# verse

text:
Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east (and) west), Dan, one (portion).


text:
By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the offering which you shall offer, twenty-five thousand (reeds) in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in its midst.


text:
The offering that you shall offer to the LORD shall be twenty-five thousand (reeds) in length, and ten thousand in breadth.


text:
For these, even for the priests, shall be the holy offering: toward the north twenty-five thousand (in length), and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in its midst.


text:
(It shall be) for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my instruction, who didn’t go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.


text:
It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.


text:
Answerable to the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.


text:
They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first fruits of the land be alienated; for it is holy to the LORD.


text:
The five thousand that are left in the breadth, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs; and the city shall be in its midst.


text:
These shall be its measures: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.


text:
The city shall have suburbs: toward the north two hundred fifty, and toward the south two hundred fifty, and toward the east two hundred fifty, and toward the west two hundred fifty.


text:
The remainder in the length, answerable to the holy offering, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be answerable to the holy offering; and its increase shall be for food to those who labor in the city.


text:
All the offering shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: you shall offer the holy offering foursquare, with the possession of the city.


text:
The residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy offering and of the possession of the city; in front of the twenty-five thousand of the offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, answerable to the portions, it shall be for the prince: and the holy offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in its midst.


text:
Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince’s, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it shall be for the prince.


text:
By the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the brook (of Egypt), to the great sea.


text:
This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their several portions, says the Lord the LORD.


text:
These are the exits of the city: On the north side four thousand and five hundred (reeds) by measure;


text:
and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.


text:
At the east side four thousand and five hundred (reeds), and three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.


text:
At the south side four thousand and five hundred (reeds) by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.


text:
At the west side four thousand and five hundred (reeds), with their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.


text:
It shall be eighteen thousand (reeds) around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, the LORD is there. 


text:
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon to Jerusalem, and besieged it.


text:
The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God; and he carried them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god: and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.


text:
The king spoke to Ashpenaz the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring in (certain) of the children of Israel, even of the seed royal and of the nobles;


text:
youths in whom was no blemish, but well-favored, and skillful in all wisdom, and endowed with knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability to stand in the king’s palace; and that he should teach them the learning and the language of the Chaldeans.


text:
The king appointed for them a daily portion of the king’s dainties, and of the wine which he drank, and that they should be nourished three years; that at its end they should stand before the king.


text:
The prince of the eunuchs gave names to them: to Daniel he gave (the name of) Belteshazzar; and to Hananiah, (of) Shadrach; and to Mishael, (of) Meshach; and to Azariah, (of) Abednego.


text:
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the king’s dainties, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.


text:
The prince of the eunuchs said to Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse looking than the youths who are of your own age? so would you endanger my head with the king.


text:
Then Daniel said to the steward whom the prince of the eunuchs had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah:


text:
Test your servants, I beg you, ten days; and let them give us vegetables to eat, and water to drink.


text:
Then let our faces be looked on before you, and the face of the youths who eat of the king’s dainties; and as you see, deal with your servants.


text:
At the end of ten days their faces appeared fairer, and they were fatter in flesh, than all the youths who ate of the king’s dainties.


text:
Now as for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.


text:
At the end of the days which the king had appointed for bringing them in, the prince of the eunuchs brought them in before Nebuchadnezzar.


text:
The king talked with them; and among them all was found none like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: therefore stood they before the king.


text:
In every matter of wisdom and understanding, concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters who were in all his realm.


text:
In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams; and his spirit was troubled, and his sleep went from him.


text:
Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the enchanters, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.


text:
Then spoke the Chaldeans to the king in the Syrian language, O king, live forever: tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.


text:
The king answered the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if you don’t make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.


text:
But if you show the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive of me gifts and rewards and great honor: therefore show me the dream and its interpretation.


text:
They answered the second time and said, Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.


text:
The king answered, I know of a certainty that you would gain time, because you see the thing is gone from me.


text:
But if you don’t make known to me the dream, there is but one law for you; for you have prepared lying and corrupt words to speak before me, until the time be changed: therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.


text:
The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man on the earth who can show the king’s matter, because no king, lord, or ruler, has asked such a thing of any magician, or enchanter, or Chaldean.


text:
It is a rare thing that the king requires, and there is no other who can show it before the king, except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.


text:
For this cause the king was angry and very furious, and commanded to destroy all the wise men of Babylon.


text:
So the decree went forth, and the wise men were to be slain; and they sought Daniel and his companions to be slain.


text:
Then Daniel returned answer with counsel and prudence to Arioch the captain of the king’s guard, who was gone forth to kill the wise men of Babylon;


text:
he answered Arioch the king’s captain, Why is the decree so urgent from the king? Then Arioch made the thing known to Daniel.


text:
Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would appoint him a time, and he would show the king the interpretation.


text:
Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions:


text:
that they would desire mercies of the God of heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his companions should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.


text:
Then was the secret revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.


text:
He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings, and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise, and knowledge to those who have understanding;


text:
he reveals the deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.


text:
I thank you, and praise you, you God of my fathers, who have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we desired of you; for you have made known to us the king’s matter.


text:
Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went and said thus to him: Don’t destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show to the king the interpretation.


text:
Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste, and said thus to him, I have found a man of the children of the captivity of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.


text:
The king answered Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?


text:
Daniel answered before the king, and said, The secret which the king has demanded can neither wise men, enchanters, magicians, nor soothsayers, show to the king;


text:
but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:


text:
as for you, O king, your thoughts came (into your mind) on your bed, what should happen hereafter; and he who reveals secrets has made known to you what shall happen.


text:
But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but to the intent that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your heart.


text:
You, O king, saw, and behold, a great image. This image, which was mighty, and whose brightness was excellent, stood before you; and its aspect was awesome.


text:
As for this image, its head was of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of brass,


text:
You saw until a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet that were of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.


text:
Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that no place was found for them: and the stone that struck the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.


text:
You, O king, are king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the strength, and the glory;


text:
and wherever the children of men dwell, the animals of the field and the birds of the sky has he given into your hand, and has made you to rule over them all: you are the head of gold.


text:
After you shall arise another kingdom inferior to you; and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.


text:
The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, because iron breaks in pieces and subdues all things; and as iron that crushes all these, shall it break in pieces and crush.


text:
Whereas you saw the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, because you saw the iron mixed with miry clay.


text:
As the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.


text:
Whereas you saw the iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men; but they shall not cling to one another, even as iron does not mingle with clay.


text:
In the days of those kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.


text:
Because you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God has made known to the king what shall happen hereafter: and the dream is certain, and its interpretation sure.


text:
Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, and worshiped Daniel, and commanded that they should offer an offering and sweet odors to him.


text:
The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.


text:
Then the king made Daniel great, and gave him many great gifts, and made him to rule over the whole province of Babylon, and to be chief governor over all the wise men of Babylon.


text:
Daniel requested of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, over the affairs of the province of Babylon: but Daniel was in the gate of the king.


text:
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and its breadth six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.


text:
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.


text:
Then the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, were gathered together to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up.


text:
that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up;


text:
and whoever doesn’t fall down and worship shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.


text:
Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshiped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.


text:
You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image;


text:
There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; these men, O king, have not respected you. They don’t serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.


text:
Then Nebuchadnezzar in (his) rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Then they brought these men before the king.


text:
Nebuchadnezzar answered them, Is it on purpose, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you don’t serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?


text:
Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image which I have made, (well): but if you don’t worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?


text:
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.


text:
If it be (so), our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.


text:
But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.


text:
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his appearance was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego: (therefore) he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated.


text:
He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, (and) to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.


text:
Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics, and their mantles, and their (other) garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.


text:
Therefore because the king’s commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.


text:
These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.


text:
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste: he spoke and said to his counselors, Didn’t we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered the king, True, O king.


text:
He answered, Look, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are unharmed; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.


text:
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spoke and said, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come here. Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth out of the midst of the fire.


text:
The satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their pants changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them.


text:
Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king’s word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.


text:
Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything evil against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god who is able to deliver after this sort.


text:
Nebuchadnezzar the king, to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.


text:
How great are his signs! and how mighty are his wonders! his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and his dominion is from generation to generation.


text:
I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.


text:
Therefore made I a decree to bring in all the wise men of Babylon before me, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream.


text:
Then came in the magicians, the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers; and I told the dream before them; but they did not make known to me its interpretation.


text:
But at the last Daniel came in before me, whose name was Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is the spirit of the holy gods: and I told the dream before him, (saying),


text:
Belteshazzar, master of the magicians, because I know that the spirit of the holy gods is in you, and no secret troubles you, tell me the visions of my dream that I have seen, and its interpretation.


text:
Thus were the visions of my head on my bed: I saw, and behold, a tree in the midst of the earth; and its height was great.


text:
The tree grew, and was strong, and its height reached to the sky, and its sight to the end of all the earth.


text:
The leaves of it were beautiful, and its fruit much, and in it was food for all: the animals of the field had shadow under it, and the birds of the sky lived in its branches, and all flesh was fed from it.


text:
I saw in the visions of my head on my bed, and behold, a watcher and a holy one came down from the sky.


text:
He cried aloud, and said thus, Cut down the tree, and cut off its branches, shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit: let the animals get away from under it, and the fowls from its branches.


text:
Nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field; and let it be wet with the dew of the sky: and let his portion be with the animals in the grass of the earth:


text:
let his heart be changed from man’s, and let an animal’s heart be given to him; and let seven times pass over him.


text:
The sentence is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will, and sets up over it the lowest of men.


text:
This dream I, king Nebuchadnezzar, have seen; and you, Belteshazzar, declare the interpretation, because all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able; for the spirit of the holy gods is in you.


text:
Then Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, was stricken mute for a while, and his thoughts troubled him. The king answered, Belteshazzar, don’t let the dream, or the interpretation, trouble you. Belteshazzar answered, My lord, the dream be to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries.


text:
The tree that you saw, which grew, and was strong, whose height reached to the sky, and its sight to all the earth;


text:
whose leaves were beautiful, and its fruit much, and in it was food for all; under which the animals of the field lived, and on whose branches the birds of the sky had their habitation:


text:
it is you, O king, that are grown and become strong; for your greatness is grown, and reaches to the sky, and your dominion to the end of the earth.


text:
Whereas the king saw a watcher and a holy one coming down from the sky, and saying, Cut down the tree, and destroy it; nevertheless leave the stump of its roots in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and let it be wet with the dew of the sky: and let his portion be with the animals of the field, until seven times pass over him;


text:
this is the interpretation, O king, and it is the decree of the Most High, which has come on my lord the king:


text:
that you shall be driven from men, and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field, and you shall be made to eat grass as oxen, and shall be wet with the dew of the sky, and seven times shall pass over you; until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will.


text:
Whereas they commanded to leave the stump of the roots of the tree; your kingdom shall be sure to you, after that you shall have known that the heavens do rule.


text:
Therefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable to you, and break off your sins by righteousness, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if there may be a lengthening of your tranquility.


text:
The king spoke and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling place, by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?


text:
While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from the sky, (saying), O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you:


text:
and you shall be driven from men; and your dwelling shall be with the animals of the field; you shall be made to eat grass as oxen; and seven times shall pass over you; until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever he will.


text:
The same hour was the thing fulfilled on Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and ate grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky, until his hair was grown like eagles’ (feathers), and his nails like birds’ (claws).


text:
At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him who lives forever; for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom from generation to generation.


text:
All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or ask him, What are you doing?


text:
At the same time my understanding returned to me; and for the glory of my kingdom, my majesty and brightness returned to me; and my counselors and my lords sought to me; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent greatness was added to me.


text:
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those who walk in pride he is able to abase.


text:
Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand.


text:
Belshazzar, while he tasted the wine, commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem; that the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, might drink from them.


text:
Then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple of the house of God which was at Jerusalem; and the king and his lords, his wives and his concubines, drank from them.


text:
They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.


text:
In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man’s hand, and wrote over against the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king’s palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.


text:
Then the king’s face was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his thighs were loosened, and his knees struck one against another.


text:
The king cried aloud to bring in the enchanters, the Chaldeans, and the soothsayers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this writing, and show me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about his neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.


text:
Then came in all the king’s wise men; but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king the interpretation.


text:
Then was king Belshazzar greatly troubled, and his face was changed in him, and his lords were perplexed.


text:
(Now) the queen by reason of the words of the king and his lords came into the banquet house: the queen spoke and said, O king, live forever; don’t let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your face be changed.


text:
There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is the spirit of the holy gods; and in the days of your father light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and the king Nebuchadnezzar your father, the king, (I say), your father, made him master of the magicians, enchanters, Chaldeans, and soothsayers;


text:
because an excellent spirit, and knowledge, and understanding, interpreting of dreams, and showing of dark sentences, and dissolving of doubts, were found in the same Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show the interpretation.


text:
Then was Daniel brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, Are you that Daniel, who are of the children of the captivity of Judah, whom the king my father brought out of Judah?


text:
I have heard of you, that the spirit of the gods is in you, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you.


text:
Now the wise men, the enchanters, have been brought in before me, that they should read this writing, and make known to me its interpretation; but they could not show the interpretation of the thing.


text:
But I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations, and dissolve doubts; now if you can read the writing, and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple, and have a chain of gold about your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.


text:
Then Daniel answered before the king, Let your gifts be to yourself, and give your rewards to another; nevertheless I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation.


text:
You, king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:


text:
and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he killed, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down.


text:
But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:


text:
and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the animals’, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the sky; until he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and that he sets up over it whomever he will.


text:
but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.


text:
This is the interpretation of the thing: MENE; God has numbered your kingdom, and brought it to an end;


text:
Then commanded Belshazzar, and they clothed Daniel with purple, and put a chain of gold about his neck, and made proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom.


text:
It pleased Darius to set over the kingdom one hundred twenty satraps, who should be throughout the whole kingdom;


text:
and over them three presidents, of whom Daniel was one; that these satraps might give account to them, and that the king should have no damage.


text:
Then this Daniel was distinguished above the presidents and the satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm.


text:
Then the presidents and the satraps sought to find occasion against Daniel as touching the kingdom; but they could find no occasion nor fault, because he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.


text:
Then these men said, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God.


text:
Then these presidents and satraps assembled together to the king, and said thus to him, King Darius, live forever.


text:
All the presidents of the kingdom, the deputies and the satraps, the counselors and the governors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute, and to make a strong decree, that whoever shall ask a petition of any god or man for thirty days, except of you, O king, he shall be cast into the den of lions.


text:
Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it not be changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn’t alter.


text:
When Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house (now his windows were open in his room toward Jerusalem) and he kneeled on his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did before.


text:
Then these men assembled together, and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God.


text:
Then they came near, and spoke before the king concerning the king’s decree: Haven’t you signed an decree, that every man who shall make petition to any god or man within thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions? The king answered, The thing is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which doesn’t alter.


text:
Then answered they and said before the king, That Daniel, who is of the children of the captivity of Judah, doesn’t respect you, O king, nor the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day.


text:
Then the king, when he heard these words, was very displeased, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored until the going down of the sun to rescue him.


text:
Then these men assembled together to the king, and said to the king, Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians, that no decree nor statute which the king establishes may be changed.


text:
Then the king commanded, and they brought Daniel, and cast him into the den of lions. (Now) the king spoke and said to Daniel, Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you.


text:
A stone was brought, and laid on the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet, and with the signet of his lords; that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.


text:
Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting; neither were instruments of music brought before him: and his sleep fled from him.


text:
When he came near to the den to Daniel, he cried with a lamentable voice; the king spoke and said to Daniel, Daniel, servant of the living God, is your God, whom you serve continually, able to deliver you from the lions?


text:
My God has sent his angel, and has shut the lions’ mouths, and they have not hurt me; because as before him innocence was found in me; and also before you, O king, have I done no hurt.


text:
Then was the king exceeding glad, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.


text:
The king commanded, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions, them, their children, and their wives; and the lions mauled them, and broke all their bones in pieces, before they came to the bottom of the den.


text:
Then king Darius wrote to all the peoples, nations, and languages, who dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you.


text:
I make a decree, that in all the dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel; for he is the living God, and steadfast forever, His kingdom that which shall not be destroyed; and his dominion shall be even to the end.


text:
He delivers and rescues, and he works signs and wonders in heaven and in earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.


text:
In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head on his bed: then he wrote the dream and told the sum of the matters.


text:
Daniel spoke and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the sky broke forth on the great sea.


text:
The first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings: I saw until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made to stand on two feet as a man; and a man’s heart was given to it.


text:
Behold, another animal, a second, like a bear; and it was raised up on one side, and three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth: and they said thus to it, Arise, devour much flesh.


text:
After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the animal had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.


text:
After this I saw in the night visions, and, behold, a fourth animal, awesome and powerful, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet: and it was diverse from all the animals that were before it; and it had ten horns.


text:
I considered the horns, and behold, there came up among them another horn, a little one, before which three of the first horns were plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of a man, and a mouth speaking great things.


text:
I saw until thrones were placed, and one who was ancient of days sat: his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames, (and) its wheels burning fire.


text:
A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.


text:
I saw at that time because of the voice of the great words which the horn spoke; I saw even until the animal was slain, and its body destroyed, and it was given to be burned with fire.


text:
As for the rest of the animals, their dominion was taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time.


text:
I saw in the night visions, and behold, there came with the clouds of the sky one like a son of man, and he came even to the ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.


text:
There was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.


text:
As for me, Daniel, my spirit was grieved in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.


text:
I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.


text:
But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.


text:
Then I desired to know the truth concerning the fourth animal, which was diverse from all of them, exceedingly terrible, whose teeth were of iron, and its nails of brass; which devoured, broke in pieces, and stamped the residue with its feet;


text:
and concerning the ten horns that were on its head, and the other (horn) which came up, and before which three fell, even that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spoke great things, whose look was more stout than its fellows.


text:
until the ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.


text:
Thus he said, The fourth animal shall be a fourth kingdom on earth, which shall be diverse from all the kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.


text:
As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom shall ten kings arise: and another shall arise after them; and he shall be diverse from the former, and he shall put down three kings.


text:
He shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High; and he shall think to change the times and the law; and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and half a time.


text:
But the judgment shall be set, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end.


text:
The kingdom and the dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole sky, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High: his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.


text:
Here is the end of the matter. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts much troubled me, and my face was changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart.


text:
In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first.


text:
I saw in the vision; now it was so, that when I saw, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.


text:
Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.


text:
I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no animals could stand before him, neither was there any who could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself.


text:
As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and didn’t touch the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.


text:
He came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran on him in the fury of his power.


text:
I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled on him; and there was none who could deliver the ram out of his hand.


text:
The male goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable (horns) toward the four winds of the sky.


text:
Out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious (land).


text:
It grew great, even to the army of the sky; and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled on them.


text:
Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual (burnt offering), and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.


text:
The army was given over (to it) together with the continual (burnt offering) through disobedience; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did (its pleasure) and prospered.


text:
Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, How long shall be the vision (concerning) the continual (burnt offering), and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot?


text:
He said to me, To two thousand and three hundred evenings (and) mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.


text:
It happened, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.


text:
I heard a man’s voice between (the banks of) the Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.


text:
So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face: but he said to me, Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end.


text:
Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.


text:
He said, Behold, I will make you know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongs to the appointed time of the end.


text:
The rough male goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.


text:
As for that which was broken, in the place where four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power.


text:
In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors have come to the full, a king of fierce face, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.


text:
His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do (his pleasure); and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people.


text:
Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in (their) security shall he destroy many: he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.


text:
The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true: but seal up the vision; for it belongs to many days (to come).


text:
I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king’s business: and I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.


text:
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,


text:
in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years about which the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishing of the desolations of Jerusalem, even seventy years.


text:
I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.


text:
I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him and keep his commandments,


text:
we have sinned, and have dealt perversely, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from your precepts and from your ordinances;


text:
neither have we listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.


text:
Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.


text:
Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you.


text:
neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.


text:
Yes, all Israel have transgressed your law, turning aside, that they should not obey your voice: therefore the curse and the oath written in the law of Moses the servant of God has been poured out on us; for we have sinned against him.


text:
He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges who judged us, by bringing on us a great evil; for under the whole sky, such has not been done as has been done to Jerusalem.


