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Psalm 58

1  Do you indeed speak justly, you mighty? ♦︎
   Do you rule the peoples with equity?
2  With unjust heart you act throughout the land; ♦︎
   your hands mete out violence.
3  The wicked are estranged, even from the womb; ♦︎
   those who speak falsehood go astray from their birth.
4  They are as venomous as a serpent; ♦︎
   they are like the deaf adder which stops its ears,
5  Which does not heed the voice of the charmers, ♦︎
   and is deaf to the skilful weaver of spells.
6  Break, O God, their teeth in their mouths; ♦︎
   smash the fangs of these lions, O Lord.
7  Let them vanish like water that runs away; ♦︎
   let them wither like trodden grass.
8  Let them be as the slimy track of the snail, ♦︎
   like the untimely birth that never sees the sun.
9  Before ever their pots feel the heat of the thorns, ♦︎
   green or blazing, let them be swept away.
10  The righteous will be glad when they see God’s vengeance; ♦︎
   they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11  So that people will say,
      ‘Truly, there is a harvest for the righteous; ♦︎
   truly, there is a God who judges in the earth.’

Psalm 59

1  Rescue me from my enemies, O my God; ♦︎
   set me high above those that rise up against me.
2  Save me from the evildoers ♦︎
   and from murderous foes deliver me.
3  For see how they lie in wait for my soul ♦︎
   and the mighty stir up trouble against me.
4  Not for any fault or sin of mine, O Lord; ♦︎
   for no offence, they run and prepare themselves for war.
5  Rouse yourself, come to my aid and see; ♦︎
   for you are the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.
6  Awake, and judge all the nations; ♦︎
   show no mercy to the evil traitors.
7  They return at nightfall and snarl like dogs ♦︎
   and prowl about the city.
8  They pour out evil words with their mouths;
      swords are on their lips; ♦︎
   ‘For who’, they say, ‘can hear us?’
9  But you laugh at them, O Lord; ♦︎
   you hold all the nations in derision.
10  For you, O my strength, will I watch; ♦︎
   you, O God, are my strong tower.
11  My God in his steadfast love will come to me; ♦︎
   he will let me behold the downfall of my enemies.
12  Slay them not, lest my people forget; ♦︎
   send them reeling by your might
      and bring them down, O Lord our shield.
13  For the sins of their mouth, for the words of their lips, ♦︎
   let them be taken in their pride.
14  For the cursing and falsehood they have uttered, ♦︎
   consume them in wrath, consume them till they are no more.
15  And they shall know that God rules in Jacob, ♦︎
   and to the ends of the earth.
16  And still they return at nightfall and snarl like dogs ♦︎
   and prowl about the city.
17  Though they forage for something to devour, ♦︎
   and howl if they are not filled,
18  Yet will I sing of your strength ♦︎
   and every morning praise your steadfast love;
19  For you have been my stronghold, ♦︎
   my refuge in the day of my trouble.
20  To you, O my strength, will I sing; ♦︎
   for you, O God, are my refuge,
      my God of steadfast love.

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.^*