Joshua 3
Crossing the Jordan
1 Then Joshua rose early in the morning and departed from Acacia Grove; and he came to the Jordan and lodged there before crossing over.†
2 After three days, it came to pass that the scribes went through the camp
3 and commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord our God, and our priests and Levites who carry it, then you shall depart from your places; and you shall go after it;†
4 but there shall be a distance between you and it. You shall stand as much as two thousand cubits from it, and do not come near it, that you may understand the way you are to go; for you have not gone this way before.”
5 Joshua then said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”
6 Joshua also said to the priests, “Take up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and go before the people.” So the priests took up the ark of the covenant of the Lord and went before the people.
7 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I shall begin to exalt you in the sight of all the children of Israel, so they will know that I shall be with you as I was with Moses.
8 Therefore now, command the priests who carry the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘As soon as you enter a part of the water of the Jordan, then you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ”
9 Joshua then said to the children of Israel, “Come here and hear the word of the Lord our God.
10 Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you and will utterly destroy before our face the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, the Amorites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.
11 Behold the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing the Jordan.
12 Choose for yourselves twelve men from the sons of Israel, one from each tribe.
13 Then it shall come to pass that when the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth rest in the water of the Jordan, the water of the Jordan will cease to flow, for the upstream water will stand still.”
14 So the people left their tents to cross over the Jordan, and the priests carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord before the people.
15 Now when the priests who carried the ark of the covenant came to the Jordan, and the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord dipped in part of the water of the Jordan (now the Jordan overflowed all its banks about the time of wheat harvest),
16 then the upstream waters stopped flowing downstream, and a solid wall of water formed over a very great distance, as far as the region of Adam. The lower part came down to the Sea of Araba, the Salt Sea, until it came to a complete stop; and the people stood opposite Jericho.†
17 So the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; and all the children of Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the people crossed the Jordan.
Psalms 85
1 A prayer by David. †Incline Your ear, O Lord, and hear me, For I am poor and needy.
2 Guard my soul, for I am holy; O my God, save Your servant, who hopes in You.
3 Have mercy on me, O Lord, For all the day long I will cry to You.
4 Gladden the soul of Your servant, O Lord, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
5 For You, O Lord, are kind and good, And very merciful to all who call upon You.
6 Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer And heed the voice of my supplication.
7 In the day of my affliction I cried to You, For You heard me.
8 There is none like You among the gods, O Lord, And there are no works like Your works.
9 All the Gentiles You made shall come And worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name;
10 For You are great, doing wonders; You alone are the great God.
11 Lead me in Your way, O Lord, And I will walk in Your truth; Gladden my heart so as to fear Your name.
12 I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, And I shall glorify Your name forever;
13 For great is Your mercy to me, And You rescued my soul from the lowest Hades.
14 O God, lawless men rose up against me, And a gathering of strong men sought my soul; And they did not set You before them.
15 But You, O Lord, are compassionate and merciful, Longsuffering and very merciful and truthful.
16 Look upon me and have mercy; Give Your strength to Your servant, And save the son of Your handmaid.
17 Work a sign in my midst for good, And let those who hate me see it and be disgraced; For You, O Lord, helped me and comforted me.
Proverbs of Solomon 18
Words and Works
1 A man seeks a pretext when he wishes to separate from his friends, But he shall be reproached at every opportunity.†
2 A man lacking understanding has no need of wisdom, For he is rather led by lack of discernment.
3 When an ungodly man comes into the depth of evil things, he acts contemptuously, But dishonor and reproach come upon him.
4 A word in the heart of a man is deep water, And a river and a fountain of life spring up from it.†
5 It is not good to admire the person of the ungodly, Nor is it holy to pervert righteousness in judgment.
Luke 11
How to Pray
1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”†
2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
3 Give us day by day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”
5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves;†
6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him’;
7 and he will answer from within and say, ‘Do not trouble me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give to you’?
8 I say to you, though he will not rise and give to him because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs.
9 “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.†
10 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
11 If a son asks for bread from any father among you, will he give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent instead of a fish?
12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?
13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Jesus and the Devil
14 And He was casting out a demon, and it was mute. So it was, when the demon had gone out, that the mute spoke; and the multitudes marveled.
15 But some of them said, “He casts out demons by Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons.”†
Spiritual Power, Spiritual War
16 Others, testing Him, sought from Him a sign from heaven.†
17 But He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls.
18 If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub.
19 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
20 But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you.†
21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace.†
22 But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.
23 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.†
24 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’†
25 And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order.
26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”†
28 But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”