Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
God’s Perfect Knowledge of Man
For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.
139 O Lord, (A)You have searched me and known me.
2 (B)You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You (C)understand my thought afar off.
3 (D)You [a]comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O Lord, (E)You know it altogether.
5 You have [b]hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 (F)Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
13 For You formed my inward parts;
You [a]covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise You, for [b]I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
15 (A)My [c]frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
17 (B)How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!
How great is the sum of them!
18 If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand;
When I awake, I am still with You.
6 And when (A)Joshua had dismissed the people, the children of Israel went each to his own inheritance to possess the land.
Death of Joshua(B)
7 (C)So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the Lord which He had done for Israel. 8 Now (D)Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died when he was one hundred and ten years old. 9 (E)And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at (F)Timnath Heres, in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash. 10 When all that generation had [a]been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who (G)did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel.
Israel’s Unfaithfulness
11 Then the children of Israel did (H)evil in the sight of the Lord, and served the Baals; 12 and they (I)forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt; and they followed (J)other gods from among the gods of the people who were all around them, and they (K)bowed down to them; and they provoked the Lord to anger. 13 They forsook the Lord (L)and served [b]Baal and the [c]Ashtoreths. 14 (M)And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel. So He (N)delivered them into the hands of plunderers who despoiled them; and (O)He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, so that they (P)could no longer stand before their enemies. 15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the Lord was against them for calamity, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had (Q)sworn to them. And they were greatly distressed.
The Spiritual War
10 Now (A)I, Paul, myself am pleading with you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—(B)who in presence am lowly among you, but being absent am bold toward you. 2 But I beg you (C)that when I am present I may not be bold with that confidence by which I intend to be bold against some, who think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 (D)For the weapons (E)of our warfare are not [a]carnal but (F)mighty in God (G)for pulling down strongholds, 5 (H)casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 (I)and being ready to punish all disobedience when (J)your obedience is fulfilled.
Reality of Paul’s Authority
7 (K)Do you look at things according to the outward appearance? (L)If anyone is convinced in himself that he is Christ’s, let him again consider this in himself, that just as he is Christ’s, even [b]so (M)we are Christ’s. 8 For even if I should boast somewhat more (N)about our authority, which the Lord gave [c]us for [d]edification and not for your destruction, (O)I shall not be ashamed— 9 lest I seem to terrify you by letters. 10 “For his letters,” they say, “are weighty and powerful, but (P)his bodily presence is weak, and his (Q)speech contemptible.” 11 Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when we are absent, such we will also be in deed when we are present.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.