Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Book 5
(Psalms 107-150)
107 Praise the Lord, because he is good!
His faithful love will last forever!
2 Everyone the Lord has saved should repeat that word of thanks.
Praise him, all who have been rescued from the enemy.
3 He gathered his people together from many different countries.
He brought them from east and west, north and south.[a]
4 Some of them wandered in the dry desert.
They were looking for a place to live,
but they could not find a city.
5 They were hungry and thirsty
and growing weak.
6 Then they called to the Lord for help,
and he saved them from their troubles.
7 He led them straight to the city where they would live.
33 He changed rivers into a desert.
He stopped springs from flowing.
34 He made the fertile land become salty,
because the people living there did such evil things.
35 He changed the desert into a land with pools of water.
He caused springs to flow from dry ground.
36 He led the hungry to that good land,
and they built a city to live in.
37 They planted seeds in their fields and grapes in their vineyards,
and they had a good harvest.
Spies in Jericho
2 Joshua son of Nun and all the people were camped at Acacia.[a] Joshua sent out two spies. No one knew that Joshua sent out these men. Joshua said to them, “Go and look at the land, especially the city of Jericho.”
So the men went to the city of Jericho and stayed at the house of a prostitute named Rahab.
2 But someone told the king of Jericho, “Last night some men from Israel came to look for weaknesses in our country.”
3 So the king of Jericho sent this message to Rahab: “Do not hide the men who came and stayed in your house. Bring them out. They have come to spy on our country.”
4 Rahab had hidden the two men, but she said, “They did come here, but I didn’t know where they came from. 5 In the evening, when it was time to close the city gate, the men left. I don’t know where they went. But if you go quickly, maybe you can catch them.” 6 (Rahab said this, but really she had taken the men up to the roof and had hidden them in the flax[b] that she had piled up there.)
7 So the king’s men went out of the city, and the people closed the city gates. The king’s men went to look for the two men from Israel. They went to the Jordan River and looked at all the places where people cross the river.
8 The two men were ready to sleep for the night, but Rahab went to the roof to talk to them. 9 She said, “I know that the Lord has given this land to your people. You frighten us. Everyone living in this country is afraid of you. 10 We are afraid because we have heard about the ways that the Lord helped you. We heard that he dried up the Red Sea when you came out of Egypt. We also heard what you did to the two Amorite kings, Sihon and Og. We heard how you destroyed those kings living east of the Jordan River. 11 When we heard about this, we were very afraid. And now, not one of our men is brave enough to fight you, because the Lord your God rules the heavens above and the earth below! 12 So now, I want you to make a promise to me. I was kind to you and helped you. So promise me before the Lord that you will be kind to my family. Please tell me that you will do this. 13 Tell me that you will allow my family to live—my father, mother, brothers, sisters, and all their families. Promise me that you will save us from death.”
14 The men agreed and said, “We will trade our lives for yours. Don’t tell anyone what we are doing. Then, when the Lord gives us the land, we will be kind to you. You can trust us.”
False Teachers
2 In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves. 2 Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow. 3 These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International