The Season of Lent

¹²Even now, declares the Lord,

return to me with all your heart,

with fasting and weeping and grief.

¹³Tear your heart and not your clothing.

Return to the Lord your God,

for he is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and abounding in mercy,

and he relents from sending disaster.

¹⁴Who knows?

He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing—

grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.

¹⁵Blow the ram’s horn in Zion.

Set aside a day for fasting.

Call a solemn convocation.

¹⁶Gather the people.

Consecrate the assembly.

Bring together the elders.

Gather the children, even those nursing at the breast.

Let the bridegroom leave his room,

and the bride her chamber.

¹⁷Let the priests, who minister before the Lord,

weep between the temple porch and the altar.

Let them say:

Have compassion on your people, O Lord.

Do not subject the inheritance you have given us to the scorn of the nations.

Do not make us notorious among the nations as an object of ridicule.

Why should they say among the peoples,

‘Where is their God?’

¹⁸The Lord is zealous for his land,

and he will take pity on his people.

¹⁹The Lord will respond to them:

I am sending you grain, new wine, and fresh oil,

enough to satisfy you fully.

Never again will I subject you to scorn among the nations.

²⁰Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, inasmuch as God is making an appeal through us. We urge you, on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.

²¹God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

^6:1As fellow workers we also urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ²For he says:

At a favorable time I listened to you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.

Look, now is the favorable time! See, now is the day of salvation!

³We are giving no one a reason to stumble in any way, so that our ministry will not be blamed. ⁴Rather, in every way we show ourselves to be God’s ministers: in great endurance, in troubles, in hardships, in difficulties, ⁵in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in hard work, in sleepless nights, in times of hunger; ⁶in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, ⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness on the right and on the left; ⁸through glory and dishonor, through bad report and good report; treated as deceivers yet being honest, ⁹treated as unknown and yet being well known; as dying, and yet look—we live; as punished yet not put to death; ¹⁰as grieving yet always rejoicing; as poor yet making many rich; as having nothing yet possessing everything.

¹⁶“Whenever you fast, do not make yourself look sad like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show everyone that they are fasting. Amen I tell you: They have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that it is not apparent to people that you are fasting, but only to your Father who sees what is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰But store up treasures for yourselves in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹Because where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now the serpent was more clever than any wild animal which the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden, ³but not from the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden. God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it. You shall not touch it, or else you will die.’”

⁴The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die. ⁵In fact, God knows that the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was appealing to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She gave some also to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. ⁷The eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for their waists. ⁸They heard the voice of the Lord God, who was walking around in the garden during the cooler part of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

⁹The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”

¹⁰The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid myself.”

¹¹God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree from which I commanded you not to eat?”

¹²The man said, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

¹³The Lord God said to the woman, “What have you done?”

The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

¹⁴The Lord God said to the serpent:

Because you have done this,

you are cursed more than all the livestock,

and more than every wild animal.

You shall crawl on your belly,

and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your seed and her seed.

He will crush your head,

and you will crush his heel.

¹⁶To the woman he said:

I will greatly increase your pain in childbearing.

With painful labor you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

but he will rule over you.

¹⁷To Adam he said:

Because you listened to your wife’s voice

and ate from the tree about which I commanded you,

“You shall not eat from it,”

the soil is cursed on account of you.

You will eat from it with painful labor all the days of your life.

¹⁸Thorns and thistles will spring up from the ground for you,

but you will eat the crops of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your face you will eat bread

until you return to the soil,

for out of it you were taken.

For you are dust,

and to dust you shall return.

²⁰The man named his wife Eve because she would be the mother of all the living. ²¹The Lord God made clothing of animal skins for Adam and for his wife and clothed them.

²²The LORD God said, “Look, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, so that he does not reach out his hand and also take from the Tree of Life and eat and live forever—” ²³the LORD God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the soil from which he had been taken. ²⁴So he drove the man out, and in front of the Garden of Eden he stationed cherubim and a flaming sword, which turned in every direction to guard the way to the Tree of Life.

As fellow workers we also urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. ²For he says:

At a favorable time I listened to you,

and in the day of salvation I helped you.

Look, now is the favorable time! See, now is the day of salvation!

