The Sundays after Pentecost

²²The Lord told Moses ²³to speak to Aaron and to his sons and to tell them to bless the Israelites with these words:

²⁴The Lord bless you and keep you.

²⁵The Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you.

²⁶The Lord look on you with favor

and give you peace.

²⁷In this way they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

⁵Who is the one who overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.

⁶This is the one who came by water and blood: Jesus Christ. He did not come by the water alone but by the water and by the blood. The Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. ⁷In fact, there are three that testify: ⁸the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and these three are one.

⁹If we accept the testimony of people, God’s testimony is even greater, because it is the testimony that God gave about his Son. ¹⁰The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in him, but the one who does not believe has made God out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God gave about his Son. ¹¹This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. ¹²The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹²“I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now. ¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. For he will not speak on his own, but whatever he hears he will speak. He will also declare to you what is to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. ¹⁵Everything the Father has is mine. This is why I said that he takes from what is mine and will declare it to you.

¹³When Joshua was at Jericho, he looked up and saw a man was standing right there in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said, “Are you one of us or one of our enemies?”

¹⁴The man said, “Neither! I have now come as the commander of the army of the Lord.” Joshua fell with his face to the ground and worshipped. Then he said to him, “What does my Lord have to say to his servant?”

¹⁵The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Take your sandals off your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy.” So Joshua did so.

^6:1Jericho was shut up tight because of the Israelites. There was no one going out and no one coming in.

²So the Lord said to Joshua, “See, I have given Jericho and its king into your hands even though they are strong warriors. ³You shall march around the city with all the fighting men. Circle the city one time. Do this for six days. ⁴Seven priests shall carry seven special ram’s horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times with the priests blowing the ram’s horns. ⁵When there is a long blast on the special ram’s horn of jubilee, when you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, all the people shall shout with a loud war cry. Then the wall of the city will collapse on itself, and the people will go up into the city, one man after another.”

²⁰So the people shouted, and the priests blew the ram’s horns. When the people heard the sound of the ram’s horns, they shouted with a loud war cry. Then the wall collapsed on itself, and the people went up into the city, one man after another. So they captured the city.

²Consider it complete joy, my brothers, whenever you fall into various kinds of trials, ³because you know that the testing of your faith produces patient endurance. ⁴And let patient endurance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

⁵If any one of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives it to all without reservation and without finding fault, and it will be given to him. ⁶But let him ask in faith, without doubting, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. ⁷In fact, that person should not expect that he will receive anything from the Lord. ⁸He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

⁹Let the brother of humble circumstances boast in his high position, ¹⁰and the rich one in his humble position, because he will pass away like a flower of the grass. ¹¹Indeed, the sun rises with burning heat and dries up the grass. Its blossom falls off, and its beauty perishes. In the same way also, the rich person will wither away in his busy pursuits.

¹²Blessed is the man who endures a trial patiently, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God promised to those who love him.

After Jesus had finished saying all these things to the people who were listening, he went into Capernaum. ²A centurion’s servant, who was valuable to him, was sick and about to die. ³When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, ⁵because he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”

⁶Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, because I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. ⁷That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸For I am also a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another one, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

⁹When Jesus heard these things, he was amazed at him. He turned to the crowd that was following him and said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.” ¹⁰And when the men who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

¹⁷After these events, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. The illness became worse until he stopped breathing.

¹⁸Then she said to Elijah, “What is the issue between us, man of God? Have you come to remind me of my sins and to kill my son?”

¹⁹He said to her, “Bring your son to me.” Then he took him and carried him to the upstairs room where he was living, and he laid him on his bed. ²⁰Then he cried out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, have you sent tragedy on this woman with whom I am staying by killing her son?”

²¹Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times, and he cried out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, let this boy’s soul return to his body!” ²²The Lord listened to Elijah’s voice, and the boy’s soul returned to his body, and he came to life. ²³Then Elijah took the boy and brought him down to the house from his upstairs room, and he gave him to his mother.

Elijah said, “See, your son is alive!”

²⁴The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is true.”

Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, ¹⁹because I know that this will turn out for my deliverance, through your prayer and the support of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. ²⁰This matches my earnest expectation and hope that I will in no way be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, so even now, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹Yes, for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²²But if I am to go on living in the flesh, that will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet which should I prefer? I do not know. ²³I am pulled in two directions, because I have the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far. ²⁴But, it is more necessary for your sake that I remain in the flesh. ²⁵And since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and will continue with all of you, for your progress and joy in the faith. ²⁶And so by my coming to you again, my goal is to give you even more reason to boast in Christ Jesus.

¹¹Soon afterward Jesus went on his way to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him. ¹²As he was approaching the town gate, there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother. She was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not cry.” ¹⁴He went up to the open coffin, touched it, and the pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶Fear gripped all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us” and “God has visited his people!” ¹⁷This was reported about him in all of Judea and in all the surrounding countryside.

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he ruled as king in Jerusalem for fifty-five years.

²He did evil in the eyes of the Lord by following the disgusting practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. ³He rebuilt the high places which his father Hezekiah had torn down. He erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He worshipped the whole army of the heavens and served them. ⁴He built altars in the House of the Lord, about which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem my Name will be forever.” ⁵He built altars for the whole army of the heavens in the two courtyards of the House of the Lord.

⁶He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. He practiced fortune telling and sought omens and consulted mediums and spiritists. He greatly increased the evil deeds he did in the eyes of the Lord and provoked him to anger.

¹⁰The Lord spoke to Manasseh and to his people, but they paid no attention. ¹¹So the Lord brought the officials of the army of the king of Assyria against them. They led Manasseh captive with hooks. They bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

¹²When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and humbled himself deeply before the God of his fathers. ¹³He prayed to the Lord, and the Lord responded to his prayer and heard his plea for mercy. He brought him back to Jerusalem into his own kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is the true God.

