Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 17[a]
A prayer of David.
17 Lord, consider my just cause.[b]
Pay attention to my cry for help.
Listen to the prayer
I sincerely offer.[c]
2 Make a just decision on my behalf.[d]
Decide what is right.[e]
3 You have scrutinized my inner motives;[f]
you have examined me during the night.[g]
You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin.
I am determined I will say nothing sinful.[h]
4 As for the actions of people[i]—
just as you have commanded,
I have not followed in the footsteps of violent men.[j]
5 I carefully obey your commands;[k]
I do not deviate from them.[l]
6 I call to you because you will answer me, O God.
Listen to me![m]
Hear what I say![n]
7 Accomplish awesome, faithful deeds,[o]
you who powerfully deliver those who look to you for protection from their enemies.[p]
22 Three days later Laban discovered Jacob had left.[a] 23 So he took his relatives[b] with him and pursued Jacob[c] for seven days.[d] He caught up with[e] him in the hill country of Gilead. 24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and warned him,[f] “Be careful[g] that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.”[h]
25 Laban overtook Jacob, and when Jacob pitched his tent in the hill country of Gilead, Laban and his relatives set up camp there too.[i] 26 “What have you done?” Laban demanded of Jacob. “You’ve deceived me[j] and carried away my daughters as if they were captives of war![k] 27 Why did you run away secretly[l] and deceive me?[m] Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps?[n] 28 You didn’t even allow me to kiss my daughters and my grandchildren[o] goodbye. You have acted foolishly! 29 I have the power[p] to do you harm, but the God of your father told me last night, ‘Be careful[q] that you neither bless nor curse Jacob.’[r] 30 Now I understand that[s] you have gone away[t] because you longed desperately[u] for your father’s house. Yet why did you steal my gods?”[v]
31 “I left secretly because I was afraid!”[w] Jacob replied to Laban. “I thought[x] you might take your daughters away from me by force.[y] 32 Whoever has taken your gods will be put to death![z] In the presence of our relatives[aa] identify whatever is yours and take it.”[ab] (Now Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.)[ac]
33 So Laban entered Jacob’s tent, and Leah’s tent, and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find the idols.[ad] Then he left Leah’s tent and entered Rachel’s.[ae] 34 (Now Rachel had taken the idols and put them inside her camel’s saddle[af] and sat on them.)[ag] Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them.[ah] 35 Rachel[ai] said to her father, “Don’t be angry,[aj] my lord. I cannot stand up[ak] in your presence because I am having my period.”[al] So he searched thoroughly,[am] but did not find the idols.
36 Jacob became angry[an] and argued with Laban. “What did I do wrong?” he demanded of Laban.[ao] “What sin of mine prompted you to chase after me in hot pursuit?[ap] 37 When you searched through all my goods, did you find anything that belonged to you?[aq] Set it here before my relatives and yours,[ar] and let them settle the dispute between the two of us![as]
38 “I have been with you for the past twenty years. Your ewes and female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. 39 Animals torn by wild beasts I never brought to you; I always absorbed the loss myself.[at] You always made me pay for every missing animal,[au] whether it was taken by day or at night. 40 I was consumed by scorching heat[av] during the day and by piercing cold[aw] at night, and I went without sleep.[ax] 41 This was my lot[ay] for twenty years in your house: I worked like a slave[az] for you—fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flocks—but you changed my wages ten times! 42 If the God of my father—the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears[ba]—had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked,[bb] and he rebuked you last night.”
Paul’s Desire to Visit Rome
8 First of all,[a] I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world. 9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel[b] of his Son, is my witness that[c] I continually remember you 10 and I always ask[d] in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God.[e] 11 For I long to see you, so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift[f] to strengthen you, 12 that is, that we may be mutually comforted by one another’s faith,[g] both yours and mine. 13 I do not want you to be unaware,[h] brothers and sisters,[i] that I often intended to come to you (and was prevented until now), so that I may have some fruit even among you, just as I already have among the rest of the Gentiles.[j] 14 I am a debtor[k] both to the Greeks and to the barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. 15 Thus I am eager[l] also to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome.
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