BibliaTodo New Translation · BTNT
BTNT-2026-11-04 · 2026-11-04

Holy Bible, BibliaTodo New Translation (BTNT).
Published by BibliaTodo Bible Society, an imprint of BibliaTodo LLC.
https://www.bibliatodo.org/en/btnt/
History and Biblical Fidelity

English BTNT text © 2026 BibliaTodo LLC, with respect to its own contributions. Published by BibliaTodo Bible Society, an imprint of BibliaTodo LLC.

Editorial direction and review

Editorial direction and review of the BibliaTodo New Translation are led by Carlos Colina, with the support of the collaborating team of BibliaTodo Bible Society.

How the translation is prepared and reviewed

BibliaTodo translations are made from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of Scripture. Our methodology identifies the textual editions we use.

BTNT is drafted in English from the biblical languages, drawing on the editorial research shared with the Spanish NTBT. Review considers the whole chapter, grammar, subjects, negations, quantities, repetitions, and imagery. Contemporary, reverent American English serves precision: narratives should be clear to follow, while poetry, prayers, and memorable passages retain their rhythm and force. Explanations remain separate from the biblical text.

Faithfulness to the meaning of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek is the primary criterion. Clear wording must not introduce theological explanations or resolve ambiguities that the text and its context retain. Translation choices must be justified from the biblical languages; explanations, interpretations, and applications are presented separately in study material.

Textual bases and reference resources

For the Old Testament, the Masoretic Hebrew and Aramaic tradition is consulted in the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC), together with the linguistic resources of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB). Differences between the written form and the transmitted reading, known as ketiv and qere, are examined in context. Aramaic is consulted in the passages that belong to that language.

For the New Testament, the principal Greek base is the SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), edited by Michael W. Holmes, version 1.2. The interlinear text, morphology, and lexical resources support examination of the text; an isolated gloss does not replace its meaning in context. These editions provide access to texts in their original languages as transmitted through the manuscript tradition.

How textual variants are handled

A textual variant is a difference of reading between witnesses to the text. It is distinguished from a choice about expressing the same reading in English and from differences of punctuation or numbering. The principal Greek edition contains its editor’s critical decisions; exceptions adopted by BTNT are documented separately.

Examination of a reading considers the textual evidence consulted, grammar, and context. A familiar phrase, the age of a witness, the number of copies, or an interpretive preference does not determine the decision on its own. Passages are not harmonized by silently changing names, quantities, or statements in the text.

In the New Testament, BTNT preserves certain additional readings documented in the Greek of the reference interlinear, although they do not appear in the main SBLGNT text. Complete verses preserved under this convention are enclosed in brackets; Mark 16:9–20 is also marked this way. The brackets identify these editorial decisions, rather than providing an exhaustive inventory of every textual variant in the Bible.

Examples of textual decisions

Matthew 18:11. BTNT preserves the supplementary Greek reading recorded in the reference interlinear and encloses the entire verse in brackets. The reading is translated from Greek and distinguished from the main SBLGNT text.

Mark 16:9–20. The longer ending of the Gospel, printed with critical marking in SBLGNT, is retained, with each complete verse enclosed in brackets. The additional shorter ending printed after Mark 16:8 in that edition is not incorporated into BTNT.

Matthew 1:7. Asaf in NTBT and Asaph in BTNT express in each language the reading retained in the Greek base. Replacing it with Asa would adopt a different reading, rather than merely adapting the name into Spanish or English. Familiarity with a genealogy does not by itself justify that change.

John 7:53–8:11. BTNT retains the entire account and its existing bracket convention. SBLGNT prints this unit within double brackets; several early Greek witnesses preserving this part do not contain it, while others place it elsewhere. The study instructions require the notes at John 7:53 and 8:1 to explain this transmission issue without confusing it with wording choices or an automatic conclusion about the account’s historicity. English studies are offered only when complete and verified.

Romans 16:25–27. BTNT retains this doxology in brackets from the documented supplementary Greek reading. It is not part of the body of the consulted SBLGNT edition. This difference is explained separately from John 7:53–8:11 and from punctuation choices.

Psalm 22:16 (22:17 in WLC/OSHB Hebrew numbering): the Masoretic reading is כָּאֲרִי (kaʾarí), “like a lion,” followed by “my hands and my feet.” BTNT retains this elliptical image. The Hebrew segment does not repeat a verb alongside those words. Spanish NTBT and Portuguese NTB-BR make the action of surrounding explicit from the preceding context. Identifying the adopted reading does not settle the entire textual debate.

Hebrews 2:9: SBLGNT prints χωρὶς θεοῦ (chōrís theoû), “apart from God”; all three translations retain it. “By the grace of God” represents χάριτι θεοῦ (cháriti theoû), a different reading. The Greek selection belongs to SBLGNT; BibliaTodo is responsible for the wording in each language.

Paragraphs, poetry, and numbering

Narrative paragraphs, poetic lines, and stanzas are described through a shared chapter structure used by readers and exports. Narrative introductions to poems are distinguished from poetic speech. Ancient Psalm superscriptions, where present in the edition, are distinguished from editorial headings and identified with d in USFM and USX.

Psalm 47:9 and 47:10 remain two verses. Together they correspond to the closing verse of Psalm 47:10 in Hebrew numbering, which counts the superscription as verse 1. The difference in division omits no content. Each release identifies its cutoff date separately from the catalog number and license.

Scripture transmitted through the centuries

The manuscript history of the New Testament includes early fragments such as Rylands Papyrus 52, traditionally dated to the second century, and important codices such as Sinaiticus and Vaticanus from the fourth century. These witnesses help scholars study the transmission of the Greek text through the centuries.

For the Old Testament, the Masoretic tradition preserves the Hebrew text and Aramaic passages. The eleventh-century Leningrad Codex is a fundamental complete witness. A manuscript's age and its value for a passage are considered alongside the other available witnesses.

The manuscript witnesses provide the historical setting of these textual editions. Mentioning them does not attribute to the project an independent examination of every codex or its own critical reconstruction of the full manuscript tradition. Editorial documentation distinguishes the sources actually consulted from historical information about transmission.

Why we share our translations freely

In his book Cómo escuchar la voz audible de Dios (How to Hear the Audible Voice of God), Carlos Colina, founder of BibliaTodo, recounts that in December 2021 the Lord showed him a future event in a vision: his own death and arrival in the kingdom of heaven.

In that vision, he found himself in a place resembling an immense stadium, filled with a multitude of millions of people praising God. Then silence fell. An angel stood up, holding a book in his hand, and began to call out names. Those who were called stood up among the multitude.

When the angel called out another name, Carlos saw a man stand up. He could see the man’s face, although he did not know him or know who he was. Then he heard these words from the angel:

«He relinquished the copyright to the film JESUS, through which millions of souls have been reached for the Kingdom of Heaven».

After waking from the vision, he researched the film and connected the man with Bill Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) and helped bring the film JESUS (1979) to audiences. He understood that the man could have earned substantial income but had chosen to store up treasures in the kingdom of heaven.

Carlos shares this experience as his personal testimony and connects the lesson he received with his decision to place the work of the BibliaTodo translations at the service of spreading the gospel: serving Jesus Christ generously and helping others come to know his Word.

Our greatest hope is that more people will come to know Jesus Christ through Scripture. That is why we authorize the reproduction and distribution of our translations free of charge, for both commercial and nonprofit purposes, without royalties, commissions, or license fees.

You may copy, print, give away, publish, distribute, and sell these translations in physical and digital formats, including websites, applications, and commercial platforms. You may also create your own designs, such as coloring Bibles, illustrated editions, Bibles with space for personal notes, or editions accompanied by study material. Preserve the biblical wording and its attribution, and clearly distinguish your comments and other additions.

Integration and distribution require free registration and email verification; authorization is automatic once those steps are complete. Selling an edition or using your own design in compliance with the agreement is not a reason for BibliaTodo to require its removal. Authorized uses do not incur royalties, commissions, or license fees payable to BibliaTodo.

Continuing review and updates

Each language has its own wording from the biblical languages and draws on shared editorial research. Proposed improvements will be assessed against the original text and its context. Specialists with verified qualifications will be credited only for chapters and reviews actually completed; an equally faithful alternative does not require changing sound wording.

Each delivery is identified by its cutoff date, separately from first publication and license version. Registered responsible parties may opt in to editorial notices and unsubscribe without losing their authorization. Publication and notices require verification and editorial approval; the release history and official downloads identify the available delivery.

Reference editions and documentary acknowledgments

Early witnesses to the transmission of the New Testament include Rylands Papyrus 52 (P52), a fragment of the Gospel of John traditionally assigned to the second century, whose paleographic dating remains a subject of study, and Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus from the fourth century. These manuscripts document the history of the text; the editions identified below support comparison in the biblical languages.

Old Testament: the Hebrew and Aramaic Masoretic text in the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) edition, consulted alongside the linguistic resources of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB).

New Testament: the SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), edited by Michael W. Holmes, version 1.2, used for comparison with the Greek. BTNT's English wording and style decisions belong to its own editorial work.

Acknowledgment of the consulted Greek edition: SBL Greek New Testament © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, under CC BY 4.0. This notice refers to that Greek edition; rights in the original contributions of the English BTNT text belong to BibliaTodo LLC.

Original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb

The open licenses of these editions permit use with attribution, including commercial use. Documentary identification is compatible with BTNT's free distribution authorization and does not imply that those organizations publish, sponsor, or certify this translation.

SBLGNT Greek edition and license: https://www.sblgnt.com/license/

OSHB: acknowledgment and CC BY 4.0 license: https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb/blob/master/LICENSE.md

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

CC BY 4.0 legal text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction and textual criteria of the SBLGNT edition: https://www.sblgnt.com/about/introduction/

WLC / OSHB · Salmos 22: https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb/blob/master/wlc/Ps.xml

SBLGNT · Hebrews 2:9: https://github.com/LogosBible/SBLGNT/blob/master/data/sblgnt/text/Heb.txt

Updates and release identification: https://www.bibliatodo.org/en/btnt/actualizaciones.php

Also available in other languages
Español · Nueva Traducción BibliaTodo (NTBT)
Bible text · PDF: https://cdn.bibliatodo.com/ntbt/texto/NTBT.pdf
Bible text · EPUB: https://cdn.bibliatodo.com/ntbt/texto/NTBT.epub
Complete study edition · PDF: https://cdn.bibliatodo.com/ntbt/estudio/NTBT.pdf
Complete study edition · EPUB: https://cdn.bibliatodo.com/ntbt/estudio/NTBT.epub
All formats: https://www.bibliatodo.org/es/ntbt/materiales.html
Português (Brasil) · Nova Tradução BibliaTodo (NTB-BR)
Bible text · PDF: https://cdn.bibliatodo.com/ntbt/pt/texto/NTB-BR.pdf
Bible text · EPUB: https://cdn.bibliatodo.com/ntbt/pt/texto/NTB-BR.epub
All formats: https://www.bibliatodo.org/pt/ntb-br/materiales.html

Why we share our translations freely
Our greatest hope is that more people will come to know Jesus Christ through Scripture. That is why we authorize the reproduction and distribution of our translations free of charge, for both commercial and nonprofit purposes, without royalties, commissions, or license fees.
You may copy, print, give away, publish, distribute, and sell these translations in physical and digital formats, including websites, applications, and commercial platforms. You may also create your own designs, such as coloring Bibles, illustrated editions, Bibles with space for personal notes, or editions accompanied by study material. Preserve the biblical wording and its attribution, and clearly distinguish your comments and other additions.
Integration and distribution require free registration and email verification; authorization is automatic once those steps are complete. Selling an edition or using your own design in compliance with the agreement is not a reason for BibliaTodo to require its removal. Authorized uses do not incur royalties, commissions, or license fees payable to BibliaTodo.
https://www.bibliatodo.org/en/btnt/creditos.html#sharing

History and Biblical Fidelity

English BTNT text © 2026 BibliaTodo LLC, with respect to its own contributions. Published by BibliaTodo Bible Society, an imprint of BibliaTodo LLC.

Editorial direction and review

Editorial direction and review of the BibliaTodo New Translation are led by Carlos Colina, with the support of the collaborating team of BibliaTodo Bible Society.

How the translation is prepared and reviewed

BibliaTodo translations are made from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts of Scripture. Our methodology identifies the textual editions we use.

BTNT is drafted in English from the biblical languages, drawing on the editorial research shared with the Spanish NTBT. Review considers the whole chapter, grammar, subjects, negations, quantities, repetitions, and imagery. Contemporary, reverent American English serves precision: narratives should be clear to follow, while poetry, prayers, and memorable passages retain their rhythm and force. Explanations remain separate from the biblical text.

Faithfulness to the meaning of the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek is the primary criterion. Clear wording must not introduce theological explanations or resolve ambiguities that the text and its context retain. Translation choices must be justified from the biblical languages; explanations, interpretations, and applications are presented separately in study material.

Textual bases and reference resources

For the Old Testament, the Masoretic Hebrew and Aramaic tradition is consulted in the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC), together with the linguistic resources of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB). Differences between the written form and the transmitted reading, known as ketiv and qere, are examined in context. Aramaic is consulted in the passages that belong to that language.

For the New Testament, the principal Greek base is the SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), edited by Michael W. Holmes, version 1.2. The interlinear text, morphology, and lexical resources support examination of the text; an isolated gloss does not replace its meaning in context. These editions provide access to texts in their original languages as transmitted through the manuscript tradition.

How textual variants are handled

A textual variant is a difference of reading between witnesses to the text. It is distinguished from a choice about expressing the same reading in English and from differences of punctuation or numbering. The principal Greek edition contains its editor’s critical decisions; exceptions adopted by BTNT are documented separately.

Examination of a reading considers the textual evidence consulted, grammar, and context. A familiar phrase, the age of a witness, the number of copies, or an interpretive preference does not determine the decision on its own. Passages are not harmonized by silently changing names, quantities, or statements in the text.

In the New Testament, BTNT preserves certain additional readings documented in the Greek of the reference interlinear, although they do not appear in the main SBLGNT text. Complete verses preserved under this convention are enclosed in brackets; Mark 16:9–20 is also marked this way. The brackets identify these editorial decisions, rather than providing an exhaustive inventory of every textual variant in the Bible.

Examples of textual decisions

Matthew 18:11. BTNT preserves the supplementary Greek reading recorded in the reference interlinear and encloses the entire verse in brackets. The reading is translated from Greek and distinguished from the main SBLGNT text.

Mark 16:9–20. The longer ending of the Gospel, printed with critical marking in SBLGNT, is retained, with each complete verse enclosed in brackets. The additional shorter ending printed after Mark 16:8 in that edition is not incorporated into BTNT.

Matthew 1:7. Asaf in NTBT and Asaph in BTNT express in each language the reading retained in the Greek base. Replacing it with Asa would adopt a different reading, rather than merely adapting the name into Spanish or English. Familiarity with a genealogy does not by itself justify that change.

John 7:53–8:11. BTNT retains the entire account and its existing bracket convention. SBLGNT prints this unit within double brackets; several early Greek witnesses preserving this part do not contain it, while others place it elsewhere. The study instructions require the notes at John 7:53 and 8:1 to explain this transmission issue without confusing it with wording choices or an automatic conclusion about the account’s historicity. English studies are offered only when complete and verified.

Romans 16:25–27. BTNT retains this doxology in brackets from the documented supplementary Greek reading. It is not part of the body of the consulted SBLGNT edition. This difference is explained separately from John 7:53–8:11 and from punctuation choices.

Psalm 22:16 (22:17 in WLC/OSHB Hebrew numbering): the Masoretic reading is כָּאֲרִי (kaʾarí), “like a lion,” followed by “my hands and my feet.” BTNT retains this elliptical image. The Hebrew segment does not repeat a verb alongside those words. Spanish NTBT and Portuguese NTB-BR make the action of surrounding explicit from the preceding context. Identifying the adopted reading does not settle the entire textual debate.

Hebrews 2:9: SBLGNT prints χωρὶς θεοῦ (chōrís theoû), “apart from God”; all three translations retain it. “By the grace of God” represents χάριτι θεοῦ (cháriti theoû), a different reading. The Greek selection belongs to SBLGNT; BibliaTodo is responsible for the wording in each language.

Paragraphs, poetry, and numbering

Narrative paragraphs, poetic lines, and stanzas are described through a shared chapter structure used by readers and exports. Narrative introductions to poems are distinguished from poetic speech. Ancient Psalm superscriptions, where present in the edition, are distinguished from editorial headings and identified with d in USFM and USX.

Psalm 47:9 and 47:10 remain two verses. Together they correspond to the closing verse of Psalm 47:10 in Hebrew numbering, which counts the superscription as verse 1. The difference in division omits no content. Each release identifies its cutoff date separately from the catalog number and license.

Scripture transmitted through the centuries

The manuscript history of the New Testament includes early fragments such as Rylands Papyrus 52, traditionally dated to the second century, and important codices such as Sinaiticus and Vaticanus from the fourth century. These witnesses help scholars study the transmission of the Greek text through the centuries.

For the Old Testament, the Masoretic tradition preserves the Hebrew text and Aramaic passages. The eleventh-century Leningrad Codex is a fundamental complete witness. A manuscript's age and its value for a passage are considered alongside the other available witnesses.

The manuscript witnesses provide the historical setting of these textual editions. Mentioning them does not attribute to the project an independent examination of every codex or its own critical reconstruction of the full manuscript tradition. Editorial documentation distinguishes the sources actually consulted from historical information about transmission.

Why we share our translations freely

In his book Cómo escuchar la voz audible de Dios (How to Hear the Audible Voice of God), Carlos Colina, founder of BibliaTodo, recounts that in December 2021 the Lord showed him a future event in a vision: his own death and arrival in the kingdom of heaven.

In that vision, he found himself in a place resembling an immense stadium, filled with a multitude of millions of people praising God. Then silence fell. An angel stood up, holding a book in his hand, and began to call out names. Those who were called stood up among the multitude.

When the angel called out another name, Carlos saw a man stand up. He could see the man’s face, although he did not know him or know who he was. Then he heard these words from the angel:

«He relinquished the copyright to the film JESUS, through which millions of souls have been reached for the Kingdom of Heaven».

After waking from the vision, he researched the film and connected the man with Bill Bright, who founded Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) and helped bring the film JESUS (1979) to audiences. He understood that the man could have earned substantial income but had chosen to store up treasures in the kingdom of heaven.

Carlos shares this experience as his personal testimony and connects the lesson he received with his decision to place the work of the BibliaTodo translations at the service of spreading the gospel: serving Jesus Christ generously and helping others come to know his Word.

Our greatest hope is that more people will come to know Jesus Christ through Scripture. That is why we authorize the reproduction and distribution of our translations free of charge, for both commercial and nonprofit purposes, without royalties, commissions, or license fees.

You may copy, print, give away, publish, distribute, and sell these translations in physical and digital formats, including websites, applications, and commercial platforms. You may also create your own designs, such as coloring Bibles, illustrated editions, Bibles with space for personal notes, or editions accompanied by study material. Preserve the biblical wording and its attribution, and clearly distinguish your comments and other additions.

Integration and distribution require free registration and email verification; authorization is automatic once those steps are complete. Selling an edition or using your own design in compliance with the agreement is not a reason for BibliaTodo to require its removal. Authorized uses do not incur royalties, commissions, or license fees payable to BibliaTodo.

Continuing review and updates

Each language has its own wording from the biblical languages and draws on shared editorial research. Proposed improvements will be assessed against the original text and its context. Specialists with verified qualifications will be credited only for chapters and reviews actually completed; an equally faithful alternative does not require changing sound wording.

Each delivery is identified by its cutoff date, separately from first publication and license version. Registered responsible parties may opt in to editorial notices and unsubscribe without losing their authorization. Publication and notices require verification and editorial approval; the release history and official downloads identify the available delivery.

Reference editions and documentary acknowledgments

Early witnesses to the transmission of the New Testament include Rylands Papyrus 52 (P52), a fragment of the Gospel of John traditionally assigned to the second century, whose paleographic dating remains a subject of study, and Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus from the fourth century. These manuscripts document the history of the text; the editions identified below support comparison in the biblical languages.

Old Testament: the Hebrew and Aramaic Masoretic text in the Westminster Leningrad Codex (WLC) edition, consulted alongside the linguistic resources of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible (OSHB).

New Testament: the SBL Greek New Testament (SBLGNT), edited by Michael W. Holmes, version 1.2, used for comparison with the Greek. BTNT's English wording and style decisions belong to its own editorial work.

Acknowledgment of the consulted Greek edition: SBL Greek New Testament © 2010 Society of Biblical Literature and Logos Bible Software, under CC BY 4.0. This notice refers to that Greek edition; rights in the original contributions of the English BTNT text belong to BibliaTodo LLC.

Original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb

The open licenses of these editions permit use with attribution, including commercial use. Documentary identification is compatible with BTNT's free distribution authorization and does not imply that those organizations publish, sponsor, or certify this translation.

SBLGNT Greek edition and license: https://www.sblgnt.com/license/

OSHB: acknowledgment and CC BY 4.0 license: https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb/blob/master/LICENSE.md

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

CC BY 4.0 legal text: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Introduction and textual criteria of the SBLGNT edition: https://www.sblgnt.com/about/introduction/

WLC / OSHB · Salmos 22: https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb/blob/master/wlc/Ps.xml

SBLGNT · Hebrews 2:9: https://github.com/LogosBible/SBLGNT/blob/master/data/sblgnt/text/Heb.txt

Updates and release identification: https://www.bibliatodo.org/en/btnt/updates

Also available in other languages
Español · Nueva Traducción BibliaTodo (NTBT)
Bible text · PDF: https://downloads.bibliatodo.org/texto/NTBT.pdf
Bible text · EPUB: https://downloads.bibliatodo.org/texto/NTBT.epub
Complete study edition · PDF: https://downloads.bibliatodo.org/estudio/NTBT.pdf
Complete study edition · EPUB: https://downloads.bibliatodo.org/estudio/NTBT.epub
All formats: https://www.bibliatodo.org/es/ntbt/materials
Português (Brasil) · Nova Tradução BibliaTodo (NTB-BR)
Bible text · PDF: https://downloads.bibliatodo.org/pt/texto/NTB-BR.pdf
Bible text · EPUB: https://downloads.bibliatodo.org/pt/texto/NTB-BR.epub
All formats: https://www.bibliatodo.org/pt/ntb-br/materials


GENESIS

Chapter 1
1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
1:2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters.
1:3 Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
1:4 God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness.
1:5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. There was evening, and there was morning: one day.
1:6 Then God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.”
1:7 God made the expanse and separated the waters below the expanse from the waters above the expanse. And it was so.
1:8 God called the expanse Sky. There was evening, and there was morning: the second day.
1:9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, and let dry land appear.” And it was so.
1:10 God called the dry land Earth, and the gathered waters he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.
1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants bearing seed and fruit trees bearing fruit according to their kinds, with seed in the fruit, on the earth.” And it was so.
1:12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds, and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.
1:13 There was evening, and there was morning: the third day.
1:14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them serve as signs and mark appointed times, days, and years,
1:15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so.
1:16 God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the stars.
1:17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth,
1:18 to rule the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.
1:19 There was evening, and there was morning: the fourth day.
1:20 Then God said, “Let the waters swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.”
1:21 So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
1:22 God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas; and let birds multiply on the earth.”
1:23 There was evening, and there was morning: the fifth day.
1:24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals according to their kinds.” And it was so.
1:25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.
1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness. Let them rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and every creature that moves along the ground.”
1:27 So God created man in his own image;
   in the image of God he created him;
   male and female he created them.
1:28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every living thing that moves on the earth.”
1:29 Then God said, “Look, I have given you every plant bearing seed on the surface of all the earth and every tree with seed-bearing fruit. They will be yours for food.
1:30 And to every wild animal, every bird of the sky, and everything that moves on the earth and has life in it, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so.
1:31 God saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. There was evening, and there was morning: the sixth day.

Chapter 2
2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their host.
2:2 On the seventh day God finished the work he had done, and on the seventh day he rested from all the work he had done.
2:3 God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work God had done in creating.
2:4 This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the LORD God made the earth and the heavens.
2:5 No shrub of the field was yet on the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the LORD God had not sent rain on the earth, and there was no man to work the ground.
2:6 But a mist would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground.
2:7 Then the LORD God formed the man from dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
2:8 The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed.
2:9 The LORD God made every tree that was pleasing to the sight and good for food grow out of the ground. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and so was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
2:10 A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divided into four branches.
2:11 The name of the first is Pishon. It encircles the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.
2:12 The gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx are also found there.
2:13 The name of the second river is Gihon. It encircles the whole land of Cush.
2:14 The name of the third river is the Tigris. It flows east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.
2:15 The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and care for it.
2:16 The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden,
2:17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it you will surely die.”
2:18 Then the LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
2:19 The LORD God formed out of the ground every animal of the field and every bird of the sky, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.
2:20 The man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the sky, and every animal of the field, but for the man no suitable helper was found.
2:21 So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh in its place.
2:22 The LORD God fashioned the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man.
2:23 Then the man said, “At last, this is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
2:24 Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they will become one flesh.
2:25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they were not ashamed.

Chapter 3
3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any animal of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
3:2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees of the garden,
3:3 but God said about the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, ‘You must not eat from it or touch it, so that you do not die.’”
3:4 The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die,
3:5 for God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
3:6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, a delight to the eyes, and desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.
3:7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.
3:8 They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and the man and his wife hid from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.
3:9 The LORD God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”
3:10 He replied, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
3:11 God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree I commanded you not to eat from?”
3:12 The man said, “The woman you gave to be with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.”
3:13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
3:14 The LORD God said to the serpent,
 “Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock and every animal of the field.
   On your belly you will go, and dust you will eat all the days of your life.
3:15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring.
   He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.”

3:16 To the woman he said,
 “I will greatly increase your pain in pregnancy;
   in pain you will bear children.
   Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

3:17 To Adam he said,
 “Because you listened to the voice of your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ the ground is cursed because of you.
   Through painful toil you will eat from it all the days of your life.
3:18 It will bring forth thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.
3:19 By the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, because from it you were taken.
   For you are dust, and to dust you will return.”
3:20 The man named his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living.
3:21 The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.
3:22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. And now, lest he reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat and live forever—”
3:23 So the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.
3:24 He drove the man out, and east of the garden of Eden he stationed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Chapter 4
4:1 Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, “I have gained a man with the LORD’s help.”
4:2 She gave birth again, to his brother Abel. Abel became a keeper of flocks, while Cain worked the ground.
4:3 In the course of time Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.
4:4 Abel also brought an offering from the firstborn of his flock and from their fat portions. The LORD looked with favor on Abel and his offering,
4:5 but he did not look with favor on Cain and his offering. Cain became very angry, and his face fell.
4:6 The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen?
4:7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”
4:8 Cain spoke to his brother Abel. While they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him.
4:9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?”
4:10 The LORD said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground.
4:11 Now you are cursed and driven from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
4:12 When you work the ground, it will no longer yield its strength to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
4:13 Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear.
4:14 Look, you have driven me today from the surface of the ground, and I will be hidden from your presence. I will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”
4:15 The LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain will suffer vengeance sevenfold.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
4:16 Cain went out from the presence of the LORD and settled in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
4:17 Cain had relations with his wife, and she conceived and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was building a city, and he named the city after his son Enoch.
4:18 To Enoch was born Irad. Irad fathered Mehujael, Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech.
4:19 Lamech took two wives. The name of one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah.
4:20 Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and raise livestock.
4:21 His brother’s name was Jubal. He was the father of all who play the lyre and the pipe.
4:22 Zillah also gave birth to Tubal-cain, who forged every kind of bronze and iron tool. Tubal-cain’s sister was Naamah.
4:23 Lamech said to his wives,
 “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
   wives of Lamech, listen to my words.
   For I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
4:24 If Cain is avenged sevenfold, then Lamech seventy-sevenfold.”
4:25 Adam had relations with his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has appointed me another child in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.”
4:26 To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the LORD.

Chapter 5
5:1 This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God.
5:2 He created them male and female and blessed them, and called them mankind on the day they were created.
5:3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
5:4 After fathering Seth, Adam lived 800 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:5 All the days of Adam’s life were 930 years, and he died.
5:6 When Seth had lived 105 years, he fathered Enosh.
5:7 After fathering Enosh, Seth lived 807 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:8 All the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.
5:9 When Enosh had lived 90 years, he fathered Kenan.
5:10 After fathering Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:11 All the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.
5:12 When Kenan had lived 70 years, he fathered Mahalalel.
5:13 After fathering Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:14 All the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.
5:15 When Mahalalel had lived 65 years, he fathered Jared.
5:16 After fathering Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:17 All the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.
5:18 When Jared had lived 162 years, he fathered Enoch.
5:19 After fathering Enoch, Jared lived 800 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:20 All the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.
5:21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah.
5:22 After fathering Methuselah, Enoch walked with God for 300 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:23 All the days of Enoch were 365 years.
5:24 Enoch walked with God, and he was no more, because God took him.
5:25 When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he fathered Lamech.
5:26 After fathering Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:27 All the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.
5:28 When Lamech had lived 182 years, he fathered a son.
5:29 He named him Noah, saying, “This one will bring us comfort in our work and in the painful toil of our hands, because of the ground the LORD has cursed.”
5:30 After fathering Noah, Lamech lived 595 years and fathered sons and daughters.
5:31 All the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.
5:32 Noah was 500 years old, and Noah fathered Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Chapter 6
6:1 When people began to multiply on the surface of the ground and daughters were born to them,
6:2 the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful, and they took as wives any they chose.
6:3 Then the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he too is flesh. His days will be 120 years.”
6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God had relations with the daughters of men and the women bore them children. These were the mighty men of old, men of renown.
6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.
6:6 The LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart.
6:7 So the LORD said, “I will wipe man, whom I have created, from the surface of the ground—man and livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the sky—for I regret that I have made them.”
6:8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
6:9 This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless among his contemporaries. Noah walked with God.
6:10 Noah fathered three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
6:11 Now the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.
6:12 God looked at the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted its way on the earth.
6:13 God said to Noah, “The end of all flesh has come before me, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. Behold, I am about to destroy them along with the earth.
6:14 Make yourself an ark of gopher wood. Make compartments in the ark, and coat it inside and out with pitch.
6:15 This is how you are to make it: about 450 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
6:16 Make an opening for the ark, and finish it to within about 18 inches of the top. Put the door of the ark in its side, and make it with lower, second, and third decks.
6:17 I myself am bringing a flood of waters on the earth to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life under heaven. Everything on the earth will perish.
6:18 But I will establish my covenant with you. You will enter the ark—you and your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives with you.
6:19 Of all living creatures, of all flesh, bring two of each into the ark to keep them alive with you. They must be male and female.
6:20 From the birds according to their kinds, from the livestock according to their kinds, and from every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind, two of each will come to you to be kept alive.
6:21 As for you, take some of every kind of food that is eaten and gather it to yourself. It will be food for you and for them.”
6:22 Noah did this. He did everything God commanded him.

Chapter 7
7:1 The LORD said to Noah, “Enter the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.
7:2 Take with you seven pairs of every clean animal, each male with its mate, and two of every animal that is not clean, a male and its mate.
7:3 Also take seven pairs of the birds of the sky, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the surface of all the earth.
7:4 For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and I will wipe every living thing I have made from the surface of the ground.”
7:5 Noah did everything the LORD commanded him.
7:6 Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters came on the earth.
7:7 Noah entered the ark with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives because of the waters of the flood.
7:8 From the clean animals, from the animals that were not clean, from the birds, and from everything that moves along the ground,
7:9 they came to Noah into the ark two by two, male and female, as God had commanded Noah.
7:10 After the seven days, the waters of the flood came on the earth.
7:11 In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, on that very day all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened.
7:12 Rain fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.
7:13 On that very day Noah entered the ark with his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth, Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons.
7:14 They entered with every wild animal according to its kind, all the livestock according to their kinds, every creature that moves along the ground according to its kind, and every bird according to its kind—every bird, every winged thing.
7:15 They came to Noah into the ark two by two, from all flesh in which there was the breath of life.
7:16 Those that entered were male and female of all flesh, as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in.
7:17 The flood continued on the earth for forty days. The waters increased and lifted the ark, and it rose above the earth.
7:18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the surface of the waters.
7:19 The waters prevailed exceedingly over the earth, and all the high mountains under the whole sky were covered.
7:20 The waters rose more than 22 feet above them, and the mountains were covered.
7:21 All flesh that moved on the earth perished: birds, livestock, wild animals, every creature that swarms on the earth, and all mankind.
7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died.
7:23 God wiped out every living thing on the surface of the ground—man and livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the sky. They were wiped from the earth. Only Noah remained, and those with him in the ark.
7:24 The waters prevailed on the earth for 150 days.

Chapter 8
8:1 God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided.
8:2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and the rain from heaven was restrained.
8:3 The waters receded steadily from the earth, and at the end of 150 days the waters had diminished.
8:4 On the seventeenth day of the seventh month, the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat.
8:5 The waters continued to diminish until the tenth month. In the tenth month, on the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.
8:6 At the end of forty days, Noah opened the window he had made in the ark
8:7 and sent out a raven. It flew back and forth until the waters had dried up from the earth.
8:8 He also sent out a dove to see whether the waters had receded from the surface of the ground.
8:9 But the dove found no resting place for the sole of its foot, so it returned to him in the ark, because water covered the surface of the whole earth. Noah reached out his hand, took it, and brought it in to himself in the ark.
8:10 He waited another seven days and again sent the dove out of the ark.
8:11 The dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf. Then Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
8:12 He waited another seven days and sent out the dove, and it did not return to him again.
8:13 In the six hundred and first year, on the first day of the first month, the waters had dried up from the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the surface of the ground was dry.
8:14 On the twenty-seventh day of the second month, the earth was dry.
8:15 Then God spoke to Noah, saying,
8:16 “Come out of the ark, you and your wife and your sons and your sons’ wives with you.
8:17 Bring out with you every living creature that is with you, of all flesh: birds, livestock, and every creature that moves along the ground. Let them swarm over the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”
8:18 So Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and his sons’ wives.
8:19 Every animal, every creature that moves along the ground, and every bird—everything that moves on the earth—went out of the ark according to their families.
8:20 Noah built an altar to the LORD. He took some of every kind of clean animal and every kind of clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.
8:21 The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, and the LORD said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the inclination of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Nor will I ever again strike down every living thing as I have done.
8:22 While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.”

Chapter 9
9:1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
9:2 The fear of you and the dread of you will be on every animal of the earth, every bird of the sky, everything that moves along the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are delivered into your hands.
9:3 Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. As I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.
9:4 But you must not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood.
9:5 I will surely require an accounting for your lifeblood. From every animal I will require it, and from man; from each man I will require an accounting for his brother’s life.
9:6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man will his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.
9:7 As for you, be fruitful and multiply; abound on the earth and multiply on it.”
9:8 Then God spoke to Noah and his sons with him, saying,
9:9 “As for me, behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your offspring after you,
9:10 and with every living creature that is with you: the birds, the livestock, and every animal of the earth with you—all that came out of the ark, every animal of the earth.
9:11 I establish my covenant with you: never again will all flesh be cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”
9:12 God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am giving between me and you and every living creature with you, for all future generations:
9:13 I have set my bow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.
9:14 When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow appears in the clouds,
9:15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh.
9:16 When the bow is in the clouds, I will look at it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh on the earth.”
9:17 God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all flesh on the earth.”
9:18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.
9:19 These three were Noah’s sons, and from them the whole earth was populated.
9:20 Noah began to work the ground, and he planted a vineyard.
9:21 He drank some of the wine and became drunk, and he was uncovered inside his tent.
9:22 Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside.
9:23 Then Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it across both their shoulders, and walked backward and covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.
9:24 When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him,
9:25 he said,
 “Cursed be Canaan!
   A slave of slaves he will be to his brothers.”
9:26 He also said,
 “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Shem, and let Canaan be their slave.
9:27 May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
   and let Canaan be their slave.”
9:28 After the flood Noah lived 350 years.
9:29 All the days of Noah were 950 years, and he died.

Chapter 10
10:1 These are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.
10:2 The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
10:3 The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.
10:4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.
10:5 From these the coastland peoples spread out into their lands, each with its own language, according to their families and their nations.
10:6 The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
10:7 The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteca. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.
10:8 Cush fathered Nimrod. He began to be a mighty man on the earth.
10:9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. That is why it is said, “Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.”
10:10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.
10:11 From that land he went into Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth-ir, and Calah,
10:12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah. This is the great city.
10:13 Mizraim fathered the Ludim, the Anamim, the Lehabim, and the Naphtuhim,
10:14 the Pathrusim, the Casluhim—from whom the Philistines came—and the Caphtorim.
10:15 Canaan fathered Sidon his firstborn, and Heth,
10:16 and the Jebusites, the Amorites, and the Girgashites,
10:17 the Hivites, the Arkites, and the Sinites,
10:18 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the families of the Canaanites spread out.
10:19 The territory of the Canaanites extended from Sidon toward Gerar as far as Gaza, and toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim as far as Lasha.
10:20 These were the sons of Ham, according to their families and their languages, in their lands and their nations.
10:21 Children were also born to Shem, the father of all the descendants of Eber and the elder brother of Japheth.
10:22 The sons of Shem were Elam, Asshur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.
10:23 The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Mash.
10:24 Arphaxad fathered Shelah, and Shelah fathered Eber.
10:25 Two sons were born to Eber. The name of one was Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided; his brother’s name was Joktan.
10:26 Joktan fathered Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,
10:27 Hadoram, Uzal, and Diklah,
10:28 Obal, Abimael, and Sheba,
10:29 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.
10:30 Their dwelling place extended from Mesha toward Sephar, the hill country of the east.
10:31 These were the sons of Shem, according to their families and their languages, in their lands and according to their nations.
10:32 These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations. From these the nations spread out over the earth after the flood.

Chapter 11
11:1 The whole earth had one language and the same words.
11:2 As they journeyed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
11:3 They said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and bitumen for mortar.
11:4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, so that we will not be scattered over the surface of the whole earth.”
11:5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the children of men had built.
11:6 The LORD said, “Look, they are one people, and they all have one language. This is what they have begun to do, and now nothing they plan to do will be beyond them.
11:7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s language.”
11:8 So the LORD scattered them from there over the surface of the whole earth, and they stopped building the city.
11:9 That is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth. From there the LORD scattered them over the surface of the whole earth.
11:10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was 100 years old when he fathered Arphaxad, two years after the flood.
11:11 After fathering Arphaxad, Shem lived 500 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:12 When Arphaxad had lived 35 years, he fathered Shelah.
11:13 After fathering Shelah, Arphaxad lived 403 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:14 When Shelah had lived 30 years, he fathered Eber.
11:15 After fathering Eber, Shelah lived 403 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:16 When Eber had lived 34 years, he fathered Peleg.
11:17 After fathering Peleg, Eber lived 430 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:18 When Peleg had lived 30 years, he fathered Reu.
11:19 After fathering Reu, Peleg lived 209 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:20 When Reu had lived 32 years, he fathered Serug.
11:21 After fathering Serug, Reu lived 207 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:22 When Serug had lived 30 years, he fathered Nahor.
11:23 After fathering Nahor, Serug lived 200 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:24 When Nahor had lived 29 years, he fathered Terah.
11:25 After fathering Terah, Nahor lived 119 years and fathered sons and daughters.
11:26 Terah was 70 years old, and he fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran.
11:27 These are the generations of Terah. Terah fathered Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran fathered Lot.
11:28 Haran died while his father Terah was still alive, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.
11:29 Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram’s wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor’s wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.
11:30 Sarai was barren; she had no child.
11:31 Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, the wife of his son Abram. They set out together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. When they reached Haran, they settled there.
11:32 Terah lived 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Chapter 12
12:1 The LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country, from your relatives, and from your father’s house to the land I will show you.
12:2 I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great. Be a blessing.
12:3 I will bless those who bless you, and whoever dishonors you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.”
12:4 So Abram went as the LORD had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.
12:5 Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated, and the people they had acquired in Haran. They set out to go to the land of Canaan, and they arrived in the land of Canaan.
12:6 Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.
12:8 From there he moved to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.
12:9 Then Abram journeyed on by stages toward the Negev.
12:10 There was a famine in the land, and Abram went down to Egypt to stay there, because the famine was severe in the land.
12:11 As he drew near to enter Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman.
12:12 When the Egyptians see you, they will say, ‘This is his wife,’ and they will kill me but let you live.
12:13 Please say you are my sister, so that it may go well with me because of you and my life may be spared because of you.”
12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful.
12:15 Pharaoh’s officials saw her and praised her before Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh’s house.
12:16 Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram had flocks, cattle, male donkeys, male slaves, female slaves, female donkeys, and camels.
12:17 But the LORD struck Pharaoh and his household with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram’s wife.
12:18 Pharaoh called Abram and said, “What have you done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?
12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her as my wife? Now, here is your wife. Take her and go.”
12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders concerning Abram, and they sent him away with his wife and all that he had.

Chapter 13
13:1 Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev with his wife and all that he had, and Lot went with him.
13:2 Abram was very rich in livestock, silver, and gold.
13:3 He journeyed by stages from the Negev to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been at first, between Bethel and Ai,
13:4 to the place of the altar he had made there at the beginning. There Abram called on the name of the LORD.
13:5 Lot, who traveled with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.
13:6 The land could not support them living together, for their possessions were so great that they could not live together.
13:7 A dispute arose between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land.
13:8 Abram said to Lot, “Please let there be no quarrel between me and you or between my herdsmen and your herdsmen, for we are relatives.
13:9 Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you go to the left, I will go to the right; and if you go to the right, I will go to the left.”
13:10 Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.
13:11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and journeyed east. Thus they separated from one another.
13:12 Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents as far as Sodom.
13:13 Now the men of Sodom were wicked and sinned greatly against the LORD.
13:14 The LORD said to Abram after Lot had separated from him, “Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, north and south, east and west,
13:15 for all the land you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever.
13:16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust of the earth, then your offspring could also be counted.
13:17 Arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.”
13:18 So Abram moved his tent and came to live by the oaks of Mamre at Hebron. There he built an altar to the LORD.

Chapter 14
14:1 In the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations,
14:2 these kings made war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
14:3 All these joined forces in the Valley of Siddim, which is the Salt Sea.
14:4 For twelve years they had served Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
14:5 In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer and the kings with him came and defeated the Rephaim in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh-kiriathaim,
14:6 and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El-paran at the edge of the wilderness.
14:7 They turned back and came to En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and conquered all the territory of the Amalekites and the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
14:8 Then the 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 drew up for battle in the Valley of Siddim
14:9 against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of nations, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar—four kings against five.
14:10 Now the Valley of Siddim was full of bitumen pits. The kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled and fell there, while the rest fled to the hills.
14:11 The invaders took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and went away.
14:12 They also took Lot, Abram’s nephew, and his goods, and went away; Lot was living in Sodom.
14:13 One who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. Abram was living by the oaks of Mamre the Amorite, the brother of Eshcol and the brother of Aner. They were bound to Abram by covenant.
14:14 When Abram heard that his relative had been taken captive, he mustered his trained men, born in his household, 318 of them, and pursued them as far as Dan.
14:15 By night he and his servants divided into groups against them, defeated them, and pursued them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus.
14:16 He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the people.
14:17 After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
14:18 Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. He was a priest of God Most High.
14:19 He blessed Abram and said,
 “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
14:20 and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
   And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.
14:21 The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself.”
14:22 Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,
14:23 that I will not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap or anything that belongs to you, so that you will not say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
14:24 Nothing for me, except what the young men have eaten and the share of the men who went with me—Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their share.”

Chapter 15
15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield; your reward will be very great.”
15:2 Abram said, “Lord GOD, what will you give me, since I remain childless, and the heir of my household is Eliezer of Damascus?”
15:3 Abram said, “Look, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.”
15:4 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but one who comes from your own body will be your heir.”
15:5 He took him outside and said, “Look toward heaven and count the stars, if you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So will your offspring be.”
15:6 Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD counted it to him as righteousness.
15:7 He said to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.”
15:8 Abram said, “Lord GOD, how will I know that I will possess it?”
15:9 The LORD said to him, “Bring me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.”
15:10 Abram brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half opposite the other, but he did not cut the birds in half.
15:11 Birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.
15:12 As the sun was about to set, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and behold, terror and great darkness fell upon him.
15:13 The LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be foreigners in a land not their own. They will serve its people, who will oppress them for 400 years.
15:14 But I will judge the nation they serve, and afterward they will come out with great wealth.
15:15 As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; you will be buried at a good old age.
15:16 In the fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.”
15:17 When the sun had set and darkness had fallen, behold, there was a smoking furnace and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.
15:18 On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates:
15:19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,
15:20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, and the Rephaim,
15:21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Chapter 16
16:1 Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had an Egyptian slave woman named Hagar.
16:2 Sarai said to Abram, “Look, the LORD has kept me from bearing children. Please have relations with my slave woman; perhaps I can build a family through her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.
16:3 After Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar her Egyptian slave woman and gave her to her husband Abram as a wife.
16:4 Abram had relations with Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she was pregnant, she looked down on her mistress.
16:5 Then Sarai said to Abram, “May the wrong done to me be upon you! I placed my slave woman in your arms, and when she saw that she was pregnant, she looked down on me. May the LORD judge between me and you.”
16:6 Abram said to Sarai, “Look, your slave woman is in your hands. Do to her what seems good to you.” Then Sarai mistreated her, and Hagar fled from her.
16:7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur.
16:8 He said, “Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.”
16:9 The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.”
16:10 The angel of the LORD said to her, “I will greatly multiply your offspring, and they will be too numerous to count.”
16:11 The angel of the LORD said to her,
 “Look, you are pregnant and will bear a son.
   You are to name him Ishmael, because the LORD has heard your affliction.
16:12 He will be a wild donkey of a man;
   his hand will be against everyone, and everyone’s hand against him;
   he will dwell opposite all his brothers.”
16:13 She gave this name to the LORD who had spoken to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “Have I even here gazed after the one who sees me?”
16:14 Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi. It is between Kadesh and Bered.
16:15 Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram named the son Hagar had borne him Ishmael.
16:16 Abram was 86 years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

Chapter 17
17:1 When Abram was 99 years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty. Walk before me and be blameless.
17:2 I will establish my covenant between me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly.”
17:3 Abram fell on his face, and God spoke with him, saying,
17:4 “As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you will be the father of many nations.
17:5 No longer will your name be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of many nations.
17:6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
17:7 I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations, as an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
17:8 I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land where you live as a foreigner, all the land of Canaan, as an everlasting possession. And I will be their God.”
17:9 God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.
17:10 This is my covenant, which you must keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: every male among you must be circumcised.
17:11 You must circumcise the flesh of your foreskins, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
17:12 Throughout your generations, every male among you must be circumcised when he is eight days old, whether born in the household or bought with money from among foreigners who are not your offspring.
17:13 The one born in your household and the one bought with your money must be circumcised. My covenant will be in your flesh as an everlasting covenant.
17:14 Any uncircumcised male who has not been circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin—that person will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”
17:15 God said to Abraham, “As for your wife Sarai, you must no longer call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
17:16 I will bless her, and I will also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”
17:17 Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, “Will a child be born to a man who is 100 years old? Will Sarah give birth at 90?”
17:18 Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before you!”
17:19 God said, “Indeed, your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you are to name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.
17:20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him, and I will make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly. He will father twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
17:21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this appointed time next year.”
17:22 God finished speaking with Abraham and went up from him.
17:23 Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household and all those bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham’s household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskins on that very day, as God had told him.
17:24 Abraham was 99 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.
17:25 His son Ishmael was 13 years old when the flesh of his foreskin was circumcised.
17:26 On that very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised.
17:27 All the men of his household, those born in the household and those bought with money from foreigners, were circumcised with him.

Chapter 18
18:1 The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.
18:2 He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them and bowed to the ground.
18:3 He said, “My Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes, please do not pass by your servant.
18:4 Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet and rest under the tree.
18:5 Let me bring a piece of bread to refresh you, and afterward you may go on, since you have come to your servant.” They said, “Do as you have said.”
18:6 Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah and said, “Hurry! Take about half a bushel of fine flour, knead it, and make flatbreads.”
18:7 Abraham ran to the herd, took a tender, good calf, and gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it.
18:8 He took curds and milk and the calf he had prepared and set them before them. He stood beside them under the tree while they ate.
18:9 They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” He said, “There, in the tent.”
18:10 He said, “I will surely return to you at this time next year, and your wife Sarah will have a son.” Sarah was listening at the entrance of the tent, which was behind him.
18:11 Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years, and Sarah had stopped menstruating.
18:12 Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “Now that I am worn out and my lord is old, will I have pleasure?”
18:13 The LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really bear a child, now that I am old?’
18:14 Is anything too hard for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”
18:15 Sarah denied it, saying, “I did not laugh,” because she was afraid. But he said, “No, you did laugh.”
18:16 The men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to see them on their way.
18:17 The LORD said, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,
18:18 seeing that Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?
18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice, so that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken concerning him.”
18:20 The LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and their sin is very grave.
18:21 I will go down and see whether their deeds fully match the outcry that has come to me. If not, I will know.”
18:22 The men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham was still standing before the LORD.
18:23 Abraham drew near and said, “Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked?
18:24 Perhaps there are fifty righteous people in the city. Will you indeed sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people within it?
18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous are treated like the wicked. Far be it from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
18:26 The LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous people within the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”
18:27 Abraham answered, “Behold, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord, though I am dust and ashes.
18:28 Perhaps there are five fewer than fifty righteous people. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” He replied, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.”
18:29 Abraham spoke to him again and said, “Perhaps forty will be found there.” He replied, “I will not do it for the sake of the forty.”
18:30 Then Abraham said, “Please, Lord, do not be angry, and let me speak. Perhaps thirty will be found there.” He replied, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.”
18:31 Abraham said, “Behold, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord. Perhaps twenty will be found there.” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the twenty.”
18:32 Then Abraham said, “Please, Lord, do not be angry, and let me speak just once more. Perhaps ten will be found there.” He replied, “I will not destroy it for the sake of the ten.”
18:33 When he had finished speaking to Abraham, the LORD went away, and Abraham returned to his place.

Chapter 19
19:1 The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them and bowed with his face to the ground.
19:2 He said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house, spend the night, and wash your feet. Then you may rise early and go on your way.” They said, “No, we will spend the night in the square.”
19:3 But he urged them strongly, so they turned aside with him and entered his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.
19:4 Before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, young and old, all the people from every quarter.
19:5 They called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we may have sexual relations with them!”
19:6 Lot went out to them at the entrance and closed the door behind him.
19:7 He said, “Please, my brothers, do not act wickedly.
19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have not had sexual relations with a man. Please let me bring them out to you, and do to them what seems good to you. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shadow of my roof.”
19:9 They said, “Stand back!” And they said, “This man came to live here as a foreigner, and now he insists on acting as judge! Now we will treat you worse than them!” They pressed hard against the man Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
19:10 But the men reached out their hands, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.
19:11 They struck the men at the entrance of the house with blindness, young and old, so that they wore themselves out trying to find the entrance.
19:12 Then the men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—a son-in-law, sons, daughters, or anyone who belongs to you in the city? Bring them out of this place,
19:13 for we are about to destroy this place. The outcry against its people has grown great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”
19:14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, “Get up! Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.
19:15 As dawn rose, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, so that you will not be swept away in the punishment of the city.”
19:16 But he lingered. So the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, because the LORD had compassion on him. They brought him out and set him outside the city.
19:17 When they had brought them outside, one of them said, “Escape for your life! Do not look back or stop anywhere in the plain. Escape to the hills, so that you will not be swept away.”
19:18 Lot said to them, “No, please, my Lord!
19:19 Look, your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown me great kindness by preserving my life. But I cannot escape to the hills, for fear the disaster will overtake me and I will die.
19:20 Look, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Please let me escape there—is it not a little one?—and my life will be spared.”
19:21 He said to him, “I grant you this also: I will not overthrow the city you have spoken of.
19:22 Hurry, escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there.” Therefore the city was called Zoar.
19:23 The sun had risen over the earth when Lot entered Zoar.
19:24 Then the LORD rained sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the LORD out of heaven.
19:25 He overthrew those cities and all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and the vegetation of the ground.
19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
19:27 Abraham rose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
19:28 He looked out toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and saw the smoke of the land rising like the smoke of a furnace.
19:29 Thus, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out from the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.
19:30 Lot went up from Zoar and settled in the hills with his two daughters, because he was afraid to live in Zoar. He lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.
19:31 The older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man in the land to have relations with us, as is the way of all the earth.
19:32 Come, let us give our father wine to drink and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”
19:33 So they gave their father wine to drink that night, and the older daughter went in and lay with her father. He did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
19:34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Look, last night I lay with my father. Let us give him wine to drink tonight also, and you go in and lie with him, so that we may preserve offspring through our father.”
19:35 So they gave their father wine to drink that night also, and the younger daughter got up and lay with him. He did not know when she lay down or when she got up.
19:36 Thus both daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father.
19:37 The older daughter bore a son and named him Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day.
19:38 The younger daughter also bore a son and named him Ben-ammi. He is the father of the Ammonites to this day.

Chapter 20
20:1 Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev and settled between Kadesh and Shur. He lived as a foreigner in Gerar.
20:2 Abraham said of his wife Sarah, “She is my sister.” So Abimelech king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.
20:3 But God came to Abimelech in a dream at night and said to him, “You are a dead man because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman.”
20:4 Now Abimelech had not gone near her. He said, “Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation?
20:5 Did he not say to me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this with integrity of heart and innocence of hands.”
20:6 God said to him in the dream, “I also know that you did this with integrity of heart, and I myself kept you from sinning against me. That is why I did not let you touch her.
20:7 Now return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not return her, know that you will surely die, you and all who belong to you.”
20:8 Abimelech rose early in the morning, called all his servants, and told them all these things. The men were very afraid.
20:9 Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, “What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought such a great sin upon me and my kingdom? You have done to me things that ought not to be done.”
20:10 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What prompted you to do this?”
20:11 Abraham said, “Because I thought, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.’
20:12 Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife.
20:13 When God caused me to wander from my father’s house, I said to her, ‘This is the kindness you will show me: wherever we go, say of me that I am your brother.’”
20:14 Abimelech took flocks, cattle, male slaves, and female slaves and gave them to Abraham, and he returned Abraham’s wife Sarah to him.
20:15 Abimelech said, “Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever seems good to you.”
20:16 To Sarah he said, “Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver, weighing about 25 pounds. This is to clear you in the eyes of all who are with you; before everyone you are vindicated.”
20:17 Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his slave women, and they had children.
20:18 For the LORD had completely closed every womb in Abimelech’s household because of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.

Chapter 21
21:1 The LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah as he had spoken.
21:2 Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time God had told him about.
21:3 Abraham named his son who was born to him, whom Sarah had borne to him, Isaac.
21:4 Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
21:5 Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
21:6 Sarah said, “God has made me laugh; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
21:7 She also said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
21:8 The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham held a great feast on the day Isaac was weaned.
21:9 Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.
21:10 So she said to Abraham, “Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will not share the inheritance with my son, with Isaac.”
21:11 The matter was very distressing to Abraham because of his son.
21:12 But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed over the boy or your slave woman. Listen to Sarah’s voice in all that she says to you, for through Isaac your offspring will be named.
21:13 I will also make the son of the slave woman a nation, because he is your offspring.”
21:14 Abraham rose early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, and gave them to Hagar, placing them on her shoulder. He also gave her the boy and sent her away. She went off and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
21:15 When the water in the skin was used up, she put the boy down under one of the shrubs.
21:16 She went and sat opposite him about a hundred yards away, for she said, “Let me not watch the boy die.” She sat opposite him and lifted up her voice and wept.
21:17 God heard the boy’s voice, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the boy’s voice where he is.
21:18 Get up, lift up the boy, and support him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.”
21:19 God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.
21:20 God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.
21:21 He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
21:22 At that time Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do.
21:23 Now swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me or my offspring or my descendants. Show me and the land where you have lived as a foreigner the same kindness I have shown you.”
21:24 Abraham said, “I will swear.”
21:25 Abraham confronted Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech’s servants had seized.
21:26 Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this. You did not tell me, and I had not heard of it until today.”
21:27 Abraham took flocks and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a covenant.
21:28 Abraham set seven ewe lambs from the flock apart by themselves.
21:29 Abimelech said to Abraham, “What do these seven ewe lambs you have set apart mean?”
21:30 He said, “You are to accept these seven ewe lambs from my hand as a witness for me that I dug this well.”
21:31 That is why he called the place Beersheba, because there the two of them swore an oath.
21:32 They made a covenant at Beersheba. Then Abimelech and Phicol, the commander of his army, rose and returned to the land of the Philistines.
21:33 Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba and called there on the name of the LORD, the Everlasting God.
21:34 Abraham lived as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines for many days.

Chapter 22
22:1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.”
22:2 He said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.”
22:3 Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men and his son Isaac with him. He split the wood for the burnt offering, then rose and went to the place God had told him about.
22:4 On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from a distance.
22:5 Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey. The boy and I will go over there and worship, and we will return to you.”
22:6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on his son Isaac. He took the fire and the knife in his hand, and the two of them went on together.
22:7 Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father!” Abraham replied, “Here I am, my son.” Isaac said, “Here are the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
22:8 Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together.
22:9 They came to the place God had told him about, and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
22:10 Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
22:11 But the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” He said, “Here I am.”
22:12 He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
22:13 Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw a ram behind him, caught in a thicket by its horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.
22:14 Abraham called that place “The LORD Will Provide.” That is why it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.”
22:15 The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven
22:16 and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
22:17 I will surely bless you and greatly multiply your offspring like the stars of heaven and like the sand on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gate of their enemies.
22:18 In your offspring all the nations of the earth will invoke blessings for themselves, because you have obeyed my voice.”
22:19 Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
22:20 After these things Abraham was told, “Milcah too has borne sons to your brother Nahor:
22:21 Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
22:22 Chesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.”
22:23 Bethuel fathered Rebekah. These eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
22:24 His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maacah.

Chapter 23
23:1 Sarah lived a hundred and twenty-seven years. These were the years of Sarah’s life.
23:2 Sarah died at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham came to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her.
23:3 Abraham rose from beside his dead wife and spoke to the sons of Heth:
23:4 “I am a resident foreigner among you. Give me property for a burial place among you, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.”
23:5 The sons of Heth answered Abraham,
23:6 “Listen to us, my lord. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb for burying your dead.”
23:7 Abraham rose and bowed to the people of the land, the sons of Heth.
23:8 He said to them, “If you agree that I should bury my dead out of my sight, listen to me and appeal to Ephron son of Zohar on my behalf,
23:9 so that he will give me the cave of Machpelah that belongs to him, at the end of his field. Let him give it to me for the full price in silver, in your presence, as property for a burial place.”
23:10 Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth. Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, before all who entered the gate of his city:
23:11 “No, my lord, listen to me. I give you the field, and I give you the cave in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.”
23:12 Abraham bowed before the people of the land
23:13 and spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land: “But please, listen to me. I will give you the price of the field in silver. Accept it from me, and I will bury my dead there.”
23:14 Ephron answered Abraham,
23:15 “My lord, listen to me. A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, about ten pounds—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.”
23:16 Abraham agreed with Ephron and weighed out for him the silver he had named in the hearing of the sons of Heth: four hundred shekels of silver, about ten pounds, at the weight accepted by merchants.
23:17 So Ephron’s field at Machpelah, facing Mamre—the field, the cave in it, and all the trees throughout its boundaries—
23:18 became Abraham’s purchased possession in the sight of the sons of Heth, before all who entered the gate of Ephron’s city.
23:19 After this Abraham buried his wife Sarah in the cave of the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan.
23:20 The field and the cave in it passed from the sons of Heth to Abraham as property for a burial place.

Chapter 24
24:1 Abraham was old, advanced in years, and the LORD had blessed Abraham in everything.
24:2 Abraham said to the senior servant of his household, who was in charge of all he had, “Please put your hand under my thigh,
24:3 and I will make you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I live.
24:4 Instead, you must go to my country and to my relatives and take a wife for my son Isaac.”
24:5 The servant said to him, “Perhaps the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land. Should I then take your son back to the land you came from?”
24:6 Abraham said to him, “Be careful not to take my son back there.
24:7 The LORD, the God of heaven, who took me from my father’s house and from the land of my birth, who spoke to me and swore to me, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give this land,’ will send his angel before you, and you will take a wife for my son from there.
24:8 If the woman is not willing to follow you, you will be free from this oath of mine. Only do not take my son back there.”
24:9 So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master and swore to him concerning this matter.
24:10 The servant took ten of his master’s camels and set out, taking all kinds of his master’s good things with him. He rose and went to Aram-naharaim, to the city of Nahor.
24:11 He made the camels kneel outside the city beside the well of water at evening, the time when the women came out to draw water.
24:12 He said, “LORD, God of my master Abraham, please grant me success today and show kindness to my master Abraham.
24:13 Here I am, standing beside the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.
24:14 Let the young woman to whom I say, ‘Please lower your jar so that I may drink,’ and who says, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels,’ be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By her I will know that you have shown kindness to my master.”
24:15 Before he had finished speaking, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel, the son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham’s brother.
24:16 The young woman was very beautiful, a virgin who had never had sexual relations with a man. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up.
24:17 The servant ran to meet her and said, “Please let me drink a little water from your jar.”
24:18 She said, “Drink, my lord,” and quickly lowered her jar to her hand and gave him a drink.
24:19 When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, “I will draw water for your camels too, until they have finished drinking.”
24:20 She quickly emptied her jar into the trough, ran back to the well to draw water, and drew water for all his camels.
24:21 The man watched her in silence to find out whether the LORD had made his journey successful or not.
24:22 When the camels had finished drinking, the man took a gold nose ring weighing half a shekel, about 0.2 ounces, and two gold bracelets for her wrists weighing ten shekels, about four ounces, in all.
24:23 He said, “Whose daughter are you? Please tell me. Is there room in your father’s house for us to spend the night?”
24:24 She said to him, “I am the daughter of Bethuel, the son Milcah bore to Nahor.”
24:25 She also said to him, “We have plenty of straw and feed, and room to spend the night.”
24:26 The man bowed his head and worshiped the LORD.
24:27 He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his kindness and faithfulness toward my master. As for me, the LORD has guided me on the way to the house of my master’s relatives.”
24:28 The young woman ran and told her mother’s household about these things.
24:29 Rebekah had a brother named Laban. Laban ran out to the man at the spring.
24:30 When he saw the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister’s wrists, and when he heard his sister Rebekah say, “This is what the man said to me,” he went to the man, who was standing beside the camels at the spring.
24:31 He said, “Come in, you who are blessed by the LORD. Why are you standing outside? I have prepared the house and a place for the camels.”
24:32 The man went into the house. The camels were unharnessed and given straw and feed, and water was provided to wash his feet and the feet of the men with him.
24:33 Food was set before him to eat, but he said, “I will not eat until I have told you what I have to say.” He was told, “Speak.”
24:34 He said, “I am Abraham’s servant.
24:35 The LORD has greatly blessed my master, and he has become great. He has given him flocks and herds, silver and gold, male and female servants, camels and donkeys.
24:36 Sarah, my master’s wife, bore my master a son in her old age, and he has given him all he has.
24:37 My master made me swear, saying, ‘You must not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I live.
24:38 Instead, you must go to my father’s house and to my family and take a wife for my son.’
24:39 I said to my master, ‘Perhaps the woman will not follow me.’
24:40 He said to me, ‘The LORD, before whom I have walked, will send his angel with you and make your journey successful. You will take a wife for my son from my family and from my father’s house.
24:41 Then you will be free from my oath when you reach my family. If they will not give her to you, you will be free from my oath.’
24:42 Today I came to the spring and said, ‘LORD, God of my master Abraham, if you are willing to make the journey I am taking successful,
24:43 here I am, standing beside the spring of water. Let the young woman who comes out to draw water, to whom I say, “Please give me a little water from your jar to drink,”
24:44 and who says to me, “Drink, and I will also draw water for your camels,” be the woman the LORD has appointed for my master’s son.’
24:45 Before I had finished speaking in my heart, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She went down to the spring and drew water, and I said to her, ‘Please give me a drink.’
24:46 She quickly lowered her jar from her shoulder and said, ‘Drink, and I will also water your camels.’ So I drank, and she watered the camels too.
24:47 I asked her, ‘Whose daughter are you?’ She said, ‘The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor’s son, whom Milcah bore to him.’ Then I put the ring on her nose and the bracelets on her wrists.
24:48 I bowed my head and worshiped the LORD and blessed the LORD, the God of my master Abraham, who had guided me on the right way to take a descendant of my master’s brother as a wife for his son.
24:49 Now, if you will show kindness and faithfulness to my master, tell me. If not, tell me, so that I may turn to the right or to the left.”
24:50 Laban and Bethuel answered, “This matter comes from the LORD. We can say nothing to you, bad or good.
24:51 Here is Rebekah before you. Take her and go, and let her be the wife of your master’s son, as the LORD has spoken.”
24:52 When Abraham’s servant heard their words, he bowed to the ground before the LORD.
24:53 The servant brought out silver and gold jewelry and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and her mother.
24:54 He and the men with him ate and drank and spent the night. When they rose in the morning, he said, “Send me back to my master.”
24:55 Her brother and her mother said, “Let the young woman stay with us a few days, perhaps ten. After that she may go.”
24:56 He said to them, “Do not delay me, since the LORD has made my journey successful. Send me on my way so that I may go to my master.”
24:57 They said, “Let us call the young woman and ask her.”
24:58 They called Rebekah and said to her, “Will you go with this man?” She said, “I will go.”
24:59 So they sent away their sister Rebekah and her nurse, along with Abraham’s servant and his men.
24:60 They blessed Rebekah and said to her,
 “Our sister, may you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and may your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”
24:61 Rebekah and her young women rose, mounted the camels, and followed the man. So the servant took Rebekah and went on his way.
24:62 Now Isaac had come from the direction of Beer-lahai-roi. He was living in the Negev.
24:63 Isaac went out to meditate in the field toward evening. He lifted up his eyes and saw camels coming.
24:64 Rebekah lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac, and she got down from the camel.
24:65 She said to the servant, “Who is that man walking in the field to meet us?” The servant said, “He is my master.” Then she took her veil and covered herself.
24:66 The servant told Isaac all the things he had done.
24:67 Isaac brought her into the tent of his mother Sarah. He took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death.

Chapter 25
25:1 Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
25:2 She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
25:3 Jokshan fathered Sheba and Dedan. The sons of Dedan were the Asshurites, Letushites, and Leummites.
25:4 The sons of Midian were Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
25:5 Abraham gave all he had to Isaac.
25:6 But Abraham gave gifts to the sons of his concubines, and while he was still alive, he sent them away from his son Isaac, eastward to the land of the east.
25:7 These were the years of Abraham’s life: a hundred and seventy-five years.
25:8 Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, old and satisfied with life, and he was gathered to his people.
25:9 His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, facing Mamre,
25:10 the field Abraham had purchased from the sons of Heth. There Abraham was buried, along with his wife Sarah.
25:11 After Abraham’s death God blessed his son Isaac, and Isaac lived beside Beer-lahai-roi.
25:12 These are the generations of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s female servant, bore to Abraham.
25:13 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, by their names according to their generations: Nebaioth, Ishmael’s firstborn, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
25:14 Mishma, Dumah, Massa,
25:15 Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.
25:16 These were Ishmael’s sons, and these were their names, according to their villages and encampments: twelve princes according to their tribes.
25:17 These were the years of Ishmael’s life: a hundred and thirty-seven years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.
25:18 They lived from Havilah to Shur, which faces Egypt in the direction of Assyria. He settled across from all his brothers.
25:19 These are the generations of Isaac, Abraham’s son. Abraham fathered Isaac.
25:20 Isaac was forty years old when he took Rebekah as his wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram, and the sister of Laban the Aramean.
25:21 Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren. The LORD answered his plea, and his wife Rebekah conceived.
25:22 The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If this is so, why is this happening to me?” So she went to inquire of the LORD.
25:23 The LORD said to her,
 “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples will be separated from within you.
   One people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
25:24 When her time to give birth was complete, there were twins in her womb.
25:25 The first came out red, all over like a hairy cloak, and they named him Esau.
25:26 Afterward his brother came out, with his hand grasping Esau’s heel, and he was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when Rebekah bore them.
25:27 The boys grew up. Esau became a skilled hunter, a man of the field, but Jacob was a quiet man who lived in tents.
25:28 Isaac loved Esau because he ate his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.
25:29 Jacob was cooking stew when Esau came in from the field, exhausted.
25:30 Esau said to Jacob, “Please feed me some of that red stuff, that red stuff, for I am exhausted.” That is why he was called Edom.
25:31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright today.”
25:32 Esau said, “Look, I am about to die. What use is a birthright to me?”
25:33 Jacob said, “Swear to me today.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
25:34 Jacob gave Esau bread and lentil stew. He ate and drank, rose and went away. So Esau despised his birthright.

Chapter 26
26:1 There was a famine in the land, besides the earlier famine in Abraham’s days. Isaac went to Abimelech king of the Philistines at Gerar.
26:2 The LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land I will tell you about.
26:3 Stay in this land as a foreigner, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and your offspring I will give all these lands. I will fulfill the oath I swore to your father Abraham.
26:4 I will multiply your offspring like the stars of heaven and give all these lands to your offspring. In your offspring all the nations of the earth will invoke blessings for themselves,
26:5 because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my instructions.”
26:6 So Isaac lived in Gerar.
26:7 When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister.” He was afraid to say, “She is my wife,” thinking, “The men of the place might kill me on account of Rebekah,” because she was beautiful.
26:8 When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out through a window and saw Isaac caressing his wife Rebekah.
26:9 Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Surely she is your wife! How could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought I might die on account of her.”
26:10 Abimelech said, “What have you done to us? One of the people might easily have slept with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.”
26:11 So Abimelech commanded all the people, “Anyone who touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death.”
26:12 Isaac sowed in that land and reaped a hundredfold that year. The LORD blessed him,
26:13 and the man grew rich and kept growing richer until he became very wealthy.
26:14 He had flocks and herds and many servants, and the Philistines envied him.
26:15 The Philistines had stopped up and filled with earth all the wells his father’s servants had dug in the days of his father Abraham.
26:16 Abimelech said to Isaac, “Go away from us, for you have become much more powerful than we are.”
26:17 So Isaac went away from there, camped in the valley of Gerar, and lived there.
26:18 Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham and that the Philistines had stopped up after Abraham’s death. He gave them the same names his father had given them.
26:19 Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found a well of spring water there.
26:20 The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, “The water is ours.” He named the well Esek because they quarreled with him.
26:21 They dug another well, and they quarreled over it too, so he named it Sitnah.
26:22 He moved on from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it. He named it Rehoboth and said, “Now the LORD has made room for us, and we will be fruitful in the land.”
26:23 From there he went up to Beersheba.
26:24 The LORD appeared to him that night and said, “I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your offspring for the sake of my servant Abraham.”
26:25 He built an altar there and called on the name of the LORD. He pitched his tent there, and there Isaac’s servants dug a well.
26:26 Abimelech came to him from Gerar, along with Ahuzzath his friend and Phicol the commander of his army.
26:27 Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, since you hated me and sent me away from you?”
26:28 They said, “We have clearly seen that the LORD has been with you, so we said, ‘Let there be an oath between us, between us and you,’ and let us make a covenant with you,
26:29 that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done you only good and sent you away in peace. Now you are blessed by the LORD.”
26:30 So he prepared a feast for them, and they ate and drank.
26:31 They rose early in the morning and swore an oath to one another. Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace.
26:32 That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug. They said to him, “We have found water.”
26:33 He named it Shibah. That is why the city is called Beersheba to this day.
26:34 When Esau was forty years old, he took as wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
26:35 They were a source of bitterness to Isaac and Rebekah.

Chapter 27
27:1 When Isaac was old and his eyes had grown too dim to see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son!” He said to him, “Here I am.”
27:2 He said, “Look, I am old, and I do not know the day of my death.
27:3 Now please take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, go out into the field, and hunt some game for me.
27:4 Prepare a savory meal for me, the kind I love, and bring it to me to eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.”
27:5 Rebekah was listening as Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So Esau went out into the field to hunt game and bring it back.
27:6 Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speaking to your brother Esau, saying,
27:7 ‘Bring me game and prepare a savory meal for me to eat, so that I may bless you before the LORD before I die.’
27:8 Now, my son, obey my voice in what I command you.
27:9 Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats from there, and I will prepare a savory meal for your father, the kind he loves.
27:10 You will bring it to your father to eat, so that he may bless you before he dies.”
27:11 Jacob said to his mother Rebekah, “My brother Esau is a hairy man, but I have smooth skin.
27:12 Perhaps my father will feel me and think I am mocking him. Then I will bring a curse upon myself instead of a blessing.”
27:13 His mother said to him, “Let your curse be on me, my son. Only obey my voice, and go and bring them to me.”
27:14 So he went, took them, and brought them to his mother, and his mother prepared a savory meal, the kind his father loved.
27:15 Rebekah took the best clothes of her older son Esau, which she had with her in the house, and put them on her younger son Jacob.
27:16 She put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.
27:17 She placed the savory meal and the bread she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.
27:18 He came to his father and said, “My father!” He said, “Here I am. Who are you, my son?”
27:19 Jacob said to his father, “I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you told me. Please rise and sit down to eat some of my game, so that your soul may bless me.”
27:20 Isaac said to his son, “How have you found it so quickly, my son?” He said, “Because the LORD your God brought it before me.”
27:21 Isaac said to Jacob, “Please come near so that I may feel you, my son, to know whether you are really my son Esau or not.”
27:22 Jacob came near to his father Isaac, and he felt him and said, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are Esau’s hands.”
27:23 He did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like the hands of his brother Esau, so he blessed him.
27:24 He said, “Are you really my son Esau?” He said, “I am.”
27:25 He said, “Bring it near to me, so that I may eat some of my son’s game and my soul may bless you.” He brought it to him, and he ate. He also brought him wine, and he drank.
27:26 His father Isaac said to him, “Please come near and kiss me, my son.”
27:27 He came near and kissed him. Isaac smelled the scent of his clothes and blessed him, saying,
 “See, the scent of my son is like the scent of a field the LORD has blessed.
27:28 May God give you of the dew of heaven and of the richness of the earth, and an abundance of grain and new wine.
27:29 May peoples serve you and nations bow down to you.
   Be lord over your brothers, and may your mother’s sons bow down to you.
   Cursed be those who curse you, and blessed be those who bless you.”
27:30 Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had barely gone out from the presence of his father Isaac when his brother Esau came in from hunting.
27:31 He too prepared a savory meal and brought it to his father. He said to his father, “Let my father rise and eat some of his son’s game, so that your soul may bless me.”
27:32 His father Isaac said to him, “Who are you?” He said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.”
27:33 Isaac trembled violently and said, “Who was it then who hunted game and brought it to me? I ate some of everything before you came and blessed him. Yes, he will be blessed!”
27:34 When Esau heard his father’s words, he let out a very loud and bitter cry and said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”
27:35 He said, “Your brother came with deceit and took your blessing.”
27:36 Esau said, “Isn’t he rightly named Jacob? He has cheated me twice now. He took my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing.” He said, “Have you not reserved a blessing for me?”
27:37 Isaac answered Esau, “Look, I have made him lord over you and given him all his brothers as servants. I have sustained him with grain and new wine. What then can I do for you, my son?”
27:38 Esau said to his father, “Do you have only one blessing, my father? Bless me too, my father!” Then Esau lifted up his voice and wept.
27:39 His father Isaac answered him,
 “Look, your dwelling will be away from the richness of the earth and away from the dew of heaven above.
27:40 By your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother.
   But when you grow restless, you will break his yoke off your neck.”
27:41 Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing his father had given him. Esau said in his heart, “The days of mourning for my father are near; then I will kill my brother Jacob.”
27:42 The words of her older son Esau were reported to Rebekah. She sent for her younger son Jacob and said to him, “Your brother Esau is consoling himself with the thought of killing you.
27:43 Now, my son, obey my voice. Rise and flee to my brother Laban at Haran.
27:44 Stay with him a few days, until your brother’s fury turns away,
27:45 until your brother’s anger turns away from you and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I lose both of you in one day?”
27:46 Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth like these, from the daughters of the land, what use will my life be to me?”

Chapter 28
28:1 Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
28:2 Rise and go to Paddan-aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother’s father, and take a wife from there, from the daughters of Laban, your mother’s brother.
28:3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you become a community of peoples.
28:4 May he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you and your offspring with you, so that you may possess the land where you have lived as a foreigner, which God gave to Abraham.”
28:5 Isaac sent Jacob away, and he went to Paddan-aram, to Laban, the son of Bethuel the Aramean and the brother of Rebekah, the mother of Jacob and Esau.
28:6 Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife from there. When he blessed him, he had commanded him, “You must not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.”
28:7 Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother and had gone to Paddan-aram.
28:8 Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan displeased his father Isaac.
28:9 So Esau went to Ishmael and took Mahalath, the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, and the sister of Nebaioth, as a wife in addition to the wives he already had.
28:10 Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
28:11 He came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head and lay down in that place.
28:12 He dreamed, and there was a ladder set up on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it.
28:13 The LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and your offspring.
28:14 Your offspring will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. In you and in your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.
28:15 Look, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land, for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
28:16 Jacob woke from his sleep and said, “Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it.”
28:17 He was afraid and said, “How awesome this place is! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
28:18 Jacob rose early in the morning and took the stone he had placed at his head and set it up as a pillar. He poured oil on its top.
28:19 He named that place Bethel, though the city’s name had formerly been Luz.
28:20 Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and keep me on this journey I am taking, and give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
28:21 and I return in peace to my father’s house, then the LORD will be my God.
28:22 This stone I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will surely give a tenth to you.”

Chapter 29
29:1 Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.
29:2 He looked and saw a well in the field, with three flocks of sheep lying beside it, for the flocks were watered from that well. A large stone covered the mouth of the well.
29:3 When all the flocks were gathered there, the stone would be rolled away from the mouth of the well and the sheep watered. Then the stone would be put back in its place over the mouth of the well.
29:4 Jacob said to them, “My brothers, where are you from?” They said, “We are from Haran.”
29:5 He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s descendant?” They said, “We know him.”
29:6 He said to them, “Is he well?” They said, “He is well. Look, his daughter Rachel is coming with the sheep.”
29:7 He said, “Look, there is still much of the day left. It is not yet time to gather the livestock. Water the sheep and go and pasture them.”
29:8 They said, “We cannot until all the flocks are gathered and the stone is rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we can water the sheep.”
29:9 While he was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherdess.
29:10 When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother, he went near and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered the sheep of Laban his mother’s brother.
29:11 Jacob kissed Rachel and lifted up his voice and wept.
29:12 Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s relative and that he was Rebekah’s son. She ran and told her father.
29:13 When Laban heard the news of Jacob, his sister’s son, he ran to meet him, embraced him, kissed him, and brought him into his house. Jacob told Laban all these things.
29:14 Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month.
29:15 Laban said to Jacob, “Should you serve me for nothing just because you are my relative? Tell me what your wages will be.”
29:16 Laban had two daughters. The older was named Leah, and the younger was named Rachel.
29:17 Leah’s eyes were delicate, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.
29:18 Jacob loved Rachel and said, “I will serve you seven years for your younger daughter Rachel.”
29:19 Laban said, “It is better to give her to you than to give her to another man. Stay with me.”
29:20 So Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him like a few days because of his love for her.
29:21 Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife, for my time is complete, so that I may sleep with her.”
29:22 Laban gathered all the men of the place and prepared a feast.
29:23 In the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and Jacob slept with her.
29:24 Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah as her servant.
29:25 In the morning, there was Leah! Jacob said to Laban, “What have you done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why have you deceived me?”
29:26 Laban said, “It is not done that way in our place, to give the younger before the firstborn.
29:27 Complete her wedding week, and we will give you the other one too, for another seven years of service with me.”
29:28 Jacob did so and completed her wedding week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel as a wife.
29:29 Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel as her servant.
29:30 Jacob slept with Rachel too, and he loved Rachel more than Leah. He served Laban for another seven years.
29:31 The LORD saw that Leah was hated, and he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.
29:32 Leah conceived and bore a son, and she named him Reuben, for she said, “The LORD has seen my affliction; now my husband will love me.”
29:33 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Because the LORD has heard that I am hated, he has given me this son too.” So she named him Simeon.
29:34 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “Now this time my husband will be joined to me, because I have borne him three sons.” That is why he was named Levi.
29:35 She conceived again and bore a son and said, “This time I will praise the LORD.” That is why she named him Judah. Then she stopped bearing children.

Chapter 30
30:1 When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said to Jacob, “Give me children, or I will die!”
30:2 Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
30:3 She said, “Here is my female servant Bilhah. Sleep with her, and she will bear children on my knees, so that I too may have children through her.”
30:4 She gave him her female servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob slept with her.
30:5 Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
30:6 Rachel said, “God has vindicated me. He has also heard my voice and given me a son.” That is why she named him Dan.
30:7 Rachel’s female servant Bilhah conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.
30:8 Rachel said, “With mighty struggles I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed.” So she named him Naphtali.
30:9 When Leah saw that she had stopped bearing children, she took her female servant Zilpah and gave her to Jacob as a wife.
30:10 Leah’s female servant Zilpah bore Jacob a son.
30:11 Leah said, “Good fortune has come!” So she named him Gad.
30:12 Leah’s female servant Zilpah bore Jacob a second son.
30:13 Leah said, “How happy I am! For women call me happy.” So she named him Asher.
30:14 During the wheat harvest Reuben went out and found mandrakes in the field and brought them to his mother Leah. Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”
30:15 She said to her, “Is it a small thing that you have taken my husband? Would you take my son’s mandrakes too?” Rachel said, “Then he may sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son’s mandrakes.”
30:16 When Jacob came from the field in the evening, Leah went out to meet him and said, “You must come to me, for I have indeed hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” So he slept with her that night.
30:17 God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
30:18 Leah said, “God has given me my wages because I gave my female servant to my husband.” So she named him Issachar.
30:19 Leah conceived again and bore Jacob a sixth son.
30:20 Leah said, “God has given me a good gift. This time my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons.” So she named him Zebulun.
30:21 Afterward she bore a daughter and named her Dinah.
30:22 God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb.
30:23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away my reproach.”
30:24 She named him Joseph, saying, “May the LORD add another son to me.”
30:25 After Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, “Send me on my way so that I may go to my own place and to my country.
30:26 Give me my wives and my children, for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you know the service I have rendered you.”
30:27 Laban said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please stay. I have learned by divination that the LORD has blessed me because of you.”
30:28 He said, “Name your wages, and I will pay them.”
30:29 Jacob said to him, “You know how I have served you and how your livestock has fared under my care.
30:30 The little you had before I came has increased greatly, and the LORD has blessed you with my arrival. But now, when will I also provide for my own household?”
30:31 He said, “What shall I give you?” Jacob said, “You need not give me anything. If you will do this one thing for me, I will again pasture and keep your flock.
30:32 I will go through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted animal, every dark one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. Such animals will be my wages.
30:33 My honesty will testify for me in time to come, when you come to inspect my wages. Every goat with me that is not speckled or spotted, and every sheep that is not dark, will be considered stolen.”
30:34 Laban said, “Agreed. Let it be as you have said.”
30:35 That day Laban removed the striped and spotted male goats, all the speckled and spotted female goats, all that had white in them, and all the dark sheep. He placed them in the care of his sons.
30:36 He put a distance of three days’ journey between himself and Jacob, and Jacob pastured the rest of Laban’s flock.
30:37 Jacob took fresh rods of poplar, almond, and plane trees and peeled white strips in them, exposing the white of the rods.
30:38 He set the rods he had peeled in front of the flocks in the channels, in the watering troughs where the flocks came to drink. They mated when they came to drink.
30:39 The flocks mated before the rods and gave birth to striped, speckled, and spotted young.
30:40 Jacob separated the lambs and turned the flock to face the striped animals and all the dark ones in Laban’s flock. He set his own flocks apart and did not put them with Laban’s flock.
30:41 Whenever the stronger females in the flock were mating, Jacob placed the rods before the eyes of the flock in the troughs, so that they would mate among the rods.
30:42 But when the animals were weak, he did not put them there. So the weak belonged to Laban and the strong to Jacob.
30:43 The man grew immensely prosperous and had large flocks, female and male servants, camels and donkeys.

Chapter 31
31:1 Jacob heard Laban’s sons saying, “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father. From what belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.”
31:2 Jacob saw from Laban’s face that his attitude toward him was not as before.
31:3 The LORD said to Jacob, “Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you.”
31:4 Jacob sent for Rachel and Leah to come to the field where his flock was.
31:5 He said to them, “I see from your father’s face that his attitude toward me is not as before, but the God of my father has been with me.
31:6 You know that I have served your father with all my strength.
31:7 Yet your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God has not allowed him to harm me.
31:8 If he said, ‘The speckled ones will be your wages,’ all the flock bore speckled young. If he said, ‘The striped ones will be your wages,’ all the flock bore striped young.
31:9 So God has taken your father’s livestock away and given them to me.
31:10 At the time when the flock was mating, I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream that the male goats mounting the flock were striped, speckled, and mottled.
31:11 The angel of God said to me in the dream, ‘Jacob!’ I said, ‘Here I am.’
31:12 He said, ‘Lift up your eyes and see: all the male goats mounting the flock are striped, speckled, and mottled, for I have seen all that Laban is doing to you.
31:13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar and made a vow to me. Now rise, leave this land, and return to the land of your birth.’”
31:14 Rachel and Leah answered him, “Do we still have any share or inheritance in our father’s house?
31:15 Does he not regard us as foreigners? For he has sold us and completely consumed our money.
31:16 All the wealth God has taken away from our father belongs to us and to our children. Now do all that God has told you.”
31:17 Jacob rose and put his children and his wives on the camels.
31:18 He drove away all his livestock and all the possessions he had acquired, the livestock he had gained in Paddan-aram, to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.
31:19 Laban had gone to shear his sheep, and Rachel stole her father’s household idols.
31:20 Jacob deceived Laban the Aramean by not telling him that he was fleeing.
31:21 He fled with all he had, crossed the river, and set his face toward the hill country of Gilead.
31:22 On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.
31:23 He took his relatives with him and pursued him for seven days’ journey, and he caught up with him in the hill country of Gilead.
31:24 But God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, “Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, good or bad.”
31:25 Laban caught up with Jacob. Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country, and Laban camped with his relatives in the hill country of Gilead.
31:26 Laban said to Jacob, “What have you done? You have deceived me and driven my daughters away like captives taken by the sword.
31:27 Why did you flee secretly and deceive me and not tell me? I would have sent you away with joy and songs, with tambourine and lyre.
31:28 You did not even let me kiss my grandchildren and my daughters. You have acted foolishly.
31:29 I have the power to harm you, but the God of your father said to me last night, ‘Be careful not to say anything to Jacob, good or bad.’
31:30 Now you have indeed gone, because you longed so deeply for your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?”
31:31 Jacob answered Laban, “Because I was afraid, for I thought you might take your daughters from me by force.
31:32 Whoever you find your gods with shall not live. In the presence of our relatives, identify whatever of yours is with me and take it.” Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
31:33 Laban went into Jacob’s tent and Leah’s tent and the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. He came out of Leah’s tent and went into Rachel’s tent.
31:34 Rachel had taken the household idols and put them in the camel’s saddle and sat on them. Laban felt through the whole tent but did not find them.
31:35 She said to her father, “Let not my lord be angry that I cannot rise before you, for I am having my period.” He searched but did not find the household idols.
31:36 Jacob became angry and quarreled with Laban. Jacob said to Laban, “What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have pursued me so fiercely?
31:37 You have felt through all my belongings. What have you found of all the things from your house? Put it here before my relatives and yours, and let them judge between us two.
31:38 These twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
31:39 I did not bring you what was torn by wild beasts. I bore the loss myself. You demanded payment from me, whether it was stolen by day or stolen by night.
31:40 Such was my life: by day heat consumed me, and frost by night, and sleep fled from my eyes.
31:41 These twenty years I have been in your house. I served you fourteen years for your two daughters and six years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times.
31:42 If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”
31:43 Laban answered Jacob, “The daughters are my daughters, the children are my children, and the flock is my flock. All that you see is mine. But what can I do today to these daughters of mine or to the children they have borne?
31:44 Now come, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be a witness between me and you.”
31:45 Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.
31:46 Jacob said to his relatives, “Gather stones.” They took stones and made a heap, and they ate there beside the heap.
31:47 Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.
31:48 Laban said, “This heap is a witness between me and you today.” That is why it was named Galeed,
31:49 and Mizpah, because he said, “May the LORD watch between me and you when we are hidden from one another.
31:50 If you mistreat my daughters or take wives besides my daughters, though no one is with us, see, God is a witness between me and you.”
31:51 Laban said to Jacob, “Here is this heap, and here is the pillar I have set between me and you.
31:52 This heap is a witness, and this pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, for harm.
31:53 May the God of Abraham and the god of Nahor, the gods of their father, judge between us.” Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.
31:54 Jacob offered a sacrifice in the hill country and called his relatives to eat bread. They ate bread and spent the night in the hill country.
31:55 Laban rose early in the morning, kissed his grandchildren and his daughters, and blessed them. Then Laban departed and returned to his own place.

Chapter 32
32:1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
32:2 When Jacob saw them, he said, “This is God’s camp.” So he named that place Mahanaim.
32:3 Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.
32:4 He commanded them, “Say this to my lord Esau: ‘Your servant Jacob says: I have lived as a foreigner with Laban and stayed until now.
32:5 I have cattle, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants. I have sent word to my lord so that I may find favor in your eyes.’”
32:6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and he is coming to meet you, with four hundred men.”
32:7 Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people with him, along with the flocks, cattle, and camels, into two camps.
32:8 He said, “If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, the remaining camp will escape.”
32:9 Jacob said, “God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will do you good,’
32:10 I am not worthy of all the acts of kindness and all the faithfulness you have shown your servant. For with my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
32:11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him, lest he come and strike me down, mothers and children as well.
32:12 But you said, ‘I will surely do you good and make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
32:13 He spent that night there and selected from what he had a gift for his brother Esau:
32:14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,
32:15 thirty nursing camels with their young, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten young male donkeys.
32:16 He placed them in the care of his servants, each herd by itself, and said to his servants, “Go ahead of me and leave space between one herd and the next.”
32:17 He commanded the first one, “When my brother Esau meets you and asks, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Whose are these animals ahead of you?’
32:18 you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a gift sent to my lord Esau, and he himself is behind us.’”
32:19 He also commanded the second, the third, and all who followed the herds, “Say these same words to Esau when you meet him.
32:20 Also say, ‘Your servant Jacob is behind us.’” For he said, “I will appease him with the gift that goes ahead of me. After that I will see his face; perhaps he will receive me favorably.”
32:21 So the gift went on ahead of him, while he spent that night in the camp.
32:22 He rose that night and took his two wives, his two female servants, and his eleven children, and crossed the ford of the Jabbok.
32:23 He took them and sent them across the stream, and he sent across all that he had.
32:24 Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until daybreak.
32:25 When the man saw that he could not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him.
32:26 He said, “Let me go, for day is breaking.” Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
32:27 He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.”
32:28 He said, “Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed.”
32:29 Jacob asked, “Please tell me your name.” He said, “Why do you ask my name?” And he blessed him there.
32:30 Jacob named the place Peniel, for he said, “I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved.”
32:31 The sun rose upon him as he passed Penuel, and he was limping because of his hip.
32:32 That is why to this day the people of Israel do not eat the sinew of the thigh at the hip socket, because he touched Jacob’s hip socket at that sinew.

Chapter 33
33:1 Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw Esau coming, with four hundred men. He divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants.
33:2 He put the female servants and their children first, Leah and her children after them, and Rachel and Joseph last.
33:3 He himself went ahead of them and bowed to the ground seven times as he approached his brother.
33:4 Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, and kissed him, and they wept.
33:5 He lifted up his eyes and saw the women and the children and said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, “The children God has graciously given your servant.”
33:6 The female servants came near with their children and bowed down.
33:7 Leah and her children also came near and bowed down. Afterward Joseph and Rachel came near and bowed down.
33:8 Esau said, “What do you mean by all this company I met?” Jacob said, “To find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
33:9 Esau said, “I have plenty, my brother. Keep what belongs to you.”
33:10 Jacob said, “No, please. If I have found favor in your eyes, accept my gift from my hand, for I have seen your face as one sees the face of God, and you have received me favorably.
33:11 Please accept my blessing that has been brought to you, for God has been gracious to me, and I have everything.” He urged him, and he accepted it.
33:12 Esau said, “Let us set out and go, and I will go ahead of you.”
33:13 Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds nursing their young are in my care. If they are driven too hard for a single day, all the flock will die.
33:14 Please let my lord go ahead of his servant. I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock before me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord in Seir.”
33:15 Esau said, “Please let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” Jacob said, “Why should you? Let me find favor in the eyes of my lord.”
33:16 So that day Esau returned on his way to Seir.
33:17 But Jacob journeyed to Succoth. He built a house for himself and made shelters for his livestock. That is why he named the place Succoth.
33:18 Jacob arrived safely at the city of Shechem in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-aram, and he camped in front of the city.
33:19 He bought the portion of the field where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred qesitahs.
33:20 He set up an altar there and called it El-elohe-Israel.

Chapter 34
34:1 Dinah, the daughter Leah had borne to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
34:2 Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, seized her, and raped her.
34:3 His soul clung to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.
34:4 Shechem said to his father Hamor, “Get me this girl as a wife.”
34:5 Jacob heard that Shechem had defiled his daughter Dinah. His sons were with his livestock in the field, and Jacob kept silent until they came.
34:6 Hamor, Shechem’s father, went out to Jacob to speak with him.
34:7 Jacob’s sons came from the field when they heard. The men were grieved and very angry, because he had committed an outrage in Israel by sleeping with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that must not be done.
34:8 Hamor spoke with them, saying, “My son Shechem’s soul longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.
34:9 Intermarry with us. Give us your daughters and take our daughters for yourselves.
34:10 Live with us, and the land will be open to you. Settle and trade in it and acquire property in it.”
34:11 Shechem said to her father and her brothers, “Let me find favor in your eyes, and I will give whatever you tell me.
34:12 Ask me for as large a bride price and gift as you wish. I will give what you tell me. Only give me the young woman as a wife.”
34:13 Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor deceitfully, because he had defiled their sister Dinah.
34:14 They said to them, “We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to an uncircumcised man, for that would be a disgrace to us.
34:15 Only on this condition will we agree with you: that you become like us, with every male among you circumcised.
34:16 Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.
34:17 But if you will not listen to us and be circumcised, we will take our daughter and go.”
34:18 Their words pleased Hamor and Hamor’s son Shechem.
34:19 The young man did not delay in doing this, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. He was the most honored in all his father’s household.
34:20 Hamor and his son Shechem came to the gate of their city and spoke to the men of their city, saying,
34:21 “These men are at peace with us. Let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land has room enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives and give them our daughters.
34:22 Only on this condition will the men agree to live with us and become one people: that every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.
34:23 Will not their livestock, their property, and all their animals become ours? Only let us agree with them, and they will live with us.”
34:24 All who went out through the gate of his city listened to Hamor and his son Shechem. Every male was circumcised, all who went out through the gate of his city.
34:25 On the third day, while they were in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the unsuspecting city and killed every male.
34:26 They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword, took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went out.
34:27 Jacob’s sons came upon the slain and plundered the city, because its people had defiled their sister.
34:28 They took their flocks, their cattle, their donkeys, and what was in the city and what was in the field.
34:29 They carried off all their wealth and took all their children and wives captive, plundering everything in the house.
34:30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble on me by making me a stench among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I have few men. They will gather against me and attack me, and I will be destroyed, I and my household.”
34:31 They said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Chapter 35
35:1 God said to Jacob, “Rise, go up to Bethel and live there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”
35:2 Jacob said to his household and all who were with him, “Put away the foreign gods among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes.
35:3 Let us rise and go up to Bethel. I will make an altar there to the God who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me on the way I have traveled.”
35:4 They gave Jacob all the foreign gods in their possession and the rings in their ears. Jacob buried them under the terebinth near Shechem.
35:5 As they journeyed, the terror of God fell upon the surrounding cities, and they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.
35:6 Jacob and all the people with him came to Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan.
35:7 He built an altar there and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother.
35:8 Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died and was buried below Bethel under the oak. It was named Allon-bacuth.
35:9 God appeared to Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and he blessed him.
35:10 God said to him, “Your name is Jacob. Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel will be your name.” So he named him Israel.
35:11 God said to him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your loins.
35:12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.”
35:13 God went up from him at the place where he had spoken with him.
35:14 Jacob set up a pillar at the place where God had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured a drink offering on it and poured oil on it.
35:15 Jacob named the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.
35:16 They journeyed from Bethel. While there was still some distance to go to Ephrath, Rachel went into labor, and her labor was difficult.
35:17 When her labor was difficult, the midwife said to her, “Do not fear, for you have another son.”
35:18 As her soul was departing, for she was dying, she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin.
35:19 Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.
35:20 Jacob set up a pillar over her grave. That is the pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day.
35:21 Israel journeyed on and pitched his tent beyond Migdal-eder.
35:22 While Israel was living in that land, Reuben went and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard of it. Now Jacob’s sons were twelve:
35:23 The sons of Leah were Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
35:24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
35:25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s female servant, were Dan and Naphtali.
35:26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s female servant, were Gad and Asher. These are Jacob’s sons who were born to him in Paddan-aram.
35:27 Jacob came to his father Isaac at Mamre, at Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived as foreigners.
35:28 The days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.
35:29 Isaac breathed his last and died and was gathered to his people, old and full of days. His sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

Chapter 36
36:1 These are the generations of Esau, that is, Edom.
36:2 Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah daughter of Anah, granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite,
36:3 and Basemath daughter of Ishmael, the sister of Nebaioth.
36:4 Adah bore Esau Eliphaz, and Basemath bore Reuel.
36:5 Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were Esau’s sons who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
36:6 Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the people of his household, his livestock, all his animals, and all the possessions he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to another land, away from his brother Jacob.
36:7 For their possessions were too great for them to live together, and the land where they lived as foreigners could not support them because of their livestock.
36:8 So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir. Esau is Edom.
36:9 These are the generations of Esau, the father of the Edomites, in the hill country of Seir.
36:10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah, Esau’s wife, and Reuel the son of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
36:11 The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.
36:12 Timna was a concubine of Esau’s son Eliphaz, and she bore Eliphaz Amalek. These were the descendants of Adah, Esau’s wife.
36:13 These were Reuel’s sons: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the descendants of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
36:14 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon: she bore Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.
36:15 These were the chiefs among Esau’s descendants. The sons of Eliphaz, Esau’s firstborn, were chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,
36:16 chief Korah, chief Gatam, and chief Amalek. These were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom. These were the descendants of Adah.
36:17 These were the sons of Esau’s son Reuel: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, and chief Mizzah. These were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom. These were the descendants of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
36:18 These were the sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: chief Jeush, chief Jalam, and chief Korah. These were the chiefs of Esau’s wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.
36:19 These were Esau’s sons, and these were their chiefs. He is Edom.
36:20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
36:21 Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.
36:22 The sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam. Lotan’s sister was Timna.
36:23 These were Shobal’s sons: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.
36:24 These were Zibeon’s sons: Aiah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness while pasturing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.
36:25 These were Anah’s children: Dishon and Oholibamah, Anah’s daughter.
36:26 These were Dishan’s sons: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.
36:27 These were Ezer’s sons: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.
36:28 These were Dishan’s sons: Uz and Aran.
36:29 These were the chiefs of the Horites: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah,
36:30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, and chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites according to their chiefdoms in the land of Seir.
36:31 These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the people of Israel.
36:32 Bela son of Beor reigned in Edom. His city was named Dinhabah.
36:33 Bela died, and Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.
36:34 Jobab died, and Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.
36:35 Husham died, and Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab, reigned in his place. His city was named Avith.
36:36 Hadad died, and Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place.
36:37 Samlah died, and Shaul from Rehoboth by the river reigned in his place.
36:38 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.
36:39 Baal-hanan son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in his place. His city was named Pau. His wife was named Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zahab.
36:40 These were the names of Esau’s chiefs, according to their families, their places, and their names: chief Timna, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,
36:41 chief Oholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,
36:42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,
36:43 chief Magdiel, and chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. This is Esau, the father of the Edomites.

Chapter 37
37:1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, in the land of Canaan.
37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph was seventeen years old and was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a youth with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought their father a bad report about them.
37:3 Israel loved Joseph more than all his other sons, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a robe with long sleeves.
37:4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
37:5 Joseph dreamed a dream and told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more.
37:6 He said to them, “Please listen to this dream I have dreamed.
37:7 We were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and my sheaf rose and stood upright. Your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
37:8 His brothers said to him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed rule over us?” They hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.
37:9 He dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, “I have dreamed another dream. The sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
37:10 He told it to his father and his brothers, and his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers really come and bow to the ground before you?”
37:11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
37:12 His brothers went to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem.
37:13 Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.”
37:14 He said to him, “Please go and see whether your brothers are well and whether the flock is well, and bring me word.” He sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
37:15 A man found him wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
37:16 He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.”
37:17 The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
37:18 They saw him from a distance, and before he came near them, they plotted against him to kill him.
37:19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer!
37:20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We will say, ‘A fierce animal has devoured him.’ Then we will see what becomes of his dreams.”
37:21 Reuben heard this and rescued him from their hands. He said, “Let us not take his life.”
37:22 Reuben said to them, “Do not shed blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” He said this to rescue him from their hands and return him to his father.
37:23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his robe, the robe with long sleeves that he was wearing.
37:24 They took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
37:25 They sat down to eat bread. They lifted up their eyes and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and aromatic resin, taking them down to Egypt.
37:26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
37:27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let us not lay a hand on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers listened to him.
37:28 Midianite merchants passed by, and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, weighing about eight ounces. They brought Joseph to Egypt.
37:29 Reuben returned to the pit, and Joseph was not in the pit, so he tore his clothes.
37:30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone! And I, where shall I go?”
37:31 They took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the robe in the blood.
37:32 They sent the robe with long sleeves and brought it to their father and said, “We found this. Please see whether you recognize it as your son’s robe or not.”
37:33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!”
37:34 Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
37:35 All his sons and all his daughters rose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “I will go down to my son in Sheol, mourning.” So his father wept for him.
37:36 The Medanites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, captain of the guard.

Chapter 38
38:1 At that time Judah went down away from his brothers and turned aside to an Adullamite named Hirah.
38:2 There Judah saw the daughter of a Canaanite man named Shua. He took her as his wife and slept with her.
38:3 She conceived and bore a son, and he named him Er.
38:4 She conceived again and bore a son, and she named him Onan.
38:5 She bore yet another son and named him Shelah. Judah was at Kezib when she bore him.
38:6 Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
38:7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death.
38:8 Judah said to Onan, “Sleep with your brother’s wife, perform your duty to her as a brother-in-law, and raise up offspring for your brother.”
38:9 Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he slept with his brother’s wife, he spilled his seed on the ground to avoid giving offspring to his brother.
38:10 What he did was wicked in the eyes of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death also.
38:11 Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Remain a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” For he thought, “He too might die like his brothers.” So Tamar went and lived in her father’s house.
38:12 After many days Judah’s wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah was comforted, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite went up to his sheep shearers at Timnah.
38:13 Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.”
38:14 She took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil, wrapped herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah had grown up, but she had not been given to him as a wife.
38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face.
38:16 He turned aside to her by the road and said, “Please let me sleep with you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, “What will you give me if you sleep with me?”
38:17 He said, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.” She said, “Will you give me a pledge until you send it?”
38:18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She said, “Your seal, your cord, and the staff in your hand.” He gave them to her and slept with her, and she conceived by him.
38:19 She rose and went away, took off her veil, and put on her widow’s clothes.
38:20 Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite to recover the pledge from the woman, but he did not find her.
38:21 He asked the men of her place, “Where is the prostitute who was at Enaim by the road?” They said, “There has been no prostitute here.”
38:22 He returned to Judah and said, “I did not find her. The men of the place also said, ‘There has been no prostitute here.’”
38:23 Judah said, “Let her keep the things, lest we become a laughingstock. I sent this young goat, but you did not find her.”
38:24 About three months later Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law Tamar has prostituted herself, and she is pregnant by prostitution.” Judah said, “Bring her out and let her be burned.”
38:25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong.” She said, “Please see if you recognize whose seal, cords, and staff these are.”
38:26 Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to my son Shelah.” He did not sleep with her again.
38:27 When the time came for her to give birth, there were twins in her womb.
38:28 As she was giving birth, one put out a hand. The midwife took it and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.”
38:29 But as he drew back his hand, his brother came out. She said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” So he was named Perez.
38:30 Afterward his brother came out, with the scarlet thread on his hand, and he was named Zerah.

Chapter 39
39:1 Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.
39:2 The LORD was with Joseph, and he was a successful man. He was in the house of his Egyptian master.
39:3 His master saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD made everything he did succeed in his hands.
39:4 Joseph found favor in his eyes and served him. His master put him in charge of his house and placed all he had in Joseph’s hands.
39:5 From the time he put him in charge of his house and all he had, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The LORD’s blessing was on all he had, in the house and in the field.
39:6 He left all he had in Joseph’s hands and concerned himself with nothing except the bread he ate. Joseph was handsome in form and appearance.
39:7 After these things his master’s wife lifted her eyes toward Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.”
39:8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me in charge, my master does not concern himself with anything in the house, and he has placed all he has in my hands.
39:9 No one is greater in this house than I am, and he has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?”
39:10 Though she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not agree to lie beside her or to be with her.
39:11 One day he came into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house were there in the house.
39:12 She caught him by his garment and said, “Sleep with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and went outside.
39:13 When she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled outside,
39:14 she called the men of her house and said to them, “Look, he has brought us a Hebrew man to mock us. He came to me to sleep with me, but I cried out in a loud voice.
39:15 When he heard me raise my voice and cry out, he left his garment beside me and fled and went outside.”
39:16 She kept his garment beside her until his master came home.
39:17 She told him these same things, saying, “The Hebrew servant you brought us came to me to mock me.
39:18 But when I raised my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.”
39:19 When his master heard his wife’s words, as she said to him, “This is how your servant treated me,” his anger burned.
39:20 Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined. He remained there in the prison.
39:21 But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him kindness and gave him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.
39:22 The prison warden placed in Joseph’s hands all the prisoners who were in the prison. Joseph was responsible for everything done there.
39:23 The prison warden did not check anything in Joseph’s charge, because the LORD was with him, and the LORD made all that he did succeed.

Chapter 40
40:1 After these things, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and the baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.
40:2 Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker.
40:3 He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the prison where Joseph was confined.
40:4 The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to them, and he served them. They remained in custody for some time.
40:5 Both of them, the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the prison, had a dream on the same night, each his own dream, each with its own interpretation.
40:6 Joseph came to them in the morning and saw that they were dejected.
40:7 He asked Pharaoh’s officials who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why do you look so sad today?”
40:8 They said to him, “We have had a dream, and there is no one to interpret it.” Joseph said to them, “Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell me your dreams.”
40:9 The chief cupbearer told Joseph his dream and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me.
40:10 On the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms came out, and its clusters of grapes ripened.
40:11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand. I took the grapes, squeezed them into Pharaoh’s cup, and put the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.”
40:12 Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: The three branches are three days.
40:13 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position. You will put Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as you did before, when you were his cupbearer.
40:14 But remember me when things go well with you. Please show me kindness: mention me to Pharaoh and bring me out of this house.
40:15 For I was indeed kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and here too I have done nothing for which they should put me in this dungeon.”
40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I too had a dream. There were three baskets of white bread on my head.
40:17 In the top basket were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, and the birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.”
40:18 Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation: The three baskets are three days.
40:19 In three days Pharaoh will lift your head off you and hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat the flesh off you.”
40:20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants. He lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants.
40:21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position as cupbearer, and the cupbearer put the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.
40:22 But he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.
40:23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Chapter 41
41:1 At the end of two full years, Pharaoh had a dream. He was standing by the Nile.
41:2 Seven cows, beautiful in appearance and fat, came up out of the Nile and grazed among the reeds.
41:3 Then seven other cows, ugly in appearance and thin, came up out of the Nile after them and stood beside the cows on the bank of the Nile.
41:4 The ugly, thin cows ate the seven beautiful, fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.
41:5 He fell asleep and dreamed a second time. Seven heads of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk.
41:6 Then seven thin heads, scorched by the east wind, sprouted after them.
41:7 The thin heads swallowed up the seven plump, full heads. Pharaoh awoke, and it was a dream.
41:8 In the morning his spirit was troubled. He sent for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dream, but no one could interpret the dreams for Pharaoh.
41:9 Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my offenses.
41:10 Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker.
41:11 He and I had a dream on the same night, each dreaming a dream with its own interpretation.
41:12 A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us, interpreting for each according to his dream.
41:13 It happened just as he interpreted for us: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged.”
41:14 Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they hurried him out of the dungeon. He shaved, changed his clothes, and came to Pharaoh.
41:15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one to interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.”
41:16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer for his well-being.”
41:17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream I was standing on the bank of the Nile.
41:18 Seven cows, fat and beautiful in form, came up out of the Nile and grazed among the reeds.
41:19 Then seven other cows came up after them, scrawny, very ugly in form, and thin. I had never seen any so ugly in all the land of Egypt.
41:20 The thin, ugly cows ate the first seven fat cows.
41:21 But when they had eaten them, no one could tell that they had eaten them. They looked as ugly as at first. Then I awoke.
41:22 I also saw in my dream seven heads of grain, full and good, growing on one stalk.
41:23 Then seven withered, thin heads, scorched by the east wind, sprouted after them.
41:24 The thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads. I told the magicians, but no one could explain it to me.”
41:25 Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dream is one. God has told Pharaoh what he is about to do.
41:26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years. The dream is one.
41:27 The seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine.
41:28 This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do.
41:29 Seven years of great abundance are coming throughout all the land of Egypt.
41:30 After them will come seven years of famine. All the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten, and the famine will consume the land.
41:31 The abundance in the land will not be known because of the famine that follows, for it will be very severe.
41:32 The dream was repeated twice to Pharaoh because the matter is established by God, and God will soon bring it about.
41:33 Now let Pharaoh look for a discerning and wise man and put him over the land of Egypt.
41:34 Let Pharaoh act and appoint overseers over the land, and take a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.
41:35 Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store grain under Pharaoh’s authority as food in the cities, and guard it.
41:36 The food will be a reserve for the land during the seven years of famine that will be in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish in the famine.”
41:37 The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants.
41:38 Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”
41:39 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.
41:40 You will be in charge of my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only with regard to the throne will I be greater than you.”
41:41 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt.”
41:42 Pharaoh took his ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. He dressed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.
41:43 He had him ride in his second chariot, and they called out before him, “Kneel!” Thus he put him over all the land of Egypt.
41:44 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but without your permission no one will lift a hand or a foot in all the land of Egypt.”
41:45 Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah and gave him Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, as his wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.
41:46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and traveled throughout all the land of Egypt.
41:47 During the seven years of abundance, the land produced by the handful.
41:48 He gathered all the food of the seven years in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In each city he stored the food from the fields around it.
41:49 Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, in such great quantities that he stopped counting, for it could not be counted.
41:50 Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, bore them to him.
41:51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, for he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”
41:52 He named the second Ephraim, for he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
41:53 The seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,
41:54 and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread.
41:55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you.”
41:56 The famine was over all the face of the earth. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians, for the famine grew severe in the land of Egypt.
41:57 People from all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

Chapter 42
42:1 Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, and he said to his sons, “Why do you keep looking at one another?”
42:2 He said, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
42:3 Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
42:4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he thought, “Some harm might happen to him.”
42:5 The sons of Israel came to buy grain among the others who came, for there was famine in the land of Canaan.
42:6 Joseph was the governor over the land; he was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.
42:7 When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he acted like a stranger to them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where have you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
42:8 Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.
42:9 Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the exposed parts of the land.”
42:10 They said to him, “No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food.
42:11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men; your servants have not been spies.”
42:12 He said to them, “No, you have come to see the exposed parts of the land.”
42:13 They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father today, and one is gone.”
42:14 Joseph said to them, “It is as I told you: you are spies.
42:15 This is how you will be tested: as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
42:16 Send one of you to get your brother, while you remain confined. Your words will be tested to see whether you are telling the truth. If not, as Pharaoh lives, you are spies.”
42:17 He put them all together in custody for three days.
42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and live, for I fear God.
42:19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in the prison where you are being held. The rest of you go and take grain for your hungry households.
42:20 But bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be confirmed and you will not die.” And they did so.
42:21 They said to one another, “We are indeed guilty concerning our brother. We saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”
42:22 Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you did not listen. Now we are also being called to account for his blood.”
42:23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them.
42:24 He turned away from them and wept. Then he returned and spoke to them. He took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes.
42:25 Joseph gave orders for their containers to be filled with grain, for each man’s money to be returned to his sack, and for them to be given provisions for the journey. He did this for them.
42:26 They loaded the grain they had bought onto their donkeys and left.
42:27 At the lodging place, one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed. He saw his money there in the mouth of his sack.
42:28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Here it is in my sack!” Their hearts sank, and they trembled, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”
42:29 They came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them:
42:30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as spies of the land.
42:31 We said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have not been spies.
42:32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is gone, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’
42:33 Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, take food for your hungry households, and go.
42:34 Bring your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will give your brother back to you, and you may trade in the land.’”
42:35 As they emptied their sacks, each man’s bundle of money was there in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.
42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and you would take Benjamin! All these things are against me.”
42:37 Reuben said to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”
42:38 But he said, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm happens to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring down my gray hair in sorrow to Sheol.”

Chapter 43
43:1 The famine was severe in the land.
43:2 When they had finished eating the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.”
43:3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’
43:4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.
43:5 But if you do not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”
43:6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man you had another brother?”
43:7 They said, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ We answered his questions. How could we have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
43:8 Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the young man with me, and we will get up and go, so that we, you, and our little ones may live and not die.
43:9 I will be his guarantor; you may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will bear the blame before you all my days.
43:10 If we had not delayed, we could have returned twice by now.”
43:11 Their father Israel said to them, “If that is how it must be, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your containers and bring the man a gift: a little balm and a little honey, gum and aromatic resin, pistachio nuts and almonds.
43:12 Take twice as much money with you, and take back the money that was returned in the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake.
43:13 Take your brother too, and get up and return to the man.
43:14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, so that he may release your other brother and Benjamin to you. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
43:15 The men took this gift, twice as much money, and Benjamin. They got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
43:16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the man in charge of his house, “Bring the men into the house, slaughter an animal, and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon.”
43:17 The man did as Joseph said and brought the men into Joseph’s house.
43:18 The men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house. They said, “We are being brought in because of the money returned in our sacks the first time, so that he may find a pretext against us, attack us, and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”
43:19 They approached the man in charge of Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the entrance of the house.
43:20 They said, “Please, my lord, we did indeed come down the first time to buy food.
43:21 When we came to the lodging place and opened our sacks, each man’s money was there in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back with us.
43:22 We have also brought down other money to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”
43:23 He said, “Peace to you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
43:24 The man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He also gave their donkeys feed.
43:25 They prepared the gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon, for they had heard that they would eat bread there.
43:26 When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had with them into the house and bowed down to him to the ground.
43:27 He asked about their well-being and said, “Is your father well, the old man you told me about? Is he still alive?”
43:28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” They bowed their heads and bowed down.
43:29 He lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. He said, “Is this your youngest brother, whom you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.”
43:30 Joseph hurried away, for his compassion for his brother was stirred, and he sought a place to weep. He went into a room and wept there.
43:31 Then he washed his face and came out. He controlled himself and said, “Serve the bread.”
43:32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, for the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, because that was an abomination to the Egyptians.
43:33 They sat before him in order of birth, from the firstborn to the youngest. The men looked at one another in amazement.
43:34 He sent portions to them from the food before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as large as any of theirs. They drank and became drunk with him.

Chapter 44
44:1 He commanded the man in charge of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack.
44:2 Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the youngest man’s sack, along with the money for his grain.” He did as Joseph had said.
44:3 At dawn the men were sent on their way with their donkeys.
44:4 They had left the city but had not gone far when Joseph said to the man in charge of his house, “Get up and pursue the men. When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?
44:5 Is this not the cup my lord drinks from and indeed uses for divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”
44:6 He overtook them and spoke these words to them.
44:7 They said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!
44:8 We brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found in the mouths of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?
44:9 If it is found with any of your servants, let him die, and the rest of us will also become my lord’s slaves.”
44:10 He said, “Very well, let it be as you say. The one with whom it is found will be my slave, and you will be innocent.”
44:11 They hurried, each lowering his sack to the ground and opening it.
44:12 He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
44:13 Then they tore their clothes, each loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
44:14 Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, where he still was, and fell to the ground before him.
44:15 Joseph said to them, “What is this that you have done? Did you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?”
44:16 Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants. Here we are, my lord’s slaves, both we and the one with whom the cup was found.”
44:17 But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man with whom the cup was found will be my slave. As for you, go up in peace to your father.”
44:18 Then Judah approached him and said, “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears. Do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.
44:19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’
44:20 We said to my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’
44:21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’
44:22 We said to my lord, ‘The young man cannot leave his father, for if he leaves him, his father will die.’
44:23 But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’
44:24 When we went up to your servant my father, we told him my lord’s words.
44:25 Our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’
44:26 We said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down, for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’
44:27 Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.
44:28 One went away from me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces!” I have not seen him since.
44:29 If you take this one too from me and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hair in misery to Sheol.’
44:30 Now if I come to your servant my father and the young man is not with us, since my father’s life is bound up with the young man’s life,
44:31 he will die when he sees that the young man is not there. Your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father in sorrow to Sheol.
44:32 For your servant became the young man’s guarantor before my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before my father all my days.’
44:33 Now, please let your servant remain in place of the young man as my lord’s slave, and let the young man go up with his brothers.
44:34 For how can I go up to my father if the young man is not with me? I could not bear to see the misery that would come upon my father.”

Chapter 45
45:1 Joseph could no longer control himself before all those standing around him. He cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” No one remained with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
45:2 He wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard it, and Pharaoh’s household heard it.
45:3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified in his presence.
45:4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” They came near, and he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
45:5 Now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.
45:6 The famine has been in the land for two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
45:7 God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.
45:8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
45:9 Hurry and go up to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay.
45:10 You will live in the land of Goshen and be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, your flocks and herds and all you have.
45:11 I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine, so that you and your household and all you have do not fall into poverty.’
45:12 Your eyes, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, see that it is my own mouth speaking to you.
45:13 Tell my father about all my honor in Egypt and all you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
45:14 He fell on the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
45:15 He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that his brothers spoke with him.
45:16 The news was heard in Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” This pleased Pharaoh and his servants.
45:17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: load your animals and go to the land of Canaan.
45:18 Take your father and your households and come to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’
45:19 You are also commanded: ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives, bring your father, and come.
45:20 Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
45:21 The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons according to Pharaoh’s command and provisions for the journey.
45:22 To each of them he gave changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, weighing about seven and a half pounds, and five changes of clothing.
45:23 To his father he sent the following: ten male donkeys carrying the good things of Egypt and ten female donkeys carrying grain, bread, and provisions for his father’s journey.
45:24 He sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”
45:25 They went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob.
45:26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart grew numb, for he did not believe them.
45:27 But they told him all the words Joseph had spoken to them. When he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
45:28 Israel said, “It is enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Chapter 46
46:1 Israel set out with all he had and came to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
46:2 God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”
46:3 He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there.
46:4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you up again. Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.”
46:5 Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
46:6 They took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him.
46:7 He brought with him to Egypt his sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, all his offspring.
46:8 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
46:9 The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
46:10 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.
46:11 The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
46:12 The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. But Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
46:13 The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron.
46:14 The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
46:15 These were the sons Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah. His sons and daughters numbered thirty-three persons in all.
46:16 The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
46:17 The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.
46:18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. She bore these to Jacob, sixteen persons.
46:19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin.
46:20 To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, bore to him.
46:21 The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
46:22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, fourteen persons in all.
46:23 The sons of Dan: Hushim.
46:24 The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
46:25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She bore these to Jacob, seven persons in all.
46:26 All the persons who came with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his loins, apart from the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all.
46:27 The sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of Jacob’s house who came to Egypt were seventy.
46:28 Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to point out the way to Goshen. They came to the land of Goshen.
46:29 Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck for a long time.
46:30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, since I have seen your face and you are still alive.”
46:31 Joseph said to his brothers and his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
46:32 The men are shepherds, for their work has been raising livestock. They have brought their flocks and herds and all they have.’
46:33 When Pharaoh calls you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’
46:34 you shall say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

Chapter 47
47:1 Joseph came and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all they have, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.”
47:2 He took five men from among his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
47:3 Pharaoh asked his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.”
47:4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”
47:5 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
47:6 The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen. If you know of capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”
47:7 Joseph brought in his father Jacob and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
47:8 Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How many years have you lived?”
47:9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of my sojourning are one hundred thirty years. Few and hard have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years my fathers lived in their sojourning.”
47:10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from Pharaoh’s presence.
47:11 Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
47:12 Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the needs of their little ones.
47:13 There was no bread in all the land, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.
47:14 Joseph gathered all the money found in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying. Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
47:15 When the money in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was exhausted, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread! Why should we die before you because the money is gone?”
47:16 Joseph said, “Give me your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if the money is gone.”
47:17 They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, flocks, herds, and donkeys. He sustained them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.
47:18 When that year ended, they came to him in the second year and said, “We will not hide from my lord that the money is spent and the livestock belongs to my lord. Nothing remains before my lord except our bodies and our land.
47:19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be Pharaoh’s slaves. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and the land may not become desolate.”
47:20 Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine pressed hard upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s.
47:21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities, from one end of Egypt’s territory to the other.
47:22 The only land he did not buy was the priests’ land, because the priests received an allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
47:23 Joseph said to the people, “See, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you. Sow the land.
47:24 When the harvest comes, you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh. The four remaining shares will be yours, for seed for the field and for food for yourselves, those in your households, and your little ones.”
47:25 They said, “You have saved our lives. May we find favor in my lord’s eyes, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”
47:26 Joseph made this a statute over the land of Egypt, to this day, that a fifth should belong to Pharaoh. Only the priests’ land did not become Pharaoh’s.
47:27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They acquired possessions there, were fruitful, and multiplied greatly.
47:28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. The days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.
47:29 When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please put your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt.
47:30 When I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” He said, “I will do as you have said.”
47:31 He said, “Swear to me.” He swore to him, and Israel bowed down at the head of the bed.

Chapter 48
48:1 After these things, someone told Joseph, “Your father is ill.” He took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him.
48:2 Someone told Jacob, “Your son Joseph is coming to you.” Israel gathered his strength and sat up on the bed.
48:3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
48:4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you a community of peoples. I will give this land to your offspring after you as an everlasting possession.’
48:5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are.
48:6 The offspring born to you after them shall be yours. They shall be called by their brothers’ names in their inheritance.
48:7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan, along the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.”
48:8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, “Who are these?”
48:9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” He said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.”
48:10 Israel’s eyes had grown dim with age, and he could not see. Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
48:11 Israel said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face, and now God has let me see your offspring too.”
48:12 Joseph took them away from his father’s knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.
48:13 Joseph took both of them, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them near him.
48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, though Manasseh was the firstborn.
48:15 He blessed Joseph and said,
 “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has shepherded me all my life to this day,
48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the young men.
   May my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac be called upon them, and may they multiply greatly in the midst of the earth.”
48:17 When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him. He took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
48:18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”
48:19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Yet his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”
48:20 He blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
48:21 Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
48:22 I have given you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Chapter 49
49:1 Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
49:2 Gather together and listen, sons of Jacob;
   listen to Israel your father.
49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the first of my vigor, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
49:4 Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed;
   then you defiled it.
   He went up to my couch!

49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
   their weapons are instruments of violence.
49:6 Let my soul not enter their council;
   let my honor not be joined to their assembly.
   For in their anger they killed a man, and in their willfulness they hamstrung an ox.
49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel.
   I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

49:8 Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
   your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
   Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
49:9 Judah is a lion’s cub.
   From the prey you have gone up, my son.
   He crouched, he lay down like a lion, like a lioness;
   who shall rouse him?
49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes;
   and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
49:11 He binds his donkey’s colt to the vine, the foal of his female donkey to the choice vine.
   He washes his garment in wine, his robe in the blood of grapes.
49:12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

49:13 Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the seas;
   he shall be a haven for ships, and his border shall reach to Sidon.

49:14 Issachar is a sturdy donkey, lying down between the two sheepfolds.
49:15 He saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant.
   He bowed his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer.

49:16 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
49:17 Dan shall be a serpent by the road, a viper by the path, biting the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.
49:18 I wait for your salvation, O LORD.
49:19 Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.

49:20 Asher’s bread shall be rich, and he shall provide royal delicacies.

49:21 Naphtali is a doe let loose;
   he gives beautiful words.

49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring;
   its branches run over the wall.
49:23 The archers caused him bitter grief, shot at him, and hated him.
49:24 But his bow remained firm, and his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there comes the shepherd, the stone of Israel),
49:25 by the God of your father, who will help you, and by the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
49:26 Your father’s blessings have surpassed the blessings of my parents, reaching to the bounty of the everlasting hills.
   May they be on Joseph’s head, on the crown of the one set apart from his brothers.

49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
   in the morning he shall devour the prey, and in the evening he shall divide the spoil.”
49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with his own blessing.
49:29 He commanded them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
49:30 in the cave in the field of Machpelah, which faces Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for burial.
49:31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah.
49:32 The field and the cave in it were purchased from the sons of Heth.”
49:33 When Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Chapter 50
50:1 Joseph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him.
50:2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel.
50:3 Forty days were completed for him, for that is the time required for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.
50:4 When the days of mourning for him had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s household, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in Pharaoh’s ears, saying,
50:5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die. Bury me in the grave I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will return.’”
50:6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
50:7 Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
50:8 all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. They left only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds in the land of Goshen.
50:9 Chariots and horsemen also went up with him, and the company was very large.
50:10 They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan. There they mourned with a great and very bitter lamentation, and he observed seven days of mourning for his father.
50:11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians.” That is why the place was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
50:12 His sons did for him as he had commanded them.
50:13 His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre. Abraham had bought the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for burial.
50:14 After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
50:15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the evil we did to him?”
50:16 They sent word to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before his death, saying,
50:17 ‘This is what you shall say to Joseph: “Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin, for they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
50:18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Here we are, your slaves.”
50:19 Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
50:20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about what is happening today: keeping many people alive.
50:21 Now do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke to their hearts.
50:22 Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father’s household. Joseph lived one hundred ten years.
50:23 Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees.
50:24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
50:25 Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.”
50:26 Joseph died at the age of one hundred ten. They embalmed him, and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

EXODUS

Chapter 1
1:1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each man with his household:
1:2 Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah;
1:3 Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin;
1:4 Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.
1:5 All those who came from Jacob’s loins were seventy persons. Joseph was already in Egypt.
1:6 Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.
1:7 But the Israelites were fruitful and increased abundantly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, and the land was filled with them.
1:8 A new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
1:9 He said to his people, “Look, the people of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we are.
1:10 Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply and, if war breaks out, join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the land.”
1:11 They set taskmasters over them to oppress them with burdens. They built Pithom and Rameses as storage cities for Pharaoh.
1:12 But the more they oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread abroad, and the Egyptians dreaded the Israelites.
1:13 The Egyptians ruthlessly forced the Israelites to labor.
1:14 They made their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and brick and all kinds of work in the fields. In all this labor, the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
1:15 The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one named Shiphrah and the other Puah.
1:16 He said, “When you help the Hebrew women give birth and see them on the birthstool, if the child is a son, kill him; but if a daughter, let her live.”
1:17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt told them; they let the boys live.
1:18 The king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and let the boys live?”
1:19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”
1:20 God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong.
1:21 Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.
1:22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son who is born you shall throw into the Nile, but every daughter you shall let live.”

Chapter 2
2:1 A man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi.
2:2 The woman conceived and bore a son. When she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months.
2:3 When she could hide him no longer, she took a papyrus basket for him and coated it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the Nile.
2:4 His sister stood at a distance to find out what would happen to him.
2:5 Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile, while her young women walked along the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to get it.
2:6 She opened it and saw the child, a boy crying. She had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”
2:7 His sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a Hebrew wet nurse to nurse the child for you?”
2:8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” The girl went and called the child’s mother.
2:9 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” The woman took the child and nursed him.
2:10 When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, for she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
2:11 In those days, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his brothers and saw their burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brothers.
2:12 He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.
2:13 He went out the next day and saw two Hebrews fighting. He said to the man in the wrong, “Why are you striking your fellow Hebrew?”
2:14 He said, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you intend to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Moses was afraid and said, “Surely the matter is known.”
2:15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and settled in the land of Midian. He sat down by a well.
2:16 The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
2:17 The shepherds came and drove them away, but Moses stood up and rescued them and watered their flock.
2:18 When they came to their father Reuel, he said, “Why have you returned so soon today?”
2:19 They said, “An Egyptian rescued us from the hand of the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock.”
2:20 He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Call him, so that he may eat bread.”
2:21 Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
2:22 She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.”
2:23 During those many days, the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned because of their slavery and cried out. Their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God.
2:24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
2:25 God saw the Israelites, and God knew.

Chapter 3
3:1 Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
3:2 The angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. He looked, and the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.
3:3 Moses said, “I will turn aside and look at this great sight to see why the bush is not burned up.”
3:4 When the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
3:5 He said, “Do not come near here. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
3:6 He said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
3:7 The LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings.
3:8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
3:9 Now the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
3:10 Now go, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”
3:11 Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
3:12 He said, “I will certainly be with you. This will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
3:13 Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said, “This is what you shall say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
3:15 God said further to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the Israelites: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is my memorial throughout all generations.
3:16 Go and gather the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is being done to you in Egypt.
3:17 I have said that I will bring you up from the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’
3:18 They will listen to your voice. You and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now, please let us go a three-day journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’
3:19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, not even by a strong hand.
3:20 I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will do in its midst. After that he will let you go.
3:21 I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.
3:22 Each woman shall ask her neighbor and the woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and daughters, and you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Chapter 4
4:1 Moses answered, “But they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’”
4:2 The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”
4:3 He said, “Throw it on the ground.” He threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses fled from it.
4:4 The LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” He reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his palm.
4:5 “This is so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”
4:6 The LORD said to him again, “Put your hand inside your robe.” He put his hand inside his robe, and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, white as snow.
4:7 He said, “Put your hand back inside your robe.” He put his hand back inside his robe, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.
4:8 “If they do not believe you or listen to the voice of the first sign, they will believe the voice of the latter sign.
4:9 If they do not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, take water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”
4:10 Moses said to the LORD, “Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”
4:11 The LORD said to him, “Who has given man a mouth? Who makes one mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?
4:12 Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”
4:13 But he said, “Please, Lord, send someone else.”
4:14 Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses, and he said, “Is there not Aaron your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. He is even now coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will rejoice in his heart.
4:15 You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his mouth and teach you what you shall do.
4:16 He shall speak for you to the people. He shall be your mouth, and you shall be as God to him.
4:17 Take this staff in your hand, with which you shall perform the signs.”
4:18 Moses went back to his father-in-law Jether and said to him, “Please let me go back to my brothers in Egypt and see whether they are still alive.” Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”
4:19 The LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, for all the men who sought your life are dead.”
4:20 Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took the staff of God in his hand.
4:21 The LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have put in your hand. But I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.
4:22 You shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is my son, my firstborn.
4:23 I told you to let my son go so that he might serve me, but you refused to let him go. I will kill your son, your firstborn.”’”
4:24 On the way, at the lodging place, the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.
4:25 Zipporah took a flint, cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched his feet with it. She said, “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me.”
4:26 So he left him alone. Then she said, “A bridegroom of blood,” because of the circumcision.
4:27 The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” He went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.
4:28 Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs he had commanded him.
4:29 Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the Israelites.
4:30 Aaron spoke all the words the LORD had spoken to Moses, and he performed the signs before the people’s eyes.
4:31 The people believed. When they heard that the LORD had visited the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped.

Chapter 5
5:1 Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a feast for me in the wilderness.’”
5:2 Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”
5:3 They said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he strike us with pestilence or with the sword.”
5:4 The king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why do you keep the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!”
5:5 Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens.”
5:6 That day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters over the people and their foremen, saying,
5:7 “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.
5:8 But impose on them the same quota of bricks they made before. Do not reduce it, for they are idle. That is why they cry out, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’
5:9 Let the work weigh heavily on the men, so that they labor at it and pay no attention to lying words.”
5:10 The taskmasters over the people and their foremen went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh: ‘I will not give you straw.
5:11 Go yourselves and get straw wherever you can find it, for none of your work will be reduced.’”
5:12 The people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.
5:13 The taskmasters pressed them, saying, “Complete your work, each day’s task, as when there was straw.”
5:14 The Israelite foremen whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had appointed over them were beaten and asked, “Why did you not complete your quota of bricks yesterday and today, as before?”
5:15 The Israelite foremen came and cried out to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants this way?
5:16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but your people are at fault.”
5:17 He said, “You are idle, idle! That is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’
5:18 Now go and work. No straw will be given to you, but you shall deliver the quota of bricks.”
5:19 The Israelite foremen saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You shall not reduce your daily number of bricks.”
5:20 As they came out from Pharaoh, they met Moses and Aaron, who were standing there to meet them.
5:21 They said to them, “May the LORD look upon you and judge, because you have made us stink in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, putting a sword in their hand to kill us.”
5:22 Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Lord, why have you harmed this people? Why did you send me?
5:23 Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has harmed this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

Chapter 6
6:1 The LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he will let them go, and by a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”
6:2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD.
6:3 I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name LORD I was not known to them.
6:4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their sojourning, where they lived as sojourners.
6:5 I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians keep in slavery, and I have remembered my covenant.
6:6 Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘I am the LORD. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.
6:7 I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.
6:8 I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I will give it to you as an inheritance. I am the LORD.’”
6:9 Moses spoke this way to the Israelites, but they did not listen to Moses because of anguish of spirit and harsh slavery.
6:10 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
6:11 “Go in and speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he may let the Israelites go out of his land.”
6:12 Moses said before the LORD, “The Israelites have not listened to me. How then will Pharaoh listen to me, when I have uncircumcised lips?”
6:13 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge concerning the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt.
6:14 These are the heads of their ancestral houses. The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn, were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. These are the clans of Reuben.
6:15 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. These are the clans of Simeon.
6:16 These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The years of Levi’s life were one hundred thirty-seven.
6:17 The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, according to their clans.
6:18 The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. The years of Kohath’s life were one hundred thirty-three.
6:19 The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their generations.
6:20 Amram married his aunt Jochebed, and she bore him Aaron and Moses. The years of Amram’s life were one hundred thirty-seven.
6:21 The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.
6:22 The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.
6:23 Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
6:24 The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These are the clans of the Korahites.
6:25 Eleazar son of Aaron married one of Putiel’s daughters, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites, according to their clans.
6:26 These are Aaron and Moses, to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.”
6:27 They were the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. These are Moses and Aaron.
6:28 On the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,
6:29 the LORD said to Moses, “I am the LORD. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you.”
6:30 But Moses said before the LORD, “I have uncircumcised lips. How will Pharaoh listen to me?”

Chapter 7
7:1 The LORD said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet.
7:2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall speak to Pharaoh, so that he may let the Israelites go out of his land.
7:3 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.
7:4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my armies, my people the Israelites, out of the land of Egypt with great judgments.
7:5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD when I stretch out my hand over Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
7:6 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them; so they did.
7:7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.
7:8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron,
7:9 “When Pharaoh says to you, ‘Perform a wonder,’ you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.’”
7:10 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did as the LORD commanded. Aaron threw his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent.
7:11 Pharaoh also called for the wise men and sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, did the same by their enchantments.
7:12 Each threw down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s staff swallowed their staffs.
7:13 Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
7:14 The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is stubborn; he refuses to let the people go.
7:15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he is going out to the water. Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was turned into a serpent.
7:16 Say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, “Let my people go, so that they may serve me in the wilderness.” But until now you have not listened.
7:17 Thus says the LORD: “By this you shall know that I am the LORD. I am about to strike the water in the Nile with the staff in my hand, and it shall turn to blood.
7:18 The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile shall stink, and the Egyptians will struggle to drink water from the Nile.”’”
7:19 The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood. There shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in containers of wood and stone.’”
7:20 Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded. He raised the staff and struck the water in the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, and all the water in the Nile turned to blood.
7:21 The fish in the Nile died, and the Nile stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the Nile. There was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
7:22 The magicians of Egypt did the same by their enchantments. Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
7:23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not take even this to heart.
7:24 All the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, for they could not drink the water of the Nile.
7:25 Seven days passed after the LORD struck the Nile.

Chapter 8
8:1 The LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
8:2 If you refuse to let them go, I will strike all your territory with frogs.
8:3 The Nile shall swarm with frogs. They shall come up into your house, into your bedroom and onto your bed, into your servants’ houses and among your people, into your ovens and your kneading bowls.
8:4 The frogs shall come up on you, on your people, and on all your servants.”’”
8:5 The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers, canals, and ponds, and bring up frogs over the land of Egypt.’”
8:6 Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.
8:7 The magicians did the same by their enchantments and brought up frogs over the land of Egypt.
8:8 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Plead with the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people. I will let the people go, so that they may sacrifice to the LORD.”
8:9 Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor of deciding: when shall I plead for you, for your servants, and for your people, to remove the frogs from you and your houses, so that they remain only in the Nile?”
8:10 Pharaoh said, “Tomorrow.” Moses said, “It shall be as you say, so that you may know that there is none like the LORD our God.
8:11 The frogs shall leave you, your houses, your servants, and your people. They shall remain only in the Nile.”
8:12 Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the LORD concerning the frogs he had brought upon Pharaoh.
8:13 The LORD did as Moses said, and the frogs died in the houses, courtyards, and fields.
8:14 They piled them in heaps upon heaps, and the land stank.
8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
8:16 The LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the land, so that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.’”
8:17 They did so. Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the land, and gnats were on people and animals. All the dust of the land became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.
8:18 The magicians tried to do the same by their enchantments to bring forth gnats, but they could not. The gnats were on people and animals.
8:19 The magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.
8:20 The LORD said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning and stand before Pharaoh when he goes out to the water. Say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
8:21 If you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, on your servants, on your people, and into your houses. The houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with the swarms, and also the ground where they are.
8:22 But on that day I will set apart the land of Goshen, where my people live, so that no swarms shall be there, so that you may know that I am the LORD in the midst of the land.
8:23 I will distinguish my people from your people by redeeming them. This sign shall take place tomorrow.”’”
8:24 The LORD did so. Dense swarms came into Pharaoh’s house and his servants’ houses, and throughout all the land of Egypt the land was ruined because of the swarms.
8:25 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.”
8:26 Moses said, “It would not be right to do so, for we would sacrifice to the LORD our God what is an abomination to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice what is an abomination to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?
8:27 We shall go a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as he tells us.”
8:28 Pharaoh said, “I will let you go, so that you may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness. Only you must not go very far. Plead for me.”
8:29 Moses said, “I am going out from you, and I will plead with the LORD, and the swarms shall leave Pharaoh, his servants, and his people tomorrow. Only let Pharaoh not deceive again by refusing to let the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.”
8:30 Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the LORD.
8:31 The LORD did as Moses said and removed the swarms from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Not one remained.
8:32 But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also and did not let the people go.

Chapter 9
9:1 The LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
9:2 For if you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them,
9:3 look, the hand of the LORD will be upon your livestock in the field—on the horses, donkeys, camels, cattle, and flocks—with a very severe pestilence.
9:4 The LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, and not one animal belonging to the Israelites will die.”’”
9:5 The LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.”
9:6 The next day the LORD did this, and all the livestock of Egypt died, but not one of the Israelites’ livestock died.
9:7 Pharaoh sent to inquire, and not one of Israel’s livestock had died. But Pharaoh’s heart grew stubborn, and he did not let the people go.
9:8 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from a kiln, and let Moses throw it toward the sky in Pharaoh’s sight.
9:9 It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt and produce boils that break out in blisters on people and animals throughout all the land of Egypt.”
9:10 So they took soot from the kiln and stood before Pharaoh. Moses threw it toward the sky, and boils broke out in blisters on people and animals.
9:11 The magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boils, for the boils were on the magicians and all the Egyptians.
9:12 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not listen to them, just as the LORD had told Moses.
9:13 The LORD said to Moses, “Rise early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: “Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
9:14 For this time I will send all my plagues against your heart and against your servants and your people, so that you may know that there is none like me in all the earth.
9:15 For by now I could have stretched out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth.
9:16 But for this purpose I have kept you standing: to show you my power and to have my name proclaimed throughout all the earth.
9:17 Are you still exalting yourself against my people, refusing to let them go?
9:18 Look, about this time tomorrow I will send down very heavy hail, unlike anything that has fallen in Egypt from the day it was founded until now.
9:19 Now send word to bring your livestock and everything you have in the field to safety. The hail will fall on every person and animal found in the field that has not been brought inside, and they will die.”’”
9:20 Those among Pharaoh’s servants who feared the word of the LORD hurried their servants and livestock into the houses.
9:21 But those who did not take the word of the LORD to heart left their servants and livestock in the field.
9:22 The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, so that hail may fall throughout all the land of Egypt—on people and animals and on all the vegetation in the fields of Egypt.”
9:23 Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and fire ran down to the ground. The LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt.
9:24 There was very heavy hail, with fire flashing in its midst, unlike anything in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
9:25 Throughout all the land of Egypt, the hail struck everything in the field, both people and animals. The hail struck all the vegetation in the field and shattered all the trees in the field.
9:26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, was there no hail.
9:27 Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them, “I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
9:28 Plead with the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go, and you will stay no longer.”
9:29 Moses said to him, “As soon as I leave the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.
9:30 But I know that you and your servants do not yet fear the LORD God.”
9:31 The flax and barley were struck down, for the barley had formed heads and the flax was in bud.
9:32 But the wheat and spelt were not struck down, for they ripen late.
9:33 Moses left Pharaoh and went out of the city. He spread out his hands to the LORD, and the thunder and hail ceased, and rain no longer poured down on the earth.
9:34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
9:35 Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

Chapter 10
10:1 The LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, so that I may perform these signs of mine among them,
10:2 and so that you may tell, in the hearing of your son and your grandson, how I made a mockery of Egypt and what signs I performed among them. And you will all know that I am the LORD.”
10:3 So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may serve me.
10:4 For if you refuse to let my people go, look, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory.
10:5 They will cover the surface of the land, so that no one will be able to see the land. They will eat what escaped, what remains for you after the hail, and they will eat every tree growing for you in the field.
10:6 They will fill your houses, the houses of all your servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians—something neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, from the day they first lived on the earth until this day.’” Then he turned and left Pharaoh’s presence.
10:7 Pharaoh’s servants said to him, “How long will this be a snare to us? Let the men go, so that they may serve the LORD their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is ruined?”
10:8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go and serve the LORD your God. Who exactly is going?”
10:9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and our old. We will go with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.”
10:10 Pharaoh said to them, “May the LORD be with you if I ever let you and your little ones go! Look, evil is before you!
10:11 No! You men may go and serve the LORD, for that is what you are asking.” And they were driven out of Pharaoh’s presence.
10:12 The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt so that locusts may come up over the land of Egypt and eat all the vegetation of the land, everything the hail has left.”
10:13 Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the LORD drove an east wind over the land all that day and all that night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts.
10:14 The locusts came up over all the land of Egypt and settled throughout all the territory of Egypt in very great numbers. There had never been such locusts before, nor will there ever be any like them again.
10:15 They covered the surface of the whole land, and the land grew dark. They ate all the vegetation of the land and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left. Nothing green remained on the trees or in the vegetation of the field throughout all the land of Egypt.
10:16 Pharaoh hurried to call Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you.
10:17 Now please forgive my sin just this once, and plead with the LORD your God to remove just this death from me.”
10:18 Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and pleaded with the LORD.
10:19 The LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind, which carried the locusts away and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.
10:20 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go.
10:21 The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that can be felt.”
10:22 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was thick darkness throughout all the land of Egypt for three days.
10:23 They did not see one another, and no one rose from his place for three days. But all the Israelites had light where they lived.
10:24 Pharaoh called Moses and said, “Go and serve the LORD. Only your flocks and herds must stay behind. Your little ones may go with you as well.”
10:25 Moses said, “You must also put sacrifices and burnt offerings into our hands, so that we may offer them to the LORD our God.
10:26 Our livestock will also go with us; not a hoof will be left behind, for we must take from them to serve the LORD our God. We will not know with what we are to serve the LORD until we arrive there.”
10:27 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go.
10:28 Pharaoh said to him, “Get away from me! Watch yourself! Do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face you will die.”
10:29 Moses said, “You have spoken rightly. I will not see your face again.”

Chapter 11
11:1 The LORD said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will drive you out of here completely.
11:2 Now speak in the hearing of the people: let each man ask his neighbor and each woman ask her neighbor for articles of silver and gold.”
11:3 The LORD gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians. The man Moses, too, was greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, in the eyes of Pharaoh’s servants and in the eyes of the people.
11:4 Moses said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go out through the midst of Egypt.
11:5 Every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave woman at the mill, and every firstborn of the animals.
11:6 There will be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, unlike anything that has ever been or ever will be again.
11:7 But not a dog will make a sound against any of the Israelites, against either person or animal, so that you may know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’
11:8 All these servants of yours will come down to me and bow down before me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” Then he left Pharaoh’s presence in burning anger.
11:9 The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
11:10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the Israelites go out of his land.

Chapter 12
12:1 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
12:2 “This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
12:3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel: ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or young goat for his ancestral household, one lamb or young goat per household.
12:4 If a household is too small for one animal, let the man and the neighbor nearest his house take one together according to the number of people. You shall make your count for the animal according to what each person can eat.
12:5 Your animal shall be a male a year old, without blemish; you shall take it from among the sheep or the goats.
12:6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.
12:7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.
12:8 They shall eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
12:9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and entrails.
12:10 You shall leave none of it until morning; whatever remains until morning you shall burn in the fire.
12:11 This is how you shall eat it: with your belts fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover.
12:12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
12:13 The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
12:14 This day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD. Throughout your generations you shall celebrate it as a perpetual statute.
12:15 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for anyone who eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel.
12:16 On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days, except preparing what each person is to eat. That alone may be done for you.
12:17 You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. You shall keep this day throughout your generations as a perpetual statute.
12:18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you shall eat unleavened bread.
12:19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, for anyone who eats anything leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a resident foreigner or a native of the land.
12:20 You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”
12:21 Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Select and take animals from the flock for your families, and slaughter the Passover animal.
12:22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood in the basin. Apply some of the blood in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you shall go out through the doorway of your house until morning.
12:23 For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
12:24 You shall observe this as a statute for you and your children forever.
12:25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you, just as he has said, you shall keep this observance.
12:26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this observance mean to you?’
12:27 you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
12:28 The Israelites went and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.
12:29 At midnight the LORD struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the animals.
12:30 Pharaoh rose during the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house without someone dead.
12:31 He called for Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Rise and go out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the LORD, as you have said.
12:32 Take your flocks and herds as well, as you have said, and go. And bless me too.”
12:33 The Egyptians urged the people to leave the land quickly, for they said, “We are all going to die!”
12:34 The people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders.
12:35 The Israelites had done as Moses had said and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
12:36 The LORD had given the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and the Egyptians granted their requests. Thus the Israelites plundered Egypt.
12:37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones.
12:38 A large mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very great abundance of livestock.
12:39 They baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread, for it had not fermented, since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay. They had not prepared provisions for themselves either.
12:40 The time the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years.
12:41 At the end of the four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the armies of the LORD went out of the land of Egypt.
12:42 It was a night when the LORD kept watch to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a vigil for the LORD, to be kept by all the Israelites throughout their generations.
12:43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat of it.
12:44 But any slave a man has bought with silver may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
12:45 A temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it.
12:46 It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the meat outside the house, and you shall not break a bone of it.
12:47 The whole congregation of Israel shall observe it.
12:48 If a resident foreigner lives among you and wishes to keep the Passover to the LORD, every male of his household must be circumcised. Then he may draw near to observe it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.
12:49 There shall be one law for the native and for the resident foreigner who lives among you.”
12:50 All the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.
12:51 On that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

Chapter 13
13:1 The LORD said to Moses:
13:2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn, all that opens the womb among the Israelites, both human and animal. It is mine.”
13:3 Moses said to the people, “Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out of here. Nothing leavened shall be eaten.
13:4 Today you are going out, in the month of Abib.
13:5 When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this observance in this month.
13:6 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
13:7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for the seven days. Nothing leavened shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you throughout all your territory.
13:8 On that day you shall tell your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
13:9 It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder between your eyes, so that the law of the LORD may be in your mouth, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
13:10 You shall keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
13:11 When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,
13:12 you shall set apart to the LORD all that opens the womb. Every firstborn of the livestock that you have, the males, shall be the LORD’s.
13:13 Every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a sheep or goat. If you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. You shall also redeem every firstborn among your sons.
13:14 When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of people and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every male that opens the womb, but I redeem all the firstborn among my sons.’
13:16 It shall be a sign on your hand and bands between your eyes, for by a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”
13:17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was near. For God said, “The people might change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.”
13:18 So God led the people around by the wilderness route toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt in battle formation.
13:19 Moses took Joseph’s bones with him, for Joseph had made the Israelites solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry my bones up from here with you.”
13:20 They journeyed from Succoth and camped at Etham, at the edge of the wilderness.
13:21 The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day and by night.
13:22 He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

Chapter 14
14:1 The LORD said to Moses:
14:2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-zephon. You shall camp facing it, by the sea.
14:3 Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’
14:4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. I will gain glory over Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” And they did so.
14:5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people and said, “What have we done, letting Israel go from serving us?”
14:6 He harnessed his chariot and took his people with him.
14:7 He took six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
14:8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, while the Israelites were going out with a raised hand.
14:9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s chariot horses, his horsemen, and his army—pursued them and overtook them camped by the sea, near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon.
14:10 When Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites lifted up their eyes, and there were the Egyptians marching after them. They were very afraid, and the Israelites cried out to the LORD.
14:11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?
14:12 Did we not tell you this in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
14:13 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you shall never see again.
14:14 The LORD will fight for you, and you shall be silent.”
14:15 The LORD said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.
14:16 But you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, so that the Israelites may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground.
14:17 As for me, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after them. I will gain glory over Pharaoh and all his army, over his chariots and his horsemen.
14:18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory over Pharaoh, over his chariots and his horsemen.”
14:19 The angel of God, who had been going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them.
14:20 It came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. There was cloud and darkness, yet it lit up the night. Neither camp came near the other all night.
14:21 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind all night. He made the sea dry ground, and the waters were divided.
14:22 The Israelites went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left.
14:23 The Egyptians pursued them and went in after them into the midst of the sea—all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.
14:24 During the morning watch, the LORD looked down on the Egyptian camp from the pillar of fire and cloud and threw the Egyptian camp into confusion.
14:25 He removed their chariot wheels and made the chariots move with difficulty. The Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the LORD fights for them against Egypt!”
14:26 The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may return over the Egyptians, over their chariots and over their horsemen.”
14:27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea regained its strength, while the Egyptians were fleeing toward it. The LORD shook the Egyptians off into the midst of the sea.
14:28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and horsemen, all Pharaoh’s army that had followed them into the sea. Not one of them remained.
14:29 But the Israelites had walked on dry ground through the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right and on their left.
14:30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.
14:31 Israel saw the mighty hand with which the LORD had acted against the Egyptians. The people feared the LORD and put their trust in the LORD and in Moses his servant.

Chapter 15
15:1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:
 “I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
   the horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
15:2 The LORD is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation.
   This is my God, and I will praise him;
   my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
15:3 The LORD is a warrior;
   the LORD is his name.
15:4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;
   his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea.
15:5 The deep waters covered them;
   they sank into the depths like a stone.
15:6 Your right hand, O LORD, is glorious in power;
   your right hand, O LORD, shatters the enemy.
15:7 In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow those who rise against you;
   you send out your burning anger, and it consumes them like stubble.
15:8 At the breath of your nostrils the waters piled up;
   the flowing waters stood like a heap;
   the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
15:9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil;
   my desire will have its fill of them.
   I will draw my sword;
   my hand will destroy them.’
15:10 You blew with your wind;
   the sea covered them.
   They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
15:11 Who is like you among the gods, O LORD?
   Who is like you, glorious in holiness, awesome in praiseworthy deeds, working wonders?
15:12 You stretched out your right hand;
   the earth swallowed them.
15:13 In your steadfast love you have led the people you redeemed;
   in your strength you have guided them to your holy dwelling.
15:14 The peoples have heard;
   they tremble.
   Pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;
   trembling seized the mighty men of Moab;
   all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.
15:16 Terror and dread will fall upon them;
   by the greatness of your arm they will be still as a stone, until your people pass by, O LORD, until the people you acquired pass by.
15:17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place, O LORD, that you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.
15:18 The LORD will reign forever and ever.”
15:19 For Pharaoh’s horses went into the sea with his chariots and his horsemen, and the LORD brought the waters of the sea back upon them. But the Israelites had walked on dry ground through the midst of the sea.
15:20 Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
15:21 Miriam answered them,
 “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
   the horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”
15:22 Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days in the wilderness and found no water.
15:23 They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was named Marah.
15:24 The people grumbled against Moses and said, “What shall we drink?”
15:25 Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. Moses threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD established a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them.
15:26 He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, do what is right in his eyes, give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put on you none of the diseases that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD who heals you.”
15:27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.

Chapter 16
16:1 They journeyed from Elim, and the whole congregation of the Israelites came to the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they came out of the land of Egypt.
16:2 The whole congregation of the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.
16:3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole assembly to death.”
16:4 The LORD said to Moses, “Look, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion each day, so that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.
16:5 On the sixth day they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather each day.”
16:6 Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that the LORD brought you out of the land of Egypt,
16:7 and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against the LORD. And what are we, that you grumble against us?”
16:8 Moses said, “The LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, for the LORD has heard the grumbling you direct against him. And what are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the LORD.”
16:9 Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.’”
16:10 As Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they turned toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
16:11 The LORD said to Moses:
16:12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”
16:13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.
16:14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was something fine and flaky, fine as frost on the ground.
16:15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.
16:16 This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather some of it, each according to what he is to eat—about two quarts per person, according to how many of you there are. Each of you shall take for those in his tent.’”
16:17 The Israelites did so; some gathered much and some little.
16:18 When they measured it by the omer—about two quarts—the one who had gathered much had no excess, and the one who had gathered little had no lack. Each had gathered what he was to eat.
16:19 Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it until morning.”
16:20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. Moses was angry with them.
16:21 They gathered it morning by morning, each according to what he was to eat. When the sun grew hot, it melted.
16:22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, about four quarts per person. All the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses.
16:23 He said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and keep all that is left over for yourselves until morning.’”
16:24 They kept it until morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.
16:25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you will not find it in the field.
16:26 For six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
16:27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
16:28 The LORD said to Moses, “How long will you all refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?
16:29 See, the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Let each remain where he is; let no one go out from his place on the seventh day.”
16:30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
16:31 The house of Israel called it manna. It was like coriander seed and was white, and its taste was like wafers with honey.
16:32 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Keep about two quarts of it for your generations, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”
16:33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take one jar and put about two quarts of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations.”
16:34 As the LORD had commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the Testimony, to be kept.
16:35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
16:36 An omer, about two quarts, is one-tenth of an ephah.

Chapter 17
17:1 The whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed from the wilderness of Sin by stages, at the LORD’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
17:2 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink!” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?”
17:3 The people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to make me and my children and my livestock die of thirst?”
17:4 Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!”
17:5 The LORD said to Moses, “Go on before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
17:6 Look, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
17:7 He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and put the LORD to the test, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
17:8 Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
17:9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us, and go out and fight Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand at the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
17:10 Joshua fought Amalek as Moses had told him, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
17:11 Whenever Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed; whenever he let his hand down, Amalek prevailed.
17:12 Moses’ hands grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and his hands were steady until sunset.
17:13 Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
17:14 The LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book and recite it in Joshua’s hearing, for I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
17:15 Moses built an altar and named it “The LORD Is My Banner.”
17:16 He said, “For a hand is upon the throne of the LORD; the LORD will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Chapter 18
18:1 Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, and that the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.
18:2 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took along Moses’ wife Zipporah, after she had been sent away,
18:3 and her two sons. One was named Gershom, for Moses had said, “I have been a stranger in a strange land.”
18:4 The other was named Eliezer, for he had said, “The God of my father was my help and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh.”
18:5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was camped at the mountain of God.
18:6 He said to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”
18:7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him. They asked one another how they were and went into the tent.
18:8 Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had befallen them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
18:9 Jethro rejoiced over all the good the LORD had done for Israel in delivering them from the hand of the Egyptians.
18:10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and who delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians!
18:11 Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods, for in the very matter in which they acted arrogantly, he was above them.”
18:12 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God.
18:13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood before Moses from morning until evening.
18:14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand before you from morning until evening?”
18:15 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
18:16 When they have a matter, it comes to me, and I judge between one person and another and make known the statutes of God and his laws.”
18:17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.
18:18 You will surely wear out, both you and these people with you, for the task is too heavy for you. You cannot do it alone.
18:19 Now listen to my voice; I will give you counsel, and may God be with you. Represent the people before God and bring their matters to God.
18:20 Instruct them in the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way they are to walk and the work they are to do.
18:21 You shall select from all the people capable men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate unjust gain. Appoint them over the people as leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens.
18:22 Let them judge the people at all times. They shall bring every major matter to you, but every minor matter they shall judge themselves. Lighten your burden, and they will bear it with you.
18:23 If you do this and God commands you to do so, you will be able to endure, and all these people will also go to their place in peace.”
18:24 Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said.
18:25 Moses chose capable men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people: leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, and leaders of tens.
18:26 They judged the people at all times. They would bring the difficult matters to Moses, but every minor matter they judged themselves.
18:27 Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and he went to his own land.

Chapter 19
19:1 In the third month after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, on that very day they came to the wilderness of Sinai.
19:2 They had journeyed from Rephidim and come to the wilderness of Sinai, and they camped in the wilderness. There Israel camped before the mountain.
19:3 Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall say to the house of Jacob and declare to the Israelites:
19:4 ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.
19:5 Now, if you truly obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession from among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.
19:6 You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you shall speak to the Israelites.”
19:7 Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.
19:8 All the people answered together, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses brought the words of the people back to the LORD.
19:9 The LORD said to Moses, “Look, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also put their trust in you forever.” Moses told the words of the people to the LORD.
19:10 The LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.
19:11 Let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
19:12 Set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful not to go up the mountain or touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.
19:13 No hand shall touch the offender, who shall surely be stoned or shot with arrows; whether animal or person, the offender shall not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may come up the mountain.”
19:14 Moses went down from the mountain to the people and consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes.
19:15 He said to the people, “Be ready for the third day. Do not have sexual relations with a woman.”
19:16 On the morning of the third day there were peals of thunder and flashes of lightning, a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud horn blast. All the people in the camp trembled.
19:17 Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.
19:18 All of Mount Sinai was smoking because the LORD had descended upon it in fire. Its smoke rose like smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently.
19:19 The sound of the horn grew louder and louder. Moses kept speaking, and God kept answering him with a voice.
19:20 The LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. The LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
19:21 The LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the LORD to look and many of them perish.
19:22 Let the priests who come near to the LORD also consecrate themselves, lest the LORD break out against them.”
19:23 Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and consecrate it.’”
19:24 The LORD said to him, “Go, go down. Then you shall come up, you and Aaron with you. But the priests and the people must not break through to come up to the LORD, lest he break out against them.”
19:25 Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

Chapter 20
20:1 God spoke all these words:
20:2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
20:3 You shall have no other gods before me.
20:4 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth.
20:5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,
20:6 but showing steadfast love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.
20:7 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.
20:8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
20:9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
20:10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work—you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your livestock, or the resident foreigner within your gates.
20:11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
20:12 Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
20:13 You shall not murder.
20:14 You shall not commit adultery.
20:15 You shall not steal.
20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
20:17 You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male slave, or his female slave, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
20:18 All the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
20:19 They said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will listen. But do not let God speak with us, lest we die.”
20:20 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you and so that the fear of him may be before you, so that you may not sin.”
20:21 The people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
20:22 The LORD said to Moses, “This is what you shall say to the Israelites: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have spoken with you from heaven.
20:23 You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make gods of gold for yourselves.
20:24 You shall make for me an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be remembered, I will come to you and bless you.
20:25 If you make for me an altar of stones, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you lift your tool over it, you profane it.
20:26 You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed upon it.’”

Chapter 21
21:1 “These are the ordinances you shall set before them.
21:2 If you buy a Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years, and in the seventh he shall go out free, without payment.
21:3 If he came in alone, he shall go out alone. If he had a wife, his wife shall go out with him.
21:4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out alone.
21:5 But if the slave clearly declares, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’
21:6 his master shall bring him before God and bring him to the door or the doorpost. His master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him forever.
21:7 If a man sells his daughter as a female slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do.
21:8 If she is displeasing in the eyes of her master, who has not designated her for himself, he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, because he has dealt faithlessly with her.
21:9 If he designates her for his son, he shall treat her according to the rights of daughters.
21:10 If he takes another wife for himself, he shall not reduce her food, her clothing, or her marital rights.
21:11 If he does not provide these three things for her, she shall go out free, without any payment.
21:12 Whoever strikes a person so that he dies shall surely be put to death.
21:13 But if he did not lie in wait and God delivered the person into his hand, I will appoint for you a place to which he may flee.
21:14 But if a man acts deliberately against his neighbor to kill him by deceit, you shall take him even from my altar to be put to death.
21:15 Whoever strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
21:16 Whoever kidnaps a person, whether he sells him or the person is found in his possession, shall surely be put to death.
21:17 Whoever curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
21:18 If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and the injured man does not die but is confined to bed,
21:19 then if he gets up and walks about outside with his staff, the one who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only compensate him for his lost time and provide for his full recovery.
21:20 If a man strikes his male slave or his female slave with a rod, and the slave dies under his hand, vengeance shall surely be taken.
21:21 But if the slave survives a day or two, no vengeance shall be taken, for the slave is his money.
21:22 If men fight and strike a pregnant woman, and her children are born, but there is no harm, the one responsible shall surely be fined as the woman’s husband demands, and he shall pay as the judges determine.
21:23 But if there is harm, you shall give life for life,
21:24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.
21:26 If a man strikes the eye of his male slave or the eye of his female slave and destroys it, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the eye.
21:27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male slave or his female slave, he shall let the slave go free in compensation for the tooth.
21:28 If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten, but the owner of the ox shall be acquitted.
21:29 But if the ox was known to gore in the past, and its owner had been warned but did not keep it under control, and it kills a man or a woman, the ox shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death.
21:30 If a ransom is imposed on him, he shall pay whatever is imposed on him to redeem his life.
21:31 Whether it gores a son or a daughter, he shall be dealt with according to this ordinance.
21:32 If the ox gores a male slave or a female slave, the owner shall give their master thirty shekels of silver, about twelve ounces, and the ox shall be stoned.
21:33 If a man uncovers a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,
21:34 the owner of the pit shall make restitution. He shall pay money to the animal’s owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
21:35 If one man’s ox injures his neighbor’s ox so that it dies, they shall sell the live ox and divide its price, and they shall also divide the dead animal.
21:36 But if it was known that the ox was accustomed to goring in the past, and its owner did not keep it under control, he shall surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal shall be his.”

Chapter 22
22:1 “If a man steals an ox or a sheep or goat and slaughters it or sells it, he shall repay five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep or goats for the sheep or goat.
22:2 If a thief is found breaking in and is struck so that he dies, the one who struck him shall not incur bloodguilt.
22:3 But if the sun has risen on him, the one who struck him shall incur bloodguilt. The thief shall surely make restitution; if he has nothing, he shall be sold for his theft.
22:4 If the stolen animal is found alive in his possession, whether ox, donkey, sheep, or goat, he shall repay double.
22:5 If a man lets his livestock graze in a field or vineyard and lets it loose so that it grazes in another man’s field, he shall make restitution from the best of his own field and the best of his own vineyard.
22:6 If a fire breaks out and catches in thorns, so that stacked grain, standing grain, or the field is consumed, the one who started the fire shall surely make restitution.
22:7 If a man gives his neighbor money or goods for safekeeping, and they are stolen from the man’s house, the thief, if found, shall repay double.
22:8 If the thief is not found, the owner of the house shall come before the judges to establish that he has not laid a hand on his neighbor’s property.
22:9 For every case of wrongdoing involving an ox, a donkey, a sheep or goat, a garment, or any lost thing of which someone says, ‘This is it!’ the case of both parties shall come before the judges. The one whom the judges declare guilty shall repay double to his neighbor.
22:10 If a man gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep or goat, or any other animal for safekeeping, and it dies, is injured, or is taken captive, with no one seeing it,
22:11 an oath by the LORD shall be between the two of them, that he has not laid a hand on his neighbor’s property. The owner shall accept it, and the other shall not make restitution.
22:12 But if it is stolen from him, he shall make restitution to its owner.
22:13 If it is torn to pieces, he shall bring it as evidence; he shall not make restitution for what was torn.
22:14 If a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it is injured or dies while its owner is not with it, he shall surely make restitution.
22:15 If its owner is with it, he shall not make restitution. If it was hired, the loss is covered by its hire.
22:16 If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride price for her to become his wife.
22:17 If her father firmly refuses to give her to him, he shall weigh out silver equal to the bride price for virgins.
22:18 You shall not let a sorceress live.
22:19 Whoever has sexual relations with an animal shall surely be put to death.
22:20 Whoever sacrifices to any god except the LORD alone shall be devoted to destruction.
22:21 You shall not mistreat a resident foreigner or oppress him, for you were resident foreigners in the land of Egypt.
22:22 You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child.
22:23 If you do afflict any of them, and that person cries out to me, I will surely hear that person’s cry.
22:24 My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.
22:25 If you lend money to any of my people who is poor among you, you shall not act toward him as a creditor. You shall not impose interest on him.
22:26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him by sunset,
22:27 for it is his only covering, the garment for his skin. In what shall he sleep? If he cries out to me, I will hear, for I am gracious.
22:28 You shall not revile God or curse a ruler of your people.
22:29 You shall not delay the offering from the fullness of your harvest and the juice of your presses. You shall give me the firstborn of your sons.
22:30 You shall do the same with your oxen and your sheep and goats: the young animal shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.
22:31 You shall be holy men to me. You shall not eat flesh torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.”

Chapter 23
23:1 “You shall not spread a false report. Do not join hands with a wicked person to be a malicious witness.
23:2 You shall not follow the many in doing evil. You shall not testify in a dispute by siding with the many to pervert justice.
23:3 Nor shall you show partiality to a poor man in his dispute.
23:4 If you encounter your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering away, you shall surely bring it back to him.
23:5 If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its load, you shall not leave him without help; you shall surely help him with it.
23:6 You shall not pervert the justice due to a poor man among you in his dispute.
23:7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent or the righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.
23:8 You shall not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see and perverts the words of the righteous.
23:9 You shall not oppress a resident foreigner. You yourselves know the heart of a resident foreigner, for you were resident foreigners in the land of Egypt.
23:10 For six years you shall sow your land and gather its produce,
23:11 but in the seventh you shall let it rest and leave it alone, so that the poor of your people may eat, and the animals of the field may eat what they leave. You shall do the same with your vineyard and your olive grove.
23:12 Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave and the resident foreigner may be refreshed.
23:13 Be attentive to all that I have said to you. You shall not mention the name of other gods; it shall not be heard on your lips.
23:14 Three times a year you shall keep a feast to me.
23:15 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. No one shall appear before me empty-handed.
23:16 You shall also keep the Feast of Harvest, with the firstfruits of your work, of what you sow in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather the fruit of your work from the field.
23:17 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD.
23:18 You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread, nor shall the fat of my festal sacrifice remain until morning.
23:19 You shall bring the best of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
23:20 Look, I am sending an angel before you to guard you on the way and bring you to the place I have prepared.
23:21 Be attentive to him and obey his voice. Do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgressions, because my name is in him.
23:22 But if you truly obey his voice and do all that I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.
23:23 For my angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites, and I will destroy them.
23:24 You shall not bow down to their gods or serve them, nor shall you do as they do. You shall utterly overthrow them and smash their pillars.
23:25 You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water. I will take sickness away from among you.
23:26 None shall miscarry or be barren in your land. I will fulfill the number of your days.
23:27 I will send my terror before you and throw into confusion all the people among whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.
23:28 I will send hornets before you, and they will drive the Hivites, Canaanites, and Hittites out from before you.
23:29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the animals of the field multiply against you.
23:30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you become fruitful and take possession of the land.
23:31 I will set your boundary from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the River, for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out from before you.
23:32 You shall make no covenant with them or with their gods.
23:33 They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Chapter 24
24:1 He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and bow down from a distance.
24:2 Moses alone shall draw near to the LORD; the others shall not draw near, and the people shall not go up with him.”
24:3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances. All the people answered with one voice, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.”
24:4 Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
24:5 He sent young men of the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.
24:6 Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he dashed against the altar.
24:7 He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. They said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will obey.”
24:8 Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, saying, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
24:9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up,
24:10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.
24:11 Yet he did not stretch out his hand against the nobles of the Israelites. They beheld God, and they ate and drank.
24:12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets, the law and the commandment that I have written to instruct them.”
24:13 Moses rose with Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.
24:14 He had said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you; let anyone who has a dispute go to them.”
24:15 Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
24:16 The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.
24:17 The appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the sight of the Israelites.
24:18 Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Chapter 25
25:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
25:2 “Speak to the Israelites, that they may collect an offering for me. From everyone whose heart moves him to give, you shall receive my offering.
25:3 This is the offering you shall receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze;
25:4 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, fine linen, and goats’ hair;
25:5 rams’ skins dyed red, fine leather, and acacia wood;
25:6 oil for lighting, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;
25:7 onyx stones and stones for setting in the ephod and the breastpiece.
25:8 They shall make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.
25:9 You shall make it in accordance with all that I am showing you, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings.
25:10 They shall make an ark of acacia wood, about forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
25:11 You shall overlay it with pure gold; inside and outside you shall overlay it, and you shall make a gold molding around it.
25:12 You shall cast four gold rings for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other side.
25:13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
25:14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them.
25:15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it.
25:16 You shall put into the ark the Testimony that I will give you.
25:17 You shall make a mercy seat of pure gold, about forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.
25:18 You shall make two cherubim of gold; you shall make them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat.
25:19 Make one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. You shall make the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends.
25:20 The cherubim shall spread their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings. Their faces shall be toward one another; the faces of the cherubim shall be toward the mercy seat.
25:21 You shall put the mercy seat on top of the ark, and into the ark you shall put the Testimony that I will give you.
25:22 There I will meet with you, and from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubim on the ark of the Testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will command you for the Israelites.
25:23 You shall make a table of acacia wood, about thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
25:24 You shall overlay it with pure gold and make a gold molding around it.
25:25 You shall make a rim about three inches wide all around it, and a gold molding all around its rim.
25:26 You shall make four gold rings for it and put the rings at the four corners by its four legs.
25:27 The rings shall be close to the rim, as holders for the poles used to carry the table.
25:28 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with them.
25:29 You shall make its dishes and spoons, and its pitchers and bowls for pouring drink offerings. You shall make them of pure gold.
25:30 You shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me continually.
25:31 You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand shall be made of hammered work; its base and shaft, its cups, knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece with it.
25:32 Six branches shall come out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand from one side and three branches of the lampstand from the other side.
25:33 There shall be three cups shaped like almond blossoms on one branch, with a knob and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms on another branch, with a knob and a flower. So it shall be for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.
25:34 On the lampstand there shall be four cups shaped like almond blossoms, with its knobs and flowers.
25:35 There shall be a knob under two branches coming from it, a knob under two branches coming from it, and a knob under two branches coming from it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.
25:36 Their knobs and branches shall be of one piece with it; the whole shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold.
25:37 You shall make its seven lamps, and they shall be lit to give light in front of it.
25:38 Its tongs and trays shall be of pure gold.
25:39 It and all these utensils shall be made from a talent of pure gold, about seventy-five pounds.
25:40 See that you make them according to their pattern, which you are being shown on the mountain.”

Chapter 26
26:1 “You shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. You shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skilled craftsman.
26:2 Each curtain shall be about forty-two feet long and six feet wide. All the curtains shall have the same measurements.
26:3 Five curtains shall be joined to one another, and the other five curtains shall be joined to one another.
26:4 You shall make loops of blue yarn on the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and do the same on the edge of the end curtain in the second set.
26:5 You shall make fifty loops on the one curtain, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set. The loops shall be opposite one another.
26:6 You shall make fifty gold clasps and join the curtains to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle may be one whole.
26:7 You shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle. You shall make eleven curtains.
26:8 Each curtain shall be about forty-five feet long and six feet wide. The eleven curtains shall have the same measurements.
26:9 You shall join five curtains in one set and six curtains in another set, and fold the sixth curtain double at the front of the tent.
26:10 You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the end curtain in the first set, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set.
26:11 You shall make fifty bronze clasps and put the clasps into the loops and join the tent together, so that it may be one whole.
26:12 The excess that remains of the tent curtains, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle.
26:13 The extra length of the tent curtains, about eighteen inches on one side and eighteen inches on the other, shall hang down over both sides of the tabernacle to cover it.
26:14 You shall make a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of fine leather above it.
26:15 You shall make upright boards of acacia wood for the tabernacle.
26:16 Each board shall be about fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches wide.
26:17 Each board shall have two tenons fitted to one another. You shall make all the boards of the tabernacle this way.
26:18 You shall make twenty boards for the south side of the tabernacle.
26:19 You shall make forty silver bases under the twenty boards, two bases under one board for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons.
26:20 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north, there shall be twenty boards,
26:21 and their forty silver bases, two bases under one board and two bases under another board.
26:22 For the back of the tabernacle, toward the west, you shall make six boards.
26:23 You shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the back.
26:24 They shall be paired at the bottom and together form a whole at the top, up to the single ring. Both shall be made this way; they shall be for the two corners.
26:25 There shall be eight boards with their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under one board and two bases under another board.
26:26 You shall make bars of acacia wood, five for the boards of one side of the tabernacle,
26:27 five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards at the back of the tabernacle, toward the west.
26:28 The middle bar shall pass through the midst of the boards from end to end.
26:29 You shall overlay the boards with gold and make their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and you shall overlay the bars with gold.
26:30 You shall set up the tabernacle according to its prescribed form, which you were shown on the mountain.
26:31 You shall make a veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen. It shall be made with cherubim, the work of a skilled craftsman.
26:32 You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold, with gold hooks, on four silver bases.
26:33 You shall hang the veil under the clasps and bring the ark of the Testimony there, inside the veil. The veil shall separate for you the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.
26:34 You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony in the Most Holy Place.
26:35 You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle. You shall put the table on the north side.
26:36 You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer.
26:37 You shall make five pillars of acacia for the screen and overlay them with gold. Their hooks shall be of gold, and you shall cast five bronze bases for them.”

Chapter 27
27:1 “You shall make the altar of acacia wood, about seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide. The altar shall be square, and its height shall be about four and a half feet.
27:2 You shall make its horns on its four corners; its horns shall be of one piece with it. You shall overlay it with bronze.
27:3 You shall make its pots for removing its ashes, its shovels, its bowls, its forks, and its firepans. You shall make all its utensils of bronze.
27:4 You shall make for it a grating of bronze mesh, and on the mesh you shall make four bronze rings at its four corners.
27:5 You shall put it beneath the ledge of the altar, so that the mesh reaches to the middle of the altar.
27:6 You shall make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with bronze.
27:7 Its poles shall be put into the rings, and the poles shall be on the two sides of the altar when it is carried.
27:8 You shall make it hollow, of boards. As he showed you on the mountain, so they shall make it.
27:9 You shall make the courtyard of the tabernacle. On the south side the courtyard shall have hangings of finely twisted linen, about one hundred fifty feet long for that side,
27:10 with its twenty pillars and their twenty bases of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver.
27:11 Likewise, on the north side there shall be hangings about one hundred fifty feet long, with its twenty pillars and their twenty bases of bronze. The hooks of the pillars and their bands shall be of silver.
27:12 Across the width of the courtyard on the west side there shall be hangings about seventy-five feet long, with their ten pillars and their ten bases.
27:13 The width of the courtyard on the east side, toward the sunrise, shall be about seventy-five feet.
27:14 The hangings on one side of the entrance shall be about twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three pillars and their three bases.
27:15 On the other side there shall be hangings about twenty-two and a half feet long, with their three pillars and their three bases.
27:16 For the gate of the courtyard there shall be a screen about thirty feet long, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer, with its four pillars and their four bases.
27:17 All the pillars around the courtyard shall be banded with silver. Their hooks shall be of silver, and their bases of bronze.
27:18 The courtyard shall be about one hundred fifty feet long and seventy-five feet wide at both ends. Its hangings shall be of finely twisted linen, about seven and a half feet high, with bronze bases.
27:19 All the utensils of the tabernacle for all its service, all its pegs, and all the pegs of the courtyard shall be of bronze.
27:20 You shall command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for lighting, to keep a lamp burning continually.
27:21 In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil that is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall tend it from evening to morning before the LORD. It shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites throughout their generations.”

Chapter 28
28:1 “Bring near to you Aaron your brother and his sons with him from among the Israelites, that he may serve me as priest: Aaron and Aaron’s sons Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
28:2 You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and beauty.
28:3 Speak to all who are wise in heart, each of whom I have filled with a spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments to consecrate him to serve me as priest.
28:4 These are the garments they shall make: a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a patterned tunic, a turban, and a sash. They shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may serve me as priest.
28:5 They shall take the gold, the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and the fine linen.
28:6 They shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen, the work of a skilled craftsman.
28:7 It shall have two shoulder pieces joined at its two ends, so that it is joined together.
28:8 Its skillfully woven band shall be made like it and of one piece with it: gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen.
28:9 You shall take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel,
28:10 six of their names on one stone and the remaining six names on the other stone, in the order of their birth.
28:11 As a stone engraver engraves a seal, you shall engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You shall mount them in gold settings.
28:12 You shall put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel. Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD on his two shoulders as a memorial.
28:13 You shall make gold settings,
28:14 and two chains of pure gold; you shall make them twisted like cords and attach the corded chains to the settings.
28:15 You shall make a breastpiece of judgment, the work of a skilled craftsman. You shall make it like the ephod; you shall make it of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen.
28:16 It shall be square when folded double, about nine inches long and nine inches wide.
28:17 You shall set in it four rows of stones: a carnelian, a topaz, and an emerald in the first row;
28:18 a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond in the second row;
28:19 a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst in the third row;
28:20 and a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper in the fourth row. They shall be mounted in gold settings.
28:21 The stones shall be twelve, corresponding to the names of the sons of Israel. Each shall be engraved like a seal with one name, for the twelve tribes.
28:22 You shall make for the breastpiece chains of pure gold, twisted like cords.
28:23 You shall make two gold rings for the breastpiece and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece.
28:24 You shall attach the two gold cords to the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece.
28:25 You shall attach the two ends of the two cords to the two settings, and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at its front.
28:26 You shall make two gold rings and put them on the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inner edge facing the ephod.
28:27 You shall make two gold rings and put them at the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its front, close to its joining, above the woven band of the ephod.
28:28 They shall tie the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it lies above the woven band of the ephod and the breastpiece does not come loose from the ephod.
28:29 Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment over his heart when he enters the Holy Place, as a memorial before the LORD continually.
28:30 You shall put the Urim and the Thummim into the breastpiece of judgment, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he enters before the LORD. Aaron shall bear the judgment of the Israelites over his heart before the LORD continually.
28:31 You shall make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue cloth.
28:32 It shall have an opening for the head in its center, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening of a coat of armor, so that it does not tear.
28:33 You shall make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn all around its hem, and gold bells between them all around,
28:34 a gold bell and a pomegranate, a gold bell and a pomegranate, all around the hem of the robe.
28:35 Aaron shall wear it when ministering, and its sound shall be heard when he enters the Holy Place before the LORD and when he comes out, so that he does not die.
28:36 You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a seal, ‘Holy to the LORD.’
28:37 You shall fasten it with a blue cord to the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban.
28:38 It shall be on Aaron’s forehead, and Aaron shall bear the guilt of the holy things that the Israelites consecrate in all their holy gifts. It shall be on his forehead continually, that they may be accepted before the LORD.
28:39 You shall weave the tunic of fine linen in patterned work, and make a turban of fine linen; you shall make a sash, the work of an embroiderer.
28:40 For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics and sashes, and you shall make caps for them, for glory and beauty.
28:41 You shall clothe Aaron your brother and his sons with him in these garments. You shall anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.
28:42 You shall make linen undergarments for them to cover their naked flesh; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs.
28:43 Aaron and his sons shall wear them when they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister in the Holy Place, so that they do not incur guilt and die. It shall be a perpetual statute for him and his offspring after him.”

Chapter 29
29:1 “This is what you shall do for them to consecrate them to serve me as priests: take one young bull and two rams without blemish,
29:2 unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. You shall make them of fine wheat flour.
29:3 You shall put them in one basket and present them in the basket, along with the bull and the two rams.
29:4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.
29:5 You shall take the garments and clothe Aaron in the tunic, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastpiece, and fasten the woven band of the ephod around him.
29:6 You shall put the turban on his head and place the holy diadem on the turban.
29:7 You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him.
29:8 You shall bring his sons near and clothe them in tunics.
29:9 You shall fasten sashes around Aaron and his sons and tie caps on them. The priesthood shall be theirs by a perpetual statute. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons.
29:10 You shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.
29:11 You shall slaughter the bull before the LORD at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
29:12 You shall take some of the bull’s blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.
29:13 You shall take all the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat on them, and turn them into smoke on the altar.
29:14 But the flesh of the bull, its hide, and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering.
29:15 You shall take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.
29:16 You shall slaughter the ram and take its blood and dash it against the altar all around.
29:17 You shall cut the ram into its pieces and wash its entrails and legs, and put them with its pieces and its head.
29:18 You shall turn the whole ram into smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.
29:19 You shall take the second ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.
29:20 You shall slaughter the ram and take some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear and on the lobes of his sons’ right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. You shall dash the blood against the altar all around.
29:21 You shall take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and their garments with him. He and his garments, and his sons and their garments with him, shall be consecrated.
29:22 You shall take from the ram the fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat on them, and the right thigh, for it is a ram of ordination,
29:23 and one round loaf of bread, one cake made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before the LORD.
29:24 You shall put all of these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons, and wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.
29:25 You shall take them from their hands and turn them into smoke on the altar, on top of the burnt offering, as a pleasing aroma before the LORD. It is an offering by fire to the LORD.
29:26 You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron’s ordination and wave it as a wave offering before the LORD. It shall be your portion.
29:27 You shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering, which were waved and raised from the ram of ordination, from what is for Aaron and from what is for his sons.
29:28 It shall belong to Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the Israelites, for it is a raised offering. It shall be a raised offering from the Israelites, taken from their peace offerings, their raised offering to the LORD.
29:29 The holy garments of Aaron shall belong to his sons after him, so that they may be anointed and ordained in them.
29:30 The priest from among his sons who succeeds him shall wear them for seven days when he enters the Tent of Meeting to minister in the Holy Place.
29:31 You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place.
29:32 Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread in the basket at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
29:33 They shall eat the things by which atonement was made to ordain and consecrate them, but no outsider shall eat them, because they are holy.
29:34 If any of the flesh of ordination or any of the bread remains until morning, you shall burn what remains with fire. It shall not be eaten, because it is holy.
29:35 You shall do for Aaron and his sons all that I have commanded you. For seven days you shall ordain them.
29:36 Each day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. You shall purify the altar as you make atonement for it, and anoint it to consecrate it.
29:37 For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it. The altar shall be most holy; anything that touches the altar shall be holy.
29:38 This is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs, each a year old, every day continually.
29:39 You shall offer one lamb in the morning and the second lamb at twilight,
29:40 and with the first lamb, about two quarts of fine flour mixed with about one quart of oil from beaten olives, and a drink offering of about one quart of wine.
29:41 You shall offer the second lamb at twilight, with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, as a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.
29:42 It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, where I will meet with you all to speak to you there.
29:43 There I will meet with the Israelites, and it shall be made holy by my glory.
29:44 I will consecrate the Tent of Meeting and the altar. I will also consecrate Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.
29:45 I will dwell among the Israelites and be their God.
29:46 They shall know that I am the LORD their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt to dwell among them. I am the LORD their God.”

Chapter 30
30:1 “You shall make an altar for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.
30:2 It shall be about eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide; it shall be square, and about thirty-six inches high. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
30:3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides all around, and its horns, and make a gold molding around it.
30:4 You shall make two gold rings for it below its molding, at its two edges, on its two sides, as holders for the poles with which to carry it.
30:5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold.
30:6 You shall put it before the veil by the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
30:7 Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it morning by morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.
30:8 When Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn it, a continual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
30:9 You shall not offer unauthorized incense on it, or a burnt offering or a grain offering, nor shall you pour a drink offering on it.
30:10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering of atonement, once a year he shall make atonement on it throughout your generations. It is most holy to the LORD.”
30:11 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
30:12 “When you take a census of the Israelites to number them, each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when they are counted, so that there will be no plague among them when you count them.
30:13 This is what everyone who passes among those counted shall give: half a shekel, about one-fifth of an ounce, by the sanctuary shekel. The shekel is twenty gerahs. Half a shekel shall be an offering to the LORD.
30:14 Everyone who passes among those counted, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the LORD’s offering.
30:15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than half a shekel when giving the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives.
30:16 You shall receive the atonement money from the Israelites and assign it to the service of the Tent of Meeting. It shall be a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD, to make atonement for your lives.”
30:17 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
30:18 “You shall make a bronze basin with a bronze base for washing. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and put water in it.
30:19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet with water from it.
30:20 When they enter the Tent of Meeting or approach the altar to minister and burn an offering by fire to the LORD, they shall wash with water so that they do not die.
30:21 They shall wash their hands and their feet so that they do not die. It shall be a perpetual statute for them, for him and his offspring throughout their generations.”
30:22 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
30:23 “Take choice spices: about twelve and a half pounds of liquid myrrh; half as much fragrant cinnamon, about six and a quarter pounds; about six and a quarter pounds of aromatic cane;
30:24 about twelve and a half pounds of cassia, by the sanctuary shekel; and about one gallon of olive oil.
30:25 You shall make these into a holy anointing oil, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer. It shall be a holy anointing oil.
30:26 With it you shall anoint the Tent of Meeting and the ark of the Testimony,
30:27 the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its utensils, and the altar of incense,
30:28 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its base.
30:29 You shall consecrate them, and they shall be most holy; anything that touches them shall be holy.
30:30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them to serve me as priests.
30:31 You shall say to the Israelites, ‘This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.
30:32 It shall not be poured on human flesh, and you shall not make any like it according to its composition. It is holy, and you shall regard it as holy.
30:33 Whoever blends any like it or puts any of it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people.’”
30:34 The LORD said to Moses, “Take aromatic spices: stacte, onycha, and galbanum, these spices with pure frankincense, in equal parts.
30:35 You shall make them into incense, a fragrant blend, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy.
30:36 You shall grind some of it very fine and put some of it before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be most holy to you.
30:37 As for the incense you shall make, you shall not make any for yourselves according to its composition. You shall regard it as holy to the LORD.
30:38 Whoever makes any like it for its scent shall be cut off from his people.”

Chapter 31
31:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
31:2 “Look, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
31:3 I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill in every kind of work,
31:4 to devise designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,
31:5 to cut stones for setting, and to carve wood, to work in every kind of craft.
31:6 Look, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, to work with him. I have put wisdom in the heart of everyone who is wise in heart, that they may make all that I have commanded you:
31:7 the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the Testimony, the mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent;
31:8 the table and its utensils, the pure lampstand and all its utensils, and the altar of incense;
31:9 the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and the basin and its base;
31:10 the woven garments, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for priestly service;
31:11 the anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the Holy Place. They shall make everything according to all that I have commanded you.”
31:12 The LORD said to Moses,
31:13 “You shall speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘You shall surely keep my Sabbaths, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who makes you holy.
31:14 You shall keep the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Whoever profanes it shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people.
31:15 For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death.
31:16 The Israelites shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.
31:17 It is a sign forever between me and the Israelites, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
31:18 When he had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God.

Chapter 32
32:1 When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us gods who will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.”
32:2 Aaron said to them, “Take off the gold earrings in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.”
32:3 All the people took off the gold earrings in their ears and brought them to Aaron.
32:4 He received the gold from their hands and fashioned it with an engraving tool and made it into a cast calf. They said, “These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!”
32:5 When Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”
32:6 They rose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.
32:7 The LORD said to Moses, “Go, get down, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
32:8 They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast calf and bowed down to it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”
32:9 The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and look, it is a stiff-necked people.
32:10 Now leave me alone, that my anger may burn against them and I may consume them, and I will make of you a great nation.”
32:11 Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God and said, “LORD, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?
32:12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent concerning the disaster against your people.
32:13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by yourself and said, ‘I will multiply your offspring like the stars of the heavens, and all this land I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
32:14 The LORD relented concerning the disaster he had said he would bring on his people.
32:15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on one side and on the other they were written.
32:16 The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.
32:17 When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a sound of war in the camp.”
32:18 He said, “It is not the sound of a shout of victory, nor the sound of a cry of defeat; it is the sound of singing that I hear.”
32:19 When he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned. He threw the tablets from his hand and shattered them at the foot of the mountain.
32:20 He took the calf they had made and burned it with fire and ground it fine. He scattered it over the surface of the water and made the Israelites drink it.
32:21 Moses said to Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you brought so great a sin on them?”
32:22 Aaron said, “Do not let my lord’s anger burn. You know the people, that they are set on evil.
32:23 They said to me, ‘Make us gods who will go before us, for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we do not know what has happened to him.’
32:24 I said to them, ‘Whoever has gold, take it off.’ They gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
32:25 Moses saw that the people had broken loose, for Aaron had let them loose, to the derision of their adversaries.
32:26 Moses stood at the gate of the camp and said, “Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!” All the sons of Levi gathered to him.
32:27 He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let every man put his sword at his side. Go back and forth from gate to gate through the camp, and let every man kill his brother, his companion, and his relative.’”
32:28 The sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.
32:29 Moses said, “Consecrate yourselves today to the LORD, for each of you has been against his son and his brother, that a blessing may be bestowed on you today.”
32:30 The next day Moses said to the people, “You have committed a great sin. Now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.”
32:31 Moses returned to the LORD and said, “Oh, these people have committed a great sin and have made for themselves gods of gold.
32:32 Now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.”
32:33 The LORD said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book.
32:34 Now go, lead the people to the place I have spoken of to you. Look, my angel will go before you. But on the day I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”
32:35 The LORD struck the people because they made the calf that Aaron made.

Chapter 33
33:1 The LORD said to Moses, “Go, go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’
33:2 I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
33:3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
33:4 When the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments.
33:5 The LORD said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up in your midst for a single moment, I would consume you. Now take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’”
33:6 The Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
33:7 Moses used to take the tent and pitch it for himself outside the camp, far from the camp. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.
33:8 Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and watch Moses until he entered the tent.
33:9 When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses.
33:10 All the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, and all the people would rise and bow down, each at the entrance of his tent.
33:11 The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his assistant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the tent.
33:12 Moses said to the LORD, “Look, you say to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ but you have not made known to me whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’
33:13 Now, if I have found favor in your sight, please make your ways known to me, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight. Consider that this nation is your people.”
33:14 He said, “My presence will go, and I will give you rest.”
33:15 Moses said to him, “If your presence does not go, do not bring us up from here.
33:16 How then shall it be known that I and your people have found favor in your sight? Is it not by your going with us? Then we, I and your people, shall be distinguished from all the people on the face of the earth.”
33:17 The LORD said to Moses, “I will also do this thing you have asked, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
33:18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
33:19 He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
33:20 He said, “You cannot see my face, for no human being can see me and live.”
33:21 The LORD said, “Look, there is a place by me. You shall stand on the rock,
33:22 and when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.
33:23 Then I will remove my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”

Chapter 34
34:1 The LORD said to Moses, “Cut out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
34:2 Be ready by morning; come up Mount Sinai in the morning and present yourself to me there on the mountaintop.
34:3 No one is to come up with you, nor is anyone to be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds must not graze in front of that mountain.”
34:4 So Moses cut out two stone tablets like the first ones. He rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets in his hand.
34:5 The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
34:6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,
34:7 keeping faithful love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, yet by no means leaving the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generations.”
34:8 Moses hurried to bow down to the ground and worship.
34:9 He said, “If I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in our midst, for this is a stiff-necked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
34:10 He said, “Look, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do wonders such as have never been created in all the earth or among any of the nations. All the people among whom you live will see the work of the LORD, for what I am doing with you is awesome.
34:11 Observe what I command you today. Look, I am driving out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
34:12 Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest it become a snare in your midst.
34:13 Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.
34:14 For you must not bow down to another god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
34:15 Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they prostitute themselves after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and one may invite you, and you may eat of his sacrifice.
34:16 You may take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters may prostitute themselves after their gods and make your sons prostitute themselves after their gods.
34:17 You must not make cast-metal gods for yourself.
34:18 You must keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
34:19 All that first opens the womb is mine, including every firstborn male of your livestock, whether cattle, sheep, or goats.
34:20 You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep or goat. If you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. You must redeem every firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
34:21 Six days you must work, but on the seventh day you must rest; even in plowing time and harvest you must rest.
34:22 You must celebrate the Festival of Weeks, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
34:23 Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
34:24 For I will dispossess nations before you and enlarge your territory. No one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times a year.
34:25 You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, nor may the sacrifice of the Passover festival remain until morning.
34:26 You must bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.”
34:27 The LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”
34:28 He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
34:29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had spoken with him.
34:30 Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, and look, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.
34:31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them.
34:32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do all that the LORD had spoken to him on Mount Sinai.
34:33 When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
34:34 Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. Then he would come out and tell the Israelites what he had been commanded.
34:35 The Israelites would see Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with him.

Chapter 35
35:1 Moses assembled the whole congregation of the Israelites and said to them, “These are the things the LORD has commanded you to do:
35:2 For six days work shall be done, but the seventh day shall be holy for you, a Sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.
35:3 You shall not kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day.”
35:4 Moses said to the whole congregation of the Israelites, “This is what the LORD has commanded:
35:5 ‘Take from among yourselves an offering to the LORD. Let everyone whose heart is willing bring it as the LORD’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze;
35:6 blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, fine linen, and goats’ hair;
35:7 rams’ skins dyed red, fine leather, and acacia wood;
35:8 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense;
35:9 onyx stones and stones for setting in the ephod and the breastpiece.
35:10 Let all who are wise in heart among you come and make everything the LORD has commanded:
35:11 the tabernacle, its tent and its covering, its clasps and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;
35:12 the ark and its poles, the mercy seat, and the screening veil;
35:13 the table and its poles, all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;
35:14 the lampstand for the light, its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light;
35:15 the incense altar and its poles, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, and the entrance screen for the entrance of the tabernacle;
35:16 the altar of burnt offering and its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;
35:17 the hangings of the courtyard, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the courtyard gate;
35:18 the pegs of the tabernacle, the pegs of the courtyard, and their cords;
35:19 the woven garments for service in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for priestly service.’”
35:20 Then the whole congregation of the Israelites went out from Moses’ presence.
35:21 Everyone whose heart stirred him and everyone whose spirit made him willing came and brought the LORD’s offering for the work of the Tent of Meeting, for all its service, and for the holy garments.
35:22 Men came along with women, all whose hearts were willing, and brought brooches, earrings, finger rings, and other ornaments, every kind of gold article. Each brought gold as a wave offering to the LORD.
35:23 Everyone who had blue, purple, or scarlet yarn, fine linen, goats’ hair, rams’ skins dyed red, or fine leather brought them.
35:24 Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought the LORD’s offering, and everyone who had acacia wood for any work of the service brought it.
35:25 All the women who were wise in heart spun with their hands and brought what they had spun: blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and fine linen.
35:26 All the women whose hearts stirred them with skill spun the goats’ hair.
35:27 The leaders brought the onyx stones and the stones for setting in the ephod and the breastpiece,
35:28 and the spices and the oil for the light, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.
35:29 Every man and woman whose heart made them willing to bring something for all the work the LORD had commanded through Moses brought it. The Israelites brought a freewill offering to the LORD.
35:30 Moses said to the Israelites, “Look, the LORD has called by name Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
35:31 He has filled him with the Spirit of God, with wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill in every kind of work,
35:32 to devise designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze,
35:33 to cut stones for setting, and to carve wood, to work in every kind of craft.
35:34 He has put the ability to teach in the hearts of both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.
35:35 He has filled their hearts with wisdom to do every kind of work of a craftsman, designer, embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weaver—workers in every craft and devisers of designs.

Chapter 36
36:1 Bezalel and Oholiab, and everyone wise in heart in whom the LORD has put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of the sanctuary service, shall work in accordance with everything the LORD has commanded.”
36:2 Then Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab and everyone wise in heart in whose heart the LORD had put wisdom, everyone whose heart stirred him to come and do the work.
36:3 They received from Moses all the offering the Israelites had brought for doing the work of the sanctuary service. But the people continued bringing him freewill offerings morning after morning.
36:4 All the skilled workers doing all the work of the sanctuary came, each from the work he was doing,
36:5 and said to Moses, “The people are bringing much more than is needed for doing the work the LORD has commanded.”
36:6 So Moses gave an order, and a proclamation was made throughout the camp: “Let no man or woman do any more work for the sanctuary offering.” The people were restrained from bringing more,
36:7 for the material they had was enough to do all the work, with some left over.
36:8 All those wise in heart among the workers made the tabernacle with ten curtains of finely twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn. He made them with cherubim, the work of a skilled craftsman.
36:9 Each curtain was about forty-two feet long and six feet wide. All the curtains had the same measurements.
36:10 He joined five curtains to one another, and he joined the other five curtains to one another.
36:11 He made loops of blue yarn along the edge of the curtain at the end of one set. He did the same along the edge of the end curtain of the second set.
36:12 He made fifty loops on the one curtain, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain in the second set. The loops were opposite one another.
36:13 He made fifty gold clasps and joined the curtains to one another with the clasps, so that the tabernacle formed one whole.
36:14 He made curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle. He made eleven curtains.
36:15 Each curtain was about forty-five feet long and six feet wide. All eleven curtains had the same measurements.
36:16 He joined five curtains in one set and six curtains in another set.
36:17 He made fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain of one set, and he made fifty loops along the edge of the curtain of the second set.
36:18 He made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together so that it would form one whole.
36:19 He made a covering for the tent of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of fine leather above it.
36:20 He made the upright boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood.
36:21 Each board was about fifteen feet long and twenty-seven inches wide.
36:22 Each board had two tenons fitted to one another. He did this for all the boards of the tabernacle.
36:23 He made twenty boards for the south side of the tabernacle, facing south.
36:24 He made forty silver bases under the twenty boards: two bases under one board for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons.
36:25 For the second side of the tabernacle, facing north, he made twenty boards,
36:26 with their forty silver bases: two bases under one board and two bases under another board.
36:27 For the rear of the tabernacle, toward the west, he made six boards.
36:28 He made two boards for the corners at the rear of the tabernacle.
36:29 They were paired at the bottom and formed a whole together at the top, up to the one ring. He made them both this way for the two corners.
36:30 There were eight boards with their silver bases, sixteen bases, two bases under each board.
36:31 He made bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of one side of the tabernacle,
36:32 five bars for the boards of the second side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards at the rear of the tabernacle, toward the west.
36:33 He made the middle bar to pass through the midst of the boards from end to end.
36:34 He overlaid the boards with gold and made their rings of gold as holders for the bars. He also overlaid the bars with gold.
36:35 He made the veil of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen. He made it with cherubim, the work of a skilled craftsman.
36:36 He made four pillars of acacia wood for it and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were gold, and he cast four silver bases for them.
36:37 He made a screen for the entrance of the tent of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen, the work of an embroiderer,
36:38 and its five pillars with their hooks. He overlaid their tops and their bands with gold; their five bases were bronze.

Chapter 37
37:1 Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood, about forty-five inches long, twenty-seven inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
37:2 He overlaid it with pure gold inside and out and made a gold molding around it.
37:3 He cast four gold rings for its four feet, two rings on one side and two rings on the other side.
37:4 He made poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.
37:5 He put the poles through the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark.
37:6 He made the mercy seat of pure gold, about forty-five inches long and twenty-seven inches wide.
37:7 He made two cherubim of gold; he made them of hammered work at the two ends of the mercy seat,
37:8 one cherub at one end and one cherub at the other end. He made the cherubim of one piece with the mercy seat at its two ends.
37:9 The cherubim spread their wings upward, covering the mercy seat with their wings. Their faces were toward one another; the faces of the cherubim were toward the mercy seat.
37:10 He made the table of acacia wood, about thirty-six inches long, eighteen inches wide, and twenty-seven inches high.
37:11 He overlaid it with pure gold and made a gold molding around it.
37:12 He made a rim about three inches wide around it and made a gold molding around its rim.
37:13 He cast four gold rings for it and put the rings at the four corners by its four legs.
37:14 The rings were beside the rim, as holders for the poles used to carry the table.
37:15 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold, to carry the table.
37:16 He made the utensils that were on the table of pure gold: its dishes and spoons, its bowls and pitchers for pouring drink offerings.
37:17 He made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work; its base and shaft, its cups, knobs, and flowers were of one piece with it.
37:18 Six branches came out of its sides, three branches of the lampstand from one side and three branches of the lampstand from the other side.
37:19 There were three cups shaped like almond blossoms on one branch, with a knob and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms on another branch, with a knob and a flower. So it was for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.
37:20 On the lampstand there were four cups shaped like almond blossoms, with its knobs and flowers.
37:21 There was a knob under two branches coming from it, a knob under two branches coming from it, and a knob under two branches coming from it, for the six branches coming out of it.
37:22 Their knobs and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole was one piece of hammered work of pure gold.
37:23 He made its seven lamps, its tongs, and its trays of pure gold.
37:24 He made it and all its utensils from a talent of pure gold, about seventy-five pounds.
37:25 He made the incense altar of acacia wood. It was square, about eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide, and thirty-six inches high. Its horns were of one piece with it.
37:26 He overlaid it with pure gold, its top, its walls all around, and its horns, and made a gold molding around it.
37:27 He made two gold rings for it below its molding, on its two sides, on either side, as holders for poles to carry it with.
37:28 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with gold.
37:29 He made the holy anointing oil and the pure fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.

Chapter 38
38:1 He made the altar of burnt offering of acacia wood. It was square, about seven and a half feet long and seven and a half feet wide, and four and a half feet high.
38:2 He made its horns at its four corners; its horns were of one piece with it. He overlaid it with bronze.
38:3 He made all the utensils of the altar: the pots, shovels, bowls, forks, and firepans. He made all its utensils of bronze.
38:4 He made for the altar a grating of bronze mesh beneath its ledge, reaching to the middle of the altar.
38:5 He cast four rings at the four corners of the bronze grating as holders for the poles.
38:6 He made the poles of acacia wood and overlaid them with bronze.
38:7 He put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar to carry it with them. He made it hollow, of boards.
38:8 He made the bronze basin and its bronze stand from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
38:9 He made the courtyard. On the south side, facing south, the courtyard hangings were of finely twisted linen, about a hundred fifty feet long.
38:10 There were twenty pillars with their twenty bronze bases; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver.
38:11 On the north side the hangings were about a hundred fifty feet long, with twenty pillars and their twenty bronze bases; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver.
38:12 On the west side the hangings were about seventy-five feet long, with ten pillars and their ten bases; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver.
38:13 The east side, facing east, was about seventy-five feet long.
38:14 The hangings on one side were about twenty-two and a half feet long, with three pillars and their three bases.
38:15 On the other side, on either side of the courtyard gate, the hangings were about twenty-two and a half feet long, with three pillars and their three bases.
38:16 All the hangings around the courtyard were of finely twisted linen.
38:17 The bases for the pillars were bronze; the hooks of the pillars and their bands were silver, and their tops were overlaid with silver. All the pillars of the courtyard were banded with silver.
38:18 The screen for the courtyard gate was the work of an embroiderer, of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and finely twisted linen. It was about thirty feet long and seven and a half feet high, corresponding to the hangings of the courtyard.
38:19 There were four pillars with their four bronze bases; their hooks were silver, their tops were overlaid with silver, and their bands were silver.
38:20 All the pegs for the tabernacle and for the courtyard all around were bronze.
38:21 These are the accounts of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the Testimony, recorded at Moses’ command through the service of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
38:22 Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made everything the LORD had commanded Moses.
38:23 With him was Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, a craftsman, designer, and embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen.
38:24 All the gold used for the work, in all the work of the sanctuary, the gold of the wave offering, was 29 talents and 730 shekels by the sanctuary shekel, about 2,193 pounds.
38:25 The silver from those counted in the congregation was 100 talents and 1,775 shekels by the sanctuary shekel, about 7,545 pounds:
38:26 a bekah per head, half a shekel by the sanctuary shekel, about one-fifth of an ounce, from everyone who passed over to be counted, twenty years old and upward, 603,550 in all.
38:27 The 100 talents of silver, about 7,500 pounds, were used to cast the bases of the sanctuary and the bases of the veil: a hundred bases for the hundred talents, a talent, about seventy-five pounds, for each base.
38:28 With the 1,775 shekels, about forty-five pounds, he made hooks for the pillars, overlaid their tops, and fitted them with bands.
38:29 The bronze of the wave offering was 70 talents and 2,400 shekels, about 5,310 pounds.
38:30 With it he made the bases for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, the bronze altar and its bronze grating, and all the utensils of the altar,
38:31 the bases around the courtyard, the bases of the courtyard gate, all the pegs of the tabernacle, and all the pegs around the courtyard.

Chapter 39
39:1 From the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn they made woven garments for service in the sanctuary. They also made the holy garments for Aaron, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
39:2 He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen.
39:3 They hammered out the gold into sheets, and he cut it into threads to work into the blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and fine linen, the work of a skilled craftsman.
39:4 They made shoulder pieces for it that joined it together; it was joined at its two ends.
39:5 The skillfully woven band on it was of one piece with it and made like it: gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
39:6 They prepared the onyx stones, mounted in gold settings, engraved like a seal with the names of the sons of Israel.
39:7 He put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
39:8 He made the breastpiece, the work of a skilled craftsman, like the work of the ephod: gold, blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, and finely twisted linen.
39:9 It was square. They made the breastpiece folded double, about nine inches long and nine inches wide when doubled.
39:10 They set four rows of stones in it: a row of a carnelian, a topaz, and an emerald; this was the first row.
39:11 The second row was a turquoise, a sapphire, and a diamond.
39:12 The third row was a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst.
39:13 The fourth row was a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. They were mounted in gold settings.
39:14 There were twelve stones corresponding to the names of the sons of Israel, according to their names, engraved like a seal, each with its name, for the twelve tribes.
39:15 They made chains for the breastpiece of pure gold, twisted like cords.
39:16 They made two gold settings and two gold rings, and put the two rings on the two ends of the breastpiece.
39:17 They put the two gold cords through the two rings at the ends of the breastpiece.
39:18 They attached the two ends of the two cords to the two settings and put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod at its front.
39:19 They made two gold rings and put them on the two ends of the breastpiece, on its inner edge facing the ephod.
39:20 They made two gold rings and put them at the lower part of the two shoulder pieces of the ephod, at its front, close to its joining, above the woven band of the ephod.
39:21 They tied the breastpiece by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a blue cord, so that it lay above the woven band of the ephod and the breastpiece would not come loose from the ephod, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
39:22 He made the robe of the ephod, the work of a weaver, entirely of blue cloth.
39:23 The opening of the robe was in its middle, like the opening of a coat of armor. There was a binding around the opening, so that it would not tear.
39:24 They made pomegranates of twisted blue, purple, and scarlet yarn on the hem of the robe.
39:25 They made bells of pure gold and put the bells between the pomegranates around the hem of the robe, between the pomegranates:
39:26 a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe for service, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
39:27 They made the tunics of fine linen, the work of a weaver, for Aaron and his sons,
39:28 the turban of fine linen, the ornate caps of fine linen, and the linen undergarments of finely twisted linen,
39:29 and the sash of finely twisted linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, the work of an embroiderer, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
39:30 They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold and wrote on it, engraved like a seal, “Holy to the LORD.”
39:31 They attached a blue cord to it, to fasten it on the turban above, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
39:32 So all the work of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, was completed. The Israelites did everything as the LORD had commanded Moses; so they did.
39:33 They brought the tabernacle to Moses: the tent and all its utensils, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;
39:34 the covering of rams’ skins dyed red, the covering of fine leather, and the screening veil;
39:35 the ark of the Testimony, its poles, and the mercy seat;
39:36 the table, all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence;
39:37 the pure lampstand, its lamps, the lamps arranged in order, all its utensils, and the oil for the light;
39:38 the gold altar, the anointing oil, the fragrant incense, and the entrance screen of the tent;
39:39 the bronze altar and its bronze grating, its poles and all its utensils, the basin and its stand;
39:40 the hangings of the courtyard, its pillars and its bases, the screen for the courtyard gate, its cords and its pegs, and all the utensils of the tabernacle service for the Tent of Meeting;
39:41 the woven garments for service in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons for priestly service.
39:42 According to everything the LORD had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did all the work.
39:43 Moses saw all the work, and behold, they had done it as the LORD had commanded; so they had done. And Moses blessed them.

Chapter 40
40:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
40:2 “On the first day of the first month you shall set up the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
40:3 You shall put the ark of the Testimony there and screen off the ark with the veil.
40:4 You shall bring in the table and arrange what belongs on it. You shall bring in the lampstand and light its lamps.
40:5 You shall place the gold altar for incense before the ark of the Testimony and put up the entrance screen of the tabernacle.
40:6 You shall place the altar of burnt offering before the entrance of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting.
40:7 You shall place the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it.
40:8 You shall set up the courtyard around it and put up the screen for the courtyard gate.
40:9 You shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything in it. You shall consecrate it and all its utensils, and it shall be holy.
40:10 You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils and consecrate the altar, and the altar shall be most holy.
40:11 You shall anoint the basin and its stand and consecrate it.
40:12 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and wash them with water.
40:13 You shall clothe Aaron in the holy garments, anoint him, and consecrate him, so that he may serve me as priest.
40:14 You shall bring his sons near and clothe them in tunics.
40:15 You shall anoint them as you anointed their father, so that they may serve me as priests. Their anointing shall establish them in a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations.”
40:16 Moses did according to everything the LORD had commanded him; so he did.
40:17 In the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was set up.
40:18 Moses set up the tabernacle, put its bases in place, set up its boards, put in its bars, and set up its pillars.
40:19 He spread the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent over it above, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
40:20 He took the Testimony and put it into the ark. He set the poles on the ark and put the mercy seat on top of the ark.
40:21 He brought the ark into the tabernacle, put up the screening veil, and screened off the ark of the Testimony, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
40:22 He placed the table in the Tent of Meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the veil.
40:23 He arranged the bread on it before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
40:24 He placed the lampstand in the Tent of Meeting opposite the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.
40:25 He lit the lamps before the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
40:26 He placed the gold altar in the Tent of Meeting before the veil,
40:27 and burned fragrant incense on it, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
40:28 He put up the entrance screen of the tabernacle.
40:29 He placed the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, and offered the burnt offering and the grain offering on it, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
40:30 He placed the basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar and put water in it for washing.
40:31 Moses, Aaron, and his sons would wash their hands and their feet with water from it.
40:32 Whenever they entered the Tent of Meeting and whenever they approached the altar, they would wash, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
40:33 He set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar and put up the screen for the courtyard gate. So Moses finished the work.
40:34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
40:35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
40:36 Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out on all their journeys.
40:37 But if the cloud was not lifted, they would not set out until the day it was lifted.
40:38 For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire would be in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys.

LEVITICUS

Chapter 1
1:1 The LORD called to Moses and spoke to him from the Tent of Meeting, saying,
1:2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘When anyone among you presents an offering to the LORD, you shall present your offering from the livestock, from the herd or the flock.
1:3 If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall present a male without blemish. He shall present it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting so that it may be accepted for him before the LORD.
1:4 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.
1:5 He shall slaughter the young bull before the LORD. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall present the blood and dash the blood against all sides of the altar at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
1:6 He shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into pieces.
1:7 The sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.
1:8 Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall arrange the pieces, the head, and the suet on the wood that is on the fire on the altar.
1:9 He shall wash its entrails and its legs with water, and the priest shall turn the whole into smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
1:10 If his offering for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or the goats, he shall present a male without blemish.
1:11 He shall slaughter it on the north side of the altar before the LORD. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar.
1:12 He shall cut it into pieces, with its head and its suet, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar.
1:13 He shall wash the entrails and the legs with water. The priest shall present the whole and turn it into smoke on the altar. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
1:14 If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, he shall present his offering from the turtledoves or the young pigeons.
1:15 The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and turn it into smoke on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out against the wall of the altar.
1:16 He shall remove its crop with its feathers and throw it beside the altar on the east, at the place of the ashes.
1:17 He shall split it open by its wings, but shall not separate it completely. The priest shall turn it into smoke on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.

Chapter 2
2:1 When anyone presents a grain offering to the LORD, his offering shall be of fine flour. He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it.
2:2 He shall bring it to Aaron’s sons, the priests. The priest shall take from it his full handful of its fine flour and oil, with all its frankincense, and turn its memorial portion into smoke on the altar, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
2:3 What is left of the grain offering shall belong to Aaron and his sons. It is a most holy portion of the offerings by fire to the LORD.
2:4 When you present a grain offering baked in an oven, it shall be of fine flour: unleavened cakes mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers spread with oil.
2:5 If your offering is a grain offering prepared on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour mixed with oil, unleavened.
2:6 Break it into pieces and pour oil on it. It is a grain offering.
2:7 If your offering is a grain offering prepared in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.
2:8 You shall bring the grain offering made from these things to the LORD. The one bringing it shall present it to the priest, and the priest shall bring it near the altar.
2:9 The priest shall take its memorial portion from the grain offering and turn it into smoke on the altar, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
2:10 What is left of the grain offering shall belong to Aaron and his sons. It is a most holy portion of the offerings by fire to the LORD.
2:11 No grain offering that you present to the LORD shall be made with leaven, for you shall not turn any leaven or any honey into smoke as an offering by fire to the LORD.
2:12 You may present them to the LORD as an offering of firstfruits, but they shall not go up on the altar as a pleasing aroma.
2:13 You shall season every grain offering of yours with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant of your God be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall present salt.
2:14 If you present a grain offering of firstfruits to the LORD, you shall present young heads of grain roasted in the fire, crushed fresh grain, as your grain offering of firstfruits.
2:15 You shall put oil on it and place frankincense on it. It is a grain offering.
2:16 The priest shall turn its memorial portion into smoke, some of its crushed grain and its oil with all its frankincense, an offering by fire to the LORD.

Chapter 3
3:1 If his offering is a peace offering and he presents it from the herd, whether male or female, he shall present it without blemish before the LORD.
3:2 He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons, the priests, shall dash the blood against all sides of the altar.
3:3 From the peace offering he shall present as an offering by fire to the LORD the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,
3:4 the two kidneys and the fat on them by the flanks, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.
3:5 Aaron’s sons shall turn it into smoke on the altar, on top of the burnt offering that is on the wood on the fire, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
3:6 If his offering for a peace offering to the LORD is from the flock, he shall present a male or female without blemish.
3:7 If he presents a lamb as his offering, he shall present it before the LORD.
3:8 He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and slaughter it before the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar.
3:9 From the peace offering he shall present as an offering by fire to the LORD its fat: the whole fat tail, which he shall remove close to the backbone, the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is on the entrails,
3:10 the two kidneys and the fat on them by the flanks, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.
3:11 The priest shall turn it into smoke on the altar, food as an offering by fire to the LORD.
3:12 If his offering is a goat, he shall present it before the LORD.
3:13 He shall lay his hand on its head and slaughter it before the Tent of Meeting. Aaron’s sons shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar.
3:14 From it he shall present his offering as an offering by fire to the LORD: the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,
3:15 the two kidneys and the fat on them by the flanks, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.
3:16 The priest shall turn them into smoke on the altar, food as an offering by fire for a pleasing aroma. All the fat belongs to the LORD.
3:17 It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall not eat any fat or any blood.’”

Chapter 4
4:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
4:2 “Speak to the Israelites, saying: ‘When anyone sins unintentionally by doing any of the things the LORD’s commandments forbid,
4:3 if the anointed priest sins, bringing guilt on the people, he shall present to the LORD a young bull without blemish as a sin offering for the sin he has committed.
4:4 He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting before the LORD, lay his hand on the head of the bull, and slaughter the bull before the LORD.
4:5 The anointed priest shall take some of the bull’s blood and bring it into the Tent of Meeting.
4:6 The priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle some of the blood seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
4:7 The priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the LORD, which is in the Tent of Meeting. He shall pour all the bull’s blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
4:8 He shall remove all the fat from the bull of the sin offering: the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,
4:9 the two kidneys and the fat on them by the flanks, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys,
4:10 as it is removed from the ox of the peace offering. The priest shall turn them into smoke on the altar of burnt offering.
4:11 The skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head and its legs, its entrails and its dung—
4:12 he shall carry the whole bull outside the camp to a clean place where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire. It shall be burned where the ashes are poured out.
4:13 If the whole congregation of Israel errs and the matter is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do one of the things the LORD’s commandments forbid and become guilty,
4:14 when the sin they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall present a young bull as a sin offering and bring it before the Tent of Meeting.
4:15 The elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the LORD.
4:16 The anointed priest shall bring some of the bull’s blood into the Tent of Meeting.
4:17 The priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, in front of the veil.
4:18 He shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar before the LORD, which is in the Tent of Meeting. He shall pour all the blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
4:19 He shall remove all its fat from it and turn it into smoke on the altar.
4:20 He shall do with the bull as he did with the bull of the sin offering; so he shall do with it. The priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.
4:21 He shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is the sin offering of the assembly.
4:22 When a ruler sins and unintentionally does one of the things the commandments of the LORD his God forbid, and becomes guilty,
4:23 or if the sin he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a male goat without blemish.
4:24 He shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and slaughter it in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered before the LORD. It is a sin offering.
4:25 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He shall pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.
4:26 He shall turn all its fat into smoke on the altar, like the fat of the peace offering. The priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
4:27 If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally by doing one of the things the LORD’s commandments forbid, and becomes guilty,
4:28 or if the sin he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a female goat without blemish for the sin he has committed.
4:29 He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.
4:30 The priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He shall pour all its blood at the base of the altar.
4:31 He shall remove all its fat as the fat is removed from the peace offering. The priest shall turn it into smoke on the altar as a pleasing aroma to the LORD. The priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
4:32 If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish.
4:33 He shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it as a sin offering in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered.
4:34 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering. He shall pour all its blood at the base of the altar.
4:35 He shall remove all its fat as the fat of the lamb is removed from the peace offering. The priest shall turn them into smoke on the altar, on top of the offerings by fire to the LORD. The priest shall make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.

Chapter 5
5:1 If anyone hears a call to testify under oath and is a witness, whether he has seen or knows the matter, he sins if he does not declare it and shall bear his iniquity.
5:2 Or if anyone touches any unclean thing, whether the carcass of an unclean wild animal, the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of an unclean swarming creature, and it is hidden from him, he is unclean and guilty.
5:3 Or if he touches human uncleanness, any uncleanness by which he may become unclean, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it he is guilty.
5:4 Or if anyone rashly swears with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatever a person may rashly declare under oath, and it is hidden from him, when he comes to know it he is guilty in one of these things.
5:5 When he becomes guilty in one of these things, he shall confess the sin he has committed.
5:6 He shall bring to the LORD his reparation for the sin he has committed, a female from the flock, a ewe lamb or a female goat, as a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for him for his sin.
5:7 If he cannot afford a sheep or goat, he shall bring to the LORD as his reparation for the sin he has committed two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and one for a burnt offering.
5:8 He shall bring them to the priest, who shall present the one for the sin offering first. He shall twist its head at the back of its neck, but shall not detach it.
5:9 He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the wall of the altar. The remaining blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.
5:10 He shall prepare the second as a burnt offering according to the prescribed rule. The priest shall make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.
5:11 If he cannot afford two turtledoves or two young pigeons, he shall bring as his offering for the sin he has committed a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, about two quarts, as a sin offering. He shall not put oil on it or put frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.
5:12 He shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take from it his full handful as its memorial portion and turn it into smoke on the altar, on top of the offerings by fire to the LORD. It is a sin offering.
5:13 The priest shall make atonement for him for the sin he has committed in any one of these things, and he shall be forgiven. It shall belong to the priest, as does the grain offering.’”
5:14 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
5:15 “If anyone acts unfaithfully and sins unintentionally regarding the LORD’s holy things, he shall bring his reparation to the LORD, a ram without blemish from the flock, according to your valuation in shekels of silver by the sanctuary shekel, about 0.4 ounces per shekel, as a guilt offering.
5:16 He shall make restitution for what he has done wrong regarding the holy thing, add a fifth to it, and give it to the priest. The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven.
5:17 If anyone sins and does one of the things the LORD’s commandments forbid, though he does not know it, he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity.
5:18 He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock, according to your valuation, as a guilt offering. The priest shall make atonement for him for the error in which he erred without knowing it, and he shall be forgiven.
5:19 It is a guilt offering; he has surely incurred guilt against the LORD.”

Chapter 6
6:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
6:2 “If anyone sins and acts unfaithfully against the LORD by deceiving his neighbor about something entrusted to him, a pledge, or something taken by robbery, or by extorting his neighbor,
6:3 or finds something lost and denies it, swearing falsely about any of these things by which a person may sin,
6:4 when he sins and becomes guilty, he shall restore what he took by robbery, what he obtained by extortion, what was entrusted to him, or the lost thing he found,
6:5 or anything about which he swore falsely. He shall repay it in full and add a fifth to it. He shall give it to its owner on the day he brings his guilt offering.
6:6 He shall bring his reparation to the LORD, a ram without blemish from the flock according to your valuation, to the priest as a guilt offering.
6:7 The priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD, and he shall be forgiven for any of the things he may have done and incurred guilt by.”
6:8 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
6:9 “Command Aaron and his sons, saying: ‘This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall remain on the hearth on the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it.
6:10 The priest shall put on his linen garment and put linen undergarments over his flesh. He shall take up the ashes from the burnt offering that the fire has consumed on the altar and put them beside the altar.
6:11 He shall take off his garments, put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.
6:12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it morning after morning, arrange the burnt offering on it, and turn the fat of the peace offerings into smoke on it.
6:13 Fire shall be kept burning continually on the altar; it shall not go out.
6:14 This is the law of the grain offering: Aaron’s sons shall present it before the LORD, in front of the altar.
6:15 He shall take from it his handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and its oil, with all the frankincense on the grain offering, and turn it into smoke on the altar, a pleasing aroma, its memorial portion to the LORD.
6:16 Aaron and his sons shall eat what is left of it. It shall be eaten unleavened in a holy place; they shall eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.
6:17 It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion from my offerings by fire. It is most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering.
6:18 Every male among Aaron’s sons may eat it, a perpetual due throughout your generations from the offerings by fire to the LORD. Whatever touches them shall be holy.’”
6:19 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
6:20 “This is the offering of Aaron and his sons that they shall present to the LORD on the day he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, about two quarts, as a continual grain offering, half in the morning and half in the evening.
6:21 It shall be prepared with oil on a griddle. You shall bring it well mixed; you shall present the grain offering in baked pieces as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
6:22 The priest from among his sons who is anointed in his place shall prepare it. It is a perpetual due to the LORD; it shall be turned entirely into smoke.
6:23 Every grain offering of a priest shall be turned entirely into smoke; it shall not be eaten.”
6:24 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
6:25 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying: ‘This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered, the sin offering shall be slaughtered before the LORD. It is most holy.
6:26 The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.
6:27 Whatever touches its flesh shall be holy. If any of its blood splashes on a garment, you shall wash what has been splashed in a holy place.
6:28 The earthenware vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken. If it is boiled in a bronze vessel, the vessel shall be scoured and rinsed with water.
6:29 Every male among the priests may eat it. It is most holy.
6:30 But no sin offering whose blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the sanctuary shall be eaten; it shall be burned with fire.

Chapter 7
7:1 This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy.
7:2 In the place where they slaughter the burnt offering, they shall slaughter the guilt offering, and he shall dash its blood against all sides of the altar.
7:3 He shall present all its fat from it: the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails,
7:4 the two kidneys and the fat on them by the flanks, and the lobe of the liver, which he shall remove with the kidneys.
7:5 The priest shall turn them into smoke on the altar, an offering by fire to the LORD. It is a guilt offering.
7:6 Every male among the priests may eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place. It is most holy.
7:7 As with the sin offering, so with the guilt offering: there is one law for them. It shall belong to the priest who makes atonement with it.
7:8 The priest who presents anyone’s burnt offering shall have the skin of the burnt offering he has presented; it shall belong to that priest.
7:9 Every grain offering baked in an oven and every offering prepared in a pan or on a griddle shall belong to the priest who presents it.
7:10 Every grain offering, mixed with oil or dry, shall belong to all Aaron’s sons, each as much as his brother.
7:11 This is the law of the peace offering that one presents to the LORD.
7:12 If he presents it for thanksgiving, he shall present with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened cakes mixed with oil, unleavened wafers spread with oil, and cakes of well-mixed fine flour mixed with oil.
7:13 With cakes of leavened bread he shall present his offering, along with his thanksgiving peace offering.
7:14 From it he shall present one of each kind of offering as a contribution to the LORD. It shall belong to the priest who dashes the blood of the peace offerings.
7:15 The flesh of his thanksgiving peace offering shall be eaten on the day he presents it; he shall not leave any of it until morning.
7:16 But if the sacrifice he offers is for a vow or is a freewill offering, it shall be eaten on the day he presents his sacrifice, and what is left of it may also be eaten the next day.
7:17 What is left of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burned with fire.
7:18 If any of the flesh of his peace offering is eaten on the third day, it shall not be accepted, nor shall it be credited to the one who presents it. It shall be an abomination, and the person who eats any of it shall bear his iniquity.
7:19 Flesh that touches anything unclean shall not be eaten; it shall be burned with fire. As for the flesh, anyone clean may eat the flesh.
7:20 But the person who eats flesh from the peace offering that belongs to the LORD while his uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from his people.
7:21 If anyone touches anything unclean, human uncleanness, an unclean animal, or any unclean detestable thing, and eats flesh from the peace offering that belongs to the LORD, that person shall be cut off from his people.’”
7:22 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
7:23 “Speak to the Israelites, saying: ‘You shall not eat any fat of an ox, a sheep, or a goat.
7:24 The fat of an animal that dies of itself and the fat of an animal torn by beasts may be used for any work, but you shall certainly not eat it.
7:25 For whoever eats fat from an animal of which an offering by fire is presented to the LORD, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people.
7:26 You shall not eat any blood, of birds or of animals, in any of your dwellings.
7:27 Any person who eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people.’”
7:28 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
7:29 “Speak to the Israelites, saying: ‘The one who presents his peace offering to the LORD shall bring his offering to the LORD from his peace offering.
7:30 His own hands shall bring the offerings by fire to the LORD. He shall bring the fat with the breast, the breast to wave it as a wave offering before the LORD.
7:31 The priest shall turn the fat into smoke on the altar, and the breast shall belong to Aaron and his sons.
7:32 You shall give the right thigh to the priest as a raised offering from your peace offerings.
7:33 The one among Aaron’s sons who presents the blood of the peace offerings and the fat shall have the right thigh as his portion.
7:34 For I have taken the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering from the Israelites, from their peace offerings, and given them to Aaron the priest and his sons as a perpetual due from the Israelites.
7:35 This is Aaron’s consecrated portion and his sons’ consecrated portion from the offerings by fire to the LORD, on the day he brought them near to serve the LORD as priests,
7:36 which the LORD commanded to be given to them by the Israelites on the day he anointed them, a perpetual statute throughout their generations.’”
7:37 This is the law for the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the guilt offering, the ordination, and the peace offering,
7:38 which the LORD commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day he commanded the Israelites to present their offerings to the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai.

Chapter 8
8:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
8:2 “Take Aaron and his sons with him, the garments, the anointing oil, the bull of the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread,
8:3 and assemble the whole congregation at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.”
8:4 Moses did as the LORD had commanded him, and the congregation assembled at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
8:5 Moses said to the congregation, “This is what the LORD has commanded to be done.”
8:6 Moses brought Aaron and his sons near and washed them with water.
8:7 He put the tunic on him, fastened the sash around him, clothed him in the robe, and put the ephod on him. He fastened the woven band of the ephod around him and secured the ephod to him with it.
8:8 He put the breastpiece on him and placed the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece.
8:9 He put the turban on his head, and on the front of the turban he put the gold plate, the holy crown, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
8:10 Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and everything in it, and consecrated them.
8:11 He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times and anointed the altar and all its utensils, the basin and its stand, to consecrate them.
8:12 He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron’s head and anointed him to consecrate him.
8:13 Moses brought Aaron’s sons near, clothed them in tunics, fastened sashes around them, and bound caps on them, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
8:14 He brought forward the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering.
8:15 He slaughtered it, and Moses took the blood and put it with his finger on the horns all around the altar, purifying the altar. He poured the blood at the base of the altar and consecrated it to make atonement for it.
8:16 He took all the fat on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses turned them into smoke on the altar.
8:17 He burned the bull, its skin, its flesh, and its dung with fire outside the camp, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
8:18 He brought forward the ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
8:19 He slaughtered it, and Moses dashed the blood against all sides of the altar.
8:20 He cut the ram into pieces, and Moses turned the head, the pieces, and the suet into smoke.
8:21 He washed the entrails and the legs with water, and Moses turned the whole ram into smoke on the altar. It was a burnt offering for a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
8:22 He brought forward the second ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
8:23 He slaughtered it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
8:24 He brought Aaron’s sons near, and Moses put some of the blood on the lobes of their right ears, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Moses dashed the blood against all sides of the altar.
8:25 He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh.
8:26 From the basket of unleavened bread before the LORD he took one unleavened cake, one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer, and put them on the fat and on the right thigh.
8:27 He put all of it on Aaron’s palms and on the palms of his sons and waved them as a wave offering before the LORD.
8:28 Moses took them from their palms and turned them into smoke on the altar, on top of the burnt offering. They were ordination offerings for a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.
8:29 Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering before the LORD. It was Moses’ portion from the ram of ordination, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
8:30 Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him. He consecrated Aaron and his garments, and his sons and his sons’ garments with him.
8:31 Moses said to Aaron and his sons, “Boil the flesh at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and eat it there with the bread in the basket of ordination, as I commanded, saying, ‘Aaron and his sons shall eat it.’
8:32 You shall burn what is left of the flesh and the bread with fire.
8:33 You shall not go out from the entrance of the Tent of Meeting for seven days, until the day when the days of your ordination are complete, for seven days he shall ordain you.
8:34 As he has done today, the LORD has commanded it to be done, to make atonement for you.
8:35 You shall stay at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting day and night for seven days and keep the charge of the LORD, so that you do not die, for so I have been commanded.”
8:36 Aaron and his sons did everything the LORD had commanded through Moses.

Chapter 9
9:1 On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.
9:2 He said to Aaron, “Take for yourself a calf from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering, both without blemish, and present them before the LORD.
9:3 You shall say to the Israelites: ‘Take a male goat for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both a year old and without blemish, for a burnt offering,
9:4 and an ox and a ram for peace offerings to sacrifice before the LORD, and a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the LORD will appear to you.’”
9:5 They brought what Moses had commanded before the Tent of Meeting, and the whole congregation drew near and stood before the LORD.
9:6 Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded you to do, and the glory of the LORD will appear to you.”
9:7 Moses said to Aaron, “Come near the altar and prepare your sin offering and your burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people. Prepare the offering of the people and make atonement for them, as the LORD has commanded.”
9:8 Aaron came near the altar and slaughtered the calf of the sin offering for himself.
9:9 Aaron’s sons brought the blood to him. He dipped his finger in the blood and put it on the horns of the altar, and poured the blood at the base of the altar.
9:10 He turned the fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver from the sin offering into smoke on the altar, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
9:11 He burned the flesh and the skin with fire outside the camp.
9:12 He slaughtered the burnt offering, and Aaron’s sons handed him the blood. He dashed it against all sides of the altar.
9:13 They handed him the burnt offering in its pieces, with the head, and he turned them into smoke on the altar.
9:14 He washed the entrails and the legs and turned them into smoke on top of the burnt offering on the altar.
9:15 He brought forward the offering of the people. He took the goat of the sin offering for the people, slaughtered it, and offered it for sin as he had the first.
9:16 He brought forward the burnt offering and prepared it according to the prescribed rule.
9:17 He brought forward the grain offering, took a handful from it, and turned it into smoke on the altar, in addition to the morning burnt offering.
9:18 He slaughtered the ox and the ram, the peace offering for the people. Aaron’s sons handed him the blood, and he dashed it against all sides of the altar.
9:19 The fat portions were from the ox and the ram: the fat tail, the covering fat, the kidneys, and the lobe of the liver.
9:20 They put the fat portions on the breasts, and he turned the fat portions into smoke on the altar.
9:21 Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before the LORD, as Moses had commanded.
9:22 Aaron lifted his hand toward the people and blessed them. Then he came down after preparing the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings.
9:23 Moses and Aaron went into the Tent of Meeting. They came out and blessed the people, and the glory of the LORD appeared to all the people.
9:24 Fire came out from before the LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. All the people saw it, shouted for joy, and fell on their faces.

Chapter 10
10:1 Nadab and Abihu, Aaron’s sons, each took his firepan. They put fire in them and placed incense on it. They presented unauthorized fire before the LORD, which he had not commanded them.
10:2 Fire came out from before the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
10:3 Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘Among those who are near me I will be held holy, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” And Aaron was silent.
10:4 Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel, Aaron’s uncle, and said to them, “Come near and carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to outside the camp.”
10:5 They came near and carried them in their tunics outside the camp, as Moses had said.
10:6 Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, “Do not uncover your heads or tear your garments, lest you die and wrath come upon the whole congregation. But let your brothers, the whole house of Israel, weep over the burning the LORD has caused.
10:7 You shall not go out from the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, for the LORD’s anointing oil is on you.” And they did as Moses had said.
10:8 The LORD spoke to Aaron, saying,
10:9 “You and your sons with you shall drink no wine or intoxicating drink when you enter the Tent of Meeting, so that you do not die. This is a perpetual statute throughout your generations,
10:10 so that you may distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean,
10:11 and teach the Israelites all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them through Moses.”
10:12 Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his remaining sons, “Take the grain offering left from the offerings by fire to the LORD and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is most holy.
10:13 You shall eat it in a holy place, for it is your due and your sons’ due from the offerings by fire to the LORD, for so I have been commanded.
10:14 You shall eat the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering in a clean place, you and your sons and your daughters with you, for they have been given as your due and your sons’ due from the peace offerings of the Israelites.
10:15 They shall bring the thigh of the raised offering and the breast of the wave offering with the fat portions for the offerings by fire, to wave them as a wave offering before the LORD. It shall belong to you and your sons with you as a perpetual due, as the LORD has commanded.”
10:16 Moses inquired carefully about the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it had been burned. He became angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron’s remaining sons, saying,
10:17 “Why did you not eat the sin offering in the holy place? It is most holy, and he has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the LORD.
10:18 Look, its blood was not brought inside the sanctuary. You should certainly have eaten it in the sanctuary, as I commanded.”
10:19 Aaron said to Moses, “Look, today they have presented their sin offering and their burnt offering before the LORD, and things like these have happened to me. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been good in the sight of the LORD?”
10:20 Moses heard, and it was good in his sight.

Chapter 11
11:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said to them,
11:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘These are the living creatures you may eat from among all the land animals:
11:3 You may eat any animal that divides the hoof, has the hoof split in two, and brings up the cud.
11:4 But among those that bring up the cud or divide the hoof, you must not eat these: the camel, because it brings up the cud but does not divide the hoof; it is unclean to you.
11:5 The hyrax, because it brings up the cud but does not divide the hoof, is unclean to you.
11:6 The hare, because it brings up the cud but does not divide the hoof, is unclean to you.
11:7 The pig, because it divides the hoof and has the hoof split in two but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.
11:8 You must not eat their flesh or touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.
11:9 Of all that is in the water, you may eat these: anything in the water, in the seas and streams, that has fins and scales—you may eat it.
11:10 But anything in the seas and streams that does not have both fins and scales, among all the creatures swarming in the water and all the living creatures in the water, is detestable to you.
11:11 They shall be detestable to you. You must not eat their flesh, and you must regard their carcasses as detestable.
11:12 Anything in the water that does not have both fins and scales is detestable to you.
11:13 Among the flying creatures, you must regard these as detestable; they must not be eaten, for they are detestable: the eagle, the bearded vulture, and the vulture;
11:14 the kite and the falcon of every kind;
11:15 every raven of every kind;
11:16 the ostrich, the owl, the gull, and the hawk of every kind;
11:17 the little owl, the cormorant, and the great owl;
11:18 the white owl, the pelican, and the carrion vulture;
11:19 the stork, the heron of every kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
11:20 Every winged swarming creature that walks on four legs is detestable to you.
11:21 Yet among all the winged swarming creatures that walk on four legs, you may eat those that have legs above their feet with which to leap on the ground.
11:22 Of these you may eat the locust of every kind, the bald locust of every kind, the cricket of every kind, and the grasshopper of every kind.
11:23 Every winged swarming creature that has four feet is detestable to you.
11:24 By these you become unclean: whoever touches their carcasses shall be unclean until evening.
11:25 Whoever carries any part of their carcasses must wash his clothes and shall be unclean until evening.
11:26 Every animal that divides the hoof but does not have it split in two and does not bring up the cud is unclean to you. Whoever touches them shall be unclean.
11:27 Among all the animals that walk on four legs, those that walk on their paws are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcasses shall be unclean until evening.
11:28 Whoever carries their carcasses must wash his clothes and shall be unclean until evening. They are unclean to you.
11:29 Among the swarming creatures that swarm on the ground, these are unclean to you: the weasel, the mouse, and the large lizard of every kind;
11:30 the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the sand lizard, and the chameleon.
11:31 These are unclean to you among all the swarming creatures. Whoever touches them when they are dead shall be unclean until evening.
11:32 Anything on which one of them falls when it is dead shall be unclean, whether a wooden utensil, a garment, a skin, sackcloth, or any article used for work. It must be put in water and shall be unclean until evening; then it shall be clean.
11:33 If one of them falls into an earthenware vessel, everything inside it shall be unclean, and you must break the vessel.
11:34 Any food that may be eaten, on which water comes, shall be unclean, and anything that may be drunk in any such vessel shall be unclean.
11:35 Anything on which any part of their carcasses falls shall be unclean. An oven or a cooking hearth must be demolished; they are unclean and shall be unclean to you.
11:36 But a spring or a cistern that collects water shall remain clean, though whoever touches their carcasses shall be unclean.
11:37 If any part of their carcasses falls on seed to be sown, it is clean.
11:38 But if water has been put on the seed and any part of their carcasses falls on it, it is unclean to you.
11:39 If one of the animals you may eat dies, whoever touches its carcass shall be unclean until evening.
11:40 Whoever eats any of its carcass must wash his clothes and shall be unclean until evening. Whoever carries its carcass must wash his clothes and shall be unclean until evening.
11:41 Every swarming creature that swarms on the ground is detestable; it must not be eaten.
11:42 Of all the swarming creatures that swarm on the ground, you must not eat anything that goes on its belly, anything that walks on four legs, or anything with many legs, for they are detestable.
11:43 Do not make yourselves detestable by any swarming creature that swarms. Do not make yourselves unclean through them and so become unclean by them.
11:44 For I am the LORD your God. Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am holy. Do not make yourselves unclean by any swarming creature that creeps on the ground.
11:45 For I am the LORD who brings you up from the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall be holy, for I am holy.
11:46 This is the law concerning the land animals, the flying creatures, every living creature that moves in the water, and every creature that swarms on the ground,
11:47 to distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animals that may be eaten and the animals that must not be eaten.’”

Chapter 12
12:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
12:2 “Tell the Israelites, ‘When a woman conceives and gives birth to a boy, she shall be unclean for seven days; she shall be unclean as during the days of her menstrual impurity.
12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin must be circumcised.
12:4 She shall then remain in the period of her blood purification for thirty-three days. She must not touch anything holy or enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are complete.
12:5 If she gives birth to a girl, she shall be unclean for two weeks, as during her menstruation. She shall remain in the period of her blood purification for sixty-six days.
12:6 When the days of her purification are complete, whether for a son or a daughter, she must bring a year-old male lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
12:7 He shall present it before the LORD and make atonement for her, and she shall be clean from her flow of blood. This is the law for a woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl.
12:8 If she cannot afford a sheep or goat, she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’”

Chapter 13
13:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
13:2 “When someone has a swelling, a rash, or a bright spot in the skin of his body that develops into a lesion of skin disease, he must be brought to Aaron the priest or to one of his sons, the priests.
13:3 The priest shall examine the lesion in the skin of his body. If the hair in the lesion has turned white and the lesion appears deeper than the skin of his body, it is a lesion of skin disease. The priest shall examine him and declare him unclean.
13:4 But if the bright spot in the skin of his body is white, does not appear deeper than the skin, and its hair has not turned white, the priest shall isolate the affected person for seven days.
13:5 On the seventh day the priest shall examine him. If the lesion appears unchanged in his sight and has not spread in the skin, the priest shall isolate him for another seven days.
13:6 On the seventh day the priest shall examine him again. If the lesion has faded and has not spread in the skin, the priest shall declare him clean; it is a rash. He must wash his clothes, and he shall be clean.
13:7 But if the rash spreads in the skin after he has appeared before the priest for his cleansing, he must appear before the priest again.
13:8 The priest shall examine him. If the rash has spread in the skin, the priest shall declare him unclean; it is skin disease.
13:9 When someone has a lesion of skin disease, he must be brought to the priest.
13:10 The priest shall examine him. If there is a white swelling in the skin that has turned the hair white, and there is raw flesh in the swelling,
13:11 it is a longstanding skin disease in the skin of his body. The priest shall declare him unclean. He shall not isolate him, because he is unclean.
13:12 But if the skin disease breaks out in the skin and covers all the affected person's skin from head to foot, as far as the priest can see,
13:13 the priest shall examine him. If the skin disease has covered his whole body, he shall declare the affected person clean. He has turned entirely white; he is clean.
13:14 But whenever raw flesh appears on him, he shall be unclean.
13:15 The priest shall examine the raw flesh and declare him unclean. The raw flesh is unclean; it is skin disease.
13:16 Or if the raw flesh changes and turns white, he must come to the priest.
13:17 The priest shall examine him. If the lesion has turned white, the priest shall declare the affected person clean; he is clean.
13:18 When someone has a boil in the skin of his body and it heals,
13:19 but a white swelling or a reddish-white bright spot appears where the boil was, he must appear before the priest.
13:20 The priest shall examine it. If it appears lower than the skin and its hair has turned white, the priest shall declare him unclean. It is a lesion of skin disease that has broken out in the boil.
13:21 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in it, it is not lower than the skin, and it has faded, the priest shall isolate him for seven days.
13:22 If it spreads in the skin, the priest shall declare him unclean; it is a lesion.
13:23 But if the bright spot stays in its place and has not spread, it is the scar of the boil. The priest shall declare him clean.
13:24 Or when someone has a burn from fire in the skin of his body, and the raw flesh of the burn becomes a reddish-white or white bright spot,
13:25 the priest shall examine it. If the hair in the bright spot has turned white and it appears deeper than the skin, it is skin disease that has broken out in the burn. The priest shall declare him unclean; it is a lesion of skin disease.
13:26 But if the priest examines it and there is no white hair in the bright spot, it is not lower than the skin, and it has faded, the priest shall isolate him for seven days.
13:27 On the seventh day the priest shall examine him. If it spreads in the skin, the priest shall declare him unclean; it is a lesion of skin disease.
13:28 But if the bright spot stays in its place, has not spread in the skin, and has faded, it is a swelling from the burn. The priest shall declare him clean, for it is the scar of the burn.
13:29 When a man or a woman has a lesion on the head or in the beard,
13:30 the priest shall examine the lesion. If it appears deeper than the skin and has fine yellow hair in it, the priest shall declare the person unclean. It is a scaly eruption, a skin disease of the head or beard.
13:31 But if the priest examines the lesion of the scaly eruption and it does not appear deeper than the skin and has no black hair in it, the priest shall isolate the person with the scaly eruption for seven days.
13:32 On the seventh day the priest shall examine the lesion. If the scaly eruption has not spread, has no yellow hair in it, and does not appear deeper than the skin,
13:33 the person must shave, but must not shave the scaly eruption. The priest shall isolate the person with the scaly eruption for another seven days.
13:34 On the seventh day the priest shall examine the scaly eruption. If it has not spread in the skin and does not appear deeper than the skin, the priest shall declare the person clean. He must wash his clothes, and he shall be clean.
13:35 But if the scaly eruption spreads in the skin after his cleansing,
13:36 the priest shall examine him. If the scaly eruption has spread in the skin, the priest need not look for yellow hair; he is unclean.
13:37 But if the scaly eruption appears unchanged in his sight and black hair has grown in it, the scaly eruption is healed. He is clean, and the priest shall declare him clean.
13:38 When a man or a woman has bright spots in the skin of the body, white bright spots,
13:39 the priest shall examine them. If the bright spots in the skin of the body are dull white, it is a harmless eruption that has broken out in the skin; the person is clean.
13:40 If a man loses the hair on his head, he is bald; he is clean.
13:41 If he loses the hair at the front of his head, he is bald at the forehead; he is clean.
13:42 But if a reddish-white lesion appears on the bald head or bald forehead, it is skin disease breaking out on the bald head or bald forehead.
13:43 The priest shall examine him. If the swelling of the lesion on his bald head or bald forehead is reddish-white, like the appearance of skin disease in the skin of the body,
13:44 he is a man with skin disease; he is unclean. The priest must declare him unclean; his lesion is on his head.
13:45 The person with skin disease who has the lesion must wear torn clothes, leave his head uncovered, cover his upper lip, and call out, ‘Unclean! Unclean!’
13:46 He shall remain unclean as long as he has the lesion. He is unclean; he must live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.
13:47 When a patch of mold appears in a garment, whether a wool garment or a linen garment,
13:48 or in the warp or weft of linen or wool, or on a skin or anything made of leather,
13:49 and the patch in the garment, the skin, the warp, the weft, or any leather article is greenish or reddish, it is a patch of mold. It must be shown to the priest.
13:50 The priest shall examine the patch and isolate the affected article for seven days.
13:51 On the seventh day he shall examine the patch. If the patch has spread in the garment, the warp, the weft, or the leather, whatever the leather is used for, the patch is destructive mold; it is unclean.
13:52 He must burn the garment, the warp or weft of wool or linen, or any leather article that has the patch, because it is destructive mold. It must be burned in the fire.
13:53 But if the priest examines it and the patch has not spread in the garment, the warp, the weft, or any leather article,
13:54 the priest shall order them to wash the affected article and shall isolate it for another seven days.
13:55 The priest shall examine the patch after it has been washed. If the patch has not changed its color, even though it has not spread, it is unclean. You must burn it in the fire; the decay has eaten into it, whether on the back or the front.
13:56 But if the priest examines it and the patch has faded after it was washed, he must tear it out of the garment, the leather, the warp, or the weft.
13:57 If it appears again in the garment, the warp, the weft, or any leather article, it is breaking out. You must burn the affected article in the fire.
13:58 But the garment, the warp, the weft, or any leather article that you wash and from which the patch disappears must be washed a second time; then it shall be clean.
13:59 This is the law concerning a patch of mold in a wool or linen garment, in the warp or weft, or in any leather article, to declare it clean or unclean.”

Chapter 14
14:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
14:2 “This is the law for the person with skin disease on the day of his cleansing: he must be brought to the priest.
14:3 The priest shall go outside the camp and examine him. If the lesion of skin disease has healed in the affected person,
14:4 the priest shall order two live, clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to be taken for the person being cleansed.
14:5 The priest shall order one of the birds to be slaughtered over an earthenware vessel containing spring water.
14:6 He shall take the live bird, the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn, and the hyssop, and dip them, along with the live bird, in the blood of the bird slaughtered over the spring water.
14:7 He shall sprinkle the person being cleansed from skin disease seven times, declare him clean, and release the live bird into the open field.
14:8 The person being cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe in water; then he shall be clean. Afterward he may enter the camp, but he must stay outside his tent for seven days.
14:9 On the seventh day he must shave off all his hair—his head, his beard, and his eyebrows. He must shave off all his hair, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in water; then he shall be clean.
14:10 On the eighth day he must take two male lambs without blemish, one year-old ewe lamb without blemish, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, about six quarts, for a grain offering mixed with oil, and one log of oil, about a cup.
14:11 The priest who performs the cleansing shall present the man being cleansed and these offerings before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
14:12 The priest shall take one of the male lambs and present it as a guilt offering, along with the log of oil. He shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.
14:13 He shall slaughter the lamb in the place where the sin offering and the burnt offering are slaughtered, in the holy place. Like the sin offering, the guilt offering belongs to the priest; it is most holy.
14:14 The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering, and the priest shall put it on the right earlobe of the person being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
14:15 The priest shall take some of the log of oil and pour it into the palm of the priest's left hand.
14:16 The priest shall dip a finger of his right hand in the oil in his left palm and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD.
14:17 From the oil remaining in his palm, the priest shall put some on the right earlobe of the person being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, over the blood of the guilt offering.
14:18 He shall put the oil remaining in the priest's palm on the head of the person being cleansed. The priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD.
14:19 The priest shall offer the sin offering and make atonement for the person being cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward he shall slaughter the burnt offering.
14:20 The priest shall offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. The priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.
14:21 But if he is poor and cannot afford this, he must take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for him, one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour, about two quarts, mixed with oil for a grain offering, and a log of oil, about a cup,
14:22 and two turtledoves or two young pigeons, as he can afford. One shall be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.
14:23 On the eighth day he must bring them for his cleansing to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, before the LORD.
14:24 The priest shall take the lamb for the guilt offering and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD.
14:25 He shall slaughter the lamb for the guilt offering. The priest shall take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the right earlobe of the person being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
14:26 The priest shall pour some of the oil into the palm of the priest's left hand.
14:27 With a finger of his right hand, the priest shall sprinkle some of the oil in his left palm seven times before the LORD.
14:28 The priest shall put some of the oil in his palm on the right earlobe of the person being cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, on the place of the blood of the guilt offering.
14:29 He shall put the oil remaining in the priest's palm on the head of the person being cleansed, to make atonement for him before the LORD.
14:30 He shall offer one of the turtledoves or young pigeons he can afford,
14:31 whatever he can afford, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, along with the grain offering. The priest shall make atonement for the person being cleansed before the LORD.
14:32 This is the law for someone with a lesion of skin disease who cannot afford what is required for his cleansing.”
14:33 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
14:34 “When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as a possession, and I put a patch of mold in a house in the land you possess,
14:35 the owner of the house must come and tell the priest, ‘I have seen what looks like a patch in the house.’
14:36 The priest shall order the house emptied before the priest goes in to examine the patch, so that nothing in the house becomes unclean. Afterward the priest shall go in to examine the house.
14:37 He shall examine the patch. If the patch on the walls of the house has greenish or reddish hollows that appear lower than the surface of the wall,
14:38 the priest shall go out of the house to its entrance and shut up the house for seven days.
14:39 On the seventh day the priest shall return and examine it. If the patch has spread on the walls of the house,
14:40 the priest shall order them to remove the stones that have the patch and throw them outside the city into an unclean place.
14:41 He shall have the inside of the house scraped all around, and they shall dump the plaster they have scraped off outside the city into an unclean place.
14:42 They shall take other stones and put them in place of those stones. He shall take new plaster and plaster the house.
14:43 But if the patch returns and breaks out in the house after the stones have been removed, the house has been scraped, and it has been plastered,
14:44 the priest shall come and examine it. If the patch has spread in the house, it is destructive mold in the house; it is unclean.
14:45 He shall tear down the house—its stones, its timber, and all its plaster—and carry them outside the city into an unclean place.
14:46 Whoever enters the house during the time it is shut up shall be unclean until evening.
14:47 Whoever lies down in the house must wash his clothes, and whoever eats in the house must wash his clothes.
14:48 But if the priest comes and examines it and the patch has not spread in the house after it was plastered, the priest shall declare the house clean, for the patch has healed.
14:49 He shall take two birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop to purify the house.
14:50 He shall slaughter one of the birds over an earthenware vessel containing spring water.
14:51 He shall take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, dip them in the blood of the slaughtered bird and in the spring water, and sprinkle the house seven times.
14:52 He shall purify the house with the bird's blood, the spring water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.
14:53 He shall release the live bird outside the city into the open field. He shall make atonement for the house, and it shall be clean.
14:54 This is the law concerning every lesion of skin disease and every scaly eruption,
14:55 mold in a garment or a house,
14:56 a swelling, a rash, and a bright spot,
14:57 to teach when something is unclean and when it is clean. This is the law concerning skin disease and mold.”

Chapter 15
15:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, his discharge is unclean.
15:3 This is his uncleanness because of his discharge: whether his body lets the discharge flow or is blocked by it, this is his uncleanness.
15:4 Every bed on which the man with a discharge lies shall be unclean, and every article on which he sits shall be unclean.
15:5 Whoever touches his bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:6 Whoever sits on an article on which the man with a discharge has sat must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:7 Whoever touches the body of the man with a discharge must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:8 If the man with a discharge spits on someone who is clean, that person must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:9 Every saddle on which the man with a discharge rides shall be unclean.
15:10 Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening. Whoever carries those things must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:11 If the man with a discharge has not rinsed his hands in water, anyone he touches must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:12 An earthenware vessel that the man with a discharge touches must be broken, and every wooden utensil must be rinsed in water.
15:13 When the man with a discharge is cleansed of his discharge, he must count seven days for his cleansing, wash his clothes, and bathe his body in spring water; then he shall be clean.
15:14 On the eighth day he must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, come before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and give them to the priest.
15:15 The priest shall offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. The priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD because of his discharge.
15:16 When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body in water and be unclean until evening.
15:17 Every garment and every skin on which there is semen must be washed in water and shall be unclean until evening.
15:18 When a man lies with a woman and has an emission of semen, both must bathe in water and be unclean until evening.
15:19 When a woman has a discharge and the discharge from her body is blood, she shall remain in her menstrual impurity for seven days. Whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening.
15:20 Anything on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and anything on which she sits shall be unclean.
15:21 Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:22 Whoever touches any article on which she has sat must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:23 If anything is on the bed or on the article she is sitting on, whoever touches it shall be unclean until evening.
15:24 If a man lies with her and her menstrual impurity comes upon him, he shall be unclean for seven days, and every bed on which he lies shall be unclean.
15:25 If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days outside the time of her menstruation, or if her discharge continues beyond her menstruation, she shall be unclean throughout the days of her unclean discharge, as during the days of her menstruation.
15:26 Every bed on which she lies throughout the days of her discharge shall be to her like the bed of her menstruation, and every article on which she sits shall be unclean, like the uncleanness of her menstruation.
15:27 Whoever touches those things shall be unclean. He must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening.
15:28 When she is cleansed of her discharge, she must count seven days; afterward she shall be clean.
15:29 On the eighth day she must take two turtledoves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
15:30 The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. The priest shall make atonement for her before the LORD because of her unclean discharge.’
15:31 You must keep the Israelites separate from their uncleanness, so that they do not die in their uncleanness by defiling my tabernacle, which is among them.
15:32 This is the law for the man with a discharge, for the man who becomes unclean through an emission of semen,
15:33 for the woman in her menstrual impurity, for anyone with a discharge, male or female, and for the man who lies with an unclean woman.”

Chapter 16
16:1 The LORD spoke to Moses after the death of Aaron's two sons, when they drew near before the LORD and died.
16:2 The LORD said to Moses, “Tell your brother Aaron not to enter the holy place inside the veil at any time he chooses, before the mercy seat on the ark, so that he does not die. For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.
16:3 Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: a young bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
16:4 He must put on the holy linen tunic, with linen undergarments on his body. He must tie a linen sash around his waist and wrap a linen turban around his head. These are holy garments; he must bathe his body in water before putting them on.
16:5 From the congregation of the Israelites he must take two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
16:6 Aaron shall present the bull for his own sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household.
16:7 He shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.
16:8 Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the LORD and one lot for Azazel.
16:9 Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot for the LORD falls and offer it as a sin offering.
16:10 But the goat on which the lot for Azazel falls shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement over it and send it away to Azazel into the wilderness.
16:11 Aaron shall present the bull for his own sin offering and make atonement for himself and his household. He shall slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.
16:12 He shall take a censer full of burning coals from the altar before the LORD and two full handfuls of finely ground aromatic incense, and bring them inside the veil.
16:13 He shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD, so that the cloud of incense covers the mercy seat over the testimony and he does not die.
16:14 He shall take some of the bull's blood and sprinkle it with his finger on the east side of the mercy seat. In front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
16:15 He shall slaughter the goat for the people's sin offering and bring its blood inside the veil. He shall do with its blood as he did with the bull's blood, sprinkling it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat.
16:16 He shall make atonement for the holy place because of the Israelites' uncleanness, their transgressions, and all their sins. He shall do the same for the Tent of Meeting, which dwells among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
16:17 No one else may be in the Tent of Meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the holy place until he comes out. He shall make atonement for himself, his household, and the whole assembly of Israel.
16:18 He shall go out to the altar before the LORD and make atonement for it. He shall take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on the horns of the altar all around.
16:19 He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times. He shall cleanse it from the Israelites' uncleanness and consecrate it.
16:20 When he has finished making atonement for the holy place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat.
16:21 Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the Israelites' iniquities and all their transgressions, all their sins. He shall put them on the goat's head and send it away into the wilderness by a man who is ready for the task.
16:22 The goat shall carry all their iniquities on itself to an isolated region, and he shall release the goat in the wilderness.
16:23 Aaron shall enter the Tent of Meeting, take off the linen garments he put on when he entered the holy place, and leave them there.
16:24 He shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments. He shall come out and offer his burnt offering and the people's burnt offering, and make atonement for himself and the people.
16:25 He shall turn the fat of the sin offering into smoke on the altar.
16:26 The man who releases the goat for Azazel must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; afterward he may enter the camp.
16:27 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp. They shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their dung in the fire.
16:28 The man who burns them must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; afterward he may enter the camp.
16:29 This shall be a lasting statute for you: on the tenth day of the seventh month, you must humble yourselves and do no work, whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you.
16:30 For on this day he shall make atonement for you, to cleanse you. You shall be clean from all your sins before the LORD.
16:31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you must humble yourselves; it is a lasting statute.
16:32 The priest whom he anoints and ordains to serve as priest in his father's place shall make atonement. He shall put on the linen garments, the holy garments.
16:33 He shall make atonement for the holy sanctuary; he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.
16:34 This shall be a lasting statute for you, to make atonement for the Israelites because of all their sins once a year.” And he did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Chapter 17
17:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
17:2 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, and tell them, ‘This is what the LORD has commanded:
17:3 If anyone from the house of Israel slaughters an ox, a sheep, or a goat inside the camp, or slaughters one outside the camp,
17:4 and does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to present it as an offering to the LORD before the LORD's tabernacle, bloodguilt shall be charged to that man. He has shed blood, and that man shall be cut off from among his people.
17:5 This is so that the Israelites will bring their sacrifices, which they are sacrificing in the open field, and bring them to the LORD, to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and sacrifice them as peace offerings to the LORD.
17:6 The priest shall dash the blood against the LORD's altar at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting and turn the fat into smoke as a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
17:7 They must no longer offer their sacrifices to the goat demons, to which they prostitute themselves. This shall be a lasting statute for them throughout their generations.’
17:8 You must also tell them, ‘If anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners residing among them offers a burnt offering or a sacrifice
17:9 and does not bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting to offer it to the LORD, that man shall be cut off from his people.
17:10 If anyone from the house of Israel or from the foreigners residing among them eats any blood, I will set my face against the person who eats the blood and cut that person off from among his people.
17:11 For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your lives, for it is the blood that makes atonement by virtue of the life.
17:12 That is why I told the Israelites, “None of you may eat blood, and no foreigner residing among you may eat blood.”
17:13 If anyone among the Israelites or the foreigners residing among them hunts an animal or a bird that may be eaten, he must pour out its blood and cover it with earth.
17:14 For, as for the life of all flesh, its blood is its life. I told the Israelites, “You must not eat the blood of any flesh, for the life of all flesh is its blood.” Whoever eats it shall be cut off.
17:15 Anyone who eats an animal that died or was torn apart, whether native-born or a foreigner, must wash his clothes, bathe in water, and be unclean until evening; then he shall be clean.
17:16 But if he does not wash his clothes or bathe his body, he shall bear his guilt.’”

Chapter 18
18:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
18:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘I am the LORD your God.
18:3 You must not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, or as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. You must not walk in their customs.
18:4 You must carry out my ordinances and keep my statutes, walking in them. I am the LORD your God.
18:5 You must keep my statutes and my ordinances; the person who does them shall live by them. I am the LORD.
18:6 None of you may approach a close blood relative to uncover nakedness. I am the LORD.
18:7 You must not uncover your father's nakedness or your mother's nakedness. She is your mother; you must not uncover her nakedness.
18:8 You must not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife; it is your father's nakedness.
18:9 As for the nakedness of your sister, your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether born at home or born outside—you must not uncover their nakedness.
18:10 As for the nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, you must not uncover their nakedness, for theirs is your own nakedness.
18:11 As for the nakedness of the daughter of your father's wife, born to your father—she is your sister; you must not uncover her nakedness.
18:12 You must not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's close relative.
18:13 You must not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, for she is your mother's close relative.
18:14 You must not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother. You must not approach his wife; she is your aunt.
18:15 You must not uncover your daughter-in-law's nakedness. She is your son's wife; you must not uncover her nakedness.
18:16 You must not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; it is your brother's nakedness.
18:17 You must not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter. You must not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness. They are close relatives; it is wickedness.
18:18 You must not take your wife's sister to make her a rival, uncovering her nakedness while your wife is still alive.
18:19 You must not approach a woman during her menstrual impurity to uncover her nakedness.
18:20 You must not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife, defiling yourself with her.
18:21 You must not give any of your offspring to be handed over to Molech, and you must not profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
18:22 You must not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.
18:23 You must not lie with any animal and defile yourself with it, nor may a woman stand before an animal to let it mate with her. It is a perversion.
18:24 Do not defile yourselves by any of these things, for by all these things the nations I am driving out before you became unclean.
18:25 The land became unclean, so I punished it for its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
18:26 But you must keep my statutes and my ordinances and do none of these abominations, whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you.
18:27 For the people of the land who were there before you did all these abominations, and the land became unclean.
18:28 Do not let the land vomit you out when you defile it, as it vomited out the nation that was before you.
18:29 For whoever does any of these abominations—the people who do them shall be cut off from among their people.
18:30 You must keep my charge by not practicing any of the abominable customs practiced before you. Do not defile yourselves by them. I am the LORD your God.’”

Chapter 19
19:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy.
19:3 Each of you must revere his mother and father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the LORD your God.
19:4 Do not turn to idols or make gods of cast metal for yourselves. I am the LORD your God.
19:5 When you sacrifice a peace offering to the LORD, sacrifice it so that it may be accepted on your behalf.
19:6 It must be eaten on the day you sacrifice it or on the next day. Whatever remains until the third day must be burned in the fire.
19:7 If it is eaten on the third day, it is an abomination; it shall not be accepted.
19:8 Whoever eats it shall bear his guilt, because he has profaned what is holy to the LORD. That person shall be cut off from his people.
19:9 When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not reap your field to its very edge or gather the gleanings of your harvest.
19:10 You must not glean your vineyard or gather the fallen grapes of your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
19:11 You must not steal, deal falsely, or lie to one another.
19:12 You must not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the LORD.
19:13 You must not oppress your neighbor or rob him. A hired worker's wages must not remain with you until morning.
19:14 You must not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind. You must fear your God. I am the LORD.
19:15 You must not act unjustly in judgment. You must not favor the poor or show partiality to the powerful. You must judge your neighbor with righteousness.
19:16 You must not go about slandering among your people or endanger your neighbor's life. I am the LORD.
19:17 You must not hate your brother in your heart. You must surely rebuke your neighbor and not incur sin because of him.
19:18 You must not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the members of your people. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
19:19 You must keep my statutes. You must not breed your livestock with a different kind. You must not sow your field with two kinds of seed or wear a garment woven from mixed threads.
19:20 When a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave pledged to another man, but she has not been redeemed or given her freedom, there shall be punishment. They must not be put to death, because she has not been freed.
19:21 He must bring his guilt offering to the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, a ram for a guilt offering.
19:22 With the ram of the guilt offering, the priest shall make atonement for him before the LORD for the sin he committed, and he shall be forgiven for the sin he committed.
19:23 When you enter the land and plant any tree for food, you must regard its fruit as uncircumcised. For three years it shall be uncircumcised to you; it must not be eaten.
19:24 In the fourth year all its fruit shall be holy, for praising the LORD.
19:25 In the fifth year you may eat its fruit, so that its yield may increase for you. I am the LORD your God.
19:26 You must not eat anything with the blood. You must not practice divination or interpret omens.
19:27 You must not round off the edges of your heads or mar the edges of your beard.
19:28 You must not make cuts in your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.
19:29 Do not profane your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land does not prostitute itself and become full of wickedness.
19:30 You must keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary. I am the LORD.
19:31 Do not turn to mediums or spiritists; do not seek them out and defile yourselves through them. I am the LORD your God.
19:32 You must rise in the presence of the gray-haired and honor the elderly. You must fear your God. I am the LORD.
19:33 When a foreigner resides with you in your land, you must not mistreat him.
19:34 The foreigner residing among you shall be to you like a native-born person among you. You shall love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
19:35 You must not act unjustly in judgment, in measuring length, in weight, or in measuring capacity.
19:36 You must have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah for dry measure, and an honest hin for liquid measure. I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
19:37 You must keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and carry them out. I am the LORD.’”

Chapter 20
20:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
20:2 “You must tell the Israelites, ‘Any Israelite or foreigner residing in Israel who gives any of his offspring to Molech must surely be put to death. The people of the land must stone him.
20:3 I myself will set my face against that man and cut him off from among his people, because he has given some of his offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name.
20:4 But if the people of the land close their eyes to that man when he gives some of his offspring to Molech, so as not to put him to death,
20:5 I myself will set my face against that man and his family. I will cut him off, along with all who prostitute themselves by following him in prostituting themselves to Molech, from among their people.
20:6 If a person turns to mediums or spiritists, prostituting himself by following them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from among his people.
20:7 Consecrate yourselves and be holy, for I am the LORD your God.
20:8 You must keep my statutes and carry them out. I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
20:9 Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother; his blood shall be upon him.
20:10 If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, if he commits adultery with his neighbor's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress must surely be put to death.
20:11 If a man lies with his father's wife, he has uncovered his father's nakedness. Both must surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
20:12 If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both must surely be put to death. They have committed a perversion; their blood shall be upon them.
20:13 If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both have committed an abomination. They must surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
20:14 If a man takes a woman and her mother, it is wickedness. They must burn him and the women in the fire, so that there is no wickedness among you.
20:15 If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must surely be put to death, and you must kill the animal.
20:16 If a woman approaches any animal to let it mate with her, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them.
20:17 If a man takes his sister, his father's daughter or his mother's daughter, and he sees her nakedness and she sees his nakedness, it is a disgrace. They shall be cut off in the sight of the members of their people. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness; he shall bear his guilt.
20:18 If a man lies with a woman during her menstruation and uncovers her nakedness, he has laid bare her fountain, and she has uncovered the fountain of her blood. Both shall be cut off from among their people.
20:19 You must not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister or your father's sister, for he has laid bare his close relative; they shall bear their guilt.
20:20 If a man lies with his uncle's wife, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness. They shall bear their sin; they shall die childless.
20:21 If a man takes his brother's wife, it is impurity. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they shall be childless.
20:22 You must keep all my statutes and all my ordinances and carry them out, so that the land where I am bringing you to live does not vomit you out.
20:23 You must not walk in the customs of the nation I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and I abhorred them.
20:24 I have told you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
20:25 You must distinguish between clean and unclean animals, and between unclean and clean birds. Do not make yourselves detestable by animals, birds, or anything that creeps on the ground, which I have set apart as unclean for you.
20:26 You shall be holy to me, for I, the LORD, am holy. I have separated you from the peoples to be mine.
20:27 If a man or a woman is a medium or spiritist, they must surely be put to death. They must stone them; their blood shall be upon them.’”

Chapter 21
21:1 The LORD said to Moses, “Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and tell them, ‘No priest may make himself unclean for a dead person among his people,
21:2 except for a close relative: his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, or his brother,
21:3 or his virgin sister who is close to him and has not had a husband; for her he may make himself unclean.
21:4 As a husband among his people, he must not make himself unclean and so profane himself.
21:5 They must not make bald patches on their heads, shave the edges of their beards, or make cuts in their bodies.
21:6 They shall be holy to their God and must not profane the name of their God, for they present the LORD's offerings by fire, the food of their God; therefore they shall be holy.
21:7 They must not marry a prostitute or a woman who has been profaned, nor may they marry a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy to his God.
21:8 You must regard him as holy, for he presents the food of your God. He shall be holy to you, for I, the LORD who sanctifies you, am holy.
21:9 If a priest's daughter profanes herself by prostitution, she profanes her father; she must be burned in the fire.
21:10 The high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been ordained to wear the garments, must not uncover his head or tear his garments.
21:11 He must not enter where there is any dead body, nor may he make himself unclean for his father or his mother.
21:12 He must not leave the sanctuary or profane the sanctuary of his God, for the consecration of his God's anointing oil is upon him. I am the LORD.
21:13 He must take a wife in her virginity.
21:14 He must not take a widow, a divorced woman, a woman who has been profaned, or a prostitute. He must take a virgin from his people as his wife,
21:15 so that he does not profane his offspring among his people, for I am the LORD who sanctifies him.’”
21:16 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
21:17 “Speak to Aaron and say, ‘Throughout their generations, no man among your descendants who has a physical defect may approach to present the food of his God.
21:18 No man who has a physical defect may approach: a man who is blind or lame, has a disfigured face or an overlong limb,
21:19 a man with a broken foot or a broken hand,
21:20 or one who is hunchbacked or undersized, or has cloudiness in his eye, itching sores, scaly skin, or a damaged testicle.
21:21 No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest who has a physical defect may approach to present the LORD's offerings by fire. He has a physical defect; he must not approach to present the food of his God.
21:22 He may eat the food of his God, both the most holy things and the holy things.
21:23 But he must not come to the veil or approach the altar, because he has a physical defect, so that he does not profane my holy places, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”
21:24 Moses spoke to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites.

Chapter 22
22:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
22:2 “Speak to Aaron and his sons, so that they keep themselves apart from the holy things the Israelites consecrate to me and do not profane my holy name. I am the LORD.
22:3 Tell them, ‘Throughout your generations, any man among your descendants who approaches the holy things the Israelites consecrate to the LORD while his uncleanness is upon him shall be cut off from my presence. I am the LORD.
22:4 No man among Aaron's descendants who has skin disease or a discharge may eat the holy things until he is clean. Nor may anyone who touches something made unclean by a dead person, or a man who has an emission of semen,
22:5 or a man who touches a swarming creature that makes him unclean, or a person who makes him unclean through any uncleanness.
22:6 The person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until evening and must not eat the holy things unless he has bathed his body in water.
22:7 When the sun sets, he shall be clean; afterward he may eat the holy things, for they are his food.
22:8 He must not eat an animal that died or was torn apart and so become unclean by it. I am the LORD.
22:9 They must keep my charge, so that they do not bear sin because of it and die for profaning it. I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
22:10 No outsider may eat a holy thing. A priest's resident guest or hired worker must not eat a holy thing.
22:11 But if a priest buys a person with his own money, that person may eat of it. Those born in his household may also eat his food.
22:12 If a priest's daughter marries an outsider, she must not eat the contribution of holy things.
22:13 But if a priest's daughter becomes widowed or divorced, has no offspring, and returns to her father's house as in her youth, she may eat her father's food. No outsider may eat of it.
22:14 If a man eats a holy portion by mistake, he must restore the holy portion to the priest, adding one-fifth to it.
22:15 They must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, which they contribute to the LORD,
22:16 and so cause them to bear the guilt of an offense by eating their holy things, for I am the LORD who sanctifies them.’”
22:17 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
22:18 “Speak to Aaron, his sons, and all the Israelites, and tell them, ‘Any man from the house of Israel or from the foreigners in Israel who presents his offering, whether for any of their vows or any of their freewill offerings they present to the LORD as a burnt offering,
22:19 must present a male without blemish from the cattle, sheep, or goats for it to be accepted on your behalf.
22:20 You must not present anything that has a blemish, for it shall not be accepted on your behalf.
22:21 If a man presents a peace offering to the LORD from the herd or flock to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering, it must be without blemish to be accepted; it must have no blemish.
22:22 You must not present to the LORD an animal that is blind, has a broken bone, is mutilated, or has a running sore, itching sores, or scaly skin. You must not put any of these on the altar as an offering by fire to the LORD.
22:23 You may offer an ox, sheep, or goat with an overlong or stunted limb as a freewill offering, but it shall not be accepted for a vow.
22:24 You must not present to the LORD an animal whose testicles are bruised, crushed, torn out, or cut off. You must not do this in your land.
22:25 You must not present any of these as the food of your God even from the hand of a foreigner, for they are damaged and have a blemish. They shall not be accepted on your behalf.’”
22:26 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
22:27 “When a calf, a lamb, or a kid goat is born, it must remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day onward it may be accepted as an offering by fire to the LORD.
22:28 Whether an ox, a sheep, or a goat, you must not slaughter it and its young on the same day.
22:29 When you sacrifice a thanksgiving offering to the LORD, sacrifice it so that it may be accepted on your behalf.
22:30 It must be eaten on that day; you must leave none of it until morning. I am the LORD.
22:31 You must keep my commandments and carry them out. I am the LORD.
22:32 You must not profane my holy name, and I shall be held holy among the Israelites. I am the LORD who sanctifies you,
22:33 who brings you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD.”

Chapter 23
23:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
23:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘These are the LORD's appointed times, which you must proclaim as holy assemblies; these are my appointed times.
23:3 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy assembly. You must do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD wherever you live.
23:4 These are the LORD's appointed times, the holy assemblies you must proclaim at their appointed times:
23:5 On the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight, is the LORD's Passover.
23:6 On the fifteenth day of that month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. You must eat unleavened bread for seven days.
23:7 On the first day you shall have a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work.
23:8 For seven days you must present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the seventh day there shall be a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work.’”
23:9 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
23:10 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you and reap its harvest, you must bring the priest a sheaf from the first of your harvest.
23:11 He shall wave the sheaf before the LORD so that it may be accepted on your behalf. The priest shall wave it on the day after the Sabbath.
23:12 On the day you wave the sheaf, you must offer a year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD.
23:13 Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, about four quarts, mixed with oil, an offering by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma. Its drink offering shall be a quarter of a hin of wine, about one quart.
23:14 You must not eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until that very day, until you have brought the offering of your God. This is a lasting statute throughout your generations, wherever you live.
23:15 From the day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring the sheaf of the wave offering, you must count seven complete Sabbaths.
23:16 You must count fifty days, up to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you must present a new grain offering to the LORD.
23:17 From your dwellings you must bring two loaves for a wave offering. They must be made from two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, about four quarts, and baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD.
23:18 With the bread you must present seven year-old male lambs without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
23:19 You must offer one male goat as a sin offering and two year-old male lambs as a peace offering.
23:20 The priest shall wave them—the two lambs—together with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest.
23:21 On that very day you must proclaim a holy assembly for yourselves. You must do no ordinary work. This is a lasting statute wherever you live throughout your generations.
23:22 When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not reap your field to its very edge when harvesting or gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.’”
23:23 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
23:24 “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the first day of the seventh month you shall have a solemn rest, a memorial with trumpet blasts, a holy assembly.
23:25 You must do no ordinary work, and you must present an offering by fire to the LORD.’”
23:26 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
23:27 “Now the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. You shall have a holy assembly, humble yourselves, and present an offering by fire to the LORD.
23:28 You must do no work on that very day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God.
23:29 Whoever does not humble himself on that very day shall be cut off from his people.
23:30 Whoever does any work on that very day, I will destroy that person from among his people.
23:31 You must do no work. This is a lasting statute throughout your generations, wherever you live.
23:32 It shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, and you must humble yourselves. On the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you must keep your Sabbath.”
23:33 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
23:34 “Tell the Israelites, ‘On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Booths to the LORD for seven days.
23:35 On the first day there shall be a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work.
23:36 For seven days you must present an offering by fire to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall have a holy assembly and present an offering by fire to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you must do no ordinary work.
23:37 These are the LORD's appointed times, which you must proclaim as holy assemblies to present an offering by fire to the LORD: burnt offerings, grain offerings, sacrifices, and drink offerings, each on its proper day,
23:38 in addition to the LORD's Sabbaths, in addition to your gifts, in addition to all your vows, and in addition to all your freewill offerings that you give to the LORD.
23:39 Now on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the land's produce, you must celebrate the LORD's feast for seven days. The first day shall be a solemn rest, and the eighth day shall be a solemn rest.
23:40 On the first day you must take fruit from beautiful trees, palm branches, branches of leafy trees, and willows by the stream, and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days.
23:41 You must celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days each year. This is a lasting statute throughout your generations; you must celebrate it in the seventh month.
23:42 You must live in booths for seven days. All native-born Israelites must live in booths,
23:43 so that your generations may know that I made the Israelites live in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.’”
23:44 Moses declared the LORD's appointed times to the Israelites.

Chapter 24
24:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
24:2 “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the light, to keep a lamp burning continually.
24:3 Outside the veil of the testimony, in the Tent of Meeting, Aaron shall tend it continually before the LORD from evening to morning. This is a lasting statute throughout your generations.
24:4 He shall tend the lamps on the pure lampstand before the LORD continually.
24:5 You must take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it. Each loaf shall be made from two-tenths of an ephah, about four quarts.
24:6 You must put them in two rows, six in each row, on the pure table before the LORD.
24:7 You must put pure frankincense on each row, so that it serves as a memorial portion for the bread, an offering by fire to the LORD.
24:8 Every Sabbath he shall set it out before the LORD continually, on behalf of the Israelites, as an everlasting covenant.
24:9 It shall belong to Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is most holy to him from the LORD's offerings by fire, as a perpetual portion.”
24:10 The son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the Israelites. The Israelite woman's son and an Israelite man fought in the camp.
24:11 The Israelite woman's son blasphemed the Name and cursed, and they brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan.
24:12 They put him in custody so that the matter might be made clear to them by the LORD's word.
24:13 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
24:14 “Take the man who cursed outside the camp. All who heard him shall lay their hands on his head, and the whole congregation shall stone him.
24:15 You must tell the Israelites, ‘Anyone who curses his God shall bear his sin.
24:16 Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD must surely be put to death. The whole congregation must surely stone him. Whether a foreigner or a native, whoever blasphemes the Name must be put to death.
24:17 Whoever kills a human being must surely be put to death.
24:18 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution for it, life for life.
24:19 If a man injures his neighbor, as he has done, so it shall be done to him:
24:20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. Just as he has injured a person, so it shall be inflicted on him.
24:21 Whoever kills an animal must make restitution for it, but whoever kills a human being must be put to death.
24:22 You shall have one standard of judgment for the foreigner and the native alike, for I am the LORD your God.’”
24:23 Moses spoke to the Israelites, and they took the man who had cursed outside the camp and stoned him. The Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Chapter 25
25:1 The LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and said,
25:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land I am giving you, the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD.
25:3 For six years you must sow your field, and for six years you must prune your vineyard and gather its produce.
25:4 But in the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, a Sabbath to the LORD. You must not sow your field or prune your vineyard.
25:5 You must not reap what grows on its own from your harvest or gather the grapes of your unpruned vines. It shall be a year of solemn rest for the land.
25:6 The land's Sabbath produce shall be food for you: for you, your male slave, your female slave, your hired worker, and the resident guest living with you.
25:7 All its produce shall also be food for your livestock and the wild animals in your land.
25:8 You must count seven Sabbaths of years, seven years seven times, so that the time of the seven Sabbaths of years amounts to forty-nine years.
25:9 Then you must sound a loud horn blast on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you must sound the horn throughout your land.
25:10 You must consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you. Each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.
25:11 The fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee for you. You must not sow, reap what grows on its own, or gather the grapes of its unpruned vines.
25:12 For it is a Jubilee; it shall be holy to you. You may eat its produce from the field.
25:13 In this year of Jubilee each of you shall return to his possession.
25:14 When you sell something to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you must not wrong one another.
25:15 You must buy from your neighbor according to the number of years after the Jubilee; he shall sell to you according to the number of harvest years.
25:16 The greater the number of years, the higher you must make its purchase price; the fewer the years, the lower you must make its purchase price, for he is selling you a number of harvests.
25:17 You must not wrong one another. You must fear your God, for I am the LORD your God.
25:18 You must carry out my statutes, keep my ordinances, and carry them out; then you shall live securely in the land.
25:19 The land shall give its fruit, and you shall eat your fill and live securely in it.
25:20 If you ask, “What shall we eat in the seventh year, since we will not sow or gather our produce?”
25:21 I will command my blessing for you in the sixth year, and it shall produce a harvest for three years.
25:22 You shall sow in the eighth year and eat from the old harvest. Until the ninth year, until its produce comes in, you shall eat from the old harvest.
25:23 The land must not be sold permanently, for the land is mine. You are foreigners and residents with me.
25:24 Throughout the land you possess, you must allow the land to be redeemed.
25:25 If your brother becomes poor and sells part of his possession, his nearest redeeming relative shall come and redeem what his brother sold.
25:26 If a man has no redeeming relative but gains enough means to redeem it,
25:27 he shall calculate the years since its sale, repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and return to his possession.
25:28 But if he does not find enough to repay him, what he sold shall remain in the buyer's hand until the year of Jubilee. In the Jubilee it shall be released, and he shall return to his possession.
25:29 If a man sells a dwelling in a walled city, he shall have the right to redeem it until a year from its sale is complete; throughout that year he may redeem it.
25:30 If it is not redeemed before a full year is complete, the house in the walled city shall belong permanently to its buyer throughout his generations. It shall not be released in the Jubilee.
25:31 But houses in villages with no surrounding wall shall be reckoned as the fields of the land. They may be redeemed and shall be released in the Jubilee.
25:32 As for the cities of the Levites, the Levites shall always have the right to redeem the houses in the cities they possess.
25:33 What a Levite may redeem—a house sold in the city of his possession—shall be released in the Jubilee, for the houses in the Levites' cities are their possession among the Israelites.
25:34 But the pastureland of their cities must not be sold, for it is their permanent possession.
25:35 If your brother becomes poor and his resources fail while he is with you, you must support him. He shall live with you as a foreigner and resident.
25:36 Do not take interest or an added return from him. Fear your God, so that your brother may live with you.
25:37 You must not lend him your money at interest or your food at a profit.
25:38 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.
25:39 If your brother becomes poor while he is with you and is sold to you, you must not make him do the work of a slave.
25:40 He shall be with you like a hired worker, like a resident guest; he shall work with you until the year of Jubilee.
25:41 Then he shall leave you, he and his children with him. He shall return to his family and return to the possession of his ancestors.
25:42 For they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They must not be sold as slaves are sold.
25:43 You must not rule over him ruthlessly. You must fear your God.
25:44 Your male and female slaves whom you may have shall come from the nations around you; from them you may buy male and female slaves.
25:45 You may also buy from among the children of the residents living with you and from their families who are with you, whom they have fathered in your land. They shall be your possession.
25:46 You may pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you, to possess as property; you may keep them as slaves forever. But as for your brothers, the Israelites, none of you may rule ruthlessly over his brother.
25:47 If a resident foreigner with you gains means and your brother becomes poor beside him and is sold to the resident foreigner with you, or to a member of the foreigner's family,
25:48 he shall have the right to be redeemed after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him,
25:49 or his uncle or his uncle's son may redeem him, or a close blood relative from his family may redeem him. Or, if he gains the means, he may redeem himself.
25:50 He shall calculate with his buyer from the year he was sold to him until the year of Jubilee. His sale price shall be based on the number of years; his time with him shall be reckoned as that of a hired worker.
25:51 If many years remain, he shall pay his redemption price in proportion to them out of the money paid for him.
25:52 If few years remain until the year of Jubilee, he shall calculate with him and pay his redemption price according to his years.
25:53 He shall be with him like a worker hired year by year. He must not rule over him ruthlessly in your sight.
25:54 If he is not redeemed by these means, he shall go free in the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.
25:55 For the Israelites are servants to me; they are my servants, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.

Chapter 26
26:1 You must not make idols for yourselves or set up a carved image or a sacred pillar for yourselves. You must not place a stone with a carved image in your land to bow down before it, for I am the LORD your God.
26:2 You must keep my Sabbaths and revere my sanctuary. I am the LORD.
26:3 If you walk in my statutes, keep my commandments, and carry them out,
26:4 I will give you your rains in their season. The land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall give their fruit.
26:5 Your threshing shall last until the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last until sowing time. You shall eat your bread to the full and live securely in your land.
26:6 I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down with no one to frighten you. I will rid the land of harmful wild animals, and no sword shall pass through your land.
26:7 You shall pursue your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
26:8 Five of you shall pursue a hundred, and a hundred of you shall pursue ten thousand. Your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.
26:9 I will turn toward you, make you fruitful, multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
26:10 You shall eat produce from old stores, and clear the old away to make room for the new.
26:11 I will set my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you.
26:12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people.
26:13 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk upright.
26:14 But if you do not listen to me and do not carry out all these commandments,
26:15 if you reject my statutes and your soul abhors my ordinances, so that you do not carry out all my commandments and so break my covenant,
26:16 then I, too, will do this to you: I will appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and drain life. You shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.
26:17 I will set my face against you, and you shall be defeated before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee with no one pursuing you.
26:18 If, despite these things, you still do not listen to me, I will go on disciplining you sevenfold for your sins.
26:19 I will break the pride of your strength. I will make your skies like iron and your earth like bronze.
26:20 Your strength shall be spent in vain. Your land shall not yield its produce, and the trees of the land shall not give their fruit.
26:21 If you act against me in hostility and refuse to listen to me, I will add a sevenfold plague upon you according to your sins.
26:22 I will send the wild animals of the field against you. They shall bereave you of your children, destroy your livestock, and reduce your numbers, and your roads shall be deserted.
26:23 If you are not corrected by these things and still act against me in hostility,
26:24 then I myself will act against you in hostility, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins.
26:25 I will bring a sword against you to exact vengeance for the covenant. You shall gather into your cities, and I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the enemy's hand.
26:26 When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven and return your bread by weight. You shall eat but not be satisfied.
26:27 If, despite this, you do not listen to me and still act against me in hostility,
26:28 I will act against you in furious hostility, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins.
26:29 You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters you shall eat.
26:30 I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and put your carcasses upon the carcasses of your idols. My soul shall abhor you.
26:31 I will make your cities a ruin and desolate your sanctuaries. I will not smell your pleasing aromas.
26:32 I myself will desolate the land, and your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it.
26:33 I will scatter you among the nations and draw a sword after you. Your land shall be desolate, and your cities shall be a ruin.
26:34 Then the land shall enjoy its Sabbaths throughout the days of its desolation, while you are in the land of your enemies. Then the land shall rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.
26:35 Throughout the days of its desolation it shall rest, because it did not rest during your Sabbaths when you lived on it.
26:36 As for those of you who remain, I will bring faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. The sound of a windblown leaf shall pursue them. They shall flee as from a sword and fall, though no one pursues.
26:37 They shall stumble over one another as before a sword, though no one pursues. You shall have no strength to stand before your enemies.
26:38 You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall devour you.
26:39 Those of you who remain shall waste away in their iniquity in the lands of their enemies. They shall also waste away with them in the iniquities of their ancestors.
26:40 If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their ancestors, their unfaithfulness in which they were unfaithful to me, and also that they acted against me in hostility
26:41 (I will also have acted against them in hostility and brought them into the land of their enemies), or if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled and they accept the punishment of their iniquity,
26:42 then I will remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac. I will also remember my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.
26:43 The land shall be abandoned by them and enjoy its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They shall accept the punishment of their iniquity precisely because they rejected my ordinances and their soul abhorred my statutes.
26:44 Yet even with all this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely and break my covenant with them, for I am the LORD their God.
26:45 For their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, to be their God. I am the LORD.’”
26:46 These are the statutes, ordinances, and laws that the LORD established between himself and the Israelites on Mount Sinai through Moses.

Chapter 27
27:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
27:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When a man makes a special vow concerning persons to the LORD according to your valuation,
27:3 your valuation of a male from twenty to sixty years old shall be about twenty ounces of silver, according to the sanctuary weight.
27:4 If it is a female, your valuation shall be about twelve ounces of silver.
27:5 From five to twenty years old, your valuation for a male shall be about eight ounces of silver, and for a female about four ounces.
27:6 From one month to five years old, your valuation for a male shall be about two ounces of silver, and your valuation for a female about 1.2 ounces of silver.
27:7 From sixty years old and upward, if it is a male, your valuation shall be about six ounces of silver, and for a female about four ounces.
27:8 But if he is too poor to meet your valuation, he shall be presented before the priest. The priest shall value him according to the means of the one who made the vow.
27:9 If it is an animal of a kind that may be presented as an offering to the LORD, any such animal given to the LORD shall be holy.
27:10 He must not exchange it or substitute another for it, a good one for a bad one or a bad one for a good one. If he does substitute one animal for another, both it and its substitute shall be holy.
27:11 If it is any unclean animal, of a kind that may not be presented as an offering to the LORD, he shall present the animal before the priest.
27:12 The priest shall value it, whether good or bad. As you, the priest, value it, so it shall be.
27:13 If he redeems it, he shall add twenty percent to your valuation.
27:14 If a man consecrates his house as holy to the LORD, the priest shall value it, whether good or bad. As the priest values it, so it shall stand.
27:15 If the one who consecrated his house redeems it, he shall add twenty percent to the amount of your valuation, and it shall be his.
27:16 If a man consecrates to the LORD part of the field he possesses, your valuation shall be according to the seed needed to sow it: about twenty ounces of silver for land sown with about five bushels of barley seed.
27:17 If he consecrates his field from the year of Jubilee, your valuation shall stand.
27:18 But if he consecrates his field after the Jubilee, the priest shall calculate the amount for him according to the years remaining until the year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted from your valuation.
27:19 If the one who consecrated the field redeems it, he shall add twenty percent to the amount of your valuation, and it shall be secured to him.
27:20 If he does not redeem the field, and if he sells the field to another man, it shall no longer be redeemed.
27:21 When the field is released in the Jubilee, it shall be holy to the LORD, like a field irrevocably devoted to him. It shall become the priest's possession.
27:22 If he consecrates to the LORD a field he has purchased, which is not part of the field of his hereditary possession,
27:23 the priest shall calculate for him the amount of the valuation until the year of Jubilee. That day he shall give the amount of your valuation as holy to the LORD.
27:24 In the year of Jubilee, the field shall return to the one from whom he bought it, to whom the hereditary possession of the land belongs.
27:25 All your valuations shall follow the sanctuary shekel, a weight of about 0.4 ounces; twenty gerahs make one shekel.
27:26 But no one may consecrate a firstborn animal that already belongs to the LORD by birth. Whether an ox or a sheep or goat, it belongs to the LORD.
27:27 If it is an unclean animal, he shall ransom it according to your valuation and add twenty percent to it. If it is not redeemed, it shall be sold according to your valuation.
27:28 But nothing a man irrevocably devotes to the LORD from anything he owns, whether a person, an animal, or the field of his possession, may be sold or redeemed. Everything irrevocably devoted is most holy to the LORD.
27:29 Any human being placed under the ban must not be ransomed; he must certainly be put to death.
27:30 Every tithe of the land, whether from the seed of the land or the fruit of the trees, belongs to the LORD. It is holy to the LORD.
27:31 If a man redeems any of his tithe, he shall add twenty percent to it.
27:32 Every tithe of the herd or flock, of all that passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to the LORD.
27:33 He must not examine whether it is good or bad or substitute another for it. If he does substitute another for it, both it and its substitute shall be holy. It must not be redeemed.’”
27:34 These are the commandments that the LORD commanded Moses for the Israelites on Mount Sinai.

NUMBERS

Chapter 1
1:1 On the first day of the second month, in the second year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, and said,
1:2 “Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites, by their clans and their ancestral households, counting the names of every male one by one.
1:3 You and Aaron shall register all in Israel from twenty years old and upward who are able to go out to war, by their divisions.
1:4 One man from each tribe shall be with you, each the head of his ancestral household.
1:5 These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: from Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;
1:6 from Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;
1:7 from Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;
1:8 from Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;
1:9 from Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;
1:10 from the sons of Joseph: from Ephraim, Elishama son of Ammihud; from Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;
1:11 from Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;
1:12 from Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;
1:13 from Asher, Pagiel son of Ocran;
1:14 from Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;
1:15 from Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan.
1:16 These are the men called from the congregation, leaders of their ancestral tribes; they are the heads of the thousands of Israel.”
1:17 Moses and Aaron took these men who had been designated by name.
1:18 They assembled the whole congregation on the first day of the second month, and the men declared their lineage by their clans and their ancestral households, according to the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, one by one.
1:19 As the LORD had commanded Moses, he registered them in the wilderness of Sinai.
1:20 Of the descendants of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, counting names one by one, every male twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:21 those registered from the tribe of Reuben were forty-six thousand five hundred.
1:22 Of the descendants of Simeon, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, their registered men by the count of names, one by one, every male twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:23 those registered from the tribe of Simeon were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
1:24 Of the descendants of Gad, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:25 those registered from the tribe of Gad were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
1:26 Of the descendants of Judah, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:27 those registered from the tribe of Judah were seventy-four thousand six hundred.
1:28 Of the descendants of Issachar, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:29 those registered from the tribe of Issachar were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
1:30 Of the descendants of Zebulun, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:31 those registered from the tribe of Zebulun were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
1:32 Of the sons of Joseph, of the descendants of Ephraim, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:33 those registered from the tribe of Ephraim were forty thousand five hundred.
1:34 Of the descendants of Manasseh, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:35 those registered from the tribe of Manasseh were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
1:36 Of the descendants of Benjamin, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:37 those registered from the tribe of Benjamin were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
1:38 Of the descendants of Dan, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:39 those registered from the tribe of Dan were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
1:40 Of the descendants of Asher, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war,
1:41 those registered from the tribe of Asher were forty-one thousand five hundred.
1:42 The descendants of Naphtali, according to their lines of descent, their clans, and their ancestral households, by the count of names, from twenty years old and upward, all who could go out to war—
1:43 those registered from the tribe of Naphtali were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
1:44 These were the men registered by Moses and Aaron together with the leaders of Israel, who were twelve men, one for each ancestral household.
1:45 All the Israelites registered by their ancestral households, from twenty years old and upward, all in Israel who could go out to war,
1:46 all those registered were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.
1:47 But the Levites, according to their ancestral tribe, were not registered among them.
1:48 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
1:49 “You must not register the tribe of Levi or take their census among the Israelites.
1:50 But appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of the Testimony, all its furnishings, and everything belonging to it. They shall carry the tabernacle and all its furnishings, attend to it, and camp around the tabernacle.
1:51 When the tabernacle sets out, the Levites shall take it down; when the tabernacle camps, the Levites shall set it up. Any unauthorized person who comes near must be put to death.
1:52 The Israelites shall camp, each in his own camp and each by his own standard, according to their divisions.
1:53 But the Levites shall camp around the tabernacle of the Testimony, so that wrath does not fall on the congregation of the Israelites. The Levites shall keep charge of the tabernacle of the Testimony.”
1:54 The Israelites did according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses; so they did.

Chapter 2
2:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
2:2 “The Israelites shall camp, each by his own standard, with the emblems of their ancestral households. They shall camp at a distance around the Tent of Meeting.
2:3 The camp of Judah shall camp on the east, toward the sunrise, under its standard, by their divisions. The leader of the descendants of Judah shall be Nahshon son of Amminadab.
2:4 His army, according to those registered, is seventy-four thousand six hundred.
2:5 The tribe of Issachar shall camp beside him. The leader of the descendants of Issachar shall be Nethanel son of Zuar.
2:6 His army, according to those registered, is fifty-four thousand four hundred.
2:7 Then the tribe of Zebulun. The leader of the descendants of Zebulun shall be Eliab son of Helon.
2:8 His army, according to those registered, is fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
2:9 All those registered in the camp of Judah are one hundred eighty-six thousand four hundred, by their divisions. They shall set out first.
2:10 The standard of the camp of Reuben shall be on the south, by their divisions. The leader of the descendants of Reuben shall be Elizur son of Shedeur.
2:11 His army, according to those registered, is forty-six thousand five hundred.
2:12 The tribe of Simeon shall camp beside him. The leader of the descendants of Simeon shall be Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.
2:13 His army, according to those registered, is fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
2:14 Then the tribe of Gad. The leader of the descendants of Gad shall be Eliasaph son of Reuel.
2:15 His army, according to those registered, is forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
2:16 All those registered in the camp of Reuben are one hundred fifty-one thousand four hundred fifty, by their divisions. They shall set out second.
2:17 Then the Tent of Meeting shall set out, with the camp of the Levites, in the midst of the camps. As they camp, so they shall set out, each in his place, by their standards.
2:18 The standard of the camp of Ephraim shall be on the west, by their divisions. The leader of the descendants of Ephraim shall be Elishama son of Ammihud.
2:19 His army, according to those registered, is forty thousand five hundred.
2:20 Beside him shall be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader of the descendants of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
2:21 His army, according to those registered, is thirty-two thousand two hundred.
2:22 Then the tribe of Benjamin. The leader of the descendants of Benjamin shall be Abidan son of Gideoni.
2:23 His army, according to those registered, is thirty-five thousand four hundred.
2:24 All those registered in the camp of Ephraim are one hundred eight thousand one hundred, by their divisions. They shall set out third.
2:25 The standard of the camp of Dan shall be on the north, by their divisions. The leader of the descendants of Dan shall be Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
2:26 His army, according to those registered, is sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
2:27 The tribe of Asher shall camp beside him. The leader of the descendants of Asher shall be Pagiel son of Ocran.
2:28 His army, according to those registered, is forty-one thousand five hundred.
2:29 Then the tribe of Naphtali. The leader of the descendants of Naphtali shall be Ahira son of Enan.
2:30 His army, according to those registered, is fifty-three thousand four hundred.
2:31 All those registered in the camp of Dan are one hundred fifty-seven thousand six hundred. They shall set out last, by their standards.”
2:32 These were the Israelites registered by their ancestral households. All those registered in the camps, by their divisions, were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.
2:33 But the Levites were not registered among the Israelites, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
2:34 The Israelites did according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses. So they camped by their standards and so they set out, each by his clans and his ancestral household.

Chapter 3
3:1 This is the family record of Aaron and Moses at the time when the LORD spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.
3:2 These are the names of Aaron's sons: Nadab the firstborn, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
3:3 These are the names of Aaron's sons, the anointed priests, who were ordained to serve as priests.
3:4 But Nadab and Abihu died before the LORD when they presented unauthorized fire before the LORD in the wilderness of Sinai. They had no sons, and Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests in the presence of Aaron their father.
3:5 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
3:6 “Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them before Aaron the priest, so that they may serve him.
3:7 They shall keep his charge and the charge of the whole congregation before the Tent of Meeting, to perform the service of the tabernacle.
3:8 They shall care for all the furnishings of the Tent of Meeting and keep the charge of the Israelites, to perform the service of the tabernacle.
3:9 You shall give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. They are wholly given to him from among the Israelites.
3:10 You shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood. Any unauthorized person who comes near must be put to death.”
3:11 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
3:12 “Look, I myself have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of every firstborn who opens the womb among the Israelites. The Levites shall be mine.
3:13 For every firstborn is mine. On the day I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated to myself every firstborn in Israel, both human and animal. They shall be mine. I am the LORD.”
3:14 The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai and said,
3:15 “Register the descendants of Levi by their ancestral households and their clans. You shall register every male one month old and upward.”
3:16 Moses registered them at the LORD's command, as he had been commanded.
3:17 These were the sons of Levi by their names: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
3:18 These are the names of Gershon's sons by their clans: Libni and Shimei.
3:19 The sons of Kohath by their clans were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
3:20 The sons of Merari by their clans were Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites by their ancestral households.
3:21 From Gershon came the clan of the Libnites and the clan of the Shimeites. These are the clans of the Gershonites.
3:22 Those registered from them, counting every male one month old and upward—their registered number was seven thousand five hundred.
3:23 The clans of the Gershonites were to camp behind the tabernacle, on the west.
3:24 The leader of the ancestral household of the Gershonites was Eliasaph son of Lael.
3:25 The descendants of Gershon had charge of these things at the Tent of Meeting: the tabernacle, the tent, its covering, and the screen at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting,
3:26 the hangings of the courtyard, the screen at the entrance to the courtyard surrounding the tabernacle and the altar, and its cords, for all its service.
3:27 From Kohath came the clan of the Amramites, the clan of the Izharites, the clan of the Hebronites, and the clan of the Uzzielites. These are the clans of the Kohathites.
3:28 Counting every male one month old and upward, there were eight thousand six hundred, keeping charge of the sanctuary.
3:29 The clans of the descendants of Kohath were to camp on the south side of the tabernacle.
3:30 The leader of the ancestral household of the Kohathite clans was Elizaphan son of Uzziel.
3:31 They had charge of the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the sanctuary furnishings used in service, the screen, and all its service.
3:32 The leader over the leaders of the Levites was Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He had oversight of those keeping charge of the sanctuary.
3:33 From Merari came the clan of the Mahlites and the clan of the Mushites. These are the clans of Merari.
3:34 Those registered from them, counting every male one month old and upward, were six thousand two hundred.
3:35 The leader of the ancestral household of the clans of Merari was Zuriel son of Abihail. They were to camp on the north side of the tabernacle.
3:36 The descendants of Merari were assigned charge of the frames of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its bases, all its furnishings, and all its service,
3:37 and the pillars around the courtyard, their bases, their pegs, and their cords.
3:38 Those camping in front of the tabernacle on the east, before the Tent of Meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, keeping charge of the sanctuary on behalf of the Israelites. Any unauthorized person who came near was to be put to death.
3:39 All the Levites whom Moses and Aaron registered at the LORD's command, by their clans, every male one month old and upward, were twenty-two thousand.
3:40 The LORD said to Moses, “Register every firstborn male among the Israelites one month old and upward, and count their names.
3:41 Take the Levites for me—I am the LORD—in place of every firstborn among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites in place of every firstborn among the livestock of the Israelites.”
3:42 Moses registered every firstborn among the Israelites, as the LORD had commanded him.
3:43 All the firstborn males one month old and upward, counted by name in their registration, were twenty-two thousand two hundred seventy-three.
3:44 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
3:45 “Take the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites, and the livestock of the Levites in place of their livestock. The Levites shall be mine. I am the LORD.
3:46 For the redemption of the two hundred seventy-three firstborn of the Israelites who exceed the number of the Levites,
3:47 you shall take about two ounces of silver per person. You shall take it according to the sanctuary shekel; the shekel is twenty gerahs.
3:48 Give the silver to Aaron and his sons as the redemption price for those in excess.”
3:49 Moses took the redemption silver from those who exceeded the number redeemed by the Levites.
3:50 He took the silver from the firstborn of the Israelites, about thirty-four pounds according to the sanctuary weight.
3:51 Moses gave the redemption silver to Aaron and his sons at the LORD's command, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Chapter 4
4:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
4:2 “Take a census of the descendants of Kohath from among the descendants of Levi, by their clans and their ancestral households,
4:3 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who enter the service company to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.
4:4 This is the service of the descendants of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting: the most holy things.
4:5 When the camp sets out, Aaron and his sons shall go in, take down the screening veil, and cover the ark of the Testimony with it.
4:6 They shall put a covering of fine leather over it, spread a cloth entirely of blue over that, and put its poles in place.
4:7 Over the table of the Presence they shall spread a blue cloth and put on it the dishes, the ladles, the bowls, and the pitchers for the drink offerings. The regular bread shall remain on it.
4:8 They shall spread a scarlet cloth over them, cover it with a covering of fine leather, and put its poles in place.
4:9 They shall take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand for the light, its lamps, its tongs, its trays, and all the oil vessels used in its service.
4:10 They shall put it and all its furnishings into a covering of fine leather and put it on a carrying bar.
4:11 Over the gold altar they shall spread a blue cloth, cover it with a covering of fine leather, and put its poles in place.
4:12 They shall take all the service utensils used in the sanctuary, put them in a blue cloth, cover them with a covering of fine leather, and put them on a carrying bar.
4:13 They shall remove the ashes from the altar and spread a purple cloth over it.
4:14 They shall put on it all the utensils used in its service: the firepans, the forks, the shovels, and the basins, all the utensils of the altar. They shall spread a covering of fine leather over it and put its poles in place.
4:15 When Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy things and all the sanctuary furnishings as the camp sets out, then the descendants of Kohath shall come to carry them. But they must not touch the holy things, or they will die. These are the loads of the descendants of Kohath in the Tent of Meeting.
4:16 Eleazar son of Aaron the priest shall have charge of the oil for the light, the fragrant incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil. He shall have oversight of the whole tabernacle and everything in it, the sanctuary and its furnishings.”
4:17 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
4:18 “Do not let the branch of the Kohathite clans be cut off from among the Levites.
4:19 Do this for them, so that they may live and not die when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in and assign each man his service and his load.
4:20 But they must not go in to look at the holy things even for an instant, or they will die.”
4:21 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
4:22 “Take a census of the descendants of Gershon also, by their ancestral households and their clans.
4:23 From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall register them, all who enter the service company to perform service in the Tent of Meeting.
4:24 This is the service of the Gershonite clans, in serving and in carrying loads:
4:25 they shall carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, its covering, the covering of fine leather above it, and the screen at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting;
4:26 the hangings of the courtyard, the screen at the entrance of the courtyard gate surrounding the tabernacle and the altar, their cords, and all the utensils of their service. They shall perform all the work that is to be done with them.
4:27 All the service of the descendants of the Gershonites shall be at the command of Aaron and his sons, all their loads and all their service. You shall assign to their care all that they must carry.
4:28 This is the service of the clans of the descendants of the Gershonites in the Tent of Meeting. Their charge shall be under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
4:29 You shall register the descendants of Merari by their clans and their ancestral households.
4:30 From thirty years old and upward to fifty years old you shall register them, all who enter the service company to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting.
4:31 This is what they are charged to carry in all their service in the Tent of Meeting: the boards of the tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, and its bases;
4:32 the pillars around the courtyard, their bases, their pegs, and their cords, with all their utensils and all their service. You shall assign by name the items they are charged to carry.
4:33 This is the service of the clans of the descendants of Merari, all their service in the Tent of Meeting, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.”
4:34 Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of the congregation registered the descendants of the Kohathites by their clans and their ancestral households,
4:35 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who entered the service company for work in the Tent of Meeting.
4:36 Those registered by their clans were two thousand seven hundred fifty.
4:37 These were those registered from the Kohathite clans, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the LORD's command through Moses.
4:38 Those registered from the descendants of Gershon by their clans and their ancestral households,
4:39 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who entered the service company for work in the Tent of Meeting,
4:40 those registered by their clans and their ancestral households were two thousand six hundred thirty.
4:41 These were those registered from the clans of the descendants of Gershon, all who served in the Tent of Meeting, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the LORD's command.
4:42 Those registered from the clans of the descendants of Merari by their clans and their ancestral households,
4:43 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who entered the service company for work in the Tent of Meeting,
4:44 those registered by their clans were three thousand two hundred.
4:45 These were those registered from the clans of the descendants of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron registered at the LORD's command through Moses.
4:46 All the Levites registered by Moses, Aaron, and the leaders of Israel, by their clans and their ancestral households,
4:47 from thirty years old and upward to fifty years old, all who came to perform the service work and the work of carrying loads in the Tent of Meeting,
4:48 those registered were eight thousand five hundred eighty.
4:49 At the LORD's command they were registered through Moses, each according to his service and his load. So they were registered as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Chapter 5
5:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
5:2 “Command the Israelites to send out of the camp everyone with a skin disease, everyone with a discharge, and everyone unclean through contact with a dead body.
5:3 You must send out both male and female. You must send them outside the camp, so that they do not defile the camps of those among whom I dwell.”
5:4 The Israelites did so and sent them outside the camp. As the LORD had spoken to Moses, so the Israelites did.
5:5 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
5:6 “Speak to the Israelites. When a man or woman commits any of the sins people commit, acting unfaithfully against the LORD, that person is guilty.
5:7 They shall confess the sin they have committed. The guilty person shall restore the full amount owed, add twenty percent to it, and give it to the one he has wronged.
5:8 If the man has no redeeming relative to whom restitution may be made, the restitution made to the LORD shall belong to the priest, besides the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for the guilty person.
5:9 Every raised offering from all the sacred gifts that the Israelites present to the priest shall belong to him.
5:10 Each man's sacred things shall be his; what a man gives to the priest shall belong to the priest.”
5:11 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
5:12 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘If any man's wife goes astray and acts unfaithfully against him,
5:13 and a man lies with her with an emission of semen, and it is hidden from her husband's eyes, and she has defiled herself in secret, with no witness against her and without her being caught;
5:14 if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself,
5:15 then the man shall bring his wife to the priest and bring her offering on her behalf: about two quarts of barley flour. He must not pour oil on it or put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of remembrance that brings iniquity to mind.
5:16 The priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the LORD.
5:17 The priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel. The priest shall also take some of the dust on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water.
5:18 The priest shall have the woman stand before the LORD, loosen the woman's hair, and put the grain offering of remembrance into her hands; it is the grain offering of jealousy. In the priest's hand shall be the bitter water that brings a curse.
5:19 The priest shall put her under oath and say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray into uncleanness while married to your husband, be free from this bitter water that brings a curse.
5:20 But if you have gone astray while married to your husband, if you have defiled yourself, and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you—”
5:21 then the priest shall put the woman under an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say to the woman, “May the LORD make you a curse and an oath among your people, when the LORD makes your thigh waste away and your belly swell.
5:22 May this water that brings a curse enter your inward parts, making your belly swell and your thigh waste away.” And the woman shall say, “Amen, amen.”
5:23 The priest shall write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water.
5:24 He shall make the woman drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and the water that brings a curse shall enter her and cause bitterness.
5:25 The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman's hand, wave the offering before the LORD, and bring it to the altar.
5:26 The priest shall take a handful from the grain offering as its memorial portion and turn it into smoke on the altar. Afterward he shall make the woman drink the water.
5:27 When he has made her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and acted unfaithfully against her husband, the water that brings a curse shall enter her and cause bitterness. Her belly shall swell, her thigh shall waste away, and the woman shall become a curse among her people.
5:28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she shall be free and shall conceive offspring.
5:29 This is the law of jealousy: when a wife goes astray while married to her husband and defiles herself,
5:30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall have the woman stand before the LORD, and the priest shall carry out this whole law for her.
5:31 The man shall be free from iniquity, but that woman shall bear her iniquity.’”

