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Psalm 93

1  The Lord is king and has put on glorious apparel; ♦︎
   the Lord has put on his glory
      and girded himself with strength.
2  He has made the whole world so sure ♦︎
   that it cannot be moved.
3  Your throne has been established from of old; ♦︎
   you are from everlasting.
4  The floods have lifted up, O Lord,
      the floods have lifted up their voice; ♦︎
   the floods lift up their pounding waves.
5  Mightier than the thunder of many waters,
      mightier than the breakers of the sea, ♦︎
   the Lord on high is mightier.
6  Your testimonies are very sure; ♦︎
   holiness adorns your house, O Lord, for ever.

Psalm 94

1  Lord God to whom vengeance belongs, ♦︎
   O God to whom vengeance belongs, shine out in majesty.
2  Rise up, O Judge of the earth; ♦︎
   give the arrogant their just deserts.
3  Lord, how long shall the wicked, ♦︎
   how long shall the wicked triumph?
4  How long shall the evildoers boast ♦︎
   and pour out such impudent words?
5  They crush your people, O Lord, ♦︎
   and afflict your heritage.
6  They murder the widow and the stranger; ♦︎
   the orphans they put to death.
7  And yet they say, ‘The Lord will not see, ♦︎
   neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.’
8  Consider, most stupid of people; ♦︎
   you fools, when will you understand?
9  He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? ♦︎
   He that formed the eye, shall he not see?
10  He who corrects the nations, shall he not punish? ♦︎
   He who teaches the peoples, does he lack knowledge?
11  The Lord knows every human thought, ♦︎
   that they are but a breath.
12  Blessed are those whom you chasten, O Lord, ♦︎
   whom you instruct from your law;
13  That you may give them rest in days of adversity, ♦︎
   until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14  For the Lord will not fail his people, ♦︎
   neither will he forsake his inheritance.
15  For justice shall return to the righteous, ♦︎
   and all that are true of heart shall follow it.
16  Who will rise up for me against the wicked? ♦︎
   Who will take my part against the evildoers?
17  If the Lord had not helped me, ♦︎
   my soul would soon have been put to silence.
18  And when I said, ‘My foot has slipped’, ♦︎
   your loving mercy, O Lord, upheld me.
19  In the multitude of cares that troubled my heart, ♦︎
   your comforts have refreshed my soul.
20  Will you have anything to do with the throne of wickedness, ♦︎
   which fashions evil through its law?
21  They gather together against the life of the righteous ♦︎
   and condemn the innocent to death.
22  But the Lord has become my stronghold ♦︎
   and my God the rock of my trust.
23  He will turn against them their own wickedness
      and silence them through their own malice; ♦︎
   the Lord our God will put them to silence.

Spies Sent to Jericho

2Then Joshua son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho.’ So they went, and entered the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab, and spent the night there. ²The king of Jericho was told, ‘Some Israelites have come here tonight to search out the land.’ ³Then the king of Jericho sent orders to Rahab, ‘Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come only to search out the whole land.’ ⁴But the woman took the two men and hid them. Then she said, ‘True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they came from. ⁵And when it was time to close the gate at dark, the men went out. Where the men went I do not know. Pursue them quickly, for you can overtake them.’ ⁶She had, however, brought them up to the roof and hidden them with the stalks of flax that she had laid out on the roof. ⁷So the men pursued them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. As soon as the pursuers had gone out, the gate was shut.

8 Before they went to sleep, she came up to them on the roof ⁹and said to the men: ‘I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you. ¹⁰For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea^* before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. ¹¹As soon as we heard it, our hearts failed, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you. The Lord your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below. ¹²Now then, since I have dealt kindly with you, swear to me by the Lord that you in turn will deal kindly with my family. Give me a sign of good faith ¹³that you will spare my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and deliver our lives from death.’ ¹⁴The men said to her, ‘Our life for yours! If you do not tell this business of ours, then we will deal kindly and faithfully with you when the Lord gives us the land.’

15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the outer side of the city wall and she resided within the wall itself. ¹⁶She said to them, ‘Go towards the hill country, so that the pursuers may not come upon you. Hide yourselves there for three days, until the pursuers have returned; then afterwards you may go on your way.’ ¹⁷The men said to her, ‘We will be released from this oath that you have made us swear to you ¹⁸if we invade the land and you do not tie this crimson cord in the window through which you let us down, and you do not gather into your house your father and mother, your brothers, and all your family. ¹⁹If any of you go out of the doors of your house into the street, they shall be responsible for their own death, and we shall be innocent; but if a hand is laid upon any who are with you in the house, we shall bear the responsibility for their death. ²⁰But if you tell this business of ours, then we shall be released from this oath that you made us swear to you.’ ²¹She said, ‘According to your words, so be it.’ She sent them away and they departed. Then she tied the crimson cord in the window.

22 They departed and went into the hill country and stayed there for three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers had searched all along the way and found nothing. ²³Then the two men came down again from the hill country. They crossed over, came to Joshua son of Nun, and told him all that had happened to them. ²⁴They said to Joshua, ‘Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands; moreover, all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before us.’

13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I glorify my ministry ¹⁴in order to make my own people^* jealous, and thus save some of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead! ¹⁶If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the rich root^* of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not vaunt yourselves over the branches. If you do vaunt yourselves, remember that it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹You will say, ‘Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.’ ²⁰That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.^{* 22}Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity towards those who have fallen, but God’s kindness towards you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³And even those of Israel,^* if they do not persist in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.