Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
10 I said, “(A)In the middle of my [a]life
I am to enter the (B)gates of Sheol;
I am to be (C)deprived of the rest of my years.”
11 I said, “I will not see the Lord,
The Lord (D)in the land of the living;
I will look on man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
12 “Like a shepherd’s (E)tent my dwelling is pulled up and removed from me;
As a (F)weaver I (G)rolled up my life.
He (H)cuts me off from the loom;
From (I)day until night You make an end of me.
13 “I composed my soul until morning.
(J)Like a lion—so He (K)breaks all my bones,
From (L)day until night You make an end of me.
14 “(M)Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter;
I (N)moan like a dove;
My (O)eyes look wistfully to the heights;
O Lord, I am oppressed, be my (P)security.
15 “(Q)What shall I say?
[b]For He has spoken to me, and He Himself has done it;
I will (R)wander about all my years because of the (S)bitterness of my soul.
16 “O Lord, (T)by these things men live,
And in all these is the life of my spirit;
[c](U)O restore me to health and (V)let me live!
17 “Lo, for my own welfare I had great bitterness;
It is You who has [d](W)kept my soul from the pit of [e]nothingness,
For You have (X)cast all my sins behind Your back.
18 “For (Y)Sheol cannot thank You,
Death cannot praise You;
Those who go down (Z)to the pit cannot hope for Your faithfulness.
19 “It is the (AA)living who give thanks to You, as I do today;
A (AB)father tells his sons about Your faithfulness.
20 “The Lord will surely save me;
So we will (AC)play my songs on stringed instruments
(AD)All the days of our life (AE)at the house of the Lord.”
The Conquest of Ai
8 Now the Lord said to Joshua, “(A)Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the people of war with you and arise, go up to Ai; see, (B)I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. 2 You shall do to Ai and its king just as you did to Jericho and its king; you shall (C)take only its spoil and its cattle as plunder for yourselves. [a]Set an ambush for the city behind it.”
3 So Joshua rose with all the people of war to go up to Ai; and Joshua chose 30,000 men, valiant warriors, and sent them out at night. 4 He commanded them, saying, “See, you are (D)going to ambush the city from behind [b]it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. 5 Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out to meet us as at the first, (E)we will flee before them. 6 They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ So we will flee before them. 7 And you shall rise from your ambush and take possession of the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. 8 Then it will be when you have seized the city, that you shall set the city on fire. You shall do it (F)according to the word of the Lord. See, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them away, and they went to the place of ambush and remained between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Now Joshua (G)rose early in the morning and mustered the people, and he went up with the elders of Israel before the people to Ai. 11 Then all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near and arrived in front of the city, and camped on the north side of Ai. Now there was a valley between him and Ai. 12 And he took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between (H)Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the [c]city. 13 So they stationed the people, all the army that was on the north side of the city, and its rear guard on the west side of the city, and Joshua spent that night in the midst of the valley. 14 It came about when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose up early and went out to meet Israel in battle, he and all his people at the appointed place before the desert plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them, and fled (I)by the way of the wilderness. 16 And all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and they pursued Joshua and (J)were drawn away from the city. 17 So not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who had not gone out after Israel, and they left the city [d]unguarded and pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “(K)Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 The men in ambush rose quickly from their place, and when he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it, and they quickly set the city on fire. 20 When the men of Ai turned [e]back and looked, behold, the smoke of the city ascended to the sky, and they had no place to flee this way or that, for the people who had been fleeing to the wilderness turned against the pursuers. 21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and [f]slew the men of Ai. 22 [g]The others came out from the city to encounter them, so that they were trapped in the midst of Israel, [h]some on this side and some on that side; and they [i]slew them until (L)no one was left [j]of those who survived or escaped. 23 But they took alive the king of Ai and brought him to Joshua.
3 For (A)consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary [a](B)and lose heart.
A Father’s Discipline
4 (C)You have not yet resisted [b](D)to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
“(E)My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
Nor (F)faint when you are reproved by Him;
6 (G)For those (H)whom the Lord loves He disciplines,
And He scourges every son whom He receives.”
7 It is for discipline that you endure; (I)God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, (J)of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had [c]earthly fathers to discipline us, and we (K)respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to (L)the Father of [d]spirits, and (M)live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, (N)so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline (O)for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the (P)peaceful fruit of righteousness.
12 Therefore, [e](Q)strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, 13 and (R)make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather (S)be healed.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.