text:
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil has come on us: yet have we not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, that we should turn from our iniquities, and have discernment in your truth.


text:
Therefore has the LORD watched over the evil, and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he does, and we have not obeyed his voice.


text:
Now, Lord our God, who has brought your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten yourself renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.


text:
Lord, according to all your righteousness, let your anger and please let your wrath be turned away from your city Jerusalem, your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a reproach to all who are around us.


text:
Now therefore, our God, listen to the prayer of your servant, and to his petitions, and cause your face to shine on your sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord’s sake.


text:
My God, turn your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake.


text:
Lord, hear; Lord, forgive; Lord, listen and do; don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.


text:
While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;


text:
yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening offering.


text:
He instructed me, and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to give you wisdom and understanding.


text:
At the beginning of your petitions the commandment went forth, and I have come to tell you; for you are greatly beloved: therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision.


text:
Seventy weeks are decreed on your people and on your holy city, to finish disobedience, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy.


text:
Know therefore and discern, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem to the Anointed One, the prince, shall be seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks: it shall be built again, with street and moat, even in troubled times.


text:
After the sixty-two weeks the Anointed One shall be cut off, and shall have nothing: and the people of the prince who shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and its end shall be with a flood, and even to the end shall be war; desolations are determined.


text:
He shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease; and on the wing of abominations (shall come) one who makes desolate; and even to the full end, and that determined, shall (wrath) be poured out on the desolate.


text:
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, even a great warfare: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.


text:
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into my mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all, until three whole weeks were fulfilled.


text:
In the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, which is Hiddekel,


text:
I lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, whose thighs were adorned with pure gold of Uphaz:


text:
his body also was like the beryl, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as flaming torches, and his arms and his feet like burnished brass, and the voice of his words like the voice of a multitude.


text:
I, Daniel, alone saw the vision; for the men who were with me didn’t see the vision; but a great quaking fell on them, and they fled to hide themselves.


text:
So I was left alone, and saw this great vision, and there remained no strength in me; for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.


text:
Yet heard I the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground.


text:
He said to me, Daniel, you man greatly beloved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright; for am I now sent to you. When he had spoken this word to me, I stood trembling.


text:
Then he said to me, Don’t be afraid, Daniel; for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard: and I have come for your words’ sake.


text:
But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but, behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me: and I remained there with the kings of Persia.


text:
Now I have come to make you understand what shall happen to your people in the latter days; for the vision is yet for (many) days:


text:
and when he had spoken to me according to these words, I set my face toward the ground, and was mute.


text:
Behold, one in the likeness of the sons of men touched my lips: then I opened my mouth, and spoke and said to him who stood before me, my lord, by reason of the vision my sorrows are turned on me, and I retain no strength.


text:
For how can the servant of this my lord talk with this my lord? for as for me, immediately there remained no strength in me, neither was there breath left in me.


text:
He said, “Greatly beloved man, don’t be afraid: peace be to you, be strong, yes, be strong.” When he spoke to me, I was strengthened, and said, “Let my lord speak; for you have strengthened me.”


text:
Then he said, “Do you know why I have come to you? Now I will return to fight with the prince of Persia. When I go forth, behold, the prince of Greece shall come.


text:
But I will tell you that which is inscribed in the writing of truth: and there is none who holds with me against these, but Michael your prince.”


text:
Now will I show you the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all: and when he has grown strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.


text:
When he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of the sky, but not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion with which he ruled; for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others besides these.


text:
The king of the south shall be strong, and (one) of his princes; and he shall be strong above him, and have dominion; his dominion shall be a great dominion.


text:
At the end of years they shall join themselves together; and the daughter of the king of the south shall come to the king of the north to make an agreement: but she shall not retain the strength of her arm; neither shall he stand, nor his arm; but she shall be given up, and those who brought her, and he who became the father of her, and he who strengthened her in those times.


text:
But out of a shoot from her roots shall one stand up in his place, who shall come to the army, and shall enter into the fortress of the king of the north, and shall deal against them, and shall prevail.


text:
Also their gods, with their molten images, (and) with their goodly vessels of silver and of gold, shall he carry captive into Egypt; and he shall refrain some years from the king of the north.


text:
His sons shall war, and shall assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall come on, and overflow, and pass through; and they shall return and war, even to his fortress.


text:
The king of the south shall be moved with anger, and shall come forth and fight with him, even with the king of the north; and he shall set forth a great multitude, and the multitude shall be given into his hand.


text:
The multitude shall be lifted up, and his heart shall be exalted; and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail.


text:
The king of the north shall return, and shall set forth a multitude greater than the former; and he shall come on at the end of the times, (even of) years, with a great army and with much substance.


text:
In those times there shall many stand up against the king of the south: also the children of the violent among your people shall lift themselves up to establish the vision; but they shall fall.


text:
So the king of the north shall come, and cast up a mound, and take a well-fortified city: and the forces of the south shall not stand, neither his chosen people, neither shall there be any strength to stand.


text:
But he who comes against him shall do according to his own will, and none shall stand before him; and he shall stand in the glorious land, and in his hand shall be destruction.


text:
He shall set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and with him equitable conditions; and he shall perform them: and he shall give him the daughter of women, to corrupt her; but she shall not stand, neither be for him.


text:
After this shall he turn his face to the islands, and shall take many: but a prince shall cause the reproach offered by him to cease; yes, moreover, he shall cause his reproach to turn on him.


text:
Then he shall turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land; but he shall stumble and fall, and shall not be found.


text:
Then shall stand up in his place one who shall cause a tax collector to pass through the kingdom to maintain its glory; but within few days he shall be destroyed, neither in anger, nor in battle.


text:
In his place shall stand up a contemptible person, to whom they had not given the honor of the kingdom: but he shall come in time of security, and shall obtain the kingdom by flatteries.


text:
The overwhelming forces shall be overwhelmed from before him, and shall be broken; yes, also the prince of the covenant.


text:
After the treaty made with him he shall work deceitfully; for he shall come up, and shall become strong, with a small people.


text:
In time of security shall he come even on the fattest places of the province; and he shall do that which his fathers have not done, nor his fathers’ fathers; he shall scatter among them prey, and spoil, and substance: yes, he shall devise his devices against the strongholds, even for a time.


text:
He shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall war in battle with an exceeding great and mighty army; but he shall not stand; for they shall devise devices against him.


text:
Yes, they who eat of his dainties shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow; and many shall fall down slain.


text:
As for both these kings, their hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table: but it shall not prosper; for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.


text:
Then shall he return into his land with great substance; and his heart (shall be) against the holy covenant; and he shall do (his pleasure), and return to his own land.


text:
At the time appointed he shall return, and come into the south; but it shall not be in the latter time as it was in the former.


text:
For ships of Kittim shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and shall return, and have indignation against the holy covenant, and shall do (his pleasure): he shall even return, and have regard to those who forsake the holy covenant.


text:
Forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual (burnt offering), and they shall set up the abomination that makes desolate.


text:
Such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he pervert by flatteries; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and do (exploits).


text:
Those who are wise among the people shall instruct many; yet they shall fall by the sword and by flame, by captivity and by spoil, (many) days.


text:
Now when they shall fall, they shall be helped with a little help; but many shall join themselves to them with flatteries.


text:
Some of those who are wise shall fall, to refine them, and to purify, and to make them white, even to the time of the end; because it is yet for the time appointed.


text:
The king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvelous things against the God of gods; and he shall prosper until the indignation be accomplished; for that which is determined shall be done.


text:
Neither shall he regard the gods of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god; for he shall magnify himself above all.


text:
But in his place shall he honor the god of fortresses; and a god whom his fathers didn’t know shall he honor with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things.


text:
He shall deal with the strongest fortresses by the help of a foreign god: whoever acknowledges (him) he will increase with glory; and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for a price.


text:
At the time of the end shall the king of the south contend with him; and the king of the north shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass through.


text:
He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many (countries) shall be overthrown; but these shall be delivered out of his hand: Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon.


text:
But he shall have power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps.


text:
But news out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him; and he shall go forth with great fury to destroy and utterly to sweep away many.


text:
He shall plant the tents of his palace between the sea and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.


text:
“At that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince who stands for the children of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who shall be found written in the book.


text:
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.


text:
Those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the expanse; and those who turn many to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.


text:
But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run back and forth, and knowledge shall be increased.”


text:
Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on the river bank on this side, and the other on the river bank on that side.


text:
One said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?


text:
I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him who lives forever that it shall be for a time, times, and a half; and when they have made an end of breaking in pieces the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished.


text:
Many shall purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but those who are wise shall understand.


text:
From the time that the continual burnt offering shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred ninety days.


text:
But go you your way until the end; for you shall rest, and shall stand in your lot, at the end of the days. 


text:
The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.


text:
When the LORD spoke at first by Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking the LORD.”


text:
The LORD said to him, “Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel on the house of Jehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.


text:
She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, “Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, that I should in any way pardon them.


text:
But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”


text:
Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can’t be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’


text:
The children of Judah and the children of Israel will be gathered together, and they will appoint themselves one head, and will go up from the land; for great will be the day of Jezreel.


text:
Contend with your mother! Contend, for she is not my wife, neither am I her husband; and let her put away her prostitution from her face, and her adulteries from between her breasts;


text:
Lest I strip her naked, and make her bare as in the day that she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and kill her with thirst.


text:
For their mother has played the prostitute. She who conceived them has done shamefully; for she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’


text:
Therefore, behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.


text:
She will follow after her lovers, but she won’t overtake them; and she will seek them, but won’t find them. Then she will say, ‘I will go and return to my first husband; for then was it better with me than now.’


text:
For she did not know that I gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied to her silver and gold, which they used for Baal.


text:
Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my new wine in its season, and will pluck away my wool and my flax which should have covered her nakedness.


text:
Now I will uncover her lewdness in the sight of her lovers, and no one will deliver her out of my hand.


text:
I will also cause all her celebrations to cease: her feasts, her new moons, her Sabbaths, and all her solemn assemblies.


text:
I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees, about which she has said, ‘These are my wages that my lovers have given me; and I will make them a forest,’ and the animals of the field shall eat them.


text:
I will visit on her the days of the Baals, to which she burned incense, when she decked herself with her earrings and her jewels, and went after her lovers, and forgot me,” says the LORD.


text:
“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her.


text:
I will give her vineyards from there, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she will respond there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.


text:
It will be in that day,” says the LORD, “that you will call me ‘my husband,’ and no longer call me ‘my master.’


text:
For I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth, and they will no longer be mentioned by name.


text:
In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.


text:
I will betroth you to me forever. Yes, I will betroth you to me in righteousness, in justice, in loving kindness, and in compassion.


text:
It will happen in that day, I will respond,” says the LORD, “I will respond to the heavens, and they will respond to the earth;


text:
and the earth will respond to the grain, and the new wine, and the oil; and they will respond to Jezreel.


text:
I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they will say, ‘My God!’”


text:
The LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman loved by another, and an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the children of Israel, though they turn to other gods, and love cakes of raisins.”


text:
I said to her, “You shall stay with me many days. You shall not play the prostitute, and you shall not be with any other man. I will also be so toward you.”


text:
For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols.


text:
Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days.


text:
Hear the word of the LORD, you children of Israel; for the LORD has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land.


text:
There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.


text:
Therefore the land will mourn, and everyone who dwells therein will waste away. all living things in her, even the animals of the field and the birds of the sky; yes, the fish of the sea also die. 


text:
“Yet let no man bring a charge, neither let any man accuse; For your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.


text:
You will stumble in the day, and the prophet will also stumble with you in the night; and I will destroy your mother.


text:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children.


text:
It will be, like people, like priest; and I will punish them for their ways, and will repay them for their deeds.


text:
They will eat, and not have enough. They will play the prostitute, and will not increase; because they have abandoned giving to the LORD.


text:
My people consult with their wooden idol, and answer to a stick of wood. Indeed the spirit of prostitution has led them astray, and they have been unfaithful to their God.


text:
They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains, and burn incense on the hills, under oaks and poplars and terebinths, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters play the prostitute, and your brides commit adultery.


text:
I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, nor your brides when they commit adultery; because the men consort with prostitutes, and they sacrifice with the shrine prostitutes; so the people without understanding will come to ruin. 


text:
“Though you, Israel, play the prostitute, yet don’t let Judah offend; and don’t come to Gilgal, neither go up to Beth Aven, nor swear, ‘As the LORD lives.’


text:
For Israel has behaved extremely stubbornly, like a stubborn heifer. Then how will the LORD feed them like a lamb in a meadow.


text:
Their drink has become sour. They play the prostitute continually. Her rulers dearly love their shameful way.


text:
The wind has wrapped her up in its wings; and they shall be disappointed because of their sacrifices. 


text:
“Listen to this, you priests! Listen, house of Israel, and give ear, house of the king! For the judgment is against you; for you have been a snare at Mizpah, and a net spread on Tabor.


text:
I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from me; for now, Ephraim, you have played the prostitute. Israel is defiled.


text:
Their deeds won’t allow them to turn to their God; for the spirit of prostitution is within them, and they don’t know the LORD.


text:
The pride of Israel testifies to his face. Therefore Israel and Ephraim will stumble in their iniquity. Judah also will stumble with them.


text:
They will go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the LORD; but they won’t find him. He has withdrawn himself from them.


text:
They are unfaithful to the LORD; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their fields. 


text:
“Blow the cornet in Gibeah, and the trumpet in Ramah! Sound a battle cry at Beth Aven, behind you, Benjamin!


text:
Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke. Among the tribes of Israel, I have made known that which will surely be.


text:
The princes of Judah are like those who remove a landmark. I will pour out my wrath on them like water.


text:
“When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah his wound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria, and sent to king Jareb: but he is not able to heal you, neither will he cure you of your wound.


text:
For I will be to Ephraim like a lion, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I myself will tear in pieces and go away. I will carry off, and there will be no one to deliver.


text:
I will go and return to my place, until they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face. In their affliction they will seek me earnestly.” 


text:
“Come, and let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us to pieces, and he will heal us; he has injured us, and he will bind up our wounds.


text:
After two days he will revive us. On the third day he will raise us up, and we will live before him.


text:
Let us acknowledge the LORD. Let us press on to know the LORD. As surely as the sun rises, the LORD will appear. He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain that waters the earth.” 


text:
“Ephraim, what shall I do to you? Judah, what shall I do to you? For your love is like a morning cloud, and like the dew that disappears early.


text:
Therefore I have cut them to pieces with the prophets; I killed them with the words of my mouth. Your judgments are like a flash of lightning.


text:
As gangs of robbers wait to ambush a man, so the company of priests murder in the way toward Shechem, committing shameful crimes.


text:
In the house of Israel I have seen a horrible thing. There is prostitution in Ephraim. Israel is defiled. 


text:
When I would heal Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim is uncovered, also the wickedness of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief enters in, and the gang of robbers ravages outside.


text:
They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.


text:
They are all adulterers. They are burning like an oven that the baker stops stirring, from the kneading of the dough, until it is leavened.


text:
On the day of our king, the princes made themselves sick with the heat of wine. He joined his hand with mockers.


text:
For they have prepared their heart like an oven, while they lie in wait. Their baker sleeps all the night. In the morning it burns as a flaming fire.


text:
They are all hot as an oven, and devour their judges. All their kings have fallen. There is no one among them who calls to me.


text:
Strangers have devoured his strength, and he doesn’t realize it. Indeed, gray hairs are here and there on him, and he doesn’t realize it.


text:
The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they haven’t returned to the LORD their God, nor sought him, for all this. 


text:
“Ephraim is like an easily deceived dove, without understanding. They call to Egypt. They go to Assyria.


text:
When they go, I will spread my net on them. I will bring them down like the birds of the sky. I will chastise them, as their congregation has heard.


text:
Woe to them! For they have wandered from me. Destruction to them! For they have trespassed against me. Though I would redeem them, yet they have spoken lies against me.


text:
They haven’t cried to me with their heart, but they howl on their beds. They assemble themselves for grain and new wine. They turn away from me.


text:
They return, but not to the Most High. They are like a faulty bow. Their princes will fall by the sword for the rage of their tongue. This will be their derision in the land of Egypt. 


text:
“Put the trumpet to your lips! Something like an eagle is over the LORD’s house, because they have broken my covenant, and rebelled against my law.


text:
They have set up kings, but not by me. They have made princes, and I didn’t approve. Of their silver and their gold they have made themselves idols, that they may be cut off.


text:
Let Samaria throw out his calf idol! My anger burns against them! How long will it be until they are capable of purity?


text:
For this is even from Israel! The workman made it, and it is no God; indeed, the calf of Samaria shall be broken in pieces.


text:
For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.


text:
For they have gone up to Assyria, like a wild donkey wandering alone. Ephraim has hired lovers for himself.


text:
But although they sold themselves among the nations, I will now gather them; and they begin to waste away because of the oppression of the king of mighty ones.


text:
As for the sacrifices of my offerings, they sacrifice flesh and eat it; But the LORD doesn’t accept them. Now he will remember their iniquity, and punish their sins. They will return to Egypt.


text:
For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities; but I will send a fire on his cities, and it will devour its fortresses.” 


text:
Don’t rejoice, Israel, to jubilation like the nations; for you were unfaithful to your God. You love the wages of a prostitute at every grain threshing floor.


text:
They won’t dwell in the LORD’s land; but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.


text:
They won’t pour out wine offerings to the LORD, neither will they be pleasing to him. Their sacrifices will be to them like the bread of mourners; all who eat of it will be polluted; for their bread will be for their appetite. It will not come into the house of the LORD.


text:
For, behold, they have gone away from destruction. Egypt will gather them up. Memphis will bury them. Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver. Thorns will be in their tents.


text:
The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.


text:
A prophet watches over Ephraim with my God. A fowler’s snare is on all of his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.


text:
They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their iniquity. He will punish them for their sins.


text:
I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your fathers as the first ripe in the fig tree at its first season; but they came to Baal Peor, and consecrated themselves to the shameful thing, and became abominable like that which they loved.


text:
As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, none with child, and no conception.


text:
Though they bring up their children, yet I will bereave them, so that not a man shall be left. Indeed, woe also to them when I depart from them!


text:
I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place; but Ephraim will bring out his children to the murderer.


text:
“All their wickedness is in Gilgal; for there I hated them. Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of my house! I will love them no more. All their princes are rebels.


text:
Ephraim is struck. Their root has dried up. They will bear no fruit. Even though they bring forth, yet I will kill the beloved ones of their womb.” 


text:
My God will cast them away, because they did not listen to him; and they will be wanderers among the nations.


text:
Israel is a luxuriant vine that puts forth his fruit. According to the abundance of his fruit he has multiplied his altars. As their land has prospered, they have adorned their sacred stones.


text:
Their heart is divided. Now they will be found guilty. He will demolish their altars. He will destroy their sacred stones.


text:
Surely now they will say, “We have no king; for we don’t fear the LORD; and the king, what can he do for us?”


text:
They make promises, swearing falsely in making covenants. Therefore judgment springs up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.


text:
The inhabitants of Samaria will be in terror for the calves of Beth Aven; for its people will mourn over it, Along with its priests who rejoiced over it, for its glory, because it has departed from it.


text:
It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king. Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel.


text:
The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. The thorn and the thistle will come up on their altars. They will tell the mountains, “Cover us!” and the hills, “Fall on us!” 


text:
“Israel, you have sinned from the days of Gibeah. There they remained. The battle against the children of iniquity doesn’t overtake them in Gibeah.


text:
When it is my desire, I will chastise them; and the nations will be gathered against them, when they are bound to their two transgressions.


text:
Ephraim is a trained heifer that loves to thresh; so I will put a yoke on her beautiful neck. I will set a rider on Ephraim. Judah will plow. Jacob will break his clods.


text:
Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek the LORD, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.


text:
You have plowed wickedness. You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, for you trusted in your way, in the multitude of your mighty men.


text:
Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth Arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces with her children.


text:
So Bethel will do to you because of your great wickedness. At daybreak the king of Israel will be destroyed. 


text:
They called to them, so they went from them. They sacrificed to the Baals, and burned incense to engraved images.


