Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears Yahweh

A song of ascents.^[a]

The Battle of Jericho

6 Now Jericho was shut up inside and out because of the presence of the Israelites;^[a] no one was going out or coming in. ² And Yahweh said to Joshua, “Look, I am giving Jericho into your hand, its king and the soldiers of the army. ³ You will march around the city, all the warriors circling the city once; you will do so for six days. ⁴ And seven priests will bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you will march around the city seven times, and the priests will blow on the trumpets. ⁵ And when they blow long on the horn of the ram, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people will shout with a great war cry, and the wall of the city will fall flat,^[b] and the people will charge, each one straight ahead.”^{[c] 6} So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry the trumpets of the rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh.” ⁷ And he said^[d] to the people, “Go forward and march around the city, and let the armed men pass before the ark of Yahweh.

⁸ And when Joshua spoke^[e] to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the presence of Yahweh went forward and they blew the trumpets; and the ark of the covenant of Yahweh followed behind them. ⁹ And the armed men went before the priests who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard came after the ark, while they were blowing the trumpets. ¹⁰ But Joshua commanded the people, saying, “You will not shout, and you will not let your voice be heard; a word will not go out from your mouth until the day I say to you ‘Shout!’ Then you will shout.” ¹¹ And the ark of Yahweh went around the city, circling once,^[f] and they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp. ¹² Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests took up the ark of Yahweh. ¹³ The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets of the rams’ horns before the ark of Yahweh went on continually, and they blew on the trumpets. And the armed men went before them, and the rear guard came after the ark of Yahweh, while the trumpets blew continually. ¹⁴ And they marched around the city once on the second day, and they returned to the camp. They did this for six days.

¹⁵ Then on the seventh day they rose early at dawn, and they marched around the city in this manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at the seventh time the priests blew on the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout! For Yahweh has given you the city.

²⁰ So the people shouted, and they^[a] blew on the trumpets. And when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they raised a great shout, and the wall fell flat. The people charged, each one straight ahead into the city,^[b] and they captured it.

Barnabas and Saul Sent Out from Antioch

13 Now there were prophets and teachers in Antioch in the church that was there: Barnabas, and Simeon (who was called Niger), and Lucius the Cyrenian, and Manaen (a close friend of Herod the tetrarch), and Saul. ² And while^[a] they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart now for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” ³ Then, after they^[b] had fasted and prayed and placed their^[c] hands on them, they sent them^[d] away.

Confronting a Magician on Cyprus

⁴ Therefore, sent out by the Holy Spirit, they came down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed away to Cyprus. ⁵ And when they^[e] came to Salamis, they began to proclaim the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. And they also had John as assistant. ⁶ And when they^[f] had crossed over the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a certain man, a magician, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus, ⁷ who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and^[g] wished to hear the word of God. ⁸ But Elymas the magician (for his name is translated in this way) opposed them, attempting to turn the proconsul away from the faith. ⁹ But Saul (also called Paul), filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰ and^[h] said, “O you who are full of all deceit and of all unscrupulousness, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness! Will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord! ¹¹ And now behold, the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind, not seeing the sun for a while.^[i] And immediately mist and darkness fell over him, and he was going around looking for people^[j] to lead him^[k] by the hand. ¹² Then when^[l] the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he^[m] was astounded at the teaching about^[n] the Lord.