Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 113

¹¹ He made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water in the evening when the women came out to draw water.

¹² Then he said, “O Lord, the God of my master Abraham, please let me have success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham. ¹³ See, here I stand by the well of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water. ¹⁴ Let it be that the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please lower your pitcher, that I may drink,’ and she shall say, ‘Drink, and I will give your camels water also’—let her be the one that You have appointed for Your servant Isaac. Then I will know that You have shown kindness to my master.”

¹⁵ Before he had finished speaking, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milkah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother, came out with a pitcher on her shoulder. ¹⁶ The young woman was very beautiful to look at, a virgin, and no man had ever been with her. She went down to the well and filled her pitcher and came up.

¹⁷ Then the servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your pitcher.”

¹⁸ So she said, “Drink, my lord.” Then she quickly let down her pitcher to her hand and gave him a drink.

¹⁹ When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking.” ²⁰ Then she quickly emptied her pitcher into the trough and ran to the well to draw water and drew for all his camels. ²¹ The man, gazing at her, remained silent, trying to discern whether the Lord had made his journey a success or not.

²² When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose ring of half a shekel weight^[a] and two bracelets for her wrists of ten shekels weight^[b] in gold, ²³ and said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me, is there room in your father’s house for us to lodge?”

²⁴ She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel the son of Milkah, whom she bore to Nahor.” ²⁵ Again she said to him, “We have both straw and provision enough, and room in which to lodge.”

²⁶ Then the man bowed down his head and worshipped the Lord. ²⁷ And he said, “Blessed be the Lord God of my master Abraham, who has not forsaken His mercy and His truth toward my master. As for me, the Lord led me to the house of my master’s relatives.”

⁹ Do not let a widow be counted unless she is over sixty years old, has been the wife of one man, ¹⁰ is well attested in good works, if she has brought up children, has lodged strangers, has washed the saints’ feet, has relieved the afflicted, and has diligently followed every good work.

¹¹ But refuse the younger widows, for when their sensual desires have drawn them away from Christ, they want to marry, ¹² and bring judgment on themselves, because they have cast off their first pledge. ¹³ Besides that, they learn to be idle, and not only idle, wandering around from house to house, but also gossips and busybodies, saying what they ought not. ¹⁴ Therefore I desire that the younger women marry, bear children, manage the house, and give no occasion to the adversary to speak reproachfully. ¹⁵ For some have already turned aside after Satan.

¹⁶ If any believing man or woman has widows, let those assist them. Do not let the church be charged, so that it may relieve those who are widows indeed.