With God We Shall Do Valiantly

A Song. A Psalm of David.

Sit at My Right Hand

A Psalm of David.

The Eastern Tribes Return Home

22 At that time Joshua summoned the Reubenites and the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh, ² and said to them, “You have kept ^(A)all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you ^(B)and have obeyed my voice in all that I have commanded you. ³ You have not forsaken your brothers these many days, down to this day, but have been careful to keep the charge of the Lord your God. ^4 (C)And now the Lord your God has given rest to your brothers, as he promised them. Therefore turn and go to your tents in the land where your possession lies, ^(D)which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side of the Jordan. ^5 (E)Only be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, ^(F)to love the Lord your God, and to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments and to cling to him and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.” ⁶ So Joshua ^(G)blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.

⁷ Now to the one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given a possession in Bashan, ^(H)but to the other half Joshua had given a possession beside their brothers in the land west of the Jordan. And when Joshua sent them away to their homes and blessed them, ⁸ he said to them, “Go back to your tents with much wealth and with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, and iron, and with much clothing. ^(I)Divide the spoil of your enemies with your brothers.” ⁹ So the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned home, parting from the people of Israel at Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go ^(J)to the land of Gilead, their own land of which they had possessed themselves by command of the Lord through Moses.

The Eastern Tribes' Altar of Witness

¹⁰ And when they came to the region of the Jordan that is in the land of Canaan, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, an altar of imposing size. ¹¹ And the people of Israel ^(K)heard it said, “Behold, the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar at the frontier of the land of Canaan, in the region about the Jordan, on the side that belongs to the people of Israel.” ¹² And when the people of Israel heard of it, ^(L)the whole assembly of the people of Israel gathered at Shiloh to make war against them.

¹³ Then the people of Israel sent to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, ^(M)Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, ¹⁴ and with him ten chiefs, one from each of the tribal families of Israel, ^(N)every one of them the head of a family among the clans of Israel. ¹⁵ And they came to the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and they said to them, ¹⁶ “Thus says the whole congregation of the Lord, ‘What is this breach of faith that you have committed against the God of Israel in turning away this day from following the Lord by building yourselves an altar this day ^(O)in rebellion against the Lord? ¹⁷ Have we not had enough of ^(P)the sin at Peor from which even yet we have not cleansed ourselves, and for which there came a plague upon the congregation of the Lord, ¹⁸ that you too must turn away this day from following the Lord? And if ^(Q)you too rebel against the Lord today then tomorrow ^(R)he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel. ¹⁹ But now, if the land of your possession is unclean, pass over into the Lord's land ^(S)where the Lord's tabernacle stands, and take for yourselves a possession among us. ^(T)Only do not rebel against the Lord or make us as rebels by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. ^20 (U)Did not Achan the son of Zerah break faith in the matter of the devoted things, and ^(V)wrath fell upon all the congregation of Israel? And he did not perish alone for his iniquity.’”

²¹ Then the people of Reuben, the people of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said in answer to the heads of the families of Israel, ²² “The Mighty One, ^(W)God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! ^(X)He knows; and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in breach of faith against the Lord, do not spare us today ²³ for building an altar to turn away from following the Lord. Or if we did so to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings or peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself ^(Y)take vengeance. ²⁴ No, but we did it from fear that ^(Z)in time to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? ²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you people of Reuben and people of Gad. You have no portion in the Lord.’ So your children might make our children cease to worship the Lord. ²⁶ Therefore we said, ‘Let us now build an altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice, ²⁷ but to be ^(AA)a witness between us and you, and between our generations after us, that we ^(AB)do perform the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings, so your children will not say to our children in time to come, “You have no portion in the Lord.”’ ²⁸ And we thought, ‘If this should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we should say, “Behold, the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for sacrifice, but to be ^(AC)a witness between us and you.”’ ²⁹ Far be it from us that we should ^(AD)rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord ^(AE)by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice, other than the altar of the Lord our God that stands before his tabernacle!”

³⁰ When ^(AF)Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation, the heads of the families of Israel who were with him, heard the words that the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh spoke, ^(AG)it was good in their eyes. ³¹ And Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the people of Reuben and the people of Gad and the people of Manasseh, “Today we know that ^(AH)the Lord is in our midst, because you have not committed this breach of faith against the Lord. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the Lord.”

³² Then Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the chiefs, returned from the people of Reuben and the people of Gad ^(AI)in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the people of Israel, and brought back word to them. ³³ And the report ^(AJ)was good in the eyes of the people of Israel. And the people of Israel ^(AK)blessed God and spoke no more of making war against them to destroy the land where the people of Reuben and the people of Gad were settled. ³⁴ The people of Reuben and the people of Gad called the altar Witness, “For,” they said, ^(AL)“it is a witness between us that the Lord is God.”

On the Road to Emmaus

¹³ That very day ^(A)two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles^[a] from Jerusalem, ¹⁴ and they were talking with each other about all these things that had happened. ¹⁵ While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. ^16 (B)But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. ¹⁷ And he said to them, “What is this conversation that you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. ¹⁸ Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days?” ¹⁹ And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was ^(C)a prophet ^(D)mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, ²⁰ and ^(E)how our chief priests and ^(F)rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. ²¹ But we had hoped that he was ^(G)the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now ^(H)the third day since these things happened. ²² Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. ^(I)They were at the tomb early in the morning, ²³ and ^(J)when they did not find his body, they came back saying that ^(K)they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. ^24 (L)Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” ²⁵ And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ^26 (M)Was it not necessary that ^(N)the Christ should suffer these things and enter into ^(O)his glory?” ²⁷ And ^(P)beginning with ^(Q)Moses and ^(R)all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

²⁸ So they drew near to the village to which they were going. ^(S)He acted as if he were going farther, ²⁹ but they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for it is toward evening and ^(T)the day is now far spent.” So he went in to stay with them. ³⁰ When he was at table with them, he took the bread and ^(U)blessed and broke it and gave it to them. ^31 (V)And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And ^(W)he vanished from their sight. ³² They said to each other, ^(X)“Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he ^(Y)opened to us the Scriptures?” ³³ And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they ^(Z)found the eleven and ^(AA)those who were with them gathered together, ³⁴ saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and ^(AB)has appeared to Simon!” ³⁵ Then they told what had happened on the road, and ^(AC)how he was known to them in ^(AD)the breaking of the bread.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

³⁶ As they were talking about these things, ^(AE)Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace to you!” ³⁷ But they were ^(AF)startled and ^(AG)frightened and ^(AH)thought they saw a spirit. ³⁸ And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹ See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. ^(AI)Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰ And when he had said this, ^(AJ)he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹ And while they still disbelieved ^(AK)for joy and were marveling, ^(AL)he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴² They gave him a piece of broiled fish,^{[b] 43} and he took it and ate before them.

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, ^(AM)“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, ^(AN)that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then ^(AO)he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus ^(AP)it is written, ^(AQ)that the Christ should suffer and on the third day ^(AR)rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that ^(AS)repentance for^[c] the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed ^(AT)in his name ^(AU)to all nations, ^(AV)beginning from Jerusalem. ^48 (AW)You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending ^(AX)the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you ^(AY)are clothed with ^(AZ)power ^(BA)from on high.”

The Ascension

⁵⁰ And ^(BB)he led them out as far as ^(BC)Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. ⁵¹ While he blessed them, ^(BD)he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. ⁵² And they ^(BE)worshiped him and ^(BF)returned to Jerusalem ^(BG)with great joy, ⁵³ and ^(BH)were continually in the temple ^(BI)blessing God.