Joshua 7, Psalm 137, 138, Jeremiah 1, Matthew 15

Joshua 7,

1 But the Israelites acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things ; Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the LORD's anger burned against Israel.
 
2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, "Go up and spy out the region." So the men went up and spied out Ai.
 
3 When they returned to Joshua, they said, "Not all the people will have to go up against Ai. Send two or three thousand men to take it and do not weary all the people, for only a few men are there."
 
4 So about three thousand men went up; but they were routed by the men of Ai,
 
5 who killed about thirty-six of them. They chased the Israelites from the city gate as far as the stone quarries and struck them down on the slopes. At this the hearts of the people melted and became like water.
 
6 Then Joshua tore his clothes and fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD, remaining there till evening. The elders of Israel did the same, and sprinkled dust on their heads.
 
7 And Joshua said, "Ah, Sovereign LORD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to stay on the other side of the Jordan!
 
8 O Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has been routed by its enemies?
 
9 The Canaanites and the other people of the country will hear about this and they will surround us and wipe out our name from the earth. What then will you do for your own great name?"
 
10 The LORD said to Joshua, "Stand up! What are you doing down on your face?
 
11 Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions.
 
12 That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
 
13 "Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, 'Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: That which is devoted is among you, O Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove it.
 
14 " 'In the morning, present yourselves tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come forward clan by clan; the clan that the LORD takes shall come forward family by family; and the family that the LORD takes shall come forward man by man.
 
15 He who is caught with the devoted things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to him. He has violated the covenant of the LORD and has done a disgraceful thing in Israel!' "
 
16 Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward by tribes, and Judah was taken.
 
17 The clans of Judah came forward, and he took the Zerahites. He had the clan of the Zerahites come forward by families, and Zimri was taken.
 
18 Joshua had his family come forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, the son of Zimri, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken.
 
19 Then Joshua said to Achan, "My son, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give him the praise. Tell me what you have done; do not hide it from me."
 
20 Achan replied, "It is true! I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I have done:
 
21 When I saw in the plunder a beautiful robe from Babylonia, two hundred shekels of silver and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. They are hidden in the ground inside my tent, with the silver underneath."
 
22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver underneath.
 
23 They took the things from the tent, brought them to Joshua and all the Israelites and spread them out before the LORD.
 
24 Then Joshua, together with all Israel, took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold wedge, his sons and daughters, his cattle, donkeys and sheep, his tent and all that he had, to the Valley of Achor.
 
25 Joshua said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today." Then all Israel stoned him, and after they had stoned the rest, they burned them.
 
26 Over Achan they heaped up a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. Therefore that place has been called the Valley of Achor ever since.

Psalm 137, 138,

1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
 
2 There on the poplars we hung our harps,
 
3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
 
4 How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?
 
5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
 
6 May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.
 
7 Remember, O LORD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. "Tear it down," they cried, "tear it down to its foundations!"
 
8 O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us-
 
9 he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

1 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; before the "gods" I will sing your praise.
 
2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word.
 
3 When I called, you answered me; you made me bold and stouthearted.
 
4 May all the kings of the earth praise you, O LORD, when they hear the words of your mouth.
 
5 May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great.
 
6 Though the LORD is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar.
 
7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me.
 
8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O LORD, endures forever-do not abandon the works of your hands.

Jeremiah 1,

1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin.
 
2 The word of the LORD came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah,
 
3 and through the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, when the people of Jerusalem went into exile.
 
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying,
 
5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
 
6 "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child."
 
7 But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you.
 
8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.
 
9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now, I have put my words in your mouth.
 
10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant."
 
11 The word of the LORD came to me: "What do you see, Jeremiah?" "I see the branch of an almond tree," I replied.
 
12 The LORD said to me, "You have seen correctly, for I am watching to see that my word is fulfilled."
 
13 The word of the LORD came to me again: "What do you see?" "I see a boiling pot, tilting away from the north," I answered.
 
14 The LORD said to me, "From the north disaster will be poured out on all who live in the land.
 
15 I am about to summon all the peoples of the northern kingdoms," declares the LORD. "Their kings will come and set up their thrones in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem; they will come against all her surrounding walls and against all the towns of Judah.
 
16 I will pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness in forsaking me, in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.
 
17 "Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them.
 
18 Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land-against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land.
 
19 They will fight against you but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD.

Matthew 15

1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked,
 
2 "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!"
 
3 Jesus replied, "And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?
 
4 For God said, 'Honor your father and mother' and 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'
 
5 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,'
 
6 he is not to 'honor his father' with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
 
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
 
8 " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.
 
9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' "
 
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.
 
11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.' "
 
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?"
 
13 He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
 
14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit."
 
15 Peter said, "Explain the parable to us."
 
16 "Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
 
17 "Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
 
18 But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean.'
 
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
 
20 These are what make a man 'unclean'; but eating with unwashed hands does not make him 'unclean.' "
 
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
 
22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession."
 
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
 
24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
 
25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
 
26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to their dogs."
 
27 "Yes, Lord," she said, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table."
 
28 Then Jesus answered, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed from that very hour.
 
29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down.
 
30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them.
 
31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
 
32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way."
 
33 His disciples answered, "Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?"
 
34 "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked."Seven," they replied, "and a few small fish."
 
35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground.
 
36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people.
 
37 all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
 
38 The number of those who ate was four thousand, besides women and children.
 
39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.