Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

To the Overcomer: Maschil, for the sons of Korah.

¹ ¶ As the hart pants after the water brooks, so does my soul pant after thee, O God.

² My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?

³ My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

⁴ I will remember these things; I will pour out my soul in me. When I shall be included in the number; I will go with them to the house of God with voice of joy and praise, dancing in the multitude.

⁵ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted against me? Wait thou for God, for I shall yet praise him for the wellbeing of his presence.

⁶ ¶ O my God, my soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the mountain of Mizar.

⁷ Deep calls unto deep at the voice of thy waterspouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

⁸ Yet the LORD will command his mercy in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

⁹ I will say unto God, My rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

¹⁰ It is as death in my bones when my enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

¹¹ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Wait thou for God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the saving health of my countenance and my God.

¹ ¶ Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against those who are not merciful; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.

² For thou art the God of my strength; why dost thou cast me off? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

³ O send out thy light and thy truth; let them lead me; let them bring me unto the mountain of thy holiness and to thy tabernacles.

⁴ Then I will enter in to the altar of God, unto the God of my exceeding joy; yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God.

⁵ Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Wait for God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the saving health of my countenance and my God.

24 ¶ And Abraham was old and well stricken in age, and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.

² And Abraham said unto his eldest slave of his house, who ruled over all that he had, Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh,

³ and I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of the heavens and the God of the earth, that thou shalt not take a wife unto my son of the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell;

⁴ but thou shalt go unto my country and to my kindred and take a wife unto my son Isaac.

⁵ And the slave said unto him, Peradventure the woman will not be willing to follow me unto this land, must I therefore bring thy son again unto the land from which thou didst come?

⁶ And Abraham said unto him, Beware that thou not bring my son there again.

⁷ The LORD God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my kindred and who spoke unto me and swore unto me, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land; he shall send his angel before thee, and thou shalt take a wife unto my son from there.

⁸ And if the woman will not be willing to follow thee, then thou shalt be free from this my oath; only do not bring my son there again.

⁹ Then the slave put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning that matter.

¹⁰ ¶ And the slave took ten camels of the camels of his master and departed with the best of what his master had in his hand; and he arose and went to Aram-naharaim, unto the city of Nahor.

¹¹ And he made his camels kneel down outside the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.

¹² And he said, O LORD, God of my master Abraham, I pray thee, to have a good encounter this day and show mercy unto my master Abraham.

¹³ Behold, I stand here by the fountain of water, and the daughters of the men of the city come out for water:

¹⁴ And let it come to pass that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down thy pitcher, I pray thee, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give thy camels to drink also; let the same be she that thou hast appointed for thy slave Isaac; and thereby shall I know that thou hast shown mercy unto my master.

¹⁵ And it came to pass before he had done speaking that, behold, Rebekah came out (who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother) with her pitcher upon her shoulder.

¹⁶ And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, whom no man had known; and she went down to the fountain and filled her pitcher and was coming back up.

¹⁷ Then the slave ran to meet her and said, Let me, I pray thee, drink a little water of thy pitcher.

¹⁸ And she said, Drink, my lord, and she hastened to let down her pitcher upon her hand and gave him drink.

¹⁹ And when she had finished giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for thy camels also until they have finished drinking.

²⁰ And she hastened and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water and drew for all his camels.

²¹ And the man marveled at her in silence, to see whether the LORD had prospered his journey or not.

¹⁷ ¶ Behold, thou doth call thyself a Jew and art supported by the law and doth glory in God

¹⁸ and dost know his will and approve the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the law,

¹⁹ and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of those who are in darkness,

²⁰ an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of children, who hast the form of knowledge and of the truth in the law.

²¹ Thou, therefore, who teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?

²² Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? Thou that dost abhor idols, dost thou commit sacrilege?

²³ Thou that makest thy boast of the law, with rebellion to the law doth thou dishonour God?

²⁴ For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles through you, as it is written.

²⁵ For circumcision verily profits if thou keep the law, but if thou art a rebel to the law, thy circumcision is made into a foreskin.

²⁶ Therefore if the uncircumcised keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his foreskin be counted for circumcision?

²⁷ And that which is by nature foreskin, but keeps the law perfectly, shall judge thee who with the letter and with the circumcision art rebellious to the law.

²⁸ For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is circumcision that which is done outwardly in the flesh;

²⁹ but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God.