¹⁴Afterward he built an outer wall for the City of David in the valley, from west of the Gihon Spring up to the entrance by the Fish Gate. He encircled Ophel with it and raised it to a very great height. He also put commanders of the army in all the fortified cities in Judah.

¹⁵He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the House of the Lord. He removed all the altars he had built on the mountain of the House of the Lord and in Jerusalem and threw them outside of the city. ¹⁶He restored the altar of the Lord and offered sacrifices of fellowship offerings and thank offerings on it. He commanded Judah to serve the Lord, the God of Israel.

¹⁷Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, but only to the Lord their God.

¹⁸You can find the rest of the acts of Manasseh, his prayer to his God, and the words of the seers who spoke to him in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, in the annals of the kings of Israel.

⁹Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor males who have sex with males, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor the verbally abusive, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹And some of you were those types of people. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

³⁶A certain one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷Just then a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸stood behind him near his feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would realize who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, because she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

He said, “Teacher, say it.”

⁴¹“A certain moneylender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. ⁴²When they could not pay, he forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”

⁴³Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the larger debt forgiven.”

Then he told him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, but you did not give me water for my feet. Yet she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but she, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. ⁴⁷Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little.” ⁴⁸Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

⁴⁹Those reclining at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Joseph was well built and handsome. ⁷Sometime after all this, his master’s wife had her eye on Joseph, and she said, “Come, lie down with me.”

⁸But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not concern himself with anything that has been entrusted to me in the house. He has put me in charge of everything that he has. ⁹He has no one in this house greater than I am, and he has not withheld anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a great evil and sin against God?”

¹⁰She kept speaking to Joseph day after day, but he would not listen to her. He would not lie down beside her or even be with her. ¹¹But one day when he went into the house to do his work, none of the men of the household were there inside the house. ¹²She caught him by his garment and said, “Come, lie down with me!” He left behind his garment in her hand and ran outside.

¹⁶She kept his garment beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷This is what she told him, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought to us, came to me to put me to shame and said to me, ‘Let me lie down with you.’ ¹⁸And look, when I screamed and cried out, he left behind his garment with me and ran outside.”

¹⁹As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, saying, “This is what your servant did to me,” he became very angry. ²⁰Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined, so Joseph was kept in prison there.

²¹But the Lord was with Joseph. He showed mercy to him and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison. ²²The warden of the prison made Joseph responsible for all the prisoners who were in the prison. Joseph was responsible for whatever they did there. ²³The warden of the prison did not pay attention to anything that was under his authority, because the Lord was with Joseph, and the Lord made everything that he did succeed.

²⁴By faith Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter when he grew up. ²⁵He chose to be mistreated with God’s people rather than enjoy sin for a little while. ²⁶He considered disgrace for the sake of Christ as greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

¹⁸One time when Jesus was praying alone and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”

¹⁹They answered, “‘John the Baptist,’ but others say, ‘Elijah,’ and others say ‘one of the ancient prophets come back to life.’”

²⁰He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”

²¹He gave them a strict command not to tell this to anyone. ²²He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law. He must be killed and be raised on the third day.”

²³Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. ²⁴For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

³So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh just as the word of the Lord had commanded. Now Nineveh was a great city to God. It required a three-day walk. ⁴Jonah walked through the city for a day, and he called out, “Forty more days and Nineveh is going to be overthrown!”

⁵The men of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. ⁶When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. ⁷Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh.

By the decree of the king and his leading officials:

Do not let people or animals, herds or flocks, taste anything. Do not let them eat food or drink water. ⁸Instead let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call fervently to God. Let them turn from their evil way and from the violence that is in their hands. ⁹Who knows? God may turn and relent. He may turn from his burning anger so that we will not perish.

¹⁰When God saw their actions, that they had turned from their evil way, God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out.

^4:1But to Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry. ²He prayed to the Lord, “Lord, wasn’t this exactly what I said when I was still in my own country? That is why I previously fled to Tarshish, because I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster. ³So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”

⁴But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

However bold anyone might be (I am speaking in a foolish way), I am going to be bold too. ²²Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s seed? So am I. ²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I am speaking in a crazy way.) I am even more. I’ve done more hard work, been in prisons more often, been whipped far more, and I’ve been close to death many times. ²⁴Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. ²⁵Three times I was beaten with rods. One time I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. I have spent a night and a day on the open sea. ²⁶I have often been on journeys, in danger from rivers, in danger from robbers, in danger from my own people, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city, in danger in the wilderness, in danger on the sea, in danger among false brothers. ²⁷I have worked hard and struggled. I’ve spent many sleepless nights. I’ve been hungry and thirsty. I’ve gone without food many times. I’ve been cold and lacked clothing.

²⁸Besides those external matters, there is the daily pressure on me of my concern for all the churches. ²⁹Who is weak without my being weak? Who falls into sin without my being distressed?

³⁰If it is necessary that I boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.

⁵¹When the days were approaching for him to be taken up, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem. ⁵²He sent messengers ahead of him. They went and entered a Samaritan village to make preparations for him. ⁵³But the people did not welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”

⁵⁵But he turned and rebuked them. “You don’t know what kind of spirit is influencing you. ⁵⁶For the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s souls, but to save them.” Then they went to another village.

⁵⁷As they went on the way, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

⁵⁹He said to another man, “Follow me!”

But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

⁶⁰Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

⁶¹Another man also said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those at my home.”

⁶²Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Elijah from Tishbe, one of the settlers in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the Lord lives, the God of Israel before whom I stand, there will be no dew or rain during the coming years, except at my word.”

²Then the word of the Lord came to him: ³“Leave this place and turn east. Hide yourself by the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. ⁴You will drink from the stream, and I will command the ravens to provide for you there.”

