Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Prayer for Help.

²⁷ Then ^(A)a man of God came to Eli and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘^(B)Did I not indeed reveal Myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt in bondage to Pharaoh’s house? ^28 (C)Did I not choose them from all the tribes of Israel to be My priests, to go up to My altar, to burn incense, to carry an ephod before Me? And did I not ^(D)give to the house of your father all the fire offerings of the sons of Israel? ²⁹ Why are you ^[a](E)showing contempt for My sacrifice and My offering ^(F)which I have commanded for My ^(G)dwelling, and why are you ^(H)honoring your sons above Me, by making yourselves fat with the ^[b]choicest of every offering of My people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord God of Israel declares, ‘^(I)I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father was to walk before Me forever’; but now the Lord declares, ‘Far be it from Me—for ^(J)those who honor Me I will honor, and those ^(K)who despise Me will be insignificant. ³¹ Behold, ^(L)the days are coming when I will eliminate your ^[c]strength and the ^[d]strength of your father’s house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² And you will look at ^(M)the distress of My dwelling, in spite of all the good that ^[e]I do for Israel; and there will never be an ^(N)old man in your house. ³³ Yet I will not cut off every man of yours from My altar, ^[f]so that your eyes will fail from weeping and your soul grieve, and all the ^[g]increase of your house will die ^[h]in the prime of life. ³⁴ And this will be ^(O)the sign to you which will come in regard to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: ^(P)on the same day both of them will die. ³⁵ But ^(Q)I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in My heart and My soul; and ^(R)I will build him an enduring house, and he will walk before ^(S)My anointed always. ³⁶ And everyone who is left in your house will come to bow down to him for a ^[i]silver coin or a loaf of bread and say, “Please ^[j]assign me to one of the priest’s offices so that I may eat a piece of bread.”’”

The Jews under the Law

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a ^[a]Jew and ^(A)rely ^[b]upon the Law and boast in God, ¹⁸ and know His will and ^[c](B)distinguish the things that matter, being instructed from the Law, ¹⁹ and are confident that you yourself are a guide to people who are blind, a light to those in darkness, ²⁰ a ^[d]corrector of the foolish, a teacher of ^[e]the immature, possessing in the Law ^(C)the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth— ²¹ you, therefore, ^(D)who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who ^[f]preach that one is not to steal, do you steal? ²² You who say that one is not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who loathe idols, do you ^(E)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(F)boast ^[g]in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? ²⁴ For “^(G)the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles ^(H)because of you,” just as it is written.

²⁵ For indeed circumcision is of value if you ^(I)practice ^[h]the Law; but if you are a violator ^[i]of the Law, ^(J)your circumcision has turned into uncircumcision. ^26 (K)So if ^(L)the ^[j]uncircumcised man ^(M)keeps the requirements of the Law, will his uncircumcision not be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷ And ^(N)he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not ^(O)judge you who ^[k]though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a violator ^[l]of the Law? ²⁸ For ^(P)he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. ²⁹ But ^(Q)he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and ^(R)circumcision is of the heart, by the ^(S)Spirit, not by the letter; ^(T)and his praise is not from people, but from God.