"My friends, I must speak to you plainly about our famous ancestor King David. He died and was buried, and his grave is here with us to this very day.

Then God gave to Abraham the ceremony of circumcision as a sign of the covenant. So Abraham circumcised Isaac a week after he was born; Isaac circumcised his son Jacob, and Jacob circumcised his twelve sons, the famous ancestors of our race.

"Jacob's sons became jealous of their brother Joseph and sold him to be a slave in Egypt. But God was with him

I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing.

Your name will no longer be Abram, but Abraham, because I am making you the ancestor of many nations.

I will give you many descendants, and some of them will be kings. You will have so many descendants that they will become nations.

He was circumcised later, and his circumcision was a sign to show that because of his faith God had accepted him as righteous before he had been circumcised. And so Abraham is the spiritual father of all who believe in God and are accepted as righteous by him, even though they are not circumcised.

When God promised Abraham and his descendants that the world would belong to him, he did so, not because Abraham obeyed the Law, but because he believed and was accepted as righteous by God.

So there is no difference between Jews and Gentiles, between slaves and free people, between men and women; you are all one in union with Christ Jesus.

If you belong to Christ, then you are the descendants of Abraham and will receive what God has promised.

And the scripture came true that said, "Abraham believed God, and because of his faith God accepted him as righteous." And so Abraham was called God's friend.

May the Most High God, who gave you victory over your enemies, be praised!" And Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of all the loot he had recovered.