Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²¹ The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered:

²² The Lord is the greatest God! We ask him to be our witness, because he knows whether or not we were rebellious or unfaithful when we built that altar. If we were unfaithful, then we pray that God won't rescue us today. Let us tell you why we built that altar, ²³ and we ask the Lord to punish us if we are lying. We didn't build it so we could turn our backs on the Lord. We didn't even build it so we could offer animal or grain sacrifices to please the Lord or ask his blessing.

^24-25 We built that altar because we were worried. Someday your descendants might tell our descendants, “The Lord made the Jordan River the boundary between us Israelites and you people of Reuben and Gad. The Lord is Israel's God, but you're not part of Israel, so you can't take part in worshiping the Lord.”

Your descendants might say that and try to make our descendants stop worshiping and obeying the Lord. ²⁶ That's why we decided to build the altar. It isn't for offering sacrifices, not even sacrifices to please the Lord.^{[a] 27-29} To build another altar for offering sacrifices would be the same as turning our backs on the Lord and rebelling against him. We could never do that! No, we built the altar to remind us and you and the generations to come that we will worship the Lord. And so we will keep bringing our sacrifices to the Lord's altar, there in front of his sacred tent. Now your descendants will never be able to say to our descendants, “You can't worship the Lord.”

But if they do say this, our descendants can answer back, “Look at this altar our ancestors built! It's like the Lord's altar, but it isn't for offering sacrifices. It's here to remind us and you that we belong to the Lord, just as much as you do.”

^30-31 Phinehas and the clan leaders were pleased when they heard the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh explain why they had built the altar. Then Phinehas told them, “Today we know that the Lord is helping us. You have not been unfaithful to him, and this means that the Lord will not be angry with us.”

³² Phinehas and the clan leaders left Gilead and went back to Canaan to tell the Israelites about their meeting with the Reuben and Gad tribes. ³³ The Israelites were happy and praised God. There was no more talk about going to war and wiping out the tribes of Reuben and Gad.

³⁴ The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar “A Reminder to Us All That the Lord Is Our God.”^[b]

⁵ Then Jesus went on to say:

Suppose one of you goes to a friend in the middle of the night and says, “Let me borrow three loaves of bread. ⁶ A friend of mine has dropped in, and I don't have a thing for him to eat.” ⁷ And suppose your friend answers, “Don't bother me! The door is bolted, and my children and I are in bed. I cannot get up to give you something.”

⁸ He may not get up and give you the bread, just because you are his friend. But he will get up and give you as much as you need, simply because you are not ashamed to keep on asking.

⁹ So I tell you to ask and you will receive, search and you will find, knock and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰ Everyone who asks will receive, everyone who searches will find, and the door will be opened for everyone who knocks. ¹¹ Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? ¹² Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? ¹³ As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children. But your heavenly Father is even more ready to give the Holy Spirit to anyone who asks.