Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Vav
41 May Your unfailing love find me, O Eternal One.
Keep Your promise, and save me;
42 When that happens, I will have a good response for anyone who taunts me
because I have faith in Your word.
43 Do not take Your message of truth from my mouth
because I wait and rely on Your just decisions.
44 Therefore I will follow Your teachings,
forever and ever.
45 And I will live a life of freedom
because I pursue Your precepts.
46 I will even testify of Your decrees before royalty
and will not be humiliated.
47 I will find my joy in Your commands,
which I love,
48 And I will raise my hands to Your commands, which I love,
and I will fix my mind on what You require.
16 At that point, the three men set off on foot toward Sodom, and Abraham walked with them to start them on their way.
Eternal One (to the other two men): 17 I wonder if I should hide from Abraham what I am about to do. 18 After all, Abraham will become the father of a great and powerful nation, and all the other nations of the earth will find their blessing in him.[a] 19 I have chosen him for a reason, namely that he will carefully instruct his children and his household to keep themselves strong in relationship to Me and to walk in My ways by doing what is good and right in the world and by showing mercy and justice to all others. I know he will uphold his end of the covenant, so that he can ensure My promises to him will be fulfilled and upheld as well.
20 (continuing so Abraham could hear) I have heard terrible things—urgent and outraged calls for help—coming from the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and their sin has become a serious problem. 21 I must go down and see for Myself whether the outcries against them that My ears have heard are really true. If not, I will know.
22 At this point the men turned and headed toward Sodom while Abraham remained standing before the Eternal One. 23 Then Abraham approached Him solemnly and pled for the city.
Abraham (to God): God, would You really sweep away the people who do what is right along with those who are wicked? 24 What if there were 50 upright people within the city? Would You still wipe the place out and not spare it on behalf of the 50 upright people who live there? 25 Surely it can’t be Your nature to do something like that—to kill the right-living along with those who act wickedly, to consign the innocent to the same fate as the guilty. It is inconceivable to me that You, my God, would do anything like that! Will not the “Merciful and Loving Judge” of all the earth do what is just?
Eternal One: 26 If I find 50 good and true people in the city of Sodom, I give you My word I will spare the entire city on their behalf.
Abraham (emboldened): 27 Look, I know I am just a human being, scooped from the dust and ashes of the earth, but if I might implore You, Lord, a bit further: 28 What if the city lacked 5 of those 50 right-living people? What then? Would You destroy the entire city because it lacked those 5?
Eternal One: I won’t destroy the city if I find 45 good and true people there.
Abraham (persisting): 29 Suppose 40 are found there.
Eternal One: I won’t destroy the city for the sake of 40.
Abraham: 30 Please don’t be angry, Lord, at my boldness. Let me ask this: What if You found 30 there who are good and true?
Eternal One: I will not do it, even if I find only 30 there.
Abraham: 31 Since I have implored the Lord this far, may I ask: What if there were 20?
Eternal One: For the sake of 20, I will not destroy the city.
Abraham: 32 Please don’t be angry, Lord, at my boldness. Let me ask this just once more: suppose only 10 are found?
Eternal One: For the sake of only 10, I still will not destroy it.
Scripture records here an amazing exchange between the Lord and Abraham. In all of the Bible there is nothing quite like it. In these verses Abraham is negotiating with God over the fate of Sodom and its inhabitants. But this is no game. Abraham isn’t bargaining with a peddler over the cost of his wares; the lives of many people hang in the balance. Abraham has followed God long enough and knows Him well enough to stand confident as he presses and probes the extent of God’s mercy. God’s mercy, he learns, runs deep; but there are limits, and Sodom has crossed the line.
33 At this point the Eternal ended the conversation with Abraham and went on His way, and Abraham returned to his home.
12 The Sabbath came, and Jesus walked through a field. His disciples, who were hungry, began to pick some of the grain and eat it.
The Sabbath is a day of rest when one creates nothing, breaks nothing, gives nothing, makes no contracts, cuts no flowers, and boils no water; it is a day set aside by the Lord to remember the creative work of God, to experience the peace of the Lord, and to rest in the provision of God.
2 When the Pharisees saw this, they reacted.
Pharisees: Look! Your disciples are breaking the law of the Sabbath!
Jesus: 3 Haven’t you read what David did? When he and his friends were hungry, 4 they went into God’s house and they ate the holy bread, even though neither David nor his friends, but only priests, were allowed that bread. 5 Indeed, have you not read that on the Sabbath priests themselves do work in the temple, breaking the Sabbath law yet remaining blameless? 6 Listen, One who is greater than the temple is here.
7 Do you not understand what the prophet Hosea recorded, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”[a]? If you understood that snippet of Scripture, you would not condemn these innocent men for ostensibly breaking the law of the Sabbath. 8 For the Son of Man has not only the authority to heal and cast out demons, He also has authority over the Sabbath.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.