Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

²³ Ye who fear Jehovah, praise ye Him, All the seed of Jacob, honour ye Him, And be afraid of Him, all ye seed of Israel.

²⁴ For He hath not despised, nor abominated, The affliction of the afflicted, Nor hath He hidden His face from him, And in his crying unto Him He heareth.

²⁵ Of Thee my praise [is] in the great assembly. My vows I complete before His fearers.

²⁶ The humble do eat and are satisfied, Praise Jehovah do those seeking Him, Your heart doth live for ever.

²⁷ Remember and return unto Jehovah, Do all ends of the earth, And before Thee bow themselves, Do all families of the nations,

²⁸ For to Jehovah [is] the kingdom, And He is ruling among nations.

²⁹ And the fat ones of earth have eaten, And they bow themselves, Before Him bow do all going down to dust, And he [who] hath not revived his soul.

³⁰ A seed doth serve Him, It is declared of the Lord to the generation.

³¹ They come and declare His righteousness, To a people that is borne, that He hath made!

16 And Sarai, Abram's wife, hath not borne to him, and she hath an handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name [is] Hagar;

² and Sarai saith unto Abram, `Lo, I pray thee, Jehovah hath restrained me from bearing, go in, I pray thee, unto my handmaid; perhaps I am built up from her;' and Abram hearkeneth to the voice of Sarai.

³ And Sarai, Abram's wife, taketh Hagar the Egyptian, her handmaid, at the end of the tenth year of Abram's dwelling in the land of Canaan, and giveth her to Abram her husband, to him for a wife,

⁴ and he goeth in unto Hagar, and she conceiveth, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and her mistress is lightly esteemed in her eyes.

⁵ And Sarai saith unto Abram, `My violence [is] for thee; I -- I have given mine handmaid into thy bosom, and she seeth that she hath conceived, and I am lightly esteemed in her eyes; Jehovah doth judge between me and thee.'

⁶ And Abram saith unto Sarai, `Lo, thine handmaid [is] in thine hand, do to her that which is good in thine eyes;' and Sarai afflicted her, and she fleeth from her presence.

4 What, then, shall we say Abraham our father, to have found, according to flesh?

² for if Abraham by works was declared righteous, he hath to boast -- but not before god;

³ for what doth the writing say? `And Abraham did believe God, and it was reckoned to him -- to righteousness;'

⁴ and to him who is working, the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt;

⁵ and to him who is not working, and is believing upon Him who is declaring righteous the impious, his faith is reckoned -- to righteousness:

⁶ even as David also doth speak of the happiness of the man to whom God doth reckon righteousness apart from works:

⁷ `Happy they whose lawless acts were forgiven, and whose sins were covered;

⁸ happy the man to whom the Lord may not reckon sin.'

⁹ [Is] this happiness, then, upon the circumcision, or also upon the uncircumcision -- for we say that the faith was reckoned to Abraham -- to righteousness?

¹⁰ how then was it reckoned? he being in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision;

¹¹ and a sign he did receive of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith in the uncircumcision, for his being father of all those believing through uncircumcision, for the righteousness also being reckoned to them,

¹² and father of circumcision to those not of circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith, that [is] in the uncircumcision of our father Abraham.