Chapter 6
6:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
6:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When a man or woman makes a special vow of Nazirite consecration, to consecrate himself to the LORD,
6:3 he must abstain from wine and intoxicating drink. He must not drink wine vinegar or vinegar made from intoxicating drink, or drink any grape juice, or eat fresh or dried grapes.
6:4 Throughout the days of his consecration, he must not eat anything produced by the grapevine, from the seeds to the skins.
6:5 Throughout the days of his vow of consecration, no razor shall pass over his head. Until the days for which he consecrates himself to the LORD are complete, he shall be holy; he shall let the hair of his head grow freely.
6:6 Throughout the days of his consecration to the LORD, he must not go near a dead body.
6:7 He must not make himself unclean for his father, his mother, his brother, or his sister when they die, because the consecration of his God is on his head.
6:8 Throughout the days of his consecration, he is holy to the LORD.
6:9 If someone dies beside him very suddenly and defiles his consecrated head, he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he shall shave it.
6:10 On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
6:11 The priest shall offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and make atonement for him because he sinned in connection with the dead body. That day he shall consecrate his head.
6:12 He shall consecrate to the LORD the days of his consecration and bring a year-old male lamb as a guilt offering. The former days shall not count, because his consecration was defiled.
6:13 This is the law of the Nazirite: when his days of consecration are complete, he shall be brought to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
6:14 He shall present his offering to the LORD: one year-old male lamb without blemish as a burnt offering, one year-old female lamb without blemish as a sin offering, and one ram without blemish as a peace offering;
6:15 also a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers spread with oil, together with their grain offering and their drink offerings.
6:16 The priest shall present them before the LORD and offer his sin offering and his burnt offering.
6:17 He shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace offerings to the LORD, together with the basket of unleavened bread. The priest shall also offer its grain offering and its drink offering.
6:18 The Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. He shall take the hair of his consecrated head and put it on the fire beneath the sacrifice of peace offerings.
6:19 The priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them in the Nazirite's hands after he has shaved off his consecrated hair.
6:20 The priest shall wave them as a wave offering before the LORD; it is holy for the priest, in addition to the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the raised offering. Afterward the Nazirite may drink wine.
6:21 This is the law of the Nazirite who makes a vow, and of his offering to the LORD for his consecration, besides what his means allow. He shall do according to the vow he makes, in keeping with the law of his consecration.’”
6:22 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
6:23 “Speak to Aaron and his sons and say, ‘This is how you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them:

6:24 “The LORD bless you and keep you;

6:25 the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;

6:26 the LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.”’
6:27 So they shall put my name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.”

Chapter 7
7:1 On the day Moses finished setting up the tabernacle, he anointed it and consecrated it, together with all its furnishings, the altar, and all its utensils. He anointed them and consecrated them.
7:2 The leaders of Israel, the heads of their ancestral households, presented offerings. They were the leaders of the tribes, the men who oversaw those registered.
7:3 They brought their offering before the LORD: six covered carts and twelve oxen, a cart for every two leaders and an ox for each one. They presented them before the tabernacle.
7:4 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
7:5 “Receive these from them for performing the service of the Tent of Meeting. Give them to the Levites, each according to his service.”
7:6 Moses received the carts and the oxen and gave them to the Levites.
7:7 He gave two carts and four oxen to the descendants of Gershon, according to their service.
7:8 He gave four carts and eight oxen to the descendants of Merari, according to their service, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.
7:9 But he gave none to the descendants of Kohath, because the service of the holy things was their charge; they were to carry them on their shoulders.
7:10 The leaders presented the dedication offering for the altar on the day it was anointed. The leaders presented their offering before the altar.
7:11 The LORD said to Moses, “They shall present their offering for the dedication of the altar, one leader each day, one leader each day.”
7:12 The one who presented his offering on the first day was Nahshon son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah.
7:13 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:14 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:15 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:16 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:17 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Nahshon son of Amminadab.
7:18 On the second day Nethanel son of Zuar, the leader of Issachar, presented his offering.
7:19 He presented as his offering one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:20 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:21 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:22 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:23 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Nethanel son of Zuar.
7:24 On the third day Eliab son of Helon, the leader of the descendants of Zebulun, presented his offering.
7:25 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:26 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:27 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:28 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:29 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Eliab son of Helon.
7:30 On the fourth day Elizur son of Shedeur, the leader of the descendants of Reuben, presented his offering.
7:31 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:32 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:33 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:34 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:35 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Elizur son of Shedeur.
7:36 On the fifth day Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, the leader of the descendants of Simeon, presented his offering.
7:37 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:38 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:39 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:40 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:41 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.
7:42 On the sixth day Eliasaph son of Deuel, the leader of the descendants of Gad, presented his offering.
7:43 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:44 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:45 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:46 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:47 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Eliasaph son of Deuel.
7:48 On the seventh day Elishama son of Ammihud, the leader of the descendants of Ephraim, presented his offering.
7:49 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:50 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:51 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:52 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:53 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Elishama son of Ammihud.
7:54 On the eighth day Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, the leader of the descendants of Manasseh, presented his offering.
7:55 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:56 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:57 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:58 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:59 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.
7:60 On the ninth day Abidan son of Gideoni, the leader of the descendants of Benjamin, presented his offering.
7:61 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:62 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:63 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:64 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:65 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Abidan son of Gideoni.
7:66 On the tenth day Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, the leader of the descendants of Dan, presented his offering.
7:67 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:68 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:69 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:70 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:71 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.
7:72 On the eleventh day Pagiel son of Ocran, the leader of the descendants of Asher, presented his offering.
7:73 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:74 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:75 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:76 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:77 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Pagiel son of Ocran.
7:78 On the twelfth day Ahira son of Enan, the leader of the descendants of Naphtali, presented his offering.
7:79 His offering was one silver dish weighing about three and a quarter pounds and one silver bowl weighing about one and three-quarter pounds, according to the sanctuary weight, both filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
7:80 one gold ladle weighing about four ounces, filled with incense;
7:81 one young bull, one ram, and one year-old male lamb for a burnt offering;
7:82 one male goat for a sin offering;
7:83 and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two head of cattle, five rams, five male goats, and five year-old male lambs. This was the offering of Ahira son of Enan.
7:84 This was the dedication offering for the altar from the leaders of Israel on the day it was anointed: twelve silver dishes, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold ladles.
7:85 Each silver dish weighed about three and a quarter pounds, and each bowl about one and three-quarter pounds. All the silver of the vessels weighed about sixty pounds, according to the sanctuary weight.
7:86 The twelve gold ladles were filled with incense, each weighing about four ounces according to the sanctuary weight. All the gold of the ladles weighed about three pounds.
7:87 All the cattle for the burnt offering were twelve bulls; the rams were twelve, and the year-old male lambs twelve, with their grain offering. There were twelve male goats for a sin offering.
7:88 All the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings were twenty-four bulls, with sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty year-old male lambs. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed.
7:89 When Moses entered the Tent of Meeting to speak with him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat on the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim. And he spoke to him.

Chapter 8
8:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
8:2 “Speak to Aaron and tell him, ‘When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light toward the front of the lampstand.’”
8:3 Aaron did so. He lit its lamps toward the front of the lampstand, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
8:4 This was the workmanship of the lampstand: hammered gold, from its base to its blossoms it was hammered work. The lampstand was made according to the pattern the LORD had shown Moses.
8:5 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
8:6 “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and cleanse them.
8:7 This is what you shall do to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification on them. They shall pass a razor over their whole body, wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.
8:8 They shall take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take a second young bull as a sin offering.
8:9 Bring the Levites before the Tent of Meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the Israelites.
8:10 Bring the Levites before the LORD, and the Israelites shall lay their hands on the Levites.
8:11 Aaron shall present the Levites as a wave offering before the LORD on behalf of the Israelites, so that they may perform the service of the LORD.
8:12 The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls. Offer one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering to the LORD, to make atonement for the Levites.
8:13 Have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and present them as a wave offering to the LORD.
8:14 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the Israelites, and the Levites shall be mine.
8:15 Afterward the Levites shall enter to serve at the Tent of Meeting. You shall have cleansed them and presented them as a wave offering.
8:16 For they are wholly given to me from among the Israelites. I have taken them for myself in place of all who first open the womb, every firstborn among the Israelites.
8:17 For every firstborn among the Israelites is mine, both human and animal. On the day I struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated them to myself.
8:18 I have taken the Levites in place of every firstborn among the Israelites.
8:19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to perform the service of the Israelites in the Tent of Meeting and make atonement for the Israelites, so that no plague comes among the Israelites when the Israelites draw near to the sanctuary.”
8:20 Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of the Israelites did to the Levites according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites. So the Israelites did to them.
8:21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes. Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.
8:22 Afterward the Levites entered to perform their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron and his sons. As the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
8:23 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
8:24 “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward, a Levite shall enter the service company for work in the Tent of Meeting.
8:25 From fifty years old, he shall retire from the service company and no longer perform the work.
8:26 He shall assist his brothers in the Tent of Meeting in keeping charge, but he must not perform the work. Thus you shall deal with the Levites regarding their duties.”

Chapter 9
9:1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out of the land of Egypt, and said,
9:2 “The Israelites shall observe the Passover at its appointed time.
9:3 On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall observe it at its appointed time. You shall observe it according to all its statutes and all its ordinances.”
9:4 Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover.
9:5 They observed the Passover in the wilderness of Sinai on the fourteenth day of the first month, at twilight. According to all that the LORD had commanded Moses, so the Israelites did.
9:6 But there were men who were unclean because of a human corpse and could not observe the Passover that day. That day they came before Moses and Aaron.
9:7 Those men said to him, “We are unclean because of a human corpse. Why should we be kept from presenting the LORD's offering at its appointed time among the Israelites?”
9:8 Moses said to them, “Wait, and I will hear what the LORD commands concerning you.”
9:9 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
9:10 “Speak to the Israelites and say, ‘If any of you or your descendants is unclean because of a corpse, or is on a distant journey, he shall observe the Passover to the LORD.
9:11 They shall observe it on the fourteenth day of the second month, at twilight. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
9:12 They must leave none of it until morning and must not break a bone of it. They shall observe it according to every statute of the Passover.
9:13 But the man who is clean and not on a journey, yet fails to observe the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD's offering at its appointed time. That man shall bear his sin.
9:14 If a foreigner resides with you and observes the Passover to the LORD, he shall do so according to the statute of the Passover and its ordinance. You shall have one statute, both for the foreigner and for the native of the land.’”
9:15 On the day the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the Testimony. From evening until morning there was the appearance of fire over the tabernacle.
9:16 So it was continually: the cloud covered it, and at night there was the appearance of fire.
9:17 Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, afterward the Israelites set out. In the place where the cloud settled, there the Israelites camped.
9:18 At the LORD's command the Israelites set out, and at the LORD's command they camped. As long as the cloud remained over the tabernacle, they stayed in camp.
9:19 When the cloud stayed over the tabernacle many days, the Israelites kept the LORD's charge and did not set out.
9:20 Sometimes the cloud remained over the tabernacle a few days. At the LORD's command they camped, and at the LORD's command they set out.
9:21 Sometimes the cloud remained from evening until morning; when the cloud lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud lifted, they set out.
9:22 Whether for two days, a month, or a year, while the cloud prolonged its stay over the tabernacle, resting above it, the Israelites stayed in camp and did not set out. But when it lifted, they set out.
9:23 At the LORD's command they camped, and at the LORD's command they set out. They kept the LORD's charge, at the LORD's command through Moses.

Chapter 10
10:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
10:2 “Make two silver trumpets for yourself; make them of hammered work. They shall serve you for summoning the congregation and for setting the camps in motion.
10:3 When they blow both of them, the whole congregation shall gather before you at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
10:4 If they blow only one, the leaders, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather before you.
10:5 When you sound an alarm blast, the camps on the east shall set out.
10:6 When you sound a second alarm blast, the camps on the south shall set out. They shall sound an alarm blast for their departures.
10:7 But when gathering the assembly, you shall blow without sounding an alarm blast.
10:8 Aaron's sons, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be a perpetual statute for you throughout your generations.
10:9 When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, sound the alarm with the trumpets. You shall be remembered before the LORD your God and be saved from your enemies.
10:10 On your day of rejoicing, at your appointed times, and at the beginnings of your months, blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and your sacrifices of peace offerings. They shall be a memorial for you before your God. I am the LORD your God.”
10:11 On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year, the cloud lifted from over the tabernacle of the Testimony.
10:12 The Israelites set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud settled in the wilderness of Paran.
10:13 They set out for the first time at the LORD's command through Moses.
10:14 The standard of the camp of the descendants of Judah set out first, by their divisions. Nahshon son of Amminadab was over its army.
10:15 Nethanel son of Zuar was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Issachar,
10:16 and Eliab son of Helon was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Zebulun.
10:17 The tabernacle was taken down, and the descendants of Gershon and Merari set out, carrying the tabernacle.
10:18 The standard of the camp of Reuben set out, by their divisions. Elizur son of Shedeur was over its army.
10:19 Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon,
10:20 and Eliasaph son of Deuel was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Gad.
10:21 The Kohathites set out, carrying the holy things. The tabernacle was set up by the time they arrived.
10:22 The standard of the camp of the descendants of Ephraim set out, by their divisions. Elishama son of Ammihud was over its army.
10:23 Gamaliel son of Pedahzur was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh,
10:24 and Abidan son of Gideoni was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin.
10:25 The standard of the camp of the descendants of Dan set out, by their divisions, as the rear guard of all the camps. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai was over its army.
10:26 Pagiel son of Ocran was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Asher,
10:27 and Ahira son of Enan was over the army of the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali.
10:28 This was the order of the Israelites' journeys by their divisions, and they set out.
10:29 Moses said to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, “We are setting out for the place of which the LORD said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do good to you, for the LORD has spoken good concerning Israel.”
10:30 He said to him, “I will not go. I will go instead to my own land and my own kindred.”
10:31 He said, “Please do not leave us, for you know how we are to camp in the wilderness, and you will be our eyes.
10:32 If you go with us, whatever good the LORD does for us, we will do for you.”
10:33 They set out from the mountain of the LORD on a three-day journey. The ark of the covenant of the LORD went before them on the three-day journey to seek out a resting place for them.
10:34 The cloud of the LORD was over them by day when they set out from the camp.

10:35 Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say,
 “Rise up, O LORD!
   Let your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate you flee before you!”
10:36 When it came to rest, he would say,
 “Return, O LORD, to the myriad thousands of Israel!”

Chapter 11
11:1 The people complained bitterly in the LORD's hearing. The LORD heard it, and his anger burned. The fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed the edge of the camp.
11:2 The people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.
11:3 That place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD had burned among them.
11:4 The rabble among them had an intense craving, and the Israelites also began weeping again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?
11:5 We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
11:6 But now our soul is dried up. There is nothing at all; our eyes see only the manna.”
11:7 The manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium.
11:8 The people went about and gathered it, ground it in mills or pounded it in a mortar, cooked it in a pot, and made cakes from it. Its taste was like that of a delicacy made with oil.
11:9 When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna came down on it.
11:10 Moses heard the people weeping by their families, each at the entrance of his tent. The LORD's anger burned fiercely, and Moses was displeased.
11:11 Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you treated your servant badly? Why have I not found favor in your eyes, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?
11:12 Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a caregiver carries a nursing child, to the land you swore to their ancestors’?
11:13 Where am I to get meat to give all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat to eat.’
11:14 I cannot carry all this people alone, for they are too heavy for me.
11:15 If this is how you will treat me, please kill me outright, if I have found favor in your eyes, and do not let me see my misery.”
11:16 The LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders of the people and their officers. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting, and let them stand there with you.
11:17 I will come down and speak with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They shall carry the burden of the people with you, so that you do not carry it alone.
11:18 Tell the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat. For you have wept in the LORD's hearing and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We were well off in Egypt!” The LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat.
11:19 You shall eat not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,
11:20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes repulsive to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
11:21 Moses said, “The people among whom I am are six hundred thousand men on foot, yet you have said, ‘I will give them meat, and they shall eat for a whole month.’
11:22 If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would that be enough for them? If all the fish of the sea were gathered for them, would that be enough for them?”
11:23 The LORD said to Moses, “Has the LORD's hand grown short? Now you shall see whether my word will come to pass for you or not.”
11:24 Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent.
11:25 The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him. He took of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy men, the elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do so again.
11:26 Two men had remained in the camp. One was named Eldad and the other Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered but had not gone out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp.
11:27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”
11:28 Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant from his youth, answered, “My lord Moses, stop them!”
11:29 Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
11:30 Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
11:31 A wind went out from the LORD and swept quail in from the sea, spreading them around the camp, about a day's journey on one side and about a day's journey on the other, all around the camp, and about three feet above the surface of the ground.
11:32 The people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, gathering the quail. The one who gathered least gathered about fifty bushels, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
11:33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the LORD's anger burned against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague.
11:34 That place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved meat.
11:35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

Chapter 12
12:1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.
12:2 They said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard it.
12:3 Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any other human being on the face of the earth.
12:4 Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, all three of you, to the Tent of Meeting.” And all three came out.
12:5 The LORD came down in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent. He called Aaron and Miriam, and both came forward.
12:6 He said, “Hear my words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.
12:7 Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house.
12:8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
12:9 The LORD's anger burned against them, and he departed.
12:10 The cloud withdrew from over the tent, and there was Miriam with a skin disease, white as snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was with the skin disease.
12:11 Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not lay this sin on us, for we have acted foolishly and we have sinned.
12:12 Do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb.”
12:13 Moses cried out to the LORD and said, “O God, please heal her, I pray!”
12:14 The LORD said to Moses, “If her father had spat in her face, would she not be ashamed for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and afterward let her be received back.”
12:15 Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam had been received back.
12:16 Afterward the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Chapter 13
13:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
13:2 “Send men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man from each ancestral tribe, each a leader among them.”
13:3 Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the LORD's command. All the men were heads of the Israelites.
13:4 These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur;
13:5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;
13:6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;
13:7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;
13:8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;
13:9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;
13:10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;
13:11 from the tribe of Joseph, from the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi son of Susi;
13:12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;
13:13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;
13:14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;
13:15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Machi.
13:16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. Moses called Hoshea son of Nun Joshua.
13:17 Moses sent them to explore the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up through the Negev and go up into the hill country.
13:18 See what the land is like, and the people who live in it: whether they are strong or weak, few or many;
13:19 what the land they live in is like, whether good or bad; and what the cities they live in are like, whether camps or fortified places;
13:20 and what the soil is like, whether rich or poor, whether there are trees in it or not. Take courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” It was the season of the first ripe grapes.
13:21 They went up and explored the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, at the entrance to Hamath.
13:22 They went up through the Negev, and Hebron was reached. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, descendants of Anak, were there. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.
13:23 They came to the valley of Eshcol and cut from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole. They also took some pomegranates and figs.
13:24 That place was called the valley of Eshcol because of the cluster the Israelites cut from there.
13:25 They returned from exploring the land at the end of forty days.
13:26 They went and came to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation of the Israelites at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They brought back a report to them and the whole congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
13:27 They told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
13:28 But the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. We also saw the descendants of Anak there.
13:29 The Amalekites live in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”
13:30 Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up and take possession of it, for we are certainly able to prevail over it!”
13:31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.”
13:32 They spread a bad report among the Israelites about the land they had explored, saying, “The land we passed through to explore is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it were men of great stature.
13:33 There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who are from the Nephilim. In our own eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes.”

Chapter 14
14:1 The whole congregation raised their voices and cried out, and the people wept that night.
14:2 All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or in this wilderness, if only we had died!
14:3 Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”
14:4 They said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”
14:5 Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before the whole assembly of the congregation of the Israelites.
14:6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes
14:7 and said to the whole congregation of the Israelites, “The land we passed through to explore is a very, very good land.
14:8 If the LORD delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
14:9 Only do not rebel against the LORD. Do not fear the people of the land, for they are our bread. Their shade has departed from them, and the LORD is with us. Do not fear them!”
14:10 The whole congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all the Israelites.
14:11 The LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? How long will they refuse to believe in me, despite all the signs I have done among them?
14:12 I will strike them with pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
14:13 Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by your power you brought this people up from among them,
14:14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, LORD, are among this people, that you, LORD, appear eye to eye, that your cloud stands over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
14:15 If you put this people to death as one man, the nations who have heard of your fame will say,
14:16 ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land he swore to them, he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’
14:17 Now, please let the power of the Lord be great, as you declared when you said,
14:18 ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, yet by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations.’
14:19 Please forgive the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your steadfast love, as you have forgiven this people from Egypt until now.”
14:20 The LORD said, “I have forgiven according to your word.
14:21 But as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
14:22 All the men who have seen my glory and my signs that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and yet have tested me these ten times and have not listened to my voice,
14:23 shall certainly not see the land I swore to their ancestors. None of those who despise me shall see it.
14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had a different spirit and followed me fully, I will bring into the land he entered, and his offspring shall possess it.
14:25 The Amalekites and the Canaanites live in the valley. Tomorrow turn and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.”
14:26 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
14:27 “How long must I bear with this evil congregation that grumbles against me? I have heard the complaints of the Israelites who grumble against me.
14:28 Tell them, ‘As I live, declares the LORD, as you have spoken in my hearing, so I will do to you.
14:29 Your corpses shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were registered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and upward, who grumbled against me.
14:30 You shall certainly not enter the land I swore with raised hand to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.
14:31 But your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, I will bring in, and they shall know the land you rejected.
14:32 As for you, your corpses shall fall in this wilderness.
14:33 Your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years and bear your unfaithfulness until your corpses are consumed in the wilderness.
14:34 According to the number of days you explored the land, forty days, a year for each day, a year for each day, you shall bear your iniquities forty years, and you shall know my opposition.
14:35 I, the LORD, have spoken. I will certainly do this to this whole evil congregation gathered against me. In this wilderness they shall come to their end, and there they shall die.’”
14:36 The men Moses had sent to explore the land, who returned and caused the whole congregation to grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land,
14:37 those men who brought out the bad report about the land died by the plague before the LORD.
14:38 But Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive from among those men who had gone to explore the land.
14:39 Moses spoke these words to all the Israelites, and the people mourned greatly.
14:40 They rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the hill, saying, “Here we are. We will go up to the place of which the LORD spoke, for we have sinned.”
14:41 Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the LORD's command? This will not succeed.
14:42 Do not go up, for the LORD is not among you, so that you will not be defeated before your enemies.
14:43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned back from following the LORD, the LORD will not be with you.”
14:44 But they presumed to go up to the top of the hill. The ark of the covenant of the LORD and Moses did not depart from the midst of the camp.
14:45 The Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down, struck them, and crushed them as far as Hormah.

Chapter 15
15:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
15:2 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land where you are to dwell, which I am giving you,
15:3 and present an offering by fire to the LORD, a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, as a freewill offering, or at your appointed times, to make a pleasing aroma to the LORD from the herd or the flock,
15:4 the one presenting his offering to the LORD shall bring a grain offering of about two quarts of fine flour mixed with about a quart of oil.
15:5 You shall prepare about a quart of wine as a drink offering with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb.
15:6 Or for a ram, prepare a grain offering of about four quarts of fine flour mixed with about a third of a gallon of oil.
15:7 You shall present about a third of a gallon of wine as a drink offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
15:8 When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a special vow, or as a peace offering to the LORD,
15:9 bring with the young bull a grain offering of about six quarts of fine flour mixed with about two quarts of oil.
15:10 You shall present about two quarts of wine as a drink offering, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
15:11 Thus it shall be done for each ox, each ram, and each animal from the sheep or goats.
15:12 According to the number you prepare, so you shall do for each one, according to their number.
15:13 Every native shall do these things in this way when presenting an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
15:14 If a foreigner resides with you, or anyone is among you throughout your generations, and presents an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, he shall do as you do.
15:15 For the assembly there shall be one statute for you and for the foreigner residing with you, a perpetual statute throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the foreigner be before the LORD.
15:16 One law and one ordinance shall be for you and for the foreigner residing with you.’”
15:17 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
15:18 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you enter the land to which I am bringing you,
15:19 and eat the bread of the land, you shall raise a raised offering to the LORD.
15:20 From the first of your dough you shall raise a cake as a raised offering; as the raised offering of the threshing floor, so you shall raise it.
15:21 From the first of your dough you shall give a raised offering to the LORD throughout your generations.
15:22 If you err unintentionally and do not carry out all these commandments that the LORD has spoken to Moses,
15:23 all that the LORD has commanded you through Moses, from the day the LORD commanded and onward throughout your generations,
15:24 if it was done unintentionally without the congregation's knowledge, the whole congregation shall offer one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma to the LORD, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the ordinance, and one male goat as a sin offering.
15:25 The priest shall make atonement for the whole congregation of the Israelites, and they shall be forgiven, for it was unintentional, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire to the LORD, and their sin offering before the LORD for their unintentional error.
15:26 The whole congregation of the Israelites and the foreigner residing among them shall be forgiven, because it was unintentional for all the people.
15:27 If one person sins unintentionally, he shall present a year-old female goat as a sin offering.
15:28 The priest shall make atonement before the LORD for the person who erred by sinning unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
15:29 You shall have one law for the one who acts unintentionally, both for the native among the Israelites and for the foreigner residing among them.
15:30 But the person who acts with a high hand, whether native or foreigner, reviles the LORD. That person shall be cut off from among his people.
15:31 Because he has despised the word of the LORD and broken his commandment, that person shall certainly be cut off; his iniquity remains on him.’”
15:32 While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.
15:33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him before Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation.
15:34 They put him in custody, because it had not been specified what should be done to him.
15:35 The LORD said to Moses, “The man must certainly be put to death. The whole congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”
15:36 The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
15:37 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
15:38 “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘You shall make tassels for yourselves on the corners of your garments throughout your generations, and put a blue cord on the tassel at each corner.
15:39 It shall be a tassel for you, so that you may look at it, remember all the LORD's commandments, and carry them out, and not seek after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you prostitute yourselves.
15:40 So you shall remember and carry out all my commandments and be holy to your God.
15:41 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the LORD your God.’”

Chapter 16
16:1 Now Korah son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, took action, along with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben.
16:2 They rose up before Moses, together with two hundred fifty men from the Israelites, leaders of the congregation, men called to the assembly, men of renown.
16:3 They assembled against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! The whole congregation, every one of them, is holy, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”
16:4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face.
16:5 He spoke to Korah and all his company and said, “In the morning the LORD will make known who belongs to him and who is holy, and bring him near to himself. The one he chooses, he will bring near to himself.
16:6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company,
16:7 put fire in them, and put incense on them before the LORD tomorrow. The man the LORD chooses shall be the holy one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!”
16:8 Moses said to Korah, “Listen, please, sons of Levi.
16:9 Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to bring you near to himself, to perform the service of the LORD's tabernacle and to stand before the congregation to serve them?
16:10 He has brought you near, and all your brothers, the sons of Levi, with you. Do you seek the priesthood as well?
16:11 Therefore you and all your company are gathered against the LORD. As for Aaron, what is he that you grumble against him?”
16:12 Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come up.
16:13 Is it too little that you brought us up from a land flowing with milk and honey to put us to death in the wilderness, that you must also lord it over us?
16:14 You have not even brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of those men? We will not come up!”
16:15 Moses was very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken a single donkey from them, nor have I harmed any one of them.”
16:16 Moses said to Korah, “You and all your company shall be before the LORD tomorrow, you, they, and Aaron.
16:17 Each of you shall take his censer, put incense on them, and present his censer before the LORD, two hundred fifty censers; you and Aaron also, each with his censer.”
16:18 Each took his censer, put fire in them, and placed incense on them. They stood at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, with Moses and Aaron.
16:19 Korah assembled the whole congregation against them at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD appeared to the whole congregation.
16:20 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
16:21 “Separate yourselves from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them in an instant.”
16:22 They fell on their faces and said, “O God, God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with the whole congregation?”
16:23 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
16:24 “Speak to the congregation and say, ‘Move away from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.’”
16:25 Moses rose and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.
16:26 He spoke to the congregation and said, “Please turn away from the tents of these wicked men, and do not touch anything belonging to them, lest you be swept away in all their sins.”
16:27 They moved away from around the dwelling of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.
16:28 Moses said, “By this you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works, and that they are not from my own heart.
16:29 If these men die as all people die, and the fate of all people overtakes them, then the LORD has not sent me.
16:30 But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them and all that belongs to them, and they go down alive to Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD.”
16:31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground beneath them split apart.
16:32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, all the people belonging to Korah, and all their possessions.
16:33 They and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol. The earth covered them, and they perished from among the assembly.
16:34 All Israel around them fled at their cry, for they said, “The earth might swallow us!”
16:35 Fire came out from the LORD and consumed the two hundred fifty men presenting the incense.
16:36 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
16:37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to lift the censers from among the burned remains. Scatter the fire farther away, for they have become holy.
16:38 As for the censers of these men who sinned at the cost of their lives, let them be made into hammered sheets as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the LORD and they became holy. They shall be a sign to the Israelites.”
16:39 Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers presented by those who were burned, and they were hammered into a covering for the altar,
16:40 as a memorial to the Israelites, so that no unauthorized man who is not a descendant of Aaron would draw near to burn incense before the LORD, lest he become like Korah and his company, as the LORD had spoken to him through Moses.
16:41 The next day the whole congregation of the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have put the LORD's people to death!”
16:42 When the congregation assembled against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tent of Meeting, and there the cloud had covered it, and the glory of the LORD appeared.
16:43 Moses and Aaron came before the Tent of Meeting.
16:44 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
16:45 “Move away from the midst of this congregation, and I will consume them in an instant.” And they fell on their faces.
16:46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take the censer, put fire from the altar in it, add incense, and carry it quickly to the congregation. Make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from before the LORD; the plague has begun.”
16:47 Aaron took it as Moses had spoken and ran into the midst of the assembly. The plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense and made atonement for the people.
16:48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.
16:49 Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the matter of Korah.
16:50 Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and the plague had been stopped.

Chapter 17
17:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
17:2 “Speak to the Israelites and take from them a staff for each ancestral household, from all their leaders according to their ancestral households, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff.
17:3 Write Aaron's name on the staff of Levi, for there shall be one staff for the head of each ancestral household.
17:4 Place them in the Tent of Meeting before the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
17:5 The staff of the man I choose shall blossom. Thus I will rid myself of the complaints of the Israelites, which they make against you.”
17:6 Moses spoke to the Israelites, and all their leaders gave him staffs, a staff for each leader, a staff for each leader according to their ancestral households, twelve staffs. Aaron's staff was among their staffs.
17:7 Moses placed the staffs before the LORD in the tent of the Testimony.
17:8 The next day Moses entered the tent of the Testimony, and Aaron's staff for the house of Levi had sprouted. It had put out buds, produced blossoms, and ripened almonds.
17:9 Moses brought all the staffs from before the LORD to all the Israelites. They looked, and each man took his staff.
17:10 The LORD said to Moses, “Put Aaron's staff back before the Testimony, to be kept as a sign for the rebellious. Thus you shall put an end to their complaints against me, so that they do not die.”
17:11 Moses did so. As the LORD had commanded him, so he did.
17:12 The Israelites said to Moses, “Look, we are dying! We are lost! All of us are lost!
17:13 Everyone who draws near, who draws near to the LORD's tabernacle, will die. Will we all end up dying?”

Chapter 18
18:1 The LORD said to Aaron, “You and your sons and your father's household with you shall bear the guilt connected with the sanctuary; you and your sons with you shall bear the guilt connected with your priesthood.
18:2 Bring your brothers also, the tribe of Levi, your father's tribe, near with you, so that they may be joined to you and serve you. You and your sons with you shall be before the tent of the Testimony.
18:3 They shall keep your charge and the charge of the whole tent, but they must not draw near to the sanctuary furnishings or the altar, so that neither they nor you die.
18:4 They shall be joined to you and keep charge of the Tent of Meeting, all the service of the tent. No unauthorized person shall draw near to you.
18:5 You shall keep charge of the sanctuary and charge of the altar, so that wrath no longer comes upon the Israelites.
18:6 Look, I myself have taken your brothers the Levites from among the Israelites. They are a gift to you, given to the LORD to perform the service of the Tent of Meeting.
18:7 You and your sons with you shall attend to your priesthood in everything concerning the altar and what is within the veil, and you shall serve. I give you your priesthood as a service granted as a gift. Any unauthorized person who draws near must be put to death.”
18:8 The LORD spoke to Aaron, “Look, I myself have given you charge of my raised offerings. From all the sacred gifts of the Israelites I have given them to you as a consecrated portion, and to your sons, as a perpetual statute.
18:9 This shall be yours from the most holy things reserved from the fire: every offering of theirs, all their grain offerings, all their sin offerings, and all their guilt offerings that they render to me. They are most holy for you and your sons.
18:10 You shall eat it as something most holy. Every male shall eat it; it shall be holy to you.
18:11 This also shall be yours: the raised offering of their gifts, with all the wave offerings of the Israelites. I have given them to you and your sons and your daughters with you as a perpetual statute. Everyone clean in your household may eat it.
18:12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the new wine and grain, their first portions that they give to the LORD, I have given to you.
18:13 The firstfruits of everything in their land that they bring to the LORD shall be yours. Everyone clean in your household may eat it.
18:14 Everything irrevocably devoted in Israel shall be yours.
18:15 Every firstborn that opens the womb, of all flesh that they present to the LORD, both human and animal, shall be yours. But you must certainly ransom the human firstborn, and you must ransom the firstborn of unclean animals.
18:16 You shall ransom those to be ransomed from one month old, according to your valuation, for about two ounces of silver by the sanctuary shekel, which is twenty gerahs.
18:17 But the firstborn of an ox, the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat you must not ransom. They are holy. You shall dash their blood against the altar and turn their fat into smoke as an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
18:18 Their flesh shall be yours; like the breast of the wave offering and the right thigh, it shall be yours.
18:19 All the raised offerings of the holy things that the Israelites raise to the LORD I have given to you, your sons, and your daughters with you, as a perpetual statute. It is a perpetual covenant of salt before the LORD for you and your offspring with you.”
18:20 The LORD said to Aaron, “You shall have no inheritance in their land, nor shall you have a portion among them. I am your portion and your inheritance among the Israelites.
18:21 Look, I have given all the tithe in Israel to the descendants of Levi as an inheritance in return for the service they perform, the service of the Tent of Meeting.
18:22 The Israelites must no longer draw near to the Tent of Meeting, lest they bear sin and die.
18:23 The Levites themselves shall perform the service of the Tent of Meeting, and they shall bear their iniquity. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations. They shall inherit no inheritance among the Israelites,
18:24 for I have given to the Levites as an inheritance the tithe of the Israelites that they raise to the LORD as a raised offering. Therefore I have said to them, ‘They shall inherit no inheritance among the Israelites.’”
18:25 The LORD spoke to Moses and said,
18:26 “Speak to the Levites and tell them, ‘When you receive from the Israelites the tithe I have given you from them as your inheritance, you shall raise from it the LORD's raised offering, a tithe of the tithe.
18:27 Your raised offering shall be reckoned to you as grain from the threshing floor and as the full produce of the winepress.
18:28 Thus you also shall raise the LORD's raised offering from all your tithes that you receive from the Israelites. From it you shall give the LORD's raised offering to Aaron the priest.
18:29 From all your gifts you shall raise every raised offering of the LORD, from all the best of it, its consecrated portion.’
18:30 Tell them, ‘When you raise the best of it from it, it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the produce of the threshing floor and the produce of the winepress.
18:31 You may eat it in any place, you and your household, for it is your wages in return for your service in the Tent of Meeting.
18:32 You shall bear no sin because of it when you have raised the best of it from it. You must not profane the holy things of the Israelites, and you shall not die.’”

Chapter 19
19:1 The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and said,
19:2 “This is the statute of the law that the LORD has commanded: speak to the Israelites, and let them bring you a red heifer, sound, with no blemish, on which no yoke has ever come.
19:3 Give it to Eleazar the priest. He shall bring it outside the camp, and it shall be slaughtered in his presence.
19:4 Eleazar the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle some of its blood seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.
19:5 The heifer shall be burned before his eyes; its skin, its flesh, and its blood, together with its dung, shall be burned.
19:6 The priest shall take cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet yarn and throw them into the midst of the burning heifer.
19:7 The priest shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; afterward he may enter the camp. The priest shall be unclean until evening.
19:8 The one who burns it shall wash his clothes in water, bathe his body in water, and be unclean until evening.
19:9 A clean man shall gather the ashes of the heifer and place them outside the camp in a clean place. They shall be kept for the congregation of the Israelites for the water for purification; it is a sin offering.
19:10 The one who gathers the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. It shall be a perpetual statute for the Israelites and for the foreigner residing among them.
19:11 Anyone who touches the dead body of any human being shall be unclean for seven days.
19:12 He shall purify himself with it on the third day and the seventh day; then he shall be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third day and the seventh day, he shall not be clean.
19:13 Anyone who touches a dead body, that of a human being who has died, and does not purify himself defiles the LORD's tabernacle. That person shall be cut off from Israel, because the water for purification was not splashed on him. He shall be unclean; his uncleanness is still in him.
19:14 This is the law when a person dies in a tent: everyone who enters the tent and everything in the tent shall be unclean for seven days.
19:15 Every open vessel without a covering tied over it is unclean.
19:16 Anyone who, in the open field, touches someone slain by a sword, a dead body, a human bone, or a grave shall be unclean for seven days.
19:17 For the unclean person they shall take some ashes from the burned sin offering, and spring water shall be poured over them in a vessel.
19:18 A clean man shall take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle the tent, all the vessels, the persons who were there, and the one who touched a bone, someone slain, a dead body, or a grave.
19:19 The clean person shall sprinkle the unclean person on the third day and the seventh day, and cleanse him on the seventh day. The one being cleansed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be clean in the evening.
19:20 But the man who becomes unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from the midst of the assembly, because he has defiled the LORD's sanctuary. The water for purification was not splashed on him; he is unclean.
19:21 It shall be a perpetual statute for them. The one who sprinkles the water for purification shall wash his clothes, and the one who touches the water for purification shall be unclean until evening.
19:22 Everything the unclean person touches shall be unclean, and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.”

Chapter 20
20:1 In the first month, the Israelites, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.
20:2 There was no water for the congregation, and they assembled against Moses and Aaron.
20:3 The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers died before the LORD!
20:4 Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our livestock to die here?
20:5 Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for sowing, or for figs, vines, or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”
20:6 Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting and fell on their faces. The glory of the LORD appeared to them.
20:7 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
20:8 “Take the staff and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give its water. You shall bring water out of the rock for them and give the congregation and their livestock water to drink.”
20:9 Moses took the staff from before the LORD, as he had commanded him.
20:10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?”
20:11 Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank.
20:12 But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me to uphold my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, you shall not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”
20:13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and he was shown holy among them.
20:14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: “Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that has befallen us.
20:15 Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt for many days. The Egyptians treated us and our ancestors harshly.
20:16 We cried out to the LORD, and he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now we are at Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.
20:17 Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through a field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway, turning neither to the right nor to the left until we have passed through your territory.”
20:18 But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my territory, or I will come out against you with the sword.”
20:19 The Israelites said to him, “We will go up by the highway. If I and my livestock drink your water, I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”
20:20 But he said, “You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with many people and a strong hand.
20:21 So Edom refused to let Israel pass through his territory, and Israel turned away from him.
20:22 They set out from Kadesh, and the Israelites, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
20:23 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom,
20:24 “Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land I have given the Israelites, because you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah.
20:25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up Mount Hor.
20:26 Strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.”
20:27 Moses did as the LORD commanded, and they went up Mount Hor before the eyes of the whole congregation.
20:28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
20:29 When the whole congregation saw that Aaron had died, the whole house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Chapter 21
21:1 When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.
21:2 Israel made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, I will devote their cities to destruction.”
21:3 The LORD listened to the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction, and the place was called Hormah.
21:4 They set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to go around the land of Edom. The people grew impatient on the way.
21:5 The people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and our souls loathe this worthless bread.”
21:6 The LORD sent fiery serpents among the people. They bit the people, and many people of Israel died.
21:7 The people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the LORD and against you. Pray to the LORD to take the serpents away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
21:8 The LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole. Everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live.”
21:9 Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on the pole. Whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the bronze serpent and live.
21:10 The Israelites set out and camped at Oboth.
21:11 They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness facing Moab toward the sunrise.
21:12 From there they set out and camped in the valley of the Zered.
21:13 From there they set out and camped beyond the Arnon, in the wilderness that extends from the territory of the Amorites. For the Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.
21:14 Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the LORD:
 “Waheb in Suphah, and the ravines of the Arnon,
21:15 and the slope of the ravines that extends to the settlement of Ar and rests against the border of Moab.”
21:16 From there they went to Beer. This is the well of which the LORD said to Moses, “Gather the people, and I will give them water.”

21:17 Then Israel sang this song:
 “Spring up, O well!
   Sing to it!
21:18 The well that the leaders dug, that the nobles of the people hollowed out, with the ruler’s staff, with their staffs.”
   From the wilderness they went to Mattanah,
21:19 from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
21:20 and from Bamoth to the valley in the country of Moab, to the top of Pisgah, which overlooks the wasteland.
21:21 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying,
21:22 “Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into a field or vineyard, or drink water from a well. We will go along the King’s Highway until we have passed through your territory.”
21:23 But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people and went out to meet Israel in the wilderness. He came to Jahaz and fought against Israel.
21:24 Israel struck him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok, as far as the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong.
21:25 Israel took all these cities, and Israel lived in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and all its villages.
21:26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites. He had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land from his hand as far as the Arnon.
21:27 Therefore the proverb makers say:
 “Come to Heshbon!
   Let the city of Sihon be built and established.
21:28 For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon.
   It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon.
21:29 Woe to you, Moab!
   You have perished, O people of Chemosh!
   He gave his sons as fugitives and his daughters into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.
21:30 We shot at them;
   Heshbon perished as far as Dibon.
   We laid waste as far as Nophah, which extends to Medeba.”
21:31 So Israel lived in the land of the Amorites.
21:32 Moses sent to spy out Jazer. They captured its villages, and he drove out the Amorites who were there.
21:33 Then they turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og king of Bashan came out to meet them, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.
21:34 The LORD said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, together with all his people and his land. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.”
21:35 So they struck him, his sons, and all his people, until they left him no survivor, and they took possession of his land.

Chapter 22
22:1 The Israelites set out and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan, opposite Jericho.
22:2 Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.
22:3 Moab was very afraid of the people because they were numerous, and Moab was distressed because of the Israelites.
22:4 Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this assembly will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field.” Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.
22:5 He sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor at Pethor, which is by the River, in the land of his people, to summon him, saying, “Look, a people has come out of Egypt. They cover the face of the land and are settled opposite me.
22:6 Now please come and curse this people for me, for they are stronger than I am. Perhaps I can prevail so that we may strike them, and I may drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, and whoever you curse is cursed.”
22:7 The elders of Moab and the elders of Midian set out with payment for divination in their hands. They came to Balaam and spoke Balak’s words to him.
22:8 He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will bring you an answer according to what the LORD tells me.” So the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam.
22:9 God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?”
22:10 Balaam said to God, “Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent this message to me:
22:11 ‘Look, the people who came out of Egypt cover the face of the land. Now come and curse them for me. Perhaps I can fight against them and drive them out.’”
22:12 God said to Balaam, “You shall not go with them. You shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.”
22:13 Balaam rose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, “Go back to your land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.”
22:14 The leaders of Moab rose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam has refused to come with us.”
22:15 Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more distinguished than these.
22:16 They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak son of Zippor: ‘Please do not hold back from coming to me,
22:17 for I will surely honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you tell me. Please come and curse this people for me.’”
22:18 Balaam answered Balak’s servants, “Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do anything small or great.
22:19 Now please stay here tonight, you also, so that I may know what more the LORD will say to me.”
22:20 God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to summon you, rise and go with them. But you shall do only what I tell you.”
22:21 Balaam rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the leaders of Moab.
22:22 God’s anger burned because he was going, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road as an adversary to him. He was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him.
22:23 The donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his drawn sword in his hand. She turned aside from the road and went into the field. Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back onto the road.
22:24 The angel of the LORD stood in a path between the vineyards, with a wall on one side and a wall on the other.
22:25 The donkey saw the angel of the LORD and pressed against the wall, pressing Balaam’s foot against the wall. So he struck her again.
22:26 The angel of the LORD went farther and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right or to the left.
22:27 The donkey saw the angel of the LORD and lay down under Balaam. Balaam’s anger burned, and he struck the donkey with a stick.
22:28 Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?”
22:29 Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a fool of me! If only I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now!”
22:30 The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey, on which you have ridden all along to this day? Have I ever been in the habit of doing this to you?” He said, “No.”
22:31 Then the LORD uncovered Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his drawn sword in his hand. He bowed down and prostrated himself on his face.
22:32 The angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Look, I have come out as an adversary, because your way is reckless before me.
22:33 The donkey saw me and turned aside before me these three times. Perhaps she turned away from me because by now I would certainly have killed you, but let her live.”
22:34 Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the road to meet me. Now, if this is evil in your eyes, I will turn back.”
22:35 The angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but speak only the word that I tell you.” So Balaam went with Balak’s leaders.
22:36 When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab on the border of the Arnon, at the edge of the territory.
22:37 Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not expressly send to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I really unable to honor you?”
22:38 Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you. But can I say anything at all? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I will speak.”
22:39 Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth.
22:40 Balak sacrificed cattle and sheep and sent portions to Balaam and the leaders who were with him.
22:41 In the morning Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal. From there he saw the outer part of the people.

Chapter 23
23:1 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
23:2 Balak did as Balaam had said, and Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
23:3 Balaam said to Balak, “Stand beside your burnt offering while I go. Perhaps the LORD will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me, I will tell you.” Then he went to a bare height.
23:4 God met Balaam, and he said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”
23:5 The LORD put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and speak this way.”
23:6 He returned to him, and there he stood beside his burnt offering, he and all the leaders of Moab.
23:7 He took up his oracle and said,
 “From Aram Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the east: ‘Come, curse Jacob for me;
   come, denounce Israel.’
23:8 How can I curse whom God has not cursed?
   How can I denounce whom the LORD has not denounced?
23:9 For from the top of the rocks I see him;
   from the hills I behold him.
   Look, a people dwelling apart, not counted among the nations.
23:10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number even a fourth of Israel?
   Let my soul die the death of the upright, and let my end be like his!”
23:11 Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, and look, you have surely blessed them!”
23:12 He answered, “Must I not be careful to speak what the LORD puts in my mouth?”
23:13 Balak said to him, “Please come with me to another place from which you can see them. You will see only their outer part, not all of them. Curse them for me from there.”
23:14 He took him to the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah. He built seven altars and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.
23:15 He said to Balak, “Stand here beside your burnt offering, while I have an encounter over there.”
23:16 The LORD met Balaam, put a word in his mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and speak this way.”
23:17 He came to him, and there he stood beside his burnt offering, with the leaders of Moab. Balak said to him, “What has the LORD said?”
23:18 He took up his oracle and said,
 “Rise, Balak, and hear;
   listen to me, son of Zippor.
23:19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind.
   Has he said, and will he not do it?
   Has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
23:20 Look, I have received a charge to bless.
   He has blessed, and I will not reverse it.
23:21 He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor seen trouble in Israel.
   The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.
23:22 God brings them out of Egypt;
   he has strength like a wild ox.
23:23 For there is no omen against Jacob, no divination against Israel.
   Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, ‘What God has done!’
23:24 Look, a people rises like a lioness and lifts itself up like a lion.
   It will not lie down until it devours the prey and drinks the blood of the slain.”
23:25 Balak said to Balaam, “Do not curse them at all, and do not bless them at all!”
23:26 Balaam answered Balak, “Did I not tell you, ‘Whatever the LORD says, that I will do’?”
23:27 Balak said to Balaam, “Please come. I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will be right in God’s eyes for you to curse them for me from there.”
23:28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, which overlooks the wasteland.
23:29 Balaam said to Balak, “Build seven altars for me here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me here.”
23:30 Balak did as Balaam had said and offered a bull and a ram on each altar.

Chapter 24
24:1 Balaam saw that it was good in the LORD’s eyes to bless Israel, so he did not go in search of omens as he had done before. Instead, he set his face toward the wilderness.
24:2 Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling by its tribes, and the Spirit of God came upon him.
24:3 He took up his oracle and said,
 “The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
24:4 the oracle of one who hears the words of God, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down with eyes uncovered:
24:5 How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob, your dwellings, O Israel!
24:6 Like valleys they stretch out, like gardens beside a river, like aloes that the LORD has planted, like cedars beside the waters.
24:7 Water shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be among abundant waters.
   His king shall rise above Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
24:8 God brings him out of Egypt;
   he has strength like a wild ox.
   He shall devour the nations, his adversaries, crush their bones, and shatter them with his arrows.
24:9 He crouched, he lay down like a lion, like a lioness;
   who will rouse him?
   Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you!”
24:10 Balak’s anger burned against Balaam, and he struck his hands together. Balak said to Balaam, “I summoned you to curse my enemies, and look, you have surely blessed them these three times!
24:11 Now flee to your own place! I said I would surely honor you, but look, the LORD has kept you from honor.”
24:12 Balaam said to Balak, “Did I not also tell your messengers whom you sent to me,
24:13 ‘Even if Balak gave me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD to do good or evil of my own heart. Whatever the LORD says, that I will speak’?
24:14 Now look, I am going to my people. Come, I will tell you what this people will do to your people in the latter days.”
24:15 He took up his oracle and said,
 “The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened,
24:16 the oracle of one who hears the words of God, who knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the vision of the Almighty, falling down with eyes uncovered:
24:17 I see him, but not now;
   I behold him, but not near.
   A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.
   He shall crush the temples of Moab and destroy all the sons of Seth.
24:18 Edom shall become a possession, and Seir shall become a possession, both his enemies;
   Israel shall act valiantly.
24:19 One from Jacob shall rule and destroy the survivor from the city.”
24:20 He saw Amalek, took up his oracle, and said, “Amalek is first among the nations, but his end shall be destruction forever.”
24:21 He saw the Kenite, took up his oracle, and said, “Enduring is your dwelling, and your nest is set in the rock,
24:22 yet Kain shall be consumed.
   How long until Asshur carries you away captive?”
24:23 He took up his oracle and said, “Alas!
   Who can live when God ordains it?
24:24 Ships shall come from the coast of Kittim.
   They shall afflict Asshur and afflict Eber, and he too shall perish forever.”
24:25 Balaam rose, went away, and returned to his place. Balak also went on his way.

Chapter 25
25:1 Israel stayed at Shittim, and the people began to prostitute themselves with the daughters of Moab.
25:2 The women invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods.
25:3 Israel bound itself to Baal-peor, and the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.
25:4 The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and hang them before the LORD in the sight of the sun, so that the LORD’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
25:5 Moses said to the judges of Israel, “Each of you shall kill his men who have bound themselves to Baal-peor.”
25:6 Just then an Israelite man came and brought the Midianite woman to his brothers before the eyes of Moses and the eyes of the whole congregation of the Israelites, while they were weeping at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
25:7 When Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose from among the congregation and took a spear in his hand.
25:8 He followed the Israelite man into the tent and pierced both of them, the Israelite man and the woman through her belly. Then the plague among the Israelites was stopped.
25:9 Those who died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.
25:10 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
25:11 “Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned my wrath away from the Israelites by showing my zeal among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in my zeal.
25:12 Therefore say, ‘Look, I am giving him my covenant of peace.
25:13 It shall be for him and his descendants after him a covenant of everlasting priesthood, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.’”
25:14 The name of the Israelite man who was killed, who was struck down with the Midianite woman, was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of an ancestral household among the Simeonites.
25:15 The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Cozbi daughter of Zur. He was head of clans, of an ancestral household in Midian.
25:16 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
25:17 “Harass the Midianites and strike them,
25:18 for they harass you with the schemes they have devised against you in the matter of Peor and in the matter of Cozbi, daughter of a leader of Midian, their sister, who was killed on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor.”

Chapter 26
26:1 After the plague, the LORD spoke to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saying,
26:2 “Take a census of the whole congregation of the Israelites, from twenty years old and upward, by their ancestral households, all who can go to war in Israel.”
26:3 Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke with them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho, saying,
26:4 “Count those from twenty years old and upward,” as the LORD had commanded Moses and the Israelites who came out of the land of Egypt.
26:5 Reuben was Israel’s firstborn. The sons of Reuben: from Hanoch, the clan of the Hanochites; from Pallu, the clan of the Palluites;
26:6 from Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; from Carmi, the clan of the Carmites.
26:7 These were the clans of the Reubenites, and those registered were forty-three thousand seven hundred thirty.
26:8 The sons of Pallu: Eliab.
26:9 The sons of Eliab: Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These were Dathan and Abiram, those called from the congregation who rebelled against Moses and Aaron in Korah’s congregation, when they rebelled against the LORD.
26:10 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them and Korah when the congregation died, when the fire consumed the two hundred fifty men. They became a sign.
26:11 But the sons of Korah did not die.
26:12 The sons of Simeon by their clans: from Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites; from Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites; from Jachin, the clan of the Jachinites;
26:13 from Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites; from Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites.
26:14 These were the clans of the Simeonites: twenty-two thousand two hundred.
26:15 The sons of Gad by their clans: from Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites; from Haggi, the clan of the Haggites; from Shuni, the clan of the Shunites;
26:16 from Ozni, the clan of the Oznites; from Eri, the clan of the Erites;
26:17 from Arod, the clan of the Arodites; from Areli, the clan of the Arelites.
26:18 These were the clans of the sons of Gad according to those registered: forty thousand five hundred.
26:19 The sons of Judah: Er and Onan. Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan.
26:20 The sons of Judah by their clans: from Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites; from Perez, the clan of the Perezites; from Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites.
26:21 The sons of Perez: from Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites; from Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites.
26:22 These were the clans of Judah according to those registered: seventy-six thousand five hundred.
26:23 The sons of Issachar by their clans: from Tola, the clan of the Tolaites; from Puvah, the clan of the Punites;
26:24 from Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites; from Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites.
26:25 These were the clans of Issachar according to those registered: sixty-four thousand three hundred.
26:26 The sons of Zebulun by their clans: from Sered, the clan of the Seredites; from Elon, the clan of the Elonites; from Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites.
26:27 These were the clans of the Zebulunites according to those registered: sixty thousand five hundred.
26:28 The sons of Joseph by their clans: Manasseh and Ephraim.
26:29 The sons of Manasseh: from Machir, the clan of the Machirites. Machir fathered Gilead; from Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites.
26:30 These were the sons of Gilead: from Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites; from Helek, the clan of the Helekites;
26:31 from Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites; from Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites;
26:32 from Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites; from Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites.
26:33 Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, but daughters. The names of Zelophehad’s daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
26:34 These were the clans of Manasseh, and those registered were fifty-two thousand seven hundred.
26:35 These were the sons of Ephraim by their clans: from Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites; from Becher, the clan of the Becherites; from Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites.
26:36 These were the sons of Shuthelah: from Eran, the clan of the Eranites.
26:37 These were the clans of the sons of Ephraim according to those registered: thirty-two thousand five hundred. These were the sons of Joseph by their clans.
26:38 The sons of Benjamin by their clans: from Bela, the clan of the Belaites; from Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites; from Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites;
26:39 from Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphamites; from Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites.
26:40 The sons of Bela were Ard and Naaman: the clan of the Ardites; from Naaman, the clan of the Naamites.
26:41 These were the sons of Benjamin by their clans, and those registered were forty-five thousand six hundred.
26:42 These were the sons of Dan by their clans: from Shuham, the clan of the Shuhamites. These were the clans of Dan by their clans.
26:43 All the clans of the Shuhamites according to those registered: sixty-four thousand four hundred.
26:44 The sons of Asher by their clans: from Imnah, the clan of the Imnites; from Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites; from Beriah, the clan of the Beriites.
26:45 From the sons of Beriah: from Heber, the clan of the Heberites; from Malchiel, the clan of the Malchielites.
26:46 The name of Asher’s daughter was Serah.
26:47 These were the clans of the sons of Asher according to those registered: fifty-three thousand four hundred.
26:48 The sons of Naphtali by their clans: from Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites; from Guni, the clan of the Gunites;
26:49 from Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites; from Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites.
26:50 These were the clans of Naphtali by their clans, and those registered were forty-five thousand four hundred.
26:51 These were those registered of the Israelites: six hundred one thousand seven hundred thirty.
26:52 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
26:53 “To these the land shall be divided as an inheritance according to the number of names.
26:54 To the more numerous you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the fewer you shall give a smaller inheritance. Each shall be given his inheritance according to those registered.
26:55 But the land shall be divided by lot. They shall inherit according to the names of their ancestral tribes.
26:56 Their inheritance shall be divided according to the lot, between the more numerous and the fewer.”
26:57 These were those registered of the Levites by their clans: from Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites; from Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites; from Merari, the clan of the Merarites.
26:58 These were the clans of Levi: the clan of the Libnites, the clan of the Hebronites, the clan of the Mahlites, the clan of the Mushites, and the clan of the Korahites. Kohath fathered Amram.
26:59 The name of Amram’s wife was Jochebed, daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. She bore to Amram Aaron, Moses, and Miriam their sister.
26:60 To Aaron were born Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
26:61 Nadab and Abihu died when they presented unauthorized fire before the LORD.
26:62 Those registered were twenty-three thousand, every male from one month old and upward. They were not registered among the Israelites, for no inheritance was given to them among the Israelites.
26:63 These were those registered by Moses and Eleazar the priest, who registered the Israelites in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho.
26:64 Among these there was not one man from those registered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who had registered the Israelites in the wilderness of Sinai.
26:65 For the LORD had said of them, “They shall surely die in the wilderness.” Not one man of them remained except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

Chapter 27
27:1 The daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph, came forward. These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
27:2 They stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and the whole congregation at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, saying,
27:3 “Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the congregation that gathered against the LORD in Korah’s congregation, but he died for his own sin and had no sons.
27:4 Why should our father’s name be removed from his clan because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father’s brothers.”
27:5 Moses brought their case before the LORD.
27:6 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
27:7 “The daughters of Zelophehad are right in what they say. You shall surely give them a possession as an inheritance among their father’s brothers and transfer their father’s inheritance to them.
27:8 You shall speak to the Israelites, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter.
27:9 If he has no daughter, you shall give his inheritance to his brothers.
27:10 If he has no brothers, you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers.
27:11 If his father has no brothers, you shall give his inheritance to his nearest relative in his clan, and he shall inherit it.’ This shall be a statute of judgment for the Israelites, as the LORD commanded Moses.”
27:12 The LORD said to Moses, “Go up this mountain of Abarim and see the land I have given the Israelites.
27:13 When you have seen it, you too shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was gathered,
27:14 because you rebelled against my command in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, instead of upholding my holiness at the waters before their eyes.” These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
27:15 Moses spoke to the LORD, saying,
27:16 “Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation,
27:17 who will go out before them and come in before them, who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the LORD’s congregation may not be like sheep without a shepherd.”
27:18 The LORD said to Moses, “Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom there is spirit, and lay your hand on him.
27:19 Have him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole congregation, and commission him before their eyes.
27:20 Put some of your honor upon him, so that the whole congregation of the Israelites may obey.
27:21 He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him through the judgment of the Urim before the LORD. At his command they shall go out, and at his command they shall come in, he and all the Israelites with him, the whole congregation.”
27:22 Moses did as the LORD commanded him. He took Joshua and had him stand before Eleazar the priest and before the whole congregation.
27:23 He laid his hands on him and commissioned him, as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

Chapter 28
28:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
28:2 “Command the Israelites and say to them, ‘Be careful to present to me at its appointed time my offering, my food for my offerings by fire, a pleasing aroma to me.’
28:3 You shall say to them, ‘This is the offering by fire that you shall present to the LORD: two lambs a year old without blemish each day as a regular burnt offering.
28:4 You shall offer one lamb in the morning and the second lamb at twilight,
28:5 with a grain offering of about two quarts of fine flour mixed with about one quart of oil from beaten olives.
28:6 It is the regular burnt offering instituted at Mount Sinai as a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.
28:7 Its drink offering shall be about one quart for each lamb. In the holy place you shall pour out a drink offering of fermented drink to the LORD.
28:8 You shall offer the second lamb at twilight. You shall offer it with the same grain offering and drink offering as in the morning, an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
28:9 On the Sabbath day, two lambs a year old without blemish, with a grain offering of about four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil, and its drink offering.
28:10 This is the burnt offering for each Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
28:11 At the beginning of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs a year old without blemish,
28:12 with a grain offering of about six quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for each bull, and a grain offering of about four quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for the ram,
28:13 and a grain offering of about two quarts of fine flour mixed with oil for each lamb, as a burnt offering, a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.
28:14 Their drink offerings of wine shall be about two quarts for a bull, about a third of a gallon for a ram, and about one quart for a lamb. This is the burnt offering for each month throughout the months of the year.
28:15 One male goat shall be offered as a sin offering to the LORD, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
28:16 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, is the LORD’s Passover.
28:17 On the fifteenth day of this month is a feast. Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days.
28:18 On the first day there shall be a holy assembly. You shall do no ordinary work.
28:19 You shall present an offering by fire, a burnt offering to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish.
28:20 Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil. You shall offer about six quarts for a bull and about four quarts for a ram.
28:21 You shall offer about two quarts for each lamb, for each of the seven lambs,
28:22 and one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you.
28:23 You shall offer these in addition to the morning burnt offering, which is part of the regular burnt offering.
28:24 In this way you shall offer each day for seven days food as an offering by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. It shall be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and its drink offering.
28:25 On the seventh day you shall have a holy assembly. You shall do no ordinary work.
28:26 On the day of firstfruits, when you present a new grain offering to the LORD at your Feast of Weeks, you shall have a holy assembly. You shall do no ordinary work.
28:27 You shall present a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven lambs a year old,
28:28 with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, about six quarts for each bull and about four quarts for the ram,
28:29 about two quarts for each lamb, for each of the seven lambs,
28:30 and one male goat to make atonement for you.
28:31 You shall offer these in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering. They shall be without blemish, with their drink offerings.

Chapter 29
29:1 In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have a holy assembly. You shall do no ordinary work. It shall be a day of trumpet blasts for you.
29:2 You shall offer a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs a year old without blemish,
29:3 with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, about six quarts for the bull and about four quarts for the ram,
29:4 and about two quarts for each lamb, for each of the seven lambs,
29:5 and one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for you.
29:6 These are in addition to the monthly burnt offering and its grain offering, and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, with their drink offerings according to their rule, as a pleasing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.
29:7 On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy assembly. You shall humble yourselves and do no work.
29:8 You shall present a burnt offering to the LORD as a pleasing aroma: one young bull, one ram, and seven lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish.
29:9 Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil, about six quarts for the bull and about four quarts for the ram,
29:10 about two quarts for each lamb, for each of the seven lambs,
29:11 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the sin offering of atonement and the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, with their drink offerings.
29:12 On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you shall have a holy assembly. You shall do no ordinary work, and you shall keep a feast to the LORD for seven days.
29:13 You shall present a burnt offering, an offering by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs a year old. They shall be without blemish.
29:14 Their grain offering shall be fine flour mixed with oil, about six quarts for each of the thirteen bulls and about four quarts for each of the two rams,
29:15 and about two quarts for each lamb, for each of the fourteen lambs,
29:16 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
29:17 On the second day, twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs a year old without blemish,
29:18 with their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, according to their number, according to the rule,
29:19 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, with their drink offerings.
29:20 On the third day, eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs a year old without blemish,
29:21 with their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, according to their number, according to the rule,
29:22 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, with its drink offering.
29:23 On the fourth day, ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs a year old without blemish,
29:24 their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, according to their number, according to the rule,
29:25 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
29:26 On the fifth day, nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs a year old without blemish,
29:27 with their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, according to their number, according to the rule,
29:28 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, with its drink offering.
29:29 On the sixth day, eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs a year old without blemish,
29:30 with their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, according to their number, according to the rule,
29:31 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offerings.
29:32 On the seventh day, seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen lambs a year old without blemish,
29:33 with their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bulls, the rams, and the lambs, according to their number, according to their rule,
29:34 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offering.
29:35 On the eighth day you shall have a solemn assembly. You shall do no ordinary work.
29:36 You shall present a burnt offering, an offering by fire, as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, and seven lambs a year old without blemish,
29:37 their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, the ram, and the lambs, according to their number, according to the rule,
29:38 and one male goat as a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering and its grain offering, with its drink offering.
29:39 You shall offer these to the LORD at your appointed times, in addition to your vows and your freewill offerings, for your burnt offerings, your grain offerings, your drink offerings, and your peace offerings.’”
29:40 Moses spoke to the Israelites according to all that the LORD had commanded Moses.

Chapter 30
30:1 Moses spoke to the heads of the tribes of the Israelites, saying, “This is what the LORD has commanded:
30:2 If a man makes a vow to the LORD or swears an oath to bind himself with an obligation, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that comes from his mouth.
30:3 If a woman makes a vow to the LORD and binds herself with an obligation while in her father’s house in her youth,
30:4 and her father hears her vow and the obligation with which she has bound herself, and her father remains silent toward her, all her vows shall stand, and every obligation with which she has bound herself shall stand.
30:5 But if her father forbids her on the day he hears of it, none of her vows or obligations with which she has bound herself shall stand. The LORD will forgive her, because her father has forbidden her.
30:6 If she marries while her vows are upon her, or a rash utterance of her lips with which she has bound herself,
30:7 and her husband hears of it and remains silent toward her on the day he hears of it, her vows shall stand, and her obligations with which she has bound herself shall stand.
30:8 But if her husband forbids her on the day he hears of it, he annuls the vow that is upon her and the rash utterance of her lips with which she has bound herself. The LORD will forgive her.
30:9 The vow of a widow or a divorced woman, every obligation with which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.
30:10 If she makes a vow in her husband’s house or binds herself with an obligation by an oath,
30:11 and her husband hears of it and remains silent toward her and does not forbid her, all her vows shall stand, and every obligation with which she has bound herself shall stand.
30:12 But if her husband does annul them on the day he hears of them, nothing that came from her lips concerning her vows or her binding obligation shall stand. Her husband has annulled them, and the LORD will forgive her.
30:13 Every vow and every binding oath to humble herself, her husband may confirm, and her husband may annul.
30:14 But if her husband remains silent toward her from day to day, he confirms all her vows or all her obligations that are upon her. He has confirmed them because he remained silent toward her on the day he heard of them.
30:15 If he does annul them after he has heard of them, he shall bear her iniquity.”
30:16 These are the statutes that the LORD commanded Moses between a man and his wife, between a father and his daughter while in her youth in her father’s house.

Chapter 31
31:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
31:2 “Avenge the Israelites on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.”
31:3 Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Let men from among you arm themselves for war and go against Midian, to carry out the LORD’s vengeance against Midian.
31:4 A thousand from each tribe, a thousand from each tribe, from all the tribes of Israel, you shall send to war.”
31:5 So a thousand from each tribe were supplied from the thousands of Israel, twelve thousand armed for war.
31:6 Moses sent them, a thousand from each tribe, to war. He sent them and Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to war, with the holy objects and the trumpets for sounding the alarm in his hand.
31:7 They fought against Midian as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they killed every male.
31:8 They killed the kings of Midian along with the others who were slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the sword.
31:9 The Israelites took the women of Midian and their little ones captive. They plundered all their animals, all their livestock, and all their wealth.
31:10 They burned all the cities where they lived and all their encampments with fire.
31:11 They took all the spoil and all the captured booty, both people and animals.
31:12 They brought the captives, the captured booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the Israelites, to the camp in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho.
31:13 Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the congregation went out to meet them outside the camp.
31:14 Moses was angry with the army officers, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who were returning from the military campaign.
31:15 Moses said to them, “Have you kept all the women alive?
31:16 Look, these were the very ones who, through Balaam’s counsel, caused the Israelites to act unfaithfully against the LORD in the matter of Peor, so that the plague came upon the LORD’s congregation.
31:17 Now kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has had sexual relations with a man.
31:18 But keep alive for yourselves all the girls who have not had sexual relations with a male.
31:19 You shall camp outside the camp seven days. All of you who have killed a person or touched someone slain shall purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day, you and your captives.
31:20 You shall also purify every garment, every leather object, everything made of goats’ hair, and every wooden object.”
31:21 Eleazar the priest said to the army men who had gone to battle, “This is the statute of the law that the LORD commanded Moses:
31:22 As for gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead,
31:23 everything that can withstand fire you shall pass through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it must also be purified with the water for purification. Everything that cannot withstand fire you shall pass through water.
31:24 You shall wash your clothes on the seventh day and be clean. Afterward you may enter the camp.”
31:25 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
31:26 “Take a count of the captured booty, both people and animals, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the congregation’s ancestral households.
31:27 Divide the booty into halves between the combatants who went out to war and the whole congregation.
31:28 Set aside a tribute to the LORD from the men of war who went out to battle: one out of every five hundred living beings, from the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the flocks.
31:29 You shall take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as the LORD’s raised offering.
31:30 From the Israelites’ half you shall take one out of every fifty, from the people, the cattle, the donkeys, and the flocks, from all the animals, and give them to the Levites who keep the charge of the LORD’s tabernacle.”
31:31 Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
31:32 The booty remaining from the plunder taken by the army men was six hundred seventy-five thousand sheep and goats,
31:33 seventy-two thousand cattle,
31:34 and sixty-one thousand donkeys.
31:35 The people, the women who had not had sexual relations with a male, were thirty-two thousand in all.
31:36 The half that was the portion of those who went out to war numbered three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep and goats.
31:37 The LORD’s tribute from the sheep and goats was six hundred seventy-five.
31:38 The cattle were thirty-six thousand, and their tribute to the LORD was seventy-two.
31:39 The donkeys were thirty thousand five hundred, and their tribute to the LORD was sixty-one.
31:40 The people were sixteen thousand, and their tribute to the LORD was thirty-two people.
31:41 Moses gave the tribute, the LORD’s raised offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
31:42 As for the Israelites’ half, which Moses had divided off from the men who went to war,
31:43 the congregation’s half was three hundred thirty-seven thousand five hundred sheep and goats,
31:44 thirty-six thousand cattle,
31:45 thirty thousand five hundred donkeys,
31:46 and sixteen thousand people.
31:47 Moses took from the Israelites’ half one out of every fifty, from the people and the animals, and gave them to the Levites who kept the charge of the LORD’s tabernacle, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
31:48 The officers over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came forward to Moses.
31:49 They said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war under our charge, and not one man of us is missing.
31:50 So we have brought the LORD’s offering, what each man found: gold objects, armlets, bracelets, rings, earrings, and other ornaments, to make atonement for our lives before the LORD.”
31:51 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from them, all the crafted objects.
31:52 All the gold of the raised offering that they presented to the LORD, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, weighed about four hundred twenty pounds.
31:53 The army men had taken plunder, each for himself.
31:54 Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds and brought it to the Tent of Meeting as a memorial for the Israelites before the LORD.

Chapter 32
32:1 The Reubenites and Gadites had abundant livestock, an exceedingly great number. They saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, and the place was suitable for livestock.
32:2 The Gadites and Reubenites came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the congregation, saying,
32:3 “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon,
32:4 the land that the LORD struck before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.”
32:5 They said, “If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to your servants as a possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
32:6 Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Shall your brothers go to war while you stay here?
32:7 Why do you discourage the heart of the Israelites from crossing into the land that the LORD has given them?
32:8 This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land.
32:9 They went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, and they discouraged the heart of the Israelites so that they would not enter the land that the LORD had given them.
32:10 The LORD’s anger burned that day, and he swore, saying,
32:11 ‘Surely the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall not see the land I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for they have not followed me fully,
32:12 except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they have followed the LORD fully.’
32:13 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation that had done evil in the LORD’s eyes had come to an end.
32:14 And look, you have risen in your fathers’ place, offspring of sinful men, to add still more to the LORD’s fierce anger against Israel.
32:15 If you turn away from following him, he will again leave them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”
32:16 They came near to him and said, “We will build pens here for our livestock and cities for our little ones.
32:17 But we ourselves will arm ourselves and go quickly before the Israelites until we have brought them to their place. Our little ones will stay in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land.
32:18 We will not return to our houses until each of the Israelites has received his inheritance.
32:19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan or beyond, because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan, toward the east.”
32:20 Moses said to them, “If you do this, if you arm yourselves for war before the LORD,
32:21 and every armed man of yours crosses the Jordan before the LORD until he drives out his enemies from before him,
32:22 and the land is subdued before the LORD, then afterward you may return. You shall be free of guilt before the LORD and before Israel, and this land shall be your possession before the LORD.
32:23 But if you do not do so, look, you will have sinned against the LORD. And be sure your sin will find you out.
32:24 Build cities for your little ones and pens for your flocks, and do what has come from your mouth.”
32:25 The Gadites and Reubenites said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands.
32:26 Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our animals will remain there in the cities of Gilead.
32:27 But your servants, every man armed for war, will cross over before the LORD to battle, as my lord says.”
32:28 Moses gave instructions concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the heads of the ancestral households of the tribes of the Israelites.
32:29 Moses said to them, “If the Gadites and Reubenites cross the Jordan with you, every man armed for war before the LORD, and the land is subdued before you, you shall give them the land of Gilead as a possession.
32:30 But if they do not cross over armed with you, they shall have their possession among you in the land of Canaan.”
32:31 The Gadites and Reubenites answered, “What the LORD has said to your servants, that we will do.
32:32 We will cross over armed before the LORD into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance on this side of the Jordan shall remain with us.”
32:33 Moses gave to them, to the Gadites, to the Reubenites, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land with its cities and their territories, the cities of the surrounding country.
32:34 The Gadites built Dibon, Ataroth, and Aroer,
32:35 Atroth-shophan, Jazer, and Jogbehah,
32:36 Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, fortified cities, and pens for the flocks.
32:37 The Reubenites built Heshbon, Elealeh, and Kiriathaim,
32:38 Nebo and Baal-meon, whose names were changed, and Sibmah. They gave names to the cities they built.
32:39 The sons of Machir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and he drove out the Amorites who were in it.
32:40 Moses gave Gilead to Machir son of Manasseh, and he lived in it.
32:41 Jair son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and called them Havvoth-jair.
32:42 Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah after his own name.

Chapter 33
33:1 These are the stages of the Israelites, who came out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the direction of Moses and Aaron.
33:2 Moses wrote down their departures according to their stages at the LORD’s command. These are their stages according to their departures.
33:3 They set out from Rameses in the first month, on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the day after the Passover, the Israelites went out with a raised hand before the eyes of all the Egyptians,
33:4 while the Egyptians were burying all the firstborn whom the LORD had struck down among them. The LORD had also executed judgments against their gods.
33:5 The Israelites set out from Rameses and camped at Succoth.
33:6 They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.
33:7 They set out from Etham, turning back toward Pi-hahiroth, which is opposite Baal-zephon, and camped before Migdol.
33:8 They set out from before Hahiroth and passed through the midst of the sea into the wilderness. They went a three-day journey through the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.
33:9 They set out from Marah and came to Elim. At Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.
33:10 They set out from Elim and camped by the Red Sea.
33:11 They set out from the Red Sea and camped in the wilderness of Sin.
33:12 They set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.
33:13 They set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush.
33:14 They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
33:15 They set out from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.
33:16 They set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth-hattaavah.
33:17 They set out from Kibroth-hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.
33:18 They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.
33:19 They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon-perez.
33:20 They set out from Rimmon-perez and camped at Libnah.
33:21 They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah.
33:22 They set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.
33:23 They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.
33:24 They set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.
33:25 They set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.
33:26 They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.
33:27 They set out from Tahath and camped at Tarah.
33:28 They set out from Tarah and camped at Mithkah.
33:29 They set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah.
33:30 They set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.
33:31 They set out from Moseroth and camped at Bene-jaakan.
33:32 They set out from Bene-jaakan and camped at Hor-haggidgad.
33:33 They set out from Hor-haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.
33:34 They set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.
33:35 They set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion-geber.
33:36 They set out from Ezion-geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin, that is, Kadesh.
33:37 They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom.
33:38 Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at the LORD’s command and died there in the fortieth year after the Israelites came out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.
33:39 Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor.
33:40 The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the Israelites.
33:41 They set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.
33:42 They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon.
33:43 They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.
33:44 They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye-abarim, on the border of Moab.
33:45 They set out from Iyim and camped at Dibon-gad.
33:46 They set out from Dibon-gad and camped at Almon-diblathaim.
33:47 They set out from Almon-diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, before Nebo.
33:48 They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho.
33:49 They camped by the Jordan, from Beth-jeshimoth to Abel-shittim, in the plains of Moab.
33:50 The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho, saying,
33:51 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
33:52 you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you. You shall destroy all their carved images and destroy all their cast images, and demolish all their high places.
33:53 You shall take possession of the land and live in it, for I have given you the land to possess.
33:54 You shall apportion the land by lot among your clans. To the more numerous you shall give a larger inheritance, and to the fewer you shall give a smaller inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, there it shall be his. You shall inherit according to your ancestral tribes.
33:55 But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, those you let remain shall be barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They shall harass you in the land where you live.
33:56 And what I intended to do to them, I will do to you.’”

Chapter 34
34:1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
34:2 “Command the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you enter the land of Canaan, this is the land that shall fall to you as an inheritance, the land of Canaan according to its boundaries:
34:3 Your southern side shall extend from the wilderness of Zin beside Edom. Your southern boundary shall begin at the eastern end of the Salt Sea.
34:4 Your boundary shall turn south of the ascent of Akrabbim and pass on to Zin. Its course shall run south of Kadesh-barnea, go out to Hazar-addar, and pass on to Azmon.
34:5 The boundary shall turn from Azmon to the Brook of Egypt and end at the sea.
34:6 For your western boundary you shall have the Great Sea and its coast. This shall be your western boundary.
34:7 This shall be your northern boundary: from the Great Sea you shall mark out a line to Mount Hor.
34:8 From Mount Hor you shall mark out a line to the entrance of Hamath, and the boundary shall reach Zedad.
34:9 The boundary shall go out to Ziphron and end at Hazar-enan. This shall be your northern boundary.
34:10 For your eastern boundary you shall mark out a line from Hazar-enan to Shepham.
34:11 The boundary shall go down from Shepham to Riblah, east of Ain. The boundary shall go down and reach the eastern shore of the Sea of Chinnereth.
34:12 The boundary shall go down to the Jordan and end at the Salt Sea. This shall be your land according to its boundaries all around.’”
34:13 Moses commanded the Israelites, saying, “This is the land you shall inherit by lot, which the LORD commanded to be given to the nine tribes and the half-tribe.
34:14 For the tribe of the Reubenites according to their ancestral households and the tribe of the Gadites according to their ancestral households have received their portion, and the half-tribe of Manasseh has received its inheritance.
34:15 The two tribes and the half-tribe have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan, opposite Jericho, eastward, toward the sunrise.”
34:16 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
34:17 “These are the names of the men who shall allot the land to you: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.
34:18 You shall take one leader, one leader from each tribe, to allot the land.
34:19 These are the names of the men: from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;
34:20 from the tribe of the Simeonites, Shemuel son of Ammihud;
34:21 from the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Chislon;
34:22 from the tribe of the Danites, the leader Bukki son of Jogli;
34:23 from the sons of Joseph, from the tribe of the Manassites, the leader Hanniel son of Ephod;
34:24 from the tribe of the Ephraimites, the leader Kemuel son of Shiphtan;
34:25 from the tribe of the Zebulunites, the leader Elizaphan son of Parnach;
34:26 from the tribe of the Issacharites, the leader Paltiel son of Azzan;
34:27 from the tribe of the Asherites, the leader Ahihud son of Shelomi;
34:28 from the tribe of the Naphtalites, the leader Pedahel son of Ammihud.
34:29 These are the ones whom the LORD commanded to allot an inheritance to the Israelites in the land of Canaan.”

Chapter 35
35:1 The LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho, saying,
35:2 “Command the Israelites to give the Levites cities to live in from their inherited possession. You shall also give the Levites the pasturelands around the cities.
35:3 The cities shall be theirs to live in, and their pasturelands shall be for their livestock, their flocks, and all their animals.
35:4 The pasturelands of the cities you give the Levites shall extend from the city wall outward about fifteen hundred feet all around.
35:5 Outside the city you shall measure about three thousand feet on the east side, about three thousand feet on the south side, about three thousand feet on the west side, and about three thousand feet on the north side, with the city in the middle. These shall be their pasturelands for the cities.
35:6 The cities you give the Levites shall include the six cities of refuge that you provide for the killer to flee to, and in addition to them you shall give forty-two cities.
35:7 All the cities you give the Levites shall be forty-eight cities, together with their pasturelands.
35:8 The cities you give shall come from the Israelites’ possession. From those who have much you shall take more, and from those who have little you shall take less. Each shall give some of his cities to the Levites according to the inheritance he receives.”
35:9 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
35:10 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them, ‘When you cross the Jordan into the land of Canaan,
35:11 you shall designate cities for yourselves. They shall be cities of refuge for you, where a killer who has killed a person unintentionally may flee.
35:12 The cities shall be a refuge for you from the avenger, so that the killer may not die before standing before the congregation for judgment.
35:13 The cities you provide shall be six cities of refuge for you.
35:14 You shall provide three cities beyond the Jordan and three cities in the land of Canaan. They shall be cities of refuge.
35:15 These six cities shall be a refuge for the Israelites, for the foreigner and the resident among them, where anyone who kills a person unintentionally may flee.
35:16 But if he strikes him with an iron object and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.
35:17 If he strikes him with a stone held in the hand that could cause death, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.
35:18 Or if he strikes him with a wooden object held in the hand that could cause death, and he dies, he is a murderer. The murderer shall surely be put to death.
35:19 The avenger of blood himself shall put the murderer to death. When he encounters him, he himself shall put him to death.
35:20 If he pushes him out of hatred or throws something at him with intent and he dies,
35:21 or if in enmity he strikes him with his hand and he dies, the one who struck him shall surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood shall put the murderer to death when he encounters him.
35:22 But if he pushes him suddenly without enmity or throws any object at him without intent,
35:23 or, without seeing him, drops on him any stone that could cause death, and he dies, though he was not his enemy and was not seeking his harm,
35:24 the congregation shall judge between the one who struck and the avenger of blood according to these judgments.
35:25 The congregation shall rescue the killer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge to which he fled. He shall live in it until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.
35:26 But if the killer does go outside the boundary of the city of refuge to which he fled,
35:27 and the avenger of blood finds him outside the boundary of his city of refuge, and the avenger of blood kills the killer, he shall have no bloodguilt.
35:28 For he must live in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest, the killer may return to the land of his possession.
35:29 These shall be a statute of judgment for you throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places.
35:30 If anyone kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses. But a single witness shall not testify against a person for a sentence of death.
35:31 You shall not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death. He shall surely be put to death.
35:32 You shall not accept a ransom for one who has fled to his city of refuge, to let him return to live in the land before the death of the priest.
35:33 You shall not pollute the land where you are, for blood pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land for the blood shed in it except by the blood of the one who shed it.
35:34 You shall not defile the land where you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I, the LORD, dwell among the Israelites.’”

Chapter 36
36:1 The heads of the ancestral households of the clan of the sons of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of the sons of Joseph, came forward. They spoke before Moses and before the leaders, the heads of the Israelites’ ancestral households.
36:2 They said, “The LORD commanded my lord to give the land to the Israelites as an inheritance by lot. My lord was also commanded by the LORD to give the inheritance of our brother Zelophehad to his daughters.
36:3 If they marry men from one of the other tribes of the Israelites, their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers and added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry. It will be taken from the allotted portion of our inheritance.
36:4 And if the Jubilee comes for the Israelites, their inheritance will be added to the inheritance of the tribe into which they marry, and their inheritance will be taken from the inheritance of our fathers’ tribe.”
36:5 Moses commanded the Israelites at the LORD’s command, saying, “The tribe of the sons of Joseph is right in what it says.
36:6 This is what the LORD has commanded concerning the daughters of Zelophehad: ‘They may marry whomever they think best, but they shall marry only within the clan of their father’s tribe.’
36:7 No inheritance of the Israelites shall pass from tribe to tribe, for each of the Israelites shall hold fast to the inheritance of his ancestral tribe.
36:8 Every daughter who inherits an inheritance among the tribes of the Israelites shall marry a man from the clan of her father’s tribe, so that each of the Israelites may inherit the inheritance of his fathers.
36:9 No inheritance shall pass from one tribe to another tribe, for each of the tribes of the Israelites shall hold fast to its inheritance.”
36:10 The daughters of Zelophehad did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
36:11 Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married the sons of their father’s brothers.
36:12 They married within the clans of the sons of Manasseh son of Joseph, and their inheritance remained in the tribe of their father’s clan.
36:13 These are the commandments and judgments that the LORD commanded the Israelites through Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan, opposite Jericho.

DEUTERONOMY

Chapter 1
1:1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan, in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab.
1:2 It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea.
1:3 In the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, Moses spoke to the Israelites according to all that the LORD had commanded him for them,
1:4 after the defeat of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and of Og king of Bashan at Edrei, who lived in Ashtaroth.
1:5 Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying,
1:6 “The LORD our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain.
1:7 Turn and set out, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and all its neighboring regions: the Arabah, the hill country, the Shephelah, the Negev, and the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the River Euphrates.
1:8 Look, I have set the land before you. Go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give to them and their descendants after them.’
1:9 At that time I said to you, ‘I cannot bear you alone.
1:10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and look, today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven.
1:11 May the LORD, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are and bless you as he has promised you!
1:12 How can I bear your trouble, your burden, and your disputes alone?
1:13 Provide for yourselves wise, discerning men who are known among your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’
1:14 You answered me, ‘What you have proposed is good to do.’
1:15 So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and well-known men, and appointed them as heads over you: commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, commanders of fifties, commanders of tens, and officers for your tribes.
1:16 At that time I commanded your judges, ‘Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who lives with him.
1:17 You shall not show partiality in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall fear no one, for judgment belongs to God. Bring to me any case that is too difficult for you, and I will hear it.’
1:18 At that time I commanded you all the things you were to do.
1:19 We set out from Horeb and went through all that great and fearsome wilderness you saw, by the way to the hill country of the Amorites, as the LORD our God had commanded us. We came to Kadesh-barnea.
1:20 I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.
1:21 Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up and possess it, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’
1:22 All of you came near to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us to explore the land for us and bring us a report of the way we should go up and the cities we should enter.’
1:23 The proposal was good in my eyes, and I took twelve men from among you, one man from each tribe.
1:24 They turned and went up into the hill country, came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied out the land.
1:25 They took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They brought us a report and said, ‘The land that the LORD our God is giving us is good.’
1:26 But you were unwilling to go up and rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
1:27 You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hates us, he brought us out of the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.
1:28 Where are we going up? Our brothers have melted our hearts by saying, “The people are greater and taller than we are. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. We also saw the sons of the Anakim there.”’
1:29 Then I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, and do not fear them.
1:30 The LORD your God, who goes before you, will himself fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,
1:31 and in the wilderness, where you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way you went until you came to this place.’
1:32 Yet in this matter you did not trust the LORD your God,
1:33 who went before you on the way to seek out a place for you to camp, in fire by night to show you the way you should go, and in a cloud by day.
1:34 The LORD heard the sound of your words, was angry, and swore, saying,
1:35 ‘Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land I swore to give your fathers,
1:36 except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and his sons I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has followed the LORD fully.’
1:37 The LORD was also angry with me because of you, saying, ‘You too shall not enter there.
1:38 Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, shall enter there. Strengthen him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
1:39 Your little ones, whom you said would become plunder, and your children, who today do not know good or evil, shall enter there. I will give it to them, and they shall possess it.
1:40 But as for you, turn and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.’
1:41 You answered me, ‘We have sinned against the LORD. We will go up and fight according to all that the LORD our God has commanded us.’ Each of you strapped on his weapons of war, and you thought it easy to go up into the hill country.
1:42 But the LORD said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up or fight, for I am not among you, lest you be defeated before your enemies.”’
1:43 I spoke to you, but you did not listen. You rebelled against the command of the LORD, acted presumptuously, and went up into the hill country.
1:44 The Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you as bees do. They struck you down in Seir as far as Hormah.
1:45 You returned and wept before the LORD, but the LORD did not listen to your voice or give ear to you.
1:46 You stayed at Kadesh many days, all the days you stayed there.

Chapter 2
2:1 We turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had told me. We went around Mount Seir for many days.
2:2 The LORD spoke to me, saying,
2:3 ‘You have gone around this mountain long enough. Turn northward.
2:4 Command the people, saying, “You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the sons of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so be very careful.
2:5 Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough for the sole of a foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.
2:6 You shall buy food from them for money and eat it. You shall also buy water from them for money and drink it.
2:7 For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand. He knows your journey through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing.”’
2:8 So we passed by our brothers, the sons of Esau who live in Seir, turning away from the Arabah road, from Elath and Ezion-geber. We turned and passed along the way of the wilderness of Moab.
2:9 The LORD said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’
2:10 (The Emim lived there formerly, a people great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim.
2:11 They too are counted as Rephaim, like the Anakim, but the Moabites call them Emim.
2:12 The Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them, destroyed them from before them, and lived in their place, as Israel did to the land of its possession, which the LORD gave them.)
2:13 ‘Now rise and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the Zered Valley.
2:14 The time we traveled from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley was thirty-eight years, until the whole generation of the men of war had come to an end from the midst of the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them.
2:15 The LORD’s hand was also against them, to destroy them from the midst of the camp until they had come to an end.
2:16 When all the men of war had died from among the people,
2:17 the LORD spoke to me, saying,
2:18 ‘Today you are about to pass through the territory of Moab, Ar.
2:19 When you approach the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the Ammonites’ land as a possession, because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’
2:20 (It too is counted as a land of Rephaim. Rephaim lived there formerly, and the Ammonites call them Zamzummim.
2:21 They were a people great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. The LORD destroyed them from before them, and they dispossessed them and lived in their place,
2:22 as he did for the sons of Esau who live in Seir, from before whom he destroyed the Horites. They dispossessed them and have lived in their place to this day.
2:23 As for the Avvim who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor destroyed them and lived in their place.)
2:24 ‘Rise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and provoke him to war.
2:25 This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples under all heaven. They will hear the report of you, tremble, and be in anguish before you.’
2:26 I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying,
2:27 ‘Let me pass through your land. I will go by the road, only by the road. I will turn neither to the right nor to the left.
2:28 You shall sell me food for money, so that I may eat, and give me water for money, so that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot,
2:29 as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.’
2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon was unwilling to let us pass through his territory, for the LORD your God had hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, to give him into your hand, as it is this day.
2:31 The LORD said to me, ‘Look, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess it, so that you may possess his land.’
2:32 Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Jahaz.
2:33 The LORD our God gave him over to us, and we struck him, his sons, and all his people.
2:34 We captured all his cities at that time and devoted every city to destruction, with its men, women, and little ones. We left no survivor.
2:35 Only the livestock we took as plunder for ourselves, and the spoil of the cities we had captured.
2:36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Valley, and the city in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was no city beyond our reach. The LORD our God gave them all over to us.
2:37 Only you did not approach the land of the Ammonites, anywhere along the Jabbok Valley or the cities of the hill country, or anywhere the LORD our God had forbidden.

Chapter 3
3:1 We turned and went up by the way of Bashan. Og king of Bashan came out against us, he and all his people, for battle at Edrei.
3:2 The LORD said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, together with all his people and his land. You shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’
3:3 The LORD our God also gave Og king of Bashan and all his people into our hand. We struck him until we left him no survivor.
3:4 We captured all his cities at that time. There was not a city we did not take from them: sixty cities, the whole region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
3:5 All these were fortified cities with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many unwalled towns.
3:6 We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, devoting every city to destruction, with its men, women, and little ones.
3:7 But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as plunder for ourselves.
3:8 At that time we took from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land on this side of the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley to Mount Hermon:
3:9 (The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, and the Amorites call it Senir.)
3:10 all the cities of the plateau, all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
3:11 (For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. Look, his bed was an iron bed. Is it not in Rabbah of the Ammonites? It was over thirteen feet long and about six feet wide, measured by the common cubit.)
3:12 Of this land we possessed at that time, I gave to the Reubenites and Gadites the territory from Aroer by the Arnon Valley and half the hill country of Gilead with its cities.
3:13 I gave the rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, to the half-tribe of Manasseh. The whole region of Argob, with all Bashan, is called the land of Rephaim.
3:14 Jair son of Manasseh took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He called the settlements of Bashan Havvoth-jair after his own name, to this day.
3:15 To Machir I gave Gilead.
3:16 To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley, with the middle of the valley as the boundary, and as far as the Jabbok Valley, the boundary of the Ammonites,
3:17 and the Arabah with the Jordan as the boundary, from Chinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, below the slopes of Pisgah on the east.
3:18 At that time I commanded you, saying, ‘The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your valiant men shall cross over armed before your brothers, the Israelites.
3:19 Only your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know you have abundant livestock) shall remain in the cities I have given you,
3:20 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as to you, and they too possess the land that the LORD your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan. Then each of you shall return to the possession I have given you.’
3:21 At that time I also commanded Joshua, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. So the LORD will do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing.
3:22 Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is himself the one who fights for you.’
3:23 At that time I pleaded with the LORD, saying,
3:24 ‘Lord GOD, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do works and mighty deeds like yours?
3:25 Please let me cross over and see the good land on the other side of the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’
3:26 But the LORD was angry with me because of you and did not listen to me. The LORD said to me, ‘Enough! Do not speak to me again about this matter.
3:27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward, northward, southward, and eastward. See it with your eyes, for you shall not cross this Jordan.
3:28 Commission Joshua, strengthen him, and encourage him, for he shall cross over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land you will see.’
3:29 So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth-peor.

Chapter 4
4:1 Now, Israel, listen to the statutes and judgments that I am teaching you to do, so that you may live, enter, and possess the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
4:2 You shall not add to the word I command you or take away from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.
4:3 Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you every man who followed Baal-peor.
4:4 But you who hold fast to the LORD your God are alive today, every one of you.
4:5 Look, I have taught you statutes and judgments, as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may do them in the land you are entering to possess.
4:6 Keep them and do them, for this is your wisdom and understanding before the eyes of the peoples, who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people.’
4:7 For what great nation has gods as near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call upon him?
4:8 And what great nation has statutes and judgments as righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
4:9 Only take care and guard your soul very carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children:
4:10 the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, and I will let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days they live on the earth and teach their children.’
4:11 You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick gloom.
4:12 The LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form, only a voice.
4:13 He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to do, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.
4:14 At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you statutes and judgments for you to do in the land you are crossing over to possess.
4:15 Guard your souls very carefully, for you saw no form on the day the LORD spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire,
4:16 lest you corrupt yourselves and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure: the likeness of male or female,
4:17 the likeness of any animal on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the sky,
4:18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish in the waters beneath the earth;
4:19 and lest you lift up your eyes to heaven, see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, and be drawn away to bow down to them and serve them, which the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under all heaven.
4:20 But the LORD took you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his inheritance, as you are this day.
4:21 The LORD was angry with me on your account and swore that I would not cross the Jordan or enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
4:22 For I will die in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you will cross over and possess this good land.
4:23 Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God that he made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything the LORD your God has forbidden you.
4:24 For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
4:25 When you have children and children’s children and have lived long in the land, if you corrupt yourselves, make a carved image in the form of anything, and do evil in the eyes of the LORD your God to provoke him to anger,
4:26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will surely perish quickly from the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not prolong your days in it, but will surely be destroyed.
4:27 The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD leads you.
4:28 There you will serve gods made by human hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell.
4:29 But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.
4:30 When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the LORD your God and obey his voice.
4:31 For the LORD your God is a merciful God. He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that he swore to them.
4:32 Ask now about the former days that were before you, since the day God created human beings on the earth, and from one end of heaven to the other: Has anything like this great thing ever happened, or has anything like it been heard?
4:33 Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and lived?
4:34 Or has any god attempted to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, signs, wonders, war, a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
4:35 You were shown this so that you might know that the LORD is God. There is no other besides him.
4:36 From heaven he let you hear his voice to instruct you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from the midst of the fire.
4:37 Because he loved your fathers and chose his descendants after him, he brought you out of Egypt with his presence and his great power,
4:38 to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you, to bring you in and give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day.
4:39 Know therefore today and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. There is no other.
4:40 You shall keep his statutes and his commandments that I command you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, and so that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”
4:41 Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise,
4:42 so that a killer who killed his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him previously, might flee there. He could flee to one of these cities and live:
4:43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the plateau country, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
4:44 This is the law that Moses set before the Israelites.
4:45 These are the testimonies, statutes, and judgments that Moses spoke to the Israelites when they came out of Egypt,
4:46 beyond the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon. Moses and the Israelites defeated him when they came out of Egypt,
4:47 and took possession of his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise,
4:48 from Aroer on the edge of the Arnon Valley to Mount Sion, that is, Hermon,
4:49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan to the east, as far as the Sea of the Arabah, below the slopes of Pisgah.

Chapter 5
5:1 Moses called all Israel and said to them, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments that I speak in your hearing today. Learn them and be careful to do them.
5:2 The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.
5:3 The LORD did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, all of us here alive today.
5:4 The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire.
5:5 I was standing between the LORD and you at that time to declare the LORD’s word to you, for you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain. He said:
5:6 ‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
5:7 You shall have no other gods before me.
5:8 You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth.
5:9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,
5:10 but showing steadfast love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.
5:11 You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain.
5:12 Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you.
5:13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
5:14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work: you, your son, your daughter, your male slave, your female slave, your ox, your donkey, any of your livestock, or the resident foreigner within your gates, so that your male slave and your female slave may rest as you do.
5:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
5:16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, so that your days may be long and it may go well with you in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
5:17 You shall not murder.
5:18 Neither shall you commit adultery.
5:19 Neither shall you steal.
5:20 Neither shall you bear false witness against your neighbor.
5:21 Neither shall you covet your neighbor’s wife, nor desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male slave, his female slave, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’
5:22 These words the LORD spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick gloom, with a loud voice, and he added no more. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
5:23 When you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, all the heads of your tribes and your elders came near to me,
5:24 and you said, ‘Look, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire. Today we have seen that God speaks with a human being, and that person lives.
5:25 Now why should we die? This great fire will consume us. If we continue to hear the voice of the LORD our God, we will die.
5:26 For who of all flesh has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
5:27 You go near and hear all that the LORD our God says. Then tell us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’
5:28 The LORD heard the sound of your words when you spoke to me. The LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the sound of the words this people has spoken to you. All that they have said is good.
5:29 Oh, that they had such a heart to fear me and keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!
5:30 Go and tell them, “Return to your tents.”
5:31 But you, stand here with me, and I will speak to you the whole commandment, the statutes and the judgments, which you shall teach them, so that they may do them in the land I am giving them to possess.’
5:32 You shall be careful to do as the LORD your God has commanded you. You shall turn neither to the right nor to the left.
5:33 You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, so that you may live, that it may go well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land you will possess.

Chapter 6
6:1 This is the commandment, the statutes and judgments, that the LORD your God commanded to be taught to you, for you to do in the land you are crossing over to possess,
6:2 so that you may fear the LORD your God, keeping all his statutes and commandments that I command you, you and your son and your son’s son, all the days of your life, and so that your days may be long.
6:3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, so that it may go well with you and you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.
6:5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6:6 These words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
6:7 You shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk along the way, when you lie down, and when you rise.
6:8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as bands between your eyes.
6:9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
6:10 When the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you, with great and good cities that you did not build,
6:11 houses full of every good thing that you did not fill, hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied,
6:12 take care, lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
6:13 You shall fear the LORD your God, serve him, and swear by his name.
6:14 You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples around you,
6:15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God, lest the anger of the LORD your God burn against you and he destroy you from the face of the earth.
6:16 You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
6:17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, his testimonies and his statutes that he has commanded you.
6:18 You shall do what is right and good in the eyes of the LORD, so that it may go well with you and you may enter and possess the good land that the LORD swore to your fathers,
6:19 to drive out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has said.
6:20 When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What do the testimonies, statutes, and judgments that the LORD our God commanded you mean?’
6:21 you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
6:22 The LORD did great and terrible signs and wonders against Egypt, against Pharaoh, and against all his household before our eyes.
6:23 He brought us out from there so that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to our fathers.
6:24 The LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, to preserve us alive, as we are this day.
6:25 It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.’

Chapter 7
7:1 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out many nations from before you, the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you,
7:2 and the LORD your God gives them over to you and you strike them, you shall devote them completely to destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show them no favor.
7:3 You shall not intermarry with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son or take his daughter for your son,
7:4 for he will turn your son away from following me, and they will serve other gods. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you quickly.
7:5 But this is what you shall do to them: tear down their altars, break their pillars, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their carved images with fire.
7:6 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
7:7 The LORD did not set his love on you or choose you because you were more numerous than all the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples.
7:8 But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your fathers, the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations,
7:10 and repays those who hate him to their faces, to destroy them. He does not delay toward one who hates him; he repays him to his face.
7:11 You shall therefore keep the commandment, the statutes and the judgments, that I command you today, to do them.
7:12 If you listen to these judgments, keep them, and do them, the LORD your God will keep with you the covenant and steadfast love that he swore to your fathers.
7:13 He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain, your new wine, your oil, the young of your cattle and the young of your flocks, on the land he swore to your fathers to give you.
7:14 You shall be blessed above all peoples. No male or female among you or among your livestock shall be barren.
7:15 The LORD will take away from you all sickness. None of the dreadful diseases of Egypt that you knew will he put upon you, but he will put them upon all who hate you.
7:16 You shall devour all the peoples whom the LORD your God gives you. Your eye shall have no pity on them, and you shall not serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.
7:17 If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I am. How can I dispossess them?’
7:18 you shall not fear them. You shall surely remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt:
7:19 the great trials your eyes saw, the signs and wonders, the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. So the LORD your God will do to all the peoples you fear.
7:20 The LORD your God will also send hornets among them until those who remain and those who hide from you perish.
7:21 You shall not be terrified before them, for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and fearsome God.
7:22 The LORD your God will drive out these nations from before you little by little. You will not be able to finish them off quickly, lest the wild animals of the field multiply against you.
7:23 But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed.
7:24 He will give their kings into your hand, and you shall destroy their name from under heaven. No one shall stand before you until you have destroyed them.
7:25 You shall burn the carved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver and gold on them or take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God.
7:26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest it and utterly abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.

Chapter 8
8:1 You shall be careful to do the whole commandment that I command you today, so that you may live and multiply, and enter and possess the land that the LORD swore to your fathers.
8:2 You shall remember all the way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
8:3 He humbled you, made you go hungry, and fed you with manna, which you did not know and your fathers had not known, to make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
8:4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell these forty years.
8:5 Know in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.
8:6 You shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and fearing him.
8:7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, springs and deep waters welling up in valleys and hills,
8:8 a land of wheat and barley, vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees yielding oil and of honey,
8:9 a land where you will eat bread without scarcity and lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose mountains you can quarry copper.
8:10 You shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
8:11 Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by failing to keep his commandments, his judgments, and his statutes that I command you today:
8:12 lest, when you eat and are satisfied and build good houses and live in them,
8:13 and your herds and flocks multiply, your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies,
8:14 your heart be lifted up and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,
8:15 who led you through the great and fearsome wilderness, with fiery serpents and scorpions and thirst where there was no water, who brought water for you out of the flint rock,
8:16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, to humble you and test you, to do you good in the end,
8:17 and you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have made this wealth for me.’
8:18 But you shall remember the LORD your God, for he is the one who gives you power to make wealth, to establish his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
8:19 If you do forget the LORD your God and follow other gods, serve them, and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish.
8:20 Like the nations that the LORD makes perish before you, so you shall perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

Chapter 9
9:1 Hear, O Israel: You are about to cross the Jordan today, to enter and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with cities great and fortified up to heaven,
9:2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’
9:3 Know therefore today that the LORD your God is the one who crosses over before you as a consuming fire. He will destroy them, and he will subdue them before you. You shall dispossess them and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has told you.
9:4 When the LORD your God drives them out from before you, do not say in your heart, ‘Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land.’ It is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you.
9:5 It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are entering to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is dispossessing them before you, and to establish the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
9:6 Know therefore that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
9:7 Remember, and do not forget, how you provoked the LORD your God to anger in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.
9:8 At Horeb you provoked the LORD to anger, and the LORD was angry enough with you to destroy you.
9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.
9:10 The LORD gave me the two stone tablets written with the finger of God. On them were all the words that the LORD had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.
9:11 At the end of forty days and forty nights, the LORD gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.
9:12 The LORD said to me, ‘Rise, go down quickly from here, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside from the way I commanded them. They have made a cast image for themselves.’
9:13 The LORD spoke to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and look, they are a stiff-necked people.
9:14 Leave me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. I will make of you a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’
9:15 I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire. The two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands.
9:16 I saw that you had sinned against the LORD your God. You had made a cast calf for yourselves and had quickly turned aside from the way the LORD had commanded you.
9:17 I took hold of the two tablets, threw them from my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.
9:18 I fell down before the LORD, as before, forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing evil in the LORD’s eyes to provoke him to anger.
9:19 For I was afraid of the anger and wrath with which the LORD was angry against you, to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me that time also.
9:20 The LORD was also very angry with Aaron, to destroy him. I prayed for Aaron also at that time.
9:21 I took your sin, the calf you had made, and burned it with fire. I crushed it, grinding it thoroughly until it was fine as dust, and threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.
9:22 At Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah you also provoked the LORD to anger.
9:23 When the LORD sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and possess the land I have given you,’ you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. You did not believe him or obey his voice.
9:24 You have been rebellious against the LORD since the day I came to know you.
9:25 I fell down before the LORD those forty days and forty nights that I lay prostrate, because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
9:26 I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘Lord GOD, do not destroy your people and your inheritance, whom you redeemed in your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
9:27 Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at this people’s stubbornness, wickedness, and sin,
9:28 lest the land from which you brought us out say, “Because the LORD was unable to bring them into the land he promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.”
9:29 But they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.’

Chapter 10
10:1 At that time the LORD said to me, ‘Cut for yourself two stone tablets like the first, come up to me on the mountain, and make for yourself an ark of wood.
10:2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.’
10:3 So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first. I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.
10:4 He wrote on the tablets, as in the first writing, the Ten Commandments that the LORD had spoken to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. The LORD gave them to me.
10:5 I turned and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark I had made. There they remained, as the LORD had commanded me.
10:6 (The Israelites set out from Beeroth-bene-jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried there, and his son Eleazar served as priest in his place.
10:7 From there they set out to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water.
10:8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to serve him and bless in his name, to this day.
10:9 Therefore Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The LORD is his inheritance, as the LORD your God told him.)
10:10 I stayed on the mountain as on the first days, forty days and forty nights. The LORD listened to me that time also. The LORD was unwilling to destroy you.
10:11 The LORD said to me, ‘Rise and set out before the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to their fathers to give them.’
10:12 And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
10:13 and to keep the LORD’s commandments and his statutes that I command you today for your good?
10:14 Look, to the LORD your God belong the heavens and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all that is in it.
10:15 Yet the LORD set his affection on your fathers to love them, and chose their descendants after them, you out of all the peoples, as it is this day.
10:16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.
10:17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and fearsome God, who shows no partiality and takes no bribe.
10:18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident foreigner, giving him bread and clothing.
10:19 You shall love the resident foreigner, for you were resident foreigners in the land of Egypt.
10:20 You shall fear the LORD your God. Him you shall serve, to him you shall hold fast, and by his name you shall swear.
10:21 He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and fearsome things that your eyes have seen.
10:22 Your fathers went down to Egypt, seventy people in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

Chapter 11
11:1 You shall love the LORD your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his judgments, and his commandments always.
11:2 Know today that I am not speaking with your children, who have not known or seen the discipline of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and outstretched arm,
11:3 his signs and deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to all his land,
11:4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to its horses and chariots, when he caused the waters of the Red Sea to overflow them as they pursued you, and the LORD destroyed them to this day;
11:5 what he did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place;
11:6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab son of Reuben, when the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing in their possession, in the midst of all Israel.
11:7 For it was your own eyes that saw all the great work the LORD did.
11:8 Therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, so that you may be strong and enter and possess the land you are crossing over to possess,
11:9 and so that you may prolong your days on the land the LORD swore to give to your fathers and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
11:10 For the land you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, like a vegetable garden.
11:11 But the land you are crossing over to possess is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water from the rain of heaven,
11:12 a land the LORD your God cares for. The eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
11:13 If you diligently listen to my commandments that I command you today, loving the LORD your God and serving him with all your heart and all your soul,
11:14 I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, and you will gather your grain, your new wine, and your oil.
11:15 I will give grass in your field for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.
11:16 Guard yourselves, lest your heart be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and bow down to them.
11:17 Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that there is no rain and the ground does not yield its produce, and you will quickly perish from the good land the LORD is giving you.
11:18 Lay these words of mine on your heart and your soul. Bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be bands between your eyes.
11:19 Teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the way, when you lie down and when you rise.
11:20 Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,
11:21 so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied on the land the LORD swore to give your fathers, like the days of heaven over the earth.
11:22 For if you diligently keep this whole commandment that I command you to do, loving the LORD your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him,
11:23 then the LORD will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves.
11:24 Every place where the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall extend from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.
11:25 No one shall stand before you. The LORD your God will put the dread and fear of you on all the land you tread, as he has told you.
11:26 See, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:
11:27 the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today;
11:28 and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside from the way that I command you today to follow other gods you have not known.
11:29 When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess, you shall place the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.
11:30 Are they not beyond the Jordan, beyond the way toward the setting of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?
11:31 For you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you. You shall possess it and live in it.
11:32 Be careful to do all the statutes and judgments that I set before you today.

Chapter 12
12:1 These are the statutes and judgments you shall be careful to do in the land the LORD, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days you live on the earth.
12:2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations you are dispossessing served their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.
12:3 Tear down their altars, break their pillars, burn their Asherah poles with fire, and cut down the carved images of their gods. Destroy their name from that place.
12:4 You shall not do so to the LORD your God.
12:5 Instead, seek his dwelling at the place the LORD your God will choose from all your tribes to put his name there, and go there.
12:6 There you shall bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the raised offering of your hand, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.
12:7 There you shall eat before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your households, in all you put your hand to, in which the LORD your God has blessed you.
12:8 You shall not do as we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,
12:9 for you have not yet come to the rest and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you.
12:10 But you shall cross the Jordan and live in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you live in safety.
12:11 Then to the place the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there, you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the raised offering of your hand, and all the choice vow offerings you vow to the LORD.
12:12 You shall rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your sons and daughters, your male and female slaves, and the Levite within your gates, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
12:13 Be careful not to offer your burnt offerings at any place you see,
12:14 but only at the place the LORD will choose in one of your tribes. There you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
12:15 However, you may slaughter animals and eat meat within all your gates, as much as your soul desires, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you. The unclean and the clean may eat it, as they would a gazelle or deer.
12:16 Only you shall not eat the blood; pour it out on the ground like water.
12:17 You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, your new wine, or your oil, the firstborn of your herds or flocks, any of the vow offerings you vow, your freewill offerings, or the raised offering of your hand.
12:18 But you shall eat it before the LORD your God at the place the LORD your God will choose, you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, and the Levite within your gates. Rejoice before the LORD your God in all you put your hand to.
12:19 Be careful not to forsake the Levite all your days on your land.
12:20 When the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he has told you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because your soul desires to eat meat, you may eat meat as much as your soul desires.
12:21 If the place the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, you may slaughter animals from your herds and flocks that the LORD has given you, as I have commanded you, and eat within your gates as much as your soul desires.
12:22 You shall eat it as a gazelle or deer is eaten; the unclean and the clean may eat it together.
12:23 Only be firm in not eating the blood, for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the meat.
12:24 You shall not eat it; pour it out on the ground like water.
12:25 You shall not eat it, so that it may go well with you and your children after you, because you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
12:26 But take the holy things you have and your vow offerings, and go to the place the LORD will choose.
12:27 Offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of the LORD your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the LORD your God, and you shall eat the meat.
12:28 Keep and listen to all these words that I command you, so that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, because you do what is good and right in the eyes of the LORD your God.
12:29 When the LORD your God cuts off from before you the nations you are entering to dispossess, and you dispossess them and live in their land,
12:30 be careful not to be ensnared into following them after they have been destroyed from before you. Do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods? I will do the same.’
12:31 You shall not do so to the LORD your God, for they have done for their gods every abomination the LORD hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.
12:32 Be careful to do everything that I command you. You shall not add to it or take away from it.

Chapter 13
13:1 If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,
13:2 and the sign and the wonder he told you of come to pass, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods you have not known, and let us serve them,’
13:3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul.
13:4 You shall follow the LORD your God and fear him, keep his commandments and listen to his voice, serve him and hold fast to him.
13:5 That prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
13:6 If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is as your own soul, secretly entices you, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,
13:7 from among the gods of the peoples around you, whether near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other,
13:8 you shall not consent to him or listen to him. Your eye shall not pity him; you shall not spare him or conceal him.
13:9 You shall surely kill him. Your hand shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.
13:10 Stone him to death, because he sought to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
13:11 All Israel shall hear and fear, and never again do such an evil thing among you.
13:12 If you hear it said of one of your cities that the LORD your God is giving you to live in,
13:13 ‘Worthless men have gone out from among you and have led the inhabitants of their city astray, saying, “Let us go and serve other gods,” which you have not known,’
13:14 then you shall inquire, investigate, and question carefully. If it is true and the matter is confirmed that this abomination has been done among you,
13:15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. Devote it to destruction, with all that is in it, and its livestock, with the edge of the sword.
13:16 Gather all its spoil into the middle of its public square, and burn the city and all its spoil with fire, entirely for the LORD your God. It shall remain a heap of ruins forever; it shall never be rebuilt.
13:17 Nothing devoted to destruction shall cling to your hand, so that the LORD may turn from his burning anger and give you mercy, have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he swore to your fathers,
13:18 when you listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping all his commandments that I command you today, to do what is right in the eyes of the LORD your God.

Chapter 14
14:1 You are children of the LORD your God. You shall not cut yourselves or make a bald patch between your eyes for the dead.
14:2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be his treasured possession from all the peoples on the face of the earth.
14:3 You shall not eat any abominable thing.
14:4 These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat;
14:5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the wild sheep.
14:6 You may eat any animal that divides the hoof, has the hoof split in two, and brings up the cud.
14:7 But among those that bring up the cud or divide the split hoof, you shall not eat these: the camel, the hare, and the hyrax, for they bring up the cud but do not divide the hoof; they are unclean to you.
14:8 And the pig, because it divides the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you. You shall not eat their flesh or touch their carcasses.
14:9 Of all that is in the water, you may eat these: anything that has fins and scales you may eat.
14:10 But anything that does not have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean to you.
14:11 You may eat any clean bird.
14:12 But these you shall not eat: the eagle, the bearded vulture, and the vulture;
14:13 the bird of prey, the falcon, and the kite of every kind;
14:14 every raven of every kind;
14:15 the ostrich, the owl, the gull, and the hawk of every kind;
14:16 the little owl, the great owl, and the white owl;
14:17 the pelican, the carrion vulture, and the cormorant;
14:18 the stork, the heron of every kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.
14:19 Every winged swarming creature is unclean to you; they shall not be eaten.
14:20 You may eat any clean flying creature.
14:21 You shall not eat any animal that dies of itself. You may give it to the resident foreigner within your gates, and he may eat it, or you may sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.
14:22 You shall surely tithe all the yield of your seed that the field produces year by year.
14:23 Before the LORD your God, at the place he will choose to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks, so that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always.
14:24 If the journey is too long for you to carry it, because the place the LORD your God will choose to put his name there is far from you, when the LORD your God blesses you,
14:25 then exchange it for money, bind up the money in your hand, and go to the place the LORD your God will choose.
14:26 Spend the money on whatever your soul desires: cattle, sheep or goats, wine, strong drink, or whatever your soul asks of you. Eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.
14:27 You shall not forsake the Levite within your gates, for he has no portion or inheritance with you.
14:28 At the end of every three years, bring out all the tithe of your produce for that year and store it within your gates.
14:29 The Levite, who has no portion or inheritance with you, the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates shall come and eat and be satisfied, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hand that you do.

Chapter 15
15:1 At the end of every seven years, you shall grant a release from debt.
15:2 This is the manner of the release: every creditor shall release what he has lent to his neighbor. He shall not demand payment from his neighbor or his brother, because a release to the LORD has been proclaimed.
15:3 You may demand payment from a foreigner, but your hand shall release what your brother owes you.
15:4 However, there shall be no poor among you, for the LORD will surely bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess,
15:5 if only you diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do this whole commandment that I command you today.
15:6 For the LORD your God will have blessed you, as he has told you. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.
15:7 If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers within any of your gates in the land the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart or close your hand against your poor brother.
15:8 Instead, open your hand wide to him and surely lend him enough for his need, whatever he lacks.
15:9 Be careful lest a worthless thought arise in your heart, saying, ‘The seventh year, the year of release, is near,’ and your eye be evil toward your poor brother and you give him nothing. He will cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
15:10 You shall surely give to him, and your heart shall not be grudging when you give to him, because for this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in all you put your hand to.
15:11 For the poor will never cease from the land. Therefore I command you, saying, ‘Open your hand wide to your brother, to the poor and needy in your land.’
15:12 If your brother, a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you shall send him away free.
15:13 When you send him away free, you shall not send him away empty-handed.
15:14 Supply him generously from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. Give to him from what the LORD your God has blessed you with.
15:15 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and that the LORD your God redeemed you. Therefore I command you this today.
15:16 But if he says to you, ‘I will not leave you,’ because he loves you and your household, because he fares well with you,
15:17 then take an awl and drive it through his ear into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. Do the same for your female slave.
15:18 It shall not seem hard to you to send him away free, for his six years of service to you have been worth twice the wages of a hired worker. The LORD your God will bless you in all you do.
15:19 You shall consecrate to the LORD your God every firstborn male born among your herds and flocks. You shall not work with the firstborn of your cattle or shear the firstborn of your flock.
15:20 You and your household shall eat it before the LORD your God year by year, at the place the LORD will choose.
15:21 But if it has a blemish, if it is lame or blind, or has any serious blemish, you shall not sacrifice it to the LORD your God.
15:22 You shall eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean may eat it together, as they would a gazelle or deer.
15:23 Only you shall not eat its blood; pour it out on the ground like water.

Chapter 16
16:1 Observe the month of Abib and keep the Passover to the LORD your God, for in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
16:2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to the LORD your God, from the flock and the herd, at the place the LORD will choose to make his name dwell there.
16:3 You shall not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction, for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste, so that all the days of your life you may remember the day you came out of the land of Egypt.
16:4 No leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.
16:5 You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates that the LORD your God is giving you,
16:6 but only at the place the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there. There you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening, at sunset, at the appointed time of your departure from Egypt.
16:7 You shall cook it and eat it at the place the LORD your God will choose. In the morning, turn and go to your tents.
16:8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD your God. You shall do no work.
16:9 You shall count seven weeks. From when the sickle is first put to the standing grain, begin to count seven weeks.
16:10 Keep the Feast of Weeks to the LORD your God with the full freewill offering of your hand that you give according to how the LORD your God blesses you.
16:11 Rejoice before the LORD your God, you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your gates, and the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow among you, at the place the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there.
16:12 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and keep and do these statutes.
16:13 Keep the Feast of Booths for seven days, when you gather in from your threshing floor and your winepress.
16:14 Rejoice at your feast, you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite, the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow within your gates.
16:15 For seven days you shall keep the feast to the LORD your God at the place the LORD will choose, for the LORD your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you shall be wholly joyful.
16:16 Three times a year all your males shall appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths. They shall not appear before the LORD empty-handed.
16:17 Each shall give according to the gift of his hand, according to the blessing the LORD your God has given you.
16:18 Appoint judges and officers within all your gates that the LORD your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
16:19 You shall not pervert justice, show partiality, or take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.
16:20 Justice, justice you shall pursue, so that you may live and possess the land the LORD your God is giving you.
16:21 You shall not plant an Asherah pole of any kind of wood beside the altar of the LORD your God that you make for yourself.
16:22 Nor shall you set up a pillar for yourself, which the LORD your God hates.

Chapter 17
17:1 You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or an animal from the flock that has a blemish or any defect, for that is an abomination to the LORD your God.
17:2 If there is found among you, within any of your gates that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the eyes of the LORD your God, transgressing his covenant,
17:3 and goes and serves other gods and bows down to them, to the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded,
17:4 and it is reported to you and you hear of it, then inquire carefully. If it is true and the matter is confirmed that this abomination has been done in Israel,
17:5 then bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, the man or the woman, and stone them to death.
17:6 On the testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the one condemned to death shall be put to death. He shall not be put to death on the testimony of one witness.
17:7 The hand of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
17:8 If a case is too difficult for you to judge, between one kind of bloodshed and another, between one legal claim and another, or between one injury and another, matters of dispute within your gates, then arise and go up to the place the LORD your God will choose.
17:9 Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days. Inquire, and they shall declare to you the decision of the judgment.
17:10 Act according to the decision they declare to you from that place the LORD will choose, and be careful to do all that they teach you.
17:11 Act according to the instruction they teach you and the judgment they tell you. You shall not turn aside from the decision they declare to you, to the right or to the left.
17:12 The man who acts presumptuously, refusing to listen to the priest who stands there to serve the LORD your God, or to the judge, that man shall die. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
17:13 All the people shall hear and fear and no longer act presumptuously.
17:14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, possess it and live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’
17:15 you shall surely set over you a king whom the LORD your God will choose. You shall set a king over you from among your brothers. You may not set over you a foreigner who is not your brother.
17:16 Only he shall not multiply horses for himself or cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, for the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never return by this way again.’
17:17 He shall not multiply wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn aside, nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself.
17:18 When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law from what is before the Levitical priests.
17:19 It shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, to do them,
17:20 so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers and he does not turn aside from the commandment, to the right or to the left, so that he and his sons may prolong their days in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.

Chapter 18
18:1 The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They shall eat the LORD’s offerings by fire and his inheritance.
18:2 He shall have no inheritance among his brothers; the LORD is his inheritance, as he has told him.
18:3 This shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, whether an ox or an animal from the flock: they shall give the priest the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the stomach.
18:4 You shall give him the first of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first of the fleece of your flock,
18:5 for the LORD your God has chosen him from all your tribes to stand and serve in the name of the LORD, he and his sons always.
18:6 If a Levite comes from any of your gates, from anywhere in Israel where he resides, and comes with all the desire of his soul to the place the LORD will choose,
18:7 then he shall serve in the name of the LORD his God like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the LORD.
18:8 They shall eat equal portions, apart from what he receives from the sale of his family property.
18:9 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to do the abominations of those nations.
18:10 There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, anyone who practices divination, a soothsayer, an interpreter of omens, or a sorcerer,
18:11 one who casts spells, one who consults a medium or a spiritist, or one who inquires of the dead.
18:12 For everyone who does these things is an abomination to the LORD, and because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you.
18:13 You shall be blameless with the LORD your God.
18:14 For these nations you are dispossessing listen to soothsayers and diviners, but the LORD your God has not permitted you to do so.
18:15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. You shall listen to him,
18:16 according to all you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire anymore, so that I do not die.’
18:17 The LORD said to me, ‘They have done well in what they have said.
18:18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
18:19 And the man who does not listen to my words that he speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.
18:20 But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’
18:21 If you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word the LORD has not spoken?’
18:22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, and the word does not happen or come to pass, that is the word the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not fear him.

Chapter 19
19:1 When the LORD your God cuts off the nations whose land the LORD your God is giving you, and you dispossess them and live in their cities and houses,
19:2 set apart three cities for yourself in the midst of your land that the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
19:3 Prepare the way and divide into three parts the territory of your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, so that any killer may flee there.
19:4 This is the case of the killer who may flee there and live: one who strikes his neighbor unintentionally, without having hated him previously.
19:5 For example, a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and his hand swings the ax to cut the tree, and the iron head slips from the handle, strikes his neighbor, and he dies. That man may flee to one of these cities and live,
19:6 lest the avenger of blood pursue the killer while his heart is hot, overtake him because the journey is long, and strike him dead, though he is not liable to a sentence of death, because he had not hated him previously.
19:7 Therefore I command you, saying, ‘Set apart three cities for yourself.’
19:8 If the LORD your God enlarges your territory, as he swore to your fathers, and gives you all the land he spoke of giving your fathers,
19:9 if you keep this whole commandment that I command you today, to do it, loving the LORD your God and walking in his ways always, then add three more cities to these three,
19:10 so that innocent blood is not shed in the midst of your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, and bloodguilt does not come upon you.
19:11 But if a man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises against him and strikes him mortally so that he dies, and flees to one of these cities,
19:12 then the elders of his city shall send for him, take him from there, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, so that he dies.
19:13 Your eye shall not pity him. Purge the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, and it shall go well with you.
19:14 You shall not move your neighbor’s boundary marker that those of former times set, in the inheritance you receive in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.
19:15 One witness shall not stand against a man for any iniquity or any sin, whatever sin he commits. On the testimony of two witnesses or on the testimony of three witnesses, a matter shall be established.
19:16 If a malicious witness rises against a man to testify against him of wrongdoing,
19:17 then both men who have the dispute shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who are in office in those days.
19:18 The judges shall inquire carefully, and if the witness is a false witness who has testified falsely against his brother,
19:19 then you shall do to him as he plotted to do to his brother. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
19:20 Those who remain shall hear and fear, and never again do such an evil thing among you.
19:21 Your eye shall not pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

Chapter 20
20:1 When you go out to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and a people more numerous than you, do not fear them, for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
20:2 When you draw near to battle, the priest shall approach and speak to the people.
20:3 He shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: today you draw near to battle against your enemies. Do not let your heart grow faint. Do not fear or panic or be terrified before them,
20:4 for the LORD your God goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’
20:5 The officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘What man has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man dedicate it.
20:6 And what man has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.
20:7 And what man is betrothed to a woman and has not taken her as his wife? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in battle and another man take her as his wife.’
20:8 The officers shall speak further to the people and say, ‘What man is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not melt the hearts of his brothers like his own heart.’
20:9 When the officers finish speaking to the people, they shall appoint commanders of troops at the head of the people.
20:10 When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer it peace.
20:11 If it answers you with peace and opens to you, then all the people found in it shall be subject to forced labor for you and shall serve you.
20:12 But if it does not make peace with you and makes war against you, then besiege it.
20:13 The LORD your God will give it into your hand, and you shall strike all its males with the edge of the sword.
20:14 But the women, the children, the livestock, and all that is in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourself. You shall eat the spoil of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.
20:15 Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not among the cities of these nations.
20:16 But in the cities of these peoples that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, you shall let nothing that breathes live.
20:17 You shall surely devote them to destruction: the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded you,
20:18 lest they teach you to do all the abominations they have done for their gods and you sin against the LORD your God.
20:19 When you besiege a city for many days, fighting against it to capture it, you shall not destroy its trees by swinging an ax against them, for you may eat from them. You shall not cut them down. Is the tree of the field a man, that it should come under siege before you?
20:20 Only a tree that you know is not a tree for food you may destroy and cut down, and build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

Chapter 21
21:1 If someone slain is found lying in the field, in the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess, and it is not known who struck him,
21:2 then your elders and judges shall go out and measure the distance to the cities around the slain man.
21:3 The elders of the city nearest to the slain man shall take a heifer that has not been worked and has not pulled in a yoke.
21:4 The elders of that city shall bring the heifer down to a valley with an ever-flowing stream, where the ground is neither worked nor sown, and there in the valley they shall break the heifer’s neck.
21:5 The priests, the sons of Levi, shall approach, for the LORD your God has chosen them to serve him and to bless in the name of the LORD, and by their word every dispute and every case of injury shall be decided.
21:6 All the elders of that city nearest to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley.
21:7 They shall declare, ‘Our hands have not shed this blood, nor have our eyes seen it.
21:8 Forgive your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, O LORD, and do not lay the guilt of innocent blood upon your people Israel.’ Thus the guilt of that blood shall be atoned for them.
21:9 You shall purge the guilt of innocent blood from among you when you do what is right in the eyes of the LORD.
21:10 When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD your God gives them into your hand, and you take captives from them,
21:11 and you see among the captives a woman beautiful in form, desire her, and take her for yourself as a wife,
21:12 then bring her into your house. She shall shave her head and trim her nails.
21:13 She shall take off the clothing of her captivity, remain in your house, and mourn her father and mother for a full month. After that you may go in to her and be her husband, and she shall be your wife.
21:14 But if you have no delight in her, let her go free. You shall certainly not sell her for money or treat her as a slave, because you have humiliated her.
21:15 If a man has two wives, one loved and the other hated, and both the loved and the hated bear him sons, and the firstborn son belongs to the hated wife,
21:16 then on the day he gives his sons their inheritance from what he has, he may not make the son of the loved wife firstborn over the son of the hated wife, who is the firstborn.
21:17 He shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double portion of all he has, for he is the first of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his.
21:18 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not listen to the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they discipline him he does not listen to them,
21:19 then his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of the place where he lives.
21:20 They shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He does not listen to our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’
21:21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death. So you shall purge the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
21:22 If a man has committed a sin deserving a sentence of death, and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree,
21:23 his body shall not remain on the tree overnight. You shall surely bury him that same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

Chapter 22
22:1 You shall not see your brother’s ox or an animal from his flock straying and ignore them. You shall surely return them to your brother.
22:2 If your brother is not near you or you do not know him, bring the animal into your house, and it shall stay with you until your brother seeks it. Then return it to him.
22:3 Do the same for his donkey, do the same for his garment, and do the same for anything your brother has lost and you find. You may not ignore it.
22:4 You shall not see your brother’s donkey or ox fallen on the way and ignore them. You shall surely help him lift them up.
22:5 A woman shall not wear a man’s attire, and a man shall not put on a woman’s garment, for everyone who does these things is an abomination to the LORD your God.
22:6 If you come upon a bird’s nest along the way, in any tree or on the ground, with young birds or eggs, and the mother is sitting on the young or the eggs, you shall not take the mother with the young.
22:7 You shall surely let the mother go, but you may take the young for yourself, so that it may go well with you and you may prolong your days.
22:8 When you build a new house, make a guardrail for your roof, so that you do not bring bloodguilt on your house if someone falls from it.
22:9 You shall not sow your vineyard with two kinds of seed, lest the entire yield become consecrated, both the crop from the seed you sow and the produce of the vineyard.
22:10 You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together.
22:11 You shall not wear cloth of wool and linen mixed together.
22:12 Make tassels on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.
22:13 If a man takes a wife, goes in to her, and hates her,
22:14 and accuses her of shameful conduct, gives her a bad name, and says, ‘I took this woman, but when I approached her I found no evidence of virginity in her,’
22:15 then the young woman’s father and mother shall take the evidence of the young woman’s virginity and bring it to the elders of the city at the gate.
22:16 The young woman’s father shall say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, and he hates her.
22:17 Now he has accused her of shameful conduct, saying, “I found no evidence of virginity in your daughter.” But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they shall spread out the cloth before the elders of the city.
22:18 The elders of that city shall take the man and punish him.
22:19 They shall fine him about two and a half pounds of silver and give it to the young woman’s father, because he has given a bad name to a virgin of Israel. She shall remain his wife; he may not divorce her all his days.
22:20 But if the matter is true and no evidence of virginity is found for the young woman,
22:21 then bring the young woman out to the entrance of her father’s house, and the men of her city shall stone her to death, because she has done a disgraceful thing in Israel by committing sexual immorality in her father’s house. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
22:22 If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman and the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
22:23 If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a man, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,
22:24 then bring both of them out to the gate of that city and stone them to death: the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humiliated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
22:25 But if the man finds the betrothed young woman in the field, and the man overpowers her and lies with her, only the man who lay with her shall die.
22:26 You shall do nothing to the young woman; the young woman has committed no sin deserving death. For this case is like that of a man who rises against his neighbor and murders him.
22:27 For he found her in the field; the betrothed young woman cried out, but there was no one to save her.
22:28 If a man finds a young woman who is a virgin and is not betrothed, seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered,
22:29 then the man who lay with her shall give the young woman’s father about one and a quarter pounds of silver. She shall be his wife because he has humiliated her; he may not divorce her all his days.
22:30 A man shall not take his father’s wife or uncover his father’s covering.

Chapter 23
23:1 No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
23:2 No one born of an illegitimate union shall enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD.
23:3 No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of their descendants shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD,
23:4 because they did not meet you with bread and water on the way when you came out of Egypt, and because he hired Balaam son of Beor, from Pethor in Aram-naharaim, against you to curse you.
23:5 But the LORD your God was not willing to listen to Balaam, and the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you.
23:6 You shall not seek their peace or their welfare all your days, forever.
23:7 You shall not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother. You shall not detest an Egyptian, for you were a resident foreigner in his land.
23:8 The children born to them in the third generation may enter the assembly of the LORD.
23:9 When you go out on a campaign against your enemies, guard yourself from every evil thing.
23:10 If there is among you a man who is not clean because of a nocturnal emission, he shall go outside the camp; he shall not enter the camp.
23:11 Toward evening he shall bathe in water, and when the sun sets he may enter the camp.
23:12 You shall have a place outside the camp where you shall go out.
23:13 You shall have a peg among your equipment. When you sit down outside, dig with it, then turn back and cover your excrement.
23:14 For the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp to deliver you and give your enemies over before you. Therefore your camp shall be holy, lest he see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.
23:15 You shall not hand over to his master a slave who has escaped to you from his master.
23:16 He shall live with you, in your midst, in the place he chooses within any of your gates, wherever it is good for him. You shall not oppress him.
23:17 There shall be no female cult prostitute among the daughters of Israel and no male cult prostitute among the sons of Israel.
23:18 You shall not bring the earnings of a prostitute or the price of a dog into the house of the LORD your God for any vow, for both are an abomination to the LORD your God.
23:19 You shall not charge your brother interest on money, interest on food, or interest on anything that is lent at interest.
23:20 You may charge a foreigner interest, but you shall not charge your brother interest, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all you put your hand to in the land you are entering to possess.
23:21 When you make a vow to the LORD your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the LORD your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
23:22 But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty of sin.
23:23 You shall keep and do what goes out from your lips, just as you vowed to the LORD your God, the freewill offering you spoke of with your mouth.
23:24 When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat grapes as your soul desires, to your satisfaction, but you shall not put any in your container.
23:25 When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads with your hand, but you shall not swing a sickle over your neighbor’s standing grain.

Chapter 24
24:1 If a man takes a wife and marries her, and she finds no favor in his eyes because he finds something indecent in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house,
24:2 and she leaves his house, goes away, and becomes another man’s wife,
24:3 and the latter man hates her, writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter man who took her as his wife dies,
24:4 then her first husband, who sent her away, may not take her again as his wife after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD. You shall not bring sin upon the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
24:5 When a man has newly taken a wife, he shall not go out with the army or be charged with any duty. He shall be free at home for one year and make happy the wife he has taken.
24:6 No one shall take a mill or its upper millstone in pledge, for he is taking a life in pledge.
24:7 If a man is found kidnapping one of his brothers, one of the Israelites, treating him as a slave and selling him, then that kidnapper shall die. So you shall purge the evil from among you.
24:8 In a case of skin disease, be very careful to keep and do all that the Levitical priests teach you. Be careful to do as I commanded them.
24:9 Remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the way when you came out of Egypt.
24:10 When you lend your neighbor anything, you shall not enter his house to take his pledge.
24:11 Stand outside, and the man to whom you are lending shall bring the pledge out to you.
24:12 If he is a poor man, you shall not go to sleep holding his pledge.
24:13 You shall surely return the pledge to him at sunset, so that he may sleep in his garment and bless you, and it shall be righteousness for you before the LORD your God.
24:14 You shall not oppress a poor and needy hired worker, whether one of your brothers or one of your resident foreigners in your land, within your gates.
24:15 Give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets on them, for he is poor and his life depends on them, lest he cry to the LORD against you and you be guilty of sin.
24:16 Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers. Each shall be put to death for his own sin.
24:17 You shall not pervert the justice due to a resident foreigner or the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge.
24:18 Remember that you were a slave in Egypt and that the LORD your God redeemed you from there. Therefore I command you to do this.
24:19 When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to take it. It shall be for the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.
24:20 When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over its branches afterward. What remains shall be for the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
24:21 When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward. What remains shall be for the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.
24:22 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I command you to do this.

Chapter 25
25:1 If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, the judges shall judge them, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty.
25:2 If the guilty man deserves a beating, the judge shall make him lie down and have him beaten in his presence, with a number of blows according to his guilt.
25:3 He may give him forty blows, but no more, lest he go beyond these and beat him with many blows, and your brother be degraded in your eyes.
25:4 You shall not muzzle an ox while it threshes.
25:5 If brothers live together and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the dead man shall not marry outside the family, to a stranger. Her husband’s brother shall go in to her, take her as his wife, and perform the duty of a husband’s brother to her.
25:6 The firstborn she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother, so that his name is not blotted out of Israel.
25:7 But if the man does not desire to take his brother’s wife, then his brother’s wife shall go up to the gate, to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to raise up a name for his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a husband’s brother to me.’
25:8 The elders of his city shall call him and speak to him. If he stands and says, ‘I do not desire to take her,’
25:9 then his brother’s wife shall approach him in the sight of the elders, pull his sandal off his foot, and spit in his face. She shall declare, ‘So shall it be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s house.’
25:10 His name in Israel shall be called, ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.’
25:11 If men fight with one another, and the wife of one approaches to deliver her husband from the hand of the one striking him, and she reaches out her hand and seizes his genitals,
25:12 then you shall cut off her hand. Your eye shall not pity.
25:13 You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a large one and a small one.
25:14 You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large one and a small one.
25:15 You shall have a full and just weight, and you shall have a full and just measure, so that your days may be prolonged on the land the LORD your God is giving you.
25:16 For everyone who does these things, everyone who does injustice, is an abomination to the LORD your God.
25:17 Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt,
25:18 how he met you on the way and attacked all the weak stragglers at your rear while you were faint and weary. He did not fear God.
25:19 When the LORD your God gives you rest from all your enemies around you, in the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven. Do not forget.

Chapter 26
26:1 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, possess it and live in it,
26:2 take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground that you bring in from the land the LORD your God is giving you. Put it in a basket and go to the place the LORD your God will choose to make his name dwell there.
26:3 Go to the priest who is in office in those days and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have entered the land the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’
26:4 The priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it before the altar of the LORD your God.
26:5 Then you shall declare before the LORD your God, ‘My father was an Aramean about to perish. He went down to Egypt and resided there as a foreigner with a few people, and there he became a great, mighty, and numerous nation.
26:6 The Egyptians mistreated us, afflicted us, and laid hard labor upon us.
26:7 We cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression.
26:8 The LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders.
26:9 He brought us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
26:10 And now, see, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground that you have given me, O LORD.’ Then set it before the LORD your God and bow down before the LORD your God.
26:11 You shall rejoice in all the good the LORD your God has given you and your household, you, the Levite, and the resident foreigner among you.
26:12 When you have finished tithing all the tithe of your produce in the third year, the year of the tithe, and have given it to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your gates and be satisfied,
26:13 then say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the holy portion from the house and also given it to the Levite, the resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to the whole commandment you commanded me. I have not transgressed your commandments or forgotten them.
26:14 I have not eaten any of it in my mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or given any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done all that you commanded me.
26:15 Look down from your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the ground you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.’
26:16 This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and judgments. You shall keep and do them with all your heart and all your soul.
26:17 Today you have declared the LORD to be your God, and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, his commandments, and his judgments, and listen to his voice.
26:18 And today the LORD has declared you to be his people, his treasured possession, as he has told you, and that you shall keep all his commandments,
26:19 and that he will set you high above all the nations he has made, in praise, in fame, and in glory, and that you shall be a holy people to the LORD your God, as he has spoken.”

Chapter 27
27:1 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, “Keep the whole commandment that I command you today.
27:2 On the day you cross the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up large stones and coat them with lime plaster.
27:3 Write on them all the words of this law when you cross over, so that you may enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you.
27:4 When you cross the Jordan, set up these stones that I command you today on Mount Ebal, and coat them with lime plaster.
27:5 There you shall build an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. You shall not wield an iron tool over them.
27:6 Build the altar of the LORD your God with whole stones, and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God.
27:7 Sacrifice peace offerings, eat there, and rejoice before the LORD your God.
27:8 Write all the words of this law on the stones very clearly.”
27:9 Moses and the Levitical priests spoke to all Israel, saying, “Be silent and listen, O Israel. This day you have become the people of the LORD your God.
27:10 Listen to the voice of the LORD your God and do his commandments and his statutes that I command you today.”
27:11 That day Moses commanded the people, saying,
27:12 “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people when you cross the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.
27:13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.
27:14 The Levites shall declare to all the men of Israel with a loud voice,
27:15 ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved or cast image, an abomination to the LORD, the work of a craftsman’s hands, and sets it up in secret.’ And all the people shall answer and say, ‘Amen.’
27:16 ‘Cursed is anyone who dishonors his father and mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:17 ‘Cursed is anyone who moves his neighbor’s boundary marker.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:18 ‘Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the way.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:19 ‘Cursed is anyone who perverts the justice due to a resident foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:20 ‘Cursed is anyone who lies with his father’s wife, for he has uncovered his father’s covering.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:21 ‘Cursed is anyone who lies with any animal.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:22 ‘Cursed is anyone who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:23 ‘Cursed is anyone who lies with his mother-in-law.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:24 ‘Cursed is anyone who strikes his neighbor in secret.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:25 ‘Cursed is anyone who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’
27:26 ‘Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’

Chapter 28
28:1 If you diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.
28:2 All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of the LORD your God:
28:3 Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the field.
28:4 Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flocks.
28:5 Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
28:6 Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
28:7 The LORD will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before you. They shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.
28:8 The LORD will command the blessing upon you in your storehouses and in all you put your hand to. He will bless you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
28:9 The LORD will establish you as a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in his ways.
28:10 All the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of the LORD is called over you, and they shall fear you.
28:11 The LORD will make you abound in good things, in the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, on the land the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.
28:12 The LORD will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.
28:13 The LORD will make you the head and not the tail. You shall be only above and not beneath, if you listen to the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, being careful to do them,
28:14 and do not turn aside from any of the words that I command you today, to the right or to the left, to follow other gods and serve them.
28:15 But if you do not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you:
28:16 Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field.
28:17 Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
28:18 Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flocks.
28:19 Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.
28:20 The LORD will send upon you cursing, confusion, and rebuke in all you put your hand to do, until you are destroyed and quickly perish because of the evil of your deeds, by which you have forsaken me.
28:21 The LORD will make pestilence cling to you until he consumes you from the land you are entering to possess.
28:22 The LORD will strike you with wasting disease, fever, inflammation, and burning heat, with the sword, with blight and yellowing of crops. They shall pursue you until you perish.
28:23 The heavens over your head shall be bronze, and the earth beneath you shall be iron.
28:24 The LORD will make the rain of your land powder and dust. It shall come down on you from heaven until you are destroyed.
28:25 The LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies. You shall go out against them one way and flee before them seven ways. You shall become a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
28:26 Your carcass shall be food for all the birds of heaven and the animals of the earth, and no one shall frighten them away.
28:27 The LORD will strike you with the boils of Egypt, with tumors, scabs, and itching, from which you cannot be healed.
28:28 The LORD will strike you with madness, blindness, and bewilderment of heart.
28:29 You shall grope at noon as the blind grope in darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways. You shall be only oppressed and robbed always, with no one to save you.
28:30 You shall be betrothed to a woman, but another man shall lie with her. You shall build a house but not live in it; you shall plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.
28:31 Your ox shall be slaughtered before your eyes, but you shall not eat any of it. Your donkey shall be taken from before you and not returned to you. Your flocks shall be given to your enemies, and you shall have no one to save you.
28:32 Your sons and daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes look and fail with longing for them all day, and there shall be no strength in your hand.
28:33 A people you have not known shall eat the fruit of your ground and all the produce of your labor. You shall be only oppressed and crushed always.
28:34 You shall be driven mad by the sight that your eyes see.
28:35 The LORD will strike you on the knees and legs with severe boils from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the crown of your head.
28:36 The LORD will lead you and the king you set over you to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known. There you shall serve other gods, wood and stone.
28:37 You shall become a horror, a proverb, and a byword among all the peoples where the LORD leads you.
28:38 You shall carry much seed out to the field but gather little, for the locust shall consume it.
28:39 You shall plant vineyards and work them, but you shall neither drink wine nor gather grapes, for the worm shall eat them.
28:40 You shall have olive trees throughout your territory, but you shall not anoint yourself with oil, for your olives shall fall off.
28:41 You shall father sons and daughters, but they shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity.
28:42 The locust shall take possession of all your trees and the fruit of your ground.
28:43 The resident foreigner among you shall rise higher and higher above you, while you sink lower and lower.
28:44 He shall lend to you, but you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
28:45 All these curses shall come upon you, pursue you, and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and statutes that he commanded you.
28:46 They shall be a sign and a wonder upon you and upon your descendants forever.
28:47 Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and gladness of heart in the abundance of everything,
28:48 you shall serve your enemies whom the LORD sends against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and lack of everything. He shall put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.
28:49 The LORD will bring against you a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, swooping like an eagle, a nation whose language you do not understand,
28:50 a nation of fierce countenance, which shall not respect the old or show favor to the young.
28:51 It shall eat the fruit of your livestock and the fruit of your ground until you are destroyed. It shall leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, no offspring of your cattle or young of your flocks, until it has made you perish.
28:52 It shall besiege you within all your gates until your high and fortified walls in which you trust come down throughout all your land. It shall besiege you within all your gates throughout all your land that the LORD your God has given you.
28:53 You shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and distress with which your enemy oppresses you.
28:54 The tender and very delicate man among you shall look with an evil eye toward his brother, the wife of his bosom, and the rest of his children who remain,
28:55 refusing to give any of them a share of the flesh of his children that he eats, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and distress with which your enemy oppresses you within all your gates.
28:56 The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicacy and tenderness, shall look with an evil eye toward the husband of her bosom, her son, and her daughter,
28:57 begrudging them her afterbirth that comes out from between her legs and the children she bears, for she shall eat them in secret for lack of everything, in the siege and distress with which your enemy oppresses you within your gates.
28:58 If you are not careful to do all the words of this law written in this scroll, to fear this glorious and fearsome name, the LORD your God,
28:59 then the LORD will make extraordinary your plagues and the plagues of your descendants, great and lasting plagues, severe and lasting diseases.
28:60 He will bring back upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they shall cling to you.
28:61 The LORD will also bring upon you every disease and every plague not written in the scroll of this law, until you are destroyed.
28:62 You shall be left few in number, though you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not listen to the voice of the LORD your God.
28:63 Just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to make you perish and destroy you. You shall be plucked from the land you are entering to possess.
28:64 The LORD will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other. There you shall serve other gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, wood and stone.
28:65 Among those nations you shall find no ease, nor shall there be rest for the sole of your foot. There the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a sorrowful soul.
28:66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. You shall fear night and day and have no assurance of your life.
28:67 In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread your heart feels and the sight your eyes see.
28:68 The LORD will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way of which I told you, ‘You shall never see it again.’ There you shall offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there shall be no buyer.”

Chapter 29
29:1 These are the words of the covenant that the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in the land of Moab, besides the covenant he made with them at Horeb.
29:2 Moses called all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land,
29:3 the great trials your eyes saw, those signs and great wonders.
29:4 But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
29:5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot.
29:6 You have not eaten bread or drunk wine or strong drink, so that you may know that I am the LORD your God.
29:7 When you came to this place, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan came out against us to battle, and we struck them.
29:8 We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
29:9 Keep the words of this covenant and do them, so that you may prosper in all you do.
29:10 Today you stand, all of you, before the LORD your God: your tribal heads, your elders and officers, all the men of Israel,
29:11 your little ones, your wives, and the resident foreigner within your camp, from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water,
29:12 so that you may enter the covenant of the LORD your God and his oath, which the LORD your God is making with you today,
29:13 to establish you today as his people and to be your God, as he has told you and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
29:14 I am not making this covenant and this oath with you alone,
29:15 but with whoever stands here with us today before the LORD our God and with whoever is not here with us today.
29:16 For you know how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed.
29:17 You saw their abominations and their idols, wood and stone, silver and gold, which were with them.
29:18 Let there not be among you a man or woman, family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Let there not be among you a root bearing poison and wormwood.
29:19 If someone hears the words of this curse and blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart,’ thus sweeping away the watered land with the dry,
29:20 the LORD will not be willing to forgive him. Then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the whole curse written in this scroll shall settle on him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven.
29:21 The LORD will set him apart for calamity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this scroll of the law.
29:22 The generation to come, your children who arise after you, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, shall say when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it,
29:23 ‘All its land is sulfur and salt, a burning waste, neither sown nor producing, with no grass growing on it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath.’
29:24 All the nations shall say, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land? What is the meaning of this great burning anger?’
29:25 They shall say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
29:26 They went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods they had not known and that he had not allotted to them.
29:27 So the anger of the LORD burned against that land, bringing upon it the whole curse written in this scroll.
29:28 The LORD uprooted them from their ground in anger, wrath, and great indignation, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’
29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may do all the words of this law.

Chapter 30
30:1 When all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse that I have set before you, and you bring them back to your heart among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,
30:2 and you return to the LORD your God and listen to his voice according to all that I command you today, you and your children, with all your heart and all your soul,
30:3 then the LORD your God will bring you back from captivity and have compassion on you. He will again gather you from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.
30:4 Even if your outcasts are at the farthest end of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.
30:5 The LORD your God will bring you into the land your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it. He will do you good and multiply you more than your fathers.
30:6 The LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you may love the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live.
30:7 The LORD your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you.
30:8 You shall return and listen to the voice of the LORD and do all his commandments that I command you today.
30:9 The LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your livestock, and the fruit of your ground, for good. For the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, as he rejoiced over your fathers,
30:10 if you listen to the voice of the LORD your God, keeping his commandments and statutes written in this scroll of the law, if you return to the LORD your God with all your heart and all your soul.
30:11 For this commandment that I command you today is not too difficult for you or far away.
30:12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and bring it to us, and make us hear it so that we may do it?’
30:13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross beyond the sea for us and bring it to us, and make us hear it so that we may do it?’
30:14 But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may do it.
30:15 See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
30:16 in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, walk in his ways, and keep his commandments, his statutes, and his judgments. Then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.
30:17 But if your heart turns away and you do not listen, and you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and serve them,
30:18 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You shall not prolong your days on the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.
30:19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today: I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life, so that you and your descendants may live,
30:20 loving the LORD your God, listening to his voice, and holding fast to him, for he is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live on the land the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Chapter 31
31:1 Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.
31:2 He said to them, “I am a hundred and twenty years old today. I can no longer go out and come in, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’
31:3 The LORD your God himself will cross before you. He will destroy these nations from before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua himself will cross before you, as the LORD has spoken.
31:4 The LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.
31:5 The LORD will give them over before you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I commanded you.
31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be terrified before them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you.”
31:7 Moses called Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall enter with this people into the land the LORD swore to their fathers to give them, and you shall cause them to inherit it.
31:8 The LORD is the one who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.”
31:9 Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel.
31:10 Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the appointed time of the year of release, at the Feast of Booths,
31:11 when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
31:12 Gather the people, the men, the women, the little ones, and the resident foreigner within your gates, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, being careful to do all the words of this law.
31:13 Their children who have not known these things shall hear and learn to fear the LORD your God all the days you live on the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
31:14 The LORD said to Moses, “See, your days draw near for you to die. Call Joshua, and present yourselves in the Tent of Meeting, so that I may commission him.” Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the Tent of Meeting.
31:15 The LORD appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.
31:16 The LORD said to Moses, “See, you are about to lie down with your fathers, and this people will rise and prostitute itself after the foreign gods of the land it is entering. It will forsake me and break my covenant that I made with it.
31:17 My anger will burn against it that day. I will forsake them and hide my face from them, and it shall be devoured. Many evils and troubles shall find it, and that day it shall say, ‘Have not these evils found me because my God is not in my midst?’
31:18 I will surely hide my face that day because of all the evil it has done, for it has turned to other gods.
31:19 Now write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the Israelites. Put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.
31:20 For I will bring it into the land I swore to its fathers, flowing with milk and honey. It will eat and be satisfied and grow fat, then turn to other gods, serve them and despise me, and break my covenant.
31:21 When many evils and troubles find it, this song shall answer before it as a witness, for it shall not be forgotten from the mouths of its descendants. For I know the inclination it has today, before I bring it into the land I swore.”
31:22 Moses wrote this song that day and taught it to the Israelites.
31:23 He commissioned Joshua son of Nun and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
31:24 When Moses had finished writing the words of this law on a scroll, to the very end,
31:25 Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying,
31:26 “Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, so that it may be there as a witness against you.
31:27 For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck. Even today, while I am still alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!
31:28 Gather to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, so that I may speak these words in their hearing and call heaven and earth to witness against them.
31:29 For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside from the way I commanded you. Calamity will befall you in the days to come, because you will do what is evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of your hands.”
31:30 Moses spoke in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel the words of this song in full:

Chapter 32
32:1 “Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak;
   let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain, my speech drip like dew, like gentle rain on tender grass and like showers on plants.
32:3 For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
   ascribe greatness to our God.
32:4 The Rock—his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.
   A God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is he.
32:5 They have acted corruptly toward him;
   because of their blemish they are not his children, a perverse and crooked generation.
32:6 Is this how you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people?
   Is he not your father, who acquired you?
   He made you and established you.
32:7 Remember the days of old;
   consider the years of generation after generation.
   Ask your father, and he will tell you;
   your elders, and they will say to you.
32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of man, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.
32:9 For the LORD’s portion is his people;
   Jacob is the allotted share of his inheritance.
32:10 He found him in a wilderness land, in a waste, a howling desert.
   He surrounded him, cared for him, and guarded him as the apple of his eye.
32:11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, he spread his wings, took him, and carried him on his pinions.
32:12 The LORD alone led him;
   no foreign god was with him.
32:13 He made him ride on the heights of the earth, and he ate the produce of the field.
   He made him suck honey from the crag and oil from the flinty rock,
32:14 curds from cattle and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, rams of Bashan, and male goats, with the choicest wheat;
   and you drank wine, the blood of the grape.
32:15 But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked.
   You grew fat, you grew thick, you became covered with fat.
   He forsook the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
32:16 They provoked him to jealousy with foreign gods;
   they provoked him to anger with abominations.
32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, new ones that had recently come, whom your fathers had not feared.
32:18 You neglected the Rock who begot you and forgot the God who gave you birth.
32:19 The LORD saw and rejected them because of the provocation of his sons and daughters.
32:20 He said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
   I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom there is no faithfulness.
32:21 They have provoked me to jealousy with what is not God;
   they have provoked me to anger with their worthless idols.
   I will provoke them to jealousy with what is not a people;
   I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
32:22 For a fire is kindled in my anger and burns to the depths of Sheol.
   It devours the earth and its produce and sets ablaze the foundations of the mountains.
32:23 I will heap calamities upon them;
   I will spend my arrows on them.
32:24 They shall be wasted by hunger, devoured by burning fever and bitter pestilence.
   I will send against them the teeth of beasts, with the venom of creatures crawling in the dust.
32:25 Outside the sword shall bring bereavement, and inside the rooms, terror, for young man and virgin alike, for the nursing infant and the gray-haired man.
32:26 I would have said, “I will scatter them;
   I will make their memory cease from among mankind,”
32:27 had I not feared the enemy’s provocation, lest their adversaries misunderstand, lest they say, “Our hand is high;
   the LORD has not done all this.”’
32:28 For they are a nation bereft of counsel, and there is no understanding in them.
32:29 If only they were wise, they would understand this;
   they would discern their end.
32:30 How could one chase a thousand and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them and the LORD had given them over?
32:31 For their rock is not like our Rock;
   even our enemies are judges.
32:32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah.
   Their grapes are grapes of poison;
   their clusters are bitter.
32:33 Their wine is the venom of serpents, the cruel poison of cobras.
32:34 ‘Is this not stored up with me, sealed in my treasuries?
32:35 Vengeance and recompense are mine for the time when their foot slips, for the day of their calamity is near, and what awaits them hastens.’
32:36 For the LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants, when he sees that their strength is gone and none remain, confined or free.
32:37 He will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge,
32:38 which ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
   Let them arise and help you;
   let them be a shelter over you.
32:39 See now that I, I am he, and there is no god beside me.
   I put to death and I make alive;
   I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver from my hand.
32:40 For I lift my hand to heaven and say, “I live forever:
32:41 if I sharpen my flashing sword and my hand takes hold of judgment, I will repay my adversaries with vengeance and repay those who hate me.
32:42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh, with the blood of the slain and captives, from the long-haired heads of the enemy.”’
32:43 Acclaim his people, O nations, for he will avenge the blood of his servants, repay his adversaries with vengeance, and make atonement for his land and his people.”
32:44 Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he and Hoshea son of Nun.
32:45 When Moses finished speaking all these words to all Israel,
32:46 he said to them, “Set your hearts on all the words with which I testify against you today, which you shall command your children to keep and do, all the words of this law.
32:47 For it is no empty word for you, but your life, and by this word you shall prolong your days on the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
32:48 The LORD spoke to Moses that very day, saying,
32:49 “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and see the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites as a possession.
32:50 Die on the mountain you are going up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people,
32:51 because you were unfaithful to me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not show my holiness among the Israelites.
32:52 For you shall see the land from a distance, but you shall not enter there, into the land I am giving the Israelites.”

Chapter 33
33:1 This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death.
33:2 He said,
 “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned on them from Seir.
   He shone from Mount Paran and came from tens of thousands of holy ones;
   from his right hand came a fiery law for them.
33:3 Indeed, he loves the peoples;
   all his holy ones are in your hand.
   They bow at your feet;
   each receives your words.
33:4 Moses commanded us the law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
33:5 He was king in Jeshurun when the heads of the people gathered, the tribes of Israel together.
33:6 Let Reuben live and not die, though his men are few.”

33:7 This was for Judah, and he said, “Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people.
   His hands contended for him;
   be his help against his adversaries.”

33:8 Of Levi he said, “Let your Thummim and your Urim be for your faithful man, whom you tested at Massah and with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah,
33:9 the one who said of his father and mother, ‘I have not seen him,’ who did not acknowledge his brothers or know his sons, for they have kept your word and guard your covenant.
33:10 They shall teach your judgments to Jacob and your law to Israel.
   They shall put incense before your nostrils and a whole burnt offering on your altar.
33:11 Bless his strength, O LORD, and accept the work of his hands.
   Crush the loins of those who rise against him and of those who hate him, so that they do not rise again.”

33:12 Of Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the LORD shall dwell securely beside him;
   he covers him all day, and between his shoulders he dwells.”

33:13 Of Joseph he said, “Blessed by the LORD be his land, with the bounty of heaven, with the dew and with the deep lying beneath,
33:14 with the bounty of the sun’s produce and with the bounty of the moons’ yield,
33:15 with the finest of the ancient mountains and with the bounty of the everlasting hills,
33:16 with the bounty of the earth and its fullness, and with the favor of the one who dwelt in the bush.
   Let it come on Joseph’s head, on the crown of the one set apart from his brothers.
33:17 His is the majesty of a firstborn bull;
   his horns are the horns of a wild ox.
   With them he shall gore the peoples together to the ends of the earth.
   They are the tens of thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

33:18 Of Zebulun he said, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents.
33:19 They shall call peoples to the mountain;
   there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they shall suck the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

33:20 Of Gad he said, “Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad.
   He dwells like a lion and tears the arm, even the crown of the head.
33:21 He chose the first portion for himself, for there the lawgiver’s portion was reserved.
   He came with the heads of the people;
   he executed the righteousness of the LORD and his judgments with Israel.”

33:22 Of Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps from Bashan.”
33:23 Of Naphtali he said, “Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of the LORD, take possession of the west and the south.”

33:24 Of Asher he said, “Let Asher be most blessed of sons;
   let him be favored by his brothers and dip his foot in oil.
33:25 Your bolts shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.”
33:26 “There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help and the skies in his majesty.
33:27 The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.
   He drove out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’
33:28 Israel shall dwell securely, alone, the spring of Jacob, in a land of grain and new wine;
   his heavens also shall drip dew.
33:29 Happy are you, O Israel!
   Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help and the sword of your triumph?
   Your enemies shall feign submission to you, and you shall tread on their heights.”

Chapter 34
34:1 Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho. The LORD showed him all the land: Gilead as far as Dan,
34:2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah as far as the western sea,
34:3 the Negev and the plain, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.
34:4 The LORD said to him, “This is the land I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”
34:5 So Moses, the servant of the LORD, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
34:6 He buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but no one knows his grave to this day.
34:7 Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye had not grown dim, nor had his vigor departed.
34:8 The Israelites wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.
34:9 Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, because Moses had laid his hands on him. The Israelites listened to him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses.
34:10 No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,
34:11 in all the signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land,
34:12 and in all the might of his hand and all the great terror that Moses displayed before the eyes of all Israel.

JOSHUA

Chapter 1
1:1 After the death of Moses, the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ assistant:
1:2 “Moses my servant is dead. Now rise and cross this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land I am giving them, the people of Israel.
1:3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot will tread, just as I told Moses.
1:4 Your territory will extend from the wilderness and this Lebanon to the great river, the Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and to the Great Sea toward the setting sun.
1:5 No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not fail you or forsake you.
1:6 Be strong and courageous, for you will give this people as an inheritance the land I swore to their ancestors to give them.
1:7 Only be strong and very courageous, taking care to carry out all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, so that you may succeed wherever you go.
1:8 This book of the law must not depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night, so that you take care to do everything written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success.
1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
1:10 Then Joshua commanded the officers of the people:
1:11 “Pass through the camp and command the people, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, because in three days you will cross this Jordan to go in and take possession of the land the LORD your God is giving you to possess.’”
1:12 Joshua said to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh:
1:13 “Remember the word Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you: ‘The LORD your God is giving you rest and has given you this land.’
1:14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock will remain in the land Moses gave you beyond the Jordan. But all of you mighty warriors must cross over armed ahead of your brothers and help them,
1:15 until the LORD gives your brothers rest as he has given you, and they too possess the land the LORD your God is giving them. Then you may return to the land of your inheritance and possess it, the land Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise.”
1:16 They answered Joshua, “We will do everything you have commanded us, and we will go wherever you send us.
1:17 Just as we obeyed Moses in everything, so we will obey you. Only let the LORD your God be with you as he was with Moses.
1:18 Anyone who rebels against your command and does not obey your words in everything you command him must be put to death. Only be strong and courageous.”

Chapter 2
2:1 Joshua son of Nun secretly sent two men as spies from Shittim, saying, “Go, look over the land and Jericho.” They went and entered the house of a prostitute named Rahab and stayed there.
2:2 The king of Jericho was told, “Look, some men from the people of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.”
2:3 So the king of Jericho sent word to Rahab: “Bring out the men who came to you and entered your house, for they have come to search out the whole land.”
2:4 But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. She said, “Yes, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from.
2:5 When it grew dark and the gate was about to close, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.”
2:6 She had brought them up to the roof and hidden them among the stalks of flax she had laid out on the roof.
2:7 The men pursued them along the road to the Jordan, toward the fords. The gate was closed as soon as the pursuers went out after them.
2:8 Before the men lay down, she went up to them on the roof.
2:9 She said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land have melted away before you.
2:10 For we have heard how the LORD dried up the waters of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction.
2:11 When we heard it, our hearts melted, and no one had any courage left because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
2:12 Now please swear to me by the LORD that, since I have shown you kindness, you too will show kindness to my father’s household. Give me a trustworthy sign
2:13 that you will keep my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them alive, and deliver our lives from death.”
2:14 The men said to her, “Our lives for yours, even to death, if you do not tell anyone about this business of ours. When the LORD gives us the land, we will treat you with kindness and faithfulness.”
2:15 Then she lowered them by a rope through the window, for her house was in the city wall, and she lived in the wall.
2:16 She said to them, “Go to the hills so the pursuers will not come upon you. Hide there for three days until the pursuers return; then you may go on your way.”
2:17 The men said to her, “We will be free of this oath you made us swear.
2:18 Look, when we enter the land, you must tie this cord of scarlet thread in the window through which you lowered us. Gather your father, your mother, your brothers, and all your father’s household to you in the house.
2:19 If anyone goes outside through the doors of your house, his blood will be on his own head, and we will be innocent. But if a hand is laid on anyone with you in the house, his blood will be on our heads.
2:20 If you tell anyone about this business of ours, we will be free of the oath you made us swear.”
2:21 She said, “Let it be as you have said.” Then she sent them away, and they left. She tied the scarlet cord in the window.
2:22 They went to the hills and stayed there for three days, until the pursuers returned. The pursuers searched all along the road but did not find them.
2:23 Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills, crossed over, and came to Joshua son of Nun. They told him everything that had happened to them.
2:24 They said to Joshua, “The LORD has indeed given the whole land into our hands. All the inhabitants of the land have also melted away before us.”

Chapter 3
3:1 Joshua rose early in the morning, and he and all the people of Israel set out from Shittim. They came to the Jordan and lodged there before crossing over.
3:2 At the end of three days, the officers went through the camp
3:3 and commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, with the Levitical priests carrying it, you must set out from your place and follow it.
3:4 But keep a distance of about half a mile between you and it. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way to go, for you have never passed this way before.”
3:5 Joshua said to the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
3:6 Joshua said to the priests, “Lift up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they lifted up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.
3:7 The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you.
3:8 You must command the priests carrying the ark of the covenant, ‘When you reach the edge of the waters of the Jordan, stand still in the Jordan.’”
3:9 Joshua said to the people of Israel, “Come here and hear the words of the LORD your God.”
3:10 Joshua said, “By this you will know that the living God is among you and that he will certainly drive out before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites.
3:11 Look, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan.
3:12 Now choose twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe.
3:13 When the soles of the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the LORD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. The waters flowing down from above will stand in a single heap.”
3:14 So the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying the ark of the covenant ahead of the people.
3:15 When those carrying the ark reached the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark dipped into the edge of the water—the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the harvest season—
3:16 the waters flowing down from above stopped and rose in a single heap very far away, at Adam, the city beside Zarethan. The waters flowing down toward the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, ran out and were cut off. The people crossed over opposite Jericho.
3:17 The priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

Chapter 4
4:1 When the entire nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua:
4:2 “Choose twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe,
4:3 and command them, ‘Take up twelve stones from here, from the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stand firmly. Carry them over with you and lay them down at the place where you will lodge tonight.’”
4:4 So Joshua called the twelve men he had appointed from the people of Israel, one man from each tribe.
4:5 Joshua said to them, “Cross over ahead of the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you lift a stone onto his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel,
4:6 so that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in days to come, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’
4:7 tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ These stones will be a memorial for the people of Israel forever.”
4:8 The people of Israel did as Joshua commanded. They took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, as the LORD had told Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel. They carried them over with them to their lodging place and laid them down there.
4:9 Joshua also set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, where the feet of the priests carrying the ark of the covenant had stood. They are there to this day.
4:10 The priests carrying the ark stood in the middle of the Jordan until everything the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell the people was completed, in keeping with all that Moses had commanded Joshua. The people hurried across.
4:11 When all the people had finished crossing, the ark of the LORD and the priests crossed over in the sight of the people.
4:12 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh crossed over armed ahead of the people of Israel, as Moses had told them.
4:13 About forty thousand men equipped for war crossed over before the LORD for battle, to the plains of Jericho.
4:14 On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel. They feared him all the days of his life, just as they had feared Moses.
4:15 The LORD said to Joshua:
4:16 “Command the priests carrying the ark of the testimony to come up out of the Jordan.”
4:17 So Joshua commanded the priests, “Come up out of the Jordan.”
4:18 When the priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD came up from the middle of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests’ feet were lifted onto dry ground, the waters of the Jordan returned to their place and flowed over all its banks as before.
4:19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month and camped at Gilgal, on the eastern edge of Jericho.
4:20 Joshua set up at Gilgal those twelve stones they had taken from the Jordan.
4:21 He said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in days to come, ‘What are these stones?’
4:22 you must tell your children, ‘Israel crossed this Jordan on dry ground.’
4:23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed, just as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up before us until we had crossed,
4:24 so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may fear the LORD your God all your days.”

Chapter 5
5:1 When all the kings of the Amorites west of the Jordan and all the kings of the Canaanites along the sea heard that the LORD had dried up the waters of the Jordan before the people of Israel until we had crossed, their hearts melted, and they had no courage left because of the people of Israel.
5:2 At that time the LORD said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself and circumcise the people of Israel again, a second time.”
5:3 So Joshua made flint knives for himself and circumcised the people of Israel at the Hill of Foreskins.
5:4 This is why Joshua circumcised them: all the males among the people who came out of Egypt, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt.
5:5 All the people who came out had been circumcised, but none of the people born in the wilderness along the way after leaving Egypt had been circumcised.
5:6 For the people of Israel walked in the wilderness for forty years, until the whole nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had perished, because they had not obeyed the voice of the LORD. The LORD had sworn to them that he would not let them see the land the LORD had sworn to their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
5:7 It was their sons, whom he had raised up in their place, that Joshua circumcised, for they were uncircumcised. They had not been circumcised along the way.
5:8 When the whole nation had finished being circumcised, they remained where they were in the camp until they healed.
5:9 The LORD said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So that place has been called Gilgal to this day.
5:10 The people of Israel camped at Gilgal and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, on the plains of Jericho.
5:11 On the day after the Passover, they ate some of the grain of the land: unleavened bread and roasted grain, on that very day.
5:12 The manna ceased the next day, after they ate some of the grain of the land. There was no more manna for the people of Israel, and that year they ate from the harvest of the land of Canaan.
5:13 When Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
5:14 He said, “No, but I have now come as commander of the LORD’s army.” Joshua fell facedown to the ground and bowed down. He said to him, “What does my lord have to say to his servant?”
5:15 The commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Chapter 6
6:1 Jericho was shut up tight because of the people of Israel. No one went out, and no one came in.
6:2 The LORD said to Joshua, “Look, I have given Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty warriors.
6:3 All of you men of war must march around the city, circling the city once. Do this for six days.
6:4 Seven priests must carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets ahead of the ark. On the seventh day you must march around the city seven times, and the priests must blow the trumpets.
6:5 When a long blast is sounded on the ram’s horn and you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people must give a great shout. The city wall will collapse in its place, and the people will go up, each man straight ahead.”
6:6 Joshua son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Lift up the ark of the covenant, and let seven priests carry seven ram’s-horn trumpets ahead of the ark of the LORD.”
6:7 They said to the people, “Move forward and march around the city. Let the armed men move ahead of the ark of the LORD.”
6:8 When Joshua had spoken to the people, the seven priests carrying the seven ram’s-horn trumpets before the LORD moved forward and blew the trumpets. The ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them.
6:9 The armed men went ahead of the priests blowing the trumpets, and the rear guard followed the ark, while the trumpets sounded continually.
6:10 Joshua had commanded the people, “Do not shout or let your voice be heard. Do not let a word come out of your mouths until the day I tell you, ‘Shout!’ Then you must shout.”
6:11 So he had the ark of the LORD circle the city once. Then they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.
6:12 Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests lifted up the ark of the LORD.
6:13 The seven priests carrying the seven ram’s-horn trumpets ahead of the ark of the LORD kept marching and blowing the trumpets. The armed men went ahead of them, and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets sounded continually.
6:14 On the second day they circled the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days.
6:15 On the seventh day they rose early, at daybreak, and circled the city seven times in the same manner. Only on that day did they circle the city seven times.
6:16 On the seventh time around, the priests blew the trumpets, and Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the LORD has given you the city!
6:17 The city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone with her in the house will remain alive, because she hid the messengers we sent.
6:18 But keep yourselves from what is devoted to destruction, lest you make yourselves devoted to destruction by taking some of what is devoted, and make the camp of Israel devoted to destruction and bring trouble on it.
6:19 All the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD. They must go into the treasury of the LORD.”
6:20 So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. When the people heard the sound of the trumpet, they gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed in its place. The people went up into the city, each man straight ahead, and captured the city.
6:21 They devoted everything in the city to destruction—men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys—with the edge of the sword.
6:22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring out the woman and all that belongs to her, just as you swore to her.”
6:23 So the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that belonged to her. They brought out all her relatives and settled them outside the camp of Israel.
6:24 They burned the city and everything in it with fire. Only the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron did they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD.
6:25 But Joshua kept Rahab the prostitute, her father’s household, and all that belonged to her alive. She has lived among Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers Joshua sent to spy out Jericho.
6:26 At that time Joshua made them swear this oath: “Cursed before the LORD is the man who rises up and rebuilds this city, Jericho. At the cost of his firstborn he will lay its foundation, and at the cost of his youngest he will set up its gates.”
6:27 The LORD was with Joshua, and his fame spread throughout the land.

Chapter 7
7:1 But the people of Israel acted unfaithfully concerning what was devoted to destruction. Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of what was devoted to destruction, and the LORD’s anger burned against the people of Israel.
7:2 Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth-aven, east of Bethel. He said to them, “Go up and spy out the land.” So the men went up and spied out Ai.
7:3 They returned to Joshua and said to him, “Do not have all the people go up. Let about two thousand or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people by sending them there, for they are few.”
7:4 So about three thousand men from the people went up there, but they fled before the men of Ai.
7:5 The men of Ai killed about thirty-six of them. They pursued them from before the gate as far as Shebarim and struck them down on the descent. The people’s hearts melted and became water.
7:6 Joshua tore his clothes. He and the elders of Israel fell facedown to the ground before the ark of the LORD until evening. They put dust on their heads.
7:7 Joshua said, “Alas, Lord GOD, why did you ever bring this people across the Jordan, to give us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us? If only we had been content to remain beyond the Jordan!
7:8 Please, Lord, what can I say, now that Israel has turned its back before its enemies?
7:9 The Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it. They will surround us and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
7:10 The LORD said to Joshua, “Get up! Why are you lying facedown like this?
7:11 Israel has sinned. They have also broken my covenant that I commanded them. They have also taken some of what was devoted to destruction. They have also stolen, also lied, and also put it among their own belongings.
7:12 The people of Israel cannot stand before their enemies. They turn their backs before their enemies because they have become devoted to destruction. I will no longer be with you unless you destroy what is devoted to destruction from among you.
7:13 Get up, consecrate the people, and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There is something devoted to destruction among you, Israel. You cannot stand before your enemies until you remove what is devoted to destruction from among you.
7:14 In the morning you must come forward by your tribes. The tribe the LORD selects must come forward by clans; the clan the LORD selects must come forward by households; and the household the LORD selects must come forward man by man.
7:15 The one caught with what is devoted to destruction must be burned with fire, he and all that belongs to him, because he has broken the covenant of the LORD and committed an outrage in Israel.’”
7:16 Joshua rose early in the morning and brought Israel forward by its tribes, and the tribe of Judah was selected.
7:17 He brought the family of Judah forward and selected the Zerahite clan. He brought the Zerahite clan forward man by man, and Zabdi was selected.
7:18 He brought his household forward man by man, and Achan son of Carmi, son of Zabdi, son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was selected.
7:19 Joshua said to Achan, “My son, please give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and make confession to him. Please tell me what you have done. Do not hide it from me.”
7:20 Achan answered Joshua, “Truly I have sinned against the LORD, the God of Israel. This is what I did:
7:21 I saw among the plunder a fine robe from Shinar, about five pounds of silver, and a gold bar weighing about twenty ounces. I coveted them and took them. There they are, hidden in the ground in the middle of my tent, with the silver beneath the robe.”
7:22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent. There was the robe, hidden in his tent, with the silver beneath it.
7:23 They took the things from the middle of the tent and brought them to Joshua and all the people of Israel. They laid them out before the LORD.
7:24 Then Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan son of Zerah, the silver, the robe, the gold bar, his sons, his daughters, his ox, his donkey, his flock, his tent, and all that belonged to him, and brought them up to the Valley of Achor.
7:25 Joshua said, “Why have you brought trouble on us? The LORD will bring trouble on you today.” All Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.
7:26 They raised a great heap of stones over him, which remains to this day. Then the LORD turned from his fierce anger. For this reason that place has been called the Valley of Achor to this day.

Chapter 8
8:1 The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Take all the men of war with you, rise, and go up to Ai. Look, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land.
8:2 Do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king, except that you may take its plunder and livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush against the city behind it.”
8:3 So Joshua and all the men of war rose to go up to Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty warriors and sent them out by night.
8:4 He commanded them, “Look, you must lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, and all of you be ready.
8:5 I and all the people with me will approach the city. When they come out against us as before, we will flee before them.
8:6 They will come out after us until we have drawn them away from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as before.’ So we will flee before them.
8:7 Then you must rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the LORD your God will give it into your hand.
8:8 When you capture the city, set the city on fire. Do as the LORD has said. See, I have commanded you.”
8:9 Joshua sent them out, and they went to the ambush and took up their position between Bethel and Ai, west of Ai. Joshua spent that night among the people.
8:10 Joshua rose early in the morning and mustered the people. He and the elders of Israel went up ahead of the people to Ai.
8:11 All the men of war with him went up, approached, and came before the city. They camped north of Ai, with the valley between him and Ai.
8:12 He took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, west of the city.
8:13 They positioned the people, with the entire camp north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. That night Joshua went into the middle of the valley.
8:14 When the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and rose early. They went out to meet Israel in battle at the appointed time, facing the Arabah. But he did not know that an ambush lay against him behind the city.
8:15 Joshua and all Israel pretended to be beaten before them and fled along the road to the wilderness.
8:16 All the people in the city were called out to pursue them. They pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city.
8:17 Not a man remained in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.
8:18 The LORD said to Joshua, “Stretch out the javelin in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” So Joshua stretched out the javelin in his hand toward the city.
8:19 The men in ambush rose quickly from their place and ran as soon as he stretched out his hand. They entered the city, captured it, and quickly set the city on fire.
8:20 The men of Ai turned and saw the smoke of the city rising toward heaven. They had no power to flee this way or that, and the people fleeing toward the wilderness turned against their pursuers.
8:21 When Joshua and all Israel saw that the men in ambush had captured the city and that the smoke of the city was rising, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai.
8:22 The others came out of the city against them, so they were caught in the middle of Israel, with some on one side and some on the other. They struck them down until neither survivor nor fugitive remained.
8:23 But they captured the king of Ai alive and brought him to Joshua.
8:24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open country, in the wilderness where they had pursued them, and all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were wiped out, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword.
8:25 All who fell that day, men and women, numbered twelve thousand—all the people of Ai.
8:26 Joshua did not draw back the hand he had stretched out with the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.
8:27 Israel took only the livestock and the plunder of that city for themselves, according to the word of the LORD that he had commanded Joshua.
8:28 Joshua burned Ai and made it a mound forever, a desolation to this day.
8:29 He hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. At sunset Joshua gave the command, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it at the entrance of the city gate, and raised over him a great heap of stones, which remains to this day.
8:30 Then Joshua built an altar to the LORD, the God of Israel, on Mount Ebal,
8:31 as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded the people of Israel, as written in the book of the law of Moses: an altar of whole stones on which no iron tool had been raised. They offered burnt offerings to the LORD on it and sacrificed peace offerings.
8:32 There, on the stones, he wrote a copy of the law of Moses, which he wrote in the sight of the people of Israel.
8:33 All Israel, with its elders, officers, and judges, stood on either side of the ark, facing the Levitical priests carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, resident foreigners and native-born alike. Half stood facing Mount Gerizim and half facing Mount Ebal, as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had first commanded, to bless the people of Israel.
8:34 Afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessing and the curse, according to everything written in the book of the law.
8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before the entire assembly of Israel, including the women, the little ones, and the resident foreigners who lived among them.

Chapter 9
9:1 When all the kings beyond the Jordan, in the hill country, in the lowland, and along the entire coast of the Great Sea toward Lebanon—the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—heard this,
9:2 they gathered together with one accord to fight against Joshua and Israel.
9:3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai,
9:4 they too acted shrewdly. They went and presented themselves as envoys, taking worn-out sacks for their donkeys and worn-out wineskins, split and patched,
9:5 with worn-out, patched sandals on their feet and worn-out clothes on their bodies. All the bread of their provisions was dry and crumbling.
9:6 They went to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal and said to him and the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant land. Now make a covenant with us.”
9:7 The men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us. How, then, can we make a covenant with you?”
9:8 They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” Joshua said to them, “Who are you, and where do you come from?”
9:9 They said to him, “Your servants have come from a very distant land because of the name of the LORD your God, for we have heard of his fame and everything he did in Egypt,
9:10 and everything he did to the two kings of the Amorites beyond the Jordan, Sihon king of Heshbon and Og king of Bashan, who was at Ashtaroth.
9:11 Our elders and all the inhabitants of our land told us, ‘Take provisions with you for the journey and go to meet them. Say to them: We are your servants; now make a covenant with us.’
9:12 This bread of ours was warm when we took it from our houses as provisions on the day we set out to come to you. But now look: it is dry and crumbling.
9:13 These wineskins were new when we filled them, but look, they are split. These clothes and sandals of ours have worn out from the very long journey.”
9:14 So the men took some of their provisions, but they did not seek counsel from the mouth of the LORD.
9:15 Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them to let them live. The leaders of the congregation swore an oath to them.
9:16 At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors, living among them.
9:17 The people of Israel set out and reached their cities on the third day. Their cities were Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim.
9:18 But the people of Israel did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel. The whole congregation grumbled against the leaders.
9:19 All the leaders said to the whole congregation, “We have sworn to them by the LORD, the God of Israel, and now we cannot touch them.
9:20 This is what we will do with them: we will let them live, so that wrath does not come upon us because of the oath we swore to them.”
9:21 The leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became woodcutters and water carriers for the whole congregation, as the leaders had told them.
9:22 Joshua called them and said to them, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you live among us?
9:23 Now you are cursed, and there will always be slaves among you, woodcutters and water carriers for the house of my God.”
9:24 They answered Joshua, “Your servants were clearly told that the LORD your God had commanded Moses his servant to give you the whole land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land before you. We feared greatly for our lives because of you, and so we did this.
9:25 Now here we are in your hand. Do to us whatever is good and right in your eyes.”
9:26 So he did this for them: he delivered them from the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them.
9:27 That day Joshua appointed them to be woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the LORD at the place he would choose, as they are to this day.

Chapter 10
10:1 When Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had captured Ai and devoted it to destruction—as he had done to Jericho and its king, so he had done to Ai and its king—and that the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel and were living among them,
10:2 they were greatly afraid, because Gibeon was a great city, like one of the royal cities, larger than Ai, and all its men were mighty warriors.
10:3 Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon:
10:4 “Come up to me and help me, and let us attack Gibeon, because it has made peace with Joshua and the people of Israel.”
10:5 So the five kings of the Amorites—the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon—gathered and went up with all their armies. They camped against Gibeon and fought against it.
10:6 The men of Gibeon sent word to Joshua at the camp in Gilgal: “Do not withdraw your hands from your servants. Come up to us quickly, save us, and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites living in the hill country have gathered against us.”
10:7 So Joshua went up from Gilgal with all the men of war and all the mighty warriors.
10:8 The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will stand before you.”
10:9 Joshua came upon them suddenly, having marched up from Gilgal all night.
10:10 The LORD threw them into confusion before Israel and inflicted a great defeat on them at Gibeon. He pursued them along the road up to Beth-horon and struck them down as far as Azekah and Makkedah.
10:11 As they fled before Israel on the descent of Beth-horon, the LORD hurled great stones from heaven upon them as far as Azekah, and they died. More died from the hailstones than the people of Israel killed with the sword.

10:12 Then Joshua spoke to the LORD on the day the LORD gave the Amorites over before the people of Israel. He said in the sight of Israel,
 “Sun, stand still over Gibeon, and moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.”
10:13 The sun stood still, and the moon stopped, until the nation had avenged itself on its enemies.
   Is this not written in the Book of Jashar?
   The sun stood still in the middle of the heavens and did not hurry to set for about a full day.
10:14 There has been no day like it before or since, when the LORD listened to the voice of a man, for the LORD fought for Israel.
10:15 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp in Gilgal.
10:16 Now those five kings had fled and hidden in the cave at Makkedah.
10:17 Joshua was told, “The five kings have been found hiding in the cave at Makkedah.”
10:18 Joshua said, “Roll large stones against the mouth of the cave and station men there to guard them.
10:19 But do not stop. Pursue your enemies and attack them from the rear. Do not let them enter their cities, for the LORD your God has given them into your hand.”
10:20 When Joshua and the people of Israel had finished striking them down in a very great slaughter, until they were wiped out, the survivors who remained entered the fortified cities.
10:21 All the people returned safely to Joshua at the camp in Makkedah. No one sharpened his tongue against any of the people of Israel.
10:22 Then Joshua said, “Open the mouth of the cave and bring those five kings out of the cave to me.”
10:23 They did so and brought those five kings out of the cave to him: the king of Jerusalem, the king of Hebron, the king of Jarmuth, the king of Lachish, and the king of Eglon.
10:24 When they brought these kings to Joshua, Joshua called all the men of Israel and said to the commanders of the men of war who had gone with him, “Come forward and put your feet on the necks of these kings.” So they came forward and put their feet on their necks.
10:25 Joshua said to them, “Do not fear or be dismayed. Be strong and courageous, for this is what the LORD will do to all your enemies whom you fight.”
10:26 Afterward Joshua struck them, killed them, and hanged them on five trees. They hung on the trees until evening.
10:27 At sunset Joshua gave the command, and they took them down from the trees and threw them into the cave where they had hidden. They placed large stones against the mouth of the cave, which remain to this very day.
10:28 That day Joshua captured Makkedah and struck it and its king with the edge of the sword. He devoted them and every person in it to destruction, leaving no survivor. He did to the king of Makkedah as he had done to the king of Jericho.
10:29 Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Makkedah to Libnah and fought against Libnah.
10:30 The LORD also gave it and its king into the hand of Israel. Joshua struck it and every person in it with the edge of the sword, leaving no survivor in it. He did to its king as he had done to the king of Jericho.
10:31 Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libnah to Lachish, camped against it, and fought against it.
10:32 The LORD gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and Joshua captured it on the second day. He struck it and every person in it with the edge of the sword, just as he had done to Libnah.
10:33 Then Horam king of Gezer came up to help Lachish. Joshua struck him and his people down until he left him no survivor.
10:34 Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, camped against it, and fought against it.
10:35 They captured it that day and struck it with the edge of the sword. That day he devoted every person in it to destruction, just as he had done to Lachish.
10:36 Joshua and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron and fought against it.
10:37 They captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword, along with its king, all its towns, and every person in it. He left no survivor, just as he had done to Eglon, and devoted it and every person in it to destruction.
10:38 Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned back toward Debir and fought against it.
10:39 He captured it, its king, and all its towns. They struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted every person in it to destruction. He left no survivor. As he had done to Hebron, so he did to Debir and its king, just as he had done to Libnah and its king.
10:40 So Joshua struck down the whole land: the hill country, the Negev, the lowland, and the slopes, and all their kings. He left no survivor and devoted everything that breathed to destruction, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded.
10:41 Joshua struck them down from Kadesh-barnea as far as Gaza, and throughout the land of Goshen as far as Gibeon.
10:42 Joshua captured all these kings and their land in one campaign, because the LORD, the God of Israel, fought for Israel.
10:43 Then Joshua and all Israel with him returned to the camp in Gilgal.

Chapter 11
11:1 When Jabin king of Hazor heard this, he sent word to Jobab king of Madon, to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph,
11:2 and to the kings in the north, in the hill country, in the Arabah south of Chinneroth, in the lowland, and on the heights of Dor to the west,
11:3 to the Canaanites in the east and west, the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites below Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
11:4 They went out with all their armies, a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore, with very many horses and chariots.
11:5 All these kings joined forces and came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel.
11:6 The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for tomorrow about this time I will give them all over, slain, before Israel. You must hamstring their horses and burn their chariots with fire.”
11:7 So Joshua and all the men of war with him came upon them suddenly at the waters of Merom and fell upon them.
11:8 The LORD gave them into the hand of Israel, and they struck them down and pursued them as far as Great Sidon, Misrephoth-maim, and the Valley of Mizpah to the east. They struck them down until they left them no survivor.
11:9 Joshua did to them as the LORD had told him: he hamstrung their horses and burned their chariots with fire.
11:10 At that time Joshua turned back and captured Hazor and struck down its king with the sword, for Hazor had formerly been the head of all these kingdoms.
11:11 They struck every person in it with the edge of the sword, devoting them to destruction. Nothing that breathed remained. He burned Hazor with fire.
11:12 Joshua captured all the cities of these kings and all their kings. He struck them with the edge of the sword and devoted them to destruction, as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded.
11:13 But Israel did not burn any of the cities standing on their mounds, except Hazor alone, which Joshua burned.
11:14 The people of Israel took all the plunder and livestock of these cities for themselves. But they struck all the people with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, leaving nothing that breathed.
11:15 As the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses.
11:16 Joshua took all this land: the hill country, all the Negev, all the land of Goshen, the lowland, the Arabah, the hill country of Israel and its lowland,
11:17 from Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir, as far as Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon below Mount Hermon. He captured all their kings, struck them down, and killed them.
11:18 Joshua waged war against all these kings for a long time.
11:19 No city made peace with the people of Israel except the Hivites living in Gibeon. They took all the others in battle.
11:20 For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts to meet Israel in battle, so that they would be devoted to destruction and receive no mercy, but be destroyed, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
11:21 At that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the hill country, from Hebron, Debir, and Anab, and from all the hill country of Judah and all the hill country of Israel. Joshua devoted them and their cities to destruction.
11:22 No Anakim remained in the land of the people of Israel. They remained only in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.
11:23 Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD had told Moses. Joshua gave it to Israel as an inheritance, according to their tribal divisions. And the land rested from war.

Chapter 12
12:1 These are the kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated and whose land they possessed beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise, from the Arnon River to Mount Hermon, with all the eastern Arabah:
12:2 Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon and ruled from Aroer on the bank of the Arnon River, and from the middle of the valley, over half of Gilead as far as the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites,
12:3 and over the Arabah as far as the Sea of Chinneroth on the east, and as far as the Sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, on the east, toward Beth-jeshimoth, and southward below the slopes of Pisgah;
12:4 and the territory of Og king of Bashan, one of the remnant of the Rephaim, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei
12:5 and ruled over Mount Hermon, Salecah, and all Bashan as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, and over half of Gilead as far as the border of Sihon king of Heshbon.
12:6 Moses, the servant of the LORD, and the people of Israel defeated them. Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave their land as a possession to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh.
12:7 These are the kings of the land whom Joshua and the people of Israel defeated beyond the Jordan to the west, from Baal-gad in the Valley of Lebanon to Mount Halak, which rises toward Seir. Joshua gave their land to the tribes of Israel as a possession according to their divisions,
12:8 in the hill country, the lowland, the Arabah, the slopes, the wilderness, and the Negev. These were the kings of the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites:
12:9 the king of Jericho, one; the king of Ai, beside Bethel, one;
12:10 the king of Jerusalem, one; the king of Hebron, one;
12:11 the king of Jarmuth, one; the king of Lachish, one;
12:12 the king of Eglon, one; the king of Gezer, one;
12:13 the king of Debir, one; the king of Geder, one;
12:14 the king of Hormah, one; the king of Arad, one;
12:15 the king of Libnah, one; the king of Adullam, one;
12:16 the king of Makkedah, one; the king of Bethel, one;
12:17 the king of Tappuah, one; the king of Hepher, one;
12:18 the king of Aphek, one; the king of Lasharon, one;
12:19 the king of Madon, one; the king of Hazor, one;
12:20 the king of Shimron-meron, one; the king of Achshaph, one;
12:21 the king of Taanach, one; the king of Megiddo, one;
12:22 the king of Kedesh, one; the king of Jokneam in Carmel, one;
12:23 the king of Dor on the heights of Dor, one; the king of Goyim in Gilgal, one;
12:24 the king of Tirzah, one. Thirty-one kings in all.

Chapter 13
13:1 Joshua was old and advanced in years. The LORD said to him, “You are old and advanced in years, and very much land still remains to be possessed.
13:2 This is the land that remains: all the regions of the Philistines and all the Geshurites,
13:3 from the Shihor, which is east of Egypt, to the border of Ekron on the north, counted as Canaanite territory: the five rulers of the Philistines, those of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron; also the Avvim
13:4 in the south; all the land of the Canaanites, and Mearah, which belongs to the Sidonians, as far as Aphek, to the border of the Amorites;
13:5 the land of the Gebalites and all Lebanon toward the sunrise, from Baal-gad below Mount Hermon to the entrance to Hamath.
13:6 All the inhabitants of the hill country from Lebanon to Misrephoth-maim, all the Sidonians—I myself will drive them out before the people of Israel. Only allot the land to Israel as an inheritance, as I have commanded you.
13:7 Now divide this land as an inheritance among the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”
13:8 Along with the other half of Manasseh, the Reubenites and Gadites had received their inheritance, which Moses gave them beyond the Jordan to the east, just as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had given them:
13:9 from Aroer on the bank of the Arnon River, and the city in the middle of the valley, and the entire plateau of Medeba as far as Dibon;
13:10 all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, as far as the border of the Ammonites;
13:11 Gilead, the territory of the Geshurites and Maacathites, all Mount Hermon, and all Bashan as far as Salecah;
13:12 all the kingdom of Og in Bashan, who reigned in Ashtaroth and Edrei. He was left from the remnant of the Rephaim. Moses defeated them and drove them out.
13:13 But the people of Israel did not drive out the Geshurites or the Maacathites. Geshur and Maacath have lived among Israel to this day.
13:14 Only to the tribe of Levi did he give no inheritance. The offerings by fire to the LORD, the God of Israel, are their inheritance, as he had told them.
13:15 Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of the descendants of Reuben according to their clans.
13:16 Their territory extended from Aroer on the bank of the Arnon River, and the city in the middle of the valley, and all the plateau by Medeba:
13:17 Heshbon and all its towns on the plateau; Dibon, Bamoth-baal, Beth-baal-meon,
13:18 Jahaz, Kedemoth, Mephaath,
13:19 Kiriathaim, Sibmah, Zareth-shahar on the hill in the valley,
13:20 Beth-peor, the slopes of Pisgah, and Beth-jeshimoth;
13:21 all the cities of the plateau and all the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon. Moses struck him down, along with the leaders of Midian—Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba—the chieftains of Sihon who lived in the land.
13:22 The people of Israel also killed Balaam son of Beor, the diviner, with the sword, among those they killed.
13:23 The border of the descendants of Reuben was the Jordan with its bank. This was the inheritance of the descendants of Reuben according to their clans: the cities and their villages.
13:24 Moses gave an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the descendants of Gad according to their clans.
13:25 Their territory was Jazer, all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the Ammonites as far as Aroer, which faces Rabbah,
13:26 and from Heshbon to Ramath-mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim to the border of Lidebir;
13:27 and in the valley, Beth-haram, Beth-nimrah, Succoth, and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, the Jordan with its bank as far as the edge of the Sea of Chinnereth, beyond the Jordan to the east.
13:28 This was the inheritance of the descendants of Gad according to their clans: the cities and their villages.
13:29 Moses gave an inheritance to the half-tribe of Manasseh. It belonged to the half-tribe of the descendants of Manasseh according to their clans.
13:30 Their territory extended from Mahanaim and included all Bashan, all the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, and all the settlements of Jair in Bashan, sixty cities;
13:31 and half of Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei, the cities of Og’s kingdom in Bashan, belonged to the descendants of Machir son of Manasseh, to half the descendants of Machir according to their clans.
13:32 These are the inheritances Moses allotted on the plains of Moab, beyond the Jordan east of Jericho.
13:33 But Moses gave no inheritance to the tribe of Levi. The LORD, the God of Israel, is himself their inheritance, as he had told them.

Chapter 14
14:1 These are the inheritances the people of Israel received in the land of Canaan, which Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral houses of the tribes of the people of Israel allotted to them.
14:2 Their inheritance was by lot, as the LORD had commanded through Moses for the nine tribes and the half-tribe.
14:3 For Moses had given an inheritance to the two tribes and the half-tribe beyond the Jordan, but he gave the Levites no inheritance among them.
14:4 The descendants of Joseph formed two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. They gave the Levites no share in the land, except cities to live in, with their pasturelands for their livestock and possessions.
14:5 The people of Israel did as the LORD had commanded Moses and divided the land.
14:6 Then the descendants of Judah approached Joshua at Gilgal. Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite said to him, “You know what the LORD said to Moses, the man of God, about me and you at Kadesh-barnea.
14:7 I was forty years old when Moses, the servant of the LORD, sent me from Kadesh-barnea to spy out the land, and I brought him back a report according to what was in my heart.
14:8 My brothers who went up with me made the people’s hearts melt, but I fully followed the LORD my God.
14:9 So Moses swore that day, ‘Surely the land where your foot has trodden will be an inheritance for you and your children forever, because you fully followed the LORD my God.’
14:10 Now look, the LORD has kept me alive, as he said, these forty-five years since the LORD spoke this word to Moses, when Israel was walking in the wilderness. And now look, today I am eighty-five years old.
14:11 I am still as strong today as I was on the day Moses sent me. My strength now is as it was then, for war and for going out and coming in.
14:12 Now give me this hill country that the LORD spoke of that day. For you heard that day that the Anakim were there, with great fortified cities. Perhaps the LORD will be with me, and I will drive them out, as the LORD has said.”
14:13 Then Joshua blessed him and gave Hebron to Caleb son of Jephunneh as an inheritance.
14:14 So Hebron has been the inheritance of Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite to this day, because he fully followed the LORD, the God of Israel.
14:15 Hebron was formerly called Kiriath-arba. Arba was the greatest man among the Anakim. And the land rested from war.

Chapter 15
15:1 The allotment for the tribe of the descendants of Judah, according to their clans, reached the border of Edom, to the wilderness of Zin in the south, at the farthest southern end.
15:2 Their southern border began at the end of the Salt Sea, at the bay facing south.
15:3 It went out south of the ascent of Akrabbim, passed on to Zin, and went up south of Kadesh-barnea. It passed Hezron, went up to Addar, and turned toward Karka.
15:4 It passed on to Azmon, went out to the Brook of Egypt, and ended at the sea. This will be your southern border.
15:5 The eastern border was the Salt Sea as far as the mouth of the Jordan. The northern border began at the bay of the sea at the mouth of the Jordan.
15:6 The border went up to Beth-hoglah and passed north of Beth-arabah. The border went up to the stone of Bohan son of Reuben.
15:7 The border went up to Debir from the Valley of Achor, then turned north toward Gilgal, opposite the ascent of Adummim south of the brook. The border passed on to the waters of En-shemesh and ended at En-rogel.
15:8 The border went up through the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to the southern side of the Jebusite city, that is, Jerusalem. The border went up to the top of the hill west of the Valley of Hinnom, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim.
15:9 The border curved from the top of the hill to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah and went out to the towns of Mount Ephron. The border curved toward Baalah, that is, Kiriath-jearim.
15:10 The border turned west from Baalah to Mount Seir, passed along the northern side of Mount Jearim, that is, Chesalon, went down to Beth-shemesh, and passed on to Timnah.
15:11 The border went out to the northern side of Ekron. The border curved toward Shikkeron, passed Mount Baalah, and went out to Jabneel. The border ended at the sea.
15:12 The western border was the Great Sea with its coast. This was the border around the descendants of Judah according to their clans.
15:13 Joshua gave Caleb son of Jephunneh a share among the descendants of Judah, according to the LORD’s command to Joshua: Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron. Arba was the father of Anak.
15:14 Caleb drove out from there the three sons of Anak: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak.
15:15 From there he went up against the inhabitants of Debir. Debir was formerly called Kiriath-sepher.
15:16 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Achsah as his wife.”
15:17 Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s brother, captured it, and Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah as his wife.
15:18 When she arrived, she urged him to ask her father for a field. She dismounted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”
15:19 She said, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs of water too.” So he gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
15:20 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Judah according to their clans.
15:21 The cities at the far southern end of the tribe of the descendants of Judah, toward the border of Edom, were Kabzeel, Eder, Jagur,
15:22 Kinah, Dimonah, Adadah,
15:23 Kedesh, Hazor, Ithnan,
15:24 Ziph, Telem, Bealoth,
15:25 Hazor-hadattah, Kerioth-hezron, that is, Hazor,
15:26 Amam, Shema, Moladah,
15:27 Hazar-gaddah, Heshmon, Beth-pelet,
15:28 Hazar-shual, Beersheba, Biziothiah,
15:29 Baalah, Iim, Ezem,
15:30 Eltolad, Chesil, Hormah,
15:31 Ziklag, Madmannah, Sansannah,
15:32 Lebaoth, Shilhim, Ain, and Rimmon—twenty-nine cities in all, with their villages.
15:33 In the lowland: Eshtaol, Zorah, Ashnah,
15:34 Zanoah, En-gannim, Tappuah, Enam,
15:35 Jarmuth, Adullam, Socoh, Azekah,
15:36 Shaaraim, Adithaim, Gederah, and Gederothaim—fourteen cities with their villages;
15:37 Zenan, Hadashah, Migdal-gad,
15:38 Dilean, Mizpeh, Joktheel,
15:39 Lachish, Bozkath, Eglon,
15:40 Cabbon, Lahmas, Chitlish,
15:41 Gederoth, Beth-dagon, Naamah, and Makkedah—sixteen cities with their villages;
15:42 Libnah, Ether, Ashan,
15:43 Iphtah, Ashnah, Nezib,
15:44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah—nine cities with their villages;
15:45 Ekron with its towns and villages;
15:46 from Ekron westward, all that lay beside Ashdod, with their villages;
15:47 Ashdod with its towns and villages, Gaza with its towns and villages, as far as the Brook of Egypt and the sea as the boundary, with its coast.
15:48 In the hill country: Shamir, Jattir, Socoh,
15:49 Dannah, Kiriath-sannah, that is, Debir,
15:50 Anab, Eshtemoh, Anim,
15:51 Goshen, Holon, and Giloh—eleven cities with their villages;
15:52 Arab, Rumah, Eshan,
15:53 Janim, Beth-tappuah, Aphekah,
15:54 Humtah, Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, and Zior—nine cities with their villages;
15:55 Maon, Carmel, Ziph, Juttah,
15:56 Jezreel, Jokdeam, Zanoah,
15:57 Kain, Gibeah, and Timnah—ten cities with their villages;
15:58 Halhul, Beth-zur, Gedor,
15:59 Maarath, Beth-anoth, and Eltekon—six cities with their villages;
15:60 Kiriath-baal, that is, Kiriath-jearim, and Rabbah—two cities with their villages.
15:61 In the wilderness: Beth-arabah, Middin, Secacah,
15:62 Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En-gedi—six cities with their villages.
15:63 But the descendants of Judah could not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. So the Jebusites have lived with the descendants of Judah in Jerusalem to this day.

Chapter 16
16:1 The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel.
16:2 It went out from Bethel to Luz and passed on to the territory of the Archites at Ataroth.
16:3 It went down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the border of Lower Beth-horon and as far as Gezer, and ended at the sea.
16:4 So the descendants of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance.
16:5 This was the territory of the descendants of Ephraim according to their clans: the border of their inheritance on the east ran from Ataroth-addar to Upper Beth-horon.
16:6 The border went westward to Michmethath on the north. The border turned eastward to Taanath-shiloh and passed beyond it to the east of Janoah.
16:7 It went down from Janoah to Ataroth and Naarah, touched Jericho, and went out to the Jordan.
16:8 From Tappuah the border went westward to the Brook of Kanah and ended at the sea. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Ephraim according to their clans,
16:9 including the cities set apart for the descendants of Ephraim within the inheritance of the descendants of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.
16:10 But they did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites have lived among Ephraim to this day and have been subjected to forced labor.

Chapter 17
17:1 The allotment also fell to the tribe of Manasseh, for he was Joseph’s firstborn. Machir, Manasseh’s firstborn and the father of Gilead, received Gilead and Bashan because he was a man of war.
17:2 An allotment also fell to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh according to their clans: the descendants of Abiezer, the descendants of Helek, the descendants of Asriel, the descendants of Shechem, the descendants of Hepher, and the descendants of Shemida. These were the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph according to their clans.
17:3 But Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah.
17:4 They came before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, “The LORD commanded Moses to give us an inheritance among our brothers.” So Joshua gave them an inheritance among their father’s brothers, according to the LORD’s command.
17:5 Ten portions fell to Manasseh, besides the land of Gilead and Bashan beyond the Jordan,
17:6 because the daughters of Manasseh received an inheritance among his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh.
17:7 The border of Manasseh ran from Asher to Michmethath, opposite Shechem. The border went south to the inhabitants of En-tappuah.
17:8 The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah on the border of Manasseh belonged to the descendants of Ephraim.
17:9 The border went down to the Brook of Kanah, south of the brook. These cities belonged to Ephraim among the cities of Manasseh. Manasseh’s border was north of the brook and ended at the sea.
17:10 The south belonged to Ephraim and the north to Manasseh, with the sea as its border. They bordered Asher on the north and Issachar on the east.
17:11 Within Issachar and Asher, Manasseh had Beth-shean and its towns, Ibleam and its towns, the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, the inhabitants of En-dor and its towns, the inhabitants of Taanach and its towns, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns—the three districts.
17:12 But the descendants of Manasseh could not drive out the inhabitants of these cities, and the Canaanites persisted in living in this land.
17:13 When the people of Israel grew strong, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out.
17:14 The descendants of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given me only one allotment and one portion as an inheritance, when I am a large people, since the LORD has blessed me until now?”
17:15 Joshua said to them, “If you are a large people, go up to the forest and clear land for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and Rephaim, since the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.”
17:16 The descendants of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. All the Canaanites living in the valley land have iron chariots, both those in Beth-shean and its towns and those in the Valley of Jezreel.”
17:17 Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a large people and have great strength. You will not have only one allotment.
17:18 The hill country will be yours. Though it is forest, you must clear it, and its farthest reaches will be yours. For you will drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong.”

Chapter 18
18:1 The whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. The land had been subdued before them.
18:2 There remained seven tribes among the people of Israel whose inheritance had not yet been divided.
18:3 Joshua said to the people of Israel, “How long will you delay going in to possess the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, has given you?
18:4 Choose three men from each tribe, and I will send them out. They must rise, walk through the land, write a description of it according to their inheritances, and return to me.
18:5 They must divide it into seven portions. Judah will remain in its territory in the south, and the house of Joseph will remain in its territory in the north.
18:6 You must describe the land in writing in seven portions and bring the description here to me. Here I will cast lots for you before the LORD our God.
18:7 For the Levites have no portion among you, because the priesthood of the LORD is their inheritance. Gad, Reuben, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have received their inheritance beyond the Jordan to the east, which Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave them.”
18:8 So the men rose and went. Joshua commanded those going to describe the land in writing, “Go, walk through the land, describe it in writing, and return to me. Here at Shiloh I will cast lots for you before the LORD.”
18:9 The men went and passed through the land. They wrote a description of it by cities in seven portions in a book and came to Joshua at the camp in Shiloh.
18:10 Joshua cast lots for them at Shiloh before the LORD, and there Joshua divided the land among the people of Israel according to their divisions.
18:11 The lot came up for the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin according to their clans. The territory of their allotment lay between the descendants of Judah and the descendants of Joseph.
18:12 Their northern border began at the Jordan. The border went up along the northern side of Jericho, went up westward through the hill country, and ended in the wilderness of Beth-aven.
18:13 From there the border passed on to Luz, along the southern side of Luz, that is, Bethel. The border went down to Ataroth-addar, on the hill south of Lower Beth-horon.
18:14 The border curved and turned south along the western side, from the hill facing Beth-horon on the south, and ended at Kiriath-baal, that is, Kiriath-jearim, a city of the descendants of Judah. This was the western side.
18:15 The southern side began at the edge of Kiriath-jearim. The border went out westward and went out to the spring of the waters of Nephtoah.
18:16 The border went down to the edge of the hill facing the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, at the northern end of the Valley of Rephaim. It went down through the Valley of Hinnom along the southern side of the Jebusite city and went down to En-rogel.
18:17 It curved northward and went out to En-shemesh, then went out to Geliloth, opposite the ascent of Adummim. It went down to the stone of Bohan son of Reuben,
18:18 passed along the northern slope facing the Arabah, and went down into the Arabah.
18:19 The border passed along the northern side of Beth-hoglah and ended at the northern bay of the Salt Sea, at the southern end of the Jordan. This was the southern border.
18:20 The Jordan bounded it on the eastern side. This was the inheritance of the descendants of Benjamin, with its surrounding borders, according to their clans.
18:21 The cities of the tribe of the descendants of Benjamin according to their clans were Jericho, Beth-hoglah, Emek-keziz,
18:22 Beth-arabah, Zemaraim, Bethel,
18:23 Avvim, Parah, Ophrah,
18:24 Chephar-ammoni, Ophni, and Geba—twelve cities with their villages;
18:25 Gibeon, Ramah, Beeroth,
18:26 Mizpeh, Chephirah, Mozah,
18:27 Rekem, Irpeel, Taralah,
18:28 Zela, Eleph, the Jebusite city, that is, Jerusalem, Gibeah, and Kiriath—fourteen cities with their villages. This was the inheritance of the descendants of Benjamin according to their clans.

Chapter 19
19:1 The second lot came out for Simeon, for the tribe of the descendants of Simeon according to their clans. Their inheritance lay within the inheritance of the descendants of Judah.
19:2 Their inheritance included Beersheba, Sheba, Moladah,
19:3 Hazar-shual, Balah, Ezem,
19:4 Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
19:5 Ziklag, Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susah,
19:6 Beth-lebaoth, and Sharuhen—thirteen cities with their villages;
19:7 Ain, Rimmon, Ether, and Ashan—four cities with their villages,
19:8 and all the villages surrounding these cities as far as Baalath-beer, Ramath of the Negev. This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Simeon according to their clans.
19:9 The inheritance of the descendants of Simeon came from the portion of the descendants of Judah, because the share of the descendants of Judah was too large for them. So the descendants of Simeon received their inheritance within theirs.
19:10 The third lot came up for the descendants of Zebulun according to their clans. The territory of their inheritance reached as far as Sarid.
19:11 Their border went up westward to Maralah, touched Dabbesheth, and reached the brook opposite Jokneam.
19:12 It turned from Sarid eastward toward the sunrise, to the border of Chisloth-tabor, went out to Daberath, and went up to Japhia.
19:13 From there it passed eastward toward the east to Gath-hepher and Eth-kazin. It went out to Rimmon, curving toward Neah.
19:14 The border turned around it on the north toward Hannathon and ended in the Valley of Iphtah-el.
19:15 It included Kattath, Nahalal, Shimron, Idalah, and Bethlehem—twelve cities with their villages.
19:16 This was the inheritance of the descendants of Zebulun according to their clans: these cities with their villages.
19:17 The fourth lot came out for Issachar, for the descendants of Issachar according to their clans.
19:18 Their territory included Jezreel, Chesulloth, Shunem,
19:19 Hapharaim, Shion, Anaharath,
19:20 Rabbith, Kishion, Ebez,
19:21 Remeth, En-gannim, En-haddah, and Beth-pazzez.
19:22 The border touched Tabor, Shahazimah, and Beth-shemesh, and their border ended at the Jordan—sixteen cities with their villages.
19:23 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Issachar according to their clans: the cities with their villages.
19:24 The fifth lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their clans.
19:25 Their territory included Helkath, Hali, Beten, Achshaph,
19:26 Allammelech, Amad, and Mishal. It reached Carmel to the west and Shihor-libnath.
19:27 It turned toward the sunrise to Beth-dagon and touched Zebulun and the Valley of Iphtah-el on the north, Beth-emek and Neiel. It went out to Cabul on the left,
19:28 Ebron, Rehob, Hammon, and Kanah, as far as Great Sidon.
19:29 The border turned toward Ramah and as far as the fortified city of Tyre. The border turned toward Hosah and ended at the sea, from the region of Achzib.
19:30 It included Ummah, Aphek, and Rehob—twenty-two cities with their villages.
19:31 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Asher according to their clans: these cities with their villages.
19:32 The sixth lot came out for the descendants of Naphtali, for the descendants of Naphtali according to their clans.
19:33 Their border ran from Heleph, from the oak at Zaanannim, through Adami-nekeb and Jabneel as far as Lakkum, and ended at the Jordan.
19:34 The border turned westward to Aznoth-tabor and went out from there to Hukkok. It touched Zebulun on the south, touched Asher on the west, and Judah at the Jordan toward the sunrise.
19:35 The fortified cities were Ziddim, Zer, Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth,
19:36 Adamah, Ramah, Hazor,
19:37 Kedesh, Edrei, En-hazor,
19:38 Yiron, Migdal-el, Horem, Beth-anath, and Beth-shemesh—nineteen cities with their villages.
19:39 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali according to their clans: the cities with their villages.
19:40 The seventh lot came out for the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their clans.
19:41 The territory of their inheritance included Zorah, Eshtaol, Ir-shemesh,
19:42 Shaalabbin, Aijalon, Ithlah,
19:43 Elon, Timnah, Ekron,
19:44 Eltekeh, Gibbethon, Baalath,
19:45 Jehud, Bene-berak, Gath-rimmon,
19:46 Me-jarkon, and Rakkon, with the territory opposite Joppa.
19:47 The territory of the descendants of Dan extended beyond these cities. The descendants of Dan went up and fought against Leshem, captured it, struck it with the edge of the sword, possessed it, and lived in it. They called Leshem Dan, after the name of Dan their father.
19:48 This was the inheritance of the tribe of the descendants of Dan according to their clans: these cities with their villages.
19:49 When they had finished allotting the land for inheritance according to its borders, the people of Israel gave Joshua son of Nun an inheritance among them.
19:50 According to the LORD’s command, they gave him the city he asked for, Timnath-serah in the hill country of Ephraim. He built the city and lived in it.
19:51 These are the inheritances Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral houses of the tribes of the people of Israel allotted by lot at Shiloh before the LORD, at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing the land.

Chapter 20
20:1 The LORD spoke to Joshua:
20:2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Appoint for yourselves the cities of refuge that I spoke to you about through Moses,
20:3 so that a person who kills someone unintentionally and unknowingly may flee there. They will be a refuge for you from the avenger of blood.
20:4 He must flee to one of these cities, stand at the entrance of the city gate, and state his case in the hearing of the elders of that city. They must receive him into the city with them and give him a place to live among them.
20:5 If the avenger of blood pursues him, they must not hand the killer over to him, because he struck his neighbor unknowingly and had not hated him before.
20:6 He must remain in that city until he has stood before the congregation for judgment and until the death of the high priest serving in those days. Then the killer may return to his own city and his own house, to the city from which he fled.’”
20:7 So they set apart Kedesh in Galilee, in the hill country of Naphtali; Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim; and Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah.
20:8 Beyond the Jordan east of Jericho, they appointed Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau from the tribe of Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead from the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan from the tribe of Manasseh.
20:9 These were the cities appointed for all the people of Israel and for the resident foreigner living among them, so that anyone who killed a person unintentionally could flee there and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he had stood before the congregation.

Chapter 21
21:1 The heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites approached Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the ancestral houses of the tribes of the people of Israel.
21:2 They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, “The LORD commanded through Moses that we be given cities to live in, with their pasturelands for our livestock.”
21:3 So the people of Israel gave the Levites these cities and their pasturelands from their own inheritance, according to the LORD’s command.
21:4 The lot came out for the clans of the Kohathites. The descendants of Aaron the priest, who were among the Levites, received by lot thirteen cities from the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Simeon, and the tribe of Benjamin.
21:5 The rest of the descendants of Kohath received by lot ten cities from the clans of the tribe of Ephraim, from the tribe of Dan, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh.
21:6 The descendants of Gershon received by lot thirteen cities from the clans of the tribe of Issachar, from the tribe of Asher, from the tribe of Naphtali, and from the half-tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
21:7 The descendants of Merari, according to their clans, received twelve cities from the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gad, and the tribe of Zebulun.
21:8 The people of Israel gave these cities and their pasturelands to the Levites by lot, as the LORD had commanded through Moses.
21:9 From the tribe of the descendants of Judah and the tribe of the descendants of Simeon they gave these cities, mentioned by name,
21:10 to the descendants of Aaron, of the Kohathite clans, of the descendants of Levi, for theirs was the first lot.
21:11 They gave them Kiriath-arba, that is, Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with its surrounding pasturelands. Arba was the father of Anak.
21:12 But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb son of Jephunneh as his possession.
21:13 To the descendants of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron, a city of refuge for the killer, with its pasturelands; Libnah with its pasturelands;
21:14 Jattir with its pasturelands; Eshtemoa with its pasturelands;
21:15 Holon with its pasturelands; Debir with its pasturelands;
21:16 Ain with its pasturelands; Juttah with its pasturelands; and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands—nine cities from these two tribes.
21:17 From the tribe of Benjamin: Gibeon with its pasturelands; Geba with its pasturelands;
21:18 Anathoth with its pasturelands; and Almon with its pasturelands—four cities.
21:19 All the cities of the descendants of Aaron, the priests, were thirteen cities with their pasturelands.
21:20 The clans of the descendants of Kohath, the remaining Levites of the descendants of Kohath, received the cities of their allotment from the tribe of Ephraim.
21:21 They gave them Shechem, a city of refuge for the killer, with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim; Gezer with its pasturelands;
21:22 Kibzaim with its pasturelands; and Beth-horon with its pasturelands—four cities.
21:23 From the tribe of Dan: Eltekeh with its pasturelands; Gibbethon with its pasturelands;
21:24 Aijalon with its pasturelands; and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—four cities.
21:25 From the half-tribe of Manasseh: Taanach with its pasturelands; and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands—two cities.
21:26 Ten cities in all, with their pasturelands, belonged to the clans of the rest of the descendants of Kohath.
21:27 To the descendants of Gershon, of the clans of the Levites, they gave from the half-tribe of Manasseh: Golan in Bashan, a city of refuge for the killer, with its pasturelands; and Beeshterah with its pasturelands—two cities.
21:28 From the tribe of Issachar: Kishion with its pasturelands; Daberath with its pasturelands;
21:29 Jarmuth with its pasturelands; and En-gannim with its pasturelands—four cities.
21:30 From the tribe of Asher: Mishal with its pasturelands; Abdon with its pasturelands;
21:31 Helkath with its pasturelands; and Rehob with its pasturelands—four cities.
21:32 From the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee, a city of refuge for the killer, with its pasturelands; Hammoth-dor with its pasturelands; and Kartan with its pasturelands—three cities.
21:33 All the cities of the Gershonites, according to their clans, were thirteen cities with their pasturelands.
21:34 To the clans of the descendants of Merari, the remaining Levites, they gave from the tribe of Zebulun: Jokneam with its pasturelands; Kartah with its pasturelands;
21:35 Dimnah with its pasturelands; and Nahalal with its pasturelands—four cities.
21:36 From the tribe of Reuben: Bezer with its pasturelands; Jahaz with its pasturelands;
21:37 Kedemoth with its pasturelands; and Mephaath with its pasturelands—four cities.
21:38 From the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead, a city of refuge for the killer, with its pasturelands; Mahanaim with its pasturelands;
21:39 Heshbon with its pasturelands; and Jazer with its pasturelands—four cities in all.
21:40 All the cities for the descendants of Merari according to their clans, the remaining clans of the Levites, were twelve cities by their allotment.
21:41 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the people of Israel were forty-eight cities with their pasturelands.
21:42 Each of these cities had its surrounding pasturelands. So it was with all these cities.
21:43 The LORD gave Israel all the land he had sworn to give their ancestors. They possessed it and lived in it.
21:44 The LORD gave them rest on every side, according to all he had sworn to their ancestors. Not one of all their enemies could stand against them. The LORD gave all their enemies into their hand.
21:45 Not one word of all the good words the LORD had spoken to the house of Israel failed. All came to pass.

Chapter 22
22:1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh
22:2 and said to them, “You have kept all that Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you, and you have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you.
22:3 You have not abandoned your brothers these many days, to this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of the LORD your God.
22:4 Now the LORD your God has given your brothers rest, as he told them. Now turn and go to your tents, to the land of your possession that Moses, the servant of the LORD, gave you beyond the Jordan.
22:5 Only take great care to carry out the commandment and the law that Moses, the servant of the LORD, commanded you: to love the LORD your God, walk in all his ways, keep his commandments, hold fast to him, and serve him with all your heart and all your soul.”
22:6 Joshua blessed them and sent them away, and they went to their tents.
22:7 To one half of the tribe of Manasseh Moses had given an inheritance in Bashan, and to the other half Joshua had given an inheritance with their brothers beyond the Jordan to the west. When Joshua sent them away to their tents, he also blessed them
22:8 and said to them, “Return to your tents with great wealth, with very much livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many garments. Divide the plunder of your enemies with your brothers.”
22:9 The descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh turned and departed from the people of Israel at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, to go to the land of Gilead, the land of their possession, which they had acquired according to the LORD’s command through Moses.
22:10 When they came to the regions of the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an altar there by the Jordan, a large, impressive altar.
22:11 The people of Israel heard, “Look, the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh have built the altar facing the land of Canaan, in the regions of the Jordan, on the side of the people of Israel.”
22:12 When the people of Israel heard this, the whole congregation of the people of Israel assembled at Shiloh to go up to war against them.
22:13 The people of Israel sent Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead,
22:14 with ten leaders, one leader from each ancestral house of all the tribes of Israel. Each was the head of his ancestral house among the thousands of Israel.
22:15 They came to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in the land of Gilead and said to them:
22:16 “This is what the whole congregation of the LORD says: What is this unfaithfulness you have committed against the God of Israel, turning away today from following the LORD by building yourselves an altar to rebel today against the LORD?
22:17 Was the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have not cleansed ourselves to this day, though a plague came upon the congregation of the LORD?
22:18 And will you turn away today from following the LORD? If you rebel against the LORD today, tomorrow he will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.
22:19 But if the land of your possession is unclean, cross over to the land of the LORD’s possession, where the LORD’s tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us. Do not rebel against the LORD or against us by building yourselves an altar apart from the altar of the LORD our God.
22:20 Did not Achan son of Zerah act unfaithfully concerning what was devoted to destruction? Wrath came upon the whole congregation of Israel, and he was not the only one who perished for his iniquity.”
22:21 The descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the heads of the thousands of Israel:
22:22 “God of gods, the LORD! God of gods, the LORD! He knows, and Israel will know! If it was in rebellion or unfaithfulness against the LORD, do not save us this day.
22:23 If we built ourselves an altar to turn away from following the LORD, or to offer burnt offerings or grain offerings on it, or to sacrifice peace offerings on it, may the LORD himself call us to account.
22:24 Rather, we did this out of concern that in days to come your children might say to our children, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel?
22:25 The LORD has set the Jordan as a border between us and you, descendants of Reuben and descendants of Gad. You have no share in the LORD.’ So your children would make our children cease to fear the LORD.
22:26 So we said, ‘Let us now build ourselves the altar, not for burnt offerings or for sacrifice,
22:27 but as a witness between us and you and between our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the LORD before him with our burnt offerings, our sacrifices, and our peace offerings, so that in days to come your children will not say to our children: You have no share in the LORD.’
22:28 We also said, ‘If they say this to us or to our generations in days to come, we will say: Look at the replica of the altar of the LORD that our ancestors made, not for burnt offerings or for sacrifice, but as a witness between us and you.’
22:29 Far be it from us to rebel against the LORD and turn away today from following the LORD by building an altar for burnt offerings, grain offerings, or sacrifice apart from the altar of the LORD our God that is before his tabernacle.”
22:30 When Phinehas the priest, the leaders of the congregation, and the heads of the thousands of Israel who were with him heard the words spoken by the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the descendants of Manasseh, it was good in their eyes.
22:31 Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest said to the descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the descendants of Manasseh, “Today we know that the LORD is among us, because you have not committed this unfaithfulness against the LORD. Now you have delivered the people of Israel from the hand of the LORD.”
22:32 Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest and the leaders returned from the descendants of Reuben and the descendants of Gad, from the land of Gilead to the people of Israel in the land of Canaan, and brought them word.
22:33 The matter was good in the eyes of the people of Israel, and the people of Israel blessed God. They spoke no more of going up to war against them to destroy the land where the descendants of Reuben and the descendants of Gad lived.
22:34 The descendants of Reuben and the descendants of Gad named the altar, saying, “It is a witness between us that the LORD is God.”

Chapter 23
23:1 A long time had passed since the LORD had given Israel rest from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and advanced in years.
23:2 Joshua called all Israel, its elders, heads, judges, and officers, and said to them, “I am old and advanced in years.
23:3 You have seen all that the LORD your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the LORD your God is the one who has fought for you.
23:4 Look, I have allotted to you these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes, along with all the nations I have cut off, from the Jordan to the Great Sea toward the setting sun.
23:5 The LORD your God himself will push them back before you and drive them out from before you. You will possess their land, as the LORD your God has told you.
23:6 Be very strong in keeping and doing everything written in the book of the law of Moses, without turning from it to the right or to the left.
23:7 Do not associate with these nations that remain among you. Do not mention the name of their gods or make anyone swear by it. Do not serve them or bow down to them.
23:8 But hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.
23:9 The LORD has driven out great and mighty nations before you. As for you, no one has been able to stand against you to this day.
23:10 One man among you will pursue a thousand, for the LORD your God is the one who fights for you, as he has told you.
23:11 Take great care for yourselves to love the LORD your God.
23:12 For if you do turn back and hold fast to the remnant of these nations that remain among you, intermarry with them, and associate with them and they with you,
23:13 know for certain that the LORD your God will no longer drive these nations out before you. They will be a snare and a trap for you, whips on your sides and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land the LORD your God has given you.
23:14 Look, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know with all your heart and all your soul that not one word of all the good words the LORD your God spoke concerning you has failed. All have come to pass for you; not one word has failed.
23:15 Just as all the good things the LORD your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the calamities, until he has destroyed you from this good land the LORD your God has given you,
23:16 when you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God that he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the LORD’s anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you.”

Chapter 24
24:1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He called the elders of Israel, its heads, judges, and officers, and they presented themselves before God.
24:2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors lived beyond the River—Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor—and they served other gods.
24:3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan. I multiplied his descendants and gave him Isaac.
24:4 To Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. To Esau I gave Mount Seir to possess, but Jacob and his sons went down to Egypt.
24:5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I struck Egypt with what I did in its midst. Afterward I brought you out.
24:6 I brought your ancestors out of Egypt, and you came to the sea. The Egyptians pursued your ancestors with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea.
24:7 They cried out to the LORD, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians. He brought the sea over them and covered them. Your own eyes saw what I did in Egypt, and you lived in the wilderness for many days.
24:8 I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived beyond the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hand. You possessed their land, and I destroyed them before you.
24:9 Then Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, rose and fought against Israel. He sent for Balaam son of Beor to curse you.
24:10 But I would not listen to Balaam, and he kept blessing you. So I delivered you from his hand.
24:11 You crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The inhabitants of Jericho fought against you, along with the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hand.
24:12 I sent hornets ahead of you, and they drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites—not by your sword or by your bow.
24:13 I gave you a land you had not worked for and cities you had not built, and you live in them. You eat from vineyards and olive groves you did not plant.’
24:14 Now fear the LORD and serve him in integrity and truth. Put away the gods your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD.
24:15 If it seems wrong to you to serve the LORD, choose today whom you will serve: the gods your ancestors served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you live. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
24:16 The people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!
24:17 For the LORD our God is the one who brought us and our ancestors up from the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. He did these great signs before our eyes and kept us all along the way we traveled and among all the peoples through whom we passed.
24:18 The LORD drove out all the peoples before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, for he is our God.”
24:19 Joshua said to the people, “You cannot serve the LORD, for he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions and your sins.
24:20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and harm you and consume you after he has done you good.”
24:21 The people said to Joshua, “No, we will serve the LORD.”
24:22 Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen the LORD for yourselves, to serve him.” They said, “We are witnesses.”
24:23 “Now put away the foreign gods among you and incline your heart to the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24:24 The people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice.”
24:25 Joshua made a covenant with the people that day and established a statute and an ordinance for them at Shechem.
24:26 Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God. He took a large stone and set it up there under the oak that was in the sanctuary of the LORD.
24:27 Joshua said to all the people, “Look, this stone will be a witness against us, for it has heard all the words the LORD spoke to us. It will be a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”
24:28 Then Joshua sent the people away, each to his inheritance.
24:29 After these things Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred ten.
24:30 They buried him within the territory of his inheritance at Timnath-serah, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
24:31 Israel served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua and knew all the work the LORD had done for Israel.
24:32 The bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel had brought up from Egypt, they buried at Shechem in the plot of land Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for one hundred qesitahs. They became an inheritance for the descendants of Joseph.
24:33 Eleazar son of Aaron also died, and they buried him on the hill belonging to Phinehas his son, which had been given to him in the hill country of Ephraim.

JUDGES

Chapter 1
1:1 After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, “Who will go up for us first against the Canaanites to fight them?”
1:2 The LORD said, “Judah will go up. Look, I have given the land into his hand.”
1:3 Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into my allotment, and let us fight the Canaanites. I too will go with you into your allotment.” So Simeon went with him.
1:4 Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hand. They struck down ten thousand men at Bezek.
1:5 They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him. They struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites.
1:6 Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
1:7 Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me.” They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
1:8 The descendants of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it. They struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
1:9 Afterward the descendants of Judah went down to fight the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev, and the lowland.
1:10 Judah went against the Canaanites living in Hebron, formerly called Kiriath-arba, and they struck down Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
1:11 From there he went against the inhabitants of Debir, formerly called Kiriath-sepher.
1:12 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give my daughter Achsah as his wife.”
1:13 Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it, and Caleb gave him his daughter Achsah as his wife.
1:14 When she arrived, she urged him to ask her father for the field. She dismounted from the donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”
1:15 She said to him, “Give me a blessing. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me springs of water too.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
1:16 The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms with the descendants of Judah into the wilderness of Judah south of Arad. They went and settled among the people.
1:17 Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck down the Canaanites living in Zephath and devoted it to destruction. The city was called Hormah.
1:18 Judah captured Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
1:19 The LORD was with Judah, and Judah took possession of the hill country. But he could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had iron chariots.
1:20 They gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said, and he drove out the three sons of Anak from there.
1:21 But the descendants of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites have lived with the descendants of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
1:22 The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
1:23 The house of Joseph spied out Bethel. The city was formerly called Luz.
1:24 The scouts saw a man coming out of the city and said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you kindness.”
1:25 He showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword. But they let the man and all his family go.
1:26 The man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called it Luz. That is its name to this day.
1:27 Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its towns, or of Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns. The Canaanites persisted in living in this land.
1:28 When Israel grew strong, they subjected the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out.
1:29 Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.
1:30 Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron or Nahalol. The Canaanites lived among them and were subjected to forced labor.
1:31 Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik, or Rehob.
1:32 The Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, because they did not drive them out.
1:33 Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh or Beth-anath. He lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, but the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath were subjected to forced labor for them.
1:34 The Amorites pressed the descendants of Dan into the hill country, for they would not let them come down into the valley.
1:35 The Amorites persisted in living on Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim. But the hand of the house of Joseph grew heavy upon them, and they were subjected to forced labor.
1:36 The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from the rock upward.

Chapter 2
2:1 The angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim and said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land I swore to your ancestors. I said, ‘I will never break my covenant with you.
2:2 You must make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land. You must tear down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?
2:3 So I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you. They will be thorns in your sides, and their gods will be a snare to you.’”
2:4 When the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
2:5 They called that place Bochim and sacrificed there to the LORD.
2:6 When Joshua sent the people away, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to possess the land.
2:7 The people served the LORD all the days of Joshua and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work the LORD had done for Israel.
2:8 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of one hundred ten.
2:9 They buried him within the territory of his inheritance at Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of Mount Gaash.
2:10 That whole generation was also gathered to its ancestors. Another generation arose after them that did not know the LORD or the work he had done for Israel.
2:11 The people of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.
2:12 They forsook the LORD, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They followed other gods, from among the gods of the peoples around them, bowed down to them, and provoked the LORD to anger.
2:13 They forsook the LORD and served Baal and the Ashtaroth.
2:14 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel. He gave them into the hands of plunderers who plundered them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies all around. They could no longer stand against their enemies.
2:15 Wherever they went out, the hand of the LORD was against them to their harm, as the LORD had said and as the LORD had sworn to them. They were in great distress.
2:16 Then the LORD raised up judges who delivered them from the hand of those who plundered them.
2:17 But they would not listen even to their judges. They prostituted themselves to other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned aside from the way their ancestors had walked in obeying the commandments of the LORD. They did not do so.
2:18 Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge and delivered them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who oppressed and afflicted them.
2:19 But when the judge died, they turned back and acted more corruptly than their ancestors, following other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They did not abandon their practices or their stubborn way.
2:20 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he said, “Because this nation has transgressed my covenant that I commanded their ancestors and has not obeyed my voice,
2:21 I too will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died,
2:22 so that through them I may test Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their ancestors did, or not.”
2:23 So the LORD left these nations without driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into Joshua’s hand.

Chapter 3
3:1 These are the nations the LORD left to test Israel through them—all those who had not known any of the wars of Canaan.
3:2 He did this only so that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, teaching it to those who had not known it before:
3:3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the hill country of Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
3:4 They were left to test Israel, to know whether they would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he had commanded their ancestors through Moses.
3:5 The people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
3:6 They took their daughters as wives and gave their own daughters to their sons, and they served their gods.
3:7 The people of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
3:8 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim. The people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
3:9 Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who delivered them: Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
3:10 The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram into his hand. His hand prevailed against Cushan-rishathaim.
3:11 The land had rest forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.
3:12 The people of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. The LORD strengthened Eglon king of Moab against Israel because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.
3:13 Eglon gathered the Ammonites and Amalekites to himself. He went and defeated Israel, and they took possession of the City of Palms.
3:14 The people of Israel served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years.
3:15 Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up a deliverer for them: Ehud son of Gera, a Benjamite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute through him to Eglon king of Moab.
3:16 Ehud made himself a double-edged dagger about a foot long and strapped it under his clothing on his right thigh.
3:17 He presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Eglon was a very fat man.
3:18 When Ehud finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who had carried it.
3:19 But he himself turned back from the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” The king said, “Silence!” And all his attendants went out from his presence.
3:20 Ehud came to him while he was sitting alone in his cool upper room. Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And the king rose from his seat.
3:21 Ehud reached with his left hand, took the dagger from his right thigh, and thrust it into the king’s belly.
3:22 The hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the dagger out of his belly. And the excrement came out.
3:23 Ehud went out to the porch, closed the doors of the upper room behind him, and locked them.
3:24 After he had gone out, the king’s servants came and saw that the doors of the upper room were locked. They said, “Surely he is relieving himself in the cool chamber.”
3:25 They waited until they were embarrassed, but he still did not open the doors of the upper room. So they took the key and opened them, and there was their lord lying dead on the floor.
3:26 Ehud escaped while they delayed. He passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.
3:27 When he arrived, he blew the ram’s horn in the hill country of Ephraim. The people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he went ahead of them.
3:28 He said to them, “Follow me, for the LORD has given your enemies, the Moabites, into your hand.” They went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Moab. They did not let anyone cross.
3:29 At that time they struck down about ten thousand Moabites, all strong and valiant men. Not one escaped.
3:30 So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel, and the land had rest eighty years.
3:31 After him came Shamgar son of Anath, who struck down six hundred Philistines with an oxgoad. He too delivered Israel.

Chapter 4
4:1 After Ehud died, the people of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD.
4:2 The LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim.
4:3 The people of Israel cried out to the LORD, for he had nine hundred iron chariots and had severely oppressed the people of Israel for twenty years.
4:4 Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.
4:5 She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim. The people of Israel came up to her for judgment.
4:6 She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, “Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go, gather at Mount Tabor, and take with you ten thousand men from Naphtali and Zebulun.
4:7 I will draw Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops, to you at the Kishon River, and I will give him into your hand’?”
4:8 Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go. But if you do not go with me, I will not go.”
4:9 She said, “I will certainly go with you. But the honor will not be yours on the journey you are taking, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” So Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh.
4:10 Barak summoned Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh. Ten thousand men went up following him, and Deborah went up with him.
4:11 Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab, Moses’ father-in-law. He had pitched his tent by the oak at Zaanannim, near Kedesh.
4:12 They told Sisera that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor.
4:13 Sisera summoned all his chariots, nine hundred iron chariots, and all the troops with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the Kishon River.
4:14 Deborah said to Barak, “Arise! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
4:15 The LORD routed Sisera, all his chariots, and his whole army before Barak by the edge of the sword. Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.
4:16 Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim. Sisera’s whole army fell by the edge of the sword; not one remained.
4:17 Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the household of Heber the Kenite.
4:18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come in, my lord. Come in here. Do not be afraid.” He went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
4:19 He said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him.
4:20 He said to her, “Stand at the entrance of the tent. If anyone comes and asks you, ‘Is there a man here?’ say, ‘No.’”
4:21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and a hammer in her hand. She approached him quietly and drove the peg through his temple into the ground. He was sound asleep and exhausted, and he died.
4:22 As Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said, “Come, and I will show you the man you are seeking.” He went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead, with the peg in his temple.
4:23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan before the people of Israel.
4:24 The hand of the people of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan until they destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

Chapter 5
5:1 On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang:
5:2 “When the leaders led in Israel, when the people offered themselves willingly, bless the LORD!
5:3 Hear, O kings!
   Give ear, O rulers!
   I, to the LORD, I will sing;
   I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.
5:4 LORD, when you went out from Seir, when you marched from the fields of Edom, the earth trembled.
   The heavens also poured, the clouds also poured water.
5:5 The mountains melted before the LORD, Sinai itself before the LORD, the God of Israel.
5:6 In the days of Shamgar son of Anath, in the days of Jael, the roads were deserted, and travelers took winding paths.
5:7 Village life ceased in Israel;
   it ceased until I, Deborah, arose, until I arose as a mother in Israel.
5:8 They chose new gods;
   then war was at the gates.
   Was a shield or spear seen among forty thousand in Israel?
5:9 My heart is with the commanders of Israel, those who offered themselves willingly among the people.
   Bless the LORD!
5:10 You who ride on white female donkeys, you who sit on carpets, and you who travel the road, tell of it!
5:11 Far from the sound of archers, at the watering places, there they recount the righteous acts of the LORD, his righteous acts for the villagers in Israel.
   Then the people of the LORD went down to the gates.
5:12 Awake, awake, Deborah!
   Awake, awake, sing a song!
   Arise, Barak!
   Lead away your captives, son of Abinoam!
5:13 Then a remnant of the people came down against the mighty;
   the LORD came down for me against the warriors.
5:14 From Ephraim came those whose roots were in Amalek;
   after you, Benjamin, with your peoples.
   From Machir came down commanders, and from Zebulun those who wield the recruiter’s staff.
5:15 The princes of Issachar were with Deborah;
   Issachar was also with Barak, sent into the valley at his heels.
   Among the divisions of Reuben there were great resolves of heart.
5:16 Why did you stay among the sheepfolds, listening to the whistling for the flocks?
   Among the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart.
5:17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan.
   And Dan, why did he remain by the ships?
   Asher sat at the seashore and stayed by his harbors.
5:18 Zebulun was a people who risked their lives to the death, as did Naphtali on the heights of the field.
5:19 Kings came and fought;
   then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo.
   They took no spoil of silver.
5:20 From heaven the stars fought;
   from their courses they fought against Sisera.
5:21 The Kishon River swept them away, the ancient river, the Kishon River.
   March on, my soul, in strength!
5:22 Then the horses’ hooves pounded from the galloping, the galloping of his mighty steeds.
5:23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel of the LORD.
   ‘Bitterly curse its inhabitants, because they did not come to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.’
5:24 Most blessed of women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite;
   most blessed of women in tents.
5:25 He asked for water;
   she gave him milk.
   In a noble’s bowl she offered curds.
5:26 She reached out her hand for the tent peg, her right hand for the workers’ hammer.
   She struck Sisera, crushed his head, shattered and pierced his temple.
5:27 Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay.
   Between her feet he sank, he fell.
   Where he sank, there he fell, slain.
5:28 Through the window Sisera’s mother looked out and cried through the lattice: ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
   Why are the hoofbeats of his chariots delayed?’
5:29 The wisest of her ladies answered her;
   she too repeated her words to herself:
5:30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil?
   A woman, two women for each man;
   spoil of dyed cloth for Sisera, spoil of embroidered dyed cloth, dyed cloth, two pieces of embroidery for the necks of those who take the spoil.’
5:31 So may all your enemies perish, LORD!
   But may those who love him be like the sun when it rises in its might.”
   And the land had rest forty years.

Chapter 6
6:1 The people of Israel did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of Midian for seven years.
6:2 The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel. Because of Midian, the people of Israel prepared mountain shelters, caves, and strongholds for themselves.
6:3 Whenever Israel sowed, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the east came up against them.
6:4 They camped against them and destroyed the produce of the land as far as Gaza. They left no food in Israel, nor sheep, oxen, or donkeys.
6:5 For they came up with their livestock and their tents, as numerous as locusts. Neither they nor their camels could be counted. They entered the land to destroy it.
6:6 Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian, and the people of Israel cried out to the LORD.
6:7 When the people of Israel cried out to the LORD because of Midian,
6:8 the LORD sent a prophet to the people of Israel. He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I brought you up from Egypt and brought you out of the house of slavery.
6:9 I delivered you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all who oppressed you. I drove them out before you and gave you their land.
6:10 I said to you, “I am the LORD your God. You must not fear the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.” But you have not obeyed my voice.’”
6:11 The angel of the LORD came and sat under the terebinth in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite. His son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from Midian.
6:12 The angel of the LORD appeared to him and said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior.”
6:13 Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the LORD is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about, saying, ‘Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the LORD has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
6:14 The LORD turned to him and said, “Go in this strength of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian. Have I not sent you?”
6:15 He said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s household.”
6:16 The LORD said to him, “Surely I will be with you, and you will strike down Midian as one man.”
6:17 He said to him, “If I have found favor in your sight, please give me a sign that it is you who are speaking with me.
6:18 Please do not leave here until I return to you, bring out my offering, and set it before you.” He said, “I will stay until you return.”
6:19 Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from about twenty quarts of flour. He put the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot, brought them out to him under the terebinth, and presented them.
6:20 The angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, put them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.
6:21 The angel of the LORD reached out the tip of the staff in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. Fire rose from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.
6:22 Gideon realized that he was the angel of the LORD, and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord GOD! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!”
6:23 The LORD said to him, “Peace to you. Do not be afraid; you will not die.”
6:24 Gideon built an altar there to the LORD and called it The LORD Is Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
6:25 That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father’s bull and the second bull, the seven-year-old. Tear down your father’s altar to Baal, and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.
6:26 Build an altar to the LORD your God on top of this stronghold, arranging it in order. Take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah pole you cut down.”
6:27 Gideon took ten of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. Because he feared his father’s household and the men of the city too much to do it by day, he did it at night.
6:28 The men of the city rose early in the morning and found the altar of Baal torn down, the Asherah pole beside it cut down, and the second bull offered on the altar that had been built.
6:29 They said to one another, “Who has done this?” They investigated and searched, and they said, “Gideon son of Joash has done this.”
6:30 The men of the city said to Joash, “Bring out your son so that he may die, because he has torn down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it.”
6:31 But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Will you save him? Whoever contends for him must be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been torn down.”
6:32 So on that day he called Gideon Jerubbaal, saying, “Let Baal contend against him, because he has torn down his altar.”
6:33 All the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the people of the east gathered together, crossed over, and camped in the Valley of Jezreel.
6:34 The Spirit of the LORD clothed himself with Gideon. Gideon blew the ram’s horn, and the Abiezrites were summoned to follow him.
6:35 He sent messengers throughout Manasseh, and they too were summoned to follow him. He also sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they came up to meet them.
6:36 Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said,
6:37 I am placing a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.”
6:38 And it was so. He rose early the next day, squeezed the fleece, and wrung dew from it, a bowlful of water.
6:39 Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, but let me speak just this once. Please let me test just this once more with the fleece. Let the fleece alone be dry, and let there be dew on all the ground.”
6:40 God did so that night. The fleece alone was dry, and there was dew on all the ground.

Chapter 7
7:1 Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, rose early with all the people who were with him, and they camped by the spring of Harod. The camp of Midian was north of him, by the hill of Moreh in the valley.
7:2 The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give Midian into their hand, lest Israel boast against me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
7:3 Now proclaim in the hearing of the people, ‘Whoever is afraid and trembling, let him return and depart from Mount Gilead.’” Twenty-two thousand of the people returned, and ten thousand remained.
7:4 The LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Whoever I tell you, ‘This one will go with you,’ will go with you. And whoever I tell you, ‘This one will not go with you,’ will not go.”
7:5 So he brought the people down to the water. The LORD said to Gideon, “Set apart everyone who laps the water with his tongue as a dog laps, and likewise everyone who kneels down to drink.”
7:6 The number of those who lapped, bringing their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men. All the rest of the people knelt down to drink water.
7:7 The LORD said to Gideon, “With the three hundred men who lapped I will save you and give Midian into your hand. Let all the other people go, each to his own place.”
7:8 The men took the people’s provisions and their ram’s horns. Gideon sent every other man of Israel to his tent, but kept the three hundred men. The camp of Midian was below him in the valley.
7:9 That night the LORD said to him, “Arise, go down against the camp, for I have given it into your hand.
7:10 But if you are afraid to go down, go down to the camp with Purah your servant.
7:11 Listen to what they say, and afterward your hands will be strengthened, and you will go down against the camp.” So he went down with Purah his servant to the edge of the armed men in the camp.
7:12 The Midianites, the Amalekites, and all the people of the east lay in the valley, as numerous as locusts. Their camels were beyond counting, as numerous as the sand on the seashore.
7:13 When Gideon arrived, a man was telling his companion a dream. He said, “I had a dream! A loaf of barley bread was tumbling into the camp of Midian. It came to the tent and struck it, and it fell. It turned it upside down, and the tent collapsed.”
7:14 His companion answered, “This is nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, an Israelite. God has given Midian and the whole camp into his hand.”
7:15 When Gideon heard the account of the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down. He returned to the camp of Israel and said, “Arise, for the LORD has given the camp of Midian into your hand!”
7:16 He divided the three hundred men into three companies and put ram’s horns into the hands of all of them, along with empty jars and torches inside the jars.
7:17 He said to them, “Watch me and do as I do. When I come to the edge of the camp, do just as I do.
7:18 When I blow the ram’s horn, I and all who are with me, you too must blow the ram’s horns all around the camp and shout, ‘For the LORD and for Gideon!’”
7:19 Gideon and the hundred men with him came to the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after the sentries had been posted. They blew the ram’s horns and smashed the jars in their hands.
7:20 The three companies blew the ram’s horns and broke the jars. They held the torches in their left hands and the ram’s horns in their right hands to blow, and they cried, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!”
7:21 Each man stood in his place around the camp, while the whole army ran, cried out, and fled.
7:22 When the three hundred ram’s horns sounded, the LORD turned each man’s sword against his companion throughout the camp. The army fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the edge of Abel-meholah near Tabbath.
7:23 The men of Israel were summoned from Naphtali, Asher, and all Manasseh, and they pursued Midian.
7:24 Gideon sent messengers throughout the hill country of Ephraim, saying, “Go down to meet Midian and seize the waters ahead of them as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.” All the men of Ephraim were summoned, and they seized the waters as far as Beth-barah, and the Jordan.
7:25 They captured the two princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. They killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb and Zeeb at the winepress of Zeeb, and they pursued Midian. They brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 8
8:1 The men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this you have done to us, not calling us when you went to fight Midian?” They contended sharply with him.
8:2 He said to them, “What have I done now compared with you? Are not the grape gleanings of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer?
8:3 God gave the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, into your hand. What was I able to do compared with you?” Their anger toward him subsided when he said this.
8:4 Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed it with the three hundred men who were with him, exhausted but still pursuing.
8:5 He said to the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people following me, for they are exhausted. I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
8:6 The leaders of Succoth said, “Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your army?”
8:7 Gideon said, “Then when the LORD gives Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, I will thresh your flesh with the thorns and briers of the wilderness.”
8:8 From there he went up to Penuel and spoke to them in the same way. The men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had.
8:9 So he said to the men of Penuel as well, “When I return in peace, I will tear down this tower.”
8:10 Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about fifteen thousand men, all who remained of the whole army of the people of the east. One hundred twenty thousand men who drew the sword had fallen.
8:11 Gideon went up by the route of the tent dwellers east of Nobah and Jogbehah. He struck the camp while the army felt secure.
8:12 Zebah and Zalmunna fled, but he pursued them. He captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and threw the whole army into terror.
8:13 Gideon son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres.
8:14 He captured a young man from Succoth and questioned him. The young man wrote down for him the names of the leaders and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.
8:15 He came to the men of Succoth and said, “Here are Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your exhausted men?’”
8:16 He took the elders of the city and the thorns and briers of the wilderness, and with these he taught the men of Succoth a lesson.
8:17 He tore down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.
8:18 Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men you killed at Tabor?” They said, “They were like you; each had the appearance of a king’s son.”
8:19 He said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. As the LORD lives, if you had let them live, I would not kill you.”
8:20 He said to Jether his firstborn, “Arise, kill them.” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, since he was still a youth.
8:21 Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Arise yourself and strike us down, for as the man is, so is his strength.” Gideon arose and killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took the crescent ornaments from their camels’ necks.
8:22 Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian.”
8:23 Gideon said to them, “I will not rule over you, nor will my son rule over you. The LORD will rule over you.”
8:24 Gideon said to them, “Let me ask this of you: each of you give me an earring from your spoil.” For they had gold earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.
8:25 They said, “We will gladly give them.” They spread out a cloak, and each man threw an earring from his spoil onto it.
8:26 The gold earrings he had requested weighed about forty-three pounds, apart from the crescent ornaments, the pendants, and the purple garments worn by the kings of Midian, and apart from the chains on their camels’ necks.
8:27 Gideon made it into an ephod and placed it in his city, Ophrah. All Israel prostituted themselves to it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and his household.
8:28 Midian was subdued before the people of Israel and did not lift up their heads again. The land had rest forty years in the days of Gideon.
8:29 Jerubbaal son of Joash went and lived in his own house.
8:30 Gideon had seventy sons of his own, for he had many wives.
8:31 His concubine in Shechem also bore him a son, and he named him Abimelech.
8:32 Gideon son of Joash died at a good old age and was buried in the tomb of Joash his father in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
8:33 As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned back and prostituted themselves to the Baals. They made Baal-berith their god.
8:34 The people of Israel did not remember the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies around them.
8:35 Nor did they show kindness to the household of Jerubbaal, that is, Gideon, in return for all the good he had done for Israel.

Chapter 9
9:1 Abimelech son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem, to his mother’s brothers. He spoke to them and to the whole clan of his maternal grandfather’s household, saying,
9:2 “Please ask all the citizens of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you: for seventy men, all the sons of Jerubbaal, to rule over you, or for one man to rule over you?’ Remember that I am your bone and your flesh.”
9:3 His mother’s brothers repeated all these words on his behalf to all the citizens of Shechem. Their hearts inclined toward Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.”
9:4 They gave him seventy pieces of silver from the temple of Baal-berith. With these Abimelech hired worthless and reckless men, and they followed him.
9:5 He went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers, the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham, Jerubbaal’s youngest son, survived because he had hidden himself.
9:6 All the citizens of Shechem and all Beth-millo gathered together and went and made Abimelech king by the oak of the pillar in Shechem.
9:7 When Jotham was told, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim. He raised his voice and cried out to them, “Listen to me, citizens of Shechem, so that God may listen to you.
9:8 The trees once went out to anoint a king over themselves. They said to the olive tree, ‘Rule over us.’
9:9 But the olive tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my rich oil, by which God and people are honored, and go to sway over the trees?’
9:10 The trees said to the fig tree, ‘Come, you rule over us.’
9:11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Should I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go to sway over the trees?’
9:12 The trees said to the vine, ‘Come, you rule over us.’
9:13 But the vine said to them, ‘Should I leave my new wine, which cheers God and people, and go to sway over the trees?’
9:14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘Come, you rule over us.’
9:15 The bramble said to the trees, ‘If you are truly anointing me king over you, come and take refuge in my shade. But if not, let fire come out of the bramble and consume the cedars of Lebanon.’
9:16 Now if you have acted in truth and integrity in making Abimelech king, if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his household and have treated him as his deeds deserve—
9:17 for my father fought for you, risked his life, and delivered you from the hand of Midian,
9:18 but today you have risen against my father’s household, killed his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and made Abimelech, the son of his female slave, king over the citizens of Shechem because he is your brother—
9:19 if you have acted in truth and integrity toward Jerubbaal and his household this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you.
9:20 But if not, let fire come out of Abimelech and consume the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo. Let fire come out of the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo and consume Abimelech.”
9:21 Jotham escaped and fled to Beer. He lived there because of Abimelech his brother.
9:22 Abimelech ruled over Israel for three years.
9:23 Then God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the citizens of Shechem, and the citizens of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech,
9:24 so that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might return, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the citizens of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers.
9:25 The citizens of Shechem set men in ambush against him on the mountaintops. They robbed everyone who passed them on the road, and Abimelech was told.
9:26 Gaal son of Ebed came with his brothers and moved into Shechem. The citizens of Shechem put their trust in him.
9:27 They went out into the fields, harvested their vineyards, trod the grapes, and held a festival. They entered the temple of their god, ate and drank, and cursed Abimelech.
9:28 Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not Jerubbaal’s son, and is not Zebul his deputy? Serve the men of Hamor, Shechem’s father! Why should we serve him?
9:29 If only this people were under my command! I would remove Abimelech.” And he said to Abimelech, “Increase your army and come out!”
9:30 When Zebul, the ruler of the city, heard the words of Gaal son of Ebed, his anger burned.
9:31 He secretly sent messengers to Abimelech, saying, “Gaal son of Ebed and his brothers have come to Shechem, and they are closing off the city against you.
9:32 Now arise by night, you and the people with you, and lie in ambush in the fields.
9:33 In the morning, as soon as the sun rises, get up early and attack the city. When he and the people with him come out against you, do to him whatever your hand finds to do.”
9:34 So Abimelech and all the people with him arose by night and lay in ambush against Shechem in four companies.
9:35 Gaal son of Ebed went out and stood at the entrance of the city gate. Abimelech and the people with him rose from the ambush.
9:36 When Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountaintops!” Zebul said to him, “You are seeing the shadows of the mountains as though they were men.”
9:37 Gaal spoke again: “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming by the road of the Diviners’ Oak.”
9:38 Zebul said to him, “Where is that mouth of yours now, with which you said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are these not the people you despised? Go out now and fight them!”
9:39 So Gaal went out at the head of the citizens of Shechem and fought Abimelech.
9:40 Abimelech pursued him, and he fled before him. Many fell slain all the way to the entrance of the gate.
9:41 Abimelech stayed at Arumah, and Zebul drove Gaal and his brothers out so that they could no longer live in Shechem.
9:42 The next day the people went out into the fields, and Abimelech was told.
9:43 He took his people, divided them into three companies, and lay in ambush in the fields. When he saw the people coming out of the city, he rose against them and struck them down.
9:44 Abimelech and the companies with him rushed forward and took their stand at the entrance of the city gate. The other two companies rushed against all who were in the fields and struck them down.
9:45 Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured it and killed the people in it. He demolished the city and sowed it with salt.
9:46 When all the citizens of the tower of Shechem heard this, they entered the stronghold of the temple of El-berith.
9:47 Abimelech was told that all the citizens of the tower of Shechem had gathered together.
9:48 Abimelech went up Mount Zalmon with all the people who were with him. Abimelech took the axes in his hand, cut a branch from the trees, lifted it, and put it on his shoulder. He said to the people with him, “Hurry and do what you have seen me do.”
9:49 All the people likewise cut a branch, each man his own, and followed Abimelech. They put them against the stronghold and set the stronghold on fire over those inside. All the people of the tower of Shechem also died, about a thousand men and women.
9:50 Then Abimelech went to Thebez, camped against Thebez, and captured it.
9:51 There was a strong tower inside the city. All the men and women and all the citizens of the city fled there, shut themselves in, and went up onto the roof of the tower.
9:52 Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it. He approached the entrance of the tower to burn it with fire.
9:53 But a woman threw a piece of an upper millstone onto Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull.
9:54 He quickly called to the young man who carried his armor and said, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” His young man thrust him through, and he died.
9:55 When the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, they went away, each to his own place.
9:56 So God repaid Abimelech for the evil he had done to his father by killing his seventy brothers.
9:57 God also brought all the evil of the men of Shechem back on their heads, and the curse of Jotham son of Jerubbaal came upon them.

Chapter 10
10:1 After Abimelech, Tola son of Puah, son of Dodo, a man of Issachar, arose to save Israel. He lived at Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim.
10:2 He judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried at Shamir.
10:3 After him arose Jair the Gileadite, who judged Israel twenty-two years.
10:4 He had thirty sons who rode thirty donkey colts, and they had thirty towns in the land of Gilead, called Havvoth-jair to this day.
10:5 Jair died and was buried at Kamon.
10:6 The people of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. They forsook the LORD and did not serve him.
10:7 The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the Philistines and into the hand of the Ammonites.
10:8 They oppressed and crushed the people of Israel that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the people of Israel who were beyond the Jordan, in the land of the Amorites in Gilead.
10:9 The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in great distress.
10:10 The people of Israel cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against you, for we have forsaken our God and served the Baals.”
10:11 The LORD said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians, the Amorites, the Ammonites, and the Philistines?
10:12 The Sidonians, the Amalekites, and the Maonites also oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you from their hand.
10:13 But you have forsaken me and served other gods. Therefore I will no longer save you.
10:14 Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you in the time of your distress!”
10:15 The people of Israel said to the LORD, “We have sinned. Do to us whatever seems good in your sight; only please deliver us this day.”
10:16 They removed the foreign gods from among them and served the LORD, and he could no longer bear Israel’s misery.
10:17 The Ammonites were summoned and camped in Gilead. The people of Israel gathered together and camped at Mizpah.
10:18 The people and the leaders of Gilead said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin to fight the Ammonites? He will be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

Chapter 11
11:1 Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. He was the son of a prostitute, and Gilead was Jephthah’s father.
11:2 Gilead’s wife also bore him sons. When his wife’s sons grew up, they drove Jephthah out and said to him, “You will have no inheritance in our father’s house, because you are the son of another woman.”
11:3 Jephthah fled from his brothers and lived in the land of Tob. Worthless men gathered around Jephthah and went out with him.
11:4 After some time, the Ammonites made war against Israel.
11:5 When the Ammonites made war against Israel, the elders of Gilead went to bring Jephthah from the land of Tob.
11:6 They said to Jephthah, “Come and be our commander, so that we may fight the Ammonites.”
11:7 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “Did you not hate me and drive me out of my father’s house? Why have you come to me now, when you are in distress?”
11:8 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “That is why we have now returned to you, so that you may go with us, fight the Ammonites, and become our head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
11:9 Jephthah said to the elders of Gilead, “If you bring me back to fight the Ammonites and the LORD gives them over to me, will I be your head?”
11:10 The elders of Gilead said to Jephthah, “May the LORD be witness between us if we do not do as you have said.”
11:11 Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people made him their head and commander. Jephthah spoke all his words before the LORD at Mizpah.
11:12 Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites, saying, “What do you have against me, that you have come to fight against my land?”
11:13 The king of the Ammonites said to Jephthah’s messengers, “Because Israel took my land when they came up from Egypt, from the Arnon to the Jabbok and to the Jordan. Now return those lands in peace.”
11:14 Jephthah again sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites,
11:15 saying to him, “This is what Jephthah says: Israel did not take the land of Moab or the land of the Ammonites.
11:16 When they came up from Egypt, Israel went through the wilderness as far as the Red Sea and came to Kadesh.
11:17 Israel sent messengers to the king of Edom, saying, ‘Please let me pass through your land.’ But the king of Edom would not listen. Israel also sent to the king of Moab, but he would not agree, so Israel stayed at Kadesh.
11:18 Then Israel went through the wilderness, around the land of Edom and the land of Moab, and came to the east side of the land of Moab. They camped beyond the Arnon and did not enter the territory of Moab, for the Arnon was Moab’s border.
11:19 Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, king of Heshbon. Israel said to him, ‘Please let us pass through your land to my place.’
11:20 But Sihon did not trust Israel to pass through his territory. Sihon gathered all his people, and they camped at Jahaz and fought against Israel.
11:21 The LORD, the God of Israel, gave Sihon and all his people into the hand of Israel, and they struck them down. Israel took possession of all the land of the Amorites who inhabited that land.
11:22 They took possession of all the territory of the Amorites, from the Arnon to the Jabbok, and from the wilderness to the Jordan.
11:23 Now the LORD, the God of Israel, has driven out the Amorites before his people Israel. Would you take possession of their land?
11:24 Do you not possess what Chemosh your god gives you to possess? So we will possess the land of all whom the LORD our God has driven out before us.
11:25 Now are you any better than Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab? Did he ever contend with Israel or ever fight against them?
11:26 Israel has lived in Heshbon and its settlements, in Aroer and its settlements, and in all the cities along the Arnon for three hundred years. Why did you not recover them during that time?
11:27 I have not sinned against you, but you are doing me wrong by making war against me. May the LORD, the Judge, judge this day between the people of Israel and the Ammonites.”
11:28 But the king of the Ammonites did not listen to the words Jephthah had sent him.
11:29 The Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He passed through Gilead and Manasseh and through Mizpah of Gilead. From Mizpah of Gilead he advanced against the Ammonites.
11:30 Jephthah made a vow to the LORD and said, “If you indeed give the Ammonites into my hand,
11:31 then whatever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me when I return in peace from the Ammonites will belong to the LORD, and I will offer it up as a burnt offering.”
11:32 Jephthah advanced against the Ammonites to fight them, and the LORD gave them into his hand.
11:33 He struck them from Aroer as far as the approach to Minnith, twenty cities, and as far as Abel-keramim, with a very great slaughter. So the Ammonites were subdued before the people of Israel.
11:34 When Jephthah came to his house at Mizpah, his daughter came out to meet him with tambourines and dancing. She was his only child; apart from her he had neither son nor daughter.
11:35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and said, “Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are among those who bring me trouble. I have opened my mouth to the LORD and cannot take it back.”
11:36 She said to him, “My father, you have opened your mouth to the LORD. Do to me what has gone out of your mouth, since the LORD has taken vengeance for you on your enemies, the Ammonites.”
11:37 She said to her father, “Let this be done for me: leave me alone for two months, so that my companions and I may go down into the mountains and weep over my virginity.”
11:38 He said, “Go.” He sent her away for two months, and she went with her companions and wept over her virginity on the mountains.
11:39 At the end of two months she returned to her father, and he did to her according to the vow he had made. She had never had relations with a man. It became a custom in Israel
11:40 that year after year the daughters of Israel went to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite for four days each year.

Chapter 12
12:1 The men of Ephraim were summoned and crossed over toward the north. They said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight the Ammonites and not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you!”
12:2 Jephthah said to them, “My people and I were in a bitter conflict with the Ammonites. I called you, but you did not save me from their hand.
12:3 When I saw that you would not save me, I put my life in my hand and crossed over against the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into my hand. Why have you come up against me this day to fight me?”
12:4 Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought Ephraim. The men of Gilead struck down Ephraim because the Ephraimites had said, “You Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.”
12:5 Gilead seized the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim. Whenever one of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me cross over,” the men of Gilead asked him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” If he said, “No,”
12:6 they said to him, “Please say ‘Shibboleth.’” But he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it correctly. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand of Ephraim fell at that time.
12:7 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Then Jephthah the Gileadite died and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead.
12:8 After him, Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel.
12:9 He had thirty sons and thirty daughters. He sent his daughters away in marriage and brought in thirty daughters from elsewhere for his sons. He judged Israel seven years.
12:10 Ibzan died and was buried at Bethlehem.
12:11 After him, Elon the Zebulunite judged Israel. He judged Israel ten years.
12:12 Elon the Zebulunite died and was buried at Aijalon in the land of Zebulun.
12:13 After him, Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite judged Israel.
12:14 He had forty sons and thirty grandsons who rode seventy donkey colts. He judged Israel eight years.
12:15 Abdon son of Hillel the Pirathonite died and was buried at Pirathon in the land of Ephraim, in the hill country of the Amalekites.

Chapter 13
13:1 The people of Israel again did evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
13:2 There was a man from Zorah, from the clan of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren and had borne no children.
13:3 The angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “You are barren and have borne no children, but you will conceive and bear a son.
13:4 Now be careful: do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, and do not eat anything unclean.
13:5 For you will conceive and bear a son. No razor must come upon his head, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb. He will begin to save Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
13:6 The woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me. His appearance was like the appearance of an angel of God, very awe-inspiring. I did not ask him where he was from, and he did not tell me his name.
13:7 He said to me, ‘You will conceive and bear a son. Now do not drink wine or intoxicating drink, and do not eat anything unclean, for the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb until the day of his death.’”
13:8 Manoah pleaded with the LORD and said, “Please, Lord, let the man of God you sent come to us again and teach us what we should do for the boy who is to be born.”
13:9 God listened to the voice of Manoah. The angel of God came again to the woman while she was sitting in the field, but Manoah her husband was not with her.
13:10 The woman hurried and ran to tell her husband. She said to him, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me!”
13:11 Manoah arose and followed his wife. He came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to the woman?” He said, “I am.”
13:12 Manoah said, “Now may your words come true. What is to be the boy’s way of life, and what is he to do?”
13:13 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “The woman must be careful about everything I said to her.
13:14 She must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, drink wine or intoxicating drink, or eat anything unclean. She must observe everything I commanded her.”
13:15 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Please let us detain you while we prepare a young goat for you.”
13:16 The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Even if you detain me, I will not eat your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, offer it to the LORD.” For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.
13:17 Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?”
13:18 The angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is wonderful.”
13:19 Manoah took the young goat and the grain offering and offered them on the rock to the LORD. He worked a wonder while Manoah and his wife watched.
13:20 When the flame went up from the altar toward heaven, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar. Manoah and his wife saw it and fell on their faces to the ground.
13:21 The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.
13:22 Manoah said to his wife, “We will surely die, for we have seen God.”
13:23 But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had wanted to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, or shown us all these things, or told us such things at this time.”
13:24 The woman bore a son and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him.
13:25 The Spirit of the LORD began to stir him at Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Chapter 14
14:1 Samson went down to Timnah and saw a woman there from among the daughters of the Philistines.
14:2 He went up and told his father and mother, “I saw a woman in Timnah from among the daughters of the Philistines. Now get her for me as a wife.”
14:3 His father and mother said to him, “Is there no woman among the daughters of your relatives or among all my people, that you go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
14:4 His father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD, for he was seeking an occasion against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.
14:5 Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother. When they came to the vineyards of Timnah, a young lion came roaring toward him.
14:6 The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one tears apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. He did not tell his father or mother what he had done.
14:7 He went down and spoke to the woman, and she was right in Samson’s eyes.
14:8 After some time he returned to take her as his wife. He turned aside to see the lion’s carcass, and there was a swarm of bees and honey in the lion’s body.
14:9 He scooped it into his hands and went on, eating as he walked. He came to his father and mother and gave them some, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s body.
14:10 His father went down to the woman, and Samson held a feast there, as the young men used to do.
14:11 When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
14:12 Samson said to them, “Let me pose a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me during the seven days of the feast and find it out, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.
14:13 But if you cannot explain it to me, you must give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” They said to him, “Pose your riddle, and let us hear it.”
14:14 He said to them, “Out of the eater came food, and out of the strong came sweetness.” For three days they could not explain the riddle.
14:15 On the seventh day they said to Samson’s wife, “Persuade your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household with fire. Did you invite us so you could take our possessions? Is that not so?”
14:16 Samson’s wife wept before him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have posed a riddle to my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “I have not explained it to my father or mother. Should I explain it to you?”
14:17 She wept before him during the seven days of their feast. On the seventh day he explained it to her because she pressed him, and she explained the riddle to her people.
14:18 On the seventh day, before the sun set, the men of the city said to him, “What is sweeter than honey? What is stronger than a lion?” He said to them, “If you had not plowed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle.”
14:19 The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him. He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, took their spoil, and gave the changes of clothes to those who had explained the riddle. His anger burned, and he went up to his father’s house.
14:20 Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his friend.

Chapter 15
15:1 After some time, during the wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He said, “I will go in to my wife in her room.” But her father would not let him go in.
15:2 Her father said, “I was certain that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
15:3 Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless with regard to the Philistines when I do them harm.”
15:4 Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. He took torches, paired the foxes tail to tail, and placed one torch between each pair of tails.
15:5 He lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned the stacked grain, the standing grain, and the olive groves.
15:6 The Philistines said, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because the Timnite took his wife and gave her to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father with fire.
15:7 Samson said to them, “If this is how you act, I will take revenge on you, and only then will I stop.”
15:8 He struck them hip and thigh in a great slaughter. Then he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
15:9 The Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and spread out at Lehi.
15:10 The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”
15:11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done to us?” He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
15:12 They said to him, “We have come down to bind you and give you into the hand of the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not attack me.”
15:13 They said to him, “No, we will only bind you securely and give you into their hand. We certainly will not kill you.” They bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
15:14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him. The ropes on his arms became like flax burned with fire, and his bonds melted away from his hands.
15:15 He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand, took it, and struck down a thousand men with it.
15:16 Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, a heap, two heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men.”
15:17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone from his hand and called that place Ramath-lehi.
15:18 He was very thirsty and called to the LORD, saying, “You have given this great deliverance into the hand of your servant. Now must I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
15:19 God split open the hollow at Lehi, and water came out of it. Samson drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he called its name En-hakkore, which is at Lehi to this day.
15:20 He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

Chapter 16
16:1 Samson went to Gaza, saw a prostitute there, and slept with her.
16:2 The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” They surrounded him and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Wait until the light of morning, and we will kill him.”
16:3 Samson lay until midnight. At midnight he arose, took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two doorposts, and pulled them up, bar and all. He put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill facing Hebron.
16:4 After this he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.
16:5 The rulers of the Philistines went up to her and said, “Entice him and find out where his great strength lies and how we can overpower him, so that we may bind him and afflict him. Each of us will give you about twenty-eight pounds of silver.”
16:6 Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies and how you could be bound and afflicted.”
16:7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not dried, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
16:8 The rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh cords that had not dried, and she bound him with them.
16:9 She had men lying in ambush in the room. She said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he snapped the cords as a strand of flax snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was not discovered.
16:10 Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and told me lies. Now please tell me how you could be bound.”
16:11 He said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used for work, I will become weak and be like any other man.”
16:12 Delilah took new ropes, bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” Men were lying in ambush in the room, but he snapped the ropes from his arms like a thread.
16:13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me how you could be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the fabric on the loom…”
16:14 She fastened it with the peg and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke from his sleep and pulled away the loom peg and the fabric.
16:15 She said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? These three times you have mocked me and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16:16 She pressed him with her words day after day and urged him until his soul was distressed to the point of death.
16:17 So he told her all his heart. He said to her, “No razor has come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become weak and be like any other man.”
16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent for the rulers of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this time, for he has told me all his heart.” The rulers of the Philistines came up to her with the silver in their hands.
16:19 She made him sleep on her knees, called for a man, and had the seven locks of his head shaved off. She began to afflict him, and his strength left him.
16:20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.
16:21 The Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes. They brought him down to Gaza, bound him with bronze shackles, and he ground grain in the prison.
16:22 But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.
16:23 The rulers of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice. They said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.”
16:24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the one who devastated our land and multiplied our slain.”
16:25 When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, so that he may entertain us.” They called Samson from the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars.
16:26 Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars that support the building, so that I may lean on them.”
16:27 The building was full of men and women, and all the rulers of the Philistines were there. On the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson entertain them.
16:28 Samson called to the LORD and said, “Lord GOD, please remember me. Please strengthen me just this once, O God, so that I may take vengeance on the Philistines for one of my two eyes.”
16:29 Samson grasped the two middle pillars that supported the building and leaned against them, one with his right hand and the other with his left.
16:30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bent with all his strength, and the building fell on the rulers and all the people in it. Those he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life.
16:31 His brothers and all his father’s household went down, took him, brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

Chapter 17
17:1 There was a man from the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Micaiah.
17:2 He said to his mother, “The silver taken from you, about twenty-eight pounds, over which you pronounced a curse that I also heard—the silver is with me. I took it.” His mother said, “Blessed be my son by the LORD!”
17:3 He returned the silver, about twenty-eight pounds, to his mother. His mother said, “I have solemnly dedicated the silver to the LORD from my own hand for my son, to make a carved image and a cast image. Now I will return it to you.”
17:4 He returned the silver to his mother, and his mother took two hundred pieces of silver and gave them to the silversmith. He made it into a carved image and a cast image, which stood in Micaiah’s house.
17:5 The man Micah had a shrine. He made an ephod and household gods, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest.
17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man did what was right in his own eyes.
17:7 There was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the clan of Judah, who was a Levite staying there.
17:8 The man left the city of Bethlehem in Judah to live wherever he could find a place. As he traveled, he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.
17:9 Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” He said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am traveling to find a place to live.”
17:10 Micah said to him, “Stay with me, and be a father and a priest to me. I will give you about four ounces of silver a year, a set of clothes, and your food.” So the Levite went with him.
17:11 The Levite agreed to stay with the man, and the young man became like one of his sons.
17:12 Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in Micah’s house.
17:13 Then Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will deal well with me, because I have a Levite as my priest.”

Chapter 18
18:1 In those days there was no king in Israel. In those days the tribe of Dan was seeking an inheritance to live in, for until that day no inheritance had fallen to them among the tribes of Israel.
18:2 The Danites sent five men from their clan, from among their number, valiant men from Zorah and Eshtaol, to spy out and explore the land. They said to them, “Go and explore the land.” They came to the hill country of Ephraim, to Micah’s house, and spent the night there.
18:3 When they were near Micah’s house, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. They turned aside there and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What do you have here?”
18:4 He said to them, “Micah has done this and that for me. He has hired me, and I have become his priest.”
18:5 They said to him, “Please inquire of God, so that we may know whether the journey we are taking will succeed.”
18:6 The priest said to them, “Go in peace. The way you are taking is before the LORD.”
18:7 The five men went on and came to Laish. They saw that the people in it lived securely, after the manner of the Sidonians, quiet and confident. There was no ruler in the land to humiliate them in anything. They were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone.
18:8 They came back to their brothers at Zorah and Eshtaol, and their brothers said to them, “What do you report?”
18:9 They said, “Arise, and let us go up against them! We have seen the land, and it is very good. Will you sit still? Do not be slow to go in and possess the land.
18:10 When you enter, you will come to a confident people and a spacious land, for God has given it into your hand—a place lacking nothing that is on the earth.”
18:11 Six hundred men from the clan of Dan set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, equipped with weapons of war.
18:12 They went up and camped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. Therefore that place is called Mahaneh-dan to this day. It is west of Kiriath-jearim.
18:13 From there they passed on to the hill country of Ephraim and came to Micah’s house.
18:14 The five men who had gone to spy out the land of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that these houses contain an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a cast image? Now consider what you should do.”
18:15 They turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, Micah’s house, and asked him how he was.
18:16 The six hundred Danites, equipped with their weapons of war, stood at the entrance of the gate.
18:17 The five men who had gone to spy out the land went up, entered there, and took the carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the cast image. The priest stood at the entrance of the gate with the six hundred men equipped with weapons of war.
18:18 These men entered Micah’s house and took the carved image of the ephod, the household gods, and the cast image. The priest said to them, “What are you doing?”
18:19 They said to him, “Be quiet. Put your hand over your mouth and come with us. Be a father and a priest to us. Is it better for you to be priest to one man’s household, or to be priest to a tribe and a clan in Israel?”
18:20 The priest’s heart was glad. He took the ephod, the household gods, and the carved image, and went among the people.
18:21 They turned and departed, putting the little ones, the livestock, and the possessions ahead of them.
18:22 When they were far from Micah’s house, the men from the houses near Micah’s house were summoned and overtook the Danites.
18:23 They called out to the Danites, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is wrong, that you have rallied?”
18:24 He said, “You have taken my gods that I made, and the priest, and gone away. What do I have left? How can you say to me, ‘What is wrong?’”
18:25 The Danites said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry men attack you and you lose your life and the lives of your household.”
18:26 The Danites went on their way. Micah saw that they were stronger than he was, so he turned and went back to his house.
18:27 They took what Micah had made and the priest who had belonged to him, and came against Laish, against a quiet and confident people. They struck them down by the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire.
18:28 There was no one to deliver them, because it was far from Sidon and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley of Beth-rehob. They rebuilt the city and lived in it.
18:29 They named the city Dan, after Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel. Previously the city’s name had been Laish.
18:30 The Danites set up the carved image for themselves. Jonathan son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day the land went into captivity.
18:31 They set up for themselves the carved image Micah had made, all the time that the house of God was at Shiloh.

Chapter 19
19:1 In those days, when there was no king in Israel, a Levite was living in a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. He took a concubine from Bethlehem in Judah.
19:2 His concubine was unfaithful to him and left him for her father’s house in Bethlehem in Judah. She stayed there four months.
19:3 Her husband arose and went after her to speak tenderly to her and bring her back. His servant and a pair of donkeys were with him. She brought him into her father’s house, and the young woman’s father saw him and was glad to meet him.
19:4 His father-in-law, the young woman’s father, persuaded him to stay, and he stayed with him three days. They ate and drank and spent the night there.
19:5 On the fourth day they rose early in the morning, and he arose to leave. But the young woman’s father said to his son-in-law, “Refresh your heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward you may go.”
19:6 The two of them sat down and ate and drank together. Then the young woman’s father said to the man, “Please agree to stay the night, and let your heart be merry.”
19:7 The man arose to leave, but his father-in-law urged him, so he stayed there another night.
19:8 On the fifth day he rose early in the morning to leave. The young woman’s father said, “Please refresh your heart, and wait until afternoon.” The two of them ate.
19:9 The man arose to leave with his concubine and his servant. His father-in-law, the young woman’s father, said to him, “Look, the day is drawing toward evening. Please stay the night. The day is coming to an end; spend the night here, and let your heart be merry. Tomorrow you can rise early for your journey and go home.”
19:10 But the man would not stay the night. He arose and left, and came opposite Jebus, that is, Jerusalem. With him were a pair of saddled donkeys, and his concubine was with him.
19:11 When they were near Jebus and the day was far spent, the servant said to his master, “Please come, let us turn aside into this city of the Jebusites and spend the night in it.”
19:12 His master said to him, “We will not turn aside into a city of foreigners who are not of the people of Israel. We will go on to Gibeah.”
19:13 He said to his servant, “Come, let us draw near to one of these places and spend the night at Gibeah or Ramah.”
19:14 They passed on and went their way, and the sun set on them near Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin.
19:15 They turned aside there to enter and spend the night in Gibeah. He entered and sat in the city square, but no one took them into a house to spend the night.
19:16 An old man was coming from his work in the fields that evening. He was from the hill country of Ephraim and was staying in Gibeah, though the people of the place were Benjamites.
19:17 He lifted up his eyes and saw the traveler in the city square. The old man said, “Where are you going, and where do you come from?”
19:18 He said to him, “We are traveling from Bethlehem in Judah to a remote part of the hill country of Ephraim. I am from there. I went to Bethlehem in Judah, and I am going to the house of the LORD, but no one takes me into a house.
19:19 We have straw and fodder for our donkeys, and bread and wine for me, for your female servant, and for the young man with your servants. We lack nothing.”
19:20 The old man said, “Peace to you. Let all your needs be my responsibility. Only do not spend the night in the square.”
19:21 He brought him into his house and fed the donkeys. They washed their feet, ate, and drank.
19:22 While they were making their hearts merry, worthless men of the city surrounded the house and pounded on the door. They said to the old man, the owner of the house, “Bring out the man who came into your house, so that we may have sexual relations with him.”
19:23 The owner of the house went out to them and said, “No, my brothers, please do not act wickedly. Since this man has entered my house, do not commit this outrage.
19:24 Here are my virgin daughter and his concubine. Let me bring them out. Abuse them and do to them whatever seems good in your eyes. But do not do this outrageous thing to this man.”
19:25 But the men would not listen to him. The man seized his concubine and brought her outside to them. They raped her and abused her all night until morning. They let her go as dawn broke.
19:26 As morning approached, the woman came and fell at the entrance of the man’s house, where her master was, and lay there until it was light.
19:27 Her master arose in the morning, opened the doors of the house, and went out to go on his way. There was the woman, his concubine, fallen at the entrance of the house, with her hands on the threshold.
19:28 He said to her, “Get up, and let us go.” But there was no answer. He put her on the donkey, and the man arose and went to his place.
19:29 When he came to his house, he took the knife, seized his concubine, and cut her up, with her bones, into twelve pieces. He sent her throughout all the territory of Israel.
19:30 Everyone who saw it said, “Nothing like this has happened or been seen from the day the people of Israel came up from the land of Egypt until this day. Consider it, take counsel, and speak!”

Chapter 20
20:1 All the people of Israel came out, and the congregation assembled as one man before the LORD at Mizpah, from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead.
20:2 The leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, took their places in the assembly of the people of God: four hundred thousand foot soldiers who drew the sword.
20:3 The Benjamites heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah. The people of Israel said, “Tell us how this evil happened.”
20:4 The Levite, the husband of the murdered woman, answered, “I came with my concubine to Gibeah of Benjamin to spend the night.
20:5 The citizens of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me at night. They intended to kill me. They violated my concubine, and she died.
20:6 I took my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of Israel’s inheritance, because they had committed lewdness and outrage in Israel.
20:7 All of you are people of Israel. Give your opinion and counsel here.”
20:8 All the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, and none will turn aside to his house.
20:9 Now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot.
20:10 We will take ten men from every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred from every thousand, and a thousand from every ten thousand, to get provisions for the people. Then, when they come to Geba of Benjamin, they can repay it for all the outrage it has committed in Israel.”
20:11 All the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.
20:12 The tribes of Israel sent men throughout all the clans of Benjamin, saying, “What is this evil that has happened among you?
20:13 Now hand over the worthless men in Gibeah, so that we may put them to death and remove evil from Israel.” But the Benjamites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel.
20:14 The Benjamites gathered from the cities to Gibeah to go out to battle against the people of Israel.
20:15 On that day the Benjamites mustered twenty-six thousand men from the cities who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered seven hundred chosen men.
20:16 Among all these people were seven hundred chosen left-handed men. Every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.
20:17 The men of Israel, excluding Benjamin, mustered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword. All of them were men of war.
20:18 They arose, went up to Bethel, and inquired of God. The people of Israel said, “Who should go up first for us to battle against the Benjamites?” The LORD said, “Judah first.”
20:19 The people of Israel arose in the morning and camped against Gibeah.
20:20 The men of Israel went out to battle against Benjamin and arrayed themselves for battle against them at Gibeah.
20:21 The Benjamites came out of Gibeah and struck twenty-two thousand men of Israel dead to the ground that day.
20:22 But the people, the men of Israel, took courage and again arrayed themselves for battle in the place where they had arrayed themselves on the first day.
20:23 The people of Israel went up and wept before the LORD until evening. They inquired of the LORD, saying, “Shall I again advance to battle against the people of Benjamin, my brother?” The LORD said, “Go up against him.”
20:24 The people of Israel advanced against the Benjamites on the second day.
20:25 Benjamin came out of Gibeah to meet them on the second day and struck another eighteen thousand men of Israel dead to the ground. All of them drew the sword.
20:26 Then all the people of Israel, the whole people, went up and came to Bethel. They wept and sat there before the LORD, fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
20:27 The people of Israel inquired of the LORD. The ark of the covenant of God was there in those days,
20:28 and Phinehas son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, stood before it in those days. They asked, “Shall I again go out to battle against the people of Benjamin, my brother, or shall I stop?” The LORD said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give him into your hand.”
20:29 Israel set men in ambush all around Gibeah.
20:30 The people of Israel went up against the Benjamites on the third day and arrayed themselves against Gibeah as before.
20:31 The Benjamites came out to meet the people and were drawn away from the city. As before, they began to strike some of the people dead on the roads, one of which goes up to Bethel and the other to Gibeah, in the open country—about thirty men of Israel.
20:32 The Benjamites said, “They are being defeated before us as at first.” But the people of Israel had said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the roads.”
20:33 All the men of Israel arose from their positions and arrayed themselves at Baal-tamar. The men of Israel in ambush rushed out from their place, from the open ground of Geba.
20:34 Ten thousand chosen men from all Israel came opposite Gibeah. The battle was fierce, and the Benjamites did not know that disaster was closing in on them.
20:35 The LORD defeated Benjamin before Israel. That day the people of Israel destroyed twenty-five thousand one hundred men of Benjamin, all of whom drew the sword.
20:36 The Benjamites saw that they were defeated. The men of Israel had given ground to Benjamin because they trusted the ambush they had set against Gibeah.
20:37 The men in ambush hurried and rushed upon Gibeah. They spread out and struck the whole city by the edge of the sword.
20:38 The agreed signal between the men of Israel and the men in ambush was for them to send up a great cloud of smoke from the city.
20:39 When the men of Israel turned back in the battle, Benjamin began to strike down about thirty men of Israel. They said, “Surely they are being defeated before us as in the first battle.”
20:40 But the signal began to rise from the city, a pillar of smoke. Benjamin looked back, and the whole city was going up toward heaven.
20:41 The men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were terrified, for they saw that disaster had reached them.
20:42 They turned before the men of Israel toward the wilderness road, but the battle overtook them. Those coming from the cities were destroying them in their midst.
20:43 They surrounded Benjamin, pursued them, and trampled them down with ease as far as opposite Gibeah, toward the east.
20:44 Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them valiant men.
20:45 They turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. The Israelites gleaned five thousand of them along the roads. They pursued them as far as Gidom and struck down two thousand more.
20:46 All who fell from Benjamin that day were twenty-five thousand men who drew the sword, all of them valiant men.
20:47 But six hundred men turned and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of Rimmon. They stayed at the rock of Rimmon four months.
20:48 The men of Israel turned back against the Benjamites and struck them down by the edge of the sword—entire cities, livestock, and everything they found. They also set fire to all the cities they found.

Chapter 21
21:1 The men of Israel had sworn at Mizpah, saying, “None of us will give his daughter as a wife to a Benjamite.”
21:2 The people came to Bethel and sat there before God until evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly.
21:3 They said, “LORD, the God of Israel, why has this happened in Israel, that one tribe should be missing from Israel this day?”
21:4 The next day the people rose early, built an altar there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.
21:5 The people of Israel said, “Who from all the tribes of Israel did not come up in the assembly before the LORD?” For they had made a solemn oath concerning anyone who did not come up before the LORD at Mizpah, saying, “He must surely be put to death.”
21:6 The people of Israel had compassion on Benjamin their brother and said, “One tribe has been cut off from Israel this day.
21:7 What shall we do for wives for those who remain? We have sworn by the LORD not to give them any of our daughters as wives.”
21:8 They said, “Who from the tribes of Israel did not come up before the LORD at Mizpah?” No one from Jabesh-gilead had come to the camp, to the assembly.
21:9 When the people were counted, no one from the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead was there.
21:10 The congregation sent twelve thousand valiant men there and commanded them, saying, “Go and strike the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead by the edge of the sword, including the women and little ones.
21:11 This is what you must do: devote to destruction every male and every woman who has had relations with a man.”
21:12 They found among the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead four hundred young virgins who had never had relations with a man. They brought them to the camp at Shiloh, in the land of Canaan.
21:13 The whole congregation sent word to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon and proclaimed peace to them.
21:14 Benjamin returned at that time, and they gave them the women they had kept alive from the women of Jabesh-gilead. But they did not find enough for them.
21:15 The people had compassion on Benjamin because the LORD had made a breach among the tribes of Israel.
21:16 The elders of the congregation said, “What shall we do for wives for those who remain, since the women have been destroyed out of Benjamin?”
21:17 They said, “There must be an inheritance for the survivors of Benjamin, so that a tribe may not be wiped out from Israel.
21:18 But we cannot give them wives from our daughters, for the people of Israel have sworn, saying, ‘Cursed be anyone who gives a wife to a Benjamite.’”
21:19 They said, “There is a yearly feast of the LORD at Shiloh, north of Bethel, east of the road that goes up from Bethel to Shechem, and south of Lebonah.”
21:20 They commanded the Benjamites, saying, “Go and lie in ambush in the vineyards.
21:21 Watch, and when the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance, come out of the vineyards and seize a wife for yourselves, each man from among the daughters of Shiloh. Then go to the land of Benjamin.
21:22 When their fathers or brothers come to contend with us, we will say to them, ‘Favor us with them, for we did not take a wife for each man in the war. You did not give wives to them; otherwise you would now be guilty.’”
21:23 The Benjamites did so and took wives according to their number from the dancers they abducted. They went and returned to their inheritance, rebuilt the cities, and lived in them.
21:24 At that time the people of Israel departed from there, each to his tribe and clan. Each went out from there to his inheritance.
21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel. Each man did what was right in his own eyes.

RUTH

Chapter 1
1:1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. A man from Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab with his wife and his two sons.
1:2 The man’s name was Elimelech, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Chilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem in Judah. They came to the country of Moab and stayed there.
1:3 Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons.
1:4 They took Moabite wives. One was named Orpah and the other Ruth. They lived there about ten years.
1:5 Then both Mahlon and Chilion also died, and the woman was left without her two children and her husband.
1:6 She arose with her daughters-in-law to return from the country of Moab, for she had heard in the country of Moab that the LORD had visited his people by giving them bread.
1:7 She left the place where she had been, with her two daughters-in-law, and they went on the road to return to the land of Judah.
1:8 Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each to her mother’s house. May the LORD show you kindness, as you have shown to the dead and to me.
1:9 May the LORD grant that you find rest, each in her husband’s house.” Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their voices and wept.
1:10 They said to her, “We will certainly return with you to your people.”
1:11 Naomi said, “Go back, my daughters. Why would you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb who could become your husbands?
1:12 Go back, my daughters; go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I said I had hope, even if I had a husband tonight and bore sons,
1:13 would you wait for them until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is far more bitter for me than for you, for the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”
1:14 They lifted up their voices and wept again. Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
1:15 Naomi said, “Your sister-in-law has returned to her people and her gods. Return after your sister-in-law.”
1:16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you and turn back from following you. Where you go, I will go, and where you stay, I will stay. Your people will be my people, and your God my God.
1:17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also. Only death will separate you and me.”
1:18 When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she stopped speaking to her.
1:19 The two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they came to Bethlehem, the whole city was stirred because of them, and the women said, “Is this Naomi?”
1:20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi. Call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.
1:21 I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why do you call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”
1:22 So Naomi returned from the country of Moab, and Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, was with her. They came to Bethlehem at the beginning of the barley harvest.

Chapter 2
2:1 Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of great wealth from the clan of Elimelech, whose name was Boaz.
2:2 Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Please let me go to the field and glean among the heads of grain behind someone in whose eyes I find favor.” She said to her, “Go, my daughter.”
2:3 She went and gleaned in the field behind the reapers. She happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelech.
2:4 Boaz came from Bethlehem and said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!” They said to him, “The LORD bless you!”
2:5 Boaz said to his servant who was in charge of the reapers, “Whose young woman is this?”
2:6 The servant in charge of the reapers answered, “She is the young Moabite woman who returned with Naomi from the country of Moab.
2:7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the reapers.’ She came and has continued from morning until now, except for a little rest in the house.”
2:8 Boaz said to Ruth, “Listen, my daughter. Do not go to glean in another field or leave this place. Stay here close to my young women.
2:9 Keep your eyes on the field they are harvesting and follow the women. Have I not commanded the young men not to touch you? When you are thirsty, go to the vessels and drink what the young men have drawn.”
2:10 She fell on her face and bowed to the ground. She said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, when I am a foreigner?”
2:11 Boaz answered her, “I have been fully told all you have done for your mother-in-law since your husband died, how you left your father and mother and the land of your birth and came to a people you had not known before.
2:12 May the LORD repay your work, and may your reward be full from the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.”
2:13 She said, “May I find favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken tenderly to your servant, though I am not like one of your female servants.”
2:14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come here, eat some bread, and dip your morsel in the vinegar.” She sat beside the reapers, and he offered her roasted grain. She ate and was satisfied and had some left over.
2:15 When she arose to glean, Boaz commanded his young men, “Let her glean even among the sheaves, and do not shame her.
2:16 Also pull out some stalks from the bundles for her and leave them for her to glean. Do not rebuke her.”
2:17 She gleaned in the field until evening. She beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about twenty quarts of barley.
2:18 She carried it into the city, and her mother-in-law saw what she had gleaned. She also brought out and gave her what she had left after she was satisfied.
2:19 Her mother-in-law said to her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the one who took notice of you!” She told her mother-in-law whom she had worked with and said, “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz.”
2:20 Naomi said to her daughter-in-law, “Blessed be he by the LORD, who has not abandoned his kindness to the living and the dead.” Naomi said to her, “The man is related to us, one of our redeemers.”
2:21 Ruth the Moabite said, “He also told me, ‘Stay close to my young men until they have finished all my harvest.’”
2:22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, for you to go out with his young women, so that you will not be attacked in another field.”
2:23 So she stayed close to Boaz’s young women, gleaning until the barley harvest and the wheat harvest were finished. She lived with her mother-in-law.

Chapter 3
3:1 Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, so that it may be well with you?
3:2 Now is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you have been? He is winnowing barley at the threshing floor tonight.
3:3 Wash, anoint yourself, put on your clothes, and go down to the threshing floor. Do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.
3:4 When he lies down, note the place where he lies. Then go, uncover his feet, and lie down. He will tell you what to do.”
3:5 She said to her, “I will do everything you tell me.”
3:6 She went down to the threshing floor and did all her mother-in-law had commanded her.
3:7 Boaz ate and drank, and his heart was merry. He went to lie down at the end of the grain heap. She came quietly, uncovered his feet, and lay down.
3:8 At midnight the man was startled and turned over. A woman was lying at his feet.
3:9 He said, “Who are you?” She said, “I am Ruth, your servant. Spread your wing over your servant, for you are a redeemer.”
3:10 He said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, my daughter. You have shown greater kindness in this last act than in the first, by not going after young men, whether poor or rich.
3:11 Now, my daughter, do not be afraid. I will do for you all you say, for everyone at the gate of my people knows that you are a woman of worth.
3:12 Now it is indeed true that I am a redeemer, but there is a redeemer nearer than I.
3:13 Stay the night. In the morning, if he will redeem you, good; let him redeem you. But if he is unwilling to redeem you, I will redeem you, as the LORD lives. Lie down until morning.”
3:14 She lay at his feet until morning and arose before one person could recognize another. He said, “Do not let it be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”
3:15 He said, “Bring the shawl you are wearing and hold it.” She held it, and he measured six measures of barley and placed it on her. Then he went into the city.
3:16 She came to her mother-in-law, who said, “How did it go, my daughter?” She told her all the man had done for her.
3:17 She said, “He gave me these six measures of barley, for he said to me, ‘Do not go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
3:18 Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you know how the matter turns out, for the man will not rest until he settles the matter today.”

Chapter 4
4:1 Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there. Just then the redeemer Boaz had spoken of was passing by. He said, “Come over and sit here, so-and-so.” He came over and sat down.
4:2 He took ten men from the elders of the city and said, “Sit here.” They sat down.
4:3 He said to the redeemer, “Naomi, who has returned from the country of Moab, is selling the plot of land that belonged to our brother Elimelech.
4:4 I thought I should let you know and say, ‘Buy it in the presence of those sitting here and the elders of my people.’ If you will redeem it, redeem it. But if he will not redeem it, tell me so that I may know, for there is no one besides you to redeem it, and I come after you.” He said, “I will redeem it.”
4:5 Boaz said, “On the day you buy the field from Naomi, you also acquire it from Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s wife, to raise up the dead man’s name over his inheritance.”
4:6 The redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I ruin my own inheritance. Exercise my right of redemption for yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”
4:7 Now in former times in Israel, to confirm any matter of redemption or exchange, a man would remove his sandal and give it to the other man. This was the way of attesting a transaction in Israel.
4:8 The redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” and removed his sandal.
4:9 Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses today that I have acquired from Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and Mahlon.
4:10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s wife, as my wife, to raise up the dead man’s name over his inheritance, so that the dead man’s name will not be cut off from among his brothers or from the gate of his hometown. You are witnesses today.”
4:11 All the people at the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman entering your house like Rachel and Leah, who together built the house of Israel. May you prosper in Ephrathah and make a name in Bethlehem.
4:12 May your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman.”
4:13 Boaz took Ruth, and she became his wife. He slept with her, and the LORD granted her conception, and she bore a son.
4:14 The women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you without a redeemer today. May his name be renowned in Israel.
4:15 He will restore your life and sustain you in your old age, for your daughter-in-law, who loves you and is better to you than seven sons, has borne him.”
4:16 Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap, and became his caregiver.
4:17 The neighboring women gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.
4:18 These are the generations of Perez: Perez fathered Hezron,
4:19 Hezron fathered Ram, Ram fathered Amminadab,
4:20 Amminadab fathered Nahshon, Nahshon fathered Salmah,
4:21 Salmon fathered Boaz, Boaz fathered Obed,
4:22 Obed fathered Jesse, and Jesse fathered David.

1 SAMUEL

Chapter 1
1:1 There was a man from Ramathaim-zophim in the hill country of Ephraim named Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite.
1:2 He had two wives. One was named Hannah, and the other Peninnah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children.
1:3 Year after year this man went up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh. The two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD there.
1:4 On the day Elkanah offered his sacrifice, he would give portions to his wife Peninnah and all her sons and daughters.
1:5 But to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, though the LORD had closed her womb.
1:6 Her rival would provoke her bitterly to upset her, because the LORD had closed her womb.
1:7 He did this year after year. Whenever she went up to the house of the LORD, her rival would provoke her like this, and she would weep and not eat.
1:8 Elkanah her husband would say to her, “Hannah, why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not better to you than ten sons?”
1:9 After eating and drinking at Shiloh, Hannah rose. Eli the priest was sitting on his seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD.
1:10 She was bitter in soul and prayed to the LORD, weeping deeply.
1:11 She made a vow and said, “LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant, remember me and not forget your servant, and give your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor will come upon his head.”
1:12 As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli was watching her mouth.
1:13 Hannah was speaking in her heart. Only her lips were moving, and her voice was not heard, so Eli thought she was drunk.
1:14 Eli said to her, “How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you.”
1:15 Hannah answered, “No, my lord. I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.
1:16 Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for I have been speaking until now out of my great distress and grief.”
1:17 Eli answered, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant the request you have made of him.”
1:18 She said, “May your servant find favor in your eyes.” Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad.
1:19 They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the LORD. Then they returned to their home at Ramah. Elkanah slept with Hannah his wife, and the LORD remembered her.
1:20 In due time Hannah conceived and bore a son. She named him Samuel, saying, “Because I asked the LORD for him.”
1:21 The man Elkanah and all his household went up to offer the annual sacrifice and his vow to the LORD.
1:22 But Hannah did not go up, for she said to her husband, “When the boy is weaned, I will bring him, so that he may appear before the LORD and stay there forever.”
1:23 Elkanah her husband said to her, “Do what is good in your eyes. Stay until you have weaned him. Only may the LORD establish his word.” So the woman stayed and nursed her son until she weaned him.
1:24 When she had weaned him, she took him up with her, along with three bulls, about twenty quarts of flour, and a skin of wine. She brought him to the house of the LORD at Shiloh, and the boy was still young.
1:25 They slaughtered the bull and brought the boy to Eli.
1:26 She said, “Please, my lord, as you live, my lord, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the LORD.
1:27 I prayed for this boy, and the LORD has granted the request I made of him.
1:28 So I have also given him over to the LORD. All the days he lives, he is given over to the LORD.” And he worshiped the LORD there.

Chapter 2
2:1 Hannah prayed and said,
 “My heart exults in the LORD;
   my horn is lifted high in the LORD.
   My mouth is opened wide against my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.
2:2 There is none holy like the LORD, for there is none besides you;
   there is no rock like our God.
2:3 Do not keep speaking so proudly;
   let no arrogance come from your mouth.
   For the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.
2:4 The bows of mighty warriors are broken, but those who stumbled have girded themselves with strength.
2:5 Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry hunger no more.
   The barren woman has borne seven, but she who had many sons has withered.
2:6 The LORD puts to death and gives life;
   he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
2:7 The LORD makes poor and makes rich;
   he brings low and also exalts.
2:8 He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap, to seat them with nobles and give them a throne of honor as their inheritance.
   For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and he has set the world upon them.
2:9 He guards the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked are silenced in darkness, for a man does not prevail by strength.
2:10 The LORD’s adversaries will be shattered;
   he will thunder against them from heaven.
   The LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
   He will give strength to his king and lift high the horn of his anointed.”
2:11 Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy ministered to the LORD before Eli the priest.
2:12 Eli’s sons were worthless men; they did not know the LORD.
2:13 This was the priests’ custom with the people: whenever anyone offered a sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand.
2:14 He would thrust it into the basin, kettle, cauldron, or cooking pot. Whatever the fork brought up, the priest would take for himself. This is what they did to all the Israelites who came there to Shiloh.
2:15 Even before they burned the fat, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man offering the sacrifice, “Give the priest meat to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you, only raw.”
2:16 If the man said to him, “Let them first burn the fat, then take as much as you desire,” he would say, “No, you must give it now. If not, I will take it by force.”
2:17 The sin of the young men was very great before the LORD, for the men treated the LORD’s offering with contempt.
2:18 But Samuel ministered before the LORD, a boy wearing a linen ephod.
2:19 His mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him year after year when she went up with her husband to offer the annual sacrifice.
2:20 Eli would bless Elkanah and his wife and say, “May the LORD give you offspring by this woman in place of what was asked of the LORD.” Then they would go back to their own place.
2:21 The LORD visited Hannah, and she conceived and bore three sons and two daughters. The boy Samuel grew up in the LORD’s presence.
2:22 Now Eli was very old. He heard all that his sons were doing to all Israel, and that they were sleeping with the women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting.
2:23 He said to them, “Why do you do such things? I hear of your evil deeds from all these people.
2:24 No, my sons. The report I hear the LORD’s people spreading is not good.
2:25 If a man sins against another, God will mediate for him. But if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?” Yet they did not listen to their father’s voice, for the LORD desired to put them to death.
2:26 The boy Samuel continued to grow in stature and in favor with both the LORD and people.
2:27 A man of God came to Eli and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Did I not clearly reveal myself to your father’s house when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh’s house?
2:28 I chose him from all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to go up to my altar, to burn incense, and to wear an ephod before me. I gave your father’s house all the offerings by fire of the Israelites.
2:29 Why do you kick at my sacrifice and my offering, which I commanded for my dwelling? You honor your sons more than me, fattening yourselves on the best of every offering of my people Israel.
2:30 Therefore the LORD, the God of Israel, declares: I did indeed say that your house and your father’s house would walk before me forever. But now the LORD declares: Far be it from me! I will honor those who honor me, but those who despise me will be lightly esteemed.
2:31 The days are coming when I will cut off your arm and the arm of your father’s house, so that there will be no old man in your house.
2:32 You will see distress in my dwelling, even amid all the good done for Israel, and there will never be an old man in your house.
2:33 Any man of yours whom I do not cut off from my altar will be left to wear out your eyes and grieve your soul, and all the descendants of your house will die as grown men.
2:34 This will be the sign for you that will come upon your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas: both of them will die on the same day.
2:35 I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do what is in my heart and in my soul. I will build him a faithful house, and he will always walk before my anointed.
2:36 Everyone left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please assign me to one of the priestly duties, so that I may eat a piece of bread.”’”

