God’s Righteousness Upheld
1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?”
8 For what advantage has the wise man zover the fool? And what does the poor man have who knows how to conduct himself before the living?
11 The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man?
11 a“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
12 “When you come to bappear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
cNew moon and Sabbath and the dcalling of convocations—
I cannot endure einiquity and fsolemn assembly.
14 Your cnew moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you gspread out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;
heven though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
iyour hands are full of blood.
14 You have said, i‘It is vain to serve God. jWhat is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?
25 For circumcision indeed is of value nif you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. 26 So, if oa man who is uncircumcised keeps pthe precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded1 as circumcision? 27 Then he who is physically2 uncircumcised but keeps the law qwill condemn you who have rthe written code3 and circumcision but break the law. 28 For sno one is a Jew twho is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. 29 But a Jew is one uinwardly, and vcircumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. wHis praise is not from man but from God.
God’s Righteous Judgment
1 Therefore you have fno excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For gin passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things.
32 What do I gain if, humanly speaking, wI fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, x“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
9 Do not be iled away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, jnot by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
