1 Then the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh of the families of Manasseh, the son of Joseph came forward. Now these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 2 And they stood before Moses and Eleazar the priest and the leaders of the whole assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting and said, 3 “Our father died in the wilderness, although he was not part of the company of those that gathered themselves together against the Lord in the company of Korah, but he died for his own sin, and he had no sons. 4 Why should the name of our father be lost from among his family because he had no son? Give us a possession among the relatives of our father.”
5 So Moses brought their case before the Lord. 6 The Lord said to Moses: 7 “The daughters of Zelophehad have a valid claim. You must indeed give them possession of an inheritance among their father’s relatives, and you must transfer the inheritance of their father to them. 8 And you must tell the Israelites, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you must transfer his inheritance to his daughter; 9 and if he has no daughter, then you are to give his inheritance to his brothers; 10 and if he has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his father’s brothers; 11 and if his father has no brothers, then you are to give his inheritance to his relative nearest to him from his family, and he will possess it. This will be for the Israelites a legal requirement, as the Lord commanded Moses.’”
12 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of the Abarim range, and see the land I have given to the Israelites. 13 When you have seen it, you will be gathered to your ancestors, as Aaron your brother was gathered to his ancestors. 14 For in the wilderness of Zin when the community rebelled against me, you rebelled against my command to show me as holy before their eyes over the water—the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.”
15 Then Moses spoke to the Lord: 16 “Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all humankind, appoint a man over the community, 17 who will go out before them, and who will come in before them, and who will lead them out, and who will bring them in, so that the community of the Lord may not be like sheep that have no shepherd.”
18 The Lord replied to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; 19 set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community, and commission him publicly. 20 Then you must delegate some of your authority to him, so that the whole community of the Israelites will be obedient. 21 And he will stand before Eleazar the priest, who will seek counsel for him before the Lord by the decision of the Urim. At his command they will go out, and at his command they will come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole community.”
22 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him; he took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before the whole community. 23 He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, just as the Lord commanded, by the authority of Moses.
1 O God, please be willing to rescue me.
O Lord, hurry and help me.
2 May those who are trying to take my life
be embarrassed and ashamed.
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed.
3 May those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
be driven back and disgraced.
4 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you.
May those who love to experience your deliverance say continually,
“May God be praised!”
5 I am oppressed and needy.
O God, hurry to me.
You are my helper and my deliverer.
O Lord, do not delay.
1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter.
Never let me be humiliated.
2 Vindicate me by rescuing me.
Listen to me. Deliver me.
3 Be my protector and refuge,
a stronghold where I can be safe.
For you are my high ridge and my stronghold.
4 My God, rescue me from the power of the wicked,
from the hand of the cruel oppressor.
5 For you are my hope;
O Sovereign Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.
6 I have leaned on you since birth;
you pulled me from my mother’s womb.
I praise you continually.
7 Many are appalled when they see me,
but you are my secure shelter.
8 I praise you constantly
and speak of your splendor all day long.
9 Do not reject me in my old age.
When my strength fails, do not abandon me.
10 For my enemies talk about me;
those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise.
11 They say, “God has abandoned him.
Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him.”
12 O God, do not remain far away from me.
My God, hurry and help me.
13 May my accusers be humiliated and defeated.
May those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace.
14 As for me, I will wait continually,
and will continue to praise you.
15 I will tell about your justice,
and all day long proclaim your salvation,
though I cannot fathom its full extent.
16 I will come and tell about the mighty acts of the Sovereign Lord.
I will proclaim your justice—yours alone.
17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I am still declaring your amazing deeds.
18 Even when I am old and gray,
O God, do not abandon me,
until I tell the next generation about your strength,
and those coming after me about your power.
19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above;
you have done great things.
O God, who can compare to you?
20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress,
revive me once again.
Bring me up once again from the depths of the earth.
21 Raise me to a position of great honor.
Turn and comfort me.
22 I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,
praising your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy. Yes, I will sing your praises.
