Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Sarai and Hagar

16 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had not borne him any children, and she had an Egyptian maid whose name was Hagar. ² So Sarai said to Abram, “See here, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. I am asking you to go in to [the bed of] my maid [so that she may bear you a child]; perhaps I will ^[a]obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to Sarai and did as she said. ³ After Abram had lived in the land of Canaan ten years, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian [maid], and gave her to her husband Abram to be his [secondary] wife. ⁴ He went in to [the bed of] Hagar, and she conceived; and when she realized that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress [regarding Sarai as insignificant because of her infertility]. ⁵ Then Sarai said to Abram, “May [the responsibility for] the wrong done to me [by the arrogant behavior of Hagar] be upon you. I gave my maid into your arms, and when she realized that she had conceived, I was despised and looked on with disrespect. May the Lord judge [who has done right] between you and me.” ⁶ But Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your maid is entirely in your hands and subject to your authority; do as you please with her.” So Sarai treated her harshly and humiliated her, and Hagar fled from her.

⁷ But ^[b]the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur. ⁸ And He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s maid, where did you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am running away from my mistress Sarai.” ⁹ The Angel of the Lord said to her, “Go back to your mistress, and submit ^[c]humbly to her authority.” ¹⁰ Then the Angel of the Lord said to her, “I will greatly multiply your descendants so that they will be too many to count.” ¹¹ The Angel of the Lord continued,

¹³ Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You are ^[d]God Who Sees”; for she said, “Have I not even here [in the wilderness] remained alive after ^[e]seeing Him [who sees me with understanding and compassion]?” ¹⁴ Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi (Well of the Living One Who Sees Me); it is ^[f]between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵ So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, ^[g]Ishmael (God hears).

Message to Ephesus

2 “To the angel (divine messenger) of the church in ^[a]Ephesus write:

“These are the words of the One who holds [firmly] the seven stars [which are the angels or messengers of the seven churches] in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands (the seven churches):

² ‘I know ^[b]your deeds and your toil, and your patient endurance, and that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, and have tested and critically appraised those who call themselves apostles (special messengers, personally chosen representatives, of Christ), and [in fact] are not, and have found them to be liars and impostors; ³ and [I know that] you [who believe] are enduring patiently and are bearing up for My name’s sake, and that you have not grown weary [of being faithful to the truth]. ⁴ But I have this [charge] against you, that you have left your first love [you have lost the depth of love that you first had for Me]. ⁵ So remember the heights from which you have fallen, and repent [change your inner self—your old way of thinking, your sinful behavior—seek God’s will] and do the works you did at first [when you first knew Me]; otherwise, I will visit you and remove your lampstand (the church, its impact) from its place—unless you repent. ⁶ Yet you have this [to your credit], that you hate the works and corrupt teachings of the ^[c]Nicolaitans [that mislead and delude the people], which I also hate. ⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear and heed what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who ^[d]overcomes [the world through believing that Jesus is the Son of God], I will grant [the privilege] to eat [the fruit] from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.’^(A)