Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

WAW

God changes Abram's name to Abraham

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. The Lord said, ‘I am God Almighty. In all your life, obey me and do nothing wrong. ² Then I will certainly keep my covenant with you. I will make your descendants grow in number.’^[a]

³ Abram fell down so that his face touched the ground. God said to him, ⁴ ‘As for me, this is my covenant that I have made with you. You will become the ancestor of many nations of people. ⁵ Your name will not be Abram any more. Instead your name will be Abraham, because I will cause you to become the ancestor of many nations. ⁶ I will give you many descendants. These will make many nations of people. Some of your descendants will become kings.

⁷ My covenant with you is very strong. I am making it with you and with your descendants. It will continue for generation after generation of your descendants, for all time. I will be your God. I will also be the God of all your descendants. ⁸ You are now living here in Canaan as a foreign person. But I will give all of this land to you and to your descendants. It will belong to them for ever. I will be their God.’

Circumcision

⁹ God continued to speak to Abraham. He said, ‘As for you, you must agree to obey me. You must obey the rules of my covenant. You, and all your descendants after you must obey it. ¹⁰ This is what you and all your descendants must do to obey my covenant: Every male person in your family must be circumcised. ¹¹ Your circumcision will show that you have agreed to my covenant with you. ¹² Every male child among you must be circumcised when he is eight days old. You must continue to do this for every generation. Do it for every male that lives with you, not just your own family. Circumcise servants that have been born in your house. Also circumcise foreign servants that you have bought with money. ¹³ You must circumcise all the male servants who work for you in your house. Circumcision will be a mark in your bodies which shows that you accept my covenant. It will continue for all time.

¹⁴ If any male person among you has not been circumcised, I will not accept him as one of my people. He must become separate from his people. He has not obeyed my covenant.’^[b]

God changes Sarai's name to Sarah

¹⁵ Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for your wife, do not call her Sarai any more. Instead, her name will be Sarah. ¹⁶ I will bless her. She will give birth to a son for you. Many nations of people will be her descendants. Some of them will become kings. That is how much I will bless her!’

¹⁷ Abraham fell down so that his face touched the ground. He laughed and he said to himself, ‘I am now 100 years old. That is too old to have a son. Sarah is 90 years old, so she could never give birth to a child. That is too old to have a child.’ ¹⁸ So Abraham said to God, ‘I would be happy if you would bless Ishmael as my son.’

¹⁹ God said to Abraham, ‘No, your wife Sarah will give birth to a son for you. You must give him the name “Isaac”.^[c] I will make my covenant with him and with his descendants for all time. ²⁰ I have heard what you want me to do for Ishmael. I will bless him. I will cause him to have many descendants. Among his descendants there will be 12 rulers. His descendants will become a great nation. ²¹ But I will make my covenant with Isaac, not with Ishmael. At about this time next year, Sarah will give birth to your son, Isaac.’

²² When God had finished speaking to Abraham, he went away.

²³ On that same day, Abraham circumcised Ishmael and every male person in his house. He circumcised every male servant that was born in his house, as well as those that he had bought with money. He did this in the way that God had told him. ²⁴ Abraham himself was circumcised when he was 99 years old. ²⁵ His son, Ishmael, was 13 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁶ Abraham and Ishmael were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷ As well as them, all the male people living in Abraham's house were circumcised. This included the male servants that had been born in his house and those that he had bought with money.

How we can live for God

13 Continue to love each other like brothers and sisters. ² Always remember to be kind to strangers. Let them stay in your homes. In this way, some people have received angels as visitors, and they did not know that they were angels.^[a]

³ Remember to help those believers who are in prison. Think about what that would be like, if you were there with them. Remember those believers who are receiving trouble from people. Think about them as if you were receiving the same pain in your own body.^[b]

⁴ When a man and a woman have married each other, they must each respect the marriage. Husbands and wives must only have sex with each other. God will punish anyone who has sex with another person's husband or wife. He will punish anyone who has sex in a wrong way.

⁵ In the way that you live, do not want lots of money. Be happy with the things that you have. Be happy, because God has said this:

⁶ Because of that, we can bravely say this:^[c]

⁷ Remember your leaders, who taught God's message to you. Think about the way in which they have lived and the good things that they have done. They have trusted God, so you should have faith like they have.

⁸ Jesus Christ is always the same, yesterday, today and for ever. ⁹ Some people teach all kinds of strange new things.^[d] Do not let them lead you away from God's true message. It is good that God is very kind to us. That is what makes us strong inside ourselves. Rules about what foods we should eat do not make us strong like that. Those rules have never helped the people who tried to obey them.

¹⁰ Jesus Christ is the sacrifice that saves us. Jewish priests do not have the authority to receive anything from his sacrifice. ¹¹ In the old agreement, the leader of the priests brings the blood from the animal sacrifices into the Most Holy Place. He does that so that God will forgive the sins of the people. But they take the bodies of those animals away from there. They burn them outside the town.^{[e] 12} In the same way, Jesus also died outside the city.^[f] He died as a sacrifice on our behalf. His blood has made his people clean from their sins. ¹³ Jesus died like that in a place where people insulted him. So we must go out to that place too. We must be ready for people to insult us, as they insulted him. ¹⁴ Here on earth, we who are believers do not have a city that will always be our home. But we are waiting for God's city that will come.

¹⁵ So we should always praise God, because of what Jesus has done for us. We should say clearly that we trust Jesus. That is like our sacrifice which we offer to God all the time. ¹⁶ Remember to be kind to other people. Share with them the things that you have. God is happy with sacrifices like that.