Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Into Your Hand I Commit My Spirit

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

The Covenant Confirmed

24 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(A)Nadab, and Abihu, and ^(B)seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. ² Moses ^(C)alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

³ Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and ^(D)all the rules.^[a] And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^(E)“All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” ⁴ And ^(F)Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve ^(G)pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. ⁶ And ^(H)Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ^(I)“All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” ^8 (J)And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and ^(A)rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you yourself are ^(B)a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law ^(C)the embodiment of ^(D)knowledge and truth— ^21 (E)you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^(F)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(G)boast in the law ^(H)dishonour God by breaking the law. ²⁴ For, ^(I)as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed ^(J)among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value ^(K)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if ^(L)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(M)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[a] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(N)will condemn you who have ^(O)the written code^[b] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For ^(P)no one is a Jew ^(Q)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(R)inwardly, and ^(S)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(T)His praise is not from man but from God.