Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
12 How can I repay the Lord
for all his acts of kindness to me?
13 I will celebrate my deliverance,[a]
and call on the name of the Lord.
14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people.
15 The Lord values
the lives of his faithful followers.[b]
16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your female servant.[c]
You saved me from death.[d]
17 I will present a thank offering to you,
and call on the name of the Lord.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people,
19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,
in your midst, O Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!
10 Then the servant took ten of his master’s camels and departed with all kinds of gifts from his master at his disposal.[a] He journeyed[b] to the region of Aram Naharaim[c] and the city of Nahor. 11 He made the camels kneel down by the well[d] outside the city. It was evening,[e] the time when the women would go out to draw water. 12 He prayed, “O Lord, God of my master Abraham, guide me today.[f] Be faithful[g] to my master Abraham. 13 Here I am, standing by the spring,[h] and the daughters of the people[i] who live in the town are coming out to draw water. 14 I will say to a young woman, ‘Please lower your jar so I may drink.’ May the one you have chosen for your servant Isaac reply, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’[j] In this way I will know that you have been faithful to my master.”[k]
15 Before he had finished praying, there came Rebekah[l] with her water jug on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milcah (Milcah was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor).[m] 16 Now the young woman was very beautiful. She was a virgin; no man had ever been physically intimate with her.[n] She went down to the spring, filled her jug, and came back up. 17 Abraham’s servant[o] ran to meet her and said, “Please give me a sip of water from your jug.” 18 “Drink, my lord,” she replied, and quickly lowering[p] her jug to her hands, she gave him a drink. 19 When she had done so,[q] she said, “I’ll draw water for your camels too, until they have drunk as much as they want.” 20 She quickly emptied[r] her jug into the watering trough and ran back to the well to draw more water until she had drawn enough for all his camels. 21 Silently the man watched her with interest to determine[s] if the Lord had made his journey successful[t] or not.
22 After the camels had finished drinking, the man took out a gold nose ring weighing a beka[u] and two gold wrist bracelets weighing ten shekels[v] and gave them to her.[w] 23 “Whose daughter are you?” he asked.[x] “Tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milcah, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.[y] 25 We have plenty of straw and feed,” she added,[z] “and room for you[aa] to spend the night.”
26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the Lord, 27 saying, “Praised be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his faithful love[ab] for my master! The Lord has led me[ac] to the house[ad] of my master’s relatives!”[ae]
28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household all about[af] these things. 29 (Now Rebekah had a brother named Laban.)[ag] Laban rushed out to meet the man at the spring. 30 When he saw the bracelets on his sister’s wrists and the nose ring[ah] and heard his sister Rebekah say,[ai] “This is what the man said to me,” he went out to meet the man. There he was, standing[aj] by the camels near the spring. 31 Laban said to him,[ak] “Come, you who are blessed by the Lord![al] Why are you standing out here when I have prepared[am] the house and a place for the camels?”
32 So Abraham’s servant[an] went to the house and unloaded[ao] the camels. Straw and feed were given[ap] to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet.[aq] 33 When food was served,[ar] he said, “I will not eat until I have said what I want to say.”[as] “Tell us,” Laban said.[at]
34 “I am the servant of Abraham,” he began. 35 “The Lord has richly blessed my master and he has become very wealthy.[au] The Lord[av] has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female servants, and camels and donkeys. 36 My master’s wife Sarah bore a son to him[aw] when she was old,[ax] and my master[ay] has given him everything he owns. 37 My master made me swear an oath. He said, ‘You must not acquire a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I am living, 38 but you must go to the family of my father and to my relatives to find[az] a wife for my son.’ 39 But I said to my master, ‘What if the woman does not want to go[ba] with me?’[bb] 40 He answered, ‘The Lord, before whom I have walked,[bc] will send his angel with you. He will make your journey a success and you will find a wife for my son from among my relatives, from my father’s family. 41 You will be free from your oath[bd] if you go to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from your oath.’ 42 When I came to the spring today, I prayed, ‘O Lord, God of my master Abraham, if you have decided to make my journey successful,[be] may events unfold as follows:[bf] 43 Here I am, standing by the spring.[bg] When[bh] the young woman goes out to draw water, I’ll say, “Please give me a little water to drink from your jug.” 44 Then she will reply to me, “Drink, and I’ll draw water for your camels too.” May that woman be the one whom the Lord has chosen for my master’s son.’
45 “Before I finished praying in my heart,[bi] along came Rebekah[bj] with her water jug on her shoulder! She went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ 46 She quickly lowered her jug from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I’ll give your camels water too.’ So I drank, and she also gave the camels water. 47 Then I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She replied, ‘The daughter of Bethuel the son of Nahor, whom Milcah bore to Nahor.’[bk] I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her wrists. 48 Then I bowed down and worshiped the Lord. I praised the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me on the right path to find the granddaughter[bl] of my master’s brother for his son. 49 Now, if you will show faithful love to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me as well, so that I may go on my way.”[bm]
50 Then Laban and Bethuel replied, “This is the Lord’s doing.[bn] Our wishes are of no concern.[bo] 51 Rebekah stands here before you. Take her and go so that she may become[bp] the wife of your master’s son, just as the Lord has decided.”[bq]
52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before the Lord.
Breaking Human Traditions
7 Now[a] the Pharisees[b] and some of the experts in the law[c] who came from Jerusalem gathered around him. 2 And they saw that some of Jesus’ disciples[d] ate their bread with unclean hands, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing,[e] holding fast to the tradition of the elders. 4 And when they come from the marketplace,[f] they do not eat unless they wash. They hold fast to many other traditions: the washing of cups, pots, kettles, and dining couches.[g])[h] 5 The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat[i] with unwashed hands?” 6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart[j] is far from me.
7 They worship me in vain,
teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’[k]
8 Having no regard[l] for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.”[m] 9 He also said to them, “You neatly reject the commandment of God in order to set up[n] your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’[o] and, ‘Whoever insults his father or mother must be put to death.’[p] 11 But you say that if anyone tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you would have received from me is corban’[q] (that is, a gift for God), 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify[r] the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like this.”
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