Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
In Praise of the Lord
111 Praise the Lord!
With all my heart I will thank the Lord
in the assembly of his people.
2 How wonderful are the things the Lord does!
All who are delighted with them want to understand them.
3 All he does is full of honor and majesty;
his righteousness is eternal.
4 The Lord does not let us forget his wonderful actions;
he is kind and merciful.
5 He provides food for those who honor him;
he never forgets his covenant.
6 He has shown his power to his people
by giving them the lands of foreigners.
7 In all he does he is faithful and just;
all his commands are dependable.
8 They last for all time;
they were given in truth and righteousness.
9 He set his people free
and made an eternal covenant with them.
Holy and mighty is he!
10 (A)The way to become wise is to honor the Lord;[a]
he gives sound judgment to all who obey his commands.
He is to be praised forever.
Moses Is Not Permitted to Enter Canaan
23 (A)“At that time I earnestly prayed, 24 ‘Sovereign Lord, I know that you have shown me only the beginning of the great and wonderful things you are going to do. There is no god in heaven or on earth who can do the mighty things that you have done! 25 Let me cross the Jordan River, Lord, and see the fertile land on the other side, the beautiful hill country and the Lebanon Mountains.’
26 “But because of you people the Lord was angry with me and would not listen. Instead, he said, ‘That's enough! Don't mention this again! 27 Go to the peak of Mount Pisgah and look to the north and to the south, to the east and to the west. Look carefully at what you see, because you will never go across the Jordan. 28 Give Joshua his instructions. Strengthen his determination, because he will lead the people across to occupy the land that you see.’
29 “So we remained in the valley opposite the town of Bethpeor.”
6 I am not saying that the promise of God has failed; for not all the people of Israel are the people of God. 7 (A)Nor are all of Abraham's descendants the children of God. God said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised you.” 8 This means that the children born in the usual way[a] are not the children of God; instead, the children born as a result of God's promise are regarded as the true descendants. 9 (B)For God's promise was made in these words: “At the right time[b] I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 And this is not all. For Rebecca's two sons had the same father, our ancestor Isaac. 11-12 (C)But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done. 13 (D)As the scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”
14 Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. 15 (E)For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish.” 16 So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy. 17 (F)For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, “I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world.” 18 So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.