Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 Shun evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
16 [a]The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,
and his ears are open to their cry.
17 The face of the Lord is turned against those who do evil,
to erase all memory of them from the earth.
18 [b]The righteous call out, and the Lord hears them;
he rescues them from all their troubles.
19 The Lord remains close to the brokenhearted,
and he saves those whose spirit is crushed.
20 [c]The misfortunes of the righteous man are many,
but the Lord delivers him,[d] from all of them.
21 He watches with care over all his bones;
not a single one will be broken.
22 [e]Evil will bring death to the wicked,
and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
21 So the Reubenites, the Gadites, and one of the halves of the tribe of Manasseh replied to the leaders of the divisions of Israel, 22 “The God of gods, the Lord! The God of gods, the Lord! He knows! Let Israel know as well! If this has been an act of rebellion or treachery against the Lord, then may we not be saved today. 23 If we have built an altar to turn away from the Lord, or to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings, or to make peace offerings on it, may the Lord himself call us to account! 24 No! We did this thing for fear that sometime in the future your descendants might say to our descendants, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? 25 The Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between you and us, you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the Lord.’ Then your descendants would have caused our descendants to stop fearing the Lord. 26 This is why we said to ourselves, ‘Let us prepare for it and build an altar, but not for burnt offerings or sacrifices.’ 27 Let it be a witness between ourselves and yourselves as well as for the generations that come after us so that we might continue in the service of the Lord, offering burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings before him. This way, in the future, your descendants will not be able to say to our descendants, ‘You have no share in the Lord.’ 28 We said to ourselves, ‘If they ever say this to us or to our descendants in the future, we will be able to tell them to look at the copy of the Lord’s altar that was built by our fathers. It was not for burnt offerings or sacrifices, but to serve as a witness between ourselves and yourselves. 29 God forbid that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away from the Lord today by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, and sacrifices in any place other than the altar to the Lord, our God, that stands in front of his tabernacle.”
30 When Phinehas the priest and the leaders of the assembly, the leaders of the divisions of Israel, heard what the Reubenites and the Gadites, and the Manassehites said, it greatly pleased them. 31 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and to the Manassehites, “Today we are sure that the Lord is with us, for you have not acted unfaithfully against the Lord in this matter. You have now rescued the Israelites out of the hand of the Lord.”
32 Then Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, and the leaders returned from the Reubenites and the Gadites in Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the Israelites, and they brought them a report. 33 The report greatly pleased the Israelites and they praised God. The Israelites decided not to go up against the Reubenites and the Gadites to fight them and destroy the land in which they dwelt. 34 The Reubenites and the Gadites gave the altar this name: A witness between us that the Lord is God.[a]
The Parable of the Persistent Friend.[a] 5 He also said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says: ‘My 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 the friend answers from inside: ‘Do not bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up now to give you anything.’ 8 I tell you: even though he will not get up and give it to him because of their friendship, he will get up and give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.
Ask, Seek, Knock. 9 “Therefore, I say to you: ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks will receive, and those who seek will find, and to those who knock the door will be opened.
11 The Parable of the Good Father.“Is there any father among you who 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, despite your evil nature, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
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