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Miracle at the Jordan River
3 Early the next morning, Joshua and all the Israelites got up and left Acacia. They traveled to the Jordan River and camped there before they crossed it. 2 After three days the leaders went through the camp. 3 They gave orders to the people: “When you see the Levite priests carrying the Box of the Agreement of the Lord your God, follow them. 4 But do not follow too closely. Stay about 1000 yards[a] behind them. You have not been here before, but if you follow them, you will know where to go.”
5 Then Joshua told the people, “Make yourselves pure. Tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among us.”
6 Then Joshua said to the priests, “Take the Box of the Agreement and go across the river in front of the people.” So the priests lifted the Box and carried it in front of the people.
7 Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to make you a great man for all the Israelites to see. Then the people will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses. 8 The priests will carry the Box of the Agreement. Tell them this, ‘Walk to the shore of the Jordan River and stop just before you step into the water.’”
9 Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come and listen to the words of the Lord your God. 10 Here is proof that the living God is really with you and that he will surely defeat your enemies. He will defeat the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites; he will force them to leave their land. 11 The Box of the Agreement of the Lord of the whole world will go before you as you cross the Jordan River. 12 Now choose twelve men, one from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 The priests will carry the Holy Box of the Lord. He is the Lord of the whole world. They will carry that Box in front of you into the Jordan River. When they enter the water, the water of the Jordan River will stop flowing and fill behind that place like at a dam.”
14 The priests carried the Box of the Agreement, and the people left the place they had camped. The people started going across the Jordan River. 15 (During harvest time the Jordan River overflows its banks, so the river was at its fullest.) The priests who were carrying the Box came to the shore of the river. When they stepped into the water, 16 immediately the water stopped flowing and piled up like a wall. The water piled up high a long way up the river—all the way to Adam (a town near Zarethan). And the water flowing down to the sea of Arabah (the Dead Sea) was completely cut off. The people crossed the river near Jericho. 17 The ground at that place became dry, and the priests carried the Box of the Agreement of the Lord to the middle of the river and stopped. They waited there while all the Israelites walked across the Jordan River on dry land.
Rocks to Remind the People
4 After all the people had crossed the Jordan River, the Lord said to Joshua, 2 “Choose twelve men, one from each tribe. 3 Tell them to look in the river where the priests were standing and get twelve rocks from that place. Carry these rocks with you and put them where you stay tonight.”
4 So Joshua chose one man from each tribe. Then he called the twelve men together. 5 He said to them, “Go out into the river where the Holy Box of the Lord your God is. Each of you must find one rock. There will be one rock for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. Carry that rock on your shoulder. 6 These rocks will be a sign for you. In the future, your children will ask you, ‘What do these rocks mean?’ 7 You will tell them that the Lord stopped the water from flowing in the Jordan River. When the Holy Box of the Lord’s Agreement crossed the river, the water stopped flowing. These rocks will help the Israelites remember this forever.”
8 So the Israelites obeyed Joshua. They carried twelve rocks from the middle of the Jordan River. There was one rock for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. They did this as the Lord had commanded Joshua. The men carried the rocks with them. Then they put the rocks at the place where they made their camp. 9 Joshua also put twelve rocks in the middle of the Jordan River. He put them at the place where the priests had stood while carrying the Holy Box. These rocks are still there today.
10 The Lord had commanded Joshua to tell the people what to do. This is what Moses had said Joshua must do. So the priests carrying the Holy Box stood in the middle of the river until everything was done. Meanwhile, the people hurried across the river. 11 After the people finished crossing the river, the priests carried the Lord’s Holy Box to the front of the people.
12 The men from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh obeyed Moses. These men crossed the river in front of the other people. These men were prepared for war. They were going to help the rest of the Israelites take the land God had promised to give them. 13 About 40,000 soldiers, prepared for war, passed before the Lord. They were marching toward the plains of Jericho.
14 That day the Lord made Joshua a great man to all the Israelites. From that time on, they respected Joshua just as they had Moses.
15 Then the Lord said to Joshua, 16 “Command the priests carrying the Box that holds the Agreement[b] to come out of the river.”
17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come out of the Jordan River.”
18 The priests obeyed Joshua. They carried the Box of the Lord’s Agreement with them and came out of the river. When their feet touched the land on the other side of the river, the water in the river began flowing again. The water again overflowed its banks just as it had before the people crossed.
19 The people crossed the Jordan River on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, east of Jericho. 20 They carried with them the twelve rocks that they had taken from the Jordan River, and Joshua set them up at Gilgal. 21 Then Joshua told the Israelites, “In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these rocks mean?’ 22 Tell them, ‘These rocks help us remember the way the people of Israel crossed the Jordan River on dry land.’ 23 The Lord your God caused the water in the Jordan River to stop flowing so that you could cross it on dry land—just as the Lord had stopped the water at the Red Sea so that we could cross it on dry land. 24 The Lord did this so that all the people in this country would know that he is very powerful. Then they will always be afraid of the Lord your God.”
