Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Obedience of Abram
12 Now the Lord said[a] to Abram,[b]
“Go out[c] from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household
to the land that I will show you.[d]
2 Then I will make you[e] into a great nation, and I will bless you,[f]
and I will make your name great,[g]
so that you will exemplify divine blessing.[h]
3 I will bless those who bless you,[i]
but the one who treats you lightly[j] I must curse,
so that all the families of the earth may receive blessing[k] through you.”
4 So Abram left,[l] just as the Lord had told him to do,[m] and Lot went with him. (Now[n] Abram was 75 years old[o] when he departed from Haran.) 5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew[p] Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired[q] in Haran, and they left for[r] the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.
6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree[s] of Moreh[t] at Shechem.[u] (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.)[v] 7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants[w] I will give this land.” So Abram[x] built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord.[y] 9 Abram continually journeyed by stages[z] down to the Negev.[aa]
Psalm 33[a]
33 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!
It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp.
Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument.
3 Sing to him a new song.[b]
Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him.[c]
4 For the Lord’s decrees[d] are just,[e]
and everything he does is fair.[f]
5 He promotes[g] equity and justice;
the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth.[h]
6 By the Lord’s decree[i] the heavens were made,
and by the breath[j] of his mouth all the starry hosts.
7 He piles up the water of the sea;[k]
he puts the oceans[l] in storehouses.
8 Let the whole earth fear[m] the Lord.
Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it[n] came into existence.
He issued the decree,[o] and it stood firm.
10 The Lord frustrates[p] the decisions of the nations;
he nullifies the plans[q] of the peoples.
11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;
his plans abide throughout the ages.[r]
12 How blessed[s] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession.[t]
13 For the promise[a] to Abraham or to his descendants that he would inherit the world was not fulfilled through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if they become heirs by the law, faith is empty and the promise is nullified.[b] 15 For the law brings wrath, because where there is no law there is no transgression[c] either. 16 For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace,[d] with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants—not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham,[e] who is the father of us all 17 (as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”).[f] He is our father[g] in the presence of God whom he believed—the God who[h] makes the dead alive and summons the things that do not yet exist as though they already do.[i] 18 Against hope Abraham[j] believed[k] in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations[l] according to the pronouncement,[m] “so will your descendants be.”[n] 19 Without being weak in faith, he considered[o] his own body as dead[p] (because he was about 100 years old) and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 20 He[q] did not waver in unbelief about the promise of God but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God. 21 He was[r] fully convinced that what God[s] promised he was also able to do. 22 So indeed it was credited to Abraham[t] as righteousness.
23 But the statement it was credited to him[u] was not written only for Abraham’s[v] sake, 24 but also for our sake, to whom it will be credited, those who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He[w] was given over[x] because of our transgressions and was raised for the sake of[y] our justification.[z]
The Call of Matthew; Eating with Sinners
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth.[a] “Follow me,” he said to him. So[b] he got up and followed him. 10 As[c] Jesus[d] was having a meal[e] in Matthew’s[f] house, many tax collectors[g] and sinners came and ate with Jesus and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees[h] saw this they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”[i] 12 When[j] Jesus heard this he said, “Those who are healthy don’t need a physician, but those who are sick do.[k] 13 Go and learn what this saying means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice.’[l] For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Restoration and Healing
18 As he was saying these things, a leader[a] came, bowed low before him, and said, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her and she will live.” 19 Jesus and his disciples got up and followed him. 20 But[b] a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage[c] for twelve years came up behind him and touched the edge[d] of his cloak.[e] 21 For she kept saying to herself,[f] “If only I touch his cloak, I will be healed.”[g] 22 But when Jesus turned and saw her he said, “Have courage, daughter! Your faith has made you well.”[h] And the woman was healed[i] from that hour. 23 When Jesus entered the leader’s house and saw the flute players[j] and the disorderly crowd, 24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead but asleep!” And they began making fun of him.[k] 25 But when the crowd had been forced outside,[l] he went in and gently took her by the hand, and the girl got up. 26 And the news of this spread throughout that region.[m]
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