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Psalm 61

Assurance of God’s Protection

To the leader: with stringed instruments. Of David.
¹ Hear my cry, O God;
   listen to my prayer.
² From the end of the earth I call to you,
   when my heart is faint.

Lead me to the rock
   that is higher than I;
³ for you are my refuge,
   a strong tower against the enemy.

⁴ Let me abide in your tent for ever,
   find refuge under the shelter of your wings.
          Selah
⁵ For you, O God, have heard my vows;
   you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.

⁶ Prolong the life of the king;
   may his years endure to all generations!
⁷ May he be enthroned for ever before God;
   appoint steadfast love and faithfulness to watch over him!

⁸ So I will always sing praises to your name,
   as I pay my vows day after day.

Psalm 62

Song of Trust in God Alone

To the leader: according to Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
¹ For God alone my soul waits in silence;
   from him comes my salvation.
² He alone is my rock and my salvation,
   my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

³ How long will you assail a person,
   will you batter your victim, all of you,
   as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
⁴ Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
   They take pleasure in falsehood;
they bless with their mouths,
   but inwardly they curse.
          Selah

⁵ For God alone my soul waits in silence,
   for my hope is from him.
⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation,
   my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
⁷ On God rests my deliverance and my honour;
   my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
   pour out your heart before him;
   God is a refuge for us.
          Selah

⁹ Those of low estate are but a breath,
   those of high estate are a delusion;
in the balances they go up;
   they are together lighter than a breath.
¹⁰ Put no confidence in extortion,
   and set no vain hopes on robbery;
   if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

¹¹ Once God has spoken;
   twice have I heard this:
that power belongs to God,
¹²   and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
For you repay to all
   according to their work.

The Birth of Isaac

21The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. ²Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. ³Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. ⁴And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. ⁶Now Sarah said, ‘God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.’ ⁷And she said, ‘Who would ever have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.’

Hagar and Ishmael Sent Away

8 The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ⁹But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.^{* 10}So she said to Abraham, ‘Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.’ ¹¹The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. ¹²But God said to Abraham, ‘Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named after you. ¹³As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring.’ ¹⁴So 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 about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. ¹⁶Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, ‘Do not let me look on the death of the child.’ And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. ¹⁷And 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? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ¹⁸Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him.’ ¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. ²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

13 All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, ¹⁴for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. ¹⁵If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. ¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, ¹⁸of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you.’ ¹⁹He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. ²¹By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, ‘bowing in worship over the top of his staff.’ ²²By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.^*

41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ⁴²They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ ⁴³Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. ⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. ⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. ⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’