Make Your Face Shine upon Us

To the choirmaster: with ^(A)stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

The Call of Abram

12 Now ^(A)the Lord said^[a] to Abram, “Go from your country^[b] and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. ^2 (B)And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ^3 (C)I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and ^(D)in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”^[c]

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from ^(E)Haran. ⁵ And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, ⁶ Abram ^(F)passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to ^(G)the oak^[d] of ^(H)Moreh. At that time ^(I)the Canaanites were in the land. ⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ^(J)“To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him. ⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of ^(K)Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord. ⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed ^(A)seventy-two^[a] others and ^(B)sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ^2 (C)And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ^(D)Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; ^(E)behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ^4 (F)Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and ^(G)greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ^(H)‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, ^(I)it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for ^(J)the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ^(K)‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ^11 (L)‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that ^(M)the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, ^(N)it will be more bearable on ^(O)that day for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

^13 (P)“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in ^(Q)Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ^14 (R)But it will be more bearable in the judgment for ^(S)Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, ^(T)will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to ^(U)Hades.

^16 (V)“The one who hears you hears me, and ^(W)the one who rejects you rejects me, and ^(X)the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

The Return of the Seventy-Two

^17 (Y)The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, ^(Z)even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸ And he said to them, ^(AA)“I saw Satan ^(AB)fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you authority ^(AC)to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of ^(AD)the enemy, and ^(AE)nothing shall hurt you. ^20 (AF)Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that ^(AG)your names are written in heaven.”

The Church in Antioch

^19 (A)Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰ But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists^[a] also, ^(B)preaching the Lord Jesus. ²¹ And ^(C)the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ^(D)turned to the Lord. ²² The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. ²³ When he came and saw ^(E)the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord ^(F)with steadfast purpose, ²⁴ for he was a good man, ^(G)full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people ^(H)were added to the Lord. ²⁵ So Barnabas went to ^(I)Tarsus to look for Saul, ²⁶ and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called ^(J)Christians.

²⁷ Now in these days ^(K)prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. ²⁸ And one of them named ^(L)Agabus stood up and foretold ^(M)by the Spirit that there would be a great ^(N)famine over all the world (this took place in the days of ^(O)Claudius). ²⁹ So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, ^(P)to send relief to ^(Q)the brothers^[b] living in Judea. ^30 (R)And they did so, sending it to ^(S)the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

13 Now there were in the church at Antioch ^(A)prophets and ^(B)teachers, ^(C)Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger,^[a] Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of ^(D)Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. ² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, ^(E)the Holy Spirit said, ^(F)“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul ^(G)for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then after fasting and ^(H)praying they laid their hands on them and ^(I)sent them off.

Encouragement to Give Generously

8 We want you to know, brothers,^[a] about the grace of God that has been ^(A)given among the churches of Macedonia, ² for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and ^(B)their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. ³ For they gave ^(C)according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, ⁴ begging us earnestly ^(D)for the favor^[b] of taking part in ^(E)the relief of the saints— ⁵ and this, not as we expected, but they ^(F)gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. ⁶ Accordingly, ^(G)we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you ^(H)this act of grace. ⁷ But as ^(I)you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you^[c]—^(J)see that you excel in this act of grace also.

^8 (K)I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. ⁹ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ^(L)though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. ¹⁰ And in this matter ^(M)I give my judgment: ^(N)this benefits you, who ^(O)a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. ¹¹ So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. ¹² For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable ^(P)according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. ¹³ For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness ¹⁴ your abundance at the present time should supply ^(Q)their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. ¹⁵ As it is written, ^(R)“Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”

Commendation of Titus

¹⁶ But ^(S)thanks be to God, ^(T)who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. ¹⁷ For ^(U)he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going^[d] to you of his own accord. ¹⁸ With him we are sending^{[e] (V)}the brother who is famous among ^(W)all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. ¹⁹ And not only that, but he has been ^(X)appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of ^(Y)grace that is being ministered by us, ^(Z)for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. ²⁰ We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, ²¹ for ^(AA)we aim at what is honorable ^(AB)not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man. ²² And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for Titus, he is ^(AC)my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers^[f] of the churches, the glory of Christ. ²⁴ So give proof before the churches of your love and of ^(AD)our boasting about you to these men.

The Collection for Christians in Jerusalem

9 Now ^(AE)it is superfluous for me to write to you about ^(AF)the ministry for the saints, ² for I know your readiness, ^(AG)of which I boast about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready ^(AH)since last year. And your zeal has stirred up most of them. ³ But ^(AI)I am sending^[g] the brothers so that our boasting about you may not prove empty in this matter, so that you may be ready, ^(AJ)as I said you would be. ⁴ Otherwise, if some Macedonians ^(AK)come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—for being so confident. ⁵ So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the ^(AL)gift^[h] you have promised, so that it may be ready ^(AM)as a willing gift, ^(AN)not as an exaction.^[i]

The Cheerful Giver

⁶ The point is this: ^(AO)whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully^[j] will also reap bountifully. ⁷ Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, ^(AP)not reluctantly or under compulsion, for ^(AQ)God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸ And ^(AR)God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency^[k] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written,

¹⁰ He who supplies ^(AT)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and ^(AU)increase the harvest of your righteousness. ^11 (AV)You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which ^(AW)through us will produce thanksgiving to God. ¹² For the ministry of this service is not only supplying ^(AX)the needs of the saints but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. ¹³ By their approval of this service, ^(AY)they^[l] will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your ^(AZ)confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, ¹⁴ while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. ^15 (BA)Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!

Paul Called by God

¹¹ For ^(A)I would have you know, brothers, that ^(B)the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.^{[a] 12 (C)}For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it ^(D)through a revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹³ For you have heard of ^(E)my former life in Judaism, how ^(F)I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. ¹⁴ And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely ^(G)zealous was I for ^(H)the traditions of my fathers. ¹⁵ But when he ^(I)who had set me apart ^(J)before I was born,^[b] and who ^(K)called me by his grace, ¹⁶ was pleased to reveal his Son to^[c] me, in order ^(L)that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone;^{[d] 17} nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.

¹⁸ Then ^(M)after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. ¹⁹ But I saw none of the other apostles except James ^(N)the Lord's brother. ²⁰ (In what I am writing to you, ^(O)before God, I do not lie!) ^21 (P)Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. ²² And I was still unknown in person to ^(Q)the churches of Judea that are in Christ. ²³ They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” ²⁴ And they glorified God because of me.

Paul Accepted by the Apostles

2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. ² I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those ^(R)who seemed influential) the gospel that ^(S)I proclaim among the Gentiles, ^(T)in order to make sure I was not running or had not ^(U)run in vain. ³ But even Titus, who was with me, ^(V)was not forced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. ^4 (W)Yet because of false brothers secretly brought in—who ^(X)slipped in to spy out ^(Y)our freedom that we have in Christ Jesus, ^(Z)so that they might bring us into slavery— ⁵ to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that ^(AA)the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. ⁶ And from those ^(AB)who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; ^(AC)God shows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential ^(AD)added nothing to me. ⁷ On the contrary, when they saw that I had been ^(AE)entrusted with ^(AF)the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised ⁸ (for he who worked through Peter for his apostolic ministry to the circumcised worked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), ⁹ and when James and Cephas and John, ^(AG)who seemed to be ^(AH)pillars, perceived the ^(AI)grace that was given to me, they ^(AJ)gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. ¹⁰ Only, they asked us to remember the poor, ^(AK)the very thing I was eager to do.