Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Praise for the Lord’s Kindness
113 Praise the Lord!
Praise him, you servants of the Lord;
praise the name of the Lord.
2 The Lord’s name should be praised
now and forever.
3 The Lord’s name should be praised
from where the sun rises to where it sets.
4 The Lord is supreme over all the nations;
his glory reaches to the skies.
5 No one is like the Lord our God,
who rules from heaven,
6 who bends down to look
at the skies and the earth.
7 The Lord lifts the poor from the dirt
and takes the helpless from the ashes.
8 He seats them with princes,
the princes of his people.
9 He gives children to the woman who has none
and makes her a happy mother.
Praise the Lord!
A Wife for Isaac
24 Abraham was now very old, and the Lord had blessed him in every way. 2 Abraham said to his oldest servant, who was in charge of everything he owned, “Put your hand under my leg.[a] 3 Make a promise to me before the Lord, the God of heaven and earth. Don’t get a wife for my son from the Canaanite girls who live around here. 4 Instead, go back to my country, to the land of my relatives, and get a wife for my son Isaac.”
5 The servant said to him, “What if this woman does not want to return with me to this land? Then, should I take your son with me back to your homeland?”
6 Abraham said to him, “No! Don’t take my son back there. 7 The Lord, the God of heaven, brought me from the home of my father and the land of my relatives. And he promised me, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’ The Lord will send his angel before you to help you get a wife for my son there. 8 If the girl won’t come back with you, you will be free from this promise. But you must not take my son back there.” 9 So the servant put his hand under his master’s leg and made a promise to Abraham about this.
10 The servant took ten of Abraham’s camels and left, carrying with him many different kinds of beautiful gifts. He went to Northwest Mesopotamia to Nahor’s city.
Rules for Living with Others
5 Do not speak angrily to an older man, but plead with him as if he were your father. Treat younger men like brothers, 2 older women like mothers, and younger women like sisters. Always treat them in a pure way.
3 Take care of widows who are truly widows. 4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to do their duty to their own family and to repay their parents or grandparents. That pleases God. 5 The true widow, who is all alone, puts her hope in God and continues to pray night and day for God’s help. 6 But the widow who uses her life to please herself is really dead while she is alive. 7 Tell the believers to do these things so that no one can criticize them. 8 Whoever does not care for his own relatives, especially his own family members, has turned against the faith and is worse than someone who does not believe in God.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.