Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 116

Thanksgiving for Recovery from Illness

Spies Sent to Jericho

2 Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. ² The king of Jericho was told, ‘Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.’ ³ Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.’ ⁴ But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, ‘True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. ⁵ And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.’ ⁶ She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

⁸ Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof ⁹ and said to the men: ‘I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. ¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea^[a] before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹ As soon as we heard it, our hearts failed, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. ¹² Now then, since I have dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith ¹³ that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’ ¹⁴ The men said to her, ‘Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.’

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when put to the test, offered up Isaac. He who had received the promises was ready to offer up his only son, ¹⁸ of whom he had been told, ‘It is through Isaac that descendants shall be named after you.’ ¹⁹ He considered the fact that God is able even to raise someone from the dead—and figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. ²⁰ By faith Isaac invoked blessings for the future on Jacob and Esau. ²¹ By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, ‘bowing in worship over the top of his staff.’ ²² By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions about his burial.^[a]