28 A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly,(A) nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.(B)

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15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything;(A) what counts is the new creation.(B)

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And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’(A) I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

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I know your afflictions and your poverty—yet you are rich!(A) I know about the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not,(B) but are a synagogue of Satan.(C)

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God’s Sovereign Choice

It is not as though God’s word(A) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.(B) Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[a](C) In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,(D) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.(E)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12

10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.(A) So then, he is the father(B) of all who believe(C) but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

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Stubborn Israel

48 “Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob,
    you who are called by the name of Israel(A)
    and come from the line of Judah,(B)
you who take oaths(C) in the name of the Lord(D)
    and invoke(E) the God of Israel—
    but not in truth(F) or righteousness—
you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city(G)
    and claim to rely(H) on the God of Israel—
    the Lord Almighty is his name:(I)

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Gomer(A) conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. Then the Lord said to Hosea, “Call her Lo-Ruhamah (which means “not loved”),(B) for I will no longer show love to Israel,(C) that I should at all forgive them. Yet I will show love to Judah; and I will save them—not by bow,(D) sword or battle, or by horses and horsemen, but I, the Lord their God,(E) will save them.”

After she had weaned Lo-Ruhamah,(F) Gomer had another son. Then the Lord said, “Call him Lo-Ammi (which means “not my people”), for you are not my people, and I am not your God.[a](G)

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Footnotes

  1. Hosea 1:9 Or your I am

21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you(A) also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience(B) toward God.[a] It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ,(C)

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Footnotes

  1. 1 Peter 3:21 Or but an appeal to God for a clear conscience

The Jews and the Law

17 Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and boast in God;(A)

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37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me,(A) because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence,(B) and you are doing what you have heard from your father.[a](C)

39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,”(D) said Jesus, “then you would[b] do what Abraham did.

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Footnotes

  1. John 8:38 Or presence. Therefore do what you have heard from the Father.
  2. John 8:39 Some early manuscripts “If you are Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then

47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite(A) in whom there is no deceit.”(B)

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26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, Ammon, Moab and all who live in the wilderness in distant places.[a](A) For all these nations are really uncircumcised,(B) and even the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 9:26 Or wilderness and who clip the hair by their foreheads

Unless the Lord Almighty
    had left us some survivors,(A)
we would have become like Sodom,
    we would have been like Gomorrah.(B)

10 Hear the word of the Lord,(C)
    you rulers of Sodom;(D)
listen to the instruction(E) of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!(F)
11 “The multitude of your sacrifices—
    what are they to me?” says the Lord.
“I have more than enough of burnt offerings,
    of rams and the fat of fattened animals;(G)
I have no pleasure(H)
    in the blood of bulls(I) and lambs and goats.(J)
12 When you come to appear before me,
    who has asked this of you,(K)
    this trampling of my courts?
13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings!(L)
    Your incense(M) is detestable(N) to me.
New Moons,(O) Sabbaths and convocations(P)
    I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.
14 Your New Moon(Q) feasts and your appointed festivals(R)
    I hate with all my being.(S)
They have become a burden to me;(T)
    I am weary(U) of bearing them.
15 When you spread out your hands(V) in prayer,
    I hide(W) my eyes from you;
even when you offer many prayers,
    I am not listening.(X)

Your hands(Y) are full of blood!(Z)

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BOOK III

Psalms 73–89

Psalm 73

A psalm of Asaph.

Surely God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart.(A)

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