text:
I drew them with cords of a man, with ties of love; and I was to them like those who lift up the yoke on their necks; and I bent down to him and I fed him. 


text:
“They won’t return into the land of Egypt; but the Assyrian will be their king, because they refused to repent.


text:
The sword will fall on their cities, and will destroy the bars of their gates, and will put an end to their plans.


text:
My people are determined to turn from me. Though they call to the Most High, he certainly won’t exalt them. 


text:
“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is turned within me, my compassion is aroused.


text:
I will not execute the fierceness of my anger. I will not return to destroy Ephraim: for I am God, and not man; the Holy One in the midst of you; and I will not come in wrath.


text:
They will walk after the LORD, who will roar like a lion; for he will roar, and the children will come trembling from the west.


text:
They will come trembling like a bird out of Egypt, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria; and I will settle them in their houses,” says the LORD. 


text:
Ephraim surrounds me with falsehood, and the house of Israel with deceit. Judah still strays from God, and is unfaithful to the Holy One.


text:
Ephraim feeds on wind, and chases the east wind. He continually multiplies lies and desolation. They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt.


text:
The LORD also has a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his deeds he will repay him.


text:
Indeed, he struggled with the angel, and prevailed; he wept, and made supplication to him. He found him at Bethel, and there he spoke with us,


text:
Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.” 


text:
“But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt. I will yet again make you dwell in tents, as in the days of the solemn feast.


text:
I have also spoken to the prophets, and I have multiplied visions; and by the ministry of the prophets I have used parables.


text:
If Gilead is wicked, surely they are worthless. In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls. Indeed, their altars are like heaps in the furrows of the field.


text:
Jacob fled into the country of Aram, and Israel served to get a wife, and for a wife he tended flocks and herds.


text:
Ephraim has bitterly provoked anger. Therefore his blood will be left on him, and his Lord will repay his contempt.


text:
When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but when he became guilty in Baal, he died.


text:
Now they sin more and more, and have made themselves molten images of their silver, even idols according to their own understanding, all of them the work of the craftsmen. They say of them, ‘They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves.’


text:
Therefore they will be like the morning mist, and like the dew that passes away early, like the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing floor, and like the smoke out of the chimney. 


text:
“Yet I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; and you shall acknowledge no god but me, and besides me there is no savior.


text:
According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted. Therefore they have forgotten me.


text:
I will meet them like a bear that is bereaved of her cubs, and will tear the covering of their heart. There I will devour them like a lioness. The wild animal will tear them.


text:
Where is your king now, that he may save you in all your cities? And your judges, of whom you said, ‘Give me a king and princes?’


text:
The sorrows of a travailing woman will come on him. He is an unwise son; for when it is time, he doesn’t come to the opening of the womb.


text:
I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction?  “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.


text:
Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of the LORD coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.


text:
Samaria will bear her guilt; for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women will be ripped open.” 


text:
Take words with you, and return to the LORD. Tell him, “Forgive all our sins, and accept that which is good: so we offer our lips like bulls.


text:
Assyria can’t save us. We won’t ride on horses; neither will we say any more to the work of our hands, ‘Our gods!’ for in you the fatherless finds mercy.” 


text:
I will be like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and send down his roots like Lebanon.


text:
His branches will spread, and his beauty will be like the olive tree, and his fragrance like Lebanon.


text:
Men will dwell in his shade. They will revive like the grain, and blossom like the vine. Their fragrance will be like the wine of Lebanon.


text:
Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? I answer, and will take care of him. I am like a green fir tree; from me your fruit is found.” 


text:
Who is wise, that he may understand these things? Who is prudent, that he may know them? For the ways of the LORD are right, and the righteous walk in them; But the rebellious stumble in them. 


text:
Hear this, you elders, And listen, all you inhabitants of the land. Has this ever happened in your days, or in the days of your fathers?


text:
Tell your children about it, and have your children tell their children, and their children, another generation.


text:
What the swarming locust has left, the great locust has eaten. What the great locust has left, the grasshopper has eaten. What the grasshopper has left, the caterpillar has eaten.


text:
Wake up, you drunkards, and weep! Wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.


text:
For a nation has come up on my land, strong, and without number. His teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the fangs of a lioness.


text:
He has laid my vine waste, and stripped my fig tree. He has stripped its bark, and thrown it away. Its branches are made white.


text:
The meal offering and the drink offering are cut off from the LORD’s house. The priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.


text:
The field is laid waste. The land mourns, for the grain is destroyed, The new wine has dried up, and the oil languishes.


text:
Be confounded, you farmers! Wail, you vineyard keepers; for the wheat and for the barley; for the harvest of the field has perished.


text:
The vine has dried up, and the fig tree withered; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all of the trees of the field are withered; for joy has withered away from the sons of men.


text:
Put on sackcloth and mourn, you priests! Wail, you ministers of the altar. Come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God, for the meal offering and the drink offering are withheld from your God’s house.


text:
Sanctify a fast. Call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders, and all the inhabitants of the land, to the house of the LORD, your God, and cry to the LORD.


text:
Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is at hand, and it will come as destruction from the Almighty.


text:
The seeds rot under their clods. The granaries are laid desolate. The barns are broken down, for the grain has withered.


text:
How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.


text:
The LORD, I cry to you, For the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and the flame has burned all the trees of the field.


text:
Yes, the animals of the field pant to you, for the water brooks have dried up, And the fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.


text:
Blow the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD comes, for it is close at hand:


text:
A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness. As the dawn spreading on the mountains, a great and strong people; there has never been the like, neither will there be any more after them, even to the years of many generations.


text:
A fire devours before them, and behind them, a flame burns. The land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them, a desolate wilderness. Yes, and no one has escaped them.


text:
Like the noise of chariots on the tops of the mountains do they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.


text:
They run like mighty men. They climb the wall like warriors. They each march in his line, and they don’t swerve off course.


text:
Neither does one jostle another; they march everyone in his path, and they burst through the defenses, and don’t break ranks.


text:
They rush on the city. They run on the wall. They climb up into the houses. They enter in at the windows like thieves.


text:
The earth quakes before them. The heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.


text:
The LORD thunders his voice before his army; for his forces are very great; for he is strong who obeys his command; for the day of the LORD is great and very awesome, and who can endure it?


text:
“Yet even now,” says the LORD, “turn to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.”


text:
Tear your heart, and not your garments, and turn to the LORD, your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and relents from sending calamity.


text:
Who knows? He may turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal offering and a drink offering to the LORD, your God.


text:
Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go forth from his room, and the bride out of her room.


text:
Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, “Spare your people, the LORD, and don’t give your heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’”


text:
The LORD answered his people, “Behold, I will send you grain, new wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied with them; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations.


text:
But I will remove the northern army far away from you, and will drive it into a barren and desolate land, its front into the eastern sea, and its back into the western sea; and its stench will come up, and its bad smell will rise.” Surely he has done great things.


text:
Don’t be afraid, you animals of the field; for the pastures of the wilderness spring up, for the tree bears its fruit. The fig tree and the vine yield their strength. 


text:
“Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD, your God; for he gives you the former rain in just measure, and he causes the rain to come down for you, the former rain and the latter rain, as before.


text:
I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the great locust, the grasshopper, and the caterpillar, my great army, which I sent among you.


text:
You will have plenty to eat, and be satisfied, and will praise the name of the LORD, your God, who has dealt wondrously with you; and my people will never again be disappointed.


text:
You will know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD, your God, and there is no one else; and my people will never again be disappointed. 


text:
“It will happen afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Your old men will dream dreams. Your young men will see visions.


text:
The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.


text:
It will happen that whoever will call on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the remnant, those whom the LORD calls. 


text:
I will gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will execute judgment on them there for my people, and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations. They have divided my land,


text:
and have cast lots for my people, and have given a boy for a prostitute, and sold a girl for wine, that they may drink. 


text:
“Yes, and what are you to me, Tyre, and Sidon, and all the regions of Philistia? Will you repay me? And if you repay me, I will swiftly and speedily return your repayment on your own head.


text:
Because you have taken my silver and my gold, and have carried my finest treasures into your temples,


text:
and have sold the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem to the sons of the Greeks, that you may remove them far from their border.


text:
Behold, I will stir them up out of the place where you have sold them, and will return your repayment on your own head;


text:
and I will sell your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah, and they will sell them to the men of Sheba, to a faraway nation, for the LORD has spoken it.” 


text:
Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men. Let all the warriors draw near. Let them come up.


text:
Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’


text:
Hurry and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves together.” Cause your mighty ones to come down there, the LORD.


text:
“Let the nations arouse themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the surrounding nations.


text:
Put in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great.”


text:
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near, in the valley of decision.


text:
The LORD will roar from Zion, and thunder from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will shake; but the LORD will be a refuge to his people, and a stronghold to the children of Israel.


text:
“So you will know that I am the LORD, your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. Then Jerusalem will be holy, and no strangers will pass through her any more.


text:
It will happen in that day, that the mountains will drop down sweet wine, the hills will flow with milk, all the brooks of Judah will flow with waters, and a fountain will come forth from the house of the LORD, and will water the valley of Shittim.


text:
Egypt will be a desolation, and Edom will be a desolate wilderness, for the violence done to the children of Judah, because they have shed innocent blood in their land.


text:
The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.


text:
He said: “The LORD will roar from Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the pastures of the shepherds will mourn, and the top of Carmel will wither.”


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Damascus, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron;


text:
I will break the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the valley of Aven, and him who holds the scepter from the house of Eden; and the people of Syria shall go into captivity to Kir,” says the LORD.


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Gaza, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they carried away captive the whole community, to deliver them up to Edom;


text:
I will cut off the inhabitant from Ashdod, and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon; and I will turn my hand against Ekron; and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,” says the Lord the LORD.


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Tyre, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they delivered up the whole community to Edom, and didn’t remember the brotherly covenant;


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Edom, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity, and his anger raged continually, and he kept his wrath forever;


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of the children of Ammon, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead, that they may enlarge their border.


text:
But I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah, and it will devour its palaces, with shouting in the day of battle, with a storm in the day of the whirlwind;


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Moab, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because he burned the bones of the king of Edom into lime;


text:
but I will send a fire on Moab, and it will devour the palaces of Kerioth; and Moab will die with tumult, with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet;


text:
and I will cut off the judge from their midst, and will kill all its princes with him,” says the LORD.


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Judah, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have rejected the LORD’s law, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have led them astray, after which their fathers walked;


text:
Thus says the LORD: “For three transgressions of Israel, yes, for four, I will not turn away its punishment; because they have sold the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes;


text:
They trample on the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and deny justice to the oppressed; and a man and his father use the same maiden, to profane my holy name;


text:
and they lay themselves down beside every altar on clothes taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.


text:
Yet I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and he was strong as the oaks; yet I destroyed his fruit from above, and his roots from beneath.


text:
Also I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and led you forty years in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite.


text:
I raised up some of your sons for prophets, and some of your young men for Nazirites. Isn’t this true, you children of Israel?” says the LORD.


text:
Flight will perish from the swift; and the strong won’t strengthen his force; neither shall the mighty deliver himself;


text:
neither shall he stand who handles the bow; and he who is swift of foot won’t escape; neither shall he who rides the horse deliver himself;


text:
Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying:


text:
“You only have I chosen of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”


text:
Will a lion roar in the thicket, when he has no prey? Does a young lion cry out of his den, if he has caught nothing?


text:
Can a bird fall in a trap on the earth, where no snare is set for him? Does a snare spring up from the ground, when there is nothing to catch?


text:
Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and the LORD hasn’t done it?


text:
Surely the Lord the LORD will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.


text:
Proclaim in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, “Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria, and see what unrest is in her, and what oppression is among them.”


text:
Therefore thus says the Lord the LORD: “An adversary will overrun the land; and he will pull down your strongholds, and your fortresses will be plundered.”


text:
Thus says the LORD: “As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who sit in Samaria on the corner of a couch, and on the silken cushions of a bed.”


text:
“For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground.


text:
I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and the great houses will have an end,” says the LORD.


text:
Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their husbands, “Bring us drinks!”


text:
The Lord the LORD has sworn by his holiness that behold, “The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks, and the last of you with fish hooks.


text:
You will go out at the breaks in the wall, everyone straight before her; and you will cast yourselves into Harmon,” says the LORD.


text:
“Go to Bethel, and sin; to Gilgal, and sin more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days,


text:
offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord the LORD.


text:
“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in every town; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.


text:
“I also have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest; and I caused it to rain on one city, and caused it not to rain on another city. One place was rained on, and the piece where it didn’t rain withered.


text:
So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water, and were not satisfied: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.


text:
“I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards; and your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured: yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.


text:
“I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt. I have slain your young men with the sword, and have carried away your horses; and I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.


text:
“I have overthrown some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire; yet you haven’t returned to me,” says the LORD.


text:
“Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.


text:
For, behold, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind, and declares to man what is his thought; who makes the morning darkness, and treads on the high places of the earth: the LORD, the God of Armies, is his name.”


text:
“The virgin of Israel has fallen; She shall rise no more. She is cast down on her land; there is no one to raise her up.”


text:
For thus says the Lord the LORD: “The city that went forth a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went forth one hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”


text:
but don’t seek Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and don’t pass to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nothing.


text:
Seek the LORD, and you will live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, and there be no one to quench it in Bethel.


text:
seek him who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns the shadow of death into the morning, and makes the day dark with night; who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the LORD is his name,


text:
Forasmuch therefore as you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.


text:
For I know how many your offenses, and how great are your sins— you who afflict the just, who take a bribe, and who turn aside the needy in the courts.


text:
Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the LORD, the God of Armies, will be with you, as you say.


text:
Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the courts. It may be that the LORD, the God of Armies, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.”


text:
Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Armies, the Lord: “Wailing will be in all the broad ways; and they will say in all the streets, ‘Alas! Alas!’ and they will call the farmer to mourning, and those who are skillful in lamentation to wailing.


text:
“Woe to you who desire the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? It is darkness, and not light.


text:
As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; Or he went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a snake bit him.


text:
Yes, though you offer me your burnt offerings and meal offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat animals.


text:
You also carried the tent of your king and the shrine of your images, the star of your god, which you made for yourselves.


text:
Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is the God of Armies.


text:
Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who are secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel come!


text:
Go to Calneh, and see; and from there go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines. are they better than these kingdoms? or is their border greater than your border?


text:
Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall;


text:
who drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the best oils; but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.


text:
Therefore they will now go captive with the first who go captive; and the feasting and lounging will end.


text:
“The Lord the LORD has sworn by himself,” says the LORD, the God of Armies: “I abhor the pride of Jacob, and detest his fortresses. Therefore I will deliver up the city with all that is in it.


text:
“When a man’s relative carries him, even he who burns him, to bring bodies out of the house, and asks him who is in the innermost parts of the house, ‘Is there yet any with you?’ And he says, ‘No;’ then he will say, ‘Hush! Indeed we must not mention the name of the LORD.’ 


text:
“For, behold, the LORD commands, and the great house will be smashed to pieces, and the little house into bits.


text:
Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness;


text:
you who rejoice in a thing of nothing, who say, ‘Haven’t we taken for ourselves horns by our own strength?’


text:
For, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, house of Israel,” says the LORD, the God of Armies; “and they will afflict you from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of the Arabah.”


text:
Thus the Lord the LORD showed me: and behold, he formed locusts in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and behold, it was the latter growth after the king’s harvest.


text:
It happened that, when they made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, “Lord the LORD, forgive, I beg you! How could Jacob stand? For he is small.”


text:
Thus the Lord the LORD showed me and behold, the Lord the LORD called for judgment by fire; and it dried up the great deep, and would have devoured the land.


text:
Thus he showed me and behold, the Lord stood beside a wall made by a plumb line, with a plumb line in his hand.


text:
The LORD said to me, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A plumb line.” Then the Lord said, “Behold, I will set a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.


text:
The high places of Isaac will be desolate, the sanctuaries of Israel will be laid waste; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword.”


text:
Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam king of Israel, saying, “Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words.


text:
For Amos says, ‘Jeroboam will die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”


text:
Amaziah also said to Amos, “You seer, go, flee away into the land of Judah, and there eat bread, and prophesy there:


text:
but don’t prophesy again any more at Bethel; for it is the king’s sanctuary, and it is a royal house!”


text:
Then Amos answered Amaziah, “I was no prophet, neither was I a prophet’s son; but I was a herdsman, and a farmer of sycamore figs;


text:
and the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’


text:
Now therefore listen to the word of the LORD: ‘You say, Don’t prophesy against Israel, and don’t preach against the house of Isaac.’


text:
Therefore thus says the LORD: ‘Your wife shall be a prostitute in the city, and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by line; and you yourself shall die in a land that is unclean, and Israel shall surely be led away captive out of his land.’”


text:
He said, “Amos, what do you see?” I said, “A basket of summer fruit.” Then the LORD said to me, “The end has come on my people Israel. I will not again pass by them any more.


text:
The songs of the temple will be wailings in that day,” says the Lord the LORD. “The dead bodies will be many. In every place they will throw them out with silence.


text:
Saying, ‘When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may market wheat, making the ephah small, and the shekel large, and dealing falsely with balances of deceit;


text:
that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes, and sell the sweepings with the wheat?’”


text:
Won’t the land tremble for this, and everyone mourn who dwells in it? Yes, it will rise up wholly like the River; and it will be stirred up and sink again, like the River of Egypt.


text:
It will happen in that day,” says the Lord the LORD, “that I will cause the sun to go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in the clear day.


text:
I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will make you wear sackcloth on all your bodies, and baldness on every head. I will make it like the mourning for an only son, and its end like a bitter day.


text:
Behold, the days come,” says the Lord the LORD, “that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD.


text:
They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run back and forth to seek the word of the LORD, and will not find it.


text:
Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, ‘As your god, Dan, lives;’ and, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives;’ they will fall, and never rise up again.”


text:
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, “Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.


text:
Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.


text:
Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.


text:
Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.


text:
For the Lord, the LORD of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.


text:
It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; the LORD is his name.


text:
Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?” says the LORD. “Haven’t I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?


text:
Behold, the eyes of the Lord the LORD are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob,” says the LORD.


text:
“For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.


text:
In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;


text:
that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name,” says the LORD who does this.


text:
“Behold, the days come,” says the LORD, “that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.


text:
I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat their fruit.


text:
I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them,” says the LORD your God. 


text:
The vision of Obadiah. This is what the Lord the LORD says about Edom. We have heard news from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent among the nations, saying, “Arise, and let’s rise up against her in battle.


text:
The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high, who says in his heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’


text:
Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says the LORD.


text:
“If thieves came to you, if robbers by night—oh, what disaster awaits you—wouldn’t they only steal until they had enough? If grape pickers came to you, wouldn’t they leave some gleaning grapes?


text:
All the men of your alliance have brought you on your way, even to the border. The men who were at peace with you have deceived you, and prevailed against you. Friends who eat your bread lay a snare under you. There is no understanding in him.”


text:
“Won’t I in that day,” says the LORD, “destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mountain of Esau?


text:
Your mighty men, Teman, will be dismayed, to the end that everyone may be cut off from the mountain of Esau by slaughter.


text:
In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them.


text:
But don’t look down on your brother in the day of his disaster, and don’t rejoice over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction. Don’t speak proudly in the day of distress.


text:
Don’t enter into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity. Don’t look down on their affliction in the day of their calamity, neither seize their wealth on the day of their calamity.


text:
Don’t stand in the crossroads to cut off those of his who escape. Don’t deliver up those of his who remain in the day of distress.


text:
For the day of the LORD is near all the nations! As you have done, it will be done to you. Your deeds will return upon your own head.


text:
For as you have drunk on my holy mountain, so will all the nations drink continually. Yes, they will drink, swallow down, and will be as though they had not been.


text:
But in Mount Zion, there will be those who escape, and it will be holy. The house of Jacob will possess their possessions.


text:
The house of Jacob will be a fire, the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble. They will burn among them, and devour them. There will not be any remaining to the house of Esau.” Indeed, the LORD has spoken.


text:
Those of the South will possess the mountain of Esau, and those of the lowland, the Philistines. They will possess the field of Ephraim, and the field of Samaria. Benjamin will possess Gilead.


