Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 17[a]
Prayer for Rescue from Persecutors
1 A prayer of David.
I
Hear, Lord, my plea for justice;
pay heed to my cry;
Listen to my prayer
from lips without guile.
2 From you let my vindication come;
your eyes see what is right.
3 You have tested my heart,
searched it in the night.(A)
You have tried me by fire,
but find no malice in me.
My mouth has not transgressed
4 as others often do.
As your lips have instructed me,
I have kept from the way of the lawless.
5 My steps have kept to your paths;
my feet have not faltered.(B)
II
6 I call upon you; answer me, O God.
Turn your ear to me; hear my speech.
7 Show your wonderful mercy,
you who deliver with your right arm
those who seek refuge from their foes.
15 I am just—let me see your face;
when I awake, let me be filled with your presence.(A)
Chapter 31
Flight from Laban. 1 [a]Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father, and he has produced all this wealth from our father’s property.” 2 Jacob perceived, too, that Laban’s attitude toward him was not what it had previously been. 3 Then the Lord said to Jacob: Return to the land of your ancestors, where you were born, and I will be with you.(A)
4 So Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to meet him in the field where his flock was. 5 There he said to them: “I have noticed that your father’s attitude toward me is not as it was in the past; but the God of my father has been with me. 6 You know well that with all my strength I served your father; 7 yet your father cheated me and changed my wages ten times. God, however, did not let him do me any harm.(B) 8 Whenever your father said, ‘The speckled animals will be your wages,’ the entire flock would bear speckled young; whenever he said, ‘The streaked animals will be your wages,’ the entire flock would bear streaked young. 9 So God took away your father’s livestock and gave it to me. 10 Once, during the flock’s mating season, I had a dream in which I saw he-goats mating that were streaked, speckled and mottled. 11 In the dream God’s angel said to me, ‘Jacob!’ and I replied, ‘Here I am!’ 12 Then he said: ‘Look up and see. All the he-goats that are mating are streaked, speckled and mottled, for I have seen all the things that Laban has been doing to you. 13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a sacred pillar and made a vow to me. Get up now! Leave this land and return to the land of your birth.’”(C)
14 Rachel and Leah answered him: “Do we still have an heir’s portion in our father’s house? 15 Are we not regarded by him as outsiders?[b] He not only sold us; he has even used up the money that he got for us! 16 All the wealth that God took away from our father really belongs to us and our children. So do whatever God has told you.”(D) 17 Jacob proceeded to put his children and wives on camels, 18 and he drove off all his livestock and all the property he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
19 Now Laban was away shearing his sheep, and Rachel had stolen her father’s household images.[c](E) 20 Jacob had hoodwinked[d] Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was going to flee. 21 Thus he fled with all that he had. Once he was across the Euphrates, he headed for the hill country of Gilead.
The Answer to Prayers. 7 (A)“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.(B) 8 For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.(C) 9 Which one of you would hand his son a stone when he asks for a loaf of bread,[a] 10 or a snake when he asks for a fish? 11 If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good things to those who ask him.(D)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.