Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 The Lord sees the good people
and listens to their prayers.
16 But the Lord is against those who do evil;
he makes the world forget them.
17 The Lord hears good people when they cry out to him,
and he saves them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirits have been crushed.
19 People who do what is right may have many problems,
but the Lord will solve them all.
20 He will protect their very bones;
not one of them will be broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked;
those who hate good people will be judged guilty.
22 But the Lord saves his servants’ lives;
no one who trusts him will be judged guilty.
10 The people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh went to Geliloth, near the Jordan River in the land of Canaan. There they built a beautiful altar. 11 The other Israelites still at Shiloh heard about the altar these three tribes built at the border of Canaan at Geliloth, near the Jordan River on Israel’s side. 12 All the Israelites became very angry at these three tribes, so they met together and decided to fight them.
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to Gilead to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. 14 They also sent one leader from each of the ten tribes at Shiloh. Each of them was a leader of his family group of Israelites.
15 These leaders went to Gilead to talk to the people of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh. They said: 16 “All the Israelites ask you: ‘Why did you turn against the God of Israel by building an altar for yourselves? You know that this is against God’s law. 17 Remember what happened at Peor? We still suffer today because of that sin, for which God made many Israelites very sick. 18 And now are you turning against the Lord and refusing to follow him?
“‘If you don’t stop what you’re doing today, the Lord will be angry with everyone in Israel tomorrow. 19 If your land is unclean, come over into our land where the Lord’s Tent is. Share it with us. But don’t turn against the Lord and us by building another altar for the Lord our God. 20 Remember how Achan son of Zerah refused to obey the command about what must be completely destroyed. That one man broke God’s law, but all the Israelites were punished. Achan died because of his sin, but others also died.’”
11 Do this because we live in an important time. It is now time for you to wake up from your sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12 The “night”[a] is almost finished, and the “day”[b] is almost here. So we should stop doing things that belong to darkness and take up the weapons used for fighting in the light. 13 Let us live in a right way, like people who belong to the day. We should not have wild parties or get drunk. There should be no sexual sins of any kind, no fighting or jealousy. 14 But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and forget about satisfying your sinful self.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.