text:
The captives of this army of the children of Israel, who are among the Canaanites, will possess even to Zarephath; and the captives of Jerusalem, who are in Sepharad, will possess the cities of the Negev.


text:
Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be the LORD’s. 


text:
“Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.”


text:
But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid its fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.


text:
But the LORD sent out a great wind on the sea, and there was a mighty storm on the sea, so that the ship was likely to break up.


text:
Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried to his god. They threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten the ship. But Jonah had gone down into the innermost parts of the ship, and he was laying down, and was fast asleep.


text:
So the shipmaster came to him, and said to him, “What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God! Maybe your God will notice us, so that we won’t perish.”


text:
They all said to each other, “Come, let us cast lots, that we may know who is responsible for this evil that is on us.” So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah.


text:
Then they asked him, “Tell us, please, for whose cause this evil is on us. What is your occupation? Where do you come from? What is your country? Of what people are you?”


text:
He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, who has made the sea and the dry land.”


text:
Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said to him, “What is this that you have done?” For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.


text:
Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm to us?” For the sea grew more and more stormy.


text:
He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.”


text:
Nevertheless the men rowed hard to get them back to the land; but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them.


text:
Therefore they cried to the LORD, and said, “We beg you, the LORD, we beg you, don’t let us die for this man’s life, and don’t lay on us innocent blood; for you, the LORD, have done as it pleased you.”


text:
The LORD prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.


text:
He said, “I called because of my affliction to the LORD. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.


text:
For you threw me into the depths, in the heart of the seas. The flood was all around me. All your waves and your billows passed over me.


text:
The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The deep was around me. The weeds were wrapped around my head.


text:
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth barred me in forever: yet have you brought up my life from the pit, the LORD my God. 


text:
“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.


text:
But I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation belongs to the LORD.”


text:
So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey across.


text:
Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”


text:
The people of Nineveh believed God; and they proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from their greatest even to their least.


text:
The news reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.


text:
He made a proclamation and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor animal, herd nor flock, taste anything; let them not feed, nor drink water;


text:
but let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to God. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.


text:
Who knows whether God will not turn and relent, and turn away from his fierce anger, so that we might not perish?”


text:
God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.


text:
He prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, the LORD, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? Therefore I hurried to flee to Tarshish, for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.


text:
Therefore now, the LORD, take, I beg you, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.”


text:
Then Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made himself a booth, and sat under it in the shade, until he might see what would become of the city.


text:
The LORD God prepared a vine, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to deliver him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the vine.


text:
It happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a sultry east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah’s head, so that he fainted, and requested for himself that he might die, and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”


text:
God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?” He said, “I am right to be angry, even to death.”


text:
The LORD said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night.


text:
Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much livestock?” 


text:
The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.


text:
Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Lord the LORD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.


text:
For, behold, the LORD comes forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.


text:
The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place. 


text:
“All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn’t it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren’t they Jerusalem?


text:
Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.


text:
All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return.” 


text:
For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.


text:
For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.


text:
Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan won’t come out. The wailing of Beth Ezel will take from you his protection.


text:
For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.


text:
Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.


text:
Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.


text:
I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah. He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam.


text:
Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!


text:
Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.


text:
They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.


text:
Therefore thus says the LORD: “Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster, from which you will not remove your necks, neither will you walk haughtily; for it is an evil time.


text:
In that day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, ‘We are utterly ruined! My people’s possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’”


text:
Shall it be said, O house of Jacob: “Is the Spirit of the LORD angry? Are these his doings? Don’t my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?”


text:
But lately my people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle.


text:
You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever.


text:
Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.


text:
If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies: “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;” he would be the prophet of this people.


text:
I will surely assemble, Jacob, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they will swarm with people.


text:
He who breaks open the way goes up before them. They break through the gate, and go out. And their king passes on before them, with the LORD at their head.


text:
I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?


text:
You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;


text:
who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.


text:
Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”


text:
Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:


text:
“Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.


text:
The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God.”


text:
But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.


text:
Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.


text:
Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on the LORD, and say, “Isn’t the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us.”


text:
Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.


text:
But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of the LORD’s temple will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.


text:
Many nations will go and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem;


text:
and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.


text:
But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of the LORD of Armies has spoken.


text:
Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods; but we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.


text:
“In that day,” says the LORD, “I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted;


text:
and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever.”


text:
You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to you it will come, yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.


text:
Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?


text:
Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go forth out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.


text:
Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Zion.”


text:
But they don’t know the thoughts of the LORD, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.


text:
Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to the LORD, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.


text:
Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.


text:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come forth to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.


text:
Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.


text:
He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.


text:
He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight leaders of men.


text:
They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border.


text:
The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, that don’t wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men.


text:
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 the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.


text:
“It will happen in that day,” says the LORD, “That I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots.


text:
I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.


text:
Listen now to what the LORD says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.


text:
Hear, you mountains, the LORD’s controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.


text:
For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.


text:
My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.” 


text:
How shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?


text:
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?


text:
He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? 


text:
The LORD’s voice calls to the city, and wisdom sees your name: “Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it.


text:
Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed?


text:
Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.


text:
Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.


text:
You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be in your midst. You will store up, but not save; and that which you save I will give up to the sword.


text:
You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.


text:
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of my people.” 


text:
Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard: There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.


text:
The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.


text:
Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.


text:
The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.


text:
Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!


text:
For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.


text:
But as for me, I will look to the LORD. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.


text:
Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.


text:
I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see his righteousness.


text:
Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is the LORD your God? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.


text:
In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain.


text:
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed; in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.


text:
The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.


text:
They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to the LORD our God, and will be afraid because of you.


text:
Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.


text:
He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.


text:
You will give truth to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old. 


text:
The LORD is a jealous God and avenges. the LORD avenges and is full of wrath. the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies.


text:
The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. the LORD has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.


text:
He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes.


text:
The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it.


text:
Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.


text:
But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.


text:
What do you plot against the LORD? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time.


text:
For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble.


text:
Thus says the LORD: “Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so they will be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more.


text:
The LORD has commanded concerning you: “No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, will I cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”


text:
Behold, on the mountains the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace! Keep your feasts, Judah! Perform your vows, for the wicked one will no more pass through you. He is utterly cut off.


text:
He who dashes in pieces has come up against you. Keep the fortress! Watch the way! Strengthen your waist! Fortify your power mightily!


text:
For the LORD restores the excellency of Jacob, as the excellency of Israel; for the destroyers have destroyed them, and ruined their vine branches.


text:
The shield of his mighty men is made red. The valiant men are in scarlet. The chariots flash with steel in the day of his preparation, and the pine spears are brandished.


text:
The chariots rage in the streets. They rush back and forth in the broad ways. Their appearance is like torches. They run like the lightnings.


text:
He summons his picked troops. They stumble on their way. They dash to its wall, and the protective shield is put in place.


text:
It is decreed: she is uncovered, she is carried away; and her handmaids moan as with the voice of doves, beating on their breasts.


text:
But Nineveh has been from of old like a pool of water, yet they flee away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one looks back.


text:
Take the spoil of silver. Take the spoil of gold, for there is no end of the store, the glory of all goodly furniture.


text:
She is empty, void, and waste. The heart melts, the knees knock together, their bodies and faces have grown pale.


text:
Where is the den of the lions, and the feeding place of the young lions, where the lion and the lioness walked, the lion’s cubs, and no one made them afraid?


text:
The lion tore in pieces enough for his cubs, and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his caves with the kill, and his dens with prey.


text:
“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”


text:
the horseman mounting, and the flashing sword, the glittering spear, and a multitude of slain, and a great heap of corpses, and there is no end of the bodies. They stumble on their bodies,


text:
because of the multitude of the prostitution of the alluring prostitute, the mistress of witchcraft, who sells nations through her prostitution, and families through her witchcraft.


text:
“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.


text:
It will happen that all those who look at you will flee from you, and say, ‘Nineveh is laid waste! Who will mourn for her?’ Where will I seek comforters for you?”


text:
Are you better than No-Amon, who was situated among the rivers, who had the waters around her; whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was of the sea?


text:
Yet was she carried away. She went into captivity. Her young children also were dashed in pieces at the head of all the streets, and they cast lots for her honorable men, and all her great men were bound in chains.


text:
All your fortresses will be like fig trees with the first-ripe figs: if they are shaken, they fall into the mouth of the eater.


text:
Behold, your troops in your midst are women. The gates of your land are set wide open to your enemies. The fire has devoured your bars.


text:
Draw water for the siege. Strengthen your fortresses. Go into the clay, and tread the mortar. Make the brick kiln strong.


text:
There the fire will devour you. The sword will cut you off. It will devour you like the grasshopper. Multiply like grasshoppers. Multiply like the locust.


text:
You have increased your merchants more than the stars of the skies. The grasshopper strips, and flees away.


text:
Your guards are like the locusts, and your officials like the swarms of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day, but when the sun appears, they flee away, and their place is not known where they are.


text:
Your shepherds slumber, king of Assyria. Your nobles lie down. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them.


text:
There is no healing your wound, for your injury is fatal. All who hear the report of you clap their hands over you; for who hasn’t felt your endless cruelty? 


text:
The LORD, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?


text:
Why do you show me iniquity, and look at perversity? For destruction and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention rises up.


text:
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth; for the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.


text:
“Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.


text:
For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.


text:
Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.


text:
Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.


text:
Aren’t you from everlasting, the LORD my God, my Holy One? We will not die. the LORD, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.


text:
You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,


text:
He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.


text:
Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.


text:
I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.


text:
The LORD answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.


text:
For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.


text:
Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.


text:
Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’


text:
Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?


text:
Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.


text:
Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!


text:
You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.


text:
Behold, isn’t it of the LORD of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?


text:
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.


text:
“Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!


text:
You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of the LORD’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.


text:
For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.


text:
“What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?


text:
Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in its midst.


text:
The LORD, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, the LORD. Renew your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.


text:
God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah.  His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.


text:
He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.


text:
Was the LORD displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?


text:
The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.


text:
The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.


text:
You went forth for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah. 


text:
You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.


text:
I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.


text:
For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:


text:
The LORD, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments. 


text:
The word of the LORD which came to Zephaniah, the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hezekiah, in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah.


text:
I will sweep away man and animal. I will sweep away the birds of the sky, the fish of the sea, and the heaps of rubble with the wicked. I will cut off man from the surface of the earth, says the LORD.


text:
I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will cut off the remnant of Baal from this place: the name of the idolatrous and pagan priests,


text:
those who worship the army of the sky on the housetops, those who worship and swear by the LORD and also swear by Malcam,


text:
those who have turned back from following the LORD, and those who haven’t sought the LORD nor inquired after him.


text:
Be silent at the presence of the Lord the LORD, for the day of the LORD is at hand. For the LORD has prepared a sacrifice. He has consecrated his guests.


text:
It will happen in the day of the LORD’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, the king’s sons, and all those who are clothed with foreign clothing.


text:
In that day, I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their master’s house with violence and deceit.


text:
In that day, says the LORD, there will be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, a wailing from the second quarter, and a great crashing from the hills.


text:
Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the people of Canaan are undone! All those who were loaded with silver are cut off.


text:
It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.”


text:
Their wealth will become a spoil, and their houses a desolation. Yes, they will build houses, but won’t inhabit them. They will plant vineyards, but won’t drink their wine.


text:
The great day of the LORD is near. It is near, and hurries greatly, the voice of the day of the LORD. The mighty man cries there bitterly.


text:
That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of trouble and ruin, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and blackness,


text:
I will bring distress on men, that they will walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD, and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung.


text:
Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the fire of his jealousy; for he will make an end, yes, a terrible end, of all those who dwell in the land.


text:
before the appointed time when the day passes as the chaff, before the fierce anger of the LORD comes on you, before the day of the LORD’s anger comes on you.


text:
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who have kept his ordinances. Seek righteousness. Seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the LORD’s anger.


text:
For Gaza will be forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation. They will drive out Ashdod at noonday, and Ekron will be rooted up.


text:
Woe to the inhabitants of the sea coast, the nation of the Cherethites! The word of the LORD is against you, Canaan, the land of the Philistines. I will destroy you, that there will be no inhabitant.


text:
The coast will be for the remnant of the house of Judah. They will find pasture. In the houses of Ashkelon, they will lie down in the evening, for the LORD, their God, will visit them, and restore them.


text:
I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the insults of the children of Ammon, with which they have reproached my people, and magnified themselves against their border.


text:
Therefore as I live, says the LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, surely Moab will be as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah, a possession of nettles, and salt pits, and a perpetual desolation. The remnant of my people will plunder them, and the survivors of my nation will inherit them.


text:
This they will have for their pride, because they have reproached and magnified themselves against the people of the LORD of Armies.


text:
The LORD will be awesome to them, for he will famish all the gods of the land. Men will worship him, everyone from his place, even all the shores of the nations.


text:
He will stretch out his hand against the north, destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, as dry as the wilderness.


text:
Herds will lie down in the midst of her, all the animals of the nations. Both the pelican and the porcupine will lodge in its capitals. Their calls will echo through the windows. Desolation will be in the thresholds, for he has laid bare the cedar beams.


text:
This is the joyous city that lived carelessly, that said in her heart, “I am, and there is none besides me.” How she has become a desolation, a place for animals to lie down in! Everyone who passes by her will hiss, and shake their fists.


text:
She didn’t obey the voice. She didn’t receive correction. She didn’t trust in the LORD. She didn’t draw near to her God.


text:
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.


text:
Her prophets are arrogant and treacherous people. Her priests have profaned the sanctuary. They have done violence to the law.


text:
The LORD, in the midst of her, is righteous. He will do no wrong. Every morning he brings his justice to light. He doesn’t fail, but the unjust know no shame.


text:
I have cut off nations. Their battlements are desolate. I have made their streets waste, so that no one passes by. Their cities are destroyed, so that there is no man, so that there is no inhabitant.


text:
I said, “Just fear me. Receive correction, so that her dwelling won’t be cut off, according to all that I have appointed concerning her.” But they rose early and corrupted all their doings.


text:
“Therefore wait for me,” says the LORD, “until the day that I rise up to the prey, for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour on them my indignation, even all my fierce anger, for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of my jealousy.


text:
For then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that they may all call on the name of the LORD, to serve him shoulder to shoulder.


text:
From beyond the rivers of Cush, my worshipers, even the daughter of my dispersed people, will bring my offering.


text:
In that day you will not be disappointed for all your doings, in which you have transgressed against me; for then I will take away out of the midst of you your proudly exulting ones, and you will no more be haughty in my holy mountain.


text:
But I will leave in the midst of you an afflicted and poor people, and they will take refuge in the name of the LORD.


text:
The remnant of Israel will not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither will a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, for they will feed and lie down, and no one will make them afraid.”


text:
Sing, daughter of Zion! Shout, Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, daughter of Jerusalem.


text:
The LORD has taken away your judgments. He has thrown out your enemy. The King of Israel, the LORD, is in the midst of you. You will not be afraid of evil any more.


text:
The LORD, your God, is in the midst of you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.


text:
I will remove those who grieve about the appointed feasts from you. They are a burden and a reproach to you.


text:
Behold, at that time I will deal with all those who afflict you, and I will save those who are lame, and gather those who were driven away. I will give them praise and honor, whose shame has been in all the earth.


text:
At that time will I bring you in, and at that time will I gather you; for I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD. 


text:
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, the Word of the LORD came by Haggai, the prophet, to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying,


text:
“This is what the LORD of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for the LORD’s house to be built.’”


text:
You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.”


text:
Go up to the mountain, bring wood, and build the house. I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified,” says the LORD.


text:
“You looked for much, and, behold, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the LORD of Armies, “Because of my house that lies waste, while each of you is busy with his own house.


text:
I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on that which the ground brings forth, on men, on livestock, and on all the labor of the hands.”


text:
Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with 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.


text:
Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, spoke the LORD’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you,” says the LORD.


text:
The LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of Armies, their God,


text:
In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, the Word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying,


text:
“Speak now to Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying,


text:
‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing?


text:
Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the LORD. ‘Be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the LORD, ‘and work, for I am with you,’ says the LORD of Armies.


text:
This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. ‘Don’t be afraid.’


text:
For this is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land;


text:
and I will shake all nations. The precious things of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Armies.


text:
‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of Armies; ‘and in this place will I give peace,’ says the LORD of Armies.”


text:
In the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the Word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying,


text:
‘If someone carries holy meat in the fold of his garment, and with his fold touches bread, stew, wine, oil, or any food, will it become holy?’” The priests answered, “No.”


text:
Then Haggai said, “If one who is unclean by reason of a dead body touch any of these, will it be unclean?” The priests answered, “It will be unclean.”


text:
Then Haggai answered, “‘So is this people, and so is this nation before me,’ says the LORD; ‘and so is every work of their hands. That which they offer there is unclean.


text:
Now, please consider from this day and backward, before a stone was laid on a stone in the temple of the LORD.


text:
Through all that time, when one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were only ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty, there were only twenty.


text:
I struck you with blight, mildew, and hail in all the work of your hands; yet you didn’t turn to me,’ says the LORD.


text:
‘Consider, please, from this day and backward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, since the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid, consider it.


text:
Is the seed yet in the barn? Yes, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree haven’t brought forth. From this day will I bless you.’”


text:
I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations. I will overthrow the chariots, and those who ride in them. The horses and their riders will come down, everyone by the sword of his brother.


text:
In that day, says the LORD of Armies, will I take you, Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the LORD, ‘and will make you as a signet, for I have chosen you,’ says the LORD of Armies.” 


text:
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,


text:
Therefore tell them: Thus says the LORD of Armies: ‘Return to me,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of Armies.


text:
Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says the LORD of Armies, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says the LORD.


text:
But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”


text:
On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,


text:
“I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.


text:
Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”


text:
The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”


text:
They reported to the angel of the LORD who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.”


text:
Then the angel of the LORD replied, “O the LORD of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”


text:
So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of Armies: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.


text:
I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”


text:
Therefore thus says the LORD: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says the LORD of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem.”’


text:
“Proclaim further, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of Armies: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’”


text:
I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”


text:
Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”


text:
Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length.”


text:
and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.


text:
For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.


text:
Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says the LORD; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says the LORD.


text:
For thus says the LORD of Armies: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.


text:
For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them; and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me.


text:
Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,’ says the LORD.


text:
Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you.


text:
He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.


text:
The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Yes, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”


text:
He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off of him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”


text:
I said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.” So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.


text:
“Thus says the LORD of Armies: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by.


text:
Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch.


text:
For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave its engraving,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.


text:
In that day,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”


text:
He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;


text:
and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it.”


text:
Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”


text:
Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of Armies.


text:
Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’”


text:
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you.


text:
Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of the LORD, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”


text:
Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?”


text:
I asked him the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”


text:
He said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits.”


text:
Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side.


text:
I will cause it to go out,” says the LORD of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the midst of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”


text:
Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that is appearing.”


text:
I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land


text:
(and behold, a talent of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah basket.”


text:
He said, “This is Wickedness;” and he threw her down into the midst of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth.


text:
Then lifted I up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky.


text:
He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”


text:
Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.


text:
The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.


text:
The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went forth toward the south country.”


text:
The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth: and he said, “Go around and through the earth!” So they walked back and forth through the earth.


text:
Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”


text:
“Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon.


text:
Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;


text:
and speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of Armies, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he shall grow up out of his place; and he shall build the temple of the LORD;


text:
even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on his throne; and he shall be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.


text:
The crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.


text:
Those who are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD; and you shall know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.”’”


text:
It happened in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.


text:
and to speak to the priests of the house of the LORD of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”


text:
“Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?


text:
Aren’t these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”


text:
“Thus has the LORD of Armies spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.


text:
Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’


text:
But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.


text:
Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Armies.


text:
It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said the LORD of Armies;


text:
“but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through nor returned: for they made the pleasant land desolate.”


text:
Thus says the LORD of Armies: “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.”


text:
Thus says the LORD: “I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called ‘The City of Truth;’ and the mountain of the LORD of Armies, ‘The Holy Mountain.’”


text:
Thus says the LORD of Armies: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.


text:
Thus says the LORD of Armies: “If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
Thus says the LORD of Armies: “Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;


text:
and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”


text:
Thus says the LORD of Armies: “Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of Armies was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.


text:
For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.


text:
But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days,” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.


