Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 Turn from evil and do good;(A)
seek peace and pursue it.
16 The eyes of the Lord are directed toward the righteous(B)
and his ears toward their cry.
17 The Lord’s face is against evildoers
to wipe out their memory from the earth.
18 The righteous cry out, the Lord hears
and he rescues them from all their afflictions.
19 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted,
saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20 Many are the troubles of the righteous,
but the Lord delivers him from them all.
21 He watches over all his bones;
not one of them shall be broken.(C)
22 Evil will slay the wicked;
those who hate the righteous are condemned.
Reply of the Eastern Tribes. 21 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh replied to the heads of the Israelite clans: 22 “The Lord is the God of gods. The Lord, the God of gods,[a] knows and Israel shall know. If now we have acted out of rebellion or treachery against the Lord, our God, do not try to save us this day, 23 and if we have built an altar of our own to turn from following the Lord, or to sacrifice burnt offerings, grain offerings, or communion sacrifices upon it, the Lord himself will exact the penalty. 24 We did it rather out of our anxious concern lest in the future your children should say to our children: ‘What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 For the Lord has placed the Jordan as a boundary between you and us, you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the Lord.’ Thus your children would prevent ours from revering the Lord. 26 So we thought, ‘Let us act for ourselves by building this altar of our own’—not for burnt offerings or sacrifice, 27 (A)but as witness between us and you and our descendants, that we have the right to provide for the service of the Lord in his presence with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and communion sacrifices. Now in the future your children cannot say to our children, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’ 28 Our thought was that, if in the future they should speak thus to us or to our descendants, we could answer: ‘Look at the copy of the altar of the Lord which our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or for sacrifices, but to witness[b] between you and us.’ 29 Far be it from us to rebel against the Lord or to turn now from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offering, grain offering, or sacrifice in addition to the altar of the Lord, our God, which stands before his tabernacle.”
30 When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the community, the heads of the Israelite clans, heard what the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassites had to say, they were satisfied. 31 Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the Manassites, “Today we know that the Lord is in our midst. Since you have not rebelled against the Lord by this act of treachery, you have delivered the Israelites from the hand of the Lord.”
32 Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in the land of Gilead to the Israelites in the land of Canaan, and reported the matter to them. 33 The report satisfied the Israelites, who blessed God and decided not to take military action against the Reubenites and Gadites nor to ravage the land where they lived.
34 The Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar its name[c] as a witness among them that the Lord is God.
5 And he said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,’ 7 and he says in reply from within, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
The Answer to Prayer.(A) 9 “And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.(B) 10 For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 11 What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? 12 Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? 13 If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit[a] to those who ask him?”
Jesus and Beelzebul.(C)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.