Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Prayer of Hannah
2 Hannah prayed, saying:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
my horn is exalted in the Lord.
My mouth is bold against my enemies,
because I rejoice in Your salvation.
2 “There is none holy as the Lord,
for there is none besides You,
and there is no rock like our God.
3 “Do not multiply proud speech,
nor let arrogance come out of your mouth,
for the Lord is the God of knowledge,
and by Him actions are examined.
4 “The bows of the mighty are broken,
but those who stumbled are girded with strength.
5 Those that were full have hired out themselves for bread,
and those that were hungry ceased to hunger.
Even the barren has borne seven,
and she that has many children wastes away.
6 “The Lord kills and makes alive;
He brings down to the grave and brings 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 oppressed from the dunghill
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a throne of glory.
“For the pillars of the earth belong to the Lord,
and He has set the world upon them.
9 He will guard the feet of His saints,
but the wicked will be silent in darkness.
“For by strength shall no man prevail.
10 The adversaries of the Lord will be broken to pieces;
He will thunder against them out of heaven.
The Lord will judge the ends of the earth.
“He will give strength to His king
and exalt the horn of His anointed.”
The Birth of Isaac
21 The Lord visited Sarah as He had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as He had spoken. 2 For Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time that God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac. 4 Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Now Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
6 And Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. All who hear will laugh with me.” 7 Also she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Hagar and Ishmael Depart
8 So the child grew and was weaned. Then Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. 9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. 10 Therefore she said to Abraham, “Throw out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son, Isaac.”
11 This matter was very displeasing in Abraham’s sight because of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset concerning the boy and your slave wife. Whatever Sarah has said to you, listen to what she says, for in Isaac your descendants will be called. 13 Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the slave woman, because he is your offspring.”
14 So Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and sent her away with the child. So she departed and wandered in the Wilderness of Beersheba.
15 When the water in the skin was gone, she placed the child under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down across from him at a distance of about a bowshot, for she said to herself, “Let me not see the death of the child.” She sat across from him, and lifted up her voice and wept.
17 And God heard the boy’s voice. Then the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Arise, pick up the boy and hold him in your hands, for I will make him a great nation.”
19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy; and he grew and lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He lived in the Wilderness of Paran, and his mother found a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.
The Allegory of Hagar and Sarah
21 Tell me, you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a slave woman, the other by a free woman. 23 But he who was of the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but he of the free woman through the promise.
24 These things are an allegory, for these are the two covenants. The one is from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to bondage; she is Hagar. 25 Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and represents the present Jerusalem, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem which is above is free, which is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, barren woman
who does not bear;
break forth and shout,
you who have no labor pains!
For the desolate has many more children
than she who has a husband.”[a]
28 Now we, brothers, like Isaac, are the children of promise. 29 But as it was then, he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after the Spirit, so it is now also. 30 Nevertheless what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman.”[b] 31 So then, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman.
5 For freedom Christ freed us. Stand fast therefore and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.