Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

134 The song of degrees. Lo! now bless ye the Lord; all the servants of the Lord. Ye that stand in the house of the Lord; in the halls/in the foreyards of the house of our God (Ye who stand in the House of the Lord; night after night).

² In nights raise your hands into holy things; and bless ye the Lord. (Raise up your hands in the holy place; and bless ye the Lord.)

³ The Lord bless thee from Zion; the which Lord made heaven and earth. (May the Lord bless thee from Zion; the Lord who made heaven and earth.)

18 Forsooth in the valley of Mamre the Lord appeared to Abraham, (as he was) sitting in the door of his tabernacle, in that heat of the day. (And sometime later, by the terebinths of Mamre, the Lord appeared to Abraham, when he was sitting by the door of his tent, in the heat of the day.)

² And when Abraham had raised up his eyes, three men appeared to him, and stood nigh [to] him. And when he had seen them, he ran from the door of his tabernacle into the meeting of them, and he worshipped on [the] earth (And when he had seen them, he ran from the door of his tent to meet them, and he bowed low to the ground),

³ and said, Lord (My lords), if I have found grace in thine eyes, pass thou not (by) thy servant,

⁴ but I shall bring (thee) a little water, and your feet (can) be washed, and (so) rest ye (yourselves) under the tree;

⁵ and I shall set (before you) a morsel of bread, and your heart (shall) be comforted; (and) afterward ye shall pass [forth]; for therefore (be) ye bowed (aside) to your servant. Which said (And they said to him), Do thou as thou hast spoken.

⁶ (And) Abraham hasted into the tabernacle, to Sarah, and said to her, Haste thou, mix (up) three half bushels of clean flour; and make thou loaves baken under ashes.

⁷ Forsooth (then) he ran to the drove of beasts, and took thereof a calf most tender and best, and gave (it) to a servant, which hasted, and seethed the calf (and boiled the calf);

⁸ and (then) he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had sodden, and set (it) before them; forsooth Abraham stood beside them under the tree. And when they had eaten,

⁹ they said to him, Where is Sarah thy wife? He answered, Lo! she is in the tabernacle (she is in the tent).

¹⁰ To whom the Lord said, I shall turn again, and I shall come to thee in this time, if I live; and Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son. When this was heard, Sarah laughed behind the door of the tabernacle. (And the Lord said to him, I shall return, and I shall come back to thee at this same time next year, as I live; and Sarah, thy wife, shall have a son. And when she heard this, Sarah laughed behind the door of the tent.)

¹¹ Forsooth both were old, and of great age, and woman’s terms ceased to be made to Sarah (and a woman’s terms had ceased to be made with Sarah).

¹² And (so) she laughed, saying privily, After that I (have) waxed eld, and my lord is eld, shall I give diligence to lust?

¹³ Forsooth the Lord said to Abraham, Why laughed Sarah, thy wife, saying, Whether I an eld woman shall bear a child verily? (And the Lord said to Abraham, Why did thy wife Sarah laugh, and say, Shall I, an old woman, truly bear a child?)

¹⁴ whether anything is hard to God? By the promise I shall turn again to thee in this same time, if I live; and Sarah shall have a son. (is there anything too hard for God to do? By my word, I shall return to thee at this same time, as I live; and Sarah shall have a son.)

²³ And be ye born again, not of corruptible seed, but [of] uncorruptible, by the word of living God, and dwelling into without end.

²⁴ For each flesh is hay, and all the glory of it is as the flower of hay; the hay dried up, and his flower felled down^[a];

²⁵ but the word of the Lord dwelleth without end [into without end]. And this is the word, that is preached to you [Soothly this is the word, that is evangelized to you].