Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 113
Praise to the Merciful God
1 Hallelujah!
Give praise, servants of Yahweh;
praise the name of Yahweh.(A)
2 Let the name of Yahweh be praised
both now and forever.(B)
3 From the rising of the sun to its setting,
let the name of Yahweh be praised.(C)
4 Yahweh is exalted above all the nations,(D)
His glory above the heavens.(E)
5 Who is like Yahweh our God—
the One enthroned on high,(F)
6 who stoops down to look
on the heavens and the earth?(G)
7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the garbage pile(H)
8 in order to seat them with nobles—
with the nobles of His people.(I)
9 He gives the childless woman a household,
making her the joyful mother of children.(J)
Hallelujah!
A Wife for Isaac
24 Abraham was now old, getting on in years,[a](A) and the Lord had blessed him in everything. 2 Abraham said to his servant, the elder of his household who managed all he owned, “Place your hand under my thigh,(B) 3 and I will have you swear by the Lord, God of heaven and God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live,(C) 4 but will go to my land and my family to take a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant said to him, “Suppose the woman is unwilling to follow me to this land? Should I have your son go back to the land you came from?”
6 Abraham answered him, “Make sure that you don’t take my son back there. 7 The Lord, the God of heaven,(D) who took me from my father’s house and from my native land,(E) who spoke to me and swore to me, ‘I will give this land to your offspring’(F)—He will send His angel before you,(G) and you can take a wife for my son from there. 8 If the woman is unwilling to follow you, then you are free from this oath to me,(H) but don’t let my son go back there.” 9 So the servant placed his hand under his master Abraham’s thigh and swore an oath to him concerning this matter.
10 The servant took 10 of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of his master’s goods in hand. Then he set out for Nahor’s town Aram-naharaim.
5 Do not rebuke an older man, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, and with all propriety, the younger women as sisters.
The Support of Widows
3 Support[a] widows(A) who are genuinely widows. 4 But if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must learn to practice godliness toward their own family first and to repay their parents, for this pleases God. 5 The real widow, left all alone, has put her hope in God(B) and continues night and day in her petitions and prayers; 6 however, she who is self-indulgent is dead even while she lives.(C) 7 Command this also, so they won’t be blamed. 8 But if anyone does not provide(D) for his own, that is his own household, he has denied the faith(E) and is worse than an unbeliever.
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