Bible

Genesis

¹In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.²The earth was without form and empty. Darkness was upon the surface of the deep. The Spirit of God was moving above the surface of the waters.

³God said, "Let there be light," and there was light.⁴God saw the light, that it was good. He divided the light from the darkness.⁵God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

⁶God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters."⁷God made the expanse and divided the waters which were under the expanse from the waters which were above the expanse. It was so.⁸God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

⁹God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together to one place, and let the dry land appear." It was so.¹⁰God called the dry land "earth," and the gathered waters he called "seas." He saw that it was good.

¹¹God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees bearing fruit whose seed is in the fruit, each according to its own kind." It was so.¹²The earth produced vegetation, plants producing seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit whose seed was in it, after their kind. God saw that it was good.¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

¹⁴God said, "Let there be lights in the sky to divide the day from the night and let them be as signs, for seasons, for days and years.¹⁵Let them be lights in the sky to give light upon the earth." It was so.

¹⁶God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also.¹⁷God set them in the sky to give light upon the earth,¹⁸to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.¹⁹And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

²⁰God said, "Let the waters be filled with great numbers of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the expanse of the sky."²¹God created the great sea creatures, as well as every living creature after its kind, creatures that move and which fill the waters everywhere, and every winged bird after its kind. God saw that it was good.

²²God blessed them, saying, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas. Let birds multiply on the earth."²³And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴God said, "Let the earth produce living creatures, each according to its own kind, livestock, creeping things, and wild animals, each according to its own kind." It was so.²⁵God made the wild animals after their kind, the livestock after their kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground after its kind. He saw that it was good.

²⁶God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."¹

²⁷God created man in his own image. In his own image he created him. Male and female he created them.

²⁸God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply. Fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

²⁹God said, "See, I have given you every plant yielding seed which is upon the surface of all the earth, and every tree with fruit which has seed in it. They will be food to you.

³⁰To every beast of the earth, to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creeps upon the earth, and to every creature that has the breath of life I have given every green plant for food." It was so.

³¹God saw everything that he had made. Behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

¹Some ancient copies have: ... over the livestock, over all the animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

¹Then the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the living things that filled them.

²On the seventh day God came to the end of his work which he had done, and so he rested on the seventh day from all his work.³God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it God rested from all his work which he had created and made.

⁴This is the account of the heavens and the earth, when they were created, on the day that Yahweh God made the earth and the heavens.

⁵No bush of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground.⁶But a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground.

⁷Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.⁸Yahweh God planted a garden eastward, in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed.

⁹Out of the ground Yahweh God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. This included the tree of life that was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.¹⁰A river went out of Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became four rivers.

¹¹The name of the first is Pishon. It is the one which flows throughout the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold.¹²The gold of that land is good. There are also bdellium and the onyx stone.

¹³The name of the second river is Gihon. This one flows throughout the whole land of Cush.¹⁴The name of the third river is Tigris, and it flows east of Ashur. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

¹⁵Yahweh God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to work it and to maintain it.¹⁶Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, "From every tree in the garden you may freely eat.¹⁷But from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you must not eat, for on the day that you eat from it, you will surely die."

¹⁸Then Yahweh God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper suitable for him."¹⁹Out of the ground Yahweh God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the sky. Then he brought them to the man to see what he would call them. Whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name.²⁰The man gave names to all the livestock, to all the birds of the sky, and to every beast of the field. But for the man himself there was found no helper suitable for him.

²¹Yahweh God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, so the man slept. Yahweh God took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh where he took the rib.²²With the rib that Yahweh God had taken from the man, he made a woman and brought her to the man.²³The man said,

"This time, this one is bone of my bones,

and flesh of my flesh.

She will be called 'woman,'

because she was taken out of man."

²⁴Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, he will be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.²⁵They were both naked, the man and his wife, but were not ashamed.

¹Now the serpent was more shrewd than any other beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You must not eat from any tree of the garden'?"²The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit from the trees of the garden,³but concerning the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God said, 'You must not eat it, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"

⁴The serpent said to the woman, "You will surely not die.⁵For God knows that the day you eat it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."⁶When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. Then she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate it.

⁷The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for their loins.⁸They heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, so the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

⁹Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?"¹⁰The man said, "I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked. So I hid myself."¹¹God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

¹²The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it."¹³Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

¹⁴Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this,

cursed are you alone among all the livestock

and all the beasts of the field.

It is on your stomach that you will go,

and it is dust that you will eat

all the days of your life.

¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman,

and between your seed and her seed.

He will bruise your head,

and you will bruise his heel."

¹⁶To the woman he said,

"I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth;

it is in pain that you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

but he will rule over you."

¹⁷To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree, concerning which I commanded you, saying, 'You may not eat from it,'

Cursed is the ground because of you;

through painful work you will eat from it

all the days of your life.

¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you,

and you will eat the plants of the field.

¹⁹By the sweat of your face

you will eat bread,

until you return to the ground,

for out of it you were taken.

For dust you are,

and to dust you will return."

²⁰The man called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all the living.²¹Yahweh God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.

²²Yahweh God said, "Now the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. So now he must not be allowed to reach out with his hand, take from the tree of life, eat it, and live forever."²³Therefore Yahweh God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he had been taken.²⁴So God drove the man out of the garden, and he placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword that turned every way, in order to guard the way to the tree of life.

¹The man knew Eve his wife and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. She said, "I have produced a man with Yahweh's help."²Then she gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a keeper of flocks, but Cain cultivated the soil.

³It came about that in the course of time Cain brought some of the fruit of the ground as an offering to Yahweh.⁴As for Abel, he brought some of the firstborn of his flock and some of the fat. Yahweh accepted Abel and his offering,⁵but Cain and his offering he did not accept. So Cain was very angry, and he scowled.

⁶Yahweh said to Cain, "Why are you angry and why are you scowling?⁷If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin crouches at the door and desires to control you, but you must rule over it."

⁸Cain spoke to Abel his brother. It came about that while they were in the fields, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.¹

⁹Then Yahweh said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?"

¹⁰Yahweh said, "What have you done? Your brother's blood is calling out to me from the ground.¹¹Now cursed are you from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.¹²When you cultivate the ground, from now on it will not yield to you its strength. A fugitive and a wanderer you will be in the earth."

¹³Cain said to Yahweh, "My punishment is greater than I can bear.¹⁴Indeed, you have driven me out this day from this ground, and I will be hidden from your face. I will be a fugitive and a wanderer in the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me."¹⁵Yahweh said to him, "If anyone kills Cain, vengeance will be taken on him sevenfold." Then Yahweh put a mark on Cain, so that if anyone found him, that person would not attack him.

¹⁶So Cain went out from the presence of Yahweh and lived in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.¹⁷Cain knew his wife and she conceived. She gave birth to Enoch. He built a city and named it after his son Enoch.

¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad. Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. Methushael became the father of Lamech.¹⁹Lamech took for himself two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other was Zillah.

²⁰Adah gave birth to Jabal. He was the father of those who live in tents and have livestock.²¹His brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of those who play the harp and pipe.²²As for Zillah, she bore Tubal-Cain, the forger of tools of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-Cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives,

"Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice;

you wives of Lamech, listen to my words.

For I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for bruising me.

²⁴If Cain is avenged seven times,

then Lamech will be avenged seventy-seven times."

²⁵Adam knew his wife again, and she bore another son. She called his name Seth and said, "God has given me another son in the place of Abel, for Cain killed him."²⁶A son was born to Seth and he called his name Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of Yahweh.

¹The best ancient copies read in this way. However, some old translations and some modern translations read Cain said to Abel his brother, "Let us go into the fields." It came about that while they were in the fields, Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.

¹This is the record of the descendants of Adam. On the day that God created mankind, he made them in his own likeness.²Male and female he created them. He blessed them and named them mankind when they were created.

³When Adam had lived 130 years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, after his image, and he called his name Seth.⁴After Adam became the father of Seth, he lived eight hundred years. He became the father of more sons and daughters.⁵Adam lived 930 years, and then he died.

⁶When Seth had lived 105 years, he became the father of Enosh.⁷After he became the father of Enosh, he lived 807 years and became the father of more sons and daughters.⁸Seth lived 912 years, and then he died.

⁹When Enosh had lived ninety years, he became the father of Kenan.¹⁰After he became the father of Kenan, Enosh lived 815 years. He became the father of more sons and daughters.¹¹Enosh lived 905 years, and then he died.

¹²When Kenan had lived seventy years, he became the father of Mahalalel.¹³After he became the father of Mahalalel, Kenan lived 840 years. He became the father of more sons and daughters.¹⁴Kenan lived 910 years, and then he died.

¹⁵When Mahalalel had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Jared.¹⁶After he became the father of Jared, Mahalalel lived 830 years. He became the father of more sons and daughters.¹⁷Mahalalel lived 895 years, and then he died.

¹⁸When Jared had lived 162 years, he became the father of Enoch.¹⁹After he became the father of Enoch, Jared lived eight hundred years. He became the father of more sons and daughters.²⁰Jared lived 962 years, and then he died.

²¹When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he became the father of Methuselah.²²Enoch walked with God three hundred years after he became the father of Methuselah. He became the father of more sons and daughters.²³Enoch lived 365 years.²⁴Enoch walked with God, and then he was gone, for God took him.

²⁵When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech.²⁶After he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 782 years. He became the father of more sons and daughters.²⁷Methuselah lived 969 years. Then he died.

²⁸When Lamech had lived 182 years, he became the father of a son.²⁹He called his name Noah, saying, "This one will give us rest from our work and from the painful labor of our hands, which we must do because of the ground that Yahweh has cursed."

³⁰Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah. He became the father of more sons and daughters.³¹Lamech lived 777 years. Then he died.

³²After Noah had lived five hundred years, he became the father of Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹It came about when mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them,²that the sons of God saw that the daughters of mankind were attractive. They took for themselves wives, any of them that they chose.³Yahweh said, "My spirit will not remain in mankind forever, for they are flesh. They will live 120 years."

⁴The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward. This happened when the sons of God married daughters of men, and they had children with them. These were the mighty men of old, men of renown.

⁵Yahweh saw that the wickedness of mankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually.⁶Yahweh regretted that he had made mankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.

⁷So Yahweh said, "I will wipe away mankind whom I have created from the surface of the earth—mankind and animals, and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them."⁸But Noah found favor in the eyes of Yahweh.

⁹This is the account of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, and blameless among the people of his time. Noah walked with God.¹⁰Noah became the father of three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

¹¹The earth was corrupt before God, and it was filled with violence.¹²God saw the earth; behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way upon the earth.

¹³God said to Noah, "I can see that it is time to put an end to all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Indeed, I will destroy them with the earth.¹⁴Make for yourself an ark of cypress wood. Make rooms in the ark, and cover it with pitch within and without.¹⁵This is how you will make it: The length of the ark is to be three hundred cubits; the breadth of it is to be fifty cubits, and the height of it is to be thirty cubits.

¹⁶Make a roof for the ark, and finish it at a cubit from the top of the side. Place a door in the side of the ark and make a lower, a second, and a third deck.¹⁷Listen, I am about to bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh that has in it the breath of life from under heaven. Everything that is on the earth will die.

¹⁸But I will establish my covenant with you. You will come into the ark, you, and your sons, and your wife, and your sons' wives with you.¹⁹Of every living creature of all flesh, two of every kind you must bring into the ark, to keep them alive with you, both male and female.

²⁰Of the birds after their kind, and of animals after their kind, of every creeping thing of the ground after its kind, two of every sort will come to you to keep them alive.²¹Gather for yourself every kind of food that is eaten and store it, so that it will be food for you and for them."²²So Noah did this. According to all that God commanded him, so he did.

¹Yahweh said to Noah, "Come, you and all your household, into the ark, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation.²Of every clean animal you will bring with you seven males and seven females. From the animals that are not clean, of them bring two, the male and his mate.³Also of the birds of the sky, bring seven males and seven females, to keep their offspring alive upon the surface of all the earth.

⁴For in seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth for forty days and forty nights. I will destroy from off the surface of the ground every living thing that I have made."⁵Noah did all that Yahweh commanded him.

⁶Noah was six hundred years old when the flood came upon the earth.⁷Noah, his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives went into the ark together because of the waters of the flood.

⁸Clean animals and unclean animals, birds, and everything that creeps upon the ground,⁹two by two, male and female, came to Noah and went into the ark, just as God had commanded Noah.¹⁰It came about that after the seven days, the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

¹¹In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, on the seventeenth day of the month, on the same day, all the fountains of the great deep burst open, and the windows of heaven were opened.¹²The rain began and fell on the earth for forty days and forty nights.

¹³On that very same day Noah and his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, entered into the ark.¹⁴They entered along with each wild animal according to its kind, and each sort of livestock according to its kind, and each creeping thing that creeps upon the earth according to its kind, and every sort of bird according to its kind, each kind of creature with wings.

¹⁵Two of all flesh in which was the breath of life came to Noah and entered into the ark.¹⁶The animals that went in were male and female of all flesh; they entered in just as God had commanded him. Then Yahweh shut the door after them.

¹⁷Then the flood came upon the earth for forty days, and the water increased and lifted the ark and raised it above the earth.¹⁸The waters completely covered over the earth, and the ark floated upon the surface of the water.

¹⁹The waters rose greatly on the earth so that all the high mountains that were under the entire sky were covered.²⁰The waters rose fifteen cubits above the tops of the mountains.

²¹All living beings that moved upon the earth died—birds, livestock, wild animals, all the living creatures that lived in great numbers upon the earth, and all mankind.²²All living creatures who lived on the land, who breathed the breath of life through their noses, died.

²³So every living thing that was on the surface of the earth was wiped out, mankind and animals and creeping things and birds of the sky. They were all destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those with him in the ark were left.²⁴The waters stayed upon the earth for 150 days.

¹God remembered Noah, all the wild animals, and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters started going down.²The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were closed, and it stopped raining.³The flood waters went down slowly from the earth, and after the end of 150 days the waters had gone down.

⁴The ark came to rest in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.⁵The waters continued to go down until the tenth month. On the first day of the month, the tops of the mountains appeared.

⁶It came about after forty days that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made.⁷He sent out a raven and it flew back and forth until the waters were dried up from the earth.

⁸Then he sent out a dove to see if the waters had gone down from the surface of the earth,⁹but the dove found no place to rest her foot, and she returned to him in the ark, for the waters were still covering the whole earth. He reached out with his hand, and took and brought her into the ark with him.

¹⁰He waited another seven days and again he sent out the dove from the ark.¹¹The dove returned to him in the evening. Look! In her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had gone down from the earth.¹²He waited another seven days, and sent out the dove again. She did not return again to him.

¹³It came about in the six hundred and first year, in the first month, on the first day of the month, that the waters were dried up from off the earth. Noah removed the covering of the ark, looked out, and saw that, behold, the surface of the ground was dry.¹⁴In the second month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, the earth was dry.

¹⁵God said to Noah,¹⁶"Go out of the ark, you, your wife, your sons, and your sons' wives with you.¹⁷Take out with you every living creature of all flesh that is with you—the birds, the animals, and every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth—so that they may increase greatly on the earth, that they may be fruitful and multiply upon the earth."

¹⁸So Noah went out with his sons, his wife, and his sons' wives with him.¹⁹Every living creature, every creeping thing, and every bird, everything that moves on the earth, according to their families, left the ark.

²⁰Noah built an altar to Yahweh. He took some of the clean animals and some of the clean birds, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.²¹Yahweh smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart, "I will not again curse the ground because of mankind, even though the intention of mankind's heart is evil from childhood. Nor will I again destroy everything living, as I have done.

²²While the earth remains,

seed time and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

and day and night

will not cease."

¹Then God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, "Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth.²The fear of you and the dread of you will be upon every living thing on the earth, upon every bird of the sky, upon everything that moves on the ground, and upon all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand.

³Every moving thing that lives will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything.⁴But you must not eat meat with its life—that is its blood—in it.

⁵But for your blood, the life that is in your blood, I will require payment. From the hand of every animal I will require it. From the hand of any man, that is, from the hand of one who has murdered his brother, I will require an accounting for the life of that man.

⁶Whoever sheds man's blood,

by man will his blood be shed,

for it was in the image of God that he made man.

⁷As for you, be fruitful and multiply, spread throughout the earth and multiply on it."

⁸Then God spoke to Noah and to his sons with him, saying,⁹"As for me, listen! I am going to confirm my covenant with you and with your descendants after you,¹⁰and with every living creature that is with you, with the birds, the livestock, and every creature of the earth with you, from all that came out of the ark, to every living creature on the earth.

¹¹I hereby confirm my covenant with you, that never again will all flesh be destroyed by the waters of a flood. Never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth."

¹²God said, "This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations:¹³I have set my rainbow in the cloud, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

¹⁴It will come about when I bring a cloud over the earth and the rainbow is seen in the cloud,¹⁵then I will call to mind my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. The waters will never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.

¹⁶The rainbow will be in the clouds and I will see it, in order to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth."

¹⁷Then God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have confirmed between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

¹⁸The sons of Noah that came out of the ark were Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Ham was the father of Canaan.¹⁹These three were the sons of Noah, and from these the whole earth was populated.

²⁰Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard.²¹He drank some of the wine and became drunk. He was lying uncovered in his tent.

²²Then Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father and told his two brothers outside.²³So Shem and Japheth took a robe and laid it upon both their shoulders, and walked backwards and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned the other way, so they did not see their father's nakedness.

²⁴When Noah awoke from his wine, he learned what his youngest son had done to him.²⁵So he said,

"Cursed be Canaan.

May he be a servant to his brothers' servants."

²⁶He also said,

"May Yahweh, the God of Shem, be blessed,

and may Canaan be his servant.

²⁷May God extend the territory of Japheth,

and let him make his home in the tents of Shem.

May Canaan be his servant."

²⁸After the flood, Noah lived three hundred fifty years.²⁹All the days of Noah were nine hundred fifty years, and then he died.

¹These were the descendants of the sons of Noah, that is, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Sons were born to them after the flood.

²The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.

³The sons of Gomer were Ashkenaz, Riphath, and Togarmah.

⁴The sons of Javan were Elishah, Tarshish, the Kittites,¹ and Dodanim.⁵From these the coastland peoples separated and went into their lands, every one with its own language, according to their clans, by their nations.

⁶The sons of Ham were Cush, Mizraim, Put, and Canaan.

⁷The sons of Cush were Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, and Sabteka. The sons of Raamah were Sheba and Dedan.

⁸Cush became the father of Nimrod, who was a mighty one on the earth.⁹He was a mighty hunter before Yahweh. That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before Yahweh."¹⁰The first centers of his kingdom were Babylon, Uruk, Akkad, and Kalneh, in the land of Shinar.

¹¹Out of that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah,¹²and Resen, which was between Nineveh and Calah. It was a large city.

¹³Mizraim became the father of the Ludites, the Anamites, the Lehabites, the Naphtuhites,¹⁴the Pathrusites, the Kasluhites (from whom the Philistines came), and the Caphtorites.

¹⁵Canaan became the father of Sidon, his firstborn, and of Heth,¹⁶also of the Jebusites, the Amorites, the Girgashites,¹⁷the Hivites, the Arkites, the Sinites,¹⁸the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and the Hamathites. Afterward the clans of the Canaanites spread out.

¹⁹The border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, in the direction of Gerar, as far as Gaza, and as one goes toward Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboyim, as far as Lasha.²⁰These were the sons of Ham, by their clans, by their languages, in their lands, and in their nations.

²¹Sons also were born to Shem, the older brother of Japheth. Shem was also the ancestor of all the people of Eber.

²²The sons of Shem were Elam, Ashur, Arphaxad, Lud, and Aram.

²³The sons of Aram were Uz, Hul, Gether, and Meshech.

²⁴Arphaxad became the father of Shelah, and Shelah became the father of Eber.

²⁵Eber had two sons. The name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided. His brother's name was Joktan.

²⁶Joktan became the father of Almodad, Sheleph, Hazarmaveth, Jerah,²⁷Hadoram, Uzal, Diklah,²⁸Obal, Abimael, Sheba,²⁹Ophir, Havilah, and Jobab. All these were the sons of Joktan.

³⁰Their territory was from Mesha, all the way to Sephar, the mountain of the east.³¹These were the sons of Shem, according to their clans and their languages, in their lands, according to their nations.

³²These were the clans of the sons of Noah, according to their genealogies, by their nations. From these the nations separated and went over the earth after the flood.

¹Some modern English translations read, Kittim.

¹Now the whole earth used one language and had the same words.²As they journeyed in the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and they settled there.

³They said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick instead of stone and tar as mortar.⁴They said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach to the sky, and let us make a name for ourselves. If we do not, we will be scattered across the surface of the whole earth."

⁵So Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower which the descendants of Adam had built.⁶Yahweh said, "Look, they are one people with the same language, and they are beginning to do this! Soon nothing that they intend to do will be impossible for them.⁷Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they may not understand each other."

⁸So Yahweh scattered them from there across the surface of all the earth and they stopped building the city.⁹Therefore, its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of the whole earth and from there Yahweh scattered them abroad over the surface of all the earth.

¹⁰These were the descendants of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and he became the father of Arphaxad two years after the flood.¹¹Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arphaxad. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹²When Arphaxad had lived thirty-five years, he became the father of Shelah.¹³Arphaxad lived 403 years after he became the father of Shelah. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹⁴When Shelah had lived thirty years, he became the father of Eber.¹⁵Shelah lived 403 years after he became the father of Eber. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹⁶When Eber had lived thirty-four years, he became the father of Peleg.¹⁷Eber lived 430 years after he became the father of Peleg. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

¹⁸When Peleg had lived thirty years, he became the father of Reu.¹⁹Peleg lived 209 years after he became the father of Reu. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

²⁰When Reu had lived thirty-two years, he became the father of Serug.²¹Reu lived 207 years after he became the father of Serug. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

²²When Serug had lived thirty years, he became the father of Nahor.²³Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

²⁴When Nahor had lived twenty-nine years, he became the father of Terah.²⁵Nahor lived 119 years after he became the father of Terah. He also became the father of other sons and daughters.

²⁶After Terah had lived seventy years, he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷Now these were the descendants of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran, and Haran became the father of Lot.²⁸Haran died in the presence of his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

²⁹Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai and the name of Nahor's wife was Milkah, a daughter of Haran, who was the father of Milkah and Iskah.³⁰Now Sarai was barren; she had no child.

³¹Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of his son Haran, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and together they left Ur of the Chaldeans, to go into the land of Canaan. But they came to Haran and stayed there.³²Terah lived 205 years and then died in Haran.

¹Now Yahweh said to Abram, "Go from your country, and from your relatives, and from your father's household, to the land that I will show you.

²I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you,

and make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

³I will bless those who bless you, but whoever dishonors you I will curse.

Through you will all the families of the earth be blessed."

⁴So Abram went, as Yahweh had told him to do, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.⁵Abram took Sarai, his wife, Lot, his brother's son, all their possessions that they had accumulated, and the people that they had acquired in Haran. They left to go into the land of Canaan, and came to the land of Canaan.

⁶Abram passed through the land as far as Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites lived in the land.⁷Yahweh appeared to Abram, and said, "To your descendants I will give this land." So there Abram built an altar to Yahweh, who had appeared to him.

⁸From there he moved to the hill country to the east of Bethel, where he pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh and called on the name of Yahweh.⁹Then Abram continued journeying, going toward the Negev.

¹⁰There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down into Egypt to stay, for the famine was severe in the land.¹¹When he was about to enter into Egypt, he said to Sarai his wife, "See now, I know that you are a beautiful woman.¹²When the Egyptians see you they will say, 'This is his wife,' and they will kill me, but they will keep you alive.¹³Say that you are my sister, so that it may be well with me because of you, and so that my life will be spared because of you."

¹⁴It came about that when Abram entered into Egypt, the Egyptians saw that Sarai was very beautiful.¹⁵The princes of Pharaoh saw her, and praised her to Pharaoh, and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's household.¹⁶Pharaoh treated Abram well for her sake, and Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

¹⁷Then Yahweh afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife.¹⁸Pharaoh summoned Abram, and said, "What is this that you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife?¹⁹Why did you say, 'She is my sister,' so that I took her to be my wife? Now therefore, here is your wife. Take her, and go your way."²⁰Then Pharaoh gave orders to his men concerning him, and they sent him away, along with his wife and all that he had.

¹So Abram went up from Egypt and went into the Negev, he, his wife, and all that he had. Lot also went with them.²Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold.

³He continued on his journey from the Negev to Bethel, to the place where his tent had been before, between Bethel and Ai.⁴He went to the place where the altar was that he had built previously. Here he called on the name of Yahweh.

⁵Now Lot, who was traveling with Abram, also had flocks, herds, and tents.⁶The land was not able to support them both living close together, because their possessions were very many, so that they could not stay together.⁷Also, there was a dispute between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites were living in the land at that time.

⁸So Abram said to Lot, "Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen; after all, we are family.⁹Is not the whole land before you? Go ahead and separate yourself from me. If you go to the left, then I will go to the right. Or if you go to the right, then I will go to the left."

¹⁰So Lot looked around, and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere all the way to Zoar, like the garden of Yahweh, like the land of Egypt. This was before Yahweh destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.¹¹So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan and traveled east, and the relatives separated from each other.

¹²Abram lived in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived among the cities of the plain. He set up his tents as far away as Sodom.¹³Now the men of Sodom were very wicked sinners against Yahweh.

¹⁴Yahweh said to Abram after Lot had departed from him, "Look from the place where you are standing to the north, south, east, and west.¹⁵All this land which you see, I will give to you and to your descendants forever.

¹⁶I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your descendants also can be counted.¹⁷Arise, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I will give it to you."¹⁸So Abram picked up his tent, and came and lived by the oaks of Mamre, which are in Hebron, and there built an altar to Yahweh.

¹It came about in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goyim,²that they made war against Bera, king of Sodom, Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, Shemeber, king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar).

³These latter five kings joined together in the Valley of Siddim (also called the Salt Sea).⁴Twelve years they had served Kedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.⁵Then in the fourteenth year, Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him came and attacked the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh Kiriathaim,⁶and the Horites in their hill country of Seir, as far as El Paran, which is near the desert.

⁷Then they turned and came to En Mishpat (also called Kadesh), and defeated all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who lived in Hazezon Tamar.

⁸Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboyim, and the king of Bela (also called Zoar) went out and prepared for battle in the Valley of Siddim⁹against Kedorlaomer, king of Elam, Tidal, king of Goyim, Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar; four kings against the five.

¹⁰Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell in there. Those who were left fled to the mountains.¹¹So the kings took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their provisions, and went their way.¹²When they went, they also took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who was living in Sodom, along with all his possessions.

¹³One who had escaped came and told Abram the Hebrew. He was living by the oaks that belonged to Mamre, the Amorite, who was the brother of Eshkol and Aner, who were all allies of Abram.¹⁴Now when Abram heard that enemies had captured his relative, he led out his 318 trained men who had been born in his house, and he pursued them as far as Dan.

¹⁵He divided his men against them at night, he and his servants, and he pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.¹⁶Then he brought back all the possessions, and also brought back his relative Lot and his goods, as well as the women and the other people.

¹⁷After Abram returned from defeating Kedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (also called the King's Valley).

¹⁸Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine. He was priest of God Most High.

¹⁹He blessed him saying,

"Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

Creator of heaven and earth.

²⁰Blessed be God Most High,

who has given your enemies into your hand."

Then Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

²¹The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, and take the goods for yourself."²²Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth,²³that I will not take a thread, a sandal strap, or anything that is yours, so that you can never say, 'I have made Abram rich.'²⁴I will take nothing except what the young men have eaten and the share of the men that went with me. Let Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre take their portion."

¹After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Fear not, Abram! I am your shield and your very great reward."

²Abram said, "Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?"³Abram said, "Since you have given me no descendant, see, one born in my house will be my heir!"

⁴Then, behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir; but rather the one who will come from your own body will be your heir."⁵Then he brought him outside, and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So will your descendants be."

⁶He believed Yahweh, and he counted it to him as righteousness.⁷He said to him, "I am Yahweh, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it."⁸He said, "Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?"

⁹Then he said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a dove, and a young pigeon."¹⁰He brought him all these, and cut them in two, and placed each half opposite the other, but he did not divide the birds.¹¹When the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹²Then when the sun was going down, Abram fell sound asleep and, behold, a deep and terrifying darkness overwhelmed him.¹³Then Yahweh said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years.

¹⁴I will judge that nation that they will serve, and afterward they will come out with abundant possessions.¹⁵But you will go to your fathers in peace, and you will be buried in a good old age.¹⁶In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorites has not yet reached its limit."

¹⁷When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between the pieces.¹⁸On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I hereby give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates—¹⁹the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,²⁰the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaites,²¹the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

¹Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had not borne any children for him, but she had a female servant, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar.²So Sarai said to Abram, "See now, Yahweh has kept me from having children. Please go to my servant. It may be that I will have children by her." Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.³It was after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan that Sarai, Abram's wife, gave Hagar, her Egyptian servant, to her husband as a wife.⁴So he went to Hagar, and she conceived. When she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.

⁵Then Sarai said to Abram, "This wrong on me is because of you. I gave my servant woman into your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes. Let Yahweh judge between me and you."⁶But Abram said to Sarai, "See here, your servant woman is in your power, do to her what you think best." So Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

⁷The angel of Yahweh found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring that is on the way to Shur.⁸He said, "Hagar, Sarai's servant, where did you come from and where are you going?" Then she said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai."

⁹The angel of Yahweh said to her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself to her authority."¹⁰Then the angel of Yahweh said to her, "I will greatly multiply your descendants, so that they will be too numerous to count."

¹¹The angel of Yahweh also said to her,

"Behold, you are pregnant

and will bear a son,

and you will call his name Ishmael,

because Yahweh has heard your affliction.

¹²He will be a wild donkey of a man.

He will be hostile against every man,

and every man will be hostile to him,

and he will live apart from all his brothers."

¹³Then she gave this name to Yahweh who spoke to her, "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "Do I really continue to see, even after he has seen me?"¹⁴Therefore the well was called Beer Lahai Roi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.

¹⁵Hagar gave birth to Abram's son, and Abram named his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.¹⁶Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, Yahweh appeared to Abram and said to him, "I am God Almighty. Walk before me, and be blameless.²Then I will confirm my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly."

³Abram bowed low with his face to the ground and God talked with him, saying,⁴"As for me, behold, my covenant is with you. You will be the father of a multitude of nations.⁵No longer will your name be Abram, but your name will be Abraham—for I appoint you to be the father of a multitude of nations.⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you.

⁷I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you, throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you.⁸I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land where you have been sojourning, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God."

⁹Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.¹⁰This is my covenant, which you must keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you must be circumcised.¹¹You must be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskin, and this will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.

¹²Every male among you that is eight days old must be circumcised, throughout your people's generations. This includes him who is born into your household and him who is bought with money from any foreigner who is not one of your descendants.¹³He who is born into your household and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised. Thus my covenant will be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant.¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin will be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant."

¹⁵God said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, do not call her Sarai any more. Instead, her name will be Sarah.¹⁶I will bless her, and I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will become the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her."

¹⁷Then Abraham bowed low with his face to the ground, and laughed, and said in his heart, "Can a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? How can Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a son?"¹⁸Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!"

¹⁹God said, "No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you must name him Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant with his descendants after him.²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him abundantly. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him become a great nation.²¹But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this time in the next year."

²²When he had finished talking with him, God went up from Abraham.²³Then Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all those who were born into his household, and all those who were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's household, and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in that same day, as God had said to him.

²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.²⁵Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.²⁶On the very same day Abraham and Ishmael his son were both circumcised.²⁷All the men of his household were circumcised with him, including those born into the household and those bought with money from a foreigner.

¹Yahweh appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat in the tent doorway in the heat of the day.²He looked up and, behold, he saw three men standing across from him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door and bowed low to the ground.

³He said, "My Lord, if I have found favor in your sight, please do not pass by your servant."⁴Let a little water be brought, wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.⁵Let me bring a little food, so that you may refresh yourselves. Afterwards you can go your way, since you have come to your servant." They replied, "Do as you have said."

⁶Then Abraham quickly went into the tent to Sarah, and said, "Hurry, get three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and make bread."⁷Then Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf that was tender and good, and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it.⁸He took curds and milk, and the calf that had been prepared, and placed the food before them, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

⁹They said to him, "Where is Sarah your wife?" He replied, "There, in the tent."¹⁰He said, "I will certainly return to you in the springtime, and see, Sarah your wife will have a son." Sarah was listening in the tent doorway, which was behind him.

¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old, very advanced in age, and Sarah had passed the age when women could bear children.¹²So Sarah laughed to herself, saying to herself, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?"

¹³Yahweh said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Will I really bear a child, when I am old'?¹⁴Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the time appointed by me, in the spring, I will return to you. About this time next year Sarah will have a son."¹⁵Then Sarah denied it and said, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He replied, "No, you did laugh."

¹⁶Then the men arose to leave and looked down toward Sodom. Abraham went with them to see them on their way.¹⁷But Yahweh said, "Should I hide from Abraham what I am about to do,¹⁸since Abraham will indeed become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed in him?¹⁹For I have chosen him so that he may instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of Yahweh, to do righteousness and justice, so that Yahweh may bring upon Abraham what he has said to him."

²⁰Then Yahweh said, "Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and because their sin is so serious,²¹I will now go down there and see the outcry against her that has come to me, whether they have really done it. If not, I will know."

²²So the men turned from there, and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before Yahweh.²³Then Abraham approached and said, "Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

²⁴Perhaps there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous that are there?²⁵Far be it from you to do such a thing, killing the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be treated the same as the wicked. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?"²⁶Yahweh said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake."

²⁷Abraham answered and said, "See now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord, even though I am only dust and ashes!²⁸What if there are five less than fifty righteous? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?" Then he said, "I will not destroy it, if I find there forty-five."

²⁹He spoke to him yet again, and said, "What if there are forty found there?" He replied, "I will not do it for the forty's sake."³⁰He said, "Please do not be angry, Lord, so I may speak. Perhaps thirty will be found there." He replied, "I will not do it, if I find thirty there."³¹He said, "See now, I have undertaken to speak to my Lord! Perhaps twenty will be found there." He replied, "I will not destroy it for the twenty's sake."

³²He said, "Please do not be angry, Lord, and I will speak this one last time. Perhaps ten will be found there." Then he said, "I will not destroy it for the ten's sake."³³Yahweh went on his way as soon as he had finished talking with Abraham, and Abraham returned home.

¹The two angels came to Sodom in the evening, while Lot was sitting at the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, arose to meet them, and bowed down with his face to the ground.²He said, "See now, my masters, please turn aside into your servant's house, stay for the night, and wash your feet. Then you can rise up early and go on your way." They replied, "No, we will spend the night in the town square."³But he urged them strongly, so they went with him, and entered into his house. He prepared a meal and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

⁴But before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, surrounded the house, both young and old, all the men from every part of the city.⁵They called to Lot, and said to him, "Where are the men that came in to you tonight? Bring them out to us, that we may know them."

⁶So Lot went out the door to them and shut the door after himself.⁷He said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.⁸See now, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Please let me bring them out to you, and you do to them whatever is good in your eyes. Only do nothing to these men, because they have come under the shadow of my roof."

⁹They said, "Stand back!" They also said, "This one came here to live as a foreigner, and now he has become our judge! Now we will deal worse with you than with them." They pressed hard against the man, against Lot, and came near to break down the door.

¹⁰But the men reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them and shut the door.¹¹Then Lot's visitors struck with blindness the men who were outside the door of the house, both small and great, so that they became exhausted when they were trying to find the door.

¹²Then the men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here? Any sons-in-law, your sons and your daughters, and whoever you have in the city, get them out of here.¹³For we are about to destroy this place, because the accusations against it before Yahweh have become so loud that he has sent us to destroy it."

¹⁴Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, the men who had promised to marry his daughters, and said, "Quick, get out of this place, for Yahweh is about to destroy the city." But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.¹⁵When dawn came, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Get going, take your wife and your two daughters that are here, so you are not swept away in the punishment of the city."

¹⁶But he lingered. So the men grabbed his hand, and the hand of his wife, and the hands of his two daughters, because Yahweh was merciful to him. They brought them out, and set them outside the city.¹⁷When they had brought them out, one of the men said, "Run for your lives! Do not look back, or stay anywhere on the plain. Escape to the mountains so you are not swept away."

¹⁸Lot said to them, "No, please, my masters!¹⁹See now, your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown me great kindness in saving my life, but I cannot escape to the mountains, because the disaster will overtake me, and I will die.²⁰See now, the city over there is a little one. Please, let me escape there—Is it not a little one?—and my life will be saved."

²¹He said to him, "Alright, I am granting this request also, that I will not destroy the city which you have mentioned.²²Hurry! Escape there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there." Therefore the city was named Zoar.

²³The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot reached Zoar.²⁴Then Yahweh rained down upon Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from Yahweh out of the sky.²⁵He destroyed those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and the plants that grew on the ground.

²⁶But Lot's wife, who was behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

²⁷Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before Yahweh.²⁸He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and toward all the land of the plain. He looked and behold, smoke was rising from the land like the smoke of a furnace.

²⁹So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, God called Abraham to mind. He sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction when he destroyed the cities in which Lot had lived.

³⁰But Lot went up from Zoar to live in the mountains with his two daughters, because he was afraid to live in Zoar. So he lived in a cave, he and his two daughters.

³¹The firstborn said to the younger, "Our father is old, and there is no man anywhere to lie with us according to the way of all the world.³²Come, let us make our father drink wine, and we will lie with him, so that we may keep our family line alive through our father."³³So they made their father drink wine that night. Then the firstborn went in and lay with her father; he did not know when she lay down, nor when she got up.

³⁴The next day the firstborn said to the younger, "Listen, here I lay last night with my father. Let us make him drink wine tonight also, and you should go and lie with him, so that we may keep our family line alive through our father."³⁵So they made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger went and lay with him. He did not know when she lay down or when she got up.

³⁶So both the daughters of Lot conceived by their father.³⁷The firstborn gave birth to a son, and named him Moab. He became the ancestor of the Moabites of today.³⁸As for the younger daughter, she also gave birth to a son, and named him Ben-Ammi. He became the ancestor of the people of Ammon of today.

¹Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the Negev, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He was a foreigner living in Gerar.²Abraham said concerning Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." So Abimelek king of Gerar sent for Sarah and took her.³But God came to Abimelek in a dream in the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is a man's wife."

⁴Now Abimelek had not come near her and he said, "Lord, would you kill even a righteous nation?⁵Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister?' Even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands."

⁶Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I also know that in the integrity of your heart you did this, and I also kept you from sinning against me. Therefore I did not allow you to touch her.⁷Therefore, return the man's wife, for he is a prophet. He will pray for you, and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you and all who are yours will surely die."

⁸Abimelek rose early in the morning and called all of his servants to himself. He told all these things to them, and the men were very afraid.⁹Then Abimelek called for Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done to me deeds that ought not to be done."

¹⁰Abimelek said to Abraham, "What prompted you to do this thing?"¹¹Abraham said, "Because I thought, 'Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.'¹²Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife.

¹³When God caused me to leave my father's house and travel from place to place, I said to her, 'You must show me this faithfulness as my wife: At every place where we go, say about me, "He is my brother."'"¹⁴Then Abimelek took sheep and cattle, and male slaves and female slaves, and gave them to Abraham. Then he returned Sarah, Abraham's wife, to him.

¹⁵Abimelek said, "Look, my land is before you. Settle wherever it pleases you."¹⁶To Sarah he said, "Look, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. It is to cover any offense against you in the eyes of all who are with you, and before everyone, you are completely made right."

¹⁷Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelek, his wife, and his female slaves so that they were able to have children.¹⁸For Yahweh had closed all the wombs of the household of Abimelek because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

¹Yahweh paid attention to Sarah as he had said he would, and Yahweh did for Sarah just as he had promised.²Sarah conceived and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him.³Abraham named his son, the one who had been born to him, whom Sarah bore to him, Isaac.⁴Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, just as God had commanded him.

⁵Abraham was one hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.⁶Sarah said, "God has made me laugh; every one who hears will laugh with me."⁷She also said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children, and yet I have borne him a son in his old age!"

⁸The child grew and was weaned, and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned.⁹Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking.

¹⁰So she said to Abraham, "Drive out this slave woman and her son, for the son of this slave woman will not be heir with my son, with Isaac."¹¹This thing was very grievous to Abraham because of his son.

¹²But God said to Abraham, "Do not be grieved because of the young man and because of your servant girl. Listen to Sarah's words in all she says to you about this matter, because it is through Isaac that your descendants will be named.¹³I will also make the son of the servant woman into a nation, because he is your descendant."

¹⁴Abraham rose up early in the morning, took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder. He gave her the boy and sent her away. She departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.¹⁵When the water in the waterskin was gone, she abandoned the child under one of the bushes.¹⁶Then she went, and sat down a short distance from him, about the distance of a bowshot away, for she said, "Let me not look upon the death of the child." As she sat there across from him, she lifted up her voice and wept.

¹⁷God heard the voice of the young man, and the angel of God called to Hagar out of heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, for God has heard the voice of the young man where he is.¹⁸Get up, raise up the young man, and encourage him; for I will make him into a great nation."

¹⁹Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went and filled the skin with water and gave the young man a drink.²⁰God was with the young man, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness and became an archer.²¹He lived in the wilderness of Paran, and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.

²²It came about at that time that Abimelek and Phicol the captain of his army spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do.²³Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my offspring, nor with my descendants. Show to me and to the land in which you have been staying the same covenant faithfulness that I have shown to you."²⁴Abraham said, "I swear."

²⁵Abraham also complained to Abimelek concerning a well of water that Abimelek's servants had seized from him.²⁶Abimelek said, "I do not know who has done this thing. You did not tell me before now; I have not heard of it until today."²⁷So Abraham took sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelek, and the two men made a covenant.

²⁸Then Abraham set seven female lambs of the flock by themselves.²⁹Abimelek said to Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven female lambs that you have set by themselves?"³⁰He replied, "These seven female lambs you will receive from my hand, so that it may be a witness for me, that I dug this well."

³¹So he called that place Beersheba, because there they both swore an oath.³²They made a covenant at Beersheba, and then Abimelek and Phicol, the captain of his army, returned to the land of the Philistines.

³³Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba. There he called on the name of Yahweh, the eternal God.³⁴Abraham remained as a foreigner in the land of the Philistines many days.

¹It came about after these things that God tested Abraham. He said to him, "Abraham!" Abraham said, "Here I am."²Then God said, "Take your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him there as a burnt offering upon one of the mountains there, which I will tell you about."³So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, along with Isaac his son. He cut the wood for the burnt offering, then set out on his journey to the place that God had told him about.

⁴On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place afar off.⁵Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey, and I and the young man will go over there. We will worship and come again to you."⁶Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on Isaac his son. He took in his own hand the fire and the knife; and they went both of them together.

⁷Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father," and he said, "Here I am, my son." He said, "See, here is the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"⁸Abraham said, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." So they went on, both of them together.

⁹When they came to the place that God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood on it. Then he bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.¹⁰Abraham reached out with his hand and took up the knife to kill his son.

¹¹Then the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" and he said, "Here I am."¹²He said, "Do not lay your hand upon the young man, nor do anything to harm him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me."

¹³Abraham looked up and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the bushes by his horns. Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up as a burnt offering instead of his son.¹⁴So Abraham named that place, "Yahweh will provide," and it is said to this day, "On the mountain of Yahweh it will be provided."

¹⁵The angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven¹⁶and said—this is Yahweh's declaration—by myself I have sworn that because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son,¹⁷I will surely bless you and I will greatly multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies.

¹⁸Through your offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice."¹⁹So Abraham returned to his young men, and they departed and went together to Beersheba, and he lived at Beersheba.

²⁰It came about after these things that Abraham was told, "Milkah has borne children, as well, to your brother Nahor."²¹They were Uz his firstborn, Buz his brother, Kemuel the father of Aram,²²Kesed, Hazo, Pildash, Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

²³Bethuel became the father of Rebekah. These were the eight children that Milkah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.²⁴His concubine, whose name was Reumah, also bore Tebah, Gaham, Tahash, and Maakah.

¹Sarah lived 127 years. These were the years of the life of Sarah.²Sarah died in Kiriath Arba, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan. Abraham mourned and wept for Sarah.

³Then Abraham rose up and went from his dead wife, and spoke to the sons of Heth, saying,⁴"I am a foreigner and sojourner among you. Please grant me a property for a burial place among you, so that I may bury my dead."

⁵The sons of Heth answered Abraham, saying,⁶"Listen to us, my master. You are a prince of God among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will refuse you his tomb, so that you may bury your dead."

⁷Abraham arose and bowed down to the people of the land, to the sons of Heth.⁸He spoke to them, saying, "If you agree that I should bury my dead, then hear me and plead with Ephron son of Zohar, for me.⁹Ask him to sell me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns, which is at the end of his field. For the full price let him sell it to me publicly as a property for a burial place."

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the sons of Heth, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the sons of Heth, of all those who had come into the gate of his city, saying,¹¹"No, my master, hear me. I give you the field, and the cave that is in it. I give it to you in the presence of the sons of my people. I give it to you to bury your dead."

¹²Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land.¹³He spoke to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, saying, "But if you are willing, please hear me. I will pay for the field. Take the money from me, and I will bury my dead there."

¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, saying,¹⁵"Please, my master, listen to me. A piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver, what is that between me and you? Bury your dead."¹⁶Abraham listened to Ephron and Abraham weighed out to Ephron the amount of silver that he had spoken in the hearing of the sons of Heth, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the standard measurement of the merchants.

¹⁷So the field of Ephron, which was in Machpelah, which was next to Mamre, that is, the field, the cave that was in it, and all the trees that were in the field and all around its border, passed¹⁸to Abraham by purchase in the presence of the sons of Heth, before all those who had come into the gate of his city.

¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which is next to Mamre, that is, Hebron, in the land of Canaan.²⁰So the field and the cave in it passed to Abraham as a property for a burial place from the sons of Heth.

¹Now Abraham was very old and Yahweh had blessed Abraham in all things.²Abraham said to his servant, the one who was the oldest of his household and who was in charge of all that he had, "Put your hand under my thigh³and I will make you swear by Yahweh, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I make my home.⁴But you will go to my country, and to my relatives, and get a wife for my son Isaac."

⁵The servant said to him, "What if the woman will not be willing to follow me to this land? Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?"⁶Abraham said to him, "Make sure that you do not take my son back there!⁷Yahweh, the God of heaven, who took me from my father's house and from the land of my relatives, and who promised me with a solemn oath saying, 'To your descendants I will give this land,' he will send his angel before you, and you will get a wife for my son from there.

⁸But if the woman is not willing to follow you, then you will be free from this oath of mine. Only you are not to take my son back there."⁹So the servant put his hand under the thigh of Abraham his master, and swore to him concerning this matter.

¹⁰The servant took ten of his master's camels and departed. He also took with him all kinds of goods from his master. He departed and went to the region of Aram Naharaim, to the city of Nahor.¹¹He made the camels kneel down outside the city by the well of water. It was evening, the time that women go out to draw water.

¹²Then he said, "Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, grant me success today and show covenant faithfulness to my master Abraham.¹³Look, here I am standing by the spring of water, and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water.¹⁴Let it happen like this. When I say to a young woman, 'Please lower your pitcher so that I may drink,' and she says to me, 'Drink, and I will water your camels too,' then let her be the one that you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I will know that you have shown covenant faithfulness to my master."

¹⁵It came about that even before he had finished speaking, behold, Rebekah came out with her water pitcher on her shoulder. Rebekah was born to Bethuel son of Milkah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother.¹⁶The young woman was very beautiful and a virgin. No man had ever known her. She went down to the spring, filled her pitcher and came up.

¹⁷Then the servant ran to meet her and said, "Please give me a little drink of water from your pitcher."¹⁸She said, "Drink, my master," and she quickly let down her pitcher on her hand, and gave him a drink.

¹⁹When she had finished giving him a drink, she said, "I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking."²⁰So she hurried and emptied her pitcher into the trough, then ran again to the well to draw water, and drew water for all his camels.

²¹The man watched her in silence to see whether Yahweh had prospered his journey or not.²²As the camels finished drinking, the man brought out a gold nose ring weighing half a shekel, and two gold bracelets for her arms weighing ten shekels,²³and asked, "Whose daughter are you? Tell me please, is there room in your father's house for us to spend the night?"

²⁴She said to him, "I am the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, whom she bore to Nahor."²⁵She also said to him, "We have plenty of both straw and feed, and also room for you to spend the night."

²⁶Then the man bowed down and worshiped Yahweh.²⁷He said, "Blessed be Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who has not abandoned his covenant faithfulness and his trustworthiness toward my master. As for me, Yahweh has led me directly to the house of my master's relatives."

²⁸Then the young woman ran and told her mother's household about all of these things.²⁹Now Rebekah had a brother, and his name was Laban. Laban ran to the man who was out at the road by the spring.³⁰When he had seen the nose ring and the bracelets on his sister's arms, and when he had heard the words of Rebekah his sister, "This is what the man said to me," he went to the man, and, behold, he was standing by the camels at the spring.

³¹Then Laban said, "Come, you blessed of Yahweh. Why are you standing outside? I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels."³²So the man came to the house and he unloaded the camels. The camels were given straw and feed, and water was provided to wash his feet and the feet of the men who were with him.

³³They set food before him to eat, but he said, "I will not eat until I have said what I have to say." So Laban said, "Speak on."³⁴He said, "I am Abraham's servant.³⁵Yahweh has blessed my master very much and he has become great. He has given him sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male servants and female servants, and camels and donkeys.

³⁶Sarah, my master's wife, bore a son to my master when she was old, and he has given everything that he owns to him.³⁷My master made me swear, saying, 'You must not get a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, in whose land I make my home.³⁸Instead, you must go to my father's family, and to my relatives, and get a wife for my son.'

³⁹I said to my master, 'Perhaps the woman will not follow me.'⁴⁰But he said to me, 'Yahweh, before whom I walk, will send his angel with you and he will prosper your way, so that you will get a wife for my son from among my relatives and from my father's family line.⁴¹But you will be free from my oath if you come to my relatives and they will not give her to you. Then you will be free from my oath.'

⁴²So I arrived today at the spring, and said, 'O Yahweh, God of my master Abraham, please, if you do indeed intend to make my journey successful—⁴³here I am, standing by the spring of water—let the young woman who comes out to draw water, the woman to whom I say, "Please give me a little water from your pitcher to drink,"⁴⁴the woman who says to me, "Drink, and I will also draw water for your camels"—let her be the woman whom you, Yahweh, have chosen for my master's son.'

⁴⁵Even before I had finished speaking in my heart, behold, Rebekah came out with her pitcher on her shoulder and she went down to the spring and drew water. So I said to her, 'Please give me a drink.'⁴⁶She quickly lowered her pitcher from her shoulder and said, 'Drink, and I will give your camels water also.' So I drank, and she watered the camels also.

⁴⁷I asked her and said, 'Whose daughter are you?' She said, 'The daughter of Bethuel, Nahor's son, whom Milkah bore to him.' Then I put the ring in her nose and the bracelets on her arms.⁴⁸Then I bowed down and worshiped Yahweh, and blessed Yahweh, the God of my master Abraham, who had led me by the way that is right to find the daughter of my master's relative for his son.

⁴⁹Now therefore, if you are prepared to show steadfast love and faithfulness to my master, tell me. But if not, tell me, so that I may turn to the right hand or to the left."

⁵⁰Then Laban and Bethuel answered and said, "The thing has come from Yahweh; we cannot speak to you either bad or good.⁵¹Look, Rebekah is before you. Take her and go, so she may be the wife of your master's son, as Yahweh has spoken."

⁵²When Abraham's servant heard their words, he bowed down to the ground before Yahweh.⁵³The servant brought out articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing, and gave them to Rebekah. He also gave precious gifts to her brother and to her mother.

⁵⁴Then he and the men who were with him ate and drank. They stayed there overnight, and when they arose in the morning, he said, "Send me away to my master."⁵⁵Her brother and her mother said, "Let the young woman stay with us for a few more days, at least ten. After that she may go."

⁵⁶But he said to them, "Do not hinder me, since Yahweh has prospered my way. Send me on my way so that I may go to my master."⁵⁷They said, "We will call the young woman and ask her."⁵⁸So they called Rebekah and asked her, "Will you go with this man?" She replied, "I will go."

⁵⁹So they sent their sister Rebekah, along with her female servant, on her journey with Abraham's servant and his men.⁶⁰They blessed Rebekah, and said to her,

"Our sister, may you be the mother

of thousands of ten thousands,

and may your descendants possess

the gate of those who hate them."

⁶¹Then Rebekah arose, and she and her servant girls mounted the camels, and followed the man. Thus the servant took Rebekah, and went his way.

⁶²Now Isaac was living in the Negev, and had just returned from Beer Lahai Roi.

⁶³Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening. When he looked up and saw, behold, there were camels coming!⁶⁴Rebekah looked, and when she saw Isaac, she jumped down from the camel.⁶⁵She said to the servant, "Who is that man who is walking in the field to meet us?" The servant said, "It is my master." So she took her veil, and covered herself.

⁶⁶The servant recounted to Isaac all the things that he had done.⁶⁷Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent and took Rebekah, and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.

¹Abraham took another wife; her name was Keturah.²She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.³Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. The descendants of Dedan were the Assyrian people, the Letush people, and the Leum people.⁴Midian's sons were Ephah, Epher, Hanok, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were Keturah's descendants.

⁵Abraham gave all that he owned to Isaac.⁶However, while he was still living, he gave gifts to the sons of his concubines and sent them to the land of the east, away from Isaac, his son.

⁷These were the days of the years of Abraham's life which he lived, 175 years.⁸Abraham breathed his last and died at a good old age, an old man with a full life, and he was gathered to his people.

⁹Isaac and Ishmael, his sons, buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite, which is near Mamre.¹⁰This field Abraham had bought from the sons of Heth. Abraham was buried there with Sarah his wife.¹¹After the death of Abraham, God blessed Isaac his son, and Isaac lived near Beer Lahai Roi.

¹²Now these were the descendants of Ishmael, Abraham's son, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah's servant, bore to Abraham.

¹³These were the names of Ishmael's sons, according to their birth order: Nebaioth—the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam,¹⁴Mishma, Dumah, Massa,¹⁵Hadad, Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah.¹⁶These were Ishmael's sons, and these were their names, by their villages, and by their encampments; twelve princes according to their tribes.

¹⁷These were the years of the life of Ishmael, 137 years. He breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people.¹⁸They lived from Havilah to Ashhur, which is near Egypt, as one goes toward Assyria. They lived in hostility with each other.

¹⁹This is the account of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham became the father of Isaac.²⁰Isaac was forty years old when he took as his wife Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean.

²¹Isaac prayed to Yahweh for his wife because she was barren, and Yahweh answered his prayer, and Rebekah his wife conceived.²²The children struggled together within her, and she said, "Why is this happening to me?" She went to ask Yahweh about this.

²³Yahweh said to her,

"Two nations are in your womb,

and two peoples will be separated from within you.

One people will be stronger than the other,

and the older will serve the younger."

²⁴When it was time for her to give birth, behold, there were twins in her womb.²⁵The first child came out red all over like a hairy garment. They called his name Esau.²⁶After that, his brother came out. His hand was grasping Esau's heel. He was named Jacob. Isaac was sixty years old when his wife bore them.

²⁷The boys grew up, and Esau became a skillful hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a quiet man, who spent his time in the tents.²⁸Now Isaac loved Esau because he ate the animals that he had hunted, but Rebekah loved Jacob.

²⁹Jacob cooked some stew. Esau came in from the field, and he was weak from hunger.³⁰Esau said to Jacob, "Feed me with that red stew. Please, I am exhausted!" That is why his name was called Edom.

³¹Jacob said, "First sell me your birthright."³²Esau said, "Look, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?"³³Jacob said, "First swear to me," so Esau swore an oath and in that way he sold his birthright to Jacob.³⁴Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils. He ate and drank, then got up and went on his way. In this manner Esau despised his birthright.

¹Now a famine happened in the land, besides the first famine that had been in the days of Abraham. Isaac went to Abimelek, king of the Philistines at Gerar.

²Now Yahweh appeared to him and said, "Do not go down to Egypt; live in the land that I tell you to live in.³Stay in this very land, and I will be with you and will bless you; for to you and to your descendants, I will give all these lands, and I will fulfill the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

⁴I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and will give to your descendants all these lands. Through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.⁵I will do this because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my instructions, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws."

⁶So Isaac settled in Gerar.⁷When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, "She is my sister." He feared to say, "She is my wife," because he thought, "The men of this place will kill me to get Rebekah, because she is so beautiful."⁸After Isaac had been there a long time, Abimelek king of the Philistines happened to look out of a window. He saw, behold, Isaac was caressing Rebekah, his wife.

⁹Abimelek called Isaac to him and said, "Look, certainly she is your wife. Why did you say, 'She is my sister'?" Isaac said to him, "Because I thought someone might kill me to get her."¹⁰Abimelek said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."¹¹So Abimelek commanded all the people and said, "Whoever touches this man or his wife will surely be put to death."

¹²Isaac planted crops in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold, because Yahweh blessed him.¹³The man became rich, and grew more and more until he became very great.¹⁴He had many sheep and cattle, and a large household. The Philistines envied him.

¹⁵Now all the wells that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped them up by filling them with earth.¹⁶Abimelek said to Isaac, "Go away from us, for you are much mightier than we."¹⁷So Isaac departed from there and camped in the Valley of Gerar, and lived there.

¹⁸Once again Isaac dug out the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father. The Philistines had stopped them up after Abraham's death. Isaac called the wells by the same names that his father had called them.

¹⁹When Isaac's servants dug in the valley, they found there a well of flowing water.²⁰The herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac's herdsmen, and said, "This water is ours." So Isaac named that well "Esek," because they had quarreled with him.

²¹Then they dug another well, and they quarreled over that, too, so he gave it the name of "Sitnah."²²He left there and dug yet another well, but they did not quarrel over that one. So he called it Rehoboth, and he said, "Now Yahweh has made room for us, and we will prosper in the land."

²³Then Isaac went up from there to Beersheba.²⁴Yahweh appeared to him that same night and said, "I am the God of Abraham your father. Do not fear, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your descendants, for my servant Abraham's sake."²⁵Isaac built an altar there and called on the name of Yahweh. There he pitched his tent, and his servants dug a well.

²⁶Then Abimelek went to him from Gerar, with Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phicol, the captain of his army.²⁷Isaac said to them, "Why are you coming to me, since you hate me and have sent me away from you?"

²⁸Then they said, "We have clearly seen that Yahweh has been with you. So we decided that there should be an oath between us, yes, between us and you. So let us make a covenant with you,²⁹that you will do us no harm, just as we have not harmed you, and as we have treated you well and have sent you away in peace. Indeed, you are blessed by Yahweh."

³⁰So Isaac made a feast for them, and they ate and drank.³¹They rose early in the morning and swore an oath with each other. Then Isaac sent them away, and they left him in peace.

³²That same day Isaac's servants came and told him about the well that they had dug. They said, "We have found water."³³He called the well Shibah, so the name of that city is Beersheba to this day.

³⁴When Esau was forty years old, he took a wife, Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite.³⁵They brought sorrow to Isaac and Rebekah.

¹When Isaac was old and his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau, his older son, and said to him, "My son." Esau said to him, "Here I am,"²and Isaac said, "See now, I am old. I do not know the day of my death.

³Therefore take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me.⁴Make delicious food for me, the sort that I love, and bring it to me so I can eat it and bless you before I die."

⁵Now Rebekah heard it when Isaac spoke to Esau his son. Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it back.⁶Rebekah spoke to Jacob her son and said, "See here, I heard your father speak to Esau your brother. He said,⁷'Bring me game and make me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you in the presence of Yahweh before my death.'

⁸Now therefore, my son, obey my voice as I command you.⁹Go to the flock, and bring me two good kids; and I will make delicious food from them for your father, just like he loves.¹⁰You will take it to your father, so that he may eat it, so that he may bless you before his death."

¹¹Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, "See, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.¹²Perhaps my father will touch me, and I will seem to him as a deceiver. I will bring a curse upon me and not a blessing."

¹³His mother said to him, "My son, let any curse fall on me. Just obey my voice, and go, bring them to me."¹⁴So Jacob went and got the young goats and brought them to his mother, and his mother made delicious food, just like his father loved.

¹⁵Rebekah took the best clothes of Esau, her older son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son.¹⁶She put the skins of the kids on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck.¹⁷She put the delicious food and the bread that she had prepared into the hand of her son Jacob.

¹⁸Jacob went to his father and said, "My father." His father said, "Here I am; who are you, my son?"¹⁹Jacob said to his father, "I am Esau your firstborn. I have done as you said to me. Now sit up and eat some of my game, that you may bless me."

²⁰Isaac said to his son, "How is it that you have found it so quickly, my son?" He said, "Because Yahweh your God brought it to me."²¹Isaac said to Jacob, "Come near me, so I may touch you, my son, and learn whether you are my true son Esau or not."

²²Jacob went over to Isaac his father; and Isaac touched him and said, "The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau."²³Isaac did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy, like his brother Esau's hands, so Isaac blessed him.

²⁴He said, "Are you really my son Esau?" He replied, "I am."²⁵Isaac said, "Bring the food to me, and I will eat of your game, so that I may bless you." Jacob brought the food to him. Isaac ate, and Jacob brought him wine, and he drank.

²⁶Then his father Isaac said to him, "Come near now and kiss me, my son."²⁷Jacob came near and kissed him, and he smelled the smell of his clothes and blessed him. He said,

"See, the smell of my son

is like the smell of a field

that Yahweh has blessed.

²⁸May God give you a portion of the dew of heaven,

a portion of the fatness of the earth,

and plenty of grain and new wine.

²⁹May peoples serve you

and nations bow down to you.

Be master over your brothers,

and may your mother's sons bow down to you.

May every one who curses you be cursed;

may every one who blesses you be blessed."

³⁰As soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had scarcely gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, Esau his brother came in from his hunting.³¹He also made delicious food and brought it to his father. He said to his father, "Father, get up and eat some of your son's game, so that you may bless me."

³²Isaac his father said to him, "Who are you?" He said, "I am your son, your firstborn, Esau."³³Isaac trembled very much and said, "Who was it that hunted this game and brought it to me? I ate it all before you came, and I have blessed him. Indeed, he will be blessed."

³⁴When Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a very great and bitter cry, and said to his father, "Bless me, me also, my father."³⁵Isaac said, "Your brother came here deceitfully and has taken away your blessing."

³⁶Esau said, "Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and, see, now he has taken away my blessing." Then he said, "Have you not reserved a blessing for me?"³⁷Isaac answered and said to Esau, "Look, I have made him your master, and I have given to him all his brothers as servants, and I have given him grain and new wine. What more can I do for you, my son?"

³⁸Esau said to his father, "Have you not even one blessing for me, my father? Bless me, even me too, my father." Esau wept loudly.

³⁹Isaac his father answered and said to him,

"Look, the place where you live will be

far from the richness of the earth,

away from the dew of the sky above.

⁴⁰By your sword you will live,

and you will serve your brother.

But when you rebel,

you will break his yoke off of your neck."

⁴¹Esau bore a grudge against Jacob because of the blessing that his father had given him. Esau said in his heart, "The days of mourning for my father are near; after that I will kill my brother Jacob."⁴²The words of Esau her older son were told to Rebekah. So she sent and called Jacob her younger son and said to him, "See, your brother Esau is consoling himself about you by planning to kill you.

⁴³Now therefore, my son, obey me and flee to Laban, my brother, in Haran.⁴⁴Stay with him for a while, until your brother's fury subsides,⁴⁵until your brother's anger turns away from you, and he forgets what you have done to him. Then I will send and bring you back from there. Why should I lose you both in one day?

⁴⁶Rebekah said to Isaac, "I abhor life because of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes one of the daughters of Heth as a wife, like these women, some of the daughters of the land, what good will my life be to me?"

¹Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You must not take a wife from the Canaanite women.²Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father, and take a wife from there, one of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

³May God Almighty bless you, make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a community of peoples.⁴May he give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your descendants after you, that you may inherit the land where you have been sojourning, which God gave to Abraham."

⁵So Isaac sent Jacob away. Jacob went to Paddan Aram, to Laban son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

⁶Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take a wife from there. He also saw that Isaac had blessed him and given him a command, saying, "You must not take a wife from the women of Canaan."⁷Esau also saw that Jacob had obeyed his father and his mother, and had gone to Paddan Aram.

⁸Esau saw that the women of Canaan did not please Isaac his father.⁹So he went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

¹⁰Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.¹¹He came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones in that place, put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

¹²He dreamed and saw a stairway set up on the earth. Its top reached to heaven and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it.¹³Behold, Yahweh stood above it and said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land on which you are lying, I will give to you and to your descendants.

¹⁴Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread far out to the west, to the east, to the north, and to the south. Through you and through your descendants will all the families of the earth be blessed.¹⁵Behold, I am with you, and I will keep you wherever you go. I will bring you into this land again; for I will not leave you. I will do all that I have promised to you."

¹⁶Jacob awoke out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it."¹⁷He was afraid and said, "How terrifying is this place! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven."

¹⁸Jacob arose early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head. He set it up as a pillar and poured oil upon the top of it.¹⁹He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city originally was Luz.

²⁰Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will protect me on this road on which I am walking, and will give me bread to eat, and clothes to wear,²¹so that I return safely to my father's house, then Yahweh will be my God.²²Then this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be a sacred stone. From everything that you give me, I will surely give a tenth back to you."

¹Then Jacob went on his journey and came to the land of the people of the east.²As he looked, he saw a well in the field, and, behold, three flocks of sheep were lying there by it. For out of that well they would water the flocks, and the stone over the well's mouth was large.³When all the flocks had gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone from the well's mouth and water the sheep, and then put the stone again over the well's mouth, back in its place.

⁴Jacob said to them, "My brothers, where are you from?" They replied, "We are from Haran."⁵He said to them, "Do you know Laban son of Nahor?" They said, "We know him."⁶He said to them, "Is he well?" They said, "He is well, and, look there, Rachel his daughter is coming with the sheep."

⁷Jacob said, "See, it is the middle of the day. It is not the time for the flocks to be gathered together. You should water the sheep and then go and let them graze."⁸They said, "We cannot water them until all the flocks are gathered together. The men will then roll the stone from the well's mouth, and we will water the sheep."

⁹While Jacob was still speaking with them, Rachel came with her father's sheep, for she was tending them.¹⁰When Jacob saw Rachel, the daughter of Laban, his mother's brother, and the sheep of Laban, his mother's brother, Jacob came over, rolled the stone from the well's mouth, and watered the flock of Laban, his mother's brother.

¹¹Jacob kissed Rachel and wept loudly.¹²Jacob told Rachel that he was her father's relative, and that he was Rebekah's son. Then she ran and told her father.

¹³When Laban heard the news about Jacob his sister's son, he ran to meet him, embraced him, kissed him, and brought him to his house. Jacob told Laban all these things.¹⁴Laban said to him, "You are indeed my bone and my flesh." Then Jacob stayed with him for about one month.

¹⁵Then Laban said to Jacob, "Should you serve me for nothing because you are my relative? Tell me, what will your wages be?"¹⁶Now Laban had two daughters. The name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.¹⁷Leah's eyes were tender, but Rachel was beautiful in form and appearance.¹⁸Jacob loved Rachel, so he said, "I will serve you seven years for Rachel, your younger daughter."

¹⁹Laban said, "It is better that I give her to you, than that I should give her to another man. Stay with me."²⁰So Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they seemed to him only a few days, for the love he had for her.

²¹Then Jacob said to Laban, "Give me my wife, for my days have been completed—so that I may go to her!"²²So Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.

²³In the evening, Laban took Leah his daughter and brought her to Jacob, who went to her.²⁴Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah, to be her servant.²⁵In the morning, behold, it was Leah! Jacob said to Laban, "What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?"

²⁶Laban said, "It is not our custom to give the younger daughter before the firstborn.²⁷Complete the bridal week of this daughter, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years."

²⁸Jacob did so, and completed Leah's week. Then Laban gave him Rachel his daughter as his wife also.²⁹Laban also gave Bilhah to his daughter Rachel, to be her servant.³⁰So Jacob went to Rachel, too, but he loved Rachel more than Leah. So Jacob served Laban for seven more years.

³¹Yahweh saw that Leah was not loved, so he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.³²Leah conceived and bore a son, and she called his name Reuben. For she said, "Because Yahweh has looked upon my affliction; surely now my husband will love me."

³³Then she conceived again and bore a son. She said, "Because Yahweh has heard that I am unloved, he has therefore given me this son also," and she called his name Simeon.³⁴Then she conceived again and bore a son. She said, "Now this time will my husband be attached to me, because I have borne him three sons." Therefore his name was called Levi.

³⁵She conceived again and bore a son. She said, "This time I will praise Yahweh." Therefore she called his name Judah; then she stopped having children.

¹When Rachel saw that she bore Jacob no children, Rachel was jealous of her sister. She said to Jacob, "Give me children, or I will die."²Jacob's anger burned against Rachel. He said, "Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?"

³She said, "See, there is my servant Bilhah. Go to her, so she might give birth to children on my knees, and I will have children by her."⁴So she gave him her servant Bilhah as a wife, and Jacob went to her.

⁵Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.⁶Then Rachel said, "God has vindicated me, and he has heard my voice and given me a son." For this reason she called his name Dan.

⁷Bilhah, Rachel's servant, conceived again and bore Jacob a second son.⁸Rachel said, "With mighty wrestlings have I wrestled with my sister and have prevailed." She called his name Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had stopped having children, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife.¹⁰Zilpah, Leah's servant, bore Jacob a son.¹¹Leah said, "This is fortunate!" so she called his name Gad.

¹²Then Zilpah, Leah's servant, bore Jacob a second son.¹³Leah said, "I am happy! For the daughters will call me happy." So she called his name Asher.

¹⁴Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest and found mandrakes in the field. He brought them to his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, "Give me some of your son's mandrakes."¹⁵Leah said to her, "Is it a small matter to you, that you have taken away my husband? Do you now want to take away my son's mandrakes, too?" Rachel said, "Then he will lie with you tonight, in exchange for your son's mandrakes."

¹⁶Jacob came from the field in the evening. Leah went out to meet him and said, "You must come to me, for I have hired you with my son's mandrakes." So Jacob lay with Leah that night.¹⁷God listened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.¹⁸Leah said, "God has given me my wages, because I gave my servant woman to my husband." She called his name Issachar.

¹⁹Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.²⁰Leah said, "God has given me a good gift. Now my husband will honor me, because I have borne him six sons." She called his name Zebulun.²¹Afterwards she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.

²²God called Rachel to mind and listened to her. He caused her to become pregnant.²³She conceived and bore a son. She said, "God has taken away my shame."²⁴She called his name Joseph, saying, "Yahweh has added to me another son."

²⁵After Rachel had borne Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, "Send me away, so that I may go to my own home and to my country.²⁶Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go, for you know the service I have given you."

²⁷Laban said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, wait, because I have learned by using divination that Yahweh has blessed me for your sake."²⁸Then he said, "Name your wages, and I will pay them."

²⁹Jacob said to him, "You know how I have served you, and how your livestock have fared with me.³⁰For you had little before I came, and it has increased abundantly. Yahweh has blessed you wherever I worked. Now when will I provide for my own household also?"

³¹So Laban said, "What will I pay you?" Jacob said, "You will not give me anything. If you will do this thing for me, I will again feed your flock and keep it.³²Let me walk through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted sheep, and every black one among the sheep, and the spotted and speckled among the goats. These will be my wages.

³³My integrity will testify for me later on, when you come to check on my wages. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats, and black among the sheep, if any are found with me, will be considered to be stolen."³⁴Laban said, "Agreed. Let it be according to your word."

³⁵That day Laban removed the male goats that were striped and spotted, and all the female goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of his sons.³⁶Laban also put three days' journey between himself and Jacob. So Jacob kept tending the rest of Laban's flocks.

³⁷Jacob took fresh cut branches of the poplar, almond, and plane trees, and he peeled white streaks in them and made the white inner wood appear that was in the sticks.³⁸Then he set the sticks that he had peeled in front of the flocks, in front of the watering troughs where they came to drink. They conceived when they came to drink.

³⁹The flocks bred in front of the sticks; and the flocks produced striped, speckled, and spotted young.⁴⁰Jacob separated out these lambs, but made the rest of them face toward the striped animals and all the black sheep in the flock of Laban. Then he separated out his flocks for himself alone and did not put them together with Laban's flocks.

⁴¹Whenever the stronger sheep in the flock were breeding, then Jacob would lay the sticks in the watering troughs before the eyes of the flock, so that they might conceive among the sticks.⁴²But when the feebler animals in the flock came, he did not put the sticks in front of them. So the feebler animals were Laban's, and the stronger were Jacob's.

⁴³The man became very prosperous. He had large flocks, female servants and male servants, and camels and donkeys.

¹Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, that they said, "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and it is from our father's possessions that he has gotten all this wealth."²Jacob saw the look on Laban's face. He saw that his attitude toward him had changed.³Then Yahweh said to Jacob, "Return to the land of your fathers and to your relatives, and I will be with you."

⁴Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock⁵and said to them, "I see your father's attitude toward me has changed, but the God of my father has been with me.⁶You know that it is with all my strength that I have served your father.

⁷Your father has deceived me and changed my wages ten times, but God has not permitted him to hurt me.⁸If he said, 'The speckled animals will be your wages,' then all the flock bore speckled young. If he said, 'The striped will be your wages,' then the whole flock bore striped young.⁹In this way God has taken away the livestock of your father and given them to me.

¹⁰Once at the time of breeding season, I saw in a dream the male goats that were mating with the flock. The male goats were striped, speckled, and spotted.¹¹The angel of God said to me in the dream, 'Jacob.' I said, 'Here I am.'

¹²He said, 'Lift up your eyes and see all the male goats that are breeding with the flock. They are striped, speckled, and spotted, for I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you.¹³I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to me. Now rise up and leave this land and return to the land of your birth.'"

¹⁴Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, "Is there any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?¹⁵Are we not treated by him as foreigners? For he has sold us and has also completely devoured our money.¹⁶For all the riches that God has taken away from our father are now ours and our children's. Now then, whatever God has said to you, do it."

¹⁷Then Jacob arose and placed his sons and his wives upon the camels.¹⁸He drove all his livestock ahead of him, along with all his property, including the livestock he had acquired in Paddan Aram. Then he set out to go to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

¹⁹When Laban had gone to shear his flock, Rachel stole her father's household gods.²⁰Jacob also deceived Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he was fleeing.²¹So he fled with all that he had and quickly passed over the River, and headed toward the hill country of Gilead.

²²On the third day Laban was told that Jacob had fled.²³So he took his relatives with him and pursued him for a seven days' journey. He overtook him in the hill country of Gilead.

²⁴Now God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream at night and said to him, "Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad."²⁵Laban overtook Jacob. Now Jacob had pitched his tent in the hill country. Laban also camped with his relatives in the hill country of Gilead.¹

²⁶Laban said to Jacob, "What have you done, that you deceived me and carried away my daughters like captives of the sword?²⁷Why did you flee secretly and trick me and did not tell me? I would have sent you away with celebration and with songs, with tambourine and with harps.²⁸You did not allow me to kiss my grandsons and my daughters good bye. Now you have acted foolishly.

²⁹It is in my power to do you harm, but the God of your father spoke to me last night and said, 'Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad.'³⁰Now you have gone away because you longed to return to your father's house. But why did you steal my gods?"

³¹Jacob answered and said to Laban, "I fled secretly because I was afraid and thought that you would take your daughters from me by force.³²Whoever has stolen your gods will not continue to live. In the presence of our relatives, identify whatever with me is yours and take it." For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

³³Laban went into Jacob's tent, into Leah's tent, and into the tent of the two female servants, but he did not find them. He went out of Leah's tent and entered into Rachel's tent.

³⁴Now Rachel had taken the household gods, put them in a camel's saddle, and sat upon them. Laban searched the whole tent, but did not find them.³⁵She said to her father, "Do not be angry, my master, that I cannot stand up before you, for I am having my period." So he searched but did not find his household gods.

³⁶Jacob was angry and argued with Laban. He said to him, "What is my offense? What is my sin, that you have hotly pursued me?³⁷For you have searched all my possessions. What have you found of all your household goods? Set them here before our relatives, so that they may judge between the two of us.

³⁸For twenty years I have been with you. Your ewes and your female goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten any rams from your flocks.³⁹What was torn by beasts I did not bring to you. I bore the loss of it. You demanded payment from my hand, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.⁴⁰There I was; in the day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night; and I went without sleep.

⁴¹These twenty years I have been in your household. I worked for you fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock. You have changed my wages ten times.⁴²Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the one Isaac fears, had been with me, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and my toil, and he rebuked you last night."

⁴³Laban answered and said to Jacob, "The daughters are my daughters, the grandchildren are my grandchildren, and the flocks are my flocks. All that you see is mine. But what can I do today to these my daughters, or to their children whom they have borne?⁴⁴So now, let us make a covenant, you and I, and let it be for a witness between you and me."

⁴⁵So Jacob took a stone and set it up as a pillar.⁴⁶Jacob said to his relatives, "Gather stones." So they took stones and made a pile. Then they ate there by the pile.⁴⁷Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha, but Jacob called it Galeed.

⁴⁸Laban said, "This pile is a witness between me and you today." Therefore its name was called Galeed.⁴⁹It is also called Mizpah, because Laban said, "May Yahweh watch between you and me, when we are out of sight one from another.⁵⁰If you mistreat my daughters, or if you take any wives besides my daughters, although no one else is with us, see, God is witness between you and me."

⁵¹Laban said to Jacob, "Look at this pile, and look at the pillar, which I have set between you and me.⁵²This pile is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this pile to you, and that you will not pass beyond this pile and this pillar to me, to do harm.⁵³May the God of Abraham, and the god of Nahor, the gods of their father, judge between us." Jacob swore by the Fear of his father Isaac.

⁵⁴Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain and called his relatives to eat a meal. They ate and spent the entire night on the mountain.⁵⁵Early in the morning Laban got up, kissed his grandsons and his daughters and blessed them. Then Laban left and returned home.

¹Some modern translations have Laban also camped in the hill country of Gilead.

¹Jacob also went on his way, and the angels of God met him.²When Jacob saw them, he said, "This is God's camp," so he called the name of that place Mahanaim.

³Jacob sent messengers on ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, in the region of Edom.⁴He commanded them, saying, "This is what you will say to my master Esau: This is what your servant Jacob says: 'I have been staying with Laban, and have delayed my return until now.⁵I have cattle and donkeys, and flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent this message to my master, so that I may find favor in your eyes.'"

⁶The messengers returned to Jacob and said, "We went to your brother Esau. He is coming to meet you, and four hundred men are with him."⁷Then Jacob was very afraid and upset. So he divided the people who were with him into two camps, and also the flocks, the herds, and the camels.⁸He said, "If Esau comes to one camp and attacks it, then the camp that remains will escape."

⁹Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, 'Return to your country and to your kindred, and I will prosper you,'¹⁰I am not worthy of all your acts of covenant faithfulness and of all the trustworthiness that you have done for your servant. For with only my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

¹¹Please rescue me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I am afraid of him, that he will come and attack me and the mothers with the children.¹²But you said, 'I will certainly make you prosper. I will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for their number.'"

¹³Jacob stayed there that night. He took some of what he had with him as a gift for Esau, his brother:¹⁴two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,¹⁵thirty milking camels and their colts, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.¹⁶These he gave into the hand of his servants, every herd by itself. He said to his servants, "Go on ahead of me and put a space between each of the herds."

¹⁷He instructed the first servant, saying, "When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, 'To whom do you belong? Where are you going? Whose animals are these that are in front of you?'¹⁸Then you will say, 'They are your servant Jacob's. They are a gift sent to my master Esau. See, he is also coming after us.'"

¹⁹Jacob also gave instructions to the second group, the third, and all the men who followed the herds. He said, "You will say the same thing to Esau when you meet him.²⁰You must also say, 'Your servant Jacob is coming after us.'" For he thought, "I will appease him with the gifts that I am sending ahead of me. Then later, when I will see him, perhaps he will receive me."²¹So the gifts went on ahead of him. He himself stayed that night in the camp.

²²Jacob got up during the night, and he took his two wives, his two women servants, and his eleven sons. He sent them across the ford of the Jabbok.²³In this way he sent them across the stream along with all his possessions.

²⁴Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him until dawn.²⁵When the man saw that he could not defeat him, he struck Jacob's hip, so that his hip was dislocated as he wrestled with him.²⁶The man said, "Let me go, for the dawn is breaking." Jacob said, "I will not let you go unless you bless me."

²⁷The man said to him, "What is your name?" Jacob said, "Jacob."²⁸The man said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. For you have struggled with God and with men and have prevailed."

²⁹Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why is it that you ask my name?" Then he blessed him there.³⁰Jacob called the name of the place Peniel for he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is delivered."

³¹The sun rose on Jacob as he passed Peniel. He was limping because of his hip.³²That is why to this day the people of Israel do not eat the ligaments of the hip which are at the hip joint, because the man injured those ligaments while dislocating Jacob's hip.

¹Jacob looked up and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him were four hundred men. Jacob divided the children among Leah, Rachel, and the two female servants.²Then he put the female servants and their children in front, followed by Leah and her children, and followed by Rachel and Joseph last of all.³He himself went on ahead of them. He bowed toward the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

⁴Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, hugged his neck, and kissed him. Then they wept.⁵When Esau looked up, he saw the women and the children. He said, "Who are these people with you?" Jacob said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant."

⁶Then the female servants came forward with their children, and they bowed down.⁷Next Leah also and her children came forward and bowed down. Finally Joseph and Rachel came forward and bowed down.⁸Esau said, "What do you mean by all these groups that I met?" Jacob said, "To find favor in the sight of my master."

⁹Esau said, "I have enough, my brother. Keep what you have for yourself."¹⁰Jacob said, "No, please, if I have found favor in your eyes, then accept my gift from my hand, for indeed, I have seen your face, and it is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.¹¹Please accept my gift that was brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." Thus Jacob urged him, and Esau accepted it.

¹²Then Esau said, "Let us be on our way. I will go before you."¹³Jacob said to him, "My master knows that the children are young, and that the sheep and the cattle are nursing their young. If they are driven hard even one day, all the animals will die.¹⁴Please let my master go on ahead of his servant. I will travel more slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are before me, and at the pace of the children, until I come to my master in Seir."

¹⁵Esau said, "Let me leave with you some of my men who are with me." But Jacob said, "Why do that? Let me find favor in the sight of my lord."¹⁶So Esau that day started on his way back to Seir.¹⁷Jacob traveled to Sukkoth, built himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Sukkoth.

¹⁸When Jacob came from Paddan Aram, he arrived safely at the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. He camped near the city.¹⁹Then he bought the piece of ground where he had pitched his tent from the sons of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of silver.²⁰There he set up an altar and called it El Elohe Israel.

¹Now Dinah, Leah's daughter whom she bore to Jacob, went out to meet the young women of the land.²Shechem son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her and lay with her, and he humiliated her.³He was drawn to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob. He loved the young woman and spoke tenderly to her.

⁴Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, "Get this young woman for me as a wife."⁵Now Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter. His sons were with his livestock in the field, so Jacob held his peace until they came.

⁶Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him.⁷The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard of the matter. The men were offended. They were very angry because he had disgraced Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, for such a thing should not have been done.

⁸Hamor spoke with them, saying, "My son Shechem loves your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife.⁹Intermarry with us, give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves.¹⁰You will live with us, and the land will be open to you to live and trade in, and to acquire property."

¹¹Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, "Let me find favor in your eyes, and whatever you tell me I will give.¹²Ask me for as great a bride price and gift as you will, and I will give whatever you say to me, but give me the young woman as a wife."¹³The sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father with deceit, because Shechem had defiled Dinah their sister.

¹⁴They said to them, "We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to anyone who is uncircumcised; for that would be a disgrace to us.¹⁵Only on this condition will we agree with you: If you will become circumcised as we are, if every male among you is circumcised.¹⁶Then will we give our daughters to you, and we will take your daughters to ourselves, and we will live with you and become one people.¹⁷But if you do not listen to us and become circumcised, then we will take our sister and we will leave."

¹⁸Their words pleased Hamor and his son Shechem.¹⁹The young man did not delay to do what they said, because he delighted in Jacob's daughter, and because he was the most honored person in all his father's household.

²⁰Hamor and Shechem his son went to the gate of their city and spoke with the men of their city, saying,²¹"These men are at peace with us, so let them live in the land and trade in it for, really, the land is large enough for them. Let us take their daughters as wives, and let us give them our daughters.

²²Only on this condition will the men agree to live with us and become one people: If every male among us is circumcised, as they are circumcised.²³Will not their livestock and their property—all their animals be ours? So let us agree with them, and they will live among us."

²⁴All who went out to the gates of his city listened to Hamor and Shechem, his son. All males were circumcised, all who went out to the gates of his city.²⁵On the third day, when they were still in pain, two of the sons of Jacob (Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers), each took his sword and they attacked the city that was certain of its security, and they killed all the males.²⁶They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the edge of the sword. They took Dinah from Shechem's house and went away.

²⁷The other sons of Jacob came to the dead bodies and plundered the city, because the people had defiled their sister.²⁸They took their flocks, their herds, their donkeys, and everything in the city and in the surrounding fields.²⁹They captured all their wealth, all their children, and their wives. They even plundered everything that was in the houses.

³⁰Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have brought trouble on me, to make me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. If they gather themselves together against me and attack me, then I will be destroyed, I and my household."³¹But Simeon and Levi said, "Should Shechem have dealt with our sister as with a prostitute?"

¹God said to Jacob, "Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there. Build an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from Esau your brother."²Then Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, "Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your clothes.³Then let us depart and go up to Bethel. I will build an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and has been with me wherever I have gone."

⁴So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their hand, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob buried them under the oak that was near Shechem.⁵As they traveled, God made panic to fall on the cities that were around them, so those people did not pursue the sons of Jacob.

⁶So Jacob arrived at Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him.⁷He built an altar there and called the place El Bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him, when he was fleeing from his brother.⁸Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died. She was buried down from Bethel under the oak tree, so it was called Allon Bakuth.

⁹When Jacob came from Paddan Aram, God appeared to him again and blessed him.¹⁰God said to him, "Your name is Jacob, but your name will no longer be called Jacob. Your name will be Israel." So God called his name Israel.

¹¹God said to him, "I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations will come from you, and kings will be among your descendants.¹²The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to you. To your descendants after you I also give the land."¹³God went up from him in the place where he spoke with him.

¹⁴Jacob set up a pillar in the place where God had spoken to him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering over it and poured oil on it.¹⁵Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel.

¹⁶They journeyed on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel went into labor. She had hard labor.¹⁷While she was in hardest labor, the midwife said to her, "Do not be afraid, for now you will have another son."¹⁸As she was dying, with her dying breath she named him Ben-Oni, but his father called him Benjamin.¹⁹Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).²⁰Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave. It is the marker of Rachel's grave to this day.

²¹Israel traveled on and pitched his tent beyond the watchtower of the flock.²²While Israel was living in that land, Reuben lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard of it.

Now Jacob had twelve sons.

²³His sons by Leah were Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.

²⁴His sons by Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵His sons by Bilhah, Rachel's female servant, were Dan and Naphtali.

²⁶The sons of Zilpah, Leah's female servant, were Gad and Asher. All these were the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

²⁷Jacob came to Isaac, his father, in Mamre in Kiriath Arba (the same as Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived.

²⁸Isaac lived for one hundred eighty years.²⁹Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his ancestors, an old man full of days. Esau and Jacob, his sons, buried him.

¹These were the descendants of Esau (also called Edom).

²Esau took his wives from the Canaanites. These were his wives: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;³and Basemath, Ishmael's daughter, sister of Nebaioth.

⁴Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel.⁵Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

⁶Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the members of his household, his livestock—all his other animals, and all his possessions, which he had gathered in the land of Canaan, and went into a land away from his brother Jacob.⁷He did this because their possessions were too many for them to stay together. The land where they were sojourning could not support them because of their livestock.⁸So Esau, also known as Edom, settled in the hill country of Seir.

⁹These were the descendants of Esau, the ancestor of the Edomites in the hill country of Seir.

¹⁰These were the names of Esau's sons: Eliphaz son of Adah, the wife of Esau; Reuel son of Basemath, the wife of Esau.

¹¹The sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam, and Kenaz.

¹²Timna, a concubine of Eliphaz, Esau's son, bore Amalek. These were the grandsons of Adah, Esau's wife.

¹³These were the sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, and Mizzah. These were the grandsons of Basemath, Esau's wife.

¹⁴These were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau's wife, who was the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon. She bore to Esau Jeush, Jalam, and Korah.

¹⁵These were the clans among Esau's descendants: the descendants of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz,¹⁶Korah, Gatam, and Amalek. These were the clans descended from Eliphaz in the land of Edom. They were the grandsons of Adah.

¹⁷These were the clans from Reuel, Esau's son: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah, Mizzah. These were the clans descended from Reuel in the land of Edom. They were the grandsons of Basemath, Esau's wife.

¹⁸These were the clans of Oholibamah, Esau's wife: Jeush, Jalam, Korah. These are the clans that descended from Esau's wife Oholibamah, daughter of Anah.¹⁹These were the sons of Esau (who was known as Edom), and these were their chiefs.

²⁰These were the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,²¹Dishon, Ezer, and Dishan. These were the clans of the Horites, the inhabitants of Seir in the land of Edom.

²²The sons of Lotan were Hori and Heman, and Timna was Lotan's sister.

²³These were the sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho, and Onam.

²⁴These were the sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is Anah who found the hot springs in the wilderness, as he was pasturing donkeys of Zibeon his father.

²⁵These were the children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah.

²⁶These were the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran, and Keran.

²⁷These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan, and Akan.

²⁸These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

²⁹These were the clans of the Horites: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, and Anah,³⁰Dishon, Ezer, Dishan: These were clans of the Horites, according to their clan lists in the land of Seir.

³¹These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the sons of Israel:

³²Bela son of Beor, reigned in Edom, and the name of his city was Dinhabah.

³³When Bela died, then Jobab son of Zerah of Bozrah, reigned in his place.

³⁴When Jobab died, Husham who was of the land of the Temanites, reigned in his place.

³⁵When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad who defeated the Midianites in the land of Moab, reigned in his place. The name of his city was Avith.

³⁶When Hadad died, then Samlah of Masrekah reigned in his place.

³⁷When Samlah died, then Shaul of Rehoboth by the river reigned in his place.

³⁸When Shaul died, then Baal-Hanan son of Akbor reigned in his place.

³⁹When Baal-Hanan son of Akbor died, then Hadar reigned in his place. The name of his city was Pau. His wife's name was Mehetabel, the daughter of Matred, the granddaughter of Me-Zahab.

⁴⁰These were the names of the heads of clans from Esau's descendants, according to their clans and their regions, by their names: Timna, Alvah, Jetheth,⁴¹Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon,⁴²Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar,⁴³Magdiel, and Iram. These were the clan heads of Edom, according to their settlements in the land they possessed. This was Esau, the father of the Edomites.

¹Jacob lived in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan.

²This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, who was a young man seventeen years old, was guarding the flock with his brothers. He was with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. Joseph brought an unfavorable report about them to their father.

³Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age. He made him a beautifully decorated garment.⁴His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers. They hated him and would not speak peaceably to him.

⁵Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told his brothers about it. They hated him even more.⁶He said to them, "Please listen to this dream which I dreamed.

⁷Behold, we were tying bundles of grain in the field and behold, my bundle rose and stood upright, and behold, your bundles came around and bowed down to my bundle."⁸His brothers said to him, "Will you really reign over us? Will you actually rule over us?" They hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

⁹He dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers. He said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream: The sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me."¹⁰He told it to his father just as to his brothers, and his father rebuked him. He said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come to bow down to the ground to you?"¹¹His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

¹²His brothers went to tend their father's flock in Shechem.¹³Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers tending the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them." Joseph said to him, "I am ready."¹⁴He said to him, "Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers and well with the flock, and bring me word." So Jacob sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and Joseph went to Shechem.

¹⁵A certain man found Joseph. Behold, Joseph was wandering in a field. The man asked him, "What do you seek?"¹⁶Joseph said, "I am seeking my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are tending the flock."¹⁷The man said, "They left this place, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

¹⁸They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they plotted against him to kill him.¹⁹His brothers said to one another, "Look, this master of dreams is approaching.²⁰Come now, therefore, let us kill him and cast him into one of the pits. We will say, 'A wild animal has devoured him.' We will see what will become of his dreams."

²¹Reuben heard it and rescued him from their hand. He said, "Let us not take his life."²²Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him"—that he might rescue him out of their hand to bring him back to his father.

²³It came about that when Joseph reached his brothers, they stripped him of his beautifully decorated garment.²⁴They took him and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty with no water in it.

²⁵They sat down to eat bread. They lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh. They were traveling to carry them down to Egypt.²⁶Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

²⁷Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands upon him. For he is our brother, our flesh." His brothers listened to him.²⁸The Midianite merchants passed by. His brothers drew Joseph up and lifted him up out of the pit. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites carried Joseph into Egypt.

²⁹Reuben returned to the pit, and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit. He tore his clothes.³⁰He returned to his brothers and said, "The boy is not there! And I, where can I go?"

³¹They slaughtered a goat and then took Joseph's garment and dipped it into the blood.³²Then they brought the beautifully decorated garment to their father and said, "We found this. Please see whether it is your son's garment or not."³³Jacob recognized it and said, "It is my son's clothing. A wild animal has devoured him. Joseph has certainly been torn to pieces."

³⁴Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth upon his loins. He mourned for his son many days.³⁵All his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, "Indeed I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son." His father wept for him.³⁶The Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard.

¹It came about at that time that Judah left his brothers and stayed with a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.²He met there a daughter of a Canaanite man whose name was Shua. He took her and went to her.

³She conceived and had a son. He was named Er.⁴She conceived again and had a son. She called his name Onan.⁵She again had a son and called his name Shelah. It was at Kezib where she gave birth to him.

⁶Judah found a wife for Er, his firstborn. Her name was Tamar.⁷Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh. Yahweh killed him.

⁸Judah said to Onan, "Go to your brother's wife. Do the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up a child for your brother."⁹Onan knew that the child would not be his. Whenever he went to his brother's wife, he wasted it on the ground so he would not have a child for his brother.¹⁰What he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh. Yahweh killed him also.

¹¹Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house until Shelah, my son, grows up." For he feared, "He might also die, just like his brothers." Tamar left and lived in her father's house.

¹²After a long time, Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted and went up to the shearers of his sheep at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.¹³Tamar was told, "Look, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."¹⁴She took off the clothing of her widowhood and covered herself with her veil and wrapped herself. She sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah had grown up but she had not been given to him as a wife.

¹⁵When Judah saw her he thought that she was a prostitute because she had covered her face.¹⁶He went to her by the road and said, "Come, please let me come to you"—for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law—and she said, "What will you give me so you can come to me?"

¹⁷He said, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She said, "Will you give me a pledge until you send it?"¹⁸He said, "What pledge can I give you?" She replied, "Your seal and cord, and the staff that is in your hand." He gave them to her and he went to her, and she conceived by him.

¹⁹She got up and went away. She took off her veil and put on the clothing of her widowhood.²⁰Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order that he might receive the pledge back from the woman's hand, but he did not find her.

²¹Then the Adullamite asked the men of the place, "Where is the cultic prostitute who was at Enaim by the road?" They said, "There has not been a cultic prostitute here."²²He returned to Judah and said, "I did not find her. Also, the men of the place said, 'There has not been a cultic prostitute here.'"²³Judah said, "Let her keep the things, that we not be put to shame. Indeed, I sent this young goat, but you did not find her."

²⁴It came about after about three months that it was told to Judah, "Tamar your daughter-in-law has committed prostitution, and indeed, she is pregnant by it." Judah said, "Bring her here and let her be burned."²⁵When she was brought out, she sent to her father-in-law a message, "By the man who owns these I am pregnant." She said, "Determine please whose these are, the seal and cords and staff."²⁶Judah recognized them and said, "She is more righteous than I am, since I did not give her as a wife to Shelah, my son." He did not know her again.

²⁷It came about at the time for her to give birth that, behold, twins were in her womb.²⁸It came about as she was giving birth one put out a hand, and the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his hand and said, "This one came out first."

²⁹But then he drew back his hand, and, behold, his brother came out first. The midwife said, "How you have broken out!" So he was named Perez.³⁰Then his brother came out, who had the scarlet thread upon his hand, and he was named Zerah.

¹Joseph was brought down to Egypt. Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh who was captain of the guard and an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him down there.²Yahweh was with Joseph and he became a prosperous man. He lived in the house of his Egyptian master.

³His master saw that Yahweh was with him and that Yahweh prospered everything that he did.⁴Joseph found favor in his sight. He served Potiphar. Potiphar made Joseph manager over his house, and everything that he possessed, he put under his care.

⁵It came about from the time that he made him manager over his house and over everything he possessed, that Yahweh blessed the Egyptian's house because of Joseph. The blessing of Yahweh was on everything that Potiphar had in the house and in the field.⁶Potiphar put everything that he had under Joseph's care. He did not have to think about anything except the food that he ate. Now Joseph was handsome and attractive.

⁷It came about after this that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, "Lie with me."⁸But he refused and said to his master's wife, "Look, my master does not pay attention to what I do in the house, and he has put everything that he owns under my care.⁹No one is greater in this house than I am. He has not kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?"

¹⁰She spoke to Joseph day after day, but he refused to lie with her or to be with her.¹¹It came about one day that he went into the house to do his work. None of the men of the house were there in the house.¹²She caught him by his clothes and said, "Lie with me." He left his clothing in her hand, fled, and went outside.

¹³It came about, when she saw that he had left his clothing in her hand and had fled outside,¹⁴that she called to the men of her house and told them, "See, Potiphar has brought in a Hebrew to mock us. He came to me to lie with me, and I screamed.¹⁵It came about when he heard me scream, that he left his clothing with me, fled, and went outside."

¹⁶She set his clothing next to her until his master came home.¹⁷She told him this explanation, "The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us, came in to mock me.¹⁸It came about that when I screamed, he left his clothing with me and fled outside."

¹⁹It came about that, when his master heard the explanation his wife told him, "This is what your servant did to me," he became very angry.²⁰Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. He was there in the prison.

²¹But Yahweh was with Joseph and showed covenant faithfulness to him. He gave him favor in the sight of the prison warden.²²The prison warden gave into Joseph's hand all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever they did there, Joseph was in charge of it.²³The prison warden did not worry about anything that was in his hand, because Yahweh was with him. Whatever he did, Yahweh prospered.

¹It came about that after these things, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and king's baker offended their master, the king of Egypt.²Pharaoh was angry with his two officials, the chief of the cupbearers and the chief of the bakers.³He put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, in the same prison where Joseph was confined.

⁴The captain of the guard assigned Joseph to them, and he served them. They remained in custody for some time.⁵Both of them dreamed a dream—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt who were confined in the prison—each man had his own dream in the same night, and each dream had its own interpretation.

⁶Joseph came to them in the morning and saw them. Behold, they were upset.⁷He asked Pharaoh's officials who were with him in custody in his master's house, saying, "Why do you look so sad today?"⁸They said to him, "We have both dreamed a dream and no one can interpret it." Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me, please."

⁹The chief of the cupbearers told his dream to Joseph. He said to him, "In my dream, behold, a vine was in front of me.¹⁰In the vine were three branches. As it budded, its blossoms came out and the clusters of grapes ripened.¹¹Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took the grapes and squeezed them into Pharaoh's cup, and I placed the cup into Pharaoh's hand."

¹²Joseph said to him, "This is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three days.¹³Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office. You will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand, just as when you were his cupbearer.

¹⁴But think of me when it goes well with you, and please show kindness to me. Mention me to Pharaoh and bring me out of this prison.¹⁵For indeed I was abducted out of the land of the Hebrews. Here also have I done nothing that they should put me in this dungeon."

¹⁶When the chief of the bakers saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, "I also had a dream, and, behold, three baskets of bread were on my head.¹⁷In the top basket there were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds ate them out of the basket on my head."

¹⁸Joseph answered and said, "This is the interpretation. The three baskets are three days.¹⁹Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head from you and will hang you on a tree. The birds will eat your flesh off you."

²⁰It came about on the third day that it was Pharaoh's birthday. He made a feast for all his servants. He lifted up the head of the chief of the cupbearers and the head of the chief of the bakers, among his servants.²¹He restored the chief of the cupbearers to his responsibility, and he put the cup into Pharaoh's hand again.²²But he hanged the chief of the bakers, just as Joseph had interpreted to them.²³Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot about him.

¹It came about at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream. Behold, he stood by the Nile.²Behold, seven cows came up out of the Nile, desirable and fat, and they grazed in the reeds.³Behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the Nile, undesirable and thin. They stood by the other cows on the bank of the river.

⁴Then the undesirable and thin cows ate the seven desirable and fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.⁵Then he slept and dreamed a second time. Behold, seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, wholesome and good.⁶Behold, seven heads, thin and scorched by the east wind, sprouted up after them.

⁷The thin heads swallowed up the seven wholesome and full heads. Pharaoh woke up, and, behold, it was a dream.⁸It came about in the morning that his spirit was troubled. He sent and called for all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, "I have remembered my sins today.¹⁰Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, the chief baker and me.¹¹We dreamed a dream the same night, he and I. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream.

¹²There was with us there a young Hebrew man, a servant of the captain of the guard. We told him and he interpreted for us our dreams. He interpreted for each of us according to his dream.¹³It came about as he interpreted for us, so it happened. Pharaoh restored me to my post, but the other one he hanged."

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called for Joseph. They quickly took him out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh.¹⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, but there is no interpreter for it. But I have heard about you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It is not in me. God will answer Pharaoh with favor."

¹⁷Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of the Nile.¹⁸Behold, seven cows came up out of the Nile, fat and desirable, and they grazed among the reeds.

¹⁹Behold, seven other cows came up after them, weak, very undesirable, and thin. I never saw in all the land of Egypt such undesirableness like them.²⁰The thin and undesirable cows ate up the first seven fat cows.²¹When they had eaten them up, it could not be known that they had eaten them, for they were still as undesirable as before. Then I awoke.

²²I looked in my dream, and, behold, seven heads came up upon one stalk, full and good.²³Behold, seven more heads—withered, thin, and scorched by the east wind—sprang up after them.²⁴The thin heads swallowed up the seven good heads. I told these dreams to the magicians, but there was none that could explain it to me."

²⁵Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dreams of Pharaoh are the same. What God is about to do, he has declared to Pharaoh.²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years. The dreams are the same.

²⁷The seven thin and undesirable cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven thin heads scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine.²⁸That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has revealed to Pharaoh.²⁹Look, seven years of great abundance will come throughout all the land of Egypt.

³⁰Seven years of famine will come after them, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will devastate the land.³¹The abundance will not be remembered in the land because of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe.³²That the dream was repeated to Pharaoh is because the matter has been established by God, and God will soon do it.

³³Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and put him over the land of Egypt.³⁴Let Pharaoh appoint officials over the land, and let them take a fifth of the crops of Egypt in the seven abundant years.

³⁵Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, for food to be used in the cities. They should preserve it.³⁶The food will be a supply for the land for the seven years of famine which will be in the land of Egypt. In this way the land will not be devastated by the famine."

³⁷This advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.³⁸Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a man as this, in whom is the Spirit of God?"

³⁹So Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you.⁴⁰You will be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than you."⁴¹Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt."

⁴²Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it upon Joseph's hand. He clothed him with clothes of fine linen, and put a gold chain on his neck.⁴³He had him ride in the second chariot which he possessed. Men shouted before him, "Bend the knee." Pharaoh put him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and apart from you, no man will lift his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt."⁴⁵Pharaoh called Joseph's name "Zaphenath-Paneah." He gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.⁴⁷In the seven bountiful years the land produced abundantly.

⁴⁸He gathered up all the food of the seven years that was in the land of Egypt and put the food in the cities. He put into each city the food from the fields that surrounded it.⁴⁹Joseph stored up grain like the sand of the sea, so much that he stopped counting, because it was beyond counting.

⁵⁰Joseph had two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.⁵¹Joseph called the name of his firstborn Manasseh, for he said, "God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father's household."⁵²He called the name of the second son Ephraim, for he said, "God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

⁵³The seven years of abundance that was in the land of Egypt came to an end.⁵⁴The seven years of famine began, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was food.

⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people loudly called on Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph and do what he says."⁵⁶The famine was over all the face of the whole land. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt.⁵⁷All the earth was coming to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

¹Now Jacob became aware that there was grain in Egypt. He said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?"²He said, "See here, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy for us from there so we may live and not die."³Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.⁴But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he said, "I fear that harm might come to him."

⁵The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.⁶Now Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

⁷Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke severely with them. He said to them, "Where have you come from?" They said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."⁸Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.

⁹Then Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them, and he said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the undefended parts of the land."¹⁰They said to him, "No, my master. Your servants have come to buy food.¹¹We are all one man's sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies."

¹²He said to them, "No, you have come to see the undefended parts of the land."¹³They said, "We your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. See, the youngest is this day with our father, and one brother is no longer alive."

¹⁴Joseph said to them, "It is what I said to you; you are spies.¹⁵By this you will be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave here, unless your youngest brother comes here.¹⁶Send one of yourselves and let him get your brother. You will remain in prison, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies."¹⁷He put them all in custody for three days.

¹⁸Joseph said to them on the third day, "Do this and live, for I fear God.¹⁹If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in this prison, but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses.²⁰Bring your youngest brother to me so your words will be verified and you will not die." So they did so.

²¹They said to one another, "We are truly guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us and we would not listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us."²²Reuben answered them, "Did I not tell you, 'Do not sin against the boy,' but you would not listen? Now, see, his blood is required of us."

²³They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them.²⁴He turned from them and wept. He returned to them and spoke to them. He took Simeon from among them and bound him before their eyes.²⁵Then Joseph commanded his servants to fill his brothers' bags with grain, and to put every man's money back into his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. It was done for them.

²⁶The brothers loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there.²⁷As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed in the lodging place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the opening of his sack.²⁸He said to his brothers, "My money has been put back. Look at it; it is in my sack." Their hearts sank and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?"

²⁹They went to Jacob, their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them. They said,³⁰"The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us and thought that we were spies in the land.³¹We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are not spies.³²We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no longer alive, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.'

³³The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, take grain for the famine in your houses, and go your way.³⁴Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will release your brother to you, and you will trade in the land.'"

³⁵It came about as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bag of silver was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bags of silver, they were afraid.³⁶Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no longer alive, Simeon is gone, and you will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me."

³⁷Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "You may kill my two sons if I do not bring Benjamin back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him to you again."³⁸Jacob said, "My son will not go down with you. For his brother is dead and he alone is left. If harm comes to him on the road in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hair with sorrow to Sheol."

¹The famine was severe in the land.²It came about when they had eaten the grain that they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again; buy us some food."

³Judah told him, "The man solemnly warned us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'⁴If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.⁵But if you do not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, 'You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.'"

⁶Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man that you had another brother?"⁷They said, "The man asked details about us and our family. He said, 'Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?' We answered him according to these questions. How could we have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'"

⁸Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the boy with me. We will rise and go that we may live and not die, both we, you, and also our children.⁹I will be a guarantee for him. You will hold me responsible. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.¹⁰For if we had not delayed, surely by now we would have come back here a second time."

¹¹Their father Israel said to them, "If it be so, now do this. Take some of the best products of the land in your bags. Carry down to the man a gift—some balm and honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.¹²Take double money in your hand. The money that was returned in the opening of your sacks, carry again in your hand. Perhaps it was a mistake.

¹³Take also your brother. Rise and go again to the man.¹⁴May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, so that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."¹⁵The men took this gift, and in their hand they took double the amount of money, along with Benjamin. They got up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, slaughter an animal and prepare it, for the men will eat with me at noon."¹⁷The steward did as Joseph said. He brought the men to Joseph's house.

¹⁸The men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house. They said, "It is because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time we were brought in, that he may seek an opportunity against us. He might arrest us and take us as slaves, and take our donkeys."¹⁹They approached the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house,²⁰saying, "My master, we came down the first time to buy food.

²¹It came about, when we reached the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man's money was in the opening of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hands.²²Other money we have also brought down in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks."²³The steward said, "Peace be to you, do not fear. Your God and the God of your father must have put your money in your sacks. I received your money." The steward then brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴The steward took the men into Joseph's house. He gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave feed to their donkeys.²⁵They prepared the gifts for Joseph's coming at noon, for they had heard that they would eat there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought the gifts which were in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the ground.²⁷He asked them about their welfare and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?"

²⁸They said, "Your servant our father is well. He is still alive." And they bowed down and gave him honor.²⁹When he lifted up his eyes he saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and he said, "Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me?" Then he said, "May God be gracious to you, my son."

³⁰Joseph hurried to go out of the room, for he was deeply moved about his brother. He sought somewhere to weep. He went to his room and wept there.³¹He washed his face and came out. He controlled himself, saying, "Serve the food."

³²The servants served Joseph by himself and the brothers by themselves. The Egyptians there ate with him by themselves because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is detestable to the Egyptians.³³The brothers sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. The men were astonished together.³⁴Joseph sent portions to them from the food in front of him. But Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of his brothers. They drank freely and were merry with him.

¹Joseph commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's opening.²Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's opening of the youngest, and also his money for the grain." The steward did as Joseph had said.

³The morning dawned, and the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.⁴When they were out of the city but were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Get up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, 'Why have you returned evil for good?⁵Is this not the cup from which my master drinks, and the cup that he uses for divination? You have done evil, this thing that you have done.'"

⁶The steward overtook them and spoke these words to them.⁷They said to him, "Why does my master speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they would do such a thing.

⁸Look, the money that we found in our sacks' openings, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then could we steal out of your master's house silver or gold?⁹If any of your servants is found with it, let him die, and we also will be my master's slaves."¹⁰The steward said, "Now also let it be according to your words. He with whom the cup is found will be my slave, and you others will be innocent."

¹¹Then each man hurried and brought his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack.¹²The steward searched. He began with the oldest and finished with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.¹³Then they tore their clothes. Each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house. He was still there, and they bowed before him to the ground.¹⁵Joseph said to them, "What is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me practices divination?"

¹⁶Judah said, "What can we say to my master? What can we speak? Or how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Look, we are my master's slaves, both we and he also in whose hand the cup was found."¹⁷Joseph said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup was found, that person will be my slave, but as for you others, go up in peace to your father."

¹⁸Then Judah came near to him and said, "My master, please let your servant speak a word in my master's ears, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are just like Pharaoh.¹⁹My master asked his servants, saying, 'Do you have a father or a brother?'

²⁰We said to my master, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one. But his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.'²¹Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me that I may see him.'²²After that, we said to my master, 'The boy cannot leave his father. For if he should leave his father his father would die.'

²³Then you said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.'²⁴Then it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my master.²⁵Our father said, 'Go again, buy us some food.'²⁶Then we said, 'We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then will we go down, for we will not be able to see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.'

²⁷Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons.²⁸One of them went out from me and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces, and I have not seen him since."²⁹Now if you also take this one from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hair with sorrow to Sheol.'

³⁰Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the young man is not with us, since his life is bound up in the boy's life,³¹it will come about, when he sees the boy is not with us, he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.³²For your servant became a guarantee for the boy to my father and said, 'If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the guilt to my father forever.'

³³Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy as slave to my master, and let the boy go up with his brothers.³⁴For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? I am afraid to see the evil that would come on my father."

¹Then Joseph could not control himself before all the servants who stood by him. He said loudly, "Everyone must leave me." So no servant stood by him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.²He wept loudly, the Egyptians heard it, and the house of Pharaoh heard of it.³Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" His brothers could not answer him, for they were shocked in his presence.

⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. He said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.⁵Do not be grieved or angry with yourselves that you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.⁶For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

⁷God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.⁸So now it was not you who sent me here but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, master of all his house, and ruler of all the land of Egypt.

⁹Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me master of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not delay.¹⁰You will live in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks and your herds, and all that you have.¹¹I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine, so that you do not come to poverty, you, your household, and all that you have."'

¹²Look, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.¹³You will tell my father about all my honor in Egypt and of all that you have seen. You will hurry and bring my father down here."

¹⁴He hugged his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.¹⁵He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶The news of the matter was told in Pharaoh's house: "Joseph's brothers have come." It pleased Pharaoh and his servants very much.¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this: Load your animals and go to the land of Canaan.¹⁸Get your father and your households and come to me. I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.'

¹⁹Now you are commanded, 'Do this, take carts out of the land of Egypt for your children and for your wives. Get your father and come.²⁰Do not be concerned about your possessions, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.'"

²¹The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them carts, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey.²²To all of them he gave each man changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.²³For his father he sent this: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt; and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and other supplies for his father for the journey.

²⁴So he sent his brothers away and they left. He said to them, "See that you do not quarrel on the journey."²⁵They went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.²⁶They told him saying "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart was astonished, for he could not believe what they told him.

²⁷They told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them. When Jacob saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived.²⁸Israel said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."

¹Israel made his journey with all that he had and went to Beersheba. There he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.²God spoke to Israel in a vision at night, saying, "Jacob, Jacob." He said, "Here I am."³He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation.⁴I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will surely bring you up again and Joseph will close your eyes with his own hand."

⁵Jacob rose up from Beersheba. The sons of Israel transported Jacob their father, their children, and their wives, in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.⁶They took their livestock and their possessions that they had accumulated in the land of Canaan. They came into Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him.⁷He brought with him to Egypt his sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his sons' daughters, and all his descendants.

⁸These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt: Jacob and his descendants, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn;

⁹the sons of Reuben, Hanok, Pallu, Hezron, and Karmi;

¹⁰the sons of Simeon, Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman;

¹¹and the sons of Levi, Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.

¹⁴The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.¹⁵These were the sons of Leah whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, along with his daughter Dinah. His sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

¹⁶The sons of Gad were Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah; and Serah was their sister. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malkiel.¹⁸These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to Leah his daughter. These sons she bore to Jacob—sixteen in all.

¹⁹The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.²⁰In Egypt Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On.

²¹The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.²²These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen in all.

²³The son of Dan was Hushim.

²⁴The sons of Naphtali were Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.²⁵These were the sons born to Jacob by Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter—seven in all.

²⁶All those who went to Egypt with Jacob, who were his direct descendants, not counting Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six in all.²⁷With the two sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt, the people of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy in all.

²⁸Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came to the land of Goshen.²⁹Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He saw him, hugged his neck, and wept on his neck a long time.³⁰Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive."

³¹Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's house, "I will go up and tell Pharaoh, saying, 'My brothers and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.³²The men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock. They have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.'

³³It will come about, when Pharaoh calls you and asks, 'What is your occupation?'³⁴that you should say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth until now, both we, and our forefathers.' Do this so that you may live in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."

¹Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers, their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have arrived from the land of Canaan. See, they are in the land of Goshen."²He took five of his brothers and introduced them to Pharaoh.

³Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, as our ancestors."⁴Then they said to Pharaoh, "We come as temporary residents in the land. There is no pasture for your servants' flocks, because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen."

⁵Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.⁶The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers in the best region, the land of Goshen. If you know any capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock."

⁷Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and presented him to Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh.⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How long have you lived?"⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my sojourning are 130. The years of my life have been few and painful. They have not been as long as the days of my ancestors' sojourning."¹⁰Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

¹¹Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.¹²Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and all his father's household, according to the number of their little ones.

¹³Now there was no food in all the land; for the famine was severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan wasted away because of the famine.¹⁴Joseph gathered all the money that was in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, by selling grain to the inhabitants. Then Joseph brought the money to Pharaoh's palace.

¹⁵When all the money of the lands of Egypt and Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph saying, "Give us food! Why should we die in your presence because our money is gone?"¹⁶Joseph said, "If your money is gone, bring your livestock and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock."¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph. Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, for the flocks, for the herds, and for the donkeys. He fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my master that our money is all gone, and the herds of cattle are my master's. There is nothing left in the sight of my master, except our bodies and our land.¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate."

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was very severe. In this way, the land became Pharaoh's.²¹As for the people, he made them slaves from one end of Egypt's border to the other end.²²It was only the land of the priests that Joseph did not buy, because the priests were given an allowance. They ate from the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, "See, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you will plant the land.²⁴At the harvest, you must give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field and for food for your households and your little ones."

²⁵They said, "You have saved our lives. May we find favor in your eyes. We will be Pharaoh's servants."²⁶So Joseph made it a statute which is in effect in the land of Egypt to this day, that one-fifth belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh's.

²⁷So Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. His people gained possessions there. They were fruitful and multiplied greatly.²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, so the years of Jacob's life were one hundred forty-seven years.

²⁹When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh, and show me faithfulness and trustworthiness. Please do not bury me in Egypt.³⁰When I lie down with my fathers, you will carry me out of Egypt and bury me in my forefathers' burial place." Joseph said, "I will do as you have said."³¹Israel said, "Swear to me," and Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed down at the head of his bed.

¹It came about after these things, that one said to Joseph, "Look, your father is sick." So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.²When Jacob was told, "Look, your son Joseph has arrived to see you," Israel gathered strength and sat up in bed.

³Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan. He blessed me⁴and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you. I will make of you an assembly of nations. I will give this land to your descendants as an everlasting possession.'

⁵Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, they are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.⁶The offspring who are born after them will be yours; they will be listed under the names of their brothers in their inheritance.⁷But as for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

⁸When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, "Whose are these?"⁹Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." Israel said, "Bring them to me, that I may bless them."¹⁰Now Israel's eyes were failing because of his age, so he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, but God has even allowed me to see your children."¹²Joseph brought them out from between Israel's knees, and then he bowed with his face to the earth.¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them close to him.

¹⁴Israel reached out with his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head. He crossed his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.¹⁵Israel blessed Joseph, saying,

"The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

the God who has cared for me to this day,

¹⁶the angel who has protected me from all harm,

may he bless these boys.

May my name be named in them,

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth."

¹⁷When Joseph saw his father place his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.¹⁸Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand upon his head."

¹⁹His father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. Yet his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations."²⁰Israel blessed them that day with these words,

"The people of Israel will pronounce blessings by your names saying,

'May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh'."

In this way, Israel put Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Israel said to Joseph, "See, I am about to die, but God will be with you, and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.²²To you, as one who is above your brothers, I give to you the mountain slope that I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow."

¹Then Jacob called for his sons, and said:

"Gather yourselves together,

that I may tell you what will happen to you in the future.

²Assemble yourselves and listen, you sons of Jacob.

Listen to Israel, your father.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might,

and the beginning of my strength,

outstanding in dignity, and outstanding in power.

⁴Uncontrollable as rushing water,

you will not have the preeminence,

because you went up to your father's bed.

Then you defiled it; you went up to my couch.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers.

Weapons of violence are their swords.

⁶O my soul, do not come into their council;

O my glory, do not join in their meetings.

For in their anger they killed men.

It was for pleasure that they hamstrung oxen.

⁷May their anger be cursed, for it was fierce

and their fury, for it was severe.

I will divide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

⁸Judah, your brothers will praise you.

Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies.

Your father's sons will bow down before you.

⁹Judah is a lion's cub.

My son, you have gone up from your victims.

He stooped down, he crouched like a lion, like a lioness.

Who would dare to awaken him?

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,

until Shiloh comes. The nations will obey him.

¹¹Binding his donkey to the vine,

and his donkey's colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine,

and his robe in the blood of grapes.

¹²His eyes will be as dark as wine,

and his teeth as white as milk.

¹³Zebulun will live by the shore of the sea.

He will be a harbor for ships,

and his border will extend to Sidon.

¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey,

lying down between the sheepfolds.

¹⁵He sees a good resting place

and the pleasant land.

He will bend his shoulder to the burden

and become a servant for forced labor.

¹⁶Dan will judge his people

as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a snake beside the road,

a poisonous snake in the path

that bites the horse's heels,

so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸I wait for your salvation, Yahweh.

¹⁹Gad—raiders will attack him,

but he will attack them at their heels.

²⁰Asher's food will be rich,

and he will provide royal delicacies.

²¹Naphtali is a doe let loose;

he will have beautiful fawns.

²²Joseph is a fruitful bough,

a fruitful bough near a spring,

whose branches climb over the wall.

²³The archers will attack him bitterly

and shoot at him with hostility.

²⁴But his bow will remain steady,

and his hands will be skillful

because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

because of the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.

²⁵The God of your father will help you

and the Almighty God will bless you

with blessings of the sky above,

blessings of the deep that lies beneath,

and blessings of the breasts and womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father are greater

than the blessings of the ancient mountains

or the desirable things of the ancient hills.

May they be on the head of Joseph,

even upon the crown of the head of the prince of his brothers.

²⁷Benjamin is a hungry wolf.

In the morning he will devour the prey,

and in the evening he will divide the plunder."

²⁸These are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. Each one he blessed with an appropriate blessing.²⁹Then he instructed them and said to them, "I am about to go to my people. Bury me with my forefathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,³⁰in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is near Mamre in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought for a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.

³¹There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.³²The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the people of Heth."³³When Jacob finished these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and went to his people.

¹Then Joseph was so distressed that he collapsed on the face of his father, and he wept over him, and he kissed him.²Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.³They took forty days, for that was the full time for embalming. The Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

⁴When the days of weeping were over, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak to Pharaoh, saying,⁵'My father made me swear, saying, "See, I am about to die. Bury me in my tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Canaan. There you will bury me." Now let me go up and bury my father, and then I will return.'"⁶Pharaoh answered, "Go and bury your father, as he made you swear."

⁷Joseph went up to bury his father. All the servants of Pharaoh went with him—the elders of his household, all the senior officials of the land of Egypt,⁸with all Joseph's household and his brothers, and his father's household. But their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.⁹Chariots and horsemen also went with him. It was a very large group of people.

¹⁰When they came to the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned with very great and grievous sorrow. There Joseph made a seven-day mourning for his father.¹¹When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a very sad occasion for the Egyptians." That is why the name of the place was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

¹²So his sons did for Jacob just as he had instructed them.¹³His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. Abraham had bought the cave with the field for a burial place. He had bought it from Ephron the Hittite.¹⁴After he had buried his father, Joseph returned into Egypt, he, along with his brothers, and all who had accompanied him to bury his father.

¹⁵When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Joseph continues to be angry against us and wants to repay us in full for all the evil we did to him?"¹⁶So they commanded the presence of Joseph, saying, "Your father gave instructions before he died, saying,¹⁷'Tell Joseph this, "Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin when they did evil to you."' Now please forgive the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸His brothers also went and lay facedown before him. They said, "See, we are your servants."¹⁹But Joseph answered them, "Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?²⁰As for you, you meant to harm me, but God meant it for good, to preserve the lives of many people, as you see today.²¹So now do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little children." He comforted them in this way and spoke kindly to their hearts.

²²Joseph lived in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived one hundred ten years.²³Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. He also saw the children of Makir son of Manasseh, who were placed on the knees of Joseph.

²⁴Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die; but God will surely come to you and lead you up out of this land to the land which he swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."²⁵Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He said, "God will surely come to you. At that time you must carry up my bones from here."²⁶So Joseph died, 110 years old. They embalmed him and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

Exodus

¹These are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,⁴Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.⁵All the people who were descendants of Jacob were seventy in number. Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶Then Joseph, all his brothers, and all that generation died.⁷But the people of Israel were fruitful, increased in numbers, became great, and became very, very mighty; the land was filled with them.

⁸Now then a new king arose over Egypt, one who did not know about Joseph.⁹He said to his people, "Look, the people of Israel are more numerous and stronger than we are.¹⁰Come, let us deal with them wisely, otherwise they will continue to grow in numbers, and if war breaks out, they will join our enemies, fight against us, and leave the land."

¹¹So they put taskmasters over them to oppress them with hard labor. The Israelites built store cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Rameses.¹²But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more the Israelites increased in numbers and spread. So the Egyptians began to dread the people of Israel.

¹³The Egyptians severely forced the people of Israel to serve.¹⁴They made their lives bitter with hard service with mortar and brick, and with all kinds of work in the fields. All their required work was severe.

¹⁵Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives; the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the other Puah.¹⁶He said, "When you assist the Hebrew women on the birthstool, observe when they give birth. If it is a son, then you must kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she may live."¹⁷But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt ordered them; instead, they let the baby boys live.

¹⁸The king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, "Why have you done this, and let the baby boys live?"¹⁹The midwives answered Pharaoh, "The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women. They are vigorous and have finished giving birth before a midwife comes to them."

²⁰God protected these midwives. The people increased in numbers and became very mighty.²¹Because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.²²Pharaoh ordered all his people, "You must throw every son that is born into the river, but every daughter you will let live."

¹Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a woman of Levi.²The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a healthy boy, she hid him for three months.

³But when she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket and sealed it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds in the water along the side of the river.⁴His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.

⁵Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river while her attendants walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her attendant to get it.⁶When she opened it, she saw the child. Behold, the baby was crying. She had compassion on him and said, "This is certainly one of the Hebrews' children."

⁷Then the baby's sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and find you a Hebrew woman to nurse the child for you?"⁸Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." So the young girl went and got the child's mother.

⁹Pharaoh's daughter said to the baby's mother, "Take this child and nurse him for me, and I will pay you wages." So the woman took the child and nursed him.¹⁰When the child grew older, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses and said, "Because I drew him from the water."

¹¹When Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and observed their hard labors. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his own people.¹²He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one there, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

¹³He went out the next day, and, behold, two Hebrew men were fighting. He said to the one who was in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your companion?"¹⁴But the man said, "Who made you a leader and judge over us? Are you planning to kill me as you killed that Egyptian?" Then Moses became afraid and said, "What I did has certainly become known to others."

¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard about it, he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and stayed in the land of Midian. There he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came, drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.¹⁷The shepherds came and tried to drive them away, but Moses went and helped them. Then he watered their flock.

¹⁸When the girls went to Reuel their father, he said, "Why are you home so early today?"¹⁹They said, "An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds. He even drew water for us and watered the flock."²⁰He said to his daughters, "So where is he? Why did you leave the man? Call him so he can eat a meal with us."

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, who also gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage.²²She bore a son, and Moses called his name Gershom; he said, "I have been a resident in a foreign land."

²³A long time later, the king of Egypt died. The people of Israel groaned because of the slave labor. They cried out for help, and their pleas went up to God because of their bondage.²⁴When God heard their groaning, God called to mind his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.²⁵God saw the people of Israel, and he understood their situation.

¹Now Moses was still shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. Moses led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and arrived at Horeb, the mountain of God.²There the angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush. Moses looked, and behold, the bush was burning, but the bush was not burned up.³Moses said, "I will turn aside and see this amazing thing, why the bush is not burned up."

⁴When Yahweh saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him out of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses." Moses said, "Here I am."⁵God said, "Do not come any closer! Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is ground that is set apart to me."⁶He added, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses covered his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷Yahweh said, "I have certainly seen the suffering of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I know about their suffering.⁸I have come down to free them from the Egyptians' power and to bring them up from that land to a good, large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

⁹Now the outcry of the people of Israel has come to me. Moreover, I have seen the way the Egyptians have been oppressing them.¹⁰Now then, I will send you to Pharaoh so that you may bring my people, the people of Israel, out of Egypt."

¹¹But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people of Israel from Egypt?"¹²God replied, "I will certainly be with you. This will be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship me on this mountain."

¹³Moses said to God, "When I go to the people of Israel and tell them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and when they say to me, 'What is his name?' what should I say to them?"¹⁴God said to Moses, "I AM THAT I AM." God said, "You must say to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"¹⁵God also said to Moses, "You must say to the people of Israel, 'Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is how I will be kept in mind for all generations.'

¹⁶Go and gather the elders of Israel together. Say to them, 'Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me and said, "I have indeed observed you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.¹⁷I have promised to bring you up from the affliction in Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey."'¹⁸They will listen to you. You and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt, and you must tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, in order that we may sacrifice to Yahweh, our God.'

¹⁹But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go except under a mighty hand.²⁰I will reach out with my hand and attack the Egyptians with all the miracles that I will do among them. After that, he will let you go.²¹I will grant this people favor from the Egyptians, so when you leave, you will not go empty-handed.²²Every woman will ask for silver and gold jewels and for clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and any women staying in her neighbors' houses. You will put them on your sons and daughters. In this way you will plunder the Egyptians."

¹Moses answered, "But what if they do not believe me or listen to me but say instead, 'Yahweh has not appeared to you'?"²Yahweh said to him, "What is that in your hand?" Moses said, "A staff."³Yahweh said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground, and it became a snake. Moses ran back from it.

⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "Reach out and take it by the tail." So he reached out and took hold of the snake. It became a staff in his hand again.⁵"This is so they may believe that Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

⁶Yahweh also said to him, "Now put your hand inside your robe." So Moses put his hand inside his robe. When he brought it out, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.⁷Yahweh said, "Put your hand inside your robe again." So Moses put his hand inside his robe, and when he brought it out, he saw that it was made healthy again, like the rest of his flesh.

⁸Yahweh said, "If they do not believe you—if they do not pay attention to the first sign of my power or believe in it, then they will believe the second sign.⁹If they do not believe even these two signs of my power, or listen to you, then take some water from the river and pour it on the dry land. The water that you take will become blood on the dry land."

¹⁰Then Moses said to Yahweh, "Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you spoke to your servant. I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."¹¹Yahweh said to him, "Who is it who made man's mouth? Who makes a man mute or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, Yahweh?¹²So now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what to say."¹³But Moses said, "Lord, please send anyone else, anyone whom you wish to send."

¹⁴Then Yahweh became angry with Moses. He said, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Moreover, he is coming to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.¹⁵You will speak to him and put the words to say into his mouth. I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you both what to do.¹⁶He will speak to the people for you. He will be like a mouth for you, and you will be like God for him.¹⁷You will take in your hand this staff, with which you will do the signs."

¹⁸So Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Let me go so I may return to my relatives who are in Egypt and see if they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."¹⁹Yahweh said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return to Egypt, for all the men who were trying to take your life are dead."²⁰Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on a donkey. He returned to the land of Egypt, and he took the staff of God in his hand.

²¹Yahweh said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, and he will not let the people go.²²You must say to Pharaoh, 'This is what Yahweh says: Israel is my son, my firstborn,²³and I say to you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But since you have refused to let him go, I will certainly kill your son, your firstborn.'"

²⁴Now on the way, when they stopped for the night, Yahweh met Moses and tried to kill him.²⁵Then Zipporah took a flint knife and cut off the foreskin of her son, and touched it to his feet. Then she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom to me by blood."²⁶So Yahweh let him alone. She said, "You are a bridegroom of blood" because of the circumcision.

²⁷Yahweh said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." Aaron went, met him at the mountain of God, and kissed him.²⁸Moses told Aaron all the words of Yahweh that he had sent him to say and about all the signs of Yahweh's power that he had commanded him to do.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel.³⁰Aaron spoke all the words that Yahweh had spoken to Moses. He also displayed the signs of Yahweh's power in the sight of the people.³¹The people believed. When they heard that Yahweh had observed the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed down and worshiped him.

¹After these things happened, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, "This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: 'Let my people go, so they can have a festival for me in the wilderness.'"²Pharaoh said, "Who is Yahweh? Why should I listen to his voice and let Israel go? I do not know Yahweh; moreover, I will not let Israel go."

³They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go on a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to Yahweh our God so that he does not attack us with plague or with the sword."⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people from their work? Go back to your labors."⁵Pharaoh also said, "There are now many people in our land, and you are making them stop their labors."

⁶On that same day, Pharaoh gave a command to the people's taskmasters and overseers. He said,⁷"Unlike before, you must no longer give the people straw to make bricks. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.⁸However, you must still demand from them the same number of bricks as they made before. Do not accept any fewer, because they are lazy. That is why they are calling out and saying, 'Allow us to go and sacrifice to our God.'⁹Increase the workload for the men so that they keep at it and pay no more attention to deceptive words."

¹⁰So the people's taskmasters and overseers went out and informed the people. They said, "This is what Pharaoh says: 'I will no longer give you any straw.¹¹You yourselves must go and get straw wherever you can find it, but your workload will not be reduced.'"

¹²So the people scattered throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.¹³The taskmasters kept urging them and saying, "Finish your work, just as when straw was given to you."¹⁴Pharaoh's taskmasters beat the overseers, who were of the people of Israel, those same men whom they had put in charge of the workers. The taskmasters kept asking them, "Why have you not produced all the bricks required of you, either yesterday and today, as you used to do in the past?"

¹⁵So the overseers, who were of the people of Israel, came to Pharaoh and cried out to him. They said, "Why are you treating your servants this way?¹⁶No straw is being given to your servants anymore, but they are still telling us, 'Make bricks!' We, your servants, are even beaten now, but it is the fault of your own people."¹⁷But Pharaoh said, "You are lazy! You are lazy! You say, 'Allow us to go sacrifice to Yahweh.'¹⁸So now go back to work. No more straw will be given to you, but you must still make the same number of bricks."

¹⁹The overseers, who were of the people of Israel, saw that they were in trouble when they were told, "You must not reduce the daily number of bricks."²⁰They met Moses and Aaron, who were standing outside the palace, as they went away from Pharaoh.²¹They said to Moses and Aaron, "May Yahweh look at you and punish you, because you have made us offensive in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants. You have put a sword in their hand to kill us."

²²Moses went back to Yahweh and said, "Lord, why have you caused trouble for this people? Why did you send me in the first place?²³Ever since I came to Pharaoh to speak to him in your name, he has caused trouble for this people, and you have not set your people free at all."

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh. You will see this, for he will let them go because of my strong hand. Because of my strong hand, he will drive them out of his land."

²God spoke to Moses and said to him, "I am Yahweh.³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty; but by my name, Yahweh, I was not known to them.⁴I also established my covenant with them, in order to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned.⁵Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians have enslaved, and I have called to mind my covenant.

⁶Therefore, say to the people of Israel, 'I am Yahweh. I will bring you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians, and I will free you from their power. I will rescue you with a display of my power, and with mighty acts of judgment.⁷I will take you to myself as my people, and I will be your God. You will know that I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out from under the hard labors of the Egyptians.

⁸I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am Yahweh.'"⁹When Moses told this to the people of Israel, they would not listen to him because of their discouragement about their severe slavery.

¹⁰Then Yahweh said to Moses, saying,¹¹"Go tell Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to let the people of Israel go from his land."¹²Moses said to Yahweh, "If the people of Israel have not listened to me, why will Pharaoh listen to me, since I am not good at speaking?"¹³Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He gave them a command for the people of Israel and for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴These were the heads of their fathers' houses: The sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel, were Hanok, Pallu, Hezron, and Karmi. These were the clan ancestors of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul—the son of a Canaanite woman. These were the clan ancestors of Simeon.

¹⁶Here are listed the names of the sons of Levi, according to their genealogies. They were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. Levi lived until he was 137 years old.¹⁷The sons of Gershon were Libni and Shimei, according to their clans.¹⁸The sons of Kohath were Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. Kohath lived until he was 133 years old.¹⁹The sons of Merari were Mahli and Mushi. These became the clan ancestors of the Levites, together with their descendants.

²⁰Amram married Jochebed, his father's sister. She bore him Aaron and Moses. Amram lived 137 years and then died.²¹The sons of Izhar were Korah, Nepheg, and Zikri.²²The sons of Uzziel were Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab, sister of Nahshon. She bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah were Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph. These were the clan ancestors of the Korahites.

²⁵Eleazar, Aaron's son, married one of the daughters of Putiel. She bore him Phinehas. These were the heads of the fathers' houses among the Levites, according to their clans.

²⁶These two men were the Aaron and Moses to whom Yahweh said, "Bring out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt, by their hosts."²⁷Aaron and Moses spoke to Pharaoh, king of Egypt,in order to bring out the people of Israel from Egypt. These were the same Moses and Aaron.

²⁸When Yahweh spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,²⁹he said to him, "I am Yahweh. Say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything that I will tell you."³⁰But Moses said to Yahweh, "I am not good at speaking, so why will Pharaoh listen to me?"

¹Yahweh said to Moses, "See, I have made you like a god to Pharaoh. Aaron your brother will be your prophet.²You will say everything that I command you to say. Aaron your brother will speak to Pharaoh so that he will let the people of Israel go from his land.

³But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and I will display many signs of my power, many wonders, in the land of Egypt.⁴But Pharaoh will not listen to you, so I will put my hand on Egypt and bring out my hosts, my people, the people of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.⁵The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I reach out with my hand on Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them."

⁶Moses and Aaron did so; they did just as Yahweh commanded them.⁷Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

⁸Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron,⁹"When Pharaoh says to you, 'Do a miracle,' then you will say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh, so that it may become a snake.'"¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh, and they did just as Yahweh had commanded. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake.

¹¹Then Pharaoh also called for his Egyptian wise men and sorcerers. They did the same thing by their magic.¹²Each man threw down his staff, and the staffs became snakes. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their snakes.¹³Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he did not listen, just as Yahweh had foretold.

¹⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is hard, and he refuses to let the people go.¹⁵Go to Pharaoh in the morning when he goes out to the water. Stand on the riverbank to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that had turned into a snake.

¹⁶Say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you to say, "Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the wilderness. Until now you have not listened."¹⁷Yahweh says this: "By this you will know that I am Yahweh. I am going to strike the water of the Nile River with the staff that is in my hand, and the river will be turned to blood.¹⁸The fish that are in the river will die, and the river will stink. The Egyptians will not be able to drink water from the river."'"

¹⁹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Take your staff and reach out with your hand over the waters of Egypt, and over their rivers, streams, pools, and all their ponds, so that their water may become blood. Do this so that there will be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in containers of wood and stone.'"

²⁰Moses and Aaron did as Yahweh commanded. Aaron raised the staff and struck the water in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants. All the water in the river turned to blood.²¹The fish in the river died, and the river began to stink. The Egyptians could not drink water from the river, and the blood was everywhere in the land of Egypt.²²But the magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their magic. So Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he refused to listen to Moses and Aaron, just as Yahweh had said would happen.

²³Then Pharaoh turned and went into his house. He did not even pay attention to this.²⁴All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink, but they could not drink the water of the river itself.²⁵Seven days passed after Yahweh had attacked the river.

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Yahweh says this: "Let my people go so that they may worship me.²If you refuse to let them go, I will afflict all your country with frogs.³The river will swarm with frogs. They will come up and go into your house, your bedroom, and your bed. They will go into your servants' houses. They will go onto your people, into your ovens, and into your kneading bowls.⁴The frogs will attack you, your people, and all your servants."'"

⁵Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Reach out with your hand and your staff over the rivers, the streams, and the pools, and bring the frogs up over the land of Egypt.'"⁶Aaron reached out with his hand over Egypt's waters, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt.⁷But the magicians did the same with their magic; they brought up frogs over the land of Egypt.

⁸Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, "Pray to Yahweh for him to take away the frogs from me and my people. Then I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to him."⁹Moses said to Pharaoh, "Honor yourself over me. When should I pray for you, your servants, and your people, so that the frogs may be removed from you and your houses and stay only in the river?"

¹⁰Pharaoh said, "Tomorrow." Moses said, "Let it be as you say, so that you may know that there is no one like Yahweh, our God.¹¹The frogs will go from you, your houses, your servants, and your people. They will stay only in the river."¹²Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh. Then Moses cried out to Yahweh concerning the frogs that he had brought on Pharaoh.

¹³Yahweh did as Moses asked: The frogs died in the houses, courts, and fields.¹⁴The people gathered them together in heaps, and the land stank.¹⁵But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as Yahweh had said that he would do.

¹⁶Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to Aaron, 'Reach out with your staff and strike the dust on the ground, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.'"¹⁷They did so. When Aaron reached out with his hand and his staff and struck the dust on the ground, gnats came on men and animals. All the dust on the ground became gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.

¹⁸The magicians tried with their magic to produce gnats, but they could not. So there were gnats on men and animals.¹⁹Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." But Pharaoh's heart was hardened, so he refused to listen to them. It was just as Yahweh had said Pharaoh would do.

²⁰Yahweh said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning and stand in front of Pharaoh as he goes out to the river. Say to him, 'Yahweh says this: "Let my people go so that they may worship me.²¹But if you do not let my people go, I will send swarms of flies on you, your servants, and your people, and into your houses. The Egyptians' houses will be full of swarms of flies, and even the ground on which they stand will be full of flies.

²²But on that day I will set the land of Goshen apart, the land in which my people are living, so that no swarms of flies will be there. This will happen so that you may know that I am Yahweh in the midst of this land.²³I will make a distinction between my people and your people. This sign of my power will take place tomorrow."'"²⁴Yahweh did so, and thick swarms of flies came into Pharaoh's house and into his servants' houses. Throughout the whole land of Egypt, the land was ruined because of the swarms of flies.

²⁵Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God in our own land."²⁶Moses said, "It is not right for us to do so, for the sacrifices we make to Yahweh our God are something disgusting to the Egyptians. If we make sacrifices right before their eyes that are disgusting to the Egyptians, will they not stone us?²⁷No, it is a three days' journey into the wilderness that we must make, in order to sacrifice to Yahweh our God, as he commands us."

²⁸Pharaoh said, "I will allow you to go and sacrifice to Yahweh your God in the wilderness. Only you must not go very far away. Pray for me."²⁹Moses said, "As soon as I go out from you, I will pray to Yahweh that the swarms of flies may leave you, Pharaoh, and your servants and people tomorrow. But you must not deal deceitfully any more by not letting our people go to sacrifice to Yahweh."

³⁰Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahweh.³¹Yahweh did as Moses asked; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, his servants, and his people. Not one remained.³²But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and he did not let the people go.

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says this: "Let my people go so that they may worship me."²But if you refuse to let them go, if you still keep them back,³then Yahweh's hand will bring a terrible plague on your livestock that are in the field—the horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks.⁴But Yahweh will set the livestock of Israel apart from the livestock of Egypt, so that no animal that belongs to the people of Israel will die.

⁵Yahweh has fixed a time; he has said, "It is tomorrow that I will do this thing in the land."'"⁶Yahweh did this the next day: All the cattle of Egypt died, but none of the people of Israel's animals died, not one animal.⁷Pharaoh investigated, and, behold, not even one livestock of the people of Israel died. But his heart was stubborn, so he did not let the people go.

⁸Then Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron, "Take some handfuls of ashes from a kiln. You, Moses, must throw the ashes up into the air while Pharaoh is watching.⁹They will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt. They will cause blisters and sores to break out on people and animals throughout all the land of Egypt."¹⁰So Moses and Aaron took ashes from a kiln and stood in front of Pharaoh. Then Moses threw the ashes up into the air. The ashes caused blisters and sores to break out on men and animals.

¹¹The magicians could not resist Moses because of the blisters, because the blisters were on them and on all the other Egyptians.¹²Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, so Pharaoh did not listen to Moses and Aaron. This was just as Yahweh had said to Moses that Pharaoh would do.

¹³Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Get up early in the morning, stand in front of Pharaoh, and say to him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says this: "Let my people go so that they may worship me.¹⁴For this time I will send all my plagues on you yourself, on your servants and your people. I will do this so that you may know that there is no one like me in all the earth.

¹⁵By now I could have reached out with my hand and attacked you and your people with plague, and you would have been eradicated from the land.¹⁶But it was for this reason I allowed you to survive: In order to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed throughout all the earth.¹⁷You are still lifting yourself up against my people by not letting them go.

¹⁸Listen! Tomorrow about this time I will bring a very strong hail storm, such as has not been seen in Egypt since the day it was founded until now.¹⁹Now then, send men and gather your livestock and everything you have in the fields to a safe place. Every man and animal that is in the field and is not brought home—the hail will come down on them, and they will die."'"

²⁰Then those of Pharaoh's servants who feared Yahweh's message hurried to bring their slaves and livestock into the houses.²¹But those who did not take Yahweh's message seriously left their slaves and livestock in the fields.

²²Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Reach out with your hand toward the sky so that there will be hail in all the land of Egypt, on men and animals, and every plant of the field in the land of Egypt."²³Moses reached out with his staff toward the sky, and Yahweh sent thunder, hail, and lightning to the ground. He also rained hail on the land of Egypt.²⁴So there were hail and lightning mixed with hail, very severe, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.

²⁵Throughout all the land of Egypt, the hail struck everything in the fields, both people and animals. It struck every plant in the fields and broke every tree.²⁶Only in the land of Goshen, where the people of Israel lived, was there no hail.

²⁷Then Pharaoh sent men to summon Moses and Aaron. He said to them, "I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.²⁸Pray to Yahweh, because the mighty thunderbolts and hail are too much. I will let you go, and you will stay here no longer."

²⁹Moses said to him, "As soon as I leave the city, I will spread my hands out to Yahweh. The thunder will stop, and there will not be any more hail. In this way you will know that the earth belongs to Yahweh.³⁰But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet really honor Yahweh God."

³¹Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was maturing in the ear, and the flax was in bloom.³²But the wheat and the spelt were not harmed because they were later crops.³³When Moses had left Pharaoh and the city, he spread out his hands to Yahweh; the thunder and hail stopped, and the rain came down no more.

³⁴When Pharaoh saw that the rain, hail, and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart, together with his servants.³⁵The heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and so he did not let the people of Israel go, just as Yahweh had spoken by the hand of Moses.

¹Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants. I have done this to show these signs of my power among them.²I have also done this so that you may tell your children and grandchildren the things I have done, how I have harshly treated Egypt, and how I have given various signs of my power among them. In this way you will know that I am Yahweh."

³So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, "Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, says this: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they may worship me.⁴But if you refuse to let my people go, listen, tomorrow I will bring locusts into your land.

⁵They will cover the surface of the ground so that no one will be able to see the earth. They will eat the remains of whatever escaped from the hail. They will also eat every tree that grows for you in the fields.⁶They will fill your houses, those of all your servants, and those of all the Egyptians—something neither your father nor your grandfather ever saw, nothing ever seen since the day that they were on the earth to this present day.'" Then Moses left and went out from Pharaoh.

⁷Pharaoh's servants said to him, "How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people of Israel go so that they may worship Yahweh their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is destroyed?"⁸Moses and Aaron were brought again to Pharaoh, who said to them, "Go worship Yahweh your God. But what people will go?"

⁹Moses said, "We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and our daughters. We will go with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a festival for Yahweh."¹⁰Pharaoh said to them, "May Yahweh indeed be with you, if I ever let you go and your little ones go. Look, you have some evil in mind.¹¹No! Go, just the men among you, and worship Yahweh, for that is what you want." Then Moses and Aaron were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

¹²Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Reach out with your hand over the land of Egypt to the locusts, that they may attack the land of Egypt and eat every plant in it, everything that the hail has left."¹³Moses reached out with his staff over the land of Egypt, and Yahweh brought an east wind over the land all that day and night. When it was morning, the east wind had brought the locusts.

¹⁴The locusts went through all the land of Egypt and infested all parts of it. Never before had there been such a swarm of locusts in the land, and nothing like this will come after it.¹⁵They covered the surface of the whole land so that it was darkened. They ate every plant in the land and all the fruit of the trees that the hail had left. Throughout all the land of Egypt, no living green plant remained, nor any tree or plant in the fields.

¹⁶Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, "I have sinned against Yahweh your God and against you.¹⁷Now then, forgive my sin this time, and pray to Yahweh your God that he will take this death away from me."¹⁸So Moses went out from Pharaoh and prayed to Yahweh.

¹⁹Yahweh brought a very strong west wind that picked up the locusts and drove them into the Sea of Reeds; not a single locust remained in all the territory of Egypt.²⁰But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh did not let the people of Israel go.

²¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Reach out with your hand toward the sky, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that may be felt."²²Moses reached out with his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt for three days.²³No one could see anyone else; no one left his home for three days. However, all the people of Israel had light in the place where they lived.

²⁴Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, "Go worship Yahweh. Even your little ones may go with you, but your flocks and herds must remain behind."²⁵But Moses said, "Allow us to have sacrifices and burnt offerings so that we may present them to Yahweh our God.²⁶Our cattle must also go with us; not a hoof of them may be left behind, for we must take them to worship Yahweh our God. For we do not know with what we must worship Yahweh until we arrive there."

²⁷But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.²⁸Pharaoh said to Moses, "Go from me! Be careful about one thing, that you do not see me again, for on the day you see my face, you will die."²⁹Moses said, "You yourself have spoken. I will not see your face again."

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "There is still one more plague that I will bring on Pharaoh and Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he finally lets you go, he will drive you away completely.²Instruct the people that every man and woman is to ask of his or her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold."³Now Yahweh had made the Egyptians eager to please the Israelites. Moreover, the man Moses was very impressive in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and the people of Egypt.

⁴Moses said, "Yahweh says this: 'About midnight I will go throughout Egypt.⁵All the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill grinding it, and to all the firstborn of the livestock.

⁶Then there will be a great outcry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as has never been nor ever will be again.⁷But not even a dog will bark against any of the people of Israel, against either man or animal. In this way you will know that I am making a distinction between the Egyptians and the people of Israel.'⁸All these servants of yours, Pharaoh, will come down to me and bow down to me. They will say, 'Go, you and all the people who follow you!' After that I will go out." Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh will not listen to you. This is so that I will do many amazing things in the land of Egypt."¹⁰Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh. But Yahweh hardened Pharaoh's heart, and Pharaoh did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.

¹Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt. He said,²"For you, this month will be the start of months, the first month of the year to you.

³Tell the assembly of Israel, 'On the tenth day of this month they must each take a lamb or young goat for themselves, each family doing this, a lamb for each household.⁴If the household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next door neighbor are to take lamb or young goat meat that will be enough for the number of the people. It should be enough for everyone to eat, so they must take enough meat to feed them all.

⁵Your lamb or young goat must be without blemish, a one-year-old male. You may take one of the sheep or goats.⁶You must keep it safe until the fourteenth day of that month. Then the whole assembly of Israel must kill these animals at twilight.⁷You must take some of the blood and put it on the two side doorposts and on the tops of the doorframes of the houses in which you will eat the meat.⁸You must eat the meat that night, after first roasting it over a fire. Eat it with bread made without yeast, along with bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roast it over fire with its head, legs, and inner parts.¹⁰You must not let any of it be left over until morning. You must burn whatever is left over in the morning.¹¹This is how you must eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You must eat it hurriedly. It is Yahweh's Passover.

¹²Yahweh says this: I will go through the land of Egypt in that night and strike down all the firstborn of man and animal in the land of Egypt. I will do acts of judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am Yahweh.¹³The blood will be a sign on your houses for my coming to you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you when I attack the land of Egypt. This plague will not come on you and destroy you.¹⁴This day will become a memorial day for you, which you must observe as a festival to Yahweh; for your generations—a statute that you must keep as a festival forever.

¹⁵You will eat bread without yeast during seven days. On the first day you will remove the yeast from your houses. Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person must be cut off from Israel.¹⁶On the first day there will be an assembly that is set apart to me, and on the seventh day there will be another such gathering. No work will be done on these days, except the cooking for everyone to eat. That must be the only work that may be done by you.

¹⁷You must observe this Festival of Unleavened Bread because it was on this day that I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. So you must observe this day throughout your people's generations as a statute forever.¹⁸You must eat unleavened bread from twilight of the fourteenth day in the first month of the year until twilight of the twenty-first day of the month.

¹⁹During these seven days, no yeast must be found in your houses. Whoever eats bread made with yeast must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether that person is a foreigner or someone born in your land.²⁰You must eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat bread made without yeast.'"

²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and select lambs or kids that will be enough to feed your families and kill the Passover lamb.²²Then take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that will be in a basin. Apply the blood in the basin to the top of the doorframe and the two doorposts. None of you is to go out of the door of his house until the morning.

²³For Yahweh will pass through to attack the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top of the doorframe and on the two doorposts, he will pass over your door and not permit the destroyer to come into your houses to attack you.

²⁴You must observe this event. This will always be a law for you and your descendants.²⁵When you enter the land that Yahweh will give you, just as he has promised to do, you must observe this act of worship.

²⁶When your children ask you, 'What does this act of worship mean?'²⁷then you must say, 'It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's Passover, because Yahweh passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt when he attacked the Egyptians. He set our households free.'" Then the people bowed down and worshiped Yahweh.²⁸The people of Israel went and did exactly as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹It happened at midnight that Yahweh attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the person in the dungeon and all the firstborn of the livestock.³⁰Pharaoh got up in the night—he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians. There was a loud outcry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone dead.

³¹Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, "Get up, get out from among my people, you and the people of Israel. Go, worship Yahweh, as you have said you wanted to do.³²Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and also bless me."³³The Egyptians were in a great hurry to send them out of the land, for they said, "We will all die."

³⁴So the people took their dough without adding any yeast. Their kneading bowls were already tied up in their clothes and on their shoulders.³⁵Now the people of Israel did as Moses told them. They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing.³⁶Yahweh made the Egyptians eager to please the Israelites. So the Egyptians gave them whatever they asked for. In this way, the Israelites plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷The people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Sukkoth. They numbered about 600,000 men on foot, in addition to the little ones.³⁸A mixed multitude also went with them, together with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.³⁹They baked bread without yeast in the dough that they brought from Egypt. It was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay to prepare food.⁴⁰The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years.

⁴¹At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all of Yahweh's armed groups went out from the land of Egypt.⁴²This was a night to stay awake, for Yahweh to bring them out from the land of Egypt. This was Yahweh's night to be observed by all the people of Israel throughout their people's generations.

⁴³Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Here is the rule for the Passover: No foreigner may share in eating it.⁴⁴However, every Israelite's slave, bought with money, may eat it after you have circumcised him.

⁴⁵Foreigners and hired servants must not eat any of the food.⁴⁶The food must be eaten in one house. You must not carry any of the meat out of the house, and you must not break any bone of it.

⁴⁷All the community of Israel must observe the festival.⁴⁸If a foreigner lives with you and wants to observe the Passover to Yahweh, all his male relatives must be circumcised. Then he may come and observe it. He will become like the people who were born in the land. However, no uncircumcised person may eat any of the food.

⁴⁹This same law will apply to both the native born and to the foreigner who lives among you."

⁵⁰So all the people of Israel did exactly as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron.⁵¹It came about that very day that Yahweh brought Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armed groups.

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Set apart to me every firstborn male, the first issue of every womb among the people of Israel, whether man or animal. He is mine."

³Moses said to the people, "Call this day to mind, the day on which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by Yahweh's strong hand he brought you out from this place. No bread with yeast may be eaten.⁴You are going out of Egypt on this day, in the month of Aviv.⁵When Yahweh brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, the land that he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—then you must observe this act of worship in this month.

⁶For seven days you must eat bread without yeast; on the seventh day there will be a festival to honor Yahweh.⁷Bread without yeast must be eaten throughout the seven days; no bread with yeast may be seen among you. No yeast may be seen with you within any of your borders.

⁸On that day you are to say to your children, 'This is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out of Egypt.'⁹This will be a reminder for you on your hand, and a reminder on your forehead. This is so the law of Yahweh may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand Yahweh brought you out of Egypt.¹⁰Therefore you must keep this law at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹When Yahweh brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and to your ancestors to do, and when he gives the land to you,¹²you must set apart to Yahweh the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn offspring of your livestock that are males, will belong to Yahweh.¹³Every firstborn of a donkey you must redeem with a lamb. If you do not buy it back, then you must break its neck. But every firstborn of your sons you must redeem.

¹⁴When your son asks you later, 'What does this mean?' then you are to tell him, 'It was by a strong hand that Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from the house of slavery.¹⁵When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, Yahweh killed every firstborn in Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animal. That is why I sacrifice to Yahweh all the first male issue of the womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.'¹⁶This will become a reminder on your hands, and a reminder on your forehead, for it was by a strong hand Yahweh brought us out of Egypt."

¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that land was nearby. For God said, "Perhaps the people will change their minds when they experience war and will then return to Egypt."¹⁸So God led the people around through the wilderness to the Sea of Reeds. The people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt armed for battle.

¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear and said, "God will surely rescue you, and you must carry away my bones with you."²⁰The Israelites journeyed from Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.²¹Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them on the way. By night he went in a pillar of fire to give them light. In this way they could travel by day and by night.²²Yahweh did not take away from before the people the daytime pillar of cloud or the nighttime pillar of fire.

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Say to the people of Israel that they should turn and camp before Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, before Baal Zephon. You are to camp by the sea opposite Pi Hahiroth.³Pharaoh will say about the people of Israel, 'They are wandering confused in the land. The wilderness has closed in on them.'

⁴I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them. I will get honor because of Pharaoh and all his army. The Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh." So the Israelites camped as they were instructed.⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the Israelites had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his servants turned against the people. They said, "What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us."

⁶Then Pharaoh got his chariots ready and took his army with him.⁷He took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers on all of them.⁸Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and the king pursued the people of Israel. Now the people of Israel had gone away in triumph.⁹But the Egyptians pursued them, together with all his horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army. They overtook the Israelites camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, before Baal Zephon.

¹⁰When Pharaoh came close, the people of Israel looked up and were surprised. The Egyptians were marching after them, and they were terrified. The people of Israel cried out to Yahweh.¹¹They said to Moses, "Is it because there were no graves in Egypt, that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us like this, bringing us out of Egypt?¹²Is this not what we told you in Egypt? We said to you, 'Leave us alone, so we can work for the Egyptians.' It would have been better for us to work for them than to die in the wilderness."

¹³Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand still and see the rescue that Yahweh will provide for you today. For you will never see again the Egyptians whom you see today.¹⁴Yahweh will fight for you, and you will only have to stand still."

¹⁵Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Why are you, Moses, continuing to call out to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward.¹⁶Lift up your staff, reach out with your hand over the sea and divide it in two, so that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground.¹⁷Be aware that I will harden the Egyptians' hearts so they will go after them. I will get honor because of Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen.¹⁸Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh when I have gotten honor because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen."

¹⁹The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from before them and went to stand behind them.²⁰The cloud came between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel. It was a dark cloud to the Egyptians, but it lit the night for the Israelites, so one side did not come near the other all night.

²¹Moses reached out with his hand over the sea. Yahweh drove the sea back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea into dry land. In this way the waters were divided.²²The people of Israel went into the middle of the sea on dry ground. The waters formed a wall for them on their right hand and on their left.

²³The Egyptians pursued them. They went after them into the middle of the sea—all Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and horsemen.²⁴But at the morning watch, Yahweh looked down on the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and cloud. He threw the Egyptians into confusion.²⁵Their chariot wheels were clogged, and the horsemen drove with difficulty. So the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from Israel, for Yahweh is fighting for them against us."

²⁶Yahweh said to Moses, "Reach out with your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back onto the Egyptians, their chariots, and their horsemen."²⁷So Moses reached out with his hand over the sea, and it returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. The Egyptians fled into the sea, and Yahweh drove the Egyptians into the middle of it.²⁸The waters came back and covered Pharaoh's chariots, horsemen, and his entire army that had followed the chariots into the sea. No one survived.

²⁹However, the people of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea. The waters were a wall for them on their right hand and on their left.³⁰So Yahweh saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw dead Egyptians on the seashore.³¹When Israel saw the great power that Yahweh used against the Egyptians, the people feared Yahweh, and they trusted Yahweh and his servant Moses.

¹Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to Yahweh. They sang,

"I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously;

the horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

²Yahweh is my strength and song,

and he has become my salvation.

This is my God, and I will praise him,

my father's God, and I will exalt him.

³Yahweh is a warrior;

Yahweh is his name.

⁴He has thrown Pharaoh's chariots and army into the sea.

Pharaoh's chosen officers were drowned in the Sea of Reeds.

⁵The depths covered them;

they went down into the depths like a stone.

⁶Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power;

your right hand, Yahweh, has shattered the enemy.

⁷In great majesty you overthrew those who rose up against you.

You sent out your wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

⁸By the blast of your nostrils the waters were piled up;

the flowing waters stood upright in a heap;

the deep water was congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹The enemy said, 'I will pursue, I will overtake, I will share out the plunder;

my desire will be satisfied on them;

I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.'

¹⁰But you blew with your wind, and the sea covered them;

they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

honored in praises, doing miracles?

¹²You reached out with your right hand,

and the earth swallowed them.

¹³In your covenant loyalty you have led the people you have rescued.

In your strength you have led them to the holy place where you live.

¹⁴The peoples will hear, and they will tremble;

terror will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom will fear;

the soldiers of Moab will shake;

all the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away.

¹⁶Terror and dread will fall on them.

Because of your arm's power, they will become as still as a stone

until your people pass by, Yahweh—

until the people you have rescued pass by.

¹⁷You will bring them and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance,

the place, Yahweh, that you have made to live in,

the sanctuary, our Lord, that your hands have built.

¹⁸Yahweh will reign forever and ever."

¹⁹For Pharaoh's horses went with his chariots and horsemen into the sea. Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them. But the people of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.²⁰Miriam the prophetess, sister of Aaron, picked up a tambourine, and all the women went out with tambourines, dancing along with her.²¹Miriam sang to them:

"Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously.

The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

²²Then Moses led Israel onward from the Sea of Reeds. They went out into the wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days into the wilderness and found no water.²³Then they came to Marah, but they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. So they named that place Marah.

²⁴So the people complained to Moses and said, "What can we drink?"²⁵Moses cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a tree. Moses threw it into the water, and the water became sweet to drink. It was there that Yahweh gave them a strict law, and it was there that he tested them.²⁶He said, "If you carefully listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do what is right in his eyes, and if you give ear to his commands and obey all his laws—I will put on you none of the diseases that I put on the Egyptians, for I am Yahweh who heals you."

²⁷Then the people came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They camped there by the water.

¹The people journeyed on from Elim, and all the community of people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.²The whole community of the people of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.³The people of Israel said to them, "If only we had died by Yahweh's hand in the land of Egypt when we were sitting by the pots of meat and were eating bread to the full. For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill our whole community with hunger."

⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people will go out and gather a day's portion every day so that I may test them to see whether or not they will walk in my law.⁵It will come about on the sixth day, that they will gather twice as much as what they gathered every day before, and they will cook what they bring in."

⁶Then Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, "In the evening you will know that it is Yahweh who has brought you out from the land of Egypt.⁷In the morning you will see Yahweh's glory, for he hears your complaining against him. Who are we for you to complain against us?"⁸Moses also said, "You will know this when Yahweh gives you meat in the evening and bread in the morning to the full—for he has heard the complaints that you speak against him. Who are Aaron and I? Your complaints are not against us; they are against Yahweh."

⁹Moses said to Aaron, "Say to all the community of the people of Israel, 'Come near before Yahweh, for he has heard your complaints.'"¹⁰It came about, as Aaron spoke to the whole community of the people of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, Yahweh's glory appeared in the cloud.¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹²"I have heard the complaints of the people of Israel. Speak to them and say, 'In the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahweh your God.'"

¹³It came about in the evening that quails came up and covered the camp. In the morning the dew lay round about the camp.¹⁴When the dew was gone, there on the surface of the wilderness were thin flakes like frost on the ground.¹⁵When the people of Israel saw it, they said one to another, "What is it?" They did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread that Yahweh has given you to eat.

¹⁶This is the command that Yahweh has given: 'You must gather, each one of you, the amount you need to eat, an omer for each person of the number of your people. This is how you will gather it: Gather enough to eat for every person who lives in your tent.'"¹⁷The people of Israel did so. Some gathered more, some gathered less.¹⁸When they measured it with an omer measure, those who had gathered much had nothing left over, and those who had gathered little had no lack. Each person gathered enough to meet their need.

¹⁹Then Moses said to them, "No one must leave any of it until morning."²⁰However, they did not listen to Moses. Some of them left some of it until morning, but it bred worms and became foul. Then Moses became angry with them.²¹They gathered it morning by morning. Each person gathered enough to eat for that day. When the sun became hot, it melted.

²²It came about that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each person. All the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses.²³He said to them, "This is what Yahweh has said: 'Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath in Yahweh's honor. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. All that remains over, set it aside for yourselves until morning.'"

²⁴So they set it aside until morning, as Moses had instructed. It did not become foul, nor was there any worm in it.²⁵Moses said, "Eat that food today, for today is a day reserved as a Sabbath to honor Yahweh. Today you will not find it in the fields.

²⁶You will gather it during six days, but the seventh day is the Sabbath. On the Sabbath there will be no manna."²⁷It came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather manna, but they found none.

²⁸Then Yahweh said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?²⁹See, Yahweh has given you the Sabbath. So on the sixth day he is giving you bread for two days. Each of you must stay in his own place; no one must go out from his place on the seventh day."³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The people of Israel called that food "manna." It was white like coriander seed, and its taste was like wafers made with honey.³²Moses said, "This is what Yahweh has commanded: 'Let an omer of manna be kept throughout your people's generations so that your descendants might see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, after I brought you out from the land of Egypt.'"

³³Moses said to Aaron, "Take a pot and put an omer of manna into it. Preserve it before Yahweh to be kept throughout the people's generations."³⁴As Yahweh commanded Moses, Aaron stored it beside the covenant decrees in the ark.³⁵The people of Israel ate manna forty years until they came to inhabited land. They ate it until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.³⁶Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.

¹The whole community of the people of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, following Yahweh's instructions. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.²So the people blamed Moses for their situation and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?"³The people were very thirsty, and they complained against Moses. They said, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"

⁴Then Moses cried out to Yahweh, "What should I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me."⁵Yahweh said to Moses, "Go on ahead of the people, and take with you some elders of Israel. Take with you the staff with which you struck the river, and go.⁶I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you will strike the rock. Water will come out of it for the people to drink." Then Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.⁷He named that place Massah and Meribah because the people of Israel were quarreling and because they had tested the Lord by saying, "Is Yahweh among us or not?"

⁸Then an army of the Amalek people came and attacked Israel at Rephidim.⁹So Moses said to Joshua, "Choose some men and go out. Fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."¹⁰So Joshua fought Amalek as Moses had instructed, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹While Moses was holding his hands up, Israel was winning; when he let his hands rest, Amalek would begin to win.¹²When Moses' hands became heavy, Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under him for him to sit on. At the same time, Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one person on one side of him, and the other person on the other side. So Moses' hands were held steady until the sun went down.¹³So Joshua laid waste to Amalek and his people with the sword.

¹⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "Write this in a book and read it in Joshua's hearing, because I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under the skies."¹⁵Then Moses built an altar and he called it "Yahweh is my banner."¹⁶He said, "For a hand was lifted up to the throne of Yahweh—that Yahweh will wage war with Amalek from generation to generation."

¹Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people. He heard that Yahweh had brought Israel out of Egypt.²Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her home,³and her two sons; the name of the one son was Gershom, for Moses had said, "I have been a foreigner in a foreign land."⁴The name of the other was Eliezer, for Moses had said, "My ancestor's God was my help. He rescued me from Pharaoh's sword."

⁵Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, came with Moses' sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped at the mountain of God.⁶He said to Moses, "I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons."

⁷Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and kissed him. They asked about each other's welfare and then went into the tent.⁸Moses told his father-in-law all that Yahweh had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel's sake, about all the hardships that had come to them along the way, and how Yahweh had rescued them.

⁹Jethro rejoiced over all the good that Yahweh had done for Israel, in that he had rescued them from the hand of the Egyptians.¹⁰Jethro said, "May Yahweh be praised, for he has rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of Pharaoh, and delivered the people from the hand of the Egyptians.¹¹Now I know that Yahweh is greater than all the gods, because when the Egyptians treated the Israelites arrogantly, God rescued his people."

¹²Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices for God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat a meal before God with Moses' father-in-law.

¹³On the next day Moses sat down to judge the people. The people stood around him from morning until evening.¹⁴When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did for the people, he said, "What is this that you are doing with the people? Why is it that you sit alone and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?"

¹⁵Moses said to his father-in-law, "The people come to me to ask for God's direction.¹⁶When they have a dispute, they come to me. I decide between one person and another, and I teach them God's statutes and laws."

¹⁷Moses' father-in-law said to him, "What you are doing is not very good.¹⁸You will surely wear yourselves out, you and the people who are with you. This burden is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it by yourself.¹⁹Listen to me. I will give you advice, and God will be with you, because you are the people's representative to God, and you bring their disputes to him.²⁰You must teach them his statutes and laws. You must show them the way to walk and the work to do.

²¹Furthermore, you must choose capable men from all the people, men who honor God, men of truth who hate unjust gain. You must put them over people, to be leaders in charge of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and of tens.²²They will judge the people in all routine cases, but the difficult cases they will bring to you. As for all the small cases, they can judge those themselves. In that way it will be easier for you, and they will carry the burden with you.²³If you do this, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure, and the entire people will be able to go home in peace."

²⁴So Moses listened to his father-in-law's words and did everything that he had said.²⁵Moses chose capable men from all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders in charge of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.²⁶They judged the people in normal circumstances. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but they themselves judged all the small cases.²⁷Then Moses let his father-in-law leave, and Jethro went back into his own land.

¹In the third month after the people of Israel had gone out from the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the wilderness of Sinai.²After they left Rephidim and came to the wilderness of Sinai, they camped in the wilderness in front of the mountain.

³Moses went up to God. Yahweh called to him from the mountain and said, "You must tell the house of Jacob, the people of Israel:⁴You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.⁵Now then, if you obediently listen to my voice and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.⁶You will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation for me. These are the words that you must speak to the people of Israel."

⁷So Moses came and summoned the elders of the people. He set before them all these words that Yahweh had commanded him.⁸All the people answered together and said, "We will do everything that Yahweh has said." Then Moses came to report the people's words to Yahweh.⁹Yahweh said to Moses, "I will come to you in a thick cloud so that the people may hear when I speak with you and may also believe you forever." Then Moses told the people's words to Yahweh.

¹⁰Yahweh said to Moses, "Go to the people. Today and tomorrow you must set them apart to me, and make them wash their garments.¹¹Be ready for the third day, for on the third day Yahweh will come down to Mount Sinai.

¹²You must set boundaries all around the mountain for the people. Say to them, 'Be careful that you do not go up the mountain or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain will surely be put to death.'¹³No one's hand may touch him. Rather, he must certainly be stoned or shot. Whether an animal or a man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may come up to the mountain."

¹⁴Then Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He set apart the people to Yahweh and they washed their garments.¹⁵He said to the people, "Be ready on the third day; do not go near your wives."

¹⁶On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunder and lightning bolts and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.¹⁷Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely covered with smoke because Yahweh descended on it in fire and smoke. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

¹⁹When the sound of the ram's horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in a voice.²⁰Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, and he summoned Moses to the top. So Moses went up.²¹Yahweh said to Moses, "Go down and warn the people; otherwise they might break out to Yahweh to look, and many of them might perish.²²Let the priests also who come near to me set themselves apart—prepare themselves for my coming—so that I do not break out against them."

²³Moses said to Yahweh, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for you commanded us: 'Set boundaries around the mountain and set it apart to Yahweh.'"²⁴Yahweh said to him, "Go down and bring up Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to Yahweh, or he will break out against them."²⁵So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.

¹God spoke all these words:

²"I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

³You must have no other gods before me.

⁴You must not make for yourself a carved figure nor the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water below.⁵You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God. I punish the ancestors' wickedness by bringing punishment on the descendants, to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.⁶But I show steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

⁷You must not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for I will not hold guiltless anyone who takes my name in vain.

⁸Remember the Sabbath day, to set it apart to me.⁹You must labor and do all your work for six days.¹⁰But the seventh day is a Sabbath for Yahweh your God. On it you must not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.¹¹For in six days Yahweh made the heavens and earth, the sea, and everything that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart.

¹²Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live a long time in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.

¹³You must not murder anyone.

¹⁴You must not commit adultery.

¹⁵You must not steal from anyone.

¹⁶You must not give false testimony against your neighbor.

¹⁷You must not covet your neighbor's house; you must not covet your neighbor's wife, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

¹⁸All the people saw the thundering and the lightning, and heard the sound of the ram's horn, and saw the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled and stood far off.¹⁹They said to Moses, "Speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die."²⁰Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, for God has come to test you so that the honor of him may be in you, and so that you do not sin."²¹So the people stood far off, and Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

²²Yahweh said to Moses, "This is what you must tell the people of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.²³You will not make for yourselves other gods alongside me, gods of silver or gods of gold.

²⁴You must make an earthen altar for me, and you must sacrifice on it your burnt offerings, fellowship offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.²⁵If you make me an altar of stone, you must not build it of cut stones, for if you use your tools on it, you will have defiled it.²⁶You must not go up to my altar on steps, so that your nakedness is not exposed.'"

¹"Now these are the decrees that you must set before them:

²'If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve for six years, and in the seventh year he will go free without paying anything.³If he came by himself, he must go free by himself; if he is married, then his wife must go free with him.⁴If his master gave him a wife and she bore him sons or daughters, the wife and her children will belong to her master, and he must go free by himself.

⁵But if the servant plainly says, "I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,"⁶then his master must bring him to God. The master must bring him to a door or doorpost, and his master must bore his ear through with an awl. Then the servant will serve him for life.

⁷If a man sells his daughter as a female servant, she must not go free as the male servants do.⁸If she does not please her master, who has selected her for himself, then he must let her be redeemed. He has no right to sell her to a foreign people. He has no such right, since he has treated her deceitfully.

⁹If her master selects her as a wife for his son, he must treat her the same as if she were his daughter.¹⁰If he takes another wife for himself, he must not diminish her food, clothing, or her marital rights.¹¹But if he does not provide these three things for her, then she can go free without paying any money.

¹²Whoever strikes a man so that he dies, that person must surely be put to death.¹³If the man did not lie in wait for him, but God allowed it to happen, then I will appoint for you a place to where he can flee.¹⁴If a man arrogantly attacks his neighbor and kills him cleverly, then you must take him, even if he is at God's altar, so that he may die.

¹⁵Whoever hits his father or mother must surely be put to death.

¹⁶Whoever kidnaps a person—whether the kidnapper sells him, or that person is found in his hand—that kidnapper must be put to death.

¹⁷Whoever curses his father or his mother must surely be put to death.

¹⁸If men fight and one hits the other with a stone or with his fist, and that person does not die, but is confined to his bed;¹⁹then if he recovers and is able to walk about using his staff, the man who struck him must pay for the loss of his time; he must also see that he is completely healed. But that man is not guilty of murder.

²⁰If a man hits his male servant or his female servant with a staff, and if the servant dies as a result of the blow, then that man must surely be punished.²¹However, if the servant lives for a day or two, there is to be no vengeance, for he will have suffered the loss of the servant.

²²If men fight together and hurt a pregnant woman so that she miscarries, but there is no other injury to her, then the guilty man must surely be forced to pay a fine as the woman's husband demands it from him, and he must pay as the judges determine.²³But if there is serious injury, then you must give a life for a life,²⁴an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, a foot for a foot,²⁵a burn for a burn, a wound for a wound, or a bruise for a bruise.

²⁶If a man hits the eye of his male servant or of his female servant and destroys it, then he must let the servant go free in compensation for his eye.²⁷If he knocks out a tooth of his male servant or female servant, he must let the servant go free as compensation for the tooth.

²⁸If an ox gores a man or a woman to death, the ox must surely be stoned, and its flesh must not be eaten; but the ox's owner must be acquitted of guilt.²⁹But if the ox had a habit of goring in the past, and its owner was warned but did not keep it in, and the ox has killed a man or a woman, that ox must be stoned, and its owner also must be put to death.³⁰If a ransom is required for his life, he must pay for the redemption of his life whatever he is required to pay.

³¹If the ox has gored a man's son or daughter, the ox's owner must do what this decree requires him to do.³²If the ox gores a male servant or a female servant, the ox's owner must pay thirty shekels of silver, and the ox must be stoned.

³³If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it,³⁴the owner of the pit must repay the loss. He must give money to the dead animal's owner, and the dead animal will become his.

³⁵If one man's ox hurts another man's ox so that it dies, then they must sell the live ox and divide its price, and they must also divide the dead ox.³⁶But if it was known that the ox had a habit of goring in time past, and its owner has not kept it in, he must surely pay ox for ox, and the dead animal will become his own.

¹If a man steals an ox or a sheep and kills it or sells it, then he must pay five oxen for one ox, and four sheep for one sheep.²If a thief is found breaking in, and if he is struck so that he dies, in that case no bloodguilt will attach to anyone on his account.³But if the sun has risen before he breaks in, bloodguilt will attach to the person who kills him.

A thief must make restitution. If he has nothing, then he must be sold for his theft.

⁴If the stolen animal is found alive in his possession, whether it is an ox, a donkey, or a sheep, he must pay back double.

⁵If a man grazes his livestock in a field or vineyard and lets his animal loose, and it grazes in another man's field, he must make restitution from the best of his own field and from the best of his own vineyard.

⁶If a fire breaks out and spreads in thorns so that stacked grain, or standing grain, or a field is consumed, the one who started the fire must surely make restitution.

⁷If a man gives money or goods to his neighbor for safe keeping, and if it is stolen out of the man's house, if the thief is found, that thief must pay double.⁸But if the thief is not found, then the owner of the house must come before the judges to see whether he has put his own hand on his neighbor's property.⁹For every transgression, whether it is an ox, a donkey, a sheep, clothing, or any other missing thing about which one says, "This belongs to me," the claim of both parties must come before the judges. The man whom the judges find guilty must pay double to his neighbor.

¹⁰If a man gives his neighbor a donkey, an ox, a sheep, or any animal to keep, and if it dies or is hurt or is carried away without anyone seeing it,¹¹an oath to Yahweh must be taken by them both, as to whether or not one person has put his hand on his neighbor's property. The owner must accept this, and the other will make no restitution.¹²But if it was stolen from him, the other must make restitution to the owner for it.¹³If an animal was torn in pieces, let the other man bring the animal as evidence. He will not have to pay for what was torn.

¹⁴If a man borrows any animal from his neighbor and the animal is injured or dies without the owner being with it, the other man must surely make restitution.¹⁵But if the owner was with it, the other man will not have to pay; if the animal was hired, it will be paid for by its hiring fee.

¹⁶If a man seduces a virgin who is not betrothed, and if he lies with her, he must surely make her his wife by paying the bride wealth required for this.¹⁷If her father completely refuses to give her to him, he must pay money equal to the bride wealth of virgins.

¹⁸You must not allow a sorceress to live.

¹⁹Whoever lies with an animal must surely be put to death.

²⁰Whoever sacrifices to any god except to Yahweh must be completely destroyed.²¹You must not wrong a foreigner or oppress him, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²²You must not mistreat any widow or fatherless child.²³If you afflict them at all, and if they call out to me, I will surely hear their outcry.²⁴My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows, and your children will become fatherless.

²⁵If you lend money to any of my people among you who are poor, you must not be like a moneylender to him or charge him interest.²⁶If you take your neighbor's garment in pledge, you must return it to him before the sun goes down,²⁷for that is his only covering; it is his garment for his body. What else can he lie down in? When he calls out to me, I will hear him, for I am gracious.

²⁸You must not blaspheme me, God, nor curse a ruler of your people.

²⁹You must not hold back offerings from your harvest or your winepresses. You must give to me the firstborn of your sons.³⁰You must also do the same with your oxen and your sheep. For seven days they may remain with their mothers, but on the eighth day you must give them to me.³¹You will be people that are set apart for me. So you must not eat any meat that was torn by animals in the field. Instead, you must throw it to the dogs.

¹You must not give a false report about anyone. Do not join with a wicked man to be a malicious witness.²You must not follow a crowd to do evil, and you must not bear witness in a dispute while siding with the crowd in order to pervert justice.³You must not show favoritism to a poor man in his lawsuit.

⁴If you meet your enemy's ox or his donkey going astray, you must bring it back to him.⁵If you see the donkey of someone who hates you fallen to the ground under its load, you must not leave that person. You must surely help him with his donkey.

⁶Do not thrust aside justice for your poor in his lawsuit.⁷Do not join others in making false accusations, and do not kill the innocent or righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.⁸Never take a bribe, for a bribe blinds those who see, and perverts honest people's words.⁹You must not oppress a foreigner, since you know the life of a foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁰For six years you will sow seed on your land and gather in its produce.¹¹But in the seventh year you will let it rest and lie fallow, so that the poor among your people may eat. What they leave, the wild animals will eat. You will do the same with your vineyards and olive orchards.

¹²During six days you will do your work, but on the seventh day you must rest. Do this so that your ox and your donkey may have rest, and so that your female slave's son and any foreigner may rest and be refreshed.¹³Pay attention to everything that I have said to you. Do not mention the names of other gods, nor let their names be heard from your mouth.

¹⁴You must travel to hold a festival for me three times every year.¹⁵You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you will eat unleavened bread for seven days. At that time, you will appear before me in the month of Aviv, which is fixed for this purpose. It was in this month that you came out from Egypt. But you must not appear before me empty-handed.

¹⁶You must observe the Festival of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors when you sowed seed in the fields. Also you must observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in your produce from the fields.¹⁷All your males must appear before the Lord Yahweh three times every year.

¹⁸You must not offer the blood from sacrifices made to me with bread containing yeast. The fat from the sacrifices at my festivals must not remain all night until the morning.¹⁹You must bring the choicest firstfruits from your land into my house, the house of Yahweh your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

²⁰I am going to send an angel before you to guard you on the way, and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.²¹Be attentive to him and obey him. Do not provoke him, for he will not pardon your transgressions. My name is on him.²²If you indeed obey his voice and do everything that I tell you, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.

²³My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and the Jebusites. I will destroy them.²⁴You must not bow down to their gods, worship them, or do as they do, but you must completely break them down, and you must smash their stone pillars in pieces.²⁵You must worship Yahweh your God, and he will bless your bread and water. I will remove sickness from among you.

²⁶No woman will be barren or will miscarry her young in your land. I will give you long lives.²⁷I will send my terror before you, and will throw into confusion all the people to whom you come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.²⁸I will send hornets before you that will drive out the Hivites, Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.²⁹I will not drive them out from before you in one year, or the land would become desolate, and the wild animals would become too many for you.

³⁰Instead, I will drive them out little by little from before you until you become fruitful and inherit the land.³¹I will fix your borders from the Sea of Reeds to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. I will give the inhabitants of the land into your hands. You will drive them out before you.³²You must not make a covenant with them or with their gods.³³They must not live in your land, or they would make you sin against me. If you worship their gods, this will surely become a trap for you.'"

¹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Come up to me—you, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders, and worship me at a distance.²Moses alone may come near to me. The others must not come near, nor may the people come up with him."

³Moses went and told the people all of Yahweh's words and decrees. All the people answered with one voice and said, "We will do all the words that Yahweh has said."⁴Then Moses wrote down all of Yahweh's words. Early in the morning, Moses built an altar at the foot of the mountain and arranged twelve stone pillars, so that the stones would represent the twelve tribes of Israel.

⁵He sent some young men from among the people of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings of oxen to Yahweh.⁶Moses took half of the blood and put it into basins; he sprinkled the other half onto the altar.

⁷He took the book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people. They said, "We will do all that Yahweh has spoken. We will be obedient."⁸Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it onto the people. He said, "This is the blood of the covenant that Yahweh has made with you by giving you this promise with all these words."

⁹Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders went up the mountain.¹⁰They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself.¹¹God did not lay a hand on the leaders of the people of Israel. They saw God, and they ate and drank.

¹²Yahweh said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay there. I will give you the tablets of stone and the law and commandments that I have written, so that you may teach them."¹³So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua and went up the mountain of God.

¹⁴Moses had said to the elders, "Stay here and wait for us until we come to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. If anyone has a dispute, let him go to them."¹⁵So Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered it.

¹⁶Yahweh's glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from within the cloud.¹⁷The appearance of Yahweh's glory was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the people of Israel.¹⁸Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain. He was up the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses,²"Tell the people of Israel to take an offering for me from every person who is motivated by a willing heart. You must receive these offerings for me.

³These are the offerings that you must receive from them: gold, silver, and bronze;⁴blue, purple, and scarlet material; fine linen; goats' hair;⁵ram skins dyed red and fine leather hides; acacia wood;⁶oil for the sanctuary lamps; spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense;⁷onyx stones and other precious stones to be set for the ephod and breastpiece.

⁸Let them make me a sanctuary so that I may live among them.⁹You must make it exactly as I will show you in the plans for the tabernacle and for all its equipment.

¹⁰They are to make an ark of acacia wood. Its length must be two and a half cubits; its width will be one cubit and a half; and its height will be one cubit and a half.¹¹You must cover it inside and out with pure gold, and you must make on it a border of gold around its top.

¹²You must cast four rings of gold for it, and put them on the ark's four feet, with two rings on one side of it, and two rings on the other side.¹³You must make poles of acacia wood and cover them with gold.¹⁴You must put the poles into the rings on the ark's sides, in order to carry the ark.

¹⁵The poles must remain in the rings of the ark; they must not be taken from it.¹⁶You must put into the ark the covenant decrees that I will give you.¹⁷You must make an atonement lid of pure gold. Its length must be two and a half cubits, and its width must be a cubit and a half.¹⁸You must make two cherubim of hammered gold for the two ends of the atonement lid.

¹⁹Make one cherub for one end of the atonement lid, and the other cherub for the other end. They must be made as one piece with the atonement lid.²⁰The cherubim must spread out their wings upward and overshadow the atonement lid with them. The cherubim must face one another and look toward the center of the atonement lid.²¹You must put the atonement lid on top of the ark, and you must put into the ark the covenant decrees that I am giving you.

²²It is at the ark that I will meet with you. I will speak with you from my position above the atonement lid. It will be from between the two cherubim over the ark of the covenant decrees that I will speak to you about all the commands I will give you for the people of Israel.

²³You must make a table of acacia wood. Its length must be two cubits; its width must be one cubit, and its height must be a cubit and a half.²⁴You must cover it with pure gold and put a border of gold around the top.

²⁵You must make a surrounding frame for it one handbreadth wide, with a surrounding border of gold for the frame.²⁶You must make for it four rings of gold and attach the rings to the four corners, where the four feet were.²⁷The rings must be attached to the frame to provide places for the poles, in order to carry the table.

²⁸You must make the poles out of acacia wood and cover them with gold so that the table may be carried with them.²⁹You must make the dishes, spoons, pitchers, and bowls to be used to pour out drink offerings. You must make them of pure gold.³⁰You must regularly set the bread of the presence on the table before me.

³¹You must make a lampstand of pure hammered gold. The lampstand is to be made with its base and shaft. Its cups, its leafy bases, and its flowers are to be all made of one piece with it.³²Six branches must extend out from its sides—three branches must extend from one side, and three branches of the lampstand must extend from the other side.

³³The first branch must have three cups made like almond blossoms, with a leafy base and a flower, and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, with a leafy base and a flower. It must be the same for all six branches extending out from the lampstand.³⁴On the lampstand itself, the central shaft, there must be four cups made like almond blossoms, with their leafy bases and the flowers.

³⁵There must be a leafy base under the first pair of branches—made as one piece with it, and a leafy base under the second pair of branches—also made as one piece with it. In the same way there must be a leafy base under the third pair of branches, made as one piece with it. It must be the same for all six branches extending out from the lampstand.³⁶Their leafy bases and branches must all be one piece with it, one beaten piece of work of pure gold.

³⁷You must make the lampstand and its seven lamps, and set up its lamps for them to give light from it.³⁸The tongs and their trays must be made of pure gold.³⁹Use one talent of pure gold to make the lampstand and its accessories.⁴⁰Be sure to make them after the pattern that you are being shown on the mountain.

¹You must make the tabernacle with ten curtains made from fine linen and blue, purple, and scarlet wool with the designs of cherubim. This will be the work of a very skilled craftsman.²The length of each curtain must be twenty-eight cubits, the width four cubits. All the curtains must be of the same size.³Five curtains must be joined to each other, and the other five curtains must also be joined to each other.

⁴You must make loops of blue along the outer edge of the end curtain of one set. In the same way, you must do the same along the outer edge of the end curtain in the second set.⁵You must make fifty loops on the first curtain, and you must make fifty loops on the end curtain in the second set. Do this so that the loops will be opposite to each other.⁶You must make fifty clasps of gold and join the curtains together with them so that the tabernacle becomes united.

⁷You must make curtains of goats' hair for a tent over the tabernacle. You must make eleven of these curtains.⁸The length of each curtain must be thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain must be four cubits. Each of the eleven curtains must be of the same size.⁹You must join five curtains to each other and the other six curtains to each other. You must double over the sixth curtain in the front of the tent.

¹⁰You must make fifty loops on the edge of the end curtain of the first set, and fifty loops on the edge of the end curtain that joins the second set.¹¹You must make fifty bronze clasps and put them into the loops. Then you join the tent together so that it may be one piece.

¹²The leftover half curtain, that is, the overhanging part remaining from the tent's curtains, must hang at the back of the tabernacle.¹³There must be one cubit of curtain on one side, and one cubit of curtain on the other side—that which is left over of the length of the tent's curtains must hang over the sides of the tabernacle on one side and on the other side, to cover it.¹⁴You must make for the tabernacle a covering of ram skins dyed red, and another covering of fine leather to go above that.

¹⁵You must make upright frames out of acacia wood for the tabernacle.¹⁶The length of each frame must be ten cubits, and its width must be one and a half cubits.¹⁷There must be two wooden pegs in each frame for joining the frames to each other. You are to make all the tabernacle's frames in this way.¹⁸When you make the frames for the tabernacle, you must make twenty frames for the south side.

¹⁹You must make forty silver bases to go under the twenty frames. There must be two bases under the first frame to be its two pedestals, and also two bases under each of the other frames for their two pedestals.²⁰For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, you must make twenty frames²¹and their forty silver bases. There must be two bases under the first frame, two bases under the next frame, and so on.

²²For the back side of the tabernacle on the west side, you must make six frames.²³You must make two frames for the back corners of the tabernacle.²⁴These frames must be separate at the bottom, but joined at the top to the same ring. It must be this way for both of the back corners.²⁵There must be eight frames, together with their silver bases. There must be sixteen bases in all, two bases under the first frame, two bases under the next frame, and so on.

²⁶You must make crossbars of acacia wood—five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle,²⁷five crossbars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five crossbars for the frames for the back side of the tabernacle to the west.²⁸The crossbar in the center of the frames, that is, halfway up, must reach from end to end.

²⁹You must cover the frames with gold. You must make their rings of gold, for them to serve as holders for the crossbars, and you must cover the bars with gold.³⁰You must set up the tabernacle by following the plan you were shown on the mountain.

³¹You must make a curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine linen, with designs of cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.³²You must hang it on four pillars of acacia wood covered with gold. These pillars must have hooks of gold set on four silver bases.³³You must hang up the curtain under the clasps, and you must bring in the ark of the covenant decrees. The curtain is to separate the holy place from the most holy place.

³⁴You must put the atonement lid on the ark of the covenant decrees, which is in the most holy place.³⁵You must place the table outside the curtain. You must place the lampstand opposite the table on the south side of the tabernacle. The table must be on the north side.

³⁶You must make a screen for the tent entrance. You must make it out of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer.³⁷For the screen you must make five pillars of acacia and cover them with gold. Their hooks must be of gold, and you must cast five bronze bases for them.

¹You must make the altar of acacia wood, five cubits long and five cubits wide. The altar must be square and three cubits high.²You must make extensions of its four corners shaped like ox horns. The horns will be made as one piece with the altar, and you must cover them with bronze.

³You must make equipment for the altar: pots for ashes, and also shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans. You must make all these utensils with bronze.⁴You must make a grate for the altar, a network of bronze. Make a bronze ring for each of the grate's four corners.

⁵You must put the grate under the ledge of the altar, halfway down to the bottom.⁶You must make poles for the altar, poles of acacia wood, and you must cover them with bronze.

⁷The poles must be put into the rings, and the poles must be on the two sides of the altar, to carry it.⁸You must make the altar hollow, out of planks. You must make it in the way you were shown on the mountain.

⁹You must make a courtyard for the tabernacle. There must be hangings on the south side of the courtyard, hangings of fine twined linen one hundred cubits long.¹⁰The hangings must have twenty posts, with twenty bronze bases. There must also be hooks attached to the posts, as well as silver rods.

¹¹In the same way, along the north side, there must be hangings one hundred cubits long with twenty posts, twenty bronze bases, hooks attached to the posts, and silver rods.¹²Along the courtyard on the west side there must be a curtain fifty cubits long. There must be ten posts and ten bases.¹³The courtyard must also be fifty cubits long on the east side.

¹⁴The hangings for one side of the entrance must be fifteen cubits long. They must have three posts with three bases.¹⁵The other side must also have hangings fifteen cubits long. They must have their three posts and three bases.¹⁶The courtyard gate must be a screen twenty cubits long. The curtain must be made of blue, purple, and scarlet material and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer. It must have four posts with four bases.

¹⁷All the courtyard posts must have silver rods, silver hooks, and bronze bases.¹⁸The length of the courtyard must be one hundred cubits, the width fifty cubits, and the height five cubits with fine twined linen hangings all along, and bases of bronze.¹⁹All the equipment to be used in the tabernacle, and all the tent pegs for the tabernacle and courtyard must be made of bronze.

²⁰You must command the people of Israel to bring olive oil, pure and pressed, for the lamps so they may burn continually.²¹In the tent of meeting, outside the curtain that is in front of the tabernacle that contains the ark of the covenant decrees, Aaron and his sons must keep the lamps burning before Yahweh, from evening to morning. This requirement will be a lasting statute throughout the generations of the people of Israel.

¹Call to yourself Aaron your brother and his sons—Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar—from among the people of Israel so that they may serve me as priests.²You must make for Aaron, your brother, garments that are set apart to me. These garments will be for his honor and splendor.³You must speak to all people who are wise in heart, those whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, so that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him to serve me as my priest.

⁴The garments that they must make are a breastpiece, an ephod, a robe, a coat of woven work, a turban, and a sash. They must make these garments that are set apart to me. They will be for your brother Aaron and his sons so that they may serve me as priests.⁵Craftsmen must use fine linen that is gold, blue, purple, and scarlet.

⁶They must make the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine-twined linen. It must be the work of a skillful craftsman.⁷It must have two shoulder pieces attached to its two upper corners.⁸Its finely-woven waistband must be like the ephod; it must be made of one piece with the ephod, made of fine twined linen that is gold, blue, purple, and scarlet.⁹You must take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel.

¹⁰Six of their names must be on one stone, and six names must be on the other stone, in order of the sons' birth.¹¹With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engraving on a signet, you must engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel. You must mount the stones in settings of gold.¹²You must put the two stones on the shoulder pieces of the ephod, to be stones to remind Yahweh of Israel's sons. Aaron will carry their names before Yahweh on his two shoulders as a reminder to him.

¹³You must make settings of gold¹⁴and two braided chains of pure gold like cords, and you must attach the chains to the settings.

¹⁵You must make a breastpiece for decision making, the work of a skillful workman, fashioned like the ephod. Make it of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine linen.¹⁶It is to be square. You must fold the breastpiece double. It must be one span long and one span wide.

¹⁷You must place in it four rows of precious stones. The first row must have a ruby, a topaz, and a garnet.¹⁸The second row must have an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.¹⁹The third row must have a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst.²⁰The fourth row must have a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper. They must be mounted in gold settings.

²¹The stones must be arranged by the names of the sons of Israel. They must be like the engraving on a signet ring, each name standing for one of the twelve tribes.²²You must make on the breastpiece chains like cords, braided work of pure gold.²³You must make two rings of gold for the breastpiece and must attach them to the two ends of the breastpiece.²⁴You must attach the two golden chains to the two corners of the breastpiece.

²⁵You must attach the other ends of the two braided chains to the two settings. Then you must attach those to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at its front.²⁶You must make two rings of gold, and you must put them on the other two corners of the breastpiece, on the edge next to the inner border of the ephod.

²⁷You must make two more gold rings, and you must attach them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the front of the ephod, close to its seam above the finely-woven waistband of the ephod.²⁸They must tie the breastpiece by its rings to the ephod's rings with a blue cord, so that it might be attached just above the ephod's woven waistband. This is so that the breastpiece might not become unattached from the ephod.

²⁹When Aaron goes into the holy place, he must carry the names of the sons of Israel over his heart in the breastpiece for decision making, as a continuing memorial before Yahweh.³⁰You are to put the Urim and the Thummim in the breastpiece for decision making, so they may be over Aaron's heart when he goes in before Yahweh. Thus Aaron will always carry the means for making decisions for the people of Israel over his heart before Yahweh.

³¹You will make the robe of the ephod entirely of blue fabric.³²It must have an opening for the head in the middle. The opening must have a woven edge round about so that it does not tear. This must be the work of a weaver.

³³On the bottom hem, you must make pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn all around. Gold bells must be between them all around.³⁴There must be a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate—and so on—all around the hem of the robe.³⁵The robe is to be on Aaron when he serves, so that its sound can be heard when he goes into the holy place before Yahweh and when he leaves. This is so that he does not die.

³⁶You must make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving on a signet, "Holy to Yahweh."³⁷You must attach this plate by a blue cord to the front of the turban.³⁸It must be on Aaron's forehead; he must always bear any guilt that might attach to the offering of the holy gifts that the people of Israel set apart to Yahweh. The turban must be always on his forehead so that Yahweh may accept their gifts.

³⁹You must make the coat with fine linen, and you must make a turban of fine linen. You must also make a sash, the work of an embroiderer.

⁴⁰For Aaron's sons you must make tunics, sashes, and headbands for their honor and splendor.⁴¹You must clothe Aaron your brother, and his sons with him. You must anoint them, ordain them, and consecrate them to me, so that they may serve me as priests.

⁴²You must make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh, that will cover them from the waist to the thighs.⁴³Aaron and his sons must wear these garments when they enter the tent of meeting or when they approach the altar to serve in the holy place. They must do this so they would not be guilty or else they would die. This is a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants after him.

¹Now this is what you must do to set them apart to me so that they may serve me as priests. Take one young bull from the herd and two rams without blemish,²bread without yeast, and cakes without yeast mixed with oil. Also take wafers without yeast rubbed with oil. Make the wafers using fine wheat flour.

³You must put them into a single basket, bring them in the basket, and present them with the bull and the two rams.⁴You must present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the tent of meeting. You must wash Aaron and his sons in water.

⁵You must take the garments and clothe Aaron with the coat, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastpiece, fastening the finely-woven waistband of the ephod around him.⁶You must set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban.⁷Then take the anointing oil and pour it on his head, and in this way anoint him.

⁸You must bring his sons and put tunics on them.⁹You must clothe Aaron and his sons with sashes and put headbands on them. The work of the priesthood will belong to them by permanent law. In this way you must consecrate Aaron and his sons for them to serve me.

¹⁰You must all bring the bull before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on its head.¹¹You must kill the bull before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

¹²You must take some of the bull's blood and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and you must pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.¹³You must take all the fat that covers the inner parts, and also take the covering of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them; burn it all on the altar.¹⁴But as for the bull's flesh, as well as its skin and dung, you must burn it up outside the camp. It will be a sin offering.

¹⁵You must also take the one ram, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on its head.¹⁶You must kill the ram, then take its blood and sprinkle it on all sides of the altar.¹⁷You must cut the ram into pieces and wash its inner parts and its legs, and you must put the inner parts, together with its pieces and with its head,¹⁸on the altar. Then burn the whole ram. It will be a burnt offering to Yahweh, a sweet aroma, an offering made to Yahweh by fire.

¹⁹You must then take the other ram, and Aaron and his sons must lay their hands on its head.²⁰Then you must kill the ram and take some of its blood. Put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, and on the tip of his sons' right ears, on the thumb of their right hands, and on the great toe of their right feet. Then you must sprinkle the blood against the altar on every side.

²¹You must take some of the blood that is on the altar and some of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it all on Aaron and on his garments, and also on his sons and on their garments. Aaron will then be set apart for me, as well as his garments, his sons and his sons' garments with him.

²²You must take the ram's fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the inner parts, the covering of the liver, the two kidneys and the fat on them, and the right thigh—for this ram is for the priests' consecration to me.²³Take one loaf of bread, one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer out of the basket of bread without yeast that is before Yahweh.

²⁴You must put these in Aaron's hands and in the hands of his sons and wave them before me for a wave offering before Yahweh.²⁵You must then take the food from their hands and burn it on the altar with the burnt offering. It will produce a sweet aroma for me; it will be an offering made to me by fire.

²⁶You must take the breast of Aaron's ram of dedication and wave it for a wave offering before Yahweh, and it will be your share.²⁷You must set apart to me the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh that is the contribution for the priests—both the breast that was waved and the thigh that was contributed for Aaron and his sons—from the ram of consecration.²⁸This will be a perpetual share for Aaron and his sons. It will be a contribution from the people of Israel to give to Yahweh from their peace offerings.

²⁹The holy garments of Aaron must also be reserved for his descendants after him. They are to be anointed in them and ordained to me in them.³⁰The priest who succeeds him from among his sons, who comes into the tent of meeting to serve me in the holy place, is to wear those garments for seven days.

³¹You must take the ram of consecration and boil its meat in a holy place.³²Aaron and his sons must eat the ram's meat and the bread that is in the basket at the entrance to the tent of meeting.³³They must eat the meat and bread that were given to atone for them and to ordain them to be set apart to me. No one else may eat that food; they must treat it as holy.³⁴If any of the meat of the ordination offering, or any of the bread, remains to the next morning, then you must burn it. It must not be eaten because it has been set apart to me.

³⁵In this way, by following all that I have commanded you to do, you must treat Aaron and his sons. For seven days you must prepare them.³⁶Every day you must offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. You must purify the altar by making atonement for it, and you must anoint it in order to set it apart to me.³⁷For seven days you must make atonement for the altar and set it apart to Yahweh. Then the altar will be completely set apart to me. Whatever touches the altar will be set apart to Yahweh.

³⁸You must regularly offer on the altar every day two lambs a year old.³⁹One lamb you must offer in the morning, and the other lamb you must offer about sundown.

⁴⁰With the first lamb, offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of oil from pressed olives, and the fourth part of a hin of wine as a drink offering.

⁴¹You must offer the second lamb about sunset. You must offer the same grain offering as in the morning, and the same drink offering. These will produce a sweet aroma for me; it will be an offering made to me by fire.⁴²These must be regular burnt offerings throughout your generations, at the entrance to the tent of meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet with you to speak to you there.

⁴³That is where I will meet with the people of Israel; the tent will be set apart for me by my glory.⁴⁴I will set apart the tent of meeting and the altar for these to belong to me alone. I will also set apart Aaron and his sons to serve me as priests.

⁴⁵I will live among the people of Israel and will be their God.⁴⁶They will know that I am Yahweh, their God, who brought them out from the land of Egypt so that I might live among them. I am Yahweh, their God.

¹You must make an altar as a place for burning incense. You must make it with acacia wood.²Its length must be one cubit, and its width one cubit. It must be square, and its height must be two cubits. Its horns must be made as one piece with it.

³You must cover the incense altar with pure gold—its top, its sides, and its horns. You must make a surrounding border of gold for it.⁴You must make two golden rings to be attached to it under its border on its two opposite sides. The rings must be holders for poles to carry the altar.

⁵You must make the poles of acacia wood, and you must cover them with gold.⁶You must put the incense altar before the curtain that is by the ark of the covenant decrees. It will be before the atonement lid that is over the ark of the covenant decrees, where I will meet with you.

⁷Aaron must burn fragrant incense every morning. He must burn it when he tends the lamps,⁸and Aaron lights the lamps again in the evening so incense will burn on it regularly before Yahweh, throughout your generations.⁹But you must offer no other incense on the incense altar, nor any burnt offering or grain offering. You must pour no drink offering on it.

¹⁰Aaron must make atonement on its horns once a year. With the blood of the sin offering he will make atonement for it once a year throughout your generations. It is completely set apart to Yahweh."

¹¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹²"When you take a census of the people of Israel, then each person must give a ransom for his life to Yahweh. You must do this after you count them, so that there will be no plague among them when you count them.¹³Everyone who is counted in the census is to pay half a shekel of silver, according to the weight of the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is the same as twenty gerahs). This half shekel will be an offering to Yahweh.¹⁴Everyone who is counted, from twenty years old and up, must give this offering to me.

¹⁵When the people give this offering to me to make atonement for their lives, the rich must not give more than the half shekel, and the poor must not give less.¹⁶You must receive this atonement money from the people of Israel and you must allocate it to the work of the tent of meeting. It must be a reminder to the people of Israel before me, to make atonement for your lives."

¹⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁸"You must also make a large bronze basin with a bronze stand, a basin for washing. You must put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you must put water in it.

¹⁹Aaron and his sons must wash their hands and their feet with the water in it.²⁰When they go into the tent of meeting or when they go near to the altar to serve me by burning an offering, they must wash with water so that they do not die.²¹They must wash their hands and feet so that they do not die. This must be a permanent law for Aaron and his descendants throughout their people's generations."

²²Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²³"Take these fine spices: five hundred shekels of flowing myrrh, 250 shekels of sweet-smelling cinnamon, 250 shekels of sweet-smelling cane,²⁴five hundred shekels of cassia, measured by the weight of the shekel of the sanctuary, and one hin of olive oil.²⁵You must make holy anointing oil with these ingredients, the work of a perfumer. It will be a holy anointing oil, reserved for me.

²⁶You must anoint the tent of meeting with this oil, as well as the ark of the covenant decrees,²⁷the table and all its utensils, the lampstand and its equipment, the incense altar,²⁸the altar for burnt offerings with all its equipment, and the basin with its stand.

²⁹You must set them apart to me so that they may be holy to me. Anything that touches them will also be holy.³⁰You must anoint Aaron and his sons and consecrate them so that they may serve me as priests.³¹You must say to the people of Israel, 'This must be an anointing oil that is set apart to Yahweh throughout your people's generations.

³²It must not be applied to people's skin, nor must you make any oil like it with the same formula, because it is set apart to Yahweh. You must regard it in this manner.³³Whoever makes perfume like it, or whoever puts any of it on someone, that person must be cut off from his people.'"

³⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "Take spices—stacte, onycha, and galbanum—sweet spices along with pure frankincense, each in equal amounts.³⁵Make it into the form of incense, blended by a perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and set apart.³⁶You will beat it to powder. Put part of it in front of the ark of the covenant decrees, which is in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. You will regard it as very holy to me.

³⁷As for this incense that you will make, you must not make any with the same formula for yourselves. It must be most holy to you.³⁸Whoever makes anything like it to use as a perfume must be cut off from his people."

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²"See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah.

³I have filled Bezalel with my Spirit, to give him wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, for all kinds of craftsmanship,⁴to make artistic designs and to work in gold, silver, and bronze;⁵also to cut and set stones and to carve wood—to do all kinds of craftsmanship.

⁶In addition to him, I have appointed Oholiab son of Ahisamak, from the tribe of Dan. I have put skill into the hearts of all who are wise so that they may make all that I have commanded you. This includes⁷the tent of meeting, the ark of the covenant decrees, the atonement lid on the ark, and all the furniture of the tent—⁸the table and its utensils, the pure lampstand with all its equipment, the incense altar,⁹the altar for burnt offerings with all its equipment, and the large basin with its base.

¹⁰This also includes the finely-woven garments—the holy garments for Aaron the priest and those of his sons, reserved for me so that they may serve as priests.¹¹This also includes the anointing oil and the sweet incense for the holy place. These craftsmen must make all these things just as I have commanded you."

¹²Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,¹³"Tell the people of Israel: 'You must certainly keep Yahweh's Sabbath days, for these will be a sign between him and you throughout your people's generations so that you may know that he is Yahweh, who sets you apart for himself.¹⁴So you must keep the Sabbath, for it must be treated by you as holy, reserved for him. Everyone who defiles it must surely be put to death. Whoever works on the Sabbath, that person must surely be cut off from his people.¹⁵Work will be done for six days, but the seventh day is to be a Sabbath of complete rest, holy before Yahweh. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must surely be put to death.

¹⁶Therefore the people of Israel must keep the Sabbath. They must observe it throughout their people's generations as a lasting covenant.¹⁷The Sabbath will always be a sign between Yahweh and the people of Israel, for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'"

¹⁸When God had finished talking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him two tablets of covenant decrees, made of stone, written on by his own hand.

¹When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, "Come, make us an idol that will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him."²So Aaron said to them, "Take off the golden rings that are on your wives' ears, and the ears of your sons and daughters, and bring them to me."

³All the people took off the golden rings that were on their ears and brought them to Aaron.⁴He received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with an engraving tool, and he made a cast metal figure in the shape of a calf. Then they said, "These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt."

⁵When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before the calf and made a proclamation; he said, "Tomorrow will be a festival in Yahweh's honor."⁶The people arose early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought fellowship offerings. Then they sat down to eat and to drink, and then got up to play.

⁷Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go quickly, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.⁸They have quickly left the way that I commanded them. They have made a cast metal image in the shape of a calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it. They have said, 'These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.'"

⁹Then Yahweh said to Moses, "I have seen this people. Look, they are a stiff-necked people.¹⁰Now then, do not try to stop me. My anger will burn hot against them, so I will destroy them. Then I will make a great nation from you."¹¹But Moses tried to calm down Yahweh his God. He said, "Yahweh, why does your anger burn against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?

¹²Why should the Egyptians say, 'He led them out with evil intent, to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth?' Turn from your burning anger and relent from this punishment on your people.¹³Call to mind Abraham and Isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them, 'I will make your descendants as many as the stars in the heavens, and I will give to your descendants all this land of which I have spoken. They will inherit it forever.'"¹⁴Then Yahweh relented from the punishment that he had said he would inflict on his people.

¹⁵Then Moses turned around and went down the mountain, carrying the two tablets of the covenant decrees in his hand. The tablets were written on both their sides, on both the front and the back.¹⁶The tablets were God's own work, and the writing was God's own writing, engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷When Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is the noise of combat in the camp."¹⁸But Moses said,

"It is not the sound of a shout of victory,

and it is not the sound of a cry of defeat,

but the sound of singing that I hear."

¹⁹When Moses approached the camp, he saw the calf and the people dancing. He became very angry. He threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the bottom of the mountain.²⁰He took the calf that the people had made, burned it, ground it to powder, and poured it into the water. Then he made the people of Israel drink it.

²¹Then Moses said to Aaron, "What did this people do to you, that you have brought such a great sin on them?"²²Aaron said, "Do not let your anger burn hot, my master. You know these people, how they are set on doing evil.²³They said to me, 'Make us a god who will go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'²⁴So I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let him take it off.' They gave me the gold and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf."

²⁵Moses saw that the people were running wild (for Aaron had let them get out of control, causing their enemies to mock them).²⁶Then Moses stood at the entrance to the camp and said, "Whoever is on Yahweh's side, come to me." All the Levites gathered around him.²⁷He said to them, "Yahweh, the God of Israel, says this: 'Let each man fasten his sword on his side and go back and forth from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and kill his brother, his companion, and his neighbor.'"

²⁸The Levites did what Moses ordered. That day about three thousand of the people died.²⁹Moses said to the Levites, "You have been placed into Yahweh's service today, for each of you has taken action against his son and his brother, so Yahweh might give you a blessing today."

³⁰The next day Moses said to the people, "You have committed a very great sin. Now I will go up to Yahweh. Perhaps I can make atonement for your sin."³¹Moses returned to Yahweh and said, "Alas! These people have committed a great sin and made themselves an idol of gold.³²But now, please forgive their sin; but if you do not, blot me out of the book that you have written."

³³Yahweh said to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me, that person I will blot out of my book.³⁴So now go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. See, my angel will go before you. But on the day that I punish them, I will punish them for their sin."³⁵Yahweh sent a plague on the people because they had made the calf, the one that Aaron made.

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, "Go from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt. Go to the land about which I made an oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.'²I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.³Go to that land, which is flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up with you, because you are a stiff-necked people. I might destroy you on the way."

⁴When the people heard these troubling words, they mourned, and no one put on any jewelry.⁵Yahweh had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a stiff-necked people. If I went among you for even one moment, I would destroy you. So now, take off your jewelry so that I may decide what to do with you.'"⁶So the people of Israel wore no jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, some distance from the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Everyone who asked Yahweh for anything went out to the tent of meeting, outside the camp.⁸When Moses would go out to the tent, all the people would stand up at their tent entrances and look at Moses until he had gone inside.⁹Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the tent entrance, and Yahweh would speak with Moses.

¹⁰Whenever all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the entrance to the tent, they would get up and worship, every man at his own tent entrance.¹¹Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, would stay in the tent.

¹²Moses said to Yahweh, "See, you have been saying to me, 'Take this people on their journey,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my eyes.'¹³Now if I have found favor in your eyes, show me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor in your eyes. Remember that this nation is your people."

¹⁴Yahweh answered, "My own presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."¹⁵Moses said to him, "If your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here.¹⁶For otherwise, how will it be known that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Will it not only be if you go with us that I and your people will be distinct from all the other peoples that are on the surface of the earth?"

¹⁷Yahweh said to Moses, "I will also do this thing that you have requested, for you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by name."¹⁸Moses said, "Please show me your glory."

¹⁹Yahweh said, "I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim my name 'Yahweh' before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy."²⁰But Yahweh said, "You must not see my face, for no one can see me and live."

²¹Yahweh said, "See, here is a place by me; you will stand on this rock.²²While my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by.²³Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face will not be seen."

¹Yahweh said to Moses, "Cut two tablets of stone like the first tablets. I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, the tablets that you broke.²Be ready by morning and come up Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the mountain top.

³No one is to come up with you. Do not let anyone else be seen anywhere on the mountain. No flocks or herds are even to graze in front of the mountain."⁴So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and he got up early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had instructed him. Moses carried the tablets of stone in his hand.

⁵Yahweh came down in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and he pronounced the name "Yahweh."⁶Yahweh passed by before him and proclaimed, "Yahweh, Yahweh, the merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,⁷keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquities, transgressions, and sins. But he will by no means clear the guilty. He will bring the punishment for the fathers' sin on their children and on their children's children, as far as the third and fourth generations."

⁸Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped.⁹Then he said, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, please go among us, for this people is stiff-necked. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance."

¹⁰Yahweh said, "See, I am about to make a covenant. Before all your people, I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth nor in any nation. All the people among you will see my deeds, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you.¹¹Obey what I command you today. I am about to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

¹²Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, or they will become a trap among you.¹³Rather, you must break down their altars, smash their stone pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.¹⁴For you must worship no other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

¹⁵So be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they prostitute themselves to their gods, and they sacrifice to their gods. Then one of them will invite you and you will eat some of his sacrifice,¹⁶and then you will even take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods, and they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods.¹⁷Do not make for yourselves gods of molten metal.

¹⁸You must keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat bread without yeast for seven days at the fixed time in the month of Aviv, for it was in the month of Aviv you came out from Egypt.

¹⁹The first issue of every womb is mine, even every male firstborn of your livestock, whether from herd or flock.²⁰You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb, but if you do not buy it back, then you must break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one may appear before me empty-handed.

²¹You may work for six days, but on the seventh day you must rest. Even at plowing time and in harvest, you must rest.²²You must observe the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and you must observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year.

²³Three times a year all your men must appear before Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.²⁴For I will drive out nations before you and expand your borders. No one will desire to have your land as their own when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in a year.

²⁵You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with any yeast, nor may any meat from the sacrifice at the Festival of the Passover be left over to the morning.²⁶You must bring the best of the firstfruits from your soil to my house. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."

²⁷Yahweh said to Moses, "Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."²⁸Moses was there with Yahweh for forty days and nights; he did not eat any food nor drink any water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

²⁹When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant decrees in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while speaking with God.³⁰When Aaron and the people of Israel saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.³¹But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community came up to him. Then Moses spoke with them.

³²After this, all the people of Israel came up to Moses, and he told them all the commands that Yahweh had given him on Mount Sinai.³³When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

³⁴Whenever Moses went before Yahweh to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. When he came out, he would tell the people of Israel what he was commanded to say.³⁵When the people of Israel saw Moses' face shining, he would put the veil over his face again until he went back in to speak with Yahweh.

¹Moses assembled all the community of the people of Israel and said to them, "These are the things that Yahweh has commanded you to do.²On six days work may be done, but for you, the seventh day must be a holy day, a Sabbath day of complete rest, holy to Yahweh. Whoever does any work on that day must be put to death.³You must not light a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day."

⁴Moses spoke to all the community of the people of Israel, saying, "This is the thing that Yahweh commanded.⁵Take an offering for Yahweh, all of you who have a willing heart. Bring an offering to Yahweh—gold, silver, bronze,⁶blue, purple, and scarlet wool and fine linen; goats' hair;⁷ram skins dyed red and fine leather hides; acacia wood;⁸oil for the sanctuary lamps, spices for the anointing oil and the fragrant incense,⁹onyx stones and other precious stones to be set for the ephod and breastpiece.

¹⁰Every skilled man among you is to come and make everything that Yahweh has commanded—¹¹the tabernacle with its tent, its covering, its clasps, frames, bars, posts, and bases;¹²also the ark with its poles, the atonement lid, and the screen to conceal it.

¹³They brought the table with its poles, all its utensils, and the bread of the presence;¹⁴the lampstand for the lights, with its accessories, its lamps, and the oil for the lamps;¹⁵the incense altar with its poles, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the screen for the tabernacle entrance;¹⁶the altar for burnt offerings with its bronze grate and its poles and utensils; and the large basin with its base.

¹⁷They brought the hangings for the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the screen for the courtyard entrance;¹⁸and the tent pegs for the tabernacle and courtyard, together with their ropes.¹⁹They brought the finely-woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and his sons, for them to serve as priests."

²⁰Then the entire congregation of the people of Israel left and went away from Moses' presence.²¹Everyone whose heart stirred him up and whom his spirit made willing came and brought a contribution to Yahweh for the construction of the tabernacle, for all the items of service in it, and for the holy garments.²²They came, both men and women, all who had a willing heart. They brought brooches, earrings, rings, and ornaments, all kinds of gold jewelry. They all presented offerings of gold as a wave offering to Yahweh.

²³Everyone who had blue, purple, or scarlet wool, fine linen, goat hair, ram skins dyed red, or fine leather skins brought them.²⁴Everyone making an offering of silver or bronze brought it as an offering to Yahweh, and everyone who had acacia wood for any use in the work brought it.

²⁵Every skilled woman spun wool with her hands and brought what she had spun—blue, purple, or scarlet wool, or fine linen.²⁶All the women whose hearts stirred them up and who had skill spun goats' hair.

²⁷The leaders brought onyx stones and other gems to be set into the ephod and the breastpiece;²⁸they brought spices and oil for the lamps, for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense.²⁹The people of Israel brought a freewill offering to Yahweh; every man and woman whose heart was willing brought materials for all the work that Yahweh had commanded through Moses to be made.

³⁰Moses said to the people of Israel, "See, Yahweh has called by name on Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah.³¹He has filled Bezalel with his Spirit, to give him wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, for all kinds of craftsmanship,³²to make artistic designs and to work in gold, silver, and bronze;³³also to cut and set stones and to carve wood—to do all kinds of design and craftsmanship.

³⁴He has put it in his heart to teach, both he and Oholiab son of Ahisamak, from the tribe of Dan.³⁵He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work, to work as craftsmen, as engravers, as embroiderers in blue, purple, and scarlet wool and fine linen, and as weavers. They are craftsmen in all sorts of work, and they are artistic designers.

¹So Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom Yahweh has given skill and ability to know how to do any work in the construction of the holy place are to do the work according to all that Yahweh has commanded."

²Moses summoned Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skillful person in whose mind Yahweh had given skill, and whose heart stirred within him to come and do the work.³They received from Moses all the offerings that the people of Israel had brought for constructing the holy place. The people were still bringing freewill offerings every morning to Moses.⁴So all the skilled people working on the holy place came from the work that they had been doing.

⁵The craftsmen told Moses, "The people are bringing much more than enough for doing the work that Yahweh has commanded us to do."⁶So Moses instructed that no one in the camp should bring any more offerings for the construction of the holy place. Then the people stopped bringing these gifts.⁷They had more than enough materials for all the work.

⁸So all the craftsmen among them constructed the tabernacle with ten curtains made from fine linen and blue, purple, and scarlet wool with the designs of cherubim. This was the work of Bezalel, the very skilled craftsman.⁹The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, the width four cubits. All the curtains were of the same size.¹⁰Bezalel joined five curtains to each other, and the other five curtains he also joined to each other.

¹¹He made loops of blue along the outer edge of the end curtain of one set, and he did the same along the outer edge of the end curtain in the second set.¹²He made fifty loops on the first curtain and fifty loops on the edge of the end curtain in the second set. So the loops were opposite to each another.¹³He made fifty gold clasps and joined the curtains together with them so that the tabernacle became united.

¹⁴Bezalel made curtains of goat hair for a tent over the tabernacle; he made eleven of these curtains.¹⁵The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and the width of each curtain was four cubits. Each of the eleven curtains was of the same size.¹⁶He joined five curtains to each other and the other six curtains to each other.¹⁷He made fifty loops on the edge of the end curtain of the first set, and fifty loops along the edge of the end curtain that joined the second set.

¹⁸Bezalel made fifty bronze clasps to join the tent together so that it might be one piece.¹⁹He made for the tabernacle a covering of ram skins dyed red, another covering of fine leather to go above that.

²⁰Bezalel made vertical frames out of acacia wood for the tabernacle.²¹The length of each frame was ten cubits, and the width of each frame was one and a half cubits.²²Each frame had two wooden pegs for joining the frames together. He did this for all the frames of the tabernacle.²³He made the frames for the tabernacle in this way: twenty frames for the south side.

²⁴Bezalel made forty silver bases to go under the twenty frames. There were two bases under one frame to join the frames together, and also two bases under each of the other frames to join frames together.²⁵For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty frames²⁶and their forty silver bases. There were two bases under the first frame, two bases under the next frame, and so on.

²⁷For the back of the tabernacle on the west, Bezalel made six frames.²⁸He made two frames for the back corners of the tabernacle.

²⁹These frames were separate at the bottom, but joined at the top in one ring. He made two of them in this way for the two corners.³⁰There were eight frames, together with their silver bases. There were sixteen bases in all, two bases under the first frame, two bases under the next frame, and so on.

³¹Bezalel made crossbars of acacia wood—five for the frames of the one side of the tabernacle,³²five crossbars for the frames of the other side of the tabernacle, and five crossbars for the frames for the back side of the tabernacle to the west.³³He made the crossbar in the center of the frames, that is, halfway up, to reach from end to end.³⁴He covered the frames with gold. He made their rings of gold, for them to serve as holders for the crossbars, and he covered the bars with gold.

³⁵Bezalel made the curtain of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine linen, with designs of cherubim, the work of a skillful workman.³⁶He made for the curtain four pillars of acacia wood, and he covered them with gold. He also made gold hooks for the pillars, and he cast for them four silver bases.

³⁷He made a screen for the tent entrance. It was made of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, using fine linen, the work of an embroiderer.³⁸He also made the hanging's five pillars with hooks. He covered their tops and their rods with gold. Their five bases were made of bronze.

¹Bezalel made the ark of acacia wood. Its length was two and a half cubits, its width was one cubit and a half, and its height was one cubit and a half.²He covered it inside and out with pure gold and made for it a border of gold around its top.³He cast four rings of gold for its four feet, with two rings on one side of it, and two rings on the other side.

⁴He made poles of acacia wood and covered them with gold.⁵He put the poles into the rings on the ark's sides, in order to carry the ark.⁶He made an atonement lid of pure gold. Its length was two and a half cubits, and its width was one and a half cubits.

⁷Bezalel made two cherubim of hammered gold for the two ends of the atonement lid.⁸One cherub was for one end of the atonement lid, and other cherub was for the other end. They were made as one piece with the atonement lid.⁹The cherubim spread out their wings upward and overshadowed the atonement lid with them. The cherubim faced one another and looked toward the center of the atonement lid.

¹⁰Bezalel made the table of acacia wood. Its length was two cubits, its width was one cubit, and its height was one and a half cubits.¹¹He covered it with pure gold and put a border of pure gold around the top.¹²He made a surrounding frame for it one handbreadth wide, with a surrounding border of gold for the frame.¹³He cast for it four rings of gold and attached the rings to the four corners, where the four feet were.

¹⁴The rings were attached to the frame to provide places for the poles, in order to carry the table.¹⁵He made the poles out of acacia wood and covered them with gold, in order to carry the table.¹⁶He made the objects that would be on the table—the dishes, spoons, the bowls, and pitchers to be used to pour out the offerings. He made them out of pure gold.

¹⁷He made the lampstand of pure hammered gold. He made the lampstand with its base and shaft. Its cups, its leafy bases, and its flowers were all made of one piece with it.¹⁸Six branches extended out from its sides—three branches extended from one side, and three branches of the lampstand extended from the other side.¹⁹The first branch had three cups made like almond blossoms, with a leafy base and a flower, and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, with a leafy base and a flower. It was the same for all six branches extending out from the lampstand.

²⁰On the lampstand itself, the central shaft, there were four cups made like almond blossoms, with their leafy bases and the flowers.²¹There was a leafy base under the first pair of branches—made as one piece with it, and a leafy base under the second pair of branches—also made as one piece with it. In the same way there was a leafy base under the third pair of branches, made as one piece with it. It was the same for all six branches extending out from the lampstand.²²Their leafy bases and branches were all one piece with it, one beaten piece of work of pure gold.

²³Bezalel made the lampstand and its seven lamps, its tongs and their trays of pure gold.²⁴He made the lampstand and its accessories with one talent of pure gold.

²⁵Bezalel made the incense altar. He made it with acacia wood. Its length was one cubit, and its width one cubit. It was square, and its height was two cubits. Its horns were made as one piece with it.²⁶He covered the incense altar with pure gold—its top, its sides, and its horns. He also made a surrounding border of gold for it.

²⁷He made two golden rings to be attached to it under its border on its two opposite sides. The rings were holders for poles to carry the altar.²⁸He made the poles of acacia wood, and he covered them with gold.²⁹He made the holy anointing oil and the pure fragrant incense, the work of a perfumer.

¹Bezalel made the altar for burnt offerings of acacia wood. It was five cubits long and five cubits wide—a square—and three cubits high.²He made extensions of its four corners shaped like ox horns. The horns were made of one piece with the altar, and he covered it with bronze.³He made all the equipment for the altar—pots for ashes, shovels, basins, meat forks, and firepans. He made all this equipment with bronze.

⁴He made a grate for the altar, a network of bronze to be placed under the ledge, halfway down to the bottom.⁵He cast four rings for the four corners of the bronze grate, as holders for the poles.

⁶Bezalel made poles of acacia wood and covered them with bronze.⁷He put the poles through the rings on the sides of the altar, to carry it. He made the altar hollow, out of planks.

⁸Bezalel made the large bronze basin with a bronze stand. He made the basin out of mirrors belonging to the women who served at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁹He also made the courtyard. The hangings on the south side of the courtyard were of fine linen, one hundred cubits long.¹⁰The hangings had twenty posts, with twenty bronze bases. There were hooks attached to the posts, as well as silver rods.

¹¹In the same way, along the north side, there were hangings one hundred cubits long with twenty posts, twenty bronze bases, hooks attached to the posts, and silver rods.¹²The hangings of the west side were fifty cubits long, with ten posts and bases. The hooks and rods of the posts were silver.

¹³The courtyard was also fifty cubits long on the east side.¹⁴The hangings for one side of the entrance were fifteen cubits long. They had three posts with three bases.¹⁵On the other side of the entrance of the courtyard were also hangings fifteen cubits long, with three posts and three bases.¹⁶All the hangings around the courtyard were made of fine linen.

¹⁷The bases for the posts were made of bronze. The hooks and rods for the posts were made of silver, and the covering for the tops of the posts was also made of silver. All the courtyard posts had silver bands on them.¹⁸The screen at the courtyard gate was twenty cubits long. It was made of blue, purple, and scarlet linen, fine twined linen, and was twenty cubits long. It was twenty cubits in length and five cubits in height, like the courtyard curtains.¹⁹Their four pillars and bases were of bronze, and the hooks were of silver. The covering for their tops and its rods were made of silver.²⁰All the tent pegs for the tabernacle and courtyard were made of bronze.

²¹This is the inventory of the tabernacle, the tabernacle of the covenant decrees, as it was taken following Moses' instructions. It was the work of the Levites under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.²²Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, from the tribe of Judah, made everything that Yahweh had commanded Moses.²³Oholiab son of Ahisamak, from the tribe of Dan, worked with Bezalel as an engraver, as a skillful workman, and as an embroiderer in blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and in fine linen.

²⁴All the gold that was used for the project, in all the work connected with the holy place—the gold from the wave offering—was twenty-nine talents and 730 shekels, measured by the standard of the sanctuary shekel.²⁵The silver given by the community weighed one hundred talents and 1,775 shekels, according to the sanctuary shekel,²⁶or one beka per person, which is half a shekel, measured by the sanctuary shekel. This figure was reached on the basis of every person who was counted in the census, those twenty years old and older—603,550 men in all.

²⁷One hundred talents of silver were cast for the bases of the holy place and the bases of the curtain—one hundred bases, one talent for each base.²⁸With the remaining 1,775 shekels of silver, Bezalel made the hooks for the posts, covered the tops of the posts, and made the bands for them.²⁹The bronze from the wave offering weighed seventy talents and 2,400 shekels.

³⁰With this he made the bases for the entrance to the tent of meeting, the bronze altar, its bronze grate, all the equipment for the altar,³¹the bases for the courtyard, the bases for the courtyard entrance, all the tent pegs for the tabernacle, and all the tent pegs for the courtyard.

¹With the blue, purple, and scarlet wool, they made finely-woven garments for service in the holy place. They made Aaron's garments for the holy place, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

²Bezalel made the ephod of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine twined linen.³They hammered gold sheets and cut them into wires, to work them into the blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and into the fine linen, the work of a skillful workman.

⁴They made shoulder pieces for the ephod, attached at its two upper corners.⁵Its finely-woven waistband was like the ephod; it was made of one piece with the ephod, made of fine twined linen that was gold, blue, purple, and scarlet, just as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

⁶They crafted the onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold, set with engravings as on a signet with the names of the sons of Israel.⁷Bezalel put them on the shoulder pieces of the ephod to be memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

⁸He made the breastpiece, the work of a skillful workman, fashioned like the ephod. He made it of gold, of blue, purple, and scarlet wool, and of fine linen.⁹It was square. They folded the breastpiece double. It was one span long and one span wide.

¹⁰They set in it four rows of precious stones. The first row had a ruby, a topaz, and a garnet.¹¹The second row had an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.¹²The third row had a jacinth, an agate, and an amethyst.¹³The fourth row had a beryl, an onyx, and a jasper. The stones were mounted in gold settings.

¹⁴There were twelve stones, one for each of the names of the sons of Israel, each engraved like a signet with the name of one of the twelve tribes.¹⁵On the breastpiece they made chains like cords, braided work of pure gold.¹⁶They made two settings of gold and two gold rings, and they attached the two rings to the two corners of the breastpiece.

¹⁷They put the two braided chains of gold in the two rings at the corners of the breastpiece.¹⁸They attached the other two ends of the braided chains to the two settings. They attached them to the shoulder pieces of the ephod at its front.

¹⁹They made two rings of gold and put them on the two other corners of the breastpiece, on the edge next to the inner border of the ephod.²⁰They made two more gold rings and attached them to the bottom of the two shoulder pieces of the front of the ephod, close to its seam above the finely-woven waistband of the ephod.

²¹They tied the breastpiece by its rings to the ephod's rings with a blue cord, so that it might be attached just above the ephod's finely-woven waistband. This was so that the breastpiece might not become unattached from the ephod. This was done as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

²²Bezalel made the robe of the ephod entirely of blue fabric, the work of a weaver.²³The robe had an opening for the head in the middle. The opening had a woven edge round about so that it did not tear.²⁴On the bottom hem of the robe, they made pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn and of fine linen.

²⁵They made bells of pure gold, and they put the bells between the pomegranates all around on the bottom edge the robe, between the pomegranates—²⁶a bell and a pomegranate, a bell and a pomegranate—on the edge of the robe for Aaron to serve in. This was as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

²⁷They made the tunics of fine linen for Aaron and for his sons.²⁸They made the turban of fine linen, the ornate headbands of fine linen, the linen undergarments of fine linen,²⁹and the sash of fine linen and of blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, the work of an embroiderer. This was as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

³⁰They made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold; they engraved on it, like the engraving on a signet, "Holy to Yahweh."³¹They attached to the turban a blue cord to the top of the turban. This was as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

³²So the work on the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, was finished. The people of Israel did everything. They followed all the instructions that Yahweh had given to Moses.³³They brought the tabernacle to Moses—the tent and all its equipment, its clasps, frames, bars, posts, and bases;³⁴the covering of ram skins dyed red, the covering of fine leather, and the screen to conceal³⁵the ark of the covenant decrees, as well as the poles and the atonement lid.

³⁶They brought the table, all its utensils, and the bread of the presence;³⁷the lampstand of pure gold and its lamps in a row, with its accessories and the oil for the lamps;³⁸the golden altar, the anointing oil and the fragrant incense; the screen for the tabernacle entrance;³⁹the bronze altar with its bronze grate and its poles and utensil and the large basin with its base.

⁴⁰They brought the hangings for the courtyard with its posts and bases, and the screen for the courtyard entrance; its ropes and tent pegs; and all the equipment for the service of the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.⁴¹They brought the fine woven garments for serving in the holy place, the holy garments for Aaron the priest and his sons, for them to serve as priests.

⁴²Thus the people of Israel did all the work as Yahweh had commanded Moses.⁴³Moses examined all the work, and, behold, they had done it. As Yahweh had commanded, in that way they did it. Then Moses blessed them.

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"On the first day of the first month of the new year you must set up the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.

³You must place the ark of the covenant decrees in it, and you must shield the ark with the curtain.⁴You must bring in the table and set in order the things that belong on it. Then you must bring in the lampstand and set up the lamps.

⁵You must put the golden incense altar before the ark of the covenant decrees, and you must put the screen at the entrance to the tabernacle.⁶You must put the altar for burnt offerings in front of the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.⁷You must put the large basin between the tent of meeting and the altar and you must put water in it.

⁸You must set up the courtyard around it, and you must hang up the screen at the courtyard entrance.⁹You must take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle and everything that is in it. You must set it apart and all its furnishings to me; then it will be holy.¹⁰You must anoint the altar for burnt offerings and all its utensils. You must set apart the altar to me and it will become very holy to me.¹¹You must anoint the bronze basin and its base and set it apart to me.

¹²You are to bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and you must wash them with water.¹³You are to clothe Aaron with the garments that are set apart to me, anoint him and set him apart so that he may serve as my priest.

¹⁴You are to bring his sons and clothe them with tunics.¹⁵You must anoint them as you anointed their father so that they may serve me as priests. Their anointing will make for them a permanent priesthood throughout their people's generations."¹⁶This is what Moses did; he followed all that Yahweh had commanded him. He did all these things.

¹⁷So the tabernacle was set up on the first day of the first month in the second year.¹⁸Moses set up the tabernacle, put its bases in place, set up its frames, attached its bars, and set up its pillars and posts.¹⁹He spread the covering over the tabernacle and put the tent over it, as Yahweh had commanded him.²⁰He took the covenant decrees and put them into the ark. He also placed the poles on the ark and put the atonement lid on it.

²¹He brought the ark into the tabernacle. He set up the curtain for the screen to shield the ark of the covenant decrees, as Yahweh had commanded him.²²He put the table into the tent of meeting, on the north side of the tabernacle, outside the curtain.²³He placed the bread in order on the table before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded him.

²⁴He put the lampstand into the tent of meeting, across from the table, on the south side of the tabernacle.²⁵He lit the lamps before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded him.

²⁶He put the golden incense altar into the tent of meeting in front of the curtain.²⁷He burned fragrant incense on it, as Yahweh had commanded him.

²⁸He hung the screen at the tabernacle entrance.²⁹He put the altar for the burnt offering at the entrance to the tabernacle, the tent of meeting. He offered on it the burnt offering and the grain offering, as Yahweh had commanded him.³⁰He placed the basin between the tent of meeting and the altar, and he put water in it for washing.

³¹Moses, Aaron, and his sons washed their hands and their feet from the basin³²whenever they would go into the tent of meeting and whenever they would go up to the altar. They washed themselves, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.³³Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and the altar. He set up the screen at the courtyard entrance. In this way, Moses finished the work.

³⁴Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and Yahweh's glory filled the tabernacle.³⁵Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and because Yahweh's glory filled the tabernacle.

³⁶Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the people of Israel would set out on their journey.³⁷But if the cloud did not rise up from the tabernacle, then the people would not travel. They would stay until the day that it was lifted up.³⁸For Yahweh's cloud was over the tabernacle by day, and his fire was over it by night, in plain view of all the people of Israel throughout their journey.

Leviticus

¹Yahweh called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,²"Speak to the people of Israel and tell them, 'When any man from among you brings an offering to Yahweh, bring as your offering an animal, either from the herd or from the flock.

³If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he must offer a male without blemish. He is to offer it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, so that it may be accepted before Yahweh.⁴He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and then it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for himself.

⁵Then he must kill the bull before Yahweh. Aaron's sons, the priests, will present the blood and sprinkle it on the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.⁶Then he must skin the burnt offering and cut it to pieces.

⁷Then the sons of Aaron the priest will put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.⁸Then Aaron's sons, the priests, are to place the pieces, including the head and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire that is on the altar.⁹But its inner parts and its legs he must wash with water. Then the priest will burn everything on the altar as a burnt offering. It will produce a sweet aroma for me; it will be an offering made to me by fire.

¹⁰If his offering for the burnt offering is from the flock, one of the sheep or one of the goats, he must offer a male without blemish.¹¹He must kill it on the north side of the altar before Yahweh. Aaron's sons, the priests, will sprinkle its blood on every side of the altar.

¹²He is to cut it into pieces with its head and its fat, and the priest must place the pieces on the wood that is on the fire that is on the altar,¹³but the inner parts and the legs he must wash with water. Then the priest will offer the whole, and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt offering, and it will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire.

¹⁴If his offering to Yahweh is to be a burnt offering of birds, then he must bring as his offering either a dove or a young pigeon.¹⁵The priest must bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar. Then its blood must be drained out on the side of the altar.

¹⁶He must remove its crop with its contents, and throw it beside the altar on the east side, in the place for the ashes.¹⁷He must tear it open by its wings, but he must not divide it into two parts. Then the priest will burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. It will be a burnt offering, and it will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire.

¹When anyone brings a grain offering to Yahweh, his offering must be fine flour, and he will pour oil on it and put incense on it.²He is to take the offering to Aaron's sons the priests, and there the priest will take out a handful of the fine flour with the oil and the incense on it. Then the priest will burn the offering on the altar as a representative offering. It will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire.³Whatever is left of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is very holy to Yahweh from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire.

⁴When you offer a grain offering without yeast that is baked in an oven, it must be soft bread of fine flour mixed with oil, or hard bread without yeast, which is spread with oil.⁵If your grain offering is baked with a flat iron pan, it must be of fine flour without yeast that is mixed with oil.

⁶You are to divide it into pieces and pour oil on it. This is a grain offering.⁷If your grain offering is cooked in a pan, it must be made with fine flour and oil.

⁸You must bring the grain offering made from these things to Yahweh, and it will be presented to the priest, who will bring it to the altar.⁹Then the priest will take some from the grain offering as a representative offering, and he will burn it on the altar. It will be an offering made by fire, and it will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh.¹⁰What is left of the grain offering will belong to Aaron and his sons. It is very holy to Yahweh from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire.

¹¹No grain offering that you offer to Yahweh is to be made with yeast, for you must burn no leaven, nor any honey, as an offering made by fire to Yahweh.¹²You will offer them to Yahweh as an offering of firstfruits, but they will not be used to produce a sweet aroma on the altar.¹³You must season each of your grain offerings with salt. You must never allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be missing from your grain offering. With all your offerings you must offer salt.

¹⁴If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to Yahweh, offer fresh grain that is roasted with fire and then crushed into meal.¹⁵Then you must put oil and incense on it. This is a grain offering.¹⁶Then the priest will burn part of the crushed grain and oil and incense as a representative offering. This is an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

¹If someone offers a sacrifice which is a fellowship offering of an animal from the herd, whether male or female, he must offer an animal without blemish before Yahweh.²He will lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the door of the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons the priests will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar.

³The man will offer the sacrifice of a fellowship offering by fire to Yahweh. The fat that covers or is connected to the inner parts,⁴and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them by the loins, and the lobe of the liver, with the kidneys—he will remove all of this.⁵Aaron's sons will burn that on the altar with the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire. This will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh; it will be an offering made to him by fire.

⁶If the man's sacrifice of a fellowship offering to Yahweh is from the flock; male or female, he must offer a sacrifice without blemish.⁷If he offers a lamb for his sacrifice, then he must offer it before Yahweh.⁸He will lay his hand on the head of his sacrifice and kill it before the tent of meeting. Then Aaron's sons will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar.

⁹The man will offer the sacrifice of fellowship offerings as an offering made by fire to Yahweh. The fat, the entire fat tail cut away close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the inner parts and all the fat that is near the inner parts,¹⁰and the two kidneys and the fat that is with them, which is by the loins, and the lobe of the liver, with the kidneys—he will remove all of this.¹¹Then the priest will burn it all on the altar as a burnt offering of food to Yahweh.

¹²If the man's offering is a goat, then he will offer it before Yahweh.¹³He must lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it before the tent of meeting. Then the sons of Aaron will sprinkle its blood on the sides of the altar.¹⁴The man will offer his sacrifice made by fire to Yahweh. He will remove the fat that covers the inner parts, and all the fat near the inner parts.

¹⁵He will also remove the two kidneys and the fat that is with them, which is by the loins, and the lobe of the liver with the kidneys.¹⁶The priest will burn all that on the altar as a burnt offering of food, to produce a sweet aroma. All the fat belongs to Yahweh.¹⁷It will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in every place you make your home, that you must not eat fat or blood.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Tell the people of Israel, 'When anyone sins without wanting to sin, doing any of the things that Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and if he does something that is prohibited, the following must be done.

³If it is the anointed priest who sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer for his sin which he has committed a young bull without blemish to Yahweh as a sin offering.

⁴He must bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before Yahweh, lay his hand on its head, and kill the bull before Yahweh.⁵The anointed priest will take some of the blood of the bull and take it to the tent of meeting.

⁶The priest will dip his finger into the blood and sprinkle some of it seven times before Yahweh, before the curtain of the most holy place.⁷Then the priest will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before Yahweh, which is in the tent of meeting, and he will pour out all the rest of the blood of the bull at the base of the altar for burnt offerings, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

⁸He will cut away all the fat of the bull of the sin offering; the fat that covers the inner parts, all the fat that is attached to the inner parts,⁹the two kidneys and the fat that is on them, which is by the loins, and the lobe of the liver, with the kidneys—he will cut away all this.¹⁰He will cut it all away, just as he cuts it off from the bull of the sacrifice of peace offerings. Then the priest will burn these parts on the altar for burnt offerings.

¹¹The skin of the bull and any remaining meat, with its head and with its legs and its inner parts and its dung,¹²all the rest of the parts of the bull—he will carry all these parts outside the camp to a place that they have cleansed for me, where they pour out the ashes; they will burn those parts there on wood. They must burn those parts where they pour out the ashes.

¹³If the whole assembly of Israel sins without wanting to sin, and the assembly is unaware that they have sinned and done any of the things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and if they are guilty,¹⁴then, when the sin they have committed becomes known, then the assembly must offer a young bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting.¹⁵The elders of the assembly will lay their hands on the head of the bull before Yahweh, and the bull will be killed before Yahweh.

¹⁶The anointed priest will bring some of the blood of the bull to the tent of meeting,¹⁷and the priest will dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before Yahweh, before the curtain.

¹⁸He will put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is before Yahweh, which is in the tent of meeting, and he will pour out all the blood at the base of the altar for burnt offerings, which is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.¹⁹He will cut off all the fat from it and burn it on the altar.

²⁰That is what he must do with the bull. Just as he did with the bull of the sin offering, so will he also do with this bull, and the priest will make atonement for the people, and they will be forgiven.²¹He will carry the bull outside the camp and burn it as he burned the first bull. This is the sin offering for the assembly.

²²When a ruler sins without intending to sin, doing any one of all the things that Yahweh his God has commanded not to be done, and he is guilty,²³then his sin which he has committed is made known to him, he must bring for his sacrifice a goat, a male without blemish.

²⁴He will lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before Yahweh. This is a sin offering.²⁵The priest will take the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings, and he will pour out its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.

²⁶He will burn all the fat on the altar, just like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest will make atonement for the ruler concerning his sin, and the ruler will be forgiven.

²⁷If anyone of the common people sins without intending to sin, doing any of the things which Yahweh has commanded him not to be done, and when he realizes his guilt,²⁸then his sin which he has committed is made known to him, then he will bring a goat for his sacrifice, a female without blemish, for the sin that he has committed.

²⁹He will lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering at the place of burnt offering.³⁰The priest will take some of the blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings. He will pour out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.

³¹He will cut away all the fat, just as the fat is cut away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings. The priest will burn it on the altar to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. The priest will make atonement for the man, and he will be forgiven.

³²If the man brings a lamb as his sacrifice for a sin offering, he will bring a female without blemish.³³He will lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering at the place where they kill the burnt offering.

³⁴The priest will take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar for burnt offerings, and he will pour out all its blood at the base of the altar.³⁵He will cut away all the fat, just as the fat of the lamb is cut away from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest will burn it on the altar on top of the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. The priest will make atonement for him for the sin he has committed, and the man will be forgiven.

¹The person who is a witness or has seen or knows about some matter—if he hears the curse but sins by not testifying, he will bear the guilt of his iniquity.²Or if anyone touches anything God has designated as unclean, whether it be the carcass of an unclean wild animal or the carcass of any unclean livestock or unclean creatures that move along the ground, even though he was not aware of what he had done, he has become unclean and is guilty.

³Or if he touches the uncleanness of someone, whatever that uncleanness is, and if he is unaware of it, then he will be guilty when he learns about it.⁴Or if anyone swears rashly with his lips to do evil, or to do good, whatever it is that a man swears rashly with an oath, even if he is unaware of it, when he learns about it, then he will be guilty, in any of these things.

⁵When someone is guilty in any of these things, he must confess whatever sin he has committed.⁶Then he must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh for the sin that he has committed, a female animal from the flock, either a lamb or a goat, for a sin offering, and the priest will make atonement for him concerning his sin.

⁷If he cannot afford to buy a lamb, then he can bring as his guilt offering for his sin two doves or two young pigeons to Yahweh, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.⁸He must bring them to the priest, who will offer one for the sin offering first—he will wring off its head from its neck but will not remove it completely from the body.⁹Then he will sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and he will drain the rest of the blood out at the base of the altar. This is a sin offering.

¹⁰Then he must offer the second bird as a burnt offering, as described in the instructions, and the priest will make atonement for him for the sin that he has committed, and the person will be forgiven.

¹¹But if he cannot afford to buy two doves or two young pigeons, then he must bring as his sacrifice for his sin a tenth of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He must not put oil or any incense on it, for it is a sin offering.

¹²He must bring it to the priest, and the priest will take a handful of it as a representative offering and then burn it on the altar, on top of the offerings made by fire for Yahweh. This is a sin offering.¹³The priest will make atonement for any sin that the person has committed, and that person will be forgiven. The leftovers from the offering will belong to the priest, as with the grain offering.'"

¹⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁵"If anyone sins and acts unfaithfully in regard to the things that belong to Yahweh, but did so unintentionally, then he must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh. This offering must be a ram without blemish from the flock; its value must be appraised in silver shekels—the shekel of the sanctuary—as a guilt offering.¹⁶He must satisfy Yahweh for what he had done wrong in connection with what is holy, and he must add one-fifth to it and give it to the priest. Then the priest will make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and that person will be forgiven.

¹⁷If anyone sins and does anything that Yahweh has commanded not to be done, even if he was unaware of it, he is still guilty and must carry his own guilt.¹⁸He must bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, worth the current value, as a guilt offering to the priest. Then the priest will make atonement for him concerning the sin he has committed, of which he was unaware, and he will be forgiven.¹⁹It is a guilt offering, and he is certainly guilty before Yahweh."

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"If anyone sins and acts unfaithfully against Yahweh by deceiving his neighbor regarding something held in trust, or was left in his care, or about something that was stolen, or if he has oppressed his neighbor,³or he has found something that his neighbor lost and lies about it, or if he swears falsely, or in any matters like these by which people sin,⁴and if he has sinned and is found to be guilty, he must restore whatever he took by robbery or oppression, or that which was entrusted to him, or that which was lost but that he had found.

⁵In addition, in any matter in which he swore falsely, he must restore it in full and he must add one-fifth of the value of it and pay it all to the owner on the day that he is found guilty.⁶Then he must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh, a ram without blemish from the flock that is worth the current value, as a guilt offering to the priest.⁷The priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh, and he will be forgiven concerning whatever he has become guilty of doing."

⁸Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,⁹"Command Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering: The burnt offering must be on the hearth of the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar will be kept burning.

¹⁰The priest will put on his linen clothes, and he will also put on his linen underclothes. He will pick up the ashes that are left after the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he will put the ashes beside the altar.¹¹He will take off his garments and put on other garments to carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is clean.

¹²The fire on the altar will be kept burning. It must not go out, and the priest will burn wood on it every morning. He will arrange the burnt offering as required on it, and he will burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.¹³Fire must be kept burning on the altar continually. It must not go out.

¹⁴This is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron will offer it before Yahweh before the altar.¹⁵The priest will take up a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and of the oil and the incense which is on the grain offering, and he will burn it on the altar to produce a sweet aroma as a representative offering.

¹⁶Aaron and his sons will eat whatever is left of the offering. It must be eaten without yeast in a holy place. They will eat it in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.¹⁷It must not be baked with yeast. I have given it as their part of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy, as the sin offering and the guilt offering.¹⁸Every male among the descendants of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed forever throughout your generations, taken from the fire offerings made to Yahweh. Whoever touches them will become holy.'"

¹⁹So Yahweh spoke to Moses again, saying,²⁰"This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they will offer to Yahweh on the day when each son is anointed: a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half of it in the evening.

²¹It will be made with oil in a baking pan. When it is soaked, you will bring it in. In baked pieces you will offer the grain offering to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh.²²The anointed priest from among his sons will offer it. As commanded forever, it must be burned up completely to Yahweh.²³Every grain offering of the priest will be completely burned up. It must not be eaten."

²⁴Yahweh spoke to Moses again, saying,²⁵"Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the sin offering: The sin offering must be killed at the place where the burnt offering is killed before Yahweh. It is most holy.²⁶The priest who offers it for sin will eat it. It must be eaten in a holy place in the courtyard of the tent of meeting.

²⁷Whatever touches its meat will become holy, and if the blood is sprinkled on any garment, you must wash it, the part that was sprinkled on, in a holy place.²⁸But the clay pot in which it is boiled must be broken. If it is boiled in a bronze pot, it must be scrubbed and rinsed clean in water.

²⁹Any male among the priests may eat some of it because it is most holy.³⁰But any sin offering whose blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place must not be eaten. It must be burned with fire.

¹This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy.²They must kill the guilt offering in the place for killing it, and they must sprinkle its blood against every side of the altar.³All the fat in it will be offered: the fat tail, the fat that is over the inner parts,⁴the two kidneys and the fat on them, which is next to the loins, and what covers the liver, with the kidneys—all this must be removed.

