Hebrews 11 Cross References - ISV

¹ The Meaning of FaithNow faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists. ² By faith our ancestors won approval.
³ By faith we understand that time was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible.
⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and by faith he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith he continues to speak, even though he is dead.
⁵ By faith Enoch was taken away without experiencing death. He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he won approval as one who pleased God. ⁶ Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.
⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, reverently prepared an ark to save his family, and by faith he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith.
⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.
⁹ By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who also inherited the same promise, ¹⁰ because he was waiting for the city with permanent foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
¹¹ By faith Sarah, even though she was old and barren, received the strength to conceive, because she was convinced that the one who had made the promise was faithful. ¹² Abraham was as good as dead, yet from this one man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
¹³ All these people died having faith. They did not receive the things that were promised, yet they saw them in the distant future and welcomed them, acknowledging that they were strangers and foreigners on earth. ¹⁴ For people who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking about what they had left behind, they would have had an opportunity to go back. ¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them.
¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac—he who had received the promises was about to offer his unique son in sacrifice, ¹⁸ about whom it had been said, “It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you.” ¹⁹ Abraham was certain that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did get Isaac back in this way.
²⁰ By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.
²¹ By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons “and worshipped while leaning on the top of his staff.”
²² By faith Joseph, when his end was near, spoke about the exodus of the Israelis and gave them instructions about burying his bones.
²³ By faith Moses was hidden by his parents for three months after he was born, because they saw that he was a beautiful child and were not afraid of the king’s order.
²⁴ By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called a son of Pharaoh’s daughter, ²⁵ because he preferred being mistreated with God’s people to enjoying the pleasures of sin for a short time. ²⁶ He thought that being insulted for the sake of the Messiah was of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.
²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, without being afraid of the king’s anger, and he persevered because he saw the one who is invisible.
²⁸ By faith he established the Passover and the sprinkling of blood to keep the destroyer of the firstborn from touching the people.
²⁹ By faith they went through the Red Sea as if it were dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do this, they were drowned.
³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not die with those who were disobedient, because she had welcomed the spies with a greeting of peace.
³² And what more should I say? For time would fail me to tell you about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets. ³³ Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, received promises, shut the mouths of lions, ³⁴ put out raging fires, escaped death by the sword, found strength in weakness, became powerful in battle, and routed foreign armies. ³⁵ Women received their dead raised back to life. Other people were brutally tortured, but refused to be ransomed, so that they might gain a better resurrection. ³⁶ Still others endured taunts and floggings, and even chains and imprisonment. ³⁷ They were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins. They were needy, oppressed, and mistreated. ³⁸ The world wasn’t worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and from caves to holes in the ground.
³⁹ All these people won approval for their faith but they did not receive what was promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us, so that they would not be perfected without us.

¹³ I believe that I will see the LORD’s goodness in the land of the living.

¹¹ Why are you in despair, my soul? Why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for once again I will praise him, since his presence saves me and he is my God.

²¹ I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus.

²⁴ For we were saved with this hope in mind. Now a hope that can be observed is not really hope, for who hopes for what can be seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet observe, we eagerly wait for it with patience.

¹³ Right now three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

¹⁸ because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight.

¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in the Messiah, he is a new creation. Old things have disappeared, and—look!—all things have become new!

⁴ Otherwise, if any Macedonians come with me and find out that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—in this undertaking.

¹⁷ When I talk as a confident boaster, I am not talking with the Lord’s authority but like a fool.

⁶ for in union with the Messiah Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. What matters is faith expressed through love.

¹ GreetingsFrom: Paul, a servant of God, and also an apostle of Jesus the Messiah, to bring the faith to those chosen by God, along with full knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness,

³ how will we escape if we neglect a salvation as great as this? It was first proclaimed by the Lord himself, and then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

¹⁴ because we are the Messiah’s partners only if we hold on to our original confidence to the end.

¹² Then, instead of being lazy, you will imitate those who are inheriting the promises through faith and patience.

¹⁸ so that by these two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to prove false, we who have taken refuge in him might be encouraged to seize the hope set before us. ¹⁹ That hope, firm and secure like an anchor for our souls, reaches behind the curtain

²² let us continue to come near with sincere hearts in the full assurance that faith provides, because our hearts have been sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

³⁹ Now, we do not belong to those who turn back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.

⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, reverently prepared an ark to save his family, and by faith he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith.

¹³ All these people died having faith. They did not receive the things that were promised, yet they saw them in the distant future and welcomed them, acknowledging that they were strangers and foreigners on earth.

²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, without being afraid of the king’s anger, and he persevered because he saw the one who is invisible.

⁷ so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed.
⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,

¹ GreetingsFrom: Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus, the Messiah.
To: Those who have received faith that is as valuable as ours through the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus the Messiah.

⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and by faith he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith he continues to speak, even though he is dead.

³⁹ All these people won approval for their faith but they did not receive what was promised,

¹ The CreationIn the beginning, God created the universe.

¹ The Seventh DayWith this the heavens and the earth were completed, including all of their vast array.

⁶ By the word of the LORD the heavens were made; all the heavenly bodies by the breath of his mouth.

²⁶ “Lift your eyes up to heaven and see who created all these— the one who leads out their vast array of stars by number, calling them all by name— because of his great might and his powerful strength— and not one is missing.”

¹¹ Tell this to them: “The gods who didn’t make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens.”

¹⁶ The Portion of Jacob is not like these. He made everything, and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance. The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is his name.

³ Through him all things were made, and apart from him nothing was made that has been made.

¹⁵ “Men, why are you doing this? We are merely human beings with natures like yours. We are telling you the good news so you’ll turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

²⁴ The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn’t live in shrines made by human hands,

¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God himself has made it plain to them. ²⁰ For since the creation of the world God’s invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been understood and observed by what he made, so that people are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him. Instead, their thoughts turned to worthless things, and their senseless hearts were darkened.

¹⁷ As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations.” Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist.

² has in these last days spoken to us by a Son whom he appointed to be the heir of everything and through whom he also made the universe.

⁵ But they deliberately ignore the fact that long ago the heavens existed and the earth was formed by God’s word out of water and with water,

¹¹ “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory, honor, and power, because you created all things; they came into existence and were created because of your will.”

³ Later, after a while, Cain brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit that he had harvested, ⁴ while Abel brought the best parts of some of the firstborn from his flock. The LORD looked favorably upon Abel and his offering, ⁵ but he did not look favorably upon Cain and his offering.
When Cain became very upset and depressed,

⁸ Instead, Cain told his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the wilderness.” When they were outside in the fields, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.

¹⁰ “What did you do?” God asked. “Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground.

¹⁵ The LORD told him, “This won’t happen, because whoever kills you will suffer seven times the vengeance.” Then the LORD placed a sign on Cain so that no one finding him would kill him.

²⁵ Later on, after Adam had sexual relations with his wife, she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, because “God granted me another offspring to replace Abel, since Cain murdered him.”

²⁴ A fire came down from the LORD’s presence and consumed the burnt offering on the altar as well as the fat. When the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.

³⁸ Right then the LORD’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, the dust, and even the water that was in the trench!

⁸ The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

²⁷ What the wicked person sacrifices is detestable— how much more when he offers it with vile motives!

³⁵ As a result, you will be held accountable for all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Berechiah’s son Zechariah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who died between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation!

¹⁶ They claim to know God, but they deny him by their actions. They are detestable, disobedient, and disqualified to do anything good.

²² In fact, under the Law almost everything is cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of the blood there is no forgiveness.

¹ We Must Look Off to JesusTherefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and throwing off everything that hinders us and especially the sin that so easily entangles us, let us keep running with endurance the race set before us,

²⁴ to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than Abel’s.

¹¹ Love One AnotherThis is the message that you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹² Do not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because what he was doing was evil and his brother’s actions were righteous.

¹¹ How terrible it will be for them! For they lived like Cain did, rushed headlong into Balaam’s error to make a profit, and destroyed themselves, as happened in Korah’s rebellion.

²¹ When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. ²² After he fathered Methuselah, Enoch communed with God for 300 years and fathered other sons and daughters. ²³ Enoch lived a total of 365 years, ²⁴ communing with God—and then he was there no longer, because God had taken him.

¹¹ As they continued on, talking as they went, suddenly chariots blazing with fire and pulled by fiery horses appeared, separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a wind storm to heaven!

¹⁶ Then they asked Elisha, “Look! We have 50 valiant men here with your servant! Please let them go out and search for your master Elijah. Perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up on a mountain or into a valley.”
Elisha responded, “Don’t bother searching.”
¹⁷ But they persisted until he was frustrated, so he said, “Send them out!” So they sent out the 50 men, and they looked around for three days but did not find Elijah.

⁴⁸ What valiant man can live and not see death? Who can deliver himself from the power of Sheol. Interlude

²⁶ The king ordered his son Jerahmeel, Azriel’s son Seraiah, and Abdeel’s son Shelemiah to get Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD had hidden them.

³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,

⁵¹ Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”
⁵² Then the Jewish leaders told him, “Now we really know that you have a demon. Abraham died, and so did the prophets, but you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

⁸ Indeed, those who are under the control of human nature cannot please God.
⁹ You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God’s Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him.

⁴ Rather, because we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, we speak as we do, not trying to please people but God, who tests our motives.

³ By faith we understand that time was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are invisible.
⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and by faith he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith he continues to speak, even though he is dead.

⁶ Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.

²² Whatever we request we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.

¹⁴ Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied about these people when he said, “Look! The Lord has come with countless thousands of his holy ones.

⁹ For three and a half days some members of the peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will look at their dead bodies and will not allow them to be placed in a tomb. ¹⁰ Those living on earth will gloat over them, celebrate, and send gifts to each other, because these two prophets had tormented those living on earth.
¹¹ The Resurrection of the WitnessesBut after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet. Those who watched them were terrified. ¹² Then the witnesses heard a loud voice from heaven calling to them, “Come up here!” So they went up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies watched them.

¹ The Abrahamic CovenantSome time later, a message came from the LORD to Abram in a vision: “Don’t be afraid, Abram. I am your shield. Your reward will be very great.”

¹¹ “How long will this people keep on spurning me and refusing to trust me, despite all the miracles that I’ve done among them?” the LORD asked Moses.

¹² The LORD Disciplines MosesBut the LORD rebuked Moses and Aaron, telling Moses: “Because you both didn’t believe me, because you didn’t consecrate me as holy in the presence of the Israelis, you won’t be the ones to bring this congregation into the land that I’m about to give them.”

¹² May the LORD repay you for your work, and may a full reward be given you from the LORD God of Israel, under whose wings you have come for refuge.”

⁹ David Addresses Solomon Directly“Now as for you, my son Solomon, get to know the God of your father. Serve him with a sound heart and a devoted soul, because the LORD is searching every heart, every plan and thought. He will be found by you, assuming you are seeking him, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you forever.

¹⁴ “They say to God, ‘Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways.

¹¹ A person will say, “Certainly, the righteous are rewarded; certainly there is a God who judges the earth.”

²⁸ As for me, how good for me it is that God is near! I have made the Lord GOD my refuge so I can tell about all your deeds.

²² because they didn’t believe in God and didn’t trust in his deliverance.

³² In spite of all of this, they kept on sinning and didn’t believe in his marvelous deeds.

³ Exult in his holy name; let all those who seek the LORD rejoice! ⁴ Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his face continually.

²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who performed great things in Egypt— ²² awesome deeds in the land of Ham, astonishing deeds at the Reed Sea.

²⁴ They rejected the desirable land, and they didn’t trust his promise.

¹⁰ I have sought you with all of my heart; do not let me drift away from your commands.

¹⁷ I love those who love me, and those who seek me will find me.

¹⁸ Evil people earn deceptive wages, but those who plant righteousness are truly rewarded.

¹ The Loved One Night after night on my bed, I sought the one I love; I sought him, but didn’t find him. ² I’ll get up and go all around the city, throughout the streets, and in the squares. I’ll seek the one I love. I sought him, but didn’t find him. ³ The watchmen who go all around the city found me. I asked, “Have you seen the one I love?” ⁴ I had just passed them when I found the one I love. I held him and wouldn’t let him go until I brought him to my mother’s house, to the room of the one who conceived me.

⁹ Furthermore, Ephraim’s head is Samaria, and Remaliah’s son is its king. If all of you don’t keep on believing,
you’ll never remain loyal.’”

³ Pay attention to me, come to me; and listen, so that you may live; then I’ll make an everlasting covenant with you, as promised by my faithful, sure love for David.

³¹ “You, generation, pay attention to this message from the LORD! Am I the desert to Israel, or a land of gloom? Why do my people say, ‘We’re free to roam? We won’t come to you anymore.’

¹³ You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart. ¹⁴ I’ll be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I’ll restore your security and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I’ve driven you,’ declares the LORD. ‘I’ll bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.’

¹² Rejoice and be extremely glad, because your reward in heaven is great! That’s how they persecuted the prophets who came before you.”

¹ Teaching about Giving to the Poor “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. ² So whenever you give to the poor, don’t blow a trumpet before you like the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they will be praised by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

⁵ Teaching about Prayer
“And whenever you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites who love to stand in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they will be seen by people. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

¹⁶ Teaching about Fasting“Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites, because they put on sad faces to show others they are fasting. I tell all of you with certainty, they have their full reward!

³³ But first be concerned about God’s kingdom and his righteousness, and all of these things will be provided for you as well.

⁴¹ The one who receives a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. ⁴² I tell all of you with certainty, whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple will never lose his reward.”

¹⁷ These are the signs that will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons. they will speak in new languages.

³⁵ Rather, love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind even to ungrateful and evil people.

³¹ Instead, be concerned about his kingdom, and these things will be provided for you as well.

¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s unique Son. ¹⁹ And this is the basis for judgment: The light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light because their actions were evil.

²⁴ That is why I told you that you will die in your sins, for unless you believe that I AM, you’ll die in your sins.”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

¹⁴ How, then, can people call on someone they have not believed? And how can they believe in someone they have not heard about? And how can they hear without someone preaching?

¹² See to it, my brothers, that no evil, unbelieving heart is found in any of you, as shown by your turning away from the living God.

¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would never enter his rest? It was to those who disobeyed him, was it not? ¹⁹ So we see that they were unable to enter because of their unbelief.

² because we have had the good news told to us as well as to them. But the message they heard did not help them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened to it.

⁶ Therefore, since it is still true that some will enter it, and since those who once heard the good news failed to enter it because of their disobedience,

¹⁹ since the Law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is presented, by which we approach God.

²⁵ Therefore, because he always lives to intercede for them, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him.

²⁶ He thought that being insulted for the sake of the Messiah was of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

⁵ For this very reason, you must make every effort to supplement your faith with moral character, your moral character with knowledge,

¹⁰ So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, for if you keep on doing this you will never fail.

¹⁴ So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to have the Lord find you at peace and without spot or fault.

⁸ But people who are cowardly, unfaithful, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will find themselves in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”

⁹ Noah Obeys GodThese are the family records of Noah: Noah was a righteous man. Blameless during his times, Noah communed with God.

¹³ So God announced to Noah, “I’ve decided to destroy every living thing on earth, because it has become filled with violence due to them. Look! I’m about to annihilate them, along with the earth.

⁵ Noah did everything that the LORD commanded.

²³ All existing creatures that had lived on the surface of the ground were annihilated, from humans to livestock, from crawling creatures to birds of the sky. They were wiped off the earth. Only Noah remained, along with those who were with him in the ark.

¹⁶ “It’s time for you, your wife, your sons, and your sons’ wives who are with you to leave the ark.

¹⁴ Lot then went out and told his sons-in-law (they had married his daughters), “Get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

¹⁸ Look! About this time tomorrow, I’ll send a severe hail storm, such as has not happened in Egypt from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹ So send for your livestock and everything that belongs to you that’s out in the field, because every person and animal found in the field that has not been brought inside to shelters will die when the hail comes down on them.”’”
²⁰ Whoever feared the message from the LORD among Pharaoh’s officials made his servants and livestock flee into shelters. ²¹ But whoever did not pay attention to the message from the LORD left his servants and his livestock outside in the fields.

³ The prudent person sees trouble ahead and hides, but the naive continue on and suffer the consequences.

¹² Those who are prudent see danger and take refuge, but the naïve continue on and suffer the consequences.

¹⁷ “Son of Man,” he said, “I’ve appointed you to be a watchman over the house of Israel. Therefore when you hear a message that comes from me, you are to warn them for me.
¹⁸ “So when I say to a wicked person, ‘You’re about to die,’ if you don’t warn or instruct that wicked person that his behavior is wicked so he can live, that wicked person will die in his sin, but I’ll hold you responsible for his death. ¹⁹ If you warn the wicked person, and he doesn’t repent of his wickedness or of his wicked behavior, he’ll die in his sin, but you will have saved your own life.

¹⁴ Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job lived in that land, they would only save their own lives on account of their righteousness,” declares the Lord GOD.

²⁰ even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were among them, as I live” says the Lord GOD, “they couldn’t save their own sons or daughters. They would only save their own souls due to their own righteousness.”

⁷ But when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he told them, “You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

⁴¹ The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look—something greater than Jonah is here! ⁴² The queen of the south will stand up and condemn the people living today, because she came from so far away to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look! Something greater than Solomon is here!”

¹⁵ Signs of the End
“So when you see the destructive desecration, mentioned by the prophet Daniel, standing in the Holy Place (let the reader take note),

²⁵ Remember, I’ve told you this beforehand.

³⁸ In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage right up to the day when Noah went into the ark.

³¹ The queen of the south will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But look, something greater than Solomon is here! ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment and condemn the people living today, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. But look, something greater than Jonah is here!”

²⁶ “Just as it was in Noah’s time, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man.

¹⁷ For in the gospel God’s righteousness is being revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, “The righteous will live by faith.”

²² God’s righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah— for all who believe. For there is no distinction among people,

¹¹ Afterward he received the mark of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. Therefore, he is the ancestor of all who believe while uncircumcised, in order that righteousness may be credited to them.

¹³ The Promise Comes through FaithFor the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the Law, but through the righteousness produced by faith.

³⁰ What can we say, then? Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have attained righteousness, a righteousness that comes through faith.

