Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
VAV ו
41 May Your lovingkindnesses come to me, Adonai—
Your salvation according to Your word—
42 so I may answer the one taunting me,
for I trust in Your word.
43 Never snatch out of my mouth a word of truth,
for I hope in Your judgments.
44 So I may always keep Your Torah,
forever and ever,
45 and walk about in freedom.
For I have sought Your precepts.
46 I will speak of Your testimonies
before kings, and never be ashamed.
47 I delight in Your mitzvot,
which I love.
48 I reach out my hands for Your mitzvot,
which I love,
and meditate on Your decrees.
Covenant of Circumcision
17 When Abram was 99 years old, Adonai appeared to Abram, and He said to him, “I am El Shaddai. Continually walk before Me and you will be blameless. 2 My heart’s desire is to make My covenant between Me and you, and then I will multiply you exceedingly much.”
3 Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying, 4 “For My part, because My covenant is with you, you will be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer will your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham, because I make you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 Yes, I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings will come forth from you. 7 Yes, I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your seed after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, in order to be your God and your seed’s God after you. 8 I will give to you and to your seed after you the land where you are an outsider—the whole land of Canaan—as an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
9 God also said to Abraham, “As for you, My covenant you must keep, you and your seed after you throughout their generations. 10 This is My covenant that you must keep between Me and you and your seed after you: all your males must be circumcised. 11 You must be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this will become a sign of the covenant between Me and you. 12 Also your eight-day-olds must be circumcised, every male, throughout your generations, including a house-born slave or a slave bought with money from any foreigner who is not of your seed. 13 Your house-born slave and your purchased slave must surely be circumcised. So My covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14 But the uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin—that person will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
15 God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her by the name Sarai. Rather, Sarah is her name. 16 And I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son from her. I will bless her and she will give rise to nations. Kings of the peoples will come from her.”
17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said to his heart, “Will a son be born to a 100-year-old man? Or will Sarah—who is 90 years old—give birth?” 18 So Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live before you!”
19 But God said, “On the contrary, Sarah your wife will bear you a son and you must name him Isaac. So I will confirm My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. See, I have blessed him and I will make him fruitful, and I will multiply him very very much. He will father twelve princes and I will make him a great nation. 21 But My covenant will I establish with Isaac whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.”
22 When He finished speaking with him, God went up from Abraham.
23 Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all of his house-born slaves and all his purchased slaves—every male among the men of Abraham’s house—and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskin on this very same day, just as God had spoken with him. 24 Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, 25 and his son Ishmael was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. 26 On this very same day Abraham and Ishmael his son were circumcised. 27 Also all the men of his house, house-born slaves and slaves purchased from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.
Brotherly Love in the Community
13 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers—for in doing so, some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3 Remember the prisoners as if you were fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you also were suffering bodily. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. 5 Keep your lifestyle free from the love of money, and be content with what you have. For God Himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you,” [a] 6 so that with confidence we say,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not fear.
What will man do to me?”[b]
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Yeshua the Messiah is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace—not by foods that have not benefited those occupied by them. 10 We have an altar from which those serving in the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals—whose blood is brought into the Holies by the kohen gadol as an offering for sin—are burned outside the camp. [c] 12 Therefore, to make the people holy through His own blood, Yeshua also suffered outside the gate. 13 So let us go to Him outside the camp, bearing His disgrace. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one that is to come. 15 Through Yeshua then, let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips giving thanks to His name. 16 Do not neglect doing good and sharing,[d] for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.