The Steadfast Love of the Lord
1 hShout for joy in the Lord, O you righteous!
iPraise befits the upright.
2 Give thanks to the Lord with the jlyre;
make melody to him with jthe harp of kten strings!
3 Sing to him la new song;
play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts.
4 For the word of the Lord is upright,
and all his work is done in mfaithfulness.
5 He nloves righteousness and justice;
othe earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord.
6 By pthe word of the Lord the heavens were made,
and by qthe breath of his mouth all rtheir host.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea as sa heap;
he tputs the deeps in storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him!
9 For uhe spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
10 The Lord vbrings the counsel of the nations to nothing;
he frustrates the plans of the peoples.
11 wThe counsel of the Lord stands forever,
the plans of his heart to all generations.
12 xBlessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has ychosen as his heritage!
The Call of Abram
1 Now mthe Lord said1 to Abram, “Go from your country2 and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 nAnd I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 oI will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and pin you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”3
4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from qHaran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram rpassed through the land to the place at Shechem, to sthe oak4 of tMoreh. At that time uthe Canaanites were in the land. 7 Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, v“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. 8 From there he moved to the hill country on the east of wBethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. 9 And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.
Jesus Calls Matthew
9 eAs Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called fMatthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
10 And as Jesus1 reclined at table in the house, behold, many gtax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, h“Why does your teacher eat with gtax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 Go and learn iwhat this means: j‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For kI came not to call the righteous, lbut sinners.”
A Girl Restored to Life and a Woman Healed
18 tWhile he was saying these things to them, behold, a ruler came in and uknelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.” 19 And Jesus rose and followed him, with his disciples. 20 And behold, a woman vwho had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched wthe fringe of his garment, 21 for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” 22 Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, x“Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” yAnd instantly1 the woman was made well. 23 And when Jesus came to the ruler’s house and saw zthe flute players and the crowd making a commotion, 24 he said, “Go away, for athe girl is not dead but bsleeping.” And they laughed at him. 25 But cwhen the crowd had been put outside, he went in and dtook her by the hand, and the girl arose. 26 And the report of this went through all that district.
The Promise Realized Through Faith
13 For ethe promise to Abraham and his offspring fthat he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 gFor if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For hthe law brings wrath, but iwhere there is no law jthere is no transgression.
16 That is why it depends on faith, kin order that the promise may rest on grace and lbe guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, mwho is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, n“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, owho gives life to the dead and calls into existence pthe things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, q“So shall your offspring be.” 19 He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was ras good as dead (ssince he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered tthe barrenness1 of Sarah’s womb. 20 No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, 21 fully convinced that uGod was able to do what he had promised. 22 That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” 23 But vthe words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be counted to us wwho believe in xhim who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, 25 ywho was delivered up for our trespasses and raised zfor our justification.