³We are giving no one a reason to stumble in any way, so that our ministry will not be blamed. ⁴Rather, in every way we show ourselves to be God’s ministers: in great endurance, in troubles, in hardships, in difficulties, ⁵in beatings, in imprisonments, in riots, in hard work, in sleepless nights, in times of hunger; ⁶in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in sincere love, ⁷in the word of truth, in the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness on the right and on the left; ⁸through glory and dishonor, through bad report and good report; treated as deceivers yet being honest, ⁹treated as unknown and yet being well known; as dying, and yet look—we live; as punished yet not put to death; ¹⁰as grieving yet always rejoicing; as poor yet making many rich; as having nothing yet possessing everything.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil. ²After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. ³The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread.”

⁴But Jesus answered, “It is written:

Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.”

⁵Then the Devil took him into the holy city. He placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶and he said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:

He will command his angels concerning you.

And they will lift you up in their hands,

so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again, it is written:

You shall not test the Lord your God.”

⁸Again the Devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹He said to him, “I will give you all of these things, if you will bow down and worship me.”

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”

¹¹Then the Devil left him, and just then angels came and served him.

²⁰Gather! Come! Draw near together,

you survivors from the nations.

They have no knowledge

—those who are lifting up their idols of wood

and praying to a god that cannot save.

²¹Make an announcement and come close.

Let them consult together.

Who made this known ahead of time?

From time past who announced it?

Was it not I, the LORD?

There is no god except me,

a righteous God and Savior.

There is no one except me.

²²Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth,

because I am God,

and there is no other.

²³I have sworn by myself.

From my mouth a righteous word has gone out,

and it will not return unfulfilled.

Indeed, to me every knee will bow,

and every tongue will swear allegiance.

²⁴“Only in the LORD,” they will say of me,

“Only in the LORD is there true righteousness and strength.”

To him they will come and be ashamed—

all those who are angry at him.

²⁵In the LORD, all the descendants of Israel will be justified.

They will be praised by him.

Therefore, beyond this, brothers, just as you received instruction from us about how you are to walk so as to please God (as indeed you are doing), we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that you do so even more. ²To be sure, you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. ³Indeed, this is God’s will: that you be sanctified, namely, that you keep yourselves away from sexual immorality. ⁴He wants each of you to learn to obtain a wife for yourself in a way that is holy and honorable, ⁵not in lustful passion like the heathen, who do not know God. ⁶No one is to overstep and take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, just as we said previously and solemnly testified to it. ⁷For God did not call us for uncleanness, but in sanctification.

²¹Jesus left that place and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon. ²²There a Canaanite woman from that territory came and kept crying out, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! A demon is severely tormenting my daughter!”

²³But he did not answer her a word.

His disciples came and pleaded, “Send her away, because she keeps crying out after us.”

²⁴He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

²⁵But she came and knelt in front of him, saying, “Lord, help me.”

²⁶He answered her, “It is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet the dogs also eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

²⁸Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! It will be done for you, just as you desire.” And her daughter was healed at that very hour.

David spoke the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD had delivered him from the grasp of all his enemies, even from the grasp of Saul. ²He said:

²The LORD is my rocky cliff,

my stronghold, and my deliverer.

³My God is my rock. I take refuge in him.

He is my shield and the horn of my salvation,

my high fortress, my refuge, and my savior.

You save me from violence.

⁴I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,

and I am saved from my enemies.

⁵The waves of death swirled around me.

Floodwaters of destruction rolled over me.

⁶The ropes of the grave wrapped around me.

The traps of death threatened me.

⁷In my distress I called to the LORD.

To my God I cried out.

He heard my voice from his temple.

My cry for help reached his ears.

Therefore, be imitators of God as his dearly loved children. ²And walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

³But do not let sexual immorality, any kind of impurity, or greed even be mentioned among you, as is proper for saints. ⁴Obscenity, foolish talk, and coarse joking are also out of place. Instead, give thanks. ⁵Certainly you are aware of this: No immoral, impure, or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ, who is God. ⁶Let no one deceive you with empty words. It is because of these things that the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. ⁷So do not share in what they do.

⁸For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, ⁹for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.

¹⁴Jesus drove out a demon, which was mute. After the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” ¹⁶Others were testing him by demanding of him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is destroyed. And a house divided against itself falls. ¹⁸If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? You say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹But if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? So they will be your judges. ²⁰Yet if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

²¹“When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. ²²But when someone stronger attacks him and defeats him, he takes away that man’s full armor, in which he had trusted, and divides up his plunder.

