Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
This is a psalm that Asaph wrote.
God and the gods[a]
82 God calls the powerful rulers to meet in heaven.
He sits on his throne to judge them.
2 He asks them, ‘How long will you continue to judge people
in a way that is not fair?
How long will you say that wicked people are right?
Selah.
3 You must help poor people and those with no family
to receive justice.
Help those who have pain and trouble
to receive the help that they need.
4 Rescue weak and helpless people,
so that evil people cannot hurt them.
5 The powerful leaders know nothing
and they understand nothing.
They walk about in a dark place.
At the same time the foundation of the earth shakes![b]
6 I said, “You are gods.
You are all sons of the Most High God.
7 But you will die, as all people die.
You will come to an end, like all other rulers.” ’[c]
8 God, now do something!
Judge all the nations of the earth.
For they all belong to you.
The sin of Achan
7 The Israelites did not obey what Joshua had said about the valuable things that belonged to God. Achan took some of these things for himself. He was Carmi's son, who was the son of Zimri, who was the son of Zerah. They were from the tribe of Judah. The Lord was very angry with the Israelites.
10 The Lord said to Joshua, ‘Stand up! Why are you lying there on the ground? 11 Israel has done a bad thing. They have not obeyed the command of the covenant that I made with them. That have taken for themselves some of the valuable things that belong to me. They have taken them and they have tried to deceive me. They have hidden them among their own things. 12 That is why the Israelites are running away from their enemies. They themselves must now be destroyed because they belong to me. If you want me to continue to help you, you must destroy everything that belongs to me. You should not have taken those valuable things for yourselves.
13 So stand up now! Tell the people to make themselves clean. Make yourselves ready! Tomorrow you will come to stand in front of me. I, the Lord God of Israel tell you, “Israelite people, you have kept some of the things that I told you to destroy. You will not win against your enemies until you have removed those things!” 14 In the morning, tell the Israelites to come to me, one tribe at a time. I will choose one tribe. The clans of that tribe will come in front of me, one clan at a time. I will choose one clan. Then the families of that clan will come in front of me, family by family. I will choose one family. Then the men of that family will come to stand in front of me, one by one. 15 Then I will show you which man has taken the things that belong to me. You must kill that man and burn his body. You must kill him and everything that he has, together with all his family. He has done a very bad thing that no Israelite should ever do. He has turned against the covenant that I made with my people.’
16 Early the next morning, Joshua told the tribes to come and stand in front of the Lord. They came one tribe at a time. The Lord chose the tribe of Judah. 17 Then clans of the tribe of Judah came, one clan at a time. The Lord chose Zerah's clan. Families from Zerah's clan then came, one family at a time. The Lord chose Zimri's family. 18 Joshua then made each man from Zimri's family come, one by one. The Lord chose Achan, son of Carmi, son of Zimri, son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah.
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, tell the truth, to show that you respect the Lord, Israel's God. Tell me what you have done. Do not try to deceive me.’
20 Achan replied, ‘It is true! I have done a bad thing against the Lord, Israel's God. This is what I have done. 21 I found a beautiful coat from Babylon, and I found 200 silver coins, and a piece of gold that weighed half a kilogram. I wanted them so much that I took them for myself. I hid them in the ground in my tent. The silver coins are under the other things.’
22 So Joshua sent some men to go to Achan's tent. They ran there and they found the things that Achan had hidden. The silver coins were under the other things. 23 The men took the things out from the tent. They brought them to Joshua and all the other Israelites. They put them all on the ground in front of the Lord.
24 Then Joshua and all the people took Achan, the son of Zerah, and the silver coins, the coat, and the heavy piece of gold. They also took his sons, his daughters, and his cows, sheep and donkeys. They took all his things to Achor valley.[a] 25 Joshua said, ‘Why did you cause so much trouble to come to us? The Lord will certainly give you trouble today!’
Then all the Israelites threw stones at him until he died. They also killed his family and they burned all the bodies. 26 They put a big heap of stones over him. They are still there today. That is why the place is still called ‘Trouble Valley’. Then the Lord was not angry with his people any more.
We must not turn away from Jesus Christ
26 Now that we have learned what is true, we must continue to believe in Jesus. If we know God's true message, but we still choose to do wrong things, God will not forgive us. There is no other sacrifice that will take away our sins. 27 We know that God will judge us, and that will make us very afraid. Because we know that God will punish everyone who is against him. That punishment will be a very hot fire that destroys people. 28 In the old agreement, anyone who refused to obey Moses' rules had to die. If two or three people said that he had done a bad thing, that person had to die. They would not forgive him.[a]
29 So think about a person who has turned against the Son of God. That person's punishment will surely be much worse! He says that Christ's sacrifice has no value for him. He has made God's new agreement seem like something bad. It was Christ's death on the cross that made that person clean, so that he belonged to God. But now that person has insulted God's Spirit, who brings God's kind help to us. 30 We know God and his message. And God said this: ‘I am the one who will punish people for their sins. I will give them the punishment that they ought to receive.’[b] God also said this: ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ 31 Yes, if God takes hold of you to punish you, that will make you very afraid! He is the powerful God who lives for ever.[c]
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