Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
15 The Lord’s eyes are on righteous people.
His ears hear their cry for help.
16 The Lord confronts those who do evil
in order to wipe out all memory of them from the earth.
17 ⌞Righteous people⌟ cry out.
The Lord hears and rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to those whose hearts are humble.
He saves those whose spirits are crushed.
19 The righteous person has many troubles,
but the Lord rescues him from all of them.
20 The Lord guards all of his bones.
Not one of them is broken.
21 Evil will kill wicked people,
and those who hate righteous people will be condemned.
22 The Lord protects the souls of his servants.
All who take refuge in him will never be condemned.
21 Then the tribes of Reuben and Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the divisions of Israel. 22 They said, “The Lord is ⌞the only true⌟ God! The Lord is ⌞the only true⌟ God! He knows, so let Israel know! If our act is rebellious or unfaithful to the Lord, 23 don’t spare us today. If we built an altar with the intention of no longer following him, and if we built it for making burnt offerings, grain offerings, or fellowship offerings, let the Lord punish us.
24 “We were worried because of the situation we’re in. We thought sometime in the future your children might say to our children, ‘What relationship do you have with the Lord God of Israel? 25 The Lord has made the Jordan River a dividing line between us and you, the descendants of Reuben and Gad. You have no connection with the Lord!’ So your descendants would stop our descendants from worshiping the Lord. 26 Then we said, ‘Let’s build an altar for ourselves. It will not be for burnt offerings or sacrifices, 27 but it will stand as a witness between us for generations to come. It will stand as a witness that we may worship in the presence of the Lord with our burnt offerings, sacrifices, and fellowship offerings.’ Then your descendants cannot say to our descendants, ‘You have no connection with the Lord!’ 28 So we thought, if this statement is made to us or to our descendants in the future, we will answer, ‘Look at the model of the Lord’s altar our ancestors made. They didn’t make it for burnt offerings or sacrifices but to stand as a witness between us.’ 29 It would be unthinkable for us to rebel against the Lord or to turn back today from following the Lord by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifices in addition to the altar of the Lord our God that is in front of his tent.”
30 When the priest Phinehas, the leaders of the congregation, and the heads of the divisions of Israel heard what the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh said, they were satisfied. 31 Then Phinehas, son of the priest Eleazar, said to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, “Today we know the Lord is among us, because you did not commit an unfaithful act against the Lord. Now you have rescued the people of Israel from the Lord’s punishment.”
32 Then Phinehas (son of the priest Eleazar) and the leaders returned from Reuben and Gad in Gilead to Israel in Canaan and gave them the report. 33 The people of Israel were satisfied with the report. So they praised God and didn’t talk anymore about going to war against Reuben and Gad and destroying the land where they were living.
34 The tribes of Reuben and Gad gave the altar a name: Witness Between Us That the Lord Is ⌞the Only True⌟ God.
The Power of Prayer(A)
5 Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you has a friend. Suppose you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. 6 A friend of mine on a trip has dropped in on me, and I don’t have anything to serve him.’ 7 Your friend might answer you from inside his house, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I can guarantee that although he doesn’t want to get up to give you anything, he will get up and give you whatever you need because he is your friend and because you were so bold.
9 “So I tell you to ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. 10 Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the person who knocks, the door will be opened.
11 “If your child asks you, his father, for a fish, would you give him a snake instead? 12 Or if your child asks you for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? 13 Even though you’re evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
Copyright © 1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God’s Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.