⁵The priest must burn these parts on the altar as an offering made with fire to Yahweh. This is the guilt offering.⁶Every male among the priests may eat part of this offering. It must be eaten in a holy place because it is most holy.

⁷The sin offering is like the guilt offering. The same law applies to both of them. They belong to the priest who makes atonement with them.⁸The priest who offers anyone's burnt offering may have for himself the hide of that offering.

⁹Every grain offering that is baked in an oven, and every such offering that is cooked in a frying pan or in a baking pan will belong to the priest who offers it.¹⁰Every grain offering, either dry or mixed with oil, will belong equally to all the descendants of Aaron.

¹¹This is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings which people will offer to Yahweh.¹²If anyone offers it in order to give thanks, then he must offer it with a sacrifice of cakes made without yeast, but mixed with oil, of cakes made without yeast, but spread with oil, and of cakes made with fine flour that is mixed with oil.

¹³Also for the purpose of giving thanks, he must offer with the sacrifice of his peace offering cakes of bread made with yeast.¹⁴He is to offer one of each kind of these sacrifices as a contribution presented to Yahweh. It will belong to the priests who sprinkle the blood of the peace offerings onto the altar.

¹⁵The person presenting a peace offering for the purpose of giving thanks must eat the meat of his offering on the day of the sacrifice. He must not leave any of it until the next morning.¹⁶But if the sacrifice of his offering is for the purpose of a vow, or for the purpose of a freewill offering, the meat must be eaten on the day that he offers his sacrifice, but whatever remains of it may be eaten on the next day.

¹⁷However, whatever meat of the sacrifice remains on the third day must be burned.¹⁸If any of the meat of the sacrifice of one's peace offering is eaten on the third day, it will not be accepted, neither will it be credited to the one who offered it. It will be a disgusting thing, and the person who eats it will carry the guilt of his sin.

¹⁹Any meat that touches an unclean thing must not be eaten. It must be burned with fire. As for the rest of the meat, anyone who is clean may eat it.²⁰However, an unclean person who eats any meat from the sacrifice of a peace offering that belongs to Yahweh—that person must be cut off from his people.

²¹If anyone touches any unclean thing—whether uncleanness of man or of unclean animal or of some unclean, detestable thing—and if he then eats some of the meat of a sacrifice of peace offering that belongs to Yahweh, that person must be cut off from his people.'"

²²Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²³"Speak to the people of Israel and say, 'You must eat no fat of cattle, sheep, or goats.²⁴The fat of an animal that died without being a sacrifice, or the fat of an animal torn by wild animals, may be used for other purposes, but you must certainly not eat it.

²⁵Whoever eats the fat of an animal that men can offer as a sacrifice by fire to Yahweh, that person must be cut off from his people.²⁶You must eat no blood whatsoever in any of your houses, whether it is from a bird or an animal.²⁷Whoever eats any blood, that person must be cut off from his people.'"

²⁸So Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²⁹"Speak to the people of Israel and say, 'He who offers the sacrifice of a peace offering to Yahweh must bring part of his sacrifice to Yahweh.³⁰The offering for Yahweh to be made by fire, his own hands must bring it. He must bring the fat with the breast, so that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before Yahweh.

³¹The priest must burn the fat on the altar, but the breast will belong to Aaron and his descendants.³²You must give the right thigh to the priest as a contribution from the sacrifice of your peace offerings.

³³The priest, one of Aaron's descendants, who offers the blood of the peace offerings and the fat—he will have the right thigh as his share of the offering.³⁴For I have taken from the people of Israel, the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh that is the contribution from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and they have been given to Aaron the priest and his sons as their regular share.

³⁵This is what has been consecrated for Aaron and his descendants from the offerings for Yahweh made by fire, on the day when Moses presented them to serve Yahweh in the work of priest.³⁶This is the share that Yahweh commanded to be given them from the people of Israel, on the day that he anointed the priests. It will always be their share throughout all generations.

³⁷This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the consecration offering, and of the sacrifice of peace offerings,³⁸about which Yahweh gave commands to Moses on Mount Sinai on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to offer their sacrifices to Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Take Aaron and his sons with him, the garments and the anointing oil, the bull for the sin offering, the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread.³Assemble all the assembly at the entrance to the tent of meeting."

⁴So Moses did as Yahweh commanded him, and the assembly came together at the entrance to the tent of meeting.⁵Then Moses said to the assembly, "This is what Yahweh has commanded to be done."

⁶Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.⁷He put the tunic on Aaron and tied the sash around his waist, clothed him with the robe and put the ephod on him, and then he tied the ephod around him with the finely-woven waistband and bound it to him.

⁸He placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the Urim and the Thummim.⁹He set the turban on his head, and on the turban, in front, he set the golden plate, the holy crown, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

¹⁰Moses took the anointing oil, anointed the tabernacle and everything in it and set them apart to Yahweh.¹¹He sprinkled the oil on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the washbasin and its base, to set them apart to Yahweh.

¹²He poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head and anointed him to set him apart.¹³Moses brought Aaron's sons and clothed them with tunics. He tied sashes around their waists and wrapped linen cloth around their heads, as Yahweh had commanded him.

¹⁴Moses brought the bull for the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull that they had brought for the sin offering.¹⁵Moses killed it, and he took the blood and put it on the horns of the altar with his finger, purified the altar, poured out the blood at the base of the altar, and set it apart for God in order to make atonement for it.

¹⁶He took all the fat that was on the inner parts, the covering of the liver, and the two kidneys and their fat, and Moses burned it all on the altar.¹⁷But Moses burned the bull, its hide, its meat, and its dung outside the camp, as Yahweh had commanded him.

¹⁸Moses presented the ram for the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.¹⁹He killed it and sprinkled its blood against every side of the altar.

²⁰He cut the ram into pieces and burned the head and the pieces and the fat.²¹He washed the inner parts and the legs with water, and he burned the whole ram on the altar. It was a burnt offering and produced a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

²²Then Moses presented the other ram, the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.²³Aaron killed it, and Moses took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron's right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.²⁴He brought Aaron's sons, and he put some of the blood on the tip of their right ear, on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot. Then Moses sprinkled its blood against every side of the altar.

²⁵He took the fat, the fat tail, all the fat that was on the inner parts, the covering of the liver, the two kidneys and their fat, and the right thigh.²⁶Out of the basket of bread without yeast that was before Yahweh, he took one loaf without yeast, and one loaf of oiled bread, and one wafer, and placed them on the fat and on the right thigh.²⁷He put it all in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons and waved them before Yahweh as a wave offering.

²⁸Then Moses took them from off their hands and burned them on the altar for the burnt offering. They were a consecration offering and produced a sweet aroma. It was an offering made by fire to Yahweh.²⁹Moses took the breast and waved it as a wave offering to Yahweh. It was Moses' share of the ram for the priests' ordination, as Yahweh had commanded him.

³⁰Moses took some of the anointing oil and the blood that was on the altar; he sprinkled these on Aaron, on his clothes, on his sons, and on his sons' clothes with him. In this way he set apart Aaron and his clothes, and his sons and their clothes to Yahweh.

³¹So Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, "Boil the meat at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and there eat it and the bread that is in the basket of consecration, as I commanded, saying, 'Aaron and his sons will eat it.'³²Whatever remains of the meat and of the bread you must burn.³³You must not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting for seven days, until the days of your ordination are fulfilled. For Yahweh will consecrate you for seven days.

³⁴What has been done this day—Yahweh has commanded to be done to make atonement for you.³⁵You will stay day and night for seven days at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and keep the command of Yahweh, so you will not die, because this is what I have been commanded."³⁶So Aaron and his sons did all the things which Yahweh had commanded them through Moses.

¹On the eighth day Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.²He said to Aaron, "Take a calf from the herd for a sin offering, and a ram without blemish for a burnt offering, and offer them before Yahweh.

³You must speak to the people of Israel and say, 'Take a male goat for a sin offering and a calf and a lamb, both a year old and without blemish, for a burnt offering;⁴also take an ox and a ram for peace offerings to sacrifice before Yahweh, and a grain offering mixed with oil, because today Yahweh will appear to you.'"⁵So they brought all that Moses commanded to the tent of meeting, and all the assembly of Israel approached and stood before Yahweh.

⁶Then Moses said, "This is what Yahweh commanded you to do, so that his glory may appear to you."⁷Moses said to Aaron, "Come near the altar and offer your sin offering and burnt offering, and make atonement for yourself and for the people, and offer the sacrifice for the people to make atonement for them, as Yahweh has commanded."

⁸So Aaron went near the altar and killed the calf for the sin offering, which was for himself.⁹The sons of Aaron presented the blood to him, and he dipped his finger into it and put it on the horns of the altar; then he poured out the blood at the base of the altar.

¹⁰However, he burned the fat, the kidneys, and the covering of the liver on the altar as a sin offering, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.¹¹The meat and the hide he burned outside the camp.

¹²Aaron killed the burnt offering, and his sons gave him the blood, which he splashed against every side of the altar.¹³Then they gave him the burnt offering, piece by piece, together with the head, and he burned them on the altar.¹⁴He washed the inner parts and the legs and burned them on top of the burnt offering on the altar.

¹⁵Aaron presented the people's sacrifice—a goat, then took it as the sacrifice for their sin and killed it; he sacrificed it for sin, as he had done with the first goat.¹⁶He presented the burnt offering and offered it as Yahweh had commanded.¹⁷He presented the grain offering; he filled his hand with it and burned it on the altar, along with the morning's burnt offering.

¹⁸He killed also the ox and the ram, the sacrifice for the peace offering, which was for the people. Aaron's sons gave him the blood, which he sprinkled against every side of the altar.¹⁹However, they cut out the fat of the bull and the ram, the fat tail, the fat that covers the inner parts, the kidneys, and the covering of the liver.

²⁰They took the parts that were cut out and put these on the breasts, and then Aaron burned the fat on the altar.²¹Aaron waved the breasts and the right thigh as a wave offering before Yahweh, as Moses had commanded.

²²Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them; then he came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and the peace offering.²³Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, then came out again and blessed the people, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people.²⁴Fire came out from Yahweh and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw this, they shouted and lay facedown.

¹Nadab and Abihu, sons of Aaron, each took his censer, put fire in it, and then incense. Then they offered unapproved fire before Yahweh, which he had not commanded them to offer.²So fire came out from before Yahweh and devoured them, and they died before Yahweh.

³Then Moses said to Aaron, "This is what Yahweh was talking about when he said,

'I will reveal my holiness to those who come near me.

I will be glorified before all the people.'"

Aaron did not say anything.

⁴Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, "Come here and carry your brothers out of the camp from before the tabernacle."

⁵So they came near and carried them, still wearing their priestly tunics, out of the camp, as Moses had instructed.

⁶Then Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, "Do not let your hair on your heads hang loosely, and do not tear your clothes, so that you may not die, and so that Yahweh may not be angry with all the assembly. But allow your relatives, the entire house of Israel, to mourn for those whom the fire of Yahweh has set ablaze.⁷You must not go out from the entrance of the tent of meeting, or you will die, for the anointing oil of Yahweh is on you." So they acted according to Moses' instructions.

⁸Yahweh spoke to Aaron, saying,⁹"Do not drink wine or strong drink, you, or your sons who remain with you, when you go into the tent of meeting, so you will not die. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations,¹⁰to distinguish between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean,¹¹so that you may teach the people of Israel all the statutes that Yahweh has commanded through Moses."

¹²Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his remaining sons, "Take the grain offering that remains from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire, and eat it without yeast beside the altar, for it is most holy.¹³You must eat it in a holy place, because it is your share and your sons' share of the offerings to Yahweh made by fire, for this is what I have been commanded to tell you.

¹⁴As for the breast of the wave offering and the thigh of the contribution, you must eat them in a clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you, for they are given as your assigned portion and your sons' assigned portion out of the sacrifices of the fellowship offerings of the people of Israel.¹⁵As for the thigh of the contribution and the breast of the wave offering, they must bring them with the offerings of fat made by fire as a wave offering before Yahweh. They will be yours and your sons' with you as a share forever, as Yahweh has commanded."

¹⁶Then Moses asked about the goat for the sin offering, and found that it was burned up. So he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the remaining sons of Aaron; he said,¹⁷"Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the area of the tabernacle, since it is most holy, and since Yahweh has given it to you to take away the iniquity of the assembly, to make atonement for them before him?¹⁸Look, its blood was not brought inside the tabernacle, so you should certainly have eaten it in the tabernacle area, as I commanded."

¹⁹Then Aaron answered Moses, "See, today they made their sin offering and burnt offering before Yahweh, and this thing has happened to me today. If I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been pleasing in the sight of Yahweh?"²⁰When Moses heard that, he was satisfied.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,²"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, 'These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.

³You may eat any animal that has a split hoof and that also chews the cud.⁴However, some animals either chew the cud or have a split hoof, and you must not eat them, animals such as the camel, because it chews the cud but does not have a split hoof. So the camel is unclean to you.

⁵Also the rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not have a split hoof, it is also unclean to you.⁶The rabbit, because it chews the cud, but does not have a split hoof, is unclean to you.⁷The pig, although it has a split hoof, does not chew the cud, is unclean to you.⁸You must not eat any of their meat, nor touch their carcasses. They are unclean to you.

⁹The animals living in the water that you may eat are all those that have fins and scales, whether in the ocean or in the rivers.¹⁰But all living creatures that do not have fins and scales in the ocean or rivers, including all that move in the water and all the living creatures that are in the water—they must be detested by you.

¹¹Since they must be detested, you must not eat of their meat; also, their carcasses must be detested.¹²Whatever lives in the water and does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

¹³These are the birds you must detest—and you must not eat because they are detestable: the eagle, the vulture, and the black vulture,¹⁴the kite, any kind of falcon,¹⁵every kind of raven,¹⁶the horned owl and the screech owl, the seagull, and any kind of hawk.

¹⁷You must also detest the little owl and the great owl, the cormorant,¹⁸the white owl and the barn owl, the osprey,¹⁹the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and also the bat.

²⁰All winged insects that walk on four legs are detestable to you.²¹Yet you may eat any of the flying insects that also walk on four legs if they have jointed legs for hopping on the ground.²²You may also eat any kind of locust, katydid, cricket, or grasshopper.²³But all the flying insects that have four feet must be detested by you.

²⁴You will become unclean until evening by these animals if you touch a carcass of one of them.²⁵Whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes and remain unclean until evening.

²⁶Every animal which has a split hoof that is not completely divided or which does not chew the cud is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them will be unclean.²⁷Whatever walks on its paws among all the animals that walk on all four legs, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches such a carcass will be unclean until the evening.²⁸Whoever picks up such a carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until the evening. These animals will be unclean to you.

²⁹Of the animals that creep on the ground, these are the animals that will be unclean to you: the weasel, the rat, every kind of large lizard,³⁰the gecko, the monitor lizard, the lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.

³¹Of all the animals that creep, these are the animals which will be unclean to you. Whoever touches them when they are dead will be unclean until evening.³²If any of them dies and falls on anything, that thing will be unclean, whether it is made of wood, cloth, leather, or sackcloth. Whatever it is and whatever it is used for, it must be put into water; it will be unclean until evening. Then it will be clean.³³For every clay pot into or onto which any unclean animal falls, whatever is in the pot will become unclean, and you must destroy that pot.

³⁴Any food that could be eaten but has water on it from such a pot is unclean. Any liquid that is for drinking from such a pot is unclean.³⁵Anything that one of their carcasses falls on becomes unclean; if it is an oven or small stove, it must be broken to pieces. They are unclean and they must remain unclean to you.

³⁶A spring or cistern for collecting water remains clean; but anyone who touches their carcass is unclean.³⁷If any part of their carcass falls upon any seeds for sowing, those seeds will still be clean.³⁸But if water is put on the seeds, and if any part of their carcass falls on them, then they will be unclean to you.

³⁹If any animal that you may eat dies, then he who touches the carcass will be unclean until evening.⁴⁰Whoever eats any of that carcass must wash his clothes and be unclean until evening. Anyone who picks up such a carcass will wash his clothes and be unclean until evening.

⁴¹Every animal that creeps on the ground is detestable; it must not be eaten.⁴²Whatever crawls on its belly, and whatever walks on all four legs, or whatever has many feet—all the animals that creep on the ground, these you must not eat, for they are detestable.

⁴³You must not make yourselves detestable with any living creatures that creep; you must not make yourselves unclean with them and you must not be made unclean by them.⁴⁴For I am Yahweh your God. You are to keep yourselves holy, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves with any kind of animal that moves about on the ground.⁴⁵For I am Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You must therefore be holy, for I am holy.

⁴⁶This is the law regarding the animals, the birds, every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the ground,⁴⁷for which a distinction is to be made between the unclean and the clean, and between the living things that may be eaten and the living things that may not be eaten.'"

¹Yahweh said to Moses,²"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, 'If a woman conceives and gives birth to a male child, then she will be unclean for seven days, just as she is unclean during the days of her monthly impurity.³On the eighth day the flesh of a baby boy's foreskin must be circumcised.

⁴Then the mother's purification from her bleeding will continue for thirty-three days. She must not touch any holy thing or come into the sanctuary until the days of her purification are finished.⁵But if she gives birth to a female child, then she will be unclean for two weeks, as she is during her impurity. Then for sixty-six days she will be purified from her bleeding.

⁶When the days of her purification are finished, for a son or for a daughter, she must bring a one year old lamb as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or dove as a sin offering, to the entrance of the tent of meeting, to the priest.

⁷Then he will offer it before Yahweh and make atonement for her, and she will be cleansed from the flow of her blood. This is the law regarding a woman who gives birth to either a male or a female child.⁸If she is not able to afford a lamb, then she must take two doves or two young pigeons, one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering, and the priest will make atonement for her; then she will be clean.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,²"When anyone has on the skin of his body a swelling or scab or a bright spot, and it becomes infected and there is leprosy in his body, then he must be brought to Aaron the high priest, or to one of his sons the priests.

³Then the priest will examine the disease in the skin of his body. If the hair in the diseased area has turned white, and if the disease appears to be deeper than just on the skin, then it is leprosy. After the priest examines him, he must pronounce him unclean.⁴If the bright spot in his skin is white, and the appearance of it is no deeper than the skin, and if the hair in the diseased area has not turned white, then the priest must isolate the one with the disease for seven days.

⁵On the seventh day, the priest must examine him to see if in his opinion the disease is not any worse, and if it has not spread in the skin. If it has not, then the priest must isolate him seven days more.⁶The priest will examine him again on the seventh day to see if the disease is better and has not spread farther in the skin. If it has not, then the priest will pronounce him clean. It is a rash. He must wash his clothes, and then he is clean.

⁷But if the rash has spread in the skin after he has shown himself to the priest for his cleansing, he must then show himself to the priest again.⁸The priest will examine him to see if the rash has spread farther in the skin. If it has spread, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.

⁹When leprosy is in someone, then he must be brought to the priest.¹⁰The priest will examine him to see if there is a white swelling in the skin, if the hair has turned white, or if there is raw flesh in the swelling.¹¹If there is, then it is leprosy, and the priest must pronounce him unclean. He will not isolate him, because he is already unclean.

¹²If the leprosy breaks out widely in the skin and covers all the skin of the person with the disease from his head to his feet, as far as it appears to the priest,¹³then the priest must examine him to see if the leprosy has covered all his body. If it has, then the priest must pronounce the person who has the disease as clean. If it has all turned white, then he is clean.¹⁴But if raw flesh appears on him, he will be unclean.

¹⁵The priest must look at the raw flesh and pronounce him unclean because the raw flesh is unclean. It is leprosy.¹⁶But if the raw flesh turns white again, then the person must go to the priest.¹⁷The priest will examine him to see if the flesh has turned white. If it has then the priest will pronounce that person to be clean.

¹⁸When a person has a boil on the skin and it has healed,¹⁹and in place of the boil there is white swelling or a bright spot, reddish-white, then it must be shown to the priest.²⁰The priest will examine it to see if it appears deeper under the skin, and if the hair there has turned white. If so, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy, if it has developed in the place where the boil was.

²¹But if the priest examines it and sees that there is no white hair in it, and that it is not under the skin but has faded, then the priest must isolate him for seven days.²²If it spreads widely in the skin, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an infectious disease.²³But if the bright spot stays in its place and has not spread, then it is the scar of the boil, and the priest must pronounce him clean.

²⁴When the skin has a burn and the raw flesh of the burn has become a reddish-white or white spot,²⁵then the priest will examine it to see if the hair in that spot has turned white, and if it appears to be deeper than the skin. If it has, then it is leprosy. It has broken out in the burn, and the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.

²⁶But if the priest examines it and finds that there is no white hair in the spot, and it is not under the skin but has faded, then the priest must isolate him for seven days.²⁷Then the priest must examine him on the seventh day. If it has spread widely in the skin, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is leprosy.²⁸If the spot stays in its place and has not spread in the skin but has faded, then it is a swelling from the burn, and the priest must pronounce him clean, for it is nothing more than the scar of the burn.

²⁹If a man or woman has an infectious disease on the head or chin,³⁰then the priest must examine the person for an infectious disease to see if it appears to be deeper than the skin, and if there is yellow, thin hair in it. If there is, then the priest must pronounce him unclean. It is an itch, leprosy on the head or the chin.

³¹If the priest examines the itching disease and sees that it is not under the skin, and if there is no black hair in it, then the priest will isolate the person with the itching disease for seven days.

³²On the seventh day the priest will examine the disease to see if it has spread. If there is no yellow hair, and if the disease appears to be only skin deep,³³then he must be shaved, but the diseased area must not be shaved, and the priest must isolate the person with the itching disease for seven more days.

³⁴On the seventh day the priest will examine the disease to see if it has stopped spreading in the skin. If it appears to be no deeper than the skin, then the priest must pronounce him clean. The person must wash his clothes, and then he will be clean.

³⁵But if the itching disease has spread widely in the skin after the priest said he was clean,³⁶then the priest must examine him again. If the disease has spread in the skin, the priest does not need to seek for yellow hair. The person is unclean.³⁷But if in the priest's view the itching disease has stopped spreading and black hair has grown in the area, then the disease has healed. He is clean, and the priest must pronounce him clean.

³⁸If a man or a woman has white spots on the skin,³⁹then the priest must examine the person to see if the spots are a dull white, which is only a rash that has broken out in the skin. He is clean.

⁴⁰If a man's hair has fallen out of his head, he is bald, but he is clean.⁴¹If his hair has fallen out of the front part of his head, and if his forehead is bald, he is clean.

⁴²But if there is a reddish-white sore on his bald head or forehead, it is leprosy that has broken out.⁴³Then the priest must examine him to see if the swelling of the diseased area on his bald head or forehead is reddish-white, like the appearance of leprosy in the skin.⁴⁴If it is, then he is leprous and is unclean. The priest must surely pronounce him unclean because of his disease on his head.

⁴⁵The leprous person who has the disease must wear torn clothes, his hair must hang loosely, and he must cover his face up to his nose and call out, 'Unclean, unclean.'⁴⁶All the days that he has the infectious disease he will be unclean. Because he is unclean with a disease that can spread, he must live alone. He must live outside the camp.

⁴⁷A garment that is contaminated with leprosy, whether it is a wool or linen garment,⁴⁸or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen, or leather or anything made with leather—⁴⁹if there is a greenish or reddish contamination in the garment, the leather, the woven or knitted material, or anything made of leather, then it is a leprosy that spreads; it must be shown to the priest.

⁵⁰The priest must examine the item for leprosy; he must isolate anything that has leprosy for seven days.⁵¹He must examine the leprosy again on the seventh day. If it has spread in the garment or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything in which leather is used, then it is harmful leprosy, and the item is unclean.⁵²He must burn the garment, or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything made with leather, anything in which the leprosy is found, for it can lead to disease. The item must be completely burned up.

⁵³If the priest examines the item and sees that the leprosy has not spread in the garment or material woven or knitted from wool or linen, or leather goods,⁵⁴then he will command them to wash the item in which the leprosy was found, and he must isolate it for seven more days.⁵⁵Then the priest will examine the item after the item where there was leprosy was washed. If the leprosy has not changed its color, even though it has not spread, it is unclean. You must burn the item, no matter where the leprosy has contaminated it.

⁵⁶If the priest examines the item, and if the leprosy has faded after it was washed, then he must tear out the contaminated part from the garment or from the leather, or from the woven or knitted material.⁵⁷If the leprosy still appears in the garment, either in the woven or knitted material, or in anything made of leather, it is spreading. You must burn any item that has the leprosy.⁵⁸The garment or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything made with leather—if you wash the item and the leprosy is gone, then the item must be washed a second time, and it will be clean.

⁵⁹This is the law about leprosy in a garment of wool or linen, or anything woven or knitted from wool or linen material, or leather or anything made with leather, so that you may pronounce it clean or unclean."

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"This will be the law for the leper on the day of his cleansing. He must be brought to the priest.

³The priest will go out of the camp to examine the leper to see if the leprosy is healed.⁴Then the priest will command that the one to be cleansed must take two live, clean birds, cedar wood, scarlet yarn, and hyssop.⁵The priest will command him to kill one of the birds over fresh water that is in a clay pot.

⁶The priest will then take the live bird and the cedar wood, and the scarlet yarn and the hyssop, and he will dip all these things, including the live bird, in the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.⁷Then the priest will sprinkle this water seven times onto the person who is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and then the priest will pronounce him to be clean. Then the priest will release the living bird into the open fields.

⁸The person who is being cleansed will wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, and bathe himself in water, and then he will be clean. After that he must come into the camp, but he will live outside his tent for seven days.⁹On the seventh day he must shave all his hair off his head, and he must also shave off his beard and eyebrows. He must shave off all his hair, and he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; then he will be clean.

¹⁰On the eighth day he must take two male lambs without blemish, one female lamb a year old without blemish, and three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and one log of oil.¹¹The priest who cleanses him will stand the person who is to be cleansed, along with those things, before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

¹²The priest will take one of the male lambs and offer it as a guilt offering, together with the log of oil; he will wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh.¹³He must kill the male lamb in the place where they kill the sin offerings and the burnt offerings, in the area of the tabernacle, for the sin offering belongs to the priest, as does the guilt offering, because it is most holy.

¹⁴The priest will take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the person who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.¹⁵Then the priest will take oil from the log and pour it into the palm of his own left hand,¹⁶and dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and sprinkle some of the oil with his finger seven times before Yahweh.

¹⁷The priest will put the rest of the oil in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the person to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot. He must put this oil on top of the blood from the guilt offering.¹⁸As for the rest of the oil that is in the priest's hand, he will put it on the head of the person who is to be cleansed, and the priest will make atonement for him before Yahweh.

¹⁹Then the priest will offer the sin offering and make atonement for him who is to be cleansed because of his uncleanness, and afterward he will kill the burnt offering.²⁰Then the priest will offer the burnt offering and the grain offering on the altar. The priest will make atonement for the person, and then he will be clean.

²¹However, if the person is poor and cannot afford these sacrifices, then he may take one male lamb as a guilt offering to be waved, to make atonement for himself, and one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering, and a log of oil,²²together with two doves or two young pigeons, such as he is able to get; one bird will be a sin offering and the other a burnt offering.²³On the eighth day he must bring them for his cleansing to the priest, to the entrance to the tent of meeting, before Yahweh.

²⁴The priest will take the lamb for an offering, and he will take with it the log of olive oil, and he will wave them as a wave offering before Yahweh.²⁵The priest will kill the lamb for the guilt offering, and he will take some of the blood of the guilt offering and put it on the tip of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.

²⁶Then the priest will pour some of the oil into the palm of his own left hand,²⁷and he will sprinkle with his right finger some of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Yahweh.

²⁸The priest will then put some of the oil that is in his hand on the tip of the right ear of the one who is to be cleansed, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot, the same places where he put the blood of the guilt offering.²⁹He will put the rest of the oil that is in his hand on the head of the one who is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Yahweh.

³⁰He must offer one of the doves or young pigeons, such as the person has been able to get—³¹one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, along with the grain offering. Then the priest will make atonement for the one who is to be cleansed before Yahweh.³²This is the law for a person in whom there is leprosy, who is not able to afford the standard offerings for his cleansing."

³³Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,³⁴"When you have come into the land of Canaan which I gave to you as a possession, and if I put leprosy that spreads in a house in the land of your possession,³⁵then he who owns the house must come and tell the priest. He must say, 'There seems to me to be something like leprosy in my house.'

³⁶Then the priest will command that they empty the house before he goes in to see the evidence of leprosy, so that nothing in the house will be made unclean. Afterward the priest must go in to see the house.³⁷He must examine the leprosy to see if it is in the house walls, and to see whether it appears greenish or reddish in the depressions in the wall's surface.³⁸If the house does have leprosy, then the priest will go out of the house and shut the door to the house for seven days.

³⁹Then the priest will return again on the seventh day and examine it to see if the leprosy has spread in the walls of the house.⁴⁰If it has, then the priest will command that they take out the stones in which the leprosy has been found and throw them into an unclean place outside the city.

⁴¹He will require all the inside walls of the house to be scraped, and they must take the contaminated material that is scraped off outside the city and dump it into the unclean place.⁴²They must take other stones and put them in the place of the stones that were removed, and they must use new clay to plaster the house.

⁴³If leprosy comes again and breaks out in the house in which the stones have been taken away and the walls have been scraped and then replastered,⁴⁴then the priest must come in and examine the house to see if leprosy has spread in the house. If it has, then it is harmful leprosy, and the house is unclean.

⁴⁵The house must be torn down. The stones, timber, and all the plaster in the house must be carried away out of the city to the unclean place.⁴⁶In addition, whoever goes into the house during the time it is closed up will be unclean until evening.⁴⁷Anyone who has lain down in the house must wash his clothes, and anyone who ate in the house must wash his clothes.

⁴⁸If the priest enters the house to examine it to see whether the leprosy has spread in the house after the house was plastered, then, if the leprosy is gone, he will pronounce the house clean.

⁴⁹Then the priest must take two birds to cleanse the house, and cedar wood, and scarlet yarn, and hyssop.⁵⁰He will kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay jar.⁵¹He will take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn, and the live bird, and dip them in the blood of the killed bird, into the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times.

⁵²He will cleanse the house with the blood of the bird and with the fresh water, with the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop, and the scarlet yarn.⁵³But he will let the live bird go out of the city into the open fields. In this way he must make atonement for the house, and it will be clean.

⁵⁴This is the law for all types of leprosy and things that cause it, and for an itch,⁵⁵and for leprosy in clothing and in a house,⁵⁶for swelling, for a rash, and for a bright spot,⁵⁷to determine when any of these cases is unclean or when it is clean. This is the law for leprosy."

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,²"Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, 'When any man has an infected fluid that comes out of his body, he becomes unclean.³His uncleanness is due to this infected fluid. Whether his body flows with fluid or is stopped up, it is unclean.

⁴Every bed on which he lies will be unclean, and everything on which he sits will be unclean.⁵Whoever touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.

⁶Anyone who sits on anything on which the man with the flow of infected fluid sat, that person must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening.⁷Anyone who touches the body of the one who has a flow of infected fluid must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening.

⁸If the person who has such a flow of fluid spits on someone who is clean, then that person must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening.⁹Any saddle which he who has a flow rides upon will be unclean.

¹⁰So whoever touches anything that was under that person will be unclean until evening, and anyone who carries those things must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; he will be unclean until evening.¹¹Anyone the man with the discharge touches without washing his hands with water must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening.¹²Any clay pot that the one with such a flow of fluid touches must be broken, and every container of wood must be rinsed in water.

¹³When he who has a flow is cleansed from his flow, then he must count for himself seven days for his cleansing; then he must wash his clothes and bathe his body in running water. Then he will be clean.¹⁴On the eighth day he must take two doves or two young pigeons and come before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting; there he must give the birds to the priest.¹⁵The priest must offer them, one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and the priest must make atonement for him before Yahweh for his flow.

¹⁶If any man has an emission of semen, then he must bathe his whole body in water; he will be unclean until evening.¹⁷Every garment or leather on which there is semen must be washed with water; it will be unclean until evening.¹⁸If a man lies with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water and be unclean until evening.

¹⁹When a woman has a flow of blood, her impurity will continue for seven days, and whoever touches her will be unclean until evening.²⁰Everything she lies on during her period will be unclean; everything that she sits on will also be unclean.

²¹Whoever touches her bed must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; that person will be unclean until evening.²²Whoever touches anything that she sits on must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water; that person will be unclean until evening.²³Whether it is on the bed or on anything on which she sits, if he touches it, that person will be unclean until evening.

²⁴If any man lies with her, and if her impure flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days. Every bed on which he lies will be unclean.

²⁵If a woman has a flow of blood for many days that is not in the time of her impurity, or if she has a flow beyond the time of her impurity, during all the days of the flow of her uncleanness, she will be as if she were in the days of her impurity. She is unclean.²⁶Every bed on which she lies all during her flow of blood will be to her just like the bed on which she lies during her impurity, and everything on which she sits will be unclean, just like the uncleanness of her impurity.²⁷Whoever touches any of those things will be unclean; he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until evening.

²⁸But if she is cleansed from her flow of blood, then she will count for herself seven days, and after that she will be clean.²⁹On the eighth day she will take to her two doves or two young pigeons and bring them to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.³⁰The priest will offer one bird as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering, and he will make atonement for her before Yahweh for her unclean flow of blood.

³¹This is how you must separate the people of Israel from their uncleanness, so they will not die due to their uncleanness, by defiling my tabernacle, where I live among them.

³²This is the law for anyone who has a flow of fluid, for any man whose semen goes out of him and makes him unclean,³³for any woman who has a menstrual period, for anyone with a flow of fluid, whether male or female, and for any man who lies with an unclean woman.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses—this was after the death of Aaron's two sons, when they had gone near to Yahweh and then died.²Yahweh said to Moses, "Speak to Aaron your brother and tell him not to come at just any time into the most holy place inside the curtain, before the atonement lid that is on the ark. If he does, he will die, because I appear in the cloud over the atonement lid.

³So here is how Aaron must come into the most holy place. He must enter with a young bull as a sin offering, and a ram as a burnt offering.⁴He must put on the holy linen tunic, and he must put the linen undergarments on himself, and he must wear the linen sash and linen turban. These are the holy garments. He must bathe his body in water and then dress himself with these clothes.⁵He must take from the assembly of the people of Israel two male goats as a sin offering and one ram as a burnt offering.

⁶Then Aaron must present the bull as the sin offering, which will be for himself, to make atonement for himself and his family.⁷Then he must take the two goats and set them before Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting.

⁸Then Aaron must cast lots for the two goats, one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat.⁹Aaron must then present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer that goat as a sin offering.¹⁰But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat must be brought alive before Yahweh, to make atonement by sending him away as a scapegoat into the wilderness.

¹¹Then Aaron must present the bull for the sin offering, which will be for himself. He must make atonement for himself and for his family, so he must kill the bull as a sin offering for himself.

¹²Aaron must take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, with his hands full of finely ground sweet incense, and bring these things inside the curtain.¹³There he must put the incense on the fire before Yahweh so that the cloud from the incense may cover the atonement lid over the covenant decrees. He must do this so he will not die.

¹⁴Then he must take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the atonement lid. He must sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times before the atonement lid.

¹⁵Then he must kill the goat for the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the curtain. There he must do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bull: He must sprinkle it on the atonement lid and then before the atonement lid.¹⁶He must make atonement for the holy place because of the unclean actions of the people of Israel, and because of their rebellion and all their sins. He must also do this for the tent of meeting, where Yahweh lives among them, in the presence of their unclean actions.

¹⁷No one must be in the tent of meeting when Aaron enters it to make atonement in the most holy place, and until he comes out and has finished making atonement for himself and for his family, and for all the assembly of Israel.¹⁸He must go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and he must take some of the bull's blood and some of the goat's blood and put it on the horns of the altar all around.¹⁹He must sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times to cleanse it and set it apart to Yahweh, away from the unclean actions of the people of Israel.

²⁰When he has finished atoning for the most holy place, the tent of meeting, and the altar, he must present the live goat.²¹Aaron must lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over him all the evil deeds of the people of Israel, all their rebellion, and all their sins. Then he must put that sinfulness on the head of the goat and send the goat away in the care of a man who is ready to lead the goat into the wilderness.²²The goat must carry on himself all the people's evil deeds to a solitary place. There in the wilderness, the man must let the goat go free.

²³Then Aaron must go back into the tent of meeting and take off the linen garments that he had put on before going into the most holy place, and he must leave those garments there.²⁴He must bathe his body in water in a holy place, and put on his normal garments; then he must go out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering for the people, and in this way make atonement for himself and for the people.

²⁵He must burn the fat of the sin offering on the altar.²⁶The man who let the scapegoat go free must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that, he may come back into the camp.

²⁷The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, must be carried outside the camp. There they must burn their hides, flesh, and dung.²⁸The man who burns those parts must wash his clothes and bathe his body in water; after that, he may come back into the camp.

²⁹It will always be a statute for you that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you must humble yourselves and do no work, whether the native born or a foreigner who is living among you.³⁰This is because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you from all your sins so you will be clean before Yahweh.³¹It is a solemn Sabbath of rest for you, and you must humble yourselves and do no work. This will always be a statute among you.

³²The high priest, the one who will be anointed and ordained to be high priest in his father's place, must make this atonement and put on the linen garments, that is, the holy garments.³³He must make atonement for the most holy place; he must make atonement for the tent of meeting and for the altar, and he must make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

³⁴This will always be a statute for you, to make atonement for the people of Israel because of all their sins, once in every year." This was done as Yahweh commanded Moses.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Speak to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the people of Israel. Tell them what Yahweh has commanded:³'Any man from Israel who kills an ox, lamb, or goat in the camp, or who kills it outside the camp, in order to sacrifice it—⁴if he does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting to offer it as a sacrifice to Yahweh before his tabernacle, that man is guilty of bloodshed. He has shed blood, and that man must be cut off from among his people.

⁵The purpose of this command is so that the people of Israel will bring their sacrifices to Yahweh at the entrance to the tent of meeting, to the priest, to be sacrificed as fellowship offerings to Yahweh, instead of offering sacrifices in an open field.⁶The priest will sprinkle the blood on Yahweh's altar at the entrance to the tent of meeting; he will burn the fat for it to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh.

⁷The people must no longer offer their sacrifices to goat idols, for which they act as prostitutes. This will be a permanent statute for them throughout their people's generations.'

⁸You must say to them, 'Any man of Israel, or any foreigner who lives among them, who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice⁹and does not bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting in order to sacrifice it to Yahweh, that man must be cut off from his people.

¹⁰If any person of the house of Israel, or any foreigner who lives among them consumes any blood, I will set my face against that person who consumes blood and I will cut him off from among his people.¹¹For the life of an animal is in its blood. I have given its blood to you to make atonement on the altar for your lives, because it is the blood that makes atonement, for it is the blood that atones for the life.

¹²Therefore I said to the people of Israel that no one among you must eat blood, neither may any foreigner who lives among you eat blood.¹³Anyone of the people of Israel, or any of the foreigners who live among them, who hunts and kills an animal or bird that may be eaten, that person must pour out its blood and cover the blood with earth.

¹⁴For the life of each creature is its blood. That is why I said to the people of Israel, "You must not eat the blood of any creature, for the life of every living creature is its blood. Whoever eats it must be cut off."

¹⁵Every person who eats an animal that has died or that has been torn by wild animals, whether that person is native born or a foreigner living among you, he must wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and he will be unclean until the evening. Then he will be clean.¹⁶But if he does not wash his clothes or bathe his body, then he must carry his guilt.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'I am Yahweh your God.³You must not do the things that the people do in Egypt, where you lived previously. You must not do the things that the people do in Canaan, the land to which I am taking you. Do not follow their customs.

⁴My laws are what you must do, and my commandments are what you must keep, so that you walk in them, because I am Yahweh your God.⁵Therefore you must keep my decrees and my laws. If a person obeys them, he will live because of them. I am Yahweh.

⁶Do not approach any close relatives to uncover nakedness, I am Yahweh.⁷Do not uncover the nakedness of your father by uncovering the nakedness of your mother; she is your mother, you must not uncover her nakedness.⁸Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's wives; it is your father's nakedness.

⁹Do not uncover the nakedness of your sister, whether she is the daughter of your father or the daughter of your mother, whether she was born in your home or distant from you.¹⁰Do not uncover the nakedness of your son's daughter or your daughter's daughter, for their nakedness is your own nakedness.¹¹Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife's daughter, brought up in your father's family, since she is your sister.

¹²Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's sister; she is your father's relative.¹³Do not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, she is your mother's relative.¹⁴Do not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, that is, you must not approach his wife; she is your aunt.

¹⁵Do not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law; she is your son's wife; you must not uncover her nakedness.¹⁶Do not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife; that is your brother's nakedness.

¹⁷Do not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter; and you must not take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness; they are relatives; that is wickedness.¹⁸You must not marry your wife's sister as a second wife and uncover her nakedness while your first wife is alive.

¹⁹Do not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during the impurity of her uncleanness.²⁰Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife and defile yourself with her in this way.

²¹You must not give any of your children to put them into the fire, so that you sacrifice them to Molech, because you must not profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.

²²Do not lie with other men as with a woman; that is detestable.²³Do not lie with any animal and defile yourself with it. Neither should any woman present herself to an animal to lie with it; that is a perversion.

²⁴Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, for in all these ways the nations are defiled, the nations that I will drive out from before you.²⁵The land became defiled, so I have punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.

²⁶You, therefore, must keep my commandments and decrees, and you must not do any of these detestable things, neither the native-born Israelite nor the foreigner who lives among you.²⁷For these detestable things are what the people who lived in the land before you committed, and now the land is defiled.²⁸Therefore be careful so that the land does not vomit you up also after you have defiled it, as it vomited out the people who were before you.

²⁹Whoever does any of these detestable things, the persons who do such things will be cut off from among their people.³⁰Therefore you must keep my command not to practice any of these detestable customs which were practiced here before you, so that you do not defile yourselves by them. I am Yahweh your God.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Speak to all the assembly of the people of Israel and say to them, 'You must be holy, for I Yahweh your God am holy.³Everyone must respect his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.⁴Do not turn to worthless idols, nor make for yourselves molten gods. I am Yahweh your God.

⁵When you offer a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to Yahweh, you must offer it that you may be accepted.⁶It must be eaten the same day you offer it, or on the next day. If anything remains until the third day, it must be burned up with fire.⁷If it is eaten at all on the third day, it is a foul thing; it must not be accepted,⁸and everyone who eats it must carry his own guilt because he has defiled what is holy to Yahweh, and that person must be cut off from his people.

⁹When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not completely reap the corners of your field, neither will you gather all the gleanings of your harvest.¹⁰You must not gather every grape from your vineyard, nor gather the grapes that have fallen on the ground in your vineyard. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.

¹¹Do not steal.

Do not lie.

Do not deceive each other.

¹²Do not swear by my name falsely and profane the name of your God. I am Yahweh.

¹³Do not oppress your neighbor or rob him. The wages of a hired servant must not stay with you all night until the morning.

¹⁴Do not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but fear your God. I am Yahweh.

¹⁵Do not cause judgment to be false. You must not exalt the poor nor favor the great. Instead, judge your neighbor justly.

¹⁶Do not walk around spreading slander among your people, but seek to protect your neighbor's life. I am Yahweh.

¹⁷Do not hate your brother in your heart. You should rebuke your neighbor frankly, and do not bring sin upon yourself because of him.

¹⁸Do not take vengeance or hold any grudge against any of your people, but instead love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.

¹⁹You must keep my commands.

Do not try to breed your animals with different kinds of other animals.

Do not mix two different kinds of seeds when planting your field.

Do not wear clothing made of two kinds of material mixed together.

²⁰Whoever lies with a slave girl who is promised to a husband, but who has not been ransomed or given her freedom, must be punished. They must not be put to death because she was not free.

²¹A man must bring his guilt offering to Yahweh to the entrance to the tent of meeting—a ram as a guilt offering.²²Then the priest will make atonement for him with the ram for the guilt offering before Yahweh, for the sin that he has committed. Then the sin which he has committed will be forgiven.

²³When you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you must regard the fruit they produce as forbidden to be eaten. The fruit must be forbidden to you for three years. It must not be eaten.²⁴But in the fourth year all the fruit will be holy, a sacrifice of praise to Yahweh.²⁵In the fifth year you may eat the fruit, having waited so that the trees might produce more. I am Yahweh your God.

²⁶Do not eat any meat with blood still in it.

Do not practice divination or sorcery.

²⁷You will not round off the corners of the hair on the sides of your head or shave off the edge of your beard.

²⁸Do not cut your body for the dead or put tattoo marks on your body. I am Yahweh.

²⁹Do not disgrace your daughter by making her a prostitute, or the nation will fall to prostitution and the land will become full of wickedness.

³⁰You must keep my Sabbaths and honor the sanctuary of my tabernacle. I am Yahweh.

³¹Do not turn to sorcerers or spiritists. Do not seek them out, or they will defile you. I am Yahweh your God.

³²You must rise before the gray-headed person and honor the presence of an old man. You must fear your God. I am Yahweh.

³³If a foreigner lives among you in your land, you must not do him any wrong.³⁴The foreigner who lives with you must be to you like the native-born Israelite who lives among you, and you must love him as yourself, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.

³⁵Do no injustice when measuring length, weight, or quantity.³⁶You must use just scales, just weights, a just ephah, and a just hin. I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.³⁷You must obey all my decrees and all my laws, and do them. I am Yahweh.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Say to the people of Israel, 'Anyone among the people of Israel, or any foreigner who lives in Israel who gives any of his children to Molech, must certainly be put to death. The people in the land must stone him with stones.

³I also will set my face against that man and will cut him off from among his people because he has given his child to Molech, so as to defile my holy place and profane my holy name.⁴If the people of the land close their eyes to that man when he gives any of his children to Molech, if they do not put him to death,⁵then I myself will set my face against that man and his clan, and I will cut him off and everyone else who acts like a prostitute as he did in order to act like a prostitute with Molech.

⁶The person who turns to sorcerers and spiritists so as to prostitute themselves with them, I will set my face against that person; I will cut him off from among his people.⁷Therefore consecrate yourselves and be holy, because I am Yahweh your God.¹

⁸You must keep my commands and carry them out. I am Yahweh who sets you apart as holy.

⁹Everyone who curses his father or his mother must surely be put to death. He has cursed his father or his mother, so his blood is upon him.

¹⁰The man who commits adultery with another man's wife, that is, anyone who commits adultery with his neighbor's wife—the adulterer and the adulteress must both certainly be put to death.

¹¹If a man lies with his father's wife, he uncovers his father's nakedness. Both the son and his father's wife must certainly be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹²If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them must certainly be put to death. They have committed perversion. Their blood is upon them.

¹³If a man lies with another man, as with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must surely be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹⁴If a man marries a woman and also marries her mother, this is wickedness. They must be burned, both he and the women, so that there will be no wickedness among you.

¹⁵If a man lies with an animal, he must surely be put to death, and you must kill the animal.

¹⁶If a woman approaches any animal and lies with it, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must certainly be put to death. Their blood is upon them.

¹⁷If a man takes his sister, a daughter of his father or a daughter of his mother, and he sees her nakedness, and she sees his nakedness, it is a shameful thing. They must be cut off in the sight of the children of their people. He has uncovered the nakedness of his sister and he must carry his guilt.

¹⁸If a man lies with a woman during her menstrual period and has uncovered her nakedness, he has uncovered her flow, the fountain of her blood. Both the man and woman must be cut off from among their people.

¹⁹You must not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister, or your father's sister, because you would disgrace your close relative. You must carry your own guilt.

²⁰If a man lies with his aunt, he has uncovered his uncle's nakedness. They will bear responsibility for their sin, and they will die childless.

²¹If a man marries his brother’s wife, that is abhorrent. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness; they will be childless.

²²You must therefore keep all my statutes and all my decrees; you must obey them so that the land into which I am bringing you to live will not vomit you up.

²³You must not walk in the statutes of the nations that I will drive out before you, for they have done all these things, and I detest them.

²⁴I said to you, "You will inherit their land; I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am Yahweh your God, who has separated you from the other peoples.²⁵You must therefore distinguish between the clean animals and the unclean, and between the unclean birds and the clean. You must not make yourselves detestable with unclean animals or birds or with any creature that crawls along the ground, which I have separated as unclean from you.

²⁶You must be holy, for I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have separated you from the other peoples, for you belong to me.

²⁷A man or a woman who is a sorcerer or spiritist must certainly be put to death. The people must stone them with stones. Their blood is upon them.'"

¹Several modern translations have ... because I, Yahweh your God, am holy.

¹Yahweh said to Moses: "Speak to the priests, the sons of Aaron, and say to them, 'No one among you should make himself unclean for those who die among his people,²except for his closest relatives—his mother, his father, his son, his daughter, his brother,³or his virgin sister who is dependent on him, since she has no husband—for her he may make himself unclean.

⁴But he must not make himself unclean for other relatives and so defile himself.

⁵Priests must not shave their heads or shave off the corners of their beards, nor cut their bodies.⁶They must be holy to their God and not disgrace the name of their God, because the priests offer Yahweh's food offerings, the bread of their God. Therefore the priests must be holy.

⁷They must not marry any woman who is a prostitute and who is defiled, and they must not marry a woman divorced from her husband, for he is holy to his God.

⁸You will set him apart, for he is the one who offers bread to your God. He must be holy to you, because I, Yahweh who makes you holy, am holy.

⁹Any daughter of any priest who defiles herself by becoming a prostitute disgraces her father. She must be burned.

¹⁰The one who is the high priest among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured, and who has been consecrated to wear the special garments of the high priest, must not wear his hair loose or tear his clothes.¹¹He must not go anywhere that a dead body is present and defile himself, even for his father or his mother.¹²The high priest must not leave the sanctuary area of the tabernacle or profane the sanctuary of his God, because he has been consecrated as high priest by the anointing oil of his God. I am Yahweh.

¹³The high priest must marry a virgin as his wife.¹⁴He must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a woman who is a prostitute. He will not marry these kinds of women. He may only marry a virgin from his own people,¹⁵so he will not defile his children among his people, for I am Yahweh, who makes him holy.'"

¹⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁷"Speak to Aaron and tell him, 'Whoever of your descendants throughout their generations has a bodily defect, he must not approach to offer the food to his God.

¹⁸Any man who has a bodily defect must not approach Yahweh, such as a blind man or a man who is unable to walk, one who is disfigured or deformed,¹⁹a man with a crippled hand or foot,²⁰a man who has a hump in his back or is abnormally thin or short, or a man with a defect in his eyes, or with a disease, sore, scabs, or whose testicles have been crushed.²¹No man among the descendants of Aaron the priest with a bodily defect may come near to perform the offerings made by fire for Yahweh. Such a man has a bodily defect; he must not come near to offer the bread of his God.

²²He may eat the food of his God, whether some of the most holy or some of the holy.²³However, he must not enter inside the curtain or come near the altar, because he has a bodily defect, so that he does not defile my holy place, for I am Yahweh, who makes them holy.'"²⁴So Moses spoke these words to Aaron, to his sons, and to all the people of Israel.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Speak to Aaron and to his sons, tell them to keep away from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they set apart to me. They must not profane my holy name. I am Yahweh.³Say to them, 'If any of your descendants throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel have set apart to Yahweh, while he is unclean, that person must be cut off from before me: I am Yahweh.

⁴None of the descendants of Aaron who is leprous or has an infection flowing from his body may eat any of the sacrifices made to Yahweh until he is clean. Whoever touches anything unclean through contact with the dead, or by contact with a man who has a flow of semen,⁵or whoever touches any creeping animal that makes him unclean, or any person who makes him unclean, whatever kind of uncleanness it may be—⁶then the priest who touches anything unclean will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy things, unless he has bathed his body in water.

⁷When the sun has set, he will then be clean. After sunset he may eat from the holy things, because they are his food.⁸He must not eat anything found dead or killed by wild animals, by which he would defile himself. I am Yahweh.

⁹The priests must follow my instructions, or they will be guilty of sin and could die for profaning me. I am Yahweh who makes them holy.

¹⁰No one outside the priest's family, including guests of a priest or his hired servants, may eat anything that is holy.¹¹But if a priest buys any slave with his own money, that slave may eat from the things set apart to Yahweh. The priest's family members and slaves born in his house, they also may eat with him from those things.

¹²If a priest's daughter married someone who is not a priest, she may not eat any of the holy contribution offerings.¹³But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or divorced, and if she has no child, and if she returns to live in her father's house as in her youth, she may eat from her father's food. But no one who is not in the priestly family may eat from the priest's food.

¹⁴If a man eats a holy food without knowing it, then he must repay the priest for it; he must add one-fifth to it and give it back to the priest.

¹⁵The people of Israel must not profane the holy things that they have raised high and presented to Yahweh,¹⁶and cause themselves to carry the sin that would make them guilty of eating the holy food, for I am Yahweh who makes them holy.'"

¹⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁸"Speak to Aaron and his sons, and to all the people of Israel. Say to them, 'Any man from the house of Israel, or an alien living in Israel, when they present a sacrifice—whether it is to fulfill a vow, or whether it is a freewill offering, or they present to Yahweh a burnt offering,¹⁹if it is to be accepted, they must offer a male animal without blemish from the cattle, sheep, or goats.

²⁰But you must not offer whatever has a blemish. I will not accept it on your behalf.

²¹Whoever offers a sacrifice of fellowship offerings from the herd or the flock to Yahweh to fulfill a vow, or as a freewill offering, it must be unblemished to be accepted. There must be no defect in the animal.

²²You must not offer animals that are blind, disabled, or maimed, or that have warts, sores, or scabs. You must not offer these to Yahweh as a sacrifice by fire on the altar.²³You may present as a freewill offering an ox or a lamb that is deformed or small, but an offering like that will not be accepted for a vow.

²⁴Do not offer any animal to Yahweh that has bruised, crushed, torn, or cut testicles. Do not do this within your land.²⁵You must not present the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner. Those animals are deformed and have defects in them, they will not be accepted for you.'"

²⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²⁷"When a calf or a sheep or a goat is born, it must remain seven days with its mother. Then from the eighth day on, it may be accepted as a sacrifice for an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

²⁸Do not kill a cow or ewe along with its young, both on the same day.²⁹When you sacrifice a thank offering to Yahweh, you must sacrifice it in an acceptable way.³⁰It must be eaten on the same day that it is sacrificed. You must leave none of it until the next morning. I am Yahweh.

³¹So you must keep my commandments and carry them out. I am Yahweh.

³²You must not profane my holy name. I must be acknowledged as holy by the people of Israel. I am Yahweh who makes you holy,³³who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am Yahweh."

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses:²"Speak to the people of Israel, and say to them, 'These are the appointed festivals for Yahweh, which you must proclaim as holy assemblies; they are my regular festivals.

³You may work for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, a holy assembly. You must do no work because it is a Sabbath for Yahweh in all the places where you live.

⁴These are the appointed festivals of Yahweh, the holy assemblies that you must announce at their appointed times:⁵In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is Yahweh's Passover.⁶On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread for Yahweh. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

⁷The first day you must set apart to gather together; you will not do any of your regular work.⁸You will present a food offering to Yahweh for seven days. The seventh day is an assembly set apart to Yahweh, and on that day you must not do any regular work.'"

⁹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁰"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you have come into the land that I will give you, and when you reap its harvest, then you must bring a bundle of the firstfruit of the grain to the priest.¹¹He will raise the bundle of grain before Yahweh and present it to him, for it to be accepted on your behalf. It is on the day after the Sabbath that the priest will raise it and present it to me.

¹²On the day when you raise the bundle of grain and present it to me, you must offer a male lamb one year old and without blemish as a burnt offering to Yahweh.¹³The grain offering must be two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, an offering made by fire to Yahweh, to produce a sweet aroma, and with it a drink offering of wine, a fourth of a hin.¹⁴You must eat no bread, nor roasted or fresh grain, until the same day you have brought this offering to your God. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations, in every place that you live.

¹⁵Beginning from the day after the Sabbath—that was the day you brought the bundle of grain as the wave offering—count seven full weeks.¹⁶You must count fifty days, which would be the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you must present an offering of new grain to Yahweh.

¹⁷You must bring out of your houses two loaves made from two-tenths of an ephah. They must be made from fine flour and baked with yeast; they will be a wave offering of the firstfruits to Yahweh.¹⁸You must present with the bread seven lambs one year old and without blemish, one young bull from the herd, and two rams. They must be a burnt offering to Yahweh, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire and producing a sweet aroma for Yahweh.

¹⁹You must offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old for a sacrifice, as fellowship offerings.²⁰The priest must wave them together with the bread of the firstfruits before Yahweh, and present them to him as an offering with the two lambs. They will be holy offerings to Yahweh for the priest.²¹You must make a proclamation on that same day. There will be a holy assembly, and you must do no ordinary work. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in all the places where you live.

²²When you reap the harvest of your land, you must not completely reap the corners of your fields, and you must not gather the gleanings of your harvest. You must leave them for the poor and for the foreigner. I am Yahweh your God.'"

²³Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²⁴"Speak to the people of Israel and say, 'In the seventh month, the first day of that month will be a solemn rest for you, a memorial with the blowing of trumpets, and a holy assembly.²⁵You must do no ordinary work, and you must offer a sacrifice made by fire to Yahweh.'"

²⁶Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²⁷"Now the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It is to be a holy assembly, and you must humble yourselves and present to Yahweh an offering by fire.

²⁸You must do no work on that day because it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for yourselves before Yahweh your God.²⁹Whoever does not humble himself on that day must be cut off from his people.

³⁰Whoever does any work on that day, I, Yahweh, will destroy him from among his people.³¹You must do no work of any kind on that day. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in all the places where you live.³²This day must be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you must humble yourselves the ninth day of the month at the evening. From evening to evening you are to observe your Sabbath."

³³Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,³⁴"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, 'On the fifteenth day of the seventh month will be the Festival of Shelters for Yahweh. It will last seven days.

³⁵On the first day there must be a holy assembly. You must do no ordinary work.³⁶For seven days you must offer a sacrifice made by fire to Yahweh. On the eighth day there must be a holy assembly, and you must make a sacrifice offered with fire to Yahweh. This is a solemn assembly, and you must not do any ordinary work.

³⁷These are the appointed festivals for Yahweh, which you must proclaim as holy assemblies to offer sacrifice by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering and a grain offering, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its own day.³⁸These festivals will be in addition to the Sabbaths of Yahweh and your gifts, all your vows, and all your freewill offerings that you give to Yahweh.

³⁹Regarding the Festival of Shelters, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you must keep this festival of Yahweh for seven days. The first day will be a solemn rest, and the eighth day will also be a solemn rest.

⁴⁰On the first day you must take the best fruit from the trees, branches of palm trees, and leafy branches of thick trees, and willows from streams, and you will rejoice before Yahweh your God for seven days.⁴¹For seven days each year, you must celebrate this festival for Yahweh. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations in all the places where you live. You must celebrate this festival in the seventh month.

⁴²You must live in small shelters for seven days. All who were born in Israel must live in small shelters for seven days,⁴³so that your descendants, generation after generation, may learn how I made the people of Israel live in such shelters when I led them out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'"⁴⁴In this way, Moses announced to the people of Israel the appointed festivals for Yahweh.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,²"Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil beaten from olives to be used in the lamp, that the light may burn continually.

³Outside the curtain before the covenant decrees in the tent of meeting, Aaron must continually, from evening to morning, keep the lamp lit before Yahweh. This will be a permanent statute throughout your people's generations.⁴The high priest must always keep the lamps lit before Yahweh, the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold.

⁵You must take fine flour and bake twelve loaves with it. There must be two-tenths of an ephah in each loaf.⁶Then you must set them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold before Yahweh.

⁷You must put pure incense along each row of loaves as a representative offering. This incense will be an offering made by fire for Yahweh.⁸Every Sabbath day the high priest must regularly set out the bread before Yahweh on behalf of the people of Israel, as a sign of an everlasting covenant.⁹This offering will be for Aaron and his sons, and they are to eat it in a place that is holy, for it is a portion from the offerings to Yahweh made by fire."

¹⁰Now it happened that the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. This son of the Israelite woman fought against a man of Israel in the camp.¹¹The son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the name of Yahweh and cursed God, so the people brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, from the tribe of Dan.¹²They held him in custody until Yahweh himself should declare his will to them.

¹³Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,¹⁴"Take the man who has cursed God outside the camp. All who heard him must lay their hands on his head, and then the entire assembly must stone him.

¹⁵You must explain to the people of Israel and say, 'Whoever curses his God must carry his own sin.¹⁶He who blasphemes the name of Yahweh must surely be put to death. All the assembly must certainly stone him, whether he is a foreigner or a native-born Israelite. If anyone blasphemes the name of Yahweh, he must be put to death.

¹⁷If anyone strikes down another human being, he must certainly be put to death.¹⁸If anyone strikes down someone's animal, he must pay it back, life for life.

¹⁹If anyone injures his neighbor, it must be done to him as he did to his neighbor:²⁰fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has caused an injury to a person, so must it also be done to him.²¹Anyone who kills an animal must pay it back, and anyone who kills a person must be put to death.

²²You must have the same law for both the foreigner and the native-born Israelite, for I am Yahweh your God.'"²³So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and the people brought the man outside the camp, the one who had cursed Yahweh. They stoned him with stones. The people of Israel carried out the command of Yahweh to Moses.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying,²"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land that I give you, then the land must be made to keep a Sabbath for Yahweh.

³You must plant your field for six years, and for six years you must prune your vineyard and gather the produce.⁴But in the seventh year, a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land must be observed, a Sabbath for Yahweh. You must not plant your field or prune your vineyard.

⁵You must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grows by itself, and you must not conduct an organized harvest of whatever grapes grow on your unpruned vines. This will be a year of solemn rest for the land.⁶Whatever the unworked land grows during the Sabbath year will be food for you. You, your male and female servants, your hired servants and the foreigners who live with you may gather food,⁷and your livestock and also wild animals may eat whatever the land produces.

⁸You must count off seven Sabbaths of years, that is, seven times seven years, so that there will be seven Sabbaths of years, totaling forty-nine years.⁹Then you must blow a loud ram's horn everywhere on the tenth day of the seventh month. On the Day of Atonement you must blow a ram's horn throughout all your land.

¹⁰You must set apart the fiftieth year to Yahweh and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It will be a Jubilee for you, in which property and slaves must be returned to his own clan.

¹¹The fiftieth year will be a Jubilee for you. You must not plant or conduct an organized harvest, and you must not gather the grapes that grow on the unpruned vines.¹²For it is a Jubilee, which will be holy for you. You must eat the produce that grows by itself out of the fields.

¹³You must return everyone to his own property in this year of Jubilee.

¹⁴If you sell any land to your neighbor or buy any land from your neighbor, you must not cheat or wrong each other.

¹⁵If you buy land from your neighbor, consider the number of years and crops that can be harvested until the next Jubilee. Your neighbor selling the land must consider that also.¹⁶A larger number of years until the next Jubilee will increase the value of land, and a smaller number of years until the next Jubilee will decrease the value, because the number of harvests the land will produce for the new owner is related to the number of years before the next Jubilee.¹⁷You must not cheat or wrong one another; instead, you must honor your God, for I am Yahweh your God.

¹⁸Therefore you must obey my decrees, keep my laws, and carry them out. Then you will live in the land in safety.¹⁹The land will yield its produce, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.

²⁰You might say, "What will we eat during the seventh year? Look, we cannot plant or gather our produce."²¹I will command my blessing to come upon you in the sixth year, and it will produce harvest enough for three years.²²You will plant in the eighth year and continue to eat from the previous years' produce and the stored food. Until the harvest of the ninth year comes in, you will be able to eat from the provisions stored in the previous years.

²³The land must not be sold to a new permanent owner, because the land is mine. You are all foreigners and sojourners on my land.²⁴You must observe the right of redemption for all the land that you acquire; you must allow the land to be bought back by the family from whom you bought it.²⁵If your fellow Israelite became poor and for that reason sold some of his property, then his nearest relative must come and redeem what his brother has sold.

²⁶If a man has no relative to redeem his property, but if he has prospered and has the ability to redeem it,²⁷then he may calculate the years since the land was sold and repay the balance to the man to whom he sold it. Then he may return to his own property.²⁸But if he is not able to get the land back for himself, then the land he has sold will remain in the ownership of the one who bought it until the year of Jubilee. At the year of Jubilee, the land will be returned to the man who sold it, and the original owner will return to his property.

²⁹If a man sells a house in a walled city, then he may buy it back within a whole year after it was sold. For a full year he will have the right of redemption.³⁰If the house is not redeemed within a full year, then the house in the walled city will become the permanent property of the buyer throughout his generations. It is not to be returned in the year of Jubilee.

³¹But the houses of the villages that have no wall around them will be considered as the field of the land. They may be redeemed, and they must be returned during the year of Jubilee.³²As for the cities of the Levites, the houses owned by the Levites in the cities they possess may be redeemed at any time.

³³If one of the Levites does not redeem a house he sold, then the house that was sold in the city where it is located must be returned in the year of Jubilee, for the houses of the cities of the Levites are their property among the people of Israel.³⁴But the fields around their cities may not be sold because they are the permanent property of the Levites.

³⁵If your fellow countryman becomes poor, so that he can no longer provide for himself, then you must help him as you would help a foreigner or a sojourner so that he may live among you.³⁶Do not take from him interest or usury, but honor your God so that your brother may keep living with you.³⁷You must not give him a loan of money and charge interest, nor sell him your food to earn a profit.³⁸I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, in order that I might give you the land of Canaan, and that I might be your God.

³⁹If your fellow countryman has become poor and sells himself to you, you must not make him work like a slave.⁴⁰Treat him as a hired servant. He must be like a sojourner. He will serve with you until the year of Jubilee.⁴¹Then he will go away from you, he and his children with him, and he will return to his own clan and to his fathers' property.

⁴²For they are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. They will not be sold as slaves.⁴³You must not rule over them severely, but you must honor your God.⁴⁴As for your male and female slaves, whom you can obtain from the nations who live around you, you may buy slaves from them.

⁴⁵You may also buy slaves from the foreigners who are living among you and from their clans who are with you, who have been born in your land, and they may become your property.⁴⁶You may provide such slaves as an inheritance for your children after you, to hold as property, and make them slaves for life, but you must not rule over your brothers among the people of Israel severely.

⁴⁷If a foreigner or someone living temporarily with you has become wealthy, and if one of your fellow Israelites has become poor and sells himself to that foreigner, or to a member of a foreigner's clan,⁴⁸after your fellow Israelite has been bought, he may be bought back. Someone in his family may redeem him.

⁴⁹It might be the person's uncle, or his uncle's son, who redeems him, or anyone who is in his clan. Or, if he has become prosperous, he may redeem himself.⁵⁰He must bargain with the man who bought him; they must count the years from the year he sold himself to his purchaser until the year of Jubilee. The price of his redemption must be figured in keeping with the rate paid to a hired servant, for the number of years he might continue to work for the one who bought him.

⁵¹If there are still many years until the year of Jubilee, he must pay back as the price for his redemption an amount of money that is in proportion to the number of those years.⁵²If there are only a few years to the year of Jubilee, then he must bargain with his purchaser to reflect the number of years left before the year of Jubilee, and he must pay for his redemption in keeping with the number of years.

⁵³He is to be to the purchaser like a man hired year by year. The purchaser is not to rule over him severely.⁵⁴If he is not redeemed by these means, then he must serve until the year of Jubilee, he and his children with him.⁵⁵To me the people of Israel are servants. They are my servants whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am Yahweh your God.'"

¹"You must make no idols, and you must not lift up a carved figure or a sacred stone pillar, and you must not place any carved stone image in your land to which you bow down, for I am Yahweh your God.²You must keep my Sabbaths and honor my sanctuary. I am Yahweh.

³If you walk in my laws and keep my commandments and obey them,⁴then I will give you rain in its season; the land will yield its produce, and the trees of the field will yield their fruit.

⁵Your threshing will continue to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest will extend to the planting season. You will eat your bread to the full and live safely where you make your home in the land.⁶I will give peace in the land; you will lie down with nothing to make you afraid. I will take the dangerous animals away from the land, and the sword will not pass through your land.

⁷You will chase your enemies, and they will fall before you by the sword.⁸Five of you will chase away a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand; your enemies will fall before you by the sword.

⁹I will look at you with favor and make you fruitful and multiply you; I will establish my covenant with you.¹⁰You will eat food stored a long time. You will have to bring out the stored food because you will need the room for the new harvest.

¹¹I will place my tabernacle among you, and I will not detest you.¹²I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people.¹³I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would not be their slaves. I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you to walk standing up straight.

¹⁴But if you will not listen to me, and will not obey all these commandments,¹⁵and if you reject my decrees and detest my laws, so that you will not obey all my commandments, but break my covenant—

¹⁶if you do these things, then I will do this to you: I will inflict terror on you, diseases and fever that will destroy the eyes and will drain away your life. You will plant your seeds in vain, because your enemies will eat their produce.¹⁷I will set my face against you, and you will be overpowered by your enemies. Men who hate you will rule over you, and you will run away, even when no one is chasing you.

¹⁸If after all this you do not listen to me, then I will punish you seven times as severely for your sins.¹⁹I will break your pride in your power. I will make the sky over you like iron and your land like bronze.²⁰Your strength will be used up in vain, because your land will not produce its harvest, and your trees in the land will not produce their fruit.

²¹If you walk against me and will not listen to me, I will bring seven times more blows on you, in proportion to your sins.²²I will send wild animals against you, which will rob you of your children, destroy your livestock, and make you so few in number that your roads will be desolate.

²³If in spite of these things you still do not accept my correction and you continue to walk in opposition to me,²⁴then I will also walk in opposition to you, and I myself will punish you seven times because of your sins.

²⁵I will bring a sword on you that will execute vengeance for breaking the covenant. You will be gathered together inside your cities, and I will send a plague among you there, and then you will be delivered into the hand of your enemy.²⁶When I cut off your staff of food, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will distribute your bread by weight. You will eat but not be satisfied.

²⁷If you do not listen to me despite these things, but continue to walk against me,²⁸then I will walk against you in anger, and I will punish you even seven more times as much for your sins.

²⁹You will eat the flesh of your sons; you will eat the flesh of your daughters.³⁰I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and throw your corpses on the corpses of your idols, and I myself will abhor you.

³¹I will turn your cities into ruins and destroy your sacred places. I will not be pleased with the aroma of your offerings.³²I will devastate the land. Your enemies who will live there will be shocked at the devastation.³³I will scatter you among the nations, and I will draw out my sword and follow you. Your land will be devastated, and your cities will be ruined.

³⁴Then the land will enjoy its Sabbaths for as long as it lies desolate and you are in your enemies' lands. During that time, the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbaths.³⁵As long as it lies desolate, it will have rest, which will be the rest that it did not have with your Sabbaths, when you lived in it.

³⁶As for those of you who are left in your enemies' lands, I will send fear into your hearts so that even the sound of a leaf blowing in the wind will startle you, and you will flee as though you were fleeing from the sword. You will fall, even when no one is chasing you.

³⁷You will stumble over each other as though you were running from the sword, even though no one is chasing you. You will have no power to stand before your enemies.³⁸You will perish among the nations, and your enemies' land will itself devour you.³⁹Those who are left among you will waste away in their iniquity, there in your enemies' lands, and because of their fathers' iniquities they will waste away as well.

⁴⁰Yet if they confess their iniquity and their fathers' iniquity, and the unfaithfulness that they committed against me, and also their walking against me—⁴¹which caused me to turn against them and I brought them into the land of their enemies—if their uncircumcised hearts become humbled, and if they accept the punishment for their sins,⁴²then will I call to mind my covenant with Jacob, my covenant with Isaac, and my covenant with Abraham; also, I will call the land to mind.

⁴³The land will be abandoned by them, so it will be pleased with its Sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will have to pay the penalty for their iniquity because they themselves rejected my decrees and detested my laws.

⁴⁴Yet despite all this, when they are in their enemies' land, I will not reject them, neither will I detest them so as to completely destroy them and do away with my covenant with them, for I am Yahweh their God.⁴⁵But for their sakes I will call to mind the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, so that I might be their God. I am Yahweh."

⁴⁶These are the commandments, decrees, and laws that Yahweh made between himself and the people of Israel at Mount Sinai through Moses.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'If anyone makes a special vow to Yahweh, use the following valuations.

³Your standard value for a male from twenty to sixty years old must be fifty shekels of silver, after the shekel of the sanctuary.⁴For a female of the same ages your standard value must be thirty shekels.

⁵From five years to twenty years old your standard value for a male must be twenty shekels, and for the female ten shekels.⁶From one month old to five years your standard value for a male must be five shekels of silver, and for a female three shekels of silver.

⁷From sixty years old and up for a male your standard value must be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels.⁸But if the person making the vow cannot pay the standard value, then the person being given must be presented to the priest, and the priest will value that person by the amount the one making the vow is able to afford.

⁹If what is vowed is an animal that people can give as an offering to Yahweh, any part of that animal that is given to Yahweh becomes holy.¹⁰The person must not exchange it or substitute a good one for a bad one, or a bad for a good one. If he substitutes one animal for another, both it and the substitute become holy.

¹¹However, if what is vowed is an unclean animal that people cannot give as an offering to Yahweh, then the person must bring the animal to the priest.¹²The priest will value it, by the market value of the animal. Whatever value the priest places on the animal, that will be its value.¹³If the owner wishes to redeem it, then a fifth of its value is to be added to its redemption price.

¹⁴When a man sets apart his house as a holy gift to Yahweh, then the priest will set its value as either good or bad. Whatever the priest values it, so it will be.¹⁵But if the owner who set apart his home wishes to redeem it, he must add a fifth of its value to its redemption price, and it will belong to him.

¹⁶If a man sets apart to Yahweh some of the fields of his property, then the valuation of it will be in proportion to the amount of seed required to plant it—a homer of barley will be valued at fifty shekels of silver.

¹⁷If he sets apart his field during the year of Jubilee, the valuation of it will stand.¹⁸But if he sets apart his field after the year of Jubilee, then the priest must calculate the value of the field by the number of years that remain until the next year of Jubilee, and the valuation of it must be reduced.

¹⁹If the man who set apart the field wishes to redeem it, then he must add a fifth to the valuation, and it will belong to him.²⁰If he does not redeem the field, or if he has sold the field to another man, it cannot be redeemed any more.²¹Rather, the field, when it is released in the year of Jubilee, will be a holy gift to Yahweh, like the field that has been completely given to Yahweh. It will belong to the priest.

²²If a man sets apart a field that he has bought, but that field is not part of his family's land,²³then the priest will figure the valuation of it up to the year of Jubilee, and the man must pay its value on that day as a holy gift to Yahweh.

²⁴In the year of Jubilee, the field will return to the man from whom it was bought, to the one whose property the land is.²⁵All the valuations must be set by the weight of the sanctuary shekel. Twenty gerahs must be the equivalent of one shekel.

²⁶No one may set apart the firstborn among animals, since the firstborn already belongs to Yahweh; whether ox or sheep, it is Yahweh's.²⁷If it is an unclean animal, then the owner may buy it back at the valuation of it, and a fifth must be added to that value. If the animal is not redeemed, then it is to be sold at the set value.

²⁸But nothing that a man devotes to Yahweh, from all that he has, whether man or animal, or his family land, may be sold or redeemed. Everything that is devoted is very holy to Yahweh.²⁹No ransom may be paid for the person who is devoted for destruction. That person must be put to death.

³⁰All the tithe of the land, whether grain grown on the land or fruit from the trees, is Yahweh's. It is holy to Yahweh.³¹If a man redeems any of his tithe, he must add a fifth to its value.

³²As for every tenth of the herd or the flock, whatever passes under the shepherd's rod, one-tenth must be set apart to Yahweh.³³The shepherd must not search for the better or the worse animals, and he must not substitute one for another. If he changes it at all, then both it and that for which it is changed will be holy. It cannot be redeemed.'"

³⁴These are the commandments that Yahweh gave at Mount Sinai to Moses for the people of Israel.

Numbers

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses in the tent of meeting in the wilderness of Sinai. This happened on the first day of the second month during the second year after the people of Israel had come out from the land of Egypt. Yahweh said,²"Conduct a census of the whole congregation of the men of Israel by their clans, by their ancestral households. Number them by name. Count all the males man by man,³who is twenty years old or older. Count all who can fight as soldiers for Israel. You and Aaron must record the number of men in their armed groups.

⁴A man from each tribe, a clan head, must serve with you as his tribe's leader. Each leader must lead the men who will fight for his ancestors' household.⁵These are the names of the leaders who must fight with you:

From the tribe of Reuben, Elizur son of Shedeur;

⁶from the tribe of Simeon, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai;

⁷from the tribe of Judah, Nahshon son of Amminadab;

⁸from the tribe of Issachar, Nethanel son of Zuar;

⁹from the tribe of Zebulun, Eliab son of Helon;

¹⁰from the tribe of Ephraim son of Joseph, Elishama son of Ammihud;

from the tribe of Manasseh, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur;

¹¹from the tribe of Benjamin, Abidan son of Gideoni;

¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai;

¹³from the tribe of Asher, Pagiel son of Okran;

¹⁴from the tribe of Gad, Eliasaph son of Deuel;

¹⁵and from the tribe of Naphtali, Ahira son of Enan."

¹⁶These were the men appointed from the people. They led their ancestors' tribes. They were the leaders of the clans in Israel.

¹⁷Moses and Aaron took these men, who were recorded by name,¹⁸and they assembled the whole community together on the first day of the second month. The men twenty years old and older registered their ancestry by name, by their clans, by their ancestral households. They were numbered man by man.¹⁹Then Moses recorded their numbers in the wilderness of Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him to do.

²⁰From the descendants of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted man by man.²¹They counted 46,500 men from the tribe of Reuben.

²²From the descendants of Simeon, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the mustered men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted man by man.²³They counted 59,300 men from the tribe of Simeon.

²⁴From the descendants of Gad, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.²⁵They counted 45,650 men from the tribe of Gad.

²⁶From the descendants of Judah, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.²⁷They counted 74,600 men from the tribe of Judah.

²⁸From the descendants of Issachar, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.²⁹They counted 54,400 men from the tribe of Issachar.

³⁰From the descendants of Zebulun, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.³¹They counted 57,400 men from the tribe of Zebulun.

³²From the descendants of Ephraim son of Joseph, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.³³They counted 40,500 men from the tribe of Ephraim.

³⁴From the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.³⁵They counted 32,200 men from the tribe of Manasseh.

³⁶From the descendants of Benjamin, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.³⁷They counted 35,400 men from the tribe of Benjamin.

³⁸From the descendants of Dan, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.³⁹They counted 62,700 from the tribe of Dan.

⁴⁰From the descendants of Asher, from the records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.⁴¹They counted 41,500 men from the tribe of Asher.

⁴²From the descendants of Naphtali, from the genealogical records, by their clans, by their ancestral households, the names of all the men twenty years old or older, able to go to war, were counted.⁴³They counted 53,400 from the tribe of Naphtali.

⁴⁴Moses and Aaron counted all these men, together with the twelve men who were leading Israel, each from his ancestor's household.⁴⁵So all the men of Israel from twenty years old and older, all who could fight in war, were counted in each of their ancestral households.⁴⁶They counted 603,550 men.

⁴⁷But the Levites were not counted according to their ancestors' tribes⁴⁸because Yahweh had said to Moses,⁴⁹"You must not count the tribe of Levi or include them in the total of the people of Israel.

⁵⁰Rather, assign the Levites to care for the tabernacle of the covenant decrees, and to care for all the furnishings in the tabernacle and for everything in it. The Levites must carry the tabernacle, and they must carry the tabernacle's furnishings. They must care for the tabernacle and make their camp around it.

⁵¹When the tabernacle is to move to another place, the Levites must take it down. When the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites must set it up. Any stranger who comes near the tabernacle must be killed.⁵²When the people of Israel set up their tents, each man must do so near the banner that belongs to his armed group.

⁵³However, the Levites must set up their tents around the tabernacle of the covenant decrees so that my anger does not come upon the people of Israel. The Levites must perform the duties of the tabernacle of the covenant decrees."⁵⁴The people of Israel did all these things. They did everything that Yahweh commanded through Moses.

¹Yahweh spoke again to Moses and Aaron. He said,²"Each one of the people of Israel must camp around his standard, with the banners of their fathers' houses. They will camp around the tent of meeting on every side.

³Those will be camping on the east of the tent of meeting, where the sun rises, they are the camp of Judah by their armed groups, and they are camping under their standard. Nahshon son of Amminadab is the leader of the people of Judah.⁴The number of the host of the people of Judah is 74,600.

⁵The tribe of Issachar must camp next to Judah. Nethanel son of Zuar must lead the army of Issachar.⁶The number of the host of the people of Issachar is 54,400 men.

⁷The tribe of Zebulun must camp next to Issachar. Eliab son of Helon must lead the army of Zebulun.⁸The number of the host of the people of Zebulun is 57,400.

⁹All the number of the camp of Judah is 186,400. They will set out first.

¹⁰On the south side will be the camp of Reuben under their standard. The leader of the camp of Reuben is Elizur son of Shedeur.¹¹The number of the host of the people of Reuben is 46,500.

¹²Simeon is camping next to Reuben. The leader of the tribe of Simeon is Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.¹³The number of the host of the people of Simeon is 59,300.

¹⁴The tribe of Gad is next. The leader of the people of Gad is Eliasaph son of Deuel.¹⁵The number of the host of the people of Gad is 45,650.

¹⁶The number of all the men assigned to the camp of Reuben, according to their divisions, is 151,450. They will set out second.

¹⁷Next, the tent of meeting must go out from the camp with the Levites in the middle of all the camps. They must go out from the camp in the same order as they come into the camp. Every man must be in his place, by his banner.

¹⁸On the west side will be the divisions of the camp of Ephraim under their standard. The leader of the people of Ephraim is Elishama son of Ammihud.¹⁹The number of the host of the people of Ephraim is 40,500.

²⁰Next to them is the tribe of Manasseh. The leader of Manasseh is Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.²¹The number of the host of the people of Manasseh is 32,200.

²²Next will be the tribe of Benjamin. The leader of Benjamin is Abidan son of Gideoni.²³The number of the host of the people of Benjamin is 35,400.

²⁴All those numbered in the camp of Ephraim is 108,100. They will set out third.

²⁵On the north will be the divisions of the camp of Dan. The leader of the people of Dan is Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.²⁶The number the host of the people of Dan is 62,700.

²⁷The people of the tribe of Asher camp next to Dan. The leader of Asher is Pagiel son of Okran.²⁸The number the host of the people of Asher is 41,500.

²⁹The tribe of Naphtali is next. The leader of Naphtali is Ahira son of Enan.³⁰The number of the host of the people of Naphtali is 53,400.

³¹All those numbered in the camp with Dan is 157,600. They will go out from the camp last, under their banner."

³²These are the descendants of Israel, numbered according to their ancestral households. All those counted in their camps, by their divisions, are 603,550.³³But the Levites were not counted along with the people of Israel, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

³⁴The people of Israel did everything that Yahweh commanded Moses. They camped by their banners. They went out from the camp by their clans, in the order of their ancestor's households.

¹Now this is the history of the descendants of Aaron and Moses when Yahweh spoke with Moses on Mount Sinai.²The names of Aaron's sons were Nadab the firstborn, and Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

³These are the names of the sons of Aaron, the priests who were anointed and who were ordained to serve as priests.⁴But Nadab and Abihu fell dead before Yahweh when they offered to him unacceptable fire in the wilderness of Sinai. Nadab and Abihu had no children, so just Eleazar and Ithamar served as priests with Aaron their father.

⁵Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,⁶"Bring the tribe of Levi and present them to Aaron the priest for them to help him.

⁷They must perform the duties on behalf of Aaron and the whole community before the tent of meeting. They must serve in the tabernacle.⁸They must care for all the furnishings in the tent of meeting, and they must help the tribes of Israel to carry out the tabernacle service.

⁹You must give the Levites to Aaron and his sons. They are wholly given to help him serve the people of Israel.¹⁰You must appoint Aaron and his sons as priests, but any foreigner who comes near must be put to death."

¹¹Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,¹²"Look, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel. I have done this instead of taking each firstborn, who opens the womb, from among the people of Israel. The Levites belong to me,¹³for all the firstborn belong to me. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set apart for myself all the firstborn in Israel, both men and animals. They belong to me. I am Yahweh."

¹⁴Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai. He said,¹⁵"Count the descendants of Levi in each family, in their clans. Count every male who is one month old and older."¹⁶Moses counted them, following the word of Yahweh, just as he was commanded to do.

¹⁷The names of the sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹⁸These are the names of the sons of Gershon, by their clans: Libni and Shimei.

¹⁹The sons of Kohath, by their clans: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel.

²⁰The sons of Merari, by their clans: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites, listed clan by clan.

²¹The clans of the Libnites and the Shimeites come from Gershon. These are the clans of the Gershonites.²²All the males from a month old and older were counted, totaling 7,500.²³The clans of the Gershonites must camp on the west side of the tabernacle.

²⁴Eliasaph son of Lael must lead the clans of the descendants of the Gershonites.²⁵The family of Gershon must care for the tent of meeting including the tabernacle. They must care for the tent, its covering, and the curtain used as the entrance to the tent of meeting.²⁶They must care for the courtyard hangings, the curtain at the courtyard entrance—the courtyard that surrounds the sanctuary and the altar. They must care for the ropes of the tent of meeting and for everything in it.

²⁷These clans come from Kohath: the clan of the Amramites, the clan of the Izharites, the clan of the Hebronites, and the clan of the Uzzielites. These clans belong to the Kohathites.²⁸8,600 males have been counted aged one month old and older to perform the duties of the sanctuary.²⁹The Kohath clans must camp on the south side of the tabernacle.

³⁰Elizaphan son of Uzziel must lead the ancestral households of the Kohathites.³¹They must care for the ark, the table, the lampstand, the altars, the holy things that are used in their service, the curtain, and all the work around it.³²Eleazar son of Aaron the priest must lead the men who lead the Levites. He must supervise the men who perform the duties of the holy place.

³³Two clans have come from Merari: the clan of the Mahlites and the clan of the Mushites. These clans have come from Merari.³⁴6,200 males have been counted aged one month old and older.³⁵Zuriel son of Abihail must lead the ancestral households of Merari. They must camp on the north side of the tabernacle.

³⁶The descendants of Merari must care for the framing of the tabernacle, the crossbars, posts, bases, all the hardware, and everything related to them, including³⁷the pillars and posts of the courtyard that surround the tabernacle, with their sockets, pegs, and ropes.

³⁸Moses and Aaron and his sons must camp on the east side of the tabernacle, in front of the tent of meeting, toward the sunrise. They are responsible for performing the duties of the sanctuary and the duties of the people of Israel. Any foreigner who approaches the sanctuary must be put to death.

³⁹Moses and Aaron counted all the males in the clans of Levi who were aged one month old and older, just as Yahweh commanded. They counted twenty-two thousand men.

⁴⁰Yahweh said to Moses, "Count all the firstborn males of the people of Israel who are aged one month old and older. List their names.⁴¹You must take the Levites for me—I am Yahweh—instead of all the firstborn of the people of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of the firstborn of the livestock of the descendants of Israel."

⁴²Moses counted all the firstborn people of Israel as Yahweh had commanded him to do.⁴³He counted all the firstborn males by name, aged one month old and older. He counted 22,273 men.

⁴⁴Again, Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,⁴⁵"Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel, and take the Levites' livestock instead of the people's livestock. The Levites belong to me—I am Yahweh.

⁴⁶For the redemption of the 273 firstborn sons of Israel who exceed the number of the Levites⁴⁷you must collect five shekels for each of them. You must use the shekel of the sanctuary as your standard weight. The shekel equals twenty gerahs.⁴⁸You must give the redemption money that you paid to Aaron and his sons."

⁴⁹So Moses collected the redemption money from those who exceeded the number of those redeemed by the Levites.⁵⁰Moses collected the money from the firstborn of the people of Israel. He collected 1,365 shekels, weighing with the shekel of the sanctuary.⁵¹Moses gave the redemption money to Aaron and to his sons. Moses did everything he was told to do by Yahweh's word, as Yahweh had commanded him.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He said,²"Conduct a census of the male descendants of Kohath from among the Levites, by their clans and ancestral households.³Count all the men who are thirty to fifty years old. These men must join the company to serve in the tent of meeting.⁴The descendants of Kohath must take care of the most holy things reserved for me in the tent of meeting.

⁵When the camp prepares to move forward, Aaron and his sons must go into the tent, take down the screening curtain that separates the most holy place from the holy place and cover the ark of the testimony with it.⁶They must cover the ark with a piece of fine leather. They must spread a cloth that is completely blue over it. They must insert the poles to carry it.

⁷They are to spread a blue cloth on the table of the bread of the presence. On it they must put the dishes, spoons, bowls, and jars for the drink offering. Bread must always continue to be on the table.⁸They are to spread over them a scarlet cloth and cover the same with hides of fine leather. They must insert poles to carry the table.

⁹They must take a blue cloth and cover the lampstand, along with its lamps, tongs, trays, and all the jars of oil for the lamps.¹⁰They must put the lampstand and all its accessories into a covering of fine leather, and they must put it on a carrying frame.¹¹They must spread a cloth of blue on the gold altar. They must cover it with a covering of fine leather, and then insert the carrying poles.

¹²They must take all the equipment for the ministry, with which they serve in the sanctuary, and wrap it in a blue cloth. They must cover that with the hides of fine leather and put the equipment on the carrying frame.¹³They must clear away the ashes of fat from the altar and spread a purple cloth on the altar.¹⁴They must put on the carrying frame all the equipment that they use in the work of the altar. These objects are the firepans, forks, shovels, bowls, and all the other equipment for the altar. They must cover the altar with fine leather hides and then insert the carrying poles.

¹⁵When Aaron and his sons have completely covered the holy place and all its equipment, and when the camp moves forward, then the descendants of Kohath must come to carry the holy place. If they touch the holy instruments, they must die. This is the work of the descendants of Kohath, to carry the furnishings in the tent of meeting.¹⁶Eleazar son of Aaron the priest oversees the care of the oil for the light, the sweet incense, the regular grain offering, and the anointing oil. He oversees the care of the entire tabernacle and all that is in it, the holy place and its equipment."

¹⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He said,¹⁸"Do not allow the Kohathite tribal clans to be cut off from among the Levites.¹⁹So do this for them that they may live and not die, when they approach the most holy things: Aaron and his sons must go in, and assign each man to his work and his responsibility.²⁰But the Kohathites must not go in to look at the holy place, even for a moment, or they must die."

²¹Yahweh spoke again to Moses. He said,²²"Conduct a census of the descendants of Gershon also, by their ancestor's families and by their clans.²³Count those who are thirty years old to fifty years old. Count all of them who will join the company to serve in the tent of meeting.

²⁴This is the work of the clans of the Gershonites, when they serve and what they carry.²⁵They must carry the curtains of the tabernacle, the tent of meeting, its covering, the covering of fine leather hides that is on it, and the curtains for the entrance to the tent of meeting.²⁶They must carry the curtains of the court, the curtain for the doorway of the court's gate, which is near the tabernacle and near the altar, their ropes, and all the instruments for their service. Whatever should be done with these things, they must do it.

²⁷Aaron and his sons must direct all the service of the descendants of the Gershonites, in everything that they transport, and in all their service. You must assign them to all their responsibilities.²⁸This is the service of the clans of the descendants of the Gershonites for the tent of meeting. Ithamar son of Aaron the priest must lead them in their service.

²⁹You must count the descendants of Merari by their clans, and order them by their ancestor's families,³⁰from thirty years old and older up to fifty years old. Count everyone who is going to join the company and serve in the tent of meeting.

³¹This is their responsibility and their burden in all their service for the tent of meeting. They must care for the framing of the tabernacle, its crossbars, posts, and sockets,³²along with the posts of the courtyard around the tabernacle, their sockets, pegs, and their ropes, with all their hardware. List by name the articles they must carry.

³³This is the service of the clans of the descendants of Merari, what they are to do for the tent of meeting, under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest."

³⁴Moses and Aaron and the leaders of the community counted the descendants of the Kohathites by the clans of their ancestor's families.³⁵They counted them from thirty years old and older up to fifty years old. They counted everyone who would join the company to serve in the tent of meeting.³⁶They counted 2,750 men by their clans.

³⁷This was the list of the clans of the Kohathites who served in the tent of meeting. Moses and Aaron counted them according to Yahweh's command that was given through Moses.

³⁸The descendants of Gershon were counted in their clans, by their ancestor's families,³⁹from thirty to fifty years old, everyone who would join the company to serve in the tent of meeting.⁴⁰All the men, counted by their clans and their ancestor's families, numbered 2,630.

⁴¹Moses and Aaron counted the clans of the descendants of Gershon who would serve in the tent of meeting. In doing this, they obeyed what Yahweh had commanded them to do through Moses.

⁴²The descendants of Merari were counted in their clans by their ancestor's families,⁴³from thirty to fifty years old, everyone who would join the company to serve in the tent of meeting.⁴⁴All the men, counted by their clans and their ancestor's families, numbered 3,200.

⁴⁵This was the list of the clans of the descendants of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron counted according to Yahweh's command that came by the hand of Moses.

⁴⁶So Moses, Aaron, and the chiefs of Israel counted all the Levites by their clans in their ancestral families⁴⁷from thirty to fifty years old. They counted everyone who would do work in the tabernacle, and who would carry and care for the items in the tent of meeting.⁴⁸They counted 8,580 men.

⁴⁹At Yahweh's command, Moses counted each man, keeping count of each by the type of work he was assigned to do. He counted each man by the kind of responsibility he would bear. In doing this, they obeyed what Yahweh had commanded them to do through Moses.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²"Command the people of Israel to send away from the camp every leper, everyone who has an oozing sore, and whoever is unclean through touching a dead body.³Whether male or female, you must send them out of the camp. They must not defile the camp, because I live in it."⁴The people of Israel did so. They sent them out of the camp, as Yahweh commanded Moses. The people of Israel obeyed Yahweh.

⁵Again Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,⁶"Speak to the people of Israel. When a man or woman commits any sin such as people do to one another, and is unfaithful to me, that person is guilty.⁷Then he must confess the sin that he has done. He must completely pay back the price of his guilt and add to the price one-fifth more. He must give this to the one he has wronged.

⁸But if the wronged person has no close relative to receive the payment, he must pay the price for his guilt to me through a priest, along with a ram to atone for himself.⁹Every contribution, everything the people of Israel have set apart, which they have brought to the priest, will belong to him.¹⁰The offerings of every person will be for the priest; if anyone gives anything to the priest, it will belong to him."

¹¹Again, Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,¹²"Speak to the people of Israel. Say to them, 'Suppose that a man's wife turns away and is unfaithful to her husband.

¹³If a man lies with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband, and her impurity is undetected even though she defiled herself, and there is no witness against her, since she was not caught in the act,¹⁴nevertheless, a spirit of jealousy might still inform the husband that his wife is defiled. However, a spirit of jealousy might falsely come on a man when his wife is not defiled.

¹⁵In such cases, the man must bring his wife to the priest. The husband must take an offering required on her behalf, a tenth of an ephah of barley flour. He must pour no oil on it and put no frankincense on it, because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering for remembering, as a reminder of the iniquity.

¹⁶The priest must bring her near and place her before Yahweh.¹⁷The priest must take a jar of holy water and take dust from the floor of the tabernacle. He must put the dust into the water.

¹⁸The priest will set the woman before Yahweh and he will untie the hair on the woman's head. He will put into her hands the grain offering of remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. The priest will hold in his hand the bitter water that can bring a curse.¹⁹The priest will put the woman under an oath and say to her, 'If no other man has lain with you, and if you have not gone astray and committed uncleanness, then you will be free from this bitter water that can bring a curse.

²⁰But if you have gone astray, though you are under your husband's authority and you have defiled yourself, and some other man has had sexual relations with you,²¹then, (the priest must cause the woman to swear an oath that can bring down a curse on her, and then he must continue speaking to the woman) 'Yahweh will make you into a curse that will be shown to your people to be such. This will happen if Yahweh causes your thigh to waste away and your abdomen to swell.²²This water that brings the curse will go into your stomach and make your abdomen swell and your thighs waste away.' The woman is to reply, 'Amen. Amen.'

²³The priest must write these curses on a scroll, and then he must wash away the written curses into the bitter water.

²⁴The priest must make the woman drink the bitter water that brings the curse. The water that brings the curse will enter her and become bitter.²⁵The priest must take the grain offering of jealousy out of the woman's hand. He must hold up the grain offering before Yahweh and bring it to the altar.²⁶The priest must take a handful of the grain offering as a representative offering, and burn it on the altar. Then he must give the woman the bitter water to drink.

²⁷When he gives her the water to drink, if she is defiled because she has committed a sin against her husband, then the water that brings the curse will enter her and become bitter. Her abdomen will swell and her thigh will waste away. The woman will be cursed among her people.²⁸But if the woman is not defiled and if she is clean, then she must be free. She will be able to conceive children.

²⁹This is the law of jealousy. It is the law for a woman who goes astray from her husband and is defiled.³⁰It is the law for a man with a spirit of jealousy when he is jealous of his wife. He must bring the woman before Yahweh, and the priest must do to her everything that this law of jealousy describes.

³¹The man will be free from guilt for bringing his wife to the priest. The woman must bear any guilt she might have."

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²"Speak to the people of Israel. Say to them, 'When a man or a woman consecrates himself to Yahweh with the special vow of a Nazirite,³he must abstain from wine and strong drink. He must not drink vinegar made from wine or from strong drink. He must not drink any grape juice or eat fresh grapes or raisins.⁴In all the days of his consecration, he must eat nothing that is made from the grape vine, including everything from the seeds to the skins.

⁵During all the time of his vow of consecration, no razor is to be used on his head until the days of his consecration to Yahweh are fulfilled. He must be set apart to Yahweh. He must let the hair grow long on his head.

⁶During all the time that he sets himself apart to Yahweh, he must not come near a dead body.⁷He must not make himself unclean even for his father, mother, brother, or sister, if they die. This is because he is consecrated to God, as everyone can see by his long hair.⁸During all the time of his consecration he is holy, reserved for Yahweh.

⁹If someone very suddenly dies beside him and defiles his consecrated head, then he must shave his head on the day of his purification—on the seventh day he must shave it.

¹⁰On the eighth day he must bring two doves or two young pigeons to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting.¹¹The priest must offer one bird as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. These will atone for him because he sinned by being near the dead body. He must consecrate his head again on that day.

¹²He must set himself apart to Yahweh for the days of his consecration. He must bring a male lamb one year old as a guilt offering. The days before he defiled himself must not be counted, because his consecration was defiled.

¹³This is the law about the Nazirite for when the time of his consecration is complete. He must be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting.¹⁴He must present his offering to Yahweh. He must offer as a burnt offering a male lamb one year old and without blemish. He must bring as a sin offering a female lamb one year old and without blemish. He must bring a ram as a fellowship offering that is without blemish.¹⁵He must also bring a basket of bread made without yeast, loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, wafers without yeast rubbed with oil, together with their grain offering and drink offerings.

¹⁶The priest must present them before Yahweh. He must offer his sin offering and burnt offering.¹⁷With the basket of unleavened bread, he must present the ram as a sacrifice, the fellowship offering to Yahweh. The priest must present also the grain offering and the drink offering.

¹⁸The Nazirite must shave his consecrated head at the entrance to the tent of meeting. He must take the hair from his head and put it on the fire that is under the sacrifice of fellowship offerings.

¹⁹The priest must take the boiled shoulder of the ram, one loaf of bread without yeast out of the basket, and one wafer without yeast. He must place them into the hands of the Nazirite after he has shaved his consecrated hair.²⁰The priest must wave them as an offering before Yahweh, a holy portion for the priest, together with the breast that was waved and the thigh that was the contribution for the priest. After that, the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹This is the law for the Nazirite who vows his offering to Yahweh for his consecration. Whatever else he may give, he must keep the obligations of the vow he has taken, to keep the promise indicated by the law of his consecration.'"

²²Again Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²³"Speak to Aaron and to his sons. Say, 'You must bless the people of Israel in this way. You must say to them,

²⁴"May Yahweh bless you

and keep you.

²⁵May Yahweh make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you.

²⁶May Yahweh look on you with favor

and give you peace."'

²⁷It is in this way that they must give my name to the people of Israel. Then I will bless them."

¹On the day that Moses completed the tabernacle, he anointed it and set it apart to Yahweh, together with all of its furnishings. He did the same for the altar and all its utensils. He anointed them and set them apart to Yahweh.²On that day, the leaders of Israel, the heads of their ancestor's families, offered sacrifices. These men were leading the tribes. They had overseen the counting of the men in the census.³They brought their offerings before Yahweh. They brought six covered carts and twelve oxen. They brought one cart for every two leaders, and each leader brought one ox. They presented these things in front of the tabernacle.

⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,⁵"Accept the offerings from them and use the offerings for the work in the tent of meeting. Give the offerings to the Levites, to each one as his work needs them."

⁶Moses took the carts and the oxen, and he gave them to the Levites.⁷He gave two carts and four oxen to the descendants of Gershon, because of what their work needed.⁸He gave four carts and eight oxen to the descendants of Merari, in the care of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest. He did this because of what their work required.

⁹But he gave none of those things to the descendants of Kohath, because theirs would be the work related to the things that belong to Yahweh that they would carry on their own shoulders.

¹⁰The leaders offered their goods for the dedication of the altar on the day that Moses anointed the altar. The leaders offered their sacrifices in front of the altar.¹¹Yahweh said to Moses, "Each leader must offer on his own day his sacrifice for the dedication of the altar."

¹²On the first day, Nahshon son of Amminadab, of the tribe of Judah, offered his sacrifice.

¹³His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.¹⁴He gave one gold dish that weighed ten shekels and was full of incense.

¹⁵He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.¹⁶He gave one male goat as a sin offering.¹⁷He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Nahshon son of Amminadab.

¹⁸On the second day, Nethanel son of Zuar, leader of Issachar, offered his sacrifice.

¹⁹He offered as his sacrifice one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.

²⁰He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.²¹He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.²²He gave one male goat as a sin offering.²³He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Nethanel son of Zuar.

²⁴On the third day, Eliab son of Helon, leader of the descendants of Zebulun, offered his sacrifice.

²⁵His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels, and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.²⁶He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

²⁷He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.²⁸He gave one male goat as a sin offering.²⁹He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Eliab son of Helon.

³⁰On the fourth day, Elizur son of Shedeur, leader of the descendants of Reuben, offered his sacrifice.

³¹His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.³²He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

³³He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.³⁴He gave one male goat as a sin offering.³⁵He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Elizur son of Shedeur.

³⁶On the fifth day, Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai, leader of the descendants of Simeon, offered his sacrifice.

³⁷His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.³⁸He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

³⁹He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.⁴⁰He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁴¹He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai.

⁴²On the sixth day, Eliasaph son of Deuel, leader of the descendants of Gad, offered his sacrifice.

⁴³His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.⁴⁴He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

⁴⁵He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.⁴⁶He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁴⁷He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Eliasaph son of Deuel.

⁴⁸On the seventh day, Elishama son of Ammihud, leader of the descendants of Ephraim, offered his sacrifice.

⁴⁹His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.⁵⁰He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

⁵¹He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.⁵²He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁵³He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Elishama son of Ammihud.

⁵⁴On the eighth day, Gamaliel son of Pedahzur, leader of the descendants of Manasseh, offered his sacrifice.

⁵⁵His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.⁵⁶He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

⁵⁷He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.⁵⁸He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁵⁹He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Gamaliel son of Pedahzur.

⁶⁰On the ninth day, Abidan son of Gideoni, leader of the descendants of Benjamin, offered his sacrifice.

⁶¹His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.⁶²He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

⁶³He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.⁶⁴He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁶⁵He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Abidan son of Gideoni.

⁶⁶On the tenth day, Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai, leader of the descendants of Dan, offered his sacrifice.

⁶⁷His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.⁶⁸He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

⁶⁹He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb..⁷⁰He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁷¹He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai.

⁷²On the eleventh day, Pagiel son of Okran, leader of the descendants of Asher, offered his sacrifice.

⁷³His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.⁷⁴He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

⁷⁵He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.⁷⁶He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁷⁷He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Pagiel son of Okran.

⁷⁸On the twelfth day, Ahira son of Enan, leader of the descendants of Naphtali, offered his sacrifice.

⁷⁹His sacrifice was one silver platter weighing 130 shekels and one silver bowl weighing seventy shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. Both of these objects were full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering.⁸⁰He also gave one gold dish weighing ten shekels, full of incense.

⁸¹He gave as a burnt offering one young bull, one ram, and a one-year-old male lamb.⁸²He gave one male goat as a sin offering.⁸³He gave two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs that were a year old, as the sacrifice for a fellowship offering. This was the sacrifice of Ahira son of Enan.

⁸⁴This was the dedication offering for the altar on the day that it was anointed: the chiefs of Israel set apart the twelve silver platters, twelve silver bowls, and twelve gold dishes.⁸⁵Each silver platter weighed 130 shekels and each bowl weighed seventy shekels. All the silver vessels weighed 2,400 shekels, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel.⁸⁶Each of the twelve gold dishes, full of incense, weighed ten shekels by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel. All the gold dishes weighed 120 shekels.

⁸⁷They set apart all the animals for the burnt offerings, twelve bulls, twelve rams, and twelve year-old male lambs. They gave their grain offering. They gave twelve male goats as a sin offering.⁸⁸From all their cattle, they gave twenty-four bulls, sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty male lambs a year old, as the sacrifice for the fellowship offering. This was for the dedication of the altar after it was anointed.

⁸⁹When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Yahweh, he heard his voice speaking to him. Yahweh spoke to him from above the atonement lid on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim. He spoke to him.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²"Speak to Aaron. Say to him, 'The seven lamps must give light in front of the lampstand when you light them.'"

³Aaron did this. He lit the lamps on the lampstand to give light toward the front of it, as Yahweh had commanded Moses.⁴The lampstand was made in this way and Yahweh showed Moses the pattern for it. It was to be hammered gold from its base to its top, with hammered cups like blossoms.

⁵Again, Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,⁶"Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and purify them.

⁷Do this to them to purify them: Sprinkle the water of atonement on them. Make them shave their entire body, wash their clothes, and purify themselves.⁸Then have them take a young bull and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil. Let them take another young bull as a sin offering.

⁹You will bring the Levites in front of the tent of meeting and assemble the whole community of the people of Israel.¹⁰When you bring the Levites before Yahweh, the people of Israel must lay their hands on the Levites.¹¹Aaron must offer the Levites before Yahweh, as a wave offering from the people of Israel so that they may do the service of Yahweh.

¹²The Levites must place their hands on the heads of the bulls. You must offer one bull for a sin offering and the other bull for a burnt offering to me, to atone for the Levites.¹³Present the Levites before Aaron and before his sons, and lift them up as a wave offering to me.

¹⁴In this way you must separate the Levites from among the people of Israel. The Levites will belong to me.¹⁵After that, the Levites must go in to serve in the tent of meeting. You must purify them. You must offer them as a wave offering.

¹⁶Do this, because they are entirely mine from among the people of Israel. They will take the place of each firstborn, the first issue of the womb, of all the descendants of Israel. I have taken the Levites for myself.¹⁷All the firstborn from among the people of Israel are mine, both man or animal. On the day that I took the lives of all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I set them apart for myself.

¹⁸I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of all the firstborn.¹⁹I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons. I have taken them from among the people of Israel to do the work of the people of Israel in the tent of meeting. I have given them to atone for the people of Israel so that no plague will harm the people when they come near to the holy place."

²⁰Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of the people of Israel did this with the Levites. They did everything that Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites. The people of Israel did this with them.²¹The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothing, and Aaron presented them as a wave offering to Yahweh and he made atonement for them to cleanse them.

²²After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and before Aaron's sons. This was as Yahweh had commanded Moses about the Levites. They treated all the Levites in this way.

²³Yahweh spoke again to Moses. He said,²⁴"All of this is for the Levites who are twenty-five years old and more. They must join the company to serve in the tent of meeting.

²⁵They must stop serving in this way at the age of fifty years. At that age they must not serve any longer.²⁶They may help their brothers who continue to work at the tent of meeting, to perform their duties, but they must serve no more. This is how you must deal with the Levites in all their responsibilities."

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they came out from the land of Egypt. He said,²"Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its fixed time of year.³On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you must keep the Passover at its fixed time of year. You must keep it, follow all the regulations, and obey all the decrees that are related to it."

⁴So, Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Festival of the Passover.⁵So they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, in the wilderness of Sinai. The people of Israel obeyed everything that Yahweh commanded Moses to do.

⁶There were certain men who became unclean by the body of a dead man. They could not keep the Passover on that day. They went before Moses and Aaron on that same day.⁷Those men said to Moses, "We are unclean because of the dead body of a man. Why do you keep us from offering the sacrifice to Yahweh at the fixed time of year among the people of Israel?"⁸Moses said to them, "Wait for me to hear what Yahweh will instruct about you."

⁹Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,¹⁰"Speak to the people of Israel. Say, 'If any of you or your descendants are unclean because of a dead body, or are on a long journey, he may still keep the Passover to Yahweh.'

¹¹In the second month on the fourteenth day at evening, they will eat the Passover meal. They must eat the Passover lamb with bread that is made without yeast and with bitter herbs.¹²They must not leave any of it until the morning, or break any of its bones. They must follow all the regulations for the Passover.

¹³But any person who is clean and is not on a journey, but who fails to keep the Passover, that person must be cut off from his people because he did not bring the offering that Yahweh requires at the fixed time of year. That man must carry his sin.¹⁴If a stranger lives among you and keeps the Passover to Yahweh, he must keep it according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule. You must have one statute both for the sojourner and for the one who was born in the land."

¹⁵On the day that the tabernacle was set up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, the tent of the covenant decrees. At evening the cloud was over the tabernacle. It appeared like fire until morning.¹⁶It continued that way. The cloud covered the tabernacle and appeared like fire at night.¹⁷Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tent, the people of Israel would set out on their journey. Wherever the cloud stopped, the people would camp.

¹⁸At Yahweh's command, the people of Israel would travel, and at his command, they would camp. While the cloud stopped over the tabernacle, they would stay in their camp.¹⁹When the cloud remained on the tabernacle for many days, then the people of Israel would obey Yahweh's instructions and not travel.

²⁰Sometimes the cloud remained a few days on the tabernacle. In that case, they would obey Yahweh's command—they would make camp and then travel on again at his command.²¹Sometimes the cloud was present in camp from evening until morning. When the cloud lifted in the morning, they journeyed. If it continued for a day and for a night, only when the cloud lifted would they journey on.

²²Whether the cloud stayed on the tabernacle for two days, a month, or a year, for as long as it stayed there, the people of Israel would stay in their camp and not travel. But whenever the cloud was taken up, they would set out on their journey.²³They would camp at Yahweh's command, and they would travel at his command. They obeyed Yahweh's command given through Moses.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²"Make two silver trumpets. Hammer the silver to make them. You must use the trumpets to call the community together and to call the community to move their camps.

³The priests must blow the trumpets to call all the community together in front of you at the entrance to the tent of meeting.⁴If the priests blow only one trumpet, then the leaders, the heads of the clans of Israel, must gather to you.⁵When you blow a loud signal, the tribes camped on the east side must begin their journey.

⁶When you blow a loud signal the second time, the tribes camped on the south side must begin their journey. They must blow a loud signal for their journeys.⁷When the community gathers together, blow the trumpets, but not loudly.⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, must blow the trumpets. This will always be an ordinance for you throughout your people's generations.

⁹When you go to war in your land against an adversary who oppresses you, then you must sound an alarm with the trumpets. I, Yahweh your God, will call you to mind and save you from your enemies.

¹⁰Also, at the times of celebration, both your regular festivals and at the beginnings of the months, you must blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacrifices for your fellowship offerings. These will act as a reminder of you to me, your God. I am Yahweh your God."

¹¹In the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, the cloud was lifted from the tabernacle of the covenant decrees.¹²The people of Israel then went on their journey from the wilderness of Sinai. The cloud stopped in the wilderness of Paran.¹³They made their first journey, following Yahweh's command given through Moses.

¹⁴The camp under the banner of Judah's descendants went out first, moving out their individual armies. Nahshon son of Amminadab led Judah's army.¹⁵Nethanel son of Zuar led the army of the tribe of Issachar's descendants.¹⁶Eliab son of Helon led the army of the tribe of Zebulun's descendants.

¹⁷The descendants of Gershon and of Merari, who cared for the tabernacle, took down the tabernacle and then set out on their journey.¹⁸Next, the armies under the banner of Reuben's camp set out on their journey. Elizur son of Shedeur led Reuben's army.¹⁹Shelumiel son of Zurishaddai led the army of the tribe of Simeon's descendants.²⁰Eliasaph son of Deuel led the army of the tribe of Gad's descendants.

²¹The Kohathites set out. They carried the sanctuary's holy equipment. Others would set up the tabernacle before the Kohathites arrived at the next camp.²²The armies under the banner of Ephraim's descendants set out next. Elishama son of Ammihud led Ephraim's army.²³Gamaliel son of Pedahzur led the army of the tribe of Manasseh's descendants.²⁴Abidan son of Gideoni led the army of the tribe of Benjamin's descendants.

²⁵The armies that camped under the banner of Dan's descendants set out last. Ahiezer son of Ammishaddai led Dan's army.²⁶Pagiel son of Okran led the army of the tribe of Asher's descendants.²⁷Ahira son of Enan led the army of the tribe of Naphtali's descendants.²⁸This is the way that the armies of the people of Israel set out on their journey.

²⁹Moses spoke to Hobab son of Reuel the Midianite. Reuel was the father of Moses' wife. Moses spoke to Hobab and said, "We are traveling to a place that Yahweh described. Yahweh said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us and we will do you good. Yahweh has promised to do good for Israel."³⁰But Hobab said to Moses, "I will not go with you. I will go to my own land and my own relatives."

³¹Then Moses replied, "Please do not leave us. You know how to camp in the wilderness. You must watch out for us.³²If you go with us, we will do for you the same good that Yahweh does to us."

³³They journeyed from the mountain of Yahweh for three days. The ark of the covenant of Yahweh went before them for three days to find a place for them to rest.³⁴Yahweh's cloud was over them in the daytime as they journeyed.

³⁵Whenever the ark set out, Moses would say, "Rise up, Yahweh. Scatter your enemies. Make those who hate you run from you."³⁶Whenever the ark stopped, Moses would say, "Return, Yahweh, to Israel's many tens of thousands."

¹Now the people complained about their troubles as Yahweh listened. Yahweh heard the people and became angry. Fire from Yahweh burned among them and consumed some of the camp on its edges.²Then people called out to Moses, so Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire stopped.³That place was named Taberah, because Yahweh's fire burned among them.

⁴Some foreign people began to camp with Israel's descendants. They wanted better food to eat. Then the people of Israel began to weep and say, "Who will give us meat to eat?⁵We remember the fish that we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.⁶Now our appetite is gone, because all we can see is this manna."

⁷Manna was like coriander seed. It looked like resin.⁸The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it in mills, beat it in mortars, boiled it in pots, and made it into cakes. It tasted like a delicacy baked with olive oil.

⁹When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna also fell.¹⁰Moses heard the people weeping in their families, and every man was at the entrance to his tent. Yahweh was very angry, and in Moses' eyes their complaining was wrong.

¹¹Moses said to Yahweh, "Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why are you not pleased with me? You make me carry the load of all these people.¹²Did I conceive all these people? Have I given them birth so that you should say to me, 'Carry them closely to your chest as a father carries a baby?' Should I carry them to the land that you swore to their ancestors to give them?

¹³Where can I find meat to give to all this people? They are weeping in front of me and are saying, 'Give us meat to eat.'¹⁴I cannot bear all these people alone. They are too much for me.¹⁵Since you are treating me this way, kill me now—if I find favor in your eyes—do not let me see my misery."

¹⁶Yahweh said to Moses, "Bring to me seventy of Israel's elders. Be sure that they are elders and officers of the people. Bring them to the tent of meeting to stand there with you.¹⁷I will come down and talk with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will bear the burden of the people with you. You will not have to bear it alone.

¹⁸Say to the people, 'Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow you will indeed eat meat, for you have wept and Yahweh has heard. You said, "Who will give us meat to eat? It was good for us in Egypt." Therefore Yahweh will give you meat, and you will eat it.¹⁹You will not eat meat for only one day, two days, five days, ten days, or twenty days,²⁰but you will eat meat for a whole month until it comes out of your nostrils. It will disgust you because you have rejected Yahweh, who is among you. You have wept before him. You said, "Why did we leave Egypt?"'"

²¹Then Moses said, "The people I am with are 600,000 footmen, and you have said, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.'²²Should we kill flocks and herds to satisfy them? Should we catch all the fish in the sea to satisfy them?"²³Yahweh said to Moses, "Is my hand short? Now you will see whether or not my word is true."

²⁴Moses went out and told the people Yahweh's words. He gathered seventy of the people's elders and positioned them around the tent.²⁵Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Yahweh took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but only on that occasion and not again.

²⁶Two men remained in the camp, named Eldad and Medad. The Spirit also rested on them. Their names were written on the list, but they had not gone out to the tent. Nevertheless, they prophesied in the camp.²⁷A young man in the camp ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."

²⁸Joshua son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his chosen men, said to Moses, "My master Moses, stop them."²⁹Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all of Yahweh's people were prophets and that he would put his Spirit on them all!"³⁰Then Moses and the elders of Israel went back to the camp.

³¹Then a wind came from Yahweh and brought quail from the sea. They fell near the camp, about a day's journey on one side and a day's journey on the other side. The quail surrounded the camp about two cubits above the ground.³²The people were busy gathering quail all that day, all the night, and all the next day. No one gathered less than ten homers of quail. They shared the quail all through the camp.

³³While the meat was still between their teeth, while they were chewing it, the anger of Yahweh was kindled at them. He attacked the people with a very great disease.³⁴That place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved meat.³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth, where they stayed.

¹Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married.²They said, "Has Yahweh spoken only with Moses? Has he not spoken also with us?" Now Yahweh heard what they said.³Now the man Moses was very humble, humbler than anyone else on earth.

⁴Right away Yahweh spoke to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam: "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting." So the three of them went out.⁵Then Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the tent and called Aaron and Miriam. They both came forward.

⁶Yahweh said, "Now listen to my words.

When a prophet of mine is with you,

I will reveal myself to him in visions

and speak to him in dreams.

⁷My servant Moses is not like that.

He is faithful in all my house.

⁸I speak to Moses directly, not with visions or riddles.

He sees my form.

So why are you unafraid

to speak against my servant, against Moses?"

⁹Yahweh's anger burned against them, and then he left them.¹⁰The cloud rose from over the tent, and Miriam was suddenly leprous—she was as white as snow. When Aaron turned toward Miriam, he saw that she had leprosy.

¹¹Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my master, please do not hold this sin against us. We have spoken foolishly, and we have sinned.¹²Please do not let her be like a dead newborn whose flesh is half consumed when it emerges from its mother's womb."

¹³So Moses called out to Yahweh. He said, "Please heal her, God, please."¹⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "If her father had spit in her face, she would be disgraced for seven days. Shut her outside the camp for seven days. After that bring her in again."¹⁵So Miriam was shut outside the camp for seven days. The people did not journey until she had returned to the camp.

¹⁶After that, the people journeyed from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²"Send some men to examine the land of Canaan, which I have given to the people of Israel. Send a man from every tribe of their ancestors. Each man must be a leader among them."

³Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, so that they might obey Yahweh's command. All of them were leaders among the people of Israel.⁴These were their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

⁵from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

⁶from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;

⁷from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

⁸from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;

⁹from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

¹⁰from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

¹¹from the tribe of Joseph (that is to say, from the tribe Manasseh), Gaddi son of Susi;

¹²from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

¹³from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

¹⁴from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

¹⁵from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

¹⁶These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to examine the land. Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by the name of Joshua.

¹⁷Moses sent them to examine the land of Canaan. He said to them, "Approach from the Negev and go up into the hill country.¹⁸Examine the land to see what it is like. Observe the people who live there, whether they are strong or weak, and whether they are few or many.¹⁹See what the land is like where they live. Is it good or bad? What cities are there? Are they like camps, or are they fortified cities?²⁰See what the land is like, whether it is good for growing crops or not, and whether there are trees there or not. Be brave and bring back samples of the land's produce." Now the time was the season for the first ripe grapes.

²¹So the men went up and examined the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo Hamath.²²They went up from the Negev and arrived at Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

²³When they reached the Valley of Eshkol, they cut down a branch with a cluster of grapes. They carried it on a staff between two of their group. They also brought pomegranates and figs.²⁴That place was named the Valley of Eshkol, because of the grape cluster that the people of Israel cut down there.

²⁵After forty days, they returned from examining the land.²⁶They came back to Moses, Aaron, and all the community of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the community, and showed them the produce from the land.

²⁷They told Moses, "We reached the land to which you sent us. It certainly flows with milk and honey. Here is some produce from it.²⁸However, the people who make their homes there are strong. The cities are fortified and very large. We also saw descendants of Anak there.²⁹The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites have their homes in the hill country. The Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan River."

³⁰Then Caleb silenced the people who were before Moses and said, "Let us go up and take possession of the land, for we are certainly able to conquer it."³¹But the other men who had gone with him said, "We are not able to attack the people because they are stronger than we are."

³²So they spread around a discouraging report to the people of Israel about the land that they had examined. They said, "The land that we looked at is a land that eats up its inhabitants. All the people whom we saw there are people of great height.³³There we saw the Nephilim, descendants of Anak, people who came from giants. In our own sight we were like grasshoppers in comparison with them, and this is what we were in their sight, too."

¹That night all the community wept loudly.²All the people of Israel criticized Moses and Aaron. The whole community said to them, "We wish we had died in the land of Egypt, or here in this wilderness!³Why did Yahweh bring us to this land to die by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become victims. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?"

⁴They said to one another, "Let us choose another leader, and let us return to Egypt."⁵Then Moses and Aaron lay facedown before all the assembly of the community of the people of Israel.

⁶Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were some of those sent to examine the land, tore their clothes.⁷They spoke to all the community of the people of Israel. They said, "The land that we passed through and examined is a very good land.⁸If Yahweh is pleased with us, then he will take us into this land and give it to us. The land flows with milk and honey.

⁹But do not rebel against Yahweh, and do not fear the people in the land, for they are bread to us. Their protection will be removed from them, because Yahweh is with us. Do not fear them."¹⁰Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the glory of Yahweh appeared at the tent of meeting to all the people of Israel.

¹¹Yahweh said to Moses, "How long must this people despise me? How long must they fail to trust me, despite all the signs of my power that I have done among them?¹²I will attack them with plague, disinherit them, and make from your own clan a nation that will be greater and mightier than they are."

¹³Moses said to Yahweh, "If you do this, then the Egyptians will hear about it, because you rescued this people from them by your power.¹⁴They will tell it to this land's inhabitants. They have heard that you, Yahweh, are present with this people, because you are seen face to face. Your cloud stands over our people. You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations that have heard this report about you will say,¹⁶'Because Yahweh could not take this people into the land that he swore to give them, he has killed them in the wilderness.'

¹⁷Now, I beg you, may the power of my Lord be great. For you have said,¹⁸'Yahweh is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He forgives iniquity and transgression. He will by no means clear the guilty when he brings the punishment of the ancestors' sin on their descendants, to the third and fourth generation.'¹⁹Pardon, I plead with you, this people's iniquity because of the greatness of your covenant faithfulness, just as you have always forgiven this people from the time they were in Egypt until now."

²⁰Yahweh said, "I have pardoned them in keeping with your request,²¹but truly, as I live, and as all the earth will be filled with my glory,²²all those people who saw my glory and the signs of power that I did in Egypt and in the wilderness—they have still tested me these ten times and have not listened to my voice.

²³So I say that they will certainly not see the land about which I made an oath to their ancestors. Not one of them who despised me will see it,²⁴except for my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly. I will bring him into the land where he had gone, and his descendants will take possession of it.²⁵(Now the Amalekites and Canaanites lived in the valley.) Tomorrow turn and go to the wilderness by the way of the Sea of Reeds."

²⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron. He said,²⁷"How long must I tolerate this evil community that criticizes me? I have heard the complaining of the people of Israel against me.

²⁸Say to them, 'As I live—this is Yahweh's declaration—as you have spoken in my hearing, I will do this to you:²⁹Your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness, all you who complained against me, you who were counted in the census, the whole number of the people from twenty years old and upward.³⁰You will certainly not go into the land that I promised to make your home, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

³¹But your little ones who you said would be victims, I will take them into the land. They will experience the land that you have rejected!³²As for you, your dead bodies will fall in this wilderness.³³Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years. They must bear the punishment for your acts of rebellion until the end of your corpses in the wilderness.

³⁴According to the number of the days during which you examined the land, forty days, you will bear the punishment for your sins for forty years, one year for every day, and you will know my opposition.³⁵I, Yahweh, have spoken. I will certainly do this to all this evil community that is gathered together against me. They will be completely cut off in this wilderness, and here they will die.'"

³⁶So the men Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned and made the entire community grumble against Moses by spreading a bad report about the land—³⁷these men who had brought out a bad report about the land were struck down, and they died of a plague before Yahweh.³⁸Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive.

³⁹When Moses reported these words to all the people of Israel, they mourned very deeply.⁴⁰They rose up early in the morning and went to the top of the mountain and said, "Look, we are here, and we will go to the place that Yahweh has promised, for we have sinned."

