Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
146 Praise the Lord!
My soul, praise the Lord!
2 I will praise the Lord all my life.
I will sing praises to him as long as I live.
3 Don’t depend on your leaders for help.
Don’t depend on people, because they cannot save you.
4 People die and are buried.
Then all their plans to help are gone.
5 It is a great blessing for people to have the God of Jacob to help them.
They depend on the Lord their God.
6 He made heaven and earth.
He made the sea and everything in it.
He can be trusted to do what he says.
7 He does what is right for those who have been hurt.
He gives food to the hungry.
The Lord frees people locked up in prison.
8 The Lord makes the blind see again.
The Lord helps those who are in trouble.
The Lord loves those who do right.
9 The Lord protects strangers in our country.
He cares for widows and orphans,
but he destroys the wicked.
10 The Lord will rule forever!
Zion, your God will rule forever and ever!
Praise the Lord!
The Land of Zelophehad’s Daughters
36 Manasseh was Joseph’s son. Makir was Manasseh’s son. Gilead was Makir’s son. The leaders of Gilead’s family went to talk to Moses and the leaders of the tribes of Israel. 2 They said, “Sir, the Lord commanded us to get our land by throwing lots. And sir, the Lord commanded that the land of Zelophehad our brother be given to his daughters. 3 Maybe a man from one of the other tribes will marry one of Zelophehad’s daughters. Will that land leave our family? Will the people of that other tribe get the land? Will we lose the land that we got by throwing lots? 4 People might sell their land, but in the Jubilee year, all the land is returned to the tribe that really owns it. At that time who will get the land that belongs to Zelophehad’s daughters? Will our tribe lose that land forever?”
5 Moses gave this command from the Lord to the Israelites: “These men from the tribe of Joseph are right. 6 This is the Lord’s command to Zelophehad’s daughters: If you want to marry someone, you must marry someone from your own tribe. 7 In this way land will not be passed from tribe to tribe among the Israelites. Each Israelite will keep the land that belonged to their own ancestors. 8 And if a woman gets her father’s land, she must marry someone from her own tribe. That way everyone will keep the land that belonged to his ancestors. 9 So the land must not be passed from tribe to tribe among the Israelites. Each Israelite will keep the land that belonged to their own ancestors.”
10 So Zelophehad’s daughters obeyed the Lord’s command to Moses. 11 Zelophehad’s daughters—Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah—married their cousins on their father’s side of the family. 12 Their husbands were from Manasseh’s family groups, so their land remained within their father’s family group and tribe.
13 So these are the laws and commands that the Lord gave to Moses in the Jordan Valley in Moab by the Jordan River, across from Jericho.
6 Christ died for us when we were unable to help ourselves. We were living against God, but at just the right time Christ died for us. 7 Very few people will die to save the life of someone else, even if it is for a good person. Someone might be willing to die for an especially good person. 8 But Christ died for us while we were still sinners, and by this God showed how much he loves us.
9 We have been made right with God by the blood sacrifice of Christ. So through Christ we will surely be saved from God’s anger. 10 I mean that while we were God’s enemies, he made friends with us through his Son’s death. And the fact that we are now God’s friends makes it even more certain that he will save us through his Son’s life. 11 And not only will we be saved, but we also rejoice right now in what God has done for us through our Lord Jesus Christ. It is because of Jesus that we are now God’s friends.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International