Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

VAU

⁴¹ And let Your lovingkindness come to me, O LORD, and Your salvation, according to Your Promise.

⁴² So shall I answer to my blasphemers, for I trust in Your Word.

⁴³ And take not the Word of Truth utterly out of my mouth, for I await Your Judgments.

⁴⁴ So shall I always keep Your Law forever and ever.

⁴⁵ And I will walk in freedom, because I seek Your Precepts.

⁴⁶ I will speak also of Your Testimonies before kings and will not be ashamed.

⁴⁷ My delight will be in Your Commandments, which I have loved.

⁴⁸ My hands, also, will I lift to Your Commandments, which I have loved; and I will meditate on Your Statutes.

¹⁶ Afterward, the men rose up from there and looked toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to send them on their way.

¹⁷ And the LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do,

¹⁸ “seeing that Abraham shall indeed be a great and a mighty nation, and all the nations of the Earth shall be blessed in him?

¹⁹ “For I know him, that he will command his sons and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD: to do righteousness and judgment. So that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which He has spoken to him.”

²⁰ Then the LORD said, “Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is exceedingly grievous,

²¹ “I will go down now and see whether they have done entirely according to that cry which has come to Me. And if not, I will know.”

²² And the men turned from there and went toward Sodom. But Abraham still stood before the LORD.

²³ Then Abraham drew near, and said, “Will you also destroy the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴ “If there are fifty righteous within the city, will you destroy (and not spare the place) because of the fifty righteous that are therein?

²⁵ “Be it far from You from doing this thing—to slay the righteous with the wicked—and that the righteous should be even as the wicked. Be it far from You! Shall not the Judge of all the world do right?”

²⁶ And the LORD answered, “If I shall find fifty righteous within the city of Sodom, then will I spare all the place for their sakes.”

²⁷ Then Abraham answered and said, “Behold now, I have begun to speak to my Lord; and I am but dust and ashes.

²⁸ “If there shall be five less than fifty righteous, will You destroy all the city for five?” And He said, “If I find forty-five there, I will not destroy it.”

²⁹ And he spoke to Him yet again, and said, “What if there shall be found forty there?” Then He answered, “I will not do it for forty’s sake.”

³⁰ Again he said, “Do not let my Lord now be angry at what I speak. What if thirty are found there?” Then He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”

³¹ Moreover he said, “Behold now, I have begun to speak to my Lord. What if twenty are found there?” And He answered, “I will not destroy it for twenty’s sake.”

³² Then he said, “Do not let my Lord now be angry, and I will speak but once more. What if ten are found there?” And He answered, “I will not destroy it for ten’s sake.”

³³ And the LORD went His way when he had finished communing with Abraham. And Abraham returned to his place.

12 At that time, Jesus went through the corn on a Sabbath day. And His disciples were hungry and began to pluck the ears of corn and eat.

² And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, “Behold, Your disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath!”

³ But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and those who were with him were hungry?

⁴ “How he went into the house of God, and ate the showbread (which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests)?

⁵ “Or have you not read in the Law how that, on the Sabbath days, the priests in the Temple break the Sabbath and are blameless?

⁶ “But I say to you that here is One greater than the Temple.

⁷ “Therefore, if you knew what this meant, ‘I will have mercy and not sacrifice’, you would not have condemned the innocents.

⁸ “For the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.”