text:
It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.”


text:
For thus says the LORD of Armies: “As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I didn’t repent;


text:
so again have I thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.


text:
These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,


text:
and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says the LORD.


text:
Thus says the LORD of Armies: “The fasts of the fourth fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.”


text:
and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of Armies. I will go also.’


text:
Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the LORD of Armies in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the LORD.”


text:
Thus says the LORD of Armies: “In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”


text:
An oracle. The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus; for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward the LORD;


text:
Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like the dust, and fine gold like the mire of the streets.


text:
Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.


text:
Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.


text:
I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.


text:
I will encamp around my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them any more: for now I have seen with my eyes.


text:
Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.


text:
I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.


text:
As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.


text:
Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.


text:
For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.


text:
The LORD will be seen over them; and his arrow will go flash like lightning; and the Lord the LORD will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.


text:
The LORD of Armies will defend them; and they will destroy and overcome with sling stones; and they will drink, and roar as through wine; and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.


text:
The LORD their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they are like the jewels of a crown, lifted on high over his land.


text:
For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.


text:
Ask of the LORD rain in the spring time, the LORD who makes storm clouds, and he gives rain showers to everyone for the plants in the field.


text:
For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.


text:
My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; For the LORD of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle.


text:
From him will come forth the cornerstone, from him the nail, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together.


text:
They shall be as mighty men, treading down muddy streets in the battle; and they shall fight, because the LORD is with them; and the riders on horses will be confounded.


text:
“I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and I will hear them.


text:
Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will rejoice as through wine; yes, their children will see it, and rejoice. Their heart will be glad in the LORD.


text:
I will signal for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased.


text:
I will sow them among the peoples; and they will remember me in far countries; and they will live with their children, and will return.


text:
I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and there won’t be room enough for them.


text:
He will pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.


text:
Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.


text:
A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.


text:
Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich;’ and their own shepherds don’t pity them.


text:
For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD; “but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.”


text:
So I fed the flock of slaughter, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called “Favor,” and the other I called “Union,” and I fed the flock.


text:
I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.


text:
Then I said, “I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.”


text:
I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.


text:
It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the word of the LORD.


text:
I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.


text:
The LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in the house of the LORD.


text:
Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.


text:
For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.


text:
Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!”


text:
An oracle. The word of the LORD concerning Israel. the LORD, who stretches out the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him says:


text:
“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and on Judah also will it be in the siege against Jerusalem.


text:
It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.


text:
In that day,” says the LORD, “I will strike every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open my eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.


text:
The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of Armies their God.’


text:
In that day I will make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right hand and on the left; and Jerusalem will yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem.


text:
The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah.


text:
In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem. He who is feeble among them at that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the LORD before them.


text:
It will happen in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.


text:
I will pour on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.


text:
In that day there will be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.


text:
The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;


text:
the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart;


text:
“In that day there will be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.


text:
It will come to pass in that day, says the LORD of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land.


text:
It will happen that, when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you speak lies in the name of the LORD;’ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies.


text:
It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive:


text:
but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth.’


text:
One will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’ 


text:
“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says the LORD of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.


text:
It shall happen that in all the land,” says the LORD, “two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it.


text:
I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”


text:
For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city will be taken, the houses rifled, and the women ravished. Half of the city will go out into captivity, and the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city.


text:
His feet will stand in that day on the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in two, from east to west, making a very great valley. Half of the mountain will move toward the north, and half of it toward the south.


text:
You shall flee by the valley of my mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azel; yes, you shall flee, just like you fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with you.


text:
It will be a unique day which is known to the LORD; not day, and not night; but it will come to pass, that at evening time there will be light.


text:
It will happen in that day, that living waters will go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be.


text:
All the land will be made like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; and she will be lifted up, and will dwell in her place, from Benjamin’s gate to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.


text:
This will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples who have warred against Jerusalem: their flesh will consume away while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will consume away in their sockets, and their tongue will consume away in their mouth.


text:
It will happen in that day, that a great panic from the LORD will be among them; and they will lay hold everyone on the hand of his neighbor, and his hand will rise up against the hand of his neighbor.


text:
Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered together: gold, and silver, and clothing, in great abundance.


text:
So will be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the donkey, and of all the animals that will be in those camps, as that plague.


text:
It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of Armies, and to keep the feast of tents.


text:
It will be, that whoever of all the families of the earth doesn’t go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of Armies, on them there will be no rain.


text:
If the family of Egypt doesn’t go up, and doesn’t come, neither will it rain on them. This will be the plague with which the LORD will strike the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents.


text:
This will be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all the nations that don’t go up to keep the feast of tents.


text:
In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO the LORD;” and the pots in the LORD’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.


text:
Yes, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holy to the LORD of Armies; and all those who sacrifice will come and take of them, and cook in them. In that day there will no longer be a Canaanite in the house of the LORD of Armies. 


text:
“I have loved you,” says the LORD. Yet you say, “How have you loved us?” “Wasn’t Esau Jacob’s brother?” says the LORD, “Yet I loved Jacob;


text:
but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.”


text:
Whereas Edom says, “We are beaten down, but we will return and build the waste places;” thus says the LORD of Armies, “They shall build, but I will throw down; and men will call them ‘The Wicked Land,’ even the people against whom the LORD shows wrath forever.”


text:
“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says the LORD of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, ‘How have we despised your name?’


text:
You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘The LORD’s table contemptible.’


text:
When you offer the blind for sacrifice, isn’t that evil? And when you offer the lame and sick, isn’t that evil? Present it now to your governor! Will he be pleased with you? Or will he accept your person?” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“Now, please entreat the favor of God, that he may be gracious to us. With this, will he accept any of you?” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“Oh that there were one among you who would shut the doors, that you might not kindle fire on my altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you,” says the LORD of Armies, “neither will I accept an offering at your hand.


text:
For from the rising of the sun even to the going down of the same, my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense will be offered to my name, and a pure offering: for my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“But you profane it, in that you say, ‘The LORD’s table is polluted, and its fruit, even its food, is contemptible.’


text:
You say also, ‘Behold, what a weariness it is!’ and you have sniffed at it,” says the LORD of Armies; “and you have brought that which was taken by violence, the lame, and the sick; thus you bring the offering. Should I accept this at your hand?” says the LORD.


text:
“But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a blemished thing; for I am a great King,” says the LORD of Armies, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”


text:
If you will not listen, and if you will not lay it to heart, to give glory to my name,” says the LORD of Armies, “then will I send the curse on you, and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have cursed them already, because you do not lay it to heart.


text:
Behold, I will rebuke your seed, and will spread dung on your faces, even the dung of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.


text:
You will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that my covenant may be with Levi,” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“My covenant was with him of life and peace; and I gave them to him that he might be reverent toward me; and he was reverent toward me, and stood in awe of my name.


text:
The law of truth was in his mouth, and unrighteousness was not found in his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and turned many away from iniquity.


text:
For the priest’s lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of Armies.


text:
But you have turned aside out of the way. You have caused many to stumble in the law. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.


text:
Don’t we all have one father? Hasn’t one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?


text:
Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination is committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the holiness of the LORD which he loves, and has married the daughter of a foreign god.


text:
The LORD will cut off, to the man who does this, him who wakes and him who answers, out of the tents of Jacob, and him who offers an offering to the LORD of Armies.


text:
This again you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with sighing, because he doesn’t regard the offering any more, neither receives it with good will at your hand.


text:
Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because the LORD has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.


text:
Did he not make you one, although he had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed. Therefore take heed to your spirit, and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of his youth.


text:
For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with violence!” says the LORD of Armies. “Therefore take heed to your spirit, that you don’t deal treacherously.


text:
You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, ‘How have we wearied him?’ In that you say, ‘Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them;’ or ‘Where is the God of justice?’


text:
“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, behold, he comes!” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap;


text:
and he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi, and refine them as gold and silver; and they shall offer to the LORD offerings in righteousness.


text:
Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasant to the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years.


text:
I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my ordinances, and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. “But you say, ‘How shall we return?’


text:
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house, and test me now in this,” says the LORD of Armies, “if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough for.


text:
I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast its fruit before its time in the field,” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“Your words have been stout against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’


text:
You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God;’ and ‘What profit is it that we have followed his instructions, and that we have walked mournfully before the LORD of Armies?


text:
Now we call the proud happy; yes, those who work wickedness are built up; yes, they tempt God, and escape.’


text:
Then those who feared the LORD spoke one with another; and the LORD listened, and heard, and a book of memory was written before him, for those who feared the LORD, and who honored his name.


text:
They shall be mine,” says the LORD of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.


text:
Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.


text:
“For, behold, the day comes, it burns as a furnace; and all the proud, and all who work wickedness, will be stubble; and the day that comes will burn them up,” says the LORD of Armies, “that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.


text:
But to you who fear my name shall the sun of righteousness arise with healing in its wings. You will go out, and leap like calves of the stall.


text:
You shall tread down the wicked; for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I make,” says the LORD of Armies.


text:
“Remember the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded to him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.


text:
He will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the earth with a curse.”


text:
Abraham became the father of Isaac. Isaac became the father of Jacob. Jacob became the father of Judah and his brothers.


text:
Judah became the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar. Perez became the father of Hezron. Hezron became the father of Ram.


text:
Ram became the father of Amminadab. Amminadab became the father of Nahshon. Nahshon became the father of Salmon.


text:
Salmon became the father of Boaz by Rahab. Boaz became the father of Obed by Ruth. Obed became the father of Jesse.


text:
Jesse became the father of King David. David became the father of Solomon by her who had been the wife of Uriah.


text:
Solomon became the father of Rehoboam. Rehoboam became the father of Abijah. Abijah became the father of Asa.


text:
Asa became the father of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat became the father of Joram. Joram became the father of Uzziah.


text:
Uzziah became the father of Jotham. Jotham became the father of Ahaz. Ahaz became the father of Hezekiah.


text:
Hezekiah became the father of Manasseh. Manasseh became the father of Amon. Amon became the father of Josiah.


text:
After the exile to Babylon, Jechoniah became the father of Shealtiel. Shealtiel became the father of Zerubbabel.


text:
Zerubbabel became the father of Abiud. Abiud became the father of Eliakim. Eliakim became the father of Azor.


text:
Azor became the father of Sadoc. Sadoc became the father of Achim. Achim became the father of Eliud.


text:
Eliud became the father of Eleazar. Eleazar became the father of Matthan. Matthan became the father of Jacob.


text:
Jacob became the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, from whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.


text:
So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the exile to Babylon fourteen generations; and from the carrying away to Babylon to the Christ, fourteen generations.


text:
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was like this; for after his mother, Mary, was engaged to Joseph, before they came together, she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.


text:
Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.


text:
But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.


text:
She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”


text:
Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,


text:
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;” which is, being interpreted, “God with us.”


text:
Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;


text:
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,


text:
“Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him.”


text:
Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.


text:
‘You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come forth a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.’”


text:
He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, “Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him.”


text:
They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.


text:
They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.


text:
Being warned in a dream that they shouldn’t return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.


text:
Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him.”


text:
and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”


text:
Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.


text:
“A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn’t be comforted, because they are no more.”


text:
But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,


text:
“Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child’s life are dead.”


text:
But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,


text:
and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: “He will be called a Nazarene.”


text:
For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.”


text:
Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.


text:
But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?


text:
Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.


text:
“Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that doesn’t bring forth good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.


text:
I indeed baptize you in water for repentance, but he who comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit.


text:
His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”


text:
But Jesus, answering, said to him, “Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed him.


text:
Jesus, when he was baptized, went up directly from the water: and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming on him.


text:
The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”


text:
But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’”


text:
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, ‘He will put his angels in charge of you.’ and, ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you don’t dash your foot against a stone.’”


text:
Again, the devil took him to an exceedingly high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory.


text:
Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”


text:
Leaving Nazareth, he came and lived in Capernaum, which is by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali,


text:
“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, toward the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,


text:
the people who sat in darkness saw a great light, to those who sat in the region and shadow of death, to them light has dawned.”


text:
Walking by the sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers: Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen.


text:
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them.


text:
Jesus went about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.


text:
The report about him went out into all Syria. They brought to him all who were sick, afflicted with various diseases and torments, possessed with demons, epileptics, and paralytics; and he healed them.


text:
Seeing the multitudes, he went up onto the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him.


text:
Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.  


text:
“Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 


text:
Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 


text:
“You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its flavor, with what will it be salted? It is then good for nothing, but to be cast out and trodden under the feet of men. 


text:
Neither do you light a lamp, and put it under a measuring basket, but on a stand; and it shines to all who are in the house. 


text:
Even so, let your light shine before men; that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. 


text:
“Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 


text:
For most certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest letter or one tiny pen stroke shall in any way pass away from the law, until all things are accomplished. 


text:
Whoever, therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. 


text:
For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 


text:
“You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not murder;’ and ‘Whoever shall murder shall be in danger of the judgment.’ 


text:
But I tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment; and whoever shall say to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council; and whoever shall say, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of the fire of Gehenna. 


text:
“If therefore you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has anything against you, 


text:
leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 


text:
Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him in the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, you shall by no means get out of there, until you have paid the last penny. 


text:
but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart. 


text:
If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. 


text:
If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna. 


text:
but I tell you that whoever puts away his wife, except for the cause of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress; and whoever marries her when she is put away commits adultery. 


text:
“Again you have heard that it was said to them of old time, ‘You shall not make false vows, but shall perform to the Lord your vows,’ 


text:
nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 


text:
But I tell you, don’t resist him who is evil; but whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also. 


text:
But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, 


text:
that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. 


text:
For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 


text:
If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don’t even the tax collectors do the same? 


text:
“Be careful that you don’t do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. 


text:
Therefore when you do merciful deeds, don’t sound a trumpet before yourself, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may get glory from men. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 


text:
so that your merciful deeds may be in secret, then your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 


text:
“When you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Most certainly, I tell you, they have received their reward. 


text:
But you, when you pray, enter into your inner room, and having shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 


text:
In praying, don’t use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking. 


text:
Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.’ 


text:
“Moreover when you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites, with sad faces. For they disfigure their faces, that they may be seen by men to be fasting. Most certainly I tell you, they have received their reward. 


text:
so that you are not seen by men to be fasting, but by your Father who is in secret, and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you. 


text:
“Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; 


text:
but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal; 


text:
“The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is sound, your whole body will be full of light. 


text:
But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! 


text:
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You can’t serve both God and Mammon. 


text:
Therefore, I tell you, don’t be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 


text:
See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they? 


text:
Why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They don’t toil, neither do they spin, 


text:
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith? 


text:
“Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ 


text:
For the Gentiles seek after all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 


text:
But seek first God’s Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well. 


text:
Therefore don’t be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day’s own evil is sufficient.


text:
For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. 


text:
Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? 


text:
Or how will you tell your brother, ‘Let me remove the speck from your eye;’ and behold, the beam is in your own eye? 


text:
You hypocrite! First remove the beam out of your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck out of your brother’s eye. 


text:
“Don’t give that which is holy to the dogs, neither throw your pearls before the pigs, lest perhaps they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. 


text:
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! 


text:
Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets. 


text:
“Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. 


text:
Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 


text:
Many will tell me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?’ 


text:
“Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. 


text:
The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. 


text:
Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. 


text:
The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”


text:
It happened, when Jesus had finished saying these things, that the multitudes were astonished at his teaching,


text:
Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”


text:
Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.


text:
Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”


text:
The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.


text:
For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”


text:
When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel. 


text:
I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, 


text:
but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”


text:
Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.


text:
When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick;


text:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: “He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.”


text:
Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”


text:
Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.


text:
He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.


text:
When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.


text:
Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”


text:
He said to them, “Go!” They came out, and went into the herd of pigs: and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea, and died in the water.


text:
Those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.


text:
Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.


text:
Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you.”


text:
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...” (then he said to the paralytic), “Get up, and take up your mat, and go up to your house.”


text:
But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.


text:
As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, “Follow me.” He got up and followed him.


text:
It happened as he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.


text:
When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”


text:
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 


text:
But you go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”


text:
Then John’s disciples came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don’t fast?”


text:
Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 


text:
No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made. 


text:
Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”


text:
While he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, “My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live.”


text:
Behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment;


text:
But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, “Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.


text:
As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, calling out and saying, “Have mercy on us, son of David!”


text:
When he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They told him, “Yes, Lord.”


text:
When the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke. The multitudes marveled, saying, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!”


text:
Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.


text:
But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.


text:
He called to himself his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every sickness.


text:
Now the names of the twelve apostles are these. The first, Simon, who is called Peter; Andrew, his brother; James the son of Zebedee; John, his brother;


text:
Philip; Bartholomew; Thomas; Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus; Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddaeus;


text:
Jesus sent these twelve out, and commanded them, saying, “Don’t go among the Gentiles, and don’t enter into any city of the Samaritans. 


text:
Take no bag for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. 


text:
Into whatever city or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy; and stay there until you go on. 


text:
If the household is worthy, let your peace come on it, but if it isn’t worthy, let your peace return to you. 


text:
Whoever doesn’t receive you, nor hear your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake off the dust from your feet. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. 


text:
“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. 


text:
But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you. 


text:
Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations. 


text:
But when they deliver you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say. 


text:
“Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his child. Children will rise up against parents, and cause them to be put to death. 


text:
But when they persecute you in this city, flee into the next, for most certainly I tell you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel, until the Son of Man has come. 


text:
It is enough for the disciple that he be like his teacher, and the servant like his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more those of his household! 


text:
Therefore don’t be afraid of them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed; and hidden that will not be known. 


text:
What I tell you in the darkness, speak in the light; and what you hear whispered in the ear, proclaim on the housetops. 


text:
Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna. 


text:
“Aren’t two sparrows sold for an assarion coin? Not one of them falls on the ground apart from your Father’s will, 


text:
Everyone therefore who confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. 


text:
For I came to set a man at odds against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 


text:
He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. 


text:
He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward. He who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward. 


text:
Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you he will in no way lose his reward.”


text:
It happened that when Jesus had finished directing his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.


text:
the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 


text:
As these went their way, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 


text:
But what did you go out to see? A man in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in king’s houses. 


text:
For this is he, of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, among those who are born of women there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptizer; yet he who is least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he. 


text:
From the days of John the Baptizer until now, the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. 


text:
“But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call to their companions 


text:
and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned for you, and you didn’t lament.’ 


text:
The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is justified by her children.”


text:
Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they didn’t repent.


text:
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 


text:
You, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, you will go down to Hades. For if the mighty works had been done in Sodom which were done in you, it would have remained until this day. 


text:
But I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, on the day of judgment, than for you.”


text:
At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants. 


text:
All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him. 


text:
Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart; and you will find rest for your souls. 


text:
At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.


text:
But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, “Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.”


text:
But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him; 


text:
how he entered into the house of God, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 


text:
Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? 


text:
But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. 


text:
And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?” that they might accuse him.


text:
He said to them, “What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won’t he grab on to it, and lift it out? 


text:
Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day.”


text:
Then he told the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other.


text:
“Behold, my servant whom I have chosen; my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my Spirit on him. He will proclaim justice to the nations.


text:
Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw.


text:
But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons.”


text:
Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 


text:
If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. 


text:
Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house. 


text:
Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. 


text:
Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age, nor in that which is to come. 


text:
“Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. 


text:
You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. 


text:
The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. 


text:
I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. 


text:
But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. 


text:
For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 


text:
The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. 


text:
The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here. 


text:
But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn’t find it. 


text:
Then he says, ‘I will return into my house from which I came out,’ and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 


text:
Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation.”


text:
While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.


text:
Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.


text:
Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. 


text:
Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. 


text:
He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. 


text:
For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. 


text:
Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand. 


text:
In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,  ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive: 


text:
for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and should turn again; and I would heal them.’ 


text:
For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them. 


text:
When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. 


text:
What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it; 


text:
yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 


text:
What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 


text:
What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and brings forth, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”


text:
He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, 


text:
The servants of the householder came and said to him, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where did this darnel come from?’ 


text:
“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather them up?’ 


text:
“But he said, ‘No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them. 


text:
Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”


text:
He set another parable before them, saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field; 


text:
which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches.”


text:
He spoke another parable to them. “The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, until it was all leavened.”


text:
Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn’t speak to them,


text:
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,  “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”


text:
Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”


text:
the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one. 


