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Psalm 15

1  Lord, who may dwell in your tabernacle? ♦︎
   Who may rest upon your holy hill?
2  Whoever leads an uncorrupt life ♦︎
   and does the thing that is right;
3  Who speaks the truth from the heart ♦︎
   and bears no deceit on the tongue;
4  Who does no evil to a friend ♦︎
   and pours no scorn on a neighbour;
5  In whose sight the wicked are not esteemed, ♦︎
   but who honours those who fear the Lord.
6  Whoever has sworn to a neighbour ♦︎
   and never goes back on that word;
7  Who does not lend money in hope of gain, ♦︎
   nor takes a bribe against the innocent;
8  Whoever does these things ♦︎
   shall never fall.

Abram and Lot Separate

13So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb.

2 Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. ³He journeyed on by stages from the Negeb as far as Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, ⁴to the place where he had made an altar at the first; and there Abram called on the name of the Lord. ⁵Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, ⁶so that the land could not support both of them living together; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together, ⁷and there was strife between the herders of Abram’s livestock and the herders of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land.

8 Then Abram said to Lot, ‘Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. ⁹Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.’ ¹⁰Lot looked about him, and saw that the plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar; this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. ¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastwards; thus they separated from each other. ¹²Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. ¹³Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord.

14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, ‘Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northwards and southwards and eastwards and westwards; ¹⁵for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring^* for ever. ¹⁶I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. ¹⁷Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.’ ¹⁸So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks^* of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.

Prayer for the Readers

14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,^{* 15}from whom every family^* in heaven and on earth takes its name. ¹⁶I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, ¹⁷and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. ¹⁸I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

20 Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, ²¹to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. Amen.