Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A prayer of David.
86 Lord, hear me and answer me.
I am poor and needy.
2 Keep my life safe, because I am faithful to you.
Save me, because I trust in you.
You are my God.
3 Lord, have mercy on me.
I call out to you all day long.
4 Bring joy to me.
Lord, I put my trust in you.
5 Lord, you are forgiving and good.
You are full of love for all who call out to you.
6 Lord, hear my prayer.
Listen to my cry for mercy.
7 When I’m in trouble, I will call out to you.
And you will answer me.
8 Lord, there’s no one like you among the gods.
No one can do what you do.
9 Lord, all the nations you have made
will come and worship you.
They will bring glory to you.
10 You are great. You do wonderful things.
You alone are God.
11 Lord, teach me how you want me to live.
Do this so that I will depend on you, my faithful God.
Give me a heart that doesn’t want anything
more than to worship you.
12 Lord my God, I will praise you with all my heart.
I will bring glory to you forever.
13 Great is your love for me.
You have kept me from going down into the place of the dead.
14 God, proud people are attacking me.
A gang of mean people is trying to kill me.
They don’t care about you.
15 But Lord, you are a God who is tender and kind.
You are gracious.
You are slow to get angry.
You are faithful and full of love.
16 Come to my aid and have mercy on me.
Show your strength by helping me.
Save me because I serve you just as my mother did.
17 Prove your goodness to me.
Then my enemies will see it and be put to shame.
Lord, you have helped me and given me comfort.
Hagar and Ishmael
16 Abram’s wife Sarai had never had any children by him. But she had a female slave from Egypt named Hagar. 2 So she said to Abram, “The Lord has kept me from having children. Go and sleep with my slave. Maybe I can have a family through her.”
Abram agreed to what Sarai had said. 3 His wife Sarai gave him her slave Hagar to be his wife. That was after he had been living in Canaan for ten years. 4 Then he slept with Hagar, and she became pregnant.
When Hagar knew she was pregnant, she began to look down on the woman who owned her. 5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “It’s your fault that I’m suffering like this. I put my slave in your arms. Now that she knows she’s pregnant, she looks down on me. May the Lord judge between you and me. May he decide which of us is right.”
6 “Your slave belongs to you,” Abram said. “Do with her what you think is best.” Then Sarai treated Hagar badly. So Hagar ran away from her.
7 The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring of water in the desert. The spring was beside the road to Shur. 8 The angel said, “Hagar, you are Sarai’s slave. Where have you come from? Where are you going?”
“I’m running away from my owner Sarai,” she answered.
9 Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to the woman who owns you. Obey her.” 10 The angel continued, “I will give you and your family many children. There will be more of them than anyone can count.”
11 The angel of the Lord also said to her,
“You are now pregnant
and will have a son.
You will name him Ishmael,
because the Lord has heard about your suffering.
12 He will be like a wild donkey.
He will use his power against everyone,
and everyone will be against him.
He will not get along with any of his family.”
13 She gave a name to the Lord who spoke to her. She called him “You are the God who sees me.” That’s because she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.” 14 That’s why the well was named Beer Lahai Roi. It’s still there, between Kadesh and Bered.
Little Children Are Brought to Jesus
15 People were also bringing babies to Jesus. They wanted him to place his hands on the babies. When the disciples saw this, they told the people to stop. 16 But Jesus asked the children to come to him. “Let the little children come to me,” he said. “Don’t keep them away. God’s kingdom belongs to people like them. 17 What I’m about to tell you is true. Anyone who will not receive God’s kingdom like a little child will never enter it.”
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