Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

33 Let all the joys of the godly well up in praise to the Lord, for it is right to praise him. ² Play joyous melodies of praise upon the lyre and on the harp. ³ Compose new songs of praise to him, accompanied skillfully on the harp; sing joyfully.

⁴ For all God’s words are right, and everything he does is worthy of our trust. ⁵ He loves whatever is just and good; the earth is filled with his tender love. ⁶ He merely spoke, and the heavens were formed and all the galaxies of stars. ⁷ He made the oceans, pouring them into his vast reservoirs.

⁸ Let everyone in all the world—men, women, and children—fear the Lord and stand in awe of him. ⁹ For when he but spoke, the world began! It appeared at his command! ¹⁰ And with a breath he can scatter the plans of all the nations who oppose him, ¹¹ but his own plan stands forever. His intentions are the same for every generation.

¹² Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, whose people he has chosen as his own.

13 ^1-2 So they left Egypt and traveled north into the Negeb—Abram with his wife, and Lot, and all that they owned, for Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold. ^3-4 Then they continued northward toward Bethel where he had camped before, between Bethel and Ai—to the place where he had built the altar. And there he again worshiped the Lord.

⁵ Lot too was very wealthy, with sheep and cattle and many servants.^{[a] 6} But the land could not support both Abram and Lot with all their flocks and herds. There were too many animals for the available pasture. ⁷ So fights broke out between the herdsmen of Abram and Lot, despite the danger they all faced^[b] from the tribes of Canaanites and Perizzites present in the land. ⁸ Then Abram talked it over with Lot. “This fighting between our men has got to stop,” he said. “We can’t afford to let a rift develop between our clans. Close relatives such as we are must present a united front! ⁹ I’ll tell you what we’ll do. Take your choice of any section of the land you want, and we will separate. If you want that part over there to the east, then I’ll stay here in the western section. Or, if you want the west, then I’ll go over there to the east.”

¹⁰ Lot took a long look at the fertile plains of the Jordan River, well watered everywhere (this was before Jehovah destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah); the whole section was like the Garden of Eden,^[c] or like the beautiful countryside around Zoar in Egypt. ¹¹ So that is what Lot chose—the Jordan Valley to the east of them. He went there with his flocks and servants, and thus he and Abram parted company. ¹² For Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain, settling at a place near the city of Sodom. ¹³ The men of this area were unusually wicked, and sinned greatly against Jehovah.

¹⁴ After Lot was gone, the Lord said to Abram, “Look as far as you can see in every direction, ¹⁵ for I am going to give it all to you and your descendants. ¹⁶ And I am going to give you so many descendants that, like dust, they can’t be counted! ¹⁷ Hike in all directions and explore the new possessions I am giving you.” ¹⁸ Then Abram moved his tent to the oaks of Mamre, near Hebron, and built an altar to Jehovah there.

¹⁷ These men are as useless as dried-up springs of water, promising much and delivering nothing; they are as unstable as clouds driven by the storm winds. They are doomed to the eternal pits of darkness. ¹⁸ They proudly boast about their sins and conquests, and, using lust as their bait, they lure back into sin those who have just escaped from such wicked living.

¹⁹ “You aren’t saved by being good,” they say, “so you might as well be bad. Do what you like; be free.”

But these very teachers who offer this “freedom” from law are themselves slaves to sin and destruction. For a man is a slave to whatever controls him. ²⁰ And when a person has escaped from the wicked ways of the world by learning about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and then gets tangled up with sin and becomes its slave again, he is worse off than he was before. ²¹ It would be better if he had never known about Christ at all than to learn of him and then afterwards turn his back on the holy commandments that were given to him. ²² There is an old saying that “A dog comes back to what he has vomited, and a pig is washed only to come back and wallow in the mud again.” That is the way it is with those who turn again to their sin.