Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God's Promise to Abraham

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him again and said, “I am God All-Powerful. If you obey me and always do right, ² I will keep my solemn promise to you and give you more descendants than can be counted.” ³ Abram bowed with his face to the ground, and God said:

^4-5 (A) I promise that you will be the father of many nations. So now I'm changing your name from Abram to Abraham.^{[a] 6} I will give you a lot of descendants, and they will become great nations. Some of them will even be kings.

^7 (B) I will always keep the promise I have made to you and your descendants, because I am your God and their God. ^8 (C) I will give you and them the land in which you are now a foreigner. I will give the whole land of Canaan to your family forever, and I will be their God.

⁹ Abraham, you and all future members of your family must promise to obey me. ^10-11 (D) As the sign that you are keeping this promise, you must circumcise every man and boy in your family. ^12-13 From now on, your family must circumcise every baby boy when he is eight days old. You must even circumcise any man or boy you have as a slave, both those born in your homes and those you buy from foreigners. This will be a sign that my promise to you will last forever. ¹⁴ Any man who isn't circumcised hasn't kept his part of the promise and cannot be one of my people.

¹⁵ Abraham, from now on your wife's name will be Sarah instead of Sarai. ¹⁶ I will bless her, and you will have a son by her. She will become the mother of nations, and some of her descendants will even be kings.

¹⁷ Abraham bowed with his face to the ground and thought, “I am almost 100 years old. How can I become a father? And Sarah is 90. How can she have a child?” So he started laughing. ¹⁸ Then he asked God, “Why not let Ishmael^[b] inherit what you have promised me?”

¹⁹ But God answered:

No! You and Sarah will have a son. His name will be Isaac,^[c] and I will make an everlasting promise to him and his descendants.

²⁰ However, I have heard what you asked me to do for Ishmael, and so I will also bless him with many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make his family a great nation. ²¹ But your son Isaac will be born about this time next year, and the promise I am making to you and your family will be for him and his descendants forever.

²² God finished speaking to Abraham and then left.

^23-27 On that same day Abraham obeyed God by circumcising Ishmael. Abraham was also circumcised, and so were all the other men and boys in his household, including his servants and slaves. He was 99 years old at the time, and his son Ishmael was 13.

Service That Pleases God

13 Keep being concerned about each other as the Lord's followers should.

^2 (A) Be sure to welcome strangers into your home. By doing this, some people have welcomed angels as guests, without even knowing it.

³ Remember the Lord's people who are in jail and be concerned for them. Don't forget those who are suffering, but imagine you are there with them.

^4 (B) Have respect for marriage. Always be faithful to your partner, because God will punish anyone who is immoral or unfaithful in marriage.

^5 (C) Don't fall in love with money. Be satisfied with what you have. The Lord has promised that he will not leave us or desert us. ^6 (D) This should make you feel like saying,

⁷ Don't forget about your leaders who taught you God's message. Remember what kind of lives they lived and try to have faith like theirs.

⁸ Jesus Christ never changes! He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ Don't be fooled by any kind of strange teachings. It is better to receive strength from God's gift of undeserved grace than to depend on certain foods. After all, these foods don't really help the people who eat them. ¹⁰ But we have an altar where even the priests who serve in the place of worship have no right to eat.

^11 (E) After the high priest offers the blood of animals as a sin offering, the bodies of those animals are burned outside the camp. ¹² Jesus himself suffered outside the city gate, so his blood would make people holy. ¹³ This is why we should go outside the camp to Jesus and share in his disgrace. ¹⁴ On this earth we don't have a city that lasts forever, but we are waiting for such a city.

¹⁵ Our sacrifice is to keep offering praise to God in the name of Jesus. ¹⁶ But don't forget to help others and to share your possessions with them. This too is like offering a sacrifice that pleases God.