Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

God’s Favor to Earth and Man

65 All will be quiet before You, and praise belongs to You, O God, in Zion. And our promise to You will be kept. ² O You Who hears prayer, to You all men come. ³ My sins are strong against me. But You forgive our sins. ⁴ Happy is the man You choose and bring near to You to live in Your holy place. We will be filled with the good things of Your house, Your holy house.

⁵ O God Who saves us, You answer us in the way that is right and good by Your great works that make people stand in fear. You are the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. ⁶ You have built the mountains by Your strength. You are dressed with power. ⁷ You quiet the storm of the seas, the sound of their waves, and the noise of the people. ⁸ Those who live far away are afraid of Your great works. You make morning and evening call out for joy.

⁹ You visit the earth and water it. You make it very rich. The river of God is full of water. You give the people grain when You have made the earth ready. ¹⁰ You water where the plow has been used. You cover the seeds with earth. You make it soft with rain. And You make the plants grow well. ¹¹ You crown the year with Your good gifts. There is more than enough where You have been. ¹² The fields of the desert are filled with water. And the hills dress themselves with joy. ¹³ The grass lands are covered with birds. And the valleys are covered with grain. They call out for joy and sing.

10 Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and had destroyed it. Joshua had done the same thing to Ai and its king that he had done to Jericho and its king. Adoni-zedek heard that the people of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were among them. ² He was very much afraid. Because Gibeon was a large city, like one of the cities of a king. It was larger than Ai. All its men were strong. ³ So Adoni-zedek of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon. He said to them, ⁴ “Come and help me. Let us go fight against Gibeon. For it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel.” ⁵ So the five kings of the Amorites, the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon, gathered together with all their armies. And they went and set up their tents by Gibeon, to fight against it.

⁶ Then the men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua at the tents at Gilgal, saying, “Do not leave your servants alone. Hurry and help us. For all the kings of the Amorites who live in the hill country have gathered against us.” ⁷ So Joshua went up from Gilgal. He took with him all the men of war and all the strong soldiers. ⁸ The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them. For I have given them into your hands. Not one of them will stand in front of you.” ⁹ So Joshua came upon them by surprise by traveling all night from Gilgal. ¹⁰ The Lord brought trouble upon the Amorites in front of Israel. He killed many of them at Gibeon, and went after them on the way up to Beth-horon. He killed them as far as Azekah and Makkedah. ¹¹ They ran from Israel. And while they ran from Beth-horon, the Lord made large hail-stones fall from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died. More died from the hail-stones than the sons of Israel killed with the sword.

¹² Then Joshua spoke to the Lord on the day when the Lord made the Amorites lose the war against the sons of Israel. He said, in the eyes of Israel, “O sun, stand still at Gibeon. O moon, stand still in the valley of Aijalon.” ¹³ So the sun stood still and the moon stopped, until the nation punished those who fought against them. Is it not written in the Book of Jashar? The sun stopped in the center of the sky. It did not hurry to go down for about a whole day. ¹⁴ There has been no day like it before or since, when the Lord listened to the voice of a man. For the Lord fought for Israel.

Jesus Walks On The Water ^(A)

⁴⁵ At once Jesus had His followers get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to the town of Bethsaida. He sent the people away. ⁴⁶ When they were all gone, He went up to the mountain to pray. ⁴⁷ It was evening. The boat was half-way across the sea. Jesus was alone on the land. ⁴⁸ He saw His followers were in trouble. The wind was against them. They were working very hard rowing the boat. About three o’clock in the morning Jesus came to them walking on the sea. He would have gone past them. ⁴⁹ When the followers saw Him walking on the water, they thought it was a spirit and cried out with fear. ⁵⁰ For they all saw Him and were afraid. At once Jesus talked to them. He said, “Take hope. It is I, do not be afraid.” ⁵¹ He came over to them and got into the boat. The wind stopped. They were very much surprised and wondered about it. ⁵² They had not learned what they should have learned from the loaves because their hearts were hard.