Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 116

¹ I love the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications.

² Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

¹² What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me? [How can I repay Him for all His bountiful dealings?]

¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation and deliverance and call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁴ I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people.

¹⁵ Precious (important and no light matter) in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints (His loving ones).

¹⁶ O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid; You have loosed my bonds.

¹⁷ I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call on the name of the Lord.

¹⁸ I will pay my vows to the Lord, yes, in the presence of all His people,

¹⁹ In the courts of the Lord’s house—in the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)

21 The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for her as He had promised.

² For Sarah became pregnant and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time God had told him.

³ Abraham ^[a]named his son whom Sarah bore to him Isaac [laughter].

⁴ And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.

⁵ Abraham was a hundred years old when Isaac was born.

⁶ And Sarah said, God has made me to laugh; all who hear will laugh with me.

⁷ And she said, Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children at the breast? For I have borne him a son in his old age!^(A)

3 So then, brethren, consecrated and set apart for God, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest Whom we confessed [as ours when we embraced the Christian faith].

² [See how] faithful He was to Him Who appointed Him [Apostle and High Priest], as Moses was also faithful in the whole house [of God].^(A)

³ Yet Jesus has been considered worthy of much greater honor and glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house [itself].

⁴ For [of course] every house is built and furnished by someone, but the Builder of all things and the Furnisher [of the entire equipment of all things] is God.

⁵ And Moses certainly was faithful in the administration of all God’s house [but it was only] as a ministering servant. [In his entire ministry he was but] a testimony to the things which were to be spoken [the revelations to be given afterward in Christ].^(B)

⁶ But Christ (the Messiah) was faithful over His [own Father’s] house as a Son [and Master of it]. And it is we who are [now members] of this house, if we hold fast and firm to the end our joyful and exultant confidence and sense of triumph in our hope [in Christ].