Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Book V—Psalms 107–150[a]
Psalm 107[b]
God, Savior of Those in Distress
1 “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
his kindness[c] endures forever.”
2 Let this be the prayer of the redeemed of the Lord,
those he redeemed from the hand of the foe
3 and gathered together from the lands,[d]
from east and west, north and south.
4 [e]Some wandered in a barren wilderness,
unable to discover a path to an inhabited city.
5 They were hungry and thirsty,
and their life was wasting away.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their anguish,
and he saved them from their distress.
7 He led them by a direct route
to a city in which they could dwell.
33 [a]He turns rivers into wasteland,
springs of water into parched ground,[b]
34 and fertile land into a salt waste,
because of the wickedness of those who live there.[c]
35 He turns the wasteland into pools of water
and the parched ground into bubbling springs.
36 [d]There he provides the hungry with a home,
and they build a city where they can settle.
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield crops for the harvest.
The Conquest of the Promised Land[a]
Chapter 1
Assurance of Divine Aid. 1 After the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, the Lord spoke to Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, saying, 2 [b]“Moses my servant is dead. Rise, therefore, and cross over this Jordan, you and all of this people, to the land that I am giving to them, the people of Israel. 3 Every place that you set your feet down, I have given to you, as I promised to Moses. 4 Your territory will extend from the Desert of Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates, all of the land of the Hittites, and as far as the great sea on the west. 5 No one will be able to withstand you, all the days of your life. I will treat you just as I treated Moses, for I will never forsake nor abandon you. 6 So be strong and take courage, for you will lead these people to inherit the land that I promised to their forefathers to give them. 7 Only be strong and take courage. Be careful to observe the entire law that my servant Moses gave to you. Do not turn away from it to the right or to the left, so that you might prosper wherever you go. 8 Do not let this book of the law be absent from your mouth; meditate upon it day and night, so that you might carefully observe everything that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful. 9 I have given you a command. Be strong and brave, do not be afraid nor dismayed. I, the Lord, your God, will be with you wherever you go.”
10 The Tribes beyond the Jordan. So Joshua gave a command to the leaders of the people saying, 11 “Pass through the camp and give orders to the people saying, ‘Prepare three days’ worth of provisions for yourselves, for within three days you are going to cross over this Jordan in order to take possession of the land that the Lord, your God, has given to you as an inheritance.’ ”
17 [a]You call yourself a Jew and rely on the Law and are proud of your relationship to God, 18 and you know his will and are able to distinguish between right and wrong because you have been instructed in the Law, 19 and you are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light for those in darkness, 20 an instructor of the foolish, and a teacher of the simple because in the Law you have the embodiment of knowledge and truth.
21 You, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, are you yourself a thief? 22 You who forbid adultery, are you yourself an adulterer? You who abhor idols, do you commit sacrilege? 23 You who boast of the Law, do you dishonor God by breaking it? 24 As it is written, “Because of you the name of God is reviled among the Gentiles.”
25 Circumcision and the Heart.[b] Circumcision has value if you obey the Law. However, if you break the Law, you have become as if you had never been circumcised. 26 In the same way, if one who is not circumcised keeps the precepts of the Law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? 27 Then the man who is not physically circumcised but nevertheless observes the Law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the Law.
28 A man is not a Jew who is only one outwardly, nor is true circumcision external and physical. 29 Rather, the Jew is one who is a Jew inwardly, and true circumcision is of the heart—spiritual, not literal. He receives his praise not from human beings but from God.
Copyright © 2019 by Catholic Book Publishing Corp. All rights reserved.