Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
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.
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!’
23 Everyone who serves the Lord must praise him!
All Jacob's descendants must respect him!
Yes, all Israel's people must worship him!
24 God did not forget to help the man who was in pain.
He did not turn away from the one who suffered.
When he called to God for help,
God answered his prayer.[a]
25 Yes, I will praise you, God,
in the great meeting of your people.
I will give to you what I have promised to give.
Everyone who serves you, Lord, will see that.
26 Poor people will have plenty of food to eat.
Those who come to the Lord will praise him.
May God help you to live well for ever!
27 People everywhere in the world will respect the Lord.
They will turn to him for help.
Families from all nations will worship you.
28 The Lord rules as king over all the nations.
29 All the rich people on earth will bend down,
and they will worship God.
Everyone will die one day.
They must all bend down in front of God.
Nobody can keep himself alive.
30 Our children will also serve God.
And they will tell their children about our Lord.
31 They will speak about all the great things that God has done
to save his people.
People who have not yet been born
will learn about the things that God has done.[b]
13 God promised to Abraham, and to his descendants, that the world would belong to them one day.[a] God did not promise that because Abraham obeyed any rules. God promised it because Abraham believed in him. That is why God accepted Abraham as right with him. 14 People cannot get what God promised because they obey rules. If they could get it like that, then faith in God would be worth nothing. And what God promised would be worth nothing. 15 The rules in Moses' Law say that God will punish people who do not obey those rules. But without any rules, there is nothing for people to obey.
16 So God gives us his promise as a gift, because he is very kind. We receive it when we trust him. If we believe in God like Abraham did, then God accepts us. That is God's promise to all of Abraham's family. If we believe in God, we can call Abraham our ancestor. We can all receive what God has promised. It is not only for those who have Moses' Law to obey. 17 In the Bible, God said to Abraham, ‘I have chosen you to become the ancestor of many different people.’[b] That is what God himself promises, because Abraham believed in him. God is the one who causes dead people to become alive again. He speaks about things that are not yet there as if they were already there.
18 Abraham continued to trust God. He hoped to receive what God had promised. He continued to hope even when he had no good reason to hope. That is why he became the ancestor of many different people. It happened just like God had said: ‘You will have very many descendants.’[c]
19 Abraham was about 100 years old. His body was already so old that it was nearly dead. His wife, Sarah, was unable to have children. Abraham understood all that, but he did not stop trusting God. 20 He never stopped believing what God had promised. Instead, he believed in God more strongly. He trusted God's great power. 21 Abraham was sure that God was able to do what he had promised to do. 22 So we see that it is true: Because Abraham believed God, God accepted Abraham as right with him.[d]
23 Think about those words, ‘God accepted him as right.’ They are not only speaking about Abraham. 24 They are written in the Bible to help us too. If we believe in God, he will accept us as right with him. God raised our Lord Jesus, so that he became alive again after his death. 25 God let people kill Jesus on the cross because of the wrong things that we have done. Then God raised Jesus from death, to show that he would accept us as right with him.
Jesus tells his disciples how he will die
31 Then Jesus began to teach his disciples about the things that must happen to the Son of Man.[a] He would have to suffer in many ways. The important Jews, the leaders of the priests and the teachers of God's Law would turn against him. People would kill him. But after three days, he would become alive again.
32 What Jesus said was very clear. Then Peter took Jesus away from the other disciples. Peter began to tell Jesus that he must not say things like that.
33 Jesus turned round and he looked at his disciples. He said that Peter was not saying good things. He said to Peter, ‘Satan, go away from me![b] Your thoughts do not come from God. Instead, you are thinking like men think.’
34 Then Jesus asked the crowd and his disciples to come to him. He said to them, ‘A person who wants to come with me must not think about himself. He must decide that his own life is not important. He must be like someone who carries his own cross to go and die. Then he may come with me as my disciple. 35 Whoever wants to keep his own life safe will lose it. But whoever gives his life to serve me and God's good news will have true life. 36 A person may get everything in the whole world for himself. But if he loses his life, it will not be any good for him. 37 There is nothing that a person can give to get back his life.
38 People who are living today do not obey God. They are very bad. But you must not be ashamed of me or of my words. If you are, then the Son of Man will be ashamed of you. One day he will return and God's holy angels will be with him. He will have the bright glory of his Father. He will be ashamed of you on that day if you are ashamed of him now.’
2 Six days after that, Jesus asked Peter, James and John to go with him. Jesus led them up a high mountain, where they were alone together. Peter, James and John saw Jesus change in front of them. 3 His clothes became very white; they were shining. They were a brighter white than anyone on earth could wash them. 4 Then Elijah and Moses appeared in front of the three disciples. Elijah and Moses were talking with Jesus.[a][b]
5 So Peter said to Jesus, ‘Teacher, it is good that we are here. Please let us build three huts. One hut will be for you. One hut will be for Moses. And one hut will be for Elijah.’ 6 Peter did not really know what to say. That was because the three disciples were very afraid.[c]
7 Then a cloud appeared and it covered them all. A voice spoke from the cloud and it said, ‘This is my Son, and I love him. Listen to him.’
8 At that moment, the three disciples looked around. They saw that nobody else was there now. Only Jesus was there with them.
9 While they were walking down the mountain, Jesus said to the three disciples, ‘You must not tell anyone now about the things that you have just seen. One day the Son of Man will become alive again after his death. Then you can tell people about these things.’
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