Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 I thought I would live a full life.
But now, in the middle of my life, the time has come for me to die.
11 So I said, “I will not see the Lord Yah[a] in the land of the living again.
I will not see the people living on earth.
12 My home, my shepherd’s tent, is being pulled down and taken from me.
I am finished like the cloth someone rolls up and cuts from the loom.
You ended my life in such a short time.
13 All night I cried as loud as a lion,
but my hopes were crushed like a lion eating bones.
You finished my life in such a short time.
14 I cried like a bird
and moaned like a dove.
My eyes became tired,
but I continued looking to the heavens.
Lord, I am so depressed.
Promise to help me.”
15 What can I say?
He told me what would happen,
and he will make it happen.
I have had these troubles in my soul,
so now I will be humble all my life.
16 Lord, use this hard time to make my spirit live again.
Help my spirit become strong and healthy.
Help me become well!
Help me live again!
17 Look, my troubles are gone!
I now have peace.
You love me very much.
You did not let me rot in the grave.
You took my sins
and threw them away.
18 The dead cannot praise you.
People in Sheol cannot sing praises to you.
Those who have died and gone below
are not trusting in your faithfulness.
19 People who are alive, people like me,
are the ones who will praise you.
Fathers should tell their children about how faithful you are.
20 So I say, “The Lord saved me.
So we will sing and play songs in the Lord’s Temple all our lives.”
Ai Destroyed
8 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid; don’t give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai.[a] I will help you defeat the king of Ai. I am giving you his people, his city, and his land. 2 You will do to Ai and its king the same thing you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you can take all the wealth and animals and keep it for yourselves. You will share the wealth with your people. Now, tell some of your soldiers to hide behind the city.”
3 So Joshua led his whole army toward Ai. Then Joshua chose 30,000 of his best fighting men and sent them out at night. 4 Joshua gave them this command: “Listen carefully to what I tell you. You must hide in the area behind the city. Wait for the time to attack. Don’t go far from the city. Continue to watch and be ready. 5 I will lead the men with me; we will march toward the city. The men in the city will come out to fight against us. We will turn and run away from them as we did before. 6 These men will chase us away from the city, so we will run away. They will think that we are running away from them as we did before. 7 Then you should come out of your hiding place and take control of the city. The Lord your God will give you the power to win.
8 “You must do what the Lord says. Watch me and I will give you the command to attack the city. When you have taken control of the city, burn it.”
9 Then Joshua sent them to their hiding place and waited. They went to a place west of Ai, between Bethel and Ai. But Joshua stayed the night with his people.
10 Early the next morning Joshua gathered the men together. Then Joshua and the leaders of Israel led the men to Ai. 11 All the soldiers who were with Joshua marched to Ai. They stopped in front of the city. The army made its camp north of the city. There was a valley between the army and Ai.
12 Then Joshua chose about 5000 men. He sent these men to hide in the area west of the city, between Bethel and Ai. 13 So Joshua had prepared his men for the fight. The main camp was north of the city. The other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley.
14 Later, the king of Ai saw the army of Israel. The king and his people hurried out to fight the army of Israel. The king of Ai went out the east side of the city toward the Jordan Valley, so he did not see the soldiers hiding behind the city.
15 Joshua and all the men of Israel let the army of Ai push them back. Joshua and his men began running east toward the desert. 16 The people in the city began to shout and started to chase them. All the people left the city. 17 All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel. The city was left open—no one stayed to protect the city.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold your spear toward the city of Ai, because I will give you that city.” So Joshua held his spear toward the city of Ai. 19 When the Israelites who were hiding saw this, they quickly came out from their hiding place and hurried toward the city. They entered the city and took control of it. Then the soldiers started fires to burn the city.
20 The men from Ai looked back and saw their city burning. When they saw the smoke rising into the sky, they lost their strength and courage. They stopped chasing the men of Israel. The Israelites stopped running away. They turned and went to fight the men from Ai. There was no safe place for the men from Ai to run to. 21 When Joshua and his men saw that his army had taken control of the city and that smoke was rising from it, they stopped running away and turned to fight the men of Ai. 22 Then the men who were hiding came out of the city to help with the fight. The army of Israel was on both sides of the men of Ai—the men of Ai were trapped. Israel defeated them. They fought until none of the men from Ai were left alive—none of the enemy escaped. 23 But the king of Ai was left alive. Joshua’s men brought him to Joshua.
3 Think about Jesus. He patiently endured the angry insults that sinful people were shouting at him. Think about him so that you won’t get discouraged and stop trying.
God Is Like a Father
4 You are struggling against sin, but you have not had to give up your life for the cause. 5 You are children of God, and he speaks words of comfort to you. You have forgotten these words:
“My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing,
and don’t stop trying when he corrects you.
6 The Lord disciplines everyone he loves;
he punishes everyone he accepts as a child.” (A)
7 So accept sufferings like a father’s discipline. God does these things to you like a father correcting his children. You know that all children are disciplined by their fathers. 8 So, if you never receive the discipline that every child must have, you are not true children and don’t really belong to God. 9 We have all had fathers here on earth who corrected us with discipline. And we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits. If we do this, we will have life. 10 Our fathers on earth disciplined us for a short time in the way they thought was best. But God disciplines us to help us so that we can be holy like him. 11 We don’t enjoy discipline when we get it. It is painful. But later, after we have learned our lesson from it, we will enjoy the peace that comes from doing what is right.
Be Careful How You Live
12 You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again. 13 Live in the right way so that you will be saved and your weakness will not cause you to be lost.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International