Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God’s Love for Israel
105 Give thanks to the Lord and ·pray to him [L call on his name].
·Tell [L Make known among] the nations what he has done.
2 Sing to him; ·sing praises [make a psalm] to him.
Tell about all his ·miracles [wonderful acts].
3 ·Be glad that you are his [L Exult/Glory in his holy name];
let ·those [L the heart of those] who seek the Lord ·be happy [rejoice].
4 ·Depend on [Seek] the Lord and his strength;
always ·go to him for help [L seek his face].
5 Remember the ·miracles [wonderful acts] he has done;
remember his ·wonders [signs] and ·his decisions [L the judgments of his mouth].
6 You are ·descendants [L seed] of his servant Abraham [Gen. 12:1–3],
the children of Jacob, his chosen people.
7 He is the Lord our God.
His ·laws [justice; judgments] are for all the world.
8 He will ·keep [L remember] his ·agreement [covenant; treaty] forever;
·he will keep his promises always [L the word which he commanded, for a thousand generations].
9 He will keep the ·agreement [covenant; treaty] he ·made [L cut] with Abraham [Gen. 12:1–3; 17:23]
and the ·promise [oath] he made to Isaac [Gen. 26:3–5].
10 He made it a ·law [statute; ordinance; requirement] for the people of Jacob;
he made it an ·agreement [covenant; agreement] with Israel to last forever.
11 The Lord said, “I will give you the land of Canaan [Gen. 15:18],
·and it will belong to you [L as a portion of your inheritance].”
12 Then ·God’s people [L they] were few in number.
They were ·strangers [sojourners; wanderers; resident aliens] in the land.
13 They went from one nation to another,
from one kingdom to another.
14 But the Lord did not let anyone ·hurt [exploit; oppress] them;
he warned kings ·not to harm them [L concerning them].
15 He said, “Don’t touch my ·chosen [anointed] people,
and don’t harm my prophets.”
16 ·God [He] ·ordered [proclaimed] a ·time of hunger [famine] in the land,
and he ·destroyed all the food [L broke every staff of bread; Gen. 41:54].
17 Then he sent a man ahead of them—
Joseph, who was sold as a slave [Gen. 37; 45:5; 50:20].
18 They ·put chains around his feet [L afflicted his feet with chain]
and an iron ·ring [collar] around his neck.
19 ·Then the time he had spoken of came,
and the Lord’s words proved that Joseph was right [or Until the time he had spoken of came, the words of the Lord kept testing him].
20 The king [C of Egypt] sent for Joseph and ·freed [released] him;
the ruler of the people set him free [Gen. 41:14, 40].
21 He made him the ·master [lord] of his house;
Joseph was in charge of his riches [Acts 7:10].
22 He could ·order [bind] the princes as he wished.
He taught the older men to be wise.
23 Then Israel [C another name for Jacob, Joseph’s father] came to Egypt;
Jacob lived in the land of Ham [C Egypt; Gen. 46:1–7].
24 The Lord made his people ·grow in number [fruitful; Ex. 1:7],
and he ·made them stronger than [strengthened them against] their ·enemies [foes].
25 He ·caused the Egyptians [L turned their hearts] to hate his people
and to ·make plans [L act deceptively] against his servants [Ex. 1:8].
26 Then he sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen [Ex. 3:1—4:17].
27 They did many signs among the Egyptians
and worked ·wonders [miracles; C the plagues; Ex. 7–12] in the land of Ham [C Egypt; Gen. 46:1–7].
28 The Lord sent darkness and made the land dark,
but the Egyptians ·turned against what he said [rebelled against his word; Ex. 10:21–29].
29 He changed their water into blood
and made their fish die [Ex. 7:14–25].
30 Then their country ·was filled [swarmed] with frogs,
even in the bedrooms of their ·rulers [L kings; Ex. 8:1–17].
31 The Lord spoke and flies came [Ex. 8:20–32],
and gnats were everywhere in the country [Ex. 8:16–19].
32 He made hail fall like rain
and sent lightning through their land.
33 He struck down their grapevines and fig trees,
and he ·destroyed [shattered] every tree in the country [Ex. 9:13–35].
34 He spoke and ·grasshoppers [locusts] came;
the ·locusts [young locusts] ·were too many to count [L without number].
35 They ate all the ·plants [vegetation] in the land
and ·everything the earth produced [L the fruit of the ground; Ex. 10:1–20].
