Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

¹ ¶ Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous, for to the upright praise is beautiful.

² Celebrate unto the LORD with harp; sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

³ Sing unto him a new song; play unto excellence with joy.

⁴ For the word of the LORD is right, and all his works are done in truth.

⁵ He loves righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the mercy of the LORD.

⁶ By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

⁷ He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap; he lays up the deeps for treasures.

⁸ Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

⁹ For he spoke, and it was done; he commanded, and it came into being.

¹⁰ The LORD brings the counsel of the Gentiles to nought; he makes the devices of the peoples of no effect.

¹¹ The counsel of the LORD stands for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

¹² ¶ Blessed is the people whose God is the LORD; the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.

13 ¶ Thus Abram went up out of Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had and Lot with him into the Negev.

² And Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold.

³ And he retraced his journeys from the side of the Negev even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Hai,

⁴ unto the place of the altar, which he had made there at the first: and there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

⁵ ¶ And Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents.

⁶ And the land was not able to bear them that they might dwell together, for their substance was so great that they could not dwell together.

⁷ And there was a strife between the pastors of Abram’s cattle and the pastors of Lot’s cattle; and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelt then in the land.

⁸ Then Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee and between my pastors and thine, for we are brethren.

⁹ Is not the whole land before thee? Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me; if thou wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left.

¹⁰ ¶ And Lot lifted up his eyes and beheld all the plain of the Jordan that it was well watered everywhere, before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, even as a garden of the LORD like the land of Egypt as thou comest unto Zoar.

¹¹ Then Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed east; and they separated themselves the one from the other.

¹² Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelt in the cities of the plain and pitched his tents toward Sodom.

¹³ But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly.

¹⁴ ¶ And the LORD said unto Abram, after Lot separated himself from him, Lift up now thine eyes and look from the place where thou art towards the Aquilon {the land of the north wind} and to the Negev {the south desert} and to the east and to the west;

¹⁵ for all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it and to thy seed for ever.

¹⁶ And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if someone could number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered.

¹⁷ Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I must give it unto thee.

¹⁸ Then Abram removed his tent and came and dwelt among the terebinth {or mighty} trees of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the LORD.

¹⁷ These are wells without water, clouds that are brought by a whirlwind, to whom gross darkness is reserved for ever.

¹⁸ For speaking arrogant words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from those who converse in error,

¹⁹ promising them liberty, being they themselves the slaves of corruption: for he who is overcome by someone is subject to bondage by the one that overcame him.

²⁰ Certainly, if having separated themselves from the contaminations of the world, by the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they again entangle themselves therein and are overcome, their latter end is made worse for them than the beginnings.

²¹ For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered unto them.

²² But it has happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog returns unto his own vomit, and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.