Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

126 When the LORD brought back the captives of Zion, we were like those who dream.

² Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with joy. Then they said among the heathen, “The LORD has done great things for them.”

³ The LORD has done great things for us! We rejoice!

⁴ O LORD, bring back our captives as the rivers in the south.

⁵ Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.

⁶ They went weeping and carried precious seed. They shall return with joy and bring their sheaves. A song of degrees, or Psalm, of Solomon

23 And Sarah was a hundred twenty-seven years old. So long did she live.

² Then Sarah died in Kirjath Arba (the same is Hebron, in the land of Canaan). And Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.

³ Then Abraham rose up from the sight of his dead and talked with the sons of Heth, saying,

⁴ “I am a stranger and a foreigner among you. Give me possession of a burial place with you, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”

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

⁶ “Hear us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the most chief of our sepulchers. None of us shall forbid you his sepulcher; but you may bury your dead therein.”

⁷ Then Abraham stood up and bowed himself before the people of the land of the children of Heth.

⁸ And he communed with them, saying, “If it be your mind that I shall bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and intercede for me with Ephron, the son of Zohar

⁹ that he would give me the cave of Machpelah, which he has at the end of his field. And that he would give it to me for as much money as it is worth, for a possession in which to bury among you.

¹⁰ Then Ephron dwelt among the sons of Heth. And Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the audience of all the sons of Heth who went in at the gates of his city, saying,

¹¹ “No, my Lord, hear me. I give the field to you. And I give the cave that is therein to you. In the presence of the sons of my people, I give it to you, to bury your dead.”

¹² Then Abraham bowed himself before the people of the land,

¹³ and spoke to Ephron in the audience of the people of the country, saying, “Seeing you will give it, please hear me. I will give the price of the field. Receive it from me and I will bury my dead there.”

¹⁴ Ephron then answered Abraham, saying to him,

¹⁵ “My lord, listen to me. The land is worth four hundred shekels of silver. What is that between me and you? Therefore, bury your dead.”

¹⁶ So Abraham listened to Ephron; and Abraham weighed the silver which he had named to Ephron in the audience of the sons of Heth: four hundred silver shekels of current money among merchants.

¹⁷ So the field of Ephron (in Machpelah and over against Mamre), the field and the cave that was therein—and all the trees that were in the field which were in all the borders all around—was deeded

¹⁸ to Abraham for a possession in the sight of the sons of Heth and of all who went in at the gates of his city.

¹⁹ And after this, Abraham buried Sarah, his wife, in the cave of the field of Machpelah over against Mamre. The same is Hebron, in the land of Canaan.

3 Therefore, since we could endure it no longer, we thought it good to remain at Athens alone;

² and have sent Timothy, our brother and minister of God and our fellow laborer in the Gospel of Christ, to establish you and to comfort you regarding your faith;

³ so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.

⁴ For truly we told you before (when we were with you) that we would suffer tribulations even as it happened. And you know it.

⁵ For this reason, when I could no longer bear it, I sent him. So that I might know of your faith, lest the tempter had tempted you in any way and that our labor had been in vain.