The Call of Abram

12 The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household^(A) to the land^(B) I will show you.^(C)

⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot^(I) went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old^(J) when he set out from Harran.^{(K) 5} He took his wife Sarai,^(L) his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated^(M) and the people^(N) they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan,^(O) and they arrived there.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land^(P) as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh^(Q) at Shechem.^(R) At that time the Canaanites^(S) were in the land. ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram^(T) and said, “To your offspring^[c] I will give this land.^(U)”^(V) So he built an altar there to the Lord,^(W) who had appeared to him.

³ Many peoples^(A) will come and say,

¹¹ My name will be great^(A) among the nations,^(B) from where the sun rises to where it sets.^(C) In every place incense^(D) and pure offerings^(E) will be brought to me, because my name will be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty.

²⁴ He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”^(A)

³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”^(A)

God’s Faithfulness

3 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? ² Much in every way!^(A) First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.^(B)

⁴ the people of Israel.^(A) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;^(B) theirs the divine glory,^(C) the covenants,^(D) the receiving of the law,^(E) the temple worship^(F) and the promises.^{(G) 5} Theirs are the patriarchs,^(H) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,^(I) who is God over all,^(J) forever praised!^[a](K) Amen.

⁸ For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews^[a](A) on behalf of God’s truth, so that the promises^(B) made to the patriarchs might be confirmed ⁹ and, moreover, that the Gentiles^(C) might glorify God^(D) for his mercy. As it is written: