Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 33[a]
33 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!
It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp.
Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument.
3 Sing to him a new song.[b]
Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him.[c]
4 For the Lord’s decrees[d] are just,[e]
and everything he does is fair.[f]
5 He promotes[g] equity and justice;
the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth.[h]
6 By the Lord’s decree[i] the heavens were made,
and by the breath[j] of his mouth all the starry hosts.
7 He piles up the water of the sea;[k]
he puts the oceans[l] in storehouses.
8 Let the whole earth fear[m] the Lord.
Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it[n] came into existence.
He issued the decree,[o] and it stood firm.
10 The Lord frustrates[p] the decisions of the nations;
he nullifies the plans[q] of the peoples.
11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;
his plans abide throughout the ages.[r]
12 How blessed[s] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession.[t]
Abram’s Solution to the Strife
13 So Abram went up from Egypt into the Negev.[a] He took his wife and all his possessions with him, as well as Lot.[b] 2 (Now Abram was very wealthy[c] in livestock, silver, and gold.)[d]
3 And he journeyed from place to place[e] from the Negev as far as Bethel. He returned[f] to the place where he had pitched his tent[g] at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai. 4 This was the place where he had first built the altar,[h] and there Abram worshiped the Lord.[i]
5 Now Lot, who was traveling[j] with Abram, also had[k] flocks, herds, and tents. 6 But the land could[l] not support them while they were living side by side.[m] Because their possessions were so great, they were not able to live[n] alongside one another. 7 So there were quarrels[o] between Abram’s herdsmen and Lot’s herdsmen.[p] (Now the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.)[q]
8 Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no quarreling between me and you, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are close relatives.[r] 9 Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself now from me. If you go[s] to the left, then I’ll go to the right, but if you go to the right, then I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked up and saw[t] the whole region[u] of the Jordan. He noticed[v] that all of it was well watered (this was before the Lord obliterated[w] Sodom and Gomorrah)[x] like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt,[y] all the way to Zoar. 11 Lot chose for himself the whole region of the Jordan and traveled[z] toward the east.
So the relatives separated from each other.[aa] 12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, but Lot settled among the cities of the Jordan plain[ab] and pitched his tents next to Sodom. 13 (Now[ac] the people[ad] of Sodom were extremely wicked rebels against the Lord.)[ae]
14 After Lot had departed, the Lord said to Abram,[af] “Look[ag] from the place where you stand to the north, south, east, and west. 15 I will give all the land that you see to you and your descendants[ah] forever. 16 And I will make your descendants like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone is able to count the dust of the earth, then your descendants also can be counted.[ai] 17 Get up and[aj] walk[ak] throughout the land,[al] for I will give it to you.”
18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live[am] by the oaks[an] of Mamre in Hebron, and he built an altar to the Lord there.
17 These men[a] are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness[b] have been reserved. 18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words[c] they are able to entice,[d] with fleshly desires and with debauchery,[e] people[f] who have just escaped[g] from those who reside in error.[h] 19 Although these false teachers promise[i] such people[j] freedom, they themselves are enslaved to[k] immorality.[l] For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.[m] 20 For if after they have escaped the filthy things[n] of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,[o] they[p] again get entangled in them and succumb to them,[q] their last state has become worse for them than their first. 21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. 22 They are illustrations of this true proverb:[r] “A dog returns to its own vomit,”[s] and “A sow, after washing herself,[t] wallows in the mire.”[u]
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.