Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 105(A)
1 Oh, give thanks unto the Lord; call upon His name;
make known His deeds among the peoples.
2 Sing unto Him, sing praises unto Him;
proclaim all His wondrous works.
3 Glory in His holy name;
let the heart rejoice for those who seek the Lord.
4 Seek the Lord and His strength;
seek His presence continuously.
5 Remember His marvelous works that He has done;
His wonders and the judgments from His mouth,
6 O offspring of Abraham, His servant,
O children of Jacob, His chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God;
His judgments are in all the earth.
8 He remembers His covenant forever,
the word that He commanded, to a thousand generations,
9 that covenant He made with Abraham,
and His oath to Isaac,
10 and confirmed to Jacob as a decree,
and to Israel for an everlasting covenant,
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”
12 When they were but a few people in number,
indeed, very few, and strangers in it,
13 when they went from one nation to another,
from one kingdom to another people,
14 He did not permit anyone to do them wrong;
indeed, He reproved kings on their behalf,
15 saying, “Do not touch my anointed ones,
and do no harm to my prophets.”
16 Moreover He called for a famine upon the land;
He broke the whole supply of bread.
17 He sent a man before them,
Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 They hurt his feet with fetters;
his neck was put in an iron collar.
19 Until the time that his word came to pass,
the word of the Lord tested him.
20 The king sent and released him;
the ruler of the people let him go free.
21 He made Joseph lord of his house
and ruler of all his possessions,
22 to imprison his princes at Joseph’s pleasure
and to teach his elders wisdom.
23 Then Israel came into Egypt,
and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord increased His people greatly
and made them stronger than their enemies.
25 He turned their hearts to hate His people,
to deal cleverly with His servants.
26 He sent Moses, His servant,
and Aaron whom He had chosen.
27 They showed His signs among them
and wonders in the land of Ham.
28 He sent darkness and made the land dark,
and Moses and Aaron did not rebel against His word.
29 He turned their waters into blood
and caused their fish to die.
30 Their land brought forth frogs in abundance,
even in the chambers of their kings.
31 He spoke, and there came swarms of flies
and gnats in all their country.
32 He gave them hail for rain
and flaming lightning in their land.
33 He struck their vines and their fig trees
and shattered the trees of their country.
34 He spoke, and the locusts came,
and caterpillars without number,
35 that devoured all the vegetation in their land,
and ate all the fruit of their ground.
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the first fruits of all their strength.
37 Then He brought them out with silver and gold,
and no one among their tribes faltered.
38 Egypt was glad when they left,
for the fear of Israel fell upon them.
39 He spread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light in the night.
40 The people asked, and He brought quail,
and satisfied them with abundant bread of heaven.
41 He opened the rock, and the waters gushed out;
they ran in the desert like a river.
42 For he recalled His holy promise
to Abraham His servant.
The Command to Leave Sinai
33 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your descendants I will give it.’ 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. However, I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”
4 When the people heard this disturbing word, they mourned. And no one put on his ornaments. 5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for one moment, I might destroy you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, so that I may know what I will do to you.’ ” 6 The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
The Example of Abraham
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our father according to the flesh, has found? 2 If Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”[a]
4 Now to him who works, wages are not given as a gift, but as a debt. 5 But to him who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. 6 Even David describes the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness without works:
7 “Blessed are those
whose iniquities are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the man
to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”[b]
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? We are saying that faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it credited? When he was in circumcision? Or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith that he had while being uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham, which he had while still being uncircumcised.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.