Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 32
The Joy of Forgiveness
Davidic. A Maskil.
1 How joyful is the one
whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered!(A)
2 How joyful is the man
the Lord does not charge with sin(B)
and in whose spirit is no deceit!(C)
3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle
from my groaning all day long.(D)
4 For day and night Your hand was heavy on me;(E)
my strength was drained[a]
as in the summer’s heat.(F)
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to You
and did not conceal my iniquity.
I said,
“I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and You took away the guilt of my sin.(G)
6 Therefore let everyone who is faithful pray to You
at a time that You may be found.[b](H)
When great floodwaters come,
they will not reach him.(I)
7 You are my hiding place;(J)
You protect me from trouble.(K)
You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance.
The Memorial Stones
4 After the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan,(A) the Lord spoke to Joshua: 2 “Choose 12 men from the people, one man for each tribe,(B) 3 and command them: Take 12 stones from this place in the middle of the Jordan where the priests[a] are standing, carry them with you, and set them down at the place where you spend the night.”
4 So Joshua summoned the 12 men he had selected from the Israelites, one man for each tribe, 5 and said to them, “Go across to the ark of the Lord your God in the middle of the Jordan. Each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, one for each[b] of the Israelite tribes, 6 so that this will be a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’(C) 7 you should tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off in front of the ark of the Lord’s covenant. When it crossed the Jordan, the Jordan’s waters were cut off.’ Therefore these stones will always be a memorial for the Israelites.”(D)
8 The Israelites did just as Joshua had commanded them. The 12 men took stones from the middle of the Jordan, one for each[c] of the Israelite tribes, just as the Lord had told Joshua. They carried them to the camp and set them down there. 9 Joshua also set up 12 stones in the middle[d] of the Jordan where the priests[e] who carried the ark of the covenant were standing. The stones are there to this day.(E)
10 The priests carrying the ark continued standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything was completed that the Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people, in keeping with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried across, 11 and after everyone had finished crossing, the priests with the ark of the Lord crossed in the sight of the people. 12 The Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh went in battle formation in front of the Israelites,(F) as Moses had instructed them. 13 About 40,000 equipped for war crossed to the plains of Jericho in the Lord’s presence.
16 Therefore we do not give up.(A) Even though our outer person is being destroyed, our inner person(B) is being renewed day by day. 17 For our momentary light affliction[a](C) is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.(D) 18 So we do not focus on what is seen,(E) but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Our Future after Death
5 For we know that if our temporary, earthly dwelling[b](F) is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal dwelling[c] in the heavens,(G) not made with hands.(H) 2 Indeed, we groan in this body, desiring(I) to put on our dwelling from heaven, 3 since, when we are clothed,[d] we will not be found naked.(J) 4 Indeed, we groan while we are in this tent, burdened as we are, because we do not want to be unclothed but clothed, so that mortality(K) may be swallowed up by life. 5 And the One who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
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