Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Chapter 2
1 [a]Then Hannah prayed and said,
“My heart rejoices in the Lord,
my horn is lifted high in the Lord.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I rejoice in my salvation.
2 There is no holy one like the Lord,
there is none beside you,
nor is there a rock like our God.
3 [b]Do not talk so proudly
nor let arrogance come forth from your mouth,
for the Lord is a knowing God,
and by him actions are weighed.
4 The bows of the mighty are broken,
the feeble are clothed in strength.
5 The well-fed hire themselves out for bread,
and the hungry cease to hunger.
The barren has borne seven times,
while she who has many children grows faint.
6 The Lord kills and brings to life.
He brings down to Sheol, and lifts up.
7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich,
he humbles and he also exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust,
and from the refuse he lifts up the beggar,
To seat them among princes,
that they might inherit a throne of glory.
For the Lord’s are the pillars of the earth,
and he has set the world upon them.
9 He will guard the feet of his saints,
but the wicked will be cut off in the darkness,
for by strength none shall prevail.
10 Those who oppose the Lord will be shattered,
he will thunder against them from the heavens,
the Lord will judge the ends of the earth,
He will give strength to his king,
and exalt the horn of his anointed one.”
Chapter 21
The Promised Son.[a] 1 The Lord visited Sarah, as he had said he would. The Lord fulfilled what he had promised to Sarah. 2 Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age at the very time that the Lord had established. 3 Abraham named the son whom Sarah bore Isaac. 4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him to do. 5 Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born.
6 Sarah said, “God has given me a reason to laugh out loud. All will smile because of me.” 7 She then said, “Who would have ever said to Abraham, ‘Sarah will nurse sons’? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Ishmael Is Sent Away.[b] 8 Isaac grew and was weaned. On the day that he was weaned, Abraham threw a great banquet. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, the one whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with[c] her son Isaac. 10 She said to Abraham, “Send this slave and her son away, for the son of this slave must not be an heir together with my son Isaac.”
11 This greatly distressed Abraham for he was concerned for his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not let this matter with your son and the slave woman distress you. Listen to what Sarah tells you. Listen to her voice, for it is through Isaac that descendants will bear your name. 13 But I will also make the son of the slave woman become a great nation, for he is your son.”
14 Abraham arose early in the morning and gave Hagar bread and a skin of water, placing them on her back. He entrusted the child to her and sent her away. They left and wandered in the desert of Beer-sheba.
15 When they used up all the water in the skin, she placed the child under a bush 16 and went and sat down opposite him, about the distance of a bowshot. She said, “I do not want to see the child die.” She sat opposite him and began to sob.
17 But God heard the voice of the child, and the angel of God called upon Hagar from the heavens and said, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not fear because God has heard the voice of the child from where he lies. 18 Get up, take the child, and hold him by the hand because I will make a great nation of him.”
19 God opened her eyes, and she was able to see a spring of water. She went over to it and filled the skin and gave the child some water to drink.
20 God was with the child, and he grew and lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 He lived in the desert of Paran, and his mother found him a wife in the land of Egypt.
21 Sarah and Hagar Foreshadow the Two Covenants.[a] And so tell me, you who are so eager to be subject to the Law: why do you not listen to the Law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by a slave woman and one by a free woman. 23 The son by the slave woman was born through the flesh. The son by the free woman was born through a promise.
24 Now this is an allegory. These women represent two covenants. One covenant is given on Mount Sinai and bears children who are born into slavery; this is Hagar. 25 Hagar stands for Sinai, a mountain in Arabia, and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, for she is in slavery together with her children. 26 However, the Jerusalem that is above is the free woman, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written,
“Rejoice, you barren woman
who never bore a child;
break forth in song and shout with joy,
you who never were in labor.
For more numerous are the children of the deserted wife
than the children of the one who has a husband.”
28 Now you, brethren, are, like Isaac, the children of the promise. 29 But just as in those days the child who was born through the flesh persecuted the child who was born through the Spirit, so is it now also. 30 However, what does Scripture say?
“Drive out the slave woman and her son!
For the son of the slave woman shall not share the inheritance
with the son of the free woman.”
31 Therefore, brethren, we are the children not of the slave woman but of the free woman.
There Is No Freedom Except in Christ[b]
Chapter 5
Faith Expressing Itself through Love. 1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free. Therefore, stand firm and refuse to submit again to the yoke of slavery.
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