⁶ But the righteousness that comes from faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will go up to heaven?’ (that is, to bring the Messiah down),

⁵ Through the Spirit by faith we confidently await the fulfillment of our righteous hope,

⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through the faithfulness of the Messiah, the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith.

⁷ As a mortal man, he offered up prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his devotion to God.

¹ The Meaning of FaithNow faith is the assurance that what we hope for will come about and the certainty that what we cannot see exists.

²⁰ who disobeyed long ago in the days of Noah, when God waited patiently while the ark was being built. In it a few, that is, eight persons, were saved by water.

⁵ and if he did not spare the ancient world but protected Noah, a righteous preacher, along with seven others when he brought the flood on the world of ungodly people;

⁶ by which the world at that time was deluged with water and destroyed.

³¹ Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot (Haran’s son), and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they journeyed together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan. But when they had gone as far as Haran, they settled there,

¹ God Calls AbramThe LORD told Abram, “You are to leave your land, your relatives, and your father’s house and go to the land that I’m going to show you. ² I’ll make a great nation of your descendants, I’ll bless you, and I’ll make your reputation great, so that you will be a blessing. ³ I’ll bless those who bless you, but I’ll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed.”
⁴ So Abram left there, as the LORD had directed him, and Lot accompanied him. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran.

⁷ Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “I’ll give this land to your descendants.” So Abram built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him.

¹⁵ because I’m going to give you and your descendants all of the land that you see—forever! ¹⁶ I’ll make your descendants as plentiful as the specks of dust of the earth, so that if one could count the specks of dust of the earth, then your descendants could also be counted. ¹⁷ Get up! Walk throughout the length and breadth of the land, because I’m going to give it to you.”

⁵ Then the LORD took him outside. “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if you can!” he said. “Your descendants will be that numerous.”

⁷ The LORD spoke to him, “I am the LORD, who brought you from Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land as an inheritance.”
⁸ But he replied, “Lord GOD, how will I know that I will inherit it?”

⁸ I’ll give to you and to your descendants the land to which you have traveled—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession. I will be their God.”

¹⁸ Furthermore, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed my command.”

³ Remain in this land, and I’ll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham.

⁵ On the contrary, it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is dispossessing them before you to confirm what the LORD promised by an oath to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

³ Then I took your ancestor Abraham from the other side of the Euphrates River and led him through the entire land of Canaan. I multiplied his descendants, and gave him his son Isaac.

⁷ You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram, whom you brought from Ur of the Chaldeans and to whom you gave the name Abraham. ⁸ You found him faithful in your sight; you made a covenant with him and you gave the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites to his descendants. And you have kept your word, because you are righteous.

⁹ like the covenant he made with Abraham, and his promise to Isaac. ¹⁰ He presented it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant. ¹¹ He said: “I will give Canaan to you as the allotted portion that is your inheritance.”

² Who has aroused victory from the east, and has summoned it to his service, and has handed over nations to him? Who brings down kings, and turns them into dust with his sword, into windblown stubble with his bow?

² Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. For when he was only one person I called him, but I made him fruitful and made him many.

²⁴ I’m going to remove you from the nations, gather you from all of the territories, and bring you all back to your own land.

²⁴ The Two Foundations
“Therefore, everyone who listens to these messages of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on a rock. ²⁵ The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, but it did not collapse because its foundation was on the rock.

² Stephen replied: “Listen, brothers and fathers! “The glorious God appeared to our ancestor Abraham while he was in Mesopotamia before he settled in Haran. ³ God told him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives and go to the land I’ll show you.’ ⁴ So he left the country of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. Then after the death of his father, God had him move to this country where you now live.

⁵ Through him we received grace and a commission as an apostle to bring about faithful obedience among all the gentiles for the sake of his name.

¹⁷ But thank God that, though you were once slaves of sin, you became obedient from your hearts to that form of teaching with which you were entrusted!

¹⁶ But not everyone has obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah asks, “Lord, who has believed our message?”

⁵ and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah.

⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,

³³ Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, received promises, shut the mouths of lions,

¹⁴ Faith is Shown by ActionsWhat good does it do, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but does not prove it with actions? This kind of faith cannot save him, can it? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister does not have any clothes or daily food ¹⁶ and one of you tells them, “Go in peace! Stay warm and eat heartily.” If you do not provide for their bodily needs, what good does it do?

²² Love One AnotherNow that you have obeyed the truth and have purified your souls to love your brothers sincerely, you must love one another intensely and with a pure heart.

¹ Wives and HusbandsIn a similar way, you wives must submit yourselves to your husbands so that, even if some of them refuse to obey the word, they may be won over without a word through your conduct as wives

¹⁷ For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who refuse to obey the gospel of God?

⁸ From there Abram traveled on to the hill country east of Bethel and set up his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

³ He journeyed by stages from the Negev to Bethel, the place where his tent had formerly been, between Bethel and Ai,

¹⁸ So Abram moved his tent and settled beside the oaks of Mamre that are by Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

¹ Abraham’s Three VisitorsLater, the LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks belonging to Mamre. As Abraham was sitting near the entrance to his tent during the hottest part of the day, ² he glanced up and saw three men standing there, not far from him. As soon as he noticed them, Abraham ran from the tent entrance to greet them and bowed low to the ground.

⁶ Abraham hurried into the tent and told Sarah, “Quick! Take three measures of the best flour, knead it, and make some flat bread.”

⁹ Sarah Laughs at the PromiseThe men asked him, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
“There, in the tent,” he replied.

⁴ “I am an alien and an outsider among you. Give me a cemetery among you where I can bury my dead away from my presence.”

²⁷ As the boys were growing up, Esau became skilled at hunting and was a man of the outdoors, but Jacob was the quiet type who tended to stay indoors.

³ Remain in this land, and I’ll be with and bless you by giving all these lands to you and to your descendants in fulfillment of my solemn promise that I made to your father Abraham. ⁴ I’ll cause you to have as many descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I’ll certainly give all these lands to your descendants. Later on, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless one another.

⁴ May he give you and your descendants the blessings that he gave Abraham. May you possess the land where you have lived that God gave to Abraham.”

¹³ And there was the LORD, standing above it and telling Jacob, “I am the LORD God of your grandfather Abraham. I’m Isaac’s God, too. I’m giving you and your descendants the ground on which you’re sleeping. ¹⁴ Your descendants are going to become like the dust of the earth and spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendants.

²⁷ The Death of IsaacSo Jacob reached his father Isaac at Mamre, in Kiriath-arba (also known as Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had lived.

³ Jacob reminded Joseph, “God Almighty revealed himself to me at Luz in Canaan and blessed me. ⁴ He told me, ‘Pay attention! I’m going to make you fruitful and numerous. I’m going to build you into a vast nation of people and then I’ll give this land to your descendants for an eternal possession.’

⁵ God gave him no property here, not even a foot of land, yet he promised to give it to him and to his descendants after him as a permanent possession, even though he had no child. ⁶ “This is what God promised: His descendants would be strangers in a foreign country, and its people would enslave them and oppress them for 400 years.

¹⁷ In the same way, when God wanted to make the unchangeable character of his purpose perfectly clear to the heirs of his promise, he guaranteed it with an oath,

³² How will they answer the messengers of the nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, and in it the afflicted among his people will find refuge.”

² There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If there weren’t, I wouldn’t have told you that I am going away to prepare a place for you, would I?

¹ We know that if the earthly tent we live in is torn down, we have a building in heaven that comes from God, an eternal house not built by human hands.

²⁰ Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and it is from there that we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

⁴ After all, every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

²² Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to tens of thousands of angels joyfully gathered together,

²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and worship God in reverence and fear in a way that pleases him.

¹⁴ For here we have no permanent city but are looking for the one that is coming.

² I also saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

¹⁰ He carried me away in the Spirit to a large, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. ¹¹ The glory of God was its radiance, and its light was like a valuable gem, like jasper, as clear as crystal. ¹² It had a large, high wall with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb were written on them.
¹⁵ The angel who was talking to me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was cubic in shape: its length was the same as its width. He measured the city with his rod, and it measured at 12,000 stadia:Its length, width, and height were the same. ¹⁷ He also measured its wall. According to the human measurement that the angel was using, it was 144 cubits. ¹⁸ Its wall was made of jasper. The city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.
¹⁹ The foundations of the city wall were decorated with all kinds of gems: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was made of pure gold, as clear as glass.
²² I saw no temple in it, because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. ²³ The city doesn’t need any sun or moon to give it light, because the glory of God gave it light, and the lamb was its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. ²⁵ Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day—because there will be no night there. ²⁶ People will bring the glory and wealth of the nations into it. ²⁷ Nothing unclean, or anyone who does anything detestable, and no one who tells lies will ever enter it. Only those whose names are written in the lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.

¹⁷ Abraham fell to the ground, laughed, and told himself, “Can a child be born to a 100-year-old man? Can a 90-year-old Sarah give birth?” ¹⁸ So Abraham responded to God, “If only Ishmael would live in constant awareness that you’re always with him!”
¹⁹ But God replied, “No, but your wife Sarah will give birth to your son, and you are to name him Isaac. I’ll confirm my covenant with him as an eternal covenant for his descendants.

¹¹ Abraham and Sarah were old—really old—and Sarah was beyond the age of childbearing. ¹² That’s why Sarah laughed to herself, thinking, “After I’m so old and my husband is old, too, am I going to have sex?”
¹³ The LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and think, ‘Am I really going to bear a child, since I’m so old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the time set for it, I will return to you—about a year from now—and Sarah will have a son.”

¹ Isaac is BornThe LORD came to Sarah, just as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. ² Sarah conceived and gave birth to a son for Abraham in his old age, at the very time that God had told him.

³⁶ And listen! Elizabeth, your relative, has herself conceived a son in her old age, this woman who was rumored to be barren is in her sixth month.

²⁰ nor did he doubt God’s promise out of a lack of faith. Instead, his faith became stronger and he gave glory to God, ²¹ being absolutely convinced that God would do what he had promised.

²³ Let us continue to hold firmly to the hope that we confess without wavering, for the one who made the promise is faithful.

⁵ After all, this is how holy women who set their hope on God used to make themselves beautiful in the past. They submitted themselves to their husbands, ⁶ just as Sarah obeyed Abraham and called him lord. You have become her daughters by doing good and by not letting anything terrify you.

¹⁷ I will certainly bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the gates of their enemies.

⁴ I’ll cause you to have as many descendants as the stars of the heavens, and I’ll certainly give all these lands to your descendants. Later on, through your descendants all the nations of the earth will bless one another.

¹² Now, you promised me that ‘I’m certainly going to cause things to go well with you, and I’m going to make your offspring as numerous as the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’”
¹³ Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants to whom you swore by yourself as you told them, ‘I’ll increase the number of your descendants like the stars of the heavens, I’ll give your descendants all of this land about which I have spoken, and they are to possess it forever.’”

¹⁰ The LORD your God greatly multiplied your numbers, and today you are like the stars in the sky.

⁶² Because you will not have obeyed the LORD your God, very few of you will be left—instead of you being as numerous as the stars in the heavens.

⁴ So they went out, they and all of their armies with them—a multitude as numerous as the sand on the seashore—accompanied by many horses and chariots.

¹² The Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups from the east lay encamped in the valley, as thick as locusts. The number of their camels couldn’t be calculated—they seemed as numerous as the sand on the seashore.

⁵ He told them, “Today the LORD is testifying, along with his anointed, that you haven’t found any bribes in my possession.”
They said, “He’s a witness.”

¹¹ So here’s my advice: Muster everybody from one end of the country to the other! You’ll have an army in number like the sand on the seashore! Then you’ll go into battle!

²⁰ Solomon’s MagnificenceJudah and Israel became as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They enjoyed abundance, and ate, drank, and rejoiced regularly.

²³ David did not complete a census of those younger than 20 years of age, since the LORD had said he would make Israel as numerous as the stars of heaven.

²³ “You multiplied their descendants like the stars in heaven and brought them to the land about which you told their ancestors to enter and possess.

²² For even if your people of Israel number as many as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Overwhelming, righteous destruction is decreed,

¹⁹ Your descendants would’ve been like the sand, and your offspring like its numberless grains. Their name wouldn’t have been cut off or annihilated out of my reach.

²² As the heavenly bodies cannot be counted, and the sands of the sea cannot be measured, so I’ll multiply the descendants of my servant David and the descendants of Levi who serve me.’”

¹⁰ Despite this, the number of the people of Israel will be like ocean sand, which can neither be measured nor counted. And the time will come when instead of it being said, ‘You are not my people,’ it will be said, ‘You are children of the living God.’

⁹ “They all come to oppress— hordes of them, their faces pressing onward— they take prisoners as numerous as the desert sand!

¹⁷ As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations.” Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist. ¹⁸ Hoping in spite of hopeless circumstances, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” just as he had been told: “This is how many descendants you will have.” ¹⁹ His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah’s inability to have children,

²⁷ Isaiah also calls out concerning Israel, “Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved.

⁸ He will go out to deceive Gog and Magog, the nations at the four corners of the earth, and gather them for war. They are as numerous as the sands of the seashore.

⁸ then passed away, dying at a ripe old age, having lived a full life, and joined his ancestors.

² “Look how old I am! I could die any day now, ³ so go find your weapons, take your bow and arrows, go outside, and hunt some game for me. ⁴ Then prepare some food, just the way I like it, and bring it to me so that I can eat and bless you before I die.”

⁹ “I’m 130 years old,” Jacob replied. “My years have turned out to be few and unpleasant, but I haven’t yet reached the age my ancestors did during their travels on earth.”

²¹ Then Israel told Joseph, “Pay attention! I’m about to die, but God will be with you. He’ll bring you back to the land that belongs to your ancestors.

¹⁰ The scepter will never depart from Judah, nor a ruler’s staff from between his feet, until the One comes, who owns them both, and to him will belong the allegiance of nations.

¹⁸ “LORD, I’m waiting for your salvation.”

²⁸ Jacob Dies and is BuriedThat’s how Israel blessed these twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father told them when he pronounced his blessing for them, blessing each one with a blessing suitable for them.

³³ After concluding this set of instructions to his sons, Jacob tucked his feet up into bed, quit breathing, and was gathered to his ancestors.

²⁴ Later, Joseph told his brothers, “I’m going to die soon, but God will certainly provide for you and bring you up from this land to the land that he promised with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

¹⁷ I can see him, but not right now. I observe him, but from a distance. A star streams forth from Jacob; a scepter arises from Israel. He will crush Moab’s forehead, along with all of Seth’s descendants.

¹⁴ But who am I, and who are my people, that we make such voluntary offerings as these? For all things come from you, and from your own hand we are giving to you. ¹⁵ For we are aliens and vagrants in your presence, as were all of our ancestors. Our days on the earth pass away like shadows, and we have no hope.

²⁵ “As for me, I know that my Vindicator is alive; And he, the Last One, will take his stand on the soil.

¹² Hear my prayer, LORD, pay attention to my cry, and do not ignore my tears. I am an alien in your presence, a stranger just like my ancestors were.

¹⁹ Since I am a stranger on the earth, do not hide your commands from me.

¹⁷ I tell all of you with certainty, many prophets and righteous people longed to see the things you see but did not see them, and to hear the things you hear but did not hear them.”

⁵⁶ Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”

⁴¹ Isaiah said this when he saw his glory and spoke about him.

²¹ being absolutely convinced that God would do what he had promised.

²⁴ For we were saved with this hope in mind. Now a hope that can be observed is not really hope, for who hopes for what can be seen?

¹⁹ That is why you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,

¹⁰ Even the prophets, who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours, carefully researched and investigated this salvation. ¹¹ They tried to find out what era or specific time the Spirit of the Messiah in them kept referring to when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow. ¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you in regard to the things that have now been announced to you by those who brought you the good news through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things that even the angels desire to look into.

¹⁷ If you call “Father” the one who judges everyone impartially according to what they have done, you must live in reverent fear as long as you are strangers in a strange land.

¹¹ Live as God’s ServantsDear friends, I urge you as aliens and exiles to keep on abstaining from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul.

¹⁹ This is how we will know that we belong to the truth and how we will be able to keep ourselves strong in his presence.

²³ However, not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies.

¹⁸ because we do not look for things that can be seen but for things that cannot be seen. For things that can be seen are temporary, but things that cannot be seen are eternal.

²³ Indeed, I cannot decide between the two. I have the desire to leave this life and be with the Messiah, for that is far better.

¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁰ Abram and Sarai in EgyptThere was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to live because the famine was so severe.

⁶ “Make sure not to take my son there,” Abraham replied. ⁷ “The LORD God of heaven, who brought me from my father’s house and from my family’s land, who spoke to me and promised me ‘I will give this land to your descendants,’ will send his angel ahead of you, and you are to acquire a wife for my son from there. ⁸ If the woman isn’t willing to follow you, then you’ll be free from this oath to me. Just don’t take my son back there!”

¹⁸ and drove all his livestock ahead of him, with everything that belonged to him, including the livestock that he had bought and accumulated in Paddan-aram, intending to deliver them to his father Isaac in the land of Canaan.

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, O God of my father Isaac, O LORD, you who told me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives and I’ll cause things to go well for you.’ ¹⁰ I’m unworthy of all your gracious love, your faithfulness, and everything that you’ve done for your servant. When I first crossed over this river, I had only my staff. But now I’ve become two groups. ¹¹ Deliver me from my brother Esau’s control, because I’m terrified of him, and I’m afraid that he’s coming to attack me, the mothers, and their children.

⁷ I’m establishing my covenant between me and you, and with your descendants who come after you, generation after generation, as an eternal covenant, to be your God and your descendants’ God after you. ⁸ I’ll give to you and to your descendants the land to which you have traveled—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession. I will be their God.”

²⁴ where one night the LORD appeared to him. “I am the God of your father Abraham,” he told him. “Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you. I’m going to bless you and multiply your descendants on account of my servant Abraham.”

¹³ And there was the LORD, standing above it and telling Jacob, “I am the LORD God of your grandfather Abraham. I’m Isaac’s God, too. I’m giving you and your descendants the ground on which you’re sleeping.

⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

¹⁵ God also told Moses, “Tell the Israelis, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

⁵ God said, “I’ve done this so that they may believe that the LORD God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

⁸ The LORD Encourages Israel“But as for you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I’ve chosen, the offspring of my friend Abraham— ⁹ you whom I encouraged from the ends of the earth and called from its farthest corners, and told you, ‘You’re my servant, I’ve chosen you and haven’t cast you aside.’ ¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you; don’t be anxious, because I am your God. I keep on strengthening you; I’m truly helping you. I’m surely upholding you with my victorious right hand.”

