Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 134
The Pilgrims’ Blessing
Heading
A song of the ascents.
The People
1 Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord,
who stand in the house of the Lord at night.
2 Lift up your hands toward the sanctuary
and bless the Lord.
The Priests
3 May the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.
Three Men Meet Abraham
18 The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he was sitting by the door to his tent during the heat of the day. 2 Abraham looked up, and he saw three men standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and he bowed down to the ground. 3 He said, “My lord,[a] if I have now found favor in your sight, please do not pass your servant by. 4 Now let me get a little water so that all of you can wash your feet and rest under the tree. 5 Let me get some bread so that you can refresh yourselves. After that you may go your way. That is why you have come to your servant.”
They said, “Yes, do as you have said.”
6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Quickly prepare twenty quarts[b] of fine flour, knead it, and make some loaves of bread.” 7 Abraham ran to the herd, brought a good, tender calf, and gave it to the servant. He hurried to prepare it. 8 He took cheese curds, milk, and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them. He stood beside them under the tree while they ate.
9 They asked him, “Where is Sarah, your wife?”
He said, “She is over there in the tent.”
10 One of the men said, “I will certainly return to you when this season comes around next year. Then Sarah your wife will have a son.”
Sarah was listening to this from the tent door, which was behind him. 11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, well into old age. Sarah was past the age for childbearing.[c] 12 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, will I have pleasure, since my lord is also old?”
13 The Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really give birth to a child though I am old?’ 14 Is anything impossible for the Lord? At the set time next year I will return to you, and Sarah will have a son.”
23 For you have been born again, not from perishable seed but from imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For:
All flesh is like grass,
and all its glory is like a flower of the field.
The grass withers,
and the flower falls,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.[a]
And this is the word that was preached to you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.