Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
105 Give thanks to the Lord and call out to him!
Tell the nations what he has done!
2 Sing to him; sing praises to him.
Tell about the amazing things he has done.
3 Be proud of his holy name.
You followers of the Lord, be happy!
4 Depend on the Lord for strength.
Always go to him for help.
5 Remember the amazing things he has done.
Remember his miracles and his fair decisions.
6 You belong to the family of his servant Abraham.
You are descendants of Jacob, the people God chose.
7 The Lord is our God.
He rules the whole world.
8 He will remember his agreement forever.
He will always keep the promises he made to his people.
9 He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham
and the promise he made to Isaac.
10 He gave it as a law to Jacob.
He gave it to Israel as an agreement that will last forever!
11 He said, “I will give you the land of Canaan.
It will be your very own.”
37 He led his people out of Egypt.
They were carrying gold and silver,
and none of them stumbled or fell behind.
38 Egypt was happy to see his people go,
because they were afraid of them.
39 The Lord spread out his cloud like a blanket.
He used his column of fire to give his people light at night.
40 They asked for food, and he sent them quail.
He also gave them plenty of bread from heaven.
41 He split the rock, and water came bubbling out.
A river began flowing in the desert!
42 The Lord remembered his holy promise
that he had made to his servant Abraham.
43 He brought his people out of Egypt.
They came out rejoicing and singing their happy songs!
44 Then he gave his people the lands of other nations.
His people got what others had worked for.
45 He did this so that his people would obey his laws
and follow his teachings.
Praise the Lord!
Abraham, Kill Your Son
22 After these things God decided to test Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Yes!”
2 Then God said, “Take your son to the land of Moriah and kill your son there as a sacrifice for me. This must be Isaac, your only son, the one you love. Use him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which mountain.”
3 In the morning Abraham got up and saddled his donkey. He took Isaac and two servants with him. He cut the wood for the sacrifice. Then they went to the place where God told them to go. 4 After they traveled three days, Abraham looked up, and in the distance he saw the place where they were going. 5 Then he said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go to that place and worship. Then we will come back to you later.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice and put it on his son’s shoulder. Abraham took the special knife and fire. Then both he and his son went together to the place for worship.
7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”
Abraham answered, “Yes, son?”
Isaac said, “I see the wood and the fire. But where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?”
8 Abraham answered, “God himself is providing the lamb for the sacrifice, my son.”
So both Abraham and his son went together to that place. 9 When they came to the place where God told them to go, Abraham built an altar. He carefully laid the wood on the altar. Then he tied up his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached for his knife to kill his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord stopped him. The angel called from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
Abraham answered, “Yes?”
12 The angel said, “Don’t kill your son or hurt him in any way. Now I can see that you do respect and obey God. I see that you are ready to kill your son, your only son, for me.”
13 Then Abraham noticed a ram whose horns were caught in a bush. So Abraham went and took the ram. He offered it, instead of his son, as a sacrifice to God. 14 So Abraham gave that place a name, “The Lord Provides.”[a] Even today people say, “On the mountain of the Lord, he will give us what we need.”[b]
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time. 16 The angel said, “You were ready to kill your only son for me. Since you did this for me, I make you this promise: I, the Lord, promise that 17 I will surely bless you and give you as many descendants as the stars in the sky. There will be as many people as sand on the seashore. And your people will live in cities that they will take from their enemies. 18 Every nation on the earth will be blessed through your descendants. I will do this because you obeyed me.”
19 Then Abraham went back to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.
Faith
11 Faith is what makes real the things we hope for. It is proof of what we cannot see. 2 God was pleased with the people who lived a long time ago because they had faith like this.
3 Faith helps us understand that God created the whole world by his command. This means that the things we see were made by something that cannot be seen.
13 All these great people continued living with faith until they died. They did not get the things God promised his people. But they were happy just to see those promises coming far in the future. They accepted the fact that they were like visitors and strangers here on earth. 14 When people accept something like that, they show they are waiting for a country that will be their own. 15 If they were thinking about the country they had left, they could have gone back. 16 But they were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. And he has prepared a city for them.
17-18 God tested Abraham’s faith. God told him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham obeyed because he had faith. He already had the promises from God. And God had already said to him, “It is through Isaac that your descendants will come.”[a] But Abraham was ready to offer his only son. He did this because he had faith. 19 He believed that God could raise people from death. And really, when God stopped Abraham from killing Isaac, it was as if he got him back from death.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International