¹ “At that time,” declares the LORD, “I’ll be the God of all the families of Israel, and they will be my people.”

³¹ As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God when he said, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”

³⁴ “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who have been blessed by my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,

³⁸ If anyone 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 with the holy angels in his Father’s glory.”

²⁶ As for the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?

³² Stop being afraid, little flock, because your Father is pleased to give you the kingdom.

³⁷ Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’

³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses became terrified and didn’t dare to look.

¹⁸ The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will take me safely to his heavenly kingdom. Glory belongs to him forever and ever! Amen.

¹¹ because both the one who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified all have the same Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers

¹⁰ because he was waiting for the city with permanent foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

¹⁴ For people who say such things make it clear that they are looking for a country of their own.

¹ The Command to Offer IsaacSometime later, God tested Abraham. He called out to him, “Abraham!”
“Here I am!” he answered.
² God said, “Please take your son, your unique son whom you love—Isaac—and go to the land of Moriah. Offer him as a burnt offering there on one of the mountains that I will point out to you.”
³ So Abraham got up early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his male servants with him, along with his son Isaac. He cut the wood for the burnt offering and set out to go to the place about which God had spoken to him. ⁴ On the third day he looked ahead and saw the place from a distance.
⁵ Abraham ordered his two servants, “Both of you are to stay here with the donkey. Now as for the youth and me, we’ll go up there, we’ll worship, and then we’ll return to you.” ⁶ Then Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac. Abraham carried the fire and the knife. And so the two of them went on together.
⁷ Abraham Answers Isaac’s QuestionIsaac addressed his father Abraham: “My father!”
“I’m here, my son,” Abraham replied.
Isaac asked, “The fire and the wood are here, but where’s the lamb for the burnt offering?”
⁸ Abraham answered, “God will provide himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.”
The two of them went on together ⁹ and came to the place about which God had spoken. Abraham built an altar there, arranged the wood, tied up his son Isaac, and placed him on the altar on top of the wood. ¹⁰ Then he stretched out his hand and grabbed the knife to slaughter his son.
¹¹ The Angel of the LORD IntervenesJust then, an angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven and said, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am,” he answered.
¹² “Don’t lay your hand on the youth!” he said. “Don’t do anything to him, because I’ve just demonstrated that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only unique one, from me.”

¹⁶ and said, “I have taken an oath to swear by myself,” declares the LORD, “that since you have carried this out and have not withheld your only unique son,

² Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way these 40 years in the desert, to humble and test you in order to make known what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

³¹ Hezekiah’s Heart is Tested by GodLater on, envoys came from the princes of Babylon to inquire about the miracle that had happened in the land. God left Hezekiah to himself, so that he might make known what was really in Hezekiah’s heart.

¹¹ However, stretch out your hand and strike everything he owns, and he will curse you to your face.”
¹² Then the LORD told Satan, “Very well then, everything he owns is under your control, only you may not extend your hand against him.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence.

³ The LORD asked Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on earth. The man is blameless as well as upright. He fears God and keeps away from evil. He remains firm in his integrity, even though you have been urging me to overwhelm him without cause.”
⁴ Satan answered the LORD, “Skin for skin! The man will give up everything that he owns in exchange for his health. ⁵ However, stretch out your hand and strike his bones and flesh, and he’ll curse you to your face, won’t he?”
⁶ Then the LORD told Satan, “Very well then, he is under your control. Just preserve his life.”

³ The crucible is for silver and the furnace for gold— but the LORD assays hearts.

³⁵ Some of the insightful will fall so they may be refined, purged, and purified until the time of the end, since it will surely come about.’”

⁹ And I will bring that surviving third through, testing them as if through fire, purifying them like silver, assaying them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

² But who will survive the day when he comes? Or who can stand when he appears? Because he’s like a refiner’s fire and a launderer’s soap, ³ he will sit refining and purifying silver, purifying the descendants of Levi, refining them like gold and silver. Then they’ll bring a righteous offering to the LORD.

¹⁶ “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his unique Son so that everyone who believes in him might not be lost but have eternal life.

¹² For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what you have, not according to what you do not have.

⁶ But this man, whose descent is not traced from them, collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the man who had received the promises.

² Responding Wisely to LifeConsider it pure joy, my brothers, when you are involved in various trials, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. ⁴ But you must let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing.

²¹ Our ancestor Abraham was justified by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar, wasn’t he? ²² You see that his faith worked together with what he did, and by his actions his faith was made complete. ²³ And so the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” And so he was called God’s friend. ²⁴ You observe that a person is justified through actions and not through faith alone.

¹¹ We consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard about Job’s endurance and have seen the purpose of the Lord—that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

⁶ You greatly rejoice in this, even though you have to suffer various kinds of trials for a little while, ⁷ so that your genuine faith, which is more valuable than gold that perishes when tested by fire, may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus, the Messiah, is revealed.

¹² Suffering as a ChristianDear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

¹⁰ Because you have obeyed my command to endure, I will keep you from the hour of testing that is coming to the whole world to test those living on the earth.

¹⁹ But God replied, “No, but your wife Sarah will give birth to your son, and you are to name him Isaac. I’ll confirm my covenant with him as an eternal covenant for his descendants.

¹² but God told Abraham, “Don’t be troubled about the youth and your slave girl. Pay attention to Sarah in everything she tells you, because your offspring are to be named through Isaac.

⁷ and not all of Abraham’s descendants are his true descendants. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you.”

⁴ On the third day he looked ahead and saw the place from a distance.
⁵ Abraham ordered his two servants, “Both of you are to stay here with the donkey. Now as for the youth and me, we’ll go up there, we’ll worship, and then we’ll return to you.”

¹³ Then Abraham looked up and behind him to see a ram caught by its horns in the thicket. So Abraham went over, grabbed the ram, and offered it as a burnt offering in place of his son.

²⁸ When he had gone into the house, the blind men came to him.
Jesus asked them, “Do you believe I can do this?”
They told him, “Yes, Lord!”

¹⁷ As it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations.” Abraham acted in faith when he stood in the presence of God, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence things that don’t yet exist. ¹⁸ Hoping in spite of hopeless circumstances, he believed that he would become “the father of many nations,” just as he had been told: “This is how many descendants you will have.” ¹⁹ His faith did not weaken when he thought about his own body (which was already as good as dead now that he was about a hundred years old) or about Sarah’s inability to have children,

¹⁴ Nevertheless, death ruled from the time of Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin in the same way Adam did when he disobeyed. He is a foreshadowing of the one who would come.

²⁰ Now to the one who can do infinitely more than all we can ask or imagine according to the power that is working among us—

²⁴ For the Messiah did not go into a sanctuary made by human hands that is merely a copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, to appear now in God’s presence on our behalf.

¹¹ By faith Sarah, even though she was old and barren, received the strength to conceive, because she was convinced that the one who had made the promise was faithful. ¹² Abraham was as good as dead, yet from this one man came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

²⁷ So Jacob drew closer to kiss him. When Isaac smelled the scent of his son’s clothes, he blessed him and said, “How my son’s scent is the fragrance of the field that the LORD has blessed. ²⁸ May the LORD grant you dew from the skies, and from the fertile land; may he grant you abundant grain and fresh wine. ²⁹ May people serve and bow before you; may you be master over your brothers; may your mother’s sons bow before you; may anyone who curses you be cursed; and may anyone who blesses you be blessed.”
³⁰ Esau Learns of Isaac’s DeceptionJust after Isaac had finished blessing Jacob and Jacob had left his father Isaac, Jacob’s brother Esau returned from hunting, ³¹ prepared some delicious food, brought it to his father, and told him, “Can you get up now, father, so you may eat some of your son’s game and then bless me?”
³² But his father Isaac asked him, “Who are you?”
“I’m Esau, your firstborn son,” he answered
³³ At this, Isaac began to tremble violently. “Who then,” he asked, “hunted some game and brought it to me to eat before you arrived, so that I’ve blessed him? Indeed, he is blessed.”
³⁴ When Esau realized what his father Isaac was saying, he began to wail out loud bitterly. “Bless me,” he cried, “even me, too, my father!”
³⁵ Isaac replied, “Your brother came here deceitfully and stole your blessing.”
³⁶ Then he said, “Isn’t his name rightly called Jacob?” Esau asked. “He has circumvented me this second time. First, he took away my birthright, and now, look how he also stole my blessing.” Then he added, “Haven’t you reserved a blessing for me?”
³⁷ In response, Isaac told Esau, “Look! I’ve predicted that he’s going to become your master, and I’ve assigned all his brothers to be his servants. What then can I do for you, my son?”
³⁸ Then Esau implored his father, “Don’t you have even one blessing for me, my father? Bless me, even me too, my father!” Then Esau lifted his voice and wept bitterly.
³⁹ At this, his father Isaac replied to him, “Look! Away from the fertile land will be your dwellings; away from the dew of the skies above. ⁴⁰ By your sword you’ll live; but you’ll serve your brother. But when you’ve become restless, you’ll break off his yoke from your neck.”

² Instead, get up, travel to Paddan-aram, and visit the household of Bethuel, your mother’s father. Marry one of Laban’s daughters, since he’s your mother’s brother. ³ May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful so that your descendants become a whole group of people.

³¹ “Promise me,” Israel insisted. So Joseph promised. Then Israel collapsed on his bed.

⁵ You have two sons who were born to you in Egypt before I came to be with you, whom I now take as my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ Your descendants are to be reckoned as yours, but are to be referred to among the names of their brothers in their respective inheritances.
⁷ “Now as for me, Rachel died after I arrived in Canaan from Paddan, much to my sorrow. While I was on my journey to Ephrathah (also known as Bethlehem), I buried her there.”
⁸ Joseph Seeks Blessings for His SonsJust then, Israel saw Joseph’s sons and asked, “Who are these?”
⁹ “These are my sons,” Joseph replied. “God gave them to me here in Egypt.”
“Please bring them close to me,” Jacob said, “so I can bless them.”
¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyesight had become poor from age. Because he couldn’t see well, Joseph brought them close to him, and Israel kissed them both and embraced them. ¹¹ Then he told Joseph, “I never thought I’d see you again, and now God has allowed me to see your children as well!”
¹² Joseph took them off his knees and then bowed low with his face to the ground. ¹³ Then he brought them both close to his father, placing Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right. ¹⁴ But Israel stretched out his right hand, laying it on Ephraim’s head (he was the younger son) and laying his left hand on Manasseh’s head (even though Manasseh was the firstborn).
¹⁵ Israel Blesses Joseph’s SonsThen Israel blessed Joseph by saying: “May the God in whose presence my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has continued shepherding me my whole life even until today, ¹⁶ the angel who has been rescuing me from all sorts of evil, bless these young men. May my name continue to live on within them, including the names of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a vast multitude throughout the earth.”
¹⁷ But Joseph observed that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head. That displeased him, so he grabbed his father’s hand and started to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ “No, father, this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”
¹⁹ But his father refused. “I know,” he said. “I know. He’s going to produce a large nation, and he’s going to be very great. However, his younger brother will become even greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”
²⁰ That very day, Jacob blessed them with this blessing: “By you Israel will extend this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’”
By doing this, he placed Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹ Then Israel told Joseph, “Pay attention! I’m about to die, but God will be with you. He’ll bring you back to the land that belongs to your ancestors. ²² I’m assigning you one portion more than your brothers from the land that I confiscated from the control of the Amorites in battle.”

²⁴ Later, Joseph told his brothers, “I’m going to die soon, but God will certainly provide for you and bring you up from this land to the land that he promised with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” ²⁵ So Joseph made all of Israel’s other children make this promise: “Because God is certainly going to take care of you, you are to carry my bones up from here.”

¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelis take this solemn oath: “God will certainly take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones up with you from here.”

³² They also buried the bones of Joseph, which the Israelis brought up from Egypt, in the parcel of ground at Shechem that Jacob had purchased from the descendants of Shechem’s father Hamor, for 100 pieces of silver. It became part of the inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

¹⁶ They were brought back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought at a high price from Hamor’s descendants in Shechem.

¹⁶ “When you help the Hebrew women give birth,” he said, “watch them as they deliver. If it’s a son, kill him; but if it’s a daughter, let her live.”

²² Meanwhile, Pharaoh continued commanding all of his people, “You’re to throw every Hebrew son who is born into the Nile River, but you’re to allow every Hebrew daughter to live.”

² Later, the woman became pregnant and gave birth to a son. She saw that he was a beautiful child, and hid him for three months. ³ But when she was no longer able to hide him, she took a papyrus container, coated it with asphalt and pitch, placed the child in it, and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. ⁴ Then his sister positioned herself some distance away in order to find out what would happen to him.
⁵ Pharaoh’s Daughter Adopts MosesThen Pharaoh’s daughter came down to the Nile River to bathe while her maids walked along the river bank. She saw the container among the reeds and sent a servant girl to get it. ⁶ When she opened it and saw the child, the little boy suddenly began crying. Filled with compassion for him, she exclaimed, “This is one of the Hebrew children!”
⁷ Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call one of the nursing Hebrew women so she can nurse the child for you?”
⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter told her, “Go,” so the young girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter instructed her, “Take this child and nurse him for me, and I’ll pay you a salary.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. ¹⁰ After the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, because she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

⁴ In God, whose word I praise, in God I put my trust. I will not fear what mortal man can do to me.

⁶ The LORD is with me. I will not be afraid. What can people do to me?

¹² “Don’t call conspiracy everything that this people calls conspiracy, and don’t fear what they fear, or live in terror. ¹³ The LORD of the Heavenly Armies— he’s the one you are to regard as holy. Let him be the one whom you fear, and let him be the one before whom you stand in terror!

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid, because I’m with you; don’t be anxious, because I am your God. I keep on strengthening you; I’m truly helping you. I’m surely upholding you with my victorious right hand.”

¹⁴ Don’t be afraid, you little worm Jacob, and you insects of Israel! I myself will help you,’ declares the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”

⁷ Listen to me, you who know righteousness, you people who have my instruction in their hearts. Don’t fear the insults of mortals, and don’t be dismayed at their hateful words.

¹² “I—yes, I—am the one who comforts you. Who are you, that you are so afraid of humans who will die, descendants of mere men, who have been made like grass?

¹⁶ Daniel’s Friends Answer King NebuchadnezzarShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “It’s not necessary for us to respond in this matter. ¹⁷ Your majesty, if it be his will, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the blazing fire furnace, and he will deliver us from you. ¹⁸ But if not, rest assured, your majesty, that we won’t serve your gods, and we won’t worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

¹⁰ Daniel is AccusedWhen Daniel learned that the written document had been signed, he went to an upstairs room in his house that had windows opened facing Jerusalem. Three times a day he would kneel down, pray, and give thanks to his God, just as he had previously done.

²⁸ Stop being afraid of those who kill the body but can’t kill the soul. Instead, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in hell.

⁴ Fear God
“But I tell you, my friends, never be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can’t do anything more. ⁵ I’ll show you the one you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the authority to throw you into hell after killing you. Yes, I tell you, be afraid of him!

²⁰ “At this time Moses was born. He was beautiful in the sight of God, and for three months he was cared for in his father’s house.

⁶ Hence we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?”

¹⁰ After the child had grown older, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, because she said, “I drew him out of the water.”
¹¹ Moses Kills an EgyptianYears later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people, and took notice of their heavy burdens. He saw an Egyptian beating up a Hebrew, one of his own people.

²¹ When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²² So Moses learned all the wisdom of the Egyptians and became a great man, both in words and in deeds. ²³ “When he was 40 years old, he decided to visit his brothers, the descendants of Israel. ²⁴ When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him and avenged the man who was being mistreated by killing the Egyptian.

⁵ The wicked triumph only briefly; the joy of the godless is momentary.

¹¹ They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about, ¹² singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes. ¹³ They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.

²¹ Be careful! Don’t turn to evil, because of this you will be tried by more than affliction.

⁹ The nobles among the nations have joined the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is greatly exalted.

¹⁸ You have certainly set them in slippery places; you will make them fall to their ruin. ¹⁹ How desolate they quickly become, completely destroyed by calamities. ²⁰ Like a dream when one awakens, Lord, you will despise their image when you arise.

¹⁰ for a day in your Temple courts is better than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather stand at the entrance of God’s house than live in the tent of wickedness.

⁴ And as for my heart, horror has terrified me; the twilight I longed for has started to make me tremble.

⁸ “Now hear this, you wanton creature, lounging with no cares, and saying to herself: ‘I am the one, and there will be none besides me; I won’t live as a widow, nor will I see the loss of children.’ ⁹ Both of these things will overtake you suddenly on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, despite the multitude of your incantations and the great power of your spells.”

¹⁰ “How blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them!
¹¹ “How blessed are you whenever people insult you, persecute you, and say all sorts of evil things against you falsely because of me! ¹² Rejoice and be extremely glad, because your reward in heaven is great! That’s how they persecuted the prophets who came before you.”

²¹ but since he doesn’t have any root in himself, he lasts for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, he immediately falls away.

¹⁹ Then I’ll say to myself, “You’ve stored up plenty of good things for many years. Take it easy, eat, drink, and enjoy yourself.”’ ²⁰ But God told him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you. Now who will get the things you’ve accumulated?’

²⁵ “But Abraham said, ‘My child, remember that during your lifetime you received blessings, while Lazarus received hardships. But now he is being comforted here, while you suffer.

²⁴ When he saw one of them being mistreated, he defended him and avenged the man who was being mistreated by killing the Egyptian. ²⁵ He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was using him to rescue them, but they didn’t understand.

²³ except that in town after town the Holy Spirit assures me that imprisonment and suffering are waiting for me. ²⁴ But I don’t place any value on my life, if only I can finish my race and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

³ Not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance,

¹⁷ Now if we are children, we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah—if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
¹⁸ God’s Spirit Helps UsFor I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us.

³⁵ Who will separate us from the Messiah’s love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death do this? ³⁶ As it is written, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are thought of as sheep headed for slaughter.”
³⁷ In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.

