Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

A Prayer for Help

130 O Lord, I have cried to You out of the deep places. ² Lord, hear my voice! Let Your ears hear the voice of my prayers. ³ If you, Lord, should write down our sins, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But You are the One Who forgives, so You are honored with fear.

⁵ I wait for the Lord. My soul waits and I hope in His Word. ⁶ My soul waits for the Lord more than one who watches for the morning; yes, more than one who watches for the morning. ⁷ O Israel, hope in the Lord! For there is loving-kindness with the Lord. With Him we are saved for sure. ⁸ And He will save Israel from all their sins.

Israel’s Punishment

³⁴ “The Lord heard your words and was angry. He swore, ³⁵ ‘Not one of these men of these sinful people will see the good land I promised to give your fathers, ³⁶ except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it. I will give the land on which he has walked to him and his children because he has always followed the Lord.’ ³⁷ The Lord was angry with me because of you. He said, ‘Not even you will go in there. ³⁸ Joshua the son of Nun, who stands in front of you, will go in there. Tell him to be strong, for he will bring Israel into their new land. ³⁹ And your little ones whom you said would be taken by strange hands, and your children who do not yet know the difference between good and bad, will go in there. I will give the land to them. It will be theirs. ⁴⁰ But as for you, turn around and go into the desert by way of the Red Sea.’

Our Weak Human Bodies

5 Our body is like a house we live in here on earth. When it is destroyed, we know that God has another body for us in heaven. The new one will not be made by human hands as a house is made. This body will last forever. ² Right now we cry inside ourselves because we wish we could have our new body which we will have in heaven. ³ We will not be without a body. We will live in a new body. ⁴ While we are in this body, we cry inside ourselves because things are hard for us. It is not that we want to die. Instead, we want to live in our new bodies. We want this dying body to be changed into a living body that lasts forever. ⁵ It is God Who has made us ready for this change. He has given us His Spirit to show us what He has for us.