Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 69[a]
For the music director, according to the tune of “Lilies”;[b] by David.
69 Deliver me, O God,
for the water has reached my neck.[c]
2 I sink into the deep mire
where there is no solid ground;[d]
I am in[e] deep water,
and the current overpowers me.
3 I am exhausted from shouting for help.
My throat is sore;[f]
my eyes grow tired from looking for my God.[g]
4 Those who hate me without cause
are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to destroy me,
my enemies for no reason,[h]
outnumber me.[i]
They make me repay what I did not steal.[j]
5 O God, you are aware of my foolish sins;[k]
my guilt is not hidden from you.[l]
30 I will sing praises to God’s name.[a]
I will magnify him as I give him thanks.[b]
31 That will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull
with horns and hooves.
32 The oppressed look on—let them rejoice.
You who seek God,[c] may you be encouraged.[d]
33 For the Lord listens to the needy;
he does not despise his captive people.[e]
34 Let the heavens and the earth praise him,
along with the seas and everything that swims in them.
35 For God will deliver Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah,
and his people[f] will again live in them and possess Zion.[g]
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit it,
and those who are loyal to him[h] will live in it.[i]
The Sign of the Covenant
17 When Abram was 99 years old,[a] the Lord appeared to him and said,[b] “I am the Sovereign God.[c] Walk[d] before me[e] and be blameless.[f] 2 Then I will confirm my covenant[g] between me and you, and I will give you a multitude of descendants.”[h]
3 Abram bowed down with his face to the ground,[i] and God said to him,[j] 4 “As for me,[k] this[l] is my covenant with you: You will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be[m] Abram. Instead, your name will be Abraham[n] because I will make you[o] the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you[p] extremely[q] fruitful. I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.[r] 7 I will confirm[s] my covenant as a perpetual[t] covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God and the God of your descendants after you.[u] 8 I will give the whole land of Canaan—the land where you are now residing[v]—to you and your descendants after you as a permanent[w] possession. I will be their God.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep[x] the covenantal requirement[y] I am imposing on you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my requirement that you and your descendants after you must keep:[z] Every male among you must be circumcised.[aa] 11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins. This will be a reminder[ab] of the covenant between me and you. 12 Throughout your generations every male among you who is eight days old[ac] must be circumcised, whether born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants. 13 They must indeed be circumcised,[ad] whether born in your house or bought with money. The sign of my covenant[ae] will be visible in your flesh as a permanent[af] reminder.
The Illustration of Justification
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh,[a] has discovered regarding this matter?[b] 2 For if Abraham was declared righteous[c] by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited[d] to him as righteousness.”[e] 4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation.[f] 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous,[g] his faith is credited as righteousness.
6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed[h] are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the one[i] against whom the Lord will never count[j] sin.”[k]
9 Is this blessedness[l] then for[m] the circumcision[n] or also for[o] the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”[p] 10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised,[q] so that he would become[r] the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised,[s] that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised,[t] who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.[u]
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