²⁴ Paul’s Service in the ChurchNow I am rejoicing while suffering for you as I complete in my flesh whatever remains of the Messiah’s sufferings on behalf of his body, which is the church.

³ Endurance in AfflictionBrothers, at all times we are obligated to thank God for you. It is right to do this because your faith is growing all the time and the love every one of you has for each other is increasing. ⁴ As a result, we rejoice about you among God’s churches—about your endurance and faith through all the persecutions and afflictions you are experiencing. ⁵ This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment and is intended to make you worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you are suffering. ⁶ Certainly it is right for God to pay back those who afflict you with affliction,

⁸ Therefore, never be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, his prisoner. Instead, by God’s power, join me in suffering for the sake of the gospel.

³ Join me in suffering like a good soldier of the Messiah Jesus. ⁴ No one serving in the military gets mixed up in civilian matters, for his aim is to please his commanding officer. ⁵ Moreover, no one who is an athlete wins a prize unless he competes according to the rules. ⁶ Furthermore, it is the hard working farmer who should have the first share of the crops. ⁷ Think about what I am saying. The Lord will help you to understand all these things.
⁸ Meditate on Jesus, the Messiah, who was raised from the dead and is a descendant of David. This is the gospel I tell others. ⁹ Because of it I am experiencing trouble, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. However, God’s word is not chained. ¹⁰ For that reason, I endure everything for the sake of those who have been chosen so that they, too, may receive the salvation that is in the Messiah Jesus, along with eternal glory.

¹¹ and how I was persecuted and suffered in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them. ¹² Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in union with the Messiah Jesus will be persecuted.

⁹ There remains, therefore, a Sabbath rest for the people of God to keep,

³² But you must continue to remember those earlier days, how after you were enlightened you endured a hard and painful struggle.

³⁷ They were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. They went around in sheepskins and goatskins. They were needy, oppressed, and mistreated.

²⁰ For human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.

⁵ You have lived in luxury and pleasure on earth. You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.

¹⁰ Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

¹² Suffering as a ChristianDear friends, do not be surprised by the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. ¹³ Instead, because you are participating in the sufferings of the Messiah, keep on rejoicing, so that you may be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. ¹⁴ If you are insulted because of the name of the Messiah, you are blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God is resting on you.
¹⁵ Of course, none of you should suffer for being a murderer, thief, criminal, or troublemaker. ¹⁶ But if you suffer for being a Christian, do not feel ashamed, but glorify God with that name.

⁷ Just as she glorified herself and lived in luxury, inflict on her just as much torture and misery. In her heart she says, ‘I am a queen on a throne, not a widow. I will never see misery.’

¹⁶ Better is the little that the righteous have than the abundance of many wicked people.

⁷ I am being mocked because of you. Dishonor overwhelms me.

²⁰ Insults broke my heart. I despaired and looked for sympathy; but there was none, for comforters, but I found none.

⁵⁰ Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servant! I carry inside me all the insults of many people, ⁵¹ when your enemies reproached you, LORD, when they reproached the footsteps of your anointed.

¹⁸ for there is surely a future life, and what you hope for will not be cut off.

²³ True Wisdom and the Coming JudgmentThis is what the LORD says: “The wise man is not to boast in his wisdom; the strong man is not to boast in his strength; and the rich man is not to boast in his riches. ²⁴ Rather, let the one who boasts, boast in this: that he understands and knows me, for I am the LORD who acts with gracious love, justice, and righteousness in the land. I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

¹ Teaching about Giving to the Poor “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people in order to be noticed by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

⁴¹ The one who receives a prophet as a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person as a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward.

¹⁴ Then you will be blessed because they can’t repay you. And you will be repaid when the righteous are resurrected.”

⁴¹ They left the Council, rejoicing to have been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.

¹⁰ as sorrowful and yet always rejoicing, as poor and yet enriching many, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

¹⁰ That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for the Messiah’s sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

¹⁸ Then, with the eyes of your hearts enlightened, you will know the confidence that is produced by God having called you, the rich glory that is his inheritance among the saints,

⁸ To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah

⁷ But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah.

² because if the message spoken by angels was reliable, and every violation and act of disobedience received its just punishment,

³³ At times you were made a public spectacle by means of insults and persecutions, while at other times you associated with people who were treated this way.

³⁵ So don’t lose your confidence, since it holds a great reward for you.

¹³ Therefore go to him outside the camp and endure the insults he endured.

¹¹ They tried to find out what era or specific time the Spirit of the Messiah in them kept referring to when he predicted the sufferings of the Messiah and the glories that would follow.

¹⁴ If you are insulted because of the name of the Messiah, you are blessed, for the glorious Spirit of God is resting on you.

⁹ ‘I know your suffering and your poverty—though you are rich—and the slander committed by those who claim to be Jews but are not. They are the synagogue of Satan.

¹⁸ Therefore, I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you may be rich, white clothes to wear so your shameful nakedness won’t show, and ointment to put on your eyes so you may see.

¹⁴ The man replied, “Who appointed you to be an official judge over us? Are you planning to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?”
Then Moses became terrified and told himself, “Certainly this event has become known!”
¹⁵ Moses Flees to MidianWhen Pharaoh heard about this matter, he tried to kill Moses. So Moses fled from Pharaoh, settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

¹⁹ The LORD told Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead.”

²⁸ Then Pharaoh told him, “Get away from me! Watch out that you never see my face again, because on the day you see my face, you will die!”
²⁹ Moses said, “Just as you have said, I won’t see your face again!”

⁸ All these officials of yours will come down to me, prostrate themselves to me, and say, ‘Get out, you and all the people following you!’ After that I’ll go out.” Then Moses angrily left Pharaoh.

¹¹ “‘This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it hurriedly—it’s the LORD’s Passover.

³⁷ The Exodus BeginsAbout 600,000 Israeli men traveled from Rameses to Succoth on foot, not counting children. ³⁸ A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with a very large number of livestock, including sheep and cattle. ³⁹ They baked the dough that they brought out of Egypt into thin cakes of unleavened bread. It had not been leavened because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
⁴⁰ Now the time that the Israelis lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of 430 years, to the very day, all the tribal divisions of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² That was for the LORD a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night belongs to the LORD, and is to be a vigil for all the Israelis from generation to generation.

⁵⁰ All the Israelis did this. They did exactly as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.

¹⁷ God Guides the People in the DesertWhen Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, even though it was nearer, because God had said, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led the people the roundabout way of the desert toward the Reed Sea. The Israelis went up from the land of Egypt in military formation. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelis take this solemn oath: “God will certainly take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones up with you from here.” ²⁰ They left Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the desert. ²¹ The LORD went in front of them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so they could travel both day and night.

¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelis looked up, and there were the Egyptians bearing down on them! Extremely frightened, the Israelis cried out to the LORD. ¹¹ They also told Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us out to die in the desert? What have you done to us, by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Is this not what we told you in Egypt, when we said, ‘Leave us alone!’ and ‘Let us serve the Egyptians!’? Indeed, it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
¹³ Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still and watch how the LORD will deliver you today, because you will never again see the Egyptians whom you’re looking at today.

⁸ I have set the LORD before me continuously; because he stands at my right hand, I will stand firm.

²² You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.

¹³ But the person who endures to the end will be saved.

¹⁷ but since they don’t have any roots, they last for only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes along because of the word, they immediately fall away.

¹³ You will be hated continuously by everyone because of my name. But the person who endures to the end will be saved.”

²⁵ since David says about him, ‘I always keep my eyes on the Lord, for he is at my right hand so that I cannot be shaken.

⁷ She bears up under everything; believes the best in all; there is no limit to her hope, and never will she fall.

¹⁷ Now to the King Eternal—the immortal, invisible, and only God—be honor and glory forever and ever! Amen.

¹⁶ He alone has endless life and lives in inaccessible light. No one has ever seen him, nor can anyone see him. Honor and eternal power belong to him! Amen.

¹⁵ And so he obtained what he had been promised, because he patiently waited for it.

² fixing our attention on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith, who, in view of the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
³ The Father Disciplines UsThink about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not become tired and give up.

⁸ Though you have not seen him, you love him. And even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,

³ Tell the entire congregation of Israel, ‘On the tenth of this month they’re each to take a lamb for themselves, according to their ancestors’ households, one lamb for each household. ⁴ If a household is too small for a lamb, then it and its closest neighbor are to obtain one based on the number of individuals—dividing the lamb based on what each person can eat. ⁵ Your lamb is to be a year old male without blemish. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ It is to remain under your care until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the entire assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. ⁷ They’re to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat the lamb. ⁸ That very night they’re to eat the meat, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled in water. Instead, roast it over the fire, with its head, legs, and internal organs. ¹⁰ Don’t leave any of it until morning, and whatever does remain of it until morning you are to burn in the fire.
¹¹ “‘This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it hurriedly—it’s the LORD’s Passover. ¹² I’ll pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. I’ll execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. I’ll see the blood and pass over you. There will be no plague to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
¹⁴ “‘This day is to be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to the LORD. You are to celebrate it as a perpetual ordinance from generation to generation.

²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Choose sheep for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bundle of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you is to go out of the doorway of his house until morning, ²³ because the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway, and won’t allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. ²⁴ You are to observe this event as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the LORD will give you, just as he promised, you are to observe this ritual. ²⁶ And when your children say to you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ ²⁷ you are to say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelis in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Then the people bowed down and worshipped. ²⁸ The Israelis did this. Moses and Aaron did just what the LORD had commanded.
²⁹ The Death of the Firstborn in EgyptAnd so at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰ Pharaoh got up during the night, he, all his officials, and all the Egyptians, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, because there was not a house without someone dead in it.

¹⁹ For after every commandment in the Law had been spoken to all the people by Moses, he took the blood of calves and goats, together with some water, scarlet wool, and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people,

² the people chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctifying action of the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus, the Messiah, and to be sprinkled with his blood.
May grace and peace be yours in abundance!

¹³ Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still and watch how the LORD will deliver you today, because you will never again see the Egyptians whom you’re looking at today. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you while you keep still.”
¹⁵ Then the LORD told Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelis to move out! ¹⁶ You are to raise your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, so the Israelis may go into the middle of the sea on dry land. ¹⁷ Even now I’m hardening the heart of the Egyptians so they’ll go after the Israelis. Then I’ll receive honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸ Then the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I receive honor by means of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
¹⁹ Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the camp of Israel, moved behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front of them and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud remained there even in the darkness, illuminating the night, so that the one side did not come near the other all night.
²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the water to retreat by a strong east wind all night, turning the sea into dry land. As the waters were divided,

¹³ “You have led with your gracious love this people whom you redeemed. You have guided them with your strength to your holy dwelling. ¹⁴ “The people heard and they quaked, anguish has seized the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ Then the chiefs of Edom were terrified, the nobles of Moab trembled uncontrollably, and all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. ¹⁶ Dread and fear have fallen on them, because of the strength of your arm. They have become silent as a stone, until your people pass by, LORD, until this people you acquired pass by. ¹⁷ “You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. You have made a place where you will reside, LORD. Your own hands have established a sanctuary, LORD. ¹⁸ The LORD will reign forever and ever.”
¹⁹ When the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen went into the sea, the LORD caused the waters of the sea to come back over them, but the Israelis walked through the middle of the sea on dry land.
²⁰ The Song of MiriamThen Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand and went out with all the women behind her with tambourines and dancing. ²¹ Miriam sang to them, “Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted! The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.”

¹⁰ because we heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Reed Sea right in front of you as you were coming out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan River—to Sihon and Og—whom you completely destroyed.

¹¹ You divided the sea in front of them, and they traveled through the midst of the sea on dry ground. You hurled their pursuers into the depths, as one throws a stone into turbulent waters.

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land. Israel crossed the river on foot; let us rejoice in him.

¹³ He divided the sea so that they were able to cross; he caused the water to stand in a single location.

⁹ He shouted at the Reed Sea and it dried up; and led them through the sea as though through a desert. ¹⁰ He delivered them from the power of their foe; redeeming them from the power of their enemy. ¹¹ The water overwhelmed their enemies, so that not one of them survived.

¹ Deliverance of Israel from Egypt When Israel came out of Egypt— the household of Jacob from a people of foreign speech— ² Judah became his sanctuary and Israel his place of dominion. ³ The sea saw this and fled, the Jordan River ran backwards, ⁴ the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs. ⁵ What happened to you, sea, that you fled? Jordan, that you ran backwards?

¹³ To the one who split the Reed Sea in two for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹⁴ and made Israel pass through the middle of it, for his gracious love is everlasting— ¹⁵ and cast Pharaoh and his armies into the Reed Sea, for his gracious love is everlasting.

¹⁵ The LORD will totally destroy the gulf of the Sea of Egypt. He will sweep his hand over the Euphrates River with a violent wind, breaking it up into seven streams, and making a way for people to cross on foot. ¹⁶ And there will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people out of Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt.

⁹ “Awake! Awake! Clothe yourself with strength, you arm of the LORD! Awake, as in days gone by, as in generations of long ago. Was it not you who split apart Rehob, who pierced that sea monster through? ¹⁰ Was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made a road in the depths of the sea so that the redeemed could cross over?”

¹¹ Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses his servant. Where is the one who brought up out of the sea the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who put his Holy Spirit among them, ¹² and who made his glorious arm march at Moses’ right hand, who divided the waters in front of them to win an everlasting name, ¹³ who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the open desert, they did not stumble; ¹⁴ like cattle that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. For you led your people, to win for yourself a glorious name.
¹⁵ God the FatherLook down from heaven, and see from your holy and glorious dwelling. Where are your zeal and your might? Where are the yearning of your heart and your compassion? They are held back from me. ¹⁶ But you are our Father, even Abraham does not know us and Israel has not acknowledged us; you are he, O LORD, our Father, from long ago, ‘Our Redeemer’ is your name.

⁸ Was the LORD displeased with the rivers? Was your anger directed against the watercourses or your wrath against the sea? Indeed, you rode upon your horses, upon your chariots of deliverance. ⁹ Your bow was exposed, and your arrows targeted by command. Interlude You split the earth with rivers. ¹⁰ When the mountains looked upon you, they trembled; the overflowing water passed by, the ocean shouted, and its waves surged upward.

³ March around the city, all the soldiers circling the city once. Do this for six days, ⁴ with seven priests carrying in front of the ark seven trumpets made from rams’ horns. On the seventh day march around the city seven times while the priests blow their trumpets. ⁵ When they sound a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then the entire army is to cry out loud, the city wall will collapse, and then all of the soldiers are to charge straight ahead.”
⁶ The Destruction of JerichoSo Nun’s son Joshua called for the priests. “Pick up the Ark of the Covenant,” he told them, “and have seven priests carry seven trumpets made from rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”
⁷ He told the army, “Go out and encircle the city. Have the armed men march out in front of the ark of the LORD.”
⁸ And so, just as Joshua had commanded, seven of the priests went forward, carrying the seven trumpets made of rams’ horns in the LORD’s presence, blowing the trumpets while the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD followed them. ⁹ Armed men preceded the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and a rear guard followed the ark, while the trumpets continued to blow.
¹⁰ Joshua issued orders to the army: “You are not to shout or even let your voice be heard. Don’t utter a word until I tell you to shout. Then shout!” ¹¹ So the ark of the LORD was taken once around the city, then they went back to camp and spent the night there.
¹² Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests picked up the ark of the LORD. ¹³ The seven priests who carried the seven trumpets made from rams’ horns preceded the ark of the LORD, blowing their trumpets constantly. The armed men preceded them, and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets continued to blow. ¹⁴ On the second day they marched around the city once and then went back to camp. They did this for six days. ¹⁵ They rose early at dawn on the seventh day and marched around the city seven times, just as they had before, except that on that day only they marched around the city seven times.
¹⁶ As they completed the seventh time, after the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua told the army, “Shout, because the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷ The city—along with everything in it—is to be turned over to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and everyone who is with her in her house may live, because she hid the scouts we sent. ¹⁸ Now as for you, everything has been turned over for destruction. Don’t covet or take any of these things. Otherwise, you’ll make the camp of Israel itself an object worthy of destruction, and bring trouble on it. ¹⁹ But everything made of silver and gold, and vessels made of bronze and iron are set apart to the LORD. They are to go into the treasury of the LORD.”
²⁰ So the army shouted and the trumpets were blown again. As soon as the army heard the sound of the trumpets, they shouted loudly and the wall collapsed. The army charged straight ahead into the city and captured it.

⁴ For the weapons of our warfare are not those of the world. Instead, they have the power of God to demolish fortresses. We tear down arguments ⁵ and every proud obstacle that is raised against the knowledge of God, taking every thought captive in order to obey the Messiah.

¹ God’s Instructions to JoshuaAfter Moses, the servant of the LORD, had died, the LORD spoke to Nun’s son Joshua, announcing to him,

¹ Rahab Receives Two ScoutsAfter this, Nun’s son Joshua sent two men from the Acacia groves as undercover scouts. He told them, “Go and look over the land. Pay special attention to Jericho.” So they went out, came to the house of a prostitute named Rahab, and lodged there.
² Then the king of Jericho was told, “Look! Israeli men arrived tonight to scout out the land.”
³ So the king of Jericho sent for Rahab and ordered her, “Bring out the men who came to visit you and lodged in your house, because they’ve come to scout out the entire land.”
⁴ Now the woman had taken the two men and hid them. So she replied, “The men really did come to me, but I didn’t know from where they came. ⁵ At dusk, when it was time to close the city gates, the men left. I don’t know where the men went. Go after them quickly, and you might overtake them.”
⁶ But she had taken them up to the roof and had hidden them among stalks of flax that she had laid out in order on the roof. ⁷ So the men pursued them along the road that leads to the fords of the Jordan River. As soon as the search party had left, they shut the city gate after them.
⁸ Rahab Seeks ProtectionBefore the scouts had lain down, she went up to them on the roof ⁹ “I’m really convinced that the LORD has given you the land,” she said, “because we’re overwhelmed with fear of you. All the other inhabitants of the land are demoralized at your presence, ¹⁰ because we heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Reed Sea right in front of you as you were coming out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan River—to Sihon and Og—whom you completely destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard these reports, we all became terrified and discouraged because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath. ¹² Now therefore, since I’ve treated you so kindly, please swear in the name of the LORD that you’ll also be kind to my father’s household by giving me this sure sign: ¹³ Spare my father, my mother, and my brothers and sisters, along with everyone who belongs with them so we won’t be killed.”
¹⁴ A Promise of ProtectionSo the men told her, “Our life for yours—even to death—if you don’t betray this mission of ours. Then when the LORD gives us this land, we’ll treat you graciously and faithfully.”
¹⁵ So she let them down by a rope through the window, since her house was built into the town wall where she lived. ¹⁶ She told them, “Go out to the hill country, so the search party won’t find you, and hide for three days. After that, you may go on your own way.”
¹⁷ The men replied, “We’ll be free from our commitment to you to which you’ve obligated us ¹⁸ when we invade the land, if you don’t tie this rope made with red cords in the window through which you let us down, and if you don’t gather your father, your mother, your brothers, and all of the rest of your father’s household into your house. ¹⁹ Everyone who leaves through the doors of your house into the street will be responsible for his own death, but we’ll be responsible for anyone who remains with you in the house if even so much as a hand is laid on him. ²⁰ But if you report this incident, we’ll be free from the oath to which you’ve made us swear.”
²¹ “Since you put it that way,” she replied, “I agree.” After she sent them on their way and they had left, she tied the red cord in the window.
²² The Scouts Report to JoshuaThe scouts left for the hill country and remained there for three days until the search party returned. The search party searched the entire road, but was unable to find them. ²³ Later, the two men returned from the hill country, crossed over the Jordan River, approached Nun’s son Joshua, and told him everything that had happened to them. ²⁴ They reported to Joshua, “The LORD really has given the entire land into our control. The inhabitants of the land have melted away right in front of us!”

