Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all the good he has done for me?
13 I will lift up the cup of salvation[a]
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows[b] to the Lord
in the presence of his people.
15 Precious in the eyes of the Lord
is the death[c] of his faithful ones.
16 O Lord, I am your servant.
I am your servant, the child of your handmaid;[d]
you have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
in the presence of all his people,
19 in the courts of the house of the Lord,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Alleluia.[e]
10 The servant took ten of his master’s camels along with all kinds of different precious objects and he set out and went to Aram-naharaim,[a] to the city of Nahor. 11 He rested the camels outside of the city, near the well, at evening time when the women would go out to draw water.
12 He said, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, grant me success today and be gracious to my master Abraham! 13 Behold, I am in front of the well and the young women of the town are coming out to draw water. 14 That young woman to whom I say, ‘Lower your jug and let me drink,’ and she responds, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels some water too,’ let her be the one you have chosen for Isaac, your servant. By this I will know that you have acted kindly to my master.”
15 He barely finished speaking when Rebekah, who was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with a jug on her shoulder. 16 The young woman was very pretty and a virgin, never having slept with a man. She went down to the well and filled her jug and came back up.
17 The servant hurried up to her and said, “Please give me some of the water from your jug.”
18 She answered, “Drink, my lord,” and quickly lowered the jug unto her hand and gave him some water to drink.
19 When she had finished letting him drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels as well, until they have finished drinking.” 20 She quickly emptied her jug in the water trough and ran off to draw more water from the well until all the camels had drunk from it. 21 The man watched in silence to see whether or not the Lord would grant success to this quest.
22 When the camels had finished drinking, he took a gold ring weighing half a shekel and fastened it to her nose, and he placed upon her wrists two golden bracelets that weighed ten shekels. 23 Then he said, “Whose daughter are you? Tell me. Do you have room in your house for us to pass the night?”
24 She answered, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son whom Milcah bore to Nahor.” 25 She added, “We have plenty of hay and forage and also a place where you can sleep tonight.”
26 The man knelt and bowed down to the Lord 27 and said, “Blessed be the Lord, God of my master Abraham, who has not ceased being generous and faithful to my master. As for me, the Lord has guided me along the way to the house of the brother of my master.”
28 The young woman ran and reported all these things to her mother’s household. 29 Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban, and Laban rushed out to the man at the well. 30 In fact, as soon as he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on the wrists of his sister and heard what Rebekah, his sister, said, “This is what that man told me,” he went to the man who was still standing alongside the camels at the well. 31 He said, “Come, blessed one of the Lord! Why are you still standing out here when I have already prepared the house for you and a place for your camels?”
32 The man went into the house while his camels were unloaded and given hay and forage. Water was brought to wash his feet and those of his men. 33 Then food was placed in front of him, but he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I must say.”
They answered, “Of course!”
34 He said, “I am the servant of Abraham. 35 The Lord has greatly blessed my master, and he has become powerful. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and donkeys. 36 Sarah, the wife of my master, gave birth to a son when he was already old, and he has given all his possessions to him. 37 My master has made me swear an oath. He said, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from among the daughters of the Canaanites among whom we live. 38 You must go to the house of my father, to my kin, to take a wife for my son.’ 39 I said to my master, ‘What if the woman will not follow me?’
40 “He answered, ‘The Lord, in whose presence I walk, will send an angel with you and will assure the success of your journey. In this way, you will be able to take a wife for my son from my kin and the house of my father. 41 By going to my kin you will have fulfilled your oath. If they do not give her to you, you will have fulfilled your oath.’
42 “And so today I arrived at the well and said, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you are going to grant success to this journey I am making, 43 since I am standing near the well, grant that when a young woman comes out to draw water and to whom I say, “Give me a little water from your jar to drink,” 44 and she answers, “Drink some, and I will draw water for your camels,” this will be the wife that the Lord has chosen for the son of my master.’
45 “I had not even finished thinking this when Rebekah came out with a jug on her shoulder. She went to the well and drew water. When I said to her, ‘Please give me some to drink,’ 46 she immediately lowered the jug and said, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels water to drink as well.’ I drank and she even gave my camels water to drink.
47 “I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’
“She answered, ‘I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah who bore a son to Nahor.’
“I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 48 Then I knelt and bowed down to the Lord and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me along the right path to find the daughter of the brother of my master to be the wife of my master’s son. 49 Now, if you intend to act kindly and loyally toward my master, let me know. If not, let me know as well, so that I may search elsewhere.”
50 Laban and Bethuel then answered, “This is from the Lord; there is nothing we can say. 51 Here is Rebekah; take her and go so that she may be the wife of the son of your master, just as the Lord has instructed you.”
52 When the servant of Abraham heard these words, he fell down to the earth before the Lord.
Chapter 7
Traditions That Falsify the Law of God.[a] 1 When the Pharisees, along with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem, gathered around Jesus, 2 they noted that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3 For the Pharisees, and in fact all Jews, do not eat without thoroughly washing their hands, thereby observing the tradition of the elders. 4 And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without first washing. In addition, there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and jugs and bronze kettles and tables.[b]
5 Therefore, the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders but eat with unclean hands?” 6 He answered, “How rightly Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me;
7 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 You thrust aside the commandment of God in order to preserve the traditions of men.”[c]
9 Then he said to them, “How cleverly you have set aside the commandment of God to preserve your own tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother will be put to death.’ 11 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother: “Anything I might have used for your support is Corban” ’[d] (that is, dedicated to God), 12 then he is forbidden by you from that very moment to do anything for his father or mother. 13 You nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other things just like that.”
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