Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

Eli Honors His Sons Above Yahweh

²⁷ Then ^(A)a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘^(B)Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt, enslaved to Pharaoh’s house? ^28 (C)And did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me; and did I not ^(D)give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? ²⁹ Why do you ^(E)kick at My sacrifice and at My offering ^(F)which I have commanded in My ^(G)habitation, and ^(H)honor your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the ^[a]choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, declares, ‘^(I)I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father should walk before Me forever’; but now Yahweh declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for ^(J)those who honor Me I will honor, and those ^(K)who despise Me will be cursed. ³¹ Behold, ^(L)the days are coming, and I will break your ^[b]strength and the ^[c]strength of your father’s house so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² And you will look upon ^(M)the distress of My habitation, in spite of all the good that ^[d]I do for Israel; and an ^(N)old man will not be in your house all the days. ³³ Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar ^[e]so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the increase of your house will be put to death ^[f]in the prime of life. ³⁴ Now this will be ^(O)the sign to you which will come concerning your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: ^(P)on the same day both of them will be put to death. ³⁵ But ^(Q)I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and in My soul; and ^(R)I will build him a faithful house, and he will walk before ^(S)My anointed always. ³⁶ And it will be that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a ^[g]piece of silver or a loaf of bread and say, “Please ^[h]assign me to one of the priest’s offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.”’”

The Jew Is Judged by the Law

¹⁷ But if you bear the name “Jew” and ^(A)rely ^[a]upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will and ^[b](B)approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, ¹⁹ and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ a ^[c]corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ^[d]the immature, having in the Law ^(C)the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, ²¹ you, therefore, ^(D)who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who ^[e]preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? ²² You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^(E)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(F)boast ^[f]in the Law, through your transgression of the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For “^(G)the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles ^(H)because of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵ For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^(I)practice ^[g]the Law, but if you are a transgressor ^[h]of the Law, ^(J)your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ^26 (K)So if ^(L)the ^[i]uncircumcised man ^(M)observes the righteous requirements of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? ²⁷ And ^(N)he who is physically uncircumcised, if he ^[j]fulfills the Law, will he not ^(O)judge you who, through the letter of the Law and circumcision, are a transgressor ^[k]of the Law? ²⁸ For ^(P)he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹ But ^(Q)he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^(R)circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the ^(S)Spirit, not by the letter; ^(T)and his praise is not from men, but from God.