Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Song of degrees.

126 When Jehovah turned the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.

² Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with rejoicing: then said they among the nations, Jehovah hath done great things for them.

³ Jehovah hath done great things for us; [and] we are joyful.

⁴ Turn our captivity, O Jehovah, as the streams in the south.

⁵ They that sow in tears shall reap with rejoicing:

⁶ He goeth forth and weepeth, bearing seed for scattering; he cometh again with rejoicing, bearing his sheaves.

23 And the life of Sarah was a hundred and twenty-seven years: [these were] the years of the life of Sarah.

² And Sarah died in Kirjath-Arba: that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan. And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah, and to weep for her.

³ And Abraham rose up from before his dead, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,

⁴ I am a stranger and a sojourner with you; give me a possession of a sepulchre with you, that I may bury my dead from before me.

⁵ And the sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying to him,

⁶ Hear us, my lord: thou art a prince of God among us: in the choicest of our sepulchres bury thy dead: none of us shall withhold from thee his sepulchre for burying thy dead.

⁷ And Abraham rose up, and bowed down to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth,

⁸ and spoke to them, saying, If it be your will that I should bury my dead from before me, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar,

⁹ that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which is his, which is at the end of his field; for the full money let him give it to me amongst you for a possession of a sepulchre.

¹⁰ And Ephron was dwelling among the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham, in the ears of the sons of Heth, [even] of all that went in at the gate of his city, saying,

¹¹ No, my lord: hear me. The field give I thee; and the cave that is in it, to thee I give it; before the eyes of the sons of my people give I it thee: bury thy dead.

¹² And Abraham bowed down before the people of the land;

¹³ and he spoke to Ephron, in the ears of the people of the land, saying, But if only thou wouldst listen to me, I give the money for the field: take [it] of me, and I will bury my dead there.

¹⁴ And Ephron answered Abraham, saying to him,

¹⁵ My lord, hearken to me. A field of four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and thee? bury therefore thy dead.

¹⁶ And Abraham hearkened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed to Ephron the money that he had named in the ears of the sons of Heth—four hundred shekels of silver, current with the merchant.

¹⁷ So the field of Ephron, which was at Machpelah, which was before Mamre, the field, and the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field, that were in all its borders round about,

¹⁸ were assured to Abraham for a possession before the eyes of the sons of Heth, before all who went in at the gate of his city.

¹⁹ And after this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field at Machpelah, opposite to Mamre: that is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.

3 Wherefore, being no longer able to refrain ourselves, we thought good to be left alone in Athens,

² and sent Timotheus, our brother and fellow-workman under God in the glad tidings of Christ, to confirm you and encourage [you] concerning your faith,

³ that no one might be moved by these afflictions. (For yourselves know that we are set for this;

⁴ for also, when we were with you, we told you beforehand we are about to be in tribulation, even as also it came to pass, and ye know.)

⁵ For this reason *I* also, no longer able to refrain myself, sent to know your faith, lest perhaps the tempter had tempted you and our labour should be come to nothing.