Today's Readings and Stuff -- Monday, 20 June 2022

Today is the last day of Spring for this year.  Spring is my favorite time of the year, and the months with short names are the only ones that I really like.  I've reached the point in my life where it's no longer certain that I'll see another Spring, though one never knows.  So, starting tomorrow, the "day" part of the 24 hours will become shorter and shorter.  Sad.

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There are two entries for "song of the day".  The first came to me in that odd pre-waking time that I have quite frequently these days.  I am fond of both.  The first is a good one for congregational singing (or even when one is driving, alone, down the road. It's worthy and sincere, if not often heard.   A good prayer song/hymn.

The second is probably better for a choral presentation.  I've been fortunate to be involved in several good-sized choral groups in several states, where we did this one.  It means a lot to me, not just for the wonderful arrangement, but also the text.  It's important.  Very.

Open My Eyes That I May See

Lead Me Lord, I Will Follow

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2nd Kings 25

1 Now it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem and encamped against it; and they built a siege wall against it all around. 

2 So the city was besieged until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah. 

3 By the ninth day of the fourth month the famine had become so severe in the city that there was no food for the people of the land.

4 Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king[a] went by way of the [b]plain. 

5 But the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king, and they overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him. 6 So they took the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and they pronounced judgment on him. 7 Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put[c] out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.

8 And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month (which was the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem. '

9 He burned the house of the Lord and the king’s house; all the houses of Jerusalem, that is, all the houses of the great, he burned with fire. 

10 And all the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls of Jerusalem all around.

11 Then Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive the rest of the people who remained in the city and the defectors who had deserted to the king of Babylon, with the rest of the multitude. 

12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land as vinedressers and farmers. 

13 The bronze pillars that were in the house of the Lord, and the carts and the bronze Sea that were in the house of the Lord, the Chaldeans broke in pieces, and carried their bronze to Babylon. 

14 They also took away the pots, the shovels, the trimmers, the spoons, and all the bronze utensils with which the priests ministered. 

15 The firepans and the basins, the things of solid gold and solid silver, the captain of the guard took away. 

16 The two pillars, one Sea, and the carts, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was beyond measure. 

17 The height of one pillar was [d]eighteen cubits, and the capital on it was of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits, and the network and pomegranates all around the capital were all of bronze. The second pillar was the same, with a network.

18 And the captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three doorkeepers. 

19 He also took out of the city an officer who had charge of the men of war, five men of [e]the king’s close associates who were found in the city, the chief recruiting officer of the army, who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city. 

20 So Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah. 

21 Then the king of Babylon struck them and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. Thus Judah was carried away captive from its own land.

Gedaliah Made Governor of Judah

22 Then he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, governor over the people who remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left. 

23 Now when all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah—Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, Johanan the son of Careah, Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and [f]Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. 

24 And Gedaliah took an oath before them and their men, and said to them, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.”

25 But it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men and struck and killed Gedaliah, the Jews, as well as the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah. 

26 And all the people, small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose and went to Egypt; for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

Jehoiachin Released from Prison

27 Now it came to pass in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, that [g]Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 

28 He spoke kindly to him, and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 

29 So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate [h]bread regularly before the king all the days of his life. 

30 And as for his [i]provisions, there was a [j]regular ration given him by the king, a portion for each day, all the days of his life.

Footnotes

1. 2 Kings 25:4 Lit. he
2. 2 Kings 25:4 Or Arabah, the Jordan Valley
3. 2 Kings 25:7 blinded
4. 2 Kings 25:17 About 27 feet
5. 2 Kings 25:19 Lit. those seeing the king’s face
6. 2 Kings 25:23 Jezaniah, Jer. 40:8
7. 2 Kings 25:27 Lit. Man of Marduk
8. 2 Kings 25:29 Food
9. 2 Kings 25:30 Lit. allowance
10. 2 Kings 25:30 Lit. allowance

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Psalm 119, verses 17 - 24

ג GIMEL

17 Deal bountifully with Your servant,
That I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may see
Wondrous things from Your law.
19 I am a stranger in the earth;
Do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul [c]breaks with longing
For Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt,
For I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Princes also sit and speak against me,
But Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies also are my delight
And my counselors.

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Romans 4

1  What then shall we say that Abraham our father[a] has found according to the flesh? 

2 For if Abraham was justified 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 [b]accounted to him for righteousness.” 

4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted [c]as grace but as debt.

David Celebrates the Same Truth

5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 

6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Abraham Justified Before Circumcision

9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 

10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 

11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 

12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

The Promise Granted Through Faith

13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 

14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 

15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.