²³“The one who is not with me is against me. The one who does not gather with me scatters. ²⁴When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places, seeking rest, but does not find any. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house, the one I left.’ ²⁵When it returns, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶Then it goes and brings seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and dwell there. The last condition of that man becomes worse than the first.”

²⁷While he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you, and the breasts at which you nursed!”

²⁸But he said, “Even more blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”

⁸This is what the LORD says.

In the time of favor, I will answer you.

In the day of salvation, I will help you.

I will guard you,

and I will appoint you to be a covenant for the people,

to re-establish the land,

to redistribute inheritances that are now deserted,

⁹to say to the prisoners, “Go forth!”

to those who are in the darkness, “Show yourselves!”

They will graze beside roads,

and they will find pasture on all the barren heights.

¹⁰They will not hunger, and they will not thirst,

and neither scorching wind nor sun will strike them,

because the one who shows them mercy will lead them.

He will guide them beside springs of water.

¹¹I will make all my mountains into a smooth road,

and my highways will be raised up.

¹²Look, people will come from far away.

Look, some will come from the north and the west,

and some from the land of Sinim.

¹³Shout for joy, O heavens,

and rejoice, O earth.

Let mountains burst forth with shouts of joy,

because the LORD is comforting his people,

and he is showing mercy to his afflicted ones.

²¹Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you really listening to the law? ²²For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman, and one by the free woman. ²³However, the son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but the son by the free woman was born through a promise. ²⁴These things can be used as an illustration; namely, the women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children into slavery. This is Hagar. ²⁵You see, this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she corresponds to present-day Jerusalem, because Jerusalem is in slavery along with her children. ²⁶But the Jerusalem that is above is free. She is our mother. ²⁷For it is written:

Rejoice, barren woman who does not give birth. Break forth and shout for joy, woman who does not suffer birth pains, because the barren woman has more children than does the woman who has a husband.

²⁸Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of the promise. ²⁹But just as back then the one who was born according to the flesh persecuted the one who was born according to the Spirit, so this is also the case now. ³⁰But what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the slave woman and her son, because the son of the slave woman will certainly not receive the inheritance with the son of the free woman.” ³¹For this same reason, brothers, we are not children of a slave woman, but of the free woman.

After this, Jesus crossed over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (or Tiberias). ²A large crowd followed him because they saw the miraculous signs he was performing on those who were sick. ³Jesus went up on the hillside and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴The Jewish Passover Festival was near.

⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a huge crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶But Jesus was saying this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.

⁷Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to have just a little.”

⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There’s a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what is that for so many people?”

¹⁰Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. There were about five thousand men.

¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves and, after giving thanks, he distributed pieces to those who were seated. He also did the same with the fish—as much as they wanted.

¹²When the people were full, he told his disciples, “Gather the pieces that are left over so that nothing is wasted.” ¹³So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.

¹⁴When the people saw the miraculous sign Jesus did, they said, “This really is the Prophet who is coming into the world.”

¹⁵When Jesus realized that they intended to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Get out of your country and away from your relatives and from your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you. ²I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse anyone who dishonors you. All of the families of the earth will be blessed in you.”

¹¹But when Christ appeared as the high priest of the good things that were coming, he went through the greater and more complete tent, which was not made by human hands (that is, it is not part of this creation). ¹²He entered once into the Most Holy Place and obtained eternal redemption, not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. ¹³Now if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkled on those who were unclean, sanctifies them so that their flesh is clean, ¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works, so that we worship the living God?

¹⁵For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. A death took place as payment for the trespasses committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called would receive the promised eternal inheritance.

⁴⁶“Who of you can convict me of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? ⁴⁷Whoever belongs to God listens to what God says. The reason you do not listen is that you do not belong to God.”

⁴⁸The Jews responded, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”

⁴⁹Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon. On the contrary, I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. ⁵⁰I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. ⁵¹Amen, Amen, I tell you: If anyone holds on to my word, he will certainly never see death.”

⁵²So the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets. Yet you say, ‘If anyone holds on to my word, he will certainly never taste death.’ ⁵³You are not greater than our father, Abraham, are you? He died. And the prophets died. Who do you think you are?”

