Joshua 15 - 17, Ephesians 3 - 4, Psalm 140

Judah’s Inheritance

15Now ^athe lot for the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families ¹reached the ^bborder of Edom, southward to the ^cwilderness of Zin at the far end toward the south. ²And their south border was from the lower end of the Salt Sea, from the bay that turns to the south. ³Then it went out southward to the ascent of Akrabbim and passed on to Zin and went up by the south of Kadesh-barnea and continued to Hezron and went up to Addar and turned about to Karka. ⁴And it ^apassed on to Azmon and went out to the ¹^,^bbrook of Egypt, and the ²border ended at the sea. This shall be your south border. ⁵And the ^aeast border was the Salt Sea, as far as the ¹mouth of the Jordan. And the ^bborder of the north side was from the bay of the sea at the ²mouth of the Jordan. ⁶Then the border went up to Beth-hoglah and passed by on the north of Beth-arabah; and the border went up to the stone of Bohan the son of Reuben. ⁷Then the border went up to Debir from ^athe valley of Achor and turned northward toward Gilgal which is opposite the ascent of Adummim, which is on the south of the valley; and the border continued to the waters of En-shemesh and ¹it ended at En-rogel. ⁸Then the border went up the valley of Ben-hinnom to the slope of the ^aJebusite on the south (that is, Jerusalem); and the border went up to the top of the mountain which is before the valley of Hinnom to the west, which is at the end of the valley of Rephaim toward the north. ⁹From the top of the mountain the border curved to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and proceeded to the cities of Mount Ephron; then the border curved to ^aBaalah (that is, ^bKiriath-jearim). ¹⁰Then the border turned about from Baalah westward to Mount Seir and continued to the slope of Mount Jearim on the north (that is, Chesalon) and went down to Beth-shemesh and continued through ^aTimnah. ¹¹Then the border went out to the side of Ekron northward. Then the border curved to Shikkeron and passed on to Mount Baalah and went out to Jabneel, and the ¹border ended at the sea. ¹²And the west border was ^aat the Great Sea, even its ¹coastline. This is the border around the sons of Judah according to their families.

¹³Now ^ahe gave to Caleb the son of Jephunneh a portion ^bamong the sons of Judah, according to the ¹command of Yahweh to Joshua, namely, ²Kiriath-arba, Arba being the father of Anak (that is, Hebron). ¹⁴^aAnd Caleb dispossessed from there the three ^bsons of Anak: Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai, the children of Anak. ¹⁵Then ^ahe went up from there against the inhabitants of Debir; now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher. ¹⁶And Caleb said, “The one who strikes down Kiriath-sepher and captures it, ¹I will give him Achsah my daughter as a wife.” ¹⁷^aAnd Othniel the son of Kenaz, the brother of Caleb, captured it; so he gave him Achsah his daughter as a wife. ¹⁸^aNow it happened that when she came to him, she enticed him to ask her father for a field. So she alighted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?” ¹⁹Then she said, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me the land of the ¹Negev, give me also springs of water.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

²⁰This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Judah according to their families.

²¹Now the cities at the far end of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the border of Edom in the south were Kabzeel and ^aEder and Jagur, ²²and Kinah and Dimonah and Adadah, ²³and Kedesh and Hazor and Ithnan, ²⁴Ziph and Telem and Bealoth, ²⁵and Hazor-hadattah and Kerioth-hezron (that is, Hazor), ²⁶Amam and Shema and Moladah, ²⁷and Hazar-gaddah and Heshmon and Beth-pelet, ²⁸and Hazar-shual and ^aBeersheba and Biziothiah, ²⁹Baalah and Iim and Ezem, ³⁰and Eltolad and Chesil and Hormah, ³¹and ^aZiklag and Madmannah and Sansannah, ³²and Lebaoth and Shilhim and Ain and Rimmon; in all, twenty-nine cities with their villages.

³³In the ¹Shephelah: ^aEshtaol and Zorah and Ashnah, ³⁴and Zanoah and En-gannim, Tappuah and Enam, ³⁵Jarmuth and ^aAdullam, Socoh and Azekah, ³⁶and Shaaraim and Adithaim and Gederah and Gederothaim; fourteen cities with their villages.