⁵So Elijah went and did just as the Lord had said. He lived in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. ⁶The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the stream.

⁷After some time the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹“Get up! Go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a woman there, a widow, to provide for you.”

¹⁰So he got up and went to Zarephath. He came to the city gate, and there he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Please give me a little water in a jar, so that I can have something to drink.”

¹¹When she went to get it, he called to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”

¹²She said, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I have no food except a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a pitcher. See, I am gathering a couple of sticks so that I can go and prepare it for myself and my son, so that we can eat it and then die.”

¹³Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do just as you said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from the flour and bring it out to me. Then go and make another for you and your son. ¹⁴For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. The jar of flour will not run out and the pitcher of oil will not become empty until the day the Lord sends rain to water the surface of the ground.”

¹⁵So she went and did exactly as Elijah said. He and she, as well as her household, were able to eat for many days. ¹⁶The jar of flour did not run out, and the pitcher of oil did not become empty, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.

¹⁰I rejoice greatly in the Lord now that you have revived your concern for me once again. Actually, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. ¹¹I am not saying this because I lack anything; in fact, I have learned to be content in any circumstances in which I find myself. ¹²I know what it is to live in humble circumstances, and I know what it is to have more than enough. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, while being full or hungry, while having plenty or not enough. ¹³I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me. ¹⁴Nevertheless, you did well by becoming partners with me in my affliction.

¹⁵You Philippians know that in the beginning of your experience with the gospel, when I left Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you alone. ¹⁶Even while I was in Thessalonica, you sent help more than once for my needs. ¹⁷Not that I am seeking a gift, but I am seeking the fruit that adds to your account. ¹⁸I have been paid in full, and I have more than enough. I am fully supplied since I’ve received from Epaphroditus the things that came from you, a sweet-smelling fragrance, an acceptable sacrifice, well-pleasing to God. ¹⁹And my God will fully supply your every need, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. ²⁰Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever! Amen.

After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.

²He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. ³Go your way. Look, I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. ⁴Do not carry a money bag or traveler’s bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone along the way. ⁵Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ ⁶And if a peaceful person is there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to you. ⁷Remain in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, because the worker is worthy of his pay. Do not keep moving from house to house. ⁸Whenever you enter a town and they welcome you, eat what is set before you. ⁹Heal the sick who are in the town and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’

¹⁰“But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹‘Even the dust from your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹²I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom on that day than for that town.

¹⁶Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

¹⁷The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”

¹⁸He told them, “I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹Look, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing will ever harm you. ²⁰Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven.”

¹⁷Do not neglect justice for an alien who lives among you or for a fatherless child, and do not take the clothing of a widow as a pledge.

¹⁸Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, but the Lord your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.

¹⁹When you harvest the crops in your field and you forget a bundle in the field, do not return to get it. It will be for the benefit of the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything your hands do.

²⁰When you beat your olives off the tree, do not strip the boughs clean of olives. Some are to be left for the benefit of the alien, the fatherless, and the widow.

²¹When you cut grapes from your vineyard, do not go over it again. Leave some for the benefit of the alien, the fatherless, and the widow.

²²Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. That is why I am commanding you to do this.

⁹Do not just pretend to love others. Hate what is evil. Cling to what is good. ¹⁰Be devoted to one another with brotherly love. Think of others as deserving more honor than yourselves. ¹¹Do not be lagging behind in zeal, but be fervent in spirit, as you continue to serve the Lord. ¹²Be joyful in hope. Endure trials patiently. Persist in prayer. ¹³Share with the saints who are in need. Be quick to welcome strangers as guests.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. ¹⁵Rejoice with those who are rejoicing; weep with those who are weeping. ¹⁶Have the same respect for one another. Do not be arrogant, but associate with the humble. Do not think too highly of yourselves.

¹⁷Do not pay anyone back evil for evil. Focus on those things that everyone considers noble. ¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, maintain peace with everyone. ¹⁹Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰But:

If your enemy is hungry, feed him;

if he is thirsty, give him a drink.

For by doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

²⁵Just then, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “What do you read there?”

²⁷He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.”

²⁸He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”

²⁹But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

³⁰Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³²In the same way, a Levite also happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. ³³A Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he felt sorry for the man. ³⁴He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return.’ ³⁶Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?”

³⁷“The one who showed mercy to him,” he replied.

Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

The boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days. Prophetic vision was not common.

²Now it happened that Eli’s eyes had begun to grow dim, so that he could not see. Once when Eli was lying down in his place ³and God’s lamp had not yet gone out, Samuel was lying down in the Lord’s temple, where God’s ark was. ⁴The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel said, “I am here.” ⁵He ran to Eli, and said, “I am here, since you called me.”

Eli said, “I did not call. Lie down again.” So he went and lay down.

⁶Then the Lord called once more, “Samuel!”

So Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”

He answered, “I did not call, my son. Lie down again.”

⁷Now Samuel had not yet experienced the Lord’s presence, that is, the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.

⁸The Lord called Samuel for the third time. So he got up and went to Eli and said, “I am here, since you called me.”

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the young man. ⁹So Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’”

So Samuel went and once again lay down in his place. ¹⁰The Lord came and stood there and called as he had the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!”

Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

¹²Therefore, as God’s elect, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. ¹³Bear with one another and forgive each other if anyone has a complaint against anyone else. Forgive, just as Christ forgave you. ¹⁴And, in addition to all these things, put on love, which ties things together in perfect unity. ¹⁵Let the peace of Christ control your hearts, to which you were also called, in one body. And be thankful.

¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, with gratitude in your hearts to God. ¹⁷And everything you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

³⁸As they went on their way, Jesus came into a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. ³⁹She had a sister named Mary, who was sitting at the Lord’s feet and was listening to his word. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted with all her serving. She came over and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.”

