Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

ו Waw

The Covenant of Circumcision

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said, “I am the Mighty God. Walk faithfully with me. Live in a way that pleases me. ² I will now act on my covenant between me and you. I will greatly increase the number of your children after you.”

³ Abram fell with his face to the ground. God said to him, ⁴ “This is my covenant with you. You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ You will not be called Abram anymore. Your name will be Abraham, because I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will greatly increase the number of your children after you. Nations and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will make my covenant with you last forever. It will be between me and you and your family after you for all time to come. I will be your God. And I will be the God of all your family after you. ⁸ You are now living in Canaan as an outsider. But I will give you the whole land of Canaan. You will own it forever and so will all your family after you. And I will be their God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “You must keep my covenant. You and your family after you must keep it for all time to come. ¹⁰ Here is my covenant that you and your family after you must keep. You and every male among you must be circumcised. ¹¹ That will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² It must be done for all time to come. Every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised. That includes those who are born into your own family or outside it. It also includes those bought with money from a stranger. ¹³ So any male born into your family or bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant will last forever. Your body will have the mark of my covenant on it. ¹⁴ Any male who has not been circumcised will be separated from his people. He has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵ God also said to Abraham, “Do not continue to call your wife by the name Sarai. Her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will give her my blessing. You can be sure that I will give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of nations will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell with his face to the ground. He laughed and said to himself, “Can a 100-year-old man have a son? Can Sarah have a child at the age of 90?” ¹⁸ Abraham said to God, “I really wish Ishmael could receive your blessing!”

¹⁹ Then God said, “Yes, I will bless Ishmael. But your wife Sarah will have a son by you. And you will name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him. That covenant will last forever. It will be for Isaac and his family after him. ²⁰ I have heard what you said about Ishmael. I will surely bless him. I will make his family very large. He will be the father of 12 rulers. And I will make him into a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Isaac. By this time next year, Sarah will have a son by you.” ²² When God had finished speaking with Abraham, God left him.

²³ On that same day Abraham circumcised his son Ishmael. He also circumcised every male who was born into his family or bought with his money. He did exactly as God had told him. ²⁴ Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵ His son Ishmael was 13. ²⁶ Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. ²⁷ And every male in Abraham’s household was circumcised along with him. That included those born into his family or bought from a stranger.

Final Appeals

13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. ² Don’t forget to welcome outsiders. By doing that, some people have welcomed angels without knowing it. ³ Keep on remembering those in prison. Do this as if you were together with them in prison. And remember those who are treated badly as if you yourselves were suffering.

⁴ All of you should honor marriage. You should keep the marriage bed pure. God will judge the person who commits adultery. He will judge everyone who commits sexual sins. ⁵ Don’t be controlled by love for money. Be happy with what you have. God has said,

⁶ So we can say boldly,

⁷ Remember your leaders. They spoke God’s word to you. Think about the results of their way of life. Copy their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

⁹ Don’t let all kinds of strange teachings lead you astray. It is good that God’s grace makes our hearts strong. Don’t try to grow strong by eating foods that the law requires. They have no value for the people who eat them. ¹⁰ The priests, who are Levites, worship at the holy tent. But we have an altar that they have no right to eat from.

¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Room. He brings their blood as a sin offering. But the bodies are burned outside the camp. ¹² Jesus also suffered outside the city gate. He suffered to make the people holy by spilling his own blood. ¹³ So let us go to him outside the camp. Let us be willing to suffer the shame he suffered. ¹⁴ Here we do not have a city that lasts. But we are looking for the city that is going to come.

¹⁵ So let us never stop offering to God our praise through Jesus. Let us talk openly about our faith in him. Then our words will be like an offering to God. ¹⁶ Don’t forget to do good. Don’t forget to share with others. God is pleased with those kinds of offerings.