Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
1 Lord, You have searched me and known me.(A)
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
You understand my thoughts from far away.(B)
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
You are aware of all my ways.(C)
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
You know all about it, Lord.(D)
5 You have encircled me;
You have placed Your hand on me.(E)
6 This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.(F)
13 For it was You who created my inward parts;[a]
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.(A)
14 I will praise You
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.[b][c]
Your works are wonderful,
and I know this very well.(B)
15 My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.(C)
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.(D)
Joshua’s Death
6 Joshua sent the people away, and the Israelites went to take possession of the land, each to his own inheritance.(A) 7 The people worshiped the Lord throughout Joshua’s lifetime and during the lifetimes of the elders who outlived[a] Joshua. They had seen all the Lord’s great works(B) He had done for Israel.
8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110. 9 They buried him in the territory of his inheritance, in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim,(C) north of Mount Gaash. 10 That whole generation was also gathered to their ancestors. After them another generation rose up who did not know the Lord(D) or the works He had done for Israel.
11 The Israelites did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.(E) They worshiped the Baals(F) 12 and abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods from the surrounding peoples(G) and bowed down to them. They infuriated the Lord,(H) 13 for they abandoned Him and worshiped Baal and the Ashtoreths.(I)
14 The Lord’s anger burned against Israel, and He handed them over to marauders who raided them. He sold(J) them to[b] the enemies around them, and they could no longer resist their enemies. 15 Whenever the Israelites went out, the Lord[c] was against them(K) and brought disaster on them, just as He had promised and sworn to them.(L) So they suffered greatly.
Paul’s Apostolic Authority
10 Now I, Paul, make a personal appeal to you by the gentleness and graciousness of Christ—I who am humble among you in person but bold toward you when absent. 2 I beg you that when I am present I will not need to be bold with the confidence by which I plan to challenge certain people who think we are behaving in an unspiritual way.[a](A) 3 For though we live in the body,[b] we do not wage war in an unspiritual way,[c] 4 since the weapons of our warfare(B) are not worldly,[d] but are powerful(C) through God for the demolition of strongholds. We demolish arguments 5 and every high-minded thing that is raised up against the knowledge(D) of God, taking every thought captive to obey Christ. 6 And we are ready to punish any disobedience, once your obedience has been confirmed.
7 Look at what is obvious.[e] If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ,(E) he should remind himself of this: Just as he belongs to Christ, so do we. 8 For if I boast some more about our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up(F) and not for tearing you down, I am not ashamed. 9 I don’t want to seem as though I am trying to terrify you with my letters. 10 For it is said, “His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak, and his public speaking is despicable.” 11 Such a person should consider this: What we are in the words of our letters when absent, we will be in actions when present.
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