⁴¹The Lord answered and told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but one thing is needed. In fact, Mary has chosen that better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

²⁰So the Lord said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very flagrant, ²¹I will go down now and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has come to me. If not, I will know.”

²²The two men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord. ²³Abraham approached him and said, “Will you really sweep away the righteous along with the wicked? ²⁴What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep them away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵You would never do such a thing, killing the righteous along with the wicked, treating the righteous the same as the wicked. You would never do such a thing. The Judge of all the earth should do right, shouldn’t he?”

²⁶The Lord said, “If I find fifty righteous people within the city of Sodom, then I will spare the entire place for their sake.”

²⁷Abraham answered, “See now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it on myself to speak to my Lord. ²⁸What if there are five fewer than fifty righteous? Will you destroy the entire city if the number is five short?”

He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”

²⁹He spoke to him yet again and said, “What if only forty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”

³⁰He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak again. What if thirty are found there?”

He said, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.”

³¹He said, “See now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to my Lord. What if there are twenty found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”

³²He said, “Please, do not be angry, my Lord, but I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?”

He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”

¹³Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing songs of praise. ¹⁴Is anyone among you sick? He should call the elders of the church, and they should pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer offered in faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. ¹⁶So confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, in order that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is able to do much because it is effective. ¹⁷Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. ¹⁸Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the land produced its harvest.

On another occasion, Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”

²He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ³Give us each day our daily bread. ⁴Forgive us our sins, as we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’”

⁵He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and you go to him at midnight and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶because a friend of mine who is on a journey has come to me, and I do not have anything to set before him.’ ⁷And the one inside replies, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give it to you.’ ⁸I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his bold persistence, he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹“I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given to you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰For everyone who asks receives. The one who seeks finds. And to the one who knocks, it will be opened.

¹¹“What father among you, if your son asks for bread, would give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, would give him a snake instead of a fish? ¹²Or if he asks for an egg, would give him a scorpion? ¹³If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

²“Nothing but vapor,” Ecclesiastes said. “Totally vapor. Everything is just vapor that vanishes.”

^2:18I also hated all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard under the sun, since I must leave it all to the man who comes after me. ¹⁹And who knows—will he be wise, or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the results of my hard work, for which I worked so hard and so wisely, under the sun. This too is vapor that vanishes.

²⁰So I changed my course, and my heart began to despair over all my hard work at which I worked so hard under the sun. ²¹Sure, there may be a man who has worked hard—wisely, aptly, and skillfully. But he must hand over whatever he accumulated by all his hard work to a man who has not worked hard for it. This too is vapor. It’s so unfair! ²²For what does a man gain through all his hard work, through all the turmoil in his heart as he works so hard under the sun?

²³Pain fills his days. His occupation is frustration. Even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vapor.

²⁴There is nothing better for a man than to eat and to drink and to find joy in his work. This too, I saw, is from God’s hand. ²⁵For who can eat or enjoy himself apart from him? ²⁶Yes, God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to the man whom he considers good, but to the person who goes on sinning God gives the task of gathering and collecting, but only so that he can give it all to a person whom God considers good. This too is vapor, nothing but chasing wind.

Come now, you who are rich, weep and cry aloud over the miseries that are going to come upon you. ²Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. ³Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in these last days. ⁴Listen, the wages that you failed to pay the workers who reaped your fields are crying out! And the cries of the harvesters have entered the ears of the Lord of Armies. ⁵You have lived for pleasure on the earth and led a life of luxury. You have fattened your hearts on the day of slaughter. ⁶You condemned and murdered the Righteous One. Does he not oppose you?

⁷Therefore, brothers, be patient until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the valuable harvest from the ground, patiently waiting for it, until it receives the early and late rain. ⁸You be patient too. Strengthen your hearts because the coming of the Lord is near.

⁹Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look! The Judge is standing at the doors! ¹⁰Brothers, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering with patient endurance. ¹¹See, we consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard of the patient endurance of Job and have seen what the Lord did in the end, because the Lord is especially compassionate and merciful.

¹³Someone from the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” ¹⁴But Jesus said to him, “Man, who appointed me to be a judge or an arbitrator over you?”

¹⁵Then he said to them, “Watch out and be on guard against all greed, because a man’s life is not measured by how many possessions he has.”

¹⁶He told them a parable: “The land of a certain rich man produced very well. ¹⁷He was thinking to himself, ‘What will I do, because I do not have anywhere to store my crops?’ ¹⁸He said, ‘This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and goods. ¹⁹And I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry.”’

²⁰“But God said to him, ‘You fool, this night your soul will be demanded from you. Now who will get what you have prepared?’

²¹“That is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

²This is what the Lord of Armies says. This people has said, “It is not the right time for the House of the Lord to be built.”

³So the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet.

⁴Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins? ⁵Now this is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. ⁶You sow much seed but you harvest little. You eat but you are never satisfied. You drink but you never become drunk. You get dressed, but no one is warm. The one who makes money puts that money into a bag with a hole in it.

⁷This is what the Lord of Armies says. Consider your ways carefully. ⁸Go up to the mountains, bring lumber down, and build the House. I will be pleased with it, and I will be glorified, says the Lord.

⁹You expected much, but look, there was little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why did I do that?

This is a declaration of the Lord of Armies. It is because my house lies in ruins while each of you is busy with your own house. ¹⁰So it is because of you that the heavens have withheld the dew and the earth has withheld its produce. ¹¹I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the olive oil, on everything which the soil produces, on people, on livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.

¹²Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the surviving remnant of the people, listened to the voice of the Lord their God and to the words of Haggai the prophet, because the Lord their God had sent him. So the people feared the Lord.

¹³Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people: “I am with you, declares the Lord.”

