Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and His ears are open to their cry for help.(A)
16 The face of the Lord is set
against those who do what is evil,(B)
to erase[a] all memory of them from the earth.(C)
17 The righteous[b] cry out, and the Lord hears,
and delivers them from all their troubles.(D)
18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted;
He saves those crushed in spirit.(E)
19 Many adversities come to the one who is righteous,
but the Lord delivers him from them all.(F)
20 He protects all his bones;
not one of them is broken.(G)
21 Evil brings death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be punished.(H)
22 The Lord redeems the life of His servants,
and all who take refuge in Him will not be punished.(I)
10 When they came to the region of[a] the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh built a large, impressive altar there by the Jordan.
11 Then the Israelites heard it said, “Look, the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh have built an altar on the frontier of the land of Canaan at the region of[b] the Jordan, on the Israelite side.” 12 When the Israelites heard this, the entire Israelite community assembled at Shiloh to go to war against them.(A)
Explanation of the Altar
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead.(B) 14 They sent 10 leaders with him—one family leader for each tribe of Israel. All of them were heads of their families among the clans of Israel.(C) 15 They went to the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh, in the land of Gilead, and told them, 16 “This is what the Lord’s entire community says: ‘What is this treachery you have committed today against the God of Israel by turning away from the Lord and building an altar for yourselves, so that you are in rebellion against the Lord today? 17 Wasn’t the sin of Peor, which brought a plague on the Lord’s community, enough for us, so that we have not cleansed ourselves from it even to this day,(D) 18 and now, you would turn away from the Lord? If you rebel against the Lord today, tomorrow He will be angry with the entire community of Israel.(E) 19 But if the land you possess is defiled, cross over to the land the Lord possesses where the Lord’s tabernacle stands, and take possession of it among us. But don’t rebel against the Lord or against us by building for yourselves an altar other than the altar of the Lord our God. 20 Wasn’t Achan son of Zerah unfaithful regarding what was set apart for destruction, bringing wrath on the entire community of Israel? He was not the only one who perished because of his sin.’”(F)
Put On Christ
11 Besides this, knowing the time, it is already the hour(A) for you[a] to wake up from sleep,(B) for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.(C) 12 The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near,(D) so let us discard the deeds of darkness(E) and put on the armor of light.(F) 13 Let us walk with decency,(G) as in the daylight: not in carousing and drunkenness;(H) not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ,(I) and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.(J)
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