Nothing failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All of it came to pass. Joshua 21:45

Joshua 21

Forty-eight Cities of the Levites

¹ Then the heads of fathers’ houses of the Levites came near to Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of fathers’ houses of the tribes of the Israelites. ² They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The Lord commanded through Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with their pasture lands for our livestock.”

³ The Israelites gave to the Levites out of their inheritance, according to the Lord’s commandment, these cities with their pasture lands. ⁴ The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.

⁵ The rest of the descendants of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

⁶ The descendants of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.

⁷ The descendants of Merari according to their families had twelve cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out of the tribe of Zebulun.

⁸ The Israelites gave these cities with their pasture lands by lot to the Levites, as the Lord commanded through Moses.

⁹ They gave out of the tribe of the descendants of Judah, and out of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned by name: ¹⁰ and they were for the descendants of Aaron, of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the descendants of Levi; for theirs was the first lot. ¹¹ They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak (also called Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its pasture lands around it. ¹² But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for his possession.

¹³ To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, Libnah with its pasture lands, ¹⁴ Jattir with its pasture lands, Eshtemoa with its pasture lands, ¹⁵ Holon with its pasture lands, Debir with its pasture lands, ¹⁶ Ain with its pasture lands, Juttah with its pasture lands, and Beth Shemesh with its pasture lands: nine cities out of those two tribes. ¹⁷ Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its pasture lands, Geba with its pasture lands, ¹⁸ Anathoth with its pasture lands, and Almon with its pasture lands: four cities. ¹⁹ All the cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

²⁰ The families of the descendants of Kohath, the Levites, even the rest of the descendants of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of the tribe of Ephraim. ²¹ They gave them Shechem with its pasture lands in the hill country of Ephraim (a city of refuge for the man who commits manslaughter) and Gezer with its pasture lands, ²² Kibzaim with its pasture lands, and Beth Horon with its pasture lands: four cities. ²³ Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its pasture lands, Gibbethon with its pasture lands, ²⁴ Aijalon with its pasture lands, Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands: four cities. ²⁵ Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its pasture lands, and Gath Rimmon with its pasture lands: two cities. ²⁶ All the cities of the families of the rest of the descendants of Kohath were ten with their pasture lands.

²⁷ They gave to the descendants of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, and Be Eshterah with its pasture lands: two cities.

²⁸ Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its pasture lands, Daberath with its pasture lands, ²⁹ Jarmuth with its pasture lands, En Gannim with its pasture lands: four cities. ³⁰ Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its pasture lands, Abdon with its pasture lands, ³¹ Helkath with its pasture lands, and Rehob with its pasture lands: four cities.

³² Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, Hammothdor with its pasture lands, and Kartan with its pasture lands: three cities. ³³ All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families were thirteen cities with their pasture lands.

³⁴ To the families of the descendants of Merari, the rest of the Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its pasture lands, Kartah with its pasture lands, ³⁵ Dimnah with its pasture lands, and Nahalal with its pasture lands: four cities. ³⁶ Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its pasture lands, Jahaz with its pasture lands, ³⁷ Kedemoth with its pasture lands, and Mephaath with its pasture lands: four cities. ³⁸ Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its pasture lands, the city of refuge for the one who commits manslaughter, and Mahanaim with its pasture lands, ³⁹ Heshbon with its pasture lands, Jazer with its pasture lands: four cities in all. ⁴⁰ All these were the cities of the descendants of Merari according to their families, the rest of the families of the Levites. Their lot was twelve cities.

⁴¹ All the cities of the Levites among the possessions of the Israelites were 48 cities with their pasture lands. ⁴² Each of these cities included their pasture lands around them. It was this way with all these cities.

⁴³ So the Lord gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it. ⁴⁴ The Lord gave them rest all around, according to all that he swore to their fathers. Not one man of all their enemies stood before them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. ⁴⁵ Nothing failed of any good thing which the Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All of it came to pass.

Luke 20:1-26

Jesus Authority Challenged

¹ On one of those days, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the Good News, the priests and scribes came to him with the elders. ² They asked him, “Tell us, by what authority do you do these things? Or who is giving you this authority?”

³ He answered them, “I also will ask you one question. Tell me, ⁴ the baptism of John, was it from heaven, or from men?”

⁵ They discussed it among themselves, reasoning, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why didn’t you believe him?’ ⁶ But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.” ⁷ They answered that they did not know where it was from.

⁸ Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

The Parable of the Wicked Tenants

⁹ He began to tell the people this parable. “A man planted a vineyard and rented it out to some farmers and went into another country for a long time. ¹⁰ At the proper season, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect his share of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty. ¹¹ He sent yet another servant, and they also beat him and treated him shamefully and sent him away empty. ¹² He sent yet a third, and they also wounded him and threw him out. ¹³ The master of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It may be that seeing him, they will respect him.’

¹⁴ “But when the farmers saw him, they discussed it among themselves and said, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.’ ¹⁵ They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What therefore will the master of the vineyard do to them? ¹⁶ He will come and destroy these farmers and will give the vineyard to others.”

When they heard that, they said, “May that never be!”

¹⁷ But he looked at them and said, “Then what is this that is written,

‘The stone which the builders rejected
was made the chief cornerstone?’ ^a

¹⁸ Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces,
but it will crush whomever it falls on to dust.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁹ The chief priests and the scribes sought to lay their hands on him that very hour, but they feared the people—for they knew he had spoken this parable against them. ²⁰ They watched him and sent out spies, who pretended to be righteous, that they might trap him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the power and authority of the governor. ²¹ They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you say and teach what is right and aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. ²² Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?”

²³ But he perceived their craftiness and said to them, “Why do you test me? ²⁴ Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription are on it?”  They answered, “Caesar’s.”

²⁵ He said to them, “Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.”  ²⁶ They were not able to trap him in his words before the people. They marveled at his answer and were silent.

^{a Psalm 118:22}

Psalm 89:1-13

I Will Sing of His Love Forever

Contemplation by Ethan, the Ezrahite.

¹ I will sing of the loving kindness of the Lord forever.
With my mouth, will I make known your faithfulness to all generations.

² I indeed declare, “Love stands firm forever.
You established the heavens.
Your faithfulness is in them.”

³ “I have made a covenant with my chosen one,
I have sworn to David, my servant,
⁴ ‘I will establish your offspring forever,
and build up your throne to all generations.’ ”

Selah.

⁵ The heavens will praise your wonders, Lord,
your faithfulness also in the assembly of the holy ones.
⁶ For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord?
Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like the Lord,
⁷ a very awesome God in the council of the holy ones,
to be feared above all those who are around him?

⁸ Lord, God of Armies, who is a mighty one, like you?
Lord, your faithfulness is around you.
⁹ You rule the pride of the sea.
When its waves rise up, you calm them.
¹⁰ You have broken Rahab in pieces, like one of the slain.
You have scattered your enemies with your mighty arm.

¹¹ The heavens are yours.
The earth also is yours,
the world and its fullness.
You have founded them.
¹² You have created the north and the south.
Tabor and Hermon rejoice in your name.
¹³ You have a mighty arm.
Your hand is strong, and your right hand is exalted.

Proverbs 13:15-16

¹⁵ Good sense wins favor,
but the way of the unfaithful is hard.
¹⁶ The prudent man takes action based on knowledge,
but a fool exposes his folly.

«       »