Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

I Love Yahweh

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and he went with all kinds of ^(A)good things of his master’s in his hand. So he arose and went to ^[a]Mesopotamia, to ^(B)the city of Nahor. ¹¹ And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by ^(C)the well of water at evening time, ^(D)the time when the women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “^(E)O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please ^(F)cause this to happen before me today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, ^(G)I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water; ¹⁴ now may it be that the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please let down your jar so that I may drink,’ and she says, ‘Drink, and I will give water to your camels to drink also’—may she be the one whom You have decided for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown lovingkindness to my master.”

Rebekah Goes with Abraham’s Servant

^15 (H)And before he had finished speaking, behold, ^(I)Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of ^(J)Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, was coming out with her jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ Now the young woman was ^(K)very beautiful in appearance, a virgin, and no man had ^[b]known her; and she went down to the spring and filled her jar and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “^(L)Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” ^18 (M)And she said, “Drink, my lord”; and she quickly lowered her jar to her hand and gave him a drink. ¹⁹ Now when she had finished giving him a drink, ^(N)she said, “I will draw also for your camels until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ So she hurried and emptied her jar into the watering channel and ran again to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. ^21 (O)Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her ^[c]in silence, to know whether Yahweh had made his journey successful or not.

²² Now it happened that when the camels had finished drinking, the man took a ^(P)gold ring weighing a ^[d]half-shekel and two bracelets for her ^[e]wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, ²³ and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there a place for us to lodge in your father’s house?” ²⁴ And she said to him, “^(Q)I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ And she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and a place to lodge in.” ²⁶ Then the man ^(R)bowed low and worshiped Yahweh. ²⁷ And he said, “^(S)Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken ^(T)His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, ^(U)Yahweh has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

²⁸ Then ^(V)the young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things. ²⁹ Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was ^(W)Laban; and Laban ran outside to the man at the spring. ³⁰ Now it happened, when he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s ^[f]wrists, and when he heard the words of Rebekah his sister, saying, “^[g]This is what the man said to me,” he came out to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹ And he said, “^(X)Come in, ^(Y)blessed of Yahweh! Why do you stand outside since ^(Z)I have prepared the house and a place for the camels?” ³² So the man came into the house. Then ^[h](AA)Laban unloaded the camels, and he gave straw and feed to the camels, and water to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him. ³³ Then food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have spoken my words.” And he said, “Speak!” ³⁴ So he said, “I am ^(AB)Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ And Yahweh has greatly ^(AC)blessed my master, so he has become great; and He has given him ^(AD)flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and male slaves and female slaves, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Now ^(AE)Sarah my master’s wife bore a son to my master ^[i]in her old age, and ^(AF)he has given him all that he has. ^37 (AG)And my master made me swear, saying, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I ^[j]live; ³⁸ but you shall go to my father’s house and to my family, and take a wife for my son.’ ^39 (AH)Then I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ ⁴⁰ And he said to me, ‘^(AI)Yahweh, before whom I have ^(AJ)walked, will send ^(AK)His angel with you and will make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house. ^41 (AL)Then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives. Now if they do not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’

⁴² “So ^(AM)I came today to the spring and said, ‘O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I go ^(AN)successful; ⁴³ behold, ^(AO)I am standing by the spring of water, and may it be that the ^[k]maiden who comes out to draw, and to whom I say, “^(AP)Please let me drink a little water from your jar”; ⁴⁴ and she will say to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”; she is the woman whom Yahweh has decided upon for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵ “Before I had finished ^(AQ)speaking in my heart, behold, ^(AR)Rebekah was coming out with her jar on her shoulder, and she went down to the spring and drew, and ^(AS)I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’ ⁴⁶ Then she hurried and lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘^(AT)Drink, and I will also give water to your camels to drink’; so I drank, and she also gave water to the camels to drink. ^47 (AU)Then I asked her and said, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ And she said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him’; and I put the ^(AV)ring on her nose and the bracelets on her ^[l]wrists. ⁴⁸ And I ^(AW)bowed low and worshiped Yahweh; and I blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, ^(AX)who had guided me in the true way to take the daughter of my master’s ^[m]relative for his son. ⁴⁹ So now if you are going to ^(AY)show lovingkindness and truth with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right or to the left.”

⁵⁰ Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, “^(AZ)The matter comes from Yahweh; ^(BA)so we cannot speak to you bad or good. ⁵¹ Behold, Rebekah is before you, take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as Yahweh has spoken.”

⁵² Now it happened that when Abraham’s servant heard their words, he ^(BB)bowed himself to the ground ^[n]before Yahweh.

God’s Commandments, Man’s Traditions

7 ^(A)And the Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered around Him when they had come ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^(C)defiled hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they ^[a]carefully wash their hands, thus observing the ^(D)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[b]wash themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of ^(E)cups and pitchers and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^(G)defiled hands?” ⁶ And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written:

⁸ Leaving the commandment of God, you hold to the ^(J)tradition of men.”

⁹ And He was also saying to them, “You are good at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your ^(K)tradition. ¹⁰ For Moses said, ‘^(L)Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘^(M)He who speaks evil of father or mother, is to ^[c]be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever you might benefit from me is ^(N)Corban (that is to say, ^[d]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer leave him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thus invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”