⁴¹But Moses said, "Why are you now violating Yahweh's command? You will not succeed.⁴²Do not go, because Yahweh is not with you to prevent you from being defeated by your enemies.⁴³The Amalekites and Canaanites are there, and you will die by the sword because you turned back from following Yahweh. So he will not be with you."

⁴⁴But they arrogantly went up into the hill country; however, neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of Yahweh left the camp.⁴⁵Then the Amalekites came down, and also the Canaanites who lived on those hills. They attacked the Israelites and beat them down all the way to Hormah.

¹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you go into the land where you will live, which Yahweh will give to you,³you are to prepare an offering by fire to Yahweh, either a burnt offering or a sacrifice to fulfill a vow or a freewill offering, or an offering at your feasts, to produce a pleasing aroma for Yahweh from the herd or the flock.

⁴You must offer to Yahweh a burnt offering as well as a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil.⁵You must also offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, one-fourth of a hin of wine for the drink offering for each lamb.

⁶If you are offering a ram, you must prepare as a grain offering two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil.⁷For the drink offering, you must offer a third of a hin of wine. It will produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh.

⁸When you prepare a bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice to fulfill a vow, or as a fellowship offering to Yahweh,⁹then you must offer with the bull a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with half a hin of oil.¹⁰You must offer as the drink offering half a hin of wine, as an offering made by fire, to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh.

¹¹It must be done this way for each bull, for each ram, and for each of the male lambs or young goats.¹²Every sacrifice that you prepare and offer must be done as described here.¹³All who are native-born must do these things in this way, when anyone brings an offering made by fire, to produce an aroma that is pleasing to Yahweh.

¹⁴If a sojourner is staying with you, or whoever may live among you throughout your people's generations, he must make an offering made by fire, to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. He must act as you act.¹⁵There must be the same law for the community and for the foreigner who stays with you, a permanent law throughout your people's generations. As you are, so also must be the sojourner staying with you. He must act as you act before Yahweh.¹⁶The same law and decree must apply to you and to the foreigner who is staying with you.'"

¹⁷Again Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,¹⁸"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you come into the land where I will take you,¹⁹when you eat the food produced in the land, you must lift up a contribution to Yahweh.

²⁰From the first of your dough you must offer a loaf to lift it up as a contribution, a contribution from the threshing floor. You must lift it up in this way.²¹You must give to me a lifted contribution throughout your people's generations from the first of your dough.

²²You will sometimes sin without intending to do so, when you do not obey all these commands that I have spoken to Moses—²³everything that I have commanded you through Moses from the day that I began to give you commands and onward throughout your people's generations.²⁴In the case of unintentional sin without the community's knowledge, then all the community must offer one young bull as a burnt offering to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. Along with this must be made a grain offering and drink offering, as commanded by the decree, and one male goat as a sin offering.

²⁵The priest must make atonement for all the community of the people of Israel. They will be forgiven because the sin was an error. They have brought their sacrifice, an offering made by fire to me. They have brought their sin offering before me for their error.²⁶Then all the community of the people of Israel will be forgiven, and also the foreigners who are staying with them, because all the people committed the sin unintentionally.

²⁷If a person sins unintentionally, then he must offer a female goat a year old as a sin offering.²⁸The priest must make atonement before Yahweh for the person who goes astray and sins unintentionally. That person will be forgiven when atonement has been made.²⁹You must have the same law for the one who does anything unintentionally, the same law for the one who is native born among the people of Israel and for the foreigners who are staying among them.

³⁰But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native born or a foreigner, blasphemes me. That person must be cut off from among his people.³¹Because he has despised my word and has broken my commandment, that person must be cut off completely. His iniquity will be on him.'"

³²While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.³³Those who found him brought him to Moses, Aaron, and all the community.³⁴They kept him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done with him.

³⁵Then Yahweh said to Moses, "The man must surely be put to death. All the community must stone him with stones outside the camp."³⁶So all the community brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

³⁷Again Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,³⁸"Speak to the descendants of Israel and command them to make for themselves tassels to hang from the borders of their garments, to hang them from each border by a blue cord. They must do this throughout their people's generations.³⁹It will be a special reminder to you, when you may look at it, of all my commandments, to carry them out so that you do not look to your own heart and your own eyes and prostitute yourselves to them.

⁴⁰Do this so that you may call to mind and obey all my commandments, and so that you may be holy, reserved for me, your God.⁴¹I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to become your God. I am Yahweh your God."

¹Now Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth, descendants of Reuben, gathered some men.²They rose up against Moses, along with other men from the people of Israel, 250 leaders of the community who were men of reputation in the community.³They assembled themselves together to confront Moses and Aaron. They said to them, "You have gone too far! All the community is set apart, every one of them, and Yahweh is among them. Why do you lift up yourselves above the rest of Yahweh's community?"

⁴When Moses heard that, he lay facedown.⁵He spoke to Korah and all his companions, "In the morning Yahweh will make known who belongs to him and who is set apart to him. He will bring that person near to him. The one he chooses he will bring near to himself.

⁶Do this, Korah and all your group. Take censers⁷tomorrow and put fire and incense in them before Yahweh. The one whom Yahweh chooses, that man will be set apart to Yahweh. You have gone too far, you descendants of Levi."

⁸Again, Moses said to Korah, "Now listen, you descendants of Levi:⁹is it a small thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the community of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do work in Yahweh's tabernacle, and to stand before the community to serve them?¹⁰He has brought you near, and all your kinfolk, the descendants of Levi, with you, yet you are seeking the priesthood also!¹¹Therefore you and all your company have gathered together against Yahweh. Who is Aaron that you grumble against him?"

¹²Then Moses called for Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, "We will not come up.¹³Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness? Now you want to make yourself ruler over us!¹⁴In addition, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, or given us the fields and vineyards as an inheritance. Now do you want to blind us with empty promises? We will not come to you."

¹⁵Moses was very angry and said to Yahweh, "Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed any of them."¹⁶Then Moses said to Korah, "Tomorrow you and all your companions must go before Yahweh—you and they, and Aaron.¹⁷Each of you must take his censer and put incense in it. Then each man must bring before Yahweh his censer, 250 censers. You and Aaron, also, must each bring your censer."

¹⁸So every man took his censer, put fire in it, laid incense in it, and stood at the entrance to the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron.¹⁹Korah assembled all the community against Moses and Aaron at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and Yahweh's glory appeared to all the community.

²⁰Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron:²¹"Separate yourselves from among this community that I may consume them immediately."²²Moses and Aaron lay facedown and said, "God, the God of the spirits of all humanity, if one man sins, must you be angry with all the community?"

²³Yahweh replied to Moses. He said,²⁴"Speak to the community. Say, 'Get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'"

²⁵Then Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him.²⁶He spoke to the community and said, "Now leave the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be consumed by all their sins."²⁷So the community on every side of the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram left them. Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrance to their tents, with their wives, sons, and their little ones.

²⁸Then Moses said, "By this you will know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own accord.²⁹If these men die a natural death such as normally happens, then Yahweh has not sent me.³⁰But if Yahweh creates something new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that they possess, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you must understand that these men have despised Yahweh."

³¹As soon as Moses finished speaking all these words, the ground opened under those men.³²The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their families, and all the people who belonged to Korah, as well as all their possessions.

³³So they and all that they possessed went down alive into Sheol. The earth closed over them, and they perished from among the community.³⁴All Israel around them fled from their cries. They exclaimed, "The earth may swallow us up also!"³⁵Then fire flashed out from Yahweh and devoured the 250 men who had offered incense.

³⁶Again Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,³⁷"Speak to Eleazar son of Aaron the priest and let him take up the censers out of the flames, for the censers are set apart to me. Then let him scatter the burning coals at a distance.³⁸Take the censers of those who lost their lives because of their sin. Let them be made into hammered plates as a covering over the altar. Those men did offer them before me, so they are set apart to me. They will be a sign of my presence to the people of Israel."

³⁹Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been used by the men who were burned up, and they were hammered out into a covering for the altar,⁴⁰to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no outsider who was not descended from Aaron should come up to burn incense before Yahweh, so they might not become like Korah and his group—just as Yahweh had commanded through Moses.

⁴¹But the next morning all the community of the people of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron. They said, "You have killed Yahweh's people."⁴²Then it happened, when the community had assembled against Moses and Aaron, that they looked toward the tent of meeting and, behold, the cloud was covering it. Yahweh's glory appeared,⁴³and Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting.

⁴⁴Then Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,⁴⁵"Go away from in front of this community so that I may consume them immediately." Then Moses and Aaron lay down with their faces to the ground.⁴⁶Moses said to Aaron, "Take the censer, put fire in it from off the altar, put incense in it, carry it quickly to the community, and make atonement for them, because anger is coming from Yahweh. The plague has begun."

⁴⁷So Aaron did as Moses directed. He ran into the middle of the community. The plague had quickly started to spread among the people, so he put in the incense and made atonement for the people.⁴⁸Aaron stood between the dead and the living; in this way the plague was stopped.

⁴⁹Those who died by the plague were 14,700 in number, besides those who had died in the matter of Korah.⁵⁰Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and the plague ended.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses. He said,²"Speak to the people of Israel and get staffs from them, one for each ancestral tribe, twelve staffs. Write each man's name on his staff.

³You must write Aaron's name on Levi's staff. There must be one staff for each leader from his ancestors' tribe.⁴You must place the staffs in the tent of meeting in front of the covenant decrees, where I meet with you.⁵It will happen that the staff of the man whom I choose will bud. I will cause the complaints from the people of Israel to stop, which they are speaking against you."

⁶So Moses spoke to the people of Israel. All the tribal leaders gave him staffs, one staff from each leader, selected from each of the ancestral tribes, twelve staffs in all. Aaron's staff was among them.⁷Then Moses deposited the staffs before Yahweh in the tent of the covenant decrees.

⁸The next day Moses went into the tent of the covenant decrees and, behold, Aaron's staff for the tribe of Levi had budded. It grew buds and produced blossoms and ripe almonds!⁹Moses brought out all the staffs from before Yahweh to all the people of Israel, and each man took his staff.

¹⁰Yahweh said to Moses, "Put Aaron's staff in front of the covenant decrees. Keep it as a sign of guilt against the people who rebelled so that you may end complaints against me, or they will die."¹¹Moses did just as Yahweh had commanded him.

¹²The people of Israel spoke to Moses and said, "We will die here. We will all perish!¹³Everyone who comes up, who approaches Yahweh's tabernacle, will die. Must we all perish?"

¹Yahweh said to Aaron, "You, your sons, and your ancestor's clan will be responsible for all sins committed against the sanctuary. But only you and your sons with you will be responsible for all sins committed by anyone in the priesthood.²As for your fellow members of the tribe of Levi, your ancestors' tribe, you must bring them with you so they may join you and help you when you and your sons serve in front of the tent of the covenant decrees.

³They must perform your duties and the duties of the whole tent. However, they must not come near to anything in the holy place or connected with the altar, or they and also you will die.⁴They must join you and perform the duties connected with the tent of meeting, for all the work connected with the tent. A foreigner must not come near you.⁵You must perform the duties for the holy place and for the altar so that my anger does not come on the people of Israel again.

⁶Look, I myself have chosen your fellow members of the Levites from among the descendants of Israel. They are a gift to you, given to me to do the work connected to the tent of meeting.⁷But only you and your sons may exercise the priesthood regarding everything connected with the altar and everything inside the curtain. You yourselves must fulfill those responsibilities. I am giving you the priesthood as a gift. Any foreigner who approaches must be put to death."

⁸Then Yahweh said to Aaron, "Look, I have given you the duty of handling the contributions lifted up to me, and all the holy offerings that the people of Israel give to me. I have given these offerings to you as a consecrated portion and to your sons as your assigned portion for all time.⁹This will belong to you from the most holy things that are kept from the fire. From every offering of theirs—every grain offering, every sin offering, and every guilt offering—they are set apart to you and to your sons.

¹⁰These offerings are very holy; every male must eat it, for they are holy to you.¹¹These are the contributions that will belong to you, set apart out of all their gifts of the wave offerings of the people of Israel. I have given them to you, your sons, and your daughters, as your portion forever. Everyone who is ceremonially clean in your family may eat any of these offerings.

¹²All the best of the oil, all the best of the new wine and grain, the firstfruits that the people give to me—all these things I have given to you.¹³The first ripe produce of all that is in their land, which they bring to me, will be yours. Everyone who is clean in your family may eat these things.

¹⁴Every devoted thing in Israel will be yours.¹⁵Every first issue of the womb, all the firstborn that the people offer to Yahweh, both of man and animal, will be yours. Nevertheless, the people must certainly redeem every firstborn son, and they must redeem the firstborn male of unclean animals.¹⁶Those that are to be redeemed by the people must be redeemed after becoming one month old. Then the people may redeem them for the price of five shekels of silver, by the standard weight of the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs.

¹⁷But the firstborn of a cow, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat—you must not redeem these animals; they are set apart to me. You must sprinkle their blood on the altar and burn their fat as an offering made by fire, an aroma pleasing to Yahweh.¹⁸Their meat will be yours. Like the breast and the right thigh that are lifted as an offering, their meat will be yours.

¹⁹All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to Yahweh, I have given to you, and to your sons and to your daughters with you, as a continual share. It is an everlasting covenant of salt, a binding covenant forever, before Yahweh for both you and your descendants with you."²⁰Yahweh said to Aaron, "You will have no inheritance in the people's land, nor will you have any share of property among the people. I am your share and inheritance among the people of Israel.

²¹To the descendants of Levi, look, I have given all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the service that they provide in working at the tent of meeting.²²From now on the people of Israel must not come near the tent of meeting, or they will be responsible for this sin and die.

²³The Levites must do the work connected to the tent of meeting. They will be responsible for any iniquity regarding it. This will be a permanent law throughout your people's generations. Among the people of Israel they must have no inheritance.²⁴For the tithes of the people of Israel, which they offer as a contribution to Yahweh—it is these that I have given to the Levites as their inheritance. That is why I said to them, 'They must have no inheritance among the people of Israel.'"

²⁵Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²⁶"You must speak to the Levites and say to them, 'When you receive from the people of Israel the tenth that I have given to you from them for your inheritance, you will present a contribution from it to Yahweh, a tenth of the tithe.²⁷Your contribution must be considered by you as if it were a tenth of the grain from the threshing floor or of the production from the winepress.

²⁸So you also must make a contribution to Yahweh from all the tithes that you receive from the people of Israel. From them you must give his contribution to Aaron the priest.²⁹Out of all the gifts you receive, you must make every contribution to Yahweh. You must do this from all the best and the holiest things that have been given to you.'

³⁰Therefore you must say to them, 'When you present the best of it, then it must be credited to the Levites as the product from the threshing floor and the winepress.³¹You may eat the rest of your gifts in any place, you and your families, because it is your pay in return for your work in the tent of meeting.³²You will not bear any sin by eating and drinking it, if you have presented to Yahweh the best of what you have received. But you must not profane the holy offerings of the people of Israel, or you will die.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron. He said,²"This is a statute, a law which Yahweh is commanding you: Say to the people of Israel that they must bring to you a red heifer without flaw or blemish, and which has never carried a yoke.

³Give the heifer to Eleazar the priest. He must bring it outside the camp, and someone must kill it in front of him.⁴Eleazar the priest must take some of its blood with his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the tent of meeting.⁵The heifer must be burned in his sight—its hide, its flesh, and its blood with its dung, must be burned.⁶The priest must take cedarwood, hyssop, and scarlet wool, and throw it all into the middle of the burning heifer.

⁷Then he must wash his clothes and bathe in water. Then he may come into the camp, where he will remain unclean until the evening.⁸The one who has burned the heifer must wash his clothes in water and bathe in water. He will remain unclean until the evening.

⁹A man who is clean must gather up the heifer's ashes and put them outside the camp in a clean place. These ashes must be kept for the community of the people of Israel. They will mix the ashes with water for purification from sin, since the ashes were from a sin offering.¹⁰The one who gathered the heifer's ashes must wash his clothes. He will remain unclean until the evening. This will be a permanent law for the people of Israel and the foreigners who stay with them.

¹¹Whoever touches the dead body of any man will be unclean for seven days.¹²Such a person must purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself the third day, then he will not be clean on the seventh day.¹³Whoever touches a dead person, the body of a man who has died, and does not purify himself—this person defiles Yahweh's tabernacle. That person must be cut off from Israel because the water for impurity was not sprinkled on him. He will remain unclean; his uncleanness will remain on him.

¹⁴This is the law for when someone dies in a tent. Everyone who goes into the tent and everyone who is already in the tent will be unclean for seven days.¹⁵Every open container with no cover becomes unclean.¹⁶In the same way, anyone outside a tent who touches someone who has been killed with a sword, any other dead body, a human bone, or a grave—that person will be unclean for seven days.

¹⁷Do this for the unclean person: Take some ashes from the burnt sin offering and mix them in a jar with fresh water.¹⁸Someone who is clean must then take hyssop, dip it in the water, and sprinkle it on the tent, on all the containers inside the tent, on the persons who were there, and on anyone who touched the bone, the one who was killed, the one who died, or the grave.¹⁹On the third day and on the seventh day, the clean person must sprinkle the unclean person. On the seventh day the unclean person must purify himself. He must wash his clothes and bathe in water. At evening he will become clean.

²⁰But anyone who remains unclean, who refuses to purify himself—that person will be cut off from the community, because he has defiled Yahweh's sanctuary. The water for impurity has not been sprinkled on him; he remains unclean.²¹This will be an ongoing law concerning these situations. The one who sprinkles the water for impurity must wash his clothes. The one who touches the water for impurity will become unclean until evening.²²Whatever the unclean person touches will become unclean. The person who touches it will become unclean until evening."

¹So the people of Israel, the whole community, went into the wilderness of Zin in the first month; they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

²There was no water for the community, so they assembled together against Moses and Aaron.³The people complained against Moses. They said, "It would have been better if we had died when our fellow Israelites died in front of Yahweh!

⁴Why have you brought Yahweh's community into this wilderness to die here, we and our animals?⁵Why did you make us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this horrible place? There is no place for seed, figs, vines, or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink."

⁶So Moses and Aaron went away from in front of the assembly. They went to the entrance of the tent of meeting and lay facedown. There Yahweh's brilliant glory appeared to them.

⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,⁸"Take the staff and assemble the community, you, and Aaron your brother. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and command it to flow with water. You will produce water for them out of that rock, and you must give it to the community and their livestock to drink."⁹Moses took the staff from before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded him to do.

¹⁰Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. Moses said to them, "Listen now, you rebels. Must we bring water out of this rock for you?"¹¹Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, and much water came out. The community drank, and their livestock drank.

¹²Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me or honor me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them."¹³This place was called the waters of Meribah because the people of Israel had quarreled with Yahweh there, and he showed himself to them as holy.

¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: Your brother Israel says this: "You know all the hardship that has found us.¹⁵You know that our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians treated us harshly and also our ancestors.¹⁶When we called out to Yahweh, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your land.

¹⁷I am asking you to let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, nor will we drink the water in your wells. We will go along the king's highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed your border."

¹⁸But the king of Edom replied to him, "You may not pass through here. If you do, I will come with the sword to attack you."

¹⁹Then the people of Israel said to him, "We will go along the highway. If we or our livestock drink your water, we will pay for it. Just let us walk through on foot, without doing anything else."

²⁰But the king of Edom replied, "You may not pass through." So the king of Edom came against Israel with a strong hand with many soldiers.²¹The king of Edom refused to allow Israel to cross over their border. Because of this, Israel turned away from the land of Edom.

²²So the people journeyed from Kadesh. The people of Israel, the whole community, came to Mount Hor.²³Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on Edom's border. He said,²⁴"Aaron must be gathered to his people, for he will not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel. This is because you both rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.

²⁵Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor.²⁶Take Aaron's priestly garments off him and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron must die and be gathered to his people there."

²⁷Moses did as Yahweh commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the community.²⁸Moses took Aaron's priestly garments off him and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down.²⁹When all the community saw that Aaron was dead, the entire house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days.

¹When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was traveling by the road to Atharim, he fought against Israel and took some of them captive.²Israel vowed to Yahweh and said, "If you give us victory over these people, then we will completely destroy their cities."³Yahweh listened to Israel's voice and he gave them victory over the Canaanites. They completely destroyed them and their cities. That place was named Hormah.

⁴They traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Sea of Reeds to go around the land of Edom. The people became very discouraged on the way.⁵The people spoke against God and Moses: "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread, no water, and we hate this miserable food."

⁶Then Yahweh sent poisonous snakes among the people. The snakes bit the people; many people of Israel died.⁷The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned because we have spoken against Yahweh and you. Pray to Yahweh for him to take the snakes away from us." So Moses prayed for the people.

⁸Yahweh said to Moses, "Make a snake and attach it to a pole. It will happen that everyone who is bitten will survive, if he looks at it."⁹So Moses made a bronze snake and attached it to a pole. When a snake bit any person, if he looked at the bronze snake, he survived.

¹⁰Then the people of Israel traveled on and camped at Oboth.¹¹They traveled from Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim in the wilderness that faces Moab toward the east.

¹²From there they traveled on and camped in the Valley of Zered.¹³From there they traveled on and camped on the other side of the Arnon River, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites. The Arnon River forms the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

¹⁴That is why it says in the scroll of the Wars of Yahweh,

"... Zahab¹ in Suphah, and the valleys of the Arnon,

¹⁵the slope of the valleys that lead toward the town of Ar

and lie along the border of Moab."

¹⁶From there they traveled to Beer, the well where Yahweh said to Moses, "Gather the people together for me to give them water."

¹⁷Then Israel sang this song:

"Spring up, well!

Sing about it,

¹⁸about the well that our leaders dug,

the well the nobles of the people dug,

with the scepter and their staffs."

Then from the wilderness they traveled to Mattanah.

¹⁹From Mattanah they traveled to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,²⁰and from Bamoth to a valley in the land of Moab. That is where the top of Mount Pisgah looks down on the wilderness.

²¹Then Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites saying,²²"Let us pass through your land. We will not turn into any field or vineyard. We will not drink the water from your wells. We will travel by the king's highway until we have crossed your border."

²³But King Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his border. Instead, Sihon gathered all his army together and went out into the wilderness against Israel. He came to Jahaz, where he fought against Israel.

²⁴Israel attacked the army of Sihon with the edge of the sword and took their land from the Arnon to the Jabbok river, as far as the land of the people of Ammon. Now the border of the people of Ammon was fortified.²⁵Israel took all the Amorite cities and lived in all of them, including Heshbon and all of its villages.²⁶Heshbon was the city of Sihon king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab. Sihon had taken all his land from his territory to the Arnon River.

²⁷That is why those who speak in proverbs say,

"Come to Heshbon.

Let the city of Sihon be rebuilt and established again.

²⁸A fire blazed from Heshbon,

a flame from the city of Sihon

that devoured Ar of Moab,

and the owners of the high places of Arnon.

²⁹Woe to you, Moab!

You have perished, people of Chemosh.

He has made his sons to be fugitives

and his daughters to be prisoners

of Sihon king of the Amorites.

³⁰But we have conquered Sihon.

Heshbon is devastated all the way to Dibon.

We have defeated them all the way to Nophah,

which reaches to Medeba."

³¹So Israel began to live in the Amorites' land.³²Then Moses sent men to look at Jazer. They took its villages and drove out the Amorites who were there.

³³Then they turned and went up by the road of Bashan. Og king of Bashan went out against them, he and all his army, to fight them at Edrei.³⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, "Do not fear him, because I have given you victory over him, all his army, and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon."³⁵So they killed him, his sons, and all his army, until none of his people were left alive. Then they took over his land.

¹Some modern English translations read, Waheb.

22¹The people of Israel traveled on until they camped in the plains of Moab near Jericho, on the other side of the Jordan River from the city.

²Balak son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites.³Moab was very afraid of the people because they were many, and Moab was in terror of the people of Israel.⁴The king of Moab said to the elders of Midian, "This multitude will eat up all that is around us as an ox eats up the grass in a field." Now Balak son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time.

⁵He sent messengers to Balaam son of Beor, at Pethor which is by the Euphrates River, in the land of his nation and his people. He called him and said, "Look, a nation has come here from Egypt. They cover the face of the earth and they are right now next to me.⁶Please come now and curse this nation for me, because they are too strong for me. Perhaps then I can manage to attack them and drive them out of the land. I know that those you bless will be blessed, and that those you curse will be cursed."

⁷So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian left, taking payment for divination. They came to Balaam and spoke to him Balak's words.⁸Balaam said to them, "Stay here tonight. I will bring you what Yahweh says to me." So the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam that night.

⁹God came to Balaam and said, "Who are these men who came to you?"¹⁰Balaam answered God, "Balak son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent them to me. He said,¹¹'Look, the people who have come from Egypt cover the surface of my land. Now come and curse them for me. Perhaps I will manage to fight them and drive them out.'"

¹²God replied to Balaam, "You must not go with those men. You must not curse the people of Israel because they have been blessed."¹³Balaam rose up in the morning and said to Balak's leaders, "Go back to your land because Yahweh refuses to allow me to go with you."¹⁴So the leaders of Moab left and went back to Balak. They said, "Balaam refused to come with us."

¹⁵Balak sent again more leaders who were even more honored than the first group.¹⁶They came to Balaam and said to him, "Balak son of Zippor says this, 'Please let nothing stop you from coming to me,¹⁷because I will pay you extremely well and give you great honor, and I will do whatever you tell me to do. So please come and curse this people for me.'"

¹⁸Balaam answered and said to Balak's servants, "Even if Balak would give me his palace full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of Yahweh, my God, and do less or more than what he tells me.¹⁹Now then, please wait here tonight too, so that I may learn anything further that Yahweh says to me."²⁰God came to Balaam at night and said to him, "Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them. But only do what I tell you to do."

²¹Balaam got up in the morning, saddled his donkey, and went with the leaders of Moab.²²But because he went, God's anger was kindled. The angel of Yahweh placed himself in the road as someone hostile to Balaam, who was riding on his donkey. Balaam's two servants were also with him.²³The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with his drawn sword in his hand. The donkey turned off the road and went into a field. Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back to the road.

²⁴Then the angel of Yahweh stood in a narrow part of the road between some vineyards, with a wall on his right side and another wall on his left side.²⁵The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh again. She went against the wall and pinned Balaam's foot against it. Balaam struck her again.

²⁶The angel of Yahweh went further and stood in another narrow place where there was no way to turn to either side.²⁷The donkey saw the angel of Yahweh, and she lay down under Balaam. Balaam's anger was kindled, and he struck the donkey with his staff.

²⁸Then Yahweh opened the donkey's mouth so she could talk. She said to Balaam, "What have I done to you that induced you to strike me these three times?"²⁹Balaam replied to the donkey, "It was because you acted so stupidly with me. I wish there were a sword in my hand. If there were, by now I would have killed you."³⁰The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life long to this present day? Have I ever been in the habit of doing such things to you before?" Balaam said, "No."

³¹Then Yahweh opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of Yahweh standing in the road with his drawn sword in his hand. Balaam bowed down and lay facedown.³²The angel of Yahweh said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Look, I have come as someone hostile to you because your actions before me have been wicked.³³The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If she had not turned away from me, I would certainly have killed you and spared her life."

³⁴Balaam said to the angel of Yahweh, "I have sinned. I did not know that you stood against me in the road. So now, if it is displeasing to you, I will turn back."³⁵But the angel of Yahweh said to Balaam, "Go on ahead with the men. But you must only speak the words that I tell you." So Balaam went with the leaders of Balak.

³⁶When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at a city in Moab at the Arnon, which is on the border.³⁷Balak said to Balaam, "Did I not send men to you to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?"

³⁸Then Balaam replied to Balak, "See, I have come to you. Do I now have any power to say anything? I can only say the words that God puts into my mouth."³⁹Balaam went with Balak, and they arrived at Kiriath Huzoth.⁴⁰Then Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep and gave some meat to Balaam and the leaders who were with him.

⁴¹In the morning, Balak took Balaam up to the high place of Baal. From there Balaam could see only a part of the Israelites in their camp.

¹Balaam said to Balak, "Build seven altars here for me and prepare seven bulls and seven rams."²So Balak did as Balaam requested. Then Balak and Balaam offered a bull and a ram on every altar.³Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stand at your burnt offering and I will go. Perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you." So he went away to a hilltop with no trees.

⁴Then God met Balaam, and Balaam said to him, "I have built seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on each one."⁵Yahweh put a message in Balaam's mouth and said, "Return to Balak and speak to him."⁶So Balaam returned to Balak, who was standing by his burnt offering, and all the leaders of Moab were with him.

⁷Then Balaam began to speak his proverb and said,

"Balak has brought me from Aram,

the king of Moab from the eastern mountains.

'Come, curse Jacob for me,' he said.

'Come, denounce Israel.'

⁸How can I curse those whom God has not cursed?

How can I denounce those whom Yahweh does not denounce?

⁹For from the top of the rocks I see him;

from the hills I look at him.

See, there is a people who live alone

and do not consider themselves as just an ordinary nation.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob

or number even only one-fourth of Israel?

Let me die the death of a righteous person,

and let my life's end be like his!"

¹¹Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but look, you have blessed them."¹²Balaam answered and said, "Should I not be careful to say only what Yahweh puts in my mouth?"

¹³So Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place where you can see them. You will only see the nearest of them, not all of them. There you will curse them for me."¹⁴So he took Balaam into the field of Zophim, to the top of Mount Pisgah, and built seven more altars. He offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.¹⁵Then Balaam said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet with Yahweh over there."

¹⁶So Yahweh met Balaam and put a message in his mouth. He said, "Return to Balak and give him my message."¹⁷Balaam returned to him, and look, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the leaders of Moab were with him. Then Balak said to him, "What has Yahweh said?"

¹⁸Balaam began his prophecy. He said,

"Rise up, Balak, and hear.

Listen to me, you son of Zippor.

¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie,

or a human being, that he should change his mind.

Has he promised anything without doing it?

Has he said he would do something without carrying it out?

²⁰Look, I have been commanded to bless.

God has given a blessing, and I cannot reverse it.

²¹He has not looked upon disaster in Jacob,

and he has not seen trouble in Israel.

Yahweh their God is with them,

and the shout of the king is among them.

²²God brought them out of Egypt

with strength like that of a wild ox.

²³There is no sorcery that works against Jacob,

and no divination harms Israel.

Now it must be said about Jacob and Israel,

'Look what God has done!'

²⁴Look, the people rise like a lioness,

as a lion emerges and attacks.

He does not lie down until he eats his victim

and drinks the blood of what he has killed."

²⁵Then Balak said to Balaam, "Do not curse them or bless them at all."²⁶But Balaam answered and said to Balak, "Did I not tell you that I must say all that Yahweh tells me to say?"²⁷So Balak replied to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place. Perhaps it will please God for you to curse them there for me."

²⁸So Balak took Balaam to the top of Mount Peor, which looks down on the wilderness.²⁹Balaam said to Balak, "Build me seven altars here and prepare seven bulls and seven rams."³⁰So Balak did as Balaam had said; he offered up a bull and a ram on each altar.

¹When Balaam saw that it pleased Yahweh to bless Israel, he did not go, as at the other times, to use sorcery. Instead, he looked toward the wilderness.

²Balaam raised his eyes and saw that Israel was camped, each in their own tribe, and the Spirit of God came on him.³He received this prophecy and said,

"This is the declaration of Balaam son of Beor,

the declaration of the man whose eyes are wide open,

⁴the declaration of the one who hears the words of God,

who sees a vision from the Almighty,

who bows down with his eyes open.

⁵How delightful are your tents, Jacob,

the place where you live, Israel!

⁶Like valleys they spread out,

like gardens by the riverside,

like aloes planted by Yahweh,

like cedars beside the waters.

⁷Water will flow from their buckets,

and their seed will have abundant water.

Their king will be greater than Agag,

and their kingdom will be honored.

⁸God will bring him out of Egypt.

He will have strength like a wild ox.

He will eat up the nations who fight against him.

He will break their bones to pieces.

He will shoot them with his arrows.

⁹He crouches down like a lion,

like a lioness. Who dares disturb him?

May everyone who blesses him be blessed;

may everyone who curses him be cursed."

¹⁰Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam and he struck his hands together in anger. Balak said to Balaam, "I called you to curse my enemies, but look, you have blessed them three times.¹¹So flee home now. I said I would greatly reward you, but Yahweh has kept you from getting any reward."

¹²Then Balaam replied to Balak, "I said to the messengers that you sent to me,¹³'Even if Balak gave me his palace full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond Yahweh's word and anything bad or good, or anything at all that I might want to do. I can say only what Yahweh tells me to say.' Did I not say this to them?¹⁴So now, look, I will go back to my people. But first let me advise you about what this people will do to your people in the days ahead."

¹⁵Balaam began this prophecy. He said,

"This is the declaration of Balaam son of Beor,

the declaration of the man whose eyes are wide open.

¹⁶This is the declaration of someone who hears words from God,

who has knowledge from the Most High,

who sees visions from the Almighty,

who bows down with open eyes.

¹⁷I see him, but he is not here now.

I look at him, but he is not near.

A star will come out of Jacob,

and a scepter will rise out of Israel.

He will shatter Moab's leaders

and destroy all the descendants of Seth.

¹⁸Then Edom will become a possession of Israel,

and Seir will also become their possession,

enemies of Israel,

whom Israel will conquer with force.

¹⁹Out of Jacob a king will come who will have dominion,

and he will destroy the survivors of their city."

²⁰Then Balaam looked at Amalek and began his prophecy. He said,

"Amalek was once the greatest of nations,

but his end will be eternal destruction."

²¹Then Balaam looked toward the Kenites and began his prophecy. He said,

"The place where you live is strong,

and your nest is in the rocks.

²²Nevertheless you Kenites will be consumed by fire

when Assyria carries you away captive."

²³Then Balaam began his final prophecy. He said,

"Woe! Who will survive when God does this?

²⁴Ships will come from the coast of Cyprus;¹

they will attack Assyria and will conquer Eber,

but they, too, will end in destruction."

²⁵Then Balaam got up and left. He returned to his home, and Balak also went away.

¹Some modern English translations read, Kittim.

¹Israel stayed in Shittim, and the men began to prostitute themselves with women of Moab,²for the Moabites had invited the people to the sacrifices to their gods. So the people ate and bowed down to Moabite gods.³The men of Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and Yahweh's anger was kindled against Israel.

⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "Kill all the leaders of the people and hang them up before me to expose them in the daylight, so that my fierce anger may turn away from Israel."⁵So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you must kill his people who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor."

⁶Then one of the men of the sons of Israel came and brought among his family members a Midianite woman. This happened in the sight of Moses and all the community of the people of Israel, while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting.⁷When Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, saw that, he rose up from among the community and took a spear in his hand.

⁸He followed the man of Israel into the tent and thrust the spear through both of their bodies, both the man of Israel and the woman. So a plague that God had sent on the people of Israel stopped.⁹Those who died by the plague were twenty-four thousand in number.

¹⁰Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,¹¹"Phinehas son of Eleazar son of Aaron the priest, has turned my rage away from the people of Israel because he was passionate with my zeal among them. So I have not consumed the people of Israel in my jealousy.

¹²Therefore say, 'Yahweh says, "Look, I am giving to Phinehas my covenant of peace.¹³For him and his descendants after him, it will be a covenant of an everlasting priesthood because he was zealous for me, his God. He has atoned for the people of Israel."'"

¹⁴Now the name of the man of Israel who was killed with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, a leader of an ancestor's family among the Simeonites.¹⁵The name of the Midianite woman who was killed was Kozbi daughter of Zur, who was head of a tribe and ancestral household in Midian.

¹⁶So Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,¹⁷"Treat the Midianites as enemies and attack them,¹⁸for they treated you like enemies with their deceitfulness. They led you into evil in the case of Peor and in the case of their sister Kozbi, the daughter of a leader in Midian, who was killed on the day of the plague in the matter of Peor."

¹It came about after the plague that Yahweh spoke to Moses and Eleazar son of Aaron the priest. He said,²"Count all the community of the people of Israel, from twenty years old and up, by their ancestor's families, all who are able to go to war for Israel."

³So Moses and Eleazar the priest spoke to them in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho and said,⁴"Count the people, from twenty years old and up, as Yahweh commanded Moses and the people of Israel, who came out of the land of Egypt."

⁵Reuben was the firstborn of Israel. From his son Hanok came the clan of the Hanokites. From Pallu came the clan of the Palluites.

⁶From Hezron came the clan of the Hezronites. From Karmi came the clan of the Karmites.

⁷These were the clans of Reuben, who numbered 43,730 men.

⁸Eliab was a son of Pallu.⁹Eliab's sons were Nemuel, Dathan, and Abiram. These were the same Dathan and Abiram who were in the company of Korah when they rebelled against Moses and Aaron and rebelled against Yahweh.

¹⁰The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up together with Korah when all his company died. At that time, fire devoured 250 men, who became a warning sign.¹¹But Korah's line did not die out.

¹²The clans of Simeon's descendants were these:

Through Nemuel, the clan of the Nemuelites,

through Jamin, the clan of the Jaminites,

through Jakin, the clan of the Jakinites,

¹³through Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites,

through Shaul, the clan of the Shaulites.

¹⁴These were the clans of Simeon's descendants, who numbered 22,200 men.

¹⁵The clans of Gad's descendants were these:

Through Zephon, the clan of the Zephonites,

through Haggi, the clan of the Haggites,

through Shuni, the clan of the Shunites,

¹⁶through Ozni, the clan of the Oznites,

through Eri, the clan of the Erites,

¹⁷through Arod, the clan of the Arodites,

through Areli, the clan of the Arelites.

¹⁸These were the clans of Gad's descendants, who numbered 40,500 men.

¹⁹Judah's sons were Er and Onan, but these men died in the land of Canaan.

²⁰The clans of Judah's other descendants were these:

through Shelah, the clan of the Shelanites,

through Perez, the clan of the Perezites, and

through Zerah, the clan of the Zerahites.

²¹The descendants of Perez were these:

Through Hezron, the clan of the Hezronites,

through Hamul, the clan of the Hamulites.

²²These were the clans of Judah's descendants, who numbered 76,500 men.

²³The clans of Issachar's descendants were these:

Through Tola, the clan of the Tolaites,

through Puah, the clan of the Puites,

²⁴through Jashub, the clan of the Jashubites,

through Shimron, the clan of the Shimronites.

²⁵These were the clans of Issachar, who numbered 64,300 men.

²⁶The clans of Zebulun's descendants were these:

Through Sered, the clan of the Seredites,

through Elon, the clan of the Elonites,

through Jahleel, the clan of the Jahleelites.

²⁷These were the clans of the Zebulunites, who numbered 60,500 men.

²⁸The clans of Joseph's descendants were Manasseh and Ephraim.²⁹The descendants of Manasseh were these:

through Makir, the clan of the Makirites (Makir was Gilead's father),

through Gilead, the clan of the Gileadites.

³⁰Gilead's descendants were these:

Through Iezer, the clan of the Iezerites,

through Helek, the clan of the Helekites,

³¹through Asriel, the clan of the Asrielites,

through Shechem, the clan of the Shechemites,

³²through Shemida, the clan of the Shemidaites,

through Hepher, the clan of the Hepherites.

³³Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, but only daughters.

The names of his daughters were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah.

³⁴These were the clans of Manasseh, who numbered 52,700 men.

³⁵The clans of Ephraim's descendants were these:

Through Shuthelah, the clan of the Shuthelahites,

through Beker, the clan of the Bekerites,

through Tahan, the clan of the Tahanites.

³⁶The descendants of Shuthelah were, by Eran, the clan of the Eranites.

³⁷These were the clans of Ephraim's descendants, who numbered 32,500 men. These were Joseph's descendants, counted in each of their clans.

³⁸The clans of Benjamin's descendants were these:

Through Bela, the clan of the Belaites,

through Ashbel, the clan of the Ashbelites,

through Ahiram, the clan of the Ahiramites,

³⁹through Shephupham, the clan of the Shuphamites,

through Hupham, the clan of the Huphamites.

⁴⁰The descendants of Bela were Ard and Naaman. From Ard came the clan of the Ardites, and from Naaman came the clan of the Naamites.

⁴¹These were the clans of Benjamin's descendants. They numbered 45,600 men.

⁴²The clans of Dan's descendants were, by Shuham, the clans of the Shuhamites. These were the clans of Dan's descendants.⁴³All the clans of the Shuhamites numbered 64,400 men.

⁴⁴The clans of Asher's descendants were these:

Through Imnah, the clan of the Imnites,

through Ishvi, the clan of the Ishvites,

through Beriah, the clan of the Beriites.

⁴⁵The descendants of Beriah were these:

Through Heber, the clan of the Heberites,

through Malkiel, the clan of the Malkielites.

⁴⁶The name of Asher's daughter was Serah.

⁴⁷These were the clans of Asher's descendants, who numbered 53,400 men.

⁴⁸The clans of Naphtali's descendants were these:

Through Jahzeel, the clan of the Jahzeelites,

through Guni, the clan of the Gunites,

⁴⁹through Jezer, the clan of the Jezerites,

through Shillem, the clan of the Shillemites.

⁵⁰These were the clans of Naphtali's descendants, who numbered 45,400 men.

⁵¹This was the complete count of men of Israel: 601,730.

⁵²Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,⁵³"The land must be divided among these men as an inheritance according to the number of their names.

⁵⁴To the larger clans you must give more inheritance, and to the smaller clans you must give less inheritance. To every family you must give an inheritance according to the number of men who were counted.⁵⁵However, the land must be divided by random lots. They must inherit the land according to the names of their ancestors' tribes.⁵⁶Their inheritance must be divided among the larger and the smaller clans, distributed to them by random lot."

⁵⁷The Levite clans, counted clan by clan, were these:

Through Gershon, the clan of the Gershonites,

through Kohath, the clan of the Kohathites,

through Merari, the clan of the Merarites.

⁵⁸The clans of Levi were these:

the clan of the Libnites,

the clan of the Hebronites,

the clan of the Mahlites,

the clan of the Mushites,

and the clan of the Korahites.

Kohath was Amram's ancestor.

⁵⁹The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed, a descendant of Levi, who was born to Levites in Egypt. She bore to Amram their children, who were Aaron, Moses, and Miriam their sister.

⁶⁰To Aaron were born Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.⁶¹Nadab and Abihu died when they offered before Yahweh unacceptable fire.

⁶²The males who were counted among them numbered twenty-three thousand, all males one month old and up. But they were not counted among Israel's descendants because no inheritance was given to them among the people of Israel.

⁶³These are the ones who were counted by Moses and Eleazar the priest. They counted the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.⁶⁴But among these there was no man who had been counted by Moses and Aaron the priest when the descendants of Israel were counted in the wilderness of Sinai.

⁶⁵For Yahweh had said that all of those people would certainly die in the wilderness. There was not a man left among them, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

¹Then to Moses came the daughters of Zelophehad son of Hepher son of Gilead son of Makir son of Manasseh, of the clans of Manasseh son of Joseph. These were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Tirzah.

²They stood before Moses, Eleazar the priest, the leaders, and before all the community at the entrance to the tent of meeting. They said,³"Our father died in the wilderness. He was not among the company that gathered themselves together to oppose Yahweh, in the company of Korah. He died for his own sin, and he had no sons.

⁴Why should our father's name be taken away from among his clan members because he had no son? Give us a possession among our father's relatives."⁵So Moses brought their case before Yahweh.

⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,⁷"Zelophehad's daughters are speaking correctly. You must certainly give them a possession as an inheritance among their father's relatives, and you must ensure that their father's inheritance passes on to them.⁸You must speak to the people of Israel and say, 'If a man dies and has no son, then you must cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter.

⁹If he has no daughter, then you must give his inheritance to his brothers.¹⁰If he has no brothers, then you must give his inheritance to his father's brothers.¹¹If his father has no brothers, then you must give his inheritance to his nearest relative in his clan, and he must take it for his own. This will be a law established by decree for the people of Israel, as Yahweh has commanded me.'"

¹²Yahweh said to Moses, "Go up this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel.¹³After you have seen it, you, too, must be gathered to your people, like Aaron your brother.¹⁴This will happen because you two rebelled against my command in the wilderness of Zin during the strife of the congregation. There, when the water flowed from the rock, in your anger you failed to honor me as holy before the eyes of the whole community." These are the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.

¹⁵Then Moses spoke to Yahweh and said,¹⁶"May you, Yahweh, the God of the spirits of all humanity, appoint a man over the community,¹⁷a man who may go out and come in before them and lead them out and bring them in, so that your community is not like sheep that have no shepherd."

¹⁸Yahweh said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom my Spirit lives, and lay your hand on him.¹⁹Place him before Eleazar the priest and before all the community, and command him before their eyes to lead them.

²⁰You must put some of your authority on him, so that all the community of the people of Israel may obey him.²¹He will go before Eleazar the priest to seek my will for him by the decisions of the Urim. It will be at his command that the people will go out and come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole community."

²²So Moses did as Yahweh had commanded him. He took Joshua and placed him before Eleazar the priest and all the community.²³Moses laid his hands on him and commanded him to lead, as Yahweh had commanded him to do.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²"Command the people of Israel and say to them, 'You must offer sacrifices to me at the appointed times, the food of my offerings made by fire to produce a sweet aroma for me.'

³You must also say to them, 'This is the offering made by fire that you must offer to Yahweh—male lambs a year old without blemish, two each day, as a regular burnt offering.⁴One lamb you must offer in the morning, and the other lamb you must offer in the evening.⁵You must offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with one-fourth of a hin of beaten oil.

⁶This is the regular burnt offering that was commanded at Mount Sinai to produce a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.⁷The drink offering with it must be one-fourth of a hin for one of the lambs. You must pour out in the holy place a drink offering of strong drink to Yahweh.⁸The other lamb you must offer in the evening along with another grain offering like the one offered in the morning. You must also offer another drink offering with it, an offering made by fire, to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh.

⁹On the Sabbath day you must offer two male lambs, each a year old without blemish, and two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering, mixed with oil, and the drink offering with it.¹⁰This is to be the burnt offering for every Sabbath, in addition to the regular burnt offering and the drink offering with it.

¹¹At the beginning of each month, you must offer a burnt offering to Yahweh. You must offer two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old without blemish.¹²You must also offer three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour as a grain offering mixed with oil for each bull, and two-tenths of fine flour as a grain offering mixed with oil for the one ram.¹³You must also offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil as a grain offering for each lamb. This is to be the burnt offering, to produce a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

¹⁴The people's drink offerings must be half a hin of wine for a bull, a third of a hin for a ram, and one-fourth of a hin for a lamb. This is to be the burnt offering for every month throughout the months of the year.¹⁵One male goat as a sin offering to Yahweh must be offered. This will be in addition to the regular burnt offering and the drink offering with it.

¹⁶During the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, comes Yahweh's Passover.¹⁷On the fifteenth day of this month a feast is to be held. For seven days, bread without yeast must be eaten.¹⁸On the first day, there must be a holy assembly to honor Yahweh. You must not do regular work on that day.

¹⁹However, you must offer a sacrifice made by fire, a burnt offering to Yahweh. You must offer two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, without blemish.²⁰Along with the bull, you must offer a grain offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, and along with the ram, two-tenths.²¹With each of the seven lambs, you must offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil,²²and one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for yourselves.

²³You must offer these in addition to the regular burnt offering required each morning.²⁴As described here, you must offer these sacrifices daily, for the seven days of the Passover, the food of the offering made by fire, a sweet aroma for Yahweh. It must be offered in addition to the regular burnt offering and the drink offering with it.²⁵On the seventh day you must have a holy assembly to honor Yahweh, and you must not do regular work on that day.

²⁶Also on the day of the firstfruits, when you offer a new grain offering to Yahweh in your Festival of Weeks, you must have a holy assembly to honor Yahweh, and you must not do regular work on that day.²⁷You must offer a burnt offering to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. You must offer two young bulls, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old.²⁸Offer also grain offering to go with them: Fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for each bull and two-tenths for the one ram.

²⁹Offer a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for each of the seven lambs,³⁰and one male goat to make atonement for yourselves.³¹When you offer those animals without blemish, along with their drink offerings, this must be in addition to the regular burnt offering and the grain offering with it.

¹In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you must have a holy assembly to honor Yahweh. You must not do regular work on that day. It will be a day when you blow trumpets.

²You must offer a burnt offering to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. You must offer one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, each without blemish.

³You must offer with them their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the ram,⁴and one-tenth for each lamb of the seven lambs.⁵You must offer one male goat as a sin offering to make atonement for yourselves.

⁶Make these offerings in the seventh month in addition to all of the offerings you will make on the first of each month: the special burnt offering and the grain offering to go with it. These must be in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and its drink offerings. As you make these offerings, you will obey what has been decreed to produce a sweet aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

⁷On the tenth day of the seventh month you must have a holy assembly to honor Yahweh. You must humble yourselves and do no work.⁸You must offer a burnt offering to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. You must offer one young bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old. They must each be without blemish.

⁹You must offer with them a grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for the bull, two-tenths for the one ram,¹⁰and a tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs.¹¹You must offer one male goat as a sin offering. This will be in addition to the sin offering of atonement, the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

¹²On the fifteenth day of the seventh month you must have a holy assembly to honor Yahweh. You must not do regular work on that day, and you must celebrate the festival for him seven days.¹³You must offer a burnt offering, a sacrifice made by fire to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. You must offer thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old. Each must be without blemish.

¹⁴You must offer with them a grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of an ephah for every bull of the thirteen bulls, two-tenths for each ram of the two rams,¹⁵and a tenth of an ephah for each of the fourteen lambs.¹⁶You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and the drink offering with it.

¹⁷On the second day of the assembly, you must offer twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, each without blemish.¹⁸You must make with them a grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, making as many offerings as were commanded.¹⁹You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

²⁰On the third day of the assembly, you must offer eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, each without blemish.²¹You must make with them a grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, making as many offerings as were commanded.²²You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

²³On the fourth day of the assembly, you must offer ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, each without blemish.²⁴You must make with them a grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, making as many offerings as were commanded.²⁵You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

²⁶On the fifth day of the assembly, you must offer nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, each without blemish.²⁷You must make with them a grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, making as many offerings as were commanded.²⁸You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

²⁹On the sixth day of the assembly, you must offer eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, each without blemish.³⁰You must make with them a grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, making as many offerings as were commanded.³¹You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

³²On the seventh day of the assembly, you must offer seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen male lambs a year old, each without blemish.³³You must make with them a grain offering and the drink offerings for the bulls, for the rams, and for the lambs, making as many offerings as were commanded.³⁴You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

³⁵On the eighth day you must have another solemn assembly. You must not do regular work on that day.³⁶You must make a burnt offering, an offering made by fire to produce a sweet aroma for Yahweh. You must offer one bull, one ram, and seven male lambs a year old, each without blemish.

³⁷You must offer their grain offering and their drink offerings for the bull, for the ram, and for the lambs, making as many offerings as were commanded.³⁸You must offer one male goat as a sin offering in addition to the regular burnt offering, its grain offering, and their drink offerings.

³⁹These are what you must offer to Yahweh at your fixed festivals. These must be in addition to your vows and freewill offerings. You must offer these as your burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and fellowship offerings.'"⁴⁰Moses told the people of Israel everything that Yahweh had commanded him to say.

¹Moses spoke to the leaders of the tribes of the people of Israel. He said, "This is what Yahweh has commanded.²When a man makes a vow to Yahweh, or swears an oath to bind himself with a binding promise, he must not break his word. He must keep his promise to do everything that comes out of his mouth.

³When a young woman living in her father's house makes a vow to Yahweh and binds herself with a promise, while within the house of her father,⁴if her father hears the vow and the promise by which she has bound herself, and if he says nothing to reverse her, then all her vows will remain in force, and every pledge by which she has bound herself will stand.

⁵But if her father overrules her when he hears about it, none of her vows or the pledges by which she obligated herself will stand; Yahweh will forgive her because her father has forbidden her.

⁶If she marries a husband after she makes a vow or her lips uttered a rash promise by which she has bound herself,⁷and her husband hears about it but says nothing to her, then her vows will stand, and the pledges by which she bound herself will stand.

⁸But if her husband stops her on the day that he hears about it, then he cancels the vow that she has made, the rash talk of her lips with which she has bound herself, and Yahweh will forgive her.

⁹But any vow of a widow or a divorced woman will stand against her.¹⁰If a woman made a vow in her husband's house or bound herself by a promise with an oath,¹¹and her husband hears of it but he says nothing to her and he does not oppose her, then all her vows will stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself will stand.

¹²But if her husband cancels them on the day that he heard about them, then whatever came out of her lips about her vows or promises will not stand. Her husband has canceled them, and Yahweh will forgive her.

¹³Any vow and any binding oath to afflict her, her husband may make it stand or her husband may cancel it.¹⁴But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he confirms all her vows and binding promises that she has made, and they will stand, because he has said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them.

¹⁵If her husband cancels his wife's vow after he has heard about them, then he will be responsible for her guilt."¹⁶These are the statutes that Yahweh commanded Moses to announce—statutes for what is between a man and his wife and between a father and his daughter when she is in her youth in her father's family.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²"Take vengeance on the Midianites for what they did to the people of Israel. After doing that, you will die and be gathered to your people."

³So Moses spoke to the people. He said, "Arm some of your men for war so they may go against Midian and carry out Yahweh's vengeance on it.⁴Every tribe throughout Israel must send a thousand soldiers to war."⁵So out of Israel's thousands of men, one thousand from each tribe were provided from the clans of Israel, twelve thousand men armed for war.

⁶Then Moses sent them to battle, a thousand from every tribe, along with Phinehas son of Eleazar the priest, and with some articles from the holy place and the trumpets in his possession for sounding signals.⁷They fought against Midian, as Yahweh had commanded Moses. They killed every man.⁸They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their dead: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed Balaam son of Beor, with the sword.

⁹The army of Israel took captive the women of Midian, their children, all their cattle, all their flocks, and all their goods. They took these as plunder.¹⁰They burned all their cities where they lived and all their camps.

¹¹They took all the plunder and prisoners, both people and animals.¹²They brought the prisoners, the booty, and the spoil to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the community of the people of Israel. They brought these to the camp in the plains of Moab, by the Jordan near Jericho.

¹³Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp.¹⁴But Moses was angry with the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the captains of hundreds, who came from serving in the battle.¹⁵Moses said to them, "Have you let all the women live?

¹⁶Look, these women caused the people of Israel, through Balaam's advice, to commit faithlessness against Yahweh in the matter of Peor, when the plague spread among Yahweh's community.¹⁷Now then, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known a man by lying with him.

¹⁸But keep alive for yourselves all the young girls who have not known a man by lying with him.¹⁹All of you who have killed anyone or touched anyone who was killed must stay outside the camp for seven days. On the third day and the seventh day you must purify yourselves and your captives.²⁰You must purify every garment and everything made of animal hide and goats' hair, and everything made of wood."

²¹Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone to war, "This is a decreed law that Yahweh has commanded Moses:²²The gold, silver, bronze, iron, tin, and lead,²³and everything that resists fire, you must put it through the fire, and it will become clean. You must then purify those things with the water of cleansing. Whatever cannot go through the fire you must cleanse with that water.²⁴You must wash your clothes on the seventh day, and then you will become clean. Afterward you may come into Israel's camp."

²⁵Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²⁶"You and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the community's ancestral clans are to count all the plundered things that were captured, both men and animals. ²⁷Divide the plunder into two parts. Divide it between the soldiers who went out to battle and all the rest of the community.

²⁸Then levy a tax to be given to me from the soldiers who went out to battle. This tax must be one out of every five hundred, whether persons, cattle, donkeys, sheep, or goats.²⁹Take this tax from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest for a contribution to Yahweh.

³⁰Also from the people of Israel's half, you must take one out of every fifty—from the persons, cattle, donkeys, and sheep—from all the animals. Give these to the Levites who perform the duties of my tabernacle."³¹So Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.

³²Now the booty that remained of the spoil that the men of war had plundered was 675,000 sheep,³³seventy-two thousand cattle,³⁴sixty-one thousand donkeys,³⁵and thirty-two thousand women who had not known a man by lying with him.

³⁶The half that was kept for the soldiers numbered 337,000 sheep,³⁷and the tax for Yahweh of the sheep was 675.

³⁸The cattle were thirty-six thousand, from which the tax for Yahweh was seventy-two.

³⁹The donkeys were 30,500 from which the tax for Yahweh was sixty-one.

⁴⁰The persons were sixteen thousand women, from which the tax for Yahweh was thirty-two.

⁴¹Moses took the tax that was to be a contribution presented to Yahweh. He gave it to Eleazar the priest, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

⁴²As for the people of Israel's half that Moses had taken from the soldiers who had gone to war—⁴³the community's half was 337,500 sheep,⁴⁴thirty-six thousand oxen,⁴⁵30,500 donkeys,⁴⁶and sixteen thousand women.

⁴⁷From the people of Israel's half, Moses took one out of every fifty, both of people and animals. He gave them to the Levites who performed the duties of Yahweh's tabernacle, as Yahweh had commanded him to do.

⁴⁸Then the officers of the army, the commanders over thousands and the captains over hundreds, came to Moses.⁴⁹They said to Moses, "Your servants have counted the soldiers who are under our command, and not one man is missing.

⁵⁰We have brought Yahweh's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and necklaces, to make atonement for ourselves before Yahweh."⁵¹Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold—all the articles of craftsmanship.

⁵²All the gold of the contribution that they gave to Yahweh—the offerings from the commanders of thousands and from the captains of hundreds—weighed 16,750 shekels.⁵³Each soldier had taken plunder, each man for himself.⁵⁴Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the commanders of thousands and captains of hundreds. They took it into the tent of meeting as a reminder of the people of Israel for Yahweh.

¹Now the descendants of Reuben and of Gad had large numbers of livestock. When they saw the land of Jazer and Gilead, the land was a wonderful place for livestock.²So the descendants of Gad and Reuben came and spoke to Moses, to Eleazar the priest, and to the leaders of the community. They said,³"This is a list of places we have surveyed: Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo, and Beon.

⁴These are the lands that Yahweh attacked before the community of Israel, and they are good places for livestock. We, your servants, have a lot of livestock."⁵They said, "If we have found favor in your eyes, let this land be given to us, your servants, as a possession. Do not make us cross over the Jordan."

⁶Moses replied to the descendants of Gad and Reuben, "Should your brothers go to war while you settle down here?⁷Why discourage the hearts of the people of Israel from going over into the land that Yahweh has given them?

⁸Your fathers did the same thing when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to examine the land.⁹They went up to the Valley of Eshkol. They saw the land and then discouraged the hearts of the people of Israel so that they refused to enter the land that Yahweh had given them.

¹⁰Yahweh's anger was kindled on that day. He took an oath and said,¹¹'Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and up, will see the land about which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not completely followed me, except for¹²Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua son of Nun. Only Caleb and Joshua have completely followed me.'

¹³So Yahweh's anger was kindled against Israel. He made them wander around in the wilderness for forty years until all the generation who had done evil in his sight was destroyed.¹⁴Look, you have risen up in your fathers' place, like just more sinful men, to add to Yahweh's burning anger toward Israel.¹⁵If you turn away from following him, he will again leave Israel in the wilderness and you will have destroyed all this people."

¹⁶So they came near Moses and said, "Allow us to build fences here for our livestock and cities for our families.¹⁷However, we ourselves will be ready and armed to go with Israel's army until we have led them into their place. But our families will live in the fortified cities because of the other people who still live in this land.

¹⁸We will not return to our houses until every one of the people of Israel has obtained his inheritance.¹⁹We will not inherit the land with them on the other side of the Jordan, because our inheritance is here on the east side of the Jordan."

²⁰So Moses replied to them, "If you do what you say, if you arm yourselves to go before Yahweh to war,²¹then every one of your armed men must cross over the Jordan before Yahweh, until he has driven out his enemies from before him²²and the land is subdued before him. Then afterward you may return. You will be guiltless toward Yahweh and toward Israel. This land will be your possession before Yahweh.

²³But if you do not do so, look, you will have sinned against Yahweh. Be sure that your sin will find you out.²⁴Build cities for your families and pens for your sheep; then do what you have said."²⁵The descendants of Gad and Reuben spoke to Moses and said, "Your servants will do as you, our master, commands.

²⁶Our little ones, our wives, our cattle, and all our livestock will stay there in the cities of Gilead.²⁷However, we, your servants, every man who is armed for war, will cross over before Yahweh to battle, as our master says."

²⁸So Moses gave instructions concerning them to Eleazar the priest, to Joshua son of Nun, and to the leaders of the ancestor's clans in the tribes of the people of Israel.²⁹Moses said to them, "If the descendants of Gad and Reuben cross over the Jordan with you, every man who is armed to battle before Yahweh, and if the land is subdued before you, then you will give them the land of Gilead as a possession.³⁰But if they do not cross over with you armed, then they will acquire their possessions among you in the land of Canaan."

³¹So the descendants of Gad and Reuben answered and said, "As Yahweh has said to us, your servants, this is what we will do.³²We will cross over armed before Yahweh into the land of Canaan, but our possessed inheritance will remain with us on this side of the Jordan."

³³So to the descendants of Gad and Reuben, and also to the half tribe of Manasseh son of Joseph, Moses gave the kingdom of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and of Og, king of Bashan. He gave to them the land, and distributed to them all its cities with their borders, the cities of the land around them.

³⁴The descendants of Gad rebuilt Dibon, Ataroth, Aroer,³⁵Atroth Shophan, Jazer, Jogbehah,³⁶Beth Nimrah, and Beth Haran as fortified cities with pens for sheep.

³⁷The descendants of Reuben rebuilt Heshbon, Elealeh, Kiriathaim,³⁸Nebo, Baal Meon—their names were later changed, and Sibmah. They gave other names to the cities that they rebuilt.³⁹The descendants of Makir son of Manasseh went to Gilead and took it away from the Amorites who were in it.

⁴⁰Then Moses gave Gilead to the Makirites, the descendants of Manasseh, and his people settled there.⁴¹Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, went and captured its towns and called them Havvoth Jair.⁴²Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and he called it Nobah, after his own name.

¹These were the movements of the people of Israel after they left the land of Egypt by their armed groups under the leadership of Moses and Aaron.²Moses wrote down the places from where they left to where they went, as commanded by Yahweh. These were their movements, departure after departure.

³They traveled from Rameses during the first month, leaving on the fifteenth day of the first month. On the morning after the Passover, the people of Israel left openly, in the sight of all the Egyptians.⁴This happened while the Egyptians were burying all their firstborn, those whom Yahweh had killed among them, for he also made judgments against their gods.

⁵The people of Israel set out from Rameses and camped at Sukkoth.⁶They set out from Sukkoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.⁷They set out from Etham and turned back to Pi Hahiroth, which is opposite Baal Zephon, where they camped opposite Migdol.

⁸Then they set out from opposite Pi Hahiroth and passed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness. They traveled three days' journey into the wilderness of Etham and camped at Marah.⁹They set out from Marah and arrived at Elim. At Elim were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. That is where they camped.¹⁰They set out from Elim and camped by the Sea of Reeds.

¹¹They set out from the Sea of Reeds and camped in the wilderness of Sin.¹²They set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah.¹³They set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush.¹⁴They set out from Alush and camped at Rephidim, where no water was found for the people to drink.

¹⁵They set out from Rephidim and camped in the wilderness of Sinai.¹⁶They set out from the wilderness of Sinai and camped at Kibroth Hattaavah.¹⁷They set out from Kibroth Hattaavah and camped at Hazeroth.¹⁸They set out from Hazeroth and camped at Rithmah.

¹⁹They set out from Rithmah and camped at Rimmon Perez.²⁰They set out from Rimmon Perez and camped at Libnah.²¹They set out from Libnah and camped at Rissah.²²They set out from Rissah and camped at Kehelathah.

²³They set out from Kehelathah and camped at Mount Shepher.²⁴They set out from Mount Shepher and camped at Haradah.²⁵They set out from Haradah and camped at Makheloth.²⁶They set out from Makheloth and camped at Tahath.

²⁷They set out from Tahath and camped at Terah.²⁸They set out from Terah and camped at Mithkah.²⁹They set out from Mithkah and camped at Hashmonah.³⁰They set out from Hashmonah and camped at Moseroth.

³¹They set out from Moseroth and camped at Bene Jaakan.³²They set out from Bene Jaakan and camped at Hor Haggidgad.³³They set out from Hor Haggidgad and camped at Jotbathah.³⁴They set out from Jotbathah and camped at Abronah.

³⁵They set out from Abronah and camped at Ezion Geber.³⁶They set out from Ezion Geber and camped in the wilderness of Zin at Kadesh.³⁷They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom.

³⁸Aaron the priest went up Mount Hor at Yahweh's command and died there in the fortieth year after the people of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fifth month, on the first day of the month.³⁹Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

⁴⁰The Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in the southern wilderness in the land of Canaan, heard of the coming of the people of Israel.

⁴¹They set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.⁴²They set out from Zalmonah and camped at Punon.⁴³They set out from Punon and camped at Oboth.

⁴⁴They set out from Oboth and camped at Iye Abarim, on the border of Moab.⁴⁵They set out from Iye Abarim and camped at Dibon Gad.⁴⁶They set out from Dibon Gad and camped at Almon Diblathaim.

⁴⁷They set out from Almon Diblathaim and camped in the mountains of Abarim, opposite Nebo.⁴⁸They set out from the mountains of Abarim and camped in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.⁴⁹They camped by the Jordan, from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim in the plains of Moab.

⁵⁰Yahweh spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho and said,⁵¹"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,⁵²then you must drive out all the land's inhabitants before you. You must destroy all their carved figures. You must destroy all their cast metal images and demolish all their high places.

⁵³You must take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given you the land to possess.⁵⁴You must inherit the land by lot, according to each clan. To the larger clans you must give a larger share of land, and to the smaller clans you must give a smaller share of land. Wherever the lot falls to each clan, that land will belong to it. You will inherit the land according to your ancestors' tribes.

⁵⁵But if you do not drive out the land's inhabitants before you, then the people you allow to stay will become like objects in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will make your lives difficult in the land where you settle.⁵⁶Then it will happen that what I now intend to do to those people, I will do also to you.'"

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,²"Command the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you enter the land of Canaan, the land that will belong to you, the land of Canaan and its borders,³your southern border will extend from the wilderness of Zin along the border of Edom. The eastern end of the southern border will be on a line that ends at the southern end of the Salt Sea.

⁴Your border will turn south from the hill of Akrabbim and pass along through the wilderness of Zin. From there, it will run south of Kadesh Barnea and continue to Hazar Addar and further to Azmon.⁵From there, the border will turn from Azmon toward the brook of Egypt and follow it to the sea.

⁶The western border will be the coastline of the Great Sea. This will be your western border.

⁷Your northern border will extend along a line that you must mark out from the Great Sea to Mount Hor,⁸then from Mount Hor to Lebo Hamath, then on to Zedad.⁹Then the border will continue to Ziphron and end at Hazar Enan. This will be your northern border.

¹⁰Then you must mark out your eastern border from Hazar Enan south to Shepham.¹¹Then the eastern border will go down from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain. The border will continue along the east side of the Sea of Kinnereth.¹²Then the border will continue south along the Jordan River to the Salt Sea and continue down the eastern border of the Salt Sea. This will be your land, following its borders all around.'"

¹³Then Moses commanded the people of Israel and said, "This is the land that you will receive by lot as a possession, which Yahweh has commanded to give to the nine tribes and to the half tribe.¹⁴The tribe of the descendants of Reuben, following the assignment of property to their ancestor's tribe, and the tribe of the descendants of Gad, following the assignment of property to their ancestor's tribe, and the half tribe of Manasseh have all received their land.¹⁵The two tribes and the half tribe have received their possession beyond the Jordan at Jericho eastward, toward the sunrise."

¹⁶Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,¹⁷"These are the names of the men who will divide the land for your inheritance: Eleazar the priest and Joshua son of Nun.¹⁸You must choose one leader from every tribe to divide the land as their possession.

¹⁹These are the names of the men:

From the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh.

²⁰From the tribe of the descendants of Simeon, Shemuel son of Ammihud.

²¹From the tribe of Benjamin, Elidad son of Kislon.

²²From of the tribe of the descendants of Dan a leader, Bukki son of Jogli.

²³From the descendants of Joseph, of the tribe of the descendants of Manasseh a leader, Hanniel son of Ephod.

²⁴From the tribe of the descendants of Ephraim a leader, Kemuel son of Shiphtan.

²⁵From the tribe of the descendants of Zebulun a leader, Elizaphan son of Parnak.

²⁶From the tribe of the descendants of Issachar a leader, Paltiel son of Azzan.

²⁷From the tribe of the descendants of Asher a leader, Ahihud son of Shelomi.

²⁸From the tribe of the descendants of Naphtali a leader, Pedahel son of Ammihud."

²⁹Yahweh commanded these men to divide the land of Canaan and to give it to each of the tribes of Israel as their possession.

¹Yahweh spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho and said,²"Command the people of Israel to give some of their own shares of the inheritance that they possess to the Levites. They must give them cities to live in and pastureland surrounding those cities.

³The Levites will have these cities to live in. The pastureland will be for their cattle, their flocks, and all their other animals.⁴The pasturelands around the cities that you will give to the Levites must extend from the city walls for one thousand cubits in every direction.

⁵You must measure two thousand cubits from outside the city on the east side, and two thousand cubits to the south side, two thousand cubits to the west side, and two thousand cubits to the north side. This will be the pasturelands for their cities. The cities will be in the center.

⁶Six of the cities that you will give to Levites must serve as cities of refuge. You must provide these as places to which a person who has killed someone can flee. Also provide forty-two other cities.⁷The cities that you give to the Levites will total forty-eight. You must give their pasturelands with them.

⁸As for the cities which you will give from the possession of the children of Israel, from tribes with many you shall take many, and from tribes with few you shall take few. Every tribe according to its inheritance shall give some of his cities to the Levites."

⁹Then Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,¹⁰"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, 'When you cross over the Jordan into the land of Canaan,¹¹then you must choose cities to serve as cities of refuge for you, a place to which a person who has killed someone unintentionally may flee.

¹²These cities must be your refuge from the avenger, so that the killer will not die without first standing trial before the community.¹³You must choose six cities as cities of refuge.

¹⁴You must provide three cities beyond the Jordan and three in the land of Canaan. They will be cities of refuge.¹⁵For the people of Israel, for the foreigner, and for the sojourner, these six cities will serve as a refuge to which anyone who kills someone unintentionally can flee.

¹⁶But if an accused man has struck his victim with an instrument of iron, and if his victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.¹⁷If an accused man has struck his victim with a stone in his hand that might kill the victim, and if his victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.¹⁸If an accused man has struck his victim with a wooden weapon that might kill the victim, and if the victim dies, then the accused is indeed a murderer. He must certainly be put to death.

¹⁹The avenger of blood must put the murderer to death. When he meets him, the avenger of blood must put him to death.²⁰If he strikes another in hatred or throws something at him, while hiding to ambush him, so that the victim dies,²¹or if he strikes him down in hatred with his hand so that the victim dies, then the accused who struck him must surely be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood may put the murderer to death when he meets him.

²²But if an accused man suddenly hits a victim without premeditated hate or throws something that hits the victim without lying in wait²³or if he throws a stone that could kill a victim without seeing the victim, then the accused was not the victim's enemy; he was not trying to hurt the victim. But this is what to do if the victim dies anyway.

²⁴In that case, the community must judge between the accused and the avenger of blood on the basis of these rules.²⁵The community must rescue the killer from the power of the avenger of blood. The community must return the accused to the city of refuge to which he had originally fled. He must live there until the death of the current high priest, the one who was anointed with the holy oil.

²⁶But if the killer at any time goes beyond the border of the city of refuge to which he fled,²⁷and if the avenger of blood finds him outside the border of his city of refuge, and if he kills the killer, the avenger of blood will not be guilty of murder.²⁸This is because the accused man should have remained in his city of refuge until the death of the high priest. After the death of the high priest, the killer may return to the land where he has his own property.

²⁹These laws must be statutes for you through all your people's generations in all the places where you live.³⁰Whoever kills any person, the murderer must be killed, as testified to by the words of witnesses. But one witness's word alone may not cause any person to be put to death.

³¹Also, you must not accept ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of murder. He must certainly be put to death.³²You must not accept ransom for the one who has fled to a city of refuge. You must not in this way allow him to reside on his own property until the high priest dies.

³³Do not pollute in this way the land where you live, because blood from murder pollutes the land. No atonement can be made for the land when blood has been shed on it, except by the blood of the one who shed it.³⁴So you must not defile the land in which you live because I am living in it. I, Yahweh, live among the people of Israel.'"

¹Then the leaders of the ancestors' families of the clan of Gilead son of Makir (who was Manasseh's son), who were from the clans of the descendants of Joseph, came and spoke before Moses and before the leaders who were the heads of the ancestor's families of the people of Israel.²They said, "Yahweh commanded you, our master, to give a share of land by lot to the people of Israel. You were commanded by Yahweh to give the possession of Zelophehad our brother to his daughters.

³But if his daughters marry men in another tribe of the people of Israel, then their share of land will be removed from our ancestor's share. It will be added to the share of the tribes that they join. In that case, it will be removed from the assigned share of our inheritance.⁴In that case, when the year of Jubilee of the people of Israel comes, then their possession will be joined to the possession of the tribe that they have joined. In this way, their possession will be taken away from the possession of our ancestors' tribe."

⁵So Moses gave a command to the people of Israel, at Yahweh's word. He said, "What the tribe of Joseph's descendants says is right.⁶This is what Yahweh commands concerning Zelophehad's daughters. He says, 'Let them be married to whom they think best, but they must marry only within the clan of the tribe of their father.'

⁷No possession of the people of Israel must change from one tribe to another. Each one of the people of Israel must continue with the possession of his ancestor's tribe.

⁸Every woman of the people of Israel who has a possession in her tribe must marry someone from the clans belonging to her father's tribe. This is so that everyone of the people of Israel may own an inheritance from his ancestors.⁹No share may change hands from one tribe to another. Everyone of the tribes of the people of Israel must keep his own inheritance."

¹⁰So Zelophehad's daughters did as Yahweh had commanded Moses.¹¹Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milkah, and Noah, the daughters of Zelophehad, married descendants of Manasseh.¹²They married into the clans of the descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph. In this way, their inheritances remained in the tribe to which their father's clan belonged.

¹³These are the commands and the decrees that Yahweh gave by Moses to the people of Israel in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

Deuteronomy

¹These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyond the Jordan in the wilderness, in the plain of the Jordan River valley over against Suph, between Paran, Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab.²It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh Barnea.

³It happened in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke to the people of Israel, telling them all that Yahweh commanded him concerning them.⁴This was after Yahweh had attacked Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth at Edrei.

⁵Beyond the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses began to announce these instructions, saying,

⁶"Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, 'You have lived long enough in this hill country.

⁷Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all the places near there in the plain of the Jordan River valley, in the hill country, in the lowlands, in the Negev, and by the seashore—the land of the Canaanites, and in Lebanon as far as the great river, the Euphrates.⁸Look, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land that Yahweh swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them and to their descendants after them.'

⁹I spoke to you at that time, saying, 'I am not able to carry you myself alone.¹⁰Yahweh your God has multiplied you, and, look, you are today as the multitude of the stars of heaven.¹¹May Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you!

¹²But how can I myself alone carry your loads, your burdens, and your disputes?¹³Take wise men, understanding men, and men of good repute from each tribe, and I will make them heads over you.'¹⁴You answered me and said, 'The thing that you have spoken is good for us to do.'

¹⁵So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and men of good repute, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, tribe by tribe.¹⁶I commanded your judges at that time, saying, 'Hear the disputes between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother, and the foreigner who is with him.

¹⁷You will not show partiality to anyone in a dispute; you will hear the small and the great alike. You will not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is God's. The dispute that is too hard for you, you will bring to me, and I will hear it.'¹⁸I commanded you at that time all the things that you should do.

¹⁹We journeyed away from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness that you saw, on our way to the hill country of the Amorites, as Yahweh our God had commanded us; and we came to Kadesh Barnea.

²⁰I said to you, 'You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which Yahweh our God is giving to us.²¹Look, Yahweh your God has set the land before you; go up, take possession, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you; do not be afraid, neither be discouraged.'

²²Every one of you came to me and said, 'Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may search out the land for us, and bring us word about the way by which we should attack, and about the cities to which we will come.'²³The advice pleased me well; I took twelve men of you, one man for every tribe.²⁴They turned and went up into the hill country, came to the Valley of Eshkol, and scouted it.

²⁵They took some of the produce of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us word and said, 'It is a good land that Yahweh our God is giving to us.'

²⁶Yet you refused to attack, but rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God.²⁷You complained in your tents and said, "It is because Yahweh hated us that he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.²⁸Where can we go now? Our brothers have made our heart to melt, saying, 'Those people are bigger and taller than we are; their cities are large and are fortified up to the heavens; moreover, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.'"

²⁹Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, neither be afraid of them.³⁰Yahweh your God, who goes before you, he will fight for you, like everything that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes,³¹and also in the wilderness, where you have seen how Yahweh your God carried you, as a man carries his son, everywhere you went until you came to this place.'

³²Yet in spite of this word you did not believe Yahweh your God,³³who went before you on the way to find a place for you to make camp, in fire by night and in a cloud by day.

³⁴Yahweh heard the sound of your words and was angry; he swore and said,³⁵'Surely not one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors,³⁶except Caleb son of Jephunneh. He will see it and I will give him and his descendants the land that he has stepped on, because he wholly followed Yahweh.'

³⁷Also Yahweh was angry with me because of you, saying, 'You also will not go in there;³⁸Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, he will go in there; encourage him, for he will lead Israel to inherit it.

³⁹Moreover, your little children, the ones you said would be victims, who today have no knowledge of good or evil—they will go in there. To them I will give it, and they will possess it.⁴⁰But as for you, turn and take your journey into the wilderness along the way to the Sea of Reeds.'

⁴¹Then you answered and said to me, 'We have sinned against Yahweh; we will go up and fight, and we will follow all that Yahweh our God has commanded us to do.' Every man among you girded on his weapons of war, and you were ready to attack the hill country.⁴²Yahweh said to me, 'Say to them, "Do not attack and do not fight, for I will not be with you, and you will be defeated by your enemies.'

⁴³I spoke to you in this way, but you did not listen. You rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh; you were arrogant and attacked the hill country.⁴⁴But the Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you and chased you like bees, and crushed you in Seir, as far as Hormah.

⁴⁵You returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh did not listen to your voice, nor did he pay attention to you.⁴⁶So you stayed in Kadesh many days, all the days that you stayed there.

¹Then we turned and took our journey into the wilderness by the way to the Sea of Reeds, as Yahweh had spoken to me; we went around Mount Seir for many days.²Yahweh spoke to me, saying,³'You have gone around this mountain long enough; turn northward.

⁴Command the people, saying, "You are to pass through the border of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir; they will be afraid of you. Therefore be careful⁵not to fight with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not even enough for the sole of a foot to step on; for I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

⁶You will purchase food from them for money, so that you may eat; you will also buy water from them for money, so that you may drink.⁷For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; he has known your walking through this great wilderness. For these forty years Yahweh your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing."'

⁸So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, from Elath and from Ezion Geber. Then we turned and passed by the way of the wilderness of Moab.

⁹Yahweh said to me, 'Do not trouble Moab, and do not fight with them in battle. For I will not give you his land for your own possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot, for their possession.'

¹⁰(The Emites lived there previously, a people as great, as many, and as tall as the Anakim;¹¹these also are considered to be the Rephaim, like the Anakim; but the Moabites call them the Emites.

¹²The Horites also lived in Seir previously, but the descendants of Esau succeeded them. They destroyed them from before them and lived in their place, like Israel did to the land of his possession that Yahweh gave to them.)

¹³"'Now rise up and go over the brook Zered.' So we went over the brook Zered.¹⁴Now the days from when we came from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the brook Zered, were thirty-eight years. It was by that time that all that generation of the men fit for fighting were gone from the people, as Yahweh had sworn to them.¹⁵Moreover, the hand of Yahweh was against that generation in order to destroy them from the people until they were gone.

¹⁶So it happened, when all the men fit for fighting were dead and gone from among the people,¹⁷that Yahweh spoke to me, saying,¹⁸'You are today to pass over Ar, the border of Moab.¹⁹When you come near opposite the people of Ammon, do not trouble them or fight them; for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession; because I have given it to the descendants of Lot as a possession.'"

²⁰(That also is considered to be a land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived there previously—but the Ammonites call them Zamzummim—²¹a people as great, as many, and as tall as the Anakim. But Yahweh destroyed them before the Ammonites, and they succeeded them and lived in their place.²²This Yahweh also did for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them, and the descendants of Esau succeeded them and have lived in their place even until today.

²³As for the Avvites who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim, who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and settled in their place.)

²⁴"'Now rise up, go on your journey, and pass over the Valley of the Arnon; look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and fight with him in battle.²⁵Today I will begin to put the fear and terror of you on the peoples that are under the whole sky; they will hear a report about you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.'

²⁶I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon, king of Heshbon, with words of peace, saying,²⁷'Let me pass through your land; I will go along the highway; I will turn neither to the right hand nor to the left.

²⁸You will sell me food for money, so that I may eat; give me water for money, so that I may drink; only let me pass through on my feet;²⁹as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir, and as the Moabites who live in Ar, did for me; until I pass over the Jordan into the land that Yahweh our God is giving us.'

³⁰But Sihon, king of Heshbon, would not let us pass by him; for Yahweh your God had hardened his mind and made his heart obstinate, that he might defeat him by your might, which he has now done today.³¹Yahweh said to me, 'Look, I have begun to deliver up Sihon and his land before you; begin to possess it, in order that you may inherit his land.'

³²Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to fight at Jahaz.³³Yahweh our God gave him over to us and we defeated him and his sons and all his people.

³⁴We took all his cities at that time and completely destroyed every city—men and the women and the little ones; we left no survivor.³⁵Only the livestock we took as booty for ourselves, along with the spoil of the cities that we had taken.

³⁶From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, all the way to Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. Yahweh our God gave them into our hands.³⁷It was only to the land of the descendants of Ammon that you did not go, as well as all the side of the Jabbok River, and the cities of the hill country—wherever Yahweh our God had forbidden us to go.

¹Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. Og, the king of Bashan, came and attacked us, he and all his people, to fight at Edrei.²Yahweh said to me, 'Do not fear him; for I have given you victory over him and have put all his people and his land under your control. You will do to him as you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.'

³So Yahweh our God also gave us victory over Og the king of Bashan, and all his people were put under our control. We struck them down until not one survivor remained for him.⁴We took all his cities at that time. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them—all the region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

⁵These were all cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars; this was besides very many unwalled villages.⁶We completely destroyed them, as we did to Sihon king of Heshbon, completely destroying every city—men and the women and the little ones.⁷But all the livestock and the spoil of the cities we took as booty for ourselves.

⁸At that time we took the land out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan, from the Valley of the Arnon to Mount Hermon⁹(Mount Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians, and the Amorites call it Senir)¹⁰and all the cities of the plain, all Gilead, and all Bashan, all the way to Salekah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan."

¹¹(For of the remnant of the Rephaim, only Og king of Bashan had remained. Look! His bed was a bed of iron. Was it not in Rabbah, where the descendants of Ammon live? It was nine cubits long and four cubits wide, the way people measure.)

¹²"This land that we took in possession at that time—from Aroer, that is by the Valley of the Arnon, and half the hill country of Gilead, and its cities—I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites.¹³The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh. (All the region of Argob in Bashan was called the land of Rephaim.

¹⁴Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took all the region of Argob to the border of the Geshurites and the Maakathites. He called the region, even Bashan, by his own name, Havvoth Jair, to this day.)

¹⁵I gave Gilead to Makir.¹⁶To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave territory from Gilead to the Valley of the Arnon—the middle of the valley is the territory's border—and to the Jabbok River, which is the border with the descendants of Ammon.

¹⁷Another of its borders is also the plain of the Jordan River valley, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (that is, the Salt Sea) to the slopes of Mount Pisgah eastward.

¹⁸I commanded you at that time, saying, 'Yahweh your God has given you this land to possess it; you, all the men of war, will pass over armed before your brothers, the people of Israel.

¹⁹But your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have much livestock), will stay in your cities that I have given you,²⁰until Yahweh gives rest to your brothers, as he has to you, until they also possess the land that Yahweh your God is giving them beyond the Jordan; then will you return, every man of you, to your own property that I have given you.'

²¹I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, 'Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to these two kings; Yahweh will do the same to all the kingdoms where you go over.²²You will not fear them, for Yahweh your God is the one who will fight for you.'

²³I earnestly appealed to Yahweh at that time, saying,²⁴'O Lord Yahweh, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or in earth that can do the same works as you have done, and the same mighty acts?²⁵Let me go over, I beg you, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that good hill country, and also Lebanon.'

²⁶But Yahweh was angry with me because of you; he did not listen to me. Yahweh said to me, 'Let this be enough for you—speak no more to me about this matter:²⁷go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes westward, northward, southward, and eastward; look with your eyes, for you will not go over the Jordan.

²⁸Instead, instruct Joshua and encourage and strengthen him, for he will go over before this people, and he will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.'²⁹So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth Peor.

¹Now, Israel, listen to the laws and the decrees that I am about to teach you, to do them; so that you may live and go in and possess the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, is giving you.²You will not add to the words that I command you, neither will you diminish them, so that you may keep the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am about to command you.

³Your eyes have seen what Yahweh did because of Baal Peor; for all the men who followed the Baal of Peor, Yahweh your God has destroyed them from among you.⁴But you who clung to Yahweh your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵Look, I have taught you laws and decrees, as Yahweh my God had commanded me, that you should do so in the midst of the land which you are going into in order to possess it.⁶Therefore keep them and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear about all these statutes and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'

⁷For what other great nation is there that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call upon him?⁸What other great nation is there that has laws and decrees so righteous as all this law that I am setting before you today?

⁹Only pay attention and carefully guard yourself, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen, so that they do not leave your heart for all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children.¹⁰On the day that you stood before Yahweh your God at Horeb, when Yahweh said to me, 'Assemble me the people, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.'

¹¹You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.¹²Yahweh spoke to you out of the middle of the fire; you heard the voice with its words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.

¹³He declared to you his covenant that he commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments. He wrote them on two tablets of stone.¹⁴Yahweh commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, so that you might do them in the land that you are crossing over to take possession of it.

¹⁵So watch yourselves carefully—for you saw no kind of form on the day that Yahweh spoke to you at Horeb out of the middle of the fire—¹⁶that you do not corrupt yourselves by making a carved image in the form of any figure, in the likeness of male or female,¹⁷the likeness of any animal on the earth, the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the heavens,¹⁸the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, or the likeness of any fish that is in the water under the earth.

¹⁹You must not lift your eyes up to the heavens and look at the sun, the moon, or the stars—all the host of the heavens—and be drawn away to worship them and adore them—those things of which Yahweh your God has given a share to all the peoples under all the heavens.²⁰But Yahweh has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of his own inheritance, as you are today.

²¹Yahweh was angry with me because of you; he swore that I would not go over the Jordan, and that I would not go into the good land that Yahweh your God is giving to you as an inheritance.²²Rather, I must die in this land; I must not go over the Jordan. But you will go over and possess that good land.

²³Pay attention to yourselves, so that you do not forget the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything that Yahweh your God has forbidden you to make.²⁴For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.

²⁵When you beget children and children's children, and when you will have been in the land for a long time, and if you corrupt yourselves and make a carved figure in the form of anything, and do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God, to provoke him to anger—²⁶I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that you will soon utterly perish from off the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess; you will not prolong your days in it, but you will be completely destroyed.

²⁷Yahweh will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations, where Yahweh will lead you away.²⁸There you will serve other gods, the work of men's hands, wood and stone, which neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.

²⁹But from there you will seek Yahweh your God, and you will find him, when you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

³⁰When you are in distress, and when all these things will have come on you, in those later days you will return to Yahweh your God and listen to his voice.³¹For Yahweh your God is a merciful God; he will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers that he swore to them.

³²Ask now about the days that are past, which were before your time, since the day that God created man on the earth, ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether there has been anything so great as this, or has anything like it ever been heard?³³Did ever a people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

³⁴Or has God ever attempted to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, as everything that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?

³⁵To you these things were shown, so that you might know that Yahweh is God, and that there is no one else besides him.³⁶Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, so that he might instruct you; on earth he made you see his great fire; you heard his words out of the midst of the fire.

³⁷Because he loved your fathers, he chose their descendants after them, and brought you out of Egypt with his presence, with his great power;³⁸in order to drive out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as today.

³⁹Know therefore today, and lay it on your heart, that Yahweh is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no one else.⁴⁰You will keep his statutes and his commandments that I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you forever."

⁴¹Then Moses selected three cities on the east side of the Jordan,⁴²so that anyone might flee to one of them if he killed another person accidentally, without being his enemy previously. By fleeing to one of these cities, he might survive.⁴³They were: Bezer in the wilderness, the plain country, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead, for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, for the Manassites.

⁴⁴This is the law that Moses placed before the people of Israel;⁴⁵these are the covenant decrees, laws, and ordinances that he spoke to the people of Israel when they came out of Egypt,⁴⁶when they were east of the Jordan, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who had lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the people of Israel had defeated when they came out of Egypt.

⁴⁷They took his land as a possession, and the land of Og king of Bashan—these, the two kings of the Amorites, who were beyond the Jordan toward the east.⁴⁸This territory went from Aroer, on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, to Mount Siyon (or Mount Hermon),⁴⁹and included all of the plain of the Jordan River valley, eastward beyond the Jordan, to the Sea of the Arabah, to the slopes of Mount Pisgah.

¹Moses called to all Israel and said to them, "Listen, Israel, to the statutes and the decrees that I will speak in your ears today, that you may learn them and keep them.²Yahweh our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.³Yahweh did not make this covenant with our ancestors, but with us, all of us alive here today.

⁴Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mount out of the middle of the fire⁵(I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to reveal to you his word; for you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain). Yahweh said,

⁶'I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

⁷You will have no other gods before me.

⁸You will not make for yourself a carved figure nor any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water below.

⁹You will not bow down to them or serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God. I punish the ancestors' wickedness by bringing punishment on the children, to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,¹⁰and showing steadfast love to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments.

¹¹You will not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless that takes his name in vain.

¹²Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as Yahweh your God commanded you.¹³For six days you will labor and do all your work;¹⁴but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. On it you will not do any work—not you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your animals, nor any foreigner who is within your gates. This is so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

¹⁵You will call to mind that you were a servant in the land of Egypt, and Yahweh your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore Yahweh your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

¹⁶Honor your father and your mother, as Yahweh your God has commanded you to do, that you may live a long time in the land that Yahweh your God gives you, and so that it may go well with you.

¹⁷You will not murder.

¹⁸You will not commit adultery.

¹⁹You will not steal.

²⁰You will not give false witness against your neighbor.

²¹You will not covet your neighbor's wife, you will not covet your neighbor's house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.'

²²These words Yahweh spoke in a loud voice to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness; he did not add any more words. He wrote them down on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

²³It came about, when you heard the voice out of the middle of the darkness, while the mountain was burning, that you came near to me—all your elders and the heads of your tribes.²⁴You said, 'Look, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire; we have seen today that when God speaks with people, they can live.

²⁵But why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of Yahweh our God any longer, we will die.²⁶For who besides us is there among all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speak out of the middle of the fire and lived, as we have done?²⁷As for you, you should go and listen to everything that Yahweh our God says; repeat to us everything that Yahweh our God says to you; we will listen to it and obey it.'

²⁸Yahweh heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, 'I have heard the words of this people, what they said to you. What they said was good.²⁹Oh, that there were such a heart in them, that they would honor me and always keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their children forever!³⁰Go say to them, "Return to your tents."

³¹But as for you, stand here by me, and I will tell you all the commandments, the statutes, and the decrees that you will teach them, so that they may keep them in the land that I will give them to possess.'

³²You will keep, therefore, what Yahweh your God has commanded you; you will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left.³³You will walk in all the ways that Yahweh your God has commanded you, so that you may live, and so that it may go well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that you will possess.

¹Now these are the commandments, statutes, and decrees that Yahweh your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you might keep them in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess;²so that you might honor Yahweh your God, so as to keep all his statutes and commandments that I am commanding you—you, your sons, and your sons' sons, all the days of your lives, so that your days may be prolonged.

³Therefore listen to them, Israel, and keep them, so that it may go well with you, so that you may greatly multiply, in a land flowing with milk and honey, as Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has promised you would do.

⁴Listen, Israel: Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.⁵You will love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might.

⁶The words that I am commanding you today will be in your heart;⁷and you will diligently teach them to your children; you will talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.

⁸You will tie them as a sign upon your hand, and they will serve as frontlets between your eyes.⁹You will write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, that he would give you, with large and very good cities that you did not build,¹¹and houses full of all kinds of good things that you did not make, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant, you will eat and be satisfied—¹²then be careful so that you do not forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

¹³You will honor Yahweh your God; him you will worship, and you will swear by his name.¹⁴You will not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are all around you—¹⁵for Yahweh your God in the midst of you is a jealous God—if you do, the anger of Yahweh your God will be kindled against you and he will destroy you from the surface of the earth.

¹⁶You will not test Yahweh your God as you tested him at Massah.¹⁷You will diligently keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, his solemn commands, and his statutes, that he has commanded you.

¹⁸You will do what is right and good in the sight of Yahweh, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and possess the good land that Yahweh swore to your fathers,¹⁹to drive out all your enemies from before you, as Yahweh has said.

²⁰When your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What are the covenant decrees, the statutes, and the other decrees that Yahweh our God commanded you?'²¹then you will say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt; Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand,²²and he displayed signs and wonders, great and severe, on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his house, before our eyes;²³and he brought us out from there, so that he might bring us in, to give us the land that he swore to our fathers.

²⁴Yahweh commanded us to always keep all these statutes, to fear Yahweh our God for our good, so that he might keep us alive, as we are today.²⁵If we keep all these commands before Yahweh our God, as he has commanded us, this will be our righteousness.'

¹When Yahweh your God brings you into the land that you go to possess, he will drive out many nations before you—the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—seven nations greater and mightier than you.

²It is Yahweh your God who gives them over to you when you defeat them, and then you must completely destroy them. You will make no covenant with them, and show them no mercy.³Neither will you arrange any marriages with them. You will not give your daughters to their sons, and you will not take their daughters for your sons.

⁴For they will turn away your sons from following me, so that they may worship other gods. So the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly.⁵This is how you will deal with them: You will break down their altars, dash their stone pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their cast idols.

⁶For you are a nation that is set apart to Yahweh your God. He has chosen you to be a people for him to possess, more than all the other peoples that are on the face of the earth.

⁷Yahweh did not set his love upon you or choose you because you were more in number than any people—for you were the fewest of all peoples—⁸but because he loves you, and he wished to keep the oath that he had sworn to your fathers. This is why Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.

⁹Therefore know that Yahweh your God—he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenants and faithfulness for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments,¹⁰but repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them; he will not be lenient on whoever hates him; he will repay him to his face.

¹¹You will therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the decrees that I command you today, so that you will do them.

¹²If you listen to these decrees, and keep and do them, it will happen that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the faithfulness that he swore to your fathers.¹³He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground—your grain, your new wine, and your oil—the calves of your herds and the young of your flocks in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.

¹⁴You will be blessed more than all other peoples; there will not be a childless male or a barren female among you or among your livestock.¹⁵Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; none of the evil diseases of Egypt that you have known will he put on you, but he will put them on all those who hate you.

¹⁶You will consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God will give over to you, and your eye will not pity them. You will not worship their gods, for that will be a trap for you.

¹⁷If you say in your heart, 'These nations are more numerous than I; how can I dispossess them?'—¹⁸do not be afraid of them; you will call to mind what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt;¹⁹the great sufferings that your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out. Yahweh your God will do the same to all the peoples whom you fear.

²⁰Moreover, Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left and who hide themselves from you perish from your presence.²¹You will not be frightened at them, for Yahweh your God is among you, a great and fearsome God.²²Yahweh your God will drive out those nations before you little by little. You will not defeat them all at once, or the wild animals would become very many around you.

²³But Yahweh your God will give you victory over them when you meet them in battle; he will greatly confuse them until they are destroyed.²⁴He will put their kings under your power, and you will make their name perish from under heaven. No one will be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them.

²⁵You will burn the carved figures of their gods—do not covet the silver or the gold that covers them and take it for yourself, because if you do, you will become trapped by it—for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God.²⁶You will not bring any abomination into your house and start to worship it. You will utterly detest and abhor it, for it is set apart for destruction.

¹You must keep all the commands that I am giving you today, so that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that Yahweh swore to your fathers.²You will call to mind all the ways that Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order that he might humble you, that he might test you to know what was in your heart, as to whether you would keep his commandments or not.

³He humbled you, and made you hunger, and fed you with manna, which you had not known and which your fathers had not known. He did that to make you know that it is not by bread alone that people live; rather, it is by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh that people live.

⁴Your clothing did not wear out and fall off you, and your feet did not swell up during those forty years.⁵You will think about in your heart, how, as a man disciplines his son, so Yahweh your God disciplines you.⁶You will keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, so that you might walk in his ways and honor him.

⁷For Yahweh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out into valleys and among hills;⁸a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of olive trees and honey.

⁹It is a land in which you will not eat bread in poverty and in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are made of iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper.¹⁰You will eat and be full, and you will bless Yahweh your God for the good land that he has given you.

¹¹Be careful that you do not forget Yahweh your God, by failing to keep his commandments and his rules and statutes that I am commanding you today.¹²Otherwise, when you eat and are full, and when you build good houses and live in them, your heart will be lifted up.

¹³Be careful when your herds and flocks multiply and when your silver and gold increase, and all that you have is multiplied,¹⁴then your heart becomes lifted up and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

¹⁵Do not forget him who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the rock of flint.¹⁶He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors had never known, so that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end,¹⁷but you may say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand acquired all this wealth.'

¹⁸But you will call to mind Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you the power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is today.¹⁹It will happen that, if you will forget Yahweh your God and walk after other gods, worship them, and reverence them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.²⁰Like the nations that Yahweh is making to perish before you, so will you perish, because you would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

¹Hear, Israel; you are about to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, and cities that are great and fortified up to heaven,²a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard people say, 'Who can stand before the sons of Anak?'

³Know therefore today that Yahweh your God is he who goes over before you like a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will subdue them before you; so will you drive them out and make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has said to you.

⁴Do not say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, 'It was because of my righteousness that Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,' for it was because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is driving them out from before you.

⁵It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you are going in to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that your God is driving them out from before you, and so that he may make come true the word that he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶Know therefore, that Yahweh your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.

⁷Remember and do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to anger in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh.⁸Also at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to anger, and Yahweh was angry enough with you to destroy you.

⁹When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that Yahweh made with you, I stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water.¹⁰Yahweh gave to me the two tablets of stone written with his finger; on them was written everything just like all the words that Yahweh announced to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire on the day of the assembly.

¹¹It happened at the end of those forty days and forty nights that Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.¹²Yahweh said to me, 'Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned aside out of the path that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a cast figure.'

¹³Furthermore, Yahweh spoke to me and said, 'I have seen this people; they are a stubborn people.¹⁴Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.'

¹⁵So I turned around and came down the mountain, and the mountain was burning. The two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.¹⁶I looked, and behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God. You had molded for yourselves a calf. You had quickly turned aside out of the path that Yahweh had commanded you.

¹⁷I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands. I broke them before your eyes.¹⁸Again I lay facedown before Yahweh for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin that you had committed, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, so as to provoke him to anger.

¹⁹For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which Yahweh was angry enough against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also.²⁰Yahweh was very angry with Aaron so as to destroy him; I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

²¹I took your sin, the calf that you had made, and burned it, beat it, and crushed it and ground it very small, until it was as fine as dust. I threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.

²²At Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth Hattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath.²³When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh Barnea and said, 'Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,' then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you did not believe or listen to his voice.²⁴You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you.

²⁵So I lay facedown before Yahweh those forty days and forty nights, because he had said that he would destroy you.²⁶I prayed to Yahweh and said, 'O Lord Yahweh, do not destroy your people or your inheritance whom you have redeemed through your greatness, which you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷Call to mind your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stubbornness of this people, nor at their wickedness, nor at their sin,²⁸so that the land from where you brought us should say, "Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land that he promised to them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness."²⁹Yet they are your people and your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great strength and by the display of your power.'

¹At that time Yahweh said to me, 'Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark of wood.²I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets that you broke, and you will put them in the ark.'

³So I made an ark of acacia wood, and I carved two tablets of stone like the first, and I went up the mountain, having the two tablets in my hand.⁴He wrote on the tablets, like the first writing, the Ten Commandments which Yahweh had spoken to you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire on the day of the assembly; then Yahweh gave them to me.

⁵I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the tablets in the ark that I had made; there they are, as Yahweh commanded me."

⁶(The people of Israel journeyed from Beeroth Bene Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died, and there he was buried; Eleazar, his son, served in the priest's office in his place.⁷From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of streams of water.

⁸At that time Yahweh chose the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, to stand before Yahweh to serve him, and to bless people in his name, as today.⁹Therefore Levi has no portion nor inheritance of land with his brothers; Yahweh is his inheritance, as Yahweh your God spoke to him.)

¹⁰"I stayed on the mountain as at the first time, forty days and forty nights. Yahweh listened to me that time also; Yahweh did not wish to destroy you.¹¹Yahweh said to me, 'Arise, go before the people to lead them on their journey; they will go in and possess the land that I swore to their ancestors to give to them.'

¹²Now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God require of you, except to fear Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, and to worship Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul,¹³to keep the commandments of Yahweh, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today for your own good?

¹⁴Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth, with all that is in them.¹⁵Only Yahweh took pleasure in your fathers so as to love them, and he chose you, their descendants, after them, more than any of the other peoples, as he does today.

¹⁶Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and no longer stiffen your necks.¹⁷For Yahweh your God, he is God of gods and Lord of lords, the Great God, the Mighty One and the Fearsome One, who favors no one and takes no bribes.

¹⁸He executes justice for the fatherless and widow, and he shows love for the foreigner by giving him food and clothing.¹⁹Therefore love the foreigner; for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

²⁰You will fear Yahweh your God; him will you worship. To him you must cling, and by his name will you swear.²¹He is your praise, and he is your God, who has done for you these great and fearsome things, which your eyes have seen.

²²Your fathers went down into Egypt as seventy persons; now Yahweh your God has made you as many as the stars of the heavens.

¹Therefore you will love Yahweh your God and always keep his instructions, his statutes, his decrees, and his commandments.

²Notice that I am not speaking to your children, who have not known nor have they seen the punishment of Yahweh your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, or his outstretched arm,³the signs and deeds that he did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land.

⁴Neither did they see what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses, or to their chariots, how he made the water of the Sea of Reeds overwhelm them as they pursued after you, and how Yahweh has destroyed them until today,⁵or what he did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place.

⁶They had not seen what Yahweh had done to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the middle of all Israel.⁷But your eyes have seen all the great works of Yahweh that he did.

⁸Therefore keep all the commandments that I am commanding you today, that you may be strong, and go in and possess the land where you are going over to possess it,⁹and that you may prolong your days in the land that Yahweh swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰For the land, where you go in to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt, from where you came, where you sowed your seed and watered it with your foot, like a garden of herbs;¹¹but the land, where you go over to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinks water of the rain of the heavens,¹²a land that Yahweh your God cares for; the eyes of Yahweh your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³It will happen, if you will listen diligently to my commandments that I command you today, to love Yahweh your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,¹⁴that I will give the rain of your land in its season, the former rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.¹⁵I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be full.

¹⁶Pay attention to yourselves so that your heart is not deceived, and you turn aside and worship other gods and bow down to them;¹⁷so that the anger of Yahweh is not kindled against you; and so that he does not shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain, and the land will not yield its fruit, and so that you perish quickly from off the good land that Yahweh is giving you.

¹⁸Therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and soul, bind them as a sign on your hand, and let them be as frontlets between your eyes.¹⁹You will teach them to your children and talk about them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.

²⁰You will write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates,²¹that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors to give them for as long as the heavens are above the earth.

²²For if you diligently keep all these commandments that I am commanding you, so as to do them, to love Yahweh your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him,²³then Yahweh will drive out all these nations from before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves.

²⁴Every place where the sole of your foot will tread will be yours; from the wilderness to Lebanon, from the river, the Euphrates River, to the western sea will be your border.²⁵No man will be able to stand before you. Yahweh your God will lay the fear of you and the terror of you upon all the land that you tread on, as he has said to you.

²⁶Look, I set before you today a blessing and a curse:²⁷the blessing, if you obey the commandments of Yahweh your God that I command you today,²⁸and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of Yahweh your God, but turn aside from the way that I command you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.

²⁹It will happen, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, that you will set the blessing on Mount Gerizim, and the curse on Mount Ebal.³⁰Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the western road, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, over against Gilgal, beside the oaks of Moreh?

³¹For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to possess the land that Yahweh your God is giving you, and you will possess it and live in it.³²You will keep all the statutes and the decrees that I set before you today.

¹These are the statutes and the decrees that you will keep in the land that Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth.²You will surely destroy all the places where the nations that you will dispossess worshiped their gods, on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

³You must break down their altars, dash in pieces their stone pillars, and burn their Asherah poles. You must cut down the carved figures of their gods and destroy their name out of that place.⁴You will not worship Yahweh your God like that.

⁵But to the place where Yahweh your God chooses out of all your tribes to establish his name, that will be the place where he lives, and it is there that you will go.⁶It is there that you will bring your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, and the offerings presented by your hand, your offerings for vows, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.

⁷It is there that you will eat before Yahweh your God and rejoice about everything that you have put your hand to, you and your households, where Yahweh your God has blessed you.

⁸You will not do all the things that we are doing here today; now everyone is doing whatever is right in his own eyes;⁹for you have not yet come to the rest, to the inheritance that Yahweh your God is giving you.

¹⁰But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that Yahweh your God is causing you to inherit, he will give you rest from all your enemies round about so that you live in safety.¹¹Then to the place where Yahweh your God will choose to cause his name to live there—there you will bring everything I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, and the offerings presented by your hand, and all your choice offerings for vows that you will vow to Yahweh.

¹²You will rejoice before Yahweh your God—you, your sons, your daughters, your male servants, your female servants, and the Levites who are within your gate, because he has no portion or inheritance among you.

¹³Pay attention to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings at every place that you see;¹⁴but it is at the place that Yahweh will choose among one of your tribes that you will offer your burnt offerings, and there you will do everything that I command you.

¹⁵However, you may kill and eat animals within all your gates, as you desire, receiving the blessing of Yahweh your God for all that he has given you; the unclean and the clean persons both may eat of it, animals such as the gazelle and the deer.¹⁶But you will not eat the blood; you will pour it out on the earth like water.

¹⁷You must not eat within your gates from the tithe of your grain, your new wine, your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or flock; and you must not eat any of the meat you sacrifice along with any of your vows that you make, nor that of your freewill offerings, nor that of the offering you present with your hand.

¹⁸Instead, you will eat them before Yahweh your God in the place that Yahweh your God will choose—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates; you will rejoice before Yahweh your God about everything to which you put your hand.¹⁹Pay attention to yourself so that you do not abandon the Levite as long as you live on your land.

²⁰When Yahweh your God enlarges your borders, as he has promised you, and you say, 'I will eat flesh,' because of your desire to eat meat, you may eat meat, as your soul desires.

²¹If the place where Yahweh your God chooses to establish his name is too far from you, then you will kill some of your herd and your flock that Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; you may eat within your gates, as your soul desires.²²Like the gazelle and the deer are eaten, so you will eat of it; the unclean and the clean persons may eat of it alike.

²³Only be sure that you do not consume the blood, for the blood is the life; you will not eat the life with the meat.²⁴You will not eat it; you will pour it out on the earth like water.²⁵You will not eat it, so that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you will do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

²⁶But the things that belong to Yahweh that you have and the offerings for your vows—you will take these and go to the place that Yahweh chooses.²⁷There you will offer your burnt offerings, the meat and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God; the blood of your sacrifices will be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God, and you will eat the flesh.

²⁸Observe and listen to all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

²⁹When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations from before you, when you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and live in their land,³⁰pay attention to yourself that you are not trapped into following them, after they are destroyed from before you—trapped into investigating their gods, into asking, 'How do these nations worship their gods? I will do the same.'

³¹You must not worship Yahweh your God in that way, for everything that is an abomination to Yahweh, things that he hates—they have done these with their gods; they even burn their sons and their daughters in fire for their gods.

³²Whatever I command you, observe it. Do not add to it or take away from it.

¹If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and if he gives you a sign or a wonder,²and if the sign or the wonder comes about, of which he spoke to you and said, 'Let us go after other gods, that you have not known, and let us worship them,'³do not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams; for Yahweh your God is testing you to know whether you love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴You will walk after Yahweh your God, honor him, keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you will worship him and cling to him.⁵That prophet or that dreamer of dreams will be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and who redeemed you out of the house of bondage. That prophet wants to draw you out of the way in which Yahweh your God commanded you to walk. So completely remove the evil from among you.

⁶Suppose that your brother, the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend who is to you like your own soul, secretly entices you and says, 'Let us go and worship other gods' which you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors—⁷any of the gods of the peoples that are round about you, near to you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth.'

⁸You must not give in to him or listen to him, and you must not permit your eye to pity him, and you must not spare him or conceal him.⁹Instead, you will surely kill him; your hand will be the first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

¹⁰You will stone him to death with stones, because he has tried to draw you away from Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.¹¹All Israel will hear and fear, and will not continue to do this kind of wickedness among you.

¹²If you hear anyone say about one of your cities, that Yahweh your God gives you to live in:¹³Some wicked fellows have gone out from among you and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city and said, 'Let us go and worship other gods that you have not known.'¹⁴Then you will examine the evidence, make search, and investigate it thoroughly. When you discover that it is true and certain that such an abominable thing has been done among you, then you will take action.

¹⁵You will surely attack the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, completely destroy it and all the people who are in it, along with its livestock, with the edge of the sword.¹⁶You will gather all the spoil from it into the middle of its street and will burn the city, as well as all its booty, as a burnt offering for Yahweh your God. The city will be a heap of ruins forever; it must never be built again.

¹⁷None of those things set apart for destruction must stick in your hand. This must be the case, so that Yahweh will turn from the burning of his anger, show you mercy, have compassion on you, and make you increase in numbers, as he has sworn to your fathers.¹⁸He will do this because you are listening to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all his commandments that I am commanding you today, to do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.

¹You are the people of Yahweh your God. Do not cut yourselves, nor shave any part of your face for the dead.²For you are a nation that is set apart to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, more than all peoples that are on the surface of the earth.

³You must not eat any abominable thing.⁴These are the animals that you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,⁵the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, and ibex, and the antelope, and the mountain sheep.

⁶You may eat any animals that parts the hoof, that is, that has the hoof divided in two, and that chews the cud.⁷Nevertheless, you must not eat some animals that chew the cud or that have the hoof divided in two: the camel, the rabbit, and the rock badger; because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, they are unclean to you.

⁸The pig is unclean to you as well because he parts the hoof but does not chew the cud; he is unclean to you. Do not eat pig meat, and do not touch their carcasses.

⁹Of these things that are in water you may eat: whatever has fins and scales;¹⁰but whatever has no fins and scales you must not eat; they are unclean to you.

¹¹All clean birds you may eat.¹²But these are the birds that you must not eat: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey,¹³the red kite and black kite, any kind of falcon.

¹⁴You must not eat any kind of raven,¹⁵and the ostrich, and the night hawk, the sea gull, any kind of hawk,¹⁶the little owl, the great owl, the white owl,¹⁷the pelican, the osprey, the cormorant.

¹⁸You must not eat the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.¹⁹All winged, swarming things are unclean to you; they must not be eaten.²⁰You may eat all clean flying things.

²¹You must not eat of anything that dies of itself; you may give it to the foreigner who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a nation that is set apart to Yahweh your God. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

²²You must surely tithe all the yield of your seed, that which comes out from the field year after year.²³You must eat before Yahweh your God, in the place where he will choose to make a dwelling for his name, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock; that you may learn to always honor Yahweh your God.

²⁴If the journey is too long for you so that you are not able to carry it, because the place where Yahweh your God will choose to establish his name is too far from you, then, when Yahweh God blesses you,²⁵you will convert the offering into money, tie up the money in your hand, and go to the place that Yahweh your God will choose.

²⁶There you will spend the money for whatever you desire: cattle, sheep, wine or strong drink, or for whatever you desire. Then you will eat there before Yahweh your God and rejoice, you and your household.²⁷The Levite who is within your gates—do not abandon him, for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

²⁸At the end of every three years you will present all the tithe of your produce in the same year, and you will store it up within your gates;²⁹and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner, and the fatherless, and the widow who are within your gates, will come and eat and be satisfied. Do this so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hand that you do.

¹At the end of every seven years, you must cancel debts.²This is the manner of the release: Every creditor will cancel that which he has lent to his neighbor; he will not demand it from his neighbor or his brother because Yahweh's cancellation of debts has been proclaimed.³From a foreigner you may demand it; but whatever of yours is with your brother your hand must release.

⁴However, there should be no poor among you (for Yahweh will surely bless you in the land that he gives you as an inheritance to possess),⁵if only you diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, to keep all these commandments that I am commanding you today.⁶For Yahweh your God will bless you, as he promised you; you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers, within any of your gates in your land that Yahweh your God is giving you, you must not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother;⁸but you must surely open your hand to him and surely lend him sufficient for his need.

⁹Be careful not to have a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is near,' so that you will not be stingy in regard to your poor brother and give him nothing; he might cry out to Yahweh about you, and it would be sin for you.¹⁰You must surely give to him, and your heart must not be sorry when you give to him, because in return for this Yahweh your God will bless you in all your work and in all that you put your hand to.

¹¹For the poor will never cease to exist in the land; therefore I command you and say, 'You must surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor in your land.'

¹²If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and serves you for six years, then in the seventh year you must let him go free from you.¹³When you let him go free from you, you must not let him go empty-handed.¹⁴You must liberally provide for him out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As Yahweh your God has blessed you, you must give to him.

¹⁵You must remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and that Yahweh your God redeemed you; therefore I am commanding you today to do this.¹⁶It will happen that if he says to you, 'I will not go away from you,' because he loves you and your house, and because he is well off with you,¹⁷then you must take an awl and thrust it through his ear to a door, and he will be your servant for life. You must do the same with your female servant.

¹⁸It must not seem difficult for you to let him go free from you, because he has served you for six years and given twice the value of a hired person. Yahweh your God will bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹All the firstborn males in your herd and your flock you must set apart to Yahweh your God. You will do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.²⁰You must eat the firstborn before Yahweh your God year by year in the place that Yahweh will choose, you and your household.²¹If it has any blemish—for example, if it is lame or blind, or has any blemish whatever—you must not sacrifice it to Yahweh your God.

²²You will eat it within your gates; the unclean and the clean persons alike must eat it, as you would eat a gazelle or a deer.²³Only you must not eat its blood; you must pour its blood out on the ground like water.

¹Observe the month of Aviv, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God, for in the month of Aviv Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night.²You will sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God with some of the flock and the herd in the place where Yahweh will choose to make a dwelling for his name.

³You will eat no leavened bread with it; seven days will you eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste. Do this all the days of your life so that you may call to mind the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.⁴No yeast must be seen among you within all your borders during seven days; nor must any of the meat that you sacrifice in the evening on the first day remain until the morning.

⁵You must not sacrifice the Passover within any of your city gates that Yahweh your God is giving you.⁶Instead, sacrifice at the place where Yahweh your God will choose to make a dwelling for his name. There you will perform the sacrifice of the Passover in the evening at the going down of the sun, at the time of year that you came out of Egypt.

⁷You must roast it and eat it at the place that Yahweh your God will choose; in the morning you will turn and go to your tents.⁸For six days you will eat unleavened bread; on the seventh day there will be a solemn assembly for Yahweh your God; on that day you must do no work.

⁹You will count seven weeks for yourselves; from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain you must start counting seven weeks.¹⁰You must keep the Festival of Weeks for Yahweh your God with the tribute of a freewill offering from your hand that you will give, according as Yahweh your God has blessed you.

¹¹You will rejoice before Yahweh your God—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite who is within your city gates, and the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place where Yahweh your God will choose to make a dwelling for his name.¹²You will call to mind that you were a slave in Egypt; you must observe and do these statutes.

¹³You must keep the Festival of Shelters for seven days after you have gathered in the harvest from your threshing floor and from your winepress.¹⁴You will rejoice during your festival—you, your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, the Levite, and the foreigner, and the fatherless and the widow who are within your gates.

¹⁵For seven days you must observe the festival for Yahweh your God at the place that Yahweh will choose, because Yahweh your God will bless you in all your harvest and all the work of your hands, and you must be completely joyful.

¹⁶Three times in a year all your males must appear before Yahweh your God at the place that he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Shelters. No one will appear before Yahweh empty-handed.¹⁷Rather, every man will bring a gift as he is able, that you might know the blessing that Yahweh your God has given to you.

¹⁸You must make judges and officers within all your city gates that Yahweh your God is giving you; they will be taken from each of your tribes, and they must judge the people with righteous judgment.¹⁹You must not take justice away by force; you must not show partiality nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous.²⁰You must follow after justice, after justice alone, so that you may live and inherit the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.

²¹You must not set up for yourselves an Asherah, any sort of pole, beside the altar of Yahweh your God that you will make for yourself.²²Neither must you set up for yourself any sacred stone pillar, which Yahweh your God hates.

¹You must not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox or a sheep in which is any blemish or anything bad, for that would be an abomination to Yahweh your God.

²If there is found among you, within any of your city gates that Yahweh your God is giving you, any man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of Yahweh your God and transgresses his covenant,³anyone who has gone and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, either the sun, the moon, or any of the host of heaven—nothing that I have commanded—⁴and if you are told about this, or if you have heard of it, then you must make a careful investigation. If it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, this is what you should do.

⁵You must bring that man or woman, who has done this evil thing, to your city gates, that very man or woman, and you must stone that person to death.⁶At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, will he who must die be put to death; but at the mouth of only one witness he must not be put to death.⁷The hand of the witnesses must be the first to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people; and you will remove the evil from among you.

⁸If a matter arises that is too hard for you to judge—perhaps a question of one kind of bloodshed or another, of one kind of lawsuit or another, or of one kind of wound or another—matters of controversy within your city gates—then you must go up to the place that Yahweh your God chooses.⁹You must go to the priests, the descendants of Levi, and to the judge who will be serving at that time; you will seek their advice, and they will give you the verdict.

¹⁰Then you must do according to what they order you to do, at the place Yahweh will choose. Be careful to do all that they teach you.¹¹Follow the law they teach you, and do according to the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right hand or to the left.

¹²Anyone who acts in arrogance, listening neither to the priest who is standing to serve before Yahweh your God nor to the judge—that man will die; you will completely remove the evil from Israel.¹³All the people must hear and fear, and act arrogantly no more.

¹⁴When you have come to the land that Yahweh your God gives you, and when you take possession of it and begin to live in it, and then you say, 'I will set a king over myself, like all the nations that are round about me,'¹⁵then you must surely set as king over yourself someone whom Yahweh your God will choose. You must set as king over yourself someone from among your brothers. You must not put a foreigner, who is not your brother, over yourself.

¹⁶But he must not multiply horses for himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt so that he may multiply horses, for Yahweh had said to you, 'You will never return that way again.'¹⁷He must not take many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

¹⁸When he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he must write for himself in a scroll a copy of this law, from the law that is before the priests, who are Levites.¹⁹The scroll must be with him, and he must read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to honor Yahweh his God, so as to keep all the words of this law and these statutes, to observe them.

²⁰He must do this so that his heart is not lifted up above his brothers, and so that he does not turn away from the commandments, to the right hand or to the left, so he may prolong his days in his kingdom, he and his descendants in the midst of Israel.

¹The priests, who are Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, will have no portion nor inheritance with Israel; they must eat the offerings of Yahweh made by fire as their inheritance.²They must have no inheritance among their brothers; Yahweh is their inheritance, as he said to them.

³This is the share given to the priests, given to them from the people who offer a sacrifice, whether it be an oxen or a sheep: the shoulder, the two cheeks, and the inner parts.⁴The firstfruits of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the first of the fleece of your sheep, you must give him.⁵For Yahweh your God has chosen him out of all your tribes to stand to serve in the name of Yahweh, him and his sons forever.

⁶If a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel where he is living and desires with all his soul to come to the place Yahweh will choose,⁷then he must serve in the name of Yahweh his God as all his brothers the Levites do, who stand there before Yahweh.⁸They must have similar portions to eat, besides of what comes of the sale of his family's inheritance.

⁹When you have come into the land that Yahweh your God is giving you, you must not learn to observe the abominations of those nations.¹⁰There must not be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or his daughter in the fire, or anyone who uses divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer¹¹or one who casts spells or a sorcerer or a spiritist or one who seeks the dead.

¹²For whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh; it is because of these abominations that Yahweh your God is driving them out from before you.¹³You must be blameless before Yahweh your God.¹⁴For these nations that you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and divination; but as for you, Yahweh your God has not allowed you to do so.

¹⁵Yahweh your God will raise up for you a prophet from among you, one of your brothers, like me. You must listen to him.¹⁶This is what you asked from Yahweh your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let us not hear again the voice of Yahweh our God, nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.'

¹⁷Yahweh said to me, 'What they have said is good.¹⁸I will raise up a prophet for them from among their brothers, just like you. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will speak to them all that I command him.¹⁹It will happen that if anyone does not listen to the words of mine that he speaks in my name, I will require it of him.

²⁰But the prophet who speaks a word arrogantly in my name, a word that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that very prophet must die.'²¹This is what you must say in your heart: 'How will we recognize a message that Yahweh has not spoken?'

²²You will recognize a message that Yahweh has spoken when a prophet speaks in the name of Yahweh. If that thing does not occur nor happen, then that is something that Yahweh has not spoken and the prophet has spoken it in arrogance, and you must not be afraid of him.

¹When Yahweh your God cuts off the nations, those whose land Yahweh your God is giving you, and when you come after them and live in their cities and houses,²you must select three cities for yourself in the middle of your land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess.³You must build a road and divide the borders of your land into three parts, the land that Yahweh your God is causing you to inherit, so that everyone who kills another person may flee there.

⁴This is the instruction concerning the one who kills another and flees from there in order to save his own life—the one who unintentionally kills his neighbor without hating him at the time of the accident.⁵For example, if a man goes into the forest with his neighbor to cut wood, and he chops with the ax to cut down a tree, and the ax head slips off of the handle and strikes his neighbor and kills him—then that man must flee to one of these cities and save his life.

⁶Otherwise the avenger of blood might go after the one who took a life, and in the heat of his anger overtake him, if the distance is too great, strike him and kill him, even though that man did not deserve to die, since he had not hated his neighbor in the past.⁷Therefore I command you to select three cities for yourself.

⁸If Yahweh your God enlarges your borders, as he has sworn to your ancestors to do, and gives you all the land that he promised to give to your ancestors;⁹if you keep all these commandments to do them, which I am commanding you today—commandments to love Yahweh your God and to always walk in his ways, then you must add three more cities for yourself, besides these three.¹⁰Do this so that innocent blood is not shed in the midst of the land that Yahweh your God is giving you for as an inheritance, so that no bloodguilt may be on you.

¹¹But if anyone hates his neighbor, lies in wait for him, rises up against him, and mortally wounds him so that he dies, and if he then flees into one of these cities—¹²then the elders of his city must send and bring him back from there, and turn him over to the hand of the avenger of blood, so that he may die.¹³Your eye must not pity him; instead, you must completely remove the bloodguilt from Israel so that it may go well with you.

¹⁴You must not remove your neighbor's landmark that they set in place a long time ago, in your inheritance that you will inherit, in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess.

¹⁵One sole witness must not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any matter that he sins; at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, must any matter be confirmed.¹⁶Suppose that an unrighteous witness rises up against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing.

¹⁷Then both men, the ones between whom the controversy exists, must stand before Yahweh, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.¹⁸The judges must make diligent inquiries; see, if the witness is a false witness and has testified falsely against his brother,¹⁹then must you do to him, as he had wished to do to his brother; and you will remove the evil from among you.

²⁰Then those who remain will hear and fear, and will from then on commit no longer any such evil among you.²¹Your eyes must not pity; life will pay for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

¹When you march out to battle against your enemies, and see horses, chariots, and a people more numerous than you, you must not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God is with you, he who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

²When you are about to enter into battle, the priest must approach and speak to the people.³He must say to them, 'Listen, Israel, you are going to battle against your enemies. Do not let your hearts faint. Do not fear or tremble. Do not be afraid of them.⁴For Yahweh your God is the one who is going with you to fight for you against your enemies and to save you.'

⁵The officers must speak to the people and say, 'What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, so that he does not die in battle and another man dedicates it.

⁶Is there anyone who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go home, so he will not die in battle and another man enjoy its fruit.⁷What man is there who is betrothed to a woman but has not yet married her? Let him go home so that he does not die in battle and another man marry her.'

⁸The officers must speak further to the people and say, 'What man is there who is fearful or fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, so that his brother's heart does not melt like his own heart.'⁹When the officers have finished speaking to the people, they must appoint commanders of armies over them.

¹⁰When you march up to attack a city, make those people an offer of peace.¹¹If they answer peaceably and open their gates to you, all the people who are found in it must become forced labor for you and must serve you.

