Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 The Lord watches over righteous people.
He hears them when they call to him for help.
16 But the Lord turns against people who do evil things.
He causes everybody to forget that they ever lived.
17 The Lord hears his righteous people
when they call for help.
He saves them from all their troubles.
18 When people are upset,
the Lord is near to them.
He saves those who feel very weak and upset.
19 Righteous people may often have troubles,
but the Lord saves them from every danger.
20 The Lord keeps them safe.
Not even one of their bones is broken!
21 Evil things will return to kill wicked people.
Whoever hates God's own people
will receive punishment.
22 The Lord saves the lives of his servants.
Everyone who trusts the Lord to keep them safe
will not receive punishment as a guilty person.
An altar causes trouble
10 The 2½ tribes came to Geliloth, near the Jordan River, in Canaan. They built a big altar there, beside the river. 11 The other Israelites heard this news: ‘Those 2½ tribes have built an altar on the border of Canaan, at Geliloth! They have built it on the west side of the Jordan River, our side!’ 12 So the Israelites came together at Shiloh to fight against the other 2½ tribes.
13 The Israelites sent Phinehas, son of Eleazar the priest, to the land of Gilead. He went to meet with the 2½ tribes, Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh. 14 10 Israelite leaders went with him, one man from each of their tribes. Each man was a leader of his own clan.
15 The Israelite leaders arrived in the land of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh, in Gilead. 16 They said, ‘You have not obeyed the Lord, Israel's God. All the people of Israel agree that you have done a bad thing. You have turned against the Lord. You should not have built this altar for yourselves.[a] 17 We did something very bad at Peor.[b] Even now, we have not made it right. The Lord brought a bad disease to punish us as his people. 18 Now you are doing another bad thing. You no longer want to obey the Lord. You are turning against him today. So tomorrow the Lord may punish us all!
19 If your land here in Gilead is unclean, come back across the river to the Lord's own land. You can come and live among us, in the land where the Lord's tabernacle is. But do not turn against the Lord or against us. Do not build an altar for yourselves. The Lord our God already has his altar here. 20 Remember the time when Achan, son of Zerah, took things that belonged to God for himself. He refused to obey God's command about Jericho's valuable things. Then God became angry with all the people of Israel. Achan died because of his sin, but he was not the only one.’[c]
11 Live in that way, because you know what is happening in this time now. It is time that you should stop sleeping. It is now time to wake up. The time when God will save us completely is near. That time is nearer now than when we first believed in him. 12 The night has nearly finished and the day is almost here. So we must stop doing the bad things that belong to the dark. Instead, we must take weapons like soldiers who are ready to fight in the light.[a]
13 We should live in a good way, because we live in the light of day. We should not go to wild parties. We must not be drunks. We must not have sex with anyone who is not our own wife or husband. We must not do wrong things with our bodies. We must not quarrel. We must not be jealous of other people. 14 Instead, you must live with the Lord Jesus Christ as your guide. Do not even think about the bad things that you may want to do to make yourself happy.
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