Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praises to God for Being Saved from Death

116 I love the Lord, because He hears my voice and my prayers. ² I will call on Him as long as I live, because He has turned His ear to me.

¹² What should I give to the Lord for all the good things He has done for me? ¹³ I will show Him my thanks for saving me with a gift of wine and praise His name. ¹⁴ I will keep my promises to the Lord before all His people. ¹⁵ The death of His holy ones is of great worth in the eyes of the Lord. ¹⁶ For sure I am Your servant, O Lord. I am Your servant, the son of the woman who served You. You have set me free from my chains. ¹⁷ I will give a gift of thanks to You and call on the name of the Lord. ¹⁸ I will keep my promises to the Lord before all His people, ¹⁹ in the holy place of the Lord, and in the center of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

The Birth of Isaac

21 Then the Lord visited Sarah as He had said and did for her as He had promised. ² Sarah was able to have a child and she gave birth to a son when Abraham was very old. He was born at the time the Lord said it would happen. ³ Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son who was born to him by Sarah. ⁴ Then Abraham did the religious act of the Jews on Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had told him to do. ⁵ Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born. ⁶ And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. All who hear will laugh with me.” ⁷ She said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet when he is so old I have given him a son.”

Jesus Was Greater Than Moses

3 Christian brothers, you have been chosen and set apart by God. So let us think about Jesus. He is the One God sent and He is the Religious Leader of our Christian faith. ² Jesus was faithful in God’s house just as Moses was faithful in all of God’s house. ³ The man who builds a house gets more honor than the house. That is why Jesus gets more honor than Moses. ⁴ Every house is built by someone. And God is the One Who has built everything. ⁵ Moses was a faithful servant owned by God in God’s house. He spoke of the things that would be told about later on. ⁶ But Christ was faithful as a Son Who is Head of God’s house. We are of God’s house if we keep our trust in the Lord until the end. This is our hope.