¹²But if it makes no offer of peace to you, and instead makes war against you, then you must besiege it,¹³and when Yahweh your God gives you victory and puts them under your control, you must strike every man in the town with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴But the women, the little ones, the livestock, and everything that is in the city, and all its spoil, you will take as booty for yourself. You will consume the booty of your enemies, whom Yahweh your God has given to you.¹⁵You must act in this way toward all the cities that are very far from you, cities that are not of the cities of these following nations.

¹⁶In the cities of these peoples that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, you must keep alive nothing that breathes.¹⁷You must completely destroy them: the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as Yahweh your God has commanded you.¹⁸Do this so that they do not teach you to act in any of their abominable ways, as they have done for their gods. If you do, you will sin against Yahweh your God.

¹⁹When you will besiege a city for a long time, as you wage war against it to capture it, you must not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. For you may eat from them, so you must not cut them down. For is the tree of the field a man whom you should besiege?²⁰Only the trees that you know are not trees for food, you may destroy and cut down; you will build siege works against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

¹If someone is found killed in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess, lying in the field, and it is not known who has attacked him;²then your elders and your judges must go out, and they must measure to the cities that are around him who has been killed.

³Then the elders of the town nearest to the dead man's body must take a heifer from the herd, one that has never been put to work, and that has not borne the yoke.⁴Then they must lead the heifer down to a valley with running water, a valley that has been neither plowed nor sown, and there in the valley they must break the heifer's neck.

⁵The priests, descendants of Levi, must come forward, for Yahweh your God has chosen them to serve him and give blessing in the name of Yahweh and to decide every case of dispute and assault by their word.

⁶All the elders of the city that is the nearest to the killed man must wash their hands over the heifer whose neck was broken in the valley;⁷and they must answer to the case and say, 'Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.

⁸Forgive, Yahweh, your people Israel, whom you have redeemed, and do not put guilt for innocent bloodshed in the midst of your people Israel.' Then the bloodshed will be forgiven them.⁹In this way you will completely remove the innocent blood from your midst, when you do what is right in the eyes of Yahweh.

¹⁰When you go out to do battle against your enemies and Yahweh your God gives you victory and puts them under your control, and you take them away as captives,¹¹if you see among the captives a beautiful woman, and you delight in her and wish to take her for yourself as a wife,¹²then you will bring her home to your house; she will shave her head and cut her nails.

¹³Then she will take off the clothes she was wearing when she was taken captive and she will remain in your house and mourn for her father and her mother a full month. After that you may go to her and be her husband, and she will be your wife.¹⁴But if you take no delight in her, then you may let her go where she wishes. But you must not sell her at all for money, and you must not treat her like a slave, because you have humiliated her.

¹⁵If a man has two wives and one is loved and the other is hated, and they have both borne him children—both the beloved wife and the hated wife—if the firstborn son is of her that is hated,¹⁶then on the day that the man causes his sons to inherit what he possesses, he may not make the son of the beloved wife the firstborn before the son of the hated wife, the son who is actually the firstborn.¹⁷Instead, he must acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated wife, by giving him a double portion of all that he possesses, for that son is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.

¹⁸If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, even though they correct him, will not listen to them;¹⁹then his father and his mother must lay hold on him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his city.

²⁰They must say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.'²¹Then all the men of his city must stone him to death with stones; and you will remove the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and fear.

²²If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,²³then his body must not remain all night on the tree. You must surely bury him the same day; for whoever is hanged is cursed by God. You must not defile the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance.

¹You must not watch your fellow Israelite's ox or his sheep go astray and hide yourself from them; you must surely bring them back to him.²If your fellow Israelite is not near to you, or if you do not know him, then you must bring the animal home to your house, and it must be with you until he looks for it, and then you must restore it to him.

³You must do the same with his donkey; you must do the same with his garment; you must do the same with every lost thing of your fellow Israelite's, anything that he has lost and you have found; you must not hide yourself.⁴You must not see your fellow Israelite's donkey or his ox fallen down in the road and hide yourself from them; you must surely help him to lift it up again.

⁵A woman must not wear what pertains to a man, and neither must a man put on women's clothing; for whoever does these things is an abomination to Yahweh your God.

⁶If a bird's nest happens to be in front of you on the road, in any tree or on the ground, with young ones or eggs in it, and the mother sitting on the young or on the eggs, you must not take the mother along with the young.⁷You must surely let the mother go, but the young you may take for yourself. Obey this command so that it may go well with you, and that you may prolong your days.

⁸When you build a new house, then you must make a railing for your roof so that you do not bring blood on your house if anyone falls from there.

⁹You must not plant your vineyard with two kinds of seed, so that the whole harvest is not confiscated by the holy place, the seed that you have sown and the yield of the vineyard.¹⁰You must not plow with an ox and a donkey together.¹¹You must not wear fabric made of wool and linen together.

¹²You must make yourself fringes on the four corners of the cloak with which you clothe yourself.

¹³Suppose a man takes a wife, and he goes to her, and then hates her,¹⁴and then accuses her of shameful deeds and puts a bad reputation on her, and says, 'I took this woman, but when I came near to her, I found no proof of virginity in her.'

¹⁵Then the father and mother of the girl must take proof of her virginity to the elders at the city gate.

¹⁶The girl's father must say to the elders, 'I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, and he hates her.¹⁷See, he has accused her of shameful things and said, "I did not find in your daughter the proof of virginity." But here is the proof of my daughter's virginity.' Then they will spread the garment out before the elders of the city.

¹⁸The elders of that city must take that man and punish him;¹⁹and they must force him to pay a fine of one hundred shekels of silver, and give them to the father of the girl, because the man has caused a bad reputation for a virgin of Israel. She must be his wife; he may not send her away during all his days.

²⁰But if this thing is true, that the proof of virginity was not found in the girl,²¹then they must bring out the girl to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city must stone her to death with stones, because she has committed a disgraceful action in Israel, to act as a prostitute in her father's house; and you will remove the evil from among you.

²²If a man is found lying with a woman who is married to another man, then they must both die, the man who was lying with the woman and the woman herself; and you will remove the evil from Israel.

²³If there is a girl who is a virgin, betrothed to a man, and another man finds her in the city and lies with her,²⁴take both of them to the city gate, and stone them to death. You must stone the girl, because she did not cry out, even though she was in the city. You must stone the man, because he violated his neighbor's wife; and you will remove the evil from among you.

²⁵But if the man finds the betrothed girl in the field, and if he seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lies with her must die.²⁶But to the girl you must do nothing; there is no sin worthy of death in the girl. For this case is like when a man attacks his neighbor and kills him.²⁷For he found her in the field; the betrothed girl cried out, but there was no one to save her.

²⁸If a man finds a girl who is a virgin but who is not betrothed, and if he seizes her and lies with her, and if they are discovered,²⁹then the man who lay with her must give fifty shekels of silver to the girl's father, and she must become his wife, because he has violated her. He may not send her away during all his days.

³⁰A man must not take his father's wife as his own; he must not take away his father's marriage rights.

¹No man whose genitals are crushed or cut off may enter the assembly of Yahweh.

²No illegitimate child may belong to the assembly of Yahweh; as far as to the tenth generation of his descendants, none of them may belong to the assembly of Yahweh.

³An Ammonite or a Moabite may not belong to the assembly of Yahweh; as far as to the tenth generation of his descendants, none of them may belong to the assembly of Yahweh.⁴This is because they did not meet you with bread and with water on the road when you had come out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram Naharaim, to curse you.

⁵But Yahweh your God would not listen to Balaam; instead, Yahweh your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because Yahweh your God loved you.⁶You must never seek their peace or prosperity, during all your days.

⁷You must not detest an Edomite, for he is your brother; you must not abhor an Egyptian, because you were a foreigner in his land.⁸The descendants of the third generation that are born to them may belong to the assembly of Yahweh.

⁹When you march out as an army against your enemies, then you must keep yourselves from every evil thing.¹⁰If there is among you any man who is unclean because of a nighttime accident, then he must go out of the army's camp; he must not come back into the camp.¹¹When evening comes, he must bathe himself in water; when the sun goes down, he will come back inside the camp.

¹²You must have a place also outside the camp to which you will go;¹³and you will have something among your tools to dig with; when you squat down to relieve yourself, you must dig with it and then put back the earth and cover up what has come out from you.¹⁴For Yahweh your God walks in the midst of your camp to give you victory and to give your enemies into your hand. Therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see any unclean thing among you and turn away from you.

¹⁵You must not give back to his master a slave who has escaped from his master.¹⁶Let him live with you, in whatever town he chooses. Do not oppress him.

¹⁷There must be no cultic prostitute among any of the daughters of Israel, neither must there be a cultic prostitute among the sons of Israel.¹⁸You must not bring the wages of a prostitute or the wages of a dog into the house of Yahweh your God for any vow; for both these are abominations to Yahweh your God.

¹⁹You must not lend on interest to your fellow Israelite—interest of money, interest of food, or the interest of anything that is lent on interest.²⁰To a foreigner you may lend on interest; but to your fellow Israelite you must not lend on interest, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all that you put your hand to, in the land which you are going in to possess.

²¹When you make a vow to Yahweh your God, you must not be slow in fulfilling it, for Yahweh your God will surely require it of you; it would be sin for you not to fulfill it.²²But if you will refrain from making a vow, it will be no sin for you.²³That which has gone out from your lips you must observe and do; according as you have vowed to Yahweh your God, anything that you have freely promised with your mouth.

²⁴When you go into your neighbor's vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you desire, but do not put any in your basket.²⁵When you go into your neighbor's ripe grain, you may pluck the heads of grain with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor's ripe grain.

¹When a man takes a wife and marries her, if she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found something shameful about her, then he must write her a certificate of divorce, put it into her hand, and send her out of his house.²When she has gone out of his house, she may go and be another man's wife.

³If the second husband hates her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it into her hand, and sends her out of his house; or if the second husband dies, the man who took her to be his wife—⁴then her former husband, the one who had first sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has become unclean; for that would be an abomination to Yahweh. You must not cause the land to become guilty, the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance.

⁵When a man takes a new wife, he will not go to war with the army, neither may he be commanded to go on any forced duty; he will be free to be at home for one year and will bring joy to his wife whom he has taken.

⁶No man may take a mill or an upper millstone as a pledge, for that would be taking a person's life as a pledge.

⁷If a man is found kidnapping any of his brothers from among the people of Israel, and treats him as a slave and sells him, that thief must die; and you will remove the evil from among you.

⁸Be careful regarding any plague of leprosy, so that you carefully observe and follow every instruction given to you which the priests, the Levites, teach you; as I commanded them, so you will act.⁹Call to mind what Yahweh your God did to Miriam as you were coming out of Egypt.

¹⁰When you make your neighbor any kind of loan, you must not go into his house to fetch his pledge.¹¹You will stand outside, and the man to whom you have lent will bring the pledge outside to you.

¹²If he is a poor man, you must not lie down with his pledge in your possession.¹³You must surely restore to him the pledge by the time the sun goes down, so that he may lie down in his cloak and bless you; it will be righteousness for you before Yahweh your God.

¹⁴You must not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is of your fellow Israelites or of the foreigners who are in your land within your city gates.¹⁵Each day you must give him his wage; the sun must not go down on this unsettled matter, for he is poor and is counting on it. Do this so that he does not cry out against you to Yahweh, and so that it not be a sin that you have committed.

¹⁶The parents must not be put to death for their children, neither must the children be put to death for their parents. Everyone must be put to death for his own sin.

¹⁷You must not twist the justice that is due the foreigner or the fatherless, nor take the widow's cloak as a pledge.¹⁸Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and that Yahweh your God rescued you from there. Therefore I instruct you to obey this command.

¹⁹When you reap your harvest in your field, and if you have forgotten an omer of grain in the field, you must not go back to get it; it must be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, or for the widow, so that Yahweh your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.²⁰When you beat the olives off your olive tree, you must not go over the branches again; it will be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, or for the widow.

²¹When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you must not glean it again. What is left over will be for the foreigner, for the fatherless, and for the widow.²²You must call to mind that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I instruct you to obey this command.

¹If there is a dispute between men and they go to court, and the judges judge them, then they will acquit the righteous and condemn the wicked.²If the guilty man deserves to be beaten, then the judge will make him lie down and be beaten in his presence with the ordered number of blows, according to his wickedness.

³The judge may give him forty blows, but he may not exceed that number; for if he should exceed that number and beat him with many more blows, then your fellow Israelite would be humiliated before your eyes.

⁴You must not muzzle the ox when he threshes the grain.

⁵If brothers live together and one of them dies, not having any son, then the wife of the dead man must not be married off to someone else outside the family. Instead, her husband's brother must go to her and take her to himself as a wife, and do the duty of a husband's brother to her.⁶This is so that the firstborn that she bears will succeed in the name of that man's dead brother, so that his name will not perish from Israel.

⁷But if the man does not wish to take his brother's wife for himself, then his brother's wife must go up to the gate to the elders and say, 'My husband's brother refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me.'⁸Then the elders of his city must call him and speak to him. But suppose that he insists and says, 'I do not wish to take her.'

⁹Then his brother's wife must come up to him in the presence of the elders, take off his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. She must answer him and say, 'This is what is done to the man who does not build up his brother's house.'¹⁰His name will be called in Israel, 'The house of him whose sandal has been taken off.'

¹¹If men fight with each other, and the wife of one comes to rescue her husband out of the hand of him who struck him, and if she stretches out her hand and takes him by the private parts,¹²then you must cut off her hand; your eye must have no pity.

¹³You must not have in your bag different weights, a large and a small.¹⁴You must not have in your house different measures, a large and a small.

¹⁵A perfect and just weight you must have; a perfect and just measure you must have, so that your days may be long in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you.¹⁶For all who do such things, all that act unrighteously, are an abomination to Yahweh your God.

¹⁷Call to mind what Amalek did to you on the road as you came out of Egypt,¹⁸how he met you on the road and attacked those of you at the rear, all who were feeble in your rear, when you were faint and weary; he did not honor God.¹⁹Therefore, when Yahweh your God has given you rest from all your enemies round about, in the land that Yahweh your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you must not forget that you must blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

¹When you have come into the land that Yahweh your God is giving you as an inheritance, and when you possess it and live in it,²then you must take some of the first of all the produce of the land that you have brought in from the land that Yahweh your God is giving you. You must put it in a basket and go to the place where Yahweh your God will choose to make a dwelling for his name.

³You must go to the priest who will be serving in those days and say to him, 'I acknowledge today to Yahweh your God that I have come to the land that Yahweh swore to our ancestors to give us.'⁴The priest must take the basket out of your hand and set it down before the altar of Yahweh your God.

⁵You must say before Yahweh your God, 'My ancestor was a wandering Aramean. He went down into Egypt and stayed there, and his people were few in number. There he became a great, mighty, and populous nation.

⁶The Egyptians treated us badly and afflicted us. They put hard labor on us.⁷We cried out to Yahweh, the God of our fathers, and he heard our voice and saw our affliction, our labor, and our oppression.

⁸Yahweh brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand, with an outstretched arm, with great fearsomeness, with signs, and with wonders;⁹and he has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land that flows with milk and honey.

¹⁰Now look, I have brought the first of the produce of the land that you, Yahweh, have given me.' You must set it down before Yahweh your God and worship before him;¹¹and you must rejoice in all the good that Yahweh your God has done for you, for your house—you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is among you.

¹²When you have finished giving all the tithe of your harvest in the third year, that is, the year of tithing, then you must give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, so that they may eat within your city gates and be filled.¹³You must say before Yahweh your God, 'I have completely removed from my house the things that belong to Yahweh, and have given them to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandments that you have given me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them.

¹⁴I have not eaten any of it in my mourning, nor have I put it somewhere else when I was unclean, nor have I given any of it in honor of the dead. I have listened to the voice of Yahweh my God; I have obeyed everything you have commanded me to do.¹⁵Look down from the holy place where you live, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the land that you have given us, as you had sworn to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey.'

¹⁶Today Yahweh your God is commanding you to obey these statutes and decrees; you will therefore keep them and do them with all your heart and with all your soul.¹⁷You have declared today that Yahweh is your God, and that you will walk in his ways and keep his statutes, his commandments, and his decrees, and that you will listen to his voice.

¹⁸Today Yahweh has declared that you are a people who are his own possession, as he had promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments,¹⁹and he will set you high above all the other nations that he has made, and you will receive praise, fame, and honor. You will be a people that is set apart to Yahweh your God, just as he said."

¹Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people and said, "Keep all the commandments that I command you today.²On the day when you will pass over the Jordan to the land that Yahweh your God is giving you, you must set up some large stones and plaster them with plaster.³You must write on them all the words of this law when you have passed over, so that you may go into the land that Yahweh your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

⁴When you have passed over the Jordan, set up these stones that I am commanding you about today, on Mount Ebal, and plaster them with plaster.⁵There you must build an altar to Yahweh your God, an altar of stones; but you must raise no iron tool to work the stones.

⁶You must build the altar of Yahweh your God of unworked stones; you must offer burnt offerings on it to Yahweh your God,⁷and you will sacrifice fellowship offerings and will eat there; you will rejoice before Yahweh your God.⁸You will write on the stones all the words of this law. Write them very plainly."

⁹Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel and said, "Be silent and listen, Israel: Today you have become the people of Yahweh your God.¹⁰You must therefore obey the voice of Yahweh your God and obey his commandments and statutes that I am commanding you today."

¹¹Moses commanded the people the same day and said,¹²"These tribes must stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people after you have passed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin.

¹³These are the tribes that must stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.¹⁴The Levites will answer and say to all the men of Israel in a loud voice:

¹⁵'May the man be cursed who makes a a carved image or a cast metal figure, an abomination to Yahweh, the work of the hands of a craftsman, and who sets it up in secret.' Then all the people must answer and say, 'Amen.'

¹⁶'May the man be cursed who dishonors his father or his mother.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

¹⁷'May the man be cursed who removes his neighbor's landmark.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

¹⁸'May the man be cursed who misleads the blind on the road.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

¹⁹'May the man be cursed who uses force to take away the justice due to a foreigner, fatherless, or widow.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

²⁰'May the man be cursed who lies with his father's wife, because he has taken away his father's rights.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

²¹'May the man be cursed who lies with any animal.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

²²'May the man be cursed who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or with the daughter of his mother.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

²³'May the man be cursed who lies with his mother-in-law.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

²⁴'May the man be cursed who kills his neighbor secretly.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

²⁵'May the man be cursed who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

²⁶'May the man be cursed who does not confirm the words of this law, that he will obey them.' Then all the people must say, 'Amen.'

¹If you listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God so as to keep all his commandments that I am commanding you today, Yahweh your God will set you above all the other nations of the earth.²All these blessings will come on you and overtake you, if you listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

³Blessed will you be in the city and blessed will you be in the field.⁴Blessed will be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, and the fruit of your livestock, and the increase of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

⁵Blessed will be your basket and your kneading trough.⁶Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

⁷Yahweh will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be struck down before you; they will come out against you one way but will flee before you seven ways.⁸Yahweh will command the blessing to come on you in your barns and in all that you put your hand to; he will bless you in the land that he is giving you.

⁹Yahweh will establish you as a people that is set apart for himself, as he has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and walk in his ways.¹⁰All the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of Yahweh, and they will be afraid of you.

¹¹Yahweh will make you very prosperous in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you.¹²Yahweh will open to you his storehouse of the heavens to give the rain for your land at the right time, and to bless all the work of your hand; you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow.

¹³Yahweh will make you the head, and not the tail; you will be only above, and you will never be beneath, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God that I am commanding you today, so as to observe and to do them,¹⁴and if you do not turn away from any of the words that I am commanding you today, to the right hand or to the left, so as to go after other gods to serve them.

¹⁵But if you do not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep all his commandments and his statutes that I am commanding you today, then all these curses will come on you and overtake you.

¹⁶Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the field.¹⁷Cursed will be your basket and your kneading trough.

¹⁸Cursed will be the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your ground, the calves of your herds, and the lambs of your flocks.¹⁹Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out.

²⁰Yahweh will send on you curses, confusion, and rebukes in all that you put your hand to, until you are destroyed, and until you perish quickly because of the evil of your deeds by which you will have abandoned me.²¹Yahweh will make the plague cling to you until he destroys you from off the land that you are going in to possess.

²²Yahweh will attack you with infectious diseases, with fever, with inflammation, with drought, with sword, with scorching winds, and with mildew. These will pursue you until you perish.

²³Your skies that are over your head will be bronze, and the earth that is under you will be iron.²⁴Yahweh will make the rain of your land into powder and dust; from the heavens will it come down on you, until you are destroyed.

²⁵Yahweh will cause you to be struck down before your enemies; you will go out one way against them but will flee before them seven ways. You will be tossed to and fro among all the kingdoms of the earth.²⁶Your dead body will be food to all the birds of the heavens and to the wild animals of the earth; there will be no one to frighten them away.

²⁷Yahweh will attack you with the boils of Egypt and with ulcers, scurvy, and itch, from which you cannot be healed.²⁸Yahweh will attack you with madness, with blindness, and with mental confusion.²⁹You will grope about at noonday like the blind grope in the darkness, and you will not prosper in your ways; you will be always oppressed and robbed, and there will be no one to save you.

³⁰You will betroth a woman, but another man will seize her and rape her. You will build a house but not live in it; you will plant a vineyard but not enjoy its fruit.³¹Your ox will be killed before your eyes, but you will not eat its meat; your donkey will be forcibly taken away from before you and will not be restored to you. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to deliver you.

³²Your sons and your daughters will be given to other peoples; your eyes will look for them the entire day, but will fail with longing for them. There will be no strength in your hand.

³³The produce of your land and of all your labors—a nation that you do not know will eat it up; you will always be oppressed and crushed,³⁴so that you will become insane by what you have to see happen.³⁵Yahweh will attack you in the knees and legs with severe boils from which you cannot be cured, from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head.

³⁶Yahweh will take you and the king whom you will place over yourself to a nation that you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors; there you will worship other gods of wood and stone.³⁷You will become a source of horror, a proverb, and a byword, among all the peoples where Yahweh will lead you away.

³⁸You will take much seed out into the field, but will gather little seed in, for the locusts will consume it.³⁹You will plant vineyards and cultivate them, but you will neither drink any of the wine, nor even gather in the grapes, for worms will eat them.

⁴⁰You will have olive trees within all your territory, but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olive trees will drop their fruit.⁴¹You will have sons and daughters, but they will not remain yours, for they will go into captivity.

⁴²All your trees and the produce of your ground—the locusts will take them over.⁴³The foreigner who is among you will rise up above you higher and higher; you yourself will come down lower and lower.⁴⁴He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

⁴⁵All these curses will come on you and will pursue and overtake you until you are destroyed. This will happen because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep his commandments and his regulations that he commanded you.⁴⁶These curses will be on you as signs and wonders, and on your descendants forever.

⁴⁷Because you did not worship Yahweh your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart when you were in prosperity,⁴⁸therefore will you serve the enemies that Yahweh will send against you; you will serve them in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in poverty. He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until he destroys you.

⁴⁹Yahweh will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle flies to its victim, a nation whose language you do not understand;⁵⁰a nation with a fierce face that does not respect the aged and does not show favor to the young.⁵¹They will eat the young of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave for you no grain, new wine, or oil, no calves of your herds or the lambs of your flock, until they have caused you to perish.

⁵²They will besiege you in all your city gates, until your high and fortified walls come down everywhere in your land, walls in which you had trusted. They will besiege you within all your city gates throughout all the land that Yahweh your God had given you.⁵³You will eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters, whom Yahweh your God gave you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies will oppress you.

⁵⁴The man who is timid and very delicate among you—he will be envious of his brother and his own dear wife, and of whatever children he has left.⁵⁵So he will not give to any of them the flesh of his own children that he is going to eat, because he will have nothing left for himself in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will oppress you within all your city gates.

⁵⁶The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to put the bottom of her foot on the ground for delicateness and tenderness—she will be envious of her own dear husband, of her son, and of her daughter,⁵⁷and of her own newborn that comes out from between her legs, and of the children whom she will bear. She will eat them in private for lack of anything else, during the siege and in the distress with which your enemy will oppress you within your city gates.

⁵⁸If you do not keep all the words of this law that are written in this book, so as to honor this glorious and fearful name, Yahweh your God,⁵⁹then Yahweh will make your plagues terrible, and those of your descendants; they will be great plagues, of long duration, and severe diseases, of long duration.

⁶⁰He will bring on you again all the diseases of Egypt that you were afraid of; they will cling to you.⁶¹Also every sickness and plague that is not written in the book of this law, those also Yahweh will bring on you until you are destroyed.⁶²You will be left few in number, although you were like the stars of the heavens in number, because you did not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

⁶³As Yahweh once rejoiced over you in doing you good, and in multiplying you, so he will rejoice over you in making you perish and in destroying you. You will be plucked off the land that you are going into to possess.⁶⁴Yahweh will scatter you among all peoples from the one end of the earth to the other end of the earth; there you will worship other gods that you have not known, neither you nor your ancestors, gods of wood and stone.

⁶⁵Among these nations will you find no ease, and there will be no rest for the bottoms of your feet; Yahweh will give you there a trembling heart, failing eyes, and a soul that mourns.⁶⁶Your life will hang in doubt before you; night and day you will be afraid and will have no assurance of your life.

⁶⁷In the morning you will say, 'I wish it were evening!' and in the evening you will say, 'I wish it were morning!' because of the fear in your hearts and the things your eyes will have to see.⁶⁸Yahweh will bring you into Egypt again by ships, by the route about which I had said to you, 'You will not see Egypt again.' There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male slaves and female slaves, but no one will purchase you."

¹These are the words that Yahweh commanded Moses to tell the people of Israel in the land of Moab, words that were added to the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.

²Moses called to all Israel and said to them, "You have seen everything that Yahweh did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his servants, and to all his land—³the great sufferings that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders.⁴But until today Yahweh has not given you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear.

⁵I have led you for forty years in the wilderness; your clothes did not wear out on you, and your sandals did not wear out on your feet.⁶You did not eat any bread, and you did not drink any wine or other strong drink, so that you might know that I am Yahweh your God.

⁷When you came to this place, Sihon, the king of Heshbon, and Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us to fight, and we struck them down.⁸We took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh.⁹Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, so that you may prosper in everything that you do.

¹⁰You stand today, all of you, before Yahweh your God; your chiefs, your tribes, your elders, and your officers—all the men of Israel,¹¹your little ones, your wives, and the foreigner who is among you in your camp, from him who cuts your wood to him who draws your water.

¹²You are here in order to enter into the covenant of Yahweh your God and into the oath that Yahweh your God is making with you today,¹³so that he may make you today into a people for himself, and that he may be God for you, as he spoke to you, and as he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

¹⁴For it is not only with you that I am making this covenant and this oath—¹⁵with everyone standing here with us today before Yahweh our God—but also with those who are not here with us today.

¹⁶You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed.

¹⁷You have seen their disgusting idols made of wood and stone, silver and gold, that were among them.¹⁸Make sure there is not among you any man, woman, clan, or tribe whose heart is turning away today from Yahweh our God, so as to go worship the gods of those nations. Make sure there is not among you any root that produces poison fruit and wormwood.¹⁹When that person hears the words of this curse, he will bless himself in his heart and say, 'I will have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.' This would destroy the wet together with the dry.

²⁰Yahweh will not pardon him. Instead, the anger of Yahweh and his jealousy will smolder against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book will come on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under heaven.²¹Yahweh will set him apart for disaster out of all the tribes of Israel, in keeping with all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law.

²²The generation to come, your children who will rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, will speak when they see the plagues on this land and the diseases with which Yahweh has made it sick—²³and when they see that the whole land has become sulfur and burning salt, where nothing is sown or bears fruit, where no vegetation grows, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboyim, that Yahweh destroyed in his anger and wrath—²⁴they will say together with all the other nations, 'Why has Yahweh done this to this land? What does the heat of this great anger mean?'

²⁵Then people will say, 'It is because they abandoned the covenant of Yahweh, the God of their ancestors, that he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,²⁶and because they went and served other gods and bowed down to them, gods that they had not known and that he had not given to them.

²⁷Therefore the anger of Yahweh has been kindled against this land, so as to bring on it all the curses that are written in this book.²⁸Yahweh has uprooted them from their land in anger, in wrath, and in great fury, and has thrown them into another land, as today.'

²⁹The secret matters belong alone to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong forever to us and to our descendants, so that we may do all the words of this law.

¹When all these things have come on you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, and when you call them to mind among all the other nations where Yahweh your God has banished you,²and when you return to Yahweh your God and obey his voice, following all that I am commanding you today—you and your children—with all your heart and with all your soul,³then Yahweh your God will reverse your captivity and have compassion on you; he will return and gather you from all the peoples where Yahweh your God has scattered you.

⁴If any of your exiled people are in the farthest places under the heavens, from there Yahweh your God will gather you, and from there he will bring you.⁵Yahweh your God will bring you into the land that your forefathers possessed, and you will possess it again; he will do you good and will multiply you more than he did your forefathers.

⁶Yahweh your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so you will love Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.⁷Yahweh your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, those who persecuted you.⁸You will return and obey the voice of Yahweh, and you will do all his commandments that I am commanding you today.

⁹Yahweh your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your ground, for prosperity. For Yahweh will again delight in making you prosperous, as he rejoiced over your fathers.¹⁰He will do this if you will obey the voice of Yahweh your God, so as to keep his commandments and regulations that are written in this book of the law, if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul.

¹¹For this commandment that I am commanding you today is not too hard for you, neither is it too far for you to reach.¹²It is not in heaven, so that you should have to say, 'Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it down to us and make us able to hear it, so that we may do it?'

¹³Neither is it beyond the sea, so that you should have to say, 'Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us and make us to hear it, so that we may do it?'¹⁴But the word is very near to you, in your mouth and your heart, so that you may do it.

¹⁵See, today I have placed before you life and good, death and evil.¹⁶If you obey the decrees of Yahweh your God, in which I am commanding you today to love Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments, his regulations, and his statutes, you will live and multiply, and Yahweh your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess.

¹⁷But if your heart turns away, and you do not listen and are drawn away and bow down to other gods and worship them,¹⁸then I declare to you today that you will surely perish; you will not prolong your days in the land that you are passing over the Jordan to go into and possess.

¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, the blessings and the curses; therefore choose life so that you may live, you and your descendants.²⁰Do this so as to love Yahweh your God, to obey his voice, and to cling to him. For he is your life and the length of your days; do this so that you may live in the land that Yahweh swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

¹Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel.²He said to them, "I am now one hundred twenty years old; I can no more go out and come in; Yahweh has said to me, 'You will not go over this Jordan.'³Yahweh your God, he will go over before you; he will destroy these nations from before you, and you will dispossess them. Joshua, he will go over before you, as Yahweh has spoken.

⁴Yahweh will do to them as he did to Sihon and to Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, which he destroyed.⁵Yahweh will deliver them over to you, and you will do to them according to all that I commanded you.⁶Be strong and of good courage, fear not, and do not be afraid of them; for Yahweh your God, he it is who goes with you; he will not fail you nor abandon you."

⁷Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and of good courage, for you will go with this people into the land that Yahweh has sworn to their ancestors to give them; you will cause them to inherit it.⁸Yahweh, he it is who goes before you; he will be with you; he will not fail you nor abandon you; do not be afraid, do not be discouraged."

⁹Moses wrote this law and gave it out to the priests, the sons of Levi, who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh; he also gave copies of it to all the elders of Israel.¹⁰Moses commanded them and said, "At the end of every seven years, at the time fixed for the cancellation of debts, during the Festival of Shelters,¹¹when all Israel has come to appear before Yahweh your God in the place that he will choose for his sanctuary, you will read this law before all Israel in their hearing.

¹²Assemble the people, the men, the women, and the little ones, and your foreigner who is within your city gates, so that they may hear and learn, and so that they may honor Yahweh your God and keep all the words of this law.¹³Do this so that their children, who have not known, may hear and learn to honor Yahweh your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."

¹⁴Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, the day is coming when you must die; call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, so that I may give him a command." Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting.¹⁵Yahweh appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud; the pillar of cloud stood over the door of the tent.

¹⁶Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, you will lie down with your fathers; this people will rise up and act like a prostitute going after the strange gods that are among them in the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

¹⁷Then, on that day, my anger will be kindled against them and I will abandon them. I will hide my face from them and they will be devoured. Many disasters and troubles will find them so that they will say on that day, 'Have these disasters not come upon us because our God is not in our midst?'¹⁸I will surely hide my face from them on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, because they will have turned to other gods.

¹⁹Now therefore write this song for yourselves and teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, so that this song may be a witness for me against the people of Israel.²⁰For when I will have brought them into the land that I swore to give to their ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey, and when they have eaten and become satisfied and prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and they will serve them and they will despise me and they will break my covenant.

²¹When many evils and troubles come upon this people, this song will testify before them as a witness (for it will not be forgotten from the mouths of their descendants). For I know the plans that they are forming today, even before I have brought them into the land that I swore to them."

²²So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.²³Yahweh gave Joshua son of Nun a command and said, "Be strong and of good courage; for you will bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to them, and I will be with you."

²⁴It happened that when Moses had finished writing the words of this law in a book,²⁵that he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and he said,²⁶"Take this book of the law and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Yahweh your God, so that it may be there as a witness against you.

²⁷For I know your rebellion and your stiff neck; look, while I am still alive with you even today, you have been rebellious against Yahweh; how much more after my death?²⁸Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your officers, so that I may speak these words in their ears and call heaven and earth to witness against them.²⁹For I know that after my death you will utterly corrupt yourselves and turn aside out of the path that I have commanded you; disaster will come on you in the following days. This will happen because you will do what is evil in the sight of Yahweh, so as to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands."

³⁰Moses recited in the ears of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song until they were finished.

¹Give ear, you heavens, and let me speak.

Let the earth listen to the words of my mouth.

²Let my teaching drop down like the rain,

let my speech distill like the dew,

like the gentle rain on the tender grass,

and like the showers on the plants.

³For I will proclaim the name of Yahweh,

and ascribe greatness to our God.

⁴The Rock, his work is perfect;

for all his paths are just.

He is the faithful God, without iniquity.

He is just and upright.

⁵They have acted corruptly against him.

They are not his children. It is their disgrace.

They are a perverted and crooked generation.

⁶Do you reward Yahweh in this way,

you foolish and unwise people?

Is he not your Father, the one who has created you?

He made you and established you.

⁷Call to mind the days of ancient times,

think about the years of generations past.

Ask your father and he will show you,

your elders and they will tell you.

⁸When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance—

when he divided all of mankind,

he set the boundaries of the peoples

according to the number of the children of Israel.

⁹For Yahweh's portion is his people;

Jacob is his apportioned inheritance.

¹⁰He found him in a desert land,

and in the barren and howling wilderness;

he shielded him and cared for him,

he guarded him as the apple of his eye.

¹¹As an eagle that guards her nest

and flutters over her young,

Yahweh spread out his wings and took them,

and carried them on his pinions.

¹²Yahweh alone led him;

no foreign god was with him.

¹³He made him ride on high places of the land,

and he fed him the fruits of the field;

he nourished him with honey from the rock,

and oil from the flinty crag.

¹⁴He ate butter from the herd and drank milk from the flock,

with fat of lambs,

rams of Bashan and goats,

with the finest of the wheat—

and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of grapes.

¹⁵But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—

you grew fat, you were too fat, and you had eaten your fill—

he abandoned the God who made him,

and he rejected the Rock of his salvation.

¹⁶They made Yahweh jealous by their strange gods;

with their abominations they angered him.

¹⁷They sacrificed to demons, which are not God—

gods they had not known,

gods that recently appeared,

gods your fathers did not fear.

¹⁸You have deserted the Rock, who became your father,

and you forgot the God who gave you birth.

¹⁹Yahweh saw this and he rejected them,

because his sons and his daughters provoked him so.

²⁰"I will hide my face from them," he said,

"and I will see what their end will be;

for they are a perverse generation,

children in whom is no faithfulness.

²¹They have made me jealous by what is not god

and angered me by their worthless things.

I will make them envious by those who are not a people;

by a foolish nation I will make them angry.

²²For a fire is kindled by my anger

and is burning to the lowest Sheol;

it is devouring the earth and its produce;

it is setting on fire the foundations of the mountains.

²³I will heap disasters on them;

I will shoot all my arrows at them;

²⁴They will be wasted by hunger and devoured by burning heat

and bitter destruction;

I will send on them the teeth of wild animals,

with the poison of things that crawl in the dust.

²⁵Outside the sword will bereave,

and in the bedrooms terror will do so.

It will destroy both young man and virgin,

the nursing baby, and the man of gray hairs.

²⁶I said that I would scatter them far away,

that I would make the memory of them to cease from among mankind.

²⁷Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,

and that their enemies would judge mistakenly,

and that they would say, 'Our hand is exalted,'

I would have done all this.

²⁸For Israel is a nation devoid of counsel,

and there is no understanding in them.

²⁹Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this,

that they would consider their coming fate!

³⁰How could one chase a thousand,

and two put ten thousand to flight,

unless their Rock had sold them,

and Yahweh had given them up?

³¹For our enemies' rock is not like our Rock,

just as even our enemies have concluded.

³²For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom,

and from the fields of Gomorrah;

their grapes are grapes of poison;

their clusters are bitter.

³³Their wine is the poison of serpents

and the cruel venom of asps.

³⁴Is not this plan secretly kept by me,

sealed up among my treasures?

³⁵Vengeance is mine to give, and recompense,

at the time when their foot slips;

for the day of disaster for them is near,

and the things that are to come on them will hurry to happen."

³⁶For Yahweh will give justice to his people,

and he will pity his servants.

He will see that their power is gone,

and no one remains, either slaves or free people.

³⁷Then he will say, "Where are their gods,

the rock in whom they took refuge,

³⁸the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices

and drank the wine of their drink offerings?

Let them rise up and help you;

let them be your protection.

³⁹See now that I, even I, am God,

and that there is no god besides me;

I kill, and I make alive;

I wound, and I heal,

and there is no one who can save you from my might.

⁴⁰For I lift up my hand to heaven

and say, 'As I live forever, I will act.

⁴¹When I sharpen my glittering sword,

and when my hand begins to bring justice,

I will render vengeance on my enemies,

and I will pay back those who hate me.

⁴²I will make my arrows drunk with blood,

and my sword will devour flesh

with the blood of the killed and the captives,

and from the heads of the leaders of the enemy.'"

⁴³Rejoice, you nations, with God's people,

for he will avenge the blood of his servants;

he will render vengeance on his enemies,

and he will make atonement for his land, for his people.

⁴⁴Moses came and recited all the words of this song in the ears of the people, he, and Joshua son of Nun.⁴⁵Then Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel.

⁴⁶He said to them, "Fix your mind on all the words that I have witnessed to you today, so that you may command your children to keep them, all the words of this law.⁴⁷For this is no trivial matter for you, because it is your life, and through this thing you will prolong your days in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess."

⁴⁸Yahweh spoke to Moses on that same day and said,⁴⁹"Go up into this range of the mountains of Abarim, up Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho. You will look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel as their possession.

⁵⁰You will die on the mountain that you go up, and you will be gathered to your people, as Aaron your fellow Israelite died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.⁵¹This will happen because you were unfaithful to me among the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because you did not treat me with honor and respect among the people of Israel.⁵²For you will see the land before you, but you will not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel."

¹This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death.²He said:

Yahweh came from Sinai

and rose from Seir upon them.

He shined out from Mount Paran,

and he came with ten thousands of holy ones.

In his right hand were flashes of lightning.

³Indeed, he loves the peoples;

all his holy people are in your hand,

and they bowed down at your feet;

they received your words.

⁴Moses commanded us a law,

an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.

⁵Then there was a king in Jeshurun,

when the heads of the people had gathered,

all the tribes of Israel together.

⁶Let Reuben live and not die,

but may his men be few.

⁷This is the blessing for Judah. Moses said:

Listen, Yahweh, to the voice of Judah,

and bring him to his people again.

Fight for him;

be a help against his enemies.

⁸About Levi, Moses said:

Your Thummim and your Urim belong to your faithful one,

the one whom you tested at Massah,

with whom you struggled at the waters of Meribah,

⁹who said about his father and mother, "I have not seen them."

Neither did he acknowledge his brothers,

nor did he take account of his own children.

For he guarded your word

and kept your covenant.

¹⁰He teaches Jacob your decrees

and Israel your law.

He will put incense before you

and whole burnt offerings on your altar.

¹¹Bless, Yahweh, his possessions,

and accept the work of his hands.

Shatter the loins of those who rise up against him,

and those of the people who hate him, so that they do not rise up again.

¹²About Benjamin, Moses said:

The one loved by Yahweh lives in security beside him;

Yahweh shields him all the day long,

and he lives between Yahweh's arms.

¹³About Joseph, Moses said:

May his land be blessed by Yahweh

with the precious things of heaven, with the dew,

and with the deep that lies beneath.

¹⁴May his land be blessed with the precious things of the harvest of the sun,

with the precious things of the produce of the months,

¹⁵with the finest things of the ancient mountains,

and with the precious things of the everlasting hills.

¹⁶May his land be blessed with the precious things of the earth and its abundance,

and with the good will of him who was in the bush.

Let the blessing come on the head of Joseph,

and on the top of the head of him who was prince over his brothers.

¹⁷The firstborn of an ox, majestic is he,

and his horns are the horns of a wild ox.

With them he will push the peoples,

all of them, to the ends of the earth.

These are the ten thousands of Ephraim;

these are the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸About Zebulun, Moses said:

Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,

and you, Issachar, in your tents.

¹⁹They will call the peoples to the mountains.

There will they offer sacrifices of righteousness.

For they will suck the abundance of the seas,

and from the sand on the seashore.

²⁰About Gad, Moses said:

Blessed be he who enlarges Gad.

He will live there like a lioness,

and he will tear off an arm or a head.

²¹He provided the best part for himself,

for there was the leader's portion of land reserved.

He came with the heads of the people.

He carried out the justice of Yahweh

and his decrees with Israel.

²²About Dan, Moses said:

Dan is a lion cub

that leaps out from Bashan.

²³About Naphtali, Moses said:

Naphtali, satisfied with favor,

and full of the blessing of Yahweh,

take possession of the land to the west and south.

²⁴About Asher, Moses said:

Blessed be Asher more than the other sons;

let him be acceptable to his brothers,

and let him dip his foot in olive oil.

²⁵May your city bars be iron and bronze;

as long as will be your days, so long will your security be.

²⁶There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,

who rides through the heavens to your help,

and in his majesty on the clouds.

²⁷The eternal God is a refuge,

and underneath are the everlasting arms.

He thrust out the enemy from before you,

and he said, "Destroy!"

²⁸Israel dwelt in safety.

Jacob's spring was secure

in a land of grain and new wine;

indeed, let his heavens drop dew on him.

²⁹Your blessings are many, Israel!

Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh,

the shield of your help,

and the sword of your majesty?

Your enemies will come trembling to you;

you will trample down their high places.

¹Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. There Yahweh showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan,²and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, to the western sea,³and the Negev, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar.

⁴Yahweh said to him, "This is the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, 'I will give it to your descendants.' I have allowed you to look at it with your eyes, but you will not go over there."⁵So Moses the servant of Yahweh, died there in the land of Moab, as the word of Yahweh promised.⁶Yahweh buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no one knows where his grave is to this day.

⁷Moses was one hundred twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.⁸The people of Israel mourned for Moses in the plains of Moab for thirty days, and then the days of mourning for Moses were finished.

⁹Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. The people of Israel listened to him and did what Yahweh had commanded Moses.

¹⁰There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face.¹¹There has never been any prophet like him in all the signs and wonders that Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land.¹²There has never been any prophet like him in all the mighty, fearsome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Matthew

¹The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham.

²Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers.

³Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram.

⁴Ram was the father of Amminadab, Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon.

⁵Salmon was the father of Boaz by Rahab, Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, Obed the father of Jesse.

⁶Jesse was the father of David the king.

David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah.

⁷Solomon was the father of Rehoboam, Rehoboam the father of Abijah, Abijah the father of Asa.

⁸Asa was the father of Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram an ancestor of Uzziah.

⁹Uzziah was the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah.

¹⁰Hezekiah was the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, and Amon the father of Josiah.

¹¹Josiah was an ancestor of Jechoniah and his brothers at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

¹²After the deportation to Babylon, Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, Shealtiel was an ancestor of Zerubbabel.

¹³Zerubbabel was the father of Abiud, Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor.

¹⁴Azor was the father of Zadok, Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud.

¹⁵Eliud was the father of Eleazar, Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob.

¹⁶Jacob was the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.

¹⁷All the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

¹⁸The birth of Jesus Christ happened in the following way. His mother, Mary, was engaged to marry Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit.¹⁹But Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to publicly disgrace her, so he intended to divorce her quietly.

²⁰As he thought about these things, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, because the one who is conceived in her is conceived by the Holy Spirit.²¹She will bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."

²²Now all this happened to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,²³"Behold, the virgin will become pregnant and will bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel"—which being translated is "God with us."

²⁴Joseph got up from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and he took her as his wife.²⁵But he did not know her until she gave birth to a son. Then he called his name Jesus.

¹After Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, learned men from the east arrived in Jerusalem saying,²"Where is he who was born King of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."³When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.

⁴Herod brought together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, and he asked them, "Where is the Christ to be born?"⁵They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is what was written by the prophet:

⁶'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are not the least among the rulers of Judah,

for from you will come one who rules,

who will shepherd my people Israel.'"

⁷Then Herod secretly called the learned men to ask them exactly what time the star had appeared.⁸He sent them to Bethlehem, saying, "Go and search carefully for the young child. When you have found him, bring me a report so that I also may come and worship him."

⁹After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star that they had seen in the east went before them until it came and stood still over where the young child was.¹⁰When they saw the star, they rejoiced with very great joy.

¹¹They went into the house and saw the young child with Mary his mother. They fell down and worshiped him. They opened their treasures and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.¹²God warned them in a dream not to return to Herod, so they departed to their own country by another way.

¹³After they had departed, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the young child and his mother, and flee to Egypt. Remain there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."¹⁴That night Joseph rose and took the young child and his mother and departed into Egypt.¹⁵He remained there until the death of Herod. This fulfilled what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I have called my Son."

¹⁶Then Herod, when he saw that he had been mocked by the learned men, was very angry. He sent and killed all the male children that were in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old and under, according to the time that he had determined exactly from the learned men.

¹⁷Then was fulfilled what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying,

¹⁸"A voice was heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children,

and she refused to be comforted,

because they were no more."

¹⁹When Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said,²⁰"Get up and take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead."²¹Joseph rose, took the child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.

²²But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. After God warned him in a dream, he left for the region of Galilee²³and went and lived in a city called Nazareth. This fulfilled what had been spoken through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.

¹In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea saying,²"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."³For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying,

"The voice of one calling out in the wilderness,

'Make ready the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.'"

⁴Now John wore clothing of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.⁵Then Jerusalem, all Judea, and all the region around the Jordan River went out to him.⁶They were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to him for baptism, he said to them, "You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath that is coming?⁸Bear fruit worthy of repentance.⁹Do not think of saying among yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham even out of these stones.

¹⁰Already the ax has been placed against the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.¹¹I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who comes after me is mightier than I, and I am not worthy even to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.¹²His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear off his threshing floor and to gather his wheat into the storehouse. But he will burn up the chaff with fire that can never be put out."

¹³Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.¹⁴But John kept trying to stop him, saying, "I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?"¹⁵Jesus responded and said to him, "Permit it now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then John permitted him.

¹⁶After he was baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him. He saw the Spirit of God coming down like a dove and resting upon him.¹⁷Behold, a voice came out of the heavens saying, "This is my beloved Son. I am very pleased with him."

¹Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.²When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.³The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become bread."

⁴But Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written, 'Man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes out of the mouth of God.'"

⁵Then the devil took him into the holy city and set him on the highest point of the temple building,⁶and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

'He will command his angels to take care of you,'

and

'They will carry you in their hands,

so that you will not hit your foot against a stone.'"

⁷Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'You must not test the Lord your God.'"

⁸Again, the devil took him up to a very high hill and showed him all the kingdoms of the world along with all their glory.⁹He said to him, "All these things I will give you, if you fall down and worship me."

¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, "Go away from here, Satan! For it is written, 'You will worship the Lord your God, and you will serve only him.'"

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.

¹²Now when Jesus heard that John had been handed over, he withdrew into Galilee.¹³He left Nazareth and went and lived in Capernaum, which is by the Sea of Galilee in the territories of Zebulun and Naphtali.

¹⁴This happened to fulfill what was said by Isaiah the prophet:

¹⁵"The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

toward the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles!

¹⁶The people who sat in darkness

have seen a great light,

and to those who sat in the region and shadow of death,

upon them has a light arisen."

¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

¹⁸As he was 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.¹⁹Jesus said to them, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."²⁰Immediately they left the nets and followed him.

²¹As Jesus was going on from there he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and John his brother. They were in the boat with Zebedee their father mending their nets. He called them,²²and they immediately left the boat and their father and followed him.

²³Jesus went about in all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and sickness among the people.²⁴The news about him went out into all of Syria, and the people brought to him all those who suffered from various diseases and pains, those who were possessed by demons, the epileptics, and the paralytics. Jesus healed them.²⁵Large crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

¹When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on the mountain. When he had sat down, his disciples came to him.²He opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

³"Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Blessed are those who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

⁵Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the earth.

⁶Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they will be filled.

⁷Blessed are the merciful,

for they will obtain mercy.

⁸Blessed are the pure in heart,

for they will see God.

⁹Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called sons of God.

¹⁰Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

¹¹"Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely for my sake.¹²Rejoice and be glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For in this way people persecuted the prophets who lived before you.

¹³"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has lost its taste, how can it be made salty again? It is never again good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

¹⁵Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but rather on the lampstand, and it shines for everyone in the house.¹⁶Let your light shine before people in such a way that they see your good deeds and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

¹⁷"Do not think that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets. I have come not to destroy them, but to fulfill them.¹⁸For truly I say to you that until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will in any way pass away from the law, until all things have been accomplished.

¹⁹Therefore whoever breaks the least one of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever keeps them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.²⁰For I say to you that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will in no way enter the kingdom of heaven.

²¹"You have heard that it was said to them in ancient times, 'Do not murder,' and 'Whoever murders will be subject to judgment.'²²But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment; and whoever says to his brother, 'You worthless person!' will be subject to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be subject to the fire of hell.

²³Therefore if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has anything against you,²⁴leave your gift there in front of the altar, and go on your way. First be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

²⁵Agree with your adversary quickly while you are with him on the way to court, or your adversary may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.²⁶Truly I say to you, you will never come out from there until you have paid the last penny you owe.

²⁷"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'²⁸But I say to you that everyone who looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

²⁹If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. For it is better for you that one of your members should perish than that your whole body should be thrown into hell.³⁰If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. For it is better for you that one of your members should perish than that your whole body should go into hell.

³¹It was also said, 'Whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce.'³²But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on account of sexual immorality, makes her an adulteress. Whoever marries her after she has been divorced commits adultery.

³³"Again, you have heard that it was said to those in ancient times, 'Do not swear a false oath, but carry out your oaths to the Lord.'³⁴But I say to you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;³⁵nor by the earth, for it is the footstool for his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.

³⁶Neither swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black.³⁷But let your speech be 'Yes, yes,' or 'No, no.' Anything that is more than this is from the evil one.

³⁸"You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth.'³⁹But I say to you, do not resist one who is evil. Instead, whoever strikes you on your right cheek, turn to him the other also.

⁴⁰If anyone wishes to bring a lawsuit against you and takes away your tunic, let that person also have your cloak.⁴¹Whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two.⁴²Give to anyone who asks you, and do not turn away from anyone who wishes to borrow from you.

⁴³"You have heard that it was said, 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'⁴⁴But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,¹⁴⁵so that you may be sons 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.

⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward do you get? Do not even the tax collectors do the same thing?⁴⁷If you greet only your brothers, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same thing?⁴⁸Therefore you must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

¹The best ancient copies do not have Bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you.

¹"Watch out that you do not do your acts of righteousness before people to be seen by them, or else you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.²So when you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before yourself as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be glorified by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full.

³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing⁴so that your alms may be given in secret. Then your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵"When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by people. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward.⁶But you, when you pray, enter your inner chamber. Shut the door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. Then your Father who sees in secret will reward you.⁷When you pray, do not make useless repetitions as the pagans do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words.

⁸Therefore, do not be like them, for your Father knows what things you need before you ask him.

⁹Therefore pray like this:

'Our Father in heaven,

may your name be honored as holy.

¹⁰May your kingdom come.

May your will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

¹¹Give us today our daily bread.

¹²Forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

¹³Do not bring us into temptation,

but deliver us from the evil one.'¹

¹⁴For if you forgive people their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.¹⁵But if you do not forgive their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

¹⁶"When you fast, do not have a sad face as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to people to be fasting. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward in full.¹⁷But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face¹⁸so that you may not appear to people to be fasting, but only to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.²⁰Instead, store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in and steal.²¹For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

²²The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore, if your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light.²³But if your eye is bad, your whole body is full of darkness. Therefore, if the light that is in you is actually darkness, how great is that darkness!²⁴No 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 cannot serve God and wealth.

²⁵Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. For is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?²⁶Look at the birds in the sky. They do not sow or reap or gather into barns, but your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not more valuable than they are?

²⁷Which one of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his lifespan?²⁸Why are you anxious about clothing? Think about the lilies in the fields, how they grow. They do not labor, and they do not spin cloth.²⁹Yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.

³⁰If God so clothes the grass in the fields, which exists today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, you of little faith?³¹Therefore do not be anxious and say, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What clothes will we wear?'

³²For the Gentiles search for these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.³³But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you.³⁴Therefore, do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough evil of its own.

¹The best ancient copies do not have For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

¹"Do not judge, and you will not be judged.²For with the judgment you judge, you will be judged, and with the measure that you measure, it will be measured out to you.

³Why do you look at the tiny piece of straw that is in your brother's eye, but you do not take notice of the log that is in your own eye?⁴How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take out the piece of straw that is in your eye,' while the log is in your own eye?⁵You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the piece of straw that is in your brother's eye.

⁶Do not give what is holy to the dogs, and do not throw your pearls in front of the pigs. Otherwise they may trample them underfoot, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

⁷"Ask, and it will be given to you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened to you.⁸For everyone who asks, receives; everyone who seeks, finds; and to the person who knocks, it will be opened.⁹Or which one of you, if his son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone?¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?

¹¹Therefore, if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him?¹²Therefore, whatever things you want people to do to you, you should also do to them, for this is the law and the prophets.

¹³"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many people who go through it.¹⁴But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

¹⁵"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but are truly ravenous wolves.¹⁶By their fruits you will know them. Do people gather grapes from a thornbush or figs from thistles?¹⁷In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but the bad tree produces bad fruit.

¹⁸A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit.¹⁹Every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire.²⁰So then, you will recognize them by their fruits.

²¹Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.²²Many people will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, in your name drive out demons, and in your name do many miracles?'²³Then will I openly declare to them, 'I never knew you! Get away from me, you who practice lawlessness!'

²⁴"Therefore, everyone who hears my words and obeys them will be like a wise man who built his house upon a rock.²⁵The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, but it did not fall down, for it was founded on the rock.

²⁶But everyone who hears my words and does not obey them will be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.²⁷The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew and struck that house, and it fell, and its destruction was complete."

²⁸It came about that when Jesus finished speaking these words, the crowds were astonished by his teaching,²⁹for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.

¹When Jesus had come down from the hill, large crowds followed him.²Behold, a leper came to him and bowed before him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

³Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be clean." Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.

⁴Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to any man. Go on your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, for a testimony to them."

⁵When he was coming into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, begging him⁶and saying, "Lord, my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible agony."

⁷Then Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."

⁸The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof. Only say the word and my servant will be healed.⁹For I also am a man under authority, and I have soldiers under me. I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another one, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those who were following him, "Truly I say to you, I have not found anyone with such faith in Israel.

¹¹I tell you, many will come from the east and the west, and they will recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.¹²But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth."¹³Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! As you have believed, so may it be done for you." And the servant was healed at that very hour.

¹⁴When Jesus had come into Peter's house, he saw Peter's mother-in-law lying sick with a fever.¹⁵Jesus touched her hand, and the fever left her. Then she got up and started serving him.

¹⁶When evening had come, the people brought to Jesus many who were possessed by demons. He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all who were sick.¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

"He took our illnesses

and bore our diseases."

¹⁸Now when Jesus saw the crowd around him, he gave instructions to leave for the other side of the Sea of Galilee.¹⁹Then a scribe came to him and said, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."

²⁰Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

²¹Another of the disciples said to him, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father."

²²But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."

²³When Jesus had entered a boat, his disciples followed him into it.²⁴Behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But Jesus was asleep.²⁵The disciples came to him and woke him up, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!"

²⁶Jesus said to them, "Why are you afraid, you of little faith?" Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the sea. Then there was a great calm.

²⁷The men marveled and said, "What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?"

²⁸When Jesus had come to the other side and to the country of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They were coming out of the tombs and were very violent, so that no traveler could pass that way.²⁹Behold, they cried out and said, "What do we have to do with you, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the set time?"

³⁰Now a herd of many pigs was there feeding, not too far away from them.³¹The demons kept pleading with Jesus and saying, "If you cast us out, send us away into that herd of pigs."

³²Jesus said to them, "Go!" The demons came out and went into the pigs; and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep hill into the sea and they died in the water.

³³Those who had been tending the pigs ran away and they went into the city and reported everything, especially what had happened to the men who had been possessed by demons.³⁴Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

¹Jesus entered a boat, crossed over, and came into his own city.²Behold, they brought to him a paralyzed man lying on a mat. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Son, be encouraged. Your sins have been forgiven."

³Behold, some of the scribes said among themselves, "This man is blaspheming."⁴Jesus knew their thoughts and said, "Why are you thinking evil in your hearts?⁵For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?⁶But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, ... " he said to the paralytic, "Get up, pick up your mat, and go to your house."

⁷Then the man got up and went away to his house.⁸When the crowds saw this, they were afraid and glorified God, who had given such authority to people.⁹As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's tent. He said to him, "Follow me." He got up and followed him.

¹⁰As Jesus sat down to eat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and dined with Jesus and his disciples.¹¹When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

¹²When Jesus heard this, he said, "People who are strong in body do not need a physician; only those who are sick do.¹³You should go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous to repent, but sinners."

¹⁴Then the disciples of John came to him and said, "Why do we and the Pharisees often fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

¹⁵Jesus said to them, "Can the sons of the wedding hall mourn while the bridegroom is still with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶No man puts a piece of new cloth on an old garment, for the patch will tear away from the garment, and a worse tear will be made.

¹⁷Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will be spilled, and the wineskins will be destroyed. Instead, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both will be preserved."

¹⁸While Jesus was saying these things to them, behold, an official came and bowed down to him. He said, "My daughter has just now died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live."¹⁹Then Jesus got up and followed him, and so did his disciples.

²⁰Behold, a woman who suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind Jesus and touched the edge of his garment.²¹For she had said to herself, "If only I touch his clothes, I will be made well."

²²But Jesus turned and saw her, and said, "Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well." And the woman was healed from that hour.

²³When Jesus came into the official's house, he saw the flute players and the crowd making a commotion.²⁴He said, "Go away, for the girl is not dead, but she is asleep." But they laughed at him in mockery.

²⁵When the crowd had been put outside, he entered the room and took her by the hand, and the girl got up.²⁶The news about this spread into all that region.

²⁷As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him. They kept shouting and saying, "Have mercy on us, Son of David!"

²⁸When Jesus had come into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I can do this?"

They said to him, "Yes, Lord."

²⁹Then Jesus touched their eyes and said, "Let it be done to you according to your faith,"³⁰and their eyes were opened. Then Jesus strictly commanded them and said, "See that no one knows about this."³¹But the two men went out and spread the news about this throughout that region.

³²As those two men were going away, behold, a mute man possessed by a demon was brought to Jesus.³³When the demon had been driven out, the mute man spoke. The crowds were astonished and said, "This has never been seen before in Israel!"

³⁴But the Pharisees were saying, "By the ruler of the demons, he drives out demons."

³⁵Jesus went about all the cities and the villages. He continued teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom and healing all kinds of disease and all kinds of sickness.³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were troubled and discouraged. They were like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷He said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.³⁸Therefore urgently pray to the Lord of the harvest, so that he may send out laborers into his harvest."

¹Jesus called his twelve disciples together and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to drive them out, and to heal all kinds of disease and all kinds of sickness.

²Now the names of the twelve apostles were these. The first, Simon (whom he also called Peter), and Andrew his brother; James son of Zebedee, and John his brother;³Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and Matthew the tax collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;⁴Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who would betray him.

⁵These twelve Jesus sent out. He instructed them and said, "Do not go to any place where Gentiles live, and do not enter any town of the Samaritans.⁶Go instead to the lost sheep of the house of Israel;⁷and as you go, preach and say, 'The kingdom of heaven is near.'

⁸Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.⁹Do not carry any gold, silver, or copper in your belts.¹⁰Do not take a traveling bag for your journey, or an extra tunic, or sandals, or a staff, for a laborer deserves his food.

¹¹Whatever city or village you enter, find who is worthy in it, and stay there until you leave.¹²As you enter into the house, greet it.¹³If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.

¹⁴As for those who do not receive you or listen to your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet.¹⁵Truly I say to you, it will be more bearable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

¹⁶"See, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be as wise as serpents and innocent as doves.¹⁷Watch out for people! They will deliver you up to councils, and they will whip you in their synagogues.¹⁸Then you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

¹⁹When they deliver you up, do not be anxious about how or what you will speak, for what to say will be given to you at that time.²⁰For it is not you who will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who will speak in you.

²¹Brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.²²You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But whoever endures to the end, that person will be saved.²³When they persecute you in this city, flee to the next, for truly I say to you, you will not have gone through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man has come.

²⁴"A disciple is not greater than his teacher, nor a servant above his master.²⁵It is enough for the disciple that he should be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much worse will be the names they call the members of his household!

²⁶Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be known.²⁷What I tell you in the darkness, say in the daylight, and what you hear softly in your ear, proclaim upon the housetops.

²⁸Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul. Instead, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge.³⁰But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.³¹Do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows.

³²Therefore everyone who confesses me before men, I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven.³³But he who denies me before men, I will also deny before my Father who is in heaven.

³⁴"Do not think that I came to bring peace upon the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.³⁵For I came to set

a man against his father,

and a daughter against her mother,

and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

³⁶A man's enemies will be those of his own household.

³⁷He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.³⁸He who does not pick up his cross and follow after me is not worthy of me.³⁹He who finds his life will lose it. But he who loses his life for my sake will find it.

⁴⁰"He who welcomes you welcomes me, and he who welcomes me also welcomes him who sent me.⁴¹He who welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and he who welcomes a righteous man in the name of a righteous man will receive a righteous man's reward.

⁴²Whoever gives to one of these little ones even a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, he will in no way lose his reward."

¹It came about that when Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he departed from there to teach and preach in their cities.²Now when John heard in the prison about the deeds of the Christ, he sent a message by his disciples³and said to him, "Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?"

⁴Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and report to John what you see and hear.⁵The blind are receiving sight, the lame are walking, lepers are being cleansed, the deaf are hearing again, the dead are being raised back to life, and the gospel is being preached to the poor.⁶Blessed is anyone who does not stumble because of me."

⁷As these men went on their way, Jesus began to say to the crowds about John, "What did you go out in the desert to see—a reed being shaken by the wind?⁸But what did you go out to see—a man dressed in soft clothing? Really, those who wear soft clothing live in kings' houses.

⁹But what did you go out to see—a prophet? Yes, I say to you, and much more than a prophet.¹⁰This is he of whom it was written,

'See, I am sending my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.'

¹¹Truly I say to you that among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Yet the least important person in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.¹²From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and men of violence take it by force.

¹³For all the prophets and the law have been prophesying until John;¹⁴and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who was to come.¹⁵He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

¹⁶To what should I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces calling out to the others,¹⁷saying:

'We played a flute for you,

and you did not dance.

We mourned,

and you did not weep.'

¹⁸For John came not eating bread or drinking wine, and they say, 'He has a demon.'¹⁹The Son of Man came eating and drinking and they say, 'Look, he is a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!' But wisdom is justified by her deeds."

²⁰Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done, because they had not repented.²¹"Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles had been done in Tyre and Sidon which were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.²²But I tell you it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment than for you.

²³You, Capernaum, do you think you will be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. For if in Sodom there had been done the miracles that were done in you, it would still have remained until today.²⁴But I say to you that it will be easier for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you."

²⁵At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you concealed these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to little children.²⁶Yes, Father, for this was pleasing in your sight.²⁷All things have been entrusted to me from my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

²⁸Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.²⁹Take my yoke on you and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.³⁰For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

¹At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grainfields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and eat them.²But when the Pharisees saw that, they said to Jesus, "See, your disciples do what is unlawful to do on the Sabbath."

³But Jesus said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was hungry, and the men who were with him?⁴He went into the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which was unlawful for him to eat and unlawful for those who were with him, but lawful only for the priests.

⁵Have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath but are guiltless?⁶But I say to you that one greater than the temple is here.

⁷If you had known what this meant, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.⁸For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

⁹Then Jesus left from there and went into their synagogue.¹⁰Behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees asked Jesus, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" so that they might accuse him of sinning.

¹¹Jesus said to them, "What man would there be among you, who, if he had just one sheep, and if this sheep fell into a pit on the Sabbath, would not take hold of it and raise it out?¹²How much more valuable, then, is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath."

¹³Then Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and it was restored to health, just like the other hand.¹⁴But the Pharisees went out and plotted against him. They were seeking how they might destroy him.

¹⁵Jesus, knowing this, withdrew from there. Many people followed him, and he healed them all.¹⁶He commanded them not to make him known to others,¹⁷that it might be fulfilled, what had been said through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

¹⁸"See, my servant whom I have chosen;

my beloved one, in whom my soul is well pleased.

I will put my Spirit upon him,

and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

¹⁹He will not strive nor cry aloud;

neither will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

²⁰He will not break any bruised reed;

he will not quench any smoking flax,

until he leads justice to victory,

²¹and in his name the Gentiles will have hope."

²²Then someone blind and mute, possessed by a demon, was brought to Jesus. He healed him, with the result that the mute man spoke and saw.²³All the crowds were amazed and said, "Can this man be the Son of David?"

²⁴But when the Pharisees heard of this miracle, they said, "This man does not cast out demons except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons."

²⁵But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is made desolate, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

²⁶If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?²⁷And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges.

²⁸But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.²⁹How can anyone enter the house of the strong man and take away his belongings without tying up the strong man first? Then he will steal his belongings from his house.³⁰The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters.

³¹Therefore I say to you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.³²Whoever speaks any word against the Son of Man, that will be forgiven him. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, that will not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.

³³Make a tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.³⁴You offspring of vipers, since you are evil, how can you say good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.³⁵The good man from the good treasure of his heart produces what is good, and the evil man from the evil treasure of his heart produces what is evil.

³⁶I say to you that in the day of judgment people will give an account for every idle word they will have said.³⁷For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

³⁸Then certain scribes and Pharisees answered Jesus and said, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."

³⁹But Jesus answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign. But no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.⁴⁰For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the stomach of the big fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

⁴¹The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation of people and will condemn it. For they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and see, someone greater than Jonah is here.

⁴²The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them. She came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and see, someone greater than Solomon is here.

⁴³When an unclean spirit has gone away from a man, it passes through waterless places and looks for rest, but does not find it.⁴⁴Then it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' Having returned, it finds the house empty—it had been swept clean and put in order.⁴⁵Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they all come in to live there. Then the final condition of that man becomes worse than the first. It will be just like that with this evil generation."

⁴⁶While Jesus was still speaking to the crowds, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him.⁴⁷Someone said to him, "Look, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you."

⁴⁸But Jesus answered and said to him who told him, "Who is my mother and who are my brothers?"⁴⁹Then he stretched out his hand toward his disciples and said, "See, here are my mother and my brothers!⁵⁰For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, that person is my brother, and sister, and mother."

¹On that day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.²A very large crowd gathered around him, so he got into a boat and sat in it while the whole crowd stood on the beach.

³Then Jesus said many things to them in parables. He said, "Behold, a farmer went out to sow seed.⁴As he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and devoured them.⁵Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil. Immediately they sprang up because the soil had no depth.⁶But when the sun had risen, they were scorched because they had no root, and they withered away.

⁷Other seeds fell among the thorn plants. The thorn plants grew up and choked them.⁸Other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.⁹He who has ears, let him hear."

¹⁰The disciples came and said to Jesus, "Why do you talk to the crowd in parables?"

¹¹Jesus answered and said to them, "You have been given the privilege of understanding mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.¹²For whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

¹³This is why I talk to them in parables:

Though they are seeing,

they do not see;

and though they are hearing,

they do not hear, or understand.

¹⁴To them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, that which says,

'Listening, you will hear, but you will never understand;

seeing, you will see, but you will never know.

¹⁵For the heart of this people has become dull,

and with their ears they hardly hear,

and they have shut their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart and turn again,

and I would heal them.'

¹⁶But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.¹⁷Truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things that you see and did not see them. They desired to hear the things that you hear and did not hear them.

¹⁸Listen then to the parable of the farmer who sowed his seed.¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom but does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the seed that was sown beside the road.

²⁰What was sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy,²¹yet he has no root in himself and he endures for a while. When tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, he quickly falls away.

²²What was sown among the thorn plants, this is the person who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.²³The seed that was sown on the good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands it. He bears fruit and produces a crop, yielding in one case a hundred, in another sixty, and in another thirty times as much as was planted."

²⁴Jesus presented another parable to them. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field.²⁵But while people slept, his enemy came and also sowed weeds among the wheat and then went away.²⁶When the blades sprouted and then produced their crop, then the weeds appeared also.

²⁷The servants of the landowner came and said to him, 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How does it now have weeds?'

²⁸"He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.'

"The servants said to him, 'So do you want us to go and pull them out?'

²⁹"The landowner said, 'No. Because while you are pulling out the weeds, you might uproot the wheat with them.³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest. At the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, "First pull out the weeds and tie them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

³¹Then Jesus presented another parable to them. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field.³²This seed is indeed the smallest of all seeds. But when it has grown, it is greater than the garden plants. It becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches."

³³Jesus then told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the dough had risen."

³⁴All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; and he said nothing to them without a parable.³⁵This was in order that what had been said through the prophet might be fulfilled, when he said,

"I will open my mouth in parables.

I will say things that were hidden from the foundation of the world."

³⁶Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, "Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field."

³⁷Jesus answered and said, "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.³⁸The field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

⁴⁰Therefore, as the weeds are gathered up and consumed by fire, so will it be at the end of the age.⁴¹The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness.⁴²They will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.⁴³Then will the righteous people shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.

⁴⁴"The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man found it and hid it. In his joy he goes, sells everything he possesses, and buys that field.⁴⁵Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a merchant looking for valuable pearls.⁴⁶When he found one very valuable pearl, he went and sold everything that he possessed and bought it.

⁴⁷"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea, and that gathered all kinds of fish.⁴⁸When it was filled, the fishermen drew it up on the beach. Then they sat down and gathered the good ones into containers, but the bad ones they threw away.

⁴⁹It will be this way at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous.⁵⁰They will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

⁵¹"Have you understood all these things?"

The disciples said to him, "Yes."

⁵²Then Jesus said to them, "Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple to the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is the owner of a house, who draws out old and new things from his treasure."⁵³Then it came about that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from that place.

⁵⁴Then Jesus entered his own region and taught the people in their synagogue. The result was that they were astonished and said, "Where does this man get his wisdom and these miraculous powers from?⁵⁵Is not this man the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? Are not his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?⁵⁶Are not all his sisters with us? Where did he get all these things?"

⁵⁷They were offended by him.

But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own family."

⁵⁸He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

¹About that time, Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus.²He said to his servants, "This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead. Therefore these powers are at work in him."

³For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife.⁴For John had said to him, "It is not lawful for you to have her as your wife."⁵Herod would have killed him, but he feared the people, because they regarded him as a prophet.

⁶But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in the midst and pleased Herod.⁷In response, he promised with an oath to give her whatever she should ask.

⁸After being instructed by her mother, she said, "Give me here, on a platter, the head of John the Baptist."⁹The king was grieved by her request, but because of his oath and because of all those at dinner with him, he ordered that it should be done.

¹⁰He sent and beheaded John in the prison.¹¹Then his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she took it to her mother.¹²Then his disciples came, took up the corpse, and buried it. After this, they went and told Jesus.

¹³Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place. When the crowds heard of it, they followed him on foot from the cities.¹⁴Then Jesus came before them and saw the large crowd. He had compassion on them and healed their sick.

¹⁵When the evening had come, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour has already passed. Dismiss the crowds, so that they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves."

¹⁶But Jesus said to them, "They have no need to go away. You give them something to eat."

¹⁷They said to him, "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish."

¹⁸Jesus said, "Bring them to me."

¹⁹Then Jesus ordered the crowd to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish. Looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowd.²⁰They all ate and were filled. Then they took up what remained of the broken pieces of food—twelve baskets full.²¹Those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

²²Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he sent away the crowds.²³After he had sent away the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.²⁴But the boat was now a long way from land, being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was blowing against them.

²⁵In the fourth watch of the night Jesus approached them, walking on the sea.²⁶When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled and said, "It is a ghost," and they cried out in fear.

²⁷But Jesus spoke to them right away and said, "Be brave! It is I! Do not be afraid."

²⁸Peter answered him and said, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water."

²⁹Jesus said, "Come."

So Peter got out from the boat and walked on the water to go to Jesus.

³⁰But when Peter saw the strong wind, he became afraid. As he began to sink, he cried out and said, "Lord, save me!"

³¹Jesus immediately stretched out his hand, took hold of Peter, and said to him, "You of little faith, why did you doubt?"

³²Then when Jesus and Peter went into the boat, the wind ceased blowing.³³Then the disciples in the boat worshiped Jesus and said, "Truly you are the Son of God."

³⁴When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret.³⁵When the men in that place recognized Jesus, they sent messages everywhere into the surrounding area, and they brought to him everyone who was sick.³⁶They begged him that they might just touch the edge of his garment, and as many as touched it were healed.

¹Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem. They said,²"Why do your disciples violate the traditions of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

³He answered and said to them, "Then why do you violate the commandment of God for the sake of your traditions?

⁴For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'He who speaks evil of his father or mother will surely die.'⁵But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever help you would have received from me is now a gift given to God,"⁶that person does not need to honor his father.' In this way you have made void the word of God¹ for the sake of your traditions.

⁷You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you when he said,

⁸'This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me.

⁹They worship me in vain

because they teach as their doctrines the commandments of people.'"

¹⁰Then he called the crowd to himself and said to them, "Listen and understand—¹¹Nothing that enters into the mouth defiles a person. Instead, what comes out of the mouth, this is what defiles a person."

¹²Then the disciples came and said to Jesus, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?"

¹³Jesus answered and said, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.¹⁴Let them alone; they are blind guides. If a blind person guides another blind person, both will fall into a pit."

¹⁵Peter responded and said to Jesus, "Explain this parable to us."

¹⁶Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding?¹⁷Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and then goes out into the latrine?

¹⁸But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart. They are the things that defile a person.¹⁹For from the heart proceed evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander.²⁰These are the things that defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a person."

²¹Then Jesus went away from there and withdrew toward the regions of the cities of Tyre and Sidon.²²Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from that region. She shouted out and said, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed."

²³But Jesus answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is shouting after us."

²⁴But Jesus answered and said, "I was not sent to anyone except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

²⁵But she came and bowed down before him, saying, "Lord, help me."

²⁶He answered and said, "It is not proper to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

²⁷She said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat some of the crumbs that fall from their masters' tables."

²⁸Then Jesus answered and said to her, "Woman, great is your faith; let it be done for you just as you wish." Her daughter was healed from that hour.

²⁹Jesus left that place and went near to the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up a hill and sat there.³⁰Large crowds came to him. They brought with them lame, blind, mute, and crippled people, and many others who were sick. They presented them at Jesus' feet, and he healed them.³¹So the crowd marveled when they saw the mute persons speak, the crippled made well, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. They glorified the God of Israel.

³²Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion on the crowd because they have stayed with me for three days already and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away without eating, or they may faint on the way."

³³The disciples said to him, "Where can we get enough loaves of bread in such a deserted place to satisfy so large a crowd?"

³⁴Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?"

They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

³⁵Then Jesus commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground.

³⁶He took the seven loaves and the fish, and after giving thanks, he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples. The disciples gave them to the crowd.³⁷The people all ate and were satisfied. Then they gathered up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.³⁸Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.³⁹Then Jesus sent the crowds away and got into the boat and went into the region of Magadan.

¹The best ancient copies have the word of God; some other ancient copies have the commandment. It is difficult to choose the better reading.

¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from the sky.²But he answered and said to them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.'

³When it is morning, you say, 'It will be foul weather, for the sky is red and overcast.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times.⁴An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah." Then Jesus left them and went away.

⁵When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.⁶Jesus said to them, "Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

⁷The disciples reasoned among themselves and said, "It is because we took no bread."

⁸Jesus was aware of this and said, "You of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves and say that it is because you have taken no bread?

⁹Do you not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered up?¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

¹¹How is it that you do not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? Watch out and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."¹²Then they understood that he was not telling them to beware of yeast in bread, but to beware of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹³Now when Jesus came to the regions near Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They said, "Some say John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."

¹⁵He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

¹⁶Answering, Simon Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for flesh and blood have not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.¹⁸I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. The gates of Hades will not prevail against it.

¹⁹I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."²⁰Then Jesus commanded the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.

²¹From that time Jesus started to tell his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, suffer many things at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes, be killed, and be raised back to life on the third day.

²²Then Peter took him aside and rebuked him, saying, "May this be far from you, Lord! May this never happen to you!"

²³But Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you do not think about the things of God, but about the things of people."

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.²⁶For what does it profit a person if he gains the whole world but forfeits his life? What can a person give in exchange for his life?

²⁷For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels. Then he will reward every person according to his deeds.²⁸Truly I say to you, there are some of you standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

¹Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John his brother, and brought them up a high mountain by themselves.²He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as brilliant as the light.

³Behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah talking with him.⁴Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you desire, I will make here three shelters—one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

⁵While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, there was a voice out of the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him."

⁶When the disciples heard it, they fell facedown and were very afraid.⁷Then Jesus came and touched them and said, "Get up and do not be afraid."⁸Then they looked up but saw no one except Jesus only.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, "Report this vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead."

¹⁰His disciples asked him, saying, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

¹¹Jesus answered and said, "Elijah will indeed come and restore all things.¹²But I tell you, Elijah has already come, but they did not recognize him. Instead, they did whatever they wanted to him. In the same way, the Son of Man will also suffer at their hands."¹³Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

¹⁴When they had come to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said,¹⁵"Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is epileptic and suffers severely. For he often falls into the fire or the water.¹⁶I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him."

¹⁷Jesus answered and said, "Unbelieving and perverse generation, how long will I have to stay with you? How long must I bear with you? Bring him here to me."¹⁸Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed from that hour.

¹⁹Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, "Why could we not cast it out?"

²⁰Jesus said to them, "Because of your small faith. For I truly say to you, if you have faith even as small as a grain of mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you."²¹¹

²²While they stayed in Galilee, Jesus said to his disciples, "The Son of Man will be given over into the hands of people,²³and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised up." The disciples were deeply grieved.

²⁴When they had come to Capernaum, the men who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, "Does not your teacher pay the two-drachma tax?"

²⁵He said, "Yes."

When Peter came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first and said, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect tolls or taxes? From their sons or from others?"

²⁶"From others," Peter answered.

"Then the sons are free," Jesus said.

²⁷"But so that we do not cause the tax collectors to stumble, go to the sea, throw in a hook, and draw in the fish that comes up first. When you have opened its mouth, you will find a shekel. Take it and give it to the tax collectors for me and you."

¹The best ancient copies do not have v. 21, But this kind of demon does not go out except with prayer and fasting.

¹At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"

²Jesus called to himself a little child, set him among them,³and said, "Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like little children, you will in no way enter the kingdom of heaven.

⁴Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.⁵Whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name receives me.⁶But whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a large millstone should be hung about his neck, and that he should be sunk into the depths of the sea.

⁷"Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! For it is necessary that those stumbling blocks come, but woe to the person through whom those stumbling blocks come!⁸If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life maimed or lame than to be thrown into the eternal fire having two hands or two feet.

⁹If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you. It is better for you to enter into life with one eye than to be thrown into the fiery hell having both eyes.

¹⁰See that you do not despise any of these little ones. For I say to you that in heaven their angels always look on the face of my Father who is in heaven.¹¹¹

¹²What do you think? If anyone has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the hillside and go off seeking the one that went astray?¹³If he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray.¹⁴In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

¹⁵"If your brother sins against you, go and rebuke him, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you will have gained your brother.¹⁶But if he does not listen to you, take one or two others along with you so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word might be confirmed.

¹⁷And if he refuses to listen to them, tell the matter to the church. If he also refuses to listen to the church, let him be to you as a pagan and a tax collector.

¹⁸I tell you truly, whatever things you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.¹⁹Again I tell you truly, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father who is in heaven.²⁰For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst."

²¹Then Peter came and said to Jesus, "Lord, how often will my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Until seven times?"

²²Jesus said to him, "I do not tell you seven times, but until seventy times seven.

²³Therefore the kingdom of heaven is similar to a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants.²⁴As he began the settling, one servant was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.²⁵But since he did not have the means to repay, his master commanded him to be sold, together with his wife and children and everything that he had, and payment to be made.

²⁶So the servant fell down, bowed down before him, and said, 'Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.'²⁷So the master of that servant, since he was moved with compassion, released him and forgave him the debt.

²⁸But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants, who owed him one hundred denarii. He took hold of him, began to choke him, and said, 'Pay me what you owe.'

²⁹"But his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you.'

³⁰But the first servant refused. Instead, he went and threw him into prison until he should pay him what he owed.³¹When his fellow servants saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved. They came and told their master everything that had happened.

³²"Then that servant's master called him and said to him, 'You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.³³Should you not have had mercy on your fellow servant, even as I had mercy on you?'

³⁴His master was angry and handed him over to the torturers until he would pay all that was owed.³⁵So also my heavenly Father will do to you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart."

¹The best ancient Greek copies do not have the sentence that some translations include, For the Son of Man came to save that which was lost.

¹It came about that when Jesus had finished these words, he departed from Galilee and came to the region of Judea that is beyond the Jordan River.²Great crowds followed him, and he healed them there.

³Pharisees came to him, testing him, saying to him, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any cause?"

⁴Jesus answered and said, "Have you not read that he who made them from the beginning made them male and female?

⁵He who made them also said, 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and join to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.'⁶So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one tear apart."

⁷They said to him, "Why then did Moses command us to give a certificate of divorce and then to send her away?"

⁸He said to them, "For your hardness of heart, Moses allowed you to divorce your wives, but from the beginning it was not that way.⁹I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery."¹

¹⁰The disciples said to Jesus, "If that is the case of a man with his wife, it is not good to marry."

¹¹But Jesus said to them, "Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it is given.¹²For there are eunuchs who were born that way from their mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to accept this teaching, let him accept it."

¹³Then some little children were brought to him so that he would lay his hands on them and pray, but the disciples rebuked them.¹⁴But Jesus said, "Permit the little children, and do not forbid them to come to me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such ones."¹⁵He placed his hands on the children, and then he went away from there.

¹⁶Behold, a man came to Jesus and said, "Teacher, what good thing must I do that I may have eternal life?"

¹⁷Jesus said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? Only one is good, but if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments."

¹⁸The man said to him, "Which commandments?"

Jesus said, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness,

¹⁹honor your father and your mother, and love your neighbor as yourself."

²⁰The young man said to him, "All these things I have obeyed. What do I still need?"

²¹Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."²²But when the young man heard what Jesus said, he went away sorrowful, for he had many possessions.

²³Jesus said to his disciples, "Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.²⁴Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God."

²⁵When the disciples heard it, they were very astonished and said, "Who then can be saved?"

²⁶Jesus looked at them and said, "With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible."

²⁷Then Peter answered and said to him, "See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?"

²⁸Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, in the new age when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

²⁹Every one who has left houses, brothers, sisters, father, mother, children, or land for my name's sake will receive one hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life.³⁰But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

¹The best ancient copies do not have and the man who marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery.

¹"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.²After he had agreed with the laborers for one denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

³He went out again about the third hour and saw other laborers standing idle in the marketplace.⁴To them he said, 'You also, go into the vineyard, and I will give you what is right.' So they went to work.

⁵Again he went out about the sixth hour and again the ninth hour, and did the same.⁶Once more about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all the day long?'

⁷"They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.'

"He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.'

⁸When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.'

⁹"When the laborers who had been hired at the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.¹⁰When the first laborers came, they thought that they would receive more, but they also received one denarius each.

¹¹When they received their wages, they complained about the landowner.¹²They said, 'These last laborers have spent only one hour in work, but you have made them equal to us, we who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.'

¹³"But the owner answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I do you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for one denarius?¹⁴Take what belongs to you and go your way. I choose to give to these last hired laborers just the same as to you.

¹⁵Is it not lawful for me to do as I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am good?'¹⁶So the last will be first, and the first last."¹

¹⁷As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them,¹⁸"See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be given over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death¹⁹and will deliver him to the Gentiles for them to mock, to flog, and to crucify him. But on the third day he will be raised up."

²⁰Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons. She bowed down before him and asked for something from him.

²¹Jesus said to her, "What do you wish?"

She said to him, "Command that these my two sons may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left hand, in your kingdom."

²²But Jesus answered and said, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?"

They said to him, "We are able."

²³He said to them, "My cup you will indeed drink. But to sit at my right hand and at my left hand is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."²⁴When the other ten disciples heard this, they were very angry with the two brothers.

²⁵But Jesus called them to himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their important men exercise authority over them.²⁶But it must not be this way among you. Instead, whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,²⁷and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your servant,²⁸just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

²⁹As they went out from Jericho, a great crowd followed him.³⁰There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us."³¹The crowd rebuked them, telling them to be quiet, but they cried out even more loudly, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us."

³²Then Jesus stood still and called to them and said, "What do you wish me to do for you?"

³³They said to him, "Lord, that our eyes may be opened."³⁴Then Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him.

¹The best ancient copies do not have Many are called, but few are chosen.

¹As Jesus and his disciples approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,²saying to them, "Go into the next village, and you will immediately find a donkey tied up there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.³If anyone says anything to you about that, you will say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and that person will immediately send them with you."

⁴Now all this happened to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, saying,

⁵"Tell the daughter of Zion,

'See, your King is coming to you,

Humble and riding on a donkey—

on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"

⁶Then the disciples went and did just as Jesus had instructed them.⁷They brought the donkey and the colt and put their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat upon the cloaks.⁸Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches off the trees and spread them in the road.

⁹Then the crowds that went before Jesus and those that followed him were shouting,

"Hosanna to the son of David!

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

Hosanna in the highest!"

¹⁰When Jesus had come into Jerusalem, all the city was stirred and said, "Who is this?"

¹¹The crowds answered, "This is Jesus the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."

¹²Then Jesus entered the temple. He cast out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and turned over the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.¹³He said to them, "It is written, 'My house will be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."

¹⁴Then the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

¹⁵But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the marvelous things that he did, and when they heard the children shouting in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became very angry.

¹⁶They said to him, "Do you hear what they are saying?"

Jesus said to them, "Yes! But have you never read,

'Out of the mouths of little children and nursing infants

you have prepared praise'?"

¹⁷Then Jesus left them and went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

¹⁸Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he was hungry.¹⁹Seeing a fig tree along the roadside, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, "May there be no fruit from you ever again," and immediately the fig tree withered.

²⁰When the disciples saw it, they marveled and said, "How did the fig tree immediately wither away?"

²¹Jesus answered and said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to this fig tree, but you will even say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and it will be done.²²Whatever you ask for in prayer, believing, you will receive."

²³When Jesus 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, and who gave you this authority?"

²⁴Jesus answered and said to them, "I also will ask you one question. If you tell me, I will tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁵The baptism of John—from where did it come? From heaven or from men?"

They discussed among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

²⁶But if we say, 'From men,' we fear the crowd, because they all view John as a prophet."²⁷Then they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know."

He also said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

²⁸But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, 'Son, go labor today in the vineyard.'

²⁹"The son answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went.

³⁰"Then the man went to the second son and said the same thing. He answered and said, 'I will go, sir,' but he did not go.

³¹Which of the two sons did his father's will?"

They said, "The first one."

Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes will enter the kingdom of God before you do.

³²For John came to you in the way of righteousness, but you did not believe him. But the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. But you, even when you saw this, you did not repent afterward and believe him.

³³"Listen to another parable. There was a man, a landowner. He planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a winepress in it, built a watchtower, and rented it out to vine growers. Then he went into another country.³⁴When the time of the fruit harvest approached, he sent some servants to the vine growers to collect his fruit.

³⁵But the vine growers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned still another.³⁶Again, the owner sent other servants, more than the first, but the vine growers treated them in the same way.³⁷After that, the owner sent his own son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

³⁸"But when the vine growers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take over the inheritance.'³⁹So they took him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

⁴⁰Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine growers?"

⁴¹They said to him, "He will violently destroy those wicked people, and he will then rent out the vineyard to other vine growers, men who will give him his share of crops at the harvest time."

⁴²Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the scriptures,

'The stone which the builders rejected

has been made the cornerstone.

This was from the Lord,

and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

⁴³Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a nation that produces its fruits.⁴⁴Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. But anyone on whom it falls will be crushed."

⁴⁵When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they understood he was speaking about them.⁴⁶Seeking to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowd, because the people regarded him as a prophet.

¹Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying,²"The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who prepared a marriage feast for his son.³He sent out his servants to call those who had been invited to come to the marriage feast, but they would not come.

⁴Again the king sent other servants, saying, 'Tell them who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened cattle have been killed, and all things are ready. Come to the marriage feast."'

⁵But they paid no attention and went away, one to his farm, another to his business.⁶The others seized the king's servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.⁷The king was angry, and he sent his soldiers and they destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

⁸Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.⁹Therefore go to the highway crossings and invite as many people to the marriage feast as you can find.'¹⁰The servants went out to the highways and gathered together all the people they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes.¹²The king said to him, 'Friend, how did you come in here without wedding clothes?' But the man was speechless.

¹³Then the king said to the servants, 'Bind this man hand and foot, and throw him out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and the grinding of teeth.'¹⁴For many people are called, but few are chosen."

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and planned how they might entrap Jesus in his own talk.¹⁶Then they sent to him their disciples, together with the Herodians. They said to Jesus, "Teacher, we know that you are truthful, and that you teach God's way in truth. You care for no one's opinion, and you do not show partiality between people.¹⁷So tell us, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"

¹⁸But Jesus understood their wickedness and said, "Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?¹⁹Show me the coin for the tax." Then they brought a denarius to him.

²⁰Jesus said to them, "Whose image and name are these?"

²¹They said to him, "Caesar's."

Then Jesus said to them, "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

²²When they heard it, they marveled. Then they left him and went away.

²³On that day some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him. They asked him,²⁴saying, "Teacher, Moses said, 'If a man dies, having no children, his brother must marry his wife and raise children for his brother.'

²⁵There were seven brothers. The first married and then died. Having left no children, he left his wife to his brother.²⁶Then the second brother did the same thing, then the third, all the way to the seventh brother.²⁷After them all, the woman died.²⁸Now in the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven brothers? For they all had married her."

²⁹But Jesus answered and said to them, "You are mistaken because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God.³⁰For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage. Instead, they are like angels in heaven.

³¹But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying,³²'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living."³³When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

³⁴But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together.³⁵One of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question, testing him—³⁶"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"

³⁷Jesus said to him, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.'³⁸This is the great and first commandment.

³⁹And a second commandment is like it—'Love your neighbor as yourself.'⁴⁰On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets."

⁴¹Now while the Pharisees were still gathered together, Jesus asked them a question.⁴²He said, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?"

They said to him, "The son of David."

⁴³Jesus said to them, "How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴'The Lord said to my Lord,

"Sit at my right hand,

until I make your enemies your footstool"'?

⁴⁵If David then calls the Christ 'Lord,' how is he David's son?"⁴⁶No one was able to answer him a word, and no man dared ask him any more questions from that day on.

¹Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples.²He said, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat.³Therefore whatever they command you to do, do these things and observe them. But do not imitate their deeds, for they say things but then do not do them.

⁴Yes, they bind heavy burdens that are difficult to carry, and then they put them on people's shoulders. But they themselves will not move a finger to carry them.⁵They do all their deeds to be seen by people. For they make their phylacteries wide, and they enlarge the edges of their garments.

⁶They love the places of honor at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues,⁷and special greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called 'Rabbi' by people.

⁸But you must not be called 'Rabbi,' for you have only one teacher, and all of you are brothers.⁹And call no man on earth your father, for you have only one Father, and he is in heaven.¹⁰Neither must you be called 'teacher,' for you have only one teacher, the Christ.

¹¹But he who is greatest among you will be your servant.¹²Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

¹³"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven against people. For you do not enter it yourselves, and neither do you allow those about to enter to do so.¹⁴¹¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you go over sea and land to make one convert, and when he has become one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you.

¹⁶"Woe to you, you blind guides, you who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound to his oath.'¹⁷You blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy?

¹⁸And, 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing. But whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is bound to his oath.'¹⁹You blind people! Which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy?

²⁰Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.²¹The one who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who lives in it.²²And the one who swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits on it.

²³"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, but you have left undone the weightier matters of the law—justice and mercy and faithfulness. But these you ought to have done and not to have left the other undone.²⁴You blind guides, you who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!

²⁵"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the plate, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence.²⁶You blind Pharisee! Clean first the inside of the cup and of the plate, so that the outside may become clean also.

²⁷"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful, but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean.²⁸In the same way, you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

²⁹"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the tombs of the righteous.³⁰You say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.'³¹Therefore you testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

³²You also fill up the measure of your fathers.³³You serpents, you offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of hell?

³⁴Therefore, see, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some you will whip in your synagogues and chase from city to city.³⁵The result is that upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.³⁶Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

³⁷"Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often did I long to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!³⁸See, your house is left to you desolate.³⁹For I say to you, you will not see me from now on until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

¹The best ancient copies do not have verse 14 (some copies add the verse after verse 12). Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, while you make a show of long prayers. You will therefore receive greater condemnation.

¹Jesus went out from the temple and was going on his way. His disciples came to him to point out to him the buildings of the temple.²But he answered and said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone will be left on another that will not be torn down."

³As he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately and said, "Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?"

⁴Jesus answered and said to them, "Be careful that no one leads you astray.⁵For many will come in my name. They will say, 'I am the Christ,' and will lead many astray.

⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled, for these things must happen; but the end is not yet.⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.⁸But all these things are only the beginning of birth pains.

⁹Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you. You will be hated by all the nations for my name's sake.¹⁰Then many will stumble, and betray one another and hate one another.¹¹Many false prophets will rise up and lead many astray.

¹²Because lawlessness will increase, the love of many will grow cold.¹³But the one who endures to the end will be saved.¹⁴This good news of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations. Then the end will come.

¹⁵"Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place" (let the reader understand),¹⁶"let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,¹⁷let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house,¹⁸and let him who is in the field not return to take his cloak.

¹⁹But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!²⁰Pray that your flight will not occur in the winter or on a Sabbath.²¹For there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be again.²²Unless those days had been shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

²³Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There is the Christ!' do not believe it.²⁴For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.²⁵See, I have told you ahead of time.

²⁶Therefore, if they say to you, 'Look, he is in the wilderness,' do not go out to the wilderness. Or, 'See, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.²⁷For as the lightning shines out from the east and flashes all the way to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.²⁸Wherever a dead animal is, there the vultures will gather.

²⁹"But immediately after the tribulation 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.

³⁰Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.³¹He will send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.

³²"Learn a lesson from the fig tree. As soon as the branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.³³So also, when you see all these things, you should know that he is near, at the very gates.

³⁴Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all of these things will have happened.³⁵Heaven and the earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁶But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.

³⁷As the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.³⁸For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark,³⁹and they knew nothing until the flood came and took them all away—so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

⁴⁰Then two men will be in a field—one will be taken, and one will be left.⁴¹Two women will be grinding with a mill—one will be taken, and one will be left.⁴²Therefore be on your guard, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come.

⁴³But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been on guard and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.⁴⁴Therefore you must also be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour that you do not expect.

⁴⁵"So who is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household in order to give them their food at the right time?⁴⁶Blessed is that servant whom his master will find doing that when he comes.⁴⁷Truly I say to you that the master will set him over all his possessions.

⁴⁸But if an evil servant says in his heart, 'My master has been delayed,'⁴⁹and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards,⁵⁰then the master of that servant will come on a day that the servant does not expect and at an hour that he does not know.⁵¹His master will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

¹"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.²Five of them were foolish and five were wise.³For when the foolish virgins took their lamps, they did not take any oil with them.⁴But the wise virgins took containers of oil along with their lamps.

⁵Now while the bridegroom was delayed, they all got sleepy and slept.⁶But at midnight there was a cry, 'Look, the bridegroom! Go out and meet him.'

⁷Then all those virgins rose up and trimmed their lamps.⁸The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.'

⁹"But the wise answered and said, 'Since there will not be enough for us and you, go instead to those who sell and buy some for yourselves.'

¹⁰While they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

¹¹"Afterward the other virgins also came and said, 'Master, master, open for us.'

¹²"But he answered and said, 'Truly I say to you, I do not know you.'¹³Watch therefore, for you do not know the day or the hour.

¹⁴"For it is like when a man was about to go into another country. He called his own servants and entrusted his possessions to them.¹⁵To one of them he gave five talents, to another he gave two, and to yet another he gave one talent. Each one received an amount according to his own ability, and that man went on his journey.¹⁶The one who received the five talents went at once and worked with them and gained another five talents.

¹⁷In the same way, the one who had received two talents gained another two.¹⁸But the servant who had received one talent went away, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money.

¹⁹Now after a long time the master of those servants came back and settled accounts with them.²⁰The servant who had received the five talents came and brought another five talents. He said, 'Master, you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five talents more.'

²¹"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things. I will put you in charge over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.'

²²"The servant who had received two talents came and said, 'Master, you gave me two talents. See, I have gained two more talents.'

²³"His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful over a few things. I will put you in charge over many things. Enter into the joy of your master.'

²⁴"Then the servant who had received one talent came and said, 'Master, I know that you are a hard man. You reap where you did not sow, and you harvest where you did not scatter.²⁵I was afraid, so I went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have here what belongs to you.'

²⁶"But his master answered and said to him, 'You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sowed and harvest where I have not scattered.²⁷Therefore you should have given my money to the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest.

²⁸Therefore take away the talent from him and give it to the servant who has ten talents.²⁹For to everyone who possesses more will be given, and he will have an abundance. But from anyone who does not possess anything, even what he does have will be taken away.³⁰Throw the worthless servant out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.'

³¹"When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.³³He will place the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left.

³⁴Then the King will say to those on his right hand, 'Come, you who have been blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me a drink; I was a stranger and you took me in;³⁶I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you cared for me; I was in prison and you came to me.'

³⁷"Then the righteous will answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you a drink?³⁸When did we see you a stranger and take you in? Or naked and clothe you?³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?'

⁴⁰"Then the King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, what you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.'

⁴¹Then he will say to those on his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels,⁴²because I was hungry, but you did not give me food; I was thirsty, but you did not give me a drink;⁴³I was a stranger, but you did not take me in; naked, but you did not clothe me; sick and in prison, but you did not care for me.'

⁴⁴"Then they will also answer and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not serve you?'

⁴⁵"Then he will answer them and say, 'Truly I say to you, what you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'⁴⁶These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

¹It came about that when Jesus had finished all these words, he said to his disciples,²"You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be given over to be crucified."

³Then the chief priests and the elders of the people were gathered together in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas.⁴They plotted together to arrest Jesus stealthily and kill him.⁵For they were saying, "Not during the festival, so that a riot does not arise among the people."

⁶Now while Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper,⁷as he was reclining at table, a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it upon his head.⁸But when his disciples saw it, they became angry and said, "What is the reason for this waste?⁹This could have been sold for a large amount and given to the poor."

¹⁰But Jesus, knowing this, said to them, "Why are you causing trouble for this woman? For she has done a beautiful thing for me.¹¹You always have the poor with you, but you will not always have me.

¹²For when she poured this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial.¹³Truly I say to you, wherever this good news is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of in memory of her."

¹⁴Then one of the twelve, who was named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests¹⁵and said, "What are you willing to give me to turn him over to you?" They weighed out thirty pieces of silver for him.¹⁶From that moment he sought an opportunity to turn him over to them.

¹⁷Now on the first day of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus and said, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover meal?"

¹⁸He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples."'"¹⁹The disciples did as Jesus directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

²⁰When evening came, he sat down to eat with the twelve disciples.²¹As they were eating, he said, "Truly I say to you that one of you will betray me."

²²They were very sorrowful, and each one began to ask him, "Surely not I, Lord?"

²³He answered, "The one who dips his hand with me in the dish is the one who will betray me.²⁴The Son of Man will go, just 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."

²⁵Judas, who would betray him said, "Is it I, Rabbi?"

He said to him, "You have said it yourself."

²⁶As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, and broke it. He gave it to the disciples and said, "Take, eat. This is my body."

²⁷He took a cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them and said, "Drink it, all of you.²⁸For this is my blood of the covenant that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.²⁹But I say to you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom."

³⁰When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.³¹Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will fall away tonight because of me, for it is written,

'I will strike the shepherd

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'

³²But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

³³But Peter said to him, "Even if all fall away because of you, I will never fall away."

³⁴Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times."

³⁵Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you." All the other disciples said the same thing.

³⁶Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples, "Sit here while I go over there and pray."³⁷He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him and began to become sorrowful and troubled.³⁸Then he said to them, "My soul is deeply sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and watch with me."

³⁹He went a little farther, fell on his face, and prayed. He said, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will."⁴⁰He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with me for one hour?⁴¹Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

⁴²He went away a second time and prayed. He said, "My Father, if this cannot pass away unless I drink it, your will be done."⁴³He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.⁴⁴So leaving them again, he went away and prayed a third time, saying the same words.

⁴⁵Then Jesus came to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Look, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.⁴⁶Arise, let us go. Look, the one who is betraying me is near."

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came. A large crowd came with him from the chief priests and elders of the people. They came with swords and clubs.⁴⁸Now the man who was going to betray Jesus had given them a signal, saying, "The one I kiss is the man. Seize him."

⁴⁹Immediately he came up to Jesus and said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and he kissed him.

⁵⁰Jesus said to him, "Friend, do what you have come to do." Then they came, laid hands on Jesus, and seized him.

⁵¹Behold, one of those who was with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear.⁵²Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back in its place, for all those who take up the sword will perish by the sword.⁵³Do you think that I could not call upon my Father, and he would send me more than twelve legions of angels?⁵⁴But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, that this must happen?"

⁵⁵At that time Jesus said to the crowd, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to seize me like a robber? Every day I sat teaching in the temple, and you did not arrest me.⁵⁶But all this has happened so that the writings of the prophets might be fulfilled." Then all the disciples abandoned him and fled.

⁵⁷Those who had seized Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had gathered together.⁵⁸But Peter followed him from a distance to the courtyard of the high priest. He went inside and sat down with the officers to see the outcome.

⁵⁹Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for false testimony against Jesus so that they might put him to death.⁶⁰They did not find any, even though many false witnesses came forward. But later two came forward⁶¹and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.'"

⁶²The high priest stood up and said to him, "Do you have no answer? What is it that they are testifying against you?"⁶³But Jesus was silent. The high priest said to him, "I command you by the living God, tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God."

⁶⁴Jesus replied to him, "You have said it yourself. But I tell you, from now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven."

⁶⁵Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we still need witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy.⁶⁶What do you think?"

They answered and said, "He is deserving of death."

⁶⁷Then they spit in his face and beat him with their fists, while some slapped him⁶⁸and said, "Prophesy to us, you Christ. Who is it that struck you?"

⁶⁹Now Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard, and a servant girl came to him and said, "You were also with Jesus of Galilee."

⁷⁰But he denied it in front of them all, saying, "I do not know what you are talking about."

⁷¹When he went out to the gateway, another servant girl saw him and said to those there, "This man was also with Jesus of Nazareth."

⁷²He again denied it with an oath, "I do not know the man!"

⁷³After a little while those who were standing by came and said to Peter, "Surely you are also one of them, for the way you speak gives you away."

⁷⁴Then he began to curse and swear, "I do not know the man," and immediately a rooster crowed.

⁷⁵Peter remembered the words that Jesus had said, "Before the rooster crows you will deny me three times." Then he went outside and wept bitterly.

¹Now when morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put him to death.²They bound him, led him away, and delivered him to Pilate the governor.

³Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus had been condemned, he repented and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,⁴and said, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood."

But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself."

⁵Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went out and hanged himself.

⁶The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put this into the treasury because it is the price of blood."⁷They discussed the matter together, and they bought with the money the potter's field in which to bury strangers.⁸For this reason that field has been called, "The Field of Blood" to this day.

⁹Then that which had been spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, "They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him by the sons of Israel,¹⁰and they gave it for the potter's field, as the Lord had directed me."

¹¹Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answered him, "You say so."

¹²But when he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing.¹³Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many things they accuse you of?"¹⁴But he did not answer even one word, so that the governor was greatly amazed.

¹⁵Now at the festival it was the custom of the governor to set free one prisoner chosen by the crowd.¹⁶At that time they had a notorious prisoner named Jesus Barabbas.¹

¹⁷So when they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Who do you want me to set free for you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?"¹⁸He knew that they had handed Jesus over to him because of envy.

¹⁹While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent word to him and said, "Have nothing to do with that innocent man. For I have suffered much today because of a dream I had about him."

²⁰Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd that they should ask for Barabbas and destroy Jesus.²¹The governor asked them, "Which of the two do you want me to set free for you?"

They said, "Barabbas."

²²Pilate said to them, "What should I do with Jesus who is called Christ?"

They all answered, "Crucify him."

²³Then he said, "Why, what evil has he done?"

But they cried out even louder, "Crucify him."

²⁴So when Pilate saw that he was gaining nothing, but instead a riot was starting, he took water, washed his hands in front of the crowd, and said, "I am innocent of the blood of this man. You see to it."

²⁵All the people said, "May his blood be on us and our children."²⁶Then he set Barabbas free for them, but he scourged Jesus and handed him over to be crucified.

²⁷Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the government headquarters and they gathered the whole company of soldiers.²⁸They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him.²⁹They made a crown of thorns and put it on his head, and placed a staff in his right hand. They knelt down before him and mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

³⁰They spat on him, and they took the staff and struck him on the head again and again.³¹When they had mocked him, they took the robe off him and put his own garments on him, and led him away to crucify him.

³²As they came out, they found a man from Cyrene named Simon, whom they forced to go with them so that he might carry his cross.³³They came to a place called Golgotha, which means "The Place of a Skull."³⁴They gave him wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he tasted it, he would not drink.

³⁵When they had crucified him, they divided up his garments by casting lots,³⁶and they sat and kept guard over him.³⁷Above his head they put the charge against him, which read, "This is Jesus, the king of the Jews."

³⁸Two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right of him and one on the left.³⁹Those who passed by insulted him, shaking their heads⁴⁰and saying, "You who were going to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!"

⁴¹In the same way the chief priests were mocking him, along with the scribes and elders, and said,⁴²"He saved others, but he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel. Let him come down off the cross, and then we will believe in him.

⁴³He trusts in God, let God rescue him now, if God consents to release him. For he even said, 'I am the Son of God.'"⁴⁴In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also insulted him.

⁴⁵Now from the sixth hour darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.⁴⁶About the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice and said, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"

⁴⁷When some of those who were standing there heard it, they said, "He is calling for Elijah."

⁴⁸Immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a reed staff, and gave it to him to drink.⁴⁹The rest of them said, "Leave him alone. Let us see whether Elijah comes to save him."⁵⁰Then Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.

⁵¹Behold, the curtain of the temple was split in two from the top to the bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks split apart.⁵²The tombs were opened, and the bodies of the holy people who had fallen asleep were raised.⁵³They came out of the tombs after his resurrection, entered the holy city, and appeared to many.

⁵⁴Now when the centurion and those who were watching Jesus saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they became very afraid and said, "Truly this was the Son of God."⁵⁵Many women who had followed Jesus from Galilee to attend to his needs were there watching from a distance.⁵⁶Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

⁵⁷When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus.⁵⁸He approached Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.

⁵⁹Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,⁶⁰and laid it in his own new tomb that he had cut into the rock. Then he rolled a large stone against the door of the tomb and went away.⁶¹Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.

⁶²The next day, which was the day after the Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees were gathered together with Pilate.⁶³They said, "Sir, we remember that when that deceiver was alive, he said, 'After three days will I rise again.'⁶⁴Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, otherwise his disciples may come and steal him and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first."

⁶⁵Pilate said to them, "Take a guard. Go and make it as secure as you know how."⁶⁶So they went and made the tomb secure, sealing the stone and placing the guard.

¹Many ancient copies do not have Jesus.

¹Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb.²Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, came and rolled away the stone, and sat on it.

³His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow.⁴The guards shook with fear and became like dead men.

⁵The angel addressed the women and said to them, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.⁶He is not here, but is risen, just as he said. Come see the place where the Lord was lying.⁷Go quickly and tell his disciples, 'He has risen from the dead. See, he is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him.' See, I have told you."

⁸The women quickly left the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.⁹Behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" The women came, took hold of his feet and worshiped him.¹⁰Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go tell my brothers to leave for Galilee. There they will see me."

¹¹Now while the women were going, behold, some of the guards went into the city and told the chief priests all the things that had happened.¹²When the priests had met with the elders and discussed the matter with them, they gave a large amount of money to the soldiers¹³and told them, "Say to others, 'The disciples of Jesus came by night and stole his body while we were sleeping.'

¹⁴If this report reaches the governor, we will persuade him and take any worries away from you."¹⁵So the soldiers took the money and did as they had been instructed. This report spread widely among the Jews and continues even today.

¹⁶But the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them.¹⁷When they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

¹⁸Jesus came to them and spoke to them and said, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptize them into the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

²⁰Teach them to obey all the things that I have commanded you. See, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Mark

¹This is the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

²As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,

"Look, I am sending my messenger before your face,

the one who will prepare your way.

³The voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

'Make ready the way of the Lord;

make his paths straight.'"

⁴John came, baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.⁵The whole country of Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. They were baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.⁶John wore a coat of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.

⁷He was preaching, saying, "One will come after me who is more powerful than I; the strap of his sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.⁸I baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

⁹It happened in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee, and he was baptized by John in the Jordan River.¹⁰As Jesus came up out of the water, he saw the heavens split open and the Spirit coming down on him like a dove.¹¹A voice came out of the heavens: "You are my beloved Son. I am very pleased with you."

¹²Then the Spirit compelled him to go out into the wilderness.¹³He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and the angels served him.

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee proclaiming the gospel of God.¹⁵He said, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the gospel."

¹⁶When he was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen.¹⁷Jesus said to them, "Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men."¹⁸Then immediately they left the nets and followed him.

¹⁹As Jesus was walking on a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and John his brother; they were in the boat mending the nets.²⁰He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and they followed him.

²¹Then they came into Capernaum, and on the Sabbath, Jesus went into the synagogue and taught.²²They were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as someone who has authority and not as the scribes.

²³Just then a man in their synagogue who had an unclean spirit cried out,²⁴saying, "What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the Holy One of God!"

²⁵Jesus rebuked the demon and said, "Be quiet and come out of him!"²⁶The unclean spirit threw him into convulsions and went out from him while crying out with a loud voice.

²⁷All the people were amazed, so they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey him!"²⁸The news about him went out everywhere into the whole region of Galilee.

²⁹After coming out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew, along with James and John.³⁰Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever, and they told Jesus about her.³¹So he came, took her by the hand, and raised her up; the fever left her, and she started serving them.

³²That evening after the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons.³³The whole city gathered together at the door.³⁴He healed many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, but he did not allow the demons to speak because they knew him.

³⁵He got up very early, while it was still dark; he left and went out into a solitary place and there he prayed.³⁶Simon and those who were with him searched for him.³⁷They found him and they said to him, "Everyone is looking for you."

³⁸He said, "Let us go elsewhere, out into the surrounding towns, so that I may preach there also. That is why I came out here."³⁹He went throughout all of Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

⁴⁰A leper came to him. He was begging him; he knelt down and said to him, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."

⁴¹Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying to him, "I am willing. Be clean."⁴²Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean.

⁴³Jesus strictly warned him and sent him away.⁴⁴He said to him, "Be sure to say nothing to anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."

⁴⁵But he went out and began to declare it freely and spread the word, so much so that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but he stayed out in remote places. Yet people were still coming to him from everywhere.

¹When Jesus came back to Capernaum after a few days, it was heard that he was at home.²So many gathered there that there was no more space, not even at the door, and he spoke the word to them.

³Then some men came to him who were bringing a paralyzed man; four people were carrying him.⁴When they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof that was above Jesus, and after they made an opening, they lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on.

⁵Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, "Son, your sins are forgiven."

⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, and they reasoned in their hearts,⁷"How can this man speak this way? He blasphemes! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

⁸Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit what they were thinking within themselves. He said to them, "Why are you thinking this in your hearts?⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralyzed man, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up, take up your mat and walk'?

¹⁰But in order that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins," he said to the paralytic,¹¹"I say to you, get up, take up your mat, and go to your house."

¹²He got up and immediately took up the mat, and went out of the house in front of everyone, so that they were all amazed and they gave glory to God, and they said, "We never saw anything like this."

¹³He went out again by the lake, and all the crowd came to him, and he taught them.¹⁴As he passed by, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector's tent and he said to him, "Follow me." He got up and followed him.

¹⁵Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with him and his disciples, for there were many and they followed him.¹⁶When the scribes, who were Pharisees, saw that Jesus was eating with sinners and tax collectors, they said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

¹⁷When Jesus heard this, he said to them, "People who are strong in body do not need a physician; only people who are sick need one. I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners."

¹⁸Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and said to him, "Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?"

¹⁹Jesus said to them, "Can the wedding attendants fast while the bridegroom is still with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

²⁰But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and in those days, they will fast.²¹No one sews a piece of new cloth on an old garment. Otherwise the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and there is a worse tear.

²²No one puts new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the wine will burst the skins and both the wine and the wineskins are lost. Instead, new wine is put into fresh wineskins."

²³On the Sabbath day Jesus went through some grainfields, and his disciples began picking heads of grain as they made their way.²⁴The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing something that is not lawful on the Sabbath day?"

²⁵He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry—he and the men who were with him—²⁶how he went into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the presence, which is unlawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he even gave some to those who were with him?"

²⁷Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for mankind, not mankind for the Sabbath.²⁸Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath."

¹Again Jesus walked into the synagogue, and there was a man with a withered hand.²Some people watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they could accuse him.

³Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, "Get up and stand here in the middle of everyone."⁴Then he said to the people, "Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath day or to do harm; to save a life or to kill?" But they were silent.

⁵He looked around at them with anger, and he was grieved by their hardness of heart, and he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored.⁶The Pharisees went out and immediately began to plot with the Herodians as to how they might put him to death.

⁷Then Jesus, with his disciples, went to the sea, and a great crowd of people followed from Galilee and from Judea⁸and from Jerusalem and from Idumea and beyond the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. When they heard about the things he was doing, a great crowd came to him.

⁹He told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not press against him.¹⁰For he healed many, so that everyone who had afflictions eagerly approached him in order to touch him.

¹¹Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, and they said, "You are the Son of God."¹²He strictly ordered them not to make him known.

¹³He went up on the mountain, and he called for those he wanted, and they came to him.¹⁴He appointed the twelve (whom he named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them to proclaim the message,¹⁵and to have authority to cast out demons.¹⁶He appointed the twelve: Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter;

¹⁷James son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, "Sons of Thunder";¹⁸and Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot,¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who would betray him.

²⁰Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat bread.²¹When his family heard about it, they went out to seize him, for they said, "He is out of his mind."

²²The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul" and "By the ruler of the demons he drives out demons."

²³Jesus called them to himself and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.²⁵If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

²⁶If Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand, but has come to an end.²⁷But no one can enter into the house of a strong man and steal his belongings without tying up the strong man first, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸Truly I say to you, all sins of the sons of men will be forgiven, even all the blasphemies which they utter,²⁹but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin."

³⁰Jesus said this because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit."

³¹Then his mother and his brothers came and stood outside. They sent for him, summoning him.³²A crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and your sisters are outside, and they are looking for you."

³³He answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"³⁴He looked around at those who were sitting in a circle around him and said, "See, here are my mother and my brothers!³⁵For whoever does the will of God, that person is my brother, and sister, and mother."

¹Again he began to teach beside the sea, and a large crowd gathered around him. He stepped into a boat that was on the sea, and he sat down in it. The whole crowd was on the shore beside the sea.²He taught them many things in parables, and in his teaching, this is what he said to them.

³"Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.⁴As he sowed, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and devoured it.⁵Other seed fell on the rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. Immediately it sprang up, because it did not have deep soil.

⁶But when the sun rose, the plants were scorched, and because they had no root, they dried up.⁷Other seed fell among the thorn plants. The thorn plants grew up and choked it, and it did not produce a crop.

⁸Other seed fell into good soil, and it produced a crop growing up and increasing and yielding thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times."⁹Then he said, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!"

¹⁰When Jesus was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables.¹¹He said to them, "To you is given the mystery of the kingdom of God. But to those outside everything is in parables,

¹²so that when they look,

yes they look,

but do not see,

and so that when they hear,

yes they hear,

but do not understand,

or else they would turn

and God would forgive them."

¹³He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?¹⁴The sower sows the word.¹⁵These are the ones beside the road, where the word is sown. When they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

¹⁶And these are the seed sown on the rocky ground; who, when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy.¹⁷But they do not have root in themselves, but they endure for a while. Afterward when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, they immediately fall away.

¹⁸Still others are the ones sown among the thorns. They are those who hear the word,¹⁹but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, and it is unproductive.²⁰Those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word, accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much."

²¹Jesus said to them, "Do you bring a lamp inside the house to put it under a basket or under the bed? You bring it in and you put it on a lampstand.²²For nothing is hidden that will not be known, and nothing is secret that will not come out into the open.²³If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!"

²⁴He said to them, "Pay attention to what you hear, for the measure you use will be measured to you, and more will be added to you.²⁵Because whoever has, to him will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken."

²⁶He also said, "The kingdom of God is like a man who sows his seed on the ground.²⁷He sleeps at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he does not know how.²⁸The earth bears grain by itself: First the blade, then the ear, then the mature grain in the ear.²⁹When the crop is ripe, he immediately sends in the sickle because the harvest has come."

³⁰Again he said, "To what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable can we use to explain it?³¹It is like a mustard seed, which, when it is sown, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.³²Yet, when it is sown, it grows and becomes greater than all the garden plants, and it forms large branches, so that the birds of heaven can make their nests in its shade."

³³With many parables like this he spoke the word to them, as much as they were able to understand,³⁴and he did not speak to them without a parable. But when he was alone, he explained everything to his own disciples.

³⁵On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, "Let us go over to the other side."³⁶So they left the crowd, taking Jesus with them, just as he was, in the boat. There were other boats going along with him.³⁷Just then a violent windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was almost full of water.

³⁸But Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on a cushion. They woke him up, saying, "Teacher, do you not care that we are about to die?"

³⁹He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" Then the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.

⁴⁰Then he said to them, "Why are you afraid? Do you still not have faith?"

⁴¹They were filled with great fear and said to one another, "Who then is this, because even the wind and the sea obey him?"

¹They came to the other side of the sea, to the region of the Gerasenes.²When Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came up to him out of the tombs.

³The man lived in the tombs. No one could restrain him anymore, not even with a chain.⁴He had been bound many times with shackles and with chains. He tore the chains apart and his shackles were shattered. No one had the strength to subdue him.

⁵Every night and day in the tombs and in the mountains, he cried out and cut himself with sharp stones.⁶When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran to him and bowed down before him.

⁷He cried out with a loud voice, "What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you by God himself, do not torment me."⁸For he had been saying to him, "Come out of the man, you unclean spirit."

⁹He asked him, "What is your name?"

He answered him, "My name is Legion, for we are many."

¹⁰He begged him again and again not to send them out of the region.

¹¹Now a great herd of pigs was there feeding on the hill,¹²and they begged him, saying, "Send us into the pigs; let us enter into them."¹³So he allowed them; the unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep hill into the sea, and about two thousand pigs drowned in the sea.

¹⁴Then those who were feeding the pigs ran away and reported what had happened in the city and in the countryside, and so people went out to see what had happened.¹⁵Then they came to Jesus and they saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had been possessed by Legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

¹⁶Those who had seen what happened to the demon-possessed man told them about it in detail, and they also told them about the pigs.¹⁷Then they started to beg him to leave their region.

¹⁸When he was getting into the boat, the demon-possessed man begged him that he might be with him.¹⁹But Jesus did not permit him, but said to him, "Go to your house and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, and how he has shown you mercy."²⁰So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis the great things that Jesus had done for him, and everyone was amazed.

²¹Now when Jesus had crossed over again to the other side in the boat, a great crowd gathered around him, as he was beside the sea.²²Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came, and when he saw him, fell at his feet.²³He begged again and again, saying, "My little daughter is near death. I beg you, come and lay your hands on her that she may be made well and live."²⁴So he went with him, and a great crowd followed him and pressed close around him.

²⁵Now a woman was there who had a flow of blood for twelve years.²⁶She had suffered much from many doctors and had spent everything that she had, but instead of getting better she grew worse.²⁷When she had heard the reports about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak.

²⁸For she said, "If I touch just his clothes, I will be healed."²⁹When she touched him, the bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was healed from her affliction.

³⁰Jesus immediately realized in himself that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?"

³¹His disciples said to him, "You see this crowd pressed around you, and you say, 'Who touched me?'"

³²But Jesus looked around to see who had done it.

³³The woman, knowing what had happened to her, feared and trembled. She came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth.³⁴He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace and be healed from your affliction."

³⁵While he was speaking, some people came from the synagogue leader's house, saying, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any longer?"

³⁶But when Jesus overheard the message that was spoken, he said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not be afraid. Just believe."³⁷He did not permit anyone to accompany him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.³⁸They came to the house of the leader of the synagogue and he saw there people making a lot of noise; they were weeping and wailing loudly.

³⁹When he entered the house, he said to them, "Why are you upset and why do you weep? The child is not dead but sleeps."⁴⁰They began to mock him. But he put them all outside and took the father of the child and the mother and those who were with him, and he went in where the child was.

⁴¹He took the hand of the child and said to her, "Talitha, koum!" which is translated, "Little girl, I say to you, get up."⁴²Immediately the child got up and walked (for she was twelve years of age). They were immediately astonished with overwhelming amazement.⁴³He strictly ordered them that no one should know about this. Then he told them to give her something to eat.

¹He went out from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.²When the Sabbath came, he taught in the synagogue. Many people heard him and they were amazed. They said, "Where did he get these teachings?" "What is this wisdom that has been given to him?" "What are these miracles that he does with his hands?"³"Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are his sisters not here with us?" They were offended by Jesus.¹

⁴Then Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household."⁵He could not do any mighty work, except to lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them.⁶He was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went around the villages teaching.

⁷Then he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits,⁸and instructed them to take nothing for their journey, except a staff—no bread, no bag, and no money in their belts—⁹but to wear sandals, and not to wear two tunics.

¹⁰He said to them, "Whenever you enter a house, remain until you go away from there.¹¹If any town will not receive you or listen to you, when you leave that place, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony to them."

¹²They went out and proclaimed that people should repent.¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

¹⁴King Herod heard this, for Jesus' name had become well known. Some were saying, "John the Baptist has been raised from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him."¹⁵Some others said, "He is Elijah." Still others said, "He is a prophet, like one of the prophets in ancient times."

¹⁶But when Herod heard this, he said, "John, whom I beheaded, has been raised."

¹⁷For Herod sent to have John arrested and he had him bound in prison on account of Herodias (his brother Philip's wife), because he had married her.

¹⁸For John told Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."¹⁹But Herodias held on to anger against him and wanted to kill him, but she could not,²⁰for Herod feared John; he knew that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. Listening to him made him greatly perplexed, yet he heard him gladly.

²¹Then an opportunity came when Herod had his birthday and he made a dinner for his officials and for the commanders and leaders of Galilee.²²The daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced for them, and she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. The king said to the girl, "Ask me for anything you want and I will give it to you."

²³He swore to her saying, "Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half of my kingdom."

²⁴She went out and said to her mother, "What should I ask him for?"

She said, "The head of John the Baptist."

²⁵She immediately hurried back to the king, and she asked, saying, "I want you to give me, right now, the head of John the Baptist on a wooden platter."

²⁶Though this deeply grieved the king, he could not refuse her request because of the oath he had made and because of his dinner guests.²⁷So the king sent a soldier from his guard and commanded him to bring him John's head. The guard went and beheaded him in the prison.²⁸He brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl, and the girl gave it to her mother.²⁹When his disciples heard of this, they came and took his body and placed it in a tomb.

³⁰The apostles came together with Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.³¹Then he said to them, "Come away by yourselves into a deserted place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.³²So they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

³³But they saw them leaving and many recognized them, and they ran there together on foot from all the towns, and they arrived there before them.³⁴When they came ashore, he saw a great crowd and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things.

³⁵When the hour was late, his disciples came to him and said, "This is a deserted place, and the hour is already late.³⁶Send them away so that they may go into the nearby countryside and villages to buy something to eat for themselves."

