Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The Lord Be Praised
111 Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart where those who are right with God gather together and in the meeting of the people. 2 The works of the Lord are great. All who find joy in them try to understand them. 3 His work is great and powerful. And He is right and good forever. 4 He has made His great works to be remembered. The Lord shows loving-favor and pity. 5 He gives food to those who fear Him. He will remember His agreement forever. 6 He has shown His people the power of His works by giving them the land of other nations.
7 The works of His hands are faithful and right. All His Laws are true. 8 They stand strong forever and ever. They are done by what is true and right. 9 He has made a way for His people to be free. He has set up His agreement forever. His holy name is to be honored with fear. 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. All who obey His Laws have good understanding. His praise lasts forever.
Moses Not Allowed to Cross the Jordan
23 “After that I begged the Lord, 24 ‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your great power and Your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and powerful acts as You do? 25 I ask of You, let me cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’ 26 But the Lord was angry with me because of you. He would not listen to me. The Lord told me, ‘Enough! Speak to Me no more about this. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah, and look to the west and north and south and east. See it with your eyes, for you will not cross over this Jordan. 28 But tell Joshua what is to be done. Comfort him and give him strength. For he will cross in front of this people. And he will give them for their own the land that you will see.’ 29 So we stayed in the valley beside Beth-peor.
6 I am not saying that God did not keep His promises. Not all the Jews are people God chose for Himself. 7 Not all of Abraham’s family are children of God. God told Abraham, “Only the family of Isaac will be called your family.”(A) 8 This means that children born to Abraham are not all children of God. Only those that are born because of God’s promise to Abraham are His children. 9 This was the promise God made: “About this time next year I will come, and Sarah will have a son.” (B) 10 Not only this, but there was Rebecca also. Rebecca gave birth to two sons at the same time. Both of them were sons of Isaac. 11 Even before the two sons were born, we see God’s plan of choosing. God could choose whom He wanted. It could not be changed because of anything the older son tried to do about it. It was before either one had done anything good or bad. 12 Rebecca was told, “The older son will work for the younger son.” 13 The Holy Writings say, “I loved Jacob, but hated Esau.” (C)
14 What about it then? Can we say that God is not fair? No, not at all! 15 God said to Moses, “I will have loving-kindness and loving-pity for anyone I want to.” (D) 16 These good things from God are not given to someone because he wants them or works to get them. They are given because of His loving-kindness. 17 The Holy Writings say to Pharaoh, “I made you leader for this reason: I used you to show My power. I used you to make My name known over all the world.” (E) 18 So God has loving-kindness for those He wants to. He makes some have hard hearts if He wants to.
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