Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

15 After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, ^[a]and thy exceeding great reward. ² And Abram said, O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I ^[b]go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? ³ And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. ⁴ And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. ⁵ And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. ⁶ And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

¹² And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him. ¹³ And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years; ¹⁴ and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance. ¹⁵ But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age. ¹⁶ And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full. ¹⁷ And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces. ¹⁸ In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

²¹ But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²² even the righteousness of God through faith ^[a]in Jesus Christ unto all ^[b]them that believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all ^[c]have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; ²⁴ being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵ whom God set forth ^[d]to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the sins done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; ²⁶ for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be ^[e]just, and the ^[f]justifier of him that ^[g]hath faith ^[h]in Jesus. ²⁷ Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith. ^28 [i]We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from ^[j]the works of the law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yea, of Gentiles also: ³⁰ if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision ^[k]by faith, and the uncircumcision ^[l]through faith.

³¹ Do we then make ^[m]the law of none effect ^[n]through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish ^[o]the law.