Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Shin

Tav

Who Is like Yahweh Our God?

¹¹ And he made the camels kneel down outside the city by ^(A)the well of water at evening time, ^(B)the time when the women go out to draw water. ¹² And he said, “^(C)O Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, please ^(D)cause this to happen before me today, and show lovingkindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ Behold, ^(E)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 (F)And before he had finished speaking, behold, ^(G)Rebekah who was born to Bethuel the son of ^(H)Milcah, the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor, was coming out with her jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ Now the young woman was ^(I)very beautiful in appearance, a virgin, and no man had ^[a]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, “^(J)Please give me a little water to drink from your jar.” ^18 (K)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, ^(L)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 (M)Meanwhile, the man was gazing at her ^[b]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 ^(N)gold ring weighing a ^[c]half-shekel and two bracelets for her ^[d]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, “^(O)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 ^(P)bowed low and worshiped Yahweh. ²⁷ And he said, “^(Q)Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken ^(R)His lovingkindness and His truth toward my master; as for me, ^(S)Yahweh has guided me in the way to the house of my master’s brothers.”

⁹ A widow is to be ^(A)put on the list only if she is not less than sixty years old, having been ^(B)the wife of one man, ¹⁰ having a reputation for ^(C)good works; if she has brought up children, if she has ^(D)shown hospitality to strangers, if she ^(E)has washed the ^[a]saints’ feet, if she has ^(F)assisted those in affliction, if she has devoted herself to every good work. ¹¹ But refuse to put younger widows on the list, for when they feel ^(G)sensual desires in disregard of Christ, they want to get married, ¹² thus incurring condemnation, because they have set aside their previous ^[b]pledge. ¹³ And at the same time they also learn to be idle, as they go around from house to house. And not merely idle, but also ^(H)gossips and ^(I)busybodies, talking about ^(J)things not proper to mention. ¹⁴ Therefore, I want younger widows to get ^(K)married, bear children, ^(L)keep house, and ^(M)give the enemy no opportunity for reviling, ¹⁵ for some ^(N)have already turned aside after ^(O)Satan. ¹⁶ If any believing woman ^(P)has widows, she must ^(Q)assist them and the church must not be burdened, so that it may assist those who are ^(R)widows indeed.