Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Create in Me a Clean Heart

Psalm 51

Keep and Do Torah

23 Now it came about after many days, when Adonai had given rest to Israel from all their enemies around them, and Joshua was old and advanced in years, ² that Joshua summoned all Israel, their elders, their heads, their judges and their officials, and said to them: “I have grown old and am advanced in years. ³ Now you have seen all that Adonai your God has done to all these nations because of you, for it was Adonai your God who was fighting for you. ⁴ Behold, I have allotted to you as an inheritance, according to your tribes, these nations that remain, along with all the nations that I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea toward the setting of the sun. ⁵ So Adonai your God, He Himself will thrust them out from before you, and drive them from before you, so you will possess their land, just as Adonai your God spoke to you.

⁶ “Be very resolute to keep and to do all that is written in the book of the Torah of Moses, so that you may not turn aside from it to the right or to the left, ⁷ and not intermingle with these nations who are still remaining among you. Do not mention the names of their gods or swear by them or worship them or bow down to them. ⁸ But cling to Adonai your God, as you have done to this day. ⁹ For Adonai has driven out from before you great and mighty nations. As for you, no one remained standing before you to this day. ¹⁰ One of you can put a thousand to flight, for Adonai your God, He Himself is fighting for you, just as He said to you. ¹¹ For your own sake, therefore, be most mindful to love Adonai your God. ¹² For if you ever go back and cling to the remnant of these nations that are still remaining among you, and intermarry with them, and you associate with them and they with you, ¹³ know for certain that Adonai your God will no longer drive these nations out from before you. Instead they will become a snare and a trap for you, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land which Adonai your God has given you.

¹⁴ “Now today I am about to go the way of all the earth. You will know with all your heart and with all your soul that not one word of the good things which Adonai your God spoke concerning you has failed to happen. All of them have come to pass for you; not one word has failed. ¹⁵ Now it will be that just as all the good things which Adonai your God has spoken to you have come upon you, so all the evil things will Adonai bring upon you, until He has wiped you off this good land which Adonai your God has given you. ¹⁶ When you transgress the covenant of Adonai your God, which He commanded you, and go and worship other gods and bow down to them, then will the anger of Adonai burn against you, and you will perish quickly off this good land which He has given you.”

²⁷ Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the Lord’s cup in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. ²⁸ But a man must examine himself, and then let him eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For the one who eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰ For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died. ^{[a] 31} For if we were judging ourselves thoroughly, we wouldn’t be coming under judgment. ³² But when we are judged, we are being disciplined by the Lord so that we might not be condemned along with the world.

³³ So then, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, wait for one another. ³⁴ If anyone is hungry let him eat at home, so that when you meet it doesn’t lead to judgment. And the rest I will put in order when I come.