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Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Daily Bible readings that follow the church liturgical year, with thematically matched Old and New Testament readings.
Duration: 1245 days
New Century Version (NCV)
Version
Isaiah 38:10-20

10 I said, “I am in the middle of my life.
    Do I have to go through the gates of death?
    Will I have the rest of my life taken away from me?”
11 I said, “I will not see the Lord
    in the land of the living again.
I will not again see the people
    who live on the earth.
12 Like a shepherd’s tent,
    my home has been pulled down and taken from me.
I am finished
    like the cloth a weaver rolls up and cuts from the loom.[a]
    In one day you brought me to this end.
13 All night I cried loudly.
    Like a lion, he crushed all my bones.
    In one day you brought me to this end.
14 I cried like a bird
    and moaned like a dove.
My eyes became tired as I looked to the heavens.
    Lord, I have troubles. Please help me.”

15 What can I say?
    The Lord told me what would happen and then made it happen.
I have had these troubles in my soul,
    so now I will be humble all my life.
16 Lord, because of you, people live.
    Because of you, my spirit also lives;
you made me well and let me live.
17 It was for my own good
    that I had such troubles.
Because you love me very much,
    you did not let me die
but threw my sins
    far away.
18 People in the place of the dead cannot praise you;
    those who have died cannot sing praises to you;
those who die don’t trust you
    to help them.
19 The people who are alive are the ones who praise you.
    They praise you as I praise you today.
A father should tell his children
    that you provide help.
20 The Lord saved me,
    so we will play songs on stringed instruments
in the Temple of the Lord
    all the days of our lives.

Joshua 8:1-23

Ai Is Destroyed

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Don’t be afraid or give up. Lead all your fighting men to Ai. I will help you defeat the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. You will do to Ai and its king what you did to Jericho and its king. Only this time you may take all the wealth and keep it for yourselves. Now tell some of your soldiers to set up an ambush behind the city.”

So Joshua led his whole army toward Ai. Then he chose thirty thousand of his best fighting men and sent them out at night. Joshua gave them these orders: “Listen carefully. You must set up an ambush behind the city. Don’t go far from it, but continue to watch and be ready. I and the men who are with me will march toward the city, and the men in the city will come out to fight us, just as they did before. Then we will turn and run away from them. They will chase us away from the city, thinking we are running away from them as we did before. When we run away, come out from your ambush and take the city. The Lord your God will give you the power to win. After you take the city, burn it. See to it! You have your orders.”

Then Joshua sent them to wait in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai. But Joshua stayed the night with his people.

10 Early the next morning Joshua gathered his men together. He and the older leaders of Israel led them up to Ai. 11 All of the soldiers who were with Joshua marched up to Ai and stopped in front of the city and made camp north of it. There was a valley between them and the city. 12 Then Joshua chose about five thousand men and set them in ambush in the area west of the city between Bethel and Ai. 13 So the people took their positions; the main camp was north of the city, and the other men were hiding to the west. That night Joshua went down into the valley.

14 Now when the king of Ai saw the army of Israel, he and his people got up early the next morning and hurried out to fight them. They went out to a place east of the city, but the king did not know soldiers were waiting in ambush behind the city. 15 Joshua and all the men of Israel let the army of Ai push them back. Then they ran toward the desert. 16 The men in Ai were called to chase Joshua and his men, so they left the city and went after them. 17 All the men of Ai and Bethel chased the army of Israel. The city was left open; not a man stayed to protect it.

18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Hold your spear toward Ai, because I will give you that city.” So Joshua held his spear toward the city of Ai. 19 When the Israelites who were in ambush saw this, they quickly came out of their hiding place and hurried toward the city. They entered the city, took control of it, and quickly set it on fire.

20 When the men of Ai looked back, they saw smoke rising from their city. At the same time the Israelites stopped running and turned against the men of Ai, who could not escape in any direction. 21 When Joshua and all his men saw that the army had taken control of the city and saw the smoke rising from it, they stopped running and turned to fight the men of Ai. 22 The men who were in ambush also came out of the city to help with the fight. So the men of Ai were caught between the armies of Israel. None of the enemy escaped. The Israelites fought until not one of the men of Ai was left alive, except 23 the king of Ai, and they brought him to Joshua.

Hebrews 12:3-13

Think about Jesus’ example. He held on while wicked people were doing evil things to him. So do not get tired and stop trying.

God Is like a Father

You are struggling against sin, but your struggles have not yet caused you to be killed. You have forgotten the encouraging words that call you his children:

“My child, don’t think the Lord’s discipline is worth nothing,
    and don’t stop trying when he corrects you.
The Lord disciplines those he loves,
    and he punishes everyone he accepts as his child.” Proverbs 3:11–12

So hold on through your sufferings, because they are like a father’s discipline. God is treating you as children. All children are disciplined by their fathers. If you are never disciplined (and every child must be disciplined), you are not true children. We have all had fathers here on earth who disciplined us, and we respected them. So it is even more important that we accept discipline from the Father of our spirits so 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 we can become holy as he is. 11 We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful at the time, but later, after we have learned from it, we have peace, because we start living in the right way.

Be Careful How You Live

12 You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again. 13 Keep on the right path, so the weak will not stumble but rather be strengthened.

New Century Version (NCV)

The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.