²² Joshua told the two men who had scouted the land, “Go into the prostitute’s home and bring her out of it, along with everyone who is with her, just as you promised her.” ²³ So the young men who had been scouts went in and brought Rahab out, along with her father, her mother, her brothers, and everyone else who was with her. They brought her entire family out and set them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴ Then the army set fire to the city and to everything in it, except that they reserved the silver, gold, and vessels of bronze and iron for the treasury of the LORD. ²⁵ But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, along with her family and everyone who was with her. Her family has lived in Israel ever since, because she hid the scouts whom Joshua sent to observe Jericho.

¹ An Introduction to Jesus the MessiahThis is a record of the life of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

⁵ Salmon fathered Boaz by Rahab, Boaz fathered Obed by Ruth, Obed fathered Jesse,

¹⁸ And to whom did he swear that they would never enter his rest? It was to those who disobeyed him, was it not?

²⁵ Likewise, Rahab the prostitute was justified through actions when she welcomed the messengers and sent them away on a different road, wasn’t she?

⁸ a stone they stumble over and a rock they trip on.”They keep on stumbling because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

¹ Deborah, Israel’s Fourth JudgeAfter Ehud died, while the LORD was watching, the Israelis made the evil they had been practicing even worse, ² so the LORD turned them over to domination by Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. Sisera, the commanding officer of his army, lived in Harosheth-haggoyim. ³ The Israelis cried out to the LORD, because of his 900 iron chariots. Jabin oppressed the Israelis forcefully for twenty years.
⁴ Deborah, a woman, prophet, and wife of Lappidoth, was herself judging Israel during that time. ⁵ She regularly took her seat under the Palm Tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountainous region of Ephraim, where the Israelis would approach her for decisions. ⁶ She sent word to Abinoam’s son Barak from Kedesh-naphtali, summoning him. She asked him, “The LORD God of Israel has commanded you, hasn’t he? He told you, ‘Go out, march to Mount Tabor, and take 10,000 men with you from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun. ⁷ I will draw out Sisera, the commanding officer of Jabin’s army, along with his chariots and troops, to the Kishon River, where I will drop him right into your hands.’”
⁸ “If you’ll go with me, I’ll go,” Barak replied. “But if you won’t go with me, then I’m not going.”

¹ Deborah and Barak Celebrate in SongLater that day, Deborah and Abinoam’s son Barak celebrated by singing this song: ² “When hair grows long in Israel, when the people give themselves willingly, bless the LORD! ³ Listen, you kings! Turn your ears to me, you rulers! As for me, to the LORD I will sing! I will sing praise to the LORD God of Israel. ⁴ LORD, when you left Seir, when you marched out from the grain field of Edom, the earth quaked and the heavens poured out rain; indeed, the clouds poured out water. ⁵ Mountains tremble at the presence of the LORD — even Sinai!—at the presence of the LORD God of Israel. ⁶ During the lifetime of Anath’s son Shamgar and during the lifetime of Jael highways remained deserted, while travelers kept to back roads. ⁷ Rural populations plummeted in Israel; until I, Deborah, arose; until I—an Israeli mother—arose. ⁸ New gods were chosen, then war came to the city gates, but there wasn’t a shield or spear to be seen among 40,000 soldiers of Israel.

¹ Gideon, Israel’s Fifth JudgeLater on, the Israelis practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, so the LORD handed them over to the domination of Midian for seven years. ² Midian’s control predominated throughout Israel, and because of Midian the Israelis went out to find temporary hiding places for themselves in the mountains, caves, and fortified places.
³ Whenever the Israelis sowed their crops, the Midianites, the Amalekites, and certain groups from the east would come up and invade them. ⁴ They set up their military encampments to fight them, destroyed the harvest of the land as far as Gaza, and left nothing in Israel, whether harvested grain, sheep, oxen, or donkeys. ⁵ They would invade with their livestock and tents, swooping in as numerous as locusts. It was impossible to count them or their camels—and they came into the land to destroy it. ⁶ Because Israel was deeply impoverished due to the Midianites, they cried out to the LORD.
⁷ When the Israelis cried out to him about Midian, ⁸ the LORD sent a man who was a prophet to the Israelis and told them, “This is what the LORD God of Israel says: ‘I was the one who brought you up from the land of Egypt, delivering you from the house of servitude.

¹¹ Gideon is Visited by the Angel of the LORDAfter this, the angel of the LORD arrived and sat down in the shade of the oak tree in Ophrah that belonged to Joash, a descendant of Abiezer, while his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a wine press in order to safeguard it from the Midianites.

¹ Jephthah, Israel’s Eighth JudgeNow Jephthah the Gileadite was a valiant soldier, but he was also the son of a prostitute and Jephthah’s father Gilead. ² Gilead’s wife bore two sons through him, but when his wife’s sons grew up, they expelled Jephthah and declared to him, “You won’t have an inheritance in this house, since you’re the son of a different woman.” ³ So Jephthah escaped from his brothers and lived in the territory of Tob, where worthless men gathered themselves around him and went out on raiding parties with him.
⁴ Later on, the Ammonites attacked Israel. ⁵ When this happened, the elders of Gilead went to the territory of Tob to find Jephthah. ⁶ They told him, “Come and be our commander so we can fight the Ammonites!”
⁷ But Jephthah replied to the elders of Gilead, “Weren’t you the ones who hated me and drove me out of my father’s house? And you come to me now that you’re in trouble?”
⁸ So the elders of Gilead told Jephthah, “Well, we’re coming back to you now so you can accompany us, fight the Ammonites, and become the head of all the inhabitants of Gilead.”
⁹ Then Jephthah asked the elders of Gilead, “If you all send me to fight against the Ammonites and the LORD hands them over right in front of me, will I really become your head?”
¹⁰ The elders of Gilead responded to Jephthah, “May the Lord serve as a witness that we’re making this agreement between ourselves to do as we’ve said.” ¹¹ So Jephthah went with the elders of Gilead, and the people appointed him head and military commander over them. Jephthah uttered everything he had to say with the solemnity of an oath in the LORD’s presence at Mizpah.
¹² Jephthah’s Dialogue with the AmmonitesAfterwards, Jephthah sent messengers to the king of the Ammonites to ask him, “What’s your dispute between us that prompted you to come and attack my land?”

¹ The Birth of Samson, Israel’s Twelfth JudgeSome time later, the Israelis again practiced what the LORD considered to be evil, so the LORD handed them over into the domination of the Philistines for 40 years. ² There was one man from Zorah, from the family of the descendants of Dan, whose name was Manoah. Since his wife was infertile, she hadn’t borne children. ³ One day the angel of the LORD presented himself to the woman. “Hello!” he greeted her. “Though you are infertile at this time and haven’t borne a child, you’re about to conceive and give birth to a son. ⁴ So be sure that you don’t drink wine or anything intoxicating, and don’t eat anything unclean ⁵ because—surprise!—you’re going to conceive and give birth to a son! Don’t put a razor to his head, because the young man will be a Nazirite, dedicated to God from inside the womb. He will begin to deliver Israel from domination by the Philistines.”
⁶ Then the woman went to tell her husband. She said, “A man of God appeared to me. He looked like what an angel of God would look like—very frightening. I didn’t ask him where he had come from and he didn’t tell me his name. ⁷ He told me, ‘Surprise!—you’re going to conceive and give birth to a son!’ and as for you, ‘Be sure that you don’t drink wine or anything intoxicating, and don’t eat anything unclean,’ ‘because the young man will be a Nazirite dedicated to God from inside the womb’ until the day he dies.”
⁸ So Manoah prayed to the LORD, “Please, Lord, have the man of God whom you sent before come again so he can instruct us what to do on behalf of the child who is to be born.”
⁹ God listened to Manoah’s request, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she was sitting out in the pasture. But her husband Manoah wasn’t with her, ¹⁰ so the woman ran quickly to tell her husband, “Look! The man who came the other day appeared to me!”
¹¹ So Manoah got up quickly and followed his wife, and when he came to the man he told him, “Are you the man who spoke to my wife?”
He replied, “I am.”
¹² Manoah asked, “Now, when what you’ve said occurs, what is to be the young man’s way of life and work?”
¹³ The angel of the LORD replied to Manoah, “Just have your wife be careful to carry out everything that I told her. ¹⁴ She must not consume anything extracted from grape vines, including wine or anything intoxicating, and she must not eat anything unclean, doing everything that I commissioned her to do.”
¹⁵ Manoah responded to the angel of the LORD, “Please, let us detain you while we prepare a young goat for you.”
¹⁶ The angel of the LORD answered Manoah, “If you detain me, I won’t be eating your food, but if you prepare a burnt offering, you’ll be making a sacrifice to the LORD.” The angel of the LORD said this because Manoah didn’t know that he was the angel of the LORD.

²⁴ Later on, the woman gave birth to a son and named him Samson. The child grew strong and the LORD blessed him.

²⁰ By the time of the next year’s sacrifice, Hannah had become pregnant and had borne a son. She named him Samuel because she said, “I asked the LORD for him.”

¹¹ Then Elkanah went to his house at Ramah, while the boy was ministering to the LORD in the presence of Eli the priest.

¹⁸ Samuel at ShilohNow Samuel was ministering in the LORD’s presence, as a boy wearing a linen ephod.

¹ The LORD Calls SamuelMeanwhile the boy Samuel was serving the LORD before Eli. A word from the LORD was rare in those days, and visions were infrequent. ² At that time Eli, whose vision was growing dim, was lying down in his bedroom. ³ The lamp of God had not yet been extinguished, and Samuel was lying down in the tent of the LORD where the Ark of God was. ⁴ The LORD called out to Samuel, who answered, “Here I am.”
⁵ He ran to Eli and said, “Here I am! You called me.”
“I didn’t call you,” Eli said. “Go back and lie down.” So he went and lay down.
⁶ Then the LORD again called out, “Samuel!”
So Samuel got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am! You called me.”
He said, “I didn’t call you, my son. Go back and lie down.” ⁷ Now Samuel did not yet know the LORD and had not yet had the word of the LORD revealed to him.
⁸ Then the LORD called out to Samuel again a third time, and he got up, went to Eli, and said, “Here I am! You called me.”
Then Eli understood that the LORD was calling the boy, ⁹ so Eli told Samuel, “Go lie down, and then if he calls you, answer, ‘Speak, LORD, because your servant is listening.’” Then Samuel went and lay down.
¹⁰ Later, the LORD came and stood there, calling out, “Samuel! Samuel!” as he had before.
Samuel said, “Speak, because your servant is listening.”
¹¹ “Look,” the LORD told Samuel. “I’m about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears it tingle. ¹² I’ll fulfill every promise that I’ve spoken concerning Eli’s family, from beginning to end.

¹¹ Then the LORD sent Jerubbaal, Barak, Jephthah, and Samuel and he delivered you from the hand of your enemies on every side, so that you lived securely.

¹ David Anointed to Succeed SaulThe LORD told Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I’ve rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I’m sending you to Jesse from Bethlehem because I’ve chosen for myself one of his sons as king.”

¹³ God’s Spirit Comes on David and Departs from SaulThen Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed David in the presence of his brothers, and the Spirit of the LORD came on David from that day forward. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah.

¹ Goliath Challenges the IsraelisThe Philistines assembled their army for battle. They were assembled at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and they camped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. ² Saul and the Israelis assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they set up their forces to meet the Philistines. ³ The Philistines were standing on the hill on one side while the Israelis were standing on the hill on the other side, with the valley between them.
⁴ A champion named Goliath from Gath came out from the Philistine camp. He was four cubits and a span tall, ⁵ wore a bronze helmet on his head, and wore bronze scale armor that weighed about 5,000 shekels. ⁶ He had bronze armor on his legs and carried a bronze javelin slung between his shoulders. ⁷ The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam and the iron point of his spear weighed 600 shekels. A man carrying his shield walked in front of him.
⁸ He stood still and called out to the ranks of Israel, “Why should you move into position for battle? Am I not a Philistine and you Saul’s servants? Choose a man for yourselves to come down against me. ⁹ If he’s able to fight me and strike me down, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and strike him down, then you will become our servants and serve us.” ¹⁰ The Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel today. Send me one man and let’s fight together.” ¹¹ When Saul and all the Israelis heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and very frightened.
¹² David Comes to the CampDavid was the son of that Ephrathite man named Jesse from Bethlehem in Judah. He had eight sons; at the time when Saul was king he was old, having lived to an advanced age. ¹³ The three oldest sons of Jesse followed Saul into battle. The names of his three sons who went to the battle were his firstborn Eliab, Abinadab, his second son, and Shammah, the third. ¹⁴ David was the youngest, while the three oldest had followed Saul. ¹⁵ And David would go back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem. ¹⁶ For 40 days the Philistine would come forward, morning and evening, to take his position.
¹⁷ Jesse told his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain to your brothers, along with these ten loaves of bread, and quickly take them to your brothers in the camp. ¹⁸ Take these ten pieces of cheese to the commander of the unit, check on the well-being of your brothers, and bring something back from them.

³ Saul and the Medium at EndorNow Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land.
⁴ The Philistines assembled, moved out, and camped at Shunem, while Saul assembled all Israel and camped at Gilboa. ⁵ When Saul saw the Philistine camp, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. ⁶ Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, either through dreams or Urim or through prophets. ⁷ Saul told his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium so I can go to her and make my inquiry through her.”
His servants told him, “Look, there’s a woman at Endor who is a medium.”
⁸ Saul disguised himself, putting on different clothes. He went along with two men to the woman at night. He said, “Consult a familiar spirit for me and bring up for me the one whom I tell you.”
⁹ The woman told him, “Look, you know what Saul has done. He has removed mediums and spiritists from the land, so why are you trying to entrap me, so as to cause my death?”
¹⁰ Saul swore to her by the LORD: “As surely as the LORD lives, no punishment will come on you for this thing.”
¹¹ The woman said, “Whom shall I bring up for you?”
Saul said, “Bring up Samuel for me.”
¹² When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly. The woman told Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”
¹³ The king told her, “Don’t be afraid; but what do you see?”
The woman told Saul, “I see a divine being coming up out of the ground.”
¹⁴ Saul told her, “What does he look like?”
She said, “An old man is coming up, and he’s wrapped in a robe.” Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed low to the ground and prostrated himself.
¹⁵ Samuel’s Message to SaulSamuel told Saul, “Why did you disturb me by bringing me up?”
Saul said, “I’m in great distress. The Philistines are waging war against me. God has departed from me and won’t answer me anymore, either by messages written by the hand of the prophets or by dreams. So I’ve summoned you to tell me what I should do.”
¹⁶ Samuel said, “Why do you ask me, since the LORD has departed from you and become your enemy? ¹⁷ The LORD has done to you exactly as he spoke through me. The LORD has torn the kingdom away from you and has given it to your colleague David. ¹⁸ Because you didn’t obey the LORD and didn’t display his fierce anger against Amalek, therefore, the LORD will do this thing to you today. ¹⁹ The LORD is giving both you, and Israel with you, into Philistine control. Tomorrow, the LORD will give you, your sons with you, and also the army of Israel into the control of the Philistines.”
²⁰ The Medium Attends to SaulSaul immediately fell down full-length on the ground. He was terrified because of Samuel’s words, and he had no strength because he had not eaten food all day and all night. ²¹ Then the woman came to Saul and saw that he was very disturbed. She told him, “Look, your servant obeyed you. I put my life into your hands, and I listened to your words that you spoke to me. ²² Now, please listen to your servant. I’ll put a piece of bread before you so you can eat and have strength to go on your way.”
²³ Saul refused, saying, “I won’t eat!”
Both his servants and the woman urged him, and so he listened to them. He got up off the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴ The woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread. ²⁵ She brought it to Saul and to his servants, and they ate. Then they got up and went out that night.

⁶ Moses and Aaron were among his priests; Samuel also was among those who invoked his name. When they called on the LORD, he answered them.

¹ The Destiny of the JudgedThen the LORD told me, “Even if Moses and Samuel were standing before me, I wouldn’t be favorably disposed toward this people. Send them out of my presence! Let them go!

²⁸ In that place there will be crying and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves being driven away on the outside.

³¹ “Then Abraham told him, ‘If your brothers do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded, even if someone were to rise from the dead.’”

²⁵ Of course, Jesus also did many other things, and I suppose that if every one of them were written down, the world couldn’t contain the books that would be written.

²⁹ “Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and that his tomb is among us to this day. ³⁰ Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him with an oath to put one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah: ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay.’

²⁴ “Indeed, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who followed him, also announced these days.

⁴³ All the prophets testify to this: everyone who believes in Jesus receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

²⁰ for about 450 years.
“After that, he gave them judges until the time of the prophet Samuel.

²² Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, ‘I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ ²³ It was from this man’s descendants that God, as he promised, brought to Israel a Savior, who is Jesus. ²⁴ Before Jesus’ appearance, John had already preached a baptism of repentance to all the people in Israel. ²⁵ When John was finishing his work, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I’m not the Messiah. No, but he is coming after me, and I’m not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.’
²⁶ “My brothers, descendants of Abraham’s family, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent. ²⁷ For the people who live in Jerusalem and their leaders, not knowing who Jesus was, condemned him and so fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸ Although they found no reason to sentence him to death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹ When they had finished doing everything that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and placed him in a tomb. ³⁰ But God raised him from the dead, ³¹ and for many days he appeared to those who had come with him to Jerusalem from Galilee. These are now his witnesses to the people. ³² We’re telling you the good news: What God promised our ancestors ³³ he has fulfilled for us, their descendants, by raising Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son. Today I have become your Father.’ ³⁴ God raised him from the dead, never to experience decay, as he said, ‘I’ll give you the holy promises made to David.’ ³⁵ In another Psalm he says, ‘You will not let your Holy One experience decay.’ ³⁶ Now David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, died and was buried with his ancestors, and so he experienced decay.

⁵ But if our unrighteousness serves to confirm God’s righteousness, what can we say? God is not unrighteous when he vents his wrath on us, is he? (I am talking in human terms.)

¹ The Example of AbrahamWhat, then, are we to say about Abraham, our human ancestor?

¹ No Longer Sin’s Slaves, but God’s SlavesWhat should we say, then? Should we go on sinning so that grace may increase?

⁷ The Law Shows Us What Sin IsWhat should we say, then? Is the Law sinful? Of course not! In fact, I wouldn’t have become aware of sin if it had not been for the Law. I wouldn’t have known what it means to covet if the Law had not said, “You must not covet.”

¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord.

²¹ because no prophecy ever originated through a human decision. Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

² to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the commandment of our Lord and Savior spoken through your apostles.

¹ Instructions for JoshuaMeanwhile, Jericho was fortified inside and out because of the Israelis. Nobody could leave or enter.
² The LORD told Joshua, “Look! I have given Jericho over to your control, along with its kings and valiant soldiers. ³ March around the city, all the soldiers circling the city once. Do this for six days, ⁴ with seven priests carrying in front of the ark seven trumpets made from rams’ horns. On the seventh day march around the city seven times while the priests blow their trumpets. ⁵ When they sound a long blast with the ram’s horn, as soon as you hear the sound of the trumpet, then the entire army is to cry out loud, the city wall will collapse, and then all of the soldiers are to charge straight ahead.”
⁶ The Destruction of JerichoSo Nun’s son Joshua called for the priests. “Pick up the Ark of the Covenant,” he told them, “and have seven priests carry seven trumpets made from rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD.”
⁷ He told the army, “Go out and encircle the city. Have the armed men march out in front of the ark of the LORD.”
⁸ And so, just as Joshua had commanded, seven of the priests went forward, carrying the seven trumpets made of rams’ horns in the LORD’s presence, blowing the trumpets while the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD followed them. ⁹ Armed men preceded the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and a rear guard followed the ark, while the trumpets continued to blow.
¹⁰ Joshua issued orders to the army: “You are not to shout or even let your voice be heard. Don’t utter a word until I tell you to shout. Then shout!” ¹¹ So the ark of the LORD was taken once around the city, then they went back to camp and spent the night there.
¹² Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests picked up the ark of the LORD. ¹³ The seven priests who carried the seven trumpets made from rams’ horns preceded the ark of the LORD, blowing their trumpets constantly. The armed men preceded them, and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the trumpets continued to blow.

⁵ Then Samson went down in the direction of Timnah with his father and mother and arrived as far as the vineyards of Timnah. And—surprise!—a young lion came roaring at him! ⁶ The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and he ripped the lion apart as one might dissect a young goat, even though he carried nothing in his hand. But he didn’t tell his father and mother what he had done.

³³ Saul told David, “You can’t go against this Philistine and fight him. You are only a young man, but he has been a warrior since his youth.”
³⁴ David told Saul, “Your servant has been a shepherd for his father. When a lion or bear came and took a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I would go out after it, strike it down, and rescue the lamb from its mouth. Then when it rose up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. ³⁶ Your servant has struck down both lions and bears, and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he defied the armies of the living God.”

⁴ David Establishes Jerusalem as His Capital
David began to reign when he was 30 years old, and he reigned 40 years. ⁵ He reigned over Judah for seven years and six months in Hebron, and he reigned over all of Israel including Judah for 33 years in Jerusalem. ⁶ Later, the king and his army marched on Jerusalem against the Jebusites, who were inhabiting the territory at that time and who had told David, “You’re not coming in here! Even the blind and the lame could turn you away!” because they were thinking “David can’t come here.” ⁷ Even so, David captured the stronghold of Zion, which is now known as the City of David.
⁸ At that time, David had said, “Whoever intends to attack the Jebusites will have to climb up the water shaft to attack the lame and blind, who hate David.”
Therefore they say, “The blind and lame are never to come into the house.” ⁹ David occupied the fortress, naming it the City of David. He built up the surroundings from the terrace ramparts inward. ¹⁰ David became more and more esteemed because the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies was with him.
¹¹ Later, King Hiram of Tyre sent a delegation to David, accompanied by cedar logs, carpenters, and stone masons. They built a palace for David. ¹² So David concluded that the LORD had established him as king over Israel and that he had exalted his kingdom in order to benefit his people Israel. ¹³ But after arriving in Jerusalem after leaving Hebron, David took more wives and mistresses, and more sons and daughters were born to David. ¹⁴ These are the names of those who were born to him in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, ¹⁵ Ibhar, Elishua, Nepheg, Japhia, ¹⁶ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet.
¹⁷ David Battles the Philistines
When the Philistines eventually learned that Israel had anointed David to be king over Israel, they marched out in search of him. But David heard about it and retreated to his stronghold. ¹⁸ Meanwhile, the Philistines arrived and encamped in the Rephaim Valley, ¹⁹ so David asked the LORD, “Am I to go attack the Philistines? Will you give me victory over them?”
“Go get them,” the LORD replied to David, “because I’m going to put the Philistines right into your hand!”
²⁰ So David went to Baal-perazim and defeated them there. He called the place Baal-perazim, because he said, “Like a bursting flood, the LORD has jumped out in front of me to fight my enemies.” ²¹ The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his army carried them off.
²² Later, the Philistines once again marched out and encamped in the Rephaim Valley. ²³ When David asked the LORD about it, he said, “Don’t attack them directly. Instead, go around to the rear and attack them opposite those balsam trees. ²⁴ When you hear the sound of marching coming from the tops of the balsam trees, then be sure to act quickly, since the LORD will have gone out ahead of you to cut down the Philistine army.” ²⁵ So David did exactly what the LORD ordered him to do, and he struck down the Philistines from Geba to Gezer.

¹¹ when I had commanded judges to administer my people Israel. I’ll also grant you relief from all your enemies.”’ “‘The LORD also announces to you: “The LORD will himself build a house for you. ¹² When your life is complete and you go to join your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring after you, who will come forth from your body, and I will fortify his kingdom. ¹³ He will build a Temple dedicated to my Name, and I will make the throne of his kingdom last forever. ¹⁴ I will be a father to him, and he will be to me a son who, when he commits iniquity, I will discipline with the rod wielded by armies and with wounds inflicted by human beings. ¹⁵ But I’ll never remove my gracious love from him as I did from Saul, whom I removed from your presence. ¹⁶ Your dynasty and your kingdom will remain forever in my presence—your throne will be secure forever.”’”
¹⁷ Nathan communicated this complete oracle to David with precisely these words.

¹ David’s Military Victories
Sometime later, David defeated and subdued the Philistines, taking Metheg-ammah away from the Philistines. ² David also conquered Moab, then measured them with a cord, making them lie down on the ground. He executed everyone measured out in each two lengths’ measurement of the cord, but spared the ones measured out by every third length. Then the Moabites were placed under servitude to David, and made to pay tribute.
³ David also attacked King Hadadezer, Rehob’s son from Zobah, when he was attempting to restore his hegemony over the Euphrates River. ⁴ David captured 1,000 of his chariots, 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses except for enough to supply 100 chariots. ⁵ When Arameans came from Damascus to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of them. ⁶ David erected garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, placing the Arameans under servitude to him, and they paid tribute to him. ⁷ David also confiscated the gold shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s officers and took them to Jerusalem. ⁸ He also confiscated a vast quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, cities under Hadadezer’s control.
⁹ When King Tou of Hamath learned that David had conquered the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah, ¹⁰ Tou sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory over Hadadezer, because he had been at war with Tou. Joram brought articles of silver, gold, and bronze with him, ¹¹ and King David dedicated them to the LORD, along with the silver and gold that had been dedicated from all the nations that he had conquered, ¹² including from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and spoil from King Hadadezer, Rehob’s son from Zobah.
¹³ David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley. ¹⁴ He erected garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subservient to David, while the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.

³² the God who clothes me with strength, and who makes my way upright; ³³ who makes my feet swift as the deer; who makes me stand on high places; ³⁴ who teaches my hands to make war, and my arms to bend a bronze bow.

² With your hand you expelled the nations and established our ancestors. You afflicted nations and cast them out. ³ It was not with their sword that they inherited the land, nor did their own arm deliver them. But it was by your power, your strength, and by the light of your face; because you were pleased with them. ⁴ You are my king, God, command victories for Jacob. ⁵ Through you we will knock down our oppressors; through your name we will tread down those who rise up against us. ⁶ For I place no confidence in my bow, nor will my sword deliver me.

¹³ You will stomp on lions and snakes; you will trample young lions and serpents.

¹ Davidic
A Song for God’s Provision Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for battle and my fingers for warfare, ² he is my gracious love and my fortress, my strong tower and my deliverer, my shield and the one in whom I find refuge, who subdues peoples under me.

¹⁰ to you who gives victory to kings, rescuing his servant David from cruel swords.

²⁰ As he approached where Daniel was in the pit, he cried out to him in a voice filled with anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve constantly, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
²¹ Daniel replied to the king, “May your majesty live forever! ²² My God sent his angel and sealed the mouths of the lions. They have not harmed me, proving that I’m innocent before him. Also against you, your majesty, I’ve committed no offense.”
²³ The king was ecstatic, so he gave orders for Daniel to be released from the pit. Daniel was taken up from the pit, and no injury was found to have been inflicted on him, because he had believed in his God.

¹⁶ Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his descendant. It doesn’t say “descendants,” referring to many, but “your descendant,” referring to one person, who is the Messiah.

¹⁷ However, the Lord stood by me and gave me strength so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the gentiles could hear it. I was rescued out of a lion’s mouth.

¹² Then, instead of being lazy, you will imitate those who are inheriting the promises through faith and patience.
¹³ God’s Promise is ReliableFor when God made his promise to Abraham, he swore an oath by himself, since he had no one greater to swear by. ¹⁴ He said, “I will certainly bless you and give you many descendants.” ¹⁵ And so he obtained what he had been promised, because he patiently waited for it.

³⁶ For you need endurance, so that after you have done God’s will you can receive what he has promised.

⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did, and by faith he was declared to be righteous, since God himself accepted his offerings. And by faith he continues to speak, even though he is dead.
⁵ By faith Enoch was taken away without experiencing death. He could not be found, because God had taken him away. For before he was taken, he won approval as one who pleased God. ⁶ Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for whoever comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently search for him.
⁷ By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, reverently prepared an ark to save his family, and by faith he condemned the world and inherited the righteousness that comes by faith.
⁸ By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.

¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered Isaac—he who had received the promises was about to offer his unique son in sacrifice,

⁸ Be clear-minded and alert. Your opponent, the devil, is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

¹⁹ So Gideon and the 100 men with him arrived at the outer perimeter of the encampment at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had posted sentries. They blew their trumpets and smashed the jars that they were carrying in their hands. ²⁰ When the three companies sounded their trumpets and broke the jars, they held the torches in their left hands and sounded their trumpets with their right hands. Then they cried out, “A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!” ²¹ They stood up, each soldier in his assigned place surrounding the encampment, and the entire army ran away, sounding the alarm to retreat.
²² As the 300 trumpets were being sounded, the LORD turned the swords of the Midianite soldiers against one another throughout the entire army, and the army ran away as far as Beth-shittah in the direction of Zererah. They got as far as the outskirts of Abel-meholah, near Tabbath. ²³ Israeli soldiers were called out from the territories of Naphtali, Asher, and throughout Manasseh, and they chased after the Midianites.
²⁴ Gideon dispatched messengers throughout the mountainous region of Ephraim, notifying them, “Come down to fight Midian. Capture the water crossings as far as Beth-barah and the Jordan River before they can get to them.” ²⁵ They captured two Midianite leaders, Oreb and Zeeb. While they were pursuing the Midianites, they executed Oreb at Oreb’s Rock and Zeeb at Zeeb’s Winepress, and then they carried the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from the east bank of the Jordan River.

⁴ Meanwhile, Gideon and the 300 soldiers with him came to the Jordan, exhausted but continuing their pursuit. ⁵ He told the men of Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the soldiers who are following behind me. They’re tired, and I’m pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.”
⁶ But the officials of Succoth replied, “Do you have Zebah and Zalmunna in custody already, so that we should give food to your army?”
⁷ So Gideon responded, “Okay then, but when the LORD has turned over Zebah and Zalmunna into my control, I’m going to whip you with thorns and briers from the desert!”
⁸ Then he left there to go to Penuel and asked the same thing from them, but the men of Penuel responded the same way the men of Succoth did. ⁹ So he responded the same way to the men of Penuel, “When I come back safely, I’m going to tear down this tower.”
¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, along with their armies, about 15,000 men who survived from the entire army of the group from the east, since 120,000 swordsmen had already fallen.

⁸ So he attacked them ruthlessly in a massive slaughter, then left to live in the caves of Etam.

¹⁴ Samson Kills 1,000 PhilistinesWhen Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, so that the ropes that bound him were like flax that’s been burned by fire, and his bonds dissolved. ¹⁵ He happened upon a jawbone from a putrefying donkey, reached out to grab it, and killed 1,000 men with it. ¹⁶ Then Samson declared, “With a jawbone from the donkey— here a heap, there a pair of heaps— with the jawbone of the donkey I’ve killed 1,000 men.”
¹⁷ When he finally finished bragging, he discarded the jawbone and named that place “Jawbone Heights.”
¹⁸ Aferward, he became thirsty, called out to the LORD, and told him, “So, you provided this great deliverance at the hands of your servant, but now I’m to die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” ¹⁹ So God split a hollow place that’s in Lehi, and water sprang out of it. After he had taken a drink, his strength returned, and he revived. That’s why it was named “En-hakkore,” which is in Lehi to this day. ²⁰ Samson governed Israel for twenty years during the Philistine domination.

¹⁹ So she enticed him to fall asleep on her lap, called for a man to shave off his seven locks of hair from his head, and so began to humiliate him. Then his strength abandoned him.
²⁰ When she cried out, “The Philistines are attacking you, Samson!” he woke from his sleep and told himself, “I’ll go out like I did at other times like this and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that the LORD had abandoned him.
²¹ Samson is Imprisoned by the PhilistinesThen the Philistines grabbed him, gouged out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, tied him up in bronze chains, and made him grind grain in their prison. ²² But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved off.
²³ Some time later, the Philistine officials got together to present a magnificent sacrifice to their god Dagon, and to throw a party, because they were claiming, “Our god has given Samson into our control!”
²⁴ When the people saw Samson, they praised their god, claiming: Our god has given our enemy into our control; the one who was destroying our land, and who has killed many of us.
²⁵ Because they all got good and drunk, they ordered, “Go get Samson, so he can entertain us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them while they made him stand between the pillars.
²⁶ Samson Kills Himself and 3,000 PhilistinesThen Samson told the young man who had been leading him around by the hand, “Let me touch and feel the pillars on which this building rests, and I’ll support myself against them.” ²⁷ Now the building was full of men, women, and all the Philistine officials, with about 3,000 men and women on the roof watching Samson while he was entertaining them.
²⁸ Then Samson cried out to the LORD, “Lord GOD, please remember me. And please strengthen me this one time, God, so that I can repay the Philistines right now for my two eyes.” ²⁹ Then Samson grabbed the two middle pillars upon which the house rested and braced himself against them with one pillar in his right hand and the other in his left.
³⁰ Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He strained with all his strength until the building collapsed on the officials and every person in it. As a result, the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he killed during his lifetime.

¹³ Jonathan crawled up on his hands and feet, with his armor bearer following him. The Philistines fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearer who was behind him also killed some. ¹⁴ In the initial attack, Jonathan and his armor bearer struck down about twenty men in an area of about half an acre of land. ¹⁵ There was terror in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders were terrified. The earth shook, and there was even greater terror.

⁵¹ David ran and stood over the Philistine. He took the Philistine’s sword, pulled it from its sheath, killed him, and then he cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled. ⁵² The men of Israel and Judah got up with a shout and pursued the Philistines as far as the entrance to the valley and to the gates of Ekron. Wounded Philistines fell along the way to Shaaraim as far as Gath and Ekron.

¹ David and Jonathan’s DiscussionDavid fled from Naioth in Ramah. He came to Jonathan and said, “What have I done? What is my crime, and how have I wronged your father so that he’s determined to kill me?

