Do Not Love the World

^15 (A)Do not love the world or the things in the world. ^(B)If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world—^(C)the desires of the flesh and ^(D)the desires of the eyes and pride of life^[a]—is not from the Father but is from the world. ¹⁷ And ^(E)the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;^[a] walk before me, and be ^(A)blameless, ² that I may make my covenant between me and you, and ^(B)may multiply you greatly.” ³ Then Abram ^(C)fell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴ “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be ^(D)the father of a multitude of nations. ⁵ No longer shall your name be called Abram,^[b] but ^(E)your name shall be Abraham,^{[c] (F)}for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make ^(G)you into nations, and ^(H)kings shall come from you. ⁷ And I will ^(I)establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, ^(J)to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

Isaac's Birth Promised

¹⁵ And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah^[a] shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and moreover, I will ^(A)give^[b] you a son by her. I will bless her, and ^(B)she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”

The Promise Realized Through Faith

¹³ For ^(A)the promise to Abraham and his offspring ^(B)that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ^14 (C)For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵ For ^(D)the law brings wrath, but ^(E)where there is no law ^(F)there is no transgression.

¹⁶ That is why it depends on faith, ^(G)in order that the promise may rest on grace and ^(H)be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, ^(I)who is the father of us all, ¹⁷ as it is written, ^(J)“I have made you the father of many nations”—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, ^(K)who gives life to the dead and calls into existence ^(L)the things that do not exist. ¹⁸ In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, ^(M)“So shall your offspring be.” ¹⁹ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was ^(N)as good as dead (^(O)since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered ^(P)the barrenness^[a] of Sarah's womb. ²⁰ No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, ²¹ fully convinced that ^(Q)God was able to do what he had promised. ²² That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness.” ²³ But ^(R)the words “it was counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, ²⁴ but for ours also. It will be counted to us ^(S)who believe in ^(T)him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, ^25 (U)who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised ^(V)for our justification.

Blessed Are the Forgiven

A Maskil^[a] of David.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

^16 (A)And he came to ^(B)Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And ^(C)as was his custom, ^(D)he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up ^(E)to read. ¹⁷ And ^(F)the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and ^(N)sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were ^(O)fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today ^(P)this Scripture ^(Q)has been fulfilled in your hearing.”