16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be [d]sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all 

17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 

18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 

19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb. 

20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 

21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.

22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”

23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 

24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 

25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Footnotes

1. Romans 4:1 Or (fore)father according to the flesh has found?
2. Romans 4:3 imputed, credited, reckoned, counted
3. Romans 4:4 according to
4. Romans 4:16 certain

Today's Readings and Stuff -- Thursday, 16 June 2022

 Last half of the week now. Leaving shortly to go Across The Line into Pennsyltucky for Dear Wife's appointment with a rheumatologist.  We've been needing this for some time, but that's a specialty whose practitioners are rarer that we would wish.  Particularly good ones.  So we'll see.  Tomorrow, we're scheduled to go back Across The Line so that she can see her Primary Care doc.  Late in the month, finally an appointment with the urologist.  In between, pap smears and several other tests.  Bumpy road for sure.

Getting by.

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Today, chapters 17 and 18 in 2nd Kings.  Sounds like the way our world is heading.  Soon, I fear.

2nd Kings 17 

1  In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah became king of Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years. 2 And he did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not as the kings of Israel who were before him. 3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him; and Hoshea became his vassal, and paid him tribute money. 4 And the king of Assyria uncovered a conspiracy by Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and brought no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.

Israel Carried Captive to Assyria

5 Now the king of Assyria went throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years. 6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

7 For so it was that the children of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt; and they had feared other gods, 8 and had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they had made. 9 Also the children of Israel secretly did against the Lord their God things that were not right, and they built for themselves [a]high places in all their cities, from watchtower to fortified city. 10 They set up for themselves sacred pillars and wooden images[b] on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 There they burned incense on all the high places, like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them; and they did wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger, 12 for they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this thing.”

13 Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” 14 Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. 15 And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them. 16 So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. 17 And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. 18 Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.

19 Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. 20 And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight. 21 For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. 22 For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, 23 until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

24 Then the king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, and from Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities. 25 And it was so, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they did not fear the Lord; therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. 26 So they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, “The nations whom you have removed and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the rituals of the God of the land; therefore He has sent lions among them, and indeed, they are killing them because they do not know the rituals of the God of the land.” 27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, “Send there one of the priests whom you brought from there; let him go and dwell there, and let him teach them the rituals of the God of the land.” 28 Then one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and dwelt in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

29 However every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities where they dwelt. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim. 32 So they feared the Lord, and from every class they appointed for themselves priests of the [c]high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of the high places. 33 They feared the Lord, yet served their own gods—according to the rituals of the nations from among whom they were carried away.

34 To this day they continue practicing the former rituals; they do not fear the Lord, nor do they follow their statutes or their ordinances, or the law and commandment which the Lord had commanded the children of Jacob, whom He named Israel, 35 with whom the Lord had made a covenant and charged them, saying: “You shall not fear other gods, nor bow down to them nor serve them nor sacrifice to them; 36 but the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm, Him you shall fear, Him you shall worship, and to Him you shall offer sacrifice. 37 And the statutes, the ordinances, the law, and the commandment which He wrote for you, you shall be careful to observe forever; you shall not fear other gods. 38 And the covenant that I have made with you, you shall not forget, nor shall you fear other gods. 39 But the Lord your God you shall fear; and He will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.” 40 However they did not obey, but they followed their former rituals. 41 So these nations feared the Lord, yet served their carved images; also their children and their children’s children have continued doing as their fathers did, even to this day.

Footnotes

1. 2 Kings 17:9 Places for pagan worship
2. 2 Kings 17:10 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
3. 2 Kings 17:32 Places for pagan worship

2nd Kings 18 

1  Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign. 2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi[a] the daughter of Zechariah. 3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

4 He removed the [b]high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the [c]wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it [d]Nehushtan. 5 He trusted in the Lord God of Israel, so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor who were before him. 6 For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments, which the Lord had commanded Moses. 7 The Lord was with him; he prospered wherever he went. And he rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him. 8 He [e]subdued the Philistines, as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.

9 Now it came to pass in the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it. 10 And at the end of three years they took it. In the sixth year of Hezekiah, that is, the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel, Samaria was taken. 11 Then the king of Assyria carried Israel away captive to Assyria, and put them in Halah and by the Habor, the River of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes, 12 because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant and all that Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded; and they would neither hear nor do them.

13 And in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. 14 Then Hezekiah king of Judah sent to the king of Assyria at Lachish, saying, “I have done wrong; turn away from me; whatever you impose on me I will pay.” And the king of Assyria assessed Hezekiah king of Judah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. 15 So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house. 16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave [f]it to the king of Assyria.

