Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
23 You who (A)fear the Lord, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, (B)glorify him,
and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
24 For he has not despised or abhorred
the affliction of (C)the afflicted,
and he has not (D)hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he (E)cried to him.
25 From you comes my praise in the great (F)congregation;
my (G)vows I will (H)perform before those who fear him.
26 (I)The afflicted[a] shall (J)eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the Lord!
May your hearts (K)live for ever!
27 All (L)the ends of the earth shall remember
and turn to the Lord,
and all (M)the families of the nations
shall worship before you.
28 For (N)kingship belongs to the Lord,
and he rules over the nations.
29 All (O)the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall (P)bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not (Q)keep himself alive.
30 Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming (R)generation;
31 they shall (S)come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet (T)unborn,
that he has done it.
Sarai and Hagar
16 (A)Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was (B)Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children[a] by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram (C)had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, (D)she looked with contempt on her mistress.[b] 5 And Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May (E)the Lord judge between you and me!” 6 But Abram said to Sarai, “Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please.” Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.
Abraham Justified by Faith
4 What then shall we say was gained by[a] Abraham, (A)our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but (B)not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? (C)“Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now (D)to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but (E)believes in[b] him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
7 (F)“Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not (G)count his sin.”
9 Is this blessing then only for (H)the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? (I)We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 (J)He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was (K)to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.