Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer of Faith in Troubled Times

For the director of music. A song of David.

God and Israel Make Their Agreement

24 The Lord told Moses, “You, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 of the elders of Israel must come up to me. You must worship me from a distance. ² Then Moses alone must come near me. The other men must not come near. And the rest of the people must not come up the mountain with Moses.”

³ So Moses told the people all the Lord’s words and laws for living. Then all of the people answered out loud together. They said, “We will do all the things that the Lord has said.” ⁴ So Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. And he got up early the next morning. He built an altar near the bottom of the mountain. He set up 12 stones, 1 stone for each of the 12 tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then Moses sent young Israelite men to offer whole burnt offerings. They also sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took the blood of these animals. He put half of it in bowls. And he sprinkled the other half of the blood on the altar. ⁷ Then Moses took the book with the agreement written in it. He read it so the people could hear him. And they said, “We will do everything that the Lord has said. We will obey.”

⁸ Then Moses took the blood from the bowls. He sprinkled it on the people. He said, “This is the blood that begins the agreement. This is the agreement which the Lord has made with you about all these things.”

The Jews and the Law

¹⁷ What about you? You call yourself a Jew. You trust in the law of Moses and brag that you are close to God. ¹⁸ You know what God wants you to do. And you know the things that are important because you have learned the law. ¹⁹ You think you are a guide for the blind and a light for those who are in darkness. ²⁰ You think you can show foolish people what is right and teach those who know nothing. You have the law; so you think you know everything and have all truth. ²¹ You teach other people. So why don’t you teach yourself? You tell others not to steal. But you yourselves steal. ²² You say that others must not take part in adultery. But you yourselves are guilty of that sin. You hate idols. But you steal from temples. ²³ You brag about having God’s law. But you bring shame to God by breaking his law. ²⁴ It is written in the Scriptures: “The non-Jews speak against God’s name because of you Jews.”^[a]

²⁵ If you follow the law, then your circumcision has meaning. But if you break the law, then it is as if you were never circumcised. ²⁶ The non-Jews are not circumcised. But if they do what the law says, then it is as if they were circumcised. ²⁷ You Jews have the written law and circumcision, but you break the law. So those who are not circumcised in their bodies, but still obey the law, will show that you are guilty.

²⁸ A person is not a true Jew if he is only a Jew in his physical body. True circumcision is not only on the outside of the body. ²⁹ A person is a true Jew only if he is a Jew inside. True circumcision is done in the heart by the Spirit, not by the written law. Such a person gets praise from God, not from other people.