Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God Watches Over His People

124 “If the Lord had not been on our side,” let Israel say, ² “If the Lord had not been on our side when men came against us, ³ they would have eaten us up alive. Because their anger burned against us. ⁴ The waters would have covered us. The river would have passed over our soul. ⁵ The angry waters would have passed over our soul.”

⁶ Honor and thanks be to the Lord! He has not let us be torn by their teeth. ⁷ We have become free like a bird out of a trap. The net is broken and now we are free. ⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. ² Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.

³ “Reuben, you are my first-born, my power and the beginning of my strength, first in pride and first in power. ⁴ But because you are as wild as water, the first place will not be yours. It is because you went to your father’s bed and made it unclean.

⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brothers. They hurt others with their swords. ⁶ May my soul not have a part in their secrets, nor my shining-greatness be joined to them. Because in their anger they killed men and for no reason they hurt cattle. ⁷ Their anger will be punished, for it is bad. Their bad temper will be punished, for it is bad. I will divide them in Jacob and spread them apart in Israel.

⁸ “Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of those who hate you. Your father’s sons will bow down to you. ⁹ Judah is a young lion. Like a lion full of meat, you have become great, my son. He lies down and sleeps like a lion. And as a lion, who is willing to wake him? ¹⁰ The right of a ruler will not leave Judah. The ruler’s special stick will not go from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. Then the people will obey Him. ¹¹ He ties his young donkey to the vine, his donkey’s young one to the best vine. He washes his clothes in wine, his coats in the blood of grapes. ¹² His eyes are darker than wine. And his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³ “Zebulun will live beside the sea and be a safe place for ships. His land will lie beside Sidon.

¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the loads. ¹⁵ He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasing. So he made his shoulder ready to carry loads. He let himself be a servant.

¹⁶ “Dan will judge his people, as one of the families of Israel. ¹⁷ Dan will be a snake in the way, a snake in the road, that bites the horse’s heels so that the man falls off. ¹⁸ I wait for Your saving power, O Lord.

¹⁹ “A group of soldiers will go against Gad. But he will go against them at their heels.

²⁰ “Asher’s food will be rich. He will give pleasing food to kings.

²¹ “Naphtali is a female deer let loose who gives beautiful young ones.

²² “Joseph is a branch with much fruit, a branch with much fruit by a well. It grows over the wall. ²³ The men fought against him with their bows. They sent arrows toward him and made it hard for him. ²⁴ But his bow did not shake. His arms were made strong by the hands of the Powerful One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵ by the God of your father Who helps you, and by the All-powerful Who brings good to you. He brings good from heaven above, and from the deep that lies below, and from the body of a mother. ²⁶ More good has come to your father than to my fathers before me, as lasting as the hills that last forever. May this good be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was divided from his brothers.

²⁷ “Benjamin is a hungry wolf. In the morning he eats the animals he has caught. And in the evening he divides what he has taken.”

²⁸ All these are the twelve family groups of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he prayed that good would come to them. He prayed for each of them to receive the good they should have.

The Death of Jacob

²⁹ Then he told them, “I will soon be with my people who have died before me. Bury me with my fathers in the grave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the grave that is in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this grave and the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. ³¹ There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the grave that is in it were bought from the sons of Heth.”

³³ When Jacob finished telling his sons what to do, he lay back down on his bed and died.

Going to Court Against Christians

6 Why do you go to court when you have something against another Christian? You are asking people who are not Christians to judge who is guilty. You should go to those who belong to Christ and ask them. ² Did you not know that those who belong to Christ will someday judge this world? If you judge the people of the world as guilty, are you not able to do this in small things? ³ Did you not know that we are to judge angels? So you should be able to take care of your problem here in this world without any trouble.

⁴ When you have things to decide about this life, why do you go to men in courts who are not even Christians? ⁵ You should be ashamed! Is it true that there is not one person wise enough in your church to decide who is right when people argue? ⁶ Instead, one Christian takes another Christian to court. And that court is made up of people who are not Christians! ⁷ This shows you are wrong when you have to go to court against each other. Would it not be better to let someone do something against you that is wrong? Would it not be better to let them rob you? ⁸ Instead, you rob and do wrong to other Christians.

The Body Is to Be Holy

⁹ Do you not know that sinful men will have no place in the holy nation of God? Do not be fooled. A person who does sex sins, or who worships false gods, or who is not faithful in marriage, or men who act like women, or people who do sex sins with their own sex, will have no place in the holy nation of God. ¹⁰ Also those who steal, or those who always want to get more of everything, or who get drunk, or who say bad things about others, or take things that are not theirs, will have no place in the holy nation of God. ¹¹ Some of you were like that. But now your sins are washed away. You were set apart for God-like living to do His work. You were made right with God through our Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit of our God.