text:
The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 


text:
As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age. 


text:
The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity, 


text:
Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear. 


text:
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field. 


text:
“Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind, 


text:
which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away. 


text:
So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come forth, and separate the wicked from among the righteous, 


text:
He said to them, “Therefore, every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”


text:
Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works?


text:
Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?


text:
They were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house.”


text:
and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptizer. He is risen from the dead. That is why these powers work in him.”


text:
For Herod had laid hold of John, and bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife.


text:
When he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet.


text:
The king was grieved, but for the sake of his oaths, and of those who sat at the table with him, he commanded it to be given,


text:
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat, to a deserted place apart. When the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities.


text:
When evening had come, his disciples came to him, saying, “This place is deserted, and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food.”


text:
He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, broke and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples gave to the multitudes.


text:
They all ate, and were filled. They took up twelve baskets full of that which remained left over from the broken pieces.


text:
Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat, and to go ahead of him to the other side, while he sent the multitudes away.


text:
After he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone.


text:
When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It’s a ghost!” and they cried out for fear.


text:
But when he saw that the wind was strong, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, saying, “Lord, save me!”


text:
Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand, took hold of him, and said to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?”


text:
When the people of that place recognized him, they sent into all that surrounding region, and brought to him all who were sick,


text:
and they begged him that they might just touch the fringe of his garment. As many as touched it were made whole.


text:
“Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat bread.”


text:
For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 


text:
But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” 


text:
he shall not honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void because of your tradition. 


text:
‘These people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 


text:
That which enters into the mouth doesn’t defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”


text:
Then the disciples came, and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying?”


text:
Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”


text:
Don’t you understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body? 


text:
For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies. 


text:
Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders, and cried, saying, “Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely demonized!”


text:
But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away; for she cries after us.”


text:
Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire.” And her daughter was healed from that hour.


text:
Jesus departed there, and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and sat there.


text:
Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them,


text:
so that the multitude wondered when they saw the mute speaking, injured whole, lame walking, and blind seeing—and they glorified the God of Israel.


text:
Jesus summoned his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way.”


text:
The disciples said to him, “Where should we get so many loaves in a deserted place as to satisfy so great a multitude?”


text:
and he took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks and broke them, and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes.


text:
They all ate, and were filled. They took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.


text:
In the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you can’t discern the signs of the times! 


text:
An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” He left them, and departed.


text:
Jesus, perceiving it, said, “Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, ‘because you have brought no bread?’ 


text:
Don’t you yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up? 


text:
How is it that you don’t perceive that I didn’t speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”


text:
Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.


text:
Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”


text:
They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”


text:
Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 


text:
I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 


text:
I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven.”


text:
From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.


text:
Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you.”


text:
But he turned, and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men.”


text:
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 


text:
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it. 


text:
For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life? 


text:
For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom.”


text:
After six days, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up into a high mountain by themselves.


text:
He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light.


text:
Peter answered, and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, let’s make three tents here: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”


text:
While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them. Behold, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.”


text:
As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Don’t tell anyone what you saw, until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”


text:
but I tell you that Elijah has come already, and they didn’t recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted to. Even so the Son of Man will also suffer by them.”


text:
“Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic, and suffers grievously; for he often falls into the fire, and often into the water.


text:
Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long will I be with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him here to me.”


text:
He said to them, “Because of your unbelief. For most certainly I tell you, if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will tell this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 


text:
While they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered up into the hands of men, 


text:
When they had come to Capernaum, those who collected the didrachma coins came to Peter, and said, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the didrachma?”


text:
He said, “Yes.” When he came into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth receive toll or tribute? From their children, or from strangers?”


text:
But, lest we cause them to stumble, go to the sea, cast a hook, and take up the first fish that comes up. When you have opened its mouth, you will find a stater coin. Take that, and give it to them for me and you.”


text:
and said, “Most certainly I tell you, unless you turn, and become as little children, you will in no way enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. 


text:
Whoever therefore humbles himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven. 


text:
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea. 


text:
“Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes! 


text:
If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or crippled, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into the eternal fire. 


text:
If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire. 


text:
See that you don’t despise one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. 


text:
“What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray? 


text:
If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray. 


text:
Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. 


text:
“If your brother sins against you, go, show him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained back your brother. 


text:
But if he doesn’t listen, take one or two more with you, that at the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. 


text:
If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the assembly. If he refuses to hear the assembly also, let him be to you as a Gentile or a tax collector. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, whatever things you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever things you release on earth will have been released in heaven. 


text:
Again, assuredly I tell you, that if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything that they will ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven. 


text:
Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Until seven times?”


text:
Therefore the Kingdom of Heaven is like a certain king, who wanted to reconcile accounts with his servants. 


text:
But because he couldn’t pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, with his wife, his children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. 


text:
The servant therefore fell down and kneeled before him, saying, ‘Lord, have patience with me, and I will repay you all!’ 


text:
“But that servant went out, and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii, and he grabbed him, and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ 


text:
“So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will repay you!’ 


text:
So when his fellow servants saw what was done, they were exceedingly sorry, and came and told to their lord all that was done. 


text:
Then his lord called him in, and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt, because you begged me. 


text:
His lord was angry, and delivered him to the tormentors, until he should pay all that was due to him. 


text:
So my heavenly Father will also do to you, if you don’t each forgive your brother from your hearts for his misdeeds.”


text:
It happened when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee, and came into the borders of Judea beyond the Jordan.


text:
Pharisees came to him, testing him, and saying, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”


text:
and said, ‘For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall join to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh?’ 


text:
So that they are no more two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, don’t let man tear apart.”


text:
He said to them, “Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it has not been so. 


text:
I tell you that whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and he who marries her when she is divorced commits adultery.”


text:
His disciples said to him, “If this is the case of the man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry.”


text:
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 Kingdom of Heaven’s sake. He who is able to receive it, let him receive it.”


text:
Then little children were brought to him, that he should lay his hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them.


text:
But Jesus said, “Allow the little children, and don’t forbid them to come to me; for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to ones like these.”


text:
Behold, one came to him and said, “Good teacher, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?”


text:
He said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”


text:
He said to him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder.’ ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘You shall not offer false testimony.’ 


text:
Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”


text:
But when the young man heard the saying, he went away sad, for he was one who had great possessions.


text:
Jesus said to his disciples, “Most certainly I say to you, a rich man will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven with difficulty. 


text:
Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”


text:
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that you who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on the throne of his glory, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 


text:
Everyone who has left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive one hundred times, and will inherit eternal life. 


text:
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 


text:
To them he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. 


text:
About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ 


text:
“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ 


text:
When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ 


text:
When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 


text:
saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ 


text:
“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 


text:
Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 


text:
Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 


text:
As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,


text:
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, 


text:
and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”


text:
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him.


text:
He said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom.”


text:
But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?” They said to him, “We are able.”


text:
He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”


text:
But Jesus summoned them, and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 


text:
even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”


text:
Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”


text:
The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”


text:
Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.


text:
When they drew near to Jerusalem, and came to Bethsphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,


text:
saying to them, “Go into the village that is opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them, and bring them to me. 


text:
If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and immediately he will send them.”


text:
“Tell the daughter of Zion, behold, your King comes to you, humble, and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”


text:
A very great multitude spread their clothes on the road. Others cut branches from the trees, and spread them on the road.


text:
The multitudes who went before him, and who followed kept shouting, “Hosanna to the son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”


text:
Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all of those who sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the money changers’ tables and the seats of those who sold the doves.


text:
He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of robbers!”


text:
But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children who were crying in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the son of David!” they were indignant,


text:
and said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Did you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing babies you have perfected praise?’”


text:
Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away.


text:
Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done. 


text:
When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?”


text:
Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 


text:
The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’


text:
They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. 


text:
But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, ‘Son, go work today in my vineyard.’ 


text:
Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into the Kingdom of God before you. 


text:
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him. 


text:
“Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. 


text:
When the season for the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit. 


text:
But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’ 


text:
They told him, “He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will lease out the vineyard to other farmers, who will give him the fruit in its season.”


text:
Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. This was from the Lord. It is marvelous in our eyes?’ 


text:
“Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and will be given to a nation bringing forth its fruit. 


text:
He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it will fall, it will scatter him as dust.”


text:
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke about them.


text:
When they sought to seize him, they feared the multitudes, because they considered him to be a prophet.


text:
and sent out his servants to call those who were invited to the marriage feast, but they would not come. 


text:
Again he sent out other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “Behold, I have prepared my dinner. My cattle and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast!”’ 


text:
When the king heard that, he was angry, and sent his armies, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. 


text:
Go therefore to the intersections of the highways, and as many as you may find, invite to the marriage feast.’ 


text:
Those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together as many as they found, both bad and good. The wedding was filled with guests. 


text:
But when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man who didn’t have on wedding clothing, 


text:
and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you come in here not wearing wedding clothing?’ He was speechless. 


text:
Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’ 


text:
They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and teach the way of God in truth, no matter whom you teach, for you aren’t partial to anyone.


text:
They said to him, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”


text:
saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed for his brother.’


text:
Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no seed left his wife to his brother.


text:
For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven. 


text:
But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, 


text:
‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”


text:
But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together.


text:
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 


text:
‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit on my right hand, until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’ 


text:
No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forth.


text:
All things therefore whatever they tell you to observe, observe and do, but don’t do their works; for they say, and don’t do. 


text:
For they bind heavy burdens that are grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not lift a finger to help them. 


text:
But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad, enlarge the fringes of their garments, 


text:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows’ houses, and as a pretense you make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. 


text:
“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men; for you don’t enter in yourselves, neither do you allow those who are entering in to enter. 


text:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehenna as yourselves. 


text:
“Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.’ 


text:
‘Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?’ 


text:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone. 


text:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and unrighteousness. 


text:
You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the platter, that its outside may become clean also. 


text:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitened tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. 


text:
Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 


text:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous, 


text:
and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn’t have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 


text:
Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify; and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; 


text:
that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the altar. 


text:
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I would have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not! 


text:
For I tell you, you will not see me from now on, until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’”


text:
Jesus went out from the temple, and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple.


text:
But he answered them, “You see all of these things, don’t you? Most certainly I tell you, there will not be left here one stone on another, that will not be thrown down.”


text:
As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?”


text:
You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. 


text:
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. 


text:
Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake. 


text:
This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 


text:
“When, therefore, you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 


text:
for then there will be great oppression, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be. 


text:
Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the sake of the chosen ones, those days will be shortened. 


text:
For there will arise false christs, and false prophets, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. 


text:
If therefore they tell you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness,’ don’t go out; ‘Behold, he is in the inner rooms,’ don’t believe it. 


text:
For as the lightning flashes from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 


text:
But immediately after the oppression of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken; 


text:
and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 


text:
He will send out his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other. 


text:
“Now from the fig tree learn this parable. When its branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things are accomplished. 


text:
For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, 


text:
and they didn’t know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 


text:
But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what watch of the night the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 


text:
“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his lord has set over his household, to give them their food in due season? 


text:
the lord of that servant will come in a day when he doesn’t expect it, and in an hour when he doesn’t know it, 


text:
and will cut him in pieces, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.


text:
“Then the Kingdom of Heaven will be like ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went out to meet the bridegroom. 


text:
But the wise answered, saying, ‘What if there isn’t enough for us and you? You go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 


text:
While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. 


text:
“For it is like a man, going into another country, who called his own servants, and entrusted his goods to them. 


text:
To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his own ability. Then he went on his journey. 


text:
Immediately he who received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. 


text:
He who received the five talents came and brought another five talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Behold, I have gained another five talents besides them.’ 


text:
“His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things, I will set you over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ 


text:
“He also who got the two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Behold, I have gained another two talents besides them.’ 


text:
“He also who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you that you are a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter. 


text:
“But his lord answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I didn’t sow, and gather where I didn’t scatter. 


text:
You ought therefore to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back my own with interest. 


text:
For to everyone who has will be given, and he will have abundance, but from him who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away. 


text:
Throw out the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 


text:
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 


text:
Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 


text:
Then the King will tell those on his right hand, ‘Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 


text:
for I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. 


text:
I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me.’ 


text:
“Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, and feed you; or thirsty, and give you a drink? 


text:
“The King will answer them, ‘Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ 


text:
Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels; 


text:
I was a stranger, and you didn’t take me in; naked, and you didn’t clothe me; sick, and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ 


text:
“Then they will also answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn’t help you?’ 


text:
“Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Most certainly I tell you, inasmuch as you didn’t do it to one of the least of these, you didn’t do it to me.’ 


text:
“You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”


text:
Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas.


text:
a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table.


text:
However, knowing this, Jesus said to them, “Why do you trouble the woman? Because she has done a good work for me. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of as a memorial of her.”


text:
and said, “What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?” They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.


text:
Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?”


text:
He said, “Go into the city to a certain person, and tell him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’”


text:
The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”


text:
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”


text:
But I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father’s Kingdom.”


text:
Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ 


text:
But Peter answered him, “Even if all will be made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble.”


text:
Jesus said to him, “Most certainly I tell you that tonight, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.”


text:
Peter said to him, “Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you.” All of the disciples also said likewise.


text:
Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go there and pray.”


text:
He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled.


text:
Then he said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch with me.”


text:
He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire.”


text:
He came to the disciples, and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What, couldn’t you watch with me for one hour? 


text:
Watch and pray, that you don’t enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”


text:
Again, a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, “My Father, if this cup can’t pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done.”


text:
Then he came to his disciples, and said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 


text:
While he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priest and elders of the people.


text:
Jesus said to him, “Friend, why are you here?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.


text:
Behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and struck off his ear.


text:
Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword. 


text:
Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels? 


text:
In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, “Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me. 


text:
But all this has happened, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him, and fled.


text:
Those who had taken Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together.


text:
But Peter followed him from a distance, to the court of the high priest, and entered in and sat with the officers, to see the end.


text:
Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death;


text:
and they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward,


text:
The high priest stood up, and said to him, “Have you no answer? What is this that these testify against you?”


text:
But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, “I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.”


text:
Jesus said to him, “You have said it. Nevertheless, I tell you, after this you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of the sky.”


text:
Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy.


text:
Now Peter was sitting outside in the court, and a maid came to him, saying, “You were also with Jesus, the Galilean!”


text:
When he had gone out onto the porch, someone else saw him, and said to those who were there, “This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth.”


text:
After a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, “Surely you are also one of them, for your speech makes you known.”


text:
Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said to him, “Before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” He went out and wept bitterly.


text:
Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:


text:
Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that Jesus was condemned, felt remorse, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,


text:
saying, “I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? You see to it.”


text:
The chief priests took the pieces of silver, and said, “It’s not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood.”


text:
Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him upon whom a price had been set, whom some of the children of Israel priced,


text:
Now Jesus stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus said to him, “So you say.”


text:
Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the multitude one prisoner, whom they desired.


text:
When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus, who is called Christ?”


text:
While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.”


text:
Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.


text:
But the governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!”


text:
Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do to Jesus, who is called Christ?” They all said to him, “Let him be crucified!”


text:
But the governor said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they cried out exceedingly, saying, “Let him be crucified!”


text:
So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this righteous person. You see to it.”


text:
Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the Praetorium, and gathered the whole garrison together against him.


text:
They braided a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and a reed in his right hand; and they kneeled down before him, and mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!”


text:
When they had mocked him, they took the robe off of him, and put his clothes on him, and led him away to crucify him.


text:
As they came out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, and they compelled him to go with them, that he might carry his cross.


text:
They set up over his head the accusation against him written, “THIS IS JESUS, THE KING OF THE JEWS.”


text:
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!”


text:
“He saved others, but he can’t save himself. If he is the King of Israel, let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him.


text:
About the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lima sabachthani?” That is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


text:
Immediately one of them ran, and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him a drink.


text:
Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.


text:
and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many.


text:
Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God.”


text:
Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.


text:
When evening had come, a rich man from Arimathaea, named Joseph, who himself was also Jesus’ disciple came.


text:
and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut out in the rock, and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb, and departed.


text:
Now on the next day, which was the day after the Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together to Pilate,


text:
saying, “Sir, we remember what that deceiver said while he was still alive: ‘After three days I will rise again.’


text:
Command therefore that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest perhaps his disciples come at night and steal him away, and tell the people, ‘He is risen from the dead;’ and the last deception will be worse than the first.”


text:
Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.


text:
Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.


text:
The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.


text:
Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.”


text:
As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!” They came and took hold of his feet, and worshiped him.


text:
Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”


text:
Now while they were going, behold, some of the guards came into the city, and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.


text:
When they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave a large amount of silver to the soldiers,


text:
So they took the money and did as they were told. This saying was spread abroad among the Jews, and continues until this day.


text:
Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. 


text:
Go, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 


text:
teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. 


text:
As it is written in the prophets, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.


text:
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord! Make his paths straight!’”


text:
John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching the baptism of repentance for forgiveness of sins.


text:
All the country of Judea and all those of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan river, confessing their sins.


text:
John was clothed with camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.


text:
He preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the thong of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and loosen.


text:
It happened in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized by John in the Jordan.


text:
Immediately coming up from the water, he saw the heavens parting, and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.


text:
He was there in the wilderness forty days tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals; and the angels were serving him.


text:
Now after John was taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the Good News of the Kingdom of God,


text:
and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand! Repent, and believe in the Good News.”


text:
Passing along by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.


text:
Going on a little further from there, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets.


text:
Immediately he called them, and they left their father, Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.


text:
They went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught.


text:
They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as having authority, and not as the scribes.


text:
saying, “Ha! What do we have to do with you, Jesus, you Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!”


text:
They were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him!”


text:
The report of him went out immediately everywhere into all the region of Galilee and its surrounding area.


text:
Immediately, when they had come out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John.


text:
At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were possessed by demons.


text:
He healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. He didn’t allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.


text:
Early in the morning, while it was still dark, he rose up and went out, and departed into a deserted place, and prayed there.


text:
He said to them, “Let’s go elsewhere into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because I came out for this reason.”


text:
A leper came to him, begging him, kneeling down to him, and saying to him, “If you want to, you can make me clean.”


text:
Being moved with compassion, he stretched out his hand, and touched him, and said to him, “I want to. Be made clean.”


text:
and said to him, “See you say nothing to anybody, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing the things which Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”


text:
But he went out, and began to proclaim it much, and to spread about the matter, so that Jesus could no more openly enter into a city, but was outside in desert places: and they came to him from everywhere.


text:
Immediately many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even around the door; and he spoke the word to them.


text:
When they could not come near to him for the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. When they had broken it up, they let down the mat that the paralytic was lying on.


text:
Immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they so reasoned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you reason these things in your hearts? 


text:
Which is easier, to tell the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven;’ or to say, ‘Arise, and take up your bed, and walk?’ 


text:
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—


text:
He arose, and immediately took up the mat, and went out in front of them all; so that they were all amazed, and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”


text:
As he passed by, he saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he arose and followed him.


text:
It happened, that he was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners sat down with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many, and they followed him.


text:
The scribes and the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why is it that he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?”


text:
When Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”


text:
John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and they came and asked him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples don’t fast?”


text:
Jesus said to them, “Can the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they can’t fast. 


text:
But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then will they fast in that day. 


text:
No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, or else the patch shrinks and the new tears away from the old, and a worse hole is made. 


text:
No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine pours out, and the skins will be destroyed; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins.”


text:
It happened that he was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain.


text:
He said to them, “Did you never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry—he, and those who were with him? 


text:
How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?”


text:
He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?” But they were silent.


text:
When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other.


text:
The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.


text:
Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, from Judea,


text:
from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him.


text:
He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn’t press on him.


text:
The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, “You are the Son of God!”


text:
James the son of Zebedee; John, the brother of James, and he surnamed them Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder;


text:
Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot;


text:
The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons.”


text:
But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme; 


text:
but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”


text:
A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, “Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you.”


text:
Again he began to teach by the seaside. A great multitude was gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat in the sea, and sat down. All the multitude were on the land by the sea.


text:
Others fell on the rocky ground, where it had little soil, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of soil. 


text:
Others fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. Some brought forth thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times as much.”


text:
He said to them, “To you is given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, all things are done in parables, 


text:
that ‘seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest perhaps they should turn again, and their sins should be forgiven them.’”


text:
The ones by the road are the ones where the word is sown; and when they have heard, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which has been sown in them. 


