Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
118 Praise the Lord because he is good!
His faithful love will last forever!
2 Israel, say it:
“His faithful love will last forever!”
14 The Lord is my strength and my reason for singing.[a]
He saved me!
15 You can hear the victory celebration in the homes of those who live right.
The Lord has shown his great power again!
16 The Lord’s arm is raised in victory.
The Lord has shown his great power again.
17 I will live and not die,
and I will tell what the Lord has done.
18 The Lord punished me,
but he did not let me die.
19 Gates of goodness, open for me,
and I will come in and worship the Lord.
20 Those are the Lord’s gates,
and only good people can go through them.
21 Lord, I thank you for answering my prayer.
I thank you for saving me.
22 The stone that the builders rejected
became the cornerstone.
23 The Lord made this happen,
and we think it is wonderful!
24 This is the day the Lord has made.
Let us rejoice and be happy today!
16 But during the fight, the five kings ran away. They hid in a cave near Makkedah, 17 but someone found them hiding in that cave. Joshua learned about this. 18 He said, “Cover the entrance to the cave with large rocks. Put some men there to guard the cave. 19 But don’t stay there yourselves. Continue chasing the enemy and attacking them from behind. Don’t let the enemy get back to their cities. The Lord your God has given you the victory over them.”
20 So Joshua and the Israelites killed the enemy. But some of them were able to go to their cities that had tall walls around them and hide. These men were not killed. 21 After the fighting, Joshua’s men came back to him at Makkedah. Not one of the people in that country was brave enough to say anything against the Israelites.
22 Joshua said, “Move the rocks that are covering the entrance to the cave. Bring the five kings to me.” 23 So Joshua’s men brought the five kings out of the cave—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish, and Eglon. 24 When they brought the five kings to Joshua, he called all his men to come to that place. He said to the officers of his army, “Come here! Put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So the officers of Joshua’s army came close and put their feet on the necks of the kings.
25 Then Joshua said to his men, “Be strong and brave! Don’t be afraid. I will show you what the Lord will do to all the enemies you will fight in the future.”
26 Then Joshua killed the five kings and hanged their bodies on five trees. He left them hanging in the trees until evening. 27 At sunset Joshua told his men to take the bodies down from the trees. So they threw the bodies into the cave where the kings had been hiding and covered the entrance of the cave with large rocks. Their bodies are still in that cave today.
6 Your proud talk is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise.” 7 Take out all the old yeast, so that you will be a new batch of dough. You really are bread without yeast—Passover bread.[a] Yes, Christ our Passover Lamb[b] has already been killed. 8 So let us eat our Passover meal, but not with the bread that has the old yeast, the yeast of sin and wrongdoing. But let us eat the bread that has no yeast. This is the bread of goodness and truth.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International