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First Reading: Joshua Chapter 5 and 6Joshua 5
5:1 Now when all the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Canaanite
kings along the coast heard how the LORD had dried up the Jordan before the
Israelites until we had crossed over, their hearts melted and they no longer
had the courage to face the Israelites.
2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise
the Israelites again." 3 So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the
Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.
4 Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt-all the men of
military age-died in the desert on the way after leaving Egypt. 5 All the people
that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the desert during
the journey from Egypt had not. 6 The Israelites had moved about in the desert
forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt
had died, since they had not obeyed the LORD. For the LORD had sworn to them
that they would not see the land that he had solemnly promised their fathers
to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. 7 So he raised up their sons
in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still
uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. 8 And after
the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp
until they were healed.
9 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Today I have rolled away the reproach
of Egypt from you." So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.
10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while camped at Gilgal
on the plains of Jericho, the Israelites celebrated the Passover. 11 The day
after the Passover, that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land:
unleavened bread and roasted grain. 12 The manna stopped the day after they
ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites,
but that year they ate of the produce of Canaan.
13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in
front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked,
"Are you for us or for our enemies?"
14 "Neither," he replied, "but as commander of the army of the
LORD I have now come." Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence,
and asked him, "What message does my Lord have for his servant?"
15 The commander of the LORD's army replied, "Take off your sandals, for
the place where you are standing is holy." And Joshua did so.
Joshua 6
6:1 Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went
out and no one came in.
2 Then the LORD said to Joshua, "See, I have delivered Jericho into your
hands, along with its king and its fighting men. 3 March around the city once
with all the armed men. Do this for six days. 4 Have seven priests carry trumpets
of rams' horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city
seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets. 5 When you hear them sound
a long blast on the trumpets, have all the people give a loud shout; then the
wall of the city will collapse and the people will go up, every man straight
in."
6 So Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, "Take up the
ark of the covenant of the LORD and have seven priests carry trumpets in front
of it." 7 And he ordered the people, "Advance! March around the city,
with the armed guard going ahead of the ark of the LORD."
8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven
trumpets before the LORD went forward, blowing their trumpets, and the ark of
the LORD's covenant followed them. 9 The armed guard marched ahead of the priests
who blew the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark. All this time the
trumpets were sounding. 10 But Joshua had commanded the people, "Do not
give a war cry, do not raise your voices, do not say a word until the day I
tell you to shout. Then shout!" 11 So he had the ark of the LORD carried
around the city, circling it once. Then the people returned to camp and spent
the night there.
12 Joshua got up early the next morning and the priests took up the ark of the
LORD. 13 The seven priests carrying the seven trumpets went forward, marching
before the ark of the LORD and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead
of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets
kept sounding. 14 So on the second day they marched around the city once and
returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
15 On the seventh day, they got up at daybreak and marched around the city seven
times in the same manner, except that on that day they circled the city seven
times. 16 The seventh time around, when the priests sounded the trumpet blast,
Joshua commanded the people, "Shout! For the LORD has given you the city!
17 The city and all that is in it are to be devoted to the LORD. Only Rahab
the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall be spared, because
she hid the spies we sent. 18 But keep away from the devoted things, so that
you will not bring about your own destruction by taking any of them. Otherwise
you will make the camp of Israel liable to destruction and bring trouble on
it. 19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are sacred
to the LORD and must go into his treasury."
20 When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet,
when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged
straight in, and they took the city. 21 They devoted the city to the LORD and
destroyed with the sword every living thing in it-men and women, young and old,
cattle, sheep and donkeys.
22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the
prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance
with your oath to her." 23 So the young men who had done the spying went
in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged
to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the
camp of Israel.
24 Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver
and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's
house. 25 But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who
belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho-and
she lives among the Israelites to this day.
26 At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: "Cursed before the
LORD is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho:
"At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost
of his youngest will he set up its gates."
27 So the LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.
1 Corinthians 1
1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our
brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called
to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ-their Lord and ours:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
5 For in him you have been enriched in every way-in all your speaking and in
all your knowledge- 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord
Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you
will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God, who has called
you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all
of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and
that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from
Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What
I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I
follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I
follow Christ."
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the
name of Paul? 14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus
and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes,
I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if
I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach
the gospel-not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied
of its power.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness 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; the intelligence of the intelligent
I will frustrate."
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of
this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in
the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased
through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews
demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ
crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to
those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were
wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose
the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things
of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify
the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because
of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that
is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written:
"Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our
brother Sosthenes,
2 To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called
to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ-their Lord and ours:
3 Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.
5 For in him you have been enriched in every way-in all your speaking and in
all your knowledge- 6 because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.
7 Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord
Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will keep you strong to the end, so that you
will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 God, who has called
you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
10 I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all
of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and
that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. 11 My brothers, some from
Chloe's household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. 12 What
I mean is this: One of you says, "I follow Paul"; another, "I
follow Apollos"; another, "I follow Cephas"; still another, "I
follow Christ."
13 Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the
name of Paul? 14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus
and Gaius, 15 so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. 16(Yes,
I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't remember if
I baptized anyone else.) 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach
the gospel-not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied
of its power.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness 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; the intelligence of the intelligent
I will frustrate."
20 Where is the wise man? Where is the scholar? Where is the philosopher of
this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in
the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased
through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews
demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ
crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to
those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and
the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom,
and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength.
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were
wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.
27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose
the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things
of this world and the despised things-and the things that are not-to nullify
the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because
of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God-that
is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written:
"Let him who boasts boast in the Lord."
SUPER HEROES OF THE BIBLE
JOSHUA
Joshua was of the tribe of Ephraim. Joshua is the Hebrew form of the name Jesus. He had been a personal attendant of Moses throughout the 40 years of wilderness wandering. He was with Moses in the Mount and was one of the original 12 spies. He and Caleb were the only ones of their generation to cross the Jordan River into the promised land because of their faithful and fearless report as spies.
Joshua was not only a ruler over Israel but also a military leader. He trusted in God in his military campaigns against the idol worshipping Canaanites. He displayed courage in every aspect of his life. He is best known for his declaration to the Israelites:
"But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15 (NIV)
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