Chapter 3
3:1 The boy Samuel ministered to the LORD before Eli. The word of the LORD was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.
3:2 At that time Eli was lying down in his place. His eyes had begun to grow dim, and he could not see.
3:3 The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God was.
3:4 The LORD called to Samuel, and he said, “Here I am.”
3:5 He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” But he said, “I did not call. Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
3:6 The LORD called again, “Samuel!” Samuel rose, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” He said, “I did not call, my son. Go back and lie down.”
3:7 Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD, and the word of the LORD had not yet been revealed to him.
3:8 The LORD called Samuel again, a third time. He rose, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am, for you called me.” Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the boy.
3:9 Eli said to Samuel, “Go and lie down. If he calls you, say, ‘Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place.
3:10 The LORD came and stood there, calling as before, “Samuel, Samuel!” Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”
3:11 The LORD said to Samuel, “I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of everyone who hears it tingle.
3:12 On that day I will fulfill against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end.
3:13 I have told him that I am judging his house forever for the iniquity he knew about: his sons were bringing a curse upon themselves, and he did not restrain them.
3:14 Therefore I have sworn to the house of Eli that the iniquity of Eli’s house will never be atoned for by sacrifice or offering.”
3:15 Samuel lay down until morning. Then he opened the doors of the house of the LORD, but Samuel was afraid to tell Eli the vision.
3:16 Eli called Samuel and said, “Samuel, my son.” He said, “Here I am.”
3:17 He said, “What did he say to you? Please do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also if you hide from me a single word of all that he said to you.”
3:18 Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. He said, “He is the LORD. Let him do what is good in his eyes.”
3:19 Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
3:20 All Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD.
3:21 The LORD continued to appear at Shiloh, for the LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

Chapter 4
4:1 Samuel’s word came to all Israel. Israel went out to battle against the Philistines and camped beside Ebenezer, while the Philistines camped at Aphek.
4:2 The Philistines drew up in battle array against Israel. The battle spread, and Israel was defeated before the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men in the battle line in the field.
4:3 When the people came back to camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, so that it may come among us and save us from the hand of our enemies.”
4:4 The people sent to Shiloh and brought from there the ark of the covenant of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned above the cherubim. Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
4:5 When the ark of the covenant of the LORD came into the camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the earth resounded.
4:6 The Philistines heard the sound of the shout and said, “What is this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews?” Then they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp.
4:7 The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” They said, “Woe to us! Nothing like this has happened before.
4:8 Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck Egypt with every kind of plague in the wilderness.
4:9 Be strong and be men, Philistines, lest you become slaves to the Hebrews as they have been slaves to you. Be men and fight!”
4:10 The Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated. Each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great: thirty thousand Israelite foot soldiers fell.
4:11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
4:12 A man of Benjamin ran from the battle line and came to Shiloh that same day, with his clothes torn and dirt on his head.
4:13 When he arrived, Eli was sitting on his seat beside the road, watching, for his heart was trembling for the ark of God. When the man came into the city and told the news, the whole city cried out.
4:14 Eli heard the sound of the outcry and said, “What is the sound of this commotion?” The man hurried over and told Eli.
4:15 Now Eli was ninety-eight years old. His eyes were fixed, and he could not see.
4:16 The man said to Eli, “I have come from the battle line. I fled from the battle line today.” He said, “What happened, my son?”
4:17 The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are also dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”
4:18 When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward from his seat beside the gate. His neck broke and he died, for he was an old and heavy man. He had judged Israel for forty years.
4:19 His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near delivery. When she heard the news that the ark of God had been captured and that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she crouched down and gave birth, for her labor pains came upon her.
4:20 As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have borne a son.” But she did not answer or pay attention.
4:21 She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured, and because of her father-in-law and her husband.
4:22 She said, “The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

Chapter 5
5:1 The Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
5:2 The Philistines took the ark of God into the temple of Dagon and set it beside Dagon.
5:3 When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, Dagon had fallen face down on the ground before the ark of the LORD. They took Dagon and put him back in his place.
5:4 When they rose early the following morning, Dagon had fallen face down on the ground before the ark of the LORD. Dagon’s head and both palms of his hands lay cut off on the threshold. Only Dagon’s body was left.
5:5 That is why, to this day, neither the priests of Dagon nor anyone entering Dagon’s temple at Ashdod steps on Dagon’s threshold.
5:6 The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod. He devastated them and struck them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.
5:7 When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not stay with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.”
5:8 They sent and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines to them and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They said, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be moved to Gath.” So they moved the ark of the God of Israel.
5:9 After they had moved it, the hand of the LORD was against the city, causing very great panic. He struck the men of the city, both small and great, and tumors broke out on them.
5:10 They sent the ark of God to Ekron. When the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to me to kill me and my people!”
5:11 They sent and gathered all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the God of Israel away, and let it return to its place, so that it will not kill me and my people.” For there was deadly panic throughout the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.
5:12 The men who did not die were struck with tumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.

Chapter 6
6:1 The ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines for seven months.
6:2 The Philistines called the priests and diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us what we should send with it when we return it to its place.”
6:3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty. You must return a guilt offering to him. Then you will be healed, and you will know why his hand has not turned away from you.”
6:4 They said, “What guilt offering shall we return to him?” They answered, “Five gold tumors and five gold mice, according to the number of the rulers of the Philistines, for the same plague is on them all and on your rulers.
6:5 Make images of your tumors and of your mice that are destroying the land, and give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps he will lighten his hand upon you, your gods, and your land.
6:6 Why should you harden your hearts as Egypt and Pharaoh hardened theirs? After he dealt harshly with them, did they not let the people go, and they went?
6:7 Now prepare a new cart and take two nursing cows that have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart, and take their calves back home, away from them.
6:8 Take the ark of the LORD and put it on the cart. Place the gold objects you are returning to him as a guilt offering in a chest beside it. Then send it away and let it go.
6:9 Watch: if it goes up the road to its own territory, toward Beth-shemesh, then he has brought this great calamity upon us. But if not, we will know that his hand has not struck us; it happened to us by chance.”
6:10 The men did so. They took two nursing cows, hitched them to the cart, and shut their calves up at home.
6:11 They put the ark of the LORD on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold mice and the images of their tumors.
6:12 The cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh. They stayed on one highway, lowing as they went, and did not turn aside to the right or the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them to the border of Beth-shemesh.
6:13 The people of Beth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. They lifted their eyes, saw the ark, and rejoiced at the sight.
6:14 The cart came to the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there, where there was a large stone. They split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD.
6:15 The Levites took down the ark of the LORD and the chest beside it, which contained the gold objects, and set them on the large stone. The men of Beth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrifices to the LORD that day.
6:16 The five rulers of the Philistines saw this and returned to Ekron that same day.
6:17 These are the gold tumors the Philistines returned to the LORD as a guilt offering: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, and one for Ekron.
6:18 The gold mice corresponded to the number of all the Philistine cities belonging to the five rulers, from fortified cities to unwalled villages, and as far as Great Abel, on which they set the ark of the LORD. It is there to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
6:19 He struck the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men among the people, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great blow.
6:20 The men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who can stand before the LORD, this holy God? To whom will he go up, away from us?”
6:21 They sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and bring it up to you.”

Chapter 7
7:1 The men of Kiriath-jearim came and brought up the ark of the LORD. They brought it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated his son Eleazar to guard the ark of the LORD.
7:2 A long time passed from the day the ark came to stay at Kiriath-jearim—twenty years. All the house of Israel lamented, longing for the LORD.
7:3 Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you. Set your hearts toward the LORD and serve him alone, and he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.”
7:4 The Israelites removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone.
7:5 Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the LORD for you.”
7:6 They gathered at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the LORD. They fasted that day and said there, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Samuel judged the Israelites at Mizpah.
7:7 When the Philistines heard that the Israelites had gathered at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines went up against Israel. The Israelites heard of it and were afraid of the Philistines.
7:8 The Israelites said to Samuel, “Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, so that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.”
7:9 Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it whole as a burnt offering to the LORD. Samuel cried out to the LORD for Israel, and the LORD answered him.
7:10 While Samuel was offering the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to fight against Israel. That day the LORD thundered with a great sound against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel.
7:11 The men of Israel went out from Mizpah, pursued the Philistines, and struck them down as far as below Beth-car.
7:12 Samuel took a stone, set it between Mizpah and Shen, and named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the LORD has helped us.”
7:13 The Philistines were subdued and did not enter the territory of Israel again. The hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
7:14 The cities the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath. Israel also delivered their territories from the hand of the Philistines. There was peace between Israel and the Amorites.
7:15 Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life.
7:16 Year after year he went on a circuit through Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah, judging Israel in all these places.
7:17 Then he would return to Ramah, for his home was there. There he judged Israel, and there he built an altar to the LORD.

Chapter 8
8:1 When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel.
8:2 His firstborn son was named Joel, and his second was named Abijah. They were judges in Beersheba.
8:3 But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.
8:4 All the elders of Israel gathered and came to Samuel at Ramah.
8:5 They said to him, “You have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us, like all the nations.”
8:6 But it displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD.
8:7 The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me as king over them.
8:8 Just as they have done from the day I brought them up from Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.
8:9 Now listen to their voice, but solemnly warn them and tell them how the king who reigns over them will treat them.”
8:10 Samuel told all the words of the LORD to the people who were asking him for a king.
8:11 He said, “This is how the king who reigns over you will treat you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and his cavalry, and they will run before his chariot.
8:12 He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and men to plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.
8:13 He will take your daughters to be perfumers, cooks, and bakers.
8:14 He will take the best of your fields, vineyards, and olive groves and give them to his servants.
8:15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your vineyards and give it to his officials and his servants.
8:16 He will take your male servants, your female servants, your best young men, and your donkeys, and put them to his work.
8:17 He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants.
8:18 On that day you will cry out because of the king you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you on that day.”
8:19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s voice. They said, “No! There will be a king over us,
8:20 so that we too may be like all the nations. Our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.”
8:21 Samuel heard all the words of the people and repeated them in the ears of the LORD.
8:22 The LORD said to Samuel, “Listen to their voice and appoint a king for them.” Then Samuel said to the men of Israel, “Go, each man to his own city.”

Chapter 9
9:1 There was a man of Benjamin named Kish, son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, son of a Benjaminite, a man of wealth and standing.
9:2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome young man. No man among the Israelites was more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than all the people.
9:3 The female donkeys of Kish, Saul’s father, were lost. Kish said to his son Saul, “Take one of the servants with you, and go look for the donkeys.”
9:4 He passed through the hill country of Ephraim and the land of Shalishah, but they did not find them. They passed through the land of Shaalim, but they were not there. He passed through the land of Benjamin, but they did not find them.
9:5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to the servant with him, “Come, let us return, lest my father stop worrying about the donkeys and become anxious about us.”
9:6 He said to him, “There is a man of God in this city, and the man is held in honor. Everything he says surely comes to pass. Let us go there now; perhaps he will tell us the way we should go.”
9:7 Saul said to his servant, “If we go, what shall we bring the man? The bread in our bags is gone, and there is no gift to bring the man of God. What do we have?”
9:8 The servant answered Saul again, “I have about a tenth of an ounce of silver here. I will give it to the man of God, and he will tell us our way.”
9:9 Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for the one now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.
9:10 Saul said to his servant, “What you say is good. Come, let us go.” So they went to the city where the man of God was.
9:11 As they went up the ascent to the city, they met young women coming out to draw water and said to them, “Is the seer here?”
9:12 They answered them, “Yes, he is ahead of you. Hurry now, for he has come to the city today, because the people have a sacrifice at the high place today.
9:13 As soon as you enter the city, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. The people will not eat until he comes, for he blesses the sacrifice; afterward the invited guests eat. Go up now, for you will find him at this time.”
9:14 They went up to the city. As they were entering the city, Samuel was coming out toward them to go up to the high place.
9:15 The day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed this in Samuel’s ear:
9:16 “About this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin. Anoint him as ruler over my people Israel, and he will save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.”
9:17 When Samuel saw Saul, the LORD said to him, “Here is the man I spoke to you about. He will rule over my people.”
9:18 Saul approached Samuel in the gate and said, “Please tell me where the seer’s house is.”
9:19 Samuel answered Saul, “I am the seer. Go up ahead of me to the high place, and you will eat with me today. In the morning I will send you on your way and tell you all that is in your heart.
9:20 As for the donkeys you lost three days ago, do not set your heart on them, for they have been found. And for whom is all that is desirable in Israel? Is it not for you and for all your father’s house?”
9:21 Saul answered, “Am I not a Benjaminite, from one of the smallest tribes of Israel? And is not my clan the least of all the clans of the tribe of Benjamin? Why do you speak to me like this?”
9:22 Samuel took Saul and his servant and brought them into the hall. He gave them a place at the head of the invited guests, who numbered about thirty men.
9:23 Samuel said to the cook, “Bring the portion I gave you, which I told you to keep aside.”
9:24 The cook lifted up the leg and what was on it and set it before Saul. He said, “Here is what was reserved. Set it before you and eat, for it was kept for you for the appointed time, when I said I had invited the people.” So Saul ate with Samuel that day.
9:25 They came down from the high place to the city, and he spoke with Saul on the roof.
9:26 They rose early. At dawn Samuel called to Saul on the roof, saying, “Rise, so that I may send you on your way.” Saul rose, and the two of them, he and Samuel, went outside.
9:27 As they were going down to the edge of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to go on ahead of us.” He went on ahead. “But you stand still for a while, so that I may let you hear the word of God.”

Chapter 10
10:1 Samuel took the flask of oil, poured it on his head, kissed him, and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you as ruler over his inheritance?
10:2 When you leave me today, you will meet two men beside Rachel’s tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah. They will say to you, ‘The donkeys you went to look for have been found. Your father has stopped concerning himself with the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’
10:3 Go on from there and come to the oak of Tabor. There three men going up to God at Bethel will meet you: one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine.
10:4 They will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you are to accept from their hands.
10:5 After that you will come to the hill of God, where the Philistine garrisons are. When you enter the city there, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the high place, preceded by a harp, a tambourine, a flute, and a lyre. They will be prophesying.
10:6 The Spirit of the LORD will rush upon you, and you will prophesy with them and be changed into another man.
10:7 When these signs come to you, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.
10:8 Go down ahead of me to Gilgal. I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings. Wait seven days until I come to you and tell you what you are to do.”
10:9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart, and all these signs came to pass that day.
10:10 When they came there to the hill, a band of prophets met him. The Spirit of God rushed upon him, and he prophesied among them.
10:11 When all who had known him before saw him prophesying with the prophets, the people said to one another, “What has happened to the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?”
10:12 A man from there answered, “And who is their father?” So it became a proverb: “Is Saul also among the prophets?”
10:13 When he finished prophesying, he went to the high place.
10:14 Saul’s uncle said to him and his servant, “Where did you go?” He said, “To look for the donkeys. When we saw that they were nowhere to be found, we went to Samuel.”
10:15 Saul’s uncle said, “Please tell me what Samuel said to you.”
10:16 Saul said to his uncle, “He plainly told us that the donkeys had been found.” But he did not tell him what Samuel had said about the kingship.
10:17 Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah.
10:18 He said to the Israelites, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘I brought Israel up from Egypt and delivered you from the hand of Egypt and from the hand of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’
10:19 But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Appoint a king over us.’ Now present yourselves before the LORD by your tribes and your clans.”
10:20 Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel near, and the tribe of Benjamin was chosen.
10:21 He brought the tribe of Benjamin near by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was chosen. Saul son of Kish was chosen, but when they looked for him, he could not be found.
10:22 They inquired of the LORD again, “Has the man come here yet?” The LORD said, “He is hiding among the baggage.”
10:23 They ran and brought him from there. He stood among the people, and from his shoulders upward he was taller than all the people.
10:24 Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the one the LORD has chosen? There is none like him among all the people.” All the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
10:25 Samuel told the people the regulations of kingship, wrote them in a book, and laid it before the LORD. Then Samuel sent all the people away, each to his own home.
10:26 Saul also went home to Gibeah, and the warriors whose hearts God had touched went with him.
10:27 But worthless men said, “How can this man save us?” They despised him and brought him no gift, but he remained silent.

Chapter 11
11:1 Nahash the Ammonite went up and camped against Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh said to Nahash, “Make a covenant with us, and we will serve you.”
11:2 Nahash the Ammonite said to them, “On this condition I will make a covenant with you: that I gouge out every right eye among you and bring this reproach on all Israel.”
11:3 The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite, so that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel. If no one saves us, we will come out to you.”
11:4 The messengers came to Gibeah of Saul and spoke these words in the ears of the people. All the people lifted their voices and wept.
11:5 Saul was coming from the field behind the oxen. Saul said, “What is wrong with the people, that they are weeping?” They told him the words of the men of Jabesh.
11:6 When Saul heard these words, the Spirit of God rushed upon him, and his anger burned greatly.
11:7 He took a pair of oxen, cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout the territory of Israel by the messengers, saying, “This is what will be done to the oxen of anyone who does not come out after Saul and Samuel.” The dread of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out as one man.
11:8 He mustered them at Bezek. The Israelites numbered three hundred thousand, and the men of Judah thirty thousand.
11:9 They said to the messengers who had come, “Tell the men of Jabesh-gilead, ‘Tomorrow, when the sun grows hot, you will have deliverance.’” The messengers came and told the men of Jabesh, and they rejoiced.
11:10 The men of Jabesh said, “Tomorrow we will come out to you, and you may do to us whatever is good in your eyes.”
11:11 The next day Saul divided the people into three companies. They entered the camp during the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day. The survivors were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
11:12 The people said to Samuel, “Who said, ‘Shall Saul reign over us?’ Hand the men over, so that we may put them to death.”
11:13 But Saul said, “No one shall be put to death this day, for today the LORD has brought deliverance to Israel.”
11:14 Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingship there.”
11:15 All the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the LORD at Gilgal. There they offered peace offerings before the LORD, and Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.

Chapter 12
12:1 Samuel said to all Israel, “I have listened to your voice in all that you said to me and have appointed a king over you.
12:2 Now the king walks before you. I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.
12:3 Here I am. Testify against me before the LORD and his anointed. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey have I taken? Whom have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed? From whose hand have I taken a bribe to blind my eyes with it? I will restore it to you.”
12:4 They said, “You have not defrauded us or oppressed us, and you have not taken anything from anyone’s hand.”
12:5 He said to them, “The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that you have found nothing in my hand.” They said, “He is witness.”
12:6 Samuel said to the people, “The LORD is the one who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up from the land of Egypt.
12:7 Now stand here, so that I may argue the case with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous acts the LORD has done for you and your fathers.
12:8 When Jacob came to Egypt and your fathers cried out to the LORD, the LORD sent Moses and Aaron. They brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place.
12:9 But they forgot the LORD their God, and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of Hazor’s army, into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, who fought against them.
12:10 They cried out to the LORD and said, ‘We have sinned, for we have forsaken the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. Now deliver us from the hand of our enemies, and we will serve you.’
12:11 The LORD sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you from the hand of your enemies on every side, so that you lived in safety.
12:12 When you saw that Nahash, king of the Ammonites, was coming against you, you said to me, ‘No! A king shall reign over us,’ though the LORD your God was your king.
12:13 Now here is the king you have chosen, whom you asked for. The LORD has appointed a king over you.
12:14 If you fear the LORD, serve him, listen to his voice, and do not rebel against the LORD’s command, then both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God.
12:15 But if you do not listen to the LORD’s voice and rebel against the LORD’s command, the hand of the LORD will be against you as it was against your fathers.
12:16 Now stand here and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes.
12:17 Is it not wheat harvest now? I will call to the LORD, and he will send thunder and rain. Then you will know and see how great is the evil you have done in the LORD’s eyes by asking for a king.”
12:18 Samuel called to the LORD, and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day. All the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
12:19 All the people said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants, so that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil of asking for a king.”
12:20 Samuel said to the people, “Do not be afraid. You have done all this evil, yet do not turn aside from following the LORD. Serve the LORD with all your heart.
12:21 Do not turn aside after worthless things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are worthless.
12:22 For the LORD will not forsake his people for the sake of his great name, because it has pleased the LORD to make you his people.
12:23 As for me, far be it from me to sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you. I will teach you the good and right way.
12:24 Only fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Consider what great things he has done for you.
12:25 But if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away.”

Chapter 13
13:1 Saul was one year old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel for two years.
13:2 Saul chose three thousand men from Israel for himself. Two thousand were with Saul at Michmash and in the hill country of Bethel, and a thousand were with Jonathan at Gibeah of Benjamin. He sent the rest of the people away, each to his tent.
13:3 Jonathan struck the Philistine garrison at Geba, and the Philistines heard of it. Saul sounded the horn throughout the land, saying, “Let the Hebrews hear!”
13:4 All Israel heard it said, “Saul has struck the Philistine garrison, and Israel has become a stench to the Philistines.” The people were summoned to follow Saul to Gilgal.
13:5 The Philistines gathered to fight against Israel with thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and people as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They went up and camped at Michmash, east of Beth-aven.
13:6 When the men of Israel saw that they were in danger, for the people were hard pressed, they hid in caves, thickets, rocks, underground chambers, and cisterns.
13:7 Some Hebrews crossed the Jordan to the land of Gad and Gilead. Saul was still at Gilgal, and all the people followed him trembling.
13:8 He waited seven days, until the time Samuel had appointed. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people scattered from him.
13:9 Saul said, “Bring me the burnt offering and the peace offerings.” He offered the burnt offering.
13:10 As soon as he finished offering the burnt offering, Samuel arrived. Saul went out to meet him and greet him.
13:11 Samuel said, “What have you done?” Saul said, “I saw that the people were scattering from me, that you had not come within the appointed days, and that the Philistines were gathering at Michmash.
13:12 So I said, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the LORD’s favor.’ So I forced myself and offered the burnt offering.”
13:13 Samuel said to Saul, “You have acted foolishly. You have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
13:14 But now your kingdom will not endure. The LORD has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the LORD has appointed him ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you.”
13:15 Samuel rose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin. Saul mustered the people who were with him, about six hundred men.
13:16 Saul, his son Jonathan, and the people with them were staying at Geba of Benjamin, while the Philistines were camped at Michmash.
13:17 Raiders went out from the Philistine camp in three companies. One company turned toward the road to Ophrah, toward the land of Shual.
13:18 Another company turned toward Beth-horon, and another turned toward the border road overlooking the Valley of Zeboim toward the wilderness.
13:19 No blacksmith could be found throughout the land of Israel, for the Philistines had said, “The Hebrews must not make swords or spears.”
13:20 All Israel would go down to the Philistines to have each man’s plowshare, hoe, ax, and plow blade sharpened.
13:21 The charge was about a quarter of an ounce of silver for sharpening the plow blades, hoes, three-pronged forks, and axes, and for setting the points of the goads.
13:22 So on the day of battle no sword or spear was found in the hands of any of the people with Saul and Jonathan. Only Saul and his son Jonathan had them.
13:23 The Philistine garrison went out to the pass at Michmash.

Chapter 14
14:1 One day Jonathan son of Saul said to the young man carrying his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the Philistine garrison on the other side.” But he did not tell his father.
14:2 Saul was staying on the outskirts of Gibeah, under the pomegranate tree at Migron. The people with him numbered about six hundred men.
14:3 Ahijah, son of Ahitub the brother of Ichabod, son of Phinehas, son of Eli, the LORD’s priest at Shiloh, was wearing an ephod. The people did not know that Jonathan had gone.
14:4 Between the passes where Jonathan sought to cross over to the Philistine garrison, there was a rocky crag on one side and a rocky crag on the other. One was named Bozez and the other Seneh.
14:5 One crag rose on the north facing Michmash, and the other on the south facing Geba.
14:6 Jonathan said to the young man carrying his armor, “Come, let us cross over to the garrison of these uncircumcised men. Perhaps the LORD will act for us, for nothing prevents the LORD from saving by many or by few.”
14:7 His armor-bearer said to him, “Do all that is in your heart. Go ahead; I am with you, according to your heart.”
14:8 Jonathan said, “We will cross over to the men and show ourselves to them.
14:9 If they say to us, ‘Stay still until we come to you,’ we will stand where we are and not go up to them.
14:10 But if they say, ‘Come up to us,’ we will go up, for the LORD has given them into our hand. This will be our sign.”
14:11 The two of them showed themselves to the Philistine garrison. The Philistines said, “Look, Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have been hiding!”
14:12 The men of the garrison called to Jonathan and his armor-bearer, “Come up to us, and we will teach you something!” Jonathan said to his armor-bearer, “Come up after me, for the LORD has given them into the hand of Israel.”
14:13 Jonathan climbed up on his hands and feet, with his armor-bearer after him. They fell before Jonathan, and his armor-bearer put them to death behind him.
14:14 In the first attack Jonathan and his armor-bearer struck down about twenty men in an area of about half an acre.
14:15 Panic spread through the camp, the field, and all the people. The garrison and the raiders also trembled. The earth shook, and there was a panic from God.
14:16 Saul’s lookouts at Gibeah of Benjamin saw that the throng was melting away and moving this way.
14:17 Saul said to the people with him, “Take a count and see who has gone from us.” They counted, and Jonathan and his armor-bearer were missing.
14:18 Saul said to Ahijah, “Bring the ark of God here,” for the ark of God was with the Israelites at that time.
14:19 While Saul was speaking to the priest, the uproar in the Philistine camp grew greater and greater. Saul said to the priest, “Withdraw your hand.”
14:20 Saul and all the people with him assembled and went into battle. Every man’s sword was against his fellow, and there was very great confusion.
14:21 The Hebrews who had previously been with the Philistines and had gone up with them into the camp all around also joined the Israelites who were with Saul and Jonathan.
14:22 When all the men of Israel who had been hiding in the hill country of Ephraim heard that the Philistines had fled, they too pursued them closely in the battle.
14:23 The LORD saved Israel that day, and the battle passed beyond Beth-aven.
14:24 The men of Israel were hard pressed that day, for Saul had put the people under an oath, saying, “Cursed be the man who eats any food until evening, until I have taken vengeance on my enemies.” So none of the people tasted any food.
14:25 All the people of the land came into the forest, and there was honey on the ground.
14:26 When the people entered the forest, honey was flowing, but no one put his hand to his mouth, for the people feared the oath.
14:27 Jonathan had not heard his father put the people under the oath. He extended the tip of the staff in his hand, dipped it into the honeycomb, and put his hand to his mouth. His eyes brightened.
14:28 One of the people said, “Your father solemnly put the people under an oath, saying, ‘Cursed be the man who eats any food today.’” The people were faint.
14:29 Jonathan said, “My father has brought trouble on the land. See how my eyes have brightened because I tasted a little of this honey.
14:30 How much better if the people had eaten freely today from the spoil they found among their enemies! Would not the slaughter of the Philistines have been greater?”
14:31 That day they struck down the Philistines from Michmash to Aijalon, and the people were very faint.
14:32 The people swooped upon the spoil. They took sheep, cattle, and calves, slaughtered them on the ground, and ate with the blood.
14:33 They told Saul, “The people are sinning against the LORD by eating with the blood.” He said, “You have acted treacherously. Roll a large stone to me today.”
14:34 Saul said, “Go out among the people and tell them, ‘Let each man bring me his ox or his sheep. Slaughter them here and eat. Do not sin against the LORD by eating with the blood.’” That night all the people brought their oxen with them, each man his own, and slaughtered them there.
14:35 Saul built an altar to the LORD. This was the first altar he built to the LORD.
14:36 Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder them until morning light. Let us not leave a man of them alive.” They said, “Do whatever is good in your eyes.” But the priest said, “Let us draw near to God here.”
14:37 Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will you give them into the hand of Israel?” But he did not answer him that day.
14:38 Saul said, “Come here, all you leaders of the people. Find out and see how this sin has occurred today.
14:39 For as the LORD lives, who saves Israel, even if it is in my son Jonathan, he will surely die.” But no one among all the people answered him.
14:40 He said to all Israel, “You stand on one side, and my son Jonathan and I will stand on the other.” The people said to Saul, “Do what is good in your eyes.”
14:41 Saul said to the LORD, the God of Israel, “Give a true answer.” Jonathan and Saul were chosen, and the people went free.
14:42 Saul said, “Cast lots between me and my son Jonathan.” Jonathan was chosen.
14:43 Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me what you have done.” Jonathan told him, “I did taste a little honey with the tip of the staff in my hand. Here I am; I must die.”
14:44 Saul said, “May God do so to me and more also, for you will surely die, Jonathan.”
14:45 But the people said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, who has brought this great deliverance to Israel? Far be it! As the LORD lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day.” So the people rescued Jonathan, and he did not die.
14:46 Saul stopped pursuing the Philistines, and the Philistines went back to their own place.
14:47 Saul took the kingship over Israel and fought against all his enemies on every side: Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, the kings of Zobah, and the Philistines. Wherever he turned, he inflicted punishment.
14:48 He acted valiantly and struck Amalek, delivering Israel from the hand of its plunderers.
14:49 Saul’s sons were Jonathan, Ishvi, and Malchi-shua. The names of his two daughters were Merab, the firstborn, and Michal, the younger.
14:50 Saul’s wife was named Ahinoam, daughter of Ahimaaz. The commander of his army was Abner son of Ner, Saul’s uncle.
14:51 Kish was Saul’s father, and Ner, Abner’s father, was the son of Abiel.
14:52 There was fierce war against the Philistines all the days of Saul. Whenever Saul saw a mighty man or a valiant man, he took him into his service.

Chapter 15
15:1 Samuel said to Saul, “The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel. Now listen to the words of the LORD.
15:2 Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘I have taken account of what Amalek did to Israel, how they opposed Israel on the way up from Egypt.
15:3 Now go and strike Amalek, and devote to destruction all that belongs to him. Do not spare him, but put to death men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
15:4 Saul summoned the people and mustered them at Telaim: two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand men of Judah.
15:5 Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley.
15:6 Saul said to the Kenites, “Go, turn aside and leave the Amalekites, lest I sweep you away with them. You showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up from Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among Amalek.
15:7 Saul struck Amalek from Havilah as far as Shur, which is opposite Egypt.
15:8 He captured Agag king of Amalek alive, and he devoted all the people to destruction by the edge of the sword.
15:9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fattened animals, the rams, and all that was good. They were unwilling to devote them to destruction, but everything despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.
15:10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel:
15:11 “I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not carried out my words.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the LORD all night.
15:12 Samuel rose early in the morning to meet Saul. Samuel was told, “Saul came to Carmel and set up a monument for himself. Then he turned, went on, and went down to Gilgal.”
15:13 Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, “May you be blessed by the LORD! I have carried out the word of the LORD.”
15:14 Samuel said, “Then what is this bleating of sheep in my ears, and this lowing of cattle that I hear?”
15:15 Saul said, “They brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the LORD your God. The rest we devoted to destruction.”
15:16 Samuel said to Saul, “Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me last night.” He said to him, “Speak.”
15:17 Samuel said, “Though you are small in your own eyes, are you not head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel.
15:18 The LORD sent you on a mission and said, ‘Go and devote the sinners, Amalek, to destruction. Fight against them until they are consumed.’
15:19 Why did you not listen to the LORD’s voice? You swooped upon the spoil and did what was evil in the LORD’s eyes.”
15:20 Saul said to Samuel, “I did listen to the LORD’s voice! I went on the mission the LORD sent me on. I brought Agag king of Amalek, and I devoted Amalek to destruction.
15:21 But the people took sheep and cattle from the spoil, the best of what was devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God at Gilgal.”
15:22 Samuel said,
 “Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the LORD’s voice?
   To obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.
15:23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and stubbornness like iniquity and idolatry.
   Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has rejected you as king.”
15:24 Saul said to Samuel, “I have sinned, for I have transgressed the LORD’s command and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice.
15:25 Now please forgive my sin and return with me, so that I may worship the LORD.”
15:26 Samuel said to Saul, “I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD has rejected you from being king over Israel.”
15:27 As Samuel turned to go, Saul seized the edge of Samuel’s robe, and it tore.
15:28 Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.
15:29 The Glory of Israel will not lie or relent, for he is not a human being, that he should relent.”
15:30 He said, “I have sinned. Yet please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”
15:31 Samuel returned after Saul, and Saul worshiped the LORD.
15:32 Samuel said, “Bring Agag king of Amalek to me.” Agag came to him at ease, and Agag said, “Surely the bitterness of death has passed.”
15:33 Samuel said, “As your sword has made women childless, so your mother will be childless among women.” Samuel cut Agag in pieces before the LORD at Gilgal.
15:34 Samuel went to Ramah, and Saul went up to his home at Gibeah of Saul.
15:35 Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, though Samuel mourned for Saul. The LORD regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

Chapter 16
16:1 The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, when I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have chosen a king for myself among his sons.”
16:2 Samuel said, “How can I go? Saul will hear of it and kill me.” The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’
16:3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice. I will tell you what to do, and you shall anoint for me the one I indicate to you.”
16:4 Samuel did what the LORD said and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?”
16:5 He said, “In peace. I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” He consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
16:6 When they came, he saw Eliab and said, “Surely the LORD’s anointed is before him.”
16:7 But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or the height of his stature, for I have rejected him. For the LORD does not see as people see: people look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
16:8 Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
16:9 Jesse made Shammah pass by, but he said, “The LORD has not chosen this one either.”
16:10 Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “The LORD has not chosen these.”
16:11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all your sons?” He said, “The youngest still remains. He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said to Jesse, “Send for him and bring him, for we will not sit down until he comes here.”
16:12 He sent for him and brought him in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. The LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for this is he.”
16:13 Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him among his brothers. The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day onward. Samuel rose and went to Ramah.
16:14 Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD tormented him.
16:15 Saul’s servants said to him, “An evil spirit from God is tormenting you.
16:16 Let our lord command your servants here before you to seek a man skilled in playing the lyre. When the evil spirit from God is upon you, he will play with his hand, and you will be well.”
16:17 Saul said to his servants, “Find me a man who plays well and bring him to me.”
16:18 One of the young men answered, “I have seen a son of Jesse of Bethlehem who is skilled in playing, a valiant man, a man of war, prudent in speech, and handsome, and the LORD is with him.”
16:19 Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, “Send me your son David, who is with the sheep.”
16:20 Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, a skin of wine, and a young goat, and sent them to Saul by his son David.
16:21 David came to Saul and stood before him. Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer.
16:22 Saul sent word to Jesse, “Please let David stand before me, for he has found favor in my eyes.”
16:23 Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take the lyre and play with his hand. Saul would be refreshed and well, and the evil spirit would depart from him.

Chapter 17
17:1 The Philistines gathered their armies for battle and assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah. They camped between Socoh and Azekah, at Ephes-dammim.
17:2 Saul and the men of Israel gathered and camped in the Valley of Elah. They drew up their battle lines to meet the Philistines.
17:3 The Philistines stood on the hill on one side, and Israel stood on the hill on the other, with the valley between them.
17:4 A champion came out from the Philistine camps, named Goliath, from Gath. He was about nine feet nine inches tall.
17:5 He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor. The bronze armor weighed about one hundred twenty-five pounds.
17:6 He had bronze guards on his legs and a bronze javelin between his shoulders.
17:7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and its iron head weighed about fifteen pounds. His shield-bearer walked before him.
17:8 He stood and called to the battle lines of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not Saul’s servants? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me.
17:9 If he can fight me and strike me down, we will be your slaves. But if I prevail over him and strike him down, you will be our slaves and serve us.”
17:10 The Philistine said, “I defy the battle lines of Israel this day! Give me a man, so that we may fight each other.”
17:11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid.
17:12 David was the son of an Ephrathite from Bethlehem in Judah named Jesse, who had eight sons. In Saul’s days the man was old among the people.
17:13 Jesse’s three oldest sons had gone after Saul to the battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, Abinadab the second, and Shammah the third.
17:14 David was the youngest, and the three oldest had followed Saul.
17:15 David would go back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep at Bethlehem.
17:16 The Philistine came forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days.
17:17 Jesse said to his son David, “Take about twenty quarts of this roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers, and run to your brothers in the camp.
17:18 Take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See how your brothers are faring and bring back a token from them.”
17:19 Saul, David’s brothers, and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting the Philistines.
17:20 David rose early in the morning, left the sheep with a keeper, took the provisions, and went as Jesse had commanded him. He came to the camp as the army was going out to the battle line, raising the battle cry.
17:21 Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines, line facing line.
17:22 David left his baggage in the care of the baggage keeper and ran to the battle line. He came and asked his brothers how they were.
17:23 As he was speaking with them, the champion, Goliath the Philistine from Gath, came up from the Philistine battle lines and spoke the same words, and David heard them.
17:24 When all the men of Israel saw the man, they fled from him and were greatly afraid.
17:25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man coming up? He comes up to defy Israel. The king will enrich the man who strikes him down with great riches, give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.”
17:26 David said to the men standing with him, “What will be done for the man who strikes down this Philistine and removes the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the battle lines of the living God?”
17:27 The people answered him with the same words, saying, “This is what will be done for the man who strikes him down.”
17:28 His oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking with the men. Eliab’s anger burned against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your arrogance and the evil of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.”
17:29 David said, “What have I done now? Was I not just speaking?”
17:30 He turned away from him toward another and spoke the same way, and the people gave him the same answer as before.
17:31 When the words David had spoken were heard, they reported them to Saul, and he sent for him.
17:32 David said to Saul, “Let no one’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight this Philistine.”
17:33 Saul said to David, “You cannot go against this Philistine to fight him, for you are a youth, and he has been a man of war from his youth.”
17:34 David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock,
17:35 I went after it, struck it, and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it rose against me, I seized it by its jaw, struck it, and killed it.
17:36 Your servant has struck down both lion and bear. This uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the battle lines of the living God.”
17:37 David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”
17:38 Saul clothed David in his own garments, put a bronze helmet on his head, and clothed him in armor.
17:39 David strapped his sword over his garments and tried to walk, for he had not tested them. David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I have not tested them.” So David took them off.
17:40 He took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in his shepherd’s bag, in the pouch. With his sling in his hand, he approached the Philistine.
17:41 The Philistine kept advancing toward David, with his shield-bearer before him.
17:42 When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him, for he was a youth, ruddy and handsome.
17:43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods.
17:44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field!”
17:45 David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the battle lines of Israel, whom you have defied.
17:46 This day the LORD will give you into my hand. I will strike you down and take your head from you. This day I will give the corpses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth, so that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.
17:47 All this assembly will know that the LORD does not save by sword or spear, for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give you into our hand.”
17:48 When the Philistine rose and advanced to meet David, David hurried and ran toward the battle line to meet the Philistine.
17:49 David put his hand into his bag, took out a stone, slung it, and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground.
17:50 David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone. He struck the Philistine and killed him, but David had no sword in his hand.
17:51 David ran and stood beside the Philistine. He took his sword, drew it from its sheath, put him to death, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.
17:52 The men of Israel and Judah rose, shouted, and pursued the Philistines as far as the valley and the gates of Ekron. The slain Philistines fell along the road to Shaaraim, as far as Gath and Ekron.
17:53 The Israelites returned from pursuing the Philistines and plundered their camps.
17:54 David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem, but he put his weapons in his tent.
17:55 When Saul saw David going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, the commander of the army, “Whose son is this youth, Abner?” Abner said, “As you live, O king, I do not know.”
17:56 The king said, “Find out whose son the young man is.”
17:57 When David returned from striking down the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with the Philistine’s head in his hand.
17:58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, young man?” David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse of Bethlehem.”

Chapter 18
18:1 When he had finished speaking to Saul, Jonathan’s soul was bound to David’s soul, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.
18:2 Saul took him that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.
18:3 Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul.
18:4 Jonathan took off the robe he was wearing and gave it to David, along with his garments, his sword, his bow, and his belt.
18:5 David went out wherever Saul sent him and was successful. Saul placed him over the men of war, and this was good in the eyes of all the people and also of Saul’s servants.
18:6 As they returned, when David came back from striking down the Philistine, the women came out from all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing, with tambourines, joy, and musical instruments.
18:7 The women sang to one another as they celebrated, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.”
18:8 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him. He said, “They have given David tens of thousands, but to me they have given thousands. What more can he have but the kingship?”
18:9 Saul eyed David with suspicion from that day onward.
18:10 The next day an evil spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he prophesied inside the house. David was playing with his hand, as he did day after day, while Saul had a spear in his hand.
18:11 Saul hurled the spear, saying, “I will pin David to the wall.” But David turned aside from him twice.
18:12 Saul was afraid of David, because the LORD was with him and had departed from Saul.
18:13 So Saul removed him from his presence and made him commander of a thousand. He went out and came in before the people.
18:14 David had success in all his ways, and the LORD was with him.
18:15 When Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in dread of him.
18:16 But all Israel and Judah loved David, for he went out and came in before them.
18:17 Saul said to David, “Here is my older daughter Merab. I will give her to you as a wife. Only be valiant for me and fight the LORD’s battles.” For Saul said, “Let my hand not be against him, but let the hand of the Philistines be against him.”
18:18 David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what are my life and my father’s family in Israel, that I should become the king’s son-in-law?”
18:19 But when the time came to give Saul’s daughter Merab to David, she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as a wife.
18:20 Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David. They told Saul, and this was right in his eyes.
18:21 Saul said, “I will give her to him, so that she may be a snare to him and the hand of the Philistines may be against him.” Saul said to David a second time, “Today you may become my son-in-law.”
18:22 Saul commanded his servants, “Speak privately to David and say, ‘The king delights in you, and all his servants love you. Now become the king’s son-in-law.’”
18:23 Saul’s servants spoke these words in David’s ears. David said, “Is it a small thing in your eyes to become the king’s son-in-law? I am a poor man and lightly esteemed.”
18:24 Saul’s servants told him, “This is what David said.”
18:25 Saul said, “Tell David, ‘The king desires no bride price except a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take vengeance on the king’s enemies.’” Saul intended to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines.
18:26 His servants told David these words, and it pleased David to become the king’s son-in-law. The days had not yet expired.
18:27 David rose and went with his men and struck down two hundred Philistine men. David brought their foreskins, and they delivered them in full to the king, so that he might become the king’s son-in-law. Saul gave him his daughter Michal as a wife.
18:28 Saul saw and knew that the LORD was with David, and that Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him.
18:29 Saul became still more afraid of David, and Saul was David’s enemy continually.
18:30 The commanders of the Philistines went out, and whenever they went out, David had more success than all Saul’s servants. His name was highly esteemed.

Chapter 19
19:1 Saul spoke to his son Jonathan and all his servants about putting David to death. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted greatly in David.
19:2 Jonathan told David, “My father Saul is seeking to put you to death. Be on your guard in the morning. Stay in a secret place and hide.
19:3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are. I will speak to my father about you, and when I find out anything, I will tell you.”
19:4 Jonathan spoke well of David to his father Saul and said to him, “Let the king not sin against his servant David, for he has not sinned against you, and his deeds have been very good for you.
19:5 He took his life in his hand and struck down the Philistine, and the LORD brought great deliverance to all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced. Why would you sin against innocent blood by putting David to death without cause?”
19:6 Saul listened to Jonathan’s voice and swore, “As the LORD lives, he shall not be put to death.”
19:7 Jonathan called David and told him all these words. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence as before.
19:8 There was war again. David went out, fought the Philistines, and struck them with a great blow, and they fled before him.
19:9 An evil spirit from the LORD came upon Saul as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand, while David was playing with his hand.
19:10 Saul sought to pin David to the wall with the spear, but he slipped away from Saul, and the spear struck the wall. David fled and escaped that night.
19:11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house to watch him and put him to death in the morning. But Michal, David’s wife, told him, “If you do not escape with your life tonight, tomorrow you will be put to death.”
19:12 Michal let David down through the window, and he went away, fled, and escaped.
19:13 Michal took the household idol and laid it on the bed. She put a goat-hair covering at its head and covered it with a garment.
19:14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”
19:15 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, so that I may put him to death.”
19:16 When the messengers came in, there was the household idol on the bed, with the goat-hair covering at its head.
19:17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me like this and sent my enemy away, so that he escaped?” Michal said to Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go. Why should I kill you?’”
19:18 David fled and escaped. He came to Samuel at Ramah and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and stayed at Naioth.
19:19 Saul was told, “David is at Naioth in Ramah.”
19:20 Saul sent messengers to take David. When they saw the band of prophets prophesying, with Samuel standing over them, the Spirit of God came upon Saul’s messengers, and they too prophesied.
19:21 They told Saul, and he sent other messengers, and they too prophesied. Saul sent messengers a third time, and they too prophesied.
19:22 He himself went to Ramah and came to the great cistern at Secu. He asked, “Where are Samuel and David?” Someone said, “They are at Naioth in Ramah.”
19:23 He went there toward Naioth in Ramah, and the Spirit of God came upon him too. He went along prophesying until he came to Naioth in Ramah.
19:24 He too stripped off his clothes and prophesied before Samuel. He lay naked all that day and all that night. That is why they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

Chapter 20
20:1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah and came to Jonathan. He said, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”
20:2 He said to him, “Far be it! You shall not die. My father does nothing great or small without telling me. Why would my father hide this matter from me? It is not so.”
20:3 David swore again and said, “Your father knows very well that I have found favor in your eyes, and he says, ‘Let Jonathan not know this, lest he be grieved.’ But as the LORD lives and as you live, there is only a step between me and death.”
20:4 Jonathan said to David, “Whatever you desire, I will do for you.”
20:5 David said to Jonathan, “Tomorrow is the new moon, and I am expected to sit with the king to eat. Let me go, so that I may hide in the field until the evening of the third day.
20:6 If your father notices my absence, say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me to run to Bethlehem, his city, for the whole family has its annual sacrifice there.’
20:7 If he says, ‘Good,’ your servant will have peace. But if he is very angry, know that he has determined to do harm.
20:8 Show kindness to your servant, for you have brought your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. If there is iniquity in me, put me to death yourself. Why should you bring me to your father?”
20:9 Jonathan said, “Far be it from you! If I knew for certain that my father had determined to bring harm upon you, would I not tell you?”
20:10 David said to Jonathan, “Who will tell me? Or what if your father answers you harshly?”
20:11 Jonathan said to David, “Come, let us go out into the field.” The two of them went out into the field.
20:12 Jonathan said to David, “The LORD, the God of Israel, be witness! When I sound out my father about this time tomorrow or the third day, if he is well disposed toward David, will I not send to you and let you know?
20:13 May the LORD do so to Jonathan and more also! If it pleases my father to do you harm, I will let you know and send you away, so that you may go in peace. May the LORD be with you as he has been with my father.
20:14 And will you not, while I am still alive, show me the LORD’s kindness, so that I may not die?
20:15 Never cut off your kindness from my house, not even when the LORD cuts off every one of David’s enemies from the face of the earth.”
20:16 Jonathan made a covenant with David’s house, saying, “May the LORD require it from the hand of David’s enemies.”
20:17 Jonathan again made David swear by his love for him, for he loved him as his own soul.
20:18 Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon. You will be missed, for your seat will be empty.
20:19 On the third day, go far down to the place where you hid when the matter was being handled, and stay beside the stone Ezel.
20:20 I will shoot three arrows to its side, as though shooting at a target.
20:21 Then I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows.’ If I say to the boy, ‘Look, the arrows are on this side of you; pick them up,’ then come, for there is peace for you and no danger, as the LORD lives.
20:22 But if I say to the young man, ‘Look, the arrows are beyond you,’ go, for the LORD has sent you away.
20:23 As for the matter you and I have spoken of, the LORD is between me and you forever.”
20:24 David hid in the field. When the new moon came, the king sat down to eat.
20:25 The king sat in his usual seat by the wall. Jonathan rose, and Abner sat beside Saul, but David’s place was empty.
20:26 Saul said nothing that day, for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean; surely he is not clean.”
20:27 The next day, the second day of the month, David’s place was empty. Saul said to his son Jonathan, “Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?”
20:28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem.
20:29 He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers.’ That is why he has not come to the king’s table.”
20:30 Saul’s anger burned against Jonathan, and he said to him, “Son of a perverse, rebellious woman! Do I not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse, to your shame and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness?
20:31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, neither you nor your kingdom will be established. Now send and bring him to me, for he deserves death.”
20:32 Jonathan answered his father Saul, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”
20:33 Saul hurled the spear at him to strike him. Jonathan knew that his father had determined to put David to death.
20:34 Jonathan rose from the table in fierce anger and ate no food on the second day of the month. He was grieved for David, because his father had shamed him.
20:35 In the morning Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy was with him.
20:36 He said to his boy, “Run and find the arrows I shoot.” The boy ran, and he shot the arrow beyond him.
20:37 When the boy came to the place of the arrow Jonathan had shot, Jonathan called after the boy, “Is not the arrow beyond you?”
20:38 Jonathan called after the boy, “Quickly! Hurry! Do not stop!” Jonathan’s boy gathered the arrows and came to his master.
20:39 The boy knew nothing of the matter. Only Jonathan and David knew.
20:40 Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy with him and said, “Go, take them to the city.”
20:41 When the boy had gone, David rose from the south side, fell face down on the ground, and bowed three times. They kissed one another and wept together, David weeping the more.
20:42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, for we have both sworn in the name of the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD shall be between me and you and between my offspring and yours forever.’” Then David rose and went away, and Jonathan entered the city.

Chapter 21
21:1 David came to Nob, to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came trembling to meet David and said to him, “Why are you alone, with no one with you?”
21:2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has charged me with a matter and said to me, ‘Let no one know anything about the matter on which I am sending you or what I have commanded you.’ I have directed the young men to a certain place.
21:3 Now what do you have at hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is available.”
21:4 The priest answered David, “I have no common bread at hand, only holy bread, provided the young men have kept themselves from women.”
21:5 David answered the priest, “Indeed, women have been kept from us, as on former occasions when I set out. The young men’s equipment was holy even on an ordinary journey. How much more will the equipment be holy today!”
21:6 The priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there except the bread of the Presence, which had been removed from before the LORD to be replaced with hot bread on the day it was taken away.
21:7 Now one of Saul’s servants was there that day, detained before the LORD. His name was Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s shepherds.
21:8 David said to Ahimelech, “Is there not a spear or sword here at hand? I brought neither my sword nor my weapons, for the king’s business was urgent.”
21:9 The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you struck down in the Valley of Elah, is here, wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you wish to take it, take it, for there is no other here.” David said, “There is none like it. Give it to me.”
21:10 David rose and fled from Saul that day and came to Achish king of Gath.
21:11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Is this not David, the king of the land? Is it not of him that they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
21:12 David took these words to heart and was greatly afraid of Achish king of Gath.
21:13 He changed his behavior before them and pretended to be mad in their hands. He made marks on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard.
21:14 Achish said to his servants, “You see that the man is mad. Why have you brought him to me?
21:15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to act madly before me? Shall this man enter my house?”

Chapter 22
22:1 David went from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard of it, they went down to him there.
22:2 Everyone in distress, everyone in debt, and everyone bitter in soul gathered to him, and he became their commander. About four hundred men were with him.
22:3 David went from there to Mizpah of Moab and said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and mother stay with you until I know what God will do for me.”
22:4 He brought them before the king of Moab, and they stayed with him all the time David was in the stronghold.
22:5 The prophet Gad said to David, “Do not stay in the stronghold. Go into the land of Judah.” So David went and came to the forest of Hereth.
22:6 Saul heard that David and the men with him had been discovered. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk on the height, with his spear in his hand and all his servants standing around him.
22:7 Saul said to his servants standing around him, “Listen, Benjaminites! Will the son of Jesse also give all of you fields and vineyards? Will he make all of you commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds?
22:8 Is that why all of you have conspired against me? No one tells me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is concerned for me or tells me that my son has stirred up my servant against me to lie in wait, as he does today.”
22:9 Doeg the Edomite, who was standing over Saul’s servants, answered, “I saw the son of Jesse come to Nob, to Ahimelech son of Ahitub.
22:10 He inquired of the LORD for him, gave him provisions, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
22:11 The king sent to summon Ahimelech son of Ahitub the priest and all his father’s house, the priests at Nob. They all came to the king.
22:12 Saul said, “Listen, son of Ahitub.” He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”
22:13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse? You gave him bread and a sword and inquired of God for him, so that he might rise against me to lie in wait, as he does today.”
22:14 Ahimelech answered the king, “Who among all your servants is as faithful as David, the king’s son-in-law, who obeys your orders and is honored in your house?
22:15 Did I begin to inquire of God for him today? Far be it from me! Let the king charge nothing against his servant or any of my father’s house, for your servant knew nothing of all this, small or great.”
22:16 The king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father’s house.”
22:17 The king said to the guards standing around him, “Turn and put the priests of the LORD to death, for their hand too is with David. They knew he was fleeing and did not tell me.” But the king’s servants were unwilling to put out their hands to strike the priests of the LORD.
22:18 The king said to Doeg, “You turn and strike the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests. That day he put to death eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod.
22:19 He also struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword: men and women, children and nursing infants, and oxen, donkeys, and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
22:20 But one son of Ahimelech son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David.
22:21 Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the priests of the LORD.
22:22 David said to Abiathar, “I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of everyone in your father’s house.
22:23 Stay with me; do not be afraid. He who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you will be protected.”

Chapter 23
23:1 David was told, “The Philistines are attacking Keilah and plundering the threshing floors.”
23:2 So David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” The LORD said to David, “Go, attack the Philistines and save Keilah.”
23:3 But David’s men said to him, “We are afraid here in Judah. How much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine battle lines!”
23:4 David inquired of the LORD again, and the LORD answered him, “Get up and go down to Keilah, for I am giving the Philistines into your hand.”
23:5 David and his men went to Keilah and fought the Philistines. They drove away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
23:6 When Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he came down with an ephod in his hand.
23:7 Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, and Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a city with gates and a bar.”
23:8 Saul summoned all the people for battle, to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men.
23:9 When David learned that Saul was secretly plotting evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.”
23:10 Then David said, “LORD, God of Israel, your servant has indeed heard that Saul is seeking to come to Keilah to destroy the city because of me.
23:11 Will the men of Keilah hand me over to him? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? LORD, God of Israel, please tell your servant.” The LORD said, “He will come down.”
23:12 David asked, “Will the men of Keilah hand me and my men over to Saul?” The LORD said, “They will hand you over.”
23:13 So David and his men, about six hundred, got up and left Keilah, going wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up going out.
23:14 David stayed in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.
23:15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was at Horesh in the wilderness of Ziph.
23:16 Jonathan son of Saul set out and went to David at Horesh and strengthened his hand in God.
23:17 He said to him, “Do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul will not find you. You will be king over Israel, and I will be second to you. My father Saul knows this too.”
23:18 The two of them made a covenant before the LORD. David stayed at Horesh, and Jonathan went home.
23:19 Then the Ziphites went up to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is David not hiding among us in the strongholds at Horesh, on the hill of Hachilah, south of Jeshimon?
23:20 Now, O king, come down whenever you desire, and we will hand him over to the king.”
23:21 Saul said, “May you be blessed by the LORD, for you have had compassion on me.
23:22 Go and make further preparations. Find out and see where he goes and who has seen him there, for I am told that he is very crafty.
23:23 Find out about all the hiding places where he hides, and come back to me with certain information. Then I will go with you. If he is in the land, I will search him out among all the clans of Judah.”
23:24 So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon.
23:25 Saul and his men went to look for him. When David was told, he went down to the rock and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. Saul heard about it and pursued David in the wilderness of Maon.
23:26 Saul went along one side of the mountain, and David and his men along the other. David was hurrying to get away from Saul, while Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to capture them.
23:27 Then a messenger came to Saul and said, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have raided the land!”
23:28 So Saul turned back from pursuing David and went to meet the Philistines. That is why they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.
23:29 David went up from there and stayed in the strongholds of En-gedi.

Chapter 24
24:1 When Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.”
24:2 So Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel and went to look for David and his men near the rocks of the wild goats.
24:3 He came to the sheepfolds beside the road, where there was a cave. Saul went in to relieve himself, while David and his men were sitting in the farthest part of the cave.
24:4 David’s men said to him, “This is the day the LORD spoke of when he said to you, ‘I am giving your enemy into your hand, and you may do to him whatever seems good to you.’” Then David got up and secretly cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.
24:5 Afterward, David’s heart troubled him because he had cut off the corner of Saul’s robe.
24:6 He said to his men, “The LORD forbid that I should do such a thing to my lord, the LORD’s anointed, as to raise my hand against him, for he is the LORD’s anointed.”
24:7 With these words David restrained his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. Saul got up, left the cave and went on his way.
24:8 Afterward David got up, came out of the cave and called after Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the ground and paid him homage.
24:9 David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to people who say, ‘David seeks to harm you’?
24:10 Today your own eyes have seen how the LORD gave you into my hand in the cave. Someone urged me to kill you, but I spared you. I said, ‘I will not raise my hand against my lord, for he is the LORD’s anointed.’
24:11 Look, my father, look at the corner of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe and did not kill you. Know and see that there is no evil or rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt me down to take my life.
24:12 May the LORD judge between you and me, and may the LORD avenge me on you, but my hand will not be against you.
24:13 As the ancient proverb says, ‘From the wicked comes wickedness.’ But my hand will not be against you.
24:14 After whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom are you pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea?
24:15 May the LORD be judge and judge between you and me. May he see, plead my cause and deliver me from your hand.”
24:16 When David finished saying these things to Saul, Saul said, “Is that your voice, David my son?” Then Saul wept aloud.
24:17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I am, for you have done good to me, while I have done evil to you.
24:18 Today you have shown the good you have done to me: the LORD delivered me into your hand, but you did not kill me.
24:19 When a man finds his enemy, does he let him go away unharmed? May the LORD reward you with good for what you have done to me today.
24:20 Now I know that you will surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel will be established in your hand.
24:21 So swear to me by the LORD that you will not cut off my descendants after me or destroy my name from my father’s house.”
24:22 David swore this to Saul. Saul went home, but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

Chapter 25
25:1 Samuel died, and all Israel gathered to mourn for him. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David set out and went down to the wilderness of Paran.
25:2 There was a man in Maon whose property was in Carmel. He was very wealthy, with three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. He was shearing his sheep in Carmel.
25:3 The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was discerning and beautiful, but the man was harsh and evil in his dealings. He was a Calebite.
25:4 While David was in the wilderness, he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep.
25:5 So David sent ten young men and told them, “Go up to Carmel, visit Nabal and greet him in my name.
25:6 Say to him, ‘Long life to you! Peace to you, peace to your household and peace to all you have.
25:7 I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have been with us, and we did not mistreat them. Nothing of theirs went missing all the time they were in Carmel.
25:8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Let these young men find favor in your eyes, for we have come on a festive day. Please give whatever you have at hand to your servants and to your son David.’”
25:9 David’s young men came and spoke all these words to Nabal in David’s name. Then they waited.
25:10 Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? These days there are many slaves breaking away from their masters.
25:11 Shall I take my bread, my water and the meat I have slaughtered for my shearers and give them to men when I do not know where they come from?”
25:12 David’s young men turned around, went back and reported all these words to him.
25:13 David said to his men, “Each of you, strap on your sword!” Each man strapped on his sword, and David strapped on his as well. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred stayed with the baggage.
25:14 One of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, “David sent messengers from the wilderness to greet our master, but he hurled insults at them.
25:15 Yet the men were very good to us. We were not mistreated, and nothing went missing all the time we went about with them in the fields.
25:16 They were a wall around us both night and day, the whole time we were with them tending the sheep.
25:17 Now consider what you should do, for disaster is determined against our master and his entire household. He is such a worthless man that no one can speak to him.”
25:18 Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two wineskins of wine, five prepared sheep, about a bushel of roasted grain, a hundred clusters of raisins and two hundred fig cakes. She loaded them on donkeys
25:19 and said to her young men, “Go on ahead of me. I will follow you.” But she did not tell her husband Nabal.
25:20 As she rode her donkey down a hidden part of the mountain, David and his men were coming down toward her, and she met them.
25:21 David had said, “Surely it was in vain that I guarded everything this man had in the wilderness, so that nothing of his went missing. He has repaid me with evil for good.
25:22 May God do so to David’s enemies, and more besides, if by morning I leave alive a single one of his who urinates against a wall.”
25:23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried and got down from her donkey. She fell on her face before David and bowed to the ground.
25:24 She fell at his feet and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the guilt. Please let your servant speak to you, and listen to the words of your servant.
25:25 Please, my lord, pay no attention to this worthless man Nabal. He is just like his name: his name is Nabal, and folly is with him. But I, your servant, did not see the young men my lord sent.
25:26 Now, my lord, as the LORD lives and as you live, the LORD has kept you from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with your own hand. May your enemies and those who seek harm for my lord be like Nabal.
25:27 Let this gift your servant has brought to my lord be given to the young men who follow my lord.
25:28 Please forgive your servant’s offense. The LORD will surely establish a lasting house for my lord, because my lord fights the LORD’s battles. May no evil be found in you all your days.
25:29 Though someone rises to pursue you and seek your life, my lord’s life will be bound in the bundle of the living with the LORD your God. But the lives of your enemies he will sling away from the pocket of a sling.
25:30 When the LORD has done for my lord all the good he has spoken concerning you and has appointed you ruler over Israel,
25:31 this will not bring my lord anguish or a troubled heart over having shed blood without cause or taken vengeance for himself. When the LORD does good to my lord, remember your servant.”
25:32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who sent you to meet me today!
25:33 Blessed be your discernment, and blessed be you, who have kept me today from bloodguilt and from taking vengeance with my own hand.
25:34 Indeed, as the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, who has kept me from harming you, if you had not hurried to meet me, by morning light not a single one who urinates against a wall would have been left to Nabal.”
25:35 David accepted from her hand what she had brought him and said to her, “Go up to your home in peace. See, I have listened to you and granted your request.”
25:36 When Abigail came to Nabal, he was holding a feast in his house like a king’s feast. Nabal was merry and very drunk, so she told him nothing at all until morning light.
25:37 In the morning, when Nabal had sobered up, his wife told him these things. His heart died within him, and he became like a stone.
25:38 About ten days later, the LORD struck Nabal, and he died.
25:39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has pleaded my cause against Nabal’s insult and kept his servant from evil! The LORD has brought Nabal’s evil back on his own head.” Then David sent word to Abigail to take her as his wife.
25:40 When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel, they said to her, “David has sent us to you to take you to him as his wife.”
25:41 She got up, bowed with her face to the ground and said, “Here is your servant, ready to serve and wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”
25:42 Abigail hurriedly got up and rode on a donkey, with five of her young women following her. She went after David’s messengers and became his wife.
25:43 David had also taken Ahinoam of Jezreel, and both of them became his wives.
25:44 But Saul had given his daughter Michal, David’s wife, to Palti son of Laish, who was from Gallim.

Chapter 26
26:1 The Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is David not hiding on the hill of Hachilah, facing Jeshimon?”
26:2 So Saul set out and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to look for David in the wilderness of Ziph.
26:3 Saul camped on the hill of Hachilah, facing Jeshimon, beside the road. David was staying in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul had come after him there.
26:4 David sent out spies and learned for certain that Saul had come.
26:5 Then David got up and came to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of his army, were lying. Saul was lying in the middle of the camp, with the troops camped around him.
26:6 David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?” Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”
26:7 So David and Abishai went to the troops at night. Saul was lying asleep in the middle of the camp, with his spear stuck in the ground by his head. Abner and the troops were lying around him.
26:8 Abishai said to David, “Today God has delivered your enemy into your hand. Now let me pin him to the ground with the spear in one stroke. I will not need a second.”
26:9 But David said to Abishai, “Do not kill him, for who can raise his hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?”
26:10 David added, “As the LORD lives, the LORD himself will strike him, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and perish.
26:11 The LORD forbid that I should raise my hand against the LORD’s anointed! Now take the spear by his head and the water jar, and let us go.”
26:12 So David took the spear and the water jar from beside Saul’s head, and they went away. No one saw, no one knew and no one woke up. They were all asleep, for a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen on them.
26:13 David crossed to the other side and stood on top of the mountain far away, with a great distance between them.
26:14 David called to the troops and to Abner son of Ner, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Abner answered, “Who are you, calling to the king?”
26:15 David said to Abner, “Are you not a brave man? Who is like you in Israel? Why have you not guarded your lord the king? Someone came in to kill your lord the king.
26:16 What you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, you all deserve to die, because you have not guarded your lord, the LORD’s anointed. Now look! Where are the king’s spear and the water jar that were beside his head?”
26:17 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that your voice, David my son?” David answered, “It is my voice, my lord the king.”
26:18 He added, “Why is my lord pursuing his servant? What have I done? What evil is in my hand?
26:19 Now please let my lord the king listen to his servant’s words. If the LORD has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is people, may they be cursed before the LORD, for today they have driven me out from sharing in the LORD’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’
26:20 Now do not let my blood fall to the ground away from the LORD’s presence. The king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea, as one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
26:21 Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son, for I will not harm you again, because my life was precious in your eyes today. I have acted foolishly and have gone very far astray.”
26:22 David answered, “Here is the king’s spear! Let one of the young men come over and get it.
26:23 May the LORD repay each man for his righteousness and faithfulness. Today the LORD gave you into my hand, but I would not raise my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
26:24 Just as your life was precious in my eyes today, so may my life be precious in the LORD’s eyes, and may he deliver me from every distress.”
26:25 Saul said to David, “Blessed are you, David my son! You will surely accomplish much and surely prevail.” Then David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

Chapter 27
27:1 David said in his heart, “One day I will perish by Saul’s hand. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me throughout Israel’s territory, and I will escape from his hand.”
27:2 So David set out and crossed over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath.
27:3 David and his men stayed with Achish at Gath, each with his household. David had his two wives with him: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, who had been Nabal’s wife.
27:4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he stopped looking for him.
27:5 David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be given a place in one of the country towns to live in. Why should your servant live with you in the royal city?”
27:6 That day Achish gave him Ziklag. That is why Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.
27:7 David lived in Philistine territory for a year and four months.
27:8 David and his men would go up and raid the Geshurites, the Gizrites and the Amalekites. These peoples had inhabited the land from ancient times, toward Shur and as far as the land of Egypt.
27:9 When David struck the land, he left neither man nor woman alive. He took sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and clothing, then returned to Achish.
27:10 Achish would ask, “Did you not raid today?” David would answer, “Against the Negev of Judah, the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and the Negev of the Kenites.”
27:11 David left neither man nor woman alive to bring to Gath, for he said, “They might report on us, saying, ‘This is what David has done.’” This was his practice all the time he lived in Philistine territory.
27:12 Achish trusted David, saying, “He has made himself utterly hated by his people Israel, so he will be my servant forever.”

Chapter 28
28:1 In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war against Israel. Achish said to David, “Know for certain that you and your men will go out with me in the army.”
28:2 David said to Achish, “Then you will know what your servant will do.” Achish said to David, “Then I will make you my bodyguard for life.”
28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.
28:4 The Philistines gathered and came to camp at Shunem. Saul gathered all Israel, and they camped at Gilboa.
28:5 When Saul saw the Philistine camp, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.
28:6 Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him by dreams, by Urim or by prophets.
28:7 So Saul said to his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants said to him, “There is a woman who is a medium at En-dor.”
28:8 Saul disguised himself, put on other clothes and went with two men. They came to the woman at night, and he said, “Please divine for me through a spirit, and bring up for me the one I name to you.”
28:9 The woman said to him, “You know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. Why are you setting a trap for my life to have me put to death?”
28:10 Saul swore to her by the LORD, “As the LORD lives, no punishment will come upon you for this.”
28:11 Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”
28:12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
28:13 The king said to her, “Do not be afraid. What have you seen?” The woman said to Saul, “I have seen gods coming up out of the earth.”
28:14 He asked her, “What does he look like?” She said, “An old man is coming up, wrapped in a robe.” Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.
28:15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul answered, “I am in great distress. The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me through prophets or dreams. So I have called you to tell me what I should do.”
28:16 Samuel said, “Why do you ask me, since the LORD has turned away from you and become your adversary?
28:17 The LORD has done for himself what he spoke through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom from your hand and given it to your neighbor, to David.
28:18 Because you did not obey the LORD’s voice or carry out his fierce anger against Amalek, the LORD has done this to you today.
28:19 The LORD will also deliver Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”
28:20 At once Saul fell full length on the ground, greatly afraid because of Samuel’s words. He also had no strength, for he had eaten no food all that day and all that night.
28:21 The woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly terrified. She said to him, “Your servant has obeyed your voice. I put my life in my hand and listened to the words you spoke to me.
28:22 Now please listen to your servant’s voice as well. Let me set a little bread before you, and eat, so that you will have strength when you go on your way.”
28:23 He refused and said, “I will not eat.” But his servants and the woman urged him, and he listened to them. He got up from the ground and sat on the bed.
28:24 The woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she hurried to slaughter it. She took flour, kneaded it and baked unleavened bread.
28:25 She served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went away that night.

Chapter 29
29:1 The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, while Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel.
29:2 The Philistine rulers marched past with their troops in hundreds and thousands, while David and his men marched at the rear with Achish.
29:3 The Philistine commanders asked, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” Achish said to the Philistine commanders, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days or these years? I have found no fault in him from the day he came over to me until today.”
29:4 But the Philistine commanders were angry with him and said, “Send the man back to the place you assigned him. He must not go down into battle with us, or he may become our adversary in battle. How could he regain his master’s favor? Would it not be with the heads of these men?
29:5 Is this not David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”
29:6 So Achish called David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and I am pleased to have you go out and come in with me in the army. I have found no evil in you from the day you came to me until today. But the rulers do not favor you.
29:7 Now go back and leave in peace, so that you do not displease the Philistine rulers.”
29:8 David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I came before you until today, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
29:9 Achish answered David, “I know. In my eyes you are as good as an angel of God. But the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go up into battle with us.’
29:10 So rise early in the morning, you and your master’s servants who came with you. Rise early in the morning and leave as soon as it is light.”
29:11 David and his men rose early in the morning to leave and return to the land of the Philistines. The Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Chapter 30
30:1 When David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had struck Ziklag and burned it with fire.
30:2 They had taken captive the women in it, from the least to the greatest, without killing anyone. They had carried them away and gone on their way.
30:3 When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives, sons and daughters taken captive.
30:4 David and the people with him wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep.
30:5 David’s two wives had also been taken captive: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel.
30:6 David was in great distress, for the people spoke of stoning him. All the people were bitter in soul, each over his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God.
30:7 David said to Abiathar the priest, son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.
30:8 David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue this raiding band? Will I overtake them?” He answered him, “Pursue them, for you will surely overtake them and surely rescue the captives.”
30:9 So David set out with the six hundred men who were with him. They came to the Besor ravine, where those left behind stayed.
30:10 David continued the pursuit with four hundred men. Two hundred men stayed behind, too exhausted to cross the Besor ravine.
30:11 They found an Egyptian in the open country and brought him to David. They gave him bread to eat and water to drink.
30:12 They also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. He ate, and his spirit revived, for he had eaten no food and drunk no water for three days and three nights.
30:13 David asked him, “To whom do you belong, and where are you from?” He answered, “I am an Egyptian young man, a slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me because I fell sick three days ago.
30:14 We raided the Negev of the Cherethites, the territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. We burned Ziklag with fire.”
30:15 David asked him, “Will you bring me down to this raiding band?” He said, “Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will bring you down to this raiding band.”
30:16 He brought him down, and there they were, scattered over the whole area, eating, drinking and celebrating because of all the great plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and the land of Judah.
30:17 David struck them from twilight until evening the next day. Not one of them escaped except four hundred young men who mounted camels and fled.
30:18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives.
30:19 Nothing of theirs was missing, small or great, sons or daughters, plunder or anything that had been taken from them. David brought it all back.
30:20 David took all the sheep and cattle. They drove them ahead of the other livestock, saying, “This is David’s plunder.”
30:21 David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow him and had been left at the Besor ravine. They came out to meet David and the people with him. David approached them and greeted them.
30:22 Every evil and worthless man among those who had gone with David spoke up, “Since they did not go with me, we will give them none of the plunder we recovered, except each man’s wife and children. Let them take them and leave.”
30:23 But David said, “You must not do this, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He protected us and delivered into our hand the raiding band that came against us.
30:24 Who would listen to you in this matter? The share of the one who goes down into battle will be the same as the share of the one who stays with the baggage. They will share alike.”
30:25 From that day onward, he made this a statute and an ordinance for Israel, as it remains to this day.
30:26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to the elders of Judah, his friends, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the LORD’s enemies.”
30:27 He sent it to those in Bethel, those in Ramoth of the Negev and those in Jattir;
30:28 to those in Aroer, those in Siphmoth and those in Eshtemoa;
30:29 to those in Racal, those in the towns of the Jerahmeelites and those in the towns of the Kenites;
30:30 to those in Hormah, those in Bor-ashan and those in Athach;
30:31 to those in Hebron and to all the places where David and his men had gone about.

Chapter 31
31:1 The Philistines fought against Israel. The men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
31:2 The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they struck down Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons.
31:3 The battle grew fierce around Saul. The archers found him, and he trembled greatly because of the archers.
31:4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come, thrust me through and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer refused, for he was greatly afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.
31:5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on his sword and died with him.
31:6 So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer and all his men died together that day.
31:7 When the Israelites across the valley and across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and settled in them.
31:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
31:9 They cut off his head, stripped off his armor and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to announce the news in the house of their idols and among the people.
31:10 They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.
31:11 When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul,
31:12 all the valiant men set out and walked all night. They took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, brought them to Jabesh and burned them there.
31:13 Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.

2 SAMUEL

Chapter 1
1:1 After Saul’s death, David returned from striking down the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag for two days.
1:2 On the third day, a man came from Saul’s camp with torn clothes and dirt on his head. When he came to David, he fell to the ground and paid homage.
1:3 David asked him, “Where have you come from?” He answered, “I have escaped from the camp of Israel.”
1:4 David asked him, “What happened? Please tell me.” He answered, “The people fled from the battle, and many of the people fell and died. Saul and his son Jonathan are dead as well.”
1:5 David asked the young man who brought him the news, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”
1:6 The young man who brought him the news said, “I happened to be on Mount Gilboa. There was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and horsemen closing in on him.
1:7 He turned around, saw me and called to me. I said, ‘Here I am.’
1:8 He asked me, ‘Who are you?’ I answered him, ‘I am an Amalekite.’
1:9 Then he said to me, ‘Please stand beside me and kill me, for anguish has seized me, but my life is still in me.’
1:10 So I stood beside him and killed him, for I knew he would not live after his fall. I took the crown from his head and the armlet from his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.”
1:11 David took hold of his clothes and tore them, and all the men with him did the same.
1:12 They mourned, wept and fasted until evening for Saul, for his son Jonathan, for the LORD’s people and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.
1:13 David asked the young man who had brought him the news, “Where are you from?” He answered, “I am the son of an Amalekite resident foreigner.”
1:14 David said to him, “How were you not afraid to raise your hand to kill the LORD’s anointed?”
1:15 Then David called one of the young men and said, “Go, strike him down.” He struck him, and he died.
1:16 David said to him, “Your blood be on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
1:17 David sang this lament over Saul and his son Jonathan
1:18 and ordered that the people of Judah be taught the Song of the Bow. It is written in the Book of Jashar:
1:19 “Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights!
   How the mighty have fallen!
1:20 Do not tell it in Gath;
   do not announce it in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult.
1:21 O mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew or rain upon you, nor fields yielding offerings!
   For there the shield of the mighty was defiled, the shield of Saul, not anointed with oil.
1:22 From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, Jonathan’s bow did not turn back, and Saul’s sword did not return empty.
1:23 Saul and Jonathan, beloved and pleasant in their lives, were not parted in their death.
   They were swifter than eagles;
   they were stronger than lions.
1:24 Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet and finery, who put gold ornaments on your garments.
1:25 How the mighty have fallen in the midst of battle!
   Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
1:26 I am distressed for you, Jonathan my brother.
   You were very dear to me.
   Your love for me was wonderful, surpassing the love of women.
1:27 How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war have perished!”

Chapter 2
2:1 After this, David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up to one of the cities of Judah?” The LORD said to him, “Go up.” David asked, “Where shall I go?” He said, “To Hebron.”
2:2 So David went up there with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel.
2:3 David also brought up the men who were with him, each with his household, and they settled in the towns of Hebron.
2:4 The men of Judah came and anointed David king over the house of Judah there. David was told, “The men of Jabesh-gilead were the ones who buried Saul.”
2:5 David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead, saying, “May you be blessed by the LORD for showing this kindness to your lord Saul by burying him.
2:6 Now may the LORD show you kindness and faithfulness. I too will do you good because you have done this.
2:7 So let your hands be strong, and be valiant, for your lord Saul is dead, and the house of Judah has anointed me king over them.”
2:8 But Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul’s army, took Ish-bosheth son of Saul and brought him over to Mahanaim.
2:9 He made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, Benjamin and all Israel.
2:10 Ish-bosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king over Israel, and he reigned for two years. But the house of Judah followed David.
2:11 David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah for seven years and six months.
2:12 Abner son of Ner and the servants of Ish-bosheth son of Saul went out from Mahanaim to Gibeon.
2:13 Joab son of Zeruiah and David’s servants went out and met them at the pool of Gibeon. They sat down on opposite sides of the pool.
2:14 Abner said to Joab, “Let the young men get up and compete before us.” Joab said, “Let them get up.”
2:15 So they got up and crossed over in equal numbers: twelve for Benjamin and Ish-bosheth son of Saul, and twelve of David’s servants.
2:16 Each seized his opponent by the head and thrust his sword into his opponent’s side, and they fell together. So that place in Gibeon was called Helkath-hazzurim.
2:17 The battle was very fierce that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were defeated before David’s servants.
2:18 Zeruiah’s three sons were there: Joab, Abishai and Asahel. Asahel was as swift of foot as a gazelle in the open country.
2:19 Asahel pursued Abner without turning to the right or the left as he followed him.
2:20 Abner looked behind him and asked, “Is that you, Asahel?” He answered, “It is.”
2:21 Abner said to him, “Turn to your right or your left, seize one of the young men and take his gear.” But Asahel would not turn aside from pursuing him.
2:22 Abner again said to Asahel, “Stop pursuing me! Why should I strike you to the ground? How could I then face your brother Joab?”
2:23 But he refused to turn aside. So Abner struck him in the belly with the butt of his spear, and the spear came out through his back. He fell and died on the spot. Everyone who came to the place where Asahel had fallen and died stood still.
2:24 But Joab and Abishai pursued Abner. The sun was setting when they came to the hill of Ammah, facing Giah, on the road to the wilderness of Gibeon.
2:25 The Benjaminites gathered behind Abner, formed one company and took their stand on top of a hill.
2:26 Abner called to Joab, “Must the sword devour forever? Do you not know it will end in bitterness? How long before you tell the people to stop pursuing their brothers?”
2:27 Joab said, “As God lives, if you had not spoken, the people would have withdrawn in the morning, each from pursuing his brother.”
2:28 Then Joab blew the ram’s horn, and all the people stopped. They no longer pursued Israel or continued fighting.
2:29 Abner and his men walked through the Arabah all that night, crossed the Jordan, went through all Bithron and came to Mahanaim.
2:30 Joab returned from pursuing Abner and gathered all the people. Nineteen of David’s servants were missing, besides Asahel.
2:31 But David’s servants had killed three hundred and sixty men from Benjamin and Abner’s forces.
2:32 They took up Asahel and buried him in his father’s tomb in Bethlehem. Joab and his men walked all night, and day broke for them at Hebron.

Chapter 3
3:1 The war between the house of Saul and the house of David lasted a long time. David grew stronger and stronger, while the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker.
3:2 Sons were born to David in Hebron. His firstborn was Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel.
3:3 His second was Chileab, by Abigail, who had been the wife of Nabal of Carmel. The third was Absalom, son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur.
3:4 The fourth was Adonijah son of Haggith, and the fifth was Shephatiah son of Abital.
3:5 The sixth was Ithream, by Eglah, David’s wife. These were born to David in Hebron.
3:6 During the war between the house of Saul and the house of David, Abner was strengthening his position in the house of Saul.
3:7 Saul had a concubine named Rizpah daughter of Aiah. Ish-bosheth said to Abner, “Why have you slept with my father’s concubine?”
3:8 Abner was very angry at Ish-bosheth’s words and said, “Am I a dog’s head belonging to Judah? To this day I have shown kindness to the house of your father Saul, to his brothers and to his friends, and I have not delivered you into David’s hand. Yet today you charge me with guilt over this woman!
3:9 May God do so to Abner, and more besides, if I do not do for David what the LORD has sworn to him:
3:10 to transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and establish David’s throne over Israel and Judah, from Dan to Beersheba.”
3:11 Ish-bosheth could not answer Abner another word, because he was afraid of him.
3:12 Abner sent messengers to David on his own behalf, saying, “Whose is the land? Make a covenant with me, and my hand will be with you to bring all Israel over to you.”
3:13 David answered, “Good. I will make a covenant with you. But I require one thing of you: you will not see my face unless you bring Michal daughter of Saul when you come to see me.”
3:14 Then David sent messengers to Ish-bosheth son of Saul, saying, “Give me my wife Michal, whom I betrothed to myself for a hundred Philistine foreskins.”
3:15 So Ish-bosheth sent and took her from her husband, Paltiel son of Laish.
3:16 Her husband went with her, weeping as he followed her as far as Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, “Go back!” And he went back.
3:17 Abner had spoken with the elders of Israel, saying, “For some time you have wanted David to be king over you.
3:18 Now act, for the LORD has said to David, ‘By the hand of my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines and from the hand of all their enemies.’”
3:19 Abner also spoke with Benjamin. Then he went to tell David in Hebron everything that seemed good to Israel and the whole house of Benjamin.
3:20 Abner came to David at Hebron with twenty men, and David made a feast for Abner and the men with him.
3:21 Abner said to David, “Let me go and gather all Israel to my lord the king, so that they may make a covenant with you and you may reign over all you desire.” David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
3:22 Just then David’s servants and Joab were returning from a raid, bringing much plunder with them. Abner was no longer with David in Hebron, for David had sent him away, and he had gone in peace.
3:23 When Joab and all the army with him arrived, Joab was told, “Abner son of Ner came to the king, and the king sent him away, and he went in peace.”
3:24 Joab came to the king and said, “What have you done? Abner came to you! Why have you sent him away and let him go?
3:25 You know Abner son of Ner. He came to deceive you, to learn your going out and coming in, and to find out everything you are doing.”
3:26 Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner. They brought him back from the cistern of Sirah, but David did not know.
3:27 When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the gateway to speak with him in private. There he struck him in the belly, and he died, for the blood of Joab’s brother Asahel.
3:28 When David heard of it afterward, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the LORD of the blood of Abner son of Ner.
3:29 May it fall on Joab’s head and on his father’s entire house! May Joab’s house never lack one with a discharge, one with leprosy, one who holds a spindle, one who falls by the sword or one who lacks bread.”
3:30 Joab and his brother Abishai killed Abner because he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.
3:31 David said to Joab and all the people with him, “Tear your clothes, put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” King David walked behind the bier.
3:32 They buried Abner in Hebron. The king wept aloud at Abner’s grave, and all the people wept.

3:33 The king sang a lament for Abner, saying,
 “Should Abner die as a fool dies?
3:34 Your hands were not bound, nor your feet put in bronze shackles.
   You fell as one falls before wicked men.”
   And all the people wept over him again.
3:35 All the people came to urge David to eat bread while it was still day, but David swore, “May God do so to me, and more besides, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun goes down.”
3:36 All the people took notice and were pleased. Everything the king did pleased all the people.
3:37 That day all the people and all Israel knew that the killing of Abner son of Ner had not come from the king.
3:38 The king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a leader, a great man, has fallen in Israel today?
3:39 Today I am weak, though anointed king, and these men, the sons of Zeruiah, are too harsh for me. May the LORD repay the evildoer according to his evil.”

Chapter 4
4:1 When Saul’s son heard that Abner had died in Hebron, his hands grew weak, and all Israel was terrified.
4:2 Saul’s son had two men who were commanders of raiding bands. One was named Baanah and the other Rechab. They were sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, from Benjamin, for Beeroth was also counted as part of Benjamin.
4:3 The Beerothites had fled to Gittaim, where they have lived as resident foreigners to this day.
4:4 Jonathan son of Saul had a son who was lame in both feet. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel. His nurse picked him up and fled, but as she hurried to flee, he fell and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.
4:5 Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, set out and came to Ish-bosheth’s house in the heat of the day, while he was lying down for his midday rest.
4:6 They went into the interior of the house as though to get wheat and struck him in the belly. Then Rechab and his brother Baanah escaped.
4:7 They had entered the house while he was lying on his bed in his bedroom. They struck him, killed him and cut off his head. They took his head and walked along the Arabah road all night.
4:8 They brought Ish-bosheth’s head to David at Hebron and said to the king, “Here is the head of Ish-bosheth son of Saul, your enemy who sought your life. Today the LORD has given my lord the king vengeance on Saul and his descendants.”
4:9 David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress,
4:10 when a man told me, ‘Saul is dead,’ thinking he brought good news, I seized him and killed him in Ziklag. That was the reward I gave him for his news.
4:11 How much more when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house, on his bed! Shall I not now require his blood from your hands and remove you from the earth?”
4:12 David commanded his young men, and they killed them. They cut off their hands and feet and hung them up by the pool in Hebron. But they took Ish-bosheth’s head and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

Chapter 5
5:1 All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “Here we are, your own bone and flesh.
5:2 In the past, when Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them in. The LORD said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over Israel.’”
5:3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.
5:4 David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned for forty years.
5:5 In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah for thirty-three years.
5:6 The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites who inhabited the land. They said to David, “You will not enter here. Even the blind and the lame will turn you back,” meaning, “David will not enter here.”
5:7 But David captured the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.
5:8 That day David said, “Whoever attacks the Jebusites must reach the water channel and strike the lame and the blind, whom David hates.” That is why they say, “The blind and the lame will not enter the house.”
5:9 David settled in the stronghold and called it the City of David. He built all around, from the Millo inward.
5:10 David grew greater and greater, and the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.
5:11 Hiram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar timber, carpenters and stonemasons for building walls. They built a house for David.
5:12 David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
5:13 After coming from Hebron, David took more concubines and wives from Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.
5:14 These are the names of those born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan and Solomon;
5:15 Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg and Japhia;
5:16 Elishama, Eliada and Eliphelet.
5:17 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to seek David. David heard about it and went down to the stronghold.
5:18 The Philistines came and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
5:19 David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” The LORD said to David, “Go up, for I will surely give the Philistines into your hand.”
5:20 David came to Baal-perazim and struck them down there. He said, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me as water breaks through.” That is why he named that place Baal-perazim.
5:21 The Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.
5:22 The Philistines came up again and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
5:23 David inquired of the LORD, and he said, “Do not go up. Circle around behind them and come against them opposite the balsam trees.
5:24 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, act decisively, for then the LORD has gone out ahead of you to strike the Philistine camp.”
5:25 David did as the LORD commanded him and struck down the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer.

Chapter 6
6:1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
6:2 David and all the people with him set out from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, over which the Name is invoked, the name of the LORD of hosts, who is enthroned above the cherubim.
6:3 They placed the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from Abinadab’s house on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab’s sons, were driving the new cart.
6:4 They brought it from Abinadab’s house on the hill, with the ark of God, and Ahio walked in front of the ark.
6:5 David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood: lyres, harps, tambourines, rattles and cymbals.
6:6 When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached toward the ark of God and took hold of it, because the oxen stumbled.
6:7 The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error. He died there beside the ark of God.
6:8 David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. He called that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day.
6:9 David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?”
6:10 David was unwilling to bring the ark of the LORD to himself in the City of David, so he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
6:11 The ark of the LORD stayed in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and his entire household.
6:12 King David was told, “The LORD has blessed Obed-edom’s household and everything he has because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought the ark of God up from Obed-edom’s house to the City of David with joy.
6:13 When those carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal.
6:14 David danced before the LORD with all his might, wearing a linen ephod.
6:15 David and the whole house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sound of the ram’s horn.
6:16 As the ark of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked out through the window. She saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD and despised him in her heart.
6:17 They brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent David had pitched for it. David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.
6:18 When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts.
6:19 He distributed to all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a loaf of bread, a portion of meat and a raisin cake for each person. Then all the people went home, each to his own house.
6:20 David returned to bless his household. Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How the king of Israel has honored himself today, uncovering himself before his servants’ female slaves, as one of the worthless men shamelessly uncovers himself!”
6:21 David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me over your father and his whole house to appoint me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel. I will celebrate before the LORD.
6:22 I will make myself even more contemptible than this and be lowly in my own eyes. But among the female slaves you spoke of, among them I will be honored.”
6:23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no child until the day of her death.

Chapter 7
7:1 When the king was settled in his house and the LORD had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies,
7:2 the king said to Nathan the prophet, “Look, I live in a house of cedar, while the ark of God remains within a tent curtain.”
7:3 Nathan said to the king, “Go and do all that is in your heart, for the LORD is with you.”
7:4 But that night the word of the LORD came to Nathan:
7:5 “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?
7:6 I have not lived in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up from Egypt until today. I have moved about in a tent and a tabernacle.
7:7 Wherever I have moved about among all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
7:8 Now say to my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD of hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people Israel.
7:9 I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies before you. I will make your name great, like the names of the great ones on the earth.
7:10 I will appoint a place for my people Israel and plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. Wicked men will no longer afflict them as they did in the past,
7:11 from the day I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. The LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.
7:12 When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish his kingdom.
7:13 He will build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
7:14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will discipline him with the rod of men and the blows of human beings.
7:15 But my kindness will not depart from him as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
7:16 Your house and your kingdom will be secure forever before you; your throne will be established forever.’”
7:17 Nathan spoke to David according to all these words and all this vision.
7:18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, Lord GOD, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?
7:19 Yet even this was a small thing in your eyes, Lord GOD, for you have also spoken of your servant’s house far into the future. This is instruction for mankind, Lord GOD.
7:20 What more can David say to you? You know your servant, Lord GOD.
7:21 For the sake of your word and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness and made it known to your servant.
7:22 Therefore you are great, Lord GOD. There is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all we have heard with our ears.
7:23 Who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem as a people for himself, to make a name for himself and to do great and awesome things for you all, for your land, before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?
7:24 You established your people Israel as your own people forever, and you, LORD, became their God.
7:25 Now, LORD God, establish forever the word you have spoken concerning your servant and his house, and do as you have said.
7:26 May your name be magnified forever, so that people say, ‘The LORD of hosts is God over Israel.’ And may the house of your servant David be established before you.
7:27 For you, LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, ‘I will build you a house.’ Therefore your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to you.
7:28 Now, Lord GOD, you are God, and your words are true. You have promised this good to your servant.
7:29 Now be pleased to bless your servant’s house, so that it may continue forever before you. For you, Lord GOD, have spoken, and with your blessing your servant’s house will be blessed forever.”

Chapter 8
8:1 After this, David struck down the Philistines and subdued them. He took Metheg-ammah from the hand of the Philistines.
8:2 He also struck down Moab and measured them with a cord after making them lie on the ground. He measured two cord lengths for putting to death and one full cord length for keeping alive. The Moabites became David’s servants and brought tribute.
8:3 David also struck down Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah, as he went to restore his dominion at the Euphrates River.
8:4 David captured from him seventeen hundred horsemen and twenty thousand foot soldiers. He hamstrung all the chariot horses but kept enough for a hundred chariots.
8:5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down twenty-two thousand of the Arameans.
8:6 David placed garrisons in Aram of Damascus. The Arameans became David’s servants and brought tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
8:7 David took the gold shields carried by Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to Jerusalem.
8:8 From Betah and Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took a very great amount of bronze.
8:9 When Toi king of Hamath heard that David had defeated Hadadezer’s entire army,
8:10 he sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him for fighting Hadadezer and defeating him, for Hadadezer had been at war with Toi. Joram brought objects of silver, gold and bronze.
8:11 King David dedicated these to the LORD as well, along with the silver and gold he had dedicated from all the nations he had subdued:
8:12 from Aram, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek and the plunder of Hadadezer son of Rehob, king of Zobah.
8:13 David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down eighteen thousand Arameans in the Valley of Salt.
8:14 He placed garrisons in Edom. Throughout all Edom he placed garrisons, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
8:15 David reigned over all Israel and administered justice and righteousness for all his people.
8:16 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder.
8:17 Zadok son of Ahitub and Ahimelech son of Abiathar were priests, and Seraiah was scribe.
8:18 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites, and David’s sons were priests.

Chapter 9
9:1 David asked, “Is there still anyone left of Saul’s house to whom I may show kindness for Jonathan’s sake?”
9:2 Now Saul’s house had a servant named Ziba, and they called him to David. The king asked him, “Are you Ziba?” He answered, “Your servant.”
9:3 The king said, “Is there no one left of Saul’s house to whom I may show God’s kindness?” Ziba said to the king, “There is still a son of Jonathan who is lame in his feet.”
9:4 The king asked him, “Where is he?” Ziba said to the king, “He is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel at Lo-debar.”
9:5 So King David sent for him and brought him from the house of Machir son of Ammiel at Lo-debar.
9:6 Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, son of Saul, came to David, fell on his face and paid homage. David said, “Mephibosheth!” He answered, “Here is your servant.”
9:7 David said to him, “Do not be afraid. I will surely show you kindness for the sake of your father Jonathan. I will restore to you all the land of your grandfather Saul, and you will always eat at my table.”
9:8 He bowed and said, “What is your servant, that you should take notice of a dead dog like me?”
9:9 The king called Ziba, Saul’s servant, and said to him, “I have given your master’s grandson everything that belonged to Saul and his whole house.
9:10 You, your sons and your servants are to work the land for him and bring in its produce, so that your master’s grandson may have food to eat. But Mephibosheth, your master’s grandson, will always eat at my table.” Ziba had fifteen sons and twenty servants.
9:11 Ziba said to the king, “Your servant will do everything my lord the king commands his servant.” The king added, “Mephibosheth will eat at my table like one of the king’s sons.”
9:12 Mephibosheth had a young son named Mica. All who lived in Ziba’s house were Mephibosheth’s servants.
9:13 Mephibosheth lived in Jerusalem, because he always ate at the king’s table. He was lame in both feet.

Chapter 10
10:1 After this, the king of the Ammonites died, and his son Hanun became king in his place.
10:2 David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, as his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent his servants to comfort him over his father’s death. David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites.
10:3 But the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun their lord, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending you comforters? Has David not sent his servants to examine the city, spy it out and overthrow it?”
10:4 So Hanun took David’s servants, shaved off half their beards, cut their garments in half at the buttocks and sent them away.
10:5 When David was told, he sent to meet them, for the men were deeply humiliated. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back, and then return.”
10:6 When the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hated by David, they sent and hired the Arameans of Beth-rehob and Zobah, twenty thousand foot soldiers, along with the king of Maacah with a thousand men and twelve thousand men of Tob.
10:7 When David heard of it, he sent Joab and the whole army of mighty men.
10:8 The Ammonites came out and drew up for battle at the entrance of the gate. The Arameans of Zobah and Rehob, and the men of Tob and Maacah, were by themselves in the field.
10:9 When Joab saw that the battle was arrayed against him in front and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best men and drew them up against the Arameans.
10:10 He put the rest of the people under the command of his brother Abishai, who drew them up against the Ammonites.
10:11 Joab said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, you must come to my help. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will come to help you.
10:12 Be strong, and let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in his eyes.”
10:13 Joab and the people with him advanced to battle against the Arameans, and they fled before him.
10:14 When the Ammonites saw that the Arameans had fled, they too fled before Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab turned back from the Ammonites and came to Jerusalem.
10:15 When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated before Israel, they gathered together.
10:16 Hadadezer sent and brought out the Arameans from beyond the river. They came to Helam, with Shobach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army, at their head.
10:17 When David was told, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan and came to Helam. The Arameans drew up against David and fought him.
10:18 The Arameans fled before Israel. David killed the crews of seven hundred Aramean chariots and forty thousand horsemen. He also struck Shobach, the commander of their army, who died there.
10:19 When all the kings who served Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated before Israel, they made peace with Israel and served them. The Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

Chapter 11
11:1 At the turn of the year, when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, his servants with him and all Israel. They devastated the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah, but David stayed in Jerusalem.
11:2 One evening David got up from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. From the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful.
11:3 David sent to inquire about the woman. Someone said, “Is this not Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?”
11:4 David sent messengers and took her. She came to him, and he lay with her. She was purifying herself from her uncleanness. Then she returned to her house.
11:5 The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”
11:6 David sent word to Joab, “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” So Joab sent Uriah to David.
11:7 When Uriah came to him, David asked how Joab was, how the people were and how the war was going.
11:8 David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” Uriah left the king’s house, and a gift from the king followed him.
11:9 But Uriah slept at the entrance of the king’s house with all his lord’s servants and did not go down to his own house.
11:10 David was told, “Uriah did not go down to his house.” David asked Uriah, “Have you not just come from a journey? Why did you not go down to your house?”
11:11 Uriah said to David, “The ark, Israel and Judah are staying in shelters, and my lord Joab and my lord’s servants are camped in the open field. Shall I go to my house to eat, drink and lie with my wife? By your life, by your very life, I will not do such a thing!”
11:12 David said to Uriah, “Stay here today as well, and tomorrow I will send you away.” So Uriah stayed in Jerusalem that day and the next.
11:13 David invited him, and he ate and drank before him, and David made him drunk. In the evening Uriah went out to lie on his bed with his lord’s servants, but he did not go down to his house.
11:14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by Uriah’s hand.
11:15 In the letter he wrote, “Put Uriah at the front, where the battle is fiercest. Then withdraw from him, so that he may be struck down and die.”
11:16 As Joab watched the city, he placed Uriah where he knew there were valiant men.
11:17 The men of the city came out and fought Joab. Some of the people, David’s servants, fell, and Uriah the Hittite also died.
11:18 Joab sent a report to David of everything about the battle.
11:19 He instructed the messenger, “When you have finished telling the king everything about the battle,
11:20 if the king becomes angry and asks you, ‘Why did you go so close to the city to fight? Did you not know they would shoot from the wall?
11:21 Who struck down Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Did not a woman throw a piece of an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died at Thebez? Why did you go close to the wall?’ then say, ‘Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.’”
11:22 The messenger went, came to David and told him everything Joab had sent him to report.
11:23 The messenger said to David, “The men were stronger than we were and came out against us in the field, but we pressed them back to the entrance of the gate.
11:24 Then the archers shot at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s servants died. Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.”
11:25 David said to the messenger, “Say this to Joab, ‘Do not let this matter trouble you, for the sword devours one as well as another. Strengthen your attack against the city and overthrow it.’ Encourage him.”
11:26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for her husband.
11:27 When the mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to his house. She became his wife and bore him a son. But what David had done was evil in the LORD’s eyes.

Chapter 12
12:1 The LORD sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said, “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.
12:2 The rich man had very many sheep and cattle,
12:3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought and raised. She grew up with him and his children. She ate from his bread, drank from his cup and slept in his arms. She was like a daughter to him.
12:4 A traveler came to the rich man, but he was unwilling to take from his own sheep or cattle to prepare food for the guest who had come to him. Instead, he took the poor man’s ewe lamb and prepared her for the man who had come to him.”
12:5 David’s anger burned fiercely against the man, and he said to Nathan, “As the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
12:6 He must repay the ewe lamb fourfold, because he did this and had no compassion.”
12:7 Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from Saul’s hand.
12:8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. If that had been too little, I would have given you much more.
12:9 Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in my eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife as your own wife. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
12:10 Now the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’
12:11 This is what the LORD says: ‘I am raising up disaster against you from your own house. I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he will lie with your wives in the sight of this sun.
12:12 You did it in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and before the sun.’”
12:13 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan said to David, “The LORD has also taken away your sin. You will not die.
12:14 Nevertheless, because by this deed you have given the LORD’s enemies great occasion to blaspheme, the son born to you will surely die.”
12:15 Then Nathan went home. The LORD struck the child whom Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became gravely ill.
12:16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted, went in and spent the night lying on the ground.
12:17 The elders of his house stood beside him to raise him from the ground, but he refused and would not eat bread with them.
12:18 On the seventh day the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child had died, for they said, “While the child was alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to us. How can we tell him the child is dead? He may do harm.”
12:19 When David saw his servants whispering, he understood that the child had died. David asked his servants, “Is the child dead?” They answered, “He is dead.”
12:20 David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself and changed his clothes. He went into the house of the LORD and worshiped. Then he went to his own house and asked for food. They set bread before him, and he ate.
12:21 His servants asked him, “What is this you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when the child died, you got up and ate bread.”
12:22 He said, “While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me, and the child may live.’
12:23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
12:24 David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son and named him Solomon. The LORD loved him.
12:25 He sent word through Nathan the prophet, and he called him Jedidiah because of the LORD.
12:26 Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal city.
12:27 Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah and captured the water city.
12:28 Now gather the rest of the people, camp against the city and capture it, or I may capture the city and it will be called by my name.”
12:29 So David gathered all the people, went to Rabbah, fought against it and captured it.
12:30 He took the crown from their king’s head. It weighed about seventy-five pounds of gold and had a precious stone, and it was placed on David’s head. He brought a very great amount of plunder out of the city.
12:31 He brought out the people who were in it and put them under saws, iron threshing implements and iron axes, and made them pass through the brick kiln. He did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 13
13:1 After this, Absalom son of David had a beautiful sister named Tamar, and Amnon son of David loved her.
13:2 Amnon was so distressed over his sister Tamar that he made himself ill. She was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her.
13:3 Amnon had a friend named Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother. Jonadab was a very shrewd man.
13:4 He said to him, “Why are you, the king’s son, so thin morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom.”
13:5 Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me food. Let her prepare the food in front of me, so that I may see it and eat from her hand.’”
13:6 So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. When the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and make two cakes in front of me, so that I may eat from her hand.”
13:7 David sent word to Tamar at her house, “Please go to your brother Amnon’s house and prepare food for him.”
13:8 Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was lying down. She took dough, kneaded it, made cakes in front of him and cooked the cakes.
13:9 She took the pan and served them before him, but he refused to eat. Amnon said, “Send everyone away from me.” So everyone left him.
13:10 Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the bedroom, so that I may eat from your hand.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the bedroom to her brother Amnon.
13:11 When she brought them near for him to eat, he seized her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.”
13:12 She said to him, “No, my brother! Do not violate me, for such a thing must not be done in Israel. Do not do this outrage.
13:13 Where could I take my disgrace? And you would be like one of the fools in Israel. Now please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”
13:14 But he would not listen to her. He overpowered her, violated her and lay with her.
13:15 Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred. The hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. Amnon said to her, “Get up and go!”
13:16 She said to him, “No! Sending me away would be a greater evil than the other you have done to me.” But he would not listen to her.
13:17 He called the young man who served him and said, “Put this one out of my presence. Bolt the door behind her.”
13:18 She was wearing a long-sleeved robe, for this was how the king’s virgin daughters dressed. His servant brought her outside and bolted the door behind her.
13:19 Tamar put ashes on her head and tore the long-sleeved robe she was wearing. She put her hand on her head and went away crying aloud.
13:20 Her brother Absalom said to her, “Has your brother Aminon been with you? For now, my sister, keep quiet. He is your brother. Do not take this matter to heart.” So Tamar remained desolate in her brother Absalom’s house.
13:21 When King David heard all these things, he was very angry.
13:22 Absalom said nothing to Amnon, either bad or good, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.
13:23 After two full years, Absalom had sheep shearers at Baal-hazor, near Ephraim, and he invited all the king’s sons.
13:24 Absalom came to the king and said, “Your servant has sheep shearers. Please let the king and his servants go with your servant.”
13:25 The king said to Absalom, “No, my son. We must not all go, or we will be a burden to you.” Absalom urged him, but he refused to go, though he blessed him.
13:26 Then Absalom said, “If not, please let my brother Amnon go with us.” The king said to him, “Why should he go with you?”
13:27 But Absalom urged him, and he sent Amnon and all the king’s sons with him.
13:28 Absalom commanded his young men, “Watch for when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine. When I tell you, ‘Strike Amnon,’ then kill him. Do not be afraid. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and valiant.”
13:29 Absalom’s young men did to Amnon as Absalom had commanded. Then all the king’s sons got up, each mounted his mule, and they fled.
13:30 While they were on the way, the report came to David: “Absalom has struck down all the king’s sons, and not one of them is left.”
13:31 The king got up, tore his clothes and lay on the ground. All his servants stood by with their clothes torn.
13:32 But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David’s brother, said, “Let my lord not think they have killed all the young men, the king’s sons. Only Amnon is dead, for this had been determined by Absalom since the day Amnon violated his sister Tamar.
13:33 So let my lord the king not take to heart the report that all the king’s sons are dead. Only Amnon is dead.”
13:34 Absalom had fled. The young watchman looked up and saw a large crowd coming by the road behind him, along the side of the mountain.
13:35 Jonadab said to the king, “Look, the king’s sons are coming. It has happened just as your servant said.”
13:36 As soon as he finished speaking, the king’s sons arrived and wept aloud. The king and all his servants also wept very bitterly.
13:37 Absalom fled and went to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. David mourned for his son every day.
13:38 Absalom had fled to Geshur and stayed there for three years.
13:39 King David longed to go out to Absalom, for he had been comforted over Amnon, since he was dead.

Chapter 14
14:1 Joab son of Zeruiah knew that the king’s heart was toward Absalom.
14:2 So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there. He said to her, “Please pretend to be in mourning. Put on mourning clothes and do not anoint yourself with oil. Be like a woman who has been mourning the dead for many days.
14:3 Go to the king and speak to him in this way.” Then Joab put the words in her mouth.
14:4 The woman of Tekoa spoke to the king, fell with her face to the ground and paid homage. She said, “Help me, O king!”
14:5 The king asked her, “What is the matter?” She said, “I am indeed a widow; my husband is dead.
14:6 Your servant had two sons. They fought in the field, and there was no one to separate them. One struck the other and killed him.
14:7 Now the whole clan has risen against your servant, saying, ‘Hand over the one who struck down his brother, so that we may kill him for the life of the brother he killed, and destroy the heir as well.’ They will extinguish the coal I have left, leaving my husband neither name nor survivor on the face of the earth.”
14:8 The king said to the woman, “Go to your house. I will give orders concerning you.”
14:9 The woman of Tekoa said to the king, “My lord the king, let the guilt be on me and on my father’s house, and let the king and his throne be innocent.”
14:10 The king said, “Whoever threatens you, bring him to me, and he will not touch you again.”
14:11 She said, “Please let the king remember the LORD your God, so that the blood avenger does not increase the destruction and they do not destroy my son.” He said, “As the LORD lives, not one hair of your son will fall to the ground.”
14:12 The woman said, “Please let your servant speak a word to my lord the king.” He said, “Speak.”
14:13 The woman said, “Why have you planned such a thing against God’s people? In speaking this word, the king is like one who is guilty, because the king has not brought back his banished one.
14:14 We will surely die and be like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away life, but devises ways so that the banished one will not remain banished from him.
14:15 I have come to speak this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘Let me speak to the king. Perhaps the king will grant his servant’s request.
14:16 For the king will listen and deliver his servant from the hand of the man who would destroy both me and my son from God’s inheritance.’
14:17 Your servant also thought, ‘May the word of my lord the king bring rest, for my lord the king is like an angel of God in discerning good and evil.’ May the LORD your God be with you.”
14:18 The king answered the woman, “Please hide nothing from me that I ask you.” The woman said, “Let my lord the king speak.”
14:19 The king asked, “Is Joab’s hand with you in all this?” The woman answered, “As you live, my lord the king, no one can turn to the right or left from anything my lord the king has said. Your servant Joab commanded me and put all these words in your servant’s mouth.
14:20 Your servant Joab did this to change the course of the matter. But my lord has wisdom like the wisdom of an angel of God, to know everything on the earth.”
14:21 The king said to Joab, “I have granted this. Go and bring back the young man Absalom.”
14:22 Joab fell with his face to the ground, paid homage and blessed the king. He said, “Today your servant knows that I have found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted your servant’s request.”
14:23 So Joab set out, went to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem.
14:24 But the king said, “Let him turn aside to his own house. He must not see my face.” So Absalom turned aside to his own house and did not see the king’s face.
14:25 No man in all Israel was as greatly praised for his beauty as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him.
14:26 At the end of each year he cut his hair because it was heavy on him. When he cut it, he weighed the hair from his head: about five pounds by the royal weight standard.
14:27 Three sons and one daughter were born to Absalom. His daughter’s name was Tamar, and she was a beautiful woman.
14:28 Absalom stayed in Jerusalem for two full years without seeing the king’s face.
14:29 Absalom sent for Joab so that he could send him to the king, but Joab refused to come to him. He sent a second time, but Joab still refused to come.
14:30 Then he said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is beside mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” So Absalom’s servants set the field on fire.
14:31 Joab got up, came to Absalom at his house and said to him, “Why have your servants set my field on fire?”
14:32 Absalom said to Joab, “I sent word to you, ‘Come here, so that I may send you to the king to ask, “Why have I come from Geshur? It would have been better for me to stay there.”’ Now let me see the king’s face. If there is guilt in me, let him put me to death.”
14:33 Joab went to the king and told him. The king called Absalom, who came to him and bowed with his face to the ground before the king. Then the king kissed Absalom.

Chapter 15
15:1 After this, Absalom provided himself with a chariot, horses and fifty men to run before him.
15:2 Absalom would rise early and stand beside the road to the gate. Whenever a man with a dispute came to the king for judgment, Absalom would call to him and ask, “What city are you from?” He would answer, “Your servant is from one of the tribes of Israel.”
15:3 Absalom would say to him, “Look, your claims are good and right, but you have no one from the king to hear you.”
15:4 Then Absalom would say, “If only I were made judge in the land! Everyone with a dispute or a case could come to me, and I would give him justice.”
15:5 Whenever a man approached to bow before him, Absalom would reach out his hand, take hold of him and kiss him.
15:6 Absalom did this to all the Israelites who came to the king for judgment. So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel.
15:7 At the end of forty years, Absalom said to the king, “Please let me go to Hebron and fulfill the vow I made to the LORD.
15:8 For your servant made a vow while I was living at Geshur in Aram, saying, ‘If the LORD will indeed bring me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the LORD.’”
15:9 The king said to him, “Go in peace.” So he set out and went to Hebron.
15:10 But Absalom sent spies throughout all the tribes of Israel, saying, “When you hear the sound of the ram’s horn, say, ‘Absalom is king in Hebron!’”
15:11 Two hundred men from Jerusalem went with Absalom as invited guests. They went in good faith, knowing nothing of the matter.
15:12 While Absalom was offering sacrifices, he sent for Ahithophel the Gilonite, David’s counselor, from his city Giloh. The conspiracy grew strong, and the people with Absalom kept increasing.
15:13 A messenger came to David, saying, “The hearts of the men of Israel have gone after Absalom.”
15:14 David said to all his servants who were with him in Jerusalem, “Get up and let us flee, or we will not escape from Absalom. Hurry and leave, or he may hurry and overtake us, bring disaster on us and strike the city with the edge of the sword.”
15:15 The king’s servants said to the king, “Here are your servants, ready for whatever my lord the king chooses.”
15:16 The king set out with his whole household following him. But he left ten concubines to look after the house.
15:17 The king set out with all the people following him, and they stopped at the farthest house.
15:18 All his servants passed beside him, and all the Cherethites, all the Pelethites and all the Gittites, six hundred men who had followed him from Gath, passed before the king.
15:19 The king said to Ittai the Gittite, “Why are you also going with us? Go back and stay with the king, for you are a foreigner and also an exile from your own place.
15:20 You arrived only yesterday. Should I make you wander with us today, when I myself am going wherever I can? Go back and take your brothers back with you. May kindness and faithfulness be with you.”
15:21 But Ittai answered the king, “As the LORD lives and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there your servant will be.”
15:22 David said to Ittai, “Go on and cross over.” So Ittai the Gittite crossed over with all his men and all the little ones who were with him.
15:23 The whole land wept aloud as all the people passed by. The king crossed the Kidron ravine, and all the people crossed over toward the road to the wilderness.
15:24 Zadok was also there with all the Levites, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, and Abiathar went up until all the people had finished passing out of the city.
15:25 The king said to Zadok, “Take the ark of God back to the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling.
15:26 But if he says, ‘I have no delight in you,’ here I am. Let him do to me what is good in his eyes.”
15:27 The king also said to Zadok the priest, “Are you a seer? Return to the city in peace, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son and Jonathan son of Abiathar.
15:28 Look, I will wait in the plains of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.”
15:29 So Zadok and Abiathar took the ark of God back to Jerusalem and stayed there.
15:30 David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and his feet bare. All the people with him covered their heads and went up weeping.
15:31 David was told, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Please, LORD, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”
15:32 When David reached the summit, where God was worshiped, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his tunic torn and dirt on his head.
15:33 David said to him, “If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me.
15:34 But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. I was your father’s servant before, but now I will be your servant,’ then you can frustrate Ahithophel’s counsel for me.
15:35 Will not Zadok and Abiathar the priests be there with you? Tell Zadok and Abiathar the priests everything you hear from the king’s house.
15:36 Their two sons are there with them, Ahimaaz son of Zadok and Jonathan son of Abiathar. Through them you are to send me everything you hear.”
15:37 So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city as Absalom was coming into Jerusalem.

Chapter 16
16:1 David had gone a little beyond the summit when Ziba, Mephibosheth’s servant, came to meet him with a pair of saddled donkeys. They carried two hundred loaves of bread, a hundred clusters of raisins, a hundred portions of summer fruit and a wineskin of wine.
16:2 The king said to Ziba, “What are these for?” Ziba said, “The donkeys are for the king’s household to ride on, the bread and summer fruit for the young men to eat, and the wine for the weary to drink in the wilderness.”
16:3 The king asked, “Where is your master’s grandson?” Ziba said to the king, “He is staying in Jerusalem, for he said, ‘Today the house of Israel will restore my grandfather’s kingdom to me.’”
16:4 The king said to Ziba, “Everything that belongs to Mephibosheth is yours.” Ziba said, “I bow before you. May I find favor in your eyes, my lord the king.”
16:5 When King David came to Bahurim, a man from the clan of Saul’s house came out from there. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and he kept cursing as he came.
16:6 He threw stones at David and all King David’s servants, while all the people and all the mighty men were on his right and left.
16:7 As Shimei cursed, he said, “Get out! Get out, you bloodthirsty, worthless man!
16:8 The LORD has brought back on you all the blood of Saul’s house, in whose place you have reigned. The LORD has given the kingdom into the hand of your son Absalom. Now you are in your own misery, because you are a bloodthirsty man.”
16:9 Abishai son of Zeruiah said to the king, “Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over and cut off his head.”
16:10 But the king said, “What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah? Let him curse as he does, because the LORD has said to him, ‘Curse David.’ Who can say, ‘Why have you done this?’”
16:11 David said to Abishai and all his servants, “My own son, who came from my own body, seeks my life. How much more this Benjaminite! Leave him alone and let him curse, for the LORD has told him to.
16:12 Perhaps the LORD will look on my tears, and the LORD will repay me with good for his cursing today.”
16:13 David and his men went on their way, while Shimei walked along the hillside opposite him, cursing as he went, throwing stones at him and flinging dust.
16:14 The king and all the people with him arrived weary, and he refreshed himself there.
16:15 Absalom and all the people, the men of Israel, came to Jerusalem, with Ahithophel beside him.
16:16 When Hushai the Archite, David’s friend, came to Absalom, he said to Absalom, “Long live the king! Long live the king!”
16:17 Absalom said to Hushai, “Is this your kindness to your friend? Why did you not go with your friend?”
16:18 Hushai said to Absalom, “No, I will belong to the one the LORD, this people and all the men of Israel have chosen, and I will stay with him.
16:19 Besides, whom should I serve? Should it not be his son? As I served in your father’s presence, so I will be in your presence.”
16:20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give your counsel. What should we do?”
16:21 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Lie with your father’s concubines, whom he left to look after the house. All Israel will hear that you have made yourself hated by your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.”
16:22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom lay with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
16:23 In those days the counsel Ahithophel gave was regarded as if a man had inquired of the word of God. So it was with all Ahithophel’s counsel, both for David and for Absalom.

Chapter 17
17:1 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will set out and pursue David tonight.
17:2 I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and throw him into a panic. All the people with him will flee, and I will strike down the king alone.
17:3 Then I will bring all the people back to you. The man you seek is as good as the return of everyone. All the people will be at peace.”
17:4 The proposal seemed right to Absalom and all the elders of Israel.
17:5 Then Absalom said, “Call Hushai the Archite as well, and let us hear what he has to say.”
17:6 Hushai came to Absalom, and Absalom said to him, “This is what Ahithophel has said. Should we follow his advice? If not, speak.”
17:7 Hushai said to Absalom, “The counsel Ahithophel has given is not good this time.”
17:8 Hushai continued, “You know your father and his men. They are mighty warriors, and they are bitter in spirit, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field. Your father is a man of war, and he will not spend the night with the people.
17:9 Even now he is hidden in one of the pits or some other place. When some of your men fall at the beginning, whoever hears of it will say, ‘There has been a slaughter among the people who follow Absalom.’
17:10 Then even a valiant man with the heart of a lion will utterly melt, for all Israel knows that your father is a mighty warrior and that the men with him are valiant.
17:11 So my counsel is that all Israel be gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, as numerous as the sand by the sea, and that you yourself go into battle.
17:12 We will come upon him wherever he is found, and settle on him as the dew falls on the ground. Neither he nor a single one of the men with him will be left.
17:13 If he withdraws into a city, all Israel will bring ropes to that city, and we will drag it into the ravine until not even a pebble is found there.”
17:14 Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than Ahithophel’s counsel.” For the LORD had ordained that Ahithophel’s good counsel be frustrated, so that the LORD might bring disaster on Absalom.
17:15 Then Hushai said to Zadok and Abiathar the priests, “This is what Ahithophel advised Absalom and the elders of Israel, and this is what I advised.
17:16 Now send word quickly to David: ‘Do not spend tonight in the plains of the wilderness. Be sure to cross over, or the king and all the people with him may be swallowed up.’”
17:17 Jonathan and Ahimaaz were staying at En-rogel. A servant girl would go and tell them, and they would go and tell King David, for they could not be seen entering the city.
17:18 But a young man saw them and told Absalom. The two hurried away and came to the house of a man in Bahurim who had a well in his courtyard, and they went down into it.
17:19 The woman took a covering and spread it over the mouth of the well, then scattered crushed grain on it. Nothing was discovered.
17:20 Absalom’s servants came to the woman at the house and asked, “Where are Ahimaaz and Jonathan?” The woman said to them, “They have crossed the stream.” They searched but did not find them, so they returned to Jerusalem.
17:21 After they had gone, the two came up out of the well and went to tell King David. They said to David, “Get up and cross the water quickly, for this is what Ahithophel has advised against you.”
17:22 So David and all the people with him got up and crossed the Jordan. By morning light, every one of them had crossed the Jordan; not one was missing.
17:23 When Ahithophel saw that his counsel had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and went home to his own city. He put his household in order, hanged himself and died, and was buried in his father’s tomb.
17:24 David came to Mahanaim, while Absalom crossed the Jordan with all the men of Israel.
17:25 Absalom had appointed Amasa over the army in place of Joab. Amasa was the son of a man named Ithra the Israelite, who had gone in to Abigail daughter of Nahash, the sister of Zeruiah, Joab’s mother.
17:26 Israel and Absalom camped in the land of Gilead.
17:27 When David came to Mahanaim, Shobi son of Nahash from Rabbah of the Ammonites, Machir son of Ammiel from Lo-debar, and Barzillai the Gileadite from Rogelim
17:28 brought beds, bowls, earthenware vessels, wheat, barley, flour, roasted grain, beans, lentils and roasted grain,
17:29 along with honey, butter, sheep and cheese from cows’ milk. They brought these to David and the people with him to eat, for they said, “The people are hungry, weary and thirsty in the wilderness.”

Chapter 18
18:1 David mustered the people with him and appointed commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds over them.
18:2 David sent out the people, a third under Joab, a third under Abishai son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third under Ittai the Gittite. The king said to the people, “I myself will certainly go out with you.”
18:3 But the people said, “You must not go out. If we flee, they will pay no attention to us, and if half of us die, they will pay no attention to us. For now there are ten thousand like us. It is better for you to help us from the city.”
18:4 The king said to them, “I will do what seems best to you.” So the king stood beside the gate while all the people went out by hundreds and thousands.
18:5 The king commanded Joab, Abishai and Ittai, “For my sake, deal gently with the young man Absalom.” All the people heard the king give all the commanders this order about Absalom.
18:6 The people went out into the field to meet Israel, and the battle took place in the forest of Ephraim.
18:7 There the people of Israel were defeated by David’s servants, and the slaughter that day was great: twenty thousand men.
18:8 The battle spread over the whole countryside, and the forest devoured more people that day than the sword devoured.
18:9 Absalom happened to meet David’s servants. He was riding a mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak. His head caught in the oak, leaving him suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule beneath him went on.
18:10 A man saw him and told Joab, “I saw Absalom hanging in an oak.”
18:11 Joab said to the man who told him, “You saw him! Why did you not strike him to the ground there? I would have given you about four ounces of silver and a belt.”
18:12 The man said to Joab, “Even if about twenty-five pounds of silver were weighed into my hands, I would not lay a hand on the king’s son. In our hearing the king commanded you, Abishai and Ittai, ‘Take care of the young man Absalom.’
18:13 If I had dealt falsely at the cost of my own life, nothing would have been hidden from the king, and you yourself would have stood aloof.”
18:14 Joab said, “I will not wait here with you like this.” He took three spears in his hand and thrust them into Absalom’s heart while he was still alive in the heart of the oak.
18:15 Then ten young men who carried Joab’s armor surrounded Absalom, struck him and killed him.
18:16 Joab blew the ram’s horn, and the people turned back from pursuing Israel, for Joab held the people back.
18:17 They took Absalom and threw him into the great pit in the forest, and raised a very large heap of stones over him. All Israel fled, each to his tents.
18:18 During his lifetime Absalom had set up for himself the pillar in the King’s Valley, for he said, “I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day.
18:19 Then Ahimaaz son of Zadok said, “Let me run and bring the king news that the LORD has vindicated him against his enemies.”
18:20 Joab said to him, “You are not to be the bearer of news today. You may bring news another day, but you must not bring news today, because the king’s son is dead.”
18:21 Then Joab said to the Cushite, “Go and tell the king what you have seen.” The Cushite bowed before Joab and ran.
18:22 Ahimaaz son of Zadok said to Joab again, “Whatever happens, let me also run after the Cushite.” Joab said, “Why do you want to run, my son, when you have no news that will bring you a reward?”
18:23 “Whatever happens, I will run,” he said. Joab told him, “Run.” So Ahimaaz ran by the way of the plain and passed the Cushite.
18:24 David was sitting between the two gates. The watchman went up to the roof of the gateway by the wall, looked up and saw a man running alone.
18:25 The watchman called out and told the king. The king said, “If he is alone, he has news to tell.” The man kept coming closer.
18:26 The watchman saw another man running and called to the gatekeeper, “There is another man running alone!” The king said, “He too is bringing news.”
18:27 The watchman said, “I see that the first man runs like Ahimaaz son of Zadok.” The king said, “He is a good man and comes with good news.”
18:28 Ahimaaz called to the king, “Peace!” He bowed before the king with his face to the ground and said, “Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delivered up the men who raised their hands against my lord the king.”
18:29 The king asked, “Is the young man Absalom well?” Ahimaaz said, “I saw a great commotion when Joab sent the king’s servant and me, your servant, but I do not know what it was.”
18:30 The king said, “Step aside and stand here.” So he stepped aside and stood there.
18:31 Then the Cushite arrived and said, “Let my lord the king receive good news! Today the LORD has vindicated you against all who rose up against you.”
18:32 The king said to the Cushite, “Is the young man Absalom well?” The Cushite said, “May the enemies of my lord the king and all who rise up to harm you be like that young man.”
18:33 The king trembled, went up to the room over the gateway and wept. As he went, he said, “My son Absalom! My son, my son Absalom! If only I had died in your place! Absalom, my son, my son!”

Chapter 19
19:1 Joab was told, “The king is weeping and mourning for Absalom.”
19:2 The victory that day turned to mourning for all the people, because the people heard that day that the king was grieving for his son.
19:3 The people stole into the city that day as people steal away in shame when they flee from battle.
19:4 The king covered his face and cried out with a loud voice, “My son Absalom! Absalom, my son, my son!”
19:5 Joab came to the king in the house and said, “Today you have put to shame all your servants who have saved your life today, and the lives of your sons, daughters, wives and concubines.
19:6 You love those who hate you and hate those who love you. Today you have made it clear that commanders and servants mean nothing to you. I know today that if Absalom were alive and all of us were dead, that would please you.
19:7 Now get up, go out and speak to the hearts of your servants. I swear by the LORD that if you do not go out, not a man will stay with you tonight. This will be worse for you than all the trouble that has come upon you from your youth until now.”
19:8 So the king got up and sat in the gateway. All the people were told, “The king is sitting in the gateway,” and all the people came before the king. Now Israel had fled, each to his tents.
19:9 Throughout all the tribes of Israel, all the people were arguing, saying, “The king rescued us from the hand of our enemies and delivered us from the hand of the Philistines. But now he has fled the land because of Absalom.
19:10 Absalom, whom we anointed over us, has died in battle. So why are you silent about bringing the king back?”
19:11 King David sent word to Zadok and Abiathar the priests: “Speak to the elders of Judah and say, ‘Why should you be the last to bring the king back to his house, when the words of all Israel have reached the king at his house?
19:12 You are my brothers, my bone and my flesh. Why should you be the last to bring the king back?’
19:13 And say to Amasa, ‘Are you not my bone and my flesh? May God do so to me, and more also, if you are not commander of the army before me always in place of Joab.’”
19:14 He turned the hearts of all the men of Judah as one man, and they sent word to the king, “Return, you and all your servants.”
19:15 So the king set out to return and came to the Jordan. Judah came to Gilgal to meet the king and bring him across the Jordan.
19:16 Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim, hurried down with the men of Judah to meet King David.
19:17 With him were a thousand men from Benjamin. Ziba, the servant of Saul’s house, also came with his fifteen sons and twenty servants. They crossed the Jordan ahead of the king.
19:18 The ferry crossed over to bring the king’s household across and to do whatever seemed good to him. Shimei son of Gera fell down before the king as he was crossing the Jordan.
19:19 He said to the king, “Let my lord not count me guilty or remember the wrong your servant did on the day my lord the king left Jerusalem. Let the king not take it to heart.
19:20 For your servant knows that I have sinned. So today I have come, the first of all the house of Joseph, to come down and meet my lord the king.”
19:21 Abishai son of Zeruiah replied, “Should Shimei not be put to death for this, since he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”
19:22 But David said, “What have I to do with you, sons of Zeruiah, that you should be adversaries to me today? Should anyone be put to death in Israel today? Do I not know that today I am king over Israel?”
19:23 The king said to Shimei, “You will not die.” And the king swore it to him.
19:24 Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson, also came down to meet the king. He had not cared for his feet, trimmed his mustache or washed his clothes from the day the king left until the day he returned in peace.
19:25 When he came to Jerusalem to meet the king, the king said to him, “Why did you not go with me, Mephibosheth?”
19:26 He said, “My lord the king, my servant deceived me. Your servant had said, ‘I will saddle the donkey for myself, ride on it and go with the king,’ for your servant is lame.
19:27 But he slandered your servant to my lord the king. Yet my lord the king is like an angel of God, so do what seems good to you.
19:28 For all my father’s house were nothing but men doomed to death before my lord the king, yet you placed your servant among those who eat at your table. What right do I still have to appeal to the king?”
19:29 The king said to him, “Why speak any more about your affairs? I have decided: you and Ziba shall divide the land.”
19:30 Mephibosheth said to the king, “Let him take it all, since my lord the king has come home in peace.”
19:31 Barzillai the Gileadite came down from Rogelim and crossed the Jordan with the king to see him across the Jordan.
19:32 Barzillai was very old, eighty years of age. He had provided for the king during his stay in Mahanaim, for he was a very wealthy man.
19:33 The king said to Barzillai, “Cross over with me, and I will provide for you at my side in Jerusalem.”
19:34 Barzillai said to the king, “How many days of life have I left, that I should go up with the king to Jerusalem?
19:35 I am eighty years old today. Can I distinguish between good and bad? Can your servant taste what I eat and drink? Can I still hear the voices of men and women singing? Why should your servant be a further burden to my lord the king?
19:36 Your servant will cross the Jordan with the king for a little way. Why should the king repay me with such a reward?
19:37 Please let your servant return, so that I may die in my own city near the tomb of my father and mother. Here is your servant Chimham. Let him cross over with my lord the king, and do for him what seems good to you.”
19:38 The king said, “Chimham will cross over with me, and I will do for him what seems good to you. Whatever you ask of me, I will do for you.”
19:39 All the people crossed the Jordan, and the king crossed over. The king kissed Barzillai and blessed him, and Barzillai returned to his own place.
19:40 The king went on to Gilgal, and Chimhan went with him. All the people of Judah brought the king across, along with half the people of Israel.
19:41 Then all the men of Israel came to the king and said to him, “Why have our brothers, the men of Judah, stolen you away and brought the king and his household across the Jordan, with all David’s men?”
19:42 All the men of Judah answered the men of Israel, “Because the king is our close relative. Why are you angry about this? Have we eaten at the king’s expense, or has any gift been given to us?”
19:43 The men of Israel answered the men of Judah, “We have ten shares in the king, and more claim to David than you. Why have you treated us with contempt? Were we not the first to speak of bringing back our king?” But the words of the men of Judah were harsher than those of the men of Israel.

Chapter 20
20:1 Now a worthless man happened to be there, named Sheba son of Bichri, a Benjaminite. He blew the ram’s horn and said, “We have no share in David, no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Every man to his tents, Israel!”
20:2 So all the men of Israel left David and followed Sheba son of Bichri. But the men of Judah clung to their king from the Jordan to Jerusalem.
20:3 When David came home to Jerusalem, the king took the ten concubines he had left to look after the house and placed them under guard. He provided for them but did not lie with them. They remained confined until the day of their death, living as widows.
20:4 The king said to Amasa, “Summon the men of Judah for me within three days, and be here yourself.”
20:5 Amasa went to summon Judah, but he took longer than the time appointed for him.
20:6 David said to Abishai, “Now Sheba son of Bichri will do us more harm than Absalom. Take your lord’s servants and pursue him, or he may find fortified cities and escape our sight.”
20:7 So Joab’s men, the Cherethites, the Pelethites and all the mighty men went out after him. They left Jerusalem to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.
20:8 They were by the great stone in Gibeon when Amasa came to meet them. Joab was wearing his belted garment, and over it a belt with a sword fastened at his waist in its sheath. As he stepped forward, it fell out.
20:9 Joab said to Amasa, “Are you well, my brother?” Joab took Amasa by the beard with his right hand to kiss him.
20:10 Amasa did not guard against the sword in Joab’s hand. Joab struck him with it in the belly, spilling his entrails to the ground. He did not strike him a second time, and Amasa died. Then Joab and his brother Abishai pursued Sheba son of Bichri.
20:11 One of Joab’s young men stood beside Amasa and said, “Whoever favors Joab and whoever is for David, follow Joab!”
20:12 Amasa lay wallowing in his blood in the middle of the highway. When the man saw that all the people were stopping, he moved Amasa from the highway into the field and threw a garment over him, for he saw that everyone who came upon him stopped.
20:13 Once he had been removed from the highway, everyone went on after Joab to pursue Sheba son of Bichri.
20:14 He passed through all the tribes of Israel to Abel and Beth-maacah, and all the Berites gathered and also followed him.
20:15 They came and besieged him in Abel-beth-maacah. They piled up a siege ramp against the city, and it stood against the outer fortification. All the people with Joab were battering the wall to bring it down.
20:16 Then a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab, ‘Come here so I may speak to you.’”
20:17 He came near her, and the woman asked, “Are you Joab?” He said, “I am.” She said to him, “Listen to the words of your servant.” He said, “I am listening.”
20:18 She said, “In former times they used to say, ‘Let them seek counsel at Abel,’ and so they settled the matter.
20:19 I am one of the peaceful and faithful in Israel. You seek to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why would you swallow up the LORD’s inheritance?”
20:20 Joab replied, “Far be it, far be it from me to swallow up or destroy!
20:21 That is not the matter. A man from the hill country of Ephraim named Sheba son of Bichri has raised his hand against King David. Hand him over alone, and I will withdraw from the city.” The woman said to Joab, “His head will be thrown to you over the wall.”
20:22 Then the woman went to all the people in her wisdom. They cut off the head of Sheba son of Bichri and threw it to Joab. He blew the ram’s horn, and they dispersed from the city, each to his tents. Joab returned to the king in Jerusalem.
20:23 Joab was over all the army of Israel. Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites.
20:24 Adoram was over the forced labor, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder.
20:25 Sheva was the scribe, and Zadok and Abiathar were priests.
20:26 Ira the Jairite was also a priest to David.

Chapter 21
21:1 There was a famine in the days of David for three years, year after year. David sought the face of the LORD, and the LORD said, “It is because of Saul and his bloodstained house, because he put the Gibeonites to death.”
21:2 The king summoned the Gibeonites and spoke to them. Now the Gibeonites were not Israelites, but a remnant of the Amorites. The Israelites had sworn an oath to them, but Saul had sought to strike them down in his zeal for Israel and Judah.
21:3 David said to the Gibeonites, “What shall I do for you? How shall I make atonement, so that you may bless the LORD’s inheritance?”
21:4 The Gibeonites said to him, “Our dispute with Saul and his house is not a matter of silver or gold, nor is it for us to put anyone in Israel to death.” He said, “Whatever you say, I will do for you.”
21:5 They said to the king, “As for the man who consumed us and plotted against us so that we would be destroyed, with no place remaining for us in all the territory of Israel,
21:6 let seven men from among his descendants be handed over to us. We will hang them up before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul, the LORD’s chosen one.” The king said, “I will hand them over.”
21:7 But the king spared Mephibosheth son of Jonathan, the son of Saul, because of the oath before the LORD between David and Jonathan son of Saul.
21:8 The king took the two sons of Rizpah daughter of Aiah, whom she had borne to Saul, Armoni and Mephibosheth, and the five sons of Michal daughter of Saul, whom she had borne to Adriel son of Barzillai the Meholathite.
21:9 He handed them over to the Gibeonites, who hung them up on the hill before the LORD. All seven fell together. They were put to death in the first days of harvest, at the beginning of the barley harvest.
21:10 Rizpah daughter of Aiah took sackcloth and spread it for herself on the rock, from the beginning of harvest until water poured on them from heaven. She did not allow the birds of the heavens to settle on them by day, or the beasts of the field by night.
21:11 David was told what Rizpah daughter of Aiah, Saul’s concubine, had done.
21:12 David went and took the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from the men of Jabesh-gilead. They had stolen them from the public square of Beth-shan, where the Philistines had hung them on the day the Philistines struck down Saul at Gilboa.
21:13 He brought up the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan from there, and they gathered the bones of those who had been hung up.
21:14 They buried the bones of Saul and his son Jonathan in the land of Benjamin, at Zela, in the tomb of Saul’s father Kish. They did all that the king commanded, and after that God answered the plea for the land.
21:15 War broke out again between the Philistines and Israel. David went down with his servants and fought the Philistines, and David grew weary.
21:16 Ishbi-benob, one of the descendants of Rapha, whose bronze spearhead weighed over seven pounds, was armed with a new sword. He intended to strike David down.
21:17 But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid, struck down the Philistine and killed him. Then David’s men swore to him, “You must never again go out to battle with us, so that you do not extinguish the lamp of Israel.”
21:18 After this there was another battle with the Philistines at Gob. Then Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Saph, one of the descendants of Rapha.
21:19 There was another battle with the Philistines at Gob, and Elhanan son of Jaare-oregim the Bethlehemite struck down Goliath the Gittite, whose spear shaft was like a weaver’s beam.
21:20 There was another battle at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha.
21:21 He defied Israel, and Jonathan son of Shimeah, David’s brother, struck him down.
21:22 These four were descended from Rapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Chapter 22
22:1 David spoke the words of this song to the LORD on the day the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
22:2 He said, “The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer,
22:3 my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge.
   My Savior, you save me from violence.
22:4 I call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
22:5 For the waves of death surrounded me;
   torrents of destruction terrified me.
22:6 The cords of Sheol encircled me;
   the snares of death confronted me.
22:7 In my distress I called on the LORD;
   I called to my God.
   From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry was in his ears.
22:8 Then the earth shook and trembled;
   the foundations of the heavens quaked and shook because he was angry.
22:9 Smoke rose from his nostrils, and devouring fire came from his mouth;
   coals were kindled by it.
22:10 He bowed the heavens and came down;
   thick darkness was under his feet.
22:11 He rode on a cherub and flew;
   he appeared on the wings of the wind.
22:12 He made darkness shelters around him, masses of water, thick clouds of the skies.
22:13 From the brightness before him, coals of fire were kindled.
22:14 The LORD thundered from heaven;
   the Most High made his voice heard.
22:15 He sent arrows and scattered them;
   with lightning he threw them into confusion.
22:16 The channels of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at the rebuke of the LORD, at the blast of the breath of his nostrils.
22:17 He reached down from on high and took me;
   he drew me out of many waters.
22:18 He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were stronger than I.
22:19 They confronted me on the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.
22:20 He brought me out into a broad place;
   he rescued me because he delighted in me.
22:21 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he repaid me.
22:22 For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly departed from my God.
22:23 For all his judgments are before me, and I do not turn away from his statutes.
22:24 I have been blameless before him and have kept myself from my iniquity.
22:25 The LORD repaid me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in his sight.
22:26 With the faithful you show yourself faithful;
   with the blameless warrior you show yourself blameless.
22:27 With the pure you show yourself pure, and with the crooked you show yourself shrewd.
22:28 You save an afflicted people, but your eyes are on the haughty to bring them low.
22:29 For you are my lamp, LORD;
   the LORD lights my darkness.
22:30 With you I can charge a troop;
   with my God I can leap over a wall.
22:31 As for God, his way is perfect;
   the word of the LORD is refined.
   He is a shield to all who take refuge in him.
22:32 For who is God besides the LORD?
   Who is a rock besides our God?
22:33 God is my strong refuge;
   he clears my way completely.
22:34 He makes my feet like a doe’s and sets me on my high places.
22:35 He trains my hands for war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.
22:36 You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your response makes me great.
22:37 You made room for my steps beneath me, and my ankles did not slip.
22:38 I pursued my enemies and destroyed them;
   I did not turn back until I had consumed them.
22:39 I consumed them and crushed them so that they could not rise;
   they fell beneath my feet.
22:40 You girded me with strength for battle;
   you made those who rose against me bow beneath me.
22:41 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and I destroyed those who hated me.
22:42 They looked for help, but there was no one to save;
   they looked to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
22:43 I ground them like the dust of the earth;
   I crushed them and trampled them like mud in the streets.
22:44 You delivered me from the disputes of my people;
   you kept me as head of nations.
   A people I did not know serves me.
22:45 Foreigners feign submission to me;
   as soon as they hear, they obey me.
22:46 Foreigners fade away and gird themselves as they come from their strongholds.
22:47 The LORD lives!
   Blessed be my rock!
   Exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,
22:48 the God who gives me vengeance and brings peoples down beneath me,
22:49 who brings me out from my enemies.
   You lift me above those who rise against me;
   you rescue me from the violent man.
22:50 Therefore I will give you thanks among the nations, LORD, and sing praises to your name.
22:51 He is a tower of salvation for his king and shows faithful love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.”

Chapter 23
23:1 These are the last words of David:
 “The declaration of David son of Jesse, the declaration of the man raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the pleasant singer of Israel’s songs:
23:2 The Spirit of the LORD spoke through me;
   his word was on my tongue.
23:3 The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘One who rules over people justly, who rules in the fear of God,
23:4 is like the light of morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds, like the brightness after rain that brings grass from the earth.’
23:5 Is not my house so with God?
   For he has made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in every respect and secure.
   Will he not cause all my salvation and all my desire to spring up?
23:6 But the worthless are all like thorns cast aside, for they cannot be taken by hand.
23:7 Anyone who touches them must arm himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they will be utterly burned with fire where they lie.”
23:8 These are the names of David’s mighty warriors: Josheb-basshebeth the Tahchemonite, chief of the Three. He was Adino the Eznite, who struck down eight hundred at one time.
23:9 After him was Eleazar son of Dodo, son of an Ahohite. He was one of the three mighty warriors with David when they defied the Philistines who had gathered there for battle, while the men of Israel withdrew.
23:10 He stood and struck the Philistines until his hand grew weary and clung to the sword. The LORD brought about a great victory that day, and the people returned after him only to plunder.
23:11 After him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines had gathered in a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines.
23:12 But he took his stand in the middle of the plot, defended it and struck down the Philistines. The LORD brought about a great victory.
23:13 Three of the thirty chiefs went down at harvest time and came to David at the cave of Adullam, while a troop of Philistines was camped in the Valley of Rephaim.
23:14 David was then in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was at Bethlehem.
23:15 David longed for water and said, “If only someone would give me water to drink from the well by the gate of Bethlehem!”
23:16 The three mighty warriors broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well by the gate of Bethlehem and brought it to David. But he would not drink it; he poured it out to the LORD.
23:17 He said, “Far be it from me, LORD, to do this! Is this not the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?” So he would not drink it. These things the three mighty warriors did.
23:18 Abishai, the brother of Joab, son of Zeruiah, was chief of the three. He raised his spear against three hundred and struck them down, and he had a name among the three.
23:19 He was the most honored of the three and became their commander, but he did not attain to the Three.
23:20 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, son of a valiant man, was from Kabzeel and did great deeds. He struck down two champions of Moab. He also went down and struck down a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day.
23:21 He struck down an Egyptian, a man of imposing appearance. The Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but Benaiah went down against him with a staff, seized the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear.
23:22 These things Benaiah son of Jehoiada did, and he had a name among the three mighty warriors.
23:23 He was more honored than the Thirty, but he did not attain to the Three. David put him over his bodyguard.
23:24 Asahel the brother of Joab was among the Thirty; Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem;
23:25 Shammah the Harodite; Elika the Harodite;
23:26 Helez the Paltite; Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite;
23:27 Abiezer the Anathothite; Mebunnai the Hushathite;
23:28 Zalmon the Ahohite; Maharai the Netophathite;
23:29 Heleb son of Baanah the Netophathite; Ittai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the Benjaminites;
23:30 Benaiah the Pirathonite; Hiddai from the ravines of Gaash;
23:31 Abi-albon the Arbathite; Azmaveth the Barhumite;
23:32 Eliahba the Shaalbonite; the sons of Jashen; Jonathan;
23:33 Shammah the Hararite; Ahiam son of Sharar the Hararite;
23:34 Eliphelet son of Ahasbai, son of a Maacathite; Eliam son of Ahithophel the Gilonite;
23:35 Hezrai the Carmelite; Paarai the Arbite;
23:36 Igal son of Nathan from Zobah; Bani the Gadite;
23:37 Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai the Beerothite, armor-bearer to Joab son of Zeruiah;
23:38 Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite;
23:39 Uriah the Hittite: thirty-seven in all.

Chapter 24
24:1 Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”
24:2 The king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, so that I may know the number of the people.”
24:3 Joab said to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the people a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this?”
24:4 The king’s command prevailed over Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the army commanders went out from the king’s presence to count the people of Israel.
24:5 They crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the city in the middle of the ravine of Gad, toward Jazer.
24:6 They came to Gilead and the land of Tahtim-hodshi, then to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon.
24:7 They came to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. Then they went out to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba.
24:8 They traveled through the whole land and came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
24:9 Joab gave the king the result of the count of the people. In Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand men.
24:10 David’s heart troubled him after he had counted the people. David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, LORD, please take away the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
24:11 When David rose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer:
24:12 “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I offer you three things. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’”
24:13 Gad came to David, told him the message and said, “Shall seven years of famine come upon you in your land, or three months of fleeing before your enemies as they pursue you, or three days of plague in your land? Now consider and decide what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”
24:14 David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercies are great, but let me not fall into human hands.”
24:15 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel from morning until the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men of the people died.
24:16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented concerning the disaster. He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Now withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was beside the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
24:17 When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the LORD, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and my father’s house.”
24:18 That day Gad came to David and said, “Go up and set up an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
24:19 David went up according to Gad’s word, as the LORD had commanded.
24:20 Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.
24:21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you and build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague may be stopped among the people.”
24:22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and oxen’s equipment for wood.
24:23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” Then Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”
24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I will certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for about twenty ounces of silver.
24:25 David built an altar to the LORD there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. The LORD answered the plea for the land, and the plague was stopped in Israel.

1 KINGS

Chapter 1
1:1 King David was old and advanced in years. They covered him with blankets, but he could not get warm.
1:2 His servants said to him, “Let a young virgin be found for my lord the king. Let her attend the king and care for him. She can lie in your arms so that my lord the king may be warm.”
1:3 They searched throughout the territory of Israel for a beautiful young woman. They found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king.
1:4 The young woman was very beautiful. She cared for the king and served him, but the king did not have sexual relations with her.
1:5 Adonijah son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, “I will be king.” He acquired a chariot and horsemen, with fifty men to run ahead of him.
1:6 His father had never displeased him by asking, “Why have you done this?” He was also very handsome and had been born after Absalom.
1:7 He conferred with Joab son of Zeruiah and Abiathar the priest, and they supported Adonijah.
1:8 But Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, Nathan the prophet, Shimei, Rei, and David’s mighty warriors did not side with Adonijah.
1:9 Adonijah sacrificed sheep, cattle, and fattened animals beside the stone of Zoheleth, near En-rogel. He invited all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah who served the king.
1:10 But he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Benaiah, the mighty warriors, or his brother Solomon.
1:11 Nathan said to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, “Have you not heard that Adonijah son of Haggith has become king, and our lord David does not know it?
1:12 Now come, let me advise you so that you may save your life and the life of your son Solomon.
1:13 Go in to King David and say to him, ‘My lord the king, did you not swear to your servant, “Your son Solomon will reign after me and sit on my throne”? Why, then, has Adonijah become king?’
1:14 While you are still there speaking with the king, I will come in after you and confirm your words.”
1:15 Bathsheba went in to the king in his chamber. The king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending him.
1:16 Bathsheba bowed down and paid homage to the king. The king asked, “What do you want?”
1:17 She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant by the LORD your God, ‘Your son Solomon will reign after me and sit on my throne.’
1:18 But now Adonijah has become king, and you, my lord the king, do not know it.
1:19 He has sacrificed many oxen, fattened animals, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, Abiathar the priest, and Joab the commander of the army, but he has not invited your servant Solomon.
1:20 My lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are on you, waiting for you to tell them who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
1:21 Otherwise, when my lord the king rests with his ancestors, my son Solomon and I will be counted as offenders.”
1:22 While she was still speaking with the king, Nathan the prophet arrived.
1:23 They told the king, “Nathan the prophet is here.” He came before the king and bowed with his face to the ground.
1:24 Nathan said, “My lord the king, have you said, ‘Adonijah will reign after me and sit on my throne’?
1:25 For today he has gone down and sacrificed many oxen, fattened animals, and sheep. He has invited all the king’s sons, the commanders of the army, and Abiathar the priest. They are eating and drinking in his presence and saying, ‘Long live King Adonijah!’
1:26 But he did not invite me, your servant, or Zadok the priest, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, or your servant Solomon.
1:27 Has this happened by order of my lord the king, without your letting your servant know who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?”
1:28 King David answered, “Call Bathsheba to me.” She came into the king’s presence and stood before him.
1:29 The king swore, “As the LORD lives, who has redeemed my life from every distress,
1:30 just as I swore to you by the LORD, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Your son Solomon will reign after me and sit on my throne in my place,’ so I will do this very day.”
1:31 Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king. She said, “May my lord King David live forever!”
1:32 King David said, “Call Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah son of Jehoiada to me.” They came before the king.
1:33 The king said to them, “Take your lord’s servants with you. Have my son Solomon ride on my own mule and bring him down to Gihon.
1:34 There Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet are to anoint him king over Israel. Blow the ram’s horn and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’
1:35 Then come up after him. He is to come and sit on my throne and reign in my place. I have appointed him ruler over Israel and Judah.”
1:36 Benaiah son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the LORD, the God of my lord the king, say so.
1:37 As the LORD has been with my lord the king, so may he be with Solomon and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King David.”
1:38 So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites went down. They had Solomon ride on King David’s mule and brought him to Gihon.
1:39 Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. They blew the ram’s horn, and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!”
1:40 All the people went up after him, playing flutes and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth split with the sound.
1:41 Adonijah and all his guests heard it as they finished eating. When Joab heard the sound of the ram’s horn, he asked, “Why is the city in such an uproar?”
1:42 While he was still speaking, Jonathan son of Abiathar the priest arrived. Adonijah said, “Come in! You are a worthy man and must be bringing good news.”
1:43 But Jonathan answered Adonijah, “On the contrary! Our lord King David has made Solomon king.
1:44 The king sent Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, the Cherethites, and the Pelethites with him. They had him ride on the king’s mule.
1:45 Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anointed him king at Gihon. They have come up from there rejoicing, and the city is in an uproar. That is the noise you heard.
1:46 Solomon has also taken his seat on the royal throne.
1:47 The king’s servants also came to bless our lord King David, saying, ‘May God make Solomon’s name more renowned than yours and his throne greater than yours.’ Then the king bowed on his bed.
1:48 The king also said, ‘Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who today has provided someone to sit on my throne while my own eyes see it.’”
1:49 All Adonijah’s guests were terrified. They got up and went their separate ways.
1:50 Adonijah was afraid of Solomon, so he got up, went, and took hold of the horns of the altar.
1:51 Solomon was told, “Adonijah is afraid of King Solomon. He has taken hold of the horns of the altar and says, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me today that he will not put his servant to death by the sword.’”
1:52 Solomon said, “If he proves to be a worthy man, not one of his hairs will fall to the ground. But if evil is found in him, he will die.”
1:53 King Solomon sent men to bring him down from the altar. He came and bowed before King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go home.”

Chapter 2
2:1 As the time of David’s death drew near, he gave these instructions to his son Solomon:
2:2 “I am going the way of all the earth. Be strong and show yourself a man.
2:3 Keep the charge of the LORD your God: walk in his ways and keep his statutes, commandments, judgments, and testimonies, as written in the law of Moses, so that you may act wisely in all you do and wherever you turn.
2:4 Then the LORD may fulfill the word he spoke concerning me: ‘If your sons watch their conduct and walk faithfully before me with all their heart and all their soul, you will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
2:5 You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me—what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s armies, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He killed them, shedding the blood of war in peacetime and putting the blood of war on the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.
2:6 Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to Sheol in peace.
2:7 But show faithful kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite. Let them be among those who eat at your table, for they came to my aid when I was fleeing from your brother Absalom.
2:8 You also have with you Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim. He cursed me with a bitter curse on the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the LORD, ‘I will not put you to death by the sword.’
2:9 Now do not leave him unpunished. You are a wise man and will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to Sheol in blood.”
2:10 David rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David.
2:11 David reigned over Israel for forty years: seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
2:12 Solomon took his seat on the throne of his father David, and his kingdom was firmly established.
2:13 Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come in peace?” He answered, “In peace.”
2:14 He said, “I have something to say to you.” She answered, “Speak.”
2:15 He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and all Israel looked to me to be king. But the kingdom passed to my brother, for it was his from the LORD.
2:16 Now I have just one request to make of you. Do not refuse me.” She said, “Speak.”
2:17 He said, “Please speak to King Solomon—he will not refuse you—and ask him to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”
2:18 Bathsheba said, “Very well. I will speak to the king on your behalf.”
2:19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. The king rose to meet her, bowed to her, and sat on his throne. He had a throne placed for the king’s mother, and she sat at his right.
2:20 She said, “I have one small request to make of you. Do not refuse me.” The king answered, “Ask, my mother. I will not refuse you.”
2:21 She said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as his wife.”
2:22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Why do you ask for Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Ask for the kingdom for him too, since he is my older brother—for him, Abiathar the priest, and Joab son of Zeruiah!”
2:23 Then King Solomon swore by the LORD, “May God punish me ever so severely! Adonijah has made this request at the cost of his life.
2:24 As the LORD lives, who has established me and seated me on the throne of my father David, and who has made a dynasty for me as he promised, Adonijah will be put to death this very day.”
2:25 King Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who struck Adonijah down, and he died.
2:26 To Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to your fields in Anathoth. You deserve to die, but I will not put you to death today, because you carried the ark of the Lord GOD before my father David and shared in all my father’s afflictions.”
2:27 So Solomon removed Abiathar from being the LORD’s priest, fulfilling the word the LORD had spoken at Shiloh concerning the house of Eli.
2:28 The news reached Joab. He had sided with Adonijah, though he had not sided with Absalom. Joab fled to the tent of the LORD and took hold of the horns of the altar.
2:29 King Solomon was told, “Joab has fled to the tent of the LORD and is beside the altar.” Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.”
2:30 Benaiah came to the tent of the LORD and said to him, “The king says, ‘Come out.’” But he answered, “No, I will die here.” Benaiah reported to the king, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”
2:31 The king said to him, “Do as he has said. Strike him down and bury him. So remove from me and my father’s house the guilt for the blood Joab shed without cause.
2:32 The LORD will bring his blood back on his own head, because he struck down two men more righteous and better than himself. Without my father David’s knowledge, he killed them with the sword: Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.
2:33 Their blood will come back on the head of Joab and on the heads of his descendants forever. But for David, his descendants, his house, and his throne, there will be peace from the LORD forever.”
2:34 Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck Joab down, and killed him. He was buried at his house in the wilderness.
2:35 The king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada to command the army in his place, and he appointed Zadok the priest in Abiathar’s place.
2:36 Then the king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Build yourself a house in Jerusalem and live there. Do not leave it to go anywhere else.
2:37 Know for certain that on the day you leave and cross the Kidron Valley, you will surely die. Your blood will be on your own head.”
2:38 Shimei answered the king, “The order is good. Your servant will do as my lord the king has said.” Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
2:39 At the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was told, “Your slaves are in Gath.”
2:40 Shimei got up, saddled his donkey, and went to Achish at Gath to look for his slaves. He went and brought his slaves back from Gath.
2:41 Solomon was told that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and returned.
2:42 The king sent for Shimei and said to him, “Did I not make you swear by the LORD and warn you, ‘Know for certain that on the day you leave to go anywhere else, you will surely die’? And you said to me, ‘The order is good; I have heard you.’
2:43 Why, then, have you not kept the oath sworn by the LORD or the command I gave you?”
2:44 The king also said to Shimei, “You know in your own heart all the evil you did to my father David. The LORD will bring your evil back on your own head.
2:45 But King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will be established before the LORD forever.”
2:46 The king gave the order to Benaiah son of Jehoiada. He went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hands.

Chapter 3
3:1 Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David until he finished building his own palace, the house of the LORD, and the wall around Jerusalem.
3:2 The people, however, were sacrificing at the high places, because a house for the name of the LORD had not yet been built.
3:3 Solomon loved the LORD and walked in the statutes of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
3:4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the principal high place. Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
3:5 At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask what I should give you.”
3:6 Solomon said, “You have shown great faithful love to your servant David, my father, as he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart toward you. You have kept this great faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as he does today.
3:7 Now, LORD my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a child and do not know how to conduct myself.
3:8 Your servant is among your people whom you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.
3:9 So give your servant a listening heart to judge your people and to distinguish good from evil. For who can judge this great people of yours?”
3:10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked for this.
3:11 God said to him, “Because you have asked for this, and have not asked for long life or riches for yourself, or for the lives of your enemies, but have asked for discernment to hear a case,
3:12 I will do as you have asked. I give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, and no one like you will arise after you.
3:13 I also give you what you have not asked for: both riches and honor, so that throughout your days no other king will be like you.
3:14 And if you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments as your father David did, I will prolong your life.”
3:15 Solomon awoke and realized it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and held a feast for all his servants.
3:16 Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
3:17 One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was there in the house.
3:18 On the third day after I gave birth, this woman gave birth too. We were together, with no one else in the house; only the two of us were there.
3:19 This woman’s son died during the night because she lay on him.
3:20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while I, your servant, was sleeping. She laid him in her arms and laid her dead son in mine.
3:21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, he was dead. But when I looked closely at him that morning, he was not the son I had borne.”
3:22 The other woman said, “No! The living one is my son, and the dead one is yours.” But the first said, “No! The dead one is your son, and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king.
3:23 The king said, “This one says, ‘The living child is my son, and the dead one is yours,’ and this one says, ‘No! The dead one is your son, and the living one is mine.’”
3:24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.
3:25 The king said, “Cut the living child in two, and give half to one woman and half to the other.”
3:26 The woman whose son was alive was deeply moved with compassion for her son. She said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living child! Do not kill him!” But the other said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
3:27 The king answered, “Give her the living child, and do not kill him. She is his mother.”
3:28 All Israel heard of the judgment the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to administer justice.

Chapter 4
4:1 King Solomon ruled over all Israel.
4:2 These were his officials: Azariah son of Zadok was the priest;
4:3 Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, were secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was the recorder;
4:4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada commanded the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;
4:5 Azariah son of Nathan supervised the district governors; Zabud son of Nathan was a priest and the king’s friend;
4:6 Ahishar managed the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda supervised the forced labor.
4:7 Solomon had twelve district governors over all Israel. They supplied food for the king and his household, each responsible for providing it for one month of the year.
4:8 These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;
4:9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;
4:10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth; Socoh and all the land of Hepher were under him;
4:11 Ben-abinadab, in all the region of Dor; Taphath, Solomon’s daughter, was his wife;
4:12 Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean, which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah and beyond Jokmeam;
4:13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead; under him were the villages of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead, and the region of Argob in Bashan, sixty large cities with walls and bronze bars;
4:14 Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;
4:15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali; he too had married a daughter of Solomon, Basemath;
4:16 Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Aloth;
4:17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;
4:18 Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;
4:19 Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the land of Sihon king of the Amorites and Og king of Bashan. There was one governor in that land.
4:20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea. They ate, drank, and rejoiced.
4:21 Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon throughout his life.
4:22 Solomon’s daily provisions were about 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal,
4:23 ten fattened cattle, twenty pasture-fed cattle, and a hundred sheep and goats, besides deer, gazelles, roe deer, and fattened birds.
4:24 For he ruled over all the region west of the Euphrates, from Tiphsah to Gaza, and over all the kings west of the river. He had peace on every side.
4:25 Judah and Israel lived in safety, each under his own vine and fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, throughout Solomon’s days.
4:26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls for his chariot horses and twelve thousand horsemen.
4:27 These governors supplied food for King Solomon and all who came to King Solomon’s table, each in his own month. They let nothing be lacking.
4:28 They also brought barley and straw for the horses and steeds wherever it was needed, each according to his assignment.
4:29 God gave Solomon very great wisdom and understanding, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore.
4:30 Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.
4:31 He was wiser than anyone else: wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol. His fame spread to all the surrounding nations.
4:32 He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.
4:33 He spoke about trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also spoke about animals, birds, creeping creatures, and fish.
4:34 People from all nations came to hear Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

Chapter 5
5:1 Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that Solomon had been anointed king in his father’s place, for Hiram had always been David’s friend.
5:2 Solomon sent this message to Hiram:
5:3 “You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the LORD his God because of the wars that surrounded him, until the LORD put his enemies under the soles of his feet.
5:4 But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is no adversary and no calamity.
5:5 I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD told my father David: ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, will build the house for my name.’
5:6 So order cedars from Lebanon to be cut for me. My servants will work with yours, and I will pay you whatever wages you specify for your servants. You know that none of us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
5:7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the LORD today, who has given David a wise son to rule this great people!”
5:8 Hiram sent this message to Solomon: “I have heard the message you sent me. I will do all you desire concerning cedar and cypress timber.
5:9 My servants will bring it down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you specify. I will break up the rafts there, and you can take the timber away. In return, fulfill my desire by supplying food for my household.”
5:10 So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he desired.
5:11 Solomon gave Hiram about 100,000 bushels of wheat as food for his household and about 1,000 gallons of oil from crushed olives. Solomon gave this to Hiram year after year.
5:12 The LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two made a covenant.
5:13 King Solomon conscripted a labor force from all Israel, numbering thirty thousand men.
5:14 He sent them to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month. They spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram supervised the conscripted labor.
5:15 Solomon also had seventy thousand burden bearers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hill country,
5:16 besides Solomon’s 3,300 officials who supervised the work and directed the people doing it.
5:17 At the king’s command, they quarried large, costly stones, dressed stones for laying the foundation of the house.
5:18 Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the men of Gebal cut and prepared the timber and stones to build the house.

Chapter 6
6:1 In the four hundred eightieth year after the Israelites came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, the second month, he began building the house of the LORD.
6:2 The house King Solomon built for the LORD was about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high.
6:3 The porch in front of the main hall of the house extended about 30 feet across the width of the house and projected about 15 feet in front of it.
6:4 He made windows with narrowing frames for the house.
6:5 He built a structure against the walls around the house, around both the main hall and the inner sanctuary, and made side chambers all around.
6:6 The lowest story was about 7.5 feet wide, the middle one 9 feet wide, and the third 10.5 feet wide. He had made ledges around the outside of the house so that the beams would not be inserted into its walls.
6:7 The house was built with stones finished at the quarry. No hammer, axe, or any iron tool was heard in the house while it was being built.
6:8 The entrance to the middle story of side chambers was on the right side of the house. Stairs led up to the middle story and from the middle to the third.
6:9 He built the house and finished it, roofing it with cedar beams and planks.
6:10 He built the side structure around the whole house, each story about 7.5 feet high, and attached it to the house with cedar timbers.
6:11 The word of the LORD came to Solomon:
6:12 “As for this house you are building, if you walk in my statutes, carry out my judgments, and keep all my commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill with you the word I spoke to your father David.
6:13 I will dwell among the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel.”
6:14 So Solomon built the house and finished it.
6:15 He lined the inside walls of the house with cedar boards, covering the interior with wood from the floor to the ceiling. He covered the floor of the house with cypress planks.
6:16 He partitioned off about 30 feet at the rear of the house with cedar boards from the floor to the top of the walls. He made this interior space the inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place.
6:17 The house’s main hall in front of it was about 60 feet long.
6:18 The cedar inside the house was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone could be seen.
6:19 He prepared the inner sanctuary deep within the house to place the ark of the covenant of the LORD there.
6:20 The inner sanctuary was about 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He overlaid it with pure gold and covered the altar with cedar.
6:21 Solomon overlaid the interior of the house with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold.
6:22 He overlaid the entire house with gold until the whole house was covered. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar belonging to the inner sanctuary.
6:23 In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each about 15 feet high.
6:24 One wing of a cherub was about 7.5 feet long, and the other wing was also about 7.5 feet long. From one wingtip to the other it measured about 15 feet.
6:25 The second cherub also measured about 15 feet. Both cherubim had the same dimensions and form.
6:26 One cherub was about 15 feet high, and so was the other cherub.
6:27 He placed the cherubim inside the inner room of the house, with their wings spread out. One cherub’s wing touched one wall, and the other cherub’s wing touched the other wall. Their wings toward the middle of the house touched each other, wing to wing.
6:28 He overlaid the cherubim with gold.
6:29 All around the walls of the house, in both the inner and outer rooms, he carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers.
6:30 He overlaid the floor of the house with gold, in both the inner and outer rooms.
6:31 For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and doorposts occupied a fifth of the wall.
6:32 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on the two olive-wood doors and overlaid them with gold, spreading the gold over the cherubim and palm trees.
6:33 Likewise, for the entrance to the main hall he made olive-wood doorposts occupying a fourth of the wall.
6:34 He made two doors of cypress wood. Each door had two folding leaves.
6:35 He carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them and covered them with gold fitted to the carved work.
6:36 He built the inner courtyard with three courses of dressed stone and one course of cedar beams.
6:37 In the fourth year, in the month of Ziv, the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
6:38 In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its specifications. He spent seven years building it.

Chapter 7
7:1 Solomon spent thirteen years building his own palace and completed the whole palace.
7:2 He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon, about 150 feet long, 75 feet wide, and 45 feet high, with four rows of cedar pillars and cedar beams resting on the pillars.
7:3 It was roofed with cedar above the beams resting on the pillars, forty-five beams in all, fifteen in each row.
7:4 There were three rows of window frames, with windows facing one another in three tiers.
7:5 All the doorways and doorposts had rectangular frames, and the windows faced one another in three tiers.
7:6 He made the Hall of Pillars, about 75 feet long and 45 feet wide. In front was a porch, with pillars and a canopy before it.
7:7 He made the Hall of the Throne, where he would administer justice, the Hall of Judgment. It was paneled with cedar from one side of the floor to the other.
7:8 His own residence, in another courtyard farther in from the hall, was built in the same way. He also made a house like this hall for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had married.
7:9 All these were built with costly stones, dressed to size and sawn on the inner and outer faces, from the foundation to the coping and outside as far as the great courtyard.
7:10 The foundation was laid with costly, large stones, some about 15 feet long and others about 12 feet long.
7:11 Above these were costly stones dressed to size, and cedar timber.
7:12 The great courtyard had three courses of dressed stone and one course of cedar beams all around, as did the inner courtyard of the house of the LORD and the porch of the house.
7:13 King Solomon sent for Hiram from Tyre.
7:14 He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze worker. He was filled with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge for doing every kind of work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.
7:15 He cast the two bronze pillars. One pillar was about 27 feet high, and a cord about 18 feet long encircled the second pillar.
7:16 He made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars. One capital was about 7.5 feet high, and the second capital was also about 7.5 feet high.
7:17 There were networks of latticework and cords of chainwork for the capitals on top of the pillars, seven for one capital and seven for the other.
7:18 He made the pillars, with two rows around the one network to cover the capitals above the pomegranates. He did the same for the second capital.
7:19 The capitals on top of the pillars in the porch were shaped like lilies and measured about 6 feet.
7:20 The capitals on the two pillars were also above the rounded part beside the network. There were two hundred pomegranates in rows around the second capital.
7:21 He erected the pillars at the porch of the main hall. He erected the right pillar and named it Jachin; he erected the left pillar and named it Boaz.
7:22 The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. So the work on the pillars was finished.
7:23 He made the Sea of cast metal, circular in shape, about 15 feet from rim to rim and 7.5 feet high. A cord about 45 feet long encircled it.
7:24 Gourds encircled it below its rim, ten for about every 18 inches, all the way around the Sea. The gourds were in two rows, cast as one piece with it.
7:25 It stood on twelve oxen: three facing north, three west, three south, and three east. The Sea rested above them, and all their hindquarters faced inward.
7:26 It was about 3 inches thick, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It held about 11,000 gallons.
7:27 He made ten bronze stands, each about 6 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 4.5 feet high.
7:28 This was the construction of the stands: they had panels set between frames.
7:29 On the panels between the frames were lions, oxen, and cherubim. Above the frames was a support, and below the lions and oxen were hanging wreaths.
7:30 Each stand had four bronze wheels and bronze axles. Its four corners had supports cast beneath the basin, each beside the wreaths.
7:31 Its opening rose about 18 inches inside and above the crown. The opening was round, shaped like a pedestal, about 27 inches across. There were carvings around its opening, but its panels were square, not round.
7:32 The four wheels were below the panels, and the wheel axles were attached to the stand. Each wheel was about 27 inches high.
7:33 The wheels were made like chariot wheels. Their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all cast metal.
7:34 Each stand had four supports at its four corners; its supports were part of the stand itself.
7:35 At the top of the stand was a circular rim about 9 inches high. The supports and panels on top of the stand were part of it.
7:36 He carved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the surfaces of its supports and on its panels, according to the space available, with wreaths all around.
7:37 He made all ten stands in this way. All had the same casting, dimensions, and form.
7:38 He made ten bronze basins, each holding about 220 gallons and measuring about 6 feet across. There was one basin on each of the ten stands.
7:39 He placed five stands on the right side of the house and five on its left. He placed the Sea on the right side of the house, toward the east, facing south.
7:40 Hiram made the basins, shovels, and bowls. So Hiram finished all the work he did for King Solomon for the house of the LORD:
7:41 the two pillars; the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars; and the two networks covering the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars;
7:42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network to cover the two bowl-shaped capitals above the pillars;
7:43 the ten stands and the ten basins on the stands;
7:44 the one Sea and the twelve oxen beneath the Sea;
7:45 and the pots, shovels, and bowls. All these utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon for the house of the LORD were of polished bronze.
7:46 The king had them cast in the clay ground of the Jordan plain, between Succoth and Zarethan.
7:47 Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because they were so very numerous. The weight of the bronze was not determined.
7:48 Solomon made all the furnishings for the house of the LORD: the golden altar and the golden table on which the bread of the Presence was placed;
7:49 the lampstands of pure gold, five on the right and five on the left before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold;
7:50 the dishes, wick trimmers, bowls, spoons, and firepans of pure gold; and the gold door sockets for the doors of the inner room, the Most Holy Place, and for the doors of the main hall of the house.
7:51 So all the work King Solomon did for the house of the LORD was finished. Solomon brought in the things his father David had dedicated—the silver, gold, and utensils—and put them in the treasuries of the house of the LORD.

Chapter 8
8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, and the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites before King Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion.
8:2 All the men of Israel assembled before King Solomon at the festival in the month of Ethanim, the seventh month.
8:3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
8:4 They brought up the ark of the LORD, the tent of meeting, and all the sacred utensils in the tent. The priests and Levites brought them up.
8:5 King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel assembled with him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be counted or numbered.
8:6 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place in the inner sanctuary of the house, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
8:7 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark, sheltering the ark and its poles from above.
8:8 The poles extended so far that their ends could be seen from the Holy Place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. They remain there to this day.
8:9 There was nothing in the ark except the two stone tablets Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
8:10 When the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD.
8:11 The priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

8:12 Then Solomon said,
 “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
8:13 I have indeed built you a lofty house, a settled place for you to dwell forever.”
8:14 The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.
8:15 He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who spoke with his mouth to my father David and has fulfilled with his hand what he said:
8:16 ‘From the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city from all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house for my name to be there. But I chose David to rule my people Israel.’
8:17 My father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
8:18 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Since you had it in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well to have this in your heart.
8:19 Yet you will not build the house. Your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my name.’
8:20 The LORD has fulfilled the word he spoke. I have succeeded my father David and taken my seat on the throne of Israel, as the LORD promised. I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
8:21 I have made a place there for the ark, which holds the covenant of the LORD that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of Egypt.”
8:22 Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.
8:23 He said, “LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on earth below. You keep covenant and faithful love with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
8:24 You have kept what you promised your servant David, my father. You spoke with your mouth and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.
8:25 Now, LORD, God of Israel, keep for your servant David, my father, what you promised him: ‘You will never lack a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your sons watch their conduct and walk before me as you have walked before me.’
8:26 Now, God of Israel, let the word you spoke to your servant David, my father, be confirmed.
8:27 But will God really dwell on earth? Heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you—how much less this house I have built!
8:28 Yet attend to your servant’s prayer and plea, LORD my God. Listen to the cry and the prayer your servant offers before you today.
8:29 May your eyes be open toward this house night and day, toward the place of which you said, ‘My name will be there.’ Listen to the prayer your servant prays toward this place.
8:30 Listen to the plea of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven, your dwelling place; hear and forgive.
8:31 When someone sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and the oath is brought before your altar in this house,
8:32 then hear in heaven, act, and judge your servants. Condemn the wicked, bringing his conduct back on his own head, and vindicate the righteous, giving him according to his righteousness.
8:33 When your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they return to you, acknowledge your name, and pray and plead with you in this house,
8:34 then hear in heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave their ancestors.
8:35 When the heavens are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place, acknowledge your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,
8:36 then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel. Teach them the good way in which they should walk, and send rain on your land, which you gave your people as an inheritance.
8:37 When there is famine in the land, or plague, blight, mildew, locusts, or devouring insects; when an enemy besieges them in the cities of their land; whatever plague or sickness there may be,
8:38 whatever prayer or plea is made by any person or by all your people Israel, as each knows the affliction of his own heart and spreads out his hands toward this house,
8:39 then hear in heaven, your dwelling place. Forgive, act, and give to each according to all his ways, for you know his heart. You alone know the hearts of all humanity.
8:40 Then they may fear you all the days they live in the land you gave our ancestors.
8:41 As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but comes from a distant land because of your name—
8:42 for they will hear of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when he comes and prays toward this house,
8:43 hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do all that the foreigner calls on you to do. Then all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and know that this house I have built bears your name.
8:44 When your people go out to war against their enemy, by whatever way you send them, and they pray to the LORD toward the city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,
8:45 then hear their prayer and plea in heaven, and uphold their cause.
8:46 When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy, and their captors carry them away to the enemy’s land, far or near,
8:47 if they come to their senses in the land where they have been taken captive, repent, and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, acted perversely, and done wickedly,’
8:48 and return to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the house I have built for your name,
8:49 then hear their prayer and plea in heaven, your dwelling place, and uphold their cause.
8:50 Forgive your people who have sinned against you and all the transgressions by which they have rebelled against you. Grant them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that their captors may have compassion on them.
8:51 For they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out of Egypt, out of the iron furnace.
8:52 May your eyes be open to your servant’s plea and to the plea of your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to you.
8:53 For you set them apart as your inheritance from all the peoples of the earth, as you spoke through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt, Lord GOD.”
8:54 When Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the LORD, he rose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had been kneeling with his hands spread toward heaven.
8:55 He stood and blessed the whole assembly of Israel in a loud voice:
8:56 “Blessed be the LORD, who has given rest to his people Israel according to all he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise spoken through his servant Moses.
8:57 May the LORD our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he never leave us or forsake us.
8:58 May he incline our hearts to himself, so that we walk in all his ways and keep the commandments, statutes, and judgments he gave our ancestors.
8:59 May these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near the LORD our God day and night, so that he may uphold the cause of his servant and his people Israel, as each day requires.
8:60 Then all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other.
8:61 Let your hearts be wholly devoted to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as you do today.”
8:62 The king and all Israel with him offered sacrifices before the LORD.
8:63 Solomon offered peace offerings to the LORD: twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. So the king and all the Israelites dedicated the house of the LORD.
8:64 That day the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard in front of the house of the LORD. There he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar before the LORD was too small to hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the peace offerings.
8:65 At that time Solomon celebrated the festival, and all Israel with him, a great assembly from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt, before the LORD our God, for seven days and another seven days, fourteen days in all.
8:66 On the eighth day he sent the people away. They blessed the king and went to their tents, joyful and glad of heart for all the good the LORD had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

Chapter 9
9:1 When Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD, the royal palace, and everything else he desired to make,
9:2 the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
9:3 The LORD said to him, “I have heard your prayer and the plea you made before me. I have consecrated this house you have built, to put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there always.
9:4 As for you, if you walk before me as your father David did, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and judgments,
9:5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: ‘You will never lack a man on the throne of Israel.’
9:6 But if you and your sons turn away from following me and do not keep the commandments and statutes I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and bow down to them,
9:7 then I will cut Israel off from the land I have given them, and I will cast out of my presence this house I consecrated for my name. Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
9:8 Though this house is lofty, everyone who passes by it will be appalled and hiss. They will ask, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and this house?’
9:9 They will answer, ‘Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and clung to other gods, bowing down to them and serving them. That is why the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.’”
9:10 At the end of the twenty years in which Solomon built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the royal palace,
9:11 King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee. Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with all the cedar timber, cypress timber, and gold he desired.
9:12 Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him, but they did not please him.
9:13 He said, “What are these towns you have given me, my brother?” He called them the land of Cabul, as they are called to this day.
9:14 Hiram had sent the king about 9,000 pounds of gold.
9:15 This is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the house of the LORD, his own palace, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
9:16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, captured Gezer, and burned it with fire. He killed the Canaanites living in the city and gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
9:17 Solomon rebuilt Gezer and Lower Beth-horon,
9:18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,
9:19 as well as all Solomon’s storage cities, the cities for his chariots and horsemen, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and all the land he ruled.
9:20 As for all the people remaining from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites—
9:21 their descendants who remained in the land after them, whom the Israelites had been unable to destroy completely—Solomon conscripted them for forced labor, as they remain to this day.
9:22 But Solomon made no Israelites slaves. They were his soldiers, servants, officials, officers, and commanders of his chariots and horsemen.
9:23 Solomon’s chief officials in charge of the work numbered five hundred fifty. They directed the people doing the work.
9:24 Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to the house he had built for her. Then he built the Millo.
9:25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD. He also burned incense on the altar before the LORD. So he completed the house.
9:26 King Solomon built a fleet at Ezion-geber, near Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.
9:27 Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, sailors who knew the sea, alongside Solomon’s servants.
9:28 They went to Ophir, obtained about 16 tons of gold there, and brought it to King Solomon.

Chapter 10
10:1 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame in connection with the name of the LORD, she came to test him with difficult questions.
10:2 She arrived in Jerusalem with a very large retinue, with camels carrying spices, a great amount of gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything on her heart.
10:3 Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.
10:4 When the queen of Sheba saw all Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built,
10:5 the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their clothing, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at the house of the LORD, she was left breathless.
10:6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom was true.
10:7 But I did not believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Not even half was told me! Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report I heard.
10:8 How happy your men are! How happy these servants of yours are, who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom!
10:9 Blessed be the LORD your God, who delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because of the LORD’s everlasting love for Israel, he has made you king to administer justice and righteousness.”
10:10 She gave the king about 9,000 pounds of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such an abundance of spices arrive as the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
10:11 Hiram’s fleet, which carried gold from Ophir, also brought a great quantity of almug wood and precious stones from Ophir.
10:12 From the almug wood the king made supports for the house of the LORD and the royal palace, as well as lyres and harps for the singers. No almug wood like it has arrived or been seen again to this day.
10:13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she desired and asked for, besides what he gave her out of King Solomon’s royal generosity. Then she and her servants returned to her own land.
10:14 The weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was about 25 tons,
10:15 besides what came from the traveling traders and the trade of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land.
10:16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold, using about 15 pounds of gold for each shield.
10:17 He also made three hundred smaller shields of hammered gold, using nearly 4 pounds of gold for each shield. The king placed them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
10:18 The king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold.
10:19 The throne had six steps, and the top of its back was rounded. There were armrests on both sides of the seat, with two lions standing beside the armrests.
10:20 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, on either side. Nothing like it had been made in any kingdom.
10:21 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. None were silver, for silver was considered of no value in Solomon’s days.
10:22 For the king had a fleet of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish came, carrying gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.
10:23 King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in wealth and wisdom.
10:24 The whole earth sought an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.
10:25 Each brought his gift: articles of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, year after year.
10:26 Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. He had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. He stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
10:27 The king made silver as plentiful as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as abundant as the sycamore fig trees in the foothills.
10:28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king’s merchants bought them from Kue at a price.
10:29 A chariot was imported from Egypt for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for a hundred fifty. Through these merchants they were also exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Chapter 11
11:1 King Solomon loved many foreign women along with Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women.
11:2 They were from the nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, nor they with you, for they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Yet Solomon clung to them in love.
11:3 He had seven hundred wives of royal rank and three hundred concubines, and his wives turned his heart away.
11:4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods. His heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of his father David had been.
11:5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.
11:6 Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD and did not follow the LORD fully, as his father David had.
11:7 Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the hill facing Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites.
11:8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods.
11:9 The LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice
11:10 and had commanded him not to follow other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD had commanded.
11:11 The LORD said to Solomon, “Because you have done this and have not kept my covenant and the statutes I commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
11:12 Yet I will not do this during your lifetime, for the sake of your father David. I will tear it from your son’s hand.
11:13 But I will not tear away the whole kingdom. I will give your son one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen.”
11:14 The LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite, who was of the royal family of Edom.
11:15 When David was in Edom, Joab the army commander went up to bury the slain and struck down every male in Edom.
11:16 For Joab and all Israel remained there six months, until he had cut off every male in Edom.
11:17 But Hadad fled to Egypt, with some Edomites who were his father’s servants. Hadad was then a little child.
11:18 They left Midian and came to Paran. Taking men from Paran with them, they went to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave Hadad a house, assigned him food, and gave him land.
11:19 Hadad found great favor in Pharaoh’s sight, and Pharaoh gave him the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes, as his wife.
11:20 Tahpenes’ sister bore him his son Genubath. Tahpenes weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived in Pharaoh’s palace among Pharaoh’s sons.
11:21 While in Egypt, Hadad heard that David had rested with his ancestors and that Joab the army commander was dead. Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me go, so that I may return to my own land.”
11:22 Pharaoh asked him, “What have you lacked with me that you now want to go to your own land?” He answered, “Nothing, but please let me go.”
11:23 God also raised up an adversary against Solomon, Rezon son of Eliada, who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah.
11:24 He gathered men around him and became leader of a band when David killed the men of Zobah. They went to Damascus, settled there, and ruled in Damascus.
11:25 He was an adversary of Israel throughout Solomon’s days, besides the trouble Hadad caused. He detested Israel and ruled over Aram.
11:26 Jeroboam son of Nebat, an Ephraimite from Zeredah and a servant of Solomon, also rebelled against the king. His mother’s name was Zeruah, and she was a widow.
11:27 This is the account of his rebellion against the king: Solomon built the Millo and closed the breach in the city of his father David.
11:28 Jeroboam was a capable man. When Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he put him in charge of all the forced labor of the house of Joseph.
11:29 At that time, as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh met him on the road. Ahijah was wearing a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the countryside.
11:30 Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into twelve pieces.
11:31 He said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom from Solomon’s hand and give you ten tribes.
11:32 But he will have one tribe for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.
11:33 This is because they have forsaken me and bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my ways, doing what is right in my sight and keeping my statutes and judgments, as his father David did.
11:34 Yet I will not take the whole kingdom from his hand. I will keep him as ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commandments and statutes.
11:35 But I will take the kingdom from his son’s hand and give you the ten tribes.
11:36 I will give his son one tribe, so that my servant David may always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen for myself to put my name there.
11:37 I will take you, and you will reign over all you desire. You will be king over Israel.
11:38 If you listen to all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight, keeping my statutes and commandments as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a secure dynasty, as I built for David, and give Israel to you.
11:39 I will afflict David’s descendants because of this, but not forever.’”
11:40 Solomon sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt. He remained in Egypt until Solomon’s death.
11:41 The rest of Solomon’s acts, all he did, and his wisdom—are they not written in the Book of the Acts of Solomon?
11:42 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.
11:43 Solomon rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Chapter 12
12:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
12:2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it, he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Jeroboam was living in Egypt.
12:3 They sent for him, and Jeroboam came with the whole assembly of Israel. They said to Rehoboam,
12:4 “Your father made our yoke oppressive. Now ease the harsh service and lighten the heavy yoke your father imposed on us, and we will serve you.”
12:5 He told them, “Go away for three days, then return to me.” So the people went away.
12:6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon while he was alive. He asked, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
12:7 They said to him, “If today you will be a servant to these people, serve them, answer them, and speak kindly to them, they will be your servants always.”
12:8 But he rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
12:9 He asked them, “What do you advise? How should we answer these people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father imposed on us’?”
12:10 The young men who had grown up with him said, “Tell these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy; now lighten it for us,’ this: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!
12:11 My father loaded you with a heavy yoke; I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips; I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
12:12 Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said, “Return to me on the third day.”
12:13 The king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him
12:14 and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy; I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips; I will discipline you with scorpions.”
12:15 So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah of Shiloh.
12:16 When all Israel saw that the king would not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse! To your tents, Israel! Look after your own house now, David!” So Israel went to their tents.
12:17 But Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.
12:18 King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who supervised the forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam hurried to get into his chariot and flee to Jerusalem.
12:19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
12:20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent for him to come to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.
12:21 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, a hundred eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight the house of Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
12:22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
12:23 “Tell Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, all the house of Judah and Benjamin, and the rest of the people,
12:24 ‘This is what the LORD says: You must not go up and fight your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you must return home, for this has come from me.’” They listened to the word of the LORD and returned home, according to the word of the LORD.
12:25 Jeroboam rebuilt Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and rebuilt Penuel.
12:26 Jeroboam said in his heart, “Now the kingdom will return to the house of David.
12:27 If these people go up to offer sacrifices at the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, their hearts will return to their lord, Rehoboam king of Judah. They will kill me and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.”
12:28 So the king took counsel and made two golden calves. He said to the people, “It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, Israel, who brought you up from Egypt!”
12:29 He placed one in Bethel and the other in Dan.
12:30 This became a sin, for the people went as far as Dan to appear before one of them.
12:31 He made a shrine for the high places and appointed priests from among the people who were not descendants of Levi.
12:32 Jeroboam instituted a festival on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, like the festival in Judah, and went up to the altar. He did this in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves he had made. He stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places he had made.
12:33 He went up to the altar he had made in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, a month he had devised in his own heart. He instituted a festival for the Israelites and went up to the altar to burn incense.

Chapter 13
13:1 A man of God came from Judah to Bethel by the word of the LORD, while Jeroboam stood beside the altar to burn incense.
13:2 He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD: “Altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son will be born to the house of David, Josiah by name. He will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and they will burn human bones on you.’”
13:3 That same day he gave a sign, saying, “This is the sign the LORD has spoken: the altar will split apart, and the ashes on it will spill out.”
13:4 When the king heard the word the man of God proclaimed against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Seize him!” But the hand he stretched out against him withered, and he could not draw it back.
13:5 The altar split apart, and the ashes spilled from the altar, according to the sign the man of God had given by the word of the LORD.
13:6 The king said to the man of God, “Please seek the favor of the LORD your God and pray for me, so that my hand may be restored.” The man of God sought the LORD’s favor, and the king’s hand was restored, becoming as it had been before.
13:7 The king said to the man of God, “Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a gift.”
13:8 But the man of God answered the king, “Even if you gave me half your house, I would not go with you. I will not eat bread or drink water in this place,
13:9 for I was commanded by the word of the LORD, ‘You must not eat bread or drink water, or return by the way you came.’”
13:10 So he went another way and did not return by the way he had come to Bethel.
13:11 An old prophet lived in Bethel. His son came and told him everything the man of God had done that day in Bethel. They also told their father the words he had spoken to the king.
13:12 Their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons had seen the way taken by the man of God who came from Judah.
13:13 He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled the donkey for him, and he mounted it.
13:14 He went after the man of God and found him sitting under the terebinth tree. He asked, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” He answered, “I am.”
13:15 He said to him, “Come home with me and eat bread.”
13:16 But he answered, “I cannot return with you or go in with you. I will not eat bread or drink water with you in this place,
13:17 for I was told by the word of the LORD, ‘You must not eat bread or drink water there, or return by the way you came.’”
13:18 The other said to him, “I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, so that he may eat bread and drink water.’” But he was lying to him.
13:19 So the man of God went back with him, ate bread in his house, and drank water.
13:20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of the LORD came to the prophet who had brought him back.
13:21 He cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD and have not kept the command the LORD your God gave you,
13:22 but have returned and eaten bread and drunk water in the place where he told you, “You must not eat bread or drink water,” your body will not come to the tomb of your ancestors.’”
13:23 After he had eaten bread and drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back.
13:24 The man went on his way, and a lion met him on the road and killed him. His body lay thrown on the road, with the donkey standing beside it and the lion standing beside the body.
13:25 Men passing by saw the body thrown on the road and the lion standing beside the body. They went and reported it in the city where the old prophet lived.
13:26 When the prophet who had brought him back from the road heard it, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the word of the LORD. The LORD has handed him over to the lion, which mauled him and killed him, according to the word the LORD spoke to him.”
13:27 He said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled it.
13:28 He went and found his body thrown on the road, with the donkey and the lion standing beside it. The lion had not eaten the body or mauled the donkey.
13:29 The prophet lifted the body of the man of God, laid it on the donkey, and brought it back. The old prophet came to the city to mourn him and bury him.
13:30 He laid the body in his own tomb, and they mourned him, saying, “Alas, my brother!”
13:31 After burying him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the tomb where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones,
13:32 for the word he proclaimed by the word of the LORD against the altar at Bethel and against all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria will surely come to pass.”
13:33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way. He again appointed priests of the high places from among the people. He ordained anyone who wished, and that person became a priest of the high places.
13:34 This became sin for the house of Jeroboam, leading to its elimination and destruction from the face of the earth.

Chapter 14
14:1 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam became ill.
14:2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Please get up and disguise yourself, so that no one will recognize you as Jeroboam’s wife. Go to Shiloh. Ahijah the prophet is there; he told me I would be king over this people.
14:3 Take ten loaves, some cakes, and a flask of honey with you, and go to him. He will tell you what will happen to the boy.”
14:4 Jeroboam’s wife did so. She went to Shiloh and came to Ahijah’s house. Ahijah could no longer see, for his eyes had grown dim with age.
14:5 The LORD had told Ahijah, “Jeroboam’s wife is coming to consult you about her son, for he is ill. You are to tell her such and such. When she arrives, she will pretend to be someone else.”
14:6 When Ahijah heard her footsteps as she came through the doorway, he said, “Come in, Jeroboam’s wife. Why are you pretending to be someone else? I have been sent to you with a hard message.
14:7 Go and tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I raised you up from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.
14:8 I tore the kingdom away from the house of David and gave it to you. But you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only what was right in my sight.
14:9 You have done more evil than all who were before you. You have gone and made yourself other gods and cast images to provoke me to anger, and you have thrown me behind your back.
14:10 Therefore I am bringing calamity on the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off every male belonging to Jeroboam in Israel, whether slave or free. I will sweep away the house of Jeroboam as dung is swept away until it is all gone.
14:11 Dogs will eat anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat anyone who dies in the countryside, for the LORD has spoken.’
14:12 Now get up and go home. When your feet enter the city, the child will die.
14:13 All Israel will mourn him and bury him. He alone of Jeroboam’s house will receive burial, because in him, in the house of Jeroboam, something good toward the LORD, the God of Israel, has been found.
14:14 The LORD will raise up for himself a king over Israel who will cut off the house of Jeroboam this very day—indeed, even now!
14:15 The LORD will strike Israel, shaking it like a reed in the water. He will uproot Israel from this good land he gave their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they have made their Asherah poles, provoking the LORD to anger.
14:16 He will give Israel up because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit.”
14:17 Jeroboam’s wife got up and left. She came to Tirzah, and as she crossed the threshold of the house, the boy died.
14:18 They buried him, and all Israel mourned him, according to the word the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah the prophet.
14:19 The rest of Jeroboam’s acts, how he fought and how he reigned, are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
14:20 Jeroboam reigned for twenty-two years. He rested with his ancestors, and his son Nadab reigned in his place.
14:21 Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.
14:22 Judah did evil in the sight of the LORD. By the sins they committed, they provoked him to jealousy more than all their ancestors had done.
14:23 They too built high places, sacred pillars, and Asherah poles for themselves on every high hill and under every flourishing tree.
14:24 There were also male cult prostitutes in the land. They practiced all the abominations of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
14:25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem.
14:26 He took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
14:27 King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and entrusted them to the commanders of the guards who watched the entrance to the royal palace.
14:28 Whenever the king went to the house of the LORD, the guards carried the shields, then returned them to the guardroom.
14:29 The rest of Rehoboam’s acts and all he did—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
14:30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.
14:31 Rehoboam rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the City of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Abijam reigned in his place.

Chapter 15
15:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam son of Nebat, Abijam became king over Judah.
15:2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
15:3 He walked in all the sins his father had committed before him. His heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of his ancestor David had been.
15:4 Yet for David’s sake the LORD his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem, raising up his son after him and establishing Jerusalem.
15:5 For David had done what was right in the sight of the LORD and had not turned aside from anything he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.
15:6 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life.
15:7 The rest of Abijam’s acts and all he did—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam.
15:8 Abijam rested with his ancestors, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Asa reigned in his place.
15:9 In the twentieth year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Asa became king of Judah.
15:10 He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah daughter of Abishalom.
15:11 Asa did what was right in the sight of the LORD, as his ancestor David had.
15:12 He expelled the male cult prostitutes from the land and removed all the idols his ancestors had made.
15:13 He also removed his mother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made an abominable image for Asherah. Asa cut down her abominable image and burned it at the Kidron Brook.
15:14 But the high places were not removed. Nevertheless, Asa’s heart was wholly devoted to the LORD all his days.
15:15 He brought into the house of the LORD the things his father had dedicated and his own dedicated things: silver, gold, and utensils.
15:16 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
15:17 Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.
15:18 Asa took all the silver and gold remaining in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the royal palace, and entrusted them to his servants. King Asa sent them to Ben-hadad son of Tabrimmon, son of Hezion, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, with this message:
15:19 “There is a covenant between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. I have sent you a bribe of silver and gold. Go, break your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, so that he will withdraw from me.”
15:20 Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel. He struck Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, along with all the land of Naphtali.
15:21 When Baasha heard of it, he stopped fortifying Ramah and stayed in Tirzah.
15:22 King Asa summoned all Judah, with no one exempt. They carried away the stones and timber Baasha had used to build Ramah. With them King Asa fortified Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah.
15:23 The rest of all Asa’s acts, all his mighty deeds, all he did, and the cities he built—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? In his old age, however, his feet became diseased.
15:24 Asa rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoshaphat reigned in his place.
15:25 Nadab son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah. He reigned over Israel two years.
15:26 He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in his father’s way and in the sin by which his father had caused Israel to sin.
15:27 Baasha son of Ahijah, of the house of Issachar, conspired against him. Baasha struck him down at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines, while Nadab and all Israel were besieging Gibbethon.
15:28 Baasha killed him in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place.
15:29 As soon as he became king, he struck down the whole house of Jeroboam. He left no one belonging to Jeroboam alive, until he had destroyed the house, according to the word the LORD had spoken through his servant Ahijah of Shiloh.
15:30 This was because of the sins Jeroboam committed and caused Israel to commit, and the provocation by which he had provoked the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger.
15:31 The rest of Nadab’s acts and all he did—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
15:32 There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.
15:33 In the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahijah became king over all Israel in Tirzah. He reigned twenty-four years.
15:34 He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in Jeroboam’s way and in the sin by which Jeroboam had caused Israel to sin.

Chapter 16
16:1 The word of the LORD came to Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha:
16:2 “I raised you up from the dust and made you ruler over my people Israel. But you have walked in Jeroboam’s way and caused my people Israel to sin, provoking me to anger with their sins.
16:3 Now I am sweeping away every remnant of Baasha and his house. I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat.
16:4 Dogs will eat anyone belonging to Baasha who dies in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat anyone belonging to him who dies in the countryside.”
16:5 The rest of Baasha’s acts, what he did, and his mighty deeds—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
16:6 Baasha rested with his ancestors and was buried in Tirzah. His son Elah reigned in his place.
16:7 The word of the LORD also came through the prophet Jehu son of Hanani against Baasha and his house, because of all the evil he had done in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger with the work of his hands and becoming like the house of Jeroboam, and because he had struck down that house.
16:8 In the twenty-sixth year of Asa king of Judah, Elah son of Baasha became king over Israel in Tirzah. He reigned two years.
16:9 His servant Zimri, commander of half his chariots, conspired against him. Elah was in Tirzah, drinking himself drunk in the house of Arza, who managed the palace in Tirzah.
16:10 Zimri came in, struck him down, and killed him in the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah. He reigned in his place.
16:11 As soon as he became king and sat on his throne, he struck down the whole house of Baasha. He left no male belonging to him alive, nor any of his relatives or friends.
16:12 So Zimri destroyed the whole house of Baasha according to the word the LORD had spoken against Baasha through Jehu the prophet,
16:13 because of all the sins of Baasha and his son Elah, which they committed and caused Israel to commit, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.
16:14 The rest of Elah’s acts and all he did—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
16:15 In the twenty-seventh year of Asa king of Judah, Zimri reigned seven days in Tirzah. The army was encamped against Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines.
16:16 The army in the camp heard that Zimri had conspired and killed the king. That very day in the camp, all Israel made Omri, the army commander, king over Israel.
16:17 Omri went up from Gibbethon with all Israel, and they besieged Tirzah.
16:18 When Zimri saw that the city had been captured, he went into the citadel of the royal palace and burned the palace down over himself. So he died,
16:19 because of the sins he had committed, doing evil in the sight of the LORD, walking in Jeroboam’s way and in the sin he had committed, causing Israel to sin.
16:20 The rest of Zimri’s acts and the conspiracy he plotted—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
16:21 Then the people of Israel divided into two groups. Half the people followed Tibni son of Ginath to make him king, and half followed Omri.
16:22 But the people following Omri prevailed over those following Tibni son of Ginath. Tibni died, and Omri became king.
16:23 In the thirty-first year of Asa king of Judah, Omri became king over Israel. He reigned twelve years, six of them in Tirzah.
16:24 He bought the hill of Samaria from Shemer for about 150 pounds of silver and built on the hill. He named the city he built Samaria, after Shemer, the owner of the hill.
16:25 Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD, doing more evil than all who were before him.
16:26 He walked in all the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat and in the sin by which Jeroboam had caused Israel to sin, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger with their worthless idols.
16:27 The rest of Omri’s acts, what he did, and the mighty deeds he performed—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
16:28 Omri rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria. His son Ahab reigned in his place.
16:29 Ahab son of Omri became king over Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa king of Judah. Ahab son of Omri reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-two years.
16:30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the sight of the LORD than all who were before him.
16:31 As if walking in the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat were a trivial thing, he married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and bowed down to him.
16:32 He erected an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal he had built in Samaria.
16:33 Ahab made an Asherah pole. Ahab did more to provoke the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel before him.
16:34 In his days Hiel of Bethel rebuilt Jericho. He laid its foundation at the cost of Abiram his firstborn and set up its gates at the cost of Segub his youngest, according to the word the LORD had spoken through Joshua son of Nun.

Chapter 17
17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, one of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain these years except at my word.”
17:2 The word of the LORD came to him:
17:3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide by the Cherith Brook, facing the Jordan.
17:4 You will drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
17:5 He went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the Cherith Brook, facing the Jordan.
17:6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
17:7 After a time the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
17:8 The word of the LORD came to him:
17:9 “Get up, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and live there. I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
17:10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he came to the city gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, “Please bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.”
17:11 As she went to get it, he called to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand too.”
17:12 She said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have no cake of bread, only a handful of flour in the jar and a little oil in the jug. I am gathering two sticks so that I can go and prepare it for myself and my son. We will eat it and die.”
17:13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from it and bring it out to me. Afterward make something for yourself and your son.
17:14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not run out, and the jug of oil will not fail, until the day the LORD sends rain on the ground.’”
17:15 She went and did as Elijah said. She, Elijah, and her household ate for days.
17:16 The jar of flour did not run out, and the jug of oil did not fail, according to the word the LORD had spoken through Elijah.
17:17 After these things, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. His illness grew so severe that no breath remained in him.
17:18 She said to Elijah, “What have you to do with me, man of God? Have you come to bring my guilt to remembrance and cause my son’s death?”
17:19 He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed.
17:20 He cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, have you also brought calamity on the widow with whom I am staying by causing her son’s death?”
17:21 He stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “LORD my God, please let this child’s life return within him.”
17:22 The LORD heard Elijah’s voice. The child’s life returned within him, and he revived.
17:23 Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upstairs room into the house, and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “Look, your son is alive!”
17:24 The 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.”

Chapter 18
18:1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the ground.”
18:2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. The famine was severe in Samaria.
18:3 Ahab called Obadiah, who managed the palace. Obadiah feared the LORD greatly.
18:4 When Jezebel was cutting off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in caves, fifty in each, supplying them with bread and water.
18:5 Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and all the brooks. Perhaps we can find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, so that we do not lose the livestock.”
18:6 They divided the land between them to travel through it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.
18:7 As Obadiah was on the road, Elijah met him. He recognized him, fell facedown, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?”
18:8 He answered, “It is I. Go, tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”
18:9 But he said, “How have I sinned, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to have me killed?
18:10 As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent to look for you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he made the kingdom or nation swear that they could not find you.
18:11 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’
18:12 When I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you somewhere I do not know. If I go and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. Yet I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth.
18:13 Has my lord not been told what I did when Jezebel was killing the prophets of the LORD? I hid a hundred of the LORD’s prophets in caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with bread and water.
18:14 And now you say, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here.”’ He will kill me!”
18:15 Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today.”
18:16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
18:17 When Ahab saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?”
18:18 He answered, “I have not brought trouble on Israel. You and your father’s house have, by forsaking the LORD’s commandments, and you have followed the Baals.
18:19 Now send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, along with the four hundred fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
18:20 So Ahab sent throughout all Israel and gathered the prophets at Mount Carmel.
18:21 Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you keep limping between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.
18:22 Elijah said to the people, “I alone am left as a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets number four hundred fifty.
18:23 Let two bulls be given to us. Let them choose one bull, cut it in pieces, and place it on the wood, but set no fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and place it on the wood, but set no fire to it.
18:24 You call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD. The God who answers by fire is God.” All the people answered, “The proposal is good.”
18:25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one bull and prepare it first, for you are many. Call on the name of your god, but set no fire to it.”
18:26 They took the bull given to them, prepared it, and called on the name of Baal from morning until noon, saying, “Baal, answer us!” But there was no voice and no answer. They limped around the altar that had been made.
18:27 At noon Elijah mocked them: “Cry louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is asleep and must be awakened.”
18:28 They cried aloud and cut themselves with swords and spears according to their custom, until blood flowed over them.
18:29 After noon passed, they continued prophesying until the time of the offering. But there was no voice, no answer, and no attention.
18:30 Elijah said to all the people, “Come near me.” All the people came near him, and he repaired the altar of the LORD that had been torn down.
18:31 Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word of the LORD had come, saying, “Israel will be your name.”
18:32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the LORD and made a trench around the altar with room for about 13 quarts of seed.
18:33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull in pieces, and placed it on the wood.
18:34 He said, “Fill four jars with water and pour it over the burnt offering and the wood.” Then he said, “Do it a second time,” and they did it a second time. He said, “Do it a third time,” and they did it a third time.
18:35 The water flowed around the altar, and he also filled the trench with water.
18:36 At the time of the offering, Elijah the prophet approached and said, “LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel, that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word.
18:37 Answer me, LORD, answer me, so that these people may know that you, LORD, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.”
18:38 Then the fire of the LORD fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water in the trench.
18:39 When all the people saw it, they fell facedown and said, “The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!”
18:40 Elijah said to them, “Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!” They seized them, and Elijah brought them down to the Kishon Brook and slaughtered them there.
18:41 Elijah said to Ahab, “Go up, eat and drink, for there is the sound of a downpour.”
18:42 Ahab went up to eat and drink. Elijah went up to the summit of Carmel, bent down to the ground, and put his face between his knees.
18:43 He said to his servant, “Please go up and look toward the sea.” He went up, looked, and said, “There is nothing.” “Go back,” he said seven times.
18:44 On the seventh time he said, “A small cloud like a man’s palm is rising from the sea.” Elijah said, “Go up and tell Ahab, ‘Harness the chariot and go down, so that the rain does not stop you.’”
18:45 Meanwhile the sky grew dark with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. Ahab rode away to Jezreel.
18:46 The hand of the LORD was on Elijah. He fastened his clothing at the waist and ran ahead of Ahab as far as the entrance to Jezreel.

Chapter 19
19:1 Ahab told Jezebel everything Elijah had done and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
19:2 Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “May the gods punish me ever so severely if, by this time tomorrow, I have not made your life like the life of one of them.”
19:3 When he saw this, he got up and fled for his life. He came to Beersheba in Judah and left his servant there.
19:4 He himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, came to a broom bush, and sat beneath it. He asked to die, saying, “It is enough! Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
19:5 He lay down and slept beneath a broom bush. An angel touched him and said, “Get up and eat.”
19:6 He looked, and there by his head were a cake of bread baked on hot stones and a jug of water. He ate and drank, then lay down again.
19:7 The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, for the journey is too much for you.”
19:8 He got up, ate, and drank. In the strength of that food he traveled forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
19:9 There he entered the cave and spent the night. The word of the LORD came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
19:10 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. The Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life.”
19:11 He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD.” Then the LORD was passing by. A great, powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind came an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake.
19:12 After the earthquake came fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice.
19:13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak, went out, and stood at the entrance to the cave. A voice came to him and said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
19:14 He answered, “I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. The Israelites have forsaken your covenant, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking to take my life.”
19:15 The LORD said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. When you arrive, anoint Hazael king over Aram.
19:16 Anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.
19:17 Jehu will kill anyone who escapes Hazael’s sword, and Elisha will kill anyone who escapes Jehu’s sword.
19:18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.”
19:19 He departed from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat plowing. Twelve teams of oxen were before him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak over him.
19:20 Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother, and then I will follow you.” He answered, “Go back, for what have I done to you?”
19:21 Elisha turned back from following him, took the team of oxen, and slaughtered them. He used the oxen’s equipment as fuel to cook their meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he got up, followed Elijah, and served him.

Chapter 20
20:1 Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered his whole army, with thirty-two kings, horses, and chariots. He went up, besieged Samaria, and fought against it.
20:2 He sent messengers into the city to Ahab king of Israel.
20:3 He told him, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘Your silver and gold are mine, and your wives and finest children are mine.’”
20:4 The king of Israel answered, “As you say, my lord the king. I and all I have are yours.”
20:5 The messengers returned and said, “This is what Ben-hadad says: ‘I sent you word, saying, “You must give me your silver, gold, wives, and children.”
20:6 But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they will search your house and your servants’ houses. They will lay hands on everything precious in your eyes and take it away.’”
20:7 The king of Israel called all the elders of the land and said, “Please take note and see that this man seeks harm. He sent to me for my wives, children, silver, and gold, and I did not refuse him.”
20:8 All the elders and all the people told him, “Do not listen or consent.”
20:9 He told Ben-hadad’s messengers, “Tell my lord the king, ‘I will do all you first demanded of your servant, but I cannot do this.’” The messengers left and brought him the answer.
20:10 Ben-hadad sent him this message: “May the gods punish me ever so severely if Samaria’s dust is enough for a handful for each of the people following me.”
20:11 The king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘One who puts on armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’”
20:12 When Ben-hadad heard this message, he and the kings were drinking in the shelters. He told his servants, “Take your positions!” So they took their positions against the city.
20:13 A prophet approached Ahab king of Israel and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Have you seen this whole great multitude? Today I will give it into your hand, and you will know that I am the LORD.’”
20:14 Ahab asked, “Through whom?” He answered, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Through the young attendants of the provincial governors.’” Ahab asked, “Who will begin the battle?” He answered, “You.”
20:15 He mustered the young attendants of the provincial governors, and they numbered two hundred thirty-two. After them he mustered all the people, all the Israelites, seven thousand.
20:16 They went out at noon, while Ben-hadad was drinking himself drunk in the shelters with the thirty-two kings who were helping him.
20:17 The young attendants of the provincial governors went out first. Ben-hadad sent men out, and they reported to him, “Men have come out of Samaria.”
20:18 He said, “If they have come out for peace, take them alive. If they have come out for war, take them alive.”
20:19 So the young attendants of the provincial governors and the army following them came out of the city.
20:20 Each struck down his opponent. The Arameans fled, and Israel pursued them. Ben-hadad king of Aram escaped on horseback with horsemen.
20:21 The king of Israel went out and struck the horses and chariots, inflicting a great defeat on the Arameans.
20:22 The prophet approached the king of Israel and said, “Go, strengthen yourself and consider carefully what you must do, for at the turn of the year the king of Aram will come up against you.”
20:23 The servants of the king of Aram said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills; that is why they were stronger than we were. But let us fight them on the plain, and we will surely be stronger than they are.
20:24 Do this: remove each king from his position and put governors in their places.
20:25 Muster an army like the army you lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. We will fight them on the plain and surely be stronger than they are.” He listened to them and did so.
20:26 At the turn of the year, Ben-hadad mustered the Arameans and went up to Aphek to fight Israel.
20:27 The Israelites were mustered, supplied with provisions, and went out to meet them. They camped opposite them like two small flocks of goats, while the Arameans filled the land.
20:28 The man of God approached the king of Israel and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because the Arameans have said, “The LORD is a God of the hills, but he is not a God of the valleys,” I will give this whole great multitude into your hand, and you will all know that I am the LORD.’”
20:29 They camped opposite one another for seven days. On the seventh day battle was joined, and the Israelites struck down a hundred thousand Aramean foot soldiers in one day.
20:30 The survivors fled into the city of Aphek, and the wall fell on twenty-seven thousand of the men who remained. Ben-hadad fled into the city and entered an inner room.
20:31 His servants said to him, “We have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads, and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.”
20:32 They tied sackcloth around their waists and put ropes on their heads. They came to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please let me live.’” He answered, “Is he still alive? He is my brother!”
20:33 The men were watching for a favorable sign and quickly seized on his words. They said, “Your brother Ben-hadad!” He said, “Go and bring him.” Ben-hadad came out to him, and Ahab brought him up into the chariot.
20:34 Ben-hadad said to him, “I will restore the cities my father took from your father, and you may establish trading quarters in Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” Ahab said, “I will release you under a covenant.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.
20:35 One of the company of prophets said to his companion by the word of the LORD, “Please strike me.” But the man refused to strike him.
20:36 He said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a lion will strike you down when you leave me.” When he left him, a lion found him and struck him down.
20:37 The prophet found another man and said, “Please strike me.” The man struck him and wounded him.
20:38 Then the prophet went and waited for the king beside the road. He disguised himself with a bandage over his eyes.
20:39 As the king passed by, he cried out to him, “Your servant went into the thick of the battle. A man turned aside and brought me another man, saying, ‘Guard this man. If he goes missing, your life will answer for his life, or you must pay about 75 pounds of silver.’
20:40 But while your servant was busy here and there, the man was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “That is your sentence; you have decided it yourself.”
20:41 He quickly removed the bandage from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets.
20:42 He said to him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Because you have released from your hand the man I devoted to destruction, your life will answer for his life, and your people for his people.’”
20:43 The king of Israel went home sullen and angry, and came to Samaria.

Chapter 21
21:1 After these things, Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard in Jezreel beside the palace of Ahab king of Samaria.
21:2 Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard so that I may have it for a vegetable garden, since it is near my house. I will give you a better vineyard in exchange, or, if you prefer, I will pay you its value in silver.”
21:3 Naboth answered Ahab, “The LORD forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors!”
21:4 Ahab went home sullen and angry because of what Naboth the Jezreelite had told him: “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay down on his bed, turned his face away, and would not eat.
21:5 His wife Jezebel came to him and asked, “Why are you so sullen that you will not eat?”
21:6 He told her, “Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite and said, ‘Give me your vineyard for silver, or, if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in exchange.’ But he answered, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”
21:7 His wife Jezebel said to him, “Are you now king over Israel? Get up, eat, and let your heart be glad. I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.”
21:8 She wrote letters in Ahab’s name, sealed them with his seal, and sent them to the elders and nobles of the city where Naboth lived.
21:9 In the letters she wrote, “Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people.
21:10 Seat two worthless men opposite him and have them testify against him, saying, ‘You have cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
21:11 The men of his city, the elders and nobles who lived there, did as Jezebel had instructed them, as written in the letters she had sent them.
21:12 They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people.
21:13 The two worthless men came and sat opposite him. Those worthless men testified against Naboth before the people, saying, “Naboth has cursed God and the king.” They took him outside the city, stoned him, and he died.
21:14 Then they sent word to Jezebel, “Naboth has been stoned and is dead.”
21:15 When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned and was dead, she told Ahab, “Get up and take possession of the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite, which he refused to sell you for silver. Naboth is no longer alive; he is dead.”
21:16 When Ahab heard that Naboth was dead, he got up to go down to the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite and take possession of it.
21:17 The word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:
21:18 “Get up, go down to meet Ahab, the king of Israel in Samaria. He is in Naboth’s vineyard, where he has gone down to take possession of it.
21:19 Tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: Have you murdered and also taken possession?’ And tell him, ‘This is what the LORD says: In the place where the dogs licked Naboth’s blood, the dogs will lick your own blood too.’”
21:20 Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the LORD.
21:21 ‘I am bringing calamity on you. I will sweep away your descendants and cut off every male belonging to Ahab in Israel, whether slave or free.
21:22 I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah, because you have provoked me to anger and caused Israel to sin.’
21:23 The LORD has also spoken concerning Jezebel: ‘Dogs will eat Jezebel beside the wall of Jezreel.’
21:24 Dogs will eat anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city, and the birds of the sky will eat anyone who dies in the countryside.”
21:25 There was no one like Ahab, who sold himself to do evil in the sight of the LORD, urged on by his wife Jezebel.
21:26 He acted most abominably in following idols, just as the Amorites had done, whom the LORD drove out before the Israelites.
21:27 When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put sackcloth over his body, and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and walked slowly.
21:28 The word of the LORD came to Elijah the Tishbite:
21:29 “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In his son’s days I will bring the calamity on his house.”

Chapter 22
22:1 For three years there was no war between Aram and Israel.
22:2 In the third year, Jehoshaphat king of Judah went down to the king of Israel.
22:3 The king of Israel said to his servants, “Do you know that Ramoth-gilead belongs to us, yet we do nothing to take it from the hand of the king of Aram?”
22:4 He asked Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to battle at Ramoth-gilead?” Jehoshaphat answered the king of Israel, “I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”
22:5 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire for the word of the LORD today.”
22:6 The king of Israel gathered the prophets, about four hundred men, and asked them, “Should I go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” They answered, “Go up! The Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”
22:7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not another prophet of the LORD here through whom we may inquire?”
22:8 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we may inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, only calamity. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.” Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say that.”
22:9 The king of Israel called a court official and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imlah at once.”
22:10 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, dressed in their robes, on a threshing floor at the entrance to Samaria’s gate. All the prophets were prophesying before them.
22:11 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah had made iron horns for himself. He said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you will gore the Arameans until you destroy them.’”
22:12 All the prophets prophesied the same thing: “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed! The LORD will give it into the king’s hand.”
22:13 The messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the prophets are speaking good things to the king with one voice. Please let your word be like one of theirs, and speak good things.”
22:14 Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, I will speak what the LORD says to me.”
22:15 When he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should we refrain?” He answered, “Go up and succeed! The LORD will give it into the king’s hand.”
22:16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
22:17 He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. The LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each return home in peace.’”
22:18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would prophesy no good concerning me, only calamity?”
22:19 Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD. I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right and on his left.
22:20 The LORD asked, ‘Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ One said one thing, and another said another.
22:21 Then the spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’
22:22 The LORD asked him, ‘How?’ He answered, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The LORD said, ‘You will entice him, and you will succeed. Go and do so.’
22:23 So now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours, and the LORD has declared calamity against you.”
22:24 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah approached, struck Micaiah on the cheek, and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD go from me to speak to you?”
22:25 Micaiah answered, “You will see on the day you go into an inner room to hide.”
22:26 The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and bring him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king’s son.
22:27 Tell them, ‘This is what the king says: Put this man in prison and feed him scant bread and scant water until I return in peace.’”
22:28 Micaiah said, “If you ever return in peace, the LORD has not spoken through me.” He also said, “Hear, all you peoples!”
22:29 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
22:30 The king of Israel told Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and enter the battle, but you wear your robes.” The king of Israel disguised himself and entered the battle.
22:31 The king of Aram had commanded his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight anyone, small or great, except the king of Israel alone.”
22:32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “Surely this is the king of Israel!” They turned against him to fight, and Jehoshaphat cried out.
22:33 When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they stopped pursuing him.
22:34 But a man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. The king told his chariot driver, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”
22:35 The battle raged that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. He died in the evening, and the blood from his wound flowed into the bottom of the chariot.
22:36 At sunset a cry went through the army: “Each man to his city, and each to his own land!”
22:37 The king died and was brought to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.
22:38 They washed the chariot at the pool of Samaria, and the dogs licked his blood, and the prostitutes bathed there, according to the word the LORD had spoken.
22:39 The rest of Ahab’s acts, all he did, the ivory palace he built, and all the cities he built—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
22:40 Ahab rested with his ancestors, and his son Ahaziah reigned in his place.
22:41 Jehoshaphat son of Asa became king over Judah in the fourth year of Ahab king of Israel.
22:42 Jehoshaphat was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
22:43 He walked in all the way of his father Asa without turning aside from it, doing what was right in the sight of the LORD. Yet the high places were not removed; the people still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
22:44 Jehoshaphat made peace with the king of Israel.
22:45 The rest of Jehoshaphat’s acts, the mighty deeds he performed, and his wars—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
22:46 He removed from the land the remaining male cult prostitutes who had been left from the days of his father Asa.
22:47 There was no king in Edom; a deputy acted as king.
22:48 Jehoshaphat made ships of Tarshish to go to Ophir for gold, but they did not sail, for the ships were wrecked at Ezion-geber.
22:49 Then Ahaziah son of Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, “Let my servants go with your servants in the ships.” But Jehoshaphat would not agree.
22:50 Jehoshaphat rested with his ancestors and was buried with them in the city of his ancestor David. His son Jehoram reigned in his place.
22:51 Ahaziah son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah. He reigned over Israel two years.
22:52 He did evil in the sight of the LORD and walked in the way of his father, the way of his mother, and the way of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.
22:53 He served Baal and bowed down to him, provoking the LORD, the God of Israel, to anger, just as his father had done.

2 KINGS

Chapter 1
1:1 Moab rebelled against Israel after Ahab’s death.
1:2 Ahaziah fell through the lattice of his upstairs room in Samaria and became ill. He sent messengers, telling them, “Go, inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron, whether I will recover from this illness.”
1:3 But the angel of the LORD said to Elijah the Tishbite, “Get up, go to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and tell them, ‘Is there no God in Israel, that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?
1:4 Therefore this is what the LORD says: You will not come down from the bed you have climbed onto, for you will surely die.’” Then Elijah went away.
1:5 The messengers returned to the king, and he asked them, “Why have you returned?”
1:6 They answered, “A man came up to meet us and told us, ‘Go back to the king who sent you and tell him: This is what the LORD says: Is there no God in Israel, that you are sending to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you will not come down from the bed you have climbed onto, for you will surely die.’”
1:7 He asked them, “What did the man look like who came to meet you and told you these things?”
1:8 They answered, “He was a hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist.” He said, “It is Elijah the Tishbite.”
1:9 The king sent a captain of fifty with his fifty men to him. The captain went up to Elijah, who was sitting on top of the hill, and said, “Man of God, the king says, ‘Come down.’”
1:10 Elijah answered the captain of fifty, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” Fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
1:11 The king sent another captain of fifty with his fifty men. He said to him, “Man of God, this is what the king says: ‘Come down at once.’”
1:12 Elijah answered them, “If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty men.” The fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty men.
1:13 The king sent a third captain of fifty with his fifty men. The third captain went up, approached Elijah, and knelt before him. He pleaded with him, “Man of God, please let my life and the lives of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.
1:14 Fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty with their fifty men. Now let my life be precious in your sight.”
1:15 The angel of the LORD said to Elijah, “Go down with him. Do not be afraid of him.” So he got up and went down with him to the king.
1:16 He told him, “This is what the LORD says: Because you sent messengers to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron—is there no God in Israel to inquire for his word?—you will not come down from the bed you have climbed onto, for you will surely die.”
1:17 He died according to the word the LORD had spoken through Elijah. Jehoram reigned in his place in the second year of Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son.
1:18 The rest of Ahaziah’s acts, what he did—are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Chapter 2
2:1 When the LORD was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha left Gilgal.
2:2 Elijah said to Elisha, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they went down to Bethel.
2:3 The company of prophets at Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” He said, “I know it too. Be silent.”
2:4 Elijah said to him, “Elisha, please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they came to Jericho.
2:5 The company of prophets at Jericho approached Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take your master away from you today?” He said, “I know it too. Be silent.”
2:6 Elijah said to him, “Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So the two of them went on.
2:7 Fifty men from the company of prophets went and stood opposite them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.
2:8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up, and struck the water. The water parted to one side and the other, and the two of them crossed on dry ground.
2:9 After they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I may do for you before I am taken from you.” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be mine.”
2:10 He said, “You have asked a difficult thing. If you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours; but if not, it will not.”
2:11 As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire suddenly separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
2:12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” When he saw him no more, he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two.
2:13 He picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him, went back, and stood on the bank of the Jordan.
2:14 He took Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen from him, struck the water, and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” He too struck the water, and it parted to one side and the other, and Elisha crossed.
2:15 When the company of prophets from Jericho saw him from the opposite side, they said, “Elijah’s spirit rests on Elisha.” They came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him.
2:16 They said to him, “Look, there are fifty strong men here among your servants. Please let them go and search for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has lifted him up and thrown him onto a mountain or into a valley.” He said, “Do not send them.”
2:17 But they kept pressing him until he was embarrassed, and he said, “Send them.” So they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him.
2:18 They returned to him while he was staying in Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not tell you not to go?”
2:19 The men of the city said to Elisha, “As my lord can see, the city is well situated, but the water is bad and the land is barren.”
2:20 He said, “Bring me a new bowl and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
2:21 He went out to the spring, threw the salt into it, and said, “This is what the LORD says: I have healed this water. It will no longer cause death or barrenness.”
2:22 And the water has remained healed to this day, according to the word Elisha spoke.
2:23 From there he went up to Bethel. As he was going up the road, some young boys came out of the city and mocked him, saying, “Go up, baldhead! Go up, baldhead!”
2:24 He turned around, looked at them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.
2:25 From there he went to Mount Carmel, and from there he returned to Samaria.

Chapter 3
3:1 Jehoram son of Ahab became king over Israel in Samaria in the eighteenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned twelve years.
3:2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like his father and mother, for he removed the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made.
3:3 Nevertheless, he clung to the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin; he did not turn away from them.
3:4 Mesha king of Moab was a sheep breeder. He paid the king of Israel a hundred thousand lambs and the wool of a hundred thousand rams.
3:5 But when Ahab died, the king of Moab rebelled against the king of Israel.
3:6 So King Jehoram left Samaria at that time and mustered all Israel.
3:7 He went and sent this message to Jehoshaphat king of Judah: “The king of Moab has rebelled against me. Will you go with me to fight against Moab?” He said, “I will go up. I am as you are, my people as your people, and my horses as your horses.”
3:8 He asked, “Which route shall we take?” He answered, “The route through the wilderness of Edom.”
3:9 So the king of Israel, the king of Judah, and the king of Edom set out. After taking a roundabout route for seven days, there was no water for the army or for the animals following them.
3:10 The king of Israel said, “Alas! The LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab!”
3:11 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there no prophet of the LORD here, through whom we may inquire of the LORD?” One of the king of Israel’s servants answered, “Elisha son of Shaphat is here. He used to pour water on Elijah’s hands.”
3:12 Jehoshaphat said, “The word of the LORD is with him.” So the king of Israel, Jehoshaphat, and the king of Edom went down to him.
3:13 Elisha said to the king of Israel, “What have I to do with you? Go to the prophets of your father and the prophets of your mother.” But the king of Israel said to him, “No, for the LORD has called these three kings together to deliver them into the hand of Moab.”
3:14 Elisha said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, if I did not have regard for Jehoshaphat king of Judah, I would not look at you or even notice you.
3:15 But now bring me a musician.” As the musician played, the hand of the LORD came upon Elisha.
3:16 He said, “This is what the LORD says: Make this valley full of trenches.
3:17 For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your livestock, and your animals will drink.
3:18 This is a small thing in the sight of the LORD. He will also deliver Moab into your hand.
3:19 You will strike every fortified city and every choice city, cut down every good tree, stop up every spring, and ruin every good field with stones.”
3:20 In the morning, at the time of the grain offering, water suddenly came from the direction of Edom, and the land was filled with water.
3:21 All the Moabites heard that the kings had come up to fight against them. Everyone old enough to bear arms, and all who were older, was called out, and they took their stand at the border.
3:22 They rose early in the morning, and the sun was shining on the water. From the opposite side, the Moabites saw the water as red as blood.
3:23 They said, “This is blood! The kings must have destroyed one another, striking each other down. Now, Moab, to the plunder!”
3:24 But when they came to Israel’s camp, the Israelites rose up and struck the Moabites, who fled before them. They continued striking Moab in its own land.
3:25 They demolished the cities. Each man threw a stone into every good field until they had filled it. They stopped up every spring and cut down every good tree. Only the stones of Kir-hareseth were left, but the slingers surrounded it and attacked it.
3:26 When the king of Moab saw that the battle was too much for him, he took seven hundred swordsmen with him to break through to the king of Edom, but they could not.
3:27 Then he took his firstborn son, who was to reign in his place, and offered him as a burnt offering on the wall. There was great wrath against Israel, so they withdrew from him and returned to their own land.

Chapter 4
4:1 The wife of one of the company of prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead. You know that your servant feared the LORD, but the creditor has come to take my two children as his slaves.”
4:2 Elisha said to her, “What can I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She said, “Your servant has nothing at all in the house except a jar of oil.”
4:3 He said, “Go and borrow containers from all your neighbors—empty containers, and not just a few.
4:4 Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all these containers, setting each one aside when it is full.”
4:5 She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the containers to her, and she poured.
4:6 When the containers were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another container.” He said to her, “There are no more.” Then the oil stopped flowing.
4:7 She went and told the man of God. He said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debt. You and your sons can live on what is left.”
4:8 One day Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a woman of means who urged him to stay for a meal. After that, whenever he passed through, he would stop there to eat.
4:9 She said to her husband, “Look, I know that this man who regularly passes our way is a holy man of God.
4:10 Let us make a small upstairs room with walls and put a bed, a table, a chair, and a lampstand there for him. Then he can stay there when he comes to us.”
4:11 One day he came there, went up to the room, and lay down.
4:12 He said to his servant Gehazi, “Call this Shunammite woman.” He called her, and she stood before him.
4:13 He said to Gehazi, “Please tell her, ‘You have taken all this trouble for us. What can be done for you? Would you like us to speak to the king or the commander of the army on your behalf?’” She said, “I live among my own people.”
4:14 He said, “What, then, can be done for her?” Gehazi said, “Well, she has no son, and her husband is old.”
4:15 He said, “Call her.” He called her, and she stood in the doorway.
4:16 He said, “At this time next year, you will be holding a son in your arms.” She said, “No, my lord, man of God! Do not deceive your servant.”
4:17 The woman conceived and bore a son at that time the following year, just as Elisha had told her.
4:18 The child grew, and one day he went out to his father among the reapers.
4:19 He said to his father, “My head! My head!” His father said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.”
4:20 He carried him and brought him to his mother. The child sat on her lap until noon, and then he died.
4:21 She went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door behind him, and went out.
4:22 She called to her husband and said, “Please send me one of the servants and one of the female donkeys, so I can hurry to the man of God and return.”
4:23 He said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the new moon nor the Sabbath.” She said, “All is well.”
4:24 She saddled the donkey and said to her servant, “Drive on. Do not slow down for me unless I tell you.”
4:25 So she went to the man of God at Mount Carmel. When the man of God saw her in the distance, he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, there is the Shunammite woman.
4:26 Please run to meet her and ask her, ‘Are you well? Is your husband well? Is the child well?’” She said, “All is well.”
4:27 When she reached the man of God at the mountain, she took hold of his feet. Gehazi came forward to push her away, but the man of God said, “Leave her alone. She is in bitter distress, and the LORD has hidden it from me and has not told me.”
4:28 She said, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”
4:29 He said to Gehazi, “Tuck up your robe, take my staff in your hand, and go. If you meet anyone, do not greet him, and if anyone greets you, do not answer. Lay my staff on the child’s face.”
4:30 But the child’s mother said, “As the LORD lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So he got up and followed her.
4:31 Gehazi went ahead of them and laid the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. He went back to meet Elisha and told him, “The child has not awakened.”
4:32 When Elisha entered the house, there was the child, dead and lying on his bed.
4:33 He went in, shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.
4:34 Then he went up and lay on the child, placing his mouth on the child’s mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands. He stretched himself over him, and the child’s body grew warm.
4:35 He got up and walked back and forth in the house, then went up and stretched himself over him again. The child sneezed seven times and opened his eyes.
4:36 Elisha called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” He called her, and she came to him. He said, “Pick up your son.”
4:37 She came in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground. Then she picked up her son and went out.
4:38 Elisha returned to Gilgal while there was a famine in the land. The company of prophets was sitting before him, and he said to his servant, “Put the large pot on the fire and cook a stew for the company of prophets.”
4:39 One of them went out into the field to gather herbs. He found a wild vine and gathered a cloakful of wild gourds from it. He came back and sliced them into the stew pot, though they did not know what they were.
4:40 They served it to the men to eat, but as they tasted the stew, they cried out, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” They could not eat it.
4:41 He said, “Bring some flour.” He threw it into the pot and said, “Serve it to the people so they can eat.” And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
4:42 A man came from Baal-shalisha and brought the man of God bread from the firstfruits: twenty barley loaves and fresh grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”
4:43 His attendant said, “How can I set this before a hundred men?” But he said, “Give it to the people to eat, for this is what the LORD says: They will eat and have some left over.”
4:44 So he set it before them, and they ate and had some left over, according to the word of the LORD.

Chapter 5
5:1 Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Aram, was a great man in his master’s sight and highly honored, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a mighty warrior, but he had leprosy.
5:2 Aramean raiding parties had gone out and taken a young girl captive from the land of Israel. She served Naaman’s wife.
5:3 She said to her mistress, “If only my master were with the prophet in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.”
5:4 Naaman went in and told his master, “This is what the girl from the land of Israel said.”
5:5 The king of Aram said, “Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him about 750 pounds of silver, about 150 pounds of gold, and ten changes of clothing.
5:6 He brought the letter to the king of Israel. It said, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy.”
5:7 When the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to put to death and give life, that this man sends someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? Just consider and see how he is looking for a quarrel with me!”
5:8 When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent word to the king: “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come to me, and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel.”
5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and chariot and stopped at the door of Elisha’s house.
5:10 Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash seven times in the Jordan. Your flesh will be restored, and you will be clean.”
5:11 But Naaman became angry and went away, saying, “I thought he would surely come out to me, stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the affected place, and cure the leprosy.
5:12 Are not Amana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage.
5:13 His servants approached and said to him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be clean’!”
5:14 So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God. His flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy, and he was clean.
5:15 Then he returned to the man of God with all his company. He came and stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
5:16 But he said, “As the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” Naaman urged him to accept it, but he refused.
5:17 Naaman said, “If not, then please let your servant be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry. For your servant will no longer offer burnt offerings or sacrifices to other gods, but only to the LORD.
5:18 May the LORD forgive your servant in this matter: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down there, and he is leaning on my arm, I bow down in the temple of Rimmon. When I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD please forgive your servant in this matter.”
5:19 He said to him, “Go in peace.” After Naaman had gone some distance from him,
5:20 Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said to himself, “My master has let this Naaman the Aramean go without accepting what he brought. As the LORD lives, I will run after him and get something from him.”
5:21 So Gehazi hurried after Naaman. When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from his chariot to meet him and said, “Is all well?”
5:22 He said, “All is well. My master has sent me to say, ‘Two young men from the company of prophets have just come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them about 75 pounds of silver and two changes of clothing.’”
5:23 Naaman said, “Please, take about 150 pounds.” He urged him, tied up about 150 pounds of silver in two bags, along with two changes of clothing, and gave them to two of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi.
5:24 When he reached the hill, he took the things from their hands and put them in the house. Then he sent the men away, and they left.
5:25 He went in and stood before his master. Elisha said to him, “Where have you been, Gehazi?” He said, “Your servant has not gone anywhere.”
5:26 But he said to him, “Did not my heart go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept silver and clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and cattle, male and female servants?
5:27 Therefore Naaman’s leprosy will cling to you and your descendants forever.” And Gehazi went out from his presence with leprosy, white as snow.

Chapter 6
6:1 The company of prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we sit before you is too small for us.
6:2 Please let us go to the Jordan. Each of us can take a beam from there, and we can make a place there for us to live.” He said, “Go.”
6:3 One of them said, “Please be willing to come with your servants.” He said, “I will come.”
6:4 So he went with them. When they came to the Jordan, they began cutting down trees.
6:5 As one of them was felling a tree, the iron axe head fell into the water. He cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed!”
6:6 The man of God said, “Where did it fall?” He showed him the place. Then Elisha cut a stick, threw it in there, and made the iron float.
6:7 He said, “Pick it up.” So the man reached out his hand and took it.
6:8 The king of Aram was at war with Israel. He consulted his servants and said, “I will set up my camp at such and such a place.”
6:9 But the man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Be careful not to pass that place, for the Arameans are coming down there.”
6:10 So the king of Israel sent men to the place the man of God had told him about. Warned by him, he kept on his guard there. This happened more than once or twice.
6:11 The king of Aram was deeply troubled by this. He called his servants and said to them, “Will you not tell me which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”
6:12 One of his servants said, “None of us, my lord the king. It is Elisha, the prophet in Israel, who tells the king of Israel the words you speak in your bedroom.”
6:13 He said, “Go and find out where he is, so I can send men to capture him.” He was told, “He is in Dothan.”
6:14 So he sent horses, chariots, and a large army there. They came by night and surrounded the city.
6:15 When the attendant of the man of God rose early and went out, he saw an army with horses and chariots surrounding the city. His servant said to him, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?”
6:16 He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
6:17 Then Elisha prayed, “LORD, please open his eyes so he may see.” The LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he saw that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
6:18 When the Arameans came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike this people with blindness.” And he struck them with blindness according to Elisha’s word.
6:19 Elisha said to them, “This is not the road, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.
6:20 When they entered Samaria, Elisha said, “LORD, open these men’s eyes so they may see.” The LORD opened their eyes, and they saw that they were in the middle of Samaria.
6:21 When the king of Israel saw them, he said to Elisha, “Shall I strike them down? Shall I strike them down, my father?”
6:22 He said, “Do not strike them down. Would you strike down those you have taken captive with your sword and bow? Set bread and water before them so they may eat and drink and return to their master.”
6:23 So he prepared a great feast for them. They ate and drank, and he sent them away. They returned to their master, and the Aramean raiding parties no longer came into the land of Israel.
6:24 Afterward, Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered his entire army, went up, and besieged Samaria.
6:25 There was a great famine in Samaria. The siege continued until a donkey’s head sold for about two pounds of silver, and about a cup of dove’s dung for about two ounces of silver.
6:26 As the king of Israel was passing along the wall, a woman cried out to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”
6:27 He said, “If the LORD does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor or the winepress?”
6:28 The king asked her, “What is wrong?” She said, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’
6:29 So we boiled my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, ‘Give up your son so we can eat him,’ but she has hidden her son.”
6:30 When the king heard the woman’s words, he tore his clothes. As he passed along the wall, the people saw that he was wearing sackcloth against his skin beneath his clothes.
6:31 He said, “May God do so to me, and more also, if the head of Elisha son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today!”
6:32 Elisha was sitting in his house, and the elders were sitting with him. The king sent a man ahead of him, but before the messenger reached him, Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this son of a murderer has sent someone to cut off my head? When the messenger comes, shut the door and hold it closed against him. Is not the sound of his master’s footsteps behind him?”
6:33 While he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. He said, “This disaster is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”

Chapter 7
7:1 Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, about six and a half quarts of fine flour will sell for one piece of silver, and about thirteen quarts of barley for one piece of silver, at the gate of Samaria.”
7:2 The officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Even if the LORD made windows in heaven, could this happen?” He said, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”
7:3 Now four men with leprosy were at the entrance of the gate. They said to one another, “Why should we sit here until we die?
7:4 If we decide to enter the city, the famine is there, and we will die there. If we stay here, we will die too. So come, let us surrender to the Aramean camp. If they spare our lives, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”
7:5 So they got up at dusk to go to the Aramean camp. When they reached the edge of the camp, there was no one there.
7:6 For the Lord had caused the Aramean camp to hear the sound of chariots, the sound of horses, and the sound of a great army. They said to one another, “The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to attack us!”
7:7 So they got up and fled at dusk, abandoning their tents, horses, and donkeys, leaving the camp just as it was. They fled for their lives.
7:8 When these men with leprosy reached the edge of the camp, they entered one tent and ate and drank. They carried away silver, gold, and clothing and went and hid them. Then they returned, entered another tent, carried things away, and went and hid them.
7:9 Then they said to one another, “What we are doing is not right. This is a day of good news, yet we are keeping silent. If we wait until morning light, punishment will overtake us. Come, let us go and tell the king’s household.”
7:10 So they went and called to the city gatekeeper and reported, “We came to the Aramean camp, and no one was there, not even the sound of a human voice. There were only horses tied up, donkeys tied up, and the tents just as they were.”
7:11 He called the gatekeepers, and they reported it inside the king’s house.
7:12 The king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know that we are hungry, so they have left the camp to hide in the open country, saying, ‘When they come out of the city, we will capture them alive and enter the city.’”
7:13 One of his servants answered, “Please let some men take five of the horses that are left in the city. Their fate is like that of all the people of Israel who remain here, like that of all the people of Israel who have perished. Let us send them and find out.”
7:14 So they took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.”
7:15 They followed them as far as the Jordan. The whole road was full of clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown away in their haste. The messengers returned and reported to the king.
7:16 Then the people went out and plundered the Aramean camp. About six and a half quarts of fine flour sold for one piece of silver, and about thirteen quarts of barley for one piece of silver, according to the word of the LORD.
7:17 The king had put the officer on whose arm he leaned in charge of the gate. The people trampled him at the gate, and he died, just as the man of God had said when the king came down to him.
7:18 It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “About thirteen quarts of barley for one piece of silver, and about six and a half quarts of fine flour for one piece of silver, will be sold about this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria.”
7:19 The officer had answered the man of God, “Even if the LORD made windows in heaven, could such a thing happen?” And he had said, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it.”
7:20 And so it happened to him: the people trampled him at the gate, and he died.

Chapter 8
8:1 Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Get up and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can. For the LORD has called for a famine, and it will come on the land for seven years.”
8:2 So the woman got up and did as the man of God had said. She and her household went and stayed in the land of the Philistines for seven years.
8:3 At the end of the seven years, the woman returned from the land of the Philistines and went to appeal to the king for her house and her field.
8:4 Now the king was speaking with Gehazi, the servant of the man of God, saying, “Please tell me all the great things Elisha has done.”
8:5 While he was telling the king how Elisha had restored the dead to life, the woman whose son he had restored to life came to appeal to the king for her house and her field. Gehazi said, “My lord the king, this is the woman, and this is her son whom Elisha restored to life.”
8:6 The king questioned the woman, and she told him. Then the king assigned an official to her, saying, “Restore everything that belongs to her, and all the produce of the field from the day she left the land until now.”
8:7 Elisha came to Damascus while Ben-hadad king of Aram was sick. The king was told, “The man of God has come here.”
8:8 The king said to Hazael, “Take a gift with you and go to meet the man of God. Inquire of the LORD through him, asking, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
8:9 So Hazael went to meet him, taking a gift of every good thing of Damascus, as much as forty camels could carry. He came and stood before him and said, “Your son Ben-hadad king of Aram has sent me to ask you, ‘Will I recover from this illness?’”
8:10 Elisha said to him, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But the LORD has shown me that he will surely die.”
8:11 He fixed his gaze on him until he was embarrassed. Then the man of God wept.
8:12 Hazael said, “Why is my lord weeping?” He said, “Because I know the evil you will do to the people of Israel. You will set their fortresses on fire, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little ones to pieces, and rip open their pregnant women.”
8:13 Hazael said, “What is your servant, a mere dog, that he could do such a great thing?” Elisha said, “The LORD has shown me that you will be king over Aram.”
8:14 Then he left Elisha and came to his master, who asked him, “What did Elisha say to you?” He said, “He told me that you will surely recover.”
8:15 The next day Hazael took a thick cloth, dipped it in water, and spread it over the king’s face, and he died. Hazael reigned in his place.
8:16 In the fifth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, while Jehoshaphat was king of Judah, Jehoram son of Jehoshaphat king of Judah became king.
8:17 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
8:18 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for Ahab’s daughter was his wife. He did evil in the sight of the LORD.
8:19 Yet the LORD was not willing to destroy Judah for the sake of his servant David, as he had promised to give him a lamp for his sons forever.
8:20 In his days Edom rebelled against Judah’s rule and set up a king over themselves.
8:21 Joram crossed over to Zair with all his chariots. He rose at night and struck the Edomites who had surrounded him, as well as the chariot commanders. But the troops fled to their tents.
8:22 So Edom has remained in rebellion against Judah’s rule to this day. Libnah also rebelled at that time.
8:23 As for the rest of the acts of Joram and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
8:24 Joram rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Ahaziah reigned in his place.
8:25 In the twelfth year of Joram son of Ahab king of Israel, Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah became king.
8:26 Ahaziah was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Athaliah, daughter of Omri king of Israel.
8:27 He walked in the way of the house of Ahab and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as the house of Ahab had done, for he was a son-in-law of Ahab’s house.
8:28 He went with Joram son of Ahab to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram.
8:29 King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to visit Joram son of Ahab in Jezreel, because he was sick.

Chapter 9
9:1 Elisha the prophet called one of the company of prophets and said to him, “Tuck up your robe, take this flask of oil in your hand, and go to Ramoth-gilead.
9:2 When you arrive there, look for Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi. Go in, have him rise from among his companions, and take him into an inner room.
9:3 Then take the flask of oil, pour it on his head, and say, ‘This is what the LORD says: I have anointed you king over Israel.’ Then open the door and flee. Do not wait.”
9:4 So the young man, the young prophet, went to Ramoth-gilead.
9:5 When he arrived, the army commanders were sitting together. He said, “I have a message for you, commander.” Jehu said, “For which of us?” He said, “For you, commander.”
9:6 Jehu got up and went into the house. The young man poured the oil on his head and said to him, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have anointed you king over the LORD’s people, over Israel.
9:7 You are to strike down the house of Ahab your master, and I will avenge on Jezebel the blood of my servants the prophets and the blood of all the LORD’s servants.
9:8 The whole house of Ahab will perish. I will cut off from Ahab every male in Israel, slave or free.
9:9 I will make the house of Ahab like the house of Jeroboam son of Nebat and like the house of Baasha son of Ahijah.
9:10 The dogs will eat Jezebel in the territory of Jezreel, and no one will bury her.” Then he opened the door and fled.
9:11 When Jehu came out to his master’s servants, one of them asked him, “Is all well? Why did this madman come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and his way of talking.”
9:12 They said, “That is not true! Please tell us.” He said, “He told me this and that, saying, ‘This is what the LORD says: I have anointed you king over Israel.’”
9:13 They quickly took their cloaks, each man his own, and spread them under him on the steps themselves. They blew the ram’s horn and proclaimed, “Jehu is king!”
9:14 So Jehu son of Jehoshaphat, son of Nimshi, conspired against Joram. Now Joram and all Israel had been defending Ramoth-gilead against Hazael king of Aram.
9:15 But King Jehoram had returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds the Arameans had inflicted on him when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Jehu said, “If you agree, let no one escape from the city to go and report it in Jezreel.”
9:16 Then Jehu mounted his chariot and went to Jezreel, for Joram was lying there. Ahaziah king of Judah had also gone down to visit Joram.
9:17 The watchman standing on the tower in Jezreel saw Jehu’s company approaching and said, “I see a company of men.” Jehoram said, “Take a horseman and send him to meet them. Have him ask, ‘Is it peace?’”
9:18 The horseman went to meet him and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.” The watchman reported, “The messenger has reached them, but he is not returning.”
9:19 Then he sent a second horseman, who came to them and said, “This is what the king asks: ‘Is it peace?’” Jehu said, “What have you to do with peace? Fall in behind me.”
9:20 The watchman reported, “He has reached them, but he is not returning. The driving is like that of Jehu son of Nimshi, for he drives like a madman.”
9:21 Jehoram said, “Harness my chariot!” So they harnessed his chariot, and Jehoram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah went out, each in his own chariot, to meet Jehu. They met him on the plot of Naboth the Jezreelite.
9:22 When Jehoram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” He said, “What peace can there be as long as the acts of prostitution of your mother Jezebel and her many sorceries continue?”
9:23 Jehoram turned his chariot around and fled, saying to Ahaziah, “Treachery, Ahaziah!”
9:24 Jehu drew his bow with all his strength and struck Jehoram between the shoulders. The arrow went through his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.
9:25 Jehu said to his officer Bidkar, “Pick him up and throw him onto the plot of Naboth the Jezreelite’s field. Remember how you and I rode together behind his father Ahab when the LORD pronounced this oracle against him:
9:26 ‘I surely saw the blood of Naboth and the blood of his sons yesterday, declares the LORD, and I will repay you on this very plot, declares the LORD.’ So now pick him up and throw him onto the plot, according to the word of the LORD.”
9:27 When Ahaziah king of Judah saw this, he fled by the road to Beth-haggan. Jehu pursued him and said, “Strike him too in his chariot, on the ascent of Gur near Ibleam!” Ahaziah fled to Megiddo and died there.
9:28 His servants carried him in a chariot to Jerusalem and buried him in his tomb with his ancestors in the City of David.
9:29 Ahaziah had become king over Judah in the eleventh year of Joram son of Ahab.
9:30 When Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it. She painted her eyes, arranged her hair, and looked out of the window.
9:31 As Jehu entered the gate, she said, “Is it peace, Zimri, murderer of your master?”
9:32 He looked up toward the window and said, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him.
9:33 He said, “Throw her down!” So they threw her down, and some of her blood splashed on the wall and on the horses. He trampled her underfoot.
9:34 Then he went in and ate and drank. He said, “Please see to this cursed woman and bury her, for she is a king’s daughter.”
9:35 But when they went to bury her, they found nothing of her except the skull, the feet, and the palms of her hands.
9:36 They returned and told him. He said, “This is the word of the LORD, which he spoke through his servant Elijah the Tishbite: ‘In the territory of Jezreel, the dogs will eat Jezebel’s flesh.
9:37 Jezebel’s body will be like dung on the surface of the field in the territory of Jezreel, so that no one will say, “This is Jezebel.”’”

Chapter 10
10:1 Ahab had seventy sons in Samaria. Jehu wrote letters and sent them to Samaria, to the rulers of Jezreel, the elders, and those who were raising Ahab’s sons, saying,
10:2 “When this letter reaches you, since your master’s sons are with you, and you have chariots, horses, a fortified city, and weapons,
10:3 choose the best and most suitable of your master’s sons, place him on his father’s throne, and fight for your master’s house.”
10:4 But they were greatly afraid and said, “Two kings could not stand against him. How can we stand?”
10:5 So the palace administrator, the city governor, the elders, and the guardians sent word to Jehu: “We are your servants and will do everything you tell us. We will not make anyone king. Do whatever seems good to you.”
10:6 He wrote them a second letter, saying, “If you are on my side and will obey me, take the heads of your master’s sons and come to me in Jezreel about this time tomorrow.” Now the king’s seventy sons were with the leading men of the city, who were raising them.
10:7 When the letter reached them, they took the king’s sons and slaughtered all seventy. They put their heads in baskets and sent them to him in Jezreel.
10:8 A messenger came and told him, “They have brought the heads of the king’s sons.” He said, “Put them in two heaps at the entrance of the gate until morning.”
10:9 In the morning he went out, stood before all the people, and said, “You are innocent. I conspired against my master and killed him, but who struck down all these?
10:10 Know, then, that nothing of the word of the LORD, which the LORD spoke against the house of Ahab, will fall to the ground. The LORD has done what he spoke through his servant Elijah.”
10:11 Then Jehu struck down all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel, all his leading men, his close associates, and his priests, until he left him no survivor.
10:12 He set out and went toward Samaria. On the way, at Beth-eked of the Shepherds,
10:13 Jehu met the brothers of Ahaziah king of Judah and asked, “Who are you?” They said, “We are Ahaziah’s brothers, and we have come down to greet the sons of the king and the sons of the queen mother.”
10:14 He said, “Take them alive!” So they took them alive and slaughtered them at the cistern of Beth-eked, forty-two men. He left none of them alive.
10:15 When he left there, he met Jehonadab son of Rechab coming to meet him. He greeted him and said, “Is your heart true to mine, as my heart is to yours?” Jehonadab said, “It is.” “If it is, give me your hand.” So he gave him his hand, and Jehu brought him up into the chariot with him.
10:16 He said, “Come with me and see my zeal for the LORD.” So they had him ride in his chariot.
10:17 When he came to Samaria, he struck down all who remained of Ahab in Samaria until he had destroyed them, according to the word the LORD had spoken to Elijah.
10:18 Then Jehu gathered all the people and said to them, “Ahab served Baal a little; Jehu will serve him much.
10:19 Now summon all the prophets of Baal, all his worshipers, and all his priests to me. Let no one be missing, for I have a great sacrifice to offer to Baal. Anyone who is missing will not live.” But Jehu was acting deceitfully to destroy Baal’s worshipers.
10:20 Jehu said, “Consecrate a solemn assembly for Baal.” So they proclaimed it.
10:21 Jehu sent word throughout Israel, and all Baal’s worshipers came. Not one failed to come. They entered the temple of Baal, and the temple was filled from end to end.
10:22 He said to the keeper of the wardrobe, “Bring out robes for all Baal’s worshipers.” So he brought out robes for them.
10:23 Jehu and Jehonadab son of Rechab entered the temple of Baal. He said to Baal’s worshipers, “Search and make sure that no servants of the LORD are here among you, but only worshipers of Baal.”
10:24 Then they went in to offer sacrifices and burnt offerings. Jehu had stationed eighty men outside and said, “If any of the men I am placing in your hands escapes, the one who lets him escape will pay with his own life.”
10:25 When he had finished offering the burnt offering, Jehu said to the guards and officers, “Go in and strike them down. Let no one come out!” So they struck them down with the edge of the sword. The guards and officers threw the bodies out and went on to the stronghold of Baal’s temple.
10:26 They brought out the sacred pillars from the temple of Baal and burned them.
10:27 They tore down Baal’s sacred pillar, demolished the temple of Baal, and turned it into latrines, as it remains to this day.
10:28 So Jehu destroyed Baal out of Israel.
10:29 Nevertheless, Jehu did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin: the golden calves at Bethel and Dan.
10:30 The LORD said to Jehu, “Because you have done well in doing what is right in my sight, and have done to the house of Ahab all that was in my heart, your sons will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.”
10:31 But Jehu was not careful to walk in the law of the LORD, the God of Israel, with all his heart. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin.
10:32 In those days the LORD began to cut off parts of Israel. Hazael struck them throughout the territory of Israel:
10:33 east of the Jordan, all the land of Gilead, the land of the Gadites, Reubenites, and Manassites, from Aroer by the Arnon Valley, both Gilead and Bashan.
10:34 As for the rest of the acts of Jehu, all that he did, and all his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
10:35 Jehu rested with his ancestors, and they buried him in Samaria. His son Jehoahaz reigned in his place.
10:36 Jehu reigned over Israel in Samaria for twenty-eight years.

Chapter 11
11:1 When Athaliah, Ahaziah’s mother, saw that her son was dead, she rose up and destroyed all the royal offspring.
11:2 But Jehosheba, daughter of King Joram and sister of Ahaziah, took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king’s sons who were being killed. She put him and his nurse in a bedroom. They hid him from Athaliah, and he was not killed.
11:3 He remained hidden with her in the house of the LORD for six years, while Athaliah reigned over the land.
11:4 In the seventh year, Jehoiada sent for the commanders of hundreds of the Carians and the guards and brought them to him in the house of the LORD. He made a covenant with them, put them under oath in the house of the LORD, and showed them the king’s son.
11:5 He commanded them, “This is what you are to do: A third of you who come on duty on the Sabbath are to keep watch over the king’s palace,
11:6 a third at the Sur Gate, and a third at the gate behind the guards. Thus you will keep watch over the palace for its defense.
11:7 The other two divisions of you, all who go off duty on the Sabbath, are to keep watch over the house of the LORD around the king.
11:8 Surround the king on every side, each man with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who enters the ranks is to be put to death. Stay with the king when he goes out and when he comes in.”
11:9 The commanders of hundreds did everything Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each took his men, those coming on duty on the Sabbath along with those going off duty, and came to Jehoiada the priest.
11:10 The priest gave the commanders of hundreds the spear and shields that had belonged to King David and were in the house of the LORD.
11:11 The guards stood, each man with his weapons in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side, by the altar and the house, all around the king.
11:12 Then Jehoiada brought out the king’s son, put the crown on him, and gave him the Testimony. They made him king and anointed him. They clapped their hands and said, “Long live the king!”
11:13 When Athaliah heard the noise of the guards and the people, she came to the people at the house of the LORD.
11:14 She looked and saw the king standing by the pillar, as was the custom, with the commanders and trumpeters beside him. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, “Treason! Treason!”
11:15 Jehoiada the priest commanded the commanders of hundreds who were in charge of the army, “Bring her out between the ranks, and put anyone who follows her to death with the sword.” For the priest had said, “Do not put her to death in the house of the LORD.”
11:16 So they seized her, and she went by the horses’ entrance to the king’s palace. There she was put to death.
11:17 Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and the people, that they would be the LORD’s people, and also between the king and the people.
11:18 Then all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal and tore it down. They thoroughly smashed its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars. The priest appointed overseers for the house of the LORD.
11:19 He took the commanders of hundreds, the Carians, the guards, and all the people of the land, and they brought the king down from the house of the LORD. They entered the king’s palace through the Gate of the Guards, and he sat on the throne of the kings.
11:20 All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet, for they had put Athaliah to death with the sword at the king’s palace.
11:21 Jehoash was seven years old when he became king.

Chapter 12
12:1 In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
12:2 Jehoash did what was right in the sight of the LORD all the days that Jehoiada the priest instructed him.
12:3 Yet the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
12:4 Jehoash said to the priests, “All the money from the consecrated offerings brought into the house of the LORD—the census money, the money from each person’s assessed value, and all the money anyone is moved in his heart to bring to the house of the LORD—
12:5 the priests are to receive, each from his own acquaintances. They are to repair the damage to the house wherever damage is found.”
12:6 But by the twenty-third year of King Jehoash, the priests had not repaired the damage to the house.
12:7 So King Jehoash summoned Jehoiada the priest and the other priests and said to them, “Why are you not repairing the damage to the house? Now stop taking money from your acquaintances, but hand it over for repairing the house.”
12:8 The priests agreed that they would no longer take money from the people and would no longer be responsible for repairing the damage to the house.
12:9 Then Jehoiada the priest took a chest, bored a hole in its lid, and placed it beside the altar, on the right as one enters the house of the LORD. The priests who guarded the threshold put into it all the money brought into the house of the LORD.
12:10 Whenever they saw that there was a large amount of money in the chest, the king’s secretary and the high priest came up, bagged it, and counted the money found in the house of the LORD.
12:11 They handed over the weighed money to the men appointed to oversee the work on the house of the LORD. These paid it out to the carpenters and builders working on the house of the LORD,
12:12 to the masons and stonecutters, and to buy timber and cut stone to repair the damage to the house of the LORD, and for every expense of repairing the house.
12:13 But the money brought into the house of the LORD was not used to make silver bowls, wick trimmers, basins, trumpets, or any gold or silver articles for the house of the LORD.
12:14 Instead, they gave it to the workers, who used it to repair the house of the LORD.
12:15 They did not require an accounting from the men into whose hands they put the money to pay the workers, for they dealt faithfully.
12:16 The money from guilt offerings and sin offerings was not brought into the house of the LORD. It belonged to the priests.
12:17 At that time Hazael king of Aram went up, fought against Gath, and captured it. Then Hazael set his face to go up against Jerusalem.
12:18 Jehoash king of Judah took all the things that his ancestors Jehoshaphat, Jehoram, and Ahaziah, kings of Judah, had consecrated, along with his own consecrated things and all the gold found in the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the king’s palace. He sent them to Hazael king of Aram, who withdrew from Jerusalem.
12:19 As for the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
12:20 His servants rose up, formed a conspiracy, and struck Joash down at Beth-millo, on the descent to Silla.
12:21 His servants Jozabad son of Shimeath and Jehozabad son of Shomer struck him, and he died. They buried him with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Amaziah reigned in his place.

Chapter 13
13:1 In the twenty-third year of Joash son of Ahaziah king of Judah, Jehoahaz son of Jehu became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned seventeen years.
13:2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD and followed the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. He did not turn away from them.
13:3 So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he delivered them into the hand of Hazael king of Aram and into the hand of Ben-hadad son of Hazael throughout that time.
13:4 But Jehoahaz pleaded with the LORD, and the LORD listened to him, for he saw Israel’s oppression, how the king of Aram was oppressing them.
13:5 The LORD gave Israel a deliverer, and they escaped from Aram’s rule. The people of Israel lived in their tents as before.
13:6 Nevertheless, they did not turn away from the sins of the house of Jeroboam, who had caused Israel to sin, but continued in them. The Asherah pole also remained standing in Samaria.
13:7 No more than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand foot soldiers were left to Jehoahaz, for the king of Aram had destroyed them and made them like dust at threshing.
13:8 As for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, all that he did, and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
13:9 Jehoahaz rested with his ancestors, and they buried him in Samaria. His son Joash reigned in his place.
13:10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned sixteen years.
13:11 He did evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin, but continued in them.
13:12 As for the rest of the acts of Joash, all that he did, and the might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
13:13 Joash rested with his ancestors, and Jeroboam sat on his throne. Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel.
13:14 Now Elisha had become sick with the illness from which he would die. Joash king of Israel came down to him and wept over him, saying, “My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its horsemen!”
13:15 Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows.
13:16 Then he said to the king of Israel, “Put your hand on the bow.” So he put his hand on it, and Elisha placed his hands over the king’s hands.
13:17 He said, “Open the window toward the east.” So he opened it. Elisha said, “Shoot!” And he shot. Then he said, “The LORD’s arrow of victory, an arrow of victory over Aram! You will strike Aram at Aphek until you have destroyed them.”
13:18 Then he said, “Take the arrows.” So he took them. He said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground.” He struck it three times and stopped.
13:19 The man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times. Then you would have struck Aram until you had destroyed them. But now you will strike Aram only three times.”
13:20 Elisha died, and they buried him. Moabite raiding parties used to enter the land at the turn of the year.
13:21 Once, while some men were burying a man, they saw a raiding party. They threw the man into Elisha’s tomb. When the man came into contact with Elisha’s bones, he came to life and stood on his feet.
13:22 Now Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz.
13:23 But the LORD was gracious to them, had compassion on them, and turned toward them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He was not willing to destroy them, and he had not cast them out of his presence up to that time.
13:24 Hazael king of Aram died, and his son Ben-hadad reigned in his place.
13:25 Jehoash son of Jehoahaz recovered from Ben-hadad son of Hazael the cities that had been taken in war from his father Jehoahaz. Joash defeated him three times and recovered the cities of Israel.

Chapter 14
14:1 In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah became king.
14:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
14:3 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, though not like his ancestor David. He did everything as his father Joash had done.
14:4 Yet the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
14:5 When the kingdom was firmly in his hand, he struck down the servants who had killed his father the king.
14:6 But he did not put the murderers’ sons to death, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, where the LORD commanded: “Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, and children shall not be put to death for their fathers. Each person shall be put to death for his own sin.”
14:7 He struck down ten thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt and captured Sela in battle. He called it Joktheel, its name to this day.
14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another.”
14:9 Jehoash king of Israel sent word to Amaziah king of Judah: “The thistle in Lebanon sent word to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as a wife.’ But a wild animal in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.
14:10 You have indeed struck down Edom, and your heart has lifted you up. Enjoy your glory and stay at home. Why stir up trouble and fall, you and Judah with you?”
14:11 But Amaziah would not listen. So Jehoash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at Beth-shemesh in Judah.
14:12 Judah was defeated by Israel, and each man fled to his tents.
14:13 Jehoash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Jehoash, son of Ahaziah, at Beth-shemesh. He came to Jerusalem and broke down about 600 feet of Jerusalem’s wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
14:14 He took all the gold and silver and all the articles found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, along with hostages, and returned to Samaria.
14:15 As for the rest of the acts of Jehoash, what he did, his might, and how he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
14:16 Jehoash rested with his ancestors and was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. His son Jeroboam reigned in his place.
14:17 Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived fifteen years after the death of Jehoash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel.
14:18 As for the rest of the acts of Amaziah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
14:19 They formed a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish. But they sent men after him to Lachish and put him to death there.
14:20 They brought him back on horses, and he was buried in Jerusalem with his ancestors in the City of David.
14:21 Then all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
14:22 He rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after the king had rested with his ancestors.
14:23 In the fifteenth year of Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah, Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel became king in Samaria, and he reigned forty-one years.
14:24 He did evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from any of the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.
14:25 He restored Israel’s border from the entrance to Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the LORD, the God of Israel, which he spoke through his servant Jonah son of Amittai, the prophet from Gath-hepher.
14:26 For the LORD saw that Israel’s affliction was very bitter. There was no one left, slave or free, and no one to help Israel.
14:27 The LORD had not said that he would blot out Israel’s name from under heaven, so he saved them through Jeroboam son of Joash.
14:28 As for the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, all that he did, his might in war, and how he recovered for Israel Damascus and Hamath, which had belonged to Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
14:29 Jeroboam rested with his ancestors, the kings of Israel, and his son Zechariah reigned in his place.

Chapter 15
15:1 In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king.
15:2 He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
15:3 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
15:4 Yet the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.
15:5 The LORD struck the king, and he had leprosy until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house, while Jotham the king’s son was in charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.
15:6 As for the rest of the acts of Azariah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
15:7 Azariah rested with his ancestors, and they buried him with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Jotham reigned in his place.
15:8 In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah son of Jeroboam became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned six months.
15:9 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his ancestors had done. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.
15:10 Shallum son of Jabesh conspired against him, struck him down before the people, killed him, and reigned in his place.
15:11 As for the rest of the acts of Zechariah, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:12 This was the word the LORD had spoken to Jehu: “Your sons will sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it happened.
15:13 Shallum son of Jabesh became king in the thirty-ninth year of Uzziah king of Judah, and he reigned a full month in Samaria.
15:14 Menahem son of Gadi came up from Tirzah and entered Samaria. He struck down Shallum son of Jabesh in Samaria, killed him, and reigned in his place.
15:15 As for the rest of the acts of Shallum and the conspiracy he formed, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:16 At that time Menahem attacked Tiphsah, all who were in it, and its territory from Tirzah. He attacked it because they had not opened its gates to him, and he ripped open all its pregnant women.
15:17 In the thirty-ninth year of Azariah king of Judah, Menahem son of Gadi became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned ten years.
15:18 He did evil in the sight of the LORD. All his days he did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.
15:19 Pul king of Assyria invaded the land, and Menahem gave Pul about thirty-seven tons of silver to gain his support and strengthen his hold on the kingdom.
15:20 Menahem exacted the silver from Israel, from all the wealthy men, to give to the king of Assyria: about twenty ounces of silver from each man. So the king of Assyria withdrew and did not remain in the land.
15:21 As for the rest of the acts of Menahem and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?
15:22 Menahem rested with his ancestors, and his son Pekahiah reigned in his place.
15:23 In the fiftieth year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekahiah son of Menahem became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned two years.
15:24 He did evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.
15:25 His officer Pekah son of Remaliah conspired against him and struck him down in Samaria, in the citadel of the king’s palace, along with Argob and Arieh. Fifty men of Gilead were with Pekah. He killed Pekahiah and reigned in his place.
15:26 As for the rest of the acts of Pekahiah and all that he did, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:27 In the fifty-second year of Azariah king of Judah, Pekah son of Remaliah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned twenty years.
15:28 He did evil in the sight of the LORD. He did not turn away from the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin.
15:29 In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, all the land of Naphtali. He carried the people into exile to Assyria.
15:30 Hoshea son of Elah formed a conspiracy against Pekah son of Remaliah, struck him down, killed him, and reigned in his place, in the twentieth year of Jotham son of Uzziah.
15:31 As for the rest of the acts of Pekah and all that he did, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel.
15:32 In the second year of Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel, Jotham son of Uzziah king of Judah became king.
15:33 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jerusha, daughter of Zadok.
15:34 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD. He did everything as his father Uzziah had done.
15:35 Yet the high places were not removed. The people still sacrificed and burned incense at the high places. He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD.
15:36 As for the rest of the acts of Jotham and what he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
15:37 In those days the LORD began to send Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah against Judah.
15:38 Jotham rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of his ancestor David. His son Ahaz reigned in his place.

Chapter 16
16:1 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham king of Judah became king.
16:2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the LORD his God, as his ancestor David had done.
16:3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel and even made his son pass through the fire, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the people of Israel.
16:4 He sacrificed and burned incense at the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
16:5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel went up to Jerusalem for war. They besieged Ahaz but could not overcome him.
16:6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and drove the Judeans out of Elath. Edomites came to Elath and have lived there to this day.
16:7 Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising against me.”
16:8 Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s palace and sent them as a bribe to the king of Assyria.
16:9 The king of Assyria listened to him. He went up against Damascus, captured it, carried its people into exile to Kir, and put Rezin to death.
16:10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria. When he saw the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest a likeness of the altar and a plan with all the details of its construction.
16:11 Uriah the priest built the altar according to everything King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. He completed it before King Ahaz returned from Damascus.
16:12 When the king returned from Damascus, he saw the altar, approached it, and went up on it.
16:13 He burned his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his drink offering, and splashed the blood of his peace offerings against the altar.
16:14 He moved the bronze altar that stood before the LORD from the front of the house, from between the new altar and the house of the LORD, and placed it on the north side of the new altar.
16:15 King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “On the great altar burn the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offerings of all the people of the land with their grain offerings and drink offerings. Splash all the blood of the burnt offerings and sacrifices against it. I will use the bronze altar for inquiry.”
16:16 Uriah the priest did everything King Ahaz commanded.
16:17 King Ahaz cut off the panels of the stands and removed the basins from them. He also took down the Sea from the bronze oxen beneath it and placed it on a stone pavement.
16:18 Because of the king of Assyria, he altered the covered Sabbath structure they had built at the house, along with the king’s outer entrance at the house of the LORD.
16:19 As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz and what he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
16:20 Ahaz rested with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the City of David. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

Chapter 17
17:1 In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea son of Elah became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned nine years.
17:2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, though not like the kings of Israel who had been before him.
17:3 Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against him, and Hoshea became his servant and paid him tribute.
17:4 But the king of Assyria discovered a conspiracy by Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt and had stopped bringing tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year after year. So the king of Assyria arrested him and bound him in prison.
17:5 The king of Assyria invaded the whole land, came up against Samaria, and besieged it for three years.
17:6 In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and carried Israel into exile to Assyria. He settled them in Halah, along the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
17:7 This happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up from the land of Egypt, from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had feared other gods
17:8 and followed the customs of the nations the LORD had driven out before the people of Israel, and the customs the kings of Israel had established.
17:9 The people of Israel secretly did things that were not right against the LORD their God. They built high places for themselves in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
17:10 They set up sacred pillars and Asherah poles for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree.
17:11 There they burned incense at all the high places, like the nations the LORD had driven out before them. They did evil things, provoking the LORD to anger.
17:12 They served idols, though the LORD had told them, “You must not do this.”
17:13 The LORD warned Israel and Judah through every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and statutes, according to all the law I commanded your ancestors and sent to you through my servants the prophets.”
17:14 But they would not listen. They stiffened their necks like their ancestors, who did not trust in the LORD their God.
17:15 They rejected his statutes, the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and the warnings he had given them. They went after what was worthless and became worthless. They followed the nations around them, whom the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.
17:16 They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made cast-metal images for themselves, two calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal.
17:17 They made their sons and daughters pass through the fire, practiced divination and sought omens, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
17:18 So the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained.
17:19 Yet Judah also did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but followed the customs Israel had established.
17:20 The LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hands of plunderers until he cast them out of his presence.
17:21 For he had torn Israel away from the house of David, and they had made Jeroboam son of Nebat king. Jeroboam drove Israel away from following the LORD and made them commit a great sin.
17:22 The people of Israel continued in all the sins Jeroboam had committed and did not turn away from them,
17:23 until the LORD removed Israel from his presence, as he had spoken through all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried into exile from its own land to Assyria, where they remain to this day.
17:24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim and settled them in the cities of Samaria in place of the people of Israel. They took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities.
17:25 When they first settled there, they did not fear the LORD. So the LORD sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
17:26 The king of Assyria was told, “The nations you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the requirements of the God of the land. He has sent lions among them, and they are killing them because they do not know the requirements of the God of the land.”
17:27 Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Take back there one of the priests you exiled from there. Let them go and settle there, and let him teach them the requirements of the God of the land.”
17:28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came and settled in Bethel. He taught them how to fear the LORD.
17:29 But each nation made its own gods and put them in the shrines of the high places the Samaritans had built, each nation in the cities where it lived.
17:30 The people of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the people of Cuth made Nergal, and the people of Hamath made Ashima.
17:31 The Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak, and the Sepharvites burned their sons in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
17:32 They also feared the LORD and appointed from among themselves priests of the high places, who officiated for them in the shrines of the high places.
17:33 They feared the LORD, but served their own gods according to the customs of the nations from which they had been deported.
17:34 To this day they continue their former customs. They do not fear the LORD, nor do they act according to their statutes and ordinances, or the law and commandment the LORD gave the descendants of Jacob, whom he named Israel.
17:35 The LORD had made a covenant with them and commanded them, “You shall not fear other gods, bow down to them, serve them, or sacrifice to them.
17:36 But the LORD, who brought you up from the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm—him you shall fear, to him you shall bow down, and to him you shall sacrifice.
17:37 You must always be careful to carry out the statutes, ordinances, law, and commandment he wrote for you. You shall not fear other gods.
17:38 You shall not forget the covenant I made with you, and you shall not fear other gods.
17:39 But you shall fear the LORD your God, and he will deliver you from the hand of all your enemies.”
17:40 But they would not listen and continued to practice their former customs.
17:41 So these nations feared the LORD and also served their carved images. Their children and their children’s children continue to do as their ancestors did, to this day.

Chapter 18
18:1 In the third year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Hezekiah son of Ahaz king of Judah became king.
18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abi, daughter of Zechariah.
18:3 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his ancestor David had done.
18:4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah pole. He broke in pieces the bronze serpent Moses had made, for until that time the people of Israel had been burning incense to it. He called it Nehushtan.
18:5 He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either after him or before him.
18:6 He held fast to the LORD and did not turn away from following him. He kept the commandments the LORD had commanded Moses.
18:7 The LORD was with him, and he succeeded wherever he went. He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him.
18:8 He struck the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, from watchtower to fortified city.
18:9 In the fourth year of King Hezekiah, which was the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria and besieged it.
18:10 They captured it at the end of three years. Samaria was captured in the sixth year of Hezekiah, which was the ninth year of Hoshea king of Israel.
18:11 The king of Assyria carried Israel into exile to Assyria and settled them in Halah, along the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
18:12 This was because they had not obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, but had broken his covenant, all that Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. They neither listened nor obeyed.
18:13 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
18:14 Hezekiah king of Judah sent word to the king of Assyria at Lachish: “I have done wrong. Withdraw from me, and I will bear whatever you impose on me.” The king of Assyria imposed on Hezekiah king of Judah about eleven tons of silver and about one ton of gold.
18:15 Hezekiah gave him all the silver found in the house of the LORD and in the treasuries of the king’s palace.
18:16 At that time Hezekiah stripped the gold from the doors of the LORD’s temple and from the doorposts that Hezekiah king of Judah had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.
18:17 The king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rab-saris, and the Rab-shakeh from Lachish with a large army to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They went up and came to Jerusalem. When they had gone up and arrived, they stood by the conduit of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washer’s Field.
18:18 They called for the king, and Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, came out to them, along with Shebna the secretary and Joah son of Asaph the recorder.
18:19 The Rab-shakeh said to them, “Please tell Hezekiah: This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is this confidence on which you rely?
18:20 You say you have strategy and strength for war, but these are only words. On whom do you now rely, that you have rebelled against me?
18:21 Look, you are relying on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff. If a man leans on it, it goes into his hand and pierces it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.
18:22 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the LORD our God,’ is he not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You shall bow down before this altar in Jerusalem’?
18:23 Now make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses if you can find riders for them.
18:24 How, then, can you turn back a single governor among the least of my master’s servants, when you rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
18:25 Have I now come up against this place to destroy it without the LORD? The LORD said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”
18:26 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rab-shakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within the hearing of the people on the wall.”
18:27 But the Rab-shakeh said to them, “Has my master sent me to speak these words only to your master and to you? Has he not sent me to the men sitting on the wall, who will have to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?”
18:28 Then the Rab-shakeh stood and called out loudly in the language of Judah, saying, “Hear the word of the great king, the king of Assyria!
18:29 This is what the king says: Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you from his hand.
18:30 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, ‘The LORD will surely deliver us, and this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
18:31 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: Make peace with me and come out to me. Then each of you may eat from his own vine and fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
18:32 until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive oil and honey, so that you may live and not die. Do not listen to Hezekiah when he misleads you by saying, ‘The LORD will deliver us.’
18:33 Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
18:34 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and Ivvah? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
18:35 Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?”
18:36 But the people kept silent and did not answer him a word, for the king had commanded, “Do not answer him.”
18:37 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and Joah son of Asaph the recorder came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and reported to him the words of the Rab-shakeh.

Chapter 19
19:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
19:2 He sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
19:3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace. Children have reached the moment of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
19:4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear all the words of the Rab-shakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to insult the living God, and will rebuke him for the words the LORD your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that is left.”
19:5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
19:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master: This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
19:7 Look, I will put a spirit within him, and he will hear a report and return to his own land. I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.”
19:8 The Rab-shakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.
19:9 The king heard this about Tirhakah king of Cush: “He has come out to fight against you.” So he again sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
19:10 “Tell Hezekiah king of Judah: Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying, ‘Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.’
19:11 You have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. And will you be delivered?
19:12 Did the gods of the nations my ancestors destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?
19:13 Where are the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?”
19:14 Hezekiah received the letters from the messengers and read them. Then Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread them out before the LORD.
19:15 Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said, “LORD, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.
19:16 Incline your ear, LORD, and hear. Open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
19:17 It is true, LORD, that the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands
19:18 and thrown their gods into the fire. For they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they destroyed them.
19:19 Now, LORD our God, please save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, LORD, are God.”
19:20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I have heard your prayer to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria.
19:21 This is the word the LORD has spoken against him:
 The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you.
   The daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
19:22 Whom have you insulted and blasphemed?
   Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride?
   Against the Holy One of Israel!
19:23 Through your messengers you have insulted the Lord and said, ‘With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of the mountains, the farthest reaches of Lebanon.
   I will cut down its tallest cedars and its choicest cypresses.
   I will enter its farthest retreat, its lush forest.
19:24 I have dug wells and drunk foreign waters.
   With the soles of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.’
19:25 Have you not heard?
   Long ago I did it;
   in days of old I planned it.
   Now I have brought it about, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
19:26 Their inhabitants were powerless, dismayed and ashamed.
   They were like grass in the field, like tender green plants, like grass on rooftops, like grain scorched before it grows up.
19:27 But I know your sitting down, your going out and your coming in, and your raging against me.
19:28 Because your raging against me and your arrogance have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way you came.
19:29 This will be the sign for you: This year you will eat what grows on its own, and in the second year what springs from that. In the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
19:30 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
19:31 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.
19:32 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there. He will not approach it with a shield or build up a siege ramp against it.
19:33 He will return by the way he came, and he will not enter this city, declares the LORD.
19:34 I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
19:35 That night the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. When people rose early in the morning, there they were—all dead bodies.
19:36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp, departed, and returned to Nineveh, where he stayed.
19:37 While he was bowing down in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon reigned in his place.

Chapter 20
20:1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was near death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: Set your house in order, for you will die; you will not live.”
20:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying,
20:3 “Please, LORD, remember how I have walked before you faithfully and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
20:4 Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him, saying,
20:5 “Go back and tell Hezekiah, the ruler of my people: This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will heal you. On the third day you will go up to the house of the LORD.
20:6 I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
20:7 Isaiah said, “Take a cake of pressed figs.” They took it and laid it on the boil, and he recovered.
20:8 Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What will be the sign that the LORD will heal me and that I will go up to the house of the LORD on the third day?”
20:9 Isaiah said, “This will be the sign for you from the LORD that the LORD will do what he has said: Shall the shadow advance ten steps or go back ten steps?”
20:10 Hezekiah said, “It is easy for the shadow to go forward ten steps. No, let the shadow go backward ten steps.”
20:11 Then Isaiah the prophet called to the LORD, and he made the shadow go backward ten steps on the steps of Ahaz, where it had gone down.
20:12 At that time Berodach-baladan son of Baladan king of Babylon sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that Hezekiah had been sick.
20:13 Hezekiah listened to them and showed them his entire treasury: the silver, the gold, the spices, the fine oil, his armory, and everything found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
20:14 Then Isaiah the prophet came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and where did they come from?” Hezekiah said, “They came from a distant land, from Babylon.”
20:15 He asked, “What did they see in your house?” Hezekiah said, “They saw everything in my house. There was nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
20:16 Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD:
20:17 The days are coming when everything in your house, and everything your ancestors have stored up to this day, will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the LORD.
20:18 Some of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away and will be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.”
20:19 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good.” Then he said, “Is it not good if there is peace and security in my days?”
20:20 As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, all his might, and how he made the pool and the conduit and brought water into the city, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
20:21 Hezekiah rested with his ancestors, and his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

Chapter 21
21:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
21:2 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the people of Israel.
21:3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed. He raised altars for Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them.
21:4 He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “In Jerusalem I will put my name.”
21:5 He built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
21:6 He made his son pass through the fire, practiced sorcery and sought omens, and used mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
21:7 He placed the carved image of Asherah he had made in the house of which the LORD had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
21:8 I will no longer make Israel’s feet wander from the land I gave their ancestors, if only they are careful to do everything I commanded them and to follow all the law my servant Moses commanded them.”
21:9 But they did not listen. Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the people of Israel.
21:10 Then the LORD spoke through his servants the prophets, saying,
21:11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has done these detestable things, has done worse than all that the Amorites before him did, and has also caused Judah to sin with his idols,
21:12 therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am bringing a disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that will make both ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.
21:13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab. I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it clean and turning it upside down.
21:14 I will forsake the remnant of my inheritance and deliver them into the hand of their enemies. They will become prey and plunder for all their enemies,
21:15 because they have done evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt to this day.”
21:16 Moreover, Manasseh shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem from end to end, besides his sin of causing Judah to sin by doing evil in the sight of the LORD.
21:17 As for the rest of the acts of Manasseh, all that he did, and the sin he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
21:18 Manasseh rested with his ancestors and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza. His son Amon reigned in his place.
21:19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth, daughter of Haruz, from Jotbah.
21:20 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.
21:21 He walked in all the ways his father had walked, served the idols his father had served, and bowed down to them.
21:22 He forsook the LORD, the God of his ancestors, and did not walk in the way of the LORD.
21:23 Amon’s servants conspired against him and put the king to death in his own house.
21:24 But the people of the land struck down all who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.
21:25 As for the rest of the acts of Amon and what he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
21:26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his place.

Chapter 22
22:1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah, daughter of Adaiah, from Bozkath.
22:2 He did what was right in the sight of the LORD and walked in all the way of his ancestor David, turning aside neither to the right nor to the left.
22:3 In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the secretary, son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the house of the LORD, saying,
22:4 “Go up to Hilkiah the high priest and have him count the money brought into the house of the LORD, which the threshold guards have collected from the people.
22:5 Let them put it into the hands of the men appointed to oversee the work on the house of the LORD. They are to give it to the workers in the house of the LORD to repair the damage to the house:
22:6 to the carpenters, builders, and masons, and to buy timber and cut stone to repair the house.
22:7 But no accounting is to be required of them for the money placed in their hands, for they deal faithfully.”
22:8 Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it.
22:9 Shaphan the secretary came to the king and reported, “Your servants have poured out the money found in the house and put it into the hands of the men appointed to oversee the work on the house of the LORD.”
22:10 Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it before the king.
22:11 When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes.
22:12 The king commanded Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Achbor son of Micaiah, Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king’s servant,
22:13 “Go and inquire of the LORD for me, for the people, and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that burns against us, because our ancestors did not listen to the words of this book and do all that is written concerning us.”
22:14 So Hilkiah the priest, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah went to the prophetess Huldah, the wife of Shallum son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, the keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter. They spoke with her.
22:15 She said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me:
22:16 This is what the LORD says: I am bringing disaster on this place and its inhabitants, all the words of the book the king of Judah has read.
22:17 Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all the work of their hands, my wrath will burn against this place and will not be quenched.
22:18 But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, say this: This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the words you heard:
22:19 Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before the LORD when you heard what I spoke against this place and its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and because you tore your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the LORD.
22:20 Therefore I will gather you to your ancestors, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am bringing on this place.” So they brought the king the answer.

Chapter 23
23:1 The king sent word, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem gathered to him.
23:2 The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the prophets, and all the people, from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant found in the house of the LORD.
23:3 The king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and keep his commandments, testimonies, and statutes with all his heart and all his soul, fulfilling the words of this covenant written in this book. All the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
23:4 The king commanded Hilkiah the high priest, the priests of the second rank, and the threshold guards to bring out of the LORD’s temple all the articles made for Baal, Asherah, and all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel.
23:5 He removed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had appointed to burn incense at the high places in the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, and those who burned incense to Baal, the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of heaven.
23:6 He brought the Asherah pole out of the house of the LORD, outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley. He burned it in the Kidron Valley, ground it to dust, and threw its dust on the graves of the common people.
23:7 He tore down the quarters of the male cult prostitutes in the house of the LORD, where the women wove shelters for Asherah.
23:8 He brought all the priests from the cities of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba. He tore down the high places at the gates, at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the city governor, on the left as one enters the city gate.
23:9 Yet the priests of the high places did not go up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, though they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.
23:10 He defiled Topheth in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no one could make his son or daughter pass through the fire to Molech.
23:11 He removed the horses the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance of the house of the LORD, near the room of Nathan-melech the official in the outer precincts. He burned the chariots of the sun with fire.
23:12 The king tore down the altars the kings of Judah had made on the roof of Ahaz’s upper room and the altars Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the LORD. He hurried away from there and threw their dust into the Kidron Valley.
23:13 The king defiled the high places opposite Jerusalem, south of the Mount of Destruction, which Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth, the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites.
23:14 He smashed the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and filled their sites with human bones.
23:15 He also tore down the altar at Bethel and the high place made by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who had caused Israel to sin. He tore down that altar and high place, burned the high place, ground it to dust, and burned the Asherah pole.
23:16 When Josiah turned and saw the tombs there on the hill, he sent men to take the bones from the tombs. He burned them on the altar and defiled it, according to the word of the LORD proclaimed by the man of God who had announced these things.
23:17 He asked, “What is that monument I see?” The men of the city said to him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and proclaimed these things you have done against the altar at Bethel.”
23:18 He said, “Leave him alone. Let no one disturb his bones.” So they spared his bones, along with the bones of the prophet who had come from Samaria.
23:19 Josiah also removed all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria that the kings of Israel had made to provoke anger. He did to them everything he had done at Bethel.
23:20 He slaughtered all the priests of the high places on the altars there and burned human bones on them. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
23:21 The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover to the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
23:22 No Passover like this had been kept since the days of the judges who judged Israel, or in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah.
23:23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, this Passover was kept to the LORD in Jerusalem.
23:24 Josiah also removed the mediums, spiritists, household gods, idols, and all the detestable things seen in the land of Judah and in Jerusalem, to fulfill the words of the law written in the book Hilkiah the priest had found in the house of the LORD.
23:25 Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, all his soul, and all his might, according to all the Law of Moses. Nor did one like him arise after him.
23:26 Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn from the fierceness of his great anger that burned against Judah because of all the provocations with which Manasseh had provoked him.
23:27 The LORD said, “I will also remove Judah from my presence, as I removed Israel. I will reject this city I have chosen, Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, ‘My name will be there.’”
23:28 As for the rest of the acts of Josiah and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
23:29 In his days Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt went up to the king of Assyria at the Euphrates River. King Josiah went out to meet him, and Neco put him to death at Megiddo when he saw him.
23:30 His servants carried him dead in a chariot from Megiddo and brought him to Jerusalem, where they buried him in his tomb. The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah, anointed him, and made him king in his father’s place.
23:31 Jehoahaz was twenty-three years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
23:32 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his ancestors had done.
23:33 Pharaoh Neco imprisoned him at Riblah in the land of Hamath, preventing him from reigning in Jerusalem. He imposed on the land a fine of about 7,500 pounds of silver and about 75 pounds of gold.
23:34 Pharaoh Neco made Eliakim son of Josiah king in place of his father Josiah and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He took Jehoahaz away, and he went to Egypt and died there.
23:35 Jehoiakim gave the silver and gold to Pharaoh, but he taxed the land to pay the money Pharaoh demanded. He exacted the silver and gold from the people of the land, from each man according to his assessment, to give it to Pharaoh Neco.
23:36 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Zebudah, daughter of Pedaiah, from Rumah.
23:37 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his ancestors had done.

Chapter 24
24:1 In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.
24:2 The LORD sent Chaldean raiding parties against him, along with Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiding parties. He sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word the LORD had spoken through his servants the prophets.
24:3 Surely this came upon Judah at the LORD’s command, to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all that he had done,
24:4 and also because of the innocent blood he had shed, filling Jerusalem with innocent blood. The LORD was not willing to forgive.
24:5 As for the rest of the acts of Jehoiakim and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah?
24:6 Jehoiakim rested with his ancestors, and his son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.
24:7 The king of Egypt did not again come out of his own land, for the king of Babylon had taken everything that belonged to the king of Egypt, from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River.
24:8 Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he became king, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta, daughter of Elnathan, from Jerusalem.
24:9 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father had done.
24:10 At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city came under siege.
24:11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city while his servants were besieging it.
24:12 Jehoiachin king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, along with his mother, his servants, his officials, and his court officers. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign.
24:13 He carried away all the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s palace. He cut in pieces all the gold articles Solomon king of Israel had made for the LORD’s temple, just as the LORD had said.
24:14 He carried all Jerusalem into exile, all the officials and all the mighty warriors, ten thousand exiles, along with all the craftsmen and metalworkers. No one remained except the poorest people of the land.
24:15 He carried Jehoiachin into exile to Babylon. He also took the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his court officers, and the leading men of the land into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
24:16 The king of Babylon took all the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and metalworkers, one thousand, into exile to Babylon. All were strong men fit for war.
24:17 The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place and changed his name to Zedekiah.
24:18 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal, daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
24:19 He did evil in the sight of the LORD, according to all that Jehoiakim had done.
24:20 This happened in Jerusalem and Judah because of the LORD’s anger, until he cast them out of his presence. Then Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

Chapter 25
25:1 In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem. He camped against it, and they built siegeworks all around it.
25:2 The city remained under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
25:3 By the ninth day of the month, the famine in the city had become severe, and there was no food for the people of the land.
25:4 Then the city was breached, and all the fighting men fled by night through the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden. The Chaldeans were surrounding the city, and the king went by the road toward the Arabah.
25:5 The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army had scattered away from him.
25:6 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where they pronounced judgment on him.
25:7 They slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. Then the king of Babylon put out Zedekiah’s eyes, bound him in bronze shackles, and brought him to Babylon.
25:8 On the seventh day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard and servant of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
25:9 He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem. He burned every large house with fire.
25:10 All the Chaldean army with the captain of the guard tore down the walls around Jerusalem.
25:11 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had gone over to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the population.
25:12 But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest people of the land to tend the vineyards and work the fields.
25:13 The Chaldeans broke in pieces the bronze pillars of the house of the LORD, the stands, and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and carried their bronze to Babylon.
25:14 They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, ladles, and all the bronze articles used in the service.
25:15 The captain of the guard took the firepans and basins, whatever was gold and whatever was silver.
25:16 The two pillars, the one Sea, and the stands Solomon had made for the house of the LORD—the bronze of all these articles was beyond weighing.
25:17 One pillar was about twenty-seven feet high, with a bronze capital on it about four and a half feet high. There was latticework and pomegranates around the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar had the same, including the latticework.
25:18 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the priest of the second rank, and the three threshold guards.
25:19 From the city he took an official who was in charge of the fighting men, five men who had access to the king and were found in the city, the chief military secretary who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
25:20 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
25:21 The king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was carried into exile from its own land.
25:22 Over the people left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, he appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.
25:23 When all the commanders of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
25:24 Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, “Do not be afraid of the servants of the Chaldeans. Settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.”
25:25 But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, came with ten men. They struck down Gedaliah, and he died, along with the Judeans and Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.
25:26 Then all the people, from the least to the greatest, and the commanders of the forces got up and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.
25:27 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison.
25:28 He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the other kings who were with him in Babylon.
25:29 He changed Jehoiachin’s prison clothes, and Jehoiachin ate regularly in his presence all the days of his life.
25:30 A regular allowance was given him by the king, his daily portion day by day, all the days of his life.

1 CHRONICLES

Chapter 1
1:1 Adam, Seth, Enosh,
1:2 Kenan, Mahalalel, Jared,
1:3 Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech,
1:4 Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
1:5 The sons of Japheth: Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.
1:6 The sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz, Diphath, and Togarmah.
1:7 The sons of Javan: Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Rodanim.
1:8 The sons of Ham: Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.
1:9 The sons of Cush: Seba, Havilah, Sabta, Raama, and Sabteca. The sons of Raama: Sheba and Dedan.
1:10 Cush was the father of Nimrod, who became a mighty man on the earth.
1:11 Mizraim was the father of Ludim, Anamim, Lehabim, Naphtuhim,
1:12 Pathrusim, Casluhim, from whom the Philistines came, and Caphtorim.
1:13 Canaan was the father of Sidon his firstborn and Heth,
1:14 the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,
1:15 the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,
1:16 the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites.
1:17 The sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, Aram, Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.
1:18 Arpachshad was the father of Shelah, and Shelah was the father of Eber.
1:19 Two sons were born to Eber. One was named Peleg, because in his days the earth was divided. His brother’s name was Joktan.
1:20 Joktan was the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,
1:21 Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,
1:22 Ebal, Abimael, Sheba,
1:23 Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.
1:24 Shem, Arpachshad, Shelah,
1:25 Eber, Peleg, Reu,
1:26 Serug, Nahor, Terah,
1:27 Abram, that is, Abraham.
1:28 The sons of Abraham: Isaac and Ishmael.
1:29 These are their descendants: Ishmael’s firstborn was Nebaioth, then Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,
1:30 Mishma, Dumah, Massa, Hadad, Tema,
1:31 Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah. These were the sons of Ishmael.
1:32 The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: She bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan.
1:33 The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were descendants of Keturah.
1:34 Abraham was the father of Isaac. The sons of Isaac: Esau and Israel.
1:35 The sons of Esau: Eliphaz, Reuel, Jeush, Jaalam, and Korah.
1:36 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zephi, Gatam, Kenaz, Timna, and Amalek.
1:37 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah.
1:38 The sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan.
1:39 The sons of Lotan: Hori and Homam. Lotan’s sister was Timna.
1:40 The sons of Shobal: Alian, Manahath, Ebal, Shephi, and Onam. The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah.
1:41 The sons of Anah: Dishon. The sons of Dishon: Hamran, Eshban, Ithran, and Cheran.
1:42 The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Jaakan. The sons of Dishon: Uz and Aran.
1:43 These are the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before a king reigned over the people of Israel: Bela son of Beor; his city was named Dinhabah.
1:44 Bela died, and Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in his place.
1:45 Jobab died, and Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in his place.
1:46 Husham died, and Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the land of Moab, reigned in his place. His city was named Avith.
1:47 Hadad died, and Samlah from Masrekah reigned in his place.
1:48 Samlah died, and Shaul from Rehoboth by the river reigned in his place.
1:49 Shaul died, and Baal-hanan son of Achbor reigned in his place.
1:50 Baal-hanan died, and Hadad reigned in his place. His city was named Pai, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel, daughter of Matred, daughter of Mezahab.
1:51 Hadad died. The chiefs of Edom were Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth,
1:52 Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon,
1:53 Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar,
1:54 Chief Magdiel, and Chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom.

Chapter 2
2:1 These are the sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun,
2:2 Dan, Joseph, Benjamin, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.
2:3 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by the daughter of Shua, a Canaanite woman. Er, Judah’s firstborn, was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death.
2:4 His daughter-in-law Tamar bore him Perez and Zerah. Judah had five sons in all.
2:5 The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.
2:6 The sons of Zerah: Zimri, Ethan, Heman, Calcol, and Dara, five in all.
2:7 The sons of Carmi: Achar, who brought trouble on Israel by being unfaithful concerning the things devoted to destruction.
2:8 The sons of Ethan: Azariah.
2:9 The sons born to Hezron: Jerahmeel, Ram, and Chelubai.
2:10 Ram was the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, leader of the people of Judah.
2:11 Nahshon was the father of Salma, and Salma was the father of Boaz.
2:12 Boaz was the father of Obed, and Obed was the father of Jesse.
2:13 Jesse was the father of Eliab his firstborn, Abinadab the second, Shimea the third,
2:14 Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth,
2:15 Ozem the sixth, and David the seventh.
2:16 Their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail. The sons of Zeruiah: Abishai, Joab, and Asahel, three.
2:17 Abigail bore Amasa, whose father was Jether the Ishmaelite.
2:18 Caleb son of Hezron had children by his wife Azubah and by Jerioth. These were her sons: Jesher, Shobab, and Ardon.
2:19 Azubah died, and Caleb married Ephrath, who bore him Hur.
2:20 Hur was the father of Uri, and Uri was the father of Bezalel.
2:21 Afterward Hezron went in to the daughter of Machir, the father of Gilead. He married her when he was sixty years old, and she bore him Segub.
2:22 Segub was the father of Jair, who had twenty-three cities in the land of Gilead.
2:23 But Geshur and Aram took the villages of Jair from them, along with Kenath and its villages, sixty cities. All these were descendants of Machir, the father of Gilead.
2:24 After Hezron died in Caleb-ephrathah, Hezron’s wife Abijah bore him Ashhur, the father of Tekoa.
2:25 The sons of Jerahmeel, Hezron’s firstborn: Ram the firstborn, Bunah, Oren, Ozem, and Ahijah.
2:26 Jerahmeel had another wife, whose name was Atarah. She was the mother of Onam.
2:27 The sons of Ram, Jerahmeel’s firstborn: Maaz, Jamin, and Eker.
2:28 The sons of Onam: Shammai and Jada. The sons of Shammai: Nadab and Abishur.
2:29 Abishur’s wife was named Abihail, and she bore him Ahban and Molid.
2:30 The sons of Nadab: Seled and Appaim. Seled died without sons.
2:31 The sons of Appaim: Ishi. The sons of Ishi: Sheshan. The children of Sheshan: Ahlai.
2:32 The sons of Jada, Shammai’s brother: Jether and Jonathan. Jether died without sons.
2:33 The sons of Jonathan: Peleth and Zaza. These were descendants of Jerahmeel.
2:34 Sheshan had no sons, only daughters. He had an Egyptian servant named Jarha.
2:35 Sheshan gave his daughter in marriage to his servant Jarha, and she bore him Attai.
2:36 Attai was the father of Nathan, and Nathan was the father of Zabad.
2:37 Zabad was the father of Ephlal, and Ephlal was the father of Obed.
2:38 Obed was the father of Jehu, and Jehu was the father of Azariah.
2:39 Azariah was the father of Helez, and Helez was the father of Eleasah.
2:40 Eleasah was the father of Sismai, and Sismai was the father of Shallum.
2:41 Shallum was the father of Jekamiah, and Jekamiah was the father of Elishama.
2:42 The sons of Caleb, Jerahmeel’s brother: Mesha his firstborn, who was the father of Ziph, and the sons of Mareshah, the father of Hebron.
2:43 The sons of Hebron: Korah, Tappuah, Rekem, and Shema.
2:44 Shema was the father of Raham, the father of Jorkeam, and Rekem was the father of Shammai.
2:45 Shammai’s son was Maon, and Maon was the father of Beth-zur.
2:46 Ephah, Caleb’s concubine, bore Haran, Moza, and Gazez. Haran was the father of Gazez.
2:47 The sons of Jahdai: Regem, Jotham, Geshan, Pelet, Ephah, and Shaaph.
2:48 Caleb’s concubine Maacah bore Sheber and Tirhanah.
2:49 She also bore Shaaph, the father of Madmannah, and Sheva, the father of Machbenah and the father of Gibea. Caleb’s daughter was Achsah.
2:50 These were the sons of Caleb son of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah: Shobal, the father of Kiriath-jearim,
2:51 Salma, the father of Bethlehem, and Hareph, the father of Beth-gader.
2:52 Shobal, the father of Kiriath-jearim, had sons: Haroeh and half the Menuhoth.
2:53 The clans of Kiriath-jearim: the Ithrites, Puthites, Shumathites, and Mishraites. From these came the Zorathites and Eshtaolites.
2:54 The descendants of Salma: Bethlehem, the Netophathites, Atroth-beth-joab, and half the Manahathites, the Zorites.
2:55 The clans of scribes who lived at Jabez: the Tirathites, Shimeathites, and Sucathites. These were the Kenites who came from Hammath, the father of the house of Rechab.

Chapter 3
3:1 These were the sons of David born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam of Jezreel; the second, Daniel, by Abigail of Carmel;
3:2 the third, Absalom, son of Maacah, daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, son of Haggith;
3:3 the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah.
3:4 Six were born to him in Hebron, where he reigned seven years and six months. He reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
3:5 These were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon, four by Bath-shua, daughter of Ammiel;
3:6 also Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet,
3:7 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,
3:8 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine.
3:9 All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines. Tamar was their sister.
3:10 Solomon’s son was Rehoboam; Abijah his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,
3:11 Joram his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,
3:12 Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son,
3:13 Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,
3:14 Amon his son, Josiah his son.
3:15 The sons of Josiah: Johanan the firstborn, Jehoiakim the second, Zedekiah the third, and Shallum the fourth.
3:16 The sons of Jehoiakim: Jeconiah his son; Zedekiah his son.
3:17 The sons of Jeconiah the captive: Shealtiel his son,
3:18 Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.
3:19 The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister;
3:20 also Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed, five.
3:21 The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah; the sons of Rephaiah, the sons of Arnan, the sons of Obadiah, and the sons of Shecaniah.
3:22 The sons of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. The sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat, six.
3:23 The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, Hezekiah, and Azrikam, three.
3:24 The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani, seven.

Chapter 4
4:1 The descendants of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.
4:2 Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath was the father of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the Zorathites.
4:3 The family of the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. Their sister’s name was Hazzelelponi.
4:4 Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah. These were the descendants of Hur, the firstborn of Ephrathah, the father of Bethlehem.
4:5 Ashhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah.
4:6 Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah.
4:7 The sons of Helah: Zereth, Zohar, and Ethnan.
4:8 Koz was the father of Anub, Zobebah, and the clans of Aharhel son of Harum.
4:9 Jabez was more honored than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez, saying, “I bore him in pain.”
4:10 Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from evil so it may not cause me pain.” And God granted what he asked.
4:11 Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, was the father of Mehir, who was the father of Eshton.
4:12 Eshton was the father of Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. These were the men of Recah.
4:13 The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel: Hathath.
4:14 Meonothai was the father of Ophrah, and Seraiah was the father of Joab, the father of the Valley of Craftsmen, for they were craftsmen.
4:15 The sons of Caleb son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The sons of Elah: Kenaz.
4:16 The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.
4:17 The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. She conceived Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa.
4:18 His Judean wife bore Jered, the father of Gedor, Heber, the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel, the father of Zanoah. These were the sons of Bithiah, Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Mered married.
4:19 The sons of Hodiah’s wife, the sister of Naham: the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.
4:20 The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.
4:21 The descendants of Shelah son of Judah: Er, the father of Lecah, Laadah, the father of Mareshah, and the clans of the fine-linen workers of the house of Ashbea;
4:22 also Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash and Saraph, who ruled in Moab, and Jashubi-lehem. These records are ancient.
4:23 These were the potters and the inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there with the king for his work.
4:24 The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul;
4:25 Shallum his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son.
4:26 The descendants of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.
4:27 Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many sons. Their entire clan did not grow as numerous as the people of Judah.
4:28 They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,
4:29 Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,
4:30 Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,
4:31 Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until David became king.
4:32 Their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan, five towns,
4:33 with all the villages around these towns as far as Baal. These were their settlements, and they had their own genealogical records.
4:34 Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,
4:35 Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel,
4:36 Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,
4:37 and Ziza son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah—
4:38 these mentioned by name were leaders in their clans, and their ancestral houses increased greatly.
4:39 They went to the entrance of Gedor, to the east side of the valley, seeking pasture for their flocks.
4:40 They found rich, good pasture, and the land was spacious, quiet, and peaceful, for descendants of Ham had lived there before.
4:41 These men recorded by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. They attacked their tents and the Meunites they found there, destroyed them completely, leaving none to this day, and settled in their place, because there was pasture for their flocks there.
4:42 Five hundred of them, men of Simeon, went to Mount Seir, led by Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.
4:43 They struck down the surviving remnant of the Amalekites and have lived there to this day.

Chapter 5
5:1 The sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn—he was the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, though the genealogy was not reckoned according to the birthright.
5:2 Judah prevailed over his brothers, and a ruler came from him, but the birthright belonged to Joseph—
5:3 the sons of Reuben, Israel’s firstborn: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
5:4 The descendants of Joel: Shemaiah his son, Gog his son, Shimei his son,
5:5 Micah his son, Reaiah his son, Baal his son,
5:6 and Beerah his son, whom Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria carried into exile. He was a leader of the Reubenites.
5:7 His relatives, by their clans, when their genealogies were registered by their generations: Jeiel the chief, Zechariah,
5:8 and Bela son of Azaz, son of Shema, son of Joel. He lived in Aroer as far as Nebo and Baal-meon.
5:9 To the east he settled as far as the entrance to the wilderness stretching from the Euphrates River, because their livestock had increased in the land of Gilead.
5:10 In the days of Saul they made war against the Hagrites, who fell into their hands. They settled in their tents throughout the region east of Gilead.
5:11 The people of Gad lived opposite them in the land of Bashan as far as Salecah.
5:12 Joel was the chief, Shapham the second, with Janai and Shaphat in Bashan.
5:13 Their relatives, by their ancestral houses: Michael, Meshullam, Sheba, Jorai, Jacan, Zia, and Eber, seven.
5:14 These were descendants of Abihail son of Huri, son of Jaroah, son of Gilead, son of Michael, son of Jeshishai, son of Jahdo, son of Buz.
5:15 Ahi son of Abdiel, son of Guni, was head of their ancestral house.
5:16 They lived in Gilead, in Bashan and its villages, and in all the pasturelands of Sharon as far as their boundaries.
5:17 All these were registered by genealogy in the days of Jotham king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam king of Israel.
5:18 The Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh had 44,760 valiant men who could serve in the army, men who carried shield and sword, drew the bow, and were trained for war.
5:19 They made war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab.
5:20 They received help against them, and the Hagrites and all who were with them were given into their hands. For they cried out to God in the battle, and he answered their plea because they trusted in him.
5:21 They captured their livestock: 50,000 camels, 250,000 sheep and goats, and 2,000 donkeys, as well as 100,000 people.
5:22 Many fell slain, because the war was from God. They settled in their place until the exile.
5:23 The people of the half-tribe of Manasseh lived in the land from Bashan to Baal-hermon, Senir, and Mount Hermon. They were numerous.
5:24 These were the heads of their ancestral houses: Epher, Ishi, Eliel, Azriel, Jeremiah, Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty warriors, men of renown, heads of their ancestral houses.
5:25 But they were unfaithful to the God of their ancestors and prostituted themselves after the gods of the peoples of the land whom God had destroyed before them.
5:26 So the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria and the spirit of Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria. He carried into exile the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river of Gozan, where they remain to this day.

