Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 77
For the worship leader, Jeduthun. A song of Asaph.
1 I cry up to heaven,
“My God, True God,” and He hears.
2 In my darkest days, I seek the Lord.
Through the night, my hands are raised up, stretched out, waiting;
And though they do not grow tired,
my soul is uneasy.
3 I remember the True God and become distraught.
I think about Him, and my spirit becomes weak.
[pause][a]
4 You hold my eyes wide open.
I am troubled beyond words.
5 My mind drifts to thoughts of yesterdays
and yesteryears.
6 I call to mind my music; it keeps me company at night.
Together with my heart I contemplate;
my spirit searches, wondering, questioning:
7 “What will the Lord do? Reject us for good?
Will He never show us His favor again?
8 Has His loyal love finally worn down?
Have His promises reached an end?
9 Has the True God forgotten how to be gracious?
In His anger, has He withdrawn His compassion?”
[pause]
10 “I can’t help but be distraught,” I said,
“for the power of the Most High that was once for us is now against us.”
11 I will remember the actions the Eternal has taken,
reminisce on Your ancient wonders.
12 I will reflect on all of Your work;
indeed, I will study all You have performed.
13 O God, Your way is so different, so distinct, so divine.
No other god compares with our God.
14 You, God, and Your works evoke wonder.
You have proved Your strength to the nations.
15 You used Your great power to release Your people:
with a strong arm, You freed Jacob’s children, and Joseph’s.
[pause]
16 The waters saw You, O True God.
The seas saw You and swelled in sorrow.
Even the deep trembled.
17 Water poured from the clouds,
and the sky boomed out in response
as Your arrows of lightning flashed this way and that.
18 The sound of Your thunder whirled within the wind
as Your lightning lit up the world.
Yes, the whole earth trembled and shook.
19 Your way ran through the sea,
Your path cut through great waters,
and still no one can spot Your footprints.
20 You led Your people as a flock
tended by the hands of Moses and Aaron.
3 Early the next morning, with Joshua leading them, the Israelites broke camp, left Shittim, and traveled to the eastern bank of the Jordan to set up camp again before crossing the river. 2 Three days later, the leaders went through the camp 3-4 and gave the Israelites their marching orders.
They camped where Balaam had come to curse Israel and where the men of Israel had gone after the Moabite prostitutes (Numbers 22–25).
Leaders: Tomorrow, you will know it is time to go when you see the Levite priests carrying the covenant chest of the Eternal One, your God. Follow the chest so that you will know where you’re supposed to go because you have not been this way before. But stay about half a mile away from it. Don’t come any nearer than that as you march.
Joshua (to the people): 5 Do all the ritual purifications and prepare yourselves because tomorrow the Eternal will show you wonders.
6 Joshua told the priests from the tribe of Levi to pick up the covenant chest and to walk in front of the people, so the priests lifted the chest and carried it to the front of the procession.
Eternal One (to Joshua): 7 Today I will do wonders that will begin to show the Israelites that you have My special favor, that I am with you just as I was with Moses before you. 8 At your command, the priests will carry the covenant chest into the edge of the Jordan water and they are to stand there in the Jordan, waiting.
9 So Joshua called the Israelites together.
Joshua: Come closer, and hear what your God, the Eternal, has to say: 10 Today you will see a sign that the one, true living God is present among you, the God who will without doubt drive out all this land’s inhabitants: Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites. 11 The covenant chest of the Lord of all the earth will pass in front of you into the Jordan River. 12 Now select twelve men, one from each tribe of Israel. 13 When the priests who bear the covenant chest of the Eternal, who is Lord over all the earth, step into the river, then you will see the waters of the Jordan stop as if behind a wall.
14 So the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the covenant chest before them. 15 During harvest time the Jordan is swollen, running over its banks; but when the priests stepped into the river’s edge, 16-17 the waters stopped, piling upstream at the city of Adam, near Zarethan, while the water flowing downstream toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea, ran out. Then the Israelites crossed the Jordan opposite the city of Jericho, walking on dry land just as Moses had led their ancestors from Egypt. While the Israelites crossed on the dry riverbed, the priests who carried the covenant chest stood firmly in the middle of the Jordan until the last Israelite had crossed over.
23 By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born because they saw that he was handsome; and they did not fear Pharaoh’s directive that all male Hebrew children were to be slain.
24 By faith Moses, when he was grown, refused to be identified solely as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter 25 and chose instead to share the sufferings of the people of God, not just living in sin and ease for a time. 26 He considered the abuse that he and the people of God had suffered in anticipation of the Anointed One more valuable than all the riches of Egypt because he looked ahead to the coming reward.
27 By faith Moses left Egypt, unafraid of Pharaoh’s wrath and moving forward as though he could see the invisible God. 28 Through faith, he instituted the Passover and the sprinkling of blood on the doorposts among the Hebrews so that the destroyer of the firstborn would pass over their homes without harming them. 29 By faith the people crossed through the Red Sea as if they were walking on dry land, although the pursuing Egyptian soldiers were drowned when they tried to follow.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.