Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Parashah 4: Vayera (He appeared) 18:1–22:24

18 Adonai appeared to Avraham by the oaks of Mamre as he sat at the entrance to the tent during the heat of the day. ² He raised his eyes and looked, and there in front of him stood three men. On seeing them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, prostrated himself on the ground, ³ and said, “My lord, if I have found favor in your sight, please don’t leave your servant. ⁴ Please let me send for some water, so that you can wash your feet; then rest under the tree, ⁵ and I will bring a piece of bread. Now that you have come to your servant, refresh yourselves before going on.” “Very well,” they replied, “do what you have said.”

⁶ Avraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly, three measures of the best flour! Knead it and make cakes.” ⁷ Avraham ran to the herd, took a good, tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it. ⁸ Then he took curds, milk and the calf which he had prepared, and set it all before the men; and he stood by them under the tree as they ate. ⁹ They said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” He said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “I will certainly return to you around this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son.” Sarah heard him from the entrance of the tent, behind him. ¹¹ Avraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years; Sarah was past the age of childbearing. ¹² So Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “I am old, and so is my lord; am I to have pleasure again?” ¹³ Adonai said to Avraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and ask, ‘Am I really going to bear a child when I am so old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too hard for Adonai? At the time set for it, at this season next year, I will return to you; and Sarah will have a son.” (ii) ¹⁵ Sarah denied it, saying, “I didn’t either laugh,” because she was afraid. He said, “Not so — you did laugh.”

21 Adonai remembered Sarah as he had said, and Adonai did for Sarah what he had promised. ² Sarah conceived and bore Avraham a son in his old age, at the very time God had said to him. ³ Avraham called his son, born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Yitz’chak. ⁴ Avraham circumcised his son Yitz’chak when he was eight days old, as God had ordered him to do.

(v) ⁵ Avraham was one hundred years old when his son Yitz’chak [laughter] was born to him. ⁶ Sarah said, “God has given me good reason to laugh; now everyone who hears about it will laugh with me.” ⁷ And she said, “Who would have said to Avraham that Sarah would nurse children? Nevertheless, I have borne him a son in his old age!”

5 So, since we have come to be considered righteous by God because of our trust, let us continue to have shalom with God through our Lord, Yeshua the Messiah. ² Also through him and on the ground of our trust, we have gained access to this grace in which we stand; so let us boast about the hope of experiencing God’s glory. ³ But not only that, let us also boast in our troubles; because we know that trouble produces endurance, ⁴ endurance produces character, and character produces hope; ⁵ and this hope does not let us down, because God’s love for us has already been poured out in our hearts through the Ruach HaKodesh who has been given to us.

⁶ For while we were still helpless, at the right time, the Messiah died on behalf of ungodly people. ⁷ Now it is a rare event when someone gives up his life even for the sake of somebody righteous, although possibly for a truly good person one might have the courage to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in that the Messiah died on our behalf while we were still sinners.

³⁵ Yeshua went about all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and weakness. ³⁶ When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were harried and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷ Then he said to his talmidim, “The harvest is rich, but the workers are few. ³⁸ Pray that the Lord of the harvest will send out workers to gather in his harvest.”

10 Yeshua called his twelve talmidim and gave them authority to drive out unclean spirits and to heal every kind of disease and weakness. ² These are the names of the twelve emissaries:

⁵ These twelve Yeshua sent out with the following instructions: “Don’t go into the territory of the Goyim, and don’t enter any town in Shomron, ⁶ but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Isra’el. ⁷ As you go, proclaim, ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is near,’ ⁸ heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those afflicted with tzara’at, expel demons. You have received without paying, so give without asking payment.

⁹ Don’t take money in your belts, no gold, no silver, no copper; ¹⁰ and for the trip don’t take a pack, an extra shirt, shoes or a walking stick — a worker should be given what he needs.

¹¹ “When you come to a town or village, look for someone trustworthy and stay with him until you leave. ¹² When you enter someone’s household, say, ‘Shalom aleikhem!’ ¹³ If the home deserves it, let your shalom rest on it; if not, let your shalom return to you. ¹⁴ But if the people of a house or town will not welcome you or listen to you, leave it and shake its dust from your feet! ¹⁵ Yes, I tell you, it will be more tolerable on the Day of Judgment for the people of S’dom and ‘Amora than for that town!

¹⁶ “Pay attention! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves, so be as prudent as snakes and as harmless as doves. ¹⁷ Be on guard, for there will be people who will hand you over to the local Sanhedrins and flog you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as a testimony to them and to the Goyim. ¹⁹ But when they bring you to trial, do not worry about what to say or how to say it; when the time comes, you will be given what you should say. ²⁰ For it will not be just you speaking, but the Spirit of your heavenly Father speaking through you.

²¹ “A brother will betray his brother to death, and a father his child; children will turn against their parents and have them put to death. ²² Everyone will hate you because of me, but whoever holds out till the end will be preserved from harm. ²³ When you are persecuted in one town, run away to another. Yes indeed; I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Isra’el before the Son of Man comes.