Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Psalm 116
Deliverance From Death
Overview
1 I love the Lord, because he hears my voice.
He hears my cry for mercy.
2 Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call to him all my days.
3 The ropes of death entangled me.
The walls of the grave hemmed me in.[a]
I found distress and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Ah, Lord, please save my life!”
5 The Lord is gracious and righteous,
and our God is compassionate.
6 The Lord protects the inexperienced.[b]
In my weakness he saves me too.
Past Deliverance
7 Return, my soul, to your rest,
for the Lord has accomplished his purpose for you.
8 Indeed, you have delivered my soul from death,
my eye from weeping, my foot from stumbling,
9 so that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
The Spies and Jericho
2 Now Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men from Shittim to be spies. He said, “Go and look over the land and Jericho.” So they set out and came to the house of a woman who was a prostitute. Her name was Rahab. They settled in to spend the night there.
2 It was reported to the king of Jericho: “Some Israelite men came here tonight to spy on the land.” 3 So the king of Jericho sent messengers to Rahab. They said, “Bring out the men who came to you, the ones who came to your house, because they have come to spy on the whole land.”
4 Now the woman had taken the two men and had hidden both of them. So she said, “Yes, the men did come to me, but I did not know where they were from. 5 When the gate was about to be shut at dark, the men left. I do not know where the men went. Go after them quickly so you can overtake them.”
6 But she actually had taken them up to the roof and had concealed them among the stalks of flax that she had spread out on the roof. 7 The men of Jericho then went to pursue them along the route to the Jordan that led to the fords. The city gate was closed just after the pursuers had gone out to pursue the spies.
8 But before the men lay down, Rahab came up to them on the roof. 9 She said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land. Because of you, terror has fallen upon us, and all the inhabitants of the land are melting in fear before you. 10 Indeed, we have heard that the Lord dried up the waters of the Red Sea in front of you when you came out of Egypt, and we heard what you did to the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan—to Sihon and to Og. We heard that you devoted them to destruction. 11 We heard, and our hearts melted, and no one’s courage could hold up anymore against you, because the Lord your God is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. 12 So now, please swear to me by the Lord that since I have shown kindness to you, you in turn will show kindness to my father’s house. Give me a trustworthy sign 13 that you will preserve the lives of my father and mother and my brothers and sisters and everyone who belongs to them, and that you will spare our lives.”
14 The men said to her, “If you do not reveal what we are doing, our lives are pledged for your lives, even to the point of death. Then when the Lord gives us the land, we will show mercy and faithfulness to you.”
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac. This man, who received the promises, was ready to offer his only son, 18 about whom it was said, “Through Isaac your offspring will be traced.”[a] 19 He reasoned that God also had the ability to raise him from the dead, and in a figurative sense, Abraham did receive him back from the dead.
20 By faith Isaac also blessed Jacob and Esau about things that were going to happen.
21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and worshipped as he leaned on the top of his staff.
22 By faith Joseph, as he neared the end of his life, mentioned[b] the Exodus of the sons of Israel and gave instructions about his bones.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.