Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Waw

Circumcision—Proof of the Agreement

17 When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said, “I am God All-Powerful.^[a] Obey me and live the right way. ² If you do this, I will prepare an agreement between us. I will promise to make your people a great nation.”

³ Then Abram bowed down before God. God said to him, ⁴ “This is my part of our agreement: I will make you the father of many nations. ⁵ I will change your name from Abram^[b] to Abraham,^[c] because I am making you the father of many nations. ⁶ I will give you many descendants. New nations and kings will come from you. ⁷ And I will prepare an agreement between me and you. This agreement will also be for all your descendants. It will continue forever. I will be your God and the God of all your descendants. ⁸ And I will give this land to you and to all your descendants. I will give you the land you are traveling through—the land of Canaan. I will give you this land forever, and I will be your God.”

⁹ Then God said to Abraham, “Now, this is your part of the agreement: You and all your descendants will obey my agreement. ¹⁰ This is my agreement that all of you must obey. This is the agreement between me and you and all your descendants. Every male must be circumcised. ¹¹ You will cut the skin to show that you follow the agreement between me and you. ¹² When the baby boy is eight days old, you will circumcise him. Every boy born among your people and every boy who is a slave of your people must be circumcised. ¹³ So every baby boy in your nation will be circumcised. Every boy who is born from your family or bought as a slave will be circumcised. ¹⁴ Abraham, this is the agreement between you and me: Any male who is not circumcised will be cut off from his people^[d] because he has broken my agreement.”

Isaac—the Promised Son

¹⁵ God said to Abraham, “I will give Sarai,^[e] your wife, a new name. Her new name will be Sarah.^{[f] 16} I will bless her. I will give her a son, and you will be the father. She will be the mother of many new nations. Kings of nations will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham bowed his face to the ground to show he respected God. But he laughed and said to himself, “I am 100 years old. I cannot have a son, and Sarah is 90 years old. She cannot have a child.”

¹⁸ Then Abraham said to God, “I hope Ishmael will live and serve you.”

¹⁹ God said, “No, I said that your wife Sarah will have a son. You will name him Isaac.^[g] I will make my agreement with him that will continue forever with all his descendants.

²⁰ “You mentioned Ishmael, and I heard you. I will bless him, and he will have many children. He will be the father of twelve great leaders. His family will become a great nation. ²¹ But I will make my agreement with Isaac, the son who Sarah will have. He will be born at this same time next year.”

²² After God finished talking with Abraham, God went up into heaven. ²³ Then Abraham gathered together Ishmael and all the slaves born in his house. He also gathered all the slaves he had bought. Every man and boy in Abraham’s house was gathered together, and they were all circumcised. Abraham circumcised them that day, just as God had told him to do.

²⁴ Abraham was 99 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁵ And Ishmael, his son, was 13 years old when he was circumcised. ²⁶ Abraham and his son were circumcised on the same day. ²⁷ Also, on that day all the men in Abraham’s house were circumcised. All the slaves born in his house and all the slaves he had bought were circumcised.

Worship That Pleases God

13 Continue loving each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. ² Always remember to help people by welcoming them into your home. Some people have done that and have helped angels without knowing it. ³ Don’t forget those who are in prison. Remember them as though you were in prison with them. And don’t forget those who are suffering. Remember them as though you were suffering with them.

⁴ Marriage should be honored by everyone. And every marriage should be kept pure between husband and wife. God will judge guilty those who commit sexual sins and adultery. ⁵ Keep your lives free from the love of money. And be satisfied with what you have. God has said,

⁶ So we can feel sure and say,

⁷ Remember your leaders. They taught God’s message to you. Remember how they lived and died, and copy their faith. ⁸ Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ⁹ Don’t let all kinds of strange teachings lead you into the wrong way. Depend only on God’s grace for spiritual strength, not on rules about foods. Obeying those rules doesn’t help anyone.

¹⁰ We have a sacrifice.^[a] And those priests who serve in the Holy Tent cannot eat from the sacrifice we have. ¹¹ The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place^[b] and offers that blood for sins. But the bodies of those animals are burned outside the camp. ¹² So Jesus also suffered outside the city. He died to make his people holy with his own blood. ¹³ So we should go to Jesus outside the camp and accept the same shame that he had. ¹⁴ Here on earth we don’t have a city that lasts forever. But we are waiting for the city that we will have in the future. ¹⁵ So through Jesus we should never stop offering our sacrifice to God. That sacrifice is our praise, coming from lips that speak his name. ¹⁶ And don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with others, because sacrifices like these are very pleasing to God.