Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Cry for Help

69 Save me, O God, for the waters have almost taken my life. ² I have gone down into deep mud and there is no place to put my feet. I have come into deep waters and a flood comes over me. ³ I have cried until I am tired. My mouth is dry. My eyes become weak while I wait for my God. ⁴ Those who hate me, without a reason, are more than the hairs on my head. Those who want to destroy me are powerful. I am made to return things that I did not steal.

⁵ O God, You know how foolish I am. My sins are not hidden from You.

³⁰ I will praise the name of God with song. And I will give Him great honor with much thanks. ³¹ This will please the Lord more than any ox or young bull with horns and hoofs. ³² Those without pride will see it and be glad. You who look for God, let your heart receive new strength. ³³ For the Lord hears those who are in need, and does not hate His people in prison.

³⁴ Let heaven and earth and the seas and all the things that move in them give thanks to Him. ³⁵ For God will save Zion and build the cities of Judah. Then His people may live there and have it for their own. ³⁶ And the children of those who obey Him will have it given to them. Those who love His name will live there.

The Special Act of the Agreement

17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord came to him and said, “I am God All-powerful. Obey Me, and be without blame. ² And I will keep My agreement between Me and you. I will give you many children.” ³ Then Abram fell on his face. God said to him, ⁴ “See, My agreement is with you. You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No more will your name be Abram. But your name will be Abraham. For I will make you the father of many nations. ⁶ Many will come from you. I will make nations of you. Kings will come from you. ⁷ I will make My agreement between Me and you and your children after you through their whole lives for all time. I will be God to you and to your children’s children after you. ⁸ I will give to you and your children after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan for yourselves forever. And I will be their God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “You must keep My agreement, you and your children after you for all time. ¹⁰ This is My agreement between Me and you and your children after you, which you must obey: Every man among you must have this religious act done. ¹¹ In this religious act the skin is cut off from the end of your sex part. This will be the special act of the agreement between Me and you. ¹² Every male child among you who is eight days old must have this religious act done, through all time. The same must be done to all the men born in your house or bought with your money from any stranger, who is not one of your family. ¹³ He that is born in your house and he that is bought with your money must have this religious act done. So will My agreement be marked in your flesh, an agreement that lasts forever.

4 What about Abraham, our early father? What did he learn? ² If Abraham was made right with God by what he did, he would have had something to be proud of. But he could not be proud before God. ³ The Holy Writings say, “Abraham put his trust in God and that made him right with God.” ^{(A) 4} If a man works, his pay is not a gift. It is something he has earned. ⁵ If a man has not worked to be saved, but has put his trust in God Who saves men from the punishment of their sins, that man is made right with God because of his trust in God. ⁶ David tells of this. He spoke of how happy the man is who puts his trust in God without working to be saved from the punishment of sin. ⁷ “Those people are happy whose sinful acts are forgiven and whose sins are covered. ⁸ Those people are happy whose sins the Lord will not remember.” ^(B)

⁹ Is this happiness given to the Jews only? Or is it given also to the people who are not Jews? We say again, “Abraham put his trust in God and that made him right with God.” ^{(C) 10} When did this happen? Was it before or after Abraham went through the religious act of becoming a Jew? It was before. ¹¹ He went through the religious act after he had put his trust in God. That religious act proved that his trust in God made him right with God even before he went through the religious act of becoming a Jew. In that way, it made him the early father of all those who believe. It showed that those who did not go through the religious act of becoming a Jew could be right with God. ¹² He is also the early father of all those who have gone through the religious act of becoming a Jew. It is not because they went through the act. It is because they put their trust in God the same as Abraham did before he went through the religious act of becoming a Jew.