Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 105[a]
105 Give thanks to the Lord.
Call on his name.
Make known his accomplishments among the nations.
2 Sing to him.
Make music to him.
Tell about all his miraculous deeds.
3 Boast about his holy name.
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
4 Seek the Lord and the strength he gives.
Seek his presence continually.
5 Recall the miraculous deeds he performed,
his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed,[b]
6 O children[c] of Abraham,[d] God’s[e] servant,
you descendants[f] of Jacob, God’s[g] chosen ones.
7 He is the Lord our God;
he carries out judgment throughout the earth.[h]
8 He always remembers his covenantal decree,
the promise he made[i] to a thousand generations—
9 the promise[j] he made to Abraham,
the promise he made by oath to Isaac.
10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as a lasting promise,[k]
11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan
as the portion of your inheritance.”
12 When they were few in number,
just a very few, and resident foreigners within it,
13 they wandered from nation to nation,
and from one kingdom to another.[l]
14 He let no one oppress them;
he disciplined kings for their sake,
15 saying,[m] “Don’t touch my chosen ones.[n]
Don’t harm my prophets.”
16 He called down a famine upon the earth;
he cut off all the food supply.[a]
17 He sent a man ahead of them[b]—
Joseph was sold as a servant.
18 The shackles hurt his feet;[c]
his neck was placed in an iron collar,[d]
19 until the time when his prediction[e] came true.
The Lord’s word[f] proved him right.[g]
20 The king authorized his release;[h]
the ruler of nations set him free.
21 He put him in charge of his palace,[i]
and made him manager of all his property,
22 giving him authority to imprison his officials[j]
and to teach his advisers.[k]
23 Israel moved to[l] Egypt;
Jacob lived for a time[m] in the land of Ham.
24 The Lord[n] made his people very fruitful,
and made them[o] more numerous than their[p] enemies.
25 He caused the Egyptians[q] to hate his people,
and to mistreat[r] his servants.
26 He sent his servant Moses,
and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
27 They executed his miraculous signs among them,[s]
and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.
28 He made it dark;[t]
Moses and Aaron did not disobey his orders.[u]
29 He turned the Egyptians’ water into blood,
and killed their fish.
30 Their land was overrun by frogs,
which even got into the rooms of their kings.
31 He ordered flies to come;[v]
gnats invaded their whole territory.
32 He sent hail along with the rain;[w]
there was lightning in their land.[x]
33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,
and broke the trees throughout their territory.
34 He ordered locusts to come,[y]
innumerable grasshoppers.
35 They ate all the vegetation in their land,
and devoured the crops of their fields.[z]
36 He struck down all the firstborn in their land,
the firstfruits of their reproductive power.[aa]
37 He brought his people[ab] out enriched[ac] with silver and gold;
none of his tribes stumbled.
38 Egypt was happy when they left,
for they were afraid of them.[ad]
39 He spread out a cloud for a cover,[ae]
and provided a fire to light up the night.
40 They asked for food,[af] and he sent quail;
he satisfied them with food from the sky.[ag]
41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out;
a river ran through dry regions.
33 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up[a] from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath[b] to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’[c] 2 I will send an angel[d] before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.[e] 3 Go up[f] to a land flowing with milk and honey. But[g] I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you[h] on the way.”
4 When the people heard this troubling word[i] they mourned;[j] no one put on his ornaments. 5 For[k] the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment,[l] I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments[m] that I may know[n] what I should do to you.’”[o] 6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
The Illustration of Justification
4 What then shall we say that Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh,[a] has discovered regarding this matter?[b] 2 For if Abraham was declared righteous[c] by works, he has something to boast about—but not before God. 3 For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited[d] to him as righteousness.”[e] 4 Now to the one who works, his pay is not credited due to grace but due to obligation.[f] 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous,[g] his faith is credited as righteousness.
6 So even David himself speaks regarding the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed[h] are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered;
8 blessed is the one[i] against whom the Lord will never count[j] sin.”[k]
9 Is this blessedness[l] then for[m] the circumcision[n] or also for[o] the uncircumcision? For we say, “faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.”[p] 10 How then was it credited to him? Was he circumcised at the time, or not? No, he was not circumcised but uncircumcised! 11 And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised,[q] so that he would become[r] the father of all those who believe but have never been circumcised,[s] that they too could have righteousness credited to them. 12 And he is also the father of the circumcised,[t] who are not only circumcised, but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham possessed when he was still uncircumcised.[u]
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