Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

This psalm is a song that David wrote for the music leader.

God will win!^[a]

Abraham and Isaac

22 Some time later, God wanted to see if Abraham really trusted him. God said to him, ‘Abraham!’ Abraham replied, ‘Here I am.’ ² God said, ‘Take your son and go to the land of Moriah. Take your only son Isaac, whom you love. You must offer him to me there as a burnt offering. I will show you the mountain where you must do this.’

³ Abraham got up early the next morning. He made his donkey ready for the journey. He took two servants with him, and also his son Isaac. First, he cut wood for the fire to make the burnt offering. Then he started on his journey to the place that God had told him. ⁴ On the third day of the journey, Abraham could see the place. It was not very far away. ⁵ He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey. I will take the boy and we will go over there. We will worship God in that place and then we will come back to you.’^[a]

⁶ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering. He gave it to Isaac to carry. Abraham himself carried the fire and the knife. The two of them walked on together. ⁷ Isaac spoke to his father, Abraham. He said, ‘Father?’ Abraham replied ‘Yes my son, what is it?’ Isaac replied, ‘I see that the fire and the wood are here. But where is the lamb so that we can make the burnt offering?’^[b]

⁸ Abraham replied, ‘My son, God himself will bring the lamb for the burnt offering.’

The two of them continued to walk on together. ⁹ They came to the place that God told them. Abraham built an altar there. He put the wood on it, ready for the fire. Then he tied his son Isaac. He lifted him up and he put him on top of the wood on the altar. ¹⁰ Then Abraham took hold of the knife. He was ready to kill his son as a sacrifice.

¹¹ But then the angel of the Lord spoke to Abraham from heaven. He said, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ Abraham replied, ‘Here I am.’ ¹² The angel said, ‘Do not hurt the boy! Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you respect God and you obey him. Isaac is your only son and you agreed to offer him to me as a sacrifice. You did not try to keep him safe.’^[c]

¹³ Just then, Abraham looked round and he saw a male sheep behind him. Its horns were caught in some bushes. So he went and he took hold of the sheep. Abraham killed the sheep on the altar as a burnt offering to God. In that way, he killed the sheep as a sacrifice, instead of his son.^[d]

¹⁴ Abraham called that place ‘The Lord will give me what I need.’^[e] People still say today, ‘On the mountain of the Lord, he will give us what we need.’

The apostles in Jerusalem accept Paul

2 14 years later, I went to Jerusalem again. This time I went with Barnabas, and I also took Titus with me. ² I went there because God had shown me that I should go. I talked to the Christian leaders there. I explained to them the good news that I teach to the Gentiles. But I talked only to those men who seemed to be the leaders. I wanted to be sure that they agreed with the message that I taught. I did not want my work, both in past times and now, to be worth nothing. ³ Titus was with me then. He is a Greek person and nobody had circumcised him. But the leaders in Jerusalem did not say that we must circumcise him.^[a]

⁴ But some men did want us to obey all the Jewish rules. Those men came secretly among our group. They said that they were believers, but they were not really true believers. They wanted to see how we lived as believers. They wanted to know how Christ Jesus has made us free from the Jewish rules. They wanted to make us slaves to those rules. ⁵ But we did not allow them to do this to us. They wanted to spoil the true good news that you have believed. We kept the good news safe for you.

⁶ The church leaders in Jerusalem did not argue with me. (They were the people who seemed to be the leaders. It does not matter to me whether they were really important people or not. God does not respect some people more than others.) Those leaders did not tell me to change the message that I teach. ⁷ Instead they saw that God had given a special job to me. God wanted me to tell the good news about Christ to the Gentiles. In the same way, he had told Peter to tell the good news to the Jews. ⁸ God gave Peter the authority to be his apostle to the Jews. God also gave me the authority to be his apostle to the Gentiles.

⁹ James, Peter and John understood that God had given this special job to me. They are the leaders that the church in Jerusalem respects. And they were happy to accept Barnabas and me as their friends. They agreed that we should teach God's message to the Gentiles. They themselves would continue to teach the Jews. ¹⁰ They only asked us to do this: We should remember to help the poor people among their group. That is something that I myself wanted very much to do.