Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

²¹ The people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh answered the heads of the families of the western tribes: ²² “The Mighty One is God! He is the Lord! The Mighty One is God! He is the Lord! He knows why we did this, and we want you to know too! If we rebelled and did not keep faith with the Lord, do not let us live any longer! ²³ If we disobeyed the Lord and built our own altar to burn sacrifices on or to use for grain offerings or fellowship offerings, let the Lord himself punish us. ²⁴ No! We did it because we were afraid that in the future your descendants would say to ours, ‘What do you have to do with the Lord, the God of Israel? ²⁵ He made the Jordan a boundary between us and you people of Reuben and Gad. You have nothing to do with the Lord.’ Then your descendants might make our descendants stop worshiping the Lord. ²⁶ So we built an altar, not to burn sacrifices or make offerings, ²⁷ but instead, as a sign for our people and yours, and for the generations after us, that we do indeed worship the Lord before his sacred Tent with our offerings to be burned and with sacrifices and fellowship offerings. This was to keep your descendants from saying that ours have nothing to do with the Lord. ²⁸ It was our idea that, if this should ever happen, our descendants could say, ‘Look! Our ancestors made an altar just like the Lord's altar. It was not for burning offerings or for sacrifice, but as a sign for our people and yours.’ ²⁹ We would certainly not rebel against the Lord or stop following him now by building an altar to burn offerings on or for grain offerings or sacrifices. We would not build any other altar than the altar of the Lord our God that stands in front of the Tent of his presence.”

³⁰ Phinehas the priest and the ten leading men of the community who were with him, the heads of families of the western tribes, heard what the people of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh had to say, and they were satisfied. ³¹ Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the priest, said to them, “Now we know that the Lord is with us. You have not rebelled against him, and so you have saved the people of Israel from the Lord's punishment.”

³² Then Phinehas and the leaders left the people of Reuben and Gad in the land of Gilead and went back to Canaan, to the people of Israel, and reported to them. ³³ The Israelites were satisfied and praised God. They no longer talked about going to war to devastate the land where the people of Reuben and Gad had settled.

³⁴ The people of Reuben and Gad said, “This altar is a witness to all of us that the Lord is God.” And so they named it “Witness.”

⁵ And Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you should go to a friend's house at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. ⁶ A friend of mine who is on a trip has just come to my house, and I don't have any food for him!’ ⁷ And suppose your friend should answer from inside, ‘Don't bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ Well, what then? I tell you that even if he will not get up and give you the bread because you are his friend, yet he will get up and give you everything you need because you are not ashamed to keep on asking. ⁹ And so I say to you: Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For those who ask will receive, and those who seek will find, and the door will be opened to anyone who knocks. ¹¹ Would any of you who are fathers give your son a snake when he asks for fish? ¹² Or would you give him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? ¹³ As bad as you are, you know how to give good things to your children. How much more, then, will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”