Covenant Circumcision

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him, saying, “I am God Almighty.^(A) Live^[a] in my presence and be blameless.^{(B) 2} I will set up my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you greatly.”

³ Then Abram fell facedown and God spoke with him: ⁴ “As for me, here is my covenant with you: You will become the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name will no longer be Abram;^[b] your name will be Abraham,^[c] for I will make you the father of many nations.^{(C) 6} I will make you extremely fruitful and will make nations and kings come from you. ⁷ I will confirm my covenant that is between me and you and your future offspring throughout their generations. It is a permanent covenant^(D) to be your God and the God of your offspring after you.^{(E) 8} And to you and your future offspring^[d](F) I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as a permanent possession,^(G) and I will be their God.”

⁹ God also said to Abraham, “As for you, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations are to keep my covenant. ¹⁰ This is my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you, which you are to keep: Every one of your males must be circumcised. ¹¹ You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskin to serve as a sign of the covenant between me and you.^{[e](H) 12} Throughout your generations, every male among you is to be circumcised^(I) at eight days old—every male born in your household or purchased from any foreigner and not your offspring. ¹³ Whether born in your household or purchased, he must be circumcised. My covenant will be marked in your flesh as a permanent covenant. ¹⁴ If any male is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that man will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Psalm 5

The Refuge of the Righteous

For the choir director: with the flutes. A psalm of David.

Greeting

1 Paul,^(A) an apostle—not from men or by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father^(B) who raised him from the dead^(C)— ² and all the brothers who are with me:

To the churches of Galatia.^(D)

³ Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord^[a] Jesus Christ, ⁴ who gave himself for our sins^(E) to rescue us from this present evil age,^(F) according to the will of our God and Father.^{(G) 5} To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

No Other Gospel

⁶ I am amazed that you are so quickly turning away from him who called^(H) you by the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— ⁷ not that there is another gospel,^(I) but there are some^(J) who are troubling you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we or an angel^(K) from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you,^(L) a curse be on him!^{[b] 9} As we have said before, I now say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received,^(M) a curse be on him!

¹⁰ For am I now trying to persuade people,^[c] or God?^(N) Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.

The Origin of Paul’s Gospel

¹¹ For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel preached by me is not of human origin. ¹² For I did not receive it from a human source and I was not taught it, but it came by a revelation^(O) of Jesus Christ.^(P)

¹³ For you have heard about my former way of life^(Q) in Judaism:^(R) I intensely persecuted^(S) God’s church and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries among my people, because I was extremely zealous for the traditions of my ancestors.^{(T) 15} But when God, who from my mother’s womb set me apart and called^(U) me by his grace, was pleased ¹⁶ to reveal his Son^(V) in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.^{[d] 17} I did not go up to Jerusalem^(W) to those who had become apostles^(X) before me; instead I went to Arabia^(Y) and came back to Damascus.^(Z)

¹⁸ Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem^(AA) to get to know Cephas,^[e](AB) and I stayed with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I didn’t see any of the other apostles except James,^(AC) the Lord’s brother. ²⁰ I declare in the sight of God: I am not lying in what I write to you.

²¹ Afterward, I went to the regions of Syria^(AD) and Cilicia.^{(AE) 22} I remained personally unknown to the Judean churches that are in Christ. ²³ They simply kept hearing, “He who formerly persecuted^(AF) us now preaches the faith^(AG) he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.^[f]