Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise the Lord!^[a]

¹⁷ In that way, Abram won against Kedorlaomer and the kings with him. As Abram was returning home, the king of Sodom came out to meet him. They met in the Valley of Shaveh, which people call the King's Valley.

¹⁸ Melchizedek was the king of Salem, and he was a priest of the Most High God. He brought out bread and wine for Abram. ¹⁹ He blessed Abram. He said, ‘I pray that the Most High God who made heaven and earth will bless Abram. ²⁰ Praise the Most High God! He has given you power over your enemies.’

After that, Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth part of everything.^[a]

²¹ Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, ‘Give back to me all my people. Take everything else for yourself.’ ²² But Abram said to the king of Sodom, ‘I have made a strong promise to the Lord, the Most High God who made heaven and earth. ²³ I promised that I would not take anything that belonged to you. I will not take the smallest thing, not even a piece of string, or part of a shoe. Then you will never be able to say, “I made Abram become rich.” ²⁴ I myself will accept only the food that my young men have eaten. But Aner, Eshcol and Mamre went with me to help me to fight. They should take their part of the things that we brought back with us.’^[b]

Paul on the island of Malta

28 So then we were on the shore and we were all safe. We discovered that the island was called Malta. ² The people who lived on the island were very kind to us. Rain was falling and the weather was cold. So the people lit a fire and they helped all of us. ³ Paul picked up some small branches to put on the fire. When he did this, a dangerous snake came out from among the sticks. It had felt the heat from the fire. The snake bit Paul's hand and it held on to it. ⁴ The people who lived on the island saw the snake. They saw that it was hanging from Paul's hand. So they said to each other, ‘We know now that this man murdered someone. He did not die in the sea but now the snake will kill him. The god who punishes people for the bad things that they do will not let him live.’ ⁵ Then Paul waved his hand about so that the snake fell off into the fire. The snake had not hurt Paul in any way. ⁶ So the people watched Paul carefully. They thought that his body would become very sick. They thought that he might die suddenly. They waited for a long time. But they did not see anything bad happen to Paul. So then they thought something different about Paul. They said, ‘This man is certainly a god!’

⁷ There was an important officer who ruled the island. He was called Publius. He had some fields near to the shore where we had made the fire. He was very kind to us. He asked us to stay in his house. We stayed there for three days. ⁸ Publius's father was lying in bed because he was ill. His body was hot and he was very sick. Paul went into his room to see him. Paul prayed for him and he put his hands on the man's head. As a result, the man became well again. ⁹ After Paul did this, the other sick people on the island came to him. He caused them also to become well again. ¹⁰ The people gave us many gifts. Later, we got ready to leave the island on another ship. They gave us the things that we needed for the journey.