Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
73 Your hands created me and made me what I am.
Help me understand so that I may learn your commandments.
74 Those who fear you will see me and rejoice,
because my hope is based on your word.
75 I know that your regulations are fair, O Lord,
and that you were right to make me suffer.
76 Let your mercy comfort me
as you promised.
77 Let your compassion reach me so that I may live,
because your teachings make me happy.
78 Let arrogant people be put to shame
because they lied about me,
⌞yet⌟ I reflect on your guiding principles.
79 Let those who fear you turn to me
so that they can come to know your written instructions.
80 Let my heart be filled with integrity in regard to your laws
so that I will not be put to shame.
A Reminder to Follow Moses’ Teachings
23 A long time afterward, the Lord gave the Israelites peace with all their enemies around them. Joshua was old, near the end of his life. 2 So he called all the leaders, chiefs, judges, and officers of Israel together. He said to them, “I am old, near the end of my life. 3 You have seen for yourselves everything the Lord your God did to all those nations. The Lord your God fought for you! 4 I have given you the territory of the nations that still remain as an inheritance for your tribes. This includes the territory of all the nations I have already destroyed from the Jordan River westward to the Mediterranean Sea. 5 The Lord your God will expel them right in front of your eyes and force them out of your way. You will take their land as the Lord your God told you. 6 Now you must be very strong to keep and to do everything written in the Book of Moses’ Teachings. Don’t turn away from them. 7 Don’t get mixed up with the nations left in your territory. Don’t ever mention the names of their gods or swear an oath to them. Don’t ever serve their gods or bow down to them. 8 But you must be loyal to the Lord your God, as you have been until now. 9 The Lord has forced important and powerful nations out of your way. Not one person has ever been able to stand up to you. 10 One of you used to chase a thousand. That was because the Lord your God was fighting for you, as he had promised you. 11 Be very careful to love the Lord your God.
12 “But if you turn away and go along with the other nations within your ⌞borders⌟, if you intermarry with them or associate with them, 13 then you should know that the Lord your God will never again force these people out of your way. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap for you, a whip laid to your sides, and thorns in your eyes until none of you are left in this good land that the Lord your God has given you.
14 “Pay attention, because I will soon die like everyone else. You know with all your heart and soul that not one single promise which the Lord your God has given you has ever failed to come true. Every single word has come true.
15 “Every good word the Lord your God has promised you has come true for you. In the same way the Lord will bring about every evil curse until he has destroyed you from this good land that he has given you. 16 When you ignore the conditions [a] placed on you by the Lord your God and follow other gods, serve them and bow down to them, the Lord will be angry with you. Then you will quickly disappear from the good land he has given you.”
13 “How horrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How horrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! If the miracles worked in your cities had been worked in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed the way they thought and acted. Long ago they would have worn sackcloth and sat in ashes. 14 Judgment day will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to heaven? No, you will go to hell!
16 “The person who hears you hears me, and the person who rejects you rejects me. The person who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
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