Wednesday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “Please take note that the place where we meet with you is too small for us. 2Verse 2. Please let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a log so we can build ourselves a place to live there.” “Go,” said Elisha. 3Verse 3. Then one of them said, “Please come with your servants.” “I will come,” he replied. 4Verse 4. So Elisha went with them, and when they came to the Jordan, they began to cut down some trees. 5Verse 5. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. “Oh, my master,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!” 6Verse 6. “Where did it fall?” asked the man of God. And when he showed him the place, the man of God cut a stick, threw it there, and made the iron float. 7Verse 7. “Lift it out,” he said, and the man reached out his hand and took it.

1Verse 1. A long time after the LORD had given Israel rest from all the enemies around them, when Joshua was old and well along in years, 2Verse 2. he summoned all Israel, including its elders, leaders, judges, and officers. “I am old and well along in years,” he said, 3Verse 3. “and you have seen everything that the LORD your God has done to all these nations for your sake, because it was the LORD your God who fought for you. 4Verse 4. See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea. 5Verse 5. The LORD your God will push them out of your way and drive them out before you, so that you can take possession of their land, as the LORD your God promised you. 6Verse 6. Be very strong, then, so that you can keep and obey all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, not turning aside from it to the right or to the left. 7Verse 7. So you are not to associate with these nations that remain among you. You must not call on the names of their gods or swear by them, and you must not serve them or bow down to them. 8Verse 8. Instead, you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day. 9Verse 9. The LORD has driven out great and powerful nations before you, and to this day no one can stand against you. 10Verse 10. One of you can put a thousand to flight, because the LORD your God fights for you, just as He promised. 11Verse 11. Therefore watch yourselves carefully, that you love the LORD your God. 12Verse 12. For if you turn away and cling to the rest of these nations that remain among you, and if you intermarry and associate with them, 13Verse 13. know for sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become for you a snare and a trap, a scourge in your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you. 14Verse 14. Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know with all your heart and soul that not one of the good promises the LORD your God made to you has failed. Everything was fulfilled for you; not one promise has failed. 15Verse 15. But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you. 16Verse 16. If you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from this good land He has given you.”