Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 116

¹ I love the Lord, because He has heard [and now hears] my voice and my supplications.

² Because He has inclined His ear to me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

³ The cords and sorrows of death were around me, and the terrors of Sheol (the place of the dead) had laid hold of me; I suffered anguish and grief (trouble and sorrow).

⁴ Then called I upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech You, save my life and deliver me!

⁵ Gracious is the Lord, and [rigidly] righteous; yes, our God is merciful.

⁶ The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He helped and saved me.

⁷ Return to your rest, O my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.^(A)

⁸ For You have delivered my life from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling and falling.

⁹ I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

2 Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as scouts, saying, Go, view the land, especially Jericho. And they went and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab and lodged there.

² It was told the king of Jericho, Behold, there came men in here tonight of the Israelites to search out the country.

³ And the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, Bring forth the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out the land.

⁴ But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. So she said, Yes, two men came to me, but I did not know from where they had come.

⁵ And at gate closing time, after dark, the men went out. Where they went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.

⁶ But she had brought them up to the roof and hidden them under the stalks of flax which she had laid in order there.

⁷ So the men pursued them to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone, the city’s gate was shut.

⁸ Before the two men had lain down, Rahab came up to them on the roof,

⁹ And she said to the men, I know that the Lord has given you the land and that your terror is fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you.

¹⁰ For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the [east] side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed.

¹¹ When we heard it, our hearts melted, neither did spirit or courage remain any more in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath.^(A)

¹² Now then, I pray you, swear to me by the Lord, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father’s house, and give me a sure sign,

¹³ And save alive my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all they have, and deliver us from death.

¹⁴ And the men said to her, Our lives for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the Lord gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was put to the test [while the testing of his faith was ^[a]still in progress], ^[b]had already brought Isaac for an offering; he who had gladly received and welcomed [God’s] promises was ready to sacrifice his only son,^(A)

¹⁸ Of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your descendants be reckoned.^(B)

¹⁹ For he reasoned that God was able to raise [him] up even from among the dead. Indeed in the sense that Isaac was figuratively dead [potentially sacrificed], he did [actually] receive him back from the dead.

²⁰ [With eyes of] faith Isaac, looking far into the future, invoked blessings upon Jacob and Esau.^(C)

²¹ [Prompted] by faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in prayer over the top of his staff.^(D)

²² [Actuated] by faith Joseph, when nearing the end of his life, referred to [the promise of God for] the departure of the Israelites out of Egypt and gave instructions concerning the burial of his own bones.^(E)