Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 32[a]
Remission of Sin
1 (A)Of David. A maskil.
I
Blessed is the one whose fault is removed,
whose sin is forgiven.
2 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit.
II
3 Because I kept silent,[b] my bones wasted away;
I groaned all day long.(B)
4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength withered as in dry summer heat.
Selah
5 Then I declared my sin to you;
my guilt I did not hide.(C)
I said, “I confess my transgression to the Lord,”
and you took away the guilt of my sin.
Selah
6 Therefore every loyal person should pray to you
in time of distress.
Though flood waters[c] threaten,
they will never reach him.(D)
7 You are my shelter; you guard me from distress;
with joyful shouts of deliverance you surround me.
Selah
III
8 I will instruct you and show you the way you should walk,
give you counsel with my eye upon you.
9 Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding;
with bit and bridle their temper is curbed,
else they will not come to you.
IV
10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked one,
but mercy surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.
11 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous;
exult, all you upright of heart.(E)
Chapter 4
Memorial Stones. 1 After the entire nation had completed the crossing of the Jordan, 2 the Lord said to Joshua: Choose twelve men(A) from the people, one from each tribe, 3 and command them, “Take up twelve stones from this spot in the Jordan riverbed where the priests have been standing.(B) Carry them over with you, and place them where you are to stay tonight.”
4 Summoning the twelve men he had selected from among the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5 Joshua said to them: “Go to the Jordan riverbed in front of the ark of the Lord, your God; lift to your shoulders one stone apiece, so that they will equal in number the tribes of the Israelites. 6 In the future, these are to be a sign among you. When your children ask you,[a] ‘What do these stones mean to you?’(C) 7 you shall answer them, ‘The waters of the Jordan ceased to flow before the ark of the covenant of the Lord when it crossed the Jordan.’(D) Thus these stones are to serve as a perpetual memorial to the Israelites.” 8 The twelve Israelites did as Joshua had commanded: they took up twelve stones from the Jordan riverbed as the Lord had said to Joshua, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites. They carried them along to the camp site, and there they placed them. 9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the Jordan riverbed on the spot where the priests stood who were carrying the ark of the covenant. They are there to this day.
10 [b]The priests carrying the ark stood in the Jordan riverbed until everything had been done that the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people, just as Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed over quickly, 11 and when all the people had completed the crossing, the ark of the Lord also crossed; and the priests were now in front of them. 12 The Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh, armed, marched in the vanguard of the Israelites, as Moses had ordered. 13 About forty thousand troops, equipped for battle, crossed over before the Lord to the plains of Jericho for war.
16 [a]Therefore, we are not discouraged;[b] rather, although our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.(A) 17 For this momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,(B) 18 as we look not to what is seen but to what is unseen; for what is seen is transitory, but what is unseen is eternal.(C)
Chapter 5
Our Future Destiny. 1 (D)For we know that if our earthly dwelling,[c] a tent, should be destroyed, we have a building from God, a dwelling not made with hands, eternal in heaven. 2 [d]For in this tent we groan, longing to be further clothed with our heavenly habitation(E) 3 if indeed, when we have taken it off,[e] we shall not be found naked. 4 For while we are in this tent we groan and are weighed down, because we do not wish to be unclothed[f] but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.(F) 5 Now the one who has prepared us for this very thing is God,(G) who has given us the Spirit as a first installment.[g]
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.