Chapter 6
6:1 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
6:2 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
6:3 The children of Amram: Aaron, Moses, and Miriam. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
6:4 Eleazar was the father of Phinehas, and Phinehas was the father of Abishua.
6:5 Abishua was the father of Bukki, and Bukki was the father of Uzzi.
6:6 Uzzi was the father of Zerahiah, and Zerahiah was the father of Meraioth.
6:7 Meraioth was the father of Amariah, and Amariah was the father of Ahitub.
6:8 Ahitub was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Ahimaaz.
6:9 Ahimaaz was the father of Azariah, and Azariah was the father of Johanan.
6:10 Johanan was the father of Azariah, who served as priest in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem.
6:11 Azariah was the father of Amariah, and Amariah was the father of Ahitub.
6:12 Ahitub was the father of Zadok, and Zadok was the father of Shallum.
6:13 Shallum was the father of Hilkiah, and Hilkiah was the father of Azariah.
6:14 Azariah was the father of Seraiah, and Seraiah was the father of Jehozadak.
6:15 Jehozadak went into exile when the LORD carried Judah and Jerusalem into exile by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.
6:16 The sons of Levi: Gershom, Kohath, and Merari.
6:17 These are the names of the sons of Gershom: Libni and Shimei.
6:18 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.
6:19 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites according to their ancestors.
6:20 The descendants of Gershom: Libni his son, Jahath his son, Zimmah his son,
6:21 Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son, and Jeatherai his son.
6:22 The descendants of Kohath: Amminadab his son, Korah his son, Assir his son,
6:23 Elkanah his son, Ebiasaph his son, Assir his son,
6:24 Tahath his son, Uriel his son, Uzziah his son, and Shaul his son.
6:25 The sons of Elkanah: Amasai and Ahimoth.
6:26 Elkanah. The sons of Elkanah: Zophai his son, Nahath his son,
6:27 Eliab his son, Jeroham his son, and Elkanah his son.
6:28 The sons of Samuel: Vashni the firstborn and Abijah.
6:29 The descendants of Merari: Mahli, Libni his son, Shimei his son, Uzza his son,
6:30 Shimea his son, Haggiah his son, and Asaiah his son.
6:31 These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark came to rest.
6:32 They ministered with song before the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, until Solomon built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem. They carried out their service according to their prescribed order.
6:33 These are the men who served, along with their sons. From the Kohathites: Heman the singer, son of Joel, son of Samuel,
6:34 son of Elkanah, son of Jeroham, son of Eliel, son of Toah,
6:35 son of Zuph, son of Elkanah, son of Mahath, son of Amasai,
6:36 son of Elkanah, son of Joel, son of Azariah, son of Zephaniah,
6:37 son of Tahath, son of Assir, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah,
6:38 son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, son of Israel.
6:39 His relative Asaph stood at his right hand. Asaph was the son of Berechiah, son of Shimea,
6:40 son of Michael, son of Baaseiah, son of Malchijah,
6:41 son of Ethni, son of Zerah, son of Adaiah,
6:42 son of Ethan, son of Zimmah, son of Shimei,
6:43 son of Jahath, son of Gershom, son of Levi.
6:44 Their relatives, the descendants of Merari, stood on the left: Ethan son of Kishi, son of Abdi, son of Malluch,
6:45 son of Hashabiah, son of Amaziah, son of Hilkiah,
6:46 son of Amzi, son of Bani, son of Shamer,
6:47 son of Mahli, son of Mushi, son of Merari, son of Levi.
6:48 Their fellow Levites were assigned to all the service of the tabernacle, the house of God.
6:49 But Aaron and his sons made offerings on the altar of burnt offering and on the altar of incense, attending to all the work of the Most Holy Place and making atonement for Israel, according to all that Moses the servant of God had commanded.
6:50 These are the descendants of Aaron: Eleazar his son, Phinehas his son, Abishua his son,
6:51 Bukki his son, Uzzi his son, Zerahiah his son,
6:52 Meraioth his son, Amariah his son, Ahitub his son,
6:53 Zadok his son, and Ahimaaz his son.
6:54 These were their dwelling places, according to their settlements within their territory. The lot fell to the descendants of Aaron of the Kohathite clan.
6:55 They were given Hebron in the land of Judah, with its surrounding pasturelands.
6:56 But the fields of the city and its villages were given to Caleb son of Jephunneh.
6:57 To the descendants of Aaron they gave the cities of refuge: Hebron, Libnah with its pasturelands, Jattir, and Eshtemoa with its pasturelands,
6:58 Hilen with its pasturelands, Debir with its pasturelands,
6:59 Ashan with its pasturelands, and Beth-shemesh with its pasturelands.
6:60 From the tribe of Benjamin: Geba with its pasturelands, Alemeth with its pasturelands, and Anathoth with its pasturelands. All their cities numbered thirteen, distributed among their clans.
6:61 The remaining descendants of Kohath, from the tribal clan, were allotted ten cities from the half-tribe of Manasseh.
6:62 The descendants of Gershom, according to their clans, received thirteen cities from the tribes of Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali, and from the tribe of Manasseh in Bashan.
6:63 The descendants of Merari, according to their clans, were allotted twelve cities from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun.
6:64 The Israelites gave the Levites these cities with their pasturelands.
6:65 They allotted these cities, named here, from the tribes of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
6:66 Some of the clans of the descendants of Kohath had cities within their territory from the tribe of Ephraim.
6:67 They were given the cities of refuge: Shechem with its pasturelands in the hill country of Ephraim, and Gezer with its pasturelands,
6:68 Jokmeam with its pasturelands, Beth-horon with its pasturelands,
6:69 Aijalon with its pasturelands, and Gath-rimmon with its pasturelands.
6:70 From the half-tribe of Manasseh: Aner with its pasturelands and Bileam with its pasturelands, for the clan of the remaining descendants of Kohath.
6:71 The descendants of Gershom received, from the clans of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Golan in Bashan with its pasturelands and Ashtaroth with its pasturelands.
6:72 From the tribe of Issachar: Kedesh with its pasturelands, Daberath with its pasturelands,
6:73 Ramoth with its pasturelands, and Anem with its pasturelands.
6:74 From the tribe of Asher: Mashal with its pasturelands, Abdon with its pasturelands,
6:75 Hukok with its pasturelands, and Rehob with its pasturelands.
6:76 From the tribe of Naphtali: Kedesh in Galilee with its pasturelands, Hammon with its pasturelands, and Kiriathaim with its pasturelands.
6:77 The remaining descendants of Merari received, from the tribe of Zebulun, Rimmono with its pasturelands and Tabor with its pasturelands.
6:78 Across the Jordan from Jericho, east of the Jordan, from the tribe of Reuben: Bezer in the wilderness with its pasturelands, Jahzah with its pasturelands,
6:79 Kedemoth with its pasturelands, and Mephaath with its pasturelands.
6:80 From the tribe of Gad: Ramoth in Gilead with its pasturelands, Mahanaim with its pasturelands,
6:81 Heshbon with its pasturelands, and Jazer with its pasturelands.

Chapter 7
7:1 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron, four.
7:2 The sons of Tola: Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Samuel, heads of their ancestral houses in the line of Tola. They were valiant warriors in their generations; in the days of David they numbered 22,600.
7:3 The sons of Uzzi: Izrahiah. The sons of Izrahiah: Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, five in all, all of them heads.
7:4 With them, according to their generations and ancestral houses, were 36,000 troops ready for war, for they had many wives and sons.
7:5 Their relatives from all the clans of Issachar were valiant warriors, 87,000 in all, registered by genealogy.
7:6 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Jediael, three.
7:7 The sons of Bela: Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri, five. They were heads of ancestral houses, valiant warriors, with 22,034 registered by genealogy.
7:8 The sons of Becher: Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. All these were sons of Becher.
7:9 Registered by genealogy according to their generations, their heads of ancestral houses and valiant warriors numbered 20,200.
7:10 The sons of Jediael: Bilhan. The sons of Bilhan: Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar.
7:11 All these were descendants of Jediael, heads of ancestral houses, valiant warriors; 17,200 could go out with the army to war.
7:12 Shuppim and Huppim, descendants of Ir; Hushim, descendants of Aher.
7:13 The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum, descendants of Bilhah.
7:14 The sons of Manasseh: Asriel, whom she bore. His Aramean concubine bore Machir, the father of Gilead.
7:15 Machir took a wife from Huppim and Shuppim. His sister’s name was Maacah. The name of the second was Zelophehad, and Zelophehad had daughters.
7:16 Maacah, Machir’s wife, bore a son and named him Peresh. His brother’s name was Sheresh, and his sons were Ulam and Rakem.
7:17 The sons of Ulam: Bedan. These were descendants of Gilead son of Machir, son of Manasseh.
7:18 His sister Hammolecheth bore Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.
7:19 The sons of Shemida: Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.
7:20 The descendants of Ephraim: Shuthelah, Bered his son, Tahath his son, Eladah his son, Tahath his son,
7:21 Zabad his son, Shuthelah his son, Ezer, and Elead. The men of Gath who were born in the land killed them because they went down to take their livestock.
7:22 Ephraim their father mourned for many days, and his brothers came to comfort him.
7:23 He lay with his wife, and she conceived and bore a son. He named him Beriah because disaster had come upon his house.
7:24 His daughter was Sheerah, who built Lower and Upper Beth-horon and Uzzen-sheerah.
7:25 Rephah his son, Resheph, Telah his son, Tahan his son,
7:26 Ladan his son, Ammihud his son, Elishama his son,
7:27 Nun his son, and Joshua his son.
7:28 Their possessions and dwelling places were Bethel and its villages, Naaran to the east, Gezer and its villages to the west, and Shechem and its villages as far as Ayyah and its villages.
7:29 Along the borders of the descendants of Manasseh were Beth-shean and its villages, Taanach and its villages, Megiddo and its villages, and Dor and its villages. The descendants of Joseph son of Israel lived in these places.
7:30 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with Serah their sister.
7:31 The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel, who was the father of Birzaith.
7:32 Heber was the father of Japhlet, Shomer, Hotham, and their sister Shua.
7:33 The sons of Japhlet: Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. These were the sons of Japhlet.
7:34 The sons of Shamer: Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram.
7:35 The descendants of his brother Helem: Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal.
7:36 The sons of Zophah: Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah,
7:37 Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera.
7:38 The sons of Jether: Jephunneh, Pispah, and Ara.
7:39 The sons of Ulla: Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.
7:40 All these were descendants of Asher, heads of ancestral houses, choice men, valiant warriors, and leading chiefs. Their number, registered by genealogy for military service in war, was 26,000 men.

Chapter 8
8:1 Benjamin was the father of Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, Aharah the third,
8:2 Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth.
8:3 The sons of Bela: Addar, Gera, Abihud,
8:4 Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah,
8:5 Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram.
8:6 These were the descendants of Ehud, heads of ancestral houses among the inhabitants of Geba. They were taken into exile to Manahath:
8:7 Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera. It was he who took them into exile, and he was the father of Uzza and Ahihud.
8:8 Shaharaim fathered children in the land of Moab after sending away Hushim and Baara, his wives.
8:9 By his wife Hodesh he was the father of Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam,
8:10 Jeuz, Sachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of ancestral houses.
8:11 By Hushim he was the father of Abitub and Elpaal.
8:12 The sons of Elpaal: Eber, Misham, and Shemed, who built Ono and Lod with its villages;
8:13 Beriah and Shema, who were heads of ancestral houses among the inhabitants of Aijalon and drove out the inhabitants of Gath.
8:14 Ahio, Shashak, Jeremoth,
8:15 Zebadiah, Arad, Eder,
8:16 Michael, Ishpah, and Joha were the sons of Beriah.
8:17 Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber,
8:18 Ishmerai, Izliah, and Jobab were the sons of Elpaal.
8:19 Jakim, Zichri, Zabdi,
8:20 Elienai, Zillethai, Eliel,
8:21 Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath were the sons of Shimei.
8:22 Ishpan, Eber, Eliel,
8:23 Abdon, Zichri, Hanan,
8:24 Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah,
8:25 Iphdeiah, and Penuel were the sons of Shashak.
8:26 Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah,
8:27 Jaareshiah, Elijah, and Zichri were the sons of Jeroham.
8:28 These were heads of ancestral houses according to their generations, leading men. They lived in Jerusalem.
8:29 The father of Gibeon lived in Gibeon, and his wife’s name was Maacah.
8:30 His firstborn son was Abdon, followed by Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab,
8:31 Gedor, Ahio, and Zecher.
8:32 Mikloth was the father of Shimeah. They too lived in Jerusalem with their relatives, opposite their other relatives.
8:33 Ner was the father of Kish, and Kish was the father of Saul. Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.
8:34 Jonathan’s son was Merib-baal, and Merib-baal was the father of Micah.
8:35 The sons of Micah: Pithon, Melech, Tarea, and Ahaz.
8:36 Ahaz was the father of Jehoaddah, and Jehoaddah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri was the father of Moza.
8:37 Moza was the father of Binea; Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, and Azel his son.
8:38 Azel had six sons, and these were their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.
8:39 The sons of his brother Eshek: Ulam his firstborn, Jeush the second, and Eliphelet the third.
8:40 The sons of Ulam were valiant warriors, archers, with many sons and grandsons, 150 in all. All these were descendants of Benjamin.

Chapter 9
9:1 All Israel was registered by genealogy, and their names are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. Judah was carried into exile to Babylon because of their unfaithfulness.
9:2 The first inhabitants to settle on their property in their cities were Israelites, priests, Levites, and temple servants.
9:3 Some descendants of Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh lived in Jerusalem:
9:4 Uthai son of Ammihud, son of Omri, son of Imri, son of Bani, from the descendants of Perez son of Judah;
9:5 from the Shilonites, Asaiah the firstborn and his sons;
9:6 and from the descendants of Zerah, Jeuel. Their relatives numbered 690.
9:7 From the descendants of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Hodaviah, son of Hassenuah;
9:8 Ibneiah son of Jeroham; Elah son of Uzzi, son of Michri; and Meshullam son of Shephatiah, son of Reuel, son of Ibnijah.
9:9 Their relatives, according to their generations, numbered 956. All these men were heads of ancestral houses.
9:10 From the priests: Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin,
9:11 and Azariah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the officer in charge of the house of God;
9:12 Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah; and Maasai son of Adiel, son of Jahzerah, son of Meshullam, son of Meshillemith, son of Immer.
9:13 Their relatives, heads of ancestral houses, numbered 1,760, capable men for the work of service in the house of God.
9:14 From the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, from the descendants of Merari;
9:15 Bakbakkar, Heresh, Galal, and Mattaniah son of Mica, son of Zichri, son of Asaph;
9:16 Obadiah son of Shemaiah, son of Galal, son of Jeduthun; and Berechiah son of Asa, son of Elkanah, who lived in the villages of the Netophathites.
9:17 The gatekeepers: Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, Ahiman, and their relatives. Shallum was the chief.
9:18 To this day they serve at the King’s Gate on the east. They were the gatekeepers for the camps of the descendants of Levi.
9:19 Shallum son of Kore, son of Ebiasaph, son of Korah, and his relatives from his ancestral house, the Korahites, were responsible for the work of service as keepers of the thresholds of the tent. Their ancestors had been responsible for the camp of the LORD as keepers of the entrance.
9:20 Phinehas son of Eleazar had been their leader in earlier times, and the LORD was with him.
9:21 Zechariah son of Meshelemiah was gatekeeper at the entrance to the tent of meeting.
9:22 All those chosen as gatekeepers at the thresholds numbered 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. David and Samuel the seer had appointed them to their positions of trust.
9:23 They and their sons guarded the gates of the house of the LORD, the house of the tent, in shifts.
9:24 The gatekeepers were stationed on the four sides: east, west, north, and south.
9:25 Their relatives in their villages were to come from time to time to serve with them for seven days.
9:26 The four chief gatekeepers, who were Levites, held positions of trust and were responsible for the rooms and treasuries of the house of God.
9:27 They spent the night around the house of God because they were responsible for guarding it and for opening it every morning.
9:28 Some of them were responsible for the utensils used in service; they counted them when they brought them in and when they took them out.
9:29 Others were appointed over the furnishings and all the utensils of the sanctuary, the fine flour, wine, oil, frankincense, and spices.
9:30 Some of the priests mixed the fragrant spices.
9:31 Mattithiah, one of the Levites, the firstborn of Shallum the Korahite, was entrusted with preparing what was baked in pans.
9:32 Some of their relatives, the Kohathites, were responsible for preparing the bread set out in rows every Sabbath.
9:33 The singers, heads of ancestral houses among the Levites, stayed in the rooms and were exempt from other duties, because they were occupied with their work day and night.
9:34 These were heads of ancestral houses among the Levites, leaders according to their generations. They lived in Jerusalem.
9:35 Jeiel, the father of Gibeon, lived in Gibeon, and his wife’s name was Maacah.
9:36 His firstborn son was Abdon, followed by Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab,
9:37 Gedor, Ahio, Zechariah, and Mikloth.
9:38 Mikloth was the father of Shimeam. They too lived in Jerusalem with their relatives, opposite their other relatives.
9:39 Ner was the father of Kish, and Kish was the father of Saul. Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchi-shua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.
9:40 Jonathan’s son was Merib-baal, and Meri-baal was the father of Micah.
9:41 The sons of Micah: Pithon, Melech, and Tahrea.
9:42 Ahaz was the father of Jarah, and Jarah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri. Zimri was the father of Moza.
9:43 Moza was the father of Binea; Rephaiah was his son, Eleasah his son, and Azel his son.
9:44 Azel had six sons, and these were their names: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. These were the sons of Azel.

Chapter 10
10:1 The Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa.
10:2 The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and they struck down Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul’s sons.
10:3 The fighting grew fierce around Saul. The archers found him, and he was in anguish because of them.
10:4 Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, so these uncircumcised men do not come and abuse me.” But his armor-bearer refused because he was very afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it.
10:5 When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he too fell on the sword and died.
10:6 So Saul and his three sons died; his whole house died together.
10:7 When all the men of Israel in the valley saw that the men had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned their cities and fled. The Philistines came and settled in them.
10:8 The next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa.
10:9 They stripped him, took his head and his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to announce the news to their idols and to the people.
10:10 They put his armor in the temple of their gods and fastened his skull in the temple of Dagon.
10:11 When all Jabesh-gilead heard everything the Philistines had done to Saul,
10:12 all the valiant men rose up, took Saul’s body and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh. They buried their bones under the terebinth at Jabesh and fasted seven days.
10:13 Saul died because of the unfaithfulness he had committed against the LORD: he did not keep the word of the LORD, and he also consulted a medium to seek guidance.
10:14 He did not seek the LORD, so the LORD put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David son of Jesse.

Chapter 11
11:1 All Israel gathered to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood.
11:2 In the past, even when Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. The LORD your God said to you, ‘You will shepherd my people Israel, and you will be ruler over my people Israel.’”
11:3 All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron. David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel, according to the word of the LORD through Samuel.
11:4 David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, that is, Jebus, where the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, lived.
11:5 The inhabitants of Jebus said to David, “You will not come in here.” But David captured the stronghold of Zion, which is the City of David.
11:6 David said, “Whoever strikes the Jebusites first will become chief and commander.” Joab son of Zeruiah went up first and became chief.
11:7 David settled in the stronghold, so they called it the City of David.
11:8 He built up the city all around, from the Millo to the surrounding area, while Joab restored the rest of the city.
11:9 David grew greater and greater, and the LORD of hosts was with him.
11:10 These were the chiefs of David’s mighty warriors, who, together with all Israel, gave him strong support in his kingdom to make him king, according to the word of the LORD concerning Israel.
11:11 This is the list of David’s mighty warriors: Jashobeam son of Hachmoni, chief of the officers. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them in a single encounter.
11:12 After him was Eleazar son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty warriors.
11:13 He was with David at Pas-dammim, where the Philistines gathered for battle. There was a plot of ground full of barley, and the people fled before the Philistines.
11:14 But they took their stand in the middle of the plot, defended it, and struck down the Philistines. The LORD brought about a great deliverance.
11:15 Three of the thirty chiefs went down to the rock to David, to the cave of Adullam, while the Philistine army was camped in the Valley of Rephaim.
11:16 David was then in the stronghold, and the Philistine garrison was in Bethlehem.
11:17 David longed for water and said, “If only someone would give me a drink of water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate!”
11:18 The three broke through the Philistine camp, drew water from the well of Bethlehem by the gate, and brought it to David. But David refused to drink it and poured it out to the LORD.
11:19 He said, “My God forbid that I should do this! Shall I drink the blood of these men who risked their lives? For they brought it at the risk of their lives.” So he refused to drink it. These were the deeds of the three mighty warriors.
11:20 Abishai, Joab’s brother, was chief of the Three. He raised his spear against 300 men and killed them, gaining a name among the Three.
11:21 He was more honored than the other two of the Three and became their commander, but he did not attain to the Three.
11:22 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, son of a valiant man, a man of many deeds from Kabzeel, struck down two lionlike warriors of Moab. He also went down into a pit and killed a lion on a snowy day.
11:23 He struck down an Egyptian, a man about 7½ feet tall. The Egyptian had a spear like a weaver’s beam in his hand. Benaiah went down against him with a staff, snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand, and killed him with his own spear.
11:24 These were the deeds of Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he gained a name among the three mighty warriors.
11:25 He was more honored than the Thirty, but he did not attain to the Three. David put him in charge of his guard.
11:26 The mighty warriors were Asahel, Joab’s brother; Elhanan son of Dodo from Bethlehem;
11:27 Shammoth the Harorite; Helez the Pelonite;
11:28 Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite; Abiezer the Anathothite;
11:29 Sibbecai the Hushathite; Ilai the Ahohite;
11:30 Maharai the Netophathite; Heled son of Baanah the Netophathite;
11:31 Ithai son of Ribai from Gibeah of the Benjaminites; Benaiah the Pirathonite;
11:32 Hurai from the ravines of Gaash; Abiel the Arbathite;
11:33 Azmaveth the Baharumite; Eliahba the Shaalbonite;
11:34 the sons of Hashem the Gizonite; Jonathan son of Shagee the Hararite;
11:35 Ahiam son of Sacar the Hararite; Eliphal son of Ur;
11:36 Hepher the Mecherathite; Ahijah the Pelonite;
11:37 Hezro the Carmelite; Naarai son of Ezbai;
11:38 Joel, Nathan’s brother; Mibhar son of Hagri;
11:39 Zelek the Ammonite; Naharai the Beerothite, armor-bearer to Joab son of Zeruiah;
11:40 Ira the Ithrite; Gareb the Ithrite;
11:41 Uriah the Hittite; Zabad son of Ahlai;
11:42 Adina son of Shiza the Reubenite, a chief of the Reubenites, with thirty men;
11:43 Hanan son of Maacah; Joshaphat the Mithnite;
11:44 Uzzia the Ashterathite; Shama and Jeiel, sons of Hotham the Aroerite;
11:45 Jediael son of Shimri; Joha his brother the Tizite;
11:46 Eliel the Mahavite; Jeribai and Joshaviah, sons of Elnaam; Ithmah the Moabite;
11:47 Eliel, Obed, and Jaasiel the Mezobaite.

Chapter 12
12:1 These are the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was still kept away because of Saul son of Kish. They were among the mighty warriors who helped him in war.
12:2 They were armed with bows and could use either hand to sling stones and shoot arrows. They were Saul’s relatives from Benjamin.
12:3 The chief was Ahiezer, followed by Joash, sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite; Jeziel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth; Beracah; Jehu the Anathothite;
12:4 Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty warrior among the Thirty and over the Thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad the Gederathite;
12:5 Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, Shephatiah the Haruphite;
12:6 Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites;
12:7 and Joelah and Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham from Gedor.
12:8 Some Gadites separated themselves to join David at the stronghold in the wilderness. They were valiant warriors, men trained for battle, skilled with shield and spear. Their faces were like the faces of lions, and they were swift as gazelles on the mountains.
12:9 Ezer was the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third,
12:10 Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth,
12:11 Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh,
12:12 Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth,
12:13 Jeremiah the tenth, and Machbannai the eleventh.
12:14 These descendants of Gad were army commanders; the least was in charge of a hundred, and the greatest of a thousand.
12:15 They were the ones who crossed the Jordan in the first month, when it was overflowing all its banks, and put to flight everyone in the valleys to the east and to the west.
12:16 Some men from Benjamin and Judah came to David at the stronghold.
12:17 David went out to meet them and said, “If you have come to me in peace to help me, my heart will be united with you. But if you have come to betray me to my enemies, though there is no violence on my hands, may the God of our ancestors see it and judge.”
12:18 Then the Spirit clothed Amasai, chief of the officers: “We are yours, David, and we are with you, son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to those who help you, for your God helps you.” So David welcomed them and appointed them as commanders of his troops.
12:19 Some men of Manasseh defected to David when he came with the Philistines to battle against Saul. But David and his men did not help them, because the Philistine rulers, after taking counsel, sent him away, saying, “He will defect to his master Saul at the cost of our heads.”
12:20 As he went to Ziklag, these men of Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, commanders of thousands in Manasseh.
12:21 They helped David against the raiding band, for they were all valiant warriors, and they became commanders in the army.
12:22 Day after day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like an army of God.
12:23 These are the numbers of the men armed for military service who came to David at Hebron to transfer Saul’s kingdom to him, according to the word of the LORD:
12:24 From Judah, 6,800 men carrying shield and spear, armed for military service;
12:25 from Simeon, 7,100 valiant warriors fit for military service;
12:26 from Levi, 4,600;
12:27 Jehoiada, leader of the descendants of Aaron, with 3,700;
12:28 Zadok, a young valiant warrior, with twenty-two commanders from his ancestral house;
12:29 from Benjamin, Saul’s relatives, 3,000, for until then most of them had remained loyal to the house of Saul;
12:30 from Ephraim, 20,800 valiant warriors, men of renown in their ancestral houses;
12:31 from the half-tribe of Manasseh, 18,000 designated by name to come and make David king;
12:32 from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do, 200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command;
12:33 from Zebulun, 50,000 men fit for military service, prepared for battle with every kind of weapon, able to keep ranks with undivided loyalty;
12:34 from Naphtali, 1,000 commanders, with 37,000 men carrying shield and spear;
12:35 from Dan, 28,600 men prepared for battle;
12:36 from Asher, 40,000 men fit for military service, prepared for battle;
12:37 and from beyond the Jordan, from Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, 120,000 men with every kind of weapon for war.
12:38 All these warriors, able to keep battle formation, came to Hebron wholeheartedly to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of Israel were also of one mind to make David king.
12:39 They stayed there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their relatives had prepared provisions for them.
12:40 Their neighbors, from as far as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, also brought food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen: supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisins, wine, and oil, with cattle, sheep, and goats in abundance, for there was joy in Israel.

Chapter 13
13:1 David consulted with the commanders of thousands and hundreds, with every leader.
13:2 Then David said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you and comes from the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to our relatives who remain throughout the territories of Israel, and to the priests and Levites with them in their cities with pasturelands, so they may gather to us.
13:3 Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not attend to it in the days of Saul.”
13:4 The whole assembly agreed to do so, for the proposal seemed right to all the people.
13:5 So David assembled all Israel, from Shihor of Egypt to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
13:6 David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, Kiriath-jearim in Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the LORD, who is enthroned above the cherubim, the ark that bears his name.
13:7 They transported the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, with Uzza and Ahio driving the cart.
13:8 David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs, lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.
13:9 When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza reached out his hand to steady the ark because the oxen stumbled.
13:10 The anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, and he struck him down because he had reached out his hand to the ark. He died there before God.
13:11 David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzza. He called that place Perez-uzza, and it is called that to this day.
13:12 David was afraid of God that day and said, “How can I bring the ark of God to me?”
13:13 So David did not bring the ark to himself in the City of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
13:14 The ark of God remained with Obed-edom’s household in his house for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom’s household and everything he had.

Chapter 14
14:1 Huram king of Tyre sent messengers to David, along with cedar timber, masons, and carpenters, to build him a house.
14:2 David knew that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and had greatly exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.
14:3 David took more wives in Jerusalem and fathered more sons and daughters.
14:4 These are the names of the children born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
14:5 Ibhar, Elishua, Elpelet,
14:6 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,
14:7 Elishama, Beeliada, and Eliphelet.
14:8 When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up in search of David. David heard about it and went out to meet them.
14:9 The Philistines came and raided the Valley of Rephaim.
14:10 David inquired of God, “Should I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” The LORD said to him, “Go up, and I will give them into your hand.”
14:11 They went up to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand like water bursting through.” So they called that place Baal-perazim.
14:12 The Philistines abandoned their gods there. David gave the order, and they were burned with fire.
14:13 The Philistines raided the valley again.
14:14 David again inquired of God, and God said to him, “Do not go up after them. Circle around them and come at them opposite the balsam trees.
14:15 When you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the balsam trees, go out to battle, for God will have gone out before you to strike the Philistine army.”
14:16 David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army from Gibeon to Gezer.
14:17 David’s fame spread throughout all the lands, and the LORD brought the fear of him upon all the nations.

Chapter 15
15:1 David built houses for himself in the City of David, prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it.
15:2 Then David said, “No one but the Levites is to carry the ark of God, for the LORD chose them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister to him forever.”
15:3 David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it.
15:4 David gathered the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:
15:5 from the descendants of Kohath, Uriel the chief and 120 of his relatives;
15:6 from the descendants of Merari, Asaiah the chief and 220 of his relatives;
15:7 from the descendants of Gershom, Joel the chief and 130 of his relatives;
15:8 from the descendants of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the chief and 200 of his relatives;
15:9 from the descendants of Hebron, Eliel the chief and eighty of his relatives;
15:10 from the descendants of Uzziel, Amminadab the chief and 112 of his relatives.
15:11 David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab.
15:12 He said to them, “You are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your relatives, and bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it.
15:13 Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, for we did not seek him according to the prescribed order.”
15:14 So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.
15:15 The Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles resting on them, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.
15:16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers with musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals—to raise joyful sounds.
15:17 The Levites appointed Heman son of Joel, his relative Asaph son of Berechiah, and, from their relatives the descendants of Merari, Ethan son of Kushaiah.
15:18 With them were their relatives of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the gatekeepers.
15:19 The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals;
15:20 Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth;
15:21 and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead with lyres according to Sheminith.
15:22 Chenaniah, the Levitical leader in music, gave instruction in the music because he was skilled.
15:23 Berechiah and Elkanah were gatekeepers for the ark.
15:24 Shebaniah, Jehoshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, were to blow the trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also gatekeepers for the ark.
15:25 David, the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-edom with joy.
15:26 Because God helped the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.
15:27 David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who carried the ark, the singers, and Chenaniah, director of the singers’ music. David also wore a linen ephod.
15:28 All Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouts, the sound of the ram’s horn, trumpets and cymbals, and music from harps and lyres.
15:29 As the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul looked down through the window and saw King David dancing and celebrating, and she despised him in her heart.

Chapter 16
16:1 They brought in the ark of God and set it inside the tent David had pitched for it. They offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.
16:2 When David had finished offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD.
16:3 He distributed to every Israelite, man and woman alike, a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a raisin cake.
16:4 He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to call to remembrance, give thanks, and praise the LORD, the God of Israel.
16:5 Asaph was the chief, with Zechariah second to him; Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel played harps and lyres, while Asaph sounded the cymbals.
16:6 Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to sound the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God.
16:7 On that day David first entrusted Asaph and his relatives with giving thanks to the LORD:

16:8 Give thanks to the LORD;
   call on his name.
   Make his deeds known among the peoples.
16:9 Sing to him;
   make music to him.
   Tell of all his wonderful works.
16:10 Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
16:11 Seek the LORD and his strength;
   seek his face continually.
16:12 Remember the wonderful works he has done, his wonders and the judgments he has spoken,
16:13 you descendants of Israel his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
16:14 He is the LORD our God;
   his judgments are in all the earth.
16:15 Remember his covenant forever, the word he commanded for a thousand generations,
16:16 the covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac.
16:17 He established it for Jacob as a statute, for Israel as an everlasting covenant,
16:18 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your allotted inheritance.”
16:19 When you were few in number, very few, and strangers in it,
16:20 they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.
16:21 He allowed no one to oppress them;
   he rebuked kings for their sake:
16:22 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
   do no harm to my prophets.”

16:23 Sing to the LORD, all the earth;
   proclaim his salvation day after day.
16:24 Declare his glory among the nations, his wonderful works among all the peoples.
16:25 For the LORD is great and greatly to be praised;
   he is to be feared above all gods.
16:26 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
16:27 Splendor and majesty are before him;
   strength and joy are in his dwelling place.
16:28 Ascribe to the LORD, you families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
16:29 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
   bring an offering and come before him.
   Bow down to the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
16:30 Tremble before him, all the earth!
   The world is firmly established;
   it will not be shaken.
16:31 Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad;
   let them say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”
16:32 Let the sea roar and all that fills it;
   let the fields rejoice and everything in them.
16:33 Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
16:34 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever.
16:35 And say, “Save us, God of our salvation;
   gather us and deliver us from the nations, so we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.”
16:36 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!
   Then all the people said, “Amen,” and praised the LORD.
16:37 David left Asaph and his relatives there before the ark of the covenant of the LORD to minister regularly before the ark, according to each day’s requirements.
16:38 He also left Obed-edom and their relatives, sixty-eight in all; Obed-edom son of Jeduthun and Hosah were gatekeepers.
16:39 He left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon,
16:40 to offer burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering regularly, morning and evening, and to do all that is written in the law of the LORD, which he commanded Israel.
16:41 With them were Heman, Jeduthun, and the rest who were chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.
16:42 With them, Heman and Jeduthun had trumpets and cymbals to sound, and instruments for the music of God. Jeduthun’s sons were assigned to the gate.
16:43 Then all the people went home, each to his own house, and David returned to bless his household.

Chapter 17
17:1 When David was settled in his house, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I am living in a house of cedar, while the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under tent curtains.”
17:2 Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.”
17:3 But that night the word of God came to Nathan:
17:4 “Go and tell David my servant, ‘This is what the LORD says: You are not the one to build me a house to dwell in.
17:5 For I have not lived in a house from the day I brought Israel up to this day. I have moved from tent to tent, from one tabernacle to another.
17:6 Wherever I have gone with all Israel, did I ever say a word to any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people, asking, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”’
17:7 Now say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the LORD of hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be ruler over my people Israel.
17:8 I have been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies before you. I will make your name like the names of the great ones of the earth.
17:9 I will appoint a place for my people Israel and plant them there, so they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. Wicked men will no longer wear them down as they did at first,
17:10 from the days when I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will subdue all your enemies. And I declare to you that the LORD will build a house for you.
17:11 When your days are fulfilled and you go to be with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, one of your sons, and establish his kingdom.
17:12 He will build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever.
17:13 I will be a father to him, and he will be a son to me. I will not take my steadfast love from him as I took it from the one who was before you.
17:14 I will establish him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne will be established forever.’”
17:15 Nathan told David all these words and this entire vision.
17:16 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD. He said, “Who am I, LORD God, and what is my house, that you have brought me this far?
17:17 Yet this was a small thing in your eyes, God, for you have also spoken of your servant’s house far into the future. You have regarded me as a man of high rank, LORD God.
17:18 What more can David say to you about the honor given to your servant? You know your servant.
17:19 LORD, for your servant’s sake and according to your own heart, you have done all these great things, making all this greatness known.
17:20 LORD, there is no one like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all we have heard with our own ears.
17:21 Who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem as his people, to make a name for yourself through great and awesome deeds, driving out nations before your people whom you redeemed from Egypt?
17:22 You made your people Israel your own people forever, and you, LORD, became their God.
17:23 Now, LORD, let the word you have spoken concerning your servant and his house stand firm forever, and do as you have said.
17:24 Let it stand firm, and let your name be magnified forever, so people will say, ‘The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, is God to Israel.’ Let the house of David your servant be established before you.
17:25 For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore your servant has found courage to pray before you.
17:26 Now, LORD, you are God, and you have promised this good thing to your servant.
17:27 You have now been pleased to bless the house of your servant, so it may remain before you forever. For you, LORD, have blessed it, and it is blessed forever.”

Chapter 18
18:1 After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them. He took Gath and its villages from the Philistines.
18:2 He also defeated Moab, and the Moabites became David’s subjects, paying tribute.
18:3 David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah toward Hamath, as he went to establish his authority at the Euphrates River.
18:4 David captured from him 1,000 chariots, 7,000 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses but kept enough for a hundred chariots.
18:5 When the Arameans of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David struck down 22,000 of them.
18:6 David stationed garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Arameans became his subjects, paying tribute. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
18:7 David took the gold shields carried by Hadadezer’s servants and brought them to Jerusalem.
18:8 From Tibhath and Cun, cities of Hadadezer, David took a very large quantity of bronze. Solomon used it to make the bronze Sea, the pillars, and the bronze utensils.
18:9 When Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated the whole army of Hadadezer king of Zobah,
18:10 he sent his son Hadoram to King David to greet him and congratulate him for fighting against Hadadezer and defeating him, for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou. He brought all kinds of gold, silver, and bronze articles.
18:11 King David dedicated these also to the LORD, along with the silver and gold he had taken from all the nations: Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, and Amalek.
18:12 Abishai son of Zeruiah struck down 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.
18:13 He stationed garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s subjects. The LORD gave David victory wherever he went.
18:14 David reigned over all Israel, administering justice and righteousness to all his people.
18:15 Joab son of Zeruiah was over the army, and Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud was recorder.
18:16 Zadok son of Ahitub and Abimelech son of Abiathar were priests, and Shavsha was secretary.
18:17 Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and Pelethites, and David’s sons were the chief officials at the king’s side.

Chapter 19
19:1 After this, Nahash king of the Ammonites died, and his son reigned in his place.
19:2 David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. David’s servants came to the land of the Ammonites, to Hanun, to comfort him.
19:3 But the Ammonite leaders said to Hanun, “Do you think David is honoring your father by sending men to comfort you? Have his servants not come to you to investigate, overthrow, and spy out the land?”
19:4 So Hanun seized David’s servants, shaved them, cut their robes in half at the buttocks, and sent them away.
19:5 Some men went and told David about them, and he sent messengers to meet them, for they were deeply ashamed. The king said, “Stay in Jericho until your beards grow back; then return.”
19:6 When the Ammonites saw that they had made themselves hateful to David, Hanun and the Ammonites sent about 75,000 pounds of silver to hire chariots and horsemen from Aram-naharaim, Aram-maacah, and Zobah.
19:7 They hired 32,000 chariots, along with the king of Maacah and his people. They came and camped before Medeba, while the Ammonites gathered from their cities and came to battle.
19:8 When David heard about it, he sent Joab and the whole army of mighty warriors.
19:9 The Ammonites came out and took up battle formation at the entrance to the city, while the kings who had come were by themselves in the open country.
19:10 When Joab saw that the battle was facing him both in front and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best men and drew them up against the Arameans.
19:11 He put the rest of the troops under the command of his brother Abishai, and they drew up against the Ammonites.
19:12 He said, “If the Arameans are too strong for me, you must come to my help. But if the Ammonites are too strong for you, I will help you.
19:13 Be strong, and let us show courage for our people and the cities of our God. May the LORD do what is good in his sight.”
19:14 Joab and the troops with him advanced to battle against the Arameans, and they fled before him.
19:15 When the Ammonites saw the Arameans fleeing, they too fled before his brother Abishai and entered the city. Then Joab returned to Jerusalem.
19:16 When the Arameans saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought out the Arameans from beyond the river. Shophach, the commander of Hadadezer’s army, led them.
19:17 When David was told, he gathered all Israel, crossed the Jordan, came to them, and drew up against them. David formed his battle lines against the Arameans, and they fought against him.
19:18 The Arameans fled before Israel, and David killed 7,000 chariot troops and 40,000 foot soldiers of the Arameans. He also put Shophach, the army commander, to death.
19:19 When Hadadezer’s servants saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his subjects. The Arameans were unwilling to help the Ammonites again.

Chapter 20
20:1 At the turn of the year, when kings go out to war, Joab led out the army, devastated the land of the Ammonites, and came to besiege Rabbah. David remained in Jerusalem. Joab struck Rabbah and demolished it.
20:2 David took the crown from their king’s head and found that it weighed about seventy-five pounds of gold. It had a precious stone, and it was placed on David’s head. He brought out a vast amount of plunder from the city.
20:3 He brought out the people who were in it and cut them with the saw, with sharp iron tools, and with saws. David did the same to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and all the troops returned to Jerusalem.
20:4 After this, war broke out with the Philistines at Gezer. Sibbecai the Hushathite struck down Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim, and they were subdued.
20:5 There was another war with the Philistines, and Elhanan son of Jair struck down Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite. The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam.
20:6 There was another war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature with six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot, twenty-four in all. He too was descended from Rapha.
20:7 He taunted Israel, and Jonathan son of Shimea, David’s brother, struck him down.
20:8 These were descended from Rapha in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

Chapter 21
21:1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
21:2 David said to Joab and the leaders of the people, “Go and count Israel from Beersheba to Dan. Bring me the total so I may know their number.”
21:3 Joab said, “May the LORD make his people a hundred times as many as they are! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord seek this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?”
21:4 But the king’s word prevailed over Joab. So Joab went throughout all Israel and returned to Jerusalem.
21:5 Joab gave David the total of the people counted: in all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, and in Judah 470,000 men who drew the sword.
21:6 He did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, because the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab.
21:7 God was displeased with this matter, and he struck Israel.
21:8 David said to God, “I have sinned greatly in doing this. Now please take away your servant’s guilt, for I have acted very foolishly.”
21:9 The LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer:
21:10 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the LORD says: I offer you three things. Choose one of them, and I will do it to you.’”
21:11 So Gad came to David and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Choose for yourself:
21:12 three years of famine, or three months of being swept away before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or three days of the sword of the LORD, with plague in the land and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.”
21:13 David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercies are very great, but do not let me fall into human hands.”
21:14 So the LORD sent a plague on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell.
21:15 God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying it, the LORD saw and relented concerning the disaster. He said to the destroying angel, “Enough! Now withdraw your hand.” The angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
21:16 David looked up and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.
21:17 David said to God, “Was I not the one who ordered the people counted? I am the one who sinned and did great evil. But these sheep—what have they done? LORD my God, please let your hand be against me and my father’s house, but do not let the plague fall on your people.”
21:18 The angel of the LORD told Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
21:19 David went up at the word of Gad, who had spoken in the name of the LORD.
21:20 Ornan turned and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Ornan was threshing wheat.
21:21 David came to Ornan. When Ornan looked and saw David, he went out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.
21:22 David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of this threshing floor so I may build an altar to the LORD on it. Give it to me at the full price, so the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”
21:23 Ornan said to David, “Take it, and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight. Here, I give the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering. I give it all.”
21:24 But King David said to Ornan, “No, I will certainly buy it at the full price. I will not take what is yours for the LORD or offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
21:25 So David paid Ornan about fifteen pounds of gold by weight for the site.
21:26 David built an altar to the LORD there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called on the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
21:27 The LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.
21:28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.
21:29 The tabernacle of the LORD that Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were then at the high place in Gibeon.
21:30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was terrified of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Chapter 22
22:1 Then David said, “This is the site of the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”
22:2 David ordered the resident foreigners in the land of Israel to be gathered, and he appointed stonecutters to prepare dressed stones for building the house of God.
22:3 David prepared abundant iron for the nails of the gate doors and for the fittings, and so much bronze that it could not be weighed.
22:4 He also prepared cedar timber beyond counting, for the Sidonians and Tyrians had brought David cedar timber in abundance.
22:5 David said, “My son Solomon is young and inexperienced, and the house to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, renowned and splendid throughout all lands. So I will make preparations for it.” David made abundant preparations before his death.
22:6 He summoned his son Solomon and charged him to build a house for the LORD, the God of Israel.
22:7 David said to Solomon, “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the name of the LORD my God.
22:8 But the word of the LORD came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and fought great wars. You are not to build a house for my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth before me.
22:9 A son will be born to you who will be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his enemies around him. His name will be Solomon, and I will give Israel peace and quiet in his days.
22:10 He will build a house for my name. He will be a son to me, and I will be a father to him. I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’
22:11 Now, my son, may the LORD be with you, and may you succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as he has spoken concerning you.
22:12 May the LORD give you insight and understanding when he puts you in charge of Israel, so you may keep the law of the LORD your God.
22:13 Then you will succeed if you are careful to carry out the statutes and ordinances that the LORD commanded Moses for Israel. Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid or discouraged.
22:14 With great effort I have prepared for the house of the LORD about 4,000 tons of gold and 40,000 tons of silver, and bronze and iron too abundant to be weighed. I have also prepared timber and stone, and you are to add to them.
22:15 You have many workers: stonecutters, workers in stone and wood, and men skilled in every kind of work,
22:16 with gold, silver, bronze, and iron beyond counting. Rise and get to work, and may the LORD be with you!”
22:17 David also commanded all the leaders of Israel to help his son Solomon:
22:18 “Is not the LORD your God with you? Has he not given you rest on every side? He has given the inhabitants of the land into my hand, and the land has been subdued before the LORD and before his people.
22:19 Now set your heart and soul to seek the LORD your God. Rise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so the ark of the covenant of the LORD and the sacred utensils of God may be brought into the house built for the name of the LORD.”

Chapter 23
23:1 When David was old and full of years, he made his son Solomon king over Israel.
23:2 He gathered all the leaders of Israel, the priests, and the Levites.
23:3 The Levites thirty years old and above were counted, and their total, counted man by man, was 38,000.
23:4 Of these, 24,000 were to oversee the work of the house of the LORD, and 6,000 were officials and judges.
23:5 Four thousand were gatekeepers, and 4,000 praised the LORD “with the instruments I made for praise.”
23:6 David divided them into divisions according to the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
23:7 From the Gershonites: Ladan and Shimei.
23:8 The sons of Ladan: Jehiel the chief, Zetham, and Joel, three.
23:9 The sons of Shimei: Shelomith, Haziel, and Haran, three. These were the heads of the ancestral houses of Ladan.
23:10 The sons of Shimei: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah. These four were Shimei’s sons.
23:11 Jahath was the chief and Zizah the second. Jeush and Beriah did not have many sons, so they were counted together as one ancestral house.
23:12 The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, four.
23:13 The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to be consecrated as most holy, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the LORD, minister to him, and bless in his name forever.
23:14 The sons of Moses the man of God were reckoned as part of the tribe of Levi.
23:15 The sons of Moses: Gershom and Eliezer.
23:16 The sons of Gershom: Shebuel the chief.
23:17 The sons of Eliezer: Rehabiah the chief. Eliezer had no other sons, but Rehabiah’s descendants became very numerous.
23:18 The sons of Izhar: Shelomith the chief.
23:19 The sons of Hebron: Jeriah the chief, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
23:20 The sons of Uzziel: Micah the chief and Isshiah the second.
23:21 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Mahli: Eleazar and Kish.
23:22 Eleazar died without sons, having only daughters. The sons of Kish, their relatives, married them.
23:23 The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth, three.
23:24 These were the descendants of Levi according to their ancestral houses, the heads of ancestral houses as registered, counted individually by name, who did the work of service in the house of the LORD, twenty years old and above.
23:25 For David said, “The LORD, the God of Israel, has given rest to his people and will dwell in Jerusalem forever.
23:26 The Levites will no longer need to carry the tabernacle or any of the utensils used in its service.”
23:27 According to David’s last instructions, the descendants of Levi were counted from twenty years old and above.
23:28 Their duty was to assist the descendants of Aaron in the service of the house of the LORD, caring for the courts and rooms, purifying all the holy things, and doing the work of service in the house of God.
23:29 They were also responsible for the bread set out in rows, the fine flour for grain offerings, the unleavened wafers, what was prepared in pans, the well-mixed dough, and all measurements of quantity and size.
23:30 They were to stand every morning to give thanks and praise to the LORD, and likewise in the evening,
23:31 and to serve whenever burnt offerings were offered to the LORD on Sabbaths, New Moons, and appointed festivals, in the prescribed number and order, regularly before the LORD.
23:32 They were to keep the charge of the tent of meeting, the sanctuary, and their relatives the descendants of Aaron, in the service of the house of the LORD.

Chapter 24
24:1 These were the divisions of the descendants of Aaron. The sons of Aaron: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
24:2 Nadab and Abihu died before their father and had no sons, so Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests.
24:3 David, with Zadok from the descendants of Eleazar and Ahimelech from the descendants of Ithamar, divided them according to their assigned duties in service.
24:4 More heads of ancestral houses were found among the descendants of Eleazar than among the descendants of Ithamar. So they divided them accordingly: sixteen heads of ancestral houses from Eleazar’s descendants and eight from Ithamar’s descendants.
24:5 They divided them by lot, one group alongside the other, for officials of the sanctuary and officials of God came from both Eleazar’s descendants and Ithamar’s descendants.
24:6 Shemaiah son of Nethanel, a Levite scribe, recorded them in the presence of the king, the leaders, Zadok the priest, Ahimelech son of Abiathar, and the heads of the ancestral houses of the priests and Levites. One ancestral house was selected for Eleazar, and one was selected for Ithamar.
24:7 The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah,
24:8 the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim,
24:9 the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin,
24:10 the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah,
24:11 the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah,
24:12 the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim,
24:13 the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab,
24:14 the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer,
24:15 the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez,
24:16 the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel,
24:17 the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul,
24:18 the twenty-third to Delaiah, and the twenty-fourth to Maaziah.
24:19 These were their assigned duties in service when they entered the house of the LORD, according to the order given through Aaron their ancestor, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded him.
24:20 As for the remaining descendants of Levi: from the descendants of Amram, Shubael; from the descendants of Shubael, Jehdeiah.
24:21 As for Rehabiah: from his descendants, Isshiah the chief.
24:22 From the Izharites, Shelomoth; from the descendants of Shelomoth, Jahath.
24:23 The sons: Jeriah, Amariah the second, Jahaziel the third, and Jekameam the fourth.
24:24 The sons of Uzziel: Micah; from the sons of Micah, Shamir.
24:25 Micah’s brother was Isshiah; from the sons of Isshiah, Zechariah.
24:26 The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. The sons of Jaaziah: Beno.
24:27 The descendants of Merari through Jaaziah: Beno, Shoham, Zaccur, and Ibri.
24:28 From Mahli: Eleazar, who had no sons.
24:29 As for Kish: from the sons of Kish, Jerahmeel.
24:30 The sons of Mushi: Mahli, Eder, and Jerimoth. These were the descendants of the Levites according to their ancestral houses.
24:31 They too cast lots, just as their relatives the descendants of Aaron did, in the presence of King David, Zadok, Ahimelech, and the heads of the ancestral houses of the priests and Levites, the chief ancestral heads on the same basis as their younger relatives.

Chapter 25
25:1 David and the army commanders set apart for service the sons of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, who prophesied with lyres, harps, and cymbals. This is the list of the men who performed their assigned service:
25:2 From the sons of Asaph: Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah, and Asarelah. These sons of Asaph were under the direction of Asaph, who prophesied under the king’s direction.
25:3 From Jeduthun: the sons of Jeduthun were Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Hashabiah, and Mattithiah, six, under the direction of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied with the lyre, giving thanks and praise to the LORD.
25:4 From Heman: the sons of Heman were Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shebuel, Jerimoth, Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti, Romamti-ezer, Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir, and Mahazioth.
25:5 All these were sons of Heman, the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters.
25:6 All these were under their fathers’ direction for music in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, for the service of the house of God. Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman were under the king’s direction.
25:7 They and their relatives who were trained in singing to the LORD, all of them skilled, numbered 288.
25:8 They cast lots for their duties, small and great alike, skilled musician and student together.
25:9 The first lot fell to Joseph of Asaph’s family; the second to Gedaliah, who, with his relatives and sons, numbered twelve.
25:10 The third to Zaccur, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:11 the fourth to Izri, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:12 the fifth to Nethaniah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:13 the sixth to Bukkiah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:14 the seventh to Jesharelah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:15 the eighth to Jeshaiah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:16 the ninth to Mattaniah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:17 the tenth to Shimei, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:18 the eleventh to Azarel, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:19 the twelfth to Hashabiah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:20 the thirteenth to Shubael, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:21 the fourteenth to Mattithiah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:22 the fifteenth to Jeremoth, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:23 the sixteenth to Hananiah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:24 the seventeenth to Joshbekashah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:25 the eighteenth to Hanani, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:26 the nineteenth to Mallothi, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:27 the twentieth to Eliathah, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:28 the twenty-first to Hothir, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:29 the twenty-second to Giddalti, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:30 the twenty-third to Mahazioth, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all;
25:31 and the twenty-fourth to Romamti-ezer, with his sons and relatives, twelve in all.

Chapter 26
26:1 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers. From the Korahites: Meshelemiah son of Kore, from the descendants of Asaph.
26:2 Meshelemiah’s sons: Zechariah the firstborn, Jediael the second, Zebadiah the third, Jathniel the fourth,
26:3 Elam the fifth, Jehohanan the sixth, and Eliehoenai the seventh.
26:4 Obed-edom’s sons: Shemaiah the firstborn, Jehozabad the second, Joah the third, Sacar the fourth, Nethanel the fifth,
26:5 Ammiel the sixth, Issachar the seventh, and Peullethai the eighth, for God had blessed him.
26:6 His son Shemaiah also had sons who were leaders in their ancestral house, for they were capable men.
26:7 The sons of Shemaiah: Othni, Rephael, Obed, and Elzabad; his relatives Elihu and Semachiah were capable men.
26:8 All these were descendants of Obed-edom. They, their sons, and their relatives were capable men with strength for the service, sixty-two from Obed-edom.
26:9 Meshelemiah had sons and relatives who were capable men, eighteen in all.
26:10 Hosah, from the descendants of Merari, had sons: Shimri the chief, though he was not the firstborn, for his father had made him chief;
26:11 Hilkiah the second, Tebaliah the third, and Zechariah the fourth. All Hosah’s sons and relatives numbered thirteen.
26:12 These divisions of gatekeepers, with their leading men, had duties alongside their relatives in the service of the house of the LORD.
26:13 They cast lots for each gate according to their ancestral houses, small and great alike.
26:14 The lot for the east fell to Shelemiah. They cast lots for his son Zechariah, a wise counselor, and his lot fell to the north.
26:15 The south fell to Obed-edom, and the storehouse to his sons.
26:16 The west fell to Shuppim and Hosah, with the Shallecheth Gate on the road that goes up, watch alongside watch.
26:17 On the east were six Levites; on the north, four each day; on the south, four each day; and at the storehouses, two by two.
26:18 At the Parbar on the west, four were on the road and two at the Parbar.
26:19 These were the divisions of the gatekeepers from the Korahites and the descendants of Merari.
26:20 From the Levites, Ahijah was over the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries of the dedicated things.
26:21 The descendants of Ladan, the Gershonite descendants of Ladan, had Jehieli as head of the ancestral houses of Ladan the Gershonite.
26:22 The sons of Jehieli, Zetham and his brother Joel, were over the treasuries of the house of the LORD.
26:23 From the Amramites, Izharites, Hebronites, and Uzzielites:
26:24 Shebuel son of Gershom, son of Moses, was chief officer over the treasuries.
26:25 His relatives through Eliezer were Rehabiah his son, Jeshaiah his son, Joram his son, Zichri his son, and Shelomith his son.
26:26 This Shelomoth and his relatives were over all the treasuries of the things dedicated by King David, the heads of ancestral houses, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the army commanders.
26:27 They had dedicated some of the spoils from wars to maintain the house of the LORD.
26:28 Everything dedicated by Samuel the seer, Saul son of Kish, Abner son of Ner, Joab son of Zeruiah, and anyone else who dedicated anything was under the care of Shelomith and his relatives.
26:29 From the Izharites, Chenaniah and his sons were assigned to outside duties over Israel as officials and judges.
26:30 From the Hebronites, Hashabiah and his relatives, 1,700 capable men, were responsible for Israel west of the Jordan in all the work of the LORD and the king’s service.
26:31 From the Hebronites, Jeriah was the chief according to their ancestral genealogies. In the fortieth year of David’s reign they were searched out, and capable men were found among them at Jazer in Gilead.
26:32 His relatives, capable men and heads of ancestral houses, numbered 2,700. King David appointed them over the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh in every matter concerning God and the king.

Chapter 27
27:1 This is the number of the Israelites—the heads of ancestral houses, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and their officials—who served the king in all matters of the divisions that came on duty and went off duty month by month throughout the year. Each division numbered 24,000.
27:2 Jashobeam son of Zabdiel was over the first division for the first month, and his division numbered 24,000.
27:3 He was a descendant of Perez and chief of all the army commanders for the first month.
27:4 Dodai the Ahohite was over the division for the second month, with Mikloth as leader in his division. His division numbered 24,000.
27:5 The chief commander for the third month was Benaiah son of Jehoiada the priest, and his division numbered 24,000.
27:6 This was the Benaiah who was a mighty warrior among the Thirty and over the Thirty. His son Ammizabad was in charge of his division.
27:7 The fourth, for the fourth month, was Asahel, Joab’s brother, and his son Zebadiah after him. His division numbered 24,000.
27:8 The fifth, for the fifth month, was Shamhuth the Izrahite, the commander. His division numbered 24,000.
27:9 The sixth, for the sixth month, was Ira son of Ikkesh the Tekoite. His division numbered 24,000.
27:10 The seventh, for the seventh month, was Helez the Pelonite, from the descendants of Ephraim. His division numbered 24,000.
27:11 The eighth, for the eighth month, was Sibbecai the Hushathite, from the Zerahites. His division numbered 24,000.
27:12 The ninth, for the ninth month, was Abiezer the Anathothite, from the Benjaminites. His division numbered 24,000.
27:13 The tenth, for the tenth month, was Maharai the Netophathite, from the Zerahites. His division numbered 24,000.
27:14 The eleventh, for the eleventh month, was Benaiah the Pirathonite, from the descendants of Ephraim. His division numbered 24,000.
27:15 The twelfth, for the twelfth month, was Heldai the Netophathite, from Othniel. His division numbered 24,000.
27:16 Over the tribes of Israel: for the Reubenites, Eliezer son of Zichri was leader; for the Simeonites, Shephatiah son of Maacah;
27:17 for Levi, Hashabiah son of Kemuel; for Aaron, Zadok;
27:18 for Judah, Elihu, one of David’s brothers; for Issachar, Omri son of Michael;
27:19 for Zebulun, Ishmaiah son of Obadiah; for Naphtali, Jerimoth son of Azriel;
27:20 for the descendants of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Azaziah; for the half-tribe of Manasseh, Joel son of Pedaiah;
27:21 for the half of Manasseh in Gilead, Iddo son of Zechariah; for Benjamin, Jaasiel son of Abner;
27:22 for Dan, Azarel son of Jeroham. These were the leaders of the tribes of Israel.
27:23 David did not count those twenty years old and younger, because the LORD had said he would make Israel as numerous as the stars of heaven.
27:24 Joab son of Zeruiah began to count but did not finish. Wrath came on Israel because of this, and the number was not entered in the account of the chronicles of King David.
27:25 Azmaveth son of Adiel was over the king’s treasuries. Jonathan son of Uzziah was over the storehouses in the countryside, cities, villages, and towers.
27:26 Ezri son of Chelub was over the field workers who tilled the ground.
27:27 Shimei the Ramathite was over the vineyards, and Zabdi the Shiphmite was over the vineyard produce for the wine stores.
27:28 Baal-hanan the Gederite was over the olive and sycamore-fig trees in the foothills, and Joash was over the oil stores.
27:29 Shirtai the Sharonite was over the herds grazing in Sharon, and Shaphat son of Adlai was over the herds in the valleys.
27:30 Obil the Ishmaelite was over the camels, and Jehdeiah the Meronothite was over the female donkeys.
27:31 Jaziz the Hagrite was over the flocks. All these were in charge of King David’s property.
27:32 Jonathan, David’s uncle, was a counselor, a man of understanding and a scribe. Jehiel son of Hachmoni was with the king’s sons.
27:33 Ahithophel was the king’s counselor, and Hushai the Archite was the king’s friend.
27:34 After Ahithophel came Jehoiada son of Benaiah and Abiathar. Joab was commander of the king’s army.

Chapter 28
28:1 David assembled in Jerusalem all the leaders of Israel: the tribal leaders, the commanders of the divisions serving the king, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, the officials over all the property and livestock of the king and his sons, along with the court officials, the mighty men, and all the valiant warriors.
28:2 King David stood up and said, “Listen to me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations to build it.
28:3 But God said to me, ‘You are not to build a house for my name, because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’
28:4 Yet the LORD, the God of Israel, chose me out of my whole father’s house to be king over Israel forever. He chose Judah as ruler, and from the house of Judah, my father’s house; and among my father’s sons he was pleased to make me king over all Israel.
28:5 Of all my sons—for the LORD has given me many sons—he chose Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.
28:6 He said to me, ‘Your son Solomon will build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.
28:7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he remains firm in carrying out my commandments and ordinances, as he is today.’
28:8 Now, in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and in the hearing of our God, observe and seek out all the commandments of the LORD your God, so you may possess this good land and leave it as an inheritance to your children after you forever.
28:9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father and serve him with an undivided heart and a willing soul, for the LORD searches every heart and understands every intention of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.
28:10 Consider now: the LORD has chosen you to build a house as a sanctuary. Be strong and do it.”
28:11 David gave his son Solomon the plan of the porch, its buildings, its storehouses, its upper rooms, its inner rooms, and the room for the mercy seat.
28:12 He also gave him the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the LORD, all the surrounding rooms, the treasuries of the house of God, and the treasuries of the dedicated things;
28:13 for the divisions of the priests and Levites, all the work of service in the house of the LORD, and all the utensils for service in the house of the LORD.
28:14 He specified the weight of gold for all the gold utensils for each kind of service, and the weight of silver for all the silver utensils for each kind of service;
28:15 the weight of gold for the gold lampstands and their lamps, each lampstand and its lamps, and the weight of silver for each silver lampstand and its lamps, according to the use of each lampstand;
28:16 the weight of gold for each table for the bread set out in rows, and silver for the silver tables;
28:17 pure gold for the forks, bowls, and pitchers; the weight of gold for each gold basin, and the weight of silver for each silver basin;
28:18 and the weight of refined gold for the altar of incense, along with the design of the chariot—the gold cherubim that spread their wings and cover the ark of the covenant of the LORD.
28:19 “All this was in writing from the hand of the LORD upon me; he made me understand all the work of the plan.”
28:20 David said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the LORD is finished.
28:21 Here are the divisions of the priests and Levites for all the service of the house of God. Every willing man skilled in any service will be with you in all the work, and the leaders and all the people will be at your command.”

Chapter 29
29:1 King David said to the whole assembly, “My son Solomon, the one God has chosen, is young and inexperienced, and the work is great, for the palace is for the LORD God, not for a man.
29:2 With all my strength I have prepared for the house of my God gold for the gold work, silver for the silver work, bronze for the bronze work, iron for the iron work, and wood for the woodwork, along with onyx stones and stones for settings, dark stones and stones of varied colors, every kind of precious stone, and marble in abundance.
29:3 Moreover, in my devotion to the house of my God, I give my own treasure of gold and silver for the house of my God, beyond all I have prepared for the holy house:
29:4 about 112 tons of gold from Ophir and 262 tons of refined silver to overlay the walls of the buildings,
29:5 gold for the gold work, silver for the silver work, and for all the work done by the craftsmen. Who is willing to consecrate himself to the LORD today?”
29:6 Then the heads of ancestral houses, the leaders of the tribes of Israel, the commanders of thousands and hundreds, and the officials over the king’s work gave willingly.
29:7 They gave for the service of the house of God about 188 tons of gold, 10,000 gold coins, 375 tons of silver, 675 tons of bronze, and 3,750 tons of iron.
29:8 Those who had precious stones gave them to the treasury of the house of the LORD, under the care of Jehiel the Gershonite.
29:9 The people rejoiced at their willing gifts, for they gave willingly to the LORD with an undivided heart. King David also rejoiced greatly.
29:10 David blessed the LORD before the whole assembly and said, “Blessed are you, LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
29:11 Yours, LORD, are the greatness, the power, the glory, the victory, and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth is yours. Yours, LORD, is the kingdom, and you are exalted as head over all.
29:12 Wealth and honor come from you, and you rule over all. Power and might are in your hand; in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.
29:13 Now, our God, we give you thanks and praise your glorious name.
29:14 But who am I, and who are my people, that we should have the strength to give so willingly? Everything comes from you, and we have given you what comes from your own hand.
29:15 For we are strangers and sojourners before you, like all our ancestors. Our days on earth are like a shadow, with no hope of permanence.
29:16 LORD our God, all this abundance that we have prepared to build you a house for your holy name comes from your hand, and all of it is yours.
29:17 I know, my God, that you test the heart and delight in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have willingly given all these things, and now I have seen with joy your people here giving willingly to you.
29:18 LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our ancestors, keep this forever in the intentions and thoughts of your people’s hearts, and direct their hearts toward you.
29:19 Give my son Solomon an undivided heart to keep your commandments, testimonies, and statutes, to carry them all out and to build the palace for which I have made preparations.”
29:20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Now bless the LORD your God.” The whole assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and bowed low and prostrated themselves before the LORD and the king.
29:21 The next day they offered sacrifices to the LORD and burnt offerings to the LORD: 1,000 bulls, 1,000 rams, and 1,000 lambs, with their drink offerings, and abundant sacrifices for all Israel.
29:22 They ate and drank before the LORD that day with great joy. They made Solomon son of David king a second time, anointing him for the LORD as ruler and Zadok as priest.
29:23 Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king in place of David his father. He prospered, and all Israel obeyed him.
29:24 All the leaders, the mighty warriors, and all King David’s sons pledged their submission to King Solomon.
29:25 The LORD greatly exalted Solomon in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him royal majesty such as no king over Israel had before him.
29:26 David son of Jesse reigned over all Israel.
29:27 He reigned over Israel forty years: seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
29:28 He died at a good old age, full of years, wealth, and honor. His son Solomon reigned in his place.
29:29 The acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the records of Samuel the seer, the records of Nathan the prophet, and the records of Gad the seer,
29:30 with all his reign and his might, and the events that came upon him, upon Israel, and upon all the kingdoms of the lands.

2 CHRONICLES

Chapter 1
1:1 Solomon son of David established himself firmly in his kingdom. The LORD his God was with him and made him exceedingly great.
1:2 Solomon spoke to all Israel—to the commanders of thousands and hundreds, to the judges, and to every leader in all Israel, the heads of the ancestral families.
1:3 Then Solomon and the whole assembly with him went to the high place at Gibeon, for God's tent of meeting was there, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.
1:4 But David had brought the ark of God up from Kiriath-jearim to the place he had prepared for it, for he had pitched a tent for it in Jerusalem.
1:5 The bronze altar that Bezalel son of Uri, son of Hur, had made had been placed before the tabernacle of the LORD. Solomon and the assembly sought him there.
1:6 Solomon went up there to the bronze altar before the LORD at the tent of meeting and offered a thousand burnt offerings on it.
1:7 That night God appeared to Solomon and said to him, “Ask what I should give you.”
1:8 Solomon said to God, “You have shown great faithful love to my father David and have made me king in his place.
1:9 Now, LORD God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth.
1:10 Now give me wisdom and knowledge, so I may go out and come in before this people. For who can govern this great people of yours?”
1:11 God said to Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for riches, possessions, or honor, or for the lives of those who hate you, nor have you asked for a long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people, over whom I have made you king,
1:12 wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor such as no king before you has had, and none after you will have.”
1:13 Then Solomon came to Jerusalem from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, and he reigned over Israel.
1:14 Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. He had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. He stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
1:15 The king made silver and gold as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees in the lowlands.
1:16 Solomon's horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king's merchants bought them in Kue at a price.
1:17 They imported a chariot from Egypt for six hundred pieces of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Through them these were also exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Chapter 2
2:1 Solomon resolved to build a house for the name of the LORD and a palace for his kingdom.
2:2 He assigned seventy thousand men to carry loads, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the hill country, and thirty-six hundred to oversee them.
2:3 Solomon sent this message to Huram king of Tyre: “Deal with me as you did with my father David, when you sent him cedar to build a house to live in.
2:4 I am about to build a house for the name of the LORD my God and dedicate it to him, to burn fragrant incense before him, to set out the bread continually, and to offer burnt offerings morning and evening, on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed festivals of the LORD our God. This is Israel's duty forever.
2:5 The house I am building will be great, for our God is greater than all gods.
2:6 But who is able to build a house for him, since heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain him? Who am I to build him a house, except as a place to burn incense before him?
2:7 Now send me a man skilled in working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, and purple, crimson, and blue cloth, who knows how to engrave. He will work with the skilled craftsmen here with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David provided.
2:8 Also send me cedar, cypress, and algum timber from Lebanon, for I know your servants are skilled at cutting timber in Lebanon. My servants will work with yours
2:9 to prepare an abundance of timber for me, for the house I am building will be great and magnificent.
2:10 I will give your servants, the woodcutters who cut the timber, about a hundred thousand bushels of crushed wheat, about a hundred thousand bushels of barley, about a hundred and ten thousand gallons of wine, and about a hundred and ten thousand gallons of oil.”
2:11 Huram king of Tyre replied in a letter he sent to Solomon: “Because the LORD loves his people, he has made you king over them.”
2:12 Huram also said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who made heaven and earth! He has given King David a wise son, endowed with insight and understanding, who will build a house for the LORD and a palace for his kingdom.
2:13 Now I am sending Huram-abi, a skilled man endowed with understanding.
2:14 He is the son of a woman from the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre. He knows how to work with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, wood, purple and blue cloth, fine linen, and crimson cloth. He can make every kind of engraving and work out any design assigned to him, working with your skilled craftsmen and those of my lord David your father.
2:15 Now let my lord send his servants the wheat, barley, oil, and wine he promised.
2:16 We will cut as much timber from Lebanon as you need and bring it to you in rafts by sea to Joppa. You will take it up to Jerusalem.”
2:17 Solomon counted all the foreign men residing in the land of Israel, after the census his father David had taken of them. There were a hundred and fifty-three thousand six hundred.
2:18 Of these he assigned seventy thousand to carry loads, eighty thousand to quarry stone in the hill country, and thirty-six hundred as supervisors to direct the people's work.

Chapter 3
3:1 Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
3:2 He began building on the second day of the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.
3:3 These were the foundation dimensions Solomon used to build the house of God, according to the old standard of measurement: about ninety feet long and thirty feet wide.
3:4 The porch at the front extended across the width of the house, about thirty feet long, and was about a hundred and eighty feet high. He overlaid its interior with pure gold.
3:5 He paneled the main hall with cypress wood and overlaid it with fine gold, decorating it with palm trees and chains.
3:6 He adorned the house with precious stones for beauty. The gold was gold from Parvaim.
3:7 He overlaid the house—its beams, thresholds, walls, and doors—with gold, and carved cherubim on the walls.
3:8 He made the Most Holy Place about thirty feet long, corresponding to the width of the house, and thirty feet wide. He overlaid it with about twenty-three tons of fine gold.
3:9 The gold used for the nails weighed about twenty ounces. He also overlaid the upper rooms with gold.
3:10 In the Most Holy Place he made two sculpted cherubim, and they overlaid them with gold.
3:11 The wings of the cherubim spanned about thirty feet in all. One wing of the first cherub was about seven and a half feet long and touched the wall of the house; its other wing was about seven and a half feet long and touched the wing of the other cherub.
3:12 One wing of the other cherub was about seven and a half feet long and touched the wall of the house; its other wing was about seven and a half feet long and joined the wing of the first cherub.
3:13 The outstretched wings of these cherubim spanned about thirty feet. They stood on their feet, facing the house.
3:14 He made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson cloth and fine linen, and decorated it with cherubim.
3:15 In front of the house he made two pillars, about fifty-two and a half feet high, with a capital on top about seven and a half feet high.
3:16 He made chains in the inner sanctuary and put them on the tops of the pillars. He made a hundred pomegranates and put them on the chains.
3:17 He set up the pillars in front of the temple, one on the right and one on the left. He named the one on the right Jachin and the one on the left Boaz.

Chapter 4
4:1 He made a bronze altar about thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and fifteen feet high.
4:2 He made the cast-metal Sea, circular in shape, about fifteen feet from rim to rim and seven and a half feet high. A line about forty-five feet long encircled it.
4:3 Figures resembling oxen encircled it underneath, about six to a foot, all around the Sea. The oxen were in two rows, cast along with it.
4:4 It stood on twelve oxen: three facing north, three west, three south, and three east. The Sea rested on top of them, and all their hindquarters faced inward.
4:5 It was about three inches thick, and its rim was shaped like the rim of a cup, like a lily blossom. It could hold about sixteen thousand five hundred gallons.
4:6 He made ten basins and set five on the right and five on the left for washing. In them they rinsed what was prepared for the burnt offerings, while the Sea was for the priests to wash in.
4:7 He made ten gold lampstands according to their prescribed design and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left.
4:8 He made ten tables and placed them in the temple, five on the right and five on the left. He also made a hundred gold bowls.
4:9 He made the court of the priests, the great court, and the doors for the court, and overlaid their doors with bronze.
4:10 He placed the Sea on the right side, toward the southeast.
4:11 Huram made the pots, shovels, and bowls. Hiram finished the work he was doing for King Solomon for the house of God:
4:12 the two pillars, the two bowl-shaped capitals on top of the pillars, and the two networks covering the two bowls of the capitals on top of the pillars;
4:13 and the four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, two rows of pomegranates for each network, to cover the two bowls of the capitals on the pillars.
4:14 He made the stands and the basins on the stands,
4:15 the one Sea and the twelve oxen beneath it.
4:16 The pots, shovels, forks, and all their utensils were made by Huram, his master craftsman, of polished bronze for King Solomon, for the house of the LORD.
4:17 The king cast them in the clay ground of the Jordan plain, between Succoth and Zeredathah.
4:18 Solomon made all these utensils in such great abundance that the weight of the bronze was not determined.
4:19 Solomon made all the furnishings for the house of God: the gold altar and the tables with the bread of the Presence on them;
4:20 the lampstands and their lamps of pure gold, to burn before the inner sanctuary as prescribed;
4:21 the flowers, lamps, and tongs of gold, the purest gold;
4:22 and the wick trimmers, bowls, ladles, and censers of pure gold. As for the entrance to the house, its inner doors to the Most Holy Place and the doors of the house leading to the main hall were of gold.

Chapter 5
5:1 All the work Solomon had done for the house of the LORD was completed. Solomon brought in the things his father David had dedicated, and placed the silver, gold, and all the utensils in the treasuries of the house of God.
5:2 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the leaders of the ancestral families of the Israelites, in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion.
5:3 All the men of Israel gathered before the king at the festival in the seventh month.
5:4 All the elders of Israel came, and the Levites took up the ark.
5:5 They brought up the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the sacred utensils in the tent. The Levitical priests brought them up.
5:6 King Solomon and the whole congregation of Israel who had gathered with him before the ark were sacrificing sheep and cattle, so many that they could not be counted or numbered.
5:7 The priests brought the ark of the covenant of the LORD to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the house, the Most Holy Place, beneath the wings of the cherubim.
5:8 The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its poles from above.
5:9 The poles extended so far that their ends could be seen projecting from the ark in front of the inner sanctuary, but they could not be seen from outside. It remains there to this day.
5:10 There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets Moses had placed there at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt.
5:11 The priests came out of the holy place. All the priests present had consecrated themselves, without regard to their divisions.
5:12 All the Levitical singers—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun, their sons, and their brothers—stood east of the altar, dressed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. With them were a hundred and twenty priests sounding trumpets.
5:13 The trumpeters and singers joined as one, making one sound to praise and thank the LORD. As they raised their voices with the trumpets, cymbals, and musical instruments, praising the LORD, “For he is good; for his faithful love endures forever,” the house, the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud.
5:14 The priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God.

Chapter 6
6:1 Then Solomon said,
 “The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
6:2 I have built you a lofty house, a place for you to dwell forever.”
6:3 The king turned and blessed the whole assembly of Israel, while the whole assembly of Israel stood.
6:4 He said, “Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who has fulfilled with his hands what he spoke with his mouth to my father David, saying,
6:5 ‘From the day I brought my people out of the land of Egypt, I chose no city among all the tribes of Israel in which to build a house for my name to be there, nor did I choose anyone to be ruler over my people Israel.
6:6 But I have chosen Jerusalem for my name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over my people Israel.’
6:7 My father David had it in his heart to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
6:8 But the LORD said to my father David, ‘You did well to have it in your heart to build a house for my name.
6:9 Nevertheless, you will not build the house. Your son, who will come from your own body, will build the house for my name.’
6:10 The LORD has fulfilled the word he spoke. I have risen in place of my father David and have sat on the throne of Israel, as the LORD said, and I have built the house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.
6:11 There I have placed the ark, in which is the covenant of the LORD that he made with the Israelites.”
6:12 Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands.
6:13 For Solomon had made a bronze platform about seven and a half feet long, seven and a half feet wide, and four and a half feet high, and placed it in the middle of the court. He stood on it, then knelt on his knees before the whole assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.
6:14 He said, “LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven or on earth, keeping covenant and faithful love with your servants who walk before you with all their hearts.
6:15 You have kept what you promised your servant David my father. You spoke with your mouth and have fulfilled it with your hand, as it is today.
6:16 Now, LORD, God of Israel, keep what you promised your servant David my father, saying, ‘You will never lack a man before me to sit on the throne of Israel, provided your sons guard their ways and walk in my law as you have walked before me.’
6:17 Now, LORD, God of Israel, let the word you spoke to your servant David be confirmed.
6:18 But will God truly dwell with human beings on earth? Heaven, even the highest heaven, cannot contain you—how much less this house I have built!
6:19 Yet attend to your servant's prayer and plea, LORD my God. Listen to the cry and the prayer your servant offers before you.
6:20 May your eyes be open toward this house day and night, toward the place where you said you would put your name, to hear the prayer your servant offers toward this place.
6:21 Hear the pleas of your servant and your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from your dwelling place, from heaven; hear and forgive.
6:22 If a man sins against his neighbor and is required to take an oath, and comes to swear before your altar in this house,
6:23 then hear from heaven, act, and judge your servants. Repay the wicked by bringing his conduct back on his own head, and vindicate the righteous by giving him according to his righteousness.
6:24 If your people Israel are defeated by an enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn back, acknowledge your name, and pray and plead before you in this house,
6:25 then hear from heaven, forgive the sin of your people Israel, and bring them back to the land you gave them and their fathers.
6:26 When the heavens are shut and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place, acknowledge your name, and turn from their sin because you have afflicted them,
6:27 then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, as you teach them the good way they should walk in. Send rain on your land, which you gave your people as an inheritance.
6:28 If there is famine in the land, or plague, blight or mildew, locusts or grasshoppers, or if their enemies besiege them in the cities of their land—whatever affliction or disease there may be—
6:29 whatever prayer or plea is offered by anyone or by all your people Israel, each knowing their own affliction and pain and spreading out their hands toward this house,
6:30 then hear from heaven, your dwelling place, and forgive. Give to each according to all their ways, for you know their hearts—you alone know the hearts of human beings—
6:31 so that they may fear you and walk in your ways all the days they live in the land you gave our fathers.
6:32 Also, as for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but comes from a distant land because of your great name, your mighty hand, and your outstretched arm—when they come and pray toward this house,
6:33 then hear from heaven, from your dwelling place, and do all the foreigner calls on you to do, so that all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as your people Israel do, and know that this house I have built bears your name.
6:34 When your people go out to war against their enemies by the way you send them, and they pray to you toward this city you have chosen and the house I have built for your name,
6:35 then hear their prayer and plea from heaven and uphold their cause.
6:36 When they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them over to an enemy, and their captors take them captive to a land far away or near,
6:37 if they take it to heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and turn back and plead with you in the land of their captivity, saying, ‘We have sinned, we have done wrong, and we have acted wickedly,’
6:38 and they return to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their captivity, where they were taken captive, and pray toward their land, which you gave their fathers, toward the city you have chosen, and toward the house I have built for your name,
6:39 then hear their prayer and pleas from heaven, from your dwelling place, uphold their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you.
6:40 Now, my God, please let your eyes be open and your ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
6:41 Now arise, LORD God, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength. May your priests, LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may your faithful ones rejoice in what is good.
6:42 LORD God, do not turn away your anointed one. Remember the faithful love shown to David your servant.”

Chapter 7
7:1 When Solomon finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the house.
7:2 The priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.
7:3 All the Israelites saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD over the house. They bowed with their faces to the ground on the pavement, worshiped, and gave thanks to the LORD: “For he is good; for his faithful love endures forever.”
7:4 The king and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD.
7:5 King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand cattle and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God.
7:6 The priests stood at their posts, and the Levites with the musical instruments of the LORD that King David had made to give thanks to the LORD—“For his faithful love endures forever”—as David praised through them. The priests sounded trumpets opposite them, and all Israel stood.
7:7 Solomon consecrated the middle of the court in front of the house of the LORD, for there he offered the burnt offerings and the fat of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat.
7:8 At that time Solomon kept the festival for seven days, with all Israel, a very great assembly, from Lebo-hamath to the Brook of Egypt.
7:9 On the eighth day they held a solemn assembly, for they had celebrated the dedication of the altar for seven days and the festival for seven days.
7:10 On the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people to their tents, joyful and glad in heart for the goodness the LORD had shown to David, to Solomon, and to his people Israel.
7:11 Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's palace. He successfully accomplished all that had come into his heart to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house.
7:12 The LORD appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice.
7:13 If I shut the heavens so there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land, or send a plague among my people,
7:14 and my people, who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.
7:15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer offered in this place.
7:16 I have now chosen and consecrated this house for my name to be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there always.
7:17 As for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, doing all I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances,
7:18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You will never lack a man to rule in Israel.’
7:19 But if you turn away and abandon my statutes and commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them,
7:20 then I will uproot them from my land, which I gave them, and this house I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my presence. I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
7:21 Everyone who passes by this house, which was so exalted, will be appalled and ask, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this land and this house?’
7:22 They will answer, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and clung to other gods, worshiped them, and served them. That is why he has brought all this calamity on them.’”

Chapter 8
8:1 At the end of the twenty years in which Solomon had built the house of the LORD and his own house,
8:2 Solomon built up the cities Huram had given him and settled Israelites there.
8:3 Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and took control of it.
8:4 He built Tadmor in the wilderness, as well as all the storage cities in Hamath.
8:5 He built Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon as fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars,
8:6 as well as Baalath, all Solomon's storage cities, all the chariot cities and the cities for the horsemen, and everything Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and throughout the land he ruled.
8:7 As for all the people who remained of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites—
8:8 their descendants who remained after them in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed—Solomon subjected them to forced labor, as they are to this day.
8:9 But Solomon did not make Israelites slaves for his work. They were his fighting men, his chief officers, and the commanders of his chariots and horsemen.
8:10 These were King Solomon's chief supervisors: two hundred and fifty who directed the people.
8:11 Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the City of David to the house he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the house of David king of Israel, because the places where the ark of the LORD has come are holy.”
8:12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of the LORD he had built in front of the porch,
8:13 as each day required, offering according to Moses' command on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed festivals three times a year: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths.
8:14 Following the order of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests to their service, the Levites to their duties of praising and ministering before the priests as each day required, and the gatekeepers in their divisions at each gate. For this was the command of David, the man of God.
8:15 They did not depart from the king's command to the priests and Levites in any matter, including the treasuries.
8:16 All Solomon's work was well ordered, from the day the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid until its completion. The house of the LORD was complete.
8:17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Eloth on the seashore in the land of Edom.
8:18 Through his servants Huram sent him ships and servants experienced at sea. They went with Solomon's servants to Ophir and took from there nearly seventeen tons of gold, which they brought to King Solomon.

Chapter 9
9:1 When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon's fame, she came to Jerusalem to test him with riddles. She came with a very great retinue and camels carrying spices, abundant gold, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke with him about all that was in her heart.
9:2 Solomon answered all her questions. Nothing was hidden from Solomon that he could not explain to her.
9:3 When the queen of Sheba saw Solomon's wisdom, the house he had built,
9:4 the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the attendance of his ministers and their clothing, his cupbearers and their clothing, and the ascent by which he went up to the house of the LORD, she was left breathless.
9:5 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own land about your affairs and your wisdom was true.
9:6 But I did not believe their words until I came and saw with my own eyes. Not even half the greatness of your wisdom was told to me! You surpass the report I heard.
9:7 Happy are your men, and happy are these servants of yours who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom!
9:8 Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on his throne as king for the LORD your God! Because your God loves Israel and would establish it forever, he has made you king over them to carry out justice and righteousness.”
9:9 She gave the king about nine thousand pounds of gold, a very great abundance of spices, and precious stones. There had never been spices like those the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.
9:10 The servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought algum timber and precious stones.
9:11 The king used the algum timber to make walkways for the house of the LORD and the king's palace, and lyres and harps for the singers. Nothing like them had been seen before in the land of Judah.
9:12 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, apart from what she had brought to the king. Then she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.
9:13 The weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was about twenty-five tons,
9:14 besides what the traders and merchants brought. All the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon.
9:15 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold, using a little over fifteen pounds of hammered gold for each shield.
9:16 He also made three hundred smaller shields of hammered gold, using a little over seven and a half pounds of gold for each shield. The king placed them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
9:17 The king made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold.
9:18 The throne had six steps and a gold footstool, which were attached to it. There were armrests on either side of the seat, with two lions standing beside the armrests.
9:19 Twelve lions stood on the six steps, on either side. Nothing like it had been made in any kingdom.
9:20 All King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Silver was considered of no value in Solomon's days.
9:21 For the king had ships that went to Tarshish with Huram's servants. Once every three years the ships of Tarshish came, carrying gold, silver, ivory, monkeys, and peacocks.
9:22 King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
9:23 All the kings of the earth sought Solomon's presence to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart.
9:24 Each brought his gift: objects of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, year after year.
9:25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. He stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
9:26 He ruled over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.
9:27 The king made silver as plentiful in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars as plentiful as sycamore trees in the lowlands.
9:28 Horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all lands.
9:29 The rest of Solomon's acts, from first to last, are they not written in the records of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam son of Nebat?
9:30 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years.
9:31 Then Solomon lay down with his fathers and was buried in the City of David his father. His son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

Chapter 10
10:1 Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
10:2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of it, he was in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon. Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
10:3 They sent for him, and Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying,
10:4 “Your father made our yoke harsh. Now lighten the hard service your father imposed and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
10:5 He said to them, “Come back to me in three days.” So the people left.
10:6 King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served before his father Solomon while he was alive. He asked, “How do you advise me to answer these people?”
10:7 They told him, “If you are kind to these people, please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants always.”
10:8 But he rejected the counsel the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served before him.
10:9 He asked them, “What do you advise us to answer these people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
10:10 The young men who had grown up with him said, “This is what you should say to the people who told you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us.’ Tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's waist.
10:11 My father loaded a heavy yoke on you, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”
10:12 Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had said, “Come back to me on the third day.”
10:13 The king answered them harshly. King Rehoboam rejected the elders' counsel
10:14 and spoke to them according to the young men's counsel: “I will make your yoke heavy, and I will add to it. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
10:15 The king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events came from God, so that the LORD might fulfill the word he had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.
10:16 Because the king would not listen to all Israel, the people answered the king: “What share do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, every one of you, Israel! Now look after your own house, David!” So all Israel went to their tents.
10:17 Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.
10:18 King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, who was in charge of forced labor, but the Israelites stoned him to death. King Rehoboam hastened to get into his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
10:19 So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

Chapter 11
11:1 When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled the house of Judah and Benjamin, a hundred and eighty thousand chosen warriors, to fight against Israel and restore the kingdom to Rehoboam.
11:2 But the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah the man of God:
11:3 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all Israel in Judah and Benjamin,
11:4 ‘This is what the LORD says: You must not go up and fight against your brothers. Return, each of you, to your own house, for this has come from me.’” They obeyed the words of the LORD and turned back from marching against Jeroboam.
11:5 Rehoboam lived in Jerusalem and built fortified cities in Judah.
11:6 He built Bethlehem, Etam, Tekoa,
11:7 Beth-zur, Socoh, Adullam,
11:8 Gath, Mareshah, Ziph,
11:9 Adoraim, Lachish, Azekah,
11:10 Zorah, Aijalon, and Hebron, fortified cities in Judah and Benjamin.
11:11 He strengthened the fortresses and put commanders in them, with stores of food, oil, and wine.
11:12 He put shields and spears in every city and made them very strong. Judah and Benjamin were under his rule.
11:13 The priests and Levites throughout Israel joined him from all their territories.
11:14 For the Levites left their pasturelands and possessions and came to Judah and Jerusalem, because Jeroboam and his sons had excluded them from serving as priests to the LORD.
11:15 He appointed priests for himself for the high places, the goat demons, and the calves he had made.
11:16 After them, people from all the tribes of Israel who had set their hearts on seeking the LORD, the God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
11:17 They strengthened the kingdom of Judah and supported Rehoboam son of Solomon for three years, for they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years.
11:18 Rehoboam took as his wife Mahalath, daughter of Jerimoth son of David and of Abihail daughter of Eliab son of Jesse.
11:19 She bore him sons: Jeush, Shemariah, and Zaham.
11:20 After her he married Maacah daughter of Absalom, who bore him Abijah, Attai, Ziza, and Shelomith.
11:21 Rehoboam loved Maacah daughter of Absalom more than all his wives and concubines. He had eighteen wives and sixty concubines, and fathered twenty-eight sons and sixty daughters.
11:22 Rehoboam appointed Abijah son of Maacah as chief, a leader among his brothers, for he intended to make him king.
11:23 He acted wisely and distributed some of his sons throughout all the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to all the fortified cities. He gave them abundant provisions and sought many wives.

Chapter 12
12:1 When Rehoboam's kingdom was established and he had become strong, he abandoned the law of the LORD, and all Israel with him.
12:2 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had been unfaithful to the LORD.
12:3 He came with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen. The troops who came with him from Egypt were beyond counting: Libyans, Sukkiim, and Cushites.
12:4 He captured Judah's fortified cities and came as far as Jerusalem.
12:5 Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah who had gathered in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You have abandoned me, so I too have abandoned you to Shishak's hand.’”
12:6 The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”
12:7 When the LORD saw that they had humbled themselves, the word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: “They have humbled themselves. I will not destroy them, but will grant them some deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak.
12:8 Nevertheless, they will become his servants, so that they may know what it is to serve me and to serve the kingdoms of the earth.”
12:9 Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem and took the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything. He also took the gold shields Solomon had made.
12:10 King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place and entrusted them to the commanders of the guards who kept watch at the entrance of the king's palace.
12:11 Whenever the king went to the house of the LORD, the guards came and carried the shields, then returned them to the guardroom.
12:12 When Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD's anger turned away from him, so as not to destroy him completely. There were also good things in Judah.
12:13 King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and reigned. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the LORD had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to put his name there. His mother's name was Naamah the Ammonite.
12:14 He did evil because he did not set his heart on seeking the LORD.
12:15 The acts of Rehoboam, from first to last, are they not written in the genealogical records of Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer? There were wars between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.
12:16 Rehoboam lay down with his fathers and was buried in the City of David. His son Abijah reigned in his place.

Chapter 13
13:1 In the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Abijah began to reign over Judah.
13:2 He reigned three years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Micaiah daughter of Uriel of Gibeah. There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam.
13:3 Abijah went into battle with an army of four hundred thousand chosen men, mighty warriors. Jeroboam drew up his battle line against him with eight hundred thousand chosen men, mighty men of valor.
13:4 Abijah stood on Mount Zemaraim in the hill country of Ephraim and said, “Listen to me, Jeroboam and all Israel!
13:5 Ought you not to know that the LORD, the God of Israel, gave David the kingdom over Israel forever, to him and his sons, by a covenant of salt?
13:6 Yet Jeroboam son of Nebat, a servant of Solomon son of David, rose up and rebelled against his master.
13:7 Worthless men, scoundrels, gathered around him and prevailed against Rehoboam son of Solomon, when Rehoboam was young and fainthearted and could not stand against them.
13:8 Now you intend to stand against the kingdom of the LORD in the hands of David's sons. You are a great multitude, and with you are the gold calves Jeroboam made for you as gods.
13:9 Have you not driven out the priests of the LORD, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, and made priests for yourselves like the peoples of other lands? Anyone who comes to consecrate himself with a young bull and seven rams becomes a priest of those that are no gods.
13:10 But as for us, the LORD is our God, and we have not abandoned him. The priests who minister to the LORD are the sons of Aaron, and the Levites attend to their work.
13:11 They burn burnt offerings and fragrant incense to the LORD every morning and every evening, arrange the bread on the pure table, and tend the gold lampstand with its lamps to burn every evening. We keep the charge of the LORD our God, but you have abandoned him.
13:12 Look, God is with us at our head, and his priests have the alarm trumpets to sound against you. Israelites, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed!”
13:13 But Jeroboam sent the ambush around to come behind them. His forces were in front of Judah, with the ambush behind them.
13:14 When Judah turned, the battle was before them and behind them. They cried out to the LORD, and the priests sounded the trumpets.
13:15 The men of Judah gave a shout. As the men of Judah shouted, God defeated Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah.
13:16 The Israelites fled before Judah, and God gave them into their hands.
13:17 Abijah and his people struck them a great blow, and five hundred thousand chosen men of Israel fell slain.
13:18 The Israelites were subdued at that time, and the people of Judah prevailed, because they relied on the LORD, the God of their fathers.
13:19 Abijah pursued Jeroboam and captured cities from him: Bethel and its villages, Jeshanah and its villages, and Ephron and its villages.
13:20 Jeroboam did not regain strength in the days of Abijah. The LORD struck him, and he died.
13:21 But Abijah grew strong. He took fourteen wives and fathered twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters.
13:22 The rest of Abijah's acts, his ways, and his words are written in the account of the prophet Iddo.

Chapter 14
14:1 Abijah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Asa reigned in his place. In his days the land was quiet for ten years.
14:2 Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the LORD his God.
14:3 He removed the foreign altars and high places, shattered the sacred pillars, and cut down the Asherah poles.
14:4 He commanded Judah to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, and to obey the law and the commandment.
14:5 He removed the high places and incense altars from all the cities of Judah, and the kingdom was quiet under him.
14:6 He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land was quiet and he had no war in those years, because the LORD had given him rest.
14:7 He said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls, towers, gates, and bars while the land still lies open before us. For we have sought the LORD our God; we have sought him, and he has given us rest on every side.” So they built and prospered.
14:8 Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah carrying large shields and spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin carrying smaller shields and drawing bows. All these were mighty men of valor.
14:9 Zerah the Cushite came out against them with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.
14:10 Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their battle lines in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.
14:11 Asa cried out to the LORD his God, “LORD, it is nothing for you to help, whether with many or with those who have no strength. Help us, LORD our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. LORD, you are our God; do not let a mortal prevail against you.”
14:12 The LORD defeated the Cushites before Asa and Judah, and the Cushites fled.
14:13 Asa and the people with him pursued them as far as Gerar. So many Cushites fell that they could not recover, for they were shattered before the LORD and his army. Asa and his people carried off a great deal of plunder.
14:14 They struck all the cities around Gerar, for the terror of the LORD was on them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much spoil in them.
14:15 They also attacked the livestock camps and took great numbers of sheep and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Chapter 15
15:1 The Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded.
15:2 He went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you while you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you abandon him, he will abandon you.
15:3 For a long time Israel was without the true God, without a teaching priest, and without the law.
15:4 But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.
15:5 In those times there was no peace for anyone going out or coming in, for great turmoil troubled all the inhabitants of the lands.
15:6 Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God troubled them with every kind of distress.
15:7 But you, be strong and do not let your hands grow weak, for there is a reward for your work.”
15:8 When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He restored the altar of the LORD in front of the porch of the LORD.
15:9 He gathered all Judah and Benjamin, along with those from Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who were residing among them, for many from Israel had come over to him when they saw that the LORD his God was with him.
15:10 They gathered in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa's reign.
15:11 That day they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred cattle and seven thousand sheep from the plunder they had brought.
15:12 They entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and all their soul.
15:13 Anyone who would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, small or great, man or woman.
15:14 They swore to the LORD with a loud voice and shouting, with trumpets and horns.
15:15 All Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn with all their heart and sought him with all their desire. He was found by them, and the LORD gave them rest on every side.
15:16 King Asa also removed his mother Maacah from her position as queen mother, because she had made a repulsive image for Asherah. Asa cut down her repulsive image, crushed it, and burned it at the Brook Kidron.
15:17 But the high places were not removed from Israel. Nevertheless, Asa's heart was undivided all his days.
15:18 He brought into the house of God the things his father had dedicated and the things he himself had dedicated: silver, gold, and utensils.
15:19 There was no war until the thirty-fifth year of Asa's reign.

Chapter 16
16:1 In the thirty-sixth year of Asa's reign, Baasha king of Israel came up against Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent anyone from going out or coming in to Asa king of Judah.
16:2 Asa took silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the LORD and the king's palace, and sent them to Ben-hadad king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying,
16:3 “There is a treaty between me and you, as there was between my father and your father. I have sent you silver and gold. Go, break your treaty with Baasha king of Israel, so he will withdraw from me.”
16:4 Ben-hadad listened to King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel. They attacked Ijon, Dan, Abel-maim, and all the storehouses of the cities of Naphtali.
16:5 When Baasha heard of it, he stopped fortifying Ramah and ceased his work.
16:6 King Asa mobilized all Judah, and they carried away the stones and timber of Ramah that Baasha had been using to build. With them he built Geba and Mizpah.
16:7 At that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah and said to him, “Because you relied on the king of Aram and did not rely on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand.
16:8 Were not the Cushites and Libyans a vast army, with a great many chariots and horsemen? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your hand.
16:9 For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the whole earth, so he may show himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are fully devoted to him. You have acted foolishly in this. From now on you will have wars.”
16:10 Asa was angry with the seer and put him in prison, for he was furious with him over this. At that time Asa also oppressed some of the people.
16:11 The acts of Asa, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
16:12 In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa developed a disease in his feet, and his illness became very severe. Yet even in his illness he did not seek the LORD, but the physicians.
16:13 Asa lay down with his fathers and died in the forty-first year of his reign.
16:14 They buried him in the tombs he had dug for himself in the City of David. They laid him on a bier filled with spices and various mixtures prepared by the perfumer's art, and made a very great fire in his honor.

Chapter 17
17:1 His son Jehoshaphat reigned in his place and strengthened himself against Israel.
17:2 He stationed troops in all the fortified cities of Judah and placed garrisons in the land of Judah and in the cities of Ephraim that his father Asa had captured.
17:3 The LORD was with Jehoshaphat because he walked in the earlier ways of his father David and did not seek the Baals.
17:4 Instead, he sought the God of his father and walked in his commandments, rather than following the practices of Israel.
17:5 The LORD established the kingdom in his hand. All Judah brought gifts to Jehoshaphat, and he had riches and honor in abundance.
17:6 His heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD. He also removed the high places and Asherah poles from Judah.
17:7 In the third year of his reign he sent his officials Ben-hail, Obadiah, Zechariah, Nethanel, and Micaiah to teach in the cities of Judah.
17:8 With them were the Levites Shemaiah, Nethaniah, Zebadiah, Asahel, Shemiramoth, Jehonathan, Adonijah, Tobijah, and Tob-adonijah, and with them the priests Elishama and Jehoram.
17:9 They taught in Judah, taking with them the Book of the Law of the LORD. They went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people.
17:10 The terror of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands surrounding Judah, and they did not wage war against Jehoshaphat.
17:11 Some of the Philistines brought Jehoshaphat gifts and silver as tribute. The Arabs also brought him flocks: seven thousand seven hundred rams and seven thousand seven hundred male goats.
17:12 Jehoshaphat grew exceedingly great. He built fortresses and storage cities in Judah.
17:13 He had many undertakings in the cities of Judah, and fighting men, mighty men of valor, in Jerusalem.
17:14 This was their enrollment by ancestral families. From Judah, among the commanders of thousands: Adnah the commander, with three hundred thousand mighty men of valor;
17:15 next to him, Jehohanan the commander, with two hundred and eighty thousand;
17:16 next to him, Amasiah son of Zichri, who had willingly offered himself to the LORD, with two hundred thousand mighty men of valor.
17:17 From Benjamin: Eliada, a mighty man of valor, with two hundred thousand men armed with bow and shield;
17:18 next to him, Jehozabad, with a hundred and eighty thousand men equipped for military service.
17:19 These served the king, besides those the king had stationed in the fortified cities throughout Judah.

Chapter 18
18:1 Jehoshaphat had riches and honor in abundance, and he allied himself with Ahab by marriage.
18:2 After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle for him and the people with him, and urged him to go up to Ramoth-gilead.
18:3 Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He replied, “I am as you are, and my people as your people. I will be with you in the battle.”
18:4 Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Please inquire today for the word of the LORD.”
18:5 The king of Israel gathered the prophets, four hundred men, and asked them, “Shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” They said, “Go up, and God will give it into the king's hand.”
18:6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not another prophet of the LORD here through whom we can inquire?”
18:7 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the LORD, but I hate him, because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always disaster. He is Micaiah son of Imla.” Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say that.”
18:8 Then the king of Israel called an official and said, “Bring Micaiah son of Imla quickly.”
18:9 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah were sitting, each on his throne, dressed in their robes, on the threshing floor at the entrance to the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.
18:10 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah made iron horns for himself and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘With these you will gore Aram until you destroy them.’”
18:11 All the prophets prophesied the same way, saying, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and succeed! The LORD will give it into the king's hand.”
18:12 The messenger who had gone to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the prophets' words are favorable to the king with one voice. Please let your message be like one of theirs, and speak favorably.”
18:13 Micaiah said, “As the LORD lives, I will speak whatever my God says.”
18:14 When he came to the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, shall we go to war against Ramoth-gilead, or should I refrain?” He replied, “Go up and succeed; they will be given into your hand.”
18:15 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you swear to tell me nothing but the truth in the name of the LORD?”
18:16 He said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep without a shepherd. The LORD said, ‘These have no master. Let each return to his own house in peace.’”
18:17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would prophesy nothing good about me, but only disaster?”
18:18 Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, with all the host of heaven standing at his right and his left.
18:19 The LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab king of Israel to go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ One said one thing, and another said another.
18:20 Then the spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ The LORD asked him, ‘How?’
18:21 He said, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The LORD said, ‘You will entice him and will succeed. Go out and do so.’
18:22 Now the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouths of these prophets of yours, and the LORD has pronounced disaster against you.”
18:23 Zedekiah son of Chenaanah came forward and struck Micaiah on the cheek. He said, “Which way did the Spirit of the LORD pass from me to speak to you?”
18:24 Micaiah said, “You will see on the day you go into an inner room to hide.”
18:25 The king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son.
18:26 Tell them, ‘This is what the king says: Put this man in prison and give him a little bread and a little water until I return in peace.’”
18:27 Micaiah said, “If you do return in peace, the LORD has not spoken through me.” Then he said, “Listen, all you peoples!”
18:28 The king of Israel and Jehoshaphat king of Judah went up to Ramoth-gilead.
18:29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and enter the battle, but you wear your robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself, and they entered the battle.
18:30 The king of Aram had commanded his chariot commanders, “Fight neither small nor great, but only the king of Israel.”
18:31 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “He is the king of Israel!” They surrounded him to fight, but Jehoshaphat cried out, and the LORD helped him. God drew them away from him.
18:32 When the chariot commanders saw that he was not the king of Israel, they turned back from pursuing him.
18:33 But a man drew his bow at random and struck the king of Israel between the joints and the breastplate. The king said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am wounded.”
18:34 The battle grew fierce that day, and the king of Israel kept himself upright in his chariot facing Aram until evening. At sunset he died.

Chapter 19
19:1 Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned in peace to his house in Jerusalem.
19:2 Jehu the seer, son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to King Jehoshaphat, “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, wrath from the LORD is upon you.
19:3 Nevertheless, good things have been found in you, for you removed the Asherah poles from the land and set your heart on seeking God.”
19:4 Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem. He went out again among the people, from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim, and brought them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
19:5 He appointed judges in the land, in all the fortified cities of Judah, city by city.
19:6 He said to the judges, “Consider what you are doing, for you judge for the LORD, not for human beings. He is with you when you render judgment.
19:7 Now let the fear of the LORD be upon you. Be careful in what you do, for with the LORD our God there is no injustice, partiality, or taking of bribes.”
19:8 In Jerusalem Jehoshaphat also appointed some of the Levites, priests, and heads of Israel's ancestral families to administer the judgment of the LORD and settle disputes. They returned to Jerusalem.
19:9 He charged them, saying, “This is how you must act: in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and with an undivided heart.
19:10 Whenever a dispute comes before you from your brothers living in their cities, whether concerning bloodshed or law, commandment, statutes, and ordinances, warn them so they do not incur guilt before the LORD, and wrath does not come upon you and your brothers. Do this, and you will not incur guilt.
19:11 Amariah the chief priest is over you in every matter of the LORD, and Zebadiah son of Ishmael, the leader of the house of Judah, in every matter of the king. The Levites will serve before you as officers. Be strong and act, and may the LORD be with those who do good.”

Chapter 20
20:1 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, with others of the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle.
20:2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Aram. They are already at Hazazon-tamar, that is, En-gedi.”
20:3 Jehoshaphat was afraid and set himself to seek the LORD. He proclaimed a fast throughout Judah.
20:4 Judah gathered to seek help from the LORD. They came from all the cities of Judah to seek the LORD.
20:5 Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the house of the LORD, before the new court,
20:6 and said, “LORD, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can stand against you.
20:7 Are you not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?
20:8 They lived in it and built you a sanctuary in it for your name, saying,
20:9 ‘If disaster comes upon us—the sword of judgment, plague, or famine—we will stand before this house and before you, for your name is in this house. We will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear and save.’
20:10 Now here are the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, so they turned away from them and did not destroy them.
20:11 This is how they repay us: they come to drive us out of your possession, which you gave us to inherit.
20:12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no strength against this great multitude coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
20:13 All Judah stood before the LORD, with their little ones, their wives, and their sons.
20:14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly.
20:15 He said, “Listen, all Judah, inhabitants of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Do not be afraid or dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.
20:16 Tomorrow go down against them. They are coming up by the Ascent of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the ravine, facing the wilderness of Jeruel.
20:17 You will not need to fight in this battle. Take your positions, stand firm, and see the LORD's salvation on your behalf, Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid or dismayed. Tomorrow go out to meet them, and the LORD will be with you.’”
20:18 Jehoshaphat bowed with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the LORD to worship the LORD.
20:19 The Levites of the Kohathites and Korahites stood up to praise the LORD, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.
20:20 They rose early in the morning and went out to the wilderness of Tekoa. As they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Listen to me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Trust in the LORD your God, and you will stand firm. Trust in his prophets, and you will succeed.”
20:21 After consulting the people, he appointed singers to the LORD and those who praised the splendor of holiness, going out before the armed men and saying, “Give thanks to the LORD, for his faithful love endures forever.”
20:22 When they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the Ammonites, Moab, and Mount Seir, who were coming against Judah, and they were defeated.
20:23 The Ammonites and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to devote them to destruction and wipe them out. When they had finished with the inhabitants of Seir, they helped destroy one another.
20:24 When Judah came to the lookout over the wilderness, they looked toward the multitude and saw dead bodies lying on the ground. No one had escaped.
20:25 Jehoshaphat and his people came to take their plunder. They found abundant possessions and valuable articles among the dead bodies, and stripped off more than they could carry. They spent three days gathering the plunder, for there was so much.
20:26 On the fourth day they gathered in the Valley of Beracah, for there they blessed the LORD. That is why they called that place the Valley of Beracah, as it is to this day.
20:27 Then all the men of Judah and Jerusalem, with Jehoshaphat at their head, returned to Jerusalem with joy, for the LORD had made them rejoice over their enemies.
20:28 They came to Jerusalem with harps, lyres, and trumpets, to the house of the LORD.
20:29 The terror of God fell on all the kingdoms of the lands when they heard that the LORD had fought against Israel's enemies.
20:30 Jehoshaphat's kingdom was quiet, for his God gave him rest on every side.
20:31 Jehoshaphat reigned over Judah. He was thirty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Azubah daughter of Shilhi.
20:32 He walked in the way of his father Asa and did not turn aside from it, doing what was right in the eyes of the LORD.
20:33 But the high places were not removed, and the people had still not set their hearts toward the God of their fathers.
20:34 The rest of Jehoshaphat's acts, from first to last, are written in the records of Jehu son of Hanani, entered in the Book of the Kings of Israel.
20:35 After this, Jehoshaphat king of Judah allied himself with Ahaziah king of Israel, who acted wickedly.
20:36 He joined him in building ships to go to Tarshish, and they built the ships at Ezion-geber.
20:37 Eliezer son of Dodavah of Mareshah prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, “Because you have allied yourself with Ahaziah, the LORD has destroyed your work.” The ships were wrecked and could not go to Tarshish.

Chapter 21
21:1 Jehoshaphat lay down with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. His son Jehoram reigned in his place.
21:2 He had brothers, sons of Jehoshaphat: Azariah, Jehiel, Zechariah, Azariah, Michael, and Shephatiah. All these were sons of Jehoshaphat king of Israel.
21:3 Their father gave them many gifts of silver, gold, and precious things, along with fortified cities in Judah. But he gave the kingdom to Jehoram because he was the firstborn.
21:4 When Jehoram took over his father's kingdom and established himself firmly, he killed all his brothers with the sword, as well as some of the leaders of Israel.
21:5 Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem.
21:6 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for a daughter of Ahab was his wife. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.
21:7 Yet the LORD was unwilling to destroy the house of David, because of the covenant he had made with David and his promise to give a lamp to him and his sons always.
21:8 In his days Edom rebelled against Judah's rule and set a king over themselves.
21:9 Jehoram crossed over with his commanders and all his chariots. During the night he rose and struck the Edomites who surrounded him, as well as the chariot commanders.
21:10 So Edom has been in rebellion against Judah's rule to this day. At that time Libnah also rebelled against his rule, because he had abandoned the LORD, the God of his fathers.
21:11 He also made high places in the mountains of Judah, caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves, and led Judah astray.
21:12 A letter came to him from Elijah the prophet, saying, “This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: ‘Because you have not walked in the ways of your father Jehoshaphat or in the ways of Asa king of Judah,
21:13 but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel and caused Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to prostitute themselves as the house of Ahab did, and have also killed your brothers of your father's house, who were better than you,
21:14 the LORD is about to strike your people, your sons, your wives, and all your possessions with a great plague.
21:15 You yourself will suffer greatly from a disease of your intestines, day after day, until your intestines come out because of the disease.’”
21:16 The LORD stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabs who lived near the Cushites.
21:17 They came up against Judah, broke into it, and carried away all the possessions found in the king's palace, as well as his sons and wives. No son was left to him except Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.
21:18 After all this, the LORD struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease.
21:19 As time passed, at the end of two years, his intestines came out because of his disease, and he died in severe suffering. His people did not make a fire in his honor like the fires for his fathers.
21:20 He was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned eight years in Jerusalem. He departed unmourned. They buried him in the City of David, but not in the tombs of the kings.

Chapter 22
22:1 The inhabitants of Jerusalem made Ahaziah, Jehoram's youngest son, king in his place, for the raiding band that had come with the Arabs to the camp had killed all the older sons. So Ahaziah son of Jehoram reigned as king of Judah.
22:2 Ahaziah was forty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Athaliah daughter of Omri.
22:3 He too walked in the ways of the house of Ahab, for his mother counseled him to act wickedly.
22:4 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, like the house of Ahab, for after his father's death they became his counselors, to his ruin.
22:5 He also followed their counsel and went with Jehoram son of Ahab, king of Israel, to war against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead. The Arameans wounded Joram,
22:6 and he returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds they had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought Hazael king of Aram. Azariah son of Jehoram, king of Judah, went down to visit Jehoram son of Ahab at Jezreel because he was ill.
22:7 Ahaziah's downfall came from God through his visit to Joram. When he arrived, he went out with Jehoram to meet Jehu son of Nimshi, whom the LORD had anointed to cut off the house of Ahab.
22:8 When Jehu was executing judgment on the house of Ahab, he found the leaders of Judah and the sons of Ahaziah's brothers who were serving Ahaziah, and killed them.
22:9 He searched for Ahaziah, and they captured him while he was hiding in Samaria. They brought him to Jehu, put him to death, and buried him, for they said, “He is a son of Jehoshaphat, who sought the LORD with all his heart.” The house of Ahaziah had no strength to hold the kingdom.
22:10 When Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she rose and destroyed all the royal offspring of the house of Judah.
22:11 But Jehoshabeath the king's daughter took Joash son of Ahaziah and stole him away from among the king's sons who were being put to death. She put him and his wet nurse in a bedroom. Jehoshabeath, daughter of King Jehoram and wife of Jehoiada the priest, was Ahaziah's sister. She hid him from Athaliah, so Athaliah did not put him to death.
22:12 He remained hidden with them in the house of God for six years, while Athaliah ruled over the land.

Chapter 23
23:1 In the seventh year Jehoiada took courage and brought the commanders of hundreds into a covenant with him: Azariah son of Jeroham, Ishmael son of Jehohanan, Azariah son of Obed, Maaseiah son of Adaiah, and Elishaphat son of Zichri.
23:2 They went throughout Judah and gathered the Levites from all the cities of Judah and the heads of Israel's ancestral families, and came to Jerusalem.
23:3 The whole assembly made a covenant with the king in the house of God. Jehoiada said to them, “The king's son will reign, as the LORD has spoken concerning David's sons.
23:4 This is what you must do: a third of you priests and Levites coming on duty on the Sabbath will guard the thresholds,
23:5 a third will be at the king's palace, and a third at the Foundation Gate. All the people will be in the courts of the house of the LORD.
23:6 Let no one enter the house of the LORD except the priests and the Levites who are ministering. They may enter because they are holy, but all the people must keep the charge of the LORD.
23:7 The Levites must surround the king on every side, each with his weapons in his hand. Anyone who enters the house is to be put to death. Stay with the king when he comes in and when he goes out.”
23:8 The Levites and all Judah did everything Jehoiada the priest commanded. Each took his men, both those coming on duty on the Sabbath and those going off duty, for Jehoiada the priest had not dismissed the divisions.
23:9 Jehoiada the priest gave the commanders of hundreds the spears, shields, and bucklers that had belonged to King David and were in the house of God.
23:10 He stationed all the people, each with his weapon in his hand, from the right side of the house to the left side, by the altar and the house, all around the king.
23:11 They brought out the king's son, put the crown on him, gave him the Testimony, and made him king. Jehoiada and his sons anointed him and said, “Long live the king!”
23:12 When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people at the house of the LORD.
23:13 She looked and saw the king standing by his pillar at the entrance, with the commanders and trumpeters beside him. All the people of the land were rejoicing and sounding trumpets, and the singers with their musical instruments were leading the praise. Athaliah tore her clothes and cried, “Treason! Treason!”
23:14 Jehoiada the priest brought out the commanders of hundreds who were in charge of the army and said to them, “Bring her out between the ranks, and put anyone who follows her to death with the sword.” For the priest had said, “Do not put her to death in the house of the LORD.”
23:15 They laid hands on her, and she came to the entrance of the Horse Gate at the king's palace. There they put her to death.
23:16 Jehoiada made a covenant between himself, all the people, and the king, that they would be the LORD's people.
23:17 All the people went to the house of Baal and tore it down. They smashed its altars and images and killed Mattan the priest of Baal before the altars.
23:18 Jehoiada placed the oversight of the house of the LORD in the hands of the Levitical priests, whom David had assigned to the house of the LORD, to offer the burnt offerings of the LORD as written in the law of Moses, with joy and singing according to David's directions.
23:19 He stationed gatekeepers at the gates of the house of the LORD so that no one unclean for any reason would enter.
23:20 He took the commanders of hundreds, the nobles, the rulers of the people, and all the people of the land, and brought the king down from the house of the LORD. They entered the king's palace through the Upper Gate and seated the king on the royal throne.
23:21 All the people of the land rejoiced, and the city was quiet. They had put Athaliah to death with the sword.

Chapter 24
24:1 Joash was seven years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Zibiah of Beersheba.
24:2 Joash did what was right in the eyes of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada the priest.
24:3 Jehoiada obtained two wives for him, and Joash fathered sons and daughters.
24:4 After this, Joash had it in his heart to restore the house of the LORD.
24:5 He gathered the priests and Levites and said to them, “Go out to the cities of Judah and collect money from all Israel to repair the house of your God year after year. See that you do it quickly.” But the Levites did not hurry.
24:6 The king called Jehoiada the chief priest and said to him, “Why have you not required the Levites to bring from Judah and Jerusalem the levy of Moses, the servant of the LORD, and of the assembly of Israel, for the tent of the Testimony?”
24:7 For the sons of wicked Athaliah had broken into the house of God and had also used all the dedicated things of the house of the LORD for the Baals.
24:8 At the king's command they made a chest and placed it outside at the gate of the house of the LORD.
24:9 They proclaimed throughout Judah and Jerusalem that the people should bring to the LORD the levy Moses the servant of God had imposed on Israel in the wilderness.
24:10 All the leaders and all the people rejoiced. They brought their contributions and put them in the chest until they had finished.
24:11 Whenever the Levites brought the chest to the king's officials and they saw that there was much money, the king's scribe and the chief priest's officer came, emptied the chest, and carried it back to its place. They did this day after day and collected money in abundance.
24:12 The king and Jehoiada gave it to those in charge of the work on the house of the LORD. They hired stonemasons and carpenters to restore the house of the LORD, and workers in iron and bronze to repair the house of the LORD.
24:13 The workers labored, and the restoration progressed through their hands. They restored the house of God to its proper design and strengthened it.
24:14 When they finished, they brought the remaining money before the king and Jehoiada. It was made into utensils for the house of the LORD: utensils for service and for offerings, ladles, and objects of gold and silver. Burnt offerings were offered continually in the house of the LORD all the days of Jehoiada.
24:15 Jehoiada grew old and died full of days. He was a hundred and thirty years old when he died.
24:16 They buried him in the City of David among the kings, because he had done good in Israel, toward God and his house.
24:17 After Jehoiada's death, the leaders of Judah came and bowed down to the king, and the king listened to them.
24:18 They abandoned the house of the LORD, the God of their fathers, and served the Asherah poles and idols. Wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem because of this guilt of theirs.
24:19 God sent prophets among them to bring them back to the LORD. They testified against them, but the people would not listen.
24:20 The Spirit of God clothed himself with Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. He stood above the people and said to them, “This is what God says: ‘Why do you transgress the commandments of the LORD? You will not prosper. Because you have abandoned the LORD, he has abandoned you.’”
24:21 They conspired against him and stoned him at the king's command in the court of the house of the LORD.
24:22 King Joash did not remember the kindness Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed Jehoiada's son. As he died, Zechariah said, “May the LORD see and call to account!”
24:23 At the turn of the year, the army of Aram came up against Joash. They entered Judah and Jerusalem, destroyed all the leaders from among the people, and sent all their plunder to the king of Damascus.
24:24 Though the army of Aram came with few men, the LORD gave a very great army into their hands, because the people had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers. So they executed judgment on Joash.
24:25 When they withdrew, leaving him gravely ill, his servants conspired against him because of the blood of the sons of Jehoiada the priest. They killed him on his bed, and he died. They buried him in the City of David, but did not bury him in the tombs of the kings.
24:26 These were the men who conspired against him: Zabad son of Shimeath the Ammonite woman, and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabite woman.
24:27 As for his sons, the many oracles against him, and the restoration of the house of God, they are written in the account of the Book of the Kings. His son Amaziah reigned in his place.

Chapter 25
25:1 Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
25:2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, but not with an undivided heart.
25:3 When his kingdom was firmly established, he killed the servants who had killed his father the king.
25:4 But he did not put their sons to death, according to what is written in the law, in the Book of Moses, where the LORD commanded, “Fathers must not die for their sons, nor sons for their fathers; each must die for his own sin.”
25:5 Amaziah gathered Judah and organized them by ancestral families under commanders of thousands and hundreds, throughout Judah and Benjamin. He counted those twenty years old and above and found three hundred thousand chosen men fit for military service, able to handle spear and large shield.
25:6 He also hired a hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel for about seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver.
25:7 But a man of God came to him and said, “King, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, with all the people of Ephraim.
25:8 But if you go with them, act and be strong for battle—God will make you fall before the enemy, for God has power to help and to bring down.”
25:9 Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall I do about the silver I gave the troops of Israel—about seven thousand five hundred pounds?” The man of God replied, “The LORD is able to give you much more than that.”
25:10 So Amaziah dismissed the troops who had come to him from Ephraim to return to their own place. Their anger burned fiercely against Judah, and they returned to their own place in great anger.
25:11 Amaziah took courage, led his people out, and went to the Valley of Salt. He struck down ten thousand men of Seir.
25:12 The men of Judah captured another ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of the cliff, and threw them from the top of the cliff. They were all dashed to pieces.
25:13 But the troops Amaziah had sent back from going with him to battle raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth-horon. They struck down three thousand of their people and took much plunder.
25:14 After Amaziah returned from striking down the Edomites, he brought the gods of the people of Seir and set them up as his own gods. He bowed before them and burned incense to them.
25:15 The LORD's anger burned against Amaziah, and he sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you sought this people's gods, which did not deliver their own people from your hand?”
25:16 While he was speaking, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you a counselor to the king? Stop! Why should they strike you?” The prophet stopped, but said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not listened to my counsel.”
25:17 Then Amaziah king of Judah took counsel and sent to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us meet face to face.”
25:18 Joash king of Israel sent this reply to Amaziah king of Judah: “The thistle in Lebanon sent to the cedar in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as his wife.’ But a wild beast in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle.
25:19 You say you have defeated Edom, and your heart has lifted you up to boast. Now stay at home. Why provoke disaster, so that you fall, you and Judah with you?”
25:20 But Amaziah would not listen, for this came from God, to hand them over, because they had sought the gods of Edom.
25:21 So Joash king of Israel went up, and he and Amaziah king of Judah met face to face at Beth-shemesh, which belongs to Judah.
25:22 Judah was defeated before Israel, and each man fled to his tent.
25:23 Joash king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh and brought him to Jerusalem. He broke down about six hundred feet of Jerusalem's wall, from the Ephraim Gate to the Corner Gate.
25:24 He took all the gold, silver, and utensils found in the house of God in the care of Obed-edom, the treasures of the king's palace, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.
25:25 Amaziah son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel.
25:26 The rest of Amaziah's acts, from first to last, are they not written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel?
25:27 From the time Amaziah turned away from following the LORD, they plotted a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem. He fled to Lachish, but they sent after him to Lachish and put him to death there.
25:28 They brought him back on horses and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.

Chapter 26
26:1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.
26:2 He built Eloth and restored it to Judah after the king lay down with his fathers.
26:3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
26:4 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all his father Amaziah had done.
26:5 He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper.
26:6 He went out and fought the Philistines, breaking down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities in the region of Ashdod and among the Philistines.
26:7 God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs living in Gur-baal, and against the Meunites.
26:8 The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the entrance to Egypt, for he had become exceedingly strong.
26:9 Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the angle of the wall, and fortified them.
26:10 He built towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, for he had much livestock in the lowlands and on the plain. He had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and fertile fields, for he loved the soil.
26:11 Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out in divisions, according to the enrollment made by Jeuel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king's commanders.
26:12 The total number of ancestral family heads among the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred.
26:13 Under their command was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, who waged war with great strength to help the king against the enemy.
26:14 Uzziah supplied the whole army with shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slingstones.
26:15 In Jerusalem he made devices designed by a skilled craftsman to be placed on the towers and corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. His fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped until he became strong.
26:16 But when he became strong, his heart was lifted up to his ruin. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the incense altar.
26:17 Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD, men of courage.
26:18 They confronted King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful. This will bring you no honor from the LORD God.”
26:19 Uzziah became furious, with a censer in his hand to burn incense. While he was furious with the priests, a skin disease broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the incense altar.
26:20 Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him and saw the skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out of there, and he himself hastened to leave, for the LORD had struck him.
26:21 King Uzziah had the skin disease until the day of his death. He lived in a separate house, afflicted with the skin disease, for he had been cut off from the house of the LORD. His son Jotham was over the king's palace, judging the people of the land.
26:22 The rest of Uzziah's acts, from first to last, were written by Isaiah the prophet, son of Amoz.
26:23 Uzziah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the royal burial field, for they said, “He has a skin disease.” His son Jotham reigned in his place.

Chapter 27
27:1 Jotham was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok.
27:2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all his father Uzziah had done, except that he did not enter the temple of the LORD. But the people continued to act corruptly.
27:3 He built the Upper Gate of the house of the LORD and did extensive building on the wall of Ophel.
27:4 He built cities in the hill country of Judah, and fortresses and towers in the forests.
27:5 He fought the king of the Ammonites and prevailed against them. That year the Ammonites gave him about seven thousand five hundred pounds of silver, about fifty thousand bushels of wheat, and about fifty thousand bushels of barley. The Ammonites paid him the same in the second and third years.
27:6 Jotham became strong because he ordered his ways before the LORD his God.
27:7 The rest of Jotham's acts, all his wars, and his ways are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.
27:8 He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem.
27:9 Jotham lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David. His son Ahaz reigned in his place.

Chapter 28
28:1 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD, as his father David had done.
28:2 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and even made cast images for the Baals.
28:3 He burned incense in the Valley of Ben-hinnom and burned his sons in the fire, according to the abominable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
28:4 He sacrificed and burned incense at the high places, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.
28:5 The LORD his God gave him into the hand of the king of Aram. They defeated him, took a great number of his people captive, and brought them to Damascus. He was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, who struck him a great blow.
28:6 Pekah son of Remaliah killed a hundred and twenty thousand in Judah in one day, all men of valor, because they had abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers.
28:7 Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, killed Maaseiah the king's son, Azrikam the ruler of the palace, and Elkanah, who was second to the king.
28:8 The Israelites took two hundred thousand captives from among their own kin—women, sons, and daughters. They also took much plunder from them and brought the plunder to Samaria.
28:9 A prophet of the LORD named Oded was there. He went out to meet the army coming to Samaria and said to them, “Because the LORD, the God of your fathers, was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand. But you have killed them in a rage that has reached heaven.
28:10 Now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem as your male and female slaves. Do you not yourselves have guilt before the LORD your God?
28:11 Now listen to me and return the captives you have taken from among your brothers, for the fierce anger of the LORD is upon you.”
28:12 Then some of the leaders of Ephraim—Azariah son of Jehohanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai—stood against those returning from the campaign.
28:13 They said to them, “You must not bring the captives here. You intend to add to our sins and guilt, bringing guilt upon us before the LORD. Our guilt is already great, and fierce anger is upon Israel.”
28:14 So the armed men left the captives and the plunder before the leaders and the whole assembly.
28:15 The men designated by name rose and took charge of the captives. With the plunder they clothed all the naked among them. They dressed them, gave them shoes, food, and drink, and anointed them. They carried all who were weak on donkeys and brought them to their brothers at Jericho, the City of Palms. Then they returned to Samaria.
28:16 At that time King Ahaz sent to the kings of Assyria for help.
28:17 The Edomites had again come and struck Judah and taken captives.
28:18 The Philistines had raided the cities of Judah's lowlands and Negev. They captured Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Socoh and its villages, Timnah and its villages, and Gimzo and its villages, and settled there.
28:19 For the LORD brought Judah low because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had let Judah run wild and had been deeply unfaithful to the LORD.
28:20 Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him and distressed him rather than strengthening him.
28:21 Ahaz had taken a portion from the house of the LORD, from the king's palace, and from the leaders, and given it to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.
28:22 In the time of his distress he became still more unfaithful to the LORD—this same King Ahaz.
28:23 He sacrificed to the gods of Damascus, which had defeated him, and said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram help them, I will sacrifice to them so they will help me.” But they became his downfall and that of all Israel.
28:24 Ahaz gathered the utensils of the house of God and cut the utensils of the house of God to pieces. He shut the doors of the house of the LORD and made altars for himself at every corner in Jerusalem.
28:25 In every city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, provoking the LORD, the God of his fathers, to anger.
28:26 The rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
28:27 Ahaz lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, but did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. His son Hezekiah reigned in his place.

Chapter 29
29:1 Hezekiah became king at twenty-five years of age, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah.
29:2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all his father David had done.
29:3 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them.
29:4 He brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the eastern square.
29:5 He said to them, “Listen to me, Levites. Now consecrate yourselves and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers. Remove the uncleanness from the sanctuary.
29:6 For our fathers were unfaithful and did evil in the eyes of the LORD our God. They abandoned him, turned their faces away from the dwelling of the LORD, and turned their backs.
29:7 They also shut the doors of the porch and extinguished the lamps. They did not burn incense or offer burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
29:8 So the wrath of the LORD came upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he made them an object of terror, horror, and hissing, as you see with your own eyes.
29:9 Because of this, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons, daughters, and wives are in captivity.
29:10 Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD, the God of Israel, so that his fierce anger may turn away from us.
29:11 My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before him, to serve him, and to be his ministers and burn incense.”
29:12 Then the Levites arose: from the Kohathites, Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah; from the sons of Merari, Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel; from the Gershonites, Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah;
29:13 from the sons of Elizaphan, Shimri and Jeuel; from the sons of Asaph, Zechariah and Mattaniah;
29:14 from the sons of Heman, Jehuel and Shimei; and from the sons of Jeduthun, Shemaiah and Uzziel.
29:15 They gathered their brothers, consecrated themselves, and came to cleanse the house of the LORD according to the king's command, in keeping with the words of the LORD.
29:16 The priests entered the inner part of the house of the LORD to cleanse it. They brought out into the court of the house of the LORD all the uncleanness they found in the temple of the LORD. The Levites received it to carry it outside to the Brook Kidron.
29:17 They began the consecration on the first day of the first month. On the eighth day of the month they reached the porch of the LORD. They consecrated the house of the LORD in eight days and finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.
29:18 They went in to King Hezekiah and said, “We have cleansed the whole house of the LORD, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table of the bread of the Presence with all its utensils.
29:19 We have also prepared and consecrated all the utensils King Ahaz discarded during his reign in his unfaithfulness. They are now before the altar of the LORD.”
29:20 King Hezekiah rose early, gathered the leaders of the city, and went up to the house of the LORD.
29:21 They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the kingdom, the sanctuary, and Judah. He commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the LORD.
29:22 They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests received the blood and dashed it against the altar. They slaughtered the rams and dashed the blood against the altar. They slaughtered the lambs and dashed the blood against the altar.
29:23 They brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them.
29:24 The priests slaughtered them and offered their blood on the altar as a sin offering, to make atonement for all Israel. For the king had commanded that the burnt offering and sin offering be for all Israel.
29:25 He stationed the Levites in the house of the LORD with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David, Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet, for the command came from the LORD through his prophets.
29:26 The Levites stood with David's instruments, and the priests with the trumpets.
29:27 Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be offered on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the song of the LORD began, with the trumpets and the accompaniment of the instruments of David king of Israel.
29:28 The whole assembly worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpets sounded. All this continued until the burnt offering was finished.
29:29 When they finished offering, the king and all who were present with him knelt and worshiped.
29:30 King Hezekiah and the leaders commanded the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and Asaph the seer. They praised with gladness, bowed down, and worshiped.
29:31 Then Hezekiah said, “Now you have consecrated yourselves to the LORD. Come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the LORD.” The assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all who were willing in heart brought burnt offerings.
29:32 The number of burnt offerings the assembly brought was seventy bulls, a hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were for a burnt offering to the LORD.
29:33 The consecrated offerings were six hundred cattle and three thousand sheep and goats.
29:34 But the priests were too few to skin all the burnt offerings, so their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished and the priests had consecrated themselves. For the Levites were more upright in heart than the priests in consecrating themselves.
29:35 There were also abundant burnt offerings, with the fat of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for the burnt offerings. So the service of the house of the LORD was set in order.
29:36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had prepared for the people, for it had happened suddenly.

Chapter 30
30:1 Hezekiah sent word throughout Israel and Judah and also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel.
30:2 The king, his officials, and the whole assembly in Jerusalem agreed to celebrate the Passover in the second month.
30:3 They had been unable to celebrate it at the appointed time because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not gathered in Jerusalem.
30:4 The plan seemed right to the king and the whole assembly.
30:5 They decreed that a proclamation should go throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, calling the people to come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel, for they had not celebrated it in large numbers as prescribed.
30:6 The couriers went throughout Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his officials, proclaiming the king's command: “Israelites, return to the LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, so that he may return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hands of the kings of Assyria.
30:7 Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that he made them an object of horror, as you can see.
30:8 Now do not stiffen your necks as your fathers did. Yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the LORD your God so that his fierce anger may turn away from you.
30:9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. The LORD your God is gracious and merciful; he will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.”
30:10 The couriers went from city to city through the lands of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but the people laughed at them and mocked them.
30:11 Nevertheless, some from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
30:12 The hand of God was also at work in Judah, giving them one heart to carry out the command of the king and the officials according to the word of the LORD.
30:13 A large crowd gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month—a very great assembly.
30:14 They set about removing the altars in Jerusalem. They also removed all the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Brook.
30:15 They slaughtered the Passover sacrifices on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.
30:16 They took their positions according to the regulations in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests dashed the blood handed to them by the Levites.
30:17 For many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, so the Levites were responsible for slaughtering the Passover sacrifices for everyone who was unclean, so that the offerings could be consecrated to the LORD.
30:18 For a large number of the people, many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon
30:19 everyone who has set his heart to seek God, the LORD, the God of his fathers, even if he does not meet the sanctuary's requirements for purity.”
30:20 The LORD listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
30:21 The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy. Day after day the Levites and the priests praised the LORD with resounding instruments in his honor.
30:22 Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good understanding in the service of the LORD. They feasted for the seven days, offering peace offerings and giving thanks to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
30:23 The whole assembly agreed to celebrate another seven days, so they celebrated joyfully for seven more days.
30:24 For Hezekiah king of Judah provided the assembly with 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep and goats, and the officials provided the assembly with 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep and goats. A great many priests consecrated themselves.
30:25 The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced, along with the priests and the Levites, the whole assembly that had come from Israel, and the foreigners who had come from the land of Israel and those living in Judah.
30:26 There was great joy in Jerusalem, for nothing like this had happened in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon son of David, king of Israel.
30:27 The Levitical priests stood and blessed the people. Their voice was heard, and their prayer reached his holy dwelling place, heaven.

Chapter 31
31:1 When all this was finished, all the Israelites who were present went out to the cities of Judah. They shattered the sacred pillars, cut down the Asherah poles, and demolished the high places and altars throughout Judah and Benjamin and in Ephraim and Manasseh, until they had destroyed them all. Then all the Israelites returned to their cities, each to his own property.
31:2 Hezekiah appointed the divisions of the priests and the Levites, each according to his service in his division. Priests and Levites were assigned to burnt offerings and peace offerings, to minister, give thanks, and offer praise at the gates of the LORD's camps.
31:3 The king contributed from his own possessions for the burnt offerings: the morning and evening burnt offerings and those for the Sabbaths, the new moons, and the appointed festivals, as written in the law of the LORD.
31:4 He commanded the people living in Jerusalem to give the portion due to the priests and the Levites, so that they could devote themselves to the law of the LORD.
31:5 As soon as the command spread, the Israelites brought abundant firstfruits of grain, new wine, oil, honey, and all the produce of the fields. They also brought a tithe of everything in abundance.
31:6 The people of Israel and Judah living in the cities of Judah also brought a tithe of their cattle, sheep, and goats, and a tithe of the holy things consecrated to the LORD their God. They laid them in heap after heap.
31:7 They began laying out the heaps in the third month and finished in the seventh month.
31:8 When Hezekiah and the officials came and saw the heaps, they blessed the LORD and his people Israel.
31:9 Hezekiah questioned the priests and the Levites about the heaps.
31:10 Azariah the chief priest, of the house of Zadok, answered him, “Since the contributions began coming to the house of the LORD, we have eaten our fill and had plenty left over. The LORD has blessed his people, and this great abundance is what remains.”
31:11 Hezekiah ordered storerooms to be prepared in the house of the LORD, and they prepared them.
31:12 They faithfully brought in the contributions, the tithes, and the consecrated things. Cononiah the Levite was in charge of them, and his brother Shimei was second in command.
31:13 Jehiel, Azaziah, Nahath, Asahel, Jerimoth, Jozabad, Eliel, Ismachiah, Mahath, and Benaiah were overseers under Cononiah and his brother Shimei, by appointment of King Hezekiah and Azariah, the official in charge of the house of God.
31:14 Kore son of Imnah, the Levite gatekeeper on the east side, was in charge of the freewill offerings to God, distributing the contributions for the LORD and the most holy things.
31:15 Under him were Eden, Miniamin, Jeshua, Shemaiah, Amariah, and Shecaniah. In the cities of the priests, they faithfully distributed portions to their brothers according to their divisions, to great and small alike.
31:16 This was apart from the males recorded by genealogy, three years old and upward, all who entered the house of the LORD for their daily duties, serving in their assignments according to their divisions.
31:17 The priests were registered by their ancestral houses, and the Levites twenty years old and upward by their responsibilities and divisions.
31:18 The registration included all their little ones, their wives, their sons, and their daughters—the whole assembly—for they were faithful in keeping themselves holy.
31:19 For the sons of Aaron, the priests living in the pasturelands of their cities, there were men designated by name in each city to distribute portions to every male among the priests and to everyone recorded by genealogy among the Levites.
31:20 This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah. He did what was good, right, and faithful before the LORD his God.
31:21 In every work he undertook in the service of the house of God and in the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he acted with all his heart and prospered.

Chapter 32
32:1 After these deeds and this faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He encamped against the fortified cities, intending to capture them for himself.
32:2 When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and intended to wage war against Jerusalem,
32:3 he consulted his officials and his warriors about blocking the springs outside the city, and they helped him.
32:4 A large number of people gathered and blocked all the springs and the stream flowing through the land. They said, “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find so much water?”
32:5 Hezekiah took courage and rebuilt the entire broken wall, raising it up to the towers, and built another wall outside it. He strengthened the Millo in the City of David and made weapons and shields in abundance.
32:6 He appointed military commanders over the people and gathered them to him in the square at the city gate. He encouraged them, saying,
32:7 “Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria or the whole multitude with him, for we have more with us than he has with him.
32:8 With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and fight our battles.” The people took confidence in the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.
32:9 After this, Sennacherib king of Assyria sent his servants to Jerusalem with a message for Hezekiah king of Judah and all the people of Judah in Jerusalem. Sennacherib himself was at Lachish with all his forces.
32:10 “This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What are you trusting in, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege?
32:11 Isn't Hezekiah misleading you, handing you over to die of hunger and thirst when he says, ‘The LORD our God will rescue us from the hand of the king of Assyria’?
32:12 Wasn't it Hezekiah who removed his high places and altars and told Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must bow down before one altar and burn offerings on it’?
32:13 Don't you know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Were the gods of the nations in those lands able to rescue their lands from my hand?
32:14 Which of all the gods of those nations my fathers utterly destroyed was able to rescue his people from my hand? How, then, can your God rescue you from my hand?
32:15 Now do not let Hezekiah deceive you or mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to rescue his people from my hand or the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God rescue you from my hand!”
32:16 His servants said still more against the LORD God and against his servant Hezekiah.
32:17 Sennacherib also wrote letters insulting the LORD, the God of Israel, and speaking against him: “Just as the gods of the nations of the lands did not rescue their people from my hand, neither will Hezekiah's God rescue his people from my hand.”
32:18 They called out loudly in the language of Judah to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them so that they could capture the city.
32:19 They spoke of the God of Jerusalem as they spoke of the gods of the peoples of the earth, the work of human hands.
32:20 Because of this, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz prayed and cried out to heaven.
32:21 The LORD sent an angel who destroyed every mighty warrior, leader, and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So the king returned to his land in shame. When he entered the house of his god, his own offspring struck him down there with the sword.
32:22 So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib king of Assyria and from the hand of everyone else, and he guided them on every side.
32:23 Many brought offerings to the LORD in Jerusalem and precious gifts to Hezekiah king of Judah. From then on he was exalted in the eyes of all the nations.
32:24 In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. He prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign.
32:25 But Hezekiah did not respond in keeping with the good done to him, for his heart grew proud. So wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
32:26 Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, as did the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the LORD's wrath did not come upon them in Hezekiah's days.
32:27 Hezekiah had very great riches and honor. He made treasuries for silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and every kind of valuable article.
32:28 He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain, new wine, and oil, stalls for every kind of livestock, and pens for flocks.
32:29 He built cities for himself and acquired flocks and herds in abundance, for God had given him very great possessions.
32:30 It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the City of David. Hezekiah prospered in all he did.
32:31 But when the envoys of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him, to know everything in his heart.
32:32 The rest of Hezekiah's deeds and his acts of faithful love are written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz, in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel.
32:33 Hezekiah rested with his fathers, and they buried him on the ascent to the tombs of David's sons. All Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem honored him at his death. His son Manasseh reigned in his place.

Chapter 33
33:1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem.
33:2 He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites.
33:3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished. He set up altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles, and he bowed down to all the host of heaven and served them.
33:4 He built altars in the house of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, “My name will be in Jerusalem forever.”
33:5 He built altars to all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the LORD.
33:6 He made his sons pass through the fire in the Valley of Ben-hinnom. He practiced divination, read omens, practiced sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.
33:7 He placed the carved idol he had made in the house of God, of which God had said to David and his son Solomon, “In this house and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
33:8 I will no longer remove Israel's foot from the land I assigned to your fathers, if only they are careful to do all I have commanded them, according to the whole law, the statutes, and the ordinances given through Moses.”
33:9 But Manasseh led Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem astray, so that they did more evil than the nations the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
33:10 The LORD spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they did not listen.
33:11 So the LORD brought against them the commanders of the army of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
33:12 In his distress he sought the favor of the LORD his God and humbled himself deeply before the God of his fathers.
33:13 He prayed to him, and God responded to his plea, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the LORD is God.
33:14 After this he built an outer wall for the City of David, west of Gihon in the valley, as far as the entrance to the Fish Gate. It surrounded Ophel, and he raised it very high. He also stationed military commanders in all the fortified cities of Judah.
33:15 He removed the foreign gods and the idol from the house of the LORD, along with all the altars he had built on the mountain of the house of the LORD and in Jerusalem, and threw them outside the city.
33:16 He restored the altar of the LORD and offered peace offerings and thank offerings on it. He commanded Judah to serve the LORD, the God of Israel.
33:17 Nevertheless, the people still sacrificed at the high places, though only to the LORD their God.
33:18 The rest of Manasseh's deeds, 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, are in the records of the kings of Israel.
33:19 His prayer and how God answered him, all his sins and his unfaithfulness, and the places where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and carved images before he humbled himself are written in the records of Hozai.
33:20 Manasseh rested with his fathers, and they buried him at his house. His son Amon reigned in his place.
33:21 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem.
33:22 He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done. Amon sacrificed to all the carved images his father Manasseh had made and served them.
33:23 He did not humble himself before the LORD as his father Manasseh had humbled himself. Instead, Amon increased his guilt.
33:24 His servants conspired against him and killed him in his house.
33:25 But the people of the land struck down all who had conspired against King Amon, and the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place.

Chapter 34
34:1 Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem.
34:2 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD and walked in the ways of his father David, turning neither to the right nor to the left.
34:3 In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his father David. In the twelfth year he began to cleanse Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images.
34:4 They tore down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and he cut down the incense altars above them. He shattered the Asherah poles, the carved images, and the cast images, ground them to powder, and scattered it over the graves of those who had sacrificed to them.
34:5 He burned the priests' bones on their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.
34:6 He did the same in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali, and in their surrounding ruins.
34:7 He tore down the altars and the Asherah poles, crushed the carved images to powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he returned to Jerusalem.
34:8 In the eighteenth year of his reign, as he cleansed the land and the house, he sent Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah son of Joahaz the recorder to repair the house of the LORD his God.
34:9 They went to Hilkiah the high priest and delivered the silver brought to the house of God. The Levites who guarded the thresholds had collected it from Manasseh, Ephraim, all the remnant of Israel, all Judah and Benjamin, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
34:10 They put it into the hands of the overseers of the work in the house of the LORD, who gave it to the workers in the house of the LORD to repair and restore the house.
34:11 They gave it to the craftsmen and builders to buy quarried stone and timber for framing and to put beams in the buildings the kings of Judah had ruined.
34:12 The men did the work faithfully. Their overseers were Jahath and Obadiah, Levites descended from Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, from the Kohathites, who directed the work. The Levites skilled in musical instruments
34:13 were over the burden bearers and supervised all the workers in every kind of service. Some of the Levites were scribes, officers, and gatekeepers.
34:14 As they were bringing out the silver that had been brought to the house of the LORD, Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the LORD given through Moses.
34:15 Hilkiah said to Shaphan the scribe, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the LORD.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.
34:16 Shaphan brought the book to the king and also reported to him, “Your servants are doing everything entrusted to them.
34:17 They have poured out the silver found in the house of the LORD and handed it over to the overseers and the workers.”
34:18 Then Shaphan the scribe told the king, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” Shaphan read from it before the king.
34:19 When the king heard the words of the law, he tore his clothes.
34:20 The king commanded Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the scribe, and Asaiah the king's servant,
34:21 “Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those remaining in Israel and Judah about the words of the book that has been found. Great is the LORD's wrath poured out on us, because our fathers did not keep the word of the LORD by doing everything written in this book.”
34:22 Hilkiah and those the king had appointed went to Huldah the prophetess, the wife of Shallum son of Tokhath, son of Hasrah, the keeper of the wardrobe. She lived in Jerusalem in the Second Quarter. They spoke to her about this.
34:23 She said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Tell the man who sent you to me,
34:24 ‘This is what the LORD says: I am bringing disaster on this place and its inhabitants—all the curses written in the book that was read before the king of Judah.
34:25 Because they have forsaken me and burned incense to other gods, provoking me to anger with all the work of their hands, my wrath will be poured out on this place and will not be quenched.’
34:26 But say to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the LORD, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the words you have heard:
34:27 Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and because you humbled yourself before me, tore your clothes, and wept before me, I too have heard you, declares the LORD.
34:28 I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your graves in peace. Your eyes will not see all the disaster I am bringing on this place and its inhabitants.’” They brought the answer back to the king.
34:29 Then the king sent for all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem and gathered them together.
34:30 The king went up to the house of the LORD with all the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests, the Levites, and all the people, great and small. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant found in the house of the LORD.
34:31 The king stood in his place and made a covenant before the LORD to follow the LORD and keep his commandments, his testimonies, and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, carrying out the words of the covenant written in this book.
34:32 He had everyone present in Jerusalem and Benjamin stand in commitment to it. The inhabitants of Jerusalem acted according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
34:33 Josiah removed all the detestable things from all the lands belonging to the Israelites and made everyone present in Israel serve the LORD their God. Throughout his days they did not turn away from following the LORD, the God of their fathers.

Chapter 35
35:1 Josiah celebrated the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem. They slaughtered the Passover sacrifices on the fourteenth day of the first month.
35:2 He appointed the priests to their duties and encouraged them in the service of the house of the LORD.
35:3 He said to the Levites who instructed all Israel and were holy to the LORD, “Place the holy ark in the house that Solomon son of David, king of Israel, built. You no longer have to carry it on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and his people Israel.
35:4 Prepare yourselves by your ancestral houses according to your divisions, following the writings of David king of Israel and the writings of his son Solomon.
35:5 Take your places in the sanctuary according to the divisions of the ancestral houses of your brothers among the people and according to the division of the Levites' ancestral houses.
35:6 Slaughter the Passover sacrifices, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your brothers, carrying out the word of the LORD given through Moses.”
35:7 Josiah contributed to the people 30,000 lambs and young goats, all for the Passover sacrifices of everyone present, and 3,000 cattle. These came from the king's possessions.
35:8 His officials made freewill contributions to the people, the priests, and the Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the officials in charge of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 animals for the Passover sacrifices and 300 cattle.
35:9 Cononiah and his brothers Shemaiah and Nethanel, along with Hashabiah, Jeiel, and Jozabad, leaders of the Levites, contributed 5,000 animals for the Levites' Passover sacrifices and 500 cattle.
35:10 So the service was prepared. The priests took their positions, and the Levites stood according to their divisions, as the king had commanded.
35:11 They slaughtered the Passover sacrifices, and the priests dashed the blood handed to them, while the Levites skinned the animals.
35:12 They set aside the burnt offerings to give them to the divisions of the people's ancestral houses, to offer to the LORD as written in the Book of Moses. They did the same with the cattle.
35:13 They roasted the Passover sacrifices over the fire as prescribed. They cooked the consecrated offerings in pots, cauldrons, and pans and quickly brought them to all the people.
35:14 Afterward they prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, because the priests, the sons of Aaron, were occupied with offering the burnt offerings and the fat until night. So the Levites prepared portions for themselves and for the priests, the sons of Aaron.
35:15 The singers, the sons of Asaph, were at their posts according to the command of David, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun the king's seer. The gatekeepers were at every gate. They did not have to leave their service, because their brothers the Levites prepared portions for them.
35:16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared that day to celebrate the Passover and offer burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, as King Josiah had commanded.
35:17 The Israelites who were present celebrated the Passover at that time and the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days.
35:18 No Passover like it had been celebrated in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel had celebrated a Passover like the one celebrated by Josiah, the priests, the Levites, all Judah and Israel who were present, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
35:19 This Passover was celebrated in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign.
35:20 After all this, when Josiah had prepared the house, Necho king of Egypt went up to fight at Carchemish on the Euphrates, and Josiah went out to confront him.
35:21 But Necho sent messengers to him, saying, “What have I to do with you, king of Judah? I am not coming against you today, but against the house with which I am at war. God has told me to hurry. Stop opposing God, who is with me, so that he does not destroy you.”
35:22 Josiah would not turn away from him but disguised himself to fight him. He did not listen to Necho's words from the mouth of God and went to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.
35:23 The archers shot King Josiah, and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am badly wounded.”
35:24 His servants took him out of the chariot, put him in his second chariot, and brought him to Jerusalem. He died and was buried in the tombs of his fathers. All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
35:25 Jeremiah sang a lament for Josiah. To this day all the male and female singers speak of Josiah in their laments. They made these a custom in Israel, and they are written in the laments.
35:26 The rest of Josiah's deeds and his acts of faithful love according to what is written in the law of the LORD,
35:27 and his deeds, from first to last, are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

Chapter 36
36:1 The people of the land took Jehoahaz son of Josiah and made him king in Jerusalem in place of his father.
36:2 Joahaz was twenty-three years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months in Jerusalem.
36:3 The king of Egypt deposed him in Jerusalem and imposed a fine on the land of about 7,500 pounds of silver and about 75 pounds of gold.
36:4 The king of Egypt made Eliakim, Joahaz's brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Necho took Joahaz, Eliakim's brother, and brought him to Egypt.
36:5 Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD his God.
36:6 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
36:7 Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the vessels of the house of the LORD to Babylon and placed them in his temple in Babylon.
36:8 The rest of Jehoiakim's deeds, the detestable things he did, and what was found against him are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel and Judah. His son Jehoiachin reigned in his place.
36:9 Jehoiachin was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned three months and ten days in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD.
36:10 At the turn of the year, King Nebuchadnezzar sent for him and brought him to Babylon with the precious vessels of the house of the LORD. He made Zedekiah, Jehoiachin's brother, king over Judah and Jerusalem.
36:11 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem.
36:12 He did what was evil in the eyes of the LORD his God. He did not humble himself before the prophet Jeremiah, who spoke from the mouth of the LORD.
36:13 He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against returning to the LORD, the God of Israel.
36:14 All the leading priests and the people also became increasingly unfaithful, following all the detestable practices of the nations. They defiled the house of the LORD, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem.
36:15 The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had compassion on his people and his dwelling place.
36:16 But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets until the LORD's wrath rose against his people and there was no remedy.
36:17 So he brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in their sanctuary. He had no compassion on young man or young woman, on the old or the frail. God gave them all into his hand.
36:18 He brought to Babylon all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and his officials—everything.
36:19 They burned the house of God, tore down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces, and destroyed all its precious articles.
36:20 He exiled to Babylon those who had escaped the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power.
36:21 This fulfilled the word of the LORD through Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. Throughout its desolation it rested, until seventy years were fulfilled.
36:22 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia. He issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also put it in writing:
36:23 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem in Judah. Whoever among you belongs to his people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.”

EZRA

Chapter 1
1:1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, to fulfill the word of the LORD through Jeremiah, the LORD stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia. He issued a proclamation throughout his kingdom and also put it in writing:
1:2 “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem in Judah.
1:3 Whoever among you belongs to his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the house of the LORD, the God of Israel. He is the God who is in Jerusalem.
1:4 Let the people of every place where a survivor is living as a foreigner support him with silver, gold, goods, and livestock, besides the freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.”
1:5 Then the heads of the ancestral houses of Judah and Benjamin, the priests, and the Levites arose—everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
1:6 All their neighbors supported them with silver articles, gold, goods, livestock, and precious gifts, besides everything that was freely offered.
1:7 King Cyrus brought out the vessels of the house of the LORD that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.
1:8 Cyrus king of Persia brought them out through Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.
1:9 This was their number: 30 gold bowls, 1,000 silver bowls, 29 knives,
1:10 30 gold cups, 410 silver cups of a second kind, and 1,000 other vessels.
1:11 The total of the gold and silver vessels was 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up when the exiles came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Chapter 2
2:1 These are the people of the province who came up from captivity, from the exiles whom Nebuchadnezzor king of Babylon had deported to Babylon. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own city.
2:2 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel was:
2:3 The descendants of Parosh: 2,172.
2:4 The descendants of Shephatiah: 372.
2:5 The descendants of Arah: 775.
2:6 The descendants of Pahath-moab, from the descendants of Jeshua and Joab: 2,812.
2:7 The descendants of Elam: 1,254.
2:8 The descendants of Zattu: 945.
2:9 The descendants of Zaccai: 760.
2:10 The descendants of Bani: 642.
2:11 The descendants of Bebai: 623.
2:12 The descendants of Azgad: 1,222.
2:13 The descendants of Adonikam: 666.
2:14 The descendants of Bigvai: 2,056.
2:15 The descendants of Adin: 454.
2:16 The descendants of Ater, of Hezekiah: 98.
2:17 The descendants of Bezai: 323.
2:18 The descendants of Jorah: 112.
2:19 The descendants of Hashum: 223.
2:20 The descendants of Gibbar: 95.
2:21 The people of Bethlehem: 123.
2:22 The men of Netophah: 56.
2:23 The men of Anathoth: 128.
2:24 The people of Azmaveth: 42.
2:25 The people of Kiriath-arim, Chephirah, and Beeroth: 743.
2:26 The people of Ramah and Geba: 621.
2:27 The men of Michmas: 122.
2:28 The men of Bethel and Ai: 223.
2:29 The people of Nebo: 52.
2:30 The people of Magbish: 156.
2:31 The people of the other Elam: 1,254.
2:32 The people of Harim: 320.
2:33 The people of Lod, Hadid, and Ono: 725.
2:34 The people of Jericho: 345.
2:35 The people of Senaah: 3,630.
2:36 The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, 973.
2:37 The descendants of Immer: 1,052.
2:38 The descendants of Pashhur: 1,247.
2:39 The descendants of Harim: 1,017.
2:40 The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel, from the descendants of Hodaviah, 74.
2:41 The singers: the descendants of Asaph, 128.
2:42 The descendants of the gatekeepers—the descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai—139 in all.
2:43 The temple servants: the descendants of Ziha, Hasupha, and Tabbaoth;
2:44 of Keros, Siaha, and Padon;
2:45 of Lebanah, Hagabah, and Akkub;
2:46 of Hagab, Shamlai, and Hanan;
2:47 of Giddel, Gahar, and Reaiah;
2:48 of Rezin, Nekoda, and Gazzam;
2:49 of Uzza, Paseah, and Besai;
2:50 of Asnah, Meinim, and Nephisim;
2:51 of Bakbuk, Hakupha, and Harhur;
2:52 of Bazluth, Mehida, and Harsha;
2:53 of Barkos, Sisera, and Tamah;
2:54 of Neziah and Hatipha.
2:55 The descendants of Solomon's servants: the descendants of Sotai, Hassophereth, and Peruda;
2:56 of Jaalah, Darkon, and Giddel;
2:57 of Shephatiah, Hattil, Pochereth-hazzebaim, and Ami.
2:58 All the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants totaled 392.
2:59 These came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they could not establish their ancestral house or their descent, whether they were of Israel:
2:60 the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, 652.
2:61 Among the descendants of the priests were the descendants of Habaiah, Hakkoz, and Barzillai, who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their name.
2:62 These searched for their entries in the genealogical records, but they were not found, so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
2:63 The governor told them not to eat of the most holy things until a priest should arise with Urim and Thummim.
2:64 The whole assembly together numbered 42,360,
2:65 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves. They also had 200 male and female singers.
2:66 They had 736 horses and 245 mules,
2:67 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.
2:68 When they came to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem, some of the heads of the ancestral houses gave freewill offerings for the house of God, to restore it on its site.
2:69 According to their ability, they gave to the treasury for the work 61,000 gold coins, about 6,250 pounds of silver, and 100 priestly robes.
2:70 The priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants settled in their cities, and all Israel in their cities.

Chapter 3
3:1 When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites were in their cities, the people gathered as one in Jerusalem.
3:2 Jeshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests, together with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his brothers, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as written in the law of Moses, the man of God.
3:3 They set the altar on its bases, for fear of the peoples of the lands had come upon them. On it, burnt offerings were offered to the LORD morning and evening.
3:4 They celebrated the Festival of Booths as written and offered the daily burnt offerings in the prescribed number, according to the requirement for each day.
3:5 Afterward they offered the regular burnt offering, the offerings for the new moons and all the LORD's consecrated festivals, and the offerings of everyone who brought a freewill offering to the LORD.
3:6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD, though the foundation of the LORD's temple had not yet been laid.
3:7 They gave silver to the stonecutters and craftsmen, and food, drink, and oil to the Sidonians and Tyrians, to bring cedar timber from Lebanon to the sea at Joppa, according to the authorization Cyrus king of Persia had granted them.
3:8 In the second month of the second year after their arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Jeshua son of Jozadak, the rest of their brothers the priests and Levites, and all who had come from captivity to Jerusalem began the work. They appointed the Levites twenty years old and upward to oversee the work on the house of the LORD.
3:9 Jeshua, his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the descendants of Judah, joined together to oversee those working on the house of God, along with the descendants of Henadad, their sons and their brothers the Levites.
3:10 When the builders laid the foundation of the LORD's temple, they stationed the priests, dressed in their robes, with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of David king of Israel.
3:11 They sang in response, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For he is good, for his faithful love toward Israel endures forever.” All the people raised a great shout, praising the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.
3:12 But many of the priests, Levites, and heads of ancestral houses, the older men who had seen the first house, wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this house being laid. Many others raised their voices with shouts of joy.
3:13 The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people raised a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Chapter 4
4:1 The adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the LORD, the God of Israel.
4:2 They approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the ancestral houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”
4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other heads of Israel's ancestral houses answered them, “You have no part with us in building a house for our God. We ourselves together will build it for the LORD, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
4:4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and frightened them away from building.
4:5 They hired counselors against them to frustrate their plans throughout the days of Cyrus king of Persia and until the reign of Darius king of Persia.
4:6 At the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
4:7 In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written in Aramaic script and set out in Aramaic.
4:8 Rehum the chief official and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes in these terms:
4:9 Then Rehum the chief official, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates—the Dinaites, Apharsathchites, Tarpelites, Apharsites, people of Erech, Babylonians, and people of Susa, that is, the Elamites,
4:10 and the other peoples whom the great and honored Osnappar deported and settled in the city of Samaria and the rest of Beyond the River. And now:
4:11 This is a copy of the letter they sent to King Artaxerxes: “Your servants, the men of Beyond the River. And now:
4:12 Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have arrived in Jerusalem. They are rebuilding the rebellious and wicked city, completing its walls and repairing its foundations.
4:13 Now let it be known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, they will not pay tribute, tax, or toll, and the royal revenues will suffer.
4:14 Since we eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to see the king dishonored, we have sent word to inform the king,
4:15 so that a search may be made in the record book of your fathers. In the record book you will find and learn that this city is rebellious and harmful to kings and provinces, and that sedition has been stirred up in it since ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed.
4:16 We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, you will have no possession in Beyond the River.”
4:17 The king sent this reply: “To Rehum the chief official, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and the rest of Beyond the River: Peace. And now:
4:18 The letter you sent us has been read clearly before me.
4:19 I issued an order, and a search was made. It was found that this city has risen against kings since ancient times and that rebellion and sedition have taken place in it.
4:20 Powerful kings have ruled over Jerusalem and governed all of Beyond the River, and tribute, tax, and toll were paid to them.
4:21 Now issue an order to make these men stop, and let this city not be rebuilt until an order is issued by me.
4:22 Be careful not to neglect this. Why should harm increase to the detriment of the kings?”
4:23 As soon as the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, Shimshai the scribe, and their associates, they hurried to Jerusalem to the Jews and made them stop by force and power.
4:24 Then the work on the house of God in Jerusalem ceased and remained suspended until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Chapter 5
5:1 Then Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo, both prophets, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.
5:2 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua son of Jozadak arose and began to build the house of God in Jerusalem. The prophets of God were with them, helping them.
5:3 At that time Tattenai the governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates came to them and asked, “Who authorized you to build this house and complete this structure?”
5:4 Then we said to them, “What are the names of the men constructing this building?”
5:5 But the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and the officials did not make them stop pending a report to Darius and a written reply about the matter.
5:6 This is a copy of the letter that Tattenai the governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and his associates, the Apharsachites in Beyond the River, sent to King Darius.
5:7 They sent him a report, in which this was written: “To King Darius: All peace.
5:8 Let it be known to the king that we went to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God. It is being built with large stones, and timber is being laid in the walls. This work is being done diligently and is prospering in their hands.
5:9 Then we asked those elders, ‘Who authorized you to build this house and complete this structure?’
5:10 We also asked them their names to inform you, so that we could write down the names of the men leading them.
5:11 They gave us this answer: ‘We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago. A great king of Israel built it and completed it.
5:12 But because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to anger, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and exiled the people to Babylon.
5:13 However, in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house of God.
5:14 King Cyrus also brought out from the temple in Babylon the gold and silver vessels of the house of God that Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. They were given to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor.
5:15 He said to him, “Take these vessels, go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site.”
5:16 Then this Sheshbazzar came and laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem. From then until now it has been under construction and has not been finished.’
5:17 Now, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made there in the king's treasury in Babylon to determine whether King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king send us his decision about this matter.”

Chapter 6
6:1 Then King Darius issued an order, and a search was made in the archives where the treasures were stored in Babylon.
6:2 A scroll was found in the citadel at Achmetha, in the province of Media, with this record written in it:
6:3 “In the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: Let the house be rebuilt as a place where sacrifices are offered, and let its foundations be firmly laid. Let it be about 90 feet high and about 90 feet wide,
6:4 with three courses of large stones and a course of new timber. Let the expenses be paid from the king's house.
6:5 Also, let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God that Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon be returned. Let them go back to their place in the temple in Jerusalem, and deposit them in the house of God.”
6:6 “Now Tattenai the governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates, the Apharsachites in Beyond the River, keep away from there.
6:7 Do not interfere with the work on this house of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.
6:8 I also decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in building this house of God: The expenses are to be paid promptly to these men from the king's property, from the tribute of Beyond the River, so that the work does not stop.
6:9 Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and oil—is to be given to them day by day without fail, as the priests in Jerusalem request,
6:10 so that they may offer sacrifices of a pleasing aroma to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons.
6:11 I also decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam is to be pulled from his house, and he is to be raised and impaled on it. His house is to be made a heap of dung because of this.
6:12 May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow every king and every nation that stretches out a hand to alter or destroy this house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued the decree. Let it be carried out diligently.”
6:13 Then Tattenai the governor of Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates diligently did what King Darius had sent word to do.
6:14 The elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They built and completed the house according to the command of the God of Israel and the decree of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
6:15 This house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
6:16 The Israelites—the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles—joyfully celebrated the dedication of this house of God.
6:17 For the dedication of this house of God, they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering for all Israel, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.
6:18 They appointed the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their groups for the service of God in Jerusalem, as written in the Book of Moses.
6:19 The returned exiles celebrated the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month.
6:20 For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together; all of them were clean. They slaughtered the Passover sacrifices for all the returned exiles, for their brothers the priests, and for themselves.
6:21 The Israelites who had returned from exile ate it, along with everyone who had separated himself from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to join them in seeking the LORD, the God of Israel.
6:22 They joyfully celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days, for the LORD had given them joy and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, strengthening their hands in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.

Chapter 7
7:1 After these events, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra was the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,
7:2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,
7:3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,
7:4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,
7:5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest.
7:6 This Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the LORD, the God of Israel, had given. The king granted him everything he requested, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him.
7:7 Some of the Israelites, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and temple servants also went up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes.
7:8 Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in the fifth month of the king's seventh year.
7:9 For on the first day of the first month he began the journey up from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he arrived in Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.
7:10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD, to do it, and to teach its statutes and ordinances in Israel.
7:11 This is a copy of the letter King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the LORD's commandments and his statutes for Israel:
7:12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven: Perfect peace. And now:
7:13 I decree that anyone in my kingdom from the people of Israel, their priests, or their Levites who freely wishes to go to Jerusalem with you may go.
7:14 You are sent by the king and his seven counselors to investigate Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God that is in your hand,
7:15 and to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,
7:16 along with all the silver and gold you find throughout the province of Babylon, and the freewill offerings that the people and the priests freely give for the house of their God in Jerusalem.
7:17 Therefore, diligently use this silver to buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.
7:18 Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, do according to the will of your God.
7:19 Deliver the vessels given to you for the service of the house of your God before the God of Jerusalem.
7:20 Whatever else is needed for the house of your God that you are required to provide, provide from the king's treasury.
7:21 I, King Artaxerxes, also decree to all the treasurers in Beyond the River that everything Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, asks of you is to be done diligently,
7:22 up to about 7,500 pounds of silver, up to about 500 bushels of wheat, up to about 550 gallons of wine, up to about 550 gallons of oil, and salt without a set limit.
7:23 Let everything commanded by the God of heaven be done carefully for the house of the God of heaven. Why should wrath come upon the kingdom of the king and his sons?
7:24 We also inform you that it is not lawful to impose tribute, tax, or toll on any of the priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
7:25 And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges to judge all the people in Beyond the River, all who know the laws of your God. Teach those who do not know them.
7:26 Let judgment be carried out promptly on anyone who does not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, whether death, banishment, confiscation of property, or imprisonment.”
7:27 Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put this in the king's heart to beautify the house of the LORD in Jerusalem,
7:28 and extended his faithful love to me before the king, his counselors, and all the king's mighty officials! I took courage because the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.

Chapter 8
8:1 These are the heads of the ancestral houses and the genealogical record of those who came up with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes:
8:2 From the descendants of Phinehas, Gershom; from the descendants of Ithamar, Daniel; from the descendants of David, Hattush,
8:3 from the descendants of Shecaniah. From the descendants of Parosh, Zechariah, and with him 150 males registered by genealogy.
8:4 From the descendants of Pahath-moab, Eliehoenai son of Zerahiah, and with him 200 males.
8:5 From the descendants of Shecaniah, the son of Jahaziel, and with him 300 males.
8:6 From the descendants of Adin, Ebed son of Jonathan, and with him 50 males.
8:7 From the descendants of Elam, Jeshaiah son of Athaliah, and with him 70 males.
8:8 From the descendants of Shephatiah, Zebadiah son of Michael, and with him 80 males.
8:9 From the descendants of Joab, Obadiah son of Jehiel, and with him 218 males.
8:10 From the descendants of Shelomith, the son of Josiphiah, and with him 160 males.
8:11 From the descendants of Bebai, Zechariah son of Bebai, and with him 28 males.
8:12 From the descendants of Azgad, Johanan son of Hakkatan, and with him 110 males.
8:13 From the descendants of Adonikam, the last ones, whose names were Eliphelet, Jeiel, and Shemaiah, and with them 60 males.
8:14 From the descendants of Bigvai, Uthai and Zabbud, and with him 70 males.
8:15 I gathered them at the river that runs to Ahava, and we camped there for three days. I examined the people and the priests, but I found none of the descendants of Levi there.
8:16 I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jarib, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshullam, who were leaders, and for Joiarib and Elnathan, men of understanding.
8:17 I sent them out to Iddo, the leader at the place called Casiphia, and put in their mouths the words to speak to Iddo and his brothers, the men assigned to temple service at Casiphia, to bring us ministers for the house of our God.
8:18 Because the good hand of our God was on us, they brought us a man of understanding from the descendants of Mahli son of Levi, son of Israel: Sherebiah, with his sons and brothers, eighteen in all;
8:19 and Hashabiah, and with him Jeshaiah from the descendants of Merari, his brothers and their sons, twenty in all.
8:20 From the temple servants whom David and the officials had appointed to serve the Levites, they brought 220 temple servants. All were designated by name.
8:21 I proclaimed a fast there at the Ahava River, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our little ones, and all our possessions.
8:22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for troops and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, but his power and his anger are against all who forsake him.”
8:23 So we fasted and sought our God about this, and he answered our plea.
8:24 Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, with Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers.
8:25 I weighed out to them the silver, gold, and vessels, the contribution for the house of our God that the king, his counselors, his officials, and all the Israelites present had given.
8:26 I weighed into their hands about 24 tons of silver, silver vessels weighing about 7,500 pounds, about 7,500 pounds of gold,
8:27 twenty gold bowls worth 1,000 gold coins, and two vessels of fine, polished bronze, as precious as gold.
8:28 I said to them, “You are holy to the LORD, and the vessels are holy. The silver and gold are a freewill offering to the LORD, the God of your fathers.
8:29 Be watchful and guard them until you weigh them out before the leading priests and Levites and the heads of Israel's ancestral houses in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the LORD.”
8:30 So the priests and the Levites received the weighed silver, gold, and vessels to bring to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.
8:31 We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he rescued us from the hand of the enemy and from those lying in wait along the way.
8:32 We arrived in Jerusalem and stayed there three days.
8:33 On the fourth day the silver, gold, and vessels were weighed out in the house of our God into the hands of Meremoth son of Uriah, the priest. With him was Eleazar son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites Jozabad son of Jeshua and Noadiah son of Binnui.
8:34 Everything was counted and weighed, and the entire weight was recorded at that time.
8:35 The exiles who had returned from captivity offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel: twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and twelve male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the LORD.
8:36 They delivered the king's decrees to the king's satraps and to the governors of Beyond the River, who supported the people and the house of God.

Chapter 9
9:1 When these things were finished, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands and their detestable practices—those of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites.
9:2 For they have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy offspring have mixed with the peoples of the lands. The officials and the deputies have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness.”
9:3 When I heard this, I tore my garment and my robe, pulled hair from my head and beard, and sat appalled.
9:4 Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel gathered around me because of the unfaithfulness of the returned exiles. I remained seated, appalled, until the evening offering.
9:5 At the evening offering I rose from my humiliation, with my garment and robe torn, fell to my knees, and spread out my hands to the LORD my God.
9:6 I said, “My God, I am ashamed and humiliated to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen above our heads, and our guilt has grown up to heaven.
9:7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been deeply guilty. Because of our iniquities, we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hands of the kings of the lands—to the sword, captivity, plunder, and shame of face, as it is today.
9:8 But now, for a brief moment, favor has come from the LORD our God, leaving us a surviving remnant and giving us a peg in his holy place, so that our God may brighten our eyes and give us a little new life in our slavery.
9:9 For we are slaves, but our God has not forsaken us in our slavery. He has extended his faithful love to us before the kings of Persia, giving us new life to raise up the house of our God, restore its ruins, and give us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem.
9:10 And now, our God, what can we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,
9:11 which you commanded through your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land you are entering to possess is a land of uncleanness because of the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands and their detestable practices, with which they have filled it from end to end with their impurity.
9:12 Now do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons. Never seek their peace or welfare, so that you may be strong, eat the good of the land, and leave it as an inheritance to your children forever.’
9:13 After all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve and have given us such a surviving remnant.
9:14 Should we again break your commandments and intermarry with the peoples who do these detestable things? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, leaving no remnant or survivor?
9:15 LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous, for we remain as a surviving remnant to this day. Here we are before you in our guilt, for we cannot stand before you because of this.”

Chapter 10
10:1 While Ezra prayed and confessed, weeping and throwing himself down before the house of God, a very large assembly of Israelites—men, women, and children—gathered around him, for the people were weeping bitterly.
10:2 Shecaniah son of Jehiel, from the descendants of Olam, spoke up and said to Ezra, “We have been unfaithful to our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land. Yet even now there is hope for Israel in this matter.
10:3 Now let us make a covenant with our God to send away all these wives and those born to them, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.
10:4 Rise, for this matter is your responsibility, and we are with you. Be strong and act.”
10:5 Then Ezra arose and made the leaders of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel swear to do according to this word, and they swore.
10:6 Ezra rose from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. When he went there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he was mourning the unfaithfulness of the returned exiles.
10:7 They issued a proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem that all the returned exiles were to gather in Jerusalem.
10:8 Anyone who did not come within three days, according to the decision of the officials and the elders, would forfeit all his possessions and be excluded from the assembly of the returned exiles.
10:9 All the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered in Jerusalem within three days. It was the twentieth day of the ninth month. All the people sat in the square before the house of God, trembling because of the matter and because of the rains.
10:10 Ezra the priest stood and said to them, “You have been unfaithful by marrying foreign women, adding to the guilt of Israel.
10:11 Now make confession to the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his will. Separate yourselves from the peoples of the land and from the foreign wives.”
10:12 The whole assembly answered with a loud voice, “Yes, we must do according to your words.
10:13 But the people are many, and it is the rainy season. We cannot stand outside, and this is not work for a day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.
10:14 Let our officials represent the whole assembly. Let everyone in our cities who has married a foreign woman come at appointed times, along with the elders and judges of each city, until the fierce anger of our God over this matter is turned away from us.”
10:15 Only Jonathan son of Asahel and Jahzeiah son of Tikvah opposed this, and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite supported them.
10:16 The returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest and men who were heads of ancestral houses were set apart according to their ancestral houses, all designated by name. They sat down on the first day of the tenth month to investigate the matter.
10:17 By the first day of the first month they had finished dealing with all the men who had married foreign women.
10:18 Among the descendants of the priests, these were found to have married foreign women: from the descendants of Jeshua son of Jozadak and his brothers, Maaseiah, Eliezer, Jarib, and Gedaliah.
10:19 They gave their hands in pledge to send away their wives and, being guilty, offered a ram from the flock for their guilt.
10:20 From the descendants of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.
10:21 From the descendants of Harim: Maaseiah, Elijah, Shemaiah, Jehiel, and Uzziah.
10:22 From the descendants of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.
10:23 From the Levites: Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah, who is Kelita, Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.
10:24 From the singers: Eliashib. From the gatekeepers: Shallum, Telem, and Uri.
10:25 From Israel, from the descendants of Parosh: Ramiah, Izziah, Malchijah, Mijamin, Eleazar, Malchijah, and Benaiah.
10:26 From the descendants of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, Jehiel, Abdi, Jeremoth, and Elijah.
10:27 From the descendants of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, Jeremoth, Zabad, and Aziza.
10:28 From the descendants of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.
10:29 From the descendants of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, Adaiah, Jashub, Sheal, and Jeremoth.
10:30 From the descendants of Pahath-moab: Adna, Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, Binnui, and Manasseh.
10:31 From the descendants of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Simeon,
10:32 Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.
10:33 From the descendants of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.
10:34 From the descendants of Bani: Maadai, Amram, Uel,
10:35 Benaiah, Bedeiah, Keluhi,
10:36 Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,
10:37 Mattaniah, Mattenai, Jaasau,
10:38 Bani, Binnui, Shimei,
10:39 Shelemiah, Nathan, Adaiah,
10:40 Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,
10:41 Azarel, Shelemiah, Shemariah,
10:42 Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.
10:43 From the descendants of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, Joel, and Benaiah.
10:44 All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had borne children.

NEHEMIAH

Chapter 1
1:1 The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year, I was in the citadel of Susa.
1:2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came with some men from Judah. I asked them about the surviving Jews who had remained from the captivity, and about Jerusalem.
1:3 They said to me, “The survivors of the captivity who remain there in the province are in great distress and disgrace. Jerusalem's wall is broken down, and its gates have been burned.”
1:4 When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
1:5 I said, “Please, LORD, God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and faithful love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
1:6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant, which I am praying before you now, day and night, for your servants the Israelites. I confess the sins of the Israelites that we have committed against you. Both I and my father's house have sinned.
1:7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, statutes, and ordinances you commanded your servant Moses.
1:8 Please remember the word you commanded your servant Moses: ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.
1:9 But if you return to me, keep my commandments, and do them, even if your outcasts are at the farthest reaches of heaven, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen to make my name dwell.’
1:10 They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand.
1:11 Please, Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight in fearing your name. Grant your servant success today, and let him find compassion before this man.” I was cupbearer to the king.

Chapter 2
2:1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, wine was before him. I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before.
2:2 The king said to me, “Why is your face sad when you are not sick? This can only be sadness of heart.” Then I was very afraid.
2:3 I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad when the city where my fathers' tombs are lies in ruins and its gates have been consumed by fire?”
2:4 The king asked me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven
2:5 and said to the king, “If it seems good to the king and if your servant is pleasing in your sight, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, so that I may rebuild it.”
2:6 The king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, “How long will your journey take, and when will you return?” It pleased the king to send me, and I set a time.
2:7 I also said to the king, “If it seems good to the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of Beyond the River, so that they will let me pass through until I reach Judah,
2:8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, so that he will give me timber for beams for the gates of the citadel attached to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house I will enter.” The king granted me this, for the good hand of my God was on me.
2:9 I came to the governors of Beyond the River and gave them the king's letters. The king had sent army commanders and horsemen with me.
2:10 When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard about this, they were greatly displeased that someone had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites.
2:11 I arrived in Jerusalem and stayed there three days.
2:12 I arose at night with a few men. I had told no one what my God was putting in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me except the one I was riding.
2:13 I went out at night through the Valley Gate, past the Dragon Spring and on to the Dung Gate, inspecting Jerusalem's walls, which were broken down, and its gates, which had been consumed by fire.
2:14 I went on to the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass.
2:15 So I went up along the brook at night, inspecting the wall. Then I turned back, entered through the Valley Gate, and returned.
2:16 The deputies did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the deputies, or the rest of the workers.
2:17 Then I said to them, “You see the distress we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned. Come, let us rebuild Jerusalem's wall, so that we will no longer be a disgrace.”
2:18 I told them about the hand of my God, which had been good to me, and also what the king had said to me. They said, “Let us rise and build!” So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
2:19 When Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite servant, and Geshem the Arab heard, they mocked us and despised us, saying, “What is this you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
2:20 I answered them, “The God of heaven will grant us success. We his servants will rise and build, but you have no share, right, or memorial in Jerusalem.”

Chapter 3
3:1 Eliashib the high priest arose with his fellow priests, and they built the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it and set up its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel.
3:2 Next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to him Zaccur son of Imri built.
3:3 The sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate. They laid its beams and set up its doors, bolts, and bars.
3:4 Next to them Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, made repairs. Next to them Meshullam son of Berechiah, son of Meshezabel, made repairs. Next to them Zadok son of Baana made repairs.
3:5 Next to them the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles would not bend their necks to the service of their masters.
3:6 Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate. They laid its beams and set up its doors, bolts, and bars.
3:7 Next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite made repairs, men of Gibeon and Mizpah under the authority of the governor of Beyond the River.
3:8 Next to him Uzziel son of Harhaiah, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs. They left Jerusalem intact as far as the Broad Wall.
3:9 Next to them Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs.
3:10 Next to them Jedaiah son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house. Next to him Hattush son of Hashabneiah made repairs.
3:11 Malchijah son of Harim and Hasshub son of Pahath-moab repaired another section and the Tower of the Ovens.
3:12 Next to him Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.
3:13 Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the Valley Gate. They rebuilt it and set up its doors, bolts, and bars. They also repaired about 1,500 feet of the wall as far as the Dung Gate.
3:14 Malchijah son of Rechab, ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, repaired the Dung Gate. He rebuilt it and set up its doors, bolts, and bars.
3:15 Shallun son of Col-hozeh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He rebuilt it and roofed it, and they set up its doors, bolts, and bars. He also repaired the wall of the Pool of Shelah by the king's garden, as far as the stairs going down from the City of David.
3:16 After him Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Beth-zur, made repairs as far as the point opposite David's tombs, as far as the constructed pool, and as far as the house of the warriors.
3:17 After him the Levites made repairs: Rehum son of Bani. Next to him Hashabiah, ruler of half the district of Keilah, made repairs on behalf of his district.
3:18 After him their brothers made repairs: Bavvai son of Henadad, ruler of half the district of Keilah.
3:19 Next to him Ezer son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the bend.
3:20 After him Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the bend to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.
3:21 After him Meremoth son of Uriah, son of Hakkoz, repaired another section, from the entrance of Eliashib's house to the end of Eliashib's house.
3:22 After him the priests, the men of the plain, made repairs.
3:23 After him Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs opposite their house. After him Azariah son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, made repairs beside his house.
3:24 After him Binnui son of Henadad repaired another section, from Azariah's house to the bend and as far as the corner.
3:25 Palal son of Uzai made repairs opposite the bend and the tower projecting from the king's upper house by the courtyard of the guard. After him Pedaiah son of Parosh made repairs.
3:26 The temple servants were living in Ophel, as far as the point opposite the Water Gate on the east and the projecting tower.
3:27 After him the Tekoites repaired another section, from the point opposite the great projecting tower to the wall of Ophel.
3:28 Above the Horse Gate the priests made repairs, each opposite his own house.
3:29 After him Zadok son of Immer made repairs opposite his house. After him Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, keeper of the East Gate, made repairs.
3:30 After him Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun, the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another section. After him Meshullam son of Berechiah made repairs opposite his chamber.
3:31 After him Malchijah, the goldsmith's son, made repairs as far as the house of the temple servants and the merchants, opposite the Inspection Gate, and as far as the upper room at the corner.
3:32 Between the upper room at the corner and the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.

Chapter 4
4:1 When Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he grew angry and was greatly enraged, and he mocked the Jews.
4:2 Before his brothers and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they be left alone? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Will they bring the stones back to life from the heaps of rubble, burned as they are?”
4:3 Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and said, “Even if a fox climbs onto what they are building, it will break down their stone wall!”
4:4 “Hear, our God, for we are despised. Turn their reproach back on their own heads, and give them up as plunder in a land of captivity.
4:5 Do not cover their iniquity or let their sin be blotted out from before you, for they have provoked anger before the builders.”
4:6 So we built the wall, and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a heart to work.
4:7 When Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of Jerusalem's walls was advancing and that the gaps were beginning to close, they grew very angry.
4:8 They all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and cause confusion in it.
4:9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard against them day and night because of them.
4:10 Judah said, “The strength of the burden bearers is failing, and there is so much rubble. We cannot build the wall.”
4:11 Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them, and put a stop to the work.”
4:12 When the Jews living near them came, they said to us ten times, “Return to us from every place!”
4:13 So I stationed people in the low places behind the wall, at the exposed points. I stationed the people by families with their swords, spears, and bows.
4:14 I looked, arose, and said to the nobles, the deputies, and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”
4:15 When our enemies heard that their plan was known to us and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.
4:16 From that day on, half my servants worked on the construction, and the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows, and body armor. The leaders were behind the whole house of Judah.
4:17 The builders of the wall and those carrying the loads worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other.
4:18 Each builder had his sword strapped to his waist as he built. The one who sounded the horn was beside me.
4:19 I said to the nobles, the deputies, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and spread out, and we are separated along the wall, far from one another.
4:20 Wherever you hear the sound of the horn, gather there to us. Our God will fight for us.”
4:21 So we worked on the construction, and half of them held spears from daybreak until the stars came out.
4:22 At that time I also said to the people, “Let every man and his servant spend the night inside Jerusalem, so that they may serve us as a guard by night and work by day.”
4:23 Neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the guards who followed me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even at the water.

Chapter 5
5:1 There was a great outcry from the people and their wives against their fellow Jews.
5:2 Some said, “We, our sons, and our daughters are many. We need to get grain so that we may eat and live.”
5:3 Others said, “We are pledging our fields, vineyards, and houses to get grain because of the famine.”
5:4 Still others said, “We have borrowed money for the king's tax against our fields and vineyards.
5:5 Our flesh is like the flesh of our brothers, and our children are like their children. Yet we are forcing our sons and daughters into slavery, and some of our daughters have already been enslaved. We have no power to help it, for our fields and vineyards belong to others.”
5:6 I was very angry when I heard their outcry and these words.
5:7 After considering it in my heart, I rebuked the nobles and the deputies. I said to them, “Each of you is charging his own brother interest!” I called a great assembly against them
5:8 and said to them, “As far as we were able, we have bought back our fellow Jews who were sold to the nations. And now you are selling your own brothers, so that they will be sold back to us?” They were silent and found nothing to say.
5:9 Then I said, “What you are doing is not good. Should you not walk in the fear of our God to avoid the reproach of the nations, our enemies?
5:10 I, my brothers, and my servants are also lending them money and grain. Let us stop this charging of interest.
5:11 Restore to them this very day their fields, vineyards, olive groves, and houses, and the one percent of the money, grain, new wine, and oil that you are charging them.”
5:12 They said, “We will restore it and demand nothing from them. We will do as you say.” Then I called the priests and made the nobles and deputies swear to do according to this word.
5:13 I also shook out the folds of my garment and said, “May God shake out every man who does not keep this word from his house and from the fruit of his labor. May he be shaken out and emptied like this!” The whole assembly said, “Amen,” and praised the LORD. The people did according to this word.
5:14 From the day I was appointed their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes—twelve years—neither I nor my brothers ate from the governor's food allowance.
5:15 The former governors who preceded me had burdened the people, taking bread and wine from them besides about a pound of silver. Even their servants lorded it over the people, but I did not do so because of the fear of God.
5:16 I also devoted myself to the work on this wall. We bought no fields, and all my servants were gathered there for the work.
5:17 At my table were 150 Jews and deputies, along with those who came to us from the nations around us.
5:18 One ox and six choice sheep were prepared each day, and birds were also prepared for me. Every ten days there was an abundance of all kinds of wine. Even with all this, I did not demand the governor's food allowance, because the burden of service was heavy on this people.
5:19 Remember me for good, my God, for all that I have done for this people.

Chapter 6
6:1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and that no gap remained in it—though at that time I had not yet set up the doors in the gateways—
6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together at Kephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.
6:3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
6:4 They sent me this same message four times, and each time I gave them the same answer.
6:5 The fifth time, Sanballat sent his servant to me with the same message and an open letter in his hand.
6:6 It read: “It is reported among the nations—and Gashmu says so—that you and the Jews are planning to rebel. That is why you are rebuilding the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king.
6:7 You have also appointed prophets to proclaim about you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now these reports will reach the king. So come, let us consult together.”
6:8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing you are saying has happened. You are making it up in your own heart.”
6:9 For they were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will grow weak at the work, and it will not be completed.” Now strengthen my hands!
6:10 I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined there. He said, “Let us meet at the house of God, inside the temple, and close the temple doors. They are coming to kill you; they are coming to kill you at night.”
6:11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? And who like me could enter the temple and live? I will not go in.”
6:12 Then I realized that God had not sent him. He had spoken this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.
6:13 He had been hired to make me afraid, so that I would act that way and sin. Then they would have grounds to give me a bad name and disgrace me.
6:14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, according to these deeds of theirs, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets who were trying to frighten me.
6:15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
6:16 When all our enemies heard this and all the nations around us saw it, they lost much of their confidence, for they recognized that this work had been done by our God.
6:17 Also in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and letters from Tobiah came to them.
6:18 For many in Judah were bound to him by an oath, since he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
6:19 They also kept telling me about his good deeds and reporting my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.

Chapter 7
7:1 After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set up the doors, the gatekeepers, singers, and Levites were appointed.
7:2 I put my brother Hanani and Hananiah, the commander of the citadel, in charge of Jerusalem, because Hananiah was a faithful man who feared God more than many others.
7:3 I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened until the sun is hot. While the guards are still at their posts, have them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among Jerusalem's inhabitants, each at his post and each opposite his own house.”
7:4 The city was spacious and large, but there were few people in it, and no houses had been built.
7:5 My God put it into my heart to gather the nobles, the deputies, and the people to be registered by ancestry. I found the genealogical register of those who had come up at first, and this is what I found written in it:
7:6 These are the people of the province who came up from captivity, from among the exiles whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had carried away. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.
7:7 They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel was as follows:
7:8 The descendants of Parosh: 2,172.
7:9 The descendants of Shephatiah: 372.
7:10 The descendants of Arah: 652.
7:11 The descendants of Pahath-moab, from the descendants of Jeshua and Joab: 2,818.
7:12 The descendants of Elam: 1,254.
7:13 The descendants of Zattu: 845.
7:14 The descendants of Zaccai: 760.
7:15 The descendants of Binnui: 648.
7:16 The descendants of Bebai: 628.
7:17 The descendants of Azgad: 2,322.
7:18 The descendants of Adonikam: 667.
7:19 The descendants of Bigvai: 2,067.
7:20 The descendants of Adin: 655.
7:21 The descendants of Ater, of Hezekiah: 98.
7:22 The descendants of Hashum: 328.
7:23 The descendants of Bezai: 324.
7:24 The descendants of Hariph: 112.
7:25 The people of Gibeon: 95.
7:26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah: 188.
7:27 The men of Anathoth: 128.
7:28 The men of Beth-azmaveth: 42.
7:29 The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth: 743.
7:30 The men of Ramah and Geba: 621.
7:31 The men of Michmas: 122.
7:32 The men of Bethel and Ai: 123.
7:33 The men of the other Nebo: 52.
7:34 The descendants of the other Elam: 1,254.
7:35 The descendants of Harim: 320.
7:36 The people of Jericho: 345.
7:37 The people of Lod, Hadid, and Ono: 721.
7:38 The people of Senaah: 3,930.
7:39 The priests: the descendants of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, 973;
7:40 the descendants of Immer, 1,052;
7:41 the descendants of Pashhur, 1,247;
7:42 the descendants of Harim, 1,017.
7:43 The Levites: the descendants of Jeshua and Kadmiel, from the descendants of Hodevah, 74.
7:44 The singers: the descendants of Asaph, 148.
7:45 The gatekeepers: the descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai, 138.
7:46 The temple servants: the descendants of Ziha, the descendants of Hasupha, the descendants of Tabbaoth,
7:47 the descendants of Keros, the descendants of Sia, the descendants of Padon,
7:48 the descendants of Lebana, the descendants of Hagaba, the descendants of Shalmai,
7:49 the descendants of Hanan, the descendants of Giddel, the descendants of Gahar,
7:50 the descendants of Reaiah, the descendants of Rezin, the descendants of Nekoda,
7:51 the descendants of Gazzam, the descendants of Uzza, the descendants of Paseah,
7:52 the descendants of Besai, the descendants of Meunim, the descendants of Nephushesim,
7:53 the descendants of Bakbuk, the descendants of Hakupha, the descendants of Harhur,
7:54 the descendants of Bazlith, the descendants of Mehida, the descendants of Harsha,
7:55 the descendants of Barkos, the descendants of Sisera, the descendants of Temah,
7:56 the descendants of Neziah, and the descendants of Hatipha.
7:57 The descendants of Solomon's servants: the descendants of Sotai, the descendants of Sophereth, the descendants of Perida,
7:58 the descendants of Jaala, the descendants of Darkon, the descendants of Giddel,
7:59 the descendants of Shephatiah, the descendants of Hattil, the descendants of Pochereth-hazzebaim, and the descendants of Amon.
7:60 All the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants numbered 392.
7:61 These were the people who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but could not establish their ancestral family or descent to show whether they were Israelites:
7:62 the descendants of Delaiah, Tobiah, and Nekoda, 642.
7:63 And from the priests: the descendants of Hobaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai, who had married one of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by their family name.
7:64 These searched for their entries in the genealogical records, but they were not found, so they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled.
7:65 The governor told them not to eat any of the most holy things until a priest should arise with the Urim and Thummim.
7:66 The whole assembly together numbered 42,360,
7:67 besides their male and female slaves, who numbered 7,337. They also had 245 male and female singers.
7:68 [They had 736 horses and 245 mules.]
7:69 They had 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.
7:70 Some of the heads of ancestral families gave toward the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 gold coins, fifty bowls, and 530 priestly robes.
7:71 Some of the heads of ancestral families gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 gold coins and about 2,750 pounds of silver.
7:72 The rest of the people gave 20,000 gold coins, about 2,500 pounds of silver, and sixty-seven priestly robes.
7:73 The priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their towns. When the seventh month came, the Israelites were in their towns.

Chapter 8
8:1 All the people gathered as one in the square in front of the Water Gate. They asked Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel.
8:2 So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men, women, and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month.
8:3 He read from it facing the square in front of the Water Gate from daybreak until noon, before the men, the women, and those who could understand. All the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.
8:4 Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform they had made for the occasion. Beside him on his right stood Mattithiah, Shema, Anaiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Maaseiah; on his left stood Pedaiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashum, Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam.
8:5 Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above them all. When he opened it, all the people stood.
8:6 Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen! Amen!” as they lifted their hands. Then they bowed down and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.
8:7 Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites helped the people understand the law, while the people remained in their places.
8:8 They read clearly from the book, from the Law of God, giving the meaning so that the people understood the reading.
8:9 Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were helping the people understand said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law.
8:10 Then he said to them, “Go, eat rich food and drink sweet drinks, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
8:11 The Levites quieted all the people, saying, “Be still, for this day is holy. Do not grieve.”
8:12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions, and to celebrate with great joy, because they had understood the words that had been made known to them.
8:13 On the second day, the heads of the ancestral families of all the people, along with the priests and Levites, gathered around Ezra the scribe to gain insight into the words of the law.
8:14 They found written in the law that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelites were to live in booths during the festival in the seventh month,
8:15 and that they were to announce and proclaim in all their towns and in Jerusalem, “Go out to the hill country and bring branches of olive, wild olive, myrtle, palm, and leafy trees to make booths, as it is written.”
8:16 So the people went out, brought the branches, and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, in their courtyards, in the courts of the house of God, in the square at the Water Gate, and in the square at the Ephraim Gate.
8:17 The whole assembly of those who had returned from captivity made booths and lived in them. From the days of Jeshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not done so. And there was very great joy.
8:18 Day after day, from the first day to the last, he read from the Book of the Law of God. They celebrated the festival for seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, according to the ordinance.

Chapter 9
9:1 On the twenty-fourth day of that same month, the Israelites gathered, fasting and wearing sackcloth, with dust on them.
9:2 The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners. They stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their ancestors.
9:3 They stood in their places and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day. For another quarter they confessed and worshiped the LORD their God.
9:4 Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani stood on the Levites' steps and cried out with a loud voice to the LORD their God.
9:5 Then the Levites—Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah—said, “Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting! May your glorious name be blessed, exalted above all blessing and praise.
9:6 You alone are the LORD.
   You made the heavens, the highest heavens and all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them.
   You give life to them all, and the host of heaven worships you.
9:7 You are the LORD God, who chose Abram, brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans, and gave him the name Abraham.
9:8 You found his heart faithful before you and made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites, and Girgashites—to give it to his descendants.
   You kept your words, for you are righteous.
9:9 You saw the affliction of our ancestors in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea.
9:10 You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all the people of his land, for you knew that they had acted arrogantly toward them.
   You made a name for yourself that remains to this day.
9:11 You divided the sea before them, and they passed through the midst of the sea on dry ground.
   You cast their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into mighty waters.
9:12 You led them by day with a pillar of cloud, and by night with a pillar of fire to light the way they were to go.
9:13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven.
   You gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments.
9:14 You made your holy Sabbath known to them and commanded them precepts, statutes, and a law through Moses your servant.
9:15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water out of a rock for their thirst.
   You told them to enter and possess the land you had raised your hand in an oath to give them.
9:16 But they and our ancestors acted arrogantly, stiffened their necks, and did not obey your commandments.
9:17 They refused to listen and did not remember the wonders you had done among them.
   They stiffened their necks and, in their rebellion, appointed a leader to return to their slavery.
   But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love, and you did not abandon them.
9:18 Even when they made a cast-metal calf for themselves and said, ‘This is your god, who brought you up from Egypt,’ and committed great acts of contempt,
9:19 you, in your great compassion, did not abandon them in the wilderness.
   The pillar of cloud did not leave them by day, to lead them on the way, nor the pillar of fire by night, to give them light on the way they were to go.
9:20 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them.
   You did not withhold your manna from their mouths, and you gave them water for their thirst.
9:21 For forty years you sustained them in the wilderness;
   they lacked nothing.
   Their clothes did not wear out, and their feet did not swell.
9:22 You gave them kingdoms and peoples and apportioned these by region.
   They took possession of the land of Sihon, the land of the king of Heshbon, and the land of Og king of Bashan.
9:23 You made their children as numerous as the stars of heaven and brought them into the land you had told their ancestors to enter and possess.
9:24 Their children entered and possessed the land, and you subdued before them its inhabitants, the Canaanites.
   You gave them into their hands, along with their kings and the peoples of the land, to do with them as they pleased.
9:25 They captured fortified cities and fertile land.
   They took possession of houses full of every good thing, cisterns hewn out of rock, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance.
   They ate, were satisfied, grew fat, and delighted in your great goodness.
9:26 But they were disobedient and rebelled against you.
   They cast your law behind their backs and killed your prophets, who warned them to turn back to you.
   They committed great acts of contempt.
9:27 So you gave them into the hands of their adversaries, who oppressed them.
   In their distress they would cry out to you, and you would hear from heaven.
   In your great compassion you would give them deliverers, who rescued them from the hands of their adversaries.
9:28 But as soon as they had rest, they would again do evil before you.
   You would abandon them into the hands of their enemies, who ruled over them.
   Yet when they cried out to you again, you would hear from heaven and rescue them many times in your compassion.
9:29 You warned them to turn back to your law, but they acted arrogantly and did not obey your commandments.
   They sinned against your ordinances, by which a person will live if he obeys them.
   They stubbornly turned their shoulders away, stiffened their necks, and would not listen.
9:30 For many years you were patient with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets, but they would not listen.
   So you gave them into the hands of the peoples of the lands.
9:31 Yet in your great compassion you did not make an end of them or abandon them, for you are a gracious and compassionate God.
9:32 Now, our God, the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God who keeps the covenant and faithful love, do not regard as small all the hardship that has come upon us—upon our kings, our rulers, our priests, our prophets, our ancestors, and all your people—from the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
9:33 You have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have acted faithfully, while we have acted wickedly.
9:34 Our kings, our rulers, our priests, and our ancestors did not keep your law or pay attention to your commandments and the testimonies by which you warned them.
9:35 Even in their own kingdom, with the great goodness you gave them and in the spacious, fertile land you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their evil deeds.
9:36 Here we are today, slaves!
   In the land you gave our ancestors to eat its fruit and its good things, here we are, slaves in it.
9:37 Its abundant produce goes to the kings you have set over us because of our sins.
   They rule over our bodies and our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.”
9:38 Because of all this, we are making a binding agreement and putting it in writing. On the sealed document are our rulers, our Levites, and our priests.

Chapter 10
10:1 Those who sealed it were Nehemiah the governor, son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah;
10:2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah,
10:3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah,
10:4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch,
10:5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah,
10:6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch,
10:7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin,
10:8 Maaziah, Bilgai, and Shemaiah. These were the priests.
10:9 The Levites were Jeshua son of Azaniah, Binnui from the descendants of Henadad, Kadmiel,
10:10 and their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,
10:11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,
10:12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,
10:13 Hodiah, Bani, and Beninu.
10:14 The heads of the people were Parosh, Pahath-moab, Elam, Zattu, Bani,
10:15 Bunni, Azgad, Bebai,
10:16 Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin,
10:17 Ater, Hezekiah, Azzur,
10:18 Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai,
10:19 Hariph, Anathoth, Nobai,
10:20 Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir,
10:21 Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddua,
10:22 Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah,
10:23 Hoshea, Hananiah, Hasshub,
10:24 Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek,
10:25 Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah,
10:26 Ahijah, Hanan, Anan,
10:27 Malluch, Harim, and Baanah.
10:28 The rest of the people—the priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants, and all who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to follow the Law of God, together with their wives, sons, and daughters, all who had knowledge and understanding—
10:29 joined their brothers, their nobles, and bound themselves with a curse and an oath to walk in the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God, and to keep and carry out all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, his ordinances and his statutes:
10:30 “We will not give our daughters in marriage to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
10:31 When the peoples of the land bring merchandise or any kind of grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. We will leave the land fallow in the seventh year and forgo collection of every debt.
10:32 We have also placed ourselves under an obligation to give about one-eighth of an ounce of silver each year for the service of the house of our God:
10:33 for the bread of the Presence, the regular grain offering and regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed festivals, the holy things, the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and all the work of the house of our God.
10:34 We—the priests, the Levites, and the people—have cast lots concerning the wood offering, to bring it to the house of our God by our ancestral families at appointed times year after year, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the law.
10:35 We will bring the firstfruits of our soil and the firstfruits of every kind of fruit from every tree to the house of the LORD year after year.
10:36 We will also bring the firstborn of our sons and our livestock, as it is written in the law, and the firstborn of our herds and flocks to the house of our God, to the priests who serve in the house of our God.
10:37 We will bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, new wine, and oil to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our soil to the Levites. It is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we farm.
10:38 A priest, a descendant of Aaron, will be with the Levites when they collect the tithes. The Levites will bring a tithe of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the chambers in the storehouse.
10:39 For the Israelites and the descendants of Levi will bring the contributions of grain, new wine, and oil to the chambers. There are the sanctuary utensils, the serving priests, the gatekeepers, and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”

Chapter 11
11:1 The rulers of the people lived in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one in every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine parts remained in the other towns.
11:2 The people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
11:3 These are the heads of the province who lived in Jerusalem. In the towns of Judah, the Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants, and descendants of Solomon's servants lived in their towns, each on his own property.
11:4 Some of the descendants of Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the descendants of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, son of Zechariah, son of Amariah, son of Shephatiah, son of Mahalalel, from the descendants of Perez;
11:5 and Maaseiah son of Baruch, son of Col-hozeh, son of Hazaiah, son of Adaiah, son of Joiarib, son of Zechariah, son of the Shilonite.
11:6 All the descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem numbered 468 valiant men.
11:7 These are the descendants of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, son of Joed, son of Pedaiah, son of Kolaiah, son of Maaseiah, son of Ithiel, son of Jeshaiah;
11:8 and after him Gabbai and Sallai—928.
11:9 Joel son of Zichri was their overseer, and Judah son of Hassenuah was second in command over the city.
11:10 From the priests: Jedaiah son of Joiarib, Jachin,
11:11 and Seraiah son of Hilkiah, son of Meshullam, son of Zadok, son of Meraioth, son of Ahitub, the leader of the house of God;
11:12 and their brothers who did the work of the house, 822. Also Adaiah son of Jeroham, son of Pelaliah, son of Amzi, son of Zechariah, son of Pashhur, son of Malchijah,
11:13 and his brothers, heads of ancestral families, 242. Also Amashsai son of Azarel, son of Ahzai, son of Meshillemoth, son of Immer,
11:14 and their brothers, mighty men of valor, 128. Their overseer was Zabdiel, from a noble family.
11:15 From the Levites: Shemaiah son of Hasshub, son of Azrikam, son of Hashabiah, son of Bunni;
11:16 Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the heads of the Levites, who were in charge of the outside work of the house of God;
11:17 Mattaniah son of Micah, son of Zabdi, son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving in prayer; Bakbukiah, second among his brothers; and Abda son of Shammua, son of Galal, son of Jedithun.
11:18 All the Levites in the holy city numbered 284.
11:19 The gatekeepers—Akkub, Talmon, and their brothers who kept watch at the gates—numbered 172.
11:20 The rest of Israel, the priests, and the Levites lived in all the towns of Judah, each on his own inheritance.
11:21 The temple servants lived on Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of the temple servants.
11:22 The overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, son of Hashabiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Mica, from the descendants of Asaph, the singers responsible for the work of the house of God.
11:23 For there was a command from the king concerning them, and an established provision for the singers day by day.
11:24 Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, from the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was the king's representative in all matters concerning the people.
11:25 As for the villages and their fields, some of the descendants of Judah lived in Kiriath-arba and its settlements, in Dibon and its settlements, in Jekabzeel and its villages,
11:26 in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth-pelet,
11:27 Hazar-shual, Beersheba and its settlements,
11:28 Ziklag, Meconah and its settlements,
11:29 En-rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,
11:30 Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, Lachish and its fields, and Azekah and its settlements. They settled from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.
11:31 The descendants of Benjamin lived from Geba onward: in Michmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements,
11:32 Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah,
11:33 Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim,
11:34 Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat,
11:35 Lod, and Ono, the Valley of Craftsmen.
11:36 Some divisions of the Levites from Judah settled in Benjamin.

Chapter 12
12:1 These are the priests and Levites who came up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
12:2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
12:3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
12:4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,
12:5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,
12:6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,
12:7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their brothers in the days of Jeshua.
12:8 The Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who, with his brothers, was in charge of the thanksgiving songs.
12:9 Bakbukiah and Unno, their brothers, stood opposite them in their service divisions.
12:10 Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, and Eliashib was the father of Joiada.
12:11 Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.
12:12 In the days of Joiakim, the priests who were heads of ancestral families were: for Seraiah's family, Meraiah; for Jeremiah's, Hananiah;
12:13 for Ezra's, Meshullam; for Amariah's, Jehohanan;
12:14 for Malluchi's, Jonathan; for Shebaniah's, Joseph;
12:15 for Harim's, Adna; for Meraioth's, Helkai;
12:16 for Iddo's, Zechariah; for Ginnethon's, Meshullam;
12:17 for Abijah's, Zichri; for Miniamin's; for Moadiah's, Piltai;
12:18 for Bilgah's, Shammua; for Shemaiah's, Jehonathan;
12:19 for Joiarib's, Mattenai; for Jedaiah's, Uzzi;
12:20 for Sallai's, Kallai; for Amok's, Eber;
12:21 for Hilkiah's, Hashabiah; for Jedaiah's, Nethanel.
12:22 In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the heads of the Levite ancestral families were recorded, as were the priests during the reign of Darius the Persian.
12:23 The descendants of Levi who were heads of ancestral families were recorded in the book of the chronicles until the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.
12:24 The heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel. Their brothers stood opposite them to praise and give thanks according to the command of David the man of God, one division opposite another.
12:25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping watch at the storerooms of the gates.
12:26 These served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.
12:27 At the dedication of Jerusalem's wall, they sought out the Levites from all the places where they lived, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with joy, thanksgivings, and songs, with cymbals, harps, and lyres.
12:28 The descendants of the singers gathered from the region around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites,
12:29 from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem.
12:30 The priests and Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, the gates, and the wall.
12:31 Then I brought the rulers of Judah up onto the wall and organized two large thanksgiving choirs for the processions. One went to the right on top of the wall toward the Dung Gate.
12:32 Hoshaiah and half the rulers of Judah followed them,
12:33 along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,
12:34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,
12:35 and some of the descendants of the priests with trumpets. Also Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph,
12:36 and his brothers Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani went with the musical instruments of David the man of God. Ezra the scribe went ahead of them.
12:37 At the Fountain Gate they climbed the steps of the City of David directly ahead of them, at the ascent to the wall, above the house of David, as far as the Water Gate on the east.
12:38 The second thanksgiving choir went in the opposite direction. I followed it with half the people on top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall,
12:39 past the Ephraim Gate, the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Gate of the Guard.
12:40 The two thanksgiving choirs took their places at the house of God, as did I and half the deputies with me,
12:41 along with the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets,
12:42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers made their voices heard, with Izrahiah as their overseer.
12:43 That day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, and the joy of Jerusalem could be heard far away.
12:44 That day men were appointed over the chambers for the treasures, contributions, firstfruits, and tithes, to gather into them from the towns' fields the portions the law assigned to the priests and Levites. For Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served.
12:45 They kept the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon.
12:46 For in the days of David and Asaph long ago there was a leader of the singers, and there were songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.
12:47 In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel gave the singers and gatekeepers their daily portions. They also set apart portions for the Levites, and the Levites set apart portions for the descendants of Aaron.

Chapter 13
13:1 That day the Book of Moses was read aloud to the people, and it was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God,
13:2 because they had not met the Israelites with bread and water, and Balaam had been hired to curse Israel. But our God turned the curse into a blessing.
13:3 When they heard the law, they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.
13:4 Before this, Eliashib the priest, who was in charge of the chamber of the house of our God, was related to Tobiah.
13:5 He had prepared a large chamber for him where previously they had stored the grain offering, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, new wine, and oil commanded for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contribution for the priests.
13:6 During all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time I requested leave from the king
13:7 and returned to Jerusalem. Then I learned of the evil Eliashib had done for Tobiah by preparing a chamber for him in the courts of the house of God.
13:8 This displeased me greatly, and I threw all Tobiah's household belongings out of the chamber.
13:9 I gave orders, and they purified the chambers. Then I brought back there the utensils of the house of God, the grain offering, and the frankincense.
13:10 I also learned that the Levites had not been given their portions, and that the Levites and singers who did the work had fled, each to his own field.
13:11 So I confronted the deputies and said, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” Then I gathered the workers and restored them to their posts.
13:12 All Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine, and oil to the storehouses.
13:13 I appointed Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah from the Levites over the storehouses, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, as their assistant. They were considered faithful, and their responsibility was to distribute the portions to their brothers.
13:14 Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out my acts of faithfulness that I have done for the house of my God and its service.
13:15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. I warned them on the day they sold provisions.
13:16 People from Tyre who lived there brought fish and all kinds of merchandise and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself.
13:17 So I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?
13:18 Did not your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you are adding to the wrath against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”
13:19 As the gates of Jerusalem began to fall into shadow before the Sabbath, I gave orders for the doors to be shut. I ordered that they not be opened until after the Sabbath. I stationed some of my servants at the gates so that no load would be brought in on the Sabbath day.
13:20 The merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem once or twice.
13:21 But I warned them and said, “Why are you spending the night in front of the wall? If you do it again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath.
13:22 I told the Levites to purify themselves and come guard the gates to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, my God, and spare me according to your abundant faithful love.
13:23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
13:24 Their children, half of whom spoke the language of Ashdod, did not know how to speak the language of Judah, but spoke the language of their respective people.
13:25 I confronted them, cursed them, struck some of the men, and pulled out their hair. I made them swear by God: “You must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
13:26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin in these matters? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Yet even he was led into sin by foreign women.
13:27 Must we hear that you are doing all this great evil, acting unfaithfully toward our God by marrying foreign women?”
13:28 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, so I drove him away from me.
13:29 Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
13:30 I purified them from everything foreign and established service divisions for the priests and Levites, each in his own work.
13:31 I also made arrangements for the wood offering at the appointed times and for the firstfruits. Remember me for good, my God.

ESTHER

Chapter 1
1:1 This happened in the days of Ahasuerus, the Ahasuerus who ruled over 127 provinces from India to Cush.
1:2 In those days, when King Ahasuerus sat on his royal throne in the citadel of Susa,
1:3 in the third year of his reign, he held a banquet for all his officials and servants. The forces of Persia and Media, the nobles, and the officials of the provinces were before him,
1:4 while he displayed the riches of his glorious kingdom and the splendor of his majestic greatness for many days—180 days.
1:5 When those days were over, the king held a banquet for seven days for all the people present in the citadel of Susa, great and small, in the garden courtyard of the royal palace.
1:6 White cotton and blue hangings were fastened with cords of fine linen and purple cloth to silver rings and marble columns. Gold and silver couches stood on a pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl, and other costly stone.
1:7 Drinks were served in gold cups, each different from the others. There was royal wine in abundance, according to the king's generosity.
1:8 The rule for drinking was that no one was compelled, for the king had instructed all the stewards of his household to do as each man wished.
1:9 Queen Vashti also held a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Ahasuerus.
1:10 On the seventh day, when the king's heart was merry with wine, he commanded Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar, and Carcas, the seven eunuchs who served in the presence of King Ahasuerus,
1:11 to bring Queen Vashti before the king wearing the royal crown, to show the peoples and officials her beauty, for she was beautiful to look at.
1:12 But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command delivered through the eunuchs. The king became furious, and his anger burned within him.
1:13 The king consulted the wise men who understood the times, for it was his custom to bring his affairs before all who knew law and judgment.
1:14 Those closest to him were Carshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena, and Memucan, the seven officials of Persia and Media who had access to the king's presence and held the highest seats in the kingdom.
1:15 “According to the law,” he asked, “what should be done to Queen Vashti for not carrying out the command of King Ahasuerus delivered through the eunuchs?”
1:16 Memucan said before the king and the officials, “Queen Vashti has wronged not only the king, but all the officials and all the peoples in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus.
1:17 For word of the queen's conduct will spread to all the women, leading them to despise their husbands in their own eyes, as they say, ‘King Ahasuerus commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she did not come.’
1:18 This very day the noblewomen of Persia and Media who have heard of the queen's conduct will say the same to all the king's officials. There will be contempt and anger in plenty.
1:19 If it pleases the king, let a royal decree go out from him, and let it be written among the laws of Persia and Media so that it cannot be revoked: Vashti must never again come before King Ahasuerus, and the king should give her royal position to another woman who is better than she.
1:20 When the king's decree is heard throughout his kingdom, vast as it is, all the wives will give honor to their husbands, great and small.”
1:21 The proposal pleased the king and the officials, and the king did as Memucan had said.
1:22 He sent letters to all the king's provinces, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, so that every man would rule in his own house and speak the language of his own people.

Chapter 2
2:1 After these things, when King Ahasuerus's anger had subsided, he remembered Vashti, what she had done, and what had been decreed against her.
2:2 Then the king's young attendants who served him said, “Let beautiful young virgins be sought for the king.
2:3 Let the king appoint overseers in all the provinces of his kingdom to gather all the beautiful young virgins to the citadel of Susa, to the women's quarters, under the care of Hege, the king's eunuch who keeps the women. Let them be given their beauty treatments.
2:4 Then let the young woman who pleases the king become queen in place of Vashti.” The proposal pleased the king, and he did so.
2:5 There was a Jew in the citadel of Susa named Mordecai son of Jair, son of Shimei, son of Kish, a Benjaminite,
2:6 who had been exiled from Jerusalem with the exiles deported with Jeconiah king of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away.
2:7 He was raising Hadassah, that is, Esther, his uncle's daughter, for she had neither father nor mother. The young woman had a beautiful figure and was lovely to look at. When her father and mother died, Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter.
2:8 When the king's command and decree became known and many young women were gathered to the citadel of Susa under Hegai's care, Esther too was taken to the king's house, into the care of Hegai, the keeper of the women.
2:9 The young woman pleased him and won his favor. He quickly provided her beauty treatments and food portions, along with the seven attendants chosen for her from the king's house. He moved her and her attendants to the best place in the women's quarters.
2:10 Esther had not made known her people or her family background, for Mordecai had commanded her not to make them known.
2:11 Every day Mordecai walked in front of the courtyard of the women's quarters to learn how Esther was and what was happening to her.
2:12 Each young woman's turn to go to King Ahasuerus came after she had completed twelve months under the regulations for the women. This was the full course of their beauty treatments: six months with oil of myrrh and six months with perfumes and women's cosmetics.
2:13 This was how the young woman went to the king: she was given whatever she asked for to take with her from the women's quarters to the king's house.
2:14 In the evening she went, and in the morning she returned to the second women's quarters, under the care of Shaashgaz, the king's eunuch who kept the concubines. She did not go to the king again unless he delighted in her and she was called by name.
2:15 When Esther's turn came to go to the king, she asked for nothing except what Hegai, the king's eunuch who kept the women, advised. She was the daughter of Abihail, Mordecai's uncle, and Mordecai had taken her as his own daughter. Esther won favor in the eyes of all who saw her.
2:16 Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus in his royal palace in the tenth month, the month of Tevet, in the seventh year of his reign.
2:17 The king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she won his grace and favor more than all the other virgins. He placed the royal crown on her head and made her queen in place of Vashti.
2:18 Then the king held a great banquet for all his officials and servants—Esther's banquet. He granted relief to the provinces and gave gifts with royal generosity.
2:19 When the virgins were gathered a second time, Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate.
2:20 Esther was not making known her family background or her people, as Mordecai had commanded her. She continued to obey Mordecai's instructions as she had when he was raising her.
2:21 In those days, while Mordecai was sitting at the king's gate, Bigthan and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance, became angry and plotted to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
2:22 Mordecai learned of the matter and told Queen Esther, and Esther reported it to the king in Mordecai's name.
2:23 The matter was investigated and found to be true, and both men were hanged on a wooden stake. It was written in the book of the chronicles in the king's presence.

Chapter 3
3:1 After these things, King Ahasuerus promoted Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite. He exalted him and set his seat above all the officials who were with him.
3:2 All the king's servants at the king's gate would kneel and bow down to Haman, for the king had so commanded concerning him. But Mordecai would neither kneel nor bow down.
3:3 The king's servants at the king's gate said to Mordecai, “Why are you disobeying the king's command?”
3:4 They spoke to him day after day, but he would not listen to them. So they told Haman, to see whether Mordecai's words would stand, for he had told them that he was a Jew.
3:5 When Haman saw that Mordecai would neither kneel nor bow down to him, Haman was filled with rage.
3:6 He considered it beneath him to lay hands on Mordecai alone, for they had told him which people Mordecai belonged to. So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews throughout the kingdom of Ahasuerus, the people of Mordecai.
3:7 In the first month, the month of Nisan, in the twelfth year of King Ahasuerus, Pur—that is, the lot—was cast before Haman for each day and each month. It fell on the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
3:8 Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom. Their laws are different from those of every other people, and they do not keep the king's laws. It is not in the king's interest to leave them alone.
3:9 If it pleases the king, let their destruction be decreed, and I will weigh out about 375 tons of silver into the hands of those in charge of the work, to bring into the king's treasuries.”
3:10 The king took his signet ring from his hand and gave it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of the Jews.
3:11 The king said to Haman, “The silver is given to you, and the people as well, to do with them as you see fit.”
3:12 The king's scribes were summoned on the thirteenth day of the first month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king's satraps, to the governors over each province, and to the leaders of each people, to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language. It was written in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed with the king's signet ring.
3:13 Letters were sent by couriers to all the king's provinces to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, children and women, in a single day—the thirteenth of the twelfth month, the month of Adar—and to plunder their goods.
3:14 A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province and made public to all the peoples, so that they would be ready for that day.
3:15 The couriers went out in haste at the king's command, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa. The king and Haman sat down to drink, while the city of Susa was bewildered.

Chapter 4
4:1 When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the middle of the city, crying out with a loud and bitter cry.
4:2 He came as far as the front of the king's gate, for no one could enter the king's gate wearing sackcloth.
4:3 In every province, wherever the king's command and decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and lamenting. Sackcloth and ashes were spread out as bedding for many.
4:4 Esther's attendants and eunuchs came and told her, and the queen was deeply distressed. She sent clothes for Mordecai to put on in place of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
4:5 Esther called Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs whom he had appointed to serve her, and sent him to find out from Mordecai what this meant and why it was happening.
4:6 Hathach went out to Mordecai in the city square in front of the king's gate.
4:7 Mordecai told him everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of silver Haman had promised to weigh out for the king's treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
4:8 He also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, to show Esther and explain it to her, and to command her to go to the king to plead with him and appeal to him for her people.
4:9 Hathach came back and reported Mordecai's words to Esther.
4:10 Then Esther spoke to Hathach and instructed him to tell Mordecai:
4:11 “All the king's servants and the people of the king's provinces know that any man or woman who enters the king's inner courtyard without being summoned is subject to one law: death. Only the one to whom the king holds out the gold scepter may live. And I have not been summoned to go to the king for thirty days.”
4:12 They reported Esther's words to Mordecai.
4:13 Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Do not imagine that you alone of all the Jews will escape because you are in the king's house.
4:14 For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”
4:15 Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
4:16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night and day. My attendants and I will fast in the same way. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
4:17 So Mordecai went away and did everything Esther had commanded him.

Chapter 5
5:1 On the third day, Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner courtyard of the king's house, opposite the royal hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the royal hall, facing its entrance.
5:2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, she found favor in his eyes. The king held out to Esther the gold scepter in his hand, and Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter.
5:3 The king said to her, “What is it, Queen Esther? What is your request? Even up to half the kingdom will be given to you.”
5:4 Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the king and Haman come today to the banquet I have prepared for the king.”
5:5 The king said, “Have Haman hurry here to do as Esther has said.” So the king and Haman came to the banquet Esther had prepared.
5:6 As they drank wine, the king said to Esther, “What is your petition? It will be granted you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be done.”
5:7 Esther answered, “My petition and my request are these:
5:8 if I have found favor in the king's eyes, and if it pleases the king to grant my petition and fulfill my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet I will prepare for them. Tomorrow I will do as the king has said.”
5:9 Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai at the king's gate, and that he neither rose nor trembled before him, Haman was filled with rage against Mordecai.
5:10 Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home. He sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh.
5:11 Haman told them of the splendor of his riches, his many sons, all the ways the king had promoted him, and how he had exalted him above the king's officials and servants.
5:12 Haman added, “Queen Esther brought no one but me with the king to the banquet she prepared. And tomorrow I am invited by her again with the king.
5:13 Yet all this means nothing to me whenever I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king's gate.”
5:14 His wife Zeresh and all his friends said to him, “Have a wooden stake made, about seventy-five feet high, and in the morning tell the king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go joyfully with the king to the banquet.” The proposal pleased Haman, and he had the stake made.

Chapter 6
6:1 That night sleep fled from the king. He ordered the book of records, the chronicles, to be brought, and they were read before the king.
6:2 It was found written that Mordecai had reported about Bigthana and Teresh, two of the king's eunuchs who guarded the entrance and had plotted to lay hands on King Ahasuerus.
6:3 The king asked, “What honor and distinction have been given to Mordecai for this?” The king's young attendants who served him replied, “Nothing has been done for him.”
6:4 The king said, “Who is in the courtyard?” Now Haman had come into the outer courtyard of the king's house to speak to the king about having Mordecai hanged on the stake he had prepared for him.
6:5 The king's attendants said to him, “Haman is standing in the courtyard.” The king said, “Let him come in.”
6:6 Haman came in, and the king said to him, “What should be done for the man whom the king delights to honor?” Haman said in his heart, “Whom would the king delight to honor more than me?”
6:7 So Haman said to the king, “For the man whom the king delights to honor,
6:8 let a royal robe the king has worn be brought, and a horse the king has ridden, with a royal crown placed on its head.
6:9 Let the robe and the horse be entrusted to one of the king's most noble officials. Let them dress the man whom the king delights to honor and lead him on the horse through the city square, proclaiming before him, ‘This is what is done for the man whom the king delights to honor!’”
6:10 The king said to Haman, “Hurry! Take the robe and the horse, as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew who sits at the king's gate. Leave out nothing of all you have said.”
6:11 So Haman took the robe and the horse, dressed Mordecai, and led him on horseback through the city square, proclaiming before him, “This is what is done for the man whom the king delights to honor!”
6:12 Mordecai returned to the king's gate, but Haman hurried home, mourning and with his head covered.
6:13 Haman told his wife Zeresh and all his friends everything that had happened to him. His wise men and his wife Zeresh said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish descent, you cannot prevail against him, but you will surely fall before him.”
6:14 While they were still speaking with him, the king's eunuchs arrived and hurried to bring Haman to the banquet Esther had prepared.

Chapter 7
7:1 The king and Haman came to drink with Queen Esther.
7:2 On this second day, as they drank wine, the king again said to Esther, “What is your petition, Queen Esther? It will be granted you. And what is your request? Even up to half the kingdom, it will be done.”
7:3 Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor in your eyes, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request.
7:4 For we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, killed, and annihilated. If we had been sold as male and female slaves, I would have remained silent, for the adversary cannot compensate for the king's loss.”
7:5 King Ahasuerus answered and said to Queen Esther, “Who is he, and where is he, who has dared in his heart to do this?”
7:6 Esther said, “The adversary and enemy is this wicked Haman!” Haman was terrified before the king and queen.
7:7 The king rose in anger from the wine banquet and went into the palace garden. Haman stood up to beg Queen Esther for his life, for he saw that the king had determined disaster against him.
7:8 The king returned from the palace garden to the wine banquet hall, and Haman had fallen on the couch where Esther was. The king said, “Will he even rape the queen while I am here in the house?” As soon as these words left the king's mouth, they covered Haman's face.
7:9 Then Harbonah, one of the eunuchs before the king, said, “There is also the stake Haman made for Mordecai, who spoke in the king's favor. It is standing at Haman's house, about seventy-five feet high.” The king said, “Hang him on it!”
7:10 So they hanged Haman on the stake he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the king's anger subsided.

Chapter 8
8:1 That day King Ahasuerus gave Queen Esther the house of Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Mordecai came before the king, for Esther had told him how Mordecai was related to her.
8:2 The king took off his signet ring, which he had taken from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. Esther put Mordecai in charge of Haman's house.
8:3 Esther spoke again before the king. She fell at his feet, wept, and pleaded with him to avert the evil of Haman the Agagite and the scheme he had devised against the Jews.
8:4 The king held out the gold scepter to Esther, and Esther rose and stood before the king.
8:5 She said, “If it pleases the king, if I have found favor before him, if the matter seems right to the king, and if I am pleasing in his eyes, let an order be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, which he wrote to destroy the Jews in all the king's provinces.
8:6 For how can I bear to see the disaster that will come upon my people? And how can I bear to see the destruction of my family?”
8:7 King Ahasuerus said to Queen Esther and Mordecai the Jew, “I have given Esther Haman's house, and they have hanged him on the stake because he laid hands on the Jews.
8:8 Now you may write concerning the Jews as you see fit, in the king's name, and seal it with the king's signet ring. For a document written in the king's name and sealed with the king's signet ring cannot be revoked.”
8:9 The king's scribes were summoned at that time, on the twenty-third day of the third month, the month of Sivan. Everything Mordecai commanded was written to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the officials of the provinces from India to Cush—127 provinces—to each province in its own script and to each people in its own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language.
8:10 He wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus and sealed it with the king's signet ring. He sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding royal steeds born of mares.
8:11 The king granted the Jews in every city the right to assemble and defend their lives, to destroy, kill, and annihilate any force of a people or province that attacked them, including children and women, and to plunder their goods,
8:12 on a single day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus—the thirteenth of the twelfth month, the month of Adar.
8:13 A copy of the document was to be issued as law in every province and made public to all the peoples, so that the Jews would be ready for that day to avenge themselves on their enemies.
8:14 The couriers mounted on royal steeds went out urgently and in haste at the king's command, and the decree was issued in the citadel of Susa.
8:15 Mordecai went out from the king's presence in royal robes of blue and white, with a large gold crown and a cloak of fine linen and purple. The city of Susa shouted for joy and rejoiced.
8:16 For the Jews there was light, gladness, joy, and honor.
8:17 In every province and every city, wherever the king's command and decree reached, there was gladness and joy for the Jews, feasting and a holiday. Many from the peoples of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews had fallen upon them.

Chapter 9
9:1 On the thirteenth day of the twelfth month, the month of Adar, when the king's command and decree were to be carried out, on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to overpower them, the reverse happened: the Jews themselves overpowered those who hated them.
9:2 The Jews assembled in their towns throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. No one could stand against them, for fear of them had fallen on all the peoples.
9:3 All the officials of the provinces, the satraps, the governors, and those who did the king's work supported the Jews, because fear of Mordecai had fallen upon them.
9:4 For Mordecai was great in the king's house, and his fame spread throughout all the provinces, for the man Mordecai was growing greater and greater.
9:5 The Jews struck all their enemies with the sword, with slaughter and destruction, and did as they pleased to those who hated them.
9:6 In the citadel of Susa the Jews killed and destroyed five hundred men.
9:7 Parshandatha, Dalphon, Aspatha,
9:8 Poratha, Adalia, Aridatha,
9:9 Parmashta, Arisai, Aridai, and Vaizatha—
9:10 they killed these ten sons of Haman son of Hammedatha, the enemy of the Jews. But they did not lay hands on the plunder.
9:11 That day the number of those killed in the citadel of Susa was reported to the king.
9:12 The king said to Queen Esther, “In the citadel of Susa the Jews have killed and destroyed five hundred men and Haman's ten sons. What have they done in the rest of the king's provinces? What is your petition? It will be granted you. What further request do you have? It will be done.”
9:13 Esther said, “If it pleases the king, let the Jews in Susa be granted permission to act tomorrow also according to today's decree, and let Haman's ten sons be hung on the stake.”
9:14 The king ordered this to be done. A decree was issued in Susa, and they hung Haman's ten sons.
9:15 The Jews in Susa assembled also on the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and killed three hundred men in Susa. But they did not lay hands on the plunder.
9:16 The rest of the Jews in the king's provinces assembled, defended their lives, and gained rest from their enemies. They killed 75,000 of those who hated them. But they did not lay hands on the plunder.
9:17 This was on the thirteenth day of the month of Adar. They rested on the fourteenth and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
9:18 But the Jews in Susa assembled on the thirteenth and fourteenth of the month. They rested on the fifteenth and made it a day of feasting and gladness.
9:19 That is why the Jews of the countryside, who live in unwalled towns, observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day of gladness and feasting, a holiday when they send portions of food to one another.
9:20 Mordecai wrote down these things and sent letters to all the Jews in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, near and far,
9:21 requiring them to observe the fourteenth day of the month of Adar and the fifteenth day every year,
9:22 as the days when the Jews gained rest from their enemies, and the month when their sorrow turned to gladness and their mourning to a holiday. They were to make these days of feasting and gladness, sending portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.
9:23 The Jews accepted what they had begun to do and what Mordecai had written to them.
9:24 For Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, the enemy of all the Jews, had plotted against the Jews to destroy them and had cast Pur—that is, the lot—to terrify and destroy them.
9:25 But when Esther came before the king, he ordered in writing that the evil scheme Haman had devised against the Jews should return upon his own head. They hung him and his sons on the stake.
9:26 That is why they called these days Purim, after the word Pur. Therefore, because of all the words of this letter, what they had seen in this matter, and what had happened to them,
9:27 the Jews established and accepted the obligation for themselves, their descendants, and all who joined them to observe these two days without fail every year, as prescribed in writing and at their appointed time.
9:28 These days were to be remembered and observed in every generation, every family, every province, and every city. These days of Purim were not to pass away from among the Jews, nor their remembrance cease among their descendants.
9:29 Queen Esther, daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew wrote with full authority to confirm this second letter about Purim.
9:30 He sent letters to all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, with words of peace and truth,
9:31 to confirm these days of Purim at their appointed times, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther had established for them, and as they had established for themselves and their descendants the matters of their fasts and their cry.
9:32 Esther's command confirmed these matters of Purim, and it was written in the book.

Chapter 10
10:1 King Ahasuerus imposed tribute on the land and the islands of the sea.
10:2 All the acts of his power and might, and the detailed account of the greatness of Mordecai, whom the king had exalted—are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia?
10:3 For Mordecai the Jew was second to King Ahasuerus, great among the Jews and esteemed by many of his brothers. He sought the good of his people and spoke for the peace of all his descendants.

JOB

Chapter 1
1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz named Job. That man was blameless and upright; he feared God and turned away from evil.
1:2 Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
1:3 He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 pairs of oxen, 500 female donkeys, and a great many servants. That man was the greatest of all the people of the East.
1:4 His sons would hold feasts in their houses, each on his own day, and they would send for their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
1:5 When the cycle of feasting days was over, Job would send for them and consecrate them. He would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings for all of them, one for each, for Job said, “Perhaps my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job's regular practice.
1:6 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
1:7 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming across the earth and walking about on it.”
1:8 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil.”
1:9 Satan answered the LORD, “Does Job fear God for nothing?
1:10 Have you not put a hedge around him, his household, and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his livestock have spread throughout the land.
1:11 But stretch out your hand now and touch all that he has. Surely he will curse you to your face!”
1:12 The LORD said to Satan, “All that he has is in your hand. Only do not stretch out your hand against him.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.
1:13 One day, while Job's sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,
1:14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing, and the female donkeys were grazing beside them,
1:15 when the Sabeans attacked and took them away. They struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
1:16 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
1:17 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three bands, raided the camels, and took them away. They struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
1:18 While he was still speaking, another came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house,
1:19 when a mighty wind came from beyond the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house. It fell on the young people, and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
1:20 Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped.
1:21 He said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”
1:22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.

Chapter 2
2:1 One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD.
2:2 The LORD said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the LORD, “From roaming across the earth and walking about on it.”
2:3 The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still holds fast to his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without cause.”
2:4 Satan answered the LORD, “Skin for skin! A man will give all that he has for his life.
2:5 But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh. Surely he will curse you to your face!”
2:6 The LORD said to Satan, “He is in your hand. Only spare his life.”
2:7 Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head.
2:8 Job took a piece of broken pottery to scrape himself with as he sat among the ashes.
2:9 His wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
2:10 He said to her, “You are speaking like one of the foolish women. Shall we accept good from God and not accept adversity?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
2:11 When Job's three friends heard of all this disaster that had come upon him, they came, each from his own place: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They had agreed to come together to mourn with him and comfort him.
2:12 When they looked up from a distance and did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. Each tore his robe, and they threw dust toward heaven over their heads.
2:13 They sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.

Chapter 3
3:1 After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
3:2 Job answered and said,
3:3 “Let the day perish on which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A male child has been conceived!’
3:4 Let that day be darkness;
   let God above not seek it, nor light shine upon it.
3:5 Let darkness and deep gloom reclaim it;
   let a cloud dwell over it;
   let the blackness of the day terrify it.
3:6 Let thick darkness seize that night;
   let it not rejoice among the days of the year or enter the count of the months.
3:7 Look, let that night be barren;
   let no cry of joy enter it.
3:8 Let those who curse the day curse it, those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
3:9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark;
   let it wait for light and have none, and not see the eyelids of dawn,
3:10 because it did not shut the doors of my mother's womb and hide trouble from my eyes.
3:11 Why did I not die at birth, come from the womb and expire?
3:12 Why did knees receive me, and why were there breasts for me to nurse?
3:13 For now I would be lying down in quiet;
   I would be asleep, and then I would have rest,
3:14 with kings and counselors of the earth who built up ruins for themselves,
3:15 or with princes who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
3:16 Or like a hidden stillborn child I would not be, like infants who never saw light.
3:17 There the wicked cease their turmoil, and there those drained of strength rest.
3:18 There prisoners are at ease together;
   they do not hear the taskmaster's voice.
3:19 The small and the great are there, and the slave is free from his master.
3:20 Why is light given to one who suffers, and life to the bitter in soul,
3:21 who wait for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
3:22 who rejoice with exultation and are glad when they find a grave—
3:23 to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
3:24 For my sighing comes before my bread, and my roars are poured out like water.
3:25 For the thing I greatly feared has come upon me, and what I dreaded has reached me.
3:26 I am not at ease, I am not quiet, I have no rest;
   turmoil comes.”

Chapter 4
4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
4:2 “If someone ventures a word with you, will you grow weary?
   Yet who can hold back from speaking?
4:3 You have instructed many and strengthened weak hands.
4:4 Your words have upheld those who stumbled, and you have strengthened buckling knees.
4:5 But now it comes to you, and you grow weary;
   it touches you, and you are dismayed.
4:6 Is not your reverence your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?
4:7 Remember now: who ever perished being innocent?
   Where were the upright destroyed?
4:8 As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
4:9 By the breath of God they perish;
   by the blast of his nostrils they are consumed.
4:10 The lion's roar and the voice of the fierce lion are silenced, and the teeth of young lions are broken.
4:11 The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the lioness's cubs are scattered.
4:12 Now a word came to me in secret, and my ear caught a whisper of it.
4:13 Amid troubling thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on people,
4:14 fear and trembling came upon me and made my bones quake.
4:15 A spirit passed before my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.
4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance.
   A form was before my eyes;
   there was stillness, and I heard a voice:
4:17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
   Can a man be purer than his Maker?
4:18 He puts no trust in his servants and charges his angels with error;
4:19 how much less in those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth!
4:20 From morning to evening they are shattered;
   they perish forever, with no one taking notice.
4:21 Is not their tent cord pulled out?
   They die without wisdom.’

Chapter 5
5:1 Call now! Is there anyone to answer you?
   To which of the holy ones will you turn?
5:2 For anger kills a fool, and envy slays the naive.
5:3 I have seen a fool taking root, but at once I cursed his dwelling.
5:4 His sons are far from safety;
   they are crushed at the gate, and there is no one to rescue them.
5:5 The hungry eat up his harvest, taking it even from among the thorns, and a snare snaps at their wealth.
5:6 For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
5:7 For a person is born to trouble, as sparks fly upward.
5:8 But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause.
5:9 He does great things beyond searching out, wonders without number.
5:10 He gives rain over the earth and sends water over the fields.
5:11 He sets the lowly on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
5:12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty, so that their hands cannot achieve success.
5:13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the plans of the devious are rushed headlong.
5:14 They meet darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.
5:15 But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouths and from the hand of the powerful.
5:16 So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
5:17 Blessed is the mortal whom God corrects;
   do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
5:18 For he causes pain, but he binds up;
   he wounds, but his hands heal.
5:19 From six troubles he will deliver you;
   in seven, no harm will touch you.
5:20 In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.
5:21 You will be sheltered from the lash of the tongue and will not fear devastation when it comes.
5:22 You will laugh at devastation and hunger;
   do not fear the beasts of the earth.
5:23 For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
5:24 You will know that your tent is at peace;
   you will inspect your dwelling and find nothing missing.
5:25 You will know that your descendants are numerous, and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
5:26 You will come to the grave at full maturity, as a stack of grain rises in its season.
5:27 Look, we have searched this out, and so it is.
   Hear it, and know it for yourself.”

Chapter 6
6:1 Then Job answered:
6:2 “If only my anguish could be fully weighed, and my calamity placed with it in the balances!
6:3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas;
   that is why my words have been rash.
6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me;
   my spirit drinks their poison.
   The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
6:5 Does the wild donkey bray over grass, or the ox low over its fodder?
6:6 Can tasteless food be eaten without salt?
   Is there any taste in egg white?
6:7 My soul refuses to touch them;
   they are like loathsome food to me.
6:8 If only my request would come, and God would grant what I hope for!
6:9 If only God would be willing to crush me, to loose his hand and cut me off!
6:10 Then I would still have this comfort—I would leap for joy in unrelenting pain—for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
6:11 What strength do I have that I should wait, and what is my end that I should be patient?
6:12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
   Is my flesh bronze?
6:13 Is not my help within me gone, and resourcefulness driven from me?
6:14 A despairing man should receive loyalty from his friend, even if he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
6:15 My brothers have been treacherous like a torrent, like the channels of streams that pass away,
6:16 darkened by ice, where snow lies hidden.
6:17 When it grows warm, they dry up;
   in the heat they vanish from their place.
6:18 Caravans turn aside from their way, go up into the wasteland, and perish.
6:19 The caravans of Tema look for them;
   the travelers of Sheba hope for them.
6:20 They are ashamed because they trusted;
   they arrive there and are disappointed.
6:21 For now you are nothing;
   you see disaster and are afraid.
6:22 Did I say, ‘Give me something;
   offer a payment for me out of your wealth,
6:23 deliver me from the hand of the adversary, and redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’?
6:24 Teach me, and I will be silent;
   make me understand where I have gone wrong.
6:25 How forceful are honest words!
   But what does your reproof prove?
6:26 Do you intend to reprove words and treat the words of a despairing man as wind?
6:27 You would even cast lots over an orphan and bargain over your friend.
6:28 Now, please, look at me.
   Would I lie to your face?
6:29 Reconsider, please;
   let there be no injustice.
   Reconsider again;
   my righteousness is at stake.
6:30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
   Can my palate not discern what is perverse?

Chapter 7
7:1 Does not a mortal have hard service on earth?
   Are not his days like those of a hired worker?
7:2 Like a slave who longs for shade, like a hired worker who waits for his wages,
7:3 so I have been allotted months of emptiness, and nights of trouble have been assigned to me.
7:4 When I lie down, I say, ‘When will I get up?’ The night drags on, and I am weary with tossing until dawn.
7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust;
   my skin hardens and oozes.
7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they end without hope.
7:7 Remember that my life is a breath;
   my eye will never again see good.
7:8 The eye that sees me will see me no more;
   your eyes will be on me, but I will be gone.
7:9 As a cloud fades and passes away, so one who goes down to Sheol will not come up.
7:10 He will not return again to his house, and his place will recognize him no more.
7:11 I too will not restrain my mouth;
   I will speak in the anguish of my spirit;
   I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
7:12 Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?
7:13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’
7:14 then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions.
7:15 So my soul would choose strangling, death rather than these bones of mine.
7:16 I loathe it;
   I will not live forever.
   Leave me alone, for my days are a breath.
7:17 What is a mortal, that you make so much of him, that you set your heart on him,
7:18 that you examine him every morning and test him every moment?
7:19 How long before you look away from me?
   Will you not leave me alone long enough to swallow my saliva?
7:20 If I have sinned, what have I done to you, Watcher of humankind?
   Why have you made me your target, so that I have become a burden to myself?
7:21 Why do you not forgive my transgression and take away my iniquity?
   For soon I will lie down in the dust;
   you will seek me, but I will be gone.”

Chapter 8
8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
8:2 “How long will you say these things?
   The words of your mouth are a mighty wind.
8:3 Does God pervert justice?
   Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
8:4 If your children sinned against him, he handed them over to the power of their transgression.
8:5 If you earnestly seek God and plead with the Almighty,
8:6 if you are pure and upright, surely he will rouse himself for you and restore your righteous dwelling.
8:7 Though your beginning was small, your future will grow very great.
8:8 For ask, please, the former generation, and give attention to what their ancestors discovered.
8:9 For we are of yesterday and know nothing;
   our days on earth are a shadow.
8:10 Will they not teach you and speak to you, bringing forth words from their hearts?
8:11 Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh?
   Can reeds flourish without water?
8:12 While still in its freshness, not yet cut, it withers before any grass.
8:13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
   the hope of the godless will perish.
8:14 His confidence snaps, and his trust is a spider's house.
8:15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand;
   he clings to it, but it does not hold up.
8:16 He is full of sap in the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden.
8:17 His roots wind around a heap of stones;
   he looks upon a house of stones.
8:18 If he is torn from his place, it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
8:19 Look, such is the joy of his way!
   And from the dust others will spring up.
8:20 Look, God will not reject a blameless man, nor will he take evildoers by the hand,
8:21 until he fills your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
8:22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

Chapter 9
9:1 Then Job answered:
9:2 “Truly, I know that this is so.
   But how can a mortal be in the right before God?
9:3 If a mortal wished to contend with him, he could not answer him once in a thousand.
9:4 He is wise in heart and mighty in strength.
   Who has hardened himself against him and come through unharmed?
9:5 He moves mountains without their knowing it, overturning them in his anger.
9:6 He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble.
9:7 He commands the sun, and it does not rise;
   he seals up the stars.
9:8 He alone stretches out the heavens and treads on the waves of the sea.
9:9 He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.
9:10 He does great things beyond searching out, wonders beyond number.
9:11 Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
   he moves on, and I do not perceive him.
9:12 Look, he snatches away;
   who can turn him back?
   Who will say to him, ‘What are you doing?’
9:13 God does not turn back his anger;
   beneath him bow the helpers of Rahab.
9:14 How much less could I answer him and choose my words before him!
9:15 Even if I were in the right, I could not answer;
   I would have to plead with my judge.
9:16 If I called and he answered me, I would not believe that he had listened to my voice.
9:17 For he crushes me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause.
9:18 He does not let me catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
9:19 If it is a matter of strength, look, he is mighty!
   If it is a matter of justice, who will summon me?
9:20 Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
   though I am blameless, it would declare me perverse.
9:21 I am blameless;
   I do not care about myself;
   I despise my life.
9:22 It is all the same.
   That is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
9:23 If a scourge kills suddenly, he mocks the despair of the innocent.
9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
   he covers the faces of its judges.
   If it is not he, who then is it?
9:25 My days are swifter than a courier;
   they flee away without seeing good.
9:26 They pass like papyrus boats, like an eagle swooping on its prey.
9:27 If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, put aside my sad face, and brighten up,’
9:28 I dread all my pains;
   I know that you will not hold me innocent.
9:29 I will be declared guilty;
   why then should I toil in vain?
9:30 Even if I washed myself with snow water and cleansed my hands with lye,
9:31 you would plunge me into the pit, and my own clothes would loathe me.
9:32 For he is not a man like me, that I could answer him, that we could go to trial together.
9:33 There is no arbiter between us who could lay his hand on us both.
9:34 Let him remove his rod from me, and let his terror not frighten me.
9:35 Then I would speak and not fear him, but that is not how it is with me.

Chapter 10
10:1 My soul is weary of my life.
   I will give free rein to my complaint;
   I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
10:2 I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me;
   let me know why you contend with me.
10:3 Does it seem good to you to oppress, to reject the work of your hands, and to shine on the counsel of the wicked?
10:4 Do you have eyes of flesh?
   Do you see as a mortal sees?
10:5 Are your days like the days of a mortal, or your years like the days of a man,
10:6 that you search for my iniquity and investigate my sin,
10:7 though you know that I am not guilty and that no one can deliver me from your hand?
10:8 Your hands shaped me and made me in every part;
   yet you destroy me.
10:9 Remember, please, that you made me like clay.
   Will you bring me back to dust?
10:10 Did you not pour me out like milk and curdle me like cheese?
10:11 You clothed me with skin and flesh and wove me together with bones and sinews.
10:12 You granted me life and faithful love, and your care preserved my spirit.
10:13 But these things you hid in your heart;
   I know that this was your purpose:
10:14 if I sinned, you would watch me and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
10:15 If I am wicked, woe to me!
   If I am righteous, I cannot lift my head.
   I am full of shame;
   look at my affliction!
10:16 If my head rises, you hunt me like a lion;
   again you display your wondrous power against me.
10:17 You renew your witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me;
   relays of troops are against me.
10:18 Why did you bring me out of the womb?
   If only I had breathed my last and no eye had seen me!
10:19 I would have been as though I had never existed, carried from the womb to the grave.
10:20 Are not my days few?
   Stop, then, and leave me alone, that I may have a little joy,
10:21 before I go, never to return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
10:22 a land of gloom like deep darkness, of the shadow of death without order, where even the light is like deep darkness.’”

Chapter 11
11:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
11:2 “Should a multitude of words go unanswered?
   Should a man of many words be declared in the right?
11:3 Will your empty talk silence men?
   Will you mock with no one to shame you?
11:4 You say, ‘My teaching is pure, and I am clean in your eyes.’
11:5 But if only God would speak and open his lips to you,
11:6 and tell you the secrets of wisdom, for sound wisdom is twofold!
   Know that God overlooks some of your iniquity.
11:7 Can you discover the depths of God?
   Can you reach the limits of the Almighty?
11:8 They are as high as the heavens;
   what can you do?
   Deeper than Sheol;
   what can you know?
11:9 Their measure is longer than the earth and broader than the sea.
11:10 If he passes by, imprisons, and convenes a court, who can turn him back?
11:11 For he knows deceitful men;
   he sees evil.
   Will he not take note?
11:12 An empty-headed man will gain understanding when a wild donkey's colt is born a man.
11:13 If you prepare your heart and spread out your hands to him—
11:14 if there is evil in your hand, put it far away, and do not let injustice dwell in your tents—
11:15 then surely you will lift your face without blemish;
   you will be firm and will not fear.
11:16 For you will forget your trouble;
   you will remember it as waters that have passed away.
11:17 Your life will rise brighter than noon;
   though you are in darkness, you will be like the morning.
11:18 You will be confident because there is hope;
   you will look about and lie down in safety.
11:19 You will lie down with no one to frighten you, and many will seek your favor.
11:20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
   escape will be lost to them, and their hope will be their last breath.”

Chapter 12
12:1 Then Job answered:
12:2 “Surely you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!
12:3 I too have understanding like you;
   I am not inferior to you.
   Who does not know such things as these?
12:4 I have become a laughingstock to my friend—I, who called on God and whom he answered.
   The righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock!
12:5 Contempt for calamity is in the thoughts of one at ease;
   it is ready for those whose feet slip.
12:6 The tents of plunderers are at peace, and safety belongs to those who provoke God, to the one who carries his god in his hand.
12:7 But ask, please, the animals, and they will teach you;
   the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you.
12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;
   the fish of the sea will tell you.
12:9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
12:10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all human flesh.
12:11 Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
12:12 Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding with length of days.
12:13 With him are wisdom and might;
   counsel and understanding are his.
12:14 Look, if he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt;
   if he shuts a man in, there can be no opening.
12:15 Look, if he holds back the waters, they dry up;
   if he sends them out, they overturn the earth.
12:16 With him are strength and sound wisdom;
   the one led astray and the one who leads astray are his.
12:17 He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges.
12:18 He loosens the bonds of kings and fastens a belt around their waists.
12:19 He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
12:20 He removes speech from the trusted and takes away the discernment of the aged.
12:21 He pours contempt on nobles and loosens the belt of the strong.
12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death into the light.
12:23 He makes nations great and destroys them;
   he spreads nations out and leads them.
12:24 He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
12:25 They grope in darkness without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.

Chapter 13
13:1 Look, my eye has seen all this;
   my ear has heard and understood it.
13:2 What you know, I know too;
   I am not inferior to you.
13:3 But I would speak to the Almighty;
   I desire to argue my case with God.
13:4 But you are plasterers of lies;
   all of you are worthless physicians.
13:5 If only you would be completely silent!
   That would be wisdom for you.
13:6 Listen, please, to my argument, and attend to the pleadings of my lips.
13:7 Will you speak unjustly for God?
   Will you speak deceitfully for him?
13:8 Will you show partiality toward him?
   Will you contend for God?
13:9 Will it go well when he examines you?
   Will you deceive him as one deceives a mortal?
13:10 He will surely rebuke you if you show partiality in secret.
13:11 Will not his majesty terrify you, and his dread fall upon you?
13:12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes;
   your defenses are defenses of clay.
13:13 Be silent and let me speak;
   then let come upon me what may.
13:14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?
13:15 Though he slay me, I will hope in him;
   yet I will defend my ways before him.
13:16 This too will be my salvation, for no godless man will come before him.
13:17 Listen carefully to my words;
   let my declaration reach your ears.
13:18 Look, I have prepared my case;
   I know that I will be in the right.
13:19 Who is there who will contend with me?
   For then I would be silent and breathe my last.
13:20 Only do not do two things to me;
   then I will not hide from your face:
13:21 remove your hand far from me, and do not let your terror frighten me.
13:22 Then call, and I will answer;
   or let me speak, and answer me.
13:23 How many are my iniquities and sins?
   Let me know my transgression and my sin.
13:24 Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?
13:25 Will you terrify a windblown leaf and pursue dry stubble?
13:26 For you write bitter things against me and make me inherit the iniquities of my youth.
13:27 You put my feet in the stocks and watch all my paths;
   you mark a boundary around the soles of my feet.
13:28 A man wastes away like something rotten, like a garment eaten by moths.

Chapter 14
14:1 Man, born of woman, is short of days and full of turmoil.
14:2 He comes forth like a flower and withers;
   he flees like a shadow and does not remain.
14:3 Do you open your eyes on such a one and bring me into judgment with you?
14:4 Who can bring something clean out of something unclean?
   Not one!
14:5 Since his days are determined and the number of his months is with you, since you have set bounds he cannot pass,
14:6 look away from him and let him rest, so that he may enjoy his day like a hired worker.
14:7 For there is hope for a tree: if it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its shoots will not cease.
14:8 Though its root grows old in the earth and its stump dies in the dust,
14:9 at the scent of water it will bud and put forth branches like a plant.
14:10 But a man dies and is powerless;
   a human being breathes his last, and where is he?
14:11 As waters disappear from the sea and a river runs dry and dries up,
14:12 so a man lies down and does not rise;
   until the heavens are no more, they will not awake, nor will they be roused from their sleep.
14:13 If only you would hide me in Sheol and conceal me until your anger passes, appoint me a set time and remember me!
14:14 If a man dies, will he live again?
   All the days of my hard service I would wait until my relief came.
14:15 You would call, and I would answer you;
   you would long for the work of your hands.
14:16 Then you would number my steps;
   you would not watch over my sin.
14:17 My transgression would be sealed up in a bag, and you would cover over my iniquity.
14:18 But a falling mountain crumbles, and a rock is moved from its place.
14:19 Water wears away stones;
   its outpourings wash away the dust of the earth.
   So you destroy a mortal's hope.
14:20 You overpower him forever, and he departs;
   you change his face and send him away.
14:21 His sons are honored, but he does not know it;
   they are brought low, but he does not perceive it.
14:22 Only his own flesh feels pain, and his soul mourns over him.”

Chapter 15
15:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
15:2 “Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge and fill his belly with the east wind?
15:3 Should he argue with useless talk, with words that do no good?
15:4 But you undermine reverence and diminish meditation before God.
15:5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
15:6 Your own mouth condemns you, not I;
   your own lips testify against you.
15:7 Were you the first man born?
   Were you brought forth before the hills?
15:8 Have you listened in God's secret council?
   Do you keep wisdom for yourself alone?
15:9 What do you know that we do not know?
   What do you understand that is not with us?
15:10 Among us are both the gray-haired and the aged, far older than your father.
15:11 Are God's consolations too little for you, or a word spoken gently to you?
15:12 Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash,
15:13 that you turn your spirit against God and let such words out of your mouth?
15:14 What is a mortal, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15:15 Look, he puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his eyes.
15:16 How much less one who is detestable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!
15:17 I will tell you;
   listen to me.
   What I have seen I will recount,
15:18 what wise men have told, without concealing what came from their fathers,
15:19 to whom alone the land was given, and no foreigner passed among them.
15:20 All his days the wicked man writhes in pain, through the numbered years reserved for the ruthless.
15:21 The sound of terrors is in his ears;
   in peace a destroyer comes upon him.
15:22 He does not believe he will return from darkness;
   the sword lies in wait for him.
15:23 He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.
15:24 Trouble and anguish terrify him;
   they overpower him like a king ready for battle.
15:25 For he stretched out his hand against God and defied the Almighty.
15:26 He rushes at him with neck outstretched, with the thick bosses of his shields.
15:27 Though he has covered his face with fat and laid fat on his flanks,
15:28 he dwells in desolated cities, in houses where no one lives, destined to become heaps of ruins.
15:29 He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure;
   their possessions will not spread over the earth.
15:30 He will not escape from darkness;
   a flame will dry up his shoots, and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
15:31 Let the deceived man not trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.
15:32 It will be fulfilled before his time, and his branch will not be green.
15:33 He will shed his unripe grapes like a vine and cast off his blossoms like an olive tree.
15:34 For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
15:35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil;
   their belly prepares deceit.”

Chapter 16
16:1 Then Job answered:
16:2 “I have heard many such things;
   miserable comforters are you all.
16:3 Is there an end to words of wind?
   What provokes you to answer?
16:4 I too could speak as you do if you were in my place.
   I could string words together against you and shake my head at you.
16:5 But I would strengthen you with my mouth, and the comfort of my lips would ease your pain.
16:6 If I speak, my pain is not eased;
   if I stop, what leaves me?
16:7 But now he has worn me out;
   you have devastated all my company.
16:8 You have seized me, and it has become a witness against me;
   my leanness rises up against me and testifies to my face.
16:9 In his wrath he tears me and bears hostility toward me;
   he gnashes his teeth at me.
   My enemy sharpens his eyes against me.
16:10 They open their mouths against me;
   with contempt they strike my cheeks;
   together they mass against me.
16:11 God hands me over to the unjust and throws me into the hands of the wicked.
16:12 I was at ease, but he shattered me;
   he seized me by the neck and smashed me to pieces.
   He set me up as his target.
16:13 His archers surround me;
   he pierces my kidneys without pity and pours my gall on the ground.
16:14 He breaks through me with breach upon breach;
   he rushes at me like a warrior.
16:15 I have sewn sackcloth over my skin and thrust my horn into the dust.
16:16 My face is red from weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death,
16:17 though there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.
16:18 Earth, do not cover my blood;
   let my cry have no resting place!
16:19 Even now, look, my witness is in heaven, and the one who testifies for me is on high.
16:20 My friends scorn me;
   my eye pours out tears to God,
16:21 that he would plead for a man with God, as a son of man pleads for his friend!
16:22 For a few years will come, and I will go the way from which I will not return.

Chapter 17
17:1 My spirit is broken;
   my days are extinguished;
   graves await me.
17:2 Are there not mockers with me?
   My eye dwells on their provocations.
17:3 Lay down a pledge, please;
   be my guarantor with yourself.
   Who will clasp hands with me?
17:4 For you have hidden their hearts from understanding;
   therefore you will not exalt them.
17:5 Whoever informs against his friends for gain—the eyes of his sons will fail.
17:6 He has made me a byword among peoples;
   I am one in whose face they spit.
17:7 My eye has grown dim with grief, and all my limbs are like a shadow.
17:8 The upright are appalled at this, and the innocent rouses himself against the godless.
17:9 Yet the righteous holds fast to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
17:10 But all of you, return and come, please;
   I will not find a wise man among you.
17:11 My days have passed;
   my plans are broken off, the cherished thoughts of my heart.
17:12 They turn night into day, saying, ‘Light is near,’ in the face of darkness.
17:13 If I look for Sheol as my house, if I spread my bed in darkness,
17:14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother and my sister,’
17:15 where then is my hope?
   And my hope—who will see it?
17:16 They will go down to the bars of Sheol, when we rest together in the dust.”

Chapter 18
18:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
18:2 “How long will you lay snares for words?
   Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.
18:3 Why are we counted as beasts, regarded as stupid in your eyes?
18:4 You who tear yourself in your anger, will the earth be abandoned for your sake, or a rock moved from its place?
18:5 Indeed, the light of the wicked will go out, and the spark of his fire will not shine.
18:6 The light in his tent will grow dark, and his lamp above him will go out.
18:7 His vigorous steps will be narrowed, and his own counsel will throw him down.
18:8 For his own feet cast him into a net, and he walks on a mesh.
18:9 A trap catches him by the heel;
   a snare clamps down on him.
18:10 His cord is hidden in the ground, and his trap lies on the path.
18:11 Terrors frighten him on every side and chase him at his heels.
18:12 His strength is famished, and calamity stands ready at his side.
18:13 It devours parts of his skin;
   the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
18:14 His confidence is torn from his tent, and he is marched to the king of terrors.
18:15 What is not his will dwell in his tent;
   sulfur will be scattered over his dwelling.
18:16 Below, his roots will dry up;
   above, his branch will wither.
18:17 His memory will perish from the earth, and he will have no name in the street.
18:18 They will drive him from light into darkness and chase him out of the world.
18:19 He will have neither offspring nor descendants among his people, no survivor where he sojourned.
18:20 Those in the west are appalled at his day, and those in the east are seized with horror.
18:21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unjust, and this is the place of one who does not know God.”

Chapter 19
19:1 Then Job answered:
19:2 “How long will you torment my soul and crush me with words?
19:3 Ten times now you have humiliated me;
   you are not ashamed to mistreat me.
19:4 Even if I have indeed erred, my error remains with me.
19:5 If you indeed exalt yourselves against me and argue my disgrace against me,
19:6 know then that God has wronged me and encircled me with his net.
19:7 Look, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
   I cry for help, but there is no justice.
19:8 He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and he has put darkness on my paths.
19:9 He has stripped me of my glory and removed the crown from my head.
19:10 He has torn me down on every side, and I am gone;
   he has uprooted my hope like a tree.
19:11 He has kindled his anger against me and counted me among his adversaries.
19:12 His troops come together;
   they build up their way against me and camp around my tent.
19:13 He has put my brothers far from me, and my acquaintances have become strangers to me.
19:14 My relatives have withdrawn, and my close friends have forgotten me.
19:15 Those who dwell in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
   I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
19:16 I call my servant, but he does not answer;
   with my own mouth I plead with him.
19:17 My breath is repulsive to my wife, and I am loathsome to the sons of my own body.
19:18 Even young children despise me;
   when I rise, they speak against me.
19:19 All my intimate friends abhor me, and those I loved have turned against me.
19:20 My bones cling to my skin and flesh;
   I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
19:21 Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!
19:22 Why do you persecute me like God and never have enough of my flesh?
19:23 If only my words were written!
   If only they were inscribed in a book,
19:24 with an iron stylus and lead, carved in the rock forever!
19:25 I know that my Redeemer lives, and as the last he will stand upon the dust.
19:26 And after this skin of mine has been destroyed, in my flesh I will see God,
19:27 whom I will see for myself, whom my own eyes will behold, and not another.
   My inmost being grows faint within me.
19:28 If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’ and claim that the root of the matter is found in me,
19:29 be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, so that you may know there is judgment.”

Chapter 20
20:1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:
20:2 “Therefore my thoughts make me answer, because of the agitation within me.
20:3 I hear a rebuke that shames me, and my spirit answers me out of my understanding.
20:4 Do you not know this from of old, since man was placed upon the earth:
20:5 that the exulting of the wicked is brief, and the joy of the godless is only for a moment?
20:6 Though his height reaches the heavens and his head touches the clouds,
20:7 he will perish forever like his own dung;
   those who saw him will say, ‘Where is he?’
20:8 He will fly away like a dream, and they will not find him;
   he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
20:9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will never behold him again.
20:10 His sons will seek the favor of the poor, and his hands will give back his wealth.
20:11 His bones are full of youthful vigor, but it will lie down with him in the dust.
20:12 Though evil is sweet in his mouth and he hides it under his tongue,
20:13 though he spares it and will not let it go, but holds it within his palate,
20:14 his food turns in his bowels;
   it is the poison of cobras within him.
20:15 He swallows wealth, but he will vomit it up;
   God will drive it out of his belly.
20:16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
   a viper's tongue will kill him.
20:17 He will not see the streams, the rivers, the torrents of honey and curds.
20:18 He will give back what he toiled for and will not swallow it;
   he will not rejoice in the wealth from his trade.
20:19 For he crushed and abandoned the poor;
   he seized a house he did not build.
20:20 For he knew no rest in his belly;
   he will not save what he coveted.
20:21 Nothing escapes his eating;
   therefore his prosperity will not endure.
20:22 In the fullness of his abundance he will be in distress;
   the hand of every sufferer will come against him.
20:23 When he is about to fill his belly, God will send his burning anger against him and rain it upon him while he eats.
20:24 He will flee from an iron weapon;
   a bronze bow will pierce him.
20:25 He draws it out, and it comes out of his body;
   the gleaming point comes out of his gall.
   Terrors come upon him.
20:26 All darkness is stored up for his treasures;
   a fire that no one has fanned will consume him.
   It will go ill with whoever remains in his tent.
20:27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
20:28 The goods of his house will depart, flowing away on the day of his anger.
20:29 This is the wicked man's portion from God, the inheritance appointed to him by God.”

Chapter 21
21:1 Then Job answered:
21:2 “Listen carefully to my words, and let this be the comfort you give me.
21:3 Bear with me, and I will speak;
   after I have spoken, you may mock.
21:4 Is my complaint directed to man?
   Why should my spirit not grow impatient?
21:5 Look at me and be appalled;
   put your hand over your mouth.
21:6 When I remember, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my flesh.
21:7 Why do the wicked live on, grow old, and become mighty in power?
21:8 Their descendants are established before them, with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
21:9 Their houses are at peace, without fear, and the rod of God is not upon them.
21:10 His bull breeds without fail;
   his cow calves without miscarriage.
21:11 They send out their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
21:12 They raise their voices to the tambourine and lyre and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
21:13 They spend their days in prosperity and in a moment go down to Sheol.
21:14 They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
   We have no desire to know your ways.
21:15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
   What do we gain by pleading with him?’
21:16 Look, their prosperity is not in their hand;
   the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
21:17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
   How often does their calamity come upon them, and does he apportion pains in his anger?
21:18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff that a storm steals away?
21:19 ‘God stores up his iniquity for his sons.’ Let him repay the man himself, so that he may know!
21:20 Let his own eyes see his ruin, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty!
21:21 For what does he care for his house after he is gone, when the number of his months is cut off?
21:22 Can anyone teach God knowledge, when he judges those on high?
21:23 One dies in his full vigor, wholly at ease and secure.
21:24 His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is well watered.
21:25 Another dies with a bitter soul, never having tasted good.
21:26 Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them.
21:27 Look, I know your thoughts and the schemes with which you wrong me.
21:28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the noble?
   Where is the tent in which the wicked dwelt?’
21:29 Have you not asked travelers?
   Will you not recognize their testimony,
21:30 that the wicked man is spared on the day of calamity, that they are led away on the day of wrath?
21:31 Who tells him his way to his face?
   Who repays him for what he has done?
21:32 He is carried to the graves, and watch is kept over the mound.
21:33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
   all mankind follows after him, and those before him are beyond number.
21:34 How then do you comfort me with emptiness, when your answers leave only faithlessness?”

Chapter 22
22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
22:2 “Can a man be of use to God?
   A wise man benefits himself.
22:3 Is it a pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous, or a gain that your ways are blameless?
22:4 Is it because of your reverence that he rebukes you and enters into judgment with you?
22:5 Is not your evil great?
   There is no end to your iniquities.
22:6 For you took pledges from your brothers without cause and stripped the barely clothed of their garments.
22:7 You gave the weary no water to drink and withheld bread from the hungry.
22:8 The man of power possessed the land, and the favored man dwelt in it.
22:9 You sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
22:10 Therefore snares surround you, and sudden terror frightens you,
22:11 or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of waters covers you.
22:12 Is not God in the height of heaven?
   Look at the highest stars, how high they are!
22:13 Yet you say, ‘What does God know?
   Can he judge through thick darkness?
22:14 Clouds conceal him, and he does not see;
   he walks on the vault of heaven.’
22:15 Will you keep to the ancient path that men of evil trod,
22:16 who were snatched away before their time, when a river was poured out upon their foundation?
22:17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us.’ What could the Almighty do for them?
22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things.
   The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
22:19 The righteous see and rejoice, and the innocent mock them:
22:20 ‘Surely our adversaries are destroyed, and fire has consumed what remained of them!’
22:21 Be reconciled with him, please, and be at peace;
   through these things good will come to you.
22:22 Receive, please, instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.
22:23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up;
   put injustice far from your tent.
22:24 Put gold on the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the rocks of the streams.
22:25 Then the Almighty will be your gold and precious silver for you.
22:26 For then you will delight in the Almighty and lift your face toward God.
22:27 You will plead with him, and he will hear you;
   you will fulfill your vows.
22:28 You will decree a thing, and it will be established for you;
   light will shine on your ways.
22:29 When people are brought low, you will say, ‘Lift up!’ and he will save the one with downcast eyes.
22:30 He will deliver one who is not innocent, and that man will be delivered by the cleanness of your hands.”

Chapter 23
23:1 Then Job answered:
23:2 “Even today my complaint is rebellious;
   my hand is heavy over my groaning.
23:3 If only I knew where to find him!
   I would come to his dwelling.
23:4 I would lay out my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
23:5 I would know the words he would answer me and understand what he would say to me.
23:6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power?
   No, he would give heed to me.
23:7 There an upright man could argue with him, and I would be delivered forever from my judge.
23:8 Look, I go east, and he is not there;
   west, and I do not perceive him.
23:9 When he works in the north, I do not behold him;
   he hides in the south, and I do not see him.
23:10 But he knows the way I take;
   when he tests me, I will come forth like gold.
23:11 My foot has held fast to his steps;
   I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
23:12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
   I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my allotted food.
23:13 But he is of one mind;
   who can turn him back?
   What his soul desires, he does.
23:14 For he will fulfill what is appointed for me, and many such things are with him.
23:15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence;
   when I consider, I am afraid of him.
23:16 God has made my heart faint, and the Almighty has terrified me.
23:17 For I am not cut off because of the darkness, nor has he hidden deep gloom from my face.

Chapter 24
24:1 Why does the Almighty not appoint times?
   Why do those who know him not see his days?
24:2 Some move boundary markers;
   they seize a flock and pasture it.
24:3 They drive away the donkey of the fatherless and take the widow's ox in pledge.
24:4 They thrust the needy off the road;
   the poor of the land hide together.
24:5 Look, like wild donkeys in the wilderness, they go out to their work, seeking food early;
   the steppe gives him bread for the young.
24:6 They reap his fodder in the field and glean the wicked man's vineyard.
24:7 They spend the night naked, without clothing, with no covering in the cold.
24:8 They are soaked by the mountain rains and embrace a rock for lack of shelter.
24:9 They snatch the fatherless from the breast and take pledges from the poor.
24:10 The poor walk naked, without clothing;
   hungry, they carry sheaves.
24:11 Between their walls they press oil;
   they tread winepresses, yet go thirsty.
24:12 From the city men groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help, yet God takes no account of wrongdoing.
24:13 They are among those who rebel against the light;
   they do not know its ways or remain in its paths.
24:14 The murderer rises at the light;
   he kills the poor and needy, and at night he is like a thief.
24:15 The adulterer's eye waits for twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he covers his face.
24:16 In darkness he digs through houses;
   by day they shut themselves in.
   They do not know the light.
24:17 For morning is the shadow of death to them all, for each knows the terrors of the shadow of death.
24:18 He is light on the surface of the waters;
   their portion in the land is cursed;
   he does not turn toward the way of vineyards.
24:19 Drought and heat snatch away snow water;
   so Sheol snatches away those who have sinned.
24:20 The womb forgets him;
   the worm finds him sweet.
   He is remembered no more, and injustice is broken like a tree.
24:21 He mistreats the barren woman who has not borne and does no good to the widow.
24:22 He draws the mighty away by his power;
   he rises, and no one is sure of life.
24:23 He gives him security, and he rests on it, yet his eyes are on their ways.
24:24 They are raised up for a little while, and each is no more;
   they are brought low and gathered like all others, and they wither like the head of an ear of grain.
24:25 If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and bring my words to nothing?”

Chapter 25
25:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
25:2 “Dominion and dread are with him;
   he makes peace in his heights.
25:3 Can his armies be numbered?
   On whom does his light not rise?
25:4 How then can a mortal be in the right before God?
   How can one born of woman be pure?
25:5 Look, even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in his eyes.
25:6 How much less a mortal, a maggot, and a son of man, a worm!”

Chapter 26
26:1 Then Job answered:
26:2 “How you have helped the powerless!
   How you have saved the arm without strength!
26:3 What counsel you have given the one without wisdom!
   What an abundance of sound wisdom you have made known!
26:4 To whom have you spoken these words?
   Whose breath has come out of you?
26:5 The shades of the dead tremble beneath the waters and their inhabitants.
26:6 Sheol is naked before him, and Abaddon has no covering.
26:7 He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth upon nothing.
26:8 He binds up the waters in his clouds, and the cloud does not split beneath them.
26:9 He covers the face of his throne, spreading his cloud over it.
26:10 He has drawn a circular boundary on the surface of the waters, at the limit of light and darkness.
26:11 The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke.
26:12 By his power he stirs the sea, and by his understanding he crushes Rahab.
26:13 By his breath the heavens are cleared;
   his hand pierces the fleeing serpent.
26:14 Look, these are only the edges of his ways;
   what a faint whisper we hear of him!
   But the thunder of his mighty deeds—who can understand it?”

Chapter 27
27:1 Job again took up his discourse and said:
27:2 “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,
27:3 as long as my breath is in me and the breath of God is in my nostrils,
27:4 my lips will not speak injustice, nor will my tongue utter deceit.
27:5 Far be it from me to declare you right!
   Until I breathe my last, I will not give up my integrity.
27:6 I hold fast to my righteousness and will not let it go;
   my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
27:7 Let my enemy be like the wicked, and the one who rises against me like the unjust.
27:8 For what hope has the godless when God cuts him off, when he draws out his soul?
27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble comes upon him?
27:10 Will he delight in the Almighty?
   Will he call upon God at all times?
27:11 I will teach you about the hand of God;
   what is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
27:12 Look, all of you have seen it;
   why then do you speak such emptiness?
27:13 This is the wicked man's portion with God, the inheritance the ruthless receive from the Almighty:
27:14 though his sons grow many, they are for the sword, and his offspring will not have enough bread.
27:15 His survivors will be buried by death, and his widows will not weep.
27:16 Though he heaps up silver like dust and prepares clothing like clay,
27:17 he may prepare it, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver.
27:18 He builds his house like a moth, like a booth a watchman has made.
27:19 He lies down rich, but he will not be gathered;
   he opens his eyes, and he is no more.
27:20 Terrors overtake him like waters;
   a storm steals him away at night.
27:21 The east wind lifts him up, and he departs;
   it sweeps him from his place.
27:22 It hurls itself at him without pity;
   he flees desperately from its hand.
27:23 They clap their hands at him and hiss him out of his place.

Chapter 28
28:1 Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place where gold is refined.
28:2 Iron is taken from the earth, and copper is smelted from stone.
28:3 Man puts an end to darkness and searches to the farthest limit for stone in deep gloom and the shadow of death.
28:4 He breaks open a shaft far from habitation;
   forgotten by passing feet, they hang and sway far from men.
28:5 From the earth comes bread, but beneath, it is overturned as by fire.
28:6 Its stones are a place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold.
28:7 There is a path no bird of prey knows, nor has a falcon's eye seen it.
28:8 The proud beasts have not trodden it, nor has a lion passed over it.
28:9 He stretches out his hand against the flint and overturns mountains at the root.
28:10 He cuts channels through the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
28:11 He binds up rivers so they do not weep, and brings what is hidden to light.

28:12 But where can wisdom be found?
   Where is the place of understanding?
28:13 A mortal does not know its value, nor is it found in the land of the living.
28:14 The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
28:15 Fine gold cannot be given in exchange for it, nor can silver be weighed out as its price.
28:16 It cannot be weighed against the gold of Ophir, against precious onyx or sapphire.
28:17 Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for objects of pure gold.
28:18 No mention need be made of coral or crystal;
   acquiring wisdom is beyond pearls.
28:19 Topaz from Cush cannot equal it;
   it cannot be weighed against pure gold.

28:20 From where, then, does wisdom come?
   Where is the place of understanding?
28:21 It is hidden from the eyes of every living thing and concealed from the birds of the heavens.
28:22 Abaddon and death say, ‘With our ears we have heard a report of it.’
28:23 God understands its way, and he knows its place,
28:24 for he looks to the ends of the earth and sees under all the heavens.
28:25 When he gave weight to the wind and measured out the waters,
28:26 when he made a decree for the rain and a path for the lightning of thunder,
28:27 then he saw it and declared it;
   he established it and also searched it out.
28:28 And he said to man, ‘Look, the fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to turn from evil is understanding.’”

Chapter 29
29:1 Job again took up his discourse and said:
29:2 “If only I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me,
29:3 when his lamp shone over my head and by his light I walked through darkness!
29:4 As I was in the days of my prime, when God's friendship was over my tent,
29:5 when the Almighty was still with me and my children were around me,
29:6 when my steps were bathed in curds and the rock poured out streams of oil for me!
29:7 When I went out to the city gate and prepared my seat in the square,
29:8 young men saw me and hid themselves;
   the aged rose and stood.
29:9 Princes held back their words and put a hand over their mouth.
29:10 The voice of nobles was hushed, and their tongue clung to their palate.
29:11 When the ear heard, it called me blessed;
   when the eye saw, it bore witness for me,
29:12 because I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the fatherless who had no helper.
29:13 The blessing of the one about to perish came upon me, and I made the widow's heart sing for joy.
29:14 I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
   my justice was like a robe and a turban.
29:15 I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.
29:16 I was a father to the needy, and I searched out the case I did not know.
29:17 I broke the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.
29:18 Then I said, ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days like the sand.
29:19 My root is open to the waters, and dew spends the night on my branch.
29:20 My glory is fresh with me, and my bow is renewed in my hand.’
29:21 They listened to me and waited;
   they kept silent at my counsel.
29:22 After my words they did not speak again, and my speech dripped upon them.
29:23 They waited for me as for rain and opened their mouths wide for the latter rain.
29:24 I smiled at them, and they did not believe it;
   they did not cast down the light of my face.
29:25 I chose their way and sat as chief;
   I dwelt like a king among his troops, like one who comforts mourners.

Chapter 30
30:1 But now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with the dogs of my flock.
30:2 What use to me was the strength of their hands?
   Their vigor had perished.
30:3 Gaunt with want and hunger, they gnaw dry ground in the gloom of waste and desolation.
30:4 They pluck salt plants by the bushes, and broom roots are their food.
30:5 They are driven from the community;
   people shout at them as at a thief,
30:6 to dwell in the ravines of the streams, in holes of the earth and among rocks.
30:7 They bray among the bushes and huddle under the nettles.
30:8 Sons of fools, sons of the nameless, they are whipped from the land.
30:9 And now I have become their song;
   I am a byword to them.
30:10 They abhor me and keep far from me;
   they do not refrain from spitting in my face.
30:11 For he has loosened my cord and afflicted me;
   they have cast off the bridle in my presence.
30:12 At my right the rabble rises;
   they thrust my feet aside and build their paths of destruction against me.
30:13 They tear up my path and further my ruin, with no one to help them.
30:14 They come as through a wide breach;
   amid the ruins they roll in.
30:15 Terrors are turned upon me;
   they pursue my honor like the wind, and my deliverance passes away like a cloud.
30:16 And now my soul pours itself out within me;
   days of affliction seize me.
30:17 At night my bones are gouged from me;
   my gnawing pains do not sleep.
30:18 With great force my garment is distorted;
   it binds me like the neck of my tunic.
30:19 He has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.
30:20 I cry to you, but you do not answer me;
   I stand, and you look at me.
30:21 You have turned cruel to me;
   with the strength of your hand you persecute me.
30:22 You lift me up to the wind and make me ride it;
   you melt me away in the storm.
30:23 For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for every living thing.
30:24 Yet does not one stretch out a hand amid ruin, when in his calamity he cries to them for help?
30:25 Have I not wept for the one whose day was hard?
   Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
30:26 When I hoped for good, evil came;
   when I waited for light, deep gloom came.
30:27 My inward parts boil without rest;
   days of affliction confront me.
30:28 I walk about blackened, but not by the sun;
   I stand in the assembly and cry for help.
30:29 I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.
30:30 My skin darkens upon me, and my bones burn with heat.
30:31 My lyre has turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

Chapter 31
31:1 I made a covenant with my eyes;
   how then could I gaze at a virgin?
31:2 What portion is there from God above, what inheritance from the Almighty on high?
31:3 Is not calamity for the unjust, and disaster for those who work evil?
31:4 Does he not see my ways and count all my steps?
31:5 If I have walked with falsehood and my foot has hurried toward deceit,
31:6 let him weigh me in just balances, and God will know my integrity.
31:7 If my step has turned from the way, my heart has followed my eyes, and a stain has clung to my hands,

31:8 let me sow and another eat, and let my shoots be uprooted.
31:9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman and I have lain in wait at my neighbor's door,
31:10 let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down over her.
31:11 For that is a shameful act, an iniquity punishable by judges,
31:12 for it is a fire that consumes to Abaddon and would uproot all my produce.
31:13 If I have despised the claim of my manservant and maidservant when they contended with me,
31:14 what will I do when God rises?
   When he calls me to account, what will I answer him?
31:15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make him?
   Did not the same one form us in the womb?
31:16 If I have withheld from the poor what they desired and made the widow's eyes fail,
31:17 if I have eaten my morsel alone and the fatherless has not eaten from it
31:18 —for from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and from my mother's womb I guided her—
31:19 if I have seen one perishing for lack of clothing and a needy person without a covering,
31:20 if his loins have not blessed me as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep,
31:21 if I have raised my hand against the fatherless because I saw my help in the gate,
31:22 let my shoulder fall from its blade, and let my arm be broken from its socket!
31:23 For calamity from God was a terror to me, and before his majesty I could not endure.
31:24 If I have made gold my confidence and said to fine gold, ‘You are my trust,’
31:25 if I have rejoiced because my wealth was great and my hand had gained much,
31:26 if I have looked at the sun as it shone and the moon moving in splendor,
31:27 and my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand kissed my mouth,
31:28 this too would be an iniquity punishable by judges, for I would have denied God above.
31:29 If I have rejoiced at the ruin of one who hated me and exulted when evil found him—
31:30 I have not let my palate sin by demanding his life with a curse.
31:31 Have the men of my tent not said, ‘Who has not had his fill of his meat?’
31:32 The sojourner did not spend the night outside;
   I opened my doors to the traveler.
31:33 If I have covered my transgressions as men do, hiding my iniquity in my bosom,
31:34 because I dreaded the great multitude and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silent and did not go out the door—
31:35 If only I had someone to hear me!
   Look, here is my signature!
   Let the Almighty answer me!
   If only my adversary had written his charge!
31:36 Surely I would carry it on my shoulder;
   I would bind it on myself like crowns.
31:37 I would declare to him the number of my steps;
   like a prince I would approach him.
31:38 If my land cries out against me and its furrows weep together,
31:39 if I have eaten its yield without payment and caused its owners to lose their life,
31:40 let thorns come up instead of wheat, and foul weeds instead of barley!”
   The words of Job are ended.

Chapter 32
32:1 So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
32:2 Then the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned. His anger burned against Job because he justified himself rather than God.
32:3 His anger also burned against Job's three friends, because they had found no answer and yet had condemned Job.
32:4 Elihu had waited before speaking to Job, because they were older than he was.
32:5 But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of the three men, his anger burned.

32:6 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said,
 “I am young in years, and you are aged;
   so I held back and was afraid to tell you what I know.
32:7 I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years make wisdom known.’
32:8 But it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.
32:9 Those of many years are not always wise, nor do elders understand justice.
32:10 So I say, listen to me;
   I too will tell what I know.
32:11 Look, I waited for your words;
   I listened to your reasonings while you searched for words.
32:12 I paid attention to you, but look, none of you refuted Job or answered his words.
32:13 Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;
   God will drive him back, not man.’
32:14 He has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your arguments.
32:15 They are dismayed;
   they answer no more.
   Words have left them.
32:16 Should I keep waiting because they do not speak, because they stand still and answer no more?
32:17 I too will answer my part;
   I too will tell what I know.
32:18 For I am full of words;
   the spirit within my belly presses me.
32:19 Look, my belly is like wine with no vent;
   like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.
32:20 I will speak and find relief;
   I will open my lips and answer.
32:21 Let me show partiality to no one, nor give anyone flattering titles.
32:22 For I do not know how to give flattering titles;
   my Maker would soon carry me away.

Chapter 33
33:1 But now, Job, please hear my words;
   listen to all I say.
33:2 Look, I have opened my mouth;
   my tongue speaks in my mouth.
33:3 My words express the uprightness of my heart;
   my lips speak knowledge sincerely.
33:4 The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
33:5 If you can, answer me;
   set out your case before me and take your stand.
33:6 Look, I am like you before God;
   I too was pinched from clay.
33:7 Look, dread of me will not terrify you, nor will my pressure weigh heavily on you.
33:8 Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words:
33:9 ‘I am pure, without transgression;
   I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me.
33:10 Look, he finds pretexts against me;
   he counts me as his enemy.
33:11 He puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’
33:12 Look, in this you are not right.
   I will answer you, for God is greater than a mortal.
33:13 Why do you contend with him because he gives no account of any of his matters?
33:14 For God speaks once, and twice, though man does not perceive it.
33:15 In a dream, a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber on their beds,
33:16 then he opens men's ears and seals their instruction,
33:17 to turn man from his course and keep pride from him.
33:18 He holds back his soul from the pit and his life from passing away by the sword.
33:19 He is also corrected with pain on his bed and with unceasing strife in his bones.
33:20 His life loathes bread, and his soul desirable food.
33:21 His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones, once unseen, are laid bare.
33:22 His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.
33:23 If there is a messenger beside him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man what is right for him,
33:24 and he is gracious to him and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit;
   I have found a ransom,’
33:25 his flesh will be fresher than in youth;
   he will return to the days of his youthful vigor.
33:26 He will pray to God, and God will accept him;
   he will see his face with a shout of joy, and God will restore to man his righteousness.
33:27 He looks at men and says, ‘I have sinned and perverted what is right, yet it was not repaid to me.
33:28 He has redeemed my soul from passing into the pit, and my life will see the light.’
33:29 Look, God does all these things twice, three times with a man,
33:30 to bring his soul back from the pit, to be lighted with the light of the living.
33:31 Pay attention, Job;
   listen to me.
   Be silent, and I will speak.
33:32 If you have words, answer me;
   speak, for I desire to justify you.
33:33 If not, listen to me;
   be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

Chapter 34
34:1 Then Elihu answered and said,
34:2 “Hear my words, you wise men;
   listen to me, you who know.
34:3 For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food.
34:4 Let us choose what is just;
   let us know among ourselves what is good.
34:5 For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, but God has taken away my right.
34:6 Should I lie against my right?
   My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
34:7 What man is like Job, who drinks mockery like water,
34:8 who goes in company with those who work evil and walks with wicked men?
34:9 For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing to delight in God.’
34:10 So listen to me, you men of understanding: far be wickedness from God, and injustice from the Almighty!
34:11 For he repays a man for his work and brings on each one according to his way.
34:12 Indeed, God does no wrong, and the Almighty does not pervert justice.
34:13 Who put him in charge of the earth?
   Who set the whole world in place?
34:14 If he set his heart on himself and gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,
34:15 all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.
34:16 If you have understanding, hear this;
   listen to the sound of my words.
34:17 Can one who hates justice govern?
   Will you condemn the righteous and mighty one?
34:18 Would you say to a king, ‘Worthless!’ or to nobles, ‘Wicked!’?
34:19 He shows no partiality to princes, nor favors the rich over the poor, for they are all the work of his hands.
34:20 In a moment they die;
   at midnight a people is shaken and passes away, and the mighty are removed without a hand.
34:21 For his eyes are on a man's ways, and he sees all his steps.
34:22 There is no darkness, no deep gloom, where those who work evil can hide.
34:23 For he need not examine a man again for him to come before God in judgment.
34:24 He shatters the mighty without investigation and sets others in their place.
34:25 So he knows their deeds;
   he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
34:26 He strikes them as wicked men in a place where others can see,
34:27 because they turned away from following him and considered none of his ways,
34:28 causing the cry of the poor to come to him;
   and he hears the cry of the afflicted.
34:29 When he keeps quiet, who can condemn him?
   When he hides his face, who can see him?
   This applies to a nation and to a man alike,
34:30 to keep a godless man from reigning and the people from snares.
34:31 Has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment;
   I will no longer act corruptly.
34:32 Teach me what I do not see;
   if I have done wrong, I will do it no more’?
34:33 Should he repay on your terms because you reject it?
   You must choose, and not I;
   so speak what you know.
34:34 Men of understanding will say to me, and a wise man who hears me,
34:35 ‘Job speaks without knowledge, and his words lack insight.’
34:36 If only Job were tested to the end, because he answers like men who work evil!
34:37 For he adds rebellion to his sin;
   he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”

Chapter 35
35:1 Then Elihu answered and said,
35:2 “Do you consider this just?
   You say, ‘My righteousness is greater than God's.’
35:3 For you say, ‘What advantage is it to you?
   What do I gain by not sinning?’
35:4 I will answer you, and your friends with you.
35:5 Look at the heavens and see;
   behold the clouds, higher than you.
35:6 If you sin, what do you do to him?
   If your transgressions multiply, what do you do to him?
35:7 If you are righteous, what do you give him, or what does he receive from your hand?
35:8 Your wickedness affects a man like you, and your righteousness a son of man.
35:9 Because of many oppressions they cry out;
   they call for help against the arm of the mighty.
35:10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
35:11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’
35:12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men.
35:13 Surely God does not hear emptiness, nor does the Almighty regard it.
35:14 How much less when you say that you do not see him!
   Your case is before him, so wait for him.
35:15 And now, because his anger has not punished and he has not taken much account of folly,
35:16 Job opens his mouth in emptiness;
   he multiplies words without knowledge.”

Chapter 36
36:1 Elihu continued and said,
36:2 “Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I still have words on God's behalf.
36:3 I will bring my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.
36:4 For truly my words are not false;
   one complete in knowledge is with you.
36:5 Look, God is mighty and despises no one;
   he is mighty in strength of understanding.
36:6 He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives justice to the afflicted.
36:7 He does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous;
   with kings on the throne he seats them forever, and they are exalted.
36:8 If they are bound in fetters, caught in cords of affliction,
36:9 he tells them of their deeds and their transgressions, for they have acted arrogantly.
36:10 He opens their ears to correction and tells them to turn from evil.
36:11 If they listen and serve him, they will finish their days in prosperity and their years in pleasures.
36:12 But if they do not listen, they will pass away by the sword and die without knowledge.
36:13 The godless in heart heap up anger;
   they do not cry for help when he binds them.
36:14 Their soul dies in youth, and their life ends among male shrine prostitutes.
36:15 He delivers the afflicted through their affliction and opens their ears through oppression.
36:16 He would also draw you from the jaws of distress to a broad place with no confinement, and what is set on your table would be full of rich food.
36:17 But you are full of the judgment of the wicked;
   judgment and justice take hold of you.
36:18 Beware lest wrath entice you into mockery;
   do not let a great ransom turn you aside.
36:19 Can your cry for help keep you from distress, or all the efforts of your strength?
36:20 Do not long for the night, when peoples are taken from their place.
36:21 Take care;
   do not turn to evil, for you have chosen it over affliction.
36:22 Look, God is exalted in his power.
   What teacher is like him?
36:23 Who has appointed his way for him?
   Who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?
36:24 Remember to magnify his work, of which men have sung.
36:25 All mankind has seen it;
   mortals behold it from afar.
36:26 Look, God is great, beyond our knowledge;
   the number of his years is beyond searching.
36:27 For he draws up drops of water;
   they distill rain from his mist,
36:28 which the clouds pour down and shower on mankind abundantly.
36:29 Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?
36:30 Look, he spreads his light around him and covers the roots of the sea.
36:31 For by these he judges peoples and gives food in abundance.
36:32 He covers his hands with lightning and commands it against the assailant.
36:33 Its roar tells of him;
   the cattle also tell of what is coming.

Chapter 37
37:1 At this too my heart trembles and leaps from its place.
37:2 Listen closely to the thunder of his voice, the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
37:3 He lets it loose beneath the whole heaven, and his lightning to the ends of the earth.
37:4 After it a voice roars;
   he thunders with his majestic voice.
   He does not hold them back when his voice is heard.
37:5 God thunders wondrously with his voice;
   he does great things beyond our knowledge.
37:6 For he says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and likewise to the shower of rain, the showers of his mighty rain.
37:7 He seals the hand of every man, so that all men may know his work.
37:8 The beast goes into its hiding place and stays in its den.
37:9 From the chamber comes the storm, and from the scattering winds comes cold.
37:10 By the breath of God ice is given, and the broad waters are frozen solid.
37:11 He loads the thick cloud with moisture;
   he scatters the cloud of his lightning.
37:12 It turns round and round under his counsels, to do all that he commands them on the face of the inhabited earth.
37:13 Whether for the rod, for his land, or for steadfast love, he causes it to come.
37:14 Listen to this, Job;
   stand still and consider the wonders of God.
37:15 Do you know how God gives them their charge and makes the lightning of his cloud shine?
37:16 Do you know the balancing of the clouds, the wonders of one complete in knowledge,
37:17 you whose garments grow hot when the earth lies still under the south wind?
37:18 Can you hammer out the skies with him, strong as a cast metal mirror?
37:19 Teach us what to say to him;
   we cannot set out our case because of darkness.
37:20 Should he be told that I would speak?
   Would a man ask to be swallowed up?
37:21 And now men cannot look at the light, bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.
37:22 From the north comes golden splendor;
   around God is awesome majesty.
37:23 The Almighty—we cannot find him out.
   He is great in power, in justice and abundant righteousness;
   he does not oppress.
37:24 So men fear him;
   he does not regard any who are wise of heart.”

Chapter 38
38:1 Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind and said,
38:2 “Who is this who darkens counsel with words without knowledge?
38:3 Gird your loins like a man;
   I will question you, and you must instruct me.
38:4 Where were you when I laid the earth's foundation?
   Tell me, if you have understanding.
38:5 Who set its measurements?
   Surely you know!
   Or who stretched a line over it?
38:6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
38:7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
38:8 Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb,
38:9 when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling cloth,
38:10 when I marked out my boundary for it and set a bar and doors,
38:11 and said, ‘Thus far you may come, but no farther;
   here your proud waves must stop’?
38:12 Have you ever in your days commanded the morning or made the dawn know its place,
38:13 so it could grasp the ends of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
38:14 The earth changes like clay under a seal, and its features stand out like a garment.
38:15 The wicked are denied their light, and the uplifted arm is broken.
38:16 Have you entered the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
38:17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you?
   Have you seen the gates of deep gloom?
38:18 Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth?
   Tell me, if you know it all.
38:19 Where is the way to the dwelling of light?
   And darkness—where is its place,
38:20 that you may take it to its territory and know the paths to its house?
38:21 You know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!
38:22 Have you entered the storehouses of snow or seen the storehouses of hail,
38:23 which I have reserved for a time of distress, for a day of battle and war?
38:24 What is the way by which light is divided and the east wind is scattered over the earth?
38:25 Who has cut a channel for the downpour and a path for the thunderbolt,
38:26 to bring rain on a land without a man, on a wilderness with no one in it,
38:27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground and make grass sprout?
38:28 Has the rain a father?
   Who has begotten the drops of dew?
38:29 From whose womb did the ice come?
   Who gave birth to the frost of heaven?
38:30 The waters are hidden as beneath stone, and the surface of the deep is bound fast.
38:31 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the cords of Orion?
38:32 Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season, or guide the Bear with her children?
38:33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
   Can you establish their rule on the earth?
38:34 Can you lift your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of water covers you?
38:35 Can you send out lightning bolts, so they go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
38:36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?
38:37 Who can count the clouds in wisdom?
   Who can tip the wineskins of heaven,
38:38 when the dust is poured into a solid mass and the clods stick together?
38:39 Can you hunt prey for the lioness and satisfy the appetite of young lions,
38:40 when they crouch in their dens and lie in cover, waiting in ambush?
38:41 Who provides food for the raven when its young cry to God and wander for lack of food?

Chapter 39
39:1 Do you know when the wild goats of the rock give birth?
   Do you watch the deer in labor?
39:2 Can you count the months they fulfill, and do you know the time of their birth?
39:3 They crouch, bring forth their young, and cast off their birth pains.
39:4 Their young grow strong and flourish in the open country;
   they go out and do not return to them.
39:5 Who set the wild donkey free?
   Who loosened the bonds of the wild ass,
39:6 whose home I made the steppe, whose dwellings the salt land?
39:7 He laughs at the city's uproar and does not hear the driver's shouts.
39:8 He searches the mountains for his pasture and seeks every green thing.
39:9 Will the wild ox be willing to serve you?
   Will he spend the night at your manger?
39:10 Can you bind the wild ox with his rope in the furrow?
   Will he harrow the valleys behind you?
39:11 Will you trust him because his strength is great, and leave your labor to him?
39:12 Will you rely on him to bring back your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
39:13 The wing of the ostrich flaps joyfully;
   are her wing and plumage like the stork's?
39:14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth and warms them on the dust.
39:15 She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a beast of the field trample them.
39:16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
   she has no fear that her labor may be in vain.
39:17 For God has deprived her of wisdom and given her no share in understanding.
39:18 But when she rises on high, she laughs at the horse and its rider.
39:19 Do you give the horse his strength?
   Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
39:20 Do you make him leap like a locust?
   His majestic snorting is terrifying.
39:21 His hooves paw in the valley, and he rejoices in strength;
   he goes out to meet weapons.
39:22 He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
   he does not turn back from the sword.
39:23 The quiver rattles against him, the gleaming spear and javelin.
39:24 With shaking and rage he swallows the ground;
   he does not stand still at the sound of the horn.
39:25 At each blast of the horn he says, ‘Ha!’ He smells battle from afar, the thunder of captains and the battle cry.
39:26 Is it by your understanding that the hawk takes flight and spreads its wings toward the south?
39:27 Is it at your command that the eagle soars and sets its nest on high?
39:28 It dwells and spends the night on the rock, on the rocky crag and stronghold.
39:29 From there it searches for food;
   its eyes look far into the distance.
39:30 Its young suck up blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”

Chapter 40
40:1 Then the LORD answered Job and said,
40:2 “Will a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
   Let the one who reproves God answer this!”
40:3 Then Job answered the LORD and said,
40:4 “Look, I am of little account;
   what can I answer you?
   I have put my hand over my mouth.
40:5 I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
   twice, and I will add no more.”
40:6 Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind and said,
40:7 “Gird your loins like a man;
   I will question you, and you must instruct me.
40:8 Will you even annul my justice?
   Will you condemn me so that you may be in the right?
40:9 Have you an arm like God's?
   Can you thunder with a voice like his?
40:10 Adorn yourself with majesty and grandeur;
   clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
40:11 Pour out the fury of your anger;
   look at everyone who is proud and bring him low.
40:12 Look at everyone who is proud and humble him;
   tread down the wicked where they stand.
40:13 Hide them together in the dust;
   bind their faces in the hidden place.
40:14 Then I too will acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.
40:15 Look now at Behemoth, whom I made along with you;
   he eats grass like an ox.
40:16 Look at his strength in his loins, his power in the muscles of his belly.
40:17 He bends his tail down like a cedar;
   the sinews of his thighs are interwoven.
40:18 His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.
40:19 He is the foremost of God's works;
   his Maker can bring near his sword.
40:20 For the mountains yield food for him, where all the beasts of the field play.
40:21 He lies beneath the lotus trees, hidden among reeds and marsh.
40:22 The lotus trees cover him with their shade;
   the willows of the stream surround him.
40:23 Look, if the river surges, he is not alarmed;
   he is confident though the Jordan rushes against his mouth.
40:24 Can anyone capture him while he watches, or pierce his nose with snares?

Chapter 41
41:1 Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
41:2 Can you put a rush cord through his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook?
41:3 Will he make many pleas to you?
   Will he speak gentle words to you?
41:4 Will he make a covenant with you, so that you take him as a servant forever?
41:5 Will you play with him as with a bird, or tie him up for your girls?
41:6 Will partners bargain over him?
   Will they divide him among merchants?
41:7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears?
41:8 Lay your hand on him;
   remember the battle, and do it no more!
41:9 Look, his hope proves false;
   is not one thrown down at the very sight of him?
41:10 No one is so fierce that he dares stir him up.
   Who then can stand before me?
41:11 Who has given to me first, that I should repay him?
   Everything under the whole heaven is mine.
41:12 I will not keep silent about his limbs, his mighty strength, and the grace of his form.
41:13 Who can strip off his outer garment?
   Who can enter within his double bridle?
41:14 Who can open the doors of his face?
   Terror surrounds his teeth.
41:15 His pride is rows of shields, closed with a tight seal.
41:16 One draws close to another, and no air comes between them.
41:17 They cling to one another;
   they hold fast and cannot be separated.
41:18 His sneezes flash with light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of dawn.
41:19 Torches go out from his mouth;
   sparks of fire escape.
41:20 Smoke comes from his nostrils, as from a pot heated over reeds.
41:21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out from his mouth.
41:22 Strength dwells in his neck, and dismay dances before him.
41:23 The folds of his flesh cling together, cast firm upon him, unmoving.
41:24 His heart is cast firm as stone, firm as the lower millstone.
41:25 When he rises, the mighty are afraid;
   at his crashing they purify themselves.
41:26 The sword that reaches him cannot stand, nor the spear, the dart, or body armor.
41:27 He counts iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood.
41:28 The arrow does not make him flee;
   slingstones turn to stubble for him.
41:29 Clubs are counted as stubble;
   he laughs at the rattling of the javelin.
41:30 His underside is like sharp potsherds;
   he spreads a threshing sledge over the mud.
41:31 He makes the deep boil like a pot;
   he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
41:32 Behind him he leaves a shining path;
   one would think the deep had gray hair.
41:33 On earth there is none like him, a creature made without fear.
41:34 He looks on all that is high;
   he is king over all the sons of pride.”

Chapter 42
42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said,
42:2 “I know that you can do all things, and no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
42:3 ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ So I have spoken of what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
42:4 ‘Hear, please, and I will speak;
   I will question you, and you must instruct me.’
42:5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye has seen you.
42:6 So I retract and repent in dust and ashes.”
42:7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger burns against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
42:8 Now take seven bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Job, and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept him, so as not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.”
42:9 So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job.
42:10 The LORD restored Job's fortunes when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
42:11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all his former acquaintances came to him and ate bread with him in his house. They shared his grief and comforted him over all the calamity the LORD had brought upon him. Each gave him one piece of money and one gold ring.
42:12 The LORD blessed Job's latter days more than his beginning. He had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 pairs of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys.
42:13 He also had seven sons and three daughters.
42:14 He named the first Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch.
42:15 In all the land no women were found as beautiful as Job's daughters, and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
42:16 After this Job lived 140 years and saw his sons and his sons' sons, four generations.
42:17 Then Job died, old and full of days.

PSALM

Chapter 1
1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk by the counsel of the wicked, or stand in the way of sinners, or sit in the company of scoffers,
1:2 but whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on his law day and night.
1:3 He is like a tree planted beside streams of water, yielding its fruit in season, whose leaves do not wither.
   Whatever he does prospers.
1:4 The wicked are not like this;
   they are like chaff driven by the wind.
1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
1:6 For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Chapter 2
2:1 Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
2:2 The kings of the earth take their stand, and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his anointed one:
2:3 “Let us tear their bonds apart and throw off their ropes.”
2:4 The one enthroned in heaven laughs;
   the Lord mocks them.
2:5 Then he speaks to them in his anger and terrifies them in his fury:
2:6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.”
2:7 I will proclaim the decree: The LORD said to me, “You are my son;
   today I have fathered you.
2:8 Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession.
2:9 You will break them with an iron rod and shatter them like a potter’s vessel.”
2:10 Now, kings, be wise;
   accept correction, judges of the earth.
2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
2:12 Kiss the son, lest he become angry and you perish on the way, for his anger can flare up in a moment.
   Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Chapter 3
A psalm of David, when he fled from his son Absalom.
3:1 LORD, how many are my foes!
   Many rise against me.
3:2 Many say of me, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah.

3:3 But you, LORD, are a shield around me, my glory and the one who lifts my head.
3:4 I cry aloud to the LORD, and he answers me from his holy mountain. Selah.

3:5 I lay down and slept;
   I awoke, for the LORD sustains me.
3:6 I will not fear the tens of thousands who have taken their stand against me on every side.
3:7 Rise up, LORD!
   Save me, my God!
   For you have struck all my enemies on the cheek;
   you have broken the teeth of the wicked.
3:8 Salvation belongs to the LORD.
   May your blessing rest on your people! Selah.

Chapter 4
4:1 Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness.
   You made room for me in distress;
   be gracious to me and hear my prayer.
4:2 You men, how long will you turn my honor to shame?
   How long will you love what is worthless and seek a lie? Selah.

4:3 Know that the LORD has set apart the faithful for himself;
   the LORD hears when I call to him.
4:4 Tremble, and do not sin.
   Reflect in your hearts as you lie on your beds, and be still. Selah.

4:5 Offer righteous sacrifices, and trust in the LORD.
4:6 Many say, “Who will show us any good?”
   Lift up the light of your face upon us, LORD.
4:7 You have put greater joy in my heart than theirs when their grain and new wine abound.
4:8 In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for you alone, LORD, make me dwell in safety.

Chapter 5
5:1 Listen to my words, LORD;
   consider my groaning.
5:2 Attend to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray.
5:3 LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
   in the morning I lay my prayer before you and keep watch.
5:4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness;
   evil cannot dwell with you.
5:5 The arrogant cannot stand before your eyes;
   you hate all who do evil.
5:6 You destroy those who speak lies;
   the LORD detests the bloodthirsty and deceitful.
5:7 But through your abundant steadfast love I will enter your house;
   in reverence for you I will bow toward your holy temple.
5:8 LORD, lead me in your righteousness because of those who watch for my downfall;
   make your way straight before me.
5:9 For nothing in their speech is trustworthy;
   within them is destruction.
   Their throat is an open grave;
   they flatter with their tongue.
5:10 Declare them guilty, God;
   let their own schemes bring them down.
   Drive them out for their many transgressions, for they have rebelled against you.
5:11 Let all who take refuge in you rejoice;
   let them sing for joy forever.
   Spread your protection over them, and let those who love your name exult in you.
5:12 For you bless the righteous, LORD;
   you surround them with favor as with a shield.

Chapter 6
6:1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your fury.
6:2 Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am wasting away;
   heal me, LORD, for my bones tremble.
6:3 My soul is deeply shaken.
   And you, LORD—how long?
6:4 Return, LORD, and deliver my soul;
   save me for the sake of your steadfast love.
6:5 For in death there is no remembrance of you;
   in Sheol, who will give you thanks?
6:6 I am worn out with groaning;
   every night I flood my bed and drench my couch with tears.
6:7 My eye wastes away with grief;
   it grows old because of all my foes.
6:8 Away from me, all who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping.
6:9 The LORD has heard my plea;
   the LORD will receive my prayer.
6:10 Let all my enemies be put to shame and deeply shaken;
   let them turn back in sudden shame.

Chapter 7
7:1 LORD my God, in you I take refuge;
   save me from all who pursue me, and deliver me,
7:2 lest one tear me apart like a lion, ripping me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
7:3 LORD my God, if I have done this, if there is injustice in my hands,
7:4 if I have repaid with evil one who was at peace with me, or plundered my foe without cause,
7:5 let the enemy pursue me and overtake me;
   let him trample my life to the ground and lay my honor in the dust. Selah.

7:6 Rise up, LORD, in your anger;
   rise against the fury of my foes.
   Awake on my behalf;
   you have decreed judgment.
7:7 Let the assembly of peoples surround you;
   return on high above it.
7:8 The LORD judges the peoples.
   Judge me, LORD, according to my righteousness and the integrity within me.
7:9 Let the evil of the wicked come to an end, and establish the righteous, you who test hearts and deepest thoughts, righteous God.
7:10 My shield rests with God, who saves the upright in heart.
7:11 God is a righteous judge, a God who is indignant every day.
7:12 If a man does not turn back, God will sharpen his sword;
   he has bent his bow and made it ready.
7:13 He has prepared deadly weapons for him;
   he makes his arrows fiery shafts.
7:14 Look, the wicked man is in labor with evil;
   he conceives trouble and gives birth to falsehood.
7:15 He digs a pit and hollows it out, then falls into the hole he has made.
7:16 The trouble he causes returns on his own head;
   his violence comes down on his own crown.
7:17 I will thank the LORD for his righteousness and sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.

Chapter 8
8:1 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!
   You have set your splendor above the heavens.
8:2 From the mouths of children and nursing infants you have established strength because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.
8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars you have established,
8:4 what is mortal man that you remember him, the son of man that you care for him?
8:5 You made him a little lower than God and crowned him with glory and honor.
8:6 You gave him rule over the works of your hands;
   you put everything beneath his feet:
8:7 all sheep and cattle, and also the beasts of the field,
8:8 the birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, whatever travels the paths of the seas.
8:9 LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Chapter 9
9:1 I will thank you, LORD, with all my heart;
   I will recount all your wonders.
9:2 I will rejoice and exult in you;
   I will sing praise to your name, Most High.
9:3 When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before you.
9:4 For you have upheld my right and my cause;
   you have sat on the throne, judging righteously.
9:5 You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked;
   you have erased their name forever and ever.
9:6 The enemy has come to an end, in ruins forever;
   you have uprooted their cities, and their very memory has perished.
9:7 But the LORD is enthroned forever;
   he has established his throne for judgment.
9:8 He will judge the world in righteousness and govern the peoples with equity.
9:9 The LORD will be a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of distress.
9:10 Those who know your name trust in you, for you have not forsaken those who seek you, LORD.
9:11 Sing praise to the LORD, who dwells in Zion;
   proclaim his deeds among the peoples.
9:12 For the one who calls bloodshed to account remembers them;
   he does not forget the cry of the afflicted.
9:13 Be gracious to me, LORD;
   see my affliction from those who hate me, you who lift me from the gates of death,
9:14 so that I may recount all your praises in the gates of daughter Zion and rejoice in your salvation.
9:15 The nations have sunk into the pit they made;
   their foot is caught in the net they hid.
9:16 The LORD has made himself known;
   he has carried out judgment.
   The wicked man is trapped by the work of his own hands.
   Higgaion. Selah.

9:17 The wicked will return to Sheol, all the nations that forget God.
9:18 For the needy will not be forgotten forever, nor will the hope of the poor perish for all time.
9:19 Rise up, LORD!
   Do not let mortals prevail;
   let the nations be judged before you.
9:20 Strike them with fear, LORD;
   let the nations know they are only mortal. Selah.

