Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
7 Then the Lord said to Joshua, ‘Today I will begin to make all the Israelite people respect you. They will know that I am with you, in the same way that I was with Moses. 8 The priests that are carrying the Covenant Box must go to the shore of the Jordan River. Tell them to go into the water and to stand there.’
9 Joshua said to the Israelites, ‘Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 The God who lives for ever is with you. He will certainly chase the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites and Jebusites out from this land.[a] Then you will have their land. The Lord will show you that he will certainly do this. 11 Look now! The Covenant Box of the Lord of all the earth will go into the Jordan River in front of you. 12 Now choose 12 men, one from each tribe of Israel's family. 13 Watch the priests who are carrying the Covenant Box. As soon as their feet touch the water of the river, you will see that the water stops running. It will rise up like a wall.’
14 So the Israelite people prepared to leave their tents. The priests carried the Covenant Box towards the Jordan River. The people followed them. 15 It was the time of the harvest and there was a lot of water coming down the river. But when the priests reached the shore of the river with the Covenant Box and their feet touched the water, 16 the water stopped. It stopped a long way up the river, at a town called Adam. That is near Zarethan. The water going down to the Salt Sea stopped completely. So the people crossed the river near Jericho city. 17 The priests stood in the middle of the river on dry ground, with the Lord's Covenant Box. While they stood there, all the Israelite people walked across the river on dry ground. In that way, the whole nation arrived on the other side of the river.
God takes care of his people[a]
107 Thank the Lord because he is good.
His faithful love for his people continues for ever.
2 Everyone that the Lord has rescued
should tell others.
Tell them how he has rescued you
from the enemy's power.
3 He brought his people from foreign countries.
He brought them together from the east and the west,
from the north, and from the south.[b]
4 Some of them travelled through the wilderness
on a road that went nowhere.
They did not find any city to live in.
5 They were hungry and thirsty.
They were very weak and nearly dead.
6 Because of their trouble,
they called to the Lord for help.
He rescued them from their troubles.
7 He led them along a straight road,
to arrive at a city where they could live.
33-34 In places where people are wicked,
God makes the streams and rivers become dry,
so that the land becomes a desert.
He makes good land
become a salty wilderness.
35 But for his people, he changes deserts
to become pools of water.
He makes springs of water in dry land.
36 He lets hungry people live there safely.
They can build a city for themselves.
37 They plant crops in their fields,
and they plant vines to grow grapes.
They have plenty of food to eat.
9 Our Christian friends, remember how we worked so hard to help you. We worked during the day and even during the night. We did not want to cause any problems for you. So we taught you God's good news and we did not ask you to give us anything in return.[a]
10 You know that we lived in a good way when we were with you. God also knows that. We were completely honest with you believers. Nobody could say that we did anything wrong. 11 You know that we helped you, like a father helps his own children. 12 We taught you clearly what is true. We helped you to be strong as believers. God has chosen you to be his own people. You belong to his great kingdom, where he rules. So we told you to live in a way that pleases him.
13 There is another reason why we always continue to thank God for you. When we told God's message to you, you knew that it was not human ideas. You accepted it as God's own message, and that is what it certainly is. You continue to grow as believers because of God's message that you heard.
Jesus talks about dangerous teachers
23 After that, Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples. 2 He said, ‘The teachers of God's Law and the Pharisees have authority to explain the Law of Moses. 3 So you must obey everything that they teach you. But you should not do the same things that they do. They tell you what the Law of Moses teaches. But then they themselves do not obey it. 4 The rules that they give you are difficult to obey. Their rules are like heavy luggage, which they make you carry. But they themselves will not help you to carry that luggage. They will not agree to use even one finger to help you.[a]
5 The Pharisees do things only so that people will see them. They wear little boxes with words from the Bible in them, but they make them really big. They also make the tassels on their clothes very long.[b] 6 They like to sit in the important places at special meals. They also choose to sit in the best seats in the meeting places. 7 They like people to praise them in the market place. They want people to call them “Teacher.”
8 You all belong to God's family. You have only one Teacher. So nobody should call another person, “Teacher”.[c] 9 Also, do not call any other person in the world, “Father”. You have only one Father, and he is in heaven.[d] 10 And do not call each other “Leader”. You have only one Leader. He is the Messiah that God has chosen. 11 The person among you who is most important will be your servant. 12 Some people lift themselves up to be important. But God will bring them down low. Other people are humble. God will lift up those people to a good place.’
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