¹⁴The Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the surviving remnant of the people, and they came and worked on the house for the Lord of Armies, their God.

To the messenger of the church in Sardis write:

The one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars says this:

I know your works. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead. ²Wake up, and strengthen what is left, which is about to die, for I have found that your works are not complete in the sight of my God. ³Therefore remember what you received and heard. Hold on to it and repent! If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come upon you.

⁴Yet you have a few names in Sardis, people who have not defiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white clothing, for they are worthy.

⁵The one who is victorious in this way will be clothed in white clothing. I certainly will not erase his name from the Book of Life, and I will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.

⁶Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.

³²Do not be afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions and give to the needy. Provide money bags for yourselves that do not become old, a treasure in the heavens that will not fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵“Be dressed, ready for service, and keep your lamps burning. ³⁶Be like people waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. ³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the master will find watching when he comes. Amen I tell you: He will dress himself and have them recline at the table, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸Even if he comes in the second or third watch, they will be blessed if he finds them alert. ³⁹But know this: If the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰You also be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you are not expecting him.”

When Athaliah, the mother of Ahaziah, saw that her son was dead, she went into action and destroyed all the royal heirs. ²But Jehosheba, King Joram’s daughter and Ahaziah’s sister, took Joash, the son of Ahaziah. She stole him away from among the king’s sons, who were to be killed. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom. He was kept hidden from Athaliah so that he was not killed. ³He was kept hidden with her in the House of the Lord for six years while Athaliah was ruling over the land.

¹²Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son and set the crown on him and gave him the Testimony, and they made him king. They anointed him and clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”

¹³When Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and the people, she went to them in the House of the Lord. ¹⁴She looked, and there was the king standing beside the pillar according to the custom, and the officers and the trumpeters were in front of the king, and all the people of the land were celebrating and blowing trumpets. Then Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”

¹⁵Then Jehoiada the priest commanded the officers in charge of the units of the army, “Bring her out between the ranks! Anyone who follows her is to be put to death with the sword!”

Because the priest had said, “She is not to be killed in the House of the Lord,” ¹⁶they laid hands on her as she was going through the passageway where the horses enter the king’s palace, and they killed her there.

¹⁷Then Jehoiada made a covenant between the Lord and the king and people that they would be the Lord’s people. He also made a covenant between the king and the people. ¹⁸Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altar and its idols till they were dust. They also killed Mattan the priest of Baal in front of the altars. Then the priest posted a watch over the House of the Lord.

¹⁰Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ¹¹Put on the full armor of God, so that you can stand against the schemes of the Devil. ¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. ¹³For this reason, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to take a stand on the evil day and, after you have done everything, to stand. ¹⁴Stand, then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness fastened in place, ¹⁵and with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace tied to your feet like sandals. ¹⁶At all times hold up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the Evil One. ¹⁷Also take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

¹⁸At every opportunity, pray in the Spirit with every kind of prayer and petition. Stay alert for the same reason, always persevering in your intercession for all the saints. ¹⁹Pray for me also, that when I open my mouth a message will be given to me that boldly reveals the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may speak about it boldly, as it is necessary for me to speak.

⁴⁹“I came to throw fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already ignited. ⁵⁰But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is finished! ⁵¹Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. ⁵²Yes, from now on there will be five divided in one household: three against two, and two against three. ⁵³They will be divided: father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.”

Then Jerubbaal (that is, Gideon) and all the people who were with him set out and camped by the Spring of Harod. The Midianite camp was north of him, in the valley below the Hill of Moreh.

²The Lord said to Gideon, “There are too many people with you for me to give Midian into your hands. If I did that, Israel would glorify itself at my expense and say, ‘My own hand has delivered me.’ ³So then, make an announcement for the people to hear: ‘Whoever is trembling with fear, can return home and fly away from Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand people turned and left. Only ten thousand remained.

⁴The Lord said to Gideon, “There are still too many people. Lead them down to the water, and there I will refine them further for you. If I tell you, ‘This one will go with you,’ he may go with you, but if I say to you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ he must not go.”

⁵So Gideon led the people down to the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, “Place everyone who laps water with his tongue, as a dog would lap, to one side. Place everyone who kneels down to drink on the other side.” ⁶The number of those who lapped—those who put their hands to their mouths—was three hundred men, while all the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.

⁷The Lord said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will deliver you, and I will give Midian into your hand. As for all the other people, let each man go back to his place.”

⁸The men who had been chosen took provisions in hand, along with their ram’s horns, but Gideon sent every other Israelite man back to his own tent. He kept only the three hundred men. The camp of Midian lay below him in the valley.

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying—my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit ²that I have great sorrow and continuous pain in my heart. ³For I almost wish that I myself could be cursed and separated from Christ in place of my brothers, my relatives according to the flesh, ⁴those who are Israelites. Theirs are the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, came the Christ, who is God over all, eternally blessed. Amen.

⁶This does not mean that God’s word has failed, because not all who are descended from Israel are really Israel, ⁷and not all who are descended from Abraham are really his children. On the contrary, “Your line of descent will be traced through Isaac.” ⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are counted as his descendants. ⁹For this is what the promise said: “I will arrive at this set time, and Sarah will have a son.”

²²He went on his way from one town and village to another, teaching, and making his way to Jerusalem. ²³Someone said to him, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?”

He said to them, ²⁴“Strive to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. ²⁵Once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open for us!’ He will tell you in reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ ²⁶Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ ²⁷And he will say, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ ²⁸There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside. ²⁹People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. ³⁰And note this: Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

⁶Do not honor yourself in a king’s presence.

Do not stand in a place reserved for great people,

⁷because it is better to be told, “Come up here,”

than for you to be humiliated before a ruler

whom your eyes have seen.

