Book Two

Psalm 42^[a]

For the worship leader. A contemplative song^[b] of the sons of Korah.

Psalm 43^[c]

24 Abraham was now very old. He had seen many years come and go. The Eternal One had blessed his life in every imaginable way. ² One day, Abraham spoke to his oldest and most-trusted servant, the man in charge of all his affairs.

⁹ The trusted servant took the oath, holding in his hand Abraham’s power to give life. He swore to do what his master required.

¹⁰ Then the servant gathered together 10 of his master’s camels and left, taking all kinds of valuable gifts from his master to give to his relatives. He traveled all the way to Mesopotamia, to the city of Nahor. ¹¹ Outside of the city, he made the camels kneel down by a well of water to rest after the long journey. It was nearly dusk, the time when all of the women were coming out to draw water from the well. ¹² He said a prayer.

¹⁵ Before he could finish his prayer, it happened that Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel (Milcah’s and Nahor’s son—Nahor, you remember, was Abraham’s brother) approached the spring with her water jar on her shoulder. ¹⁶ She was a very beautiful girl and still a virgin. No man had ever touched her. He watched her go down to the spring, fill her jar, and come back up the hill. ¹⁷ The servant wasted no time; he ran down to meet her.

She quickly lowered her jar onto her hand and tipped it for him to drink. ¹⁹ After she had finished giving him water, she offered to do more.

²⁰ She quickly emptied her jar into the trough and ran again to the well to draw more water. She continued to draw water until all of the camels had drunk their fill. ²¹ The man gazed at her in silence, waiting and wondering if she was the one the Eternal One intended for Isaac, the one who would make his journey a success.

¹⁷ Listen, if you claim to be a Jew, count on the law, and boast in your relationship with God; ¹⁸ if you know His will and can determine what is essential (because you have been instructed in the law); and ¹⁹ if you stand convinced that you are chosen to be a guide to the blind, a light to those who live in darkness, ²⁰ a teacher of foolish wanderers and children, and have in the law what is essentially the form of knowledge and truth— ²¹ then tell me, why don’t you practice what you preach? If you are going to sermonize against stealing, then stop stealing. ²² If you are going to teach others not to commit adultery, then be completely faithful to your spouse. If you hate idolatry, then stop robbing the temples! ²³ If you pride yourself in having God’s law, then stop dishonoring God by failing to keep its teaching. ²⁴ Here’s what it says: “Because of you, God’s reputation is slandered by those outside the covenant.”^[a]

²⁵ You see, circumcision is of value only if you keep the law’s teachings. But if you keep breaking God’s rules, you are no different than those without the mark. ²⁶ So if an uncircumcised man abides by God’s just precepts, doesn’t that make his standing before God the same as one who is circumcised? ²⁷ The man who is physically uncircumcised but still keeps the law, he will stand in judgment over the person who is circumcised and yet continually breaks God’s law. ²⁸ A mark that is evident doesn’t necessarily make one a Jew, and circumcision that is evident only in the flesh is not true. ²⁹ But the true Jew is Jewish on the inside—in secret places no one but God can see—and true circumcision involves the heart; it comes from the Spirit, not from some written code. The praise and reputation of that kind of Jew come from God, not from man.