Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s Love for Israel
105 Give thanks to the Lord and pray to him.
Tell the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him. Sing praises to him.
Tell about all the wonderful things he has done.
3 Be glad that you are his.
Let those who ask the Lord for help be happy.
4 Depend on the Lord and his strength.
Always go to him for help.
5 Remember the wonderful things he has done.
Remember his miracles and his decisions.
6 You are descendants of his servant Abraham,
the children of Jacob, his chosen people.
7 He is the Lord our God.
His laws are for all the world.
8 He will keep his agreement forever.
He will keep his promises always.
9 He will keep his agreement he made with Abraham.
He will keep the promise he made to Isaac.
10 He made it a law for the people of Jacob.
He made it an agreement with Israel to last forever.
11 The Lord said, “I will give you the land of Canaan.
The promised land will belong to you.”
37 Then he brought his people out,
and they carried with them silver and gold.
Not one of his people stumbled.
38 The Egyptians were glad when they left
because the Egyptians were afraid of them.
39 The Lord covered them with a cloud
and lit up the night with fire.
40 When they asked, he brought them quail.
He filled them with bread from heaven.
41 God split the rock, and water flowed out.
It ran like a river through the desert.
42 He remembered his holy promise
to his servant Abraham.
43 So God brought his people out with joy.
He brought out his chosen ones with singing.
44 He gave them lands that belonged to other nations.
They received what others had worked for.
45 This was so they would keep his orders
and obey his teachings.
Praise the Lord!
God Tests Abraham
22 After these things God tested Abraham’s faith. God said to him, “Abraham!”
And he answered, “Here I am.”
2 Then God said, “Take your only son, Isaac, the son you love. Go to the land of Moriah. There kill him and offer him as a whole burnt offering. Do this on one of the mountains there. I will tell you which one.”
3 Early 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 God had told them to go. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey. My son and I will go over there and worship. Then we will come back to you.”
6 Abraham took the wood for the sacrifice and gave it to his son to carry. Abraham took the knife and the fire. So Abraham and his son went on together.
7 Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!”
Abraham answered, “Yes, my son.”
Isaac said, “We have the fire and the wood. But where is the lamb we will burn as a sacrifice?”
8 Abraham answered, “God will give us the lamb for the sacrifice, my son.”
So Abraham and his son went on together. 9 They came to the place God had told him about. There, Abraham built an altar. He laid the wood on it. Then he tied up his son Isaac. And he laid Isaac on the wood on the altar. 10 Then Abraham took his knife and was about to kill his son.
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven. The angel 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 respect God. I see that you have not kept your son, your only son, from me.”
13 Then Abraham looked up and saw a male sheep. Its horns were caught in a bush. So Abraham went and took the sheep and killed it. He offered it as a whole burnt offering to God. Abraham’s son was saved. 14 So Abraham named that place The Lord Gives. Even today people say, “On the mountain of the Lord it will be given.”
15 The angel of the Lord called to Abraham from heaven a second time. 16 The angel said, “The Lord says, ‘You did not keep back your son, your only son, from me. Because you did this, I make you this promise by my own name: 17 I will surely bless you and give you many descendants. They will be as many as the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. And they will capture the cities of their enemies. 18 Through your descendants all the nations on the earth will be blessed. This is because you obeyed me.’”
19 Then Abraham returned to his servants. They all traveled back to Beersheba, and Abraham stayed there.
Faith
11 Faith means being sure of the things we hope for. And faith means knowing that something is real even if we do not see it. 2 People who lived in the past became famous because of faith.
3 It is by faith we understand that the whole world was made by God’s command. This means that what we see was made by something that cannot be seen.
13 All these great men died in faith. They did not get the things that God promised his people. But they saw them coming far in the future and were glad. They said that they were like visitors and strangers on earth. 14 When people say such things, then they show that they are looking for a country that will be their own country. 15 If they had been thinking about that country they had left, they could have gone back. 16 But those men were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. For he has prepared a city for them.
17 It was by faith that Abraham offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice. God made the promises to Abraham. But God tested him. And Abraham was ready to offer his own son as a sacrifice. 18 God had said, “The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac.”[a] 19 Abraham believed that God could raise the dead. And really, it was as if Abraham got Isaac back from death.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.