Prayer for Help and Guidance.

A Psalm of David.

¹⁵ So Hagar bore a son to Abram; and Abram named his son, to whom Hagar gave birth, Ishmael. ¹⁶ Abram was ^(A)eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to ^[a]him.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^(B)the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

³ Abram ^(G)fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^(K)kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[g]descendants after you throughout their generations as an ^(L)everlasting covenant, ^(M)to be God to you and ^(N)to your ^[h]descendants after you. ⁸ And ^(O)I will give to you and to your ^[i]descendants after you the land where you live as a stranger, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession; and ^(P)I will be their God.”

⁹ God said further to Abraham, “Now as for you, ^(Q)you shall keep My covenant, you and your ^[j]descendants after you throughout their generations. ^10 (R)This is My covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your ^[k]descendants after you: every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹ And ^(S)you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be the sign of the covenant between Me and you. ¹² And every male among you who is ^(T)eight days old shall be circumcised throughout your generations, including a slave who is born in the house or who is bought with money from any foreigner, who is not of your ^[l]descendants. ¹³ A slave who is born in your house or ^(U)who is bought with your money shall certainly be circumcised; so My covenant shall be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ But as for an uncircumcised male, one who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be ^(V)cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

One Sacrifice of Christ Is Sufficient

10 For the Law, since it has only ^(A)a shadow of ^(B)the good things to come and not the ^[a]form of those things itself, ^[b]can ^(C)never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually every year, ^(D)make those who approach perfect. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had ^(E)consciousness of sins? ³ But ^(F)in ^[c]those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is ^(G)impossible for the ^(H)blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. ⁵ Therefore, ^(I)when He comes into the world, He says,

⁸ After saying above, “^(O)Sacrifices and offerings and ^(P)whole burnt offerings and offerings ^(Q)for sin You have not desired, nor have You taken pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the Law), ⁹ then He ^[d]said, “^(R)Behold, I have come to do Your will.” He takes away the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰ By ^[e]this will, we have been ^(S)sanctified through ^(T)the offering of ^(U)the body of Jesus Christ ^(V)once for all time.

³⁰ “^(A)I can do nothing ^[a]on My own. As I hear, I judge; and ^(B)My judgment is ^[b]righteous, because I do not seek My own will but ^(C)the will of Him who sent Me.

³¹ “^(D)If I alone testify about Myself, My testimony is not ^[c]true. ³² There is ^(E)another who testifies about Me, and I know that the testimony which He gives about Me is true.

Testimony of John the Baptist

³³ You have sent messengers to John, and he ^(F)has testified to the truth. ³⁴ But ^(G)the testimony I receive is not from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵ He was ^(H)the lamp that was burning and shining, and you ^(I)were willing to rejoice for ^[d]a while in his light.

Testimony of Works

³⁶ But the testimony I have is greater than the testimony of John; for ^(J)the works which the Father has given Me ^(K)to accomplish—the very works that I do—testify about Me, that the Father ^(L)has sent Me.

Testimony of the Father

³⁷ And the Father who sent Me, ^(M)He has testified about Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His form. ³⁸ Also you do not have ^(N)His word remaining in you, because you do not believe Him whom He ^(O)sent.

Testimony of the Scripture

^39 [e](P)You examine the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is ^(Q)those very Scriptures that testify about Me; ⁴⁰ and yet you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life. ^41 (R)I do not receive glory from people; ⁴² but I know you, that you do not have the love of God in yourselves. ⁴³ I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not ^[f]receive Me; ^(S)if another comes in his own name, you will ^[g]receive him. ⁴⁴ How can you believe, when you ^[h](T)accept ^[i]glory from one another and you do not seek ^(U)the ^[j]glory that is from ^(V)the one and only God? ⁴⁵ Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is ^(W)Moses, in whom you have put your hope. ⁴⁶ For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for ^(X)he wrote about Me. ⁴⁷ But ^(Y)if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”