¹ David’s Military Victories
Sometime later, David defeated and subdued the Philistines, taking Metheg-ammah away from the Philistines. ² David also conquered Moab, then measured them with a cord, making them lie down on the ground. He executed everyone measured out in each two lengths’ measurement of the cord, but spared the ones measured out by every third length. Then the Moabites were placed under servitude to David, and made to pay tribute.
³ David also attacked King Hadadezer, Rehob’s son from Zobah, when he was attempting to restore his hegemony over the Euphrates River. ⁴ David captured 1,000 of his chariots, 1,700 horsemen, and 20,000 foot soldiers. David hamstrung all the chariot horses except for enough to supply 100 chariots. ⁵ When Arameans came from Damascus to help King Hadadezer of Zobah, David killed 22,000 of them. ⁶ David erected garrisons in the Aramean kingdom of Damascus, placing the Arameans under servitude to him, and they paid tribute to him. ⁷ David also confiscated the gold shields that belonged to Hadadezer’s officers and took them to Jerusalem. ⁸ He also confiscated a vast quantity of bronze from Betah and Berothai, cities under Hadadezer’s control.
⁹ When King Tou of Hamath learned that David had conquered the entire army of King Hadadezer of Zobah, ¹⁰ Tou sent his son Joram to King David to greet him and congratulate him on his victory over Hadadezer, because he had been at war with Tou. Joram brought articles of silver, gold, and bronze with him, ¹¹ and King David dedicated them to the LORD, along with the silver and gold that had been dedicated from all the nations that he had conquered, ¹² including from Edom, Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines, Amalek, and spoil from King Hadadezer, Rehob’s son from Zobah.
¹³ David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Edomites in the Salt Valley. ¹⁴ He erected garrisons throughout Edom, and all the Edomites became subservient to David, while the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.
¹⁵ David’s Leaders
David reigned over all of Israel, administering justice and equity to every one of his people. ¹⁶ Zeruiah’s son Joab served in charge of the army, Ahilud’s son Jehoshaphat was his personal archivist, ¹⁷ Ahitub’s son Zadok and Abiathar’s son Ahimelech were priests, Seraiah was his personal secretary, ¹⁸ Jehoida’s son Benaiah supervised the special forces and mercenaries, and David’s sons were priests.

¹⁵ After the Arameans realized that they had been defeated by Israel, they regrouped. ¹⁶ Hadadezer sent for the Arameans who lived beyond the Euphrates River, and they set out for Helam, with Shobach leading them as commander of Hadadezer’s army.
¹⁷ When David learned this, he mustered all of Israel, crossed the Jordan River, and approached Helam. The Arameans assembled in battle array to attack David, and started their assault. ¹⁸ But the Arameans retreated from Israel, and David’s forces killed 700 of their charioteers, 40,000 soldiers, and mortally wounded Shobach, the commander of their army. As a result, Shobach died there. ¹⁹ When all the kings who were allied with Hadadezer saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sought terms of peace with the Israelis and became subservient to them. Furthermore, the Arameans were afraid to help the Ammonites anymore.

¹⁶ and Ishbi-benob, who had been fathered by giants, said he intended to kill David. (His bronze spearhead weighed 300 shekels, and he carried state-of-the-art weaponry.) ¹⁷ But Zeruiah’s son Abishai came to David’s aid, attacked the Philistine, and killed him. After this, David’s army told him, “You’re not going out anymore with us to battle, so Israel’s beacon won’t be extinguished!”

³ Elijah was terrified, so he got up and ran for his life to Beer-sheba, which is part of Judah, and left his servant there

¹⁶ Elisha replied, “Stop being afraid, because there are more with us than with them!” ¹⁷ Then Elisha prayed, asking the LORD, “Please make him able to really see!” And so when the LORD enabled the young man to see, he looked, and there was the mountain, filled with horses and fiery chariots surrounding Elisha!
¹⁸ When the army approached him, Elisha spoke to the LORD, asking him, “LORD, I’m asking you please to afflict this group of people with blindness!” So he afflicted them with blindness, just as Elisha had asked.

³² Meanwhile, Elisha was sitting in his house, along with the elders, when the king sent a man to kill him, but before the messenger arrived, Elisha told the elders, “Are you watching how this descendant of murderers has ordered my head be cut off? Look, when the messenger arrives, shut the door and hold it to shut them out! Don’t you hear the sound of his master’s feet right behind him?”

⁷ Isaiah said, “Take a fig cake.” So some attendants took it, laid it on Hezekiah’s boil, and he recovered.
⁸ Now Hezekiah had asked Isaiah, “What is to be the sign that the LORD is healing me and that I’ll be going up to the LORD’s Temple three days from now?”
⁹ So Isaiah replied, “This will be your sign from the LORD that the LORD will do what he has promised. Shall the shadow go forward ten steps or go back ten steps?”
¹⁰ Hezekiah answered, “It’s an easy thing for a shadow to lengthen ten steps. So let the shadow go backward ten steps.”
¹¹ So Isaiah cried out to the LORD, who brought the shadow back ten steps after it had gone down the stairway of Ahaz.

¹¹ Asa cried out to the LORD his God, telling him, “LORD, there is no one except for you to help between the powerful and the weak. So help us, LORD God, because we’re depending on you and have come against this vast group in your name. LORD, you are our God. Let no mere mortal man defeat you!”
¹² So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians right in front of Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians ran away. ¹³ Asa and his army pursued the Ethiopians as far as Gerar. So many Ethiopians died that their army could not recover, because it had been shattered in the LORD’s presence and in the presence of his army. The Israelis carried off a lot of plunder, too, ¹⁴ They attacked all the cities that surrounded Gerar, because fear of the LORD had overwhelmed them. The Israelis spoiled all the cities, because there was a lot to plunder in them.

¹ Asa Attacks Baasha
During the thirty-sixth year of Asa’s reign, King Baasha of Israel invaded Judah and interdicted Ramah by building fortifications around it so no one could enter or leave to join King Asa of Judah. ² But Asa removed some silver and gold from the treasuries of the LORD’s Temple and from his royal palace and sent them to King Ben-hadad of Aram, who lived in Damascus. ³ “Let’s make a treaty between you and me,” he said, “just like the one between my father and your father. Notice that I’ve sent you silver and gold to break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel, so he’ll retreat from his attack on me.”
⁴ So King Ben-hadad did just what King Asa had asked: he sent his commanding officers to attack the cities of Israel. They conquered Ijon, Dan, Bel-maim, and all of the storage centers in Naphtali. ⁵ When Baasha learned of the attack, he withdrew from Ramah and stopped his interdiction. ⁶ Then King Asa brought his entire army of Judah to carry away the building stones and the timber that Baasha had been using to surround Ramah, and he used those materials to fortify Geba and Mizpah.
⁷ Asa is Rebuked by Hanani the Seer
Right about then, Hanani the seer came to King Asa of Judah and rebuked him. “Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram and have not relied on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your control. ⁸ Weren’t the Ethiopians and the Libyans a vast army with many chariots and cavalry? Yet because you relied on the LORD, he gave them into your control! ⁹ The LORD’s eyes keep on roaming throughout the earth, looking for those whose hearts completely belong to him, so that he may strongly support them. But because you have acted foolishly in this, from now on you will have wars.”

⁶ and said: “LORD God of our ancestors, you are the God who lives in heaven, are you not? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, don’t you? In your own hands you grasp both strength and power, don’t you? As a result, no one can oppose you, can they? ⁷ You are our God, who expelled the former inhabitants of this land right in front of our people Israel, aren’t you? Then you gave it to your friend Abraham’s descendant forever, didn’t you? ⁸ They lived in it and have built there a sanctuary for your name, where they said, ⁹ ‘If evil comes upon us, such as war as punishment, disease, or famine and we stand in your presence in this Temple (because your Name is in this Temple) and cry out to you in our distress, then you will hear and deliver.’ ¹⁰ Now therefore look! The Ammonites, the Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir, whom you would not permit Israel to attack when they arrived from the land of Egypt—since they turned away from them and did not eliminate them— ¹¹ Look how they’re rewarding us! They’re coming to drive us from your property that you gave us to be our inheritance. ¹² Our God, you are going to punish them, aren’t you? We have no strength to face this vast multitude that has come against us, nor do we know what to do, except that our eyes are on you.”
¹³ All of Judah was standing in the LORD’s presence, along with their little babies, their wives, and their children.
¹⁴ The Prophetic Response of JahazielThen the Spirit of the LORD came upon Zechariah’s son Jahaziel, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a descendant of Levi from the descendants of Asaph in the middle of the assembly, and he said: ¹⁵ “Pay attention, everyone in Judah, in Jerusalem, and you, too, King Jehoshaphat! This is what the LORD says to you: ‘Stop being afraid, and stop being discouraged because of this vast invasion force, because the battle doesn’t belong to you, but to God. ¹⁶ Tomorrow you are to go down to attack them. Pay attention, now—they’ll be coming up near the ascent of Ziz. You’ll find them at the end of the valley that looks out over the Jeruel wilderness. ¹⁷ You won’t be fighting in this battle. Take your stand, but stand still, and watch the LORD’s salvation on your behalf, Judah and Jerusalem! Never fear and never be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, since the LORD is with you.’”
¹⁸ Jehoshaphat bowed down with his face to the ground, and all the assembled inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem fell face down in the LORD’s presence and worshipped the LORD. ¹⁹ Descendants of Levi from the descendants of Kohath and from the descendants of Korah stood up to praise the LORD God of Israel in a very loud voice that ascended to heaven.
²⁰ Jehoshaphat’s Instructions the Next MorningThe army got up early the next morning and headed out into the wilderness of Tekoa. Jehoshaphat stood up and addressed them. “Listen to me, you inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem,” he said. “Have faith in the LORD your God and you’ll be established! Have faith in his prophets and you’ll succeed!” ²¹ After he had consulted with the people, Jehoshaphat appointed some choir members to sing to the LORD and to praise him in sacred splendor as they marched out in front of the armed forces. They kept saying “Give thanks to the LORD, because his gracious love is eternal!”
²² Right on time, as they began to sing and praise, the LORD ambushed the Ammonites, Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir who had attacked Judah, and they were defeated. ²³ The Ammonites and Moabites attacked the inhabitants of Mount Seir, destroying them, and after they had finished with the inhabitants of Mount Seir, they worked on destroying one another!
²⁴ When the army of Judah arrived at the remotest watchtower in the wilderness, they looked around at the invasion force, and to their surprise, there were dead bodies lying all around on the ground—not one had escaped! ²⁵ Later on, when Jehoshaphat and his army arrived to collect the spoils of war, they discovered there were far more goods, garments, and other valuable items to collect than they could carry off in a single day. There was so much material that it took three days to finish their collection efforts.

²⁰ Sennacherib is Defeated and Killed
Meanwhile, King Hezekiah and Amoz’s son Isaiah the prophet were praying about this and crying out to heaven. ²¹ So the LORD sent an angel, who eliminated all of the elite forces, commanders, and officers within the encampment of the king of Assyria. As a result, he retreated to his own country, deeply ashamed and humiliated. When he visited the temple of his god, some of his sons killed him right there with swords. ²² That’s how the LORD delivered Hezekiah, as well as those who lived in Jerusalem, from Assyria’s King Sennacherib and all his forces, and provided for all of their needs.

²⁰ He will deliver you from death by famine; in war from the power of the sword.

¹⁰ Job’s Prosperity ReturnsThe LORD restored Job’s prosperity after he prayed for his friends. The LORD doubled everything that Job had once possessed.

⁸ Get away from me, all of you who practice evil, for the LORD has heard the sound of my weeping.

¹² You caused men to ride over us. You brought us through fire and water, but you led us to abundance.

² When you pass through the waters, I’ll be with you; and through the rivers, they won’t sweep over you. when you walk through fire you won’t be scorched, and the flame won’t set you ablaze.

²⁴ Yet because Shaphan’s son Ahikam supported Jeremiah, he was not handed over to the people for them to kill.

¹⁹ The King Orders an ExecutionOut of control with rage, Nebuchadnezzar’s facial expression changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and he ordered that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual. ²⁰ Then he issued orders to his elite guard to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego with ropes and throw them into the blazing fire furnace. ²¹ So the elite guard tied them up fully clothed, still wearing their robes, tunics, and turbans, and threw them into the blazing fire furnace, ²² because the king’s command was so drastic. Since the furnace was blazing hot, its flames killed those who threw Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego into the blazing fire. ²³ Bound firmly with ropes, these three men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the blazing fire furnace.
²⁴ The Fourth Man in the FurnaceAstonished, King Nebuchadnezzar stood up in terror, and asked his advisers, “Didn’t we throw three men into the fire, bound firmly with ropes?”
In reply they told the king, “Yes, your majesty.”
²⁵ “Look!” he told them, “I see four men walking untied and unharmed in the middle of the fire, and the appearance of the fourth resembles a divine being.”
²⁶ Then Nebuchadnezzar approached the opening of the blazing fire furnace. He shouted out, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, servants of the Most High God, come out and come here!” So Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire. ²⁷ The regional authorities, viceroys, governors, and royal advisors gazed at those men and saw that the fire had no effect on their bodies—not a hair on their head was singed, their clothes were not burned, and they did not smell of fire.
²⁸ Nebuchadnezzar spoke up and announced: “Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego! He sent his angel to deliver his servants who trusted in him. They disobeyed the king’s command and were willing to risk their lives in order not to serve or worship any god except their own God.

⁹ but he has told me, “My grace is all you need, because my power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most happily boast about my weaknesses, so that the Messiah’s power may rest on me. ¹⁰ That is why I take such pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for the Messiah’s sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

²² The LORD listened to Elijah, and the soul of the little boy returned to him, and he revived. ²³ Then Elijah took the little boy downstairs from the upper chamber back into the main house and delivered him to his mother. “Look,” Elijah told her, “your son is alive.”
²⁴ The woman responded to Elijah, “Now at last I’ve really learned that you are a man of God and that what you have to say about the LORD is the truth.”

²⁷ As she came near the man of God on the mountain, she grabbed his feet. When Gehazi intervened to push her away, the man of God said, “Leave her alone! She is deeply troubled! The LORD has concealed the thing from me, and hasn’t informed me.”
²⁸ Then she asked, “Did I ask my lord for a son? Didn’t I beg you, ‘Don’t mislead me?’”
²⁹ At this he told Gehazi, “Get ready to run! Take my staff in your hand, and get on the road. Don’t greet anyone you meet. If anyone greets you, don’t respond. Just go lay my staff on the youngster’s face.”
³⁰ At this, the youngster’s mother replied, “As long as you and the LORD live, I’m not leaving you!” So he got up and followed her.
³¹ Meanwhile, Gehazi went on ahead of them and placed the staff on the youngster’s face, but when there was no sound or reaction, he returned, met Elisha, and told him, “The youngster has shown no sign of awakening.”
³² When Elisha entered the house, there was the youngster, dead and laid out on Elisha’s bed! ³³ So he entered, shut the door behind them both, and prayed to the LORD. ³⁴ Then he approached the child and lay down with his mouth near the child’s, with his eyes near those of the child, and taking the child’s hands in his. As Elisha stretched himself on the child, the child’s flesh began to grow warm. ³⁵ Then he went downstairs, walked around back and forth inside the house once, went back up to his upper chamber, and stretched himself over the child again. The young man sneezed seven times and then opened his eyes.
³⁶ He called out to Gehazi, “Go get the Shunammite woman!” So he called her. When she came in to see Elisha, he told her, “Take back your son!” ³⁷ Then she approached him, fell at his feet, bowing low to the ground, took back her son, and went out.

³⁰ because in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.

²⁵ When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.

¹² As he approached the entrance to the city, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow. A large crowd from the city was with her.
¹³ When the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her. He told her, “You can stop crying.” ¹⁴ Then he went up and touched the bier, and the men who were carrying it stopped. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The man who had been dead sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
¹⁶ Fear gripped everyone, and they began to praise God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said, and “God has helped his people.”

³⁶ Nor can they die anymore, because they are like the angels and, since they share in the resurrection, are God’s children.

²⁹ and will come out—those who have done what is good to the resurrection that leads to life, and those who have practiced what is evil to the resurrection that ends in condemnation.

⁴⁰ Jesus told her, “I told you that if you believed you would see God’s glory, didn’t I?” ⁴¹ So they removed the stone.
Then Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for hearing me. ⁴² I know that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”
⁴³ After saying this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet tied with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a handkerchief. Jesus told them, “Untie him, and let him go.”
⁴⁵ The Jewish Council Plans to Kill Jesus
Many of the Jews who had come with Mary and who had observed what Jesus did believed in him.

¹⁹ But Peter and John answered them, “You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God,

⁴¹ He extended his hand and helped her get up. Then he called the saints, including the widows, and gave her back to them alive.

²⁴ the tribune ordered Paul to be taken into the barracks and told the soldiers to beat and question him in order to find out why the people were yelling at him like this.
²⁵ But when they had tied him up with the straps, Paul asked the centurion who was standing there, “Is it legal for you to whip a Roman citizen who hasn’t been condemned?”

²⁹ Immediately those who were about to examine him stepped back, and the tribune was afraid when he found out that Paul was a Roman citizen and that he had tied him up.

⁶ When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, “Brothers, I’m a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I’m on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected.”

¹⁵ I have the same hope in God that they themselves cherish—that there is to be a resurrection of the righteous and the wicked.

⁵⁴ Now, when what is decaying is clothed with what cannot decay, and what is dying is clothed with what cannot die, then the written word will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up by victory!”

¹¹ though I hope to experience the resurrection from the dead.

²⁰ arrested Joseph, and locked him up in the same prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. So Joseph remained there in prison.

²⁵ Because they all got good and drunk, they ordered, “Go get Samson, so he can entertain us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he entertained them while they made him stand between the pillars.

²⁴ Right then, Chenaanah’s son Zedekiah approached Micaiah and struck him on the cheek. Then he asked him, “How did the Spirit of the LORD move from me to speak to you?”

²⁷ Give him this order: ‘Place him in prison on survival rations of bread and water only until I come back safely.’”

²³ Elisha Rebukes Some MockersLater, Elisha left there to go up to Bethel, and as he was traveling along the road, some insignificant young men came from the city and started mocking him. They told him, “Get on up, baldy! Get on up, baldy!”

¹⁰ In response, Asa flew into a rage and locked up the seer in stocks in the palace prison because of what Hanani had told him. Asa also tortured some of the people of Israel at that time.

¹⁰ Couriers crossed from city to city throughout the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh as far as Zebulun, but those people just mocked them and laughed at them.

¹⁶ but they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until there was no remedy for the wrath of the LORD that arose to punish his people.

¹⁷ He sent a man before them— Joseph, who had been sold as a slave. ¹⁸ They bound his feet with fetters and placed an iron collar on his neck,

² Pashhur struck Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were at the upper Benjamin Gate of the Temple.

⁷ Jeremiah’s Complaint to the LORDYou deceived me, LORD, and I’ve been deceived. You overpowered me, and you prevailed. I’ve become a laughing stock all day long, and everyone mocks me.

²⁶ The LORD made you a priest instead of Jehoiada the priest to serve in the LORD’s Temple as an official against every crazy prophet, and to put him in stocks and restraints.

