Genesis 21 - 22, Matthew 15:29-16:28, Psalm 11

Isaac Is Born

21^aNow Yahweh visited Sarah as He had said, and Yahweh did for Sarah as He had ¹promised. ²^aSo Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at ^bthe appointed time of which God had spoken to him. ³And Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, ^aIsaac. ⁴Then Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was ^aeight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵Now Abraham was ^aone hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶And Sarah said, “God has made ^alaughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh ¹with me.” ⁷And she said, “^aWho would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”

Sarah Sends Hagar Away

⁸And the child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹And Sarah saw ^athe son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, ¹^,^blaughing in jest. ¹⁰Therefore she said to Abraham, “^aDrive out this maidservant and her son! The son of this maidservant shall not be an heir with my son, with Isaac.” ¹¹^aAnd the matter ¹distressed Abraham greatly because of his son. ¹²So God said to Abraham, “¹Do not be distressed because of the boy and your maidservant; whatever Sarah tells you, listen to her voice, for ^athrough Isaac your seed shall be named. ¹³“And of ^athe son of the maidservant I will make a nation also, because he is your seed.” ¹⁴So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a ¹skin of water and gave them to Hagar, putting them on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. So she went and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba.

¹⁵When the water in the skin was finished, she ¹put the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him, about a bowshot away, for she said, “Do not let me ¹see when the child dies.” And she sat opposite him and ^alifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷Then God ^aheard the voice of the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? ^bDo not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸“Arise, lift up the boy, and hold him by ¹the hand, ^afor I will make a great nation of him.” ¹⁹Then God ^aopened her eyes, and she saw ^ba well of water; and she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰^aAnd God was with the boy, and he grew; and he ¹lived in the wilderness and was an archer. ²¹^aAnd he ¹lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

A Covenant with Abimelech

²²Now it happened at that time, that ^aAbimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, spoke to Abraham, saying, “^bGod is with you in all that you do; ²³so now, ^aswear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or with my offspring or with my posterity, but according to the lovingkindness that I have shown you, you shall show me and the land in which you have sojourned.” ²⁴And Abraham said, “I swear it.” ²⁵But Abraham reproved Abimelech about the well of water which the servants of Abimelech ^ahad seized. ²⁶And Abimelech said, “I do not know who has done this thing; you did not tell me, nor did I hear of it ¹until today.”

²⁷So Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and ^athe two of them cut a covenant. ²⁸Then Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ²⁹And Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs mean, which you have set by themselves?” ³⁰He said, “You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand so that it may be a ^awitness to me, that I dug this well.” ³¹Therefore he called that place ^aBeersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath. ³²So they cut a covenant at Beersheba; and Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, arose and returned to the land of the Philistines. ³³And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, and there ^ahe called upon the name of Yahweh, the ^bEverlasting God. ³⁴And Abraham sojourned ^ain the land of the Philistines for many days.

The Offering of Isaac

22Now it happened after these things, that ^aGod tested Abraham and said to him, “^bAbraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ²Then He said, “Take now ^ayour son, your only one, whom you love, Isaac, and ^bgo forth to the land of ^cMoriah, and offer him there as a ^dburnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” ³So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son; and he split wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. ⁴On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance. ⁵And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there; and we will worship, and we will return to you.” ⁶Then Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and ^aput it on Isaac his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So the two of them walked on together.

⁷Then Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the ^alamb for the burnt offering?” ⁸And Abraham said, “God will ¹provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” So the two of them walked on together.

⁹Then they came to ^athe place of which God had told him; and Abraham built ^bthe altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and ^cput him on the altar, on top of the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹But ^athe angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” ¹²And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now ^aI know that you ¹fear God, since you have not withheld ^byour son, your only one, from Me.” ¹³Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was a ram after it had been caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place ¹Yahweh Will Provide, as it is said this day, “In the mount of Yahweh ^ait will ²be provided.”

¹⁵Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, ¹⁶and said, “^aBy Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, ¹⁷indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly ^amultiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as ^bthe sand which is on the seashore; and ^cyour seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. ¹⁸“^aIn your ¹seed all the nations of the earth shall ²be blessed, because you have ^blistened to My voice.” ¹⁹^aSo Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and walked together to Beersheba; and Abraham lived at Beersheba.

²⁰Now it happened after these things, that it was told to Abraham, saying, “Behold, ^aMilcah ¹also has borne children to your brother Nahor: ²¹Uz his firstborn and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram ²²and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel.” ²³And Bethuel ¹was the father of ^aRebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother. ²⁴And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, ¹also bore Tebah and Gaham and Tahash and Maacah.

