Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the Director: A Davidic Psalm.

A Prayer for Victory

God Calls Abram

12 The Lord told Abram, “You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father’s house and go to the land that I’m going to show you. ² I’ll make a great nation of your descendants, I’ll bless you, and I’ll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I’ll bless those who bless you, but I’ll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people^[a] of the earth will be blessed.”

⁴ So Abram left there, as the Lord had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran. ⁵ Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the servants^[b] he had acquired while living^[c] in Haran. Then they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they arrived in the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram traveled through the land to the place called Shechem, as far as the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I’ll give this land to your descendants.”^[d] So Abram^[e] built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

The Meaning of Faith

11 Now faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about^[a] and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.^{[b] 2} By faith our ancestors won approval.

³ By faith we understand that time was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible.

⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did,^[c] and by faith^[d] he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith^[e] he continues to speak, even though he is dead.

⁵ By faith Enoch was taken away without experiencing death. He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he won approval as one who pleased God. ⁶ Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.

⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, reverently prepared an ark to save his family, and by faith^[f] he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith.

⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who also inherited the same promise, ¹⁰ because he was waiting for the city with permanent foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹ By faith Sarah, even though she was old and barren, received the strength to conceive, because she was convinced that the one who had made the promise was faithful. ¹² Abraham^[g] was as good as dead, yet from this one man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.