My brothers, have faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ without showing favoritism. ²For example, suppose a man enters your worship assembly wearing gold rings and fine clothing, and a poor man also enters wearing filthy clothing. ³If you look with favor on the man wearing fine clothing and say, “Sit here in this good place,” but you tell the poor man, “Stand over there” or “Sit down here at my feet,” ⁴have you not made a distinction among yourselves and become judges with evil opinions? ⁵Listen, my dear brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom, which he promised to those who love him? ⁶But you dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and don’t they drag you into court? ⁷Aren’t they the ones who blaspheme the noble name that was pronounced over you? ⁸However, if you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. ⁹But if you show favoritism, you are committing a sin, since you are convicted by this law as transgressors.

¹⁰In fact, whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of breaking all of it. ¹¹For the one who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law of freedom. ¹³For there will be judgment without mercy on the one who has not shown mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.

One Sabbath day, when Jesus went into the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat bread, they were watching him closely.

⁷When he noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, he told the invited guests a parable. ⁸“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline in the place of honor, or perhaps someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him. ⁹The one who invited both of you may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then you will begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.

¹⁰“But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a higher place.’ Then you will have honor in the presence of all who are reclining at the table with you.

¹¹“Yes, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹²He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or rich neighbors, so that perhaps they may also return the favor and pay you back.

¹³“But when you make a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. Certainly, you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”

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.”

⁴So Abram went, as the Lord had told him. Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. ⁵Abram took Sarai his wife, Lot his brother’s son, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to travel to the land of Canaan. Eventually they arrived in the land of Canaan. ⁶Abram passed through the land until he came to the Oak of Moreh at the place called Shechem. The Canaanites were in the land at that time.

⁷The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “I will give this land to your descendants.” Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸He moved on from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent there, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

If anyone else thinks that he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more: ⁵circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; ⁶in regard to zeal, persecuting the church; in regard to the righteousness that is in the law, blameless.

⁷But, whatever things were a profit for me, these things I have come to consider a loss because of Christ. ⁸But even more than that, I consider everything to be a loss because of what is worth far more: knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. For his sake, I have lost all things and consider them rubbish, so that I may gain Christ ⁹and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, which comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness that comes from God by faith. ¹⁰I do this so that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings, being conformed to his death, ¹¹in the hope that in some way I may arrive at the resurrection from the dead.

²⁵Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. He turned and said to them, ²⁶“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ²⁷Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸For which of you, if he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰saying, ‘This fellow began to build, but was not able to finish.’ ³¹Or what king, as he goes out to confront another king in war, will not first sit down and consider if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³²And if he is not able, he sends out a delegation and asks for terms of peace while his opponent is still far away. ³³So then, any one of you who does not say farewell to all his own possessions cannot be my disciple.

The Lord said to me, “Go again. Show love to a woman who is loved by another man, a woman who keeps committing adultery. Show love just as the Lord loves the people of Israel, even though they keep turning to other gods and loving the raisin cakes.”

²So I bought her for myself for fifteen pieces of silver and nine bushels of barley. ³I said to her, “You will stay with me for many days. You must not be promiscuous. You must not be with any other man, and I will also be for you.”

⁴So the people of Israel will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred memorial stones and without the special vest or family idols. ⁵Afterward the people of Israel will return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.

⁵Now if anyone has caused sorrow, he has not done it to me, but to all of you to some extent (not to overstate it). ⁶This punishment inflicted on such a person by the majority is enough, ⁷so that instead you should rather forgive and comfort him, or else such a person could be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. ⁸For that reason, I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. ⁹In fact, this was also the purpose of my writing: I wanted to know the result of your being tested, that is, if you are obedient in all things.

¹⁰If you forgive anyone anything, I do too. To be sure, if I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven it in the presence of Christ for your sake, ¹¹so that Satan would not take advantage of us. We are certainly not unaware of his schemes.

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him. ²But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

³He told them this parable: ⁴“Which one of you, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he finds it? ⁵And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶and goes home. Then he calls together his friends and his neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ ⁷I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.

⁸“Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, would not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the lost coin.’ ¹⁰In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

⁸The king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) went out and lined up for battle in the Valley of Siddim ⁹against Kedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goyim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five. ¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell there. Those who survived fled to the hills. ¹¹The raiders took all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and then they went on their way. ¹²Because he had been living in Sodom, they took also Lot, the son of Abram’s brother, and his possessions and went away on their way.

¹³One person escaped and came and told Abram the Hebrew, who was living by the oaks that belonged to Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and Aner. They were allies of Abram. ¹⁴When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led out all his trained men who were born in his house, three hundred eighteen of them, and pursued them as far as Dan. ¹⁵During the night he divided his servants into groups to attack them. He struck them and pursued them to Hobah, north of Damascus. ¹⁶He brought back all the possessions. He also brought back his relative Lot, and his possessions, and the women also, and the rest of the people.

¹⁷After Abram’s return from the defeat of Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). ¹⁸Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High. ¹⁹He blessed Abram and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²⁰and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”

Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²¹The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people and take the goods for yourself.”

²²Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have lifted up my hand to swear to the Lord, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, ²³that I will not take a thread or a sandal strap or anything that is yours, so that you cannot say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ²⁴I will take nothing except that which the young men have eaten and the share belonging to the men who went with me, namely, Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”

⁶But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out. ⁸But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied.

⁹Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into complete destruction and utter ruin. ¹⁰For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils. By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

¹¹But you, O man of God, flee from these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. ¹²Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of eternal life, to which you were called and about which you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. ¹³I charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who made a good confession as a witness before Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴that you keep this command without spot and without fault, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁵which he will make known at the proper time—the blessed and only ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, ¹⁶who alone has immortality, who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or is able to see. To him be honor and power forever! Amen.

Jesus also said to his disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager who was accused of wasting his possessions. ²The rich man called him in and said to him, ‘What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be manager.’

