Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Forgiveness
For the director of music. A song of David when the prophet Nathan came to David after David’s sin with Bathsheba.
51 God, be merciful to me
because you are loving.
Because you are always ready to be merciful,
wipe out all my wrongs.
2 Wash away all my guilt
and make me clean again.
3 I know about my wrongs.
I can’t forget my sin.
4 You are the one I have sinned against.
I have done what you say is wrong.
So you are right when you speak.
You are fair when you judge me.
5 I was brought into this world in sin.
In sin my mother gave birth to me.
6 You want me to be completely truthful.
So teach me wisdom.
7 Take away my sin, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness.
Let the bones you crushed be happy again.
9 Turn your face from my sins.
Wipe out all my guilt.
10 Create in me a pure heart, God.
Make my spirit right again.
11 Do not send me away from you.
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me back the joy that comes when you save me.
Keep me strong by giving me a willing spirit.
Joshua Says Good-bye
23 The Lord gave Israel peace from their enemies around them. He made Israel safe. Many years passed, and Joshua became very old. 2 So he called a meeting of all the elders, heads of families, judges and officers of the Israelites. He said, “I am now very old. 3 You have seen what the Lord has done to our enemies. He did it to help us. The Lord your God fought for you. 4 Remember that your people have been given their land. It’s the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea in the west. It’s the land I promised to give you. But you don’t control that land yet. 5 The Lord your God will make the people living there leave. You will enter the land. And the Lord will force them out ahead of you. He has promised you this.
6 “Be strong. You must be careful to obey everything the Lord has commanded. Obey everything written in the Book of the Teachings of Moses. Do exactly as it says. 7 There are still some people living among us who are not Israelites. They worship their own gods. Don’t become friends with them. Don’t serve or worship their gods. 8 You must continue to follow the Lord your God. You have done this in the past. And you must continue to do it.
9 “The Lord has helped you defeat many great and powerful nations. He has forced them to leave ahead of you. No nation has been able to defeat you. 10 With his help, one Israelite could defeat a thousand enemies. This is because the Lord your God fights for you, as he promised to do. 11 So you must be careful to love the Lord your God.
12 “Don’t turn away from the way of the Lord. Don’t become friends with these people who are not part of Israel. Don’t marry them. If you do become their friends, 13 the Lord your God will not help you defeat your enemies. So they will become like traps for you. They will cause you pain like a whip on your back and thorns in your eyes. And none of you will be left in this good land the Lord your God has given you.
14 “It’s almost time for me to die. You know and fully believe that the Lord has done great things for you. You know that he has not failed in any of his promises. He has kept every promise he has given. 15 Every good promise that the Lord your God made has come true. And in the same way, his other promises will come true. He promised that evil will come to you. He will destroy you from this good land that he gave you. 16 This will happen if you don’t keep your agreement with the Lord your God. You will lose this land if you go and serve other gods. You must not worship them. If you do, the Lord will become very angry with you. Then none of you will be left in this good land he has given you.”
27 So a person should not eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord in a way that is not worthy of it. If he does he is sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. 28 Everyone should look into his own heart before he eats the bread and drinks the cup. 29 If someone eats the bread and drinks the cup without recognizing the body, then he is judged guilty by eating and drinking. 30 That is why many in your group are sick and weak. And some of you have died. 31 But if we judged ourselves in the right way, then God would not judge us. 32 But when the Lord judges us, he disciplines us to show us the right way. He does this so that we will not be destroyed along with the world.
33 So my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for each other. 34 If anyone is too hungry, he should eat at home. Do this so that your meeting together will not bring God’s judgment on you. I will tell you what to do about the other things when I come.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.