Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

2 ¶ And Hannah prayed and said, My heart rejoices in the LORD, my horn is exalted in the LORD; my mouth is enlarged over my enemies because I have rejoiced in thy saving health.

² There is none holy as the LORD, for there is none beside thee; neither is there any strong One like our God.

³ Do not multiply thyself speaking great and lofty things; let arrogant words cease from your mouth, for the LORD is the all-knowing God, and the magnificent works are his.

⁴ The bows of the mighty men have been broken, and the weak are girded with strength.

⁵ Those that were full have hired themselves out for bread, and those that were hungry ceased so that the barren has given birth to seven, and she that has many children is waxed feeble.

⁶ The LORD kills, and he gives life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

⁷ The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and lifts up.

⁸ He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he has set the world upon them.

⁹ He keeps the feet of his saints, and the wicked perish in darkness, for no man shall prevail by their own strength.

¹⁰ LORD, thine adversaries shall be broken to pieces; out of heaven he shall thunder upon them. The LORD shall judge the ends of the earth, and he shall give strength unto his king and exalt the horn of his anointed. {Heb. Messiah}

21 ¶ And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did with Sarah as he had spoken.

² For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken to him.

³ And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.

⁴ And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old as God had commanded him.

⁵ And Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.

⁶ Then Sarah said, God has made me to laugh so that all that hear will laugh with me.

⁷ And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? For I have born him a son in his old age.

⁸ And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great banquet the day that Isaac was weaned.

⁹ ¶ And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had born unto Abraham, mocking.

¹⁰ Therefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.

¹¹ And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.

¹² Then God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah has said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called.

¹³ And also of the son of the bondwoman I will make a nation because he is thy seed.

¹⁴ ¶ So Abraham rose up early in the morning and took bread and a bottle of water and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child and sent her away; and she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵ And the water was spent in the bottle, and she cast the child under a tree.

¹⁶ And she went and sat her down over against him a good way off as it were a bowshot; for she said, Let me not see the death of the child. And she sat over against him and lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷ And God heard the voice of the lad, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said unto her, What ails thee, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the lad where he is.

¹⁸ Arise, lift up the lad and hold him in thy hand, for I will make him a great nation.

¹⁹ And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went and filled the bottle with water and gave the lad drink.

²⁰ And God was with the lad, and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer.

²¹ And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

²¹ ¶ Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, have ye not heard the law?

²² For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.

²³ But he who was of the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, but he of the freewoman was born through the promise.

²⁴ Which things are an allegory; for these women are the two covenants: the one from the Mount Sinai, which begat unto slavery, which is Hagar.

²⁵ For this Hagar or Sinai is a mount in Arabia, which corresponds to the one that is now Jerusalem, which together with her children is in slavery.

²⁶ But the Jerusalem of above is free, which is the mother of us all.

²⁷ For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth into praise and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate has many more children than she who has a husband.

²⁸ So that we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.

²⁹ But as then he that was born according to the flesh persecuted him that was born according to the Spirit, even so it is now.

³⁰ Nevertheless what does the scripture say? Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.

³¹ So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

5 ¶ Stand fast therefore in the liberty with which Christ has made us free and do not be entangled again with the yoke of slavery.