Chapter 10
10:1 Why, LORD, do you stand far away?
   Why do you hide in times of distress?
10:2 In his pride the wicked man pursues the poor;
   let them be caught in the schemes they have devised.
10:3 For the wicked man boasts of his heart’s desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns the LORD.
10:4 In his haughtiness the wicked man does not seek him;
   all his thoughts are, “There is no God.”
10:5 His ways prosper at all times;
   your judgments are high above his sight.
   He snorts at all his foes.
10:6 He says in his heart, “I will not be shaken;
   through all generations I will never face adversity.”
10:7 His mouth is full of curses, deceit, and oppression;
   trouble and evil lie beneath his tongue.
10:8 He sits in ambush in the villages;
   in hiding places he murders the innocent.
   His eyes watch secretly for the helpless.
10:9 He lurks in hiding like a lion in its lair;
   he lies in wait to seize the poor.
   He seizes the poor by drawing them into his net.
10:10 He crouches and lies low, and the helpless fall under his might.
10:11 He says in his heart, “God has forgotten;
   he has hidden his face and will never see.”
10:12 Rise up, LORD!
   God, lift your hand!
   Do not forget the afflicted.
10:13 Why does the wicked man spurn God and say in his heart, “You will not call me to account”?
10:14 But you have seen;
   you observe trouble and grief to take them in hand.
   The helpless entrust themselves to you;
   you have been the helper of the fatherless.
10:15 Break the arm of the wicked and evil man;
   call his wickedness to account until none can be found.
10:16 The LORD is King forever and ever;
   the nations have perished from his land.
10:17 You have heard the desire of the humble, LORD;
   you strengthen their heart and incline your ear,
10:18 to bring justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that mortals of the earth may strike terror no more.

Chapter 11
11:1 In the LORD I take refuge.
   How can you say to me, “Flee like a bird to your mountain”?
11:2 For look, the wicked bend the bow;
   they set their arrow on the string to shoot from the darkness at the upright in heart.
11:3 When the foundations are torn down, what can the righteous do?
11:4 The LORD is in his holy temple;
   the LORD’s throne is in heaven.
   His eyes behold;
   his eyelids examine humankind.
11:5 The LORD tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and those who love violence.
11:6 He will rain snares upon the wicked;
   fire, sulfur, and a scorching wind will be the portion of their cup.
11:7 For the LORD is righteous;
   he loves righteous deeds.
   The upright will behold his face.

Chapter 12
12:1 Save us, LORD, for the faithful are gone;
   the loyal have vanished from humankind.
12:2 They speak falsehood to one another;
   with flattering lips and a double heart they speak.
12:3 May the LORD cut off every flattering lip and every tongue that speaks boastfully,
12:4 those who say, “With our tongue we will prevail;
   our lips are our own.
   Who is lord over us?”
12:5 “Because the poor are oppressed and the needy groan, I will now rise up,” says the LORD.
   “I will give safety to the one who longs for it.”
12:6 The words of the LORD are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times.
12:7 You, LORD, will guard them;
   you will protect him from this generation forever.
12:8 The wicked prowl on every side when vileness is exalted among humankind.

Chapter 13
13:1 How long, LORD?
   Will you forget me forever?
   How long will you hide your face from me?
13:2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts, with sorrow in my heart each day?
   How long will my enemy rise above me?
13:3 Look and answer me, LORD my God.
   Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death,
13:4 lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes rejoice when I stumble.
13:5 But I have trusted in your steadfast love;
   my heart will rejoice in your salvation.
13:6 I will sing to the LORD, for he has dealt generously with me.

Chapter 14
14:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
   They are corrupt;
   their deeds are detestable.
   No one does good.
14:2 The LORD looks down from heaven on humankind to see if anyone understands, if anyone seeks God.
14:3 All have turned aside;
   together they have become corrupt.
   No one does good, not even one.
14:4 Do all who do evil have no understanding?
   They devour my people as they eat bread, and they do not call on the LORD.
14:5 There they are filled with dread, for God is with the generation of the righteous.
14:6 You put the poor man’s plans to shame, but the LORD is his refuge.
14:7 Oh, that Israel’s salvation would come from Zion!
   When the LORD restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will exult and Israel will rejoice.

Chapter 15
15:1 LORD, who may stay in your tent?
   Who may dwell on your holy mountain?
15:2 One who walks with integrity, does what is righteous, and speaks truth from his heart;
15:3 who does not slander with his tongue, does no harm to his neighbor, and brings no reproach upon those near him;
15:4 who despises the vile but honors those who fear the LORD;
   who swears to his own hurt and does not go back on his word;
15:5 who does not lend his money at interest or accept a bribe against the innocent.
   One who does these things will never be shaken.

Chapter 16
16:1 Guard me, God, for in you I take refuge.
16:2 My soul, you have said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
   I have no good apart from you.”
16:3 As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.
16:4 The sorrows of those who hurry after another god will multiply.
   I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood or take their names upon my lips.
16:5 The LORD is my allotted portion and my cup;
   you hold my lot.
16:6 The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
   indeed, my inheritance is beautiful to me.
16:7 I will bless the LORD, who counsels me;
   even at night my inmost thoughts instruct me.
16:8 I have set the LORD always before me;
   because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
16:9 Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;
   my flesh also dwells secure.
16:10 For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol or let your faithful one see the pit.
16:11 You make known to me the path of life;
   in your presence is fullness of joy;
   at your right hand are pleasures forever.

Chapter 17
17:1 Hear a just cause, LORD;
   attend to my cry.
   Listen to my prayer from lips without deceit.
17:2 Let my vindication come from your presence;
   let your eyes behold what is right.
17:3 You have tested my heart, visited me at night, and refined me;
   you find nothing.
   I have resolved that my mouth will not transgress.
17:4 As for human deeds, by the word of your lips I have kept myself from the paths of the violent.
17:5 My steps have held to your tracks;
   my feet have not slipped.
17:6 I call on you, for you will answer me, God;
   incline your ear to me and hear my words.
17:7 Show the wonders of your steadfast love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge from their attackers.
17:8 Guard me as the apple of your eye;
   hide me in the shadow of your wings
17:9 from the wicked who assault me, from my deadly enemies who surround me.
17:10 They have closed their unfeeling hearts;
   with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
17:11 Now they surround us at every step;
   they fix their eyes on throwing us to the ground.
17:12 He is like a lion longing to tear prey apart, like a young lion lurking in hiding.
17:13 Rise up, LORD!
   Confront him and bring him down;
   with your sword deliver my soul from the wicked,
17:14 with your hand, LORD, from men, from men of this world whose portion is in this life.
   You fill their bellies with your stored treasures;
   their sons are satisfied and leave their surplus to their little ones.
17:15 As for me, I will behold your face in righteousness;
   when I awake, I will be satisfied with your likeness.

Chapter 18
For the music leader. Of David, the servant of the LORD, who spoke the words of this song to the LORD on the day the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.
18:1 He said: “I love you, LORD, my strength.
18:2 The LORD is my crag, my fortress, and my deliverer;
   my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
18:3 I call on the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.
18:4 The cords of death enclosed me;
   torrents of destruction terrified me.
18:5 The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
   the snares of death confronted me.
18:6 In my distress I called on the LORD and cried to my God for help.
   From his temple he heard my voice;
   my cry came before him, into his ears.
18:7 Then the earth shook and quaked;
   the foundations of the mountains trembled and shook because he was angry.
18:8 Smoke rose from his nostrils, and consuming fire came from his mouth;
   coals blazed from it.
18:9 He bent the heavens and came down, with thick darkness beneath his feet.
18:10 He rode on a cherub and flew;
   he soared on the wings of the wind.
18:11 He made darkness his hiding place, his shelter all around him: dark waters and dense clouds.
18:12 From the brightness before him his clouds passed, with hail and coals of fire.
18:13 The LORD thundered in the heavens;
   the Most High sounded his voice, with hail and coals of fire.
18:14 He sent out his arrows and scattered them;
   he hurled lightning in abundance and threw them into confusion.
18:15 Then the watercourses appeared, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, LORD, at the blast of breath from your nostrils.
18:16 He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
   he drew me out of mighty waters.
18:17 He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too powerful for me.
18:18 They confronted me on the day of my calamity, but the LORD was my support.
18:19 He brought me out into a spacious place;
   he rescued me because he delighted in me.
18:20 The LORD rewarded me according to my righteousness;
   according to the cleanness of my hands he repaid me.
18:21 For I have kept the ways of the LORD and have not wickedly turned away from my God.
18:22 All his judgments were before me, and I did not put his statutes away from me.
18:23 I was blameless with him and kept myself from my iniquity.
18:24 So the LORD repaid me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands before his eyes.
18:25 With the faithful you show yourself faithful;
   with the blameless man you show yourself blameless.
18:26 With the pure you show yourself pure, and with the crooked you deal shrewdly.
18:27 For you save an afflicted people, but you bring down haughty eyes.
18:28 For you light my lamp;
   the LORD my God brightens my darkness.
18:29 With you I can charge a troop;
   with my God I can leap over a wall.
18:30 God’s way is perfect;
   the word of the LORD is refined.
   He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.
18:31 For who is God besides the LORD?
   Who is a rock except our God?
18:32 It is God who girds me with strength and makes my way blameless.
18:33 He makes my feet like the feet of deer and sets me on my heights.
18:34 He trains my hands for battle, so that my arms can bend a bronze bow.
18:35 You have given me the shield of your salvation;
   your right hand supports me, and your gentleness makes me great.
18:36 You give my steps room beneath me, and my ankles have not slipped.
18:37 I pursued my enemies and overtook them;
   I did not turn back until they were finished.
18:38 I crushed them so that they could not rise;
   they fell beneath my feet.
18:39 You girded me with strength for battle;
   you subdued beneath me those who rose against me.
18:40 You made my enemies turn their backs to me, and I destroyed those who hated me.
18:41 They cried for help, but there was no savior;
   they cried to the LORD, but he did not answer them.
18:42 I ground them fine as dust before the wind;
   I poured them out like mud in the streets.
18:43 You delivered me from the strife of the people and made me head of nations;
   a people I had not known serves me.
18:44 As soon as they hear, they obey me;
   foreigners feign submission to me.
18:45 Foreigners wither away and come trembling from their strongholds.
18:46 The LORD lives!
   Blessed be my rock!
   Exalted be the God of my salvation!
18:47 He is the God who grants me vengeance and subdues peoples beneath me,
18:48 who delivers me from my enemies.
   You lift me above those who rise against me;
   you rescue me from the violent man.
18:49 Therefore I will thank you among the nations, LORD, and sing praise to your name.
18:50 He grants great deliverance to his king and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever.”

Chapter 19
19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God;
   the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.
19:2 Day pours out speech to day, and night reveals knowledge to night.
19:3 There is no speech, and there are no words;
   their voice is not heard.
19:4 Yet their line goes out through all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.
   In them he has set a tent for the sun,
19:5 which comes out like a bridegroom from his chamber and rejoices like a strong man to run its course.
19:6 It rises from one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other;
   nothing is hidden from its heat.
19:7 The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul;
   the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making the simple wise.
19:8 The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart;
   the commandment of the LORD is pure, giving light to the eyes.
19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever;
   the judgments of the LORD are true, altogether righteous.
19:10 They are more desirable than gold, than much fine gold, and sweeter than honey, than drippings from the honeycomb.
19:11 By them your servant is warned;
   in keeping them there is great reward.
19:12 Who can discern his errors?
   Clear me of hidden faults.
19:13 Keep your servant also from presumptuous sins;
   do not let them rule over me.
   Then I will be blameless and free of great transgression.
19:14 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable before you, LORD, my rock and my redeemer.

Chapter 20
20:1 May the LORD answer you in the day of distress;
   may the name of the God of Jacob set you safely on high.
20:2 May he send you help from the sanctuary and support you from Zion.
20:3 May he remember all your offerings and accept your burnt offering. Selah.

20:4 May he grant you your heart’s desire and fulfill all your plans.
20:5 We will shout for joy over your salvation and raise our banners in the name of our God.
   May the LORD fulfill all your requests.
20:6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
   he will answer him from his holy heavens with the saving might of his right hand.
20:7 Some rely on chariots and some on horses, but we call to mind the name of the LORD our God.
20:8 They have bowed down and fallen, but we have risen and stand firm.
20:9 LORD, save!
   May the king answer us on the day we call.

Chapter 21
21:1 LORD, the king rejoices in your strength;
   how greatly he exults in your salvation!
21:2 You have granted him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.

21:3 For you meet him with blessings of goodness;
   you set a crown of fine gold on his head.
21:4 He asked you for life, and you gave it to him: length of days forever and ever.
21:5 His glory is great through your salvation;
   you bestow splendor and majesty on him.
21:6 For you make him a blessing forever;
   you gladden him with joy in your presence.
21:7 For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he will not be shaken.
21:8 Your hand will find all your enemies;
   your right hand will find those who hate you.
21:9 You will make them like a fiery furnace when you appear.
   The LORD will swallow them in his anger, and fire will consume them.
21:10 You will destroy their fruit from the earth and their offspring from humankind.
21:11 Though they intend evil against you and devise a scheme, they cannot succeed.
21:12 For you will make them turn their backs when you aim your bowstrings at their faces.
21:13 Be exalted, LORD, in your strength!
   We will sing and praise your might.

Chapter 22
22:1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
   Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
22:2 My God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.
22:3 Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.
22:4 In you our fathers trusted;
   they trusted, and you delivered them.
22:5 To you they cried and were rescued;
   in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
22:6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by humankind and despised by the people.
22:7 All who see me mock me;
   they sneer with their lips and shake their heads:
22:8 “Commit yourself to the LORD!
   Let him deliver him;
   let him rescue him, since he delights in him.”
22:9 Yet you brought me from the womb;
   you made me trust at my mother’s breasts.
22:10 From birth I was cast upon you;
   from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
22:11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
22:12 Many bulls surround me;
   mighty bulls of Bashan encircle me.
22:13 They open their mouths against me like a lion tearing prey and roaring.
22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint.
   My heart has become like wax;
   it melts within me.
22:15 My strength has dried up like a pottery shard, and my tongue clings to my jaws;
   you lay me in the dust of death.
22:16 For dogs surround me;
   a band of evildoers encircles me, like a lion at my hands and feet.
22:17 I can count all my bones;
   they look on and stare at me.
22:18 They divide my garments among themselves and cast lots for my clothing.
22:19 But you, LORD, do not be far away;
   my strength, hurry to help me.
22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my only life from the power of the dog.
22:21 Save me from the lion’s mouth!
   From the horns of wild oxen you have answered me.
22:22 I will proclaim your name to my brothers;
   in the midst of the assembly I will praise you.
22:23 You who fear the LORD, praise him!
   All you offspring of Jacob, honor him!
   Stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
22:24 For he has not despised or detested the affliction of the afflicted;
   he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him for help.
22:25 From you comes my praise in the great assembly;
   I will fulfill my vows before those who fear him.
22:26 The humble will eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek the LORD will praise him.
   May your hearts live forever!
22:27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD;
   all the families of the nations will bow before you.
22:28 For kingship belongs to the LORD, and he rules over the nations.
22:29 All the prosperous of the earth will eat and bow down;
   before him all who go down to the dust will kneel, even one who cannot keep himself alive.
22:30 Offspring will serve him;
   a coming generation will be told about the Lord.
22:31 They will come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet to be born: he has done it.

Chapter 23
23:1 The LORD is my shepherd;
   I will lack nothing.
23:2 He makes me lie down in green pastures;
   he leads me beside still waters.
23:3 He restores my soul;
   he guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
23:4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
   your rod and your staff comfort me.
23:5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my foes;
   you anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
23:6 Surely goodness and steadfast love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will return to the house of the LORD for long days to come.

Chapter 24
24:1 The earth is the LORD’s, and all it contains, the world and those who dwell in it.
24:2 For he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers.
24:3 Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD?
   Who may stand in his holy place?
24:4 One with clean hands and a pure heart, who has not invoked my life in vain or sworn deceitfully.
24:5 He will receive blessing from the LORD and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
24:6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face: Jacob. Selah.

24:7 Lift up your heads, gates!
   Be lifted up, ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!
24:8 Who is this King of glory?
   The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle.
24:9 Lift up your heads, gates!
   Lift them up, ancient doors, that the King of glory may enter!
24:10 Who is he, this King of glory?
   The LORD of hosts—he is the King of glory! Selah.

Chapter 25
25:1 To you, LORD, I lift up my soul.
25:2 My God, in you I trust;
   do not let me be put to shame or let my enemies exult over me.
25:3 Indeed, none who wait for you will be put to shame;
   those who act treacherously without cause will be put to shame.
25:4 Make your ways known to me, LORD;
   teach me your paths.
25:5 Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation;
   for you I wait all day.
25:6 Remember your compassion, LORD, and your steadfast love, for they are from of old.
25:7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
   remember me according to your steadfast love, for the sake of your goodness, LORD.
25:8 Good and upright is the LORD;
   therefore he instructs sinners in the way.
25:9 He guides the humble in justice and teaches the humble his way.
25:10 All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.
25:11 For your name’s sake, LORD, forgive my iniquity, for it is great.
25:12 Who is the man who fears the LORD?
   He will teach him the way he should choose.
25:13 His soul will dwell in well-being, and his offspring will inherit the land.
25:14 The LORD’s intimate counsel is for those who fear him;
   he makes his covenant known to them.
25:15 My eyes are always toward the LORD, for he will draw my feet out of the net.
25:16 Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am alone and afflicted.
25:17 The troubles of my heart have grown;
   bring me out of my distresses.
25:18 See my affliction and my toil, and forgive all my sins.
25:19 See how many my enemies are and how violently they hate me.
25:20 Guard my soul and deliver me;
   do not let me be put to shame, for in you I take refuge.
25:21 Let integrity and uprightness guard me, for I wait for you.
25:22 Redeem Israel, God, from all his troubles.

Chapter 26
26:1 Vindicate me, LORD, for I have walked in my integrity and trusted in the LORD;
   I will not slip.
26:2 Examine me, LORD, and test me;
   refine my inmost thoughts and my heart.
26:3 For your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I have walked in your faithfulness.
26:4 I have not sat with false men, nor will I join those who conceal what they are.
26:5 I hate the assembly of evildoers and will not sit with the wicked.
26:6 I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, LORD,
26:7 to sound my thanksgiving aloud and recount all your wonders.
26:8 LORD, I love the dwelling of your house and the place where your glory resides.
26:9 Do not gather my soul with sinners or my life with bloodthirsty men,
26:10 whose hands hold wicked schemes and whose right hands are full of bribes.
26:11 But I will walk in my integrity;
   redeem me and be gracious to me.
26:12 My foot stands on level ground;
   in the assemblies I will bless the LORD.

Chapter 27
27:1 The LORD is my light and my salvation;
   whom shall I fear?
   The LORD is the stronghold of my life;
   whom shall I dread?
27:2 When evildoers came against me to devour my flesh, my foes and my enemies, they stumbled and fell.
27:3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart will not fear;
   though war rise against me, even then I will trust.
27:4 One thing I have asked of the LORD, and this I will seek: to dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and inquire in his temple.
27:5 For he will hide me in his shelter on the day of trouble;
   he will conceal me in the hiding place of his tent and lift me high upon a rock.
27:6 Now my head will rise above the enemies around me;
   in his tent I will offer sacrifices with shouts of joy.
   I will sing and make music to the LORD.
27:7 Hear my voice, LORD, when I cry;
   be gracious to me and answer me.
27:8 On your behalf my heart says, “Seek my face.”
   Your face, LORD, I will seek.
27:9 Do not hide your face from me;
   do not turn your servant away in anger.
   You have been my help;
   do not cast me off or forsake me, God of my salvation.
27:10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will take me in.
27:11 Teach me your way, LORD, and lead me on a level path because of those who watch for my downfall.
27:12 Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses have risen against me, breathing violence.
27:13 If I had not believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living...
27:14 Wait for the LORD;
   be strong, and let your heart take courage.
   Wait for the LORD!

Chapter 28
28:1 To you, LORD, I call;
   my rock, do not turn a deaf ear to me.
   If you remain silent toward me, I will become like those who go down to the pit.
28:2 Hear my pleading when I cry to you for help, when I lift my hands toward your holy inner sanctuary.
28:3 Do not drag me away with the wicked, with those who do evil, who speak peace to their neighbors while evil is in their hearts.
28:4 Give to them according to their deeds and the evil of their actions;
   give to them according to the work of their hands.
   Repay them what they deserve.
28:5 Because they pay no heed to the deeds of the LORD or the work of his hands, he will tear them down and not build them up.
28:6 Blessed be the LORD, for he has heard my pleading!
28:7 The LORD is my strength and my shield;
   my heart trusted in him, and I was helped.
   My heart exults, and with my song I thank him.
28:8 The LORD is their strength;
   he is the saving stronghold of his anointed.
28:9 Save your people and bless your inheritance;
   shepherd them and carry them forever.

Chapter 29
29:1 Ascribe to the LORD, heavenly beings;
   ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
29:2 Ascribe to the LORD the glory of his name;
   worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.
29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters;
   the God of glory thunders;
   the LORD is over mighty waters.
29:4 The voice of the LORD is powerful;
   the voice of the LORD is majestic.
29:5 The voice of the LORD breaks cedars;
   the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
29:6 He makes them skip like a calf, Lebanon and Sirion like a young wild ox.
29:7 The voice of the LORD cleaves flames of fire.
29:8 The voice of the LORD makes the wilderness tremble;
   the LORD makes the wilderness of Kadesh tremble.
29:9 The voice of the LORD makes deer give birth and strips the forests bare;
   in his temple all cry, “Glory!”
29:10 The LORD sat enthroned over the flood;
   the LORD sits as King forever.
29:11 The LORD will give strength to his people;
   the LORD will bless his people with peace.

Chapter 30
30:1 I will exalt you, LORD, for you have drawn me up and have not let my enemies rejoice over me.
30:2 LORD my God, I cried to you for help, and you healed me.
30:3 LORD, you brought my soul up from Sheol;
   you kept me alive from going down to the pit.
30:4 Sing praise to the LORD, you his faithful ones;
   give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.
30:5 For his anger is but a moment, his favor a lifetime.
   Weeping may lodge for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
30:6 In my ease I said, “I will never be shaken.”
30:7 LORD, by your favor you made my mountain stand strong;
   you hid your face, and I was terrified.
30:8 To you, LORD, I cried, and to the Lord I pleaded:
30:9 “What gain is there in my blood, in my going down to the pit?
   Will the dust thank you?
   Will it proclaim your faithfulness?
30:10 Hear, LORD, and be gracious to me;
   LORD, be my helper.”
30:11 You turned my mourning into dancing;
   you loosened my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
30:12 so that my glory may sing praise to you and not be silent.
   LORD my God, I will thank you forever.

Chapter 31
31:1 In you, LORD, I take refuge;
   never let me be put to shame.
   Deliver me in your righteousness.
31:2 Incline your ear to me;
   rescue me quickly.
   Be my rock of refuge, a fortress to save me.
31:3 For you are my crag and my fortress;
   for your name’s sake, lead me and guide me.
31:4 Draw me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my stronghold.
31:5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
   you have redeemed me, LORD, faithful God.
31:6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD.
31:7 I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love, for you have seen my affliction and known the troubles of my soul.
31:8 You have not handed me over to the enemy;
   you have set my feet in a spacious place.
31:9 Be gracious to me, LORD, for I am in distress;
   my eye wastes away with grief, my soul and my body too.
31:10 For my life is spent in sorrow and my years in sighing;
   my strength fails because of my iniquity, and my bones waste away.
31:11 Because of all my foes I have become a reproach, especially to my neighbors, and a terror to those who know me;
   those who see me in the street flee from me.
31:12 I am forgotten, out of mind like the dead;
   I have become like a ruined vessel.
31:13 For I hear the slander of many—terror on every side!
   They conspire together against me, plotting to take my life.
31:14 But I trust in you, LORD;
   I say, “You are my God.”
31:15 My times are in your hand;
   deliver me from the hand of my enemies and those who pursue me.
31:16 Make your face shine upon your servant;
   save me in your steadfast love.
31:17 LORD, do not let me be put to shame, for I have called on you.
   Let the wicked be put to shame and lie silent in Sheol.
31:18 Let lying lips be silenced, lips that speak arrogantly against the righteous with pride and contempt.
31:19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and shown to those who take refuge in you, in the sight of humankind!
31:20 You hide them in the shelter of your presence from human plots;
   you conceal them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.
31:21 Blessed be the LORD, for he has shown me the wonders of his steadfast love in a besieged city!
31:22 In my alarm I said, “I am cut off from before your eyes.”
   Yet you heard my pleading when I cried to you for help.
31:23 Love the LORD, all you his faithful ones!
   The LORD guards the loyal, but repays the proud in full measure.
31:24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD.

Chapter 32
32:1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
32:2 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not count iniquity, and in whose spirit is no deceit.
32:3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day.
32:4 For day and night your hand lay heavy on me;
   my vitality dried up in the heat of summer. Selah.

32:5 I made my sin known to you and did not cover my iniquity.
   I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

32:6 Therefore let everyone faithful pray to you while you may be found;
   surely, when mighty waters overflow, they will not reach him.
32:7 You are my hiding place;
   you guard me from distress and surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

32:8 I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
   I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
32:9 Do not be like a horse or mule, without understanding, which must be restrained with bit and bridle;
   otherwise it will not come near you.
32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the LORD.
32:11 Rejoice in the LORD and exult, you righteous!
   Shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Chapter 33
33:1 Sing for joy in the LORD, you righteous;
   praise befits the upright.
33:2 Thank the LORD with the lyre;
   sing praise to him on a harp of ten strings.
33:3 Sing him a new song;
   play skillfully with shouts of joy.
33:4 For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
33:5 He loves righteousness and justice;
   the earth is full of the steadfast love of the LORD.
33:6 By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, and by the breath of his mouth all their host.
33:7 He gathers the waters of the sea like a heap;
   he puts the depths in storehouses.
33:8 Let all the earth fear the LORD;
   let all the world’s inhabitants stand in awe of him.
33:9 For he spoke, and it came to be;
   he commanded, and it stood firm.
33:10 The LORD frustrates the counsel of the nations;
   he thwarts the plans of the peoples.
33:11 The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart from generation to generation.
33:12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people he has chosen as his inheritance.
33:13 The LORD looks down from heaven;
   he sees all humankind.
33:14 From his dwelling place he watches all who inhabit the earth.
33:15 He forms the hearts of them all and understands all their deeds.
33:16 No king is saved by a great army;
   no warrior is delivered by great strength.
33:17 A horse is a false hope for salvation;
   its great might cannot rescue.
33:18 Look, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love,
33:19 to deliver their souls from death and keep them alive in famine.
33:20 Our soul waits for the LORD;
   he is our help and our shield.
33:21 For our heart rejoices in him, because we trust in his holy name.
33:22 May your steadfast love be upon us, LORD, as we hope in you.

Chapter 34
34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times;
   his praise will always be in my mouth.
34:2 My soul will boast in the LORD;
   let the humble hear and rejoice.
34:3 Magnify the LORD with me;
   let us exalt his name together.
34:4 I sought the LORD, and he answered me;
   he delivered me from all my fears.
34:5 They looked to him and grew radiant;
   let their faces never be put to shame.
34:6 This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him and saved him from all his troubles.
34:7 The angel of the LORD camps around those who fear him and rescues them.
34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good;
   blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!
34:9 Fear the LORD, you his holy ones, for those who fear him lack nothing.
34:10 Young lions suffer want and hunger, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.
34:11 Come, children, listen to me;
   I will teach you the fear of the LORD.
34:12 Who is the man who desires life and loves days in which to see good?
34:13 Guard your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit.
34:14 Turn from evil and do good;
   seek peace and pursue it.
34:15 The eyes of the LORD are on the righteous, and his ears attend to their cry.
34:16 The face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.
34:17 They cry out, and the LORD hears and delivers them from all their troubles.
34:18 The LORD is near to the brokenhearted and saves those crushed in spirit.
34:19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous man, but the LORD delivers him from them all.
34:20 He guards all his bones;
   not one of them is broken.
34:21 Evil will kill the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.
34:22 The LORD redeems the souls of his servants;
   none who take refuge in him will be condemned.

Chapter 35
35:1 Contend, LORD, with those who contend with me;
   fight those who fight against me.
35:2 Take hold of shield and great shield, and rise to my aid.
35:3 Draw out the spear and block the way against my pursuers;
   say to my soul, “I am your salvation.”
35:4 Let those who seek my life be put to shame and disgrace;
   let those who plot my harm turn back in humiliation.
35:5 Let them be like chaff before the wind, with the angel of the LORD driving them away.
35:6 Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the LORD pursuing them.
35:7 For without cause they hid their net for me in a pit;
   without cause they dug to take my life.
35:8 Let ruin come upon him unawares;
   let the net he hid catch him, and let him fall into it to his ruin.
35:9 Then my soul will exult in the LORD and rejoice in his salvation.
35:10 All my bones will say, “LORD, who is like you, delivering the afflicted from one stronger than he, the poor and needy from the one who robs him?”
35:11 Violent witnesses rise up;
   they question me about things I do not know.
35:12 They repay me evil for good, leaving my soul bereft.
35:13 But when they were sick, I wore sackcloth;
   I humbled my soul with fasting, and my prayer returned to my breast.
35:14 I went about as for a friend or brother;
   I bowed down in mourning, as one grieving for his mother.
35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered;
   stricken men I did not know gathered against me.
   They tore at me without ceasing.
35:16 With godless mockers who jeer for a cake, they gnash their teeth at me.
35:17 Lord, how long will you look on?
   Rescue my soul from their ravages, my only life from young lions.
35:18 I will thank you in the great assembly;
   among a mighty people I will praise you.
35:19 Do not let those wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me, or those who hate me without cause wink their eye.
35:20 For they do not speak peace;
   they devise deceitful words against those who live quietly in the land.
35:21 They open their mouths wide against me and say, “Aha, aha!
   Our eyes have seen it!”
35:22 You have seen, LORD;
   do not be silent.
   Lord, do not be far from me.
35:23 Rouse yourself and awake for my judgment, my God and my Lord, for my cause.
35:24 Judge me according to your righteousness, LORD my God;
   do not let them rejoice over me.
35:25 Do not let them say in their hearts, “Aha, just what we wanted!”
   Do not let them say, “We have swallowed him up!”
35:26 Let those who rejoice at my harm be put to shame and humiliation together;
   let those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and disgrace.
35:27 Let those who desire my vindication shout for joy and rejoice;
   let them always say, “May the LORD, who delights in his servant’s well-being, be magnified!”
35:28 Then my tongue will speak of your righteousness and of your praise all day.

Chapter 36
36:1 An oracle in my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: there is no fear of God before his eyes.
36:2 For he flatters himself in his own eyes too much to discover and hate his iniquity.
36:3 The words of his mouth are evil and deceit;
   he has stopped acting wisely and doing good.
36:4 He plots evil on his bed;
   he sets himself on a way that is not good and does not reject evil.
36:5 LORD, your steadfast love reaches the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.
36:6 Your righteousness is like the mountains of God;
   your judgments are a great deep.
   You save man and beast, LORD.
36:7 How precious is your steadfast love, God!
   Humankind takes refuge in the shadow of your wings.
36:8 They are filled from the abundance of your house, and you give them drink from the river of your delights.
36:9 For with you is the fountain of life;
   in your light we see light.
36:10 Extend your steadfast love to those who know you, and your righteousness to the upright in heart.
36:11 Do not let the foot of pride come against me, or the hand of the wicked drive me away.
36:12 There the evildoers have fallen;
   they are thrust down and cannot rise.

Chapter 37
37:1 Do not fret over evildoers or envy those who do wrong.
37:2 For they will soon wither like grass and fade like green vegetation.
37:3 Trust in the LORD and do good;
   dwell in the land and feed on faithfulness.
37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
37:5 Commit your way to the LORD;
   trust in him, and he will act.
37:6 He will bring forth your righteousness like the light, your just cause like the noonday.
37:7 Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him.
   Do not fret over the man whose way prospers, who carries out wicked schemes.
37:8 Let go of anger and abandon wrath;
   do not fret—it only leads to evil.
37:9 For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD will inherit the land.
37:10 In a little while the wicked man will be no more;
   you will look at his place, and he will not be there.
37:11 But the meek will inherit the land and delight in abundant peace.
37:12 The wicked man plots against the righteous man and gnashes his teeth at him.
37:13 The Lord laughs at him, for he sees that his day is coming.
37:14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their bow to bring down the poor and needy, to slaughter those whose way is upright.
37:15 Their sword will enter their own heart, and their bows will be broken.
37:16 Better is the little the righteous man has than the abundance of many wicked people.
37:17 For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD supports the righteous.
37:18 The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their inheritance will last forever.
37:19 They will not be put to shame in times of disaster, and in days of famine they will have enough.
37:20 But the wicked will perish;
   the enemies of the LORD, like the beauty of pastures, will vanish;
   like smoke they will vanish.
37:21 The wicked man borrows and does not repay, but the righteous man is gracious and gives.
37:22 For those he blesses will inherit the land, but those he curses will be cut off.
37:23 A man’s steps are established by the LORD, and he delights in his way.
37:24 Though he falls, he will not lie cast down, for the LORD holds his hand.
37:25 I was young and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous man forsaken or his offspring begging for bread.
37:26 All day he is gracious and lends, and his offspring are a blessing.
37:27 Turn from evil and do good, and dwell forever.
37:28 For the LORD loves justice and will not forsake his faithful ones.
   They are guarded forever, but the offspring of the wicked will be cut off.
37:29 The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.
37:30 The mouth of the righteous man speaks wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.
37:31 The law of his God is in his heart;
   his steps do not slip.
37:32 The wicked man watches the righteous man and seeks to kill him.
37:33 The LORD will not abandon him to his hand or condemn him when he is judged.
37:34 Wait for the LORD and keep his way;
   he will raise you up to inherit the land.
   You will see when the wicked are cut off.
37:35 I have seen a wicked, ruthless man spreading like a lush tree in its native soil.
37:36 But he passed away and was gone;
   I sought him, but he could not be found.
37:37 Observe the blameless and look at the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace.
37:38 But transgressors will be destroyed together;
   the future of the wicked will be cut off.
37:39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
   he is their stronghold in times of distress.
37:40 The LORD helps them and delivers them;
   he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.

Chapter 38
38:1 LORD, do not rebuke me in your indignation or discipline me in your fury.
38:2 For your arrows have sunk into me, and your hand has come down upon me.
38:3 There is no soundness in my flesh because of your anger, no peace in my bones because of my sin.
38:4 For my iniquities have risen over my head;
   like a heavy burden they weigh too much for me.
38:5 My wounds stink and fester because of my folly.
38:6 I am bent and bowed down deeply;
   all day I go about in mourning.
38:7 For my loins are filled with burning, and there is no soundness in my flesh.
38:8 I am numb and utterly crushed;
   I roar from the turmoil of my heart.
38:9 Lord, all my longing lies before you, and my sighing is not hidden from you.
38:10 My heart pounds, my strength leaves me;
   even the light of my eyes is gone.
38:11 My friends and companions stand apart from my wound, and those close to me stand far away.
38:12 Those who seek my life lay snares;
   those who seek my harm speak of ruin and ponder deceit all day.
38:13 But I am like a deaf man who does not hear, like a man unable to speak who does not open his mouth.
38:14 I have become like a man who does not hear, with no rebuttal in his mouth.
38:15 For I wait for you, LORD;
   you will answer, Lord my God.
38:16 For I said, “Do not let them rejoice over me;
   when my foot slips, they exalt themselves over me.”
38:17 For I am ready to stumble, and my pain is always before me.
38:18 I confess my iniquity;
   I am troubled over my sin.
38:19 But my enemies are vigorous and strong, and those who hate me wrongfully have grown in number.
38:20 Those who repay evil for good oppose me because I pursue what is good.
38:21 Do not forsake me, LORD;
   my God, do not be far from me.
38:22 Hurry to help me, Lord, my salvation.

Chapter 39
39:1 I said, “I will guard my ways so that I do not sin with my tongue;
   I will keep a muzzle on my mouth while the wicked man is before me.”
39:2 I was mute and silent;
   I kept still even from good, but my pain grew worse.
39:3 My heart grew hot within me;
   as I pondered, a fire burned.
   Then I spoke with my tongue:
39:4 “LORD, make me know my end and the measure of my days, so that I may know how fleeting I am.
39:5 Look, you have made my days mere handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
   Surely every person, though standing firm, is only a breath. Selah.

39:6 Surely a man walks about as a shadow;
   surely they bustle in vain.
   He heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather it.
39:7 And now, Lord, what do I wait for?
   My hope is in you.
39:8 Deliver me from all my transgressions;
   do not make me the fool’s reproach.
39:9 I am mute;
   I do not open my mouth, for you have done it.
39:10 Remove your stroke from me;
   I am spent under the assault of your hand.
39:11 With rebukes for iniquity you discipline a man;
   like a moth you consume what he treasures.
   Surely every person is a breath. Selah.

39:12 Hear my prayer, LORD, and listen to my cry for help;
   do not be silent at my tears.
   For I am a stranger with you, a temporary resident like all my fathers.
39:13 Look away from me, that I may regain cheer before I depart and am no more.”

Chapter 40
40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD;
   he inclined toward me and heard my cry for help.
40:2 He brought me up from the roaring pit, from the miry clay;
   he set my feet upon a rock and made my steps firm.
40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.
   Many will see and fear, and trust in the LORD.
40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust and does not turn to the arrogant or those who stray after falsehood.
40:5 Many are the wonders you have done, LORD my God, and your thoughts toward us;
   none can compare with you.
   I would proclaim and tell them, but they are too many to recount.
40:6 Sacrifice and offering you have not desired;
   you have opened my ears.
   Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.
40:7 Then I said, “Here I come;
   in the book scroll it is written of me.
40:8 I delight to do your will, my God;
   your law is deep within me.”
40:9 I have proclaimed righteousness in the great assembly;
   look, I have not restrained my lips.
   LORD, you know.
40:10 I have not hidden your righteousness within my heart;
   I have spoken of your faithfulness and salvation.
   I have not concealed your steadfast love and truth from the great assembly.
40:11 You, LORD, do not withhold your compassion from me;
   let your steadfast love and truth always guard me.
40:12 For evils beyond number surround me;
   my iniquities have overtaken me, and I cannot see.
   They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed me.
40:13 Be pleased, LORD, to deliver me;
   LORD, hurry to help me.
40:14 Let those who seek my life to destroy it be put to shame and humiliation together;
   let those who desire my harm turn back in disgrace.
40:15 Let those who say to me, “Aha, aha!”
   be appalled because of their shame.
40:16 Let all who seek you exult and rejoice in you;
   let those who love your salvation always say, “May the LORD be magnified!”
40:17 But I am poor and needy;
   may the Lord think of me.
   You are my help and my deliverer;
   my God, do not delay.

Chapter 41
41:1 Blessed is the one who considers the poor;
   the LORD will deliver him in the day of trouble.
41:2 The LORD will guard him and keep him alive;
   he will be called blessed in the land.
   Do not hand him over to the will of his enemies.
41:3 The LORD sustains him on his bed of sickness;
   in his illness you restore him completely.
41:4 I said, “LORD, be gracious to me;
   heal my soul, for I have sinned against you.”
41:5 My enemies speak evil of me: “When will he die and his name perish?”
41:6 If one comes to see me, he speaks falsehood;
   his heart gathers evil to itself, and when he goes outside, he tells it.
41:7 All who hate me whisper together against me;
   they plot my harm:
41:8 “A deadly calamity has fastened on him;
   now that he lies down, he will never rise again.”
41:9 Even my close friend, whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
41:10 But you, LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, that I may repay them.
41:11 By this I know that you delight in me: my enemy does not shout in triumph over me.
41:12 As for me, you uphold me in my integrity and set me before you forever.
41:13 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
   Amen and amen.

Chapter 42
42:1 As a deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, God.
42:2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
   When may I come and appear before God?
42:3 My tears have been my bread day and night, while they say to me all day, “Where is your God?”
42:4 These things I remember as I pour out my soul within me: how I used to pass among the throng and lead them to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving, a crowd keeping festival.
42:5 Why are you bowed down, my soul, and why do you groan within me?
   Hope in God, for I will yet praise him for the saving help of his presence.
42:6 My God, my soul is bowed down within me;
   therefore I remember you from the land of the Jordan and the Hermon peaks, from Mount Mizar.
42:7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls;
   all your breakers and waves have swept over me.
42:8 By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and by night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.
42:9 I say to God, my rock, “Why have you forgotten me?
   Why must I go about mourning under the enemy’s oppression?”
42:10 Like a deadly blow to my bones are my foes’ taunts, as they say to me all day, “Where is your God?”
42:11 Why are you bowed down, my soul, and why do you groan within me?
   Hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my saving help and my God.

Chapter 43
43:1 Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an unfaithful nation;
   deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man.
43:2 For you are the God of my refuge;
   why have you rejected me?
   Why must I go about mourning under the enemy’s oppression?
43:3 Send out your light and your truth;
   let them guide me and bring me to your holy mountain and your dwelling places.
43:4 Then I will come to the altar of God, to God, my exceeding joy, and thank you with the lyre, God, my God.
43:5 Why are you bowed down, my soul, and why do you groan within me?
   Hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my saving help and my God.

Chapter 44
44:1 God, we have heard with our ears;
   our fathers have told us the work you did in their days, in days of old.
44:2 With your hand you drove out nations and planted our fathers;
   you afflicted peoples and let our fathers spread.
44:3 For they did not possess the land by their sword, nor did their arm save them, but your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, because you delighted in them.
44:4 You are my King, God;
   command deliverance for Jacob.
44:5 Through you we push back our foes;
   through your name we trample those who rise against us.
44:6 For I do not trust in my bow, and my sword cannot save me.
44:7 But you have saved us from our foes and put those who hate us to shame.
44:8 In God we boast all day, and we will praise your name forever. Selah.

44:9 Yet you have rejected and disgraced us;
   you no longer go out with our armies.
44:10 You make us turn back before the foe, and those who hate us plunder for themselves.
44:11 You give us up like sheep for food and scatter us among the nations.
44:12 You sell your people for next to nothing and gain no wealth from their price.
44:13 You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and a scorn to those around us.
44:14 You make us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples.
44:15 All day my disgrace is before me, and shame covers my face,
44:16 at the voice of the one who taunts and reviles, at the presence of the enemy and the avenger.
44:17 All this has come upon us, yet we have not forgotten you or dealt falsely with your covenant.
44:18 Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps strayed from your path,
44:19 though you have crushed us in a haunt of jackals and covered us with the shadow of death.
44:20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
44:21 would not God discover this?
   For he knows the secrets of the heart.
44:22 Yet for your sake we are killed all day;
   we are counted as sheep for slaughter.
44:23 Awake! Why do you sleep, Lord?
   Rouse yourself;
   do not reject us forever!
44:24 Why do you hide your face and forget our affliction and oppression?
44:25 For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
   our belly clings to the ground.
44:26 Rise up to help us;
   redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.

Chapter 45
45:1 My heart overflows with a noble theme;
   I recite my work to the king.
   My tongue is the pen of a skillful scribe.
45:2 You are fairer than all other men;
   grace is poured upon your lips.
   Therefore God has blessed you forever.
45:3 Gird your sword upon your thigh, mighty warrior, in your splendor and majesty.
45:4 In your majesty ride forth victoriously for the cause of truth, humility, and righteousness;
   let your right hand teach you awesome deeds.
45:5 Your arrows are sharp;
   peoples fall beneath you.
   They strike the hearts of the king’s enemies.
45:6 Your throne, God, is forever and ever;
   the scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of equity.
45:7 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
   therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.
45:8 All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cassia;
   from ivory palaces stringed instruments gladden you.
45:9 Kings’ daughters are among your honored women;
   at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.
45:10 Listen, daughter, look and incline your ear;
   forget your people and your father’s house.
45:11 The king will desire your beauty;
   he is your lord, so bow before him.
45:12 The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift;
   the rich among the people will seek your favor.
45:13 Within the palace the king’s daughter is all glorious;
   her clothing is woven with gold.
45:14 In embroidered garments she is led to the king;
   the virgins who follow her, her companions, are brought to you.
45:15 They are led with joy and gladness;
   they enter the king’s palace.
45:16 Your sons will take the place of your fathers;
   you will appoint them princes throughout the earth.
45:17 I will cause your name to be remembered in every generation;
   therefore peoples will praise you forever and ever.

Chapter 46
46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a help readily found in distress.
46:2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and mountains slip into the heart of the seas,
46:3 though its waters roar and foam, though mountains tremble at its surging. Selah.

46:4 There is a river whose streams gladden the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most High.
46:5 God is in her midst;
   she will not be shaken.
   God will help her at the break of dawn.
46:6 Nations roar, kingdoms totter;
   he sounds his voice, and the earth melts.
46:7 The LORD of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

46:8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, the desolations he has made on the earth.
46:9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
   he breaks the bow and cuts the spear apart;
   he burns the chariots with fire.
46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God.
   I will be exalted among the nations;
   I will be exalted in the earth.”
46:11 The LORD of hosts is with us;
   the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

Chapter 47
47:1 Clap your hands, all you peoples!
   Shout to God with cries of joy!
47:2 For the LORD Most High is awesome, a great King over all the earth.
47:3 He subdues peoples beneath us, nations beneath our feet.
47:4 He chooses our inheritance for us, the pride of Jacob, whom he loves. Selah.

47:5 God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a ram’s horn.
47:6 Sing praise to God, sing praise!
   Sing praise to our King, sing praise!
47:7 For God is King of all the earth;
   sing praise with understanding.
47:8 God reigns over the nations;
   God sits upon his holy throne.
47:9 The nobles of the peoples have gathered as the people of the God of Abraham.
  47:10 For the shields of the earth belong to God;
   he is greatly exalted.

Chapter 48
48:1 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, on his holy mountain.
48:2 Beautiful in elevation, the joy of all the earth, is Mount Zion, in the far reaches of the north, the city of the great King.
48:3 Within her palaces God has made himself known as a stronghold.
48:4 For look, the kings assembled;
   they advanced together.
48:5 They saw and were astounded;
   they were terrified and fled in haste.
48:6 Trembling seized them there, anguish like that of a woman in labor.
48:7 With an east wind you shatter the ships of Tarshish.
48:8 As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God.
   God will establish her forever. Selah.

48:9 We ponder your steadfast love, God, in the midst of your temple.
48:10 Like your name, God, your praise reaches the ends of the earth;
   your right hand is full of righteousness.
48:11 Let Mount Zion rejoice;
   let the daughters of Judah exult because of your judgments.
48:12 Walk around Zion and encircle her;
   count her towers.
48:13 Set your hearts on her ramparts;
   examine her palaces, so that you may tell a coming generation.
48:14 For this is God, our God forever and ever;
   he will guide us until death.

Chapter 49
49:1 Hear this, all you peoples;
   listen, all who inhabit the world,
49:2 both common people and nobles, rich and poor together.
49:3 My mouth will speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
49:4 I will incline my ear to a proverb and unfold my riddle with the lyre.
49:5 Why should I fear in days of evil, when the iniquity of those at my heels surrounds me,
49:6 those who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?
49:7 No man can ransom his brother or give God a ransom for him
49:8 —the ransom for their life is too costly;
   he must give it up forever—
49:9 so that he might live on forever and never see the pit.
49:10 For he sees that the wise die;
   the fool and the senseless perish together and leave their wealth to others.
49:11 Their inward thought is that their houses will last forever, their dwellings from generation to generation;
   they name lands after themselves.
49:12 But man in his splendor does not remain;
   he is like the beasts that perish.
49:13 This way of theirs is folly, yet those who follow them approve their words. Selah.

49:14 Like sheep they are destined for Sheol;
   death will shepherd them.
   The upright will rule over them in the morning;
   Sheol will consume their form, far from their dwelling.
49:15 But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will take me. Selah.

49:16 Do not fear when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases.
49:17 For at his death he will take nothing with him;
   his splendor will not descend after him.
49:18 Though in his lifetime he blesses himself—and people praise you when you do well for yourself—
49:19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers;
   they will never see light.
49:20 Man in his splendor, without understanding, is like the beasts that perish.

Chapter 50
50:1 The Mighty One, God, the LORD, speaks and summons the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.
50:2 From Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.
50:3 Our God comes and does not keep silent;
   fire devours before him, and a mighty storm rages around him.
50:4 He summons the heavens above and the earth, to judge his people:
50:5 “Gather my faithful ones to me, those who made my covenant by sacrifice.”
50:6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.

50:7 “Hear, my people, and I will speak;
   Israel, I will testify against you.
   I am God, your God.
50:8 I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices;
   your burnt offerings are always before me.
50:9 I will not take a bull from your house or male goats from your pens,
50:10 for every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
50:11 I know every bird of the mountains, and all that moves in the field is mine.
50:12 If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and all it contains are mine.
50:13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of male goats?
50:14 Offer thanksgiving as a sacrifice to God, and fulfill your vows to the Most High.
50:15 Call on me in the day of distress;
   I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”
50:16 But to the wicked man God says, “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant upon your lips,
50:17 when you hate discipline and cast my words behind you?
50:18 When you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you share your lot with adulterers.
50:19 You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue weaves deceit.
50:20 You sit and speak against your brother;
   you slander your mother’s son.
50:21 You have done these things, and I kept silent;
   you thought I was just like you.
   But I will rebuke you and lay it all before your eyes.
50:22 Consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart with no one to rescue.
50:23 The one who offers thanksgiving as a sacrifice honors me;
   to the one who orders his way I will show the salvation of God.”

Chapter 51
For the music director. A psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him after David had gone in to Bathsheba.
51:1 Be gracious to me, God, according to your steadfast love;
   in your abundant compassion blot out my transgressions.
51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
51:3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
51:4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are just when you speak and blameless when you judge.
51:5 Indeed, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.
51:6 Indeed, you desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden place you make wisdom known to me.
51:7 Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
   wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
51:8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
   let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
51:9 Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.
51:10 Create in me a clean heart, God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
51:11 Do not cast me away from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and let a willing spirit sustain me.
51:13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.
51:14 Deliver me from bloodguilt, God, God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
51:15 Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
51:16 For you do not desire sacrifice, or I would give it;
   you do not delight in burnt offering.
51:17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
   a broken and crushed heart, God, you will not despise.
51:18 Do good to Zion in your favor;
   build the walls of Jerusalem.
51:19 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices, burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
   then bulls will be offered on your altar.

Chapter 52
52:1 Why do you boast of evil, mighty man?
   The steadfast love of God endures all day.
52:2 Your tongue devises destruction like a sharpened razor, working deceit.
52:3 You love evil more than good, falsehood more than speaking righteousness. Selah.

52:4 You love every devouring word, deceitful tongue.
52:5 But God will tear you down forever;
   he will seize you and pull you from your tent, uprooting you from the land of the living. Selah.

52:6 The righteous will see and fear, and they will laugh at him:
52:7 “Look at the man who did not make God his stronghold, but trusted in his great riches and grew strong in his evil desire!”
52:8 But I am like a flourishing olive tree in the house of God;
   I trust in the steadfast love of God forever and ever.
52:9 I will thank you forever, for you have done it;
   I will wait for your name, for it is good, in the presence of your faithful ones.

Chapter 53
53:1 The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
   They are corrupt and commit detestable injustice;
   no one does good.
53:2 God looks down from heaven on humankind to see if anyone understands, if anyone seeks God.
53:3 All have turned back;
   together they have become corrupt.
   No one does good, not even one.
53:4 Do those who do evil have no understanding?
   They devour my people as they eat bread, and they do not call on God.
53:5 There they are filled with dread where there was nothing to dread, for God has scattered the bones of the one encamped against you.
   You have put them to shame, for God has rejected them.
53:6 Oh, that Israel’s salvation would come from Zion!
   When God restores the fortunes of his people, Jacob will exult and Israel will rejoice.

Chapter 54
54:1 Save me, God, by your name, and vindicate me by your might.
54:2 God, hear my prayer;
   listen to the words of my mouth.
54:3 For strangers have risen against me, and ruthless men seek my life;
   they have not set God before them. Selah.

54:4 Look, God is my helper;
   the Lord is among those who sustain my life.
54:5 He will return evil upon those who watch for my downfall;
   in your faithfulness destroy them.
54:6 Willingly I will sacrifice to you;
   I will praise your name, LORD, for it is good.
54:7 For he has delivered me from every distress, and my eye has looked upon my enemies.

Chapter 55
55:1 Listen to my prayer, God;
   do not hide yourself from my plea.
55:2 Attend to me and answer me;
   I am restless in my complaint and groan
55:3 at the voice of the enemy, at the oppression of the wicked.
   For they bring trouble down upon me and hate me in their anger.
55:4 My heart writhes within me, and the terrors of death have fallen upon me.
55:5 Fear and trembling come upon me, and horror covers me.
55:6 I said, “Oh, that I had wings like a dove!
   I would fly away and find rest.
55:7 Look, I would wander far away and lodge in the wilderness. Selah.

55:8 I would hurry to a refuge from the raging wind and storm.”
55:9 Swallow them up, Lord;
   divide their tongues, for I see violence and strife in the city.
55:10 Day and night they go around it on its walls;
   evil and trouble are within it.
55:11 Destruction is in its midst;
   oppression and deceit never leave its squares.
55:12 For it is not an enemy who taunts me;
   that I could bear.
   It is not one who hates me who exalts himself over me;
   from him I could hide.
55:13 But it is you, a man my equal, my companion and close friend,
55:14 with whom I shared sweet counsel, as we walked in the house of God among the throng.
55:15 Let death take them by surprise;
   let them go down alive to Sheol, for evil is in their dwellings and within them.
55:16 As for me, I will call on God, and the LORD will save me.
55:17 Evening, morning, and noon I complain and groan, and he hears my voice.
55:18 He has ransomed my soul in peace from the battle against me, for many were with me.
55:19 God will hear and humble them, he who has been enthroned from of old.
   Selah.
   For they do not change and do not fear God.
55:20 He stretches out his hands against those at peace with him;
   he has broken his covenant.
55:21 His mouth is smoother than butter, but war is in his heart.
   His words are softer than oil, yet they are drawn swords.
55:22 Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you;
   he will never let the righteous man be shaken.
55:23 But you, God, will bring them down to the pit of destruction;
   bloodthirsty and deceitful men will not live out half their days.
   But I will trust in you.

Chapter 56
For the music director; according to Jonath Elem Rehokim. A miktam of David, when the Philistines seized him in Gath.
56:1 Be gracious to me, God, for a mortal tramples me;
   all day he fights and oppresses me.
56:2 Those who watch for my downfall trample me all day, for many fight against me in pride.
56:3 When I am afraid, I will trust in you.
56:4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust;
   I will not fear.
   What can flesh do to me?
56:5 All day they twist my words;
   all their thoughts against me are for evil.
56:6 They gather and hide;
   they watch my steps, waiting to take my life.
56:7 Will they escape despite their evil?
   In your anger bring down the peoples, God.
56:8 You have counted my wanderings;
   put my tears in your wineskin.
   Are they not in your record?
56:9 Then my enemies will turn back on the day I call.
   This I know: God is for me.
56:10 In God I praise his word;
   in the LORD I praise his word.
56:11 In God I trust;
   I will not fear.
   What can man do to me?
56:12 My vows to you are upon me, God;
   I will bring you thank offerings.
56:13 For you have delivered my soul from death.
   Have you not also kept my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?

Chapter 57
57:1 Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me, for my soul takes refuge in you.
   In the shadow of your wings I will take refuge until destruction passes.
57:2 I cry to God Most High, to God who brings things to completion for me.
57:3 He will send from heaven and save me;
   he will put my trampler to shame.
   Selah.
   God will send his steadfast love and truth.
57:4 My soul is among lions;
   I lie among fiery men whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongue is a sharp sword.
57:5 Be exalted above the heavens, God;
   let your glory be over all the earth.
57:6 They prepared a net for my steps;
   my soul was bowed down.
   They dug a pit before me, but fell into it themselves. Selah.

57:7 My heart is steadfast, God, my heart is steadfast;
   I will sing and make music.
57:8 Awake, my glory!
   Awake, harp and lyre!
   I will awaken the dawn.
57:9 I will thank you among the peoples, Lord;
   I will sing praise to you among the nations.
57:10 For your steadfast love is great to the heavens, and your truth to the clouds.
57:11 Be exalted above the heavens, God;
   let your glory be over all the earth.

Chapter 58
58:1 Do you really speak righteousness, you silent ones?
   Do you judge uprightly, human beings?
58:2 Rather, in your heart you work injustice;
   on the earth you weigh out the violence of your hands.
58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb;
   those who speak lies go astray from birth.
58:4 Their venom is like a serpent’s venom, like a deaf cobra that stops its ear
58:5 and will not listen to the voice of charmers, however skillful the spellbinder.
58:6 God, break the teeth in their mouths;
   shatter the fangs of the young lions, LORD.
58:7 Let them melt away like water that flows off;
   when he shoots his arrows, let them be cut to pieces.
58:8 Let them be like a snail that melts as it moves, like a woman’s stillborn child that never sees the sun.
58:9 Before your pots feel the heat of the thornwood, he will sweep it away in a whirlwind, green or burning alike.
58:10 The righteous man will rejoice when he sees vengeance;
   he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.
58:11 Then people will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
   surely there is a God who judges on earth.”

Chapter 59
59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God;
   set me safely on high above those who rise against me.
59:2 Deliver me from those who do evil, and save me from bloodthirsty men.
59:3 For look, they lie in wait for my life;
   fierce men gather against me, not for my transgression or my sin, LORD.
59:4 Without guilt on my part they run and take their stand.
   Awake, come to meet me, and see!
59:5 You, LORD, God of hosts, God of Israel, awake to punish all the nations;
   be gracious to none of the treacherous evildoers. Selah.

59:6 They return at evening, growling like a dog and prowling around the city.
59:7 Look, they pour out words from their mouths, with swords on their lips, for they say, “Who hears?”
59:8 But you, LORD, laugh at them;
   you mock all the nations.
59:9 In the face of his strength I watch for you, for God is my stronghold.
59:10 The God of my steadfast love will meet me;
   God will let me look upon those who watch for my downfall.
59:11 Do not kill them, lest my people forget;
   make them wander by your might and bring them down, Lord, our shield.
59:12 For the sin of their mouths, the words of their lips, let them be caught in their pride, for the curses and lies they tell.
59:13 Consume them in wrath;
   consume them until they are no more.
   Let them know that God rules in Jacob to the ends of the earth. Selah.

59:14 Let them return at evening, growling like a dog and prowling around the city.
59:15 Let them wander in search of food and grumble if they are not satisfied.
59:16 But I will sing of your strength and shout for joy at your steadfast love in the morning, for you have been my stronghold and my refuge in the day of my distress.
59:17 My strength, I will sing praise to you, for God is my stronghold, the God of my steadfast love.

Chapter 60
60:1 God, you have rejected us and broken through our ranks;
   you have been angry.
   Restore us!
60:2 You have made the earth quake and split it open;
   heal its breaches, for it totters.
60:3 You have made your people see hard things;
   you have given us wine that makes us stagger.
60:4 You have given a banner to those who fear you, to be raised because of truth. Selah.

60:5 So that your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand and answer me.
60:6 God has spoken in his holiness: “I will exult;
   I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth.
60:7 Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine;
   Ephraim is the helmet of my head;
   Judah is my scepter.
60:8 Moab is my washbasin;
   upon Edom I will cast my sandal.
   Philistia, shout because of me!”
60:9 Who will lead me to the fortified city?
   Who will guide me as far as Edom?
60:10 Is it not you, God, who have rejected us?
   You no longer go out with our armies, God.
60:11 Give us help against the foe, for human rescue is futile.
60:12 With God we will do mighty deeds;
   he will trample our foes.

Chapter 61
61:1 Hear my cry, God;
   attend to my prayer.
61:2 From the ends of the earth I call to you when my heart grows faint;
   lead me to a rock higher than I am.
61:3 For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy.
61:4 Let me dwell in your tent forever;
   let me take refuge in the shelter of your wings. Selah.

61:5 For you, God, have heard my vows;
   you have given me the inheritance of those who fear your name.
61:6 Add days to the days of the king;
   let his years extend through generation after generation.
61:7 Let him sit enthroned before God forever;
   appoint steadfast love and truth to guard him.
61:8 Then I will sing praise to your name forever, fulfilling my vows day after day.

Chapter 62
62:1 For God alone my soul waits in silence;
   from him comes my salvation.
62:2 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold;
   I will not be greatly shaken.
62:3 How long will you assault a man, all of you battering him down like a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
62:4 They plan only to thrust him down from his high place;
   they delight in falsehood.
   With their mouth they bless, but inwardly they curse. Selah.

62:5 Wait in silence for God alone, my soul, for my hope comes from him.
62:6 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold;
   I will not be shaken.
62:7 My salvation and my glory rest on God;
   my strong rock and my refuge are in God.
62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people;
   pour out your heart before him.
   God is our refuge. Selah.

62:9 Common people are only a breath, nobles a lie;
   in the scales they rise, together lighter than a breath.
62:10 Do not trust in extortion or set vain hopes on robbery;
   if wealth increases, do not set your heart on it.
62:11 Once God has spoken;
   twice I have heard this: power belongs to God,
62:12 and to you, Lord, belongs steadfast love, for you repay each person according to his work.

Chapter 63
63:1 God, you are my God;
   I seek you earnestly.
   My soul thirsts for you, my flesh longs for you in a dry and weary land without water.
63:2 So I have beheld you in the sanctuary, to see your power and your glory.
63:3 For your steadfast love is better than life;
   my lips will praise you.
63:4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
   in your name I will lift my hands.
63:5 My soul will be satisfied as with rich, choice food, and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
63:6 when I remember you on my bed and meditate on you through the watches of the night.
63:7 For you have been my help, and in the shadow of your wings I sing for joy.
63:8 My soul clings to you;
   your right hand supports me.
63:9 But those who seek to destroy my life will go down to the depths of the earth.
63:10 They will be given over to the power of the sword;
   they will be a portion for jackals.
63:11 But the king will rejoice in God;
   all who swear by him will boast, for the mouths of those who speak lies will be stopped.

Chapter 64
64:1 Hear my voice, God, in my complaint;
   guard my life from the terror of the enemy.
64:2 Hide me from the conspiracy of evildoers, from the tumult of those who do evil,
64:3 who sharpen their tongue like a sword and aim a bitter word as their arrow,
64:4 to shoot from hiding at the blameless man;
   suddenly they shoot at him without fear.
64:5 They encourage one another in an evil plan;
   they talk of hiding snares and say, “Who will see them?”
64:6 They devise injustices: “We have completed a carefully devised plan.”
   The inward self and heart of man are deep.
64:7 But God will shoot them with an arrow;
   suddenly they will be wounded.
64:8 Their own tongue will make them stumble;
   all who see them will shake their heads.
64:9 Then all people will fear;
   they will proclaim the work of God and understand what he has done.
64:10 The righteous man will rejoice in the LORD and take refuge in him;
   all the upright in heart will boast.

Chapter 65
65:1 Praise awaits you in silence, God, in Zion;
   to you the vow will be fulfilled.
65:2 You who hear prayer, to you all flesh will come.
65:3 Iniquities overwhelm me, but you atone for our transgressions.
65:4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near to dwell in your courts.
   We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house, your holy temple.
65:5 With awesome deeds in righteousness you answer us, God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and the distant seas,
65:6 who establishes the mountains by his strength, girded with might,
65:7 who stills the roar of the seas, the roar of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.
65:8 Those who dwell at the farthest reaches fear your signs;
   you make the coming of morning and evening shout for joy.
65:9 You visit the earth and water it;
   you enrich it abundantly.
   The stream of God is full of water;
   you prepare their grain, for so you prepare the earth.
65:10 You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
   you soften it with showers and bless its growth.
65:11 You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drip abundance.
65:12 The wilderness pastures drip with it, and the hills gird themselves with joy.
65:13 The pastures clothe themselves with flocks, and the valleys wrap themselves in grain;
   they shout for joy and sing.

Chapter 66
66:1 Shout for joy to God, all the earth!
66:2 Sing the glory of his name;
   make his praise glorious.
66:3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!
   Through your great strength your enemies feign submission to you.
66:4 All the earth will bow before you and sing praise to you;
   they will sing praise to your name.” Selah.

66:5 Come and see the works of God;
   awesome are his deeds toward humankind.
66:6 He turned the sea into dry land;
   they crossed the river on foot.
   There we rejoiced in him.
66:7 He rules by his might forever;
   his eyes watch the nations.
   Let the rebellious not exalt themselves. Selah.

66:8 Bless our God, you peoples;
   let the sound of his praise be heard,
66:9 who keeps our soul among the living and has not let our feet slip.
66:10 For you have tested us, God;
   you have refined us as silver is refined.
66:11 You brought us into the net;
   you laid a burden on our loins.
66:12 You let men ride over our heads;
   we went through fire and water, but you brought us out into abundance.
66:13 I will enter your house with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you,
66:14 the vows my lips uttered and my mouth spoke when I was in distress.
66:15 I will offer you burnt offerings of fattened animals, with the smoke of rams;
   I will sacrifice cattle with male goats. Selah.

66:16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will recount what he has done for my soul.
66:17 I called to him with my mouth, and praise was beneath my tongue.
66:18 If I had cherished evil in my heart, the Lord would not have heard.
66:19 But God has indeed heard;
   he has attended to my prayer.
66:20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer or his steadfast love from me!

Chapter 67
67:1 May God be gracious to us and bless us;
   may he make his face shine upon us, Selah,
67:2 so that your way may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations.
67:3 Let the peoples praise you, God;
   let all the peoples praise you.
67:4 Let the nations rejoice and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations on earth. Selah.

67:5 Let the peoples praise you, God;
   let all the peoples praise you.
67:6 The earth has yielded its harvest;
   God, our God, will bless us.
67:7 God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.

Chapter 68
68:1 Let God rise up;
   let his enemies scatter, and let those who hate him flee before him.
68:2 As smoke is driven away, drive them away;
   as wax melts before fire, let the wicked perish before God.
68:3 But let the righteous rejoice and exult before God;
   let them be glad with joy.
68:4 Sing to God, sing praise to his name;
   raise a highway for the one who rides through the deserts.
   The LORD is his name;
   exult before him.
68:5 A father to the fatherless and a judge for widows is God in his holy dwelling.
68:6 God gives the lonely a home and brings prisoners out into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a parched land.
68:7 God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, Selah,
68:8 the earth quaked and the heavens poured rain before God;
   Sinai itself quaked before God, the God of Israel.
68:9 You showered generous rain, God;
   when your inheritance was weary, you established it.
68:10 Your community dwelled in it;
   in your goodness you provided for the poor, God.
68:11 The Lord gives the word;
   the women who proclaim the good news are a great host:
68:12 “The kings of armies flee, they flee!”
   And the woman at home divides the spoil.
68:13 Though you lie among the sheepfolds, the wings of a dove are covered with silver, its pinions with yellow gold.
68:14 When the Almighty scattered kings there, it snowed on Zalmon.
68:15 A mountain of God is Mount Bashan;
   a mountain of many peaks is Mount Bashan.
68:16 Why do you look with envy, mountains of many peaks, at the mountain God desired for his dwelling?
   Indeed, the LORD will dwell there forever.
68:17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands;
   the Lord is among them;
   Sinai is in the sanctuary.
68:18 You ascended on high and led captives away;
   you received gifts from people, even the rebellious, so that the LORD God might dwell there.
68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who bears our burdens day after day, the God of our salvation. Selah.

68:20 Our God is a God of deliverances;
   to the LORD, the Lord, belong escapes from death.
68:21 Surely God will crush the heads of his enemies, the hairy crown of one who goes on in his guilt.
68:22 The Lord said, “I will bring them back from Bashan;
   I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,
68:23 so that your foot may crush them in blood, and the tongue of your dogs may have its share of the enemies.”
68:24 They have seen your processions, God, the processions of my God, my King, in the sanctuary.
68:25 The singers go before, the musicians behind, with young women playing tambourines in their midst.
68:26 In the assemblies bless God;
   bless the LORD, you who spring from Israel’s fountain.
68:27 There is Benjamin, the youngest, leading them, the princes of Judah with their throng, the princes of Zebulun, the princes of Naphtali.
68:28 Your God has commanded your strength;
   strengthen, God, what you have done for us.
68:29 Because of your temple at Jerusalem, kings will bring you gifts.
68:30 Rebuke the beast of the reeds, the herd of bulls among the calves of the peoples, until it bows down with pieces of silver.
   Scatter the peoples who delight in war.
68:31 Dignitaries will come from Egypt;
   Cush will hasten to stretch its hands toward God.
68:32 Kingdoms of the earth, sing to God;
   sing praise to the Lord, Selah,
68:33 to the one who rides in the ancient heavens of heavens.
   Look, he sounds his voice, a mighty voice.
68:34 Ascribe strength to God;
   his majesty is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds.
68:35 Awesome are you, God, from your sanctuaries!
   The God of Israel gives strength and might to the people.
   Blessed be God!

Chapter 69
69:1 Save me, God, for the waters have reached my neck.
69:2 I have sunk into deep mire where there is no foothold.
   I have come into deep waters, and the flood has swept over me.
69:3 I am weary from crying out;
   my throat is parched.
   My eyes fail as I wait for my God.
69:4 Those who hate me without cause outnumber the hairs of my head.
   Mighty are those who would destroy me, my enemies without reason.
   I must restore what I did not steal.
69:5 God, you know my foolishness;
   my guilt is not hidden from you.
69:6 Do not let those who wait for you be put to shame because of me, Lord GOD of hosts.
   Do not let those who seek you be disgraced because of me, God of Israel.
69:7 For I have borne reproach for your sake;
   disgrace has covered my face.
69:8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, a foreigner to my mother’s sons.
69:9 For zeal for your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach you have fallen on me.
69:10 I wept and fasted, and this brought me reproach.
69:11 I made sackcloth my clothing and became a byword to them.
69:12 Those who sit at the gate talk about me, and I am the song of those who drink strong drink.
69:13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, LORD, at a time of favor.
   God, in your abundant steadfast love, answer me with your saving faithfulness.
69:14 Rescue me from the mire;
   do not let me sink.
   Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep waters.
69:15 Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me, or the pit close its mouth over me.
69:16 Answer me, LORD, for your steadfast love is good;
   turn to me in your abundant compassion.
69:17 Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress.
   Answer me quickly.
69:18 Draw near to my soul and redeem it;
   ransom me because of my enemies.
69:19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my disgrace;
   all my adversaries are before you.
69:20 Reproach has broken my heart, and I am sick.
   I looked for sympathy, but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none.
69:21 They put poison in my food and gave me vinegar to drink for my thirst.
69:22 Let their table before them become a snare, and their security a trap.
69:23 Let their eyes grow dark so they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
69:24 Pour out your indignation on them;
   let your burning anger overtake them.
69:25 Let their camp be desolate;
   let no one live in their tents.
69:26 For they persecute the one you have struck, and they talk about the pain of those you have wounded.
69:27 Add guilt to their guilt, and do not let them enter into your righteousness.
69:28 Let them be erased from the book of the living and not be inscribed with the righteous.
69:29 But I am afflicted and in pain;
   let your salvation, God, set me safely on high.
69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song and magnify him with thanksgiving.
69:31 This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with horns and hooves.
69:32 The humble will see and rejoice.
   You who seek God, let your hearts live!
69:33 For the LORD hears the needy and does not despise his prisoners.
69:34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
69:35 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah;
   they will dwell there and possess it.
69:36 The offspring of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell in it.

Chapter 70
70:1 God, deliver me!
   LORD, hurry to help me!
70:2 Let those who seek my life be ashamed and humiliated;
   let those who desire my harm turn back in disgrace.
70:3 Let those who say, “Aha!
   Aha!”
   turn back because of their shame.
70:4 Let all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you.
   Let those who love your salvation always say, “Let God be magnified!”
70:5 But I am poor and needy;
   God, hurry to me!
   You are my help and my deliverer;
   LORD, do not delay.

Chapter 71
71:1 In you, LORD, I have taken refuge;
   let me never be put to shame.
71:2 In your righteousness, rescue and deliver me;
   incline your ear to me and save me.
71:3 Be a rock where I may dwell, where I can always come.
   You have commanded that I be saved, for you are my rock and my fortress.
71:4 My God, rescue me from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of the unjust and cruel.
71:5 For you are my hope, Lord GOD, my trust from my youth.
71:6 I have leaned on you from the womb;
   you brought me out of my mother’s womb.
   My praise is always of you.
71:7 I have become a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge.
71:8 Let my mouth be filled with your praise and with your glory all day long.
71:9 Do not cast me off in old age;
   do not forsake me when my strength is spent.
71:10 For my enemies speak against me, and those who watch for my life conspire together,
71:11 saying, “God has forsaken him.
   Pursue him and seize him, for there is no one to rescue him.”
71:12 God, do not be far from me;
   my God, hurry to help me.
71:13 Let the adversaries of my soul be ashamed and consumed;
   let those who seek my harm be covered with reproach and disgrace.
71:14 But I will always hope and add to all your praise.
71:15 My mouth will recount your righteousness and your salvation all day long, for I do not know their number.
71:16 I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD;
   I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone.
71:17 God, you have taught me from my youth, and to this day I declare your wonderful deeds.
71:18 Even when I am old and gray, God, do not forsake me, until I declare your powerful arm to another generation, your might to all who are to come.
71:19 Your righteousness, God, reaches the heights.
   You have done great things;
   God, who is like you?
71:20 You, who have shown me many bitter troubles, will revive me again;
   from the depths of the earth you will bring me up again.
71:21 You will increase my honor and comfort me again.
71:22 I too will give you thanks with the harp for your faithfulness, my God;
   I will sing praise to you with the lyre, Holy One of Israel.
71:23 My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you, and so will my soul, which you have redeemed.
71:24 My tongue too will speak of your righteousness all day long, for those who seek my harm have been ashamed and humiliated.

Chapter 72
72:1 God, give the king your judgments, and the king’s son your righteousness.
72:2 May he judge your people with righteousness and your afflicted ones with justice.
72:3 May the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills, through righteousness.
72:4 May he defend the afflicted among the people, save the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor.
72:5 May they fear you as long as the sun endures, and as long as the moon, through all generations.
72:6 May he come down like rain on mown grass, like showers watering the earth.
72:7 May the righteous flourish in his days, and peace abound until the moon is no more.
72:8 May he rule from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
72:9 May desert dwellers bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.
72:10 May the kings of Tarshish and the coastlands bring tribute;
   may the kings of Sheba and Seba present gifts.
72:11 May all kings bow down before him, and all nations serve him.
72:12 For he will rescue the needy who cry out, and the afflicted who have no helper.
72:13 He will have pity on the weak and needy, and save the lives of the needy.
72:14 He will redeem their lives from oppression and violence;
   their blood will be precious in his eyes.
72:15 May he live!
   May gold from Sheba be given to him.
   May prayer be offered for him continually, and blessings all day long.
72:16 May there be abundant grain in the land, even on the mountaintops.
   May its fruit sway like Lebanon, and people flourish from the city like the grass of the earth.
72:17 May his name endure forever;
   may his name continue as long as the sun.
   May people bless themselves by him;
   may all nations call him blessed.
72:18 Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful things.
72:19 Blessed be his glorious name forever;
   may the whole earth be filled with his glory.
   Amen and amen.
72:20 The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

Chapter 73
73:1 Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
73:2 But as for me, my feet had almost strayed;
   my steps had nearly slipped.
73:3 For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
73:4 For they have no pangs in their death, and their bodies are well fed.
73:5 They have none of the troubles of other mortals;
   they are not afflicted like the rest of humanity.
73:6 So pride is their necklace, and violence covers them like a garment.
73:7 Their eyes bulge with fatness;
   the imaginings of their hearts overflow.
73:8 They scoff and speak of oppression with malice;
   they speak from on high.
73:9 They set their mouths against heaven, and their tongues roam the earth.
73:10 Therefore his people return here, and they drink water in abundance.
73:11 They say, “How does God know?
   Does the Most High have knowledge?”
73:12 Look, these are the wicked: always at ease, they increase their wealth.
73:13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure and washed my hands in innocence.
73:14 For I have been afflicted all day long and disciplined every morning.
73:15 If I had said, “I will speak this way,” I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
73:16 When I tried to understand this, it was a wearisome task in my eyes,
73:17 until I entered the sanctuaries of God;
   then I understood their end.
73:18 Surely you set them on slippery ground;
   you cast them down to ruin.
73:19 How suddenly they are desolated!
   They are swept away, brought to an end by terrors.
73:20 Like a dream when one awakes, Lord, when you arise, you will despise their image.
73:21 When my heart was embittered and I was pierced within,
73:22 I was senseless and did not understand;
   I was like a beast before you.
73:23 Yet I am always with you;
   you have taken hold of my right hand.
73:24 You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me in glory.
73:25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
   And with you, I desire nothing on earth.
73:26 My flesh and my heart fail, but God is the rock of my heart and my portion forever.
73:27 For look, those far from you will perish;
   you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.
73:28 But as for me, the nearness of God is my good.
   I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, that I may recount all your works.

Chapter 74
74:1 God, why have you rejected us forever?
   Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture?
74:2 Remember your congregation, which you acquired long ago, the tribe you redeemed as your inheritance, this Mount Zion where you have dwelt.
74:3 Direct your steps to the perpetual ruins, to all the destruction the enemy has done in the sanctuary.
74:4 Your adversaries roared within your meeting place;
   they set up their own banners as signs.
74:5 They appeared like men raising axes in a thicket of trees.
74:6 Now they smash all its carved work with hatchets and hammers.
74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
   they profaned the dwelling place of your name, bringing it to the ground.
74:8 They said in their hearts, “Let us crush them all together!”
   They burned every meeting place of God in the land.
74:9 We do not see our signs;
   there is no longer a prophet, and no one among us knows how long.
74:10 How long, God, will the adversary taunt?
   Will the enemy revile your name forever?
74:11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand?
   Bring it out from your bosom and destroy them!
74:12 Yet God is my King from long ago, working acts of salvation in the midst of the earth.
74:13 You divided the sea by your strength;
   you shattered the heads of the sea monsters on the waters.
74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan;
   you gave him as food to the desert dwellers.
74:15 You split open springs and streams;
   you dried up ever-flowing rivers.
74:16 The day is yours, and the night is yours as well;
   you established the light and the sun.
74:17 You set all the boundaries of the earth;
   you formed summer and winter.
74:18 Remember this: the enemy has taunted you, LORD, and a foolish people has reviled your name.
74:19 Do not give the life of your turtledove to the wild beast;
   do not forget the lives of your afflicted ones forever.
74:20 Have regard for the covenant, for the dark places of the land are full of haunts of violence.
74:21 Do not let the oppressed turn back in disgrace;
   let the afflicted and needy praise your name.
74:22 Rise up, God, defend your cause!
   Remember how the fool taunts you all day long.
74:23 Do not forget the clamor of your adversaries, the uproar of those who rise against you, which goes up continually.

Chapter 75
75:1 We give thanks to you, God;
   we give thanks, for your name is near.
   People recount your wonderful deeds.
75:2 “When I choose the appointed time, I will judge with equity.
75:3 When the earth and all its inhabitants melt away, I am the one who has set its pillars firm. Selah.

75:4 I say to the boastful, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.
75:5 Do not lift your horn on high or speak with an arrogant neck.’”
75:6 For exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the wilderness.
75:7 It is God who judges: he brings one down and lifts another up.
75:8 For in the LORD’s hand is a cup, with foaming wine, full of mixed drink.
   He pours from it, and all the wicked of the earth will drain it, drinking even its dregs.
75:9 But I will declare it forever;
   I will sing praise to the God of Jacob.
75:10 I will cut off all the horns of the wicked, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

Chapter 76
76:1 God is known in Judah;
   his name is great in Israel.
76:2 His shelter is in Salem, and his dwelling place in Zion.
76:3 There he shattered the flaming arrows of the bow, the shield, the sword, and the weapons of war. Selah.

76:4 You are radiant, majestic beyond the mountains of prey.
76:5 The stouthearted have been plundered;
   they have sunk into sleep.
   None of the mighty warriors could use their hands.
76:6 At your rebuke, God of Jacob, both chariot and horse fell into deep sleep.
76:7 You, you are to be feared!
   Who can stand before you once your anger is aroused?
76:8 From heaven you made judgment heard;
   the earth feared and was still,
76:9 when God rose to judge, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah.

76:10 Surely human wrath will praise you;
   with the remainder of wrath you will gird yourself.
76:11 Make vows to the LORD your God and fulfill them;
   let all who surround him bring gifts to the One who is to be feared.
76:12 He cuts off the spirit of rulers;
   he is feared by the kings of the earth.

Chapter 77
77:1 I cry aloud to God;
   aloud to God, and he listens to me.
77:2 In the day of my distress I sought the Lord.
   My hand was stretched out through the night without growing weary;
   my soul refused to be comforted.
77:3 I remember God and groan;
   I meditate, and my spirit grows faint. Selah.

77:4 You hold my eyelids open;
   I am so troubled that I cannot speak.
77:5 I consider the days of old, the years long past.
77:6 I remember my song in the night;
   I meditate in my heart, and my spirit searches:
77:7 “Will the Lord reject us forever?
   Will he never show favor again?
77:8 Has his steadfast love ceased forever?
   Has his promise come to an end for all generations?
77:9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?
   Has he shut up his compassion in anger?” Selah.

77:10 Then I said, “This is my grief: the changing of the right hand of the Most High.”
77:11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
   yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
77:12 I will meditate on all your work and ponder your deeds.
77:13 God, your way is holy.
   What god is as great as God?
77:14 You are the God who works wonders;
   you have made your strength known among the peoples.
77:15 With your arm you redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

77:16 The waters saw you, God;
   the waters saw you and writhed;
   even the depths trembled.
77:17 The clouds poured out water;
   the skies gave voice, and your arrows sped about.
77:18 Your thunder sounded in the whirlwind;
   lightning lit up the world;
   the earth trembled and shook.
77:19 Your way was through the sea, your path through the mighty waters, yet your footprints were not known.
77:20 You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Chapter 78
78:1 Listen, my people, to my teaching;
   incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
78:2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
   I will utter riddles from long ago,
78:3 things we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.
78:4 We will not hide them from their children, but will recount to the coming generation the praises of the LORD, his might, and the wonders he has done.
78:5 He established a testimony in Jacob and set a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to make known to their children,
78:6 so that the coming generation might know, children yet to be born, who would arise and tell their own children,
78:7 that they might put their confidence in God, not forget the deeds of God, and keep his commandments.
78:8 Then they would not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast and whose spirit was not faithful to God.
78:9 The men of Ephraim, armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle.
78:10 They did not keep God’s covenant and refused to walk in his law.
78:11 They forgot his deeds and the wonders he had shown them.
78:12 He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
78:13 He split the sea and brought them through;
   he made the waters stand like a heap.
78:14 He led them with a cloud by day, and all night with the light of fire.
78:15 He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them abundant drink, as from the depths.
78:16 He brought streams out of the rock and made waters flow down like rivers.
78:17 Yet they continued to sin against him, rebelling against the Most High in the dry land.
78:18 They tested God in their hearts by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.
78:19 They spoke against God, saying, “Can God set a table in the wilderness?
78:20 Look, he struck the rock, and water gushed out and streams overflowed.
   But can he also give bread?
   Can he provide meat for his people?”
78:21 So the LORD heard and was enraged;
   fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger rose against Israel,
78:22 because they did not believe in God or trust in his salvation.
78:23 Yet he commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of heaven.
78:24 He rained manna on them to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.
78:25 Mortals ate the bread of the mighty ones;
   he sent them provisions in abundance.
78:26 He set the east wind blowing in the heavens and drove the south wind by his strength.
78:27 He rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas.
78:28 He made them fall within their camp, all around their dwellings.
78:29 They ate and were completely satisfied;
   he brought them what they craved.
78:30 They had not turned from their craving, and their food was still in their mouths,
78:31 when God’s anger rose against them.
   He killed the strongest among them and struck down the young men of Israel.
78:32 Despite all this they kept on sinning and did not believe in his wonders.
78:33 So he brought their days to an end like a breath, and their years in terror.
78:34 When he killed them, they sought him;
   they turned back and earnestly sought God.
78:35 They remembered that God was their rock, and God Most High their redeemer.
78:36 But they flattered him with their mouths and lied to him with their tongues.
78:37 Their hearts were not steadfast toward him, and they were not faithful to his covenant.
78:38 Yet he was compassionate;
   he atoned for their guilt and did not destroy them.
   Again and again he turned his anger away and did not stir up all his wrath.
78:39 He remembered that they were flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.
78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland!
78:41 Again and again they tested God and pained the Holy One of Israel.
78:42 They did not remember his hand, the day he ransomed them from the adversary,
78:43 when he performed his signs in Egypt and his wonders in the fields of Zoan.
78:44 He turned their rivers to blood, so they could not drink from their streams.
78:45 He sent swarms of flies among them that devoured them, and frogs that destroyed them.
78:46 He gave their crops to the devouring locust, and the fruit of their labor to the locust swarm.
78:47 He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamore-fig trees with frost.
78:48 He gave their cattle over to hail, and their herds to lightning bolts.
78:49 He sent upon them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress—a company of messengers of calamity.
78:50 He cleared a path for his anger;
   he did not spare their lives from death, but gave their lives over to pestilence.
78:51 He struck every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their vigor in the tents of Ham.
78:52 But he led his people out like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness.
78:53 He led them safely, and they were not afraid;
   but the sea covered their enemies.
78:54 He brought them to his holy territory, to this mountain his right hand had acquired.
78:55 He drove out nations before them, allotted their land as an inheritance by the measuring line, and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
78:56 Yet they tested and rebelled against God Most High, and did not keep his testimonies.
78:57 They turned back and were faithless like their fathers;
   they swerved like an unreliable bow.
78:58 They provoked him to anger with their high places and to jealousy with their carved images.
78:59 God heard and was enraged;
   he utterly rejected Israel.
78:60 He forsook the dwelling at Shiloh, the tent he had established among mortals.
78:61 He gave his strength over to captivity, and his splendor into the adversary’s hand.
78:62 He gave his people over to the sword and was enraged against his inheritance.
78:63 Fire devoured their young men, and no wedding songs were sung for their young women.
78:64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows did not weep.
78:65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a warrior shouting because of wine.
78:66 He beat his adversaries back and put them to everlasting shame.
78:67 He rejected the tent of Joseph and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.
78:68 But he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.
78:69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth he established forever.
78:70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds.
78:71 From following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.
78:72 He shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

Chapter 79
79:1 God, nations have invaded your inheritance;
   they have defiled your holy temple and reduced Jerusalem to heaps of rubble.
79:2 They have given the bodies of your servants as food to the birds of heaven, the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the earth.
79:3 They have poured out their blood like water around Jerusalem, with no one to bury them.
79:4 We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a mockery and a scorn to those around us.
79:5 How long, LORD?
   Will you be angry forever?
   Will your jealousy burn like fire?
79:6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that do not call on your name.
79:7 For they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place.
79:8 Do not remember against us the sins of those before us;
   let your compassion hurry to meet us, for we have been brought very low.
79:9 Help us, God of our salvation, for the glory of your name.
   Rescue us and atone for our sins for your name’s sake.
79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
   Before our eyes, let vengeance for the shed blood of your servants be known among the nations.
79:11 Let the groaning of the prisoner come before you;
   by your mighty arm preserve those doomed to die.
79:12 Return sevenfold into our neighbors’ bosom the reproach with which they have reproached you, Lord.
79:13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give you thanks forever;
   from generation to generation we will recount your praise.

Chapter 80
80:1 Listen, Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock.
   You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth!
80:2 Before Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us.
80:3 Restore us, God;
   let your face shine, and we will be saved.
80:4 LORD God of hosts, how long will your anger smoke against the prayer of your people?
80:5 You have fed them the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in great measure.
80:6 You have made us an object of contention to our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.
80:7 Restore us, God of hosts;
   let your face shine, and we will be saved.
80:8 You brought a vine out of Egypt;
   you drove out nations and planted it.
80:9 You cleared the ground before it;
   it took deep root and filled the land.
80:10 The mountains were covered by its shade, the mighty cedars by its branches.
80:11 It sent its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River.
80:12 Why have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the road pluck its fruit?
80:13 The boar from the forest ravages it, and the creatures of the field feed on it.
80:14 God of hosts, please return!
   Look down from heaven and see;
   care for this vine,
80:15 the stock your right hand planted, and the son you made strong for yourself.
80:16 It is burned with fire and cut down;
   they perish at the rebuke of your face.
80:17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, on the son of man you made strong for yourself.
80:18 Then we will not turn back from you;
   give us life, and we will call on your name.
80:19 Restore us, LORD God of hosts;
   let your face shine, and we will be saved.

Chapter 81
81:1 Sing for joy to God our strength;
   shout to the God of Jacob.
81:2 Raise a song and sound the tambourine, the sweet lyre with the harp.
81:3 Blow the ram’s horn at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day.
81:4 For this is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob.
81:5 He established it as a testimony in Joseph when he went out against the land of Egypt.
   I heard a language I did not know:
81:6 “I relieved his shoulder of the burden;
   his hands were freed from the basket.
81:7 In distress you called, and I rescued you;
   I answered you from the hiding place of thunder.
   I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah.

81:8 Listen, my people, and I will warn you.
   Israel, if only you would listen to me!
81:9 There must be no strange god among you, and you must not bow down to a foreign god.
81:10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.
   Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.
81:11 But my people did not listen to my voice;
   Israel would have none of me.
81:12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to walk in their own counsels.
81:13 If only my people would listen to me, if Israel would walk in my ways!
81:14 I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries.
81:15 Those who hate the LORD would feign submission to him, and their time would last forever.
81:16 He would feed him the finest wheat, and I would satisfy you with honey from the rock.”

Chapter 82
82:1 God stands in the assembly of God;
   among the gods he gives judgment:
82:2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show favor to the wicked? Selah.

82:3 Defend the weak and the fatherless;
   uphold the cause of the afflicted and poor.
82:4 Rescue the weak and needy;
   deliver them from the hand of the wicked.
82:5 They neither know nor understand;
   they walk about in darkness.
   All the foundations of the earth are shaken.
82:6 I said, ‘You are gods, all of you sons of the Most High.’
82:7 Yet you will die like mortals and fall like any ruler.”
82:8 Rise up, God, judge the earth, for all the nations are yours to inherit.

Chapter 83
83:1 God, do not remain silent;
   do not hold your peace or be still, God.
83:2 For look, your enemies are in uproar;
   those who hate you have lifted their heads.
83:3 They plot cunningly against your people and conspire against those you shelter.
83:4 They say, “Come, let us wipe them out as a nation, so that the name of Israel is remembered no more.”
83:5 For they conspire with one accord;
   they make a covenant against you:
83:6 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites,
83:7 Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre.
83:8 Assyria too has joined them;
   they have become an arm of strength for the children of Lot. Selah.

83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian, to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River,
83:10 who were destroyed at Endor and became dung for the ground.
83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,
83:12 who said, “Let us take possession of the pastures of God.”
83:13 My God, make them like whirling dust, like stubble before the wind.
83:14 As fire burns a forest, as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,
83:15 so pursue them with your tempest and terrify them with your storm.
83:16 Fill their faces with dishonor, that they may seek your name, LORD.
83:17 Let them be ashamed and terrified forever;
   let them be disgraced and perish.
83:18 Let them know that you, whose name is the LORD, you alone are Most High over all the earth.

Chapter 84
84:1 How lovely are your dwelling places, LORD of hosts!
84:2 My soul longs, even faints, for the courts of the LORD;
   my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.
84:3 Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young, near your altars, LORD of hosts, my King and my God.
84:4 Blessed are those who dwell in your house;
   they are always praising you. Selah.

84:5 Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose hearts are the highways.
84:6 As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs;
   the early rain also covers it with blessings.
84:7 They go from strength to strength;
   each appears before God in Zion.
84:8 LORD God of hosts, hear my prayer;
   listen, God of Jacob. Selah.

84:9 Look upon our shield, God;
   look on the face of your anointed.
84:10 For one day in your courts is better than a thousand.
   I would rather stand at the threshold of the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
   the LORD gives grace and glory.
   He withholds no good thing from those who walk in integrity.
84:12 LORD of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you!

Chapter 85
85:1 LORD, you have shown favor to your land;
   you have restored the fortunes of Jacob.
85:2 You have forgiven the guilt of your people;
   you have covered all their sin. Selah.

85:3 You have withdrawn all your wrath;
   you have turned from your burning anger.
85:4 Restore us, God of our salvation;
   put an end to your anger against us.
85:5 Will you be angry with us forever?
   Will you prolong your anger through all generations?
85:6 Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you?
85:7 Show us your steadfast love, LORD, and grant us your salvation.
85:8 I will listen to what God the LORD will say, for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful ones.
   But let them not return to folly.
85:9 Surely his salvation is near those who fear him, that glory may dwell in our land.
85:10 Steadfast love and faithfulness have met;
   righteousness and peace have kissed.
85:11 Faithfulness springs up from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven.
85:12 The LORD will indeed give what is good, and our land will yield its harvest.
85:13 Righteousness will go before him and prepare a way for his steps.

Chapter 86
86:1 Incline your ear, LORD, and answer me, for I am afflicted and needy.
86:2 Preserve my life, for I am faithful to you.
   You are my God;
   save your servant who trusts in you.
86:3 Be gracious to me, Lord, for I cry to you all day long.
86:4 Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, Lord, I lift up my soul.
86:5 For you, Lord, are good and forgiving, abundant in steadfast love to all who call on you.
86:6 Listen to my prayer, LORD, and attend to the voice of my pleas.
86:7 In the day of my distress I will call on you, for you will answer me.
86:8 There is none like you among the gods, Lord, nor are there any works like yours.
86:9 All the nations you have made will come and bow down before you, Lord, and glorify your name.
86:10 For you are great and do wonderful things;
   you alone are God.
86:11 Teach me your way, LORD, and I will walk in your truth;
   give me an undivided heart to fear your name.
86:12 I will give you thanks, Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify your name forever.
86:13 For great is your steadfast love toward me;
   you have rescued my soul from the depths of Sheol.
86:14 God, the arrogant have risen against me;
   a band of ruthless men seeks my life, and they do not set you before them.
86:15 But you, Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love and faithfulness.
86:16 Turn to me and be gracious to me;
   give your strength to your servant, and save the son of your servant woman.
86:17 Show me a sign of your goodness, that those who hate me may see and be ashamed, because you, LORD, have helped and comforted me.

Chapter 87
87:1 His foundation is in the holy mountains.
87:2 The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.
87:3 Glorious things are spoken of you, city of God. Selah.

87:4 “I will name Rahab and Babylon among those who know me.
   Look, Philistia and Tyre, with Cush: ‘This one was born there.’”
87:5 Of Zion it will be said, “This one and that one were born in her,” and the Most High himself will establish her.
87:6 The LORD will count as he registers the peoples, “This one was born there.” Selah.

87:7 Singers and flute players alike will say, “All my springs are in you.”

Chapter 88
A song. A psalm for the sons of Korah. For the music director; according to Mahalath Leannoth. A maskil of Heman the Ezrahite.
88:1 LORD, God of my salvation, I cry out before you day and night.
88:2 Let my prayer come before you;
   incline your ear to my cry.
88:3 For my soul is filled with troubles, and my life draws near to Sheol.
88:4 I am counted with those who go down to the pit;
   I am like a man without strength,
88:5 adrift among the dead, like the slain who lie in the grave, whom you remember no more, who are cut off from your hand.
88:6 You have put me in the deepest pit, in dark places, in the depths.
88:7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me;
   you have afflicted me with all your waves. Selah.

88:8 You have put my acquaintances far from me;
   you have made me repulsive to them.
   I am shut in and cannot get out.
88:9 My eyes grow dim from affliction.
   I call to you, LORD, every day;
   I spread out my hands to you.
88:10 Do you work wonders for the dead?
   Will the shades of the dead rise and give you thanks? Selah.

88:11 Is your steadfast love recounted in the grave, or your faithfulness in Abaddon?
88:12 Are your wonders known in the darkness, or your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness?
88:13 But I cry to you for help, LORD;
   in the morning my prayer comes before you.
88:14 Why, LORD, do you reject my soul and hide your face from me?
88:15 I have been afflicted and near death from my youth;
   I bear your terrors and am bewildered.
88:16 Your burning anger has swept over me;
   your terrors have destroyed me.
88:17 They surround me like water all day long;
   together they close in on me.
88:18 You have put lover and friend far from me;
   my companions are darkness.

Chapter 89
89:1 I will sing of the LORD’s acts of steadfast love forever;
   with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known to all generations.
89:2 For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever;
   in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.”
89:3 “I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
   I have sworn to David my servant:
89:4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah.

89:5 The heavens praise your wonders, LORD, and your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones.
89:6 For who in the skies can compare with the LORD?
   Who among the heavenly beings is like the LORD?
89:7 God is greatly feared in the council of the holy ones, awesome above all who surround him.
89:8 LORD God of hosts, who is mighty like you, LORD?
   Your faithfulness surrounds you.
89:9 You rule the raging sea;
   when its waves rise, you still them.
89:10 You crushed Rahab like one slain;
   with your mighty arm you scattered your enemies.
89:11 The heavens are yours, and the earth is yours as well;
   you founded the world and all that fills it.
89:12 You created the north and the south;
   Tabor and Hermon sing for joy at your name.
89:13 You have a mighty arm;
   your hand is strong, your right hand lifted high.
89:14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
   steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
89:15 Blessed are the people who know the joyful shout;
   LORD, they walk in the light of your face.
89:16 They rejoice in your name all day long, and in your righteousness they are exalted.
89:17 For you are the glory of their strength, and by your favor our horn is lifted high.
89:18 For our shield belongs to the LORD, our king to the Holy One of Israel.
89:19 Then you spoke in a vision to your faithful ones and said, “I have laid help on a warrior;
   I have exalted one chosen from the people.
89:20 I have found David my servant;
   with my holy oil I have anointed him.
89:21 My hand will remain firm with him;
   my arm will strengthen him.
89:22 No enemy will oppress him, no wicked man afflict him.
89:23 I will crush his adversaries before him and strike those who hate him.
89:24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love will be with him, and in my name his horn will be lifted high.
89:25 I will set his hand on the sea, his right hand on the rivers.
89:26 He will call to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.’
89:27 I too will make him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
89:28 I will keep my steadfast love for him forever;
   my covenant with him will stand firm.
89:29 I will establish his offspring forever, and his throne as long as the heavens endure.
89:30 If his sons forsake my law and do not walk in my judgments,
89:31 if they profane my statutes and do not keep my commandments,
89:32 I will punish their rebellion with the rod and their guilt with blows.
89:33 But I will not withdraw my steadfast love from him or prove false to my faithfulness.
89:34 I will not profane my covenant or alter what has passed my lips.
89:35 Once I have sworn by my holiness;
   I will not lie to David.
89:36 His offspring will endure forever, and his throne like the sun before me.
89:37 Like the moon it will be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah.

89:38 But you have rejected and spurned him;
   you have been enraged with your anointed.
89:39 You have renounced the covenant of your servant;
   you have profaned his crown in the dust.
89:40 You have broken down all his walls and reduced his strongholds to ruin.
89:41 All who pass along the road plunder him;
   he has become a reproach to his neighbors.
89:42 You have lifted high the right hand of his adversaries;
   you have made all his enemies rejoice.
89:43 You have turned back the edge of his sword and have not made him stand in battle.
89:44 You have brought his splendor to an end and cast his throne to the ground.
89:45 You have shortened the days of his youth and covered him with shame. Selah.

89:46 How long, LORD?
   Will you hide yourself forever?
   Will your wrath burn like fire?
89:47 Remember how brief my life is.
   Why have you created all mortals in vain?
89:48 What man can live and not see death?
   Can he rescue his soul from the hand of Sheol? Selah.

89:49 Where are your former acts of steadfast love, Lord, which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
89:50 Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my bosom the reproach of all the many peoples,
89:51 with which your enemies have taunted, LORD, with which they have taunted the footsteps of your anointed.
89:52 Blessed be the LORD forever!
   Amen and amen.

Chapter 90
90:1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place through all generations.
90:2 Before the mountains were born, before you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
90:3 You return mortals to dust and say, “Return, children of Adam.”
90:4 For a thousand years in your eyes are like yesterday when it has passed, like a watch in the night.
90:5 You sweep them away;
   they are like sleep, like grass that sprouts in the morning.
90:6 In the morning it blossoms and grows;
   by evening it withers and dries up.
90:7 For we are consumed by your anger and terrified by your wrath.
90:8 You have set our guilt before you, our secrets in the light of your face.
90:9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
   we finish our years like a sigh.
90:10 The years of our life are seventy, or eighty if we have strength;
   yet their pride is toil and sorrow, for they pass quickly, and we fly away.
90:11 Who knows the power of your anger, your wrath according to the fear you are due?
90:12 Teach us so to number our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
90:13 Return, LORD!
   How long?
   Have compassion on your servants.
90:14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
90:15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.
90:16 Let your work be seen by your servants, and your majesty by their children.
90:17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us.
   Establish the work of our hands for us;
   yes, establish the work of our hands.

Chapter 91
91:1 The one who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
91:2 I will say to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
91:3 For he will rescue you from the fowler’s snare and from deadly pestilence.
91:4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will take refuge;
   his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
91:5 You will not fear the terror of the night, or the arrow that flies by day,
91:6 or the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or the destruction that ravages at noon.
91:7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.
91:8 You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked.
91:9 Because you have made the LORD, my refuge, the Most High, your dwelling place,
91:10 no evil will befall you, no plague come near your tent.
91:11 For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.
91:12 They will bear you up in their hands, so that you do not strike your foot against a stone.
91:13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
   you will trample the young lion and the serpent.
91:14 “Because he has set his love on me, I will rescue him;
   I will set him safely on high, because he knows my name.
91:15 He will call on me, and I will answer him.
   I will be with him in distress;
   I will rescue him and honor him.
91:16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Chapter 92
92:1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD and sing praise to your name, Most High,
92:2 to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night,
92:3 with a ten-stringed instrument and a harp, with the melody of the lyre.
92:4 For you have gladdened me by your work, LORD;
   I sing for joy at the works of your hands.
92:5 How great are your works, LORD!
   Your thoughts are very deep.
92:6 A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand this:
92:7 though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, it is so they may be destroyed forever.
92:8 But you, LORD, are on high forever.
92:9 For look, your enemies, LORD—for look, your enemies will perish;
   all evildoers will be scattered.
92:10 You have lifted my horn like that of a wild ox;
   I have been anointed with fresh oil.
92:11 My eyes look upon those who watch me;
   my ears hear the evildoers who rise against me.
92:12 The righteous will flourish like a palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
92:13 Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God.
92:14 They will still bear fruit in old age;
   they will be full of sap and green,
92:15 declaring that the LORD is upright;
   he is my rock, and there is no injustice in him.

Chapter 93
93:1 The LORD reigns, clothed in majesty;
   the LORD is clothed in strength and has girded himself.
   Indeed, the world stands firm;
   it will not be shaken.
93:2 Your throne stands firm from long ago;
   you are from everlasting.
93:3 The floods have risen, LORD;
   the floods have lifted their voice;
   the floods lift their waves.
93:4 Mightier than the roar of many waters, than the mighty breakers of the sea, is the LORD on high.
93:5 Your testimonies are utterly trustworthy;
   holiness befits your house, LORD, for all days to come.

Chapter 94
94:1 LORD, God of vengeance, God of vengeance, shine forth!
94:2 Rise up, Judge of the earth;
   repay the proud what they deserve.
94:3 How long will the wicked, LORD, how long will the wicked exult?
94:4 They pour out arrogant words;
   all evildoers boast.
94:5 They crush your people, LORD, and afflict your inheritance.
94:6 They kill the widow and the foreigner, and murder the fatherless.
94:7 They say, “The LORD does not see;
   the God of Jacob does not notice.”
94:8 Understand, you senseless among the people!
   Fools, when will you be wise?
94:9 Does the one who planted the ear not hear?
   Does the one who formed the eye not see?
94:10 Will the one who disciplines nations not correct, the one who teaches humanity knowledge?
94:11 The LORD knows human thoughts, that they are but a breath.
94:12 Blessed is the man you discipline, LORD, whom you teach from your law,
94:13 to give him rest from days of trouble until a pit is dug for the wicked.
94:14 For the LORD will not reject his people or forsake his inheritance.
94:15 For judgment will return to righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
94:16 Who will rise up for me against the wicked?
   Who will stand for me against evildoers?
94:17 If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have dwelt in silence.
94:18 When I say, “My foot is slipping,” your steadfast love, LORD, sustains me.
94:19 When anxious thoughts multiply within me, your consolations delight my soul.
94:20 Can a destructive throne be allied with you, one that fashions harm by statute?
94:21 They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn innocent blood.
94:22 But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge.
94:23 He will bring their own wickedness back on them and destroy them for their evil;
   the LORD our God will destroy them.

Chapter 95
95:1 Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD;
   let us shout to the rock of our salvation.
95:2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving and shout to him with songs.
95:3 For the LORD is a great God, a great King above all gods.
95:4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks are his.
95:5 The sea is his, for he made it;
   his hands formed the dry land.
95:6 Come, let us worship and bow down;
   let us kneel before the LORD our Maker.
95:7 For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep of his hand.
   Today, if you hear his voice:
95:8 “Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
95:9 where your fathers tested me and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
95:10 For forty years I loathed that generation and said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray;
   they have not known my ways.’
95:11 So I swore in my anger, ‘They will not enter my rest.’”

Chapter 96
96:1 Sing to the LORD a new song;
   sing to the LORD, all the earth!
96:2 Sing to the LORD;
   bless his name.
   Proclaim the good news of his salvation day after day.
96:3 Declare his glory among the nations, his wonders among all the peoples.
96:4 For great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
   he is to be feared above all gods.
96:5 For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but the LORD made the heavens.
96:6 Splendor and majesty are before him;
   strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.
96:7 Ascribe to the LORD, families of the peoples, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
96:8 Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
   bring an offering and come into his courts.
96:9 Worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness;
   tremble before him, all the earth!
96:10 Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns!”
   Indeed, the world stands firm;
   it will not be shaken.
   He will judge the peoples with equity.
96:11 Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad;
   let the sea roar and all that fills it.
96:12 Let the field exult and everything in it;
   then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy
96:13 before the LORD, for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth.
   He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with his faithfulness.

Chapter 97
97:1 The LORD reigns!
   Let the earth rejoice;
   let the many coastlands be glad.
97:2 Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
   righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
97:3 Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around.
97:4 His lightning lit up the world;
   the earth saw and trembled.
97:5 The mountains melted like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth.
97:6 The heavens declared his righteousness, and all the peoples saw his glory.
97:7 Let all who serve carved images be ashamed, those who boast in idols.
   Bow down before him, all you gods!
97:8 Zion heard and was glad;
   the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of your judgments, LORD.
97:9 For you, LORD, are Most High over all the earth;
   you are exalted far above all gods.
97:10 You who love the LORD, hate evil!
   He guards the lives of his faithful ones and rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
97:11 Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart.
97:12 Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Chapter 98
98:1 Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done wonderful things.
   His right hand and his holy arm have won him victory.
98:2 The LORD has made his salvation known;
   he has revealed his righteousness before the eyes of the nations.
98:3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel.
   All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
98:4 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth;
   break forth in joyful song and sing praise.
98:5 Sing praise to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of song.
98:6 With trumpets and the sound of the ram’s horn, shout before the King, the LORD.
98:7 Let the sea roar and all that fills it, the world and those who dwell in it.
98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands;
   let the mountains sing for joy together
98:9 before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
   He will judge the world with righteousness and the peoples with equity.

Chapter 99
99:1 The LORD reigns;
   let the peoples tremble!
   He is enthroned upon the cherubim;
   let the earth shake!
99:2 The LORD is great in Zion;
   he is exalted above all the peoples.
99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name.
   He is holy!
99:4 The King’s strength loves justice.
   You have established equity;
   you have worked justice and righteousness in Jacob.
99:5 Exalt the LORD our God and bow down at his footstool.
   He is holy!
99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests, Samuel among those who called on his name.
   They called to the LORD, and he answered them.
99:7 He spoke to them from the pillar of cloud;
   they kept his testimonies and the statute he gave them.
99:8 LORD our God, you answered them;
   you were a forgiving God to them, though you punished them for their deeds.
99:9 Exalt the LORD our God and bow down at his holy mountain, for the LORD our God is holy.

Chapter 100
100:1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth!
100:2 Serve the LORD with gladness;
   come before him with joyful singing.
100:3 Know that the LORD is God.
   He made us, and we are his, his people, the sheep of his pasture.
100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
   give thanks to him and bless his name.
100:5 For the LORD is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.

Chapter 101
101:1 I will sing of steadfast love and justice;
   to you, LORD, I will sing praise.
101:2 I will give heed to the blameless way.
   When will you come to me?
   I will walk with integrity of heart within my house.
101:3 I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.
   I hate the deeds of those who turn aside;
   they will not cling to me.
101:4 A perverse heart will be far from me;
   I will have nothing to do with evil.
101:5 Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, I will destroy.
   I will not tolerate haughty eyes and an arrogant heart.
101:6 My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me;
   the one who walks in a blameless way will serve me.
101:7 No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house;
   no one who speaks lies will remain before my eyes.
101:8 Every morning I will destroy all the wicked of the land, cutting off all evildoers from the city of the LORD.

Chapter 102
A prayer of an afflicted person, when he grows faint and pours out his lament before the LORD.
102:1 LORD, hear my prayer;
   let my cry for help come to you.
102:2 Do not hide your face from me in the day of my distress.
   Incline your ear to me;
   answer me quickly when I call.
102:3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like a hearth.
102:4 My heart is stricken and withered like grass;
   I forget to eat my bread.
102:5 Because of my groaning, my bones cling to my flesh.
102:6 I am like a pelican in the wilderness, like an owl among the ruins.
102:7 I lie awake, like a lonely bird on a rooftop.
102:8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
   those who rage against me use me in their curses.
102:9 For I eat ashes like bread and mix my drink with tears,
102:10 because of your indignation and wrath, for you have lifted me up and thrown me away.
102:11 My days are like a lengthening shadow, and I wither like grass.
102:12 But you, LORD, are enthroned forever;
   your remembrance endures to all generations.
102:13 You will rise and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor;
   the appointed time has come.
102:14 For your servants cherish her stones and show favor to her dust.
102:15 The nations will fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory.
102:16 For the LORD will have rebuilt Zion and appeared in his glory.
102:17 He will have turned to the prayer of the destitute and not despised their prayer.
102:18 Let this be written for a generation to come, and a people yet to be created will praise the LORD.
102:19 For he looked down from his holy height;
   from heaven the LORD gazed upon the earth,
102:20 to hear the groaning of the prisoner and release those doomed to die,
102:21 that the name of the LORD may be proclaimed in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem,
102:22 when peoples gather together, and kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
102:23 He weakened my strength along the way;
   he shortened my days.
102:24 I say, “My God, do not take me away in the midst of my days;
   your years endure through all generations.
102:25 Long ago you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
102:26 They will perish, but you will remain;
   they will all wear out like a garment.
   Like clothing you will change them, and they will be changed.
102:27 But you are the same, and your years will have no end.
102:28 The children of your servants will dwell secure, and their offspring will be established before you.”

Chapter 103
103:1 Bless the LORD, my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
103:2 Bless the LORD, my soul, and forget none of his benefits.
103:3 He forgives all your guilt and heals all your diseases.
103:4 He redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with steadfast love and compassion.
103:5 He satisfies your life with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
103:6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
103:7 He made his ways known to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel.
103:8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in steadfast love.
103:9 He will not accuse forever or keep his anger for all time.
103:10 He has not dealt with us according to our sins or repaid us according to our guilt.
103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him.
103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.
103:14 For he knows how we are formed;
   he remembers that we are dust.
103:15 As for mortals, their days are like grass;
   they flourish like a flower of the field.
103:16 The wind passes over it, and it is gone;
   its place knows it no more.
103:17 But the LORD’s steadfast love is from everlasting to everlasting toward those who fear him, and his righteousness to children’s children,
103:18 to those who keep his covenant and remember his precepts to do them.
103:19 The LORD has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
103:20 Bless the LORD, you his angels, mighty in strength, who do his word, obeying the voice of his word.
103:21 Bless the LORD, all his hosts, his servants who do his will.
103:22 Bless the LORD, all his works, in all the places of his dominion.
   Bless the LORD, my soul!

Chapter 104
104:1 Bless the LORD, my soul!
   LORD my God, you are very great;
   you are clothed in splendor and majesty.
104:2 He wraps himself in light as in a garment;
   he stretches out the heavens like a tent curtain.
104:3 He lays the beams of his upper chambers in the waters;
   he makes the clouds his chariot and walks on the wings of the wind.
104:4 He makes the winds his messengers, flaming fire his servants.
104:5 He founded the earth on its bases, so that it will never be shaken.
104:6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment;
   the waters stood above the mountains.
104:7 At your rebuke they fled;
   at the sound of your thunder they hurried away.
104:8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank, to the place you established for them.
104:9 You set a boundary they cannot cross, so they will not return to cover the earth.
104:10 He sends springs into the ravines;
   they flow between the mountains.
104:11 They give drink to every beast of the field;
   the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
104:12 Beside them the birds of heaven dwell;
   they sing among the branches.
104:13 He waters the mountains from his upper chambers;
   the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your works.
104:14 He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for human cultivation, to bring forth food from the earth:
104:15 wine that gladdens the human heart, oil that makes the face shine, and bread that strengthens the human heart.
104:16 The trees of the LORD are satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
104:17 There the birds make their nests;
   the stork has her home in the cypress trees.
104:18 The high mountains are for the wild goats;
   the rocks are a refuge for the hyraxes.
104:19 He made the moon for appointed times;
   the sun knows its setting.
104:20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about.
104:21 The young lions roar for prey, seeking their food from God.
104:22 When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
104:23 People go out to their work, to their labor until evening.
104:24 How many are your works, LORD!
   In wisdom you made them all;
   the earth is full of your creatures.
104:25 There is the sea, great and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both small and great.
104:26 There the ships sail, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.
104:27 All of them look to you to give them their food in due season.
104:28 You give to them, and they gather it;
   you open your hand, and they are satisfied with good things.
104:29 You hide your face, and they are terrified;
   you take away their breath, and they die and return to their dust.
104:30 You send forth your Spirit, and they are created;
   you renew the face of the ground.
104:31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever;
   may the LORD rejoice in his works.
104:32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles;
   he touches the mountains, and they smoke.
104:33 I will sing to the LORD as long as I live;
   I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist.
104:34 May my meditation be pleasing to him;
   I will rejoice in the LORD.
104:35 Let sinners be consumed from the earth, and the wicked be no more.
   Bless the LORD, my soul!
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 105
105:1 Give thanks to the LORD;
   call on his name;
   make his deeds known among the peoples.
105:2 Sing to him;
   sing praise to him;
   tell of all his wonders.
105:3 Glory in his holy name;
   let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice.
105:4 Seek the LORD and his strength;
   seek his face always.
105:5 Remember the wonders he has done, his signs and the judgments of his mouth,
105:6 you offspring of Abraham his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
105:7 He is the LORD our God;
   his judgments are in all the earth.
105:8 He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded for a thousand generations,
105:9 the covenant he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac.
105:10 He confirmed it to Jacob as a statute, to Israel as an everlasting covenant,
105:11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan as your allotted inheritance.”
105:12 When they were few in number, very few, and foreigners in it,
105:13 they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.
105:14 He allowed no one to oppress them;
   he rebuked kings for their sake:
105:15 “Do not touch my anointed ones;
   do my prophets no harm.”
105:16 He summoned famine upon the land and broke every staff of bread.
105:17 He sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
105:18 They hurt his foot with fetters;
   he was put in irons,
105:19 until the time his word came to pass;
   the word of the LORD tested him.
105:20 The king sent and released him;
   the ruler of peoples set him free.
105:21 He made him lord of his house and ruler over all his possessions,
105:22 to bind his officials as he pleased and teach his elders wisdom.
105:23 Then Israel came to Egypt;
   Jacob lived as a foreigner in the land of Ham.
105:24 He made his people very fruitful and stronger than their adversaries.
105:25 He turned their hearts to hate his people, to plot against his servants.
105:26 He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron, whom he had chosen.
105:27 They performed his signs among them, wonders in the land of Ham.
105:28 He sent darkness and made it dark;
   they did not rebel against his word.
105:29 He turned their waters to blood and killed their fish.
105:30 Their land swarmed with frogs, even in the chambers of their kings.
105:31 He spoke, and swarms of flies came, gnats throughout their territory.
105:32 He gave them hail for rain, flaming fire in their land.
105:33 He struck their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees throughout their territory.
105:34 He spoke, and locusts came, devouring locusts without number.
105:35 They devoured every plant in their land and ate the fruit of their soil.
105:36 He struck every firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigor.
105:37 He brought them out with silver and gold;
   no one among his tribes stumbled.
105:38 Egypt was glad when they departed, for dread of them had fallen upon it.
105:39 He spread a cloud as a covering, and fire to give light by night.
105:40 They asked, and he brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
105:41 He opened a rock, and water gushed out;
   it flowed through the dry places like a river.
105:42 For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham his servant.
105:43 He brought his people out with joy, his chosen ones with shouts of gladness.
105:44 He gave them the lands of nations, and they inherited the fruit of the peoples’ labor,
105:45 so that they might keep his statutes and observe his laws.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 106
106:1 Praise the LORD!
   Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever.
106:2 Who can recount the mighty deeds of the LORD or proclaim all his praise?
106:3 Blessed are those who uphold justice, who do righteousness at all times.
106:4 Remember me, LORD, with the favor you show your people;
   visit me with your salvation,
106:5 that I may see the prosperity of your chosen ones, rejoice in the joy of your nation, and glory with your inheritance.
106:6 We have sinned with our fathers;
   we have acted perversely and done wickedly.
106:7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand your wonders or remember your many acts of steadfast love;
   they rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.
106:8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his might known.
106:9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
   he led them through the depths as through a wilderness.
106:10 He saved them from the hand of those who hated them and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
106:11 The waters covered their adversaries;
   not one of them remained.
106:12 Then they believed his words and sang his praise.
106:13 But they soon forgot his works;
   they did not wait for his counsel.
106:14 They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the wasteland.
106:15 He gave them what they asked for, but sent wasting disease among them.
106:16 They envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron, the holy one of the LORD.
106:17 The earth opened and swallowed Dathan;
   it covered the company of Abiram.
106:18 Fire blazed among their company;
   a flame burned up the wicked.
106:19 They made a calf at Horeb and bowed down to a cast-metal image.
106:20 They exchanged their glory for the image of an ox that eats grass.
106:21 They forgot God their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,
106:22 wonders in the land of Ham, awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
106:23 He said he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen one stood in the breach before him, to turn back his wrath from destroying them.
106:24 They despised the pleasant land and did not believe his word.
106:25 They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD.
106:26 So he raised his hand in an oath to them, to make them fall in the wilderness,
106:27 to make their offspring fall among the nations and scatter them among the lands.
106:28 They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to the dead.
106:29 They provoked him to anger by their deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
106:30 Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stopped.
106:31 It was counted to him as righteousness through all generations forever.
106:32 They angered him at the waters of Meribah, and trouble came to Moses because of them,
106:33 because they rebelled against his Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.
106:34 They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them,
106:35 but mingled with the nations and learned their practices.
106:36 They served their idols, which became a snare to them.
106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons.
106:38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood.
106:39 They defiled themselves by their deeds and prostituted themselves by their practices.
106:40 Then the LORD’s anger burned against his people, and he abhorred his inheritance.
106:41 He gave them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them.
106:42 Their enemies oppressed them, and they were subdued under their hand.
106:43 Many times he rescued them, but they rebelled in their schemes and sank down in their guilt.
106:44 Yet he looked on their distress when he heard their cry.
106:45 For their sake he remembered his covenant and relented according to his many acts of steadfast love.
106:46 He caused all their captors to have compassion on them.
106:47 Save us, LORD our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
106:48 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting!
   Let all the people say, “Amen!”
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 107
107:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever.
107:2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, those he redeemed from the hand of the adversary
107:3 and gathered from the lands, from the east and the west, from the north and the sea.
107:4 They wandered in the wilderness along a desolate way;
   they found no city to dwell in.
107:5 Hungry and thirsty, their souls fainted within them.
107:6 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.
107:7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could dwell.
107:8 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonders for the children of Adam.
107:9 For he satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good things.
107:10 Some sat in darkness and the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and iron,
107:11 because they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.
107:12 He humbled their hearts with hard labor;
   they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
107:13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and tore their chains apart.
107:15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonders for the children of Adam.
107:16 For he shattered doors of bronze and cut through bars of iron.
107:17 Fools suffered because of their rebellious ways and their guilt.
107:18 They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.
107:19 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
107:20 He sent his word and healed them;
   he rescued them from their pits.
107:21 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonders for the children of Adam.
107:22 Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving and recount his works with joyful singing.
107:23 Those who go down to the sea in ships, doing business on the mighty waters,
107:24 have seen the works of the LORD and his wonders in the deep.
107:25 He spoke and raised a storm wind that lifted its waves.
107:26 They rose to the heavens and sank to the depths;
   their souls melted in their calamity.
107:27 They reeled and staggered like a drunkard;
   all their skill was swallowed up.
107:28 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he brought them out of their distress.
107:29 He turned the storm to calm, and the waves grew quiet.
107:30 They rejoiced because the waters were quiet, and he guided them to the harbor they desired.
107:31 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his steadfast love, for his wonders for the children of Adam.
107:32 Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders.
107:33 He turns rivers into wilderness, springs of water into thirsty ground,
107:34 fruitful land into a salt waste, because of the wickedness of those who dwell in it.
107:35 He turns wilderness into pools of water, dry ground into springs.
107:36 There he settles the hungry, and they establish a city to dwell in.
107:37 They sow fields and plant vineyards that yield a fruitful harvest.
107:38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
   he does not let their cattle decrease.
107:39 Then they diminish and are brought low through oppression, calamity, and sorrow.
107:40 He pours contempt on nobles and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
107:41 But he lifts the needy high above affliction and makes their families like flocks.
107:42 The upright see and rejoice, and all wickedness shuts its mouth.
107:43 Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and consider the LORD’s acts of steadfast love.

Chapter 108
108:1 My heart is steadfast, God;
   I will sing and make music with my whole being.
108:2 Awake, harp and lyre!
   I will awaken the dawn.
108:3 I will give you thanks among the peoples, LORD;
   I will sing praise to you among the nations.
108:4 For your steadfast love is great above the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
108:5 Be exalted above the heavens, God;
   let your glory be over all the earth.
108:6 So that your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand and answer me.
108:7 God has spoken in his holiness: “I will exult;
   I will divide Shechem and measure out the Valley of Succoth.
108:8 Gilead is mine, Manasseh is mine;
   Ephraim is the helmet for my head, Judah my scepter.
108:9 Moab is my washbasin;
   upon Edom I will cast my sandal;
   over Philistia I will shout in triumph.”
108:10 Who will bring me to the fortified city?
   Who will lead me to Edom?
108:11 Have you not rejected us, God?
   You do not go out with our armies, God.
108:12 Give us help against the adversary, for human deliverance is worthless.
108:13 With God we will do valiantly;
   he will trample our adversaries.

Chapter 109
109:1 God of my praise, do not be silent.
109:2 For wicked and deceitful mouths have opened against me;
   they speak to me with a lying tongue.
109:3 They surround me with hateful words and fight against me without cause.
109:4 In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer.
109:5 They repay me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
109:6 Appoint a wicked man over him;
   let an accuser stand at his right hand.
109:7 When he is tried, let him come out guilty;
   let his prayer be counted as sin.
109:8 Let his days be few;
   let another take his office.
109:9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
109:10 Let his children wander continually and beg, seeking food from their ruined homes.
109:11 Let a creditor seize all he has;
   let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor.
109:12 Let no one extend steadfast love to him or show compassion to his fatherless children.
109:13 Let his offspring be cut off;
   in the next generation let their name be erased.
109:14 Let the guilt of his fathers be remembered before the LORD, and let his mother’s sin not be erased.
109:15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth.
109:16 For he did not remember to show steadfast love, but pursued the afflicted and needy man, the brokenhearted, to put him to death.
109:17 He loved cursing, and it came upon him;
   he did not delight in blessing, and it went far from him.
109:18 He clothed himself with cursing like a robe;
   it entered him like water, like oil into his bones.
109:19 Let it be to him like a garment he wraps around himself, like a belt he always wears.
109:20 Let this be the recompense of my accusers from the LORD, of those who speak evil against my life.
109:21 But you, LORD, the Lord, act on my behalf for your name’s sake;
   rescue me, for your steadfast love is good.
109:22 For I am afflicted and needy, and my heart is wounded within me.
109:23 I fade like a lengthening shadow;
   I am shaken off like a locust.
109:24 My knees falter from fasting;
   my flesh has lost its fat.
109:25 I have become a reproach to them;
   when they see me, they shake their heads.
109:26 Help me, LORD my God;
   save me according to your steadfast love.
109:27 Let them know that this is your hand, that you, LORD, have done it.
109:28 Let them curse, but you bless.
   Let them rise and be ashamed, but let your servant rejoice.
109:29 Let my accusers be clothed in disgrace;
   let them wrap themselves in their shame as in a robe.
109:30 With my mouth I will give great thanks to the LORD;
   I will praise him in the midst of the multitude.
109:31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those who condemn his life.

Chapter 110
110:1 The LORD declares to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”
110:2 The LORD will send forth your mighty scepter from Zion.
   Rule in the midst of your enemies!
110:3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy splendor;
   from the womb of the dawn, yours is the dew of your youth.
110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek.”
110:5 The Lord is at your right hand;
   he will shatter kings on the day of his anger.
110:6 He will judge among the nations, filling the land with corpses;
   he will shatter heads across a vast land.
110:7 He will drink from the stream along the way;
   therefore he will lift up his head.

Chapter 111
111:1 Praise the LORD!
   I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart, in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
111:2 Great are the works of the LORD, studied by all who delight in them.
111:3 His work is splendor and majesty, and his righteousness endures forever.
111:4 He has made his wonders remembered;
   the LORD is gracious and compassionate.
111:5 He gives food to those who fear him;
   he remembers his covenant forever.
111:6 He has shown his people the power of his works, giving them the inheritance of the nations.
111:7 The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice;
   all his precepts are trustworthy,
111:8 upheld forever and ever, established in faithfulness and uprightness.
111:9 He sent redemption to his people;
   he ordained his covenant forever.
   Holy and awesome is his name.
111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
   all who practice his precepts have good understanding.
   His praise endures forever.

Chapter 112
112:1 Praise the LORD!
   Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, who greatly delights in his commandments.
112:2 His offspring will be mighty in the land;
   the generation of the upright will be blessed.
112:3 Wealth and riches are in his house, and his righteousness endures forever.
112:4 Light dawns in the darkness for the upright;
   he is gracious, compassionate, and righteous.
112:5 It goes well with the man who is gracious and lends, who conducts his affairs with justice.
112:6 For he will never be shaken;
   the righteous will be remembered forever.
112:7 He will not fear bad news;
   his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.
112:8 His heart is secure;
   he will not fear, until he looks upon his adversaries.
112:9 He has freely distributed his gifts to the needy;
   his righteousness endures forever.
   His horn will be lifted high in honor.
112:10 The wicked man will see and be angry;
   he will gnash his teeth and melt away.
   The desire of the wicked will perish.

Chapter 113
113:1 Praise the LORD!
   Praise, servants of the LORD;
   praise the name of the LORD.
113:2 Blessed be the name of the LORD from now on and forever.
113:3 From the rising of the sun to its setting, the name of the LORD is to be praised.
113:4 The LORD is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens.
113:5 Who is like the LORD our God, who is seated on high,
113:6 who stoops to look on the heavens and the earth?
113:7 He raises the weak from the dust and lifts the needy from the refuse heap,
113:8 to seat them with nobles, with the nobles of his people.
113:9 He gives the barren woman a home as a joyful mother of children.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 114
114:1 When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign speech,
114:2 Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
114:3 The sea saw and fled;
   the Jordan turned back.
114:4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
114:5 What troubles you, sea, that you flee, Jordan, that you turn back,
114:6 mountains, that you skip like rams, hills, like lambs?
114:7 Tremble, earth, before the Lord, before the God of Jacob,
114:8 who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring.

Chapter 115
115:1 Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your steadfast love and faithfulness.
115:2 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God now?”
115:3 Our God is in the heavens;
   he does all that he pleases.
115:4 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
115:5 They have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see.
115:6 They have ears but cannot hear, noses but cannot smell.
115:7 They have hands but cannot feel, feet but cannot walk;
   they make no sound in their throats.
115:8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them.
115:9 Israel, trust in the LORD!
   He is their help and their shield.
115:10 House of Aaron, trust in the LORD!
   He is their help and their shield.
115:11 You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD!
   He is their help and their shield.
115:12 The LORD has remembered us;
   he will bless us.
   He will bless the house of Israel;
   he will bless the house of Aaron.
115:13 He will bless those who fear the LORD, small and great alike.
115:14 May the LORD increase you, you and your children.
115:15 May you be blessed by the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
115:16 The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of Adam.
115:17 The dead do not praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence.
115:18 But we will bless the LORD from now on and forever.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 116
116:1 I love the LORD, for he hears my voice and my pleas.
116:2 Because he has inclined his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
116:3 The cords of death surrounded me;
   the anguish of Sheol overtook me.
   I found distress and sorrow.
116:4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: “Please, LORD, rescue my soul!”
116:5 The LORD is gracious and righteous;
   our God is compassionate.
116:6 The LORD guards the simple;
   I was brought low, and he saved me.
116:7 Return to your rest, my soul, for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
116:8 For you have rescued my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.
116:9 I will walk before the LORD in the lands of the living.
116:10 I believed, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted.”
116:11 In my alarm I said, “All people are liars.”
116:12 What shall I return to the LORD for all his benefits to me?
116:13 I will lift the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD.
116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all his people.
116:15 Precious in the LORD’s eyes is the death of his faithful ones.
116:16 Please, LORD, I am your servant;
   I am your servant, the son of your servant woman.
   You have loosed my bonds.
116:17 I will offer you a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the LORD.
116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
116:19 in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, Jerusalem.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 117
117:1 Praise the LORD, all nations!
   Extol him, all peoples!
117:2 For mighty is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the LORD endures forever.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 118
118:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever.
118:2 Let Israel now say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
118:3 Let the house of Aaron now say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
118:4 Let those who fear the LORD now say, “His steadfast love endures forever.”
118:5 From my distress I called on the LORD;
   the LORD answered me and set me in a spacious place.
118:6 The LORD is on my side;
   I will not fear.
   What can a human being do to me?
118:7 The LORD is on my side among my helpers;
   I will look upon those who hate me.
118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in humans.
118:9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in nobles.
118:10 All nations surrounded me;
   in the name of the LORD I will cut them off.
118:11 They surrounded me, yes, surrounded me;
   in the name of the LORD I will cut them off.
118:12 They surrounded me like bees;
   they were snuffed out like fire among thorns.
   In the name of the LORD I will cut them off.
118:13 You pushed me hard to make me fall, but the LORD helped me.
118:14 The LORD is my strength and my song;
   he has become my salvation.
118:15 Shouts of joy and salvation are in the tents of the righteous: “The LORD’s right hand does valiantly!
118:16 The LORD’s right hand is lifted high;
   the LORD’s right hand does valiantly!”
118:17 I will not die, but live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.
118:18 The LORD has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.
118:19 Open to me the gates of righteousness;
   I will enter them and give thanks to the LORD.
118:20 This is the gate of the LORD;
   the righteous will enter through it.
118:21 I will give you thanks, for you have answered me and become my salvation.
118:22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
118:23 This is the LORD’s doing;
   it is wonderful in our eyes.
118:24 This is the day the LORD has made;
   let us rejoice and be glad in it.
118:25 Please, LORD, save us now!
   Please, LORD, grant us success now!
118:26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD.
   We bless you from the house of the LORD.
118:27 The LORD is God, and he has given us light.
   Bind the festival sacrifice with cords, up to the horns of the altar.
118:28 You are my God, and I will give you thanks;
   my God, I will exalt you.
118:29 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   his steadfast love endures forever.

Chapter 119
119:1 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the LORD.
119:2 Blessed are those who keep his testimonies and seek him with all their heart.
119:3 They do no wrong;
   they walk in his ways.
119:4 You have commanded that your precepts be kept diligently.
119:5 Oh, that my ways were steadfast in keeping your statutes!
119:6 Then I would not be put to shame when I look to all your commandments.
119:7 I will praise you with an upright heart as I learn your righteous judgments.
119:8 I will keep your statutes;
   do not utterly forsake me.
119:9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
   By guarding it according to your word.
119:10 With all my heart I seek you;
   do not let me stray from your commandments.
119:11 I have treasured your word in my heart so that I may not sin against you.
119:12 Blessed are you, LORD;
   teach me your statutes.
119:13 With my lips I recount all the judgments of your mouth.
119:14 I rejoice in the way of your testimonies as in all riches.
119:15 I will meditate on your precepts and look to your ways.
119:16 I will delight in your statutes;
   I will not forget your word.
119:17 Deal generously with your servant, so that I may live and keep your word.
119:18 Open my eyes, so that I may see wonderful things in your law.
119:19 I am a stranger on the earth;
   do not hide your commandments from me.
119:20 My soul is crushed with longing for your judgments at all times.
119:21 You rebuke the arrogant, the accursed who stray from your commandments.
119:22 Roll away reproach and contempt from me, for I have kept your testimonies.
119:23 Even though rulers sit and speak against me, your servant meditates on your statutes.
119:24 Your testimonies are also my delight;
   they are my counselors.
119:25 My soul clings to the dust;
   give me life according to your word.
119:26 I recounted my ways, and you answered me;
   teach me your statutes.
119:27 Help me understand the way of your precepts, so that I may meditate on your wonders.
119:28 My soul melts with sorrow;
   strengthen me according to your word.
119:29 Keep the way of falsehood far from me, and graciously grant me your law.
119:30 I have chosen the way of faithfulness;
   I have set your judgments before me.
119:31 I cling to your testimonies;
   LORD, do not put me to shame.
119:32 I will run in the way of your commandments, for you enlarge my heart.
119:33 Teach me the way of your statutes, LORD, and I will keep it to the end.
119:34 Give me understanding, so that I may keep your law and observe it with all my heart.
119:35 Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it.
119:36 Incline my heart to your testimonies and not to dishonest gain.
119:37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
   give me life in your ways.
119:38 Confirm your promise to your servant, so that you may be feared.
119:39 Turn away the reproach I dread, for your judgments are good.
119:40 Look, I long for your precepts;
   give me life in your righteousness.
119:41 Let your acts of steadfast love come to me, LORD, your salvation according to your promise.
119:42 Then I will have an answer for the one who taunts me, for I trust in your word.
119:43 Do not take the word of truth entirely from my mouth, for I hope in your judgments.
119:44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever.
119:45 I will walk in a spacious place, for I have sought your precepts.
119:46 I will speak of your testimonies before kings and will not be ashamed.
119:47 I will delight in your commandments, which I love.
119:48 I will lift my hands to your commandments, which I love, and meditate on your statutes.
119:49 Remember your word to your servant, in which you have made me hope.
119:50 This is my comfort in my affliction: your word has given me life.
119:51 The arrogant mock me beyond measure, but I have not turned away from your law.
119:52 I remember your judgments of old, LORD, and I am comforted.
119:53 Burning indignation grips me because of the wicked who forsake your law.
119:54 Your statutes have been my songs in the house where I sojourn.
119:55 At night I remember your name, LORD, and I keep your law.
119:56 This has become mine because I have kept your precepts.
119:57 The LORD is my portion;
   I have promised to keep your words.
119:58 I seek your favor with all my heart;
   be gracious to me according to your promise.
119:59 I have considered my ways and turned my feet to your testimonies.
119:60 I hasten and do not delay in keeping your commandments.
119:61 The cords of the wicked entangle me, but I have not forgotten your law.
119:62 At midnight I rise to praise you because of your righteous judgments.
119:63 I am a companion of all who fear you, of those who keep your precepts.
119:64 The earth is full of your steadfast love, LORD;
   teach me your statutes.
119:65 You have dealt well with your servant, LORD, according to your word.
119:66 Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.
119:67 Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.
119:68 You are good and do good;
   teach me your statutes.
119:69 The arrogant smear me with lies, but with all my heart I keep your precepts.
119:70 Their hearts are unfeeling, thick as fat, but I delight in your law.
119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted, so that I might learn your statutes.
119:72 The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of pieces of gold and silver.
119:73 Your hands made me and formed me;
   give me understanding, so that I may learn your commandments.
119:74 Those who fear you will see me and rejoice, for I have hoped in your word.
119:75 I know, LORD, that your judgments are righteous and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
119:76 Let your steadfast love comfort me, according to your promise to your servant.
119:77 Let your compassion come to me, so that I may live, for your law is my delight.
119:78 Let the arrogant be put to shame, for they have wronged me with lies;
   I will meditate on your precepts.
119:79 Let those who fear you turn to me, those who know your testimonies.
119:80 Let my heart be blameless in your statutes, so that I may not be put to shame.
119:81 My soul faints with longing for your salvation;
   I hope in your word.
119:82 My eyes fail with longing for your promise;
   I ask, “When will you comfort me?”
119:83 Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I have not forgotten your statutes.
119:84 How many are your servant’s days?
   When will you bring judgment on my persecutors?
119:85 The arrogant have dug pits for me, contrary to your law.
119:86 All your commandments are trustworthy;
   they persecute me with lies.
   Help me!
119:87 They have almost put an end to me on the earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.
119:88 Give me life according to your steadfast love, so that I may keep the testimony of your mouth.
119:89 Forever, LORD, your word stands firm in the heavens.
119:90 Your faithfulness endures through all generations;
   you established the earth, and it stands.
119:91 They stand to this day according to your judgments, for all things are your servants.
119:92 If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction.
119:93 I will never forget your precepts, for through them you have given me life.
119:94 I am yours;
   save me, for I have sought your precepts.
119:95 The wicked lie in wait to destroy me, but I consider your testimonies.
119:96 I have seen an end to all perfection, but your commandment is exceedingly broad.
119:97 Oh, how I love your law!
   It is my meditation all day long.
119:98 Your commandments make me wiser than my enemies, for they are mine forever.
119:99 I have more insight than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation.
119:100 I have more understanding than the aged, for I keep your precepts.
119:101 I have kept my feet from every evil path so that I may keep your word.
119:102 I have not turned aside from your judgments, for you yourself have taught me.
119:103 How sweet is your word to my palate, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
119:104 Through your precepts I gain understanding;
   therefore I hate every false way.
119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
119:106 I have sworn and confirmed it: I will keep your righteous judgments.
119:107 I am afflicted beyond measure;
   LORD, give me life according to your word.
119:108 Please accept the freewill offerings of my mouth, LORD, and teach me your judgments.
119:109 My life is always in my hand, but I have not forgotten your law.
119:110 The wicked have set a trap for me, but I have not strayed from your precepts.
119:111 Your testimonies are my inheritance forever, for they are the joy of my heart.
119:112 I have inclined my heart to carry out your statutes forever, to the end.
119:113 I hate the double-minded, but I love your law.
119:114 You are my hiding place and my shield;
   I hope in your word.
119:115 Depart from me, you evildoers, so that I may keep the commandments of my God.
119:116 Uphold me according to your promise, so that I may live;
   do not let me be put to shame in my hope.
119:117 Support me, so that I may be saved, and I will regard your statutes continually.
119:118 You reject all who stray from your statutes, for their deceit is falsehood.
119:119 You remove all the wicked of the earth like dross;
   therefore I love your testimonies.
119:120 My flesh shudders in fear of you, and I am afraid of your judgments.
119:121 I have done what is just and right;
   do not abandon me to my oppressors.
119:122 Stand as guarantor for your servant’s good;
   do not let the arrogant oppress me.
119:123 My eyes fail with longing for your salvation and for your righteous promise.
119:124 Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes.
119:125 I am your servant;
   give me understanding, so that I may know your testimonies.
119:126 It is time for the LORD to act;
   they have broken your law.
119:127 Therefore I love your commandments more than gold, more than fine gold.
119:128 Therefore I consider all your precepts right in all things;
   I hate every false way.
119:129 Your testimonies are wonderful;
   therefore my soul keeps them.
119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light;
   it gives understanding to the simple.
119:131 I open my mouth and pant, for I long for your commandments.
119:132 Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your custom toward those who love your name.
119:133 Establish my steps according to your word, and let no evil rule over me.
119:134 Redeem me from human oppression, so that I may keep your precepts.
119:135 Make your face shine on your servant, and teach me your statutes.
119:136 Streams of water flow down from my eyes because they do not keep your law.
119:137 You are righteous, LORD, and your judgments are upright.
119:138 The testimonies you have commanded are righteous and utterly faithful.
119:139 My zeal consumes me because my adversaries have forgotten your words.
119:140 Your word is thoroughly refined, and your servant loves it.
119:141 I am small and despised, but I have not forgotten your precepts.
119:142 Your righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and your law is truth.
119:143 Trouble and anguish have found me, but your commandments are my delight.
119:144 Your testimonies are righteous forever;
   give me understanding, so that I may live.
119:145 I call with all my heart;
   answer me, LORD!
   I will keep your statutes.
119:146 I call to you;
   save me, so that I may keep your testimonies.
119:147 I rise before dawn and cry for help;
   I hope in your word.
119:148 My eyes are awake before the night watches, so that I may meditate on your word.
119:149 Hear my voice according to your steadfast love;
   LORD, give me life according to your judgments.
119:150 Those who pursue wicked schemes draw near;
   they are far from your law.
119:151 You are near, LORD, and all your commandments are truth.
119:152 Long ago I learned from your testimonies that you established them forever.
119:153 Look on my affliction and rescue me, for I have not forgotten your law.
119:154 Plead my cause and redeem me;
   give me life according to your promise.
119:155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.
119:156 Your compassion is great, LORD;
   give me life according to your judgments.
119:157 My persecutors and adversaries are many, but I have not turned aside from your testimonies.
119:158 I see the treacherous and feel disgust, because they do not keep your word.
119:159 See how I love your precepts;
   LORD, give me life according to your steadfast love.
119:160 The sum of your word is truth, and every righteous judgment of yours endures forever.
119:161 Rulers persecute me without cause, but my heart stands in awe of your word.
119:162 I rejoice in your word like one who finds great spoil.
119:163 I hate and detest falsehood, but I love your law.
119:164 Seven times a day I praise you because of your righteous judgments.
119:165 Great peace belongs to those who love your law, and there is no stumbling block for them.
119:166 I hope for your salvation, LORD, and I carry out your commandments.
119:167 My soul keeps your testimonies, and I love them greatly.
119:168 I keep your precepts and your testimonies, for all my ways are before you.
119:169 Let my cry come before you, LORD;
   give me understanding according to your word.
119:170 Let my plea come before you;
   deliver me according to your promise.
119:171 Let my lips pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes.
119:172 Let my tongue sing of your word, for all your commandments are righteous.
119:173 Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
119:174 I long for your salvation, LORD, and your law is my delight.
119:175 Let my soul live and praise you, and let your judgments help me.
119:176 I have strayed like a lost sheep;
   seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commandments.

Chapter 120
120:1 In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.
120:2 LORD, deliver my life from lying lips and a deceitful tongue.
120:3 What will he give you, and what more will he add to you, deceitful tongue?
120:4 A warrior’s sharpened arrows, with burning coals of broom wood.
120:5 Woe to me, for I sojourn in Meshech;
   I dwell among the tents of Kedar!
120:6 Too long have I lived with those who hate peace.
120:7 I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war.

Chapter 121
121:1 I lift my eyes to the mountains.
   Where does my help come from?
121:2 My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
121:3 May he not let your foot slip;
   may the one who watches over you not slumber.
121:4 Indeed, the one who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.
121:5 The LORD watches over you;
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand.
121:6 The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.
121:7 The LORD will keep you from all evil;
   he will keep your life.
121:8 The LORD will keep your going out and your coming in, from now on and forever.

Chapter 122
122:1 I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
122:2 Our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem.
122:3 Jerusalem is built as a city firmly joined together.
122:4 There the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, according to the testimony given to Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD.
122:5 For there stand thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David.
122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: “May those who love you live at ease.
122:7 May there be peace within your walls and ease within your palaces.”
122:8 For the sake of my brothers and companions I will say, “Peace be within you.”
122:9 For the sake of the house of the LORD our God I will seek your good.

Chapter 123
123:1 I lift my eyes to you, to you who are enthroned in the heavens.
123:2 As the eyes of servants look to the hand of their masters, as the eyes of a servant woman look to the hand of her mistress, so our eyes look to the LORD our God, until he is gracious to us.
123:3 Be gracious to us, LORD, be gracious to us, for we have had more than enough contempt.
123:4 Our soul has had more than enough of the mockery of those at ease and the contempt of the arrogant.

Chapter 124
124:1 Let Israel now say, “If the LORD had not been on our side,
124:2 if the LORD had not been on our side when people rose against us,
124:3 then they would have swallowed us alive when their anger burned against us.
124:4 Then the waters would have swept us away;
   the torrent would have passed over us.
124:5 Then the raging waters would have passed over us.”
124:6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as prey to their teeth.
124:7 We have escaped like a bird from the fowlers’ snare;
   the snare is broken, and we have escaped.
124:8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Chapter 125
125:1 Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but remains forever.
125:2 As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surrounds his people, from now on and forever.
125:3 For the scepter of wickedness will not rest on the land allotted to the righteous, so that the righteous will not stretch out their hands to do wrong.
125:4 Do good, LORD, to those who are good, to those who are upright in heart.
125:5 But those who turn aside to their crooked ways, the LORD will lead away with evildoers.
   Peace be upon Israel!

Chapter 126
126:1 When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream.
126:2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter and our tongue with shouts of joy.
   Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
126:3 The LORD did great things for us, and we were glad.
126:4 Restore our fortunes, LORD, like the streams in the Negev.
126:5 Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy.
126:6 The one who goes out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying his sheaves.

Chapter 127
127:1 Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain.
   Unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.
127:2 It is in vain that you rise early and stay up late, eating the bread of painful toil;
   for he gives sleep to his beloved.
127:3 Indeed, children are a heritage from the LORD;
   the fruit of the womb is a reward.
127:4 Like arrows in a warrior’s hand are sons born in one’s youth.
127:5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!
   They will not be put to shame when they speak with enemies at the gate.

Chapter 128
128:1 Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways.
128:2 You will eat the fruit of your hands’ labor;
   you will be blessed, and it will go well with you.
128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house, your children like olive shoots around your table.
128:4 Indeed, this is how the man who fears the LORD will be blessed.
128:5 May the LORD bless you from Zion;
   may you see the good of Jerusalem all the days of your life.
128:6 May you see your children’s children.
   Peace be upon Israel!

Chapter 129
129:1 Let Israel now say, “They have oppressed me greatly from my youth.
129:2 They have oppressed me greatly from my youth, but they have not prevailed against me.
129:3 The plowmen plowed on my back;
   they made their furrow long.
129:4 The LORD is righteous;
   he has cut the cords of the wicked.”
129:5 May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned back.
129:6 May they be like grass on the rooftops, which withers before it is pulled up,
129:7 with which the reaper cannot fill his hand, nor the binder of sheaves his arms.
129:8 Nor do those who pass by say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you;
   we bless you in the name of the LORD.”

Chapter 130
130:1 Out of the depths I cry to you, LORD.
130:2 Lord, hear my voice;
   let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas.
130:3 If you, LORD, kept account of iniquities, Lord, who could stand?
130:4 But with you there is forgiveness, so that you may be feared.
130:5 I wait for the LORD;
   my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
130:6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
130:7 Israel, hope in the LORD, for with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him there is abundant redemption.
130:8 He himself will redeem Israel from all its iniquities.

Chapter 131
131:1 LORD, my heart is not proud, and my eyes are not haughty;
   I do not pursue great things or things too wonderful for me.
131:2 Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother;
   like a weaned child is my soul within me.
131:3 Israel, hope in the LORD, from now on and forever.

Chapter 132
132:1 Remember David, LORD, and all his hardships,
132:2 how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
132:3 “I will not enter my dwelling tent or climb into my bed;
132:4 I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
132:5 until I find a place for the LORD, dwelling places for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
132:6 Look, we heard of it in Ephrathah;
   we found it in the fields of the forest.
132:7 Let us enter his dwelling places;
   let us bow down at his footstool.
132:8 Arise, LORD, to your resting place, you and the ark of your strength.
132:9 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your faithful ones shout for joy.
132:10 For the sake of David your servant, do not reject your anointed one.
132:11 The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “I will set one of your own descendants on your throne.
132:12 If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I will teach them, their sons too will sit on your throne forever.”
132:13 For the LORD has chosen Zion;
   he has desired it as his dwelling:
132:14 “This is my resting place forever;
   here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
132:15 I will abundantly bless its provisions;
   I will satisfy its poor with bread.
132:16 I will clothe its priests with salvation, and its faithful ones will shout aloud for joy.
132:17 There I will make a horn sprout for David;
   I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one.
132:18 I will clothe his enemies with shame, but his crown will gleam upon him.”

Chapter 133
133:1 Look, how good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity!
133:2 It is like fine oil on the head, running down the beard, Aaron’s beard, running down onto the collar of his robes.
133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon falling on the mountains of Zion;
   for there the LORD commanded the blessing: life forevermore.

Chapter 134
134:1 Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD who stand by night in the house of the LORD.
134:2 Lift your hands toward the sanctuary and bless the LORD.
134:3 May the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth, bless you from Zion.

Chapter 135
135:1 Praise the LORD!
   Praise the name of the LORD;
   praise him, you servants of the LORD,
135:2 who stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God.
135:3 Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
   sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant.
135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his treasured possession.
135:5 For I know that the LORD is great, and our Lord is above all gods.
135:6 Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all the depths.
135:7 He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth;
   he makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
135:8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both human and animal.
135:9 He sent signs and wonders into your midst, Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.
135:10 He struck down many nations and killed mighty kings:
135:11 Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan.
135:12 He gave their land as an inheritance, an inheritance to Israel his people.
135:13 LORD, your name endures forever;
   LORD, your renown endures through all generations.
135:14 For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.
135:15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.
135:16 They have mouths but do not speak;
   they have eyes but do not see.
135:17 They have ears but do not hear;
   there is no breath in their mouths.
135:18 Those who make them will become like them, as will all who trust in them.
135:19 House of Israel, bless the LORD!
   House of Aaron, bless the LORD!
135:20 House of Levi, bless the LORD!
   You who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!
135:21 Blessed be the LORD from Zion, he who dwells in Jerusalem.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 136
136:1 Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:2 Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:4 To him who alone does great wonders, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:5 To him who made the heavens with understanding, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:6 To him who spread out the earth over the waters, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:7 To him who made the great lights, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:8 The sun to rule the day, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:9 The moon and stars to rule the night, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:10 To him who struck Egypt through its firstborn, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:11 And brought Israel out from among them, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:12 With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:13 To him who divided the Red Sea into parts, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:14 And brought Israel through its midst, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:15 And overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:16 To him who led his people through the wilderness, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:17 To him who struck down great kings, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:18 And killed mighty kings, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:19 Sihon king of the Amorites, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:20 And Og king of Bashan, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:21 And gave their land as an inheritance, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:22 An inheritance to Israel his servant, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:23 Who remembered us in our low estate, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:24 And rescued us from our adversaries, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:25 Who gives food to all flesh, for his steadfast love endures forever.
136:26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever.

Chapter 137
137:1 By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.
137:2 On the poplars there we hung our lyres.
137:3 For there our captors demanded songs of us, and our tormentors demanded joy: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
137:4 How can we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
137:5 If I forget you, Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.
137:6 Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.
137:7 Remember against the people of Edom, LORD, the day of Jerusalem, when they said, “Raze it, raze it to its very foundation!”
137:8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to devastation, blessed is the one who repays you for what you have done to us.
137:9 Blessed is the one who seizes your little ones and dashes them against the rock.

Chapter 138
138:1 I will give you thanks with all my heart;
   before the gods I will sing your praise.
138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your truth, for you have exalted your word above all your name.
138:3 On the day I called, you answered me;
   you made me bold with strength in my soul.
138:4 All the kings of the earth will give you thanks, LORD, for they have heard the words of your mouth.
138:5 They will sing of the ways of the LORD, for great is the glory of the LORD.
138:6 Though the LORD is high, he looks upon the lowly, but he knows the proud from afar.
138:7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life;
   you stretch out your hand against the anger of my enemies, and your right hand saves me.
138:8 The LORD will complete what he does for me.
   LORD, your steadfast love endures forever;
   do not forsake the works of your hands.

Chapter 139
139:1 LORD, you have searched me and known me.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I rise;
   you understand my thought from afar.
139:3 You examine my path and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
139:4 Even before a word is on my tongue, you, LORD, know it completely.
139:5 You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.
139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too high for me to attain.
139:7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
   Where can I flee from your presence?
139:8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
   if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
139:9 If I take the wings of the dawn and dwell at the farthest edge of the sea,
139:10 even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me fast.
139:11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me, and the light around me will become night,”
139:12 even darkness is not dark to you;
   the night shines like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
139:13 For you formed my inward parts;
   you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
139:14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
   wonderful are your works, and my soul knows it well.
139:15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth.
139:16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
   in your book were written all the days formed for me, when none of them yet existed.
139:17 How precious are your thoughts to me, God!
   How vast is their sum!
139:18 If I counted them, they would outnumber the sand;
   when I awake, I am still with you.
139:19 If only you would slay the wicked, God!
   Depart from me, you bloodthirsty men!
139:20 They speak of you with malicious intent;
   your adversaries take your name in vain.
139:21 Do I not hate those who hate you, LORD, and feel disgust at those who rise against you?
139:22 I hate them with complete hatred;
   they have become my enemies.
139:23 Search me, God, and know my heart;
   test me and know my anxious thoughts.
139:24 See if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way.

Chapter 140
140:1 Rescue me, LORD, from evil people;
   protect me from violent men,
140:2 who plot evil in their hearts and stir up wars every day.
140:3 They sharpen their tongues like a serpent’s;
   viper’s venom is under their lips. Selah.

140:4 Keep me, LORD, from the hands of the wicked;
   protect me from violent men who plot to trip my steps.
140:5 The proud have hidden a trap and cords for me;
   they have spread a net beside the path and set snares for me. Selah.

140:6 I say to the LORD, “You are my God;
   hear the voice of my pleas, LORD.”
140:7 LORD, the Lord, the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
140:8 Do not grant the desires of the wicked, LORD;
   do not advance their scheme, lest they exalt themselves. Selah.

140:9 As for the heads of those who surround me, let the harm of their own lips cover them.
140:10 Let coals fall upon them;
   let him cast them into the fire, into deep pits from which they cannot rise.
140:11 Let no slanderer be established in the land;
   let evil hunt down the violent man to overthrow him.
140:12 I know that the LORD will uphold the cause of the afflicted and justice for the needy.
140:13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name;
   the upright will dwell in your presence.

Chapter 141
141:1 LORD, I call to you;
   come quickly to me.
   Hear my voice when I call to you.
141:2 Let my prayer be set before you like incense, the lifting of my hands like the evening offering.
141:3 Set a guard over my mouth, LORD;
   keep watch over the door of my lips.
141:4 Do not incline my heart toward anything evil, to practice wicked deeds with those who do wrong;
   do not let me eat their delicacies.
141:5 Let a righteous man strike me—it is kindness;
   let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head.
   Let my head not refuse it, for my prayer is still against their evil deeds.
141:6 When their judges are thrown down the sides of the cliff, they will hear my words, for they are pleasant.
141:7 As when the ground is plowed and broken up, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
141:8 But my eyes are on you, LORD, the Lord;
   in you I take refuge.
   Do not pour out my life.
141:9 Keep me from the trap they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers.
141:10 Let the wicked fall into his nets while I pass on.

Chapter 142
142:1 With my voice I cry to the LORD;
   with my voice I plead for the LORD’s grace.
142:2 I pour out my complaint before him;
   I tell my trouble before him.
142:3 When my spirit faints within me, you know my path.
   Along the way I walk they have hidden a trap for me.
142:4 Look to the right and see: no one acknowledges me.
   No escape remains for me;
   no one cares for my life.
142:5 I cry to you, LORD;
   I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”
142:6 Listen to my cry, for I am brought very low;
   rescue me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I.
142:7 Bring me out of prison, so that I may give thanks to your name.
   The righteous will surround me, for you will deal generously with me.

Chapter 143
143:1 LORD, hear my prayer;
   listen to my pleas.
   In your faithfulness answer me, in your righteousness.
143:2 Do not enter into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.
143:3 For the enemy has pursued my life;
   he has crushed my life to the ground.
   He has made me dwell in darkness, like those long dead.
143:4 My spirit faints within me;
   my heart within me is appalled.
143:5 I remember the days of old;
   I meditate on all you have done and ponder the work of your hands.
143:6 I stretch out my hands to you;
   my soul longs for you like a parched land. Selah.

143:7 Answer me quickly, LORD;
   my spirit fails.
   Do not hide your face from me, lest I become like those who go down to the pit.
143:8 Let me hear of your steadfast love in the morning, for I trust in you.
   Show me the way I should walk, for I lift my soul to you.
143:9 Rescue me from my enemies, LORD;
   in you I hide myself.
143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God;
   may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
143:11 For your name’s sake, LORD, give me life;
   in your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
143:12 In your steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all who oppress my life, for I am your servant.

Chapter 144
144:1 Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for war.
144:2 He is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield, in whom I take refuge, who subdues my people under me.
144:3 LORD, what is a human being that you take notice of him, a mortal’s son that you consider him?
144:4 A human being is like a breath;
   his days are like a passing shadow.
144:5 LORD, bend your heavens and come down;
   touch the mountains, so that they smoke.
144:6 Flash your lightning and scatter them;
   send your arrows and throw them into confusion.
144:7 Reach down your hands from on high;
   rescue me and deliver me from mighty waters, from the hand of foreigners,
144:8 whose mouths speak falsehood and whose right hand is a right hand of deceit.
144:9 God, I will sing you a new song;
   on a ten-stringed harp I will sing your praise.
144:10 He gives salvation to kings and rescues David his servant from the deadly sword.
144:11 Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak falsehood and whose right hand is a right hand of deceit.
144:12 May our sons be like plants grown tall in their youth, our daughters like corner pillars carved for a palace.
144:13 May our storehouses be full, providing supplies of every kind;
   may our flocks multiply by thousands and tens of thousands in our fields.
144:14 May our oxen be fully laden;
   may there be no breach and no going out in surrender, no cry of distress in our squares.
144:15 Blessed are the people for whom it is so;
   blessed are the people whose God is the LORD!

Chapter 145
145:1 I will exalt you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.
145:2 Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
145:3 Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised;
   his greatness is beyond searching out.
145:4 One generation will praise your works to another and tell of your mighty deeds.
145:5 I will meditate on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderful works.
145:6 They will speak of the power of your awesome deeds, and I will recount your greatness.
145:7 They will pour forth the memory of your abundant goodness and sing for joy of your righteousness.
145:8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in steadfast love.
145:9 The LORD is good to all, and his compassion is over all he has made.
145:10 All your works will give you thanks, LORD, and your faithful ones will bless you.
145:11 They will speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power,
145:12 to make known to humankind his mighty deeds and the glorious splendor of his kingdom.
145:13 Your kingdom is a kingdom for all ages, and your dominion endures through all generations.
145:14 The LORD upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.
145:15 The eyes of all look to you in hope, and you give them their food in due season.
145:16 You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing.
145:17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all his works.
145:18 The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.
145:19 He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
   he hears their cry and saves them.
145:20 The LORD watches over all who love him, but he will destroy all the wicked.
145:21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD, and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Chapter 146
146:1 Praise the LORD!
   Praise the LORD, my soul!
146:2 I will praise the LORD as long as I live;
   I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist.
146:3 Do not put your trust in princes, in a human being who cannot save.
146:4 His breath departs, and he returns to the earth;
   on that very day his plans perish.
146:5 Blessed is the one whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,
146:6 the Maker of heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, who keeps faith forever,
146:7 who brings justice to the oppressed and gives food to the hungry.
   The LORD sets prisoners free.
146:8 The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;
   the LORD raises up those bowed down;
   the LORD loves the righteous.
146:9 The LORD watches over foreigners;
   he upholds the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the way of the wicked.
146:10 The LORD will reign forever, your God, Zion, through all generations.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 147
147:1 Praise the LORD!
   For it is good to sing praise to our God, for praise is pleasant and fitting.
147:2 The LORD builds up Jerusalem;
   he gathers the outcasts of Israel.
147:3 He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.
147:4 He counts the number of the stars;
   he calls them all by name.
147:5 Great is our Lord and abundant in power;
   his understanding has no limit.
147:6 The LORD upholds the humble;
   he brings the wicked down to the ground.
147:7 Sing to the LORD with thanksgiving;
   sing praise to our God with the lyre.
147:8 He covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth, and makes grass grow on the mountains.
147:9 He gives food to the animals and to the young ravens that cry.
147:10 He does not delight in the strength of the horse or take pleasure in a man’s legs.
147:11 The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love.
147:12 Praise the LORD, Jerusalem;
   praise your God, Zion.
147:13 For he has strengthened the bars of your gates and blessed your children within you.
147:14 He makes peace within your borders and satisfies you with the finest wheat.
147:15 He sends his command to the earth;
   his word runs swiftly.
147:16 He gives snow like wool and scatters frost like ashes.
147:17 He casts down his ice like morsels;
   who can stand before his cold?
147:18 He sends his word and melts them;
   he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
147:19 He declares his words to Jacob, his statutes and judgments to Israel.
147:20 He has not dealt this way with any other nation;
   they have not known his judgments.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 148
148:1 Praise the LORD!
   Praise the LORD from the heavens;
   praise him in the heights.
148:2 Praise him, all his angels;
   praise him, all his hosts.
148:3 Praise him, sun and moon;
   praise him, all you shining stars.
148:4 Praise him, you heavens of heavens, and you waters above the heavens.
148:5 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for he commanded, and they were created.
148:6 He established them forever and ever;
   he gave a decree that will not pass away.
148:7 Praise the LORD from the earth, you sea monsters and all the depths,
148:8 fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind carrying out his word,
148:9 mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars,
148:10 wild animals and all livestock, crawling things and winged birds,
148:11 kings of the earth and all peoples, rulers and all judges of the earth,
148:12 young men and young women, old people together with children.
148:13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted;
   his splendor is above earth and heaven.
148:14 He has raised up a horn for his people, a cause of praise for all his faithful ones, for the children of Israel, the people near to him.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 149
149:1 Praise the LORD!
   Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise in the assembly of the faithful.
149:2 Let Israel rejoice in its Maker;
   let the children of Zion rejoice in their King.
149:3 Let them praise his name with dancing and sing praise to him with tambourine and lyre.
149:4 For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;
   he adorns the humble with salvation.
149:5 Let the faithful exult in honor and sing for joy on their beds.
149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their throats, and a double-edged sword in their hands,
149:7 to carry out vengeance on the nations and punishments on the peoples,
149:8 to bind their kings with chains and their nobles with fetters of iron,
149:9 to carry out on them the judgment written.
   This is an honor for all his faithful ones.
   Praise the LORD!

Chapter 150
150:1 Praise the LORD!
   Praise God in his sanctuary;
   praise him in his mighty expanse.
150:2 Praise him for his mighty deeds;
   praise him according to his surpassing greatness.
150:3 Praise him with the sound of the horn;
   praise him with harp and lyre.
150:4 Praise him with tambourine and dancing;
   praise him with strings and pipe.
150:5 Praise him with sounding cymbals;
   praise him with loud, ringing cymbals.
150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.
   Praise the LORD!

PROVERBS

Chapter 1
1:1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
1:2 To know wisdom and discipline;
   to understand words of insight;
1:3 to receive instruction in wise conduct, in righteousness, justice, and fairness;
1:4 to give prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young.
1:5 Let the wise listen and increase in learning, and let those with understanding gain guidance,
1:6 to understand a proverb and a figure of speech, the words of the wise and their riddles.
1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;
   fools despise wisdom and discipline.

1:8 Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching,
1:9 for they are a graceful garland for your head and necklaces for your neck.
1:10 My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.
1:11 If they say, “Come with us;
   let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause;
1:12 let us swallow them alive like Sheol, whole, like those who go down to the pit.
1:13 We will find all kinds of precious wealth;
   we will fill our houses with plunder.
1:14 Throw in your lot with us;
   we will all share one purse,”
1:15 my son, do not walk in their way;
   keep your foot from their path,
1:16 for their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed blood.
1:17 For a net is spread in vain in full view of any bird,
1:18 but they lie in wait for their own blood;
   they ambush their own lives.
1:19 Such are the ways of everyone who pursues unjust gain;
   it takes away the life of those who possess it.

1:20 Wisdom cries aloud in the street;
   she raises her voice in the squares.
1:21 At the head of the noisy streets she calls out;
   at the entrances to the city gates she speaks her words:
1:22 “How long, you simple ones, will you love being simple?
   How long will scoffers delight in scoffing and fools hate knowledge?
1:23 Turn at my correction.
   Look, I will pour out my spirit to you;
   I will make my words known to you.
1:24 Because I called and you refused, I stretched out my hand and no one paid attention,
1:25 and you disregarded all my counsel and would accept none of my correction,
1:26 I too will laugh at your calamity;
   I will scoff when terror comes upon you,
1:27 when terror comes upon you like a storm and your calamity arrives like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you.
1:28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;
   they will seek me earnestly, but they will not find me.
1:29 Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,
1:30 because they would accept none of my counsel and despised all my correction,
1:31 they will eat the fruit of their way and be filled with their own schemes.
1:32 For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
1:33 But whoever listens to me will dwell securely and be at ease, without fear of harm.”

Chapter 2
2:1 My son, if you receive my words and treasure my commandments within you,
2:2 making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding;
2:3 yes, if you call out for insight and raise your voice for understanding,
2:4 if you seek it like silver and search for it like hidden treasures,
2:5 then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom;
   from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
2:7 He stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
   he is a shield to those who walk in integrity,
2:8 guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his faithful ones.
2:9 Then you will understand righteousness, justice, and fairness—every good path.
2:10 For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
2:11 Discretion will watch over you;
   understanding will guard you,
2:12 to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things,
2:13 from those who leave the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness,
2:14 who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perversity of evil,
2:15 whose paths are crooked and whose ways are devious.
2:16 It will deliver you from the adulterous woman, from the unfaithful woman with her smooth words,
2:17 who forsakes the companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her God.
2:18 For her house sinks down to death, and her paths lead to the departed.
2:19 None who go to her return or regain the paths of life.
2:20 So you will walk in the way of the good and keep to the paths of the righteous.
2:21 For the upright will dwell in the land, and those with integrity will remain in it,
2:22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the faithless will be uprooted from it.

Chapter 3
3:1 My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,
3:2 for they will add length of days, years of life, and peace to you.
3:3 Let kindness and faithfulness never leave you;
   bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
3:4 Then you will find favor and a good reputation in the sight of God and man.

3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
3:6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.
3:7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
   fear the LORD and turn away from evil.
3:8 This will bring healing to your body and refreshment to your bones.
3:9 Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your crops;
3:10 then your barns will be filled with plenty, and your vats will overflow with new wine.

3:11 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline or resent his correction,
3:12 for the LORD corrects the one he loves, as a father corrects the son in whom he delights.
3:13 Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding,
3:14 for her profit is better than the profit of silver, and her yield is better than gold.
3:15 She is more precious than jewels;
   nothing you desire can compare with her.
3:16 Long life is in her right hand;
   in her left are riches and honor.
3:17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace.
3:18 She is a tree of life to those who take hold of her;
   those who hold her fast are blessed.

3:19 By wisdom the LORD founded the earth;
   by understanding he established the heavens.
3:20 By his knowledge the depths were split open, and the clouds drip with dew.
3:21 My son, do not let these things out of your sight;
   keep sound wisdom and discretion.
3:22 They will be life to your soul and an adornment for your neck.
3:23 Then you will walk on your way securely, and your foot will not stumble.
3:24 When you lie down, you will not be afraid;
   you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet.
3:25 Do not fear sudden terror or the devastation of the wicked when it comes,
3:26 for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.
3:27 Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due when it is in your power to do it.
3:28 Do not say to your neighbor, “Go away and come back;
   tomorrow I will give it to you,” when you have it with you.
3:29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor while he lives trustfully beside you.
3:30 Do not quarrel with anyone without cause, if he has done you no harm.
3:31 Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways,
3:32 for the devious are an abomination to the LORD, but he shares his counsel with the upright.
3:33 The LORD’s curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous.
3:34 He scoffs at scoffers, but gives grace to the humble.
3:35 The wise will inherit honor, but fools are raised to disgrace.

Chapter 4
4:1 Listen, sons, to a father’s instruction;
   pay attention, so that you may gain understanding.
4:2 For I give you good instruction;
   do not forsake my teaching.
4:3 When I was a son to my father, tender and the only one in my mother’s sight,
4:4 he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast to my words;
   keep my commandments and live.
4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding;
   do not forget or turn aside from the words of my mouth.
4:6 Do not forsake her, and she will watch over you;
   love her, and she will guard you.
4:7 The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and with all you acquire, acquire understanding.
4:8 Cherish her, and she will exalt you;
   she will honor you when you embrace her.
4:9 She will place a graceful garland on your head;
   she will bestow on you a glorious crown.”
4:10 Listen, my son, and receive my words, and the years of your life will be many.
4:11 I have taught you the way of wisdom;
   I have led you along upright paths.
4:12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered;
   when you run, you will not stumble.
4:13 Hold fast to instruction;
   do not let go.
   Guard her, for she is your life.
4:14 Do not enter the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil people.
4:15 Avoid it; do not travel on it.
   Turn away from it and pass on.
4:16 For they cannot sleep unless they have done evil;
   they are robbed of sleep unless they make someone stumble.
4:17 For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence.
4:18 But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until full day.
4:19 The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
   they do not know what makes them stumble.

4:20 My son, pay attention to my words;
   incline your ear to what I say.
4:21 Do not let them out of your sight;
   keep them within your heart.
4:22 For they are life to those who find them and healing to all their flesh.
4:23 Above all else, guard your heart, for from it flow the springs of life.
4:24 Put crooked speech away from you, and keep devious talk far from you.
4:25 Let your eyes look straight ahead and your gaze be directed before you.
4:26 Consider well the path of your feet, and let all your ways be firm.
4:27 Do not turn to the right or to the left;
   turn your foot away from evil.

Chapter 5
5:1 My son, pay attention to my wisdom;
   incline your ear to my understanding,
5:2 so that you may preserve discretion and your lips may guard knowledge.
5:3 For the lips of an adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil,
5:4 but in the end she is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a two-edged sword.
5:5 Her feet go down to death;
   her steps lead to Sheol.
5:6 She does not consider the path of life;
   her ways wander, and she does not know it.

5:7 Now, sons, listen to me, and do not turn aside from the words of my mouth.
5:8 Keep your way far from her, and do not go near the door of her house,
5:9 lest you give your honor to others and your years to someone cruel;
5:10 lest strangers feast on your strength, and your toil go to the house of a foreigner;
5:11 and you groan at your end, when your flesh and body are consumed,
5:12 and say, “How I hated discipline!
   How my heart despised correction!
5:13 I did not obey the voice of my teachers or incline my ear to those who instructed me.
5:14 I was on the brink of utter ruin in the midst of the assembly and congregation.”
5:15 Drink water from your own cistern, flowing water from your own well.
5:16 Should your springs be scattered outside, streams of water in the squares?
5:17 Let them be yours alone, and not shared with strangers.
5:18 Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice in the wife of your youth,
5:19 a loving doe, a graceful wild goat.
   Let her breasts satisfy you at all times;
   be always intoxicated with her love.
5:20 Why, my son, should you be intoxicated with an adulterous woman and embrace the bosom of an unfaithful woman?
5:21 For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the LORD, and he examines all his paths.
5:22 The wicked man’s own iniquities will capture him;
   he will be held in the cords of his sin.
5:23 He will die for lack of discipline;
   in his great folly he will go astray.

Chapter 6
6:1 My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have pledged your hand for a stranger,
6:2 if you have been snared by the words of your mouth, caught by the words of your mouth,
6:3 then do this, my son, and free yourself, for you have come into your neighbor’s hand: Go, humble yourself, and press your neighbor urgently.
6:4 Give your eyes no sleep and your eyelids no slumber.
6:5 Free yourself like a gazelle from a hunter’s hand, like a bird from the fowler’s hand.

6:6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
   consider her ways and be wise.
6:7 She has no chief, overseer, or ruler,
6:8 yet she prepares her food in summer and gathers her provisions at harvest.
6:9 How long will you lie there, sluggard?
   When will you rise from your sleep?
6:10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
6:11 and your poverty will come like a prowler, your need like an armed man.

6:12 A worthless person, a wicked man, goes about with crooked speech,
6:13 winking with his eyes, signaling with his feet, pointing with his fingers.
6:14 With perversity in his heart he plots evil continually;
   he sows discord.
6:15 Therefore calamity will come upon him suddenly;
   in an instant he will be broken beyond healing.

6:16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
6:17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood,
6:18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that hurry to run to evil,
6:19 a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

6:20 My son, keep your father’s commandment, and do not forsake your mother’s teaching.
6:21 Bind them on your heart always;
   tie them around your neck.
6:22 When you walk, it will guide you;
   when you lie down, it will watch over you;
   when you awake, it will speak with you.
6:23 For the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light, and the corrections of discipline are the way of life,
6:24 to guard you from the evil woman, from the smooth tongue of the unfaithful woman.
6:25 Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes.
6:26 For a prostitute brings a man down to a loaf of bread, but a married woman hunts a precious life.

6:27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap without his clothes being burned?
6:28 Can a man walk on hot coals without his feet being scorched?
6:29 So it is with the one who goes in to his neighbor’s wife;
   no one who touches her will go unpunished.
6:30 People do not despise a thief if he steals to satisfy his appetite when he is hungry.
6:31 But if he is caught, he must repay sevenfold;
   he must give all the wealth of his house.
6:32 He who commits adultery with a woman lacks sense;
   whoever does it destroys his own life.
6:33 He will find wounds and dishonor, and his disgrace will not be wiped away.
6:34 For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy on the day of vengeance.
6:35 He will accept no ransom;
   he will not consent, though you multiply your gifts.

Chapter 7
7:1 My son, keep my words and treasure my commandments within you.
7:2 Keep my commandments and live;
   guard my teaching as the apple of your eye.
7:3 Bind them on your fingers;
   write them on the tablet of your heart.
7:4 Say to wisdom, “You are my sister,” and call understanding your close relative,
7:5 to guard you from the adulterous woman, from the unfaithful woman with her smooth words.
7:6 For at the window of my house I looked out through my lattice,
7:7 and I saw among the simple, I noticed among the youths, a young man who lacked sense.
7:8 He was passing along the street near her corner, walking toward her house,
7:9 at twilight, as evening fell, in the deep darkness of night.
7:10 And there a woman came to meet him, dressed as a prostitute, with hidden intent.
7:11 She is loud and rebellious;
   her feet do not stay at home.
7:12 Now in the street, now in the squares, she lies in wait at every corner.
7:13 She seized him and kissed him;
   with a brazen face she said to him,
7:14 “I owed peace offerings;
   today I have fulfilled my vows.
7:15 That is why I came out to meet you, to seek you eagerly, and I have found you.
7:16 I have spread coverings over my bed, patterned linen from Egypt.
7:17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
7:18 Come, let us drink our fill of love until morning;
   let us delight in love.
7:19 For my husband is not at home;
   he has gone on a distant journey.
7:20 He took a bag of silver with him;
   he will come home at the full moon.”
7:21 With her abundant persuasion she swayed him;
   with her smooth lips she led him astray.
7:22 All at once he follows her, like an ox going to slaughter, like a fool in fetters going to punishment,
7:23 until an arrow pierces his liver, like a bird rushing into a snare, not knowing that it will cost him his life.

7:24 Now, sons, listen to me;
   pay attention to the words of my mouth.
7:25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways;
   do not stray into her paths.
7:26 For many are the slain she has brought down;
   numerous are all those she has killed.
7:27 Her house is a road to Sheol, descending to the chambers of death.

Chapter 8
8:1 Does not wisdom call out?
   Does not understanding raise her voice?
8:2 On the heights beside the road, where the paths meet, she takes her stand.
8:3 Beside the gates, at the entrance to the city, at the entryways she cries out:
8:4 “To you, O people, I call;
   my voice is to all mankind.
8:5 You simple ones, learn prudence;
   you fools, learn good sense.
8:6 Listen, for I will speak noble things;
   when my lips open, they speak what is right.
8:7 For my mouth speaks truth, and wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8:8 All the words of my mouth are righteous;
   there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
8:9 They are all plain to the discerning and upright to those who find knowledge.
8:10 Receive my discipline rather than silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold.
8:11 For wisdom is better than jewels, and nothing desirable can compare with her.
8:12 I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.
8:13 The fear of the LORD is to hate evil.
   Pride, arrogance, the evil way, and perverse speech I hate.
8:14 Counsel and sound wisdom are mine;
   I am understanding;
   strength is mine.
8:15 By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just.
8:16 By me princes rule, and nobles—all who judge rightly.
8:17 I love those who love me, and those who seek me earnestly will find me.
8:18 Riches and honor are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.
8:19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.
8:20 I walk in the path of righteousness, in the midst of the ways of justice,
8:21 to give an inheritance of wealth to those who love me, and to fill their treasuries.

8:22 The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
8:23 From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the origins of the earth.
8:24 When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding in water.
8:25 Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth,
8:26 before he had made the earth and its fields, or the first dust of the world.
8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there;
   when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
8:28 when he made firm the clouds above, when the springs of the deep grew strong,
8:29 when he set the sea its boundary, so that the waters would not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
8:30 then I was beside him as a master craftsman.
   I was his delight day after day, rejoicing before him at all times,
8:31 rejoicing in his inhabited world, and my delight was with mankind.

8:32 Now, sons, listen to me;
   blessed are those who keep my ways.
8:33 Listen to discipline and be wise;
   do not disregard it.
8:34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my doors, waiting beside my doorposts.
8:35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD.
8:36 But whoever sins against me harms his own life;
   all who hate me love death.”

Chapter 9
9:1 Wisdom has built her house;
   she has hewn out her seven pillars.
9:2 She has slaughtered her animals, mixed her wine, and set her table.
9:3 She has sent out her young women;
   she calls from the highest points of the city,
9:4 “Whoever is simple, turn in here!”
   To the one who lacks sense she says,
9:5 “Come, eat my bread and drink the wine I have mixed.
9:6 Leave the simple behind and live;
   walk in the way of understanding.
9:7 Whoever corrects a scoffer brings dishonor on himself, and whoever rebukes a wicked man receives abuse.
9:8 Do not rebuke a scoffer, lest he hate you;
   rebuke a wise man, and he will love you.
9:9 Instruct a wise man, and he will be wiser still;
   teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
9:11 For through me your days will be multiplied, and years will be added to your life.
9:12 If you are wise, you are wise for your own benefit;
   if you scoff, you alone will bear it.”
9:13 The woman Folly is loud;
   she is simple and knows nothing.
9:14 She sits at the door of her house, on a seat in the heights of the city,
9:15 calling to those who pass along the road, who go straight on their way,
9:16 “Whoever is simple, turn in here!”
   To the one who lacks sense she says,
9:17 “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.”
9:18 But he does not know that the departed are there, that her guests are in the depths of Sheol.

Chapter 10
10:1 The proverbs of Solomon.
   A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish son is a sorrow to his mother.

10:2 Treasures gained by wickedness do not profit, but righteousness delivers from death.
10:3 The LORD does not let the righteous go hungry, but he thwarts the craving of the wicked.
10:4 A slack hand makes one poor, but the hand of the diligent makes rich.
10:5 He who gathers in summer is a prudent son;
   he who sleeps at harvest is a son who brings shame.
10:6 Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
10:7 The memory of the righteous is a blessing, but the name of the wicked will rot.
10:8 The wise in heart accept commandments, but a babbling fool will come to ruin.
10:9 Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but whoever makes his ways crooked will be found out.
10:10 Whoever winks with his eye causes sorrow, and a babbling fool will come to ruin.
10:11 The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.
10:12 Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all offenses.
10:13 Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of the one who lacks sense.
10:14 The wise store up knowledge, but the mouth of a fool brings ruin near.
10:15 A rich man’s wealth is his fortified city;
   the poverty of the poor is their ruin.
10:16 The wages of the righteous lead to life;
   the income of the wicked leads to sin.
10:17 Whoever heeds discipline leads the way to life, but whoever forsakes correction leads others astray.
10:18 Whoever conceals hatred has lying lips, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.
10:19 When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.
10:20 The tongue of the righteous is choice silver;
   the heart of the wicked is worth little.
10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense.
10:22 The blessing of the LORD makes rich, and he adds no sorrow with it.
10:23 Doing evil is like a game to a fool, and so is wisdom to a person of understanding.
10:24 What the wicked fears will come upon him, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.
10:25 When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more, but the righteous is an everlasting foundation.
10:26 Like vinegar to the teeth and smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.
10:27 The fear of the LORD adds days, but the years of the wicked will be cut short.
10:28 The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectation of the wicked will perish.
10:29 The way of the LORD is a stronghold for those with integrity, but ruin for those who do evil.
10:30 The righteous will never be shaken, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.
10:31 The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.
10:32 The lips of the righteous know what is pleasing, but the mouth of the wicked speaks perversity.

Chapter 11
11:1 A false balance is an abomination to the LORD, but an honest weight is his delight.
11:2 When pride comes, disgrace comes, but wisdom is with the humble.
11:3 The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them.
11:4 Wealth does not profit on the day of wrath, but righteousness delivers from death.
11:5 The righteousness of the blameless makes his way straight, but the wicked falls by his own wickedness.
11:6 The righteousness of the upright delivers them, but the treacherous are caught by their own craving.
11:7 When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes, and expectation placed in strength perishes.
11:8 A righteous person is delivered from distress, and the wicked comes in his place.
11:9 With his mouth the godless man destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous are delivered.
11:10 When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices;
   when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.
11:11 By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, but by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down.
11:12 Whoever despises his neighbor lacks sense, but a person of understanding keeps silent.
11:13 A gossip reveals secrets, but one who is faithful in spirit keeps a matter covered.
11:14 Without guidance a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
11:15 Whoever puts up security for a stranger will surely suffer, but whoever hates pledging security is safe.
11:16 A gracious woman holds on to honor, and ruthless men hold on to wealth.
11:17 A kind man benefits himself, but a cruel man harms his own flesh.
11:18 The wicked earns deceptive wages, but whoever sows righteousness gains a sure reward.
11:19 Surely righteousness leads to life, but whoever pursues evil pursues his own death.
11:20 Those with crooked hearts are an abomination to the LORD, but those whose way is blameless are his delight.
11:21 Be assured, the evil man will not go unpunished, but the offspring of the righteous will escape.
11:22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without discretion.
11:23 The desire of the righteous is only good;
   the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
11:24 One person gives freely and gains still more;
   another withholds what is right, only to come to want.
11:25 A generous soul will prosper, and whoever waters others will himself be watered.
11:26 The people curse the one who withholds grain, but blessing is on the head of the one who sells it.
11:27 Whoever earnestly seeks good seeks favor, but evil comes to the one who seeks it.
11:28 Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a leaf.
11:29 Whoever troubles his own household will inherit the wind, and the fool will be a servant to the wise in heart.
11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and whoever wins souls is wise.
11:31 If a righteous person is repaid on earth, how much more the wicked and the sinner!

Chapter 12
12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is senseless.
12:2 A good man obtains favor from the LORD, but he condemns a man of evil schemes.
12:3 No one is established through wickedness, but the root of the righteous will never be shaken.
12:4 A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but one who brings shame is like rot in his bones.
12:5 The thoughts of the righteous are just;
   the counsels of the wicked are deceit.
12:6 The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the mouth of the upright delivers them.
12:7 The wicked are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous will stand.
12:8 A man is praised according to his good sense, but one with a twisted heart will be despised.
12:9 Better to be lightly esteemed and have a servant than to honor yourself and lack bread.
12:10 A righteous person knows the needs of his animal, but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.
12:11 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but whoever pursues empty things lacks sense.
12:12 The wicked covets the catch of evil men, but the root of the righteous bears fruit.
12:13 An evil man is snared by the transgression of his lips, but a righteous person comes out of distress.
12:14 A man is satisfied with good by the fruit of his mouth, and the work of his hands is paid back to him.
12:15 The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise.
12:16 A fool’s anger is known at once, but the prudent overlooks an insult.
12:17 Whoever speaks truth gives honest testimony, but a false witness speaks deceit.
12:18 There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
12:19 Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue lasts only a moment.
12:20 Deceit is in the heart of those who plot evil, but those who counsel peace have joy.
12:21 No harm will befall the righteous, but the wicked are filled with trouble.
12:22 Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who act faithfully are his delight.
12:23 A prudent man keeps his knowledge to himself, but the heart of fools proclaims folly.
12:24 The hand of the diligent will rule, but the slack will be put to forced labor.
12:25 Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down, but a good word makes it glad.
12:26 A righteous person is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
12:27 The sluggard does not roast his game, but diligence is a precious possession.
12:28 In the path of righteousness is life, and in its pathway there is no death.

Chapter 13
13:1 A wise son heeds his father’s discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.
13:2 From the fruit of his mouth a man eats what is good, but the appetite of the treacherous is for violence.
13:3 Whoever guards his mouth preserves his life;
   whoever opens his lips wide brings ruin on himself.
13:4 The sluggard craves and has nothing, but the appetite of the diligent is richly satisfied.
13:5 A righteous person hates falsehood, but a wicked man brings disgrace and shame.
13:6 Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless, but wickedness overturns the sinner.
13:7 One person pretends to be rich yet has nothing;
   another pretends to be poor yet has great wealth.
13:8 A man’s wealth can ransom his life, but a poor person hears no threat.
13:9 The light of the righteous shines joyfully, but the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
13:10 Pride produces nothing but strife, but wisdom is with those who take counsel.
13:11 Wealth gained easily dwindles, but whoever gathers little by little increases it.
13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a desire fulfilled is a tree of life.
13:13 Whoever despises the word will pay for it, but whoever reveres the commandment will be rewarded.
13:14 The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning one away from the snares of death.
13:15 Good sense wins favor, but the way of the treacherous is hard.
13:16 Every prudent person acts with knowledge, but a fool displays folly.
13:17 A wicked messenger falls into trouble, but a faithful envoy brings healing.
13:18 Poverty and disgrace come to the one who disregards discipline, but whoever heeds correction will be honored.
13:19 A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul, but turning away from evil is an abomination to fools.
13:20 Whoever walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
13:21 Trouble pursues sinners, but the righteous will be repaid with good.
13:22 A good person leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous.
13:23 The fallow ground of the poor yields abundant food, but there is loss through injustice.
13:24 Whoever spares his rod hates his son, but whoever loves him is diligent to discipline him.
13:25 A righteous person eats to satisfy his appetite, but the belly of the wicked goes hungry.

Chapter 14
14:1 The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish woman tears it down with her own hands.
14:2 Whoever walks uprightly fears the LORD, but whoever is crooked in his ways despises him.
14:3 In a fool’s mouth is a rod of pride, but the lips of the wise protect them.
14:4 Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but an abundant harvest comes through an ox’s strength.
14:5 A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies.
14:6 A scoffer seeks wisdom and finds none, but knowledge comes easily to the discerning.
14:7 Leave the presence of a fool, for you will not find knowledge on his lips.
14:8 The wisdom of a prudent person is to understand his way, but the folly of fools is deceit.
14:9 Fools mock guilt, but among the upright there is goodwill.
14:10 The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy.
14:11 The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.
14:12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death.
14:13 Even in laughter the heart may ache, and joy may end in sorrow.
14:14 A man with a wayward heart will be filled with his own ways, and a good man with his own.
14:15 A simple person believes every word, but a prudent person considers his steps.
14:16 A wise person is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and confident.
14:17 A quick-tempered person acts foolishly, and a scheming man is hated.
14:18 The simple inherit folly, but the prudent are crowned with knowledge.
14:19 Evil people bow before the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.
14:20 A poor man is hated even by his neighbor, but those who love the rich are many.
14:21 Whoever despises his neighbor sins, but blessed is the one who is gracious to the lowly.
14:22 Do not those who plot evil go astray?
   But kindness and faithfulness belong to those who plan good.
14:23 In all toil there is profit, but mere talk leads only to want.
14:24 The crown of the wise is their wealth;
   the folly of fools is folly.
14:25 A truthful witness delivers lives, but one who breathes out lies is deceitful.
14:26 In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence, and his children will have a refuge.
14:27 The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, turning one away from the snares of death.
14:28 A multitude of people is a king’s glory, but a lack of people is a ruler’s ruin.
14:29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but whoever is impatient exalts folly.
14:30 A tranquil heart gives life to the body, but envy is rot in the bones.
14:31 Whoever oppresses the poor insults his Maker, but whoever is gracious to the needy honors him.
14:32 A wicked person is brought down by his evil, but a righteous person has a refuge in his death.
14:33 Wisdom rests in the heart of the discerning, and among fools she becomes known.
14:34 Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to peoples.
14:35 A king’s favor is toward a prudent servant, but his wrath is toward the one who brings shame.

Chapter 15
15:1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
15:2 The tongue of the wise presents knowledge well, but the mouth of fools pours out folly.
15:3 The eyes of the LORD are in every place, watching the evil and the good.
15:4 A healing tongue is a tree of life, but perversity in it breaks the spirit.
15:5 A fool despises his father’s discipline, but whoever heeds correction becomes prudent.
15:6 In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but trouble is in the income of the wicked.
15:7 The lips of the wise spread knowledge, but the heart of fools does not do so.
15:8 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.
15:9 The way of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD, but he loves the one who pursues righteousness.
15:10 Severe discipline awaits the one who forsakes the path;
   whoever hates correction will die.
15:11 Sheol and Abaddon lie before the LORD;
   how much more the hearts of mankind!
15:12 A scoffer does not love the one who corrects him;
   he will not go to the wise.
15:13 A joyful heart brightens the face, but sorrow of heart breaks the spirit.
15:14 The heart of the discerning seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on folly.
15:15 All the days of the afflicted are hard, but a cheerful heart has a continual feast.
15:16 Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure with turmoil.
15:17 Better a meal of vegetables where there is love than a fattened ox with hatred.
15:18 A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, but one who is slow to anger quiets a quarrel.
15:19 The way of a sluggard is like a hedge of thorns, but the path of the upright is a highway.
15:20 A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.
15:21 Folly is joy to one who lacks sense, but a person of understanding walks straight.
15:22 Without counsel plans fail, but with many advisers they are established.
15:23 A man has joy in the answer of his mouth, and a word in its season—how good it is!
15:24 The path of life leads upward for the prudent, so that he may turn away from Sheol below.
15:25 The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but he makes the widow’s boundary secure.
15:26 Evil plans are an abomination to the LORD, but pleasant words are pure.
15:27 Whoever pursues unjust gain troubles his household, but whoever hates bribes will live.
15:28 The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.
15:29 The LORD is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
15:30 The light of the eyes gladdens the heart, and good news nourishes the bones.
15:31 Whoever listens to life-giving correction will dwell among the wise.
15:32 Whoever disregards discipline despises his own life, but whoever listens to correction gains understanding.
15:33 The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Chapter 16
16:1 The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue comes from the LORD.
16:2 All a man’s ways are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits.
16:3 Commit your works to the LORD, and your plans will be established.
16:4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of calamity.
16:5 Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD;
   be assured, he will not go unpunished.
16:6 By kindness and faithfulness iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one turns away from evil.
16:7 When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies be at peace with him.
16:8 Better a little with righteousness than great income without justice.
16:9 A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.
16:10 An oracle is on the lips of a king;
   his mouth must not be unfaithful in judgment.
16:11 Honest scales and balances belong to the LORD;
   all the weights in the bag are his work.
16:12 Doing wickedness is an abomination to kings, for a throne is established by righteousness.
16:13 Righteous lips are the delight of kings, and they love the one who speaks uprightly.
16:14 A king’s wrath is like messengers of death, but a wise man will appease it.
16:15 In the light of a king’s face is life, and his favor is like a cloud of spring rain.
16:16 How much better to get wisdom than gold!
   To get understanding is preferable to silver.
16:17 The highway of the upright is to turn away from evil;
   whoever guards his way preserves his life.
16:18 Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.
16:19 Better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide plunder with the proud.
16:20 Whoever attends to the word will find good, and blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD.
16:21 A person wise in heart is called discerning, and sweetness of speech increases persuasion.
16:22 Good sense is a fountain of life to its possessor, but the discipline of fools is folly.
16:23 The heart of the wise instructs his mouth and adds persuasion to his lips.
16:24 Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
16:25 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the ways of death.
16:26 The appetite of a laborer labors for him, for his mouth drives him on.
16:27 A worthless man digs up evil, and on his lip is a scorching fire.
16:28 A perverse man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends.
16:29 A violent man entices his neighbor and leads him on a way that is not good.
16:30 Whoever narrows his eyes is plotting perversity;
   whoever presses his lips together has carried out evil.
16:31 Gray hair is a glorious crown;
   it is found in the way of righteousness.
16:32 One who is slow to anger is better than a warrior, and one who rules his spirit than one who captures a city.
16:33 The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision comes from the LORD.

Chapter 17
17:1 Better a dry morsel with quietness than a house full of sacrificial feasts with strife.
17:2 A prudent servant will rule over a son who brings shame and will share the inheritance among the brothers.
17:3 The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the LORD tests hearts.
17:4 An evildoer listens to wicked lips;
   a liar gives ear to a malicious tongue.
17:5 Whoever mocks the poor insults his Maker;
   whoever rejoices at calamity will not go unpunished.
17:6 Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and fathers are the glory of their children.
17:7 Eloquent speech does not suit a fool, much less lying lips a nobleman.
17:8 A bribe is a charm in the eyes of its owner;
   wherever he turns, he succeeds.
17:9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but whoever repeats a matter separates close friends.
17:10 A rebuke goes deeper into a discerning person than a hundred blows into a fool.
17:11 An evil man seeks only rebellion, and a cruel messenger will be sent against him.
17:12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.
17:13 If anyone repays evil for good, evil will not depart from his house.
17:14 The beginning of strife is like letting out water, so leave off the quarrel before it breaks out.
17:15 Whoever acquits the wicked and whoever condemns the righteous are both an abomination to the LORD.
17:16 Why is there money in a fool’s hand to buy wisdom when he has no sense?
17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
17:18 A man who lacks sense pledges his hand and puts up security in the presence of his neighbor.
17:19 Whoever loves strife loves transgression;
   whoever raises his doorway high seeks ruin.
17:20 One with a crooked heart finds no good, and one with a perverse tongue falls into trouble.
17:21 The one who fathers a fool has sorrow, and the father of a senseless son has no joy.
17:22 A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones.
17:23 A wicked man accepts a bribe from the fold of a garment to pervert the paths of justice.
17:24 Wisdom is before the discerning, but the eyes of a fool are at the ends of the earth.
17:25 A foolish son is grief to his father and bitterness to her who bore him.
17:26 To punish the righteous is not good, nor to strike nobles for their uprightness.
17:27 Whoever restrains his words has knowledge, and one who is cool in spirit has understanding.
17:28 Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;
   when he shuts his lips, he is considered discerning.

Chapter 18
18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire;
   he breaks out against all sound wisdom.
18:2 A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in revealing his own heart.
18:3 When a wicked man comes, contempt comes too, and with disgrace comes reproach.
18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are deep waters;
   the fountain of wisdom is a flowing stream.
18:5 It is not good to show partiality to the wicked, depriving the righteous of justice.
18:6 A fool’s lips enter into strife, and his mouth calls for blows.
18:7 A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare for his life.
18:8 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
   they go down into the innermost parts of the body.
18:9 Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to a destroyer.
18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
   the righteous run into it and are safe.
18:11 A rich man’s wealth is his fortified city, like a high wall in his imagination.
18:12 Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor.
18:13 If anyone answers before he listens, it is folly and shame to him.
18:14 A man’s spirit sustains him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?
18:15 The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.
18:16 A man’s gift makes room for him and leads him before the great.
18:17 The first to state his case seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him.
18:18 Casting lots puts an end to disputes and decides between the mighty.
18:19 An offended brother is harder to win than a fortified city, and quarrels are like the bars of a fortress.
18:20 A man’s belly is satisfied by the fruit of his mouth;
   he is satisfied by the yield of his lips.
18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.
18:22 Whoever finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD.
18:23 A poor man speaks with pleas, but a rich man answers harshly.
18:24 A man of many companions comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Chapter 19
19:1 Better a poor man who walks in integrity than one who is crooked in speech and is a fool.
19:2 Desire without knowledge is not good, and whoever hurries his feet misses the way.
19:3 A man’s folly ruins his way, yet his heart rages against the LORD.
19:4 Wealth adds many friends, but a poor man is separated from his friend.
19:5 A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever breathes out lies will not escape.
19:6 Many seek the favor of a generous man, and everyone is a friend to a giver of gifts.
19:7 All a poor man’s brothers hate him;
   how much more do his friends keep far from him!
   He pursues them with words, but they are gone.
19:8 Whoever gains sense loves his own life;
   whoever guards understanding will find good.
19:9 A false witness will not go unpunished, and whoever breathes out lies will perish.

19:10 Luxury does not suit a fool, much less a servant ruling over princes.
19:11 A man’s good sense makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
19:12 A king’s wrath is like the roar of a young lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
19:13 A foolish son is ruin to his father, and a wife’s quarrels are a constant dripping.
19:14 House and wealth are inherited from fathers, but a prudent wife is from the LORD.
19:15 Laziness casts one into deep sleep, and an idle person will go hungry.
19:16 Whoever keeps the commandment preserves his life, but whoever disregards his ways will die.
19:17 Whoever is gracious to the poor lends to the LORD, and he will repay him for his deed.
19:18 Discipline your son while there is hope;
   do not set your heart on putting him to death.
19:19 A man of great wrath bears the penalty;
   if you rescue him, you will have to do it again.
19:20 Listen to counsel and accept discipline, so that you may be wise in your latter days.
19:21 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the LORD will stand.
19:22 What is desirable in a man is his kindness, and a poor man is better than a liar.
19:23 The fear of the LORD leads to life;
   one rests satisfied, untouched by harm.
19:24 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish and will not even bring it back to his mouth.
19:25 Strike a scoffer, and the simple will learn prudence;
   correct a discerning person, and he will gain knowledge.
19:26 Whoever plunders his father and drives out his mother is a son who brings shame and disgrace.
19:27 Stop listening to discipline, my son, and you will stray from words of knowledge.
19:28 A worthless witness mocks justice, and the mouth of the wicked devours iniquity.
19:29 Judgments are prepared for scoffers, and blows for the backs of fools.

Chapter 20
20:1 Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler;
   whoever is led astray by it is not wise.
20:2 The terror of a king is like the roar of a young lion;
   whoever provokes him endangers his own life.
20:3 It is an honor for a man to keep away from strife, but every fool breaks into a quarrel.
20:4 The sluggard does not plow in the cold season;
   at harvest he will ask and have nothing.
20:5 Counsel in a man’s heart is deep water, but a person of understanding draws it out.
20:6 Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a faithful man?
20:7 A righteous man walks in his integrity;
   blessed are his children after him!
20:8 A king who sits on the throne of judgment winnows out all evil with his eyes.
20:9 Who can say, “I have made my heart clean;
   I am pure from my sin”?
20:10 Unequal weights and unequal measures—both are an abomination to the LORD.
20:11 Even a child is known by his actions, whether his conduct is pure and upright.
20:12 The hearing ear and the seeing eye—the LORD has made them both.
20:13 Do not love sleep, lest you become poor;
   open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread.
20:14 “Bad, bad!”
   says the buyer, but when he goes away, then he boasts.
20:15 There is gold and an abundance of jewels, but lips of knowledge are a precious treasure.
20:16 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
   take a pledge from him on behalf of a foreign woman.
20:17 Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man, but afterward his mouth will be filled with gravel.
20:18 Plans are established by counsel;
   wage war with wise guidance.
20:19 A gossip goes about revealing secrets;
   do not associate with one whose lips are always open.
20:20 Whoever curses his father or his mother will have his lamp put out in the deepest darkness.
20:21 An inheritance gained hastily at the beginning will not be blessed in the end.
20:22 Do not say, “I will repay evil.”
   Wait for the LORD, and he will save you.
20:23 Unequal weights are an abomination to the LORD, and a false balance is not good.
20:24 A man’s steps are from the LORD;
   how then can a man understand his way?
20:25 It is a snare for a man to say rashly, “It is holy,” and only afterward consider his vows.
20:26 A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the threshing wheel over them.
20:27 The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the innermost parts of the body.
20:28 Kindness and faithfulness guard a king, and by kindness he upholds his throne.
20:29 The glory of young men is their strength, and the splendor of the aged is gray hair.
20:30 Blows that wound scour away evil, and beatings cleanse the innermost parts of the body.

Chapter 21
21:1 A king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the LORD;
   he turns it wherever he desires.
21:2 Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs hearts.
21:3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice.
21:4 Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin.
21:5 The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, but everyone who is hasty comes only to want.
21:6 Gaining treasures by a lying tongue is a vapor driven away;
   those who do so seek death.
21:7 The violence of the wicked will drag them away, because they refuse to do justice.
21:8 The way of a guilty man is crooked, but the conduct of the pure is upright.
21:9 Better to live in a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
21:10 The soul of a wicked man craves evil;
   his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.
21:11 When a scoffer is punished, a simple person becomes wise;
   when a wise person is instructed, he gains knowledge.
21:12 The righteous one considers the house of the wicked, bringing the wicked to ruin.
21:13 Whoever stops his ear to the cry of the poor will also cry out and not be answered.
21:14 A gift in secret quiets anger, and a bribe in the fold of a garment, fierce wrath.
21:15 Doing justice is a joy to the righteous, but terror to evildoers.
21:16 A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the departed.
21:17 Whoever loves pleasure will come to want;
   whoever loves wine and oil will not become rich.
21:18 A wicked person is a ransom for a righteous person, and a treacherous one takes the place of the upright.
21:19 Better to live in a desert land than with a quarrelsome and irritable wife.
21:20 Precious treasure and oil are in the home of the wise, but a foolish man devours them.
21:21 Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor.
21:22 A wise man scales a city of warriors and brings down the stronghold in which it trusted.
21:23 Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue guards his life from troubles.
21:24 “Scoffer” is the name of the proud, arrogant man who acts with insolent fury.
21:25 The sluggard’s desire kills him, for his hands refuse to work.
21:26 All day long he craves greedily, but a righteous person gives and does not hold back.
21:27 The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination;
   how much more when he brings it with evil intent!
21:28 A lying witness will perish, but a man who listens will speak on.
21:29 A wicked man puts on a bold face, but an upright person understands his way.
21:30 No wisdom, no understanding, no counsel can stand against the LORD.

21:31 The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the LORD.

Chapter 22
22:1 A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor rather than silver and gold.
22:2 The rich and the poor meet together;
   the LORD is the Maker of them all.
22:3 A prudent person sees danger and hides, but the simple pass on and suffer the penalty.
22:4 The reward of humility and the fear of the LORD is riches, honor, and life.
22:5 Thorns and snares are in the way of the crooked;
   whoever guards his life keeps far from them.
22:6 Train a child in his way;
   even when he is old, he will not turn from it.
22:7 A rich man rules over the poor, and the borrower is a servant to the lender.
22:8 Whoever sows injustice will reap trouble, and the rod of his fury will come to an end.
22:9 A generous person will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.
22:10 Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out;
   quarreling and disgrace will cease.
22:11 Whoever loves purity of heart and has gracious speech will have the king as his friend.
22:12 The eyes of the LORD guard knowledge, but he overturns the words of the treacherous.
22:13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside!
   I will be killed in the squares!”
22:14 The mouth of adulterous women is a deep pit;
   the one under the LORD’s anger will fall into it.
22:15 Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.
22:16 Whoever oppresses the poor to increase his wealth, and whoever gives to the rich, comes only to want.
22:17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise;
   apply your heart to my knowledge.
22:18 For it is pleasant if you keep them within you, if they are all ready on your lips.
22:19 So that your trust may be in the LORD, I have made them known to you today, to you yourself.
22:20 Have I not written to you before with counsel and knowledge,
22:21 to teach you the certainty of truthful words, so that you may give truthful answers to those who sent you?

22:22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor, or crush the afflicted at the gate,
22:23 for the LORD will plead their cause and rob of life those who rob them.
22:24 Do not make friends with an angry man or go with a man of wrath,
22:25 lest you learn his ways and take a snare for your own life.
22:26 Do not be among those who pledge their hands, those who put up security for debts.
22:27 If you have nothing to pay, why should he take your bed from under you?
22:28 Do not move the ancient boundary marker that your fathers set.
22:29 Do you see a man skilled in his work?
   He will stand before kings;
   he will not stand before obscure men.

Chapter 23
23:1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you,
23:2 and put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite.
23:3 Do not crave his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
23:4 Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
   have the sense to stop.
23:5 Will you set your eyes on it?
   It is gone, for it surely makes wings for itself and flies toward heaven like an eagle.

23:6 Do not eat the bread of a stingy man or crave his delicacies,
23:7 for as he calculates within himself, so he is.
   “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
23:8 You will vomit up the morsel you have eaten and waste your pleasant words.
23:9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words.
23:10 Do not move the ancient boundary marker or enter the fields of the fatherless,
23:11 for their redeemer is strong;
   he will plead their cause against you.
23:12 Apply your heart to discipline and your ears to words of knowledge.
23:13 Do not withhold discipline from a child;
   if you strike him with the rod, he will not die.
23:14 You will strike him with the rod and deliver his life from Sheol.
23:15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart too will rejoice.
23:16 My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right.
23:17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the LORD all day long.
23:18 For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.
23:19 Listen, my son, and be wise;
   guide your heart in the way.
23:20 Do not be among those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
23:21 for the drunkard and the glutton will become poor, and drowsiness will clothe a man in rags.
23:22 Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23:23 Buy truth and do not sell it;
   buy wisdom, discipline, and understanding.
23:24 The father of a righteous child will greatly rejoice;
   whoever fathers a wise child will have joy in him.
23:25 Let your father and mother be glad;
   let her who bore you rejoice.
23:26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
23:27 For a prostitute is a deep pit, and an adulterous woman is a narrow well.
23:28 She too lies in wait like a robber and increases the unfaithful among mankind.
23:29 Who has woe?
   Who has sorrow?
   Who has strife?
   Who has complaints?
   Who has wounds without cause?
   Who has bloodshot eyes?
23:30 Those who linger over wine, those who go to seek out mixed wine.
23:31 Do not gaze at wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup and goes down smoothly.
23:32 In the end it bites like a serpent and stings like a viper.
23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will speak perverse things.
23:34 You will be like one lying in the heart of the sea, like one lying at the top of a mast.
23:35 “They struck me, but I was not hurt;
   they beat me, but I did not feel it.
   When will I awake?
   I will seek it yet again.”

Chapter 24
24:1 Do not envy evil men or desire to be with them,
24:2 for their heart devises violence, and their lips speak of harm.
24:3 By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established.
24:4 By knowledge its rooms are filled with every precious and pleasant treasure.
24:5 A wise man is strong, and a man of knowledge increases strength.
24:6 For by wise guidance you wage war, and in an abundance of counselors there is victory.
24:7 Wisdom is too high for a fool;
   at the gate he does not open his mouth.
24:8 Whoever plans to do evil will be called a schemer.
24:9 The schemes of folly are sin, and a scoffer is an abomination to people.
24:10 If you falter in the day of distress, your strength is small.
24:11 Rescue those being taken away to death;
   hold back those stumbling toward slaughter.
24:12 If you say, “Look, we did not know this,” does not the one who weighs hearts understand?
   Does not the one who guards your life know?
   Will he not repay each person according to his work?
24:13 Eat honey, my son, for it is good;
   honey from the comb is sweet to your taste.
24:14 Know that wisdom is like this for your soul: If you find it, there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.

24:15 Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the home of the righteous;
   do not plunder his resting place.
24:16 For a righteous person falls seven times and rises again, but the wicked stumble in calamity.
24:17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles,
24:18 lest the LORD see it and be displeased, and turn his anger away from him.
24:19 Do not fret because of evildoers or envy the wicked,
24:20 for the evil man has no future;
   the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
24:21 My son, fear the LORD and the king;
   do not associate with those who rebel,
24:22 for their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin of them both?

24:23 These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
24:24 Whoever says to the wicked, “You are righteous,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.
24:25 But those who rebuke him will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them.
24:26 An honest answer is a kiss on the lips.
24:27 Prepare your work outside and get it ready for yourself in the field;
   afterward build your house.

24:28 Do not be a witness against your neighbor without cause.
   Would you deceive with your lips?
24:29 Do not say, “I will do to him as he has done to me;
   I will repay the man according to his work.”
24:30 I passed by the field of a sluggard, by the vineyard of a man who lacked sense,
24:31 and there it was, all overgrown with thorns;
   nettles covered its surface, and its stone wall was broken down.
24:32 I saw it and took it to heart;
   I looked and received instruction.
24:33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
24:34 and your poverty will come like a prowler, your need like an armed man.

Chapter 25
25:1 These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied.
25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, and the glory of kings to search out a matter.
25:3 As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the heart of kings is unsearchable.
25:4 Remove the dross from silver, and a vessel will come forth for the silversmith.
25:5 Remove the wicked from a king’s presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.
25:6 Do not exalt yourself before a king or stand in the place of the great,
25:7 for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be humbled before a nobleman whom your eyes have seen.
25:8 Do not rush out to bring a dispute, for what will you do in the end when your neighbor puts you to shame?
25:9 Argue your case with your neighbor, but do not reveal another’s secret,
25:10 lest the one who hears it shame you, and your bad reputation never depart.
25:11 A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.
25:12 Like a gold earring and an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to a listening ear.
25:13 Like the coolness of snow at harvest time is a faithful messenger to those who send him;
   he refreshes the soul of his masters.

25:14 Like clouds and wind without rain is a man who boasts of a gift he does not give.
25:15 With patience a ruler is persuaded, and a gentle tongue breaks a bone.
25:16 Have you found honey?
   Eat only enough for yourself, lest you be filled with it and vomit it up.
25:17 Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor’s house, lest he grow tired of you and hate you.
25:18 A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is a club, a sword, and a sharp arrow.
25:19 Confidence in a treacherous man on the day of distress is like a bad tooth or a slipping foot.
25:20 Like taking off a garment on a cold day, like vinegar on soda, is singing songs to a troubled heart.

25:21 If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat;
   if he is thirsty, give him water to drink,
25:22 for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the LORD will reward you.
25:23 The north wind brings forth rain, and a backbiting tongue brings angry faces.
25:24 Better to live in a corner of the roof than to share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
25:25 Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.
25:26 Like a muddied spring and a polluted fountain is a righteous person who gives way before the wicked.
25:27 Eating much honey is not good, nor is seeking one’s own glory glorious.
25:28 A man who has no restraint over his spirit is like a city broken into and left without a wall.

Chapter 26
26:1 Like snow in summer and rain at harvest, so honor is unfitting for a fool.
26:2 Like a sparrow flitting, like a swallow flying, an undeserved curse does not alight.
26:3 A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the backs of fools.
26:4 Do not answer a fool according to his folly, lest you too become like him.
26:5 Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes.
26:6 Whoever sends a message by the hand of a fool cuts off his own feet and drinks violence.
26:7 Like the legs that hang limp on a lame man is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
26:8 Like tying a stone in a sling is giving honor to a fool.
26:9 Like a thorn that goes into a drunkard’s hand is a proverb in the mouth of fools.
26:10 Like an archer who wounds everyone is one who hires a fool or hires passersby.
26:11 Like a dog that returns to its vomit, a fool repeats his folly.
26:12 Do you see a man wise in his own eyes?
   There is more hope for a fool than for him.
26:13 The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road!
   A lion in the squares!”
26:14 As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed.
26:15 The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
   he is too weary to bring it back to his mouth.
26:16 The sluggard is wiser in his own eyes than seven who can give a sensible answer.
26:17 Like one who grabs a dog by the ears is a passerby who meddles in a quarrel that is not his.
26:18 Like a madman who shoots firebrands, arrows, and death,
26:19 so is a man who deceives his neighbor and says, “Was I not joking?”
26:20 Without wood a fire goes out, and without a whisperer strife quiets down.
26:21 As charcoal is to embers and wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

26:22 The words of a whisperer are like delicious morsels;
   they go down into the innermost parts of the body.
26:23 Burning lips and an evil heart are like silver dross coating an earthen vessel.
26:24 One who hates disguises it with his lips, but stores up deceit within.
26:25 When his voice is gracious, do not believe him, for there are seven abominations in his heart.
26:26 Though hatred is covered by deception, his evil will be exposed in the assembly.
26:27 Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and a stone will roll back on the one who rolls it.
26:28 A lying tongue hates those it crushes, and a flattering mouth brings ruin.

Chapter 27
27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day will bring forth.
27:2 Let another praise you, and not your own mouth;
   a stranger, and not your own lips.
27:3 Stone is heavy and sand a burden, but a fool’s provocation is heavier than both.
27:4 Wrath is cruel and anger a flood, but who can stand before jealousy?
27:5 Better an open rebuke than hidden love.
27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but abundant are the kisses of an enemy.
27:7 A satisfied soul tramples on honey, but to a hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.
27:8 Like a bird wandering from its nest is a man wandering from his place.
27:9 Oil and incense gladden the heart, and the sweetness of a friend comes from heartfelt counsel.
27:10 Do not forsake your friend or your father’s friend, and do not go to your brother’s house on the day of your calamity.
   Better a neighbor nearby than a brother far away.
27:11 Be wise, my son, and gladden my heart, so that I may answer the one who reproaches me.
27:12 A prudent person sees danger and hides;
   the simple pass on and suffer the penalty.
27:13 Take the garment of one who puts up security for a stranger;
   take a pledge from him on behalf of a foreign woman.
27:14 Whoever blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning will have it counted as a curse.
27:15 A constant dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike.
27:16 Whoever restrains her restrains the wind and grasps oil in his right hand.
27:17 Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
27:18 Whoever tends a fig tree will eat its fruit, and whoever attends his master will be honored.
27:19 As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.
27:20 Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and the eyes of man are never satisfied.
27:21 The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man is tested by the praise he receives.
27:22 Even if you pound a fool in a mortar, among crushed grain with a pestle, his folly will not leave him.

27:23 Know well the condition of your flocks;
   give your herds your attention,
27:24 for wealth does not last forever.
   Does a crown endure from generation to generation?
27:25 When the hay is removed and new grass appears, and the grasses of the hills are gathered,
27:26 the lambs will provide your clothing, and the male goats the price of a field.
27:27 There will be enough goats’ milk for your food, for the food of your household, and for the support of your servant girls.

Chapter 28
28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a young lion.
28:2 When a land rebels, its rulers are many, but with a person of understanding and knowledge, stability endures.
28:3 A poor man who oppresses the lowly is like a sweeping rain that leaves no bread.
28:4 Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, but those who keep the law contend with them.

28:5 Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the LORD understand everything.
28:6 Better a poor man who walks in integrity than one who is crooked in his ways, though he is rich.
28:7 Whoever keeps the law is a discerning son, but a companion of gluttons brings shame to his father.
28:8 Whoever increases his wealth by interest and usury gathers it for one who is gracious to the poor.
28:9 Whoever turns his ear away from hearing the law—even his prayer is an abomination.
28:10 Whoever leads the upright astray in an evil way will fall into his own pit, but the blameless will inherit good.
28:11 A rich man is wise in his own eyes, but a poor person with understanding sees through him.
28:12 When the righteous triumph, there is great glory, but when the wicked rise, people hide.
28:13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will receive mercy.
28:14 Blessed is the man who always fears, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into trouble.
28:15 Like a roaring lion and a charging bear is a wicked ruler over a poor people.
28:16 A ruler who lacks understanding is a great oppressor, but whoever hates unjust gain will prolong his days.

28:17 A man burdened with human blood will flee to the pit;
   let no one support him.
28:18 Whoever walks blamelessly will be saved, but whoever is crooked in his ways will fall at once.
28:19 Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but whoever pursues empty things will have plenty of poverty.
28:20 A faithful man will abound in blessings, but whoever hurries to get rich will not go unpunished.
28:21 To show partiality is not good, yet a man will transgress for a piece of bread.
28:22 A stingy man hurries after wealth and does not know that want will come upon him.
28:23 Whoever rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than one who flatters with his tongue.
28:24 Whoever robs his father or his mother and says, “It is no transgression,” is a companion to a destroyer.
28:25 A greedy person stirs up strife, but whoever trusts in the LORD will prosper.
28:26 Whoever trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks in wisdom will escape.
28:27 Whoever gives to the poor will not lack, but whoever closes his eyes will have many curses.
28:28 When the wicked rise, people hide;
   when they perish, the righteous increase.

Chapter 29
29:1 A man who hardens his neck after many rebukes will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
29:2 When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan.
29:3 A man who loves wisdom gladdens his father, but a companion of prostitutes destroys his wealth.
29:4 By justice a king establishes a land, but a man who exacts gifts tears it down.
29:5 A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
29:6 In an evil man’s transgression there is a snare, but a righteous person sings and rejoices.
29:7 A righteous person knows the cause of the poor;
   a wicked man does not understand such knowledge.
29:8 Scoffers inflame a city, but the wise turn away anger.
29:9 When a wise man goes to court with a fool, whether there is rage or laughter, there is no rest.
29:10 Bloodthirsty men hate a blameless man, but the upright seek to preserve his life.
29:11 A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise person holds it back.
29:12 If a ruler listens to falsehood, all his servants are wicked.
29:13 The poor man and the oppressor meet together;
   the LORD gives light to the eyes of them both.
29:14 A king who judges the poor faithfully will have his throne established forever.
29:15 The rod and correction give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
29:16 When the wicked increase, transgression increases, but the righteous will see their downfall.
29:17 Discipline your son, and he will give you rest;
   he will give delight to your soul.

29:18 Where there is no prophetic vision, the people cast off restraint, but blessed is the one who keeps the law.
29:19 A servant is not corrected by words alone;
   though he understands, he does not respond.
29:20 Do you see a man hasty in his words?
   There is more hope for a fool than for him.
29:21 Whoever pampers his servant from youth will have him become a son in the end.
29:22 An angry man stirs up strife, and a man of wrath abounds in transgression.
29:23 A man’s pride will bring him low, but one who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor.
29:24 Whoever shares with a thief hates his own life;
   he hears the oath’s curse but does not tell.
29:25 The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be safe.
29:26 Many seek a ruler’s favor, but a man’s justice comes from the LORD.
29:27 An unjust man is an abomination to the righteous, and one whose way is upright is an abomination to the wicked.

Chapter 30
30:1 The words of Agur son of Jakeh, the oracle. The declaration of the man to Ithiel, to Ithiel and Ucal:
30:2 Surely I am more senseless than any man, and I lack human understanding.
30:3 I have not learned wisdom, nor do I have knowledge of the Holy One.
30:4 Who has ascended to heaven and come down?
   Who has gathered the wind in his fists?
   Who has wrapped the waters in a garment?
   Who has established all the ends of the earth?
   What is his name, and what is his son’s name, if you know?
30:5 Every word of God is refined;
   he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
30:6 Do not add to his words, lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.

30:7 Two things I ask of you;
   do not deny them to me before I die:
30:8 Keep falsehood and lying words far from me;
   give me neither poverty nor riches;
   feed me with my allotted bread,
30:9 lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?”
   Or lest I become poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

30:10 Do not slander a servant to his master, lest he curse you and you bear the guilt.
30:11 There is a generation that curses its father and does not bless its mother.
30:12 There is a generation pure in its own eyes, yet not washed of its filth.
30:13 There is a generation—how haughty its eyes, how high its eyelids are raised!
30:14 There is a generation whose teeth are swords and whose fangs are knives, to devour the poor from the earth and the needy from among mankind.

30:15 The leech has two daughters: “Give!
   Give!”
   Three things are never satisfied, four never say, “Enough”:
30:16 Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, “Enough!”
30:17 The eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by young eagles.

30:18 Three things are too wonderful for me, four I do not understand:
30:19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a serpent on a rock, the way of a ship in the heart of the sea, and the way of a man with a young woman.
30:20 This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats, wipes her mouth, and says, “I have done no wrong.”

30:21 Under three things the earth trembles, and under four it cannot bear up:
30:22 under a servant when he becomes king, and a fool when he has his fill of bread;
30:23 under an unloved woman when she marries, and a servant girl when she takes the place of her mistress.

30:24 Four things are small on the earth, yet they are exceedingly wise:
30:25 the ants are a people without strength, yet they prepare their food in summer;
30:26 the hyraxes are a people without power, yet they make their home in the rocks;
30:27 the locusts have no king, yet they all march out in ranks;
30:28 the lizard can be caught with the hands, yet it is in kings’ palaces.

30:29 Three things have a stately stride, four walk well:
30:30 the lion, mighty among beasts, which does not turn back before anything;
30:31 the one with girded loins, or a male goat, and a king with his troops.
30:32 If you have been foolish in exalting yourself, or if you have plotted evil, put your hand over your mouth.
30:33 For churning milk brings forth butter, pressing the nose brings forth blood, and pressing anger brings forth strife.

Chapter 31
31:1 The words of King Lemuel, an oracle his mother taught him:
31:2 “What, my son?
   What, son of my womb?
   What, son of my vows?
31:3 Do not give your strength to women or your ways to what destroys kings.
31:4 It is not for kings, Lemuel, not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to say, ‘Where is strong drink?’
31:5 lest they drink and forget what has been decreed, and pervert the rights of all the afflicted.
31:6 Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those bitter in soul.
31:7 Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
31:8 Open your mouth for those who cannot speak, for the cause of all who are passing away.
31:9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.”

31:10 A wife of noble character—who can find her?
   Her worth is far above jewels.
31:11 The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will lack no gain.
31:12 She does him good and not evil all the days of her life.
31:13 She seeks wool and flax and works willingly with her hands.
31:14 She is like merchant ships;
   she brings her food from afar.
31:15 She rises while it is still night and gives food to her household and a portion to her servant girls.
31:16 She considers a field and buys it;
   from the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
31:17 She girds her waist with strength and makes her arms strong.
31:18 She perceives that her trade is profitable;
   her lamp does not go out at night.
31:19 She reaches her hands to the distaff, and her palms hold the spindle.
31:20 She opens her palm to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
31:21 She does not fear snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
31:22 She makes coverings for herself;
   her clothing is fine linen and purple.
31:23 Her husband is known at the gates, where he sits with the elders of the land.
31:24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
   she supplies sashes to the merchant.
31:25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the day to come.
31:26 She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
31:27 She watches over the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
31:28 Her children rise and call her blessed;
   her husband also praises her:
31:29 “Many women have acted nobly, but you surpass them all.”
31:30 Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
31:31 Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her at the gates.

ECCLESIASTES

Chapter 1
1:1 The words of the Preacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem.
1:2 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher.
   “Vanity of vanities!
   All is vanity.”
1:3 What does a man gain from all his toil at which he toils under the sun?
1:4 A generation goes and a generation comes, but the earth remains forever.
1:5 The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries to its place where it rises again.
1:6 The wind goes to the south and turns to the north;
   round and round the wind goes, and on its circuits the wind returns.
1:7 All the rivers flow to the sea, yet the sea is not full.
   To the place where the rivers flow, there they return to flow again.
1:8 All things are wearisome, more than a man can express.
   The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
1:9 What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done;
   there is nothing new under the sun.
1:10 Is there anything of which one can say, “Look, this is new”?
   It has already been in the ages before us.
1:11 Those who came before are not remembered;
   nor will those who come later be remembered by those who come after them.
1:12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
1:13 I set my heart to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. It is a grievous task that God has given mankind to be occupied with.
1:14 I have seen all the deeds done under the sun, and look, all is vanity and a pursuit of wind.
1:15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be counted.
1:16 I said in my heart, “Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom beyond all who were over Jerusalem before me; my heart has seen much wisdom and knowledge.”
1:17 I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I knew that this too is a pursuit of wind.
1:18 For in much wisdom is much grief, and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.

Chapter 2
2:1 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with joy; enjoy what is good.” But look, this too was vanity.
2:2 Of laughter I said, “It is madness,” and of joy, “What does it accomplish?”
2:3 I explored in my heart how to cheer my body with wine, while my heart guided me in wisdom, and how to take hold of folly, until I could see what is good for mankind to do under heaven during the numbered days of their lives.
2:4 I made my works great. I built houses for myself and planted vineyards for myself.
2:5 I made gardens and parks for myself and planted in them every kind of fruit tree.
2:6 I made pools of water for myself, to water from them a woodland of growing trees.
2:7 I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves born in my house. I also had many herds and flocks, more than all who were in Jerusalem before me.
2:8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasures of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and the delights of mankind—concubines in abundance.
2:9 I became great and surpassed all who were in Jerusalem before me, and my wisdom also remained with me.
2:10 Whatever my eyes desired I did not withhold from them; I denied my heart no joy, for my heart rejoiced in all my toil. This was my portion from all my toil.
2:11 Then I considered all the works my hands had done and the toil at which I had toiled to do them, and look, all was vanity and a pursuit of wind; there was no gain under the sun.
2:12 Then I turned to consider wisdom, madness, and folly. For what can the man do who comes after the king? Only what has already been done.
2:13 I saw that wisdom has an advantage over folly, just as light has an advantage over darkness.
2:14 The wise man has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness. Yet I also knew that the same fate befalls them all.
2:15 Then I said in my heart, “What befalls the fool will befall me too. Why then have I been so very wise?” And I said in my heart, “This too is vanity.”
2:16 For a wise man, like a fool, will not be remembered forever; in the days to come all will already have been forgotten. How the wise man dies just like the fool!
2:17 So I hated life, because the work done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a pursuit of wind.
2:18 I hated all my toil at which I toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.
2:19 Who knows whether he will be wise or foolish? Yet he will rule over all the toil at which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This too is vanity.
2:20 So I turned to despair in my heart over all the toil at which I had toiled under the sun.
2:21 For a man may toil with wisdom, knowledge, and skill, yet leave his portion to a man who did not toil for it. This too is vanity and a great evil.
2:22 For what does a man have from all his toil and the striving of his heart at which he toils under the sun?
2:23 For all his days are pain, and his occupation is grief; even at night his heart does not rest. This too is vanity.
2:24 There is nothing better for a man than to eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This too, I saw, is from the hand of God.
2:25 For who can eat, and who can enjoy more than I?
2:26 For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and accumulating, to give to the one who pleases God. This too is vanity and a pursuit of wind.

Chapter 3
3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

3:2 a time to be born and a time to die;
   a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted;
3:3 a time to kill and a time to heal;
   a time to break down and a time to build;
3:4 a time to weep and a time to laugh;
   a time to mourn and a time to dance;
3:5 a time to throw stones away and a time to gather stones;
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
3:6 a time to seek and a time to lose;
   a time to keep and a time to throw away;
3:7 a time to tear and a time to sew;
   a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
3:8 a time to love and a time to hate;
   a time for war and a time for peace.
3:9 What does the worker gain from his toil?
3:10 I have seen the task that God has given mankind to be occupied with.
3:11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also put eternity in their hearts, yet man cannot discover the work God has done from beginning to end.
3:12 I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and do good during their lives,
3:13 and that everyone should eat and drink and find enjoyment in all his toil—this is the gift of God.
3:14 I know that whatever God does will endure forever. Nothing can be added to it, and nothing taken from it. God has done this so that people may fear before him.
3:15 What is has already been, and what will be has already been; God seeks what has been driven away.
3:16 I also saw under the sun: In the place of justice, there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, there was wickedness.
3:17 I said in my heart, “God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time there for every matter and every deed.”
3:18 I said in my heart concerning mankind, “God tests them so that they may see that they themselves are animals.”
3:19 For the fate of mankind and the fate of animals are the same: As one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the animals, for all is vanity.
3:20 All go to one place; all came from dust, and all return to dust.
3:21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and whether the spirit of the animal goes downward to the earth?
3:22 So I saw that there is nothing better than for a man to rejoice in his work, for that is his portion. For who can bring him to see what will be after him?

Chapter 4
4:1 Again I considered all the oppressions committed under the sun. Look at the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them! Power was in the hands of their oppressors, and there was no one to comfort them.
4:2 I considered the dead who have already died more fortunate than the living who are still alive.
4:3 But better than both is the one who has not yet existed, who has not seen the evil work done under the sun.
4:4 I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s rivalry with his neighbor. This too is vanity and a pursuit of wind.
4:5 The fool folds his hands and eats his own flesh.
4:6 Better one handful with rest than two handfuls with toil and a pursuit of wind.
4:7 Again I saw vanity under the sun:
4:8 There is one alone, with no one beside him, neither son nor brother. Yet there is no end to all his toil, and his eye is never satisfied with wealth. “For whom am I toiling and depriving myself of good?” This too is vanity and a grievous task.
4:9 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil.
4:10 For if they fall, one will lift up his companion.
   But woe to the one who falls alone, with no one to lift him up!
4:11 Again, if two lie together, they keep warm;
   but how can one keep warm alone?
4:12 Though an attacker may overpower one, two can stand against him, and a threefold cord is not quickly broken.
4:13 Better a poor and wise youth than an old and foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning.
4:14 For he came out of prison to reign, though he had been born poor in his kingdom.
4:15 I saw all the living who walk under the sun with the second youth who would stand in his place.
4:16 There was no end to all the people at whose head he stood, yet those who come later will not rejoice in him. Surely this too is vanity and a pursuit of wind.

Chapter 5
5:1 Guard your step when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil.
5:2 Do not be rash with your mouth, and do not let your heart hurry to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
5:3 For a dream comes with much occupation, and a fool’s voice with many words.
5:4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay in paying it, for he takes no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.
5:5 It is better not to vow than to vow and not pay.
5:6 Do not let your mouth cause you to sin, and do not say before the messenger, “It was a mistake.” Why should God be angry at your voice and destroy the work of your hands?
5:7 For with many dreams and many words there is vanity. But fear God.
5:8 If you see oppression of the poor and the robbery of justice and righteousness in a province, do not be astonished at the matter, for one high official watches over another, and higher ones are over them.
5:9 The profit of the land is for all; even a king is served by the field.
5:10 Whoever loves money is not satisfied with money, nor whoever loves abundance with income. This too is vanity.
5:11 When goods increase, those who consume them increase. What advantage does their owner have, except to look at them with his eyes?
5:12 Sweet is the sleep of the laborer, whether he eats little or much, but the abundance of the rich does not let him sleep.
5:13 There is a grievous evil I have seen under the sun: riches kept by their owner to his own harm.
5:14 Those riches are lost through a bad venture, and he fathers a son but has nothing in his hand.
5:15 As he came from his mother’s womb, naked, so he will go again as he came. He will take nothing from his toil that he can carry in his hand.
5:16 This too is a grievous evil: Just as he came, so he will go. What does he gain from toiling for the wind?
5:17 All his days he eats in darkness, with much grief, sickness, and anger.
5:18 Look, this is what I have seen to be good and fitting: to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil at which one toils under the sun during the numbered days of life God has given him, for this is his portion.
5:19 Also, when God gives a man wealth and possessions and enables him to enjoy them, to take his portion and rejoice in his toil, this is the gift of God.
5:20 For he does not often remember the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with the joy of his heart.

Chapter 6
6:1 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, and it weighs heavily on mankind:
6:2 a man to whom God gives wealth, possessions, and honor, so that his soul lacks nothing of all he desires, yet God does not enable him to enjoy it, and a stranger enjoys it. This is vanity and a grievous affliction.
6:3 Though a man fathers a hundred children and lives many years, however many the days of his years may be, if his soul is not satisfied with good and he does not even have a burial, I say a stillborn child is better off than he.
6:4 For it comes in vanity and goes in darkness, and in darkness its name is covered.
6:5 Though it has not seen the sun or known anything, it has more rest than he.
6:6 Even if he lives twice a thousand years but sees no good, do not all go to one place?
6:7 All a man’s toil is for his mouth, yet his appetite is not satisfied.
6:8 For what advantage has the wise man over the fool? What advantage has the poor man who knows how to walk among the living?
6:9 Better what the eyes see than the wandering of desire. This too is vanity and a pursuit of wind.
6:10 Whatever exists has already been named, and it is known what man is; he cannot contend with one stronger than himself.
6:11 For there are many words that increase vanity. What does a man gain?
6:12 For who knows what is good for a man in life, during the numbered days of his fleeting life, which he passes like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will be after him under the sun?

Chapter 7
7:1 A good name is better than fine perfume, and the day of death than the day of birth.
7:2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to a house of feasting, for this is the end of all mankind, and the living take it to heart.
7:3 Sorrow is better than laughter, for through a sad face the heart is made better.
7:4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of joy.
7:5 It is better to hear the rebuke of a wise man than to hear the song of fools.
7:6 For like the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool.
   This too is vanity.
7:7 Surely oppression drives a wise man mad, and a bribe destroys the heart.
7:8 Better the end of a matter than its beginning;
   better a patient spirit than a proud spirit.
7:9 Do not be quick in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
7:10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
   For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
7:11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance and an advantage to those who see the sun.
7:12 For wisdom gives shelter as money gives shelter, but the advantage of knowledge is this: Wisdom preserves the life of its possessor.
7:13 Consider the work of God: Who can make straight what he has made crooked?
7:14 In the day of prosperity enjoy the good, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man cannot discover anything that will come after him.
7:15 I have seen everything in the days of my fleeting life: There is a righteous person who perishes in his righteousness, and a wicked man who lives long in his wickedness.
7:16 Do not be overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you ruin yourself?
7:17 Do not be overly wicked or be a fool. Why should you die before your time?
7:18 It is good to take hold of this without letting your hand go from that, for whoever fears God will come through them all.
7:19 Wisdom strengthens a wise man more than ten rulers in a city.
7:20 For there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
7:21 Also, do not take to heart all the words people speak, lest you hear your servant cursing you,
7:22 for your heart knows that many times you too have cursed others.
7:23 All this I tested by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.
7:24 What exists is far off and deep, very deep. Who can discover it?
7:25 I turned my heart to know, explore, and seek wisdom and the reason of things, and to know that wickedness is folly and foolishness is madness.
7:26 I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and whose hands are chains. The one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is caught by her.
7:27 “Look, this I found,” says the Preacher, “adding one thing to another to find the reason,
7:28 which my soul still seeks but has not found: One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I did not find.
7:29 Look, this alone I found: God made man upright, but they have sought many schemes.”

Chapter 8
8:1 Who is like the wise man? Who knows the interpretation of a matter? A man’s wisdom brightens his face, and the hardness of his face is changed.
8:2 I say: Keep the king’s command because of your oath before God.
8:3 Do not hurry to leave his presence, and do not persist in an evil matter, for he does whatever he pleases.
8:4 For the word of a king has authority, and who can say to him, “What are you doing?”
8:5 Whoever keeps the command will experience no evil, and a wise heart knows the time and judgment.
8:6 For every matter has a time and judgment, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
8:7 For he does not know what will be; who can tell him how it will be?
8:8 No man has power over the wind to restrain the wind, nor authority over the day of death. There is no discharge in war, and wickedness will not deliver those who practice it.
8:9 All this I saw as I set my heart to every deed done under the sun, at a time when one man rules over another to his harm.
8:10 Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the holy place, and they were forgotten in the city where they had acted so. This too is vanity.
8:11 Because the sentence against an evil deed is not carried out quickly, the heart of mankind is fully set on doing evil.
8:12 Though a sinner does evil a hundred times and lives long, yet I know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before him.
8:13 But it will not be well with the wicked, nor will he prolong his days, which are like a shadow, because he does not fear before God.
8:14 There is a vanity that occurs on earth: There are righteous people who receive what the deeds of the wicked deserve, and wicked people who receive what the deeds of the righteous deserve. I said that this too is vanity.
8:15 So I commended joy, for there is nothing better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and rejoice. This will accompany him in his toil through the days of life God has given him under the sun.
8:16 When I set my heart to know wisdom and to see the task done on earth—for a man’s eyes see no sleep either day or night—
8:17 then I saw all the work of God: Man cannot discover the work done under the sun. However much a man toils in seeking it, he will not discover it; even if a wise man says he knows, he cannot discover it.

Chapter 9
9:1 For I took all this to heart and examined it all: The righteous, the wise, and their deeds are in the hand of God. Man does not know whether love or hatred awaits; all is before them.
9:2 Everything comes alike to all: One fate comes to the righteous and the wicked, to the good, the clean and the unclean, to the one who sacrifices and the one who does not. As with the good, so with the sinner; as with the one who swears, so with the one who fears an oath.
9:3 This is an evil in all that is done under the sun: One fate comes to all. The heart of mankind is also full of evil, and madness is in their hearts during their lives, and afterward they go to the dead.
9:4 For whoever is joined to the living has hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
9:5 For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing; they have no further reward, for their memory is forgotten.
9:6 Their love, their hatred, and their jealousy have already perished; never again will they have a portion in anything done under the sun.
9:7 Go, eat your bread with joy and drink your wine with a cheerful heart, for God has already accepted your works.
9:8 Let your garments always be white, and let oil never be lacking on your head.
9:9 Enjoy life with the wife you love all the days of your fleeting life that he has given you under the sun, all your fleeting days, for this is your portion in life and in your toil at which you toil under the sun.
9:10 Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might, for there is no work or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.
9:11 Again I saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor wealth to the discerning, nor favor to the skillful, for time and chance happen to them all.
9:12 For man does not know his time. Like fish caught in a cruel net and birds caught in a snare, so mankind is ensnared in a time of calamity when it falls upon them suddenly.
9:13 This wisdom too I saw under the sun, and it seemed great to me:
9:14 There was a small city with few men in it, and a great king came against it, surrounded it, and built great siegeworks against it.
9:15 A poor wise man was found in it, and he delivered the city by his wisdom, yet no one remembered that poor man.
9:16 So I said, “Wisdom is better than strength,” but the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
9:17 The words of the wise heard in quiet are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools.
9:18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.

Chapter 10
10:1 Dead flies make a perfumer’s oil stink and bubble;
   a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor.
10:2 A wise man’s heart inclines to his right, but a fool’s heart to his left.
10:3 Even when a fool walks on the road, he lacks sense and shows everyone that he is a fool.
10:4 If a ruler’s anger rises against you, do not leave your place, for calmness lays great offenses to rest.
10:5 There is an evil I have seen under the sun, like an error proceeding from a ruler:
10:6 Folly is set in very high places, while the rich sit in low places.
10:7 I have seen servants on horses and princes walking on the ground like servants.
10:8 Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, and whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent.
10:9 Whoever quarries stones may be hurt by them, and whoever splits wood is endangered by it.
10:10 If the iron is dull and its edge is not sharpened, more strength must be used;
   but wisdom has the advantage of bringing success.
10:11 If the serpent bites before it is charmed, there is no profit for the charmer.
10:12 The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool swallow him up.
10:13 The beginning of the words of his mouth is folly, and the end of his speech is evil madness.
10:14 Yet the fool multiplies words.
   Man does not know what will be;
   who can tell him what will be after him?
10:15 The toil of fools wearies each one, for he does not know the way to the city.
10:16 Woe to you, O land, whose king is a child and whose princes feast in the morning!
10:17 Blessed are you, O land, whose king is of noble birth and whose princes eat at the proper time, for strength and not for drunkenness!
10:18 Through laziness the roof sags, and through idle hands the house leaks.
10:19 A feast is prepared for laughter, and wine gladdens life, and money answers everything.
10:20 Do not curse the king even in your thoughts, and do not curse the rich in your bedroom, for a bird of the sky may carry your voice, and a winged creature may report the word.

Chapter 11
11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it.
11:2 Give a portion to seven, and also to eight, for you do not know what calamity will come upon the earth.
11:3 If the clouds are full of rain, they empty it on the earth;
   and if a tree falls to the south or to the north, where the tree falls, there it will be.
11:4 Whoever watches the wind will not sow, and whoever looks at the clouds will not reap.
11:5 Just as you do not know the path of the wind or how the bones grow in the womb of a pregnant woman, so you do not know the work of God, who makes everything.
11:6 In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not let your hand rest, for you do not know which will prosper, this or that, or whether both alike will be good.
11:7 Light is sweet, and it is good for the eyes to see the sun.
11:8 If a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all, but let him remember the days of darkness, for they will be many.
   All that is coming is vanity.
11:9 Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth.
   Walk in the ways of your heart and in what your eyes see, but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
11:10 Remove grief from your heart and put away suffering from your flesh, for youth and the prime of life are fleeting.

Chapter 12
12:1 Remember your Creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come and the years draw near when you say, “I have no pleasure in them”;
12:2 before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and the clouds return after the rain;
12:3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble and the strong men bend, when the women who grind cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows grow dim;
12:4 when the doors to the street are shut as the sound of grinding fades, when one rises at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song are brought low;
12:5 when they fear heights and terrors are in the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper is weighed down, and the caper berry fails.
   For man goes to his eternal home, and mourners go about the streets.
12:6 Before the silver cord is snapped and the golden bowl is broken, before the pitcher is shattered at the spring and the wheel is broken at the cistern,
12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
12:8 “Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “all is vanity.”
12:9 Besides being wise, the Preacher also taught the people knowledge. He weighed, searched out, and arranged many proverbs.
12:10 The Preacher sought to find pleasing words and to write upright words of truth.
12:11 The words of the wise are like goads, and the sayings of the masters of collections like firmly driven nails; they are given by one shepherd.
12:12 Beyond these, my son, be warned: Of making many books there is no end, and much study wearies the flesh.
12:13 The conclusion of the matter, all having been heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this concerns all mankind.
12:14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

SONG OF SOLOMON

Chapter 1
1:1 The Song of Songs, which is Solomon’s.
1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is better than wine.
1:3 Your oils have a pleasing fragrance;
   your name is oil poured out.
   That is why the young women love you.
1:4 Draw me after you;
   let us run.
   The king has brought me into his chambers.
   We will rejoice and be glad in you;
   we will celebrate your love more than wine.
   Rightly do they love you.

1:5 I am dark and lovely, daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon.
1:6 Do not stare at me because I am dark, because the sun has gazed on me.
   My mother’s sons were angry with me;
   they made me keeper of the vineyards, but my own vineyard I have not kept.
1:7 Tell me, you whom my soul loves, where you pasture your flock, where you make it rest at noon.
   Why should I be like a veiled woman beside the flocks of your companions?
1:8 If you do not know, most beautiful among women, follow the tracks of the flock and pasture your young goats beside the shepherds’ tents.

1:9 I compare you, my love, to my mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
1:10 Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments, your neck with strings of beads.
1:11 We will make you ornaments of gold with studs of silver.
1:12 While the king was on his couch, my nard gave forth its fragrance.
1:13 My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh that rests between my breasts through the night.
1:14 My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-gedi.

1:15 How beautiful you are, my love!
   How beautiful you are!
   Your eyes are doves.
1:16 How handsome you are, my beloved, how delightful!
   Our bed is lush with green.
1:17 The beams of our houses are cedars;
   our rafters are cypresses.

Chapter 2
2:1 I am a crocus of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.
2:2 Like a lily among thorns, so is my love among the young women.
2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men.
   I delighted to sit in his shade, and his fruit was sweet to my taste.
2:4 He brought me to the house of wine, and his banner over me was love.
2:5 Sustain me with raisin cakes;
   refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love.
2:6 His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me.
2:7 I put you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field: Do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

2:8 The voice of my beloved!
   Look, here he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills.
2:9 My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag.
   Look, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.
2:10 My beloved spoke and said to me, “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.
2:11 For look, the winter is past;
   the rain is over and gone.
2:12 The flowers appear on the earth;
   the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
2:13 The fig tree ripens its early figs, and the vines in blossom give forth their fragrance.
   Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away.

2:14 My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the shelter of the cliff, let me see your face;
   let me hear your voice.
   For your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely.”

2:15 Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.
2:16 My beloved is mine, and I am his;
   he pastures his flock among the lilies.
2:17 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved;
   be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of Bether.

Chapter 3
3:1 On my bed at night I sought the one my soul loves;
   I sought him, but did not find him.
3:2 “I will rise now and go about the city;
   in the streets and squares I will seek the one my soul loves.”
   I sought him, but did not find him.
3:3 The watchmen going about the city found me.
   “Have you seen the one my soul loves?”
3:4 Scarcely had I passed them when I found the one my soul loves.
   I held him and would not let him go until I brought him to my mother’s house, to the chamber of the one who conceived me.
3:5 I put you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field: Do not stir up or awaken love until it pleases.

3:6 Who is this coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the merchant’s fragrant powders?
3:7 Look, it is Solomon’s litter!
   Sixty mighty men surround it, from the mighty men of Israel.
3:8 All of them wield swords, trained in war, each with his sword at his thigh against the terrors of the night.

3:9 King Solomon made himself a palanquin of wood from Lebanon.
3:10 He made its pillars of silver, its support of gold, its seat of purple;
   its interior was inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem.
3:11 Come out, daughters of Zion, and look at King Solomon with the crown his mother placed on him on his wedding day, on the day his heart rejoiced.

Chapter 4
4:1 How beautiful you are, my love!
   How beautiful you are!
   Your eyes are doves behind your veil.
   Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down Mount Gilead.
4:2 Your teeth are like a flock of shorn sheep coming up from the washing, all bearing twins, with none bereaved among them.
4:3 Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your speech is lovely.
   Your temples are like a slice of pomegranate behind your veil.
4:4 Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an armory;
   a thousand shields hang upon it, all shields of mighty men.
4:5 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, grazing among the lilies.
4:6 Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go to the mountain of myrrh and to the hill of frankincense.
4:7 You are altogether beautiful, my love;
   there is no blemish in you.

4:8 Come with me from Lebanon, my bride, with me from Lebanon.
   Look from the summit of Amana, from the summit of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of leopards.
4:9 You have captured my heart, my sister, my bride;
   you have captured my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.
4:10 How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride!
   How much better your love is than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than all spices!
4:11 Your lips drip honey from the comb, my bride;
   honey and milk are under your tongue.
   The fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon.

4:12 A locked garden is my sister, my bride, a locked spring, a sealed fountain.
4:13 Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with choice fruits, henna with nard,
4:14 nard and saffron, aromatic cane and cinnamon, with every kind of frankincense tree, myrrh and aloes, with all the finest spices.
4:15 A fountain for gardens, a well of living water, and streams flowing from Lebanon.
4:16 Awake, north wind, and come, south wind!
   Blow on my garden;
   let its spices flow forth.
   Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choice fruits.

Chapter 5
5:1 I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride.
   I have gathered my myrrh with my spices;
   I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
   I have drunk my wine with my milk.
   Eat, friends;
   drink and be intoxicated, beloved ones!

5:2 I was sleeping, but my heart was awake.
   The sound of my beloved knocking!
   “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.”
5:3 I have taken off my tunic;
   how can I put it on again?
   I have washed my feet;
   how can I soil them?
5:4 My beloved put his hand through the opening, and yearning stirred within me for him.
5:5 I rose to open to my beloved;
   my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh on the handles of the bolt.
5:6 I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn and gone.
   My soul fainted when he spoke.
   I sought him but did not find him;
   I called him, but he did not answer me.
5:7 The watchmen making their rounds in the city found me;
   they struck me and wounded me.
   The watchmen of the walls took my mantle from me.
5:8 I adjure you, daughters of Jerusalem: if you find my beloved, what will you tell him?
   That I am sick with love.
5:9 What makes your beloved more than another beloved, most beautiful among women?
   What makes your beloved more than another beloved, that you adjure us this way?
5:10 My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand.
5:11 His head is gold, pure gold;
   his locks are wavy, black as a raven.
5:12 His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, washed in milk, resting in their settings.
5:13 His cheeks are like a bed of spices, banks of perfume.
   His lips are lilies dripping liquid myrrh.
5:14 His hands are rods of gold set with beryl;
   his belly is a panel of ivory overlaid with sapphires.
5:15 His legs are pillars of marble set on bases of pure gold.
   His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars.
5:16 His palate is sweetness, and all of him is desirable.
   This is my beloved, and this is my friend, daughters of Jerusalem.

Chapter 6
6:1 Where has your beloved gone, most beautiful among women?
   Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you?
6:2 My beloved has gone down to his garden, to the beds of spices, to pasture in the gardens and gather lilies.
6:3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine;
   he pastures among the lilies.

6:4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awe-inspiring as armies with banners.
6:5 Turn your eyes away from me, for they overwhelm me.
   Your hair is like a flock of goats streaming down from Gilead.
6:6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes coming up from washing;
   all of them bear twins, and none has lost her young.
6:7 Your temples are like a slice of pomegranate behind your veil.
6:8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and young women beyond number.
6:9 My dove, my perfect one, is unique;
   she is her mother’s only one, the favorite of the one who bore her.
   The daughters saw her and called her blessed;
   queens and concubines praised her.

6:10 Who is this who looks forth like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awe-inspiring as armies with banners?

6:11 I went down to the nut garden to see the fresh growth of the valley, to see whether the vine had budded and the pomegranates had blossomed.
6:12 Before I was aware, my soul had set me among the chariots of my noble people.
6:13 Return, return, Shulammite!
   Return, return, that we may look at you!
   What would you see in the Shulammite, as in the dance of two camps?

Chapter 7
7:1 How beautiful are your steps in sandals, daughter of a nobleman!
   The curves of your thighs are like jewels, the work of a craftsman’s hands.
7:2 Your navel is a round bowl;
   may it never lack mixed wine.
   Your belly is a mound of wheat encircled by lilies.
7:3 Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle.
7:4 Your neck is like a tower of ivory;
   your eyes are pools in Heshbon beside the gate of Bath-rabbim.
   Your nose is like the tower of Lebanon looking toward Damascus.
7:5 Your head crowns you like Carmel, and the flowing hair of your head is like purple;
   a king is held captive in its tresses.
7:6 How beautiful and how delightful you are, O love, with all your pleasures!
7:7 Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts like its clusters.
7:8 I said, “I will climb the palm tree;
   I will take hold of its branches.”
   Let your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples,
7:9 and your mouth like fine wine, flowing smoothly to my beloved, stirring the lips of sleepers.
7:10 I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me.

7:11 Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields;
   let us spend the night in the villages.
7:12 Let us go early to the vineyards and see whether the vine has budded, whether its blossoms have opened and the pomegranates have bloomed.
   There I will give you my love.
7:13 The mandrakes give forth their fragrance, and at our doors are all kinds of choice fruits, new and old, which I have stored up for you, my beloved.

Chapter 8
8:1 Oh, that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts!
   If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me.
8:2 I would lead you and bring you to the house of my mother, who taught me.
   I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate.
8:3 His left hand would be under my head, and his right hand would embrace me.
8:4 I put you under oath, daughters of Jerusalem: Why stir up or awaken love before it pleases?

8:5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?
   Under the apple tree I awakened you;
   there your mother was in labor with you, there she who bore you was in labor.
8:6 Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy unyielding as Sheol.
   Its flashes are flashes of fire, a flame of the LORD.
8:7 Many waters cannot quench love, nor can rivers sweep it away.
   If a man gave all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.

8:8 We have a little sister, and she has no breasts.
   What shall we do for our sister on the day she is spoken for?
8:9 If she is a wall, we will build a battlement of silver upon her;
   if she is a door, we will enclose her with a plank of cedar.
8:10 I am a wall, and my breasts are like towers.
   Then I was in his eyes like one who finds peace.

8:11 Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon;
   he entrusted the vineyard to keepers.
   Each was to bring a thousand pieces of silver for its fruit.
8:12 My vineyard, my own, is at my disposal.
   The thousand are yours, Solomon, and two hundred for those who tend its fruit.
8:13 You who dwell in the gardens, companions listen for your voice;
   let me hear it.
8:14 Flee, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices.

ISAIAH

Chapter 1
1:1 The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, for the LORD has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.
1:3 The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know;
   my people do not understand.”
1:4 Ah, sinful nation, a people burdened with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, corrupt children!
   They have forsaken the LORD;
   they have despised the Holy One of Israel;
   they have turned away.
1:5 Why should you be struck again?
   Will you keep rebelling?
   The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
1:6 From the sole of the foot to the head there is no soundness in it, only wounds, bruises, and raw sores, not cleansed or bandaged or softened with oil.
1:7 Your land is desolate;
   your cities are burned with fire.
   Strangers devour your land before your eyes;
   it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
1:8 Daughter Zion is left like a shelter in a vineyard, like a hut in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
1:9 If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we would have been like Sodom;
   we would have resembled Gomorrah.

1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, rulers of Sodom;
   give ear to the instruction of our God, people of Gomorrah.
1:11 “What are your many sacrifices to me?”
   says the LORD.
   “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fattened beasts.
   I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, and male goats.
1:12 When you come to appear before me, who has required this from your hands, this trampling of my courts?
1:13 Bring no more worthless offerings;
   incense is an abomination to me.
   New moon, Sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot bear iniquity and solemn gathering.
1:14 My soul hates your new moons and your appointed feasts;
   they have become a burden to me.
   I am weary of bearing them.
1:15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you.
   Even if you multiply prayers, I will not listen;
   your hands are full of blood.
1:16 Wash yourselves;
   make yourselves clean.
   Remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes;
   cease to do evil.
1:17 Learn to do good;
   seek justice;
   correct the oppressor.
   Defend the fatherless;
   plead the widow’s cause.”

1:18 “Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD.
   “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow;
   though they are red like crimson, they shall be like wool.
1:19 If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.
1:20 But if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.”
   For the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

1:21 How the faithful city has become a prostitute!
   She was full of justice;
   righteousness dwelt in her, but now murderers.
1:22 Your silver has become dross;
   your wine is diluted with water.
1:23 Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves.
   Everyone loves a bribe and pursues rewards.
   They do not defend the fatherless, and the widow’s cause does not come before them.

1:24 Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, declares: “Ah, I will get relief from my adversaries and avenge myself on my enemies.
1:25 I will turn my hand against you and refine away your dross as with lye;
   I will remove all your alloy.
1:26 I will restore your judges as at first and your counselors as at the beginning.
   Afterward you will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city.”
1:27 Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and those in her who return, with righteousness.
1:28 But rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD shall perish.
1:29 For they will be ashamed of the oaks you desired, and you will be disgraced by the gardens you chose.
1:30 For you will be like a terebinth whose leaves wither, like a garden with no water.
1:31 The strong man will become tinder, and his work a spark;
   both will burn together, with no one to quench them.

Chapter 2
2:1 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.
2:2 In the latter days the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains and lifted above the hills, and all nations shall stream to it.
2:3 Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.
   He will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”
   For instruction shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
2:4 He shall judge between the nations and settle disputes for many peoples.
   They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
   Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

2:5 House of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.
2:6 For you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are full of eastern ways and practice divination like the Philistines;
   they clasp hands with the children of foreigners.
2:7 Their land is full of silver and gold, with no end to their treasures;
   their land is full of horses, with no end to their chariots.
2:8 Their land is full of idols;
   they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made.
2:9 Humanity is brought low, and men are humbled;
   do not forgive them.
2:10 Enter the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty.
2:11 The haughty eyes of man shall be lowered, and the pride of men brought low;
   the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

2:12 For the LORD of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up, and it shall be brought low;
2:13 against all the cedars of Lebanon, high and lifted up, and against all the oaks of Bashan;
2:14 against all the high mountains and against all the lofty hills;
2:15 against every high tower and against every fortified wall;
2:16 against all the ships of Tarshish and against all the splendid vessels.
2:17 The haughtiness of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men humbled;
   the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.
2:18 The idols shall pass away completely.
2:19 People shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes in the ground, from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to make the earth tremble.
2:20 In that day a man shall cast away to the moles and the bats his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for him to worship,
2:21 to enter the clefts of the rocks and the crevices of the cliffs, from the terror of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to make the earth tremble.
2:22 Turn away from man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for of what account is he?

Chapter 3
3:1 For look, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, is taking away from Jerusalem and Judah support and supply: every supply of bread and every supply of water,
3:2 the mighty man and the warrior, the judge and the prophet, the diviner and the elder,
3:3 the captain of fifty and the respected man, the counselor, the skilled craftsman, and the expert enchanter.
3:4 “I will make boys their rulers, and capricious children shall rule over them.”
3:5 The people will oppress one another, each his fellow and each his neighbor.
   The young will defy the old, and the contemptible the honorable.
3:6 For a man will seize his brother in his father’s house: “You have a cloak;
   be our leader, and let this ruin be under your hand.”
3:7 That day he will raise his voice and say, “I will not be a healer;
   there is no bread or cloak in my house.
   Do not make me leader of the people.”
3:8 For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen, because their tongue and their deeds are against the LORD, defying his glorious eyes.
3:9 The expression of their faces testifies against them;
   they proclaim their sin like Sodom and do not hide it.
   Woe to them, for they have brought evil upon themselves!
3:10 Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.
3:11 Woe to the wicked!
   It shall go badly with him, for what his hands have done shall be done to him.
3:12 My people—children are their oppressors, and women rule over them.
   My people, your guides lead you astray and destroy the way of your paths.

3:13 The LORD rises to contend;
   he stands to judge the peoples.
3:14 The LORD enters into judgment with the elders of his people and their rulers: “You have devoured the vineyard;
   the plunder of the poor is in your houses.
3:15 What do you mean by crushing my people and grinding the faces of the poor?”
   declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

3:16 The LORD says, “Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks and seductive eyes, taking little steps as they go and jingling with their feet,
3:17 the Lord will cover the scalps of the daughters of Zion with scabs, and the LORD will lay bare their private parts.”

3:18 In that day the Lord will take away their finery: the anklets, the headbands, and the crescent ornaments;
3:19 the pendants, the bracelets, and the veils;
3:20 the headdresses, the ankle chains, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets;
3:21 the rings and the nose jewels;
3:22 the fine robes, the cloaks, the shawls, and the purses;
3:23 the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the wraps.
3:24 Instead of perfume there will be a stench;
   instead of a belt, a rope;
   instead of carefully arranged hair, baldness;
   instead of a rich robe, a girding of sackcloth;
   branding instead of beauty.
3:25 Your men shall fall by the sword, and your warriors in battle.
3:26 Her gates shall lament and mourn;
   stripped bare, she shall sit on the ground.

Chapter 4
4:1 In that day seven women shall take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes;
   only let us be called by your name.
   Take away our disgrace.”

4:2 In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beauty and glory, and the fruit of the land shall be pride and splendor for the survivors of Israel.
4:3 Whoever is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem shall be called holy, everyone recorded for life in Jerusalem,
4:4 when the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the blood of Jerusalem from her midst by a spirit of judgment and a spirit of burning.
4:5 Then the LORD will create over every dwelling place of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud and smoke by day and the brightness of flaming fire by night;
   for over all the glory there shall be a canopy.
4:6 There shall be a shelter for shade from the heat by day, a refuge and hiding place from storm and rain.

Chapter 5
5:1 Let me sing for my beloved my beloved’s song about his vineyard.
   My beloved had a vineyard on a fertile hill.
5:2 He dug it, cleared it of stones, and planted it with choice vines.
   He built a tower in its midst and hewed out a winepress in it.
   He expected it to yield grapes, but it yielded bad grapes.
5:3 “Now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah, judge between me and my vineyard.
5:4 What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done in it?
   Why, when I expected it to yield grapes, did it yield bad grapes?
5:5 Now I will tell you what I am going to do to my vineyard: I will remove its hedge, and it shall be devoured;
   I will break down its wall, and it shall be trampled.
5:6 I will make it a wasteland;
   it shall not be pruned or hoed, and briers and thorns shall grow.
   I will command the clouds not to rain on it.”
5:7 For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his cherished planting.
   He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed;
   for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress.

5:8 Woe to those who join house to house and add field to field until there is no room, and you are left to live alone in the midst of the land!
5:9 The LORD of hosts has spoken in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, great and beautiful houses without inhabitants.
5:10 For about ten acres of vineyard shall yield only about six gallons of wine, and ten baskets of seed shall yield a single basket of grain.”

5:11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning to pursue strong drink, who linger into the night until wine inflames them!
5:12 They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute, and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the work of the LORD or see what his hands have done.
5:13 Therefore my people have gone into exile for lack of knowledge;
   their honored men are dying of hunger, and their multitude is parched with thirst.
5:14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without limit;
   her splendor, her multitude, her uproar, and those who rejoice in her descend into it.
5:15 Humanity is brought low, and men are humbled;
   the eyes of the haughty shall be lowered.
5:16 But the LORD of hosts is exalted in judgment, and the holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.
5:17 Lambs shall graze as in their pasture, and strangers shall eat among the ruins of the wealthy.
5:18 Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as with cart ropes,
5:19 who say, “Let him hurry;
   let him hasten his work, so that we may see it.
   Let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come, so that we may know it!”

5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and discerning in their own sight!
5:22 Woe to heroes at drinking wine and mighty men at mixing strong drink,
5:23 who acquit the wicked for a bribe and deprive the righteous of their rights!

5:24 Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass sinks in the flame, their root shall become rot and their blossom rise like dust, because they have rejected the instruction of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
5:25 Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against his people;
   he stretched out his hand against them and struck them.
   The mountains trembled, and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
   For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out.
5:26 He will raise a banner for distant nations and whistle for one from the end of the earth.
   Look, it comes swiftly, speedily!
5:27 None among them is weary or stumbles;
   none slumbers or sleeps.
   No belt at the waist is loosened, and no sandal strap is broken.
5:28 Their arrows are sharp and all their bows drawn;
   their horses’ hoofs are like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.
5:29 Its roar is like a lion’s;
   it roars like young lions.
   It growls and seizes the prey;
   it carries it away, and no one rescues it.
5:30 In that day it will roar against it like the roaring of the sea.
   If one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress;
   even the light is darkened by its clouds.

Chapter 6
6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple.
6:2 Seraphim stood above him. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
6:3 One called to another,
 “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
   the whole earth is full of his glory.”
6:4 The foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of the one who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
6:5 Then I said, “Woe is me! I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.”
6:6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a glowing coal in his hand, which he had taken from the altar with tongs.
6:7 He touched my mouth with it and said, “Look, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin is atoned for.”
6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me.”
6:9 He said, “Go and say to this people, ‘Keep hearing, but do not understand; keep seeing, but do not perceive.’
6:10 Make the heart of this people dull, make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn and be healed.”
6:11 Then I said, “How long, Lord?” He said, “Until cities lie desolate without inhabitants, houses without people, and the land is utterly desolate,
6:12 until the LORD has sent the people far away, and the abandoned places are many in the midst of the land.
6:13 Even if a tenth remains in it, it shall be consumed again, like a terebinth or an oak whose stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is its stump.”

Chapter 7
7:1 In the days of Ahaz son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up to Jerusalem to wage war against it, but could not prevail against it.
7:2 The house of David was told, “Aram has settled in Ephraim.” His heart and the heart of his people trembled as the trees of the forest tremble before the wind.
7:3 The LORD said to Isaiah, “Go out now to meet Ahaz, you and your son Shear-jashub, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool, on the road to the cloth washer’s field.
7:4 Say to him, ‘Be careful and keep calm. Do not fear or let your heart grow faint because of these two stubs of smoking firebrands, because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and the son of Remaliah.
7:5 Because Aram, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, saying,
7:6 “Let us go up against Judah, terrify it, break into it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in its midst,”

7:7 thus says the Lord GOD:
 “It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.
7:8 For the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin.
   Within sixty-five years Ephraim shall be shattered, no longer a people.
7:9 The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah.
   If you do not stand firm in faith, you shall not stand firm at all.”’”
7:10 The LORD spoke again to Ahaz:
7:11 “Ask for yourself a sign from the LORD your God; ask it in the depths or in the heights above.”
7:12 But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the LORD to the test.”
7:13 Then he said, “Hear now, house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also?
7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and she shall call his name Immanuel.
7:15 He shall eat curds and honey when he knows to refuse evil and choose good.
7:16 For before the boy knows to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread shall be abandoned.
7:17 The LORD will bring upon you, your people, and your father’s house days unlike any since Ephraim departed from Judah—the king of Assyria.”
7:18 In that day the LORD will whistle for the fly at the farthest streams of Egypt and for the bee in the land of Assyria.
7:19 They will all come and settle in the steep ravines, in the clefts of the rocks, on all the thornbushes, and on all the thickets.
7:20 In that day the Lord will shave with a razor hired from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs; it will remove the beard as well.
7:21 In that day a man will keep alive a young cow and two sheep.
7:22 Because of the abundance of milk they produce, he will eat curds; for everyone left in the land will eat curds and honey.
7:23 In that day every place where there were a thousand vines worth a thousand pieces of silver will become briers and thorns.
7:24 People will go there with arrows and bow, for the whole land will be briers and thorns.
7:25 As for all the hills once cultivated with a hoe, you will not go there for fear of briers and thorns. They will become a range for oxen and a place for sheep to trample.

Chapter 8
8:1 The LORD said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it with an ordinary stylus, ‘Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’
8:2 I will call reliable witnesses for myself, Uriah the priest and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.”
8:3 Then I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. The LORD said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz,
8:4 for before the boy knows to cry, ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”
8:5 The LORD spoke to me again:
8:6 “Because this people has rejected the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoices in Rezin and the son of Remaliah,
8:7 therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the mighty and abundant waters of the River, the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will rise above all its channels and overflow all its banks.
8:8 It will sweep through Judah, flooding and passing on, reaching to the neck. Its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.”

8:9 Be shattered, peoples, and be dismayed!
   Listen, all you distant parts of the earth.
   Gird yourselves and be dismayed;
   gird yourselves and be dismayed!
8:10 Devise a plan, but it shall be frustrated;
   speak a word, but it shall not stand, for God is with us.
8:11 For the LORD spoke to me with a strong hand and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,
8:12 “Do not call conspiracy everything this people calls conspiracy. Do not fear what they fear or be terrified.
8:13 The LORD of hosts is the one you shall regard as holy; let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.
8:14 He shall become a sanctuary, and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense for both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
8:15 Many shall stumble over them; they shall fall and be broken, snared and captured.”
8:16 Bind up the testimony; seal the instruction among my disciples.
8:17 I will wait for the LORD, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will hope in him.
8:18 Behold, I and the children the LORD has given me are signs and wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
8:19 When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?
8:20 To the instruction and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, there is no dawn for them.
8:21 They will pass through the land, distressed and hungry. When they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God, turning upward.
8:22 Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; they will be driven into deep darkness.

Chapter 9
9:1 But there shall be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali into contempt, but in the latter time he shall bring glory to the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
9:2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;
   on those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, light has shone.
9:3 You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy.
   They rejoice before you as with joy at harvest, as people exult when dividing spoil.
9:4 For the yoke of their burden, the staff on their shoulder, and the rod of their oppressor you have shattered as on the day of Midian.
9:5 For every boot that tramps with a rumble and every garment rolled in blood shall be burned, fuel for the fire.
9:6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given;
   the government shall be upon his shoulder.
   His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
9:7 Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever.
   The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

9:8 The Lord has sent a word against Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel.
9:9 All the people shall know it, Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria, who say in pride and arrogance of heart,
9:10 “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with cut stone;
   the sycamores have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars.”
9:11 The LORD will raise Rezin’s adversaries against him and stir up his enemies:
9:12 Aram from the east and the Philistines from the west;
   they shall devour Israel with open mouth.
   For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out.
9:13 But the people have not returned to the one who struck them, nor have they sought the LORD of hosts.

9:14 So the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed, in one day.
9:15 The elder and the respected man are the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail.
9:16 The guides of this people lead them astray, and those they guide are swallowed up.
9:17 Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men or have compassion on their fatherless and widows, for everyone is godless and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly.
   For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out.
9:18 For wickedness burns like fire;
   it consumes briers and thorns and sets the forest thickets ablaze.
   They roll upward in a column of smoke.
9:19 By the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire;
   no one spares his brother.
9:20 They snatch on the right, yet are hungry;
   they eat on the left, yet are not satisfied.
   Each eats the flesh of his own arm:
9:21 Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh;
   together they are against Judah.
   For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out.

Chapter 10
10:1 Woe to those who decree unjust decrees, to the scribes who write oppression,
10:2 to turn the needy away from justice and rob the poor of my people of their rights, making widows their spoil and plundering the fatherless!
10:3 What will you do on the day of punishment, when devastation comes from afar?
   To whom will you flee for help, and where will you leave your wealth?
10:4 Nothing remains but to crouch among the captives or fall among the slain.
   For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out.

10:5 “Woe to Assyria, rod of my anger!
   The staff in their hands is my indignation.
10:6 I send him against a godless nation;
   I command him against the people of my wrath, to take spoil and seize plunder, to trample them like mud in the streets.
10:7 But he does not intend this, nor does his heart think this way.
   His heart is set on destroying and cutting off nations, not a few.
10:8 For he says, ‘Are not all my commanders kings?
10:9 Is not Calno like Carchemish?
   Is not Hamath like Arpad?
   Is not Samaria like Damascus?
10:10 As my hand reached the kingdoms of idols, whose carved images surpassed those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
10:11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and her images as I did to Samaria and her idols?’

10:12 When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boasting of his haughty eyes.”
10:13 For he has said, “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I have understanding.
   I have removed the boundaries of peoples and plundered their treasures;
   like a mighty man I have brought down the inhabitants.
10:14 My hand found the wealth of the peoples like a nest;
   as one gathers abandoned eggs, I gathered all the earth.
   No one fluttered a wing or opened a mouth or chirped.”
10:15 Does the ax boast over the one who chops with it, or the saw magnify itself over the one who wields it?
   As though a rod could wield those who lift it, as though a staff could lift one who is not wood!
10:16 Therefore the Lord, the LORD of hosts, will send leanness among his stout ones;
   under his glory a burning shall blaze like a burning fire.
10:17 The Light of Israel shall become a fire, and his Holy One a flame.
   It shall burn and consume his thorns and briers in one day.
10:18 It shall consume the glory of his forest and fruitful field, soul and body;
   it shall be as when a sick man wastes away.
10:19 The remaining trees of his forest shall be so few that a child can write them down.

10:20 In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no longer lean on the one who struck them, but will truly lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel.
10:21 A remnant shall return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.
10:22 For though your people, Israel, are like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them shall return.
   Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
10:23 For the Lord GOD of hosts will carry out a decreed destruction in the midst of all the land.

10:24 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “My people who dwell in Zion, do not fear Assyria, though he strikes you with a rod and lifts his staff against you as Egypt did.
10:25 For in a very little while my indignation will end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction.”
10:26 The LORD of hosts will stir up a whip against him, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb;
   his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt.
10:27 In that day his burden shall be removed from your shoulder and his yoke from your neck;
   the yoke shall be broken because of fatness.
10:28 He has come to Aiath;
   he has passed through Migron.
   At Michmash he deposits his equipment.
10:29 They have crossed the pass: “Geba is our lodging for the night.”
   Ramah trembles;
   Gibeah of Saul has fled.
10:30 Cry aloud, daughter Gallim!
   Listen, Laishah!
   Poor Anathoth!
10:31 Madmenah has fled;
   the inhabitants of Gebim seek refuge.
10:32 This very day he will stand at Nob;
   he will shake his hand at the mountain of daughter Zion, the hill of Jerusalem.

10:33 Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, is lopping off the boughs with terrifying power.
   The tall shall be cut down, and the lofty brought low.
10:34 He will cut down the forest thickets with iron, and Lebanon shall fall by a mighty one.

Chapter 11
11:1 A shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.
11:2 The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
11:3 His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
   He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide by what his ears hear,
11:4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.
   He shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall put the wicked to death.
11:5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.
11:6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard lie down with the young goat;
   the calf, the young lion, and the fattened animal shall be together, and a little child shall lead them.
11:7 The cow and the bear shall graze;
   their young shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
11:8 The nursing child shall play over the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall stretch out his hand over the viper’s den.
11:9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

11:10 In that day the root of Jesse shall stand as a banner for the peoples;
   the nations shall seek him, and his resting place shall be glorious.

11:11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand a second time to recover the remnant of his people that remains, from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and the islands of the sea.
11:12 He will raise a banner for the nations and gather the outcasts of Israel;
   he will assemble the scattered of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
11:13 Ephraim’s jealousy shall depart, and Judah’s adversaries shall be cut off.
   Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.
11:14 They shall swoop down on the flank of the Philistines to the west;
   together they shall plunder the people of the east.
   Edom and Moab shall be under their hand, and the Ammonites shall obey them.
11:15 The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea;
   with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, striking it into seven streams, and lead people across in sandals.
11:16 There shall be a highway for the remnant of his people that remains from Assyria, as there was for Israel in the day they came up from the land of Egypt.

Chapter 12
12:1 In that day you will say, “I will give thanks to you, LORD, for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me.
12:2 Behold, God is my salvation;
   I will trust and not be afraid, for the LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my song;
   he has become my salvation.”
12:3 With joy you will draw water from the springs of salvation.
12:4 In that day you will say, “Give thanks to the LORD;
   call upon his name.
   Make known his deeds among the peoples;
   proclaim that his name is exalted.
12:5 Sing to the LORD, for he has done glorious things;
   let this be known in all the earth.
12:6 Cry out and shout for joy, inhabitant of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

Chapter 13
13:1 The oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw.
13:2 “Raise a banner on a bare mountain;
   lift your voice to them.
   Wave your hand, that they may enter the gates of the nobles.
13:3 I have commanded my consecrated ones;
   I have called my mighty men for my anger, those who exult in my majesty.”
13:4 A sound of a multitude on the mountains, like a great people!
   A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, of nations gathered together!
   The LORD of hosts is mustering an army for battle.
13:5 They come from a distant land, from the end of the heavens, the LORD and the weapons of his indignation, to devastate the whole earth.
13:6 Wail, for the day of the LORD is near;
   it will come as destruction from the Almighty.
13:7 Therefore all hands will grow limp, and every human heart will melt.
13:8 They will be terrified;
   pangs and anguish will seize them, and they will writhe like a woman in labor.
   They will stare at one another in amazement;
   their faces will be aflame.
13:9 Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, cruel, with fury and burning anger, to make the earth desolate and destroy its sinners from it.
13:10 For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light;
   the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light.
13:11 “I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity.
   I will put an end to the arrogance of the proud and bring low the haughtiness of the ruthless.
13:12 I will make a mortal rarer than fine gold, mankind rarer than the gold of Ophir.
13:13 Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will shake from its place, at the fury of the LORD of hosts, in the day of his burning anger.”
13:14 Like a hunted gazelle or a flock with no one to gather it, each will turn to his own people, and each will flee to his own land.
13:15 Everyone found will be pierced through, and everyone caught will fall by the sword.
13:16 Their little ones will be dashed to pieces before their eyes, their houses plundered, and their wives raped.
13:17 “Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against them, who do not value silver or delight in gold.
13:18 Their bows will shatter young men;
   they will have no compassion on the fruit of the womb, and their eyes will not spare children.”
13:19 Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the splendor of the Chaldeans’ pride, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.
13:20 It will never be inhabited or settled from generation to generation.
   No Arab will pitch his tent there, and no shepherds will make their flocks lie down there.
13:21 But desert beasts will lie down there, and their houses will be full of howling creatures.
   Ostriches will dwell there, and goat demons will dance there.
13:22 Howling beasts will answer in its desolate dwellings, and jackals in its luxurious palaces.
   Her time is near to come, and her days will not be prolonged.

Chapter 14
14:1 For the LORD will have compassion on Jacob and will again choose Israel and settle them on their own land. Foreigners will join them and attach themselves to the house of Jacob.
14:2 The peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will possess them as male and female slaves in the land of the LORD. They will take captive those who held them captive and rule over their oppressors.
14:3 On the day the LORD gives you rest from your pain, your turmoil, and the hard servitude imposed on you,
14:4 you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon and say,
 “How the oppressor has ceased, how the golden city has ceased!
14:5 The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers,
14:6 which struck peoples in fury with unceasing blows, which ruled nations in anger with unrestrained persecution.
14:7 The whole earth is at rest and quiet;
   they break forth into singing.
14:8 Even the cypresses rejoice over you, the cedars of Lebanon: ‘Since you were laid low, no woodcutter comes up against us.’
14:9 Sheol below is stirred to meet you when you come.
   It rouses the spirits of the dead for you, all the leaders of the earth;
   it raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
14:10 They all answer and say to you, ‘You too have become weak like us;
   you have become like us.
14:11 Your pomp is brought down to Sheol, the sound of your harps.
   Maggots are spread beneath you, and worms are your covering.’
14:12 How you have fallen from heaven, shining one, son of dawn!
   You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid the nations low!
14:13 You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven;
   above the stars of God I will raise my throne.
   I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the far reaches of the north.
14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;
   I will make myself like the Most High.’
14:15 But you will be brought down to Sheol, to the depths of the pit.
14:16 Those who see you will stare at you and ponder over you: ‘Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms,
14:17 who made the world a wilderness, who tore down its cities and would not release his prisoners to go home?’
14:18 All the kings of the nations, all of them, lie in honor, each in his own house.
14:19 But you have been cast away from your grave like a loathed shoot, clothed with the slain, those pierced by the sword who go down to the stones of the pit, like a trampled corpse.
14:20 You will not join them in burial, because you destroyed your land and killed your people.
   May the offspring of evildoers never be named again!
14:21 Prepare slaughter for his sons because of their fathers’ iniquity, lest they rise and possess the earth and fill the face of the world with cities.”
14:22 “I will rise against them,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, offspring and descendants,” declares the LORD.
14:23 “I will make her a possession for porcupines and pools of water;
   I will sweep her with the broom of destruction,” declares the LORD of hosts.

14:24 The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, “Surely, as I have thought, so it shall be, and as I have purposed, so it shall stand:
14:25 I will break Assyria in my land and trample him on my mountains.
   His yoke shall be removed from them, and his burden from their shoulder.”
14:26 This is the purpose determined against the whole earth, and this is the hand stretched out over all the nations.
14:27 For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will thwart it?
   His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?
14:28 In the year that King Ahaz died, this oracle came:
14:29 “Do not rejoice, all Philistia, because the rod of the one who struck you is broken.
   For from the serpent’s root a viper will come forth, and its fruit will be a flying fiery serpent.
14:30 The poorest of the poor will graze, and the needy will lie down safely.
   But I will kill your root with famine, and he will slay your remnant.
14:31 Wail, gate!
   Cry out, city!
   Melt away, all Philistia!
   For smoke comes from the north, and no one straggles in its ranks.”
14:32 What shall one answer the messengers of the nation?
   That the LORD has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people will find refuge.

Chapter 15
15:1 The oracle concerning Moab.
   Surely, in a night Ar of Moab has been devastated, silenced;
   surely, in a night Kir of Moab has been devastated, silenced.
15:2 He has gone up to the temple and to Dibon, to the high places, to weep.
   Moab wails over Nebo and Medeba;
   every head is bald, every beard cut off.
15:3 In its streets they put on sackcloth;
   on its rooftops and in its squares everyone wails, melting into tears.
15:4 Heshbon and Elealeh cry out;
   their voice is heard as far as Jahaz.
   Therefore Moab’s armed men shout;
   his soul trembles within him.
15:5 My heart cries out for Moab;
   her fugitives reach Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah.
   They go up the ascent of Luhith weeping;
   on the road to Horonaim they raise a cry of destruction.
15:6 For the waters of Nimrim become desolate;
   the grass has withered, the tender growth has vanished, and nothing green remains.
15:7 Therefore the wealth they have acquired and what they have stored up they carry across the Brook of the Willows.
15:8 For the cry has gone around Moab’s border;
   her wailing reaches Eglaim, her wailing reaches Beer-elim.
15:9 For the waters of Dimon are full of blood.
   “I will bring still more upon Dimon: a lion against the fugitives of Moab and against those left in the land.”

Chapter 16
16:1 Send a lamb to the ruler of the land, from Sela through the wilderness to the mountain of daughter Zion.
16:2 Like a fleeing bird, like a scattered nest, the daughters of Moab shall be at the fords of the Arnon.
16:3 “Give counsel;
   render judgment.
   Make your shadow like night in the midst of noon.
   Hide the outcasts;
   do not betray the fugitive.
16:4 Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab;
   be a shelter for them from the destroyer.
   For the extortioner is no more, devastation has ceased, and tramplers have vanished from the land.”
16:5 A throne shall be established in steadfast love, and one shall sit on it in faithfulness, in the tent of David, judging and seeking justice and swift to do righteousness.
16:6 We have heard of Moab’s pride, his great pride, his arrogance, his pride, and his fury;
   his boasts are empty.

16:7 Therefore Moab shall wail for Moab;
   everyone shall wail.
   For the raisin cakes of Kir-hareseth you shall mourn, utterly stricken.
16:8 For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah.
   The lords of the nations have struck down its choice vines, which reached Jazer and wandered into the wilderness.
   Its shoots spread out and crossed the sea.
16:9 Therefore I weep with the weeping of Jazer for the vine of Sibmah.
   I drench you with my tears, Heshbon and Elealeh, for a shout has fallen upon your summer fruit and your harvest.
16:10 Gladness and joy are taken away from the fruitful field;
   in the vineyards no one sings or shouts.
   No treader treads wine in the presses;
   I have silenced the harvest shout.
16:11 Therefore my inward parts moan like a lyre for Moab, and my inmost being for Kir-heres.
16:12 When Moab presents himself, when he wears himself out on the high place and enters his sanctuary to pray, he will not prevail.
16:13 This is the word the LORD spoke concerning Moab formerly.
16:14 But now the LORD has spoken, saying, “Within three years, as a hired worker counts years, Moab’s glory shall be brought into contempt with all its great multitude, and the remnant shall be very small and feeble.”

Chapter 17
17:1 The oracle concerning Damascus.
   “Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city and will become a heap of ruins.
17:2 The cities of Aroer are abandoned;
   they will be for flocks, which will lie down with no one to make them afraid.
17:3 The fortress will cease from Ephraim, and the kingdom from Damascus;
   the remnant of Aram will be like the glory of the people of Israel,” declares the LORD of hosts.

17:4 “In that day the glory of Jacob will grow thin, and the fatness of his flesh will become lean.
17:5 It will be as when a reaper gathers standing grain and his arm harvests the heads, as when one gleans heads of grain in the Valley of Rephaim.
17:6 Gleanings will remain in it, as when an olive tree is beaten: two or three olives at the top of the highest bough, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God of Israel.

17:7 In that day a man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will gaze on the Holy One of Israel.
17:8 He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands;
   he will not gaze on what his fingers have made, the Asherah poles and the incense altars.
17:9 In that day his fortified cities will be like the abandoned places of the wooded heights and summits, which they deserted before the people of Israel;
   there will be desolation.
17:10 For you have forgotten the God of your salvation and have not remembered the Rock of your stronghold.
   Therefore you plant delightful plants and sow foreign vine shoots.
17:11 On the day you plant, you make them grow, and in the morning you make your seed blossom;
   but the harvest will be a heap in a day of sickness and incurable pain.

17:12 Ah, the tumult of many peoples!
   They roar like the roaring of the seas.
   The uproar of nations!
   They roar like the roaring of mighty waters.
17:13 The nations roar like the roaring of many waters, but he rebukes them, and they flee far away, driven like chaff on the mountains before the wind, like a rolling thistle before a storm.
17:14 At evening, behold, terror!
   Before morning, it is gone.
   This is the portion of those who plunder us, the lot of those who rob us.

Chapter 18
18:1 Ah, land of whirring wings, beyond the rivers of Cush,
18:2 which sends envoys by sea, in papyrus vessels over the waters!
   Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth-skinned, to a people feared far and wide, a mighty and conquering nation whose land the rivers cut through.
18:3 All you inhabitants of the world and dwellers on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, look;
   when a trumpet is blown, listen.

18:4 For thus the LORD said to me, “I will be still and watch from my dwelling place, like clear heat in sunlight, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
18:5 For before the harvest, when the blossom is over and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with pruning hooks and remove and cut away the spreading branches.
18:6 They will be left together for the birds of prey of the mountains and for the beasts of the earth.
   The birds of prey will spend the summer on them, and all the beasts of the earth will spend the winter on them.
18:7 At that time a gift will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people feared far and wide, a mighty and conquering nation whose land the rivers cut through, to the place of the name of the LORD of hosts, Mount Zion.

Chapter 19
19:1 The oracle concerning Egypt.
   Behold, the LORD rides on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt.
   The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and Egypt’s heart melts within it.
19:2 “I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians;
   each will fight his brother and each his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.
19:3 Egypt’s spirit will be emptied within it, and I will confound its counsel.
   They will consult idols and enchanters, mediums and spiritists.
19:4 I will hand Egypt over to a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the LORD of hosts.
19:5 The waters of the sea will fail, and the river will be parched and dry.
19:6 The channels will stink;
   the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
   Reeds and rushes will wither.
19:7 The open land by the Nile, by the mouth of the Nile, and all the fields sown along the Nile will dry up, be swept away, and be no more.
19:8 The fishermen will mourn;
   all who cast a hook into the Nile will lament, and those who spread nets over the waters will languish.
19:9 The workers in combed flax and the weavers of white cloth will be ashamed.
19:10 Its pillars will be crushed;
   all who work for wages will be grieved in soul.
19:11 The rulers of Zoan are surely fools;
   the counsel of Pharaoh’s wise counselors has become senseless.
   How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings”?
19:12 Where, then, are your wise men?
   Let them tell you and know what the LORD of hosts has purposed against Egypt.
19:13 The rulers of Zoan have become fools;
   the rulers of Memphis are deceived.
   The cornerstones of its tribes have led Egypt astray.
19:14 The LORD has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, and they have made Egypt stagger in all its work, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
19:15 There will be no work for Egypt that head or tail, palm branch or reed, can do.

19:16 In that day Egypt will be like women, trembling and afraid before the hand the LORD of hosts waves over it.
19:17 The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt;
   everyone to whom it is mentioned will be afraid because of the purpose the LORD of hosts has determined against it.

19:18 In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear to the LORD of hosts.
   One will be called the City of Destruction.

19:19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border.
19:20 It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt.
   When they cry to the LORD because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and a mighty one, and he will deliver them.
19:21 The LORD will make himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day.
   They will worship with sacrifice and offering;
   they will make a vow to the LORD and fulfill it.
19:22 The LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing.
   They will return to the LORD, and he will answer their pleas and heal them.
19:23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria.
   Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and Egypt will worship with Assyria.

19:24 In that day Israel will be a third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
19:25 whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”

Chapter 20
20:1 In the year that the commander in chief came to Ashdod, sent by Sargon king of Assyria, he fought against Ashdod and captured it.
20:2 At that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, loosen the sackcloth from your waist and take your sandals off your feet.” He did so, walking naked and barefoot.
20:3 The LORD said, “As my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a portent against Egypt and Cush,
20:4 so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot, with buttocks uncovered, Egypt’s shame.
20:5 They will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush, their hope, and Egypt, their boast.
20:6 In that day the inhabitants of this coastland will say, ‘Look, this is what has become of our hope, where we fled for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria! How then shall we escape?’”

Chapter 21
21:1 The oracle concerning the wilderness of the sea.
   Like whirlwinds sweeping through the Negev, it comes from the wilderness, from a fearful land.
21:2 A harsh vision has been told to me: the traitor betrays, and the plunderer plunders.
   “Go up, Elam!
   Lay siege, Media!
   I have put an end to all her sighing.”
21:3 Therefore my loins are filled with anguish;
   pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in labor.
   I am bent double by what I hear, terrified by what I see.
21:4 My heart reels;
   horror overwhelms me.
   The twilight I longed for has become a terror to me.
21:5 Set the table;
   spread the rugs;
   eat and drink!
   Rise, rulers;
   oil the shield!

21:6 For thus the Lord said to me: “Go, post a watchman;
   let him report what he sees.
21:7 When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on donkeys, riders on camels, let him pay attention, very close attention.”
21:8 Then he called out like a lion, “On the watchtower, Lord, I stand continually by day, and at my post I am stationed through all the nights.
21:9 And look, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs!”
   Then he answered and said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon!
   All the carved images of her gods he has shattered to the ground.”
21:10 O my threshed people, grain of my threshing floor!
   What I have heard from the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, I have declared to you.

21:11 The oracle concerning Dumah.
   Someone calls to me from Seir, “Watchman, what remains of the night?
   Watchman, what remains of the night?”
21:12 The watchman says, “Morning comes, and also night.
   If you would inquire, inquire;
   return, come.”

21:13 The oracle concerning Arabia.
   In the thickets of Arabia you will lodge, caravans of Dedanites.
21:14 Bring water to meet the thirsty, inhabitants of the land of Tema;
   meet the fugitive with bread.
21:15 For they have fled from swords, from the drawn sword, from the bent bow, and from the weight of war.

21:16 For thus the Lord said to me: “Within a year, as a hired worker counts years, all the glory of Kedar will come to an end.
21:17 The remaining number of archers, the mighty men of the people of Kedar, will be few, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has spoken.”

Chapter 22
22:1 The oracle concerning the Valley of Vision.
   What is the matter with you now, that all of you have gone up to the rooftops,
22:2 you who are full of uproar, a bustling city, an exultant town?
   Your slain were not slain by the sword or killed in battle.
22:3 All your rulers have fled together;
   they were bound without a bow.
   All your people who were found were bound together, though they had fled far away.
22:4 Therefore I said, “Look away from me;
   let me weep bitterly.
   Do not press to comfort me over the devastation of the daughter of my people.”
22:5 For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of tumult, trampling, and confusion in the Valley of Vision, a breaking down of walls and a cry to the mountain.
22:6 Elam carries the quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen, and Kir uncovers the shield.
22:7 Your choicest valleys are full of chariots, and the horsemen take their stand at the gate.
22:8 He has removed Judah’s covering, and in that day you looked to the weapons of the House of the Forest.
22:9 You saw that the breaches in the City of David were many, and you gathered the waters of the lower pool.
22:10 You counted the houses of Jerusalem and tore down houses to fortify the wall.
22:11 You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool, but you did not look to the one who made it or regard the one who formed it long ago.
22:12 In that day the Lord GOD of hosts called for weeping and mourning, for baldness and the wearing of sackcloth.
22:13 But behold, joy and gladness, slaughtering cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we shall die!”
22:14 The LORD of hosts revealed in my hearing, “Surely this iniquity shall not be atoned for you until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.

22:15 Thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “Go to this steward, to Shebna, who is over the house:
22:16 ‘What have you here, and whom have you here, that you have hewn out a tomb for yourself here, hewing your tomb on high, carving a dwelling for yourself in the rock?
22:17 Behold, the LORD is about to hurl you away violently, you mighty man, and seize you firmly.
22:18 He will surely wind you up like a ball and throw you into a spacious land.
   There you shall die, and there your glorious chariots shall be, you disgrace to your master’s house.’
22:19 I will thrust you from your office, and from your position he will tear you down.
22:20 In that day I will call my servant Eliakim son of Hilkiah.
22:21 I will clothe him with your robe and bind your sash around him;
   I will put your authority in his hand.
   He shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.
22:22 I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder;
   he shall open, and no one shall shut;
   he shall shut, and no one shall open.
22:23 I will fasten him like a peg in a firm place, and he shall become a throne of honor for his father’s house.
22:24 They will hang on him all the honor of his father’s house, the offspring and the descendants, every small vessel, from bowls to every kind of jar.”
22:25 “In that day,” declares the LORD of hosts, “the peg fastened in a firm place shall give way, be cut down, and fall.
   The load upon it shall be cut off, for the LORD has spoken.”

Chapter 23
23:1 The oracle concerning Tyre.
   Wail, ships of Tarshish, for it has been devastated, without house or entrance!
   From the land of Kittim the news has been revealed to them.
23:2 Be silent, inhabitants of the coastland, whom the merchants of Sidon crossing the sea have supplied.
23:3 Across many waters the grain of Shihor, the harvest of the Nile, was her revenue;
   she was the marketplace of nations.
23:4 Be ashamed, Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea, saying, “I have not been in labor or given birth;
   I have not reared young men or brought up virgins.”
23:5 When the report reaches Egypt, they will writhe at the news of Tyre.
23:6 Cross over to Tarshish;
   wail, inhabitants of the coastland.
23:7 Is this your exultant city, whose beginnings were in ancient days?
   Her feet shall carry her far away to settle.
23:8 Who has purposed this against Tyre, the giver of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were the honored of the earth?
23:9 The LORD of hosts has purposed it, to profane the pride of all beauty and bring into contempt all the honored of the earth.
23:10 Pass through your land like the Nile, daughter Tarshish;
   there is no restraint anymore.
23:11 He has stretched out his hand over the sea and shaken kingdoms;
   the LORD has commanded concerning Canaan that its strongholds be destroyed.
23:12 He said, “You shall exult no more, oppressed virgin daughter Sidon.
   Rise, cross over to Kittim;
   even there you shall have no rest.”
23:13 Behold the land of the Chaldeans!
   This people is no more;
   Assyria appointed it for desert beasts.
   They raised their siege towers and stripped its palaces;
   he made it a ruin.
23:14 Wail, ships of Tarshish, for your stronghold has been devastated!
23:15 In that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. At the end of seventy years it will be with Tyre as in the song of the prostitute:
23:16 “Take a lyre, go about the city, forgotten prostitute!
   Play skillfully, sing many songs, that you may be remembered.”
23:17 At the end of seventy years the LORD will visit Tyre, and she will return to her prostitute’s wages and prostitute herself with all the kingdoms of the earth on the face of the world.
23:18 But her merchandise and her wages will be holy to the LORD; they will not be stored up or hoarded. Her merchandise will be for those who dwell before the LORD, to eat their fill and have fine clothing.

Chapter 24
24:1 Behold, the LORD is emptying the earth and laying it waste, twisting its surface and scattering its inhabitants.
24:2 It shall be the same for people and priest, slave and his master, slave woman and her mistress, buyer and seller, lender and borrower, creditor and debtor.
24:3 The earth shall be utterly emptied and utterly plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.
24:4 The earth mourns and withers;
   the world languishes and withers;
   the lofty among the people of the earth languish.
24:5 The earth is defiled beneath its inhabitants, for they have transgressed laws, violated the statute, and broken the everlasting covenant.
24:6 Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants bear their guilt.
   Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few mortals remain.
24:7 The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, and all the merryhearted sigh.
24:8 The joy of tambourines has ceased;
   the noise of revelers has ended;
   the joy of the lyre has ceased.
24:9 They no longer drink wine with song;
   strong drink is bitter to those who drink it.
24:10 The city of chaos is broken down;
   every house is shut against entry.
24:11 There is an outcry over wine in the streets;
   all joy has darkened, and the gladness of the earth has gone into exile.
24:12 Desolation is left in the city, and the gate is battered into ruins.
24:13 For so it shall be in the midst of the earth, among the peoples, as when an olive tree is beaten, as gleanings when the grape harvest is over.
24:14 They lift up their voices;
   they sing for joy.
   From the sea they shout at the majesty of the LORD.
24:15 Therefore glorify the LORD in the east;
   in the coastlands of the sea, glorify the name of the LORD, the God of Israel.

24:16 From the ends of the earth we hear songs: “Glory to the righteous one!”
   But I say, “I waste away, I waste away!
   Woe is me!
   Traitors have betrayed;
   with treachery the traitors have betrayed.”
24:17 Terror and pit and snare are upon you, inhabitant of the earth!
24:18 Whoever flees from the sound of terror shall fall into the pit, and whoever climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the snare.
   For the windows on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth tremble.
24:19 The earth is utterly broken;
   the earth is split apart;
   the earth is violently shaken.
24:20 The earth staggers like a drunkard and sways like a hut;
   its transgression weighs heavily upon it.
   It shall fall and not rise again.

24:21 In that day the LORD will punish the host on high, on high, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.
24:22 They will be gathered together like prisoners in a pit and shut up in prison;
   after many days they will be punished.
24:23 The moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed, for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before his elders there will be glory.

Chapter 25
25:1 LORD, you are my God;
   I will exalt you and give thanks to your name, for you have done wonders, plans from long ago in perfect faithfulness.
25:2 For you have made a city a heap, a fortified town a ruin;
   the palace of foreigners is no longer a city.
   It will never be rebuilt.
25:3 Therefore a strong people will honor you;
   the city of ruthless nations will fear you.
25:4 For you have been a stronghold for the poor, a stronghold for the needy in distress, a refuge from the storm and shade from the heat.
   For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm against a wall.
25:5 Like heat in a dry land, you subdue the uproar of foreigners;
   like heat in the shadow of a cloud, the song of the ruthless is silenced.

25:6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of aged wine, rich food full of marrow, well-strained aged wine.
25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up the covering cast over all peoples, the veil spread over all nations.
25:8 He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces.
   He will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

25:9 In that day it will be said, “Behold, this is our God;
   we have waited for him, and he will save us.
   This is the LORD;
   we have waited for him.
   Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
25:10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain, but Moab will be trampled in his place, as straw is trampled in a dung heap.
25:11 He will spread out his hands in it as a swimmer spreads out his hands to swim, but he will bring down his pride along with the skill of his hands.
25:12 The fortification of your high walls he will bring down, lay low, and bring to the ground, to the dust.

Chapter 26
26:1 In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city;
   he makes salvation its walls and rampart.
26:2 Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter.
26:3 You will keep in perfect peace the one whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
26:4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD, the LORD, is the Rock of ages.
26:5 For he has brought low those who dwell on high, the lofty city.
   He lays it low, lays it low to the earth;
   he brings it to the dust.
26:6 The foot shall trample it, the feet of the afflicted, the steps of the poor.”
26:7 The path of the righteous is level;
   you who are upright make level the way of the righteous.
26:8 Yes, in the path of your judgments, LORD, we have waited for you;
   your name and your remembrance are the desire of our soul.
26:9 My soul longs for you in the night;
   my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.
   For when your judgments are on the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
26:10 Though favor is shown to the wicked, he does not learn righteousness;
   in a land of uprightness he acts unjustly and does not see the majesty of the LORD.

26:11 LORD, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see.
   Let them see your zeal for the people and be ashamed;
   let the fire for your adversaries consume them.

26:12 LORD, you will establish peace for us, for you have also done all our works for us.
26:13 LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us, but through you alone we remember your name.
26:14 They are dead;
   they shall not live.
   They are spirits of the dead;
   they shall not rise.
   Therefore you have punished and destroyed them and wiped out all memory of them.
26:15 You have increased the nation, LORD, you have increased the nation;
   you are glorified.
   You have extended all the borders of the land.
26:16 LORD, in distress they sought you;
   they poured out a whisper when your discipline was upon them.
26:17 Like a pregnant woman near the time of birth, writhing and crying out in her pangs, so we were before you, LORD.
26:18 We conceived, we writhed in labor, but we gave birth, as it were, to wind.
   We have accomplished no deliverance on earth, nor have inhabitants of the world been born.
26:19 Your dead shall live;
   my dead body shall arise.
   Awake and sing for joy, you who dwell in the dust!
   For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth shall bring forth the spirits of the dead.

26:20 “Go, my people, enter your chambers and shut your door behind you.
   Hide for a brief moment until the indignation passes.”
26:21 For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity.
   The earth will uncover its blood and no longer conceal its slain.

Chapter 27
27:1 In that day the LORD will punish with his hard, great, and strong sword Leviathan the fleeing serpent, Leviathan the twisting serpent, and he will slay the sea monster in the sea.

27:2 In that day: “A delightful vineyard!
   Sing of it!
27:3 I, the LORD, keep it;
   every moment I water it.
   Lest anyone harm it, I guard it night and day.
27:4 I have no wrath.
   If only someone would set briers and thorns against me in battle!
   I would march through them and set them all ablaze.
27:5 Or let him take hold of my protection;
   let him make peace with me, let him make peace with me.”
27:6 In time to come Jacob shall take root;
   Israel shall blossom and bud, and they shall fill the face of the world with fruit.

27:7 Has he struck him as he struck the one who struck him?
   Or has he been slain as his slain were slain?
27:8 By measure, in sending her away, you contend with her.
   He drove her out with his harsh wind on the day of the east wind.
27:9 Therefore by this Jacob’s iniquity shall be atoned for, and this shall be all the fruit of removing his sin: when he makes all the altar stones like limestone crushed to pieces, no Asherah poles or incense altars shall remain standing.
27:10 For the fortified city is solitary, a dwelling forsaken and abandoned like the wilderness.
   There a calf grazes;
   there it lies down and consumes her branches.
27:11 When her boughs are dry, they are broken off;
   women come and set them alight.
   For this is a people without understanding;
   therefore their Maker will not have compassion on them, and the one who formed them will show them no favor.

27:12 In that day the LORD will beat out from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt, and you shall be gathered one by one, people of Israel.

27:13 In that day a great trumpet will be blown;
   those perishing in the land of Assyria and those driven out in the land of Egypt will come and worship the LORD on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.

Chapter 28
28:1 Woe to the proud crown of Ephraim’s drunkards, to the fading flower of its glorious beauty on the head of the fertile valley of those overcome by wine!
28:2 Behold, the Lord has one who is mighty and strong.
   Like a hailstorm, a destroying tempest, like a flood of mighty, overflowing waters, he will cast it to the ground with his hand.
28:3 The proud crown of Ephraim’s drunkards shall be trampled underfoot.
28:4 The fading flower of its glorious beauty on the head of the fertile valley shall be like an early fig before summer: as soon as one sees it, he swallows it while it is still in his hand.

28:5 In that day the LORD of hosts shall be a crown of beauty and a diadem of splendor to the remnant of his people,
28:6 a spirit of justice to the one who sits in judgment, and strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate.

28:7 These also reel with wine and stagger with strong drink.
   Priest and prophet reel with strong drink;
   they are swallowed up by wine and stagger with strong drink.
   They err in vision and stumble in judgment.
28:8 For all the tables are full of vomit and filth;
   no place is clean.

28:9 “Whom will he teach knowledge, and whom will he make understand the message?
   Those weaned from milk, those taken from the breasts?
28:10 For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, a little there, a little there.”
28:11 Indeed, with stammering lips and another tongue he will speak to this people,
28:12 to whom he said, “This is rest;
   give rest to the weary, and this is repose.”
   But they would not listen.
28:13 So the word of the LORD will be to them, “Precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, a little there, a little there,” that they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and captured.

28:14 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, scoffers who rule this people in Jerusalem.
28:15 For you have said, “We have made a covenant with death and an agreement with Sheol.
   When the overwhelming scourge passes through, it will not reach us, for we have made lies our refuge and hidden ourselves in falsehood.”

28:16 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I am laying a stone as a foundation in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation.
   The one who believes will not act in haste.
28:17 I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plumb line.
   Hail will sweep away the refuge of lies, and waters will flood the hiding place.
28:18 Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand.
   When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
28:19 Every time it passes, it will seize you, for morning after morning it will pass through, by day and by night.
   It will be sheer terror to understand the message.”
28:20 For the bed is too short to stretch out on, and the covering too narrow to wrap oneself in.
28:21 For the LORD will rise as on Mount Perazim;
   he will stir as in the Valley of Gibeon, to do his work, his strange work, and perform his task, his alien task.
28:22 Now do not scoff, lest your bonds grow stronger, for I have heard from the Lord GOD of hosts of a decreed destruction upon all the earth.
28:23 Give ear and hear my voice;
   pay attention and hear my words.
28:24 Does the plowman plow all day to sow?
   Does he continually open and harrow his ground?
28:25 When he has leveled its surface, does he not scatter black cumin and sow cumin, plant wheat in rows, barley in its appointed place, and spelt along its border?
28:26 His God instructs him in what is right and teaches him.
28:27 For black cumin is not threshed with a threshing sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cumin.
   Black cumin is beaten out with a staff, and cumin with a rod.
28:28 Grain for bread is ground, but he does not thresh it forever.
   He drives his cartwheel and his horses over it, but does not pulverize it.
28:29 This also comes from the LORD of hosts, wonderful in counsel, great in sound wisdom.

Chapter 29
29:1 “Woe, Ariel, Ariel, the city where David camped!
   Add year to year;
   let the festivals run their course.
29:2 Yet I will bring distress upon Ariel.
   There will be mourning and lamentation, and she will be to me like Ariel.
29:3 I will camp in a circle against you, besiege you with siege posts, and raise siegeworks against you.
29:4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground;
   your speech will come faintly from the dust.
   Your voice will be like a ghost’s from the earth, and your speech will whisper from the dust.”
29:5 But the multitude of your foreigners will be like fine dust, and the multitude of the ruthless like chaff blown away.
   It will happen suddenly, in an instant.
29:6 You will be visited by the LORD of hosts with thunder, earthquake, and a mighty noise, with whirlwind, tempest, and a flame of devouring fire.
29:7 The multitude of all the nations fighting against Ariel, all who fight against her and her fortress and oppress her, will be like a dream, a vision in the night.
29:8 As a hungry man dreams that he is eating but wakes with an empty stomach, or a thirsty man dreams that he is drinking but wakes faint and still thirsty, so will be the multitude of all the nations fighting against Mount Zion.

29:9 Pause and be amazed!
   Blind yourselves and be blind!
   They are drunk, but not with wine;
   they stagger, but not with strong drink.
29:10 For the LORD has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep.
   He has closed your eyes, the prophets, and covered your heads, the seers.
29:11 The whole vision has become to you like the words of a sealed scroll.
   When it is given to someone who can read, with the request, “Please read this,” he says, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”
29:12 When the scroll is given to someone who cannot read, with the request, “Please read this,” he says, “I do not know how to read.”

29:13 The Lord said, “Because this people draws near with its mouth and honors me with its lips, while its heart is far from me, and its fear of me is a human commandment that has been taught,
29:14 therefore I will again do wonders among this people, wonder upon wonder.
   The wisdom of their wise will perish, and the understanding of their discerning will be hidden.”

29:15 Woe to those who go deep to hide their plans from the LORD, whose deeds are in darkness, and who say, “Who sees us?
   Who knows us?”
29:16 You turn things upside down!
   Shall the potter be considered like the clay?
   Shall the work say of its maker, “He did not make me,” or the thing formed say of its former, “He has no understanding”?
29:17 Is it not just a very little while until Lebanon becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest?
29:18 In that day the deaf will hear the words of a scroll, and out of gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
29:19 The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the neediest among mankind will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
29:20 For the ruthless will come to nothing, the scoffer will cease, and all who watch for evil will be cut off—
29:21 those who make a man guilty by a word, lay a snare for the one who corrects at the gate, and deprive the righteous of justice with empty claims.

29:22 Therefore this is what the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, says concerning the house of Jacob: “Jacob will no longer be ashamed, nor will his face grow pale.
29:23 For when he sees his children, the work of my hands, in his midst, they will sanctify my name.
   They will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob and stand in awe of the God of Israel.
29:24 Those who stray in spirit will gain understanding, and those who grumble will learn instruction.”

Chapter 30
30:1 “Woe to the rebellious children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out plans that do not come from me and pour out a libation, but not by my Spirit, adding sin to sin!
30:2 They go down to Egypt without consulting my mouth, to seek refuge in Pharaoh’s protection and shelter in Egypt’s shade.
30:3 But Pharaoh’s protection will become your shame, and shelter in Egypt’s shade your disgrace.
30:4 For his officials are in Zoan, and his messengers reach Hanes.
30:5 They will all be ashamed because of a people who cannot benefit them, who bring neither help nor profit, but only shame and disgrace.”

30:6 An oracle concerning the beasts of the Negev.
   Through a land of distress and anguish, from which come the lioness and the lion, the viper and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their wealth on the shoulders of donkeys and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people who cannot benefit them.
30:7 Egypt’s help is vain and empty;
   therefore I have called her “Rahab who sits still.”
30:8 “Now go, write it on a tablet before them and inscribe it on a scroll, so that it may remain for a future day, forever and ever.
30:9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD.
30:10 They say to the seers, ‘Do not see,’ and to those who have visions, ‘Do not see for us what is right.
   Speak smooth things to us;
   see illusions.
30:11 Leave the way, turn aside from the path;
   remove the Holy One of Israel from our presence.’”

