Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 I said: In the prime[a] of my life[b](A)
I must go to the gates of Sheol;(B)
I am deprived of the rest of my years.
11 I said: I will never see the Lord,
the Lord in the land of the living;(C)
I will not look on humanity any longer
with the inhabitants of what is passing away.[c]
12 My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me
like a shepherd’s tent.(D)
I have rolled up my life like a weaver;(E)
He cuts me off from the loom.[d](F)
You make an end of me from day until night.(G)
13 I thought until the morning:
He will break all my bones like a lion;
You make an end of me day and night.
14 I chirp like a swallow or a crane;
I moan like a dove.(H)
My eyes grow weak looking upward.
Lord, I am oppressed; support me.(I)
15 What can I say?
He has spoken to me,
and He Himself has done it.
I walk along slowly all my years(J)
because of the bitterness of my soul,(K)
16 Lord, because of these promises people live,(L)
and in all of them is the life of my spirit as well;
You have restored me to health(M)
and let me live.(N)
17 Indeed, it was for my own welfare
that I had such great bitterness;(O)
but Your love has delivered me
from the Pit of destruction,(P)
for You have thrown all my sins behind Your back.(Q)
18 For Sheol cannot thank You;
Death cannot praise You.(R)
Those who go down to the Pit
cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 The living, only the living can thank You,
as I do today;
a father will make Your faithfulness known to children.(S)
20 The Lord will[e] save me;
we will play stringed instruments
all the days of our lives
at the house of the Lord.(T)
Conquest of Ai
8 The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged.(A) Take the whole military force with you and go attack Ai. Look, I have handed over to you the king of Ai, his people, city, and land.(B) 2 Treat Ai and its king as you did Jericho and its king;(C) you may plunder its spoil and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city.”
3 So Joshua and the whole military force set out to attack Ai. Joshua selected 30,000 fighting men and sent them out at night. 4 He commanded them: “Pay attention. Lie in ambush behind the city, not too far from it, and all of you be ready.(D) 5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as they did the first time, we will flee from them. 6 They will come after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us as before.’ While we are fleeing from them, 7 you are to come out of your ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God has handed it over to you. 8 After taking the city, set it on fire. Follow the Lord’s command—see that you do as I have ordered you.” 9 So Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush site and waited between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But he spent that night with the troops.
10 Joshua started early the next morning and mobilized them. Then he and the elders of Israel led the troops up to Ai. 11 All those[a] who were with him went up and approached the city, arriving opposite Ai, and camped to the north of it, with a valley between them and the city. 12 Now Joshua had taken about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 The military force was stationed in this way: the main[b] camp to the north of the city and its rear guard to the west of the city. And that night Joshua went into the valley.
14 When the king of Ai saw the Israelites, the men of the city hurried and went out early in the morning so that he and all his people could engage Israel in battle at a suitable place facing the Arabah. But he did not know there was an ambush waiting for him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten back by them and fled toward the wilderness. 16 Then all the troops of Ai were summoned to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel, leaving the city exposed while they pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold out the sword in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the city over to you.” So Joshua held out his sword toward it. 19 When he held out his hand, the men in ambush rose quickly from their position. They ran, entered the city, captured it, and immediately set it on fire.
20 The men of Ai turned and looked back, and smoke from the city was rising to the sky! They could not escape in any direction, and the troops who had fled to the wilderness now became the pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that smoke was rising from it, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 Then men in ambush came out of the city against them, and the men of Ai were trapped between the Israelite forces, some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until no survivor or fugitive remained, 23 but they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
Fatherly Discipline
3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won’t grow weary and lose heart.(A) 4 In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:
My son, do not take the Lord’s discipline lightly
or faint when you are reproved by Him,
6 for the Lord disciplines the one He loves
and punishes every son He receives.(B)[a]
7 Endure suffering as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline—which all[b] receive[c]—then you are illegitimate children and not sons.(C) 9 Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn’t we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live?(D) 10 For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness.(E) 11 No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace(F) and righteousness to those who have been trained by it.(G)
12 Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees,(H) 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated[d] but healed instead.(I)
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