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Psalm 31

1  In you, O Lord, have I taken refuge;
      let me never be put to shame; ♦︎
   deliver me in your righteousness.
2  Incline your ear to me; ♦︎
   make haste to deliver me.
3  Be my strong rock, a fortress to save me,
      for you are my rock and my stronghold; ♦︎
   guide me, and lead me for your name’s sake.
4  Take me out of the net
      that they have laid secretly for me, ♦︎
   for you are my strength.
5  Into your hands I commend my spirit, ♦︎
   for you have redeemed me, O Lord God of truth.
19  How abundant is your goodness, O Lord,
      which you have laid up for those who fear you; ♦︎
   which you have prepared in the sight of all
      for those who put their trust in you.
20  You hide them in the shelter of your presence
      from those who slander them; ♦︎
   you keep them safe in your refuge from the strife of tongues.
21  Blessed be the Lord! ♦︎
   For he has shown me his steadfast love
      when I was as a city besieged.
22  I had said in my alarm,
      ‘I have been cut off from the sight of your eyes.’ ♦︎
   Nevertheless, you heard the voice of my prayer
      when I cried out to you.
23  Love the Lord, all you his servants; ♦︎
   for the Lord protects the faithful,
      but repays to the full the proud.
24  Be strong and let your heart take courage, ♦︎
   all you who wait in hope for the Lord.

The Blood of the Covenant

24Then he said to Moses, ‘Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and worship at a distance. ²Moses alone shall come near the Lord; but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.’

3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, ‘All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.’ ⁴And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars, corresponding to the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵He sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt-offerings and sacrificed oxen as offerings of well-being to the Lord. ⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he dashed against the altar. ⁷Then he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the hearing of the people; and they said, ‘All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ ⁸Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, and said, ‘See the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.’

The Jews and the Law

17 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast of your relation to God ¹⁸and know his will and determine what is best because you are instructed in the law, ¹⁹and if you are sure that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth, ²¹you, then, that teach others, will you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²²You that forbid adultery, do you commit adultery? You that abhor idols, do you rob temples? ²³You that boast in the law, do you dishonour God by breaking the law? ²⁴For, as it is written, ‘The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.’

25 Circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. ²⁶So, if those who are uncircumcised keep the requirements of the law, will not their uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? ²⁷Then those who are physically uncircumcised but keep the law will condemn you that have the written code and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is true circumcision something external and physical. ²⁹Rather, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly, and real circumcision is a matter of the heart—it is spiritual and not literal. Such a person receives praise not from others but from God.