30:12 Therefore this is what the Holy One of Israel says: “Because you have rejected this word, trusted in oppression and perverseness, and relied on it,
30:13 this iniquity will be to you like a breach about to fall, bulging in a high wall whose collapse comes suddenly, in an instant.
30:14 He will shatter it like a potter’s jar, smashed without mercy, so that among its fragments no shard will be found for scooping fire from the hearth or drawing water from a cistern.”

30:15 For this is what the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, said: “In returning and rest you will be saved;
   in quietness and trust will be your strength.
   But you were unwilling.
30:16 You said, ‘No!
   We will flee on horses.’ Therefore you will flee.
   ‘We will ride on swift horses.’ Therefore your pursuers will be swift.
30:17 One thousand will flee at the threat of one;
   at the threat of five you will flee, until you are left like a mast on a mountaintop and like a banner on a hill.”
30:18 Therefore the LORD waits to show you grace, and therefore he rises to have compassion on you.
   For the LORD is a God of justice.
   Blessed are all who wait for him!

30:19 For the people will dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem.
   You will weep no more.
   He will surely show you grace at the sound of your cry;
   when he hears it, he will answer you.
30:20 The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your teachers will no longer be hidden.
   Your eyes will see your teachers,
30:21 and your ears will hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way;
   walk in it,” when you turn to the right or to the left.
30:22 You will defile the silver plating of your carved images and the gold covering of your cast images.
   You will throw them away like a menstrual cloth and say to them, “Get out!”
30:23 He will give rain for the seed you sow in the ground, and the food the land produces will be rich and abundant.
   In that day your livestock will graze in wide pastures.
30:24 The oxen and donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, winnowed with shovel and fork.
30:25 On every high mountain and every lofty hill there will be streams, flowing waters, on the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
30:26 The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, like the light of seven days, on the day the LORD binds up his people’s fracture and heals the wound of his blow.

30:27 Look, the name of the LORD comes from afar, his anger burning, with dense smoke.
   His lips are full of indignation, and his tongue is like a devouring fire.
30:28 His breath is like an overflowing torrent reaching to the neck, to sift the nations in a sieve of destruction;
   a bridle that leads astray is on the jaws of the peoples.
30:29 You will have a song as on the night of a holy festival, and gladness of heart like one going with a flute to the mountain of the LORD, to the Rock of Israel.
30:30 The LORD will make the majesty of his voice heard and show his descending arm, with raging anger and a flame of devouring fire, with shattering, a downpour, and hailstones.
30:31 For at the voice of the LORD Assyria will be shattered;
   he will strike with a rod.
30:32 Every stroke of the appointed staff that the LORD lays upon him will be accompanied by tambourines and lyres;
   in battles with sweeping blows he will fight against them.
30:33 For Topheth has long been prepared;
   it is also ready for the king.
   He has made it deep and wide;
   its pyre has fire and much wood.
   The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of sulfur, sets it ablaze.

Chapter 31
31:1 Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses and trust in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because they are very strong, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel or seek the LORD!
31:2 Yet he too is wise and will bring calamity;
   he will not take back his words.
   He will rise against the house of evildoers and against the help of those who practice iniquity.
31:3 The Egyptians are human, and not God;
   their horses are flesh, and not spirit.
   When the LORD stretches out his hand, the helper will stumble and the one helped will fall;
   all of them will perish together.

31:4 For this is what the LORD said to me: “As a lion, a young lion, growls over its prey, and though a crowd of shepherds is called out against it, it is not frightened by their voices or cowed by their noise, so the LORD of hosts will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill.
31:5 Like flying birds, so the LORD of hosts will shield Jerusalem;
   shielding, he will deliver her;
   passing over, he will rescue her.”
31:6 Return to him against whom the children of Israel have deeply rebelled.
31:7 For in that day each man will reject his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your own hands made for you as a sin.
31:8 “Assyria will fall by a sword that is not of man, and a sword that is not human will devour him.
   He will flee before the sword, and his young men will be put to forced labor.
31:9 His rock will pass away in terror, and his officials will be dismayed at the banner,” declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Chapter 32
32:1 Look, a king will reign in righteousness, and officials will rule with justice.
32:2 A man will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from the storm, like streams of water in a dry place, like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
32:3 The eyes of those who see will no longer be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen attentively.
32:4 The heart of the rash will understand knowledge, and the tongue of those who stammer will be quick to speak clearly.
32:5 The fool will no longer be called noble, nor the scoundrel said to be generous.
32:6 For the fool speaks folly, and his heart works iniquity, practicing godlessness and speaking error against the LORD, leaving the hungry empty and depriving the thirsty of drink.
32:7 The scoundrel’s means are evil;
   he devises schemes to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy plead a just cause.
32:8 But the noble man plans noble things, and on noble things he stands.

32:9 Rise up, you women at ease, and hear my voice;
   you confident daughters, listen to my words.
32:10 In a year and some days you confident ones will tremble, for the grape harvest will fail and the gathering will not come.
32:11 Tremble, you women at ease;
   shudder, you confident ones.
   Strip yourselves bare and gird your waists.
32:12 They beat their breasts in mourning for the delightful fields, for the fruitful vine,
32:13 for the land of my people, overgrown with thorns and briers, yes, for all the joyful houses of the jubilant city.
32:14 For the palace will be abandoned, the bustling city deserted.
   Ophel and the watchtower will become caves forever, a delight for wild donkeys, a pasture for flocks,
32:15 until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is considered a forest.
32:16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness will live in the fruitful field.
32:17 The work of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness quietness and security forever.
32:18 My people will live in a peaceful dwelling, in secure homes and tranquil resting places.
32:19 It will hail when the forest falls, and the city will be utterly brought low.
32:20 Blessed are you who sow beside all waters, who let the ox and the donkey roam free!

Chapter 33
33:1 Woe to you, destroyer who has not been destroyed, and betrayer whom no one has betrayed!
   When you finish destroying, you will be destroyed;
   when you finish betraying, they will betray you.

33:2 LORD, show us grace;
   we have waited for you.
   Be their arm every morning, our salvation also in time of distress.
33:3 At the sound of tumult the peoples flee;
   when you rise, the nations scatter.
33:4 Your plunder will be gathered as locusts gather;
   it will be swarmed over as locusts swarm.
33:5 The LORD is exalted, for he dwells on high;
   he has filled Zion with justice and righteousness.
33:6 He will be the stability of your times, a wealth of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
   the fear of the LORD is his treasure.

33:7 Look, their valiant ones cry out in the streets;
   the messengers of peace weep bitterly.
33:8 The highways lie desolate;
   travelers have ceased.
   He has broken the covenant, despised the cities, and regarded no one.
33:9 The land mourns and languishes;
   Lebanon is ashamed and withers.
   Sharon has become like the wilderness, and Bashan and Carmel shake off their foliage.
33:10 “Now I will rise,” says the LORD.
   “Now I will be exalted;
   now I will be lifted up.
33:11 You conceive dry grass and give birth to stubble;
   your breath is a fire that will consume you.
33:12 The peoples will be burned to lime;
   like cut thorns they will be set ablaze.

33:13 Hear what I have done, you who are far away;
   acknowledge my might, you who are near.”
33:14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
   trembling has seized the godless.
   “Who among us can dwell with devouring fire?
   Who among us can dwell with everlasting burning?”
33:15 The one who walks in righteousness and speaks uprightly, who rejects gain from extortion, shakes his hands free of bribes, stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil—
33:16 he will dwell on the heights;
   rocky fortresses will be his refuge.
   His bread will be given to him, and his water will be sure.
33:17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty;
   they will behold a land stretching far away.
33:18 Your heart will ponder the terror: “Where is the one who counted?
   Where is the one who weighed?
   Where is the one who counted the towers?”
33:19 You will no longer see the fierce people, a people whose speech is too obscure to understand, whose stammering tongue cannot be comprehended.
33:20 Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed festivals.
   Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a tranquil dwelling, a tent that will not be moved.
   Its stakes will never be pulled up, and none of its ropes will be broken.
33:21 For there the majestic LORD will be for us a place of rivers and wide streams.
   No boat with oars will go there, and no mighty ship will pass through.
33:22 For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king;
   he will save us.
33:23 Your rigging hangs loose;
   it does not hold the base of their mast firm or spread the sail.
   Then abundant plunder will be divided;
   even the lame will take the spoil.
33:24 No inhabitant will say, “I am sick.”
   The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

Chapter 34
34:1 Come near, nations, to hear;
   pay attention, peoples.
   Let the earth and all that fills it hear, the world and all that springs from it.
34:2 For the LORD is indignant against all the nations and furious against all their armies.
   He has devoted them to destruction and given them over to slaughter.
34:3 Their slain will be thrown out, and the stench of their corpses will rise;
   the mountains will melt with their blood.
34:4 All the host of heaven will waste away;
   the heavens will be rolled up like a scroll, and all their host will fall like a withered leaf from a vine and a fading leaf from a fig tree.
34:5 “For my sword has drunk its fill in heaven.
   Look, it will descend upon Edom, upon the people I have devoted to destruction, for judgment.”
34:6 The sword of the LORD is full of blood, covered with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats and the fat of rams’ kidneys.
   For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
34:7 Wild oxen will fall with them, young bulls with mighty bulls.
   Their land will drink its fill of blood, and their dust will be enriched with fat.
34:8 For the LORD has a day of vengeance, a year of recompense for Zion’s cause.
34:9 Her streams will turn to pitch and her dust to sulfur;
   her land will become burning pitch.
34:10 It will not be quenched night or day;
   its smoke will rise forever.
   From generation to generation it will lie desolate;
   no one will pass through it forever and ever.
34:11 The pelican and the porcupine will possess it;
   the great owl and the raven will dwell there.
   He will stretch over it the measuring line of chaos and the plumb stones of emptiness.
34:12 As for her nobles, there will be no one there to proclaim king, and all her officials will come to nothing.
34:13 Thorns will grow in her palaces, nettles and briers in her fortresses.
   She will become a haunt of jackals, a dwelling for ostriches.
34:14 Desert beasts will meet with howling beasts, and the goat demon will call to its fellow.
   There too the night creature will settle and find a resting place for herself.
34:15 There the owl will nest and lay eggs, hatch them and gather her young under her shade.
   There too the kites will gather, each with her mate.
34:16 Search the book of the LORD and read: not one of these will be missing, and none will lack her mate.
   For my mouth has commanded it, and his Spirit has gathered them.
34:17 He has cast the lot for them, and his hand has apportioned it to them with the measuring line.
   They will possess it forever;
   from generation to generation they will dwell in it.

Chapter 35
35:1 The wilderness and the dry land will rejoice;
   the desert will be glad and blossom like the crocus.
35:2 It will blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.
   The glory of Lebanon will be given to it, the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.
   They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God.

35:3 Strengthen the weak hands and steady the faltering knees.
35:4 Say to those with anxious hearts, “Be strong;
   do not fear.
   Look, your God will come with vengeance, with God’s recompense.
   He will come and save you.”
35:5 Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.
   For waters will break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert.
35:7 The parched ground will become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water.
   In the haunt of jackals, their resting place, grass will give way to reeds and rushes.
35:8 A highway will be there, a way, and it will be called the Way of Holiness.
   The unclean will not pass over it;
   it will be for them.
   Those who walk the way, though foolish, will not go astray.
35:9 No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous beast go up on it;
   none will be found there.
   The redeemed will walk there.
35:10 The ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy upon their heads.
   They will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

Chapter 36
36:1 In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.
36:2 The king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem, to King Hezekiah, with a large army. He stood by the conduit of the upper pool, on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
36:3 Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came out to him.
36:4 The Rabshakeh said to them, “Please tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says: What is this confidence on which you rely?
36:5 I say, your counsel and strength for war are mere words. Now in whom do you trust, that you have rebelled against me?
36:6 Look, you are trusting in this broken reed of a staff, Egypt. If a man leans on it, it will enter his palm and pierce it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him.
36:7 But if you tell me, “We trust in the LORD our God,” is he not the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed, telling Judah and Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”?
36:8 Now, please, make a wager with my master, the king of Assyria. I will give you two thousand horses, if you can provide riders for them.
36:9 How then can you turn back a single governor among the least of my master’s servants, while you trust in Egypt for chariots and horsemen?
36:10 Have I now come up against this land to destroy it without the LORD? The LORD said to me, “Go up against this land and destroy it.”’”
36:11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Do not speak to us in the language of Judah within hearing of the people on the wall.”
36:12 But the Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me to speak these words to your master and to you? Has he not sent me to the men sitting on the wall, to eat their own excrement and drink their own urine with you?”
36:13 The Rabshakeh stood and called out in a loud voice in the language of Judah: “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria!
36:14 This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he cannot deliver you.
36:15 Do not let Hezekiah make you trust in the LORD, saying, “The LORD will surely deliver us; this city will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”’
36:16 Do not listen to Hezekiah, for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Make peace with me and come out to me. Each of you may eat from his own vine and his own fig tree and drink water from his own cistern,
36:17 until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards.
36:18 Do not let Hezekiah persuade you by saying, “The LORD will deliver us.” Has any of the gods of the nations delivered his land from the hand of the king of Assyria?
36:19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they delivered Samaria from my hand?
36:20 Who among all the gods of these lands has delivered his land from my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?’”
36:21 But they remained silent and did not answer him a word, for the king’s command was, “Do not answer him.”
36:22 Then Eliakim son of Hilkiah, who was over the palace, Shebna the scribe, and Joah son of Asaph, the recorder, came to Hezekiah with their clothes torn and told him the words of the Rabshakeh.

Chapter 37
37:1 When King Hezekiah heard this, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the LORD.
37:2 He sent Eliakim, who was over the palace, Shebna the scribe, and the elders of the priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
37:3 They said to him, “This is what Hezekiah says: ‘This day is a day of distress, rebuke, and disgrace, for the children have come to the point of birth, but there is no strength to deliver them.
37:4 Perhaps the LORD your God will hear the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master, the king of Assyria, has sent to insult the living God, and will rebuke the words the LORD your God has heard. So lift up a prayer for the remnant that remains.’”
37:5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah,
37:6 Isaiah said to them, “Tell your master: ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not be afraid of the words you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed me.
37:7 Look, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear a report and return to his own land. I will make him fall by the sword in his own land.’”
37:8 The Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that he had left Lachish.
37:9 He heard concerning Tirhakah king of Cush, “He has come out to fight against you.” When he heard this, he sent messengers to Hezekiah, saying,
37:10 “Tell Hezekiah king of Judah: ‘Do not let your God, in whom you trust, deceive you by saying, “Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.”
37:11 Look, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all the lands, devoting them to destruction. Will you be delivered?
37:12 Did the gods of the nations my fathers destroyed deliver them—Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the children of Eden who were in Telassar?
37:13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim, of Hena and Ivvah?’”
37:14 Hezekiah took the letters from the messengers’ hands and read them. Then he went up to the house of the LORD and spread them before the LORD.
37:15 Hezekiah prayed to the LORD, saying,
37:16 “LORD of hosts, God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You made heaven and earth.
37:17 Incline your ear, LORD, and hear; open your eyes, LORD, and see. Hear all the words Sennacherib has sent to insult the living God.
37:18 Truly, LORD, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the lands and their territories
37:19 and cast their gods into the fire, for they were not gods, but the work of human hands, wood and stone. So they destroyed them.
37:20 Now, LORD our God, save us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone are the LORD.”
37:21 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent word to Hezekiah: “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have prayed to me concerning Sennacherib king of Assyria,
37:22 this is the word the LORD has spoken against him:
 The virgin daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you;
   the daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
37:23 Whom have you insulted and blasphemed?
   Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes on high?
   Against the Holy One of Israel!
37:24 Through your servants you have insulted the Lord and said, “With my many chariots I have climbed the heights of the mountains, the remotest parts of Lebanon.
   I will cut down its tallest cedars and its choice cypresses.
   I will reach its highest extremity, its lush forest.
37:25 I have dug and drunk water, and with the sole of my feet I have dried up all the streams of Egypt.”
37:26 Have you not heard?
   Long ago I made it;
   from ancient days I formed it.
   Now I have brought it about, that you should turn fortified cities into heaps of ruins.
37:27 Their inhabitants, short of strength, were dismayed and ashamed.
   They were like the grass of the field and green shoots, like grass on the rooftops and a field before its grain has grown.
37:28 I know your sitting down, your going out and coming in, and your raging against me.
37:29 Because your raging against me and your arrogance have reached my ears, I will put my hook in your nose and my bit in your lips, and turn you back by the way you came.
37:30 This will be the sign for you: this year eat what grows of itself, and in the second year what springs from that.
   In the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
37:31 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah will again take root below and bear fruit above.
37:32 For a remnant will go out from Jerusalem, and survivors from Mount Zion.
   The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.’”

37:33 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the king of Assyria: “He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow there.
   He will not approach it with a shield or build a siege ramp against it.
37:34 By the way he came he will return;
   he will not enter this city,” declares the LORD.
37:35 “I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”
37:36 The angel of the LORD went out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When they rose early in the morning, look, they were all dead bodies.
37:37 Then Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp, departed, and returned; he lived in Nineveh.
37:38 While he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer struck him down with the sword. They escaped to the land of Ararat, and his son Esarhaddon reigned in his place.

Chapter 38
38:1 In those days Hezekiah became sick to the point of death. The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz came to him and said, “This is what the LORD says: ‘Put your house in order, for you are dying; you will not live.’”
38:2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD.
38:3 He said, “Please, LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your eyes.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.
38:4 Then the word of the LORD came to Isaiah, saying,
38:5 “Go and tell Hezekiah: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of David your father, says: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Look, I will add fifteen years to your days.
38:6 I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city.’”
38:7 This will be the sign for you from the LORD, that the LORD will do this thing he has spoken:
38:8 “Look, I will turn back the shadow that has gone down with the sun on the steps of Ahaz, backward ten steps.” So the sun returned ten steps on the steps down which it had gone.
38:9 A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah when he was sick and recovered from his illness:
38:10 I said, “In the middle of my days I must go to the gates of Sheol;
   I am deprived of the rest of my years.”
38:11 I said, “I will not see the LORD, the LORD, in the land of the living.
   I will no longer look upon mankind among those who dwell where life ceases.
38:12 My dwelling has been pulled up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent.
   Like a weaver I have rolled up my life;
   he cuts me off from the loom.
   From day to night you bring me to an end.
38:13 I composed myself until morning;
   like a lion he breaks all my bones.
   From day to night you bring me to an end.
38:14 Like a swallow, like a crane, I chirp;
   I moan like a dove.
   My eyes grow weak from looking upward.
   Lord, I am oppressed;
   be my guarantor!
38:15 What can I say?
   He has spoken to me, and he himself has done it.
   I will walk slowly all my years because of the bitterness of my soul.
38:16 Lord, by these things people live, and in all of them is the life of my spirit.
   Restore me to health and make me live.
38:17 Look, for my well-being I had bitterness, great bitterness.
   But in your love you have delivered my life from the pit of destruction, for you have cast all my sins behind your back.
38:18 For Sheol does not thank you, nor does death praise you.
   Those who go down to the pit do not hope for your faithfulness.
38:19 The living, the living, they thank you, as I do today.
   A father makes your faithfulness known to his children.
38:20 The LORD will save me, and we will play my songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives at the house of the LORD.”
38:21 Isaiah had said, “Let them take a cake of figs and spread it on the boil, and he will live.”
38:22 Hezekiah had said, “What is the sign that I will go up to the house of the LORD?”

Chapter 39
39:1 At that time Merodach-baladan son of Baladan, king of Babylon, sent letters and a gift to Hezekiah, for he had heard that he had been sick and had recovered.
39:2 Hezekiah welcomed them gladly and showed them his treasure house—the silver, gold, spices, and precious oil—his entire armory, and everything found in his storehouses. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them.
39:3 Then the prophet Isaiah came to King Hezekiah and asked him, “What did these men say, and where did they come from?” Hezekiah said, “They came to me from a distant land, from Babylon.”
39:4 He asked, “What have they seen in your house?” Hezekiah said, “They have seen everything in my house. There is nothing in my storehouses that I did not show them.”
39:5 Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Hear the word of the LORD of hosts:
39:6 ‘Look, days are coming when everything in your house and everything your fathers have stored up to this day will be carried to Babylon. Nothing will be left,’ says the LORD.
39:7 ‘Some of your sons who will come from you, whom you will father, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.’”
39:8 Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the LORD you have spoken is good.” He also said, “For there will be peace and security in my days.”

Chapter 40
40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God.
40:2 “Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her service is complete, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the hand of the LORD double for all her sins.”

40:3 A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;
   make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
40:4 Every valley will be lifted up, and every mountain and hill brought low;
   the uneven ground will become level, and the rugged places a plain.
40:5 The glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

40:6 A voice says, “Cry out!”
   And he says, “What shall I cry out?”
   All flesh is grass, and all its faithfulness is like a flower of the field.
40:7 The grass withers, the flower fades, because the breath of the LORD blows upon it.
   Surely the people are grass.
40:8 The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

40:9 Go up on a high mountain, Zion, bearer of good news.
   Lift up your voice with strength, Jerusalem, bearer of good news.
   Lift it up;
   do not fear.
   Say to the cities of Judah, “Here is your God!”
40:10 Look, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm rules for him.
   Look, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.
40:11 Like a shepherd he will tend his flock;
   with his arm he will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom.
   He will gently lead the nursing ewes.

40:12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, measured the heavens with his outstretched hand, gathered the dust of the earth in a third of a measure, weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance?
40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or instructed him as his counselor?
40:14 Whom did he consult to give him understanding, teach him the path of justice, teach him knowledge, and make known to him the way of discernment?
40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop from a bucket and are regarded as fine dust on the scales.
   Look, he lifts the islands like a speck of dust.
40:16 Lebanon is not enough for the fire, nor are its animals enough for a burnt offering.

40:17 All the nations are as nothing before him;
   they are regarded by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
40:18 To whom then will you compare God?
   What likeness will you place beside him?
40:19 A craftsman casts an idol, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts silver chains for it.
40:20 The one too poor for such an offering chooses wood that will not rot;
   he seeks a skilled craftsman to set up an idol that will not totter.
40:21 Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
   Has it not been told you from the beginning?
   Have you not understood the foundations of the earth?
40:22 He sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers.
   He stretches out the heavens like a thin curtain and spreads them like a tent to live in.
40:23 He brings rulers to nothing and makes the judges of the earth emptiness.
40:24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely are they sown, scarcely has their trunk taken root in the ground, when he blows upon them and they wither, and the tempest carries them away like stubble.

40:25 “To whom will you compare me, that I should be his equal?”
   says the Holy One.
40:26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these?
   He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name.
   Because of his great might and mighty strength, not one is missing.

40:27 Why do you say, Jacob, and declare, Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God”?
40:28 Do you not know?
   Have you not heard?
   The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.
   He does not grow faint or weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable.
40:29 He gives strength to the faint, and to those without power he increases might.
40:30 Even youths grow faint and weary, and young men stumble and fall.
40:31 But those who wait for the LORD will renew their strength;
   they will rise on wings like eagles.
   They will run and not grow weary;
   they will walk and not grow faint.

Chapter 41
41:1 “Keep silent before me, islands, and let the peoples renew their strength.
   Let them approach and then speak;
   let us draw near together for judgment.
41:2 Who has stirred up one from the east, calling him in righteousness to his feet?
   He gives nations before him and makes him rule over kings.
   He makes them like dust before his sword, like driven stubble before his bow.
41:3 He pursues them and passes on safely, by a path his feet had not traveled.
41:4 Who has acted and done this, calling the generations from the beginning?
   I, the LORD, the first, and with the last, I am he.”
41:5 The islands see and fear;
   the ends of the earth tremble.
   They draw near and come.
41:6 Each helps his neighbor and says to his brother, “Be strong!”
41:7 The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and the one who smooths with the hammer the one who strikes the anvil, saying of the soldering, “It is good.”
   He fastens it with nails so that it will not totter.

41:8 “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,
41:9 you whom I took from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, I said to you, ‘You are my servant;
   I have chosen you and have not rejected you.’
41:10 Do not fear, for I am with you;
   do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
   I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
41:11 Look, all who rage against you will be ashamed and disgraced;
   those who contend with you will become nothing and perish.
41:12 You will seek those who quarrel with you and will not find them;
   those who wage war against you will become as nothing, as a thing of naught.
41:13 For I am the LORD your God, who holds your right hand, who says to you, ‘Do not fear;
   I will help you.’

41:14 Do not fear, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel.
   I will help you,” declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.
41:15 “Look, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with teeth.
   You will thresh mountains and crush them, and make hills like chaff.
41:16 You will winnow them, the wind will carry them away, and the tempest will scatter them.
   But you will rejoice in the LORD and glory in the Holy One of Israel.

41:17 The poor and needy seek water, but there is none;
   their tongues are parched with thirst.
   I, the LORD, will answer them;
   I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
41:18 I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of valleys.
   I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.
41:19 I will put cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees in the wilderness.
   I will set cypresses, elms, and box trees together in the desert,
41:20 so that they may see and know, consider and understand together, that the hand of the LORD has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it.

41:21 Present your case,” says the LORD.
   “Bring forward your arguments,” says the King of Jacob.
41:22 “Let them bring them forward and tell us what will happen.
   Tell us what the former things were, so that we may consider them and know their outcome;
   or let us hear what is coming.
41:23 Tell us what will happen afterward, so that we may know you are gods.
   Do good or do harm, so that we may be dismayed and see it together.
41:24 Look, you are less than nothing, and your work is worthless;
   whoever chooses you is an abomination.
41:25 I have stirred up one from the north, and he has come;
   from the rising of the sun he will call on my name.
   He will come upon rulers as upon mortar, like a potter trampling clay.
41:26 Who declared it from the beginning, so that we might know, or beforehand, so that we might say, ‘He is right’?
   Indeed, no one declares it, no one proclaims it, and no one hears your words.
41:27 I was the first to say to Zion, ‘Look, here they are!’ And I will give Jerusalem a bearer of good news.
41:28 I look, but there is no one;
   among these there is no counselor whom I can question and who can answer a word.
41:29 Look, all of them are falsehood;
   their works are nothing.
   Their cast images are wind and emptiness.”

Chapter 42
42:1 “Look, my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one, in whom my soul delights.
   I have put my Spirit upon him;
   he will bring forth justice to the nations.
42:2 He will not cry out or raise his voice or make it heard in the street.
42:3 A bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish.
   He will faithfully bring forth justice.
42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed until he establishes justice on the earth;
   the islands will wait for his instruction.”

42:5 This is what God, the LORD, says, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what springs from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk on it:
42:6 “I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness.
   I will hold your hand and keep you;
   I will give you as a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations,
42:7 to open blind eyes, to bring the prisoner out of confinement and those who sit in darkness out of the prison house.
42:8 I am the LORD;
   that is my name.
   I will not give my glory to another or my praise to carved images.
42:9 Look, the former things have come to pass, and I declare new things;
   before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”

42:10 Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth, you who go down to the sea and all that fills it, the islands and their inhabitants.
42:11 Let the wilderness and its cities raise their voices, the villages where Kedar lives.
   Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy;
   let them shout from the mountaintops.
42:12 Let them give glory to the LORD and proclaim his praise in the islands.
42:13 The LORD will go out like a warrior;
   like a man of war he will stir up his zeal.
   He will shout, yes, cry out;
   he will prevail against his enemies.

42:14 “For a long time I have kept silent;
   I have been still and restrained myself.
   Now I will cry out like a woman in labor;
   I will gasp and pant together.
42:15 I will lay waste mountains and hills and dry up all their vegetation;
   I will turn rivers into islands and dry up pools.
42:16 I will lead the blind by a way they do not know;
   along paths they do not know I will guide them.
   I will turn darkness into light before them and rough places into level ground.
   These things I will do, and I will not forsake them.
42:17 Those who trust in carved images, who say to cast images, ‘You are our gods,’ will turn back in utter shame.

42:18 Hear, you deaf!
   Look, you blind, so that you may see!
42:19 Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like my messenger whom I send?
   Who is blind like the one at peace with me, blind like the servant of the LORD?
42:20 Seeing many things, you do not pay attention;
   with ears open, he does not hear.”
42:21 The LORD was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness, to magnify his instruction and make it glorious.
42:22 But this is a people robbed and plundered, all trapped in holes and hidden in prison houses.
   They have become prey with no one to deliver, plunder with no one to say, “Give it back!”
42:23 Who among you will give ear to this, pay attention and listen for the time to come?
42:24 Who gave Jacob over as plunder and Israel to robbers?
   Was it not the LORD, against whom we sinned?
   They were unwilling to walk in his ways and did not obey his instruction.
42:25 So he poured upon him his burning anger and the fury of battle.
   It set him ablaze all around, but he did not understand;
   it burned within him, but he did not take it to heart.

Chapter 43
43:1 But now this is what the LORD says, your Creator, Jacob, and the one who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
   I have called you by name;
   you are mine.
43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you.
   When you walk through fire, you will not be burned, and the flame will not scorch you.
43:3 For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.
   I have given Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in your place.
43:4 Because you are precious in my eyes, honored, and I love you, I will give men in your place and peoples in exchange for your life.
43:5 Do not fear, for I am with you.
   I will bring your offspring from the east and gather you from the west.
43:6 I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back!’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth,
43:7 everyone called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”
43:8 Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears.
43:9 All the nations gather together, and the peoples assemble.
   Who among them can declare this and let us hear the former things?
   Let them bring their witnesses and be vindicated;
   let them hear and say, “It is true.”
43:10 “You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he.
   Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me.

43:11 I, I am the LORD, and apart from me there is no savior.
43:12 I have declared, saved, and proclaimed, when there was no foreign god among you.
   You are my witnesses,” declares the LORD, “and I am God.
43:13 Even from of old I am he, and no one can deliver from my hand.
   I act, and who can reverse it?”

43:14 This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring them all down as fugitives, the Chaldeans in the ships in which they rejoice.
43:15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King.”

43:16 This is what the LORD says, who makes a way in the sea and a path through mighty waters,
43:17 who brings out chariot and horse, army and might—they lie down together, never to rise;
   they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
43:18 “Do not remember the former things or dwell on the things of old.
43:19 Look, I am doing a new thing;
   now it springs forth.
   Do you not perceive it?
   I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.
43:20 The beasts of the field will honor me, jackals and ostriches, because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
43:21 The people I formed for myself will proclaim my praise.

43:22 Yet you have not called upon me, Jacob, but you have grown weary of me, Israel.
43:23 You have not brought me the sheep for your burnt offerings or honored me with your sacrifices.
   I have not burdened you with grain offerings or wearied you with frankincense.
43:24 You have not bought fragrant cane for me with silver or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.
   Instead, you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your iniquities.

43:25 I, I am the one who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.
43:26 Remind me;
   let us argue our case together.
   State your case, so that you may be vindicated.
43:27 Your first father sinned, and your spokesmen rebelled against me.
43:28 So I profaned the leaders of the sanctuary and gave Jacob over to destruction and Israel to insults.”

Chapter 44
44:1 “But now listen, Jacob my servant, Israel whom I have chosen.
44:2 This is what the LORD says, who made you and formed you from the womb, who will help you: Do not fear, Jacob my servant, Jeshurun whom I have chosen.
44:3 For I will pour water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground.
   I will pour my Spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your descendants.
44:4 They will spring up among the grass, like willows beside flowing streams.
44:5 One will say, ‘I belong to the LORD,’ and another will call himself by the name of Jacob.
   Another will write on his hand, ‘The LORD’s,’ and take the name of Israel.”

44:6 This is what the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts, says: “I am the first and I am the last;
   apart from me there is no God.
44:7 Who is like me?
   Let him proclaim it, declare it, and set it in order before me, since I established the ancient people.
   Let them declare to them the things to come and what will happen.
44:8 Do not tremble or be afraid.
   Have I not told you and declared it long ago?
   You are my witnesses.
   Is there any God apart from me?
   There is no other Rock;
   I know of none.”
44:9 All who fashion idols are emptiness, and their treasured objects bring no profit.
   Their own witnesses neither see nor know, so that they will be ashamed.
44:10 Who fashions a god or casts an idol that brings no profit?
44:11 Look, all his companions will be ashamed, and the craftsmen are only human.
   Let them all gather and stand forth;
   they will tremble and be ashamed together.
44:12 The blacksmith works with a cutting tool over the coals.
   He shapes it with hammers and works it with his strong arm.
   He grows hungry and has no strength;
   he drinks no water and grows faint.
44:13 The woodworker stretches out a measuring line and marks it with a stylus.
   He shapes it with scraping tools and outlines it with a compass.
   He makes it in the form of a man, with human beauty, to dwell in a house.
44:14 He cuts down cedars for himself, takes a cypress and an oak, and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest.
   He plants a fir, and the rain makes it grow.
44:15 It serves a man for fuel.
   He takes some of it and warms himself;
   he also kindles a fire and bakes bread.
   He also makes a god and worships it;
   he makes it a carved image and bows down to it.
44:16 Half of it he burns in the fire;
   over that half he eats meat, roasting a roast and satisfying himself.
   He also warms himself and says, “Ah, I am warm;
   I have seen the fire!”
44:17 With the rest he makes a god, his carved image.
   He bows down to it, worships it, and prays to it, saying, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”
44:18 They neither know nor understand, for he has smeared their eyes so that they cannot see and their hearts so that they cannot understand.
44:19 No one takes it to heart or has knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire;
   I also baked bread on its coals, roasted meat, and ate it.
   Shall I make the rest into an abomination?
   Shall I bow down to a block of wood?”
44:20 He feeds on ashes;
   a deceived heart has led him astray.
   He cannot deliver his life or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

44:21 “Remember these things, Jacob and Israel, for you are my servant.
   I formed you;
   you are my servant.
   Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
44:22 I have blotted out your transgressions like a thick cloud and your sins like a cloud.
   Return to me, for I have redeemed you.”
44:23 Sing for joy, heavens, for the LORD has done it!
   Shout, depths of the earth!
   Break into singing, mountains, forest, and every tree in it!
   For the LORD has redeemed Jacob and will glorify himself in Israel.

44:24 This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, who formed you from the womb, says: “I am the LORD, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens alone, who spreads out the earth by myself,
44:25 who frustrates the signs of impostors and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish,
44:26 who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the counsel of his messengers, who says of Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and of the cities of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, and I will raise up her ruins,’
44:27 who says to the deep, ‘Be dry;
   I will dry up your rivers,’
44:28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd, and he will fulfill all my purpose,’ saying of Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’”

Chapter 45
45:1 This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and loosen the belts of kings, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
45:2 “I will go before you and level the rough places.
   I will shatter bronze doors and cut through iron bars.
45:3 I will give you treasures of darkness and riches hidden in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by name.
45:4 For the sake of Jacob my servant and Israel my chosen, I have called you by name and given you a title, though you did not know me.
45:5 I am the LORD, and there is no other;
   apart from me there is no God.
   I will gird you, though you did not know me,
45:6 so that from the rising of the sun to the west they may know that there is none apart from me.
   I am the LORD, and there is no other.
45:7 I form light and create darkness;
   I make peace and create calamity.
   I, the LORD, do all these things.

45:8 Drip down, heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness.
   Let the earth open and bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together.
   I, the LORD, have created it.

45:9 Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker, a potsherd among the potsherds of the earth!
   Will the clay say to the one who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands’?

45:10 Woe to the one who says to a father, ‘What are you fathering?’ or to a woman, ‘What are you giving birth to?’”

45:11 This is what the LORD, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker, says: “Ask me about things to come concerning my children;
   will you command me concerning the work of my hands?
45:12 I made the earth and created mankind upon it.
   My own hands stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host.
45:13 I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight.
   He will rebuild my city and release my exiles, without payment or bribe,” says the LORD of hosts.

45:14 This is what the LORD says: “The labor of Egypt, the merchandise of Cush, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and be yours.
   They will follow you and come over in chains;
   they will bow down to you and plead with you: ‘Surely God is with you, and there is no other;
   there is no other God.’”
45:15 Truly you are a God who hides himself, the God of Israel, the Savior.
45:16 All of them will be ashamed and disgraced;
   the makers of idols will go away in disgrace together.
45:17 But Israel will be saved by the LORD with everlasting salvation.
   You will never be ashamed or disgraced, forever and ever.

45:18 For this is what the LORD says, who created the heavens—he is God—who formed the earth and made it, who established it;
   he did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited: “I am the LORD, and there is no other.
45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a place in a land of darkness.
   I did not say to Jacob’s offspring, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, the LORD, speak righteousness and declare what is right.
45:20 Gather and come;
   draw near together, you survivors of the nations.
   Those who carry the wood of their carved image and pray to a god that cannot save have no knowledge.
45:21 Declare and present your case;
   let them take counsel together.
   Who made this known long ago and declared it from of old?
   Was it not I, the LORD?
   There is no other God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior;
   there is none besides me.
45:22 Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is no other.
45:23 By myself I have sworn;
   a word has gone out from my mouth in righteousness and will not return: To me every knee will bow, and every tongue will swear.
45:24 Of me it will be said, ‘Only in the LORD are righteousness and strength.’ To him they will come, and all who rage against him will be ashamed.
45:25 In the LORD all the offspring of Israel will be justified and will glory.”

Chapter 46
46:1 Bel bows down;
   Nebo stoops.
   Their images are on beasts and livestock.
   What you carried has become a heavy load, a burden for the weary animal.
46:2 They stoop and bow down together;
   they cannot rescue the burden, but they themselves go into captivity.

46:3 “Listen to me, house of Jacob and all the remnant of the house of Israel, you who have been carried from the womb, borne from birth.
46:4 Even to your old age I am he, and to your gray hairs I will carry you.
   I have made you, and I will bear you;
   I will carry you and deliver you.

46:5 To whom will you liken me and make me equal?
   With whom will you compare me, that we may be alike?
46:6 They pour out gold from a bag and weigh silver on a balance.
   They hire a goldsmith, and he makes it into a god;
   they bow down and worship it.
46:7 They lift it onto a shoulder and carry it;
   they set it in its place, and there it stands.
   It cannot move from its place.
   Though someone cries out to it, it does not answer or save him from his distress.

46:8 Remember this and stand firm;
   take it to heart, you rebels.
46:9 Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other;
   I am God, and there is none like me.
46:10 I declare the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done.
   I say, ‘My counsel will stand, and I will do all my pleasure.’
46:11 I call a bird of prey from the east, the man of my counsel from a distant land.
   I have spoken, and I will bring it about;
   I have formed it, and I will do it.

46:12 Listen to me, you stubborn of heart, who are far from righteousness.
46:13 I have brought my righteousness near;
   it is not far away, and my salvation will not delay.
   I will grant salvation in Zion for Israel, my glory.”

Chapter 47
47:1 “Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter of Babylon.
   Sit on the ground without a throne, daughter of the Chaldeans, for you will no longer be called tender and delicate.
47:2 Take the millstones and grind flour.
   Remove your veil, lift your skirt, bare your leg, and cross the rivers.
47:3 Your nakedness will be uncovered, and your shame will be seen.
   I will take vengeance and spare no one.”

47:4 Our Redeemer—the LORD of hosts is his name—is the Holy One of Israel.
47:5 “Sit in silence and go into darkness, daughter of the Chaldeans, for you will no longer be called the mistress of kingdoms.
47:6 I was angry with my people;
   I profaned my inheritance and gave them into your hand.
   You showed them no mercy;
   on the elderly you laid your yoke very heavily.
47:7 You said, ‘I will be mistress forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or remember their outcome.

47:8 Now hear this, you lover of pleasure, who dwell securely, who say in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.
   I will not sit as a widow or know the loss of children.’
47:9 But these two things will come upon you in an instant, in one day: loss of children and widowhood.
   They will come upon you in full measure, despite your many sorceries and the great power of your spells.
47:10 You trusted in your wickedness and said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray, and you said in your heart, ‘I am, and there is no one besides me.’
47:11 Disaster will come upon you whose onset you will not know;
   calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off.
   Ruin you do not know will come upon you suddenly.
47:12 Persist, then, in your spells and your many sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth.
   Perhaps you can gain some benefit;
   perhaps you can inspire terror.
47:13 You are weary with your many counsels.
   Let them stand up now and save you, those who divide the heavens, who gaze at the stars, who announce month by month what will come upon you.
47:14 Look, they are like stubble;
   fire burns them.
   They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame.
   There is no coal for warming oneself, no fire to sit before.
47:15 So will they be to you, those with whom you have labored, your merchants from your youth.
   Each wanders his own way;
   there is no one to save you.”

Chapter 48
48:1 “Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and have come from the waters of Judah, who swear by the name of the LORD and invoke the God of Israel, but not in truth or righteousness.
48:2 For they call themselves of the holy city and rely on the God of Israel;
   the LORD of hosts is his name.

48:3 I declared the former things long ago;
   they went out from my mouth, and I made them known.
   Suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
48:4 Because I knew you were stubborn, your neck an iron sinew and your forehead bronze,
48:5 I declared them to you long ago;
   before they came to pass I made them known to you, so that you could not say, ‘My idol did them;
   my carved image and my cast image commanded them.’
48:6 You have heard;
   look at all of it.
   Will you not declare it?
   From now on I make you hear new things, hidden things you have not known.
48:7 They are created now, not long ago;
   before today you had not heard them, so that you could not say, ‘Look, I knew them.’
48:8 You had not heard, you had not known, and from of old your ear had not been opened.
   For I knew you would act very treacherously, and you were called a rebel from the womb.
48:9 For my name’s sake I defer my anger, and for my praise I restrain it toward you, so that I do not cut you off.
48:10 Look, I have refined you, but not as silver;
   I have chosen you in the furnace of affliction.
48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I will act.
   For how could it be profaned?
   I will not give my glory to another.

48:12 Listen to me, Jacob, Israel whom I have called.
   I am he;
   I am the first, and I am also the last.
48:13 My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand spread out the heavens.
   When I call to them, they stand together.
48:14 Gather, all of you, and hear.
   Who among them has declared these things?
   The LORD loves him;
   he will carry out his purpose against Babylon, and his arm will be against the Chaldeans.
48:15 I, I have spoken;
   I have called him.
   I have brought him, and his way will prosper.
48:16 Come near to me and hear this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
   from the time it came to be, I was there.”
   And now the Lord GOD has sent me, and his Spirit.

48:17 This is what the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, says: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who leads you in the way you should go.
48:18 If only you had paid attention to my commandments!
   Your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
48:19 Your offspring would have been like the sand, and the descendants of your body like its grains.
   His name would not have been cut off or destroyed from before me.”
48:20 Go out from Babylon;
   flee from the Chaldeans!
   With a voice of joy declare it, make it known, send it out to the ends of the earth.
   Say, “The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob.”
48:21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts.
   He made water flow from the rock for them;
   he split the rock, and waters gushed out.
48:22 “There is no peace for the wicked,” says the LORD.

Chapter 49
49:1 Listen to me, islands, and pay attention, peoples from afar.
   The LORD called me from the womb;
   from my mother’s body he spoke my name.
49:2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword;
   in the shadow of his hand he hid me.
   He made me a polished arrow;
   in his quiver he concealed me.
49:3 He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will show my glory.”
49:4 But I said, “I have labored in vain;
   I have spent my strength for emptiness and futility.
   Yet my cause is with the LORD, and my recompense with my God.”
49:5 Now the LORD speaks, who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to him.
   I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has been my strength.
49:6 He says, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and restore the preserved of Israel.
   I will also give you as a light to the nations, to be my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

49:7 This is what the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, says to the one despised, abhorred by the nation, the servant of rulers: “Kings will see and rise;
   princes will bow down, because of the LORD, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you.”
49:8 This is what the LORD says: “In a time of favor I answered you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.
   I will keep you and give you as a covenant for the people, to restore the land and apportion the desolate inheritances,
49:9 saying to the prisoners, ‘Come out!’ and to those in darkness, ‘Show yourselves!’ They will graze along the roads, and on all the bare heights will be their pasture.
49:10 They will neither hunger nor thirst, and neither scorching heat nor sun will strike them.
   For the one who has compassion on them will lead them and guide them beside springs of water.
49:11 I will turn all my mountains into a road, and my highways will be raised up.
49:12 Look, these will come from afar;
   look, those from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinim.”
49:13 Sing for joy, heavens, and rejoice, earth!
   Break into singing, mountains!
   For the LORD has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.

49:14 But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;
   the Lord has forgotten me.”
49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child and have no compassion on the son of her womb?
   Even these may forget, but I will not forget you.
49:16 Look, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
   your walls are always before me.
49:17 Your children hurry;
   your destroyers and those who laid you waste will go out from you.
49:18 Lift up your eyes all around and see: all of them gather and come to you.
   As I live,” declares the LORD, “you will wear them all like an ornament and bind them on like a bride.
49:19 As for your ruins, your desolate places, and your devastated land, now you will be too narrow for your inhabitants, and those who devoured you will be far away.
49:20 The children of your bereavement will yet say in your hearing, ‘This place is too narrow for me;
   make room for me to live.’
49:21 Then you will say in your heart, ‘Who has borne these for me?
   I was bereaved and alone, exiled and put away.
   Who raised these?
   Look, I was left alone;
   where were these?’”

49:22 This is what the Lord GOD says: “Look, I will lift my hand to the nations and raise my banner to the peoples.
   They will bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters will be carried on their shoulders.
49:23 Kings will be your guardians and their princesses your nursing mothers.
   They will bow down to you with their faces to the ground and lick the dust of your feet.
   Then you will know that I am the LORD;
   those who wait for me will not be ashamed.”

49:24 Can plunder be taken from a warrior, or the captive of a righteous man escape?
49:25 For this is what the LORD says: “Even the captives of a warrior will be taken away, and the plunder of the ruthless will be rescued.
   I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children.
49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will be drunk with their own blood as with sweet wine.
   All flesh will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”

Chapter 50
50:1 This is what the LORD says: “Where is your mother’s certificate of divorce with which I sent her away?
   Or to which of my creditors did I sell you?
   Look, because of your iniquities you were sold, and because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
50:2 Why, when I came, was there no one, and when I called, no one answered?
   Is my hand too short to redeem, or have I no power to deliver?
   Look, at my rebuke I dry up the sea and turn rivers into a desert.
   Their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst.
50:3 I clothe the heavens in darkness and make sackcloth their covering.”

50:4 The Lord GOD has given me the tongue of those who are taught, so that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word.
   Morning by morning he awakens me;
   he awakens my ear to listen as those who are taught.
50:5 The Lord GOD has opened my ear, and I did not rebel or turn back.
50:6 I gave my back to those who struck me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard.
   I did not hide my face from insults and spitting.
50:7 But the Lord GOD helps me;
   therefore I have not been disgraced.
   Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed.
50:8 The one who vindicates me is near.
   Who will contend with me?
   Let us stand together.
   Who is my adversary?
   Let him approach me.
50:9 Look, the Lord GOD helps me;
   who will condemn me?
   Look, all of them will wear out like a garment;
   the moth will eat them.
50:10 Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of his servant?
   Let the one who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.
50:11 “Look, all of you who kindle a fire and surround yourselves with firebrands: walk in the light of your fire and among the firebrands you have kindled.
   This is what you will have from my hand: you will lie down in torment.”

Chapter 51
51:1 “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, who seek the LORD.
   Look to the rock from which you were hewn and to the quarry pit from which you were dug.
51:2 Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you.
   For I called him when he was but one, and I blessed him and multiplied him.”

51:3 For the LORD will comfort Zion;
   he will comfort all her ruins.
   He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the LORD.
   Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing.

51:4 “Pay attention to me, my people;
   give ear to me, my nation.
   For instruction will go out from me, and I will establish my justice as a light for the peoples.
51:5 My righteousness is near;
   my salvation has gone forth, and my arms will judge the peoples.
   The islands will wait for me and hope in my arm.
51:6 Lift your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth below.
   For the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its inhabitants will die in the same way.
   But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be broken.

51:7 Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people with my instruction in their hearts.
   Do not fear human insults or be dismayed at their taunts.
51:8 For the moth will eat them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool.
   But my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation from generation to generation.”

51:9 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with strength, arm of the LORD!
   Awake as in days of old, the generations of long ago.
   Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces and pierced the sea monster?
51:10 Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to cross?
51:11 The ransomed of the LORD will return and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy upon their heads.
   They will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

51:12 “I, I am the one who comforts you.
   Who are you that you fear a mortal man, a son of man who is made like grass?
51:13 You have forgotten the LORD your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundation of the earth.
   You fear continually, all day long, because of the fury of the oppressor as he prepares to destroy.
   But where is the fury of the oppressor?
51:14 The one bowed down will soon be released;
   he will not die in the pit, nor will his bread be lacking.
51:15 For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar;
   the LORD of hosts is his name.
51:16 I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens, lay the foundation of the earth, and say to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”

51:17 Awake, awake, rise up, Jerusalem!
   You have drunk from the hand of the LORD the cup of his wrath;
   you have drunk the bowl, the cup of staggering, and drained it.
51:18 Among all the sons she has borne there is no one to guide her;
   among all the sons she has raised there is no one to take her by the hand.
51:19 These two things have befallen you—who will grieve with you?—devastation and destruction, famine and sword.
   By whom shall I comfort you?
51:20 Your sons have fainted;
   they lie at the head of every street like an antelope in a net, filled with the wrath of the LORD and the rebuke of your God.
51:21 Therefore hear this now, you afflicted one, drunk, but not with wine:

51:22 This is what your Lord, the LORD, and your God, who pleads his people’s cause, says: “Look, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering, the bowl, the cup of my wrath.
   You will never drink it again.
51:23 I will put it in the hand of your tormentors, who said to you, ‘Bow down so that we may walk over you.’ You made your back like the ground, like a street for those who passed over.”

Chapter 52
52:1 Awake, awake, clothe yourself with your strength, Zion!
   Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city, for the uncircumcised and unclean will never enter you again.
52:2 Shake off the dust;
   rise and sit, Jerusalem.
   Free yourself from the bonds on your neck, captive daughter of Zion.

52:3 For this is what the LORD says: “You were sold for nothing, and you will be redeemed without silver.”
52:4 For this is what the Lord GOD says: “At first my people went down to Egypt to live there, and Assyria oppressed them without cause.
52:5 Now what have I here,” declares the LORD, “when my people have been taken away for nothing?
   Their rulers howl,” declares the LORD, “and continually, all day long, my name is blasphemed.
52:6 Therefore my people will know my name;
   therefore in that day they will know that I am the one who speaks: ‘Here I am!’”
52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of the bearer of good news, who proclaims peace, who brings good news of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
52:8 The voice of your watchmen!
   They lift up their voices and sing for joy together, for with their own eyes they will see the LORD returning to Zion.
52:9 Break into singing together, ruins of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people;
   he has redeemed Jerusalem.
52:10 The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.

52:11 Depart, depart, go out from there!
   Touch nothing unclean.
   Go out from her midst;
   purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
52:12 For you will not go out in haste or leave in flight, for the LORD will go before you, and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.

52:13 “Look, my servant will act wisely;
   he will be exalted, lifted up, and very high.
52:14 Just as many were appalled at you—his appearance was so marred beyond that of a man, and his form beyond that of the sons of men—
52:15 so he will sprinkle many nations.
   Kings will shut their mouths because of him, for what they had not been told they will see, and what they had not heard they will understand.”

Chapter 53
53:1 Who has believed our report, and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
53:2 He grew up before him like a tender shoot and like a root out of dry ground.
   He had no form or majesty that we should look at him, no appearance that we should desire him.
53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with illness.
   Like one from whom people hide their faces, he was despised, and we did not esteem him.
53:4 Surely he bore our illnesses and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken, struck by God, and afflicted.
53:5 But he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.
   The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wound we were healed.
53:6 All of us like sheep have gone astray;
   each has turned to his own way.
   But the LORD laid upon him the iniquity of us all.
53:7 He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth.
   Like a lamb led to the slaughter, and like a ewe silent before her shearers, he did not open his mouth.
53:8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
   and his generation, who considered it?
   For he was cut off from the land of the living;
   for the transgression of my people the blow fell on him.
53:9 His grave was assigned with the wicked, and with a rich man in his death, though he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth.
53:10 Yet the LORD willed to crush him;
   he made him ill.
   If you make his life a guilt offering, he will see offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.
53:11 From the anguish of his soul he will see and be satisfied.
   By his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities.
53:12 Therefore I will allot him a portion among the many, and he will divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his life to death and was numbered with transgressors.
   He bore the sin of many and interceded for transgressors.

Chapter 54
54:1 “Sing for joy, barren one who has not borne!
   Break into singing and shout, you who have not been in labor!
   For the children of the desolate woman are more than the children of the married woman,” says the LORD.
54:2 “Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings.
   Do not hold back;
   lengthen your ropes and strengthen your stakes.
54:3 For you will spread out to the right and to the left.
   Your offspring will possess nations and populate desolate cities.
54:4 Do not fear, for you will not be ashamed;
   do not be dismayed, for you will not be disgraced.
   You will forget the shame of your youth and remember the reproach of your widowhood no more.
54:5 For your Maker is your husband;
   the LORD of hosts is his name.
   Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel;
   he will be called the God of all the earth.
54:6 For the LORD has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like a wife of youth who has been rejected,” says your God.
54:7 “For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
54:8 In an outburst of wrath I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting steadfast love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer.

54:9 “This is like the waters of Noah to me: as I swore that the waters of Noah would never again pass over the earth, so I have sworn not to be angry with you or rebuke you.
54:10 Though the mountains depart and the hills totter, my steadfast love will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not totter,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

54:11 “Afflicted one, tossed by storms and not comforted, look, I will set your stones in antimony and lay your foundations with sapphires.
54:12 I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling stones, and all your border of precious stones.
54:13 All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be the peace of your children.
54:14 You will be established in righteousness.
   Stay far from oppression, for you will not fear, and from terror, for it will not come near you.
54:15 Look, if anyone gathers against you, it will not be from me.
   Whoever gathers against you will fall because of you.
54:16 Look, I have created the smith who blows on the coals in the fire and produces a tool for his work.
   I have also created the destroyer to destroy.
54:17 No weapon formed against you will prosper, and every tongue that rises against you in judgment you will condemn.
   This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is from me,” declares the LORD.

Chapter 55
55:1 “Come, all who thirst, come to the waters!
   You who have no money, come, buy and eat.
   Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
55:2 Why do you spend silver on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy?
   Listen carefully to me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight in rich food.
55:3 Incline your ear and come to me;
   hear, so that your soul may live.
   I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies promised to David.
55:4 Look, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander of the peoples.
55:5 Look, you will call a nation you do not know, and a nation that did not know you will run to you, because of the LORD your God and the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.”

55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found;
   call upon him while he is near.
55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
   Let him return to the LORD, and he will have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
55:8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD.
55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
55:10 For as rain and snow come down from heaven and do not return there without watering the earth, making it bear and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
55:11 so will my word be that goes out from my mouth.
   It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and succeed in what I sent it to do.
55:12 For you will go out with joy and be led in peace.
   The mountains and hills will break into singing before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands.
55:13 Instead of the thornbush a cypress will grow, and instead of the nettle a myrtle will grow.
   This will be for the LORD a name, an everlasting sign that will not be cut off.”

Chapter 56
56:1 This is what the LORD says: “Keep justice and do righteousness, for my salvation is near to come and my righteousness to be revealed.
56:2 Blessed is the man who does this, the son of man who holds fast to it, who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil.”

56:3 Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people.”
   Let not the eunuch say, “Look, I am a dry tree.”

56:4 For this is what the LORD says: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose what pleases me, and hold fast to my covenant,
56:5 I will give in my house and within my walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters.
   I will give him an everlasting name that will not be cut off.

56:6 And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, all who keep the Sabbath from profaning it and hold fast to my covenant—
56:7 I will bring them to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer.
   Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house will be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”
56:8 The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather still others to him, besides those already gathered to him.”
56:9 All you beasts of the field, come to devour, all you beasts in the forest!

56:10 His watchmen are blind;
   none of them knows.
   They are all mute dogs, unable to bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
56:11 The dogs are greedy and never know satisfaction.
   They are shepherds who do not understand;
   all have turned to their own way, each to his own gain, every last one.
56:12 “Come, I will get wine, and let us fill ourselves with strong drink.
   Tomorrow will be like today, even more abundant.”

Chapter 57
57:1 The righteous one perishes, and no one takes it to heart;
   people of steadfast love are taken away, with no one understanding that the righteous one is taken away from evil.
57:2 He enters into peace;
   they rest on their beds, each one who walks uprightly.
57:3 “But you, come near, children of a sorceress, offspring of an adulterer and a prostitute.
57:4 Whom are you mocking?
   Against whom do you open your mouth wide and stick out your tongue?
   Are you not children of rebellion, offspring of falsehood,
57:5 you who burn with passion among the oaks, under every leafy tree, who slaughter children in the ravines, under the overhangs of the rocks?
57:6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is your portion;
   they, they are your lot.
   To them you have poured out a drink offering and brought a grain offering.
   Should I relent over these things?
57:7 On a high and lofty mountain you set your bed;
   there too you went up to offer sacrifice.
57:8 Behind the door and the doorpost you set your memorial.
   Away from me you uncovered yourself and went up;
   you enlarged your bed and made a covenant with them.
   You loved their bed and gazed on their manhood.
57:9 You went to the king with oil and multiplied your perfumes;
   you sent your envoys far away and humbled yourself as far as Sheol.
57:10 You grew weary with the length of your way, yet you did not say, ‘There is no hope.’ You found renewed vigor in your hand, so you did not grow weak.
57:11 Whom did you dread and fear, that you lied and did not remember me or take me to heart?
   Have I not kept silent for a long time, and you do not fear me?
57:12 I will declare your righteousness and your works, but they will not benefit you.
57:13 When you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you!
   The wind will carry them all away;
   a breath will sweep them off.
   But whoever takes refuge in me will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain.”
57:14 And he will say, “Build up, build up, prepare the way!
   Remove the stumbling block from the way of my people.”

57:15 For thus says the high and exalted One, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and with the contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
57:16 For I will not contend forever or always be angry, for the spirit would faint before me, and the breaths of life I have made.
57:17 Because of his sinful greed I was angry and struck him;
   I hid myself and was angry, yet he went on turning away in the way of his heart.
57:18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him;
   I will guide him and restore comfort to him and to his mourners,
57:19 creating the fruit of the lips.
   Peace, peace to the far and to the near,” says the LORD, “and I will heal him.”
57:20 But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot be still, whose waters cast up mire and mud.
57:21 “There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Chapter 58
58:1 “Cry out at full voice;
   do not hold back!
   Lift up your voice like a trumpet.
   Declare to my people their rebellion, and to the house of Jacob their sins.
58:2 Day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, like a nation that had practiced righteousness and had not forsaken the justice of its God.
   They ask me for righteous judgments;
   they delight to draw near to God.
58:3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you have not seen?
   Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice?’ Look, on the day of your fast you pursue your own pleasure and oppress all your workers.
58:4 Look, you fast for strife and quarrels, and to strike with a wicked fist.
   You cannot fast as you do today and make your voice heard on high.
58:5 Is this the fast I choose, a day for a person to afflict his soul?
   To bow his head like a reed and spread out sackcloth and ashes?
   Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the LORD?
58:6 Is not this the fast I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, undo the straps of the yoke, let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?
58:7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house;
   when you see the naked, to cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?
58:8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will spring up quickly.
   Your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
58:9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
   you will cry for help, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove from your midst the yoke, the pointing finger, and evil speech,
58:10 if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your gloom will be like noon.
58:11 The LORD will guide you continually, satisfy your soul in parched places, and strengthen your bones.
   You will be like a watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
58:12 Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins;
   you will raise up the foundations of generations past.
   You will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in.
58:13 If you turn your foot back from the Sabbath, from pursuing your own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
   if you honor it by not following your own ways, pursuing your own pleasure, or talking of your own affairs,
58:14 then you will delight in the LORD.
   I will make you ride on the heights of the land and feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

Chapter 59
59:1 Look, the LORD’s hand is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear.
59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God;
   your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he does not hear.
59:3 For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with iniquity;
   your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wickedness.
59:4 No one pleads with justice, and no one argues a case honestly.
   They trust in emptiness and speak falsehood;
   they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.
59:5 They hatch vipers’ eggs and weave spiders’ webs.
   Whoever eats their eggs will die, and from a crushed egg a viper breaks out.
59:6 Their webs will not become clothing, nor will they cover themselves with what they make.
   Their works are works of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.
59:7 Their feet run to evil, and they hurry to shed innocent blood.
   Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity;
   devastation and destruction are in their highways.
59:8 They do not know the way of peace, and there is no justice in their tracks.
   They have made their paths crooked;
   whoever walks in them does not know peace.
59:9 Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us.
   We wait for light, but look, darkness;
   for brightness, but we walk in gloom.
59:10 We grope for the wall like the blind;
   we grope like those without eyes.
   We stumble at noon as at twilight;
   among the vigorous we are like the dead.
59:11 We all growl like bears and moan mournfully like doves.
   We wait for justice, but there is none;
   for salvation, but it is far from us.
59:12 For our rebellions are many before you, and our sins testify against us.
   Our rebellions are with us, and we know our iniquities:
59:13 rebelling and denying the LORD, turning back from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering lying words from the heart.
59:14 Justice is driven back, and righteousness stands far away, for truth has stumbled in the public square, and uprightness cannot enter.
59:15 Truth is missing, and whoever turns from evil becomes prey.
   The LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
59:16 He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that no one interceded.
   So his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.
59:17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head.
   He put on garments of vengeance for clothing and wrapped himself in zeal as a robe.
59:18 According to their deeds, so he will repay: wrath to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies;
   to the coastlands he will give repayment.
59:19 From the west they will fear the name of the LORD, and from the rising of the sun his glory, for he will come like a pent-up river driven on by the wind of the LORD.
59:20 “A redeemer will come to Zion, and to those in Jacob who turn from rebellion,” declares the LORD.
59:21 “As for me, this is my covenant with them,” says the LORD: “My Spirit who is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouth of your offspring, or from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the LORD, “from now and forever.”

Chapter 60
60:1 Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you.
60:2 For look, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples;
   but the LORD will rise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.
60:3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
60:4 Lift up your eyes all around and see: they all gather and come to you.
   Your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip.
60:5 Then you will see and be radiant;
   your heart will tremble and swell, for the abundance of the sea will turn to you, and the wealth of the nations will come to you.
60:6 A multitude of camels will cover you, young camels of Midian and Ephah.
   All those from Sheba will come;
   they will carry gold and frankincense and proclaim the praises of the LORD.
60:7 “All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you;
   the rams of Nebaioth will serve you.
   They will ascend with acceptance on my altar, and I will glorify my glorious house.
60:8 Who are these who fly like a cloud, like doves to their windows?
60:9 For the coastlands wait for me, with the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring your sons from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the LORD your God and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.
60:10 Foreigners will build your walls, and their kings will serve you;
   for in my wrath I struck you, but in my favor I have had compassion on you.
60:11 Your gates will remain open continually;
   day and night they will not be shut, so that the wealth of the nations may be brought to you, with their kings led along.
60:12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you will perish;
   those nations will be utterly devastated.
60:13 The glory of Lebanon will come to you, cypress, elm, and box tree together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary;
   I will honor the place of my feet.
60:14 The children of those who afflicted you will come bowing to you, and all who despised you will bow down at the soles of your feet.
   They will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
60:15 Instead of your being forsaken and hated, with no one passing through, I will make you an everlasting pride, a joy from generation to generation.
60:16 You will suck the milk of nations and nurse at the breast of kings.
   You will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.
60:17 Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver;
   instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron.
   I will make peace your overseer and righteousness your taskmasters.
60:18 Violence will no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation and destruction within your borders.
   You will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise.
60:19 The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you;
   the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God your glory.
60:20 Your sun will no longer set, and your moon will not withdraw, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning will end.
60:21 Your people will all be righteous;
   they will possess the land forever, a shoot of my plantings, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
60:22 The least will become a thousand, and the smallest a mighty nation.
   I, the LORD, will hasten it in its time.”

Chapter 61
61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of prison to those who are bound,
61:2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn,
61:3 to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give them a headdress instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit.
   They will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
61:4 They will rebuild the ancient ruins, raise up the desolate places of old, and restore the ruined cities, the places desolate for generations.
61:5 Foreigners will stand and shepherd your flocks;
   strangers will be your farmers and your vinedressers.
61:6 But you will be called priests of the LORD;
   you will be spoken of as ministers of our God.
   You will eat the wealth of nations and boast in their glory.
61:7 Instead of your shame, a double portion;
   instead of disgrace, they will rejoice in their portion.
   Therefore they will possess a double portion in their land;
   everlasting joy will be theirs.
61:8 “For I, the LORD, love justice;
   I hate robbery in a burnt offering.
   I will faithfully give them their recompense and make an everlasting covenant with them.
61:9 Their offspring will be known among the nations, and their descendants among the peoples.
   All who see them will recognize that they are offspring whom the LORD has blessed.”

61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
   my soul will exult in my God.
   For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, like a bridegroom who puts on a headdress as a priest does, and like a bride who adorns herself with her jewels.
61:11 For as the earth brings forth its shoots and a garden makes what is sown in it sprout, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

Chapter 62
62:1 For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness and her salvation burns like a torch.
62:2 The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.
   You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will designate.
62:3 You will be a crown of splendor in the hand of the LORD, a royal diadem in the palm of your God.
62:4 You will no longer be called Forsaken, nor will your land be called Desolate.
   You will be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married;
   for the LORD delights in you, and your land will be married.
62:5 For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons will marry you;
   and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so your God will rejoice over you.
62:6 On your walls, Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen;
   all day and all night they will never be silent.
   You who remind the LORD, take no rest,
62:7 and give him no rest until he establishes Jerusalem and makes her a praise in the earth.
62:8 The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm: “I will never again give your grain as food to your enemies, nor will foreigners drink your new wine for which you have labored.
62:9 But those who gather it will eat it and praise the LORD;
   those who collect it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary.”

62:10 Pass through, pass through the gates!
   Prepare the way for the people.
   Build up, build up the highway!
   Clear away the stones;
   lift up a banner over the peoples!
62:11 Look, the LORD has proclaimed to the end of the earth: “Say to Daughter Zion, ‘Look, your salvation is coming!
   Look, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him.’”
62:12 They will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of the LORD;
   and you will be called Sought Out, a City Not Forsaken.

Chapter 63
63:1 Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah in stained garments, this one splendid in his clothing, leaning forward in his great strength?
   “It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save.”
63:2 Why is your clothing red, and your garments like those of someone treading a winepress?
63:3 “I have trodden the winepress alone;
   from the peoples no one was with me.
   I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath;
   their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing.
63:4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redeemed had come.
63:5 I looked, but there was no one to help;
   I was appalled, but there was no one to uphold me.
   So my own arm brought me salvation, and my wrath upheld me.
63:6 I trampled the peoples in my anger and made them drunk in my wrath;
   I poured their blood down to the earth.”

63:7 I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has bestowed on us, and the great goodness he has bestowed on the house of Israel according to his compassion and the abundance of his steadfast love.
63:8 He said, “Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely.”
   And he became their Savior.
63:9 In all their distress he was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them.
   In his love and compassion he redeemed them;
   he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
63:10 But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit.
   So he turned to be their enemy;
   he himself fought against them.
63:11 Then his people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses: “Where is he who brought them up from the sea with the shepherds of his flock?
   Where is he who put his Holy Spirit within him,
63:12 who made his glorious arm go at the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to make for himself an everlasting name,
63:13 who led them through the depths?
   Like a horse in the wilderness, they did not stumble.”
63:14 Like livestock going down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave him rest.
   So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.
63:15 Look down from heaven and see, from your holy and glorious dwelling.
   Where are your zeal and your mighty deeds?
   Your deep yearning and compassion are withheld from me.
63:16 For you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us.
   You, LORD, are our Father;
   Our Redeemer from of Old is your name.
63:17 Why, LORD, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our heart so that we do not fear you?
   Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes of your inheritance.
63:18 For a little while your holy people possessed it;
   our adversaries have trampled your sanctuary.
63:19 We have become like those over whom you never ruled, those who were not called by your name.

Chapter 64
64:1 Oh, that you would tear open the heavens and come down, that the mountains would quake at your presence,
64:2 as fire kindles brushwood, as fire makes water boil, to make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations might tremble at your presence!
64:3 When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect, you came down;
   the mountains quaked at your presence.
64:4 From of old no one has heard or perceived, nor has any eye seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
64:5 You meet the one who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.
   Look, you were angry, and we sinned;
   we have continued in sin for a long time—can we be saved?
64:6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a menstrual cloth.
   We all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
64:7 There is no one who calls on your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you;
   for you have hidden your face from us and made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.
64:8 Yet now, LORD, you are our Father;
   we are the clay, and you are our potter.
   We are all the work of your hand.
64:9 Do not be exceedingly angry, LORD, or remember iniquity forever.
   Look, please see: we are all your people.
64:10 Your holy cities have become a wilderness;
   Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.
64:11 Our holy and glorious house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned with fire, and all our precious things have become ruins.
64:12 In the face of these things will you hold back, LORD?
   Will you keep silent and afflict us so severely?

Chapter 65
65:1 “I let myself be sought by those who did not ask for me;
   I let myself be found by those who did not seek me.
   I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation not called by my name.
65:2 I spread out my hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own thoughts,
65:3 a people who continually provoke me to my face, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense on bricks,
65:4 who sit among the graves and spend the night in secret places, who eat pork, with broth of unclean things in their vessels,
65:5 who say, ‘Keep to yourself;
   do not come near me, for I am holier than you.’ These are smoke in my nostrils, a fire burning all day long.
65:6 Look, it is written before me: I will not keep silent, but I will repay;
   I will repay into their lap
65:7 your iniquities and your fathers’ iniquities together,” says the LORD.
   “Because they burned incense on the mountains and reviled me on the hills, I will measure into their lap the recompense for their former works.”

65:8 Thus says the LORD: “As when new wine is found in a cluster and someone says, ‘Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing in it,’ so I will act for my servants’ sake, so as not to destroy them all.
65:9 I will bring forth offspring from Jacob, and from Judah an heir of my mountains.
   My chosen ones will inherit it, and my servants will dwell there.
65:10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for cattle, for my people who seek me.
65:11 But you who forsake the LORD and forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for Fortune and fill vessels with mixed wine for Destiny,
65:12 I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will bow down for slaughter, because I called and you did not answer;
   I spoke and you did not listen.
   You did evil in my eyes and chose what did not please me.”

65:13 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry;
   look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty;
   look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
65:14 Look, my servants will sing for joy of heart, but you will cry out in pain of heart and wail from a broken spirit.
65:15 You will leave your name as a curse to my chosen ones;
   the Lord GOD will put you to death, but he will call his servants by another name.
65:16 Whoever blesses himself in the land will bless himself by the God of truth, and whoever swears in the land will swear by the God of truth, because the former troubles are forgotten and hidden from my eyes.
65:17 For look, I am creating new heavens and a new earth;
   the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.
65:18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating, for look, I am creating Jerusalem as a delight and her people as a joy.
65:19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and delight in my people;
   the sound of weeping and the sound of crying will no longer be heard in her.
65:20 No longer will there be an infant there who lives only a few days, or an old man who does not fulfill his days.
   For the young man will die at a hundred years old, and the sinner at a hundred years old will be accursed.
65:21 They will build houses and inhabit them;
   they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
65:22 They will not build for another to inhabit or plant for another to eat;
   for the days of my people will be like the days of a tree, and my chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands.
65:23 They will not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, and their descendants with them.
65:24 Before they call, I will answer;
   while they are still speaking, I will hear.
65:25 The wolf and the lamb will graze together, the lion will eat straw like the ox, and dust will be the serpent’s food.
   They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain,” says the LORD.

Chapter 66
66:1 Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool.
   Where is the house you will build for me, and where is the place of my rest?
66:2 My hand made all these things, and so all these things came to be,” declares the LORD.
   “But this is the one to whom I will look: the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word.
66:3 Whoever slaughters an ox is like one who kills a man;
   whoever sacrifices a lamb, like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
   whoever presents a grain offering, like one who offers pig’s blood;
   whoever makes a memorial offering of frankincense, like one who blesses an idol.
   They have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations.
66:4 So I too will choose harsh treatment for them and bring upon them what they dread, because I called and no one answered;
   I spoke and they did not listen.
   They did evil in my eyes and chose what did not please me.”

66:5 Hear the word of the LORD, you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you and exclude you for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the LORD be glorified, that we may see your joy!’ But they will be put to shame.”
66:6 A sound of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple!
   The voice of the LORD, repaying his enemies!
66:7 Before she went into labor, she gave birth;
   before pain came upon her, she delivered a son.
66:8 Who has heard such a thing?
   Who has seen such things?
   Can a land be brought forth in one day, or a nation be born all at once?
   Yet as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.
66:9 “Will I bring to the point of birth and not bring forth?”
   says the LORD.
   “Or will I, who bring forth, shut the womb?”
   says your God.

66:10 Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all who love her.
   Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,
66:11 that you may nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breast, that you may drink deeply and delight in the abundance of her glory.

66:12 For thus says the LORD: “Look, I am extending peace to her like a river, and the glory of nations like an overflowing stream.
   You will nurse, be carried on the hip, and be dandled on the knees.
66:13 As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and in Jerusalem you will be comforted.”
66:14 You will see, and your heart will rejoice;
   your bones will flourish like grass.
   The hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, and his indignation to his enemies.
66:15 For look, the LORD will come with fire, and his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger in fury and his rebuke in flames of fire.
66:16 For by fire and by his sword the LORD will judge all flesh, and those slain by the LORD will be many.
66:17 “Those who consecrate and purify themselves for the gardens, following one in the midst, eating pork and detestable things and mice, will come to an end together,” declares the LORD.
66:18 “But I know their deeds and their thoughts;
   the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues.
   They will come and see my glory.
66:19 I will set a sign among them and send survivors from them to the nations: to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have not heard my fame or seen my glory.
   They will declare my glory among the nations.
66:20 They will bring all your brothers from all the nations as an offering to the LORD, on horses, in chariots and litters, on mules and camels, to my holy mountain, Jerusalem,” says the LORD, “as the Israelites bring the grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the LORD.
66:21 And from them also I will take some for priests and Levites,” says the LORD.
66:22 “For as the new heavens and the new earth that I am making will remain before me,” declares the LORD, “so your offspring and your name will remain.
66:23 From new moon to new moon, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh will come to bow down before me,” says the LORD.
66:24 “They will go out and look on the corpses of the people who rebelled against me.
   For their worm will not die, and their fire will not be quenched, and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

JEREMIAH

Chapter 1
1:1 The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.
1:2 The word of the LORD came to him in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
1:3 It also came in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah son of Josiah, king of Judah, when Jerusalem went into exile in the fifth month.
1:4 The word of the LORD came to me:
1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
   before you were born, I consecrated you.
   I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
1:6 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! I do not know how to speak, for I am a youth.”
1:7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you must go to everyone to whom I send you and speak whatever I command you.
1:8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the LORD.
1:9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth. The LORD said to me, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth.
1:10 See, today I have appointed you over nations and kingdoms, to uproot and tear down, to destroy and demolish, to build and to plant.”
1:11 The word of the LORD came to me: “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “I see an almond branch.”
1:12 The LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to carry it out.”
1:13 The word of the LORD came to me a second time: “What do you see?” I said, “I see a boiling pot, tilted away from the north.”
1:14 Then the LORD said to me, “From the north disaster will break loose upon all who live in the land.
1:15 For I am calling all the clans of the northern kingdoms,” declares the LORD. “They will come, and each will set his throne at the entrance to Jerusalem’s gates, against all its surrounding walls and against all the cities of Judah.
1:16 I will pronounce my judgments against them for all their wickedness: they have forsaken me, burned incense to other gods, and bowed down to the work of their own hands.
1:17 But you, gird your waist, stand up, and tell them everything I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will make you dismayed before them.
1:18 Look, today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land—against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land.
1:19 They will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you,” declares the LORD, “to deliver you.”

Chapter 2
2:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2:2 “Go and proclaim within Jerusalem’s hearing: This is what the LORD says: ‘I remember your devotion in your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed me through the wilderness, through a land that had not been sown.
2:3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of his harvest.
   All who devoured him became guilty;
   disaster came upon them,’ declares the LORD.”

2:4 Hear the word of the LORD, house of Jacob and all the clans of the house of Israel.
2:5 This is what the LORD says: “What wrong did your ancestors find in me, that they went far from me?
   They followed what was worthless and became worthless themselves.
2:6 They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD, who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought and deep darkness, a land no one passed through and no one inhabited?’
2:7 I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and its good things.
   But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance an abomination.
2:8 The priests did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD?’ Those who handled the law did not know me.
   The shepherds rebelled against me;
   the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that could not help.
2:9 Therefore I will still bring my case against you,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring my case against your children’s children.
2:10 Cross over to the coastlands of Kittim and look;
   send to Kedar and examine carefully.
   See whether anything like this has ever happened.
2:11 Has a nation exchanged its gods, though they are no gods?
   Yet my people have exchanged their glory for what cannot help.
2:12 Be appalled at this, heavens;
   shudder and be utterly desolate,” declares the LORD.
2:13 “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
2:14 Is Israel a slave?
   Was he born a slave in the household?
   Why has he become plunder?
2:15 Young lions have roared against him;
   they have raised their voices.
   They have made his land a waste;
   his cities are burned, without an inhabitant.
2:16 Even the people of Memphis and Tahpanhes have laid bare the crown of your head.
2:17 Have you not brought this on yourself by forsaking the LORD your God when he was leading you along the way?
2:18 And now, why take the road to Egypt to drink the waters of Shihor?
   Why take the road to Assyria to drink the waters of the River?
2:19 Your own wickedness will discipline you, and your apostasies will rebuke you.
   Know and see how evil and bitter it is to forsake the LORD your God and have no fear of me,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
2:20 “Long ago I broke your yoke and tore off your bonds, but you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill and under every leafy tree you sprawled as a prostitute.
2:21 I planted you as a choice vine, entirely from genuine seed.
   How then have you turned into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine before me?
2:22 Though you wash yourself with washing soda and use soap in abundance, the stain of your guilt remains before me,” declares the Lord GOD.
2:23 “How can you say, ‘I have not defiled myself;
   I have not followed the Baals’?
   Look at your way in the valley;
   acknowledge what you have done.
   You are a swift young she-camel, entangling her paths,
2:24 a wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, sniffing the wind in her craving.
   Who can restrain her in her heat?
   None who seek her need tire themselves;
   in her month they will find her.
2:25 Keep your feet from going bare and your throat from thirst.
   But you said, ‘It is hopeless!
   No, for I love strangers, and I will go after them.’
2:26 As a thief is ashamed when caught, so the house of Israel is ashamed—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets.
2:27 They say to a piece of wood, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to me, rather than their faces.
   But in their time of disaster they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’
2:28 Where are the gods you made for yourself?
   Let them rise up, if they can save you in your time of disaster!
   For you have as many gods as cities, Judah.

2:29 Why do you bring your case against me?
   You have all rebelled against me,” declares the LORD.
2:30 “In vain I struck your children;
   they accepted no discipline.
   Your own sword devoured your prophets like a ravaging lion.
2:31 You of this generation, consider the word of the LORD!
   Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of deep darkness?
   Why do my people say, ‘We are free;
   we will no longer come to you’?
2:32 Does a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her sashes?
   Yet my people have forgotten me for days beyond counting.
2:33 How skillfully you prepare your way to seek love!
   So you have even taught wicked women your ways.
2:34 Even on the skirts of your clothes is found the lifeblood of the innocent poor.
   You did not catch them breaking in.
   Yet despite all this,
2:35 you say, ‘I am innocent;
   surely his anger has turned away from me.’ Look, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
2:36 Why do you wander about so much, changing your way?
   You will be put to shame by Egypt, just as you were put to shame by Assyria.
2:37 From there too you will leave with your hands on your head, for the LORD has rejected those you trust, and you will not prosper through them.”

Chapter 3
3:1 He says, “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and marries another man, will he return to her again?
   Would not that land be thoroughly defiled?
   You have prostituted yourself with many lovers, and would you return to me?”
   declares the LORD.
3:2 “Lift your eyes to the bare heights and look.
   Where have men not slept with you?
   You sat by the roads waiting for them, like an Arab in the wilderness.
   You have defiled the land with your prostitution and your wickedness.
3:3 So the showers were withheld, and the spring rain did not come.
   Yet you had the forehead of a prostitute;
   you refused to be ashamed.
3:4 Have you not just now called to me, ‘My Father, you are the companion of my youth’?
3:5 ‘Will he hold a grudge forever?
   Will he keep his anger to the end?’ Look, this is what you have said, yet you have done all the evil you could.”

3:6 In the days of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done?
   She went up on every high mountain and under every leafy tree and prostituted herself there.
3:7 I said, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.
3:8 I saw that, though I had sent faithless Israel away and given her a certificate of divorce because of all her adulteries, her treacherous sister Judah did not fear.
   She too went and prostituted herself.
3:9 Because she took her prostitution lightly, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.
3:10 Yet despite all this, her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart, but only in pretense,” declares the LORD.

3:11 Then the LORD said to me, “Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah.
3:12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north: Return, faithless Israel, declares the LORD.
   I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the LORD.
   I will not hold a grudge forever.
3:13 Only acknowledge your guilt: you have rebelled against the LORD your God, scattered your favors among strangers under every leafy tree, and have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.
3:14 Return, faithless children, declares the LORD, for I am your husband.
   I will take you, one from a city and two from a clan, and bring you to Zion.
3:15 I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
3:16 When you multiply and become fruitful in the land in those days, declares the LORD, they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will not come to mind;
   they will not remember it or miss it, nor will another be made.
3:17 At that time they will call Jerusalem the Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will gather to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem.
   They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their evil hearts.

3:18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and together they will come from the land of the north to the land I gave your ancestors as an inheritance.
3:19 I said, ‘How I would place you among my children and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance among the hosts of nations!’ I said you would call me ‘My Father’ and would not turn away from following me.
3:20 But as a wife is treacherous to her companion, so you have been treacherous to me, house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
3:21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have twisted their way and forgotten the LORD their God.
3:22 “Return, faithless children;
   I will heal your faithlessness.”
   “Here we are;
   we come to you, for you are the LORD our God.
3:23 Surely the hills are a deception, the tumult on the mountains!
   Surely in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.
3:24 From our youth the shameful thing has devoured the fruit of our ancestors’ labor—their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters.
3:25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our disgrace cover us, for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our ancestors, from our youth to this day.
   We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.”

Chapter 4
4:1 “If you return, Israel,” declares the LORD, “return to me.
   If you remove your abominations from my presence and do not wander away,
4:2 and if you swear, ‘As the LORD lives,’ in truth, justice, and righteousness, then the nations will bless themselves in him, and in him they will glory.”

4:3 For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns.
4:4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD;
   remove the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of your evil deeds.”
4:5 Announce in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem: “Blow the trumpet in the land!”
   Cry out at the top of your voice and say, “Gather together!
   Let us enter the fortified cities!”
4:6 “Raise a banner toward Zion!
   Seek refuge;
   do not delay, for I am bringing disaster from the north and great destruction.
4:7 A lion has come up from his thicket;
   a destroyer of nations has set out.
   He has left his place to make your land a waste.
   Your cities will be ruined, without an inhabitant.”
4:8 For this, put on sackcloth, lament and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.

4:9 “On that day,” declares the LORD, “the king will lose heart, and so will the officials.
   The priests will be appalled, and the prophets will be astounded.”
4:10 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD!
   You have surely deceived this people and Jerusalem completely, saying, ‘You will have peace,’ while the sword reaches life itself!”
4:11 At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A scorching wind from the bare heights in the wilderness is coming toward the daughter of my people, neither to winnow nor to cleanse.
4:12 A wind too strong for that comes at my bidding.
   Now I too will pronounce judgments against them.”
4:13 Look, he comes up like clouds;
   his chariots are like a whirlwind, his horses swifter than eagles.
   Woe to us, for we are devastated!
4:14 Wash the evil from your heart, Jerusalem, so that you may be saved.
   How long will your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
4:15 For a voice announces from Dan and proclaims disaster from the hill country of Ephraim.
4:16 Tell the nations;
   proclaim concerning Jerusalem: “Besiegers are coming from a distant land, raising their voices against the cities of Judah.
4:17 They surround her like keepers of a field, because she has rebelled against me,” declares the LORD.
4:18 “Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you.
   This is your disaster—how bitter it is!
   It has reached your very heart.”

4:19 My insides, my insides!
   I writhe in pain at the walls of my heart.
   My heart pounds within me;
   I cannot keep silent, for you have heard, my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
4:20 Disaster upon disaster is announced, for the whole land is devastated.
   Suddenly my tents are destroyed, my tent curtains in an instant.
4:21 How long must I see the banner and hear the sound of the trumpet?

4:22 “For my people are foolish;
   they do not know me.
   They are senseless children, without understanding.
   They are skilled at doing evil, but they do not know how to do good.”
4:23 I looked at the earth, and there it was, without form and void;
   at the heavens, and their light was gone.
4:24 I looked at the mountains, and there they were, trembling;
   all the hills were shaking.
4:25 I looked, and there was no one;
   all the birds of the heavens had fled.
4:26 I looked, and the fertile land was a wilderness;
   all its cities were torn down before the LORD, before his fierce anger.

4:27 For this is what the LORD says: “The whole land will be desolate, yet I will not make a complete end of it.
4:28 For this the earth will mourn, and the heavens above will grow dark, because I have spoken, I have purposed it.
   I have not relented, and I will not turn back from it.”
4:29 At the sound of horsemen and archers, every city flees.
   They go into the thickets and climb among the rocks.
   Every city is abandoned, and no one lives in them.
4:30 And you, devastated one, what will you do?
   Though you clothe yourself in scarlet, adorn yourself with gold jewelry, and enlarge your eyes with paint, you beautify yourself in vain.
   Your lovers despise you;
   they seek your life.
4:31 For I hear a cry like a woman in labor, anguish like a woman bearing her first child—the cry of the daughter of Zion, gasping for breath, spreading out her hands: “Woe to me!
   My soul faints before the killers!”

Chapter 5
5:1 “Go through the streets of Jerusalem;
   look and find out.
   Search her squares.
   If you can find one person who acts justly and seeks faithfulness, I will pardon her.
5:2 Though they say, ‘As the LORD lives,’ they are surely swearing falsely.”
5:3 LORD, do your eyes not look for faithfulness?
   You struck them, but they felt no pain;
   you consumed them, but they refused to accept discipline.
   They made their faces harder than rock;
   they refused to return.
5:4 Then I said, “Surely these are only the poor.
   They act foolishly because they do not know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.
5:5 I will go to the prominent men and speak with them, for they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.”
   But they too had all broken the yoke and torn off the bonds.
5:6 Therefore a lion from the forest will strike them down, a wolf of the desert will devastate them, and a leopard will watch over their cities.
   Everyone who goes out from them will be torn to pieces, because their transgressions are many and their apostasies have increased.
5:7 “How can I pardon you for this?
   Your children have forsaken me and sworn by those who are no gods.
   I fed them to the full, but they committed adultery and thronged to a prostitute’s house.
5:8 They were well-fed horses, up early, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife.
5:9 Shall I not punish them for these things?”
   declares the LORD.
   “Shall I not avenge myself on a nation like this?

5:10 Go up through her vineyard rows and destroy, but do not make a complete end.
   Strip away her branches, for they do not belong to the LORD.
5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me,” declares the LORD.
5:12 They have denied the LORD and said, “It is not he!
   Disaster will not come upon us;
   we will see neither sword nor famine.
5:13 The prophets will become wind;
   the word is not in them.
   Let this be done to them!”

5:14 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of hosts, says: “Because you have spoken these words, look, I am making my words in your mouth a fire and this people wood, and it will consume them.
5:15 Look, I am bringing a nation against you from far away, house of Israel,” declares the LORD.
   “It is an enduring nation, an ancient nation, a nation whose language you do not know and whose speech you do not understand.
5:16 Its quiver is like an open grave;
   all of them are mighty warriors.
5:17 It will devour your harvest and your bread;
   they will devour your sons and daughters.
   It will devour your flocks and herds;
   it will devour your vines and fig trees.
   It will shatter with the sword the fortified cities in which you trust.
5:18 Yet even in those days,” declares the LORD, “I will not make a complete end of you.
5:19 And when you ask, ‘Why has the LORD our God done all these things to us?’ you are to tell them: ‘Just as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your own land, so you will serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.’

5:20 Announce this in the house of Jacob and proclaim it in Judah:
5:21 Hear this, foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.
5:22 Do you not fear me?”
   declares the LORD.
   “Do you not tremble before me?
   I placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, a lasting decree that it cannot cross.
   Though its waves toss, they cannot prevail;
   though they roar, they cannot cross it.
5:23 But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
   they have turned aside and gone away.
5:24 They do not say in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rain in its season, the fall rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the appointed weeks of harvest.’
5:25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you.
5:26 For wicked men are found among my people.
   They lurk like crouching birdcatchers;
   they set a trap and catch people.
5:27 Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit;
   therefore they have become great and rich.
5:28 They have grown fat and sleek;
   they even surpass the deeds of the wicked.
   They do not judge the case, the case of the fatherless, yet they prosper;
   they do not defend the rights of the needy.
5:29 Shall I not punish them for these things?”
   declares the LORD.
   “Shall I not avenge myself on a nation like this?

5:30 An appalling and horrifying thing has happened in the land:
5:31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule with their support, and my people love it this way.
   But what will you do when the end comes?”

Chapter 6
6:1 Flee for safety, people of Benjamin, out of Jerusalem!
   Blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and raise a signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster looms from the north, and great destruction.
6:2 “I will destroy the lovely and delicate daughter of Zion.
6:3 Shepherds with their flocks will come against her;
   they will pitch their tents all around her, each grazing his own portion.”
6:4 “Consecrate war against her!
   Rise up;
   let us attack at noon!
   Woe to us, for the day is declining and the evening shadows are growing long!
6:5 Rise up; let us attack by night and destroy her palaces!”

6:6 For this is what the LORD of hosts says: “Cut down trees and build a siege ramp against Jerusalem.
   This is the city to be punished;
   oppression fills her.
6:7 As a well brings forth its water, so she brings forth her wickedness.
   Violence and destruction are heard in her;
   sickness and wounds are continually before me.
6:8 Accept discipline, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you;
   or I will make you a desolation, an uninhabited land.”

6:9 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “They will thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel like a vine.
   Pass your hand over the branches again, like a grape gatherer.”
6:10 To whom can I speak and give warning, so that they will listen?
   Look, their ears are uncircumcised;
   they cannot pay attention.
   Look, the word of the LORD is an offense to them;
   they take no pleasure in it.
6:11 I am full of the wrath of the LORD;
   I am weary of holding it in.
   “Pour it out on the children in the street and on the young men gathered together, for husband and wife alike will be taken, the aged and the very old.
6:12 Their houses will pass to others, their fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD.
6:13 “For from the least to the greatest, all are greedy for unjust gain;
   from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
6:14 They have treated the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
6:15 Were they ashamed when they committed an abomination?
   No, they were not ashamed at all;
   they did not even know how to blush.
   Therefore they will fall among the fallen;
   when I punish them, they will stumble,” says the LORD.

6:16 This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the roads and look;
   ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it.
   Then you will find rest for your souls.
   But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
6:17 I appointed watchmen over you: ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet!’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’
6:18 Therefore hear, nations;
   know, assembly, what is happening among them.
6:19 Hear, earth!
   Look, I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.
6:20 What use to me is frankincense brought from Sheba, or fragrant cane from a distant land?
   Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, and your sacrifices do not please me.”

6:21 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Look, I am putting stumbling blocks before this people.
   Fathers and sons together will stumble over them;
   neighbor and friend will perish.”

6:22 This is what the LORD says: “Look, a people is coming from the land of the north;
   a great nation is being stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.
6:23 They grasp bow and javelin;
   they are cruel and show no mercy.
   Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, arrayed like warriors for battle against you, daughter of Zion.”
6:24 We have heard the report of them, and our hands fall limp.
   Anguish has gripped us, pain like a woman in labor.
6:25 Do not go out into the field or walk along the road, for the enemy has a sword;
   terror is on every side.
6:26 Daughter of my people, put on sackcloth and roll in ashes.
   Mourn as for an only son, with bitter lamentation, for suddenly the destroyer will come upon us.
6:27 “I have made you a tester among my people, a fortress, so that you may know and test their ways.
6:28 They are all stubborn rebels, going about as slanderers;
   they are bronze and iron, all of them spreading corruption.
6:29 The bellows blow fiercely;
   the lead is consumed by the fire.
   In vain the refiner keeps refining;
   the wicked are not separated out.
6:30 They are called rejected silver, for the LORD has rejected them.”

Chapter 7
7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
7:2 “Stand at the gate of the LORD’s house and proclaim this word there: Hear the word of the LORD, all you of Judah who enter these gates to bow down to the LORD.
7:3 This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place.
7:4 Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘These are the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!’
7:5 For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a person and his neighbor,
7:6 if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow, do not shed innocent blood in this place, and do not follow other gods to your own harm,
7:7 then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors, from ages past to ages to come.
7:8 Look, you are trusting in deceptive words that cannot help.
7:9 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and follow other gods you have not known,
7:10 then come and stand before me in this house that bears my name and say, ‘We are safe!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?
7:11 Has this house that bears my name become a den of robbers in your eyes? Look, I myself have seen it, declares the LORD.
7:12 Go now to my place in Shiloh, where I first made my name dwell, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel.
7:13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and I spoke to you, speaking early and persistently, but you did not listen, and I called you, but you did not answer,
7:14 I will do to the house that bears my name, in which you trust, and to the place I gave you and your ancestors, just what I did to Shiloh.
7:15 I will cast you out of my presence, just as I cast out all your brothers, all the descendants of Ephraim.
7:16 As for you, do not pray for this people. Do not lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not listen to you.
7:17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
7:18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke me to anger.
7:19 Is it me they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame?”
7:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “Look, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on people and animals, on the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground. It will burn and will not be quenched.”
7:21 This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the meat!
7:22 For on the day I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.
7:23 But this is what I commanded them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Follow the entire path I command you, so that it may go well with you.’
7:24 But they did not listen or incline their ears. They followed their own counsels, the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward rather than forward.
7:25 From the day your ancestors came out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent you all my servants the prophets, day after day, rising early and sending them.
7:26 Yet they did not listen to me or incline their ears; they stiffened their necks and did worse than their ancestors.
7:27 You are to speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you. You will call to them, but they will not answer you.
7:28 Tell them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the LORD its God or accept discipline. Faithfulness has perished; it has been cut off from their mouths.’

7:29 Cut off your hair and cast it away;
   raise a lament on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
7:30 For the people of Judah have done evil in my sight,” declares the LORD. “They have set their abominations in the house that bears my name, defiling it.
7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire—something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.
7:32 Therefore look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place.
7:33 The corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth, with no one to frighten them away.
7:34 I will put an end in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem to the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a waste.”

Chapter 8
8:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “they will take from their graves the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of its officials, the bones of the priests, the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
8:2 They will spread them before the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they loved, which they served, which they followed, which they sought, and to which they bowed down. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground.
8:3 All the remnant left of this evil clan will choose death over life, in all the places where I have driven those who remain,” declares the LORD of hosts.

8:4 “Tell them: This is what the LORD says: When people fall, do they not get up?
   When someone turns away, does he not return?
8:5 Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in perpetual apostasy?
   They cling to deceit;
   they refuse to return.
8:6 I have listened attentively, but they do not speak rightly.
   No one repents of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Each returns to his course like a horse charging into battle.
8:7 Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times;
   the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane keep the time of their coming.
   But my people do not know the requirements of the LORD.
8:8 How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us’?
   Look, the lying pen of the scribes has made it a lie!
8:9 The wise are put to shame;
   they are dismayed and caught.
   Look, they have rejected the word of the LORD, so what wisdom do they have?

8:10 Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to new possessors, for from the least to the greatest, all are greedy for unjust gain;
   from prophet to priest, all practice deceit.
8:11 They have treated the wound of the daughter of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
8:12 Were they ashamed when they committed an abomination?
   No, they were not ashamed at all;
   they did not know how to blush.
   Therefore they will fall among the fallen;
   at the time of their punishment, they will stumble, says the LORD.

8:13 I will utterly sweep them away, declares the LORD.
   There will be no grapes on the vine, no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will wither.
   What I have given them will pass away from them.”
8:14 “Why are we sitting here?
   Gather together;
   let us enter the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us to perish and given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD.
8:15 We looked for peace, but no good came;
   for a time of healing, but there was only terror.”
8:16 The snorting of his horses is heard from Dan;
   at the sound of his stallions’ neighing the whole land trembles.
   They come and devour the land and all that fills it, the city and those who live in it.

8:17 “For look, I am sending serpents among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

8:18 Oh, for comfort in sorrow!
   My heart is sick within me.
8:19 Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: “Is the LORD not in Zion?
   Is her King not in her?”
   “Why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?”
8:20 “The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we have not been saved.”
8:21 I am broken by the brokenness of the daughter of my people;
   I mourn, and horror has gripped me.
8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead?
   Is there no physician there?
   Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored?

Chapter 9
9:1 Oh, that my head were water and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!
9:2 Oh, that I had a travelers’ lodging in the wilderness, so I could leave my people and go away from them!
   For they are all adulterers, an assembly of traitors.
9:3 “They bend their tongues like a bow for lies;
   they have grown strong in the land, but not through faithfulness.
   They go from evil to evil, and they do not know me,” declares the LORD.

9:4 “Let each of you beware of his neighbor, and do not trust any brother, for every brother is a thorough deceiver, and every neighbor goes about slandering.
9:5 Each deceives his neighbor, and they do not speak the truth.
   They have taught their tongues to speak lies;
   they weary themselves doing wrong.
9:6 You live in the midst of deceit;
   through deceit they refuse to know me,” declares the LORD.

9:7 Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says: “Look, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of my people?
9:8 Their tongue is a deadly arrow;
   it speaks deceit.
   With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but within he lays an ambush for him.
9:9 Shall I not punish them for these things?”
   declares the LORD.
   “Shall I not avenge myself on a nation like this?”

9:10 I will raise weeping and wailing over the mountains, a lament over the wilderness pastures, for they are burned, with no one passing through, and the sound of livestock is no longer heard.
   From the birds of the heavens to the animals, all have fled and gone.
9:11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a den of jackals, and make the cities of Judah a desolation, without an inhabitant.”

9:12 Who is wise enough to understand this?
   To whom has the mouth of the LORD spoken, so that he can explain it?
   Why has the land perished, burned like a wilderness where no one passes through?

9:13 The LORD said, “Because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked according to it.
9:14 They have followed the stubbornness of their hearts and the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.”

9:15 Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “Look, I will feed this people wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.
9:16 I will scatter them among nations that neither they nor their ancestors have known, and I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.”

9:17 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;
   send for the skillful women to come.
9:18 Let them hurry and raise a lament over us, so that our eyes may run with tears and our eyelids flow with water.
9:19 For a sound of wailing is heard from Zion: ‘How we are devastated!
   We are deeply ashamed, for we have left the land, for they have torn down our dwellings.’”

9:20 Hear the word of the LORD, women;
   let your ears receive the word of his mouth.
   Teach your daughters wailing, and each woman her neighbor a lament.
9:21 For death has climbed through our windows and entered our palaces, cutting off children from the streets and young men from the squares.
9:22 Say, “This is what the LORD declares: Human corpses will fall like dung on the surface of the field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather it.”

9:23 This is what the LORD says: “Let the wise not boast in their wisdom, let the mighty not boast in their might, let the rich not boast in their riches.
9:24 But let the one who boasts boast in this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness on the earth, for in these things I delight,” declares the LORD.
9:25 “Look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will punish all who are circumcised only in the flesh:
9:26 Egypt, Judah, Edom, the Ammonites, Moab, and all who clip the hair at their temples and live in the wilderness. For all the nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart.”

Chapter 10
10:1 Hear the word the LORD has spoken concerning you, house of Israel.
10:2 This is what the LORD says: “Do not learn the way of the nations, and do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens, though the nations are terrified by them.
10:3 For the customs of the peoples are worthless: someone cuts a tree from the forest, and a craftsman’s hands work it with an adze.
10:4 They adorn it with silver and gold;
   they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not move.
10:5 They are like scarecrows in a cucumber patch;
   they cannot speak.
   They must be carried, for they cannot walk.
   Do not fear them, for they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.”

10:6 There is none like you, LORD;
   you are great, and your name is great in might.
10:7 Who would not fear you, King of the nations?
   For this is your due.
   Among all the wise of the nations and in all their kingdoms, there is none like you.
10:8 They are all senseless and foolish;
   the instruction of idols is nothing but wood.
10:9 Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of a craftsman and a goldsmith’s hands.
   Blue and purple are their clothing;
   they are all the work of skilled men.
10:10 But the LORD is the true God;
   he is the living God and the everlasting King.
   At his wrath the earth trembles, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.
10:11 You are to tell them, “The gods who did not make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from beneath these heavens.”

10:12 He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
10:13 When his voice sounds, the waters roar in the heavens;
   he raises clouds from the ends of the earth.
   He makes lightning for the rain and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
10:14 Every person is senseless, without knowledge;
   every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.
10:15 They are worthless, a work of delusion;
   at the time of their punishment they will perish.
10:16 The Portion of Jacob is not like these, for he is the one who formed all things, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance.
   The LORD of hosts is his name.

10:17 Gather your belongings from the ground, you who live under siege.

10:18 For this is what the LORD says: “Look, this time I am slinging out the inhabitants of the land;
   I will distress them so that they feel it.”

10:19 Woe to me because of my brokenness!
   My wound is grievous.
   But I said, “Surely this is my sickness, and I must bear it.”
10:20 My tent is destroyed, and all my cords are torn.
   My children have gone from me and are no more.
   There is no one to spread my tent again or raise its curtains.
10:21 For the shepherds have become senseless and have not sought the LORD;
   therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

10:22 Listen, a report is coming!
   A great uproar comes from the land of the north, to make the cities of Judah a desolation, a den of jackals.

10:23 I know, LORD, that a person’s way is not his own;
   it is not for a man who walks to direct his steps.
10:24 Discipline me, LORD, but with justice, not in your anger, lest you bring me to nothing.
10:25 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not know you and on the clans that do not call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, devoured him and consumed him, and laid waste his dwelling.

Chapter 11
11:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
11:2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak them to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:3 Tell them: This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant,
11:4 which I commanded your ancestors on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace. I said, ‘Obey my voice and do all that I command you. You will be my people, and I will be your God,’
11:5 so that I might fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is today.” Then I answered, “Amen, LORD.”
11:6 The LORD said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: Hear the words of this covenant and do them.
11:7 For I solemnly warned your ancestors from the day I brought them up from the land of Egypt to this day, warning them early and persistently: ‘Obey my voice.’
11:8 But they did not listen or incline their ears; each followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not do them.”
11:9 The LORD said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
11:10 They have returned to the iniquities of their early ancestors, who refused to listen to my words; they have followed other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their ancestors.”
11:11 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Look, I am bringing disaster upon them from which they cannot escape. They will cry out to me, but I will not listen to them.
11:12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but those gods will not save them at all in their time of disaster.
11:13 For you have as many gods as cities, Judah, and you have set up as many altars to the shameful thing as there are streets in Jerusalem—altars for burning incense to Baal.
11:14 As for you, do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not listen when they cry to me because of their disaster.

11:15 What is my beloved doing in my house, after her many evil schemes?
   Consecrated meat will pass away from you.
   When you do evil, then you rejoice!
11:16 The LORD called you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful in fruit and form.
   With the sound of a great tumult he has set fire to it, and its branches are broken.
11:17 The LORD of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced disaster against you because of the evil the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done to their own harm, provoking me to anger by burning incense to Baal.”

11:18 The LORD made it known to me, and I knew;
   then you showed me their deeds.
11:19 But I was like a gentle lamb led to slaughter.
   I did not know they were plotting against me: “Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;
   let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name is remembered no more.”
11:20 But you, LORD of hosts, who judge righteously, who test the inward parts and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have laid my case before you.
11:21 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life and say, “Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD, so that you will not die by our hands”—
11:22 therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says: “Look, I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword; their sons and daughters will die by famine.
11:23 No remnant of them will remain, for I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.”

Chapter 12
12:1 You are righteous, LORD, when I bring my case before you.
   Yet I would speak with you about justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
   Why do all who act treacherously live at ease?
12:2 You planted them, and they have taken root;
   they grow and bear fruit.
   You are near in their mouths, but far from their inward parts.
12:3 But you, LORD, know me;
   you see me and test my heart toward you.
   Drag them away like sheep for slaughter;
   set them apart for the day of killing.

12:4 How long will the land mourn and the grass of every field wither?
   Because of the wickedness of those who live in it, animals and birds have perished, for they say, “He will not see our end.”
12:5 “If you have raced with men on foot and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?
   If you feel secure in a land of peace, how will you fare in the thickets of the Jordan?
12:6 For even your brothers and your father’s household—even they have betrayed you;
   even they have shouted after you at the top of their voices.
   Do not believe them, though they speak kindly to you.

12:7 I have forsaken my house;
   I have abandoned my inheritance.
   I have given the beloved of my soul into the hands of her enemies.
12:8 My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest;
   she has raised her voice against me, so I have hated her.
12:9 Is my inheritance to me a speckled bird of prey?
   Are birds of prey all around her?
   Go, gather all the wild animals;
   bring them to devour her!
12:10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard and trampled my plot;
   they have made my delightful plot a desolate wilderness.
12:11 It has been made a desolation;
   desolate, it mourns before me.
   The whole land is desolate, because no one takes it to heart.
12:12 Destroyers have come upon all the bare heights in the wilderness, for the sword of the LORD devours from one end of the land to the other;
   no flesh has peace.

12:13 They have sown wheat and reaped thorns;
   they have exhausted themselves without gain.
   Be ashamed of your harvests because of the fierce anger of the LORD.”
12:14 This is what the LORD says: “Concerning all my evil neighbors who encroach on the inheritance I gave my people Israel, look, I am uprooting them from their land, and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them.
12:15 After I uproot them, I will again have compassion on them and bring them back, each to his inheritance and each to his land.
12:16 And if they truly learn the ways of my people, swearing by my name, ‘As the LORD lives,’ just as they taught my people to swear by Baal, then they will be built up among my people.
12:17 But if they do not listen, I will uproot that nation, utterly uproot and destroy it,” declares the LORD.

Chapter 13
13:1 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and buy yourself a linen sash, put it around your waist, and do not put it in water.”
13:2 So I bought the sash according to the word of the LORD and put it around my waist.
13:3 The word of the LORD came to me a second time:
13:4 “Take the sash you bought, which is around your waist. Get up and go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a crevice in the rock.”
13:5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD had commanded me.
13:6 After many days the LORD said to me, “Get up and go to the Euphrates and take from there the sash I commanded you to hide there.”
13:7 So I went to the Euphrates, dug, and took the sash from the place where I had hidden it. Look, the sash was ruined; it was good for nothing.
13:8 The word of the LORD came to me:
13:9 “This is what the LORD says: In the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
13:10 This evil people, who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their hearts and go after other gods to serve them and bow down to them, will be like this sash, good for nothing.
13:11 For just as a sash clings to a man’s waist, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the LORD, to be my people, my renown, my praise, and my glory. But they did not listen.
13:12 Tell them this word: This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Every jar will be filled with wine.’ They will say to you, ‘Do we not know very well that every jar will be filled with wine?’
13:13 Then tell them: This is what the LORD says: I am filling all the inhabitants of this land with drunkenness—the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
13:14 I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons together, declares the LORD. I will not pity or spare or have compassion to keep me from destroying them.”

13:15 Hear and pay attention;
   do not be proud, for the LORD has spoken.
13:16 Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains.
   You will look for light, but he will turn it to deep darkness and make it thick gloom.
13:17 But if you do not listen, my soul will weep in secret because of your pride.
   My eyes will weep bitterly and run with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.

13:18 Say to the king and the queen mother, “Humble yourselves;
   sit down, for your glorious crown has fallen from your heads.”
13:19 The cities of the Negev are shut, and there is no one to open them.
   All Judah has been taken into exile, carried into exile completely.

13:20 Lift your eyes and see those coming from the north.
   Where is the flock entrusted to you, your beautiful flock?
13:21 What will you say when he sets over you as rulers those you yourself cultivated as close friends?
   Will pains not seize you like a woman in labor?
13:22 And if you say in your heart, “Why have these things happened to me?”—it is because of your great iniquity that your skirts have been lifted and your heels have suffered violence.
13:23 Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard its spots?
   Then you too can do good, you who are accustomed to doing evil!
13:24 “I will scatter them like stubble driven by the desert wind.
13:25 This is your lot, the portion I have measured out for you,” declares the LORD, “because you have forgotten me and trusted in falsehood.
13:26 I myself will lift your skirts over your face, so that your shame is seen.
13:27 Your adulteries, your neighing, the lewdness of your prostitution—on the hills, in the field, I have seen your abominations.
   Woe to you, Jerusalem!
   Will you not be clean?
   How much longer?”

Chapter 14
14:1 The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the droughts:
14:2 Judah mourns, and her gates languish;
   they mourn on the ground, and the cry of Jerusalem rises.
14:3 Her nobles send their servants for water.
   They come to the cisterns and find no water;
   they return with their vessels empty.
   Ashamed and humiliated, they cover their heads.
14:4 Because the ground is cracked from the lack of rain in the land, the farmers are ashamed;
   they cover their heads.
14:5 Even the doe in the field gives birth and abandons her young, because there is no grass.
14:6 The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, panting for air like jackals;
   their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.
14:7 Though our iniquities testify against us, LORD, act for your name’s sake.
   For our apostasies are many;
   we have sinned against you.
14:8 Hope of Israel, its Savior in time of distress, why are you like a foreigner in the land, like a traveler who turns aside to spend the night?
14:9 Why are you like a man stunned, like a warrior unable to save?
   Yet you are in our midst, LORD, and we bear your name.
   Do not abandon us!

14:10 This is what the LORD says concerning this people: “They have loved to wander;
   they have not restrained their feet.
   The LORD does not accept them;
   now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.”

14:11 The LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the good of this people.
14:12 When they fast, I will not listen to their cry;
   when they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.
   Instead, I will consume them by sword, famine, and plague.”

14:13 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD!
   Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword, and you will not have famine;
   instead, I will give you true peace in this place.’”

14:14 The LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying lies in my name.
   I did not send them or command them or speak to them.
   They are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, worthless things, and the deceit of their own hearts.

14:15 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who prophesy in my name, though I did not send them, and who say, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’: By sword and famine those prophets will perish.
14:16 And the people to whom they prophesy will be thrown into the streets of Jerusalem because of famine and sword.
   There will be no one to bury them—them, their wives, their sons, and their daughters.
   I will pour out their own wickedness upon them.
14:17 Tell them this word: ‘Let my eyes run with tears night and day, and let them not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been broken by a crushing blow, a very grievous wound.
14:18 If I go out to the field, look, those slain by the sword!
   If I enter the city, look, those sick with famine!
   For both prophet and priest wander through the land without understanding.’”

14:19 Have you utterly rejected Judah?
   Does your soul loathe Zion?
   Why have you struck us, with no healing for us?
   We looked for peace, but no good came;
   for a time of healing, but there was only terror.
14:20 We acknowledge our wickedness, LORD, and the iniquity of our ancestors, for we have sinned against you.
14:21 For your name’s sake, do not spurn us;
   do not dishonor your glorious throne.
   Remember your covenant with us;
   do not break it.
14:22 Can any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain?
   Can the heavens give showers?
   Are you not the one, LORD our God?
   We put our hope in you, for you have made all these things.

Chapter 15
15:1 The LORD said to me, “Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me, my soul would not incline toward this people. Send them out of my presence; let them go.
15:2 When they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ tell them: This is what the LORD says: Those destined for death, to death; those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine; those destined for captivity, to captivity.
15:3 I will appoint four kinds of destroyers against them, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, dogs to drag away, the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth to devour and destroy.
15:4 I will make them an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem.
15:5 For who will pity you, Jerusalem?
   Who will mourn for you?
   Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
15:6 You have forsaken me, declares the LORD;
   you keep going backward.
   So I will stretch out my hand against you and destroy you;
   I am weary of relenting.
15:7 I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the gates of the land.
   I will bereave my people and destroy them, for they have not turned from their ways.
15:8 Their widows will be more numerous before me than the sand of the seas.
   I will bring a destroyer at noon against the mother of a young man;
   I will suddenly bring anguish and terrors upon her.
15:9 She who bore seven languishes;
   she breathes out her life.
   Her sun has set while it is still day;
   she is ashamed and humiliated.
   I will give their remnant to the sword before their enemies, declares the LORD.”

15:10 Woe to me, my mother, that you gave birth to me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land!
   I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me.

15:11 The LORD said, “Surely I will set you free for your good;
   surely I will make the enemy plead with you in a time of disaster and a time of distress.
15:12 Can iron break iron from the north, or bronze?
15:13 I will give your wealth and your treasures as plunder, without payment, because of all your sins throughout all your territory.
15:14 I will make you cross over with your enemies into a land you do not know, for a fire has been kindled in my anger;
   it will burn against you.”

15:15 You know, LORD.
   Remember me, attend to me, and avenge me on my persecutors.
   In your patience, do not take me away;
   know that for your sake I bear reproach.
15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them;
   your words became the joy and gladness of my heart, for I bear your name, LORD, God of hosts.

15:17 I did not sit in the company of revelers and rejoice.
   Because of your hand I sat alone, for you filled me with indignation.

15:18 Why is my pain unending and my wound incurable, refusing to heal?
   Will you be to me like a deceptive stream, like waters that cannot be trusted?

15:19 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “If you return, I will restore you, and you will stand before me.
   If you separate the precious from the worthless, you will be as my mouth.
   Let them turn to you, but you must not turn to them.
15:20 I will make you a fortified bronze wall to this people.
   They will fight against you, but they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you,” declares the LORD.
15:21 “I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”

Chapter 16
16:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
16:2 “Do not take a wife or have sons and daughters in this place.”
16:3 For this is what the LORD says concerning the sons and daughters born in this place, the mothers who bear them, and the fathers who bring them into the world in this land:
16:4 “They will die of deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried; they will be like dung on the surface of the ground. They will perish by sword and famine, and their corpses will be food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth.”
16:5 For this is what the LORD says: “Do not enter a house of mourning; do not go to lament or console them, for I have withdrawn my peace from this people, declares the LORD, my steadfast love and my compassion.
16:6 Great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned; no one will cut himself or shave his head for them.
16:7 No one will break bread to comfort those mourning the dead, nor give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or mother.
16:8 Do not enter a house of feasting to sit with them to eat and drink.
16:9 For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, before your eyes and in your days I will put an end in this place to the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
16:10 When you tell this people all these words, they will ask you, ‘Why has the LORD pronounced all this great disaster against us? What is our iniquity, and what is the sin we have committed against the LORD our God?’
16:11 Tell them: ‘Because your ancestors forsook me, declares the LORD, and followed other gods, served them, and bowed down to them. They forsook me and did not keep my law.
16:12 And you have done worse than your ancestors. Look, each of you follows the stubbornness of his evil heart, refusing to listen to me.
16:13 So I will hurl you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known. There you will serve other gods day and night, where I will show you no favor.’
16:14 Therefore look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it will no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’
16:15 but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel up from the land of the north and from all the lands where he had driven them.’ I will bring them back to their land, which I gave their ancestors.
16:16 Look, I am sending for many fishermen, declares the LORD, and they will catch them. After that I will send for many hunters, and they will hunt them from every mountain, every hill, and the crevices of the rocks.
16:17 For my eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
16:18 First I will repay them double for their iniquity and their sin, because they have defiled my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols and filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

16:19 LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, “Our ancestors inherited only lies, worthless things with no benefit in them.”
16:20 Can a person make gods for himself?
   They are no gods!
16:21 “Therefore look, I will make them know;
   this time I will make them know my hand and my might, and they will know that my name is the LORD.”

Chapter 17
17:1 “The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, with a hard-stone point;
   it is engraved on the tablet of their heart and on the horns of your altars.
17:2 Their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles beside the leafy trees, on the high hills.
17:3 My mountain in the open country, I will give your wealth and all your treasures as plunder, and your high places, because of sin throughout your territory.
17:4 You yourself will relinquish the inheritance I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger that will burn forever.”

17:5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the LORD.
17:6 He will be like a shrub in the desert and will not see when good comes.
   He will live in the parched places of the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives.

17:7 Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.
17:8 He will be like a tree planted by water, sending its roots toward the stream.
   It will not fear when heat comes;
   its foliage will remain green.
   In a year of drought it will not be anxious or cease bearing fruit.
17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and incurably sick;
   who can know it?
17:10 I, the LORD, search the heart and test the inward parts, to give each man according to his way, according to the fruit of his deeds.

17:11 Like a partridge brooding over eggs it did not lay is one who gains wealth unjustly.
   In the middle of his days his wealth will leave him, and in the end he will be a fool.”
17:12 A glorious throne, exalted from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
17:13 LORD, Hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be put to shame.
   “Those who turn away from me will be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.”

17:14 Heal me, LORD, and I will be healed;
   save me, and I will be saved, for you are my praise.
17:15 Look, they say to me, “Where is the word of the LORD?
   Let it come now!”
17:16 But I have not hurried away from being a shepherd following you, nor have I desired the day of calamity.
   You know;
   what came from my lips was before you.
17:17 Do not be a terror to me;
   you are my refuge in the day of disaster.
17:18 Let my persecutors be put to shame, but do not let me be put to shame;
   let them be dismayed, but do not let me be dismayed.
   Bring upon them the day of disaster, and break them with double destruction.
17:19 This is what the LORD said to me: “Go and stand at the gate of the people, through which the kings of Judah enter and leave, and at all the gates of Jerusalem.
17:20 Tell them: Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter these gates.
17:21 This is what the LORD says: Guard your lives, and do not carry a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem.
17:22 Do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day, and do not do any work. Keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.
17:23 But they did not listen or incline their ears; they stiffened their necks, refusing to listen or accept discipline.
17:24 But if you truly listen to me, declares the LORD, bringing no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day and keeping the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,
17:25 then kings and officials sitting on David’s throne will enter the gates of this city, riding in chariots and on horses—they and their officials, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This city will be inhabited forever.
17:26 They will come from the cities of Judah, from around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowlands, from the hill country, and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, grain offerings, and frankincense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the LORD.
17:27 But if you do not listen to me by keeping the Sabbath day holy and refraining from carrying burdens through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, I will kindle a fire in its gates. It will consume the palaces of Jerusalem and will not be quenched.”

Chapter 18
18:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
18:2 “Get up and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.”
18:3 So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working at the wheel.
18:4 The vessel he was making from clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another vessel, as seemed right to the potter to make.
18:5 The word of the LORD came to me:
18:6 “Can I not do with you as this potter does, house of Israel?” declares the LORD. “Look, like clay in the potter’s hand, so you are in my hand, house of Israel.
18:7 At one moment I may speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to uproot, tear down, and destroy it.
18:8 But if that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent concerning the disaster I planned to bring upon it.
18:9 At another moment I may speak concerning a nation or a kingdom, to build and plant it.
18:10 But if it does evil in my sight and does not obey my voice, I will relent concerning the good I said I would do for it.
18:11 Now tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: This is what the LORD says: Look, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Turn back, each of you, from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.
18:12 But they will say, ‘It is hopeless! We will follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’”

18:13 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Ask among the nations: Who has heard anything like this?
   Virgin Israel has done a most horrifying thing.
18:14 Does the snow of Lebanon leave the rocks of the open country?
   Are the cold flowing waters from afar ever cut off?
18:15 Yet my people have forgotten me;
   they burn incense to worthless things.
   They have been made to stumble in their ways, the ancient paths, and to walk on side paths, an unpaved road,
18:16 making their land a desolation, an object of perpetual hissing.
   Everyone who passes by it will be appalled and shake his head.
18:17 Like an east wind I will scatter them before the enemy;
   I will show them my back and not my face in the day of their disaster.”
18:18 Then they said, “Come, let us devise plans against Jeremiah, for instruction will not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, let us strike him with the tongue and pay no attention to any of his words.”
18:19 Listen to me, LORD, and hear the voice of my adversaries.
18:20 Should good be repaid with evil?
   For they have dug a pit for my life.
   Remember how I stood before you to speak good on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them.
18:21 Therefore give their children over to famine and hand them over to the power of the sword.
   Let their wives be bereaved and widowed;
   let their men be put to death, their young men struck down by the sword in battle.
18:22 Let a cry be heard from their houses when you suddenly bring a raiding band against them, for they have dug a pit to catch me and hidden snares for my feet.
18:23 But you, LORD, know all their plans to put me to death.
   Do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from before you.
   Let them be overthrown before you;
   deal with them in the time of your anger.

Chapter 19
19:1 This is what the LORD says: “Go and buy a potter’s earthenware jar. Take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the elder priests.
19:2 Go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, at the entrance of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words I tell you.
19:3 Say: ‘Hear the word of the LORD, kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, I am bringing disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle.
19:4 For they have forsaken me and made this place foreign; they have burned incense in it to other gods that neither they nor their ancestors nor the kings of Judah have known. They have filled this place with the blood of the innocent.
19:5 They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal—something I did not command or speak of, nor did it enter my mind.
19:6 Therefore look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when this place will no longer be called Topheth or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.
19:7 I will bring the plans of Judah and Jerusalem to nothing in this place. I will make them fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives. I will give their corpses as food to the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth.
19:8 I will make this city a desolation and an object of hissing. Everyone who passes by it will be appalled and hiss at all its wounds.
19:9 I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters; each will eat the flesh of his neighbor in the siege and distress with which their enemies and those who seek their lives will oppress them.’
19:10 Then break the jar in the sight of the men who go with you.
19:11 Tell them: ‘This is what the LORD of hosts says: In the same way I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter’s vessel that can never be repaired. They will bury in Topheth because there is no other place to bury.
19:12 This is what I will do to this place and its inhabitants, declares the LORD; I will make this city like Topheth.
19:13 The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah will be unclean like the place of Topheth—all the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to all the host of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods.’”
19:14 Then Jeremiah returned from Topheth, where the LORD had sent him to prophesy. He stood in the courtyard of the LORD’s house and said to all the people:
19:15 “This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Look, I am bringing upon this city and all its towns all the disaster I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to listen to my words.”

Chapter 20
20:1 Pashhur the priest, son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the LORD, heard Jeremiah prophesying these words.
20:2 Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks at the Upper Benjamin Gate of the LORD’s house.
20:3 The next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks. Jeremiah said to him, “The LORD has not named you Pashhur, but Magor-missabib.
20:4 For this is what the LORD says: ‘Look, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They will fall by the sword of their enemies while your eyes look on. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them into exile in Babylon and strike them down with the sword.
20:5 I will give all the wealth of this city, all the fruit of its labor, and all its precious things; I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies. They will plunder them, take them, and carry them to Babylon.
20:6 And you, Pashhur, and all who live in your house will go into captivity. You will come to Babylon; there you will die and there you will be buried, you and all your friends to whom you prophesied lies.’”

20:7 You enticed me, LORD, and I was enticed;
   you overpowered me and prevailed.
   I have become a laughingstock all day long;
   everyone mocks me.
20:8 For whenever I speak, I cry out;
   I proclaim, “Violence and destruction!”
   For the word of the LORD has become a reproach and a mockery to me all day long.
20:9 When I say, “I will not mention him or speak any more in his name,” it is like a burning fire in my heart, shut up in my bones.
   I grow weary of holding it in, and I cannot.
20:10 For I hear the whispering of many: “Terror on every side!
   Denounce him, and we will denounce him!”
   All my close friends watch for my stumbling: “Perhaps he can be enticed;
   then we can prevail over him and take our revenge on him.”
20:11 But the LORD is with me like a fearsome warrior.
   Therefore my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail.
   They will be greatly ashamed because they have not succeeded;
   their everlasting disgrace will not be forgotten.
20:12 LORD of hosts, who test the righteous, who see the inward parts and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have laid my case before you.

20:13 Sing to the LORD;
   praise the LORD!
   For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

20:14 Cursed be the day I was born!
   Let the day my mother gave birth to me not be blessed.
20:15 Cursed be the man who brought my father the news, “A son, a boy, has been born to you!”
   and made him very glad.
20:16 Let that man be like the cities the LORD overthrew without relenting.
   Let him hear a cry in the morning and a battle shout at noon,
20:17 because he did not kill me in the womb, so that my mother would have been my grave and her womb pregnant forever.
20:18 Why did I come out of the womb to see toil and sorrow, and my days end in shame?

Chapter 21
21:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent Pashhur son of Malchijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to him, saying,
21:2 “Please inquire of the LORD for us, for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the LORD will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, so that he may withdraw from us.”
21:3 Jeremiah said to them, “Tell Zedekiah:
21:4 This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Look, I am turning back the weapons of war in your hands, with which you fight against the king of Babylon and the Chaldeans besieging you outside the wall, and I will gather them into the midst of this city.
21:5 I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, in anger, fury, and great wrath.
21:6 I will strike the inhabitants of this city, both people and animals; they will die of a great plague.
21:7 Afterward, declares the LORD, I will give Zedekiah king of Judah, his servants, the people, and those left in this city who survive plague, sword, and famine into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those who seek their lives. He will strike them down with the edge of the sword; he will not spare them or have pity or compassion.
21:8 Tell this people: This is what the LORD says: Look, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.
21:9 Whoever stays in this city will die by sword, famine, and plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans besieging you will live; he will have his life as plunder.
21:10 For I have set my face against this city for harm and not for good, declares the LORD. It will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.

21:11 And to the house of the king of Judah: Hear the word of the LORD.
21:12 House of David, this is what the LORD says: Administer justice in the morning, and deliver the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor, or my wrath will break out like fire and burn with no one to quench it, because of the evil of their deeds.
21:13 Look, I am against you, inhabitant of the valley, rock of the plain, declares the LORD, you who say, ‘Who will come down against us?
   Who will enter our dwellings?’
21:14 I will punish you according to the fruit of your deeds, declares the LORD.
   I will kindle a fire in her forest, and it will consume everything around her.”

Chapter 22
22:1 This is what the LORD says: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak this word there.
22:2 Say: Hear the word of the LORD, king of Judah who sits on David’s throne, you, your servants, and your people who enter these gates.
22:3 This is what the LORD says: Practice justice and righteousness; deliver the one who has been robbed from the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
22:4 For if you truly do this, kings sitting on David’s throne will enter the gates of this house, riding in chariots and on horses, each with his servants and his people.
22:5 But if you do not listen to these words, I swear by myself, declares the LORD, that this house will become a ruin.

22:6 For this is what the LORD says concerning the house of the king of Judah: You are Gilead to me, the summit of Lebanon, yet surely I will make you a wilderness, uninhabited cities.
22:7 I will consecrate destroyers against you, each with his weapons;
   they will cut down your choice cedars and cast them into the fire.
22:8 Many nations will pass by this city, and each will say to his neighbor, ‘Why has the LORD done this to this great city?’
22:9 They will answer, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD their God, bowed down to other gods, and served them.’”

22:10 Do not weep for the dead or mourn for him.
   Weep bitterly for the one who goes away, for he will never return or see his native land again.

22:11 For this is what the LORD says concerning Shallum son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned in place of his father Josiah and went away from this place: “He will not return here again.
22:12 He will die in the place where they carried him into exile and will see this land no more.

22:13 Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who makes his neighbor work for nothing and does not give him his wages!
22:14 He says, ‘I will build myself a spacious house with roomy upper chambers.’ He cuts out windows for it, panels it with cedar, and paints it vermilion.
22:15 Does competing in cedar make you a king?
   Did your father not eat and drink and practice justice and righteousness?
   Then it went well with him.
22:16 He judged the case of the poor and needy;
   then it went well.
   Is this not what it means to know me?
   declares the LORD.
22:17 But your eyes and your heart are set only on your unjust gain, on shedding innocent blood, and on practicing oppression and violence.

22:18 Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: They will not mourn for him, ‘Alas, my brother!
   Alas, sister!’ They will not mourn for him, ‘Alas, lord!
   Alas, his majesty!’
22:19 He will have the burial of a donkey, dragged away and thrown beyond the gates of Jerusalem.

22:20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out;
   raise your voice in Bashan, and cry out from Abarim, for all your lovers have been broken.
22:21 I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, ‘I will not listen.’ This has been your way from your youth: you have not obeyed my voice.
22:22 The wind will shepherd all your shepherds, and your lovers will go into captivity.
   Then you will be ashamed and humiliated because of all your wickedness.
22:23 You who dwell in Lebanon, nesting among the cedars, how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you, pain like a woman in labor!
22:24 As I live, declares the LORD, even if Coniah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would tear you off from there.
22:25 I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those you fear, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of the Chaldeans.
22:26 I will hurl you and your mother, who bore you, into another land where neither of you was born, and there you will die.
22:27 They will not return to the land to which they long to return.”

22:28 Is this man Coniah a despised, shattered image, or a vessel no one wants?
   Why have he and his offspring been hurled away, cast into a land they do not know?
22:29 Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD!

22:30 This is what the LORD says: “Record this man as childless, a man who will not prosper in his days, for none of his offspring will succeed in sitting on David’s throne and ruling again in Judah.”

Chapter 23
23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD.
23:2 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: “You have scattered my sheep and driven them away, and you have not attended to them. Look, I will punish you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD.
23:3 “I myself will gather the remnant of my sheep from all the lands where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture. They will be fruitful and multiply.
23:4 I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them. They will no longer fear or be dismayed, and none will be missing,” declares the LORD.
23:5 “Look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch. He will reign as king and act wisely, practicing justice and righteousness in the land.
23:6 In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. This is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’
23:7 Therefore look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought the people of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’
23:8 but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where I had driven them.’ They will dwell in their own land.”

23:9 Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me;
   all my bones tremble.
   I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.
23:10 For the land is full of adulterers;
   because of the curse the land mourns, and the wilderness pastures have dried up.
   Their course is evil, and their might is not used rightly.
23:11 “For both prophet and priest are profane;
   even in my house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
23:12 “Therefore their way will be to them like slippery places in the darkness;
   they will be driven on and fall in it.
   For I will bring disaster upon them in the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
23:13 “Among the prophets of Samaria I saw folly: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray.

23:14 But among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrifying thing: they commit adultery and walk in lies.
   They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness.
   To me they are all like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah.

23:15 Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says concerning the prophets: Look, I will feed them wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink, for from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into the whole land.”

23:16 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
   They fill you with empty hopes;
   they speak a vision from their own hearts, not from the mouth of the LORD.
23:17 They keep saying to those who despise me, ‘The LORD has spoken: You will have peace.’ And to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart they say, ‘No disaster will come upon you.’
23:18 For who has stood in the council of the LORD to see and hear his word?
   Who has paid attention to my word and heard?

23:19 Look, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath, a whirling storm;
   it will whirl upon the heads of the wicked.
23:20 The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has carried out and fulfilled the purposes of his heart.
   In the latter days you will understand it fully.
23:21 I did not send the prophets, yet they ran;
   I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.
23:22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have made my people hear my words and turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.

23:23 Am I a God nearby,” declares the LORD, “and not a God far away?
23:24 Can a man hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?”
   declares the LORD.
   “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?”
   declares the LORD.
23:25 “I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name: ‘I have dreamed! I have dreamed!’
23:26 How long will this be in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies, prophets of the deceit of their own hearts,
23:27 who plan to make my people forget my name through the dreams they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal?
23:28 Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw to do with grain?” declares the LORD.
23:29 “Is not my word like fire,” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer that shatters rock?
23:30 Therefore look, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal my words from one another.
23:31 Look, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘An oracle!’
23:32 Look, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams,” declares the LORD. “They tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness. I did not send them or command them, and they do not benefit this people at all,” declares the LORD.
23:33 “When this people, or a prophet or a priest, asks you, ‘What is the LORD’s burden?’ tell them, ‘What burden? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.’
23:34 As for the prophet or priest or anyone of the people who says, ‘The LORD’s burden,’ I will punish that man and his household.
23:35 This is what each of you is to say to his neighbor and his brother: ‘What has the LORD answered? What has the LORD spoken?’
23:36 But you must no longer mention ‘the LORD’s burden,’ for each man’s own word will be his burden. You have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.
23:37 This is what you are to say to the prophet: ‘What has the LORD answered you? What has the LORD spoken?’
23:38 But if you say, ‘The LORD’s burden,’ then this is what the LORD says: Because you have said these words, ‘The LORD’s burden,’ although I sent word to you not to say, ‘The LORD’s burden,’
23:39 therefore look, I will utterly forget you and cast you out of my presence, you and the city I gave you and your ancestors.
23:40 I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and everlasting disgrace that will not be forgotten.”

Chapter 24
24:1 The LORD showed me two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, the officials of Judah, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers into exile from Jerusalem and brought them to Babylon.
24:2 One basket had very good figs, like the first ripe figs; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.
24:3 The LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs. The good figs are very good, and the bad figs are very bad, so bad they cannot be eaten.”
24:4 The word of the LORD came to me:
24:5 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I will look with favor on the exiles of Judah whom I sent from this place to the land of the Chaldeans.
24:6 I will set my eyes on them for their good and bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them.
24:7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.
24:8 But like the bad figs, so bad they cannot be eaten—this is what the LORD says—so I will treat Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem left in this land, and those living in the land of Egypt.
24:9 I will make them a horror and a calamity to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all the places where I drive them.
24:10 I will send sword, famine, and plague against them until they are consumed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.”

Chapter 25
25:1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
25:2 Jeremiah the prophet spoke it to all the people of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem:
25:3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah, to this day, these twenty-three years, the word of the LORD has come to me. I have spoken to you early and persistently, but you have not listened.
25:4 The LORD has sent you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened or inclined your ears to hear.
25:5 They said, ‘Turn back, each of you, from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell in the land the LORD gave you and your ancestors, from ages past to ages to come.
25:6 Do not follow other gods to serve them and bow down to them; do not provoke me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’
25:7 Yet you have not listened to me, declares the LORD, provoking me to anger with the work of your hands, to your own harm.
25:8 Therefore this is what the LORD of hosts says: Because you have not listened to my words,
25:9 look, I will send for all the clans of the north, declares the LORD, and for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant. I will bring them against this land, its inhabitants, and all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction and make them a horror, an object of hissing, and everlasting ruins.
25:10 I will banish from them the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.
25:11 This whole land will become a ruin and a desolation, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years.
25:12 When seventy years are complete, declares the LORD, I will punish the king of Babylon, that nation, and the land of the Chaldeans for their iniquity, and I will make it an everlasting desolation.
25:13 I will bring upon that land all the words I have spoken against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah prophesied against all the nations.
25:14 For many nations and great kings will also enslave them, and I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”
25:15 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: “Take from my hand this cup of the wine of wrath, and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it.
25:16 They will drink, stagger, and go mad because of the sword I am sending among them.”
25:17 So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink:
25:18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin, a horror, an object of hissing, and a curse, as they are this day;
25:19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, and all his people;
25:20 all the mixed peoples, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines—Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod;
25:21 Edom, Moab, and the Ammonites;
25:22 all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastlands across the sea;
25:23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who clip the hair at their temples;
25:24 all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed peoples who live in the wilderness;
25:25 all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media;
25:26 all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another, and all the kingdoms of the world on the surface of the earth. The king of Sheshach will drink after them.
25:27 “Tell them: This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk, vomit, fall, and do not rise, because of the sword I am sending among you.
25:28 If they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them: This is what the LORD of hosts says: You will surely drink!
25:29 For look, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my name, and will you go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.
25:30 You are to prophesy all these words against them and tell them:
 The LORD will roar from on high and raise his voice from his holy dwelling.
   He will roar mightily against his fold;
   like those treading grapes, he will give a shout against all the inhabitants of the earth.
25:31 The uproar reaches the ends of the earth, for the LORD has a case against the nations;
   he will enter into judgment with all flesh.
   He will give the wicked over to the sword, declares the LORD.

25:32 This is what the LORD of hosts says: Look, disaster is going out from nation to nation, and a great storm is being stirred up from the farthest parts of the earth.
25:33 On that day those slain by the LORD will lie from one end of the earth to the other.
   They will not be mourned, gathered, or buried;
   they will be like dung on the surface of the ground.
25:34 Wail, shepherds, and cry out!
   Wallow, leaders of the flock, for the days of your slaughter and scattering have come.
   You will fall like a precious vessel.
25:35 The shepherds will have no way to flee, and the leaders of the flock no escape.
25:36 Listen to the cry of the shepherds and the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is devastating their pasture.
25:37 The peaceful pastures are laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD.
25:38 Like a lion he has left his lair, for their land has become a desolation because of the fury of the oppressor and because of his fierce anger.”

Chapter 26
26:1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the LORD:
26:2 “This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s house and speak to those coming from all the cities of Judah to bow down in the LORD’s house. Speak all the words I command you to speak to them; do not omit a word.
26:3 Perhaps they will listen and each turn from his evil way, so that I may relent concerning the disaster I plan to bring upon them because of the evil of their deeds.
26:4 Tell them: This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me by walking in my law, which I have set before you,
26:5 and by listening to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send you, rising early and sending them, though you have not listened,
26:6 then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city a curse to all the nations of the earth.”
26:7 The priests, the prophets, and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the LORD’s house.
26:8 When Jeremiah finished speaking all that the LORD had commanded him to speak to all the people, the priests, the prophets, and all the people seized him, saying, “You must die!
26:9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the LORD, ‘This house will be like Shiloh, and this city will be a ruin, without an inhabitant’?” All the people gathered against Jeremiah in the LORD’s house.
26:10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the LORD’s house and sat at the entrance of the LORD’s New Gate.
26:11 The priests and prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man deserves a sentence of death, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”
26:12 Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people, “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard.
26:13 Now amend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent concerning the disaster he has pronounced against you.
26:14 As for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me what seems good and right to you.
26:15 But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves, this city, and its inhabitants, for the LORD has truly sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”
26:16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and prophets, “This man does not deserve a sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.”
26:17 Some of the elders of the land stood up and said to the whole assembly of the people:
26:18 “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah. He said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the LORD of hosts says: Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house will become wooded heights.’
26:19 Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the LORD and seek the LORD’s favor, and did the LORD not relent concerning the disaster he had pronounced against them? We are bringing great disaster upon our own lives!”
26:20 There was also a man prophesying in the name of the LORD, Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and this land in words like all those of Jeremiah.
26:21 When King Jehoiakim, all his warriors, and all the officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. Uriah heard of it, was afraid, fled, and went to Egypt.
26:22 King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt. He sent Elnathan son of Achbor and men with him to Egypt.
26:23 They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and threw his corpse into the graves of the common people.
26:24 But Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people to be put to death.

Chapter 27
27:1 At the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
27:2 This is what the LORD said to me: “Make yourself bonds and yoke bars, and put them on your neck.
27:3 Send them to the king of Edom, the king of Moab, the king of the Ammonites, the king of Tyre, and the king of Sidon by the messengers coming to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah.
27:4 Give them this charge for their masters: This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: This is what you are to tell your masters:
27:5 I made the earth, the people and the animals on the surface of the earth, by my great power and my outstretched arm, and I give it to whoever seems right to me.
27:6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant. I have also given him the wild animals to serve him.
27:7 All the nations will serve him, his son, and his son’s son, until the time for his own land comes. Then many nations and great kings will enslave him.
27:8 But the nation or kingdom that will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon—that nation I will punish with sword, famine, and plague, declares the LORD, until I have consumed them by his hand.
27:9 So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreams, those who interpret omens for you, or your sorcerers, who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
27:10 For they prophesy lies to you, to remove you far from your land, so that I drive you out and you perish.
27:11 But the nation that puts its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serves him, I will leave in its own land, declares the LORD. It will cultivate it and live in it.”
27:12 I also spoke to Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words: “Put your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and live.
27:13 Why should you and your people die by sword, famine, and plague, as the LORD has spoken concerning the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?
27:14 Do not listen to the words of the prophets who tell you, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy lies to you.
27:15 ‘I did not send them, declares the LORD, yet they prophesy lies in my name, so that I drive you out and you perish, you and the prophets who prophesy to you.’”
27:16 I also spoke to the priests and all this people: “This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the words of your prophets who prophesy to you, ‘Look, the vessels of the LORD’s house will now be brought back from Babylon very soon,’ for they prophesy lies to you.
27:17 Do not listen to them; serve the king of Babylon and live. Why should this city become a ruin?
27:18 If they are prophets, and if the word of the LORD is with them, let them intercede with the LORD of hosts, so that the vessels left in the LORD’s house, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem do not go to Babylon.
27:19 For this is what the LORD of hosts says concerning the pillars, the Sea, the stands, and the rest of the vessels left in this city,
27:20 which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take when he carried Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem—
27:21 this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says concerning the vessels left in the LORD’s house, the house of the king of Judah, and Jerusalem:
27:22 ‘They will be brought to Babylon and remain there until the day I attend to them, declares the LORD. Then I will bring them up and restore them to this place.’”

Chapter 28
28:1 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the fourth year, in the fifth month, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, from Gibeon, spoke to me in the LORD’s house before the priests and all the people:
28:2 “This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
28:3 Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the LORD’s house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took from this place and carried to Babylon.
28:4 I will also bring back to this place Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles of Judah who went to Babylon, declares the LORD, for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”
28:5 Then Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Hananiah the prophet before the priests and all the people standing in the LORD’s house.
28:6 Jeremiah the prophet said, “Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied, bringing the vessels of the LORD’s house and all the exiles back from Babylon to this place.
28:7 But listen now to this word I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people:
28:8 The prophets who were before me and before you from ancient times prophesied war, disaster, and plague against many lands and great kingdoms.
28:9 As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when that prophet’s word comes to pass, it will be known that the LORD has truly sent him.”
28:10 Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke it.
28:11 Hananiah said before all the people, “This is what the LORD says: In the same way, within two full years I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all the nations.” Then Jeremiah the prophet went his way.
28:12 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke bar from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet:
28:13 “Go and tell Hananiah: This is what the LORD says: You have broken wooden yoke bars, but in their place you will make iron yoke bars.
28:14 For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: I have put an iron yoke on the neck of all these nations, so that they serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I have also given him the wild animals.”
28:15 Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, “Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have made this people trust in a lie.
28:16 Therefore this is what the LORD says: Look, I am sending you away from the face of the earth. This year you will die, because you have spoken rebellion against the LORD.”
28:17 Hananiah the prophet died in that same year, in the seventh month.

Chapter 29
29:1 These are the words of the letter Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remaining elders of the exiles, to the priests, the prophets, and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.
29:2 This was after King Jeconiah, the queen mother, the palace officials, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metalworkers had left Jerusalem.
29:3 He sent it by Elasah son of Shaphan and Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:
29:4 “This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says to all the exiles whom I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:
29:5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.
29:6 Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they bear sons and daughters. Multiply there, and do not decrease.
29:7 Seek the peace of the city to which I have exiled you, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its peace you will have peace.
29:8 For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Do not let your prophets and diviners among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams you yourselves cause to be dreamed.
29:9 For they prophesy lies to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.
29:10 For this is what the LORD says: When seventy years are complete for Babylon, I will attend to you and fulfill my good word to you by bringing you back to this place.
29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for peace and not for harm, to give you a future and a hope.
29:12 You will call on me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you.
29:13 You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.
29:14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD. I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.
29:15 Because you have said, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’
29:16 this is what the LORD says concerning the king who sits on David’s throne and all the people living in this city, your brothers who did not go into exile with you:
29:17 This is what the LORD of hosts says: Look, I am sending sword, famine, and plague against them, and I will make them like rotten figs, so bad they cannot be eaten.
29:18 I will pursue them with sword, famine, and plague and make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, a curse, a desolation, an object of hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them.
29:19 For they did not listen to my words, declares the LORD, which I sent to them by my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them. And you have not listened, declares the LORD.
29:20 But you, all the exiles whom I sent from Jerusalem to Babylon, hear the word of the LORD.
29:21 This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says concerning Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who prophesy lies to you in my name: Look, I will give them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will strike them down before your eyes.
29:22 All the exiles of Judah in Babylon will take up a curse from them: ‘May the LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire.’
29:23 For they have done a disgraceful thing in Israel, committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and spoken lying words in my name that I did not command them. I am the one who knows and is a witness, declares the LORD.”
29:24 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you are to say:
29:25 “This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Because you sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, and to all the priests, saying,
29:26 ‘The LORD has made you priest in place of Jehoiada the priest, to be in charge in the LORD’s house of every madman who prophesies, so that you put him in the stocks and a neck clamp.
29:27 Why then have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth, who prophesies to you?
29:28 For he has sent word to us in Babylon: The exile will be long. Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit.’”
29:29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.
29:30 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
29:31 “Send word to all the exiles: This is what the LORD says concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, though I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,
29:32 therefore this is what the LORD says: Look, I will punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his offspring. He will have no one dwelling among this people, nor will he see the good I will do for my people, declares the LORD, because he has spoken rebellion against the LORD.”

Chapter 30
30:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
30:2 “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.
30:3 For look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel and Judah, says the LORD. I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors, and they will possess it.”
30:4 These are the words the LORD spoke concerning Israel and Judah:
30:5 For this is what the LORD says: “We have heard a cry of terror, of dread and not of peace.
30:6 Ask and see: Can a male give birth?
   Why then do I see every man with his hands on his hips like a woman in labor, and every face turned pale?
30:7 Alas, that day is great;
   there is none like it.
   It is a time of distress for Jacob, yet he will be saved out of it.
30:8 On that day, declares the LORD of hosts, I will break his yoke from your neck and tear off your bonds.
   Foreigners will no longer enslave him.
30:9 Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them.

30:10 But you, my servant Jacob, do not fear, declares the LORD;
   do not be dismayed, Israel.
   Look, I will save you from afar and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
   Jacob will return and be quiet and at ease, with no one to make him afraid.
30:11 For I am with you to save you, declares the LORD.
   Though I make a complete end of all the nations where I scattered you, I will not make a complete end of you.
   I will discipline you with justice, and I will by no means leave you unpunished.

30:12 For this is what the LORD says: Your hurt is incurable, and your wound is grievous.
30:13 No one pleads your case;
   for your wound there are no remedies or healing.
30:14 All your lovers have forgotten you;
   they do not seek you.
   For I have struck you with the blow of an enemy, with cruel discipline, because your iniquity is great and your sins are many.
30:15 Why do you cry out over your hurt?
   Your pain is incurable.
   Because your iniquity is great and your sins are many, I have done these things to you.
30:16 Therefore all who devour you will be devoured;
   all your adversaries, every one of them, will go into captivity.
   Those who plunder you will be plundered, and all who loot you I will give over to looting.
30:17 For I will restore your health and heal your wounds, declares the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: ‘This is Zion, for whom no one cares.’

30:18 This is what the LORD says: Look, I will restore the fortunes of Jacob’s tents and have compassion on his dwellings.
   The city will be rebuilt on its own mound, and the palace will stand in its proper place.
30:19 From them will come thanksgiving and the sound of rejoicing.
   I will multiply them, and they will not decrease;
   I will honor them, and they will not be insignificant.
30:20 His children will be as before, and his congregation will be established before me.
   I will punish all his oppressors.
30:21 His prince will be one of his own, and his ruler will come from his midst.
   I will bring him near, and he will approach me, for who is this who has pledged his heart to approach me?
   declares the LORD.
30:22 You will be my people, and I will be your God.”

30:23 Look, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath, a sweeping storm;
   it will whirl upon the heads of the wicked.
30:24 The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until he has carried out and fulfilled the purposes of his heart.
   In the latter days you will understand it.

Chapter 31
31:1 “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people.”

31:2 This is what the LORD says: “The people who survived the sword found grace in the wilderness, when I went to give Israel rest.”
31:3 From afar the LORD appeared to me: “I have loved you with an everlasting love;
   therefore I have drawn you with steadfast love.
31:4 Again I will build you, and you will be rebuilt, virgin Israel.
   Again you will adorn yourself with your tambourines and go out in the dance of those who rejoice.
31:5 Again you will plant vineyards on the mountains of Samaria;
   the planters will plant and enjoy the fruit.
31:6 For a day is coming when watchmen will cry out in the hill country of Ephraim, ‘Get up!
   Let us go up to Zion, to the LORD our God!’”

31:7 For this is what the LORD says: “Sing with joy for Jacob, and shout for the foremost of the nations.
   Proclaim, praise, and say, ‘Save your people, LORD, the remnant of Israel!’
31:8 Look, I am bringing them from the land of the north and gathering them from the farthest parts of the earth.
   Among them are the blind and the lame, the pregnant woman and the woman in labor together;
   a great assembly will return here.
31:9 They will come with weeping;
   amid their pleas I will lead them.
   I will guide them beside streams of water, on a straight path where they will not stumble, for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.

31:10 Hear the word of the LORD, nations;
   proclaim it in the distant coastlands.
   Say, ‘The one who scattered Israel will gather him and guard him as a shepherd guards his flock.’
31:11 For the LORD has ransomed Jacob and redeemed him from the hand of one stronger than he.
31:12 They will come and sing for joy on the heights of Zion;
   they will stream toward the bounty of the LORD, toward grain, new wine, oil, and the young of flocks and herds.
   Their life will be like a watered garden, and they will languish no more.
31:13 Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance, and young men and old together.
   I will turn their mourning into joy, comfort them, and give them gladness instead of sorrow.
31:14 I will satisfy the priests with abundance, and my people will be satisfied with my goodness,” declares the LORD.

31:15 This is what the LORD says: “A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping: Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.”

31:16 This is what the LORD says: “Restrain your voice from weeping and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your labor,” declares the LORD.
   “They will return from the land of the enemy.
31:17 There is hope for your future,” declares the LORD.
   “The children will return to their own territory.

31:18 I have surely heard Ephraim lamenting: ‘You disciplined me, and I was disciplined, like an untrained calf.
   Turn me back, and I will return, for you are the LORD my God.
31:19 After I returned, I repented;
   after I came to understand, I struck my thigh.
   I was ashamed and humiliated, for I bore the reproach of my youth.’
31:20 Is Ephraim not a precious son to me, a child in whom I delight?
   Whenever I speak of him, I still remember him.
   Therefore my heart yearns for him;
   I will surely have compassion on him,” declares the LORD.

31:21 “Set up road markers for yourself;
   place signposts.
   Set your heart on the highway, the road you traveled.
   Return, virgin Israel;
   return to these cities of yours.
31:22 How long will you wander, faithless daughter?
   For the LORD has created a new thing in the land: a woman will surround a man.”
31:23 This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: “When I restore their fortunes, they will again say these words in the land of Judah and its cities: ‘May the LORD bless you, dwelling of righteousness, holy mountain!’
31:24 Judah and all its cities will dwell there together, farmers and those who travel with the flock.
31:25 For I will refresh the weary soul and fill every languishing soul.”
31:26 At this I awoke and looked, and my sleep had been sweet to me.
31:27 “Look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of animals.
31:28 Just as I watched over them to uproot, tear down, demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and plant,” declares the LORD.
31:29 “In those days they will no longer say, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
31:30 Instead, each will die for his own iniquity; whoever eats sour grapes will have his own teeth set on edge.
31:31 Look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
31:32 It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband,” declares the LORD.
31:33 “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
31:34 No longer will each teach his neighbor or each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they will all know me, from the least to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.”

31:35 This is what the LORD says, who gives the sun for light by day, the ordinances of the moon and stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—the LORD of hosts is his name:
31:36 “If these ordinances depart from before me,” declares the LORD, “then the offspring of Israel will also cease to be a nation before me forever.”

31:37 This is what the LORD says: “If the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below explored, then I too will reject all the offspring of Israel for all they have done,” declares the LORD.
31:38 “Look, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the city will be rebuilt for the LORD from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate.
31:39 The measuring line will extend farther to the hill of Gareb and turn toward Goah.
31:40 The whole valley of the corpses and the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Kidron Brook, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, will be holy to the LORD. It will never again be uprooted or torn down.”

Chapter 32
32:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar.
32:2 At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard at the house of the king of Judah.
32:3 Zedekiah king of Judah had confined him there, saying, “Why do you prophesy, ‘This is what the LORD says: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
32:4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but will surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon. He will speak with him face to face, and his eyes will see his eyes.
32:5 He will take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he will remain until I attend to him, declares the LORD. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you will not succeed’?”
32:6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me:
32:7 ‘Look, Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is coming to you to say: Buy my field in Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it.’
32:8 Then Hanamel, my uncle’s son, came to me in the courtyard of the guard according to the word of the LORD. He said, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for you have the right of inheritance and redemption. Buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
32:9 So I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel, my uncle’s son, and weighed out for him about seven ounces of silver.
32:10 I wrote the deed and sealed it, called witnesses, and weighed the silver on the scales.
32:11 I took the deed of purchase, the sealed one with its terms and conditions, and the open one,
32:12 and gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my uncle, the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the guard.
32:13 I charged Baruch in their presence:
32:14 ‘This is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Take these documents, this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, so that they may last many days.
32:15 For this is what the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says: Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land.’
32:16 After giving the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah, I prayed to the LORD:
32:17 ‘Ah, Lord GOD! Look, you made the heavens and the earth by your great power and your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you.
32:18 You show steadfast love to thousands and repay the iniquity of fathers into the laps of their children after them—the great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
32:19 You are great in counsel and mighty in deeds; your eyes are open to all the ways of mankind, to give each man according to his ways and the fruit of his deeds.
32:20 You have performed signs and wonders in the land of Egypt to this day, in Israel and among mankind, and have made a name for yourself, as it is today.
32:21 You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, a strong hand, an outstretched arm, and great terror.
32:22 You gave them this land, which you swore to their ancestors to give them, a land flowing with milk and honey.
32:23 They entered and possessed it, but did not obey your voice or walk in your laws. They did none of all you commanded them to do, so you brought all this disaster upon them.
32:24 Look, the siege ramps have reached the city to capture it, and the city is being given into the hand of the Chaldeans fighting against it, because of sword, famine, and plague. What you spoke has happened, and you yourself see it.
32:25 Yet you have said to me, Lord GOD: Buy the field with silver and call witnesses—though the city is being given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’”
32:26 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
32:27 “Look, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me?
32:28 Therefore this is what the LORD says: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will capture it.
32:29 The Chaldeans fighting against this city will come, set fire to it, and burn it, along with the houses on whose roofs they burned incense to Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.
32:30 For the people of Israel and the people of Judah have done only evil in my sight from their youth; the people of Israel have only provoked me to anger with the work of their hands, declares the LORD.
32:31 This city has provoked my anger and my wrath from the day they built it to this day, so I will remove it from my presence,
32:32 because of all the evil the people of Israel and Judah have done to provoke me to anger—they, their kings, their officials, their priests, their prophets, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
32:33 They turned their backs to me and not their faces. Though I taught them, rising early and teaching them, they did not listen or accept discipline.
32:34 They set their abominations in the house that bears my name, defiling it.
32:35 They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom to hand their sons and daughters over to Molech—something I did not command them, nor did it enter my mind that they should do this abomination, causing Judah to sin.
32:36 Now therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says concerning this city of which you say, ‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, famine, and plague’:
32:37 Look, I am gathering them from all the lands where I drove them in my anger, my fury, and my great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell securely.
32:38 They will be my people, and I will be their God.
32:39 I will give them one heart and one way, so that they fear me always, for their own good and the good of their children after them.
32:40 I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will not turn away from doing them good. I will put the fear of me in their hearts, so that they do not turn away from me.
32:41 I will rejoice over them in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all my heart and all my soul.
32:42 For this is what the LORD says: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good I am promising them.
32:43 Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, ‘It is a desolation, without people or animals, given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’
32:44 They will buy fields with silver, write and seal deeds, and call witnesses in the land of Benjamin, around Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowlands, and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their fortunes,” declares the LORD.

Chapter 33
33:1 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah a second time while he was still confined in the courtyard of the guard:
33:2 Thus says the LORD who made it, the LORD who formed it to establish it—the LORD is his name:
33:3 “Call to me, and I will answer you and tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
33:4 For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah that have been torn down to resist the siege ramps and the sword:
33:5 They come to fight the Chaldeans, only to fill these houses with the corpses of those I struck down in my anger and wrath. I have hidden my face from this city because of all their wickedness.
33:6 But look, I will bring her health and healing. I will heal them and reveal to them an abundance of peace and faithfulness.
33:7 I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and rebuild them as at first.
33:8 I will cleanse them from all the iniquity with which they sinned against me, and I will forgive all the iniquities with which they sinned against me and rebelled against me.
33:9 She will be to me a name of joy, praise, and glory before all the nations of the earth who hear of all the good I do for them. They will fear and tremble at all the good and all the peace I give her.”
33:10 Thus says the LORD: “In this place that you call desolate, without people or animals—in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, desolate, without people, inhabitants, or animals—there will again be heard
33:11 the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voices of those saying, ‘Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,’ as they bring thank offerings to the house of the LORD. For I will restore the fortunes of the land as at first, says the LORD.”
33:12 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “In this desolate place, without people or animals, and in all its cities, there will again be pastures where shepherds make their flocks lie down.
33:13 In the cities of the hill country, the lowlands, and the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, around Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who counts them, says the LORD.
33:14 Look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will fulfill the good word I spoke to the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
33:15 In those days and at that time I will cause a Branch of righteousness to spring up for David, and he will carry out justice and righteousness in the land.
33:16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell securely. This is what she will be called: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’
33:17 For thus says the LORD: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel,
33:18 and the Levitical priests will never lack a man before me to offer burnt offerings, burn grain offerings, and make sacrifices continually.”
33:19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
33:20 “Thus says the LORD: If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time,
33:21 then my covenant with David my servant can also be broken, so that he has no son to reign on his throne, and my covenant with the Levitical priests, my ministers.
33:22 As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David my servant and the Levites who minister to me.”
33:23 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
33:24 “Have you not seen what these people are saying? ‘The LORD has rejected the two families he chose.’ They despise my people, so that they no longer consider them a nation.
33:25 Thus says the LORD: If my covenant with day and night does not stand, if I have not established the ordinances of heaven and earth,
33:26 then I will also reject the offspring of Jacob and David my servant, refusing to take from his offspring rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore their fortunes and have compassion on them.”

Chapter 34
34:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his entire army, all the kingdoms of the earth under his rule, and all the peoples were fighting against Jerusalem and all its cities:
34:2 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah. Tell him, ‘Thus says the LORD: Look, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will burn it with fire.
34:3 You will not escape his hand. You will surely be captured and given into his hand. Your eyes will see the eyes of the king of Babylon, and he will speak with you face to face. You will go to Babylon.
34:4 Yet hear the word of the LORD, Zedekiah king of Judah. Thus says the LORD concerning you: You will not die by the sword.
34:5 You will die in peace. As they burned spices for your fathers, the former kings who preceded you, so they will burn them for you and lament for you, saying, “Alas, master!” For I have spoken the word, declares the LORD.’”
34:6 Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem,
34:7 while the army of the king of Babylon was fighting against Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that remained—Lachish and Azekah, for these were the fortified cities remaining among the cities of Judah.
34:8 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom to them:
34:9 Everyone was to set free his male and female Hebrew slaves, so that no one would keep a fellow Jew, his brother, in slavery.
34:10 All the officials and all the people who had entered the covenant agreed to set their male and female slaves free and no longer enslave them. They obeyed and set them free.
34:11 But afterward they turned back and brought back the male and female slaves they had set free, forcing them into slavery again.
34:12 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
34:13 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: I made a covenant with your fathers on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, saying,
34:14 ‘At the end of seven years, each of you must release his fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years. You must let him go free from your service.’ But your fathers did not listen to me or incline their ear.
34:15 You yourselves had turned today and done what was right in my eyes by proclaiming freedom, each to his neighbor. You made a covenant before me in the house that bears my name.
34:16 But you turned back and profaned my name. Each of you brought back his male and female slaves whom you had set free to live as they wished, and you forced them to be your slaves again.
34:17 Therefore thus says the LORD: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming freedom, each to his brother and each to his neighbor. Look, I proclaim freedom for you, declares the LORD—freedom to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine. I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.
34:18 I will hand over the men who violated my covenant, who did not carry out the words of the covenant they made before me when they cut the calf in two and passed between its pieces:
34:19 the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the eunuchs, the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the pieces of the calf.
34:20 I will give them into the hand of their enemies and those who seek their lives. Their corpses will be food for the birds of the heavens and the animals of the earth.
34:21 I will also give Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials into the hand of their enemies and those who seek their lives, into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon that has withdrawn from you.
34:22 Look, I will give the command, declares the LORD, and bring them back to this city. They will fight against it, capture it, and burn it with fire. I will make the cities of Judah a desolation without inhabitants.”

Chapter 35
35:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
35:2 “Go to the family of the Rechabites and speak with them. Bring them to the house of the LORD, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.”
35:3 So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, his brothers, all his sons, and the entire family of the Rechabites.
35:4 I brought them into the house of the LORD, to the chamber of the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, the man of God. It was beside the chamber of the officials, above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum, the keeper of the threshold.
35:5 I set pitchers full of wine and cups before the members of the Rechabite family and said to them, “Drink some wine.”
35:6 But they said, “We will not drink wine, for Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, ‘Neither you nor your sons shall ever drink wine.
35:7 You shall not build a house, sow seed, or plant or own a vineyard. Instead, you shall live in tents all your days, so that you may live a long time in the land where you reside as foreigners.’
35:8 We have obeyed Jonadab son of Rechab, our father, in everything he commanded us. We have drunk no wine all our days, neither we nor our wives, our sons, or our daughters.
35:9 We have built no houses to live in, and we have no vineyard, field, or seed.
35:10 We have lived in tents and have obeyed and done everything Jonadab our father commanded us.
35:11 But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against the land, we said, ‘Come, let us go to Jerusalem to escape the army of the Chaldeans and the army of Aram.’ So we have been living in Jerusalem.”
35:12 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
35:13 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Go and say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, “The LORD declares: Will you not accept correction and listen to my words?
35:14 The words of Jonadab son of Rechab, who commanded his sons not to drink wine, have been carried out. They have drunk none to this day, for they obey their father’s command. But I have spoken to you, early and persistently, and you have not listened to me.
35:15 I have sent you all my servants the prophets, sending them early and persistently, saying, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil way. Make your deeds right, and do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will dwell in the land I gave to you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear or listened to me.
35:16 The sons of Jonadab son of Rechab have carried out their father’s command to them, but these people have not listened to me.
35:17 Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I am bringing on Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster I have spoken against them, because I spoke to them and they did not listen; I called to them and they did not answer.”
35:18 Jeremiah said to the family of the Rechabites, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Because you have obeyed the command of Jonadab your father, kept all his commands, and done everything he commanded you,
35:19 therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Jonadab son of Rechab will never lack a man to stand before me.”

Chapter 36
36:1 In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD:
36:2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, in the days of Josiah, until today.
36:3 Perhaps the house of Judah will hear of all the disaster I plan to bring on them, so that each may turn from his evil way and I may forgive their iniquity and sin.”
36:4 Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll, at Jeremiah’s dictation, all the words the LORD had spoken to him.
36:5 Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I am under restraint and cannot enter the house of the LORD.
36:6 So you must go and read from the scroll the words of the LORD that you wrote at my dictation. Read them in the house of the LORD on a day of fasting, in the hearing of the people and of all Judah who come from their cities.
36:7 Perhaps their plea will come before the LORD, and each will turn from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath that the LORD has pronounced against this people.”
36:8 Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the scroll the words of the LORD in the house of the LORD.
36:9 In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all those who had come to Jerusalem from the cities of Judah proclaimed a fast before the LORD.
36:10 Baruch read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll in the house of the LORD, in the hearing of all the people. He read from the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard, at the entrance of the New Gate of the house of the LORD.
36:11 Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the LORD read from the scroll.
36:12 He went down to the king’s house, to the scribe’s chamber. There all the officials were seated: Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials.
36:13 Micaiah told them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.
36:14 All the officials sent Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and went to them.
36:15 They said to him, “Please sit down and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them.
36:16 When they heard all the words, they turned to one another in fear and said to Baruch, “We must certainly tell the king all these words.”
36:17 They asked Baruch, “Please tell us how you wrote all these words at his dictation.”
36:18 Baruch said to them, “He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink on the scroll.”
36:19 The officials said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah. Let no one know where you are.”
36:20 They went to the king in the courtyard, leaving the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and reported all the words in the king’s hearing.
36:21 The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He brought it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe and read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials standing beside him.
36:22 The king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in a brazier before him.
36:23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut them off with the scribe’s knife and threw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire in the brazier.
36:24 Neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words were afraid or tore their clothes.
36:25 Although Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll, he did not listen to them.
36:26 The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet. But the LORD hid them.
36:27 After the king burned the scroll and the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
36:28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned.
36:29 Concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah, you shall say, ‘Thus says the LORD: You burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will surely come and destroy this land and wipe out its people and animals?”
36:30 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne. His corpse will be thrown out to the heat by day and the frost by night.
36:31 I will punish him, his offspring, and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring on them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the men of Judah all the disaster I spoke against them, but they did not listen.’”
36:32 Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe. At Jeremiah’s dictation he wrote on it all the words of the scroll Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to them.

Chapter 37
37:1 King Zedekiah son of Josiah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made king in the land of Judah, reigned in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim.
37:2 But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.
37:3 King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Please pray to the LORD our God for us.”
37:4 Jeremiah was still coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison.
37:5 Pharaoh’s army had marched out of Egypt. When the Chaldeans besieging Jerusalem heard the news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.
37:6 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet:
37:7 Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Say this to the king of Judah who sent you to inquire of me: “Look, Pharaoh’s army, which came out to help you, will return to its own land, Egypt.
37:8 The Chaldeans will return, fight against this city, capture it, and burn it with fire.
37:9 Thus says the LORD: Do not deceive yourselves by saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely leave us,’ for they will not leave.
37:10 Even if you struck down the entire Chaldean army fighting against you, and only wounded men remained among them, each would rise in his tent and burn this city with fire.”
37:11 When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army,
37:12 Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his share there among the people.
37:13 When he was at the Benjamin Gate, a captain of the guard named Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, seized Jeremiah the prophet and said, “You are deserting to the Chaldeans!”
37:14 Jeremiah said, “That is false! I am not deserting to the Chaldeans.” But Irijah would not listen to him. He seized Jeremiah and brought him to the officials.
37:15 The officials were angry with Jeremiah, beat him, and put him in prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for they had made it a prison.
37:16 Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells and remained there many days.
37:17 King Zedekiah sent for him and questioned him secretly in his house: “Is there any word from the LORD?” Jeremiah said, “There is.” And he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.”
37:18 Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you, your servants, or this people, that you have put me in prison?
37:19 Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you or this land’?
37:20 Now please listen, my lord the king. Please let my plea come before you. Do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”
37:21 King Zedekiah gave the command, and Jeremiah was placed under guard in the courtyard of the guard. He was given a loaf of bread each day from the Bakers’ Street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Chapter 38
38:1 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchiah heard the words Jeremiah was speaking to all the people:
38:2 “Thus says the LORD: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword, famine, and pestilence. But whoever goes out to the Chaldeans will live; he will have his life as plunder and will live.
38:3 Thus says the LORD: This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, which will capture it.”
38:4 The officials said to the king, “Please have this man put to death, because by saying these things he weakens the hands of the soldiers remaining in this city and the hands of all the people. This man seeks their harm, not their welfare.”
38:5 King Zedekiah said, “Look, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.”
38:6 They took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
38:7 Ebed-melech the Cushite, a eunuch in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the cistern. The king was sitting at the Benjamin Gate.
38:8 Ebed-melech went out of the king’s house and said to the king,
38:9 “My lord the king, these men have done evil in everything they have done to Jeremiah the prophet by throwing him into the cistern. He will die of hunger there, for there is no more bread in the city.”
38:10 The king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here under your command and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
38:11 Ebed-melech took the men under his command and went into the king’s house, to a place beneath the treasury. He took old rags and worn-out clothes from there and lowered them by ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.
38:12 Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Please put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your armpits, beneath the ropes.” Jeremiah did so.
38:13 They pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
38:14 King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and brought him to the third entrance of the house of the LORD. The king said to Jeremiah, “I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.”
38:15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I advise you, you will not listen to me.”
38:16 King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, “As the LORD lives, who gave us this life, I will not put you to death or give you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”
38:17 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you indeed go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared, this city will not be burned with fire, and you and your household will live.
38:18 But if you do not go out to the officials of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they will burn it with fire. You will not escape their hand.”
38:19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans. I may be given into their hands, and they will mistreat me.”
38:20 Jeremiah said, “They will not hand you over. Please obey the voice of the LORD in what I am telling you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared.
38:21 But if you refuse to go out, this is what the LORD has shown me:
38:22 Look, all the women remaining in the house of the king of Judah are being brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon, and they are saying, ‘Your trusted friends have misled you and prevailed over you. Your feet have sunk into the mud, and they have turned back.’
38:23 All your wives and sons will be brought out to the Chaldeans, and you will not escape their hand. You will be captured by the king of Babylon, and you will cause this city to be burned with fire.”
38:24 Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know these words, and you will not die.
38:25 If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come and say to you, ‘Please tell us what you said to the king. Hide nothing from us, and we will not put you to death. What did the king say to you?’
38:26 then you shall tell them, ‘I was presenting my plea before the king, that he would not send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”
38:27 All the officials came to Jeremiah and questioned him, and he told them everything the king had commanded. They stopped questioning him, for the conversation had not been overheard.
38:28 Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured. And this is what happened when Jerusalem was captured:

Chapter 39
39:1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his entire army against Jerusalem and besieged it.
39:2 In Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the fourth month, the city was breached.
39:3 All the officials of the king of Babylon came in and sat at the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer, Samgar-nebo, Sarsechim the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the rest of the officials of the king of Babylon.
39:4 When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled. They left the city by night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and the king went toward the Arabah.
39:5 The Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah on the plains of Jericho. They captured him and brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him.
39:6 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes at Riblah. The king of Babylon also slaughtered all the nobles of Judah.
39:7 He put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.
39:8 The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people with fire and tore down the walls of Jerusalem.
39:9 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who remained in the city, the deserters who had deserted to him, and the rest of the people who remained.
39:10 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left in the land of Judah some of the poor people who had nothing. On that day he gave them vineyards and fields.
39:11 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard these orders concerning Jeremiah:
39:12 “Take him and look after him. Do him no harm, but do for him whatever he tells you.”
39:13 So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban the Rab-saris, Nergal-sharezer the Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon sent orders.
39:14 They had Jeremiah brought out of the courtyard of the guard and entrusted him to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to take him home. So he lived among the people.
39:15 The word of the LORD had come to Jeremiah while he was confined in the courtyard of the guard:
39:16 “Go and say to Ebed-melech the Cushite, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I am bringing my words upon this city for disaster, not for good. They will be fulfilled before you on that day.
39:17 But I will deliver you on that day, declares the LORD. You will not be given into the hand of the men you fear.
39:18 For I will surely rescue you. You will not fall by the sword, but you will have your life as plunder, because you have trusted in me, declares the LORD.’”

Chapter 40
40:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard released him from Ramah. He had taken Jeremiah while he was bound in chains among all the exiles from Jerusalem and Judah who were being taken to Babylon.
40:2 The captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, “The LORD your God pronounced this disaster against this place.
40:3 The LORD has brought it about and done as he said. Because you sinned against the LORD and did not obey his voice, this has happened to you.
40:4 Now look, today I am freeing you from the chains on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems bad to you to come with me to Babylon, do not come. Look, the whole land is before you. Go wherever it seems good and right to you to go.”
40:5 While Jeremiah had not yet turned back, he added, “Return to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon appointed over the cities of Judah, and live with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems right to you to go.” The captain of the guard gave him provisions and a gift and sent him on his way.
40:6 Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and lived with him among the people who remained in the land.
40:7 All the commanders of the troops in the open country, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam over the land and had entrusted to him the men, women, children, and poor of the land who had not been taken into exile to Babylon.
40:8 They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah son of the Maacathite, they and their men.
40:9 Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.
40:10 As for me, I will stay at Mizpah to stand before the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine, summer fruit, and oil, put them in your vessels, and live in the cities you have occupied.”
40:11 All the Jews in Moab, among the Ammonites, in Edom, and in all the other lands also heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah and appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, over them.
40:12 All these Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah. They gathered wine and summer fruit in great abundance.
40:13 Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah
40:14 and said to him, “Do you know for certain that Baalis king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam did not believe them.
40:15 Johanan son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah at Mizpah, saying, “Please let me go and strike down Ishmael son of Nethaniah, and no one will know. Why should he take your life, so that all the Jews gathered around you are scattered and the remnant of Judah perishes?”
40:16 But Gedaliah son of Ahikam said to Johanan son of Kareah, “Do not do this, for what you are saying about Ishmael is false.”

Chapter 41
41:1 In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, of royal descent and one of the king’s chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. They ate bread together there at Mizpah.
41:2 Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword. He killed the man the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
41:3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah and the Chaldean soldiers who were there.
41:4 On the day after Gedaliah was killed, while no one knew about it,
41:5 eighty men came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria with shaved beards, torn clothes, and cuts on their bodies. They carried grain offerings and frankincense to bring to the house of the LORD.
41:6 Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When he met them, he said, “Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”
41:7 When they entered the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into the cistern.
41:8 But ten men among them said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have supplies hidden in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey.” So he held back and did not kill them with their brothers.
41:9 The cistern into which Ishmael threw all the corpses of the men he had struck down because of Gedaliah was the one King Asa had made because of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.
41:10 Ishmael took captive all the rest of the people in Mizpah—the king’s daughters and all the people remaining in Mizpah whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had entrusted to Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
41:11 Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops with him heard of all the evil Ishmael son of Nethaniah had done.
41:12 They took all their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They found him by the great waters at Gibeon.
41:13 When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops with him, they rejoiced.
41:14 All the people Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and went back to Johanan son of Kareah.
41:15 But Ishmael son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the Ammonites.
41:16 Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops with him took all the rest of the people he had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah, who had taken them from Mizpah after striking down Gedaliah son of Ahikam. These were the soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs he had brought back from Gibeon.
41:17 They went and stayed at Geruth-chimham near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt,
41:18 because of the Chaldeans. They were afraid of them because Ishmael son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

Chapter 42
42:1 All the commanders of the troops, Johanan son of Kareah, Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, approached
42:2 and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Please let our plea come before you. Pray to the LORD your God for us, for this entire remnant, for we are left few out of many, as your own eyes see.
42:3 May the LORD your God tell us the way we should go and what we should do.”
42:4 Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. I will pray to the LORD your God as you have asked. Everything the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will withhold nothing from you.”
42:5 They said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not do everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us.
42:6 Whether good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we are sending you, so that it may go well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”
42:7 After ten days, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.
42:8 He called Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the troops with him, and all the people, from the least to the greatest,
42:9 and said to them, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea:
42:10 ‘If you indeed remain in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I regret the disaster I have brought on you.
42:11 Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from his hand.
42:12 I will grant you compassion, and he will have compassion on you and bring you back to your own land.’
42:13 But if you say, ‘We will not remain in this land,’ refusing to obey the voice of the LORD your God,
42:14 and say, ‘No, we will go to the land of Egypt, where we will see no war, hear no trumpet, and have no hunger for bread. We will live there,’
42:15 then hear the word of the LORD, remnant of Judah. Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘If you are determined to enter Egypt and go to reside there,
42:16 then the sword you fear will overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine you dread will follow close after you there in Egypt, and there you will die.
42:17 All the men who are determined to enter Egypt to reside there will die by sword, famine, and pestilence. None of them will survive or escape the disaster I am bringing on them.’
42:18 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘As my anger and wrath were poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so my wrath will be poured out on you when you enter Egypt. You will become an object of imprecation, horror, cursing, and reproach, and you will never see this place again.’
42:19 The LORD has spoken concerning you, remnant of Judah: ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for certain that I have warned you today.
42:20 For you have deceived yourselves. You sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray to the LORD our God for us. Tell us everything the LORD our God says, and we will do it.’
42:21 I have told you today, but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God or anything he sent me to tell you.
42:22 So now know for certain that you will die by sword, famine, and pestilence in the place where you desire to go and reside.”

Chapter 43
43:1 When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all the words of the LORD their God, everything the LORD their God had sent him to tell them,
43:2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah, Johanan son of Kareah, and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, “You are speaking falsely! The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not enter Egypt to reside there.’
43:3 Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us, to give us into the hand of the Chaldeans, to put us to death and take us into exile to Babylon.”
43:4 So Johanan son of Kareah, all the commanders of the troops, and all the people did not obey the LORD’s command to remain in the land of Judah.
43:5 Johanan son of Kareah and all the commanders of the troops took the entire remnant of Judah who had returned from all the nations to which they had been driven, to reside in the land of Judah:
43:6 the men, women, children, the king’s daughters, and every person Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as well as Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah.
43:7 They entered the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD, and they came as far as Tahpanhes.
43:8 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah in Tahpanhes:
43:9 “Take large stones in your hands and hide them in the mortar of the brick pavement at the entrance to Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes, in the sight of the men of Judah.
43:10 Say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I will send for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and bring him here. I will set his throne above these stones I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them.
43:11 He will come and strike the land of Egypt: those destined for death, to death; those for captivity, to captivity; and those for the sword, to the sword.
43:12 I will kindle a fire in the temples of the gods of Egypt. He will burn them and carry the gods away captive. He will wrap himself in the land of Egypt as a shepherd wraps himself in his cloak, and he will leave there in peace.
43:13 He will break the pillars of Beth-shemesh in the land of Egypt and burn the temples of the gods of Egypt with fire.’”

Chapter 44
44:1 This is the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews living in the land of Egypt, in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Memphis, and the land of Pathros:
44:2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have seen all the disaster I brought on Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah. Look, today they lie in ruins, with no one living in them,
44:3 because of the evil they did to provoke me to anger, going to burn incense and serve other gods whom neither they nor you nor your fathers had known.
44:4 I sent you all my servants the prophets, sending them early and persistently, saying, ‘Please do not do this abominable thing that I hate.’
44:5 But they did not listen or incline their ear to turn from their evil and stop burning incense to other gods.
44:6 So my wrath and anger were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. They became ruins and a desolation, as they are today.
44:7 Now thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: Why are you doing such great harm to yourselves, cutting off man and woman, child and nursing infant from Judah, leaving yourselves no remnant,
44:8 provoking me to anger with the works of your hands by burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you have come to reside? Why bring about your own destruction and become a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth?
44:9 Have you forgotten the evil of your fathers, the evil of the kings of Judah, the evil of his wives, your own evil, and the evil of your wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem?
44:10 To this day they have not humbled themselves or feared, nor have they walked in my law and my statutes that I set before you and your fathers.
44:11 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I am setting my face against you for disaster and to cut off all Judah.
44:12 I will take the remnant of Judah who determined to enter the land of Egypt to reside there, and they will all perish in the land of Egypt. They will fall by the sword and perish by famine. From the least to the greatest, they will die by sword and famine and become an object of imprecation, horror, cursing, and reproach.
44:13 I will punish those living in the land of Egypt as I punished Jerusalem, by sword, famine, and pestilence.
44:14 None of the remnant of Judah who have come to reside in the land of Egypt will escape or survive to return to the land of Judah, where they long to return and live. They will not return, except for fugitives.”
44:15 Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, all the women standing there, a great assembly, and all the people living in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah:
44:16 “As for the word you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.
44:17 We will certainly do everything we have promised with our mouths: burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we and our fathers, our kings and officials did in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem. Then we had plenty of bread, were well, and saw no disaster.
44:18 But since we stopped burning incense to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have perished by sword and famine.
44:19 When we burned incense to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did we make cakes bearing her image and pour out drink offerings to her without our husbands?”
44:20 Jeremiah said to all the people, to the men, the women, and all the people who had given him that answer:
44:21 “The incense you burned in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—you and your fathers, your kings and officials, and the people of the land—did the LORD not remember it, and did it not come to his mind?
44:22 The LORD could no longer bear the evil of your deeds and the abominations you committed. So your land became a ruin, a horror, and a curse, without inhabitants, as it is today.
44:23 Because you burned incense and sinned against the LORD, did not obey the voice of the LORD, and did not walk in his law, his statutes, and his testimonies, this disaster has come upon you, as it has today.”
44:24 Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the LORD, all Judah in the land of Egypt:
44:25 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You and your wives have spoken with your mouths and carried it out with your hands, saying, “We will certainly fulfill the vows we made to burn incense to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her.” Go ahead, confirm your vows! Carry out your vows!
44:26 Therefore hear the word of the LORD, all Judah living in the land of Egypt. Look, I have sworn by my great name, says the LORD, that my name will no longer be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, “As the Lord GOD lives.”
44:27 Look, I am watching over them for disaster, not for good. All the men of Judah in the land of Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are consumed.
44:28 Those who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number. All the remnant of Judah who came to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.
44:29 This will be the sign to you, declares the LORD, that I am punishing you in this place, so that you may know that my words against you for disaster will surely stand.
44:30 Thus says the LORD: Look, I am giving Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and those who seek his life, as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, his enemy who sought his life.’”

Chapter 45
45:1 This is the word Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch son of Neriah when he wrote these words on a scroll at Jeremiah’s dictation, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
45:2 Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning you, Baruch:
45:3 “You said, ‘Alas for me! The LORD has added grief to my pain. I am weary with my sighing and have found no rest.’”
45:4 Say this to him: “Thus says the LORD: Look, what I built I am tearing down, and what I planted I am uprooting—the whole land.
45:5 Are you seeking great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For look, I am bringing disaster on all flesh, declares the LORD. But I will give you your life as plunder in every place you go.”

Chapter 46
46:1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the nations:
46:2 Concerning Egypt, the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt that was by the Euphrates River at Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon defeated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah:
46:3 “Prepare the small shield and the large shield, and advance to battle!
46:4 Harness the horses!
   Mount, you horsemen!
   Take your positions with helmets on!
   Polish the spears!
   Put on your armor!
46:5 Why do I see them dismayed and retreating?
   Their warriors are beaten down;
   they flee in haste and do not look back.
   Terror on every side!
   declares the LORD.
46:6 Let the swift not flee;
   let the warrior not escape.
   In the north, beside the Euphrates River, they have stumbled and fallen.
46:7 Who is this rising like the Nile, whose waters surge like rivers?
46:8 Egypt rises like the Nile, and its waters surge like rivers.
   It says, ‘I will rise and cover the earth.
   I will destroy the city and those who live in it.’
46:9 Charge, horses!
   Rage, chariots!
   Let the warriors come out: Cush and Put, who carry the shield, and the Ludim, who handle and bend the bow.
46:10 That day belongs to the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, to take vengeance on his foes.
   The sword will devour and be satisfied, and drink its fill of their blood, for the Lord GOD of hosts has a sacrifice in the northern land beside the Euphrates River.
46:11 Go up to Gilead and get balm, virgin daughter Egypt.
   In vain you multiply remedies;
   there is no healing for you.
46:12 The nations have heard of your shame, and your cry has filled the earth, for warrior has stumbled against warrior, and both have fallen together.”
46:13 This is the word the LORD spoke to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the coming of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to strike the land of Egypt:
46:14 “Declare it in Egypt!
   Proclaim it in Migdol, Memphis, and Tahpanhes!
   Say, ‘Take your position and prepare, for the sword has devoured all around you.’
46:15 Why have your mighty ones been swept away?
   Not one stood, for the LORD drove him down.
46:16 He made many stumble;
   one fell upon another.
   They said, ‘Rise, let us return to our own people and our native land, away from the oppressing sword.’
46:17 There they cried, ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt is only noise!
   He has let the appointed time pass.’
46:18 As I live, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts, like Tabor among the mountains and Carmel by the sea, he will come.
46:19 Pack your belongings for exile, daughter dwelling in Egypt, for Memphis will become a desolation, laid waste without inhabitants.

46:20 Egypt is a beautiful heifer, but a gadfly is coming from the north—it is coming!
46:21 Even the mercenaries in her midst are like fattened calves.
   They too have turned and fled together;
   they did not stand, for the day of their calamity has come upon them, the time of their punishment.
46:22 Her voice sounds like a serpent as it moves, for they advance in force and come against her with axes, like woodcutters.
46:23 They will cut down her forest, declares the LORD, though it is impenetrable, for they are more numerous than locusts and cannot be counted.
46:24 Daughter Egypt is put to shame, given into the hand of the people of the north.”
46:25 The LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, says, “Look, I am bringing punishment on Amon of Thebes, on Pharaoh, Egypt, her gods and kings, on Pharaoh and those who trust in him.
46:26 I will give them into the hand of those who seek their lives, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and his servants.
   Afterward she will be inhabited as in the days of old, declares the LORD.

46:27 But do not fear, Jacob my servant, and do not be dismayed, Israel.
   Look, I will save you from far away, and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
   Jacob will return and be quiet and at ease, with no one to make him afraid.

46:28 Do not fear, Jacob my servant, declares the LORD, for I am with you.
   I will make a complete end of all the nations to which I have driven you, but I will not make a complete end of you.
   I will discipline you with justice and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

Chapter 47
47:1 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning the Philistines, before Pharaoh struck Gaza:

47:2 “Thus says the LORD: Look, waters are rising from the north.
   They will become an overflowing torrent and flood the land and all that fills it, the city and those who live in it.
   People will cry out, and all the inhabitants of the land will wail
47:3 at the sound of the pounding hooves of his stallions, the rumbling of his chariots, and the roar of his wheels.
   Fathers will not turn back to their children, for their hands hang weak,
47:4 because of the day that is coming to destroy all the Philistines and cut off from Tyre and Sidon every remaining helper.
   For the LORD is destroying the Philistines, the remnant of the coastland of Caphtor.
47:5 Baldness has come upon Gaza;
   Ashkelon has been silenced.
   Remnant of their valley, how long will you cut yourself?

47:6 Alas, sword of the LORD!
   How long will you be without rest?
   Return to your sheath!
   Rest and be still!
47:7 How can you rest?
   The LORD has given it a command;
   he has appointed it there, against Ashkelon and the seacoast.”

Chapter 48
48:1 Concerning Moab, thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Woe to Nebo, for it is devastated!
   Kiriathaim is put to shame and captured;
   the stronghold is put to shame and shattered.
48:2 Moab’s praise is no more.
   In Heshbon they have devised disaster against her: ‘Come, let us cut her off as a nation.’ You too, Madmen, will be silenced;
   the sword will pursue you.
48:3 A cry comes from Horonaim: devastation and great destruction!
48:4 Moab is broken;
   her little ones make their cries heard.
48:5 For on the ascent to Luhith, weeping rises upon weeping.
   On the slope down to Horonaim they hear the anguished cry of destruction.
48:6 Flee! Save your lives!
   Be like a shrub in the wilderness.
48:7 Because you trusted in your works and your treasures, you too will be captured.
   Chemosh will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
48:8 The destroyer will come against every city, and no city will escape.
   The valley will perish, and the plateau will be destroyed, as the LORD has spoken.
48:9 Give wings to Moab, for she will surely fly away.
   Her cities will become a desolation, with no one living in them.
48:10 Cursed is the one who does the LORD’s work carelessly, and cursed is the one who keeps his sword from blood.
48:11 Moab has been at ease since his youth;
   he has rested on his dregs.
   He has not been poured from vessel to vessel or gone into exile.
   So his taste has remained in him, and his aroma has not changed.

48:12 Therefore look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will send him pourers who will pour him out.
   They will empty his vessels and smash their jars.
48:13 Moab will be ashamed of Chemosh, as the house of Israel was ashamed of Bethel, in which they trusted.
48:14 How can you say, ‘We are warriors, valiant men for battle’?
48:15 Moab is devastated;
   the destroyer has gone up against her cities, and Moab’s finest young men have gone down to slaughter, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.
48:16 Moab’s calamity is near, and his disaster is coming very swiftly.
48:17 Mourn for him, all his neighbors and all who know his name.
   Say, ‘How the mighty staff is broken, the glorious rod!’
48:18 Come down from your glory and sit in thirst, daughter dwelling in Dibon, for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you and ruined your fortresses.
48:19 Stand beside the road and watch, inhabitant of Aroer.
   Ask the fleeing man and the escaping woman, ‘What has happened?’
48:20 Moab is put to shame, for he is shattered.
   Wail and cry out!
   Announce in Arnon that Moab is devastated.
48:21 Judgment has come upon the land of the plateau, upon Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath,
48:22 upon Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim,
48:23 upon Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon,
48:24 upon Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near.
48:25 Moab’s horn is cut off, and his arm is broken, declares the LORD.
48:26 Make him drunk, for he exalted himself against the LORD.
   Moab will wallow in his vomit, and he too will become a laughingstock.
48:27 Was Israel not a laughingstock to you?
   Was he found among thieves, that whenever you spoke of him you shook your head?
48:28 Leave the cities and dwell in the rock, inhabitants of Moab.
   Be like a dove that nests at the sides of a cavern’s mouth.
48:29 We have heard of Moab’s pride—he is very proud—his loftiness, arrogance, pride, and haughty heart.
48:30 I know his insolence, declares the LORD, but it is empty.
   His boasts accomplish nothing.
48:31 Therefore I wail for Moab;
   I cry out for all Moab.
   There is moaning for the men of Kir-heres.
48:32 More than the weeping for Jazer, I weep for you, vine of Sibmah.
   Your branches crossed the sea;
   they reached the sea of Jazer.
   The destroyer has fallen upon your summer fruit and your grape harvest.
48:33 Joy and gladness have been taken from the fruitful land and the land of Moab.
   I have stopped the wine from the winepresses.
   No one treads with joyful shouts;
   the shouts are not shouts of joy.
48:34 From the cry of Heshbon to Elealeh and Jahaz, they raise their voices, from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah.
   Even the waters of Nimrim will become desolate.
48:35 I will put an end in Moab, declares the LORD, to the one who offers on the high place and burns incense to his gods.
48:36 Therefore my heart moans for Moab like flutes, and my heart moans like flutes for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth he acquired has perished.
48:37 Every head is bald, and every beard is clipped.
   There are cuts on every hand and sackcloth around every waist.
48:38 On all the rooftops of Moab and in her squares there is nothing but lamentation, for I have broken Moab like a vessel no one wants, declares the LORD.
48:39 How he is shattered!
   Wail!
   How Moab has turned his back in shame!
   Moab has become a laughingstock and a terror to all his neighbors.

48:40 For thus says the LORD: Look, one swoops like an eagle and spreads his wings over Moab.
48:41 Kerioth is captured, and the strongholds are seized.
   On that day the hearts of Moab’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.
48:42 Moab will be destroyed as a people, for he exalted himself against the LORD.
48:43 Terror, pit, and snare are upon you, inhabitant of Moab, declares the LORD.
48:44 The one who flees from terror will fall into the pit, and the one who climbs out of the pit will be caught in the snare.
   For I will bring upon her, upon Moab, the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.
48:45 In the shadow of Heshbon the fugitives stand exhausted.
   But fire has gone out from Heshbon, a flame from the midst of Sihon.
   It has devoured the temples of Moab and the crowns of the heads of the tumultuous people.
48:46 Woe to you, Moab!
   The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been taken captive and your daughters into captivity.
48:47 Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the latter days, declares the LORD.”
   Thus far is the judgment of Moab.

Chapter 49
49:1 Concerning the Ammonites, thus says the LORD: “Has Israel no sons?
   Has he no heir?
   Why has Malcam taken possession of Gad, and why do his people dwell in its cities?
49:2 Therefore look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will sound the battle cry against Rabbah of the Ammonites.
   She will become a desolate mound, and her villages will be burned with fire.
   Then Israel will take possession of those who took possession of him, says the LORD.
49:3 Wail, Heshbon, for Ai is devastated!
   Cry out, daughters of Rabbah!
   Put on sackcloth, lament, and run back and forth among the enclosures, for Malcam will go into exile together with his priests and officials.
49:4 Why do you boast in your valleys, your overflowing valley, faithless daughter, who trusts in her treasures and says, ‘Who will come against me?’
49:5 Look, I am bringing terror upon you from all around you, declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
   Each of you will be driven straight ahead, with no one to gather the fugitives.
49:6 But afterward I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD.”

49:7 Concerning Edom, thus says the LORD of hosts: “Is there no longer wisdom in Teman?
   Has counsel perished from the discerning?
   Has their wisdom vanished?
49:8 Flee! Turn back!
   Dwell in deep places, inhabitants of Dedan!
   For I am bringing Esau’s calamity upon him, the time of his punishment.
49:9 If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?
   If thieves came by night, they would destroy only as much as they wanted.
49:10 But I have stripped Esau bare and uncovered his hiding places, and he cannot hide.
   His offspring, brothers, and neighbors are devastated, and he is no more.
49:11 Leave your orphans;
   I will keep them alive.
   Let your widows trust in me.

49:12 For thus says the LORD: Look, those whose judgment was not to drink the cup will surely drink it.
   Will you go entirely unpunished?
   You will not go unpunished;
   you will surely drink.
49:13 For I have sworn by myself, declares the LORD, that Bozrah will become a horror, a reproach, a ruin, and a curse, and all her cities will be ruins forever.”
49:14 I have heard a report from the LORD, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: “Gather together and come against her!
   Rise for battle!”
49:15 “For look, I have made you small among the nations, despised among mankind.
49:16 The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock and occupy the height of the hill.
   Though you make your nest high like the eagle, I will bring you down from there, declares the LORD.
49:17 Edom will become a horror.
   Everyone who passes by her will be horrified and hiss at all her wounds.
49:18 As when Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighbors were overthrown, says the LORD, no one will live there;
   no human being will reside in her.
49:19 Look, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against a secure pasture.
   In an instant I will drive him away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose.
   For who is like me?
   Who can summon me to court?
   What shepherd can stand before me?

49:20 Therefore hear the plan the LORD has made against Edom and the purposes he has devised against the inhabitants of Teman: Surely the least of the flock will drag them away;
   surely he will devastate their pasture because of them.
49:21 At the sound of their fall the earth trembles;
   the sound of the cry is heard at the Red Sea.
49:22 Look, one rises and swoops like an eagle and spreads his wings over Bozrah.
   On that day the hearts of Edom’s warriors will be like the heart of a woman in labor.”

49:23 Concerning Damascus: “Hamath and Arpad are put to shame, for they have heard bad news.
   They melt in fear.
   There is anxiety on the sea;
   it cannot be still.
49:24 Damascus has grown weak and turned to flee.
   Trembling has seized her;
   anguish and pains have gripped her like a woman in labor.
49:25 How has the city of praise not been abandoned, the city of my joy?
49:26 Therefore her young men will fall in her squares, and all her soldiers will be silenced on that day, declares the LORD of hosts.
49:27 I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it will consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.”

49:28 Concerning Kedar and the kingdoms of Hazor, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon struck, thus says the LORD: “Rise and go up against Kedar!
   Devastate the people of the east!
49:29 They will take their tents and flocks, carry away their tent curtains, all their goods, and their camels, and cry against them, ‘Terror on every side!’
49:30 Flee! Go far away!
   Dwell in deep places, inhabitants of Hazor, declares the LORD.
   For Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has made a plan against you and devised a purpose against them.
49:31 Rise and go up against a nation at ease, dwelling securely, declares the LORD.
   It has neither gates nor bars;
   they dwell alone.
49:32 Their camels will become plunder, and their abundant livestock will become spoil.
   I will scatter to every wind those who clip the hair at their temples, and from every side I will bring their calamity, declares the LORD.
49:33 Hazor will become a dwelling for jackals, a desolation forever.
   No one will live there;
   no human being will reside in her.”
49:34 This is the word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah the prophet concerning Elam, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah:
49:35 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Look, I am breaking the bow of Elam, the chief of their might.
49:36 I will bring against Elam the four winds from the four ends of heaven and scatter them to all these winds.
   There will be no nation to which the outcasts of Elam do not come.
49:37 I will terrify Elam before their enemies and those who seek their lives.
   I will bring disaster upon them, my burning anger, declares the LORD.
   I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them.
49:38 I will set my throne in Elam and destroy the king and officials there, declares the LORD.
49:39 But in the latter days I will restore the fortunes of Elam, declares the LORD.”

Chapter 50
50:1 This is the word the LORD spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans, through Jeremiah the prophet:
50:2 “Declare it among the nations and proclaim it!
   Raise a banner!
   Proclaim it;
   hide nothing!
   Say, ‘Babylon is captured!
   Bel is put to shame;
   Merodach is shattered.
   Her images are put to shame, and her idols are shattered.’
50:3 For a nation has come up against her from the north.
   It will make her land a desolation, with no one living in it.
   People and animals alike have fled and gone away.
50:4 In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah will come together.
   They will go along weeping and seek the LORD their God.
50:5 They will ask the way to Zion, their faces turned toward her: ‘Come and join yourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.’

50:6 My people have been lost sheep.
   Their shepherds have led them astray, making them wander on the mountains.
   They have gone from mountain to hill and forgotten their resting place.
50:7 All who found them devoured them.
   Their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, the dwelling of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’

50:8 Flee from the midst of Babylon!
   Go out from the land of the Chaldeans!
   Be like male goats at the head of the flock.
50:9 For look, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the northern land.
   They will line up against her, and from there she will be captured.
   Their arrows are like those of a skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.
50:10 Chaldea will become plunder.
   All who plunder her will have their fill, declares the LORD.
50:11 Because you rejoice and exult, plunderers of my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions,
50:12 your mother will be greatly ashamed;
   she who bore you will be humiliated.
   Look, she will be the last of the nations, a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert.
50:13 Because of the LORD’s wrath she will not be inhabited, but will be utterly desolate.
   Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified and hiss at all her wounds.
50:14 Line up against Babylon on every side, all you who bend the bow!
   Shoot at her;
   spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD.
50:15 Raise the battle cry against her on every side!
   She has surrendered;
   her foundations have fallen, and her walls have been torn down.
   This is the LORD’s vengeance.
   Take vengeance on her!
   Do to her as she has done!
50:16 Cut off from Babylon the sower and the one who wields the sickle at harvesttime.
   Because of the oppressing sword, each will turn to his own people and flee to his own land.

50:17 Israel is a scattered sheep driven away by lions.
   First the king of Assyria devoured him, and last Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon broke his bones.

50:18 Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Look, I am punishing the king of Babylon and his land as I punished the king of Assyria.
50:19 I will bring Israel back to his pasture.
   He will graze on Carmel and Bashan, and his appetite will be satisfied in the hill country of Ephraim and Gilead.
50:20 In those days and at that time, declares the LORD, the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found, for I will forgive those I leave as a remnant.
50:21 Go up against the land of Merathaim and against the inhabitants of Pekod!
   Pursue them, lay waste, and devote them to destruction, declares the LORD.
   Do everything I have commanded you.

50:22 The sound of battle is in the land, and great destruction!
50:23 How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut down and broken!
   How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
50:24 I set a snare for you, Babylon, and you were caught without knowing it.
   You were found and seized, for you challenged the LORD.
50:25 The LORD has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his indignation, for the Lord GOD of hosts has work to do in the land of the Chaldeans.
50:26 Come against her from the farthest border!
   Open her storehouses!
   Pile her up in heaps and devote her to destruction!
   Let no remnant of her remain.
50:27 Strike down all her bulls!
   Let them go down to slaughter!
   Woe to them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment.

50:28 There is the sound of those fleeing and escaping from the land of Babylon, to announce in Zion the vengeance of the LORD our God, vengeance for his temple.
50:29 Summon the archers against Babylon, all who bend the bow!
   Encamp all around her;
   let no one escape.
   Repay her according to her deeds;
   do to her everything she has done, for she has acted arrogantly against the LORD, against the Holy One of Israel.
50:30 Therefore her young men will fall in her squares, and all her soldiers will be silenced on that day, declares the LORD.

50:31 Look, I am against you, proud one, declares the Lord GOD of hosts, for your day has come, the time of your punishment.
50:32 The proud one will stumble and fall, and no one will raise him up.
   I will kindle a fire in his cities, and it will devour everything around him.

50:33 Thus says the LORD of hosts: The people of Israel and the people of Judah are oppressed together.
   All their captors hold them fast and refuse to let them go.
50:34 Their Redeemer is strong;
   the LORD of hosts is his name.
   He will surely plead their cause, to give rest to the earth and unrest to the inhabitants of Babylon.
50:35 A sword against the Chaldeans, declares the LORD, against the inhabitants of Babylon, her officials, and her wise men!
50:36 A sword against the liars, and they will become fools!
   A sword against her warriors, and they will be dismayed!
50:37 A sword against his horses and chariots and all the mixed peoples within her, and they will become like women!
   A sword against her treasures, and they will be plundered!
50:38 A drought upon her waters, and they will dry up, for it is a land of carved images, and they are mad over their terrifying idols.
50:39 Therefore desert creatures and hyenas will dwell there, and ostriches will live in her.
   She will never again be inhabited, nor will anyone dwell there from generation to generation.
50:40 As when God overthrew Sodom, Gomorrah, and their neighbors, declares the LORD, no one will live there;
   no human being will reside in her.
50:41 Look, a people is coming from the north;
   a great nation and many kings are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
50:42 They wield bow and javelin;
   they are cruel and show no mercy.
   Their voice roars like the sea, and they ride on horses, lined up like a man for battle against you, daughter Babylon.
50:43 The king of Babylon has heard the report of them, and his hands have grown weak.
   Anguish has seized him, pains like those of a woman in labor.
50:44 Look, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan against a secure pasture.
   In an instant I will drive them away from her, and I will appoint over her whomever I choose.
   For who is like me?
   Who can summon me to court?
   What shepherd can stand before me?
50:45 Therefore hear the plan the LORD has made against Babylon and the purposes he has devised against the land of the Chaldeans: Surely the least of the flock will drag them away;
   surely he will devastate the pasture because of them.
50:46 At the sound of Babylon’s capture the earth trembles, and a cry is heard among the nations.”

Chapter 51
51:1 Thus says the LORD: “Look, I am stirring up a destroying wind against Babylon and the inhabitants of Leb-kamai.
51:2 I will send foreigners to Babylon, and they will winnow her and empty her land, for they will surround her on the day of disaster.
51:3 Let the archer bend his bow against her, and let him rise against her in his armor.
   Do not spare her young men;
   devote her entire army to destruction.
51:4 They will fall slain in the land of the Chaldeans, pierced through in her streets.”
51:5 For Israel and Judah have not been widowed of their God, the LORD of hosts, though their land is full of guilt against the Holy One of Israel.
51:6 Flee from the midst of Babylon!
   Let each save his life!
   Do not perish in her iniquity, for this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance.
   He is repaying her.
51:7 Babylon was a golden cup in the LORD’s hand, making the whole earth drunk.
   The nations drank her wine;
   therefore the nations went mad.
51:8 Suddenly Babylon has fallen and is shattered.
   Wail for her!
   Get balm for her pain;
   perhaps she can be healed.
51:9 “We tried to heal Babylon, but she was not healed.
   Leave her, and let us go, each to his own land, for her judgment has reached heaven and risen to the skies.”
51:10 “The LORD has brought our vindication to light.
   Come, let us recount in Zion the work of the LORD our God.”
51:11 Sharpen the arrows!
   Take up the shields!
   The LORD has stirred up the spirit of the kings of Media, for his purpose against Babylon is to destroy her.
   This is the LORD’s vengeance, vengeance for his temple.
51:12 Raise a banner against the walls of Babylon!
   Strengthen the guard!
   Post watchmen!
   Prepare ambushes!
   For the LORD has both planned and done what he spoke against the inhabitants of Babylon.
51:13 You who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your unjust gain.
51:14 The LORD of hosts has sworn by himself: “I will surely fill you with men like locusts, and they will raise a shout against you.”

51:15 He made the earth by his power, established the world by his wisdom, and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
51:16 When he utters his voice, the waters roar in the heavens.
   He raises the clouds from the ends of the earth, makes lightning for the rain, and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
51:17 Every person is foolish, without knowledge.
   Every goldsmith is put to shame by his carved image, for his cast image is a lie, and there is no breath in them.
51:18 They are worthless, a work of mockery.
   At the time of their punishment they will perish.
51:19 The Portion of Jacob is not like them, for he is the one who formed all things, including the tribe of his inheritance.
   The LORD of hosts is his name.

51:20 “You are my hammer, my weapon of war.
   With you I will shatter nations, and with you I will destroy kingdoms.
51:21 With you I will shatter horse and rider, and with you I will shatter chariot and driver.
51:22 With you I will shatter man and woman, and with you I will shatter old man and youth, and with you I will shatter young man and virgin.
51:23 With you I will shatter shepherd and flock, and with you I will shatter farmer and team, and with you I will shatter governors and deputies.
51:24 I will repay Babylon and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all the evil they did in Zion before your eyes, declares the LORD.

51:25 Look, I am against you, destroying mountain, who destroys the whole earth, declares the LORD.
   I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burned mountain.
51:26 No one will take from you a cornerstone or a foundation stone, for you will be a desolation forever, declares the LORD.”
51:27 Raise a banner in the land!
   Blow the trumpet among the nations!
   Consecrate nations against her!
   Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz!
   Appoint a commander against her!
   Bring up horses like bristling locusts!
51:28 Consecrate nations against her: the kings of Media, her governors, all her deputies, and all the land of his dominion.
51:29 The earth trembles and writhes, for the LORD’s purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation without inhabitants.
51:30 Babylon’s warriors have stopped fighting;
   they remain in their strongholds.
   Their strength has failed;
   they have become like women.
   Her dwellings have been set on fire, and her bars are broken.
51:31 Runner runs to meet runner, and messenger to meet messenger, to tell the king of Babylon that his city has been captured at one end.
51:32 The crossings have been seized, the reed beds burned with fire, and the soldiers are terrified.

51:33 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor when it is time to tread it.
   In a little while the time of her harvest will come.”
51:34 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has devoured me and thrown me into confusion.
   He has made me an empty vessel, swallowed me like a monster, filled his belly with my delicacies, and cast me out.
51:35 Let the violence done to me and my flesh be upon Babylon,” the inhabitant of Zion will say.
   “Let my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say.

51:36 Therefore thus says the LORD: “Look, I will plead your cause and take vengeance for you.
   I will dry up her sea and make her spring run dry.
51:37 Babylon will become heaps of ruins, a dwelling for jackals, a horror and an object of hissing, without inhabitants.
51:38 They will roar together like young lions and growl like lion cubs.
51:39 When they are heated, I will prepare their feast and make them drunk, so that they may exult, sleep an everlasting sleep, and never wake, declares the LORD.
51:40 I will bring them down like lambs to slaughter, like rams with male goats.
51:41 How Sheshach has been captured, the praise of the whole earth seized!
   How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
51:42 The sea has risen over Babylon;
   she is covered by its many waves.
51:43 Her cities have become a desolation, a dry land and a desert, a land where no one lives and through which no human being passes.
51:44 I will punish Bel in Babylon and take out of his mouth what he has swallowed.
   The nations will no longer stream to him.
   Even Babylon’s wall has fallen.
51:45 Come out of her, my people!
   Let each save his life from the burning anger of the LORD!
51:46 Do not let your heart grow faint or be afraid at the report heard in the land.
   One year a report will come, and the next year another report;
   there will be violence in the land, ruler against ruler.
51:47 Therefore look, the days are coming when I will punish Babylon’s carved images.
   Her whole land will be put to shame, and all her slain will fall in her midst.
51:48 The heavens and the earth and all that is in them will shout for joy over Babylon, for destroyers will come against her from the north, declares the LORD.”
51:49 Babylon must fall because of the slain of Israel, just as the slain of all the earth have fallen because of Babylon.
51:50 You who have escaped the sword, go!
   Do not stand still!
   Remember the LORD from far away, and let Jerusalem come to your mind.
51:51 “We are ashamed, for we have heard reproach.
   Dishonor has covered our faces, for foreigners have entered the holy places of the house of the LORD.”

51:52 “Therefore look, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will punish her carved images, and the mortally wounded will groan throughout her land.
51:53 Though Babylon rises to heaven and fortifies her lofty stronghold, destroyers will come against her from me, declares the LORD.

51:54 A cry sounds from Babylon, and great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
51:55 For the LORD is devastating Babylon and silencing her mighty din.
   Their waves roar like many waters;
   the clamor of their voices resounds.
51:56 For a destroyer has come against her, against Babylon.
   Her warriors are captured, and their bows are shattered, for the LORD is a God of recompense;
   he will surely repay.
51:57 I will make her officials and wise men drunk, her governors, deputies, and warriors.
   They will sleep an everlasting sleep and never wake, declares the King, whose name is the LORD of hosts.”

51:58 Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Babylon’s broad walls will be utterly razed, and her high gates burned with fire.
   Peoples will labor for nothing, and nations for the fire, and they will grow weary.”
51:59 This is the command Jeremiah the prophet gave Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when he went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his reign. Seraiah was the officer in charge of lodging.
51:60 Jeremiah wrote in one scroll all the disaster that would come upon Babylon, all these words written against Babylon.
51:61 Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you arrive in Babylon, see that you read all these words.
51:62 Then say, ‘LORD, you have spoken against this place to destroy it, so that no one will live in it, neither people nor animals, but it will be a desolation forever.’
51:63 When you have finished reading this scroll, tie a stone to it and throw it into the midst of the Euphrates.
51:64 Then say, ‘In this way Babylon will sink and never rise because of the disaster I am bringing upon her, and they will grow weary.’” Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

Chapter 52
52:1 Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hamutal daughter of Jeremiah, from Libnah.
52:2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, just as Jehoiakim had done.
52:3 Because of the LORD’s anger, this happened to Jerusalem and Judah until he cast them out of his presence. Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.
52:4 In the ninth year of his reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his entire army against Jerusalem. They encamped against it and built siege works all around it.
52:5 The city remained under siege until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.
52:6 On the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine had become severe in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land.
52:7 The city was breached, and all the soldiers fled. They left the city by night through the gate between the two walls beside the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans surrounded the city. They went toward the Arabah.
52:8 The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah on the plains of Jericho, and his entire army scattered away from him.
52:9 They captured the king and brought him up to the king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, and he pronounced judgment on him.
52:10 The king of Babylon slaughtered Zedekiah’s sons before his eyes. He also slaughtered all the officials of Judah at Riblah.
52:11 He put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles. The king of Babylon brought him to Babylon and put him in prison until the day of his death.
52:12 On the tenth day of the fifth month, in the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, who served the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.
52:13 He burned the house of the LORD, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every great house he burned with fire.
52:14 The entire Chaldean army with the captain of the guard tore down all the walls around Jerusalem.
52:15 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile some of the poor people, the rest of the people remaining in the city, the deserters who had deserted to the king of Babylon, and the rest of the craftsmen.
52:16 But Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard left some of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and farmers.
52:17 The Chaldeans broke up the bronze pillars of the house of the LORD, the stands, and the bronze Sea in the house of the LORD, and carried all their bronze to Babylon.
52:18 They also took the pots, shovels, wick trimmers, sprinkling bowls, ladles, and all the bronze utensils used in the service.
52:19 The captain of the guard took the basins, firepans, sprinkling bowls, pots, lampstands, ladles, and cups for drink offerings—whatever was made of gold and whatever was made of silver.
52:20 The two pillars, the one Sea, and the twelve bronze bulls beneath the stands, which King Solomon had made for the house of the LORD—the bronze of all these vessels was beyond weighing.
52:21 Each pillar was about twenty-seven feet high, and a cord about eighteen feet long went around it. It was hollow, with walls about three inches thick.
52:22 A bronze capital was on top of it, about seven and a half feet high. Latticework and pomegranates surrounded the capital, all of bronze. The second pillar and its pomegranates were like these.
52:23 There were ninety-six pomegranates facing outward. All the pomegranates around the latticework numbered one hundred.
52:24 The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.
52:25 From the city he took one eunuch who was in charge of the soldiers, seven men with access to the king’s presence who were found in the city, the army commander’s scribe who mustered the people of the land, and sixty men of the people of the land who were found in the city.
52:26 Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took them and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.
52:27 The king of Babylon struck them down and put them to death at Riblah in the land of Hamath. So Judah was taken into exile from his land.
52:28 These are the people Nebuchadnezzar took into exile: in the seventh year, 3,023 Jews;
52:29 in Nebuchadnezzar’s eighteenth year, 832 persons from Jerusalem;
52:30 in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took into exile 745 Jews. The total was 4,600 persons.
52:31 In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year he began to reign, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison.
52:32 He spoke kindly to him and set his throne above the throne of the kings who were with him in Babylon.
52:33 Jehoiachin changed out of his prison clothes and ate bread regularly in the king’s presence all the days of his life.
52:34 For his provision, a regular allowance was given him by the king of Babylon, a daily portion day by day, until the day of his death, all the days of his life.

LAMENTATIONS

Chapter 1
1:1 How the city sits alone, once full of people!
   She has become like a widow, she who was great among the nations.
   The princess among the provinces has been put to forced labor.

1:2 She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks.
   Among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her.
   All her friends have betrayed her;
   they have become her enemies.

1:3 Judah has gone into exile amid affliction and harsh servitude.
   She dwells among the nations and finds no rest.
   All her pursuers have overtaken her in the narrow places.

1:4 The roads to Zion mourn, for no one comes to the appointed festivals.
   All her gates are desolate;
   her priests groan, her virgins grieve, and she is in bitter distress.

1:5 Her foes have become her masters;
   her enemies prosper, for the LORD has afflicted her because of her many transgressions.
   Her little ones have gone into captivity before the foe.

1:6 All her splendor has departed from daughter Zion.
   Her officials have become like deer that find no pasture;
   they go without strength before the pursuer.

1:7 In the days of her affliction and wandering, Jerusalem remembers all the precious things she had in the days of old.
   When her people fell into the enemy’s hand, no one helped her.
   Her foes saw her and mocked her downfall.

1:8 Jerusalem has sinned grievously;
   therefore she has become unclean.
   All who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness.
   She herself groans and turns away.

1:9 Her uncleanness is on her skirts;
   she did not consider her end.
   Her downfall was astonishing, and she has no one to comfort her.
   “Look, LORD, at my affliction, for the enemy has exalted himself!”

1:10 The foe has stretched out his hand over all her precious things.
   She has seen nations enter her sanctuary, those whom you commanded not to enter your assembly.

1:11 All her people groan as they seek bread.
   They trade their precious things for food to keep themselves alive.
   “Look, LORD, and see, for I have become despised.

1:12 Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?
   Look and see if there is any pain like my pain, which was inflicted on me, with which the LORD afflicted me on the day of his burning anger.

1:13 From on high he sent fire into my bones, and it overpowered them.
   He spread a net for my feet and turned me back.
   He made me desolate, faint all day long.

1:14 The yoke of my transgressions was bound by his hand.
   They are woven together and have come upon my neck.
   He has made my strength fail.
   The Lord has given me into hands I cannot withstand.

1:15 The Lord has rejected all my warriors in my midst.
   He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men.
   The Lord has trodden virgin daughter Judah in a winepress.

1:16 For these things I weep.
   My eye, my eye pours out tears, for a comforter who would restore my soul is far from me.
   My children are desolate, for the enemy has prevailed.”

1:17 Zion stretches out her hands, but she has no one to comfort her.
   The LORD has commanded that Jacob’s neighbors be his foes.
   Jerusalem has become unclean among them.

1:18 “The LORD is righteous, for I have rebelled against his word.
   Please listen, all you peoples, and see my pain.
   My virgins and young men have gone into captivity.

1:19 I called to my lovers, but they deceived me.
   My priests and elders perished in the city as they sought food to keep themselves alive.

1:20 Look, LORD, for I am in distress.
   My inward parts churn;
   my heart turns over within me, for I have rebelled grievously.
   Outside the sword bereaves me;
   inside the house it is like death.

1:21 They have heard that I groan, but I have no one to comfort me.
   All my enemies have heard of my disaster;
   they rejoice that you have done it.
   You have brought the day you proclaimed;
   may they become like me!

1:22 Let all their evil come before you.
   Deal with them as you have dealt with me for all my transgressions, for my groans are many and my heart is faint.”

Chapter 2
2:1 How the Lord has covered daughter Zion with a cloud in his anger!
   He has cast the splendor of Israel from heaven to earth and has not remembered his footstool on the day of his anger.

2:2 The Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob without pity.
   In his wrath he has torn down the strongholds of daughter Judah and brought them to the ground.
   He has profaned the kingdom and its officials.

2:3 In burning anger he has cut off every horn of Israel.
   He has drawn back his right hand before the enemy and burned in Jacob like a flaming fire that devours all around.

2:4 He has bent his bow like an enemy, his right hand set like a foe, and killed all that was precious to the eye.
   In the tent of daughter Zion he has poured out his wrath like fire.

2:5 The Lord has become like an enemy.
   He has swallowed up Israel, swallowed up all her palaces, and ruined his strongholds.
   He has multiplied mourning and lamentation in daughter Judah.

2:6 He has torn apart his booth like a garden shelter and destroyed his meeting place.
   The LORD has made festival and Sabbath forgotten in Zion;
   in his burning anger he has despised king and priest.

2:7 The Lord has rejected his altar and spurned his sanctuary.
   He has given the walls of her palaces into the enemy’s hand.
   They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on a festival day.

2:8 The LORD determined to destroy the wall of daughter Zion.
   He stretched out the measuring line and did not withdraw his hand from swallowing it up.
   He made rampart and wall mourn;
   together they languished.

2:9 Her gates have sunk into the ground;
   he has destroyed and broken her bars.
   Her king and officials are among the nations;
   the law is no more.
   Her prophets too find no vision from the LORD.

2:10 The elders of daughter Zion sit on the ground in silence.
   They have thrown dust on their heads and put on sackcloth.
   The virgins of Jerusalem have bowed their heads to the ground.

2:11 My eyes are spent with tears;
   my inward parts churn.
   My liver is poured out on the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, as children and nursing infants faint in the city’s squares.

2:12 They say to their mothers, “Where are grain and wine?”
   as they faint like the wounded in the city’s squares, as their life is poured out in their mothers’ laps.

2:13 What testimony can I give you?
   To what can I compare you, daughter Jerusalem?
   What can I liken to you, to comfort you, virgin daughter Zion?
   For your ruin is as vast as the sea.
   Who can heal you?

2:14 Your prophets saw false and foolish visions for you.
   They did not expose your iniquity to restore your fortunes, but saw false and misleading oracles for you.

2:15 All who pass by clap their hands at you.
   They hiss and shake their heads at daughter Jerusalem: “Is this the city they called ‘the perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth’?”

2:16 All your enemies open their mouths against you.
   They hiss and gnash their teeth, saying, “We have swallowed her up!
   This is indeed the day we waited for.
   We have reached it;
   we have seen it!”

2:17 The LORD has done what he planned.
   He has fulfilled the word he commanded in the days of old.
   He has torn down without pity, made the enemy rejoice over you, and raised the horn of your foes.

2:18 Their heart cried out to the Lord.
   Wall of daughter Zion, let tears flow like a torrent day and night.
   Give yourself no rest;
   let the pupil of your eye never be still.

2:19 Rise! Cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches!
   Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord.
   Lift your hands to him for the lives of your little ones, fainting with hunger at the head of every street.

2:20 “Look, LORD, and see whom you have treated this way.
   Should women eat their offspring, the little ones they tenderly nurtured?
   Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?

2:21 Young and old lie on the ground in the streets.
   My virgins and young men have fallen by the sword.
   You have killed on the day of your anger;
   you have slaughtered without pity.

2:22 As on a festival day, you summoned my terrors from every side.
   On the day of the LORD’s anger no one escaped or survived.
   Those I tenderly nurtured and raised, my enemy has consumed.”

Chapter 3
3:1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath.
3:2 He has led me and made me walk in darkness, without light.
3:3 Surely he turns his hand against me again and again, all day long.

3:4 He has worn away my flesh and skin and broken my bones.
3:5 He has built a siege around me and surrounded me with bitterness and hardship.
3:6 He has made me dwell in dark places, like those long dead.

3:7 He has walled me in so that I cannot escape;
   he has made my chain heavy.
3:8 Even when I cry out and plead for help, he shuts out my prayer.
3:9 He has blocked my ways with hewn stone and twisted my paths.

3:10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding.
3:11 He has turned me from my ways and torn me apart;
   he has left me desolate.
3:12 He has bent his bow and set me as a target for the arrow.

3:13 He has driven the arrows of his quiver into my kidneys.
3:14 I have become a laughingstock to all my people, their song all day long.
3:15 He has filled me with bitter herbs and made me drink my fill of wormwood.

3:16 He has broken my teeth with gravel and made me cower in ashes.
3:17 You have cast my soul far from peace;
   I have forgotten well-being.
3:18 I said, “My endurance and my hope from the LORD have perished.”

3:19 Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and the gall.
3:20 My soul remembers them continually and is bowed down within me.
3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

3:22 Through the LORD’s steadfast love we have not perished, for his compassions have not failed.
3:23 They are new every morning;
   great is your faithfulness!
3:24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”

3:25 The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.
3:26 It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
3:27 It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth.

3:28 Let him sit alone and be silent, for the yoke has been laid upon him.
3:29 Let him put his mouth in the dust;
   perhaps there is hope.
3:30 Let him offer his cheek to the one who strikes him and be filled with reproach.

3:31 For the Lord will not reject forever.
3:32 Though he causes grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
3:33 For it is not from his heart that he afflicts or grieves human beings.

3:34 To crush underfoot all the prisoners of the earth,
3:35 to deny a man justice before the presence of the Most High,
3:36 to wrong a person in his case—the Lord does not approve.

3:37 Who has spoken and brought it to pass unless the Lord commanded it?
3:38 Do not calamities and good come from the mouth of the Most High?
3:39 Why should a living man complain, a man about the punishment for his sins?

3:40 Let us search and examine our ways and return to the LORD.
3:41 Let us lift our heart with our hands to God in the heavens.
3:42 We have transgressed and rebelled;
   you have not forgiven.

3:43 You have covered yourself with anger and pursued us;
   you have killed without pity.
3:44 You have covered yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.
3:45 You have made us filth and refuse among the peoples.

3:46 All our enemies have opened their mouths against us.
3:47 Terror and pit have come upon us, devastation and destruction.
3:48 My eye pours out streams of water over the destruction of the daughter of my people.

3:49 My eye flows without ceasing, without rest,
3:50 until the LORD looks down and sees from heaven.
3:51 My eye brings grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.

3:52 My enemies hunted me like a bird, without cause.
3:53 They cut off my life in the pit and cast a stone at me.
3:54 Waters rose over my head, and I said, “I am cut off!”

3:55 I called on your name, LORD, from the deepest pit.
3:56 You heard my voice: “Do not close your ear to my sighing, to my cry for help.”
3:57 You drew near on the day I called to you;
   you said, “Do not fear.”

3:58 You have pleaded the causes of my soul, Lord;
   you have redeemed my life.
3:59 You have seen the wrong done to me, LORD;
   judge my case.
3:60 You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me.

3:61 You have heard their reproach, LORD, all their plots against me,
3:62 the words of those who rise against me and their muttering against me all day long.
3:63 Look at them as they sit and rise;
   I am their mocking song.

3:64 Repay them, LORD, according to the work of their hands.
3:65 Give them hardness of heart;
   let your curse be upon them.
3:66 Pursue them in anger and destroy them from under the heavens of the LORD.

Chapter 4
4:1 How the gold has grown dim, how the fine gold has changed!
   The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.

4:2 The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold—how they are regarded as clay jars, the work of a potter’s hands!

4:3 Even jackals offer the breast and nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like ostriches in the wilderness.

4:4 The nursing infant’s tongue clings to the roof of his mouth from thirst.
   Little children ask for bread, but no one breaks it for them.

4:5 Those who ate delicacies lie desolate in the streets;
   those raised in scarlet embrace refuse heaps.

4:6 The punishment of the daughter of my people is greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, with no hands acting against her.

4:7 Her consecrated ones were purer than snow, whiter than milk, ruddier in body than coral;
   their form was like sapphire.

4:8 Now their appearance is blacker than soot;
   they are not recognized in the streets.
   Their skin clings to their bones;
   it is dry as wood.

4:9 Those slain by the sword are better off than those slain by hunger, who waste away, pierced through for lack of the field’s produce.

4:10 The hands of compassionate women have cooked their own children.
   They became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.

4:11 The LORD has spent his wrath and poured out his burning anger.
   He kindled a fire in Zion that consumed her foundations.

4:12 The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world did not believe that foe and enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem.

4:13 This was because of the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed the blood of the righteous in her midst.

4:14 They wandered blind in the streets, defiled with blood, so that no one could touch their clothes.

4:15 “Away! Unclean!”
   people cried to them.
   “Away!
   Away!
   Do not touch!”
   So they fled and wandered.
   Among the nations people said, “They shall no longer reside here.”

4:16 The face of the LORD has scattered them;
   he will no longer look upon them.
   They showed no respect to priests and no favor to elders.

4:17 Our eyes still failed, looking in vain for help.
   From our watch we watched for a nation that could not save.

4:18 They hunted our steps so that we could not walk in our squares.
   Our end drew near;
   our days were fulfilled, for our end had come.

4:19 Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles of the heavens.
   They chased us on the mountains and lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

4:20 The breath of our nostrils, the LORD’s anointed, was caught in their pits, the one of whom we said, “In his shadow we will live among the nations.”

4:21 Rejoice and be glad, daughter Edom, dwelling in the land of Uz!
   The cup will pass to you too;
   you will become drunk and strip yourself naked.

4:22 Your punishment is complete, daughter Zion;
   he will not exile you again.
   He will punish your iniquity, daughter Edom, and expose your sins.

Chapter 5
5:1 Remember, LORD, what has happened to us.
   Look and see our disgrace.
5:2 Our inheritance has passed to strangers, our houses to foreigners.
5:3 We have become orphans, without a father;
   our mothers are like widows.
5:4 We pay to drink our own water;
   our wood comes at a price.
5:5 Our pursuers are at our necks;
   we are weary and given no rest.
5:6 We have given our hand to Egypt and Assyria, to have our fill of bread.
5:7 Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their iniquities.
5:8 Slaves rule over us;
   no one delivers us from their hand.
5:9 We get our bread at the risk of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.
5:10 Our skin burns like an oven from the scorching heat of famine.
5:11 Women have been raped in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah.
5:12 Officials have been hung by their hands;
   elders have not been honored.
5:13 Young men bear the burden of grinding, and boys stumble under loads of wood.
5:14 The elders have left the gate;
   the young men have left their music.
5:15 The joy of our heart has ceased;
   our dancing has turned to mourning.
5:16 The crown has fallen from our head.
   Woe to us, for we have sinned!
5:17 Because of this our heart is faint;
   because of these things our eyes grow dim,
5:18 because Mount Zion lies desolate, with foxes roaming over it.

5:19 But you, LORD, remain enthroned forever;
   your throne endures from generation to generation.
5:20 Why do you forget us forever and forsake us for so long?
5:21 Restore us to yourself, LORD, and we will return.
   Renew our days as of old,
5:22 unless you have utterly rejected us and are exceedingly angry with us.

EZEKIEL

Chapter 1
1:1 In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the Chebar River, the heavens opened, and I saw visions of God.
1:2 On the fifth day of the month, in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin,
1:3 the word of the LORD came to Ezekiel the priest, son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the Chebar River. The hand of the LORD was upon him there.
1:4 I looked, and there was a storm wind coming from the north, a great cloud with flashing fire and brightness all around it. In its midst, in the midst of the fire, was something like gleaming metal.
1:5 In its midst was the likeness of four living creatures. This was their appearance: they had a human form.
1:6 Each had four faces, and each had four wings.
1:7 Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf’s hoof. They gleamed like polished bronze.
1:8 Under their wings, on their four sides, were human hands. All four had faces and wings.
1:9 Their wings touched one another. They did not turn as they moved; each went straight ahead.
1:10 As for the likeness of their faces, each had a human face. All four had a lion’s face on the right and an ox’s face on the left, and all four had an eagle’s face.
1:11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above. Each had two touching another’s, and two covering their bodies.
1:12 Each went straight ahead. Wherever the spirit was to go, they went, without turning as they moved.
1:13 As for the likeness of the living creatures, their appearance was like burning coals of fire, like torches. The fire moved among the living creatures; it was bright, and lightning came out of it.
1:14 The living creatures darted back and forth like flashes of lightning.
1:15 As I looked at the living creatures, I saw a wheel on the ground beside each of the creatures with its four faces.
1:16 The appearance and workmanship of the wheels were like the gleam of beryl. All four had the same likeness. Their appearance and workmanship were as though a wheel were within a wheel.
1:17 They could move toward any of their four sides without turning as they moved.
1:18 Their rims were high and awe-inspiring, and the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.
1:19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose.
1:20 Wherever the spirit was to go, they went; there the spirit was to go. The wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
1:21 When they moved, the wheels moved; when they stood still, the wheels stood still. When they rose from the earth, the wheels rose alongside them, for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels.
1:22 Above the heads of the living creatures was the likeness of an expanse, like the appearance of awe-inspiring ice, stretched out above their heads.
1:23 Under the expanse their wings stretched straight toward one another. Each creature had two covering it, and each had two covering its body.
1:24 As they moved, I heard the sound of their wings, like the sound of many waters, like the voice of the Almighty, a tumultuous sound like the sound of an army. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
1:25 A voice came from above the expanse over their heads. When they stood still, they lowered their wings.
1:26 Above the expanse over their heads was the likeness of a throne, like the appearance of a sapphire stone. High above, on the likeness of the throne, was a likeness with a human appearance.
1:27 From what appeared to be his waist upward, I saw something like gleaming metal, with what looked like fire within it all around. From what appeared to be his waist downward, I saw something like fire, with brightness all around him.
1:28 Like the appearance of the rainbow in the cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. When I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.

Chapter 2
2:1 He said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.”
2:2 As he spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and I heard the one speaking to me.
2:3 He said to me, “Son of man, I am sending you to the people of Israel, to rebellious nations that have rebelled against me. They and their fathers have transgressed against me to this very day.
2:4 The children to whom I am sending you have hardened faces and stubborn hearts. You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’
2:5 Whether they listen or refuse—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them.
2:6 And you, son of man, do not fear them or their words. Though briers and thorns are with you and you dwell among scorpions, do not fear their words or be dismayed at their faces, for they are a rebellious house.
2:7 You shall speak my words to them, whether they listen or refuse, for they are rebellious.
2:8 But you, son of man, listen to what I am saying to you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I am giving you.”
2:9 I looked, and there was a hand extended toward me, and in it was a scroll.
2:10 He unrolled it before me. It was written on the front and back, and written on it were lamentations, mourning, and woe.

Chapter 3
3:1 He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find. Eat this scroll, then go and speak to the house of Israel.”
3:2 So I opened my mouth, and he fed me this scroll.
3:3 He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly and fill your inward parts with this scroll I am giving you.” So I ate it, and it was sweet as honey in my mouth.
3:4 He said to me, “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak my words to them.
3:5 For you are not being sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and difficult language, but to the house of Israel,
3:6 not to many peoples of unfamiliar speech and difficult language whose words you cannot understand. Surely, if I had sent you to them, they would listen to you.
3:7 But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me. The whole house of Israel has a stubborn forehead and a hard heart.
3:8 Look, I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads.
3:9 I have made your forehead like hard stone, harder than flint. Do not fear them or be dismayed at their faces, for they are a rebellious house.”
3:10 He said to me, “Son of man, take into your heart all my words that I speak to you, and hear them with your ears.
3:11 Go to the exiles, to your own people. Speak to them and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ whether they listen or refuse.”
3:12 Then the Spirit lifted me up, and I heard behind me a great rumbling sound: “Blessed be the glory of the LORD from his place!”
3:13 I heard the sound of the living creatures’ wings touching one another, the sound of the wheels beside them, and a great rumbling sound.
3:14 The Spirit lifted me up and took me away. I went in bitterness, with my spirit burning, and the hand of the LORD was strong upon me.
3:15 I came to the exiles at Tel-abib who lived by the Chebar River, and I sat where they lived. I remained there among them for seven days, stunned.
3:16 At the end of seven days, the word of the LORD came to me:
3:17 “Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. Hear the word from my mouth and warn them from me.
3:18 When I say to a wicked man, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn him or speak to warn him to turn from his wicked way so that he may live, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will hold you responsible for his blood.
3:19 But if you warn a wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness and his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
3:20 Again, if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does wrong, and I place a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous deeds he did will not be remembered. But I will hold you responsible for his blood.
3:21 But if you warn a righteous man not to sin, and he does not sin, he will surely live because he accepted the warning, and you will have saved your life.”
3:22 The hand of the LORD was upon me there, and he said to me, “Rise, go out to the valley, and there I will speak with you.”
3:23 So I rose and went out to the valley. There stood the glory of the LORD, like the glory I had seen by the Chebar River, and I fell on my face.
3:24 The Spirit entered me and set me on my feet. He spoke with me and said, “Go, shut yourself inside your house.
3:25 As for you, son of man, look, they will put cords around you and bind you with them, and you will not go out among them.
3:26 I will make your tongue cling to the roof of your mouth. You will be mute and will not rebuke them, for they are a rebellious house.
3:27 But when I speak with you, I will open your mouth, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD.’ Let the one who hears hear, and let the one who refuses refuse, for they are a rebellious house.”

Chapter 4
4:1 “And you, son of man, take a brick, set it before you, and engrave a city on it—Jerusalem.
4:2 Lay siege to it. Build a siege wall against it, heap up a siege ramp against it, set up camps against it, and place battering rams all around it.
4:3 Take an iron pan and set it as an iron wall between you and the city. Set your face toward it. It will be under siege, and you will besiege it. This is a sign for the house of Israel.
4:4 Lie on your left side and place the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of days you lie on that side, you shall bear their iniquity.
4:5 I have assigned you the years of their iniquity as a number of days, 390 days. So you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
4:6 When you have completed these, lie again on your right side and bear the iniquity of the house of Judah for forty days. I have assigned you a day for a year, a day for a year.
4:7 Set your face toward the siege of Jerusalem, with your arm bared, and prophesy against it.
4:8 Look, I will put cords around you, and you shall not turn from one side to the other until you have completed the days of your siege.
4:9 Take wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, and spelt. Put them in one vessel and make bread for yourself from them. Eat it for the number of days you lie on your side, 390 days.
4:10 The food you eat shall be weighed out, about eight ounces a day. Eat it at set intervals.
4:11 Drink water by measure, about a pint. Drink it at set intervals.
4:12 Eat it as a barley cake, and bake it over human dung in their sight.”
4:13 The LORD said, “In this way the people of Israel will eat their bread unclean among the nations to which I will drive them.”
4:14 I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! I have never defiled myself. From my youth until now I have not eaten an animal that died on its own or was torn by beasts, and no defiled meat has entered my mouth.”
4:15 He said to me, “Look, I have given you cattle dung in place of human dung. You shall prepare your bread over it.”
4:16 He said to me, “Son of man, look, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem. They will eat bread by weight and with anxiety, and drink water by measure and with horror,
4:17 so that they lack bread and water, look at one another in horror, and waste away in their iniquity.”

Chapter 5
5:1 “And you, son of man, take a sharp sword and use it as a barber’s razor. Pass it over your head and beard. Then take weighing scales and divide the hair.
5:2 Burn a third in the fire in the midst of the city when the days of the siege are complete. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. Scatter a third to the wind, and I will draw a sword after them.
5:3 Take a few hairs from there and bind them in the folds of your garment.
5:4 Take some of these again, throw them into the fire, and burn them. From it a fire will go out to the whole house of Israel.
5:5 Thus says the Lord GOD: This is Jerusalem. I set her in the midst of the nations, with countries all around her.
5:6 But she rebelled against my ordinances more wickedly than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries around her. They rejected my ordinances and did not walk in my statutes.
5:7 Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have been more unruly than the nations around you, have not walked in my statutes or carried out my ordinances, and have not even acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you,
5:8 therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Look, I, even I, am against you. I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations.
5:9 Because of all your abominations, I will do among you what I have never done and will never do the like of again.
5:10 Therefore fathers will eat their sons in your midst, and sons will eat their fathers. I will execute judgments among you and scatter all your remnant to every wind.
5:11 Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and all your abominations, I too will diminish you. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.
5:12 A third of you will die of pestilence and be consumed by famine in your midst. A third will fall by the sword all around you, and a third I will scatter to every wind, drawing a sword after them.
5:13 My anger will be spent. I will bring my wrath to rest upon them and be satisfied. When I have spent my wrath upon them, they will know that I, the LORD, have spoken in my zeal.
5:14 I will make you a ruin and a reproach among the nations around you, in the sight of everyone who passes by.
5:15 It will be a reproach and a taunt, a warning and a horror to the nations around you, when I execute judgments among you in anger and wrath and with furious rebukes. I, the LORD, have spoken.
5:16 When I send against them the deadly arrows of famine that bring destruction, which I send to destroy you, I will increase the famine upon you and break your staff of bread.
5:17 I will send against you famine and wild beasts, and they will bereave you. Pestilence and bloodshed will pass through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I, the LORD, have spoken.”

Chapter 6
6:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
6:2 “Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them.
6:3 Say, ‘Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: Look, I, even I, am bringing a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.
6:4 Your altars will be devastated, and your incense altars will be broken. I will cast down your slain before your idols.
6:5 I will lay the corpses of the people of Israel before their idols and scatter your bones around your altars.
6:6 Wherever you dwell, the cities will lie in ruins and the high places be devastated, so that your altars lie in ruins and desolation, your idols are broken and put to an end, your incense altars cut down, and your works wiped away.
6:7 The slain will fall in your midst, and you will know that I am the LORD.
6:8 But I will leave some of you who escape the sword among the nations when you are scattered through the countries.
6:9 Your survivors will remember me among the nations where they have been taken captive—how I was broken by their adulterous heart that turned away from me, and by their eyes that went whoring after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done, for all their abominations.
6:10 They will know that I am the LORD; I did not speak in vain when I said I would bring this disaster upon them.’
6:11 Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘Clap your hands, stamp your foot, and say, “Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel!” For they will fall by sword, famine, and pestilence.
6:12 The one far away will die of pestilence; the one nearby will fall by the sword; the one who remains and is besieged will die of famine. So I will spend my wrath upon them.
6:13 You will know that I am the LORD when their slain lie among their idols, around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountain peaks, under every leafy tree and every thickly leafed terebinth, wherever they offered a pleasing aroma to all their idols.
6:14 I will stretch out my hand against them and make the land more desolate and devastated than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their dwelling places. They will know that I am the LORD.’”

Chapter 7
7:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
7:2 “And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land.
7:3 Now the end is upon you. I will send my anger against you, judge you according to your ways, and bring all your abominations upon you.
7:4 My eye will not spare you, nor will I have pity. I will bring your ways upon you, and your abominations will be in your midst. You will know that I am the LORD.
7:5 Thus says the Lord GOD: A disaster, a single disaster! Look, it is coming!
7:6 An end has come; the end has come. It has awakened against you. Look, it is coming!
7:7 Doom has come to you, inhabitant of the land. The time has come; the day is near—tumult, not joyful shouts on the mountains.
7:8 Now, very soon, I will pour out my wrath upon you and spend my anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways and bring all your abominations upon you.
7:9 My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will repay you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. You will know that I am the LORD who strikes.
7:10 Look, the day! Look, it is coming! Doom has gone forth; the rod has blossomed, and arrogance has budded.
7:11 Violence has risen into a rod of wickedness. None of them will remain, none of their multitude, none of their abundance, and no splendor among them.
7:12 The time has come; the day has arrived. Let the buyer not rejoice or the seller mourn, for wrath is upon all her multitude.
7:13 The seller will not return to what he sold, even while they remain alive, for the vision against all her multitude will not be reversed. No one will preserve his life through his iniquity.
7:14 They have blown the trumpet and made everything ready, but no one goes to battle, for my wrath is upon all her multitude.
7:15 The sword is outside, and pestilence and famine are inside. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword, and whoever is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him.
7:16 Their survivors will escape and be on the mountains like doves of the valleys, all moaning, each for his iniquity.
7:17 All hands will hang limp, and all knees will run with water.
7:18 They will put on sackcloth, and terror will cover them. Shame will be on every face, and baldness on every head.
7:19 They will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will become an unclean thing. Their silver and gold will not deliver them on the day of the LORD’s wrath. They will not satisfy their appetite or fill their bellies, for it has been the stumbling block of their iniquity.
7:20 He made the beauty of his ornament a source of pride. In it they made the images of their abominations, their detestable things. Therefore I have made it an unclean thing for them.
7:21 I will give it into the hand of foreigners as plunder and to the wicked of the earth as spoil, and they will profane it.
7:22 I will turn my face from them, and they will profane my secret place. Violent men will enter it and profane it.
7:23 Make the chain, for the land is full of crimes of bloodshed and the city full of violence.
7:24 I will bring the worst of the nations, and they will take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their sanctuaries will be profaned.
7:25 Anguish is coming. They will seek peace, but there will be none.
7:26 Disaster will come upon disaster, and report upon report. They will seek a vision from a prophet, but instruction will perish from the priest and counsel from the elders.
7:27 The king will mourn, the prince will be clothed in desolation, and the hands of the people of the land will tremble. I will deal with them according to their ways and judge them according to their judgments. They will know that I am the LORD.”

Chapter 8
8:1 In the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, I was sitting in my house with the elders of Judah sitting before me, and the hand of the Lord GOD fell upon me there.
8:2 I looked, and there was a likeness with the appearance of fire. From what appeared to be his waist downward was fire, and from his waist upward was the appearance of brightness, like gleaming metal.
8:3 He stretched out the form of a hand and took me by a lock of hair on my head. The Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me to Jerusalem in visions of God, to the entrance of the inner gate facing north, where the image of jealousy that provokes jealousy had its place.
8:4 There was the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the valley.
8:5 He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy at the entrance.
8:6 He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing—the great abominations the house of Israel is committing here, driving me far from my sanctuary? Again you will see great abominations.”
8:7 He brought me to the entrance of the courtyard. I looked, and there was a hole in the wall.
8:8 He said to me, “Son of man, dig now through the wall.” I dug through the wall, and there was a doorway.
8:9 He said to me, “Go in and see the evil abominations they are committing here.”
8:10 I went in and looked. All kinds of images of creeping things and detestable animals, and all the idols of the house of Israel, were depicted all around the wall.
8:11 Seventy men from the elders of the house of Israel stood before them, with Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense was rising.
8:12 He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his rooms with images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”
8:13 He said to me, “Again you will see great abominations that they are committing.”
8:14 He brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the LORD’s house, and there were women sitting there, weeping for Tammuz.
8:15 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Again you will see abominations greater than these.”
8:16 He brought me into the inner courtyard of the LORD’s house. There at the entrance of the LORD’s temple, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men, with their backs to the LORD’s temple and their faces toward the east. They were bowing down toward the east to the sun.
8:17 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it a small thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they have committed here? They have filled the land with violence and have again provoked me to anger. Look, they are putting the branch to their noses!
8:18 So I too will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. Though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not listen to them.”

Chapter 9
9:1 He cried in my ears with a loud voice, “Draw near, you appointed to punish the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand!”
9:2 Then six men came from the direction of the upper gate facing north, each with his shattering weapon in his hand. One man among them was dressed in linen, with a scribe’s case at his waist. They came in and stood beside the bronze altar.
9:3 The glory of the God of Israel rose from above the cherub on which it had rested to the threshold of the house. He called to the man dressed in linen who had the scribe’s case at his waist.
9:4 The LORD said to him, “Go through the city, through Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations being committed within it.”
9:5 To the others he said in my hearing, “Go through the city after him and strike. Do not let your eye spare, and have no pity.
9:6 Kill old men, young men, virgins, little children, and women, leaving none alive. But do not approach anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were in front of the house.
9:7 He said to them, “Defile the house and fill the courtyards with the slain. Go out!” They went out and struck people down in the city.
9:8 As they were striking people down and I was left, I fell facedown and cried out, “Ah, Lord GOD! Are you destroying the entire remnant of Israel as you pour out your wrath on Jerusalem?”
9:9 He said to me, “The guilt of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great. The land is full of bloodshed, and the city is full of injustice. For they say, ‘The LORD has forsaken the land; the LORD does not see.’
9:10 So my eye too will not spare, nor will I have pity. I will bring their ways upon their own heads.”
9:11 Then the man dressed in linen, who had the case at his waist, reported, “I have done all that you commanded me.”

Chapter 10
10:1 I looked, and there above the expanse over the heads of the cherubim appeared something like sapphire stone, with the appearance of the likeness of a throne.
10:2 He spoke to the man dressed in linen, saying, “Go in among the wheelwork beneath the cherub. Fill your hands with burning coals from among the cherubim and scatter them over the city.” He went in as I watched.
10:3 The cherubim were standing on the right side of the house when the man went in, and the cloud filled the inner courtyard.
10:4 The glory of the LORD rose from above the cherub to the threshold of the house. The house was filled with the cloud, and the courtyard was filled with the brightness of the LORD’s glory.
10:5 The sound of the cherubim’s wings could be heard as far as the outer courtyard, like the voice of God Almighty when he speaks.
10:6 When he commanded the man dressed in linen, “Take fire from among the wheelwork, from among the cherubim,” the man went in and stood beside the wheel.
10:7 The cherub stretched out his hand from among the cherubim toward the fire that was among the cherubim. He took some and put it into the hands of the man dressed in linen, who took it and went out.
10:8 The form of a human hand could be seen under the cherubim’s wings.
10:9 I looked, and there were four wheels beside the cherubim, one wheel beside one cherub and another wheel beside another cherub. The wheels had the appearance of the gleam of beryl.
10:10 All four had the same likeness, as though a wheel were within a wheel.
10:11 When they moved, they could go in any of their four directions without turning as they went. They followed wherever the head faced, without turning as they went.
10:12 Their entire bodies, their backs, their hands, their wings, and the wheels—the wheels belonging to all four—were full of eyes all around.
10:13 I heard the wheels called “Wheelwork.”
10:14 Each had four faces. The first face was the face of a cherub, the second the face of a man, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle.
10:15 The cherubim rose. This was the living creature I had seen by the Chebar River.
10:16 When the cherubim moved, the wheels moved beside them. When the cherubim lifted their wings to rise from the earth, the wheels did not turn away from their side.
10:17 When they stood still, the wheels stood still; when they rose, the wheels rose with them, for the spirit of the living creature was in them.
10:18 The glory of the LORD departed from above the threshold of the house and stood above the cherubim.
10:19 The cherubim lifted their wings and rose from the earth as I watched them go out, with the wheels beside them. They stood at the entrance of the east gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
10:20 This was the living creature I had seen beneath the God of Israel by the Chebar River, and I knew that they were cherubim.
10:21 Each had four faces, and each had four wings, with the likeness of human hands under their wings.
10:22 The likeness of their faces was the same as the faces I had seen by the Chebar River—their appearance and their very selves. Each went straight ahead.

Chapter 11
11:1 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the east gate of the LORD’s house, which faces east. There at the entrance of the gate were twenty-five men. Among them I saw Jaazaniah son of Azzur and Pelatiah son of Benaiah, leaders of the people.
11:2 He said to me, “Son of man, these are the men who plot evil and give wicked counsel in this city.
11:3 They say, ‘The time to build houses is not near. This city is the pot, and we are the meat.’
11:4 Therefore prophesy against them. Prophesy, son of man!”
11:5 The Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, ‘This is what the LORD says: That is what you have said, house of Israel, and I know what rises in your spirit.
11:6 You have multiplied your slain in this city and filled its streets with the slain.
11:7 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Your slain whom you have laid within it are the meat, and it is the pot. But you—he has brought you out of it.
11:8 You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord GOD.
11:9 I will bring you out of it, deliver you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments against you.
11:10 You will fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, and you will know that I am the LORD.
11:11 This city will not be a pot for you, nor will you be the meat within it. I will judge you at the border of Israel.
11:12 You will know that I am the LORD, whose statutes you have not followed and whose ordinances you have not carried out. Instead, you have acted according to the ordinances of the nations around you.’”
11:13 As I was prophesying, Pelatiah son of Benaiah died. I fell facedown and cried out with a loud voice, “Ah, Lord GOD! Are you making a complete end of the remnant of Israel?”
11:14 The word of the LORD came to me:
11:15 “Son of man, your brothers, your brothers, your kinsmen, and the entire house of Israel, all of it, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ‘Stay far from the LORD! This land has been given to us as a possession.’
11:16 Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Though I sent them far away among the nations and scattered them among the countries, I have been a small sanctuary for them in the countries where they have gone.’
11:17 Therefore say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you from the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.’
11:18 They will come there and remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it.
11:19 I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
11:20 so that they may follow my statutes and keep my ordinances and carry them out. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
11:21 But as for those whose heart follows the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their ways upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
11:22 The cherubim lifted their wings, with the wheels beside them, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.
11:23 The glory of the LORD rose from the midst of the city and stood over the mountain east of the city.
11:24 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to the exiles in Chaldea, in a vision by the Spirit of God. Then the vision I had seen left me.
11:25 I told the exiles all the words of the LORD that he had shown me.

Chapter 12
12:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
12:2 “Son of man, you live among a rebellious house. They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.
12:3 As for you, son of man, prepare baggage for exile and go into exile by day in their sight. Move from your place to another place in their sight. Perhaps they will see, though they are a rebellious house.
12:4 Bring your baggage out by day in their sight, like baggage for exile. You yourself are to go out in the evening in their sight, like those going into exile.
12:5 Dig through the wall in their sight and carry it out through there.
12:6 In their sight, lift it onto your shoulder and carry it out in the dark. Cover your face so that you cannot see the ground, for I have made you a sign to the house of Israel.”
12:7 I did just as I was commanded. I brought my baggage out by day, like baggage for exile. In the evening I dug through the wall by hand. I carried it out in the dark, lifting it onto my shoulder in their sight.
12:8 In the morning the word of the LORD came to me:
12:9 “Son of man, has not the house of Israel, that rebellious house, asked you, ‘What are you doing?’
12:10 Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: This burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are among them.’
12:11 Say, ‘I am a sign to you. As I have done, so it will be done to them. They will go into exile, into captivity.’
12:12 The prince among them will lift his baggage onto his shoulder in the dark and go out. They will dig through the wall to bring it out through there. He will cover his face so that he cannot see the ground with his own eyes.
12:13 I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans, but he will not see it, and there he will die.
12:14 I will scatter to every wind all those around him, his helpers and all his troops, and I will draw the sword after them.
12:15 They will know that I am the LORD when I scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the countries.
12:16 But I will spare a few of them from the sword, famine, and pestilence, so that they may recount all their abominations among the nations where they go. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”
12:17 The word of the LORD came to me:
12:18 “Son of man, eat your bread trembling, and drink your water with shuddering and anxiety.
12:19 Say to the people of the land, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says concerning the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the land of Israel: They will eat their bread with anxiety and drink their water in terror, so that its land may be stripped of all it contains because of the violence of all who live in it.
12:20 The inhabited cities will be laid waste, and the land will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
12:21 The word of the LORD came to me:
12:22 “Son of man, what is this proverb you have in the land of Israel: ‘The days drag on, and every vision comes to nothing’?
12:23 Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I will put an end to this proverb, and they will no longer use it in Israel.’ Tell them instead, ‘The days are near, and so is the fulfillment of every vision.
12:24 For there will no longer be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel.
12:25 For I, the LORD, will speak. Whatever word I speak will be done; it will no longer be delayed. In your days, rebellious house, I will speak a word and carry it out, declares the Lord GOD.’”
12:26 The word of the LORD came to me:
12:27 “Son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, ‘The vision he sees is for many days from now, and he prophesies of distant times.’
12:28 Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: None of my words will be delayed any longer. Whatever word I speak will be done, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Chapter 13
13:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
13:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who are prophesying. Say to those who prophesy from their own hearts, ‘Hear the word of the LORD!
13:3 This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing!
13:4 Israel, your prophets have been like foxes among ruins.
13:5 You have not gone up into the breaches or built a wall around the house of Israel so that it could stand in battle on the day of the LORD.
13:6 They have seen falsehood and lying divination. They say, “The LORD declares,” though the LORD has not sent them, and they expect their word to be fulfilled.
13:7 Have you not seen a false vision and spoken lying divination when you say, “The LORD declares,” though I have not spoken?
13:8 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, I am against you, declares the Lord GOD.
13:9 My hand will be against the prophets who see falsehood and divine lies. They will not be in the council of my people, be inscribed in the register of the house of Israel, or enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.
13:10 Because, yes, because they have misled my people, saying, “Peace,” when there is no peace, and when someone builds a wall, they coat it with whitewash,
13:11 tell those who coat it with whitewash that it will fall. There will be a torrential rain. You hailstones will fall, and a storm wind will tear it apart.
13:12 When the wall has fallen, will you not be asked, “Where is the coating you applied?”
13:13 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: In my wrath I will unleash a storm wind. There will be torrential rain in my anger and hailstones in my wrath to destroy it.
13:14 I will tear down the wall you coated with whitewash and bring it to the ground, exposing its foundation. It will fall, and you will perish within it. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
13:15 I will spend my wrath on the wall and on those who coated it with whitewash. I will say to you, “The wall is gone, and those who coated it are gone—
13:16 the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and see visions of peace for it when there is no peace,” declares the Lord GOD.’
13:17 As for you, son of man, set your face against the daughters of your people who prophesy from their own hearts. Prophesy against them
13:18 and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the women who sew bands on all the joints of my arms and make veils for the heads of people of every height, to hunt lives! Will you hunt the lives of my people while keeping your own lives alive?
13:19 You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and pieces of bread, killing those who should not die and keeping alive those who should not live by lying to my people who listen to lies.
13:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I am against your bands with which you hunt lives there like flying birds. I will tear them from your arms and set free the lives you hunt, those lives like flying birds.
13:21 I will tear your veils and rescue my people from your hands. They will no longer be prey in your hands. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
13:22 Because you have grieved the heart of the righteous with lies, though I have not grieved him, and have strengthened the hands of the wicked so that he does not turn from his evil way and save his life,
13:23 therefore you will no longer see falsehood or practice divination. I will rescue my people from your hands, and you will know that I am the LORD.’”

Chapter 14
14:1 Some of the elders of Israel came to me and sat before me.
14:2 The word of the LORD came to me:
14:3 “Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their hearts and put the stumbling block of their iniquity before their faces. Should I let them consult me at all?
14:4 Therefore speak to them and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: If anyone of the house of Israel sets up his idols in his heart, puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet, I, the LORD, will answer the one who comes according to the multitude of his idols,
14:5 in order to seize the house of Israel by their hearts, for they have all become estranged from me through their idols.’
14:6 Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Repent and turn away from your idols. Turn your faces away from all your abominations.
14:7 For if anyone of the house of Israel or any foreigner residing in Israel separates himself from following me, sets up his idols in his heart, puts the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and comes to the prophet to consult me through him, I, the LORD, will answer him myself.
14:8 I will set my face against that man, make him a sign and a subject of proverbs, and cut him off from among my people. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
14:9 If a prophet is deceived and speaks a word, I, the LORD, have deceived that prophet. I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from among my people Israel.
14:10 They will bear their guilt. The guilt of the one who consults the prophet will be the same as the guilt of the prophet,
14:11 so that the house of Israel may no longer stray from following me or defile themselves with all their transgressions. They will be my people, and I will be their God, declares the Lord GOD.’”
14:12 The word of the LORD came to me:
14:13 “Son of man, if a land sins against me by acting unfaithfully, and I stretch out my hand against it, break its staff of bread, send famine upon it, and cut off people and animals from it,
14:14 even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, they would save only their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD.
14:15 If I made wild beasts pass through the land and bereave it, so that it became desolate and no one passed through because of the beasts,
14:16 even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be saved, and the land would be desolate.
14:17 Or if I brought a sword upon that land and said, ‘Sword, pass through the land,’ and cut off people and animals from it,
14:18 even if these three men were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would save neither sons nor daughters. They alone would be saved.
14:19 Or if I sent pestilence into that land and poured out my wrath upon it in blood, to cut off people and animals from it,
14:20 even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, they would save neither son nor daughter. They would save only their own lives by their righteousness.
14:21 For this is what the Lord GOD says: How much more when I send my four terrible judgments—sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence—against Jerusalem, to cut off people and animals from it!
14:22 Yet there will be survivors left in it, sons and daughters who will be brought out. They will come out to you, and you will see their ways and their deeds. Then you will be comforted concerning the disaster I have brought upon Jerusalem, all that I have brought upon it.
14:23 They will comfort you when you see their ways and their deeds. You will know that I have not done all that I have done in it without cause, declares the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 15
15:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
15:2 “Son of man, how is the wood of the vine better than any other wood—the vine branch among the trees of the forest?
15:3 Is wood taken from it to make anything? Is even a peg taken from it to hang any utensil on?
15:4 Look, it is given to the fire as fuel. The fire has consumed both its ends, and its middle is charred. Is it useful for any work?
15:5 When it was whole, nothing could be made from it. How much less can anything be made from it when the fire has consumed it and it is charred!
15:6 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Like the wood of the vine among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire as fuel, so I have given up the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15:7 I will set my face against them. They have come out of the fire, but the fire will consume them. You will know that I am the LORD when I set my face against them.
15:8 I will make the land desolate because they have acted unfaithfully, declares the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 16
16:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
16:2 “Son of man, make Jerusalem know her abominations.
16:3 Say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says to Jerusalem: Your origin and your birth were from the land of the Canaanites. Your father was an Amorite, and your mother a Hittite.
16:4 As for your birth, on the day you were born your umbilical cord was not cut. You were not washed with water to cleanse you, rubbed with salt, or wrapped in cloths.
16:5 No eye pitied you enough to do any of these things for you out of compassion. You were thrown into the open field because your life was despised on the day you were born.
16:6 I passed by you and saw you struggling in your blood. I said to you in your blood, “Live!” I said to you in your blood, “Live!”
16:7 I made you flourish like the plants of the field. You grew, developed, and reached full beauty. Your breasts were formed and your hair had grown, but you were naked and bare.
16:8 I passed by you and saw that your time had come, the time for love. I spread the edge of my garment over you and covered your nakedness. I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord GOD, and you became mine.
16:9 I bathed you with water, washed your blood off you, and anointed you with oil.
16:10 I clothed you in embroidered cloth, put sandals of fine leather on your feet, wrapped you in fine linen, and covered you with silk.
16:11 I adorned you with jewelry, put bracelets on your wrists, and a necklace around your neck.
16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings in your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head.
16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became very, very beautiful and attained royalty.
16:14 Your fame spread among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor I had put upon you, declares the Lord GOD.
16:15 But you trusted in your beauty and prostituted yourself because of your fame. You poured out your acts of prostitution on everyone who passed by; you became his.
16:16 You took some of your garments, made colorful high places for yourself, and prostituted yourself on them. Such things should not happen and must not be!
16:17 You took your beautiful ornaments made from my gold and my silver, which I had given you, and made male images for yourself and prostituted yourself with them.
16:18 You took your embroidered garments and covered them, and you set my oil and my incense before them.
16:19 My bread that I had given you—the fine flour, oil, and honey with which I fed you—you set before them as a pleasing aroma. So it happened, declares the Lord GOD.
16:20 You took your sons and daughters, whom you had borne to me, and sacrificed them to those idols to be devoured. Were your acts of prostitution too little,
16:21 that you slaughtered my children and gave them over, making them pass over to those idols?
16:22 In all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth, when you were naked and bare, struggling in your blood.
16:23 After all your wickedness—woe, woe to you, declares the Lord GOD—
16:24 you built yourself a shrine and made a raised platform in every public square.
16:25 At every crossroads you built your raised platform and made your beauty an abomination. You spread your legs for everyone who passed by and multiplied your acts of prostitution.
16:26 You prostituted yourself with the Egyptians, your neighbors with large members, and multiplied your acts of prostitution to provoke me to anger.
16:27 So I stretched out my hand against you and reduced your allotted portion. I gave you over to the will of those who hate you, the daughters of the Philistines, who were ashamed of your lewd ways.
16:28 You prostituted yourself with the Assyrians because you were not satisfied. You prostituted yourself with them, but still you were not satisfied.
16:29 You multiplied your prostitution in the land of Canaan, as far as Chaldea, but even with this you were not satisfied.
16:30 How weak your heart is, declares the Lord GOD, when you do all these things, the deeds of a brazen prostitute!
16:31 When you built your shrine at every crossroads and made your raised platform in every public square, you were unlike a prostitute, for you scorned payment.
16:32 You adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband!
16:33 Gifts are given to all prostitutes, but you gave your gifts to all your lovers and bribed them to come to you from all around for your acts of prostitution.
16:34 In your prostitution you were the opposite of other women. No one sought you out for prostitution. You gave payment, and no payment was given to you. You were the opposite!
16:35 Therefore, prostitute, hear the word of the LORD!
16:36 This is what the Lord GOD says: Because your filth was poured out and your nakedness was exposed in your prostitution with your lovers and with all your abominable idols, and because of the blood of your children whom you gave to them,
16:37 therefore I will gather all your lovers with whom you took pleasure, all whom you loved, together with all whom you hated. I will gather them against you from all around and expose your nakedness to them, and they will see all your nakedness.
16:38 I will judge you with the judgments of adulteresses and women who shed blood, and give you over to bloodshed in wrath and jealousy.
16:39 I will give you into their hands. They will tear down your shrine, demolish your raised platforms, strip you of your clothes, take your beautiful ornaments, and leave you naked and bare.
16:40 They will bring an assembly against you, stone you, and cut you to pieces with their swords.
16:41 They will burn your houses with fire and execute judgments against you in the sight of many women. I will put an end to your prostitution, and you will no longer give payment.
16:42 I will bring my wrath to rest upon you, and my jealousy will depart from you. I will be quiet and no longer be angry.
16:43 Because you did not remember the days of your youth but provoked me with all these things, I too will bring your ways upon your head, declares the Lord GOD. Have you not committed lewdness on top of all your abominations?
16:44 Everyone who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: “Like mother, like daughter.”
16:45 You are the daughter of your mother, who despised her husband and her children. You are the sister of your sisters, who despised their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father an Amorite.
16:46 Your older sister is Samaria, who lives with her daughters on your left. Your younger sister, who lives on your right, is Sodom with her daughters.
16:47 You did not merely follow their ways and commit their abominations. As though that were a very little thing, you became more corrupt than they in all your ways.
16:48 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done what you and your daughters have done.
16:49 This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters had pride, abundant bread, and carefree ease, but she did not strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
16:50 They grew proud and committed an abomination before me, so I removed them when I saw it.
16:51 Samaria has not committed half your sins. You multiplied your abominations beyond theirs, and by all the abominations you committed, you made your sisters appear righteous.
16:52 You too must bear your disgrace, you who judged your sisters. Because your sins were more abominable than theirs, they are more righteous than you. You too must be ashamed and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.
16:53 I will restore their fortunes, the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and your own fortunes among them,
16:54 so that you may bear your disgrace and be ashamed of all you have done, in being a comfort to them.
16:55 Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters, will return to their former state. Samaria and her daughters will return to their former state. You and your daughters will also return to your former state.
16:56 You did not mention your sister Sodom in the days of your pride,
16:57 before your wickedness was exposed, as it was at the time of the reproach from the daughters of Aram and all her neighbors, the daughters of the Philistines who despise you all around.
16:58 You must bear your lewdness and your abominations, declares the LORD.
16:59 For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will deal with you as you have done, you who despised the oath by breaking the covenant.
16:60 But I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with you.
16:61 You will remember your ways and be ashamed when you receive your sisters, those older and those younger than you. I will give them to you as daughters, but not because of your covenant.
16:62 I myself will establish my covenant with you, and you will know that I am the LORD,
16:63 so that you may remember and be ashamed and never again open your mouth because of your disgrace, when I make atonement for you for all you have done, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Chapter 17
17:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
17:2 “Son of man, pose a riddle and tell a parable to the house of Israel.
17:3 Say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: A great eagle with great wings, long pinions, and thick, colorful plumage came to Lebanon and took the top of the cedar.
17:4 It plucked off the topmost of its young shoots and brought it to a land of trade, setting it in a city of merchants.
17:5 It took some of the seed of the land and planted it in a field for sowing. It placed it beside abundant waters, setting it like a willow.
17:6 It sprouted and became a spreading vine of low growth. Its branches turned toward the eagle, and its roots remained beneath it. So it became a vine, produced branches, and put out shoots.
17:7 There was another great eagle with great wings and abundant plumage. This vine bent its roots toward it and stretched its branches toward it from the beds where it was planted, so that it might water the vine.
17:8 It had been planted in a good field beside abundant waters, to produce branches and bear fruit, to become a splendid vine.’
17:9 Say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Will it thrive? Will he not uproot it and cut off its fruit so that it withers? All its fresh leaves will wither. It will not take a mighty arm or many people to pull it up by its roots.
17:10 Though it is planted, will it thrive? Will it not wither completely when the east wind touches it? It will wither in the beds where it grew.’”
17:11 The word of the LORD came to me:
17:12 “Say now to the rebellious house, ‘Do you not know what these things mean?’ Tell them, ‘The king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, took its king and its officials, and brought them to himself in Babylon.
17:13 He took someone of royal descent, made a covenant with him, and put him under oath. He also took away the mighty men of the land,
17:14 so that the kingdom would remain low and not rise up, but could stand by keeping his covenant.
17:15 But he rebelled against him, sending his messengers to Egypt to obtain horses and many people. Will he thrive? Will someone who does these things escape? Can he break a covenant and escape?
17:16 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, he will die in Babylon, with the king who made him king, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke.
17:17 Pharaoh will not help him in the war with a great army and a large assembly, when siege ramps are piled up and siege works built to cut off many lives.
17:18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant, though he had given his hand. He did all these things; he will not escape.
17:19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: As I live, I will bring upon his head my oath that he despised and my covenant that he broke.
17:20 I will spread my net over him, and he will be caught in my snare. I will bring him to Babylon and enter into judgment with him there for the unfaithfulness he committed against me.
17:21 All his fugitives with all his troops will fall by the sword, and those who remain will be scattered to every wind. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken.
17:22 This is what the Lord GOD says: I myself will take from the top of the tall cedar and set it out. I will pluck a tender shoot from the topmost of its young shoots, and I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
17:23 On the high mountain of Israel I will plant it. It will produce branches and bear fruit and become a majestic cedar. Every bird of every wing will dwell beneath it; they will dwell in the shade of its branches.
17:24 All the trees of the field will know that I, the LORD, have brought down the tall tree and raised up the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.’”

Chapter 18
18:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
18:2 “Why do you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel: ‘The fathers eat sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge’?
18:3 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, you will no longer use this proverb in Israel.
18:4 Every life belongs to me. The life of the father and the life of the son alike belong to me. The person who sins will die.
18:5 If a man is righteous and practices justice and righteousness,
18:6 does not eat on the mountains or lift his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman during her menstrual period,
18:7 does not oppress anyone but returns a debtor’s pledge, does not commit robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing,
18:8 does not lend at interest or take extra profit, keeps his hand from injustice, and judges faithfully between one person and another,
18:9 follows my statutes and keeps my ordinances, acting faithfully—he is righteous. He will surely live, declares the Lord GOD.
18:10 But if he fathers a violent son who sheds blood and does any of these things to a brother,
18:11 and does none of these righteous deeds, but eats on the mountains and defiles his neighbor’s wife,
18:12 oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not return a pledge, lifts his eyes to the idols, commits an abomination,
18:13 lends at interest and takes extra profit, will he live? He will not live! He has committed all these abominations. He will surely be put to death; his blood will be upon him.
18:14 But if he fathers a son who sees all the sins his father has committed, sees them and does not do likewise,
18:15 does not eat on the mountains or lift his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife,
18:16 does not oppress anyone, take a pledge, or commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with clothing,
18:17 refrains from oppressing the poor, takes no interest or extra profit, carries out my ordinances, and follows my statutes—he will not die for his father’s iniquity. He will surely live.
18:18 As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, he will die for his own iniquity.
18:19 Yet you say, ‘Why does the son not bear his father’s iniquity?’ Because the son has practiced justice and righteousness, kept all my statutes, and carried them out, he will surely live.
18:20 The person who sins will die. A son will not bear his father’s iniquity, nor will a father bear his son’s iniquity. The righteousness of the righteous will be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon him.
18:21 But if the wicked man turns from all the sins he has committed, keeps all my statutes, and practices justice and righteousness, he will surely live; he will not die.
18:22 None of the transgressions he committed will be remembered against him. He will live because of the righteousness he has practiced.
18:23 Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord GOD? Is it not rather that he turn from his ways and live?
18:24 But if the righteous man turns from his righteousness and does injustice, committing all the abominations the wicked man commits, will he live? None of the righteous deeds he has done will be remembered. He will die because of the unfaithfulness he committed and the sin he sinned.
18:25 Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair.’ Listen now, house of Israel: Is my way not fair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?
18:26 When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does injustice and dies for these things, he dies for the injustice he has done.
18:27 When a wicked man turns from the wickedness he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will preserve his life.
18:28 Because he considered and turned from all the transgressions he had committed, he will surely live; he will not die.
18:29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair.’ Are my ways not fair, house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unfair?
18:30 Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be a stumbling block to you.
18:31 Cast away from yourselves all the transgressions you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, house of Israel?
18:32 For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies, declares the Lord GOD. So turn and live!”

Chapter 19
19:1 “As for you, take up a lament for the princes of Israel
19:2 and say: What was your mother?
   A lioness!
   She lay among lions and reared her cubs among young lions.
19:3 She brought up one of her cubs, and he became a young lion.
   He learned to tear prey and devoured people.
19:4 The nations heard of him.
   He was caught in their pit, and they brought him with hooks to the land of Egypt.
19:5 When she saw that she had waited and her hope was lost, she took another of her cubs and made him a young lion.
19:6 He prowled among lions and became a young lion.
   He learned to tear prey and devoured people.
19:7 He knew his widows and devastated their cities.
   The land and all it contained were appalled at the sound of his roaring.
19:8 The nations from the surrounding provinces came against him.
   They spread their net over him, and he was caught in their pit.
19:9 They put him in a cage with hooks and brought him to the king of Babylon.
   They brought him into strongholds so that his voice would no longer be heard on the mountains of Israel.

19:10 Your mother was like a vine in your blood, planted beside the waters.
   It was fruitful and full of branches because of the abundant water.
19:11 It had strong branches fit for rulers’ scepters.
   Its height rose among the thick boughs, and it was seen in its height with its many branches.
19:12 But it was uprooted in wrath and thrown to the ground.
   The east wind dried up its fruit.
   They were torn off and withered;
   fire consumed its strong branch.
19:13 Now it is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land.
19:14 Fire came out from a rod of its branches and consumed its fruit.
   No strong rod remained in it, no scepter for ruling.
   This is a lament and has become a lament.”

Chapter 20
20:1 In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, some of the elders of Israel came to consult the LORD and sat before me.
20:2 The word of the LORD came to me:
20:3 “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Have you come to consult me? As I live, I will not let you consult me, declares the Lord GOD.’
20:4 Will you judge them? Will you judge them, son of man? Make them know the abominations of their fathers.
20:5 Tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I chose Israel, I raised my hand to the descendants of the house of Jacob and made myself known to them in the land of Egypt. I raised my hand to them, saying, “I am the LORD your God.”
20:6 On that day I raised my hand to them, swearing to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land I had searched out for them, flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands.
20:7 I said to them, “Each of you must cast away the detestable things before his eyes. Do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
20:8 But they rebelled against me and were unwilling to listen to me. None of them cast away the detestable things before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the land of Egypt.
20:9 But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they were. In their sight I had made myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.
20:10 So I brought them out of the land of Egypt and led them into the wilderness.
20:11 I gave them my statutes and made my ordinances known to them, by which a person will live if he carries them out.
20:12 I also gave them my Sabbaths as a sign between me and them, so that they would know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them.
20:13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not follow my statutes and rejected my ordinances, by which a person will live if he carries them out. They greatly profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness to destroy them.
20:14 But I acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the sight of the nations before whose eyes I had brought them out.
20:15 I also raised my hand to them in the wilderness, swearing not to bring them into the land I had given them, flowing with milk and honey, the glory of all lands,
20:16 because they rejected my ordinances, did not follow my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths, for their heart followed their idols.
20:17 Yet my eye spared them from destruction, and I did not make a complete end of them in the wilderness.
20:18 I said to their children in the wilderness, “Do not follow the statutes of your fathers, keep their ordinances, or defile yourselves with their idols.
20:19 I am the LORD your God. Follow my statutes, keep my ordinances, and carry them out.
20:20 Keep my Sabbaths holy, and they will be a sign between me and you, so that you will know that I am the LORD your God.”
20:21 But the children rebelled against me. They did not follow my statutes or keep my ordinances to carry them out, by which a person will live if he carries them out. They profaned my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them and spend my anger against them in the wilderness.
20:22 But I withdrew my hand and acted for the sake of my name, so that it would not be profaned in the sight of the nations before whose eyes I had brought them out.
20:23 I also raised my hand to them in the wilderness, swearing to scatter them among the nations and disperse them among the countries,
20:24 because they did not carry out my ordinances, rejected my statutes, and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes followed their fathers’ idols.
20:25 I also gave them statutes that were not good and ordinances by which they could not live.
20:26 I defiled them through their gifts, when they offered every firstborn of the womb, so that I might devastate them, so that they would know that I am the LORD.’
20:27 Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: In this too your fathers blasphemed me by acting unfaithfully against me.
20:28 I brought them into the land I had raised my hand to give them. They saw every high hill and every leafy tree, and there they offered their sacrifices, there they presented their provoking offerings, there they set their pleasing aromas, and there they poured out their drink offerings.
20:29 I said to them, “What is this high place where you go?” So its name is called Bamah to this day.’
20:30 Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Do you defile yourselves in the way of your fathers and prostitute yourselves after their detestable things?
20:31 When you present your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols to this day. Should I let you consult me, house of Israel? As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will not let you consult me.
20:32 What rises in your spirit will never happen, when you say, “We will be like the nations, like the families of the countries, serving wood and stone.”
20:33 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will rule over you with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and wrath poured out.
20:34 I will bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered, with a mighty hand, an outstretched arm, and wrath poured out.
20:35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the peoples and enter into judgment with you there face to face.
20:36 As I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the Lord GOD.
20:37 I will make you pass under the rod and bring you into the bond of the covenant.
20:38 I will separate from among you the rebels and those who transgress against me. I will bring them out of the land where they reside, but they will not enter the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
20:39 As for you, house of Israel, this is what the Lord GOD says: Each of you, go and serve your idols—and afterward too, if you will not listen to me. But you must no longer profane my holy name with your gifts and your idols.
20:40 For on my holy mountain, on the high mountain of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, there the entire house of Israel, all of it, will serve me in the land. There I will accept them, and there I will require your offerings and the firstfruits of your gifts, with all your holy things.
20:41 I will accept you as a pleasing aroma when I bring you out from the peoples and gather you from the countries where you have been scattered. I will show my holiness in you in the sight of the nations.
20:42 You will know that I am the LORD when I bring you into the land of Israel, into the land I raised my hand to give to your fathers.
20:43 There you will remember your ways and all your deeds by which you defiled yourselves, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for all the evil you have done.
20:44 You will know that I am the LORD when I deal with you for the sake of my name, rather than according to your evil ways and your corrupt deeds, house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.’”
20:45 The word of the LORD came to me:
20:46 “Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against the south, and prophesy against the forest of the field of the Negev.
20:47 Say to the forest of the Negev, ‘Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I will kindle a fire in you, and it will consume every green tree and every dry tree in you. Its blazing flame will not be quenched, and every face from south to north will be scorched by it.
20:48 All flesh will see that I, the LORD, have kindled it. It will not be quenched.’”
20:49 Then I said, “Ah, Lord GOD! They are saying of me, ‘Is he not a teller of parables?’”

Chapter 21
21:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
21:2 “Son of man, set your face against Jerusalem, preach against the sanctuaries, and prophesy against the land of Israel.
21:3 Say to the land of Israel, ‘This is what the LORD says: I am against you. I will draw my sword from its sheath and cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked.
21:4 Because I will cut off from you both the righteous and the wicked, my sword will come out of its sheath against all flesh from south to north.
21:5 All flesh will know that I, the LORD, have drawn my sword from its sheath. It will not return again.’
21:6 As for you, son of man, groan with your loins breaking. Groan bitterly in their sight.
21:7 When they ask you, ‘Why are you groaning?’ say, ‘Because of the news, for it is coming. Every heart will melt, all hands will grow weak, every spirit will faint, and all knees will run with water. It is coming, and it will happen, declares the Lord GOD.’”
21:8 The word of the LORD came to me:
21:9 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord says.’ Say, ‘A sword, a sword, sharpened and also polished!
21:10 It is sharpened for slaughter, polished to flash like lightning. Or should we rejoice? It despises the scepter of my son as it does every piece of wood.
21:11 He gave it to be polished, to be grasped in the hand. The sword is sharpened and polished to be put into the hand of the killer.
21:12 Cry out and wail, son of man, for it is against my people, against all the princes of Israel. They are handed over to the sword with my people. Therefore strike your thigh.
21:13 For there is a testing, declares the Lord GOD. And what if even the scepter the sword despises is no more?’
21:14 As for you, son of man, prophesy and strike your hands together. Let the sword be doubled, then tripled. It is the sword of the slain, the sword of the great slain one, penetrating them.
21:15 So that hearts may melt and stumbling blocks multiply, I have set the point of the sword against all their gates. Ah, it is made to flash like lightning, grasped for slaughter!
21:16 Gather your strength; strike right! Set yourself; strike left! Wherever your edge is directed!
21:17 I too will strike my hands together and bring my wrath to rest. I, the LORD, have spoken.”
21:18 The word of the LORD came to me:
21:19 “As for you, son of man, mark out two roads for the sword of the king of Babylon to come. Both are to come from one land. Make a signpost; make it at the head of the road to the city.
21:20 Mark out a road for the sword to come to Rabbah of the Ammonites, and to Judah, to fortified Jerusalem.
21:21 For the king of Babylon stands at the fork in the road, at the head of the two roads, to practice divination. He shakes the arrows, consults the household idols, and examines the liver.
21:22 In his right hand is the divination for Jerusalem: to set up battering rams, open the mouth for slaughter, raise the voice in a battle cry, set battering rams against the gates, pile up a siege ramp, and build siege works.
21:23 It will seem to them like false divination, to those who have sworn oaths to them. But he will bring iniquity to remembrance, so that they may be captured.
21:24 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have brought your iniquity to remembrance by exposing your transgressions, so that your sins are seen in all your deeds—because you have been remembered, you will be seized by the hand.
21:25 And you, mortally wounded, wicked prince of Israel, whose day has come, the time of final punishment,
21:26 this is what the Lord GOD says: Remove the turban and take off the crown. This will not remain as it is. Raise up the low and bring down the high.
21:27 Ruin, ruin, ruin—I will make it so! This too will be no more until the one to whom the right belongs comes, and I will give it to him.
21:28 As for you, son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says concerning the Ammonites and their reproach.’ Say, ‘A sword, a sword is drawn for slaughter, polished to consume, to flash like lightning,
21:29 while they see false visions for you and divine lies for you, to place you upon the necks of the wicked slain, whose day has come, the time of final punishment.
21:30 Return it to its sheath! In the place where you were created, in the land of your origin, I will judge you.
21:31 I will pour out my indignation upon you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath. I will give you into the hands of brutal men, skilled in destruction.
21:32 You will be fuel for the fire. Your blood will be in the midst of the land. You will not be remembered, for I, the LORD, have spoken.’”

Chapter 22
22:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
22:2 “As for you, son of man, will you judge? Will you judge the city of bloodshed? Make her know all her abominations.
22:3 Say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: A city that sheds blood within itself so that its time may come, and makes idols for itself to defile itself!
22:4 You have become guilty through the blood you have shed and defiled through the idols you have made. You have brought your days near and reached your appointed years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the countries.
22:5 Those near you and those far from you will mock you, you with a defiled name and great turmoil.
22:6 The princes of Israel in you have each used their power to shed blood.
22:7 In you they have treated father and mother with contempt. Within you they have extorted the foreigner; in you they have oppressed the fatherless and the widow.
22:8 You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths.
22:9 In you are slanderers intent on shedding blood. In you they have eaten on the mountains; within you they have committed lewdness.
22:10 In you they have uncovered a father’s nakedness; in you they have violated women in their menstrual uncleanness.
22:11 One has committed an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another has lewdly defiled his daughter-in-law; another in you has violated his sister, his father’s daughter.
22:12 In you they have accepted bribes to shed blood. You have taken interest and extra profit, extorted gain from your neighbors, and forgotten me, declares the Lord GOD.
22:13 So I have struck my hand at the dishonest gain you have made and at the bloodshed within you.
22:14 Can your heart endure, or can your hands remain strong, in the days when I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.
22:15 I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you among the countries, and I will put an end to your uncleanness within you.
22:16 You will be profaned through your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you will know that I am the LORD.’”
22:17 The word of the LORD came to me:
22:18 “Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead in the furnace; they have become the dross of silver.
22:19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because all of you have become dross, I will gather you into Jerusalem.
22:20 As silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin are gathered into a furnace to have fire blown upon them to melt them, so I will gather you in my anger and my wrath. I will put you there and melt you.
22:21 I will gather you and blow upon you with the fire of my wrath, and you will be melted within it.
22:22 As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within it. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out my wrath upon you.”
22:23 The word of the LORD came to me:
22:24 “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that has not been cleansed and has received no rain in the day of indignation.
22:25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets within her, like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They have devoured lives, taken treasure and precious things, and multiplied her widows within her.
22:26 Her priests have violated my law and profaned my holy things. They have not distinguished between the holy and the common or taught the difference between the unclean and the clean. They have hidden their eyes from my Sabbaths, and I have been profaned among them.
22:27 Her officials within her are like wolves tearing prey, shedding blood and destroying lives to obtain dishonest gain.
22:28 Her prophets have coated them with whitewash, seeing false visions and divining lies for them. They say, “This is what the Lord GOD says,” though the LORD has not spoken.
22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and extorted the foreigner without justice.
22:30 I sought a man among them who would build up a wall and stand in the breach before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found none.
22:31 So I poured out my indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I brought their ways upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Chapter 23
23:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
23:2 “Son of man, there were two women, daughters of one mother.
23:3 They prostituted themselves in Egypt; they prostituted themselves in their youth. There their breasts were squeezed, and there their virgin breasts were handled.
23:4 Their names were Oholah, the older, and Oholibah, her sister. They became mine and bore sons and daughters. As for their names, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.
23:5 Oholah prostituted herself while she was mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians nearby,
23:6 clothed in blue, governors and officials, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding horses.
23:7 She gave herself to prostitution with them, all the choice men of Assyria. With all those she lusted after, with all their idols, she defiled herself.
23:8 She did not abandon her prostitution from Egypt, for they had lain with her in her youth, handled her virgin breasts, and poured their prostitution upon her.
23:9 Therefore I gave her into the hands of her lovers, into the hands of the Assyrians she lusted after.
23:10 They exposed her nakedness, took away her sons and daughters, and killed her with the sword. She became notorious among women, and they executed judgments against her.
23:11 Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet her lust became more corrupt than hers, and her prostitution exceeded her sister’s prostitution.
23:12 She lusted after the Assyrians nearby, governors and officials splendidly clothed, horsemen riding horses, all of them desirable young men.
23:13 I saw that she had defiled herself; both followed the same way.
23:14 But she added to her prostitution. She saw men depicted on a wall, images of Chaldeans portrayed in vermilion,
23:15 with belts around their waists and flowing turbans on their heads, all with the appearance of officers, like the Babylonians whose native land was Chaldea.
23:16 As soon as she saw them, she lusted after them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea.
23:17 The Babylonians came to her bed of love and defiled her with their prostitution. She was defiled by them, and then her soul turned from them in disgust.
23:18 She exposed her prostitution and uncovered her nakedness. Then my soul turned from her in disgust, just as my soul had turned from her sister.
23:19 But she multiplied her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she prostituted herself in the land of Egypt.
23:20 She lusted after their lovers, whose members were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.
23:21 So you recalled the lewdness of your youth, when the Egyptians handled your breasts, the breasts of your youth.
23:22 Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stir up against you your lovers from whom your soul turned in disgust, and I will bring them against you from all around:
23:23 the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them, desirable young men, all of them governors and officials, officers and men of renown, all riding horses.
23:24 They will come against you with weapons, chariots, and wheels, and an assembly of peoples. They will array large shields, small shields, and helmets against you all around. I will entrust judgment to them, and they will judge you according to their judgments.
23:25 I will direct my jealousy against you, and they will deal with you in wrath. They will cut off your nose and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will take away your sons and daughters, and what remains of you will be consumed by fire.
23:26 They will strip you of your clothes and take your beautiful ornaments.
23:27 I will put an end to your lewdness and your prostitution from the land of Egypt. You will no longer lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt.
23:28 For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will give you into the hands of those you hate, into the hands of those from whom your soul turned in disgust.
23:29 They will deal with you in hatred, take all the fruit of your labor, and leave you naked and bare. The nakedness of your prostitution will be exposed, your lewdness and your prostitution.
23:30 These things will be done to you because you prostituted yourself after the nations and defiled yourself with their idols.
23:31 You have followed your sister’s way, and I will put her cup into your hand.
23:32 This is what the Lord GOD says: You will drink your sister’s cup, deep and wide. It will be an object of laughter and mockery; it holds much.
23:33 You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with a cup of horror and desolation, the cup of your sister Samaria.
23:34 You will drink it and drain it, gnaw its shards, and tear your breasts, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.
23:35 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you too must bear your lewdness and your prostitution.”
23:36 The LORD said to me, “Son of man, will you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Declare their abominations to them.
23:37 For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols and even offered their sons, whom they bore to me, to those idols to be devoured.
23:38 They have also done this to me: They defiled my sanctuary on that same day and profaned my Sabbaths.
23:39 When they slaughtered their sons for their idols, they came into my sanctuary that same day to profane it. This is what they did within my house.
23:40 They even sent for men to come from far away. A messenger was sent to them, and they came. For them you bathed, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry.
23:41 You sat on a splendid couch with a table prepared before it, on which you set my incense and my oil.
23:42 The sound of a carefree crowd was in her. Along with men from the multitude, drinkers were brought from the wilderness. They put bracelets on the women’s wrists and beautiful crowns on their heads.
23:43 Then I said of her who was worn out by adultery, ‘Will they now prostitute themselves with her, and she with them?’
23:44 One went in to her as one goes in to a prostitute. So they went in to Oholah and Oholibah, the lewd women.
23:45 But righteous men will judge them with the judgment of adulteresses and the judgment of women who shed blood, for they are adulteresses, and blood is on their hands.
23:46 For this is what the Lord GOD says: Bring up an assembly against them and give them over to terror and plunder.
23:47 The assembly will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn their houses with fire.
23:48 I will put an end to lewdness in the land. All women will be warned and will not imitate your lewdness.
23:49 They will bring your lewdness upon you, and you will bear the sins of your idols. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 24
24:1 The word of the LORD came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth day of the month:
24:2 “Son of man, write down the date of this day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day.
24:3 Tell a parable to the rebellious house and say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Put on the pot, put it on, and pour water into it.
24:4 Gather its pieces into it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder. Fill it with choice bones.
24:5 Take the best of the flock and pile bones beneath it as well. Make it boil vigorously; let its bones cook within it.
24:6 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, the pot whose corrosion is in it and whose corrosion has not left it! Empty it piece by piece, piece by piece, without casting lots for it.
24:7 For her blood was within her. She put it on bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it with dust.
24:8 To stir up wrath and take vengeance, I have put her blood on bare rock so that it will not be covered.
24:9 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the city of bloodshed! I too will make the fire pile great.
24:10 Heap up the wood, kindle the fire, cook the meat thoroughly, mix the spices, and let the bones burn.
24:11 Then set the pot empty on its coals, so that its copper grows hot and burns, its uncleanness melts within it, and its corrosion is consumed.
24:12 She has wearied herself with toil, yet her heavy corrosion will not leave her. Into the fire with her corrosion!
24:13 There is lewdness in your uncleanness. Because I cleansed you but you were not clean, you will not be cleansed of your uncleanness again until I bring my wrath to rest upon you.
24:14 I, the LORD, have spoken. It is coming, and I will act. I will not hold back, spare, or relent. They will judge you according to your ways and your deeds, declares the Lord GOD.’”
24:15 The word of the LORD came to me:
24:16 “Son of man, I am taking away the delight of your eyes with a blow. You must not mourn or weep, and your tears must not flow.
24:17 Groan in silence. Make no mourning for the dead. Tie on your turban and put your sandals on your feet. Do not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of others.”
24:18 I spoke to the people in the morning, and my wife died in the evening. The next morning I did as I had been commanded.
24:19 The people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things you are doing mean for us?”
24:20 I said to them, “The word of the LORD came to me:
24:21 ‘Say to the house of Israel, “This is what the Lord GOD says: I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the delight of your eyes, and the longing of your soul. Your sons and daughters whom you left behind will fall by the sword.”’
24:22 You will do as I have done. You will not cover your upper lip or eat the bread of others.
24:23 Your turbans will be on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away in your iniquities and groan to one another.
24:24 ‘Ezekiel will be a sign to you. You will do all that he has done. When it comes, you will know that I am the Lord GOD.
24:25 As for you, son of man, on the day I take from them their stronghold, the joy of their splendor, the delight of their eyes, and the longing of their soul, their sons and daughters,
24:26 will not a survivor come to you on that day to bring news to your ears?
24:27 On that day your mouth will be opened to the survivor. You will speak and no longer be mute. You will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Chapter 25
25:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
25:2 “Son of man, set your face against the Ammonites and prophesy against them.
25:3 Say to the Ammonites, ‘Hear the word of the Lord GOD! This is what the Lord GOD says: Because you said, “Aha!” over my sanctuary when it was profaned, over the land of Israel when it was made desolate, and over the house of Judah when they went into exile,
25:4 therefore I am giving you to the people of the east as a possession. They will establish their camps and set up their dwellings among you. They will eat your fruit and drink your milk.
25:5 I will make Rabbah a pasture for camels and the Ammonites a resting place for flocks. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
25:6 For this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you clapped your hands, stamped your foot, and rejoiced with all the contempt of your soul against the land of Israel,
25:7 therefore I have stretched out my hand against you. I will give you as plunder to the nations, cut you off from among the peoples, and make you perish from among the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD.’
25:8 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Moab and Seir said, “Look, the house of Judah is like all the nations,”
25:9 therefore I will open Moab’s flank, from its cities, its frontier cities, the glory of the land—Beth-jeshimoth, Baal-meon, and Kiriathaim—
25:10 to the people of the east, along with the Ammonites. I will give it as a possession, so that the Ammonites will not be remembered among the nations.
25:11 I will execute judgments against Moab, and they will know that I am the LORD.’
25:12 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted in vengeance against the house of Judah and became gravely guilty by taking vengeance on them,
25:13 therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out my hand against Edom and cut off people and animals from it. I will make it a desolation from Teman to Dedan. They will fall by the sword.
25:14 I will put my vengeance against Edom into the hands of my people Israel. They will deal with Edom according to my anger and my wrath, and they will know my vengeance, declares the Lord GOD.’
25:15 This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because the Philistines acted in vengeance and took revenge with contempt in their souls, destroying out of enduring hostility,
25:16 therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will stretch out my hand against the Philistines, cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the seacoast.
25:17 I will execute great acts of vengeance against them with wrathful rebukes. They will know that I am the LORD when I lay my vengeance upon them.’”

Chapter 26
26:1 In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
26:2 “Son of man, because Tyre said about Jerusalem, ‘Aha! The gates of the peoples are broken! She has turned to me. I will be filled, for she is laid waste,’
26:3 therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Tyre. I will bring many nations up against you, as the sea brings up its waves.
26:4 They will destroy the walls of Tyre and tear down her towers. I will scrape her dust from her and make her bare rock.
26:5 She will be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD. She will become plunder for the nations.
26:6 Her daughter towns in the countryside will be put to the sword. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
26:7 For this is what the Lord GOD says: I will bring Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, against Tyre from the north, with horses, chariots, horsemen, an assembly, and many people.
26:8 He will put your daughter towns in the countryside to the sword. He will set up siege works against you, pile up a siege ramp against you, and raise a large shield against you.
26:9 He will direct the blows of his battering ram against your walls and tear down your towers with his swords.
26:10 The dust of his many horses will cover you. Your walls will shake at the sound of horsemen, wheels, and chariots when he enters your gates as men enter a breached city.
26:11 With the hooves of his horses he will trample all your streets. He will kill your people by the sword, and your strong pillars will fall to the ground.
26:12 They will plunder your wealth, loot your merchandise, tear down your walls, and demolish your beautiful houses. They will put your stones, timber, and dust into the water.
26:13 I will put an end to the noise of your songs, and the sound of your lyres will no longer be heard.
26:14 I will make you bare rock, a place for spreading nets. You will never be rebuilt, for I, the LORD, have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.
26:15 This is what the Lord GOD says to Tyre: Will not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan and slaughter is carried out within you?
26:16 All the princes of the sea will come down from their thrones, remove their robes, and strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with trembling, sit on the ground, tremble at every moment, and be appalled at you.
26:17 They will take up a lament over you and say to you, ‘How you have perished, you who were inhabited by seafarers, renowned city that was strong on the sea! She and her inhabitants spread their terror to all her inhabitants.
26:18 Now the islands will tremble on the day of your fall; the islands in the sea will be terrified at your passing.’
26:19 For this is what the Lord GOD says: When I make you a devastated city, like cities no longer inhabited, when I bring the deep up over you and the great waters cover you,
26:20 I will bring you down with those who descend to the pit, to the people of long ago. I will make you dwell in the depths of the earth, like ruins of old, with those who descend to the pit, so that you will not be inhabited. And I will set splendor in the land of the living.
26:21 I will make you a terror, and you will be no more. Though you are sought, you will never be found again, declares the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 27
27:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
27:2 “As for you, son of man, take up a lament over Tyre.
27:3 Say to Tyre, who dwells at the entrances to the sea, merchant of the peoples to many coastlands, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says:
 Tyre, you said, “I am perfect in beauty.”
27:4 Your borders are in the heart of the seas.
   Your builders perfected your beauty.
27:5 They made all your planks of cypress from Senir.
   They took a cedar from Lebanon to make a mast for you.
27:6 They made your oars of oak from Bashan.
   A company of Ashurites made your deck of ivory from the coastlands of Kittim.
27:7 Fine embroidered linen from Egypt was your sail, serving as your banner.
   Blue and purple from the coastlands of Elishah were your awning.
27:8 The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers.
   Your wise men, Tyre, were in you;
   they were your pilots.
27:9 The elders of Gebal and its wise men were in you, repairing your seams.
   All the ships of the sea and their sailors were in you to trade your merchandise.
27:10 Persia, Lud, and Put were in your army, your men of war. They hung shields and helmets in you; they gave you splendor.
27:11 The men of Arvad and your army were on your walls all around, and the Gammadites were in your towers. They hung their shields on your walls all around; they perfected your beauty.
27:12 Tarshish traded with you because of your abundant wealth of every kind. They gave silver, iron, tin, and lead in exchange for your wares.
27:13 Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders. They gave human beings and copper vessels in exchange for your merchandise.
27:14 Those of the house of Togarmah gave horses, steeds, and mules in exchange for your wares.
27:15 The men of Dedan were your traders. Many coastlands were your customers; they brought ivory tusks and ebony as your payment.
27:16 Aram traded with you because of your many products. They gave emeralds, purple cloth, embroidery, fine linen, coral, and agate in exchange for your wares.
27:17 Judah and the land of Israel were your traders. They gave wheat from Minnith, pannag, honey, oil, and balm in exchange for your merchandise.
27:18 Damascus traded with you because of your many products and your abundant wealth of every kind, bringing wine from Helbon and white wool.
27:19 Dan and Javan from Uzal traded for your wares. Wrought iron, cassia, and aromatic cane were among your merchandise.
27:20 Dedan traded with you in saddle blankets.
27:21 Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your customers. They traded with you in lambs, rams, and male goats; in these they were your traders.
27:22 The merchants of Sheba and Raamah were your traders. They gave the finest spices of every kind, all kinds of precious stones, and gold in exchange for your wares.
27:23 Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Assyria, and Kilmad were your traders.
27:24 They traded with you in splendid garments, blue and embroidered cloaks, and chests of multicolored cloth, bound with cords and firmly secured, among your merchandise.
27:25 The ships of Tarshish carried your merchandise. You were filled and grew very heavy in the heart of the seas.
27:26 Your rowers brought you into great waters.
   The east wind wrecked you in the heart of the seas.
27:27 Your wealth, your wares, your merchandise, your sailors and pilots, those who repair your seams, those who trade your merchandise, all your men of war in you, and all the company within you will fall into the heart of the seas on the day of your fall.
27:28 The pasturelands will shake at the sound of your pilots’ cry.
27:29 All who handle the oar will come down from their ships.
   The sailors and all the pilots of the sea will stand on the land.
27:30 They will raise their voices over you and cry out bitterly.
   They will throw dust on their heads and roll in ashes.
27:31 They will shave their heads for you and put on sackcloth.
   They will weep over you with bitterness of soul, with bitter mourning.
27:32 In their wailing they will take up a lament over you and lament for you: “Who is like Tyre, silenced in the midst of the sea?
27:33 When your wares went out over the seas, you satisfied many peoples.
   With your abundant wealth and merchandise you enriched the kings of the earth.
27:34 When you were wrecked by the seas in the depths of the waters, your merchandise and all your company fell within you.
27:35 All the inhabitants of the coastlands are appalled at you.
   Their kings shudder with terror, their faces troubled.
27:36 The merchants among the peoples hiss at you.
   You have become a terror, and you are gone forever.”’”

Chapter 28
28:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
28:2 “Son of man, say to the ruler of Tyre, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says:
 Because your heart has grown proud and you have said, “I am a god;
   I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas,” though you are a man and not a god, you have made your heart like the heart of a god.
28:3 Look, you are wiser than Daniel!
   No secret is hidden from you.
28:4 By your wisdom and understanding you have acquired wealth for yourself and accumulated gold and silver in your treasuries.
28:5 By your great wisdom in trade you have multiplied your wealth, and your heart has grown proud because of your wealth.

28:6 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you have made your heart like the heart of a god,
28:7 I will bring foreigners against you, the most ruthless of the nations.
   They will draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and profane your splendor.
28:8 They will bring you down to the pit, and you will die the deaths of the slain in the heart of the seas.
28:9 Will you still say, “I am a god,” before the one who kills you?
   You are a man and not a god in the hands of those who pierce you.
28:10 You will die the deaths of the uncircumcised at the hands of foreigners, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.’”
28:11 The word of the LORD came to me:
28:12 “Son of man, take up a lament over the king of Tyre and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says:
 You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
28:13 You were in Eden, the garden of God.
   Every precious stone was your covering: carnelian, topaz, and diamond;
   beryl, onyx, and jasper;
   sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle, and gold.
   The workmanship of your tambourines and pipes was within you;
   they were prepared on the day you were created.
28:14 You were an anointed guardian cherub, and I appointed you.
   You were on the holy mountain of God;
   you walked among stones of fire.
28:15 You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created until injustice was found in you.
28:16 Through your abundant trade they filled your midst with violence, and you sinned.
   So I banished you as profane from the mountain of God and destroyed you, guardian cherub, from among the stones of fire.
28:17 Your heart grew proud because of your beauty.
   You corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor.
   I cast you to the ground and set you before kings for them to look at you.
28:18 By your many iniquities and the injustice of your trade, you profaned your sanctuaries.
   I brought fire out from within you, and it consumed you.
   I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the sight of all who saw you.
28:19 All who know you among the peoples are appalled at you.
   You have become a terror, and you are gone forever.’”
28:20 The word of the LORD came to me:
28:21 “Son of man, set your face against Sidon and prophesy against her.
28:22 Say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Sidon, and I will be glorified within you. They will know that I am the LORD when I execute judgments within her and show my holiness in her.
28:23 I will send pestilence upon her and blood into her streets. The wounded will be judged within her by the sword against her from every side. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
28:24 There will no longer be a tearing brier or a painful thorn for the house of Israel from any of those around them who despise them. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.
28:25 This is what the Lord GOD says: When I gather the house of Israel from the peoples among whom they have been scattered and show my holiness in them in the sight of the nations, they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob.
28:26 They will live securely in it, build houses, and plant vineyards. They will live securely when I execute judgments against all those around them who despise them. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God.’”

Chapter 29
29:1 In the tenth year, in the tenth month, on the twelfth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
29:2 “Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against all Egypt.
29:3 Speak and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster lying among his rivers, who has said, “My Nile is mine, and I made myself.”
29:4 I will put hooks in your jaws and make the fish of your rivers cling to your scales. I will bring you up from your rivers, with all the fish of your rivers clinging to your scales.
29:5 I will abandon you in the wilderness, you and all the fish of your rivers. You will fall in the open field and will not be gathered or collected. I have given you as food to the beasts of the earth and the birds of the heavens.
29:6 All the inhabitants of Egypt will know that I am the LORD, because they have been a reed staff for the house of Israel.
29:7 When they grasped you in the hand, you splintered and tore all their shoulders. When they leaned on you, you broke and made them all straighten their backs.
29:8 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I will bring a sword against you and cut off people and animals from you.
29:9 The land of Egypt will become a desolation and a waste, and they will know that I am the LORD. Because he said, “The Nile is mine, and I made it,”
29:10 therefore I am against you and your rivers. I will make the land of Egypt utterly ruined and desolate, from Migdol to Syene, as far as the border of Cush.
29:11 No human foot will pass through it, and no animal foot will pass through it. It will not be inhabited for forty years.
29:12 I will make the land of Egypt a desolation among desolate lands, and its cities will be desolate among ruined cities for forty years. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries.
29:13 For this is what the Lord GOD says: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered.
29:14 I will restore the fortunes of Egypt and bring them back to the land of Pathros, to the land of their origin. There they will be a lowly kingdom.
29:15 It will be the lowliest of kingdoms and will no longer exalt itself over the nations. I will diminish them so that they will no longer rule over the nations.
29:16 It will no longer be a source of confidence for the house of Israel, bringing iniquity to remembrance when they turn to them. Then they will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”
29:17 In the twenty-seventh year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
29:18 “Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon made his army labor hard against Tyre. Every head was made bald, and every shoulder rubbed raw. Yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre for the labor he performed against her.
29:19 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I am giving the land of Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off its wealth, take its spoil, and seize its plunder. It will be the wages for his army.
29:20 As payment for the labor he performed against her, I have given him the land of Egypt, because they worked for me, declares the Lord GOD.
29:21 On that day I will make a horn sprout for the house of Israel, and I will enable you to open your mouth among them. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Chapter 30
30:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
30:2 “Son of man, prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Wail, “Alas for the day!”
30:3 For the day is near, the day of the LORD is near. It will be a day of clouds, a time for the nations.
30:4 A sword will come upon Egypt, and anguish will be in Cush when the slain fall in Egypt, its wealth is carried away, and its foundations are torn down.
30:5 Cush, Put, Lud, all the mixed population, Cub, and the people of the land of the covenant will fall by the sword with them.
30:6 This is what the LORD says: Those who support Egypt will fall, and the pride of its strength will come down. From Migdol to Syene they will fall by the sword within it, declares the Lord GOD.
30:7 They will be desolate among desolate lands, and its cities will be among ruined cities.
30:8 They will know that I am the LORD when I set fire to Egypt and all its helpers are broken.
30:9 On that day messengers will go out from my presence in ships to terrify secure Cush. Anguish will come upon them on the day of Egypt, for it is coming.
30:10 This is what the Lord GOD says: I will put an end to the multitude of Egypt by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.
30:11 He and his people with him, the most ruthless of the nations, will be brought in to destroy the land. They will draw their swords against Egypt and fill the land with the slain.
30:12 I will dry up the rivers and sell the land into the hands of the wicked. I will devastate the land and all it contains by the hand of foreigners. I, the LORD, have spoken.
30:13 This is what the Lord GOD says: I will destroy the idols and put an end to the worthless gods in Memphis. There will no longer be a ruler from the land of Egypt, and I will put fear in the land of Egypt.
30:14 I will devastate Pathros, set fire to Zoan, and execute judgments against Thebes.
30:15 I will pour out my wrath upon Sin, the stronghold of Egypt, and cut off the multitude of Thebes.
30:16 I will set fire to Egypt. Sin will writhe in anguish, Thebes will be breached, and Memphis will face enemies by day.
30:17 The young men of Aven and Pi-beseth will fall by the sword, and these cities will go into captivity.
30:18 The day will grow dark in Tahpanhes when I break the yokes of Egypt there and the pride of its strength ceases within it. A cloud will cover it, and its daughter towns will go into captivity.
30:19 I will execute judgments against Egypt, and they will know that I am the LORD.’”
30:20 In the eleventh year, in the first month, on the seventh day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
30:21 “Son of man, I have broken the arm of Pharaoh king of Egypt. It has not been bandaged for healing or wrapped with a bandage to bind it and strengthen it to grasp a sword.
30:22 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I am against Pharaoh king of Egypt. I will break his arms, the strong one and the broken one, and make the sword fall from his hand.
30:23 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries.
30:24 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon and put my sword in his hand. I will break Pharaoh’s arms, and he will groan before him with the groans of a mortally wounded man.
30:25 I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but Pharaoh’s arms will fall. They will know that I am the LORD when I put my sword in the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt.
30:26 I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Chapter 31
31:1 In the eleventh year, in the third month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
31:2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude,
 ‘Whom are you like in your greatness?
31:3 Look, Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches, a forest of shade, and great height.
   Its top was among the thick boughs.
31:4 The waters made it grow;
   the deep made it tall.
   The deep’s rivers ran around the place where it was planted, and the deep sent its channels to all the trees of the field.
31:5 So its height rose above all the trees of the field.
   Its boughs multiplied, and its branches grew long because of the abundant waters as it spread out.
31:6 All the birds of the heavens nested in its boughs, and all the beasts of the field gave birth beneath its branches.
   All the many nations lived in its shade.
31:7 It was beautiful in its greatness and the length of its branches, for its root was beside abundant waters.
31:8 The cedars in the garden of God could not overshadow it.
   The cypresses could not compare with its boughs, nor the plane trees with its branches.
   No tree in the garden of God could equal its beauty.
31:9 I made it beautiful with its many branches, and all the trees of Eden in the garden of God envied it.
31:10 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Because you grew tall, and it set its top among the thick boughs and its heart grew proud of its height,
31:11 I handed it over to a mighty one of the nations, who would surely deal with it. I drove it out because of its wickedness.
31:12 Foreigners, the most ruthless of the nations, cut it down and abandoned it. Its branches fell on the mountains and in all the valleys, and its boughs were broken in all the ravines of the land. All the peoples of the earth went down from its shade and abandoned it.
31:13 All the birds of the heavens will dwell on its fallen trunk, and all the beasts of the field will be among its branches,
31:14 so that none of the trees by the waters will exalt themselves in height or set their tops among the thick boughs, and none of those that drink water will stand proudly in their height. For they have all been given over to death, to the depths of the earth, among human beings, with those who descend to the pit.
31:15 This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day it went down to Sheol, I caused mourning. I covered the deep on its account, restrained its rivers, and held back the abundant waters. I darkened Lebanon on its account, and all the trees of the field fainted because of it.
31:16 I made the nations shake at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to Sheol with those who descend to the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water, were comforted in the depths of the earth.
31:17 They too went down with it to Sheol, to those slain by the sword—those who were its arm, who lived in its shade among the nations.
31:18 Whom are you like in glory and greatness among the trees of Eden? You will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the depths of the earth. You will lie among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword. This is Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Chapter 32
32:1 In the twelfth year, in the twelfth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
32:2 “Son of man, take up a lament over Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him,
 ‘You have been likened to a young lion among the nations, but you are like a monster in the seas.
   You burst out in your rivers, muddied the waters with your feet, and fouled their rivers.
32:3 This is what the Lord GOD says: I will spread my net over you with an assembly of many peoples, and they will haul you up in my net.
32:4 I will abandon you on the land and throw you into the open field.
   I will make all the birds of the heavens settle on you and satisfy the beasts of the whole earth with you.
32:5 I will lay your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your bulk.
32:6 I will water the land where you swim with your blood, as far as the mountains, and the ravines will be filled with you.
32:7 When you are extinguished, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars.
   I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light.
32:8 I will darken all the shining lights of the heavens over you and put darkness upon your land, declares the Lord GOD.
32:9 I will trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring your ruin among the nations, into lands you have not known.
32:10 I will make many peoples appalled at you, and their kings will shudder with terror because of you when I brandish my sword before them.
   They will tremble at every moment, each for his own life, on the day of your fall.

