Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
God is good, so thank him[a]
118 Thank the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love will always be with us.
2 Israel's people must now say,
‘His faithful love will always be with us.’
14 The Lord makes me strong
and he takes care of me.
He is the one who keeps me safe.
15 Listen to the happy shouts of God's people in their tents!
They have won against their enemies,
because the Lord has power to do great things.
16 Yes, the Lord has lifted up his strong right hand.
He has the strength to win the battle!
17 I will not die. Instead, I will live.
I will tell everyone what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord has punished me very much,
but he has not let me die.
19 Open the gates of the temple!
I will go in there,
and I will thank the Lord.
20 This is the Lord's gate.
Righteous people can go in through it.
21 I will thank you, Lord,
because you answered my prayer.
You have rescued me.
22 The builders threw away a certain stone.
But now that stone has become the most important stone
at the corner of the building.
23 The Lord has done this.
And we can see that it is wonderful![a]
24 This is the day that the Lord has done a great thing.
We will be very happy today!
The Israelites kill the five Amorite kings
16 The five kings had run away from the Israelite soldiers. They had hidden in a cave at Makkedah. 17 Joshua heard that they were hiding there. 18 He said to his men, ‘Take some big stones and cover the front of the cave. Put some men there to watch the cave.[a] 19 But you must continue to chase after your enemies. Do not stop now! Catch them! Do not let them reach their cities where they will be safe. Remember that the Lord your God has caused you to win against them.’
20 So Joshua and the Israelites destroyed nearly all the Amorite armies. But a few of the Amorites escaped and they reached their strong cities. 21 Then the whole Israelite army returned to Joshua at Makkedah. All the people in the land were too afraid to speak against the Israelites.
22 Then Joshua said to his men, ‘Take away the stones to open the cave where the five kings are. Bring them out here to me.’ 23 So they brought the five kings to Joshua. They were the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon. 24 When they had brought the kings to Joshua, he called the men of Israel to meet there. He said to the officers of his army, ‘Put your feet on the necks of these kings.’ They did as he told them.
25 Joshua said to them, ‘Do not be afraid. Be very strong and brave. Look at these kings! This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies that you will fight against.’ 26 Then Joshua killed the five kings with his sword. He hung their bodies on five trees. They remained there until evening time.
27 At sunset, Joshua told his men to take the kings down from the trees. They threw them into the cave where they had been hiding. They put big stones over the front of the cave. The stones are still there today.
6 You should not be so proud of yourselves. Think about what yeast does in bread. A very small amount of yeast changes the whole loaf of bread. 7 The yeast in the flour is like one person who does wrong things. You must remove this old yeast from among you. Then you will be like a new loaf of bread. You are really like a loaf which has no yeast in it.[a] You are pure, because Christ died as a sacrifice on our behalf. He is like the lamb that the Israelites killed for their Passover meal. 8 As a result, we can have our own Passover festival. We must remove everything that is bad from among us. That is like what the Israelites did when they removed all the old yeast from their homes. Instead we live in a way that is pure and honest. It is like we are eating bread which has no yeast in it.[b]
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