text:
These in the same way are those who are sown on the rocky places, who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with joy. 


text:
They have no root in themselves, but are short-lived. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they stumble. 


text:
and the cares of this age, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 


text:
Those which were sown on the good ground are those who hear the word, and accept it, and bear fruit, some thirty times, some sixty times, and some one hundred times.”


text:
He said to them, “Is the lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn’t it put on a stand? 


text:
For there is nothing hidden, except that it should be made known; neither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. 


text:
He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. With whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you who hear. 


text:
For whoever has, to him will more be given, and he who doesn’t have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.”


text:
and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow, he doesn’t know how. 


text:
It’s like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, though it is less than all the seeds that are on the earth, 


text:
yet when it is sown, grows up, and becomes greater than all the herbs, and puts out great branches, so that the birds of the sky can lodge under its shadow.”


text:
Without a parable he didn’t speak to them; but privately to his own disciples he explained everything.


text:
Leaving the multitude, they took him with them, even as he was, in the boat. Other small boats were also with him.


text:
He himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him up, and told him, “Teacher, don’t you care that we are dying?”


text:
He awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” The wind ceased, and there was a great calm.


text:
They were greatly afraid, and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”


text:
When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs.


text:
because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him.


text:
Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.


text:
and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.”


text:
At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea.


text:
Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.


text:
They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.


text:
Those who saw it declared to them how it happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs.


text:
As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.


text:
He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.”


text:
He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.


text:
When Jesus had crossed back over in the boat to the other side, a great multitude was gathered to him; and he was by the sea.


text:
Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet,


text:
and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live.”


text:
and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse,


text:
Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.


text:
Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”


text:
His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”


text:
But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.


text:
He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”


text:
While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”


text:
But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.”


text:
When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.”


text:
They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying.


text:
Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha cumi!” which means, being interpreted, “Girl, I tell you, get up!”


text:
Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement.


text:
He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.


text:
When the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing him were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things?” and, “What is the wisdom that is given to this man, that such mighty works come about by his hands?


text:
Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judah, and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” They were offended at him.


text:
Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and among his own relatives, and in his own house.”


text:
He could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people, and healed them.


text:
He called to himself the twelve, and began to send them out two by two; and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits.


text:
He commanded them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only: no bread, no wallet, no money in their purse,


text:
Whoever will not receive you nor hear you, as you depart from there, shake off the dust that is under your feet for a testimony against them. Assuredly, I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”


text:
King Herod heard this, for his name had become known, and he said, “John the Baptizer has risen from the dead, and therefore these powers are at work in him.”


text:
For Herod himself had sent out and arrested John, and bound him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, for he had married her.


text:
for Herod feared John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and kept him safe. When he heard him, he did many things, and he heard him gladly.


text:
Then a convenient day came, that Herod on his birthday made a supper for his nobles, the high officers, and the chief men of Galilee.


text:
When the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and those sitting with him. The king said to the young lady, “Ask me whatever you want, and I will give it to you.”


text:
She went out, and said to her mother, “What shall I ask?” She said, “The head of John the Baptizer.”


text:
She came in immediately with haste to the king, and asked, “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptizer on a platter.”


text:
The king was exceedingly sorry, but for the sake of his oaths, and of his dinner guests, he didn’t wish to refuse her.


text:
Immediately the king sent out a soldier of his guard, and commanded to bring John’s head, and he went and beheaded him in the prison,


text:
and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the young lady; and the young lady gave it to her mother.


text:
The apostles gathered themselves together to Jesus, and they told him all things, whatever they had done, and whatever they had taught.


text:
He said to them, “You come apart into a deserted place, and rest awhile.” For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.


text:
They saw them going, and many recognized him and ran there on foot from all the cities. They arrived before them and came together to him.


text:
Jesus came out, saw a great multitude, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he began to teach them many things.


text:
When it was late in the day, his disciples came to him, and said, “This place is deserted, and it is late in the day.


text:
Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages, and buy themselves bread, for they have nothing to eat.”


text:
But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” They asked him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread, and give them something to eat?”


text:
He said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go see.” When they knew, they said, “Five, and two fish.”


text:
He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves, and he gave to his disciples to set before them, and he divided the two fish among them all.


text:
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat, and to go ahead to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he himself sent the multitude away.


text:
Seeing them distressed in rowing, for the wind was contrary to them, about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea, and he would have passed by them,


text:
for they all saw him, and were troubled. But he immediately spoke with them, and said to them, “Cheer up! It is I! Don’t be afraid.”


text:
He got into the boat with them; and the wind ceased, and they were very amazed among themselves, and marveled;


text:
and ran around that whole region, and began to bring those who were sick, on their mats, to where they heard he was.


text:
Wherever he entered, into villages, or into cities, or into the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch just the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched him were made well.


text:
Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is, unwashed, hands, they found fault.


text:
(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders.


text:
They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace, unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things, which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.)


text:
The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?”


text:
He answered them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 


text:
“For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”


text:
He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 


text:
For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 


text:
But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban, that is to say, given to God;”’ 


text:
making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”


text:
There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man. 


text:
When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable.


text:
He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him, 


text:
because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, thus purifying all foods?”


text:
For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 


text:
From there he arose, and went away into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He entered into a house, and didn’t want anyone to know it, but he couldn’t escape notice.


text:
For a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit, having heard of him, came and fell down at his feet.


text:
Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. She begged him that he would cast the demon out of her daughter.


text:
But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not appropriate to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”


text:
She went away to her house, and found the child having been laid on the bed, with the demon gone out.


text:
Again he departed from the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and came to the sea of Galilee, through the midst of the region of Decapolis.


text:
They brought to him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. They begged him to lay his hand on him.


text:
He took him aside from the multitude, privately, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat, and touched his tongue.


text:
Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was released, and he spoke clearly.


text:
He commanded them that they should tell no one, but the more he commanded them, so much the more widely they proclaimed it.


text:
They were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes even the deaf hear, and the mute speak!”


text:
In those days, when there was a very great multitude, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to himself, and said to them,


text:
“I have compassion on the multitude, because they have stayed with me now three days, and have nothing to eat. 


text:
If I send them away fasting to their home, they will faint on the way, for some of them have come a long way.”


text:
His disciples answered him, “From where could one satisfy these people with bread here in a deserted place?”


text:
He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground, and he took the seven loaves. Having given thanks, he broke them, and gave them to his disciples to serve, and they served the multitude.


text:
The Pharisees came out and began to question him, seeking from him a sign from heaven, and testing him.


text:
He sighed deeply in his spirit, and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Most certainly I tell you, no sign will be given to this generation.”


text:
Jesus, perceiving it, said to them, “Why do you reason that it’s because you have no bread? Don’t you perceive yet, neither understand? Is your heart still hardened? 


text:
When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Twelve.”


text:
“When the seven loaves fed the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They told him, “Seven.”


text:
He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything.


text:
Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He looked intently, and was restored, and saw everyone clearly.


text:
He sent him away to his house, saying, “Don’t enter into the village, nor tell anyone in the village.”


text:
Jesus went out, with his disciples, into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”


text:
He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.


text:
But he, turning around, and seeing his disciples, rebuked Peter, and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you have in mind not the things of God, but the things of men.”


text:
He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 


text:
For whoever wants to save his life will lose it; and whoever will lose his life for my sake and the sake of the Good News will save it. 


text:
For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man also will be ashamed of him, when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”


text:
He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power.”


text:
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them.


text:
His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.


text:
Peter answered Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”


text:
A cloud came, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”


text:
As they were coming down from the mountain, he commanded them that they should tell no one what things they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.


text:
He said to them, “Elijah indeed comes first, and restores all things. How is it written about the Son of Man, that he should suffer many things and be despised? 


text:
But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they have also done to him whatever they wanted to, even as it is written about him.”


text:
Immediately all the multitude, when they saw him, were greatly amazed, and running to him greeted him.


text:
and wherever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth, and wastes away. I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they weren’t able.”


text:
He answered him, “Unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to me.”


text:
They brought him to him, and when he saw him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground, wallowing and foaming at the mouth.


text:
Often it has cast him both into the fire and into the water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us, and help us.”


text:
When Jesus saw that a multitude came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to him, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter him again!”


text:
Having cried out, and convulsed greatly, it came out of him. The boy became like one dead; so much that most of them said, “He is dead.”


text:
For he was teaching his disciples, and said to them, “The Son of Man is being handed over to the hands of men, and they will kill him; and when he is killed, on the third day he will rise again.”


text:
He came to Capernaum, and when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you arguing among yourselves on the way?”


text:
He sat down, and called the twelve; and he said to them, “If any man wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.”


text:
“Whoever receives one such little child in my name, receives me, and whoever receives me, doesn’t receive me, but him who sent me.”


text:
John said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone who doesn’t follow us casting out demons in your name; and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow us.”


text:
But Jesus said, “Don’t forbid him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name, and be able quickly to speak evil of me. 


text:
For whoever will give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you are Christ’s, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward. 


text:
Whoever will cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if he were thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around his neck. 


text:
If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, 


text:
If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame, rather than having your two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the fire that will never be quenched—


text:
If your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out. It is better for you to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, 


text:
Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”


text:
He arose from there and came into the borders of Judea and beyond the Jordan. Multitudes came together to him again. As he usually did, he was again teaching them.


text:
They were bringing to him little children, that he should touch them, but the disciples rebuked those who were bringing them.


text:
But when Jesus saw it, he was moved with indignation, and said to them, “Allow the little children to come to me! Don’t forbid them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, whoever will not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child, he will in no way enter into it.”


text:
As he was going out into the way, one ran to him, knelt before him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?”


text:
You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not give false testimony,’ ‘Do not defraud,’ ‘Honor your father and mother.’”


text:
Jesus looking at him loved him, and said to him, “One thing you lack. Go, sell whatever you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me, taking up the cross.”


text:
But his face fell at that saying, and he went away sorrowful, for he was one who had great possessions.


text:
Jesus looked around, and said to his disciples, “How difficult it is for those who have riches to enter into the Kingdom of God!”


text:
The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into the Kingdom of God! 


text:
It is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.”


text:
Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”


text:
Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, there is no one who has left house, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or land, for my sake, and for the sake of the Good News, 


text:
but he will receive one hundred times more now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and land, with persecutions; and in the age to come eternal life. 


text:
They were on the way, going up to Jerusalem; and Jesus was going in front of them, and they were amazed; and those who followed were afraid. He again took the twelve, and began to tell them the things that were going to happen to him.


text:
“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death, and will deliver him to the Gentiles. 


text:
James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came near to him, saying, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we will ask.”


text:
They said to him, “Grant to us that we may sit, one at your right hand, and one at your left hand, in your glory.”


text:
But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”


text:
They said to him, “We are able.” Jesus said to them, “You shall indeed drink the cup that I drink, and you shall be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; 


text:
but to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but for whom it has been prepared.”


text:
Jesus summoned them, and said to them, “You know that they who are recognized as rulers over the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 


text:
But it shall not be so among you, but whoever wants to become great among you shall be your servant. 


text:
For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”


text:
They came to Jericho. As he went out from Jericho, with his disciples and a great multitude, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, was sitting by the road.


text:
When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out, and say, “Jesus, you son of David, have mercy on me!”


text:
Many rebuked him, that he should be quiet, but he cried out much more, “You son of David, have mercy on me!”


text:
Jesus stood still, and said, “Call him.” They called the blind man, saying to him, “Cheer up! Get up. He is calling you!”


text:
Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabboni, that I may see again.”


text:
Jesus said to him, “Go your way. Your faith has made you well.” Immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus in the way.


text:
When they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples,


text:
and said to them, “Go your way into the village that is opposite you. Immediately as you enter into it, you will find a young donkey tied, on which no one has sat. Untie him, and bring him. 


text:
If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs him;’ and immediately he will send him back here.”


text:
They went away, and found a young donkey tied at the door outside in the open street, and they untied him.


text:
Many spread their garments on the way, and others were cutting down branches from the trees, and spreading them on the road.


text:
Those who went in front, and those who followed, cried out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!


text:
Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is coming in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”


text:
Jesus entered into the temple in Jerusalem. When he had looked around at everything, it being now evening, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.


text:
Seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came to see if perhaps he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.


text:
They came to Jerusalem, and Jesus entered into the temple, and began to throw out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those who sold the doves.


text:
He taught, saying to them, “Isn’t it written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all the nations?’ But you have made it a den of robbers!”


text:
The chief priests and the scribes heard it, and sought how they might destroy him. For they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching.


text:
For most certainly I tell you, whoever may tell this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and doesn’t doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is happening; he shall have whatever he says. 


text:
Therefore I tell you, all things whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received them, and you shall have them. 


text:
Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions. 


text:
They came again to Jerusalem, and as he was walking in the temple, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders came to him,


text:
and they began saying to him, “By what authority do you do these things? Or who gave you this authority to do these things?”


text:
Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question. Answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things. 


text:
They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we should say, ‘From heaven;’ he will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’


text:
They answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Jesus said to them, “Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.”


text:
He began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a pit for the winepress, built a tower, rented it out to a farmer, and went into another country. 


text:
When it was time, he sent a servant to the farmer to get from the farmer his share of the fruit of the vineyard. 


text:
Again, he sent another servant to them; and they threw stones at him, wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully treated. 


text:
Therefore still having one, his beloved son, he sent him last to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 


text:
But those farmers said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.’ 


text:
What therefore will the lord of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the farmers, and will give the vineyard to others. 


text:
Haven’t you even read this Scripture: ‘The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner. 


text:
They tried to seize him, but they feared the multitude; for they perceived that he spoke the parable against them. They left him, and went away.


text:
When they had come, they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you are honest, and don’t defer to anyone; for you aren’t partial to anyone, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?


text:
Shall we give, or shall we not give?” But he, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, “Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius, that I may see it.”


text:
They brought it. He said to them, “Whose is this image and inscription?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.”


text:
Jesus answered them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” They marveled greatly at him.


text:
“Teacher, Moses wrote to us, ‘If a man’s brother dies, and leaves a wife behind him, and leaves no children, that his brother should take his wife, and raise up offspring for his brother.’


text:
In the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be of them? For the seven had her as a wife.”


text:
Jesus answered them, “Isn’t this because you are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God? 


text:
For when they will rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 


text:
But about the dead, that they are raised; haven’t you read in the book of Moses, about the Bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 


text:
One of the scribes came, and heard them questioning together. Knowing that he had answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the greatest of all?”


text:
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 


text:
The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”


text:
The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he,


text:
and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”


text:
When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” No one dared ask him any question after that.


text:
Jesus responded, as he taught in the temple, “How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 


text:
For David himself said in the Holy Spirit, ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies the footstool of your feet.”’ 


text:
Therefore David himself calls him Lord, so how can he be his son?” The common people heard him gladly.


text:
In his teaching he said to them, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces, 


text:
those who devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater condemnation.”


text:
Jesus sat down opposite the treasury, and saw how the multitude cast money into the treasury. Many who were rich cast in much.


text:
He called his disciples to himself, and said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, this poor widow gave more than all those who are giving into the treasury, 


text:
for they all gave out of their abundance, but she, out of her poverty, gave all that she had to live on.”


text:
As he went out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, see what kind of stones and what kind of buildings!”


text:
Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone on another, which will not be thrown down.”


text:
As he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,


text:
“Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign that these things are all about to be fulfilled?”


text:
“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, don’t be troubled. For those must happen, but the end is not yet. 


text:
For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places. There will be famines and troubles. These things are the beginning of birth pains. 


text:
But watch yourselves, for they will deliver you up to councils. You will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them. 


text:
When they lead you away and deliver you up, don’t be anxious beforehand, or premeditate what you will say, but say whatever will be given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 


text:
You will be hated by all men for my name’s sake, but he who endures to the end, the same will be saved. 


text:
But when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, 


text:
For in those days there will be oppression, such as there has not been the like from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, and never will be. 


text:
Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved; but for the sake of the chosen ones, whom he picked out, he shortened the days. 


text:
For there will arise false christs and false prophets, and will show signs and wonders, that they may lead astray, if possible, even the chosen ones. 


text:
But in those days, after that oppression, the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, 


text:
Then he will send out his angels, and will gather together his chosen ones from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky. 


text:
“Now from the fig tree, learn this parable. When the branch has now become tender, and puts forth its leaves, you know that the summer is near; 


text:
But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 


text:
“It is like a man, traveling to another country, having left his house, and given authority to his servants, and to each one his work, and also commanded the doorkeeper to keep watch. 


text:
Watch therefore, for you don’t know when the lord of the house is coming, whether at evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning; 


text:
It was now two days before the feast of the Passover and the unleavened bread, and the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might seize him by deception, and kill him.


text:
While he was at Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster jar of ointment of pure nard—very costly. She broke the jar, and poured it over his head.


text:
But there were some who were indignant among themselves, saying, “Why has this ointment been wasted?


text:
For this might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor.” They grumbled against her.


text:
For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want to, you can do them good; but you will not always have me. 


text:
Most certainly I tell you, wherever this Good News may be preached throughout the whole world, that which this woman has done will also be spoken of for a memorial of her.”


text:
Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests, that he might deliver him to them.


text:
They, when they heard it, were glad, and promised to give him money. He sought how he might conveniently deliver him.


text:
On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover, his disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare that you may eat the Passover?”


text:
He sent two of his disciples, and said to them, “Go into the city, and there you will meet a man carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him, 


text:
and wherever he enters in, tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says, “Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ 


text:
His disciples went out, and came into the city, and found things as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover.


text:
As they sat and were eating, Jesus said, “Most certainly I tell you, one of you will betray me—he who eats with me.”


text:
They began to be sorrowful, and to ask him one by one, “Surely not I?” And another said, “Surely not I?”


text:
For the Son of Man goes, even as it is written about him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.”


text:
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had blessed, he broke it, and gave to them, and said, “Take, eat. This is my body.”


text:
Most certainly I tell you, I will no more drink of the fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it anew in the Kingdom of God.”


text:
Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 


text:
Jesus said to him, “Most certainly I tell you, that you today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.”


text:
But he spoke all the more, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” They all said the same thing.


text:
They came to a place which was named Gethsemane. He said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I pray.”


text:
He went forward a little, and fell on the ground, and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass away from him.


text:
He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”


text:
He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you watch one hour? 


text:
Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”


text:
Again he returned, and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy, and they didn’t know what to answer him.


text:
He came the third time, and said to them, “Sleep on now, and take your rest. It is enough. The hour has come. Behold, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 


text:
Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came—and with him a multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.


text:
Now he who betrayed him had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I will kiss, that is he. Seize him, and lead him away safely.”


text:
But a certain one of those who stood by drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.


text:
I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and you didn’t arrest me. But this is so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled.”


text:
A certain young man followed him, having a linen cloth thrown around himself, over his naked body. The young men grabbed him,


text:
They led Jesus away to the high priest. All the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes came together with him.


text:
Peter had followed him from a distance, until he came into the court of the high priest. He was sitting with the officers, and warming himself in the light of the fire.


text:
Now the chief priests and the whole council sought witnesses against Jesus to put him to death, and found none.


text:
“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’”


text:
The high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is it which these testify against you?”


text:
But he stayed quiet, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”


text:
Jesus said, “I am. You will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of the sky.”


text:
Some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to beat him with fists, and to tell him, “Prophesy!” The officers struck him with the palms of their hands.


text:
and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him, and said, “You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus!”


text:
But he denied it, saying, “I neither know, nor understand what you are saying.” He went out on the porch, and the rooster crowed.


text:
But he again denied it. After a little while again those who stood by said to Peter, “You truly are one of them, for you are a Galilean, and your speech shows it.”


text:
The rooster crowed the second time. Peter remembered the word, how that Jesus said to him, “Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” When he thought about that, he wept.


text:
Immediately in the morning the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation, and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him up to Pilate.


text:
There was one called Barabbas, bound with those who had made insurrection, men who in the insurrection had committed murder.


text:
Pilate, wishing to please the multitude, released Barabbas to them, and handed over Jesus, when he had flogged him, to be crucified.


text:
The soldiers led him away within the court, which is the Praetorium; and they called together the whole cohort.