³⁷Zenan and Hadashah and Migdal-gad, ³⁸and Dilean and Mizpeh and Joktheel, ³⁹^aLachish and Bozkath and Eglon, ⁴⁰and Cabbon and Lahmas and Chitlish, ⁴¹and Gederoth, Beth-dagon and Naamah and Makkedah; sixteen cities with their villages.

⁴²Libnah and Ether and Ashan, ⁴³and Iphtah and Ashnah and Nezib, ⁴⁴and Keilah and Achzib and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages.

⁴⁵Ekron, with its towns and its villages; ⁴⁶from Ekron even to the sea, all that were by the ¹side of Ashdod, with their villages.

⁴⁷Ashdod, its towns and its villages; Gaza, its towns and its villages; as far as ^athe ¹brook of Egypt and the Great Sea, even its ²coastline.

⁴⁸And in the hill country: Shamir and Jattir and Socoh, ⁴⁹and Dannah and Kiriath-sannah (that is, Debir), ⁵⁰and Anab and Eshtemoh and Anim, ⁵¹and Goshen and Holon and Giloh; eleven cities with their villages.

⁵²Arab and Dumah and Eshan, ⁵³and Janum and Beth-tappuah and Aphekah, ⁵⁴and Humtah and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) and Zior; nine cities with their villages.

⁵⁵Maon, Carmel and Ziph and Juttah, ⁵⁶and Jezreel and Jokdeam and Zanoah, ⁵⁷Kain, Gibeah and Timnah; ten cities with their villages.

⁵⁸Halhul, Beth-zur and Gedor, ⁵⁹and Maarath and Beth-anoth and Eltekon; six cities with their villages.

⁶⁰Kiriath-baal (that is, Kiriath-jearim) and Rabbah; two cities with their villages.

⁶¹In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin and Secacah, ⁶²and Nibshan and the City of Salt and Engedi; six cities with their villages.

⁶³Now as for the ^aJebusites, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the sons of Judah could not dispossess them; so the Jebusites live with the sons of Judah at Jerusalem until this day.

Ephraim’s Inheritance

16Then the lot for the sons of Joseph went out from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east into ^athe wilderness, going up from Jericho through the hill country to Bethel. ²And it went out from Bethel to Luz and ^apassed on to the border of the Archites at Ataroth. ³Then it went down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of lower ^aBeth-horon even to ^bGezer, and ¹it ended at the sea.

⁴So the ^asons of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance. ⁵Now this was the territory of the sons of Ephraim according to their families: the border of their inheritance eastward was ^aAtaroth-addar, as far as upper Beth-horon. ⁶Then the border went westward at ^aMichmethath on the north, and the border turned about eastward to Taanath-shiloh and passed on beyond it to the east of Janoah. ⁷And it went down from Janoah to Ataroth and to ^aNaarah and reached Jericho and came out at the Jordan. ⁸From ^aTappuah the border continued westward to the ¹brook of Kanah, and ²it ended at the sea. This is the inheritance of the tribe of the sons of Ephraim according to their families, ⁹together with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages. ¹⁰^aBut they did not dispossess the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so ^bthe Canaanites live in the midst of Ephraim to this day, and they became forced laborers.

Manasseh’s Inheritance

17And this was the lot for the tribe of ^aManasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph. To Machir the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, ¹were allotted Gilead and Bashan, because he was a man of war. ²So the lot was made for the rest of the sons of Manasseh according to their families: for the sons of Abiezer and for the sons of Helek and for the sons of Asriel and for the sons of Shechem and for the sons of Hepher and for the sons of Shemida; these were the sons of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the males according to their families.

³However, ^aZelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah and Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah. ⁴And they came near before Eleazar the priest and before Joshua the son of Nun and before the leaders, saying, “Yahweh commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So ^aaccording to the ¹word of Yahweh he gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers. ⁵Thus there fell ten portions to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan, which is beyond the Jordan, ⁶because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. And the ^aland of Gilead belonged to the rest of the sons of Manasseh.

