Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God Knows Everything
For the director of music. A psalm of David.
139 Lord, you have examined me
and know all about me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I get up.
You know my thoughts before I think them.
3 You know where I go and where I lie down.
You know everything I do.
4 Lord, even before I say a word,
you already know it.
5 You are all around me—in front and in back—
and have put your hand on me.
6 Your knowledge is amazing to me;
it is more than I can understand.
13 You made my whole being;
you formed me in my mother’s body.
14 I praise you because you made me in an amazing and wonderful way.
What you have done is wonderful.
I know this very well.
15 You saw my bones being formed
as I took shape in my mother’s body.
When I was put together there,
16 you saw my body as it was formed.
All the days planned for me
were written in your book
before I was one day old.
17 God, your thoughts are precious to me.
They are so many!
18 If I could count them,
they would be more than all the grains of sand.
When I wake up,
I am still with you.
Joshua Dies
6 Then Joshua sent the people back to their land. 7 The people served the Lord during the lifetime of Joshua and during the lifetimes of the elders who lived after Joshua and who had seen what great things the Lord had done for Israel. 8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of one hundred ten. 9 They buried him in his own land at Timnath Serah in the mountains of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
The People Disobey
10 After those people had died, their children grew up and did not know the Lord or what he had done for Israel. 11 So they did what the Lord said was wrong, and they worshiped the Baal idols. 12 They quit following the Lord, the God of their ancestors who had brought them out of Egypt. They began to worship the gods of the people who lived around them, and that made the Lord angry. 13 The Israelites quit following the Lord and worshiped Baal and Ashtoreth. 14 The Lord was angry with the people of Israel, so he handed them over to robbers who took their possessions. He let their enemies who lived around them defeat them; they could not protect themselves. 15 When the Israelites went out to fight, they always lost, because the Lord was not with them. The Lord had sworn to them this would happen. So the Israelites suffered very much.
Paul Defends His Ministry
10 I, Paul, am begging you with the gentleness and the kindness of Christ. Some people say that I am easy on you when I am with you and bold when I am away. 2 They think we live in a worldly way, and I plan to be very bold with them when I come. I beg you that when I come I will not need to use that same boldness with you. 3 We do live in the world, but we do not fight in the same way the world fights. 4 We fight with weapons that are different from those the world uses. Our weapons have power from God that can destroy the enemy’s strong places. We destroy people’s arguments 5 and every proud thing that raises itself against the knowledge of God. We capture every thought and make it give up and obey Christ. 6 We are ready to punish anyone there who does not obey, but first we want you to obey fully.
7 You must look at the facts before you. If you feel sure that you belong to Christ, you must remember that we belong to Christ just as you do. 8 It is true that we brag freely about the authority the Lord gave us. But this authority is to build you up, not to tear you down. So I will not be ashamed. 9 I do not want you to think I am trying to scare you with my letters. 10 Some people say, “Paul’s letters are powerful and sound important, but when he is with us, he is weak. And his speaking is nothing.” 11 They should know this: We are not there with you now, so we say these things in letters. But when we are there with you, we will show the same authority that we show in our letters.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.