Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

17 Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, ^(A)the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him,

³ Abram ^(F)fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying,

⁶ I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and ^(J)kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your ^[f]descendants after you throughout their generations as an ^(K)everlasting covenant, ^(L)to be God to you and ^(M)to your ^[g]descendants after you.

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you shall not call her by the name ^[a]Sarai, but ^[b]Sarah shall be her name. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and indeed I will give you ^(A)a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; ^(B)kings of peoples will ^[c]come from her.”

¹³ For ^(A)the promise to Abraham or to his ^[a]descendants ^(B)that he would be heir of the world was not ^[b]through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴ For ^(C)if those who are ^[c]of the Law are heirs, then faith is made void and the promise is nullified; ¹⁵ for ^(D)the Law brings about wrath, but ^(E)where there is no law, there also is no violation.

¹⁶ For this reason it is ^[d]by faith, in order that it may be in accordance with ^(F)grace, so that the promise will be guaranteed to ^(G)all the ^[e]descendants, not only to ^[f]those who are of the Law, but also to ^[g](H)those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is ^(I)the father of us all, ¹⁷ (as it is written: “I have made you ^(J)a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed, that is, God, ^(K)who gives life to the dead and ^(L)calls into being ^(M)things that do not exist. ¹⁸ In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become ^(N)a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “^(O)So shall your ^[h]descendants be.” ¹⁹ Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now ^(P)as good as dead since ^(Q)he was about a hundred years old, and ^(R)the deadness of Sarah’s womb; ²⁰ yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, ^(S)giving glory to God, ²¹ and ^(T)being fully assured that ^(U)what God had promised, He was able also to perform. ²² Therefore ^(V)it was also credited to him as righteousness. ²³ Now ^(W)not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him, ²⁴ but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, to us ^(X)who believe in Him who ^(Y)raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, ²⁵ He who was ^(Z)delivered over because of our wrongdoings, and was ^(AA)raised because of our justification.

^31 (A)And He began to teach them that ^(B)the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise from the dead. ³² And He was stating the matter ^(C)plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. ³³ But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, “Get behind Me, ^(D)Satan; for you are not setting your mind on ^[a]God’s purposes, but on man’s.”

³⁴ And He summoned the crowd together with His disciples, and said to them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, ^(E)take up his cross, and follow Me. ³⁵ For ^(F)whoever wants to save his ^[b]life will lose it, but whoever loses his ^[c]life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it. ³⁶ For what does it benefit a person to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul? ³⁷ For what could a person give in exchange for his soul? ³⁸ For ^(G)whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, ^(H)the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He ^(I)comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.”

^2 (A)And six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(B)Peter, ^[a]James, and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was ^[b]transfigured before them; ³ and ^(C)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ And Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter responded and *said to Jesus, “^(D)Rabbi, it is good that we are here; ^(E)let’s make three ^[c]tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know how to reply; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[d]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(F)a voice ^[e]came out of the cloud: “^(G)This is My beloved Son; ^[f]listen to Him!” ⁸ And suddenly they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (H)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(I)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[g]until the Son of Man rose from the dead.