Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

ו (Vav)

17 When Avram was 99 years old Adonai appeared to Avram and said to him, “I am El Shaddai [God Almighty]. Walk in my presence and be pure-hearted. ² I will make my covenant between me and you, and I will increase your numbers greatly.” ³ Avram fell on his face, and God continued speaking with him: ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: you will be the father of many nations. ⁵ Your name will no longer be Avram [exalted father], but your name will be Avraham [father of many], because I have made you the father of many nations. ⁶ I will cause you to be very fruitful. I will make nations of you, kings will descend from you.

(vii) ⁷ “I am establishing my covenant between me and you, along with your descendants after you, generation after generation, as an everlasting covenant, to be God for you and for your descendants after you. ⁸ I will give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are now foreigners, all the land of Kena‘an, as a permanent possession; and I will be their God.”

⁹ God said to Avraham, “As for you, you are to keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you, generation after generation. ¹⁰ Here is my covenant, which you are to keep, between me and you, along with your descendants after you: every male among you is to be circumcised. ¹¹ You are to be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin; this will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. ¹² Generation after generation, every male among you who is eight days old is to be circumcised, including slaves born within your household and those bought from a foreigner not descended from you. ¹³ The slave born in your house and the person bought with your money must be circumcised; thus my covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴ Any uncircumcised male who will not let himself be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin — that person will be cut off from his people, because he has broken my covenant.”

¹⁵ God said to Avraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are not to call her Sarai [mockery]; her name is to be Sarah [princess]. ¹⁶ I will bless her; moreover, I will give you a son by her. Truly I will bless her: she will be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” ¹⁷ At this Avraham fell on his face and laughed — he thought to himself, “Will a child be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah give birth at ninety?” ¹⁸ Avraham said to God, “If only Yishma‘el could live in your presence!” ¹⁹ God answered, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you are to call him Yitz’chak [laughter]. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ But as for Yishma‘el, I have heard you. I have blessed him. I will make him fruitful and give him many descendants. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. ²¹ But I will establish my covenant with Yitz’chak, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.” ²² With that, God finished speaking with Avraham and went up from him.

²³ Avraham took Yishma‘el his son, all the slaves born in his house and all who had been bought with his money, every male among the people in Avraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin that very day, just as God had said to him.

(Maftir) ²⁴ Avraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, ²⁵ and Yishma‘el his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶ Avraham and Yishma‘el his son were circumcised on the same day; ²⁷ and all the men in his household, both slaves born in his house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

Haftarah Lekh L’kha: Yesha‘yahu (Isaiah) 40:27–41:16

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Lekh L’kha: Acts 7:1–8; Romans 3:19–5:6; Galatians 3:15–18; 5:1–6; Colossians 2:11–15; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 7:1–19; 11:8–12

13 Let brotherly friendship continue; ² but don’t forget to be friendly to outsiders; for in so doing, some people, without knowing it, have entertained angels. ³ Remember those in prison and being mistreated, as if you were in prison with them and undergoing their torture yourselves.

⁴ Marriage is honorable in every respect; and, in particular, sex within marriage is pure. But God will indeed punish fornicators and adulterers.

⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money; and be satisfied with what you have; for God himself has said, “I will never fail you or abandon you.”^{[a] 6} Therefore, we say with confidence,

⁷ Remember your leaders, those who spoke God’s message to you. Reflect on the results of their way of life, and imitate their trust — ⁸ Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today and forever.

⁹ Do not be carried away by various strange teachings; for what is good is for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. People who have made these the focus of their lives have not benefited thereby.

¹⁰ We have an altar from which those who serve in the Tent are not permitted to eat. ¹¹ For the cohen hagadol brings the blood of animals into the Holiest Place as a sin offering, but their bodies are burned outside the camp.^{[c] 12} So too Yeshua suffered death outside the gate, in order to make the people holy through his own blood. ¹³ Therefore, let us go out to him who is outside the camp and share his disgrace. ¹⁴ For we have no permanent city here; on the contrary, we seek the one to come. ¹⁵ Through him, therefore, let us offer God a sacrifice of praise continually.^[d] For this is the natural product of lips that acknowledge his name.

¹⁶ But don’t forget doing good and sharing with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.