Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Praise to the Loving God
113 Hallelujah!
Give praise, you servants of the Lord.
Praise the name of the Lord!
2 May the name of the Lord be blessed
from now to eternity.
3 From rising[a] to setting[b] sun,
may the name of the Lord be praised.
4 The Lord is exalted high above all the nations;
his glory beyond the heavens.
5 Who is like the Lord our God,
enthroned on high,
6 yet stooping low to observe
the sky and the earth?
7 He lifts the poor person from the dust,
raising the needy from the trash pile
8 and giving him a seat among nobles—
with the nobles of his people.
9 He makes the barren woman among her household
a happy mother of joyful children.
Hallelujah!
28 The young woman then ran ahead and informed her mother’s household what had happened.
Rebekah’s Brother Laban
29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, who ran out to the man and met him[a] at the spring. 30 And so it was, as soon as he saw the nose ring and bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and as soon as he heard what his sister Rebekah was saying about what the man had spoken to her,[b] he went out to the man who was still standing by the camels at the spring! 31 “Come on,” Laban[c] said. “The Lord has blessed you! So why are you standing out here when I’ve prepared some space in the house and a place for the camels?”
32 So the servant went to the house and unbridled the camels. They provided straw and feed for the camels and water for washing his feet and those of the men with him. 33 But when they had prepared a meal and set it in front of him, he said, “I’m not eating until I’ve spoken.”
“Speak up!” Laban[d] exclaimed.
The Servant Relates His Adventures
34 “I’m Abraham’s servant,” he said. 35 “The Lord has greatly blessed my master, so that he has become wealthy. He has provided him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, camels and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife Sarah gave birth to my master’s son in her old age, and Abraham[e] has given him everything that belongs to him. 37 My master made me swear this oath: ‘You are not to select a wife for my son from among the daughters of the Canaanites in this land where I live. 38 Instead, you are to go to my father’s household, to my relatives, and choose a wife for my son there.’
39 “So I asked my master, ‘What if the woman won’t come back with me?’
40 “Abraham[f] told me, ‘The Lord, who is with me wherever I go, will send his angel with you to make your journey successful. So you are to choose a wife for my son from my family, from my father’s household. 41 Only then will you be released from fulfilling[g] my oath. However, when you come to my family, if they don’t give her to you, you’ll be released from fulfilling[h] my oath.’
42 “So today I arrived at the spring and prayed, ‘Lord God of my master Abraham, if you wish to make the journey that I have traveled successful,
Jesus is Rejected at Nazareth(A)
16 Then Jesus[a] came to Nazareth, where he had been raised. As was his custom, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. When he stood up to read, 17 the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
18 “The Spirit of the Lord[b] is upon me;
he has anointed me to tell
the good news to the poor.
He has sent me to announce release to the prisoners
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to set oppressed people free,
19 and to announce the year of the Lord’s[c] favor.”[d]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. While the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him, 21 he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled, as you’ve heard it read aloud.”[e]
22 All the people began to speak well of him and to wonder at the gracious words that flowed from his mouth. They said, “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?”
23 So he told them, “You will probably quote this proverb to me, ‘Doctor, heal yourself! Do everything here in your hometown that we hear you did in Capernaum.’”
24 He added, “I tell all of you[f] with certainty, a prophet is not accepted in his hometown. 25 I’m telling you the truth—there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when it didn’t rain[g] for three years and six months and there was a severe famine everywhere in the land. 26 Yet Elijah wasn’t sent to a single one of those widows except to one at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the prophet Elisha’s time, yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
28 All the people in the synagogue became furious when they heard this. 29 They got up, forced Jesus[h] out of the city, and led him to the edge of the hill on which their city was built, intending to throw him off. 30 But he walked right through the middle of them and went away.
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