⁵⁴Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, about whom you say, ‘He is our God.’ ⁵⁵Yet you do not really know him, but I do know him. If I said, ‘I do not know him,’ I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I hold on to his word. ⁵⁶Your father Abraham was glad that he would see my day. He saw it and rejoiced.”

⁵⁷The Jews replied, “You aren’t even fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?”

⁵⁸Jesus said to them, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: Before Abraham was born, I am.” ⁵⁹Then they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden and left the temple area.

⁹Rejoice greatly, Daughter of Zion!

Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem!

Look! Your King is coming to you.

He is righteous and brings salvation.

He is humble and is riding on a donkey,

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim

and the horse from Jerusalem.

The battle bow will be taken away,

and he will proclaim peace to the nations.

His kingdom will extend from sea to sea,

from the River to the ends of the earth.. 

⁵Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. ⁶Though he was by nature God, he did not consider equality with God as a prize to be displayed, ⁷but he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. When he was born in human likeness, and his appearance was like that of any other man, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, ²telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Immediately you will find a donkey tied there along with her colt. Untie them and bring them to me. ³If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”

⁴This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

⁵Tell the daughter of Zion: Look, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

⁶The disciples went and did just as Jesus commanded them. ⁷They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their outer clothing on them, and he sat on it. ⁸A very large crowd spread their outer clothing on the road. Others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them out on the road. ⁹The crowds who went in front of him and those who followed kept shouting,

Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!

¹⁰When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, asking, “Who is this?” ¹¹And the crowds were saying, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.”

¹The Lord told Moses and Aaron this in the land of Egypt:

²This month is to be the beginning of your calendar. It is to be the first month of the year for you. ³Tell the entire Israelite community that on the tenth day of this month, they are to take a lamb or a kid goat for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, one lamb per household. ⁴But if the household is too small for a whole lamb, then that person and his neighbor next door to him must select one, based on the number of people. Determine what size lamb is needed according to how much each person will eat.

⁵Your lamb must be unblemished, a year-old male. You may take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the whole assembly of the Israelite community is to slaughter the lambs at sunset. ⁷They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat the lamb. ⁸That night they shall eat the meat that has been roasted over a fire, along with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. ⁹Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over a fire—with its head, its legs, and its internal organs. ¹⁰You shall not leave any of it until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning, you shall burn in the fire. ¹¹This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt ready for travel, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹²For on that night I will pass through the land of Egypt. I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. ¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. There will be no plague among you to destroy you, when I strike down the land of Egypt.

¹⁴This day shall be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. Throughout your generations you must celebrate it as a permanent regulation.

²³For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵In the same way, after the meal, he also took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

²⁷Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the Lord’s body and blood. ²⁸Instead, let a person examine himself and after doing so, let him eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹For if anyone eats and drinks in an unworthy way because he does not recognize the Lord’s body, he eats and drinks judgment on himself. ³⁰Because of this, many among you are weak and sick, and quite a few have fallen asleep. ³¹But if we judged ourselves, we would not be undergoing judgment. ³²However, when we undergo judgment, we are being disciplined by the Lord so that we may not be condemned with the world.

¹⁴When the hour had come, Jesus reclined at the table with the twelve apostles. ¹⁵He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer, ¹⁶for I tell you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

¹⁷He took a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves, ¹⁸for I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”

¹⁹He took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁰In the same way, he took the cup after the supper, saying, “This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is being poured out for you.

¹³Look, my servant will succeed.

He will rise. He will be lifted up. He will be highly exalted.

¹⁴Just as many were appalled at him—

his appearance was so disfigured that he did not look like a man,

and his form was disfigured more than any other person—

¹⁵so he will sprinkle many nations,

and kings will shut their mouths because of him,

because they will see something they had never been told before,

and they will understand something they had never heard before.

^53:1Who has believed our report,

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

²He grew up before him like a tender shoot

and like a root from dry ground.

He had no attractiveness and no majesty.

When we saw him, nothing about his appearance made us desire him.

³He was despised and rejected by men,

a man who knew grief,

who was well acquainted with suffering.

Like someone whom people cannot bear to look at,

he was despised,

and we thought nothing of him.

⁴Surely he was taking up our weaknesses,

and he was carrying our sufferings,

We thought it was because of God

that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted,

⁵but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced.

