Joshua 4, Psalm 129, 130, 131, Isaiah 64, Matthew 12

Joshua 4,

1 When the whole nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua,
 
2 "Choose twelve men from among the people, one from each tribe,
 
3 and tell them to take up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan from right where the priests stood and to carry them over with you and put them down at the place where you stay tonight."
 
4 So Joshua called together the twelve men he had appointed from the Israelites, one from each tribe,
 
5 and said to them, "Go over before the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan. Each of you is to take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites,
 
6 to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask you, 'What do these stones mean?'
 
7 tell them that the flow of the Jordan was cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. These stones are to be a memorial to the people of Israel forever."
 
8 So the Israelites did as Joshua commanded them. They took twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the Israelites, as the LORD had told Joshua; and they carried them over with them to their camp, where they put them down.
 
9 Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the middle of the Jordan at the spot where the priests who carried the ark of the covenant had stood. And they are there to this day.
 
10 Now the priests who carried the ark remained standing in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua was done by the people, just as Moses had directed Joshua. The people hurried over,
 
11 and as soon as all of them had crossed, the ark of the LORD and the priests came to the other side while the people watched.
 
12 The men of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over, armed, in front of the Israelites, as Moses had directed them.
 
13 About forty thousand armed for battle crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war.
 
14 That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel; and they revered him all the days of his life, just as they had revered Moses.
 
15 Then the LORD said to Joshua,
 
16 "Command the priests carrying the ark of the Testimony to come up out of the Jordan."
 
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, "Come up out of the Jordan."
 
18 And the priests came up out of the river carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD. No sooner had they set their feet on the dry ground than the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and ran at flood stage as before.
 
19 On the tenth day of the first month the people went up from the Jordan and camped at Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.
 
20 And Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan.
 
21 He said to the Israelites, "In the future when your descendants ask their fathers, 'What do these stones mean?'
 
22 tell them, 'Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.'
 
23 For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan just what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.
 
24 He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God."

Psalm 129, 130, 131,

1 They have greatly oppressed me from my youth-let Israel say-
 
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me.
 
3 Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long.
 
4 But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.
 
5 May all who hate Zion be turned back in shame.
 
6 May they be like grass on the roof, which withers before it can grow;
 
7 with it the reaper cannot fill his hands, nor the one who gathers fill his arms.
 
8 May those who pass by not say, "The blessing of the LORD be upon you; we bless you in the name of the LORD."

1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD;
 
2 O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy.
 
3 If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?
 
4 But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared.
 
5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope.
 
6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.
 
7 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.
 
8 He himself will redeem Israel from all their sins.

1 My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.
 
2 But I have stilled and quieted my soul; like a weaned child with its mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me.
 
3 O Israel, put your hope in the LORD both now and forevermore.

Isaiah 64,

1 Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you!
 
2 As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil, come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!
 
3 For when you did awesome things that we did not expect, you came down, and the mountains trembled before you.
 
4 Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
 
5 You come to the help of those who gladly do right, who remember your ways. But when we continued to sin against them, you were angry. How then can we be saved?
 
6 All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
 
7 No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins.
 
8 Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand.
 
9 Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD; do not remember our sins forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray, for we are all your people.
 
10 Your sacred cities have become a desert; even Zion is a desert, Jerusalem a desolation.
 
11 Our holy and glorious temple, where our fathers praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins.
 
12 After all this, O LORD, will you hold yourself back? Will you keep silent and punish us beyond measure?

Matthew 12

1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.
 
2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, "Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath."
 
3 He answered, "Haven't you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
 
4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread-which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.
 
5 Or haven't you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?
 
6 I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.
 
7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.
 
8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."
 
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,
 
10 and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?"
 
11 He said to them, "If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?
 
12 How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."
 
13 Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.
 
14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.
 
15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. Many followed him, and he healed all their sick,
 
16 warning them not to tell who he was.
 
17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
 
18 "Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
 
19 He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.
 
20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he leads justice to victory.
 
21 In his name the nations will put their hope."
 
22 Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see.
 
23 All the people were astonished and said, "Could this be the Son of David?"
 
24 But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, "It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons."
 
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.
 
26 If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand?
 
27 And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges.
 
28 But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
 
29 "Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.
 
30 "He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.
 
31 And so I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
 
32 Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
 
33 "Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.
 
34 You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
 
35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
 
36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.
 
37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
 
38 Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, "Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
 
39 He answered, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
 
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
 
41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here.
 
42 The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon's wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.
 
43 "When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it.
 
44 Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order.
 
45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first. That is how it will be with this wicked generation."
 
46 While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.
 
47 Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you."
 
48 He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"
 
49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers.
 
50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."