Joshua 14, 15, Psalm 146, 147, Jeremiah 7, Matthew 21

Joshua 14, 15,

1 Now these are the areas the Israelites received as an inheritance in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun and the heads of the tribal clans of Israel allotted to them.
 
2 Their inheritances were assigned by lot to the nine-and-a-half tribes, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.
 
3 Moses had granted the two-and-a-half tribes their inheritance east of the Jordan but had not granted the Levites an inheritance among the rest,
 
4 for the sons of Joseph had become two tribes-Manasseh and Ephraim. The Levites received no share of the land but only towns to live in, with pasturelands for their flocks and herds.
 
5 So the Israelites divided the land, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
 
6 Now the men of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal, and Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, "You know what the LORD said to Moses the man of God at Kadesh Barnea about you and me.
 
7 I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me from Kadesh Barnea to explore the land. And I brought him back a report according to my convictions,
 
8 but my brothers who went up with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear. I, however, followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.
 
9 So on that day Moses swore to me, 'The land on which your feet have walked will be your inheritance and that of your children forever, because you have followed the LORD my God wholeheartedly.'
 
10 "Now then, just as the LORD promised, he has kept me alive for forty-five years since the time he said this to Moses, while Israel moved about in the desert. So here I am today, eighty-five years old!
 
11 I am still as strong today as the day Moses sent me out; I'm just as vigorous to go out to battle now as I was then.
 
12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD promised me that day. You yourself heard then that the Anakites were there and their cities were large and fortified, but, the LORD helping me, I will drive them out just as he said."
 
13 Then Joshua blessed Caleb son of Jephunneh and gave him Hebron as his inheritance.
 
14 So Hebron has belonged to Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite ever since, because he followed the LORD, the God of Israel, wholeheartedly.
 
15 (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba after Arba, who was the greatest man among the Anakites.) Then the land had rest from war.

1 The allotment for the tribe of Judah, clan by clan, extended down to the territory of Edom, to the Desert of Zin in the extreme south.
 
2 Their southern boundary started from the bay at the southern end of the Salt Sea,
 
3 crossed south of Scorpion Pass, continued on to Zin and went over to the south of Kadesh Barnea. Then it ran past Hezron up to Addar and curved around to Karka.
 
4 It then passed along to Azmon and joined the Wadi of Egypt, ending at the sea. This is their southern boundary.
 
5 The eastern boundary is the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. The northern boundary started from the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan,
 
6 went up to Beth Hoglah and continued north of Beth Arabah to the Stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
 
7 The boundary then went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor and turned north to Gilgal, which faces the Pass of Adummim south of the gorge. It continued along to the waters of En Shemesh and came out at En Rogel.
 
8 Then it ran up the Valley of Ben Hinnom along the southern slope of the Jebusite city (that is, Jerusalem). From there it climbed to the top of the hill west of the Hinnom Valley at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
 
9 From the hilltop the boundary headed toward the spring of the waters of Nephtoah, came out at the towns of Mount Ephron and went down toward Baalah (that is, Kiriath Jearim).
 
10 Then it curved westward from Baalah to Mount Seir, ran along the northern slope of Mount Jearim (that is, Kesalon), continued down to Beth Shemesh and crossed to Timnah.
 
11 It went to the northern slope of Ekron, turned toward Shikkeron, passed along to Mount Baalah and reached Jabneel. The boundary ended at the sea.
 
12 The western boundary is the coastline of the Great Sea. These are the boundaries around the people of Judah by their clans.
 
13 In accordance with the LORD's command to him, Joshua gave to Caleb son of Jephunneh a portion in Judah-Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron. (Arba was the forefather of Anak.)
 
14 From Hebron Caleb drove out the three Anakites-Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai-descendants of Anak.
 
15 From there he marched against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).
 
16 And Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher."
 
17 Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.
 
18 One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, "What can I do for you?"
 
19 She replied, "Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water." So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.
 
20 This is the inheritance of the tribe of Judah, clan by clan:
 
21 The southernmost towns of the tribe of Judah in the Negev toward the boundary of Edom were: Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,
 
22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,
 
23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan,
 
24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,
 
25 Hazor Hadattah, Kerioth Hezron (that is, Hazor),
 
26 Amam, Shema, Moladah,
 
27 Hazar Gaddah, Heshmon, Beth Pelet,
 
28 Hazar Shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah,
 
29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem,
 
30 Eltolad, Kesil, Hormah,
 
31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
 
32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain and Rimmon-a total of twenty-nine towns and their villages.
 
