Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A prayer when you are in trouble^[a]

God's message to Eli

²⁷ A servant of God came and he spoke to Eli.^[a] This is what he said:

‘The Lord says, “A long time ago, when your ancestors were in Egypt, I showed myself to them. At that time they were slaves of Egypt's king. ²⁸ I chose your ancestor, Aaron, out of all the tribes of Israel. I chose him and his descendants to be my priests. I chose them to offer sacrifices on my altar, to burn incense and to wear the special ephod.^[b] I also gave them authority to eat part of the sacrifices and burnt offerings that the Israelites offered to me. ²⁹ But you and your sons do not respect the sacrifices that I have commanded people to offer in my house. Eli, you give more honour to your sons than you give to me. Your family eat all the best parts of the offerings that the Israelites bring to me. You have all become fat!”

³⁰ Because of what you have done, the Lord, Israel's God, says this to you: “I promised your family and your ancestors that they would serve me as priests for ever.” But now the Lord says, “That will never happen! I will give honour to people who respect me. But I will curse people who insult me. ³¹ So you and your family will soon come to an end. No one in your family will live to become old men. ³² You will see how trouble comes to my home here. Good things will happen to the Israelite people, but there will never be an old man in your family. ³³ One of your descendants may continue to serve me as a priest. But he will be very sad and his eyes will become weak. Anyone who is born in your family will die when they are young.

³⁴ This will show you that what I have said is true: Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will both die on the same day.

³⁵ I will choose another priest to serve me. He will be faithful. He will do everything that I want him to do. I will give him a strong family and he will serve my chosen king for ever. ³⁶ Everyone in your family who continues to live will have to bend down low to this priest. They will ask him for a few coins and a piece of bread. ‘Please let me help the priests so that I can have something to eat,’ they will say.” ’

The Jews and God's Law

¹⁷ Do you say that you are a Jew? Maybe you trust in the Law that God gave to Moses. You are proud that you belong to God. ¹⁸ You know what God wants people to do. His Law teaches you what is good and right. ¹⁹ You are sure that you yourself can teach other people about God. You think that you can be like a guide to blind people. You think that you can be like a light to people who are in the dark. ²⁰ You are sure that you can teach fools and people who do not know very much. You know that God's Law tells you everything about what is true. Because it helps you to know so much, you think that you can be a great teacher!

²¹ So you teach other people, do you? But do you teach yourself? You tell other people, ‘Do not rob anyone.’ But maybe you yourself rob other people. ²² You say, ‘People must not have sex with anyone who is not their wife or their husband.’ But maybe you yourself have sex in a wrong way. You say that you hate idols. But do you rob places where people worship idols? ²³ You are proud that you know God's Law. But you do not obey that Law. As a result, you cause other people to speak against God. ²⁴ This is written in the Bible:

²⁵ As a Jewish man, you are proud that someone has circumcised you.^[a] That is a help to you, if you obey God's Law in your life. But if you do not obey God's Law, then it is worth nothing. You have become like a Gentile that nobody has ever circumcised. ²⁶ But a Gentile may obey what God's Law teaches. Then he has shown that he belongs to God even though nobody has circumcised him. ²⁷ In that way, even Gentiles will show that you who are Jews are wrong. God's Law was written to help you Jews. They circumcised you to show that you belong to God. But if you refuse to obey God's Law, then God will punish you. The Gentiles who do obey God's Law will show that God is right to punish you.

²⁸ Not everyone who seems to be a Jew is really a Jew who belongs to God. God does not accept a man just because someone has circumcised that man's body. ²⁹ No! A true Jew is someone who belongs to God in his spirit. He belongs to God because God's Spirit has changed his life. It is like God has circumcised him in his spirit, not in his body. The rules in God's Law cannot do that work in a person. Other people may not praise a person like that, but God will praise him.