Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 I said, In the meridian of my days I shall go to the gates of Sheol: I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11 I said, I shall not see Jah, Jah in the land of the living. With those who dwell where all has ceased to be, I shall behold man no more.
12 Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent. I have cut off like a weaver my life. He separateth me from the thrum:—from day to night thou wilt make an end of me.
13 I kept still until the morning; … as a lion, so doth he break all my bones. From day to night thou wilt make an end of me.
14 Like a swallow [or] a crane, so did I chatter; I mourned as a dove; mine eyes failed [with looking] upward: Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.
15 What shall I say? He hath both spoken unto me, and himself hath done [it]. I shall go softly all my years in the bitterness of my soul.
16 Lord, by these things [men] live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit; and thou hast recovered me, and made me to live.
17 Behold, instead of peace I had bitterness upon bitterness; but thou hast in love delivered my soul from the pit of destruction; for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.
18 For not Sheol shall praise thee, nor death celebrate thee; they that go down into the pit do not hope for thy truth.
19 The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
20 Jehovah was [purposed] to save me.—And we will play upon my stringed instruments all the days of our life, in the house of Jehovah.
8 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Fear not, neither be dismayed. Take with thee all the people of war, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land.
2 And thou shalt do to Ai and to its king as thou didst to Jericho and to its king; only, the spoil thereof and the cattle thereof shall ye take as prey for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city behind it.
3 And Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose thirty thousand valiant men, and sent them away by night.
4 And he commanded them, saying, See, ye shall be in ambush against the city, behind the city: go not very far from the city, and be all of you ready.
5 And I and all the people that are with me will approach to the city; and it shall come to pass when they come out against us, as at the first, that we will flee before them.
6 And they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city; for they will say, They flee before us, as at the first; and we will flee before them.
7 And ye shall rise up from the ambush and take possession of the city; and Jehovah your God will deliver it into your hand.
8 And it shall be when ye have taken the city, that ye shall set the city on fire; according to the word of Jehovah shall ye do. See, I have commanded you.
9 And Joshua sent them forth; and they went to lie in ambush, and abode between Bethel and Ai, on the west of Ai. And Joshua lodged that night among the people.
10 And Joshua rose early in the morning, and inspected the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai.
11 And all the people of war that were with him went up, and drew near, and came before the city; and they encamped on the north of Ai; and the valley was between them and Ai.
12 Now he had taken about five thousand men, and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west of the city.
13 And when they had set the people, the whole camp on the north of the city, and their ambush on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley.
14 And it came to pass when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hasted and rose early, and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at the appointed place before the plain. But he knew not that there was an ambush against him behind the city.
15 And Joshua and all Israel let themselves be beaten before them; and they fled by the way of the wilderness.
16 And all the people that were in the city were called together to pursue after them; and they pursued after Joshua, and were drawn away from the city.
17 And not a man remained in Ai and Bethel that went not out after Israel; and they left the city open, and pursued after Israel.
18 And Jehovah said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in thy hand toward Ai; for I will give it into thy hand. And Joshua stretched out the javelin that he had in his hand toward the city.
19 And the ambush arose quickly from their place, and they ran when he stretched out his hand, and came into the city, and took it, and hasted and set the city on fire.
20 And the men of Ai turned and saw, and behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that way; and the people that fled to the wilderness turned upon the pursuers.
21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, they turned again, and slew the men of Ai.
22 And the others went out of the city against them; so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side; and they smote them, until they let none of them escape or flee away.
23 And the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua.
3 For consider well him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself, that ye be not weary, fainting in your minds.
4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, wrestling against sin.
5 And ye have quite forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: My son, despise not [the] chastening of [the] Lord, nor faint [when] reproved by him;
6 for whom [the] Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.
7 Ye endure for chastening, God conducts himself towards you as towards sons; for who is the son that the father chastens not?
8 But if ye are without chastening, of which all have been made partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
9 Moreover we have had the fathers of our flesh as chasteners, and we reverenced [them]; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they indeed chastened for a few days, as seemed good to them; but he for profit, in order to the partaking of his holiness.
11 But no chastening at the time seems to be [matter] of joy, but of grief; but afterwards yields [the] peaceful fruit of righteousness to those exercised by it.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands that hang down, and the failing knees;
13 and make straight paths for your feet, that that which is lame be not turned aside; but that rather it may be healed.
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