Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
73 [a]Your hands have created and formed me;[b]
grant me understanding so that I may learn your precepts.
74 Those who fear you will rejoice when they see me
because I place my hope in your word.
75 I know, O Lord, that your judgments are righteous
and in your fidelity you have humbled me.
76 May your kindness[c] bring consolation to me
as you have promised your servant.
77 Grant me your compassion so that I may live,
for your law is my delight.
78 May the arrogant[d] who oppress me without cause be put to shame;
I will meditate on your commands.
79 May those turn to me who fear you,
those who understand your statutes.
80 May my heart[e] be without blame toward your decrees
so that I may not be put to shame.
Kaph
Chapter 23[a]
Joshua’s Final Discourse. 1 Quite some time later, after the Lord had given Israel rest from all of its surrounding enemies, and when Joshua had grown old and was well advanced in years, 2 Joshua summoned all of Israel including its leaders and officials, their judges and their officers, and he said to them, “I am now an old man, well advanced in years 3 and you have seen all that the Lord, your God, has done to all of these nations on your behalf, for the Lord, your God, has fought for you. 4 I have divided up by lot these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes, all the nations that I have conquered between the Jordan and the Great Sea to the west. 5 The Lord, your God, himself will drive them out before you. He will push them out of your sight so that you can take possession of the land that the Lord, your God, has promised you. 6 Be most courageous, and be careful to observe everything that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Do not turn away from it to the right or the left. 7 Avoid associating with these nations that still remain among you. Do not mention the names of their gods; do not swear by them. Do not serve them; do not worship them. 8 Hold fast to the Lord, your God,[b] as you have done up to the present. 9 The Lord has driven out great and powerful nations from before you. To this day no one has been able to stand up against you. 10 Just one of you has been able to route a thousand, because the Lord, your God, has fought for you, just as he promised you that he would do. 11 So be very careful to love the Lord, your God.
12 [c]“But if you were to turn away and you were to ally yourselves with the survivors of the nations that remain here, and you were to intermarry with them, and you were to associate with them, 13 then you should know for sure that the Lord, your God, will no longer drive out these nations before you. They will be like snares and traps to you, as if they were scourges upon your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you finally vanish from this good land that the Lord, your God, has given you.
14 “I am now about to go the way of all upon the earth. You know very well in your hearts and your souls that not one of the good things that the Lord, your God, promised you has failed to take place. Every promise has been fulfilled, not one of them has been broken. 15 Just as all the good things that the Lord, your God, has promised you have come true, so the Lord could bring upon you all the evil that he has threatened until he has wiped you out from this good land that the Lord, your God, has given you. 16 If you transgress the covenant that the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe, and you go and serve other gods and worship them, then the Lord’s anger will blaze out against you. You will quickly perish from the good land that the Lord, your God, has given you.”
13 Woe to the Cities of Galilee.[a]“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty deeds performed in your midst had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have come to repentance long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 14 But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. 15 And as for you, Capernaum:
Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will be brought down to the netherworld.[b]
16 “Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
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