Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Thanksgiving for Rescue from Death.

¹⁰ Then the servant took ten camels from the camels of his master, and went out with a variety of ^(A)good things of his master’s in his hand; so he set out and went to ^[a]Mesopotamia, to ^(B)the city of Nahor. ¹¹ He made the camels kneel down outside the city by ^(C)the well of water ^[b]when it was evening, ^(D)the time when women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “^(E)Lord, God of my master Abraham, please ^[c](F)grant me success today, and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, ^(G)I am standing by the ^[d]spring, 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 ^[e]who answers, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels also’—may she be the one whom You have appointed for Your servant Isaac; and by this I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

Rebekah Is Chosen

¹⁵ And it came about, ^(H)before he had finished speaking, that behold, ^(I)Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel the son of ^(J)Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, came out with her jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The young woman was ^(K)very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ^[f]had relations with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. ¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her, and said, “^(L)Please let me drink a little water from your jar.” ¹⁸ And ^(M)she said, “Drink, my lord”; then 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 also draw water for your camels until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ So she quickly emptied her jar into the trough, and ran back to the well to draw, and she drew for all his camels. ^21 (O)Meanwhile, the man was taking a close look at her ^[g]in silence, to find out whether the Lord had made his journey successful or not.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a ^(P)gold ring weighing a ^[h]half-shekel, and two bracelets for her ^[i]wrists weighing ten shekels in gold, ²³ and he said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room for us to stay overnight at your father’s house?” ²⁴ She said to him, “^(Q)I am the daughter of Bethuel, Milcah’s son, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ Again she said to him, “We have plenty of both straw and feed, and room to stay overnight.” ²⁶ Then the man ^(R)bowed low and worshiped the Lord. ²⁷ And he said, “^(S)Blessed be the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned ^(T)His kindness and His trustworthiness toward my master; as for me, ^(U)the Lord 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 When he saw the ring and the bracelets on his sister’s ^[j]wrists, and when he heard the words of his sister Rebekah, saying, “^[k]This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man; and behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring. ³¹ And he said, “^(X)Come in, ^(Y)blessed of the Lord! Why do you stand outside, since ^(Z)I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels?” ³² So the man entered the house. Then ^[l](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 But when food was set before him to eat, he said, “I will not eat until I have stated my business.” And he said, “Speak on.” ³⁴ So he said, “I am ^(AB)Abraham’s servant. ³⁵ The Lord has greatly ^(AC)blessed my master, so that he has become ^[m]rich; and He has given him ^(AD)flocks and herds, and silver and gold, and servants and slave women, and camels and donkeys. ³⁶ Now ^(AE)my master’s wife Sarah bore a son to my master ^[n]in her old age, and ^(AF)he has given him all that he has. ^37 (AG)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 live; ³⁸ but you shall go to my father’s house and to my relatives, and take a wife for my son.’ ³⁹ Then ^(AH)I said to my master, ‘Suppose the woman does not follow me.’ ⁴⁰ And he said to me, ‘^(AI)The Lord, before whom I have ^(AJ)walked, will send ^(AK)His angel with you to make your journey successful, and you will take a wife for my son from my relatives and from my father’s house; ^41 (AL)then you will be free from my oath, when you come to my relatives; and 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, ‘Lord, God of my master Abraham, if now You will make my journey on which I have been going ^(AN)successful; ⁴³ behold, ^(AO)I am standing by the ^[o]spring, and may it be that the ^[p]young unmarried woman who comes out to draw water, and to whom I say, “^(AP)Please let me drink a little water from your jar”; ⁴⁴ and she says to me, “You drink, and I will draw for your camels also”—let her be the woman whom the Lord has appointed for my master’s son.’

⁴⁵ “Before I had finished ^(AQ)speaking in my heart, behold, ^(AR)Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder, and went down to the spring and drew water, and ^(AS)I said to her, ‘Please let me drink.’ ⁴⁶ She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder, and said, ‘^(AT)Drink, and I will water your camels also’; so I drank, and she watered the camels also. ^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 ^[q]wrists. ⁴⁸ And I ^(AW)bowed low and worshiped the Lord, and blessed the Lord, the God of my master Abraham, ^(AX)who had guided me in the right way to take the daughter of my master’s brother for his son. ⁴⁹ So now if you are going to ^[r](AY)deal kindly and truthfully with my master, tell me; and if not, tell me now, so that I may turn to the right or the left.”

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

⁵² When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he ^(BB)bowed himself to the ground ^[s]before the Lord.

Followers of Tradition

7 ^(A)The Pharisees and some of the scribes *gathered to Him after they came ^(B)from Jerusalem, ² and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with ^[a](C)unholy hands, that is, unwashed. ³ (For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they ^[b]carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the ^(D)tradition of the elders; ⁴ and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they ^[c]completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the ^[d]washing of ^(E)cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) ⁵ And the Pharisees and the scribes *asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the ^(F)tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with ^[e](G)unholy hands?” ⁶ But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:

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

⁹ He was also saying to them, “You are experts 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)The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is ^[f]certainly to be put to death’; ¹¹ but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is ^(N)Corban (that is, ^[g]given to God),’ ¹² you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; ¹³ thereby invalidating the word of God by your ^(O)tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”