⁷And the border of Manasseh ¹ran from Asher to Michmethath which was east of Shechem; then the border went ²southward to the inhabitants of En-tappuah. ⁸The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but ^aTappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the sons of Ephraim. ⁹And the ^aborder went down to the ¹brook of Kanah, southward of the ²brook (these cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh), and the border of Manasseh was on the north side of the ³brook, and ⁴it ended at the sea. ¹⁰The south side belonged to Ephraim and the north side to Manasseh, and the sea was ¹their border; and they reached to Asher on the north and to Issachar on the east. ¹¹And in Issachar and in Asher, ^aManasseh had Beth-shean and its towns, and Ibleam and its towns, and the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, and the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns, the third is ^bNapheth. ¹²^aBut the sons of Manasseh could not take possession of these cities because the Canaanites persisted in living in that land. ¹³Now it happened that when the sons of Israel became strong, ^athey put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not dispossess them completely.

¹⁴Then the ^asons of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me only one lot and one portion for an inheritance, since I am a numerous people whom Yahweh has thus far blessed?” ¹⁵And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go ¹up to the forest and ²clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and of the Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” ¹⁶And the sons of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us, and all the Canaanites who live in the valley land have ^achariots of iron, both those who are in Beth-shean and its towns and those who are in the valley of Jezreel.” ¹⁷Then Joshua spoke to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, “You are a numerous people and have great power; you shall not have one lot only, ¹⁸but the hill country shall be yours. For though it is a forest, you shall ¹clear it, and to its ²farthest borders it shall be yours; for you shall dispossess the Canaanites, even though they have ^achariots of iron and even though they are strong.”

The Mystery of Christ Revealed

3For this reason I, Paul, ^athe prisoner of ^bChrist Jesus ^con behalf of you ^dGentiles— ²if indeed you heard of the ^astewardship of God’s grace which was given to me for you; ³^athat ^bby revelation there was ^cmade known to me ^dthe mystery, ^eas I wrote before in brief. ⁴About which, when you read you can understand ^amy insight ¹into the ^bmystery of Christ, ⁵which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it was now revealed to His holy ^aapostles and prophets ¹in the Spirit: ⁶that the Gentiles are ^afellow heirs and ^bfellow members of the body, and ^cfellow partakers of the promise in ^dChrist Jesus through the gospel, ⁷^aof which I was made a ^bminister, according to the gift of ^cGod’s grace which was given to me ^daccording to the working of His power. ⁸To me, ^athe very least of all ¹saints, this grace was given, to ^bproclaim to the Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable ^criches of Christ, ⁹and to bring to light for all what is the administration of the ^amystery which for ages has been ^bhidden in God ^cwho created all things; ¹⁰so that the manifold ^awisdom of God might now be ^bmade known through the church to the ^crulers and the authorities in ^dthe heavenly places. ¹¹This was in ^aaccordance with the ¹eternal purpose which He ²carried out in ^bChrist Jesus our Lord, ¹²in whom we have boldness and ¹^,^aconfident ^baccess through faith ²in Him. ¹³Therefore I ask ¹you not ^ato lose heart at my afflictions ^bon your behalf, which are your glory.

Prayer for Spiritual Power

¹⁴For this reason I ^abow my knees before the Father, ¹⁵from whom ¹every family in heaven and on earth is named, ¹⁶that He would give you, according to ^athe riches of His glory, to be ^bstrengthened with power through His Spirit in ^cthe inner man, ¹⁷so that ^aChrist may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being firmly ^brooted and ^cgrounded in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend with ^aall the ¹saints what is ^bthe breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹and to know ^athe love of Christ which ^bsurpasses knowledge, that you may be ^cfilled up to all the ^dfullness of God.

²⁰^aNow to Him who is ^bable to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or understand, ^caccording to the power that works within us, ²¹^ato Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations ¹forever and ever. Amen.

Unity of the Spirit

4Therefore I, ^athe prisoner in the Lord, ^bexhort you to ^cwalk worthy of the ^dcalling with which you have been ^ecalled, ²with all ^ahumility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another ^bin love, ³being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the ^abond of peace. ⁴There is ^aone body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one ^bhope of your calling; ⁵^aone Lord, one faith, one baptism; ⁶one God and Father of all ^awho is over all and through all and in all.

⁷But ^ato each one of us ^bgrace was given ^caccording to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore ¹it says, “^aWhen He ascended on high,He ^bled captive a host of captives,And He gave gifts to men.”

