Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
A Plea for Justice
A Psalm of Asaph.
82 God (A)stands in the congregation of [a]the mighty;
He judges among (B)the [b]gods.
2 How long will you judge unjustly,
And (C)show partiality to the wicked? Selah
3 [c]Defend the poor and fatherless;
Do justice to the afflicted and (D)needy.
4 Deliver the poor and needy;
Free them from the hand of the wicked.
5 They do not know, nor do they understand;
They walk about in darkness;
All the (E)foundations of the earth are [d]unstable.
6 I said, (F)“You are [e]gods,
And all of you are children of the Most High.
7 But you shall die like men,
And fall like one of the princes.”
8 Arise, O God, judge the earth;
(G)For You shall inherit all nations.
The Sin of Achan
10 So the Lord said to Joshua: “Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? 11 Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. (A)For they have even taken some of the [a]accursed things, and have both stolen and (B)deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff. 12 (C)Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because (D)they have become doomed to destruction. Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Get up, (E)sanctify[b] the people, and say, (F)‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” 14 In the morning therefore you shall be brought according to your tribes. And it shall be that the tribe which (G)the Lord takes shall come according to families; and the family which the Lord takes shall come by households; and the household which the Lord takes shall come man by man. 15 (H)Then it shall be that he who is taken with the accursed thing shall be burned with fire, he and all that he has, because he has (I)transgressed[c] the covenant of the Lord, and because he (J)has done a disgraceful thing in Israel.’ ”
16 So Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel by their tribes, and the tribe of Judah was taken. 17 He brought the clan of Judah, and he took the family of the Zarhites; and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man, and Zabdi was taken. 18 Then he brought his household man by man, and Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, (K)was taken.
19 Now Joshua said to Achan, “My son, I beg you, (L)give glory to the Lord God of Israel, (M)and make confession to Him, and (N)tell me now what you have done; do not hide it from me.”
20 And Achan answered Joshua and said, “Indeed (O)I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and this is what I have done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I [d]coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent; and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. 23 And they took them from the midst of the tent, brought them to Joshua and to all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. 24 Then Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, the silver, the garment, the wedge of gold, his sons, his daughters, his oxen, his donkeys, his sheep, his tent, and (P)all that he had, and they brought them to (Q)the Valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, (R)“Why have you troubled us? The Lord will trouble you this day.” (S)So all Israel stoned him with stones; and they burned them with fire after they had stoned them with stones.
26 Then they (T)raised over him a great heap of stones, still there to this day. So (U)the Lord turned from the fierceness of His anger. Therefore the name of that place has been called (V)the Valley of [e]Achor to this day.
The Just Live by Faith
26 For (A)if we sin willfully (B)after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there (C)no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and (D)fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three (E)witnesses. 29 (F)Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, (G)counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, (H)and insulted the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know Him who said, (I)“Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” [a]says the Lord. And again, (J)“The Lord will judge His people.” 31 (K)It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.