Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
The people agree to serve the Lord
24 Joshua called all the Israelite tribes to meet together at Shechem.[a] He called the leaders of clans, the rulers, the judges and the officers to stand in front of the tabernacle. 2 Joshua said to the people, ‘This is what the Lord, Israel's God, says:
“A long time ago, your ancestors lived on the other side of the Euphrates river. They included Terah who was the father of Abraham and Nahor. They worshipped other gods. 3 But I took Abraham, your ancestor, away from that land beyond the Euphrates river. I brought him here and I led him through all the land of Canaan. I gave him many descendants. I gave him a son, Isaac.
14 Joshua said to the people, ‘Now you must serve the Lord with fear. You must worship him. You must continue to trust him. Throw away the gods that your ancestors worshipped when they lived beyond the Euphrates river and in Egypt. Worship the Lord. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then you should choose another god to worship. Decide today! Will you serve the gods that your ancestors worshipped across the river? Will you serve the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are now living? You choose! But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.’
16 The people answered Joshua, ‘We would never turn against the Lord to serve other gods! 17 We and our fathers were slaves in Egypt. But the Lord our God brought us out from there. We saw the great miracles that he did there. He kept us safe all the time on our journey, as we travelled through other nations. 18 The Lord chased all the nations out as we moved into the land. He chased out the Amorites and the other people who lived in the land. So we too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.’
19 Joshua said to them, ‘The Lord is a holy God. You will not be able to serve him. He wants you to belong to him. If you turn against him or you do not obey him, he will not forgive you. 20 If you turn away from the Lord and you serve foreign gods, he will turn against you. He has been kind and he has helped you until now. But he will bring trouble to you and he will destroy you, if you turn away from him.’
21 The people said to Joshua, ‘Never! We will only serve the Lord.’
22 Joshua said to them, ‘You yourselves have chosen to serve the Lord. Agree now that you have done that.’
They replied, ‘Yes, we agree!’
23 Joshua said, ‘So now you must throw away the foreign gods that you still keep. Trust the Lord, Israel's God, and obey him.’
24 The people said to Joshua, ‘We will serve the Lord our God and we will obey him.’
25 That same day, Joshua made an agreement for the people to accept. There at Shechem, he made a list of rules and laws for them to obey.
Asaph wrote this special song.
God has been good to his people[a]
78 My people, listen to what I am teaching you.
Listen to the words that I speak.
2 I will tell you something to make you wise.
Then you will understand
things that happened long ago.
3 We have heard about these things
and we know them.
Our ancestors have told them to us,
4 and we will not hide them from our children.
We will tell our children and our grandchildren
why they should praise the Lord.
We will tell them about his strength,
and about the great things that he has done.
5 He gave his laws to Jacob's descendants,
the Israelite people.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children.
6 Then the children would know about them,
even the children still to be born.
When the time came,
they too would tell their children.
7 Then their family would trust in God.
They would not forget what God had done.
They would obey his commands.
Jesus' return
13 Our Christian friends, we want you to understand properly about your friends who have died.[a] Then you will not continue to be sad about them. People who do not hope for any life after death are sad when their friends die. But you should not be upset like those other people. 14 We believe that Jesus died and he rose again after death. So we also believe that people who have died as Christians will rise again. When God brings Jesus back, he will take the Christians to go with Jesus.
15 We are telling you the message that the Lord has given to us. This is what will happen when the Lord returns. Those of us who are still alive will not go to meet the Lord first. We will not go before those people who have already died. 16 On that day, the Lord himself will come down from heaven. He will shout with authority. People will hear the voice of the leader of God's angels. They will hear the sound of God's trumpet. Then those people who have died as Christians will become alive again. They will be the first people to rise up. 17 After that, those of us who are still alive will join together with them. God will suddenly take us up into the clouds. In that way, we will all meet the Lord in the sky. So we will all be with the Lord for ever. 18 Because this message is true, tell it to each other. Help one another to be strong, not sad.
Jesus tells a story about ten young women
25 Jesus said, ‘I will tell you another story to show what the kingdom of heaven is like. There were ten young women who were going to a marriage party. They took their lamps with them and they went to meet the man who was marrying a wife. 2 Five of these young women were silly. The other five young women were wise. 3 The silly women took their lamps with them, but they did not take any extra oil with them. 4 The five wise women took jars of oil with their lamps. 5 The man who was marrying a wife did not come for a long time. So all the young women became tired, and they went to sleep.
6 In the middle of the night, someone shouted out, “The man is coming! Come out to meet him!”
7 The ten young women woke up. Then they prepared their lamps to make them work well. 8 The five silly young women said to the other five young women, “Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are not giving much light.” 9 The wise women replied, “If we did that, then there would not be enough oil for all of us. You must go instead to the people who sell oil. You must buy some oil for yourselves.”
10 So these five women went to buy some oil. While they were away, the man arrived for the marriage party. The five wise women were ready. They went with him into the house for the party. Then the servants shut the door.
11 Later, the five silly women also came to the house. They said, “Sir, Sir, please open the door for us.” 12 But he replied, “I tell you, I do not know you.” ’
13 Then Jesus said to the people, ‘So you must watch carefully. You do not know on what day or at what time I will return.’[a]
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