Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 31
A Plea for Protection
For the choir director. A psalm of David.
1 Lord, I seek refuge in you;
let me never be disgraced.(A)
Save me by your righteousness.
2 Listen closely to me; rescue me quickly.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a mountain fortress to save me.(B)
3 For you are my rock and my fortress;(C)
you lead and guide me
for your name’s sake.(D)
4 You will free me from the net
that is secretly set for me,
for you are my refuge.(E)
5 Into your hand I entrust my spirit;(F)
you have redeemed me,[a] Lord, God of truth.(G)
19 How great is your goodness,
which you have stored up for those who fear you.
In the presence of everyone[a] you have acted
for those who take refuge in you.(A)
20 You hide them in the protection of your presence;(B)
you conceal them in a shelter
from human schemes,
from quarrelsome tongues.(C)
21 Blessed be the Lord,
for he has wondrously shown his faithful love to me
in a city under siege.(D)
22 In my alarm I said,
“I am cut off from your sight.”(E)
But you heard the sound of my pleading
when I cried to you for help.(F)
The Covenant Ceremony
24 Then he said to Moses, “Go up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders,(A) and bow in worship at a distance. 2 Moses alone is to approach the Lord, but the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.”
3 Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.”(B) 4 And Moses wrote(C) down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. 5 Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he splattered on the altar. 7 He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey all that the Lord has commanded.”
8 Moses took the blood, splattered it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”(D)
Jewish Violation of the Law
17 Now if[a] you call yourself a Jew, and rely on the law,(A) and boast in God, 18 and know his will, and approve the things that are superior,(B) being instructed from the law, 19 and if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light to those in darkness, 20 an instructor of the ignorant, a teacher of the immature, having the embodiment of knowledge and truth(C) in the law— 21 you then, who teach another,(D) don’t you teach yourself? You who preach, “You must not steal”—do you steal? 22 You who say, “You must not commit adultery”—do you commit adultery? You who detest idols, do you rob temples?(E) 23 You who boast in the law,(F) do you dishonor God by breaking the law?[b] 24 For, as it is written: The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.[c](G)
Circumcision of the Heart
25 Circumcision benefits you if you observe the law, but if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.(H) 26 So if an uncircumcised(I) man keeps the law’s requirements,(J) will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 27 A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you(K) who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision. 28 For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly,(L) and true circumcision is not something visible in the flesh. 29 On the contrary, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly,(M) and circumcision is of the heart—by the Spirit, not the letter.[d](N) That person’s praise is not from people but from God.(O)
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