Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Hannah Exalts the Lord in Prayer
2 Hannah prayed,[a]
“My heart has rejoiced[b] in the Lord;
my horn[c] has been raised high because of the Lord.
I have loudly denounced[d] my enemies.
Indeed I rejoice in your deliverance.
2 No one is holy[e] like the Lord!
There is no one other than you!
There is no rock[f] like our God!
3 Don’t keep speaking[g] so arrogantly.[h]
Proud talk should not[i] come out of your mouth,
for the Lord is a God who knows;
he[j] evaluates what people do.
4 The bows of warriors are shattered,
but those who stumbled have taken on strength.[k]
5 The well fed hire themselves out to earn food,
but the hungry no longer lack.[l]
Even[m] the barren woman has given birth to seven,[n]
but the one with many children has declined.[o]
6 The Lord both kills and gives life;
he brings down to the grave[p] and raises up.[q]
7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;
he humbles and he exalts.
8 He lifts the weak[r] from the dust;
he raises[s] the poor from the ash heap
to seat them with princes—
he bestows on them an honored position.[t]
The foundations of the earth belong to the Lord—
he placed the world on them.
9 He watches over[u] his holy ones,[v]
but the wicked are made speechless in the darkness,[w]
for it is not by one’s own[x] strength that one prevails.
10 The Lord shatters[y] his adversaries;[z]
he thunders against them from[aa] the heavens.
The Lord executes judgment to the ends of the earth.
He will strengthen[ab] his king
and exalt the power[ac] of his anointed one.”[ad]
The Birth of Isaac
21 The Lord visited[a] Sarah just as he had said he would and did[b] for Sarah what he had promised.[c] 2 So Sarah became pregnant[d] and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the appointed time that God had told him. 3 Abraham named his son—whom Sarah bore to him—Isaac.[e] 4 When his son Isaac was eight days old,[f] Abraham circumcised him just as God had commanded him to do.[g] 5 (Now Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.)[h]
6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh.[i] Everyone who hears about this[j] will laugh[k] with me.” 7 She went on to say,[l] “Who would[m] have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have given birth to a son for him in his old age!”
8 The child grew and was weaned. Abraham prepared[n] a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.[o] 9 But Sarah noticed[p] the son of Hagar the Egyptian—the son whom Hagar had borne to Abraham—mocking.[q] 10 So she said to Abraham, “Banish[r] that slave woman and her son, for the son of that slave woman will not be an heir along with my son Isaac!”
11 Sarah’s demand displeased Abraham greatly because Ishmael was his son.[s] 12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be upset[t] about the boy or your slave wife. Do[u] all that Sarah is telling[v] you because through Isaac your descendants will be counted.[w] 13 But I will also make the son of the slave wife into a great nation,[x] for he is your descendant too.”
14 Early in the morning Abraham took[y] some food[z] and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He put them on her shoulders, gave her the child,[aa] and sent her away. So she went wandering[ab] aimlessly through the wilderness[ac] of Beer Sheba. 15 When the water in the skin was gone, she shoved[ad] the child under one of the shrubs. 16 Then she went and sat down by herself across from him at quite a distance, about a bowshot,[ae] away; for she thought,[af] “I refuse to watch the child die.”[ag] So she sat across from him and wept uncontrollably.[ah]
17 But God heard the boy’s voice.[ai] The angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and asked her, “What is the matter,[aj] Hagar? Don’t be afraid, for God has heard[ak] the boy’s voice right where he is crying. 18 Get up! Help the boy up and hold him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God enabled Hagar to see a well of water.[al] She went over and filled the skin with water, and then gave the boy a drink.
20 God was with the boy as he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran.[am] His mother found a wife for him from the land of Egypt.[an]
An Appeal from Allegory
21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand the law?[a] 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the[b] slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 But one, the son by the slave woman, was born by natural descent,[c] while the other, the son by the free woman, was born through the promise. 24 These things may be treated as an allegory,[d] for these women represent two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar represents Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem above is free,[e] and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:
“Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children;[f]
break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains,
because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous
than those of the woman who has a husband.”[g]
28 But you,[h] brothers and sisters,[i] are children of the promise like Isaac. 29 But just as at that time the one born by natural descent[j] persecuted the one born according to the Spirit,[k] so it is now. 30 But what does the scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will not share the inheritance with the son”[l] of the free woman. 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters,[m] we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.
Freedom of the Believer
5 For freedom[n] Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke[o] of slavery.
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