Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Davidic instruction.^[a]

The Blessings of Forgiveness

The Jordan River Memorial

4 As soon as the entire nation had completed its crossing of the Jordan, the Lord spoke to Joshua. He said, ² “Gather together twelve men from the people—one man from each tribe— ³ and tell them, ‘Pick up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan where the priests’ feet were standing, bring them along with you, and put them down where you camp tonight.’”

⁴ So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had chosen from the people of Israel, one man from each tribe. ⁵ Joshua told them, “Cross over again in front of the ark of the Lord your God into the middle of the Jordan River. Then each of you pick up a stone on his shoulder with which to build a memorial,^[a] one for each of the tribes of Israel. ⁶ Let this serve as^[b] a sign among you, so that when your children ask in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you,’ ⁷ then you’ll say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan River were cut off in front of the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it crossed the Jordan River, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones will become a memorial to the Israelis forever.”

⁸ The Israelis did just as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan River—just as the Lord had spoken to Joshua—according to the number of the tribes of the Israelis, and they carried them over to where they would be pitching camp, and they put them down there. ⁹ Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan River at the location where the feet of the priests who carried the Ark of the Covenant had been standing, and they remain there to this day.

Crossing the Jordan River

¹⁰ The priests who were carrying the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan River until everything had been done in accordance with what the Lord had commanded Joshua to speak to the people and with everything that Moses had commanded Joshua. So the people hurried and crossed over. ¹¹ When all of the people had completed their crossing, the ark of the Lord and the priests crossed over in full view of the people. ¹² Just as Moses had directed, the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, dressed in battle regalia, in full view of the other^[c] Israelis. ¹³ About 40,000 soldiers equipped to do battle in the Lord’s presence crossed over to the desert plains of Jericho.

Life in an Earthly Tent

¹⁶ That’s why we are not discouraged. No, even if outwardly we are wearing out, inwardly we are being renewed each and every day. ¹⁷ This light, temporary nature of our suffering is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory, far beyond any comparison, ¹⁸ because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

5 We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human^[a] hands. ² For in this one we sigh, since we long to put on our heavenly dwelling. ³ Of course, if we do put it on, we will not be found without a body.^{[b] 4} So while we are still in this tent, we sigh under our burdens, because we do not want to put it off but to put it on, so that our dying bodies may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ God has prepared us for this and has given us his Spirit as a guarantee.