I Will Bless the Lord
Of David.
1 oVindicate me, O Lord,
for I have pwalked in my integrity,
and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
2 qProve me, O Lord, and try me;
test my heart and my mind.1
3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
and I walk in your faithfulness.
4 I do not sit with men of falsehood,
nor do I consort with hypocrites.
5 rI hate the assembly of evildoers,
and I will not sit with the wicked.
6 I wash my hands sin innocence
and go around your altar, O Lord,
7 proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
and telling all your wondrous deeds.
8 O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
and tthe place where your glory dwells.
9 uDo not sweep my soul away with sinners,
nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
10 in whose hands are evil devices,
and whose right hands are full of vbribes.
11 But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
redeem me, and be gracious to me.
12 My foot stands on level ground;
in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.
Israel Crosses the Jordan
1 Then Joshua frose 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 gofficers hwent through the camp 3 and commanded the people, “As soon as you see the iark of the covenant of the Lord your God being jcarried 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 cubits1 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, k“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do lwonders 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 mexalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, nas 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 oliving God is pamong you and that qhe will without fail drive out from before you rthe Canaanites, the Hittites, the Hivites, the Perizzites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites. 11 Behold, the ark of the covenant of the sLord of all the earth2 is passing over tbefore you into the Jordan. 12 Now therefore take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, ufrom 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 vcut off from flowing, and the waters coming down from above shall stand in one wheap.”
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 xthe feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the brink of the water (now the Jordan yoverflows 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 zon dry ground until all the nation finished passing over the Jordan.
20 Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. 21 And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, q“He is out of his mind.”
Blasphemy Against the Holy Spirit
22 rAnd the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by sBeelzebul,” and t“by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” 23 And he called them to him and said to them in uparables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a vstrong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.
28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever wblasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30 for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Jesus’ Mother and Brothers
31 xAnd his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. 32 And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers1 are outside, yseeking you.” 33 And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” 34 And zlooking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 For awhoever bdoes the will of God, he is my cbrother and sister and mother.”