I will praise you when you rescue me.
24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,
for those who want to harm me will be embarrassed and ashamed.
1 This is an oracle about Damascus:
“Look, Damascus is no longer a city,
it is a heap of ruins!
2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned.
They will be used for herds,
which will lie down there in peace.
3 Fortified cities will disappear from Ephraim,
and Damascus will lose its kingdom.
The survivors in Syria
will end up like the splendor of the Israelites,”
says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
4 “At that time
Jacob’s splendor will be greatly diminished,
and he will become skin and bones.
5 It will be as when one gathers the grain harvest,
and his hand gleans the ear of grain.
It will be like one gathering the ears of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 There will be some left behind,
as when an olive tree is beaten—
two or three ripe olives remain toward the very top,
four or five on its fruitful branches,”
says the Lord God of Israel.
7 At that time men will trust in their Creator;
they will depend on the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will no longer trust in the altars their hands made,
or depend on the Asherah poles and incense altars their fingers made.
9 At that time their fortified cities will be
like the abandoned summits of the Amorites,
which they abandoned because of the Israelites;
there will be desolation.
10 For you ignore the God who rescues you;
you pay no attention to your strong protector.
So this is what happens:
You cultivate beautiful plants
and plant exotic vines.
11 The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow;
the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout.
Yet the harvest will disappear in the day of disease
and incurable pain.
12 Beware, you many nations massing together,
those who make a commotion as loud as the roaring of the sea’s waves.
Beware, you people making such an uproar,
those who make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves.
13 Though these people make an uproar as loud as the roaring of powerful waves,
when he shouts at them, they will flee to a distant land,
driven before the wind like dead weeds on the hills,
or like dead thistles before a strong gale.
14 In the evening there is sudden terror;
by morning they vanish.
This is the fate of those who try to plunder us,
the destiny of those who try to loot us!
1 Beware, land of buzzing wings,
the one beyond the rivers of Cush,
2 that sends messengers by sea,
who glide over the water’s surface in boats made of papyrus.
Go, you swift messengers,
to a nation of tall, smooth-skinned people,
to a people that are feared far and wide,
to a nation strong and victorious,
whose land rivers divide.
3 All you who live in the world,
who reside on the earth,
you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains;
you will hear a trumpet being blown.
4 For this is what the Lord has told me:
“I will wait and watch from my place,
like scorching heat produced by the sunlight,
like a cloud of mist in the heat of harvest.”
5 For before the harvest, when the bud has sprouted,
and the ripening fruit appears,
he will cut off the unproductive shoots with pruning knives;
he will prune the tendrils.
6 They will all be left for the birds of the hills
and the wild animals;
the birds will eat them during the summer,
and all the wild animals will eat them during the winter.
7 At that time
tribute will be brought to the Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
by a people that are tall and smooth-skinned,
a people that are feared far and wide,
a nation strong and victorious,
whose land rivers divide.
The tribute will be brought to the place where the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has chosen to reside, on Mount Zion.
1 So as your fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings and as one who shares in the glory that will be revealed, I urge the elders among you: 2 Give a shepherd’s care to God’s flock among you, exercising oversight not merely as a duty but willingly under God’s direction, not for shameful profit but eagerly. 3 And do not lord it over those entrusted to you, but be examples to the flock. 4 Then when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that never fades away.
5 In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. 6 And God will exalt you in due time, if you humble yourselves under his mighty hand 7 by casting all your cares on him because he cares for you. 8 Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion, is on the prowl looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, strong in your faith, because you know that your brothers and sisters throughout the world are enduring the same kinds of suffering. 10 And, after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace who called you to his eternal glory in Christ will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. 11 To him belongs the power forever. Amen.
12 Through Silvanus, whom I know to be a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, in order to encourage you and testify that this is the true grace of God. Stand fast in it. 13 The church in Babylon, chosen together with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son. 14 Greet one another with a loving kiss. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
