Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
8 The voice of my lover!
Behold, he is coming—
leaping over the mountains,
springing over the hills!
9 My lover is like a gazelle
or a young buck among the stags.
Look! He is standing behind our wall—
gazing through the windows,
peering through the lattice.
10 In response my lover said to me:
“Get yourself up, my darling,
my pretty one, and come, come![a]
11 For behold, the winter has past,
the rain is over, it has gone.
12 Blossoms appear in the land,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtle-dove
is heard in our land.
13 The fig tree ripens its early figs.
The blossoming vines give off their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling,
my pretty one, and come, come!
Jacob Loves Rachel
29 Then Jacob lifted up his feet and went to the land of the peoples of the east. 2 When he looked, suddenly, there was a well in the field, and there were three herds of sheep resting by it. (For from that well they would water the flocks. The stone on the mouth of the well was large. 3 When all the herds gathered there, they would roll away the stone from the mouth of the well and water the flocks, and put the stone back to its place over the mouth of the well.)
4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?”
“We’re from Haran,” they said.
5 So he said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s son?”
They said, “We know.”
6 He said to them, “Is he well?”
“Well,” they said. “Look, here comes his daughter Rachel with the flock.”
7 He said, “Since it’s still the middle of the day, it’s not time for the livestock to be gathered. Water the flock and let them go and graze.”
8 But they said, “We can’t, not until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well—then we water the flock.”
9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with the flock that belonged to her father (for she was a shepherdess). 10 Now when Jacob saw Rachel (the daughter of Laban, his mother’s brother), Jacob stepped forward and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the flock of Laban, his mother’s brother. 11 Then Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept. 12 Then Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. So she ran and told her father.
13 Now when Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, hugged and kissed him, and brought him to his house. Then he told Laban all these things. 14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are my own bone and flesh.” And he stayed with him for a month.
No One Is Acceptable
3 Then what is the advantage of being Jewish? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way. First of all, they were entrusted with the sayings of God. 3 So what if some did not trust? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 May it never be! Let God be true even if every man is a liar, as it is written,
“that You may be righteous in Your words
and prevail when You are judged.”[a]
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? God is not unrighteous to inflict wrath, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But if by my lie the truth of God abounds to His glory, why am I still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil, so that good may come”—just as we are being slandered and as some claim that we say. Their condemnation is deserved!
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.