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Psalm 77

1  I cry aloud to God; ♦︎
   I cry aloud to God and he will hear me.
2  In the day of my trouble I have sought the Lord; ♦︎
   by night my hand is stretched out and does not tire;
      my soul refuses comfort.
3  I think upon God and I groan; ♦︎
   I ponder, and my spirit faints.
4  You will not let my eyelids close; ♦︎
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
5  I consider the days of old; ♦︎
   I remember the years long past;
6  I commune with my heart in the night; ♦︎
   my spirit searches for understanding.
7  Will the Lord cast us off for ever? ♦︎
   Will he no more show us his favour?
8  Has his loving mercy clean gone for ever? ♦︎
   Has his promise come to an end for evermore?
9  Has God forgotten to be gracious? ♦︎
   Has he shut up his compassion in displeasure?
10  And I said, ‘My grief is this: ♦︎
   that the right hand of the Most High has lost its strength.’
11  I will remember the works of the Lord ♦︎
   and call to mind your wonders of old time.
12  I will meditate on all your works ♦︎
   and ponder your mighty deeds.
13  Your way, O God, is holy; ♦︎
   who is so great a god as our God?
14  You are the God who worked wonders ♦︎
   and declared your power among the peoples.
15  With a mighty arm you redeemed your people, ♦︎
   the children of Jacob and Joseph.
16  The waters saw you, O God;
      the waters saw you and were afraid; ♦︎
   the depths also were troubled.
17  The clouds poured out water; the skies thundered; ♦︎
   your arrows flashed on every side;
18  The voice of your thunder was in the whirlwind;
      your lightnings lit up the ground; ♦︎
   the earth trembled and shook.
19  Your way was in the sea, and your paths in the great waters, ♦︎
   but your footsteps were not known.
20  You led your people like sheep ♦︎
   by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Israel Crosses the Jordan

3Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites, and they came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing over. ²At the end of three days the officers went through the camp ³and commanded the people, ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place. Follow it, ⁴so that you may know the way you should go, for you have not passed this way before. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, a distance of about two thousand cubits; do not come any nearer to it.’ ⁵Then Joshua said to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves; for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.’ ⁶To the priests Joshua said, ‘Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on in front of the people.’ So they took up the ark of the covenant and went in front of the people.

7 The Lord said to Joshua, ‘This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses. ⁸You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, “When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.” ’ ⁹Joshua then said to the Israelites, ‘Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.’ ¹⁰Joshua said, ‘By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites: ¹¹the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. ¹²So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe. ¹³When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.’

14 When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. ¹⁵Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water, ¹⁶the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing towards the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea,^* were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.

The Faith of Moses

23 By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after his birth, because they saw that the child was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.^{* 24}By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. ²⁶He considered abuse suffered for the Christ^* to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to the reward. ²⁷By faith he left Egypt, unafraid of the king’s anger; for he persevered as though^* he saw him who is invisible. ²⁸By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch the firstborn of Israel.^*

The Faith of Other Israelite Heroes

29 By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as if it were dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted to do so they were drowned.