Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
By David.
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Who is there to fear?
The Lord is my life’s fortress.
Who is there to be afraid of?
2 Evildoers closed in on me to tear me to pieces.
My opponents and enemies stumbled and fell.
3 Even though an army sets up camp against me,
my heart will not be afraid.
Even though a war breaks out against me,
I will still have confidence ⌞in the Lord⌟.
4 I have asked one thing from the Lord.
This I will seek:
to remain in the Lord’s house all the days of my life
in order to gaze at the Lord’s beauty
and to search for an answer in his temple.
5 He hides me in his shelter when there is trouble.
He keeps me hidden in his tent.
He sets me high on a rock.
6 Now my head will be raised above my enemies who surround me.
I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy in his tent.
I will sing and make music to praise the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud.
Have pity on me, and answer me.
8 ⌞When you said,⌟
“Seek my face,”
my heart said to you,
“O Lord, I will seek your face.” [a]
9 Do not hide your face from me.
Do not angrily turn me away.
You have been my help.
Do not leave me!
Do not abandon me, O God, my savior!
10 Even if my father and mother abandon me, the Lord will take care of me.
11 Teach me your way, O Lord.
Lead me on a level path
because I have enemies who spy on me.
12 Do not surrender me to the will of my opponents.
False witnesses have risen against me.
They breathe out violence.
13 I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord
in this world of the living.
14 Wait with hope for the Lord.
Be strong, and let your heart be courageous.
Yes, wait with hope for the Lord.
Abram and Lot Separate
13 Abram left Egypt with his wife and everything he had and went to the Negev. Lot was with him. 2 Abram was very rich because he had livestock, silver, and gold. 3 He traveled from place to place. He went from the Negev as far as Bethel, to the area between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been originally, 4 where he had first made an altar. There Abram worshiped the Lord.
5 Lot, who had been traveling with Abram, also had his own sheep, cattle, and tents. 6 There wasn’t enough pastureland for both of them. They had so many possessions that they were unable to remain together. 7 Quarrels broke out between Abram’s herders and Lot’s herders. (Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in that area.)
The Lord’s Third Promise to Abram
14 After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look north, south, east, and west of where you are. 15 I will give all the land you see to you and to your descendants for an indefinite period of time. 16 I will also give you as many descendants as the dust of the earth. If anyone could count the dust of the earth, then he could also count your descendants. 17 Go! Walk back and forth across the entire land because I will give it to you.” 18 So Abram moved his tents and went to live by the oak trees belonging to Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar for the Lord.
2 Beware of dogs! Beware of those who do evil things. Beware of those who insist on circumcision. 3 We are the ⌞true⌟ circumcised people ⌞of God⌟ because we serve God’s Spirit and take pride in Christ Jesus. We don’t place any confidence in physical things, 4 although I could have confidence in my physical qualifications. If anyone else thinks that he can trust in something physical, I can claim even more. 5 I was circumcised on the eighth day. I’m a descendant of Israel. I’m from the tribe of Benjamin. I’m a pure-blooded Hebrew. When it comes to following Jewish laws, I was a Pharisee. 6 When it comes to being enthusiastic, I was a persecutor of the church. When it comes to winning God’s approval by obeying Jewish laws, I was perfect.
7 These things that I once considered valuable, I now consider worthless for Christ. 8 It’s far more than that! I consider everything else worthless because I’m much better off knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. It’s because of him that I think of everything as worthless. I threw it all away in order to gain Christ 9 and to have a relationship with him. This means that I didn’t receive God’s approval by obeying his laws. The opposite is true! I have God’s approval through faith in Christ. This is the approval that comes from God and is based on faith 10 that knows Christ. Faith knows the power that his coming back to life gives and what it means to share his suffering. In this way I’m becoming like him in his death, 11 with the confidence that I’ll come back to life from the dead.
12 It’s not that I’ve already reached the goal or have already completed the course. But I run to win that which Jesus Christ has already won for me.
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.