32:11 For this is what the Lord GOD says: The sword of the king of Babylon will come against you.
32:12 By the swords of warriors—all of them the most ruthless of the nations—I will bring down your multitude.
   They will devastate the pride of Egypt, and all its multitude will be destroyed.
32:13 I will destroy all its livestock beside the abundant waters.
   No human foot will muddy them again, nor will the hooves of livestock muddy them.
32:14 Then I will make their waters settle and make their rivers flow like oil, declares the Lord GOD.
32:15 When I make the land of Egypt a desolation, and the land is stripped of all that filled it, when I strike all who live in it, they will know that I am the LORD.
32:16 This is a lament, and they will chant it. The daughters of the nations will chant it; they will chant it over Egypt and all its multitude, declares the Lord GOD.’”
32:17 In the twelfth year, on the fifteenth day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me:
32:18 “Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt and bring it down, Egypt and the daughters of mighty nations, to the depths of the earth, with those who descend to the pit.
32:19 ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty?
   Go down and lie with the uncircumcised!’
32:20 They will fall among those slain by the sword.
   The sword has been given.
   Drag her away, her and all her multitudes!
32:21 The strongest warriors will speak to him from within Sheol, with his helpers: ‘They have come down and lie uncircumcised, slain by the sword.’
32:22 Assyria is there with all its company, its graves all around it, all of them slain, fallen by the sword.
32:23 Its graves were placed in the depths of the pit, and its company is around its grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, those who spread terror in the land of the living.
32:24 Elam is there with all its multitude around its grave, all of them slain, fallen by the sword, who went down uncircumcised to the depths of the earth.
   They spread their terror in the land of the living and bear their disgrace with those who descend to the pit.
32:25 They have made a bed for it among the slain, with all its multitude, its graves all around it.
   All of them are uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
   Because they spread their terror in the land of the living, they bear their disgrace with those who descend to the pit.
   It has been placed among the slain.
32:26 Meshech and Tubal are there with all their multitude, their graves all around them.
   All of them are uncircumcised, pierced by the sword, because they spread their terror in the land of the living.
32:27 They will not lie with the fallen warriors from among the uncircumcised who went down to Sheol with their weapons of war and placed their swords beneath their heads.
   Their iniquities will be upon their bones, for the terror of the warriors was in the land of the living.
32:28 You too will be broken among the uncircumcised and lie with those slain by the sword.
32:29 Edom is there, its kings and all its princes, who with all their might have been placed with those slain by the sword.
   They will lie with the uncircumcised and with those who descend to the pit.
32:30 All the princes of the north and all the Sidonians are there.
   They went down with the slain, ashamed despite the terror of their might.
   They lie uncircumcised with those slain by the sword and bear their disgrace with those who descend to the pit.
32:31 Pharaoh will see them and be comforted concerning all his multitude—Pharaoh and all his army, slain by the sword, declares the Lord GOD.
32:32 For I have spread my terror in the land of the living, and he will be laid among the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude, declares the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 33
33:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
33:2 “Son of man, speak to your people and tell them, ‘If I bring a sword against a land, and the people of that land choose a man from among them and appoint him as their watchman,
33:3 and he sees the sword coming against the land and blows the trumpet to warn the people,
33:4 then if anyone hears the sound of the trumpet but does not heed the warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood will be upon his own head.
33:5 He heard the sound of the trumpet but did not heed the warning; his blood will be upon him. If he had heeded the warning, he would have saved his life.
33:6 But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes someone from among them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but I will hold the watchman responsible for his blood.’
33:7 As for you, son of man, I have appointed you a watchman for the house of Israel. Hear the word from my mouth and warn them from me.
33:8 When I say to a wicked man, ‘Wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak to warn him to turn from his way, that wicked man will die in his iniquity, but I will hold you responsible for his blood.
33:9 But if you warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you will have saved your life.
33:10 As for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what you have said: “Our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are wasting away in them. How can we live?”’
33:11 Tell them, ‘As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, house of Israel?’
33:12 As for you, son of man, tell your people, ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not save him on the day of his transgression. The wickedness of the wicked man will not make him stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. The righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day he sins.
33:13 When I tell a righteous man that he will surely live, but he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered. He will die because of the injustice he has done.
33:14 When I say to a wicked man, “You will surely die,” but he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness,
33:15 returns a pledge, restores what he has stolen, and follows the statutes of life without doing injustice, he will surely live; he will not die.
33:16 None of the sins he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he will surely live.’
33:17 Yet your people say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair.’ It is their own way that is not fair.
33:18 When a righteous man turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he will die because of these things.
33:19 When a wicked man turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live because of these things.
33:20 Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s way is not fair.’ I will judge you, house of Israel, each according to his ways.”
33:21 In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, a survivor from Jerusalem came to me and said, “The city has been struck down.”
33:22 The hand of the LORD had been upon me the evening before the survivor arrived. He had opened my mouth by the time the man came to me in the morning. My mouth was opened, and I was no longer mute.
33:23 The word of the LORD came to me:
33:24 “Son of man, those who live among these ruins in the land of Israel are saying, ‘Abraham was only one man, yet he possessed the land. We are many; the land has been given to us as a possession.’
33:25 Therefore tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: You eat with blood, lift your eyes to your idols, and shed blood. Will you possess the land?
33:26 You rely on your sword and commit abominations, and each of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Will you possess the land?’
33:27 Say this to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: As I live, those among the ruins will fall by the sword. I will give anyone in the open field to the beasts to be devoured, and those in strongholds and caves will die of pestilence.
33:28 I will make the land a desolation and a devastation, and the pride of its strength will cease. The mountains of Israel will be desolate, with no one passing through.
33:29 They will know that I am the LORD when I make the land a desolation and a devastation because of all the abominations they have committed.’
33:30 As for you, son of man, your people are talking about you beside the walls and at the entrances of the houses. They say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come now and hear what word comes from the LORD.’
33:31 They come to you as a crowd gathers, and my people sit before you. They hear your words but do not carry them out, for they show love with their mouths, but their heart follows their dishonest gain.
33:32 To them you are like a love song of someone with a beautiful voice who plays skillfully. They hear your words but do not carry them out.
33:33 When it comes—and it is coming—they will know that a prophet has been among them.”

Chapter 34
34:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, to the shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock?
34:3 You eat the fat, clothe yourselves with the wool, and slaughter the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.
34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the broken, brought back the driven away, or sought the lost. You have ruled them with force and cruelty.
34:5 They were scattered for lack of a shepherd and became food for all the beasts of the field. They were scattered!
34:6 My sheep wander over all the mountains and every high hill. My sheep have been scattered over the whole face of the earth, with no one searching or seeking them.
34:7 Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD.
34:8 As I live, declares the Lord GOD, because my sheep have become plunder and food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep but have fed themselves instead of feeding my sheep,
34:9 therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD.
34:10 This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against the shepherds. I will demand my sheep from their hands and put an end to their tending the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, and they will no longer be food for them.
34:11 For this is what the Lord GOD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.
34:12 As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.
34:13 I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
34:14 I will feed them in good pasture, and their dwelling will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in a good dwelling and graze in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
34:15 I myself will feed my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.
34:16 I will seek the lost, bring back the driven away, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with justice.
34:17 As for you, my sheep, this is what the Lord GOD says: I will judge between one sheep and another, between rams and male goats.
34:18 Is it not enough for you to graze in the good pasture? Must you trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water? Must you muddy the rest with your feet?
34:19 My sheep graze on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have muddied.
34:20 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
34:21 Because you push with side and shoulder and thrust with your horns at all the weak until you have scattered them outside,
34:22 I will save my sheep, and they will no longer be plunder. I will judge between one sheep and another.
34:23 I will appoint one shepherd over them to feed them, my servant David. He will feed them and be their shepherd.
34:24 I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.
34:25 I will make a covenant of peace with them and put an end to wild beasts in the land. They will live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.
34:26 I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will send down rain in its season; there will be showers of blessing.
34:27 The trees of the field will yield their fruit, and the land will yield its produce. They will be secure on their own land and know that I am the LORD when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hands of those who enslave them.
34:28 They will no longer be plunder for the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them. They will live securely, with no one to make them afraid.
34:29 I will establish for them a planting of renown. They will no longer be consumed by famine in the land or bear the disgrace of the nations.
34:30 They will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD.
34:31 You, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are human beings, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.’”

Chapter 35
35:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
35:2 “Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it.
35:3 Say to it, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Mount Seir. I will stretch out my hand against you and make you a desolation and a devastation.
35:4 I will lay your cities waste, and you will be desolate. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
35:5 Because you maintained enduring hostility and delivered the people of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their calamity, the time of final punishment,
35:6 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will destine you for bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you. Because you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.
35:7 I will make Mount Seir a desolation and a devastation and cut off from it anyone coming or going.
35:8 I will fill its mountains with its slain. On your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines, those slain by the sword will fall.
35:9 I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities will not be restored. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
35:10 Because you said, “These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will take possession of it,” though the LORD was there,
35:11 therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I will deal with you according to the anger and jealousy you showed in your hatred of them. I will make myself known among them when I judge you.
35:12 You will know that I, the LORD, have heard all the insults you spoke against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are desolate; they have been given to us to devour.”
35:13 You have boasted against me with your mouths and multiplied your words against me. I have heard.
35:14 This is what the Lord GOD says: While the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation.
35:15 As you rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will deal with you. You will be desolate, Mount Seir and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Chapter 36
36:1 “As for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD.
36:2 This is what the Lord GOD says: Because the enemy said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’
36:3 therefore prophesy and say: This is what the Lord GOD says: Because, yes, because they devastated you and swallowed you up from every side, so that you became a possession of the remaining nations and a subject of gossip and slander among the people,
36:4 therefore, mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD. This is what the Lord GOD says to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys, the desolate ruins and abandoned cities that have become plunder and mockery to the remaining nations around you:
36:5 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Surely I have spoken in the fire of my jealousy against the remaining nations and all Edom, who made my land their possession with wholehearted joy and contempt in their souls, to plunder its pasturelands.
36:6 Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and hills, the ravines and valleys: This is what the Lord GOD says: I have spoken in my jealousy and wrath because you have borne the disgrace of the nations.
36:7 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: I have raised my hand: Surely the nations around you will bear their own disgrace.
36:8 But you, mountains of Israel, will put out your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, for they will soon come.
36:9 For I am for you. I will turn toward you, and you will be tilled and sown.
36:10 I will multiply people upon you, the entire house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
36:11 I will multiply people and animals upon you, and they will multiply and be fruitful. I will make you inhabited as before and do more good to you than at your beginnings. Then you will know that I am the LORD.
36:12 I will make people walk upon you, my people Israel. They will possess you, and you will be their inheritance. You will never again bereave them.
36:13 This is what the Lord GOD says: Because they say to you, ‘You devour people and have bereaved your nations,’
36:14 therefore you will no longer devour people or bereave your nations, declares the Lord GOD.
36:15 I will no longer let you hear the insults of the nations. You will no longer bear the reproach of the peoples or make your nations stumble, declares the Lord GOD.”
36:16 The word of the LORD came to me:
36:17 “Son of man, when the house of Israel lived on their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their way before me was like the uncleanness of a menstruating woman.
36:18 So I poured out my wrath upon them because of the blood they had shed on the land and because they had defiled it with their idols.
36:19 I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed among the countries. I judged them according to their ways and their deeds.
36:20 When they came to the nations where they went, they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the LORD’s people, yet they have gone out of his land.’
36:21 But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
36:22 Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I am not acting for your sake, house of Israel, but for my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
36:23 I will show the holiness of my great name, profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. The nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show my holiness in you before their eyes.
36:24 I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the countries, and bring you to your own land.
36:25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your uncleanness and all your idols.
36:26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
36:27 I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes. You will keep my ordinances and carry them out.
36:28 You will live in the land I gave to your fathers. You will be my people, and I will be your God.
36:29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring famine upon you.
36:30 I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the field, so that you will no longer bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
36:31 You will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight because of your iniquities and your abominations.
36:32 I am not acting for your sake, declares the Lord GOD. Let that be known to you. Be ashamed and disgraced because of your ways, house of Israel.
36:33 This is what the Lord GOD says: On the day I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will make the cities inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.
36:34 The desolate land will be cultivated instead of lying desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by.
36:35 They will say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden, and the ruined, desolate, and demolished cities are fortified and inhabited.”
36:36 The nations remaining around you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was demolished and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.
36:37 This is what the Lord GOD says: I will also let the house of Israel ask me to do this for them: I will multiply their people like a flock.
36:38 Like consecrated flocks, like the flocks of Jerusalem at its appointed festivals, so the ruined cities will be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the LORD.’”

Chapter 37
37:1 The hand of the LORD was upon me. He brought me out by the Spirit of the LORD and set me in the middle of the valley, which was full of bones.
37:2 He led me around among them on every side. There were very many on the surface of the valley, and they were very dry.
37:3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Lord GOD, you know.”
37:4 He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the LORD.
37:5 This is what the Lord GOD says to these bones: I will bring breath into you, and you will live.
37:6 I will put tendons on you, bring flesh upon you, and cover you with skin. I will put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’”
37:7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded. As I prophesied, there was a sound, a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
37:8 I looked, and there were tendons upon them, flesh had grown, and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
37:9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath. Prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe into these slain, so that they may live.’”
37:10 So I prophesied as he commanded me. The breath entered them, and they lived and stood on their feet, a very, very great army.
37:11 He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the entire house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are cut off completely.’
37:12 Therefore prophesy and tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I will open your graves and bring you up from your graves, my people, and bring you into the land of Israel.
37:13 You will know that I am the LORD when I open your graves and bring you up from your graves, my people.
37:14 I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live. I will settle you on your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken and done it, declares the LORD.’”
37:15 The word of the LORD came to me:
37:16 “As for you, son of man, take one stick and write on it, ‘For Judah and the people of Israel, his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and all the house of Israel, his companions.’
37:17 Join them to each other into one stick, so that they become one in your hand.
37:18 When your people ask you, ‘Will you not tell us what these things mean to you?’
37:19 tell them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I will take the stick of Joseph that is in Ephraim’s hand and the tribes of Israel, his companions, and put them together with the stick of Judah. I will make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand.’
37:20 The sticks on which you write are to be in your hand before their eyes.
37:21 Say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: I will take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.
37:22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king over all of them. They will no longer be two nations or ever again be divided into two kingdoms.
37:23 They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, their detestable things, or any of their transgressions. I will save them from all their dwelling places where they have sinned and cleanse them. They will be my people, and I will be their God.
37:24 My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. They will follow my ordinances, keep my statutes, and carry them out.
37:25 They will live on the land I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They, their children, and their children’s children will live on it forever, and my servant David will be their prince forever.
37:26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It will be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever.
37:27 My dwelling will be over them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
37:28 The nations will know that I, the LORD, sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary is among them forever.’”

Chapter 38
38:1 The word of the LORD came to me:
38:2 “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him.
38:3 Say: This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
38:4 I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws, and bring you out with your whole army: horses and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great assembly with large and small shields, all wielding swords.
38:5 Persia, Cush, and Put will be with them, all with shields and helmets;
38:6 Gomer with all its troops, and the house of Togarmah from the farthest north with all its troops—many peoples will be with you.
38:7 Prepare yourself and be ready, you and your whole assembly gathered around you, and be a guard for them.
38:8 After many days you will be summoned. In the latter years you will come to a land restored from the sword, whose people have been gathered from many peoples, to the mountains of Israel that had long been a wasteland. Its people have been brought out from the peoples, and all of them live securely.
38:9 You will advance, coming like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the land, you and all your troops and many peoples with you.
38:10 This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day thoughts will arise in your heart, and you will devise an evil plan.
38:11 You will say, ‘I will go up against a land of unwalled villages. I will attack peaceful people who live securely, all living without walls and having neither bars nor gates.’
38:12 You will do this to take spoil and seize plunder, to turn your hand against inhabited ruins and against a people gathered from the nations, acquiring livestock and property, who live at the center of the earth.
38:13 Sheba and Dedan, the merchants of Tarshish and all its young lions, will say to you, ‘Have you come to take spoil? Have you gathered your assembly to seize plunder, to carry off silver and gold, to take livestock and property, to take great spoil?’
38:14 Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog: This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, when my people Israel live securely, will you not know it?
38:15 You will come from your place in the farthest north, you and many peoples with you, all riding horses, a great assembly and a mighty army.
38:16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud covering the land. This will happen in the latter days. I will bring you against my land so that the nations may know me when I show my holiness through you before their eyes, Gog.
38:17 This is what the Lord GOD says: Are you the one I spoke of in former days through my servants, the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for years that I would bring you against them?
38:18 On that day, the day Gog comes against the land of Israel, declares the Lord GOD, my fury will flare up.
38:19 In my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath I have spoken: Surely on that day there will be a great earthquake in the land of Israel.
38:20 The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, every creeping thing that creeps on the ground, and every human being on the face of the earth will tremble before me. The mountains will be thrown down, the cliffs will fall, and every wall will fall to the ground.
38:21 I will summon a sword against him throughout all my mountains, declares the Lord GOD. Each man's sword will be against his brother.
38:22 I will enter into judgment with him through pestilence and bloodshed. I will rain torrential rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples with him.
38:23 I will show my greatness and my holiness and make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD.”

Chapter 39
39:1 “And you, son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: This is what the Lord GOD says: I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal.
39:2 I will turn you around and lead you on. I will bring you up from the farthest north and bring you against the mountains of Israel.
39:3 I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows fall from your right hand.
39:4 You will fall on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the peoples with you. I will give you as food to birds of prey of every kind and to the beasts of the field.
39:5 You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Lord GOD.
39:6 I will send fire on Magog and on those who live securely in the coastlands. Then they will know that I am the LORD.
39:7 I will make my holy name known among my people Israel and will no longer let my holy name be profaned. The nations will know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.
39:8 Look, it is coming, and it will happen, declares the Lord GOD. This is the day I have spoken of.
39:9 The inhabitants of Israel's cities will go out and kindle fires with the weapons, burning small and large shields, bows and arrows, clubs and spears. They will make fires with them for seven years.
39:10 They will not gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, for they will make fires with the weapons. They will despoil those who despoiled them and plunder those who plundered them, declares the Lord GOD.
39:11 On that day I will give Gog a burial place there in Israel: the valley of the travelers, east of the sea. It will block the travelers' way. There they will bury Gog and all his multitude and call it the Valley of Hamon-gog.
39:12 The house of Israel will bury them for seven months to cleanse the land.
39:13 All the people of the land will bury them, and this will bring them renown on the day I show my glory, declares the Lord GOD.
39:14 They will set apart men for continual duty, passing through the land to bury the travelers, those remaining on the surface of the land, to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will make a search.
39:15 As the travelers pass through the land, whenever someone sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it until the buriers bury it in the Valley of Hamon-gog.
39:16 The name of the city will also be Hamonah. Thus they will cleanse the land.
39:17 And you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Say to birds of every kind and to all the beasts of the field: ‘Gather and come! Assemble from all around for the sacrifice I am offering for you, a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. You will eat flesh and drink blood.
39:18 You will eat the flesh of mighty warriors and drink the blood of the princes of the earth: rams, lambs, male goats, and bulls, all fattened animals of Bashan.
39:19 You will eat fat until you are full and drink blood until you are drunk, from the sacrifice I have offered for you.
39:20 At my table you will be filled with horses and riders, mighty warriors and every man of war, declares the Lord GOD.’
39:21 I will set my glory among the nations. All the nations will see the judgment I have carried out and the hand I have laid on them.
39:22 From that day onward the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God.
39:23 The nations will know that the house of Israel went into exile because of their iniquity, because they were unfaithful to me. So I hid my face from them and gave them into the hands of their adversaries, and they all fell by the sword.
39:24 I dealt with them according to their uncleanness and their transgressions, and I hid my face from them.
39:25 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have compassion on the whole house of Israel, and I will be zealous for my holy name.
39:26 They will bear their shame and all the unfaithfulness with which they were unfaithful to me, when they live securely on their land with no one to make them afraid.
39:27 When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, I will show my holiness through them in the sight of many nations.
39:28 They will know that I am the LORD their God, for I sent them into exile among the nations and will gather them onto their own land, leaving none of them there any longer.
39:29 I will no longer hide my face from them, for I will have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 40
40:1 In the twenty-fifth year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was struck down, on that very day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and he brought me there.
40:2 In visions of God he brought me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain. On it, toward the south, was something like the structure of a city.
40:3 He brought me there, and I saw a man whose appearance was like bronze. He had a linen cord and a measuring rod in his hand, and he was standing in the gateway.
40:4 The man said to me, “Son of man, look with your eyes, listen with your ears, and pay attention to everything I show you, for you have been brought here so that I may show it to you. Tell the house of Israel everything you see.”
40:5 There was a wall outside the temple, all around it. The measuring rod in the man's hand was six cubits long—about ten and a half feet—using a cubit that was a cubit plus a handbreadth. He measured the thickness of the wall: about ten and a half feet, and its height: about ten and a half feet.
40:6 Then he came to the gateway facing east and went up its steps. He measured the threshold of the gateway: about ten and a half feet wide, and the other threshold: about ten and a half feet wide.
40:7 Each chamber was about ten and a half feet long and ten and a half feet wide, with about eight feet nine inches between the chambers. The threshold of the gateway beside the vestibule, on the temple side, was about ten and a half feet.
40:8 He measured the vestibule of the gateway on the temple side: about ten and a half feet.
40:9 He measured the vestibule of the gateway: about fourteen feet, and its gateposts: about three and a half feet. The vestibule of the gateway was on the temple side.
40:10 The east-facing gateway had three chambers on one side and three on the other. All three had the same measurements, and the gateposts on either side had the same measurements.
40:11 He measured the width of the gateway opening: about seventeen and a half feet, and the length of the gateway: about twenty-two feet nine inches.
40:12 There was a barrier of about twenty-one inches in front of the chambers on one side, and a barrier of about twenty-one inches on the other. Each chamber was about ten and a half feet on either side.
40:13 He measured the gateway from the roof of one chamber to the roof of the other: about forty-three feet nine inches wide, with opening opposite opening.
40:14 He determined the measurement of the gateposts: about one hundred five feet. The courtyard extended to the gatepost all around the gateway.
40:15 From the front of the entrance gateway to the front of the inner vestibule of the gateway was about eighty-seven and a half feet.
40:16 The chambers and their gateposts had narrow windows facing inward all around the gateway, and so did the vestibules. There were windows facing inward all around, and palm trees on the gateposts.
40:17 Then he brought me into the outer court. There were rooms and a pavement built all around the court, with thirty rooms along the pavement.
40:18 The pavement ran beside the gateways, corresponding to the length of the gateways. This was the lower pavement.
40:19 He measured the width from the front of the lower gateway to the outside front of the inner court: about one hundred seventy-five feet, on the east and on the north.
40:20 He measured the length and width of the gateway of the outer court that faced north.
40:21 It had three chambers on one side and three on the other. Its gateposts and vestibules had the same measurements as the first gateway: about eighty-seven and a half feet long and forty-three feet nine inches wide.
40:22 Its windows, vestibules, and palm trees had the same measurements as those of the east-facing gateway. Seven steps led up to it, and its vestibules were in front of them.
40:23 A gateway to the inner court stood opposite the gateway on the north and on the east. He measured from gateway to gateway: about one hundred seventy-five feet.
40:24 He led me toward the south, and there was a gateway facing south. He measured its gateposts and vestibules, which had the same measurements.
40:25 The gateway and its vestibules had windows all around like the other windows. It was about eighty-seven and a half feet long and forty-three feet nine inches wide.
40:26 Seven steps led up to it, and its vestibules were in front of them. It had palm trees on its gateposts, one on either side.
40:27 There was a gateway to the inner court facing south. He measured from gateway to gateway toward the south: about one hundred seventy-five feet.
40:28 Then he brought me into the inner court through the south gateway and measured the south gateway. It had the same measurements.
40:29 Its chambers, gateposts, and vestibules had the same measurements. The gateway and its vestibules had windows all around. It was about eighty-seven and a half feet long and forty-three feet nine inches wide.
40:30 There were vestibules all around, about forty-three feet nine inches long and eight feet nine inches wide.
40:31 Its vestibules faced the outer court, with palm trees on its gateposts. Eight steps led up to it.
40:32 He brought me into the inner court toward the east and measured the gateway. It had the same measurements.
40:33 Its chambers, gateposts, and vestibules had the same measurements. The gateway and its vestibules had windows all around. It was about eighty-seven and a half feet long and forty-three feet nine inches wide.
40:34 Its vestibules faced the outer court, with palm trees on its gateposts on either side. Eight steps led up to it.
40:35 He brought me to the north gateway and measured it. It had the same measurements:
40:36 its chambers, gateposts, and vestibules, with windows all around. It was about eighty-seven and a half feet long and forty-three feet nine inches wide.
40:37 Its gateposts faced the outer court, with palm trees on its gateposts on either side. Eight steps led up to it.
40:38 There was a room with its entrance by the gateposts of the gateways. There they washed the burnt offering.
40:39 In the vestibule of the gateway were two tables on one side and two tables on the other, on which to slaughter the burnt offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering.
40:40 Outside, on one side as one went up to the entrance of the north gateway, were two tables, and on the other side of the vestibule of the gateway were two tables.
40:41 There were four tables on one side and four on the other, beside the gateway: eight tables on which they slaughtered the sacrifices.
40:42 There were four tables of hewn stone for the burnt offering, about thirty-one and a half inches long, thirty-one and a half inches wide, and twenty-one inches high. On them they laid the implements with which they slaughtered the burnt offering and the sacrifice.
40:43 Double hooks about three inches long were fastened all around inside the building. The meat of the offering was on the tables.
40:44 Outside the inner gateway, in the inner court, were rooms for the singers, beside the north gateway and facing south. There was another beside the east gateway, facing north.
40:45 He said to me, “This room facing south is for the priests who keep charge of the temple.
40:46 The room facing north is for the priests who keep charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, who among the sons of Levi draw near to the LORD to minister to him.”
40:47 He measured the court: about one hundred seventy-five feet long and one hundred seventy-five feet wide, a square. The altar was in front of the temple.
40:48 He brought me to the vestibule of the temple and measured the gateposts of the vestibule: about eight feet nine inches on one side and eight feet nine inches on the other. The width of the gateway was about five feet three inches on one side and five feet three inches on the other.
40:49 The vestibule was about thirty-five feet long and nineteen feet three inches wide. Steps led up to it, and there were columns beside the gateposts, one on either side.

Chapter 41
41:1 Then he brought me into the main hall and measured the doorposts: about ten and a half feet wide on one side and ten and a half feet wide on the other, the width of the tent.
41:2 The opening was about seventeen and a half feet wide, and its side walls were about eight feet nine inches on one side and eight feet nine inches on the other. He measured its length: about seventy feet, and its width: about thirty-five feet.
41:3 Then he went inside and measured the doorpost of the entrance: about three and a half feet; the entrance: about ten and a half feet; and the width of the entrance: about twelve feet three inches.
41:4 He measured its length: about thirty-five feet, and its width: about thirty-five feet, in front of the main hall. He said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”
41:5 Then he measured the wall of the temple: about ten and a half feet. The side chambers were about seven feet wide, all around the temple on every side.
41:6 The side chambers were one above another in three stories, thirty in each story. They rested against the wall provided for the side chambers all around the temple, to be supported without being fastened into the temple wall.
41:7 The side chambers grew wider as they went higher, because the structure surrounding the temple rose upward all around the temple. So the structure was wider above. One went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the middle one.
41:8 I saw an elevation all around the temple. The foundations of the side chambers were a full rod of six long cubits, about ten and a half feet.
41:9 The outer wall of the side chambers was about eight feet nine inches thick. There was an open space between the side chambers belonging to the temple
41:10 and the rooms, about thirty-five feet wide, all around the temple on every side.
41:11 The entrances of the side chambers opened onto the open space, one entrance toward the north and one toward the south. The open space was about eight feet nine inches wide all around.
41:12 The building facing the separate area on the west was about one hundred twenty-two and a half feet wide. Its wall was about eight feet nine inches thick all around, and its length was about one hundred fifty-seven and a half feet.
41:13 He measured the temple: about one hundred seventy-five feet long. The separate area, the building, and its walls were about one hundred seventy-five feet long.
41:14 The width of the front of the temple and of the separate area toward the east was about one hundred seventy-five feet.
41:15 He measured the length of the building facing the separate area behind it, with its galleries on either side: about one hundred seventy-five feet. As for the inner main hall and the vestibules of the court,
41:16 the thresholds, the narrow windows, and the galleries all around the three were paneled with wood all around, opposite the threshold, from the ground to the windows. The windows were covered.
41:17 Above the entrance and as far as the inner temple and outside, and on the entire wall all around, inside and outside, everything was made according to its measurements.
41:18 It was carved with cherubim and palm trees, with a palm tree between one cherub and another. Each cherub had two faces:
41:19 a human face toward the palm tree on one side and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other. They were carved all around the temple.
41:20 The cherubim and palm trees were carved from the ground to above the entrance, on the wall of the main hall.
41:21 The main hall had square doorposts, and the front of the sanctuary had the same appearance.
41:22 The altar was wood, about five feet three inches high and three and a half feet long. Its corners and its sides along its length were wood. He said to me, “This is the table that is before the LORD.”
41:23 The main hall and the sanctuary had double doors.
41:24 Each door had two leaves, two turning leaves: two for one door and two for the other.
41:25 Cherubim and palm trees were carved on the doors of the main hall, just as they were carved on the walls. There was a wooden beam on the outer front of the vestibule.
41:26 There were narrow windows and palm trees on either side, on the sides of the vestibule, as well as the side chambers of the temple and the beams.

Chapter 42
42:1 Then he led me out into the outer court toward the north and brought me to the room facing the separate area and the building on the north.
42:2 Along the front of its length of about one hundred seventy-five feet was the north entrance. Its width was about eighty-seven and a half feet.
42:3 Facing the space of about thirty-five feet belonging to the inner court and facing the pavement of the outer court were galleries opposite galleries in three stories.
42:4 In front of the rooms was a walkway about seventeen and a half feet wide toward the inside, and a passage of about twenty-one inches. Their entrances faced north.
42:5 The upper rooms were shorter, because the galleries took more space from them than from the lower and middle rooms of the building.
42:6 They were in three stories and had no columns like the columns of the courts. So the upper rooms were set back from the lower and middle rooms, starting from the ground.
42:7 The outer wall opposite the rooms, toward the outer court and in front of the rooms, was about eighty-seven and a half feet long.
42:8 For the rooms facing the outer court were about eighty-seven and a half feet long, while those facing the main hall were about one hundred seventy-five feet long.
42:9 Beneath these rooms was the entrance on the east, as one entered them from the outer court.
42:10 Along the width of the court wall toward the east, facing the separate area and the building, were rooms.
42:11 There was a walkway in front of them. They were like the rooms facing north, with the same length and width, the same exits, arrangement, and entrances.
42:12 An entrance like those of the rooms facing south was at the head of the walkway, the walkway in front of the corresponding wall toward the east, as one entered them.
42:13 He said to me, “The north rooms and the south rooms facing the separate area are the holy rooms where the priests who draw near to the LORD will eat the most holy things. There they will put the most holy things: the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering, for the place is holy.
42:14 When the priests enter, they must not go out from the holy place into the outer court without leaving there the garments in which they minister, for these are holy. They must put on other garments before approaching the places belonging to the people.”
42:15 When he had finished measuring the inner temple, he led me out through the gateway facing east and measured it all around.
42:16 He measured the east side with the measuring rod: five hundred rods, about five thousand two hundred fifty feet, measured with the measuring rod along that side.
42:17 He measured the north side: about five thousand two hundred fifty feet, measured with the measuring rod along that side.
42:18 He measured the south side: about five thousand two hundred fifty feet with the measuring rod.
42:19 He turned to the west side and measured about five thousand two hundred fifty feet with the measuring rod.
42:20 He measured it on its four sides. It had a wall all around, about five thousand two hundred fifty feet long and five thousand two hundred fifty feet wide, to separate the holy from the common.

Chapter 43
43:1 Then he led me to the gateway, the gateway facing east.
43:2 And there was the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters, and the earth shone with his glory.
43:3 The appearance of the vision I saw was like the vision I had seen when I came to destroy the city. The visions were like the vision I had seen by the Chebar River, and I fell on my face.
43:4 The glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gateway facing east.
43:5 The Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.
43:6 I heard someone speaking to me from the temple while a man stood beside me.
43:7 He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their prostitution or by the corpses of their kings at their high places.
43:8 By setting their threshold beside my threshold and their doorpost beside my doorpost, with a wall between me and them, they defiled my holy name by the abominations they committed. So I consumed them in my anger.
43:9 Now let them put their prostitution and the corpses of their kings far from me, and I will dwell among them forever.
43:10 As for you, son of man, describe the temple to the house of Israel, so that they may be ashamed of their iniquities and measure its design.
43:11 If they are ashamed of all they have done, make known to them the form of the temple, its arrangement, its exits and entrances, all its forms, all its statutes, all its forms, and all its laws. Write it before their eyes so that they may observe its entire form and all its statutes and carry them out.
43:12 This is the law of the temple: the whole territory all around it on the mountaintop shall be most holy. Look, this is the law of the temple.
43:13 These are the measurements of the altar in cubits, each cubit being a cubit plus a handbreadth. The gutter shall be about twenty-one inches deep and twenty-one inches wide, with a rim of about nine inches along its edge all around. This is the base of the altar.
43:14 From the gutter at ground level to the lower ledge shall be about three and a half feet, with a width of about twenty-one inches. From the smaller ledge to the larger ledge shall be about seven feet, with a width of about twenty-one inches.
43:15 The altar hearth shall be about seven feet high, and four horns shall rise upward from the hearth.
43:16 The altar hearth shall be about twenty-one feet long and twenty-one feet wide, square on its four sides.
43:17 The ledge shall be about twenty-four and a half feet long and twenty-four and a half feet wide on its four sides. The rim around it shall be about ten and a half inches, and its gutter about twenty-one inches all around. Its steps shall face east.”
43:18 He said to me, “Son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: These are the statutes for the altar when it is built, for offering burnt offerings on it and sprinkling blood on it.
43:19 You shall give a young bull from the herd as a sin offering to the Levitical priests descended from Zadok, who draw near to me to minister to me, declares the Lord GOD.
43:20 You shall take some of its blood and put it on the altar's four horns, on the four corners of the ledge, and on the rim all around. Thus you shall cleanse it and make atonement for it.
43:21 You shall take the bull of the sin offering, and it shall be burned in the appointed place of the temple, outside the sanctuary.
43:22 On the second day you shall offer a male goat without blemish as a sin offering, and they shall cleanse the altar as they cleansed it with the bull.
43:23 When you have finished cleansing it, you shall offer a young bull from the herd without blemish and a ram from the flock without blemish.
43:24 You shall present them before the LORD, and the priests shall throw salt on them and offer them as a burnt offering to the LORD.
43:25 For seven days you shall prepare a male goat each day as a sin offering. They shall also prepare a young bull from the herd and a ram from the flock, both without blemish.
43:26 For seven days they shall make atonement for the altar and purify it; thus they shall consecrate it.
43:27 When these days are complete, from the eighth day onward the priests shall offer your burnt offerings and your peace offerings on the altar, and I will accept you, declares the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 44
44:1 Then he brought me back by way of the outer gateway of the sanctuary that faced east. It was shut.
44:2 The LORD said to me, “This gateway shall remain shut. It shall not be opened, and no one shall enter through it, for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered through it. It shall remain shut.
44:3 As for the prince, because he is the prince, he may sit in it to eat bread before the LORD. He shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway and go out the same way.”
44:4 Then he brought me by way of the north gateway to the front of the temple. I looked, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple of the LORD, and I fell on my face.
44:5 The LORD said to me, “Son of man, pay attention, look with your eyes, and listen with your ears to everything I tell you concerning all the statutes of the temple of the LORD and all its laws. Pay attention to the entrance of the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.
44:6 Say to the rebellious house of Israel: This is what the Lord GOD says: Enough of all your abominations, house of Israel!
44:7 You have brought foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, into my sanctuary to profane it, my temple, while you offered my food, the fat and the blood. They broke my covenant, in addition to all your abominations.
44:8 You have not kept charge of my holy things, but have appointed others to keep my charge in my sanctuary for you.
44:9 This is what the Lord GOD says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh shall enter my sanctuary, none of the foreigners who are among the people of Israel.
44:10 But the Levites who went far from me when Israel went astray, who strayed from me after their idols, shall bear their guilt.
44:11 They shall serve in my sanctuary, having charge of the gateways of the temple and serving in the temple. They shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people and stand before them to serve them.
44:12 Because they served them before their idols and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, I have raised my hand against them, declares the Lord GOD, and they shall bear their guilt.
44:13 They shall not draw near to me to serve me as priests or approach any of my holy things, the most holy things. They shall bear their shame and the abominations they committed.
44:14 I will put them in charge of the temple, for all its service and everything to be done in it.
44:15 But the Levitical priests, the sons of Zadok, who kept charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel strayed from me, shall draw near to me to minister to me. They shall stand before me to offer me the fat and the blood, declares the Lord GOD.
44:16 They shall enter my sanctuary and draw near to my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge.
44:17 When they enter the gateways of the inner court, they shall wear linen garments. They shall wear no wool while ministering in the gateways of the inner court and inside the temple.
44:18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments around their waists. They shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.
44:19 When they go out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall take off the garments in which they minister and leave them in the holy rooms. They shall put on other garments so that they do not sanctify the people with their garments.
44:20 They shall not shave their heads or let their hair grow long. They shall keep their hair trimmed.
44:21 No priest shall drink wine when entering the inner court.
44:22 They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman, but only virgins descended from the house of Israel. They may also marry a widow who is the widow of a priest.
44:23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and make known to them the difference between the unclean and the clean.
44:24 In disputes they shall stand as judges and judge according to my ordinances. They shall keep my laws and my statutes at all my appointed festivals and keep my Sabbaths holy.
44:25 A priest shall not approach a dead person and so become unclean. But for a father, mother, son, daughter, brother, or sister who has had no husband, they may become unclean.
44:26 After his purification, they shall count seven days for him.
44:27 On the day he enters the holy place, into the inner court to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his sin offering, declares the Lord GOD.
44:28 They shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance. You shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.
44:29 They shall eat the grain offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. Everything devoted in Israel shall belong to them.
44:30 The best of all the firstfruits of every kind, and every contribution of every kind from all your contributions, shall belong to the priests. You shall give the first of your dough to the priest, so that a blessing may rest on your house.
44:31 The priests shall not eat any bird or animal that has died on its own or been torn apart.”

Chapter 45
45:1 “When you divide the land by lot as an inheritance, you shall set apart a holy portion of the land for the LORD, about eight and a third miles long and three and a third miles wide. It shall be holy throughout its entire territory.
45:2 From it, a square about eight hundred seventy-five feet by eight hundred seventy-five feet shall be for the sanctuary, with an open strip of about eighty-seven and a half feet all around it.
45:3 Within this area you shall measure a length of about eight and a third miles and a width of about three and a third miles. In it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.
45:4 This holy portion of the land shall be for the priests who minister in the sanctuary and draw near to minister to the LORD. It shall be a place for their houses and a sacred place for the sanctuary.
45:5 An area about eight and a third miles long and three and a third miles wide shall belong to the Levites who serve in the temple, as their possession, with twenty rooms.
45:6 You shall give the city a possession about one and two-thirds miles wide and eight and a third miles long, alongside the holy portion. It shall belong to the whole house of Israel.
45:7 The prince shall have land on either side of the holy portion and the city's possession, facing the holy portion and the city's possession, from the west side westward and from the east side eastward. Its length shall correspond to one of the portions, from the western boundary to the eastern boundary.
45:8 This land shall be his possession in Israel. My princes shall no longer oppress my people, but shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.
45:9 This is what the Lord GOD says: Enough, princes of Israel! Put away violence and plunder, and practice justice and righteousness. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Lord GOD.
45:10 You shall have honest scales, an honest ephah for dry measure, and an honest bath for liquid measure.
45:11 The ephah and the bath shall have the same capacity—about twenty dry quarts or six gallons of liquid. The bath shall hold one-tenth of a homer, and the ephah one-tenth of a homer. Their measure shall be based on the homer.
45:12 The shekel, about four-tenths of an ounce, shall be twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels shall make up your mina.
45:13 This is the contribution you shall offer: one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of wheat, and you shall give one-sixth of an ephah from each homer of barley.
45:14 The prescribed portion of oil, measured by the bath, shall be one-tenth of a bath from each cor. Ten baths make a homer, for ten baths are a homer.
45:15 And one sheep or goat from every two hundred in the flock, from the well-watered pastures of Israel, shall be for the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for them, declares the Lord GOD.
45:16 All the people of the land shall give this contribution to the prince in Israel.
45:17 It shall be the prince's responsibility to provide the burnt offerings, the grain offering, and the drink offering at the festivals, the new moons, and the Sabbaths, at all the appointed festivals of the house of Israel. He shall prepare the sin offering, the grain offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offerings to make atonement for the house of Israel.
45:18 This is what the Lord GOD says: In the first month, on the first day of the month, you shall take a young bull from the herd without blemish and cleanse the sanctuary.
45:19 The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering and put it on the doorpost of the temple, on the four corners of the altar's ledge, and on the doorpost of the gateway of the inner court.
45:20 You shall do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins unintentionally or through ignorance. Thus you shall make atonement for the temple.
45:21 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the Passover, a festival of seven days, when unleavened bread shall be eaten.
45:22 On that day the prince shall prepare a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land.
45:23 During the seven days of the festival he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD: seven bulls and seven rams without blemish each day of the seven days, and a male goat each day as a sin offering.
45:24 He shall prepare a grain offering of about twenty dry quarts for each bull and twenty dry quarts for each ram, and about a gallon of oil for each twenty dry quarts of grain.
45:25 In the seventh month, on the fifteenth day of the month, at the festival, he shall do the same for the seven days regarding the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil.”

Chapter 46
46:1 This is what the Lord GOD says: “The east-facing gateway of the inner court shall be shut during the six working days, but it shall be opened on the Sabbath day and opened on the day of the new moon.
46:2 The prince shall enter from outside by way of the vestibule of the gateway and stand by the gatepost. The priests shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings. He shall bow down at the threshold of the gateway and go out, but the gateway shall not be shut until evening.
46:3 The people of the land shall bow down before the LORD at the entrance of that gateway on the Sabbaths and the new moons.
46:4 The burnt offering the prince presents to the LORD on the Sabbath day shall be six lambs without blemish and a ram without blemish.
46:5 The grain offering shall be about twenty dry quarts for the ram, and for the lambs a grain offering as a gift from his hand, with about a gallon of oil for each twenty dry quarts of grain.
46:6 On the day of the new moon there shall be a young bull from the herd without blemish, six lambs, and a ram; they shall be without blemish.
46:7 He shall prepare a grain offering of about twenty dry quarts for the bull and twenty dry quarts for the ram, and for the lambs as much as his hand can provide, with about a gallon of oil for each twenty dry quarts of grain.
46:8 When the prince enters, he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gateway and go out the same way.
46:9 When the people of the land come before the LORD at the appointed festivals, whoever enters through the north gateway to bow down shall go out through the south gateway, and whoever enters through the south gateway shall go out through the north gateway. He shall not return through the gateway by which he entered, but shall go out through the opposite one.
46:10 The prince shall be among them: when they enter, he shall enter, and when they go out, they shall go out.
46:11 At the festivals and appointed occasions, the grain offering shall be about twenty dry quarts for the bull and twenty dry quarts for the ram, and for the lambs a gift from his hand, with about a gallon of oil for each twenty dry quarts of grain.
46:12 When the prince prepares a freewill offering, a burnt offering or peace offerings as a freewill offering to the LORD, someone shall open the east-facing gateway for him. He shall prepare his burnt offering and his peace offerings as he does on the Sabbath day. Then he shall go out, and someone shall shut the gateway after he has gone out.
46:13 You shall prepare a year-old lamb without blemish as a daily burnt offering to the LORD. Morning after morning you shall prepare it.
46:14 With it, morning after morning you shall prepare a grain offering of about three and a third dry quarts and about a third of a gallon of oil to moisten the fine flour. It is a grain offering to the LORD, a perpetual statute to be observed continually.
46:15 They shall prepare the lamb, the grain offering, and the oil morning after morning as a continual burnt offering.
46:16 This is what the Lord GOD says: If the prince gives a gift to one of his sons, it is his inheritance and shall belong to his sons. It shall be their possession by inheritance.
46:17 But if he gives a gift from his inheritance to one of his servants, it shall belong to him until the year of release and then return to the prince. His inheritance shall belong only to his sons.
46:18 The prince shall not take any of the people's inheritance, driving them out of their possession. He shall give his sons an inheritance from his own possession, so that none of my people will be scattered from his possession.”
46:19 Then he brought me through the entrance beside the gateway into the holy rooms of the priests, which faced north. There was a place at their far end toward the west.
46:20 He said to me, “This is the place where the priests shall boil the guilt offering and the sin offering and bake the grain offering, so that they do not bring them out into the outer court and so sanctify the people.”
46:21 Then he brought me out into the outer court and led me around the four corners of the court. There was a court in one corner and a court in another corner.
46:22 In the four corners of the court were enclosed courts about seventy feet long and fifty-two and a half feet wide. All four corner courts had the same measurements.
46:23 A ledge ran all around inside them, around all four, with cooking places built beneath the ledges all around.
46:24 He said to me, “These are the kitchens where the servants of the temple shall boil the people's sacrifices.”

Chapter 47
47:1 Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple. Water was flowing from beneath the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east. The water was coming down from beneath the right side of the temple, south of the altar.
47:2 He led me out through the north gateway and around outside to the outer gateway facing east. Water was trickling from the right side.
47:3 As the man went east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured about one thousand seven hundred fifty feet and led me through the water. The water was ankle-deep.
47:4 He measured about one thousand seven hundred fifty feet farther and led me through the water. The water was knee-deep. He measured about one thousand seven hundred fifty feet farther and led me through. The water was waist-deep.
47:5 He measured about one thousand seven hundred fifty feet farther, and it was a river I could not cross, for the water had risen. It was water to swim in, a river that could not be crossed on foot.
47:6 He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river.
47:7 When I returned, there were very many trees on the bank of the river, on both sides.
47:8 He said to me, “These waters flow toward the eastern region, go down into the Arabah, and enter the sea. When they flow into the sea, its waters will be healed.
47:9 Every living creature that swarms will live wherever the two rivers go. There will be very many fish, for these waters have come there and the waters will be healed. Everything will live wherever the river goes.
47:10 Fishermen will stand beside it. From En-gedi to En-eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. Its fish will be of many kinds, as numerous as the fish of the Great Sea.
47:11 But its swamps and marshes will not be healed; they will be left for salt.
47:12 All kinds of fruit trees will grow along the river, on its banks on both sides. Their leaves will not wither, and their fruit will not fail. They will bear new fruit every month, because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.”
47:13 This is what the Lord GOD says: “This shall be the boundary by which you divide the land as an inheritance among the twelve tribes of Israel. Joseph shall have two portions.
47:14 You shall inherit it equally, each like his brother. I raised my hand to give it to your fathers, and this land shall fall to you as an inheritance.
47:15 This shall be the boundary of the land on the north side: from the Great Sea, by way of Hethlon, as far as Zedad;
47:16 Hamath, Berothah, and Sibraim, which lies between the boundary of Damascus and the boundary of Hamath; Hazar-hatticon, which is on the boundary of Hauran.
47:17 The boundary shall run from the sea to Hazar-enon, on the boundary of Damascus, and on the north, northward, to the boundary of Hamath. This shall be the north side.
47:18 On the east side, between Hauran and Damascus, and between Gilead and the land of Israel, the Jordan shall be the boundary. You shall measure from the boundary to the eastern sea. This shall be the east side.
47:19 On the south side, southward, from Tamar to the waters of Meribah-kadesh, then to the brook and on to the Great Sea. This shall be the south side, southward.
47:20 The west side shall be the Great Sea, from the boundary to a point opposite the entrance to Hamath. This shall be the west side.
47:21 You shall divide this land among yourselves according to the tribes of Israel.
47:22 You shall allot it as an inheritance for yourselves and for the foreigners residing among you who have had children among you. You shall regard them as native-born among the people of Israel. With you they shall receive an inheritance among the tribes of Israel.
47:23 In whatever tribe the foreigner resides, there you shall give him his inheritance, declares the Lord GOD.”

Chapter 48
48:1 “These are the names of the tribes: From the northern end, along the way of Hethlon to the entrance to Hamath, to Hazar-enan on the boundary of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, extending from the east side to the west, Dan shall have one portion.
48:2 Beside the boundary of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher shall have one portion.
48:3 Beside the boundary of Asher, from the east side to the west side, Naphtali shall have one portion.
48:4 Beside the boundary of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh shall have one portion.
48:5 Beside the boundary of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim shall have one portion.
48:6 Beside the boundary of Ephraim, from the east side to the west side, Reuben shall have one portion.
48:7 Beside the boundary of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah shall have one portion.
48:8 Beside the boundary of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the portion you set apart, about eight and a third miles wide. Its length shall be like one of the other portions, from the east side to the west side, and the sanctuary shall be in its midst.
48:9 The portion you set apart for the LORD shall be about eight and a third miles long and three and a third miles wide.
48:10 This holy portion shall be for the priests: on the north, about eight and a third miles; on the west, about three and a third miles wide; on the east, about three and a third miles wide; and on the south, about eight and a third miles long. The sanctuary of the LORD shall be in its midst.
48:11 It shall be for the consecrated priests from the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge and did not go astray when the people of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
48:12 They shall have a most holy portion from the land set apart, beside the boundary of the Levites.
48:13 Alongside the boundary of the priests, the Levites shall have about eight and a third miles in length and three and a third miles in width. The entire length shall be about eight and a third miles, and the width about three and a third miles.
48:14 They shall not sell any of it; no one shall exchange or transfer the best of the land, for it is holy to the LORD.
48:15 The remaining strip, about one and two-thirds miles wide along the eight and a third miles, shall be for the city's common use, for homes and open land. The city shall be in its midst.
48:16 These shall be its measurements: the north side, about a mile and a half; the south side, about a mile and a half; the east side, about a mile and a half; and the west side, about a mile and a half.
48:17 The city shall have open land: on the north, about four hundred forty feet; on the south, about four hundred forty feet; on the east, about four hundred forty feet; and on the west, about four hundred forty feet.
48:18 What remains in length alongside the holy portion shall be about three and a third miles eastward and three and a third miles westward. It shall lie alongside the holy portion, and its produce shall be food for the city's workers.
48:19 The city's workers, from all the tribes of Israel, shall work it.
48:20 The entire portion shall be about eight and a third miles by eight and a third miles. You shall set apart the holy portion as a square, together with the city's possession.
48:21 The remainder shall belong to the prince on either side of the holy portion and the city's possession: along the portion's side of about eight and a third miles to the eastern boundary, and westward along its side of about eight and a third miles to the western boundary. Corresponding to the portions, this shall belong to the prince. The holy portion and the sanctuary of the temple shall be in its midst.
48:22 Apart from the Levites' possession and the city's possession, which lie in the midst of what belongs to the prince, what lies between the boundary of Judah and the boundary of Benjamin shall belong to the prince.
48:23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west side, Benjamin shall have one portion.
48:24 Beside the boundary of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon shall have one portion.
48:25 Beside the boundary of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar shall have one portion.
48:26 Beside the boundary of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun shall have one portion.
48:27 Beside the boundary of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad shall have one portion.
48:28 Beside the boundary of Gad on the south side, southward, the boundary shall run from Tamar to the waters of Meribah-kadesh, then to the brook and on to the Great Sea.
48:29 This is the land you shall allot as an inheritance to the tribes of Israel, and these are their portions, declares the Lord GOD.
48:30 These shall be the exits of the city. The north side shall measure about a mile and a half.
48:31 The city gates shall bear the names of the tribes of Israel. There shall be three gates on the north: one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, and one gate of Levi.
48:32 On the east side, about a mile and a half, there shall be three gates: one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, and one gate of Dan.
48:33 On the south side, measuring about a mile and a half, there shall be three gates: one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, and one gate of Zebulun.
48:34 On the west side, about a mile and a half, there shall be three gates: one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, and one gate of Naphtali.
48:35 Its circumference shall be about six miles. And from that day the name of the city shall be ‘The LORD Is There.’”

DANIEL

Chapter 1
1:1 In the third year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.
1:2 The Lord gave King Jehoiakim of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels from the house of God. He brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in his god’s treasury.
1:3 The king told Ashpenaz, chief of his eunuchs, to bring in some Israelites from the royal family and the nobility:
1:4 young men without any physical defect, handsome, skilled in every kind of wisdom, knowledgeable and discerning, and capable of serving in the king’s palace. He was to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.
1:5 The king assigned them a daily portion of his own food and the wine he drank. They were to be trained for three years, after which they would serve before the king.
1:6 Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, from the people of Judah.
1:7 The chief of the eunuchs gave them names: he named Daniel Belteshazzar, Hananiah Shadrach, Mishael Meshach, and Azariah Abednego.
1:8 But Daniel resolved in his heart not to defile himself with the king’s food or the wine he drank. So he asked the chief of the eunuchs to allow him not to defile himself.
1:9 God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs.
1:10 The chief of the eunuchs said to Daniel, “I fear my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking more haggard than the other young men your age? You would put my head in danger with the king.”
1:11 Then Daniel said to the steward whom the chief of the eunuchs had put in charge of Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah,
1:12 “Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink.
1:13 Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the king’s food, and deal with your servants according to what you see.”
1:14 He agreed to this and tested them for ten days.
1:15 At the end of ten days they looked better and were better nourished than all the young men who ate the king’s food.
1:16 So the steward kept taking away their assigned food and the wine they were to drink, and giving them vegetables.
1:17 God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood every kind of vision and dream.
1:18 At the end of the time the king had set for presenting them, the chief of the eunuchs brought them before Nebuchadnezzar.
1:19 The king spoke with them, and among them all none was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. So they entered the king’s service.
1:20 In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king asked them about, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his entire kingdom.
1:21 Daniel remained until the first year of King Cyrus.

Chapter 2
2:1 In the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams. His spirit was troubled, and sleep left him.
2:2 The king ordered the magicians, enchanters, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to be summoned to tell him his dreams. They came and stood before the king.
2:3 The king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to understand it.”
2:4 The Chaldeans answered the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.”
2:5 The king answered the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb, and your houses will be turned into rubbish heaps.
2:6 But if you tell me the dream and its interpretation, you will receive gifts, rewards, and great honor from me. So tell me the dream and its interpretation.”
2:7 They answered a second time, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.”
2:8 The king answered, “I know for certain that you are buying time, because you see that my decision is firm.
2:9 If you do not tell me the dream, there is only one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation changes. So tell me the dream, and I will know that you can give me its interpretation.”
2:10 The Chaldeans answered the king, “There is no one on earth who can do what the king asks. No king, however great and powerful, has ever asked anything like this of any magician, enchanter, or Chaldean.
2:11 What the king asks is difficult. No one can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.”
2:12 At this the king became angry and flew into a rage. He ordered all the wise men of Babylon to be put to death.
2:13 The decree went out that the wise men were to be killed, and they sought Daniel and his companions to put them to death.
2:14 Then Daniel spoke with prudence and discretion to Arioch, chief of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
2:15 He asked Arioch, the king’s officer, “Why is the king’s decree so harsh?” Then Arioch explained the matter to Daniel.
2:16 Daniel went in and asked the king to give him time so that he could tell the king the interpretation.
2:17 Then Daniel went home and told his companions Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah about the matter,
2:18 so that they would seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, and Daniel and his companions would not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
2:19 Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
2:20 Daniel said,
 “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are his.
2:21 He changes times and seasons;
   he removes kings and establishes kings.
   He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding.
2:22 He reveals deep and hidden things;
   he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with him.
2:23 To you, God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might.
   You have now made known to me what we asked of you;
   you have made known to us the king’s matter.”
2:24 So Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to put the wise men of Babylon to death. He went and said to him, “Do not kill the wise men of Babylon. Take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.”
2:25 Then Arioch hurried Daniel before the king and said to him, “I have found a man among the exiles from Judah who can tell the king the interpretation.”
2:26 The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to tell me the dream I saw and its interpretation?”
2:27 Daniel answered the king, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or diviners can tell the king the mystery he has asked about.
2:28 But there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in the latter days. This is your dream and the visions that passed through your mind as you lay on your bed:
2:29 As you lay on your bed, O king, your thoughts turned to what would happen after this. He who reveals mysteries made known to you what will happen.
2:30 As for me, this mystery was not revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone else alive, but so that the interpretation might be made known to the king and you might understand the thoughts of your heart.
2:31 You were looking, O king, and there before you was a great statue. This enormous statue, dazzling in splendor, stood before you, and its appearance was terrifying.
2:32 The statue’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze,
2:33 its legs of iron, and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
2:34 As you watched, a stone was cut out without hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.
2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were all crushed together and became like chaff on summer threshing floors. The wind carried them away, and no trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
2:36 This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
2:37 You, O king, are the king of kings. The God of heaven has given you the kingdom, power, might, and glory.
2:38 Wherever people dwell, he has given into your hand human beings, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the heavens, and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.
2:39 After you another kingdom will arise, inferior to yours, and then a third kingdom, of bronze, which will rule over the whole earth.
2:40 A fourth kingdom will be strong as iron. Just as iron crushes and shatters everything, and as iron breaks all these things, it will crush and break them.
2:41 As you saw the feet and toes partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom. Yet it will have some of the firmness of iron, just as you saw iron mixed with clay.
2:42 As the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom will be partly strong and partly brittle.
2:43 As you saw iron mixed with clay, they will mingle through human offspring, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
2:44 In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never be destroyed. Its rule will not be left to another people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will stand forever.
2:45 This is the meaning of the stone you saw cut from the mountain without hands, crushing the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold. The great God has made known to the king what will happen after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is trustworthy.”
2:46 Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell facedown and bowed before Daniel. He ordered that an offering and incense be presented to him.
2:47 The king said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods, Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
2:48 Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts. He made him ruler over the entire province of Babylon and chief of the prefects over all the wise men of Babylon.
2:49 At Daniel’s request, the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon. Daniel remained at the king’s gate.

Chapter 3
3:1 King Nebuchadnezzar made a gold statue about ninety feet high and nine feet wide. He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon.
3:2 Then King Nebuchadnezzar sent for the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials to come to the dedication of the statue he had set up.
3:3 So the satraps, prefects, governors, counselors, treasurers, judges, magistrates, and all the provincial officials gathered for the dedication of the statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up. They stood before the statue Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
3:4 The herald proclaimed loudly, “You are commanded, O peoples, nations, and languages:
3:5 When you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and every kind of music, you must fall down and worship the gold statue that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up.
3:6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.”
3:7 So as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the gold statue King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
3:8 At that time some Chaldeans came forward and maliciously accused the Jews.
3:9 They said to King Nebuchadnezzar, “O king, live forever!
3:10 You, O king, have issued a decree that everyone who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and every kind of music must fall down and worship the gold statue.
3:11 Whoever does not fall down and worship is to be thrown into a blazing furnace.
3:12 There are some Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. These men pay no attention to you, O king. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, ordered Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to be brought in. These men were brought before the king.
3:14 Nebuchadnezzar said to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold statue I have set up?
3:15 Now, if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, harp, psaltery, bagpipe, and every kind of music, fall down and worship the statue I have made. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. And what god can deliver you from my hands?”
3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, “Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to give you an answer in this matter.
3:17 If that is so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the blazing furnace, and he will deliver us from your hand, O king.
3:18 But even if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
3:19 Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times as hot as it was usually heated.
3:20 He commanded mighty warriors from his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and throw them into the blazing furnace.
3:21 So these men were bound in their cloaks, trousers, caps, and other clothing, and thrown into the blazing furnace.
3:22 Because the king’s command was so harsh and the furnace so intensely hot, the flames killed the men who carried Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego up to it.
3:23 And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the blazing furnace.
3:24 Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose in haste. He said to his counselors, “Did we not throw three men bound into the fire?” They answered the king, “Certainly, O king.”
3:25 He said, “Look! I see four men unbound, walking in the fire, and they are unharmed. The fourth looks like a son of the gods.”
3:26 Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the opening of the blazing furnace and said, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out! Come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire.
3:27 The satraps, prefects, governors, and the king’s counselors gathered around and saw that the fire had had no power over these men’s bodies. The hair on their heads was not singed, their cloaks were unchanged, and no smell of fire clung to them.
3:28 Nebuchadnezzar said, “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who sent his angel and delivered his servants who trusted in him! They defied the king’s command and surrendered their bodies rather than serve or worship any god except their own God.
3:29 So I issue this decree: anyone of any people, nation, or language who speaks disrespectfully of the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego will be torn limb from limb, and his house will be turned into a rubbish heap. For no other god can deliver like this.”
3:30 Then the king made Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego prosper in the province of Babylon.

Chapter 4
4:1 King Nebuchadnezzar, to all peoples, nations, and languages dwelling throughout the earth: May peace abound to you!
4:2 I am pleased to tell of the signs and wonders the Most High God has done for me.
4:3 How great are his signs, how mighty his wonders!
   His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion endures from generation to generation.
4:4 I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at ease in my house and flourishing in my palace.
4:5 I had a dream that frightened me. As I lay on my bed, the thoughts and visions in my mind alarmed me.
4:6 So I issued a decree that all the wise men of Babylon should be brought before me to tell me the interpretation of the dream.
4:7 Then the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners came in. I told them the dream, but they did not tell me its interpretation.
4:8 At last Daniel came before me. His name was Belteshazzar, after the name of my god, and the spirit of the holy gods was in him. I told him the dream:
4:9 “Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you and that no mystery is too difficult for you. Tell me the visions of the dream I saw and its interpretation.
4:10 These were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I looked, and there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great.
4:11 The tree grew tall and strong. Its top reached the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of the whole earth.
4:12 Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and there was food on it for all. The beasts of the field found shade beneath it, the birds of the heavens dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures were fed from it.
4:13 As I watched the visions in my mind while lying on my bed, a watcher, a holy one, came down from heaven.
4:14 He called out loudly, ‘Cut down the tree and lop off its branches. Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit. Let the beasts flee from beneath it and the birds from its branches.
4:15 But leave its stump and roots in the ground, bound with iron and bronze, among the grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts in the grass of the earth.
4:16 Let his human mind be changed and the mind of a beast be given to him, and let seven periods of time pass over him.
4:17 This sentence is by decree of the watchers, and this decision by the word of the holy ones, so that the living may know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind. He gives it to whomever he wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men.’
4:18 This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, saw. Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation, for none of the wise men of my kingdom can tell me its interpretation. But you can, for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.”
4:19 Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stunned for a while, and his thoughts alarmed him. The king said, “Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.” Belteshazzar answered, “My lord, may the dream be for those who hate you, and its interpretation for your enemies!
4:20 The tree you saw, which grew tall and strong, whose top reached the heavens and which could be seen throughout the earth,
4:21 whose foliage was beautiful and whose fruit was abundant, which had food for all, beneath which the beasts of the field lived and in whose branches the birds of the heavens nested—
4:22 it is you, O king! You have grown great and strong. Your greatness has grown and reached the heavens, and your dominion reaches the ends of the earth.
4:23 The king saw a watcher, a holy one, coming down from heaven and saying, ‘Cut down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump and roots in the ground, bound with iron and bronze, among the grass of the field. Let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let his portion be with the beasts of the field until seven periods of time pass over him.’
4:24 This is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High that has come upon my lord the king:
4:25 You will be driven away from people, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will be made to eat grass like oxen and be drenched with the dew of heaven. Seven periods of time will pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whomever he wishes.
4:26 The command to leave the tree’s stump and roots means that your kingdom will be kept for you after you recognize that heaven rules.
4:27 Therefore, O king, may my counsel be acceptable to you: break with your sins by practicing righteousness, and with your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps your prosperity may be prolonged.”
4:28 All this came upon King Nebuchadnezzar.
4:29 At the end of twelve months, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace in Babylon.
4:30 The king said, “Is this not great Babylon, which I have built as a royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”
4:31 While the words were still in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven: “It is declared to you, King Nebuchadnezzar: the kingdom has departed from you.
4:32 You will be driven away from people, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will be made to eat grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass over you until you know that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whomever he wishes.”
4:33 Immediately the word was fulfilled against Nebuchadnezzar. He was driven away from people and ate grass like oxen. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair grew like eagles’ feathers and his nails like birds’ claws.
4:34 At the end of those days, I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me. I blessed the Most High and praised and honored him who lives forever,
 for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation.
4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are counted as nothing.
   He does according to his will among the host of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth.
   No one can restrain his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
4:36 At that time my reason returned to me, and my majesty and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom. My counselors and nobles sought me out. I was reestablished in my kingdom, and still greater majesty was added to me.
4:37 Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt, and honor the King of heaven. All his works are true and his ways are just, and he is able to humble those who walk in pride.

Chapter 5
5:1 King Belshazzar held a great feast for a thousand of his nobles, and he drank wine before the thousand.
5:2 As he tasted the wine, Belshazzar ordered the gold and silver vessels that his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem to be brought in, so that the king, his nobles, his wives, and his concubines could drink from them.
5:3 Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken from the temple, the house of God in Jerusalem. The king, his nobles, his wives, and his concubines drank from them.
5:4 They drank wine and praised the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone.
5:5 At that very moment, the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace, opposite the lampstand. The king saw the hand as it wrote.
5:6 Then the king turned pale, and his thoughts terrified him. The joints of his hips went slack, and his knees knocked together.
5:7 The king cried out loudly for the enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners to be brought in. He said to the wise men of Babylon, “Whoever reads this writing and tells me its interpretation will be clothed in purple, with a gold chain around his neck, and will rule as third in the kingdom.”
5:8 Then all the king’s wise men came in, but they could not read the writing or tell the king its interpretation.
5:9 King Belshazzar became greatly alarmed and turned pale, and his nobles were bewildered.
5:10 The queen, hearing the words of the king and his nobles, came into the banquet hall. She said, “O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face grow pale.
5:11 There is a man in your kingdom who has the spirit of the holy gods. In your father’s days, light, understanding, and wisdom like the wisdom of the gods were found in him. King Nebuchadnezzar, your father, appointed him chief of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and diviners—your father, the king.
5:12 For an extraordinary spirit, knowledge, and understanding were found in Daniel, along with the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles, and unravel difficulties. The king named him Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will tell the interpretation.”
5:13 Then Daniel was brought before the king. The king said to Daniel, “Are you Daniel, one of the exiles of Judah whom my father the king brought from Judah?
5:14 I have heard that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light, understanding, and extraordinary wisdom are found in you.
5:15 Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought before me to read this writing and tell me its interpretation, but they could not explain its meaning.
5:16 But I have heard that you can give interpretations and unravel difficulties. Now, if you can read the writing and tell me its interpretation, you will be clothed in purple, with a gold chain around your neck, and will rule as third in the kingdom.”
5:17 Then Daniel answered the king, “Keep your gifts for yourself, and give your rewards to someone else. Nevertheless, I will read the writing to the king and tell him its interpretation.
5:18 O king, the Most High God gave your father Nebuchadnezzar kingship, greatness, glory, and majesty.
5:19 Because of the greatness he gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. He killed whomever he wished and kept alive whomever he wished; he exalted whomever he wished and humbled whomever he wished.
5:20 But when his heart grew proud and his spirit hardened in arrogance, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken away.
5:21 He was driven away from people, and his mind was made like that of the beasts. He lived with the wild donkeys and was fed grass like oxen. His body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he knew that the Most High God rules over the kingdom of mankind and appoints over it whomever he wishes.
5:22 But you, his son Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, though you knew all this.
5:23 Instead, you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven. The vessels of his house were brought before you, and you, your nobles, your wives, and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver, gold, bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know. But you have not honored the God in whose hand is your breath and to whom all your ways belong.
5:24 So the hand was sent from his presence, and this writing was inscribed.
5:25 This is the writing that was inscribed: ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel, and Parsin.’
5:26 This is the interpretation of the matter: Mene—God has numbered your kingdom and brought it to an end.
5:27 Tekel—you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.
5:28 Peres—your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”
5:29 Then Belshazzar gave the order, and Daniel was clothed in purple, a gold chain was placed around his neck, and a proclamation was made that he would rule as third in the kingdom.
5:30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was killed.
5:31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom when he was about sixty-two years old.

Chapter 6
6:1 Darius was pleased to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, stationed throughout the kingdom,
6:2 with three administrators over them, of whom Daniel was one. The satraps were to report to them so that the king would suffer no loss.
6:3 This Daniel distinguished himself above the administrators and satraps because an extraordinary spirit was in him, and the king planned to place him over the whole kingdom.
6:4 Then the administrators and satraps sought grounds for a charge against Daniel in his conduct of the kingdom’s affairs. But they could find no ground for a charge or corruption, because he was faithful. No negligence or corruption was found in him.
6:5 Then these men said, “We will find no ground for a charge against this Daniel unless we find it in connection with the law of his God.”
6:6 So these administrators and satraps came as a group to the king and said to him, “O King Darius, live forever!
6:7 All the kingdom’s administrators, prefects, satraps, counselors, and governors have agreed that the king should establish a royal edict and enforce this prohibition: anyone who makes a petition to any god or man except you, O king, for thirty days is to be thrown into the lions’ den.
6:8 Now, O king, establish the prohibition and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
6:9 So King Darius signed the document and the prohibition.
6:10 When Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went to his house. The windows of his upper room were open toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt, prayed, and gave thanks before his God, just as he had done before.
6:11 Then these men came together and found Daniel making petitions and pleading before his God.
6:12 They approached the king and spoke about the royal prohibition: “Did you not sign a prohibition that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man except you, O king, for thirty days must be thrown into the lions’ den?” The king answered, “The matter stands, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be repealed.”
6:13 Then they said to the king, “Daniel, one of the exiles from Judah, pays no attention to you, O king, or to the prohibition you signed. He makes his petition three times a day.”
6:14 When the king heard this, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel. Until sunset he worked to rescue him.
6:15 Then these men came as a group to the king and said, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no prohibition or edict the king establishes can be changed.”
6:16 Then the king gave the order, and Daniel was brought and thrown into the lions’ den. The king said to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.”
6:17 A stone was brought and placed over the mouth of the den. The king sealed it with his own signet ring and the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing concerning Daniel could be changed.
6:18 Then the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting. No diversions were brought before him, and sleep fled from him.
6:19 At the first light of dawn, the king rose and hurried to the lions’ den.
6:20 As he approached the den, he cried out to Daniel in an anguished voice. The king said to Daniel, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
6:21 Then Daniel said to the king, “O king, live forever!
6:22 My God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not harmed me, because I was found innocent before him. Nor have I done any harm to you, O king.”
6:23 Then the king was overjoyed for him and ordered Daniel to be lifted out of the den. Daniel was lifted out of the den, and no injury was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.
6:24 The king gave the order, and the men who had maliciously accused Daniel were brought in and thrown into the lions’ den, along with their children and wives. Before they reached the bottom of the den, the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones.
6:25 Then King Darius wrote to all peoples, nations, and languages dwelling throughout the earth: “May peace abound to you!
6:26 I issue this decree: throughout the dominion of my kingdom, people must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel.
 For he is the living God, and he endures forever.
   His kingdom will never be destroyed, and his dominion will last to the end.
6:27 He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth.
   He has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.”
6:28 So this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and during the reign of Cyrus the Persian.

Chapter 7
7:1 In the first year of King Belshazzar of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream and related the substance of the matter.
7:2 Daniel said, “I was watching in my vision at night, and the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.
7:3 Four great beasts came up out of the sea, each different from the others.
7:4 The first was like a lion and had eagles’ wings. As I watched, its wings were plucked off. It was lifted from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man, and a human mind was given to it.
7:5 Then there was another beast, a second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side and had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth. It was told, ‘Rise and devour much flesh!’
7:6 After this I watched, and there was another, like a leopard, with four wings of a bird on its back. The beast had four heads, and dominion was given to it.
7:7 After this I watched in the night visions, and there was a fourth beast, terrifying, dreadful, and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth. It devoured and crushed, and trampled what remained with its feet. It was different from all the beasts before it, and it had ten horns.
7:8 As I considered the horns, another horn, a little one, rose among them, and three of the former horns were uprooted before it. This horn had eyes like human eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant words.
7:9 I watched until thrones were set in place and the Ancient of Days took his seat.
   His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool.
   His throne was flames of fire, and its wheels were burning fire.
7:10 A river of fire flowed and came out from before him.
   A thousand thousands served him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him.
   The court sat, and the books were opened.
7:11 Then I watched because of the sound of the arrogant words the horn was speaking. I kept watching until the beast was killed, its body destroyed and given over to the burning fire.
7:12 As for the other beasts, their dominion was taken away, but their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.
7:13 I watched in the night visions, and there with the clouds of heaven came one like a son of man.
   He approached the Ancient of Days and was brought before him.
7:14 He was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, so that all peoples, nations, and languages would serve him.
   His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom will never be destroyed.
7:15 As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within my body, and the visions in my mind alarmed me.
7:16 I approached one of those standing there and asked him the truth about all this. He spoke to me and made known to me the interpretation of these things:
7:17 ‘These four great beasts are four kings who will arise from the earth.
7:18 But the holy ones of the Most High will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever, forever and ever.’
7:19 Then I wanted to know the truth about the fourth beast, which was different from all the others and exceedingly terrifying. Its teeth were iron and its claws bronze. It devoured and crushed, and trampled what remained with its feet.
7:20 I also wanted to know about the ten horns on its head and the other horn that rose, before which three fell. That horn had eyes and a mouth speaking arrogant words, and it looked greater than its companions.
7:21 As I watched, that horn waged war against the holy ones and prevailed over them,
7:22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given in favor of the holy ones of the Most High. Then the time came for the holy ones to possess the kingdom.
7:23 He said, ‘The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on earth, different from all the other kingdoms. It will devour the whole earth, trample it, and crush it.
7:24 The ten horns are ten kings who will arise from that kingdom. Another will arise after them, different from the former kings, and he will subdue three kings.
7:25 He will speak against the Most High and wear down the holy ones of the Most High. He will intend to change times and law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.
7:26 But the court will sit, and his dominion will be taken away, to be annihilated and destroyed completely.
7:27 Then the kingdom, dominion, and greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions will serve and obey him.’
7:28 Here the matter ends. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts greatly alarmed me, and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter in my heart.”

Chapter 8
8:1 In the third year of King Belshazzar’s reign, a vision appeared to me, Daniel, after the one that had appeared to me before.
8:2 I looked in the vision, and as I looked, I was in the citadel of Susa, in the province of Elam. In the vision I saw that I was beside the Ulai Canal.
8:3 I lifted my eyes and saw a ram standing before the canal. It had two high horns, but one was higher than the other, and the higher one came up last.
8:4 I saw the ram charging westward, northward, and southward. No beast could stand before it, and no one could deliver from its power. It did as it pleased and grew great.
8:5 As I considered this, a male goat came from the west across the whole earth without touching the ground. The goat had a prominent horn between its eyes.
8:6 It came toward the two-horned ram I had seen standing before the canal and charged at it with furious strength.
8:7 I saw it draw close to the ram, enraged against it. It struck the ram and broke its two horns. The ram had no strength to stand before it. The goat hurled it to the ground and trampled it, and no one could deliver the ram from its power.
8:8 The male goat grew exceedingly great, but at the height of its strength the great horn was broken. Four prominent horns rose in its place toward the four winds of heaven.
8:9 Out of one of them came a horn, small at first, which grew exceedingly great toward the south, the east, and the Beautiful Land.
8:10 It grew as high as the host of heaven and cast some of the host and some of the stars to the ground and trampled them.
8:11 It exalted itself even against the Prince of the host. The regular offering was taken away from him, and the place of his sanctuary was thrown down.
8:12 Because of rebellion, a host will be handed over along with the regular offering. It will cast truth to the ground and act and prosper.
8:13 Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one who was speaking, “How long will the vision last concerning the regular offering, the rebellion that causes desolation, and the handing over of the sanctuary and the host to be trampled?”
8:14 He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the sanctuary will be restored to its rightful state.”
8:15 When I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking to understand it, there before me stood someone with the appearance of a man.
8:16 I heard a human voice from between the banks of the Ulai, calling, “Gabriel, make this man understand the vision.”
8:17 He came near where I stood. As he approached, I was terrified and fell facedown. He said to me, “Understand, son of man, that the vision concerns the time of the end.”
8:18 As he spoke with me, I fell into a deep sleep, facedown on the ground. But he touched me and set me on my feet.
8:19 He said, “I will make known to you what will happen in the latter part of the indignation, for it concerns the appointed time of the end.
8:20 The ram you saw with the two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia.
8:21 The shaggy male goat is the king of Greece, and the great horn between its eyes is the first king.
8:22 The horn that was broken and the four that arose in its place mean that four kingdoms will arise from that nation, but without his strength.
8:23 In the latter part of their reign, when the rebels have reached their full measure, a fierce-faced king, skilled in riddles, will arise.
8:24 His power will become great, but not by his own power. He will cause astonishing destruction, and he will prosper and act. He will destroy the mighty and the people of the holy ones.
8:25 Through his cunning he will make deceit prosper in his hand, and in his heart he will exalt himself. He will destroy many while they are at ease. He will rise against the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human hand.
8:26 The vision of the evenings and mornings that has been told is true. But you must keep the vision secret, for it concerns many days to come.”
8:27 I, Daniel, was exhausted and ill for days. Then I rose and attended to the king’s business. I was appalled by the vision, and no one understood it.

Chapter 9
9:1 In the first year of Darius son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who had been made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans,
9:2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the books the number of years that, according to the word of the LORD to Jeremiah the prophet, must pass over the desolations of Jerusalem: seventy years.
9:3 So I turned my face toward the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and pleas for mercy, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes.
9:4 I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
9:5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, turning away from your commandments and your judgments.
9:6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
9:7 Righteousness belongs to you, O Lord, but shame of face belongs to us, as it does this day—to the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the lands where you have driven them because of their unfaithfulness to you.
9:8 O LORD, shame of face belongs to us, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against you.
9:9 To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against him.
9:10 We have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.
9:11 All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. So the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him.
9:12 He has fulfilled the words he spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, bringing great calamity upon us. Nothing under the whole heaven has been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.
9:13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us. Yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving heed to your truth.
9:14 The LORD watched over this calamity and brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice.
9:15 Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made a name for yourself that endures to this day, we have sinned; we have acted wickedly.
9:16 O Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, please turn your anger and wrath away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain. Because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all those around us.
9:17 Now, our God, hear the prayer of your servant and his pleas for mercy. For the Lord’s sake, let your face shine upon your desolate sanctuary.
9:18 Incline your ear, my God, and hear; open your eyes and see our desolations and the city that bears your name. For we present our pleas before you not because of our righteous deeds, but because of your great mercies.
9:19 O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay, for your own sake, my God, for your city and your people bear your name.”
9:20 While I was still speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my plea before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God,
9:21 while I was still speaking in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, reached me in utter weariness at about the time of the evening offering.
9:22 He instructed me and spoke with me, saying, “Daniel, I have now come out to give you insight and understanding.
9:23 At the beginning of your pleas a word went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved. So consider the word and understand the vision.
9:24 Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city: to restrain transgression, to seal up sins, to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
9:25 Know and understand: from the going out of the word to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince, there will be seven weeks. For sixty-two weeks it will be rebuilt, with a square and a moat, but in troubled times.
9:26 After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of a prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end will come with a flood, and until the end there will be war; desolations have been decreed.
9:27 He will make a firm covenant with many for one week, and for half the week he will put an end to sacrifice and grain offering. On a wing of abominations there will be a desolator, until the complete destruction that has been decreed is poured out on the desolator.”

Chapter 10
10:1 In the third year of King Cyrus of Persia, a word was revealed to Daniel, who was called Belteshazzar. The word was true and concerned a great conflict. He understood the word and had understanding of the vision.
10:2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks.
10:3 I ate no delicacies; neither meat nor wine entered my mouth, and I did not anoint myself with oil until the three full weeks were over.
10:4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, I was on the bank of the great river, the Tigris.
10:5 I lifted my eyes and saw a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist.
10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, and his eyes like flaming torches. His arms and feet gleamed like polished bronze, and the sound of his words was like the roar of a multitude.
10:7 I, Daniel, alone saw the vision. The men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great terror fell upon them, and they fled to hide.
10:8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision. No strength remained in me; my appearance was ravaged, and I retained no strength.
10:9 Then I heard the sound of his words. As I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep, facedown, with my face to the ground.
10:10 Then a hand touched me and brought me trembling onto my knees and the palms of my hands.
10:11 He said to me, “Daniel, greatly beloved man, understand the words I am speaking to you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.” As he spoke these words to me, I stood trembling.
10:12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come because of your words.
10:13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia stood against me for twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there beside the kings of Persia.
10:14 I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision concerns days yet to come.”
10:15 As he spoke these words to me, I turned my face toward the ground and was speechless.
10:16 Then one in human likeness touched my lips. I opened my mouth and spoke, saying to the one standing before me, “My lord, because of the vision pains have come upon me, and I have retained no strength.
10:17 How can this servant of my lord speak with my lord? Now no strength remains in me, and no breath is left in me.”
10:18 Again one with the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me.
10:19 He said, “Do not fear, greatly beloved man. Peace be to you! Be strong; be strong!” As he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”
10:20 Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia. When I go out, the prince of Greece will come.
10:21 But I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth. No one supports me against these except Michael, your prince.”

Chapter 11
11:1 “As for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede, I stood to support and protect him.
11:2 Now I will tell you the truth. Three more kings will arise in Persia, and a fourth will be far richer than all of them. When he has grown strong through his riches, he will stir up everyone against the kingdom of Greece.
11:3 Then a mighty king will arise, rule with great dominion, and do as he pleases.
11:4 But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken and divided toward the four winds of heaven. It will not pass to his descendants or retain the dominion with which he ruled, for his kingdom will be uprooted and given to others besides these.
11:5 The king of the south will grow strong, but one of his princes will grow stronger than he and will rule with a great dominion.
11:6 After some years they will form an alliance. The daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to make an agreement. But she will not retain the strength of her arm, and neither he nor his arm will endure. She will be handed over, along with those who brought her, her father, and the one who supported her in those times.
11:7 A shoot from her roots will arise in his place. He will advance against the army and enter the fortress of the king of the north. He will act against them and prevail.
11:8 He will also carry their gods, their cast images, and their precious vessels of silver and gold captive to Egypt. For some years he will refrain from attacking the king of the north.
11:9 Then he will enter the kingdom of the king of the south, but return to his own land.
11:10 His sons will prepare for war and gather a multitude of great forces. One will advance, sweeping through like a flood. He will return and wage war as far as his fortress.
11:11 The king of the south will become enraged and march out to fight the king of the north. The king of the north will raise a great multitude, but the multitude will be given into his opponent’s hand.
11:12 When the multitude is carried away, his heart will grow proud. He will strike down tens of thousands, but he will not prevail.
11:13 The king of the north will again raise a multitude greater than the first. After a period of years, he will surely come with a great army and abundant resources.
11:14 In those times many will rise against the king of the south. The violent among your own people will also rise to fulfill the vision, but they will stumble.
11:15 The king of the north will come, build a siege ramp, and capture a fortified city. The forces of the south will not stand, not even his chosen troops; they will have no strength to stand.
11:16 The one who comes against him will do as he pleases, and no one will stand before him. He will stand in the Beautiful Land, with destruction in his hand.
11:17 He will set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, bringing terms of agreement that he will carry out. He will give him a daughter to bring it to ruin, but she will not stand with him or be for him.
11:18 Then he will turn his face toward the coastlands and capture many. But a commander will put an end to his insolence and turn that insolence back upon him.
11:19 Then he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.
11:20 In his place will arise one who sends a collector of tribute through the splendor of the kingdom. Within a few days he will be broken, but neither in anger nor in battle.
11:21 In his place will arise a contemptible man to whom royal majesty has not been given. He will come in a time of security and seize the kingdom through intrigue.
11:22 Overwhelming forces will be swept away before him and broken, along with the prince of the covenant.
11:23 From the time an alliance is made with him, he will act deceitfully. He will rise and become strong with only a few people.
11:24 In a time of security he will enter the richest parts of the province and do what neither his fathers nor his fathers’ fathers did. He will scatter plunder, spoil, and possessions among them. He will devise his plans against fortresses, but only for a time.
11:25 He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the south with a great army. The king of the south will prepare for war with a great and exceedingly powerful army, but he will not stand, because plots will be devised against him.
11:26 Those who eat his choice food will break him. His army will surge like a flood, and many will fall slain.
11:27 The hearts of both kings will be set on evil, and they will speak lies at the same table. But it will not succeed, for the end still awaits the appointed time.
11:28 He will return to his land with great riches, and his heart will be set against the holy covenant. He will act, then return to his land.
11:29 At the appointed time he will return and enter the south, but the latter time will not be like the former.
11:30 For ships of Kittim will come against him, and he will lose heart and turn back. He will rage against the holy covenant and act. He will return and give attention to those who forsake the holy covenant.
11:31 Forces from him will arise, profane the sanctuary, the fortress, remove the regular offering, and set up the abomination that causes desolation.
11:32 He will corrupt those who violate the covenant through flattery. But the people who know their God will stand strong and act.
11:33 The wise among the people will give understanding to many, but for a time they will fall by sword and flame, captivity and plunder.
11:34 When they fall, they will receive a little help, but many will join them through flattery.
11:35 Some of the wise will fall, to refine, purify, and make them white until the time of the end, for it still awaits the appointed time.
11:36 The king will do as he pleases. He will exalt and magnify himself above every god and speak astonishing things against the God of gods. He will prosper until the indignation is complete, for what has been decreed will be done.
11:37 He will pay no regard to the gods of his fathers or to the desire of women. He will regard no god, for he will magnify himself above all.
11:38 Instead, he will honor the god of fortresses. A god his fathers did not know he will honor with gold, silver, precious stones, and costly gifts.
11:39 He will act against the strongest fortresses with a foreign god. Those he acknowledges he will shower with honor, making them rulers over many and distributing land for a price.
11:40 At the time of the end, the king of the south will charge against him, and the king of the north will storm against him with chariots, horsemen, and many ships. He will enter the lands, sweeping through like a flood.
11:41 He will enter the Beautiful Land, and many lands will fall. But these will escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the principal part of the Ammonites.
11:42 He will stretch out his hand against the lands, and the land of Egypt will not escape.
11:43 He will rule over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and all the precious things of Egypt. The Libyans and Cushites will follow in his steps.
11:44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him. He will go out in great fury to destroy and annihilate many.
11:45 He will pitch his palatial tents between the seas and the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.”

Chapter 12
12:1 “At that time Michael will arise, the great prince who stands over the people of your nation. There will be a time of distress unlike any since a nation first existed until that time. But at that time your people will be delivered—everyone found written in the book.
12:2 Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
12:3 The wise will shine like the brightness of the expanse, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.
12:4 But you, Daniel, close up the words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will run to and fro, and knowledge will increase.”
12:5 Then I, Daniel, looked, and there were two others standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river.
12:6 One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, “How long until the end of these wonders?”
12:7 I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, as he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever: “It will be for a time, times, and half a time. When the shattering of the power of the holy people is complete, all these things will be finished.”
12:8 I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, “My lord, what will be the outcome of these things?”
12:9 He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end.
12:10 Many will be purified, made white, and refined. The wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but the wise will understand.
12:11 From the time the regular offering is removed and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days.
12:12 Blessed is the one who waits and reaches the 1,335 days.
12:13 But you, go your way to the end. You will rest, and you will rise to your allotted portion at the end of the days.”

HOSEA

Chapter 1
1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Hosea son of Beeri in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam son of Joash, king of Israel.
1:2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to him, “Go, take for yourself a promiscuous wife and children born of promiscuity, for the land commits flagrant prostitution, forsaking the LORD.”
1:3 So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim. She conceived and bore him a son.
1:4 The LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
1:5 On that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.”
1:6 She conceived again and bore a daughter. The LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer show compassion to the house of Israel or forgive them at all.
1:7 But I will show compassion to the house of Judah and save them by the LORD their God. I will not save them by bow or sword or warfare, by horses or horsemen.”
1:8 After she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and bore a son.
1:9 He said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not my people, and I will not be yours.”

1:10 Yet the number of the people of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted.
   In the place where they were told, “You are not my people,” they will be called “children of the living God.”
1:11 The people of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together.
   They will appoint one head over themselves and come up from the land, for great will be the day of Jezreel.

Chapter 2
2:1 Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”
2:2 “Contend with your mother, contend, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband.
   Let her remove her prostitution from her face and her adultery from between her breasts,
2:3 lest I strip her naked and leave her as on the day she was born, make her like a wilderness, turn her into a parched land, and kill her with thirst.
2:4 I will have no compassion on her children, for they are children born of promiscuity.
2:5 For their mother has prostituted herself;
   she who conceived them has acted shamefully.
   She said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and water, my wool and flax, my oil and drink.’
2:6 Therefore I will hedge up your way with thorns.
   I will wall her in, so that she cannot find her paths.
2:7 She will pursue her lovers but not overtake them;
   she will seek them but not find them.
   Then she will say, ‘I will go back to my first husband, for I was better off then than now.’
2:8 She did not know that it was I who gave her the grain, new wine, and oil, who lavished silver on her, and gold that they used for Baal.
2:9 Therefore I will take back my grain in its time and my new wine in its season.
   I will reclaim my wool and flax that were to cover her nakedness.
2:10 Now I will expose her shame before the eyes of her lovers, and no one will deliver her from my hand.
2:11 I will put an end to all her rejoicing, her festivals, new moons, Sabbaths, and all her appointed feasts.
2:12 I will lay waste her vines and fig trees, of which she said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me.’ I will make them a thicket, and the beasts of the field will devour them.
2:13 I will punish her for the days of the Baals, when she burned incense to them, adorned herself with her ring and jewelry, and went after her lovers, forgetting me, declares the LORD.

2:14 Therefore I will allure her, lead her into the wilderness, and speak to her heart.
2:15 From there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
   There she will respond as in the days of her youth, as on the day she came up from the land of Egypt.

2:16 On that day, declares the LORD, you will call me ‘My husband,’ and you will no longer call me ‘My Baal.’
2:17 I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they will no longer be remembered by name.
2:18 On that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creatures that move along the ground.
   I will break bow and sword and end warfare in the land, and make them lie down in safety.
2:19 I will betroth you to myself forever.
   I will betroth you to myself in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and compassion.
2:20 I will betroth you to myself in faithfulness, and you will know the LORD.

2:21 On that day I will answer, declares the LORD.
   I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth.
2:22 The earth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and they will answer Jezreel.
2:23 I will sow her for myself in the land.
   I will have compassion on Lo-ruhamah, and I will say to Lo-ammi, ‘You are my people,’ and he will say, ‘My God.’”

Chapter 3
3:1 The LORD said to me again, “Go, love a woman who is loved by a companion but commits adultery, as the LORD loves the people of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”
3:2 So I bought her for myself for about six ounces of silver, about five bushels of barley, and about two and a half bushels of barley.
3:3 I said to her, “You must stay with me for many days. You must not prostitute yourself or belong to any man, and I will be the same toward you.”
3:4 For the people of Israel will remain many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or household gods.
3:5 Afterward 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.

Chapter 4
4:1 Hear the word of the LORD, people of Israel, for the LORD has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: there is no faithfulness, no steadfast love, and no knowledge of God in the land.
4:2 “Swearing, lying, murder, theft, and adultery break all bounds;
   bloodshed follows bloodshed.
4:3 Therefore the land mourns, and everyone dwelling in it wastes away, along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens.
   Even the fish of the sea are taken away.
4:4 Yet let no one contend, and let no one accuse another, for your people are like those who contend with a priest.
4:5 You will stumble by day, and the prophet will also stumble with you by night.
   I will destroy your mother.
4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.
   Because you have rejected knowledge, I will reject you from serving as priest to me.
   Because you have forgotten the law of your God, I too will forget your children.
4:7 The more they increased, the more they sinned against me.
   I will exchange their glory for shame.
4:8 They feed on the sin of my people, and each sets his desire on their iniquity.
4:9 It will be the same for priest as for people.
   I will punish him for his ways and repay him for his deeds.
4:10 They will eat but not be satisfied;
   they will prostitute themselves but not increase, because they have ceased to heed the LORD.
4:11 Prostitution, wine, and new wine take away understanding.
4:12 My people consult their wood, and their staff gives them answers.
   For a spirit of promiscuity has led them astray, and they have prostituted themselves, turning away from their God.
4:13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn incense on the hills, under oaks, poplars, and terebinths, because their shade is good.
   Therefore your daughters prostitute themselves, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.
4:14 I will not punish your daughters when they prostitute themselves or your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, for the men themselves go aside with prostitutes and sacrifice with cult prostitutes.
   A people without understanding will come to ruin.
4:15 Though you prostitute yourself, Israel, let Judah not become guilty.
   Do not go to Gilgal or go up to Beth-aven, and do not swear, ‘As the LORD lives.’
4:16 For Israel is stubborn, like a stubborn heifer.
   Can the LORD now pasture them like a lamb in a broad meadow?
4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols;
   leave him alone.
4:18 When their drinking is over, they give themselves wholly to prostitution;
   her rulers dearly love dishonor.
4:19 The wind has wrapped her in its wings, and they will be put to shame because of their sacrifices.”

Chapter 5
5:1 “Hear this, O priests!
   Pay attention, house of Israel!
   Listen, royal house, for judgment is against you.
   You have been a snare at Mizpah and a net spread over Tabor.
5:2 The rebels have sunk deep into slaughter, but I will discipline them all.
5:3 I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me.
   Now you have prostituted yourself, Ephraim;
   Israel is defiled.
5:4 Their deeds do not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of promiscuity is within them, and they do not know the LORD.
5:5 Israel’s pride testifies against him.
   Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity, and Judah has also stumbled with them.
5:6 With their flocks and herds they will go to seek the LORD, but they will not find him.
   He has withdrawn from them.
5:7 They have dealt faithlessly with the LORD, for they have borne alien children.
   Now the new moon will devour them along with their portions.

5:8 Blow the horn in Gibeah and the trumpet in Ramah.
   Sound the alarm in Beth-aven: ‘Behind you, Benjamin!’
5:9 Ephraim will become a desolation on the day of rebuke.
   Among the tribes of Israel I have made known what is certain.
5:10 The princes of Judah have become like those who move boundary markers.
   I will pour out my wrath upon them like water.
5:11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed by judgment, because he was determined to follow a command.
5:12 I am like a moth to Ephraim and like decay to the house of Judah.
5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb.
   But he cannot heal you or cure your wound.
5:14 For I am like a lion to Ephraim and like a young lion to the house of Judah.
   I, I will tear and go away.
   I will carry off, and no one will rescue.
5:15 I will go back to my place until they bear their guilt and seek my face.
   In their distress they will seek me earnestly.”

Chapter 6
6:1 “Come, let us return to the LORD.
   For he has torn us, but he will heal us;
   he has struck us, but he will bind us up.
6:2 After two days he will revive us;
   on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him.
6:3 Let us know;
   let us press on to know the LORD.
   His coming forth is as certain as the dawn.
   He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.”
6:4 “What shall I do with you, Ephraim?
   What shall I do with you, Judah?
   Your steadfast love is like a morning cloud, like the dew that vanishes early.
6:5 Therefore I have cut them down through the prophets;
   I have killed them with the words of my mouth.
   Judgments against you go forth like light.
6:6 For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings.
6:7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;
   there they dealt faithlessly with me.
6:8 Gilead is a city of evildoers, marked with bloody footprints.
6:9 As bands of robbers lie in wait for a man, so a band of priests murders on the road to Shechem.
   Surely they have committed outrage.
6:10 In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing: Ephraim’s prostitution is there;
   Israel is defiled.
6:11 For you also, Judah, a harvest has been appointed, when I restore the fortunes of my people.”

Chapter 7
7:1 “When I would heal Israel, Ephraim’s iniquity and Samaria’s evil deeds are exposed.
   For they practice deceit: a thief breaks in, and a band of robbers raids outside.
7:2 They do not consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness.
   Now their deeds surround them;
   they are before my face.
7:3 With their wickedness they make the king glad, and with their lies the princes.
7:4 They are all adulterers, like an oven heated by a baker, who stops stirring the fire from the kneading of the dough until it has risen.
7:5 On the day of our king, the princes became sick with the heat of wine.
   He stretched out his hand with scoffers.
7:6 They have made their heart ready like an oven while they lie in wait.
   Their baker sleeps all night;
   in the morning it burns like a blazing fire.
7:7 They are all hot as an oven, and they devour their judges.
   All their kings have fallen;
   not one of them calls on me.
7:8 Ephraim mixes himself among the peoples;
   Ephraim is a cake that has not been turned.
7:9 Foreigners have devoured his strength, but he does not know it.
   Gray hairs are sprinkled upon him, but he does not know it.
7:10 Israel’s pride testifies against him, yet they have not returned to the LORD their God or sought him in all this.
7:11 Ephraim has become like a gullible dove, without understanding.
   They call to Egypt;
   they go to Assyria.
7:12 As they go, I will spread my net over them and bring them down like the birds of the heavens.
   I will discipline them according to what their congregation has heard.

7:13 Woe to them, for they have strayed from me!
   Destruction upon them, for they have rebelled against me!
   I would redeem them, but they have spoken lies against me.
7:14 They have not cried to me from their hearts, but they wail on their beds.
   They gather for grain and new wine, and turn away from me.
7:15 I trained and strengthened their arms, but they plot evil against me.
7:16 They turn, but not upward.
   They are like a faulty bow.
   Their princes will fall by the sword because of the insolence of their tongues.
   For this they will be mocked in the land of Egypt.”

Chapter 8
8:1 “Put the horn to your lips!
   Like an eagle against the house of the LORD!
   For they have transgressed my covenant and rebelled against my law.
8:2 Israel cries to me, ‘My God, we know you!’
8:3 Israel has rejected what is good;
   an enemy will pursue him.
8:4 They have appointed kings, but not from me;
   they have made princes, but without my knowledge.
   With their silver and gold they have made idols for themselves, for their own destruction.
8:5 He has rejected your calf, Samaria!
   My anger burns against them.
   How long will they be incapable of innocence?
8:6 For this too comes from Israel: a craftsman made it, and it is not God.
   The calf of Samaria will be shattered to pieces.
8:7 For they sow the wind and will reap the whirlwind.
   He has no standing grain;
   the shoot will produce no flour.
   Even if it does, foreigners will swallow it up.
8:8 Israel has been swallowed up.
   Now they are among the nations like a vessel no one wants.
8:9 For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey alone by itself.
   Ephraim has hired lovers.
8:10 Though they hire among the nations, now I will gather them, and they will begin to dwindle under the burden of the king of princes.
8:11 For Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning;
   they have become altars for sinning to him.
8:12 I write for him the many teachings of my law, but they are regarded as something foreign.
8:13 As for the sacrifices they present to me, they slaughter meat and eat it, but the LORD does not accept them.
   Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.
   They will return to Egypt.
8:14 Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;
   Judah has multiplied fortified cities.
   But I will send fire upon his cities, and it will devour her palaces.”

Chapter 9
9:1 Do not rejoice, Israel, with exultation like the peoples, for you have prostituted yourself, turning away from your God.
   You have loved a prostitute’s wages on every grain threshing floor.
9:2 Threshing floor and winepress will not feed them, and the new wine will fail her.
9:3 They will not remain in the LORD’s land.
   Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
9:4 They will not pour out wine offerings to the LORD, nor will their sacrifices please him.
   They will be like mourners’ bread to them;
   all who eat it will be defiled.
   Their bread will be only for their own appetite;
   it will not come into the house of the LORD.
9:5 What will you do on the day of the appointed feast, on the day of the LORD’s festival?
9:6 For they have gone away from devastation.
   Egypt will gather them;
   Memphis will bury them.
   Nettles will take possession of their precious things of silver, and thorns will grow in their tents.
9:7 The days of punishment have come;
   the days of retribution have come.
   Israel will know it.
   “The prophet is a fool;
   the man of the spirit is mad!”—because your iniquity is great, and hostility abounds.
9:8 The prophet is Ephraim’s watchman with my God.
   Yet a fowler’s snare lies on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.
9:9 They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah.
   He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.

9:10 “Like grapes in the wilderness I found Israel;
   like the first ripe fruit on a fig tree in its first season I saw your fathers.
   But they went to Baal-peor and consecrated themselves to shame.
   They became detestable like the thing they loved.
9:11 As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
9:12 Even if they rear their children, I will bereave them until no one remains.
   Woe to them also when I depart from them!
9:13 Ephraim, as I have seen him, is like Tyre, planted in a meadow.
   But Ephraim must bring out his children to the slayer.”
9:14 Give them, O LORD—what will you give?
   Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
9:15 “All their wickedness is in Gilgal;
   there I hated them.
   Because of the evil of their deeds, I will drive them out of my house.
   I will love them no more;
   all their princes are rebels.
9:16 Ephraim is stricken;
   their root is dried up.
   They will bear no fruit.
   Even if they give birth, I will put to death the beloved offspring of their womb.”

9:17 My God will reject them because they have not listened to him, and they will be wanderers among the nations.

Chapter 10
10:1 Israel was a luxuriant vine that bore fruit for himself.
   The more his fruit increased, the more he multiplied altars;
   the more his land prospered, the more splendid they made their sacred pillars.
10:2 Their heart is false;
   now they must bear their guilt.
   He will break down their altars and destroy their sacred pillars.
10:3 Now they will say, “We have no king because we have not feared the LORD.
   And a king—what could he do for us?”
10:4 They speak words, swear falsely, and make covenants.
   Judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.
10:5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble for the heifer calves of Beth-aven.
   Its people mourn for it, as do its idolatrous priests who rejoiced over it, because its glory has departed from it.
10:6 It too will be carried to Assyria as tribute to King Jareb.
   Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his counsel.
10:7 Samaria’s king will be swept away like a splinter on the surface of the water.
10:8 The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed.
   Thorns and thistles will grow upon their altars.
   They will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
   and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

10:9 “Since the days of Gibeah you have sinned, Israel.
   There they have remained.
   Will not war against the children of iniquity overtake them in Gibeah?
10:10 When I desire, I will discipline them.
   Peoples will gather against them when they are bound for their two iniquities.
10:11 Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh.
   I spared her fair neck;
   now I will harness Ephraim.
   Judah will plow, and Jacob will harrow for him.
10:12 Sow for yourselves in righteousness;
   reap in accordance with steadfast love.
   Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness upon you.
10:13 You have plowed wickedness and reaped injustice;
   you have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your warriors.
10:14 So the tumult of war will rise among your people, and all your fortresses will be devastated, as Shalman devastated Beth-arbel on the day of battle, when a mother was dashed in pieces upon her children.
10:15 Thus Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness.
   At dawn the king of Israel will be utterly cut off.”

Chapter 11
11:1 “When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
11:2 The more they called them, the more they went away from them.
   They sacrificed to the Baals and burned incense to carved images.
11:3 Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk, taking them by their arms, but they did not know that I healed them.
11:4 With human cords I drew them, with bands of love.
   I was to them like those who lift the yoke off their jaws, and I gently fed him.
11:5 He will not return to the land of Egypt, but Assyria will be his king, because they refused to return.
11:6 The sword will whirl through his cities, consume his bars, and devour because of their plans.
11:7 My people are bent on turning away from me.
   Though they call them to the Most High, no one exalts him.
11:8 How can I give you up, Ephraim?
   How can I surrender you, Israel?
   How can I make you like Admah or treat you like Zeboiim?
   My heart turns within me;
   all my compassion is stirred.
11:9 I will not carry out my fierce anger;
   I will not again destroy Ephraim.
   For I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not enter the city.
11:10 They will follow the LORD;
   he will roar like a lion.
   When he roars, his children will come trembling from the west.
11:11 They will come trembling like a bird from Egypt, like a dove from the land of Assyria.
   I will settle them in their homes, declares the LORD.

11:12 Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit.
   Judah is still unruly toward God, toward the faithful Holy One.”

Chapter 12
12:1 Ephraim feeds on wind and pursues the east wind.
   All day he multiplies lies and violence.
   They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried to Egypt.
12:2 The LORD has a charge against Judah.
   He will punish Jacob according to his ways and repay him according to his deeds.
12:3 In the womb he grasped his brother by the heel, and in his strength he wrestled with God.
12:4 He wrestled with the angel and prevailed;
   he wept and pleaded with him.
   He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us—
12:5 the LORD, the God of hosts;
   the LORD is his memorial name.
12:6 So you, return to your God.
   Keep steadfast love and justice, and wait continually for your God.
12:7 A merchant holds dishonest scales in his hand;
   he loves to oppress.
12:8 Ephraim says, “Surely I have grown rich;
   I have acquired wealth for myself.
   In all my labors they will find no guilt in me that is sin.”
12:9 “But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt.
   I will again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the appointed feast.
12:10 I spoke to the prophets and multiplied visions.
   Through the prophets I used comparisons.”
12:11 If there is iniquity in Gilead, they are surely worthless.
   In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls;
   their altars are like heaps of stones in the furrows of the field.
12:12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram.
   Israel served for a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks.
12:13 Through a prophet the LORD brought Israel up from Egypt, and through a prophet he was guarded.
12:14 Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger.
   His Lord will leave his bloodguilt upon him and repay him for his reproach.

Chapter 13
13:1 When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling;
   he was exalted in Israel.
   But he became guilty through Baal and died.
13:2 Now they sin more and more.
   They make cast images for themselves from their silver, idols shaped by their own skill, all of them the work of craftsmen.
   Of these they say, “Let those who offer sacrifices kiss the calves.”
13:3 So they will be like a morning cloud, like dew that vanishes early, like chaff whirled from a threshing floor, and like smoke escaping through a lattice.
13:4 “But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt.
   You shall know no god but me, and there is no savior besides me.
13:5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of burning drought.
13:6 When they fed, they were satisfied;
   they were satisfied, and their heart grew proud.
   That is why they forgot me.
13:7 So I have become like a lion to them;
   like a leopard I will watch by the road.
13:8 I will meet them like a bear robbed of her cubs and tear open their chests.
   There I will devour them like a lion;
   a wild beast will tear them apart.
13:9 Your destruction, Israel, is that you are against me, against your helper.
13:10 Where now is your king, that he may save you in all your cities?
   Where are your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes’?
13:11 I give you a king in my anger and take him away in my wrath.

13:12 Ephraim’s iniquity is bound up;
   his sin is stored away.
13:13 The pains of childbirth come upon him, but he is an unwise son.
   When the time comes, he does not present himself at the opening of the womb.
13:14 Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?
   Shall I redeem them from death?
   Where are your plagues, Death?
   Where is your destruction, Sheol?
   Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
13:15 Though he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come, the wind of the LORD rising from the wilderness.
   His spring will dry up, and his fountain will run dry.
   He will plunder the treasury of every precious object.
13:16 Samaria will bear her guilt, because she has rebelled against her God.
   They will fall by the sword;
   their infants will be dashed to pieces, and their pregnant women ripped open.”

Chapter 14
14:1 Return, Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
14:2 Take words with you and return to the LORD.
   Say to him, “Take away all iniquity and accept what is good, and we will offer our lips in place of bulls.
14:3 Assyria will not save us;
   we will not ride on horses.
   We will no longer say, ‘Our God,’ to the work of our hands, for in you the orphan finds mercy.”
14:4 “I will heal their faithlessness;
   I will love them freely, for my anger has turned away from him.
14:5 I will be like dew to Israel.
   He will blossom like a lily and strike roots like Lebanon.
14:6 His shoots will spread;
   his splendor will be like an olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.
14:7 Those who dwell in his shade will return.
   They will grow grain again and blossom like a vine;
   his renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.

14:8 Ephraim, what have I to do anymore with idols?
   I answer him and watch over him.
   I am like a flourishing cypress;
   your fruit comes from me.”
14:9 Who is wise?
   Let him understand these things.
   Who is discerning?
   Let him know them.
   For the ways of the LORD are straight;
   the righteous walk in them, but rebels stumble in them.

JOEL

Chapter 1
1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Joel son of Pethuel.
1:2 Hear this, elders;
   listen, all who live in the land.
   Has anything like this happened in your days or in the days of your fathers?
1:3 Tell your children about it, and let your children tell their children, and their children the next generation.
1:4 What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust ate;
   what the swarming locust left, the hopping locust ate;
   and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust ate.
1:5 Wake up, drunkards, and weep!
   Wail, all you wine drinkers, over the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouths.
1:6 For a nation has come up against my land, mighty and beyond counting.
   Its teeth are a lion’s teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness.
1:7 It has devastated my vine and splintered my fig tree.
   It has stripped it completely bare and cast it away;
   its branches have turned white.
1:8 Lament like a virgin dressed in sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
1:9 Grain offerings and drink offerings have ceased in the house of the LORD.
   The priests who minister to the LORD mourn.
1:10 The field is devastated;
   the ground mourns, for the grain is destroyed, the new wine has dried up, and the oil has failed.
1:11 Be ashamed, farmers;
   wail, vinedressers, over the wheat and barley, for the harvest of the field has perished.
1:12 The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered.
   Pomegranate, palm, and apple—all the trees of the field have dried up.
   Indeed, joy has withered away from mankind.

1:13 Put on sackcloth and mourn, priests;
   wail, ministers of the altar.
   Come, spend the night in sackcloth, ministers of my God, for grain offerings and drink offerings have been withheld from the house of your God.
1:14 Consecrate a fast;
   call a solemn assembly.
   Gather the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God, and cry out to the LORD.
1:15 Alas for the day!
   For the day of the LORD is near, and it will come like destruction from the Almighty.
1:16 Has not food been cut off before our eyes, and joy and gladness from the house of our God?
1:17 The seeds have shriveled beneath their clods.
   The storehouses are desolate;
   the granaries are torn down, for the grain has dried up.
1:18 How the livestock groan!
   The herds of cattle wander in confusion because they have no pasture;
   even the flocks of sheep suffer.
1:19 To you, LORD, I cry out, for fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has scorched all the trees of the field.
1:20 Even the wild animals pant for you, for the watercourses have dried up, and fire has consumed the pastures of the wilderness.

Chapter 2
2:1 Blow the horn in Zion;
   sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
   Let all who live in the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming;
   it is near—
2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.
   Like dawn spreading over the mountains comes a great and mighty people.
   There has never been its like, nor will there be again through the years of generation after generation.
2:3 Fire devours before it, and flame scorches behind it.
   Before it the land is like the garden of Eden;
   behind it, a desolate wilderness.
   Nothing escapes it.
2:4 They look like horses, and they run like horsemen.
2:5 With a sound like chariots they leap over the mountaintops, with a crackling like flames consuming stubble, like a mighty people drawn up for battle.
2:6 Before it peoples writhe in anguish, and every face grows pale.
2:7 They run like warriors;
   they scale the wall like soldiers.
   Each marches on his way, and they do not swerve from their paths.
2:8 They do not push one another;
   each marches in his own track.
   They plunge through the weapons without breaking ranks.
2:9 They rush upon the city;
   they run along the wall.
   They climb into the houses and enter through the windows like a thief.
2:10 Before it the earth trembles and the heavens shake.
   The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars withdraw their brightness.
2:11 The LORD raises his voice before his army, for his camp is vast, and mighty is the one who carries out his word.
   For the day of the LORD is great and very dreadful.
   Who can endure it?
2:12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
2:13 Tear your hearts, and not your garments.”
   Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and he relents from disaster.
2:14 Who knows?
   He may turn and relent and leave a blessing behind him—a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God.

2:15 Blow the horn in Zion;
   consecrate a fast;
   call a solemn assembly.
2:16 Gather the people;
   consecrate the congregation.
   Assemble the elders;
   gather the children, even nursing infants.
   Let the bridegroom leave his chamber, and the bride her bridal canopy.
2:17 Between the porch and the altar let the priests who minister to the LORD weep.
   Let them say, “Spare your people, LORD.
   Do not give your inheritance over to disgrace, for the nations to rule over them.
   Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”
2:18 Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had compassion on his people.
2:19 The LORD answered his people, “Look, I am sending you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will have your fill.
   I will no longer make you a disgrace among the nations.
2:20 I will drive the northerner far from you and thrust him into a dry and desolate land, his front toward the eastern sea and his rear toward the western sea.
   His stench will rise, and his foul smell will rise, for he has done great things.”
2:21 Do not fear, ground;
   rejoice and be glad, for the LORD has done great things.
2:22 Do not fear, wild animals, for the pastures of the wilderness have grown green.
   The trees bear their fruit;
   the fig tree and vine yield their abundance.
2:23 Children of Zion, rejoice and be glad in the LORD your God, for he has given you the early rain in righteousness.
   He has sent down rain for you, the early and the late rain, as before.
2:24 The threshing floors will be full of grain, and the vats will overflow with new wine and oil.
2:25 “I will repay you for the years the swarming locust ate, the hopping locust, the destroying locust, and the cutting locust—my great army that I sent among you.
2:26 You will eat abundantly and be satisfied, and you will praise the name of the LORD your God, who has done wonders for you.
   My people will never again be put to shame.
2:27 You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, that I am the LORD your God and there is no other.
   My people will never again be put to shame.

2:28 Afterward I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
   Your sons and daughters will prophesy;
   your old men will dream dreams, and your young men will see visions.
2:29 Even on male and female servants I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
2:30 I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth: blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
2:31 The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and dreadful day of the LORD comes.
2:32 And everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered.
   For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors will be those whom the LORD calls.”

Chapter 3
3:1 “For look, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem,
3:2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat.
   There I will enter into judgment with them over my people, my inheritance Israel, whom they scattered among the nations.
   They divided up my land.
3:3 They cast lots for my people, traded a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine to drink.
3:4 What have you against me, Tyre and Sidon and all the districts of Philistia?
   Are you repaying me for something?
   If you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily bring your repayment back on your own heads.
3:5 For you took my silver and my gold and carried my fine treasures into your temples.
3:6 You sold the people of Judah and Jerusalem to the Greeks to remove them far from their territory.
3:7 Look, I will rouse them from the place where you sold them, and I will bring your repayment back on your own heads.
3:8 I will sell your sons and daughters into the hands of the people of Judah, and they will sell them to the Sabeans, to a distant nation, for the LORD has spoken.”

3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate a war!
   Rouse the warriors;
   let all the soldiers draw near and come up.
3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears.
   Let the weak say, “I am a warrior.”
3:11 Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather there.
   Bring down your warriors, LORD!
3:12 “Let the nations rouse themselves and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations.
3:13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe.
   Come, tread, for the winepress is full.
   The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”
3:14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision!
   For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
3:15 The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars withdraw their brightness.
3:16 The LORD roars from Zion and raises his voice from Jerusalem;
   the heavens and the earth shake.
   But the LORD is a refuge for his people, a stronghold for the people of Israel.
3:17 “You will know that I am the LORD your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain.
   Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will never again pass through her.

3:18 In that day the mountains will drip sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, and all the watercourses of Judah will flow with water.
   A spring will come out of the house of the LORD and water the Valley of Shittim.
3:19 Egypt will become a desolation, and Edom a desolate wilderness, because of the violence against the people of Judah, for they shed innocent blood in their land.
3:20 But Judah will be inhabited forever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.
3:21 I will vindicate their blood, which I have not vindicated;
   and the LORD dwells in Zion.”

AMOS

Chapter 1
1:1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa—what he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.
1:2 He said,
 “The LORD roars from Zion and raises his voice from Jerusalem.
   The shepherds’ pastures mourn, and the summit of Carmel withers.”

1:3 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they threshed Gilead with iron threshing sledges.
1:4 I will send fire on the house of Hazael, and it will consume the palaces of Ben-hadad.
1:5 I will break the gate bar of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter from Beth-eden.
   The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the LORD.

1:6 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they carried an entire population into exile to hand them over to Edom.
1:7 I will send fire on the wall of Gaza, and it will consume her palaces.
1:8 I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter from Ashkelon.
   I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord GOD.

1:9 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they handed an entire captive population over to Edom and did not remember the covenant of brothers.
1:10 I will send fire on the wall of Tyre, and it will consume her palaces.”

1:11 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and stifled his compassion.
   His anger tore continually, and he kept his wrath forever.
1:12 I will send fire on Teman, and it will consume the palaces of Bozrah.”

1:13 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke their punishment, because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead to enlarge their territory.
1:14 I will kindle fire on the wall of Rabbah, and it will consume her palaces, with a battle cry on the day of war, with a tempest on the day of the storm.
1:15 Their king will go into exile, he and his princes together,” says the LORD.

Chapter 2
2:1 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
2:2 I will send fire on Moab, and it will consume the palaces of Kerioth.
   Moab will die amid tumult, with a battle cry and the sound of a horn.
2:3 I will cut off the judge from her midst and kill all her princes with him,” says the LORD.

2:4 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they rejected the law of the LORD and did not keep his statutes.
   Their lies led them astray, the same lies their fathers followed.
2:5 I will send fire on Judah, and it will consume the palaces of Jerusalem.”

2:6 This is what the LORD says: “For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke its punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals.
2:7 They crave even the dust of the earth on the heads of the poor and turn aside the way of the humble.
   A man and his father go to the same young woman, to profane my holy name.
2:8 They lie down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge, and in the house of their God they drink wine taken as fines.
2:9 Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of cedars and who was strong as oaks.
   I destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.
2:10 It was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt and led you forty years through the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite.
2:11 I raised up some of your sons as prophets and some of your young men as Nazirites.
   Is this not so, people of Israel?”
   declares the LORD.
2:12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine and commanded the prophets, ‘Do not prophesy.’
2:13 Look, I will press you down where you stand, as a cart full of sheaves presses down.
2:14 Escape will fail the swift;
   the strong will not muster his strength, and the warrior will not save his life.
2:15 The archer will not stand;
   the swift of foot will not escape, and the horseman will not save his life.
2:16 Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares the LORD.

Chapter 3
3:1 Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:
3:2 “You alone have I known among all the families of the earth;
   therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
3:3 Do two walk together unless they have agreed to meet?
3:4 Does a lion roar in the forest when it has no prey?
   Does a young lion give voice from its den unless it has caught something?
3:5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground when there is no snare for it?
   Does a trap spring up from the ground without catching anything?
3:6 If a horn sounds in a city, do the people not tremble?
   If disaster strikes a city, has the LORD not brought it about?
3:7 For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his counsel to his servants the prophets.
3:8 A lion has roared—who will not fear?
   The Lord GOD has spoken—who will not prophesy?
3:9 Proclaim over the palaces of Ashdod and over the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Gather on the mountains of Samaria and see the great turmoil within her and the oppression in her midst.”
3:10 “They do not know how to do what is right,” declares the LORD, “those who store up violence and plunder in their palaces.”

3:11 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “An enemy all around the land!
   He will bring down your strength, and your palaces will be plundered.”
3:12 This is what the LORD says: “As a shepherd rescues two legs or a piece of an ear from the lion’s mouth, so will the people of Israel be rescued, those who sit in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus on a couch.
3:13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob,” declares the Lord GOD, the God of hosts.
3:14 “For on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions, I will punish the altars of Bethel.
   The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
3:15 I will strike the winter house together with the summer house.
   The ivory houses will perish, and many houses will come to an end,” declares the LORD.

Chapter 4
4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to their masters, “Bring it, and let us drink.”
4:2 The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness: “Look, days are coming upon you when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks.
4:3 You will go out through breaches, each woman straight ahead, and you will cast yourselves toward Harmon,” declares the LORD.
4:4 “Come to Bethel and transgress;
   at Gilgal multiply transgression.
   Bring your sacrifices every morning and your tithes every three days.
4:5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering;
   proclaim your freewill offerings and announce them, for this is what you love, people of Israel,” declares the Lord GOD.
4:6 “I also gave you clean teeth in all your cities and lack of bread in all your settlements.
   Yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
4:7 “I also withheld the rain from you when there were still three months until harvest.
   I sent rain on one city but not on another.
   One field received rain, while a field that received no rain dried up.
4:8 People from two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water but were not satisfied.
   Yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
4:9 “I struck you with blight and mildew.
   The cutting locust devoured your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees.
   Yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.

4:10 “I sent a plague among you like the one in Egypt.
   I killed your young men with the sword while your horses were taken captive, and I made the stench of your camps rise into your nostrils.
   Yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.
4:11 “I overthrew some of you as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick snatched from the fire.
   Yet you did not return to me,” declares the LORD.

4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.
   Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.”
4:13 For look, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind, who declares to man what his thought is, who turns dawn to darkness and treads on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name.

Chapter 5
5:1 Hear this word that I take up as a lament over you, house of Israel:
5:2 “Fallen, never to rise again, is virgin Israel.
   She lies abandoned on her land;
   there is no one to raise her up.”
5:3 For this is what the Lord GOD says: “The city that sends out a thousand will have a hundred left, and the one that sends out a hundred will have ten left for the house of Israel.”

5:4 For this is what the LORD says to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live.
5:5 Do not seek Bethel, do not enter Gilgal, and do not cross over to Beersheba.
   For Gilgal will surely go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.”
5:6 Seek the LORD and live, lest he break out like fire against the house of Joseph and consume it, with no one to quench it at Bethel.
5:7 You who turn justice into wormwood and cast righteousness to the ground!
5:8 He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns deep darkness to morning and darkens day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is his name.

5:9 He makes destruction flash upon the strong, and destruction comes upon the fortress.
5:10 They hate the one who reproves at the gate and abhor the one who speaks with integrity.
5:11 Therefore, because you trample the poor and exact a grain levy from him, you have built houses of cut stone, but you will not live in them.
   You have planted lovely vineyards, but you will not drink their wine.
5:12 “For I know how many your transgressions are and how grave your sins—you who oppress the righteous, accept a bribe, and turn the needy aside at the gate.”
5:13 Therefore the prudent keep silent at such a time, for it is an evil time.
5:14 Seek good and not evil, so that you may live.
   Then the LORD, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you say.
5:15 Hate evil, love good, and establish justice at the gate.
   Perhaps the LORD, the God of hosts, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

5:16 Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, says: “There will be mourning in every square, and in every street they will say, ‘Alas!
   Alas!’ They will call the farmer to mourning and those skilled in lamentation to wailing.
5:17 There will be mourning in every vineyard, for I will pass through your midst,” says the LORD.

5:18 Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD!
   What will the day of the LORD mean for you?
   It is darkness and not light,
5:19 as when a man flees from a lion and meets a bear, or enters the house, rests his hand against the wall, and a snake bites him.
5:20 Is not the day of the LORD darkness and not light, gloom without any brightness?
5:21 “I hate, I reject your festivals, and I will not savor your solemn assemblies.
5:22 Even if you offer me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them.
   I will not look upon the peace offerings of your fattened cattle.
5:23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;
   I will not listen to the music of your harps.
5:24 But let justice roll like water, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
5:25 Did you bring me sacrifices and grain offerings in the wilderness for forty years, house of Israel?
5:26 You will carry Sikkuth your king and Kiyyun your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.
5:27 I will send you into exile beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of hosts.

Chapter 6
6:1 Woe to those at ease in Zion and those secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the foremost nation, to whom the house of Israel comes!
6:2 Cross over to Calneh and look;
   go from there to Hamath the great, then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
   Are they better than these kingdoms, or is their territory larger than yours?
6:3 You put off the day of disaster but bring near the seat of violence.
6:4 You lie on ivory beds and sprawl on your couches, eating lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
6:5 You improvise to the sound of the harp and invent musical instruments for yourselves, like David.
6:6 You drink wine from bowls and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you do not grieve over Joseph’s ruin.
6:7 Therefore you will now go into exile at the head of the exiles, and the revelry of those who sprawl will cease.

6:8 The Lord GOD has sworn by himself, declares the LORD, the God of hosts: “I abhor Jacob’s pride and hate his palaces.
   I will hand over the city and everything in it.”
6:9 If ten men remain in one house, they will die.
6:10 His uncle, the one who burns him, will lift him to carry the bones out of the house.
   He will say to the one in the innermost part of the house, “Is anyone else with you?”
   He will say, “No one.”
   Then he will say, “Silence!
   We must not mention the name of the LORD.”
6:11 For look, the LORD gives the command: he will shatter the great house and leave the small house split open.
6:12 Do horses run on rock?
   Does one plow there with oxen?
   Yet you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.
6:13 You rejoice over Lo-debar and say, “Have we not taken Karnaim for ourselves by our own strength?”
6:14 “For look, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel,” declares the LORD, the God of hosts, “and they will oppress you from Lebo-hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”

Chapter 7
7:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: he was forming locusts when the late growth was beginning to sprout—the late growth after the king’s mowings.
7:2 When they had finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How can Jacob stand? He is so small.”
7:3 The LORD relented concerning this. “It will not happen,” said the LORD.
7:4 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: the Lord GOD was calling for judgment by fire. It devoured the great deep and was consuming the portion of land.
7:5 Then I said, “Lord GOD, please stop! How can Jacob stand? He is so small.”
7:6 The LORD relented concerning this. “This will not happen either,” said the Lord GOD.
7:7 This is what he showed me: the Lord was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.
7:8 The LORD said to me, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Look, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will no longer pass over them.
7:9 The high places of Isaac will be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste. I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”
7:10 Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent word to Jeroboam king of Israel: “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land cannot bear all his words.
7:11 For this is what Amos says: ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel will surely go into exile away from its land.’”
7:12 Amaziah said to Amos, “Seer, go! Flee to the land of Judah. Eat your bread there, and prophesy there.
7:13 But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.”
7:14 Amos answered Amaziah, “I am no prophet, nor am I a prophet’s son. I am a cattle herder and a tender of sycamore figs.
7:15 But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’
7:16 Now hear the word of the LORD. You say, ‘Do not prophesy against Israel, and do not preach against the house of Isaac.’
7:17 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘Your wife will become a prostitute in the city; your sons and daughters will fall by the sword, and your land will be divided by a measuring line. You will die on unclean soil, and Israel will surely go into exile away from its land.’”

Chapter 8
8:1 This is what the Lord GOD showed me: a basket of summer fruit.
8:2 He said, “What do you see, Amos?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come for my people Israel. I will no longer pass over them.
8:3 The songs of the temple will turn to wailing on that day,” declares the Lord GOD. “So many corpses! They are thrown everywhere. Silence!”

8:4 Hear this, you who trample the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end,
8:5 saying, “When will the new moon be over so we can sell grain, and the Sabbath so we can put wheat on sale?
   We will shrink the grain measure, enlarge the silver weight, and cheat with dishonest scales,
8:6 buying the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, and selling even the sweepings of the wheat.”
8:7 The LORD has sworn by the pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.
8:8 Will not the land tremble over this, and all who live in it mourn?
   All of it will rise like the Nile, surge, and sink like the Nile of Egypt.

8:9 On that day,” declares the Lord GOD, “I will make the sun go down at noon and darken the earth in broad daylight.
8:10 I will turn your festivals into mourning and all your songs into lamentation.
   I will put sackcloth on every waist and baldness on every head.
   I will make it like mourning for an only child, and its end like a bitter day.
8:11 Look, days are coming,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I will send a famine on the land—not a famine for bread or a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of the LORD.
8:12 They will stagger from sea to sea and from north to east, roaming to seek the word of the LORD, but they will not find it.
8:13 On that day the beautiful virgins and young men will faint from thirst.
8:14 Those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, ‘As your god lives, Dan,’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives,’ will fall and never rise again.”

Chapter 9
9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the capital so that the thresholds shake, and shatter them upon the heads of them all.
   I will kill the rest of them with the sword.
   Not one of them will get away;
   no fugitive will escape.
9:2 Though they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them;
   though they climb to heaven, from there I will bring them down.
9:3 Though they hide on the summit of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them.
   Though they conceal themselves from my sight on the seabed, there I will command the serpent to bite them.
9:4 Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword to kill them.
   I will set my eye on them for harm and not for good.”
9:5 The Lord GOD of hosts touches the earth and it melts, and all who live in it mourn.
   All of it rises like the Nile and sinks like the Nile of Egypt.
9:6 He builds his upper chambers in the heavens and founds his vault upon the earth.
   He calls for the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is his name.
9:7 “Are you not like the Cushites to me, people of Israel?”
   declares the LORD.
   “Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphtor, and Aram from Kir?
9:8 Look, the eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from the face of the earth.
   Yet I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” declares the LORD.
9:9 “For look, I am giving the command, and I will shake the house of Israel among all the nations as one shakes a sieve, without a pebble falling to the ground.
9:10 All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, those who say, ‘Disaster will not come near or confront us.’
9:11 On that day I will raise up the fallen shelter of David.
   I will repair their breaches and raise up his ruins;
   I will rebuild her as in the days of old,
9:12 so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations over whom my name is called,” declares the LORD, who does this.

9:13 “Look, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman will overtake the reaper, and the grape treader the one who sows seed.
   The mountains will drip sweet wine, and all the hills will melt.
9:14 I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel.
   They will rebuild desolate cities and live in them, plant vineyards and drink their wine, and cultivate gardens and eat their fruit.
9:15 I will plant them on their land, and they will never again be uprooted from their land that I have given them,” says the LORD your God.

OBADIAH

Chapter 1
1:1 The vision of Obadiah.
   This is what the Lord GOD says concerning Edom: We have heard a message from the LORD, and an envoy has been sent among the nations: “Rise, and let us rise against her for battle!”
1:2 “Look, I have made you small among the nations;
   you are deeply despised.
1:3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, dweller in the clefts of the rock, whose home is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’
1:4 Though you soar like the eagle and set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
1:5 “If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—how you have been destroyed!—would they not steal only enough for themselves?
   If grape gatherers came to you, would they not leave some gleanings?
1:6 How Esau has been searched out, his hidden treasures sought out!
1:7 All your allies have driven you to the border.
   Those at peace with you have deceived you and prevailed against you.
   Those who eat your bread have set a trap beneath you.
   There is no understanding in him.
1:8 On that day,” declares the LORD, “will I not destroy the wise from Edom and understanding from Mount Esau?
1:9 Your warriors will be terrified, Teman, so that everyone on Mount Esau may be cut off by slaughter.
1:10 Because of violence against your brother Jacob, shame will cover you, and you will be cut off forever.
1:11 On the day you stood aloof, on the day strangers carried away his wealth and foreigners entered his gates and cast lots for Jerusalem, you too were like one of them.
1:12 Do not gloat over your brother’s day, the day of his misfortune.
   Do not rejoice over the people of Judah on the day of their destruction, and do not boast on the day of distress.
1:13 Do not enter the gate of my people on the day of their calamity.
   Do not gloat, you too, over his disaster on the day of his calamity, and do not reach for his wealth on the day of his calamity.
1:14 Do not stand at the crossroads to cut off his fugitives, and do not hand over his survivors on the day of distress.
1:15 For the day of the LORD is near upon all the nations.
   As you have done, it will be done to you;
   your deeds will come back upon your own head.
1:16 For just as you drank on my holy mountain, all the nations will drink continually.
   They will drink and swallow, and be as though they had never existed.
1:17 But on Mount Zion there will be deliverance, and it will be holy.
   The house of Jacob will possess their possessions.
1:18 The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble.
   They will set them ablaze and consume them, and no survivor will remain of the house of Esau, for the LORD has spoken.
1:19 Those of the Negev will possess Mount Esau, and those of the Shephelah the Philistines.
   They will possess the fields of Ephraim and the fields of Samaria, and Benjamin will possess Gilead.
1:20 The exiles of this host of the people of Israel will possess the land of the Canaanites as far as Zarephath, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Sepharad will possess the cities of the Negev.
1:21 Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to judge Mount Esau, and the kingdom will belong to the LORD.”

JONAH

Chapter 1
1:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai:
1:2 “Rise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”
1:3 But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. He paid its fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.
1:4 Then the LORD hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a great storm at sea. The ship threatened to break apart.
1:5 The sailors were afraid, and each cried out to his god. They hurled the cargo in the ship into the sea to lighten their load. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost part of the ship, where he lay down and fell fast asleep.
1:6 The captain came to him and said, “What are you doing asleep? Rise, call on your God! Perhaps God will take notice of us, and we will not perish.”
1:7 They said to one another, “Come, let us cast lots to find out who is responsible for this disaster upon us.” They cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.
1:8 Then they said to him, “Please tell us who is responsible for this disaster upon us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country, and what people are you from?”
1:9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”
1:10 The men were greatly afraid and said to him, “What have you done?” For the men knew he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.
1:11 They said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will grow calm for us?” For the sea was growing more and more stormy.
1:12 He said to them, “Lift me up and hurl me into the sea, and the sea will grow calm for you. For I know that this great storm has come upon you because of me.”
1:13 Instead, the men rowed hard to return to dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.
1:14 So they cried out to the LORD, “Please, LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life. Do not charge us with innocent blood, for you, LORD, have done as you pleased.”
1:15 Then they lifted Jonah up and hurled him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging.
1:16 The men feared the LORD greatly; they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.
1:17 The LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Chapter 2
2:1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish.
2:2 He said, “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.
   From the belly of Sheol I cried for help, and you heard my voice.
2:3 You cast me into the depths, into the heart of the seas, and the current surrounded me.
   All your breakers and waves passed over me.
2:4 I said, ‘I have been driven from your sight, yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’
2:5 The waters closed around me up to my throat;
   the deep surrounded me, and seaweed was wrapped around my head.
2:6 I went down to the roots of the mountains;
   the earth’s bars closed over me forever.
   Yet you brought my life up from the pit, LORD my God.
2:7 When my life was ebbing away within me, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, to your holy temple.
2:8 Those who cling to empty falsehoods forsake the steadfast love that is theirs.
2:9 But I will sacrifice to you with a voice of thanksgiving.
   What I have vowed I will fulfill.
   Salvation belongs to the LORD.”
2:10 Then the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto the dry land.

Chapter 3
3:1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time:
3:2 “Rise, go to Nineveh, the great city, and proclaim to it the message that I give you.”
3:3 So Jonah rose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was a city great in God’s sight, a journey of three days.
3:4 Jonah began to enter the city, going a day’s journey, and proclaimed, “Forty more days, and Nineveh will be overthrown!”
3:5 The people of Nineveh believed God. They proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least.
3:6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.
3:7 He had this proclamation made in Nineveh: “By decree of the king and his nobles: Neither people nor animals, neither cattle nor sheep, may taste anything. They must not graze or drink water.
3:8 Let people and animals be covered with sackcloth. Let them cry mightily to God, and let each turn from his evil way and from the violence in their hands.
3:9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we do not perish.”
3:10 God saw what they did, that they had turned from their evil way. Then God relented from the disaster he had said he would bring upon them, and he did not do it.

Chapter 4
4:1 But this greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry.
4:2 He prayed to the LORD, “Please, LORD, is this not what I said while I was still in my own land? That is why I was quick to flee to Tarshish. For I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, who relents from disaster.
4:3 And now, LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4:4 The LORD said, “Are you right to be angry?”
4:5 Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of it. He made himself a shelter there and sat under it in the shade to see what would happen to the city.
4:6 The LORD God appointed a plant, and it grew up over Jonah to give shade over his head and relieve his distress. Jonah was greatly delighted with the plant.
4:7 But at dawn the next day God appointed a worm, and it attacked the plant, so that it withered.
4:8 When the sun rose, God appointed a stifling east wind. The sun beat down on Jonah’s head, and he grew faint. He asked to die, saying, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
4:9 God said to Jonah, “Are you right to be angry over the plant?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to the point of death.”
4:10 The LORD said, “You had pity on the plant, for which you did not labor and which you did not make grow. It came into being in a night and perished in a night.
4:11 And should I not have pity on Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than 120,000 people who do not know their right hand from their left, and many animals?”

MICAH

Chapter 1
1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
1:2 Hear, all you peoples!
   Listen, earth and all that fills it!
   Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
1:3 For look, the LORD is coming out of his place.
   He will come down and tread on the heights of the earth.
1:4 The mountains will melt beneath him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before fire, like water poured down a slope.
1:5 All this is because of Jacob’s transgression and the sins of the house of Israel.
   What is Jacob’s transgression?
   Is it not Samaria?
   And what are Judah’s high places?
   Are they not Jerusalem?
1:6 “I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country, a place for planting vineyards.
   I will pour her stones down into the valley and lay her foundations bare.
1:7 All her carved images will be shattered, all her earnings burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste.
   For she gathered them from a prostitute’s wages, and to a prostitute’s wages they will return.”
1:8 Because of this I will mourn and wail;
   I will go stripped and naked.
   I will lament like the jackals and mourn like the ostriches.
1:9 For her wounds are incurable;
   it has reached Judah.
   It has reached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem.
1:10 Do not tell it in Gath;
   do not weep at all.
   In Beth-le-aphrah I have rolled myself in dust.
1:11 Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
   The inhabitant of Zaanan has not come out;
   Beth-ezel’s lament takes its support away from you.
1:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waits in anguish for good, because disaster has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.
1:13 Harness the chariot to the swift horses, inhabitant of Lachish.
   She was the beginning of sin for daughter Zion, for Israel’s transgressions were found in you.
1:14 Therefore you will give farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath.
   The houses of Achzib will be a deception to the kings of Israel.
1:15 “I will again bring the conqueror against you, inhabitant of Mareshah.”
   Israel’s glory will come as far as Adullam.
1:16 Shave your head and cut off your hair for the children you delight in.
   Make your baldness wide like a vulture’s, for they have gone into exile away from you.

Chapter 2
2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and plan evil on their beds!
   At morning light they do it, because the power is in their hands.
2:2 They covet fields and seize them, houses and take them away.
   They oppress a man and his household, a man and his inheritance.

2:3 Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Look, I am devising disaster against this family, from which you will not remove your necks.
   You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be an evil time.
2:4 On that day they will take up a taunt against you and lament with a bitter lament, saying, ‘We are utterly devastated!
   He changes the portion of my people.
   How he takes it from me!
   He assigns our fields to the faithless one.’
2:5 Therefore you will have no one to stretch a measuring line by lot in the congregation of the LORD.”
2:6 “Do not preach,” they preach.
   They will not preach about these things;
   disgrace will not depart.
2:7 Is it said, house of Jacob, “Has the Spirit of the LORD grown impatient?
   Are these his deeds?”
   Do not my words do good to the one who walks uprightly?
2:8 “But lately my people have risen up as an enemy.
   You strip the cloak from over the garment of those who pass by securely, returning from war.
2:9 You drive the women of my people from the homes they delight in;
   from their little ones you take my splendor forever.
2:10 Rise and go, for this is no resting place.
   Because of its uncleanness it will bring destruction, grievous destruction.
2:11 If a man pursuing wind and falsehood lies, saying, ‘I will preach to you about wine and strong drink,’ he would be the preacher for this people!
2:12 I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
   I will surely assemble the remnant of Israel.
   I will put them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in the midst of its pasture;
   they will resound with people.
2:13 The one who breaks through has gone up before them.
   They have broken through, passed through the gate, and gone out by it.
   Their king has passed before them, with the LORD at their head.”

Chapter 3
3:1 I said, “Listen, leaders of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel!
   Is it not for you to know justice,
3:2 you who hate good and love evil, who tear the skin off them and the flesh from their bones,
3:3 who eat the flesh of my people, strip their skin from them, break their bones, and chop them up as for a pot, like meat in a cauldron?”
3:4 Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them.
   He will hide his face from them at that time, because they have done evil in their deeds.

3:5 This is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who bite with their teeth and proclaim, “Peace,” but consecrate war against the one who puts nothing in their mouths:
3:6 “Therefore you will have night without vision, darkness without divination.
   The sun will set on the prophets, and the day will grow dark over them.
3:7 The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced.
   All of them will cover their upper lips, for there is no answer from God.”
3:8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

3:9 Hear this, leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and make everything straight crooked,
3:10 building Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice.
3:11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for silver.
   Yet they lean on the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD in our midst?
   No disaster will come upon us.”
3:12 Therefore because of you Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple will become wooded heights.

Chapter 4
4:1 In the latter days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the foremost of the mountains and raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it.
4:2 Many nations will go and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob.
   He will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.”
   For instruction will go out from Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4:3 He will judge between many peoples and settle disputes for mighty nations far away.
   They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.
   Nation will not raise sword against nation, and they will no longer learn war.
4:4 Each will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, with no one to make them afraid, for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
4:5 For all the peoples walk, each in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

4:6 “On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the one who limps and assemble the outcast and the one I have afflicted.
4:7 I will make the one who limps a remnant, and the one driven far away a mighty nation.
   The LORD will reign over them on Mount Zion from now on and forever.

4:8 And you, tower of the flock, hill of daughter Zion—to you it will come: the former dominion will come, the kingdom for daughter Jerusalem.”
4:9 Now why do you cry out so loudly?
   Is there no king in you?
   Has your counselor perished, that pain has seized you like a woman in labor?
4:10 Writhe and bring forth, daughter Zion, like a woman in labor.
   For now you will leave the city and dwell in the open country;
   you will go as far as Babylon.
   There you will be rescued;
   there the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
4:11 Now many nations have gathered against you, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
4:12 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD or understand his counsel, for he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
4:13 “Rise and thresh, daughter Zion, for I will make your horn iron and your hooves bronze.
   You will crush many peoples, and I will devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.”

Chapter 5
5:1 Now gather in troops, daughter of troops!
   He has laid siege against us.
   With a rod they will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

5:2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah—from you will come forth for me one who will rule in Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient days.”
5:3 Therefore he will give them up until the time when she who is to give birth has given birth.
   Then the rest of his brothers will return to the people of Israel.
5:4 He will stand and shepherd in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
   And they will remain, for now he will be great to the ends of the earth.
5:5 He will be peace.
   When Assyria enters our land and treads in our palaces, we will raise against him seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.
5:6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword and the land of Nimrod at its gates.
   He will deliver us from Assyria when he enters our land and treads within our borders.

5:7 The remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which does not wait for man or linger for mankind.
5:8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue.
5:9 Your hand will be lifted against your adversaries, and all your enemies will be cut off.

5:10 “On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will cut off your horses from your midst and destroy your chariots.
5:11 I will cut off the cities of your land and tear down all your strongholds.
5:12 I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have no more soothsayers.
5:13 I will cut off your carved images and sacred pillars from your midst, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.
5:14 I will uproot your Asherah poles from your midst and destroy your cities.
5:15 In anger and wrath I will take vengeance on the nations that have not obeyed.”

Chapter 6
6:1 Hear what the LORD says: “Rise, present your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.”
6:2 Hear the LORD’s case, mountains, and you enduring foundations of the earth.
   For the LORD has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel.
6:3 “My people, what have I done to you?
   How have I wearied you?
   Answer me.
6:4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery.
   I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
6:5 My people, remember what Balak king of Moab planned and what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”
6:6 With what shall I come before the LORD and bow before God on high?
   Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves?
6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil?
   Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
6:8 He has told you, man, what is good.
   And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?

6:9 The voice of the LORD calls to the city, and the wise will see your name.
   Hear the rod and the one who appointed it!
6:10 Are there still treasures of wickedness in the wicked man’s house, and a scant grain measure that is accursed?
6:11 Can I be innocent with wicked scales and a bag of dishonest weights?
6:12 Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouths.
6:13 “So I too have made you sick by striking you, laying you waste because of your sins.
6:14 You will eat but not be satisfied, and emptiness will remain within you.
   You will put things aside but not save them, and what you save I will give to the sword.
6:15 You will sow but not reap.
   You will tread olives but not anoint yourself with oil, and tread out new wine but not drink wine.
6:16 Omri’s statutes are kept, and all the practices of the house of Ahab;
   you walk in their counsels.
   So I will make you a desolation and her inhabitants an object of hissing, and you will bear the reproach of my people.”

Chapter 7
7:1 Woe is me!
   I am like one gathering summer fruit, like one gleaning after the grape harvest.
   There is no cluster to eat;
   my soul craves an early fig.
7:2 The godly have perished from the land;
   there is no one upright among mankind.
   All lie in wait for bloodshed;
   each hunts his brother with a net.
7:3 Both hands are skilled at evil.
   The prince demands, the judge acts for payment, and the powerful man speaks the desire of his soul;
   together they weave it.
7:4 The best of them is like a brier, the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
   The day of your watchmen, your punishment, has come.
   Now their confusion will come.
7:5 Do not trust a neighbor;
   do not put confidence in a close friend.
   Guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms.
7:6 For a son treats his father with contempt;
   a daughter rises against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
   A man’s enemies are those of his own household.
7:7 But as for me, I will look to the LORD;
   I will wait for the God of my salvation.
   My God will hear me.
7:8 “Do not rejoice over me, my enemy.
   Though I have fallen, I will rise;
   though I sit in darkness, the LORD is a light to me.

7:9 I will bear the LORD’s indignation because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes justice for me.
   He will bring me out to the light, and I will see his righteousness.
7:10 My enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, ‘Where is the LORD your God?’ My eyes will look upon her;
   now she will be trampled like mud in the streets.”
7:11 A day will come for building your walls;
   on that day the boundary will be extended far.
7:12 On that day people will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
7:13 But the land will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the fruit of their deeds.

7:14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, dwelling alone in the forest, in the midst of fruitful land.
   Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
7:15 “As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders.”
7:16 Nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.
   They will put their hands over their mouths;
   their ears will become deaf.
7:17 They will lick dust like a snake;
   like crawling creatures of the earth they will come trembling from their strongholds.
   They will turn in dread to the LORD our God and be afraid of you.
7:18 Who is a God like you, forgiving iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?
   He does not hold on to his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love.
7:19 He will again have compassion on us;
   he will subdue our iniquities.
   You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
7:20 You will give faithfulness to Jacob and steadfast love to Abraham, as you swore to our fathers from the days of old.

NAHUM

Chapter 1
1:1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
1:2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
   the LORD avenges and is full of wrath.
   The LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and reserves wrath for his enemies.
1:3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, yet he will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
   The LORD’s way is in whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet.
1:4 He rebukes the sea and dries it up;
   he dries up all the rivers.
   Bashan and Carmel wither, and the blossoms of Lebanon wither.
1:5 Mountains quake before him, and the hills melt.
   The earth heaves before him, the world and all who live in it.
1:6 Who can stand before his indignation?
   Who can endure his fierce anger?
   His wrath pours out like fire, and the rocks are shattered before him.
1:7 The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress;
   he knows those who take refuge in him.
1:8 But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of her place, and darkness will pursue his enemies.
1:9 What do you plot against the LORD?
   He is making a complete end;
   distress will not rise twice.
1:10 For though they are tangled like thorns and drunk with their drink, they will be consumed like completely dry stubble.
1:11 From you came one who plots evil against the LORD, a counselor of wickedness.

1:12 This is what the LORD says: “Though they are intact and numerous, even so they will be cut down, and he will pass away.
   Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.
1:13 Now I will break his yoke from off you and tear apart your bonds.”
1:14 The LORD has commanded concerning you: “No more of your name will be sown.
   From the house of your gods I will cut off carved and cast images.
   I will prepare your grave, for you are contemptible.”

1:15 Look, on the mountains are the feet of one bringing good news, proclaiming peace!
   Celebrate your festivals, Judah;
   fulfill your vows.
   For the wicked one will never again pass through you;
   he is utterly cut off.

Chapter 2
2:1 The scatterer has come up against you.
   Guard the fortress!
   Watch the road!
   Brace your waist!
   Muster all your strength!
2:2 For the LORD is restoring the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, for plunderers have plundered them and ruined their vine branches.
2:3 The shields of his warriors are red;
   his soldiers are clothed in scarlet.
   The chariots flash with fiery metal on the day of his preparation, and the cypress shafts quiver.
2:4 The chariots race wildly through the streets and rush through the squares.
   They look like torches;
   they dart like lightning.
2:5 He calls his nobles to mind;
   they stumble as they advance.
   They hurry to her wall, and the protective shelter is made ready.
2:6 The river gates are opened, and the palace melts away.
2:7 It is decreed: she is stripped and carried away.
   Her slave girls moan like doves, beating their breasts.
2:8 Nineveh has long been like a pool of water, but they are fleeing.
   “Stop!
   Stop!”
   Yet no one turns back.
2:9 Plunder the silver!
   Plunder the gold!
   There is no end to the treasure, a wealth of every precious object.
2:10 Empty, desolate, devastated!
   Hearts melt and knees shake;
   every waist trembles, and every face grows pale.
2:11 Where is the lions’ den, the feeding place of the young lions, where lion, lioness, and cub walked with no one to frighten them?
2:12 The lion tore enough prey for his cubs and strangled it for his lionesses.
   He filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.
2:13 “Look, I am against you,” declares the LORD of hosts.
   “I will burn her chariots in smoke, and the sword will consume your young lions.
   I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will be heard no more.”

Chapter 3
3:1 Woe to the city of bloodshed, all of it full of lies and plunder, never without prey!
3:2 The crack of a whip, the rattle of wheels, galloping horses and bounding chariots!
3:3 Horsemen charging, swords flashing, spears glittering!
   A multitude of slain, heaps of corpses, bodies without end—they stumble over their bodies!
3:4 All because of the many prostitutions of the charming prostitute, the mistress of sorceries, who sells nations through her prostitution and families through her sorceries.
3:5 “Look, I am against you,” declares the LORD of hosts.
   “I will lift your skirts over your face and show the nations your nakedness and the kingdoms your shame.
3:6 I will throw filth upon you, disgrace you, and make you a spectacle.
3:7 All who see you will flee from you and say, ‘Nineveh is devastated!
   Who will mourn for her?’ Where shall I seek comforters for you?”
3:8 Are you better than No-amon, seated among the Nile channels with waters around her, whose rampart was the sea and whose wall was from the sea?
3:9 Cush was her strength, and Egypt too, without limit.
   Put and the Libyans were your helpers.
3:10 Yet she too went into exile, into captivity.
   Her little children were dashed to pieces at the head of every street.
   Lots were cast for her honored men, and all her great men were bound in chains.
3:11 You too will become drunk;
   you will be hidden.
   You too will seek refuge from the enemy.
3:12 All your strongholds are fig trees with early ripe figs.
   If shaken, they fall into the eater’s mouth.
3:13 Look, your people in your midst are women!
   The gates of your land are opened wide to your enemies;
   fire has consumed your bars.
3:14 Draw water for the siege!
   Strengthen your defenses!
   Go into the mud and tread the clay;
   take hold of the brick mold!
3:15 There fire will consume you;
   the sword will cut you off.
   It will devour you like the hopping locust.
   Multiply yourself like the hopping locust;
   multiply yourself like the swarming locust!
3:16 You have multiplied your merchants beyond the stars of heaven.
   The hopping locust strips bare and flies away.
3:17 Your officials are like swarming locusts, your officers like swarms of locusts settling on walls on a cold day.
   The sun rises, and they fly away;
   no one knows where they are.
3:18 Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria;
   your nobles lie at rest.
   Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.
3:19 There is no relief for your ruin;
   your wound is incurable.
   All who hear the news of you clap their hands over you, for who has not suffered continually from your evil?

HABAKKUK

Chapter 1
1:1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
1:2 How long, LORD, have I cried for help, and you do not hear?
   I cry to you, “Violence!”
   but you do not save.
1:3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you look upon oppression?
   Destruction and violence are before me;
   strife arises, and contention is stirred up.
1:4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.
   For the wicked surround the righteous;
   therefore justice comes out twisted.
1:5 “Look among the nations and see;
   be astonished, utterly astonished!
   For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe even if it were told.
1:6 For look, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation, who march through the breadth of the earth to possess dwellings not their own.
1:7 It is dreadful and fearsome;
   its justice and dignity come from itself.
1:8 Its horses are swifter than leopards and fiercer than wolves at evening.
   Its horsemen spread out;
   its horsemen come from afar.
   They fly like an eagle rushing to devour.
1:9 All of it comes for violence;
   their faces press eastward, and it gathers captives like sand.
1:10 It scoffs at kings, and rulers are a laughingstock to it.
   It laughs at every fortress, heaps up earth, and captures it.
1:11 Then it sweeps past like the wind and goes on, guilty—its strength is its god.”
1:12 Are you not from of old, LORD my God, my Holy One?
   We will not die.
   LORD, you have appointed him for judgment;
   Rock, you have established him for correction.
1:13 Your eyes are too pure to look upon evil, and you cannot look upon oppression.
   Why do you look upon the treacherous and remain silent when the wicked swallows one more righteous than himself?
1:14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things with no ruler over them.
1:15 He brings them all up with a hook, drags them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet.
   Therefore he rejoices and is glad.
1:16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for through them his portion is rich and his food abundant.
1:17 Will he therefore keep emptying his net and continually kill nations without mercy?

Chapter 2
2:1 I will stand at my watchpost and station myself on the rampart.
   I will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
2:2 The LORD answered me: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, so that the one who reads it may run.
2:3 For the vision is still for the appointed time;
   it hastens toward the end and will not lie.
   Though it delays, wait for it, for it will surely come;
   it will not be late.
2:4 Look, his soul is puffed up;
   it is not upright within him.
   But the righteous will live by his faithfulness.
2:5 Moreover, wine is treacherous;
   the arrogant man does not rest.
   He opens his appetite wide like Sheol and is like death, never satisfied.
   He gathers all nations to himself and assembles all peoples to himself.
2:6 Will not all these take up a taunt against him, with mockery and riddles about him, saying, ‘Woe to the one who heaps up what is not his—how long?—and loads himself with pledges!’
2:7 Will not those who bite you rise suddenly, and those who make you tremble awake?
   Then you will become plunder for them.
2:8 Because you plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of human bloodshed and violence against the land, the city, and all who live in it.

2:9 Woe to the one who gains evil gain for his house, setting his nest on high to escape the power of disaster!
2:10 You have planned shame for your house by cutting off many peoples, sinning against your own life.
2:11 For a stone will cry out from the wall, and a beam from the woodwork will answer it.

2:12 Woe to the one who builds a town with bloodshed and establishes a city with injustice!
2:13 Does this not come from the LORD of hosts—that peoples labor only to feed the fire and nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
2:14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

2:15 Woe to the one who gives his neighbor drink, adding your venom and even making him drunk, so that you may look upon their nakedness!
2:16 You are filled with dishonor instead of glory.
   Drink, you too, and expose your uncircumcision!
   The cup in the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and foul shame will cover your glory.
2:17 For violence against Lebanon will cover you, and the destruction of animals will terrify them, because of human bloodshed and violence against the land, the city, and all who live in it.

2:18 What use is a carved image that its maker has carved, a cast image, a teacher of lies, that its maker trusts his own creation, making speechless idols?

2:19 Woe to the one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ and to silent stone, ‘Arise!’ Can it teach?
   Look, it is covered with gold and silver, but there is no breath at all within it.
2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple.
   Let all the earth be silent before him.”

Chapter 3
3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
3:2 LORD, I heard the report of you, and I was afraid.
   LORD, revive your work in the midst of the years;
   in the midst of the years make it known.
   In wrath remember compassion.
3:3 God comes from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.
   Selah.
   His splendor covers the heavens, and his praise fills the earth.
3:4 His brightness is like the light;
   rays come from his hand, and there his power is hidden.
3:5 Pestilence goes before him, and plague follows at his feet.
3:6 He stood and measured the earth;
   he looked and made nations tremble.
   The everlasting mountains were shattered, the ancient hills bowed down.
   His ways are everlasting.
3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan under affliction;
   the tent curtains of the land of Midian tremble.

3:8 Was the LORD angry with the rivers?
   Was your anger against the rivers, your wrath against the sea, when you rode your horses, your chariots of salvation?
3:9 Your bow is laid completely bare;
   oaths are spoken over the shafts.
   Selah.
   You split the earth with rivers.
3:10 The mountains saw you and writhed.
   A torrent of water swept past;
   the deep raised its voice and lifted its hands on high.
3:11 The sun and moon stood still in their dwelling at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the brightness of your flashing spear.
3:12 You marched through the earth in indignation;
   in anger you threshed the nations.
3:13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed.
   You shattered the head of the house of the wicked, laying bare the foundation up to the neck. Selah.

3:14 You pierced the head of his warriors with his own shafts.
   They stormed out to scatter me, exulting as if to devour the poor in secret.
3:15 You trod the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.
3:16 I heard, and my belly trembled;
   my lips quivered at the sound.
   Rot entered my bones, and I trembled where I stood.
   Yet I will wait quietly for the day of distress to come upon the people who raid us.
3:17 Though the fig tree does not blossom and there is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though the flock is cut off from the fold and there are no cattle in the stalls,
3:18 yet I will exult in the LORD;
   I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
3:19 The LORD, the Lord, is my strength.
   He makes my feet like those of a doe and makes me tread on my heights.
   For the director, with my stringed instruments.

ZEPHANIAH

Chapter 1
1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Zephaniah son of Cushi, son of Gedaliah, son of Amariah, son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah son of Amon, king of Judah.
1:2 “I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
1:3 “I will sweep away people and animals;
   I will sweep away the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, the stumbling blocks together with the wicked.
   I will cut off mankind from the face of the earth,” declares the LORD.
1:4 “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and all who live in Jerusalem.
   I will cut off from this place the remnant of Baal, the name of the idolatrous priests along with the priests,
1:5 those who bow down on the rooftops to the host of heaven, those who bow down and swear allegiance to the LORD but also swear by Malcam,
1:6 and those who turn back from following the LORD, who have not sought the LORD or inquired of him.”
1:7 Be silent before the Lord GOD, for the day of the LORD is near.
   The LORD has prepared a sacrifice;
   he has consecrated his invited guests.
1:8 “On the day of the LORD’s sacrifice I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all who dress in foreign clothing.
1:9 On that day I will punish all who leap over the threshold, who fill their masters’ house with violence and deceit.

1:10 On that day,” declares the LORD, “there will be a cry from the Fish Gate, a wail from the Second Quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.
1:11 Wail, inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people have been destroyed;
   all who carry silver have been cut off.
1:12 At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their hearts, ‘The LORD will do neither good nor harm.’
1:13 Their wealth will become plunder and their houses a desolation.
   They will build houses but not live in them;
   they will plant vineyards but not drink their wine.”
1:14 The great day of the LORD is near, near and coming very quickly!
   Bitter is the sound of the day of the LORD;
   the warrior cries out there.
1:15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
1:16 a day of horn blast and battle cry against fortified cities and high corner towers.
1:17 “I will bring distress upon mankind, and they will walk like the blind because they have sinned against the LORD.
   Their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.”
1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them on the day of the LORD’s wrath.
   All the earth will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, for he will make a complete and sudden end of all who live on the earth.

Chapter 2
2:1 Gather yourselves, yes, gather, you shameless nation,
2:2 before the decree gives birth—the day passes like chaff—before the fierce anger of the LORD comes upon you, before the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you.
2:3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land who carry out his judgments.
   Seek righteousness;
   seek humility.
   Perhaps you will be hidden on the day of the LORD’s anger.
2:4 For Gaza will be abandoned and Ashkelon a desolation.
   Ashdod will be driven out at noon, and Ekron will be uprooted.

2:5 Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, the nation of the Cherethites!
   The word of the LORD is against you, Canaan, land of the Philistines: “I will destroy you until no inhabitant remains.”
2:6 The seacoast will become pastures, shelters for shepherds, and folds for sheep.
2:7 The coast will belong to the remnant of the house of Judah.
   They will graze there and lie down in the houses of Ashkelon in the evening, for the LORD their God will attend to them and restore their fortunes.
2:8 “I have heard the taunts of Moab and the insults of the Ammonites, with which they taunted my people and boasted against their territory.
2:9 Therefore, as I live,” declares the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Moab will be like Sodom, and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of nettles and salt pits, a desolation forever.
   The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will possess them.”
2:10 This will be their lot for their pride, because they taunted the people of the LORD of hosts and boasted against them.
2:11 The LORD will be dreadful to them, for he will starve all the gods of the earth.
   All the coastlands of the nations will bow down to him, each from his own place.
2:12 “You too, Cushites—they are slain by my sword.”
2:13 He will stretch out his hand against the north and destroy Assyria.
   He will make Nineveh a desolation, dry as the wilderness.
2:14 Herds will lie down in her midst, animals of every kind.
   Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge on her capitals.
   A voice will sing in the window;
   desolation will be on the threshold, for he has laid bare her cedarwork.
2:15 This is the exultant city that lived securely, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is none besides me.”
   How she has become a desolation, a resting place for wild animals!
   Everyone who passes by her hisses and waves his hand.

Chapter 3
3:1 Woe to the rebellious and defiled one, the oppressing city!
3:2 She did not obey the voice or accept correction.
   She did not trust in the LORD or draw near to her God.
3:3 Her princes within her are roaring lions;
   her judges are evening wolves that leave no bones for morning.
3:4 Her prophets are reckless, treacherous men.
   Her priests profane what is holy and do violence to the law.
3:5 The LORD within her is righteous;
   he does no injustice.
   Morning after morning he brings his justice to light without fail, but the unjust know no shame.
3:6 “I have cut off nations;
   their corner towers are desolate.
   I laid waste their streets, with no one passing through.
   Their cities are ruined, without a person, without an inhabitant.
3:7 I said, ‘Surely you will fear me;
   you will accept correction.’ Then her dwelling would not be cut off, despite all I had appointed against her.
   But they rose early to corrupt all their deeds.
3:8 Therefore wait for me,” declares the LORD, “for the day I rise for plunder.
   For my decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them my indignation, all my fierce anger.
   For all the earth will be consumed by the fire of my jealousy.
3:9 For then I will give the peoples purified lips, so that all of them may call on the name of the LORD and serve him shoulder to shoulder.
3:10 From beyond the rivers of Cush my suppliants, the daughter of my scattered ones, will bring my offering.
3:11 On that day you will not be ashamed of all the deeds by which you rebelled against me, for then I will remove from your midst those who exult in your pride.
   You will no longer be haughty on my holy mountain.
3:12 I will leave in your midst a humble and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of the LORD.
3:13 The remnant of Israel will do no injustice and speak no lies.
   No deceitful tongue will be found in their mouths, for they will graze and lie down, with no one to make them afraid.”

3:14 Sing for joy, daughter Zion!
   Shout, Israel!
   Be glad and exult with all your heart, daughter Jerusalem!
3:15 The LORD has removed the judgments against you;
   he has turned away your enemy.
   The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
   you will no longer fear harm.
3:16 On that day it will be said to Jerusalem, “Do not fear, Zion;
   do not let your hands fall limp.
3:17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty warrior who saves.
   He will rejoice over you with gladness;
   he will be silent in his love.
   He will exult over you with singing.”
3:18 “I will gather those who grieve over the appointed feast;
   they were from you.
   Reproach was a burden upon her.
3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you.
   I will save the one who limps and gather the outcast.
   I will make them a praise and a name in every land where they were put to shame.
3:20 At that time I will bring you in, at the time I gather you.
   For I will give you a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the LORD.

HAGGAI

Chapter 1
1:1 In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:
1:2 “This is what the LORD of hosts says: This people says, ‘The time has not come—the time for the LORD’s house to be rebuilt.’”
1:3 Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet:
1:4 “Is it time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses while this house lies in ruins?
1:5 Now this is what the LORD of hosts says: Consider your ways.
1:6 You have sown much but brought in little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but do not become drunk. You put on clothes but are not warm. Those who earn wages put their wages into a bag full of holes.
1:7 This is what the LORD of hosts says: Consider your ways.
1:8 Go up the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD.
1:9 “You looked for much, but it came to little. When you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts. “Because my house lies in ruins while each of you runs to his own house.
1:10 Therefore, because of you, the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its produce.
1:11 I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, and the oil, on whatever the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
1:12 Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all the remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.
1:13 Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD.
1:14 The LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. They came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,
1:15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of King Darius.

Chapter 2
2:1 On the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet:
2:2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, and say:
2:3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Does it not seem like nothing in your eyes?
2:4 Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work, for I am with you,’ declares the LORD of hosts.
2:5 ‘This is the word I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains among you. Do not be afraid.
2:6 For this is what the LORD of hosts says: Once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
2:7 I will shake all the nations, and the treasures of all the nations will come. I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts.
2:8 ‘The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts.
2:9 ‘The later glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts.”
2:10 On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Haggai the prophet:
2:11 “This is what the LORD of hosts says: Ask the priests for a ruling:
2:12 ‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and that fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’” The priests answered, “No.”
2:13 Then Haggai said, “If someone who is unclean through contact with a dead body touches any of these things, will it become unclean?” The priests answered, “It will become unclean.”
2:14 Then Haggai answered, “So it is with this people, and so it is with this nation before me,” declares the LORD. “So it is with all the work of their hands. What they offer there is unclean.
2:15 Now consider carefully, from this day back to the time before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the LORD:
2:16 When someone came to a heap of about twenty bushels, there were only about ten. When someone came to the winepress to draw about fifty gallons, there were only about twenty.
2:17 I struck you and all the work of your hands with blight, mildew, and hail, yet you did not turn to me,” declares the LORD.
2:18 “Consider carefully from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid. Consider carefully:
2:19 Is the seed still in the granary? The vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yet borne fruit. From this day on I will bless.”
2:20 The word of the LORD came to Haggai a second time on the twenty-fourth day of the month:
2:21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, and say: I am shaking the heavens and the earth.
2:22 I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overturn the chariot and its riders. Horses and their riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother.
2:23 On that day,” declares the LORD of hosts, “I will take you, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, my servant,” declares the LORD, “and make you like a signet, for I have chosen you,” declares the LORD of hosts.

ZECHARIAH

Chapter 1
1:1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:
1:2 “The LORD was very angry with your ancestors.
1:3 Say to them: This is what the LORD of hosts says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of hosts.
1:4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘This is what the LORD of hosts says: Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to me,” declares the LORD.
1:5 “Your ancestors—where are they? And the prophets—do they live forever?
1:6 But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? Then they returned and said, ‘Just as the LORD of hosts intended to deal with us according to our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.’”
1:7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:
1:8 At night I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
1:9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was speaking with me said, “I will show you what these are.”
1:10 The man standing among the myrtle trees answered, “These are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
1:11 They answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and the whole earth is quiet and at rest.”
1:12 Then the angel of the LORD said, “LORD of hosts, how long will you withhold compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?”
1:13 The LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with good words, comforting words.
1:14 Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: This is what the LORD of hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.
1:15 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease. I was only a little angry, but they added to the harm.’
1:16 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be rebuilt in it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.’
1:17 Proclaim again: This is what the LORD of hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity. The LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”
1:18 I lifted my eyes and saw four horns.
1:19 I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” He said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
1:20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
1:21 I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “Those are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could lift his head. But these have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Chapter 2
2:1 I lifted my eyes and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.
2:2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”
2:3 Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him.
2:4 He said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited like unwalled villages because of the many people and livestock within it.
2:5 I myself,’ declares the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory within her.’”
2:6 “Come, come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD.
2:7 “Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon!”
2:8 For this is what the LORD of hosts says: “After glory he sent me to the nations that plundered you, for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.
2:9 For I am about to wave my hand over them, and they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me.
2:10 Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion, for I am coming and will dwell in your midst,” declares the LORD.
2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day and will become my people. I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.”
2:12 The LORD will take possession of Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.
2:13 Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

Chapter 3
3:1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
3:2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is this not a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
3:3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy garments as he stood before the angel.
3:4 He said to those standing before him, “Remove his filthy garments.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you in fine garments.”
3:5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him in garments, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
3:6 The angel of the LORD solemnly charged Joshua:
3:7 “This is what the LORD of hosts says: If you walk in my ways and keep my charge, you will govern my house and guard my courts, and I will give you access among these who stand here.
3:8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, you and your companions who sit before you, for they are men who serve as a sign. I am about to bring my servant, the Branch.
3:9 For look at the stone I have set before Joshua: on a single stone are seven eyes. I myself will engrave it,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and I will remove the guilt of that land in one day.
3:10 On that day,” declares the LORD of hosts, “each of you will invite his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.”

Chapter 4
4:1 The angel who was speaking with me returned and woke me, as someone is awakened from sleep.
4:2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a lampstand entirely of gold, with its bowl on top and seven lamps on it, with seven pipes for each of the lamps on top.
4:3 There are two olive trees beside it, one to the right of the bowl and one to its left.”
4:4 I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”
4:5 The angel who was speaking with me answered, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”
4:6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might or by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.
4:7 Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. He will bring out the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”
4:8 Then the word of the LORD came to me:
4:9 “The hands of Zerubbabel laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
4:10 For who has despised the day of small things? These seven will rejoice when they see the plumb stone in Zerubbabel’s hand. They are the eyes of the LORD, ranging throughout the earth.”
4:11 Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees to the right and left of the lampstand?”
4:12 I asked him a second time, “What are the two olive branches beside the two golden spouts that pour the golden oil out of them?”
4:13 He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”
4:14 Then he said, “These are the two sons of oil who stand beside the Lord of all the earth.”

Chapter 5
5:1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw a flying scroll.
5:2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a flying scroll, about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”
5:3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse going out over the face of the whole earth. Every thief will be cleared away according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears will be cleared away according to what is on the other.
5:4 I have sent it out,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain inside his house and consume it, its timbers and its stones.”
5:5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and said, “Lift your eyes now and see what this is that is coming out.”
5:6 I asked, “What is it?” He said, “This is the grain-measuring basket that is coming out.” Then he said, “This is their appearance throughout the earth.”
5:7 A round lead cover was being lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.
5:8 He said, “This is Wickedness.” He threw her into the basket and threw the lead weight over its opening.
5:9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw two women coming out, with wind in their wings. They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted the basket between earth and heaven.
5:10 I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”
5:11 He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there on her base.”

Chapter 6
6:1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw four chariots coming out from between the two mountains. The mountains were mountains of bronze.
6:2 The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot black horses,
6:3 the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot strong, dappled horses.
6:4 I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”
6:5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going out after standing before the Lord of all the earth.
6:6 The chariot with the black horses is going out to the land of the north. The white horses go out after them, and the dappled horses go out to the land of the south.”
6:7 The strong horses came out, eager to go and patrol the earth. He said, “Go, patrol the earth!” So they patrolled the earth.
6:8 Then he called out to me and said, “Look, those going out to the land of the north have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north.”
6:9 The word of the LORD came to me:
6:10 “Take from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah—and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon.
6:11 Take silver and gold, make crowns, and place them on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
6:12 Say to him: This is what the LORD of hosts says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch. He will sprout from his place and build the temple of the LORD.
6:13 He himself will build the temple of the LORD. He will bear majesty and sit and rule on his throne. There will be a priest on his throne, and a counsel of peace will be between the two.’
6:14 The crowns will be a memorial in the temple of the LORD for Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen son of Zephaniah.
6:15 Those who are far away will come and build in the temple of the LORD. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.”

Chapter 7
7:1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev.
7:2 Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and his men to seek the LORD’s favor
7:3 and to ask the priests of the house of the LORD of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done for so many years?”
7:4 Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me:
7:5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted—for me?
7:6 And when you eat and drink, is it not for yourselves that you eat and drink?
7:7 Are these not the words the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and its surrounding cities were inhabited and at peace, and the Negev and the lowland were inhabited?’”
7:8 The word of the LORD came to Zechariah:
7:9 “This is what the LORD of hosts says: Render true judgments, and show kindness and compassion to one another.
7:10 Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, or the poor. Do not plot evil against one another in your hearts.
7:11 But they refused to pay attention. They turned a stubborn shoulder and made their ears dull so they would not hear.
7:12 They made their hearts as hard as diamond so they would not hear the law or the words the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. So great wrath came from the LORD of hosts.
7:13 Just as he called and they did not listen, so they called and I did not listen,” says the LORD of hosts.
7:14 “I scattered them like a whirlwind among all the nations they had not known. The land was left desolate behind them, with no one passing through or returning. They made the pleasant land a desolation.”

Chapter 8
8:1 The word of the LORD of hosts came:
8:2 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “I am very jealous for Zion. With great fury I am jealous for her.”
8:3 This is what the LORD says: “I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain.”
8:4 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “Old men and old women will again sit in the squares of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age.
8:5 The squares of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its squares.”
8:6 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “If this seems too difficult in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem too difficult in my eyes?” declares the LORD of hosts.
8:7 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “I am about to save my people from the land of the east and from the land of the setting sun.
8:8 I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God in truth and righteousness.”
8:9 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “Let your hands be strong, you who in these days hear these words from the mouths of the prophets who were there on the day the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, so that the temple might be built.
8:10 For before those days there were no wages for people or payment for livestock. There was no safety from the enemy for those going out or coming in, and I set everyone against his neighbor.
8:11 But now I do not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days,” declares the LORD of hosts.
8:12 “For the seed will be sown in peace. The vine will give its fruit, the land will give its produce, and the heavens will give their dew. I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
8:13 Just as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid. Let your hands be strong.
8:14 For this is what the LORD of hosts says: Just as I intended to bring disaster on you when your ancestors provoked me to anger,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I did not relent,
8:15 so in these days I have again intended to do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Do not be afraid.
8:16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another. Render judgments of truth and peace at your gates.
8:17 Do not plot evil against your neighbor in your hearts, and do not love a false oath, for all these are things I hate,” declares the LORD.
8:18 The word of the LORD of hosts came to me:
8:19 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become joy, gladness, and happy festivals for the house of Judah. So love truth and peace.”
8:20 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “Peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come.
8:21 The inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, ‘Let us go earnestly to seek the LORD’s favor and to seek the LORD of hosts. I too will go.’
8:22 Many peoples and powerful nations will come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to seek the LORD’s favor.”
8:23 This is what the LORD of hosts says: “In those days ten men from all the languages of the nations will take hold of the edge of a Jewish man’s garment and say, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

Chapter 9
9:1 An oracle of the word of the LORD concerning the land of Hadrach, with Damascus as its resting place, for the eye of humanity and of all the tribes of Israel is toward the LORD,
9:2 and also concerning Hamath, which borders it, and Tyre and Sidon, though she is very wise.
9:3 Tyre built herself a stronghold and heaped up silver like dust and fine gold like mud in the streets.
9:4 But the Lord will dispossess her and strike down her power in the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.
9:5 Ashkelon will see it and be afraid.
   Gaza will writhe in great anguish, and so will Ekron, because her hope has been put to shame.
   A king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.
9:6 “A people of mixed birth will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
9:7 I will remove his blood from his mouth and his abominations from between his teeth.
   He too will remain for our God and will be like a chief in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.
9:8 I will encamp for my house against an army, against those passing through and returning.
   No oppressor will pass over them again, for now I have seen with my own eyes.”

9:9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!
   Shout, daughter of Jerusalem!
   Look, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
9:10 “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow will be cut off.
   He will proclaim peace to the nations.
   His rule will extend from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.
9:11 As for you, because of the blood of your covenant, I have released your prisoners from the waterless pit.
9:12 Return to the stronghold, prisoners of hope.
   Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.
9:13 For I have bent Judah as my bow and loaded it with Ephraim.
   I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and make you like a warrior’s sword.”
9:14 The LORD will appear over them, and his arrow will go out like lightning.
   The Lord GOD will sound the trumpet and march in the whirlwinds of the south.
9:15 The LORD of hosts will shield them.
   They will devour;
   they will trample slingstones.
   They will drink and roar as if from wine, and they will be filled like a sacrificial bowl, like the corners of the altar.
9:16 The LORD their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people, for they are the stones of a crown, raised high over his land.
9:17 How great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!
   Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the young women.

Chapter 10
10:1 Ask the LORD for rain in the season of the late rain—the LORD who makes lightning.
   He gives them showers of rain, and everyone vegetation in the field.
10:2 For the household idols speak deceit, the diviners see lies, and they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort.
   Therefore they wander like sheep and suffer because there is no shepherd.

10:3 “My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats.
   For the LORD of hosts has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them like his majestic horse in battle.
10:4 From him will come the cornerstone, from him the peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together.
10:5 They will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle.
   They will fight because the LORD is with them, and the riders on horses will be put to shame.
10:6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph.
   I will restore them because I have compassion on them.
   They will be as though I had not rejected them, for I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.
10:7 Ephraim will be like a warrior, and their hearts will rejoice as if from wine.
   Their children will see and be glad;
   their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.
10:8 I will whistle for them and gather them, for I have redeemed them.
   They will be as numerous as they were before.
10:9 I will sow them among the peoples, and in distant lands they will remember me.
   They will live with their children and return.
10:10 I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria.
   I will bring them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon, until there is no room for them.
10:11 He will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea.
   All the depths of the Nile will dry up.
   The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.
10:12 I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they will walk in his name,” declares the LORD.

Chapter 11
11:1 Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may consume your cedars!
11:2 Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen;
   the majestic ones have been destroyed.
   Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been brought down!
11:3 Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their splendor has been destroyed!
   Listen to the roaring of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan has been destroyed!
11:4 This is what the LORD my God says: “Shepherd the flock destined for slaughter,
11:5 whose buyers slaughter them and incur no guilt, and whose sellers say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!’ Their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
11:6 For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD. “I am about to hand everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will crush the land, and I will not rescue them from their hands.”
11:7 So I shepherded the flock destined for slaughter, especially the poor of the flock. I took two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.
11:8 In one month I removed the three shepherds. I lost patience with them, and they too detested me.
11:9 Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. Let the dying die, and let the perishing perish. Let those that remain eat one another’s flesh.”
11:10 I took my staff Favor and broke it, to annul the covenant I had made with all the peoples.
11:11 It was annulled on that day. Then the poor of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
11:12 I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; if not, keep them.” So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver as my wages.
11:13 The LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter—the magnificent price at which they valued me!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
11:14 Then I broke my second staff, Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
11:15 The LORD said to me, “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
11:16 For I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the young, heal the injured, or sustain those still standing. Instead, he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and tear their hoofs apart.

11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock!
   May a sword strike his arm and his right eye!
   May his arm wither completely, and his right eye go utterly blind!”

Chapter 12
12:1 An oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel. The LORD declares—he who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him:
12:2 “I am about to make Jerusalem a bowl that causes all the surrounding peoples to stagger. It will also be upon Judah during the siege against Jerusalem.
12:3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be severely cut, and all the nations of the earth will gather against her.
12:4 On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. I will open my eyes over the house of Judah, but I will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.
12:5 Then the chiefs of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength through the LORD of hosts, their God.’
12:6 On that day I will make the chiefs of Judah like a firepan among wood and like a burning torch among sheaves. They will consume all the surrounding peoples to the right and to the left, while Jerusalem will again be inhabited in her own place, in Jerusalem.
12:7 The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be greater than that of Judah.
12:8 On that day the LORD will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The feeblest among them on that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them.
12:9 On that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
12:10 I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look to me, whom they pierced, and mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn.
12:11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be great, like the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddon.
12:12 The land will mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves;
12:13 the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves;
12:14 all the remaining families, each family by itself and their wives by themselves.”

Chapter 13
13:1 On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
13:2 “On that day,” declares the LORD of hosts, “I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.
13:3 If anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You must not live, for you have spoken lies in the name of the LORD.’ His father and mother who bore him will pierce him through when he prophesies.
13:4 On that day the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. They will no longer wear a hairy cloak in order to deceive.
13:5 Instead he will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a man who works the ground, for someone made me a slave in my youth.’
13:6 If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ he will answer, ‘The wounds I received in the house of those who love me.’

13:7 Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my companion,” declares the LORD of hosts.
   “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
   I will turn my hand against the little ones.
13:8 In all the land,” declares the LORD, “two-thirds will be cut off and die, but one-third will remain in it.
13:9 I will bring that third through the fire, refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested.
   They will call on my name, and I will answer them.
   I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Chapter 14
14:1 Look, a day is coming for the LORD, when your plunder will be divided in your midst.
14:2 “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle. The city will be captured, the houses plundered, and the women raped. Half the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.”
14:3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle.
14:4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east. The Mount of Olives will split in two from east to west, forming a very great valley. Half the mountain will move north and half south.
14:5 You will flee through the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azal. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.
14:6 On that day there will be no light; the bright lights will grow dim.
14:7 It will be a unique day, known to the LORD, neither day nor night. At evening there will be light.
14:8 On that day living waters will flow from Jerusalem, half toward the eastern sea and half toward the western sea. It will be so in summer and in winter.
14:9 The LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.
14:10 All the land will become like a plain, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But she will be raised up and inhabited in her place, from the Benjamin Gate to the site of the first gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
14:11 People will dwell in her, and there will be no more utter destruction. Jerusalem will dwell securely.
14:12 This will be the plague with which the LORD strikes all the peoples who fought against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
14:13 On that day a great panic from the LORD will be among them. Each will seize his neighbor’s hand, and his hand will rise against his neighbor’s hand.
14:14 Judah too will fight in Jerusalem. The wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered—gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.
14:15 A plague like this will also strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the livestock in those camps.
14:16 Then all who remain from all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
14:17 If any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, no rain will fall on them.
14:18 If the family of Egypt does not go up and come, they too will have no rain. There will be the plague with which the LORD strikes the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
14:19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths.
14:20 On that day the bells of the horses will bear the words “Holy to the LORD.” The pots in the house of the LORD will be like the bowls before the altar.
14:21 Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holy to the LORD of hosts. All who sacrifice will come and take them and cook in them. On that day there will no longer be a merchant in the house of the LORD of hosts.

MALACHI

Chapter 1
1:1 An oracle of the word of the LORD to Israel through Malachi.
1:2 “I have loved you,” says the LORD. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’ Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I loved Jacob,
1:3 but I hated Esau. I made his mountains a desolation and gave his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.”
1:4 Though Edom says, “We have been beaten down, but we will rebuild the ruins,” this is what the LORD of hosts says: “They may build, but I will tear down. They will be called ‘the territory of wickedness’ and ‘the people with whom the LORD is angry forever.’
1:5 Your own eyes will see it, and you will say, ‘Great is the LORD beyond the borders of Israel!’
1:6 A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is my honor? If I am a master, where is the fear due me?” says the LORD of hosts. “You priests despise my name, yet you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’
1:7 You offer defiled food on my altar. Yet you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying, ‘The LORD’s table is contemptible.’
1:8 When you offer a blind animal for sacrifice, is it not evil? When you offer a lame or sick animal, is it not evil? Present it to your governor! Will he be pleased with you or receive you with favor?” says the LORD of hosts.
1:9 “Now seek God’s favor, that he may be gracious to us. This has come from your hands. Will he receive any of you with favor?” says the LORD of hosts.
1:10 “If only one of you would shut the doors, so that you would not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I take no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of hosts, “and I will not accept an offering from your hands.
1:11 For from the rising of the sun to its setting, my name is great among the nations. In every place incense is offered to my name, and a pure offering, for my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of hosts.
1:12 “But you profane it by saying, ‘The Lord’s table is defiled, and its produce, its food, is contemptible.’
1:13 You say, ‘What a burden!’ and you sniff at it,” says the LORD of hosts. “You bring what is stolen, lame, or sick, and present it as an offering. Should I accept it from your hands?” says the LORD.
1:14 “Cursed is the deceiver who has a male in his flock and makes a vow, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of hosts, “and my name is feared among the nations.

Chapter 2
2:1 Now, priests, this commandment is for you.
2:2 If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor my name,” says the LORD of hosts, “I will send the curse upon you and curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not take it to heart.
2:3 I am about to rebuke your seed and spread dung on your faces—the dung of your festivals—and you will be carried away with it.
2:4 Then you will know that I sent you this commandment so that my covenant with Levi might continue,” says the LORD of hosts.
2:5 “My covenant with him was life and peace. I gave them to him so that he would fear me. He feared me and stood in awe of my name.
2:6 True instruction was in his mouth, and no unrighteousness was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness and turned many from iniquity.
2:7 For a priest’s lips should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts.
2:8 But you have turned from the way. You have caused many to stumble through your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of hosts.
2:9 “So I have made you despised and lowly before all the people, because you do not keep my ways but show partiality in your instruction.”
2:10 Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we act faithlessly toward one another, profaning the covenant of our ancestors?
2:11 Judah has acted faithlessly, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. For Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD, which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.
2:12 As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob the one who wakes and the one who answers, even the one who brings an offering to the LORD of hosts.
2:13 This is the second thing you do: You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning, because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hands.
2:14 Yet you ask, “Why?” Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth. You have acted faithlessly toward her, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant.
2:15 Did he not make one, though a remnant of spirit was his? And what was the one seeking? Offspring for God. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you act faithlessly toward the wife of your youth.
2:16 “For he hates divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and the one who covers his garment with violence,” says the LORD of hosts. “So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not act faithlessly.”
2:17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you ask, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the LORD’s eyes, and he delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

Chapter 3
3:1 “I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—look, he is coming,” says the LORD of hosts.
3:2 “But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap.
3:3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver. He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
3:4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD, as in the days of old and in ancient years.
3:5 I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against sorcerers, adulterers, those who swear falsely, those who defraud workers of their wages, those who oppress the widow and the fatherless, and those who turn the foreigner aside and do not fear me,” says the LORD of hosts.
3:6 “For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, have not been consumed.
3:7 Since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of hosts. “But you ask, ‘How shall we return?’
3:8 Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you ask, ‘How have we robbed you?’ In tithes and offerings.
3:9 You are cursed with the curse, yet you are robbing me—the whole nation of you.
3:10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse so that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the LORD of hosts, “and see if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour out blessing for you beyond measure.
3:11 I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the produce of your ground, and your vine in the field will not lose its fruit before it is ripe,” says the LORD of hosts.
3:12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight,” says the LORD of hosts.
3:13 “Your words against me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’
3:14 You have said, ‘It is useless to serve God. What have we gained by keeping his charge and walking in mourning before the LORD of hosts?
3:15 Now we call the arrogant blessed. Those who do evil prosper; they even put God to the test and escape.’”
3:16 Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another. The LORD paid attention and listened, and a book of remembrance was written before him for those who fear the LORD and esteem his name.
3:17 “They will be mine,” says the LORD of hosts, “my treasured possession on the day I act. I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.
3:18 Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

Chapter 4
4:1 For look, the day is coming, burning like a furnace. All the arrogant and all who do evil will be stubble. The coming day will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of hosts, “leaving them neither root nor branch.
4:2 But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. You will go out and leap like calves from the stall.
4:3 You will trample the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day I act,” says the LORD of hosts.
4:4 “Remember the law of Moses my servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.
4:5 I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the great and fearsome day of the LORD comes.
4:6 He will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with utter destruction.”

MATTHEW

Chapter 1
1:1 The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
1:2 Abraham fathered Isaac, Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob fathered Judah and his brothers.
1:3 Judah fathered Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez fathered Hezron, and Hezron fathered Ram.
1:4 Ram fathered Amminadab, Amminadab fathered Nahshon, and Nahshon fathered Salmon.
1:5 Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, and Obed fathered Jesse.
1:6 Jesse fathered David the king. David fathered Solomon by Uriah’s wife.
1:7 Solomon fathered Rehoboam, Rehoboam fathered Abijah, and Abijah fathered Asaph.
1:8 Asaph fathered Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat fathered Joram, and Joram fathered Uzziah.
1:9 Uzziah fathered Jotham, Jotham fathered Ahaz, and Ahaz fathered Hezekiah.
1:10 Hezekiah fathered Manasseh, Manasseh fathered Amos, and Amos fathered Josiah.
1:11 Josiah fathered Jeconiah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
1:12 After the deportation to Babylon, Jeconiah fathered Shealtiel, and Shealtiel fathered Zerubbabel.
1:13 Zerubbabel fathered Abiud, Abiud fathered Eliakim, and Eliakim fathered Azor.
1:14 Azor fathered Zadok, Zadok fathered Achim, and Achim fathered Eliud.
1:15 Eliud fathered Eleazar, Eleazar fathered Matthan, and Matthan fathered Jacob.
1:16 Jacob fathered Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
1:17 So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.
1:18 The birth of Jesus Christ took place this way. His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit.
1:19 Her husband Joseph was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, so he decided to divorce her quietly.
1:20 But as he considered these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.
1:21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
1:22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet:
1:23 “Look, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,” which means “God with us.”
1:24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife home.
1:25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until she gave birth to a son, and he named him Jesus.

Chapter 2
2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, wise men from the east arrived in Jerusalem
2:2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”
2:3 When King Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
2:4 He gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Christ was to be born.
2:5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what was written through the prophet:
2:6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
   for from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
2:7 Then Herod secretly called the wise men and learned from them exactly when the star had appeared.
2:8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. When you find him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship him.”
2:9 After hearing the king, they went on their way. And the star they had seen at its rising went ahead of them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
2:10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
2:11 Entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother. They fell down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
2:12 Warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they went back to their country by another route.
2:13 After they had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child to kill him.”
2:14 So Joseph got up, took the child and his mother during the night, and left for Egypt.
2:15 He stayed there until Herod’s death, to fulfill what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
2:16 Then Herod, seeing that the wise men had outwitted him, became furious. He sent men to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its surrounding territory who were two years old and under, according to the time he had learned from the wise men.
2:17 Then what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning: Rachel weeping for her children, refusing to be comforted, because they are no more.”
2:19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt
2:20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child’s life are dead.”
2:21 So he got up, took the child and his mother, and entered the land of Israel.
2:22 But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Warned in a dream, he withdrew to the region of Galilee.
2:23 He went and settled in a town called Nazareth, to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”

Chapter 3
3:1 In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea
3:2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
3:3 He is the one spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’”
3:4 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.
3:5 Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and the whole region around the Jordan were going out to him.
3:6 They were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
3:8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance.
3:9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
3:10 The ax is already laid at the root of the trees. So every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
3:11 I baptize you in water for repentance, but the one coming after me is mightier than I. I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire.
3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly clear his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.
3:14 But John tried to stop him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and you come to me?”
3:15 Jesus answered him, “Allow it for now, for it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness in this way.” Then John allowed him.
3:16 After Jesus was baptized, he immediately came up from the water. The heavens opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming upon him.
3:17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Chapter 4
4:1 Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil.
4:2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
4:3 The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.”
4:4 But he answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
4:5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple.
4:6 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 do not strike your foot against a stone.’”
4:7 Jesus said to him, “It is also written: ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
4:8 Again the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
4:9 He said to him, “I will give you all these things if you fall down and worship me.”
4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go away, Satan! For it is written: ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve him alone.’”
4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and ministered to him.
4:12 When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee.
4:13 He left Nazareth and settled in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,
4:14 to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
4:15 “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles:
4:16 the people sitting in darkness have seen a great light, and on those sitting in the land and shadow of death a light has dawned.”
4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach and say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
4:18 As he walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.
4:19 He said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”
4:20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
4:21 Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them,
4:22 and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.
4:23 He went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.
4:24 News of him spread throughout Syria. They brought him all who were ill, afflicted with various diseases and pains, those possessed by demons, those suffering seizures, and those who were paralyzed, and he healed them.
4:25 Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and beyond the Jordan.

Chapter 5
5:1 When he saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. He sat down, and his disciples came to him.
5:2 Then he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

5:3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.

5:10 Blessed are those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
5:11 Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me.
5:12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets before you.
5:13 You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
5:14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
5:15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it shines on everyone in the house.
5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
5:17 Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.
5:18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or a single stroke will pass from the Law until everything takes place.
5:19 So whoever sets aside one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
5:21 You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and, ‘Whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’
5:22 But I tell you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever says to his brother, ‘You emptyhead!’ will be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the fire of hell.
5:23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,
5:24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
5:25 Come to terms with your adversary quickly while you are on the way with him, lest your adversary hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison.
5:26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
5:27 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’
5:28 But I tell you that everyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
5:30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.
5:31 It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife must give her a certificate of divorce.’
5:32 But I tell you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
5:33 Again, you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall fulfill your oaths to the Lord.’
5:34 But I tell you not to swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne,
5:35 nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.
5:36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.
5:37 Let your word be ‘Yes, yes,’ or ‘No, no.’ Anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
5:38 You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
5:39 But I tell you not to resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him as well.
5:40 If someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
5:41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go two with him.
5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
5:43 You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
5:44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,
5:45 so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
5:46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
5:47 And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing beyond others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?
5:48 Therefore, be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Chapter 6
6:1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven.
6:2 So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and streets to be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
6:3 But when you give to the poor, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
6:4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
6:5 When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
6:7 When you pray, do not heap up empty words like the Gentiles, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.
6:8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

6:9 Pray, then, in this way:
 ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.
6:10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.
6:12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’
6:14 For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
6:15 But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
6:16 When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
6:17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
6:18 so that your fasting may be seen by your Father who is in secret, rather than by others. And your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.
6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
6:20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal.
6:21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
6:22 The eye is the lamp of the body. So if your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light.
6:23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If, then, the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!
6:24 No one can serve two masters. For 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 God and wealth.
6:25 Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
6:26 Look at the birds of the sky: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
6:27 And which of you by worrying can add a single moment to his life?
6:28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither labor nor spin.
6:29 Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.
6:30 If God so clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, you of little faith?
6:31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’
6:32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
6:33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
6:34 So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Chapter 7
7:1 “Do not judge, so that you will not be judged.
7:2 For with the judgment you use, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
7:3 Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?
7:4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is a beam in your own eye?
7:5 You hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
7:6 Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn and tear you to pieces.
7:7 Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
7:8 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
7:9 Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?
7:10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?
7:11 If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
7:12 So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
7:13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.
7:14 For narrow is the gate and hard is the way that leads to life, and few find it.
7:15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.
7:16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
7:17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but a rotten tree bears bad fruit.
7:18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit.
7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
7:20 So you will recognize them by their fruits.
7:21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
7:22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, and perform many miracles in your name?’
7:23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness!’
7:24 So everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.
7:25 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock.
7:26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.
7:27 The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and struck that house, and it fell—and great was its fall.”
7:28 When Jesus finished these words, the crowds were astonished at his teaching,
7:29 for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

Chapter 8
8:1 When he came down from the mountain, large crowds followed him.
8:2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
8:3 He stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing. Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.
8:4 Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one. But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
8:5 When he entered Capernaum, a centurion approached him, pleading with him
8:6 and saying, “Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
8:7 He said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8:8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. But only say the word, and my servant will be healed.
8:9 For I too am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
8:10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have found no one in Israel with such great faith.
8:11 I tell you that many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.
8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
8:13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go; let it be done for you as you have believed.” And the servant was healed at that very hour.
8:14 When Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying down with a fever.
8:15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and began to serve him.
8:16 When evening came, they brought him many who were possessed by demons. He cast out the spirits with a word and healed all who were ill,
8:17 to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
 “He took our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
8:18 When Jesus saw large crowds around him, he gave orders to go to the other side.
8:19 A scribe approached and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
8:20 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
8:21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
8:22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
8:23 When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
8:24 Suddenly a great storm arose on the sea, so that the boat was being covered by the waves. But he was asleep.
8:25 They came and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
8:26 He said to them, “Why are you afraid, you of little faith?” Then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.
8:27 The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?”
8:28 When he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two men possessed by demons met him, coming out of the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass along that road.
8:29 They cried out, “What have you to do with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the appointed time?”
8:30 Some distance from them, a large herd of pigs was feeding.
8:31 The demons begged him, “If you cast us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”
8:32 He said to them, “Go!” They came out and went into the pigs. Then the whole herd rushed down the steep slope into the sea and died in the waters.
8:33 The herdsmen fled, went into the town, and reported everything, including what had happened to the men possessed by demons.
8:34 Then the whole town came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their territory.

Chapter 9
9:1 He got into a boat, crossed over, and came to his own town.
9:2 They brought him a paralyzed man lying on a bed. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Take heart, child; your sins are forgiven.”
9:3 Some of the scribes said to themselves, “This man is blaspheming.”
9:4 Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you think evil in your hearts?
9:5 For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
9:6 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—then he said to the paralyzed man—“get up, pick up your bed, and go home.”
9:7 And he got up and went home.
9:8 When the crowds saw this, they were afraid and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.
9:9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax booth. He said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him.
9:10 While he was reclining at table in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and reclined with Jesus and his disciples.
9:11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
9:12 When he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are ill.
9:13 Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
9:14 Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?”
9:15 Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn while the bridegroom is with them? But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
9:16 No one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.
9:17 Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. But they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”
9:18 While he was saying these things to them, a ruler came and knelt before him, saying, “My daughter has just died. But come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”
9:19 Jesus got up and followed him, along with his disciples.
9:20 A woman who had suffered from bleeding for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak.
9:21 For she said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.”
9:22 Jesus turned and saw her and said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
9:23 When Jesus entered the ruler’s house and saw the flute players and the noisy crowd,
9:24 he said, “Go away, for the girl is not dead, but sleeping.” And they laughed at him.
9:25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took her by the hand, and the girl arose.
9:26 And the news spread throughout that whole region.
9:27 As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, crying out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”
9:28 When he entered the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” They answered him, “Yes, Lord.”
9:29 Then he touched their eyes, saying, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.”
9:30 And their eyes were opened. Jesus sternly warned them, “See that no one knows about this.”
9:31 But they went out and spread the news about him throughout that whole region.
9:32 As they were leaving, a mute man possessed by a demon was brought to him.
9:33 When the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke. The crowds marveled, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!”
9:34 But the Pharisees said, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
9:35 Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness.
9:36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
9:37 Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
9:38 So plead with the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.”

Chapter 10
10:1 He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out and to heal every disease and every sickness.
10:2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew; James the son of Zebedee and his brother John;
10:3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus and Thaddaeus;
10:4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
10:5 Jesus sent out these twelve with these instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter a Samaritan town.
10:6 Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
10:7 As you go, proclaim, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’
10:8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with leprosy, and cast out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.
10:9 Do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your belts,
10:10 or a bag for the journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff, for the worker deserves his food.
10:11 Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave.
10:12 As you enter the house, greet it.
10:13 If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.
10:14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet as you leave that house or town.
10:15 Truly I tell you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
10:16 Look, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.
10:17 Beware of people, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues.
10:18 You will be brought before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.
10:19 When they hand you over, do not worry about how to speak or what to say, for what you are to say will be given to you at that hour.
10:20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking in you.
10:21 Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against parents and have them put to death.
10:22 You will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
10:23 When they persecute you in one town, flee to another. For truly I tell you, you will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
10:24 A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master.
10:25 It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they call the members of his household!
10:26 So do not be afraid of them. For nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
10:27 What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light, and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim from the rooftops.
10:28 Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.
10:30 But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
10:31 So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
10:32 Everyone who acknowledges me before others, I too will acknowledge before my Father in heaven.
10:33 But whoever denies me before others, I too will deny before my Father in heaven.
10:34 Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
10:35 For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
10:36 And a person’s enemies will be the members of his own household.
10:37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
10:38 And whoever does not take up his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
10:39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
10:40 Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.
10:41 Whoever welcomes a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever welcomes a righteous man because he is righteous will receive a righteous man’s reward.
10:42 And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple—truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”

Chapter 11
11:1 When Jesus finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their towns.
11:2 When John heard in prison about the works of the Christ, he sent a message through his disciples
11:3 and asked him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?”
11:4 Jesus answered them, “Go and report to John what you hear and see:
11:5 the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed and the deaf hear, the dead are raised and the poor have the gospel preached to them.
11:6 And blessed is the one who does not stumble because of me.”
11:7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
11:8 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? Look, those who wear fine clothes are in kings’ palaces.
11:9 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
11:10 This is the one of whom it is written: ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
11:11 Truly I tell you, among those born of women no one greater than John the Baptist has arisen. Yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
11:12 From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent men seize it.
11:13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John.
11:14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
11:15 Let anyone who has ears listen.
11:16 But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, calling to the others
11:17 and saying,
 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
   we sang a lament, and you did not mourn.’
11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’
11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her works.”
11:20 Then he began to reproach the towns where most of his miracles had taken place, because they had not repented:
11:21 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
11:22 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you.
11:23 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will go down to Hades! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained to this day.
11:24 But I tell you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.”
11:25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children.
11:26 Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
11:27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
11:28 Come to me, all who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.
11:29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
11:30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Chapter 12
12:1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick heads of grain and eat.
12:2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”
12:3 He said to them, “Have you not read what David did when he and those with him were hungry,
12:4 how he entered the house of God and they ate the bread of the Presence, which was not lawful for him or those with him to eat, but only for the priests?
12:5 Or have you not read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless?
12:6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.
12:7 If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.
12:8 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
12:9 He left that place and went into their synagogue.
12:10 A man with a withered hand was there. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” so that they could accuse him.
12:11 He said to them, “Which of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
12:12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
12:13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and it was restored, sound like the other.
12:14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him, to kill him.
12:15 Knowing this, Jesus withdrew from there. Many followed him, and he healed them all.
12:16 He sternly warned them not to make him known,
12:17 to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
12:18 “Look, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul delights.
   I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
12:19 He will not quarrel or cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
12:20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not quench, until he brings justice to victory.
12:21 And in his name the Gentiles will hope.”
12:22 Then a man possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him. He healed him, so that the mute man spoke and saw.
12:23 All the crowds were amazed and said, “Could this be the Son of David?”
12:24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man casts out demons only by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
12:25 Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no town or house divided against itself will stand.
12:26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
12:27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
12:28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
12:29 Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and seize his goods unless he first binds the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
12:30 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
12:31 Therefore I tell you, people will be forgiven every sin and blasphemy, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
12:32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.
12:33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree rotten and its fruit rotten, for the tree is known by its fruit.
12:34 You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
12:35 The good man brings good things out of his good treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil treasure.
12:36 But I tell you that people will give account on the day of judgment for every idle word they speak.
12:37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
12:38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”
12:39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
12:40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
12:41 The men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at Jonah’s preaching. And look, something greater than Jonah is here.
12:42 The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom. And look, something greater than Solomon is here.
12:43 When an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it passes through dry places seeking rest, but finds none.
12:44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ When it arrives, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order.
12:45 Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and live there. The last state of that person becomes worse than the first. So it will also be with this evil generation.”
12:46 While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.
12:47 Someone said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak to you.”
12:48 But he answered the one speaking to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?”
12:49 He stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.
12:50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Chapter 13
13:1 That day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.
13:2 Large crowds gathered around him, so he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
13:3 He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Look, a sower went out to sow.
13:4 As he sowed, some seeds fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate them.
13:5 Others fell on rocky ground, where they had little soil. They sprang up immediately because the soil was not deep.
13:6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered.
13:7 Others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.
13:8 Others fell on good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, and some thirtyfold.
13:9 Let anyone who has ears listen.”
13:10 The disciples came and asked him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
13:11 He answered them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but it has not been given to them.
13:12 For whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.
13:13 This is why I speak to them in parables: because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear or understand.
13:14 In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says:
 ‘You will hear and hear, but never understand;
   you will look and look, but never perceive.
13:15 For this people’s heart has grown dull, their ears hear with difficulty, and they have closed their eyes, lest they see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.’
13:16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.
13:17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see and did not see it, and to hear what you hear and did not hear it.
13:18 Hear, then, the parable of the sower.
13:19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown beside the path.
13:20 The one sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
13:21 Yet he has no root in himself, but lasts only a little while. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he immediately falls away.
13:22 The one sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but the worry of this age and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
13:23 But the one sown on good soil is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit, producing a hundredfold, sixtyfold, or thirtyfold.”
13:24 He set another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.
13:25 But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.
13:26 When the plants sprouted and produced grain, the weeds also appeared.
13:27 The master’s slaves came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
13:28 He told them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them?’
13:29 But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you uproot the wheat along with them.
13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First gather the weeds and tie them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”
13:31 He set another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.
13:32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”
13:33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
13:34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables, and he said nothing to them without a parable,
13:35 to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
 “I will open my mouth in parables;
   I will utter things hidden since creation.”
13:36 Then he left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
13:37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
13:38 The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,
13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.
13:40 Just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.
13:41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and those who practice lawlessness,
13:42 and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
13:43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone who has ears listen.
13:44 The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid. In his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.
13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls.
13:46 When he found one pearl of great value, he went and sold all he had and bought it.
13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net cast into the sea that gathered fish of every kind.
13:48 When it was full, they drew it onto the shore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw the bad away.
13:49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the evil from among the righteous
13:50 and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
13:51 Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.”
13:52 He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a house who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
13:53 When Jesus finished these parables, he left that place.
13:54 He came to his hometown and taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miracles?
13:55 Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
13:56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?”
13:57 And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own house.”
13:58 And he did not perform many miracles there because of their unbelief.

Chapter 14
14:1 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus
14:2 and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist. He has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
14:3 For Herod had seized John, bound him, and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.
14:4 For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
14:5 Though Herod wanted to kill him, he feared the crowd, because they regarded John as a prophet.
14:6 But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod.
14:7 So he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.
14:8 Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
14:9 The king was grieved, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered it to be given.
14:10 He sent and had John beheaded in the prison.
14:11 His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.
14:12 John’s disciples came, took the body, and buried him. Then they went and told Jesus.
14:13 When Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there by boat to a deserted place in private. When the crowds heard, they followed him on foot from the towns.
14:14 When he came ashore, he saw a large crowd, had compassion on them, and healed their sick.
14:15 When evening came, the disciples approached him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it is already late. Send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
14:16 But Jesus said to them, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
14:17 They said to him, “We have only five loaves and two fish here.”
14:18 He said, “Bring them here to me.”
14:19 He ordered the crowds to recline on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, spoke a blessing, broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.
14:20 They all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve full baskets of leftover pieces.
14:21 Those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
14:22 Immediately he made the disciples get into a boat and go ahead of him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds.
14:23 After dismissing the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.
14:24 The boat was already far from land, battered by the waves, for the wind was against it.
14:25 About three in the morning, he came toward them, walking on the sea.
14:26 When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were alarmed and said, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.
14:27 But Jesus immediately spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
14:28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.”
14:29 He said, “Come.” Peter got out of the boat, walked on the water, and came to Jesus.
14:30 But when he saw the strong wind, he was afraid. Beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!”
14:31 Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, caught him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”
14:32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased.
14:33 Those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
14:34 After crossing over, they came to land at Gennesaret.
14:35 When the men of that place recognized him, they sent word throughout the surrounding region and brought him all who were ill.
14:36 They begged him that they might only touch the fringe of his cloak, and all who touched it were made well.

Chapter 15
15:1 Then Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus and said,
15:2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
15:3 He answered them, “And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition?
15:4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Whoever curses father or mother must be put to death.’
15:5 But you say that whoever tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might have received from me is an offering,’
15:6 need not honor his father. So you have nullified the word of God because of your tradition.
15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah rightly prophesied about you when he said:
15:8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
15:9 They worship me in vain, teaching human commandments as doctrines.’”
15:10 He called the crowd to him and said to them, “Listen and understand:
15:11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth—that is what defiles a person.”
15:12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard this saying?”
15:13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.
15:14 Leave them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. If a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
15:15 Peter said to him, “Explain this parable to us.”
15:16 He said, “Are you too still without understanding?
15:17 Do you not realize that everything entering the mouth goes into the stomach and is expelled into the latrine?
15:18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and that defiles a person.
15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, false testimonies, and blasphemies.
15:20 These are what defile a person, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
15:21 Jesus left that place and withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.
15:22 A Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is terribly tormented by a demon.”
15:23 But he did not answer her a word. His disciples came and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
15:24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”
15:25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me!”
15:26 He answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
15:27 She said, “Yes, Lord, for even the little dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”
15:28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.
15:29 Jesus left there and came beside the Sea of Galilee. He went up the mountain and sat down there.
15:30 Large crowds came to him, bringing the mute, the blind, the lame, the maimed, and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them.
15:31 The crowd marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.
15:32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have already been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, lest they faint on the way.”
15:33 The disciples said to him, “Where can we get enough bread in this wilderness to feed so large a crowd?”
15:34 Jesus said to them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.”
15:35 He ordered the crowd to recline on the ground.
15:36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples, and the disciples to the crowds.
15:37 They all ate and were filled, and they took up seven large baskets full of leftover pieces.
15:38 Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.
15:39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and came to the region of Magadan.

Chapter 16
16:1 The Pharisees and Sadducees came to test him and asked him to show them a sign from heaven.
16:2 He answered them, “When evening comes, you say, ‘Fair weather, for the sky is red.’
16:3 And in the morning, ‘Storms today, for the sky is red and gloomy.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.
16:4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.
16:5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring bread.
16:6 Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
16:7 They discussed it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.”
16:8 Knowing this, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you brought no bread?
16:9 Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves for the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
16:10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?
16:11 How do you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
16:12 Then they understood that he had told them to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, rather than the leaven in bread.
16:13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
16:14 They said, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say I am?”
16:16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
16:17 Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven.
16:18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.”
16:20 Then he strictly instructed the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
16:21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised on the third day.
16:22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never happen to you.”
16:23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you do not set your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”
16:24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
16:25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it.
16:26 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
16:27 For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will repay each person according to his deeds.
16:28 Truly I tell you, some standing here will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Chapter 17
17:1 Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
17:2 He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.
17:3 Then Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.
17:4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three shelters here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
17:6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown and were terrified.
17:7 Jesus came, touched them, and said, “Get up, and do not be afraid.”
17:8 When they lifted their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus alone.
17:9 As they came down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
17:10 The disciples asked him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
17:11 He answered, “Elijah is indeed coming and will restore all things.
17:12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
17:13 Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.
17:14 When they came to the crowd, a man approached him, knelt before him,
17:15 and said, “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he suffers seizures and is in terrible distress. He often falls into the fire and often into the water.
17:16 I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.”
17:17 Jesus answered, “You faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”
17:18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that hour.
17:19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
17:20 He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly I tell you, if you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
17:21 [“But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting.”]
17:22 As they gathered in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be handed over into the hands of men.
17:23 They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised.” And they were deeply grieved.
17:24 When they came to Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?”
17:25 He said, “Yes.” When he entered the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect duties or taxes—from their sons or from others?”
17:26 When he said, “From others,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt.
17:27 But so that we do not cause them to stumble, go to the sea and cast a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a large silver coin. Take it and give it to them for me and for you.”

Chapter 18
18:1 At that hour the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”
18:2 He called a child to him, set him in their midst,
18:3 and said, “Truly I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
18:4 So whoever humbles himself like this child is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
18:5 And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.
18:6 But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin—it would be better for him to have a millstone turned by a donkey hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.
18:7 Woe to the world because of causes of sin! For causes of sin must come, but woe to the person through whom the cause of sin comes!
18:8 If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into the eternal fire.
18:9 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell.
18:10 See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.
18:11 [For the Son of Man came to save what was lost.]
18:12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them strays, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that strayed?
18:13 And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not stray.
18:14 In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
18:15 If your brother sins against you, go and point out his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother.
18:16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others with you, so that every matter may be established by the mouth of two or three witnesses.
18:17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.
18:18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.
18:19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.
18:20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in their midst.”
18:21 Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”
18:22 Jesus said to him, “I tell you, not up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
18:23 Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his slaves.
18:24 When he began to settle them, one was brought to him who owed ten thousand talents.
18:25 Since he had nothing with which to pay, his master ordered him to be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all he had, and payment to be made.
18:26 So the slave fell down before him and pleaded, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you everything.’
18:27 Moved with compassion, the master of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.
18:28 But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii, about a hundred days’ wages. He seized him and began choking him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe!’
18:29 His fellow slave fell down and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will repay you.’
18:30 But he refused. Instead, he went and had him thrown into prison until he paid what was owed.
18:31 When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved. They went and reported to their master all that had happened.
18:32 Then his master called him and said, ‘You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.
18:33 Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?’
18:34 In anger, his master handed him over to the torturers until he paid all that was owed.
18:35 So also my heavenly Father will do to you, unless each of you forgives his brother from his heart.”

Chapter 19
19:1 When Jesus finished these words, he left Galilee and came to the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.
19:2 Large crowds followed him, and he healed them there.
19:3 Pharisees came to test him and asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?”
19:4 He answered, “Have you not read that the Creator from the beginning made them male and female,
19:5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’?
19:6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
19:7 They said to him, “Why then did Moses command that a man give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?”
19:8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so.
19:9 And I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.”
19:10 The disciples said to him, “If this is the situation of a man with his wife, it is better not to marry.”
19:11 He said to them, “Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given.
19:12 For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let the one who can accept it accept it.”
19:13 Then children were brought to him so that he might lay his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.
19:14 But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”
19:15 After laying his hands on them, he went on from there.
19:16 A man came to him and said, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to have eternal life?”
19:17 He said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. But if you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
19:18 He said to him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness;
19:19 honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
19:20 The young man said to him, “I have kept all these. What do I still lack?”
19:21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
19:22 When the young man heard this saying, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
19:23 Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly I tell you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.
19:24 Again I tell you, 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.”
19:25 When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and said, “Who then can be saved?”
19:26 Jesus looked at them and said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
19:27 Then Peter said to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
19:28 Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, in the renewal, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
19:29 And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields because of my name will receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life.
19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Chapter 20
20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
20:2 After agreeing with the workers on a denarius for the day—the usual day’s wage—he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 Going out about nine in the morning, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace.
20:4 He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’
20:5 So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same.
20:6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found others standing there. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here idle all day?’
20:7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’
20:9 Those hired about five in the afternoon came, and each received a denarius.
20:10 When the first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.
20:11 On receiving it, they grumbled against the landowner,
20:12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
20:13 But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me on a denarius?
20:14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give this last one the same as you.
20:15 Am I not allowed to do what I want with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”
20:17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside and said to them on the way,
20:18 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death.
20:19 They will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised.”
20:20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling before him and asking something of him.
20:21 He said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
20:22 Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”
20:23 He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, but to sit at my right and at my left is not mine to give, but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
20:24 When the ten heard this, they were indignant with the two brothers.
20:25 But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
20:26 It will not be so among you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,
20:27 and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave,
20:28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
20:29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him.
20:30 Two blind men were sitting beside the road. Hearing that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
20:31 The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be silent, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
20:32 Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”
20:33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”
20:34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

Chapter 21
21:1 When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples,
21:2 saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you. Immediately you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.
21:3 If anyone says anything to you, say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.”
21:4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
21:5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
21:6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.
21:7 They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.
21:8 Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
21:9 The crowds going ahead of him and those following cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
21:10 When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?”
21:11 The crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”
21:12 Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves.
21:13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a den of robbers.”
21:14 The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
21:15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonders he did and the children crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant
21:16 and said to him, “Do you hear what these children are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘From the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?”
21:17 He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.
21:18 In the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.
21:19 Seeing a fig tree beside the road, he went to it but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “May no fruit ever grow from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
21:20 When the disciples saw this, they marveled and said, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
21:21 Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree. Even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.
21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
21:23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching and said, “By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you this authority?”
21:24 Jesus answered them, “I too will ask you one question. If you answer me, I too will tell you by what authority I do these things.
21:25 Where did John’s baptism come from—from heaven or from men?” They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
21:26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the crowd, for they all regard John as a prophet.”
21:27 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
21:28 But what do you think? A man had two children. He went to the first and said, ‘Child, go and work in the vineyard today.’
21:29 He answered, ‘I will not.’ But afterward he changed his mind and went.
21:30 He went to the second and said the same. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but did not go.
21:31 Which of the two did his father’s will?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. Even after you saw this, you did not change your minds and believe him.
21:33 Hear another parable. A landowner planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, and built a tower. He leased it to tenant farmers and went away.
21:34 When harvest time drew near, he sent his slaves to the tenants to receive his fruit.
21:35 The tenants seized his slaves, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
21:36 Again he sent other slaves, more than the first, and they did the same to them.
21:37 Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
21:38 But when the tenants saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’
21:39 They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.
21:40 So when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?”
21:41 They said to him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruit in its seasons.”
21:42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures,
 ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
   This came from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?
21:43 Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who produce its fruits.
21:44 The one who falls on this stone will be shattered, and it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
21:45 When the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables, they knew he was speaking about them.
21:46 Though they sought to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Chapter 22
22:1 Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,
22:2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.
22:3 He sent his slaves to call those invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.
22:4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those invited, “Look, I have prepared my dinner. My bulls and fattened animals have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast!”’
22:5 But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own field, another to his business.
22:6 The rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
22:7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
22:8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
22:9 So go to the crossroads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’
22:10 Those slaves went out into the roads and gathered everyone they found, both evil and good, and the wedding feast was filled with guests.
22:11 But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing a wedding garment.
22:12 He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless.
22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind his feet and hands and throw him into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
22:15 Then the Pharisees went and plotted how to trap him in his words.
22:16 They sent their disciples to him with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth. You are not swayed by anyone, for you show no partiality.
22:17 So tell us what you think. Is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not?”
22:18 But Jesus, knowing their malice, said, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?
22:19 Show me the coin used for the tax.” They brought him a denarius.
22:20 And he said to them, “Whose image and inscription are these?”
22:21 They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
22:22 When they heard this, they marveled, left him, and went away.
22:23 That day Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him,
22:24 “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies without children, his brother must marry his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.’
22:25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring, left his wife to his brother.
22:26 The same happened to the second, and the third, down to the seventh.
22:27 Last of all, the woman died.
22:28 In the resurrection, then, which of the seven will have her as his wife? For they all had her.”
22:29 Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.
22:30 For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven.
22:31 But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you:
22:32 ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
22:33 When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.
22:34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together.
22:35 One of them, an expert in the Law, asked him a question to test him:
22:36 “Teacher, which commandment is greatest in the Law?”
22:37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
22:38 This is the great and first commandment.
22:39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
22:40 On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
22:41 While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them,
22:42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “David’s.”
22:43 He said to them, “How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,
22:44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet”’?
22:45 If David calls him Lord, how then is he his son?”
22:46 No one could answer him a word, and from that day no one dared ask him any more questions.

Chapter 23
23:1 Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples,
23:2 saying, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat.
23:3 So do and observe everything they tell you, but do not act according to their works, for they say and do not do.
23:4 They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with their finger.
23:5 They do all their works to be seen by others. They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.
23:6 They love the place of honor at dinners and the chief seats in the synagogues,
23:7 greetings in the marketplaces, and being called ‘Rabbi’ by people.
23:8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.
23:9 And call no one on earth your father, for you have one Father, the heavenly one.
23:10 Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
23:11 The greatest among you will be your servant.
23:12 Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
23:13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You do not enter yourselves, nor do you allow those entering to go in.
23:14 [Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses and make long prayers for a pretense. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation.]
23:15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel sea and land to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.
23:16 Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the sanctuary, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gold of the sanctuary is bound by his oath.’
23:17 You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the sanctuary that made the gold holy?
23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing, but whoever swears by the gift on it is bound by his oath.’
23:19 You blind men! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?
23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
23:21 And whoever swears by the sanctuary swears by it and by the one who dwells in it.
23:22 And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by the one who sits on it.
23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, but have neglected the weightier matters of the Law: justice and mercy and faith. You ought to have practiced these without neglecting the others.
23:24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat but swallowing a camel!
23:25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence.
23:26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the dish, so that its outside may also become clean.
23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inside are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.
23:28 In the same way, you outwardly appear righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
23:29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous,
23:30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have shared with them in the blood of the prophets.’
23:31 So you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
23:32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers!
23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers! How will you escape the condemnation of hell?
23:34 Therefore, look, I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
23:35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
23:36 Truly I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.
23:37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!
23:38 Look, your house is left to you desolate.
23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now on until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

Chapter 24
24:1 Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out the temple buildings to him.
24:2 He answered them, “Do you not see all these things? Truly I tell you, not one stone will be left here upon another that will not be torn down.”
24:3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
24:4 Jesus answered them, “See that no one leads you astray.
24:5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray.
24:6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must happen, but the end is not yet.
24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
24:8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
24:9 Then they will hand you over to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name.
24:10 Then many will fall away, betray one another, and hate one another.
24:11 Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
24:12 And because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.
24:13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole inhabited world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
24:15 So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of through the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),
24:16 then let those in Judea flee to the mountains.
24:17 Let the one on the housetop not come down to take the things from his house,
24:18 and let the one in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
24:19 Woe to those who are pregnant and those who are nursing infants in those days!
24:20 Pray that your flight may not take place in winter or on a Sabbath.
24:21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not occurred from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will.
24:22 If those days were not cut short, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
24:23 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Here!’ do not believe it.
24:24 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
24:25 Look, I have told you beforehand.
24:26 So if they say to you, ‘Look, he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it.
24:27 For as lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
24:28 Wherever the corpse is, there the eagles will gather.
24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
24:30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
24:31 He will send out his angels with a loud trumpet, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
24:32 Learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch becomes tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near.
24:33 So also, when you see all these things, know that it is near, at the doors.
24:34 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.
24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
24:36 But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.
24:37 For as the days of Noah were, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.
24:38 For in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark.
24:39 They did not know until the flood came and swept them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
24:40 Then two men will be in the field; one is taken and one is left.
24:41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left.
24:42 So keep watch, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.
24:43 But know this: if the master of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
24:44 Therefore you too must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
24:45 Who then is the faithful and wise slave whom the master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time?
24:46 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds doing so when he comes.
24:47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.
24:48 But if that wicked slave says in his heart, ‘My master is delayed,’
24:49 and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eats and drinks with drunkards,
24:50 the master of that slave will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know.
24:51 He will cut him in two and assign him a place with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Chapter 25
25:1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.
25:2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise.
25:3 For the foolish took their lamps but took no oil with them.
25:4 The wise, however, took oil in containers along with their lamps.
25:5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
25:6 But at midnight a cry rang out, ‘Look, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
25:7 Then all those virgins arose and prepared their lamps.
25:8 The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
25:9 But the wise answered, ‘There may not be enough for us and you. Go instead to those who sell it and buy some for yourselves.’
25:10 While they went to buy it, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut.
25:11 Later the other virgins came too, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’
25:12 But he answered, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’
25:13 So keep watch, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
25:14 For it is like a man going away who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.
25:15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, each according to his own ability. Then he went away. Immediately,
25:16 the one who had received the five talents went and put them to work and gained another five.
25:17 In the same way, the one with two gained another two.
25:18 But the one who had received the one went away, dug in the ground, and hid his master’s money.
25:19 After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.
25:20 The one who had received the five talents came forward and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. Look, I have gained another five talents.’
25:21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful over a few things; I will put you over many. Enter into your master’s joy.’
25:22 The one with the two talents also came forward and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. Look, I have gained another two talents.’
25:23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave! You have been faithful over a few things; I will put you over many. Enter into your master’s joy.’
25:24 The one who had received the one talent also came forward and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you did not scatter.
25:25 So I was afraid, went away, and hid your talent in the ground. Look, you have what is yours.’
25:26 His master answered him, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I did not scatter?
25:27 Then you ought to have put my money with the bankers, and when I came I would have received what was mine with interest.
25:28 So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.
25:29 For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
25:30 And throw the worthless slave into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
25:31 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.
25:32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
25:33 He will place the sheep on his right and the goats on the left.
25:34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
25:36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
25:38 When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?
25:39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?’
25:40 The King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
25:41 Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,
25:43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
25:44 Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not serve you?’
25:45 Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, neither did you do it to me.’
25:46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Chapter 26
26:1 When Jesus finished all these words, he said to his disciples,
26:2 “You know that the Passover is in two days, and the Son of Man is being handed over to be crucified.”
26:3 Then the chief priests and the elders of the people gathered in the courtyard of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.
26:4 They plotted to seize Jesus by deceit and kill him.
26:5 But they said, “Not during the feast, so that there will not be a riot among the people.”
26:6 While Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper,
26:7 a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very costly perfume and poured it on his head as he reclined at table.
26:8 When the disciples saw this, they were indignant and said, “Why this waste?
26:9 For this could have been sold for a great sum and the money given to the poor.”
26:10 Knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a beautiful work for me.
26:11 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.
26:12 In pouring this perfume on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial.
26:13 Truly I tell you, wherever this gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
26:14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests
26:15 and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him.
26:16 From then on he sought an opportunity to hand him over.
26:17 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
26:18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’”
26:19 The disciples did as Jesus directed them, and they prepared the Passover.
26:20 When evening came, he reclined at table with the twelve disciples.
26:21 As they were eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
26:22 Deeply grieved, each one began to say to him, “Surely not I, Lord?”
26:23 He answered, “The one who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me.
26:24 The Son of Man goes as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
26:25 Judas, who was betraying him, answered, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said it.”
26:26 As they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing, broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
26:27 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you,
26:28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
26:29 But I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”
26:30 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away because of me this night, for it is written,
 ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’
26:32 But after I am raised, I will go ahead of you into Galilee.”
26:33 Peter answered him, “Even if everyone falls away because of you, I will never fall away.”
26:34 Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, this very night, before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”
26:35 Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.” And all the disciples said the same.
26:36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”
26:37 He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him and began to be sorrowful and distressed.
26:38 Then he said to them, “My soul is deeply sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”
26:39 He went a little farther, fell facedown, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
26:40 He came to the disciples and found them sleeping. He said to Peter, “So, could you not keep watch with me for one hour?
26:41 Keep watch and pray, so that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
26:42 Again he went away a second time and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
26:43 He came and again found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
26:44 He left them, went away again, and prayed a third time, saying the same words again.
26:45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep on now and rest. Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is being handed over into the hands of sinners.
26:46 Get up, let us go. Look, the one betraying me is near.”
26:47 While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived, and with him a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people.
26:48 The one betraying him had given them a sign, saying, “The man I kiss is the one. Seize him.”
26:49 Immediately he came to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him.
26:50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came for.” Then they came forward, laid hands on Jesus, and seized him.
26:51 One of those with Jesus reached out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the high priest’s slave, cutting off his ear.
26:52 Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword.
26:53 Or do you think I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once place more than twelve legions of angels at my disposal?
26:54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen this way?”
26:55 At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat teaching in the temple, and you did not seize me.
26:56 But all this has happened so that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
26:57 Those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders had gathered.
26:58 Peter followed him at a distance, as far as the high priest’s courtyard. He went inside and sat with the officers to see the outcome.
26:59 The chief priests and the whole council were seeking false testimony against Jesus to put him to death,
26:60 but they found none, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally two came forward
26:61 and said, “This man said, ‘I can tear down the sanctuary of God and build it in three days.’”
26:62 The high priest stood up and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is it that these men testify against you?”
26:63 But Jesus remained silent. The high priest said to him, “I put you under oath by the living God: tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.”
26:64 Jesus said to him, “You have said it. Yet I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
26:65 Then the high priest tore his garments and said, “He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.
26:66 What do you think?” They answered, “He deserves death.”
26:67 Then they spat in his face and struck him with their fists, and others slapped him,
26:68 saying, “Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck you?”
26:69 Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came to him and said, “You too were with Jesus the Galilean.”
26:70 But he denied it before everyone, saying, “I do not know what you are saying.”
26:71 When he went out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene.”
26:72 Again he denied it with an oath: “I do not know the man.”
26:73 A little later, those standing there came and said to Peter, “Surely you too are one of them, for your speech gives you away.”
26:74 Then he began to curse and swear, “I do not know the man!” Immediately a rooster crowed.
26:75 Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: “Before a rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went outside and wept bitterly.

Chapter 27
27:1 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death.
27:2 They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate the governor.
27:3 Then Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus had been condemned. Filled with remorse, he returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders,
27:4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.”
27:5 He threw the pieces of silver into the temple and withdrew. Then he went away and hanged himself.
27:6 The chief priests picked up the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put this into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.”
27:7 After taking counsel, they used the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for strangers.
27:8 That is why that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
27:9 Then what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one who was valued, whom the sons of Israel had valued,
27:10 and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me.”
27:11 Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said, “You say so.”
27:12 But when the chief priests and the elders accused him, he answered nothing.
27:13 Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how much they testify against you?”
27:14 But he did not answer him about even a single charge, so that the governor was greatly amazed.
27:15 At the feast, the governor customarily released one prisoner for the crowd, anyone they wanted.
27:16 At that time they had a well-known prisoner called Jesus Barabbas.
27:17 So when they had gathered, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release for you: Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus who is called the Christ?”
27:18 For he knew that they had handed him over out of envy.
27:19 While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for today I have suffered greatly in a dream because of him.”
27:20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and have Jesus put to death.
27:21 The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” They said, “Barabbas.”
27:22 Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!”
27:23 He said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Let him be crucified!”
27:24 When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing and that an uproar was developing instead, he took water and washed his hands before the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this blood. See to it yourselves.”
27:25 All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!”
27:26 Then he released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.
27:27 Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him.
27:28 They stripped him and put a scarlet cloak around him.
27:29 They wove a crown of thorns and placed it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. Kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”
27:30 They spat on him, took the reed, and kept striking him on the head.
27:31 After mocking him, they took off the cloak, put his own clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.
27:32 As they went out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, and compelled him to carry Jesus' cross.
27:33 They came to a place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull.
27:34 They gave him wine mixed with gall to drink, but after tasting it he would not drink it.
27:35 After crucifying him, they divided his clothes by casting lots.
27:36 Then they sat down and kept watch over him there.
27:37 Above his head they placed the written charge against him: “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.”
27:38 Then two robbers were crucified with him, one at his right and one at his left.
27:39 Those who passed by reviled him, shaking their heads
27:40 and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!”
27:41 Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes and the elders, mocked him, saying,
27:42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him.
27:43 He has trusted in God. Let God rescue him now, if he wants him, for he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’”
27:44 The robbers crucified with him also insulted him in the same way.
27:45 From about noon until about three in the afternoon, darkness came over the whole land.
27:46 At about three, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
27:47 When some of those standing there heard this, they said, “This man is calling Elijah.”
27:48 Immediately one of them ran, took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.
27:49 But the others said, “Wait; let us see whether Elijah comes to save him.”
27:50 Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
27:51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, and the rocks split.
27:52 The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.
27:53 After his resurrection, they came out of the tombs, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.
27:54 When the centurion and those guarding Jesus with him saw the earthquake and what had happened, they were greatly afraid and said, “Truly this was God's Son!”
27:55 Many women were there, watching from a distance. They had followed Jesus from Galilee and had served him.
27:56 Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
27:57 When evening came, a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph arrived. He too had become a disciple of Jesus.
27:58 He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body. Then Pilate ordered it to be handed over.
27:59 Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
27:60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut into the rock. He rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.
27:61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
27:62 The next day, the day after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate
27:63 and said, “Sir, we remember that while he was still alive, that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will be raised.’
27:64 Therefore order the tomb to be secured until the third day, lest his disciples come and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead.’ Then the last deception will be worse than the first.”
27:65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard. Go and make it as secure as you know how.”
27:66 So they went and secured the tomb by sealing the stone, with the guard there.

Chapter 28
28:1 After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.
28:2 And there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and rolled back the stone, and sat on it.
28:3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.
28:4 The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men.
28:5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.
28:6 He is not here, for he has been raised, just as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.
28:7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has been raised from the dead. Look, he is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him. Look, I have told you.”
28:8 They left the tomb quickly with fear and great joy and ran to tell his disciples.
28:9 Then Jesus met them, saying, “Greetings!” They came to him, took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.
28:10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
28:11 While they were going, some of the guard went into the city and reported to the chief priests everything that had happened.
28:12 They gathered with the elders, took counsel, and gave the soldiers a large sum of money,
28:13 saying, “Say, ‘His disciples came at night and stole him while we were sleeping.’
28:14 And if the governor hears of this, we will persuade him and keep you free from worry.”
28:15 They took the money and did as they were instructed. And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.
28:16 The eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had directed them.
28:17 When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.
28:18 Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
28:20 teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And look, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

MARK

Chapter 1
1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
1:2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah:
 “Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way.
1:3 A voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
   make his paths straight.’”
1:4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
1:5 The whole region of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
1:6 John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey.
1:7 He proclaimed, “After me comes one mightier than I. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.
1:8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.”
1:9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.
1:10 Immediately, as he came up out of the water, he saw the heavens being torn open and the Spirit descending upon him like a dove.
1:11 And a voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.”
1:12 Immediately the Spirit drove him out into the wilderness.
1:13 He was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels ministered to him.
1:14 After John was handed over, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God
1:15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel.”
1:16 Passing beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon’s brother, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen.
1:17 Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”
1:18 Immediately they left their nets and followed him.
1:19 Going a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were also in the boat mending the nets.
1:20 Immediately he called them. They left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired workers and went after him.
1:21 They entered Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he taught in the synagogue.
1:22 They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.
1:23 Just then a man with an unclean spirit was in their synagogue, and he cried out,
1:24 “What have you to do with us, Jesus the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”
1:25 Jesus rebuked it, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”
1:26 The unclean spirit convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, then came out of him.
1:27 They were all amazed and discussed it among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching! With authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
1:28 Immediately the news about him spread everywhere throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.
1:29 Immediately after leaving the synagogue, they went into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
1:30 Simon’s mother-in-law was lying down with a fever, and immediately they told him about her.
1:31 He came, took her by the hand, and raised her up. The fever left her, and she began to serve them.
1:32 When evening came, after the sun had set, they brought him all who were ill and those possessed by demons.
1:33 The whole town was gathered at the door.
1:34 He healed many who were ill with various diseases and cast out many demons. He would not let the demons speak, because they knew him.
1:35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he got up, went out, and departed to a deserted place. There he prayed.
1:36 Simon and those with him searched for him,
1:37 and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.”
1:38 He said to them, “Let us go elsewhere, to the nearby towns, so that I may preach there too, for that is why I came out.”
1:39 He went throughout Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.
1:40 A man with leprosy came to him, pleading with him and kneeling, saying to him, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
1:41 Moved to anger, he stretched out his hand, touched him, and said to him, “I am willing. Be clean!”
1:42 Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed.
1:43 With a stern warning, he sent him away at once
1:44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
1:45 But he went out and began to proclaim it widely and spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. He stayed outside in deserted places, and people came to him from everywhere.

Chapter 2
2:1 When he entered Capernaum again after some days, it became known that he was at home.
2:2 Many gathered, so that there was no more room, not even by the door, and he spoke the word to them.
2:3 They came bringing him a paralyzed man carried by four people.
2:4 Since they could not bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above where he was. After digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralyzed man was lying.
2:5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Child, your sins are forgiven.”
2:6 Some of the scribes were sitting there, reasoning in their hearts,
2:7 “Why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins except God alone?”
2:8 Immediately Jesus perceived in his spirit that they were reasoning this way within themselves and said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts?
2:9 Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk’?
2:10 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralyzed man,
2:11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home.”
2:12 He got up, immediately took the mat, and went out before everyone. They were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
2:13 He went out again beside the sea. The whole crowd came to him, and he taught them.
2:14 As he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth and said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him.
2:15 While he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners reclined with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.
2:16 When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
2:17 When Jesus heard this, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are ill. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
2:18 John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. People came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
2:19 Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
2:20 But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.
2:21 No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise the new patch pulls away from the old, and a worse tear is made.
2:22 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine and the skins are ruined. But new wine goes into fresh wineskins.”
2:23 On a Sabbath he was passing through the grainfields, and as his disciples made their way, they began to pick heads of grain.
2:24 The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
2:25 He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions were hungry,
2:26 how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence, which only the priests are allowed to eat, and also gave some to those with him?”
2:27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
2:28 So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

Chapter 3
3:1 He entered a synagogue again, and a man with a withered hand was there.
3:2 They watched him to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they could accuse him.
3:3 He said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand in the middle.”
3:4 Then he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save a life or to kill?” But they were silent.
3:5 He looked around at them with anger, grieved at the hardness of their hearts, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.
3:6 The Pharisees went out and immediately began plotting with the Herodians against him, to kill him.
3:7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed. Also from Judea,
3:8 Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and around Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude came to him when they heard all he was doing.
3:9 He told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him.
3:10 For he had healed many, so that all who had afflictions pressed upon him to touch him.
3:11 Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!”
3:12 But he sternly warned them not to make him known.
3:13 He went up the mountain and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him.
3:14 He appointed twelve, so that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach
3:15 and have authority to cast out demons.
3:16 He appointed the twelve: Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter;
3:17 James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, which means Sons of Thunder;
3:18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot,
3:19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
3:20 Then he came into a house, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat bread.
3:21 When those close to him heard, they went out to take hold of him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”
3:22 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons.”
3:23 He called them to him and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan?
3:24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
3:25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.
3:26 And if Satan has risen against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but has come to an end.
3:27 But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
3:28 Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven all their sins and whatever blasphemies they speak.
3:29 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.”
3:30 He said this because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”
3:31 His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent word to him, calling him.
3:32 A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Look, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.”
3:33 He answered them, “Who is my mother, or who are my brothers?”
3:34 Looking around at those sitting in a circle about him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers.
3:35 For whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Chapter 4
4:1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. A very large crowd gathered around him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, while the whole crowd was on the land beside the sea.
4:2 He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them,
4:3 “Listen! Look, a sower went out to sow.
4:4 As he sowed, some seed fell beside the path, and the birds came and ate it.
4:5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. Immediately it sprang up because the soil was not deep.
4:6 But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered.
4:7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
4:8 Other seeds fell into good soil and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing, producing thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.”
4:9 And he said, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”
4:10 When he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.
4:11 He said to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything comes in parables,
4:12 so that seeing they may see and not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand, lest they turn and be forgiven.”
4:13 He said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?
4:14 The sower sows the word.
4:15 These are the ones beside the path, where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word sown in them.
4:16 In the same way, these are the ones sown on rocky ground: when they hear the word, they immediately receive it with joy,
4:17 but have no root in themselves and last only a little while. Then, when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.
4:18 Others are the ones sown among thorns. These are the ones who have heard the word,
4:19 but the worries of the age, the deceitfulness of wealth, and desires for other things enter and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
4:20 But those sown on good soil are the ones who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit, thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold.”
4:21 He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on a lampstand?
4:22 For nothing is hidden except to be revealed, nor has anything been concealed except to come into the open.
4:23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.”
4:24 He said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and more will be added to you.
4:25 For whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”
4:26 He said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground.
4:27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he himself does not know how.
4:28 The earth bears fruit of itself: first the blade, then the head, then the full grain in the head.
4:29 When the crop is ready, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
4:30 He said, “How shall we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we describe it?
4:31 It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown in the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on the earth.
4:32 Yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants, and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the sky can nest in its shade.”
4:33 With many such parables he spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it.
4:34 He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately he explained everything to his own disciples.
4:35 That day, when evening came, he said to them, “Let us cross to the other side.”
4:36 Leaving the crowd, they took him with them just as he was in the boat. Other boats were with him.
4:37 A great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
4:38 He was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. They woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
4:39 He awoke, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
4:40 He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”
4:41 They were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

Chapter 5
5:1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.
5:2 As soon as he stepped out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit met him from the tombs.
5:3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.
5:4 For he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.
5:5 Continually, night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he cried out and cut himself with stones.
5:6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed before him.
5:7 He cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of God Most High? I put you under oath by God: do not torment me!”
5:8 For Jesus had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
5:9 He asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
5:10 He begged him earnestly not to send them out of the region.
5:11 A large herd of pigs was feeding there near the mountain.
5:12 They begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, so that we may enter them.”
5:13 He permitted them. The unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, about two thousand pigs, rushed down the steep slope into the sea and drowned in the sea.
5:14 The herdsmen fled and reported it in the town and the countryside, and people came to see what had happened.
5:15 They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been possessed by demons, the one who had the legion, sitting clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.
5:16 Those who had seen it told them what had happened to the man possessed by demons, and about the pigs.
5:17 They began to beg him to leave their territory.
5:18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.
5:19 He did not allow him, but said to him, “Go home to your own people and tell them all the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
5:20 He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.
5:21 When Jesus crossed again in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him, and he was beside the sea.
5:22 One of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came and, seeing him, fell at his feet
5:23 and pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well and live.”
5:24 He went with him, and a large crowd followed him and pressed around him.
5:25 A woman had suffered from bleeding for twelve years.
5:26 She had suffered much under many physicians and spent all she had, but had not improved at all. Instead, she had grown worse.
5:27 Having heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.
5:28 For she said, “If I touch even his clothes, I will be made well.”
5:29 Immediately the flow of her blood dried up, and she knew in her body that she had been healed of her affliction.
5:30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd and said, “Who touched my clothes?”
5:31 His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
5:32 But he looked around to see the woman who had done this.
5:33 The woman, afraid and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell before him and told him the whole truth.
5:34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.”
5:35 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house and said, “Your daughter has died. Why trouble the Teacher any longer?”
5:36 But Jesus, overhearing what was being said, told the synagogue ruler, “Do not be afraid; only believe.”
5:37 He allowed no one to accompany him except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
5:38 They came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw a commotion, with people weeping and wailing loudly.
5:39 He went in and said to them, “Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead, but sleeping.”
5:40 They laughed at him. But he put them all outside, took the child’s father and mother and those with him, and went in where the child was.
5:41 Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha koum,” which means, “Little girl, I tell you, get up.”
5:42 Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was twelve years old. Immediately they were overcome with great amazement.
5:43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know about this and told them to give her something to eat.

Chapter 6
6:1 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
6:2 When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue. Many who heard him were astonished and said, “Where did this man get these things? What is this wisdom given to him? And how are such miracles done through his hands?
6:3 Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
6:4 Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own house.”
6:5 He could do no miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.
6:6 He marveled at their unbelief. Then he went around the surrounding villages, teaching.
6:7 He called the twelve to him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over the unclean spirits.
6:8 He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no copper coins in their belts—
6:9 but to wear sandals, and not to put on two tunics.
6:10 He said to them, “Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you leave that place.
6:11 If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, shake off the dust beneath your feet as you leave there, as a testimony to them.”
6:12 They went out and proclaimed that people should repent.
6:13 They cast out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil, and healed them.
6:14 King Herod heard of him, for his name had become known. People were saying, “John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”
6:15 Others said, “He is Elijah.” Still others said, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets.”
6:16 But when Herod heard, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has been raised.”
6:17 For Herod himself had sent and seized John and bound him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her.
6:18 For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.”
6:19 Herodias held a grudge against him and wanted to kill him, but could not.
6:20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and protected him. When he heard him, he was greatly perplexed, yet he listened to him gladly.
6:21 An opportune day came when Herod gave a birthday dinner for his high officials, military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee.
6:22 The daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, pleasing Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”
6:23 He swore to her, “Whatever you ask me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”
6:24 She went out and said to her mother, “What should I ask for?” She said, “The head of John the Baptist.”
6:25 Immediately she hurried in to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once on a platter the head of John the Baptist.”
6:26 The king was deeply grieved, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests he did not want to refuse her.
6:27 Immediately the king sent an executioner and ordered him to bring John’s head. He went and beheaded him in the prison,
6:28 brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.
6:29 When his disciples heard, they came, took his body, and laid it in a tomb.
6:30 The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and all they had taught.
6:31 He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a little.” For many were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.
6:32 They went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.
6:33 But many saw them going and recognized them. They ran there together on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.
6:34 When he came ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.
6:35 When it was already very late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and it is already very late.
6:36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”
6:37 He answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They said to him, “Are we to go and buy bread for two hundred denarii—about two hundred days’ wages—and give them something to eat?”
6:38 He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” When they found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.”
6:39 He ordered them to have everyone recline in groups on the green grass.
6:40 They reclined in groups of a hundred and of fifty.
6:41 He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, spoke a blessing, and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people, and he divided the two fish among them all.
6:42 They all ate and were filled.
6:43 They took up twelve baskets full of pieces, and also some of the fish.
6:44 Those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.
6:45 Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead to the other side toward Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
6:46 After saying farewell to them, he went up the mountain to pray.
6:47 When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.
6:48 He saw them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them. About three in the morning he came toward them, walking on the sea, and he intended to pass by them.
6:49 When they saw him walking on the sea, they thought he was a ghost and cried out,
6:50 for they all saw him and were alarmed. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”
6:51 He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased. They were utterly astonished within themselves,
6:52 for they had not understood about the loaves, but their heart was hardened.
6:53 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat.
6:54 When they stepped out of the boat, people immediately recognized him
6:55 and ran throughout that whole region. They began carrying the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.
6:56 Wherever he entered villages or towns or countryside, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak. And all who touched him were made well.

Chapter 7
7:1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him.
7:2 They saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled hands, that is, unwashed hands.
7:3 For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands thoroughly, holding to the tradition of the elders.
7:4 And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. There are many other things they have received and hold to, such as washings of cups, jugs, copper vessels, and dining couches.
7:5 The Pharisees and scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with defiled hands?”
7:6 He said to them, “Isaiah rightly prophesied about you hypocrites, as it is written,
 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
7:7 They worship me in vain, teaching human commandments as doctrines.’
7:8 You leave God’s commandment and hold to human tradition.”
7:9 He said to them, “How well you reject God’s commandment to keep your tradition!
7:10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever curses father or mother must be put to death.’
7:11 But you say that if a man tells his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might have received from me is Corban’ (that is, an offering),
7:12 you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or mother,
7:13 nullifying the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do many similar things.”
7:14 He called the crowd to him again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand.
7:15 Nothing outside a person that enters him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
7:16 [“If anyone has ears to hear, let him listen.”]
7:17 When he left the crowd and entered a house, his disciples asked him about the parable.
7:18 He said to them, “Are you too so lacking in understanding? Do you not realize that nothing entering a person from outside can defile him,
7:19 because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and goes out into the latrine?” In this way he declared all foods clean.
7:20 He said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.
7:21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, acts of sexual immorality, thefts, murders,
7:22 adulteries, acts of greed and wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
7:23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”
7:24 He rose and went away from there to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know, but he could not remain hidden.
7:25 Immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him, came, and fell at his feet.
7:26 The woman was Greek, Syrophoenician by birth, and she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
7:27 He said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
7:28 She answered him, “Lord, even the little dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”
7:29 He said to her, “Because of this answer, go. The demon has gone out of your daughter.”
7:30 She went home and found the child lying on the bed and the demon gone.
7:31 Leaving the region of Tyre again, he went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through the region of the Decapolis.
7:32 They brought him a deaf man who had difficulty speaking and begged him to lay his hand on him.
7:33 He took him aside from the crowd privately, put his fingers into his ears, spat, and touched his tongue.
7:34 Looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” which means, “Be opened.”
7:35 His ears were opened, the bond of his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
7:36 He ordered them to tell no one, but the more he ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it.
7:37 They were utterly astonished and said, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Chapter 8
8:1 In those days, when a large crowd had gathered again and had nothing to eat, Jesus called the disciples to him and said to them,
8:2 “I feel compassion for the crowd, because they have already stayed with me for three days and have nothing to eat.
8:3 If I send them home hungry, they will faint on the way; some of them have come from far away.”
8:4 His disciples answered him, “Where could anyone find enough bread here in this deserted place to feed these people?”
8:5 He asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.”
8:6 He directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. Then he took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them, and kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. They served the crowd.
8:7 They also had a few small fish. He blessed them and said to serve these as well.
8:8 They ate and were satisfied, and they collected seven large baskets of leftover pieces.
8:9 There were about four thousand people. Then he sent them away.
8:10 At once he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
8:11 The Pharisees came out and began to argue with him. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.
8:12 He sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”
8:13 He left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.
8:14 The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat.
8:15 He warned them, “Be careful! Watch out for the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.”
8:16 They began discussing with one another that they had no bread.
8:17 Aware of this, he said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you still not perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
8:18 Do you have eyes and fail to see, and ears and fail to hear? And do you not remember?
8:19 When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Twelve.”
8:20 “And when I broke the seven for the four thousand, how many large baskets full of pieces did you collect?” They said to him, “Seven.”
8:21 He said to them, “Do you still not understand?”
8:22 They came to Bethsaida. People brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him.
8:23 He took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. After spitting on his eyes and laying his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
8:24 He looked up and said, “I see people, for they look like trees walking around.”
8:25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again. The man saw clearly, his sight was restored, and he could see everything distinctly.
8:26 Jesus sent him home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”
8:27 Jesus and his disciples went out to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?”
8:28 They answered him, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”
8:29 He asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.”
8:30 He sternly warned them not to tell anyone about him.
8:31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days.
8:32 He spoke about this openly. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
8:33 But Jesus turned, looked at his disciples, and rebuked Peter. He said, “Get behind me, Satan! You are setting your mind on human concerns instead of the things of God.”
8:34 Calling the crowd to him along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
8:35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.
8:36 For what does it profit a person to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?
8:37 What could a person give in exchange for his life?
8:38 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

Chapter 9
9:1 He said to them, “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death until they see that the kingdom of God has come in power.”
9:2 Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with him and led them up a high mountain, apart by themselves. There he was transfigured before them.
9:3 His clothes became dazzling, intensely white, whiter than any launderer on earth could make them.
9:4 Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
9:5 Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
9:6 For he did not know what to say, because they were terrified.
9:7 A cloud came and overshadowed them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him!”
9:8 Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus alone.
9:9 As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
9:10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what rising from the dead meant.
9:11 They asked him, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
9:12 He said to them, “Elijah does come first and restore all things. And how is it written about the Son of Man that he must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
9:13 But I tell you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written about him.”
9:14 When they came to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and scribes arguing with them.
9:15 As soon as the whole crowd saw Jesus, they were greatly amazed and ran to greet him.
9:16 He asked them, “What are you arguing about among yourselves?”
9:17 Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.
9:18 Whenever it seizes him, it throws him down. He foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to cast it out, but they could not.”
9:19 He answered them, “O faithless generation, how long will I be with you? How long must I bear with you? Bring him to me.”
9:20 They brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into violent convulsions. He fell to the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth.
9:21 Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” He said, “Since childhood.
9:22 It has often thrown him into fire and into water to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”
9:23 Jesus said to him, “‘If you can’? All things are possible for the one who believes.”
9:24 Immediately the child's father cried out, “I believe! Help my unbelief!”
9:25 When Jesus saw a crowd running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you: come out of him and never enter him again.”
9:26 It cried out, convulsed the boy violently, and came out. The boy became like a corpse, so that most of the people said, “He is dead.”
9:27 But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up, and he stood.
9:28 After Jesus went into a house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?”
9:29 He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing except prayer.”
9:30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know,
9:31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is being handed over into human hands. They will kill him, and after he is killed, he will rise after three days.”
9:32 But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him.
9:33 They came to Capernaum. Once he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?”
9:34 They kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest.
9:35 He sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he will be last of all and servant of all.”
9:36 He took a child and stood him among them. Taking him in his arms, he said to them,
9:37 “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.”
9:38 John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.”
9:39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him. For no one who does a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me.
9:40 For whoever is not against us is for us.
9:41 Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink on the grounds that you belong to Christ—truly I tell you, he will certainly not lose his reward.
9:42 And it would be better for anyone who causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble to have a millstone turned by a donkey hung around his neck and to be thrown into the sea.
9:43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, to the unquenchable fire,
9:44 [where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.]
9:45 And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell,
9:46 [where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.]
9:47 And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell,
9:48 where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.
9:49 For everyone will be salted with fire.
9:50 Salt is good, but if salt becomes tasteless, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Chapter 10
10:1 Jesus left that place and came to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Crowds gathered around him again, and, as was his custom, he taught them again.
10:2 They asked him whether a man was permitted to divorce his wife, testing him.
10:3 He answered them, “What did Moses command you?”
10:4 They said, “Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.”
10:5 Jesus said to them, “He wrote this commandment for you because of your hardness of heart.
10:6 But from the beginning of creation, ‘He made them male and female.’
10:7 ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,
10:8 and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh.
10:9 Therefore, what God has joined together, let no one separate.”
10:10 In the house, the disciples asked him about this again.
10:11 He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her.
10:12 And if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”
10:13 People were bringing children to him so that he would touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.
10:14 When Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me. Do not stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
10:15 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
10:16 He took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.
10:17 As he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
10:18 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
10:19 You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother.’”
10:20 He said to him, “Teacher, I have kept all these from my youth.”
10:21 Jesus looked at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing. Go, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
10:22 But his face fell at these words, and he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
10:23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!”
10:24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
10:25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
10:26 They were utterly astonished and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?”
10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With human beings it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
10:28 Peter began to say to him, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”
10:29 Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for my sake and for the sake of the gospel
10:30 will fail to receive a hundredfold now, in this time: houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields, with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
10:31 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”
10:32 They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking ahead of them. They were amazed, and those who followed were afraid. Taking the Twelve aside again, he began to tell them what was going to happen to him:
10:33 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Gentiles.
10:34 They will mock him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him, and after three days he will rise.”
10:35 James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”
10:36 He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”
10:37 They said to him, “Grant that we may sit, one at your right and one at your left, in your glory.”
10:38 Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I undergo?”
10:39 They said to him, “We can.” Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I undergo.
10:40 But to sit at my right or my left is not mine to grant; it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”
10:41 When the ten heard this, they began to be indignant with James and John.
10:42 Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them.
10:43 But it is not so among you. Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant,
10:44 and whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all.
10:45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
10:46 They came to Jericho. As Jesus was leaving Jericho with his disciples and a large crowd, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting beside the road.
10:47 When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
10:48 Many rebuked him, telling him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
10:49 Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart! Get up; he is calling you.”
10:50 He threw off his cloak, sprang up, and came to Jesus.
10:51 Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabbouni, let me regain my sight.”
10:52 Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has saved you.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the road.

Chapter 11
11:1 As they approached Jerusalem, near Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples
11:2 and said to them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it.
11:3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it and will send it back here at once.’”
11:4 They went and found a colt tied outside by a doorway in the street, and they untied it.
11:5 Some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?”
11:6 They answered just as Jesus had told them, and the people let them go.
11:7 They brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.
11:8 Many spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread leafy branches they had cut from the fields.
11:9 Those going ahead and those following were crying out, “Hosanna!
   Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
11:10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
   Hosanna in the highest!”
11:11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After looking around at everything, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve, since it was already late.
11:12 The next day, as they were leaving Bethany, he was hungry.
11:13 Seeing a fig tree in leaf from a distance, he went to see whether he might find anything on it. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
11:14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” His disciples heard him.
11:15 They came to Jerusalem. Jesus entered the temple and began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those selling doves,
11:16 and he would not allow anyone to carry any object through the temple.
11:17 He taught them, saying, “Is it not written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”
11:18 The chief priests and the scribes heard this and sought a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
11:19 Whenever evening came, they would go out of the city.
11:20 In the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.
11:21 Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered.”
11:22 Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.
11:23 Truly I tell you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, will have it.
11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
11:25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.”
11:26 [“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”]
11:27 They came to Jerusalem again. While Jesus was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him
11:28 and asked him, “By what authority are you doing these things? Or who gave you this authority to do them?”
11:29 Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
11:30 Was John's baptism from heaven or from human beings? Answer me.”
11:31 They discussed it among themselves, saying, “What should we say? If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’
11:32 But should we say, ‘From human beings’?” They feared the crowd, for everyone regarded John as truly a prophet.
11:33 So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”

Chapter 12
12:1 Jesus began to speak to them in parables: “A man planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a pit for the winepress, and built a tower. He leased it to tenants and went away.
12:2 At the proper season, he sent a slave to the tenants to receive from them a share of the vineyard's fruit.
12:3 But they seized him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.
12:4 Again he sent another slave to them. They wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully.
12:5 He sent another, and they killed him. He sent many others; some they beat and some they killed.
12:6 He still had one left, a beloved son. He sent him to them last of all, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’
12:7 But those tenants said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’
12:8 They seized him, killed him, and threw him outside the vineyard.
12:9 What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants and give the vineyard to others.
12:10 Have you not even read this Scripture:
 ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone;
12:11 this came from the Lord, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?”
12:12 They wanted to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd, for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them. So they left him and went away.
12:13 They sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to him to trap him in what he said.
12:14 They came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are truthful and are not swayed by anyone, for you show no partiality but teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or should we not?”
12:15 But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius so I can see it.”
12:16 They brought one, and he said to them, “Whose image and inscription are these?” They said to him, “Caesar's.”
12:17 Jesus said to them, “Give back to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” They were greatly amazed at him.
12:18 Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him,
12:19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
12:20 There were seven brothers. The first married and died without leaving offspring.
12:21 The second married her and died without leaving offspring, and the third did likewise.
12:22 None of the seven left offspring. Last of all, the woman also died.
12:23 In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be? For all seven had her as their wife.”
12:24 Jesus said to them, “Is this not why you are mistaken, because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God?
12:25 For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
12:26 And concerning the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?
12:27 He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are greatly mistaken.”
12:28 One of the scribes came up and heard them debating. Seeing that Jesus had answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is first of all?”
12:29 Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one.
12:30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
12:31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
12:32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him,
12:33 and that to love him with all the heart, with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
12:34 When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to question him any further.
12:35 As Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is David's son?
12:36 David himself said by the Holy Spirit,
 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet.”’
12:37 David himself calls him Lord. How, then, is he his son?” The large crowd listened to him gladly.
12:38 In his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, receive greetings in the marketplaces,
12:39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at banquets.
12:40 They devour widows' houses and make long prayers for a pretense. They will receive a more severe condemnation.”
12:41 He sat down opposite the treasury and watched how the crowd put money into it. Many rich people put in large sums.
12:42 A poor widow came and put in two lepta, which make one quadrans.
12:43 He called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those putting money into the treasury.
12:44 For they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

Chapter 13
13:1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look! What stones and what buildings!”
13:2 Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.”
13:3 As he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,
13:4 “Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be fulfilled?”
13:5 Jesus began to say to them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray.
13:6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and will lead many astray.
13:7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is not yet.
13:8 For nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines. These are the beginning of birth pains.
13:9 But watch yourselves. They will hand you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them.
13:10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
13:11 When they lead you away to hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Say whatever is given to you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
13:12 Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against parents and have them put to death.
13:13 You will be hated by all because of my name, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.
13:14 But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be (let the reader understand), then let those in Judea flee to the mountains.
13:15 Let the one on the housetop not go down or enter his house to take anything out.
13:16 And let the one in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
13:17 But woe to those who are pregnant and to those nursing infants in those days!
13:18 Pray that it does not happen in winter.
13:19 For those days will be a tribulation unlike any that has occurred from the beginning of the creation God created until now, or ever will occur.
13:20 If the Lord had not shortened the days, no one would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
13:21 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.
13:22 For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders to lead the elect astray, if possible.
13:23 But you must be on your guard. I have told you everything beforehand.
13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light.
13:25 The stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
13:26 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.
13:27 Then he will send the angels and gather the elect from the four winds, from the end of the earth to the end of heaven.
13:28 Learn the lesson from the fig tree: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out leaves, you know that summer is near.
13:29 So also, when you see these things happening, know that it is near, at the doors.
13:30 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things happen.
13:31 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
13:32 But concerning that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, but only the Father.
13:33 Be on your guard; stay awake, for you do not know when the time will come.
13:34 It is like a man going away who leaves his house, gives his slaves authority, each with his own work, and commands the doorkeeper to keep watch.
13:35 Therefore keep watch, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming: in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or at dawn.
13:36 Otherwise he may come suddenly and find you sleeping.
13:37 What I say to you I say to all: Keep watch!”

Chapter 14
14:1 The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking a way to seize Jesus by deceit and kill him,
14:2 for they said, “Not during the feast, or there may be an uproar among the people.”
14:3 While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly perfume made of pure nard. She broke the jar open and poured it over his head.
14:4 Some were indignant with one another: “Why has this perfume been wasted?
14:5 For it could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, roughly three hundred days' wages, and the proceeds given to the poor.” And they scolded her harshly.
14:6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you troubling her? She has done a beautiful thing for me.
14:7 For you always have the poor with you and can do good for them whenever you wish, but you do not always have me.
14:8 She has done what she could. She has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
14:9 Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
14:10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to hand Jesus over to them.
14:11 They were glad when they heard this and promised to give him money. So he sought an opportunity to hand him over.
14:12 On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
14:13 He sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city. A man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him,
14:14 and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
14:15 He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.”
14:16 The disciples went out, came into the city, and found things just as he had told them. They prepared the Passover.
14:17 When evening came, he arrived with the Twelve.
14:18 As they reclined at the table and ate, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.”
14:19 They began to be sorrowful and said to him one by one, “Surely not I?”
14:20 He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve, one who dips with me into the dish.
14:21 For the Son of Man goes just as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man not to have been born.”
14:22 As they were eating, he took bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “Take it; this is my body.”
14:23 He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it.
14:24 He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.
14:25 Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
14:26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
14:27 Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’
14:28 But after I have been raised, I will go ahead of you to Galilee.”
14:29 Peter said to him, “Even if all fall away, I will not.”
14:30 Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today, this very night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”
14:31 But Peter insisted all the more, “Even if I must die with you, I will never deny you.” And they all said the same.
14:32 They came to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”
14:33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.
14:34 He said to them, “My soul is deeply sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and keep watch.”
14:35 He went a little farther, fell to the ground, and prayed that, if possible, the hour might pass from him.
14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”
14:37 He came and found them sleeping and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour?
14:38 Keep watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
14:39 Again he went away and prayed, saying the same words.
14:40 He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy, and they did not know what to answer him.
14:41 He came the third time and said to them, “Sleep on now and take your rest. Enough! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is being handed over into the hands of sinners.
14:42 Get up; let us go. Look, my betrayer has drawn near.”
14:43 Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a crowd with swords and clubs, sent by the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.
14:44 His betrayer had given them a signal, saying, “The one I kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.”
14:45 When he arrived, he went straight up to Jesus, said, “Rabbi!” and kissed him.
14:46 They laid hands on him and seized him.
14:47 But one of those standing nearby drew his sword, struck the high priest's slave, and cut off his ear.
14:48 Jesus said to them, “Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a robber?
14:49 Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But this is so that the Scriptures may be fulfilled.”
14:50 And they all left him and fled.
14:51 A young man was following him, wearing only a linen cloth over his naked body. They seized him,
14:52 but he left the linen cloth behind and fled naked.
14:53 They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes gathered.
14:54 Peter followed him at a distance, right into the high priest's courtyard. He sat with the guards and warmed himself by the fire.
14:55 The chief priests and the whole council were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none.
14:56 For many gave false testimony against him, but their testimonies did not agree.
14:57 Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying,
14:58 “We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another not made with hands.’”
14:59 But even then their testimony did not agree.
14:60 The high priest stood up in their midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is this testimony they bring against you?”
14:61 But he kept silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”
14:62 Jesus said, “I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
14:63 The high priest tore his tunics and said, “What further need do we have of witnesses?
14:64 You have heard the blasphemy. What is your judgment?” They all condemned him as deserving death.
14:65 Some began to spit on him, cover his face, and strike him with their fists, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him with slaps.
14:66 While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the high priest's slave girls came.
14:67 When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked closely at him and said, “You too were with Jesus of Nazareth.”
14:68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” He went outside into the forecourt, and a rooster crowed.
14:69 The slave girl saw him and began again to say to those standing nearby, “This man is one of them.”
14:70 But again he denied it. A little later, those standing nearby said to Peter again, “Surely you are one of them, for you too are a Galilean, and your speech is like theirs.”
14:71 He began to curse and swear, “I do not know this man you are talking about.”
14:72 Immediately a rooster crowed a second time. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to him: “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” And as he thought about it, he wept.

Chapter 15
15:1 Early in the morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders, the scribes, and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
15:2 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.”
15:3 The chief priests accused him of many things.
15:4 Pilate questioned him again, “Have you no answer? See how many accusations they bring against you.”
15:5 But Jesus gave no further answer, so Pilate was amazed.
15:6 At the feast, Pilate used to release for them one prisoner whom they requested.
15:7 A man called Barabbas was imprisoned with the rebels who had committed murder in the uprising.
15:8 The crowd came up and began to ask him to do as he usually did for them.
15:9 Pilate answered them, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?”
15:10 For he knew that the chief priests had handed him over out of envy.
15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead.
15:12 Pilate said to them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the King of the Jews?”
15:13 They shouted again, “Crucify him!”
15:14 Pilate said to them, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him!”
15:15 Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them. After having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.
15:16 The soldiers led him inside the courtyard, that is, the Praetorium, and called together the whole cohort.
15:17 They dressed him in purple, wove a crown of thorns, and put it on him.
15:18 They began to salute him: “Hail, King of the Jews!”
15:19 They kept striking his head with a reed and spitting on him. They knelt and bowed before him.
15:20 After mocking him, they took off the purple robe, put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify him.
15:21 They compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the countryside, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross.
15:22 They brought him to the place called Golgotha, which means Place of a Skull.
15:23 They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not take it.
15:24 They crucified him and divided his clothes, casting lots for them to decide what each would take.
15:25 It was about nine in the morning when they crucified him.
15:26 The inscription of the charge against him read, “The King of the Jews.”
15:27 With him they crucified two robbers, one at his right and one at his left.
15:28 [And the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “And he was numbered with the transgressors.”]
15:29 Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, “Aha! You who destroy the temple and build it in three days,
15:30 save yourself by coming down from the cross!”
15:31 Likewise the chief priests, with the scribes, mocked him among themselves, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself.
15:32 Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, so that we may see and believe.” Those crucified with him also insulted him.
15:33 Around noon, darkness came over the whole land until about three in the afternoon.
15:34 At about three, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
15:35 When some of those standing nearby heard this, they said, “Look, he is calling Elijah.”
15:36 Someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave him a drink, saying, “Wait; let us see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”
15:37 But Jesus let out a loud cry and breathed his last.
15:38 The curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.
15:39 When the centurion standing opposite him saw how he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was God's Son!”
15:40 There were also women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and Joses, and Salome.
15:41 They had followed him and served him when he was in Galilee. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were there as well.
15:42 Evening had already come, and since it was Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath,
15:43 Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, came and boldly went in to Pilate and asked for Jesus' body.
15:44 Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. He called the centurion and asked whether he had been dead for some time.
15:45 After learning this from the centurion, he granted the corpse to Joseph.
15:46 Joseph bought a linen cloth, took him down, wrapped him in the cloth, and laid him in a tomb cut out of rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.
15:47 Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were watching where he was laid.

Chapter 16
16:1 When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they could go and anoint him.
16:2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb after the sun had risen.
16:3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll the stone away from the entrance of the tomb for us?”
16:4 When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large.
16:5 They entered the tomb and saw a young man sitting on the right, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed.
16:6 He said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. See the place where they laid him.
16:7 But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.’”
16:8 They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them. They said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.
16:9 [After Jesus rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.]
16:10 [She went and told those who had been with him, who were mourning and weeping.]
16:11 [When they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe.]
16:12 [After this, he appeared in another form to two of them as they were walking into the countryside.]
16:13 [They went and told the rest, but they did not believe them either.]
16:14 [Later he appeared to the Eleven as they reclined at the table. He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart because they had not believed those who had seen him risen.]
16:15 [He said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to all creation.]
16:16 [Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.]
16:17 [These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues;]
16:18 [they will pick up snakes, and even if they drink anything deadly, it will certainly not harm them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well.”]
16:19 [So then, after speaking to them, the Lord Jesus was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.]
16:20 [They went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word through the signs that accompanied it.]

LUKE

Chapter 1
1:1 Since many have undertaken to compile an account of the events fulfilled among us,
1:2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word handed them down to us,
1:3 I too, having carefully investigated everything from the beginning, decided to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,
1:4 so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
1:5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, from the division of Abijah. His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
1:6 Both were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the Lord’s commandments and ordinances.
1:7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were advanced in years.
1:8 When his division was on duty, Zechariah was serving as priest before God,
1:9 he was chosen by lot, according to the priestly custom, to enter the Lord’s sanctuary and burn incense.
1:10 The whole crowd of people was praying outside at the hour of incense.
1:11 An angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.
1:12 When Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.
1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to name him John.
1:14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth,
1:15 for he will be great before the Lord. He will never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb.
1:16 He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God.
1:17 He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
1:18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
1:19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you and bring you this good news.
1:20 And now you will be silent and unable to speak until the day these things happen, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at their appointed time.”
1:21 The people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
1:22 When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary. He kept making signs to them and remained unable to speak.
1:23 When his days of service were completed, he went home.
1:24 After those days his wife Elizabeth conceived and kept herself secluded for five months. She said,
1:25 “This is what the Lord has done for me in these days when he looked on me to take away my disgrace among the people.”
1:26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee named Nazareth,
1:27 to a virgin pledged in marriage to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
1:28 He came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”
1:29 She was deeply troubled by his words and wondered what this greeting could mean.
1:30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
1:31 Look, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus.
1:32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
1:33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will have no end.”
1:34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had relations with a man?”
1:35 The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.
1:36 And look, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.
1:37 For no word from God will fail.”
1:38 Mary said, “Here I am, the Lord’s servant. May it happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
1:39 In those days Mary set out and went in haste to the hill country, to a town in Judah.
1:40 She entered Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth.
1:41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
1:42 She cried out with a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!
1:43 Why has this come to me, that the mother of my Lord should visit me?
1:44 For as soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
1:45 Blessed is she who believed that what the Lord had spoken to her would be fulfilled.”

1:46 And Mary said,
 “My soul magnifies the Lord,
1:47 and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior,
1:48 for he has looked on the lowly condition of his servant.
   From now on all generations will call me blessed,
1:49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
1:50 His mercy is for those who fear him, from generation to generation.
1:51 He has shown strength with his arm;
   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
1:52 He has brought rulers down from their thrones and lifted up the lowly.
1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
1:54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering his mercy,
1:55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever.”
1:56 Mary stayed with her about three months and then returned home.
1:57 The time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son.
1:58 Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they rejoiced with her.
1:59 On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father.
1:60 But his mother answered, “No! He is to be called John.”
1:61 They said to her, “None of your relatives has that name.”
1:62 Then they made signs to his father to find out what he wanted the child to be called.
1:63 He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” And they were all amazed.
1:64 Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, blessing God.
1:65 Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the hill country of Judea.
1:66 All who heard kept these things in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child become?” For the hand of the Lord was with him.
1:67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:
1:68 “Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, for he has visited his people and brought them redemption.
1:69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David,
1:70 as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago:
1:71 salvation from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us,
1:72 to show mercy to our fathers and remember his holy covenant,
1:73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
1:74 that, rescued from the hand of our enemies, we might serve him without fear,
1:75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.
1:76 And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
1:77 to give his people knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,
1:78 because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the dawn from on high will visit us,
1:79 to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”
1:80 The child grew and became strong in spirit, and he lived in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Chapter 2
2:1 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole inhabited world should be registered.
2:2 This was the first census, taken while Quirinius was governing Syria.
2:3 Everyone went to be registered, each to his own town.
2:4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he belonged to the house and family of David.
2:5 He went to be registered with Mary, who was pledged in marriage to him and was pregnant.
2:6 While they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
2:7 She bore her firstborn son, wrapped him in cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the lodging place.
2:8 In the same region there were shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock at night.
2:9 An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.
2:10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. Look, I bring you good news of great joy for all the people:
2:11 today in the city of David a Savior has been born to you, who is Christ the Lord.
2:12 This will be the sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
2:13 Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly army, praising God and saying,
2:14 “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those on whom his favor rests.”
2:15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
2:16 They hurried there and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in the manger.
2:17 When they saw him, they made known what they had been told about this child.
2:18 All who heard were amazed at what the shepherds told them.
2:19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart.
2:20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as they had been told.
2:21 When eight days had passed and it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
2:22 When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord,
2:23 as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord,”
2:24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
2:25 There was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
2:26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
2:27 He came into the temple in the Spirit. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the law,
2:28 Simeon took him into his arms, blessed God, and said,
2:29 “Now, Sovereign Lord, you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word,
2:30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
2:31 which you have prepared in the sight of all peoples:
2:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
2:33 His father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.
2:34 Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Look, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that will be spoken against
2:35 (and a sword will pierce your own soul too), so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
2:36 There was also a prophetess, Anna, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,
2:37 and then as a widow until the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving with fasting and prayers night and day.
2:38 She came up at that very hour and gave thanks to God, and spoke about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
2:39 When they had completed everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
2:40 The child grew and became strong, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.
2:41 His parents went to Jerusalem every year for the Feast of Passover.
2:42 When he was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the feast.
2:43 When the days were over and they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, and his parents did not know it.
2:44 Thinking he was in the traveling company, they went a day’s journey and began looking for him among their relatives and acquaintances.
2:45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, looking for him.
2:46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
2:47 All who heard him were astonished at his understanding and his answers.
2:48 When his parents saw him, they were amazed. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.”
2:49 He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
2:50 But they did not understand what he said to them.
2:51 He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and he was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.
2:52 And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and people.

Chapter 3
3:1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,
3:2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah, in the wilderness.
3:3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,
3:4 as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet:
 “A voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
   make his paths straight.
3:5 Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill brought low.
   The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth,
3:6 and all flesh will see the salvation of God.’”
3:7 John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?
3:8 Bear fruit worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
3:9 Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
3:10 The crowds asked him, “What then should we do?”
3:11 He answered them, “Whoever has two tunics should share with someone who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”
3:12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”
3:13 He told them, “Collect no more than you have been instructed to.”
3:14 Soldiers also asked him, “And what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone or make false accusations, and be content with your wages.”
3:15 The people were waiting expectantly, and all were wondering in their hearts whether John might be the Christ.
3:16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one more powerful than I is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.
3:17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his storehouse, but he will burn the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
3:18 With many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people.
3:19 But Herod the tetrarch, whom John rebuked because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and all the evil things Herod had done,
3:20 added this to them all: he locked John in prison.
3:21 When all the people had been baptized, Jesus too was baptized. As he was praying, heaven opened,
3:22 and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove. A voice came from heaven: “You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased.”
3:23 Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his ministry. He was the son, as people supposed, of Joseph, son of Heli,
3:24 son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph,
3:25 son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai,
3:26 son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda,
3:27 son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri,
3:28 son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er,
3:29 son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi,
3:30 son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim,
3:31 son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David,
3:32 son of Jesse, son of Jobel, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon,
3:33 son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah,
3:34 son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor,
3:35 son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah,
3:36 son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech,
3:37 son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalalel, son of Cainan,
3:38 son of Enosh, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Chapter 4
4:1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
4:2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they ended, he was hungry.
4:3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
4:4 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
4:5 Then the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the inhabited world in an instant.
4:6 The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority and their glory, because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
4:7 So if you worship before me, it will all be yours.”
4:8 Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him alone.’”
4:9 Then he led him to Jerusalem, stood him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
4:10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
4:11 and, ‘They will bear you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
4:12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
4:13 When the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
4:14 Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the surrounding region.
4:15 He taught in their synagogues and was glorified by all.
4:16 He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. On the Sabbath he entered the synagogue, as was his custom, and stood up to read.
4:17 The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,
4:18 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
   He has sent me to proclaim release to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set the oppressed free,
4:19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
4:20 He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him.
4:21 Then he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
4:22 Everyone spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words coming from his mouth. They said, “Is this not Joseph’s son?”
4:23 He said to them, “You will surely quote this proverb to me, ‘Physician, heal yourself,’ and say, ‘Do here in your hometown too what we have heard happened in Capernaum.’”
4:24 Then he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.
4:25 But I tell you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when heaven was shut for three years and six months and a great famine came over all the land.
4:26 Yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.
4:27 And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”
4:28 When they heard these things, everyone in the synagogue was filled with rage.
4:29 They rose, drove him out of the town, and led him to the edge of the hill on which their town was built, intending to throw him down.
4:30 But he passed through their midst and went on his way.
4:31 He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.
4:32 They were astonished at his teaching, because his word had authority.
4:33 In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit. He cried out in a loud voice,
4:34 “Ah! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”
4:35 Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” The demon threw the man down in their midst and came out of him without harming him at all.
4:36 Amazement came over them all, and they said to one another, “What is this word? With authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”
4:37 Reports about him spread to every place in the surrounding region.
4:38 He left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they pleaded with him for her.
4:39 He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. At once she got up and began serving them.
4:40 As the sun was setting, all who had people suffering from various diseases brought them to him. He laid his hands on each one and healed them.
4:41 Demons also came out of many, crying out, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not let them speak, because they knew he was the Christ.
4:42 At daybreak he went out to a deserted place. The crowds kept looking for him, and when they came to him, they tried to keep him from leaving them.
4:43 But he said to them, “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because I was sent for this purpose.”
4:44 And he continued preaching in the synagogues of Judea.

Chapter 5
5:1 While Jesus was standing beside the Lake of Gennesaret, the crowd pressed around him to hear the word of God.
5:2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets.
5:3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat.
5:4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”
5:5 Simon answered, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing. But at your word I will let down the nets.”
5:6 When they did this, they enclosed a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear.
5:7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats until they began to sink.
5:8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Leave me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!”
5:9 For amazement had seized him and all who were with him at the catch of fish they had taken,
5:10 and likewise James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners. Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch people alive.”
5:11 They brought the boats to shore, left everything, and followed him.
5:12 While he was in one of the towns, a man covered with leprosy saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
5:13 Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I am willing. Be clean!” Immediately the leprosy left him.
5:14 He ordered him to tell no one, but said, “Go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5:15 But the news about him spread all the more, and large crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their illnesses.
5:16 Yet he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.
5:17 One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. They had come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem. The Lord’s power was with him to heal.
5:18 Some men brought a paralyzed man on a bed and tried to take him inside and lay him before Jesus.
5:19 Finding no way to take him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his bed through the tiles into the midst of the crowd, in front of Jesus.
5:20 When he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins have been forgiven.”
5:21 The scribes and Pharisees began to reason, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
5:22 Jesus knew their thoughts and answered them, “What are you thinking in your hearts?
5:23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?
5:24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralyzed man—“I tell you, get up, take your bed, and go home.”
5:25 Immediately he stood up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home, glorifying God.
5:26 Amazement seized them all, and they glorified God. Filled with fear, they said, “We have seen extraordinary things today!”
5:27 After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. He said to him, “Follow me.”
5:28 Leaving everything, he got up and followed him.
5:29 Levi gave a great banquet for him in his house. A large crowd of tax collectors and others were reclining at the table with them.
5:30 The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
5:31 Jesus answered them, “Those who are well do not need a physician, but those who are sick do.
5:32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
5:33 They said to him, “John’s disciples fast often and offer prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink.”
5:34 Jesus said to them, “Can you make the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?
5:35 But days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.”
5:36 He also told them a parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and puts it on an old garment. Otherwise he will tear the new one, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
5:37 And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the new wine will burst the skins, and it will spill out, and the skins will be ruined.
5:38 New wine must be put into new wineskins.
5:39 And no one who has drunk old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is good.’”

Chapter 6
6:1 On a Sabbath Jesus was walking through grainfields. His disciples were plucking heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating.
6:2 Some of the Pharisees said, “Why are you doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”
6:3 Jesus answered them, “Have you not even read what David did when he and those with him were hungry?
6:4 How he entered the house of God, took and ate the bread of the Presence, and gave some to those with him, although only the priests are permitted to eat it?”
6:5 He said to them, “The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
6:6 On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. A man was there whose right hand was withered.
6:7 The scribes and Pharisees were watching him closely to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, so they could find grounds to accuse him.
6:8 But he knew their thoughts and said to the man with the withered hand, “Get up and stand in the middle.” He got up and stood there.
6:9 Jesus said to them, “I ask you: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?”
6:10 After looking around at them all, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did so, and his hand was restored.
6:11 But they were filled with rage and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.
6:12 In those days Jesus went out to the mountain to pray, and he spent the whole night in prayer to God.
6:13 When day came, he called his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles:
6:14 Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
6:15 Matthew and Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot,
6:16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
6:17 He came down with them and stood on a level place. There was a large crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon,
6:18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by unclean spirits were also being healed.
6:19 The whole crowd tried to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.
6:20 He looked up at his disciples and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
6:21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
6:22 Blessed are you when people hate you, exclude you, insult you, and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
6:23 Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, for your reward is great in heaven. That is how their fathers treated the prophets.
6:24 But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your comfort.
6:25 Woe to you who are full now, for you will hunger. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
6:26 Woe when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.
6:27 But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you;
6:28 bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.
6:29 If someone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either.
6:30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if someone takes what is yours, do not demand it back.
6:31 As you want people to do to you, do the same to them.
6:32 If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
6:33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.
6:34 If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners to receive the same amount back.
6:35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend without expecting anything in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil.
6:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
6:37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
6:38 Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour a good measure into your lap—pressed down, shaken together, and overflowing. For the measure you use will be measured back to you.”
6:39 He also told them a parable: “Can a blind person lead a blind person? Will they not both fall into a pit?
6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
6:41 Why do you see the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye?
6:42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the beam in your eye? Hypocrite! First take the beam out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
6:43 For no good tree bears rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit.
6:44 Each tree is known by its own fruit. People do not gather figs from thorns or harvest grapes from a bramble.
6:45 A good person brings forth good from the good treasure of his heart, and an evil person brings forth evil from the evil treasure. For his mouth speaks from the abundance of his heart.
6:46 Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?
6:47 Everyone who comes to me, hears my words, and does them—I will show you what he is like.
6:48 He is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood came, the river crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.
6:49 But the one who hears and does not act is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The river crashed against it, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.”

Chapter 7
7:1 When Jesus had finished all his words in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.
7:2 A centurion had a slave whom he valued highly, who was sick and about to die.
7:3 When he heard about Jesus, he sent Jewish elders to him, asking him to come and save his slave.
7:4 They came to Jesus and urged him earnestly, saying, “He deserves to have you do this for him,
7:5 for he loves our nation, and he himself built our synagogue for us.”
7:6 Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.
7:7 That is why I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.
7:8 For I too am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
7:9 When Jesus heard this, he marveled at him. Turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”
7:10 When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave well.
7:11 Soon afterward he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him.
7:12 As he approached the town gate, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, who was a widow. A considerable crowd from the town was with her.
7:13 When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said, “Do not weep.”
7:14 He went up and touched the bier, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, get up!”
7:15 The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.
7:16 Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!”
7:17 This report about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding region.
7:18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. John called two of his disciples
7:19 and sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another?”
7:20 When the men came to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect another?’”
7:21 At that very hour he healed many of diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits, and granted sight to many who were blind.
7:22 He answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor receive good news.
7:23 And blessed is the one who does not stumble because of me.”
7:24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?
7:25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who wear splendid clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces.
7:26 What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.
7:27 This is the one about whom it is written, ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’
7:28 I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John. Yet the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”
7:29 (All the people who heard, including the tax collectors, acknowledged God’s justice, having been baptized with John’s baptism.
7:30 But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)
7:31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?
7:32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,
 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
   we sang a lament, and you did not weep.’
7:33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’
7:34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’
7:35 Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”
7:36 One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.
7:37 A woman in the town who was a sinner learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, and brought an alabaster flask of perfume.
7:38 Standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. She wiped them with her hair, kept kissing his feet, and anointed them with the perfume.
7:39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman is touching him, for she is a sinner.”
7:40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” He replied, “Say it, Teacher.”
7:41 “A moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty.
7:42 When they had nothing to repay him with, he canceled both their debts. Which of them will love him more?”
7:43 Simon answered, “I suppose the one whose larger debt he canceled.” Jesus said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
7:44 Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, and you gave me no water for my feet. But she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.
7:45 You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet.
7:46 You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume.
7:47 Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven, for she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little.”
7:48 Then he said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”
7:49 Those reclining at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
7:50 But he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Chapter 8
8:1 Afterward Jesus traveled through towns and villages, proclaiming and bringing the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him,
8:2 along with some women who had been healed of evil spirits and illnesses: Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;
8:3 Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others, who provided for them from their own resources.
8:4 As a large crowd gathered and people from town after town came to him, he spoke in a parable:
8:5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell beside the path, where it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky ate it.
8:6 Some fell on rock, and when it grew, it withered because it had no moisture.
8:7 Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it.
8:8 And some fell into good soil, grew, and yielded a hundredfold.” As he said these things, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen!”
8:9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant.
8:10 He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest I speak in parables, so that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’
8:11 This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.
8:12 Those beside the path are the ones who have heard. Then the devil comes and takes the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
8:13 Those on the rock are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a time, and in a time of testing they fall away.
8:14 What fell among thorns stands for those who have heard, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.
8:15 What fell in the good soil stands for those who hear the word with a noble and good heart, hold it fast, and bear fruit with perseverance.
8:16 No one lights a lamp and covers it with a container or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.
8:17 For nothing is hidden that will not become visible, nor is anything concealed that will not be known and come to light.
8:18 So take care how you listen. For whoever has will be given more, and from whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away.”
8:19 His mother and brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd.
8:20 He was told, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”
8:21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.”
8:22 One day he got into a boat with his disciples and said to them, “Let us cross to the other side of the lake.” So they set out.
8:23 As they sailed, he fell asleep. A windstorm swept down on the lake, and the boat was filling with water, and they were in danger.
8:24 They went to him and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we are perishing!” He awoke and rebuked the wind and the surging water. They ceased, and there was a calm.
8:25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Frightened and amazed, they said to one another, “Who then is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him!”
8:26 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across from Galilee.
8:27 When Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothing and lived not in a house but among the tombs.
8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell before him, saying in a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me!”
8:29 For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. It had seized him many times, and he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard. But he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into deserted places.
8:30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” because many demons had entered him.
8:31 They begged him not to command them to go into the abyss.
8:32 A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. They begged him to allow them to enter the pigs, and he allowed them.
8:33 The demons came out of the man and entered the pigs. The herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
8:34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and reported it in the town and the countryside.
8:35 People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
8:36 Those who had seen it told them how the man who had been possessed by demons had been saved.
8:37 All the people of the surrounding region of the Gerasenes asked him to leave them, for they were overcome with great fear. He got into a boat and returned.
8:38 The man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
8:39 “Return home and tell all that God has done for you.” He went throughout the town, proclaiming all that Jesus had done for him.
8:40 When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.
8:41 A man named Jairus, who was a leader of the synagogue, came and fell at Jesus’ feet, begging him to come to his house,
8:42 because his only daughter, about twelve years old, was dying. As Jesus went, the crowds pressed around him.
8:43 A woman had suffered from a flow of blood for twelve years. Though she had spent all she had on physicians, she could not be healed by anyone.
8:44 She came up behind him and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately her flow of blood stopped.
8:45 Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When everyone denied it, Peter said, “Master, the crowds are surrounding you and pressing against you.”
8:46 But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, for I knew that power had gone out from me.”
8:47 When the woman saw that she had not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell before him. In front of all the people she told why she had touched him and how she had been healed immediately.
8:48 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
8:49 While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader’s house and said, “Your daughter has died. Do not trouble the Teacher any longer.”
8:50 But when Jesus heard this, he answered him, “Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”
8:51 When he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother.
8:52 Everyone was weeping and mourning for her. But he said, “Do not weep, for she has not died but is sleeping.”
8:53 They laughed at him, knowing that she had died.
8:54 But he took her hand and called out, “Child, get up!”
8:55 Her spirit returned, and she got up immediately. He ordered that she be given something to eat.
8:56 Her parents were astonished, but he instructed them to tell no one what had happened.

Chapter 9
9:1 Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to heal diseases.
9:2 He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.
9:3 He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey: no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, and do not have two tunics each.
9:4 Whatever house you enter, stay there, and leave from there.
9:5 Wherever people do not welcome you, shake the dust from your feet as you leave that town, as a testimony against them.”
9:6 They set out and went through the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.
9:7 Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was happening and was perplexed, because some were saying that John had been raised from the dead,
9:8 others that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the ancient prophets had risen.
9:9 Herod said, “I beheaded John. Who then is this about whom I hear such things?” And he kept trying to see him.
9:10 When the apostles returned, they told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida.
9:11 But the crowds learned of it and followed him. He welcomed them, spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed healing.
9:12 The day began to draw to a close. The Twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away so that they can go to the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place here.”
9:13 He said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
9:14 For there were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, “Have them recline in groups of about fifty.”
9:15 They did so and had everyone recline.
9:16 He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, and broke them. Then he kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
9:17 They all ate and were satisfied, and twelve baskets of leftover pieces were gathered up.
9:18 While he was praying in private, his disciples were with him. He asked them, “Who do the crowds say I am?”
9:19 They answered, “John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and others say that one of the ancient prophets has risen.”
9:20 He said to them, “But who do you say I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
9:21 He sternly commanded them to tell this to no one,
9:22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
9:23 He said to all, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.
9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.
9:25 What does a person gain by winning the whole world but destroying or forfeiting himself?
9:26 For whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels.
9:27 But truly I tell you, some standing here will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
9:28 About eight days after these words, he took Peter, John, and James with him and went up the mountain to pray.
9:29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothing became dazzling white.
9:30 Two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah,
9:31 who appeared in glory and spoke about his departure, which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.
9:32 Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men standing with him.
9:33 As the men were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He did not know what he was saying.
9:34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.
9:35 A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, the Chosen One. Listen to him!”
9:36 When the voice came, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.
9:37 The next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.
9:38 A man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.
9:39 A spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams. It convulses him and makes him foam at the mouth, and scarcely leaves him, battering him.
9:40 I begged your disciples to drive it out, but they could not.”
9:41 Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long must I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”
9:42 While the boy was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the child, and gave him back to his father.
9:43 They were all astonished at the majesty of God. While everyone was marveling at all he was doing, he said to his disciples,
9:44 “Let these words sink into your ears: the Son of Man is about to be handed over into human hands.”
9:45 But they did not understand this saying. It was concealed from them so that they would not grasp it, and they were afraid to ask him about it.
9:46 An argument arose among them about which of them was greatest.
9:47 Jesus knew the reasoning of their hearts. He took a child and had him stand at his side,
9:48 and said to them, “Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For the one who is least among you all is great.”
9:49 John answered, “Master, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.”
9:50 But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, for whoever is not against you is for you.”
9:51 As the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.
9:52 He sent messengers ahead of him. They went into a Samaritan village to make preparations for him.
9:53 But the people did not welcome him, because he was headed for Jerusalem.
9:54 When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”
9:55 But he turned and rebuked them.
9:56 Then they went to another village.
9:57 As they were traveling along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”
9:58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
9:59 He said to another, “Follow me.” But the man said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
9:60 He said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. But you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”
9:61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to those in my house.”
9:62 Jesus said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Chapter 10
10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself was about to go.
10:2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
10:3 Go! Look, I am sending you as lambs among wolves.
10:4 Carry no money pouch, no bag, and no sandals, and greet no one along the road.
10:5 Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’
10:6 If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; otherwise it will return to you.
10:7 Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the worker deserves his wages. Do not move from house to house.
10:8 Whatever town you enter where people welcome you, eat what is set before you.
10:9 Heal the sick in it and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has drawn near to you.’
10:10 But whatever town you enter where people do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say,
10:11 ‘Even the dust of your town that has clung to our feet we wipe off against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has drawn near.’
10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom on that day than for that town.
10:13 Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done among you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.
10:14 Yet it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.
10:15 And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades.
10:16 Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
10:17 The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”
10:18 He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
10:19 Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will harm you.
10:20 Yet do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you. Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
10:21 At that very hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and discerning and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”
10:22 “All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
10:23 Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!
10:24 For I tell you, many prophets and kings wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
10:25 An expert in the law stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
10:26 He said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”
10:27 He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
10:28 Jesus said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.”
10:29 But wanting to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
10:30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.
10:31 By chance a priest was going down that road. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side.
10:32 Likewise a Levite came to the place, saw him, and passed by on the other side.
10:33 But a Samaritan who was traveling came upon him, and when he saw him, he had compassion.
10:34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and cared for him.
10:35 The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I return.’
10:36 Which of these three do you think became a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
10:37 He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go, and do the same.”
10:38 As they continued on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him.
10:39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to his word.
10:40 But Martha was distracted by the many tasks of serving. She came up and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.”
10:41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things,
10:42 but few things are needed, or just one. For Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her.”

Chapter 11
11:1 Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
11:2 He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.
11:3 Give us each day our daily bread.
11:4 Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone who owes us. And do not lead us into temptation.’”
11:5 He said to them, “Which of you, having a friend, would go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves,
11:6 because a friend of mine has arrived from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him,’
11:7 and have him answer from within, ‘Do not trouble me. The door is already shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything’?
11:8 I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his shameless persistence he will rise and give him as much as he needs.
11:9 So I tell you: Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
11:10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.
11:11 Which father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?
11:12 Or if he asks for an egg, will he give him a scorpion?
11:13 If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
11:14 Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the mute man spoke, and the crowds marveled.
11:15 But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.”
11:16 Others tested him by seeking a sign from heaven.
11:17 But he knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house.
11:18 If Satan too is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say that I drive out demons by Beelzebul.
11:19 If I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? Therefore they will be your judges.
11:20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
11:21 When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own residence, his possessions are safe.
11:22 But when someone stronger attacks and defeats him, he takes away the armor in which he trusted and distributes his plunder.
11:23 Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.
11:24 When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest. Finding none, it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’
11:25 When it comes, it finds the house swept and put in order.
11:26 Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more evil than itself. They enter and live there, and that person’s last state becomes worse than the first.”
11:27 As he was saying these things, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts at which you nursed!”
11:28 But he said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.”
11:29 As the crowds grew, he began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.
11:30 For as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so the Son of Man will be to this generation.
11:31 The queen of the South will rise at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom. And look, something greater than Solomon is here.
11:32 The men of Nineveh will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching. And look, something greater than Jonah is here.
11:33 No one lights a lamp and puts it in a hidden place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see its light.
11:34 Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is sound, your whole body is full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also dark.
11:35 So take care that the light within you is not darkness.
11:36 If, then, your whole body is full of light, with no dark part, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp shines on you with its radiance.”
11:37 When he had spoken, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him. He went in and reclined at the table.
11:38 The Pharisee was surprised to see that he had not first washed before the meal.
11:39 The Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness.
11:40 Fools! Did not the one who made the outside also make the inside?
11:41 But give what is inside as alms, and look, everything is clean for you.
11:42 But woe to you Pharisees! You give a tenth of mint and rue and every garden plant, but pass over justice and the love of God. You should have practiced these without neglecting the others.
11:43 Woe to you Pharisees! You love the seats of honor in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.
11:44 Woe to you! You are like unmarked graves, and people walk over them without knowing it.”
11:45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us too.”
11:46 He said, “Woe to you experts in the law as well! You load people with burdens hard to bear, but you yourselves do not touch those burdens with even one of your fingers.
11:47 Woe to you! You build the tombs of the prophets, but your fathers killed them.
11:48 So you are witnesses and approve of your fathers’ deeds, for they killed them, and you build.
11:49 That is why the wisdom of God also said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and persecute,’
11:50 so that this generation may be held accountable for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world,
11:51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held accountable.
11:52 Woe to you experts in the law! You have taken away the key of knowledge. You did not enter yourselves, and you hindered those who were entering.”
11:53 When he went out from there, the scribes and Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely and question him about many things,
11:54 lying in wait to catch something he said.

Chapter 12
12:1 Meanwhile, a crowd of tens of thousands gathered, so that they were trampling one another. He began by saying to his disciples, “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
12:2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.
12:3 So whatever you have said in darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in inner rooms will be proclaimed from the rooftops.
12:4 I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and afterward can do nothing more.
12:5 But I will show you whom to fear: Fear the one who, after killing, has authority to throw into Gehenna. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God.
12:7 Even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
12:8 I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before people will also be acknowledged by the Son of Man before the angels of God.
12:9 But whoever denies me before people will be denied before the angels of God.
12:10 Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
12:11 When they bring you before synagogues, rulers, and authorities, do not worry about how or what to answer in your defense, or what to say,
12:12 for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you must say.”
12:13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”
12:14 But he said to him, “Man, who appointed me a judge or divider over you?”
12:15 He said to them, “Watch out and guard against every kind of greed, for a person’s life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.”
12:16 He told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly.
12:17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have nowhere to store my crops.’
12:18 Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all the grain and my goods,
12:19 and I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Rest, eat, drink, and be merry.”’
12:20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This very night your life is demanded from you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’
12:21 So it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”
12:22 He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear.
12:23 For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.
12:24 Consider the ravens: They neither sow nor reap, and they have no storeroom or barn, yet God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!
12:25 Which of you by worrying can add a single moment to his life?
12:26 If, then, you cannot do even the smallest thing, why worry about the rest?
12:27 Consider how the lilies grow: They neither labor nor spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these.
12:28 If God so clothes the grass that is in the field today and thrown into the oven tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith!
12:29 Do not keep seeking what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not be anxious.
12:30 For the nations of the world seek all these things, but your Father knows you need them.
12:31 Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
12:32 Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
12:33 Sell your possessions and give alms. Make yourselves money pouches that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
12:34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
12:35 Keep your clothing belted at the waist and your lamps burning,
12:36 and be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding, so that when he comes and knocks, they may open for him immediately.
12:37 Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will belt his clothing, have them recline at the table, and come and serve them.
12:38 If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them so, blessed are they.
12:39 But know this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.
12:40 You too must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
12:41 Peter said, “Lord, are you telling this parable for us, or for everyone as well?”
12:42 The Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise steward whom the master will put over his household servants, to give them their food allowance at the proper time?
12:43 Blessed is that slave whom his master finds doing so when he comes.
12:44 Truly I tell you, he will put him over all his possessions.
12:45 But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master is taking a long time to come,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, to eat and drink and get drunk,
12:46 that slave’s master will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not know. He will cut him in two and assign him a place with the unfaithful.
12:47 The slave who knew his master’s will, yet neither prepared nor acted according to it, will receive many blows.
12:48 But the one who did not know and did things deserving blows will receive few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required, and from the one to whom much has been entrusted, more will be demanded.
12:49 I came to cast fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!
12:50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!
12:51 Do you think I came to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division.
12:52 For from now on five in one house will be divided, three against two and two against three.
12:53 They 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 mother-in-law.”
12:54 He also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you immediately say, ‘A shower is coming,’ and so it happens.
12:55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and it happens.
12:56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but how is it that you do not know how to interpret this time?
12:57 Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?
12:58 As you go with your adversary before the magistrate, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.
12:59 I tell you, you will not get out of there until you have paid even the last small coin.”

Chapter 13
13:1 At that very time some people were present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
13:2 He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things?
13:3 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them—do you think they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem?
13:5 No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.”
13:6 He told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it but found none.
13:7 He said to the vine grower, ‘Look, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and found none. Cut it down! Why should it keep making the ground unproductive?’
13:8 But he answered him, ‘Sir, leave it this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure.
13:9 If it bears fruit later, good; if not, you will cut it down.’”
13:10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath.
13:11 A woman was there who had had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself.
13:12 When Jesus saw her, he called her and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.”
13:13 He laid his hands on her, and immediately she was straightened, and she glorified God.
13:14 But the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the crowd, “There are six days on which work should be done. Come on those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”
13:15 The Lord answered him, “Hypocrites! Does not each of you untie his ox or donkey from the manger on the Sabbath and lead it away to water?
13:16 And this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound for eighteen years, should she not be freed from this bond on the Sabbath day?”
13:17 As he said these things, all his opponents were put to shame, and the whole crowd rejoiced at all the glorious things he was doing.
13:18 Then he said, “What is the kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it?
13:19 It is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds of the sky nested in its branches.”
13:20 Again he said, “To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?
13:21 It is like leaven that a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until all of it was leavened.”
13:22 He went through towns and villages, teaching and making his way to Jerusalem.
13:23 Someone said to him, “Lord, are only a few being saved?” He said to them,
13:24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.
13:25 Once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open for us.’ But he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’
13:26 Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’
13:27 But he will tell you, ‘I do not know where you are from. Depart from me, all you workers of unrighteousness!’
13:28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.
13:29 People will come from east and west, from north and south, and recline at the table in the kingdom of God.
13:30 And look, some who are last will be first, and some who are first will be last.”
13:31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Leave and go away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
13:32 He said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Look, I drive out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will finish my work.’
13:33 Yet I must go on my way today, tomorrow, and the following day, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside Jerusalem.
13:34 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were unwilling!
13:35 Look, your house is left to you. I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Chapter 14
14:1 On a Sabbath Jesus went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees to eat bread, and they were watching him closely.
14:2 There before him was a man suffering from fluid retention.
14:3 Jesus asked the experts in the law and the Pharisees, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?”
14:4 But they remained silent. He took hold of the man, healed him, and sent him away.
14:5 Then he said to them, “Which of you, if his son or ox falls into a well, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?”
14:6 They could not answer these things.
14:7 Noticing how the guests were choosing the places of honor, he told them a parable:
14:8 “When someone invites you to a wedding, do not recline in the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited,
14:9 and the host who invited both of you comes and says to you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then you will begin in shame to take the lowest place.
14:10 Instead, when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will have honor before all who are reclining at the table with you.
14:11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
14:12 He also said to the man who had invited him, “When you give a lunch or dinner, do not invite your friends, brothers, relatives, or rich neighbors, lest they invite you in return and you receive your repayment.
14:13 Instead, when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind.
14:14 Then you will be blessed because they have nothing with which to repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
14:15 When one of those reclining at the table heard this, he said to him, “Blessed is the one who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”
14:16 Jesus said to him, “A man was giving a great dinner and invited many.
14:17 At the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those invited, ‘Come, for it is now ready.’
14:18 But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field and need to go out and see it. Please excuse me.’
14:19 Another said, ‘I have bought five pairs of oxen, and I am going to test them. Please excuse me.’
14:20 Another said, ‘I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’
14:21 The slave returned and reported these things to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go quickly into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in here the poor, the maimed, the blind, and the lame.’
14:22 The slave said, ‘Master, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’
14:23 The master said to the slave, ‘Go out to the roads and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled.
14:24 For I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.’”
14:25 Large crowds were traveling with him. He turned and said to them,
14:26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.
14:27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
14:28 For which of you who wants to build a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it?
14:29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and cannot finish, everyone who sees it will begin to mock him,
14:30 saying, ‘This man began to build and could not finish.’
14:31 Or what king going to war against another king will not first sit down and consider whether, with ten thousand, he can face the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
14:32 If he cannot, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
14:33 So then, any of you who does not renounce all he possesses cannot be my disciple.
14:34 Salt is good, but if even salt loses its flavor, with what will it be seasoned?
14:35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. They throw it out. Let anyone who has ears to hear listen!”

Chapter 15
15:1 All the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to hear him.
15:2 The Pharisees and scribes were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
15:3 So he told them this parable:
15:4 “Which of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it?
15:5 When he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
15:6 When he comes home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’
15:7 I 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 have no need of repentance.
15:8 Or what woman who has ten silver coins and loses one does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
15:9 When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin I lost.’
15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
15:11 He said, “A man had two sons.
15:12 The younger said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.’ So he divided his property between them.
15:13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything and went away to a distant country. There he squandered his property in reckless living.
15:14 When he had spent everything, a severe famine arose throughout that country, and he began to be in need.
15:15 He went and attached himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
15:16 He longed to fill his belly with the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
15:17 When he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough bread, while I am perishing here from hunger!
15:18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.
15:19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired workers.”’
15:20 He got up and went to his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and had compassion. He ran, embraced him, and kissed him warmly.
15:21 The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
15:22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
15:23 Bring the fattened calf and slaughter it. Let us eat and celebrate,
15:24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.
15:25 His older son was in the field. As he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.
15:26 He called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.
15:27 He told him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf, because he has received him back in good health.’
15:28 But he became angry and would not go in. His father came out and pleaded with him.
15:29 He answered his father, ‘Look, I have slaved for you all these years and never disobeyed a command of yours. Yet you never gave me a young goat so that I could celebrate with my friends.
15:30 But when this son of yours came, who devoured your property with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’
15:31 He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
15:32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”

Chapter 16
16:1 He also said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a steward, and the steward was accused before him of squandering his possessions.
16:2 He called him and said, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’
16:3 The steward said to himself, ‘What shall I do, since my master is taking the stewardship away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.
16:4 I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from the stewardship, people will welcome me into their homes.’
16:5 He called in each of his master’s debtors and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’
16:6 He said, ‘About eight hundred gallons of oil.’ He told him, ‘Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write about four hundred gallons.’
16:7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ He said, ‘About a thousand bushels of wheat.’ He told him, ‘Take your bill and write about eight hundred bushels.’
16:8 The master praised the unrighteous steward because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are shrewder in dealing with their own generation than the children of light.
16:9 And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails, they may welcome you into eternal dwellings.
16:10 Whoever is faithful in very little is faithful also in much, and whoever is unrighteous in very little is unrighteous also in much.
16:11 So if you have not been faithful with unrighteous wealth, who will entrust you with true riches?
16:12 And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own?
16:13 No household servant can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”
16:14 The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all these things and ridiculed him.
16:15 He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before people, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among people is an abomination before God.
16:16 The law and the prophets were until John. Since then the good news of the kingdom of God has been proclaimed, and everyone presses into it.
16:17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single stroke of the law to fall.
16:18 Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and whoever marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.
16:19 There was a rich man who dressed in purple and fine linen and feasted splendidly every day.
16:20 A poor man named Lazarus had been laid at his gate, covered with sores,
16:21 longing to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
16:22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
16:23 In Hades, being in torment, he lifted his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.
16:24 He called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
16:25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you received your good things in your lifetime, and Lazarus likewise his bad things. Now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
16:26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’
16:27 He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s house,
16:28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they too come to this place of torment.’
16:29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets. Let them listen to them.’
16:30 He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
16:31 He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’”

Chapter 17
17:1 He said to his disciples, “It is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come, but woe to the one through whom they come!
17:2 It would be better for him to have a millstone hung around his neck and be thrown into the sea than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
17:3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.
17:4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day and seven times returns to you saying, ‘I repent,’ you must forgive him.”
17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”
17:6 The Lord said, “If you have faith like a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.
17:7 Which of you who has a slave plowing or tending a flock will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at the table’?
17:8 Will he not rather say, ‘Prepare my dinner, belt your clothing, and serve me until I have eaten and drunk. Afterward you may eat and drink’?
17:9 Does he thank the slave because he did what was commanded?
17:10 So you too, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unprofitable slaves; we have done what we ought to have done.’”
17:11 On his way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing between Samaria and Galilee.
17:12 As he entered a village, ten men with leprosy met him. They stood at a distance
17:13 and raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
17:14 When he saw them, he said, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” As they went, they were cleansed.
17:15 One of them, seeing that he had been healed, returned, glorifying God with a loud voice.
17:16 He fell facedown at Jesus’ feet and thanked him. He was a Samaritan.
17:17 Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine?
17:18 Was no one found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
17:19 Then he said to him, “Get up and go. Your faith has saved you.”
17:20 When the Pharisees asked him when the kingdom of God would come, he answered them, “The kingdom of God does not come in a way that can be observed,
17:21 nor will people say, ‘Look, here!’ or ‘There!’ For look, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
17:22 He said to the disciples, “Days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
17:23 They will say to you, ‘Look, there!’ or ‘Look, here!’ Do not go out or follow after them.
17:24 For as lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.
17:25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.
17:26 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man.
17:27 They were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage until the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
17:28 Likewise, as it was in the days of Lot: They were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, and building.
17:29 But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained from heaven and destroyed them all.
17:30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed.
17:31 On that day, whoever is on the roof, with his belongings in the house, must not come down to take them. Likewise, whoever is in the field must not turn back.
17:32 Remember Lot’s wife.
17:33 Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses it will keep it alive.
17:34 I tell you, on that night there will be two in one bed. One will be taken, and the other left.
17:35 Two women will be grinding together. One will be taken, and the other left.
17:36 [Two will be in the field. One will be taken, and the other left.”]
17:37 They answered him, “Where, Lord?” He said to them, “Where the body is, there the eagles will gather.”

