Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Genesis 21:1-21 and Psalm 12

Genesis 21:1-21

[1]The LORD dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had promised. [2]Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. [3]Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. [4]And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. [5]Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. [6]Now Sarah said, "God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." [7]And she said, "Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

[8]The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. [9]But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. [10]So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac." [11]The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. [12]But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. [13]As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring." [14]So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

[15]When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. [16]Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. [17]And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. [18]Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." [19]Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

[20]God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. [21]He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

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Psalm 12

[1]   Help, O LORD, for there is no longer anyone who is godly;  
          the faithful have disappeared from humankind.  
[2]   They utter lies to each other;  
          with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.

[3]   May the LORD cut off all flattering lips,  
          the tongue that makes great boasts,  
[4]   those who say, "With our tongues we will prevail;  
          our lips are our own -- who is our master?"

[5]   "Because the poor are despoiled, because the needy groan,  
          I will now rise up," says the LORD;  
          "I will place them in the safety for which they long."  
[6]   The promises of the LORD are promises that are pure,  
          silver refined in a furnace on the ground,  
          purified seven times.

[7]   You, O LORD, will protect us;  
          you will guard us from this generation forever.  
[8]   On every side the wicked prowl,  
          as vileness is exalted among humankind.


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