Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 128
A Blessed Family
Heading
A song of the ascents.
Promise
1 How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
everyone who is walking in his ways.
2 Yes, you will eat the food you worked for.
How blessed you are! It will go well for you!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms of your house.
Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Look! This is how blessed the man is who fears the Lord!
Prayer
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
so that you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,
all the days of your life,
6 and you see your children’s children.
Peace be on Israel.
6 Jericho was shut up tight because of the Israelites. There was no one going out and no one coming in.
2 So the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho and its king into your hands even though they are strong warriors. 3 You shall march around the city with all the fighting men. Circle the city one time. Do this for six days. 4 Seven priests shall carry seven special ram’s horns[a] in front of the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the ram’s horns. 5 When there is a long blast on the special ram’s horn of jubilee, when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn,[b] all the people shall shout with a loud war cry. Then the wall of the city will collapse on itself, and the people[c] will go up into the city, one man after another.”
The Fall of Jericho
6 So Joshua son of Nun called for the priests and said to them, “Lift up the Ark of the Covenant, and seven priests shall carry seven special ram’s horns in front of the Ark of the Lord.” 7 Then he said to the people, “Move out. March around the city. The armed contingent shall march in front of the Ark of the Lord.”
8 When Joshua had given orders to the people, the seven priests with the seven special ram’s horns moved forward in front of the Lord, blowing the ram’s horns continuously, with the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord following them. 9 The armed contingent was marching ahead of the priests, who were blowing the ram’s horns, and the rear guard was following the ark. The priests kept blowing the ram’s horns as they went. 10 But to the people Joshua had given the order, “Do not shout and do not let your voice be heard. Do not let a word go out of your mouth until the day I say to you, ‘Shout!’ Then you shall shout!” 11 So he had the Ark of the Lord go around the city, sending it out to circle the city one time. Then they came back to the camp and spent the night there.
12 Then Joshua got up early in the morning, and the priests lifted up the Ark of the Lord. 13 The seven priests with the seven special ram’s horns moved forward in front of the Ark of the Lord, blowing the ram’s horns continuously. The armed contingent was marching in front of them, and the rear guard was following behind the Ark of the Lord. The priests kept blowing the ram’s horns as they went. 14 They marched around the city one time on the second day, and then they returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
15 Then on the seventh day they got up early, at daybreak, and they marched around the city seven times, following the directions they had been given. It was only on the seventh day that they marched around the city seven times. 16 Then on the seventh time, the priests blew the ram’s horns, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout, because the Lord has given you the city!
20 So the people shouted, and the priests blew the ram’s horns. When the people heard the sound of the ram’s horns, they shouted with a loud war cry. Then the wall collapsed on itself, and the people went up into the city, one man after another. So they captured the city.
The Holy Spirit Calls Paul and Barnabas
13 Now in the church at Antioch there were some prophets and teachers: Barnabas; Simeon, who was called Niger; Lucius of Cyrene; Manaen, who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch; and Saul. 2 While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, after they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them off.
4 So they were sent out by the Holy Spirit and went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.
6 When they had traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came across a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet whose name was Bar-Jesus. 7 He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.
8 Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit and looking straight at him, 10 said, “You are full of every kind of deceit and fraud, you son of the Devil, you enemy of all righteousness! Will you never stop twisting the straight paths of the Lord? 11 Now look! The hand of the Lord is against you. You will be blind, and for a time you will be unable to see the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went around looking for someone to lead him by the hand. 12 When the proconsul saw what happened, he believed. He was amazed at the teaching of the Lord.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.