Restore Our Fortunes, O Lord

A Song of ^mAscents.

The Birth of Isaac

1 The Lord ^kvisited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah ^las he had promised. 2 And Sarah ^mconceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age ⁿat the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, ^oIsaac.¹ 4 And Abraham ^pcircumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, ^qas God had commanded him. 5 ^rAbraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, ^s“God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.” 7 And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? ^tYet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

God Protects Hagar and Ishmael

8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah ^usaw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ^vlaughing.² 10 So she said to Abraham, ^w“Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.” 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, “Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for ^xthrough Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make ^ya nation of the son of the slave woman 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 in the wilderness of ^zBeersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put 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, “Let me not 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? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then ^aGod opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. 20 And God was with the boy, and he grew up. He lived in the wilderness ^band became an expert with the bow. 21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 ^pSend them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, ^q“You give them something to eat.” And ^rthey said to him, ^s“Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii¹ worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, ^t“Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he ^ulooked up to heaven and ^vsaid a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. 44 And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.

Jesus Walks on the Water

45 ^wImmediately he ^xmade his disciples get into ^ythe boat and go before him to the other side, ^zto Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. 46 And after he had taken leave of them, ^ahe went up on the mountain to pray. 47 And when ^bevening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. 48 And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about ^bthe fourth watch of the night² he came to them, walking on the sea. ^cHe meant to pass by them, 49 but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out, 50 for they all saw him and ^dwere terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, ^e“Take heart; it is I. ^eDo not be afraid.” 51 And he got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, 52 for ^fthey did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts ^gwere hardened.

Jesus Heals the Sick in Gennesaret

53 ^hWhen they had crossed over, they came to land at ⁱGennesaret and moored to the shore. 54 And when they got out of the boat, the people immediately ^jrecognized him 55 and ran about the whole region and began to bring ^kthe sick people ^lon their beds to wherever they heard he was. 56 And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or countryside, ^mthey laid the sick in the marketplaces and implored him that they might touch even ⁿthe fringe of his garment. And ^oas many as touched it were made well.