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Psalm 12

1  Help me, Lord, for no one godly is left; ♦︎
   the faithful have vanished from the whole human race.
2  They all speak falsely with their neighbour; ♦︎
   they flatter with their lips, but speak from a double heart.
3  O that the Lord would cut off all flattering lips ♦︎
   and the tongue that speaks proud boasts!
4  Those who say, ‘With our tongue will we prevail; ♦︎
   our lips we will use; who is lord over us?’
5  ‘Because of the oppression of the needy,
      and the groaning of the poor, ♦︎
   I will rise up now,’ says the Lord,
      ‘and set them in the safety that they long for.’
6  The words of the Lord are pure words, ♦︎
   like silver refined in the furnace
      and purified seven times in the fire.
7  You, O Lord, will watch over us ♦︎
   and guard us from this generation for ever.
8  The wicked strut on every side, ♦︎
   when what is vile is exalted by the whole human race.

Psalm 13

1  How long will you forget me, O Lord; for ever? ♦︎
   How long will you hide your face from me?
2  How long shall I have anguish in my soul
      and grief in my heart, day after day? ♦︎
   How long shall my enemy triumph over me?
3  Look upon me and answer, O Lord my God; ♦︎
   lighten my eyes, lest I sleep in death;
4  Lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed against him,’ ♦︎
   and my foes rejoice that I have fallen.
5  But I put my trust in your steadfast love; ♦︎
   my heart will rejoice in your salvation.
6  I will sing to the Lord, ♦︎
   for he has dealt so bountifully with me.

Jacob’s Dream at Bethel

10 Jacob left Beer-sheba and went towards Haran. ¹¹He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. ¹²And he dreamed that there was a ladder^* set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³And the Lord stood beside him^* and said, ‘I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; ¹⁴and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed^* in you and in your offspring. ¹⁵Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.’ ¹⁶Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!’ ¹⁷And he was afraid, and said, ‘How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.’

18 So Jacob rose early in the morning, and he took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹He called that place Bethel;^* but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

The First Disciples of Jesus

35 The next day John again was standing with two of his disciples, ³⁶and as he watched Jesus walk by, he exclaimed, ‘Look, here is the Lamb of God!’ ³⁷The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. ³⁸When Jesus turned and saw them following, he said to them, ‘What are you looking for?’ They said to him, ‘Rabbi’ (which translated means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’ ³⁹He said to them, ‘Come and see.’ They came and saw where he was staying, and they remained with him that day. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon. ⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹He first found his brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which is translated Anointed^*). ⁴²He brought Simon^* to Jesus, who looked at him and said, ‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’ (which is translated Peter^*).

Jesus Calls Philip and Nathanael

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me.’ ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.’ ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, ‘Can anything good come out of Nazareth?’ Philip said to him, ‘Come and see.’ ⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, ‘Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!’ ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, ‘Where did you come to know me?’ Jesus answered, ‘I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.’ ⁴⁹Nathanael replied, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ ⁵⁰Jesus answered, ‘Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.’ ⁵¹And he said to him, ‘Very truly, I tell you,^* you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.’