33 In the western foothills: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
 
34 Zanoah, En Gannim, Tappuah, Enam,
 
35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,
 
36 Shaaraim, Adithaim and Gederah (or Gederothaim) -fourteen towns and their villages.
 
37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal Gad,
 
38 Dilean, Mizpah, Joktheel,
 
39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,
 
40 Cabbon, Lahmas, Kitlish,
 
41 Gederoth, Beth Dagon, Naamah and Makkedah-sixteen towns and their villages.
 
42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan,
 
43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib,
 
44 Keilah, Aczib and Mareshah-nine towns and their villages.
 
45 Ekron, with its surrounding settlements and villages;
 
46 west of Ekron, all that were in the vicinity of Ashdod, together with their villages;
 
47 Ashdod, its surrounding settlements and villages; and Gaza, its settlements and villages, as far as the Wadi of Egypt and the coastline of the Great Sea.
 
48 In the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,
 
49 Dannah, Kiriath Sannah (that is, Debir),
 
50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim,
 
51 Goshen, Holon and Giloh-eleven towns and their villages.
 
52 Arab, Dumah, Eshan,
 
53 Janim, Beth Tappuah, Aphekah,
 
54 Humtah, Kiriath Arba (that is, Hebron) and Zior-nine towns and their villages.
 
55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,
 
56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah,
 
57 Kain, Gibeah and Timnah-ten towns and their villages.
 
58 Halhul, Beth Zur, Gedor,
 
59 Maarath, Beth Anoth and Eltekon-six towns and their villages.
 
60 Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah-two towns and their villages.
 
61 In the desert: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah,
 
62 Nibshan, the City of Salt and En Gedi-six towns and their villages.
 
63 Judah could not dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the people of Judah.

Psalm 146, 147,

1 Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, O my soul.
 
2 I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
 
3 Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save.
 
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground; on that very day their plans come to nothing.
 
5 Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
 
6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them-the LORD, who remains faithful forever.
 
7 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,
 
8 the LORD gives sight to the blind, the LORD lifts up those who are bowed down, the LORD loves the righteous.
 
9 The LORD watches over the alien and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
 
10 The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.

1 Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
 
2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem; he gathers the exiles of Israel.
 
3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
 
4 He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.
 
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.
 
6 The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.
 
7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving; make music to our God on the harp.
 
8 He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.
 
9 He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.
 
10 His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of a man;
 
11 the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.
 
12 Extol the LORD, O Jerusalem; praise your God, O Zion,
 
13 for he strengthens the bars of your gates and blesses your people within you.
 
14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat.
 
15 He sends his command to the earth; his word runs swiftly.
 
16 He spreads the snow like wool and scatters the frost like ashes.
 
17 He hurls down his hail like pebbles. Who can withstand his icy blast?
 
18 He sends his word and melts them; he stirs up his breezes, and the waters flow.
 
19 He has revealed his word to Jacob, his laws and decrees to Israel.
 
20 He has done this for no other nation; they do not know his laws. Praise the LORD.

Jeremiah 7,

1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD :
 
2 "Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: " 'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD.
 
3 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.
 
4 Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!"
 
5 If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,
 
6 if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm,
 
7 then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.
 
8 But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless.
 
9 " 'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known,
 
10 and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"-safe to do all these detestable things?
 
11 Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.
 
12 " 'Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
 
13 While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer.
 
14 Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers.
 
15 I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.'
 
16 "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.
 
17 Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
 
18 The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.
 
19 But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame?
 
20 " 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.
 
21 " 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves!
 
22 For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices,
 
23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.
 
24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.
 
25 From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets.
 
26 But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.'
 
27 "When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer.
 
28 Therefore say to them, 'This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.
 
29 Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath.
 
30 " 'The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.
 
31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire-something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
 
32 So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room.
 
33 Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.
 
34 I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate.

Matthew 21

1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
 
2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me.
 
3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
 
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
 
5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "
 
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them.
 
7 They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them.
 
8 A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
 
9 The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest!"
 
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
 
11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
 
12 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves.
 
13 "It is written," he said to them, " 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.' "
 
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them.
 
15 But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they were indignant.
 
16 "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him. "Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read, " 'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"
 
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
 
18 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.
 
19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.
 
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.
 
21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.
 
22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
 
23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?"
 
24 Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
 
25 John's baptism-where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?" They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?'
 
26 But if we say, 'From men'-we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet."
 
27 So they answered Jesus, "We don't know." Then he said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
 
28 "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'
 
29 " 'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
 
30 "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, 'I will, sir,' but he did not go.
 
31 "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" "The first," they answered. Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
 
32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
 
33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey.
 
34 When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.
 
35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third.
 
36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.
 
37 Last of all, he sent his son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
 
38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.'
 
39 So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
 
40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"
 
41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied, "and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time."
 
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: " 'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
 
43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.
 
44 He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
 
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.
 
46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.