Genesis 17

• 1. When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless.
• 2. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
• 3. Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
• 4. "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
• 5. No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations.
• 6. I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
• 7. I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
• 8. The whole land of Canaan, where you are now an alien, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
• 9. Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
• 10. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
• 11. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
• 12. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner-those who are not your offspring.
• 13. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
• 14. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
• 15. God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
• 16. I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
• 17. Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
• 18. And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"
• 19. Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
• 20. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
• 21. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
• 22. When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
• 23. On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him.
• 24. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised,
• 25. and his son Ishmael was thirteen;
• 26. Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day.
• 27. And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.

Matthew 16

• 1. The Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.
• 2. He replied, "When evening comes, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,'
• 3. and in the morning, 'Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
• 4. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a miraculous sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah." Jesus then left them and went away.
• 5. When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread.
• 6. "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
• 7. They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread."
• 8. Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread?
• 9. Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
• 10. Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered?
• 11. How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."
• 12. Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
• 13. When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say the Son of Man is?"
• 14. They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets."
• 15. "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?"
• 16. Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
• 17. Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.
• 18. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
• 19. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
• 20. Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.
• 21. From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
• 22. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. "Never, Lord!" he said. "This shall never happen to you!"
• 23. Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
• 24. Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
• 25. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.
• 26. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
• 27. For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done.
• 28. I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

Nehemiah 6

• 1. When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it-though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates-
• 2. Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: "Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono." But they were scheming to harm me;
• 3. so I sent messengers to them with this reply: "I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?"
• 4. Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
• 5. Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter
• 6. in which was written: "It is reported among the nations-and Geshem says it is true-that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king
• 7. and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: 'There is a king in Judah!' Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us confer together."
• 8. I sent him this reply: "Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head."
• 9. They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, "Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed." But I prayed, "Now strengthen my hands."
• 10. One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, "Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you-by night they are coming to kill you."
• 11. But I said, "Should a man like me run away? Or should one like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!"
• 12. I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
• 13. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
• 14. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who have been trying to intimidate me.
• 15. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
• 16. When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
• 17. Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them.
• 18. For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah.
• 19. Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

New International Version

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