Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Cry for Help
For the director of music. To the tune of “Lilies.” A psalm of David.
69 God, save me,
because the water has risen to my neck.
2 I’m sinking down into the mud,
and there is nothing to stand on.
I am in deep water,
and the flood covers me.
3 I am tired from calling for help;
my throat is sore.
My eyes are tired from waiting
for God to help me.
4 There are more people who hate me for no reason than hairs on my head;
powerful enemies want to destroy me for no reason.
They make me pay back
what I did not steal.
5 God, you know what I have done wrong;
I cannot hide my guilt from you.
30 I will praise God in a song
and will honor him by giving thanks.
31 That will please the Lord more than offering him cattle,
more than sacrificing a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 Poor people will see this and be glad.
Be encouraged, you who worship God.
33 The Lord listens to those in need
and does not look down on captives.
34 Heaven and earth should praise him,
the seas and everything in them.
35 God will save Jerusalem
and rebuild the cities of Judah.
Then people will live there and own the land.
36 The descendants of his servants will inherit that land,
and those who love him will live there.
Proof of the Agreement
17 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Obey me and do what is right. 2 I will make an agreement between us, and I will make you the ancestor of many people.”
3 Then Abram bowed facedown on the ground. God said to him, 4 “I am making my agreement with you: I will make you the father of many nations. 5 I am changing your name from Abram[a] to Abraham[b] because I am making you a father of many nations. 6 I will give you many descendants. New nations will be born from you, and kings will come from you. 7 And I will make an agreement between me and you and all your descendants from now on: I will be your God and the God of all your descendants. 8 You live in the land of Canaan now as a stranger, but I will give you and your descendants all this land forever. And I will be the God of your descendants.”
9 Then God said to Abraham, “You and your descendants must keep this agreement from now on. 10 This is my agreement with you and all your descendants, which you must obey: Every male among you must be circumcised. 11 Cut away your foreskin to show that you are prepared to follow the agreement between me and you. 12 From now on when a baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. This includes any boy born among your people or any who is your slave, who is not one of your descendants. 13 Circumcise every baby boy whether he is born in your family or bought as a slave. Your bodies will be marked to show that you are part of my agreement that lasts forever.
The Example of Abraham
4 So what can we say that Abraham,[a] the father of our people, learned about faith? 2 If Abraham was made right by the things he did, he had a reason to brag. But this is not God’s view, 3 because the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God.”[b]
4 When people work, their pay is not given as a gift, but as something earned. 5 But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him, who makes even evil people right in his sight. Then God accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him. 6 David said the same thing. He said that people are truly blessed when God, without paying attention to their deeds, makes people right with himself.
7 “Blessed are they
whose sins are forgiven,
whose wrongs are pardoned.
8 Blessed is the person
whom the Lord does not consider guilty.” Psalm 32:1–2
9 Is this blessing only for those who are circumcised or also for those who are not circumcised? We have already said that God accepted Abraham’s faith and that faith made him right with God. 10 So how did this happen? Did God accept Abraham before or after he was circumcised? It was before his circumcision. 11 Abraham was circumcised to show that he was right with God through faith before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the father of all those who believe but are not circumcised; he is the father of all believers who are accepted as being right with God. 12 And Abraham is also the father of those who have been circumcised and who live following the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.