² The army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was confined in the courtyard of the guard at the palace of the king of Judah ³ where Zedekiah had confined him. Zedekiah had said, “Why did you prophesy and say these things? You said, ‘This is what the LORD says: “I’m about to give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it.

⁸ “Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard just as the LORD had said, and he told me, ‘Please buy my field in Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin because you have the right to possess it, and the right to redeem it belongs to you. Buy it for yourself.’ So I knew that this was a message from the LORD.

⁶ You go and read the words of the LORD that you wrote at my dictation from the scroll. Read them to the people at the LORD’s Temple on the fast day. Also read them to all the people of Judah who are coming from their towns.

¹⁵ The officials were angry with Jeremiah and beat him. They put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe because they had made it into a prison. ¹⁶ So Jeremiah came into the cells in the dungeon and remained there for a long time.
¹⁷ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house: “Is there a message from the LORD?”
Jeremiah said, “There is,” and then he said, “You will be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.” ¹⁸ Then Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah, “What offense have I committed against you, your officials, or these people that you have put me in prison? ¹⁹ Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, telling you: ‘The king of Babylon won’t come against you or against this land’? ²⁰ Now, please listen, your majesty, and pay attention to what I’m asking you. Don’t make me go back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, so I don’t die there.”
²¹ So King Zedekiah gave the order, and they assigned Jeremiah to the courtyard of the guard. Each day they gave him a loaf of bread from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

⁶ So they threw Jeremiah into a cistern that belonged to the king’s son Malchijah and was located in the courtyard of the guard. When they let Jeremiah down with ropes, because there was no water in the cistern—only mud—Jeremiah sank into the mud.
⁷ Jeremiah Rescued from the CisternEbed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch in the king’s house, heard that Jeremiah had been put in the cistern. The king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, ⁸ so Ebed-melech went out of the palace and spoke to the king: ⁹ “Your majesty, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into the cistern. He will die where he is because of the famine since there is no more bread in the city.”
¹⁰ Then the king ordered Ebed-melech the Ethiopian: “Thirty men are at your disposal. Take them with you and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” ¹¹ So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the palace, underneath the storeroom. He took worn out rags and worn out clothes from there, and using ropes he lowered them down to Jeremiah in the cistern.
¹² Ebed-melech the Ethiopian told Jeremiah, “Put the worn out rags and clothes under your armpits under the ropes,” and Jeremiah did as he said. ¹³ They pulled Jeremiah with the ropes and brought him up from the cistern, but Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

²⁸ Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.

¹⁵ Ebed-melech RewardedThis message from the LORD came to Jeremiah while he was confined in the courtyard of the guard:

⁵² My enemies hunted me like a bird, viciously and without justification. ⁵³ They dumped me alive into a pit, sealing me in with stone. ⁵⁴ Water closed over my head, and I said, “I’m a dead man.” ⁵⁵ I called on your name, LORD, from the depths of the Pit,

¹⁹ Then they will hand him over to unbelievers to be mocked, whipped, and crucified, but on the third day he will be raised.”

³⁵ But the farmers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and attacked another with stones.

³⁴ “That is why I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will whip in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.

²⁶ Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

³⁴ and they’ll make fun of him, spit on him, whip him, and kill him. But after three days he’ll be raised.”

³² because he’ll be handed over to the unbelievers, and will be mocked, insulted, and spit on.

¹¹ Even Herod and his soldiers treated him with contempt and made fun of him. He put a magnificent robe on Jesus and sent him back to Pilate.

³⁶ The soldiers also made fun of Jesus by coming up and offering him sour wine,

³ So they arrested them and placed them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening.

¹⁸ arrested the apostles, and put them in the city jail.

⁴⁰ After calling in the apostles and beating them, they again ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus and let them go.

³ But Saul kept trying to destroy the church. Going into one house after another, he began dragging off men and women and throwing them in prison.

⁴ When he arrested Peter, Herod put him in prison and turned him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, planning to bring him out to the people after Passover season. ⁵ So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer to God for him was being offered by the assembly.
⁶ That very night, before Herod was going to bring him out, Peter, bound with two chains, was sleeping between two soldiers, and guards in front of the door were watching the prisoners. ⁷ Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared and a light shone in the cell. He tapped Peter on his side, woke him up, and said, “Get up quickly!” His chains fell from his wrists. ⁸ Then the angel told him, “Tuck in your shirt and put on your sandals!” He did this. Then the angel told him, “Put on your coat and follow me!” ⁹ So Peter went out and began to follow him, not realizing that what was being done by the angel was real; he thought he was seeing a vision. ¹⁰ They passed the first guard, then the second, and came to the iron gate that led into the city. It opened by itself for them, and they went outside and proceeded one block when the angel suddenly left him.
¹¹ Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I’m sure that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod and from everything the Jewish people were expecting!”
¹² When Peter realized what had happened, he went to the house of Mary, the mother of John who was also called Mark, where a large number of people had gathered and were praying. ¹³ When he knocked at the outer gate, a servant girl named Rhoda came to answer it. ¹⁴ On recognizing Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed that she didn’t open the gate but ran back inside and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. ¹⁵ The other people told her, “You’re out of your mind!” But she kept insisting that it was so. Then they said, “It’s his angel.”
¹⁶ Meanwhile, Peter kept on knocking and knocking. When they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. ¹⁷ He motioned to them with his hand to be quiet, and then he told them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He added, “Tell this to James and the brothers.” Then he left and went somewhere else. ¹⁸ When morning came, there was a great commotion among the soldiers as to what had become of Peter. ¹⁹ Herod searched for him but didn’t find him, so he questioned the guards and ordered them to be executed. Then he left Judea, went down to Caesarea, and stayed there for a while.

²² The crowd joined in the attack against them. Then the magistrates had Paul and Silas stripped of their clothes and ordered them beaten with rods. ²³ After giving them a severe beating, they threw them in jail and ordered the jailer to keep them under tight security. ²⁴ Having received these orders, he put them into the inner cell and fastened their feet in leg irons.
²⁵ Around midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶ Suddenly, there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken. All the doors immediately flew open, and everyone’s chains were unfastened.
²⁷ When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he thought the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Don’t hurt yourself, because we are all here!”
²⁹ The jailer asked for torches and rushed inside. Trembling as he knelt in front of Paul and Silas, ³⁰ he took them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
³¹ They answered, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will be saved.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and everyone in his home.
³³ At that hour of the night, he took them and washed their wounds. Then he and his entire family were baptized immediately. ³⁴ He brought Paul and Silas upstairs into his house and set food before them. He was thrilled, as was his household, to believe in God.
³⁵ When day came, the magistrates sent guards, who commanded, “Release those men.”
³⁶ The jailer reported these words to Paul, and added, “The magistrates have sent word to release you. So come out now and go in peace.”
³⁷ But Paul told the guards, “The magistrates have had us beaten publicly without a trial and have thrown us into jail, even though we are Roman citizens. Now are they going to throw us out secretly? Certainly not! Have them come and escort us out.”
³⁸ The guards reported these words to the magistrates, and they became afraid when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens. ³⁹ So the magistrates came, apologized to them, and escorted them out. Then they asked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰ Leaving the jail, Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s house. They saw the brothers, encouraged them, and then left.

³³ Then the tribune came up, grabbed Paul, and ordered him to be tied up with two chains. He then asked who Paul was and what he had done.

²⁷ After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. Since Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.

²³ Are they the Messiah’s servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with a stick, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a day and a night.

¹ Paul’s Ministry to the GentilesFor this reason I, Paul, am the prisoner of the Messiah Jesus for the sake of you gentiles.

¹ The Messiah’s Gifts to the ChurchI, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, urge you to live in a way that is worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

¹⁶ May the Lord grant mercy to the family of Onesiphorus, for he often took care of me and was not ashamed that I was a prisoner.

⁹ Because of it I am experiencing trouble, even to the point of being chained like a criminal. However, God’s word is not chained.

³⁴ For you sympathized with the prisoners and cheerfully submitted to the violent seizure of your property, because you know that you have a better and more permanent possession.

¹⁰ Don’t be afraid of what you are going to suffer. Look! The devil is going to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested. For ten days you will undergo suffering. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the victor’s crown of life.

¹⁷ The king told the guards, who were standing beside him, “Turn and kill the priests of the LORD because they supported David, and because they knew he was fleeing, but didn’t inform me.” But the officials of the king did not want to lift their hands to attack the priests of the LORD.
¹⁸ Then the king told Doeg, “You turn and attack the priests.” Doeg the Edomite turned and attacked the priests. That day he killed eighty-five men who carry the linen ephod. ¹⁹ He attacked the priestly town of Nob with the sword. Men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys and sheep were put to the sword.

⁴ had taken 100 prophets and had hidden them by fifties in a cave, providing them with food and water when Jezebel was trying to destroy the LORD’s prophets.

¹³ Hasn’t anyone told you, my master, what I did when Jezebel was killing the LORD’s prophets? I hid 100 of the LORD’s prophets by fifties in a cave and provided food and water for them.

¹ Elijah Runs from JezebelAhab complained to Jezebel about everything that Elijah had done, especially the part about him killing all the prophets of Baal with a sword.

¹⁰ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

¹⁴ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

¹⁰ Seat two wicked men in front of him, and make them testify against him. Tell them to claim ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”

¹³ Two wicked men came in, sat down in front of them, and testified against Naboth in public, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.
¹⁴ Afterwards, they sent a message to Jezebel that said, “Naboth has been stoned. He’s dead.”
¹⁵ When Jezebel heard that Naboth had been stoned to death, she told Ahab, “Get up and confiscate Naboth’s vineyard that he refused to sell you for cash. Naboth the Jezreelite isn’t alive anymore. He’s dead!”

⁸ They answered, “The man was a hairy fellow. He wore a leather sash around his waist.”
The king responded, “It’s Elijah, that foreigner!”

²¹ But the people conspired against him, and at the direct orders of the king they stoned him to death in the courtyard of the LORD’s Temple.

³⁰ “I’ve punished your children with no results, they have accepted no discipline. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a destroying lion.”

²³ They brought Uriah out of Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who killed him with a sword. Then they threw his body into a common grave.”

¹³ Due to the sins committed by her prophets, and the iniquities of her priests who shed in her midst, the blood of the righteous, ¹⁴ people stagger around in the streets like the blind, defiled by blood unclean so that no one is able to touch their clothing.

⁴ John had clothing made of camel’s hair and wore a leather belt around his waist. His diet consisted of grasshoppers and wild honey.

²⁰ Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to rest.”

³⁵ As a result, you will be held accountable for all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Berechiah’s son Zechariah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ I tell all of you with certainty, all these things will happen to those living today.”
³⁷ Jesus Rebukes Jerusalem
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

⁵¹ from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who died between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be charged against this generation!
⁵² How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn’t go in yourselves, and you kept out those who were trying to go in.”
⁵³ As Jesus was leaving, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely, interrogating him about many things. ⁵⁴ They watched him closely in an effort to trap him in something he might say.

³⁴ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you people were unwilling!

³¹ Again the Jewish leaders picked up stones to stone him to death.
³² Jesus replied to them, “I’ve shown you many good actions from my Father. For which of them are you going to stone me?”
³³ The Jewish leaders answered him, “We are not going to stone you for a good action, but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, are making yourself God!”

⁵² Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers.

⁵⁸ ran him outside of the city, and began to stone him to death. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹ As they continued to stone Stephen, he kept praying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”

² He even had James, the brother of John, killed with a sword. ³ When he saw how this was agreeable to the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter, too. This happened during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.

¹⁹ Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in SyriaBut some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won over the crowds by persuasion. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking he was dead.

⁹ For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display in last place, like men condemned to death. We have become a spectacle for the world, for angels, and for people to stare at. ¹⁰ We are fools for the Messiah’s sake, but you are wise in the Messiah. We are weak, but you are strong. You are honored, but we are dishonored. ¹¹ We are hungry, thirsty, dressed in rags, brutally treated, and homeless, right up to the present. ¹² We wear ourselves out from working with our own hands. When insulted, we bless. When persecuted, we endure. ¹³ When slandered, we answer with kind words. Even now we have become the filth of the world, the scum of the universe.

²³ Are they the Messiah’s servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once. ²⁴ Five times I received from the Jews 40 lashes minus one. ²⁵ Three times I was beaten with a stick, once I was pelted with stones, three times I was shipwrecked, and I drifted on the sea for a day and a night. ²⁶ I have traveled extensively and have been endangered from rivers, robbers, my own people, and gentiles. I’ve also been in danger in the city, in the open country, at sea, from false brothers, ²⁷ in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, through hunger, thirst, many periods of fasting, coldness, and nakedness.

¹ We Must Look Off to JesusTherefore, having so vast a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, and throwing off everything that hinders us and especially the sin that so easily entangles us, let us keep running with endurance the race set before us,

¹⁰ As an example of suffering and patience, brothers, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹ We consider those who endured to be blessed. You have heard about Job’s endurance and have seen the purpose of the Lord—that the Lord is compassionate and merciful.

³ I will give my two witnesses who wear sackcloth the authority to prophesy for 1,260 days.”

¹ David at the Cave of AdullamDavid left from there and escaped to the Cave of Adullam. His brothers and all his father’s family heard about this and went down to him there.

¹⁵ David was afraid because Saul had come out to seek his life while David was in the wilderness of Ziph at Horesh.

¹⁹ The People of Ziph Betray DavidPeople from Ziph came up to Saul at Gibeah and informed him, “David is hiding with us in the strongholds in Horesh and on the hill of Hachilah south of Jeshimon, isn’t he?

²³ Investigate and find out all the hiding places there where he hides, and return to me with reliable information. Then I’ll go down with you, and if he’s in the land, I’ll search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

¹ David Spares Saul’s LifeWhen Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told, “Look, David is in the wilderness of En-gedi.” ² Saul took 3,000 of his best troops from all over Israel, and he went to look for David and his men in the direction of the Rocks of the Wild Goats. ³ He came to the sheepfolds beside the road. There was a cave there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were sitting in the inner recesses of the cave.

¹ David Again Spares Saul’s LifePeople from Ziph came to Saul in Gibeah and informed him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hachilah which is across from Jeshimon, isn’t he?”

¹² “Now get up and go home. When your feet cross the city line, your child will die. ¹³ Everyone in Israel will mourn for him and will bury him, because he alone from Jeroboam’s family will receive a decent burial, because something good was observed in him with respect to the LORD God of Israel out of all the household of Jeroboam!

³ “Leave here and go into hiding at the Wadi Cherith, where it enters the Jordan River.

⁹ Elijah Talks to God at HorebElijah arrived at a cave and stayed there. All of a sudden this message came from the LORD: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

²⁵ There had been no king like him before him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength, in obeying everything in the Law of Moses. No king arose like Josiah after him.
²⁶ Even so, the LORD did not turn away from his fierce and great anger that burned against Judah because of everything with which Manasseh had provoked him. ²⁷ The LORD said, “I’m going to remove Judah from my sight as well, just as I’ve removed Israel. I will abandon Jerusalem, this city that I’ve chosen, as well as the Temple, about which I’ve spoken, ‘My Name shall remain there.’”
²⁸ Pharaoh Neco Kills JosiahNow the rest of Josiah’s actions, including everything that he did, are recorded in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah, are they not? ²⁹ During his reign, Pharaoh Neco, king of Egypt, marched out toward the Euphrates River to meet the king of Assyria. King Josiah went out to engage him in battle, but Pharaoh Neco killed him at Megiddo as soon as he saw him.

¹ A Davidic Song, when he was in the cave. A prayer.
A Call to God for Help My voice cries out to the LORD; my voice pleads for mercy to the LORD. ² I pour out my complaint to him, telling him all of my troubles. ³ Though my spirit grows faint within me, you are aware of my path. Wherever I go, they have hidden a trap for me. ⁴ I look to my right and observe— no one is concerned about me. There is nowhere I can go for refuge, and no one cares for me. ⁵ So I cry to you, Lord, declaring, “You are my refuge, my only possession while I am on this earth.” ⁶ Pay attention to my cry, for I have been brought very low. Deliver me from my tormentors, for they are far too strong for me. ⁷ Break me out of this prison, so I can give thanks to your name. The righteous will surround me, for you will deal generously with me.

¹ Israel’s Idolatry “Also the righteous are perishing, but no one takes it to heart; devout people are taken away, while no one understands that the righteous person is taken away from calamity.

²³ Then turning to his disciples in private, he told them, “How blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ Because I tell you, many prophets and kings wanted to see the things you see but didn’t see them, and to hear the things you hear but didn’t hear them.”

² By faith our ancestors won approval.

¹² It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you in regard to the things that have now been announced to you by those who brought you the good news through the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. These are things that even the angels desire to look into.

²⁵ whom God offered as a place where atonement by the Messiah’s blood would occur through faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because he had waited patiently to deal with sins committed in the past. ²⁶ He wanted to demonstrate at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies anyone who has the faithfulness of Jesus.

²² In this way, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.

⁶ However, Jesus has now obtained a more superior ministry, since the covenant he mediates is founded on better promises.

⁸ The Holy Spirit was indicating by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first part of the tent was still standing. ⁹ This illustration for today indicates that the gifts and sacrifices being offered could not clear the conscience of a worshiper, ¹⁰ since they deal only with food, drink, and various washings, which are required for the body until the time when things would be set right.
¹¹ The Messiah Has Offered a Superior SacrificeBut when the Messiah came as a high priest of the good things that have come, he went through the greater and more perfect tent that was not made by human hands and that is not a part of this creation. ¹² Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he went into the Most Holy Place once for all and secured our eternal redemption. ¹³ For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are unclean purifies them physically, ¹⁴ how much more will the blood of the Messiah, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead actions so that we may serve the living God!
¹⁵ The Messiah is the Mediator of a New CovenantThis is why the Messiah is the mediator of a new covenant; so that those who are called may receive the eternal inheritance promised them, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the offenses committed under the first covenant.

²³ The Messiah’s Perfect SacrificeThus it was necessary for these earthly copies of the things in heaven to be cleansed by these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves are made clean with better sacrifices than these.

¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and repeatedly offers the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God.” ¹³ Since that time, he has been waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴ For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

²³ to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to a judge who is the God of all, to the spirits of righteous people who have been made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better message than Abel’s.

¹¹ Each of them was given a white robe. They were told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers was completed, who would be killed as they themselves had been.