He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved.

The punishment that brought us peace was upon him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

⁶We all have gone astray like sheep.

Each of us has turned to his own way,

but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him.

⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth.

Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that is silent in front of its shearers,

he did not open his mouth.

⁸He was taken away without a fair trial and without justice,

and of his generation, who even cared?

So, he was cut off from the land of the living.

He was struck because of the rebellion of my people.

⁹They would have assigned him a grave with the wicked,

but he was given a grave with the rich in his death,

because he had done no violence,

and no deceit was in his mouth.

¹⁰Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him

and allow him to suffer.

Because you made his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring.

He will prolong his days,

and the Lord’s gracious plan will succeed in his hand.

¹¹After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life.

He will provide satisfaction.

Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many,

for he himself carried their guilt.

¹²Therefore I will give him an allotment among the great,

and with the strong he will share plunder,

because he poured out his life to death,

and he let himself be counted with rebellious sinners.

He himself carried the sin of many,

and he intercedes for the rebels.

In fact, the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual realization of those things. It will never be able to make perfect those who continually offer the same sacrifices year after year. ²If it could do this, would they not have stopped bringing sacrifices, because the worshippers, once they were cleansed, would no longer have a bad conscience about sins? ³Instead, these sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year. ⁴The fact is that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.

⁵Therefore when he entered the world, Christ said:

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but you prepared a body for me.

⁶You were not pleased

with burnt offerings and sin offerings.

⁷Then I said, “Here I am.

I have come to do your will, God.

In the scroll of the book it is written about me.”

⁸First he said:

Sacrifices and offerings that were offered according to the law,

both burnt offerings and sin offerings,

you did not desire,

and you were not pleased with them.

⁹Then he said:

Here I am.

I have come to do your will.

He does away with the first in order to establish the second. ¹⁰By this will, we have been sanctified once and for all, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.

¹¹In the one case, every priest stood ministering day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which are never able to remove sin. ¹²In the other case, this priest, after he offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God. ¹³Since then he has been waiting until his enemies are made a footstool under his feet. ¹⁴By only one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies in Scripture to us, for first he said:

¹⁶This is the covenant I will make with them

after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws on their hearts

and I will write them on their mind.

¹⁷Then he adds:

And I will not remember their sins and their lawlessness any longer.

¹⁸Now where these sins are forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

¹⁹Brothers, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place through the blood of Jesus. ²⁰It is a new and living way he opened for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh. ²¹We also have a great priest over the house of God. ²²So let us approach with a sincere heart, in the full confidence of faith, because our hearts have been sprinkled to take away a bad conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold on firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.

²⁴Let us also consider carefully how to spur each other on to love and good works. ²⁵Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

After saying these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron Valley, where there was a garden. He and his disciples went into it.

²Now Judas, who was betraying him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples. ³So Judas took the company of soldiers and some guards from the chief priests and the Pharisees, and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Jesus, knowing everything that was going to happen to him, went out and asked them, “Who are you looking for?”

⁵“Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied.

“I am he,” Jesus told them.

Judas, the betrayer, was standing with them. ⁶When Jesus told them, “I am he,” they backed away and fell to the ground.

⁷Then Jesus asked them again, “Who are you looking for?”

“Jesus the Nazarene,” they said.

⁸“I told you that I am he,” Jesus replied. “So if you are looking for me, let these men go.” ⁹This was to fulfill the statement he had spoken: “I did not lose any of those you have given me.”

¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.

¹¹So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup my Father has given me?”

¹²Then the company of soldiers, their commander, and the Jewish guards arrested Jesus and bound him. ¹³First they led him to Annas, because he was father-in-law to Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year. ¹⁴Now it was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews, “It is better that one man die for the people.”

¹⁵Simon Peter and another disciple kept following Jesus. That disciple was known to the high priest, so he went into the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus. ¹⁶But Peter stood outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and talked to the girl watching the door and brought Peter in.

¹⁷“You are not one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” the girl at the door asked Peter.

“I am not!” he said.

¹⁸The servants and guards were standing around a fire of coals that they had made because it was cold. While they warmed themselves, Peter was standing with them, warming himself too.

¹⁹The high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.