Don’t Make Yourself Important
7 Then Jesus noticed that some of the guests were choosing the best places to sit. So he told this story: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding, don’t sit in the most important seat. They may have invited someone more important than you. 9 And if you are sitting in the most important seat, they will come to you and say, ‘Give this man your seat!’ Then you will have to move down to the last place and be embarrassed.
10 “So when someone invites you, go sit in the seat that is not important. Then they will come to you and say, ‘Friend, move up here to this better place!’ What an honor this will be for you in front of all the other guests. 11 Everyone who makes themselves important will be made humble. But everyone who makes themselves humble will be made important.”
You Will Be Rewarded
12 Then Jesus said to the Pharisee who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or a dinner, don’t invite only your friends, brothers, relatives, and rich neighbors. At another time they will pay you back by inviting you to eat with them. 13 Instead, when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, and the blind. 14 Then you will have great blessings, because these people cannot pay you back. They have nothing. But God will reward you at the time when all godly people rise from death.”
A Story About People Invited to a Dinner(A)
15 One of the men sitting at the table with Jesus heard these things. The man said to him, “It will be a great blessing for anyone to eat a meal in God’s kingdom!”
16 Jesus said to him, “A man gave a big dinner. He invited many people. 17 When it was time to eat, he sent his servant to tell the guests, ‘Come. The food is ready.’ 18 But all the guests said they could not come. Each one made an excuse. The first one said, ‘I have just bought a field, so I must go look at it. Please excuse me.’ 19 Another man said, ‘I have just bought five pairs of work animals; I must go and try them out. Please excuse me.’ 20 A third man said, ‘I just got married; I can’t come.’
21 “So the servant returned and told his master what happened. The master was angry. He said, ‘Hurry! Go into the streets and alleys of the town. Bring me the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’
22 “Later, the servant said to him, ‘Master, I did what you told me to do, but we still have places for more people.’ 23 The master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and country roads. Tell the people there to come. I want my house to be full! 24 I tell you, not one of those people I invited first will eat any of this food I prepared.’”
Decide if You Can Follow Me(B)
25 Many people were traveling with Jesus. He said to them, 26 “If you come to me but will not leave your family, you cannot be my follower. You must love me more than your father, mother, wife, children, brothers, and sisters—even more than your own life! 27 Whoever will not carry the cross that is given to them when they follow me cannot be my follower.
28 “If you wanted to build a building, you would first sit down and decide how much it would cost. You must see if you have enough money to finish the job. 29 If you don’t do that, you might begin the work, but you would not be able to finish. And if you could not finish it, everyone would laugh at you. 30 They would say, ‘This man began to build, but he was not able to finish.’
31 “If a king is going to fight against another king, first he will sit down and plan. If he has only 10,000 men, he will try to decide if he is able to defeat the other king who has 20,000 men. 32 If he thinks he cannot defeat the other king, he will send some men to ask for peace while that king’s army is still far away.
33 “It is the same for each of you. You must leave everything you have to follow me. If not, you cannot be my follower.
Don’t Lose Your Influence(C)
34 “Salt is a good thing. But if the salt loses its salty taste, you can’t make it salty again. 35 It is worth nothing. You can’t even use it as dirt or dung. People just throw it away.
“You people who hear me, listen!”
To the director: To the tune “Lilies of the Agreement.” One of Asaph’s songs of praise.
80 Shepherd of Israel, listen to us.
You lead your people[a] like sheep.
You sit on your throne above the Cherub angels.
Let us see you.
2 Shepherd of Israel, show your greatness to the tribes of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh.
Come and save your people.
3 God, accept us again.
Smile down on us and save us!
4 Lord God All-Powerful, when will you listen to our prayers?
How long will you be angry with us?
5 Instead of bread and water,
you gave your people tears.
6 You made us the target of everyone’s hatred.
Our enemies make fun of us.
7 God All-Powerful, accept us again.
Smile down on us and save us!
8 When you brought us out of Egypt,
we were like your special vine.
You forced other nations to leave this land,
and you planted that vine here.
9 You prepared the ground for it,
and it sent its roots down deep and spread throughout the land.
10 It covered the mountains,
and its leaves shaded even the giant cedar trees.
11 Its branches spread to the Mediterranean Sea,
its shoots to the Euphrates River.
12 God, why did you pull down the walls that protect your vine?
Now everyone who passes by picks its grapes.
13 Wild pigs come and ruin it.
Wild animals eat the leaves.
14 God All-Powerful, come back.
Look down from heaven at your vine and protect it.
15 Look at the vine you planted with your own hands.
Look at the young plant[b] you raised.
16 Our enemies have cut it down and burned it up.
Show them how angry you are and destroy them.
27 Lazy people don’t get what they want, but riches come to those who work hard.
28 Along the path of goodness there is life; that is the way to live forever.[a]
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International