text:
When they had mocked him, they took the purple off of him, and put his own garments on him. They led him out to crucify him.


text:
They compelled one passing by, coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to go with them, that he might bear his cross.


text:
Those who passed by blasphemed him, wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who destroy the temple, and build it in three days,


text:
Likewise, also the chief priests mocking among themselves with the scribes said, “He saved others. He can’t save himself.


text:
Let the Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, that we may see and believe him.” Those who were crucified with him insulted him.


text:
At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”


text:
One ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Let him be. Let’s see whether Elijah comes to take him down.”


text:
When the centurion, who stood by opposite him, saw that he cried out like this and breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”


text:
There were also women watching from afar, among whom were both Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the less and of Joses, and Salome;


text:
who, when he was in Galilee, followed him, and served him; and many other women who came up with him to Jerusalem.


text:
Joseph of Arimathaea, a prominent council member who also himself was looking for the Kingdom of God, came. He boldly went in to Pilate, and asked for Jesus’ body.


text:
Pilate marveled if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead long.


text:
He bought a linen cloth, and taking him down, wound him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb which had been cut out of a rock. He rolled a stone against the door of the tomb.


text:
When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him.


text:
Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were amazed.


text:
He said to them, “Don’t be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold, the place where they laid him!


text:
But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’”


text:
They went out, and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had come on them. They said nothing to anyone; for they were afraid.


text:
Now when he had risen early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.


text:
After these things he was revealed in another form to two of them, as they walked, on their way into the country.


text:
Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they didn’t believe those who had seen him after he had risen.


text:
These signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new languages; 


text:
they will take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it will in no way hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”


text:
So then the Lord, after he had spoken to them, was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.


text:
They went out, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word by the signs that followed. Amen. 


text:
Since many have undertaken to set in order a narrative concerning those matters which have been fulfilled among us,


text:
even as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word delivered them to us,


text:
it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus;


text:
There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the priestly division of Abijah. He had a wife of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.


text:
They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord.


text:
according to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to enter into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.


text:
But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Zacharias, because your request has been heard, and your wife, Elizabeth, will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.


text:
For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and he will drink no wine nor strong drink. He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.


text:
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah, ‘to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,’ and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to prepare a people prepared for the Lord.”


text:
Zacharias said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.”


text:
The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, and to bring you this good news.


text:
Behold, you will be silent and not able to speak, until the day that these things will happen, because you didn’t believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”


text:
When he came out, he could not speak to them, and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple. He continued making signs to them, and remained mute.


text:
“Thus has the Lord done to me in the days in which he looked at me, to take away my reproach among men.”


text:
to a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.


text:
Having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, you highly favored one! The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women!”


text:
But when she saw him, she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered what kind of salutation this might be.


text:
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,


text:
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore also the holy one who is born from you will be called the Son of God.


text:
Behold, Elizabeth, your relative, also has conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.


text:
Mary said, “Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it to me according to your word.” The angel departed from her.


text:
It happened, when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, that the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.


text:
She called out with a loud voice, and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!


text:
Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of the things which have been spoken to her from the Lord!”


text:
for he has looked at the humble state of his handmaid. For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed.


text:
Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had magnified his mercy towards her, and they rejoiced with her.


text:
It happened on the eighth day, that they came to circumcise the child; and they would have called him Zacharias, after the name of the father.


text:
Fear came on all who lived around them, and all these sayings were talked about throughout all the hill country of Judea.


text:
All who heard them laid them up in their heart, saying, “What then will this child be?” The hand of the Lord was with him.


text:
to grant to us that we, being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, should serve him without fear,


text:
And you, child, will be called a prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways,


text:
to shine on those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death; to guide our feet into the way of peace.”


text:
The child was growing, and becoming strong in spirit, and was in the desert until the day of his public appearance to Israel.


text:
Now it happened in those days, that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.


text:
Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David;


text:
She brought forth her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a feeding trough, because there was no room for them in the inn.


text:
There were shepherds in the same country staying in the field, and keeping watch by night over their flock.


text:
Behold, an angel of the Lord stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.


text:
The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be to all the people.


text:
This is the sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a feeding trough.”


text:
It happened, when the angels went away from them into the sky, that the shepherds said one to another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem, now, and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”


text:
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, just as it was told them.


text:
When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.


text:
When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord


text:
(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”),


text:
and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”


text:
Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.


text:
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.


text:
He came in the Spirit into the temple. When the parents brought in the child, Jesus, that they might do concerning him according to the custom of the law,


text:
and Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary, his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which is spoken against.


text:
There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher (she was of a great age, having lived with a husband seven years from her virginity,


text:
and she had been a widow for about eighty-four years), who didn’t depart from the temple, worshipping with fastings and petitions night and day.


text:
Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.


text:
When they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth.


text:
The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.


text:
and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. Joseph and his mother didn’t know it,


text:
but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day’s journey, and they looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances.


text:
It happened after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them, and asking them questions.


text:
When they saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us this way? Behold, your father and I were anxiously looking for you.”


text:
He said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?”


text:
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth. He was subject to them, and his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.


text:
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,


text:
in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zacharias, in the wilderness.


text:
He came into all the region around the Jordan, preaching the baptism of repentance for remission of sins.


text:
As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make ready the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.


text:
Every valley will be filled. Every mountain and hill will be brought low. The crooked will become straight, and the rough ways smooth.


text:
He said therefore to the multitudes who went out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?


text:
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance, and don’t begin to say among yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father;’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones!


text:
Even now the axe also lies at the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that doesn’t bring forth good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire.”


text:
He answered them, “He who has two coats, let him give to him who has none. He who has food, let him do likewise.”


text:
Soldiers also asked him, saying, “What about us? What must we do?” He said to them, “Extort from no one by violence, neither accuse anyone wrongfully. Be content with your wages.”


text:
As the people were in expectation, and all men reasoned in their hearts concerning John, whether perhaps he was the Christ,


text:
John answered them all, “I indeed baptize you with water, but he comes who is mightier than I, the latchet of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen. He will baptize you in the Holy Spirit and fire,


text:
whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor, and will gather the wheat into his barn; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”


text:
but Herod the tetrarch, being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother’s wife, and for all the evil things which Herod had done,


text:
Now it happened, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened,


text:
and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying “You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.”


text:
Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,


text:
the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,


text:
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness


text:
for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.


text:
Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’”


text:
The devil, leading him up on a high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.


text:
The devil said to him, “I will give you all this authority, and their glory, for it has been delivered to me; and I give it to whomever I want.


text:
Jesus answered him, “Get behind me Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”


text:
He led him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down from here,


text:
Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area.


text:
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.


text:
The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written,


text:
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, 


text:
He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him.


text:
All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”


text:
He said to them, “Doubtless you will tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’”


text:
But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 


text:
Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 


text:
There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”


text:
They rose up, threw him out of the city, and led him to the brow of the hill that their city was built on, that they might throw him off the cliff.


text:
In the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,


text:
saying, “Ah! what have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know you who you are: the Holy One of God!”


text:
Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” When the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.


text:
Amazement came on all, and they spoke together, one with another, saying, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!”


text:
He rose up from the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was afflicted with a great fever, and they begged him for her.


text:
When the sun was setting, all those who had any sick with various diseases brought them to him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.


text:
Demons also came out from many, crying out, and saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Rebuking them, he didn’t allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.


text:
When it was day, he departed and went into an uninhabited place, and the multitudes looked for him, and came to him, and held on to him, so that he wouldn’t go away from them.


text:
But he said to them, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other cities also. For this reason I have been sent.”


text:
Now it happened, while the multitude pressed on him and heard the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.


text:
He saw two boats standing by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them, and were washing their nets.


text:
He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.


text:
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch.”


text:
Simon answered him, “Master, we worked all night, and took nothing; but at your word I will let down the net.”


text:
They beckoned to their partners in the other boat, that they should come and help them. They came, and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.


text:
But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord.”


text:
and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid. From now on you will be catching people alive.”


text:
It happened, while he was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man full of leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face, and begged him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”


text:
He stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately the leprosy left him.


text:
He commanded him to tell no one, “But go your way, and show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing according to what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them.”


text:
But the report concerning him spread much more, and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by him of their infirmities.


text:
It happened on one of those days, that he was teaching; and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every village of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal them.


text:
Not finding a way to bring him in because of the multitude, they went up to the housetop, and let him down through the tiles with his cot into the midst before Jesus.


text:
The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this that speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”


text:
But 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, arise, and take up your cot, and go to your house.”


text:
Immediately he rose up before them, and took up that which he was laying on, and departed to his house, glorifying God.


text:
Amazement took hold on all, and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today.”


text:
After these things he went out, and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax office, and said to him, “Follow me!”


text:
Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.


text:
Their scribes and the Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?”


text:
Jesus answered them, “Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do. 


text:
They said to him, “Why do John’s disciples often fast and pray, likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?”


text:
He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast, while the bridegroom is with them? 


text:
But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they will fast in those days.”


text:
He also told a parable to them. “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old garment, or else he will tear the new, and also the piece from the new will not match the old. 


text:
No one puts new wine into old wineskins, or else the new wine will burst the skins, and it will be spilled, and the skins will be destroyed. 


text:
Now it happened on the second Sabbath after the first, that he was going through the grain fields. His disciples plucked the heads of grain, and ate, rubbing them in their hands.


text:
But some of the Pharisees said to them, “Why do you do that which is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?”


text:
Jesus, answering them, said, “Haven’t you read what David did when he was hungry, he, and those who were with him; 


text:
how he entered into the house of God, and took and ate the show bread, and gave also to those who were with him, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests alone?”


text:
It also happened on another Sabbath that he entered into the synagogue and taught. There was a man there, and his right hand was withered.


text:
The scribes and the Pharisees watched him, to see whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him.


text:
But he knew their thoughts; and he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Rise up, and stand in the middle.” He arose and stood.


text:
Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you something: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?”


text:
He looked around at them all, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He did, and his hand was restored as sound as the other.


text:
It happened in these days, that he went out to the mountain to pray, and he continued all night in prayer to God.


text:
When it was day, he called his disciples, and from them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles:


text:
He came down with them, and stood on a level place, with a crowd of his disciples, and a great number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases;


text:
He lifted up his eyes to his disciples, and said, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God. 


text:
Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 


text:
Blessed are you when men shall hate you, and when they shall exclude and mock you, and throw out your name as evil, for the Son of Man’s sake. 


text:
Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven, for their fathers did the same thing to the prophets.  


text:
Woe to you, you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 


text:
To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer also the other; and from him who takes away your cloak, don’t withhold your coat also. 


text:
Give to everyone who asks you, and don’t ask him who takes away your goods to give them back again. 


text:
If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 


text:
If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 


text:
If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much. 


text:
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. 


text:
Don’t judge, and you won’t be judged. Don’t condemn, and you won’t be condemned. Set free, and you will be set free. 


text:
“Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you.”


text:
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. 


text:
Why do you see the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t consider the beam that is in your own eye? 


text:
Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck of chaff that is in your eye,’ when you yourself don’t see the beam that is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you can see clearly to remove the speck of chaff that is in your brother’s eye. 


text:
For there is no good tree that brings forth rotten fruit; nor again a rotten tree that brings forth good fruit. 


text:
For each tree is known by its own fruit. For people don’t gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. 


text:
The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings out that which is good, and the evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings out that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart, his mouth speaks. 


text:
He is like a man building a house, who dug and went deep, and laid a foundation on the rock. When a flood arose, the stream broke against that house, and could not shake it, because it was founded on the rock. 


text:
But he who hears, and doesn’t do, is like a man who built a house on the earth without a foundation, against which the stream broke, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that house was great.”


text:
When he heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and save his servant.


text:
When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to do this for him,


text:
Jesus went with them. When he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying to him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, for I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.


text:
Therefore I didn’t even think myself worthy to come to you; but say the word, and my servant will be healed.


text:
For I also am a man placed under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”


text:
When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude who followed him, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, no, not in Israel.”


text:
It happened soon afterwards, that he went to a city called Nain. Many of his disciples, along with a great multitude, went with him.


text:
Now when he drew near to the gate of the city, behold, one who was dead was carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. Many people of the city were with her.


text:
He came near and touched the coffin, and the bearers stood still. He said, “Young man, I tell you, arise!”


text:
Fear took hold of all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and, “God has visited his people!”


text:
John, calling to himself two of his disciples, sent them to Jesus, saying, “Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?”


text:
When the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptizer has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you he who comes, or should we look for another?’”


text:
In that hour he cured many of diseases and plagues and evil spirits; and to many who were blind he gave sight.


text:
Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John the things which you have seen and heard: that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. 


text:
When John’s messengers had departed, he began to tell the multitudes about John, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? 


text:
But what did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously dressed, and live delicately, are in kings’ courts. 


text:
This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’ 


text:
“For I tell you, among those who are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptizer, yet he who is least in the Kingdom of God is greater than he.”


text:
When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they declared God to be just, having been baptized with John’s baptism.


text:
But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves.


text:
They are like children who sit in the marketplace, and call one to another, saying, ‘We piped to you, and you didn’t dance. We mourned, and you didn’t weep.’ 


text:
The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man, and a drunkard; a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 


text:
One of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered into the Pharisee’s house, and sat at the table.


text:
Behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of ointment.


text:
Standing behind at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment.


text:
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would have perceived who and what kind of woman this is who touches him, that she is a sinner.”


text:
Simon answered, “He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most.” He said to him, “You have judged correctly.”


text:
Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head. 


text:
Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”


text:
Those who sat at the table with him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”


text:
It happened soon afterwards, that he went about through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of the Kingdom of God. With him were the twelve,


text:
and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;


text:
and Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others; who served them from their possessions.


text:
When a great multitude came together, and people from every city were coming to him, he spoke by a parable.


text:
“The farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the road, and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the sky devoured it. 


text:
Other fell into the good ground, and grew, and brought forth fruit one hundred times.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”


text:
He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to the rest in parables; that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’ 


text:
Those along the road are those who hear, then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved. 


text:
Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation. 


text:
That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 


text:
That in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and bring forth fruit with patience. 


text:
“No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container, or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light. 


text:
For nothing is hidden, that will not be revealed; nor anything secret, that will not be known and come to light. 


text:
Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”


text:
Now it happened on one of those days, that he entered into a boat, himself and his disciples, and he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out.


text:
But as they sailed, he fell asleep. A wind storm came down on the lake, and they were taking on dangerous amounts of water.


text:
They came to him, and awoke him, saying, “Master, master, we are dying!” He awoke, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and it was calm.


text:
He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Being afraid they marveled, saying one to another, “Who is this, then, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”


text:
When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs.


text:
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”


text:
For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bands apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert.


text:
Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. He allowed them.


text:
The demons came out from the man, and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned.


text:
When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country.


text:
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.


text:
All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. He entered into the boat, and returned.


text:
But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,


text:
“Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.


text:
It happened, when Jesus returned, that the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.


text:
Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged him to come into his house,


text:
for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him.


text:
A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any,


text:
came behind him, and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped.


text:
Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the multitudes press and jostle you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”


text:
When the woman saw that she was not hidden, she came trembling, and falling down before him declared to him in the presence of all the people the reason why she had touched him, and how she was healed immediately.


text:
While he still spoke, one from the ruler of the synagogue’s house came, saying to him, “Your daughter is dead. Don’t trouble the Teacher.”


text:
When he came to the house, he didn’t allow anyone to enter in, except Peter, John, James, the father of the child, and her mother.


text:
Her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately. He commanded that something be given to her to eat.


text:
He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.


text:
He said to them, “Take nothing for your journey—neither staffs, nor wallet, nor bread, nor money; neither have two coats apiece. 


text:
As many as don’t receive you, when you depart from that city, shake off even the dust from your feet for a testimony against them.”


text:
Now Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was done by him; and he was very perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,


text:
Herod said, “John I beheaded, but who is this, about whom I hear such things?” He sought to see him.


text:
The apostles, when they had returned, told him what things they had done. He took them, and withdrew apart to a deserted place of a city called Bethsaida.


text:
But the multitudes, perceiving it, followed him. He welcomed them, and spoke to them of the Kingdom of God, and he cured those who needed healing.


text:
The day began to wear away; and the twelve came, and said to him, “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and farms, and lodge, and get food, for we are here in a deserted place.”


text:
But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we should go and buy food for all these people.”


text:
For they were about five thousand men. He said to his disciples, “Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.”


text:
He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to the sky, he blessed them, and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the multitude.


text:
They ate, and were all filled. They gathered up twelve baskets of broken pieces that were left over.


text:
It happened, as he was praying alone, that the disciples were with him, and he asked them, “Who do the multitudes say that I am?”


text:
They answered, “‘John the Baptizer,’ but others say, ‘Elijah,’ and others, that one of the old prophets is risen again.”


text:
saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.”


text:
He said to all, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 


text:
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever will lose his life for my sake, the same will save it. 


text:
For whoever will be ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed, when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels. 


text:
But I tell you the truth: There are some of those who stand here, who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Kingdom of God.”


text:
It happened about eight days after these sayings, that he took with him Peter, John, and James, and went up onto the mountain to pray.


text:
As he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became white and dazzling.


text:
Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they were fully awake, they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him.


text:
It happened, as they were parting from him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here. Let’s make three tents: one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah,” not knowing what he said.


text:
While he said these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud.


text:
When the voice came, Jesus was found alone. They were silent, and told no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.


text:
It happened on the next day, when they had come down from the mountain, that a great multitude met him.


text:
Behold, a man from the crowd called out, saying, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.


text:
Behold, a spirit takes him, he suddenly cries out, and it convulses him so that he foams, and it hardly departs from him, bruising him severely.


text:
Jesus answered, “Faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you and bear with you? Bring your son here.”


text:
While he was still coming, the demon threw him down and convulsed him violently. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.


text:
They were all astonished at the majesty of God. But while all were marveling at all the things which Jesus did, he said to his disciples,


text:
“Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man will be delivered up into the hands of men.”


text:
But they didn’t understand this saying. It was concealed from them, that they should not perceive it, and they were afraid to ask him about this saying.


text:
and said to them, “Whoever receives this little child in my name receives me. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For whoever is least among you all, this one will be great.”


text:
John answered, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him, because he doesn’t follow with us.”


text:
It came to pass, when the days were near that he should be taken up, he intently set his face to go to Jerusalem,


text:
and sent messengers before his face. They went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, so as to prepare for him.


text:
When his disciples, James and John, saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from the sky, and destroy them, just as Elijah did?”


text:
For the Son of Man didn’t come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” They went to another village.


text:
Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”


text:
But Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead, but you go and announce the Kingdom of God.”


text:
Another also said, “I want to follow you, Lord, but first allow me to say good-bye to those who are at my house.”


text:
But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.”


text:
Now after these things, the Lord also appointed seventy others, and sent them two by two ahead of him into every city and place, where he was about to come.


text:
Then he said to them, “The harvest is indeed plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray therefore to the Lord of the harvest, that he may send out laborers into his harvest. 


text:
Remain in that same house, eating and drinking the things they give, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Don’t go from house to house. 


text:
‘Even the dust from your city that clings to us, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the Kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 


text:
“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. 


text:
Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me. Whoever rejects me rejects him who sent me.”


text:
Behold, I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. Nothing will in any way hurt you. 


text:
Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”


text:
In that same hour Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, “I thank you, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.”


text:
Turning to the disciples, he said, “All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him.”


text:
Turning to the disciples, he said privately, “Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see, 


text:
for I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.”


text:
Behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”


text:
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.”


text:
Jesus answered, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who both stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 


text:
By chance a certain priest was going down that way. When he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 


text:
In the same way a Levite also, when he came to the place, and saw him, passed by on the other side. 


text:
But a certain Samaritan, as he traveled, came where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion, 


text:
came to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 


text:
On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said to him, ‘Take care of him. Whatever you spend beyond that, I will repay you when I return.’ 


text:
It happened as they went on their way, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.


text:
But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she came up to him, and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister left me to serve alone? Ask her therefore to help me.”


text:
It happened, that when he finished praying in a certain place, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”


text:
He said to them, “When you pray, say, ‘Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. 


text:
Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’”


text:
He said to them, “Which of you, if you go to a friend at midnight, and tell him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 


