Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 116

¹ I love the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications.

² Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

¹² What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? [How can I repay Him for all His bountiful dealings?]

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and deliverance and call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁴ I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people.

¹⁵ Precious (important and no light matter) in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (His loving ones).

¹⁶ O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid; You have loosed my bonds.

¹⁷ I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁸ I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people,

¹⁹ In the courts of the Lord’s house—in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

24 Now Abraham was old, well advanced in years, and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things.

² And Abraham said to the eldest servant of his house [Eliezer of Damascus], who ruled over all that he had, I beg of you, put your hand under my thigh;^(A)

³ And you shall swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I have settled,

⁴ But you shall go to my country and to my relatives and take ^[a]a wife for my son Isaac.

⁵ The servant said to him, But perhaps the woman will not be willing to come along after me to this country. Must I take your son to the country from which you came?

⁶ Abraham said to him, See to it that you do not take my son back there.

⁷ The Lord, the God of heaven, Who took me from my father’s house, from the land of my family and my birth, Who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, To your offspring I will give this land—He will send His ^[b]Angel before you, and you will take a wife from there for my son.

⁸ And if the woman should ^[c]not be willing to go along after you, then you will be clear from this oath; only you must not take my son back there.

⁹ So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.

³⁵ It was this very Moses whom they had denied (disowned and rejected), saying, Who made you our ruler (referee) and judge? whom God sent to be a ruler and deliverer and redeemer, by and with the [protecting and helping] hand of the Angel that appeared to him in the bramblebush.^(A)

³⁶ He it was who led them forth, having worked wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and during the forty years in the wilderness (desert).^(B)

³⁷ It was this [very] Moses who said to the children of Israel, God will raise up for you a Prophet from among your brethren as He raised me up.^(C)

³⁸ This is he who in the assembly in the wilderness (desert) was the go-between for the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and our forefathers, and he received living oracles (words that still live) to be handed down to us.^(D)

³⁹ [And yet] our forefathers determined not to be subject to him [refusing to listen to or obey him]; but thrusting him aside they rejected him, and in their hearts yearned for and turned back to Egypt.^(E)

⁴⁰ And they said to Aaron, Make us gods who shall [be our leaders and] go before us; as for this Moses who led us forth from the land of Egypt—we have no knowledge of what has happened to him.^(F)

⁴¹ And they [even] made a calf in those days, and offered sacrifice to the idol and made merry and exulted in the work of their [own] hands.^(G)

⁴² But God turned [away from them] and delivered them up to worship and serve the host (stars) of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: Did you [really] offer to Me slain beasts and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness (desert), O house of Israel?^(H)

⁴³ [No!] You took up the tent (the portable temple) of Moloch and carried it [with you], and the star of the god Rephan, the images which you [yourselves] made that you might worship them; and I will remove you [carrying you away into exile] beyond Babylon.^(I)