Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 93

God’s Eternal Reign

Joshua Takes Moses’s Place

31 Then Moses continued to speak these^[a] words to all Israel, ² saying, “I am now 120 years old;^(A) I can no longer act as your leader.^[b] The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan.’^{(B) 3} The Lord your God is the one who will cross ahead of you.^(C) He will destroy these nations before you, and you will drive them out. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, as the Lord has said.^{(D) 4} The Lord will deal with them as he did Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and their land when he destroyed them.^{(E) 5} The Lord will deliver them over to you, and you must do to them exactly as I have commanded you. ⁶ Be strong and courageous;^(F) don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For the Lord your God is the one who will go with you;^(G) he will not leave you or abandon you.”^(H)

⁷ Moses then summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with^[c] this people into the land the Lord swore to give to their ancestors.^(I) You will enable them to take possession of it. ⁸ The Lord is the one who will go before you.^(J) He will be with you; he will not leave you or abandon you.^(K) Do not be afraid or discouraged.”

⁹ Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ Moses commanded them, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time in the year of debt cancellation,^(L) during the Festival of Shelters,^{(M) 11} when all Israel assembles in the presence of the Lord your God at the place he chooses,^(N) you are to read this law aloud before all Israel.^{(O) 12} Gather the people—men, women, dependents, and the resident aliens within your city gates—so that they may listen and learn to fear^(P) the Lord your God and be careful to follow all the words of this law. ¹³ Then their children^(Q) who do not know the law will listen and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

Sorrow Turned to Joy

¹⁶ “In a little while,^(A) you will no longer see me; ^(B) again in a little while, you will see me.”^[a]

¹⁷ Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this he’s telling us: ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again in a little while, you will see me,’ and, ‘Because I am going to the Father’^(C)?” ¹⁸ They said, “What is this he is saying,^[b] ‘In a little while’? We don’t know what he’s talking about.”

¹⁹ Jesus knew they wanted to ask him, and so he said to them, “Are you asking one another about what I said, ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again in a little while, you will see me’? ²⁰ Truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn,^(D) but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful,^(E) but your sorrow will turn to joy. ²¹ When a woman is in labor, she has pain^(F) because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child,^(G) she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world. ²² So you also have sorrow^[c] now. But I will see you again. Your hearts will rejoice,^(H) and no one will take away your joy from you.^(I)

²³ “In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.^{(J) 24} Until now you have asked for nothing in my name.^(K) Ask and you will receive,^(L) so that your joy may be complete.^(M)