Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 139

For the worship leader. A song of David.

⁶ When Joshua sent the people away, each tribe of Israel went to gain possession of its territorial inheritance. ⁷ The people served the Eternal as long as Joshua lived and through all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua—those who had seen all the great works that the Eternal had done for Israel.

⁸ Joshua, son of Nun, the Eternal’s servant, died at the age of 110 years ⁹ and was buried within the borders of his inheritance at Timnath-heres in the hills of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash. ¹⁰ Now that whole generation, the generation that had walked with Moses—the generation that saw the walls of Jericho fall—that generation passed on, and another generation grew up after them, a generation that did not know the Eternal and had not seen the great works He had done for Israel. ¹¹ Consequently this new generation served the gods of Canaan—the Baals^[a] as they were called—doing what the Eternal God considered evil. ¹² They abandoned the Eternal One, the True God of their ancestors, who brought them safely out of Egypt. Instead, they began to serve the gods of their neighbors, the Canaanites, bowing low before their images, causing the Eternal to burn with anger.

¹³ The Israelites abandoned the worship of the Eternal One and turned to serve Baal and his consort the moon goddess, Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ So the Eternal’s anger burned hot against them, and He caused them to be overcome by those around them, using their enemies to plunder them so that the Israelites could no longer stand against their enemies. ¹⁵ Whenever they marched out to battle, the hand of the Eternal One was raised against them in evil, as He had warned and promised them, and they were in anguish.

10 I, Paul, appeal to you in the same gentle and loving spirit of the Anointed—yes, I who am humble when I’m face-to-face with you but audacious to you in these letters when I’m away (I know what they say). ² If it were up to me, I’d rather not have to be so bold when I’m with you, especially with the kind of forceful confidence I can work up when I confront those who have accused us of walking in a worldly way. ³ For though we walk in the world, we do not fight according to this world’s rules of warfare. ⁴ The weapons of the war we’re fighting are not of this world but are powered by God and effective at tearing down the strongholds erected against His truth. ⁵ We are demolishing arguments and ideas, every high-and-mighty philosophy that pits itself against the knowledge of the one true God. We are taking prisoners of every thought, every emotion, and subduing them into obedience to the Anointed One. ⁶ As soon as you choose obedience, we stand ready to punish every act of disobedience.

⁷ Look at what is going on right in front of you. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to the Anointed, then he should think again; even if he belongs to Him, so do we. ⁸ I’m not embarrassed, even if it seems to others I have gone overboard in speaking about the power the Lord has given us to edify and encourage you and not to destroy anyone who strays. ⁹ I don’t want it to seem as if I’m simply trying to scare you with my letters; they are not hollow. ¹⁰ For some people are saying, “Paul’s letters sound authoritative and strong, but in person he just doesn’t measure up—even his speeches don’t deliver.” ¹¹ They need to understand this: whatever we say through our letters when we are away, that is exactly what we will do when we are looking you in the eye.