Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
105 Give thanks to the Lord and call out to him!
Tell the nations what he has done!
2 Sing to him; sing praises to him.
Tell about the amazing things he has done.
3 Be proud of his holy name.
You followers of the Lord, be happy!
4 Depend on the Lord for strength.
Always go to him for help.
5 Remember the amazing things he has done.
Remember his miracles and his fair decisions.
6 You belong to the family of his servant Abraham.
You are descendants of Jacob, the people God chose.
7 The Lord is our God.
He rules the whole world.
8 He will remember his agreement forever.
He will always keep the promises he made to his people.
9 He will keep the agreement he made with Abraham
and the promise he made to Isaac.
10 He gave it as a law to Jacob.
He gave it to Israel as an agreement that will last forever!
11 He said, “I will give you the land of Canaan.
It will be your very own.”
12 At the time God said this, there were only a few of his people,
and they were strangers there.
13 They traveled around from nation to nation,
from one kingdom to another.
14 But the Lord did not let anyone mistreat them.
He warned kings not to harm them.
15 He said, “Don’t hurt my chosen people.
Don’t harm my prophets.”
16 He caused a famine in that country,
and people did not have enough food.
17 But he sent a man named Joseph to go ahead of them.
Joseph was sold like a slave.
18 They tied a rope around his feet
and put an iron ring around his neck.
19 Joseph was a slave until what he said had really happened.
The Lord’s message proved that Joseph was right.
20 So the king of Egypt set him free.
That nation’s leader let him out of jail.
21 He put Joseph in charge of his house.
Joseph took care of everything the king owned.
22 Joseph gave instructions to the other leaders.
He taught the older men.
23 Then Israel came to Egypt.
Jacob lived there in Ham’s country.[a]
24 Jacob’s family became very large
and more powerful than their enemies.
25 So the Egyptians began to hate his people.
They made plans against his servants.
26 So the Lord sent Moses, his servant,
and Aaron, his chosen priest.
27 He used Moses and Aaron
to do many miracles in Ham’s country.
28 He sent darkness to cover their land,
but the Egyptians did not listen to him.
29 So he changed the water into blood,
and all their fish died.
30 Their country was filled with frogs,
even in the king’s bedroom.
31 The Lord gave the command,
and the flies and gnats came.
They were everywhere!
32 He made the rain become hail.
Lightning struck throughout their land.
33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees.
He destroyed every tree in their country.
34 He gave the command, and the locusts and grasshoppers came.
There were too many to count!
35 They ate all the plants in the country,
including all the crops in their fields.
36 Then the Lord killed every firstborn in their country.
He killed their oldest sons.
37 He led his people out of Egypt.
They were carrying gold and silver,
and none of them stumbled or fell behind.
38 Egypt was happy to see his people go,
because they were afraid of them.
39 The Lord spread out his cloud like a blanket.
He used his column of fire to give his people light at night.
40 They asked for food, and he sent them quail.
He also gave them plenty of bread from heaven.
41 He split the rock, and water came bubbling out.
A river began flowing in the desert!
42 The Lord remembered his holy promise
that he had made to his servant Abraham.
Jehoshaphat Faces War
20 Later, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and some Meunites[a] came to start a war with Jehoshaphat. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “There is a large army coming against you from Edom. They are coming from the other side of the Dead Sea. They are already in Hazazon Tamar!” (Hazazon Tamar is also called En Gedi.) 3 Jehoshaphat became afraid, and he decided to ask the Lord what to do. He announced a time of fasting for everyone in Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to ask the Lord for help. They came from out of all the towns of Judah to ask for the Lord’s help. 5 Jehoshaphat was in the new courtyard of the Lord’s Temple. He stood up in the meeting of the people from Judah and Jerusalem 6 and said,
“Lord God of our ancestors, you are the God in heaven. You rule over all the kingdoms in all the nations. You have power and strength. No one can stand against you. 7 You are our God! You forced the people living in this land to leave. You did this in front of your people Israel. You gave this land to the descendants of Abraham forever. Abraham was your friend. 8 His descendants lived in this land, and built a Temple for your name. 9 They said, ‘If trouble comes to us—the sword, punishment, sicknesses, or famine—we will stand in front of this Temple and in front of you. Your name is on this Temple. We will shout to you when we are in trouble. Then you will hear and save us.’
10 “But now, here are men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir. You would not let the Israelites enter their lands when they came out of Egypt.[b] So the Israelites turned away and didn’t destroy them. 11 But see the kind of reward those people give us for not destroying them. They have come to force us out of your land that you gave to us. 12 Our God, punish those people. We don’t have the strength to stop this large army that is coming against us. We don’t know what to do! We are looking to you for help.”[c]
13 All the men of Judah stood before the Lord with their wives, babies, and children. 14 Then the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel son of Zechariah. (Zechariah was the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah.) Jahaziel was a Levite from the family of Asaph. In the middle of the meeting, 15 Jahaziel said, “Listen to me King Jehoshaphat and everyone living in Judah and Jerusalem! The Lord says this to you: ‘Don’t be afraid or worry about this large army, because the battle is not your battle. It is God’s battle! 16 Tomorrow, they will come up through the Ziz Pass. You must go down to them. You will find them at the end of the valley on the other side of the desert of Jeruel. 17 You will not have to fight this battle. Just stand there and watch the Lord save you. Judah and Jerusalem, don’t be afraid. Don’t worry, because the Lord is with you. So go out to stand against those people tomorrow.’”
18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground. And all the people of Judah and Jerusalem bowed down before the Lord and worshiped him. 19 The Levites from the Kohath family groups and the Korah family stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. They sang very loudly.
20 Early the next morning, Jehoshaphat’s army went out into the desert of Tekoa. As they marched out, Jehoshaphat stood there saying, “Listen to me, men of Judah and Jerusalem. Have faith in the Lord your God, and you will stand strong! Have faith in his prophets, and you will succeed!”
21 Jehoshaphat encouraged the men and gave them instructions. Then he had the Temple singers stand up in their special clothes to praise the Lord. They marched in front of the army and sang,
“Give thanks to the Lord!
His faithful love will last forever.”
22 As they began to sing and to praise God, the Lord set an ambush for the army from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir who had come to attack Judah. The enemy was defeated!
The Narrow Door(A)
22 Jesus was teaching in every town and village. He continued to travel toward Jerusalem. 23 Someone said to him, “Lord, how many people will be saved? Only a few?”
Jesus said, 24 “The door to heaven is narrow. Try hard to enter it. Many people will want to enter there, but they will not be able to go in. 25 If a man locks the door of his house, you can stand outside and knock on the door, but he won’t open it. You can say, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’ But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you. Where did you come from?’ 26 Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you. You taught in the streets of our town.’ 27 Then he will say to you, ‘I don’t know you. Where did you come from? Get away from me! You are all people who do wrong!’
28 “You will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God’s kingdom. But you will be left outside. There you will cry and grind your teeth with pain. 29 People will come from the east, west, north, and south. They will sit down at the table in God’s kingdom. 30 People who have the lowest place in life now will have the highest place in God’s kingdom. And people who have the highest place now will have the lowest place in God’s kingdom.”
Jesus Will Die in Jerusalem(B)
31 Just then some Pharisees came to Jesus and said, “Go away from here and hide. Herod wants to kill you!”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International