³⁷But he answered and said to them, "You give them something to eat."

They said to him, "Can we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?"

³⁸He said to them, "How many loaves do you have? Go and see."

When they found out, they said, "Five loaves and two fish."

³⁹He commanded all the people to sit down in groups upon the green grass.⁴⁰They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.⁴¹He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven he blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²They all ate until they were satisfied.⁴³They took up broken pieces of bread, twelve baskets full, and also pieces of the fish.⁴⁴There were five thousand men who ate the loaves.

⁴⁵Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he sent the crowd away.⁴⁶After taking leave of them, he went up the mountain to pray.⁴⁷Evening came, and the boat was now in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on land.

⁴⁸He saw that they were straining against the oars, for the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, he came to them, walking on the sea, and he wanted to pass by them.⁴⁹But when they saw him walking on the sea, they thought he was a ghost and cried out,⁵⁰because they saw him and were troubled. Immediately he spoke to them and said to them, "Be courageous! It is I! Do not be afraid!"

⁵¹He got into the boat with them, and the wind ceased blowing. They were completely amazed.⁵²For they had not understood what the loaves meant. Instead, their hearts were hardened.

⁵³When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and anchored the boat.⁵⁴When they came out of the boat, the people recognized him immediately,⁵⁵and they ran throughout the whole region and began to bring the sick on their mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶Wherever he entered into villages, or cities, or into the country, they would put the sick in the marketplaces. They begged him to let them touch the edge of his garment, and as many as touched him were healed.

¹The man called Joses here is called Joseph in Matthew 27:56. The name Joseph represents how the name was spelled in Hebrew, and the name Joses represents how his name was spelled in Greek.

¹The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him.

²They saw that some of his disciples ate bread with hands that were unclean, that is, unwashed.³(For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands carefully, because they hold to the tradition of the elders.⁴When the Pharisees come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they bathe themselves, and they hold to many other things they have received, such as the washing of cups, pots, copper vessels, and the couches upon which they eat.)

⁵The Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?"

⁶But he said to them, "Isaiah prophesied well about you hypocrites. As it is written,

'This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me.

⁷In vain they worship me,

teaching the commands of men as their doctrines.'

⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold on to the tradition of men."⁹He also said to them, "How well you reject the commandment of God so you may keep your tradition!¹⁰For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of his father or mother will surely be put to death.'

¹¹But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever help you would have received from me is Corban"' (that is to say, 'a Gift'),¹²then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother.¹³You are making the word of God void by your tradition which you have handed down. And many similar things you do."

¹⁴He called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand.¹⁵There is nothing from outside of a person that can defile him when it enters into him. It is what comes out of the person that defiles him."¹⁶¹

¹⁷Now when Jesus left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about the parable.¹⁸Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding? Do you not know that whatever enters into a person from outside cannot defile him,¹⁹because it cannot go into his heart, but it goes into his stomach and then passes out into the latrine?" With this statement Jesus declared all foods clean.

²⁰He said, "It is that which comes out of the person that defiles him.²¹For from within a person, out of the heart, proceed evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder,²²adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, folly.²³All these evils come from within, and they are what defile a person."

²⁴He got up from there and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. There he went into a house, and he wanted no one to know where he was, yet he could not be hidden.²⁵But immediately² a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard about him and came and fell down at his feet.²⁶Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by descent. She begged him to cast out the demon from her daughter.

²⁷He said to her, "Let the children first be fed. For it is not proper to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

²⁸But she answered and said to him, "Yes, Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

²⁹He said to her, "Because of what you have said, you are free to go. The demon has gone out of your daughter."³⁰She went back to her house and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

³¹Then he went out again from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee up into the region of the Decapolis.³²They brought to him someone who was deaf and had difficulty speaking, and they begged him to lay his hand on him.

³³Then taking him aside away from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and then he spit and touched his tongue.³⁴Then he looked up to heaven, sighed, and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is to say, "Open!"³⁵At once his ears were opened, the bond of his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.

³⁶Jesus ordered them to tell no one. But the more he ordered them, the more abundantly they proclaimed it.³⁷They were extremely astonished, saying, "He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak."

¹The best ancient copies do not have verse 16. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.

²Some ancient copies do not have the words, But immediately.

¹In those days, there was again a great crowd, and they had nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples and said to them,²"I have compassion on the crowd because they continue to be with me already for three days and have nothing to eat.³If I send them away to their home without eating, they may faint on the way. Some of them have come a long way."

⁴His disciples answered him, "Where can we get enough loaves of bread in such a deserted place to satisfy these people?"

⁵He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?"

They said, "Seven."

⁶He commanded the crowd to sit down on the ground. He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, and broke them. He gave them to his disciples to set before them, and they set them before the crowd.

⁷They also had a few small fish, and after he gave thanks for them, he commanded the disciples to serve these as well.⁸They ate and were satisfied, and they picked up the remaining broken pieces, seven large baskets.⁹There were about four thousand people. Then he sent them away.¹⁰Immediately he got into the boat with his disciples, and they went into the region of Dalmanutha.

¹¹Then the Pharisees came out and began to argue with him. They sought from him a sign from heaven, to test him.¹²He sighed deeply in his spirit and said, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation."¹³Then he left them, got into a boat again, and went away to the other side.

¹⁴Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread with them. They had no more than one loaf of bread in the boat.¹⁵He instructed them, saying, "Keep watch and be on guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod."

¹⁶The disciples were arguing with one another about having no bread.

¹⁷When he understood this, he asked them, "Why are you arguing about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Do you have hardened hearts?

¹⁸You have eyes; do you not see? You have ears; do you not hear? Do you not remember?¹⁹When I broke the five loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces of bread did you take up?"

They said to him, "Twelve."

²⁰"When I broke the seven loaves among the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces of bread did you take up?"

They said to him, "Seven."

²¹He said, "Do you not yet understand?"

²²They came to Bethsaida. The people there brought to him a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.²³Jesus took hold of the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, "Do you see anything?"

²⁴He looked up, and said, "I see men who look like walking trees."

²⁵Then he again laid his hands upon his eyes, and the man opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw all things clearly.²⁶Jesus sent him away to his home and said, "Do not enter the village."

²⁷Jesus went out with his disciples into the villages of Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked his disciples, "Who do the people say that I am?"

²⁸They answered him and said, "John the Baptist. Others say, 'Elijah,' and others, 'One of the prophets.'"

²⁹He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Peter said to him, "You are the Christ."

³⁰Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

³¹He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and would be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and would be killed, and after three days rise up.³²He spoke that message openly. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

³³But Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! You are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of people."³⁴Then he called the crowd and his disciples together, and he said to them, "If anyone wants to follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

³⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake and for the gospel will save it.³⁶What does it profit a person to gain the whole world and then forfeit his life?³⁷What can a person give in exchange for his life?

³⁸Whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

¹He said to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of you who are standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."

²Six days later, Jesus took Peter and James and John with him up a high mountain, alone by themselves. Then he was transfigured before them.³His garments became radiantly brilliant, extremely white, whiter than any bleacher on earth could bleach them.

⁴Then Elijah with Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.⁵Peter answered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here, and so let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."⁶(For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.)

⁷A cloud came and overshadowed them. Then a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son. Listen to him."⁸Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them, but only Jesus.

⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he commanded them to tell no one what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.¹⁰So they kept the matter to themselves, but they discussed among themselves what "rising from the dead" could mean.

¹¹They asked him, "Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?"

¹²He said to them, "Elijah does come first to restore all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be despised?¹³But I say to you that Elijah has come, and they did whatever they wanted to him, just as it is written about him."

¹⁴When they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes were arguing with them.¹⁵As soon as they saw Jesus, the whole crowd was amazed, and as they ran up to him, they greeted him.¹⁶He asked his disciples, "What are you arguing with them about?"

¹⁷Someone in the crowd answered him, "Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.¹⁸It seizes him and it throws him down, and he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth, and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive it out of him, but they could not."

¹⁹He answered them, "Unbelieving generation, how long will I have to stay with you? How long will I bear with you? Bring him to me."

²⁰They brought the boy to him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw him into a convulsion. The boy fell on the ground and foamed at the mouth.²¹Jesus asked his father, "For how much time has he been like this?"

The father said, "Since childhood.

²²It has often thrown him into the fire or into the waters and tried to destroy him. If you are able to do anything, have pity on us and help us."

²³Jesus said to him, "'If you are able'? All things are possible for the one who believes."

²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, "I believe! Help my unbelief!"

²⁵When Jesus saw the crowd running to them, he rebuked the unclean spirit and said, "You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him, and never enter into him again."

²⁶It cried out and convulsed the boy greatly and then came out. The boy looked like one who was dead, so that many said, "He is dead."²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and the boy stood up.

²⁸When Jesus came into the house, his disciples asked him privately, "Why could we not cast it out?"

²⁹He said to them, "This kind cannot be cast out except by prayer."

³⁰They went out from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know where they were,³¹for he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, "The Son of Man will be given over into the hands of men, and they will put him to death. When he has been put to death, after three days he will rise again."³²But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask him.

³³Then they came to Capernaum. After he entered the house he asked them, "What were you discussing on the way?"³⁴But they were silent. For they had been arguing with one another on the way about who was the greatest.³⁵Sitting down, he called the twelve together and he said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be last of all and servant of all."

³⁶He took a little child and placed him in their midst. He took him in his arms and said to them,³⁷"Whoever receives such a child in my name receives me; whoever receives me does not receive me but the one who sent me."

³⁸John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name and we stopped him, because he does not follow us."

³⁹But Jesus said, "Do not stop him, for there is no one who will do a mighty work in my name and can soon afterwards say anything bad about me.

⁴⁰Whoever is not against us is for us.⁴¹Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward.

⁴²Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be thrown into the sea.⁴³If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed than to have two hands and to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.⁴⁴¹

⁴⁵If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life lame than to have your two feet and be thrown into hell.⁴⁶²

⁴⁷If your eye causes you to stumble, tear it out. It is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and to be thrown into hell,⁴⁸where their worm does not die, and the fire is not put out.

⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another."

¹The best ancient copies do not have this phrase, and verse 44 is not included in the ULB, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not put out. This phrase does appear in verse 48.

²The best ancient copies do not have this phrase, and verse 46 is not included in the ULB, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not put out. This phrase does appear in verse 48.

¹Jesus left that place and went to the region of Judea and to the area beyond the Jordan River, and the crowds came to him again. He was teaching them again, as he was accustomed to do.²Then Pharisees came to him to test him and asked, "Is it lawful for a husband to divorce his wife?"

³He answered, "What did Moses command you?"

⁴They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and then to send her away."

⁵"It was because of your hard hearts that he wrote you this law," Jesus said to them.⁶"But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.'

⁷'For this reason

a man will leave his father and mother

and be united to his wife,

⁸and the two will become one flesh.'

So they are no longer two, but one flesh.

⁹Therefore what God has joined together, let no man tear apart."

¹⁰When they were in the house, the disciples asked him again about this.¹¹He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery against her.¹²If she divorces her husband and marries another man, she commits adultery."

¹³Then they brought their little children to him so that he might touch them, but the disciples rebuked them.¹⁴But when Jesus noticed it, he was angry and said to them, "Permit the little children to come to me, and do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to those who are like them.

¹⁵Truly I say to you, whoever will not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will definitely not enter it."¹⁶Then he took the children into his arms and blessed them as he placed his hands on them.

¹⁷When he began his journey, a man ran up to him and knelt before him and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

¹⁸Jesus said, "Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.¹⁹You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not testify falsely, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"

²⁰The man said, "Teacher, all these things I have obeyed from the time I was a youth."

²¹Jesus looked at him and loved him. He said to him, "One thing you lack. You must sell all that you have and give it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."²²But because of this statement he looked very sad and he went away sorrowful, because he had many possessions.

²³Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How difficult it is for those who are rich to enter the kingdom of God!"²⁴The disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus said to them again, "Children, how hard it is to enter into the kingdom of God!²⁵It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

²⁶They were greatly astonished and said to each other, "Then who can be saved?"

²⁷Jesus looked at them and said, "With people it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God."

²⁸Peter began to speak to him: "Look, we have left everything and have followed you."

²⁹Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the gospel³⁰who will not receive a hundred times as much now in this age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the world to come, eternal life.³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

³²They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going ahead of them. The disciples were amazed, and those who were following behind were afraid. Then Jesus took the twelve aside again and began to tell them what would soon happen to him.³³"See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be given over to the chief priests and the scribes. They will condemn him to death and give him over to the Gentiles.³⁴They will mock him, spit on him, whip him, and put him to death. But after three days he will rise."

³⁵James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask you."

³⁶He said to them, "What do you want me to do for you?"

³⁷They said, "Allow us to sit with you in your glory, one at your right hand and the other at your left."

³⁸But Jesus replied to them, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup which I will drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I will be baptized?"

³⁹They said to him, "We are able."

Jesus said to them, "The cup that I will drink, you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you also will be baptized.

⁴⁰But who is to sit at my right hand or at my left hand is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared."

⁴¹When the other ten disciples heard about this, they began to be very angry with James and John.⁴²Jesus called them to himself and said, "You know those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles dominate them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.

⁴³But it is not this way among you. Whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant,⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you must be the slave of all.⁴⁵For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

⁴⁶They came to Jericho. As he left Jericho with his disciples and a great crowd, the son of Timaeus, Bartimaeus, a blind beggar, sat by the road.⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to shout and to say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁸Many rebuked the blind man, telling him to be quiet. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!"

⁴⁹Jesus stopped and commanded him to be called. They called the blind man, saying, "Be brave! Get up! He is calling for you."⁵⁰He threw aside his coat, sprang up, and came to Jesus.

⁵¹Jesus answered him and said, "What do you want me to do for you?"

The blind man said, "Rabboni, I want to receive my sight."

⁵²Then Jesus said to him, "Go. Your faith has healed you." Immediately he could see again, and he followed him on the road.

¹Now as they came to Jerusalem, they were close to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, and Jesus sent out two of his disciples²and said to them, "Go into the village opposite us. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it to me.³If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' you should say, 'The Lord has need of it and will immediately send it back here.'"

⁴They went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it.⁵Some people were standing there and said to them, "What are you doing, untying that colt?"⁶They spoke to them as Jesus told them, and the people let them go their way.

⁷They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it.⁸Many people spread their garments on the road, and others spread branches they had cut from the fields.⁹Those who went before him and those who followed shouted,

"Hosanna! Blessed is the one

who comes in the name of the Lord.

¹⁰Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!

Hosanna in the highest!"

¹¹Then Jesus entered into Jerusalem and went into the temple and looked around at everything. Now the time being late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.¹²The next day while they were going out from Bethany, he was hungry.

¹³Seeing from far away a fig tree that had leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it, and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.¹⁴He said to it, "No one will ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.

¹⁵They came to Jerusalem, and he entered the temple and began to cast out the sellers and the buyers in the temple. He turned over the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.¹⁶He did not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple that could be sold.

¹⁷He taught them and said, "Is it not written,

'My house will be called

a house of prayer for all the nations'?

But you have made it a den of robbers."

¹⁸The chief priests and the scribes heard what he had said, and they looked for a way to destroy him. For they feared him because the entire crowd was amazed at his teaching.¹⁹When evening came, they left the city.

²⁰As they walked by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.²¹Peter remembered and said, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered away."

²²Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God.²³Truly I say to you that if anyone says to this mountain, 'Get up and cast yourself into the sea,' and if he does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he said will happen, that is what God will do.

²⁴Therefore I say to you: Everything you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.²⁵When you stand and pray, you must forgive whatever you have against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your trespasses."²⁶¹

²⁷They came to Jerusalem again. As Jesus was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to him.²⁸They said to him, "By what authority do you do these things, and who gave you the authority to do them?"

²⁹Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one question. Tell me and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.³⁰The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer me."

³¹They discussed between themselves and argued and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Why then did you not believe him?'³²But if we say, 'From men,' ... ." They were afraid of the people, for everyone was convinced that John was a prophet.³³Then they answered Jesus and said, "We do not know."

Then Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

¹The best ancient copies of Mark do not have this sentence: But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

¹Then Jesus began to teach them in parables. He said, "A man planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, and dug a pit for a winepress. He built a watchtower and then leased the vineyard to vine growers. Then he went away on a journey.²At the right time, he sent a servant to the vine growers to receive from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.³But they took him, beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

⁴Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully.⁵He sent yet another, and this one they killed. They treated many others in the same way, beating some and killing others.

⁶He had still one more person to send, a beloved son. He was the last one he sent to them. He said, 'They will respect my son.'

⁷"But the vine growers said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

⁸They seized him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.⁹Therefore, what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine growers and will give the vineyard to others.

¹⁰Have you not read this scripture?

'The stone which the builders rejected

has been made the cornerstone.

¹¹This was from the Lord,

and it is marvelous in our eyes.'"

¹²After this the Jewish leaders sought a way to arrest Jesus because they understood that he spoke the parable against them. But they were afraid of the crowd. So they left him and went away.

¹³Then they sent some of the Pharisees and the Herodians to him to trap him with words.¹⁴When they came, they said to him, "Teacher, what people think is not a concern to you because you do not show partiality to anyone. You truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay or not?"

¹⁵But Jesus knew their hypocrisy and said to them, "Why do you test me? Bring me a denarius so I can look at it."

¹⁶They brought one to Jesus. He said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?"

They said, "Caesar's."

¹⁷Jesus said, "Give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." They marveled at him.

¹⁸Then Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him. They asked him, saying,¹⁹"Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If a man's brother dies and leaves a wife behind him, but had no child, the man should take the brother's wife, and raise up children for his brother.'

²⁰There were seven brothers; the first took a wife and then died, having no children.²¹Then the second took her and died, leaving no child, and the third in the same way.²²The seven left no children. Last of all, the woman also died.²³In the resurrection, when they rise again, whose wife will she be? For all seven brothers had her as their wife."

²⁴Jesus said, "Is this not the reason you are mistaken, because you do not know the scriptures nor the power of God?²⁵For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like angels in heaven.

²⁶But concerning the dead that are raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the account about the bush, how God spoke to him and said, 'I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'?²⁷He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite mistaken."

²⁸One of the scribes came and heard their discussion; he saw that Jesus answered them well. He asked him, "What commandment is the most important of all?"

²⁹Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.³⁰You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'³¹The second commandment is this, 'You must love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other greater commandment than these."

³²The scribe said, "Good, Teacher! You have truly said that God is one, and that there is no other besides him.³³To love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself is even more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."

³⁴When Jesus saw that he had given a wise answer, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." After that, no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions.

³⁵While Jesus was teaching in the temple courts, he said, "How is it that the scribes say the Christ is the son of David?³⁶David himself, in the Holy Spirit, said,

'The Lord said to my Lord,

"Sit at my right hand

until I put your enemies under your feet."'

³⁷David himself calls him 'Lord,' so how can the Christ be David's son?" The large crowd gladly listened to him.

³⁸In his teaching Jesus said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes and be greeted in the marketplaces,³⁹and have the most important seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts.⁴⁰They also devour widows' houses, and they pray long prayers for people to see. These men will receive greater condemnation."

⁴¹Then Jesus sat down across from an offering box in the temple area; he was watching people as they dropped their money into the box. Many rich people put in large amounts of money.⁴²Then a poor widow came and put in two mites, worth about a penny.

⁴³He called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them who contributed to the offering box.⁴⁴For all of them gave out of their abundance. But this widow, out of her poverty, put in all of the money which she had to live on."

¹As Jesus was walking away from the temple, one of his disciples said to him, "Teacher, look at the wonderful stones and wonderful buildings!"

²Jesus said to him, "Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left on another which will not be torn down."

³As he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately,⁴"Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign when all these things are about to happen?"

⁵Jesus began to say to them, "Be careful that no one leads you astray.⁶Many will come in my name and say, 'I am he,' and they will lead many astray.

⁷When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; these things must happen, but the end is not yet.⁸For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in many places, and famines. These are the beginnings of birth pains.

⁹"Be on your guard. They will give you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues. You will stand before both governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them.¹⁰But the gospel must first be proclaimed to all the nations.

¹¹When they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry about what you should say. For in that hour, what you should say will be given to you; it will not be you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.¹²Brother will deliver up brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.¹³You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But whoever endures to the end, that person will be saved.

¹⁴"When you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be standing" (let the reader understand), "let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains,¹⁵let him who is on the housetop not go down into the house or take anything out of it,¹⁶and let him who is in the field not return to take his cloak.

¹⁷But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days!¹⁸Pray that it might not occur in the winter.¹⁹For those will be days of great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of creation, which God created, until now, no, nor ever will be again.²⁰Unless the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those whom he chose, he cut short the days.

²¹Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'Look, there he is!' do not believe it.²²For false Christs and false prophets will appear and will give signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even the elect.²³Be on guard! I have told you all these things ahead of time.

²⁴"But after the tribulation of those days,

'the sun will be darkened,

the moon will not give its light,

²⁵the stars will fall from the sky,

and the powers that are in the heavens

will be shaken.'

²⁶Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.²⁷Then he will send his angels and he will gather together his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of the sky.

²⁸"Learn a lesson from the fig tree. As soon as the branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near.²⁹So also, when you see these things happening, recognize that he is near, close to the gates.

³⁰Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all of these things occur.³¹Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.³²But concerning that day or that hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father.

³³"Be alert! Watch, because you do not know what time it is.¹³⁴It is like a man who goes on a journey—he leaves his house and puts his servants in charge of the house, each one with his work, and he commands the doorkeeper to stay alert.

³⁵Therefore stay alert because you do not know when the master of the house will come home; it could be in the evening, at midnight, when the rooster crows, or in the morning.³⁶If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping.³⁷What I say to you I say to everyone: Watch!"

¹Some ancient copies of the Greek text read: Be alert! Watch and pray.

¹It was now two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking ways to stealthily arrest Jesus and then kill him.²For they were saying, "Not during the festival, so that a riot does not arise among the people."

³While Jesus was in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at the table, a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which was pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the nard on his head.⁴But there were some who were angry. They spoke among themselves and said, "What is the reason for the waste of this perfume?⁵This perfume could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and given to the poor." Then they scolded her.

⁶But Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Why are you troubling her? She has done a beautiful thing for me.⁷You always have the poor with you, and whenever you desire you can do good to them, but you will not always have me.⁸She has done what she could. She has anointed my body for burial.⁹Truly I say to you, wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be spoken of, in memory of her."

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went away to the chief priests so that he might give him over to them.¹¹When the chief priests heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. He began looking for an opportunity to give him over to them.

¹²On the first day of unleavened bread, when they sacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go to prepare, so you may eat the Passover meal?"

¹³He sent two of his disciples and said to them, "Go into the city, and a man bearing a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him.¹⁴Where he enters a house, follow him in and say to the owner of that house, 'The Teacher says, "Where is my guest room where I will eat the Passover with my disciples?"'

¹⁵He will show you a large furnished upper room that is ready. Make the preparations for us there."¹⁶The disciples left and went to the city. They found everything as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover meal.

¹⁷When it was evening, he came with the twelve.¹⁸As they were lying down at the table and eating, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, one of you eating with me will betray me."

¹⁹They were all very sorrowful, and one by one they said to him, "Surely not I?"

²⁰Jesus answered and said to them, "It is one of the twelve, the one now dipping bread with me in the bowl.²¹For the Son of Man will go as it is written about him. But woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born."

²²As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed it, and broke it. He gave it to them and said, "Take this. This is my body."²³He took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it.²⁴He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, the blood that is poured out for many.²⁵Truly I say to you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

²⁶When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.²⁷Jesus said to them, "All of you will fall away, for it is written,

'I will strike the shepherd

and the sheep will be scattered.'

²⁸But after I am raised up, I will go ahead of you into Galilee."

²⁹Peter said to him, "Even if all fall away, I will not."

³⁰Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, today—yes, this very night—before the rooster crows twice you will deny me three times."

³¹But Peter said emphatically, "If I must die with you, I will not deny you." They all made the same promise.

³²They came to the place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray."³³He took Peter, James, and John with him and began to be distressed and deeply troubled.³⁴He said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and watch."

³⁵Going a little farther, Jesus fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour might pass from him.³⁶He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible with you. Remove this cup from me. But not my will, but yours."

³⁷He came back and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch for one hour?³⁸Watch and pray that you do not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."³⁹Again he went away and prayed, and he used the same words.

⁴⁰When he came back again, he found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. They did not know what to say to him.⁴¹He came the third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come. Look! The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.⁴²Get up; let us go. Look, the one who is betraying me is near."

⁴³While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived, and a large crowd was with him with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders.⁴⁴Now his betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard."⁴⁵When Judas arrived, immediately he came up to Jesus and said, "Rabbi," and he kissed him.⁴⁶Then they laid hands on him and seized him.

⁴⁷But one of them who stood by drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear.

⁴⁸Jesus said to them, "Do you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs, to arrest me?⁴⁹When I was daily with you and I was teaching in the temple, you did not arrest me. But this was done that the scriptures might be fulfilled."⁵⁰All those with Jesus left him and ran away.

⁵¹A young man, wearing only a linen garment that was wrapped around him, was following Jesus. When the men seized him,⁵²he left the linen garment and ran away naked.

⁵³They led Jesus to the high priest. There were gathered with him all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes.⁵⁴Now Peter followed him from a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest. He sat among the officers, warming himself near the fire.

⁵⁵Now the chief priests and the entire Jewish council were seeking testimony against Jesus so they might put him to death. But they did not find any.⁵⁶For many brought false testimony against him, but even their testimony did not agree.

⁵⁷Some stood up and brought false testimony against him; they said,⁵⁸"We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'"⁵⁹Yet even their testimony did not agree.

⁶⁰The high priest stood up among them and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer? What is it these men testify against you?"⁶¹But he was silent and answered nothing. Again the high priest questioned him and said, "Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?"

⁶²Jesus said, "I am;

and you will see the Son of Man

when he sits at the right hand of power

and comes with the clouds of heaven."

⁶³The high priest tore his garments and said, "Do we still need witnesses?⁶⁴You have heard the blasphemy. What is your decision?" They all condemned him as one who deserved death.

⁶⁵Some began to spit on him and to cover his face and strike him with their fists and say to him, "Prophesy!" The officers took him and beat him.

⁶⁶While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant girls of the high priest came to him.⁶⁷She saw Peter warming himself, and she looked closely at him and said, "You were also with the Nazarene, Jesus."

⁶⁸But he denied it, saying, "I neither know nor understand what you are talking about." Then he went out into the gateway. And the rooster crowed.¹

⁶⁹But the servant girl saw him and began to say again to those who stood there, "This man is one of them!"

⁷⁰But he denied it again. After a little while, those who stood there were saying to Peter, "Surely you are one of them, for you also are a Galilean."

⁷¹But he began to put himself under curses and to swear, "I do not know this man you are talking about."

⁷²The rooster immediately crowed a second time. Then Peter remembered the words that Jesus had said to him: "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times," and he broke down and wept.

¹Some ancient copies do not have, And the rooster crowed.

¹Early in the morning, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes and the entire Jewish council, consulted together. Then they bound Jesus and led him away. They handed him over to Pilate.²Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

He answered him, "You say so."

³The chief priests were accusing him of many things.

⁴Pilate again asked him, "Do you give no answer? See how many things they are accusing you of!"⁵But Jesus no longer answered Pilate, and that amazed him.

⁶Now at the time of the festival, Pilate usually released to them one prisoner, a prisoner they requested.⁷There was a man called Barabbas in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the rebellion.⁸The crowd came to Pilate and began to ask him to do for them as he had done in the past.

⁹Pilate answered them and said, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?"¹⁰For he knew that it was because of envy that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him.¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to cry out that Barabbas should be released instead.

¹²Pilate answered them again and said, "What then should I do with the King of the Jews?"

¹³They shouted again, "Crucify him!"

¹⁴Pilate said to them, "What evil has he done?"

But they shouted more and more, "Crucify him."

¹⁵Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd, so he released Barabbas to them. He scourged Jesus and then handed him over to be crucified.

¹⁶The soldiers led him inside the courtyard (which is the government headquarters), and they called together the whole company of soldiers.¹⁷They put a purple robe on Jesus, and they twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on him.¹⁸They began to salute him and say, "Hail, King of the Jews!"

¹⁹They were striking his head with a reed staff and spitting on him. They went to their knees and they bowed down before him.²⁰When they had mocked him, they took off of him the purple robe and put his own garments on him, and then led him out to crucify him.²¹A certain man, Simon of Cyrene, was coming in from the country (he was the father of Alexander and Rufus), and they forced him to carry his cross.

²²The soldiers brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which is translated "Place of a Skull").²³They offered him wine mixed with myrrh, but he did not drink it.²⁴They crucified him and divided up his garments by casting lots to determine what piece each soldier would take.

²⁵It was the third hour when they crucified him.²⁶On a sign they wrote the charge against him, "The king of the Jews."²⁷With him they crucified two robbers, one on the right of him and one on his left.²⁸¹

²⁹Those who passed by insulted him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,³⁰save yourself and come down from the cross!"

³¹In the same way the chief priests were mocking him with each other, along with the scribes, and said, "He saved others, but he cannot save himself.³²Let the Christ, the King of Israel, come down now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also insulted him.

³³At the sixth hour, darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour.³⁴At the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" which is interpreted, "My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?"³⁵Some of those standing by heard his words and said, "Look, he is calling for Elijah."

³⁶Someone ran, put sour wine on a sponge, put it on a reed staff, and gave it to him to drink. The man said, "Let us see if Elijah comes to take him down."³⁷Then Jesus cried out with a loud voice and died.

³⁸The curtain of the temple was split in two from the top to the bottom.

³⁹When the centurion who stood and faced Jesus saw that he had died in this way, he said, "Truly this man was the Son of God."⁴⁰There were also women who looked on from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary (the mother of James the younger and of Joses),² and Salome.⁴¹When he was in Galilee, they followed him and served him. Many other women also came up with him to Jerusalem.

⁴²When evening had come, because it was the Day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath,⁴³Joseph of Arimathea came there. He was a respected member of the council who was waiting for the kingdom of God. He boldly went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.⁴⁴Pilate was amazed that Jesus was already dead; he called the centurion and asked him if Jesus was dead.

⁴⁵When Pilate learned from the centurion that Jesus was dead, he gave the body to Joseph.⁴⁶Joseph had bought a linen cloth. He took him down from the cross, wrapped him in the linen cloth, and laid him in a tomb that had been cut out of a rock. Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.⁴⁷Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw the place where Jesus was buried.

¹The best ancient copies do not have Mark 15:28, The scripture was fulfilled that says, 'He was counted with the lawless ones.'

²The man called Joses here is called Joseph in Mark 6:3. The name Joseph represents how the name was spelled in Hebrew, and the name Joses represents how his name was spelled in Greek.

¹When the Sabbath day was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices that they might come and anoint Jesus' body.²Very early on the first day of the week, they went to the tomb when the sun had come up.

³They were saying to one another, "Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance to the tomb?"⁴When they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, for it was very large.

⁵They entered the tomb and saw a young man dressed in a white robe, sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.

⁶He said to them, "Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. Look at the place where they had laid him.⁷But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.'"

⁸They went out and ran from the tomb; they were trembling and amazed. They said nothing to anyone because they were so afraid.

⁹¹ [Early on the first day of the week, after he arose, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons.¹⁰She went and told those who were with him, while they were mourning and weeping.¹¹They heard that he was alive and that he had been seen by her, but they did not believe.

¹²After these things he appeared in a different form to two of them as they were walking out into the country.¹³They went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

¹⁴Jesus later appeared to the eleven as they were reclining at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who saw him after he rose from the dead.¹⁵He said to them, "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to the entire creation.¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved, and he who does not believe will be condemned.

¹⁷These signs will go with those who believe: In my name they will cast out demons. They will speak in new languages.¹⁸They will pick up snakes with their hands, and if they drink anything deadly, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick, and they will get well."

¹⁹After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.²⁰The disciples left and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the signs that went with them.]²

¹The best ancient copies do not have Mark 16:9-20.

²See the note on Mark 16:9.

Luke

¹Many have taken on the work of putting together an account of the things that have been accomplished among us,²just as they were passed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word.³So it seemed good to me also, because I have accurately investigated everything from the beginning, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus,⁴so that you might know the certainty of the things you have been taught.

⁵In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a certain priest named Zechariah from the division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron.⁶They were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.⁷But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in their days.

⁸Now it came about that Zechariah was in God's presence, carrying out the priestly duties in the order of his division.⁹According to the customary way of choosing which priest would serve, he had been chosen by lot to enter into the temple of the Lord to burn incense.¹⁰The whole crowd of people was praying outside at the hour when the incense was burned.

¹¹Now an angel of the Lord appeared to him and stood at the right side of the incense altar.¹²When Zechariah saw him, he was troubled, and fear fell on him.¹³But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son. You will call his name John.

¹⁴You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.¹⁵For he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.

¹⁶Many of the descendants of Israel will be turned to the Lord their God.¹⁷He will go before the face of the Lord 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 righteous—to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him."

¹⁸Zechariah said to the angel, "How can I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in her days."¹⁹The angel answered and said to him, "I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, to bring you this good news.²⁰Behold! You will be silent, unable to speak, until the day these things take place. This is because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled at the right time."

²¹Now the people were waiting for Zechariah. They were surprised that he was spending so much time in the temple.²²But when he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized that he had seen a vision while he was in the temple. He kept on making signs to them and remained silent.²³It came about that when the days of his service were over, he went to his house.

²⁴After these days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and for five months she kept herself hidden. She said,²⁵"This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked at me with favor in order to take away my shame before people."

²⁶In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth,²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, who was a descendant of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.²⁸He came to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."²⁹But she was very confused by his words, and she wondered what kind of greeting this could be.

³⁰The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.³¹See, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. You will call his name 'Jesus.'³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David.³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom."

³⁴Mary said to the angel, "How will this happen, since I have not known any man?"

³⁵The angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will overshadow you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

³⁶See, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age. This is the sixth month for her, she who was called barren.³⁷For nothing will be impossible for God."

³⁸Mary said, "See, I am the female servant of the Lord. Let it be for me according to your message." Then the angel left her.

³⁹Then Mary arose in those days and quickly went into the hill country, to a city in Judea.⁴⁰She went into the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.⁴¹Now it happened that when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb jumped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

⁴²She cried out with a loud shout and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.⁴³Why has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?⁴⁴For see, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb jumped for joy.⁴⁵Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of the things that were told her from the Lord."

⁴⁶Mary said,

"My soul praises the Lord,

⁴⁷and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.

⁴⁸For he has looked

at the low condition of his female servant.

For see, from now on all generations will call me blessed.

⁴⁹For the Mighty One has done great things for me,

and his name is holy.

⁵⁰His mercy lasts from generation to generation

for those who fear him.

⁵¹He has displayed strength with his arm;

he has scattered those who were proud

about the thoughts of their hearts.

⁵²He has thrown down princes from their thrones

and he has raised up those of low condition.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things,

but the rich he has sent away empty-handed.

⁵⁴He has given help to Israel his servant,

so as to remember to show mercy

⁵⁵(as he said to our fathers)

to Abraham and his descendants forever."

⁵⁶Mary stayed with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her house.

⁵⁷Now the time had come for Elizabeth to deliver her baby and she gave birth to a son.⁵⁸Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹Now it happened on the eighth day that they came to circumcise the child. They would have called him "Zechariah," after the name of his father.⁶⁰But his mother answered and said, "No. He will be called John."⁶¹They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who is called by this name."

⁶²They made signs to his father as to how he wanted him to be named.⁶³His father asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." They all were astonished at this.

⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was freed. He spoke and praised God.⁶⁵Fear came on all who lived around them. All these matters were spread throughout all the hill country of Judea.⁶⁶All who heard them stored them in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child become?" For the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,

⁶⁸"Praised be the Lord, the God of Israel,

for he has come to help

and he has accomplished redemption for his people.

⁶⁹He has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of his servant David

⁷⁰(as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from long ago),

⁷¹salvation from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us.

⁷²He will do this to show mercy to our fathers

and to remember his holy covenant,

⁷³the oath that he swore

to Abraham our father.

⁷⁴He swore to grant to us that we,

having been delivered out of the hand of our enemies,

would serve him without fear

⁷⁵in holiness and righteousness

before him all our days.

⁷⁶Yes, 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 paths,

to prepare people for his coming,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people

by the forgiveness of their sins.

⁷⁸This will happen because

of the tender mercy of our God,

because of which the sunrise

from on high will come to help us,

⁷⁹to shine on those who sit in darkness

and in the shadow of death.

He will do this to guide our feet

into the path of peace."

⁸⁰Now the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

¹Now in those days, it came about that Caesar Augustus sent out a decree ordering that a census be taken of all the people living in the world.²This was the first census made while Quirinius was governor of Syria.³So everyone went to his own city to be registered for the census.

⁴Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David.⁵He went there to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.

⁶Now it came about that while they were there, the time came for her to deliver her baby.⁷She gave birth to a son, her firstborn child, and she wrapped him in long strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

⁸There were shepherds in that region who were staying in the fields, guarding their flock at night.⁹An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.

¹⁰Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, because I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all the people.¹¹Today a Savior was born for you in the city of David! He is Christ the Lord!¹²This is the sign that will be given to you: You will find a baby wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger."

¹³Suddenly there was together with the angel a great multitude from heaven, praising God and saying,

¹⁴"Glory to God in the highest,

and may there be peace on earth

among people with whom he is pleased."¹

¹⁵It came about that when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to each other, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us."¹⁶They hurried there and found Mary, Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in a manger.

¹⁷After they had seen him, they made known what had been said to them about this child.¹⁸All who heard it were amazed at what was spoken to them by the shepherds.¹⁹But Mary kept thinking about all the things she had heard, treasuring them in her heart.²⁰The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for everything that they had heard and seen, just as it had been spoken to them.

²¹When it was the end of the eighth day, when he was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name he had been given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

²²When the required number of days for their purification had passed, according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to the temple in Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.²³As it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male who opens the womb will be set apart to the Lord."²⁴So they offered a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, "a pair of doves or two young pigeons."

²⁵Behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.²⁶It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

²⁷Led by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple. When the parents brought in the infant Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law,²⁸he took him into his arms and praised God, and he said,

²⁹"Now let your servant depart in peace, Lord,

according to your word.

³⁰For my eyes have seen your salvation,

³¹which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples:

³²A light for revelation to the Gentiles

and glory to your people Israel."

³³His father and mother² were amazed at what was said about him.³⁴Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the downfall and rising up of many people in Israel and for a sign that is rejected—³⁵and a sword will pierce your own soul—so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

³⁶A prophetess named Anna was there. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in her days. She had lived with her husband for seven years after her virginity,³⁷and was a widow for eighty-four years. She never left the temple but was serving with fastings and prayers, night and day.³⁸At that very hour she came near to them and began giving thanks to God, and she spoke about the child to everyone who had been waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

³⁹When they had finished everything they were required to do according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.⁴⁰The child grew and became strong; he was full of wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

⁴¹His parents went every year to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover.⁴²When he was twelve years old, they again went up at the customary time for the festival.⁴³After they had stayed the full number of days for the feast, they began to return home. But the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem and his parents did not know it.⁴⁴They assumed that he was with the group that was traveling with them, so they traveled a day's journey. Then they started to search carefully for him among their relatives and friends.

⁴⁵When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem and started to search carefully for him there.⁴⁶It came about that after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the middle of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.⁴⁷All who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

⁴⁸When they saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us this way? Look, your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."⁴⁹He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I had to be about my Father's business?"³⁵⁰But they did not understand what he meant by those words.

⁵¹Then he went back home with them to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

⁵²But Jesus continued to grow in wisdom and stature, and increased in favor with God and people.

¹Some ancient Greek copies have different spellings that suggest two possible meanings of the last phrase of verse 14, the second being preferred. The suggestions are: good will toward people or among people with whom he (God) is pleased.

²Some copies of the ancient Greek text have his father's name, Joseph.

³Some scholars translate "about my Father's business" as in my Father's house.

¹In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar—while Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod was tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip was tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias was tetrarch of Abilene,²during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas—the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

³He went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

⁴As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,

"A voice of one crying out in the wilderness,

'Make ready the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight.

⁵Every valley will be filled,

and every mountain and hill will be made low,

and the crooked roads will be made straight,

and the uneven places will be built into roads,

⁶and all flesh will see the salvation of God.'"

⁷So John said to the crowds who were coming out to be baptized by him, "You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to run away from the wrath that is coming?

⁸Therefore, produce fruits that are worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say within yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.

⁹Even now the ax is set against the root of the trees. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire."

¹⁰Then the crowds kept asking him, saying, "What then are we to do?"

¹¹He answered and said to them, "If someone has two tunics, he should share with a person who has none, and the one having food should do the same."

¹²Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, "Teacher, what must we do?"

¹³He said to them, "Do not collect more money than you have been ordered to collect."

¹⁴Some soldiers also asked him, saying, "What about us? What must we do?"

He said to them, "Do not take money from anyone by force, and do not accuse anyone falsely. Be content with your wages."

¹⁵Now as the people were eagerly expecting the Christ to come, everyone was wondering in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ.¹⁶John answered by saying to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water, but someone is coming who is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy even to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand to thoroughly clear off his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse. But he will burn up the chaff with fire that can never be put out."

¹⁸With many other exhortations also, John was announcing the good news to the people.¹⁹When Herod the tetrarch had been reproved for marrying his brother's wife Herodias, and for all the other evil things that Herod had done,²⁰he added this to them all, that he locked John up in prison.

²¹Now it came about, when all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized, and while he was praying, the heavens opened,²²and the Holy Spirit in bodily form came down on him like a dove, and a voice came from heaven: "You are my beloved Son. I am pleased with you."

²³When Jesus began his ministry, he was about thirty years of age. He was the son (as it was assumed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,²⁴the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph.

²⁵Joseph was the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda.

²⁷Joda was the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Salathiel, the son of Neri,²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,

²⁹the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi.

³⁰Levi was the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,

³¹the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon.

³³Nahshon was the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,

³⁵the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah.

³⁶Shelah was the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,

³⁷the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan,³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

¹Then Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness,²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of that time he was hungry.

³The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."

⁴Jesus answered him, "It is written, 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"

⁵Then the devil led Jesus up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in an instant of time.⁶The devil said to him, "I will give to you all this authority and all their glory, for they have been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want.⁷So then, if you will bow down and worship me, it will be yours."

⁸But Jesus answered and said to him, "It is written, 'You will worship the Lord your God, and you will serve only him.'"

⁹Then the devil led Jesus to Jerusalem and put him on the very highest point of the temple building, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here.¹⁰For it is written,

'He will give orders to his angels regarding you,

to protect you,'

¹¹and, 'They will lift you up in their hands,

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

¹²Answering him, Jesus said, "It is said, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

¹³When the devil had finished tempting Jesus, he went away and left him until another time.

¹⁴Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread throughout the entire surrounding region.¹⁵Then he began to teach in their synagogues and he was praised by all.

¹⁶He came into Nazareth, where he had been raised, and, as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood up to read aloud.¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the scroll and found the place where it was written,

¹⁸"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he anointed me

to announce good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to set free those who are oppressed,

¹⁹to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

²⁰Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.²¹He began to speak to them: "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

²²Everyone there spoke well of him and they were amazed at the gracious words which were coming out of his mouth, and they asked, "Is this not the son of Joseph?"

²³He said to them, "Surely you will say this proverb to me, 'Doctor, heal yourself. Whatever we heard that you did in Capernaum, do the same in your hometown.'"²⁴But he said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is received in his own hometown.

²⁵But in truth I tell you that there were many widows in Israel during the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months and a great famine came upon all the land.²⁶But Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath in Sidon, to a widow living there.²⁷There were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet, but none of them were cleansed except Naaman the Syrian."

²⁸All the people in the synagogue were filled with rage when they heard these things.²⁹They got up, forced him out of the town, and led him to the cliff of the hill on which their town was built, so they might throw him off the cliff.³⁰But he passed through the middle of them and he went to another place.

³¹Then he went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and he began to teach them on the Sabbath.³²They were astonished at his teaching, because he spoke with authority.

³³Now in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,³⁴"Ah! What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!"

³⁵Jesus rebuked the demon, saying, "Do not speak! Come out of him!" When the demon had thrown the man down in the middle of them, he came out of him, and did not harm him in any way.

³⁶All the people were very amazed, and they kept talking about it with one another. They said, "What kind of words are these? He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power and they come out."³⁷So news about him began to spread into every part of the surrounding region.

³⁸Then Jesus left the synagogue and entered into the house of Simon. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering with a high fever, and they pleaded with him on her behalf.³⁹So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. Immediately she got up and started serving them.

⁴⁰When the sun was setting, people brought to Jesus everyone who was sick with various kinds of diseases. He laid his hands on every one of them and healed them.⁴¹Demons also came out from many of them, crying out and saying, "You are the Son of God!" Jesus rebuked the demons and would not let them speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.

⁴²When daybreak came, he went out into a solitary place. Crowds of people were looking for him and came to the place where he was. They tried to keep him from going away from them.⁴³But he said to them, "I must also preach the gospel about the kingdom of God to many other cities, because this is the reason I was sent here."

⁴⁴Then he continued to preach in the synagogues throughout Judea.

¹Now it happened while the people were crowding around Jesus and listening to the word of God, that he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret.²He saw two boats pulled up by the edge of the lake. The fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.³Jesus got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put it out in the water a short distance from the land. Then he sat down and taught the people out of the boat.

⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Take the boat out into the deeper water and let down your nets for a catch."

⁵Simon answered and said, "Master, we have labored all night and caught nothing, but at your word, I will let down the nets."⁶When they had done this, they gathered a very large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.⁷So they motioned to their partners in the other boat that they should come and help them. They came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.

⁸But Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord."⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish which they had taken. ¹⁰And so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon.

Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid, because from now on you will catch men."

¹¹When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

¹²It came about that while he was in one of the cities, a man full of leprosy was there. When he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

¹³Then Jesus reached out his hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing. Be clean." Immediately the leprosy left him.

¹⁴He instructed him to tell no one but told him, "Go on your way, and show yourself to the priest and offer a sacrifice for your cleansing, according to what Moses commanded, for a testimony to them."

¹⁵But the report about him spread even farther, and large crowds of people came together to hear him teach and to be healed of their sicknesses.¹⁶But he often withdrew into the deserted places and prayed.

¹⁷It came about on one of those days that he was teaching, and there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. The power of the Lord was with him to heal.

¹⁸Now some men came carrying on a mat a man who was paralyzed, and they looked for a way to bring him inside in order to lay him down in front of Jesus.¹⁹They could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, so they went up to the housetop and let the man down through the tiles, on his mat, into the midst of the people, right in front of Jesus.

²⁰Seeing their faith, Jesus said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you."

²¹The scribes and the Pharisees began to question this, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"

²²But Jesus, knowing what they were thinking, answered and said to them, "Why are you questioning this in your hearts?²³Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you' or to say, 'Get up and walk'?²⁴But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,"—he said to the paralyzed man—"I tell you, get up, pick up your mat and go to your house."

²⁵Immediately he got up in front of them and picked up the mat on which he was lying. Then he went away to his house, glorifying God.

²⁶Everyone was amazed and they glorified God. They were filled with fear, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today."

²⁷After these things happened, Jesus went out from there and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax collector's tent. He said to him, "Follow me."²⁸So Levi got up and followed him, leaving everything behind.

²⁹Then Levi gave a big banquet in his house for Jesus. There were many tax collectors there and other people who were reclining at the table and eating with them.³⁰But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to his disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

³¹Jesus answered them, "People who are well do not need a physician; only those who are sick.³²I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

³³They said to him, "The disciples of John often fast and pray, and the disciples of the Pharisees do the same. But your disciples eat and drink."

³⁴Jesus said to them, "Can anyone make the wedding attendants of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is still with them?³⁵But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, then in those days they will fast."

³⁶Then Jesus also spoke a parable to them. "No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and uses it to mend an old garment. If he does that, he will tear the new garment, and the piece of cloth from the new garment will not fit with the cloth of the old garment.

³⁷No one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does that, the new wine will burst the skins, and the wine will be spilled, and the wineskins will be destroyed.³⁸But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins.³⁹No one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, 'The old is better.'"

¹Now it happened on a Sabbath that Jesus was going through the grainfields, and his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them between their hands, and eating the grain.²But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing something that is not lawful to do on the Sabbath day?"

³Answering them, Jesus said, "Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and the men who were with him?⁴He went into the house of God and took the bread of the presence and ate some of it, and also gave some to the men who were with him to eat, even though it was only lawful for the priests to eat it."⁵Then he said to them, "The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

⁶It happened on another Sabbath that he went into the synagogue and taught the people there. A man was there whose right hand was withered.⁷The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely to see whether he would heal someone on the Sabbath, so that they might find a reason to accuse him.⁸But he knew what they were thinking and he said to the man whose hand was withered, "Get up and stand here in the middle of everyone." So the man got up and stood there.

⁹Jesus said to them, "I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to destroy it?"¹⁰Then he looked around at them all and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He did so, and his hand was restored.¹¹But they were filled with senseless rage, and they talked to each other about what they might do to Jesus.

¹²It happened in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray. He continued all night in prayer to God.¹³When it was day, he called his disciples to him, and he chose twelve of them, whom he also named apostles.

¹⁴The names of the apostles were Simon (whom he also named Peter) and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew,¹⁵Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot,¹⁶Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷Then Jesus came down the mountain with them and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of Tyre and Sidon.¹⁸They had come to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. People who were troubled with unclean spirits were also healed.¹⁹Everyone in the crowd kept trying to touch him because power to heal was coming out from him, and he healed them all.

²⁰Then he looked at his disciples and said,

"Blessed are you who are poor,

for yours is the kingdom of God.

²¹Blessed are you who hunger now,

for you will be filled.

Blessed are you who weep now,

for you will laugh.

²²Blessed are you when people hate you,

and when they exclude you and insult you

and reject your name as evil,

because of the Son of Man.

²³Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because you will surely have a great reward in heaven, for their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

²⁴But woe to you who are rich,

for you have already received your comfort.

²⁵Woe to you who are full now,

for you will be hungry later.

Woe to you who laugh now,

for you will mourn and weep later.

²⁶Woe to you when all men speak well of you,

for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.

²⁷"But I say to you who are listening, love your enemies and do good to those who hate you.²⁸Bless those who curse you and pray for those who mistreat you.

²⁹To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer him also the other. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your tunic either.³⁰Give to everyone who asks you. If someone takes away something that belongs to you, do not ask him to give it back to you.

³¹As you want people to do to you, you should do the same to them.³²If you only love people who love you, what reward is there for you? For even sinners love those who love them.³³If you do good only to people who do good to you, what reward is there for you? For even sinners do the same.³⁴If you only lend to people from whom you hope to be repaid, what reward is there for you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back the same amount.

³⁵But love your enemies and do good to them. Lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he himself is kind toward unthankful and evil people.³⁶Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive others, and you will be forgiven.

³⁸Give, and it will be given to you. A good amount—pressed down, shaken together and spilling over—will pour into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you."

³⁹Then he also told them a parable. "Can a blind person guide another blind person? If he did, they would both fall into a pit, would they not?⁴⁰A disciple is not greater than his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.

⁴¹Why do you look at the tiny piece of straw that is in your brother's eye, but you do not notice the log that is in your own eye?⁴²How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take out the piece of straw that is in your eye,' when you yourself do not even see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the piece of straw that is in your brother's eye.

⁴³For there is no good tree that produces rotten fruit, nor is there a rotten tree that produces good fruit.⁴⁴For each tree is known by the kind of fruit it produces. For people do not gather figs from a thornbush, nor do they gather grapes from a briar bush.

⁴⁵The good man from the good treasure of his heart produces what is good, and the evil man from the evil treasure of his heart produces what is evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

⁴⁶"Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and yet you do not obey the things that I say?⁴⁷Every person who comes to me and hears my words and obeys them, I will tell you what he is like.⁴⁸He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep in the ground and built the house's foundation on solid rock. When a flood came, the torrent of water flowed against that house but could not shake it, because it had been well built.

⁴⁹But the person who hears my words and does not obey them, he is like a man who built a house on top of the ground without a foundation. When the torrent of water flowed against that house, it immediately collapsed, and the ruin of that house was complete."

¹After Jesus had finished everything he was saying in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

²Now a centurion had a slave who was highly regarded by him, and he was sick and about to die.³When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.⁴When they had come to Jesus, they asked him earnestly, saying, "He is worthy to have you do this for him,⁵because he loves our nation, and he is the one who built the synagogue for us."

⁶So Jesus continued on his way with them. But when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, "Lord, do not trouble yourself, because I am not worthy for you to come under my roof.⁷For this reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to you, but just say a word and my servant will be healed.⁸For I also am a man who is under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes, and to another one, 'Come,' and he comes, and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

⁹When Jesus heard this, he was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him said, "I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such faith."¹⁰When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant was healthy.

¹¹Soon after that, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him.¹²As he came near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, the only son of his mother (who was a widow), and a rather large crowd from the town was with her.¹³When the Lord saw her, he was deeply moved with compassion for her and said to her, "Do not cry."¹⁴Then he went up and touched the wooden frame on which they carried the body, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, arise."¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶Then fear overcame all of them, and they kept praising God, saying, "A great prophet has been raised among us" and "God has looked upon his people."¹⁷This news about Jesus spread throughout the whole of Judea and all the neighboring regions.

¹⁸John's disciples told him about all these things. Then John called two of his disciples¹⁹and sent them to the Lord to say, "Are you the one who is to come, or should we look for another?"

²⁰When they had come near to Jesus, the men said, "John the Baptist has sent us to you to say, 'Are you the one who is coming, or should we look for another?'"

²¹In that hour he healed many people from sicknesses and afflictions and from evil spirits, and to many blind people he gave sight.²²Jesus answered and said to them, "After you have gone on your way, report to John what you have seen and heard. Blind people are receiving sight, lame people are walking, lepers are being cleansed, deaf people are hearing, people who have died are being raised back to life, and the poor are being told good news.²³The person who does not stop believing in me because of my actions is blessed."

²⁴After John's messengers had gone away, Jesus began to say to the crowds about John, "What did you go out into the desert to see? A reed shaken by the wind?²⁵But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? Look, those who wear splendid clothing and who live in luxury are in kings' palaces.²⁶But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.

²⁷This is he of whom it is written,

'See, I am sending my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way before you.'

²⁸I say to you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he is."

²⁹(When all the people heard this, including the tax collectors, they declared that God is righteous, because they had been baptized with the baptism of John.³⁰But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

³¹"To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like?³²They are like children playing in the marketplace, who sit and call to one another and say,

'We played a flute for you,

and you did not dance.

We sang a funeral song,

and you did not cry.'

³³For John the Baptist came eating no bread and drinking no wine, and you say, 'He has a demon.'³⁴The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, 'Look, he is a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!'³⁵But wisdom is justified by all her children."

³⁶Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to eat with him. So after Jesus entered into the Pharisee's house, he reclined at the table to eat.³⁷Behold, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. When she found out that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfumed oil.³⁸As she stood behind him near his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears, and she wiped them with her hair and kissed them and anointed them with perfumed oil.

³⁹When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he thought to himself, saying, "If this man were a prophet, then he would know who and what type of woman is touching him, that she is a sinner."

⁴⁰Jesus responded and said to him, "Simon, I have something to say to you."

He said, "Say it, Teacher!"

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

⁴³Simon answered him and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave the most."

Jesus said to him, "You have judged correctly."

⁴⁴Jesus turned to the woman and said to Simon, "You see this woman. I have entered into your house. You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair.⁴⁵You did not give me a kiss, but from the time I came in she did not stop kissing my feet.

⁴⁶You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfumed oil.⁴⁷For this reason I say to you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven—for she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little."

⁴⁸Then he said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."

⁴⁹Those reclining together began to say among themselves, "Who is this that even forgives sins?"

⁵⁰Then Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you. Go in peace."

¹It happened soon afterward that Jesus began traveling around to different cities and villages, preaching and proclaiming the good news about the kingdom of God. The twelve were with him,²as well as certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had been driven out;³Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's manager; Susanna; and many others, who, out of their possessions, provided for their needs.

⁴While a large crowd of people was gathering, and people were coming to him from town after town, he told a parable:⁵"A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell beside the road and it was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the sky devoured it.⁶Some fell on the rock, and as soon as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture.

⁷Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up together with the seed and choked it.⁸But some fell on good soil and produced a crop that was a hundred times greater." After Jesus had said these things, he called out, "Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

⁹His disciples asked him what this parable meant.¹⁰He said, "The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but for others I speak in parables, so that

'seeing they may not see,

and hearing they may not understand.'

¹¹Now this is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God.¹²The ones along the road are those who have heard, but then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts so they may not believe and be saved.¹³The ones on the rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But they have no root; they believe for a while, and in a time of testing they fall away.

¹⁴The seeds that fell among the thorns are people who hear the word, but as they go on their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and their fruit does not mature.¹⁵But the seed that fell on the good soil, these are the ones who, hearing the word with an honest and good heart, hold it securely and bear fruit with patient endurance.

¹⁶"No one lights a lamp and covers it with a bowl or puts it under a bed. Rather, he puts it on a lampstand so that everyone who enters may see the light.¹⁷For nothing is hidden that will not be made known, nor is anything secret that will not be known and come into the light.¹⁸So listen carefully, for to the one who has, more will be given to him, but the one who does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him."

¹⁹Then his mother and brothers came to him, but they could not get near him because of the crowd.²⁰He was told, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."²¹But Jesus answered and said to them, "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."

²²Now one day he got into a boat with his disciples, and he said to them, "Let us go over to the other side of the lake." They set sail.²³But as they sailed he fell asleep. A terrible windstorm came down on the lake, and their boat was filling with water, and they were in danger.

²⁴Then Jesus' disciples came over to him and woke him up, saying, "Master! Master! We are about to die!"

He awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and there was a calm.

²⁵Then he said to them, "Where is your faith?"

But they were afraid and amazed, and they asked one another, "Who then is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?"

²⁶They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee.²⁷When Jesus stepped on the land, he was met by a certain man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but among the tombs.

²⁸When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and he said with a loud voice, "What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me."²⁹For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many times it had seized him, and though he was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and he would be driven by the demon into the wilderness.

³⁰Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"

He said, "Legion," for many demons had entered into him.

³¹They kept begging him not to command them to go away into the abyss.

³²Now a large herd of pigs was there feeding on the hillside. The demons begged him to let them go into them, and he gave them permission.³³So the demons came out of the man and went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake and was drowned.

³⁴When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and told about it in the city and countryside.³⁵So the people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out. He was sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.

³⁶Then those who had seen it told them how the man who had been possessed by demons had been healed.³⁷Then all the people of the region of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to depart from them, for they were overwhelmed with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned.

³⁸The man from whom the demons had gone out begged him to let him go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,³⁹"Return to your home and give a full account of what God has done for you." The man went on his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what Jesus had done for him.

⁴⁰Now when Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him.⁴¹Behold, a man named Jairus, who was one of the leaders of the synagogue, came and fell down at Jesus' feet, and he begged him to come to his house⁴²because his only daughter, a girl of about twelve years of age, was dying. As Jesus was on his way, the crowds of people pressed together around him.

⁴³Now a woman was there who had been bleeding for twelve years¹ and could not be healed by anyone.⁴⁴She came behind Jesus and touched the edge of his coat, and immediately her bleeding stopped.

⁴⁵Jesus said, "Who was it who touched me?"

When all denied it, Peter said, "Master, the crowds of people are all around you and they are pressing in against you."

⁴⁶But Jesus said, "Someone did touch me, for I know that power has gone out from me."

⁴⁷When the woman saw that she could not escape notice, she came trembling and fell down before him. In the presence of all the people she declared why she had touched him and how she had been immediately healed.⁴⁸Then he said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace."

⁴⁹While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader's house, saying, "Your daughter is dead. Do not trouble the teacher any longer."

⁵⁰But when Jesus heard this, he answered Jairus, "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be healed."

⁵¹When he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father of the child and her mother.⁵²Now all were mourning and wailing for her, but he said, "Do not weep; she is not dead but asleep."⁵³But they began to mock him, knowing that she was dead.

⁵⁴But he took her by the hand and called out, saying, "Child, get up!"⁵⁵Her spirit returned, and she rose up immediately. He ordered them to get her something to eat.⁵⁶Her parents were astonished, but he ordered them to tell no one what had happened.

¹Scholars are divided whether the phrase and had spent all her money on physicians should be included here.

¹He called the twelve together and gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases.²He sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick.

³He said to them, "Take nothing for your journey—no staff, no wallet, no bread, no money, and no extra tunic.⁴Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave.

⁵Wherever they do not receive you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them."⁶Then they departed and went through the villages, proclaiming the gospel and healing everywhere.

⁷Now Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening, and he was perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead,⁸and others said that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the prophets of long ago had risen.⁹Herod said, "I beheaded John. Who is this about whom I hear such things?" And so he tried to see him.

¹⁰When the apostles returned, they told him everything they had done. Then he took them with him, and they went away privately to a town called Bethsaida.¹¹But when the crowds heard about this, they followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and he cured those who needed healing.

¹²Now the day was about to come to an end, and the twelve came to him and said, "Send the crowd away that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find lodging and food, because we are here in an isolated place."

¹³But he said to them, "You give them something to eat."

They said, "We have no more than five loaves of bread and two fish—unless we go and buy food for all these people."

¹⁴(There were about five thousand men.) He said to his disciples, "Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each."

¹⁵So they did this, and made the people sit down.¹⁶Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, he blessed them and broke them into pieces, and he gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.¹⁷They all ate and were satisfied, and what was left over was picked up—twelve baskets of broken pieces.

¹⁸It came about while Jesus was praying by himself, the disciples were with him. He questioned them, saying, "Who do the crowds say that I am?"

¹⁹They answered, "John the Baptist. But others say Elijah, and others say that one of the prophets from long ago has risen."

²⁰Then he said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Peter answered, "The Christ of God."

²¹But he warned and instructed them to tell this to no one,²²saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and he will be killed and on the third day be raised."

²³Then he said to them all, "If anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.²⁴Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.²⁵What profit is there for a person to gain the whole world and yet lose or forfeit himself?

²⁶Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his own glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.²⁷But truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God."

²⁸Now about eight days after Jesus said these words, he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray.²⁹As he was praying, the form of his face was changed, and his clothes became brilliant white.

³⁰Behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah,³¹who appeared in glory, talking with him about his departure, which he was about to bring to completion in Jerusalem.

³²Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw his glory and the two men who were standing with him.³³As they were going away from Jesus, Peter said to him, "Master, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three shelters, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." (He did not know what he was saying.)

³⁴As he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered into the cloud.³⁵A voice came out of the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, the one who is chosen; listen to him."³⁶When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

³⁷Now on the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met him.³⁸Behold, a man from the crowd cried out, saying, "Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, for he is my only child.³⁹You see, a spirit takes control over him and he suddenly screams; it causes him to have convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It hardly ever leaves him and it bruises him badly.⁴⁰I begged your disciples to force it out, but they could not."

⁴¹Jesus answered and said, "You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long must I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here."⁴²While the boy was coming, the demon threw him to the ground and shook him with convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.

⁴³Then they were all amazed at the greatness of God. While they all were marveling at everything he was doing, he said to his disciples,⁴⁴"Let these words go deeply into your ears: The Son of Man will be betrayed into the hands of men."⁴⁵But they did not understand this statement. It was hidden from them, so they could not know its meaning, and yet they were afraid to ask about this statement.

⁴⁶Then an argument started among them about which of them would be the greatest.⁴⁷But Jesus, knowing the reasoning in their hearts, took a little child and put him by his side⁴⁸and said to them, "Whoever welcomes this child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For whoever is least among you all is the one who is great."

⁴⁹John answered, "Master, we saw someone forcing out demons in your name and we prevented him, because he does not follow along with us."⁵⁰"Do not stop him," Jesus said, "because whoever is not against you is for you."

⁵¹When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.⁵²He sent messengers on ahead of him, and they went and entered into a Samaritan village to prepare everything for him.⁵³But the people there did not welcome him because he had set his face to go to Jerusalem.

⁵⁴When the disciples James and John saw this, they said, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and destroy them?"⁵⁵But he turned and rebuked them,⁵⁶and they went on to another village.

⁵⁷As they were going along the road, someone said to him, "I will follow you wherever you go."

⁵⁸Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes, and birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

⁵⁹Then he said to another, "Follow me."

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

⁶⁰But he said to him, "Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim far and wide the kingdom of God."

⁶¹Then someone else said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to those in my home."

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

¹Now after these things, the Lord appointed seventy¹ others, and sent them out two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he himself was about to go.²He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.

³Go on your way. See, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves.⁴Do not carry a money bag, or a traveler's bag, or sandals, and greet no one on the road.

⁵Whatever house you enter, first say, 'May peace be on this house!'⁶If a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him, but if not, it will return to you.⁷Remain in that same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer is worthy of his wages. Do not move around from house to house.

⁸Whatever town you enter, and they receive you, eat what is set before you⁹and heal the sick that are there. Say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come close to you.'

¹⁰Whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say,¹¹'Even the dust from your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you! But know this: The kingdom of God is near.'¹²I say to you that on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town.

¹³Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.¹⁴But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you.¹⁵You, Capernaum, do you think you will be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades.

¹⁶The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

¹⁷The seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons submitted to us in your name."

¹⁸Jesus said to them, "I was watching Satan fall from heaven as lightning.¹⁹See, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will in any way hurt you.²⁰Nevertheless do not rejoice only in this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice even more that your names are engraved in heaven."

²¹At that same hour he rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit and said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you concealed these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to those who are untaught, like little children. Yes, Father, for so it was well pleasing in your sight.

²²"All things have been entrusted to me from my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

²³Then he turned around to the disciples and said privately, "Blessed are those who see the things that you see.²⁴I say to you, many prophets and kings desired to see the things you see, and they did not see them, and to hear the things that you hear, and they did not hear them."

²⁵Behold, an expert in the law stood up so that he might test him, saying, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

²⁶Jesus said to him, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?"

²⁷He gave an answer and he said, "You will 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."

²⁸Jesus said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live."

²⁹But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "Who is my neighbor?"

³⁰Jesus answered him and said, "A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers, who stripped him of his belongings, and beat him, and left him half dead.

³¹By chance a certain priest was going down that way, and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.³²In the same way, a Levite also, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

³³But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was. When he saw him, he was moved with compassion.³⁴He approached him and bound up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He set him on his own animal, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.³⁵The next day he took out two denarii, and gave them to the host, and said, 'Take care of him, and whatever extra you spend, when I return, I will repay you.'

³⁶Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to him who fell among the robbers?"

³⁷He said, "The one who showed mercy to him."

Jesus said to him, "Go and do the same."

³⁸Now as they were traveling along, he entered into a certain village, and a certain woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.³⁹She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and heard his word.

⁴⁰But Martha was overly busy with preparing to serve a meal. She came up to Jesus and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me."

⁴¹But the Lord answered and said to her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,⁴²but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen what is best, which will not be taken away from her."

¹Many of the best ancient copies read seventy but some read seventy-two.

¹It happened one day that Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he had finished, one of his disciples said to him, "Lord, teach us to pray just as John taught his disciples."

²Jesus said to them, "When you pray say,

'Father, may your name be honored as holy.

May your kingdom come.

³Give us our daily bread each day.

⁴Forgive us our sins,

as we forgive everyone who is in debt to us.

Do not lead us into temptation.'"

⁵Jesus said to them, "Which of you will have a friend, and will go to him at midnight, and say to him, 'Friend, lend to me three loaves of bread,⁶since a friend of mine just came in from the road, and I do not have anything to set before him'?⁷Then the one inside who answered him may say, 'Do not bother me. The door is already shut, and my children, along with me, are in bed. I am not able to get up and give bread to you.'⁸I say to you, even if he does not get up and give bread to you because you are his friend, yet because of your shameless persistence, he will get up and give you as many loaves of bread as you need.

⁹I also say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.¹⁰For every asking person receives; and the seeking person finds; and to the person who knocks, it will be opened.

¹¹Which father among you, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?¹¹²Or if he asks for an egg, will you give a scorpion to him?¹³Therefore, if you who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father from heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

¹⁴Now Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon had gone out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed.¹⁵But some of the people said, "By Beelzebul, the ruler of demons, he is driving out demons."

¹⁶Others tested him and sought from him a sign from heaven.

¹⁷But Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is made desolate, and a house divided against itself falls.

¹⁸If Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you say I cast out demons by Beelzebul.¹⁹If I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? Because of this, they will be your judges.²⁰But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come to you.

²¹When a strong man who is fully armed guards his own palace, his possessions are safe,²²but when a stronger man overcomes him, the stronger man takes away the armor in which the man trusted and plunders the man's possessions.²³The one who is not with me is against me, and the one who does not gather with me scatters.

²⁴When an unclean spirit has gone away from a man, it passes through waterless places and looks for rest. Finding none, it says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.'²⁵Having returned, it finds the house had been swept clean and put in order.²⁶Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all come in to live there. Then the final condition of that man becomes worse than the first."

²⁷It happened that, as he said these things, a certain woman raised her voice above the crowd and said to him, "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you."

²⁸But he said, "Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it."

²⁹As the crowds were increasing, Jesus began to say, "This generation is an evil generation. It seeks a sign, though no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.³⁰For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so too the Son of Man will be a sign to this generation.

³¹The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and see, someone greater than Solomon is here.

³²The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation of people and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and see, someone greater than Jonah is here.

³³No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it in a hidden place or under a basket, but on a lampstand, so that those who enter may see the light.³⁴Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is good, the whole body is filled with light. But when your eye is bad, your body is full of darkness.³⁵Therefore, watch out that the light in you is not darkness.³⁶If then your whole body is full of light, not having any member in darkness, then your whole body will be like when a lamp shines its brightness on you."

³⁷When he had finished speaking, a Pharisee asked him to eat with him at his house, so Jesus went in and reclined.³⁸The Pharisee was surprised that Jesus did not first wash before dinner.

³⁹But the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of cups and bowls, but the inside of you is filled with robbery and evil.⁴⁰You senseless men! Did not the one who made the outside also make the inside?⁴¹Give what is inside as alms, and then all things will be clean for you.

⁴²"But woe to you Pharisees, because you tithe mint and rue and every other garden herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. It is necessary to act justly and love God, without failing to do the other things also.

⁴³Woe to you Pharisees, for you love the front seats in the synagogues and respectful greetings in the marketplaces.⁴⁴Woe to you, for you are like unmarked graves that people walk over without knowing it."

⁴⁵One of the experts in the law said to him, "Teacher, what you say insults us too."⁴⁶Jesus said, "Woe to you, teachers of the law! For you put people under burdens that are hard to carry, but you do not touch the burdens with one of your own fingers.

⁴⁷Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your ancestors who killed them.⁴⁸So you are witnesses and you consent to the works of your ancestors, for they indeed killed them and you build their tombs.

⁴⁹For this reason also, God's wisdom said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and they will persecute and kill some of them.'⁵⁰As a result, this generation will be charged for all the blood of the prophets shed since the foundation of the world,⁵¹from Abel's blood to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. Yes, I say to you, this generation will be held responsible.

⁵²Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key of knowledge; you do not enter in yourselves, and you hinder those who are entering."

⁵³After Jesus left there, the scribes and the Pharisees opposed him and argued with him about many things,⁵⁴lying in wait to catch him in something he might say.

¹The best ancient copies have the shorter reading. Some ancient copies have a longer reading, which also is found in Matthew 7:9: Which father among you, if your son asks for a loaf of bread, will give him a stone? Or a fish, will give him a snake?

¹In the meantime, when many thousands of the people were gathered together so much that they trampled on each other, he began to say to his disciples first of all, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²But there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed, and nothing hidden that will not be known.³So whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light, and what you have spoken in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed upon the housetops.

⁴I say to you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that they have no more that they can do.⁵But I will warn you about whom to fear. Fear the one who, after he has killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I say to you, fear him.

⁶Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God.⁷But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear. You are more valuable than many sparrows.

⁸I say to you, everyone who confesses me before men, the Son of Man will also confess before the angels of God,⁹but he who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.¹⁰Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him, but to him who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven.

¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not worry about how you will speak in your defense, or what you will say,¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you should say."

¹³Then someone from the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

¹⁴Jesus said to him, "Man, who appointed me a judge or a mediator over you?"¹⁵He said to them, "Watch that you keep yourselves from all greedy desires, because a person's life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions."

¹⁶Then Jesus told them a parable, saying, "The field of a rich man yielded abundantly,¹⁷and he reasoned with himself, saying, 'What will I do, because I do not have a place to store my crops?'¹⁸He said, 'This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all of my grain and other goods.¹⁹I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods stored up for many years. Rest easy, eat, drink, be merry."'

²⁰But God said to him, 'Foolish man, tonight your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'²¹That is what someone is like who stores up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

²²Jesus said to his disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear.²³For life is more than food, and the body is more than clothes.

²⁴Think about the ravens, that they do not sow or reap. They have no storeroom or barn, but God feeds them. How much more valuable you are than the birds!²⁵Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his lifespan?²⁶If then you are not able to do such a very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

²⁷Think about the lilies—how they grow. They do not labor, neither do they spin. Yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.²⁸If God so clothes the grass in the field, which exists today, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!

²⁹Do not seek what you will eat and what you will drink, and do not be anxious.³⁰For all the nations of the world seek these things, and your Father knows that you need them.

³¹But seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.³²Do not fear, little flock, because your Father is very pleased to give you the kingdom.

³³Sell your possessions and give alms. Make for yourselves purses which will not wear out—treasure in the heavens that does not run out, where no thief comes near, and no moth destroys.³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵"Keep your loins girded and your lamps lit,³⁶and be like people waiting expectantly for their master when he returns from the marriage feast, so that when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open the door for him.

³⁷Blessed are those servants whom the master will find watching when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will gird himself to serve and have them sit down at the table, and he will come and serve them.³⁸If the master comes in the second watch of the night, or if even in the third watch, and finds them ready, blessed are those servants.

³⁹But understand this, that if the master of the house had known the hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.⁴⁰You also must be ready, because the Son of Man is coming at an hour that you do not expect."

⁴¹Peter said, "Lord, are you telling this parable only to us, or also to everyone?"

⁴²The Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise manager whom his lord will set over his other servants to give them their portion of food at the right time?⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his lord finds doing that when he comes.⁴⁴Truly I say to you that he will set him over all his property.

⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, 'My lord delays his return,' and begins to beat the male servants and female servants and to eat and drink and to become drunk,⁴⁶the lord of that servant will come in a day when he does not expect and in an hour that he does not know and will cut him in pieces and appoint a place for him with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷That servant, having known his lord's will and not having prepared or done according to his will, will be beaten with many blows.⁴⁸But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating, he will be beaten with a few blows. But everyone who has been given much, from them much will be required, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked.

⁴⁹"I came to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish that it were already kindled.⁵⁰But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how I am distressed until it is completed!

⁵¹Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.⁵²For from now on there will be five in one house divided—three people against two, and two people against three.⁵³They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law."

⁵⁴Jesus was saying to the crowds also, "When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it happens.⁵⁵When a south wind is blowing, you say, 'There will be a scorching heat,' and it happens.⁵⁶Hypocrites, you know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the heavens, but how is it that you do not know how to interpret the present time?

⁵⁷Why do you not judge what is right for yourselves?⁵⁸For when you go with your adversary before the magistrate, on the way make an effort to be reconciled with him so that he does not drag you to the judge, and so that the judge does not deliver you to the officer, and the officer does not throw you into prison.⁵⁹I say to you, you will never come out from there until you have paid the very last bit of money."

¹At that time, some people there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their own sacrifices.²Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?³No, I tell you. But if you do not repent, all of you will perish in the same way.

⁴Or those eighteen people in Siloam on whom a tower fell and killed them, do you think they were worse sinners than other men in Jerusalem?⁵No, I say. But if you do not repent, all of you will also perish."

⁶Jesus told this parable, "Someone had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and he came and looked for fruit on it but found none.⁷The man said to the gardener, 'Look, for three years I have come and tried to find fruit on this fig tree and found none. Cut it down. Why let it waste the ground?'

⁸"The gardener answered and said, 'Sir, leave it alone this year while I dig around it and put manure on it.⁹If it bears fruit next year, good; but if it does not, cut it down!'"

¹⁰Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues during the Sabbath.¹¹Behold, a woman was there who for eighteen years had a spirit of weakness. She was bent over and was not able to straighten up completely.

¹²When Jesus saw her, he called to her and said, "Woman, you are freed from your weakness."¹³He placed his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight again and glorified God.

¹⁴But the synagogue ruler was indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath. So the ruler answered and said to the crowd, "There are six days in which it is necessary to labor. Come and be healed then, not on the Sabbath day."

¹⁵The Lord answered him and said, "Hypocrites! Does not each of you untie his ox or his donkey from the stall and lead it to drink on the Sabbath?¹⁶So too this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, should her bonds not be untied on the Sabbath day?"

¹⁷As he said these things, all those who opposed him were ashamed, but the whole crowd was rejoicing over all the glorious things he did.

¹⁸Then Jesus said, "What is the kingdom of God like, and what can I compare it to?¹⁹It is like a mustard seed that a man took and threw into his garden, and it grew into a big tree, and the birds of heaven built their nests in its branches."

²⁰Again he said, "To what can I compare the kingdom of God?²¹It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all the flour was leavened."

²²Then Jesus traveled through the towns and villages, teaching and making his way toward Jerusalem.²³Someone said to him, "Lord, are only a few people to be saved?"

So he said to them,

²⁴"Struggle to enter through the narrow door, because, I say to you, many will try to enter, but will not be able to enter.

²⁵Once the owner of the house gets up and locks the door, then you will stand outside and pound the door and say, 'Lord, Lord, let us in.'

"He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know you or where you are from.'

²⁶"Then you will say, 'We ate and drank in front of you and you taught in our streets.'

²⁷"But he will reply, 'I say to you, I do not know where you are from. Get away from me, all you workers of unrighteousness!'

²⁸There will be crying and the grinding of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in God's kingdom, but you are thrown out.²⁹They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and be seated at a table in the kingdom of God.³⁰Know this, those who are least important will be first, and those who are most important will be last."

³¹In that same hour, some Pharisees came and said to him, "Go and leave here because Herod wants to kill you."

³²Jesus said, "Go and tell that fox, 'Look, I cast out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow, and the third day I will reach my goal.'³³In any case, it is necessary for me to continue on today, tomorrow, and the following day, since it is not acceptable for a prophet to be destroyed outside of Jerusalem.

³⁴Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to you. How often I desired to gather your children the way a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you did not desire this.³⁵See, your house is abandoned. I say to you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

¹It happened one Sabbath, when he went into the house of one of the leaders of the Pharisees to eat bread, that they were watching him closely.²Behold, there in front of him was a man who was suffering from edema.³Jesus asked the experts in the Jewish law and the Pharisees, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?"

⁴But they kept silent. So Jesus took hold of him, healed him, and sent him away.⁵He said to them, "Which of you who has a son or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day will not immediately pull him out?"⁶They were not able to give an answer to these things.

⁷When Jesus noticed how those who were invited chose the seats of honor, he spoke a parable, saying to them,⁸"When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the place of honor, because someone may have been invited who is more honored than you.⁹When the person who invited both of you arrives, he will say to you, 'Give this other person your place,' and then in shame you will proceed to take the lowest place.

¹⁰But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when the one who has invited you comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, go up higher.' Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you.¹¹For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

¹²Jesus also said to the man who had invited him, "When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or your rich neighbors, as they may also invite you in return, and you will be repaid.

¹³But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind,¹⁴and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid in the resurrection of the just."

¹⁵When one of them who sat at the table with Jesus heard these things, he said to him, "Blessed is he who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!"

¹⁶But Jesus said to him, "A certain man prepared a large dinner and invited many.¹⁷At the dinner hour, he sent his servant to say to those who were invited, 'Come, because everything is now ready.'

¹⁸"They all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, 'I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please excuse me.'

¹⁹"Another said, 'I have bought five pairs of oxen, and I am going to try them out. Please excuse me.'

²⁰"Then another man said, 'I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.'

²¹"The servant came and told his master these things. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, 'Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in here the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.'

²²"The servant said, 'Master, what you commanded has been done, and yet there is still room.'

²³"The master said to the servant, 'Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.²⁴For I say to you, none of those men who were invited will taste my dinner.'"

²⁵Now large crowds were going with him, and he turned and said to them,²⁶"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.²⁷Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

²⁸For which of you who desires to build a tower does not first sit down and count the cost to calculate if he has what he needs to complete it?²⁹Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it will begin to mock him,³⁰saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'

³¹Or what king, as he goes to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and take advice about whether he is able with ten thousand men to fight the other king who comes against him with twenty thousand men?³²If not, while the other army is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for conditions of peace.³³So therefore, any one of you who does not give up all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

³⁴Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its taste, how can it be made salty again?³⁵It is of no use for the soil or even for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

¹Now all the tax collectors and other sinners were coming to Jesus to listen to him.²Both the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled to each other, saying, "This man welcomes sinners, and even eats with them."

³Jesus spoke this parable to them, saying,⁴"Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and then loses one of them, will not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the lost one until he finds it?⁵Then when he has found it, he lays it across his shoulders and rejoices.

⁶When he comes to the house, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.'⁷I say to you that even so, there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

⁸"Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she were to lose one coin, would not light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she has found it?⁹When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I lost.'¹⁰Even so, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

¹¹Then Jesus said, "A certain man had two sons,¹²and the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the portion of the wealth that falls to me.' So he divided his property between them.

¹³Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he owned and went to a country far away, and there he wasted all his wealth by living recklessly.¹⁴Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine spread through that country, and he began to be in need.

¹⁵He went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.¹⁶He was longing to eat the carob pods that the pigs ate because no one gave him anything.

¹⁷But when the young son came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, and I am here, perishing from hunger!¹⁸I will get up and leave here and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired servants."'

²⁰So the young son got up and left and came toward his father. While he was still far away, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and he ran and embraced him and kissed him.²¹The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

²²"The father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet.²³Then bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let us feast and be merry!²⁴For my son was dead, and now he is alive. He was lost, and now he is found.' Then they began to be merry.

²⁵"Now his older son was out in the field. As he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.²⁶He called to one of the servants and asked what these things might be.²⁷The servant said to him, 'Your brother has come home and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him in good health.'

²⁸"The older son was angry and would not go in, and his father came out and pleaded with him.²⁹But the older son answered and said to his father, 'Look, these many years I slaved for you, and I never neglected a command of yours, and yet you never gave me a young goat that I might be merry with my friends,³⁰but when your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed for him the fattened calf.'

³¹"The father said to him, 'Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.³²But it was proper for us to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead, and is now alive; he was lost, and has now been found.'"

¹Jesus also said to the disciples, "There was a certain rich man who had a manager, and it was reported to him that this manager was wasting his possessions.²So the rich man called him and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give an account of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'

³"The manager said to himself, 'What should I do, since my master is taking away my management job? I do not have strength to dig, and I am ashamed to beg.⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from my management job, people will welcome me into their houses.'

⁵"Then the manager called for each one of his master's debtors, and he asked the first one, 'How much do you owe to my master?'⁶He said, 'A hundred baths of olive oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.'

⁷"Then the manager said to another, 'How much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred cors of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

⁸"The master then commended the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own people than are the sons of light.⁹I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal dwellings.

¹⁰"He who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much, and he who is unrighteous in very little is also unrighteous in much.¹¹If you have not been faithful in using unrighteous wealth, who will trust you with true wealth?¹²If you have not been faithful in using other people's property, who will give you money of your own?

¹³"No servant 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 cannot serve God and wealth."

¹⁴Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.¹⁵He said to them, "You justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. That which is exalted among men is detestable in the sight of God.

¹⁶The law and the prophets were in effect until John came. From that time on, the gospel of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone tries to force their way into it.¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to become invalid.

¹⁸"Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries one who is divorced from her husband commits adultery.

¹⁹"Now there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and was enjoying every day his great wealth.²⁰A certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,²¹and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²It came about that the beggar died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried,²³and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side.

²⁴So he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.'

²⁵"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.²⁶Besides all this, a great chasm has been put in place, so that those who want to cross over from here to you cannot, and no one can cross over from there to us.'

²⁷"The rich man said, 'I beg you, Father Abraham, that you would send him to my father's house—²⁸for I have five brothers—in order that he may warn them, so that it may not be that they come into this place of torment.'

²⁹"But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them listen to them.'

³⁰"The rich man replied, 'No, Father Abraham, but if someone would go to them from the dead, they will repent.'

³¹"But Abraham said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.'"

¹Jesus said to his disciples, "It is certain there will be stumbling blocks, but woe to that person through whom they come!²It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to stumble.

³Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him.⁴If he sins against you seven times in the day, and seven times returns to you, saying, 'I repent,' you must forgive him!"

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

⁶The Lord said, "If you had faith like a mustard seed, you would say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

⁷But which of you, who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep, will say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come immediately and sit down to eat'?⁸Will he not say to him, 'Prepare something for me to eat, and put a belt around your clothes and serve me until I have finished eating and drinking. Then afterward you will eat and drink'?

⁹He does not thank the servant because he did the things that were commanded, does he?¹⁰Even so you also, when you have done everything that you are commanded, should say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we ought to do.'"

¹¹It came about that as he traveled to Jerusalem, he went along the border between Samaria and Galilee.¹²As he entered into a certain village, there he was met by ten men who were lepers. They stood far away from him¹³and they lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."

¹⁴When he saw them, he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." As they went away they were cleansed.¹⁵When one of them saw that he was healed, he turned back, with a loud voice glorifying God.¹⁶He fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.

¹⁷Then Jesus said, "Were not the ten cleansed? Where are the nine?¹⁸Were there no others who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?"¹⁹He said to him, "Arise, and go. Your faith has made you well."

²⁰Being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus answered them and said, "The kingdom of God does not come with careful observing.²¹Neither will they say, 'Look, here it is!' or 'There it is!' For look, the kingdom of God is within you."

²²He said to the disciples, "The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.²³Then they will say to you, 'Look, there! Look, here!' But do not go out or run after them,²⁴for as the lightning shines brightly when it flashes from one part of the sky to another part of the sky, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

²⁵But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.²⁶As it happened in the days of Noah, even so will it also happen in the days of the Son of Man.²⁷They ate, they drank, they married, and they were given in marriage until the day that Noah entered into the ark—and the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸In the same way, even as it happened in the days of Lot—they were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.²⁹But in the day that Lot went out from Sodom, it rained fire and sulfur from heaven and destroyed them all.

³⁰After the same manner it will be in the day that the Son of Man is revealed.³¹In that day let him who is on the housetop not go down to get his goods out of the house, and in the same way let him who is in the field not return.

³²Remember Lot's wife.³³Whoever seeks to gain his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will save it.

³⁴I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed. One will be taken, and the other will be left.³⁵There will be two women grinding grain together. One will be taken, and the other will be left."³⁶¹

³⁷They asked him, "Where, Lord?"

He said to them, "Where there is a body, there will the vultures also be gathered together."

¹Luke 17:36 the best ancient copies do not have verse 36, There will be two in the field; one will be taken and the other left.

¹Then he spoke a parable to them about how they should always pray and not become discouraged,²saying, "In a certain city there was a judge who did not fear God and did not respect people.

³Now there was a widow in that city, and she came often to him, saying, 'Help me get justice against my opponent.'

⁴For a long time he was not willing to help her, but after a while he said to himself, 'Though I do not fear God or respect man,⁵yet because this widow causes me trouble, I will help her get justice, so that she does not wear me out by her constant coming.'"

⁶Then the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says.⁷Now will not God also bring justice to his chosen ones who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?⁸I say to you that he will bring justice to them speedily. Even so, when the Son of Man comes, will he indeed find faith on the earth?"

⁹Then he also spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and who despised other people:¹⁰"Two men went up into the temple to pray—the one was a Pharisee and the other was a tax collector.

¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed these things about himself, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, unrighteous people, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.¹²I fast two times every week. I give tithes of all that I get.'

¹³But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but hit his breast, saying, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'¹⁴I say to you, this man went back down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but everyone who humbles himself will be exalted."

¹⁵The people were also bringing to him their infants so that he might touch them, but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.¹⁶But Jesus called them to him, saying, "Permit the little children to come to me, and do not forbid them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such ones.¹⁷Truly I say to you, whoever will not receive the kingdom of God like a child will definitely not enter it."

¹⁸A certain ruler asked him, saying, "Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

¹⁹Jesus said to him, "Why do you call me good? No one is good, except God alone.²⁰You know the commandments—do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not testify falsely, honor your father and mother."

²¹The ruler said, "All these things I have obeyed from the time I was a youth."

²²When Jesus heard that, he said to him, "One thing you still lack. You must sell all that you have and distribute it to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven—and come, follow me."

²³But when the ruler heard these things, he became extremely sad, for he was very rich.

²⁴Then Jesus, seeing him,¹ said, "How difficult it is for those who are rich to enter the kingdom of God!²⁵For it is easier for a camel to go through a needle's eye, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God."

²⁶Those hearing it said, "Then who can be saved?"

²⁷Jesus answered, "The things which are impossible with people are possible with God."

²⁸Peter said, "Well, we have left everything that is our own and have followed you."

²⁹Jesus then said to them, "Truly, I say to you that there is no one who has left house, or wife, or brothers, or parents, or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,³⁰who will not receive much more in this time, and in the age to come, eternal life."

³¹After he gathered the twelve to himself, he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all the things that have been written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished.³²For he will be given over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked, and shamefully treated, and spit upon.³³After whipping him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again."

³⁴They understood none of these things, and this word was hidden from them, and they did not understand the things that were said.

³⁵It came about that, as Jesus approached Jericho, a certain blind man was sitting by the road begging,³⁶and hearing a crowd going by, he asked what was happening.³⁷They told him that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by.

³⁸So the blind man cried out, saying, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me."³⁹The ones who were walking ahead rebuked the blind man, telling him to be quiet. But he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me."

⁴⁰Jesus stood still and commanded that the man be brought to him. Then when the blind man was near, Jesus asked him,⁴¹"What do you want me to do for you?"

He said, "Lord, I want to receive my sight."

⁴²Jesus said to him, "Receive your sight. Your faith has healed you."⁴³Immediately he received his sight and followed him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw this, gave praise to God.

¹Some ancient Greek copies have the phrase: seeing that he had become sad.

¹Jesus entered and was passing through Jericho.²Behold, there was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich.

³He was trying to see who Jesus was, but could not see over the crowd, because he was small in height.⁴So he ran on ahead of the people and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, because Jesus was about to pass that way.

⁵When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down quickly, for today I must stay at your house."⁶So he hurried and came down and welcomed him joyfully.⁷When everyone saw this, they all complained, saying, "He has gone in to visit a man who is a sinner."

⁸Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, the half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have cheated anyone of anything, I will restore four times the amount."

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

¹¹As they heard these things, he continued speaking and told a parable, because he was near to Jerusalem, and they thought that the kingdom of God was about to appear immediately.¹²He said therefore, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then to return.

¹³He called ten of his servants and gave them ten minas and said to them, 'Conduct business until I come back.'

¹⁴"But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We will not have this man reign over us.'¹⁵It happened when he returned, having received the kingdom, he commanded the servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what profit they had made by doing business.

¹⁶"The first came before him, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.'

¹⁷"The nobleman said to him, 'Well done, good servant. Because you were faithful in very little, you will have authority over ten cities.'

¹⁸"The second came, saying, 'Your mina, lord, has made five minas.'

¹⁹"The nobleman said to him, 'You take charge over five cities.'

²⁰"Another came, saying, 'Lord, here is your mina, which I kept safely in a cloth,²¹for I was afraid of you, because you are a demanding person. You take up what you did not put in, and you reap what you did not sow.'

²²"The nobleman said to him, 'By your own words I will judge you, you wicked servant. You knew that I am a demanding person, taking up what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow.²³Then why did you not put my money in the bank, so that when I returned I would have collected it with interest?'

²⁴The nobleman said to them that stood by, 'Take away from him the mina, and give it to him that has the ten minas.'

²⁵"They said to him, 'Lord, he has ten minas.'

²⁶"'I say to you, that everyone who has will be given more, but from him that has not, even that which he has will be taken away.²⁷But these enemies of mine, those who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and kill them before me.'"

²⁸When he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.

²⁹It came about that when he came near to Bethphage and Bethany, to the mountain that is called Olives, he sent two of the disciples,³⁰saying, "Go into the next village. As you enter, you will find a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it to me.³¹If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say, 'The Lord has need of it.'"

³²Those who were sent went and found the colt just as Jesus had told them.

³³As they were untying the colt, the owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"

³⁴They said, "The Lord has need of it."³⁵They brought it to Jesus, and they threw their cloaks upon the colt and set Jesus on it.³⁶As he went, they spread their cloaks on the road.

³⁷As he was now approaching the place where the Mount of Olives descends, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen, saying,

³⁸"Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!

Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!"

³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples."

⁴⁰Jesus answered and said, "I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would cry out."

⁴¹When Jesus approached the city, he wept over it,⁴²saying, "If only you had known in this day, even you, the things which bring you peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.

⁴³For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build a barricade around you and surround you and press in on you from every side.⁴⁴They will strike you down to the ground, and your children with you. They will not leave one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation."

⁴⁵Jesus entered the temple and began to cast out those who were selling,⁴⁶saying to them, "It is written, 'My house will be a house of prayer,' but you have made it a den of robbers."

⁴⁷So Jesus was teaching daily in the temple. The chief priests and the scribes were seeking to destroy him, as were the leaders of the people,⁴⁸but they could not find a way to do it because all the people were listening to him intently.

¹It came about one day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel that the chief priests and the scribes came to him with the elders.²They spoke, saying to him, "Tell us by what authority you do these things, or who it is who gave you this authority."

³He answered and said to them, "I will also ask you a question, and you tell me.⁴The baptism of John: Was it from heaven or from men?"

⁵They reasoned with themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?'⁶But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet."

⁷So they answered that they did not know where it came from.

⁸Jesus said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things."

⁹He told the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it out to vine growers, and went into another country for a long time.¹⁰At the appointed time he sent a servant to the vine growers, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard. But the vine growers beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

¹¹He then sent yet another servant and they also beat him, treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.¹²He also sent yet a third and they also wounded him, and threw him out.

¹³So the lord of the vineyard said, 'What will I do? I will send my beloved son. Maybe they will respect him.'

¹⁴"But when the vine growers saw him, they discussed among themselves, saying, 'This is the heir. Let us kill him, that the inheritance may be ours.'

¹⁵They threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the lord of the vineyard do to them?¹⁶He will come and destroy these vine growers, and will give the vineyard to others."

When they heard it, they said, "May it never be!"

¹⁷But Jesus looked at them, and said, "What is the meaning of that which is written:

'The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone'?

¹⁸Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and the one on whom it falls will be crushed."

¹⁹So the scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him in that very hour, for they knew that he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people.²⁰Watching him carefully, they sent out spies who pretended to be righteous, that they might find fault with his speech, so as to deliver him up to the rule and to the authority of the governor.

²¹They asked him, saying, "Teacher, we know that you say and teach rightly, and are not partial to anyone, but you teach the truth about the way of God.²²Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?"

²³But Jesus understood their craftiness, and said to them,²⁴"Show me a denarius. Whose image and name is on it?"

They said, "Caesar's."

²⁵He said to them, "Then give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."²⁶They were not able to find fault with what he had said in front of the people, but marveling at his answer, they were silent.

²⁷When some of the Sadducees came to him, the ones who say that there is no resurrection,²⁸they asked him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, having a wife, and being childless, the man should take the brother's wife, and raise up children for his brother.

²⁹There were seven brothers and the first took a wife, and died childless,³⁰and the second as well.³¹The third took her, and in the same way the seven also left no children and died.³²Afterward the woman also died.³³In the resurrection, then, whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as their wife."

³⁴Jesus said to them, "The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage.³⁵But those who are regarded as worthy in that age to receive the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage.³⁶Neither can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection.

³⁷But that the dead are raised, even Moses showed, in the place concerning the bush, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.³⁸Now he is not the God of the dead, but of the living, because all live to him."

³⁹Some of the scribes answered, "Teacher, you have answered well."⁴⁰For they did not dare ask him any more questions.

⁴¹Jesus said to them, "How do they say that the Christ is David's son?⁴²For David himself says in the Book of Psalms,

The Lord said to my Lord,

'Sit at my right hand,

⁴³until I make your enemies

your footstool.'

⁴⁴David therefore calls the Christ 'Lord,' so how is he David's son?"

⁴⁵In the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples,⁴⁶"Beware of the scribes, who desire to walk in long robes and love special greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at feasts.⁴⁷They also devour widows' houses, and for a show they make long prayers. Men like this will receive greater condemnation."

¹Jesus looked up and saw the rich men who were putting their gifts into the treasury.²He saw a certain poor widow putting in two mites.³So he said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them.⁴All of these gave gifts out of their abundance. But this widow, out of her poverty, put in all she had to live on."

⁵As some spoke of the temple, how it was decorated with beautiful stones and offerings, he said,⁶"As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left on another which will not be torn down."

⁷So they asked him, saying, "Teacher, when will these things happen? What will be the sign when these things are about to happen?"⁸Jesus answered, "Be careful that you are not deceived. For many will come in my name, saying, 'I am he,' and, 'The time is near.' Do not go after them.⁹When you hear of wars and riots, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not happen immediately."

¹⁰Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.¹¹There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues. There will be terrifying events and great signs from heaven.

¹²But before all of these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you over to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors because of my name.¹³It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony.

¹⁴Therefore resolve in your hearts not to prepare your defense ahead of time,¹⁵for I will give you words and wisdom that all your adversaries will not be able to resist or contradict.

¹⁶But you will be given over also by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends, and they will put some of you to death.¹⁷You will be hated by everyone because of my name.¹⁸But not a hair from your head will perish.¹⁹In your endurance you will gain your lives.

²⁰"When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then recognize that its desolation is near.²¹Then let those in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the city leave it, and those who are out in the country must not enter the city.²²For these are days of vengeance, so that all the things that are written will be fulfilled.

²³Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing in those days! For there will be great distress upon the land, and wrath to this people.²⁴They will fall by the edge of the sword, and they will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

²⁵"There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars, and on the earth. The nations will be in distress, anxious because of the roar of the sea and waves.²⁶There will be men fainting from fear and from expectation of the things which are coming upon the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

²⁷Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.²⁸But when these things begin to happen, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is coming near."

²⁹Jesus told them a parable, "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.³⁰When they sprout buds, you see for yourselves and know that summer is already near.³¹So also, when you see these things happening, recognize that the kingdom of God is near.

³²Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

³⁴"But pay attention to yourselves, so that your hearts are not burdened with excessive drinking and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day does not close on you suddenly³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon everyone living on the face of the whole earth.

³⁶But be alert at all times, praying that you may be strong enough to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

³⁷So during the days he was teaching in the temple, and at night he went out and stayed on the mountain that is called Olives.³⁸All of the people came early in the morning to hear him in the temple.

¹Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread was approaching, which is called the Passover.²The chief priests and the scribes were seeking how they could put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people.

³Then Satan entered into Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve.⁴Judas went to the chief priests and captains and discussed with them how he would betray Jesus to them.

⁵They were glad and agreed to give him money.⁶He consented and looked for an opportunity to give him over to them away from the crowd.

⁷Then came the day of unleavened bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed.⁸So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare for us the Passover meal, so that we may eat it."

⁹They said to him, "Where do you want us to make preparations?"

¹⁰He answered them, "Look, when you have entered the city, a man bearing a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he goes into.¹¹Then say to the master of the house, 'The Teacher says to you, "Where is the guest room, where I will eat the Passover with my disciples?"'

¹²He will show you a large furnished upper room. Make the preparations there."¹³So they went, and found everything as he had said to them. Then they prepared the Passover meal.

¹⁴When the hour came, he sat down with the apostles.¹⁵Then he said to them, "I have greatly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.¹⁶For I say to you, I will not eat it again until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."

¹⁷Then Jesus took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he said, "Take this, and share it among yourselves.¹⁸For I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine again until the kingdom of God comes."

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

²¹But pay attention. The hand of the one who betrays me is with me at the table.²²For the Son of Man indeed goes as it has been determined. But woe to that man through whom he is betrayed!"²³They began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who would do this.

²⁴Then there arose also a quarrel among them about which of them was considered to be greatest.²⁵He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles are lords over them, and the ones who have authority over them are called doers of good deeds.

²⁶But it must not be like this with you. Instead, let the greatest among you become like the youngest and the one who leads like the one who serves.²⁷For who is greater, the one who sits at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as one who serves.

²⁸But you are the ones who have continued with me in my trials.²⁹I set you over a kingdom, even as my Father has set me over a kingdom,³⁰that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

³¹"Simon, Simon, be aware, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat.³²But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail. After you have turned back again, strengthen your brothers."

³³Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death."

³⁴Jesus replied, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day before you deny three times that you know me."

³⁵Then Jesus said to them, "When I sent you out without a purse, a bag of provisions, or sandals, did you lack anything?"

They answered, "Nothing."

³⁶Then he said to them, "But now, the one who has a purse, let him take it, and likewise a bag of provisions. The one who does not have a sword should sell his cloak and buy one.

³⁷For I say to you, what is written about me must be fulfilled, 'He was counted with the lawless ones.' For what is predicted about me is being fulfilled."

³⁸Then they said, "Lord, look! Here are two swords."

He said to them, "It is enough."

³⁹Jesus went, as he often did, to the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him.⁴⁰When they arrived, he said to them, "Pray that you do not enter into temptation."

⁴¹He went away from them about a stone's throw, and he knelt down and prayed,⁴²saying, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless not my will, but yours be done."

⁴³Then an angel from heaven appeared to him, strengthening him.⁴⁴Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down upon the ground.

⁴⁵When he rose up from his prayer, he came to the disciples and found them sleeping because of their sorrow⁴⁶and asked them, "Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray, that you may not enter into temptation."

⁴⁷While he was still speaking, behold, a crowd appeared, with Judas, one of the twelve, leading them. He came near to Jesus to kiss him,⁴⁸but Jesus said to him, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?"

⁴⁹When those who were around Jesus saw what was happening, they said, "Lord, should we strike with the sword?"⁵⁰Then one of them struck the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.

⁵¹Jesus said, "That is enough!" He touched his ear, and healed him.

⁵²Jesus said to the chief priests, to the captains of the temple, and to elders who came against him, "Do you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs?⁵³When I was daily with you in the temple, you did not lay your hands on me. But this is your hour, and the authority of darkness."

⁵⁴Seizing him, they led him away and brought him into the high priest's house. But Peter followed from a distance.⁵⁵After they had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat in the midst of them.

⁵⁶A certain female servant saw him as he sat in the light of the fire and looked straight at him and said, "This man also was with him."

⁵⁷But Peter denied it, saying, "Woman, I do not know him."

⁵⁸After a little while someone else saw him, and said, "You are also one of them."

But Peter said, "Man, I am not."

⁵⁹After about an hour another man insisted and said, "Truly this man also was with him, for he is a Galilean."

⁶⁰But Peter said, "Man, I do not know what you are saying." Immediately, while he was speaking, a rooster crowed.

⁶¹Turning, the Lord looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the Lord, when he said to him, "Before a rooster crows today you will deny me three times."⁶²Peter went outside and wept bitterly.

⁶³Then the men holding Jesus in custody mocked and beat him.⁶⁴They put a cover over him and asked him, saying, "Prophesy! Who is the one who hit you?"⁶⁵They spoke many other things against Jesus, blaspheming him.

⁶⁶As soon as it was day, the elders of the people gathered together, both chief priests and scribes. They led him into the Council⁶⁷and said, "If you are the Christ, tell us."

But he said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe,

⁶⁸and if I ask you, you will not answer.

⁶⁹But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God."

⁷⁰They all said, "Then you are the Son of God?"

Jesus said to them, "You say that I am."

⁷¹They said, "Why do we still need a witness? For we ourselves have heard from his own mouth."

¹The whole company of them rose up and brought Jesus before Pilate.²They began to accuse him, saying, "We found this man misleading our nation, forbidding to give tribute to Caesar, and saying that he himself is Christ, a king."

³Pilate asked him, saying, "Are you the King of the Jews?"

Jesus answered him and said, "You say so."

⁴Pilate said to the chief priests and the multitudes, "I find no guilt in this man."

⁵But they were insisting, saying, "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee even to this place."

⁶So when Pilate heard this, he asked whether the man was a Galilean.⁷When he learned that he was under Herod's authority, he sent Jesus to Herod, who himself also was at Jerusalem in those days.

⁸When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, because he had wanted to see him for a long time. He had heard about him and he hoped to see some sign done by him.⁹Herod questioned Jesus in many words, but Jesus answered him nothing.¹⁰The chief priests and the scribes stood, vigorously accusing him.

¹¹Herod with his soldiers showed Jesus contempt and they mocked him. Then they dressed him in splendid clothes and sent him back to Pilate.¹²For Herod and Pilate had become friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been enemies with each other.

¹³Pilate then called together the chief priests and the rulers and the crowd of people¹⁴and said to them, "You brought to me this man like a man who is misleading the people. And see, I, having questioned him before you, find no guilt in this man concerning those things of which you accuse him.

¹⁵No, nor does Herod, for he sent him back to us, and see, nothing worthy of death has been done by him.¹⁶I will therefore punish him and release him."¹⁷¹

¹⁸But they cried out all together, saying, "Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas!"¹⁹Barabbas was a man who had been put into prison for a certain rebellion in the city and for murder.

²⁰Pilate addressed them again, desiring to release Jesus.²¹But they shouted, saying, "Crucify him, crucify him."²²He said to them a third time, "Why, what evil has this man done? I have found no guilt deserving death in him. Therefore after punishing him, I will release him."

²³But they were insistent with loud voices, demanding for him to be crucified. Their voices convinced Pilate.²⁴So Pilate decided to grant their demand.²⁵He released the one they asked for who had been put in prison for rebellion and murder. But he delivered up Jesus to their will.

²⁶As they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him to carry, following Jesus.

²⁷A great crowd of the people, and of women who grieved and mourned for him, were following him.²⁸But turning to them, Jesus said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.

²⁹For see, the days are coming in which they will say, 'Blessed are the barren and the wombs that did not bear, and the breasts that did not nurse.'

³⁰Then they will begin to say to the mountains,

'Fall on us,' and to the hills, 'Cover us.'

³¹For if they do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?"

³²Other men, two criminals, were led away with him to be put to death.

³³When they came to the place that is called "The Skull," there they crucified him and the criminals—one on his right and one on his left.³⁴Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." Then they cast lots, dividing up his garments.

³⁵The people stood watching while the rulers also were mocking him, saying, "He saved others. Let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, the chosen one."

³⁶The soldiers also ridiculed him, approaching him, offering him vinegar,³⁷and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself."³⁸There was also a sign over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

³⁹One of the criminals who was hanging there insulted him by saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us."

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?⁴¹We indeed are here justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds. But this man did nothing wrong."

⁴²Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."

⁴³Jesus said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise."

⁴⁴It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour⁴⁵as the sun turned dark. Then the curtain of the temple was split in two.

⁴⁶Crying with a loud voice, Jesus said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." Having said this, he died.

⁴⁷When the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, "Surely this was a righteous man."

⁴⁸When all the multitudes who came together to witness this sight saw the things that were done, they returned beating their breasts.⁴⁹But all those who knew him, and the women who followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

⁵⁰Behold, there was a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council. He was a good and righteous man.⁵¹This man had not agreed with their plan and action. He was from Arimathea, a city of the Jews, and he was looking for the kingdom of God.

⁵²This man, approaching Pilate, asked for the body of Jesus.⁵³He took it down, wrapped it in fine linen, and placed it in a tomb that was cut in stone, where no one had ever been laid.

⁵⁴It was the Day of the Preparation, and the Sabbath was about to begin.⁵⁵The women who had come with Jesus out of Galilee followed and saw the tomb and how his body was laid.⁵⁶They returned and prepared spices and ointments.

Then on the Sabbath they rested according to the commandment.

¹The best ancient copies do not have Luke 23:17, Now Pilate was obligated to release to the Jews one prisoner at the feast.

¹Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared.²They found the stone rolled away from the tomb.³They entered in, but did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

⁴It happened that, while they were confused about this, suddenly, two men stood by them in bright shining garments.⁵As the women were terrified and bowed down their faces to the earth, they said to the women, "Why do you seek the living among the dead?

⁶He is not here, but has been raised! Remember how he spoke to you when he was still in Galilee,⁷saying that the Son of Man must be delivered up into the hands of sinful men and be crucified, and on the third day rise again."

⁸The women remembered his words⁹and returned from the tomb and told all these things to the eleven and all the rest.¹⁰Now Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them reported these things to the apostles.

¹¹But this message seemed like idle talk to the apostles, and they did not believe the women.¹²Yet Peter rose up and ran to the tomb, and, stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths by themselves. Peter then departed to his home, wondering what had happened.

¹³Behold, two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was sixty stadia from Jerusalem.¹⁴They discussed with each other about all the things that had happened.

¹⁵It happened that, while they discussed and questioned together, Jesus himself approached and went with them.¹⁶But their eyes were prevented from recognizing him.

¹⁷Jesus said to them, "What are these matters you two are discussing as you walk?" They stood there looking sad.

¹⁸One of them, named Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only person in Jerusalem who does not know the things which have happened there these days?"

¹⁹Jesus said to them, "What things?"

They answered him, "The things concerning Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty in deed and word before God and all the people,

²⁰and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death and crucified him.

²¹But we hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. Yes, and what is more, it is now the third day since all these things happened.

²²But also, some women of our company amazed us, having been at the tomb early in the morning.²³When they did not find his body, they came, saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive.²⁴Some men who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said. But they did not see him."

²⁵Jesus said to them, "O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!²⁶Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?"²⁷Then beginning from Moses and through all the prophets, Jesus interpreted to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures.

²⁸As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as though he were going further.²⁹But they compelled him, saying, "Stay with us, for it is toward evening and the day is almost over." So Jesus went in to stay with them.

³⁰It happened that, when he had sat down with them to eat, he took the bread, blessed it, and breaking it, he gave it to them.³¹Then their eyes were opened, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight.³²They said one to another, "Was not our heart burning within us, while he spoke to us on the way, while he opened to us the scriptures?"

³³They rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem. They found the eleven gathered together and those who were with them,³⁴saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon."³⁵So they told the things that happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

³⁶As they spoke these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace be to you."³⁷But they were terrified and filled with fear and thought that they were seeing a spirit.

³⁸Jesus said to them, "Why are you troubled? Why do questions arise in your heart?³⁹See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me having."⁴⁰When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.

⁴¹They still could not believe it because of joy, and they were amazed. Jesus said to them, "Do you have anything to eat?"⁴²They gave him a piece of a broiled fish,⁴³and he took it and ate it before them.

⁴⁴He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you when I was with you, that all that was written in the law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled."

⁴⁵Then he opened their minds, that they might understand the scriptures.⁴⁶He said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead on the third day.⁴⁷Repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.⁴⁹See, I am sending you what my Father promised. But remain in the city until you are clothed with power from on high."

⁵⁰Then Jesus led them out until they were near Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed them.⁵¹It happened that, while he was blessing them, he left them and was carried up into heaven.

⁵²So they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.⁵³They were continually in the temple, blessing God.

John

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.²This one was in the beginning with God.³All things were made through him, and without him there was not one thing made that has been made.

⁴In him was life, and the life was the light of men.⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

⁶There was a man who was sent from God, whose name was John.⁷He came as a witness to testify about the light, that all might believe through him.⁸John was not the light, but came that he might testify about the light.

⁹The true light, which gives light to all men, was coming into the world.

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him.¹¹He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.

¹²But to as many as received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.¹³These were not born of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

¹⁴The Word became flesh and lived among us. We have seen his glory, glory as of the one and only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.¹⁵John testified about him and cried out, saying, "This was the one of whom I said, 'He who comes after me is greater than I am, for he was before me.'"

¹⁶For from his fullness we have all received grace after grace.¹⁷For the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.¹⁸No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made God known.

¹⁹This is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites to him from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?"²⁰He confessed—he did not deny, but confessed—"I am not the Christ."²¹So they asked him, "What are you then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." They said, "Are you the prophet?" He answered, "No."

²²Then they said to him, "Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"²³He said, "I am a voice, crying in the wilderness: 'Make the way of the Lord straight,' just as Isaiah the prophet said."

²⁴Now some from the Pharisees were sent,²⁵and they asked him and said to him, "Why do you baptize, then, if you are not the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet?"

²⁶John answered them, saying, "I baptize with water. But among you stands someone you do not know.²⁷He is the one who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie."²⁸These things were done in Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹The next day John saw Jesus coming to him and said, "Look, there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!³⁰This is the one of whom I said, 'The one who comes after me is more than me, for he was before me.'³¹I did not know him, but it was so that he could be revealed to Israel that I came baptizing with water."

³²John testified, saying, "I saw the Spirit coming down like a dove from heaven, and it stayed upon him.³³I did not recognize him, but he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, 'The one on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain, he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'³⁴I have both seen and testified that this is the Son of God."

³⁵Again, the next day, as John was standing with two of his disciples,³⁶they saw Jesus walking by, and John said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

³⁷His two disciples heard him say this and they followed Jesus.³⁸Then Jesus turned and saw them following him and said to them, "What are you looking for?" They replied, "Rabbi" (which is translated "Teacher"), "where are you staying?"³⁹He said to them, "Come and see." Then they came and saw where he was staying; they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

⁴⁰One of the two who heard John speak and then followed Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter.⁴¹He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which is translated "Christ").⁴²He brought him to Jesus, and Jesus looked at him and said, "You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas" (which is translated "Peter").

⁴³The next day, when Jesus wanted to leave to go to Galilee, he found Philip and said to him, "Follow me."⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.⁴⁵Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, "He of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets, we have found him: Jesus son of Joseph, from Nazareth."

⁴⁶Nathaniel said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."⁴⁷Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him and said about him, "See, a true Israelite, in whom is no deceit!"⁴⁸Nathaniel said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."

⁴⁹Nathaniel replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"⁵⁰Jesus replied and said to him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you underneath the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than this."⁵¹Then he said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

¹Three days later, there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.²Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding.

³When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."⁴Jesus said to her, "Woman, why do you come to me? My time has not yet come."⁵His mother said to the servants, "Whatever he says to you, do it."

⁶Now there were six stone water pots there used for the Jewish ceremonial washing, each containing two to three metretes.⁷Jesus said to them, "Fill the water pots with water." So they filled them up to the brim.⁸Then he told the servants, "Take some out now and take it to the head waiter." So they did.

⁹The head waiter tasted the water that had become wine, but he did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew). Then he called the bridegroom¹⁰and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first and then the cheaper wine when they are drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now."

¹¹This first sign Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and he revealed his glory, and his disciples believed in him.

¹²After this Jesus, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples went down to Capernaum and they stayed there for a few days.

¹³Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.¹⁴He found sellers of oxen and sheep and pigeons in the temple, and the money changers were sitting there.

¹⁵So he made a whip of cords and drove all of them out from the temple, including both the sheep and the cattle. He scattered the coins of the money changers and turned their tables over.¹⁶To the pigeon sellers he said, "Take these things away from here. Stop making the house of my Father a marketplace."

¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for your house will consume me."

¹⁸Then the Jewish authorities responded and said to him, "What sign will you show us, since you are doing these things?"¹⁹Jesus replied, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."

²⁰Then the Jewish authorities said, "This temple was built in forty-six years, and you will raise it up in three days?"²¹However, he was speaking about the temple of his body.²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he said this, and they believed the scripture and this statement that Jesus had spoken.

²³Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover festival, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he did.²⁴But Jesus did not trust in them because he knew them all,²⁵because he did not need anyone to testify to him about man, for he knew what was in man.

¹Now there was a Pharisee whose name was Nicodemus, a Jewish leader.²This man came to Jesus at night and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher that came from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him."

³Jesus replied to him, "Truly, truly, unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

⁴Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born, can he?"

⁵Jesus replied, "Truly, truly, unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

⁷Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'⁸The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."

⁹Nicodemus replied and said to him, "How can these things be?"¹⁰Jesus answered and said to him, "Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?¹¹Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak what we know, and we testify about what we have seen. Yet you do not accept our testimony.

¹²If I told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?¹³No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.

¹⁴Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,¹⁵so that all who believe in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.¹⁷For God did not send the Son into the world in order to condemn the world, but in order to save the world through him.¹⁸He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is already condemned because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

¹⁹This is the reason for the judgment: The light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.²⁰For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, so that his deeds will not be exposed.²¹However, he who practices the truth comes to the light so that it may be plainly seen that his deeds have been done in God."

²²After this, Jesus and his disciples went into the land of Judea. There he spent some time with them and baptized.²³Now John was also baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there. People were coming to him and were being baptized,²⁴for John had not yet been thrown in prison.

²⁵Then there arose a dispute between some of John's disciples and a Jew about ceremonial washing.²⁶They went to John and said to him, "Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, about whom you have testified, look, he is baptizing, and they are all going to him."

²⁷John replied, "A man cannot receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven.²⁸You yourselves can testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but instead, 'I have been sent before him.'

²⁹The bride belongs to the bridegroom. Now the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the voice of the bridegroom. This, then, is my joy made complete.³⁰He must increase, but I must decrease.

³¹"He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth is from the earth and speaks about the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.³²He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony.³³He who has received his testimony has confirmed that God is true.

³⁴For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God. For he does not give the Spirit by measure.³⁵The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.³⁶He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who disobeys the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God stays on him."

¹Now when Jesus knew that the Pharisees had heard that he was making and baptizing more disciples than John²(although Jesus himself was not baptizing, but his disciples were),³he left Judea and went back again to Galilee.

⁴But it was necessary for him to go through Samaria.⁵So he came to a town of Samaria, called Sychar, near the piece of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

⁶The well of Jacob was there. Jesus was tired from his journey and sat by the well. It was about the sixth hour.

⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, "Give me some water to drink."⁸For his disciples had gone away into the town to buy food.

⁹Then the Samaritan woman said to him, "How is it that you, being a Jew, are asking me, being a Samaritan woman, for something to drink?" For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

¹⁰Jesus answered and said to her, "If you had known the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."

¹¹The woman said to him, "Sir, you do not have a bucket and the well is deep. Where then do you have the living water?¹²You are not greater, are you, than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock?"

¹³Jesus replied and said to her, "Everyone who drinks from this water will be thirsty again,¹⁴but whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will not ever be thirsty again. Instead, the water that I will give him will become a fountain of water in him, springing up to eternal life."

¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I may not become thirsty and not have to come here to draw water."

¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come back here."

¹⁷The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband."

Jesus replied, "You have said correctly, 'I have no husband,'

¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true."

¹⁹The woman said to him, "Sir, I see that you are a prophet.²⁰Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that Jerusalem is the place where people have to worship."

²¹Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, that an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.²²You worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.

²³However, the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to be his worshipers.²⁴God is Spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth."

²⁵The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming (the one called Christ). When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

²⁶Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one speaking to you."

²⁷At that moment his disciples returned. Now they were wondering why he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you speaking with her?"

²⁸So the woman left her water pot, went back to the town, and said to the people,²⁹"Come, see a man who told me everything that I have ever done. This could not be the Christ, could it?"³⁰They left the town and came to him.

³¹In the meantime, the disciples were urging him, saying, "Rabbi, eat."³²But he said to them, "I have food to eat that you do not know about."³³So the disciples said to each other, "No one has brought him anything to eat, have they?"

³⁴Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work.³⁵Do you not say, 'There are four more months and then the harvest comes'? I am saying to you, look up and see the fields, for they are already ripe for harvest!³⁶He who is harvesting receives wages and gathers fruit for everlasting life, so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

³⁷For in this the saying, 'One sows, and another reaps,' is true.³⁸I sent you to reap what you have not worked for. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor."

³⁹Many of the Samaritans in that city believed in him because of the report of the woman who was testifying, "He told me everything that I have done."⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.

⁴¹Many more believed because of his word.⁴²They said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard, and we know that this one is indeed the Savior of the world."

⁴³After those two days, he departed from there for Galilee.⁴⁴For Jesus himself declared that a prophet has no honor in his own country.⁴⁵When he came into Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him. They had seen all the things that he had done in Jerusalem at the festival, for they had also gone to the festival.

⁴⁶Now he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. There was a certain royal official whose son in Capernaum was ill.⁴⁷When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to Jesus and asked him to come down and heal his son, who was about to die.

⁴⁸Jesus then said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders, you will not believe."⁴⁹The royal official said to him, "Sir, come down before my child dies."⁵⁰Jesus said to him, "Go. Your son lives." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him, and he went away.

⁵¹While he was going down, his servants met him, saying that his son was living.⁵²So he asked them the hour when he began to improve. They replied to him, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him."

⁵³Then the father realized that it was at that hour that Jesus had said to him, "Your son lives." So he himself and his whole household believed.⁵⁴This was the second sign that Jesus did when he came out of Judea to Galilee.

¹After this there was a Jewish festival, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.²Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate there is a pool, which in the Aramaic language is called Bethesda, and it has five roofed porches.³A large number of people who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed were lying there.¹⁴²

⁵A certain man was there who had been sick for thirty-eight years.⁶When Jesus saw him lying there, and after he realized that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be healthy?"

⁷The sick man replied, "Sir, I do not have anyone to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up. When I come, another steps down before me."⁸Jesus said to him, "Get up, take up your bed, and walk."

⁹Immediately the man was healed, and he took up his bed and walked.

Now that day was a Sabbath.

¹⁰So the Jews said to him who was healed, "It is the Sabbath and you are not permitted to carry your mat."¹¹He replied, "He who made me healthy said to me, 'Pick up your mat and walk.'"

¹²They asked him, "Who is the man that said to you, 'Pick it up and walk'?"¹³However, the one who was healed did not know who it was because Jesus had gone away secretly, for there was a crowd in the place.

¹⁴Afterward, Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have become healthy! Do not sin anymore, so that something worse will not happen to you."¹⁵The man went away and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him healthy.

¹⁶Now because of these things the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the Sabbath.¹⁷Jesus replied to them, "My Father is working even now, and I, too, am working."¹⁸Because of this, the Jews sought even more to kill him because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

¹⁹Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, the Son can do nothing of himself, except only what he sees the Father doing, for whatever the Father is doing, the Son does in the same way.²⁰For the Father loves the Son and he shows him everything that he himself does, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.

²¹For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to anyone he wishes.²²For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son²³so that everyone will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

²⁴Truly, truly, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but he has passed from death to life.

²⁵"Truly, truly, I tell you the time is coming, and is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

²⁶For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has also given to the Son so that he has life in himself,²⁷and the Father has given the Son authority to carry out judgment because he is the Son of Man.

²⁸Do not be amazed at this, for there is a time coming in which everyone who is in the tombs will hear his voice²⁹and will come out: those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

³⁰"I can do nothing from myself. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous because I am not seeking my own will but the will of him who sent me.³¹If I should testify about myself, my testimony would not be true.³²There is another who testifies about me, and I know that the testimony that he gives about me is true.

³³You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.³⁴But the testimony that I receive is not from man. I say these things that you might be saved.³⁵John was a lamp that was burning and shining, and you were willing to rejoice in his light for a while.

³⁶Yet the testimony that I have is greater than that of John, for the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me that the Father has sent me.³⁷The Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You have neither heard his voice nor seen his form at any time.³⁸You do not have his word remaining in you, for you are not believing in the one whom he has sent.

³⁹You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and these same scriptures testify about me,⁴⁰and you are not willing to come to me so that you may have life.

⁴¹I do not receive glory from men,⁴²but I know that you do not have the love of God in yourselves.

⁴³I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another should come in his own name, you would receive him.⁴⁴How can you believe, you who accept glory from one another but are not seeking the glory that comes from the only God?

⁴⁵Do not think that I myself will accuse you before the Father. The one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have hoped.⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me.⁴⁷If you do not believe his writings, how are you going to believe my words?"

¹The best ancient copies do not have the phrase, waiting for the moving of the water .

²The best ancient copies do not have verse 4, For an angel of the Lord went down and stirred up the water at certain times and whoever stepped in while the water was stirring was healed from whatever disease he suffered from .

¹After these things, Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.²A great crowd was following him because they saw the signs that he was doing on those who were sick.³Jesus went up the mountain and there he sat down with his disciples.

⁴(Now the Passover, the Jewish festival, was near.)⁵When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming to him, he said to Philip, "Where are we going to buy bread so that these may eat?"⁶(But Jesus said this to test Philip, for he himself knew what he was going to do.)

⁷Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii worth of bread would not be sufficient for each one to have even a little."⁸One of the disciples, Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to Jesus,⁹"There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish, but what are these among so many?"

¹⁰Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number.¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves and after giving thanks, he gave it to those who were sitting. He did the same with the fish, as much as they wanted.¹²When the people were filled, he said to his disciples, "Gather up the broken pieces which remain, so that nothing will be lost."

¹³So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with broken pieces from the five barley loaves left over by those who had eaten.¹⁴Then, when the people saw this sign that he did, they said, "This truly is the prophet who is to come into the world."¹⁵When Jesus realized that they were about to come and seize him by force to make him king, he withdrew again up the mountain by himself.

¹⁶When it became evening, his disciples went down to the sea.¹⁷They got into a boat, and were going over the sea to Capernaum. It was dark by this time, and Jesus had not yet come to them.¹⁸A strong wind was blowing, and the sea was getting rough.

¹⁹When they had rowed about twenty-five or thirty stadia, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were afraid.²⁰But he said to them, "It is I! Do not be afraid."²¹Then they were willing to receive him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land where they were going.

