Legacy Standard Bible

Genesis 15 - 16

Yahweh Cuts a Covenant with Abram

15After these things athe word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, “bDo not fear, Abram,I am ca shield to you;1Your dreward shall be very great.”
2And Abram said, “O Lord Yahweh, what will You give me, as I go on being childless, and the 1heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” 3And Abram said, “1Since You have given no seed to me, behold, 2one aborn in my house is my heir.” 4Then behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, “This one will not be your heir; abut one who will come forth from your own 1body, he shall be your heir.” 5And He brought him outside and said, “Now look toward the heavens, and anumber the stars, if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “bSo shall your seed be.” 6aThen he believed in Yahweh; and He counted it to him as righteousness. 7And He said to him, “I am Yahweh who brought you out of aUr of the Chaldeans, to bgive you this land to 1possess it.” 8And he said, “O Lord Yahweh, ahow may I know that I will 1possess it?” 9So He said to him, “1Bring Me a three year old heifer, and a three year old female goat, and a three year old ram, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” 10Then he 1brought all these to Him and asplit them into parts 2down the middle and laid each part opposite the other; but he bdid not split apart the birds. 11Then the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
12Now it happened that when the sun was going down, aa deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, 1terror and great darkness fell upon him. 13Then God said to Abram, “Know for certain that ayour seed will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, 1and bthey will be enslaved and mistreated cfour hundred years. 14“But I will also judge the nation to whom they are enslaved, and afterward they will come out awith 1many possessions. 15“As for you, ayou shall go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16“Then in athe fourth generation they will return here, for bthe iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete.”
17Now it happened that the sun had set, and it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which apassed between these pieces. 18On that day Yahweh cut a covenant with Abram, saying, “aTo your seed I have given this land,From bthe river of Egypt as far as the great river, the river Euphrates:
19athe Kenite and the Kenizzite and the Kadmonite 20and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Rephaim 21and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Girgashite and the Jebusite.”

Sarai and Hagar

16Now aSarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children, and she had ban Egyptian servant-woman whose name was Hagar. 2So Sarai said to Abram, “Now behold, Yahweh has shut my womb from bearing children. aPlease go in to my servant-woman; perhaps I will 1obtain children through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3And after Abram had 1lived aten years in the land of Canaan, Abram’s wife Sarai took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant-woman, and gave her to her husband Abram as his wife. 4So he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. Then she saw that she had conceived, so her mistress became 1contemptible in her sight. 5And Sarai said to Abram, “aMay the violence done to me be upon you. I gave my servant-woman into your 1embrace, but she saw that she had conceived, so I became 2contemptible in her 3sight. bMay Yahweh judge between 4you and me.” 6But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant-woman is in your 1hand; do to her what is good in your 2sight.” So Sarai afflicted her, and ashe fled from her presence.
7Now athe angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to bShur. 8And he said, “Hagar, Sarai’s servant-woman, awhere have you come from and where are you going?” And she said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarai.” 9Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, “Return to your mistress and 1humble yourself under her hands.” 10Moreover, the aangel of Yahweh said to her, “bI will greatly multiply your seed so that 1they will be too many to be counted.” 11And the angel of Yahweh said to her further, “Behold, you 1are with child,And you will bear a son;And you shall call his name 2Ishmael,Because aYahweh has heard your affliction.
12“And he will be a awild donkey of a man,His hand will be against everyone,And everyone’s hand will be against him;And he will dwell 1,bin the face of all his brothers.”
13Then she called the name of Yahweh who spoke to her, “1You are 2a God who sees”; for she said, “aHave I even 3remained alive here after seeing Him?” 14Therefore the well was called 1Beer-lahai-roi; behold, it is between aKadesh and Bered.
15So Hagar bore Abram a son; and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. 16Now Abram was aeighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to 1him.