Jesus Heals the Crowds

²⁹^aAnd departing from there, Jesus went along by ^bthe Sea of Galilee, and having gone up on the mountain, He was sitting there. ³⁰And ¹large crowds came to Him, bringing with them those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others, and they laid them down at His feet; and ^aHe healed them. ³¹So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled ¹restored, and the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they ^aglorified the God of Israel.

Jesus Feeds Four Thousand

³²^aAnd Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, “^bI feel compassion for the crowd, because they ¹have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.” ³³And the disciples *said to Him, “Where would we get so many loaves in this desolate place to satisfy such a large crowd?” ³⁴And Jesus *said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” And they said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” ³⁵And He directed the crowd to ¹sit down on the ground; ³⁶and He took the seven loaves and the fish; and ^agiving thanks, He broke them and kept giving them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ³⁷And they all ate and were satisfied, and they picked up what was left over of the broken pieces, seven large ^abaskets full. ³⁸And those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹And sending away the crowds, Jesus got into ^athe boat and came to the region of ^bMagadan.

The Pharisees and Sadducees Test Jesus

16^aAnd the ^bPharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him, they ^casked Him to show them ¹a sign from heaven. ²But He replied to them, “¹^,^aWhen it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³“And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ ^aDo you know how to discern the ¹appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? ⁴“^aAn evil and adulterous generation eagerly seeks for ¹a sign; and ²a sign will not be given it, except the ³sign of Jonah.” And He left them and went away.

⁵And coming to the other side of the sea, the disciples had forgotten to bring bread. ⁶And Jesus said to them, “Watch out and ^abeware of the ¹leaven of the ^bPharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷Now they began to discuss this among themselves, saying, “He said that because we did not bring bread.” ⁸But Jesus, aware of this, said, “^aYou men of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? ⁹“Do you not yet understand or remember ^athe five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets full you picked up? ¹⁰“Or ^athe seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many large baskets full you picked up? ¹¹“How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But ^abeware of the ¹leaven of the ^bPharisees and Sadducees.” ¹²Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the ^aPharisees and Sadducees.

Peter Confesses Jesus Is the Christ

¹³^aNow when Jesus came into the district of ^bCaesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, saying, “Who do people say that ^cthe Son of Man is?” ¹⁴And they said, “Some say ^aJohn the Baptist; and others, ¹^,^bElijah; but still others, ²Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He *said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are ¹^,^athe Christ, ^bthe Son of ^cthe living God.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, ^aSimon ¹Bar-Jonah, because ^bflesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸“And I also say to you that you are ¹^,^aPeter, and upon this ²rock I will build My church; and the gates of ^bHades will not overpower it. ¹⁹“I will give you ^athe keys of the kingdom of heaven; and ^bwhatever you bind on earth ¹shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth ²shall have been loosed in heaven.” ²⁰^aThen He ¹warned the disciples that they should tell no one that He was the ²^,^bChrist.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

²¹^aFrom that time ¹Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and ^bsuffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. ²²And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “¹God forbid it, Lord! This shall never ²happen to You.” ²³But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, ^aSatan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on ¹God’s interests, but man’s.”

Take Up Your Cross

²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and ^atake up his cross and follow Me. ²⁵“For ^awhoever wishes to save his ¹life will lose it; but whoever loses his ²life for My sake will find it. ²⁶“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷“For the ^aSon of Man ^bis going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and ^cwill then ¹repay each one according to his ²deeds.

²⁸“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the ^aSon of Man ^bcoming in His kingdom.”

Yahweh Is in His Holy Temple

For the choir director. Of David.

In Yahweh I ^atake refuge;How can you say to my soul, “Flee as a bird to your ^bmountain;²For, behold, the wicked ^abend the bow,They ¹^,^bmake ready their arrow upon the stringTo ^cshoot in darkness at the upright in heart.³“If the ^afoundations are destroyed,What can the righteous do?”⁴Yahweh is in His ^aholy temple; ¹Yahweh’s ^bthrone is in heaven;His ^ceyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.⁵Yahweh ^atests the righteous,But ^bthe wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.⁶May He ^arain ¹snares upon the wicked;^bFire and brimstone and ^cburning wind will be the portion of ^dtheir cup.⁷For Yahweh is ^arighteous, ^bHe loves ¹righteousness;The upright will ^cbehold His face.