Mark 1:9-20
[9]
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by
John in the Jordan. [10] And when he came up out of the water,
immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending
on him like a dove. [11] And a voice came from heaven, “You are my
beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”
[12]
The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. [13] And he
was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was
with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.
[14]
Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the
gospel of God, [15] and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom
of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
[16]
Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the
brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
[17] And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become
fishers of men.” [18] And immediately they left their nets and followed
him. [19] And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee
and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. [20] And
immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the
boat with the hired servants and followed him.
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
[18]
For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to
us who are being saved it is the power of God. [19] For it is written,
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”
[20] Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the
debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
[21] For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through
wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save
those who believe. [22] For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
[23] but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly
to Gentiles, [24] but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. [25] For the foolishness
of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
[26]
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise
according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of
noble birth. [27] But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame
the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; [28]
God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are
not, to bring to nothing things that are, [29] so that no human being
might boast in the presence of God. [30] And because of him you are in
Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and
sanctification and redemption, [31] so that, as it is written, “Let the
one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
Psalm 73
A Psalm of Asaph.
[1] Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
[2] But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
my steps had nearly slipped.
[3] For I was envious of the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
[4] For they have no pangs until death;
their bodies are fat and sleek.
[5] They are not in trouble as others are;
they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
[6] Therefore pride is their necklace;
violence covers them as a garment.
[7] Their eyes swell out through fatness;
their hearts overflow with follies.
[8] They scoff and speak with malice;
loftily they threaten oppression.
[9] They set their mouths against the heavens,
and their tongue struts through the earth.
[10] Therefore his people turn back to them,
and find no fault in them.
[11] And they say, “How can God know?
Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
[12] Behold, these are the wicked;
always at ease, they increase in riches.
[13] All in vain have I kept my heart clean
and washed my hands in innocence.
[14] For all the day long I have been stricken
and rebuked every morning.
[15] If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
[16] But when I thought how to understand this,
it seemed to me a wearisome task,
[17] until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.
[18] Truly you set them in slippery places;
you make them fall to ruin.
[19] How they are destroyed in a moment,
swept away utterly by terrors!
[20] Like a dream when one awakes,
O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
[21] When my soul was embittered,
when I was pricked in heart,
[22] I was brutish and ignorant;
I was like a beast toward you.
[23] Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
[24] You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
[25] Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
[26] My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
[27] For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
[28] But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.
Joshua 3
[1]
Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim.
And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged
there before they passed over. [2] At the end of three days the
officers went through the camp [3] and commanded the people, “As soon as
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 and follow
it. [4] Yet there shall be a distance between you and it, about 2,000
cubits in length. Do not come near it, in order that you may know the
way you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.” [5] Then
Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD
will do wonders among you.” [6] And Joshua said to the priests, “Take
up the ark of the covenant and pass on before the people.” So they took
up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.
[7]
The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight
of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will
be with you. [8] And as for you, command the priests who bear the ark of
the covenant, ‘When you come to the brink of the waters of the Jordan,
you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” [9] And Joshua said to the people
of Israel, “Come here and listen to the words of the LORD your God.”
[10] And Joshua said, “Here is how you shall know that the living God is
among you and that he will without fail drive out from before you the
Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites,
the Amorites, and the Jebusites. [11] Behold, the ark of the covenant of
the Lord of all the earth is passing over before you into the Jordan.
[12] Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, from each
tribe a man. [13] And when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing
the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters
of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off from flowing,
and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one heap.”
[14]
So when the people set out from their tents to pass over the Jordan
with the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people, [15]
and as soon as those bearing the ark had come as far as the Jordan, and
the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the
water (now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of
harvest), [16] the waters coming down from above stood and rose up in a
heap very far away, at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, and those
flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were
completely cut off. And the people passed over opposite Jericho. [17]
Now the priests bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly
on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, and all Israel was passing
over on dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the
Jordan.
Joshua 4
[1]
When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the LORD said
to Joshua, [2] “Take twelve men from the people, from each tribe a man,
[3] and command them, saying, ‘Take twelve stones from here out of the
midst of the Jordan, from the very place where the priests’ feet stood
firmly, and bring them over with you and lay them down in the place
where you lodge tonight.’” [4] Then Joshua called the twelve men from
the people of Israel, whom he had appointed, a man from each tribe. [5]
And Joshua said to them, “Pass on before the ark of the LORD your God
into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his
shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,
[6] that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time
to come, ‘What do those stones mean to you?’ [7] then you shall tell
them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the
covenant of the LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the
Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a
memorial forever.”
[8]
And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up
twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of
the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the LORD told Joshua. And
they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid
them down there. [9] And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of
the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark
of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day. [10] For the
priests bearing the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until
everything was finished that the LORD commanded Joshua to tell the
people, according to all that Moses had commanded Joshua.
The
people passed over in haste. [11] And when all the people had finished
passing over, the ark of the LORD and the priests passed over before
the people. [12] The sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad and the
half-tribe of Manasseh passed over armed before the people of Israel, as
Moses had told them. [13] About 40,000 ready for war passed over before
the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho. [14] On that day the
LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they stood in awe of
him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.
[15]
And the LORD said to Joshua, [16] “Command the priests bearing 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 when the priests
bearing the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the midst of
the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted up on dry
ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and overflowed
all its banks, as before.
[19]
The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first
month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho. [20]
And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set
up at Gilgal. [21] And he said to the people of Israel, “When your
children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones
mean?’ [22] then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over
this Jordan on dry ground.’ [23] For the LORD your God dried up the
waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the LORD your God
did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over, [24]
so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD
is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.”
Joshua 5
[1]
As soon as all the kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan to
the west, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard
that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan for the people of
Israel until they had crossed over, their hearts melted and there was no
longer any spirit in them because of the people of Israel.
[2]
At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives and circumcise
the sons of Israel a second time.” [3] So Joshua made flint knives and
circumcised the sons of Israel at Gibeath-haaraloth. [4] And this is the
reason why Joshua circumcised them: all the males of the people who
came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the
way after they had come out of Egypt. [5] Though all the people who
came out had been circumcised, yet all the people who were born on the
way in the wilderness after they had come out of Egypt had not been
circumcised. [6] For the people of Israel walked forty years in the
wilderness, until all the nation, the men of war who came out of Egypt,
perished, because they did not obey the voice of the LORD; the LORD
swore to them that he would not let them see the land that the LORD had
sworn to their fathers to give to us, a land flowing with milk and
honey. [7] So it was their children, whom he raised up in their place,
that Joshua circumcised. For they were uncircumcised, because they had
not been circumcised on the way.
[8]
When the circumcising of the whole nation was finished, they remained
in their places in the camp until they were healed. [9] And the LORD
said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from
you.” And so the name of that place is called Gilgal to this day.
[10]
While the people of Israel were encamped at Gilgal, they kept the
Passover on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening on the plains
of Jericho. [11] And the day after the Passover, on that very day, they
ate of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.
[12] And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the
land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they
ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.
[13]
When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and
behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.
And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our
adversaries?” [14] And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army
of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth
and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?”
[15] And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your
sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.”
And Joshua did so.