Sennacherib Boasts Against the Lord

17 Then the king of Assyria sent the [g]Tartan, the [h]Rabsaris, and the [i]Rabshakeh from Lachish, with a great army against Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah. And they went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had come up, they went and stood by the aqueduct from the upper pool, which was on the highway to the Fuller’s Field. 18 And when they had called to the king, Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the [j]scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to them. 19 Then the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: “What confidence is this in which you trust? 20 You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are [k]mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me? 21 Now look! You are trusting in the staff of this broken reed, Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. 22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose [l]high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away, and said to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar in Jerusalem’?” ’ 23 Now therefore, I urge you, give a pledge to my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses—if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 24 How then will you repel one captain of the least of my master’s servants, and put your trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 25 Have I now come up without the Lord against this place to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and destroy it.’ ”

26 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in [m]Hebrew in the hearing of the people who are on the wall.”

27 But the Rabshakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, who will eat and drink their own waste with you?”

28 Then the Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in [n]Hebrew, and spoke, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria! 29 Thus says the king: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand; 30 nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.” ’ 31 Do not listen to Hezekiah; for thus says the king of Assyria: ‘Make peace with me [o]by a present and come out to me; and every one of you eat from his own vine and every one from his own fig tree, and every one of you drink the waters of his own cistern; 32 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive groves and honey, that you may live and not die. But do not listen to Hezekiah, lest he persuade you, saying, “The Lord will deliver us.” 33 Has any of the gods of the nations at all delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim and Hena and Ivah? Indeed, have they delivered Samaria from my hand? 35 Who among all the gods of the lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’ ”

36 But the people held their peace and answered him not a word; for the king’s commandment was, “Do not answer him.” 37 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Footnotes

1. 2 Kings 18:2 Abijah, 2 Chr. 29:1ff.
2. 2 Kings 18:4 Places for pagan worship
3. 2 Kings 18:4 Heb. Asherah, a Canaanite goddess
4. 2 Kings 18:4 Lit. Bronze Thing, also similar to Heb. nahash, serpent
5. 2 Kings 18:8 Lit. struck
6. 2 Kings 18:16 Lit. them
7. 2 Kings 18:17 A title, probably Commander in Chief
8. 2 Kings 18:17 A title, probably Chief Officer
9. 2 Kings 18:17 A title, probably Chief of Staff or Governor
10. 2 Kings 18:18 secretary
11. 2 Kings 18:20 Lit. a word of the lips
12. 2 Kings 18:22 Places for pagan worship
13. 2 Kings 18:26 Lit. Judean
14. 2 Kings 18:28 Lit. Judean
15. 2 Kings 18:31 By paying tribute

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Today we begin with the first section of Psalm 119.  We'll be here a good while.

119 1Blessed are the [a]undefiled in the way,
Who walk in the law of the Lord!
2 2  Blessed are those who keep His testimonies,
Who seek Him with the whole heart!
3 3 They also do no iniquity;
They walk in His ways.
4 4 You have commanded us
To keep Your precepts diligently.
5 5  Oh, that my ways were directed
To keep Your statutes!
6 6  Then I would not be ashamed,
When I look into all Your commandments.
7 7  I will praise You with uprightness of heart,
When I learn Your righteous judgments.
8 8  I will keep Your statutes;
Oh, do not forsake me utterly!

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Today, chapter 2 in the letter to the Romans.  Romans is, in my opinion, one of the most important books in the entire New Testament.  It deserves, demands really, an intense verse-by-verse and very prayerful daily study.  

Romans 2 

1  Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 

2 But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 

3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 

4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 

5 But in accordance with your hardness and your [a]impenitent heart you are [b]treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 

6 who “will render to each one according to his deeds”: 

7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 

8 but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 

9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the [c]Greek; 

10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 

11 For there is no partiality with God.

12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 

13 (for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 

14 for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 

15 who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 

16 in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel.

The Jews Guilty as the Gentiles

17 [d]Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest[e] on the law, and make your boast in God, 

18 and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, 

19 and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, 

20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law. 

21 You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal? 

22 You who say, “Do not commit adultery,” do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? 

23 You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? 

24 For “the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,” as it is written.

Circumcision of No Avail

25 For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision. 

26 Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? 

27 And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your [f]written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? 

28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 

29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose [g]praise is not from men but from God.

Footnotes

1. Romans 2:5 unrepentant
2. Romans 2:5 storing
3. Romans 2:9 Gentile
4. Romans 2:17 NU But if
5. Romans 2:17 rely
6. Romans 2:27 Lit. letter
7. Romans 2:29 A play on words—Jew is literally praise.