Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

24 And Joshua gathereth all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and calleth for the elders of Israel, and for its heads, and for its judges, and for its authorities, and they station themselves before God.

² And Joshua saith unto all the people, `Thus said Jehovah, God of Israel, Beyond the River have your fathers dwelt of old -- Terah father of Abraham and father of Nachor -- and they serve other gods;

¹⁴ `And now, fear ye Jehovah, and serve Him, in perfection and in truth, and turn aside the gods which your fathers served beyond the River, and in Egypt, and serve ye Jehovah;

¹⁵ and if wrong in your eyes to serve Jehovah -- choose for you to-day whom ye do serve; -- whether the gods whom your fathers served, which [are] beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorite in whose land ye are dwelling; and I and my house -- we serve Jehovah.'

¹⁶ And the people answer and say, `Far be it from us to forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods;

¹⁷ for Jehovah our God [is] He who is bringing us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, out of a house of servants, and who hath done before our eyes these great signs, and doth keep us in all the way in which we have gone, and among all the peoples through whose midst we passed;

¹⁸ and Jehovah casteth out the whole of the peoples, even the Amorite inhabiting the land, from our presence; we also do serve Jehovah, for He [is] our God.'

¹⁵ The eyes of Jehovah [are] unto the righteous, And His ears unto their cry.

¹⁶ (The face of Jehovah [is] on doers of evil, To cut off from earth their memorial.)

¹⁷ They cried, and Jehovah heard, And from all their distresses delivered them.

¹⁸ Near [is] Jehovah to the broken of heart, And the bruised of spirit He saveth.

¹⁹ Many [are] the evils of the righteous, Out of them all doth Jehovah deliver him.

²⁰ He is keeping all his bones, One of them hath not been broken.

²¹ Evil doth put to death the wicked, And those hating the righteous are desolate.

²² Jehovah redeemeth the soul of His servants, And none trusting in Him are desolate!

¹⁰ As to the rest, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might;

¹¹ put on the whole armour of God, for your being able to stand against the wiles of the devil,

¹² because we have not the wrestling with blood and flesh, but with the principalities, with the authorities, with the world-rulers of the darkness of this age, with the spiritual things of the evil in the heavenly places;

¹³ because of this take ye up the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to resist in the day of the evil, and all things having done -- to stand.

¹⁴ Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about in truth, and having put on the breastplate of the righteousness,

¹⁵ and having the feet shod in the preparation of the good-news of the peace;

¹⁶ above all, having taken up the shield of the faith, in which ye shall be able all the fiery darts of the evil one to quench,

¹⁷ and the helmet of the salvation receive, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the saying of God,

¹⁸ through all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and in regard to this same, watching in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints --

¹⁹ and in behalf of me, that to me may be given a word in the opening of my mouth, in freedom, to make known the secret of the good news,

²⁰ for which I am an ambassador in a chain, that in it I may speak freely -- as it behoveth me to speak.

⁵⁶ he who is eating my flesh, and is drinking my blood, doth remain in me, and I in him.

⁵⁷ `According as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, he also who is eating me, even that one shall live because of me;

⁵⁸ this is the bread that came down out of the heaven; not as your fathers did eat the manna, and died; he who is eating this bread shall live -- to the age.'

⁵⁹ These things he said in a synagogue, teaching in Capernaum;

⁶⁰ many, therefore, of his disciples having heard, said, `This word is hard; who is able to hear it?'

⁶¹ And Jesus having known in himself that his disciples are murmuring about this, said to them, `Doth this stumble you?

⁶² if then ye may behold the Son of Man going up where he was before?

⁶³ the spirit it is that is giving life; the flesh doth not profit anything; the sayings that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life;

⁶⁴ but there are certain of you who do not believe;' for Jesus had known from the beginning who they are who are not believing, and who is he who will deliver him up,

⁶⁵ and he said, `Because of this I have said to you -- No one is able to come unto me, if it may not have been given him from my Father.'

⁶⁶ From this [time] many of his disciples went away backward, and were no more walking with him,

⁶⁷ Jesus, therefore, said to the twelve, `Do ye also wish to go away?'

⁶⁸ Simon Peter, therefore, answered him, `Sir, unto whom shall we go? thou hast sayings of life age-during;

⁶⁹ and we have believed, and we have known, that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.'