³“The manager said to himself, ‘What will I do, since my master is taking away the management position from me? I am not strong enough to dig. I am ashamed to beg. ⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from my position as manager, people will receive me into their houses.’

⁵“He called each one of his master’s debtors to him. He asked the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ ⁶He said, ‘Six hundred gallons of olive oil.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write three hundred.’ ⁷Then he said to another, ‘How much do you owe?’ And he said, ‘Six hundred bushels of wheat.’ He said to him, ‘Take your bill and write four hundred and eighty.’

⁸“The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the children of the light are. ⁹I tell you, make friends for yourselves with unrighteous mammon, so that when it runs out, they will welcome you into the eternal dwellings. ¹⁰The person who is faithful with very little is also faithful with much. And the person who is unrighteous with very little is also unrighteous with much. ¹¹So if you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon who will entrust you with what is really valuable? ¹²If you have not been faithful with what belongs to someone else, who will give you something to be your own? ¹³No servant can serve two masters. Indeed, either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and mammon.”

⁸If you see the poor being oppressed, and you see the province being robbed of justice and fairness, do not be shocked about the situation, because one high official is watched by a higher one, and higher ones are over them! ⁹All officials take their cut of the profit from the land; even the king benefits from the fields.

¹⁰Anyone who loves money is never satisfied with money, and anyone who loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is vanishing vapor.

¹¹When goods increase, so do those who eat them. What profit, then, does the owner get, except to see these things with his eyes?

¹²The worker’s sleep is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but a rich person’s abundant possessions allow him no sleep.

¹³I have seen a sickening evil under the sun—wealth hoarded by its owner to his own harm, ¹⁴or wealth that is lost in a bad investment. Or a man fathers a son, but he has nothing left in his hand to give him. ¹⁵As he came out from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came. From his hard work he can pick up nothing that he can carry away in his hand. ¹⁶This too is a sickening evil: Just as he came, so he will go. So what does he gain, he who works for the wind? ¹⁷Besides this, during all his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸So then, here is what I have seen to be good: It is beautiful to eat, to drink, and to look for good in all a person’s hard work which he has done under the sun, during the few days of his life that God has given him, for that is his reward. ¹⁹Likewise, for everyone to whom God has given wealth and riches, if God has also given him ability to eat from it, to enjoy his reward, and to rejoice in the results of his hard work—this is a gift of God, ²⁰for the man seldom reflects on the days of his life, since God keeps him busy with the joy in his heart.

⁸To the messenger of the church in Smyrna write:

The First and the Last, who was dead and came to life again, says this:

⁹I know your suffering and your poverty—but you are rich. And I know the blasphemy that comes from those who say they are Jews but are not; rather, they are a synagogue of Satan. ¹⁰Do not fear anything that you are about to suffer. Look, the Devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will suffer for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

¹¹Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.

¹⁹“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. ²⁰A beggar named Lazarus had been laid at his gate. Lazarus was covered with sores and ²¹longed to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Besides this, the dogs also came and licked his sores. ²²Eventually the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In hell, where he was in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. ²⁴He called out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in misery in this flame.’

²⁵“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in misery. ²⁶Besides all this, a great chasm has been set in place between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

²⁷“He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s home, ²⁸because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

²⁹“Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.’

³⁰“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

³¹“Abraham replied to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

King David said this to the whole assembly:

My son Solomon, the one God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The work is great because this citadel is not for a man. It is for the Lord God. ²According to all my strength, I have provided these things for the house of my God: gold for the gold items, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, wood for the wooden, onyx stones and settings, antimony, stones of many different colors, every kind of precious stone, and alabaster in abundance.

¹⁰David blessed the Lord in the presence of the entire assembly. He said:

Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel, our father, from eternity to eternity. ¹¹To you, O Lord, belong greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty, because everything in the heavens and on the earth belongs to you. You, Lord, are exalted as head above everything. The kingdom belongs to you. ¹²Riches and honor come from you. You are ruling over everything. In your hand are power and strength. It is in your power to make anyone great and strong. ¹³Now, our God, we are thanking you and praising your glorious name.

¹⁴Who am I? Who are my people that we are able to offer willingly like this? For everything comes from you. What we have given to you came from your hand. ¹⁵We are aliens and temporary residents before you, as were all our fathers. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope of staying.

¹⁶Lord, our God, all this abundance, which we have provided for building a house for you, for your holy name, is from your hand. This abundance belongs to you.

¹⁷I know, my God, that you test the heart, and you take pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things. Now with joy I see your people, who are present here to bring the offering freely to you.

¹⁸Lord, the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, preserve forever this purpose and way of thinking in the heart of your people. Direct their heart to you.

¹⁵What then? Should we continue to sin, because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not! ¹⁶Do you not know that when you offer yourselves to obey someone as slaves, you are slaves of the one you are obeying—whether slaves of sin, resulting in death, or slaves of obedience, resulting in righteousness?

¹⁷Thanks be to God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to the pattern of the teaching into which you were placed. ¹⁸After you were set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹(I am speaking in a human way because of the weakness of your flesh.) Indeed, just as you offered your members as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, resulting in more lawlessness, so now offer your members in the same way as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

²⁰For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. ²¹So what kind of fruit did you have then? They were things of which you are now ashamed. Yes, the final result of those things is death. ²²But now, since you were set free from sin and have become slaves to God, you have your fruit resulting in sanctification—and the final result is eternal life. ²³For the wages of sin is death, but the undeserved gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! ²It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. ³Watch yourselves.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. ⁴Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

⁵The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

⁶The Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. ⁷Which one of you who has a servant plowing or taking care of sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at the table’? ⁸Won’t the master tell him instead, ‘Prepare my supper, and after you are properly dressed, serve me while I eat and drink. After that you may eat and drink’? ⁹He does not thank the servant because he did what he was commanded to do, does he? ¹⁰So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we were supposed to do.’”