⁹(Now this expression, “He ^aascended,” what ¹does it mean except that He also ²descended into ^bthe lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is Himself also He who ascended ^afar above all the heavens, so that He might ^bfill all things.) ¹¹And He Himself ^agave ^bsome as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as ^cevangelists, and some as pastors and ^dteachers, ¹²^afor the equipping of the ¹saints for the work of service, to the building up of ^bthe body of Christ, ¹³until we all attain to ^athe unity of the faith, and of the ¹^,^bfull knowledge of the Son of God, to a ^cmature man, to the measure of the stature ²which belongs to the ^dfullness of Christ, ¹⁴so that we are ^ano longer to be children, ^btossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by ^ccraftiness ¹in ^ddeceitful scheming, ¹⁵but ¹speaking the truth ^ain love, ²we are to ^bgrow up in all aspects into Him who is the ^chead, that is Christ, ¹⁶from whom ^athe whole body, being joined and held together ¹by what every joint supplies, according to the properly ^bmeasured working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself ^cin love.

Put On the New Man

¹⁷^aTherefore this I say, and testify in the Lord, ^bthat you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the ^cfutility of their mind, ¹⁸being ^adarkened in their mind, ^balienated from the life of God because of the ^cignorance that is in them, because of the ^dhardness of their heart. ¹⁹And they, having ^abecome callous, ^bhave given themselves over to ^csensuality ¹for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness. ²⁰But you did not ^alearn ¹Christ in this way— ²¹if indeed you ^aheard Him and were ^btaught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, ²²¹to ^alay aside, in reference to your former conduct, the ^bold man, which is being corrupted in accordance with the ^clusts of deceit, ²³and to be ^arenewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and to ^aput on the ^bnew man, which ¹^,^cin the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

²⁵Therefore, ^alaying aside falsehood, ^bspeak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are ^cmembers of one another. ²⁶^aBe angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and do not ^agive the devil ¹an opportunity. ²⁸He who steals must steal no longer, but rather ^ahe must labor, ^bperforming with his own hands what is good, ^cso that he will have something to share with ¹one who has need. ²⁹Let no ¹^,^aunwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for ^bbuilding up ²what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear. ³⁰^aAnd do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, ¹by whom you were ^bsealed for the day of redemption. ³¹^aLet all bitterness and anger and wrath and shouting and slander be ^bput away from you, along with all ^cmalice. ³²^aInstead, be kind to one another, tender-hearted, graciously forgiving each other, ^bjust as God in Christ also has graciously forgiven ¹you.

Rescue Me, O Yahweh, from Evil Men

140

For the choir director. A Psalm of David.

^aRescue me, O Yahweh, from evil men;Guard me from ^bviolent men²Who ^athink up evil things in their hearts;They ^bcontinually stir up wars.³They ^asharpen their tongues as a serpent;^bPoison of an asp is under their lips. ¹ Selah.⁴^aKeep me, O Yahweh, from the hands of the wicked;^bGuard me from violent menWho ¹give thought to ²^,^ctrip up my steps.⁵The proud have ^ahidden a trap for me, and cords;They have spread a ^bnet by the ¹wayside;They have set ^csnares for me. Selah.⁶I ^asaid to Yahweh, “You are my God;^bGive ear, O Yahweh, to the ^cvoice of my supplications.⁷“O Yahweh, O Lord, ^athe strength of my salvation,You have ^bcovered my head in the day of ¹battle.⁸“Do not grant, O Yahweh, the ^adesires of the wicked;Do not promote ^bhis evil ¹scheme, that they not be exalted. Selah.⁹“As for the head of those who surround me,May the ^atrouble from their lips cover them.¹⁰“May ^aburning coals be shaken out upon them;May He ^bcause them to fall into the fire,Into ¹bottomless pits from which they ^ccan never rise.¹¹“May a ¹slanderer not be established in the earth;^aMay evil hunt the violent man ²speedily.”¹²I know that Yahweh will ^amaintain the cause for the afflictedAnd ^bjudgment for the needy.¹³Surely the ^arighteous will give thanks to Your name;The ^bupright will abide in Your presence.