Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

The Lord Rejects Eli's Household

²⁷ And there came ^(A)a man of God to Eli and said to him, “Thus the Lord has said, ^(B)‘Did I indeed reveal myself to the house of your father when they were in Egypt subject to the house of Pharaoh? ^28 (C)Did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, ^(D)to wear an ephod before me? ^(E)I gave to the house of your father all my offerings by fire from the people of Israel. ²⁹ Why then do you ^(F)scorn^[a] my sacrifices and my offerings that I commanded, and honour your sons above me by fattening yourselves on the choicest parts of every offering of my people Israel?’ ³⁰ Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ^(G)‘I promised that your house and the house of your father should go in and out before me for ever,’ ^(H)but now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me, for those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed. ³¹ Behold, ^(I)the days are coming when I will cut off your strength and the strength of your father's house, so that there will not be an old man in your house. ³² Then ^(J)in distress you will look with envious eye on all the prosperity that shall be bestowed on Israel, ^(K)and there shall not be an old man in your house for ever. ³³ The only one of you whom I shall not cut off from my altar shall be spared to weep his^[b] eyes out to grieve his heart, and all the descendants^[c] of your house shall die by the sword of men.^{[d] 34 (L)}And this that shall come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, shall be the sign to you: both of them shall die ^(M)on the same day. ^35 (N)And I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who shall do according to what is in my heart and in my mind. ^(O)And I will build him a sure house, and he shall go in and out before ^(P)my anointed for ever. ³⁶ And everyone who is left in your house shall come to implore him for a piece of silver or a loaf of bread and shall say, “Please put me in one of the priests' places, that I may eat a morsel of bread.”’”

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and ^(A)rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you yourself are ^(B)a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law ^(C)the embodiment of ^(D)knowledge and truth— ^21 (E)you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^(F)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(G)boast in the law ^(H)dishonour God by breaking the law. ²⁴ For, ^(I)as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed ^(J)among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value ^(K)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if ^(L)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(M)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[a] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(N)will condemn you who have ^(O)the written code^[b] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For ^(P)no one is a Jew ^(Q)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(R)inwardly, and ^(S)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(T)His praise is not from man but from God.