Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God the King

Joshua Becomes Moses' Successor

31 Moses continued speaking to the people of Israel, ^2 (A)and said, “I am now a hundred and twenty years old and am no longer able to be your leader. And besides this, the Lord has told me that I will not cross the Jordan. ³ The Lord your God himself will go before you and destroy the nations living there, so that you can occupy their land; and Joshua will be your leader, as the Lord has said. ^4 (B)The Lord will destroy those people, just as he defeated Sihon and Og, kings of the Amorites, and destroyed their country. ⁵ The Lord will give you victory over them, and you are to treat them exactly as I have told you. ⁶ Be determined and confident. Do not be afraid of them. Your God, the Lord himself, will be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you.”

⁷ Then Moses called Joshua and said to him in the presence of all the people of Israel, “Be determined and confident; you are the one who will lead these people to occupy the land that the Lord promised to their ancestors. ^8 (C)The Lord himself will lead you and be with you. He will not fail you or abandon you, so do not lose courage or be afraid.”

The Law Is to Be Read Every Seven Years

⁹ So Moses wrote down God's Law and gave it to the levitical priests, who were in charge of the Lord's Covenant Box, and to the leaders of Israel. ^10 (D)He commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, when the year that debts are canceled comes around, read this aloud at the Festival of Shelters. ¹¹ Read it to the people of Israel when they come to worship the Lord your God at the one place of worship. ¹² Call together all the men, women, and children, and the foreigners who live in your towns, so that everyone may hear it and learn to honor the Lord your God and to obey his teachings faithfully. ¹³ In this way your descendants who have never heard the Law of the Lord your God will hear it. And so they will learn to obey him as long as they live in the land that you are about to occupy across the Jordan.”

Sadness and Gladness

¹⁶ “In a little while you will not see me any more, and then a little while later you will see me.”

¹⁷ Some of his disciples asked among themselves, “What does this mean? He tells us that in a little while we will not see him, and then a little while later we will see him; and he also says, ‘It is because I am going to the Father.’ ¹⁸ What does this ‘a little while’ mean? We don't know what he is talking about!”

¹⁹ Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, so he said to them, “I said, ‘In a little while you will not see me, and then a little while later you will see me.’ Is this what you are asking about among yourselves? ²⁰ I am telling you the truth: you will cry and weep, but the world will be glad; you will be sad, but your sadness will turn into gladness. ²¹ When a woman is about to give birth, she is sad because her hour of suffering has come; but when the baby is born, she forgets her suffering, because she is happy that a baby has been born into the world. ²² That is how it is with you: now you are sad, but I will see you again, and your hearts will be filled with gladness, the kind of gladness that no one can take away from you.

²³ “When that day comes, you will not ask me for anything. I am telling you the truth: the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name.^{[a] 24} Until now you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your happiness may be complete.