²⁰Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid. You have indeed done all this evil. Nevertheless, do not turn away from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. ²¹Do not turn away to pursue empty things that cannot help you or save you, because they are empty. ²²For the sake of his great name, the Lord will not forsake his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own people for himself. ²³As for me, it is unthinkable that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you. Instead, I will instruct you in the way that is good and right. ²⁴ Above all, fear the Lord, and serve him in truth, with all your heart, considering the great things he has done for you.”

⁸Brothers, we do not want you to be unaware of the trouble that happened to us in the province of Asia. We were burdened so greatly, so far beyond our ability to bear it, that we even gave up hope of living. ⁹Yes, we even felt the sentence of death within ourselves. This happened so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead. ¹⁰He rescued us from such a terrible death, and he will continue to rescue us. We have set our hope on him that he will also rescue us again, ¹¹as you join in helping us with your prayers for us. Then many people will thank God for the gracious gift given to us through many prayers.

¹¹On another occasion, as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee. ¹²When he entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met him. Standing at a distance, ¹³they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

¹⁴When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they went away they were cleansed.

¹⁵One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. ¹⁶He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? ¹⁸Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” ¹⁹Then he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.”

²²He got up that night and took his two wives, his two maids, and his eleven sons, and crossed over the ford of the Jabbok. ²³He took them and sent them across the stream, and he also sent his possessions across. ²⁴Jacob was left alone, and he wrestled with a man there until daybreak. ²⁵When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he touched the socket of his thigh, and the socket of Jacob’s thigh was dislocated as he wrestled. ²⁶The man said, “Let me go. It’s daybreak.”

Jacob said, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”

²⁷Then he said to him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Jacob.”

²⁸Then he said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have fought with God and with men, and you have won.”

²⁹Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.”

He said, “Why do you ask what my name is?” Then he blessed him there.

³⁰Jacob named the place Peniel, because he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life has been spared.”

¹³I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

¹⁴This is the confidence that we have before him: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. ¹⁵And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we also know that we receive the things we have asked from him.

Jesus told them a parable about the need to always pray and not lose heart: ²“There was a judge in a certain town who did not fear God and did not care about people. ³There was a widow in that town, and she kept going to him, saying, ‘Give me justice from my adversary!’ ⁴For some time he refused, but after a while he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God or care about people, ⁵yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice so that she will not wear me out with her endless pleading.’”

⁶The Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. ⁷Will not God give justice to his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night? Will he put off helping them? ⁸I tell you that he will give them justice quickly.”

The people of Israel acted unfaithfully in regard to the devoted things. Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, from the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things, and the anger of the Lord burned against the people of Israel.

¹⁹Joshua said to Achan, “My son, give glory now to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give him praise. Now tell me what you did. Do not conceal it from me.”

²⁰Achan answered Joshua, “It is true. I am the one who has sinned against the Lord, the God of Israel, and this is what I did: ²¹Among the plunder I saw an expensive Mesopotamian robe, a fine one, and two hundred shekels of silver and one wedge of gold—it weighed fifty shekels. I coveted them and I took them. Now they are hidden in the ground inside my tent, and the silver is underneath it.”

²²So Joshua sent agents. They ran to the tent, and there it was! The robe was hidden in his tent, and the silver was underneath it! ²³They took them from the middle of the tent and brought them to Joshua and to all the people of Israel, where they poured them out before the Lord.

²⁴Then Joshua took Achan son of Zerah and the silver, the garment, and the wedge of gold, as well as Achan’s sons and his daughters, his ox, his donkey and his flock, and his tent and everything that belonged to him—so all Israel, led by Joshua, brought them up to the Valley of Achor.

²⁵Joshua said, “Why have you brought disaster on us? The Lord will bring disaster on you this day!”

Then all Israel stoned Achan to death. They also burned him and them with fire, and they pelted them with stones. ²⁶They erected a large heap of stones over Achan, which remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from the heat of his anger. For that reason the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor to this day.

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

¹⁸A certain ruler asked Jesus, “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁹Jesus asked him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good, except one—God. ²⁰You know the commandments: ‘You shall not commit adultery. You shall not murder. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. Honor your father and mother.’”

²¹“I have kept all these since I was a child,” he said.

²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

²³But when the ruler heard these words, he became very sad, because he was very rich.

²⁴When Jesus saw that the man became very sad, he said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵In fact, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

²⁶Those who heard this said, “Then who can be saved?”

²⁷He replied, “What is impossible for people is possible for God.”

¹⁸Who is a God like you, who forgives guilt,

and who passes over the rebellion of the survivors from his inheritance?

He does not hold onto his anger forever.

He delights in showing mercy.

¹⁹He will have compassion on us again.

He will overcome our guilty deeds.

You will throw all their sins into the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham,

as you swore to our fathers from days of old.

⁶For at the appointed time, while we were still helpless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷It is rare indeed that someone will die for a righteous person. Perhaps someone might actually go so far as to die for a person who has been good to him. ⁸But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹Therefore, since we have now been justified by his blood, it is even more certain that we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. ¹⁰For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, it is even more certain that, since we have been reconciled, we will be saved by his life. ¹¹And not only is this so, but we also go on rejoicing confidently in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received this reconciliation.

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ²A man named Zacchaeus was there. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but since he was short, he could not see because of the crowd. ⁴He ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Jesus, because he was about to pass by that way. ⁵When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” ⁶He came down quickly and welcomed Jesus joyfully. ⁷When the people saw it, they were all grumbling because he went to be a guest of a sinful man.

⁸Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I am going to give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone out of anything, I will pay back four times as much.”

⁹Jesus said to him, “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”