²²The next day, the crowd that had been standing on the other side of the sea saw that there was no other boat there except the one, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples but that his disciples had gone away alone.²³However, there were some boats that came from Tiberias close to the place where they had eaten the bread loaves after the Lord had given thanks.

²⁴When the crowd discovered that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum seeking Jesus.²⁵After they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?"

²⁶Jesus replied to them, saying, "Truly, truly, you seek me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate some of the bread loaves and were filled.²⁷Do not labor for the food that perishes, but labor for the food that endures to eternal life which the Son of Man will give you, for God the Father has set his seal on him."

²⁸Then they said to him, "What must we do, so that we may do the works of God?"²⁹Jesus replied and said to them, "This is the work of God: That you believe in the one whom he has sent."

³⁰So they said to him, "What sign then will you do, so that we may see and believe you? What will you do?³¹Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'"

³²Then Jesus replied to them, "Truly, truly, it was not Moses who gave you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who is giving you the true bread from heaven.³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."³⁴So they said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

³⁵Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; he who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.³⁶But I told you that indeed you have seen me, and you do not believe.³⁷Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and he who comes to me I will certainly not throw out.

³⁸For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me.³⁹This is the will of him who sent me, that I would lose not one of all those whom he has given me, but will raise them up on the last day.⁴⁰For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day."

⁴¹Then the Jews grumbled about him because he had said, "I am the bread that has come down from heaven."⁴²They said, "Is not this Jesus son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"

⁴³Jesus replied and said to them, "Stop grumbling among yourselves.⁴⁴No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, 'Everyone will be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.

⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God—he has seen the Father.⁴⁷Truly, truly, he who believes has eternal life.

⁴⁸I am the bread of life.⁴⁹Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

⁵⁰This is the bread which comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat some of it and not die.⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats some of this bread, he will live forever. The bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world."

⁵²The Jews became angry among themselves and began to argue, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"⁵³Then Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves.

⁵⁴Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.⁵⁵For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.⁵⁶He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him.

⁵⁷As the living Father sent me, and as I live because of the Father, so he who eats me, he will also live because of me.⁵⁸This is the bread that has come down from heaven, not as the fathers ate and died. He who eats this bread will live forever."⁵⁹But Jesus said these things in the synagogue while he was teaching in Capernaum.

⁶⁰Then many of his disciples who heard this said, "This is a difficult saying; who can hear it?"⁶¹Jesus, because he knew in himself that his disciples were grumbling at this, said to them, "Does this offend you?

⁶²Then what if you should see the Son of Man going up to where he was before?⁶³It is the Spirit who makes alive; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit, and they are life.

⁶⁴Yet there are some of you who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones that would not believe and who it was who would betray him.⁶⁵He said, "It is because of this that I said to you that no one can come to me unless it is granted to him by the Father."

⁶⁶Because of this, many of his disciples went away and no longer walked with him.⁶⁷Then Jesus said to the twelve, "You do not want to go away also, do you?"⁶⁸Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have words of eternal life,⁶⁹and we have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God."¹

⁷⁰Jesus said to them, "Did not I choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?"⁷¹Now he spoke of Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he, one of the twelve, who would betray Jesus.

¹The phrase the Holy One of God is in the best ancient copies. Some later copies add an additional description and they read: the Christ, the Holy One of God.

¹After these things Jesus traveled about in Galilee, for he did not want to go into Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill him.²Now the Jewish Festival of Shelters was near.

³His brothers therefore said to him, "Leave this place and go to Judea, so that your disciples also may see the works that you do.⁴No one does anything in secret if he himself seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."

⁵For even his brothers did not believe in him.⁶Jesus therefore said to them, "My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready.⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify about it that its works are evil.

⁸You go up to the festival; I am not going to this festival because my time has not yet been fulfilled."⁹After he said these things to them, he stayed in Galilee.

¹⁰But when his brothers had gone up to the festival, then he also went up, not publicly but in secret.¹¹The Jews were looking for him at the festival and said, "Where is he?"

¹²There was much discussion among the crowds about him. Some said, "He is a good man." Others said, "No, he leads the crowds astray."¹³Yet no one spoke openly about him for fear of the Jews.

¹⁴When the festival was already half over, Jesus went up into the temple and began to teach.¹⁵Then the Jews marveled, saying, "How does this man know so much? He has never been educated."¹⁶Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not mine, but is of him who sent me.

¹⁷If anyone wishes to do his will, he will know about this teaching, whether it comes from God, or whether I speak from myself.¹⁸Whoever speaks from himself seeks his own glory, but whoever seeks the glory of him who sent him, that person is true, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

¹⁹Did not Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why do you seek to kill me?"²⁰The crowd answered, "You have a demon. Who seeks to kill you?"

²¹Jesus answered and said to them, "I did one work, and you all marvel because of it.²²Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but from the ancestors), and on the Sabbath you circumcise a man.

²³If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath so that the law of Moses is not broken, why are you angry with me because I made a man completely healthy on the Sabbath?²⁴Do not judge according to appearance, but judge righteously."

²⁵Some of them from Jerusalem said, "Is not this the one they seek to kill?²⁶See, he speaks openly, and they say nothing to him. It cannot be that the rulers indeed know that this is the Christ, can it?²⁷Yet we know where this one is from. But when the Christ comes, no one will know where he is from."

²⁸Then Jesus cried out in the temple, teaching and saying, "You both know me and know where I come from. I have not come of myself, but he who sent me is true, and you do not know him.²⁹I know him because I come from him and he sent me."

³⁰They were trying to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him because his hour had not yet come.³¹But many in the crowd believed in him, and they said, "When the Christ comes, will he do more signs than what this one has done?"³²The Pharisees heard the crowds whispering these things about Jesus, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to arrest him.

³³Jesus then said, "I am still with you for a short amount of time, and then I go to him who sent me.³⁴You will seek me but you will not find me; where I go, you will not be able to come."

³⁵The Jews therefore said among themselves, "Where will this man go that we will not be able to find him? Will he go to the dispersion among the Greeks and teach the Greeks?³⁶What is this word that he said, 'You will seek me but will not find me; where I go, you will not be able to come'?"

³⁷Now on the last, great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.³⁸He who believes in me, just as the scripture says, rivers of living water will flow from his belly."

³⁹But he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him would receive; the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus was not yet glorified.

⁴⁰Some of the crowd, when they heard these words, said, "This is indeed the prophet."⁴¹Others said, "This is the Christ." But some said, "Does the Christ come from Galilee?⁴²Have the scriptures not said that the Christ will come from the descendants of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?"

⁴³So there arose a division in the crowds because of him.⁴⁴Some of them would have arrested him, but no one laid hands on him.

⁴⁵Then the officers came back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, "Why did you not bring him?"⁴⁶The officers answered, "Never has anyone spoken like this."

⁴⁷So the Pharisees answered them, "Have you also been deceived?⁴⁸Have any of the rulers believed in him, or any of the Pharisees?⁴⁹But this crowd that does not know the law, they are cursed."

⁵⁰Nicodemus (one of the Pharisees, who came to him earlier) said to them,⁵¹"Does our law judge a man before hearing from him and knowing what he does?"⁵²They answered and said to him, "Are you also from Galilee? Search and see that no prophet comes from Galilee."

⁵³¹ [Then everyone went to his own house.

¹The best ancient copies do not have John 7:53-8:11.

¹¹ Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.²Early in the morning he came to the temple again, and all the people came; he sat down and taught them.³The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in the act of adultery. They placed her in the middle.

⁴Then they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.⁵Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such people; what do you say about her?"⁶They said this in order to trap him so that they might have something to accuse him about, but Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

⁷When they continued asking him questions, he stood up and said to them, "The one among you who has no sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."⁸Again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.

⁹When they heard it, they left one by one, beginning with the oldest. Finally Jesus was left alone, with the woman who had been in the middle.¹⁰Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?"¹¹She said, "No one, Lord." Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more."]²

¹²Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness but will have the light of life."¹³The Pharisees said to him, "You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true."

¹⁴Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true. I know where I came from and where I am going, but you do not know where I came from or where I am going.¹⁵You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one.¹⁶Yet if I judge, my judgment is true because I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

¹⁷Yes, and in your law it is written that the testimony of two men is true.¹⁸I am he who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me."

¹⁹They said to him, "Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father; if you had known me, you would have known my Father also."²⁰He said these words in the treasury as he taught in the temple, and no one arrested him because his hour had not yet come.

²¹So again he said to them, "I am going away; you will seek me and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come."²²The Jews said, "Will he kill himself? Is that why he says, 'Where I am going you cannot come'?"

²³Jesus said to them, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.²⁴Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins."

²⁵They said therefore to him, "Who are you?" Jesus said to them, "What I have said to you from the beginning.²⁶I have many things to speak and to judge about you. However, he who sent me is true; and the things that I heard from him, these things I say to the world."²⁷They did not understand that he was speaking to them about the Father.

²⁸Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM, and that I do nothing of myself. As the Father taught me, I speak these things.²⁹He who sent me is with me, and he has not left me alone, because I always do what is pleasing to him."³⁰As Jesus was saying these things, many believed in him.

³¹Jesus said to those Jews who had believed him, "If you remain in my word, then you are truly my disciples;³²and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."³³They answered him, "We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves of anyone; how can you say, 'You will be set free'?"

³⁴Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.³⁵The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.³⁶Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you will be truly free.

³⁷I know that you are Abraham's descendants; you seek to kill me because my word has no place in you.³⁸I say what I have seen with my Father, and you also do what you heard from your father."

³⁹They answered and said to him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.⁴⁰Yet, now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this.⁴¹You do the works of your father." They said to him, "We were not born in sexual immorality; we have one Father: God."

⁴²Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am here; for neither have I come of myself, but he sent me.⁴³Why do you not understand my words? It is because you cannot hear my words.⁴⁴You are of your father, the devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature because he is a liar and the father of lies.

⁴⁵Yet, because I speak the truth, you do not believe me.⁴⁶Which one of you convicts me of sin? If I speak the truth, why do you not believe me?⁴⁷He who is of God hears the words of God; you do not hear them because you are not of God."

⁴⁸The Jews answered and said to him, "Do we not truly say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?"⁴⁹Jesus answered, "I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me.

⁵⁰I do not seek my glory; there is one seeking and judging.⁵¹Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."

⁵²The Jews said to him, "Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham and the prophets died; but you say, 'If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'⁵³You are not greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? The prophets also died. Who do you make yourself out to be?"

⁵⁴Jesus answered, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; it is my Father who glorifies me—about whom you say that he is your God.⁵⁵You have not known him, but I know him. If I would say, 'I do not know him,' I would be like you, a liar. However, I know him and keep his word.⁵⁶Your father Abraham rejoiced at seeing my day; he saw it and was glad."

⁵⁷The Jews said to him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and you have seen Abraham?"⁵⁸Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."⁵⁹Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

¹See the note on John 7:53.

²See the note on John 7:53.

¹Now as Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.²His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, so that he was born blind?"

³Jesus answered, "Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but so that the works of God would be revealed in him.⁴We must do the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one will be able to work.⁵While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

⁶After Jesus said these things, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on his eyes.⁷He said to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which is translated "Sent"). So the man went away, washed, and came back seeing.

⁸Then the man's neighbors and those who had seen him previously as a beggar were saying, "Is not this the man that used to sit and beg?"⁹Some said, "It is he." Others said, "No, but he is like him." But he said, "I am the one."

¹⁰They said to him, "Then how were your eyes opened?"¹¹He answered, "The man who is called Jesus made mud and smeared it on my eyes and said to me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went and washed, and I received my sight."¹²They said to him, "Where is he?" He replied, "I do not know."

¹³They brought the man who used to be blind to the Pharisees.¹⁴Now it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes.¹⁵Then again the Pharisees asked him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I now can see."

¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath." Others said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?" So there was a division among them.¹⁷So they asked the blind man again, "What do you say about him, since he opened your eyes?" The blind man said, "He is a prophet."¹⁸Now the Jews still did not believe about him that he was blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

¹⁹They asked the parents, "Is this your son whom you say was born blind? How then does he now see?"²⁰So his parents answered them, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind.²¹How he now sees, we do not know, and who opened his eyes, we do not know. Ask him, he is an adult. He can speak for himself."

²²His parents said these things, because they were afraid of the Jews. For the Jews had already agreed that if anyone would confess him to be the Christ, he would be thrown out of the synagogue.²³Because of this, his parents said, "He is an adult, ask him."

²⁴So for a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner."²⁵Then that man replied, "I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: I was blind, and now I see."

²⁶Then they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?"²⁷He answered, "I have told you already, and you did not listen! Why do you want to hear it again? You do not want to become his disciples too, do you?"

²⁸They insulted him and said, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from."

³⁰The man answered and said to them, "This is remarkable, that you do not know where he is from, and yet he opened my eyes.³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if someone worships God and does his will, he listens to him.

³²Since the world began it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind.³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."³⁴They answered and said to him, "You were completely born in sins, and you are teaching us?" Then they threw him out.

³⁵Jesus heard that they had cast him out of the synagogue. He found him and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"³⁶He replied and said, "Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?"³⁷Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and it is the one who is speaking with you."³⁸The man said, "Lord, I believe," and he worshiped him.

³⁹Jesus said, "For judgment I came into this world so that those who do not see may see and so that those who see may become blind."⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things and asked him, "Are we also blind?"⁴¹Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin, but now you say, 'We see,' so your sin remains."

¹"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter through the gate into the sheep pen, but climbs up some other way, that man is a thief and a robber.²He who enters through the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

³The gatekeeper opens for him. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.⁴When he has brought out all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.

⁵They will not follow a stranger but instead they will avoid him, for they do not know the voice of strangers."⁶Jesus spoke this parable to them, but they did not understand what these things were that he was saying to them.

⁷Then Jesus said to them again, "Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the gate of the sheep.⁸Everyone who came before me is a thief and a robber, but the sheep did not listen to them.

⁹I am the gate. If anyone enters in through me, he will be saved; he will go in and out and will find pasture.¹⁰The thief does not come except to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they will have life and have it abundantly.

¹¹I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.¹²The hired servant is not a shepherd and does not own the sheep. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and escapes, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.¹³He runs away because he is a hired servant and does not care for the sheep.

¹⁴I am the good shepherd, and I know my own, and my own know me.¹⁵The Father knows me, and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.¹⁶I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice so that there will be one flock and one shepherd.

¹⁷This is why the Father loves me: I lay down my life so that I may take it again.¹⁸No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

¹⁹A division again occurred among the Jews because of these words.²⁰Many of them said, "He has a demon and is insane. Why do you listen to him?"²¹Others said, "These are not the words of a demon-possessed man. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

²²Then it was time for the Festival of the Dedication in Jerusalem. It was winter,²³and Jesus was walking in the temple in the porch of Solomon.²⁴Then the Jews surrounded him and said to him, "How long will you hold us doubting? If you are the Christ, tell us openly."

²⁵Jesus replied to them, "I told you, but you do not believe. The works that I do in the name of my Father, these testify concerning me.²⁶Yet you do not believe because you are not my sheep.

²⁷My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they follow me.²⁸I give them eternal life; they will never die, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

²⁹My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all others, and no one is able to snatch them out of the hand of the Father.³⁰I and the Father are one."³¹Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

³²Jesus answered them, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of those works are you stoning me?"³³The Jews answered him, "We are not stoning you for any good work, but for blasphemy, because you, a man, are making yourself God."

³⁴Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, "You are gods"'?³⁵If he called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the scripture cannot be broken),³⁶do you say to him whom the Father set apart and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

³⁷If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me.³⁸But if I am doing them, even if you do not believe me, believe in the works so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father."³⁹They tried to seize him again, but he went away out of their hand.

⁴⁰He went away again beyond the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and he stayed there.⁴¹Many people came to him and they said, "John indeed did no signs, but all the things that John has said about this man are true."⁴²Many people believed in him there.

¹Now a certain man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.²It was Mary who anointed the Lord with myrrh and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

³The sisters then sent for Jesus, saying, "Lord, see, he whom you love is sick."⁴When Jesus heard it, he said, "This sickness is not to death, but instead it is for the glory of God so that the Son of God may be glorified by it."

⁵Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.⁶So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, Jesus stayed two more days in the place where he was.⁷Then after this, he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again."

⁸The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, right now the Jews are trying to stone you, and you are going back there again?"⁹Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of light in a day? If someone walks in the daytime, he will not stumble, because he sees by the light of this world.

¹⁰However, if he walks at night, he will stumble because the light is not in him."¹¹He said these things, and after these things, he said to them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going so that I may wake him out of sleep."

¹²The disciples therefore said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover."¹³Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking about the sleep of resting.¹⁴Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead.

¹⁵I am glad, for your sakes, that I was not there so that you may believe. Let us go to him."¹⁶Thomas, who was called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go so that we may die with Jesus."

¹⁷When Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days.¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about fifteen stadia away.¹⁹Many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to comfort them about their brother.²⁰Then Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet him, but Mary was sitting in the house.

²¹Martha then said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.²²Even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, he will give to you."²³Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."

²⁴Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."²⁵Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in me, even if he dies, will live;²⁶and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"

²⁷She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world."²⁸When she had said this, she went away and called her sister Mary privately. She said, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you."²⁹When she heard this, she got up quickly and went to him.

³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come into the village but was still in the place where Martha had met him.³¹So when the Jews, who were with her in the house and who were comforting her, saw Mary getting up quickly and going out, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there.³²When Mary came to the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died."

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and was troubled;³⁴he said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see."³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then the Jews said, "See how much he loved Lazarus!"³⁷But some of them said, "Could not this man, who opened the eyes of a blind man, also have made this man not die?"

³⁸Then Jesus again, being deeply moved in himself, went to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone lay against it.³⁹Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of Lazarus, the one who had died, said to Jesus, "Lord, by this time the body will be decaying, for he has been dead for four days."⁴⁰Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that, if you believed, you would see the glory of God?"

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you that you listened to me.⁴²I knew that you always listen to me, but it is because of the crowd that is standing around me that I said this, so that they may believe that you have sent me."

⁴³After he had said this, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!"⁴⁴The dead man came out; his feet and hands were bound with cloths, and his face was bound about with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go."

⁴⁵Then many of the Jews who came to Mary, and saw what Jesus did, believed in him.⁴⁶But some of them went away to the Pharisees and told them the things that Jesus had done.

⁴⁷Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council together and said, "What will we do? This man does many signs.⁴⁸If we leave him alone like this, all will believe in him; the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation."

⁴⁹However, a certain man among them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing.⁵⁰You do not consider that it is better for you that one man dies for the people than that the whole nation perishes."

⁵¹Now this he said not from himself. Instead, being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for the nation;⁵²and not only for the nation, but so that the children of God who are scattered would be gathered together into one.⁵³So from that day onward they planned how to put Jesus to death.

⁵⁴No longer did Jesus walk openly among the Jews, but he departed from there into the country near to the wilderness into a town called Ephraim. There he stayed with the disciples.⁵⁵Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem from the country before the Passover in order to purify themselves.

⁵⁶They were looking for Jesus and speaking one with another as they stood in the temple: "What do you think? That he will not come to the festival?"⁵⁷Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given an order that if anyone knew where Jesus was, he should report it so that they might seize him.

¹Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.²So they made him a dinner there, and Martha was serving, but Lazarus was one of those who were lying down at the table with Jesus.³Then Mary took a litra of perfume made of very precious pure nard, anointed the feet of Jesus with it, and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

⁴Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who would betray him, said,⁵"Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?"⁶Now he said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. He had the moneybag and would steal from what was put in it.

⁷Jesus said, "Allow her to keep what she has for the day of my burial.⁸You will always have the poor with you. But you will not always have me."

⁹Now a large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, and they came, not only for Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.¹⁰The chief priests conspired together so that they might also put Lazarus to death;¹¹for it was because of him that many of the Jews went away and believed in Jesus.

¹²On the next day a great crowd came to the festival. When they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem,¹³they took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet him and cried out, "Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel."

¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it; as it was written,

¹⁵"Do not fear, daughter of Zion;

see, your King is coming,

sitting on the colt of a donkey."

¹⁶His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, they remembered that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

¹⁷Now the crowd testified that they had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him up from the dead.¹⁸It was also for this reason that the crowd went out to meet him, because they heard that he had done this sign.¹⁹The Pharisees therefore said among themselves, "Look, you can do nothing good; see, the world has gone after him."

²⁰Now certain Greeks were among those who were going up to worship at the festival.²¹These went to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, saying, "Sir, we want to see Jesus."²²Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew went with Philip, and they told Jesus.

²³Jesus answered them and said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.²⁴Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it will bear much fruit.

²⁵He who loves his life will lose it; but he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.²⁶If anyone serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there will my servant also be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.

²⁷Now my soul is troubled and what should I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? But for this reason I came to this hour.²⁸Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven and said, "I have glorified it and I will glorify it again."²⁹Then the crowd that stood by and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him."

³⁰Jesus answered and said, "This voice did not come for me, but for you.³¹Now is the judgment of this world: Now will the ruler of this world be thrown out.

³²When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to myself."³³He said this to indicate what kind of death he would die.

³⁴The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Christ will stay forever. How can you say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"³⁵Jesus then said to them, "The light will still be with you for a short amount of time. Walk while you have the light, so that darkness does not overtake you. He who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.³⁶While you have the light, believe in the light so that you may be sons of light."

Jesus said these things and then departed and hid from them.

³⁷Although Jesus had done so many signs before them, yet they did not believe in him³⁸so that the word of Isaiah the prophet would be fulfilled, in which he said:

"Lord, who has believed our report,

and to whom has the arm

of the Lord been revealed?"

³⁹For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah had also said,

⁴⁰"He has blinded their eyes,

and he has hardened their heart,

otherwise they would see with their eyes

and understand with their hearts,

and turn, and I would heal them."

⁴¹Isaiah said these things because he saw the glory of Jesus and spoke of him.⁴²But despite that, many of the rulers believed in Jesus; but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess it so that they would not be banned from the synagogue.⁴³They loved the glory that comes from people more than the glory that comes from God.

⁴⁴Jesus cried out and said, "The one who believes in me believes not only in me but also in him who sent me,⁴⁵and the one who sees me sees him who sent me.

⁴⁶I have come as a light into the world, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness.⁴⁷If anyone hears my words but does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

⁴⁸The one who rejects me and who does not receive my words has one who judges him. The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.⁴⁹For I did not speak for myself, but it is the Father who sent me, who has given me the command about what to say and what to speak.⁵⁰I know that his command is eternal life, so that is what I say—just as the Father has spoken to me, so I speak."

¹Now it was before the Festival of the Passover. Jesus knew that his hour had come to go out of this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.²Now the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot son of Simon to betray Jesus. So during dinner,

³Jesus—who knew that the Father had given everything over into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God—⁴got up from dinner and took off his outer clothing. Then he took a towel and wrapped it around himself.⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and dry them with the towel that he had put around himself.

⁶He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"⁷Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will understand this later."⁸Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me."⁹Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, do not only wash my feet, but also my hands and my head."

¹⁰Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed has no need, except to wash his feet, but he is completely clean; you are clean, but not everyone."¹¹(For Jesus knew who would betray him; that is why he said, "Not all of you are clean.")

¹²So when Jesus had washed their feet and taken his garments and sat down again, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done for you?¹³You call me 'teacher' and 'Lord,' and you are speaking correctly, because so I am.¹⁴If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash the feet of one another.¹⁵For I have given you an example so that you should also do just as I did for you.

¹⁶Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is a messenger greater than he who sent him.¹⁷If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.¹⁸I am not speaking about all of you; I know those whom I have chosen—but this is so that the scripture will be fulfilled: 'He who eats my bread lifted up his heel against me.'

¹⁹I tell you this now before it happens so that when it happens, you may believe that I AM.²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me."

²¹When Jesus said this, he was troubled in spirit. He testified and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you that one of you will betray me."²²The disciples looked at each other, wondering of whom he was speaking.

²³One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying down at the table against Jesus' side.²⁴Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him who he is speaking about."²⁵So he leaned back against the side of Jesus and said to him, "Lord, who is it?"

²⁶Then Jesus answered, "It is the one for whom I will dip the piece of bread and give it him." So when he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.²⁷Then after the bread, Satan entered into him, so Jesus said to him, "What you are doing, do it quickly."

²⁸Now no one who was lying down at the table knew why he said this to him.²⁹Some thought that, since Judas had the moneybag, Jesus said to him, "Buy what we need to have for the festival," or that he should give something to the poor.³⁰After Judas received the bread, he went out immediately. It was night.

³¹When Judas was gone, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him.³²If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify the Son in himself, and he will glorify him at once.³³Little children, I am with you for still a short amount of time. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' Now I also say this to you.

³⁴I am giving you a new commandment, that you should love one another; as I have loved you, so also you should love one another.³⁵By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another."

³⁶Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus answered, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later."³⁷Peter said to him, "Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you."³⁸Jesus answered, "Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow before you have denied me three times."

¹"Do not let your heart be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.²In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I am going to prepare a place for you.³If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am you will also be.

⁴You know the way to where I am going."⁵Thomas said to Jesus, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?"⁶Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through me.⁷If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you know him and have seen him."

⁸Philip said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."⁹Jesus said to him, "I have been with you for such a long time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from my own authority, but the Father living in me is doing his work.¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves.

¹²Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in me will do the works that I do, and he will do greater works than these because I am going to the Father.¹³Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it so that the Father will be glorified in the Son.¹⁴If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

¹⁵If you love me, you will keep my commandments,¹⁶and I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Comforter so that he will be with you forever—¹⁷the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive him because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

¹⁸I will not leave you as orphans; I will come back to you.¹⁹Yet a short amount of time and the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will also live.²⁰On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and that you are in me, and that I am in you.

²¹He who has my commandments and keeps them is the one who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and I will show myself to him."²²Judas (not Iscariot) said to Jesus, "Lord, why is it that you will show yourself to us and not to the world?"

²³Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and we will make our home with him.²⁴He who does not love me does not keep my words. The word that you hear is not from me but from the Father who sent me.

²⁵I have said these things to you, while I am staying with you.²⁶However, the Comforter—the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and he will remind you of everything that I said to you.²⁷I leave you peace; I give you my peace. I do not give it as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not be afraid.

²⁸You heard that I said to you, 'I am going away, and I will come back to you.' If you loved me, you would be glad because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I am.²⁹Now I have told you before it happens so that, when it happens, you will believe.

³⁰I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me,³¹but in order that the world will know that I love the Father, I do just as the Father commanded me. Let us get up and go from here."

¹"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.²He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

³You are already clean because of the message that I have spoken to you.⁴Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me.

⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.⁶If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up, and they gather the branches and throw them into the fire, and they are burned up.⁷If you remain in me, and if my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

⁸My Father is glorified in this, that you bear much fruit and so prove that you are my disciples.⁹As the Father has loved me, I have also loved you. Remain in my love.

¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, as I have kept the commandments of my Father and remain in his love.¹¹I have spoken these things to you so that my joy will be in you and so that your joy will be made full.

¹²This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.¹³No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends.

¹⁴You are my friends if you do the things that I command you.¹⁵No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing. I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.

¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain. This is so that whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.¹⁷These things I command you, so that you love one another.

¹⁸If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.¹⁹If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world and because I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

²⁰Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they kept my word, they will also keep yours.²¹They will do all these things to you because of my name, because they do not know him who sent me.²²If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.

²³He who hates me also hates my Father.²⁴If I had not done the works that no one else did among them, they would have no sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.²⁵But this is in order to fulfill the word that is written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.'

²⁶When the Comforter comes—whom I will send to you from the Father, that is, the Spirit of truth, who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.²⁷You also must testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

¹"I have spoken these things to you so that you will not fall away.²They will throw you out of the synagogues. But the hour is coming when everyone who kills you will think that he is offering a service to God.

³They will do these things because they have not known the Father nor me.⁴I have spoken these things to you so that when their hour comes, you will remember that I told you about them. I did not tell you about these things in the beginning, because I was with you.

⁵But now I go to him who sent me, yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?'⁶But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart.⁷But truly I tell you, it is better for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you.

⁸When he comes, the Comforter will prove the world to be wrong about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment—⁹about sin, because they do not believe in me;¹⁰about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, and you will no longer see me;¹¹and about judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged.

¹²I have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak from himself. But he will say whatever he hears, and he will tell you things that are to come.¹⁴He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and he will tell it to you.

¹⁵Everything that the Father has is mine. Therefore, I said that the Spirit will take from what is mine and he will tell it to you.¹⁶In a short amount of time you will no longer see me, and after another short amount of time you will see me."

¹⁷Then some of his disciples said to one another, "What is this that he says to us, 'A short amount of time you will no longer see me and after another short amount of time you will see me,' and, 'Because I go to the Father'?"¹⁸Therefore they said, "What is this that he says, 'A short amount of time'? We do not know what he is talking about."

¹⁹Jesus saw that they wanted to ask him, and he said to them, "Is this what you are asking each other, what I meant by saying, 'In a short amount of time and you will no longer see me, and again in a short amount of time and you will see me'?²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will be glad. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will be turned into joy.²¹When a woman gives birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers her tribulation because of her joy that a man has been born into the world.

²²So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your heart will be glad, and no one will be able to take away your joy from you.²³On that day you will not ask me anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask anything of the Father in my name, he will give it to you.²⁴Until now you have not asked anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy will be fulfilled.

²⁵"I have said these things to you in figures of speech, but the hour is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figures of speech, but instead I will tell you plainly about the Father.

²⁶On that day you will ask in my name and I do not say to you that I will pray to the Father for you,²⁷for the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and because you have believed that I came from God.²⁸I came from the Father, and I have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and I am going to the Father."

²⁹His disciples said, "See, now you are speaking plainly and you are not using figures of speech.³⁰Now we know that you know all things, and you do not need anyone to ask you questions. Because of this, we believe that you have come from God."³¹Jesus answered them, "Do you believe now?

³²See, the hour is coming, yes, and has indeed come, when you will be scattered, everyone to his own home, and you will leave me alone. Yet I am not alone because the Father is with me.³³I have spoken these things to you so that you will have peace in me. In the world you have tribulation. But have courage! I have conquered the world."

¹After Jesus said these things, he lifted up his eyes to the heavens and said, "Father, the hour has come, glorify your Son so that the Son will glorify you—²just as you gave him authority over all flesh so that he would give eternal life to everyone whom you have given him.

³This is eternal life: That they know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.⁴I glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work that you have given me to do.⁵Now, Father, glorify me along with yourself with the glory that I had with you before the world was made.

⁶I revealed your name to the people whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.⁷Now they know that everything that you have given me comes from you,⁸for I have given them all the words that you gave me. They received them and truly knew that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.

⁹I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.¹⁰Everything that is mine is yours, and yours is mine, and I am glorified in them.¹¹I am no longer in the world, but these people are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name that you have given me so that they will be one, just as we are one.

¹²While I was with them, I kept them safe in your name, which you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was destroyed, except for the son of destruction, so that the scriptures would be fulfilled.¹³Now I am coming to you, but I am saying these things in the world so that they will have my joy fulfilled in themselves.¹⁴I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

¹⁵I do not ask for you to take them away from the world, but for you to keep them safe from the evil one.¹⁶They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.¹⁷Set them apart by the truth. Your word is truth.

¹⁸Just as you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.¹⁹For their sakes I have set myself apart, so that they themselves may also be set apart in truth.

²⁰I pray not only for these, but also for those who will believe in me through their word²¹so that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world will believe that you have sent me.

²²The glory that you gave me, I have given to them, so that they will be one, just as we are one:²³I in them, and you in me—that they may be brought to complete unity, so that the world will know that you sent me, and that you have loved them just as you loved me.

²⁴Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you gave me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.

²⁵Righteous Father, the world did not know you, but I know you; and these know that you sent me.²⁶I made your name known to them, and I will make it known so that the love with which you have loved me will be in them, and I will be in them."

¹After Jesus spoke these words, he went out with his disciples to the other side of the Kidron Brook, where there was a garden into which he and his disciples entered.²Now Judas, who was going to betray him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples.³Then Judas, leading a company of soldiers and some officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, went there with lanterns, torches, and weapons.

⁴Then Jesus, having known all the things that would happen to him, went forward and asked them, "Who are you looking for?"⁵They answered him, "Jesus of Nazareth." Jesus said to them, "I am." Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with the soldiers.

⁶So when he said to them, "I am," they went backward and fell to the ground.⁷Then again he asked them, "Who are you looking for?" Again they said, "Jesus of Nazareth."

⁸Jesus answered, "I told you that I am. So if you are looking for me, let these go."⁹This was in order to fulfill the word that he said: "Of those whom you have given me, I lost no one."

¹⁰Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. Now the name of the servant was Malchus.¹¹Jesus said to Peter, "Put the sword back into its sheath. Should I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?"

¹²So a company of soldiers and the captain, and the officers of the Jews, seized Jesus and tied him up.¹³They led him first to Annas, for he was father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was high priest that year.¹⁴Now Caiaphas was the one who had given the advice to the Jews that it would be better that one man die for the people.

¹⁵Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and he entered with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest;¹⁶but Peter was standing at the door outside. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the doorkeeper, and he brought Peter in.

¹⁷Then the female servant, the doorkeeper, said to Peter, "Are you not also one of the disciples of this man?" He said, "I am not."¹⁸Now the servants and the officers were standing there, and they had made a charcoal fire, for it was cold, and they were warming themselves. Peter was also with them, standing there and warming himself.

¹⁹The high priest then asked Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.²⁰Jesus answered him, "I have spoken openly to the world. I was always teaching in synagogues and in the temple where all the Jews come together. I said nothing in secret.²¹Why did you ask me? Ask those who have heard me about what I said. Look, these people know what I said."

²²When Jesus had said this, one of the officers standing there struck Jesus and said, "Is that how you answer the high priest?"²³Jesus answered him, "If I spoke wrongly, testify about the wrong, but if rightly, why do you hit me?"²⁴Then Annas sent him tied up to Caiaphas the high priest.

²⁵Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. The people then said to him, "Are you not also one of his disciples?" He denied it and said, "I am not."²⁶One of the servants of the high priest, who was a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, "Did I not see you in the garden with him?"²⁷Then Peter denied it again; and immediately the rooster crowed.

²⁸Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the government headquarters. It was early in the morning, and they did not enter the government headquarters so that they would not be defiled but would be able to eat the Passover.²⁹So Pilate went out to them and said, "What accusation are you bringing against this man?"³⁰They answered and said to him, "If this man was not an evildoer, we would not have given him over to you."

³¹Pilate therefore said to them, "Take him yourselves, and judge him according to your law." The Jews said to him, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death."³²They said this so that the word of Jesus would be fulfilled which he had spoken to indicate by what kind of death he would die.

³³Then Pilate entered the government headquarters again and called Jesus, and he said to him, "Are you the King of the Jews?"³⁴Jesus answered, "Do you speak from yourself, or did others speak to you about me?"³⁵Pilate answered, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own people and the chief priests gave you over to me. What did you do?"

³⁶Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, then my servants would fight so that I would not be given over to the Jews. But now my kingdom is not from here."³⁷Pilate then said to him, "Are you a king then?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this purpose I have been born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

³⁸Pilate said to him, "What is truth?" When he had said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them, "I find no guilt in this man.³⁹But you have the custom that I release one person to you at the Passover. So do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?"⁴⁰Then they cried out again and said, "Not this man, but Barabbas." Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.

¹Then Pilate took Jesus and whipped him.²The soldiers wove a crown of thorns. They put it on the head of Jesus and dressed him with a purple garment.³They came to him and said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" and they struck him.

⁴Then Pilate went outside again and said to them, "See, I am bringing him outside to you so that you will know that I find no guilt in him."⁵So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple garment. Pilate said to them, "Look, here is the man!"

⁶When therefore the chief priests and the officers saw Jesus, they cried out and said, "Crucify him, crucify him!"

Pilate said to them, "Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him."

⁷The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to that law he has to die because he claimed to be the Son of God."⁸When Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid,⁹and he entered the government headquarters again and said to Jesus, "Where do you come from?" But Jesus gave him no answer.

¹⁰Then Pilate said to him, "Are you not speaking to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you, and authority to crucify you?"¹¹Jesus answered him, "You do not have any authority over me except for what has been given to you from above. Therefore, he who gave me over to you has a greater sin."

¹²At this answer, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar. Everyone who makes himself a king speaks against Caesar."

¹³When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place called "The Pavement," but in the Aramaic language, "Gabbatha."

¹⁴Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, at about the sixth hour. Pilate said to the Jews, "See, here is your king!"

¹⁵They cried out, "Away with him, away with him; crucify him!"

Pilate said to them, "Should I crucify your King?"

The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar."

¹⁶Then Pilate gave Jesus over to them to be crucified.

¹⁷Then they took Jesus, and he went out, carrying the cross for himself, to the place called "The Place of a Skull," which in the Aramaic language is called "Golgotha."¹⁸They crucified Jesus there, and with him two other men, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹Pilate also wrote a sign and put it on the cross. There it was written: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.²⁰Many of the Jews read this sign because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. The sign was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek.

²¹Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but rather, 'This one said, "I am King of the Jews."'"

²²Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written."

²³When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, divided them into four shares, one for each of them; and also the tunic. Now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.²⁴Then they said to each other, "Let us not tear it, but instead let us cast lots for it to decide whose it will be." This happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled which said,

"They divided my garments among themselves

and cast lots for my clothing."

This is what the soldiers did.

²⁵Now standing beside Jesus' cross were his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.²⁶When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, see, your son!"²⁷Then he said to the disciple, "See, your mother!" From that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

²⁸After this, knowing that everything was now accomplished and so that the scriptures would be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I am thirsty."²⁹A container full of sour wine was placed there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop staff and lifted it up to his mouth.³⁰When Jesus had taken the sour wine, he said, "It is finished." He bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹Then the Jews, because it was the day of preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross during the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was especially important), asked Pilate to break their legs and to remove them.³²Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man and of the second man who had been crucified with Jesus.³³When they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead, so they did not break his legs.

³⁴However, one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.³⁵The one who saw this has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that what he said is true so that you may also believe.

³⁶For these things happened in order to fulfill scripture, "Not one of his bones will be broken."³⁷Again, another scripture says, "They will look at him whom they pierced."

³⁸After these things, Joseph of Arimathea, since he was a disciple of Jesus (but secretly for fear of the Jews), asked Pilate if he could take away the body of Jesus. Pilate gave him permission. So Joseph came and took away his body.³⁹Nicodemus also came—he who at first had come to Jesus by night. He brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about one hundred litras.

⁴⁰So they took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen cloths with the spices, as was the custom of the Jews to bury bodies.⁴¹Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden was a new tomb in which no person had yet been buried.⁴²Because it was the day of preparation for the Jews and because the tomb was close by, they laid Jesus in it.

¹Now early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb, and she saw the stone rolled away from the tomb.²So she ran and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and she said to them, "They took away the Lord out from the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him."

³Then Peter and the other disciple went out, and they were going to the tomb.⁴They both ran together, and the other disciple quickly ran ahead of Peter and arrived at the tomb first.⁵Then stooping down, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go inside.

⁶Simon Peter then arrived after him and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there⁷and the cloth that had been on his head. It was not lying with the linen cloths but was folded up in a place by itself.

⁸Then the other disciple, the one who first arrived at the tomb, also went in, and he saw and believed.⁹For until that time they still did not know the scripture that he should rise from the dead.¹⁰So the disciples went back home again.

¹¹But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping. As she wept, she stooped down into the tomb.¹²She saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the foot of where the body of Jesus had lain.¹³They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?"

She said to them, "Because they took away my Lord, and I do not know where they have put him."

¹⁴When she said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.

¹⁵Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?"

She thought that he was the gardener, so she said to him, "Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will take him away."

¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Mary."

She turned and said to him in Aramaic, "Rabboni" (which is to say "Teacher").

¹⁷Jesus said to her, "Do not touch me, for I have not yet gone up to the Father, but go to my brothers and say to them that I will go up to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God."

¹⁸Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples, "I have seen the Lord," and that he had said these things to her.

¹⁹On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the middle of them and said to them, "Peace to you."²⁰After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

²¹Jesus then said to them again, "Peace to you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you."²²When Jesus had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.²³Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven; whoever's sins you keep back, they are kept back."

²⁴Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.²⁵The other disciples later said to him, "We have seen the Lord."

He said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."

²⁶After eight days his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came while the doors were closed, and stood among them, and said, "Peace to you."²⁷Then he said to Thomas, "Reach here with your finger and see my hands. Reach here with your hand and put it into my side. Do not be unbelieving, but believe."

²⁸Thomas answered and said to him, "My Lord and my God."

²⁹Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and believed."

³⁰Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, signs that have not been written in this book,³¹but these have been written so that you would believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and so that believing, you would have life in his name.

¹After these things Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias. This is how he revealed himself:²Simon Peter was together with Thomas called Didymus, Nathaniel from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples of Jesus.³Simon Peter said to them, "I am going fishing." They said to him, "We, too, will come with you." They went and got into a boat, but they caught nothing during the whole night.

⁴Now, when it was already early in the morning, Jesus stood on the beach, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus.⁵So Jesus said to them, "Young men, do you have anything to eat?"

They answered him, "No."

⁶He said to them, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some." So they threw their net and were not able to draw it in because of the large number of fish.

⁷Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord." When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied up his outer garment (for he was undressed), and threw himself into the sea.⁸The other disciples came in the boat (for they were not far from the land, about two hundred cubits off), and they were pulling the net full of fish.⁹When they got out upon the land, they saw a charcoal fire there and fish laid on it, with bread.

¹⁰Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught."¹¹Simon Peter then went up and drew the net to land, full of large fish, 153 of them, but even with so many, the net was not torn.

¹²Jesus said to them, "Come and eat breakfast." None of the disciples dared ask him, "Who are you?" They knew it was the Lord.¹³Jesus came, took the bread, and gave it to them, and the fish also.¹⁴This was the third time that Jesus revealed himself to the disciples after he had risen from the dead.

¹⁵After they ate breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?"

Peter said to him, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs."

¹⁶He said to him again a second time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter said to him, "Yes Lord, you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Shepherd my sheep."

¹⁷He said to him a third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?"

Peter was sorrowful because Jesus had said to him a third time, "Do you love me?" He said to him, "Lord, you know all things, you know that I love you."

Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep.

¹⁸Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you become old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will gird you and carry you where you will not want to go."

¹⁹Now Jesus said this in order to indicate with what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After he had said this, he said to Peter, "Follow me."

²⁰Peter turned around and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who had also leaned back against the side of Jesus at the dinner and who had said, "Lord, who is the one who will betray you?"²¹Peter saw him and then said to Jesus, "Lord, what will this man do?"

²²Jesus said to him, "If I want him to stay until I come, what is that to you? Follow me."

²³So this statement spread among the brothers, that that disciple would not die. Yet Jesus did not say to Peter that the other disciple would not die, but, "If I want him to stay until I come, what is that to you?"

²⁴This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and who wrote these things, and we know that his testimony is true.²⁵There are also many other things that Jesus did. If each one were written down, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

Acts

¹The former account I wrote, Theophilus, told all that Jesus began to do and to teach,²until the day that he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen.³After his suffering, he presented himself alive to them with many convincing proofs. For forty days he appeared to them, and he spoke about the kingdom of God.

⁴When he was meeting together with them, he commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, about which he said, "You heard from me⁵that John indeed baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit in a few days."

⁶When they were assembled together they asked him, "Lord, is this the time you will restore the kingdom to Israel?"⁷He said to them, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has determined by his own authority.⁸But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

⁹When the Lord Jesus had said these things, as they were looking up, he was raised up, and a cloud hid him from their eyes.¹⁰While they were looking intensely to heaven as he went, suddenly, two men stood by them in white clothing.¹¹They said, "You men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into heaven? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will return in the same manner as you saw him going into heaven."

¹²Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mountain that is called Olives, which is near to Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey.¹³When they arrived, they went up into the upper chamber, where they were staying. They were Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James son of Alphaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.¹⁴They all were devoted with one purpose to prayer, together with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.

¹⁵In those days Peter stood up in the midst of the brothers, about 120 names, and said,¹⁶"Brothers, it was necessary that the scripture should be fulfilled, that the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who guided the ones who arrested Jesus.

¹⁷For he was one of us and received a share of this ministry."¹⁸(Now this man bought a field with the earnings he received for his wickedness, and there he fell headfirst, and his body burst open, and all his intestines poured out.¹⁹All those living in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language "Akeldama," that is, "Field of Blood.")

²⁰"For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

'Let his field be made desolate,

and do not let even one person live there';

'Let someone else take his position of leadership.'

²¹It is necessary, therefore, that one of the men who accompanied us all the time the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,²²beginning from the baptism of John to the day that he was taken up from us, become a witness with us of his resurrection."²³They put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also called Justus, and Matthias.

²⁴They prayed and said, "You, Lord, know the hearts of all people, so reveal which of these two is the one whom you have chosen²⁵to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned away to go to his own place."²⁶They cast lots for them, and the lot fell to Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

¹When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in the same place.²Suddenly a sound like the rush of a violent wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.³There appeared to them tongues like fire that were distributed, and they sat upon each one of them.⁴They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them the ability.

⁵Now there were Jews who were living in Jerusalem, godly men, from every nation under heaven.⁶When this sound was heard, the multitude came together and was confused because everyone heard them speaking in his own language.⁷They were amazed and marveled; they said, "Really, are not all these who are speaking Galileans?

⁸Why is it that we are hearing them, each in our own language in which we were born?⁹Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia,¹⁰Phrygia and Pamphylia, in Egypt and the parts of Libya toward Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,¹¹Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our languages about the mighty works of God."

¹²They were all amazed and perplexed; they said to one another, "What does this mean?"¹³But others mocked and said, "They are full of new wine."

¹⁴But Peter stood with the eleven, raised his voice, and declared to them, "Men of Judea and all of you who live at Jerusalem, let this be known to you; pay attention to my words.¹⁵For these people are not drunk as you assume, for it is only the third hour of the day.

¹⁶But this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

¹⁷'It will be in the last days,' God says,

'I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

your young men will see visions,

and your old men will dream dreams.

¹⁸Surely on my servants

and my female servants in those days

I will pour out my Spirit, and they will prophesy.

¹⁹I will show wonders in the sky above

and signs on the earth below,

blood, fire, and vapor of smoke.

²⁰The sun will be turned to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the great and remarkable

day of the Lord comes.

²¹It will be that everyone who calls

on the name of the Lord will be saved.'

²²Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited to you by God with the mighty deeds and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.²³This man was handed over by God's predetermined plan and foreknowledge; and you, by the hand of lawless men, put him to death by nailing him to a cross.²⁴But God raised him up, freeing him from the agonies of death, because it was impossible for him to be held by it.

²⁵For David says about him,

'I saw the Lord always before my face,

for he is beside my right hand

so that I should not be moved.

²⁶Therefore my heart was glad

and my tongue rejoiced.

Also, my flesh will live in hope.

²⁷For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,

neither will you allow

your Holy One to see decay.

²⁸You have made known to me the ways of life;

you will make me full of gladness with your face.'

²⁹Brothers, it is proper for me to speak to you confidently about the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.³⁰Therefore, he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of the fruit of his loins on his throne.³¹He saw what was to happen in the future and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see decay.

³²This Jesus—God raised him up, of which we all are witnesses.³³Therefore, having been exalted to the right hand of God and having received the promised Holy Spirit from the Father, he has poured out what you see and hear.

³⁴For David did not ascend to the heaven, but he says,

'The Lord said to my Lord,

"Sit at my right hand

³⁵until I make your enemies

the footstool for your feet."'

³⁶Therefore, let all the house of Israel certainly know that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified."

³⁷Now when they heard this, they were pierced in their hearts, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brothers, what must we do?"

³⁸Then Peter said to them, "Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.³⁹For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many people as the Lord our God will call."

⁴⁰With many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, "Be saved from this perverse generation."⁴¹Then they received his word and were baptized, and there were added in that day about three thousand souls.⁴²They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in prayers.

⁴³Fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.⁴⁴All who believed were together and had all things in common,⁴⁵and they sold their property and possessions and distributed them to all, according to the needs anyone had.

⁴⁶So day after day they devoted themselves with one purpose in the temple. They also broke bread in homes, and they shared food together with glad and generous hearts,⁴⁷praising God and having favor with all the people, and every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

¹Now Peter and John were going up into the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.²Now a man who was lame from his mother's womb was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful. They would place him there every day so he could ask those who were going into the temple for alms.³When he saw Peter and John about to enter the temple, he asked them for alms.

⁴Peter, fastening his eyes upon him, with John, said, "Look at us."⁵The lame man looked at them, expecting to receive something from them.⁶But Peter said, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have, I will give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."

⁷Taking him by the right hand, Peter raised him up, and immediately the man's feet and ankles were made strong.⁸Leaping up, the lame man stood and began to walk; and he entered with Peter and John into the temple, walking, leaping, and praising God.

⁹All the people saw him walking and praising God.¹⁰They noticed that it was the man who had been asking people for alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement because of what had happened to him.

¹¹As he was holding on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch that is called Solomon's, greatly marveling.¹²When Peter saw this, he answered the people, "You Israelite men, why do you marvel? Why do you fix your eyes on us, as if we made him walk by our own power or godliness?

¹³The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified his servant Jesus. He is the one whom you handed over and rejected before the face of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.¹⁴You rejected the Holy and Righteous One, and you asked instead for a murderer to be given to you.

¹⁵You killed the Founder of life, whom God raised from the dead—and we are witnesses of this.¹⁶On the basis of faith in his name, his name made this man, whom you see and know, strong. The faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.¹⁸But the things which God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ should suffer, he has now fulfilled.

¹⁹Repent, therefore, and turn, so that your sins may be blotted out,²⁰so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that he may send the Christ who has been appointed for you, Jesus.

²¹He is the One heaven must receive until the time of the restoration of all things, about which God spoke from ancient times by the mouth of his holy prophets.²²Moses indeed said, 'The Lord God will raise up a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to everything he tells you.²³It will happen that every person who does not listen to that prophet will be completely destroyed from among the people.'

²⁴Yes, and all the prophets from Samuel and those who came after him, they spoke out and announced these days.²⁵You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, as he said to Abraham, 'In your seed all the families of the earth will be blessed.'²⁶After God raised up his servant, he sent him to you first, in order to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness."

¹As Peter and John were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them.²They were deeply troubled because Peter and John were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.³They laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next morning, since it was now evening.⁴But many of the people who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men who believed was about five thousand.

⁵It came about on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem.⁶Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were relatives of the high priest.⁷When they had set Peter and John in their midst, they asked them, "By what power, or in what name, have you done this?"

⁸Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "You rulers of the people, and elders,⁹if we are on trial today concerning a good deed done to a sick man, and by what means this man was healed,¹⁰let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that this man stands before you healthy in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead.

¹¹Jesus Christ is the stone which you builders rejected but which has been made the cornerstone.¹²There is no salvation in any other person, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

¹³Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized that they were ordinary, uneducated men, they were surprised, becoming aware that Peter and John had been with Jesus.¹⁴Because they saw the man who was healed standing with them, they had nothing to say against this.

¹⁵But after they had commanded the apostles to leave the council meeting, they talked among themselves.¹⁶They said, "What should we do with these men? For a remarkable sign has been done through them, and this is evident to everyone who lives in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.¹⁷But in order that it spreads no further among the people, let us warn them not to speak anymore to anyone in this name."¹⁸Then they called them in and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

¹⁹But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is proper in the sight of God to obey you rather than him, you judge.²⁰We are not able to stop speaking about the things we have seen and heard."

²¹After further warning Peter and John, they let them go. They were unable to find any excuse to punish them, because all of the people were glorifying God for what had been done.²²The man who had experienced this sign of healing was more than forty years old.

²³After they were set free, Peter and John came to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.²⁴When they heard it, they raised their voices with one purpose to God and said, "Lord, you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.²⁵You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David,

'Why did the Gentile nations rage,

and the peoples imagine useless things?'

²⁶You said,

'The kings of the earth set themselves together,

and the rulers gathered together

against the Lord, and against his Christ.'

²⁷Indeed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, gathered together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed.²⁸They gathered together to do all that your hand and your plan had decided in advance would happen.

²⁹Now, Lord, look upon their warnings and grant to your servants to speak your word with all boldness.³⁰Stretch out your hand to heal and to give signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus."³¹After they had prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

³²The great number of those who believed were of one heart and soul. No one said that anything he possessed was his own, but they had everything in common.³³With great power the apostles were proclaiming their testimony about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

³⁴There was no person among them who lacked anything, for all who owned title to lands or houses sold them and brought the money from the things that were sold³⁵and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each one according to their need.

³⁶Joseph, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement), a Levite, a man from Cyprus,³⁷sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet.

¹Now a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a piece of property,²and he kept back part of the sale money (his wife also knew it), and brought the other part of it and laid it at the apostles' feet.

³But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back part of the price of the land?⁴While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own, and after it was sold, was it not under your authority? Why did you put it in your heart to do this? You have not lied to men, but to God."⁵Hearing these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last, and great fear came upon all who heard it.⁶The young men arose and wrapped him up, and they carried him out and buried him.

⁷After about three hours, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.⁸Peter said to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for so much." She said, "Yes, for so much."

⁹Then Peter said to her, "How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out."¹⁰She immediately fell down at his feet and breathed her last. When the young men came in, they found her dead, and carried her out and buried her beside her husband.¹¹Great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things.

¹²Many signs and wonders were taking place among the people through the hands of the apostles. They were all together in Solomon's Porch.¹³But none of the rest had the courage to join them; however, they were held in high esteem by the people.

¹⁴Still more believers were being added to the Lord, multitudes of men and women,¹⁵so that they even carried the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, so that as Peter came by, his shadow might fall on some of them.¹⁶There also came together a great number of people from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

¹⁷But the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees); and they were filled with jealousy¹⁸and laid hands on the apostles, and held them in custody in the common prison.

¹⁹Yet during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and led them out, and said,²⁰"Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life."²¹When they heard this, they entered into the temple about daybreak and taught. But the high priest came, and those who were with him, and called the council together, all the elders of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have the apostles brought.

²²But the officers that went did not find them in the prison, and they returned and reported,²³"We found the prison securely shut and the guards standing at the door, but when we had opened it, we found no one inside."

²⁴Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were much perplexed concerning them as to what would come of it.²⁵Then someone came and told them, "The men whom you put in the prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people."

²⁶So the captain went with the officers and brought them back, but without violence, for they feared the people, that they might be stoned.²⁷When they had brought them, they set them before the council. The high priest interrogated them,²⁸saying, "We ordered you with a command not to teach in this name, and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and desire to bring this man's blood upon us."

²⁹But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men.³⁰The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.³¹God exalted him to his right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.³²We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."

³³When the council members heard this, they were furious and they wanted to kill the apostles.³⁴But a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the council and gave a command to take the men outside for a little while.

³⁵Then he said to them, "Men of Israel, pay close attention to what you propose to do with these people.³⁶For before these days, Theudas rose up claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who had been obeying him were scattered and came to nothing.³⁷After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him. He also perished, and all who had been obeying him were scattered.

³⁸Now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or work is of men, it will be overthrown.³⁹But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; you may even find that you are fighting against God." So they were persuaded.

⁴⁰Then they called the apostles in and beat them and commanded them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.⁴¹They went away from before the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the Name.⁴²Thereafter every day, in the temple and from house to house, they were continuously teaching and proclaiming the good news that the Christ is Jesus.

¹Now in these days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, a complaint by the Grecian Jews began against the Hebrews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of help.

²The twelve called the multitude of the disciples to them and said, "It is not right for us to give up the word of God in order to serve tables.³You should therefore choose, brothers, seven men from among yourselves, men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.⁴As for us, we will always continue in prayer and in the ministry of the word."

⁵Their speech pleased the whole multitude. So they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte from Antioch.⁶The believers brought these men before the apostles, who prayed and then placed their hands upon them.

⁷So the word of God continued to spread, and the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly, and a large number of the priests became obedient to the faith.

⁸Now Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people.⁹But there arose some people who belonged to the synagogue called the synagogue of the Freedmen, of the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and Asia. These people were debating with Stephen.

¹⁰But they were not able to stand against the wisdom and the Spirit with which Stephen spoke.¹¹Then they bribed some men to say, "We have heard Stephen speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God."

¹²They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes, and they approached Stephen and seized him and brought him before the council.¹³They brought false witnesses, who said, "This man does not stop speaking words against this holy place and the law.¹⁴For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us."¹⁵Everyone who sat in the council fixed their eyes on him and saw his face was like the face of an angel.

¹The high priest said, "Are these things true?"²Stephen said,

"Brothers and fathers, listen to me: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran;

³he said to him, 'Leave your land and your relatives, and go into the land that I will show you.'

⁴"Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran; from there, after his father died, God brought him into this land, where you live now.⁵He gave none of it as an inheritance to him, no, not even enough to set a foot on. But he promised—even though Abraham had no child yet—that he would give the land as a possession to him and to his descendants after him.

⁶God was speaking to him like this, that his descendants would live for a while in a foreign land, and that the inhabitants there would bring them into slavery and mistreat them for four hundred years.⁷'But I will judge the nation that they serve,' said God, 'and after that they will come out and worship me in this place.'⁸Then God gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision, so Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day; Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹"Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him into Egypt; but God was with him¹⁰and rescued him from all his tribulation. He gave Joseph favor and wisdom in the presence of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him governor over Egypt and over all his household.

¹¹"Now a famine and great tribulation came over all Egypt and Canaan, and our fathers could find no food.¹²But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first trip.¹³On their second trip Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph's family became known to Pharaoh.

¹⁴Joseph sent his brothers back to invite Jacob his father to come to Egypt, along with all his relatives, seventy-five persons in all.¹⁵So Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers.¹⁶They were carried over to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a price in silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷"As the time of the promise approached, the promise that God had made to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt,¹⁸until there arose another king over Egypt, a king who did not know about Joseph.¹⁹He deceived our people and mistreated our fathers, forcing them to expose their newborn infants so they would not be kept alive.

²⁰"At that time Moses was born; he was very beautiful before God and was nourished for three months in his father's house.²¹When he was placed outside, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and raised him as her own son.

²²Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and works.

²³"But when he was about forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel.²⁴Seeing an Israelite being mistreated, Moses defended him and avenged him who was oppressed by striking the Egyptian:²⁵he thought that his brothers would understand that God, by his hand, was giving them salvation, but they did not understand.

²⁶On the next day he appeared to them when they were fighting, and he tried to make peace between them, saying, 'Men, you are brothers; why are you wronging one another?'

²⁷"But the one who had wronged his neighbor pushed him away, and said, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?²⁸Would you like to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?'

²⁹Moses ran away after hearing this statement; he became a foreigner in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

³⁰"When forty years were past, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.

³¹When Moses saw the fire, he marveled at the sight; and as he approached to look at it, the voice of the Lord came, saying,³²'I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.' Moses trembled and did not dare to look.

³³"The Lord said to him, 'Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.³⁴I have certainly seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their groaning, and I have come down to rescue them; now come, I will send you to Egypt.'

³⁵"This Moses whom they rejected, when they said, 'Who appointed you a ruler and a judge?'—he was the one whom God sent as both a ruler and deliverer. God sent him by the hand of the angel who appeared to Moses in the bush.³⁶Moses led them out of Egypt, after doing miracles and signs in Egypt and at the Sea of Reeds, and in the wilderness during forty years.

³⁷"It is the same Moses who said to the people of Israel, 'God will raise up a prophet for you from among your brothers, a prophet like me.'

³⁸This is the man who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel who had spoken to him on Mount Sinai, who was with our fathers, and who received living words to give to us.

³⁹"But our fathers refused to obey him; they pushed him away from themselves, and in their hearts they turned back to Egypt.⁴⁰At that time they said to Aaron, 'Make us gods who will lead us. As for this Moses, who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.'

⁴¹So they made a calf in those days and brought a sacrifice to the idol, and rejoiced because of the work of their hands.⁴²But God turned and gave them up to worship the stars in the sky, as it is written in the book of the prophets,

'Did you bring me offerings and sacrifices

during the forty years in the wilderness, house of Israel?

⁴³You accepted the tabernacle of Molech

and the star of the god Rephan,

and the images that you made to worship them:

and I will carry you away beyond Babylon.'

⁴⁴"Our fathers had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as God commanded when he spoke to Moses, that he should make it like the pattern that he had seen.⁴⁵Later, our fathers, under Joshua, received the tabernacle and brought it with them when they took possession of the land. God took the land from the nations and drove them out before the face of our fathers. The tabernacle remained in the land until the time of David,⁴⁶who found favor in the sight of God, and he asked if he might find a dwelling place for the house of Jacob¹

⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built the house for God.

⁴⁸"However, the Most High does not live in houses made with hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹'Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is the footstool for my feet.

What kind of house can you build for me? says the Lord,

or what is the place for my rest?

⁵⁰Did my hand not make all these things?'

⁵¹"You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit; you act just as your fathers acted.⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed the prophets who appeared in advance of the coming of the Righteous One; and you have now become the betrayers and murderers of him also,⁵³you people who received the law that angels had ordained, but you did not keep it."

⁵⁴Now when the council members heard these things, they were furious in their hearts and they ground their teeth at Stephen.⁵⁵But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up intently into heaven and saw the glory of God; and he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God.⁵⁶Stephen said, "Look, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

⁵⁷At this the council members covered their ears, and shouting out with a loud voice, they rushed at him with one purpose.⁵⁸They forced him out of the city and began to stone him. The witnesses laid down their outer clothing at the feet of a young man named Saul.

⁵⁹As they were stoning Stephen, he was calling out to the Lord and saying, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."⁶⁰He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he fell asleep.

¹The phrase: the house of Jacob, is found in many ancient copies. Other ancient texts have the phrase: the God of Jacob.

¹Saul was in agreement with his death.

So there began on that day a great persecution against the church that was in Jerusalem; and the believers were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

²Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him.³But Saul tried to destroy the church. He would enter house after house, drag off both men and women, and put them in prison.

⁴Yet the believers who had been scattered went about preaching the word.⁵Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ.

⁶Crowds of people were giving close attention to what was being said by Philip; with one mind they heard him, and they saw the signs he did.⁷Unclean spirits came out of many who were possessed, crying out with a loud voice, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.⁸So there was much joy in that city.

⁹But there was a certain man in the city named Simon, who had earlier been practicing sorcery; he used to astonish the people of Samaria while claiming that he was an important person.¹⁰All the Samaritans, from the least to the greatest, paid attention to him; they said, "This man is that power of God which is called Great."¹¹They listened to him because he had astonished them for a long time with his sorceries.

¹²But when they believed Philip as he proclaimed the gospel about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.¹³Even Simon himself believed, and after he was baptized he stayed with Philip constantly. When he saw signs and mighty works taking place, he was amazed.

¹⁴Now when the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John.¹⁵When they had come down, they prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit.¹⁶For until that time, the Holy Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.¹⁷Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸Now when Simon saw that the Holy Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money.¹⁹He said, "Give me this authority, too, that whoever I place my hands on might receive the Holy Spirit."

²⁰But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish along with you, because you thought to obtain the gift of God with money.²¹You have no part or allotted portion in this matter, because your heart is not right with God.²²Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord, so that he might perhaps forgive you for the intention of your heart.²³For I see that you are in the poison of bitterness and in the bonds of unrighteousness."

²⁴Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, so that nothing you have said may happen to me."

²⁵When they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, proclaiming the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

²⁶Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip and said, "Arise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." (This road is in a desert.)²⁷He arose and went. Behold, there was a man from Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship.²⁸He was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹The Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and stay close to this chariot."

³⁰So Philip ran to him, and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?"

³¹Then he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" He invited Philip to come up into the chariot and sit with him.

³²Now the passage of the scripture which the Ethiopian was reading was this,

"He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and like a lamb before his shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

³³In his humiliation

justice was taken away from him.

Who can give a full account of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth."

³⁴So the eunuch asked Philip, and said, "I beg you, tell me who is the prophet speaking about, himself, or someone else?"³⁵Philip began to speak, and beginning with this scripture he proclaimed the gospel about Jesus to him.

³⁶As they went on the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look, there is water here. What prevents me from being baptized?"³⁷¹³⁸So the Ethiopian commanded the chariot to stop. They went down into the water, both Philip and the eunuch, and Philip baptized him.

³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing.⁴⁰But Philip appeared at Azotus and he went through that region, proclaiming the gospel to all the cities until he came to Caesarea.

¹The best ancient copies do not have Acts 8:37, Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptized." The Ethiopian answered, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God".

¹But Saul, still speaking threats even of murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest²and asked him for letters for the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

³As he was traveling, it happened that as he came near to Damascus, suddenly there shone all around him a light out of heaven;⁴and he fell upon the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?"

⁵Saul replied, "Who are you, Lord?" The Lord said, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting;⁶but rise, enter into the city, and it will be told you what you must do."⁷The men who traveled with Saul stood speechless, hearing the voice, but seeing no one.

⁸Saul arose from the ground, and when he opened his eyes, he could see nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.⁹For three days he was without sight, and he neither ate nor drank.

¹⁰Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, "Ananias!" He said, "See, I am here, Lord."

¹¹The Lord said to him, "Arise, and go to the street which is called Straight, and at the house of Judas ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.¹²He has seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in and laying his hands on him, so that he might see again."

¹³But Ananias answered, "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem.¹⁴He has authority from the chief priests to put in bonds everyone here who calls upon your name."

¹⁵But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine, to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel;¹⁶for I will show him how much he must suffer for the cause of my name."

¹⁷So Ananias departed, and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on the road when you were coming, has sent me so that you might receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit."¹⁸Immediately something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he received his sight; he arose and was baptized;¹⁹and he ate and was strengthened.

He stayed with the disciples in Damascus for several days.

²⁰Right away he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying that he is the Son of God.²¹All who heard him were amazed and said, "Is not this the man who destroyed those in Jerusalem who called on this name? He has come here to take them bound to the chief priests."²²But Saul became more and more powerful, and he was causing distress among the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Christ.

²³After many days, the Jews planned together to kill him.²⁴But their plan became known to Saul. They watched the gates day and night in order to kill him.²⁵But his disciples took him by night and let him down through the wall, lowering him in a basket.

²⁶When he had come to Jerusalem, Saul attempted to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he was a disciple.²⁷But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and he told them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how at Damascus Saul had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.

²⁸He was with them, going in and out around Jerusalem. He spoke boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus²⁹and debated with the Grecian Jews; but they kept trying to kill him.³⁰When the brothers learned of this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him away to Tarsus.

³¹So then, the church throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and was built up; and, walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, the church grew in numbers.³²Now it came about that, as Peter went throughout the whole region, he came down also to God's holy people who lived in the town of Lydda.

³³There he found a certain man named Aeneas, who had been in his bed for eight years, for he was paralyzed.³⁴Peter said to him, "Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and make your bed," and right away he got up.³⁵So everyone who lived in Lydda and in Sharon saw the man and they turned to the Lord.

³⁶Now there was in Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha (which is translated "Dorcas"). This woman was full of good works and merciful deeds that she did for the poor.³⁷It came about in those days that she fell sick and died; when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room.

³⁸Since Lydda was near Joppa, and the disciples had heard that Peter was there, they sent two men to him, pleading with him, "Come to us without delay."³⁹Peter arose and went with them. When he had arrived, they brought him to the upper room, and all the widows stood by him weeping, showing him the tunics and garments that Dorcas had made while she had been with them.

⁴⁰Peter put them all out of the room, knelt down, and prayed; then, turning to the body, he said, "Tabitha, arise." Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter she sat up.⁴¹Peter then gave her his hand and raised her up; and when he called God's holy people and the widows, he presented her alive to them.⁴²This matter became known throughout all Joppa, and many people believed on the Lord.⁴³It happened that Peter stayed for many days in Joppa with a man named Simon, a tanner.

¹Now there was a certain man in the city of Caesarea, Cornelius by name, a centurion of what was called the Italian Company of Soldiers.²He was a devout man, one who feared God with all his household, gave many alms to the people, and prayed to God constantly.

³About the ninth hour of the day, he clearly saw in a vision an angel of God coming to him. The angel said to him, "Cornelius!"⁴Cornelius stared at the angel and was very afraid and said, "What is it, sir?"

The angel said to him, "Your prayers and your alms have gone up as a memorial offering into God's presence.

⁵Now send men to the city of Joppa to bring a man named Simon who is called Peter.⁶He is staying with a tanner named Simon, whose house is by the seaside."

⁷When the angel who spoke to him had left, Cornelius called two of his house servants, and a devout soldier from among those who served him.⁸Cornelius told them all that had happened and sent them to Joppa.

⁹Now on the next day at about the sixth hour, as they were on their journey and were approaching the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray.¹⁰He then became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while the people were cooking some food, a trance came on him,¹¹and he saw the sky open and a certain container descending, something like a large sheet coming down to the earth, let down by its four corners.¹²In it were all kinds of four-footed animals and things that crawled on the earth, and birds of the sky.

¹³Then a voice spoke to him: "Rise, Peter, kill and eat."

¹⁴But Peter said, "Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that was defiled and unclean."

¹⁵But the voice came to him again a second time: "What God has made clean, you must not call defiled."¹⁶This happened three times; then the container was immediately taken back up into the sky.

¹⁷Now while Peter was very confused about what the vision that he had seen could mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius stood before the gate, after they had asked their way to the house.¹⁸They called out and asked whether Simon, who was also called Peter, was staying there.

¹⁹While Peter was still thinking about the vision, the Spirit said to him, "Behold, three men are looking for you.¹²⁰Arise and go down and go with them. Do not hesitate to go with them, because I have sent them."

²¹So Peter went down to the men and said, "I am he whom you are seeking. Why have you come?"

²²They said, "A centurion named Cornelius, a righteous man and one who fears God, and is well spoken of by all the nation of the Jews, was instructed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house, so he could listen to a message from you."²³So Peter invited them to come in and stay with him.

On the next morning he got up and went with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

²⁴On the following day they came to Caesarea. Cornelius was waiting for them; he had called together his relatives and his close friends.

²⁵It came about that when Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet to worship him.²⁶But Peter helped him up, saying, "Stand up! I too am a man."

²⁷While Peter was talking with him, he went in and found many people gathered together.²⁸He said to them, "You yourselves know that it is not lawful for a Jewish man to associate with or to visit a foreigner. But God has shown me that I should not call any man defiled or unclean.²⁹That is why I came without arguing, when I was sent for. So I ask you why you sent for me."

³⁰Cornelius said, "Four days ago at this very hour, I was praying at the ninth hour in my house; and see, a man stood before me in bright clothing.³¹He said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard by God, and your alms have reminded God about you.³²So send someone to Joppa, and call to you a man named Simon who is called Peter. He is staying in the house of a tanner named Simon, by the seaside.'²³³So at once I sent for you. You are kind to have come. Now then, we are all here present in the sight of God to hear everything that you have been instructed by the Lord to say."³

³⁴Then Peter opened his mouth and said, "Truly I understand that God is not partial.³⁵Instead, in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.

³⁶You know the message that he sent to the people of Israel, when he announced the good news about peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all—³⁷you yourselves know the events that took place, which occurred throughout all Judea, beginning in Galilee, after the baptism that John announced;³⁸the events concerning Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him.

³⁹We are witnesses of all the things Jesus did, both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree,⁴⁰but God raised him up on the third day and caused him to be seen,⁴¹not by all the people, but to the witnesses who were chosen beforehand by God—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.

⁴²He commanded us to proclaim to the people and to testify that this is the one who has been chosen by God to be the Judge of the living and the dead.⁴³About him all the prophets testify, that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

⁴⁴While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all of those who were listening to his message.⁴⁵The people who belonged to the circumcision group of believers—all of those who came with Peter—were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out also on the Gentiles.

⁴⁶For they heard these Gentiles speaking in tongues and exalting God. Then Peter answered,⁴⁷"Can anyone keep water from these people so they should not be baptized, these people who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we?"⁴⁸Then he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to stay with them for several days.

¹Some ancient copies have, two men are looking for you or some men are looking for you .

²Some ancient copies add: When he comes, he will speak to you.

³Instead of instructed by the Lord to say, some ancient copies have, instructed by God to say.

¹Now the apostles and the brothers who were in Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God.²When Peter had come up to Jerusalem, they who belonged to the circumcision group criticized him;³they said, "You associated with uncircumcised men and ate with them!"

⁴But Peter started to explain the matter to them in detail, saying,⁵"I was praying in the city of Joppa, and in a trance I saw a vision of a container coming down, like a large sheet let down from heaven by its four corners. It descended to me.⁶I gazed at it and I thought about it. I saw the four-legged animals of earth, wild beasts, things that crawled, and birds of the sky.

⁷Then I heard a voice say to me, 'Get up, Peter; kill and eat!'

⁸I said, 'Not so, Lord; for nothing unholy or unclean has ever entered into my mouth.'

⁹But the voice answered again from heaven, 'What God has made clean, you must not call defiled.'¹⁰This happened three times, and then everything was taken back up into heaven again.

¹¹"Behold, right away there were three men standing in front of the house where we were; they had been sent from Caesarea to me.¹²The Spirit commanded me to go with them, and that I should make no distinction regarding them. These six brothers went with me, and we went into the man's house.¹³He told us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, 'Send men to Joppa and bring back Simon who is called Peter.¹⁴He will speak to you a message by which you will be saved—you and all your household.'

¹⁵As I began to speak to them, the Holy Spirit came on them, just as on us in the beginning.¹⁶I remembered the words of the Lord, how he said, 'John indeed baptized with water; but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.'

¹⁷Then if God gave to them the same gift as he gave to us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I, that I could oppose God?"

¹⁸When they heard these things, they said nothing in response, but they glorified God and said, "Then God has given repentance for life to the Gentiles also."

¹⁹Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that arose over Stephen spread as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word only to Jews.²⁰But some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, came to Antioch and spoke also to Greeks, proclaiming to them the gospel about the Lord Jesus.²¹The hand of the Lord was with them; a great number believed and turned to the Lord.

²²News about them came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas as far as Antioch.²³When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad and he encouraged them all to remain with the Lord with purpose of heart.²⁴For he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith, and many people were added to the Lord.

²⁵Barnabas then went out to Tarsus to search carefully for Saul.²⁶When he found him, he brought him to Antioch. It came about that for an entire year they gathered together with the church and taught many people. The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

²⁷Now in these days some prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch.²⁸One of them, Agabus by name, stood up and indicated by the Spirit that a great famine would occur over all the world. This happened in the days of Claudius.

²⁹So the disciples, as each one was able, determined to send a contribution for the relief of the brothers in Judea.³⁰They did this; they sent money to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

¹Now about that time Herod the king laid hands on some who belonged to the church so that he might mistreat them.²He killed James the brother of John with the sword.

³After he saw that this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also. That was during the days of unleavened bread.⁴After arresting him, he put him in prison, assigning him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him; he was intending to bring him to the people after the Passover.

⁵So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer was made earnestly to God for him by those in the church.⁶On the night before Herod was going to bring him out for trial, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, while guards in front of the door were keeping watch over the prison.

⁷Behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared by him, and a light shone in the prison cell. He struck Peter on the side and woke him and said, "Get up quickly," and his chains fell off his hands.⁸The angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." Peter did so. The angel said to him, "Put on your outer garment and follow me."

⁹So Peter followed the angel and went out. He did not know that what was done by the angel was real. He thought he was seeing a vision.¹⁰After they had passed by the first guard and the second, they came to the iron gate that led into the city; it opened for them by itself. They went out and went down a street, and the angel left him right away.

¹¹When Peter came to himself, he said, "Now I truly know that the Lord has sent his angel and delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from everything the Jewish people were expecting."¹²When he realized this, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying.

¹³When he knocked at the door of the gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer.¹⁴When she recognized Peter's voice, out of joy she failed to open the gate; instead, she came running into the room; she reported that Peter was standing at the gate.¹⁵So they said to her, "You are insane." But she insisted that it was so. They said, "It is his angel."

¹⁶But Peter continued knocking, and when they had opened the door, they saw him and were amazed.¹⁷Peter motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and he told them how the Lord had brought him out of prison. He said, "Report these things to James and the brothers." Then he left and went to another place.

¹⁸Now when it became day, there was no small disturbance among the soldiers over what had happened to Peter.¹⁹After Herod had searched for him and could not find him, he questioned the guards and ordered them to be put to death.

Then Herod went down from Judea to Caesarea and stayed there.

²⁰Now Herod was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. They went to him with one purpose, and after persuading Blastus, the king's assistant, to help them, they asked for peace because their country received its food from the king's country.²¹On a set day Herod dressed himself in royal clothing and sat on a throne; he made a speech to them.

²²The people shouted, "This is the voice of a god, not of a man!"²³Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory; he was eaten by worms and died.

²⁴But the word of God increased and multiplied.

²⁵So when Barnabas and Saul had completed their mission, they returned from Jerusalem,¹ bringing with them John, also called Mark.

¹Some ancient copies read, they returned to Jerusalem.

¹Now in the church in Antioch, there were some prophets and teachers. They were Barnabas, Simeon (who is called Niger), Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch), and Saul.²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul, to do the work to which I have called them."³After they had fasted, prayed, and laid their hands on these men, they sent them off.

⁴So Barnabas and Saul, having been sent out by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia; from there they sailed away to Cyprus.⁵While they were in the city of Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John for an assistant.

⁶When they had gone through the whole island to Paphos, they found a certain magician, a Jewish false prophet, whose name was Bar-Jesus.⁷This magician associated with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, who was an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul, because he sought to hear the word of God.⁸But Elymas "the magician" (that is how his name is translated) opposed them; he tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.

⁹But Saul, who is also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, stared at him intensely¹⁰and said, "You son of the devil, you are full of all kinds of deceit and wickedness. You are an enemy of every kind of righteousness. You will never stop twisting the straight paths of the Lord, will you?

¹¹Now look, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will become blind. You will not see the sun for a while." Immediately there fell on Elymas a mist and darkness; he started going around seeking people to lead him by the hand.¹²After the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, because he was astonished at the teaching about the Lord.

¹³Now Paul and his friends set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. But John left them and returned to Jerusalem.¹⁴Paul and his friends traveled from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia. There they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down.¹⁵After the reading of the law and the prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, "Brothers, if you have any message of encouragement for the people here, say it."

¹⁶So Paul stood up and motioned with his hand; he said, "Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen.¹⁷The God of this people Israel chose our fathers and exalted the people when they stayed in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm he led them out of it.¹⁸For about forty years he put up with them in the wilderness.¹

¹⁹After he had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave our people their land for an inheritance.²⁰All these events took place over 450 years. After all these things, God gave them judges until Samuel the prophet.

²¹Then the people asked for a king, and God gave them Saul son of Kish, a man from the tribe of Benjamin, to be king for forty years.²²After God removed him from the kingship, he raised up David to be their king. It was about David that God testified, saying, 'I have found David son of Jesse to be a man after my heart, who does all I want him to do.'

²³From this man's descendants God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised to do.²⁴Before the arrival of Jesus, John proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.²⁵As John was finishing his work, he said, 'Who do you think I am? I am not the one. But listen, one is coming after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.'

²⁶Brothers, children of the offspring of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the message about this salvation has been sent.²⁷For they who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him, and they fulfilled the voices of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning him.

²⁸Even though they found no reason for the death penalty, they called on Pilate to kill him.²⁹When they had completed all the things that were written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.

³⁰But God raised him from the dead.³¹He was seen for many days by those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. These people are now his witnesses to the people.

³²So we tell you the good news: The promise that came to our fathers³³God has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:

'You are my Son,

today I have become your Father.'

³⁴As to his raising him from the dead, never to return to decay, he has spoken in this way:

'I will give you the holy and sure blessings

promised to David.'

³⁵This is why he also says in another Psalm,

'You will not allow your Holy One

to see decay.'

³⁶For when David had served the purpose of God in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was laid with his fathers and his body experienced decay.³⁷But he whom God raised up experienced no decay.

³⁸So let it be known to you, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. The law of Moses could not make you righteous.³⁹But by this man God makes righteous everyone who believes.

⁴⁰So then be careful that the thing the prophets spoke about does not happen to you:

⁴¹'Look, you despisers,

and be astonished and then perish;

For I am doing a work in your days,

a work that you would never believe,

even if someone announces it to you.'"

⁴²As Paul and Barnabas left, the people begged them that they might speak these same words again the next Sabbath.⁴³When the synagogue meeting ended, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking to them and persuading them to continue in the grace of God.

⁴⁴On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city was gathered together to hear the word of the Lord.⁴⁵When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with envy and spoke against the things that were said by Paul and insulted him.

⁴⁶But Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God should first be spoken to you. Seeing you push it away from yourselves and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, see, we will turn to the Gentiles.⁴⁷For so has the Lord commanded us, saying,

'I have appointed you as a light for the Gentiles,

that you should bring salvation

to the uttermost parts of the earth.'"

⁴⁸As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.⁴⁹The word of the Lord was spread out through the whole region.

⁵⁰But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and threw them out of their region.⁵¹But Paul and Barnabas shook off the dust from their feet against them. Then they went to the city of Iconium.⁵²And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.

¹Some ancient copies read, For about forty years he cared for them in the wilderness.

¹It came about in Iconium that Paul and Barnabas entered together into the synagogue of the Jews and spoke in such a way that a great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed.²But the Jews who were disobedient stirred up the minds of the Gentiles and made them bitter against the brothers.

³So they stayed there for a long time, speaking boldly with the Lord's power, while he gave evidence about the message of his grace. He did this by granting signs and wonders to be done by the hands of Paul and Barnabas.⁴But the people of the city were divided; some sided with the Jews, others with the apostles.

⁵Both Gentiles and Jews (together with their leaders) made an attempt to mistreat them and to stone them,⁶but as soon as they learned about this, they fled to the Lycaonian cities of Lystra and Derbe and the surrounding region,⁷where they continued to proclaim the gospel.

⁸At Lystra a certain man sat, powerless in his feet, a cripple from his mother's womb, who never had walked.⁹This man heard Paul speaking. Paul fixed his eyes on him and saw that he had faith to be made well.¹⁰So he said to him in a loud voice, "Stand up on your feet." Then the man jumped up and walked around.

¹¹When the multitude saw what Paul had done, they raised their voice, saying in the dialect of Lycaonia, "The gods have become like men and come down to us."¹²They called Barnabas "Zeus," and Paul "Hermes," because he was the main speaker.¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought oxen and wreaths to the gates; he and the multitudes wanted to offer sacrifice.

¹⁴But when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of it, they tore their clothing and quickly went out into the crowd, crying out,¹⁵"Men, why are you doing these things? We also are human beings, with the same nature as you. We are telling you good news that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them.¹⁶In the past ages, he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways.

¹⁷But still, he did not leave himself without witness, in that he did good and gave you the rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts with food and gladness."¹⁸Even with these words, Paul and Barnabas barely kept the multitudes from sacrificing to them.

¹⁹But some Jews from Antioch and Iconium came and persuaded the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking that he was dead.²⁰Yet as the disciples were standing around him, he got up and entered the city. The next day, he went to Derbe with Barnabas.

²¹After they had proclaimed the gospel in that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, to Iconium, and to Antioch.²²They kept strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith, saying, "We must enter into the kingdom of God through many tribulations."

²³When they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they entrusted them to the Lord, in whom they had believed.²⁴Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia.²⁵When they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.²⁶From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work which they had now completed.

²⁷When they arrived in Antioch and gathered the church together, they reported all the things that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles.²⁸They stayed for a long time with the disciples.

¹Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and taught the brothers, saying, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."²This brought Paul and Barnabas into a sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas, along with some others from among them, were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to meet with the apostles and elders about this question.

³They therefore, being sent by the church, passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria and announced the conversion of the Gentiles. They brought great joy to all the brothers.⁴When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all the things that God had done with them.

⁵But certain men who believed, who belonged to the group of Pharisees, stood up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses."⁶So the apostles and the elders gathered together to consider this matter.

⁷After much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that a good while ago God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.⁸God, who knows the heart, has testified to them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us.⁹He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

¹⁰Now therefore why do you test God, that you should put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?¹¹But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they were."

¹²All the multitude kept silent while they listened to Barnabas and Paul report the signs and wonders God had worked among the Gentiles through them.

¹³After they stopped speaking, James answered, saying,

"Brothers, listen to me.

¹⁴Simon has told how God first graciously helped the Gentiles in order to take from them a people for his name.

¹⁵The words of the prophets agree with this, as it is written,

¹⁶'After these things I will return,

and I will build again the tabernacle of David,

which has fallen down;

I will set up and restore its ruins again,

¹⁷so that the remnant of men may seek the Lord,

including all the Gentiles called by my name.'

¹⁸This is what the Lord says,

who has done these things

that have been known from ancient times.¹

¹⁹Therefore, I have decided that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God.²⁰But we will write to them that they must keep away from the pollution of idols, from sexual immorality, and from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood.²¹For Moses has been proclaimed in every city from ancient generations and he is preached in the synagogues every Sabbath."

²²Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, who were leaders of the brothers, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.

²³They wrote this with their hands,

²⁴Because we have heard that certain men have gone out from us, with no orders from us, and have disturbed you with words that upset your souls,²⁵it seemed good to us, who have come to one mind, to choose men and to send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,²⁶men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

²⁷Therefore we have sent Judas and Silas, who will report to you the same things in their own words.²⁸For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:²⁹that you abstain from things sacrificed to idols, blood, things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you avoid these things, you will do well.

³⁰So they, when they were dismissed, came down to Antioch; after they gathered the multitude together, they delivered the letter.³¹When they had read it, they rejoiced because of the encouragement.³²Judas and Silas, also prophets, encouraged the brothers with many words and strengthened them.

³³After they had spent some time there, they were sent away in peace from the brothers to those who had sent them.³⁴²³⁵But Paul and Barnabas stayed in Antioch, teaching and preaching (along with many others) the word of the Lord.

³⁶After some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return now and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are."³⁷Barnabas wanted to also take with them John, who was called Mark.³⁸But Paul thought it was not good to take Mark, who had left them in Pamphylia and did not go further with them in the work.

³⁹Then there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus.⁴⁰But Paul chose Silas and left, after he was entrusted by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.⁴¹Then he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.

¹There are some copies of the ancient Greek text that have a slightly different meaning, This is what the Lord says, to whom are known all his deeds from ancient times.

²The best ancient copies do not have verse 34 (See: Acts 15:40), But it seemed good to Silas to remain there.

¹Paul also came to Derbe and to Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple named Timothy was there, the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek.²He was well spoken of by the brothers who were at Lystra and Iconium.³Paul wanted him to travel with him, so he took him and circumcised him because of the Jews that were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.

⁴As they were going along through the cities, they were passing along the decrees to obey that were decided on by the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. ⁵So the churches were strengthened in the faith and increased in number daily.

⁶Paul and his companions went through the regions of Phrygia and Galatia, since they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the word in the province of Asia.⁷When they came near Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus prevented them.⁸So passing by Mysia, they came down to the city of Troas.

⁹A vision appeared to Paul in the night: A man of Macedonia was standing there, begging him and saying, "Come over into Macedonia and help us."¹⁰When Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

¹¹Setting sail therefore from Troas, we made a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day we came to Neapolis.¹²From there we went to Philippi, which is a city of Macedonia, the most important city in the district and a Roman colony, and we stayed in this city for several days.

¹³On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we thought there would be a place of prayer. We sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.

¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God, listened to us. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.¹⁵When she and her house were baptized, she pleaded with us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay in my house." And she persuaded us.

¹⁶It came about that, as we were going to the place of prayer, a certain slave girl who had a spirit of divination encountered us. She brought her masters much gain by fortunetelling.¹⁷This woman followed after Paul and us and shouted, saying, "These men are servants of the Most High God. They proclaim to you the way of salvation."¹⁸She did this for many days. But Paul, being greatly annoyed by her, turned and said to the spirit, "I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her." And it came out at that same hour.

¹⁹When her masters saw that their hope of profit was now gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.²⁰When they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, "These men are causing trouble in our city. They are Jews.²¹They proclaim customs that are not lawful for Romans to accept or practice."

²²Then the crowd rose up together against Paul and Silas; the magistrates tore their garments off them and commanded them to be beaten with rods.²³When they had laid many blows upon them, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely.²⁴After he got this command, the jailer threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

²⁵Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.²⁶Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's chains were unfastened.

²⁷The jailer was awakened from sleep and saw the open prison doors; he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he thought that the prisoners had escaped.

²⁸But Paul shouted with a loud voice, saying, "Do not harm yourself, because we are all here."

²⁹The jailer called for lights and rushed in and, trembling for fear, fell down before Paul and Silas,³⁰and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"

³¹They said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household."

³²They spoke the word of the Lord to him, together with everyone in his house.³³Then the jailer took them at the same hour of the night, and washed their wounds, and he and those in his entire house were baptized immediately.³⁴Then as he brought Paul and Silas up into his house and he set food before them, he rejoiced greatly with those of his house, that he had believed in God.

³⁵Now when it was day, the magistrates sent word to the guards, saying, "Let those men go."

³⁶The jailer reported the words to Paul, saying, "The magistrates have sent word to me to let you go. Now therefore come out, and go in peace."

³⁷But Paul said to them, "They have publicly beaten us without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens—and they threw us into prison. Do they now want to send us away secretly? No! Let them come themselves and lead us out."

³⁸The guards reported these words to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Romans, they were afraid.³⁹The magistrates came and apologized to them and brought them out, asking them to go away from the city.

⁴⁰So Paul and Silas went out of the prison and came to the house of Lydia. When Paul and Silas saw the brothers, they encouraged them and then departed from the city.

¹Now when they had passed through the cities of Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to the city of Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews.²Paul, as his custom was, went to them, and for three Sabbath days reasoned with them from the scriptures.

³He was opening the scriptures and explaining that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise again from the dead. He said, "This Jesus whom I proclaim to you is the Christ."⁴Some of the Jews were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women.

⁵But the unbelieving Jews, being moved with jealousy, took certain wicked men from the marketplace, gathered a crowd together, and set the city in an uproar. Assaulting the house of Jason, they were seeking to bring Paul and Silas out to the people.⁶But when they did not find them, they dragged Jason and certain other brothers before the officials of the city, crying, "These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also.⁷These men whom Jason has welcomed act against the decrees of Caesar; they say that there is another king—Jesus."

⁸They troubled the crowd and the officials of the city who heard these things.⁹But after they took security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

¹⁰That night the brothers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived there, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.¹¹Now these people were more noble than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with all readiness of mind, examining the scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.¹²Therefore many of them believed, including some influential Greek women and many men.

¹³But when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that Paul was also proclaiming the word of God at Berea, they went there and stirred up and troubled the crowds.¹⁴Then immediately, the brothers sent Paul to go to the sea, but Silas and Timothy stayed there.¹⁵Those who were leading Paul took him as far as the city of Athens. As they left Paul there, they received from him instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible.

¹⁶Now while Paul was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw the city full of idols.¹⁷So he reasoned every day in the synagogue with the Jews and others who worshiped God, as well as in the marketplace with those who happened to be there.

¹⁸But also some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. Some said, "What is this babbler trying to say?" Others said, "He seems to be one who calls people to follow strange gods," because he was proclaiming the gospel about Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹They took Paul and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, "May we know this new teaching which you were speaking?²⁰For you bring some strange things to our ears. Therefore, we want to know what these things mean."²¹(Now all the Athenians and the strangers living there spent their time in nothing but either telling or listening about something new.)

²²So Paul stood in the middle of the Areopagus and said,

"You men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way.

²³For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found an altar with this inscription, 'TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.' What therefore you worship in ignorance, this I announce to you.

²⁴The God who made the world and everything in it, since he is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples built with hands.²⁵Neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives people life and breath and everything else.

²⁶From one man he made every nation of people to live on the surface of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons and the boundaries of their living areas,²⁷so that they should search for God and perhaps they may feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is not far from each one of us.

²⁸For in him we live and move and have our being, just as one of your own poets has said: 'For we also are his offspring.'

²⁹"Therefore, since we are God's offspring, we ought not to think that the qualities of deity are like gold, or silver, or stone—images created by the art and imagination of man.

³⁰Therefore God overlooked the times of ignorance, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent.³¹This is because he has set a day when he will judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. God has given proof of this man to everyone by raising him from the dead."

³²Now when the men of Athens heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked Paul; but others said, "We will listen to you again about this matter."³³After that, Paul left them.³⁴But certain men joined him and believed, including Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.

¹After these things Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.²There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to them,³and because he worked at the same trade, he stayed with them and labored, for they were tentmakers by trade.

⁴So Paul reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, trying to persuade both Jews and Greeks.⁵Now when Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ.⁶But when the Jews opposed and insulted him, Paul shook out his garment at them and said to them, "May your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles."

⁷Then he left from there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a man who worshiped God. His house was next to the synagogue.⁸Crispus, the leader of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together with all his household; and many of the Corinthians who heard about it believed and were baptized.

⁹The Lord said to Paul in the night in a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not be silent.¹⁰For I am with you, and no one will try to harm you, for I have many people in this city."¹¹Paul lived there for a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

¹²But when Gallio became governor of Achaia, the Jews rose up with one mind against Paul and brought him before the judgment seat;¹³they said, "This man persuades people to worship God contrary to the law."

¹⁴Yet when Paul was about to speak, Gallio said to the Jews, "You Jews, if indeed it were a matter of wrong or a wicked crime, it would be reasonable to put up with you.¹⁵But since these are questions about words and names and your own law, settle it yourselves. I do not wish to be a judge of these matters."

¹⁶Gallio made them leave the judgment seat.¹⁷So they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the judgment seat. But Gallio did not care what they did.

¹⁸Paul, after staying there for many more days, left the brothers and sailed for Syria with Priscilla and Aquila. Before he left the seaport, Cenchreae, he had his hair cut off because of a vow he had taken.¹⁹When they came to Ephesus, Paul left Priscilla and Aquila there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.

²⁰When they asked Paul to stay a longer time, he declined.²¹But taking his leave of them, he said, "I will return again to you if it is God's will." He then set sail from Ephesus.

²²When Paul had landed at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the Jerusalem church and then went down to Antioch.²³After having spent some time there, Paul departed and went through the regions of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

²⁴Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, came to Ephesus. He was eloquent in speech and mighty in the scriptures.²⁵Apollos had been instructed in the teachings of the Lord. Being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus, but he knew only the baptism of John.²⁶Apollos began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.

²⁷When he desired to pass over into Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples in Achaia to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who believed by grace.²⁸Apollos powerfully refuted the Jews in public debate, showing by the scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

¹It came about that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to the city of Ephesus, and found certain disciples there.²Paul said to them, "Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?"

They said to him, "No, we did not even hear about the Holy Spirit."

³Paul said, "Into what then were you baptized?"

They said, "Into John's baptism."

⁴So Paul replied, "John baptized with the baptism of repentance. He told the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus."

⁵When the people heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.⁶Then when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues and prophesied.⁷In all they were about twelve men.

⁸Paul went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading them about the kingdom of God.⁹But when some Jews were hardened and disobedient, they began to speak evil of the Way before the crowd. So Paul left them and took the disciples with him, reasoning with them every day in the lecture hall of Tyrannus.¹⁰This continued for two years, so that all who lived in Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

¹¹God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul,¹²so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick and their illnesses left them and the evil spirits came out of them.

¹³But there were Jewish exorcists traveling through the area. They called on the name of the Lord Jesus so they could have power over evil spirits when they said, "By the Jesus whom Paul proclaims, I command you to come out."¹⁴The Jewish high priest, whose name was Sceva, had seven sons who were doing this.

¹⁵An evil spirit answered them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?"¹⁶The evil spirit in the man leaped on the exorcists and subdued them and beat them up. Then they fled out of that house naked and wounded.¹⁷This became known to all, both Jews and Greeks, who lived at Ephesus. They became very afraid, and the name of the Lord Jesus was honored.

¹⁸Also, many of the believers came and confessed and gave a full account of the evil things they had done.¹⁹Many who practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of everyone. When they counted the value of them, it was fifty thousand pieces of silver.²⁰So the word of the Lord spread very widely in powerful ways.

²¹Now after these things were completed, Paul decided in the Spirit to pass through Macedonia and Achaia on his way to Jerusalem; he said, "After I have been there, I must also see Rome."²²Paul sent to Macedonia two of those who served him, Timothy and Erastus. But he himself stayed in Asia for a while.

²³At about that time there was no small disturbance in Ephesus concerning the Way.²⁴A certain silversmith named Demetrius, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought in much business for the craftsmen.²⁵So he gathered together the workmen of that occupation and said, "Men, you know that in this business we make much money.

²⁶You see and hear that, not only at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people. He is saying that gods made by hands are not gods.²⁷Not only is there danger that our trade will be discredited, but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis might be regarded as worthless, and her greatness would be brought to nothing, she whom all Asia and the world worship."

²⁸When they heard this, they were filled with anger and cried out, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians."²⁹The whole city was filled with confusion, and the people rushed with one mind into the theater. They had seized Paul's travel companions, Gaius and Aristarchus, who came from Macedonia.

³⁰Paul wanted to enter in among the crowd of people, but the disciples prevented him.³¹Also, some of the officials of the province of Asia who were his friends sent him a message pleading with him not to enter the theater.³²Some people were shouting one thing, and some another, for the crowd was in confusion. Most of them did not even know why they had come together.

³³Some of the crowd advised Alexander, whom the Jews were pushing forward. So Alexander motioned with his hand, wanting to give a defense to the assembly.³⁴But when they recognized that he was a Jew, they all cried out for about two hours with one voice, saying, "Great is Artemis of the Ephesians."

³⁵When the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, "You men of Ephesus, what man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis and of the image which fell down from heaven?³⁶Seeing then that these things are undeniable, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash.³⁷For you have brought these men to this court who are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of our goddess.

³⁸Therefore, if Demetrius and the craftsmen who are with him have an accusation against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them accuse one another.³⁹But if you are seeking anything more, it should be resolved in the regular assembly.⁴⁰For we are in danger of being accused of rioting today, and there is no cause we can give to justify this uproar." When he had said this, he dismissed the assembly.¹

¹Some Greek copies number this last sentence as verse 41.

¹After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples and after he encouraged them, he said farewell and left to go into Macedonia.²When he had gone through those regions and had spoken many words of encouragement to them, he came to Greece.³After he had spent three months there, a plot was formed against him by the Jews as he was about to sail for Syria, so he decided to return through Macedonia.

⁴Accompanying him as far as Asia were Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Berea; Aristarchus and Secundus, both from the Thessalonian believers; Gaius of Derbe; Timothy; and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia.⁵But these men had gone before us and were waiting for us at Troas.⁶We sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and in five days we came to them in Troas. There we stayed for seven days.

⁷On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul spoke to the believers. He was planning to leave the next day, so he prolonged his message until midnight.⁸There were many lamps in the upper room where we had come together.

⁹In the window was sitting a young man named Eutychus, who fell into a deep sleep. As Paul spoke even longer, this young man, still sleeping, fell down from the third story and was picked up dead.¹⁰But Paul went down, stretched himself out on him, and embraced him. Then he said, "Do not be upset any more, for he is alive."

¹¹Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking with them much longer until dawn, he left.¹²They brought back the boy alive and were greatly comforted.

¹³We ourselves went ahead of Paul by ship and sailed away to Assos, where we planned to take Paul on board. This is what he himself desired to do, because he planned to go by land.¹⁴When he met us at Assos, we took him onto the ship and went to Mitylene.

¹⁵Then we sailed from there and arrived the next day opposite the island of Chios. The following day we touched at the island of Samos, and the day after we came to the city of Miletus.¹⁶For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not spend any time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem for the day of Pentecost, if it were at all possible for him to do so.

¹⁷From Miletus he sent men to Ephesus and called to himself the elders of the church.¹⁸When they had come to him, he said to them, "You yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, how I always spent my time with you.¹⁹I kept serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind and with tears, and in trials that happened to me because of the plots of the Jews.²⁰You know how I did not keep back from declaring to you anything that was useful, and how I taught you in public and from house to house,²¹testifying to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus.

²²Now look, I am going to Jerusalem, compelled by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there,²³except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that chains and afflictions await me.²⁴But I do not consider my life valuable to myself, if only I may finish the race and complete the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

²⁵Now look, I know that you all, among whom I went about proclaiming the kingdom, will see my face no more.²⁶Therefore I testify to you this day, that I am innocent of the blood of any man.²⁷For I did not hold back from declaring to you the whole will of God.

²⁸Therefore be careful about yourselves, and about all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers. Be careful to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.¹²⁹I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.³⁰Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth to draw away the disciples after them.

³¹So be on guard. Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each one of you night and day with tears.³²Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are being sanctified.

³³I coveted no man's silver, gold, or clothing.³⁴You yourselves know that these hands served my own needs and the needs of those who were with me.³⁵In all things I gave you an example of how you should help the weak by laboring, and of how you should remember the words of the Lord Jesus, words that he himself said: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

³⁶After he had spoken in this way, he knelt down and prayed with them all.³⁷There was a lot of crying and they embraced Paul and kissed him.³⁸They were in anguish most of all because of what he had said, that they would never see his face again. Then they escorted him to the ship.

¹Instead of with his own blood, some ancient copies read, with the blood of his own Son.

¹When we had gone away from them and set sail, we took a straight course to the city of Cos, and the next day to the city of Rhodes, and from there to the city of Patara.²When we found a ship crossing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail.

³After sighting Cyprus, leaving it on the left side of the boat, we sailed on to Syria and landed at Tyre, where the ship was to unload its cargo.⁴After we found the disciples, we stayed there seven days. Through the Spirit they kept urging Paul not to go to Jerusalem.

⁵When our days there were over, we left and went on our way, and they all, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. Then we knelt down on the beach, prayed,⁶and said farewell to each other. Then we went on board the ship, and they returned home.

⁷When we had finished the voyage from Tyre, we arrived at Ptolemais. There we greeted the brothers and stayed with them for one day.⁸On the next day we left and went to Caesarea. We entered the house of Philip, the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and we stayed with him.⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.

¹⁰As we stayed there for some days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.¹¹He came to us and took Paul's belt. With it he tied his own feet and hands and said, "Thus says the Holy Spirit, 'This is how the Jews in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt, and they will hand him over into the hands of the Gentiles.'"

¹²When we heard these things, both we and the people who lived in that place pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

¹³Then Paul answered, "What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready, not only to be tied up, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."

¹⁴Since Paul would not be persuaded, we remained silent and then we said, "May the will of the Lord be done."

¹⁵After these days, we picked up our bags and went up to Jerusalem.¹⁶There also went with us some of the disciples from Caesarea. They brought with them a man named Mnason, a man from Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we would stay.

¹⁷When we had arrived in Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly.¹⁸The next day Paul went with us to James, and all the elders were present.¹⁹When he had greeted them, he reported one by one the things that God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

²⁰When they heard it, they glorified God, and they said to him, "You see, brother, how many thousands have believed among the Jews. They are all zealous to keep the law.²¹They have been told about you, that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to abandon Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children, and not to walk according to the traditional ways.

²²What should we do? They will certainly hear that you have come.²³So do what we say to you. We have four men who made a vow.²⁴Take these men and purify yourself with them, and pay their expenses for them, so that they may shave their heads. So everyone will know that the things they have been told about you are false. They will learn that you also live correctly, obeying the law.

²⁵But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we wrote about our decision that they should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols, from blood, from what is strangled, and from sexual immorality."²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day he purified himself along with them. Then they went into the temple, giving notice when the days of purification would be fulfilled and the offering would be presented for each of them.

²⁷When the seven days were almost finished, some Jews from Asia, seeing Paul in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him.²⁸They were shouting, "Men of Israel, help us. This is the man who teaches all men everywhere things that are against the people, the law, and this place. Besides, he has also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place."²⁹For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, and they thought that Paul had brought him into the temple.

³⁰All the city was excited, and the people ran together and laid hold of Paul. They dragged him out of the temple, and the doors were immediately shut.³¹As they were trying to kill him, news came up to the chief captain of the company of soldiers, that all Jerusalem was in an uproar.

³²Right away he took soldiers and centurions and ran down to the crowd. When the people saw the chief captain and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.³³Then the chief captain approached and laid hold of Paul, and commanded him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done.

³⁴Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and others another. Since the captain could not learn the truth because of all the noise, he ordered that Paul be brought into the fortress.³⁵When he came to the steps, he was carried by the soldiers because of the crowd's violence.³⁶For the crowd of people followed after and kept shouting out, "Away with him!"

³⁷As Paul was about to be brought into the fortress, he said to the chief captain, "Is it permitted for me to say something to you?"

The captain said, "Do you know Greek?

³⁸Are you not then the Egyptian who some time ago started a rebellion and led the four thousand men of the 'Assassins' out into the wilderness?"

³⁹Paul said, "I am a Jew, from the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. I am a citizen of no unimportant city. I beg you, allow me to speak to the people."

⁴⁰When the captain had given him permission, Paul stood on the steps and motioned with the hand to the people. When there was a deep silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language. He said,

¹"Brothers and fathers, listen to my defense which I will now make to you."

²When the crowd heard Paul speak to them in the Hebrew language, they became quiet. He said,

³"I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but educated in this city at the feet of Gamaliel. I was instructed according to the strict ways of the law of our fathers. I am zealous for God, just as all of you are today.⁴I persecuted this Way to the death, binding up and delivering to prison both men and women,⁵as the high priest and all the elders can testify. I received letters from them for the brothers in Damascus, and I went there to bring them back in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶It happened that when I was traveling and nearing Damascus, about noon suddenly a great light from heaven began to shine around me.⁷I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?'

⁸I answered, 'Who are you, Lord?'

He said to me, 'I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.'

⁹Those who were with me saw the light, but they did not understand the voice of him who spoke to me.¹⁰I said, 'What should I do, Lord?'

The Lord said to me, 'Arise and go into Damascus. There you will be told everything that has been appointed for you to do.'

¹¹I could not see because of that light's brightness, and being led by the hands of those who were with me, I came into Damascus.

¹²There I met a man named Ananias, a devout man according to the law and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there.¹³He came to me, stood by me, and said, 'Brother Saul, receive your sight.' In that very hour I saw him.

¹⁴Then he said, 'The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the voice coming from his own mouth.¹⁵For you will be a witness for him to all men about what you have seen and heard.¹⁶Now why are you waiting? Arise, be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on his name.'

¹⁷After I had returned to Jerusalem, and while I was praying in the temple, a trance came on me.¹⁸I saw him say to me, 'Hurry and leave Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.'

¹⁹I said, 'Lord, they themselves know that I imprisoned and beat those who believed in you in every synagogue.²⁰When the blood of Stephen your witness was spilled, I also was standing by and agreeing, and I was guarding the cloaks of those who killed him.'²¹But he said to me, 'Go, because I will send you far away to the Gentiles.'"

²²They listened to him until that statement. Then they raised their voices and said, "Away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not right that he should live."²³As they were shouting, throwing off their cloaks, and throwing dust into the air,²⁴the chief captain commanded Paul to be brought into the fortress. He ordered that he should be questioned with scourging, so that he himself might know why they were shouting against him like that.

²⁵When they had tied him up with the thongs, Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, "Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman and who has not been put on trial?"

²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the chief captain and told him, saying, "What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen."

²⁷The chief captain came and said to him, "Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?"

Paul said, "Yes."

²⁸The chief captain answered, "It was only with a large amount of money that I acquired citizenship."

But Paul said, "I was born a Roman citizen."

²⁹Then the men who were going to question him left him immediately. The chief captain also was afraid, when he learned that Paul was a Roman citizen, because he had tied him up.

³⁰On the next day, the chief captain wanted to know for certain about the Jews' accusations against Paul. So he untied his bonds and ordered the chief priests and all the council to meet. Then he brought Paul down and placed him in their midst.

¹Paul looked directly at the council members and said, "Brothers, I have lived before God in all good conscience until this day."²The high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth.

³Then Paul said to him, "God will strike you, you whitewashed wall. Are you sitting to judge me by the law, yet order me to be struck, against the law?"

⁴Those who stood by said, "Is this how you insult God's high priest?"

⁵Paul said, "I did not know, brothers, that he was high priest. For it is written, 'You must not speak evil of a ruler of your people.'"

⁶When Paul saw that the one part of the council were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he spoke loudly in the council: "Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is because I have the hope of the resurrection of the dead that I am being judged."⁷When he said this, an argument began between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the crowd was divided.⁸For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, no angels, and no spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge all of them.

⁹So a large uproar occurred, and some of the scribes belonging to the Pharisees stood up and argued, saying, "We find nothing wrong with this man. What if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him?"¹⁰When there arose a great argument, the chief captain feared that Paul would be torn to pieces by them, so he commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among the council members, and bring him into the fortress.

¹¹The following night the Lord stood beside him and said, "Have courage, for as you have testified about me in Jerusalem, so you must also testify in Rome."

¹²When it became day, some Jews formed a conspiracy and put themselves under an oath, saying that they would not eat or drink anything until they had killed Paul.¹³There were more than forty men who formed this conspiracy.

¹⁴They went to the chief priests and the elders and said, "We have sworn a great oath to eat nothing until we have killed Paul.¹⁵Now, therefore, let the council formally request the chief captain to bring him down to you, as if you would decide his case more precisely. As for us, we are ready to kill him before he comes here."

¹⁶But Paul's sister's son heard that they were lying in wait, so he went and entered the fortress and told Paul.

¹⁷Paul called one of the centurions and said, "Take this young man to the chief captain, for he has something to report to him."

¹⁸So the centurion took the young man and brought him to the chief captain and said, "Paul the prisoner called me to him, and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you."

¹⁹The chief captain took him by the hand to a private place and asked him, "What is it that you have to report to me?"

²⁰The young man said, "The Jews have agreed to ask you to bring down Paul tomorrow to the council, as if they were going to ask more precisely about his case.²¹But do not be persuaded by them, because there are more than forty men who are lying in wait for him. They have put themselves under oath neither to eat nor to drink until they have killed him. Even now they are ready, waiting for your approval."

²²So the chief captain let the young man go, after instructing him, "Tell no one that you have reported these things to me."

²³Then he called to him two of the centurions and said, "Get two hundred soldiers ready to go as far as Caesarea, and seventy horsemen also, and two hundred spearmen. You will leave at the third hour of the night."²⁴He also ordered them to provide animals which Paul could ride and to take him safely to Felix the governor.

²⁵Then he wrote a letter like this:²⁶"Claudius Lysias,²⁷This man was arrested by the Jews and was about to be killed by them when I came upon them with soldiers and rescued him, since I learned that he was a Roman citizen.

²⁸I wanted to know why they accused him, so I took him down to their council.²⁹I learned that he was being accused about questions concerning their own law, but that there was no accusation against him that deserved death or imprisonment.³⁰Then it was reported to me that there was a plot against the man, so I immediately sent him to you and instructed his accusers also to bring their charges against him in your presence.

³¹So the soldiers obeyed their orders. They took Paul and brought him by night to Antipatris.³²On the next day, most of the soldiers left the horsemen to go with him and they themselves returned to the fortress.³³When the horsemen reached Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.

³⁴When the governor read the letter, he asked what province Paul was from. When he learned that he was from Cilicia,³⁵he said, "I will hear you fully when your accusers come here." Then he commanded him to be kept in Herod's government headquarters.

¹After five days, Ananias the high priest, certain elders, and an orator named Tertullus went there. These men brought charges against Paul before the governor.²When Paul stood before the governor, Tertullus began to accuse him and said to the governor, "Because of you we have great peace, and your foresight brings good reform to our nation;³so with all thankfulness we welcome everything that you do, most excellent Felix.

⁴So that I detain you no more, I beg you in your kindness to hear us briefly.⁵For we have found this man to be a pest and one who causes all the Jews throughout the world to rebel. He is a leader of the Nazarene sect.⁶He even tried to desecrate the temple, so we arrested him.¹

⁷²⁸When you examine Paul about all these matters, you will be able to learn about all the things of which we are accusing him."⁹The Jews also joined in the accusation, affirming that these charges were true.

¹⁰But when the governor motioned for Paul to speak, Paul answered, "I understand that for many years you have been a judge to this nation, and so I gladly explain myself to you.

¹¹You can learn for yourself that it has not been more than twelve days since I went up to worship in Jerusalem.¹²When they found me in the temple, I did not argue with anyone, and I did not stir up a crowd, either in the synagogues, or in the city.¹³They cannot prove to you the accusations they are now making against me.

¹⁴But I confess this to you, that according to the Way, which they call a sect, I serve the God of our fathers, believing all things that are according to the law and that has been written in the prophets.¹⁵I have a hope in God, which these men also have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked.¹⁶So I always strive to have a blameless conscience before God and human beings.

¹⁷Now after many years I came to give alms to my nation and present sacrifices.¹⁸When I did this, certain Jews from Asia found me in a purification ceremony in the temple, not with a crowd or an uproar.¹⁹These men ought to be before you now and accuse me, if they have anything.

²⁰Or else, these same men should say what wrong they found in me when I stood before the Jewish council,²¹unless it is about this one thing that I shouted out when I stood among them, 'It is concerning the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial before you today.'"

²²Then Felix, who was well informed about the Way, postponed the hearing. He said, "When Lysias the commander comes down from Jerusalem, I will decide your case."²³Then he commanded the centurion that Paul should be kept in custody, but to have some freedom so that none of his friends would be prevented from attending to his needs.

²⁴After some days, Felix returned with Drusilla his wife, who was Jewish, and he sent for Paul and he heard from him about faith in Christ Jesus.²⁵But when Paul reasoned with him about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became frightened and said, "Go away for now. But when I have time later on, I will send for you."

²⁶At the same time he hoped that Paul would give money to him, so he often sent for him and spoke with him.²⁷But when two years passed, Porcius Festus became the governor after Felix, but Felix wanted to gain favor with the Jews, so he left Paul bound.

¹Some ancient copies add, We wanted to judge him according to our law.

²Some ancient copies have for verse 7 and the beginning of verse 8, 7 But Lysias, the officer, came and took him by force out of our hands, 8 commanding his accusers to come to you.

¹Now, Festus entered the province, and after three days, he went from Caesarea up to Jerusalem.²The chief priests and the prominent Jews brought their charges against Paul, and they asked Festus earnestly—³asking him to do them a favor against Paul—to summon him to Jerusalem, for they were preparing an ambush to kill him along the way.

⁴Festus answered that Paul was being held in custody at Caesarea, and that he himself was going there soon.⁵"Therefore, those who can," he said, "should go there with us. If there is something wrong with the man, you should accuse him."

⁶Festus stayed not more than eight or ten days and then he went down to Caesarea, and on the next day he sat on the judgment seat and commanded Paul to be brought to him.⁷When he arrived, the Jews from Jerusalem stood nearby, and they brought many serious charges which they could not prove.

⁸Paul defended himself and said, "I have committed no sin against the law of the Jews or against the temple or against Caesar."

⁹But Festus wanted to gain the favor of the Jews, and so he answered Paul and said, "Do you want to go up to Jerusalem and to be judged by me about these things there?"¹⁰Paul said, "I stand before the judgment seat of Caesar where I must be judged. I have wronged no Jews, just as you also very well know.

¹¹Though if I have done wrong and if I have done what is worthy of death, I do not refuse to die. But if their accusations are nothing, no one can hand me over to them. I appeal to Caesar."¹²After Festus talked with the council, he answered, "You have appealed to Caesar. To Caesar you will go!"

¹³Now after some days, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived at Caesarea to pay an official visit to Festus.¹⁴After they had been there for many days, Festus presented Paul's case to the king; he said, "A certain man was left behind here by Felix as a prisoner.¹⁵When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and the elders of the Jews brought charges against this man to me, and they asked for a sentence of condemnation against him.¹⁶I answered them that it was not the custom of the Romans to hand over anyone before the accused had faced his accusers and received an opportunity to defend himself against the charges.

¹⁷Therefore, when they came together here, I did not wait, but the next day I sat in the judgment seat and I ordered the man to be brought in.¹⁸When the accusers stood up, they charged him with nothing that I considered wickedness.¹⁹Instead, they had certain disputes with him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus who was dead, whom Paul claims to be alive.²⁰I was perplexed about how to investigate this matter, and so I asked him if he would be willing to go to Jerusalem to stand trial there about these charges.

²¹But when Paul appealed to be kept in custody while awaiting the decision of the emperor, I ordered him to be held in custody until I could send him to Caesar."²²Agrippa spoke to Festus: "I would also like to listen to this man." "Tomorrow," Festus said, "you will hear him."

²³So on the next day, Agrippa and Bernice came with much ceremony; they came into the hall with the military officers and with the prominent men of the city. When Festus spoke the command, Paul was brought to them.²⁴Festus said, "King Agrippa, and all you men who are here with us, you see this man; all the multitude of Jews appealed to me in Jerusalem and here also, and they shouted to me that he should no longer live.

²⁵I found he had done nothing worthy of death; but because he appealed to the emperor, I decided to send him to Rome.²⁶But I do not have anything certain to write to my lord. For this reason, I have brought him to you, especially to you, King Agrippa, so that I might have something more to write about the case.²⁷For it seems unreasonable for me to send a prisoner and to not also state the charges against him."

¹So Agrippa said to Paul, "You may speak for yourself." Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense.

²"I consider myself happy, King Agrippa, to make my case before you today against all the accusations of the Jews,³especially because you are an expert in all the Jewish customs and questions. So I beg you to hear me patiently.

⁴Truly, all the Jews know how I lived from my youth in my own nation and at Jerusalem.⁵They have known about me from the beginning, if they are willing to admit it, that I lived as a Pharisee, the strictest party of our religion.

⁶Now I stand here to be judged because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers.⁷It is this promise that our twelve tribes hope to receive as they worship God earnestly night and day, and it is for this hope, king, that the Jews are accusing me.⁸Why should any of you judge it to be incredible that God raises the dead?

⁹Now indeed, I myself thought that I should do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth.¹⁰I did these in Jerusalem. I locked up in prison many of God's holy people by the authority I received from the chief priests; and when they were killed, I cast my vote against them.¹¹I punished them many times in all the synagogues, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was furiously enraged against them, and I persecuted them even to foreign cities.

¹²While I was doing this, I went to Damascus with authority and orders from the chief priests;¹³and on the way there, in the middle of the day, king, I saw a light from heaven that was brighter than the sun, and it shone around both me and the men who were traveling with me.¹⁴When we all fell to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me that said in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick a goad.'

¹⁵Then I said, 'Who are you, Lord?' The Lord replied, 'I am Jesus whom you persecute.¹⁶Now get up and stand on your feet; because for this purpose I appeared to you, to appoint you to be a servant and a witness concerning the things that you know about me now and the things that I will show to you later;¹⁷and I will rescue you from the people and from the Gentiles to whom I am sending you,¹⁸to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, so that they may receive from God the forgiveness of sins and the inheritance that I give to them who are sanctified by faith in me.'

¹⁹Therefore, King Agrippa, I did not disobey the heavenly vision;²⁰but, to those in Damascus first, and then at Jerusalem, and throughout all the country of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, I gave them the message that that they should repent and turn to God, doing deeds worthy of repentance.²¹For this cause the Jews arrested me in the temple and tried to kill me.

²²Therefore I have received the help that comes from God until this very day, and I stand and testify to both small and great about nothing more than what the prophets and Moses said would happen—²³that Christ must suffer, and by being the first to rise from the dead he would proclaim light to our own people and to the Gentiles."

²⁴As Paul completed his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, "Paul, you are insane; your great learning makes you insane."²⁵But Paul said, "I am not insane, most excellent Festus, but I am declaring words of truth and sound judgment.²⁶For the king knows about these things; and so I speak boldly to him, for I am persuaded that none of this is hidden from him; for this has not been done in a corner.

²⁷Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa? I know that you believe."²⁸Agrippa said to Paul, "In a short time would you persuade me and make me a Christian?"

²⁹Paul said, "I pray to God, that whether in a short or long time, not you only, but also all that hear me today, would be like me, but without these prison chains."

³⁰Then the king stood up, and the governor, and Bernice also, and those who were sitting with them;³¹when they left the hall, they talked to one another and said, "This man does nothing worthy of death or of bonds."

³²Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been freed if he had not appealed to Caesar."

¹When it was decided that we should sail for Italy, they committed Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion named Julius, who belonged to the Augustan company of soldiers.²We boarded a ship from Adramyttium which was about to sail along the coast of Asia. So we went to sea. Aristarchus from Thessalonica in Macedonia went with us.

³The next day we landed at the city of Sidon, where Julius treated Paul kindly and allowed him to go to his friends to receive their care.⁴From there we went to sea and sailed under the lee of Cyprus, close to the island, because the winds were against us.⁵When we had sailed across the sea past Cilicia and Pamphylia, we landed at Myra, a city of Lycia.⁶There, the centurion found a ship from Alexandria that was going to sail to Italy. He put us on it.

⁷When we had sailed slowly for many days and had finally arrived with difficulty near Cnidus and the wind no longer allowed us to go that way, we sailed along the sheltered side of Crete, opposite Salmone.⁸We sailed along the coast with difficulty, until we came to a certain place called Fair Havens, which is near the city of Lasea.

⁹We had now taken much time, the time of the Jewish fast also had passed, and it had now become dangerous to sail. So Paul warned them,¹⁰and said, "Men, I see that the voyage we are about to take will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives."¹¹But the centurion was more persuaded by the master and by the owner of the ship than by those things that were spoken by Paul.

¹²Because the harbor was not easy to spend the winter in, most of the sailors advised to sail from there, and if by any means we could reach the city of Phoenix, to spend the winter there. Phoenix is a harbor in Crete, facing both southwest and northwest.¹³When a south wind began to blow gently, the sailors thought that they had what they needed. So they weighed anchor and sailed along Crete, close to the shore.

¹⁴But after a short time a wind of hurricane force, called the northeaster, began to beat down from the island.¹⁵When the ship was caught by the storm and could no longer head into the wind, we had to give way to the storm and were driven along by the wind.¹⁶We sailed along the lee of a small island called Cauda, and with difficulty we were able to secure the lifeboat.

¹⁷When they had hoisted the lifeboat up, they used its ropes to bind the hull of the ship. They were afraid that they should run upon the sandbars of Syrtis, so they lowered the sea anchor and were driven along.¹⁸We took such a violent battering by the storm that the next day they began throwing the cargo overboard.

¹⁹On the third day the sailors threw overboard the ship's equipment with their own hands.²⁰When the sun and stars did not shine on us for many days, and the great storm still beat upon us, any more hope that we should be saved was abandoned.

²¹When they had gone long without food, then Paul stood up among the sailors and said, "Men, you should have listened to me, and not have set sail from Crete, so as to get this injury and loss.²²Now I urge you to take courage, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only the loss of the ship.

²³For last night an angel of the God to whom I belong, whom also I worship—his angel stood beside me²⁴and said, 'Do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar, and see, God in his kindness has given to you all those who are sailing with you.'²⁵Therefore have courage, men! For I trust God that it will happen just as it was told to me.²⁶But we must run aground upon some island."

²⁷When the fourteenth night had come, as we were driven this way and that in the Adriatic Sea, about midnight the sailors thought that they were approaching some land.²⁸They took soundings and found twenty fathoms; after a little while, they took more soundings and found fifteen fathoms.²⁹They were afraid that we might crash on the rocks, so they lowered four anchors from the stern and prayed that morning would come soon.

³⁰The sailors were looking for a way to abandon the ship and had lowered the lifeboat into the sea, and pretended that they would throw down the anchors from the bow.³¹But Paul said to the centurion and to the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved."³²Then the soldiers cut away the ropes of the boat and let it drift away.

³³When daylight was coming on, Paul encouraged them all to take some food. He said, "This day is the fourteenth day that you have been on constant guard and have gone without food—you have not eaten anything.³⁴So I urge you to share some food, for this is necessary for you to survive. For not one of you will lose a single hair from his head." ³⁵When he had said this, he took bread and he thanked God in the sight of everyone. Then he broke the bread and began to eat.

³⁶Then they were all encouraged and they also took food.³⁷We were 276 souls on the ship.³⁸When they had eaten enough, they made the ship lighter by throwing out the wheat into the sea.

³⁹When it was day, they did not recognize the land, but they saw a bay with a beach, and they discussed whether they could drive the ship onto it.⁴⁰So they cut loose the anchors and left them in the sea. At the same time they loosed the ropes of the rudders and raised the foresail to the wind; and so they headed to the beach.⁴¹But the ship struck a sandbar and ran aground. The bow was stuck there and remained unmovable, and the stern was broken up by the force of the waves.

⁴²The soldiers' plan was to kill the prisoners so that none of them could swim away and escape.⁴³But the centurion wanted to save Paul, so he stopped their plan; and he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.⁴⁴Then the rest of the men should follow, some on planks, and some on other things from the ship. In this way it happened that all of us were brought safely to land.

¹When we were brought safely through, we learned that the island was called Malta.²The native people offered to us not just ordinary kindness, but they lit a fire and welcomed us all because of the constant rain and cold.

³But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and placed them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened onto his hand.⁴When the native people saw the animal hanging from his hand, they said one to another, "This man certainly is a murderer who has been saved from the sea; Justice does not permit him to live."

⁵But then he shook the animal into the fire and suffered no harm.⁶They were waiting for him to swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they watched him for a long time and saw that nothing was wrong with him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god.

⁷Now in a nearby place there were lands belonging to the chief man of the island, a man named Publius. He welcomed us and kindly provided for us for three days.⁸It happened that the father of Publius was lying afflicted with a fever and dysentery. When Paul went to him, he prayed, placed his hands on him, and healed him.⁹After this happened, the rest of the people on the island who were sick also came and were healed.¹⁰The people also honored us with many honors. When we were preparing to sail, they gave us what we needed.

