Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for deliverance.

²⁷ And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Did I reveal myself unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt ^[a]in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? ^28 [b]and did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to ^[c]go up unto mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? ^[d]and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings of the children of Israel made by fire? ²⁹ Wherefore ^[e]kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation, and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? ³⁰ Therefore Jehovah, the God of Israel, saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now Jehovah saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father’s house, that there shall not be an old man in thy house. ³² And thou shalt behold ^[f]the affliction of my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel; and there shall not be an old man in thy house for ever. ^33 [g]And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thy heart; and all the increase of thy house shall die ^[h]in the flower of their age. ³⁴ And this shall be the sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas: in one day they shall die both of them. ³⁵ And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in my heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever. ³⁶ And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thy house shall come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.

¹⁷ But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God, ¹⁸ and knowest ^[a]his will, and ^[b]approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, ¹⁹ and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, ^20 [c]a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth; ²¹ thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal? ²² thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples? ²³ thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God? ²⁴ For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, ^[d]even as it is written. ²⁵ For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision. ²⁶ If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? ²⁷ and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law? ²⁸ For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: ²⁹ but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.