²⁰Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in a synagogue or at the temple, where all the Jews gather. I said nothing in secret. ²¹Why are you questioning me? Ask those who heard what I told them. Look, they know what I said.”

²²When he said this, one of the guards standing there hit Jesus in the face. “Is that how you answer the high priest?” he demanded.

²³“If I said something wrong,” Jesus answered, “testify about what was wrong. But if I was right, why did you hit me?”

²⁴Then Annas sent him bound to Caiaphas the high priest.

²⁵Simon Peter continued to stand there warming himself. So they said to him, “You are not one of his disciples too, are you?”

He denied it, saying, “I am not!”

²⁶One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?”

²⁷Peter denied it again, and just then a rooster crowed.

²⁸Early in the morning, the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. They did not enter the Praetorium themselves, so that they would not become ceremonially unclean. (They wanted to be able to eat the Passover meal.) ²⁹So Pilate went out to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”

³⁰They answered him, “If this man were not a criminal, we would not have handed him over to you.”

³¹Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.”

The Jews said, “It’s not legal for us to put anyone to death.” ³²This happened so that the statement Jesus had spoken indicating what kind of death he was going to die would be fulfilled.

³³Pilate went back into the Praetorium and summoned Jesus. He asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”

³⁴Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”

³⁵Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own people and chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”

³⁶Jesus replied, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight so that I would not be handed over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here.”

³⁷“You are a king then?” Pilate asked.

Jesus answered, “I am, as you say, a king. For this reason I was born, and for this reason I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

³⁸“What is truth?” Pilate said to him.

After he said this, he went out again to the Jews and told them, “I find no basis for a charge against him. ³⁹But you have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So do you want me to release the King of the Jews for you?”

⁴⁰Then they shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” (Now Barabbas was a rebel.)

^19:1Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. ²The soldiers also twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on his head. Then they threw a purple robe around him. ³They kept coming to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they kept hitting him in the face.

⁴Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁵So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”

⁶When the chief priests and guards saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

Pilate told them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he ought to die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid. ⁹He went back inside the palace again and asked Jesus, “Where are you from?”

But Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰So Pilate asked him, “Are you not talking to me? Don’t you know that I have the authority to release you or to crucify you?”

¹¹Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over me at all if it had not been given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”

¹²From then on Pilate tried to release Jesus. But the Jews shouted, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king opposes Caesar!”

¹³When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge’s seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, or Gabbatha in Aramaic. ¹⁴It was about the sixth hour on the Preparation Day for the Passover. Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your king!”

¹⁵They shouted, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!”

Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king?”

“We have no king but Caesar!” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶So then Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.

So they took Jesus away. ¹⁷Carrying his own cross, he went out to what is called the Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. ¹⁸There they crucified him with two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate also had a notice written and fastened on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”

²⁰Many of the Jews read this notice, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.

²¹So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that ‘this man said, “I am the King of the Jews.”’”

²²Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier. They also took his tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. ²⁴So they said to one another, “Let’s not tear it. Instead, let’s cast lots to see who gets it.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled which says:

They divided my garments among them

and cast lots for my clothing.

So the soldiers did these things.

²⁵Jesus’ mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene were standing near the cross.

²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son!” ²⁷Then he said to the disciple, “Here is your mother!” And from that time this disciple took her into his own home.

²⁸After this, knowing that everything had now been finished, and to fulfill the Scripture, Jesus said, “I thirst.”

²⁹A jar full of sour wine was sitting there. So they put a sponge soaked in sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

³⁰When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished!” Then, bowing his head, he gave up his spirit.

³¹Since it was the Preparation Day, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses over the Sabbath (because that Sabbath was a particularly important day). They asked Pilate to have the men’s legs broken and the bodies taken away. ³²So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who was crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other man.

³³But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear. Immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵The one who saw it has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶Indeed, these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” ³⁷Again another Scripture says, “They will look at the one they pierced.”

³⁸After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him remove Jesus’ body. When Pilate gave him permission, he came and took Jesus’ body away. ³⁹Nicodemus, who earlier had come to Jesus at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-two pounds.

⁴⁰They took Jesus’ body and bound it with linen strips along with the spices, in accord with Jewish burial customs.

⁴¹There was a garden at the place where Jesus was crucified. And in the garden was a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴²So they laid Jesus there, because it was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb was near.