¹¹After three months we set sail in a ship that had spent the winter at the island, a ship of Alexandria, with "the twin gods" as its figurehead.¹²After we landed at the city of Syracuse, we stayed there three days.

¹³From there we sailed and arrived at the city of Rhegium. After one day a south wind sprang up, and in two days we came to the city of Puteoli.¹⁴There we found some brothers and were invited to stay with them for seven days. In this way we came to Rome.¹⁵From there the brothers, after they heard about us, came to meet us as far as the Market of Appius and the Three Taverns. When Paul saw the brothers, he thanked God and took courage.

¹⁶When we entered Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself with the soldier who was guarding him.

¹⁷Then it came about that after three days Paul called together those men who were the leaders among the Jews. When they had come together, he said to them, "Brothers, although I have done nothing wrong against the people or the customs of our fathers, I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.¹⁸After they questioned me, they wished to set me free, because there was no reason for the death penalty in my case.

¹⁹But when the Jews spoke against their desire, I was forced to appeal to Caesar, although it is not as if I were bringing any accusation against my nation.²⁰For this reason, therefore, I called upon you that I might see you and speak with you, since it is because of the hope of Israel that I am now wearing this chain."

²¹Then they said to him, "We neither received letters from Judea about you, nor did any of the brothers come and report or say anything bad about you.²²But we want to hear from you what you think about this sect, because it is known by us that it is spoken against everywhere."

²³When they had appointed a day for him, more people came to him at his dwelling place. He presented the matter to them, and testified about the kingdom of God. He tried to persuade them about Jesus, both from the law of Moses and from the prophets, from morning until evening.²⁴Some were convinced about the things which were said, while others did not believe.

²⁵When they did not agree with one another, they left after Paul had spoken this one word: "The Holy Spirit spoke well through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers.

²⁶He said, 'Go to this people and say,

"Hearing you will hear, but you will never understand;

seeing, you will see, but you will never know.

²⁷For the heart of this people has become dull,

and with their ears they hardly hear,

and they have shut their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart and turn again,

and I would heal them."'

²⁸Therefore, you should know that this salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles, and they will listen."²⁹¹

³⁰Paul lived for two whole years in his own rented house, and he welcomed all who came to him.³¹He was proclaiming the kingdom of God and was teaching the things about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness without being hindered.

¹Acts 28:29—Some ancient copies have verse 29: When he had said these things, the Jews went away. They were having a great dispute among themselves.

Romans

¹Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God,²which he promised beforehand by his prophets in the holy scriptures,³concerning his Son who was a descendant of David according to the flesh.

⁴Through the Spirit of holiness he was declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.⁵Through him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience of faith among all the nations, for the sake of his name.⁶Among these nations, you also have been called to belong to Jesus Christ.

⁷To all in Rome who are beloved of God and called to be his holy people: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁸First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed throughout the whole world.⁹For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, of how continually I make mention of you.¹⁰I always request in my prayers that by any means I may at last be successful now by the will of God in coming to you.

¹¹For I desire to see you, that I may give you some spiritual gift, in order to strengthen you.¹²That is, I long to be mutually encouraged among you, through each other's faith, yours and mine.

¹³Now I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, that I often intended to come to you (but I was hindered until now), in order to have some fruit among you also, just as I have had among the rest of the Gentiles.¹⁴I am a debtor both to Greeks and to foreigners, both to the wise and to the foolish.¹⁵So, as for me, I am ready to proclaim the gospel also to you who are in Rome.

¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and for the Greek.¹⁷For in it God's righteousness is revealed from faith to faith, as it has been written, "The righteous will live by faith."

¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who through unrighteousness hold back the truth.¹⁹This is because that which is known about God is visible to them. For God has enlightened them.

²⁰For ever since the creation of the world, his invisible qualities, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, having been discerned in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.²¹This is because, although they knew about God, they did not glorify him as God, nor did they give him thanks. Instead, they became foolish in their thoughts, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

²²They claimed to be wise, but they became foolish.²³They exchanged the glory of the imperishable God for the likenesses of an image of perishable man, of birds, of four-footed beasts, and of creeping things.

²⁴Therefore God delivered them over to the lusts of their hearts for uncleanness, for their bodies to be dishonored among themselves.²⁵It is they who exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and who worshiped and served the creation instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

²⁶Because of this, God delivered them over to dishonorable lusts, for their women exchanged natural relations for those that were unnatural.²⁷In the same way, the men also left their natural relations with women and burned in their lust for one another. These were men who committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the penalty they deserved for their error.

²⁸And just as they did not approve of having God in their awareness, he gave them up to a corrupted mind, for them to do those things that are not proper.

²⁹They have been filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, and malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and evil intentions. They are gossips,³⁰slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventing ways of doing evil; they are disobedient to parents.³¹They are senseless, faithless, heartless, and unmerciful.

³²They understand the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death. But not only do they do these things, they also approve of others who do them.

¹Therefore you are without excuse, you person, you who judge, for in things for which you judge the other person, you condemn yourself. For you who judge practice the same things.²But we know that God's judgment is according to truth when it falls on those who practice such things.

³But consider this, you person, you who judge those who practice such things although you do the same things. Will you escape from the judgment of God?⁴Or do you think so little of the riches of his kindness, his delayed punishment, and his patience? Do you not know that his kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

⁵But it is to the extent of your hardness and unrepentant heart that you are storing up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath, that is, the day of the revelation of God's righteous judgment.⁶He will pay back to every person according to his actions:⁷to those who according to the perseverance of good deeds have sought glory, honor, and incorruptibility, he will give eternal life.

⁸But to those who are self-seeking, who disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, wrath and fierce anger will come.⁹God will bring tribulation and distress on every human soul that has practiced evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

¹⁰But glory, honor, and peace will come to everyone who practices good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.¹¹For there is no partiality with God.¹²For as many as have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and as many as have sinned with respect to the law will be judged by the law.

¹³For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but it is the doers of the law who will be justified.¹⁴For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature the things of the law, they are a law to themselves, although they do not have the law.

¹⁵By this they show that the actions required by the law are written in their hearts. Their conscience also bears witness to them, and their own thoughts either accuse or defend them¹⁶on the day when God will judge the secrets of all people, according to my gospel, through Jesus Christ.

¹⁷But if you say that you are a Jew and rest upon the law and boast in God,¹⁸and know his will and approve of what is excellent because you have been instructed from the law;¹⁹and if you are convinced that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,²⁰an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of little children, and that you have in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth, then how does this affect the way you live your life?

²¹You who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?²²You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who hate idols, do you rob temples?

²³You who boast in the law, do you dishonor God by transgressing the law?²⁴For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," just as it has been written.

²⁵For circumcision is profitable to you if you obey the law, but if you are a transgressor of the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.²⁶If, then, the uncircumcised person keeps the requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be considered as circumcision?²⁷And will not the one who is naturally uncircumcised condemn you if he fulfills the law? This is because you have the written law and circumcision, yet you are a transgressor of the law!

²⁸For he is not a Jew who is merely one outwardly; neither is circumcision that which is merely outward in the flesh.²⁹But he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter. The praise of such a person comes not from people but from God.

¹Then what advantage does the Jew have? And what is the benefit of circumcision?²It is great in every way. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with revelation from God.

³For what if some Jews were without faith? Will their unbelief nullify God's faithfulness?⁴May it never be. Instead, let God be found to be true, even though every man is a liar. As it has been written,

"That you might be shown to be righteous in your words,

and that you might prevail when you come into judgment."

⁵But if our unrighteousness shows the righteousness of God, what can we say? Can we say that God is unrighteous to bring his wrath upon us? (I am using a human argument.)⁶May it never be! For then how would God judge the world?

⁷But if through my lie the truth of God increases his glory, why am I still being judged as a sinner?⁸Why not say, as we are slandered as saying, and as some affirm that we say, "Let us do evil, so that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.

⁹What then? Are we excusing ourselves? Not at all. For we have already accused both Jews and Greeks, all of them, of being under sin.

¹⁰This is as it is written:

“No one is righteous, not one;

¹¹there is no one who understands;

there is no one who seeks God.

¹²They have all turned away;

together they have become useless.

There is no one who does good, no,

not even one.”

¹³"Their throat is an open grave.

Their tongues have deceived.

The poison of snakes is under their lips.”

¹⁴"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”

¹⁵"Their feet are swift to pour out blood.

¹⁶Destruction and suffering are in their paths.

¹⁷These people have not known a way of peace."

¹⁸"There is no fear of God before their eyes."

¹⁹Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to the ones who are under the law, so that every mouth may be shut, and the whole world held accountable to God.²⁰For no flesh will be justified by the works of the law in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.

²¹But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been revealed, to which the Law and the Prophets bear witness—²²the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe. For there is no distinction,

²³for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,²⁴and they are freely justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

²⁵For God provided Christ Jesus as an atoning sacrifice through faith in his blood. He offered Christ as proof of his justice, because of his disregard of previous sins²⁶in his patience. This was to show his righteousness at this present time, so he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

²⁷Where then is boasting? It is excluded. Through what kind of law? Of works? No, but through a law of faith.²⁸We conclude then that a person is justified by faith without works of the law.

²⁹Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not also the God of Gentiles? Yes, of Gentiles also.³⁰If, indeed, God is one, he will justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith.

³¹Do we then nullify the law through faith? May it never be! Instead, we uphold the law.

¹What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, found?²For if Abraham had been justified by works, he would have had a reason to boast, but not before God.³For what does the scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

⁴Now for him who labors, his wage is not counted as a gift, but as what is owed.⁵But for him who does not work but instead believes in the one who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.

⁶David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness without works.

⁷He says,

"Blessed are those

whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

and whose sins are covered.

⁸Blessed is the man

against whom the Lord will not count sin."

⁹Then is this blessing pronounced only on those of the circumcision, or also on those of the uncircumcision? For we say, "Faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness."¹⁰How was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before!

¹¹Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them.¹²He is also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

¹³For the promise to Abraham and to his descendants that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith.¹⁴For if those who live by the law are to be the heirs, faith is made empty, and the promise does nothing.¹⁵For the law brings about wrath, but where there is no law, there is no transgression.

¹⁶For this reason it is by faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all of Abraham's descendants—not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all,¹⁷as it is written, "I have appointed you the father of many nations." Abraham was in the presence of him whom he trusted, that is, God, who gives life to the dead and calls the things that do not exist into existence.

¹⁸In hope he believed against hope, that he would become the father of many nations, according to what he had been told, "So will your descendants be."¹⁹Without becoming weak in faith, he considered his own body as dead (because he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

²⁰But because of God's promise, Abraham did not hesitate in unbelief. Instead, he was strengthened in faith and gave glory to God.²¹He was fully convinced that what God had promised, he was also able to accomplish.²²Therefore this was also "counted to him as righteousness."

²³But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone.²⁴They were written also for us, and it will be counted to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.²⁵This is the one who was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

¹Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.²Through him we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.

³Not only this, but we also boast in our tribulations. We know that tribulation brings about perseverance.⁴Perseverance produces character, and character produces hope,⁵and hope does not make ashamed because the love of God has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.⁷For one will hardly die for a righteous person, though perhaps someone would dare to die for a good person.

⁸But God proves his own love toward us, because while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.⁹Much more, then, now that we are justified by his blood, we will be saved by him from the wrath of God.

¹⁰For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, after having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.¹¹Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we now have received this reconciliation.

¹²So then, as through one man sin entered into the world, in this way death entered through sin. And death spread to all people, because all sinned.¹³For until the law, sin was in the world, but there is no accounting for sin when there is no law.

¹⁴Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin like Adam's disobedience, who is a pattern of him who was to come.

¹⁵But the gift is not like the trespass. For if by the trespass of one the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound for the many!

¹⁶For the gift is not like the outcome of that one man's sin. The judgment followed one trespass and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.¹⁷For if, by the trespass of the one, death ruled through the one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.

¹⁸So then, as one trespass led to condemnation for all people, so also through the one act of righteousness came justification and life for all people.¹⁹For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the one will the many be made righteous.

²⁰But the law came in to increase the trespass. But where sin abounded, grace abounded even more.²¹This happened so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness for everlasting life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹What then will we say? Should we continue in sin so that grace may abound?²May it never be. We who died to sin, how can we still live in it?³Do you not know that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

⁴We were buried, then, with him through baptism into death. This happened in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so also we might walk in newness of life.⁵For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we will also be united with his resurrection.

⁶We know this, that our old man was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed. This happened so that we should no longer be enslaved to sin.⁷He who has died is declared righteous with respect to sin.

⁸But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live together with him.⁹We know that since Christ has been raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer rules over him.

¹⁰For in regard to the death that he died to sin, he died once for all. However, the life that he lives, he lives for God.¹¹In the same way, you also must consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

¹²Therefore do not let sin rule in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts.¹³Do not present the members of your bodies to sin, to be tools used for unrighteousness. But present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present the members of your bodies to God as tools to be used for righteousness.¹⁴Do not allow sin to rule over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.

¹⁵What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be.¹⁶Do you not know that if you present yourselves as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey? You are either slaves to sin, which leads to death, or slaves to obedience, which leads to righteousness.

¹⁷But thanks be to God! For you were slaves of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart the pattern of teaching that you were given.¹⁸You have been made free from sin, and you have been made slaves of righteousness.

¹⁹I speak like a man because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented the members of your bodies as slaves to uncleanness and to lawlessness, resulting in more lawlessness, in the same way, now present the members of your bodies as slaves to righteousness for sanctification.²⁰For when you were slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness.²¹At that time, what fruit then did you have of the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.

²²But now that you have been made free from sin and are enslaved to God, you have your fruit for sanctification. The result is eternal life.²³For the wages of sin are death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹Or do you not know, brothers (for I am speaking to people who know about law), that the law rules over a person for whatever time he lives?

²For the married woman is bound by law to the husband while he lives, but if the husband dies, she is released from the law of marriage.³So then, while her husband is living, if she lives with another man, she will be called an adulteress. But if the husband dies, she is free from the law, so she is not an adulteress if she lives with another man.

⁴Therefore, my brothers, you were also made dead to the law through the body of Christ. This is so that you could be joined to another, that is, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might produce fruit for God.⁵For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in the members of our bodies to bear fruit for death.

⁶But now we have been released from the law. We have died to that by which we were bound. This is so that we might serve in newness of the Spirit, and not in oldness of the letter.

⁷What will we say then? Is the law itself sin? May it never be. However, I would never have known sin, if it were not through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law said, "You must not covet."⁸But sin took the opportunity through the commandment and produced every kind of coveting in me. For apart from the law, sin was dead.

⁹At one time I was alive without the law, but when the commandment came, sin regained life¹⁰and I died. The commandment that was to bring life turned out to be death for me.

¹¹For sin took the opportunity through the commandment and deceived me. Through the commandment it killed me.¹²So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

¹³So did what is good become death to me? May it never be. But sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin, brought about death in me through what was good, and through the commandment sin might become sinful beyond measure.¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh. I have been sold under slavery to sin.

¹⁵For what I do, I do not really understand. For what I want to do, I do not do, and what I hate, I do.¹⁶But if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law that the law is good.

¹⁷But now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that lives in me.¹⁸For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) lives no good thing. For the desire for good is with me, but I cannot do it.

¹⁹For the good that I want, I do not do, but the evil that I do not want, that I do.²⁰Now if I do what I do not want to do, then it is no longer I who am acting, but rather sin that lives in me.²¹So, I find this law: When I want to do good, evil is present with me.

²²For I rejoice in the law of God with my inner person.²³But I see a different law in the members of my body. It fights against that new law in my mind. It takes me captive by the law of sin that is in the members of my body.

²⁴I am a miserable man! Who will deliver me from this body of death?²⁵But thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind. However, with the flesh I serve the law of sin.

¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.²For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.

³For what the law was unable to do because it was weak through the flesh, God did. He sent his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be an offering for sin, and he condemned sin in the flesh.⁴He did this in order that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, we who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.⁵Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.

⁶For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.⁷The mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not submit to God's law, nor is it able to do so.⁸Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁹However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed God's Spirit lives in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.¹⁰If Christ is in you, the body is dead with respect to sin, but the spirit is alive with respect to righteousness.

¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.

¹²So then, brothers, we are debtors, but not to the flesh to live according to the flesh.¹³For if you live according to the flesh, you are about to die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the body's actions, you will live.

¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.¹⁵You did not receive a spirit of slavery so that you live in fear again; but you received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, "Abba, Father!"

¹⁶The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.¹⁷If we are children, then we are also heirs—heirs of God. And we are joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us.¹⁹For the eager expectation of the creation waits for the revealing of the sons of God.

²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope²¹that the creation itself will be delivered from slavery to decay, and that it will be brought into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.²²For we know that the whole creation groans and labors in pain together even now.

²³Not only that, but even we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for our adoption, the redemption of our body.²⁴For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he can see?²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit also helps in our weakness. For we do not know how we should pray, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groans.²⁷He who searches out the hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes on behalf of God's holy people according to the will of God.

²⁸We know that for those who love God, he works all things together for good,¹ for those who are called according to his purpose.²⁹Because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.³⁰Those whom he predestined, these he also called. Those whom he called, these he also justified. Those whom he justified, these he also glorified.

³¹What, therefore, can we say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?³²He who did not spare his own Son but delivered him up on behalf of us all, how will he not also with him freely give us all things?

³³Who will bring any accusation against God's chosen ones? God is the one who justifies.³⁴Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us.

³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or hunger, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?³⁶Just as it is written,

"For your benefit we are killed all day long.

We were considered as sheep for the slaughter."

³⁷In all these things we are more than conquerors through the one who loved us.³⁸For I have been convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor governments, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

¹Instead of he works all things together for good, some Greek copies read, all things work together for good.

¹I tell the truth in Christ. I do not lie, and my conscience bears witness with me in the Holy Spirit²that for me there is great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.

³For I could wish that I myself would be cursed and set apart from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.⁴They are Israelites. They have adoption, the glory, the covenants, the gift of the law, the ministry in the temple, and the promises.⁵Theirs are the patriarchs from whom Christ has come with respect to the flesh—he who is God over all. May he be praised forever. Amen.

⁶But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For it is not everyone in Israel who truly belongs to Israel.⁷Neither are all Abraham's descendants truly his children. But "It is through Isaac that your descendants will be called."

⁸That is, the children of the flesh are not the children of God. But the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.⁹For this is the word of promise: "At this time I will come, and a son will be given to Sarah."

¹⁰Not only this, but after Rebekah also had conceived by one man, our father Isaac—¹¹for the children were not yet born and had not yet done anything good or bad, so that the purpose of God according to choice might stand,¹²not because of actions, but because of him who calls—it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger."¹³It is just as had been written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."

¹⁴What then will we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? May it never be.¹⁵For he says to Moses,

"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy,

and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion."

¹⁶So then, it is not because of him who wills, nor because of him who runs, but because of God, who shows mercy.

¹⁷For the scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I raised you up, so that I might demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth."¹⁸So then, God has mercy on whom he wishes, and whom he wishes, he makes stubborn.

¹⁹You will say then to me, "Why does he still find fault? For who has ever withstood his will?"²⁰On the contrary, man, who are you who answers against God? Will what has been molded say to the one who molds it, "Why did you make me this way?"²¹Does the potter not have the right over the clay to make from the same lump a container for honorable use, and another container for dishonorable use?

²²What if God, who is willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience containers of wrath prepared for destruction?²³What if he did this in order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon containers of mercy, which he had previously prepared for glory?²⁴What if he did this also for us, whom he also called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles?

²⁵As he says also in Hosea:

"I will call them 'my people' who were not my people,

and her 'beloved' who was not beloved.

²⁶Then it will be that where it was said to them,

'You are not my people,'

there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'"

²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

"Though the number of the sons of Israel were as the sand of the sea,

it will be a remnant that will be saved,

²⁸for the Lord will execute his word

on the earth completely and without delay."

²⁹As Isaiah had said previously,

"If the Lord of hosts

had not left us descendants,

we would be like Sodom,

and we would have become like Gomorrah."

³⁰What will we say then? That the Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, laid hold of righteousness, the righteousness by faith.³¹But Israel, who did pursue a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.

³²Why not? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if by works. They stumbled over the stone of stumbling,³³as it has been written,

"Look, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling

and a rock of offense.

He who believes in it will not be ashamed."

¹Brothers, my heart's desire and my plea to God is for them, for their salvation.²For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.³For, failing to understand the righteousness that comes from God, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

⁴For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes.⁵For Moses writes about the righteousness that comes from the law: "The man who does these things will live by them."

⁶But the righteousness that comes from faith says this: "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down);⁷"and do not say, 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).

⁸But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart." That is the word of faith, which we proclaim.⁹For if with your mouth you confess Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.¹⁰For with the heart one believes and has righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.

¹¹For scripture says, "Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame."¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, and he is rich to all who call upon him.¹³For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

¹⁴How then can they call on him in whom they have not believed? How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How can they hear without a preacher?¹⁵Then how can they preach, unless they are sent?—As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who proclaim good news!"

¹⁶But not all of them obeyed the good news. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?"¹⁷So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.

¹⁸But I say, "Did they not hear?" Yes, most certainly.

"Their sound has gone out into all the earth,

and their words to the ends of the world."

¹⁹Moreover, I say, "Did Israel not know?" First Moses says,

"I will provoke you to jealousy by what is not a nation.

By means of a nation without understanding, I will stir you up to anger."

²⁰Then Isaiah was very bold when he says,

"I was found by those who did not seek me.

I appeared to those who did not ask for me."

²¹But to Israel he says,

"All the day long I reached out my hands

to a disobedient and stubborn people."

¹I say then, did God reject his people? May it never be. For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.²God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleaded with God against Israel?³"Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life."

⁴But what does God's answer say to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bent the knee to Baal."⁵Even so then, at this present time also there is a remnant because of the choice of grace.

⁶But if it is by grace, it is no longer based on works. Otherwise grace would no longer be grace.¹⁷What then? The thing that Israel was seeking, it did not obtain, but the chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened.⁸It is just as it is written:

"God has given them a spirit of dullness,

eyes so that they should not see,

and ears so that they should not hear,

to this very day."

⁹Then David says,

"Let their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

¹⁰Let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,

and bend their backs continually."

¹¹I say then, "Did they stumble so as to fall?" May it never be. Instead, by their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.¹²Now if their trespass is the riches of the world, and if their loss is the riches of the Gentiles, how much greater will their fulfillment be?

¹³But now I am speaking to you Gentiles, and as long as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry.¹⁴Perhaps I will provoke to jealousy those who are of my own flesh. Perhaps we will save some of them.

¹⁵For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?¹⁶If the firstfruits are holy, so is the lump of dough. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, if you, a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them, and if you shared with them in the rich root of the olive tree,¹⁸do not boast over the branches. But if you do boast, it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you.

¹⁹You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."²⁰That is true. Because of their unbelief they were broken off, but you stand firm because of your faith. Do not be arrogant in your thoughts, but fear.²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.

²²Look at, then, the kind actions and the severity of God: severity came on the Jews who fell, but God's kindness comes on you, if you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

²³And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in. For God is able to graft them in again.²⁴For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into a good olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?

²⁵For I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, of this mystery, so that you may not be wise in your own thinking: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the full number of the Gentiles comes in.

²⁶Thus all Israel will be saved, just as it is written:

"Out of Zion will come the Deliverer.

He will remove ungodliness from Jacob,

²⁷and this will be my covenant with them,

when I will take away their sins."

²⁸As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake. But as far as election is concerned, they are beloved because of the patriarchs.²⁹For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

³⁰For just as you were formerly disobedient to God, now you have received mercy because of their disobedience.³¹In the same way, now these Jews have been disobedient. The result was that by the mercy shown to you they may also now receive mercy.³²For God has shut up all into disobedience in order that he might show mercy on all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!

How unsearchable are his judgments,

and his ways beyond discovering!

³⁴"For who has known the mind of the Lord

or who has become his advisor?

³⁵Or who has first given anything to God,

that God must repay him?"

³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be the glory forever. Amen.

¹Some old copies read But if it is by works, then it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

¹I urge you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. This is your reasonable service.²Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Do this so that you can test and approve what is the good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

³For by the grace that was given to me I say to everyone among you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather, think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has given you.

⁴For we have many members in one body, but not all the members have the same function.⁵In the same way, we who are many are one body in Christ, and are individually members of each other.

⁶We have different gifts according to the grace that was given to us. If one's gift is prophecy, let it be done according to the proportion of his faith.⁷If one's gift is service, let him serve. If one has the gift of teaching, let him teach.⁸If one's gift is encouragement, let him encourage. If one's gift is giving, let him do it generously. If one's gift is leading, let it be done with diligence. If one's gift is in showing mercy, let it be done with cheerfulness.

⁹Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; hold on to that which is good.¹⁰Concerning love of the brothers, be affectionate to one another. Concerning honor, respect one another.

¹¹Concerning diligence, do not be hesitant. Concerning the spirit, be eager. Concerning the Lord, serve him.¹²Rejoice in hope, endure tribulation, be faithful in prayer.¹³Share in the needs of God's holy people. Find many ways to show hospitality.

¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.¹⁶Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not think in proud ways, but accept lowly people. Do not be wise in your own thoughts.

¹⁷Repay no one evil for evil. Do good things in the sight of all people.¹⁸If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with all people.

¹⁹Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but give way to the wrath of God. For it is written, "'Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,' says the Lord."

²⁰But "if your enemy is hungry, feed him.

If he is thirsty, give him a drink.

For if you do this, you will heap coals of fire on his head."

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

¹Let every soul be subject to higher authorities, for there is no authority unless it comes from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God.²Therefore he who rebels against that authority opposes the command of God; and those who oppose it will receive judgment on themselves.

³For rulers are not a terror to those who do good deeds, but to those who do evil deeds. Do you desire to have no fear of the one in authority? Do what is good, and you will receive his praise.⁴For he is a servant of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for he does not carry the sword for no reason. For he is a servant of God, an avenger for wrath on the one who does evil.⁵Therefore you must be subject, not only because of the wrath, but also because of conscience.

⁶Because of this you pay taxes also. For authorities are servants of God, who attend to this very thing continually.⁷Pay to everyone what is owed to them: tax to whom tax is due, toll to whom toll is due, fear to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due.

⁸Owe no one anything, except to love one another. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.⁹The commandments, "Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not covet," and if there is any other commandment it is summed up in this, "Love your neighbor as yourself."¹⁰Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law.

¹¹Because of this, you know the time, that it is already the hour for you to awake out of sleep. For now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.¹²The night has advanced, and the day is near. Let us therefore put aside the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.

¹³Let us walk appropriately, as in the day, not in drunken celebrations or drunkenness; and let us not walk in sexual immorality or in uncontrolled lust, and not in strife or jealousy.¹⁴But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its lusts.

¹Receive anyone who is weak in faith, without giving judgment about arguments.²One person has faith to eat anything, another who is weak eats only vegetables.

³May the one who eats everything not despise the one who does not; and may the one who does not eat everything not judge the other who eats everything. For God has accepted him.⁴Who are you, you who judge a servant belonging to someone else? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. But he will be made to stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

⁵One person values one day above another. Another has concluded that every day is equal. Let each person be convinced in his own mind.⁶He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord; and he who eats, eats for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God. He who does not eat, refrains from eating for the Lord; he also gives thanks to God.

⁷For none of us lives for himself, and none dies for himself.⁸For if we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Then whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.⁹For to this purpose Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord of both the dead and those who are living.

¹⁰But you, why do you judge your brother? And you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.¹¹For it is written,

"As I live," says the Lord,

"to me every knee will bend,

and every tongue will confess to God."

¹²So then, each one of us will give an account of himself to God.

¹³Therefore, let us no longer judge one another, but instead decide this, that no one will place a stumbling block or a snare for his brother.

¹⁴I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean by itself. Only for him who considers anything to be unclean, for him it is unclean.¹⁵If because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking in love. Do not destroy with your food one for whom Christ died.

¹⁶So do not allow what you consider to be good to be spoken of as evil.¹⁷For the kingdom of God is not about food and drink, but about righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

¹⁸For the one who serves Christ in this way is acceptable to God and approved by people.¹⁹So then, let us pursue the things of peace and the things that build up one another.

²⁰Do not destroy the work of God on account of food. All things are clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone to stumble.²¹It is good not to eat meat, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything over which your brother stumbles.

²²The faith you have, keep between yourself and God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself by what he approves.²³He who doubts is condemned if he eats, because it is not from faith. And whatever is not from faith is sin.

¹Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of the weak, and ought not to please ourselves.²Let each one of us please his neighbor for that which is good, in order to build him up.

³For even Christ did not please himself. Instead, it was just as it is written, "The insults of those who insulted you fell on me."⁴For whatever was previously written was written for our instruction in order that through patience and through encouragement of the scriptures we would have hope.

⁵Now may the God of patience and of encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with each other according to Christ Jesus.⁶May he do this in order that with one mind you may glorify with one mouth the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

⁷Therefore receive one another, even as Christ also received you, to the glory of God.

⁸For I say that Christ has been made a servant of the circumcision on behalf of God's truth, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,⁹and for the Gentiles to glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

"Therefore I will give praise to you among the Gentiles

and sing praise to your name."

¹⁰Again it says,

"Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people."

¹¹And again,

"Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles;

let all the peoples praise him."

¹²Again, Isaiah says,

"The root of Jesse will come,

the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles;

in him the Gentiles will have hope."

¹³Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

¹⁴I myself am also convinced about you, my brothers. I am convinced that also you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge. I am convinced that you are also able to instruct one another.

¹⁵But I am writing more boldly to you about some things in order to remind you again, because of the grace given me by God.¹⁶This grace was that I should be a servant of Christ Jesus sent to the Gentiles, to offer as a priest the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁷In Christ Jesus I have reason to boast of my service for God.¹⁸For I will not dare to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me for the obedience of the Gentiles. These are things done by word and action,¹⁹by the power of signs and wonders, and by the power of the Spirit of God. This was so that from Jerusalem, and round about as far as Illyricum, I might fully carry out the gospel of Christ.

²⁰In this way, my desire has been to proclaim the gospel, but not where Christ is known by name, in order that I might not build upon another man's foundation.²¹It is as it is written:

"Those to whom no report of him came will see him,

and those who have not heard will understand."

²²Therefore I was also hindered many times from coming to you.²³But now, I no longer have any place in these regions, and I have been longing for many years to come to you.

²⁴I hope to see you when I pass through there on my way to Spain, and to be helped by you on my journey there, once I have enjoyed your company for a while.²⁵But now I am going to Jerusalem, serving God's holy people.

²⁶For it was the good pleasure of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution to the poor among God's holy people who are in Jerusalem.²⁷Yes, it was their good pleasure, and they owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they owe it to the Jews to minister to them with their material things.

²⁸Therefore, when I have completed this task and have made sure that they receive all that was collected, I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.²⁹I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing of Christ.

³⁰Now I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.³¹Pray that I may be rescued from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to God's holy people.³²Pray that I may come to you in joy through the will of God, and that I may, together with you, find rest.

³³May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.

¹I commend to you Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the church that is in Cenchreae,²in order that you may receive her in the Lord. Do this in a manner worthy of God's holy people, and provide her with whatever help she may need from you, for she has been a great help to many and to myself as well.

³Greet Priscilla and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,⁴who for my life risked their own lives. I give thanks to them, and not only I, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.

⁵Greet the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus my beloved, who is the firstfruit of Asia to Christ.

⁶Greet Mary, who has labored hard for you.

⁷Greet Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen and fellow prisoners. They are well known among the apostles, and they were in Christ before me.

⁸Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord.

⁹Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and Stachys, my beloved.

¹⁰Greet Apelles, the approved in Christ. Greet those who are of the household of Aristobulus.

¹¹Greet Herodion, my kinsman. Greet those of the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.

¹²Greet Tryphaena and Tryphosa, laborers in the Lord. Greet Persis the beloved, who has labored much in the Lord.

¹³Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

¹⁴Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers who are with them.

¹⁵Greet Philologus and Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all God's holy people who are with them.

¹⁶Greet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.

¹⁷Now I urge you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and stumbling contrary to the teaching that you have learned. Turn away from them.¹⁸For people such as these do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own stomach. By their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

¹⁹For your example of obedience reaches everyone. I rejoice, therefore, over you, but I want you to be wise as to that which is good, and innocent to that which is evil.²⁰The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

²¹Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you, and Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater, my kinsmen.²²I, Tertius, who write this epistle down, greet you in the Lord.

²³Gaius, the host for me and for the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the treasurer of the city, greets you, with Quartus the brother.²⁴¹

²⁵Now to him who is able to make you strong according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ,

according to the revelation of the mystery that had been kept secret for long ages

²⁶but now has been revealed and made known through the prophetic writings to all nations,

by the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—

²⁷to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be glory forever. Amen.

¹The best ancient copies do not have this phrase: May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. So verese 24 is not included in the ULB.

1 Corinthians

¹Paul, called by Christ Jesus to be an apostle by the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

²to the church of God at Corinth, those who have been sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy people, together with all those in every place who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is their Lord and ours:

³May grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁴I always give thanks to my God for you because of the grace of God that Christ Jesus gave to you.⁵He has made you rich in every way, in all speech and with all knowledge,⁶just as the testimony about Christ has been confirmed as true among you.

⁷Therefore you lack no spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.⁸He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.⁹God is faithful, who called you into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹⁰Now I urge you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and that there be no divisions among you. I urge that you be joined together with the same mind and by the same purpose.¹¹For I have been informed concerning you, my brothers, by Chloe's people that there are factions among you.

¹²I mean this: Each one of you says, "I am with Paul," or "I am with Apollos," or "I am with Cephas," or "I am with Christ."¹³Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into the name of Paul?

¹⁴I thank God that I baptized none of you, except Crispus and Gaius.¹⁵This was so that no one would say that you were baptized into my name.¹⁶(I also baptized the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know if I baptized any others.)

¹⁷For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel—not with clever speech, in order that the cross of Christ would not be emptied of its power.

¹⁸For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing. But among those who are being saved, it is the power of God.¹⁹For it is written,

"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise.

I will set aside the understanding of the intelligent."

²⁰Where is the wise person? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this world? Has not God turned the wisdom of the world into foolishness?²¹Since the world in its wisdom did not know God, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of preaching.

²²For Jews ask for miraculous signs and Greeks seek wisdom.²³But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.

²⁴But to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, we preach Christ as the power and the wisdom of God.²⁵For the foolishness of God is wiser than people, and the weakness of God is stronger than people.

²⁶Look at your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to the flesh. Not many of you were powerful. Not many of you were of noble birth.²⁷But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame what is strong.

²⁸God chose what is low and despised in the world. He even chose things that are regarded as nothing, to bring to nothing things that are held as valuable.²⁹He did this so that no flesh would have a reason to boast before him.

³⁰Because of what God did, now you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God. He became our righteousness, holiness, and redemption.³¹As a result, as it is written, "Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord."

¹When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence of speech or wisdom as I proclaimed hidden truths about God.¹²For I decided to know nothing when I was among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

³And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling.⁴And my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive words of wisdom, but with the demonstration of the Spirit and of power,⁵so that your faith might not be in the wisdom of humans, but in the power of God.

⁶Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this world, or of the rulers of this age, who are passing away.⁷Instead, we speak God's wisdom in hidden truth, the hidden wisdom that God predestined before the ages for our glory.

⁸None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.⁹But as it is written,

"No eye has seen,

no ear has heard,

no human heart has imagined

what God has prepared for those who love him"—

¹⁰For God has revealed these things to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything out, even the deep things of God.²¹¹For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of the person in him? So also, no one knows the deep things of God except the Spirit of God.

¹²But we did not receive the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, so that we might know the things freely given to us by God.¹³We speak about these things in words not taught by human wisdom but by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to spiritual people.

¹⁴The unspiritual person does not receive the things that belong to the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. He cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned.¹⁵The one who is spiritual judges all things, but he is not judged by others.

¹⁶"For who can know the mind of the Lord,

that he can instruct him?"

But we have the mind of Christ.

¹A few important and ancient Greek copies read, as I proclaimed the testimony about God.

²Some ancient Greek copies say But God. Howevever, following our Greek source, it reads,For God.

¹And I, brothers, could not speak to you as to spiritual people, but instead as to fleshly people, as to little children in Christ.²I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it; and even now you are not yet ready.

³For you are still fleshly. For where jealousy and strife exist among you, are you not living according to the flesh, and are you not walking by human standards?⁴For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another says, "I follow Apollos," are you not merely human beings?⁵Who then is Apollos? Who is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, just as the Lord gave tasks to each.

⁶I planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.⁷So then, neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything. But it is God who gives the growth.

⁸Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his own wages according to his own labor.⁹For we are God's fellow workers. You are God's garden, God's building.

¹⁰According to the grace of God that was given to me as a skilled master builder, I laid a foundation and another is building on it. But let each man be careful how he builds on it.¹¹For no one can lay a foundation other than the one that has been laid, that is, Jesus Christ.

¹²Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,¹³his work will be revealed, for the day will reveal it. For it will be revealed in fire. The fire will test the quality of what each one has done.

¹⁴If anyone's work remains, he will receive a reward;¹⁵but if anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, but he himself will be saved, as though escaping through fire.

¹⁶Do you not know that you are God's temple and that the Spirit of God lives in you?¹⁷If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and so are you.

¹⁸Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become a "fool" that he may become wise.¹⁹For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written,

"He catches the wise in their craftiness."

²⁰And again,

"The Lord knows that the reasoning of the wise is futile."

²¹For this reason, let no one boast in men. All things are yours,²²whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All things are yours,²³and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

¹This is how a person should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the hidden truths of God.²Now what is required of stewards is that they are found to be trustworthy.

³But for me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. For I do not even judge myself.⁴I am not aware of any charge being made against me, but that does not justify me. The one who judges me is the Lord.

⁵Therefore do not pronounce judgment about anything before the time, before the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his praise from God.

⁶Now, brothers, I applied these principles to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that from us you might learn the meaning of the saying,

"Do not go beyond what is written."

This is so that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against the other.

⁷For who sees any difference between you and others? What do you have that you did not receive? If you have received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

⁸Already you have all you could want! Already you have become rich! You began to reign—and that quite apart from us! Indeed, I wish you did reign, so that we could reign with you.⁹For I think God has put us apostles on display as the last in line, in a procession and like men sentenced to death. We have become a spectacle to the world—to angels, and to human beings.

¹⁰We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we are held in dishonor.¹¹Up to this present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed, we are beaten, and we are homeless.

¹²We labor hard, working with our own hands. When we are slandered, we bless. When we are persecuted, we endure.¹³When we are slandered, we speak with kindness. We have become as the refuse of the world and the filthiest of all things, even till now.

¹⁴I do not write these things to shame you, but to warn you as my beloved children.¹⁵For even if you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.¹⁶So I urge you to be imitators of me.

¹⁷That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, just as I teach them everywhere and in every church.¹⁸Now some of you have become puffed up, acting as though I were not coming to you.

¹⁹But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills. Then I will know not merely the words of these who are so puffed up, but I will see their power.²⁰For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.²¹What do you want? Should I come to you with a rod or with love and in a spirit of gentleness?

¹We heard a report that there is sexual immorality among you, a kind of immorality that is not even permitted among the pagans: A man has his father's wife.²You are puffed up! Should you not mourn instead, so that the one who did this deed might be removed from among you?

³For even though I am absent in body, I am present in spirit. I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as though I were there.⁴When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present,⁵deliver this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁶Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little yeast leavens the whole loaf?⁷Cleanse yourselves of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, unleavened, just as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.⁸So let us then celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of bad behavior and wickedness. Instead, let us celebrate with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.¹⁰In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy, or swindlers, or idolaters, since to stay away from them you would need to go out of the world.

¹¹But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who is called a brother but who is living in sexual immorality, or who is greedy, or is an idolater, or is verbally abusive, or is a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat a meal with such a person.¹²For how am I involved with judging those who are outside the church? Instead, are you not to judge those who are inside the church?¹³But God judges those who are on the outside.

"Remove the evil person from among you."

¹When one of you has a dispute against another, does he dare to bring a lawsuit before the unrighteous rather than before God's holy people?²Do you not know that God's holy people will judge the world? If then you will judge the world, are you not able to settle matters of little importance?³Do you not know that we will judge the angels? How much more, then, can we judge matters of this life?

⁴If then you have to make judgments that pertain to daily life, why do you lay such cases as these before those who have no standing in the church?⁵I say this to your shame. Is there no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between brothers?⁶But one brother brings a lawsuit against another brother—and this before unbelievers!

⁷The fact that you have lawsuits with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer the wrong? Why not rather allow yourselves to be cheated?⁸But you yourselves do wrong and you cheat, and you do this to your own brothers!

⁹Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to homosexual acts, nor men who perform homosexual acts, ¹⁰nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor slanderers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.¹¹That is what some of you were like. But you have been cleansed, you have been sanctified, you have been justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

¹²"Everything is lawful for me," but not everything is profitable. "Everything is lawful for me," but I will not be mastered by any of them.¹³"Food is for the stomach, and the stomach is for food," but God will do away with both of them. The body is not intended for sexual immorality. Instead, the body is for the Lord, and the Lord will provide for the body.

¹⁴God both raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power.¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I then take the members of Christ and join them to a prostitute? May it not be!

¹⁶Do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? As scripture says, "The two will become one flesh."¹⁷But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.

¹⁸Run away from sexual immorality! Every other sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.

¹⁹Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives within you, whom you have from God? Do you not know that you are not your own?²⁰For you were bought with a price. Therefore glorify God with your body and in your spirit, which belong to God.

¹Now concerning the issues you wrote about: "It is good for a man not to touch a woman."²But because of temptations for many immoral acts, each man should have his own wife, and each woman should have her own husband.

³The husband should fulfill his duty to have sexual relations with his wife, and in the same way the wife to her husband.⁴It is not the wife who has authority over her own body, it is the husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.

⁵Do not deprive each other, except by mutual agreement and for a specific period of time. Do this so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then you should come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

⁶But I say these things to you as a concession and not as a command.⁷I wish that everyone were as I am. But each one has his own gift from God. One has this kind of gift, and another that kind.

⁸To the unmarried and to widows I say that it is good for them if they remain unmarried, as I am.⁹But if they cannot exercise self-control, they should marry. For it is better for them to marry than to burn with passion.

¹⁰Now to the married I give this command—not I, but the Lord—the wife should not separate from her husband¹¹(but if she does separate from her husband, she should remain unmarried or else be reconciled to her husband), and the husband should not divorce his wife.

¹²But to the rest I say—I, not the Lord—that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and if she is content to live with him, he should not divorce her.¹³If a woman has an unbelieving husband, and if he is content to live with her, she should not divorce him.¹⁴For the unbelieving husband is set apart because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is set apart because of the brother. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but actually they are set apart.

¹⁵But if the unbeliever departs, let him go. In such cases, the brother or sister is not bound to their vows. God has called us to live in peace.¹⁶For how do you know, woman, whether you will save your husband? Or how do you know, man, whether you will save your wife?

¹⁷However, as the Lord has given each one his portion, let each one walk as God has called him. This is my rule in all the churches.¹⁸Was anyone circumcised when he was called to believe? He should not try to appear uncircumcised. Was anyone uncircumcised when he was called to faith? He should not be circumcised.¹⁹For it is neither circumcision nor uncircumcision that matters. What matters is obeying the commandments of God.

²⁰Each one should remain in the calling he was in when God called him to believe.²¹Were you a slave when God called you? Do not be concerned about it. But if you can become free, take advantage of it.²²For someone who is called by the Lord as a slave is the Lord's freeman. In the same way, the one who was free when he was called to believe is Christ's slave.²³You have been bought with a price, so do not become slaves of men.²⁴Brothers, in whatever situation he was in when he was called, let each one remain with God in that.

²⁵Now concerning virgins, I have no commandment from the Lord. But I give my opinion as one who, by the Lord's mercy, is trustworthy.²⁶Therefore, I think that because of the disaster that is coming, it is good for a man to remain as he is.

²⁷Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek a divorce. If you are free of a wife, do not seek a wife.²⁸But if you do marry, you have not sinned, and if a virgin marries, she has not sinned. But those who do will have many kinds of fleshly trouble, and I want to spare you from this.

²⁹But this I say, brothers: The time is short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none.³⁰Those who weep should act as though they were not weeping, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not possess anything,³¹and those who use the world should not act as though they are using it to the full. For the world in its present form is coming to an end.

³²I would like you to be free from worries. The unmarried man is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to please him.³³But the married man is concerned about the things of the world, how to please his wife—³⁴he is divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is concerned about the things of the Lord, how to be set apart in body and in spirit. But the married woman is concerned about the things of the world, how to please her husband.

³⁵I say this for your own benefit, and not to put any constraint on you. I say this for what is right, so that you may be devoted to the Lord without any distraction.

³⁶But if anyone thinks that he is not treating his virgin with respect—if she is beyond the age of marriage and it must be so—he should do what he wants. He is not sinning. They should marry.³⁷But if he is standing firm in his heart, if he is not under pressure but can control his own will, and if he has decided in his own heart to do this, to keep his own a virgin, he will do well.³⁸So the one who marries his virgin does well, and the one who chooses not to marry will do even better.

³⁹A woman is bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but only in the Lord.⁴⁰Yet in my judgment she would be happier if she lives as she is. And I think that I also have the Spirit of God.

¹Now concerning food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.²If anyone thinks he knows something, that person does not yet know as he should know.³But if anyone loves God, that person is known by him.

⁴Therefore, concerning the eating of food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol in this world is nothing and that there is no God but one.⁵For even if there were so-called gods, either in heaven or on earth (just as there are many "gods" and many "lords"),⁶yet for us there is only one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we live, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom all things exist, and through whom we exist.

⁷However, this knowledge is not in everyone. Instead, some previously practiced idol worship, and they eat this food as if it were something sacrificed to an idol. Their conscience is thereby defiled because it is weak.

⁸But food will not present us to God. We are not worse if we do not eat, nor better if we do eat it.⁹But take care that your freedom does not become a reason for someone who is weak in faith to stumble.¹⁰For suppose that someone sees you, who have knowledge, eating a meal in an idol's temple. Is not his weak conscience emboldened to eat what is offered to idols?

¹¹So because of your understanding about the true nature of idols, the weaker one, the brother for whom Christ died, is destroyed.¹²Thus, when you sin against your brothers and wound their weak consciences, you sin against Christ.¹³Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to fall.

¹Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?²If I am not an apostle to others, at least I am to you. For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.

³This is my defense to those who examine me:⁴Do we not have the right to eat and drink?⁵Do we not have the right to take along a wife who is a believer, as do the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?⁶Or do only I and Barnabas not have the right to not work at a trade?

⁷Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink milk from it?⁸Do I say these things based on human authority? Does not the law also say this?

⁹For it is written in the law of Moses, "Do not put a muzzle on an ox when it is threshing the grain." Is it really the oxen that God cares about?¹⁰Is he not speaking about us? It was written for us, because the one who plows should plow in hope, and the one who threshes should thresh in the hope of sharing in the harvest.¹¹If we sowed spiritual things among you, is it too much for us to reap physical things from you?

¹²If others exercised this right from you, do we not have even more? But we did not claim this right. Instead we endured everything rather than be a hindrance to the gospel of Christ.¹³Do you not know that those who perform sacred duties get their food from the temple? Do you not know that those who serve at the altar share in what is offered on the altar?¹⁴In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living from the gospel.

¹⁵But I have not claimed any of these rights. And I do not write this so something might be done for me. It would be better for me to die than—No one will make my boast empty!¹⁶For if I preach the gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I must do this. And woe be to me if I do not preach the gospel!

¹⁷For if I do this willingly, I have a reward. But if not willingly, I still have a stewardship that was entrusted to me.¹⁸What then is my reward? That when I preach, I may offer the gospel without charge and so not take full use of my right in the gospel.

¹⁹For though I am free from all, I became a servant to all, in order that I might win more.²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law, I became like one under the law in order to win those under the law. I did this even though I myself was not under the law.¹

²¹To those outside the law, I became like one outside the law, although I was not outside the law of God myself, but under the law of Christ. I did this so that I may win those outside the law.²²To the weak I became weak, so that I may win the weak. I have become all things to all people, so that I may by all means save some.²³I do all things for the gospel's sake, so that I may participate in its blessings.

²⁴Do you not know that in a race all the runners run the race, but that only one receives the prize? So run to win the prize.²⁵Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a wreath that is perishable, but we do it to receive one that is imperishable.²⁶Therefore this is how I run, as not without purpose; this is how I box, not as one beating the air.²⁷But I subdue my body and make it a slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself may not be disqualified.

¹The ULB has: I did this even though I myself was not under the law. A few important and ancient Greek copies, with other ancient translations, leave this sentence out.

¹I do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea.²All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,³and all ate the same spiritual food.⁴All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.

⁵But God was not well pleased with most of them, and their corpses were scattered about in the wilderness.⁶Now these things were examples for us, so we would not be those who lust for evil things as they lusted.

⁷Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. This is as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play."⁸Let us not commit sexual immorality, as many of them did. In one day, twenty-three thousand people died because of it.

⁹Neither let us put Christ to the test, as many of them tested him and were destroyed by snakes.¹⁰Also do not grumble, as many of them did and were destroyed by an angel of death.

¹¹Now these things happened to them as examples for us. They were written for our instruction—for us on whom the end of the ages has come.¹²Therefore let anyone who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall.¹³No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to all humanity. Instead, God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. With the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, so that you may be able to endure it.

¹⁴Therefore, my beloved ones, run away from idolatry.¹⁵I speak to you as people who have understanding, so you may judge what I say.¹⁶The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?¹⁷Because there is one loaf of bread, we who are many are one body. We all take of one loaf of bread together.

¹⁸Look at the Israel that is according to the flesh. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar?¹⁹What am I saying then? That an idol is anything? Or that food sacrificed to an idol is anything?

²⁰But I say about the things they sacrifice, that they offer these things to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons!²¹You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot participate at the table of the Lord and the table of demons.²²Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he is?

²³"Everything is lawful," but not everything is profitable. "Everything is lawful," but not everything builds people up.²⁴No one should seek his own good. Instead, each one should seek the good of his neighbor.

²⁵Eat everything sold in the market without asking questions of conscience.²⁶For "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness of it."²⁷If an unbeliever invites you to eat a meal, and you wish to go, eat whatever is set before you without asking questions of conscience.

²⁸But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, both for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience—¹²⁹the conscience of the other man, I mean, and not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another's conscience?³⁰If I partake of the meal with gratitude, why am I being insulted for that for which I gave thanks?

³¹Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.³²Be blameless both to Jews and to Greeks, and to the church of God.³³In the same way I try to please all people in all things. I do not seek my benefit, but that of the many. I do this so that they may be saved.

¹Some ancient copies of the Greek text add, For the earth and everything in it belong to the Lord. But the best ancient copies of the Greek text do not have this. Many scholars see this addition as a duplication of verse 26.

11¹Be imitators of me, just as I am an imitator of Christ.

²Now I praise you because you remember me in everything. I praise you because you hold firmly to the traditions just as I delivered them to you.³Now I want you to understand that Christ is the head of every man, that a man is the head of a woman, and that God is the head of Christ.⁴Any man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

⁵But any woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. For it is the same thing as if her head were shaved.⁶For if a woman will not cover her head, she should cut her hair short. If it is disgraceful for a woman to have her hair cut off or for her to shave her head, let her cover her head.

⁷For a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God. But the woman is the glory of the man.⁸For man was not made from woman. Instead, woman was made from man.

⁹For neither was man created for woman. Instead, woman was created for man.¹⁰This is why the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels.

¹¹Nevertheless, in the Lord, the woman is not independent from the man, nor is the man independent from the woman.¹²For as the woman comes from the man, so does the man come from the woman. And all things come from God.

¹³Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?¹⁴Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor for him?¹⁵Does not nature teach you that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair has been given to her as a covering.¹⁶But if anyone wants to argue about this, we do not have any other practice, nor do the churches of God.

¹⁷But in the following instructions, I do not praise you. For when you come together, it is not for the better but for the worse.¹⁸For in the first place, I hear that when you come together in the church, there are divisions among you, and in part I believe it.¹⁹For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.

²⁰For when you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper that you eat.²¹When you eat, each one eats his own food before the others have their meal. One is hungry, and another becomes drunk.²²Do you not have houses to eat and to drink in? Do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What should I say to you? Should I praise you? I will not praise you for this!

²³For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread.²⁴After he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this to remember me."

²⁵In the same way he took the cup after supper, and he said, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it, to remember me."²⁶For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

²⁷Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.²⁸Let a person examine himself first, and in this way let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.²⁹For he who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment to himself.³⁰That is why many among you are weak and ill, and some of you have fallen asleep.

³¹But if we examine ourselves, we will not be judged.³²But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined, so that we may not be condemned along with the world.

³³Therefore, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.³⁴If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. And about the other things you wrote, I will give instructions when I come.

¹About spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed.²You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to idols who could not speak, in whatever ways you were led by them.³Therefore I want you to know that no one who speaks by the Spirit of God can say, "Jesus is accursed." No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

⁴Now there are different gifts, but the same Spirit.⁵There are different ministries, but the same Lord;⁶and there are different kinds of work, but it is the same God who works all in all.

⁷Now to each one is given the outward display of the Spirit for the benefit of all.⁸For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom, and to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit.

⁹To another is given faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit.¹⁰To another is given miraculous works, and to another prophecy. To another is given the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues.¹¹All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, giving the gifts to each one individually, as he chooses.

¹²For as the body is one and has many members and all are members of the same body, so it is with Christ.¹³For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slave or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

¹⁴For the body is not a single member, but many.¹⁵If the foot says, "Since I am not the hand, I am not part of the body," it is not any less a part of the body.¹⁶And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not part of the body," it is not any less a part of the body.¹⁷If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?

¹⁸But God has appointed each member, each one of them, into the body as he has desired.¹⁹If they were all the same member, where would the body be?²⁰So now they are many members, but only one body.

²¹The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you." Nor does the head say to the feet, "I have no need of you."²²But the members of the body that appear to be weaker are essential,²³and the parts of the body that we think are less honorable, we give them greater honor, and our unpresentable members have more dignity.²⁴Now our presentable members have no such need. Rather, God has composed the body, giving greater honor to those members that lack it.

²⁵He did this so there may be no division within the body, but that the members should care for one another with the same affection.²⁶So when one member suffers, all the members suffer together; or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice together.²⁷Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

²⁸And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then those who do miracles, then gifts of healing, those who provide helps, those who do the work of administration, and those who have various kinds of tongues.²⁹Are all of them apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all do miracles?

³⁰Do all of them have gifts of healing? Do all of them speak with tongues? Do all of them interpret tongues?³¹Zealously seek the greater gifts. And now I will show you a more excellent way.

¹Suppose that I speak with the tongues of men and of angels. But if I do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.²Suppose that I have the gift of prophecy and understand all hidden truths and knowledge, and that I have all faith so as to remove mountains. But if I do not have love, I am nothing.³Suppose that I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and that I give my body to be burned. But if I do not have love, I gain nothing.¹

⁴Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous and does not boast. It is not puffed up⁵or rude. It does not seek its own. It is not provoked, nor does it keep a count of wrongs.⁶It does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Instead, it rejoices in the truth.⁷Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.

⁸Love never ends. If there are prophecies, they will pass away. If there are tongues, they will cease. If there is knowledge, it will pass away.⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part.¹⁰But when the perfect comes, that which is incomplete will pass away.

¹¹When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put away childish things.¹²For now we see indirectly in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I have been fully known.¹³But now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

¹Most important and ancient Greek copies, as well as ancient translations read, I give my body to be burned. There are a few important and ancient Greek copies, as well as ancient translations, that read, I give my body so that I might boast.

¹Pursue love and be zealous for spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.²For the one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to people but to God. For no one understands him because he speaks mysteries in the Spirit.³But the one who prophesies speaks to people to build them up, to exhort them, and to comfort them.⁴The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church.

⁵Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues. But even more than that, I wish that you would prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues (unless someone interprets so that the church may receive edification).⁶But now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you? I cannot, unless I speak to you with revelation, or knowledge, or prophecy, or teaching.

⁷In the same way, when lifeless instruments are producing sounds—like the flute or the harp—if they do not produce different tones, how will anyone know what tune the flute or harp is playing?⁸For if the trumpet is played with an uncertain sound, how will anyone know when it is time to prepare for battle?⁹It is the same way for you with the tongue. If you utter speech that is not clear, how will what is said be understood? You will be speaking into the air.

¹⁰There are doubtless many kinds of languages in the world, and none is without meaning.¹¹But if I do not know the meaning of a language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker, and the speaker will be a foreigner to me.

¹²So it is with you. Since you are eager for the manifestations of the Spirit, seek for the edification of the church so that you might abound.¹³So the one who speaks in a tongue should pray that he may interpret.¹⁴For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful.

¹⁵What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind. I will sing with my spirit, and I will also sing with my mind.¹⁶Otherwise, if you bless God with the spirit, how will the outsider say "Amen" when you are giving thanks if he does not know what you are saying?

¹⁷For you certainly give thanks well enough, but the other person is not built up.¹⁸I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you.¹⁹But in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding so that I might instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue.

²⁰Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Rather, in regard to evil, be like infants. But in your thinking be mature.²¹In the law it is written,

"By men of strange tongues

and by the lips of strangers

I will speak to this people.

Even then they will not hear me,"

says the Lord.

²²So then, tongues are a sign, not to believers, but to unbelievers. But prophecy is for a sign, not for unbelievers, but for believers.²³If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders and unbelievers come in, would they not say that you are insane?

²⁴But if you all were prophesying and an unbeliever or an outsider came in, he would be convicted by all he hears. He would be judged by all that is said.²⁵The secrets of his heart would be revealed. As a result, he would fall on his face and worship God. He would declare that God is really among you.

²⁶What is next then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Do everything so that you build up the church.²⁷If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at most three, and each one in turn, and then someone should interpret what is said.²⁸But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in the church. Let each one speak to himself alone and to God.

²⁹Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others listen with discernment to what is said.³⁰But if there is a revelation to one who is sitting, let the first be silent.

³¹For each of you can prophesy one by one so that each one may learn and all may be exhorted.³²For the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.³³For God is not a God of confusion, but of peace.

This is the rule in all the churches of God's holy people.

³⁴The women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak. Instead, they should be in submission, as also the law says.³⁵If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.³⁶Did the word of God come from you? Are you the only ones it has reached?

³⁷If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I write to you are a command of the Lord.³⁸But if anyone does not recognize this, let him not be recognized.

³⁹So then, brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid anyone from speaking in tongues.⁴⁰But let all things be done properly and in order.

¹Now I want to make known to you, brothers, the gospel I proclaimed to you, which you received and on which you stand,²and by which you are being saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.

³For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures,⁴that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures.

⁵Christ appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve;⁶then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at once. Most of them are still alive, but some have fallen asleep.⁷Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

⁸Last of all, he appeared to me, as if to one born prematurely.⁹For I am the least of the apostles. I am unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God.

¹⁰But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace in me was not in vain. Instead, I labored harder than all of them. Yet it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.¹¹Therefore whether it is I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

¹²Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?¹³But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised;¹⁴and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain, and your faith also is in vain.

¹⁵Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified that God raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.¹⁶For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised;¹⁷and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is in vain and you are still in your sins.

¹⁸Then those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.¹⁹If only in this life we hope in Christ, of all people we are most to be pitied.

²⁰But now Christ has been raised from the dead as the firstfruits of those who sleep.²¹For since death came by a man, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.

²²For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.²³But each in his own order: Christ, who is the firstfruits, and then those who belong to Christ will be made alive at his coming.

²⁴Then will be the end, when he will hand over the kingdom to God the Father, when he will abolish all rule and all authority and power.²⁵For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.²⁶The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

²⁷For "he has put everything under his feet." But when it says, "he has put everything," it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection under him.²⁸When all things are subjected under him, then the Son himself will be subjected under the one who put all things into subjection under him, that God may be all in all.

²⁹Or else what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are they baptized for them?³⁰Why then are we in danger every hour?

³¹I die every day! This is as sure as my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.³²What do I gain, from a human point of view, if I fought with beasts at Ephesus, if the dead are not raised?

"Let us eat and drink,

for tomorrow we die."

³³Be not deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."³⁴Sober up! Live righteously! Do not keep sinning. For some of you have no knowledge of God. I say this to your shame.

³⁵But someone will say, "How are the dead raised, and with what kind of body will they come?"³⁶You fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies.

³⁷What you sow is not the body that will be, but a bare grain. It may become wheat or something else.³⁸But God will give it a body as he chooses, and to each seed its own body.³⁹Not all flesh is the same. Instead, there is one flesh for human beings, and another flesh for animals, and another flesh for birds, and another for fish.

⁴⁰There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the glory of the heavenly body is one kind and the glory of the earthly is another.⁴¹There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For one star differs from another star in glory.

⁴²So also is the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, and what is raised is imperishable.⁴³It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.⁴⁴It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

⁴⁵So also it is written, "The first man Adam became a living soul." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.⁴⁶But the spiritual did not come first but the natural, and then the spiritual.

⁴⁷The first man is of the earth, made of dust. The second man is from heaven.⁴⁸Just as the one made from dust is, so also are those who are made of the dust, and as the man of heaven is, so also are those who are of heaven.⁴⁹Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

⁵⁰Now this I say, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. Neither does what is perishable inherit what is imperishable.⁵¹Look! I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed.

⁵²We will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.⁵³For this perishable body must put on what is imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

⁵⁴But when this perishable body has put on what is imperishable, and when this mortal body has put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "Death is swallowed up in victory."

⁵⁵"Death, where is your victory?

Death, where is your sting?"

⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

⁵⁸Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast and immovable. Always abound in the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

¹Now concerning the collection for God's holy people: as I instructed the churches of Galatia, so you are to do.²On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper. Do this so that there will be no collections when I come.

³When I arrive, to whomever you approve, I will give letters of introduction to them and will send them with your gift to Jerusalem.⁴If it is appropriate for me to go also, they will go with me.

⁵But I will come to you when I pass through Macedonia. For I will pass through Macedonia.⁶Perhaps I may stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may help me on my way, wherever I go.

⁷For I do not wish to see you now for only a passing visit. For I hope to spend more time with you, if the Lord permits.⁸But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost,⁹for a wide door has opened for me, and there are many adversaries.

¹⁰Now when Timothy comes, see that he is with you unafraid, for he is laboring at the work of the Lord, as I am doing.¹¹Let no one despise him. Help him on his way in peace, so that he may come to me. For I am expecting him to come along with the brothers.¹²Now concerning our brother Apollos, I strongly encouraged him to visit you with the brothers. But it was not at all his will that he come now. However, he will come when the time is right.

¹³Be watchful, stand fast in the faith, act like men, be strong.¹⁴Let all that you do be done in love.

¹⁵You know the household of Stephanas, that they were the firstfruits of Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves to the service of God's holy people. Now I urge you, brothers,¹⁶to be in submission to such people and to everyone who helps in the work and labors with us.

¹⁷I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus. They have made up for your absence.¹⁸For they have refreshed my spirit and yours. So then, acknowledge people like them.

¹⁹The churches of Asia send greetings to you. Aquila and Priscilla greet you in the Lord, with the church that is in their home.²⁰All the brothers greet you. Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹I, Paul, write this with my own hand.²²If anyone does not love the Lord, may he be accursed. Our Lord, come!²³The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you.²⁴My love be with you all in Christ Jesus.¹

¹A few important and ancient Greek copies and some ancient translations have Amen at the end of verse 24. But many important ancient Greek copies, as well as many ancient translations, do not have Amen at the end.

¹There is evidence that corrections were made to verse 7 by later copyists who were referring to other ancient texts. Most modern translations follow those corrections, and they now read, and in your love for us. But there are some important and ancient Greek copies that read, and in our love for you.

²Some translations number this sentence as verse 14.

¹Some translations include this sentence with verse 20.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies do not have in Ephesus, but this letter may have been circulated throughout this region to several churches, not just to the church in Ephesus.

²Some interpreters place the last phrase of Ephesians 1:4. in love, with verse 5 so that it reads, In love God predestined us.

¹Some ancient and important Greek copies add Amen, and there are some ancient Greek copies that have that word at the end of every New Testament book. There are also many important and ancient Greek copies that do not have the final Amen .

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies add and the Lord Jesus Christ.

²Some important and ancient Greek copies read, on your behalf.

³Some ancient Greek copies read who made us able.

⁴Some ancient Greek copies read, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins; it may be a reference to Ephesians 1:7.

¹Some ancient Greek copies read, and forgave you all of your trespasses.

¹Some ancient Greek copies and some ancient translations read, When Christ appears, who is our life, then you will also appear with him in glory.

²Some ancient Greek copies read, It is for these things that the wrath of God is coming.

¹There are some important and ancient Greek copies, along with some ancient translations of the Greek, that read, I sent him to you for this, that he might know the matters about you, and that he may encourage your hearts.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, May grace and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

²Some important and ancient Greek copies read, Instead, we were like babies among you, as when a mother comforts her own children.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, We sent Timothy, our brother and God's servant in the gospel of Christ.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, and the man of sin is revealed.

²Some important and ancient Greek copies read, For God chose you from the first for salvation.

¹Some old copies add the exhortation, Stay away from such things. But the best ancient copies do not.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies add to the Gentiles.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, Warn them before the Lord.

Hebrews

¹Long ago God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in many ways.²But in these last days, he has spoken to us through a Son, whom he appointed to be the heir of all things. It is through him that God also made the universe.³He is the brightness of God's glory, the exact representation of his being. He even holds everything together by the word of his power. After he had made cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.

⁴He has become just as superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than their name.⁵For to which of the angels did God ever say,

"You are my Son,

today I have become your Father"?

Or to which of the angels did God ever say,

"I will be a Father to him,

and he will be a Son to me"?

⁶But again, when God brings the firstborn into the world, he says,

"All God's angels must worship him."

⁷About the angels he says,

"He is the one who makes his angels spirits,

and his servants flames of fire."

⁸But to the Son he says,

"Your throne, God, is forever and ever.

The scepter of justice is the scepter of your kingdom.

⁹You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness.

Therefore God, your God, has anointed you

with the oil of joy more than your companions."

¹⁰"In the beginning, Lord, you laid the earth's foundation.

The heavens are the work of your hands.

¹¹They will perish, but you will continue.

They will all wear out like a piece of clothing.

¹²You will roll them up like a cloak,

and they will be changed like a piece of clothing.

But you are the same,

and your years do not end."

¹³But to which of the angels has God said at any time,

"Sit at my right hand

until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet"?

¹⁴Are not all angels spirits who serve, and who are sent to care for those who will inherit salvation?

¹Therefore, we must give far more attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.

²For if the message that was spoken through the angels proved to be so reliable, and every transgression and disobedience receives just repayment,³how then can we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This is salvation that was first announced by the Lord and confirmed to us by those who heard it.⁴At the same time God testified to it by signs, wonders, and various miracles, and by distributing the gifts of the Holy Spirit according to his will.

⁵For it was not to the angels that God subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking.⁶But someone has somewhere testified, saying,

"What is man, that you are mindful of him?

Or a son of man, that you care for him?

⁷You made man a little lower than the angels;

you crowned him with glory and honor.¹

⁸You put everything in subjection under his feet."

For it was to him that God has subjected all things. He did not leave anything not subjected to him. But now we do not yet see everything subjected to him.

⁹But we see him who was made lower than the angels for a little while, Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of his suffering and death, so that by God's grace he might taste death for everyone.¹⁰For it was proper for God, because everything exists for him and through him, to bring many sons to glory. It was proper for him to make the founder of their salvation complete through his sufferings.

¹¹For both the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified have one source. So he is not ashamed to call them brothers.¹²He says,

"I will proclaim your name to my brothers,

I will sing about you from inside the assembly."

¹³And again,

"I will trust in him."

And again,

"See, here am I and the children whom God has given me."

¹⁴Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, he shared in those things in the same way, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil.¹⁵This was so that he would free all those who through fear of death lived all their lives subject to slavery.

¹⁶For surely it is not the angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants.¹⁷So it was necessary for him to become like his brothers in all ways, so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest in relation to the things of God, and so that he could make atonement for the sins of the people.¹⁸Because Jesus himself has suffered and was tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies add and you have put him over the works of your hands.

¹Therefore, holy brothers, you share in a heavenly calling. Think about Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.²He was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses was also faithful in all the house of God.³For Jesus has been considered worthy of greater glory than Moses, because the one who builds a house has more honor than the house itself.⁴For every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God.

⁵For Moses was faithful as a servant in God's entire house, bearing witness about the things that were to be spoken of in the future.⁶But Christ is faithful as a Son who is in charge of the house of God. We are his house if we hold firmly to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

⁷Therefore, it is just as the Holy Spirit says:

"Today, if you hear his voice

⁸do not harden your hearts

as in the rebellion,

in the time of testing in the wilderness.

⁹This was when your ancestors rebelled by testing me,

after they had seen my deeds for forty years.

¹⁰Therefore I was angry with that generation.

I said, 'They have always gone astray in their hearts.

They have not known my ways.'

¹¹It is just as I swore in my wrath:

'They will never enter my rest.'"

¹²Be careful, brothers, that none of you has an evil heart of unbelief, a heart that turns away from the living God.¹³But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called "today," so that no one among you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

¹⁴For we have become partners of Christ if we firmly hold to our confidence in him from the beginning to the end.¹⁵About this it has been said,

"Today, if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts,

as in the rebellion."

¹⁶Who was it who heard God and rebelled? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt through Moses?¹⁷With whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness?¹⁸To whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if it was not to those who disobeyed him?¹⁹We see that they were not able to enter his rest because of unbelief.

¹Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest is still allowed to stand, let us fear, so that none of you may seem to have fallen short of it.²For we were told the good news just as they were. But that message did not benefit those who did not unite in faith with those who obeyed.¹

³For we who have believed enter that rest, just as he said,

"As I swore in my wrath,

They will never enter my rest."

Even so, his works were finished from the foundation of the world.

⁴For he has somewhere spoken about the seventh day:

"And God rested on the seventh day from all his works."

⁵And again in this same passage he said,

"They will never enter my rest."

⁶Therefore, it remains for some to enter that rest, and those who previously had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience.⁷So God again appointed a certain day, calling it "Today," when he spoke through David much later in words already quoted:

"Today if you hear his voice,

do not harden your hearts."

⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken about another day.⁹So there remains a Sabbath rest reserved for God's people.¹⁰For he who enters into God's rest has himself also rested from his deeds, just as God did from his.¹¹Therefore let us be eager to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the kind of disobedience that they did.

¹²For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.¹³No thing that has been created is hidden before God, but everything is bare and open to the eyes of the one to whom we must give an account.

¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us firmly hold to our confession.¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. Rather, we have someone who has in all ways been tempted as we are, except that he is without sin.¹⁶Let us then go with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

¹Some important and ancient copies read, But that message did not benefit those who heard it without joining faith to it.

¹For every high priest, chosen from among people, is appointed to act on the behalf of people in the things concerning God, so that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.²He can deal gently with those who are ignorant and who have been deceived, because he himself is subject to weakness.³Because of this, he also is required to offer sacrifices for his own sins, just as he does for the people's sins.

⁴No one takes this honor for himself. Rather, he is called by God, just as Aaron was.⁵In the same way, neither did Christ glorify himself by making himself high priest. Instead, the one speaking to him said,

"You are my Son;

today I have become your Father."

⁶It is just as he also says in another place,

"You are a priest forever

after the manner of Melchizedek."

⁷During the days of his flesh, Christ offered up both prayers and requests with loud cries and tears to God, the one able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his godly life.⁸Even though he was a Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered.

⁹He was made perfect and became, for everyone who obeys him, the cause of eternal salvation.¹⁰He was designated by God as high priest after the manner of Melchizedek.

¹¹We have much to say about Jesus, but it is hard to explain since you have become dull in hearing.

¹²For though by this time you should be teachers, you still have need for someone to teach you the elementary principles of God's messages. You need milk, not solid food!¹³For anyone who only takes milk is inexperienced with the message of righteousness, because he is still a little child.¹⁴But solid food is for the mature. These are those who, because of their maturity, have their understanding trained for distinguishing good from evil.

¹So then, let us leave the beginning of the message of Christ and move forward to maturity. Let us not lay again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith in God,²nor the foundation of teaching about baptisms, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.³We will also do this if God permits.

⁴For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, who were sharers of the Holy Spirit,⁵and who tasted God's good word and the powers of the age to come,⁶but who then fell away—it is impossible to restore them again to repentance. This is because they crucify the Son of God for themselves again, and publicly shame him.

⁷For the land that drinks in the rain that often comes on it, and that gives birth to the plants useful to those for whom the land was worked—this is the land that receives a blessing from God.⁸But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and is near to a curse. Its end is in burning.

⁹But we are convinced about better things concerning you, beloved ones—things that concern salvation—even though we speak like this.¹⁰For God is not unjust. He will not forget your work and the love you showed for his name, because you served his holy people, and you are still serving them.

¹¹We greatly desire that each of you may show the same diligence to the end, in order to make your hope certain.¹²This is so that you will not become lazy, but imitators of those who by faith and patience inherit the promises.

¹³For when God made his promise to Abraham, he swore by himself, since he could not swear by anyone greater.¹⁴He said, "I will certainly bless you and give you many descendants."¹⁵In this way, Abraham obtained what was promised after he had patiently waited.

¹⁶For people swear by someone greater than themselves. At the end of each of their disputes, an oath serves as confirmation.¹⁷When God decided to show more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable quality of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath.¹⁸He did this so that by two unchangeable things—with which it is impossible for God to lie—we, who have fled for refuge, will have a strong encouragement to hold firmly to the hope set before us.

¹⁹We have this as a secure and reliable anchor for the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain,²⁰where Jesus, who went before us, has entered into that place on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

¹It was this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him.²It was to him that Abraham gave a tenth of everything. First, the translation of his name means "king of righteousness"; then he is also "king of Salem," that is, "king of peace."³He is without father, without mother, without ancestors, with neither beginning of days nor end of life. And resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

⁴See how great this man was to whom the patriarch Abraham gave a tenth of the things that he had taken in battle.⁵The descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, even though they, too, are descended from Abraham.⁶But Melchizedek, whose descent was not traced from them, received tithes from Abraham, and blessed him, the one who had the promises.

⁷There is no denying that the lesser person is blessed by the greater person.⁸In this case, mortal men receive tithes, but in that case, it is testified that he lives on.⁹And, in a manner of speaking, Levi, who received tithes, also paid tithes through Abraham,¹⁰because Levi was in the body of his ancestor when Melchizedek met Abraham.

¹¹Now if perfection were possible through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the manner of Melchizedek, and not be considered to be after the manner of Aaron?¹²For when the priesthood is changed, the law must also be changed.

¹³For the one about whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar.¹⁴Now clearly it is from Judah that our Lord was born, a tribe that Moses never mentioned concerning priests.

¹⁵What we say is even clearer when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek.¹⁶This one became a priest, not based on a law of physical requirement, but by the power of an everlasting life.¹⁷For scripture witnesses about him:

"You are a priest forever

according to the order of Melchizedek."

¹⁸For not only has the former command been set aside because it is weak and useless—¹⁹for the law made nothing perfect—but also a better hope is introduced, through which we come near to God.

²⁰And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath,²¹but he became a priest with an oath by the one who said to him,

"The Lord has sworn and he will not change his mind:

'You are a priest forever.'"

²²By this also Jesus has given the guarantee of a better covenant.²³The former priests were many in number, since death prevented them from continuing in office.²⁴But because Jesus continues to live forever, he has a permanent priesthood.

²⁵Therefore he is also able to save completely those who approach God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.²⁶For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, who is holy, innocent, pure, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

²⁷He does not need, unlike the high priests, to offer up daily sacrifices, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He did this once for all when he offered himself.²⁸For the law appoints as high priests men who have weaknesses. But the word of the oath, which came after the law, appointed a Son, who has been made perfect forever.

¹Now the point of what we are saying is this: We have a high priest who has sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens.²He is a servant in the holy place, the true tabernacle that the Lord, not a man, set up.

³For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary to have something to offer.⁴Now if Christ were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are those who offer the gifts according to the law.⁵They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. It is just as Moses was warned by God when he was about to construct the tabernacle: God said, "See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain."

⁶But now Christ has received a much better ministry, just as he is also the mediator of a better covenant, which is based on better promises.⁷For if that first covenant had been faultless, no occasion for a second would have been sought.

⁸For when God found fault with the people, he said,

"See, the days are coming—says the Lord—

when I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel

and with the house of Judah.

⁹It will not be like the covenant

that I made with their ancestors

on the day that I took them by their hand

to lead them out of the land of Egypt.

For they did not carefully obey my covenant,

and I disregarded them—

says the Lord.

¹⁰This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws into their minds,

and I will also write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

¹¹They will not teach each one his fellow citizen

and each one his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord.'

For they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

¹²For I will be merciful toward their evil deeds,

and their sins I will not remember any longer."

¹³By calling this covenant "new," he declared the first covenant to be obsolete, and what has become obsolete and old will soon disappear.

¹Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary.²For a tabernacle was prepared. The first room, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the presence, was called the holy place.

³Behind the second curtain was another room in the tabernacle, called the most holy place.⁴It had a golden altar for incense. It also had the ark of the covenant, which was completely overlaid with gold. Inside it was a golden jar that held the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.⁵Above the ark of the covenant, glorious cherubim overshadowed the atonement lid, which we cannot now talk about in detail.

⁶After these things were prepared, the priests always entered the outer room of the tabernacle to perform their services.⁷But only the high priest entered the second room, once each year, and not without blood that he offered for himself and for the people's unintentional sins.

⁸The Holy Spirit showed that as long as the first tabernacle was still standing, the way into the most holy place had not yet appeared.⁹This was an illustration for the present time. Both the gifts and sacrifices that are now being offered are not able to perfect the worshiper's conscience.¹⁰They are only concerned with food and drink and various ceremonial washings, regulations for the body until the time of the new order.

¹¹Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come. He went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that was not made by human hands, one not belonging to this created world.¹¹²It was not by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood that he entered into the most holy place once for all and secured our eternal redemption.

¹³For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer's ashes on those who have been defiled sanctifies them for the cleansing of their flesh,¹⁴how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our conscience from dead works to serve the living God?¹⁵For this reason, he is the mediator of a new covenant. This is so that, since a death has taken place to redeem those under the first covenant from their transgressions, those who are called will receive the promise of an eternal inheritance.

¹⁶For where there is a will, the death of the person who made it must be proven.¹⁷For a will is only valid when there has been a death, because it has no force while the one who made it is still alive.

¹⁸So not even the first covenant was established without blood.¹⁹For when Moses had given every command in the law to all the people, he took the blood of the calves and the goats, with water, red wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the scroll itself and all the people.²⁰Then he said, "This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded for you."

²¹In the same manner, he sprinkled the blood on the tabernacle and all the containers used in the ministry.²²According to the law, almost everything is cleansed with blood. Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

²³Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in heaven should be cleansed with these animal sacrifices. However, the heavenly things themselves had to be cleansed with much better sacrifices.²⁴For Christ did not enter into the most holy place made with hands, which is only a copy of the true one. Rather, he entered into heaven itself, to appear now in God's presence for us.

²⁵He did not go there in order to offer himself many times, as does the high priest, who enters the most holy place year by year with the blood of another.²⁶If that had been the case, then he would have had to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.

²⁷Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that comes judgment,²⁸so also, Christ was offered once to take away the sins of many, and will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but for the salvation of those who are waiting for him.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, Christ came as a high priest of the good things that are to come.

¹For the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the real forms of those things themselves. Those who approach God can never be made perfect by the same sacrifices that the priests continually bring year after year.²Otherwise, would the sacrifices not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed one time and would no longer have any consciousness of sin.³But with those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins year after year.⁴For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵When Christ came into the world, he said,

"Sacrifices and offerings you did not desire,

but a body you have prepared for me;

⁶with burnt offerings and sin offerings

you did not take pleasure.

⁷Then I said, 'See, here I am—as it is written about me in the scroll—

to do your will, God.'"

⁸First he said, "It was neither sacrifices, nor offerings, nor whole burnt offerings, nor sin offerings that you desired. Nor did you take pleasure in them." These are sacrifices that are offered according to the law.⁹Then he said, "See, here I am to do your will." He takes away the first practice in order to establish the second practice.¹⁰By that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹Day after day every priest stands and ministers, offering the same sacrifices again and again—sacrifices that can never take away sins.¹²But when Christ offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.¹³He is waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.¹⁴For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies to us. First he says,

¹⁶"This is the covenant that I will make with them

after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws in their hearts,

and I will write them on their minds."

¹⁷Then he adds,

"Their sins and lawlessness

I will remember no longer."

¹⁸Now where there is forgiveness for these, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, brothers, we have confidence to enter into the most holy place by the blood of Jesus.²⁰That is the new and living way that he has established for us through the curtain, that is, by means of his flesh.²¹Because we have a great priest over the house of God,²²let us approach with true hearts in the full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

²³Let us also hold firmly to the hope we confess, for he who promised is faithful.²⁴Let us think carefully about how to motivate one another to love and good deeds.²⁵Let us not abandon meeting together, as some have done. Instead, encourage one another, and all the more as you see the day coming closer.

²⁶For if we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, a sacrifice for sins no longer remains.²⁷Instead, there is only a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume God's enemies.

²⁸Anyone who has rejected the law of Moses dies without mercy at the testimony of two or three witnesses.²⁹How much worse punishment do you think one deserves who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, who has regarded the blood of the covenant as unholy—the blood by which he was sanctified—and has insulted the Spirit of grace?

³⁰For we know the one who said, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay back." And again, "The Lord will judge his people."³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!

³²But remember the former days, after you were enlightened, how you endured a great struggle in suffering.³³Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution, and other times you shared with those who were so treated.³⁴For you had compassion on those who were prisoners, and you accepted with joy the seizure of your possessions. You knew that you yourselves had a better and everlasting possession.¹

³⁵So do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.³⁶For you need perseverance so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

³⁷"For in a very little while,

the one who is coming will indeed come and not delay.

³⁸My righteous one will live by faith.

If he shrinks back, my soul will not be pleased with him."

³⁹But we are not any of those who turn back to destruction, but we are among those who have faith and preserve their souls.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, For you had compassion on me in my chains.

¹Now faith is being sure of the things hoped for and certain of things that are not seen.²For because of this the ancestors were approved for their faith.³By faith we understand that the universe was created by God's command, so that what is visible was not made out of things that were visible.

⁴It was by faith that Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he was attested to be righteous, and God spoke well of him because of his offerings, and by faith Abel still speaks, even though he is dead.

⁵It was by faith that Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death. "He was not found, because God took him away." For before he was taken up, it was testified that he had pleased God.⁶Now without faith it is impossible to please him. For it is necessary that anyone coming to God must believe that he exists and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.

⁷It was by faith that Noah, having been given a divine message about things not yet seen, with godly reverence built an ark to save his household. By doing this, he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that is according to faith.

⁸It was by faith that Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to the place that he was to receive as an inheritance. He went out, not knowing where he was going.⁹It was by faith that he lived in the land of promise as a foreigner. He lived in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise.¹⁰For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹¹It was by faith, even though Sarah herself was barren, that she received ability to conceive. This happened even though she was too old, since she considered as faithful the one who had given the promise.¹²Therefore, from this one man—and he was almost dead—were born descendants as many as the stars in the sky and as countless as sand by the seashore.

¹³It was in faith that all these died without receiving the promises. Rather, they saw and greeted them from far off, and they acknowledged that they were foreigners and exiles on earth.¹⁴For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

¹⁵If they had been thinking of the country from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.¹⁶But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, since he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷It was by faith that Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac. It was his only son whom he offered, he who had received the promises.¹⁸It was Abraham to whom it had been said, "It is through Isaac that your descendants will be named."¹⁹Abraham reasoned that God was able to raise up Isaac from the dead, and figuratively speaking, it was from them that he received him back.

²⁰It was also by faith about things to come that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau.²¹It was by faith that Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph's sons. Jacob worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.²²It was by faith that Joseph, when his end was near, spoke of the departure of the children of Israel from Egypt and instructed them about his bones.

²³It was by faith that Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents because they saw he was a beautiful child. They were not afraid of the king's command.²⁴It was by faith that Moses, after he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.²⁵He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a while.²⁶He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.

²⁷It was by faith that Moses left Egypt. He did not fear the king's anger, for he endured as if he were seeing the one who is invisible.²⁸It was by faith that he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch the Israelites' firstborn sons.

²⁹It was by faith that they passed through the Sea of Reeds as if over dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do this, they were swallowed up.³⁰It was by faith that Jericho's walls fell down, after they had been circled around for seven days.³¹It was by faith that Rahab the prostitute did not die with those who were disobedient, because she had received the spies in peace.

³²What more can I say? For the time will fail me if I give a full account of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and about the prophets.³³It was through faith that they conquered kingdoms, committed righteousness, and received promises. They stopped the mouths of lions,³⁴quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong when they were weak, became mighty in battle, and defeated foreign armies.

³⁵Women received back their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, not accepting release, so that they might experience a better resurrection.³⁶Others experienced mocking and whippings, and even chains and imprisonment.³⁷They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins. They were destitute, oppressed, mistreated.¹³⁸The world was not worthy of them. They were always wandering about in the deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground.

³⁹Although all these people were approved by God because of their faith, they did not receive the promise.⁴⁰God planned something better for us, so that without us, they would not be made perfect.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were put to the test. They were killed with the sword.

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a large cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and easily entangling sin. Let us run with perseverance the race that is placed before us.²Let us pay attention to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of the faith. For the joy that was placed before him, he endured the cross, despised its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.³So think about him, the one who has endured such opposition from sinners against himself, so that you do not become weary and lose heart.

⁴You have not yet resisted or struggled against sin to the point of blood;⁵and you have forgotten the encouragement that instructs you as sons:

"My son, do not think lightly of the Lord's discipline,

nor grow weary when you are corrected by him.

⁶For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,

and he punishes every son he receives."

⁷Endure suffering as discipline. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?⁸But if you are without discipline, which all people share in, then you are illegitimate and not his sons.

⁹Furthermore, we had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live!¹⁰Our fathers disciplined us for a short time as they thought best. But God disciplines us for our benefit, so that we can share in his holiness.¹¹No discipline at the time seems to give joy, but to give sorrow. But later it produces the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it.

¹²So strengthen your hands that hang down and your weak knees.¹³Make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame will not be sprained but rather be healed.

¹⁴Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness, for without it no one will see the Lord.¹⁵Be careful so that no one lacks God's grace, and that no root of bitterness grows up to cause trouble, so that many do not become defiled by it,¹⁶and that there is no one who is sexually immoral or profane, such as Esau, who for one meal sold his own birthright.¹⁷For you know that afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, because he found no opportunity for repentance, even though he sought it with tears.

¹⁸For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched, a mountain of burning fire, darkness, gloom, and storm.¹⁹You have not come to a trumpet blast, nor to a voice that speaks words whose hearers begged that not another word be spoken to them.²⁰For they could not endure what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."¹²¹So fearful was this sight that Moses said, "I am terrified and am trembling."

²²Rather, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels in joyful assembly.²³You have come to the congregation of the firstborn, who have been registered in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous ones who have been made perfect.²⁴And you have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks better than Abel's blood.

²⁵See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who is warning from heaven.²⁶At one time, his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised and said, "One more time I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens."

²⁷These words, "One more time," mean the removal of those things that can be shaken, that is, of the things that have been created, so that the things that cannot be shaken will remain.²⁸Therefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and in this manner worship God with reverence and awe.²⁹For our God is a consuming fire.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned or shot with an arrow.

¹Let brotherly love continue.²Do not forget hospitality for strangers. For through this, some have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.

³Remember prisoners as if you were bound with them. Remember those who are mistreated since you yourselves also are in the body.⁴Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept pure, for God will judge sexually immoral people and adulterers.

⁵Let your conduct be free from the love of money. Be content with the things you have, for God himself has said,

"I will never leave you,

nor will I abandon you."

⁶Let us be content so that we may have courage to say,

"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.

What can a man do to me?"

⁷Consider your leaders, those who spoke God's word to you, and consider the result of their conduct. Imitate their faith.⁸Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

⁹Do not be carried away by various strange teachings. For it is good that the heart should be strengthened by grace, not by foods that do not help those who walk by them.¹⁰We have an altar from which those who serve in the tabernacle have no right to eat.¹¹For the blood of the animals killed for sins is brought by the high priest into the holy place, while their bodies are burned outside the camp.

¹²So Jesus also suffered outside the city gate, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.¹³Let us therefore go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he endured.¹⁴For we do not have a permanent city here. Rather, we are looking for the one that is to come.

¹⁵Through him, then, let us always offer up sacrifices of praise to God, praise that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.¹⁶Let us not forget doing good and sharing, for it is with such sacrifices that God is very pleased.¹⁷Obey and submit to your leaders, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give account. Obey so that your leaders will do this with joy, and not with groaning, which would be useless to you.

¹⁸Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a good conscience and that we desire to live rightly in all things.¹⁹I encourage you even more to do this, so that I will be returned to you sooner.

²⁰Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus, by the blood of the eternal covenant,²¹equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

²²Now I encourage you, brothers, to bear with the word of encouragement that I have briefly written to you.²³Know that our brother Timothy has been set free, with whom I will see you if he comes soon.

²⁴Greet all your leaders and all God's holy people. Those from Italy greet you.

²⁵May grace be with you all.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, Do you want to know, foolish man, how it is that faith without works is dead?

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, You made your souls pure by obedience to the truth through the Spirit.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, to be kept in pits of darkness until the judgment,

²Some ancient copies of the Greek text read, They enjoy their actions while they are feasting with you in love feasts.

³Many modern translations read Balaam son of Beor in order to be consistent with the Old Testament spelling of the name. Some modern translations choose to follow the spelling of the Greek text, which reads, Balaam son of Bosor.

¹It is uncertain which Greek word is intended for the last word of verse 10, either laid bare or burned up are the choices. There is uncertainty about which word should be chosen. The second choice would be, The elements will be burned with fire, and the earth and the deeds in it will be burned up.

¹Some important ancient Greek copies read, And we are writing these things to you so that your joy will be complete.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies leave out, and this is what we are.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, and every spirit that does not acknowledge that Jesus has come in the flesh is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, For there are three that testify in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. These three are one; and there are three that testify on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three are as one. However, the best copies do not have this reading.

Revelation

¹This is the revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,²who testified about the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, all the things that he saw.³Blessed is the one who reads aloud this prophecy and those who listen to the words of this prophecy and who obey what is written in it, because the time is near.

⁴John, to the seven churches in Asia: May grace be to you and peace from the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,⁵and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood—⁶he has made us a kingdom, priests for his God and Father—to him be the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen.

⁷Look, he is coming with the clouds;

every eye will see him,

including those who pierced him.

All the tribes of the earth will mourn because of him.

Yes, Amen.

⁸"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "the one who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."¹

⁹I, John—your brother and the one who shares with you in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are in Jesus—was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.¹⁰I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.¹¹It said, "Write what you see in a book, and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea."

¹²I turned around to see whose voice was speaking to me, and as I turned I saw seven golden lampstands.¹³In the middle of the lampstands there was one like a son of man, wearing a long robe that reached down to his feet and a golden sash around his chest.

¹⁴His head and hair were as white as wool—as white as snow—and his eyes were like a flame of fire.¹⁵His feet were like polished bronze, like bronze that had been refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many rushing waters.¹⁶He had seven stars in his right hand, and a sword with two sharp edges was coming out of his mouth. His face was shining like the sun at its strongest.

¹⁷When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, "Do not be afraid. I am the first and the last¹⁸and the one who lives. I was dead, but look, I live forever and ever! And I have the keys of death and of Hades.

¹⁹Therefore write down what you have seen, what is now, and what will take place after this.²⁰As for the hidden meaning about the seven stars you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches."

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says the Lord God.

¹"To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

'The words of the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand and who walks among the seven golden lampstands,

²"I know your deeds, your hard labor, and your patient endurance, and that you cannot tolerate those who are evil, but you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and you have found them to be false.

³You are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name, and you have not grown weary.⁴But I have against you the fact that you have left behind your first love.⁵Remember therefore from where you have fallen. Repent and do the things you did at first. Unless you repent, I will come to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place.

⁶But you have this: You hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.⁷Let the one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."'

⁸"To the angel of the church in Smyrna write:

'The words of the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead and who became alive again:

⁹"I know your sufferings and your poverty, but you are rich. I know the slander of those who say they are Jews, but they are not. They are a synagogue of Satan.

¹⁰Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Look! The devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you will be tested, and you will suffer for ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.¹¹Let the one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death."'

¹²"To the angel of the church in Pergamum write:

'The words of the one who has the sword with two sharp edges:

¹³"I know where you live, there where Satan's throne is. Yet you hold on tightly to my name. I know that you did not deny your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, there where Satan lives.

¹⁴But I have a few things against you: You have there some who hold tightly to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to throw a stumbling block before the sons of Israel so they would eat food sacrificed to idols and be sexually immoral.¹⁵In the same way, you even have some who hold tightly to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

¹⁶Repent, therefore! If you do not, I will quickly come to you, and I will wage war against them with the sword in my mouth.¹⁷Let the one who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone with a new name written on the stone, a name which no one knows but the one who receives it."'

¹⁸"To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:

'These are the words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire and feet like polished bronze:

¹⁹"I know your deeds: your love and faith and service and your patient endurance. I know that what you have done recently is more than you did at first.

²⁰But I have this against you: You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she deceives my servants to commit sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols.²¹I gave her time to repent, but she is not willing to repent of her immorality.

²²Look! I will throw her onto a sickbed and those who commit adultery with her into great suffering, unless they repent of her deeds.²³I will strike her children dead, and all the churches will know that I am the one who searches out thoughts and hearts. I will give to each one of you according to your deeds.

²⁴But to the rest of you in Thyatira, to everyone who does not hold this teaching and does not know what some call the deep things of Satan—to you I say, 'I do not put any other burden on you.'²⁵In any case, you must hold on tightly until I come.

²⁶The one who conquers and does my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations.

²⁷'He will rule them with an iron rod,

like clay jars he will break them into pieces.'

²⁸Just as I have received from my Father, I will also give him the morning star.²⁹Let the one who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."'

¹"To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

'The words of the one who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars: "I know your deeds. You have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.

²Wake up and strengthen what remains but is about to die, because I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God.

³Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard. Obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come against you.⁴But you have a few names in Sardis who have not stained their clothes, and they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy.

⁵The one who conquers will be clothed in white garments, and I will never wipe his name out of the Book of Life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.⁶Let the one who has an ear hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."'

⁷"To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:

'The words of the one who is holy and true—

he holds the key of David,

he opens and no one shuts,

he shuts and no one can open.

⁸"'I know your deeds. Look, I have put before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have obeyed my word and have not denied my name.

⁹Look! I will cause those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, those calling themselves Jews but are not, but rather liars—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will know that I love you.¹⁰Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is coming on the whole world, to test those who live on the earth.¹¹I am coming soon. Hold to what you have so no one can take away your crown.

¹²The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem, that comes down out of heaven from my God), and my new name.¹³Let the one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."'

¹⁴"To the angel of the church in Laodicea write:

'The words of the Amen, the reliable and true witness, the ruler over God's creation.

¹⁵"I know your deeds and that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot!¹⁶So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to vomit you out of my mouth.

¹⁷For you say, 'I am rich, I have had many material possessions, and I need nothing.' But you do not know that you are most miserable, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.¹⁸Listen to my advice: Buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and brilliant white garments so you may clothe yourself and not show the shame of your nakedness, and salve to anoint your eyes so you will see.

¹⁹I rebuke and discipline everyone whom I love. Therefore, be earnest and repent.²⁰Look, I am standing at the door and am knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into his home and will eat with him, and he with me.

²¹The one who conquers I will give him the right to sit down with me on my throne, just as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne.²²Let the one who has an ear, hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches."'"

¹After these things I looked, and I saw an open door in heaven. The first voice that I had heard was speaking to me like a trumpet, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you what must happen after these things."²At once I was in the Spirit, and I saw there a throne placed in heaven, with someone sitting on it.³The one who was sitting on it looked like jasper and carnelian. There was a rainbow around the throne. The rainbow was like an emerald in appearance.

⁴Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, dressed with white garments, with golden crowns on their heads.⁵From the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings, and crashes of thunder. Seven flaming lamps were burning in front of the throne, lamps that were the seven spirits of God.

⁶Before the throne was a sea of glass, like crystal. In the middle of the throne and around the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes, front and back.

⁷The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a man, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.⁸The four living creatures each had six wings, full of eyes on top and underneath. Night and day they do not stop saying,

"Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty,

who was, and who is, and who is to come."

⁹Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever,¹⁰the twenty-four elders fall down before the one seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne, saying,

¹¹"Worthy are you, our Lord and our God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

for you created all things,

and by your will they existed and were created."

¹Then I saw in the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne a scroll written on the front and on the back, sealed with seven seals.²I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?"

³No one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to read it.⁴I wept bitterly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to read it.⁵But one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep. Look! The Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals."

⁶I saw a Lamb standing in the middle of the throne area and among the four living creatures and among the elders. He looked as though he had been killed. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.⁷He went and took hold of the scroll out of the right hand of the one who was seated on the throne.

⁸When he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of them had a harp and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of God's holy people.

⁹They sang a new song:

"You are worthy to take the scroll

and to open its seals.

For you were slaughtered,

and with your blood you purchased people for God

from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

¹⁰You made them a kingdom and priests to serve our God,

and they will reign on the earth."

¹¹Then I looked and heard the sound of many angels who encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. Their total number was ten thousands of ten thousands and thousands of thousands.¹²They said in a loud voice,

"Worthy is the Lamb, who has been slaughtered,

to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength,

honor, glory, and praise."

¹³I heard every created thing that was in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea—everything in them—saying,

"To the one who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be praise, honor, glory, and dominion

forever and ever."

¹⁴The four living creatures said, "Amen!" and the elders fell down and worshiped.¹

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies read, the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the one who lives forever and ever.

¹I looked when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice that sounded like thunder, "Come!"²I looked and there was a white horse. Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown. He came out as a conqueror in order to conquer.

³When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!"⁴Then another horse came out—fiery red. To its rider was given permission to take peace away from the earth, so that its people would slaughter one another. This rider was given a huge sword.

⁵When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I saw a black horse, and its rider held a pair of scales in his hand.⁶I heard what seemed to be a voice among the four living creatures say, "A choenix of wheat for one denarius, and three choenices of barley for a denarius. But do not harm the oil and the wine."

⁷When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"⁸Then I saw a pale horse. The rider on it was named Death, and Hades was following him. They were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine and disease, and with the wild animals of the earth.

⁹When the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been killed because of the word of God and the testimony which they held.¹⁰They cried out with a loud voice, "How long, Ruler over all, holy and true, until you judge those who live on the earth, and until you avenge our blood?"¹¹Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told that they should wait a short time longer until the full number of their fellow servants and their brothers who were to be killed, just as they had been killed, was made complete.

¹²When the Lamb opened the sixth seal, I watched and there was a great earthquake. The sun became as black as sackcloth, and the full moon became like blood.¹³The stars in the heavens fell to the earth, just as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a stormy wind.¹⁴The sky vanished like a scroll that was being rolled up. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

¹⁵Then the kings of the earth and the important people, and the commanders, and the rich, and the powerful, and everyone else, slave and free, hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains.¹⁶They said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us! Hide us from the face of the one who is seated on the throne and from the Lamb's wrath.¹⁷For the great day of their wrath has come. Who is able to stand?"

¹After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, tightly holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind should blow on the earth, on the sea, or against any tree.²I saw another angel coming up from the east, who had the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who were given permission to harm the earth and the sea:³"Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God."

⁴I heard the number of those who were sealed: 144,000, who were sealed from every tribe of the people of Israel:

⁵twelve thousand from the tribe of Judah were sealed,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad,

⁶twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh,

⁷twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar,

⁸twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun,

twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, and

twelve thousand from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

⁹After these things I looked, and there was a huge multitude that no one could count—from every nation, tribe, people, and language—standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and holding palm branches in their hands,¹⁰and they were crying out with a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,

who is seated on the throne,

and to the Lamb!"

¹¹All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne. They worshiped God,¹²saying,

"Amen!

Praise, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and strength

be to our God forever and ever!

Amen!"

¹³Then one of the elders asked me, "Who are these, clothed with white robes, and where did they come from?"¹⁴I said to him, "Sir, you know," and he said to me, "These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵For this reason,

they are before the throne of God,

and they worship him day and night in his temple.

The one who is seated on the throne

will spread his tent over them.

¹⁶They will not be hungry again,

nor will they be thirsty again.

The sun will not beat down on them,

nor any burning heat.

¹⁷For the Lamb at the center of the throne

will shepherd them,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

¹When the Lamb opened the seventh seal, there was a silence in heaven for about half an hour.²Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them.

³Another angel came, holding a golden incense bowl, standing at the incense altar. Much incense was given to him so that he would offer it with the prayers of all God's holy people on the golden incense altar before the throne.⁴The smoke of the incense—with the prayers of God's holy people—rose up before God from the angel's hand.⁵The angel took the incense bowl and filled it with fire from the altar. Then he threw it down to the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

⁶The seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

⁷The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood. It was thrown down onto the earth so that a third of it was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.¹

⁸The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood,⁹a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

¹⁰The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a huge star fell from the sky, blazing like a torch, on a third of the rivers and springs of water.¹¹The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from the waters that became bitter.

¹²The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, as well as a third of the moon and a third of the stars. So a third of them turned dark; a third of the day and a third of the night had no light.

¹³I looked, and I heard an eagle² that was flying overhead calling out with a loud voice, "Woe, woe, woe, to those who live on the earth, because of the remaining trumpet blasts that are about to be sounded by the three angels."

¹Some important and ancient Greek copies leave out, so that a third of it was burned up.

²Some copies have the word angel instead of eagle.

¹Then the fifth angel sounded his trumpet. I saw a star from heaven that had fallen to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the bottomless pit.²He opened the shaft of the bottomless pit, and smoke went up out of the shaft like smoke from a huge furnace. The sun and the air were turned dark by the smoke from the shaft.

³Out of the smoke locusts came on the earth, and they were given power like that of scorpions on the earth.⁴They were told not to damage the grass on the earth or any green plant or tree, but only the people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.

⁵They were not given permission to kill those people, but only to torture them for five months. Their agony would be like the sting of a scorpion when it strikes a person.⁶In those days people will seek death but will not find it. They will greatly desire to die, but death will flee from them.

⁷The locusts looked like horses prepared for war. On their heads were something like crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces.⁸They had hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like lions' teeth.⁹They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the sound made by many chariots and horses running into battle.

¹⁰They had tails with stingers like scorpions; in their tails they had power to harm people for five months.¹¹They had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit. His name in Hebrew was Abaddon, and in Greek he had the name Apollyon.

¹²The first woe is past. Look! After this there are still two disasters to come.

¹³The sixth angel sounded his trumpet, and I heard a voice coming from the horns of the golden altar that is present before God,¹⁴saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who had been bound at the great Euphrates River."¹⁵The four angels who had been prepared for that hour, that day, that month, and that year were released to kill a third of mankind.

¹⁶The number of the soldiers on horseback was 200,000,000. I heard their number.¹⁷This is how I saw the horses in my vision and those who rode on them: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and sulfur.

¹⁸A third of the people were killed by these three plagues: the fire, smoke, and sulfur that came out of their mouths.¹⁹For the power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails—for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflicted wounds on people.

²⁰The rest of mankind, those who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, nor did they stop worshiping demons and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood—things that cannot see, hear, or walk.²¹Neither did they repent of their murders, their sorcery, their sexual immorality, or their acts of theft.

¹Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was clothed in a cloud, and there was a rainbow above his head. His face was like the sun and his feet were like pillars of fire.²He held a little scroll, which was opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land.

³Then he shouted in a loud voice like a roaring lion. When he shouted, the seven thunders spoke out with their sounds.⁴When the seven thunders spoke out, I was about to write, but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven thunders said. Do not write it down."

⁵Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and the earth raised his right hand to heaven.⁶He swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and all that is in it, the earth and all that is on it, and the sea and all that is in it, and the angel said, "There will be no more delay.⁷But on the day when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, then the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he proclaimed the good news to his servants the prophets."

⁸The voice I heard from heaven spoke to me again: "Go, take the open scroll that is in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land."⁹Then I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, "Take the scroll and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."

¹⁰I took the little scroll from the angel's hand and ate it. It was as sweet as honey in my mouth, but after I ate it, my stomach became bitter.¹¹Then someone said to me, "You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages, and kings."

¹A reed was given to me to use like a measuring rod. I was told, "Get up and measure the temple of God and the altar, and those who worship in it.²But do not measure the courtyard outside the temple, for it has been given over to the Gentiles. They will trample the holy city for forty-two months.

³I will give my two witnesses authority to prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth."⁴These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that have stood before the Lord of the earth.⁵If anyone chooses to harm them, fire comes out of their mouth and devours their enemies. Anyone who wishes to harm them must be killed in this way.

⁶These witnesses have authority to close up the sky so that no rain will fall during the days that they prophesy. They have power to turn the waters to blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague whenever they wish.⁷When they will have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up from the bottomless pit will wage war against them. He will conquer them and kill them.

⁸Their bodies will lie in the street of the great city (which is symbolically called Sodom and Egypt) where their Lord was crucified.⁹For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language, and nation will look at their bodies. They will not permit them to be placed in a tomb.

¹⁰Those who live on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate. They will even send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who lived on the earth.¹¹But after three and a half days a breath of life from God will enter them, and they will stand on their feet. Great fear will fall on those who see them.¹²Then they will hear a loud voice from heaven say to them, "Come up here!" Then they will go up into heaven in a cloud, while their enemies look on.

¹³At that hour there will be a major earthquake, and a tenth part of the city will collapse. Seven thousand people will be killed in the earthquake, and the survivors will be terrified and give glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴The second woe is past. Look! The third woe is coming quickly.

¹⁵Then the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and loud voices spoke in heaven and said,

"The kingdom of the world has become

the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,

and he will reign forever and ever."

¹⁶Then the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones in the presence of God, fell upon their faces and worshiped God.¹⁷They said,

"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty,

the one who is and who was,

because you have taken your great power

and have begun to reign.¹

¹⁸The nations were enraged,

but your wrath has come.

The time has come for the dead to be judged

and for you to reward your servants the prophets

and God's holy people, and those who feared your name,

both the unimportant and the mighty.

The time has come

for you to destroy those who are destroying the earth."

¹⁹Then God's temple in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm.

¹The best copies of the ancient Greek text have the phrase who was, and who is, but some later copies of the Greek add the phrase: and who is to come.

¹A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.²She was pregnant, and she was crying out in birth pains, in the anguish of childbirth.

³Then another sign was seen in heaven: Look! There was a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns, and there were seven crowns on his heads.⁴His tail swept away a third of the stars in heaven and hurled them down to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she gave birth, he would devour her child.

⁵She gave birth to a son, a male child, who would rule all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched away to God and to his throne,⁶and the woman fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her, so she could be taken care of for 1,260 days.

⁷Now there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back.⁸But the dragon was not strong enough to win. So there was no longer any place in heaven for him and his angels.⁹The great dragon—that old serpent called the Devil or Satan, who deceives the whole world—was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

¹⁰Then I heard a loud voice in heaven:

"Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God,

and the authority of his Christ.

For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down,

the one who accused them before our God day and night.

¹¹They conquered him

by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

for they did not love their lives

even to death.

¹²Therefore rejoice, you heavens

and all who reside in them!

But woe to the earth and to the sea,

because the devil has gone down to you!

He is filled with terrible anger

and knows that he has only a little time!

¹³When the dragon realized he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child.¹⁴But the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle so that she would flee to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. This was the place where she would be taken care of, for a time, times, and half a time—out of the serpent's presence.

¹⁵The serpent poured water out of his mouth like a river so that he might make a flood to sweep her away.¹⁶But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon was pouring out of his mouth.¹⁷Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war with the rest of her descendants, those who obey God's commandments and hold to the testimony about Jesus.¹⁸Then the dragon stood on the sand of the seashore.

¹Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten crowns, and on each of its heads was a blasphemous name.²This beast I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like a bear's feet, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave it his power, his throne, and his great authority to rule.

³One of the beast's heads seemed to have a fatal wound, but that fatal wound had been healed. The whole earth marveled as they followed the beast.⁴They also worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast. They worshiped the beast, too, and kept saying, "Who is like the beast?" and "Who can fight against it?"

⁵The beast was given a mouth that could speak proud words and blasphemies. It was permitted to exercise authority for forty-two months.⁶So the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his tabernacle, those who live in heaven.

⁷The beast was permitted to wage war with God's holy people and to conquer them. Also, authority was given to it over every tribe, people, language, and nation.⁸All who live on the earth will worship it, everyone whose name was not written in the Book of Life, which belongs to the Lamb who had been slaughtered from the foundation of the world.

⁹If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

¹⁰If anyone is to be taken into captivity,

into captivity he will go.

If anyone is to be killed with the sword,

with the sword he will be killed.

Here is a call for the patient endurance and faith of God's holy people.

¹¹Then I saw another beast coming up out of the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, and it spoke like a dragon.¹²He exercised all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and he made the earth and those who live on it worship the first beast—the one whose lethal wound had been healed.

¹³He performed mighty miracles. He even made fire come down on the earth from heaven in front of people.¹⁴By the signs he was given power on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth, telling them to set up an image for the beast—who was wounded by the sword, but he still lived.

¹⁵He was permitted to give breath to the beast's image so that the image would even speak and cause all who refused to worship the beast to be killed.¹⁶He also forced everyone, unimportant and mighty, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on the right hand or on the forehead.¹⁷It was impossible for anyone to buy or sell unless he had the mark of the beast, that is, the number representing its name.

¹⁸This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight, let him calculate the number of the beast. For it is the number of a human being. His number is 666.

¹I looked and saw the Lamb standing on Mount Zion. With him were 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.²I heard a voice from heaven sounding like a roar of many waters and loud thunder. The sound I heard was also like harpists playing their harps.

³They sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except for the 144,000 who had been bought from the earth.⁴These are the ones that have not defiled themselves with women, for they have kept themselves sexually pure. It is these who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among mankind as firstfruits for God and for the Lamb.⁵No lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless.

⁶I saw another angel flying in midair, who had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language, and people.⁷He called out with a loud voice, "Fear God and give him glory. For the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him, the one who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water."

⁸Another angel—a second angel—followed, saying, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, who persuaded all the nations to drink the wine of her immoral passion."

⁹Another angel—a third angel—followed them, saying with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,¹⁰he will also drink some of the wine of God's wrath, the wine that has been poured undiluted into the cup of his anger. The person who drinks it will be tormented with fire and sulfur before God's holy angels and before the Lamb.

¹¹The smoke from their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night—these worshipers of the beast and his image, and everyone who receives the mark of his name.¹²Here is a call for the patient endurance of God's holy people, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus."

¹³I heard a voice from heaven say, "Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord."

"Yes," says the Spirit, "so that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds will follow them."

¹⁴I looked, and there was a white cloud. Seated on the cloud was one like a son of man. He had a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand.¹⁵Then another angel came out of the temple and called with a loud voice to the one sitting on the cloud: "Take your sickle and start to reap. For the time to reap has come, since the harvest of the earth is ripe."¹⁶Then the one who was sitting on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth, and the earth was reaped.

¹⁷Another angel came out from the temple in heaven; he also had a sharp sickle.¹⁸Still another angel came out from the incense altar, who had authority over the fire. He called out with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, "Take your sharp sickle and gather in the clusters of grapes from the vines of the earth, for their grapes are now ripe."

¹⁹The angel swung his sickle to the earth and harvested the grapevine of the earth. He threw it into the great winepress of God's wrath.²⁰The winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood poured out from it up to the height of a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia.

¹Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous: There were seven angels with seven plagues, which are the final plagues, for with them the wrath of God will be completed.

²I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mixed with fire. Standing beside the sea were those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number representing his name. They were holding harps given to them by God.

³They were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

"Great and marvelous are your deeds,

Lord God, the Almighty.

Just and true are your ways,

King of the nations.

⁴Who will not fear you, Lord,

and glorify your name?

For you alone are holy.

All nations will come

and worship before you

because your righteous deeds have been revealed."

⁵After these things I looked, and the temple of the tabernacle of witness was open in heaven.⁶Out of the temple came the seven angels holding the seven plagues. They were clothed with pure, bright linen and had golden sashes around their chests.

⁷One of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever.⁸The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. No one could enter it until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

¹I heard a loud voice call out of the temple and say to the seven angels, "Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of God's wrath."

²The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth; ugly and painful sores came on the people who had the mark of the beast, those who worshiped his image.

³The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea. It became blood, like the blood of a dead person, and every living thing in the sea died.

⁴The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood.⁵I heard the angel of the waters say,

"You are righteous—the one who is and who was, the Holy One—

because you have judged these things.

⁶Because they poured out the blood of God's holy people and prophets,

you have given them blood to drink;

it is what they deserve."

⁷I heard the altar reply,

"Yes, Lord God Almighty,

your judgments are true and righteous."

⁸The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given permission to scorch the people with fire.⁹They were scorched by the terrible heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, who has the authority over these plagues. They did not repent or give him glory.

¹⁰Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and darkness covered its kingdom. They chewed on their tongues because of the pain.¹¹They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pain and sores, and they still refused to repent of their deeds.

¹²The sixth angel poured out his bowl into the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up in order to prepare the way for the kings that would come from the east.¹³I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouths of the dragon, of the beast, and of the false prophet.¹⁴For they are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs. They were going out to the kings of the whole world in order to gather them together for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

¹⁵("Look! I am coming as a thief! Blessed is the one who keeps watching, keeping his garments on so that he does not walk around naked and so that they do not see his shameful condition.")

¹⁶They brought them together at the place that is called Armageddon in Hebrew.

¹⁷Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Then a loud voice came out of the temple and from the throne, saying, "It is done!"¹⁸There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, crashes of thunder, and a terrible earthquake—an earthquake greater than any that has ever happened since human beings have been on the earth, so great was this earthquake.¹⁹The great city was split into three parts, and the nations' cities collapsed. Then God called to mind Babylon the great, and he gave that city the cup filled with the wine made from his furious wrath.

²⁰Every island disappeared, and the mountains were no longer found.²¹Great hailstones, weighing about a talent, came down from the sky upon the people. They blasphemed God for the plague of hail because that plague was so terrible.

¹One of the seven angels who had been holding the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the condemnation of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,²with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of her sexual immorality the inhabitants of the earth became drunk."

³Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit to a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names. The beast had seven heads and ten horns.⁴The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She was holding in her hand a golden cup full of detestable things and the impurities of her sexual immorality.⁵On her forehead was written a name, a mystery: "Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the detestable things of the earth."

⁶I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people and with the blood of the martyrs for Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.⁷But the angel said to me, "Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that is carrying her, the beast that has the seven heads and the ten horns.

⁸The beast you saw existed, does not exist now, and is about to come up from the bottomless pit. Then he will go on to destruction. Those who live on the earth, those whose names have not been written in the Book of Life since the foundation of the world—they will be astounded when they see the beast, because he once was, and now is not, and yet will come.

⁹This calls for a mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman is seated.¹⁰They are also seven kings. Five kings have fallen, one exists, and the other has not yet come, and when he comes, he must remain for a little while.

¹¹The beast that once was, and now is not, yet he is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction.

¹²The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they will receive authority as kings for one hour together with the beast.¹³These are of one mind, and they give over their power and authority to the beast.¹⁴They will wage war against the Lamb. But the Lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and those with him are the called, chosen, and faithful ones."

¹⁵The angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute is seated, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and languages.

¹⁶The ten horns that you saw—they and the beast will hate the prostitute. They will make her desolate and naked, they will devour her flesh, and they will burn her completely with fire.¹⁷For God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by agreeing to give their power to rule to the beast until God's words are fulfilled.

¹⁸The woman you saw is the great city that has power to rule over the kings of the earth."

¹After these things I saw another angel coming down out of heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illumined by his glory.²He cried out with a mighty voice, saying,

"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!

She has become a dwelling place for demons,

a prison for every unclean spirit,

a prison for every unclean bird,

a prison for every unclean and detestable animal.

³For all the nations have drunk

the wine of her immoral passion.

The kings of the earth have committed immorality with her.

The merchants of the earth have become rich from the power of her sensual way of living."

⁴Then I heard another voice from heaven say,

"Come out from her, my people,

so that you will not share in her sins,

and so that you will not receive any of her plagues.

⁵Her sins have piled up as high as heaven,

and God has remembered her evil actions.

⁶Pay her back as she has paid others back,

and repay her double for her deeds;

in the cup she mixed, mix double the amount for her.

⁷As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,

give her just as much torture and grief.

For she says in her heart,

'I am seated as a queen;

I am not a widow,

and I will never see mourning.'

⁸Therefore in one day her plagues will come:

death, mourning, and famine.

She will be consumed by fire,

for the Lord God is mighty, and he is her judge."

⁹The kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and went out of control with her will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.¹⁰They will stand off at a distance, afraid of her torment, saying,

"Woe, woe to the great city,

Babylon, the powerful city!

For in a single hour your punishment has come."

¹¹The merchants of the earth weep and mourn for her since no one buys their merchandise anymore—¹²merchandise of gold, silver, precious stone, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, scarlet, all kinds of scented wood, every vessel of ivory, every vessel made of most precious wood, bronze, iron, marble,¹³cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of people.

¹⁴The fruit that you desired with all your might is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished, never to be found again.

¹⁵The merchants of these goods who became rich by her will stand away from her at a distance because of the fear of her torment, weeping and mourning loudly.

¹⁶They will say,

"Woe, woe to the great city

that was dressed in fine linen, in purple, and in scarlet,

and was adorned with gold, precious jewels, and pearls!

¹⁷In a single hour all that wealth has been laid waste."

Every ship's captain, every seafaring man, sailors, and all who make their living from the sea stood off at a distance.

¹⁸They cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning. They said, "What city is like the great city?"¹⁹They threw dust on their heads, and cried out, weeping and mourning,

"Woe, woe to the great city

where all who had their ships

at sea became rich from her wealth.

For in a single hour she has been laid waste."

²⁰"Rejoice over her, heaven,

you holy people and apostles and prophets,

for God has brought your judgment on her!"

²¹A mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying,

"In this way, Babylon, the great city,

will be thrown down with violence

and will not be seen anymore.

²²The sound made by harpists, musicians,

flute players, and trumpeters

will not be heard anymore in you.

No craftsman of any kind

will be found in you.

No sound of a mill

will be heard anymore in you.

²³The light of a lamp

will not shine in you anymore.

The voices of the bridegroom and the bride

will not be heard in you anymore,

for your merchants were the princes of the earth,

and the nations were deceived by your sorcery.

²⁴In her the blood of prophets and of God's holy people was found,

and the blood of all who have been killed on the earth."

¹After these things I heard what sounded like a loud voice of a large number of people in heaven calling out,

"Hallelujah!

Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God.

²His judgments are true and just,

for he has judged the great prostitute

who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality.

He has avenged the blood of his servants

from her hand."

³They spoke a second time:

"Hallelujah!

The smoke rises from her forever and ever."

⁴The twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who was seated on the throne. They were saying,

"Amen. Hallelujah!"

⁵Then a voice came out from the throne, saying,

"Praise our God,

all you his servants,

you who fear him,

both the unimportant and the powerful."

⁶Then I heard what sounded like the voice of a great number of people, like the roar of many waters, and like mighty crashes of thunder, saying,

"Hallelujah!

For the Lord reigns, our God, the Almighty.

⁷Let us rejoice and be glad

and give him the glory!

For the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

⁸She was permitted to be dressed

in bright and clean fine linen"

(for fine linen is the righteous acts of God's holy people).

⁹The angel said to me, "Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb." He also said to me, "These are true words of God."¹⁰I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, "Do not do this! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."

¹¹Then I saw heaven open, and I looked and there was a white horse. The one riding it is called faithful and true. It is with justice that he judges and wages war.¹²His eyes are like a fiery flame, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but himself.¹³He is clothed with a robe that was dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

¹⁴The armies of heaven were following him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean.¹⁵Out of his mouth goes a sharp sword with which he strikes down the nations, and he will rule them with an iron rod. He tramples in the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.¹⁶He has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: "King of kings and Lord of lords."

¹⁷I saw an angel standing in the sun. He called out in a loud voice to all the birds flying overhead, "Come, gather together for the great feast of God.¹⁸Come eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, the unimportant and the powerful."

¹⁹I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies. They were assembling in order to wage war with the one who rode the horse and with his army.²⁰The beast was captured and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence. With these signs he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

²¹The rest of them were killed by the sword that came out of the mouth of the one who rode on the horse. All the birds ate their dead flesh.

¹Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven. He had the key to the bottomless pit, and he had a great chain in his hand.²He took hold of the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years.³He threw him into the bottomless pit. He shut it and sealed it over him. This was so that he would not deceive the nations anymore until the thousand years were over. After that, he must be set free for a short amount of time.

⁴Then I saw thrones. Seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony about Jesus and for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or his image, and they had refused to receive the mark on their forehead or hand. They came to life, and they reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

⁵The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection.⁶Blessed and holy is anyone who takes part in the first resurrection! Over these the second death has no power. They will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

⁷When the thousand years come to an end, Satan will be released from his prison.⁸He will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to bring them together for the battle. They will be as many as the sand of the sea.

⁹They went up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's holy people—the beloved city. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them.¹⁰The devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and the one who is seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled away from his presence, but there was no place for them to go.¹²I saw the dead—the mighty and the unimportant—standing before the throne, and the books were opened. Then another book was opened—the Book of Life. The dead were judged by what was recorded in the books, according to their deeds.

¹³The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and the dead were judged according to their deeds.¹⁴Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire.¹⁵If anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.²I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, that came down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

³I heard a great voice from the throne saying, "Look! The dwelling place of God is with human beings, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and he will be their God.⁴He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death, or grieving, or crying, or pain. The former things have passed away.

⁵The one who was seated on the throne said, "Look! I make all things new." He said, "Write this down because these words are trustworthy and true."⁶He said to me, "These things are done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who thirsts I will give drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.

⁷The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.⁸But as for the cowards, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. That is the second death."

⁹One of the seven angels came to me, the one who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and he said, "Come here. I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."¹⁰Then he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

¹¹Jerusalem had the glory of God, and its brightness was like a very precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper.¹²It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.¹³On the east were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.

¹⁴The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.¹⁵The one who spoke with me had a measuring rod made of gold to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

¹⁶The city was laid out in a square; its length was the same as its width. He measured the city with the measuring rod, twelve thousand stadia in length (its length, width, and height were the same).¹⁷He also measured its wall, 144 cubits thick by human measurement (which is also the angel's measure).

¹⁸The wall was built of jasper and the city of pure gold, like clear glass.¹⁹The foundations of the wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first was jasper, the second was sapphire, the third was agate, the fourth was emerald,²⁰the fifth was onyx, the sixth was carnelian, the seventh was chrysolite, the eighth was beryl, the ninth was topaz, the tenth was chrysoprase, the eleventh was jacinth, and the twelfth was amethyst.

²¹The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each of the gates was made from a single pearl. The streets of the city were pure gold, like transparent glass.²²I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

²³The city had no need of the sun or the moon in order to shine on it because the glory of God shone on it, and its lamp is the Lamb.²⁴The nations will walk by the light of that city. The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.²⁵Its gates will not be shut during the day, and there will be no night there.

²⁶They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it,²⁷but nothing unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

¹Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal. It was flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb²through the middle of the city's street. On each side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits, and it bears its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.

³There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.⁴They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.⁵There will be no more night; they will have no need for the light of a lamp or sunlight because the Lord God will shine on them. They will reign forever and ever.

⁶The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon."⁷"Look! I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who obeys the words of the prophecy of this book."

⁸I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. When I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing me these things.⁹He said to me, "Do not do that! I am a fellow servant with you, with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey the words of this book. Worship God!"

¹⁰Then he said to me, "Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.¹¹The one who is unrighteous, let him continue to do unrighteousness. The one who is morally filthy, let him continue to be morally filthy. The one who is righteous, let him continue to do what is righteous. The one who is holy, let him continue to be holy."

¹²"Look! I am coming soon. My reward is with me, to pay back each one according to his deeds.¹³I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.

¹⁴Blessed are those who wash their robes so that they will have the right to eat from the tree of life and to enter the city through the gates.¹¹⁵Outside are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star."

¹⁷The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come!" Let the one who hears say, "Come!" Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever desires it, let him freely have the water of life.

¹⁸I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues that are written about in this book.¹⁹If anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are written about in this book.²

²⁰The one who testifies to these things says, "Yes! I am coming soon." Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.³

¹Instead of, Blessed are those who wash their robes, some ancient copies of the Greek text read, Blessed are those who do his commandments.

²Some older copies read God will take away his share in the Book of Life and in the holy city that are written about in this book.

³Some ancient copies of the Greek text or ancient translations of the Greek text add the phrase: be with you holy people or be with all you holy people or be with all of his holy people.

Formatted for Translators

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Matthew

Mark

Luke

John

Acts

Romans

1 Corinthians

2 Corinthians

Galatians

Ephesians

Philippians

Colossians

1 Thessalonians

2 Thessalonians

1 Timothy

2 Timothy

Titus

Philemon

Hebrews

James

1 Peter

2 Peter

1 John

2 John

3 John

Jude

Revelation