last night the God of your father spoke to me. He warned me not to say anything to you, good or bad. 30 I know you want to go back to your home. But why did you steal my idols?”
31 Jacob answered Laban, “I left without telling you, because I was afraid! I thought you would take your daughters away from me. 32 If you find anyone here who has taken your idols, he will be killed! Your relatives will be my witnesses. You may look for anything that belongs to you. Take anything that is yours.” (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen Laban’s idols.)
33 So Laban looked in Jacob’s tent and in Leah’s tent. He looked in the tent where the two slave women stayed. But he did not find his idols. When he left Leah’s tent, he went into Rachel’s tent. 34 Rachel had hidden the idols inside her camel’s saddle. And she was sitting on them. Laban looked through the whole tent, but he did not find them.
35 Rachel said to her father, “Father, don’t be angry with me. I am not able to stand up before you. I am having my monthly period.” So Laban looked through the camp, but he did not find his idols.
Blessing Comes Through Faith
3 You people in Galatia were told very clearly about the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. But you were very foolish. You let someone trick you. 2 Tell me this one thing: How did you receive the Holy Spirit? Did you receive the Spirit by following the law? No! You received the Spirit because you heard the Good News and believed it. 3 You began your life in Christ by the Spirit. Now do you try to continue it by your own power? That is foolish. 4 You have experienced many things. Were all those experiences wasted? I hope not! 5 Does God give you the Spirit because you follow the law? No! Does God work miracles among you because you follow the law? No! God gives you his Spirit and works miracles among you because you heard the Good News and believed it.
6 The Scriptures say the same thing about Abraham: “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”[a] 7 So you should know that the true children of Abraham are those who have faith. 8 The Scriptures told what would happen in the future. They said that God would make the non-Jewish people right through their faith. This Good News was told to Abraham beforehand, as the Scripture says: “All nations will be blessed through you.”[b] 9 Abraham believed this, and because he believed, he was blessed. It is the same today. All who believe today are blessed just as Abraham was blessed.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.