36 ·The Lord [L He] also ·killed [L struck] all the firstborn sons in the land,
the oldest son of each family [L the first of their virility; Ex. 11:1—12:30].
37 Then he brought them out with silver and gold [Ex. 12:35–36].
·Not one of his people stumbled [L There was no stumbling among the tribe].
38 The Egyptians ·were glad [rejoiced] when they left,
because ·the Egyptians were afraid of them [L dread of them fell on them; C because of the plagues].
39 ·The Lord covered them with a cloud [L He spread out a cloud as a covering]
and ·lit up the night with fire [L a fire to illuminate the night; Ex. 13:21–22].
40 When they asked, he brought them quail
and filled them with bread from heaven [Ex. 16].
41 God ·split [L opened] the rock, and water flowed out;
it ran like a river through the ·desert [wasteland; Ex. 17:1–7].
42 He remembered his holy ·promise [word]
to his servant Abraham [Gen. 12:1–3].
33 Then the Lord said to Moses, “You and the people you brought out of Egypt must ·leave [L go up from] this place. Go to the land that I promised with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give that land to your ·descendants [L seed; Gen. 12:1–3].’ 2 I will send an ·angel [or messenger] ·to lead [L before] you, and I will ·force [drive] these people out of the land: the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 3 Go up to a ·fertile land [L land flowing with milk and honey; 3:8]. But I will not go with you, because I might ·destroy [consume] you on the way, since you are such a ·stubborn people [stiff-necked people].”
4 When the people heard this bad news, they ·became very sad [mourned], and none of them put on ·jewelry [ornaments; or festive dress]. 5 This was because the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the ·Israelites [L sons/T children of Israel], ‘You are a ·stubborn [L stiff-necked] people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I would destroy you. So take off all your ·jewelry [ornaments; or festive dress], and I will decide what to do with you.’” 6 So the ·people [L sons; children] of Israel ·took [stripped] off their ·jewelry [ormanents; or festive dress] at Mount ·Sinai [L Horeb; 3:1].
The Example of Abraham
4 So what can we say that Abraham, ·the father of our people [L our forefather according to the flesh; Gen. 12—25], ·learned about faith [discovered in this regard; L has found]? 2 If Abraham was ·made right [justified; declared righteous] by ·the things he did [L the works of the law], he had a reason to ·brag [boast]. ·But this is not God’s view [or …but he could not boast before God], 3 because the Scripture says, “Abraham believed God, and ·God accepted Abraham’s faith, and that faith made him right with God [L it was credited/counted to him for righteousness; Gen. 15:6].”
4 When people work, their ·pay [wage] is not ·given [credited; counted] as ·a gift [grace], but as something ·earned [due to them]. 5 ·But people cannot do any work that will make them right with God. So they must trust in him [L But for the one who does not work, but trusts in God], who ·makes even evil people right in his sight [justifies/makes righteous the ungodly]. Then God ·accepts their faith, and that makes them right with him [L credits/counts their faith for righteousness]. 6 David said the same thing. He said that people are ·truly blessed [happy; spiritually fulfilled] when God, ·without paying attention to their deeds [apart from works], ·makes people right with himself [L credits/counts righteousness to them].
7 “·Blessed [Happy; Spiritually fulfilled] are they
whose ·sins [lawless deeds] are forgiven,
whose ·wrongs [sins] are ·pardoned [covered; blotted out].
8 ·Blessed [Happy; Spiritually fulfilled] is the person
whom the Lord does not ·consider guilty [L count sin against; Ps. 32:1–2].”
9 Is this ·blessing [happiness; spiritual fulfillment] only for those who are circumcised or also for those who are not circumcised? We have already said that ·God accepted Abraham’s faith and that faith made him right with God [L faith was credited/counted to Abraham for righteousness; v. 3]. 10 So how did this happen? Did God accept Abraham before or after he was circumcised? It was not after, but before his circumcision. 11 Abraham ·was circumcised [L received the sign of circumcision; Gen. 17:9–14] ·to show that he was right with God [L as a seal/guarantee of the righteousness he had] through faith before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the father of all those who believe but are not circumcised, so that ·they too may be accepted as being right with God [righteousness may be credited/counted to them also]. 12 And Abraham is also the father of those who have been circumcised and who ·live following [L walk in the footsteps of] the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
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