Chapter 18
18:1 He told them a parable about their need to pray always and not lose heart.
18:2 He said, “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.
18:3 A widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’
18:4 For a time he refused. But afterward he said to himself, ‘Even though I do not fear God or respect people,
18:5 yet because this widow keeps troubling me, I will give her justice, so that she does not wear me out by continually coming.’”
18:6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.
18:7 Will not God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long in their case?
18:8 I tell you, he will give them justice swiftly. Yet when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
18:9 He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised everyone else:
18:10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
18:11 The Pharisee stood and prayed these things to himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, the unrighteous, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.
18:12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of everything I acquire.’
18:13 But the tax collector stood far away and would not even lift his eyes to heaven. He kept beating his chest and saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’
18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
18:15 People were bringing even infants to him so that he might touch them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked the people bringing them.
18:16 But Jesus called the children to him, saying, “Let the children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
18:17 Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.”
18:18 A ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18:19 Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
18:20 You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.’”
18:21 He said, “I have kept all these things from my youth.”
18:22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack: Sell all you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
18:23 But when he heard these things, he became deeply sorrowful, for he was very rich.
18:24 Jesus looked at him and said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!
18:25 For it is easier for a camel to enter through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.”
18:26 Those who heard said, “Then who can be saved?”
18:27 He said, “What is impossible with people is possible with God.”
18:28 Peter said, “Look, we have left what is our own and followed you.”
18:29 He said to them, “Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, wife, brothers, parents, or children for the sake of the kingdom of God,
18:30 who will not receive many times more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
18:31 He took the Twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled.
18:32 For he will be handed over to the Gentiles, mocked, insulted, and spat upon.
18:33 After flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.”
18:34 But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was being said.
18:35 As he drew near Jericho, a blind man was sitting beside the road, begging.
18:36 Hearing a crowd passing by, he asked what was happening.
18:37 They told him, “Jesus the Nazarene is passing by.”
18:38 He cried out, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”
18:39 Those leading the way rebuked him to make him quiet, but he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”
18:40 Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,
18:41 “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me receive my sight.”
18:42 Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight. Your faith has saved you.”
18:43 Immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.

Chapter 19
19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through it.
19:2 There was a man named Zacchaeus, who was a chief tax collector and was rich.
19:3 He was trying to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was short in stature.
19:4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore fig tree to see him, because he was about to pass that way.
19:5 When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
19:6 He hurried down and welcomed him with joy.
19:7 Everyone who saw it grumbled, saying, “He has gone in to stay with a sinful man.”
19:8 Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half my possessions to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I repay it fourfold.”
19:9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham.
19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
19:11 While they were listening to these things, he went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and they thought the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately.
19:12 He said, “A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and return.
19:13 He called ten of his slaves, gave them about ten pounds of silver, and said to them, ‘Do business with this until I come.’
19:14 But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’
19:15 When he returned, having received the kingdom, he ordered the slaves to whom he had given the money to be called, so that he might learn what they had gained by trading.
19:16 The first came and said, ‘Master, your silver—about a pound—has earned about ten pounds.’
19:17 He said to him, ‘Well done, good slave! Because you have been faithful in very little, have authority over ten cities.’
19:18 The second came and said, ‘Master, your silver—about a pound—has produced about five pounds.’
19:19 He said to this one also, ‘You too are to be over five cities.’
19:20 Another came and said, ‘Master, here is your silver, about a pound, which I kept stored in a cloth.
19:21 For I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit and reap what you did not sow.’
19:22 He said to him, ‘By your own mouth I judge you, wicked slave. Did you know that I am a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow?
19:23 Then why did you not put my money in a bank? When I returned, I could have collected it with interest.’
19:24 He said to those standing there, ‘Take the silver from him, about a pound, and give it to the one who has about ten pounds.’
19:25 They said to him, ‘Master, he has about ten pounds!’
19:26 ‘I tell you, to everyone who has, more will be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.
19:27 But bring here these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, and slaughter them before me.’”
19:28 After saying this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
19:29 As he approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mountain called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples,
19:30 saying, “Go to the village opposite you. As you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it.
19:31 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say this: ‘The Lord needs it.’”
19:32 Those who were sent went and found it just as he had told them.
19:33 As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt?”
19:34 They said, “The Lord needs it.”
19:35 They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt, and put Jesus on it.
19:36 As he went along, they spread their cloaks on the road.
19:37 As he drew near, already at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works they had seen,
19:38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
   Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
19:39 Some Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”
19:40 He answered, “I tell you, if these are silent, the stones will cry out.”
19:41 As he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it,
19:42 saying, “If only you too had known on this day what makes for peace! But now it is hidden from your eyes.
19:43 For days will come upon you when your enemies will raise a barricade against you, surround you, and hem you in on every side.
19:44 They will dash you and your children within you to the ground, and will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
19:45 He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling,
19:46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘And my house will be a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers.”
19:47 He was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests, scribes, and leaders of the people were seeking to destroy him,
19:48 but they could not find what to do, for all the people hung on his words, listening.

Chapter 20
20:1 One day, as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and scribes came up with the elders
20:2 and said to him, “Tell us, by what authority are you doing these things, or who gave you this authority?”
20:3 He answered them, “I too will ask you a question. Tell me:
20:4 Was John’s baptism from heaven or from people?”
20:5 They discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say, ‘Why did you not believe him?’
20:6 But if we say, ‘From people,’ all the people will stone us, for they are convinced that John was a prophet.”
20:7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
20:8 Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
20:9 He began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to farmers, and went away for a long time.
20:10 At the proper season he sent a slave to the farmers, so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the farmers beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
20:11 He sent another slave, but they beat and dishonored him too, and sent him away empty-handed.
20:12 He sent a third, but they wounded him and threw him out.
20:13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps they will respect him.’
20:14 But when the farmers saw him, they reasoned with one another, saying, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him so that the inheritance may be ours.’
20:15 They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
20:16 He will come and destroy those farmers and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “May it never happen!”
20:17 He looked at them and said, “What then does this writing mean:
 ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’?
20:18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be shattered, but it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
20:19 The scribes and chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, but they feared the people, for they knew he had told this parable against them.
20:20 They watched him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, so that they could catch him in something he said and hand him over to the rule and authority of the governor.
20:21 They asked him, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach rightly and show no partiality, but truly teach the way of God.
20:22 Is it lawful for us to pay tribute to Caesar, or not?”
20:23 But he perceived their craftiness and said to them,
20:24 “Show me a denarius. Whose image and inscription does it bear?” They answered, “Caesar’s.”
20:25 He said to them, “Then give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.”
20:26 They could not catch him in anything he said before the people. Amazed at his answer, they became silent.
20:27 Some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection, came up and asked him,
20:28 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, his brother must take the wife and raise up offspring for his brother.
20:29 Now there were seven brothers. The first took a wife and died childless;
20:30 and the second
20:31 and the third took her. Likewise all seven left no children and died.
20:32 Finally the woman also died.
20:33 In the resurrection, then, whose wife does she become? For all seven had her as wife.”
20:34 Jesus said to them, “The children of this age marry and are given in marriage.
20:35 But those considered worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.
20:36 For they can no longer die, since they are equal to angels, and they are children of God, being children of the resurrection.
20:37 That the dead are raised, even Moses showed in the passage about the bush, where he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
20:38 He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.”
20:39 Some of the scribes answered, “Teacher, you have spoken well.”
20:40 For they no longer dared ask him anything.
20:41 He said to them, “How do they say that the Christ is David’s son?
20:42 For David himself says in the book of Psalms,
 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand
20:43 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
20:44 David therefore calls him Lord. How then is he his son?”
20:45 As all the people were listening, he said to the disciples,
20:46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk about in long robes and love greetings in the marketplaces, the seats of honor in the synagogues, and places of honor at dinners.
20:47 They devour widows’ houses and make long prayers for a pretense. They will receive greater condemnation.”

Chapter 21
21:1 He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury.
21:2 He also saw a poor widow putting in two small coins.
21:3 He said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them.
21:4 For all these gave their gifts from their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on.”
21:5 As some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and dedicated gifts, he said,
21:6 “As for these things you see, days will come when not one stone will be left upon another that will not be torn down.”
21:7 They asked him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign when they are about to take place?”
21:8 He said, “See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The time has drawn near.’ Do not follow them.
21:9 When you hear of wars and uprisings, do not be terrified. For these things must happen first, but the end will not come immediately.”
21:10 Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom.
21:11 There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues. There will be terrifying sights and great signs from heaven.
21:12 But before all these things, they will lay hands on you and persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons. You will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.
21:13 This will be an opportunity for you to bear witness.
21:14 So settle it in your hearts not to prepare your defense beforehand,
21:15 for I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to resist or contradict.
21:16 You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.
21:17 You will be hated by all because of my name.
21:18 Yet not a hair of your head will perish.
21:19 Through your endurance, gain your lives.
21:20 When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has drawn near.
21:21 Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, those inside the city must leave, and those in the countryside must not enter it,
21:22 for these are days of vengeance, so that all that is written may be fulfilled.
21:23 Woe to those who are pregnant and those nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress in the land and wrath against this people.
21:24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all nations. Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.
21:25 There will be signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and on the earth distress among nations, perplexed at the roaring of the sea and its surging.
21:26 People will faint from fear and expectation of what is coming upon the inhabited world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
21:27 Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.
21:28 When these things begin to happen, stand upright and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”
21:29 He told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees.
21:30 When they begin to sprout, you see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.
21:31 So also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.
21:32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.
21:33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
21:34 Watch yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with overindulgence, drunkenness, and the worries of life, and that day come upon you suddenly
21:35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.
21:36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to happen and to stand before the Son of Man.”
21:37 By day he was teaching in the temple, but at night he went out and stayed on the mountain called the Mount of Olives.
21:38 All the people came to him early in the morning to hear him in the temple.

Chapter 22
22:1 The Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was drawing near.
22:2 The chief priests and scribes were seeking a way to kill him, for they feared the people.
22:3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve.
22:4 He went away and spoke with the chief priests and officers about how he might betray Jesus to them.
22:5 They were glad and agreed to give him money.
22:6 He consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them away from the crowd.
22:7 The day of Unleavened Bread came, when the Passover sacrifice had to be offered.
22:8 Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and prepare the Passover for us to eat.”
22:9 They said to him, “Where do you want us to prepare it?”
22:10 He said to them, “Look, when you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house he enters,
22:11 and say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, “Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’
22:12 He will show you a large furnished room upstairs. Prepare it there.”
22:13 They went and found things just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.
22:14 When the hour came, he reclined at the table, and the apostles with him.
22:15 He said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
22:16 For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”
22:17 He received a cup, gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves.
22:18 For I tell you, from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.”
22:19 He took bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
22:20 Likewise, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, poured out for you.
22:21 But look, the hand of the one betraying me is with me on the table.
22:22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!”
22:23 They began to question among themselves which of them was about to do this.
22:24 A dispute also arose among them about which of them was considered greatest.
22:25 He said to them, “The kings of the nations lord it over them, and those exercising authority over them are called benefactors.
22:26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, let the greatest among you become like the youngest, and the one who leads like the one who serves.
22:27 For who is greater, the one reclining at the table or the one serving? Is it not the one reclining? Yet I am among you as the one who serves.
22:28 You are those who have remained with me in my trials.
22:29 And I grant you a kingdom, just as my Father granted one to me,
22:30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
22:31 Simon, Simon, look, Satan has demanded to have all of you, to sift you like wheat.
22:32 But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”
22:33 He said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”
22:34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”
22:35 He said to them, “When I sent you out without a money pouch, bag, or sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.”
22:36 He said to them, “But now, whoever has a money pouch should take it, and likewise a bag. Whoever has no sword should sell his cloak and buy one.
22:37 For I tell you, this writing must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the lawless.’ For what concerns me is reaching its fulfillment.”
22:38 They said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” He said to them, “It is enough.”
22:39 He went out and made his way, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.
22:40 When he came to the place, he said to them, “Pray that you may not enter into temptation.”
22:41 He withdrew from them about a stone’s throw, knelt down, and prayed,
22:42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done.”
22:43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
22:44 Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like thick drops of blood falling to the ground.
22:45 When he rose from prayer and came to the disciples, he found them sleeping from sorrow.
22:46 He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray, so that you may not enter into temptation.”
22:47 While he was still speaking, a crowd appeared, and the one called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He drew near Jesus to kiss him.
22:48 But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
22:49 When those around him saw what was about to happen, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?”
22:50 One of them struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his right ear.
22:51 But Jesus answered, “Enough of this!” He touched the ear and healed him.
22:52 Jesus said to the chief priests, temple officers, and elders who had come against him, “Have you come out with swords and clubs as against a robber?
22:53 Day after day I was with you in the temple, and you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour and the authority of darkness.”
22:54 They seized him, led him away, and brought him into the high priest’s house. Peter followed at a distance.
22:55 They lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat down together, and Peter sat among them.
22:56 A servant girl saw him sitting in the firelight, looked closely at him, and said, “This man too was with him.”
22:57 But he denied it, saying, “Woman, I do not know him.”
22:58 A little later someone else saw him and said, “You too are one of them.” But Peter said, “Man, I am not.”
22:59 About an hour later, another insisted, “Certainly this man too was with him, for he is a Galilean.”
22:60 But Peter said, “Man, I do not know what you are saying.” Immediately, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed.
22:61 The Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the Lord’s word, how he had said to him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
22:62 He went outside and wept bitterly.
22:63 The men who were holding Jesus mocked and beat him.
22:64 They blindfolded him and asked, “Prophesy! Who is it that struck you?”
22:65 They said many other things against him, blaspheming.
22:66 When day came, the council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes. They brought him before their council,
22:67 saying, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe,
22:68 and if I ask, you will not answer.
22:69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”
22:70 They all said, “Are you then the Son of God?” He said to them, “You say that I am.”
22:71 They said, “What further testimony do we need? We ourselves have heard it from his mouth.”

Chapter 23
23:1 The whole assembly rose and brought him before Pilate.
23:2 They began to accuse him, saying, “We found this man misleading our nation, forbidding the payment of taxes to Caesar, and saying that he himself is the Christ, a king.”
23:3 Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” He answered him, “You say so.”
23:4 Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, “I find no grounds for a charge against this man.”
23:5 But they insisted, saying, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee and reaching here.”
23:6 When Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.
23:7 Learning that he was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem in those days.
23:8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long wanted to see him because of what he had heard about him, and hoped to see him perform some sign.
23:9 He questioned him at length, but Jesus gave him no answer.
23:10 The chief priests and scribes stood there, vehemently accusing him.
23:11 Herod, together with his soldiers, treated him with contempt and mocked him. He dressed him in a splendid robe and sent him back to Pilate.
23:12 Herod and Pilate became friends that very day, for previously they had been at enmity with one another.
23:13 Pilate called together the chief priests, rulers, and people,
23:14 and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who misleads the people. Look, I have examined him before you and found no basis for the charges you bring against this man.
23:15 Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Look, he has done nothing deserving death.
23:16 So I will punish him and release him.”
23:17 [He was required to release one prisoner to them at the feast.]
23:18 But they all cried out together, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas for us!”
23:19 He had been thrown into prison for an uprising in the city and for murder.
23:20 Pilate addressed them again, wanting to release Jesus.
23:21 But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”
23:22 For the third time he said to them, “What evil has this man done? I have found nothing in him deserving death. So I will punish him and release him.”
23:23 But they pressed him with loud cries, demanding that he be crucified, and their cries prevailed.
23:24 Pilate decided that their demand should be carried out.
23:25 He released the man they had asked for, who had been thrown into prison for uprising and murder, but handed Jesus over to their will.
23:26 As they led him away, they seized a man named Simon of Cyrene, coming from the countryside, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.
23:27 A great multitude of the people followed him, including women who were beating their breasts and lamenting him.
23:28 Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children.
23:29 For look, days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’
23:30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’
23:31 For if they do these things to green wood, what will happen to the dry?”
23:32 Two others, who were criminals, were also being led away to be put to death with him.
23:33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there along with the criminals, one on his right and the other on his left.
23:34 Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” They divided his clothing by casting lots.
23:35 The people stood watching. The rulers also ridiculed him, saying, “He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, the Chosen One.”
23:36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine,
23:37 and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!”
23:38 There was also an inscription over him: “This is the King of the Jews.”
23:39 One of the criminals hanging there blasphemed him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!”
23:40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence?
23:41 We are sentenced justly, for we are receiving what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”
23:42 He said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.”
23:43 He said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
23:44 It was already about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,
23:45 as the sun’s light failed. The curtain of the sanctuary was torn down the middle.
23:46 Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” After saying this, he breathed his last.
23:47 When the centurion saw what had happened, he glorified God, saying, “Truly this man was righteous.”
23:48 All the crowds who had gathered for this sight, when they saw what had happened, returned beating their breasts.
23:49 All his acquaintances stood at a distance, along with the women who had followed him from Galilee, watching these things.
23:50 There was a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and righteous man.
23:51 He had not agreed with their decision or action. He was from Arimathea, a town of the Jews, and was waiting for the kingdom of God.
23:52 He went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body.
23:53 He took it down, wrapped it in linen, and laid him in a tomb cut in rock, where no one had yet been laid.
23:54 It was the day of Preparation, and the Sabbath was about to begin.
23:55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.
23:56 They returned and prepared spices and ointments. On the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

Chapter 24
24:1 On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices they had prepared.
24:2 They found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
24:3 but when they entered, they did not find the body.
24:4 While they were perplexed about this, two men stood beside them in dazzling clothing.
24:5 They became afraid and bowed their faces to the ground. The men said to them, “Why do you seek the living one among the dead?
24:6 He is not here, but has been raised. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee,
24:7 saying that the Son of Man must be handed over into the hands of sinful people, be crucified, and rise on the third day.”
24:8 They remembered his words,
24:9 and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the Eleven and all the others.
24:10 It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles.
24:11 But these words seemed to them like nonsense, and they did not believe the women.
24:12 Peter got up and ran to the tomb. Stooping to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. He went home, marveling at what had happened.
24:13 That same day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem.
24:14 They were talking with one another about all these things that had happened.
24:15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself drew near and walked with them,
24:16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him.
24:17 He said to them, “What are these words you are exchanging with one another as you walk?” They stood still, looking sad.
24:18 One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor in Jerusalem who does not know what has happened there in these days?”
24:19 He said to them, “What things?” They said to him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, a man who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,
24:20 and how our chief priests and rulers handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him.
24:21 But we had hoped that he was the one who was to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it is now the third day since these things happened.
24:22 Some women from our group also astonished us. They were at the tomb early,
24:23 and when they did not find his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels, who say that he is alive.
24:24 Some of those with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.”
24:25 He said to them, “Foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!
24:26 Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and enter into his glory?”
24:27 Beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
24:28 They drew near the village where they were going, and he acted as though he would go farther.
24:29 But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, for evening is near and the day is already ending.” So he went in to stay with them.
24:30 When he reclined at the table with them, he took the bread, blessed it, broke it, and gave it to them.
24:31 Their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. Then he vanished from their sight.
24:32 They said to one another, “Was not our heart burning within us while he spoke to us on the road, while he opened the Scriptures to us?”
24:33 They got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. They found the Eleven and those with them gathered together,
24:34 saying, “The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!”
24:35 Then they related what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.
24:36 While they were speaking about these things, he himself stood in their midst.
24:37 Startled and frightened, they thought they were seeing a spirit.
24:38 He said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your heart?
24:39 Look at my hands and my feet: It is I myself. Touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see that I have.”
24:40 After saying this, he showed them his hands and feet.
24:41 While they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
24:42 They gave him a piece of broiled fish,
24:43 and he took it and ate it before them.
24:44 He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
24:45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
24:46 and said to them, “This is what is written: The Christ is to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day,
24:47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.
24:48 You are witnesses of these things.
24:49 And look, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”
24:50 He led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, lifted his hands, and blessed them.
24:51 While he was blessing them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven.
24:52 They worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy,
24:53 and were continually in the temple, blessing God.

JOHN

Chapter 1
1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
1:2 He was in the beginning with God.
1:3 All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that has been made.
1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of humanity.
1:5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
1:6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
1:7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, so that all might believe through him.
1:8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
1:9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
1:11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not receive him.
1:12 But to all who received him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
1:13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of a man’s will, but of God.

1:14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.
   We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten Son from the Father.
1:15 John bears witness about him and has cried out, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.’”
1:16 For from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.
1:17 For the law was given through Moses;
   grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
1:18 No one has ever seen God.
   The only begotten God, who is in the Father’s bosom, has made him known.
1:19 This is John’s testimony when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
1:20 He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
1:21 They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.”
1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? We must give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
1:23 He said, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”
1:24 Those who had been sent were from the Pharisees.
1:25 They asked him, “Why, then, do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
1:26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one you do not know,
1:27 the one coming after me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to untie.”
1:28 These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
1:29 The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
1:30 This is the one of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he was before me.’
1:31 I did not know him, but for this reason I came baptizing with water: so that he might be revealed to Israel.”
1:32 John bore witness, saying, “I have seen the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he remained on him.
1:33 I did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
1:34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Chosen One of God.”
1:35 The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples.
1:36 He looked at Jesus walking by and said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
1:37 The two disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus.
1:38 Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What are you seeking?” They said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
1:39 He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they went and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. It was about four in the afternoon.
1:40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard John and followed Jesus.
1:41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
1:42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
1:43 The next day Jesus wanted to leave for Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
1:44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter.
1:45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law, and the prophets also wrote about: Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
1:46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
1:47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Behold, a true Israelite, in whom there is no deceit!”
1:48 Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
1:49 Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!”
1:50 Jesus answered him, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.”
1:51 He said to him, “Truly, truly, I tell all of you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

Chapter 2
2:1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and Jesus’ mother was there.
2:2 Jesus and his disciples were also invited to the wedding.
2:3 When the wine ran out, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no wine.”
2:4 Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with you and me? My hour has not yet come.”
2:5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
2:6 Six stone water jars were standing there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding about twenty to thirty gallons.
2:7 Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” They filled them to the brim.
2:8 Then he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.” They took it.
2:9 When the master of the banquet tasted the water that had become wine, he did not know where it came from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the bridegroom
2:10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have become drunk, the inferior wine. You have kept the good wine until now.”
2:11 Jesus performed this, the first of his signs, at Cana in Galilee. He revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.
2:12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, brothers, and disciples, and they stayed there a few days.
2:13 The Jewish Passover was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2:14 In the temple he found those selling oxen, sheep, and doves, and the money changers sitting there.
2:15 He made a whip of cords and drove them all out of the temple, both the sheep and the oxen. He poured out the money changers’ coins and overturned their tables.
2:16 He said to those selling doves, “Take these things away! Do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
2:17 His disciples remembered that it is written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
2:18 The Jews answered him, “What sign do you show us, since you do these things?”
2:19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this sanctuary, and in three days I will raise it up.”
2:20 The Jews said, “This sanctuary was built in forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?”
2:21 But he was speaking about the sanctuary of his body.
2:22 So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word Jesus had spoken.
2:23 While he was in Jerusalem at the Passover feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs he was doing.
2:24 But Jesus himself did not entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone
2:25 and did not need anyone to testify about humanity, for he himself knew what was in a human being.

Chapter 3
3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
3:2 He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do these signs you do unless God is with him.”
3:3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
3:4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a person be born when he is old? Can he enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born?”
3:5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
3:6 What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.
3:7 Do not marvel that I told you, ‘All of you must be born again.’
3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
3:9 Nicodemus answered him, “How can these things be?”
3:10 Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
3:11 Truly, truly, I tell you, we speak what we know and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
3:12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
3:13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
3:14 Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
3:15 so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.
3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
3:17 For God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world might be saved through him.
3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
3:19 This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light, because their works were evil.
3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light, so that his works will not be exposed.
3:21 But whoever practices the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be revealed as having been done in God.”
3:22 After this Jesus and his disciples came into the Judean countryside, and he stayed there with them and was baptizing.
3:23 John too was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there. People were coming and being baptized,
3:24 for John had not yet been thrown into prison.
3:25 A dispute arose between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification.
3:26 They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you beyond the Jordan, about whom you testified—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”
3:27 John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it has been given to him from heaven.
3:28 You yourselves bear witness that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent ahead of him.’
3:29 The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The bridegroom’s friend, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made complete.
3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
3:31 The one who comes from above is above all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all.
3:32 He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.
3:33 Whoever receives his testimony has set his seal on this: God is true.
3:34 For the one whom God sent speaks the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
3:35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever disobeys the Son will not see life; the wrath of God remains on him.”

Chapter 4
4:1 When Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John—
4:2 although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were—
4:3 he left Judea and went back to Galilee.
4:4 He had to pass through Samaria.
4:5 So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the land Jacob had given his son Joseph.
4:6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from the journey, sat down by the well just as he was. It was about noon.
4:7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
4:8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
4:9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.
4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
4:11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where, then, do you get that living water?
4:12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?”
4:13 Jesus answered her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again,
4:14 but whoever drinks the water I will give him will never thirst. The water I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
4:15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
4:16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back here.”
4:17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right to say, ‘I have no husband,’
4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
4:19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.
4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people must worship.”
4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
4:22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
4:23 But an hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to worship him.
4:24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ. When he comes, he will tell us everything.”
4:26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one speaking to you.”
4:27 Just then his disciples arrived. They were amazed that he was speaking with a woman, yet no one said, “What do you want?” or “Why are you speaking with her?”
4:28 So the woman left her water jar, went into the town, and said to the people,
4:29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have done. Could this be the Christ?”
4:30 They left the town and were coming to him.
4:31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.”
4:32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”
4:33 So the disciples said to one another, “Has someone brought him something to eat?”
4:34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
4:35 Do you not say, ‘There are still four months, and then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes and see the fields: they are already white for harvest.
4:36 The reaper receives wages and gathers fruit for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together.
4:37 For in this the saying is true: ‘One sows and another reaps.’
4:38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have worked, and you have entered into their labor.”
4:39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony: “He told me everything I have done.”
4:40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
4:41 Many more believed because of his word,
4:42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this truly is the Savior of the world.”
4:43 After those two days, he left there for Galilee.
4:44 For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own country.
4:45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen everything he had done in Jerusalem at the feast, for they too had gone to the feast.
4:46 So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. There was a royal official whose son was sick in Capernaum.
4:47 When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.
4:48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders, you will never believe.”
4:49 The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
4:50 Jesus said to him, “Go; your son lives.” The man believed the word Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
4:51 While he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive.
4:52 He asked them what time he began to get better. They told him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.”
4:53 Then the father realized that this was the very hour when Jesus had told him, “Your son lives.” And he himself believed, along with his whole household.
4:54 This was the second sign Jesus performed after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Chapter 5
5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
5:2 In Jerusalem, by the Sheep Gate, there is a pool called Bethesda in Hebrew, with five colonnades.
5:3 In these lay a crowd of sick people—blind, lame, and with withered limbs.
5:4 [For an angel would come down into the pool from time to time and stir the water. The first to enter after the water was stirred would be made well, whatever disease afflicted him.]
5:5 A man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years.
5:6 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been that way a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?”
5:7 The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get there, someone else goes down before me.”
5:8 Jesus said to him, “Get up, pick up your mat, and walk.”
5:9 At once the man was made well, picked up his mat, and began to walk. Now that day was a Sabbath.
5:10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath, and you are not permitted to carry your mat.”
5:11 But he answered them, “The one who made me well told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’”
5:12 They asked him, “Who is the man who told you, ‘Pick it up and walk’?”
5:13 But the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd there.
5:14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “Look, you have been made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you.”
5:15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
5:16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
5:17 But he answered them, “My Father is still working, and I am working too.”
5:18 For this reason the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but also calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
5:19 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.
5:20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he himself does. And he will show him greater works than these, so that you may marvel.
5:21 For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son gives life to whomever he wishes.
5:22 The Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,
5:23 so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
5:24 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.
5:25 Truly, truly, I tell you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.
5:26 For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself.
5:27 And he has given him authority to carry out judgment, because he is the Son of Man.
5:28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice
5:29 and come out—those who have done good to a resurrection of life, and those who have practiced evil to a resurrection of judgment.
5:30 I can do nothing on my own. I judge as I hear, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
5:31 If I bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true.
5:32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony he gives about me is true.
5:33 You sent messengers to John, and he has borne witness to the truth.
5:34 But I do not receive testimony from a human being; I say these things so that you may be saved.
5:35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice in his light for a time.
5:36 But the testimony I have is greater than John’s. For the works the Father has given me to finish—the very works I am doing—bear witness about me that the Father has sent me.
5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. You have never heard his voice or seen his form,
5:38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe the one he sent.
5:39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and these are the very Scriptures that bear witness about me.
5:40 Yet you are unwilling to come to me to have life.
5:41 I do not receive glory from people.
5:42 But I know you: you do not have the love of God in yourselves.
5:43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
5:44 How can you believe when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
5:45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father. Your accuser is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.
5:46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.
5:47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

Chapter 6
6:1 After this Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.
6:2 A large crowd followed him because they saw the signs he was performing on the sick.
6:3 Jesus went up the mountain and sat there with his disciples.
6:4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near.
6:5 When Jesus looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, he said to Philip, “Where can we buy bread for these people to eat?”
6:6 He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was about to do.
6:7 Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be enough for each of them to get even a little.”
6:8 One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him,
6:9 “There is a boy here with five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they for so many?”
6:10 Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.” There was plenty of grass in that place, so the men sat down, about five thousand in number.
6:11 Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and distributed them to those seated there. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.
6:12 When they had eaten their fill, he said to his disciples, “Gather the leftover pieces so that nothing is lost.”
6:13 So they gathered them and filled twelve baskets with pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.
6:14 When the people saw the sign he had performed, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is coming into the world.”
6:15 Then Jesus, knowing that they were about to come and seize him to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
6:16 When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,
6:17 got into a boat, and started across the sea toward Capernaum. It was already dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
6:18 A strong wind was blowing, and the sea grew rough.
6:19 When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid.
6:20 But he said to them, “It is I. Do not be afraid.”
6:21 Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the shore where they were going.
6:22 The next day, the crowd that had stayed on the other side of the sea saw that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but his disciples had left alone.
6:23 Other boats came from Tiberias near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
6:24 So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
6:25 When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
6:26 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, you are looking for me because you ate the loaves and had your fill, not because you saw signs.
6:27 Work for the food that endures to eternal life, rather than for the food that perishes. The Son of Man will give it to you, for God the Father has set his seal on him.”
6:28 Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?”
6:29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent.”
6:30 So they said to him, “Then what sign will you perform so that we may see and believe you? What work will you do?
6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
6:32 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
6:33 For the bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
6:34 Then they said to him, “Lord, give us this bread always.”
6:35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never hunger, and whoever believes in me will never thirst.
6:36 But I told you that you have seen me and still do not believe.
6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.
6:38 For I have come down from heaven to do the will of him who sent me, not my own will.
6:39 And this is the will of him who sent me: that I lose nothing of all he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.
6:40 For this is my Father’s will: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
6:41 Then the Jews grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
6:42 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”
6:43 Jesus answered them, “Do not grumble among yourselves.
6:44 No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
6:45 It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.
6:46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.
6:47 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.
6:48 I am the bread of life.
6:49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and died.
6:50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die.
6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
6:52 Then the Jews argued with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
6:53 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.
6:54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.
6:55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.
6:56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.
6:57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me will live because of me.
6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. It is not like what the fathers ate: they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”
6:59 He said these things while teaching in a synagogue in Capernaum.
6:60 When many of his disciples heard this, they said, “This is a hard saying. Who can listen to it?”
6:61 But Jesus, knowing within himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, “Does this cause you to stumble?
6:62 Then what if you see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?
6:63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is of no benefit. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.
6:64 But there are some among you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who did not believe and who would betray him.
6:65 And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted to him by the Father.”
6:66 From that time, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.
6:67 So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”
6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
6:69 And we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God.”
6:70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”
6:71 He was speaking of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for he was going to betray him, though he was one of the Twelve.

Chapter 7
7:1 After this Jesus traveled around Galilee. He did not want to travel in Judea, because the Jews were seeking to kill him.
7:2 Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.
7:3 So his brothers said to him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so that your disciples too may see the works you are doing.
7:4 For no one does things in secret while seeking to be known publicly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world.”
7:5 For even his brothers did not believe in him.
7:6 Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.
7:7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.
7:8 You go up to the feast. I am not going up to this feast, because my time has not yet been fulfilled.”
7:9 After saying these things, he stayed in Galilee.
7:10 But after his brothers had gone up to the feast, he too went up, not publicly but as if in secret.
7:11 The Jews were looking for him at the feast and saying, “Where is he?”
7:12 There was much whispering about him among the crowds. Some said, “He is good.” Others said, “No, he leads the crowd astray.”
7:13 Yet no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jews.
7:14 When the feast was already halfway over, Jesus went up to the temple and began to teach.
7:15 The Jews marveled and said, “How does this man have such learning when he has not studied?”
7:16 Jesus answered them, “My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me.
7:17 If anyone is willing to do his will, he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I speak on my own.
7:18 Whoever speaks on his own seeks his own glory. But whoever seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.
7:19 Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you seeking to kill me?”
7:20 The crowd answered, “You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?”
7:21 Jesus answered them, “I did one work, and you all marvel.
7:22 For this reason Moses gave you circumcision—not that it comes from Moses, but from the fathers—and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath.
7:23 If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with me because I made a whole man well on the Sabbath?
7:24 Do not judge by appearances, but judge with righteous judgment.”
7:25 Then some of the people of Jerusalem said, “Is this not the man they are seeking to kill?
7:26 Look, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. Could the rulers have truly recognized that he is the Christ?
7:27 But we know where this man comes from. When the Christ comes, no one will know where he comes from.”
7:28 So Jesus cried out as he taught in the temple, “You know me and know where I come from. Yet I have not come on my own. The one who sent me is true, and you do not know him.
7:29 I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me.”
7:30 Then they tried to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.
7:31 But many in the crowd believed in him and said, “When the Christ comes, will he perform more signs than this man has?”
7:32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering these things about him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.
7:33 Then Jesus said, “I am with you a little while longer, and then I am going to the one who sent me.
7:34 You will look for me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come.”
7:35 The Jews said to one another, “Where does this man intend to go that we will not find him? Does he intend to go to those dispersed among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?
7:36 What does he mean by saying, ‘You will look for me and not find me, and where I am you cannot come’?”
7:37 On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.
7:38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within him.”
7:39 He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
7:40 When some of the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.”
7:41 Others said, “This is the Christ.” But some said, “Surely the Christ does not come from Galilee?
7:42 Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from David’s descendants and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?”
7:43 So there was a division in the crowd because of him.
7:44 Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.
7:45 Then the officers returned to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, “Why did you not bring him?”
7:46 The officers answered, “No one has ever spoken like this!”
7:47 Then the Pharisees answered them, “Have you also been led astray?
7:48 Has any of the rulers or Pharisees believed in him?
7:49 But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.”
7:50 Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and was one of them, said to them,
7:51 “Does our law judge a man without first hearing from him and learning what he is doing?”
7:52 They answered him, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that no prophet arises from Galilee.”
7:53 Then each went to his own home.

Chapter 8
8:1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
8:2 At dawn he returned to the temple, and all the people came. He sat down and taught them.
8:3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought him a woman caught in adultery and stood her in the midst.
8:4 To test him, they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.
8:5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. What, then, do you say?”
8:6 They said this to test him, so that they would have grounds to accuse him. But Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger, paying them no attention.
8:7 When they kept questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8:8 Then he bent down again and wrote on the ground.
8:9 When they heard this, convicted by their conscience, they began to leave one by one, starting with the oldest. Jesus was left alone, with the woman still in the midst.
8:10 Jesus straightened up and, seeing no one but the woman, said to her, “Where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
8:11 She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and sin no more.”
8:12 Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
8:13 The Pharisees said to him, “You bear witness about yourself; your testimony is not true.”
8:14 Jesus answered them, “Even if I bear witness about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
8:15 You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.
8:16 Yet even if I judge, my judgment is true, because I am not alone, but I and the Father who sent me.
8:17 In your own law it is written that the testimony of two people is true.
8:18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.”
8:19 Then they said to him, “Where is your Father?” Jesus answered, “You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father too.”
8:20 He spoke these words in the treasury as he taught in the temple. No one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.
8:21 Then he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will look for me, but you will die in your sin. Where I am going you cannot come.”
8:22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going you cannot come’?”
8:23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
8:24 That is why I told you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins.”
8:25 Then they said to him, “Who are you?” Jesus said to them, “Why do I speak to you at all?
8:26 I have much to say about you and much to judge. But the one who sent me is true, and I speak to the world what I have heard from him.”
8:27 They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.
8:28 So Jesus said, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am, and that I do nothing on my own, but speak these things as the Father taught me.
8:29 The one who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, because I always do what pleases him.”
8:30 As he spoke these things, many believed in him.
8:31 Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you truly are my disciples,
8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
8:33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”
8:34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin.
8:35 A slave does not remain in the household forever; a son remains forever.
8:36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, yet you seek to kill me, because my word finds no room in you.
8:38 I speak of what I have seen with the Father, and you do what you have heard from the father.”
8:39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works of Abraham.
8:40 But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.
8:41 You do the works of your father.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—God.”
8:42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came forth from God and have come here. I did not come on my own, but he sent me.
8:43 Why do you not understand what I say? Because you cannot listen to my word.
8:44 You are of your father the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and has not stood in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
8:45 But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.
8:46 Which of you can convict me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?
8:47 Whoever is of God hears the words of God. This is why you do not hear: you are not of God.”
8:48 The Jews answered him, “Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”
8:49 Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.
8:50 I do not seek my own glory. There is one who seeks it and judges.
8:51 Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
8:52 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 keeps my word, he will never taste death.’
8:53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? The prophets died too. Who do you make yourself out to be?”
8:54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, the one of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’
8:55 Yet you have not known him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I know him and keep his word.
8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.”
8:57 Then the Jews said to him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?”
8:58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, before Abraham came to be, I am.”
8:59 Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

Chapter 9
9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.
9:2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
9:3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.
9:4 We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming, when no one can work.
9:5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”
9:6 After saying this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and spread the mud on the man’s eyes.
9:7 He said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went, washed, and came back seeing.
9:8 Then the neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar said, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?”
9:9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he looks like him.” He kept saying, “I am the one.”
9:10 So they said to him, “How were your eyes opened?”
9:11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and I received my sight.”
9:12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
9:13 They brought the man who had been blind to the Pharisees.
9:14 Now the day Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes was a Sabbath.
9:15 So the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
9:16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was division among them.
9:17 So they said to the blind man again, “What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
9:18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight.
9:19 They asked them, “Is this your son, whom you say was born blind? How, then, does he now see?”
9:20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.
9:21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.”
9:22 His parents said this because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be put out of the synagogue.
9:23 That is why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
9:24 So they called the man who had been blind a second time and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
9:25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I know: I was blind, and now I see.”
9:26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
9:27 He answered them, “I already told you, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
9:28 They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.
9:29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.”
9:30 The man answered them, “Now that is amazing! You do not know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes.
9:31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone worships God and does his will, he listens to him.
9:32 Never has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind.
9:33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
9:34 They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you teaching us?” And they threw him out.
9:35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”
9:36 He answered, “Who is he, sir, so that I may believe in him?”
9:37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.”
9:38 He said, “I believe, Lord,” and he worshiped him.
9:39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”
9:40 Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, “Are we blind too?”
9:41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin. But now you say, ‘We see.’ Your sin remains.”

Chapter 10
10:1 “Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold through the door but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.
10:2 But the one who enters through the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
10:3 The doorkeeper opens to him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
10:4 When he has brought all his own out, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
10:5 They will never follow a stranger, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”
10:6 Jesus told them this figure of speech, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
10:7 So Jesus said to them again, “Truly, truly, I tell you, I am the door for the sheep.
10:8 All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
10:9 I am the door. If anyone enters through me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
10:11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
10:12 The hired hand, who is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them—
10:13 because he is a hired hand and does not care about the sheep.
10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me,
10:15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.
10:16 I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them too, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock, with one shepherd.
10:17 This is why the Father loves me: because I lay down my life to take it up again.
10:18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father.”
10:19 Again there was a division among the Jews because of these words.
10:20 Many of them said, “He has a demon and is out of his mind. Why listen to him?”
10:21 Others said, “These are not the words of someone possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
10:22 At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter,
10:23 and Jesus was walking in the temple, in Solomon’s Colonnade.
10:24 Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me.
10:26 But you do not believe, because you are not among my sheep.
10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
10:29 My Father, in regard to what he has given me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
10:30 I and the Father are one.”
10:31 The Jews again picked up stones to stone him.
10:32 Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of them are you stoning me?”
10:33 The Jews answered him, “We are not stoning you for a good work, but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
10:34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
10:35 If he called those to whom the word of God came gods—and the Scripture cannot be broken—
10:36 do you say to the one the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
10:37 If I do not do the works of my Father, do not believe me.
10:38 But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may come to know and continue to know that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
10:39 Then they tried again to seize him, but he escaped from their hands.
10:40 He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and he stayed there.
10:41 Many came to him and said, “John performed no sign, but everything John said about this man was true.”
10:42 And many believed in him there.

Chapter 11
11:1 Now a man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
11:2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair. It was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
11:3 So the sisters sent word to him, “Lord, look, the one you love is sick.”
11:4 When Jesus heard this, he said, “This illness is not for death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
11:6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed two days in the place where he was.
11:7 After that he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
11:8 The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”
11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the daytime, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
11:10 But if anyone walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
11:11 After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going to wake him.”
11:12 Then the disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
11:13 Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought he was speaking of rest in sleep.
11:14 Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,
11:15 and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
11:16 Then Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us go too, so that we may die with him.”
11:17 When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away,
11:19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother.
11:20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary remained seated in the house.
11:21 Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
11:22 Even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”
11:23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
11:24 Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he dies, will live,
11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
11:27 She said to him, “Yes, Lord. I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.”
11:28 After saying this, she went and called her sister Mary, telling her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
11:29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.
11:30 Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
11:31 When the Jews who were with Mary in the house comforting her saw her get up quickly and leave, they followed her, thinking she was going to the tomb to weep there.
11:32 When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
11:33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he was indignant in spirit and became troubled.
11:34 He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
11:35 Jesus wept.
11:36 Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
11:37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the blind man’s eyes, have kept this man from dying?”
11:38 Then Jesus, again indignant within himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
11:39 Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the dead man’s sister, said to him, “Lord, by now there is a stench, for it has been four days.”
11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
11:41 So they took away the stone. Jesus lifted his eyes upward and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
11:42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this because of the crowd standing around, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
11:43 After saying this, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”
11:44 The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him and let him go.”
11:45 Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he did believed in him.
11:46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
11:47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we doing? This man is performing many signs.
11:48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
11:49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all,
11:50 nor do you consider that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”
11:51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation,
11:52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who were scattered.
11:53 So from that day on they plotted to kill him.
11:54 Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went away from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim. There he stayed with the disciples.
11:55 Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many went up from the countryside to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
11:56 They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? Will he not come to the feast?”
11:57 The chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who knew where he was should report it, so that they could arrest him.

Chapter 12
12:1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
12:2 They gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with him.
12:3 Then Mary took about twelve ounces of very costly perfume of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
12:4 But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was going to betray him, said,
12:5 “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?”
12:6 He said this because he was a thief, not because he cared about the poor. He had charge of the money bag and used to take what was put into it.
12:7 Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.
12:8 For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
12:9 A large crowd of the Jews learned that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
12:10 But the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
12:11 because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
12:12 The next day, the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
12:13 They took palm branches and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel!”
12:14 Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, as it is written,
12:15 “Do not fear, daughter of Zion.
   Look, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
12:16 His disciples did not understand these things at first. But when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
12:17 The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead bore witness.
12:18 For this reason the crowd also went to meet him, because they had heard that he had performed this sign.
12:19 Then the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are accomplishing nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
12:20 Now some Greeks were among those who went up to worship at the feast.
12:21 They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
12:22 Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
12:23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
12:24 Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
12:25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
12:26 If anyone serves me, let him follow me, and where I am, there my servant will be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
12:27 Now my soul is troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this very reason I came to this hour.
12:28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
12:29 The crowd standing there heard it and said it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
12:30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out.
12:32 And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
12:33 He said this to indicate what kind of death he was going to die.
12:34 Then the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
12:35 Jesus said to them, “The light is among you a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. Whoever walks in darkness does not know where he is going.
12:36 While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become sons of light.” Jesus said these things, then went away and hid himself from them.
12:37 Though he had performed so many signs before them, they did not believe in him,
12:38 so that the word spoken by Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled:
 “Lord, who has believed our report?
   And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
12:39 For this reason they could not believe, because Isaiah also said,
12:40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they may not see with their eyes or understand with their heart or turn, and I would heal them.”
12:41 Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke about him.
12:42 Nevertheless, even many of the rulers believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue,
12:43 for they loved the glory that comes from people more than the glory that comes from God.
12:44 Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me believes not in me but in the one who sent me.
12:45 And whoever sees me sees the one who sent me.
12:46 I have come into the world as light, so that everyone who believes in me may not remain in darkness.
12:47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
12:48 Whoever rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge: the word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
12:49 For I have not spoken on my own, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a command about what to say and what to speak.
12:50 And I know that his command is eternal life. So what I speak, I speak just as the Father has told me.”

Chapter 13
13:1 Before the Feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
13:2 During supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray him.
13:3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God,
13:4 rose from supper, laid aside his outer garments, and took a towel and tied it around himself.
13:5 Then he poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel tied around him.
13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you washing my feet?”
13:7 Jesus answered him, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand afterward.”
13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.”
13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
13:10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.”
13:11 For he knew who would betray him; that is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
13:12 When he had washed their feet, put on his outer garments, and reclined at the table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you?
13:13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
13:14 If I, the Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet.
13:15 For I have given you an example, so that you too should do as I have done for you.
13:16 Truly, truly, I tell you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
13:17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
13:18 I am not speaking about all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But this is so that the Scripture may be fulfilled: ‘The one who eats my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
13:19 I am telling you now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I am.
13:20 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
13:21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.”
13:22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain whom he meant.
13:23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining close to Jesus’ chest.
13:24 Simon Peter motioned to him to find out whom he was speaking about.
13:25 So that disciple leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Lord, who is it?”
13:26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give the piece of bread after dipping it.” Then he dipped the piece and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
13:27 After the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you are doing, do quickly.”
13:28 But no one reclining at the table understood why he said this to him.
13:29 Since Judas had charge of the money bag, some thought Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.
13:30 So after taking the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night.
13:31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.
13:32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him immediately.
13:33 Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I now tell you: ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
13:34 A new command I give you: love one another. Just as I have loved you, you too are to love one another.
13:35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
13:36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
13:37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
13:38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I tell you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times.”

Chapter 14
14:1 “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
14:2 In my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I am going to prepare a place for you.
14:3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am you may be also.
14:4 You know the way to where I am going.”
14:5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
14:7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father too. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
14:8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is enough for us.”
14:9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you have not known me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own, but the Father who abides in me does his works.
14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.
14:12 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in me will also do the works I do, and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
14:13 And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
14:15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever:
14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you and will be in you.
14:18 I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.
14:19 A little while longer, and the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you too will live.
14:20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
14:21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”
14:22 Judas, not Iscariot, said to him, “Lord, what has happened that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
14:23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
14:24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me.
14:25 I have spoken these things to you while abiding with you.
14:26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I have said to you.
14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled or afraid.
14:28 You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
14:29 Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.
14:30 I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming. He has no claim on me,
14:31 but I do just as the Father commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Get up; let us go from here.”

Chapter 15
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
15:2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that bears fruit he prunes so that it may bear more fruit.
15:3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me.
15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
15:6 If anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown out like a branch and withers. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, and they burn.
15:7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
15:8 By this my Father is glorified: that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.
15:9 Just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you. Abide in my love.
15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
15:11 I have spoken these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
15:12 This is my commandment: love one another as I have loved you.
15:13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down his life for his friends.
15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15:15 I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from my Father.
15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, and for your fruit to abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.
15:17 These things I command you, so that you may love one another.
15:18 If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before you.
15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, and I chose you out of the world, the world hates you.
15:20 Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they kept my word, they will keep yours too.
15:21 But they will do all these things to you because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.
15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin.
15:23 Whoever hates me hates my Father too.
15:24 If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would have no sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
15:25 But this is so that the word written in their law may be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without cause.’
15:26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
15:27 And you too bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.”

Chapter 16
16:1 “I have spoken these things to you so that you may not stumble.
16:2 They will put you out of the synagogues. Indeed, an hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think he is offering service to God.
16:3 They will do these things because they have known neither the Father nor me.
16:4 But I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you these things from the beginning, because I was with you.
16:5 But now I am going to the one who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’
16:6 Rather, sorrow has filled your heart because I have spoken these things to you.
16:7 Yet I tell you the truth: it is better for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.
16:8 When he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:
16:9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;
16:10 concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me;
16:11 and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.
16:12 I still have many things to tell you, but you cannot bear them now.
16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you in all the truth. For he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things to come.
16:14 He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.
16:15 All that the Father has is mine. That is why I said that he takes what is mine and will declare it to you.
16:16 A little while, and you will no longer see me, and again a little while, and you will see me.”
16:17 Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What does he mean by telling us, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me,’ and, ‘Because I am going to the Father’?”
16:18 So they said, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We do not know what he is saying.”
16:19 Jesus knew that they wanted to question him, and said to them, “Are you discussing among yourselves what I meant by saying, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while, and you will see me’?
16:20 Truly, truly, I tell you, you will weep and mourn, but the world will rejoice. You will grieve, but your sorrow will turn into joy.
16:21 When a woman gives birth, she has pain because her hour has come. But after she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world.
16:22 So you too have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one takes your joy from you.
16:23 On that day you will ask me no questions. Truly, truly, I tell you, whatever you ask the Father, he will give you in my name.
16:24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
16:25 I have spoken these things to you in figures of speech. An hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but will tell you plainly about the Father.
16:26 On that day you will ask in my name. I do not tell you that I will ask the Father on your behalf,
16:27 for the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.
16:28 I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
16:29 His disciples said, “Look, now you are speaking plainly and not using any figure of speech.
16:30 Now we know that you know all things and have no need for anyone to question you. By this we believe that you came from God.”
16:31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
16:32 Look, an hour is coming, and has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
16:33 I have spoken these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Chapter 17
17:1 Jesus spoke these things, then lifted his eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, so that the Son may glorify you,
17:2 just as you gave him authority over all flesh, so that he may give eternal life to all those you have given him.
17:3 And this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
17:5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world existed.
17:6 I have revealed your name to the people you gave me out of the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
17:7 Now they know that everything you have given me is from you,
17:8 because I have given them the words you gave me. They received them and truly knew that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.
17:9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world, but for those you have given me, because they are yours.
17:10 All that is mine is yours, and what is yours is mine, and I have been glorified in them.
17:11 I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, so that they may be one, just as we are.
17:12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I guarded them, and none of them was lost except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
17:13 But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves.
17:14 I have given them your word, and the world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17:15 I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
17:16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
17:17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
17:18 Just as you sent me into the world, I sent them into the world.
17:19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, so that they too may be sanctified in truth.
17:20 I pray not only for these, but also for those who believe in me through their word,
17:21 so that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. May they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you sent me.
17:22 I have given them the glory you have given me, so that they may be one, just as we are one:
17:23 I in them and you in me, so that they may be made perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them just as you loved me.
17:24 Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they may see my glory, which you have given me, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
17:25 Righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me.
17:26 I made your name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Chapter 18
18:1 After saying these things, Jesus went out with his disciples across the Kidron stream. There was a garden there, which he and his disciples entered.
18:2 Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus had often met there with his disciples.
18:3 So Judas took the detachment of soldiers, along with officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, and came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.
18:4 Then Jesus, knowing everything that was coming upon him, stepped forward and said to them, “Whom are you looking for?”
18:5 They answered him, “Jesus the Nazarene.” He said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with them.
18:6 When he said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground.
18:7 So he asked them again, “Whom are you looking for?” They said, “Jesus the Nazarene.”
18:8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go.”
18:9 This was so that the word he had spoken might be fulfilled: “Of those you have given me, I have lost none.”
18:10 Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest’s slave, and cut off his right ear. The slave’s name was Malchus.
18:11 Jesus said to Peter, “Put the sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”
18:12 Then the detachment, its commander, and the officers of the Jews arrested Jesus, bound him,
18:13 and took him first to Annas, for he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.
18:14 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it was better for one man to die for the people.
18:15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That disciple was known to the high priest and entered the high priest’s courtyard with Jesus.
18:16 But Peter was standing outside at the door. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman keeping the door, and brought Peter in.
18:17 The slave girl keeping the door said to Peter, “Are you not also one of this man’s disciples?” He said, “I am not.”
18:18 The slaves and officers had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they stood warming themselves. Peter too was standing with them, warming himself.
18:19 Then the high priest questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
18:20 Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I always taught in a synagogue and in the temple, where all the Jews gather, and I said nothing in secret.
18:21 Why do you question me? Ask those who heard what I said to them. Look, they know what I said.”
18:22 When he said this, one of the officers standing nearby slapped Jesus and said, “Is that how you answer the high priest?”
18:23 Jesus answered him, “If I spoke wrongly, bear witness to the wrong. But if rightly, why do you strike me?”
18:24 Then Annas sent him, still bound, to Caiaphas the high priest.
18:25 Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. They said to him, “Are you not also one of his disciples?” He denied it and said, “I am not.”
18:26 One of the high priest’s slaves, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?”
18:27 Again Peter denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.
18:28 Then they took Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor’s headquarters. It was early morning. They themselves did not enter the headquarters, so that they would not be defiled, but could eat the Passover.
18:29 So Pilate went outside to them and said, “What charge do you bring against this man?”
18:30 They answered him, “If this man were not doing evil, we would not have handed him over to you.”
18:31 Then Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and judge him according to your law.” The Jews said to him, “We are not permitted to put anyone to death.”
18:32 This was so that the word Jesus had spoken might be fulfilled, indicating what kind of death he was going to die.
18:33 Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, called Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?”
18:34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this on your own, or did others tell you about me?”
18:35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests handed you over to me. What have you done?”
18:36 Jesus answered, “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.”
18:37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world: to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice.”
18:38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” After saying this, he went out to the Jews again and said to them, “I find no ground for a charge against him.
18:39 But you have a custom that I release someone to you at the Passover. So do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?”
18:40 Then they cried out again, “Not this man, but Barabbas!” Now Barabbas was a robber.

Chapter 19
19:1 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
19:2 The soldiers wove a crown of thorns, put it on his head, and clothed him in a purple robe.
19:3 They kept coming up to him and saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And they slapped him.
19:4 Pilate went outside again and said to them, “Look, I am bringing him out to you so that you may know that I find no ground for a charge against him.”
19:5 Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Behold the man!”
19:6 When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no ground for a charge against him.”
19:7 The Jews answered him, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
19:8 When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid.
19:9 He went back into the headquarters and said to Jesus, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave him no answer.
19:10 Then Pilate said to him, “Will you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?”
19:11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me unless it had been given you from above. For this reason the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”
19:12 From then on Pilate sought to release him, but the Jews cried out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar.”
19:13 When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Stone Pavement, and in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
19:14 It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about noon. He said to the Jews, “Behold your King!”
19:15 Then they cried out, “Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”
19:16 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus.
19:17 Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place called the Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha.
19:18 There they crucified him, and two others with him, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.
19:19 Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus the Nazarene, the King of the Jews.”
19:20 Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. It was written in Hebrew, Latin, and Greek.
19:21 So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that he said, ‘I am King of the Jews.’”
19:22 Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”
19:23 When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier, and took the tunic as well. The tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.
19:24 So they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to decide whose it will be.” This was so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “They divided my garments among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things.
19:25 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
19:26 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son.”
19:27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home.
19:28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things had now been completed, said, so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “I thirst.”
19:29 A vessel full of sour wine was there. So they put a sponge filled with sour wine on hyssop and held it to his mouth.
19:30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
19:31 Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews asked Pilate to have the crucified men’s legs broken and their bodies taken away, so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath, for that Sabbath was a high day.
19:32 So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the other who had been crucified with him.
19:33 But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs.
19:34 Instead, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
19:35 The one who saw this has borne witness, and his testimony is true. He knows that he speaks the truth, so that you too may believe.
19:36 For these things happened so that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.”
19:37 And again another Scripture says, “They will look on the one they pierced.”
19:38 After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus, though secretly for fear of the Jews, asked Pilate to let him take away Jesus’ body. Pilate gave permission, so he came and took away his body.
19:39 Nicodemus, who had first come to him at night, also came, bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about seventy-five pounds.
19:40 So they took Jesus’ body and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, according to the Jewish burial custom.
19:41 There was a garden at the place where he was crucified, and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had yet been laid.
19:42 So they laid Jesus there because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and the tomb was nearby.

Chapter 20
20:1 On the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.
20:2 So she ran to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”
20:3 Then Peter and the other disciple went out and headed for the tomb.
20:4 The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.
20:5 He bent down and saw the linen cloths lying there, but did not go in.
20:6 Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,
20:7 and the cloth that had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
20:8 Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in. He saw and believed.
20:9 For they did not yet understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
20:10 Then the disciples went back to their homes.
20:11 But Mary stood outside by the tomb, weeping. As she wept, she bent down to look into the tomb
20:12 and saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had lain, one at the head and one at the feet.
20:13 They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “They have taken my Lord away, and I do not know where they have laid him.”
20:14 After saying this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but did not know it was Jesus.
20:15 Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”
20:16 Jesus said to her, “Mary!” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher).
20:17 Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
20:18 Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord,” and told them that he had said these things to her.
20:19 On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
20:20 After saying this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
20:21 Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”
20:22 After saying this, he breathed and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.
20:23 If you forgive anyone’s sins, those sins have been forgiven; if you retain anyone’s sins, they have been retained.”
20:24 But Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.
20:25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
20:26 Eight days later his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, though the doors were closed, and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”
20:27 Then he said to Thomas, “Bring your finger here and see my hands. Bring your hand and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
20:29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
20:30 Jesus also performed many other signs in the presence of the disciples that are not written in this book.
20:31 But these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

Chapter 21
21:1 After this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias. He revealed himself in this way.
21:2 Simon Peter, Thomas called the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.
21:3 Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They said to him, “We are coming with you too.” They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
21:4 When morning came, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus.
21:5 Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.”
21:6 He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and they could no longer haul it in because of the great number of fish.
21:7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer garment around himself, for he was undressed, and threw himself into the sea.
21:8 The other disciples came in the small boat, dragging the net full of fish, for they were not far from land, but about a hundred yards away.
21:9 When they stepped ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there with fish laid on it, and bread.
21:10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
21:11 So Simon Peter went up and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish—one hundred fifty-three. Although there were so many, the net was not torn.
21:12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared to ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord.
21:13 Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish.
21:14 This was now the third time Jesus had been revealed to the disciples after being raised from the dead.
21:15 When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” Peter said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”
21:16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter said to him, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Shepherd my sheep.”
21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
21:18 Truly, truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your belt and walk where you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and carry you where you do not wish to go.”
21:19 He said this to indicate by what kind of death he would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”
21:20 Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had leaned back against his chest at supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who will betray you?”
21:21 When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?”
21:22 Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me.”
21:23 So the saying spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”
21:24 This is the disciple who bears witness about these things and who wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.
21:25 Jesus also did many other things. If each one were written down, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

ACTS

Chapter 1
1:1 In my first account, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and teach
1:2 until the day he was taken up, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.
1:3 After his suffering, he presented himself alive to them with many convincing proofs, appearing to them over forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
1:4 While gathered with them, he ordered them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the Father’s promise. “You heard about it from me.
1:5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
1:6 So when they had come together, they asked him, “Lord, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel at this time?”
1:7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has set by his own authority.
1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
1:9 After he said this, he was lifted up as they watched, and a cloud took him from their sight.
1:10 As they were gazing into heaven while he went, suddenly two men in white clothes stood beside them.
1:11 They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way you saw him go into heaven.”
1:12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, which is near Jerusalem, about half a mile away.
1:13 When they entered the city, they went up to the upstairs room where they were staying: Peter, John, James, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
1:14 All of them devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, along with the women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
1:15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters—there were about a hundred and twenty people gathered—and said,
1:16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand through the mouth of David about Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.
1:17 For he was numbered among us and received a share in this ministry.”
1:18 Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness. Falling headlong, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.
1:19 This became known to everyone living in Jerusalem, so that in their own language the field was called Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.
1:20 “For it is written in the book of Psalms,
 ‘Let his dwelling become desolate, and let no one live in it,’
 and,
 ‘Let another take his office.’
1:21 So one of the men who accompanied us throughout the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
1:22 beginning with John’s baptism until the day he was taken up from us, must become a witness with us to his resurrection.”
1:23 They put forward two men: Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also named Justus, and Matthias.
1:24 Then they prayed, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show which one of these two you have chosen
1:25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship that Judas abandoned to go to his own place.”
1:26 They cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

Chapter 2
2:1 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place.
2:2 Suddenly a sound like a violent rushing wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting.
2:3 Tongues like fire appeared to them and separated, and one rested on each of them.
2:4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them to speak.
2:5 Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven.
2:6 When this sound arose, a crowd gathered in bewilderment, because each person heard them speaking in his own language.
2:7 They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Look, aren’t all these people who are speaking Galileans?
2:8 How is it that each of us hears them in our own native language?
2:9 Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, and Asia,
2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome,
2:11 both Jews and converts to Judaism; Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues of the mighty works of God!”
2:12 They were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
2:13 But others mocked them, saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”
2:14 Then Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them: “Fellow Jews and all who live in Jerusalem, understand this and listen to my words.
2:15 These people are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only nine in the morning.
2:16 Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:
2:17 ‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.
   Your sons and your daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.
2:18 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.
2:19 I will show wonders in heaven above and signs on the earth below: blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.
2:20 The sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.
2:21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
2:22 Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God through mighty works, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know.
2:23 This man, handed over according to God’s determined plan and foreknowledge, you killed by nailing him to a cross through the hands of lawless men.
2:24 But God raised him up, freeing him from the pains of death, because it was impossible for death to hold him.
2:25 For David says about him,
 ‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.
2:26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced;
   even my flesh will rest in hope,
2:27 because you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your Holy One see decay.
2:28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
   you will fill me with joy in your presence.’
2:29 Brothers, I can speak freely to you about the patriarch David: he died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
2:30 Since he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants on his throne,
2:31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ: he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.
2:32 God raised this Jesus, and we are all witnesses of this.
2:33 So, exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out what you see and hear.
2:34 For David did not ascend into heaven, but he himself says,
 ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand
2:35 until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
2:36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ.”
2:37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
2:38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and let each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
2:39 For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away—as many as the Lord our God calls.”
2:40 With many other words he bore solemn witness and urged them, saying, “Be saved from this crooked generation.”
2:41 So those who received his word were baptized, and about three thousand people were added that day.
2:42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
2:43 Awe came over everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.
2:44 All who believed were together and held everything in common.
2:45 They sold their property and possessions and distributed the proceeds to all, according to each person’s need.
2:46 Day by day they continued with one accord in the temple, breaking bread in their homes and sharing food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
2:47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Chapter 3
3:1 Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, three in the afternoon.
3:2 A man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried there. Every day he was placed at the temple gate called Beautiful to ask for alms from those entering the temple.
3:3 When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked them for alms.
3:4 Peter, together with John, looked intently at him and said, “Look at us.”
3:5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
3:6 But Peter said, “I have no silver or gold, but what I have I give you: in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.”
3:7 He took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately the man’s feet and ankles were strengthened.
3:8 Leaping up, he stood and began to walk. He entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.
3:9 All the people saw him walking and praising God.
3:10 They recognized him as the one who sat begging at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
3:11 While he held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the portico called Solomon’s, utterly amazed.
3:12 When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?
3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.
3:14 But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be released to you.
3:15 You killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. We are witnesses of this.
3:16 Through faith in his name, his name has strengthened this man whom you see and know. The faith that comes through him has given this man complete health before you all.
3:17 And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your rulers.
3:18 But in this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through the mouth of all the prophets: that his Christ would suffer.
3:19 Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
3:20 so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and he may send Jesus, the Christ appointed beforehand for you.
3:21 Heaven must receive him until the times of restoration of all things, of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.
3:22 Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him in everything he tells you.
3:23 And everyone who does not listen to that prophet will be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
3:24 All the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who followed him onward, also proclaimed these days.
3:25 You are the children of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘In your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’
3:26 God raised up his servant and sent him to you first, to bless you by turning each of you away from your wicked ways.”

Chapter 4
4:1 While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees came up to them,
4:2 greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
4:3 They arrested them and held them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening.
4:4 But many who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about five thousand.
4:5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes gathered in Jerusalem,
4:6 along with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all who belonged to the high-priestly family.
4:7 They had the apostles stand in their midst and asked, “By what power or in what name did you do this?”
4:8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders,
4:9 if we are being questioned today about a good deed done for a disabled man and how he has been healed,
4:10 let all of you and all the people of Israel know that it is in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healthy.
4:11 He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.
4:12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”
4:13 When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were uneducated, ordinary men, they were amazed. They also recognized that they had been with Jesus.
4:14 But seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against it.
4:15 So they ordered them to leave the council and conferred with one another,
4:16 saying, “What should we do with these men? It is clear to everyone living in Jerusalem that a remarkable sign has been done through them, and we cannot deny it.
4:17 But to keep it from spreading further among the people, let us threaten them so that they no longer speak to anyone in this name.”
4:18 Then they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
4:19 But Peter and John answered them, “Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God.
4:20 For we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
4:21 After threatening them further, they released them, finding no way to punish them because of the people, since everyone was glorifying God for what had happened.
4:22 For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was over forty years old.
4:23 After their release, they went to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
4:24 When they heard this, they raised their voices to God with one accord and said, “Sovereign Lord, you made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them.
4:25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our father David, your servant:
 ‘Why did the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
4:26 The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ.’
4:27 For in this city Herod and Pontius Pilate truly gathered with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,
4:28 to do whatever your hand and your plan had determined beforehand would happen.
4:29 And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant your servants to speak your word with all boldness,
4:30 while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
4:31 When they had prayed, the place where they were gathered was shaken. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God with boldness.
4:32 The multitude of those who believed was of one heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they held everything in common.
4:33 With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
4:34 There was no needy person among them, for all who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the sales
4:35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet. These were distributed to each according to need.
4:36 Joseph, whom the apostles called Barnabas, which means Son of Encouragement, was a Levite from Cyprus.
4:37 He sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Chapter 5
5:1 A man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, sold a property.
5:2 With his wife’s knowledge, he kept back part of the price, brought a portion, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
5:3 But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land?
5:4 While it remained unsold, did it not remain yours? And after it was sold, was the money not at your disposal? Why have you conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to people, but to God.”
5:5 When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. Great fear came upon all who heard.
5:6 The younger men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him.
5:7 About three hours later his wife came in, unaware of what had happened.
5:8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for this amount?” She said, “Yes, for that amount.”
5:9 Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Look, the feet of those who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
5:10 Immediately she fell at his feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.
5:11 Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard about these things.
5:12 Many signs and wonders were done among the people through the hands of the apostles. They were all together with one accord in Solomon’s Portico.
5:13 None of the rest dared to join them, but the people held them in high esteem.
5:14 Yet more and more believers in the Lord were added, multitudes of both men and women.
5:15 As a result, people even carried the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, so that when Peter passed by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
5:16 Crowds also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
5:17 Then the high priest and all who were with him, the party of the Sadducees, rose up, filled with jealousy,
5:18 and arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.
5:19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors, led them out, and said,
5:20 “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”
5:21 When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. When the high priest and those with him arrived, they called together the council and the whole assembly of the elders of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
5:22 But when the officers arrived, they did not find them in the prison. They returned and reported,
5:23 “We found the jail securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.”
5:24 When the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they were perplexed about them, wondering what would come of this.
5:25 Then someone came and told them, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”
5:26 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them back without violence, for they feared being stoned by the people.
5:27 They brought them in and stood them before the council. The high priest questioned them,
5:28 saying, “We strictly ordered you not to teach in this name, and look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and want to bring this man’s blood upon us.”
5:29 Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than people.
5:30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.
5:31 God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to grant Israel repentance and forgiveness of sins.
5:32 We are witnesses of these things, as is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
5:33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.
5:34 But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law respected by all the people, stood up in the council and ordered the men to be taken outside for a little while.
5:35 Then he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do to these men.
5:36 For some time ago Theudas arose, claiming to be somebody, and about four hundred men joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.
5:37 After him Judas the Galilean arose in the days of the census and drew people away after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.
5:38 So now I tell you, keep away from these men and leave them alone. For if this plan or this work is of human origin, it will be overthrown.
5:39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God.” They were persuaded by him.
5:40 They called in the apostles and had them beaten, ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.
5:41 So they left the council’s presence rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.
5:42 Every day, in the temple and in homes, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

Chapter 6
6:1 In those days, as the disciples increased in number, the Greek-speaking Jews raised a complaint against the Hebrews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.
6:2 The twelve called the whole body of disciples together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the word of God to serve at tables.
6:3 So, brothers and sisters, choose from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom, whom we will appoint to this task.
6:4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
6:5 The proposal pleased the whole gathering. They chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit; Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a convert to Judaism from Antioch.
6:6 They presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them.
6:7 The word of God continued to grow, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly. A large number of priests also became obedient to the faith.
6:8 Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.
6:9 But some from the synagogue called the Synagogue of the Freedmen, along with Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and debated with Stephen.
6:10 They could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he spoke.
6:11 Then they secretly induced men to say, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
6:12 They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, came upon him, seized him, and brought him before the council.
6:13 They put forward false witnesses who said, “This man never stops speaking against the holy place and the law.
6:14 For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs Moses handed down to us.”
6:15 All who sat in the council looked intently at him and saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

Chapter 7
7:1 Then the high priest asked, “Are these things so?”
7:2 Stephen replied, “Brothers and fathers, listen. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia, before he settled in Haran,
7:3 and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come to the land I will show you.’
7:4 Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. After his father died, God moved him from there to this land where you now live.
7:5 He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a place to set his foot, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, even though he had no child.
7:6 God spoke in this way: his offspring would live as foreigners in another land, and they would be enslaved and mistreated for four hundred years.
7:7 ‘But I will judge the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out and worship me in this place.’
7:8 He gave him the covenant of circumcision. So Abraham fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; Isaac fathered Jacob, and Jacob the twelve patriarchs.
7:9 The patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt. But God was with him
7:10 and delivered him from all his afflictions. He gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and all his household.
7:11 Then famine and great affliction came upon all Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could find no food.
7:12 When Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent our fathers on their first visit.
7:13 On the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh.
7:14 Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his relatives, seventy-five people in all.
7:15 Jacob went down to Egypt, and he and our fathers died.
7:16 They were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.
7:17 As the time drew near for the promise God had made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt
7:18 until another king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
7:19 He dealt craftily with our people and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to abandon their infants so that they would not survive.
7:20 At that time Moses was born, and he was beautiful in God’s sight. He was brought up for three months in his father’s house.
7:21 When he was abandoned, Pharaoh’s daughter took him in and brought him up as her own son.
7:22 Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was powerful in his words and deeds.
7:23 When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel.
7:24 When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian.
7:25 He thought his brothers would understand that God was giving them deliverance through his hand, but they did not understand.
7:26 The next day he came upon some of them fighting and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why are you wronging one another?’
7:27 But the one who was wronging his neighbor pushed him away, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge over us?
7:28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’
7:29 At these words Moses fled and became a foreign resident in the land of Midian, where he fathered two sons.
7:30 After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning bush.
7:31 When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight. As he approached to look more closely, the voice of the Lord came:
7:32 ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses trembled and did not dare to look.
7:33 The Lord said to him, ‘Take the sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
7:34 I have surely seen the oppression of my people in Egypt and heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. Now come, I will send you to Egypt.’
7:35 This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who appointed you ruler and judge?’—God sent this very man as ruler and deliverer, with the help of the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
7:36 He led them out, performing wonders and signs in the land of Egypt, at the Red Sea, and in the wilderness for forty years.
7:37 This is the Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’
7:38 He was with the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai and with our fathers. He received living words to give to us.
7:39 Our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they pushed him aside and turned back to Egypt in their hearts,
7:40 saying to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us, for we do not know what has happened to this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt.’
7:41 In those days they made a calf, offered sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced in the works of their own hands.
7:42 But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:
 ‘Did you offer me slaughtered animals and sacrifices for forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?
7:43 You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of the god Rephan, the images you made to worship them.
   I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’
7:44 Our fathers had the tent of the testimony in the wilderness, just as the one who spoke to Moses directed him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.
7:45 Our fathers received it in turn and brought it in with Joshua when they took possession of the land of the nations God drove out before them. It remained until the days of David,
7:46 who found favor before God and asked to find a dwelling for the God of Jacob.
7:47 But Solomon built him a house.
7:48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in places made by human hands, as the prophet says:
7:49 ‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is a footstool for my feet.
   What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?
7:50 Did not my hand make all these things?’
7:51 You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; you are just like your fathers.
7:52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.
7:53 You received the law as ordained by angels, yet you did not keep it.”
7:54 When they heard these things, they were enraged in their hearts and gnashed their teeth at him.
7:55 But he, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
7:56 He said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
7:57 They shouted at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and rushed at him together.
7:58 They drove him outside the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul.
7:59 As they stoned Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”
7:60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” After saying this, he fell asleep.

Chapter 8
8:1 Saul approved of his killing. On that day a great persecution arose against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria.
8:2 Devout men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him.
8:3 But Saul was ravaging the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and handed them over to prison.
8:4 Those who had been scattered went from place to place proclaiming the good news of the word.
8:5 Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed the Christ to them.
8:6 The crowds paid attention with one accord to what Philip said, as they heard him and saw the signs he was doing.
8:7 For unclean spirits came out of many who had them, crying out with a loud voice, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed.
8:8 So there was great joy in that city.
8:9 Now a man named Simon had been practicing magic in the city and astonishing the people of Samaria, claiming to be someone great.
8:10 They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God called Great.”
8:11 They paid attention to him because he had astonished them for a long time with his magic.
8:12 But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized.
8:13 Simon himself also believed, and after being baptized he stayed close to Philip. He was astonished as he saw signs and great miracles being done.
8:14 When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
8:15 They went down and prayed for them to receive the Holy Spirit,
8:16 for he had not yet fallen upon any of them; they had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
8:17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
8:18 When Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,
8:19 saying, “Give me this authority too, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.”
8:20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could acquire God’s gift with money!
8:21 You have no part or share in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
8:22 Repent, then, of this wickedness of yours, and plead with the Lord that perhaps you may be forgiven for the intent of your heart.
8:23 For I see that you are in bitter gall and in the bond of unrighteousness.”
8:24 Simon answered, “You yourselves pray to the Lord for me, so that none of what you have said may happen to me.”
8:25 After bearing solemn witness and speaking the word of the Lord, they made their way back to Jerusalem, proclaiming the good news in many Samaritan villages.
8:26 Then an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Get up and go south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a wilderness road.
8:27 He got up and went. There was an Ethiopian man, a eunuch and high official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of all her treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship
8:28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, reading the prophet Isaiah.
8:29 The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and stay beside this chariot.”
8:30 Philip ran up and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?”
8:31 He said, “How could I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
8:32 The passage of Scripture he was reading was this:
 “He was led like a sheep to slaughter, and as a lamb is silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.
8:33 In humiliation he was deprived of justice.
   Who can tell of his descendants?
   For his life is taken from the earth.”
8:34 The eunuch asked Philip, “Please tell me, about whom does the prophet say this? About himself or about someone else?”
8:35 Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this Scripture, he told him the good news about Jesus.
8:36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “Look, water! What prevents me from being baptized?”
8:37 [Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” He answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”]
8:38 He ordered the chariot to stop, and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
8:39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away. The eunuch saw him no more, for he went on his way rejoicing.
8:40 But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through, he proclaimed the good news in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Chapter 9
9:1 Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the Lord’s disciples, went to the high priest
9:2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, men or women, he could bring them bound to Jerusalem.
9:3 As he traveled and drew near Damascus, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.
9:4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
9:5 He asked, “Who are you, Lord?” He replied, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
9:6 But get up and enter the city, and you will be told what you must do.”
9:7 The men traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
9:8 Saul got up from the ground, but although his eyes were open, he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.
9:9 For three days he could not see, and he neither ate nor drank.
9:10 Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” He answered, “Here I am, Lord.”
9:11 The Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at Judas’s house ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. Look, he is praying,
9:12 and in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he may regain his sight.”
9:13 Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your saints in Jerusalem.
9:14 And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”
9:15 But the Lord said to him, “Go, for this man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel.
9:16 For I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.”
9:17 So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
9:18 Immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. He got up and was baptized,
9:19 and after taking food he regained his strength. He stayed for some days with the disciples in Damascus,
9:20 and immediately he began proclaiming Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.”
9:21 All who heard him were astonished and said, “Isn’t this the man who devastated those in Jerusalem who call on this name? Hadn’t he come here to bring them bound before the chief priests?”
9:22 But Saul grew stronger and stronger and confounded the Jews living in Damascus by demonstrating that Jesus is the Christ.
9:23 After many days had passed, the Jews plotted together to kill him,
9:24 but Saul learned of their plot. They were also watching the gates day and night to kill him.
9:25 But his disciples took him by night and lowered him through the wall, letting him down in a basket.
9:26 When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing he was a disciple.
9:27 But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road, how the Lord had spoken to him, and how he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus in Damascus.
9:28 So he went in and out among them in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord.
9:29 He spoke and debated with the Greek-speaking Jews, but they were trying to kill him.
9:30 When the brothers learned of this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.
9:31 So the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was being built up. Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the encouragement of the Holy Spirit, it increased in number.
9:32 As Peter traveled through all those places, he also went down to the saints living in Lydda.
9:33 There he found a man named Aeneas who had been lying on a mat for eight years because he was paralyzed.
9:34 Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed.” Immediately he got up.
9:35 All who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.
9:36 In Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha, which translated is Dorcas. She abounded in good works and in the alms she gave.
9:37 In those days she became sick and died. After washing her body, they laid it in an upstairs room.
9:38 Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples heard that Peter was there and sent two men to urge him, “Do not delay in coming to us.”
9:39 Peter got up and went with them. When he arrived, they brought him to the upstairs room. All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing him the tunics and cloaks Dorcas had made while she was with them.
9:40 Peter sent everyone outside, knelt down, and prayed. Then he turned toward the body and said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter, she sat up.
9:41 He gave her his hand and helped her stand. Then he called the saints and the widows and presented her alive.
9:42 This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.
9:43 Peter stayed in Joppa for many days with a man named Simon, a tanner.

Chapter 10
10:1 In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion in what was called the Italian Cohort.
10:2 He was devout and feared God with all his household, gave generously in alms to the people, and prayed to God continually.
10:3 About three in the afternoon he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God come to him and say, “Cornelius.”
10:4 He stared at him in fear and asked, “What is it, sir?” The angel said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God.
10:5 Now send men to Joppa and send for a man named Simon who is called Peter.
10:6 He is staying with Simon, a tanner, whose house is beside the sea.”
10:7 When the angel who spoke to him had gone, Cornelius called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him.
10:8 He explained everything to them and sent them to Joppa.
10:9 The next day, as they traveled and approached the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray about noon.
10:10 He became hungry and wanted something to eat. While they were preparing it, he fell into a trance.
10:11 He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, lowered to the earth by its four corners.
10:12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals, creatures that crawl on the earth, and birds of the sky.
10:13 A voice said to him, “Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.”
10:14 But Peter said, “Certainly not, Lord, for I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean.”
10:15 The voice spoke to him again a second time: “What God has made clean, you must not call defiled.”
10:16 This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken up into heaven.
10:17 While Peter was inwardly perplexed about what the vision he had seen might mean, the men sent by Cornelius had asked for Simon’s house and were standing at the gate.
10:18 They called out and asked whether Simon who was called Peter was staying there.
10:19 As Peter pondered the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Look, men are seeking you.
10:20 Get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation, for I have sent them.”
10:21 Peter went down to the men and said, “Here I am, the one you are looking for. Why have you come?”
10:22 They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man who fears God and is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and hear what you have to say.”
10:23 So he invited them in and gave them lodging. The next day he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.
10:24 The following day he entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends.
10:25 When Peter was about to enter, Cornelius met him, fell at his feet, and bowed before him.
10:26 But Peter raised him up, saying, “Stand up. I too am a man.”
10:27 As he talked with him, he went inside and found many people gathered.
10:28 He said to them, “You know that a Jewish man is not permitted to associate with or visit a foreigner. But God has shown me that I must not call any person defiled or unclean.
10:29 That is why I came without objection when you sent for me. So I ask, why did you send for me?”
10:30 Cornelius said, “Four days ago, at this very hour, three in the afternoon, I was praying in my house, and suddenly a man in bright clothing stood before me
10:31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.
10:32 Send to Joppa and call for Simon who is called Peter. He is staying at the house of Simon the tanner beside the sea.’
10:33 So I sent for you at once, and you have done well to come. Now we are all here before God to hear everything the Lord has commanded you.”
10:34 Then Peter began to speak: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality,
10:35 but in every nation whoever fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
10:36 He sent the word to the children of Israel, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ—he is Lord of all.
10:37 You know what happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism John proclaimed:
10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, because God was with him.
10:39 We are witnesses of all he did in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree.
10:40 God raised him on the third day and caused him to appear,
10:41 not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen beforehand by God: to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
10:42 He commanded us to proclaim to the people and bear solemn witness that he is the one appointed by God as judge of the living and the dead.
10:43 All the prophets bear witness about him: everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
10:44 While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who were hearing the word.
10:45 The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles,
10:46 for they heard them speaking in tongues and magnifying God. Then Peter said,
10:47 “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?”
10:48 He ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay for a few days.

Chapter 11
11:1 The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles too had received the word of God.
11:2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, those of the circumcision disputed with him,
11:3 saying, “You visited uncircumcised men and ate with them.”
11:4 So Peter began to explain it to them in order, saying,
11:5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision: something like a large sheet coming down, lowered from heaven by its four corners. It came right down to me.
11:6 I looked intently into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, crawling creatures, and birds of the sky.
11:7 I also heard a voice saying to me, ‘Get up, Peter. Slaughter and eat.’
11:8 But I said, ‘Certainly not, Lord, for nothing defiled or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’
11:9 A voice answered from heaven a second time, ‘What God has made clean, you must not call defiled.’
11:10 This happened three times, and everything was drawn back up into heaven.
11:11 Just then three men sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were.
11:12 The Spirit told me to go with them without making any distinction. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man’s house.
11:13 He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and call for Simon who is called Peter.
11:14 He will speak words to you by which you and all your household will be saved.’
11:15 As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them just as upon us at the beginning.
11:16 Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said, ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’
11:17 So if God gave them the same gift he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to hinder God?”
11:18 When they heard this, they fell silent and glorified God, saying, “Then God has granted even the Gentiles repentance that leads to life.”
11:19 Now those scattered by the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
11:20 But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, came to Antioch and also spoke to the Greek-speaking people, proclaiming the good news of the Lord Jesus.
11:21 The hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord.
11:22 News about them reached the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
11:23 When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose of heart,
11:24 for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith. And a large number of people were added to the Lord.
11:25 Then he went to Tarsus to look for Saul,
11:26 and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they gathered with the church and taught a large number of people. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called Christians.
11:27 In those days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.
11:28 One of them, named Agabus, stood up and indicated through the Spirit that there would be a great famine over the whole inhabited world. This occurred in the time of Claudius.
11:29 The disciples decided, each according to his means, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea.
11:30 This they did, sending it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.

Chapter 12
12:1 About that time King Herod laid hands on some who belonged to the church to mistreat them.
12:2 He had James, the brother of John, killed with the sword.
12:3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, he went on to arrest Peter as well. This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.
12:4 After seizing him, he put him in prison and handed him over to four squads of four soldiers each to guard him, intending to bring him before the people after the Passover.
12:5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was praying earnestly to God for him.
12:6 On the night before Herod was to bring him out, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while guards in front of the door kept watch over the prison.
12:7 Suddenly an angel of the Lord stood beside him, and a light shone in the cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.” And the chains fell from his hands.
12:8 The angel said to him, “Fasten your belt and put on your sandals.” He did so. Then he said to him, “Wrap your cloak around you and follow me.”
12:9 He went out and followed him, not knowing that what was being done through the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision.
12:10 They passed the first guard post and the second and came to the iron gate leading into the city, which opened for them by itself. They went out and proceeded along one street, and immediately the angel left him.
12:11 When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod’s hand and from all that the Jewish people were expecting.”
12:12 When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was called Mark, where many were gathered and praying.
12:13 When he knocked at the outer gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.
12:14 She recognized Peter’s voice, and in her joy she did not open the gate but ran inside and announced that Peter was standing at the gate.
12:15 They said to her, “You are out of your mind.” But she kept insisting that it was so. They said, “It is his angel.”
12:16 But Peter kept knocking. When they opened the door, they saw him and were astonished.
12:17 He motioned with his hand for them to be silent and told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. Then he said, “Tell James and the brothers these things.” He left and went to another place.
12:18 At daybreak there was no small commotion among the soldiers over what had become of Peter.
12:19 After Herod searched for him and did not find him, he questioned the guards and ordered them to be led away for execution. Then he went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.
12:20 Now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They came to him together and, after gaining the support of Blastus, the king’s chamberlain, asked for peace, because their country depended on the king’s country for food.
12:21 On an appointed day Herod put on royal robes, sat on the judgment seat, and addressed them.
12:22 The crowd shouted, “The voice of a god, and not of a man!”
12:23 Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died.
12:24 But the word of God grew and multiplied.
12:25 Barnabas and Saul returned to Jerusalem after completing their service, taking with them John who was called Mark.

Chapter 13
13:1 Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
13:2 While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
13:3 Then, after fasting and praying, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
13:4 So, sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.
13:5 When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their helper.
13:6 They traveled through the whole island as far as Paphos and found a Jewish magician and false prophet named Bar-Jesus.
13:7 He was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. The proconsul summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God.
13:8 But Elymas the magician—for that is how his name is translated—opposed them, trying to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
13:9 Then Saul, also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him
13:10 and said, “You who are full of every kind of deceit and malice, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness, will you not stop twisting the straight ways of the Lord?
13:11 And now, look, the Lord’s hand is upon you, and you will be blind, unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking people to lead him by the hand.
13:12 When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
13:13 Paul and his companions sailed from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem.
13:14 They continued on from Perga and came to Pisidian Antioch. On the Sabbath they entered the synagogue and sat down.
13:15 After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the synagogue rulers sent word to them: “Brothers, if you have a word of encouragement for the people, speak.”
13:16 Paul stood up, motioned with his hand, and said, “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.
13:17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people during their stay as foreigners in the land of Egypt. With an uplifted arm he brought them out of it,
13:18 and for about forty years he bore with them in the wilderness.
13:19 After destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance,
13:20 all this over about four hundred and fifty years. After that he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.
13:21 Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
13:22 After removing him, he raised up David as their king, of whom he testified, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart, who will do all my will.’
13:23 From this man’s offspring, according to promise, God brought Israel a Savior, Jesus.
13:24 Before his coming, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.
13:25 As John was finishing his course, he said, ‘Who do you suppose I am? I am not the one. But look, one is coming after me whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.’
13:26 Brothers, children of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, the word of this salvation has been sent to us.
13:27 For the people living in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him or the voices of the prophets read every Sabbath, and by condemning him they fulfilled them.
13:28 Though they found no grounds for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him killed.
13:29 When they had accomplished everything written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.
13:30 But God raised him from the dead.
13:31 For many days he appeared to those who had gone up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
13:32 And we proclaim to you the good news of the promise made to the fathers:
13:33 God has fulfilled it for our children by raising up Jesus, as it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; today I have begotten you.’
13:34 As for raising him from the dead, never again to return to decay, he has spoken in this way: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings of David.’
13:35 Therefore he also says in another place, ‘You will not let your Holy One see decay.’
13:36 For David, after serving his own generation according to God’s purpose, fell asleep, was gathered to his fathers, and saw decay.
13:37 But the one God raised did not see decay.
13:38 So let it be known to you, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you; and from everything from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses,
13:39 in him everyone who believes is justified.
13:40 Take care, then, that what was spoken in the prophets does not come upon you:
13:41 ‘Look, you scoffers, be amazed and perish, for I am doing a work in your days, a work you would never believe even if someone told you about it.’”
13:42 As they went out, the people urged them to speak these words to them the next Sabbath.
13:43 When the synagogue meeting ended, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke with them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.
13:44 The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.
13:45 But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and contradicted what Paul was saying, speaking blasphemously.
13:46 Then Paul and Barnabas spoke boldly: “It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, look, we are turning to the Gentiles.
13:47 For this is what the Lord has commanded us: ‘I have appointed you as a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”
13:48 When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.
13:49 The word of the Lord spread throughout the whole region.
13:50 But the Jews stirred up the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their territory.
13:51 They shook the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium.
13:52 And the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 14
14:1 In Iconium they entered the Jewish synagogue together and spoke in such a way that a great multitude of both Jews and Greeks believed.
14:2 But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.
14:3 So they stayed a considerable time, speaking boldly in reliance on the Lord, who bore witness to the word of his grace by granting signs and wonders to be done through their hands.
14:4 But the people of the city were divided: some sided with the Jews and others with the apostles.
14:5 When the Gentiles and Jews, together with their rulers, made a move to mistreat and stone them,
14:6 they learned of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region.
14:7 There they continued to proclaim the good news.
14:8 In Lystra a man was sitting who had no strength in his feet. He had been lame from his mother’s womb and had never walked.
14:9 He listened to Paul speaking. Paul looked intently at him, and seeing that he had faith to be healed,
14:10 said in a loud voice, “Stand upright on your feet!” He leaped up and began to walk.
14:11 When the crowds saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices in the Lycaonian language, saying, “The gods have come down to us in human likeness!”
14:12 They called Barnabas Zeus and Paul Hermes, because he was the chief speaker.
14:13 The priest of Zeus, whose shrine was outside the city, brought bulls and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds.
14:14 When the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and rushed into the crowd, crying out
14:15 and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We too are human beings of the same nature as you. We bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything in them.
14:16 In past generations he allowed all the nations to go their own ways.
14:17 Yet he did not leave himself without witness: he did good, giving you rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness.”
14:18 Even with these words, they barely restrained the crowds from offering sacrifice to them.
14:19 But Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead.
14:20 But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.
14:21 After proclaiming the good news in that city and making many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch,
14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples and urging them to remain in the faith, saying, “We must enter the kingdom of God through many afflictions.”
14:23 They appointed elders for them in each church and, after praying with fasting, entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
14:24 Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.
14:25 After speaking the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
14:26 From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been entrusted to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
14:27 When they arrived and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
14:28 They stayed a considerable time with the disciples.

Chapter 15
15:1 Some men came down from Judea and taught the brothers, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
15:2 After Paul and Barnabas had a sharp dispute and debate with them, it was decided that Paul, Barnabas, and some others from among them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question.
15:3 So, sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, recounting the conversion of the Gentiles and bringing great joy to all the brothers.
15:4 When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, and the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them.
15:5 But some believers from the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “They must be circumcised and ordered to keep the law of Moses.”
15:6 The apostles and elders gathered to consider this matter.
15:7 After much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that some time ago God chose me from among you so that through my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
15:8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as to us.
15:9 He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith.
15:10 Now, then, why are you putting God to the test by placing on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
15:11 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they are.”
15:12 The whole assembly fell silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul recount all the signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
15:13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me.
15:14 Simeon has recounted how God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for his name.
15:15 The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written:
15:16 ‘After this I will return and rebuild the fallen tent of David.
   I will rebuild its ruins and restore it,
15:17 so that the rest of humanity may seek the Lord, and all the nations over whom my name has been called, says the Lord, who makes these things
15:18 known from long ago.’
15:19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those among the Gentiles who are turning to God,
15:20 but should write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.
15:21 For from ancient generations Moses has had those who proclaim him in every city, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath.”
15:22 Then the apostles and elders, together with the whole church, decided to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leading men among the brothers.
15:23 They sent this letter by their hands: “The apostles and elders, your brothers, to the brothers from among the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.
15:24 Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with their words and unsettled your souls, though we gave them no instructions,
15:25 we have agreed together to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
15:26 men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:27 So we have sent Judas and Silas, who will also tell you the same things by word of mouth.
15:28 For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay no further burden on you beyond these necessary things:
15:29 that you abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these things, you will do well. Farewell.”
15:30 So they were sent off and went down to Antioch, gathered the congregation, and delivered the letter.
15:31 When they read it, they rejoiced at its encouragement.
15:32 Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.
15:33 After spending some time there, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.
15:34 [But Silas thought it best to stay there.]
15:35 But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming the good news of the word of the Lord, along with many others.
15:36 After some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, to see how they are doing.”
15:37 Barnabas wanted to take along John who was called Mark.
15:38 But Paul thought they should not take along the man who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
15:39 A sharp disagreement arose, so that they separated from one another. Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus,
15:40 but Paul chose Silas and left, entrusted by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
15:41 He traveled through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

Chapter 16
16:1 He also came to Derbe and Lystra. There was a disciple there named Timothy, the son of a believing Jewish woman, but his father was Greek.
16:2 The brothers in Lystra and Iconium spoke well of him.
16:3 Paul wanted him to go with him, so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews in those places, for they all knew that his father was Greek.
16:4 As they traveled through the cities, they delivered to them the decisions reached by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem, for them to observe.
16:5 So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number day by day.
16:6 They went through Phrygia and the Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
16:7 When they came to the borders of Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them.
16:8 Passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.
16:9 During the night a vision appeared to Paul: a Macedonian man was standing and pleading with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”
16:10 After he saw the vision, we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.
16:11 So we sailed from Troas and made a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day to Neapolis.
16:12 From there we went to Philippi, a leading city of that district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We stayed in that city for some days.
16:13 On the Sabbath we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we thought there was a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered.
16:14 A woman named Lydia, a seller of purple cloth from the city of Thyatira who worshiped God, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what Paul was saying.
16:15 After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she prevailed upon us.
16:16 As we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl with a spirit of divination met us. She brought her masters much profit by fortune-telling.
16:17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of God Most High, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.”
16:18 She kept doing this for many days. Paul became greatly troubled, turned, and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
16:19 When her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers.
16:20 They brought them to the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews and are throwing our city into turmoil.
16:21 They proclaim customs that we, as Romans, are not permitted to accept or practice.”
16:22 The crowd joined in the attack against them, and the magistrates tore their clothes off them and ordered them to be beaten with rods.
16:23 After inflicting many blows on them, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.
16:24 Having received such an order, he put them in the inner prison and secured their feet in the stocks.
16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
16:26 Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the prison’s foundations were shaken. At once all the doors opened and everyone’s bonds were loosened.
16:27 The jailer woke up and saw the prison doors open. He drew his sword and was about to kill himself, thinking the prisoners had escaped.
16:28 But Paul called out in a loud voice, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here!”
16:29 He called for lights, rushed in, and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.
16:30 He brought them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
16:31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
16:32 They spoke the word of the Lord to him and to everyone in his house.
16:33 At that very hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds. Immediately he and all his household were baptized.
16:34 He brought them up into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced with his whole household that he had believed in God.
16:35 When day came, the magistrates sent their officers, saying, “Release those men.”
16:36 The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for your release. So come out now and go in peace.”
16:37 But Paul said to them, “They beat us publicly without a conviction, though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now are they sending us away secretly? Certainly not! Let them come themselves and lead us out.”
16:38 The officers reported these words to the magistrates. They were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens,
16:39 and they came and appealed to them. After leading them out, they asked them to leave the city.
16:40 After leaving the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they saw the brothers, encouraged them, and departed.

Chapter 17
17:1 After passing through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a Jewish synagogue.
17:2 As was his custom, Paul went in to them, and for three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
17:3 explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. He said, “This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ.”
17:4 Some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, along with a great multitude of devout Greeks and not a few prominent women.
17:5 But the Jews became jealous and enlisted some wicked men from the marketplace. They formed a mob and threw the city into an uproar, attacked Jason’s house, and sought to bring them out to the people.
17:6 When they did not find them, they dragged Jason and some brothers before the city officials, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here too,
17:7 and Jason has welcomed them. They all act against Caesar’s decrees, saying that there is another king, Jesus.”
17:8 They alarmed the crowd and the city officials who heard these things.
17:9 After taking security from Jason and the others, they released them.
17:10 The brothers immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea. When they arrived, they went into the Jewish synagogue.
17:11 The people there were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica. They received the word with all eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
17:12 So many of them believed, along with many prominent Greek women and many men.
17:13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that Paul had also proclaimed the word of God in Berea, they came there too, stirring up and troubling the crowds.
17:14 Then the brothers immediately sent Paul away to go to the sea, while Silas and Timothy stayed there.
17:15 Those escorting Paul brought him as far as Athens. They received instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, and then they left.
17:16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
17:17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and those who worshiped God, and every day in the marketplace with those who happened to be there.
17:18 Some Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this babbler trying to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign deities,” because he was proclaiming the good news of Jesus and the resurrection.
17:19 They took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are speaking about?
17:20 For you are bringing some strange things to our ears, and we want to know what they mean.”
17:21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners visiting there spent their time doing nothing but telling or hearing something new.
17:22 Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious.
17:23 For as I passed along and observed your objects of worship, I found an altar inscribed, ‘To an unknown god.’ What you worship without knowing, this I proclaim to you.
17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by human hands,
17:25 nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and all things.
17:26 From one he made all nations to live on the whole face of the earth, determining their appointed times and the boundaries of their dwelling,
17:27 so that they might seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’
17:29 Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the divine nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human art and imagination.
17:30 So God overlooked the times of ignorance, but now commands all people everywhere to repent,
17:31 because he has set a day on which he will judge the inhabited world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed. He has given assurance of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
17:32 When they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, but others said, “We will hear you again about this.”
17:33 So Paul went out from among them.
17:34 But some joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

Chapter 18
18:1 After this Paul left Athens and came to Corinth.
18:2 He found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them,
18:3 and because he practiced the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
18:4 Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue and sought to persuade Jews and Greeks.
18:5 When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to the word, bearing solemn witness to the Jews that Jesus is the Christ.
18:6 But when they opposed him and spoke blasphemously, he shook out his clothes and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.”
18:7 He left there and entered the house of a man named Titius Justus, who worshiped God. His house was next to the synagogue.
18:8 Crispus, the synagogue ruler, believed in the Lord with all his household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were baptized.
18:9 The Lord said to Paul one night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but keep speaking and do not be silent,
18:10 for I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, for I have many people in this city.”
18:11 So he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
18:12 When Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat,
18:13 saying, “This man persuades people to worship God contrary to the law.”
18:14 When Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or a serious crime, Jews, I would have reason to hear you out.
18:15 But if these are disputes about words, names, and your own law, see to it yourselves. I am not willing to be a judge of these things.”
18:16 And he drove them away from the judgment seat.
18:17 They all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue ruler, and beat him before the judgment seat, but Gallio cared about none of these things.
18:18 Paul stayed many more days, then said farewell to the brothers and sailed for Syria, with Priscilla and Aquila accompanying him. He had cut his hair at Cenchreae, for he was under a vow.
18:19 They arrived at Ephesus, and he left them there. He himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
18:20 When they asked him to stay longer, he did not agree,
18:21 but took leave of them, saying, “I will return to you again, God willing.” Then he sailed from Ephesus.
18:22 He landed at Caesarea, went up and greeted the church, and went down to Antioch.
18:23 After spending some time there, he departed and traveled in order through the Galatian region and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
18:24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, mighty in the Scriptures.
18:25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately about Jesus, though he knew only John’s baptism.
18:26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.
18:27 When he wanted to cross over to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. On arriving, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace,
18:28 for he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

Chapter 19
19:1 While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the inland regions and came to Ephesus, where he found some disciples.
19:2 He asked them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” They replied, “We have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.”
19:3 He said, “Into what, then, were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.”
19:4 Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
19:5 When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.
19:6 When Paul laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.
19:7 There were about twelve men in all.
19:8 He entered the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.
19:9 But when some became hardened and refused to believe, speaking evil of the Way before the multitude, he withdrew from them and took the disciples apart, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.
19:10 This continued for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.
19:11 God was doing extraordinary miracles through Paul’s hands,
19:12 so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried to the sick, and their diseases left them and the evil spirits came out.
19:13 Some of the traveling Jewish exorcists also tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul proclaims.”
19:14 Seven sons of a certain Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this.
19:15 But the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?”
19:16 The man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered both of them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled from that house naked and wounded.
19:17 This became known to all the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus. Fear fell upon them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.
19:18 Many of those who had believed came, confessing and disclosing their practices.
19:19 A considerable number of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them before everyone. They added up their value and found it to be fifty thousand pieces of silver.
19:20 In this way the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.
19:21 After these things had taken place, Paul resolved in spirit to travel through Macedonia and Achaia and go to Jerusalem. He said, “After I have been there, I must also see Rome.”
19:22 He sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia, while he himself stayed in Asia for a time.
19:23 About that time there arose no small disturbance concerning the Way.
19:24 For a silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought considerable business to the craftsmen.
19:25 He gathered them together with the workers in related trades and said, “Men, you know that our prosperity comes from this business.
19:26 You see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away a considerable multitude, saying that gods made by hands are not gods.
19:27 Not only is our trade in danger of falling into disrepute, but the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be regarded as nothing, and she may be stripped of her majesty, she whom all Asia and the inhabited world worship.”
19:28 When they heard this, they were filled with rage and cried out, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
19:29 The city was filled with confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, seizing Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s traveling companions.
19:30 Paul wanted to go in before the people, but the disciples would not let him.
19:31 Some of the Asiarchs, who were his friends, also sent to him and urged him not to venture into the theater.
19:32 Some shouted one thing and some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most did not know why they had come together.
19:33 People in the crowd instructed Alexander, whom the Jews had pushed forward. Alexander motioned with his hand and wanted to make a defense before the people.
19:34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all shouted with one voice for about two hours, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”
19:35 The city clerk quieted the crowd and said, “Men of Ephesus, who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great Artemis and of what fell from heaven?
19:36 Since these things cannot be disputed, you must remain calm and do nothing rash.
19:37 For you have brought these men here, who are neither temple robbers nor blasphemers of our goddess.
19:38 So if Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a charge against anyone, court sessions are held and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another.
19:39 But if you seek anything further, it will be settled in the lawful assembly.
19:40 For we are in danger of being charged with rioting over today’s events. There is no cause for it, and we will not be able to give an account of this gathering.”
19:41 After saying this, he dismissed the assembly.

Chapter 20
20:1 After the uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and said farewell. Then he left for Macedonia.
20:2 He traveled through those regions, encouraged them with many words, and came to Greece,
20:3 where he spent three months. When the Jews formed a plot against him as he was about to sail for Syria, he decided to return through Macedonia.
20:4 He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; Gaius from Derbe and Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.
20:5 These men came to Troas and waited for us there.
20:6 We sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread and reached them in Troas in five days. We stayed there seven days.
20:7 On the first day of the week, when we had gathered to break bread, Paul spoke with them. Since he intended to leave the next day, he prolonged his message until midnight.
20:8 There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were gathered.
20:9 A young man named Eutychus was sitting in the window, sinking into a deep sleep as Paul continued speaking at length. Overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.
20:10 But Paul went down, fell upon him, and embraced him, saying, “Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him.”
20:11 Then he went upstairs, broke bread, and ate. He talked with them for a long time, until dawn, and then left.
20:12 They brought the young man away alive and were greatly comforted.
20:13 We went ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for he had arranged it this way and intended to travel on foot.
20:14 When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went to Mitylene.
20:15 We sailed from there and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus.
20:16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he would not spend time in Asia. He was hurrying to be in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, if possible.
20:17 From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and summoned the elders of the church.
20:18 When they came to him, he said to them, “You know how I lived among you the whole time, from the first day I set foot in Asia,
20:19 serving the Lord with all humility, with tears, and with trials that befell me through the plots of the Jews.
20:20 I did not hold back from declaring to you anything beneficial and teaching you publicly and from house to house,
20:21 bearing solemn witness to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
20:22 And now, look, bound by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there,
20:23 except that in every city the Holy Spirit bears witness to me that bonds and afflictions await me.
20:24 But I do not count my life as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to bear solemn witness to the gospel of the grace of God.
20:25 And now I know that none of you among whom I went about proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again.
20:26 Therefore I testify to you this day that I am clean from the blood of all,
20:27 for I did not hold back from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
20:28 Pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God, which he acquired with his own blood.
20:29 I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
20:30 Even from your own number men will arise, speaking twisted things to draw the disciples away after themselves.
20:31 Therefore be watchful, remembering that for three years, night and day, I never stopped admonishing each one of you with tears.
20:32 And now I entrust you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified.
20:33 I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing.
20:34 You yourselves know that these hands served my needs and those of my companions.
20:35 In everything I showed you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
20:36 After saying this, he knelt down and prayed with them all.
20:37 They all wept deeply, embraced Paul, and kissed him,
20:38 grieving most of all over his statement that they would not see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.

Chapter 21
21:1 After we had torn ourselves away from them and set sail, we sailed directly to Cos, the next day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara.
21:2 We found a ship crossing to Phoenicia, went aboard, and set sail.
21:3 When we came in sight of Cyprus, we left it on our left and sailed for Syria. We landed at Tyre, for the ship was to unload its cargo there.
21:4 We sought out the disciples and stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they kept telling Paul not to set foot in Jerusalem.
21:5 When our days there were over, we left and continued our journey. They all accompanied us outside the city, with their wives and children. We knelt on the beach and prayed,
21:6 said farewell to one another, and boarded the ship, while they returned home.
21:7 We completed the voyage from Tyre and arrived at Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.
21:8 The next day we left and came to Caesarea. We entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.
21:9 He had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
21:10 While we stayed there for several days, a prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.
21:11 He came to us, took Paul’s belt, bound his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and hand him over into the hands of the Gentiles.’”
21:12 When we heard this, both we and the people there pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.
21:13 Then Paul answered, “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.”
21:14 When he would not be persuaded, we stopped insisting and said, “Let the Lord’s will be done.”
21:15 After those days we made our preparations and went up to Jerusalem.
21:16 Some disciples from Caesarea also accompanied us, bringing us to Mnason, a Cypriot and a disciple from the early days, with whom we were to stay.
21:17 When we arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly.
21:18 The next day Paul went with us to James, and all the elders were present.
21:19 After greeting them, he recounted one by one the things God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.
21:20 When they heard it, they glorified God and said to him, “You see, brother, how many tens of thousands of Jews have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.
21:21 They have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or follow the customs.
21:22 What is to be done, then? They will certainly hear that you have come.
21:23 So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow.
21:24 Take them with you, purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads. Then everyone will know that there is nothing to what they have been told about you, but that you yourself also live in observance of the law.
21:25 As for the Gentiles who have believed, we have sent our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.”
21:26 Then Paul took the men with him, and the next day he purified himself with them and entered the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, when the offering would be presented for each of them.
21:27 When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,
21:28 shouting, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against the people, the law, and this place. He has even brought Greeks into the temple and defiled this holy place.”
21:29 For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city and assumed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
21:30 The whole city was stirred up, and the people came running together. They seized Paul and dragged him outside the temple, and immediately the doors were shut.
21:31 As they were seeking to kill him, word reached the commander of the cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion.
21:32 He immediately took soldiers and centurions and ran down to them. When they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
21:33 Then the commander came up, arrested him, and ordered him to be bound with two chains. He asked who he was and what he had done.
21:34 Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another. Since he could learn nothing certain because of the uproar, he ordered him to be brought into the barracks.
21:35 When Paul reached the stairs, the soldiers had to carry him because of the crowd’s violence,
21:36 for the multitude of people followed, shouting, “Away with him!”
21:37 As Paul was about to be brought into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I say something to you?” He replied, “Do you know Greek?
21:38 Then are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?”
21:39 Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus in Cilicia, a citizen of no insignificant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people.”
21:40 When he gave permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. A great silence fell, and he addressed them in the Hebrew language, saying:

Chapter 22
22:1 “Brothers and fathers, listen now to my defense before you.”
22:2 When they heard him addressing them in the Hebrew language, they became even quieter. Then he said,
22:3 “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict requirements of the law of our fathers. I was zealous for God, as all of you are today.
22:4 I persecuted this Way to the death, binding both men and women and handing them over to prison,
22:5 as the high priest and the whole council of elders can testify about me. I received letters from them to the brothers and was traveling to Damascus, intending to bring those there too to Jerusalem in bonds to be punished.
22:6 As I was traveling and approaching Damascus about noon, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.
22:7 I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’
22:8 I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ He said to me, ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’
22:9 Those who were with me saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of the one speaking to me.
22:10 I said, ‘What should I do, Lord?’ The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go to Damascus. There you will be told everything you have been appointed to do.’
22:11 Since I could not see because of the brilliance of that light, I came to Damascus led by the hand of those with me.
22:12 A man named Ananias, devout according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews living there,
22:13 came to me, stood beside me, and said, ‘Brother Saul, regain your sight.’ At that very moment I regained my sight and looked at him.
22:14 He said, ‘The God of our fathers has chosen you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth,
22:15 for you will be his witness to all people of what you have seen and heard.
22:16 And now, why do you delay? Get up, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.’
22:17 When I returned to Jerusalem and was praying in the temple, I fell into a trance
22:18 and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not accept your testimony about me.’
22:19 I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in the synagogues I used to imprison and beat those who believed in you.
22:20 And when the blood of Stephen your witness was being shed, I myself stood by, approving it and guarding the clothes of those killing him.’
22:21 He said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you far away to the Gentiles.’”
22:22 They listened to him until these words, then raised their voices, saying, “Away with such a man from the earth! He ought not to live!”
22:23 As they shouted, threw off their clothes, and tossed dust into the air,
22:24 the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks and said that he should be examined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this.
22:25 When they stretched him out with the straps, Paul said to the centurion standing there, “Is it lawful for you to flog a Roman citizen who has not been condemned?”
22:26 When the centurion heard this, he went to the commander and reported it, saying, “What are you about to do? This man is a Roman citizen.”
22:27 The commander came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” He said, “Yes.”
22:28 The commander replied, “I acquired this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I was born a citizen.”
22:29 Immediately those about to examine him withdrew from him. The commander too was afraid when he learned that he was a Roman citizen and that he had bound him.
22:30 The next day, wanting to know for certain what the Jews were accusing him of, he unbound him and ordered the chief priests and the whole council to assemble. He brought Paul down and stood him before them.

Chapter 23
23:1 Paul looked intently at the council and said, “Brothers, I have lived before God in all good conscience to this day.”
23:2 The high priest Ananias ordered those standing by to strike him on the mouth.
23:3 Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You sit to judge me according to the law, yet you break the law by ordering me to be struck?”
23:4 Those standing by said, “Are you insulting God’s high priest?”
23:5 Paul replied, “Brothers, I did not know that he was the high priest, for it is written, ‘You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people.’”
23:6 When Paul realized that one part consisted of Sadducees and the other of Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead.”
23:7 When he said this, a dispute arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.
23:8 For the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, nor angel, nor spirit, but the Pharisees affirm both.
23:9 A great outcry arose, and some scribes from the Pharisees’ party stood up and argued fiercely, saying, “We find nothing wrong with this man. But if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him—”
23:10 As the dispute became violent, the commander feared that Paul would be torn apart by them. He ordered the troops to go down, snatch him from their midst, and bring him into the barracks.
23:11 The following night the Lord stood beside him and said, “Take courage, for just as you have borne solemn witness about me in Jerusalem, you must also bear witness in Rome.”
23:12 When day came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse, saying they would neither eat nor drink until they had killed Paul.
23:13 More than forty men had joined this conspiracy.
23:14 They went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse to taste nothing until we have killed Paul.
23:15 So now you, together with the council, should ask the commander to bring him down to you, as though you intended to examine his case more closely. We are ready to kill him before he comes near.”
23:16 But the son of Paul’s sister heard of the ambush. He came to the barracks, went in, and told Paul.
23:17 Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to report to him.”
23:18 So he took him to the commander and said, “Paul the prisoner called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.”
23:19 The commander took him by the hand, withdrew in private, and asked, “What do you have to report to me?”
23:20 He said, “The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though it intended to inquire more closely about him.
23:21 But do not be persuaded by them, for more than forty of their men are lying in ambush for him. They have bound themselves under a curse neither to eat nor drink until they have killed him. They are ready now and waiting for your agreement.”
23:22 So the commander dismissed the young man, ordering him, “Tell no one that you have reported these things to me.”
23:23 Then he called two of the centurions and said, “Prepare two hundred soldiers to go to Caesarea, along with seventy horsemen and two hundred spearmen, at nine tonight.
23:24 Provide mounts as well, so that Paul may ride and be brought safely to Felix the governor.”
23:25 He wrote a letter in these terms:
23:26 “Claudius Lysias to His Excellency Governor Felix: Greetings.
23:27 This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. I came with the troops and rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman citizen.
23:28 Wanting to know the charge they brought against him, I took him down to their council.
23:29 I found that he was being accused over questions of their law, but had no charge against him deserving death or imprisonment.
23:30 When I was informed that a plot was being prepared against the man, I sent him to you at once, also ordering his accusers to state their case against him before you.”
23:31 So the soldiers, according to their orders, took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.
23:32 The next day they let the horsemen go on with him and returned to the barracks.
23:33 When the horsemen arrived in Caesarea, they delivered the letter to the governor and presented Paul to him as well.
23:34 After reading it, he asked what province he was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia,
23:35 he said, “I will hear your case when your accusers arrive too.” He ordered Paul to be kept under guard in Herod’s praetorium.

Chapter 24
24:1 After five days the high priest Ananias came down with some elders and an advocate named Tertullus. They presented charges against Paul to the governor.
24:2 When Paul was called in, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, “Since we enjoy great peace through you, and reforms are being made for this nation through your foresight,
24:3 we acknowledge this in every way and everywhere with all gratitude, most excellent Felix.
24:4 But so that I may not detain you further, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly.
24:5 For we have found this man to be a plague, stirring up rebellions among all the Jews throughout the inhabited world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
24:6 He even tried to profane the temple, and we seized him.
24:7 [But Lysias the commander came and with great violence took him out of our hands.]
24:8 By examining him yourself, you will be able to learn about all these things of which we accuse him.”
24:9 The Jews also joined in the accusation, asserting that these things were so.
24:10 When the governor motioned to him to speak, Paul answered, “Knowing that you have been a judge of this nation for many years, I gladly make my defense.
24:11 You can verify that no more than twelve days have passed since I went up to Jerusalem to worship.
24:12 They did not find me disputing with anyone or stirring up a crowd, either in the temple, in the synagogues, or throughout the city.
24:13 Nor can they prove to you the things of which they now accuse me.
24:14 But this I confess to you: according to the Way, which they call a sect, I worship the God of our fathers, believing everything written in the Law and in the Prophets.
24:15 I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also hold, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.
24:16 So I myself strive always to maintain a blameless conscience before God and people.
24:17 After several years I came to bring alms to my nation and offerings.
24:18 While I was doing this, they found me purified in the temple, without a crowd or a disturbance.
24:19 But some Jews from Asia ought to have been here before you to accuse me, if they had anything against me.
24:20 Or let these men themselves say what wrongdoing they found when I stood before the council,
24:21 except for this one statement I cried out while standing among them: ‘I am on trial before you today for the resurrection of the dead.’”
24:22 But Felix, who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the case, saying, “When Lysias the commander comes down, I will decide your case.”
24:23 He ordered the centurion to keep him in custody but allow him some freedom and not prevent any of his own people from attending to him.
24:24 After some days Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish. He sent for Paul and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.
24:25 But as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became afraid and answered, “Go away for now. When I have an opportunity, I will send for you.”
24:26 At the same time he hoped that Paul would give him money, so he sent for him more often and conversed with him.
24:27 When two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix. Wanting to gain favor with the Jews, Felix left Paul bound.

Chapter 25
25:1 Three days after arriving in the province, Festus went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem.
25:2 The chief priests and the leading men of the Jews presented charges against Paul to him and pleaded with him,
25:3 asking as a favor against Paul that he summon him to Jerusalem. They were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.
25:4 Festus answered that Paul was being kept in custody in Caesarea and that he himself would be leaving shortly.
25:5 “So let those in authority among you go down with me,” he said, “and if there is anything wrong in the man, let them accuse him.”
25:6 After staying among them no more than eight or ten days, he went down to Caesarea. The next day he sat on the judgment seat and ordered Paul to be brought in.
25:7 When he arrived, the Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood around him, bringing many serious charges that they could not prove.
25:8 Paul said in his defense, “I have committed no offense against the law of the Jews, against the temple, or against Caesar.”
25:9 But Festus, wanting to gain favor with the Jews, answered Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem and be tried there before me on these matters?”
25:10 Paul said, “I am standing before Caesar’s judgment seat, where I ought to be tried. I have done the Jews no wrong, as you yourself know very well.
25:11 If I am doing wrong and have done anything deserving death, I do not refuse to die. But if there is nothing to what these men accuse me of, no one can hand me over to them as a favor. I appeal to Caesar!”
25:12 Then Festus, after conferring with his council, answered, “You have appealed to Caesar; to Caesar you will go.”
25:13 After some days King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and greeted Festus.
25:14 As they were staying there for several days, Festus laid Paul’s case before the king, saying, “There is a man whom Felix left as a prisoner.
25:15 When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews presented charges against him and asked for his condemnation.
25:16 I answered them that it is not Roman custom to hand anyone over as a favor before the accused has faced his accusers and had an opportunity to defend himself against the charge.
25:17 So when they came together here, I made no delay. The next day I sat on the judgment seat and ordered the man to be brought in.
25:18 When his accusers stood up, they brought no charge of the crimes I had suspected.
25:19 Instead, they had certain disputes with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who had died, whom Paul asserted to be alive.
25:20 I was at a loss how to investigate these matters, so I asked whether he wanted to go to Jerusalem and be tried there on them.
25:21 But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody for the emperor’s decision, I ordered him to be held until I could send him to Caesar.”
25:22 Agrippa said to Festus, “I too would like to hear the man myself.” He said, “Tomorrow you will hear him.”
25:23 The next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp and entered the audience hall with the military commanders and prominent men of the city. At Festus’s command, Paul was brought in.
25:24 Festus said, “King Agrippa and all you men here with us, you see this man, about whom the whole multitude of the Jews appealed to me, both in Jerusalem and here, shouting that he ought not to live any longer.
25:25 But I found that he had done nothing deserving death, and since he himself appealed to the emperor, I decided to send him.
25:26 I have nothing certain to write to the sovereign about him. So I have brought him before you, and especially before you, King Agrippa, so that after the examination I may have something to write.
25:27 For it seems unreasonable to me to send a prisoner without also specifying the charges against him.”

Chapter 26
26:1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You are permitted to speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:
26:2 “I consider myself fortunate, King Agrippa, to make my defense before you today against all the accusations the Jews bring against me,
26:3 especially since you are familiar with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore I beg you to listen to me patiently.
26:4 All the Jews know how I have lived since my youth, from the beginning among my own people and in Jerusalem.
26:5 They have known me from the start and, if they are willing, can testify that I lived as a Pharisee, according to the strictest party of our religion.
26:6 And now I stand on trial for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
26:7 which our twelve tribes hope to attain as they worship earnestly night and day. It is for this hope that I am accused by the Jews, O king.
26:8 Why is it judged incredible among you that God raises the dead?
26:9 I myself thought I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
26:10 And that is what I did in Jerusalem. With authority received from the chief priests, I locked many of the saints in prisons, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
26:11 I often punished them in all the synagogues and tried to force them to blaspheme. In my extreme rage against them, I pursued them even to foreign cities.
26:12 While engaged in this, I was traveling to Damascus with authority and a commission from the chief priests.
26:13 At midday, O king, on the road I saw a light from heaven brighter than the sun, shining around me and those traveling with me.
26:14 When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
26:15 I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ The Lord said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
26:16 But get up and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you as a servant and a witness of what you have seen of me and of the things in which I will appear to you,
26:17 rescuing you from the people and from the Gentiles, to whom I am sending you
26:18 to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the authority of Satan to God, to receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith in me.’
26:19 Therefore, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision,
26:20 but proclaimed first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance.
26:21 For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.
26:22 But having obtained help from God, I stand to this day bearing witness to small and great alike, saying nothing beyond what the prophets and Moses said would happen:
26:23 that the Christ would suffer and, as the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim light both to the people and to the Gentiles.”
26:24 As he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said in a loud voice, “You are out of your mind, Paul! Your great learning is driving you mad.”
26:25 But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, most excellent Festus. I speak words of truth and sound judgment.
26:26 For the king knows about these things, and I speak freely to him. I am convinced that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this was not done in a corner.
26:27 King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.”
26:28 Agrippa said to Paul, “In so short a time are you persuading me to become a Christian?”
26:29 Paul said, “I pray to God that, whether in a short time or a long time, not only you but all who hear me today might become as I am, except for these bonds.”
26:30 Then the king rose, along with the governor, Bernice, and those sitting with them.
26:31 As they withdrew, they spoke with one another, saying, “This man is doing nothing deserving death or imprisonment.”
26:32 Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been released if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

Chapter 27
27:1 When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they handed Paul and some other prisoners over to a centurion named Julius, of the Augustan Cohort.
27:2 We boarded a ship from Adramyttium that was about to sail to the ports along Asia, and set sail. Aristarchus, a Macedonian from Thessalonica, was with us.
27:3 The next day we put in at Sidon. Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends and receive their care.
27:4 We sailed from there under the shelter of Cyprus, because the winds were against us.
27:5 After crossing the open sea off Cilicia and Pamphylia, we came to Myra in Lycia.
27:6 There the centurion found a ship from Alexandria sailing for Italy and put us aboard it.
27:7 We sailed slowly for many days and barely reached a point off Cnidus. Since the wind would not let us go on, we sailed under the shelter of Crete, off Salmone.
27:8 We made our way along its coast with difficulty and came to a place called Fair Havens, near the city of Lasea.
27:9 Much time had passed, and sailing was now dangerous because even the Fast had already passed. Paul advised them,
27:10 saying, “Men, I see that the voyage will bring damage and great loss, not only to the cargo and the ship but also to our lives.”
27:11 But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and the shipowner than to what Paul said.
27:12 Since the harbor was unsuitable for wintering, the majority decided to sail from there, hoping somehow to reach Phoenix, a harbor of Crete facing southwest and northwest, and spend the winter there.
27:13 When a gentle south wind began to blow, they thought they had gained their purpose. They weighed anchor and sailed close along Crete.
27:14 But soon a violent wind called Euraquilo swept down from the island.
27:15 The ship was caught and could not face the wind, so we gave way and were driven along.
27:16 Running under the shelter of a small island called Cauda, we barely managed to secure the ship’s boat.
27:17 After hoisting it aboard, they secured the ship with ropes passed underneath. Fearing they would be driven onto the Syrtis, they lowered the gear and drifted along in this way.
27:18 The storm battered us violently, and the next day they began throwing the cargo overboard.
27:19 On the third day they threw the ship’s equipment overboard with their own hands.
27:20 For many days neither sun nor stars appeared, and a violent storm kept bearing down on us. At last all hope of our being saved was lost.
27:21 After they had gone a long time without food, Paul stood among them and said, “Men, you should have listened to me and not sailed from Crete, and so avoided this damage and loss.
27:22 But now I urge you to take courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, only of the ship.
27:23 For this very night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me,
27:24 saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and look, God has granted you all those sailing with you.’
27:25 So take courage, men, for I believe God that it will happen just as I have been told.
27:26 But we must run aground on some island.”
27:27 On the fourteenth night, as we were being driven about in the sea of Adria, around midnight the sailors suspected that land was drawing near.
27:28 They took a sounding and found a depth of about 120 feet. A little farther on they took another sounding and found about 90 feet.
27:29 Fearing we might be driven onto rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come.
27:30 The sailors tried to escape from the ship and lowered the boat into the sea, pretending that they were going to lay out anchors from the bow.
27:31 Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved.”
27:32 Then the soldiers cut the boat’s ropes and let it fall away.
27:33 As day was about to dawn, Paul urged everyone to take food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day you have continued waiting without food, having taken nothing.
27:34 So I urge you to eat, for this is for your survival. Not a hair will be lost from the head of any of you.”
27:35 After saying this, he took bread, gave thanks to God before them all, broke it, and began to eat.
27:36 They all took courage and ate some food themselves.
27:37 There were 276 of us in all on the ship.
27:38 When they had eaten their fill, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.
27:39 When day came, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a beach where they planned to run the ship ashore if they could.
27:40 They cast off the anchors and left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the lashings of the rudders. They hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach.
27:41 But they struck a place where two seas met and ran the ship aground. The bow stuck fast and remained immovable, while the stern was being broken up by the force of the sea.
27:42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so that none could swim away and escape.
27:43 But the centurion, wanting to save Paul, prevented them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land,
27:44 and the rest to follow, some on planks and some on pieces of the ship. In this way everyone reached land safely.

Chapter 28
28:1 After we had reached safety, we learned that the island was called Malta.
28:2 The islanders showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and welcomed us all because of the rain that had set in and because of the cold.
28:3 Paul gathered a bundle of sticks and put it on the fire. A viper came out because of the heat and fastened onto his hand.
28:4 When the islanders saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “This man must be a murderer. Though he escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”
28:5 But he shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.
28:6 They expected him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. After waiting a long time and seeing nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.
28:7 Near that place were estates belonging to the chief official of the island, named Publius. He welcomed us and kindly hosted us for three days.
28:8 Publius’s father was lying in bed, suffering from fevers and dysentery. Paul went in to see him, prayed, laid his hands on him, and healed him.
28:9 After this happened, the rest of the island’s sick people also came and were healed.
28:10 They honored us in many ways, and when we set sail, they supplied what we needed.
28:11 After three months we set sail in a ship from Alexandria that had wintered on the island and had the Twin Brothers as its emblem.
28:12 We put in at Syracuse and stayed there for three days.
28:13 From there we weighed anchor and reached Rhegium. A day later a south wind came up, and on the second day we arrived at Puteoli.
28:14 There we found some brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. And so we came to Rome.
28:15 When the brothers there heard about us, they came as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. On seeing them, Paul thanked God and took courage.
28:16 When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to stay by himself with the soldier guarding him.
28:17 Three days later he called together the leading men of the Jews. When they had gathered, he said to them, “Brothers, although I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, I was handed over as a prisoner from Jerusalem to the Romans.
28:18 After questioning me, they wanted to release me because there were no grounds for putting me to death.
28:19 But when the Jews objected, I was forced to appeal to Caesar, though I had no charge to bring against my nation.
28:20 For this reason I asked to see you and speak with you, because it is for the hope of Israel that I wear this chain.”
28:21 They said to him, “We have received no letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers who have come has reported or said anything bad about you.
28:22 But we want to hear your views, for we know that this sect is spoken against everywhere.”
28:23 They arranged a day with him and came in greater numbers to his lodging. From morning until evening he explained and solemnly testified about the kingdom of God, trying to persuade them about Jesus from both the law of Moses and the Prophets.
28:24 Some were persuaded by what he said, but others did not believe.
28:25 They disagreed with one another and began to leave after Paul made this one statement: “The Holy Spirit rightly spoke to your fathers through Isaiah the prophet,
28:26 saying, ‘Go to this people and say: “You will keep hearing but never understand, and you will keep looking but never perceive.
28:27 For this people’s heart has grown dull, and they have become hard of hearing, and they have closed their eyes, so that they might not see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”’
28:28 Therefore, know that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles. They will listen.”
28:29 [After he said this, the Jews went away, arguing at length among themselves.]
28:30 He stayed two full years in his own rented lodging and welcomed everyone who came to him,
28:31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with complete boldness and without hindrance.

ROMANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God,
1:2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
1:3 concerning his Son, who was born of David’s line according to the flesh
1:4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1:5 Through him we received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations for the sake of his name.
1:6 Among them you too are called to belong to Jesus Christ.
1:7 To all in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:8 First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the world.
1:9 For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, is my witness that I remember you unceasingly,
1:10 always in my prayers, asking that somehow, at last, by God’s will I may succeed in coming to you.
1:11 For I long to see you so that I may share some spiritual gift with you to strengthen you,
1:12 that is, so that we may be encouraged together by one another’s faith, both yours and mine.
1:13 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often planned to come to you (but have been prevented until now), so that I might have some fruit among you as among the other Gentiles.
1:14 I am a debtor both to Greeks and to non-Greeks, both to the wise and to the foolish.
1:15 So, for my part, I am eager to preach the gospel to you in Rome as well.
1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous person will live by faith.”
1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
1:19 because what can be known of God is plain among them, for God has made it plain to them.
1:20 For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes, his eternal power and divinity, have been clearly seen, understood through what he has made, so that they are without excuse.
1:21 For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give thanks to him. Instead, their reasoning became futile and their foolish heart was darkened.
1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools
1:23 and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for images resembling corruptible human beings, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.
1:24 Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies were dishonored among them.
1:25 They exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
1:26 For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for those contrary to nature,
1:27 and likewise the men abandoned natural relations with women and burned in their desire for one another. Men committed shameful acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
1:28 And just as they did not see fit to retain the knowledge of God, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do what ought not to be done.
1:29 They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice. They are gossips,
1:30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, proud, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
1:31 foolish, untrustworthy, without natural affection, and merciless.
1:32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve death, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

Chapter 2
2:1 Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are who judge. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge practice the same things.
2:2 We know that God’s judgment against those who practice such things is according to truth.
2:3 Do you suppose, you who judge those who practice such things and do them yourself, that you will escape God’s judgment?
2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
2:5 But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.
2:6 He will repay each person according to their works:
2:7 eternal life to those who, by perseverance in doing good, seek glory, honor, and immortality,
2:8 but wrath and fury to those who are selfishly ambitious and disobey the truth while obeying unrighteousness.
2:9 There will be affliction and distress for every human being who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek,
2:10 but glory, honor, and peace for everyone who does good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
2:11 For God shows no partiality.
2:12 For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law
2:13 (for it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified.
2:14 For when Gentiles who do not have the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, though they do not have the law.
2:15 They show that the work of the law is written on their hearts, while their conscience bears witness and their thoughts accuse or even defend them)
2:16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God judges people’s secrets through Christ Jesus.
2:17 But if you call yourself a Jew, rely on the law, and boast in God,
2:18 and know his will and approve what is excellent because you have been instructed from the law,
2:19 and are confident that you are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness,
2:20 an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, having in the law the expression of knowledge and truth,
2:21 then you who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?
2:22 You who say not to commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?
2:23 You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
2:24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”
2:25 For circumcision is of value if you practice the law. But if you are a lawbreaker, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.
2:26 So if an uncircumcised person keeps the law’s requirements, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?
2:27 And the one who is physically uncircumcised but fulfills the law will judge you who, despite having the written code and circumcision, break the law.
2:28 For a person is not a Jew merely outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward in the flesh.
2:29 Rather, a person is a Jew inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the Spirit, not the written code. That person’s praise comes from God, not from people.

Chapter 3
3:1 What advantage, then, does the Jew have? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?
3:2 Much in every way. First of all, they were entrusted with the words of God.
3:3 What then? If some were unfaithful, will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness?
3:4 By no means! Let God be true and every human being a liar, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged.”
3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates God’s righteousness, what shall we say? Is God unjust when he brings wrath? I am speaking in human terms.
3:6 By no means! Otherwise, how will God judge the world?
3:7 But if God’s truth has abounded through my lie to his glory, why am I still judged as a sinner?
3:8 And why not say, as we are slandered and as some claim we say, “Let us do evil so that good may come”? Their condemnation is just.
3:9 What then? Are we better off? Not at all, for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin,
3:10 as it is written:
 “There is no one righteous, not even one.
3:11 There is no one who understands;
   there is no one who seeks God.
3:12 All have turned aside;
   together they have become worthless.
   There is no one who does good, not even one.
3:13 Their throat is an open grave;
   they use their tongues to deceive.
   Vipers’ venom is under their lips.
3:14 Their mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.
3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood;
3:16 ruin and misery are in their paths,
3:17 and they have not known the way of peace.
3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
3:19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
3:20 For no human being will be justified before him by works of the law, because through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law, though the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it,
3:22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
3:23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
3:24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
3:25 God presented him as a propitiation through faith in his blood, to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had passed over the sins previously committed
3:26 in God’s forbearance. This was to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
3:27 Where, then, is boasting? It has been excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.
3:28 For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
3:29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not also the God of Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles too,
3:30 since God is one, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
3:31 Do we then nullify the law through faith? By no means! Rather, we uphold the law.

Chapter 4
4:1 What, then, shall we say Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?
4:2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.
4:3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
4:4 Now to the one who works, wages are counted as a debt, not as a gift.
4:5 But to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
4:6 just as David also speaks of the blessedness of the person to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:
4:7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
4:8 Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.”
4:9 Is this blessedness, then, for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? For we say, “Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness.”
4:10 How, then, was it counted? While he was circumcised or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised.
4:11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith he had while uncircumcised. This was so that he might be the father of all who believe while uncircumcised, so that righteousness might be counted to them,
4:12 and the father of the circumcised who are not only circumcised but also follow in the footsteps of the faith our father Abraham had while uncircumcised.
4:13 For the promise to Abraham or his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
4:14 For if those of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise nullified.
4:15 For the law produces wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression.
4:16 For this reason it is by faith, so that it may be according to grace and the promise may be secure for all the offspring, not only those of the law but also those of Abraham’s faith. He is the father of us all,
4:17 as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations.” He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls the things that do not exist as though they exist.
4:18 Against hope, he believed in hope, so that he might become the father of many nations, according to what had been said, “So shall your offspring be.”
4:19 Without weakening in faith, he considered his own body, as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb.
4:20 Yet he did not waver in unbelief regarding God’s promise, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God
4:21 and being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.
4:22 That is why it was counted to him as righteousness.
4:23 But the words “it was counted to him” were not written for him alone,
4:24 but also for us, to whom it will be counted, who believe in the one who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
4:25 He was handed over for our trespasses and raised for our justification.

Chapter 5
5:1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
5:3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in afflictions, knowing that affliction produces perseverance,
5:4 and perseverance proven character, and proven character hope.
5:5 And hope does not put us to shame, because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
5:6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.
5:7 For scarcely would anyone die for a righteous person, though perhaps someone might even dare to die for a good person.
5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
5:9 Much more, then, having now been justified by his blood, we will be saved from wrath through him.
5:10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we will be saved by his life.
5:11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
5:12 Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned—
5:13 for sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not counted when there is no law.
5:14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam’s transgression. He is a pattern of the one who was to come.
5:15 But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the trespass of the one, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many.
5:16 And the gift is not like what came through the one who sinned. For the judgment followed one trespass and led to condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and led to justification.
5:17 For if death reigned through the one by that one’s trespass, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
5:18 So then, just as one trespass led to condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act led to justification bringing life for all people.
5:19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous.
5:20 Now the law came in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded even more,
5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Chapter 6
6:1 What shall we say, then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may increase?
6:2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
6:4 Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
6:5 For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection.
6:6 We know this: our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
6:7 For the one who has died has been acquitted of sin.
6:8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
6:9 We know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer rules over him.
6:10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.
6:11 So you too must consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
6:12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.
6:13 Do not present the parts of your body to sin as weapons of unrighteousness. Instead, present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and the parts of your body to God as weapons of righteousness.
6:14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
6:15 What then? Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
6:16 Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?
6:17 But thanks be to God that, though you were slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching to which you were handed over.
6:18 And having been set free from sin, you were made slaves of righteousness.
6:19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the parts of your body as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to lawlessness, so now present them as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
6:21 What fruit did you have then from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
6:22 But now, having been set free from sin and made slaves of God, you have your fruit leading to sanctification, and the end is eternal life.
6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 7
7:1 Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law rules over a person only as long as that person lives?
7:2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies, she is released from the law binding her to him.
7:3 So then, if she belongs to another man while her husband lives, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from the law and is not an adulteress if she belongs to another man.
7:4 So, my brothers, you too were put to death to the law through the body of Christ, so that you might belong to another, to the one raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions that came through the law were at work in the parts of our body to bear fruit for death.
7:6 But now we have been released from the law, having died to what held us, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
7:7 What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? By no means! Yet I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known coveting if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”
7:8 But sin seized an opportunity through the commandment and produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead.
7:9 I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came to life
7:10 and I died. The very commandment meant for life proved to bring death to me.
7:11 For sin seized an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
7:12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.
7:13 Did what is good, then, become death to me? By no means! It was sin, producing death in me through what is good, so that it might be shown to be sin, and so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
7:14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold under sin.
7:15 For I do not understand what I do. I do not practice what I want, but I do what I hate.
7:16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that it is good.
7:17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin dwelling in me.
7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For the desire to do good is present with me, but carrying it out is not.
7:19 For I do not do the good I want, but I practice the evil I do not want.
7:20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin dwelling in me.
7:21 So I find this law: when I want to do good, evil is present with me.
7:22 For in my inner self I delight in the law of God,
7:23 but I see another law in the parts of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and taking me captive to the law of sin in the parts of my body.
7:24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
7:25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but the law of sin with my flesh.

Chapter 8
8:1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.
8:3 For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: he sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, and condemned sin in the flesh,
8:4 so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, on the things of the Spirit.
8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostility toward God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it.
8:8 And those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
8:9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
8:10 But if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, yet the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
8:11 And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who dwells in you.
8:12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, but not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
8:13 For if you live according to the flesh, you will die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery leading back to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father!”
8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
8:17 And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed in us.
8:19 For creation eagerly awaits the revealing of the sons of God.
8:20 For creation was subjected to futility, not willingly but because of the one who subjected it, in hope
8:21 that creation itself will also be set free from slavery to decay into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
8:22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together and suffering the pains of childbirth until now.
8:23 And not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly, eagerly awaiting adoption, the redemption of our body.
8:24 For in hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is not hope, for who hopes for what is seen?
8:25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.
8:26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings.
8:27 And the one who searches hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God’s will.
8:28 And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
8:29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
8:30 And those he predestined he also called, and those he called he also justified, and those he justified he also glorified.
8:31 What shall we say, then, to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
8:32 He who did not spare his own Son but handed him over for us all, how will he not also graciously give us all things with him?
8:33 Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies.
8:34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ is the one who died, and more than that, was raised, who is also at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Affliction, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword?
8:36 As it is written,
 “For your sake we are being put to death all day long;
   we are counted as sheep for slaughter.”
8:37 But in all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us.
8:38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor rulers, neither things present nor things to come, nor powers,
8:39 nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapter 9
9:1 I am speaking the truth in Christ; I am not lying. My conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit
9:2 that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
9:3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and separated from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my relatives according to the flesh.
9:4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
9:5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from them came the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.
9:6 But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who descend from Israel are Israel,
9:7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s offspring. Rather, “Through Isaac your offspring will be named.”
9:8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.
9:9 For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”
9:10 And not only that, but Rebekah also conceived by one man, our father Isaac.
9:11 For before they were born or had done anything good or evil, so that God’s purpose according to election might stand,
9:12 not from works but from the one who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”
9:13 As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
9:14 What shall we say, then? Is there injustice with God? By no means!
9:15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
9:16 So then, it depends not on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God, who shows mercy.
9:17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I raised you up, so that I might show my power in you and so that my name might be proclaimed throughout the earth.”
9:18 So then, he has mercy on whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills.
9:19 You will say to me, then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has resisted his will?”
9:20 But who are you, a human being, to answer back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
9:21 Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?
9:22 But what if God, wanting to show his wrath and make his power known, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction,
9:23 and did so to make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he prepared beforehand for glory,
9:24 even us whom he also called, not only from among Jews but also from among Gentiles?
9:25 As he also says in Hosea,
 “I will call those who were not my people ‘my people,’ and her who was not loved ‘beloved.’”
9:26 “And in the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called sons of the living God.”

9:27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
 “Though the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved.
9:28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on the earth completely and without delay.”
9:29 And as Isaiah said beforehand,
 “If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have become like Sodom and been made like Gomorrah.”
9:30 What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained righteousness, the righteousness that is by faith,
9:31 but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not reach that law.
9:32 Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
9:33 as it is written, “Look, I am laying in Zion a stumbling stone and a rock that makes people stumble, and the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

Chapter 10
10:1 Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is for their salvation.
10:2 For I bear witness for them that they have zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
10:3 For, not knowing the righteousness of God and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
10:4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
10:5 For Moses writes that the person who practices the righteousness that is from the law will live by it.
10:6 But the righteousness that is by faith speaks this way: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down),
10:7 “or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith that we preach:
10:9 if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10:10 For with the heart one believes, leading to righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, leading to salvation.
10:11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”
10:12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord is Lord of all and is rich toward all who call on him.
10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
10:14 How, then, can they call on the one in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in the one whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching?
10:15 And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
10:16 But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”
10:17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
10:18 But I ask, did they not hear? Indeed they did: “Their sound has gone out into all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.”
10:19 But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous by what is not a nation; by a nation without understanding I will make you angry.”
10:20 And Isaiah boldly says, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”
10:21 But concerning Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

Chapter 11
11:1 I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I too am an Israelite, of Abraham’s offspring, of the tribe of Benjamin.
11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
11:3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
11:4 But what does the divine reply say to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
11:5 So too at the present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer from works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
11:7 What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks, but the elect have obtained it. The rest were hardened,
11:8 as it is written,
 “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day.”
11:9 And David says,
 “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
11:10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”
11:11 I ask, then, did they stumble so as to fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
11:12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness!
11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I honor my ministry,
11:14 in the hope that I may somehow make those of my own flesh jealous and save some of them.
11:15 For if their rejection means reconciliation for the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
11:16 If the first portion of dough is holy, so is the whole batch, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them and came to share the rich root of the olive tree,
11:18 do not boast over the branches. But if you do boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
11:19 Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
11:20 That is true. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear.
11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
11:22 Consider, then, God’s kindness and severity: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.
11:23 And they too, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
11:24 For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and, contrary to nature, grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree!
11:25 For I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be wise in your own eyes: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles comes in,
11:26 and in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,
 “The Deliverer will come from Zion;
   he will turn ungodliness away from Jacob.
11:27 And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
11:28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers.
11:29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
11:30 For just as you once disobeyed God but have now received mercy through their disobedience,
11:31 so they too have now disobeyed, so that through the mercy shown to you they too may now receive mercy.
11:32 For God has confined all in disobedience so that he may have mercy on all.

11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
   How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!
11:34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”
11:35 “Or who has first given to him, that he should be repaid?”
11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things.
   To him be the glory forever. Amen.

Chapter 12
12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, which is your reasonable worship.
12:2 And do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect.
12:3 For by the grace given to me I say to each of you: do not think more highly of yourself than you ought, but think with sound judgment, according to the measure of faith God has allotted to each.
12:4 For just as we have many parts in one body, and not all the parts have the same function,
12:5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another.
12:6 We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to faith;
12:7 if service, let us serve; let the one who teaches teach;
12:8 let the one who exhorts exhort; let the one who shares do so with generosity, the one who leads with diligence, and the one who shows mercy with cheerfulness.
12:9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor evil; cling to good.
12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Take the lead in honoring one another.
12:11 Do not be sluggish in zeal; be fervent in spirit; serve the Lord.
12:12 Rejoice in hope; persevere in affliction; be constant in prayer.
12:13 Share in the needs of the saints; pursue hospitality.
12:14 Bless those who persecute; bless and do not curse.
12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
12:16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own eyes.
12:17 Repay no one evil for evil. Take care to do what is honorable in the sight of all.
12:18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
12:19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
12:20 But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.”
12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Chapter 13
13:1 Let every person submit to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been appointed by God.
13:2 Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed what God has ordained, and those who have opposed it will bring judgment on themselves.
13:3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will receive praise from it,
13:4 for it is God's servant for your good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid, for it does not bear the sword in vain. It is God's servant, an avenger bringing wrath on the one who does evil.
13:5 Therefore it is necessary to submit, not only because of wrath but also because of conscience.
13:6 For this reason you also pay taxes, for they are God's servants, constantly attending to this very task.
13:7 Give everyone what is owed: taxes to whom taxes are owed, customs duties to whom customs duties are owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.
13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for whoever loves another has fulfilled the law.
13:9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
13:10 Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.
13:11 And do this, knowing the time: it is already time for you to wake from sleep, for our salvation is nearer now than when we believed.
13:12 The night is far gone, and the day has drawn near. So let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.
13:13 Let us walk honorably, as in the daytime, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in strife and jealousy,
13:14 but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Chapter 14
14:1 Welcome the one who is weak in faith, but not to quarrel over opinions.
14:2 One person believes he may eat everything, while the weak person eats vegetables.
14:3 The one who eats must not despise the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat must not judge the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.
14:4 Who are you to judge someone else’s household servant? Before his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
14:5 One person regards one day above another; another regards every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
14:6 The one who observes the day observes it for the Lord. And the one who eats does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God. The one who does not eat abstains for the Lord and gives thanks to God.
14:7 For none of us lives for himself, and none dies for himself.
14:8 For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. So whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.
14:9 For this is why Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.
14:10 But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
14:11 For it is written, “As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to me, and every tongue will acknowledge God.”
14:12 So each of us will give an account of himself.
14:13 Therefore let us no longer judge one another. Instead, decide not to put a stumbling block or an obstacle in a brother’s way.
14:14 I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself. But for the one who considers something unclean, for him it is unclean.
14:15 For if your brother is grieved because of food, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy by your food the one for whom Christ died.
14:16 Therefore do not let what is good for you be spoken of as evil.
14:17 For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
14:18 For the one who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by people.
14:19 So then, let us pursue what makes for peace and for building one another up.
14:20 Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food. All things are clean, but it is wrong for a person to eat in a way that causes stumbling.
14:21 It is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything by which your brother stumbles or is caused to fall or is weakened.
14:22 Keep the faith you have to yourself before God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves.
14:23 But the one who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it is not from faith. And whatever is not from faith is sin.

Chapter 15
15:1 Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those who are not strong, and not to please ourselves.
15:2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up.
15:3 For even Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The insults of those who insult you fell on me.”
15:4 For everything written beforehand was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.
15:5 May the God of perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind toward one another according to Christ Jesus,
15:6 so that together with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:7 Therefore welcome one another, just as Christ also welcomed you, to the glory of God.
15:8 For I say that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, to confirm the promises to the fathers,
15:9 and so that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written,
 “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and I will sing to your name.”
15:10 And again it says,
 “Rejoice, Gentiles, with his people.”
15:11 And again,
 “Praise the Lord, all you nations, and let all the peoples praise him.”
15:12 And again Isaiah says,
 “There will be the root of Jesse, the one who rises to rule the nations;
   in him the nations will hope.”
15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
15:14 I myself am convinced about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to admonish one another.
15:15 But I have written to you more boldly on some points, to remind you, because of the grace given to me by God
15:16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, performing priestly service for the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
15:17 Therefore I have reason to boast in Christ Jesus in matters pertaining to God.
15:18 For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience, by word and deed,
15:19 by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem and the surrounding regions as far as Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.
15:20 And I have made it my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ has not been named, so that I would not build on someone else’s foundation,
15:21 but as it is written,
 “Those who were not told about him will see, and those who have not heard will understand.”
15:22 This is why I have so often been prevented from coming to you.
15:23 But now I no longer have a field of work in these regions, and for many years I have longed to come to you.
15:24 For when I go to Spain, I hope to see you as I pass through and to be helped on my way there by you, after first enjoying your company for a while.
15:25 But now I am going to Jerusalem to serve the saints.
15:26 For Macedonia and Achaia were pleased to make a contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem.
15:27 They were pleased to do so, and indeed they are indebted to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they also ought to serve them with material things.
15:28 So when I have completed this and duly delivered this fruit to them, I will go to Spain by way of you.
15:29 And I know that when I come to you, I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.
15:30 Now I urge you, brothers, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf,
15:31 so that I may be rescued from the disobedient in Judea, and my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints,
15:32 so that I may come to you with joy by God’s will and be refreshed together with you.
15:33 May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

Chapter 16
16:1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, who is also a servant of the church at Cenchreae,
16:2 so that you may welcome her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and help her in any matter in which she may need you, for she has been a benefactor of many, including me.
16:3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,
16:4 who risked their own necks for my life. Not only I but also all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks to them.
16:5 Greet also the church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who is the firstfruits of Asia for Christ.
16:6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you.
16:7 Greet Andronicus and Junia, my relatives and fellow prisoners, who are notable among the apostles and were in Christ before me.
16:8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.
16:9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys.
16:10 Greet Apelles, approved in Christ. Greet those of Aristobulus’s household.
16:11 Greet Herodion, my relative. Greet those of Narcissus’s household who are in the Lord.
16:12 Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, who work hard in the Lord. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked very hard in the Lord.
16:13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother, who has been a mother to me too.
16:14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers with them.
16:15 Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, Olympas, and all the saints with them.
16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
16:17 Now I urge you, brothers, to watch those who cause divisions and stumbling blocks contrary to the teaching you learned, and turn away from them.
16:18 For such people do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting.
16:19 For news of your obedience has reached everyone, so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise in what is good and innocent in what is evil.
16:20 The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
16:21 Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, as do Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my relatives.
16:22 I, Tertius, who wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
16:23 Gaius, who hosts me and the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city administrator, and Quartus, the brother, greet you.
16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
16:25 [Now to the one who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept silent for long ages,]
16:26 [but now revealed and made known through the prophetic Scriptures, by the command of the eternal God, to all the nations for the obedience of faith,]
16:27 [to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever and ever. Amen.]

1 CORINTHIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,
1:2 to the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be saints, together with all who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 I always thank my God for you because of the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus,
1:5 because in him you were enriched in everything, in all speech and all knowledge,
1:6 just as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you,
1:7 so that you lack no gift as you eagerly await the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:8 He will also keep you firm to the end, blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
1:10 Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.
1:11 For Chloe’s people have informed me about you, my brothers, that there are quarrels among you.
1:12 What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I to Apollos,” or “I to Cephas,” or “I to Christ.”
1:13 Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
1:14 I give thanks that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
1:15 so that no one may say you were baptized into my name.
1:16 I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.
1:17 For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of speech, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power.
1:18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
1:19 For it is written,
 “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the discerning.”
1:20 Where is the wise person? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made the wisdom of the world foolish?
1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
1:22 For Jews ask for signs and Greeks seek wisdom,
1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,
1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human beings, and the weakness of God is stronger than human beings.
1:26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.
1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
1:28 And God chose the lowborn and despised things of the world, the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
1:29 so that no human being might boast before God.
1:30 But because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom for us from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,
1:31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”

Chapter 2
2:1 And when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superior speech or wisdom, proclaiming to you the testimony of God.
2:2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
2:3 And I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling.
2:4 My speech and my proclamation were not with persuasive wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and power,
2:5 so that your faith would not rest on human wisdom but on the power of God.
2:6 Yet we speak wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing.
2:7 Rather, we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom that God predestined before the ages for our glory.
2:8 None of the rulers of this age knew it, for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
2:9 But as it is written,
 “What no eye has seen and no ear has heard, and what has not entered a human heart, God has prepared for those who love him.”
2:10 For God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
2:11 For who among people knows the things of a person except that person’s spirit within? So too no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
2:12 But we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God.
2:13 We also speak of these things, not in words taught by human wisdom but in those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things with spiritual words.
2:14 But the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.
2:15 But the spiritual person discerns all things, yet is himself judged by no one.
2:16 For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Chapter 3
3:1 And I, brothers, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but as people of flesh, as infants in Christ.
3:2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food, for you were not yet able to take it. Even now you are still unable,
3:3 for you are still fleshly. For where jealousy and strife are among you, are you not fleshly and living in a merely human way?
3:4 For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I to Apollos,” are you not merely human?
3:5 What, then, is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, each as the Lord assigned.
3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.
3:7 So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God, who gives the growth.
3:8 The one who plants and the one who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
3:9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.
3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, I laid a foundation as a wise master builder, and another builds on it. But let each take care how he builds.
3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than the one laid, which is Jesus Christ.
3:12 Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,
3:13 each person’s work will become evident, for the day will make it known, because it will be revealed with fire. And the fire itself will test what kind of work each has done.
3:14 If the work someone has built on it remains, he will receive a reward.
3:15 If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, yet as through fire.
3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
3:17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.
3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a fool so that he may become wise.
3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”
3:20 and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, that they are futile.”
3:21 So let no one boast in human beings. For all things are yours,
3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come, all are yours,
3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

Chapter 4
4:1 This is how people should regard us: as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.
4:2 Moreover, what is required of stewards is that each be found faithful.
4:3 But to me it is a very small matter to be judged by you or by a human court. I do not even judge myself.
4:4 For I am aware of nothing against myself, but this does not justify me. It is the Lord who judges me.
4:5 So do not judge anything before the time, until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and reveal the intentions of hearts. Then each will receive praise from God.
4:6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your sake, so that in us you may learn, “Do not go beyond what is written,” so that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.
4:7 For who makes you different? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you had not received it?
4:8 Already you are satisfied! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign without us! If only you really did reign, so that we too might reign with you!
4:9 For I think God has displayed us apostles last, like men condemned to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and human beings.
4:10 We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored.
4:11 To this very hour we hunger and thirst, lack clothing, are beaten, and have no home,
4:12 and we toil, working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless; when persecuted, we endure;
4:13 when slandered, we appeal. We have become like the world’s garbage, everyone’s refuse, to this very day.
4:14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children.
4:15 For though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel.
4:16 Therefore I urge you, be imitators of me.
4:17 For this reason I sent Timothy to you, my beloved child, faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, just as I teach everywhere in every church.
4:18 Now some have become puffed up, as though I were not coming to you.
4:19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the speech of those who are puffed up, but their power.
4:20 For the kingdom of God is not in speech but in power.
4:21 What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod, or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

Chapter 5
5:1 It is widely reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind not even found among the Gentiles: a man has his father’s wife.
5:2 And you are puffed up! Should you not rather have mourned, so that the one who did this would be removed from among you?
5:3 For though absent in body but present in spirit, I have already decided, as though I were present, concerning the one who did this,
5:4 in the name of our Lord Jesus, when you and my spirit are gathered together with the power of our Lord Jesus,
5:5 to hand such a man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that the spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
5:6 Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough?
5:7 Clean out the old leaven so that you may be a new batch, as you are unleavened. For Christ, our Passover, has been sacrificed.
5:8 So let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
5:9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people,
5:10 not meaning altogether the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would have to leave the world.
5:11 But now I have written to you not to associate with anyone called a brother who is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater, a reviler, a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.
5:12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside whom you judge?
5:13 God judges those outside. “Remove the evil person from among yourselves.”

Chapter 6
6:1 Does any of you, having a dispute with another, dare to go to court before the unrighteous rather than before the saints?
6:2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unfit to judge the smallest matters?
6:3 Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the matters of this life!
6:4 So if you have cases concerning this life, do you appoint as judges those who have no standing in the church?
6:5 I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is not even one wise person among you who can decide between brothers,
6:6 but brother goes to court against brother, and that before unbelievers?
6:7 The very fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves is already a defeat for you. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be defrauded?
6:8 But you yourselves do wrong and defraud, and you do this to brothers!
6:9 Or 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 men who take the passive role in sex with men, nor men who have sex with men,
6:10 nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
6:12 All things are lawful for me, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful for me, but I will not be mastered by anything.
6:13 Food is for the stomach and the stomach for food, but God will do away with both. The body is not for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body.
6:14 And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.
6:15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? By no means!
6:16 Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For it says, “The two will become one flesh.”
6:17 But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with him.
6:18 Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the one who practices sexual immorality sins against his own body.
6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? And you are not your own,
6:20 for you were bought at a price. So glorify God in your body.

Chapter 7
7:1 Now concerning what you wrote: it is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.
7:2 But because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife and each woman her own husband.
7:3 Let the husband fulfill his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband.
7:4 The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.
7:5 Do not deprive one another, except by mutual agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then be together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
7:6 I say this as a concession, not as a command.
7:7 I wish everyone were as I am. But each has his own gift from God, one in this way and another in that.
7:8 Now I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them to remain as I am.
7:9 But if they do not exercise self-control, let them marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.
7:10 To the married I give this command, not I but the Lord: a wife must not separate from her husband
7:11 (but if she does separate, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband), and a husband must not leave his wife.
7:12 To the rest I say, I and not the Lord: if a brother has an unbelieving wife and she is willing to live with him, he must not leave her.
7:13 And if a woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not leave her husband.
7:14 For the unbelieving husband has been sanctified through the wife, and the unbelieving wife has been sanctified through the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy.
7:15 But if the unbeliever separates, let that person separate. The brother or sister is not enslaved in such cases. God has called us in peace.
7:16 For how do you know, wife, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, husband, whether you will save your wife?
7:17 Only let each live as the Lord has assigned to him and as God has called him. This is what I direct in all the churches.
7:18 Was anyone called while circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the mark of circumcision. Has anyone been called while uncircumcised? Let him not be circumcised.
7:19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping God’s commandments is what matters.
7:20 Let each remain in the calling in which he was called.
7:21 Were you called as a slave? Do not let it trouble you. But if you can become free, take the opportunity.
7:22 For the one called in the Lord as a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise, the one called as a free person is Christ’s slave.
7:23 You were bought at a price. Do not become slaves of human beings.
7:24 Brothers, let each remain with God in the condition in which he was called.
7:25 Now concerning virgins, I have no command from the Lord, but I give my judgment as one who has received mercy from the Lord to be faithful.
7:26 So I think that, because of the present distress, it is good for a person to remain as he is.
7:27 Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek release. Are you free of a wife? Do not seek a wife.
7:28 But if you marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. Yet such people will have affliction in the flesh, and I wish to spare you.
7:29 This I say, brothers: the time has been shortened. From now on, let those who have wives be as though they had none,
7:30 and those who weep as though not weeping, and those who rejoice as though not rejoicing, and those who buy as though not possessing,
7:31 and those who use the world as though not making full use of it. For the form of this world is passing away.
7:32 I want you to be free from cares. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how he may please the Lord.
7:33 But the married man is concerned about the things of the world, how he may please his wife,
7:34 and he is divided. The unmarried woman and the virgin are concerned about the things of the Lord, to be holy in both body and spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how she may please her husband.
7:35 I say this for your own benefit, not to ensnare you, but to promote what is proper and devotion to the Lord without distraction.
7:36 But if anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward his virgin daughter, if she is past the usual age for marriage and it must be so, let him do what he wishes; he does not sin. Let them marry.
7:37 But the one who stands firm in his heart, under no necessity and with authority over his own will, and has decided in his own heart to keep his virgin daughter unmarried, will do well.
7:38 So the one who gives his own virgin daughter in marriage does well, and the one who does not give her in marriage will do better.
7:39 A wife is bound as long as her husband lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry whom she wishes, only in the Lord.
7:40 But in my judgment she is happier if she remains as she is. And I think that I too have the Spirit of God.

Chapter 8
8:1 Now concerning food sacrificed to idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.
8:2 If anyone thinks he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know.
8:3 But if anyone loves God, he is known by him.
8:4 So concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is no God but one.
8:5 For even if there are those called gods, whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords,
8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
8:7 But not everyone has this knowledge. Some, because they are still accustomed to the idol, eat the food as something sacrificed to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled.
8:8 But food will not commend us to God. We are no better if we eat and no worse if we do not eat.
8:9 But take care that this right of yours does not become a stumbling block to the weak.
8:10 For if someone sees you who have knowledge reclining at a meal in an idol’s temple, will not his conscience, weak as it is, be encouraged to eat food sacrificed to idols?
8:11 For by your knowledge the weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.
8:12 So when you sin against the brothers and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ.
8:13 Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat, so that I may not cause my brother to stumble.

Chapter 9
9:1 Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
9:2 If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you, for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.
9:3 This is my defense to those who examine me:
9:4 Do we not have the right to eat and drink?
9:5 Do we not have the right to take along a believing wife, as do the other apostles, the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
9:6 Or are Barnabas and I the only ones who have no right to refrain from working?
9:7 Who ever serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Who tends a flock and does not feed on the flock’s milk?
9:8 Am I saying these things in merely human terms? Does not the law say these things too?
9:9 For it is written in the law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing.” Is God concerned about oxen?
9:10 Or does he say it entirely for our sake? For it was written for our sake, because the one who plows ought to plow in hope, and the one who threshes in hope of receiving a share.
9:11 If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?
9:12 If others share in this right over you, do we not even more? But we have not used this right. Instead, we endure all things so that we may put no obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.
9:13 Do you not know that those who perform sacred duties eat from the temple, and those who attend the altar share in what is offered on the altar?
9:14 In the same way, the Lord directed that those who proclaim the gospel should live from the gospel.
9:15 But I have used none of these rights. And I have not written these things so that this may be done for me, for I would rather die than—no one will nullify my boast!
9:16 For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason to boast, for necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!
9:17 For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if unwillingly, I have been entrusted with a stewardship.
9:18 What, then, is my reward? That when I preach the gospel, I may offer it free of charge, without making full use of my right in the gospel.
9:19 For though I am free from all, I made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more.
9:20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews. To those under the law, as one under the law, though I myself am not under the law, so that I might win those under the law.
9:21 To those without law, as one without law, though not without God’s law but under Christ’s law, so that I might win those without law.
9:22 To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all, so that by all means I might save some.
9:23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in it.
9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
9:25 Everyone who competes exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable one.
9:26 So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.
9:27 But I beat my body and make it my slave, so that after preaching to others I myself may not be disqualified.

Chapter 10
10:1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea.
10:2 And all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
10:3 and all ate the same spiritual food,
10:4 and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.
10:5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.
10:6 Now these things became examples for us, so that we would not desire evil things as they did.
10:7 Do not become idolaters as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”
10:8 Nor let us practice sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.
10:9 Nor let us put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by snakes.
10:10 And do not grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.
10:11 These things happened to them as examples, and they were written to admonish us, on whom the ends of the ages have come.
10:12 So let the one who thinks he stands take care lest he fall.
10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to human beings. But God is faithful, and he will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear. With the temptation he will also provide the way out, so that you may be able to endure it.
10:14 Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
10:15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.
10:16 The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not participation in the body of Christ?
10:17 Because there is one loaf, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
10:18 Consider Israel according to the flesh: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?
10:19 What, then, am I saying? That food sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything?
10:20 Rather, what they sacrifice they sacrifice to demons and not to God, and I do not want you to become participants with demons.
10:21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.
10:22 Or are we provoking the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?
10:23 All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.
10:24 Let no one seek his own good, but the good of the other.
10:25 Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, asking no questions for the sake of conscience,
10:26 for “the earth is the Lord’s, and all that fills it.”
10:27 If an unbeliever invites you and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you, asking no questions for the sake of conscience.
10:28 But if someone says to you, “This has been offered in sacrifice,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you and for the sake of conscience.
10:29 I mean not your own conscience, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience?
10:30 If I partake with thanksgiving, why am I maligned for what I give thanks for?
10:31 So whether you eat or drink or do anything, do all things to the glory of God.
10:32 Give no cause for stumbling to Jews or Greeks or the church of God,
10:33 just as I too please everyone in all things, not seeking my own benefit but that of the many, so that they may be saved.

Chapter 11
11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
11:2 Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold to the traditions just as I handed them on to you.
11:3 But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.
11:4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.
11:5 But every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, for it is one and the same as being shaved.
11:6 For if a woman does not cover her head, let her also have her hair cut short. But if it is shameful for a woman to have her hair cut short or shaved, let her cover her head.
11:7 For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.
11:8 For man is not from woman, but woman from man.
11:9 Nor was man created for woman, but woman for man.
11:10 For this reason a woman ought to have authority over her head, because of the angels.
11:11 Nevertheless, in the Lord neither is woman independent of man nor man independent of woman.
11:12 For just as woman is from man, so man is born through woman, and all things are from God.
11:13 Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
11:14 Does not nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him,
11:15 but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her long hair has been given as a covering.
11:16 But if anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God.
11:17 Now in giving these instructions I do not praise you, because you come together for the worse rather than for the better.
11:18 For first of all, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you, and in part I believe it.
11:19 For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.
11:20 So when you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Lord’s Supper.
11:21 For in eating, each goes ahead with his own supper, and one is hungry while another is drunk.
11:22 Do you not have houses in which to eat and drink? Or do you despise the church of God and shame those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you? In this I do not praise you.
11:23 For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you: that the Lord Jesus, on the night he was handed over, took bread,
11:24 and after giving thanks, broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”
11:25 In the same way he also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.”
11:26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
11:27 So whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.
11:28 But let a person examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
11:29 For the one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.
11:30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number have died.
11:31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not be judged.
11:32 But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.
11:33 So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
11:34 If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that you may not come together for judgment. I will give instructions about the remaining matters when I come.

Chapter 12
12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be unaware.
12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led.
12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed,” and no one can say, “Jesus is Lord,” except by the Holy Spirit.
12:4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit,
12:5 and varieties of services, but the same Lord,
12:6 and varieties of workings, but the same God who works all things in all.
12:7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
12:8 For to one is given through the Spirit a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
12:9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the one Spirit,
12:10 to another workings of power, to another prophecy, to another discernments of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another interpretation of tongues.
12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each individually just as he wills.
12:12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ.
12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and all were given one Spirit to drink.
12:14 For the body is not one member but many.
12:15 If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it does not for that reason cease to belong to the body.
12:16 And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it does not for that reason cease to belong to the body.
12:17 If the whole body were an eye, where would hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?
12:18 But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body as he wished.
12:19 If all were one member, where would the body be?
12:20 But now there are many members, yet one body.
12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”
12:22 On the contrary, the members of the body that seem weaker are indispensable,
12:23 and those we think less honorable in the body we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
12:24 while our presentable parts have no need of it. But God has composed the body, giving greater honor to the member that lacked it,
12:25 so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have the same care for one another.
12:26 If one member suffers, all the members suffer together; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice together.
12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.
12:28 And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, forms of help, leadership, and various kinds of tongues.
12:29 Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
12:30 Do all have gifts of healings? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?
12:31 But eagerly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way.

Chapter 13
13:1 If I speak in the tongues of human beings and of angels, but have no love, I have become resounding bronze or a clanging cymbal.
13:2 And if I have prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but have no love, I am nothing.
13:3 And if I distribute all my possessions to feed others, and if I hand over my body to be burned, but have no love, I gain nothing.
13:4 Love is patient; love is kind. Love does not envy, does not boast, is not puffed up,
13:5 does not behave indecently, does not seek its own interests, is not provoked, does not keep account of wrongs,
13:6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth.
13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
13:8 Love never fails. But prophecies will be done away with, tongues will cease, and knowledge will be done away with.
13:9 For we know in part and prophesy in part,
13:10 but when what is perfect comes, what is partial will be done away with.
13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things.
13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.
13:13 And now faith, hope, and love remain, these three, but the greatest of these is love.

Chapter 14
14:1 Pursue love, and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
14:2 For the one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to human beings but to God, for no one understands, but in spirit he speaks mysteries.
14:3 But the one who prophesies speaks to people to build them up, exhort them, and comfort them.
14:4 The one who speaks in a tongue builds himself up, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.
14:5 Now I wish you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be built up.
14:6 Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I speak to you in revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching?
14:7 Even lifeless things that produce sound, whether a pipe or a lyre, must give distinct notes; otherwise, how will what is played on the pipe or lyre be recognized?
14:8 And if a trumpet gives an unclear sound, who will prepare for battle?
14:9 So too with you: unless you give intelligible speech with your tongue, how will what is spoken be understood? For you will be speaking into the air.
14:10 There are, perhaps, many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning.
14:11 So if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker a foreigner to me.
14:12 So too with you: since you are eager for spiritual gifts, seek to abound in them for building up the church.
14:13 Therefore let the one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret.
14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.
14:15 What, then, shall I do? I will pray with the spirit, but I will also pray with the mind. I will sing with the spirit, but I will also sing with the mind.
14:16 Otherwise, if you give a blessing in spirit, how will someone in the position of the uninformed say “Amen” to your thanksgiving, since he does not know what you are saying?
14:17 For you give thanks well, but the other person is not built up.
14:18 I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.
14:19 But in church I would rather speak five words with my mind, so that I may instruct others too, than ten thousand words in a tongue.
14:20 Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but mature in your thinking.
14:21 In the Law it is written, “Through other tongues and through the lips of others I will speak to this people, and not even then will they listen to me, says the Lord.”
14:22 So tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is not for unbelievers but for believers.
14:23 So if the whole church comes together in one place and all speak in tongues, and uninformed people or unbelievers come in, will they not say you are out of your minds?
14:24 But if all prophesy and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convicted by all and examined by all.
14:25 The secrets of his heart become evident, and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring, “God is truly among you.”
14:26 What, then, is to be done, brothers? When you come together, each has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
14:27 If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two, or at most three, and each in turn, and let one interpret.
14:28 But if there is no interpreter, let him be silent in church and speak to himself and to God.
14:29 Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said.
14:30 But if something is revealed to another who is sitting there, let the first be silent.
14:31 For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged
14:32 (and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets,
14:33 for God is not a God of disorder but of peace), as in all the churches of the saints.
14:34 Let the women be silent in the churches, for they are not permitted to speak. Rather, let them be in submission, as the Law also says.
14:35 And if they wish to learn anything, let them ask their own husbands at home, for it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.
14:36 Or did the word of God go out from you? Or did it come to you alone?
14:37 If anyone thinks he is a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that what I write to you is of the Lord.
14:38 But if anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized.
14:39 So then, my brothers, eagerly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues.
14:40 But let all things be done decently and in order.

Chapter 15
15:1 Now I make known to you, brothers, the gospel I preached to you, which you also received and in which you stand,
15:2 through which you are also being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
15:3 For I handed on to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
15:4 and that he was buried, and that he has been raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
15:5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
15:6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.
15:7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
15:8 And last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.
15:10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. Rather, I labored more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.
15:11 So whether it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
15:12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as having been raised from the dead, how do some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?
15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, neither has Christ been raised.
15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, our proclamation is empty, and your faith is empty too.
15:15 We are also found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if indeed the dead are not raised.
15:16 For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised.
15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.
15:18 Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.
15:19 If we have hoped in Christ only for this life, we are of all people most to be pitied.
15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
15:21 For since death came through a man, resurrection of the dead also came through a man.
15:22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.
15:23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then those who belong to Christ at his coming,
15:24 then the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to nothing every rule and every authority and power.
15:25 For he must reign until he has put all enemies under his feet.
15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death,
15:27 for “he subjected all things under his feet.” But when it says that all things have been subjected, it is clear that the one who subjected all things to him is excepted.
15:28 And when all things have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him, so that God may be all in all.
15:29 Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are they baptized for them?
15:30 And why do we face danger every hour?
15:31 I die every day, as surely as I boast of you in Christ Jesus our Lord.
15:32 If, in human terms, I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what does it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”
15:34 Come to your senses as you ought, and do not sin, for some have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.
15:35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
15:36 You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
15:37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or one of the other kinds.
15:38 But God gives it a body as he wished, and to each seed its own body.
15:39 Not all flesh is the same flesh: one kind is human, another is the flesh of animals, another of birds, and another of fish.
15:40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one kind, and the glory of the earthly another.
15:41 The sun has one glory, the moon another glory, and the stars another glory, for star differs from star in glory.
15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption.
15:43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual one.
15:45 So it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
15:46 But the spiritual is not first, but the natural, then the spiritual.
15:47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven.
15:48 As is the man of dust, so also are those of dust, and as is the heavenly one, so also are those who are heavenly.
15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the heavenly one.
15:50 Now I say this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption.
15:51 Look, I tell you a mystery: we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed,
15:52 in an instant, in the blink of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
15:53 For this corruptible body must put on incorruption, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
15:54 And when this corruptible body puts on incorruption and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will come to pass:
 “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
15:55 “Where, death, is your victory?
   Where, death, is your sting?”
15:56 Now the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.
15:57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
15:58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Chapter 16
16:1 Now concerning the collection for the saints, do as I directed the churches of Galatia to do.
16:2 On the first day of every week, each of you should set something aside and save it according to how you prosper, so that collections will not have to be made when I come.
16:3 When I arrive, I will send those you approve with letters to carry your gift to Jerusalem.
16:4 And if it is fitting for me to go too, they will go with me.
16:5 I will come to you after I pass through Macedonia, for I am going through Macedonia.
16:6 Perhaps I will stay with you, or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my way wherever I go.
16:7 For I do not want to see you now just in passing. I hope to stay with you for some time, if the Lord permits.
16:8 But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,
16:9 for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.
16:10 If Timothy comes, see that he has nothing to fear among you, for he is doing the work of the Lord, just as I am.
16:11 So let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me, for I am expecting him with the brothers.
16:12 Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly urged him to come to you with the brothers. He was not at all willing to come now, but he will come when he has an opportunity.
16:13 Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, be courageous, be strong.
16:14 Let all that you do be done in love.
16:15 Now I urge you, brothers—you know the household of Stephanas, that they are the firstfruits of Achaia and have devoted themselves to serving the saints—
16:16 to submit yourselves to people like these and to everyone who joins in the work and labors.
16:17 I rejoice at the arrival of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus, for they have made up for your absence.
16:18 For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. So recognize people like these.
16:19 The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca greet you warmly in the Lord, together with the church in their house.
16:20 All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
16:21 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand.
16:22 If anyone does not love the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
16:23 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.
16:24 My love be with all of you in Christ Jesus.

2 CORINTHIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, to the church of God in Corinth, together with all the saints throughout Achaia:
1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort,
1:4 who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we can comfort those in any affliction with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.
1:5 For just as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so through Christ our comfort also overflows.
1:6 If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which works in you as you patiently endure the same sufferings we also endure.
1:7 Our hope for you is firm, because we know that as you share in the sufferings, you also share in the comfort.
1:8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, of the affliction that came upon us in Asia. We were burdened far beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life.
1:9 Indeed, we felt within ourselves that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would rely on God, who raises the dead, rather than on ourselves.
1:10 He rescued us from so great a danger of death and will rescue us. In him we have set our hope that he will rescue us yet again,
1:11 as you also help us by your prayers, so that many may give thanks on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many.
1:12 For this is our boast: our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you, with holiness and sincerity from God, by God's grace rather than by fleshly wisdom.
1:13 For we write you nothing other than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand to the end,
1:14 just as you have understood us in part, that we are your reason to boast, as you also are ours on the day of our Lord Jesus.
1:15 With this confidence I intended to visit you first, so that you might receive a second blessing,
1:16 and to pass through your region on my way to Macedonia, then return to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea.
1:17 When I intended this, was I acting lightly? Or do I make my plans according to the flesh, so that with me there is both “Yes, yes” and “No, no”?
1:18 As surely as God is faithful, our word to you is not “Yes” and “No.”
1:19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you—Silvanus, Timothy, and I—was not “Yes” and “No.” In him it has always been “Yes.”
1:20 For all God's promises have their “Yes” in him. That is why through him we also say “Amen” to God, to his glory through us.
1:21 It is God who establishes us together with you in Christ and has anointed us.
1:22 He has also set his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
1:23 But I call God as witness on my life that it was to spare you that I did not return to Corinth.
1:24 We do not lord it over your faith, but work with you for your joy, because you stand firm by faith.

Chapter 2
2:1 For I decided this for myself: I would not make another painful visit to you.
2:2 For if I cause you sorrow, who is there to make me glad except the one I have grieved?
2:3 I wrote this very thing so that when I came I would not be grieved by those who ought to make me glad. I was confident of you all that my joy is the joy of all of you.
2:4 For I wrote to you out of great affliction and anguish of heart, with many tears, not to cause you sorrow, but to let you know the abundant love I have for you.
2:5 If anyone has caused sorrow, he has grieved not me, but, to some extent—to avoid overstating it—all of you.
2:6 This punishment imposed by the majority is enough for such a person.
2:7 So instead you should forgive and comfort him, so that he is not swallowed up by excessive sorrow.
2:8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him.
2:9 For I also wrote to put you to the test and find out whether you are obedient in everything.
2:10 Anyone you forgive, I forgive too. For what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, has been for your sake in the presence of Christ,
2:11 so that Satan may not take advantage of us, for we are not unaware of his schemes.
2:12 When I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, even though a door had been opened for me in the Lord,
2:13 I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find Titus my brother. So I said farewell to them and left for Macedonia.
2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ and through us makes the fragrance of the knowledge of him known everywhere.
2:15 For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:
2:16 to the one, a fragrance from death to death; to the other, a fragrance from life to life. And who is sufficient for these things?
2:17 For we are not like the many who peddle the word of God. Instead, we speak in Christ with sincerity, as from God and in the sight of God.

Chapter 3
3:1 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need letters of recommendation to you or from you, as some do?
3:2 You are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.
3:3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, delivered through our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on hearts of flesh as tablets.
3:4 Such is the confidence we have toward God through Christ.
3:5 We are not sufficient in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves; our sufficiency comes from God,
3:6 who has also made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
3:7 Now if the ministry of death, engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was passing away,
3:8 how much more will the ministry of the Spirit have glory?
3:9 For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness overflows with far greater glory.
3:10 Indeed, in this respect what once had glory has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it.
3:11 For if what was passing away came with glory, how much more does what remains have glory!
3:12 Since we have such a hope, we act with great boldness,
3:13 unlike Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was passing away.
3:14 But their minds were hardened. For to this very day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It is not lifted, because it is removed in Christ.
3:15 To this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart.
3:16 But whenever one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
3:17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
3:18 And we all, with unveiled faces beholding the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Chapter 4
4:1 Therefore, since we have this ministry through the mercy we have received, we do not lose heart.
4:2 Instead, we have renounced shameful things done in secret. We do not act with cunning or falsify the word of God. By making the truth known, we commend ourselves to every human conscience in the sight of God.
4:3 Even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing.
4:4 In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.
4:5 For we proclaim Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake, rather than proclaiming ourselves.
4:6 For God, who said, “Light will shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of God's glory in the face of Christ.
4:7 But we have this treasure in clay vessels, so that the surpassing power may be God's and may not come from us.
4:8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
4:9 persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
4:10 We always carry the dying of Jesus in our body, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
4:11 For we who live are always being handed over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our mortal flesh.
4:12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
4:13 Since we have the same spirit of faith as expressed in what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we too believe, and therefore we speak,
4:14 knowing that the one who raised Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us together with you.
4:15 For all this is for your sake, so that grace, increasing through more and more people, may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
4:17 For our momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure,
4:18 as we fix our attention on what is unseen rather than on what is seen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Chapter 5
5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in the heavens, not made by human hands.
5:2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our dwelling from heaven,
5:3 if indeed, having put it on, we will not be found naked.
5:4 For while we are in this tent, we groan under our burden. We do not wish to be unclothed, but to be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.
5:5 It is God who has prepared us for this very thing and has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.
5:6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord,
5:7 for we walk by faith, not by sight.
5:8 We are confident, and would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
5:9 So we make it our aim to please him, whether at home or away.
5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive what is due for what he has done through the body, whether good or bad.
5:11 Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade people. What we are is clear to God, and I hope it is also clear to your consciences.
5:12 We are not commending ourselves to you again, but giving you a reason to boast about us, so that you may have an answer for those who boast in outward appearance rather than in the heart.
5:13 For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are in our right minds, it is for you.
5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we have reached this conclusion: one died for all; therefore all died.
5:15 And he died for all so that those who live would no longer live for themselves, but for the one who died and was raised for them.
5:16 So from now on we regard no one according to the flesh. Even if we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we no longer regard him that way.
5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; look, the new has come!
5:18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation:
5:19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he entrusted the message of reconciliation to us.
5:20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making his appeal through us. We plead on Christ's behalf: be reconciled to God.
5:21 He made the one who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Chapter 6
6:1 As fellow workers, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain.
6:2 For he says,
 “At a favorable time I listened to you, and on a day of salvation I helped you.”
 Look, now is the favorable time! Look, now is the day of salvation!
6:3 We put no stumbling block in anyone's way, so that the ministry may not be discredited.
6:4 Instead, we commend ourselves in every way as God's ministers: in great endurance, afflictions, hardships, and distress;
6:5 in beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, and fasting;
6:6 in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, and sincere love;
6:7 in truthful speech and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness in the right hand and the left;
6:8 through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise; regarded as deceivers, yet truthful;
6:9 as unknown, yet well known; as dying, yet look, we live; as punished, yet not put to death;
6:10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.
6:11 We have spoken openly to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open.
6:12 You are not restricted by us, but by your own affections.
6:13 In return—I speak as to my children—open wide your hearts too.
6:14 Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness?
6:15 What harmony is there between Christ and Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever?
6:16 What agreement is there between God's temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said:
 “I will dwell in them and walk among them.
   I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
6:17 “Therefore come out from among them and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch nothing unclean.
   Then I will welcome you,
6:18 and I will be a Father to you, and you will be sons and daughters to me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Chapter 7
7:1 Therefore, beloved, since we have these promises, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God.
7:2 Make room for us. We have wronged no one, corrupted no one, taken advantage of no one.
7:3 I do not say this to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together.
7:4 I speak very freely to you, and I boast greatly about you. I am filled with comfort; in all our affliction I overflow with joy.
7:5 For even when we came to Macedonia, our flesh had no rest. We were afflicted in every way: conflicts outside, fears within.
7:6 But God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the arrival of Titus,
7:7 and not only by his arrival, but also by the comfort he had received from you. He told us of your longing, your mourning, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced all the more.
7:8 For even if I caused you sorrow with my letter, I do not regret it. Even if I did regret it—I see that the letter caused you sorrow, though only for a time—
7:9 now I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because your grief led to repentance. For you were grieved in a godly way, so that you suffered no harm from us.
7:10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, without regret, but worldly sorrow produces death.
7:11 Look at what this very godly sorrow has produced in you: what earnestness, what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what readiness to see justice done! In every way you have shown yourselves to be innocent in this matter.
7:12 So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one who did wrong or the one who was wronged, but so that your earnest concern for us might be made clear to you in the sight of God.
7:13 For this reason we have been comforted. Beyond our comfort, we rejoiced even more at Titus' joy, because his spirit has been refreshed by all of you.
7:14 For if I boasted to him about you in anything, I was not put to shame. Just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting before Titus proved true as well.
7:15 His affection for you is even greater as he remembers the obedience of you all and how you received him with fear and trembling.
7:16 I rejoice that I can have confidence in you in every way.

Chapter 8
8:1 We want you to know, brothers and sisters, about the grace of God given among the churches of Macedonia.
8:2 In a severe trial of affliction, their overflowing joy and deep poverty overflowed in a wealth of generosity.
8:3 For I testify that they gave according to their ability, and beyond their ability, of their own free will,
8:4 begging us earnestly for the privilege of sharing in this service to the saints.
8:5 They went beyond what we expected: they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us, by the will of God.
8:6 So we urged Titus, just as he had begun before, to bring this work of grace to completion among you as well.
8:7 As you excel in everything—in faith, speech, knowledge, all earnestness, and the love that has come from us to you—excel also in this work of grace.
8:8 I am not saying this as a command, but testing the sincerity of your love through the earnestness of others.
8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich.
8:10 In this matter I give my judgment, for this is to your advantage: a year ago you were the first not only to act but also to desire to do so.
8:11 Now finish the work as well, so that your completion of it from what you have may match your eager desire.
8:12 For if the willingness is there, it is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what one does not have.
8:13 The aim is not relief for others and hardship for you, but equality:
8:14 at the present time your abundance supplies their need, so that their abundance may also supply your need, and there may be equality.
8:15 As it is written,
 “The one who gathered much had no surplus, and the one who gathered little had no shortage.”
8:16 But thanks be to God, who puts the same earnest concern for you in the heart of Titus.
8:17 For he accepted our appeal, but being all the more eager, he went to you of his own free will.
8:18 We sent with him the brother who is praised throughout all the churches for his service in the gospel.
8:19 Not only that, but he was also appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gift of grace that we are administering for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our eagerness.
8:20 We are taking care that no one can fault us over this generous gift we are administering,
8:21 for we take thought for what is honorable, both in the sight of the Lord and in the sight of people.
8:22 We sent with them our brother, whom we have often tested and found eager in many matters, and who is now far more eager because of great confidence in you.
8:23 As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for you. As for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ.
8:24 Therefore show them, before the churches, the proof of your love and of our reason for boasting about you.

Chapter 9
9:1 For it is unnecessary for me to write to you about the service to the saints.
9:2 I know your eagerness, which I boast about to the Macedonians, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year. Your zeal has stirred up most of them.
9:3 But I sent the brothers so that our boasting about you in this matter would not prove empty, and so that you would be ready, just as I said.
9:4 Otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find you unprepared, we—to say nothing of you—would be put to shame by this confidence.
9:5 So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go to you ahead of me and arrange in advance the generous gift you had promised, so that it would be ready as a generous gift rather than something exacted from you.
9:6 Remember this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.
9:7 Each should give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
9:8 And God is able to make all grace overflow to you, so that, always having all you need in everything, you may overflow in every good work.
9:9 As it is written,
 “He scattered abroad his gifts;
   he gave to the poor.
   His righteousness endures forever.”
9:10 The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
9:11 You are being enriched in every way for every kind of generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God.
9:12 For the ministry of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows in many thanksgivings to God.
9:13 Through the proof this service provides, they glorify God for your obedience to the gospel of Christ that you confess, and for the generosity of your sharing with them and with everyone.
9:14 And in their prayers for you, they long for you because of the surpassing grace of God upon you.
9:15 Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Chapter 10
10:1 I, Paul, appeal to you myself by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble among you in person, but bold toward you when absent.
10:2 I beg you that when I am present I will not have to be bold with the confidence I intend to show toward some who consider us to be walking according to the flesh.
10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not wage war according to the flesh.
10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful through God for tearing down strongholds. We tear down arguments
10:5 and every lofty thing raised against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.
10:6 We are ready to punish every act of disobedience once your obedience is complete.
10:7 You look at outward appearances. If anyone is convinced that he belongs to Christ, let him consider this again: just as he belongs to Christ, so do we.
10:8 For even if I boast somewhat more about our authority, which the Lord gave to build you up and not to tear you down, I will not be put to shame.
10:9 I do not want to seem as though I were trying to frighten you with my letters.
10:10 For someone says, “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech is contemptible.”
10:11 Let such a person consider this: what we are in words through letters when absent, we are also in deeds when present.
10:12 For we do not dare to class or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they lack understanding.
10:13 We, however, will not boast beyond our limits, but within the measure of the field God has assigned us—a measure that reaches even to you.
10:14 For we are not overextending ourselves, as though we had not reached you. We did reach you with the gospel of Christ.
10:15 We do not boast beyond our limits in the labors of others. Rather, we hope that as your faith grows, our work among you will grow abundantly within our assigned field,
10:16 so that we may proclaim the gospel in the regions beyond you, without boasting in work already done in someone else's field.
10:17 “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.”
10:18 For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one the Lord commends.

Chapter 11
11:1 I wish you would bear with a little foolishness from me. Yes, bear with me!
11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
11:3 But I fear that, just as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be corrupted and led away from sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
11:4 For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or you receive a different spirit that you did not receive, or a different gospel that you did not accept, you bear with it readily enough!
11:5 For I consider myself in no way inferior to those most eminent apostles.
11:6 Even if I am untrained in speech, I am not untrained in knowledge. We have made this clear to you in every way and in all things.
11:7 Or did I commit a sin by humbling myself so that you might be exalted, because I proclaimed the gospel of God to you free of charge?
11:8 I robbed other churches by accepting support from them to serve you.
11:9 When I was with you and in need, I was not a burden to anyone, for the brothers who came from Macedonia supplied what I lacked. In every way I kept myself from being a burden to you, and I will continue to do so.
11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
11:11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows.
11:12 But I will continue doing what I do, to cut off the opportunity of those who want an opportunity to be found equal to us in what they boast about.
11:13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
11:14 And no wonder, for Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light.
11:15 So it is no great thing if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will be according to their works.
11:16 I say again: let no one consider me a fool. But if you do, receive me even as a fool, so that I too may boast a little.
11:17 What I say in this confidence of boasting, I say not in accordance with the Lord, but as in foolishness.
11:18 Since many boast according to the flesh, I too will boast.
11:19 For you gladly bear with fools, being wise yourselves!
11:20 You bear with it if someone enslaves you, devours you, takes advantage of you, exalts himself, or strikes you in the face.
11:21 To my shame I say it: we have been weak. But whatever anyone dares to claim—I am speaking in foolishness—I dare to claim as well.
11:22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I.
11:23 Are they servants of Christ? I speak as though out of my mind: I am more so. In labors, far more; in imprisonments, far more; in beatings, beyond measure; in danger of death, often.
11:24 Five times I received from the Jews forty lashes minus one.
11:25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; I have spent a night and a day in the deep.
11:26 On frequent 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 at sea, in danger among false brothers;
11:27 in toil and hardship, in many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, in frequent fasting, in cold and nakedness.
11:28 Apart from the other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my concern for all the churches.
11:29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn within?
11:30 If I must boast, I will boast about the things that show my weakness.
11:31 The God and Father of the Lord Jesus, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying.
11:32 In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas was guarding the city of the Damascenes to arrest me,
11:33 but I was lowered in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped his hands.

Chapter 12
12:1 I must boast, though it is not profitable. I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord.
12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven—whether in the body I do not know, or outside the body I do not know; God knows.
12:3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know; God knows—
12:4 was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words that no human being is permitted to speak.
12:5 I will boast about such a man, but I will not boast about myself except in my weaknesses.
12:6 For if I wished to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so that no one will think more of me than what he sees in me or hears from me.
12:7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, to keep me from exalting myself, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to strike me, to keep me from exalting myself.
12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it might leave me.
12:9 But he has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
12:10 So I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and distress for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
12:11 I have become a fool; you compelled me. I ought to have been commended by you, for I was in no way inferior to those most eminent apostles, even though I am nothing.
12:12 The signs of an apostle were performed among you with all endurance, with signs, wonders, and mighty works.
12:13 For in what were you treated worse than the other churches, except that I myself was not a burden to you? Forgive me this wrong!
12:14 Look, this is the third time I am ready to come to you, and I will not be a burden. For I seek you, not what is yours. Children should not have to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.
12:15 I will most gladly spend what I have and be spent completely for your souls. If I love you more, am I loved less?
12:16 But let it be so: I did not burden you, yet, being crafty, I caught you by deceit!
12:17 Did I take advantage of you through any of those I sent to you?
12:18 I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him. Did Titus take advantage of you? Did we not walk in the same spirit? Did we not follow the same footsteps?
12:19 Have you been thinking all this time that we are defending ourselves before you? We speak in Christ in the sight of God. Everything, beloved, is for building you up.
12:20 For I fear that when I come I may not find you as I wish, and you may not find me as you wish. I fear there may be strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, slander, whispering, arrogance, and disorder;
12:21 that when I come again my God may humble me before you, and I may mourn for many who sinned before and have not repented of the impurity, sexual immorality, and sensual excess they practiced.

Chapter 13
13:1 This is the third time I am coming to you. “Every matter will be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.”
13:2 I warned you when I was present the second time, and now in my absence I warn those who sinned before and all the rest: if I come again, I will not spare them,
13:3 since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak toward you, but powerful among you.
13:4 For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. We too are weak in him, but we will live with him by God's power toward you.
13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless, indeed, you fail the test.
13:6 But I hope you will recognize that we do not fail the test.
13:7 We pray to God that you do nothing wrong, not so that we may appear to pass the test, but so that you may do what is right, even if we appear to fail.
13:8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth.
13:9 For we rejoice when we are weak and you are strong. This is also what we pray for: your restoration.
13:10 That is why I write these things while absent, so that when present I may not have to act severely according to the authority the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.
13:11 Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Be restored, be encouraged, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.
13:13 All the saints greet you.
13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

GALATIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, an apostle—not from human beings or through a man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead—
1:2 and all the brothers and sisters with me, to the churches of Galatia:
1:3 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,
1:4 who gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
1:5 to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
1:6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ, turning to a different gospel,
1:7 which is not another gospel at all. There are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
1:8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to the one we proclaimed to you, let him be accursed.
1:9 As we have said before, I now say again: if anyone proclaims to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
1:10 For am I now seeking the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still pleasing people, I would not be a slave of Christ.
1:11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel I proclaimed is not of human origin.
1:12 I did not receive it from a human being, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
1:13 For you have heard of my former way of life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God beyond measure and tried to destroy it.
1:14 I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, being far more zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
1:15 But when the one who set me apart from my mother's womb and called me by his grace was pleased
1:16 to reveal his Son in me so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
1:17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me. Instead, I went away to Arabia and returned again to Damascus.
1:18 Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas and stayed with him fifteen days.
1:19 I saw none of the other apostles except James, the Lord's brother.
1:20 As for what I am writing to you, I declare before God that I am not lying.
1:21 Then I went to the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
1:22 I was still unknown by sight to the churches of Judea that are in Christ.
1:23 They only kept hearing, “The one who once persecuted us is now proclaiming the faith he once tried to destroy.”
1:24 And they glorified God because of me.

Chapter 2
2:1 Then after fourteen years I went up to Jerusalem again with Barnabas, taking Titus along as well.
2:2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them the gospel I proclaim among the Gentiles, privately before those held in esteem, to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain.
2:3 But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek.
2:4 This arose because of false brothers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us.
2:5 We did not yield in submission to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might remain with you.
2:6 As for those held to be something—whatever they were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality—those held in esteem added nothing to me.
2:7 On the contrary, they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been for the circumcised,
2:8 for the one who worked through Peter in his apostleship to the circumcised also worked through me for the Gentiles.
2:9 When James, Cephas, and John, who were regarded as pillars, recognized the grace given to me, they gave Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, so that we would go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
2:10 They asked only that we remember the poor, the very thing I was also eager to do.
2:11 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned.
2:12 For before some men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles. But when they came, he began to draw back and separate himself, fearing those of the circumcision.
2:13 The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, so that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.
2:14 But when I saw that they were not walking straight according to the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews?
2:15 We are Jews by birth and not sinners from among the Gentiles;
2:16 yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ. We too have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no flesh will be justified.
2:17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were also found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not!
2:18 For if I rebuild what I tore down, I show myself to be a transgressor.
2:19 For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ;
2:20 it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”

Chapter 3
3:1 Foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified?
3:2 I want to learn only this from you: did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
3:3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being brought to completion by the flesh?
3:4 Did you suffer so much in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
3:5 So does the one who supplies you with the Spirit and works miracles among you do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
3:6 In the same way, Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.”
3:7 Know, then, that those who are of faith are sons of Abraham.
3:8 And Scripture, foreseeing that God justifies the Gentiles by faith, proclaimed the gospel beforehand to Abraham: “All the nations will be blessed in you.”
3:9 So those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the man of faith.
3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse, for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all the things written in the book of the law, to do them.”
3:11 Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because “The righteous will live by faith.”
3:12 But the law is not based on faith; rather, “The one who does these things will live by them.”
3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”
3:14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
3:15 Brothers and sisters, I speak in human terms: even a human covenant, once ratified, is not set aside or added to by anyone.
3:16 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It does not say, “And to seeds,” as referring to many, but as referring to one, “And to your seed,” who is Christ.
3:17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to nullify the promise.
3:18 For if the inheritance comes from the law, it no longer comes from a promise. But God graciously gave it to Abraham through a promise.
3:19 Why, then, the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the seed to whom the promise had been made should come, and it was ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator.
3:20 Now a mediator is not for one party alone, but God is one.
3:21 Is the law, then, against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, righteousness would indeed come from the law.
3:22 But Scripture confined everything under sin, so that the promise through faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
3:23 Before faith came, we were held in custody under the law, confined until the faith that was to be revealed.
3:24 So the law became our guardian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.
3:25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
3:27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
3:28 There is no Jew or Greek, no slave or free; there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, heirs according to the promise.

Chapter 4
4:1 What I mean is this: as long as the heir is a minor, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is owner of everything.
4:2 He is under guardians and managers until the time appointed by his father.
4:3 So also we, when we were minors, were enslaved under the elements of the world.
4:4 But when the fullness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
4:5 to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
4:6 And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”
4:7 So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then also an heir through God.
4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those that by nature are not gods.
4:9 But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and poor elements, to which you want to be enslaved all over again?
4:10 You carefully observe days and months and seasons and years.
4:11 I fear for you, that I may have labored for you in vain.
4:12 Become as I am, for I too became as you are. I beg you, brothers and sisters. You did me no wrong.
4:13 You know that it was because of bodily weakness that I first proclaimed the gospel to you.
4:14 Though my physical condition was a trial to you, you did not despise or reject me. Instead, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus.
4:15 Where, then, is your sense of blessing? For I testify that, if possible, you would have torn out your eyes and given them to me.
4:16 Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?
4:17 They show great interest in you, but not for good. They want to shut you out, so that you will show great interest in them.
4:18 It is good to be sought after for a good purpose at all times, and not only when I am present with you.
4:19 My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
4:20 I wish I could be present with you now and change my tone, because I am perplexed about you.
4:21 Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not listen to the law?
4:22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman.
4:23 But the one by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, while the one by the free woman was born through a promise.
4:24 These things have an allegorical meaning, for these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery; this is Hagar.
4:25 Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children.
4:26 But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.
4:27 For it is written,
 “Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear children;
   break out and cry aloud, you who are not in labor, because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.”
4:28 Now you, brothers and sisters, are children of promise, like Isaac.
4:29 But just as then the one born according to the flesh persecuted the one born according to the Spirit, so it is now.
4:30 But what does Scripture say? “Cast out the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman will never inherit with the son of the free woman.”
4:31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman but of the free woman.

Chapter 5
5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
5:2 Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.
5:3 I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to keep the whole law.
5:4 You who seek to be justified by the law have been severed from Christ; you have fallen from grace.
5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we eagerly await the righteousness we hope for.
5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power, but faith working through love.
5:7 You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
5:8 This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you.
5:9 A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough.
5:10 I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. But the one troubling you will bear the judgment, whoever he may be.
5:11 But I, brothers and sisters, if I still proclaim circumcision, why am I still persecuted? In that case, the stumbling block of the cross has been removed.
5:12 I wish those who unsettle you would even castrate themselves!
5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one saying: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
5:15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will certainly not fulfill the desire of the flesh.
5:17 For the flesh desires what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit what is against the flesh. These oppose one another, so that you do not do whatever you want.
5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensual excess,
5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, divisions, factions,
5:21 envy, drunkenness, revelry, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
5:23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
5:24 Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Chapter 6
6:1 Brothers and sisters, even if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore that person in a spirit of gentleness. Watch yourself, so that you too are not tempted.
6:2 Carry one another's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.
6:3 For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
6:4 Let each examine his own work, and then his reason for boasting will be in himself alone and not in someone else,
6:5 for each will carry his own load.
6:6 Let the one who is taught the word share all good things with the one who teaches.
6:7 Do not be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a person sows, that he will also reap.
6:8 For the one who sows to his own flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.
6:9 Let us not grow weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap, if we do not give up.
6:10 So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those of the household of faith.
6:11 See what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.
6:12 Those who want to make a good showing in the flesh compel you to be circumcised, only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ.
6:13 For even those who have themselves circumcised do not keep the law, but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.
6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
6:15 For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything, but a new creation.
6:16 Peace and mercy be upon all who will walk by this rule, and upon the Israel of God.
6:17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear the marks of Jesus in my body.
6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

EPHESIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus and faithful in Christ Jesus:
1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,
1:4 just as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him. In love,
1:5 he predestined us for adoption as sons to himself through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will,
1:6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.
1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
1:8 which he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding,
1:9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in him,
1:10 to carry out his plan when the times reach their fullness: to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on earth. In him
1:11 we were also given an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of the one who works all things according to the counsel of his will,
1:12 so that we who first hoped in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.
1:13 In him you too, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
1:14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of his possession, to the praise of his glory.
1:15 For this reason I too, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints,
1:16 do not cease giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers,
1:17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him,
1:18 with the eyes of your heart enlightened, so that you may know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints,
1:19 and what is the surpassing greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his mighty strength,
1:20 which he exercised in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,
1:21 far above every rule, authority, power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
1:22 He subjected all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church,
1:23 which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all in all.

Chapter 2
2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
2:2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now at work in the sons of disobedience.
2:3 Among them we all once lived in the desires of our flesh, doing what the flesh and our thoughts desired, and we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest.
2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
2:5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—
2:6 and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
2:7 so that in the coming ages he might display the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves; it is the gift of God,
2:9 not from works, so that no one may boast.
2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
2:11 Therefore remember that formerly you, Gentiles in the flesh, were called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision,” made in the flesh by human hands.
2:12 At that time you were apart from Christ, excluded from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
2:14 For he himself is our peace. He made both one and broke down the dividing wall of separation—the hostility—in his flesh,
2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new man out of the two, making peace,
2:16 and reconcile both to God in one body through the cross, putting the hostility to death by it.
2:17 He came and proclaimed peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near,
2:18 because through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and foreign residents, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God's household,
2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.
2:21 In him the whole building, joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
2:22 In him you too are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Chapter 3
3:1 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—
3:2 if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace given to me for you:
3:3 the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I wrote briefly before.
3:4 By reading this, you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ,
3:5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit:
3:6 that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and fellow participants in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.
3:7 I became a minister of this gospel according to the gift of God's grace given to me by the working of his power.
3:8 To me, less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given: to proclaim to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ
3:9 and to bring to light for everyone the administration of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things,
3:10 so that now, through the church, the many-sided wisdom of God might be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places,
3:11 according to the eternal purpose he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord.
3:12 In him we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in him.
3:13 Therefore I ask you not to lose heart over my afflictions for you, which are your glory.
3:14 For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,
3:15 from whom every family in the heavens and on earth takes its name,
3:16 that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner self,
3:17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, and that, rooted and grounded in love,
3:18 you may have strength to grasp with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
3:19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled to all the fullness of God.
3:20 Now to the one who is able to do far more abundantly than all we ask or think, according to the power at work in us,
3:21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Chapter 4
4:1 Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you were called,
4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
4:3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were also called in one hope of your calling;
4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
4:7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift.
4:8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and gave gifts to people.”
4:9 Now what does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended to the lower regions of the earth?
4:10 The one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.
4:11 He himself gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
4:14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed by the waves and carried about by every wind of teaching, by human trickery and cunning in deceitful schemes.
4:15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, let us grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
4:16 from whom the whole body, fitted and joined together through every supporting joint, according to the working of each part in its measure, brings about the body's growth to build itself up in love.
4:17 So I say this and testify in the Lord: you must no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.
4:18 They are darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance in them, because of the hardness of their heart.
4:19 Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensual excess, to practice every kind of impurity with greed.
4:20 But that is not how you learned Christ,
4:21 if indeed you heard him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus:
4:22 to put off, with regard to your former way of life, the old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires,
4:23 to be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
4:24 and to put on the new self, created according to God in the righteousness and holiness of the truth.
4:25 Therefore, putting away falsehood, let each speak the truth with his neighbor, because we are members of one another.
4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin.” Do not let the sun go down on your anger,
4:27 and do not give the devil room.
4:28 Let the one who steals steal no longer. Instead, let him labor, doing good work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with the one in need.
4:29 Let no rotten speech come out of your mouth, but only what is good for building up as needed, so that it may give grace to those who hear.
4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
4:31 Let all bitterness, rage, anger, shouting, and slander be removed from you, along with all malice.
4:32 Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

Chapter 5
5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,
5:2 and walk in love, just as Christ also loved us and gave himself for us as an offering and sacrifice to God, a fragrant aroma.
5:3 But sexual immorality and every kind of impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints,
5:4 nor obscenity, foolish talk, or crude joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving.
5:5 For you know this for certain: no sexually immoral or impure person, or greedy person, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.
5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
5:7 Therefore do not become fellow participants with them.
5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
5:9 —for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth—
5:10 discerning what is pleasing to the Lord.
5:11 Do not share in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them,
5:12 for it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret.
5:13 But all things exposed by the light become visible,
5:14 for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says,
 “Awake, sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.”
5:15 So pay careful attention to how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,
5:16 making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
5:17 Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.
5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, in which there is reckless excess, but be filled with the Spirit,
5:19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your heart to the Lord,
5:20 always giving thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:21 submitting to one another in the fear of Christ.
5:22 Wives, submit to your own husbands as to the Lord,
5:23 because the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, himself the Savior of the body.
5:24 But as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
5:25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for her,
5:26 so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
5:27 so that he himself might present the church to himself in glory, without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and blameless.
5:28 In this way husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. The one who loves his own wife loves himself,
5:29 for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church,
5:30 because we are members of his body.
5:31 “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”
5:32 This mystery is great, but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.
5:33 Nevertheless, each one of you should love his own wife as himself, and the wife should respect her husband.

Chapter 6
6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
6:2 “Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise—
6:3 “so that it may go well with you and you may live long on the earth.”
6:4 And fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
6:5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as you would Christ,
6:6 not serving only when watched, as people pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God wholeheartedly,
6:7 serving with goodwill, as to the Lord and not to people,
6:8 knowing that whatever good each one does, he will receive it back from the Lord, whether slave or free.
6:9 And masters, do the same for them, giving up threats, knowing that both their Master and yours is in the heavens, and there is no partiality with him.
6:10 Finally, be strengthened in the Lord and in the might of his strength.
6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the devil's schemes.
6:12 For 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.
6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand.
6:14 Stand, then, with your waist belted with truth and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
6:15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace.
6:16 In every circumstance take up the shield of faith, with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
6:17 And receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,
6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit with every prayer and petition. To this end, stay alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,
6:19 and for me, so that words may be given to me when I open my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,
6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, so that I may speak boldly about it, as I ought to speak.
6:21 So that you too may know my situation and what I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.
6:22 I sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us and he may encourage your hearts.
6:23 Peace to the brothers and sisters, and love with faith from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
6:24 Grace be with all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with imperishable love.

PHILIPPIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons:
1:2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:3 I thank my God every time I remember you,
1:4 always making my petition with joy in every prayer of mine for all of you,
1:5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.
1:6 I am confident of this very thing: the one who began a good work in you will bring it to completion by the day of Christ Jesus.
1:7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I have you in my heart. In both my chains and the defense and confirmation of the gospel, you all share in grace with me.
1:8 For God is my witness how I long for all of you with the deep affection of Christ Jesus.
1:9 And this is my prayer: that your love may overflow more and more in knowledge and all discernment,
1:10 so that you may approve what is best and be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ,
1:11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
1:12 I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel,
1:13 so that it has become clear throughout the whole imperial guard and to everyone else that my chains are for Christ.
1:14 And most of the brothers and sisters, having gained confidence in the Lord through my chains, dare all the more to speak the word without fear.
1:15 Some indeed proclaim Christ out of envy and strife, but others out of goodwill.
1:16 The latter do so out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel;
1:17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking to stir up affliction in my chains.
1:18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will continue to rejoice,
1:19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
1:20 according to my eager expectation and hope that I will be put to shame in nothing, but with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death.
1:21 For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
1:22 But if I live in the flesh, this means fruitful labor for me. Yet I do not know what to choose.
1:23 I am pressed between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better,
1:24 but remaining in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.
1:25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all for your progress and joy in the faith,
1:26 so that through my presence with you again, your boasting in Christ Jesus may overflow on my account.
1:27 Only live as citizens in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear about you that you stand firm in one spirit, striving together with one soul for the faith of the gospel,
1:28 and are not intimidated in anything by your opponents. This is a sign to them of destruction, but of your salvation, and this is from God.
1:29 For it has been granted to you for Christ's sake not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him,
1:30 having the same struggle that you saw in me and now hear that I still have.

Chapter 2
2:1 Therefore, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any fellowship of the Spirit, any deep affection and compassion,
2:2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, united in soul, thinking as one.
2:3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others above yourselves,
2:4 each looking not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
2:5 Let this mind be among you, which was also in Christ Jesus,
2:6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to cling to,
2:7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave and becoming like human beings.
   And being found in appearance as a man,
2:8 he humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
2:9 Therefore God also exalted him to the highest place and graciously gave him the name above every name,
2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in the heavens and on earth and under the earth,
2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
2:13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
2:14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing,
2:15 so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
2:16 holding fast to the word of life, so that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
2:17 But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.
2:18 In the same way, you too should rejoice and share your joy with me.
2:19 I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be encouraged when I learn how you are.
2:20 For I have no one of the same mind who will sincerely care for your situation.
2:21 For they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
2:22 But you know his proven character: like a child with a father, he served with me for the gospel.
2:23 So I hope to send him as soon as I see how things will go with me,
2:24 and I am confident in the Lord that I myself will also come soon.
2:25 But I thought it necessary to send you Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, your messenger and minister to my need,
2:26 because he was longing for you all and was distressed because you had heard that he was ill.
2:27 Indeed, he was ill and near death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but also on me, so that I would not have sorrow upon sorrow.
2:28 Therefore I sent him all the more eagerly, so that when you see him again you may rejoice and I may be less sorrowful.
2:29 So welcome him in the Lord with all joy, and hold people like him in honor,
2:30 because he came near death for the work of Christ, risking his life to supply what was lacking in your service to me.

Chapter 3
3:1 Finally, my brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble for me and is a safeguard for you.
3:2 Watch out for the dogs, watch out for the evil workers, watch out for the mutilators.
3:3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, boast in Christ Jesus, and put no confidence in the flesh,
3:4 though I myself have grounds for confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he has grounds for confidence in the flesh, I have more:
3:5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee;
3:6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness in the law, blameless.
3:7 But whatever things were gain to me, I have counted as loss for Christ.
3:8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I count them as garbage, so that I may gain Christ
3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith,
3:10 to know him and the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, being conformed to his death,
3:11 if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
3:12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already been brought to completion, but I press on to take hold of it, because I too was taken hold of by Christ.
3:13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider that I have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and stretching toward what is ahead,
3:14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of God's upward call in Christ Jesus.
3:15 Therefore let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently in anything, God will reveal this to you as well.
3:16 Only let us keep in step with what we have attained.
3:17 Join together in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and observe those who walk according to the example you have in us.
3:18 For many walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. I have often told you about them, and now tell you even with tears.
3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
3:20 For our citizenship is in the heavens, from which we also eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
3:21 who will transform our body of humiliation to be conformed to his body of glory, by the power that enables him also to subject all things to himself.

Chapter 4
4:1 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters whom I long for, my joy and crown, stand firm in the Lord in this way, beloved.
4:2 I urge Euodia and I urge Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.
4:3 Yes, I ask you too, true companion, to help these women, who struggled alongside me in the gospel, together with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!
4:5 Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.
4:6 Be anxious about nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.
4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
4:9 Practice what you learned and received and heard and saw in me, and the God of peace will be with you.
4:10 I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that now at last your concern for me has blossomed again. You were concerned before, but lacked the opportunity.
4:11 I am not saying this out of need, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am in.
4:12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In every circumstance and in all things I have learned the secret, both of being well fed and of going hungry, both of having abundance and of being in need.
4:13 I can do all things through the one who strengthens me.
4:14 Nevertheless, you did well to share in my affliction.
4:15 You Philippians also know that in the beginning of the gospel, when I left Macedonia, no church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving except you alone,
4:16 for even in Thessalonica you sent help for my need more than once.
4:17 It is not the gift I seek, but the fruit that increases to your account.
4:18 I have received everything in full and have more than enough. I am well supplied, having received from Epaphroditus what you sent, a fragrant aroma, an acceptable sacrifice pleasing to God.
4:19 And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
4:20 To our God and Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
4:21 Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers and sisters with me greet you.
4:22 All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household.
4:23 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

COLOSSIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1:2 to the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ who are in Colossae: grace to you and peace from God our Father.
1:3 We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, always praying for you,
1:4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints,
1:5 because of the hope reserved for you in the heavens. You heard of it before in the word of truth, the gospel
1:6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing throughout the whole world, so it is among you, from the day you heard and truly came to know the grace of God.
1:7 You learned it from Epaphras, our beloved fellow slave, who is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf,
1:8 and who also made known to us your love in the Spirit.
1:9 For this reason, from the day we heard, we too have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,
1:10 so that you may walk worthily of the Lord, pleasing him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God,
1:11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy,
1:12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
1:13 He rescued us from the authority of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,
1:14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,
1:16 for in him all things were created in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities.
   All things have been created through him and for him.
1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
1:18 He is also the head of the body, the church.
   He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself may have first place in everything.
1:19 For God was pleased to have all the fullness dwell in him
1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in the heavens.
1:21 And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind in your evil works,
1:22 have now been reconciled in his body of flesh through death, to present you holy and blameless and beyond accusation before him,
1:23 if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, not shifting away from the hope of the gospel you heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.
1:24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and in my flesh I fill up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body, which is the church.
1:25 I became its minister according to the stewardship God gave me for you, to make the word of God fully known:
1:26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations, but now revealed to his saints.
1:27 To them God wished to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
1:28 We proclaim him, admonishing everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.
1:29 For this I also labor, striving according to his working, which works powerfully in me.

Chapter 2
2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh,
2:2 so that their hearts may be encouraged and they may be joined together in love, attaining all the riches of fully assured understanding, to the knowledge of God's mystery, Christ,
2:3 in whom all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden.
2:4 I say this so that no one may deceive you with persuasive arguments.
2:5 For though I am absent in the flesh, I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.
2:6 Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, walk in him,
2:7 rooted and being built up in him, and being established in the faith just as you were taught, overflowing with thanksgiving.
2:8 Take care that no one carries you off as plunder through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elements of the world, and not according to Christ.
2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity dwells bodily,
2:10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority.
2:11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made by human hands, in the stripping off of the body of flesh, in the circumcision of Christ.
2:12 You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
2:13 And you, being dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he made alive together with him, forgiving us all our trespasses,
2:14 erasing the record of debt with its decrees that was against us and hostile to us. He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.
2:15 Having stripped the rulers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
2:16 Therefore let no one judge you in food or drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths.
2:17 These are a shadow of things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
2:18 Let no one disqualify you, delighting in humility and worship of angels, dwelling on what he has seen, puffed up without cause by his fleshly mind,
2:19 and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, supplied and joined together through its joints and ligaments, grows with the growth that comes from God.
2:20 If you died with Christ to the elements of the world, why, as though still living in the world, do you submit to regulations
2:21 such as “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch”
2:22 —all of which concern things that perish with use—according to human commandments and teachings?
2:23 These indeed have an appearance of wisdom in worship of their own choosing, humility, and harsh treatment of the body, but have no value in restraining indulgence of the flesh.

Chapter 3
3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
3:2 Set your minds on the things above, not on the things on earth,
3:3 for you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
3:4 When Christ, your life, is revealed, then you too will be revealed with him in glory.
3:5 Put to death, therefore, what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry.
3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
3:7 You too once walked in these things, when you lived in them.
3:8 But now you too must put away all these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and obscene language from your mouth.
3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have stripped off the old self with its practices
3:10 and put on the new, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its Creator.
3:11 Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free, but Christ is all and in all.
3:12 Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with deep compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,
3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a complaint against another. Just as the Lord forgave you, so you must also do.
3:14 And above all these put on love, which is the bond of perfection.
3:15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which you were also called in one body. And be thankful.
3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.
3:17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
3:18 Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.
3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.
3:20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this is pleasing in the Lord.
3:21 Fathers, do not provoke your children, so that they do not lose heart.
3:22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything, not only when watched, as people pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.
3:23 Whatever you do, work wholeheartedly, as for the Lord and not for people,
3:24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You serve the Lord Christ.
3:25 For the one who does wrong will receive back the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.

Chapter 4
4:1 Masters, give your slaves what is just and fair, knowing that you too have a Master in heaven.
4:2 Persevere in prayer, staying alert in it with thanksgiving,
4:3 praying at the same time for us as well, that God may open for us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains,
4:4 so that I may make it known as I ought to speak.
4:5 Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the time.
4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
4:7 Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister and fellow slave in the Lord, will tell you everything about my situation.
4:8 I sent him to you for this very purpose, so that you may know about us and he may encourage your hearts,
4:9 together with Onesimus, the faithful and beloved brother who is one of you. They will tell you everything happening here.
4:10 Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, greets you, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas, about whom you received instructions: if he comes to you, welcome him.
4:11 And Jesus, who is called Justus, greets you. These are the only ones of the circumcision who are my fellow workers for the kingdom of God, and they have been a comfort to me.
4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a slave of Christ, greets you, always striving for you in his prayers, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in all the will of God.
4:13 For I testify for him that he labors greatly for you and for those in Laodicea and Hierapolis.
4:14 Luke, the beloved physician, and Demas greet you.
4:15 Greet the brothers and sisters in Laodicea, and Nympha and the church in her house.
4:16 When this letter has been read among you, see that it is also read in the church of the Laodiceans, and that you too read the letter from Laodicea.
4:17 And say to Archippus, “Take care to fulfill the ministry you received in the Lord.”
4:18 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand. Remember my chains. Grace be with you.

1 THESSALONIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: grace to you and peace.
1:2 We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you without ceasing in our prayers,
1:3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith, labor of love, and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 We know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,
1:5 because our gospel came to you not in word alone, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction, just as you know what we were like among you for your sake.
1:6 And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, receiving the word in great affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit,
1:7 so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
1:8 For from you the word of the Lord has sounded out, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith toward God has gone out everywhere, so that we have no need to say anything.
1:9 For they themselves report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
1:10 and to await his Son from the heavens, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

Chapter 2
2:1 For you yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our visit to you has not been in vain.
2:2 But after we had suffered and been shamefully treated in Philippi, as you know, we had boldness in our God to speak the gospel of God to you amid great struggle.
2:3 For our appeal does not come from error or impurity, nor is it made in deceit.
2:4 Instead, just as God has approved us to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not to please people but God, who tests our hearts.
2:5 For we never came with flattering words, as you know, or with a pretext for greed—God is witness—
2:6 nor did we seek glory from people, whether from you or from others,
2:7 though as apostles of Christ we could have been a burden. Instead, we were gentle among you, as a nursing mother cherishes her own children.
2:8 So, longing for you, we were pleased to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own lives, because you had become beloved to us.
2:9 For you remember, brothers and sisters, our labor and toil. Working night and day so as not to burden any of you, we proclaimed the gospel of God to you.
2:10 You are witnesses, and God also, of how devoutly, righteously, and blamelessly we behaved toward you who believe.
2:11 As you know, we dealt with each one of you as a father with his own children,
2:12 exhorting you, encouraging you, and urging you to walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.
2:13 And for this reason we too thank God without ceasing: when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it truly is, the word of God, which is also at work in you who believe.
2:14 For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, because you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews,
2:15 who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and drove us out, who do not please God and are opposed to all people,
2:16 hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved, and thus always filling up their sins. But wrath has overtaken them to the full.
2:17 But we, brothers and sisters, having been torn away from you for a short time—in person, not in heart—made all the more effort, with great longing, to see your faces.
2:18 For we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, more than once—but Satan hindered us.
2:19 For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you as well?
2:20 For you are our glory and joy.

Chapter 3
3:1 Therefore, when we could bear it no longer, we thought it best to be left alone in Athens,
3:2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God's fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith,
3:3 so that no one would be shaken by these afflictions. For you yourselves know that we are appointed to this.
3:4 Indeed, when we were with you, we kept telling you beforehand that we would suffer affliction, just as it happened and as you know.
3:5 For this reason, when I too could bear it no longer, I sent to learn about your faith, fearing that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor might prove to be in vain.
3:6 But now Timothy has come to us from you and brought us good news of your faith and love, and that you always remember us kindly, longing to see us just as we long to see you.
3:7 For this reason, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and affliction we were comforted about you through your faith,
3:8 for now we live, if you stand firm in the Lord.
3:9 For what thanks can we give back to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice because of you before our God,
3:10 as night and day we pray most earnestly to see your faces and complete what is lacking in your faith?
3:11 May our God and Father himself, and our Lord Jesus, direct our way to you.
3:12 May the Lord make you increase and overflow in love for one another and for everyone, just as we do for you,
3:13 so that he may strengthen your hearts, blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Chapter 4
4:1 Finally, then, brothers and sisters, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus that, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and please God—as indeed you do walk—you should abound still more.
4:2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4:4 that each of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor,
4:5 not in passionate desire like the Gentiles who do not know God;
4:6 that no one transgress or take advantage of his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you.
4:7 For God did not call us for impurity, but in holiness.
4:8 Therefore whoever rejects this rejects not a human being but God, who also gives his Holy Spirit to you.
4:9 Now concerning brotherly love, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another.
4:10 Indeed, you do this toward all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. But we urge you, brothers and sisters, to abound still more,
4:11 and to make it your ambition to live quietly, mind your own affairs, and work with your hands, just as we instructed you,
4:12 so that you may walk respectably toward outsiders and have need of no one.
4:13 But we do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.
4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, so God will also, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
4:15 For we say this to you by a word of the Lord: we who are alive, who remain until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.
4:16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a command, with an archangel's voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
4:17 Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.
4:18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Chapter 5
5:1 Now concerning the times and seasons, brothers and sisters, you have no need for anything to be written to you,
5:2 for you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
5:3 When they say, “Peace and security,” then sudden destruction comes upon them like labor pains upon a pregnant woman, and they will certainly not escape.
5:4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness, so that the day should overtake you like a thief,
5:5 for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We do not belong to the night or to darkness.
5:6 So then let us not sleep as the rest do, but let us stay awake and be sober.
5:7 For those who sleep sleep at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night.
5:8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
5:9 For God did not appoint us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
5:10 who died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him.
5:11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as you are doing.
5:12 We ask you, brothers and sisters, to recognize those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you,
5:13 and to esteem them most highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.
5:14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters: admonish the undisciplined, encourage the fainthearted, support the weak, be patient with everyone.
5:15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always pursue what is good for one another and for everyone.
5:16 Rejoice always.
5:17 Pray without ceasing.
5:18 Give thanks in everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.
5:20 Do not despise prophecies,
5:21 but test everything; hold fast to what is good.
5:22 Abstain from every form of evil.
5:23 May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your spirit and soul and body be kept whole and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
5:24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.
5:25 Brothers and sisters, pray for us.
5:26 Greet all the brothers and sisters with a holy kiss.
5:27 I solemnly charge you by the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers and sisters.
5:28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

2 THESSALONIANS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
1:2 Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:3 We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, as is fitting, because your faith is growing exceedingly and the love of each and every one of you for one another is increasing,
1:4 so that we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God for your endurance and faith in all the persecutions and afflictions you bear.
1:5 This is evidence of God's righteous judgment, so that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you also suffer,
1:6 since it is just with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you,
1:7 and relief to you who are afflicted, together with us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels
1:8 in flaming fire, bringing vengeance on those who do not know God and those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
1:9 They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
1:10 when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints and marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.
1:11 To this end we also pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of the calling and fulfill with power every desire for goodness and every work of faith,
1:12 so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Chapter 2
2:1 Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters,
2:2 not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, whether through a spirit or a spoken word or a letter supposedly from us, claiming that the day of the Lord has already come.
2:3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above everything called a god or an object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, presenting himself as God.
2:5 Do you not remember that while I was still with you I kept telling you these things?
2:6 And now you know what restrains him, so that he may be revealed at his own time.
2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only the one who now restrains will do so until he is out of the way.
2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearing of his coming.
2:9 The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power and signs and wonders of falsehood,
2:10 and with every unrighteous deception for those who are perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth so that they might be saved.
2:11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, so that they believe the lie,
2:12 so that all who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness may be judged.
2:13 But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters loved by the Lord, because God chose you as firstfruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
2:14 To this he called you through our gospel, to obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2:15 So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions you were taught, whether through a spoken word or through a letter from us.
2:16 May our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope by grace,
2:17 comfort your hearts and strengthen you in every good work and word.

Chapter 3
3:1 Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified, just as it is among you,
3:2 and so that we may be rescued from perverse and evil people, for not everyone has faith.
3:3 But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one.
3:4 We have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will continue to do what we command.
3:5 May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and the endurance of Christ.
3:6 Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother who walks in an undisciplined way and not according to the tradition they received from us.
3:7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not undisciplined among you,
3:8 nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge. Instead, in labor and toil we worked night and day so as not to burden any of you,
3:9 not because we do not have the right, but to give you an example in ourselves to imitate.
3:10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: “If anyone is unwilling to work, neither should he eat.”
3:11 For we hear that some among you walk in an undisciplined way, doing no work but meddling.
3:12 Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and eat their own bread.
3:13 But you, brothers and sisters, do not grow weary in doing good.
3:14 If anyone does not obey our word in this letter, take note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he may be ashamed.
3:15 Do not consider him an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.
3:16 May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.
3:17 I, Paul, write this greeting in my own hand, which is a sign in every letter. This is how I write.
3:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

1 TIMOTHY

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and Christ Jesus our hope,
1:2 to Timothy, a true child in faith: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
1:3 When I was going to Macedonia, I urged you to remain in Ephesus, so that you might command certain people not to teach a different doctrine
1:4 or devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies, which produce speculations rather than God's stewardship that is by faith.
1:5 The aim of the command is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith.
1:6 Some, having strayed from these things, have turned aside into empty talk,
1:7 wanting to be teachers of the law, though they understand neither what they say nor the things they assert so confidently.
1:8 Now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully,
1:9 knowing this: the law is not laid down for a righteous person, but for the lawless and rebellious, the ungodly and sinners, the unholy and profane, those who kill their fathers and those who kill their mothers, murderers,
1:10 the sexually immoral, men who have sex with men, slave traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is opposed to sound teaching,
1:11 according to the gospel of the glory of the blessed God, with which I was entrusted.
1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, appointing me to ministry,
1:13 though formerly I was a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man. But I received mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief,
1:14 and the grace of our Lord overflowed beyond measure with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
1:15 The saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am foremost.
1:16 But for this reason I received mercy, so that in me, the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would believe in him for eternal life.
1:17 Now to the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.
1:18 I entrust this command to you, my child Timothy, in accordance with the prophecies previously made about you, so that by them you may wage the good warfare,
1:19 holding faith and a good conscience. Some have rejected that conscience and suffered shipwreck concerning the faith.
1:20 Among them are Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I handed over to Satan so that they may be taught not to blaspheme.

Chapter 2
2:1 Therefore I urge first of all that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people,
2:2 for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a calm and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.
2:3 This is good and acceptable before God our Savior,
2:4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.
2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and human beings, the man Christ Jesus,
2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper times.
2:7 For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I speak the truth, I am not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
2:8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting holy hands without anger or argument.
2:9 Likewise, women should adorn themselves in respectable clothing, with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly clothing,
2:10 but with good works, as is fitting for women who profess reverence for God.
2:11 Let a woman learn in quietness with all submission.
2:12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in quietness.
2:13 For Adam was formed first, then Eve,
2:14 and Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, came into transgression.
2:15 Yet she will be saved through childbearing, if they continue in faith and love and holiness with self-control.

Chapter 3
3:1 The saying is trustworthy: if anyone aspires to oversight, he desires a good work.
3:2 Therefore the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
3:3 not given to wine, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.
3:4 He must manage his own household well, keeping his children in submission with all dignity.
3:5 For if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for the church of God?
3:6 He must not be a new convert, so that he does not become conceited and fall into the condemnation of the devil.
3:7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he does not fall into disgrace and the devil's snare.
3:8 Deacons likewise must be dignified, not double-tongued, not devoted to much wine, not greedy for dishonest gain,
3:9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience.
3:10 Let them also be tested first; then, if they are beyond accusation, let them serve as deacons.
3:11 Women likewise must be dignified, not slanderers, but sober, faithful in everything.
3:12 Let deacons be husbands of one wife, managing their children and their own households well.
3:13 For those who serve well as deacons gain a good standing for themselves and great boldness in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.
3:14 I write these things to you, hoping to come to you soon,
3:15 but so that, if I am delayed, you may know how one ought to conduct oneself in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
3:16 And by common confession, the mystery of godliness is great:
 he was revealed in flesh, vindicated in the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed in the world, taken up in glory.

Chapter 4
4:1 But the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, devoting themselves to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons,
4:2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose own conscience is seared,
4:3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
4:4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if received with thanksgiving,
4:5 for it is sanctified through the word of God and prayer.
4:6 By setting these things before the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the words of the faith and the good teaching you have followed.
4:7 But refuse profane old wives' tales. Train yourself for godliness,
4:8 for physical training is of limited benefit, but godliness is beneficial in every way, having the promise of the present life and of the one to come.
4:9 The saying is trustworthy and worthy of full acceptance.
4:10 For to this end we labor and endure insults, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of believers.
4:11 Command and teach these things.
4:12 Let no one despise your youth, but become an example to the believers in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity.
4:13 Until I come, devote yourself to public reading, exhortation, and teaching.
4:14 Do not neglect the gift in you, which was given to you through prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the council of elders.
4:15 Practice these things; give yourself to them, so that your progress may be evident to everyone.
4:16 Pay attention to yourself and to the teaching; persevere in these things, for by doing so you will save both yourself and those who hear you.

Chapter 5
5:1 Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as a father, younger men as brothers,
5:2 older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.
5:3 Honor widows who are truly widows.
5:4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to show godliness toward their own household and repay their forebears, for this is acceptable before God.
5:5 Now the one who is truly a widow and left alone has set her hope on God and continues in petitions and prayers night and day.
5:6 But the one who lives in self-indulgence is dead even while she lives.
5:7 Command these things as well, so that they may be above reproach.
5:8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
5:9 Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than sixty years old, having been the wife of one husband,
5:10 well attested for good works: if she has raised children, shown hospitality, washed the feet of the saints, helped the afflicted, and devoted herself to every good work.
5:11 But refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their desires turn them against Christ, they want to marry,
5:12 incurring judgment because they have set aside their first commitment.
5:13 At the same time they also learn to be idle, going around from house to house, and not only idle but also gossips and busybodies, speaking of things they should not.
5:14 Therefore I want younger women to marry, bear children, manage the household, and give the adversary no opportunity for slander,
5:15 for some have already turned aside to follow Satan.
5:16 If any believing woman has widows in her care, let her help them, and let the church not be burdened, so that it may help those who are truly widows.
5:17 Let the elders who lead well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in word and teaching,
5:18 for Scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is threshing,” and, “The worker is worthy of his wages.”
5:19 Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
5:20 In the presence of everyone, rebuke those who sin, so that the rest may also have fear.
5:21 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus and the chosen angels to keep these things without prejudice, doing nothing from favoritism.
5:22 Do not lay hands on anyone hastily, nor share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.
5:23 No longer drink only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
5:24 Some people's sins are evident, going before them to judgment; those of others follow after.
5:25 Likewise good works are also evident, and those that are not evident cannot remain hidden.

Chapter 6
6:1 Let all who are slaves under a yoke consider their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of God and the teaching may not be blasphemed.
6:2 Those who have believing masters must not despise them because they are brothers, but serve them all the better, because those who receive the benefit are believers and beloved. Teach and urge these things.
6:3 If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not adhere to sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to teaching according to godliness,
6:4 he is conceited, understanding nothing, but has a sickly craving for disputes and battles over words, from which come envy, strife, slanders, evil suspicions,
6:5 constant friction among people whose minds are corrupted and who are deprived of the truth, imagining godliness to be a means of gain.
6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain,
6:7 for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out.
6:8 But having food and clothing, we will be content with these.
6:9 But those who want to become rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction.
6:10 For the love of money is a root of all evils. By reaching for it, some have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows.
6:11 But you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.
6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life, to which you were called. You also made the good confession before many witnesses.
6:13 I command you before God, who gives life to all things, and Christ Jesus, who testified to the good confession before Pontius Pilate,
6:14 to keep the commandment spotless and above reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ,
6:15 which at the proper times the blessed and only Sovereign will display, the King of kings and Lord of lords,
6:16 who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no human being has seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal might. Amen.
6:17 Command those who are rich in the present age not to be arrogant or to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with all things for enjoyment,
6:18 to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, ready to share,
6:19 storing up for themselves a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.
6:20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, turning away from profane empty talk and the opposing claims of falsely named knowledge.
6:21 Some who profess it have missed the mark concerning the faith. Grace be with you.

2 TIMOTHY

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, according to the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus,
1:2 to Timothy, a beloved child: grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
1:3 I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience as my forebears did, as I remember you without ceasing in my petitions night and day,
1:4 longing to see you, remembering your tears, so that I may be filled with joy,
1:5 having been reminded of the sincere faith in you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced also dwells in you.
1:6 For this reason I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is in you through the laying on of my hands.
1:7 For God did not give us a spirit of cowardice, but of power and love and self-control.
1:8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me, his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God,
1:9 who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace, given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began,
1:10 but now revealed through the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel,
1:11 for which I was appointed a herald and an apostle and a teacher.
1:12 For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
1:13 Hold to the pattern of sound words you heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
1:14 Guard the good deposit through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
1:15 You know that all those in Asia turned away from me, among them Phygelus and Hermogenes.
1:16 May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain,
1:17 but when he was in Rome, he sought me diligently and found me.
1:18 May the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know better how much service he rendered in Ephesus.

Chapter 2
2:1 You, then, my child, be strengthened in the grace that is in Christ Jesus,
2:2 and what you heard from me before many witnesses, entrust to faithful people who will also be able to teach others.
2:3 Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
2:4 No one serving as a soldier entangles himself in the affairs of life, so that he may please the one who enlisted him.
2:5 And if someone competes as an athlete, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.
2:6 The farmer who labors ought to be the first to share in the crops.
2:7 Consider what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.
2:8 Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David, according to my gospel,
2:9 for which I suffer hardship even to chains as a criminal. But the word of God is not chained.
2:10 For this reason I endure everything for the sake of the chosen ones, so that they too may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.
2:11 The saying is trustworthy:
 if we died with him, we will also live with him;
2:12 if we endure, we will also reign with him;
   if we deny him, he too will deny us;
2:13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.
2:14 Remind them of these things, solemnly charging them before the Lord not to battle over words, which is of no use and ruins those who hear.
2:15 Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
2:16 But avoid profane empty talk, for those who engage in it will advance further in ungodliness,
2:17 and their word will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
2:18 who have missed the mark concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and overturn the faith of some.
2:19 Nevertheless God's firm foundation stands, having this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness.”
2:20 Now in a large house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor.
2:21 Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified, useful to the master, prepared for every good work.
2:22 Flee youthful desires, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
2:23 But refuse foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they breed quarrels.
2:24 The Lord's slave must not quarrel, but must be gentle toward everyone, able to teach, patient under mistreatment,
2:25 correcting those who oppose him with gentleness; perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth,
2:26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the devil's snare, having been captured by him to do his will.

Chapter 3
3:1 But know this: in the last days difficult times will come.
3:2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3:3 without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, not loving what is good,
3:4 traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
3:5 having a form of godliness but having denied its power. Turn away from these people too.
3:6 For among them are those who slip into households and take captive weak women burdened with sins, led by various desires,
3:7 always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.
3:8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these also oppose the truth, people corrupted in mind, disqualified concerning the faith.
3:9 But they will advance no further, for their folly will be evident to everyone, as that of those men also became.
3:10 But you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance,
3:11 persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! And out of them all the Lord rescued me.
3:12 Indeed, all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,
3:13 while evil people and impostors will advance from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived.
3:14 But you, continue in what you learned and became convinced of, knowing from whom you learned it,
3:15 and that from infancy you have known the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
3:16 All Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness,
3:17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

Chapter 4
4:1 I solemnly charge you before God and Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:
4:2 proclaim the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with all patience and teaching.
4:3 For a time will come when they will not endure sound teaching, but with itching ears they will pile up teachers for themselves according to their own desires,
4:4 and turn their hearing away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
4:5 But you, be sober in everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.
4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come.
4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
4:8 From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing.
4:9 Make every effort to come to me soon,
4:10 for Demas deserted me, having loved the present age, and went to Thessalonica. Crescens went to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
4:11 Only Luke is with me. Take Mark and bring him with you, for he is useful to me for ministry.
4:12 I sent Tychicus to Ephesus.
4:13 When you come, bring the cloak I left in Troas with Carpus, and the books, especially the parchments.
4:14 Alexander the coppersmith did me much harm. The Lord will repay him according to his works.
4:15 You too must guard against him, for he strongly opposed our words.
4:16 At my first defense no one came to my side, but everyone deserted me. May it not be counted against them.
4:17 But the Lord stood beside me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully made and all the Gentiles might hear, and I was rescued from the lion's mouth.
4:18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil work and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
4:19 Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus.
4:20 Erastus remained in Corinth, and I left Trophimus ill in Miletus.
4:21 Make every effort to come before winter. Eubulus, Pudens, Linus, Claudia, and all the brothers and sisters greet you.
4:22 The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

TITUS

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, a slave of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the faith of God's chosen ones and the knowledge of the truth that accords with godliness,
1:2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the ages began,
1:3 but at the proper times revealed his word in the proclamation entrusted to me by the command of God our Savior,
1:4 to Titus, a true child according to our shared faith: grace and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior.
1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, so that you might put in order what remained and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you:
1:6 if anyone is beyond accusation, the husband of one wife, having believing children who are neither accused of reckless living nor rebellious.
1:7 For the overseer must be beyond accusation as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain,
1:8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, righteous, holy, self-controlled,
1:9 holding fast to the trustworthy word according to the teaching, so that he may be able both to exhort in sound teaching and to refute those who contradict it.
1:10 For there are many who are rebellious, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision,
1:11 who must be silenced, because they overturn entire households, teaching what they should not for the sake of dishonest gain.
1:12 One of them, a prophet of their own, said, “Cretans are always liars, evil beasts, lazy gluttons.”
1:13 This testimony is true. For this reason rebuke them sharply, so that they may be sound in the faith,
1:14 not devoting themselves to Jewish myths or to commands of people who turn away from the truth.
1:15 All things are pure to the pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; both their mind and their conscience are defiled.
1:16 They profess to know God, but deny him by their works, being detestable and disobedient and unfit for every good work.

Chapter 2
2:1 But you, speak what is fitting for sound teaching.
2:2 Older men are to be sober, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, love, and endurance.
2:3 Older women likewise are to be reverent in conduct, not slanderers or enslaved to much wine, teachers of what is good,
2:4 so that they may train the younger women to love their husbands, to love their children,
2:5 to be sensible, pure, working at home, good, submitting to their own husbands, so that the word of God may not be blasphemed.
2:6 Likewise urge the younger men to be sensible,
2:7 showing yourself in everything to be an example of good works, with integrity and dignity in teaching,
2:8 sound speech beyond condemnation, so that the opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say about us.
2:9 Slaves are to submit to their own masters in everything, to be pleasing, not contradicting them,
2:10 not stealing, but showing good faith in every way, so that in everything they may adorn the teaching of God our Savior.
2:11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people,
2:12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly desires and to live with self-control, righteousness, and godliness in the present age,
2:13 awaiting the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
2:14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for himself a people of his own, zealous for good works.
2:15 Speak these things, exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.

Chapter 3
3:1 Remind them to submit to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work,
3:2 to slander no one, to be peaceable and gentle, showing all meekness toward all people.
3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, enslaved to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
3:4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love for humanity appeared,
3:5 he saved us, not by works done by us in righteousness, but according to his mercy, through the washing of rebirth and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
3:6 whom he poured out richly upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior,
3:7 so that, justified by his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
3:8 The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist firmly on these things, so that those who have believed God may take care to devote themselves to good works. These things are good and beneficial for people.
3:9 But avoid foolish disputes, genealogies, strife, and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and empty.
3:10 Reject a divisive person after a first and second admonition,
3:11 knowing that such a person is warped and is sinning, being self-condemned.
3:12 When I send Artemas to you, or Tychicus, make every effort to come to me in Nicopolis, for I have decided to spend the winter there.
3:13 Diligently send Zenas the expert in law and Apollos on their way, so that they lack nothing.
3:14 Let our people also learn to devote themselves to good works for pressing needs, so that they may not be unfruitful.
3:15 All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in faith. Grace be with you all.

PHILEMON

Chapter 1
1:1 Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved fellow worker,
1:2 and to Apphia our sister, and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:
1:3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
1:4 I always thank my God, mentioning you in my prayers,
1:5 hearing of the love and faith you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints,
1:6 so that your participation in the faith may become effective through the knowledge of every good thing that is in us for Christ.
1:7 For I have received much joy and comfort from your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.
1:8 Therefore, though I have great boldness in Christ to command you to do what is fitting,
1:9 I appeal instead for love's sake, being as I am, Paul, an old man and now also a prisoner of Christ Jesus.
1:10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I fathered in my chains,
1:11 who once was useless to you, but now is useful both to you and to me.
1:12 I have sent him back to you, him who is my own heart.
1:13 I wanted to keep him with me, so that on your behalf he might serve me in my chains for the gospel,
1:14 but without your consent I wanted to do nothing, so that your good deed might be voluntary and not under compulsion.
1:15 For perhaps he was separated from you for a time for this reason, so that you might have him back forever,
1:16 no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.
1:17 Therefore, if you consider me a partner, welcome him as you would me.
1:18 And if he has wronged you in anything or owes you anything, charge that to my account.
1:19 I, Paul, write this in my own hand: I will repay it—not to mention that you owe me even your own self.
1:20 Yes, brother, let me benefit from you in the Lord; refresh my heart in Christ.
1:21 Confident of your obedience, I have written to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say.
1:22 At the same time, prepare lodging for me as well, for I hope that through your prayers I will be granted to you.
1:23 Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,
1:24 as do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.
1:25 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

HEBREWS

Chapter 1
1:1 Long ago, God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in many ways.
1:2 In these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom he also made the universe.
1:3 He is the radiance of God's glory and the exact imprint of his being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins by himself, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
1:4 having become as much greater than the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

1:5 For to which of the angels did he ever say,
 “You are my Son;
   today I have begotten you”?
 And again,
 “I will be his Father, and he will be my Son”?
1:6 And when he again brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
 “Let all God's angels worship him.”
1:7 Of the angels he says,
 “He makes his angels winds and his servants a flame of fire.”
1:8 But to the Son he says,
 “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, and the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
1:9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
   therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions.”
1:10 And,
 “You, Lord, laid the earth's foundation in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
1:11 They will perish, but you remain;
   they will all wear out like a garment.
1:12 You will roll them up like a cloak;
   like a garment they will be changed.
   But you are the same, and your years will never end.”
1:13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,
 “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent to serve those who are to inherit salvation?

Chapter 2
2:1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
2:2 For if the word spoken through angels proved binding, and every transgression and act of disobedience received a just penalty,
2:3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? It was first announced through the Lord and was confirmed to us by those who heard him,
2:4 while God also bore witness with signs and wonders, various miracles, and distributions of the Holy Spirit according to his own will.
2:5 For God did not subject the world to come, of which we are speaking, to angels.
2:6 But someone has testified somewhere,
 “What is man that you remember him, or the son of man that you care for him?
2:7 You made him lower than the angels for a little while;
   you crowned him with glory and honor;
2:8 you subjected all things under his feet.”
 For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that was not subject to him. Yet now we do not see all things subject to him.
2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that, apart from God, he might taste death for everyone.
2:10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
2:11 For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
2:12 saying,
 “I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters;
   in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”
2:13 And again,
 “I will put my trust in him.”
 And again,
 “Here I am, and the children God has given me.”
2:14 Since the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, so that through death he might render powerless the one who holds the power of death, that is, the devil,
2:15 and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.
2:16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's offspring.
2:17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters relating to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
2:18 For because he himself suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

Chapter 3
3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
3:2 He is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses also was in his house.
3:3 For he has been considered worthy of greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.
3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the one who built all things is God.
3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken,
3:6 but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. And we are his house, if we hold fast to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.

3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
 “Today, if you hear his voice,
3:8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness,
3:9 where your ancestors put me to the test and saw my works
3:10 for forty years.
   Therefore I was angry with this generation and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’
3:11 So I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter my rest.’”
3:12 Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
3:13 Instead, exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you is hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
3:14 For we have come to share in Christ, if we hold our initial confidence firm to the end,
3:15 while it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
3:16 For who rebelled after hearing? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt through Moses?
3:17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness?
3:18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not those who disobeyed?
3:19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

Chapter 4
4:1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still remains, let us fear lest any of you seem to have fallen short of it.
4:2 For we too have had good news announced to us, just as they did. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united in faith with those who listened.
4:3 For we who have believed enter the rest, just as he has said, “So I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4:4 For somewhere he has spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
4:5 And again in this passage, “They will not enter my rest.”
4:6 Since, then, it remains for some to enter it, and those who earlier had the good news announced to them did not enter because of disobedience,
4:7 he again appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time, as has already been said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken afterward of another day.
4:9 So a Sabbath rest remains for the people of God.
4:10 For whoever has entered his rest has also rested from his own works, just as God did from his.
4:11 Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one falls by following the same example of disobedience.
4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces as far as the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and discerns the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
4:13 No creature is hidden before him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account.
4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.
4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin.
4:16 Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Chapter 5
5:1 For every high priest, taken from among human beings, is appointed to act on their behalf in matters relating to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
5:2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is also subject to weakness.
5:3 Because of this, he must offer sacrifices for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.
5:4 And no one takes this honor for himself, but receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.

5:5 So Christ also did not glorify himself to become high priest. Rather, he was glorified by the one who said to him,
 “You are my Son;
   today I have begotten you,”
5:6 just as he also says elsewhere,
 “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
5:7 During his life in the flesh, he offered prayers and pleas with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
5:8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.
5:9 And having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
5:10 having been designated by God as high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
5:11 We have much to say about this, and it is hard to explain because you have become slow to listen.
5:12 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you again need someone to teach you the elementary principles of God's word. You have come to need milk, not solid food.
5:13 For everyone who feeds on milk is inexperienced in the word of righteousness, since he is an infant.
5:14 But solid food is for the mature, whose senses have been trained by practice to distinguish good from evil.

Chapter 6
6:1 Therefore, leaving the elementary teaching about Christ, let us be carried on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and faith in God,
6:2 of instruction about baptisms and the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.
6:3 And this we will do, if God permits.
6:4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift and came to share in the Holy Spirit,
6:5 and tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6:6 and have fallen away, to be renewed again to repentance, since they crucify the Son of God again for themselves and expose him to public shame.
6:7 For land that drinks the rain that often falls on it and produces plants useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.
6:8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed; its end is to be burned.
6:9 But in your case, beloved, we are convinced of better things, things that accompany salvation, even though we speak this way.
6:10 For God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown toward his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
6:11 We desire each of you to show the same diligence to the end, for the full assurance of hope,
6:12 so that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.
6:13 For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,
6:14 saying, “Surely I will bless you abundantly and multiply you greatly.”
6:15 And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise.
6:16 For people swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath serves as confirmation that ends every dispute among them.
6:17 In the same way, God, wishing to show the heirs of the promise more clearly that his purpose was unchangeable, intervened with an oath,
6:18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and firm, entering the inner place behind the curtain,
6:20 where Jesus has entered on our behalf as a forerunner, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.

Chapter 7
7:1 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.
7:2 Abraham also gave him a tenth of everything. His name means first “king of righteousness,” and then he is also king of Salem, which means “king of peace.”
7:3 Without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God, he remains a priest continually.
7:4 Consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils.
7:5 Now those descendants of Levi who receive the priesthood have a commandment under the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, their brothers and sisters, although they too came from Abraham's loins.
7:6 But the one whose genealogy is not traced from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.
7:7 And beyond all dispute, the lesser is blessed by the greater.
7:8 Here, mortal human beings receive tithes, but there they are received by one of whom it is testified that he lives.
7:9 And, so to speak, even Levi, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham,
7:10 for he was still in his ancestor's loins when Melchizedek met him.
7:11 Now if perfection were through the Levitical priesthood—for under it the people received the law—what further need would there be for another priest to arise according to the order of Melchizedek, rather than being named according to the order of Aaron?
7:12 For when the priesthood is changed, a change in the law necessarily takes place as well.
7:13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belongs to another tribe, from which no one has served at the altar.
7:14 For it is evident that our Lord arose from Judah, a tribe about which Moses said nothing concerning priests.
7:15 And this is even more evident if another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek,
7:16 one who has become a priest not according to a legal requirement of physical descent, but according to the power of an indestructible life.
7:17 For it is testified of him, “You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.”
7:18 For the former commandment is set aside because of its weakness and uselessness,
7:19 since the law made nothing perfect; but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.
7:20 And this was not without an oath. The others became priests without an oath,
7:21 but he became one with an oath through the one who said to him, “The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
7:22 For this reason, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.
7:23 The others became priests in great numbers because death prevented them from continuing.
7:24 But because he remains forever, he holds a permanent priesthood.
7:25 Therefore he is also able to save completely those who approach God through him, since he always lives to intercede for them.
7:26 For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
7:27 He has no need, like the high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, for he did this once for all when he offered himself.
7:28 For the law appoints human beings subject to weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.

Chapter 8
8:1 Now the main point of what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens,
8:2 a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord set up, not a human being.
8:3 For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices, so this high priest too must have something to offer.
8:4 Now if he were on earth, he would not even be a priest, since there are those who offer gifts according to the law.
8:5 They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, just as Moses was warned when he was about to construct the tabernacle. For he says, “See that you make everything according to the pattern shown to you on the mountain.”
8:6 But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, just as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, established on better promises.
8:7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, no place would have been sought for a second.
8:8 For finding fault with them, he says,
 “Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,
8:9 not like the covenant I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not remain in my covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.
8:10 For this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds and write them on their hearts.
   I will be their God, and they will be my people.
8:11 No one will teach his fellow citizen, or his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest among them.
8:12 For I will be merciful toward their unrighteous deeds, and I will remember their sins no more.”
8:13 In saying “new,” he has made the first covenant obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is near to disappearing.

Chapter 9
9:1 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.
9:2 For a tabernacle was prepared. In its first part were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the Holy Place.
9:3 Behind the second curtain was the part of the tabernacle called the Most Holy Place,
9:4 having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant, covered with gold on every side. In it were a golden jar holding the manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
9:5 Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. We cannot now speak of these things in detail.
9:6 With these things arranged in this way, the priests continually enter the first part of the tabernacle to perform their worship duties.
9:7 But only the high priest enters the second part, once a year, and not without blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins the people committed in ignorance.
9:8 By this the Holy Spirit indicates that the way into the Most Holy Place has not yet been revealed while the first tabernacle still stands.
9:9 This is a symbol for the present time, according to which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper's conscience.
9:10 They concern only food, drink, and various washings—regulations for the body imposed until the time of reform.
9:11 But Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come, and through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made by human hands—that is, not of this creation—
9:12 he entered the Most Holy Place once for all, not through the blood of goats and calves, but through his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption.
9:13 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are defiled sanctify them for the cleansing of the flesh,
9:14 how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God!
9:15 For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance, since a death has taken place for redemption from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
9:16 For where there is a will, the death of the one who made it must be established.
9:17 For a will takes effect upon death, since it is never in force while the one who made it is alive.
9:18 Therefore not even the first covenant was inaugurated without blood.
9:19 For when Moses had spoken every commandment according to the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people,
9:20 saying, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you.”
9:21 In the same way he sprinkled the tabernacle and all the utensils for worship with blood.
9:22 Indeed, according to the law, almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
9:23 Therefore it was necessary for the copies of the things in the heavens to be cleansed by these means, but the heavenly things themselves by better sacrifices than these.
9:24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a copy of the true one, but heaven itself, now to appear in God's presence on our behalf.
9:25 Nor did he enter to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
9:26 Otherwise he would have had to suffer repeatedly from the foundation of the world. But now, at the culmination of the ages, he has appeared once to put away sin through his own sacrifice.
9:27 And just as it is appointed for human beings to die once, and after that comes judgment,
9:28 so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, apart from sin, for the salvation of those who eagerly await him.

Chapter 10
10:1 For the law has a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual image of those realities. It can never, by the same sacrifices offered continually year after year, make perfect those who draw near.
10:2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins?
10:3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year,
10:4 for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
10:5 Therefore, when he comes into the world, he says,
 “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me.
10:6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you took no pleasure.
10:7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written of me in the scroll of the book—to do your will, O God.’”
10:8 After saying above, “Sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you did not desire, nor did you take pleasure in them”—which are offered according to the law—
10:9 he then said, “Here I am to do your will.” He takes away the first to establish the second.
10:10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
10:11 And every priest stands daily at his service, repeatedly offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins.
10:12 But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God,
10:13 waiting from then on until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.
10:14 For by one offering he has made perfect forever those who are being sanctified.
10:15 The Holy Spirit also bears witness to us, for after saying,
10:16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts and write them on their minds,”
10:17 he adds,
 “And I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”
10:18 Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer an offering for sin.
10:19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,
10:20 by the new and living way he inaugurated for us through the curtain, that is, his flesh,
10:21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
10:23 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for the one who promised is faithful.
10:24 And let us consider one another, to stir up love and good works,
10:25 not abandoning our gathering together, as some have made a habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching.
10:26 For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins,
10:27 but a fearful expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire that will devour the adversaries.
10:28 Anyone who has rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses.
10:29 How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, regarded the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified as profane, and insulted the Spirit of grace?
10:30 For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.”
10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
10:32 But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great struggle with suffering,
10:33 sometimes publicly exposed to insults and afflictions, and sometimes becoming companions of those who were treated that way.
10:34 For you sympathized with the prisoners and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves have a better and lasting possession.
10:35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.
10:36 For you need endurance, so that after doing the will of God you may receive what was promised.
10:37 For “In just a very little while, the one who is coming will come and will not delay.
10:38 But my righteous one will live by faith, and if he draws back, my soul takes no pleasure in him.”
10:39 But we are not among those who draw back to destruction, but among those who have faith for the preservation of the soul.

Chapter 11
11:1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
11:2 For by it the people of old were commended.
11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed by the word of God, so that what is seen did not come into being from visible things.
11:4 By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. Through it he was commended as righteous, God testifying to his gifts, and through it, though he died, he still speaks.
11:5 By faith Enoch was taken away so that he would not see death, and he could not be found because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he had been commended as having pleased God.
11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
11:7 By faith Noah, warned about things not yet seen, in reverent fear built an ark to save his household. Through that faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that is according to faith.
11:8 By faith Abraham, when called, obeyed by going out to a place he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out without knowing where he was going.
11:9 By faith he lived as a foreigner in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.
11:10 For he was awaiting the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
11:11 By faith he also, together with Sarah herself, received power to father offspring, even beyond the proper age, because he considered the one who had promised faithful.
11:12 Therefore from one man, and one as good as dead, descendants were born as numerous as the stars of heaven and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
11:13 All these died in faith without receiving the promises, but they saw and welcomed them from afar, acknowledging that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth.
11:14 For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
11:15 And if they had been thinking of the country they left, they would have had an opportunity to return.
11:16 But now they long for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.
11:17 By faith Abraham, when tested, offered Isaac. The one who had received the promises was offering his only son,
11:18 even though he had been told, “Through Isaac your offspring will be named.”
11:19 He reasoned that God was able even to raise him from the dead, and from there, figuratively speaking, he received him back.
11:20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau even concerning things to come.
11:21 By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.
11:22 By faith Joseph, as his end drew near, mentioned the departure of the children of Israel and gave instructions about his bones.
11:23 By faith Moses was hidden for three months by his parents when he was born, because they saw that the child was beautiful and did not fear the king's decree.
11:24 By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
11:25 choosing to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasure of sin.
11:26 He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
11:27 By faith he left Egypt without fearing the king's wrath, for he endured as though seeing the one who is invisible.
11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch them.
11:29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but when the Egyptians attempted it, they were swallowed up.
11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after being encircled for seven days.
11:31 By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who disobeyed, because she welcomed the spies in peace.
11:32 And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets,
11:33 who through faith conquered kingdoms, practiced righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions,
11:34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, and put foreign armies to flight.
11:35 Women received their dead back through resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing release so that they might obtain a better resurrection.
11:36 Others experienced mockings and floggings, and even chains and imprisonment.
11:37 They were stoned, sawed in two, and killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, afflicted, and mistreated.
11:38 The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and holes in the earth.
11:39 And all these, though commended through faith, did not receive the promise,
11:40 because God had provided something better for us, so that they would not be made perfect apart from us.

Chapter 12
12:1 Therefore, since we too are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race set before us,
12:2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
12:3 For consider the one who has endured such hostility from sinners against themselves, so that you do not grow weary and lose heart.
12:4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood,
12:5 and you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons:
 “My son, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly, or lose heart when he rebukes you,
12:6 for the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he scourges every son he receives.”
12:7 It is for discipline that you endure. God is treating you as sons, for what son is not disciplined by his father?
12:8 But if you are without discipline, in which all have shared, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.
12:9 Moreover, we had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Shall we not much more submit to the Father of spirits and live?
12:10 For they disciplined us for a few days as seemed best to them, but he does so for our good, so that we may share in his holiness.
12:11 For the present, no discipline seems joyful, but painful. Later, however, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those trained by it.
12:12 Therefore lift up the drooping hands and strengthen the weakened knees,
12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
12:14 Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
12:15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up to cause trouble and defile many,
12:16 and that no one is sexually immoral or profane like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal.
12:17 For you know that even afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance, though he sought it with tears.
12:18 For you have not come to something that can be touched, to blazing fire, darkness, gloom, and a storm,
12:19 to the sound of a trumpet and a voice speaking words, whose hearers begged that no further word be spoken to them.
12:20 For they could not bear what was commanded: “Even if an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”
12:21 And so fearful was the sight that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.”
12:22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels in a festive gathering,
12:23 to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
12:24 to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to sprinkled blood that speaks better than Abel.
12:25 See that you do not refuse the one who speaks. For if those who refused the one who warned them on earth did not escape, much less will we if we turn away from the one who warns from heaven.
12:26 His voice shook the earth then, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.”
12:27 The words “once more” indicate the removal of the things that are shaken, as things that have been made, so that the things that are not shaken may remain.
12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be grateful, and so offer God acceptable worship with reverence and awe,
12:29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Chapter 13
13:1 Let brotherly love continue.
13:2 Do not neglect hospitality, for through it some have hosted angels without knowing it.
13:3 Remember the prisoners as though imprisoned with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are also in a body.
13:4 Let marriage be honored by all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
13:5 Let your way of life be free from the love of money, being content with what you have, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you, and I will never forsake you.”
13:6 So we can say with confidence,
 “The Lord is my helper;
   I will not fear.
   What can man do to me?”
13:7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
13:9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those who occupied themselves with them.
13:10 We have an altar from which those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat.
13:11 For the bodies of the animals whose blood the high priest brings into the sanctuary for sin are burned outside the camp.
13:12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate to sanctify the people through his own blood.
13:13 So let us go to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.
13:14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the one to come.
13:15 Through him, then, let us continually offer God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.
13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices.
13:17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no benefit to you.
13:18 Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in every way.
13:19 I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you sooner.
13:20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, through the blood of the eternal covenant,
13:21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.
13:22 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to bear with this word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
13:23 Know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon, I will see you with him.
13:24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.
13:25 Grace be with all of you.

JAMES

Chapter 1
1:1 James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes in the Dispersion: Greetings.
1:2 Count it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter trials of various kinds,
1:3 knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
1:4 And let endurance finish its work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.
1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given to him.
1:6 But let him ask in faith, without doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.
1:7 For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord,
1:8 being double-minded, unstable in all his ways.
1:9 Let the brother in humble circumstances boast in his exaltation,
1:10 and the rich person in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a flower of the grass.
1:11 For the sun rises with scorching heat and dries up the grass. Its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So too the rich person will wither in the midst of his pursuits.
1:12 Blessed is the man who endures a trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that he promised to those who love him.
1:13 Let no one say when tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
1:14 But each person is tempted when drawn away and enticed by his own desire.
1:15 Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when fully grown, gives birth to death.
1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers and sisters.
1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow caused by turning.
1:18 Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we might be a kind of firstfruits of his creation.
1:19 Know this, my beloved brothers and sisters: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger,
1:20 for human anger does not produce the righteousness of God.
1:21 Therefore put away all filthiness and overflowing wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
1:23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man looking at his natural face in a mirror.
1:24 For he looks at himself and goes away, and immediately forgets what he was like.
1:25 But the one who looks intently into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and remains in it, becoming not a forgetful hearer but a doer who acts, will be blessed in what he does.
1:26 If anyone thinks he is religious but does not bridle his tongue, deceiving his own heart instead, his religion is worthless.
1:27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Chapter 2
2:1 My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
2:2 For if a man wearing gold rings and splendid clothing comes into your gathering, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in,
2:3 and you pay special attention to the one wearing the splendid clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand, or sit there beneath my footstool,”
2:4 have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
2:5 Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters: has not God chosen those who are poor in the world's eyes to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom he promised to those who love him?
2:6 But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?
2:7 Is it not they who blaspheme the good name invoked over you?
2:8 If you indeed fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well.
2:9 But if you show favoritism, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.
2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles in one point has become guilty of all of it.
2:11 For the one who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.
2:12 Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty.
2:13 For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith but has no works? Can that faith save him?
2:15 If a brother or sister is without clothing and lacks daily food,
2:16 and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is it?
2:17 So also faith, if it has no works, is dead by itself.
2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
2:19 Do you believe that God is one? You do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder.
2:20 But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith apart from works is useless?
2:21 Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered his son Isaac on the altar?
2:22 You see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made complete,
2:23 and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness,” and he was called a friend of God.
2:24 You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.
2:25 And likewise, was not Rahab the prostitute also justified by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out another way?
2:26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Chapter 3
3:1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, knowing that we will receive a stricter judgment.
3:2 For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in speech, he is a mature man, able also to bridle his whole body.
3:3 Now if we put bits into horses' mouths so that they obey us, we also direct their whole bodies.
3:4 Look also at the ships: though they are so large and driven by fierce winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wishes.
3:5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. See how small a fire sets so great a forest ablaze!
3:6 The tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting the wheel of life on fire, and itself set on fire by hell.
3:7 For every kind of wild animal and bird, of creeping creature and sea creature, is tamed and has been tamed by humankind.
3:8 But no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
3:9 With it we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings who have been made in the likeness of God.
3:10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers and sisters, these things ought not to be so.
3:11 Does a spring pour out fresh and bitter water from the same opening?
3:12 Can a fig tree, my brothers and sisters, produce olives, or a grapevine figs? Neither can salt water produce fresh water.
3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show his works by his good conduct in the meekness of wisdom.
3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
3:15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic.
3:16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition are, there are disorder and every evil practice.
3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and without hypocrisy.
3:18 And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.

Chapter 4
4:1 Where do wars and fights among you come from? Do they not come from your pleasures that wage war in your members?
4:2 You desire and do not have. You murder and envy and cannot obtain. You fight and wage war. You do not have because you do not ask.
4:3 You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your pleasures.
4:4 Adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
4:5 Or do you think that the Scripture speaks in vain: “He yearns jealously for the spirit he made to dwell in us”?
4:6 But he gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
4:8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
4:9 Be distressed and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
4:11 Do not speak against one another, brothers and sisters. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
4:12 There is one lawgiver and judge, the one who can save and destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
4:13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, trade, and make a profit.”
4:14 Yet you do not know what your life will be tomorrow. For you are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
4:15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
4:16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
4:17 So for anyone who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, it is sin.

Chapter 5
5:1 Come now, you rich, weep and howl over the miseries coming upon you.
5:2 Your wealth has rotted, and your clothes have become moth-eaten.
5:3 Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have stored up treasure in the last days.
5:4 Look, the wages of the workers who harvested your fields, which you have withheld, are crying out, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
5:5 You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.
5:6 You have condemned and murdered the righteous one. Does he not oppose you?
5:7 Be patient, therefore, brothers and sisters, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient for it until he receives the early and late rains.
5:8 You too be patient and strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord has drawn near.
5:9 Do not grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be judged. Look, the judge is standing at the doors.
5:10 Brothers and sisters, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord as an example of suffering and patience.
5:11 Look, we count as blessed those who endured. You have heard of Job's endurance and have seen the outcome the Lord brought about, for the Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
5:12 But above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath. Let your “Yes” be yes and your “No” be no, so that you may not fall under judgment.
5:13 Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises.
5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.
5:15 And the prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
5:16 Therefore confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous person has great power.
5:17 Elijah was a human being with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months.
5:18 Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
5:19 My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone turns him back,
5:20 let him know that whoever turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

1 PETER

Chapter 1
1:1 Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the chosen sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia,
1:2 according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling with the blood of Jesus Christ: may grace and peace be multiplied to you.
1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1:4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,
1:5 who are guarded by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
1:6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
1:7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes though tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1:8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with inexpressible and glorious joy,
1:9 receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace for you searched and inquired diligently,
1:11 inquiring what time or what circumstances the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he foretold the sufferings destined for Christ and the glories to follow.
1:12 It was revealed to them that they were serving these things not for themselves but for you. These things have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.
1:13 Therefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace being brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1:14 As obedient children, do not conform yourselves to the desires you formerly had in your ignorance,
1:15 but as the one who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,
1:16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
1:17 And if you call on as Father the one who judges impartially according to each person's work, conduct yourselves in fear throughout the time of your sojourning,
1:18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile way of life handed down from your ancestors, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,
1:19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
1:20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was revealed in the last times for your sake,
1:21 you who through him believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
1:22 Having purified your souls by obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from the heart,
1:23 having been born again, not from perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God.
1:24 For
 “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of grass.
   The grass withered, and the flower fell,
1:25 but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
 And this is the word that was preached to you as good news.

Chapter 2
2:1 Therefore put away all malice, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander.
2:2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow into salvation,
2:3 if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.
2:4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by human beings but chosen and precious in God's sight,
2:5 you yourselves, like living stones, are being built as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
2:6 For it stands in Scripture:
 “Look, I am laying in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame.”
2:7 So the honor is for you who believe, but for those who do not believe,
 “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,”
2:8 and
 “A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
 They stumble as they disobey the word; to this they were also appointed.
2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
2:10 Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
2:11 Beloved, I urge you as foreigners and sojourners to abstain from fleshly desires, which wage war against the soul.
2:12 Keep your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, so that, though they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good works and glorify God on the day of visitation.
2:13 Submit yourselves to every human institution for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme,
2:14 or to governors as those sent by him to punish evildoers and praise those who do good.
2:15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you silence the ignorance of foolish people.
2:16 Live as free people, not using your freedom as a cover for evil, but as slaves of God.
2:17 Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.
2:18 Household slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle but also to the crooked.
2:19 For it is commendable if someone, because he is conscious of God, endures grief while suffering unjustly.
2:20 For what credit is there if you endure beatings for sinning? But if you endure suffering for doing good, this is commendable before God.
2:21 For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his footsteps.
2:22 He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.
2:23 When he was insulted, he did not insult in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but entrusted himself to the one who judges justly.
2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that, having died to sins, we might live to righteousness. By his wound you were healed.
2:25 For you were straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

Chapter 3
3:1 Likewise, wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, so that even if some disobey the word, they may be won without a word through their wives' conduct,
3:2 when they observe your pure and respectful conduct.
3:3 Let your adornment not be outward—the braiding of hair, the wearing of gold, or the putting on of clothes—
3:4 but the hidden person of the heart, in the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in God's sight.
3:5 For this is how the holy women who hoped in God adorned themselves in former times, submitting themselves to their own husbands,
3:6 as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord. You have become her children if you do good and do not fear any terror.
3:7 Husbands, likewise, live with your wives with understanding, showing them honor as the weaker vessel and as fellow heirs of the grace of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered.
3:8 Finally, all of you, be of one mind, sympathetic, loving as brothers and sisters, tenderhearted, and humble,
3:9 not repaying evil for evil or insult for insult, but on the contrary blessing, because to this you were called, so that you might inherit a blessing.
3:10 For
 “Whoever wants to love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit.
3:11 Let him turn away from evil and do good;
   let him seek peace and pursue it.
3:12 For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”
3:13 And who will harm you if you become zealous for what is good?
3:14 But even if you suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, nor be troubled,
3:15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you for a reason for the hope within you,
3:16 but with gentleness and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.
3:17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that is God's will, than for doing evil.
3:18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God, put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
3:19 in which he also went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,
3:20 who once disobeyed, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared. In it a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.
3:21 Baptism, corresponding to this, now also saves you—not the removal of dirt from the body, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,
3:22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, with angels, authorities, and powers subjected to him.

Chapter 4
4:1 Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same thought, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
4:2 so as to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires but for the will of God.
4:3 For you have spent enough time in the past doing what the Gentiles desire, living in debauchery, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and unlawful idolatries.
4:4 They are surprised that you do not run with them into the same flood of debauchery, and they slander you.
4:5 They will give an account to the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
4:6 For this reason the gospel was preached even to the dead, so that they might be judged in the flesh according to human beings but live in the spirit according to God.
4:7 The end of all things has drawn near. Therefore be self-controlled and sober for your prayers.
4:8 Above all, maintain earnest love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
4:9 Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.
4:10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's varied grace.
4:11 If anyone speaks, let him speak as one speaking the words of God. If anyone serves, let him serve from the strength God supplies, so that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
4:13 But rejoice insofar as you share in Christ's sufferings, so that you may also rejoice with great joy at the revelation of his glory.
4:14 If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
4:15 For let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or a meddler in others' affairs.
4:16 But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this name.
4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who disobey the gospel of God?
4:18 And “If the righteous person is saved with difficulty, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to God's will entrust their souls to the faithful Creator while doing good.

Chapter 5
5:1 Therefore I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ's sufferings, and a sharer in the glory to be revealed:
5:2 shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing it not under compulsion but willingly, as God desires, not for shameful gain but eagerly,
5:3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but becoming examples to the flock.
5:4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
5:5 Likewise, you who are younger, submit to the elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that he may exalt you in due time,
5:7 casting all your cares on him, for he cares for you.
5:8 Be sober and watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
5:9 Resist him, firm in the faith, knowing that your brotherhood throughout the world is experiencing the same sufferings.
5:10 And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.
5:11 To him be dominion forever and ever. Amen.
5:12 Through Silvanus, whom I regard as a faithful brother, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God. Stand firm in it.
5:13 She who is in Babylon, chosen with you, greets you, and so does Mark my son.
5:14 Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.

2 PETER

Chapter 1
1:1 Simeon Peter, a slave and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith as precious as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
1:2 May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
1:3 His divine power has granted us everything needed for life and godliness through the knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence.
1:4 Through these he has granted us precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world because of desire.
1:5 For this very reason, make every effort to add virtue to your faith, and knowledge to virtue,
1:6 and self-control to knowledge, and endurance to self-control, and godliness to endurance,
1:7 and brotherly affection to godliness, and love to brotherly affection.
1:8 For if these things are yours and abound, they keep you from being idle or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:9 For whoever lacks these things is blind, shortsighted, having forgotten the cleansing of his former sins.
1:10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble.
1:11 For in this way entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
1:12 Therefore I will always be ready to remind you of these things, though you know them and are established in the truth that is with you.
1:13 And I consider it right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by way of reminder,
1:14 knowing that I must soon put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
1:15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able to recall these things at any time.
1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
1:17 For he received honor and glory from God the Father when this voice came to him from the Majestic Glory: “This is my Son, my beloved, in whom I am well pleased.”
1:18 And we ourselves heard this voice coming from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
1:19 And we have the prophetic word more firmly confirmed, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
1:20 Know this above all: no prophecy of Scripture arises from one's own interpretation,
1:21 for no prophecy was ever brought by human will, but people spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Chapter 2
2:1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2:2 And many will follow their debauchery, and because of them the way of truth will be slandered.
2:3 And in their greed they will exploit you with fabricated words. Their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction does not slumber.
2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and handed them over to chains of gloom, kept for judgment,
2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but protected Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly,
2:6 and reduced the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes, condemning them to destruction, setting them as an example of what is coming to the ungodly,
2:7 and rescued righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the debauched conduct of the lawless—
2:8 for as he lived among them, this righteous man tormented his righteous soul day after day over their lawless deeds by what he saw and heard—
2:9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
2:10 especially those who follow the flesh in defiling desire and despise authority. Bold and self-willed, they do not tremble when they blaspheme glorious beings,
2:11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring a blasphemous judgment against them.
2:12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct born for capture and destruction, blaspheme what they do not understand and will also be destroyed in their corruption,
2:13 suffering harm as the wages of unrighteousness. They consider daytime luxury a pleasure. They are spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions while feasting with you.
2:14 They have eyes full of adultery and never cease from sin. They entice unstable souls and have a heart trained in greed. They are children of a curse.
2:15 Leaving the straight way, they have gone astray, following the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,
2:16 but was rebuked for his own transgression: a speechless beast of burden, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet's madness.
2:17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved.
2:18 For, speaking arrogant, empty words, they entice by fleshly desires and debauchery those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
2:19 They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption, for a person is enslaved to whatever has overcome him.
2:20 For if, after escaping the defilements of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they become entangled in them again and are overcome, their last state has become worse than the first.
2:21 For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
2:22 What the true proverb says has happened to them: “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and, “A washed sow returns to wallowing in the mud.”

Chapter 3
3:1 This is now the second letter I am writing to you, beloved. In both, I stir up your sincere minds by way of reminder,
3:2 so that you remember the words spoken beforehand by the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles.
3:3 Know this above all: in the last days scoffers will come with scoffing, following their own desires
3:4 and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they have from the beginning of creation.”
3:5 For they deliberately overlook this: that the heavens existed long ago, and earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God.
3:6 Through these the world of that time perished, flooded with water.
3:7 But the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire by the same word, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly people.
3:8 But do not overlook this one thing, beloved: with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day.
3:9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise, as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
3:10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. On that day the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be dissolved as they burn, and the earth and the works in it will be exposed.
3:11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,
3:12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of that day the heavens will be dissolved in fire, and the elements will melt as they burn.
3:13 But according to his promise, we await new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
3:14 Therefore, beloved, as you await these things, be diligent to be found by him spotless and blameless, in peace,
3:15 and consider the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given to him,
3:16 as he does in all his letters, speaking in them of these things. In them are some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable twist, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
3:17 You, therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, guard yourselves so that you are not carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your own steadfastness.
3:18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

1 JOHN

Chapter 1
1:1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we looked upon and our hands touched, concerning the Word of life—
1:2 and the life was revealed, and we have seen it and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—
1:3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us. And indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ.
1:4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.
1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.
1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with him while walking in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
1:7 But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

Chapter 2
2:1 My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
2:2 And he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours alone but also for the sins of the whole world.
2:3 And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.
2:4 Whoever says, “I have come to know him,” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
2:5 But in the one who keeps his word, the love of God has truly been made complete. By this we know that we are in him:
2:6 whoever says he remains in him ought himself to walk as he walked.
2:7 Beloved, I am not writing you a new commandment, but an old commandment that you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word you heard.
2:8 Yet I am writing you a new commandment, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.
2:9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness.
2:10 Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.
2:11 But whoever hates his brother is in darkness and walks in darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

2:12 I write to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven for his name's sake.
2:13 I write to you, fathers, because you have known the one who is from the beginning.
   I write to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one.
2:14 I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father.
   I have written to you, fathers, because you have known the one who is from the beginning.
   I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God remains in you, and you have overcome the evil one.
2:15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
2:16 For all that is in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.
2:17 And the world is passing away, and its desire, but whoever does the will of God remains forever.
2:18 Children, it is the last hour, and as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen. From this we know that it is the last hour.
2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out so that it might be made plain that they are not all of us.
2:20 And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.
2:21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is from the truth.
2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
2:23 Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
2:24 As for you, let what you heard from the beginning remain in you. If what you heard from the beginning remains in you, you too will remain in the Son and in the Father.
2:25 And this is the promise he himself promised us: eternal life.
2:26 I have written these things to you about those who deceive you.
2:27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it taught you, remain in him.
2:28 And now, little children, remain in him, so that when he is revealed we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
2:29 If you know that he is righteous, know that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.

Chapter 3
3:1 See what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God! And we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know him.
3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.
3:3 And everyone who has this hope set on him purifies himself, just as he is pure.
3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.
3:5 And you know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
3:6 Everyone who remains in him does not sin. Everyone who sins has neither seen him nor known him.
3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as he is righteous.
3:8 The one who practices sin is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was revealed: to destroy the works of the devil.
3:9 Everyone who has been born of God does not practice sin, because God's seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are evident: everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
3:11 For this is the message you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
3:12 not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, but his brother's were righteous.
3:13 Do not be surprised, brothers and sisters, if the world hates you.
3:14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love remains in death.
3:15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
3:16 By this we have come to know love: he laid down his life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.
3:17 But if anyone has this world's goods, sees his brother in need, and closes his heart to him, how does the love of God remain in him?
3:18 Little children, let us love not in word or speech, but in deed and truth.
3:19 By this we will know that we are of the truth, and will reassure our heart before him,
3:20 because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart and knows all things.
3:21 Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God,
3:22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what is pleasing in his sight.
3:23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he commanded us.
3:24 Whoever keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in that person. And by this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit whom he gave us.

Chapter 4
4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
4:2 By this you recognize the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now it is already in the world.
4:4 You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.
4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.
4:6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
4:8 Whoever does not love has not known God, because God is love.
4:9 By this the love of God was revealed among us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
4:10 In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
4:11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we too ought to love one another.
4:12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been made complete in us.
4:13 By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
4:14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
4:15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.
4:16 And we have come to know and believe the love God has for us. God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
4:17 By this, love has been made complete among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world.
4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and whoever fears has not been made perfect in love.
4:19 We love because he first loved us.
4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
4:21 And this commandment we have from him, that whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Chapter 5
5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of him.
5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and carry out his commandments.
5:3 For this is love for God, that we keep his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome,
5:4 because whatever has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith.
5:5 And who is the one who overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
5:6 This is the one who came through water and blood, Jesus Christ—not with the water alone but with the water and with the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
5:7 For there are three who testify:
5:8 the Spirit, the water, and the blood, and the three are in agreement.
5:9 If we receive human testimony, God's testimony is greater, for this is God's testimony, that he has testified about his Son.
5:10 Whoever believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself. Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.
5:11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
5:12 Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.
5:13 I 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.
5:14 And this is the confidence we have before him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.
5:15 And if we know that he hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked of him.
5:16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he will ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death; I do not say that he should ask about that.
5:17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death.
5:18 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not sin, but the one who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
5:19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the one who is true. And we are in the one who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

2 JOHN

Chapter 1
1:1 The elder, to the chosen lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I alone but also all who have come to know the truth,
1:2 because of the truth that remains in us and will be with us forever.
1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
1:4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in truth, just as we received a commandment from the Father.
1:5 And now I ask you, lady, not as though writing you a new commandment, but one we have had from the beginning, that we love one another.
1:6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, just as you heard from the beginning, that you walk in it.
1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
1:8 Watch yourselves, so that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but receive a full reward.
1:9 Everyone who goes ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.
1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or welcome him,
1:11 for whoever welcomes him shares in his evil deeds.
1:12 Though I have many things to write to you, I did not want to do so with paper and ink. Instead I hope to be with you and speak face to face, so that your joy may be complete.
1:13 The children of your chosen sister greet you.

3 JOHN

Chapter 1
1:1 The elder, to the beloved Gaius, whom I love in truth.
1:2 Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.
1:3 For I rejoiced greatly when brothers came and testified to your faithfulness to the truth, as indeed you walk in truth.
1:4 I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.
1:5 Beloved, you act faithfully in whatever you do for the brothers, even though they are strangers,
1:6 who have testified to your love before the church. You will do well to help them on their journey in a manner worthy of God,
1:7 for they went out for the sake of the Name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles.
1:8 Therefore we ought to support such people, so that we may become fellow workers for the truth.
1:9 I wrote something to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first among them, does not welcome us.
1:10 For this reason, if I come, I will call attention to what he is doing: he speaks against us with malicious words. Not content with that, he does not welcome the brothers himself, and he stops those who want to receive them and expels those people from the church.
1:11 Beloved, do not imitate evil but good. Whoever does good is from God; whoever does evil has not seen God.
1:12 Demetrius has been commended by everyone, and by the truth itself. We also testify, and you know that our testimony is true.
1:13 I had many things to write to you, but I do not want to write to you with ink and pen.
1:14 But I hope to see you soon, and we will speak face to face.
1:15 Peace be to you. The friends greet you. Greet the friends by name.

JUDE

Chapter 1
1:1 Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, loved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ:
1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you.
1:3 Beloved, while making every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I found it necessary to write urging you to contend earnestly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints.
1:4 For certain people have slipped in unnoticed, whose condemnation was written about long ago. They are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into debauchery and denying our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
1:5 Now I want to remind you, though you already know all this, that Jesus, after saving a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe,
1:6 and the angels who did not keep their own position of authority but left their own dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloom for the judgment of the great day.
1:7 Likewise Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, which in the same way as these indulged in sexual immorality and went after different flesh, serve as an example, undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
1:8 Yet these dreamers likewise defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious beings.
1:9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare bring a blasphemous judgment against him, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you.”
1:10 But these blaspheme whatever they do not know, and they are destroyed by what they understand by instinct, like irrational animals.
1:11 Woe to them! For they have walked in the way of Cain, rushed into Balaam's error for pay, and perished in Korah's rebellion.
1:12 These are reefs at your love feasts, feasting with you, shepherding themselves without fear; waterless clouds swept along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted;
1:13 wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of darkness has been reserved forever.
1:14 Enoch, the seventh from Adam, also prophesied about these, saying, “Look, the Lord has come with tens of thousands of his holy ones,
1:15 to execute judgment against all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh words that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
1:16 These are grumblers and faultfinders, following their own desires. Their mouths speak arrogant words, flattering people to gain advantage.
1:17 But you, beloved, remember the words spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1:18 They were telling you, “In the last time there will be scoffers following their own ungodly desires.”
1:19 These are the ones who cause divisions, unspiritual, not having the Spirit.
1:20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
1:21 keep yourselves in the love of God, awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for eternal life.
1:22 And have mercy on those who doubt;
1:23 save others, snatching them out of the fire, and have mercy on others with fear, hating even the tunic stained by the flesh.
1:24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before his glory with great joy,
1:25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

REVELATION

Chapter 1
1:1 The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his slaves what must take place soon. He made it known by sending his angel to his slave John,
1:2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to all that he saw.
1:3 Blessed is the one who reads, and blessed are those who hear the words of the prophecy and keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
1:4 John, to the seven churches in Asia: grace and peace to you from the one who is and who was and who is coming, and from the seven spirits before his throne,
1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood—
1:6 and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
1:7 Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him. Yes, amen.
1:8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.”
1:9 I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,
1:11 saying, “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”
1:12 And I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me, and when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
1:13 and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to his feet and with a golden sash around his chest.
1:14 His head and his hair were white, like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire.
1:15 His feet were like burnished bronze, as if refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters.
1:16 In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in its strength.
1:17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last,
1:18 and the Living One. I was dead, and look, I am alive forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and Hades.
1:19 Write therefore what you saw, what is, and what is to take place after these things.
1:20 As for the mystery of the seven stars you saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are seven churches.”

Chapter 2
2:1 To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: “Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:
2:2 I know your works, your toil and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be liars.
2:3 You have endurance, and you have borne up for my name's sake, and you have not grown weary.
2:4 But I have this against you: you have abandoned your first love.
2:5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the works you did at first. If not, I am coming to you, and I will remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.
2:6 But you have this: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
2:7 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will grant to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”
2:8 And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “Thus says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life:
2:9 I know your tribulation and poverty—but you are rich—and the slander from those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.
2:10 Do not fear anything you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
2:11 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who overcomes will never be harmed by the second death.”
2:12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “Thus says the one who has the sharp two-edged sword:
2:13 I know where you dwell, where Satan's throne is. You hold fast my name, and you did not deny faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
2:14 But I have a few things against you, because you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and commit sexual immorality.
2:15 So you also have those who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans in the same way.
2:16 Repent therefore. If not, I am coming to you soon, and I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
2:17 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone inscribed with a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.”
2:18 And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: “Thus says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze:
2:19 I know your works, your love and faith and service and endurance, and that your later works are more than your first.
2:20 But I have this against you: you tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches my slaves and deceives them into committing sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols.
2:21 I gave her time to repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality.
2:22 Look, I am casting her onto a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works.
2:23 I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts, and I will give to each of you according to your works.
2:24 But to you, the rest in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching and have not known ‘the deep things of Satan,’ as they say, I say: I put no other burden on you.
2:25 Only hold fast what you have until I come.
2:26 And to the one who overcomes and keeps my works to the end, I will give authority over the nations,
2:27 and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as clay vessels are shattered,
2:28 just as I also have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star.
2:29 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Chapter 3
3:1 To the angel of the church in Sardis write: “Thus says the one who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works. You have a reputation for being alive, but you are dead.
3:2 Wake up, and strengthen what remains and was about to die, for I have not found your works complete before my God.
3:3 Remember, then, how you received and heard; keep it and repent. If you do not stay awake, I will come like a thief, and you will never know at what hour I will come upon you.
3:4 But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments. They will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.
3:5 The one who overcomes will be clothed like this in white garments. I will never erase his name from the book of life, and I will acknowledge his name before my Father and before his angels.
3:6 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
3:7 To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: “Thus says the Holy One, the True One, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and shuts and no one opens:
3:8 I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door that no one can shut. You have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
3:9 Look, I am giving you some from the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but are lying. Look, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and know that I have loved you.
3:10 Because you have kept my word of endurance, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is about to come upon the whole inhabited world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
3:11 I am coming soon. Hold fast to what you have, so that no one may take your crown.
3:12 The one who overcomes—I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never go out again. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from my God, and my new name.
3:13 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
3:14 To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: “Thus says the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God's creation:
3:15 I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were cold or hot!
3:16 So, because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of my mouth.
3:17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have grown wealthy, and I need nothing,’ and you do not know that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
3:18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich, white garments to clothe yourself so that the shame of your nakedness may not be exposed, and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
3:19 All those I love, I rebuke and discipline. So be zealous and repent.
3:20 Look, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with me.
3:21 The one who overcomes—I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, just as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
3:22 Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”

Chapter 4
4:1 After these things I looked, and there was an open door in heaven! The first voice I had heard, speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place.” After these things,
4:2 I was immediately in the Spirit. And look, a throne stood in heaven, and someone was seated on the throne.
4:3 The one seated there was like jasper and carnelian in appearance, and a rainbow around the throne was like an emerald in appearance.
4:4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.
4:5 From the throne come flashes of lightning, voices, and peals of thunder. Before the throne burn seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God.
4:6 Before the throne is something like a sea of glass, like crystal. In the midst of the throne and around the throne are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind.
4:7 The first living creature is like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature has a face like a man's, and the fourth living creature is like a flying eagle.
4:8 Each of the four living creatures has six wings, and they are full of eyes all around and within. Day and night they never rest, saying,
 “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming.”
4:9 Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever,
4:10 the twenty-four elders will fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever. They will cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

Chapter 5
5:1 Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals.
5:2 And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?”
5:3 No one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or look at it.
5:4 I wept bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look at it.
5:5 Then one of the elders says to me, “Do not weep. Look, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome, so that he may open the scroll and its seven seals.”
5:6 And I saw, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
5:7 He came and took the scroll from the right hand of the one seated on the throne.
5:8 When he took the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
5:9 And they sing a new song, saying,
 “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you purchased for God people from every tribe and language and people and nation.
5:10 You made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they reign on the earth.”
5:11 Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders. Their number was tens of thousands of tens of thousands, and thousands of thousands,
5:12 saying with a loud voice,
 “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
5:13 And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and everything in them, saying,
 “To the one seated on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever!”
5:14 The four living creatures were saying, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Chapter 6
6:1 I watched as the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, “Come!”
6:2 I looked, and there was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and a crown was given to him. He went out conquering and to conquer.
6:3 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!”
6:4 Another horse came out, fiery red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth so that people would slaughter one another, and a great sword was given to him.
6:5 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there was a black horse! Its rider held a pair of scales in his hand.
6:6 And I heard what sounded like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “About a quart of wheat for a day's wage, and about three quarts of barley for a day's wage! Do not harm the oil and the wine.”
6:7 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!”
6:8 I looked, and there was a pale green horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades followed him. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, pestilence, and the wild beasts of the earth.
6:9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony they held.
6:10 They cried out with a loud voice, “How long, holy and true Master, until you judge those who dwell on the earth and avenge our blood?”
6:11 A white robe was given to each of them, and they were told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow slaves and brothers and sisters who were to be killed as they were was complete.
6:12 I watched as he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became like blood.
6:13 The stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a strong wind.
6:14 The sky withdrew like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.
6:15 The kings of the earth, the great men, the military commanders, the rich, the mighty, and everyone, slave and free, hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.
6:16 And they say to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,
6:17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Chapter 7
7:1 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind would blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree.
7:2 And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been permitted to harm the earth and the sea,
7:3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our God on their foreheads.”
7:4 And I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the children of Israel:
7:5 From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000; from the tribe of Gad, 12,000;
7:6 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000; from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000; from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000;
7:7 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000; from the tribe of Levi, 12,000; from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000;
7:8 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000; from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000; from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 sealed.
7:9 After these things I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, and from all tribes, peoples, and languages. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
7:10 They cry out with a loud voice,
 “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
7:11 All the angels were standing around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures. They fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
7:12 saying,
 “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”
7:13 Then one of the elders asked me, “These who are clothed in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?”
7:14 I said to him, “My lord, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
7:15 For this reason they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will spread his tent over them.
7:16 They will hunger no more and thirst no more. The sun will never beat down on them, nor any scorching heat,
7:17 for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of the water of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Chapter 8
8:1 When he opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven for about half an hour.
8:2 And I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.
8:3 Another angel came and stood at the altar, holding a golden censer. He was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne.
8:4 The smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose from the angel's hand before God.
8:5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it to the earth. There were peals of thunder, voices, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
8:6 The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.
8:7 The first sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown to the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees was burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.
8:8 The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood,
8:9 a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.
8:10 The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.
8:11 The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters because they had been made bitter.
8:12 The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, and a third of the moon and a third of the stars, so that a third of them was darkened, and the day would not shine for a third of its duration, and the night likewise.
8:13 Then I looked and heard a single eagle flying in midheaven, saying with a loud voice, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts of the three angels who are about to sound!”

Chapter 9
9:1 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from heaven to the earth. The key to the shaft of the abyss was given to him.
9:2 He opened the shaft of the abyss, and smoke rose from the shaft like smoke from a great furnace. The sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the shaft.
9:3 Out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like the power of the earth's scorpions.
9:4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or anything green or any tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
9:5 They were not permitted to kill them, but only to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a person.
9:6 In those days people will seek death and will never find it. They will long to die, but death flees from them.
9:7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads was something like crowns resembling gold, and their faces were like human faces.
9:8 They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.
9:9 They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses rushing into battle.
9:10 They have tails like scorpions, with stingers, and in their tails is their power to harm people for five months.
9:11 They have as king over them the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
9:12 The first woe has passed. Look, two more woes are coming after these things.
9:13 The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a single voice from the horns of the golden altar before God,
9:14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.”
9:15 So the four angels who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of humanity.
9:16 The number of the cavalry troops was two hundred million; I heard their number.
9:17 This is how I saw the horses in the vision and those riding them: they had breastplates of fiery red, dark blue, and sulfur yellow. The horses' heads were like lions' heads, and from their mouths come fire, smoke, and sulfur.
9:18 A third of humanity was killed by these three plagues: by the fire, the smoke, and the sulfur coming from their mouths.
9:19 For the horses' power is in their mouths and in their tails. Their tails are like snakes, with heads, and with them they inflict harm.
9:20 The rest of humanity, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands and stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
9:21 Nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.

Chapter 10
10:1 Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, clothed in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head. His face was like the sun, and his feet like pillars of fire.
10:2 He held a little scroll open in his hand. He set his right foot on the sea and his left on the land,
10:3 and he cried out with a loud voice, like a lion roaring. When he cried out, the seven thunders spoke with their own voices.
10:4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Seal up what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.”
10:5 The angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand toward heaven
10:6 and swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and everything in it, the earth and everything in it, and the sea and everything in it, “There will be no more delay,
10:7 but in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be completed, just as he proclaimed the good news to his own slaves the prophets.”
10:8 Then the voice I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the open scroll in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land.”
10:9 I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He says to me, “Take it and eat it up. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.”
10:10 I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it up. In my mouth it was sweet as honey, but when I had eaten it, my stomach was made bitter.
10:11 And they say to me, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings.”

Chapter 11
11:1 I was given a reed like a rod and was told, “Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship in it.
11:2 But leave out the courtyard outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months.
11:3 I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
11:4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
11:5 If anyone wants to harm them, fire comes from their mouths and devours their enemies. If anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way.
11:6 They have authority to shut the sky so that no rain falls during the days of their prophecy. They also have authority over the waters to turn them to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish.
11:7 When they finish their testimony, the beast that comes up from the abyss will make war against them and overcome them and kill them.
11:8 Their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was also crucified.
11:9 Those from the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and they do not allow their bodies to be placed in a tomb.
11:10 Those who dwell on the earth rejoice over them and celebrate, and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth.
11:11 After the three and a half days, a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Great fear fell on those who watched them.
11:12 They heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here!” And they went up into heaven in the cloud, while their enemies watched them.
11:13 In that hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. Seven thousand people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.
11:14 The second woe has passed. Look, the third woe is coming soon.
11:15 The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.”
11:16 The twenty-four elders seated on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,
11:17 saying,
 “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign.
11:18 The nations raged, but your wrath came, and the time for the dead to be judged, and to give the reward to your slaves the prophets, to the saints, and to those who fear your name, small and great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth.”
11:19 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen in his temple. There were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and great hail.

Chapter 12
12:1 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
12:2 She is pregnant and cries out in labor, suffering the agony of giving birth.
12:3 Another sign appeared in heaven, and look, a great fiery red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads!
12:4 His tail sweeps away a third of the stars of heaven, and he threw them to the earth. The dragon stands before the woman who is about to give birth, so that he may devour her child when she gives birth.
12:5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
12:6 The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that they may nourish her there for 1,260 days.
12:7 Then war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back,
12:8 but he did not prevail, and no place was found for them in heaven any longer.
12:9 The great dragon was thrown down, the ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down, the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
12:11 They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even in the face of death.
12:12 Therefore rejoice, heavens and those who dwell in them! Woe to the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you with great fury, knowing that he has little time.”
12:13 When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.
12:14 The woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time, times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent.
12:15 The serpent poured water like a river from his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with the river.
12:16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth.
12:17 Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.

Chapter 13
13:1 And he stood on the sand of the sea. Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, ten diadems on its horns, and blasphemous names on its heads.
13:2 The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet like a bear's, and its mouth like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave it his power and his throne and great authority.
13:3 One of its heads appeared to have been slain, but its mortal wound was healed. The whole earth marveled and followed the beast.
13:4 They worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can wage war against it?”
13:5 It was given a mouth speaking boasts and blasphemies, and it was given authority to act for forty-two months.
13:6 It opened its mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven.
13:7 It was permitted to make war against the saints and overcome them, and it was given authority over every tribe and people and language and nation.
13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain.
13:9 If anyone has an ear, let him hear.
13:10 If anyone is to go into captivity, into captivity he goes. If anyone is to be killed with the sword, with the sword he is to be killed. Here is the endurance and faith of the saints.
13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb's, but it spoke like a dragon.
13:12 It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and it makes the earth and those who dwell in it worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed.
13:13 It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to the earth before people's eyes.
13:14 It deceives those who dwell on the earth by the signs it was permitted to perform in the beast's presence, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image of the beast that has the sword wound and came to life.
13:15 It was permitted to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might speak and cause all who would not worship the image of the beast to be killed.
13:16 It causes everyone, small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to be given a mark on their right hand or on their forehead,
13:17 so that no one can buy or sell except the one who has the mark: the name of the beast or the number of its name.
13:18 Here is wisdom. Let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and its number is six hundred sixty-six.

Chapter 14
14:1 Then I looked, and there was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.
14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven like the sound of many waters and like the sound of loud thunder. The voice I heard was like harpists playing their harps.
14:3 They sing what is like a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been purchased from the earth.
14:4 These are the ones who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were purchased from humanity as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.
14:5 No lie was found in their mouths; they are blameless.
14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in midheaven, with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth and to every nation and tribe and language and people.
14:7 He said with a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship the one who made heaven and earth and sea and springs of water.”
14:8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who made all the nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality!”
14:9 Another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,
14:10 he too will drink the wine of God's fury, poured undiluted into the cup of his wrath, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur before the holy angels and before the Lamb.
14:11 The smoke of their torment rises forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, those who worship the beast and its image, and anyone who receives the mark of its name.”
14:12 Here is the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and faith in Jesus.
14:13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their toil, for their works follow them.”
14:14 Then I looked, and there was a white cloud, and seated on the cloud was one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.
14:15 Another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud, “Put in your sickle and reap, for the hour to reap has come, because the earth's harvest is ripe.”
14:16 The one seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.
14:17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle.
14:18 And another angel came from the altar, the one who has authority over the fire. He called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, saying, “Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of the earth's vine, for its grapes are ripe.”
14:19 So the angel swung his sickle into the earth, harvested the earth's vine, and threw the grapes into the great winepress of God's fury.
14:20 The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress as high as the horses' bridles for about 180 miles.

Chapter 15
15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: seven angels with seven plagues, the last, for in them God's fury was brought to completion.
15:2 And I saw something like a sea of glass mixed with fire, and those who had overcome the beast and its image and the number of its name standing on the sea of glass, holding harps of God.
15:3 They sing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
 “Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God, the Almighty!
   Righteous and true are your ways, King of the ages!
15:4 Who will not fear you, Lord, and glorify your name?
   For you alone are holy.
   All the nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
15:5 After these things I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of testimony in heaven was opened.
15:6 The seven angels with the seven plagues came out of the sanctuary, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests.
15:7 One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the fury of God, who lives forever and ever.
15:8 The sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

Chapter 16
16:1 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God's fury on the earth.”
16:2 The first went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and an ugly and painful sore broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
16:3 The second poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead person, and every living creature in the sea died.
16:4 The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.
16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying,
 “Righteous are you, the one who is and who was, the Holy One, because you have made these judgments.
16:6 For they shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink.
   They deserve it.”
16:7 And I heard the altar saying,
 “Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments!”
16:8 The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was permitted to scorch people with fire.
16:9 People were scorched by intense heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has authority over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
16:10 The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. They gnawed their tongues in pain
16:11 and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.
16:12 The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the rising of the sun.
16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet.
16:14 For they are spirits of demons performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited world to gather them for the battle of the great day of God, the Almighty.
16:15 “Look, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, so that he will not walk naked and have his shame exposed.”
16:16 And they gathered them to the place called in Hebrew Armageddon.
16:17 The seventh poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came from the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!”
16:18 There were flashes of lightning, voices, and peals of thunder, and there was a great earthquake, such as had not occurred since people came to be on the earth—so mighty an earthquake, so great.
16:19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of his furious wrath.
16:20 Every island fled, and the mountains were not found.
16:21 Huge hailstones, weighing about seventy-five pounds each, fall from heaven on people. They blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, for its plague is exceedingly great.

Chapter 17
17:1 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters,
17:2 with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality those who dwell on the earth became drunk.”
17:3 He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, with seven heads and ten horns.
17:4 The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. In her hand she held a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality.
17:5 On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: “Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.”
17:6 I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.
17:7 The angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
17:8 The beast you saw was and is not, and is about to come up from the abyss, and goes to destruction. Those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel when they see the beast, because it was and is not and will be present.
17:9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings:
17:10 five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must remain a little while.
17:11 The beast that was and is not is itself an eighth king, and is one of the seven, and goes to destruction.
17:12 The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings for one hour with the beast.
17:13 They have one purpose and give their power and authority to the beast.
17:14 They will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”
17:15 And he says to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and languages.
17:16 The ten horns you saw and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire.
17:17 For God put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose, to have one purpose, and to give their kingdom to the beast until the words of God are fulfilled.
17:18 The woman you saw is the great city that reigns over the kings of the earth.”

Chapter 18
18:1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, with great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his glory.
18:2 He cried out with a mighty voice, saying,
 “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
   She has become a dwelling place for demons, a haunt for every unclean spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, and a haunt for every unclean and hated beast.
18:3 For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.
   The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich through the power of her luxury.”

18:4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
 “Come out of her, my people, so that you do not share in her sins and do not receive any of her plagues.
18:5 For her sins have piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her wrongs.
18:6 Repay her as she herself repaid, and repay her double according to her works.
   In the cup she mixed, mix a double portion for her.
18:7 As much as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, give her that much torment and mourning.
   For she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen, I am not a widow, and I will never see mourning.’
18:8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day: death and mourning and famine.
   She will be burned up with fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judged her.”
18:9 The kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke of her burning.
18:10 They will stand far off for fear of her torment, saying,
 “Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the mighty city!
   For in one hour your judgment has come.”
18:11 The merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo anymore:
18:12 cargo of gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all thyine wood, every object of ivory, and every object of very costly wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
18:13 cinnamon, aromatic spice, incense, fragrant ointment, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and carriages, slaves, and human lives.
18:14 “The fruit your soul longed for has departed from you, and all your luxuries and splendor have vanished from you, and they will never find them again.”
18:15 The merchants of these things, who grew rich from her, will stand far off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,
18:16 saying,
 “Woe, woe, the great city, clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls!
18:17 For in one hour such great wealth has been laid waste!”
 And every shipmaster, everyone who sails from place to place, sailors, and all who work at sea stood far off
18:18 and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying,
 “What city is like the great city?”
18:19 They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning, saying,
 “Woe, woe, the great city, where all who had ships at sea grew rich from her costly wealth!
   For in one hour she has been laid waste.”

18:20 Rejoice over her, heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has judged your case against her!

18:21 Then a mighty angel lifted a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,
 “So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and she will never be found again.
18:22 The sound of harpists and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will never be heard in you again.
   No craftsman of any craft will ever be found in you again, and the sound of a mill will never be heard in you again.
18:23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again.
   For your merchants were the great men of the earth, and by your sorcery all the nations were deceived.
18:24 In her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who had been slain on the earth.”

Chapter 19
19:1 After these things I heard what sounded like the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,
 “Hallelujah!
   Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
19:2 for his judgments are true and righteous.
   He has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality, and he has avenged the blood of his slaves at her hand.”
19:3 A second time they said,
 “Hallelujah!
   Her smoke rises forever and ever.”
19:4 The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who is seated on the throne, saying,
 “Amen! Hallelujah!”

19:5 A voice came from the throne, saying,
 “Praise our God, all his slaves, and those who fear him, small and great.”
19:6 And I heard what sounded like the voice of a great multitude, like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty thunder, saying,
 “Hallelujah!
   For the Lord God, the Almighty, reigns.
19:7 Let us rejoice and exult, and we will give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready.
19:8 She was granted to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and pure.” For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
19:9 And he says to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he says to me, “These are true words of God.”
19:10 I fell at his feet to worship him, but he says to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers and sisters who hold the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
19:11 Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and wages war.
19:12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. He has a name written that no one knows except himself.
19:13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.
19:14 The armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure.
19:15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may strike the nations. He will rule them with a rod of iron, and he treads the winepress of the wine of the furious wrath of God, the Almighty.
19:16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
19:17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun. He cried out with a loud voice to all the birds flying in midheaven, “Come, gather for the great supper of God,
19:18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all, free and slave, small and great.”
19:19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered to wage war against the one riding the horse and against his army.
19:20 The beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed signs in its presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. The two were thrown alive into the lake of fire burning with sulfur.
19:21 The rest were killed by the sword that came from the mouth of the one riding the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.

Chapter 20
20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
20:2 He seized the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.
20:3 He threw him into the abyss, shut it, and sealed it over him so that he would deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were completed. After these things he must be released for a little while.
20:4 Then I saw thrones, and those who sat on them were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received the mark on their forehead or on their hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
20:5 The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection.
20:6 Blessed and holy is the one who has a share in the first resurrection. Over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.
20:7 When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison
20:8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.
20:9 They went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. Fire came down from heaven and devoured them.
20:10 The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and the one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his face, and no place was found for them.
20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to their works.
20:13 The sea gave up the dead in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead in them. Each was judged according to their works.
20:14 Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
20:15 Anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

Chapter 21
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.
21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
 “Look, the dwelling of God is with humanity.
   He will dwell with them, and they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them.
21:4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
   Death will be no more;
   mourning and crying and pain will be no more.
   The former things have passed away.”
21:5 The one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making all things new.” And he says, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
21:6 And he said to me, “These things have come to pass! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the one who thirsts I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
21:7 The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.
21:8 But as for the cowardly, the unbelieving, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
21:9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
21:10 He carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
21:11 having the glory of God. Its radiance was like a very precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal.
21:12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
21:13 On the east were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
21:14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
21:15 The one speaking with me had a golden measuring reed to measure the city and its gates and its wall.
21:16 The city lies square, its length the same as its width. He measured the city with the reed: about 1,400 miles. Its length and width and height are equal.
21:17 He also measured its wall: about 216 feet, by human measure, which is also the angel's.
21:18 The wall was built of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like pure glass.
21:19 The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
21:20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21:21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
21:22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple.
21:23 The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp.
21:24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.
21:25 Its gates will never be shut by day, for there will be no night there,
21:26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
21:27 Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those written in the Lamb's book of life.

Chapter 22
22:1 Then he showed me a river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb
22:2 down the middle of the city's street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
22:3 There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his slaves will serve him.
22:4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
22:5 There will be no more night. They have no need of lamplight or sunlight, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever.
22:6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his slaves what must take place soon.”
22:7 “And look, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
22:8 I, John, am the one who hears and sees these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell at the feet of the angel who was showing me these things to worship him.
22:9 But he says to me, “Do not do that! I am a fellow slave with you and your brothers and sisters who are prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!”
22:10 And he says to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.
22:11 Let the one who does wrong go on doing wrong, and the filthy go on being filthy; let the righteous go on practicing righteousness, and the holy go on being holy.”
22:12 “Look, I am coming soon, and my reward is with me, to repay each one according to their work.
22:13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”
22:14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city through the gates.
22:15 Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
22:16 “I, Jesus, sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star.”
22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.”
   Let the one who hears say, “Come.”
   Let the one who thirsts come;
   let the one who wishes take the water of life freely.
22:18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues written in this book.
22:19 And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his portion from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are described in this book.
22:20 The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
22:21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.