Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song of David.

Abram Returns to Canaan

13 So Abram left Egypt. He traveled through the Negev with his wife and everything he owned. Lot was also with them. ² At this time Abram was very rich. He had many animals and much silver and gold.

³ Abram continued traveling around. He left the Negev and went back to Bethel. He went to the place between the city of Bethel and Ai,^[a] where he and his family had camped before. ⁴ This was where Abram had built an altar earlier. So he worshiped the Lord there.

Abram and Lot Separate

⁵ During this time Lot was also traveling with Abram. Lot had many animals and tents. ⁶ Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together. ⁷ (The Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in this land at the same time.) The shepherds of Abram and Lot began to argue.

¹⁴ After Lot left, the Lord said to Abram, “Look around you. Look north, south, east, west. ¹⁵ All this land that you see I will give to you and your people who live after you. This will be your land forever. ¹⁶ I will make your people so many that they will be like the dust of the earth. If people could count all the particles of dust on earth, they could count your people. ¹⁷ So go. Walk through your land. I now give it to you.”

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tents. He went to live near the big trees of Mamre. This was near the city of Hebron. There he built an altar to honor the Lord.

² Be careful of the dogs—those men whose work does only harm. They want to cut on everyone who isn’t circumcised.^{[a] 3} But we are the ones who have the true circumcision^[b]—we who worship God through his Spirit. We don’t trust in ourselves or anything we can do. We take pride only in Christ Jesus. ⁴ Even if I am able to trust in myself, still I don’t do it. If anyone else thinks they have a reason to trust in themselves, they should know that I have a greater reason for doing so. ⁵ I was circumcised on the eighth day after my birth. I am from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin. I am a true Jew, and so were my parents. The law was very important to me. That is why I became a Pharisee. ⁶ I was so eager to defend my religion^[c] that I persecuted the church. And no one could find fault with the way I obeyed the Law of Moses.

⁷ At one time all these things were important to me. But because of Christ, I decided that they are worth nothing. ⁸ Not only these things, but now I think that all things are worth nothing compared with the greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Christ, I lost all these things, and now I know that they are all worthless trash. All I want now is Christ. ⁹ I want to belong to him. In Christ I am right with God, but my being right does not come from following the law. It comes from God through faith. God uses my faith in^[d] Christ to make me right with him. ¹⁰ All I want is to know Christ and the power that raised him from death. I want to share in his sufferings and be like him even in his death. ¹¹ Then there is hope that I myself will somehow be raised from death.

Trying to Reach the Goal

¹² I don’t mean that I am exactly what God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal. But I continue trying to reach it and make it mine. That’s what Christ Jesus wants me to do. It is the reason he made me his.