Matthew 12

Lord of the Sabbath

12aAt that 1time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples became hungry and began to bpick the heads of grain and eat. 2But when the Pharisees saw this, they said to Him, “Look, Your disciples do what ais not lawful to do on a Sabbath.” 3But He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he became hungry, he and his companions, 4how he entered the house of God, and athey ate the 1consecrated bread, which was not lawful for him to eat nor for those with him, but for the priests alone? 5“Or have you not read in the Law, that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple 1break the Sabbath and are innocent? 6“But I say to you that something agreater than the temple is here. 7“But if you had known what this 1means, ‘aI desire 2compassion, and not a sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8“For athe Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Jesus Heals a Man on the Sabbath

9aAnd departing from there, He went into their synagogue. 10And behold, a man was there whose hand was withered. And they questioned 1Jesus, saying, “aIs it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”—so that they might accuse Him. 11And He said to them, “aWhat man 1is there among you who has a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out? 12“aHow much more valuable then is a man than a sheep! So then, it is lawful to do 1good on the Sabbath.” 13Then He *said to the man, “Stretch out your hand!” aHe stretched it out, and it was restored to 1normal, like the other. 14But going out, the Pharisees atook counsel together against Him, as to how they might destroy Him.
15But Jesus, 1aware of this, withdrew from there. Many followed Him, and aHe healed them all, 16and awarned them not to make Him known, 17in order that what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, saying,
18“aBehold, My 1Servant whom I 2have chosen;bMy Beloved in whom My soul 3is well-pleased;cI will put My Spirit upon Him,dAnd He shall proclaim 4justice to the 5Gentiles.19“aHe will not quarrel, nor cry out;Nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets.20“aA battered reed He will not break off,And a smoldering wick He will not put out,Until He 1leads 2justice to victory.21“aAnd in His name the 1Gentiles will hope.”

A Kingdom Divided

22aThen a bdemon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to 1Jesus, and He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw. 23And all the crowds were astounded, and were saying, “Can this man really be the aSon of David?” 24But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “This man does not acast out demons except by 1Beelzebul the ruler of the demons.”
25aAnd bknowing their thoughts He said to them, “1Any kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and 2any city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26“And if aSatan casts out Satan, he 1is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand? 27“And if I aby 1Beelzebul cast out demons, bby whom do your sons cast them out? For this reason they will be your judges. 28“But aif I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. 29“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.

Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit

30“aHe who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters.
31“aTherefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven. 32“aAnd whoever 1speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever 2speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, either in bthis age or in the age to come.

The Heart Is Revealed by Words

33“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for athe tree is known by its fruit. 34“aYou brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak 1what is good? bFor the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. 35“aThe good man brings out of his good treasure 1what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure 2what is evil. 36“But I tell you that every 1careless word that people 2speak, they shall give an accounting for it in athe day of judgment. 37“For 1by your words you will be justified, and 2by your words you will be condemned.”

The Sign of Jonah

38Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered and said to Him, “Teacher, awe want to see 1a sign from You.” 39But He answered and said to them, “aAn evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for a sign; and yet no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah the prophet; 40for just as aJonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the sea monster, so will bthe Son of Man be cthree days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41“aThe men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment, and will condemn it because bthey repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, csomething greater than Jonah is here. 42“aThe Queen of the South will rise up with this generation at the judgment and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, bsomething greater than Solomon is here.
43“aNow when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. 44“Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. 45“Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and athe last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

46aWhile He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His bmother and cbrothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. 471Now someone said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.” 48But 1Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! 50“For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

Psalm 8

How Majestic Is Your Name

8
For the choir director. According to the Gittith. A Psalm of David.
O Yahweh, our Lord,How majestic is Your name in all the earth,Who 1,adisplays Your splendor above the heavens!2aFrom the mouth of infants and nursing babies You have established 1,bstrengthBecause of Your adversaries,To make cthe enemy and the revengeful cease.3When I asee bYour heavens, the work of Your fingers,The cmoon and the stars, which You have established;4aWhat is man that You remember him,And the son of man that You care for him?5Yet You have made him a alittle lower than the 1angels,And bYou crown him with cglory and majesty!6You make him to arule over the works of Your hands;You have bput all things under his feet,7All sheep and oxen,And also the animals of the field,8The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea,Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.9aO Yahweh, our Lord,How majestic is Your name in all the earth!