Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁵ The eyes of the Lord are toward the [uncompromisingly] righteous and His ears are open to their cry.

¹⁶ The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.^(A)

¹⁷ When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears, and delivers them out of all their distress and troubles.

¹⁸ The Lord is close to those who are of a broken heart and saves such as are crushed with sorrow for sin and are humbly and thoroughly penitent.

¹⁹ Many evils confront the [consistently] righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

²⁰ He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken.

²¹ Evil shall cause the death of the wicked; and they who hate the just and righteous shall be held guilty and shall be condemned.

²² The Lord redeems the lives of His servants, and none of those who take refuge and trust in Him shall be condemned or held guilty.

²¹ Then the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh said to the heads of the clans of Israel,

²² The Mighty One, God, the Lord! The Mighty One, God, the Lord! He knows, and let Israel itself know! If it was in rebellion or in transgression against the Lord, spare us not today.

²³ If we have built us an altar to turn away from following the Lord, or if we did so to offer on it burnt offerings or cereal offerings or peace offerings, may the Lord Himself take vengeance.

²⁴ No! But we did it for fear that in time to come your children might say to our children, What have you to do with the Lord, the God of Israel?

²⁵ For the Lord has made the Jordan a boundary between us and you, you Reubenites and Gadites; you have no part in the Lord. So your children might make our children cease from fearing the Lord.

²⁶ So we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt offering nor for sacrifice,

²⁷ But to be a witness between us and you and between the generations after us, that we will perform the service of the Lord before Him with our burnt offerings and sacrifices and peace offerings; lest your children say to our children in time to come, You have no portion in the Lord.

²⁸ So we thought, if that should be said to us or to our descendants in time to come, we can reply, Behold the copy of the altar of the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings nor for sacrifices, but to be a witness between us and you.

²⁹ Far be it from us that we should rebel against the Lord and turn away this day from following the Lord to build an altar for burnt offerings, for cereal offerings, or for sacrifices, besides the altar of the Lord our God that is before His tabernacle.

³⁰ And when Phinehas the priest and the chiefs of the congregation and heads of the clans of Israel who were with him heard the words that the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites spoke, it pleased them.

³¹ Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, said to the Reubenites, Gadites, and Manassites, Today we know the Lord is among us, because you have not committed this trespass and treachery against the Lord; now you have saved the Israelites from the Lord’s hand.

³² Then Phinehas son of Eleazar, the priest, and the chiefs returned from the Reubenites and Gadites in the land of Gilead to the land of Canaan, to the [other] Israelites, and brought back word to them.

³³ The report pleased the Israelites and they blessed God; and they spoke no more of going to war against them to destroy the land in which the Reubenites and Gadites dwelt.

³⁴ The Reubenites and Gadites called the altar Ed [witness], saying, It shall be: A Witness Between Us that the Lord is God.

⁵ And He said to them, Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and will say to him, Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread],

⁶ For a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come, and I have nothing to put before him;

⁷ And he from within will answer, Do not disturb me; the door is now closed, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot get up and supply you [with anything]?

⁸ I tell you, although he will not get up and supply him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence and insistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ So I say to you, Ask and ^[a]keep on asking and it shall be given you; seek and ^[b]keep on seeking and you shall find; knock and ^[c]keep on knocking and the door shall be opened to you.

¹⁰ For everyone who asks and ^[d]keeps on asking receives; and he who seeks and ^[e]keeps on seeking finds; and to him who knocks and ^[f]keeps on knocking, the door shall be opened.

¹¹ What father among you, if his son asks for ^[g]a loaf of bread, will give him a stone; or if he asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent?

¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?

¹³ If you then, evil as you are, know how to give good gifts [gifts ^[h]that are to their advantage] to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and ^[i]continue to ask Him!