Psalms 78 Cross References - MSB

¹ A Maskil of Asaph. Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; listen to the words of my mouth. ² I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning, ³ that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us. ⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might, and the wonders He has performed. ⁵ For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers to teach to their children, ⁶ that the coming generation would know them—even children yet to be born—to arise and tell their own children ⁷ that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments. ⁸ Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God. ⁹ The archers of Ephraim turned back on the day of battle. ¹⁰ They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. ¹¹ They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them. ¹² He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. ¹³ He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall. ¹⁴ He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night. ¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas. ¹⁶ He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers. ¹⁷ But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. ¹⁸ They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved. ¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?” ²¹ Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel, ²² because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation. ²³ Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens. ²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven. ²⁵ Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. ²⁶ He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might. ²⁷ He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. ²⁹ So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. ³⁰ Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths, ³¹ God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel. ³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe. ³³ So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror. ³⁴ When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. ³⁶ But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues. ³⁷ Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant. ³⁸ And yet He was compassionate; He forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often restrained His anger and did not unleash His full wrath. ³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return. ⁴⁰ How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! ⁴¹ Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary, ⁴³ when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. ⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink. ⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. ⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust. ⁴⁷ He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet. ⁴⁸ He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning. ⁴⁹ He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels. ⁵⁰ He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague. ⁵¹ He struck all the firstborn of Egypt, the virility in the tents of Ham. ⁵² He led out His people like sheep and guided them like a flock in the wilderness. ⁵³ He led them safely, so they did not fear, but the sea engulfed their enemies. ⁵⁴ He brought them to His holy land, to the mountain His right hand had acquired. ⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them and apportioned their inheritance; He settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. ⁵⁶ But they tested and disobeyed God Most High, for they did not keep His decrees. ⁵⁷ They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow. ⁵⁸ They enraged Him with their high places and provoked His jealousy with their idols. ⁵⁹ On hearing it, God was furious and rejected Israel completely. ⁶⁰ He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had pitched among men. ⁶¹ He delivered His strength to captivity, and His splendor to the hand of the adversary. ⁶² He surrendered His people to the sword because He was enraged by His heritage. ⁶³ Fire consumed His young men, and their maidens were left without wedding songs. ⁶⁴ His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament. ⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty warrior overcome by wine. ⁶⁶ He beat back His foes; He put them to everlasting shame. ⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph and refused the tribe of Ephraim. ⁶⁸ But He chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved. ⁶⁹ He built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth He has established forever. ⁷⁰ He chose David His servant and took him from the sheepfolds; ⁷¹ from tending the ewes He brought him to be shepherd of His people Jacob, of Israel His inheritance. ⁷² So David shepherded them with integrity of heart and guided them with skillful hands.

³ Listen, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I will sing to the LORD; I will sing praise to the LORD, the God of Israel.

¹ Now the Spirit of God came upon Azariah son of Oded. ² So he went out to meet Asa and said to him, “Listen to me, Asa and all Judah and Benjamin. The LORD is with you when you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you, but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you. ³ For many years Israel has been without the true God, without a priest to instruct them, and without the law. ⁴ But in their distress they turned to the LORD, the God of Israel, and sought Him, and He was found by them. ⁵ In those days there was no safety for travelers, because the residents of the lands had many conflicts. ⁶ Nation was crushed by nation, and city by city, for God afflicted them with all kinds of adversity. ⁷ But as for you, be strong; do not be discouraged, for your work will be rewarded.” ⁸ When Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Azariah son of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the detestable idols from the whole land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had captured in the hill country of Ephraim. He then restored the altar of the LORD that was in front of the portico of the LORD’s temple. ⁹ And he assembled all Judah and Benjamin, along with those from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Simeon who had settled among them, for great numbers had come over to him from Israel when they saw that the LORD his God was with him. ¹⁰ So they gathered together in Jerusalem in the third month of the fifteenth year of Asa’s reign. ¹¹ At that time they sacrificed to the LORD seven hundred oxen and seven thousand sheep from all the plunder they had brought back. ¹² Then they entered into a covenant to seek the LORD, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul. ¹³ And whoever would not seek the LORD, the God of Israel, would be put to death, whether young or old, man or woman. ¹⁴ They took an oath to the LORD with a loud voice, with shouting, trumpets, and rams’ horns. ¹⁵ And all Judah rejoiced over the oath, for they had sworn it with all their heart. They had sought Him earnestly, and He was found by them. So the LORD gave them rest on every side. ¹⁶ King Asa also removed his grandmother Maacah from her position as queen mother because she had made a detestable Asherah pole. Asa chopped down the pole, crushed it, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all inhabitants of the world, ² both low and high, rich and poor alike. ³ My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.

⁷ “Hear, O My people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God.

⁴ Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.

¹ A Maskil of Asaph. Why have You rejected us forever, O God? Why does Your anger smolder against the sheep of Your pasture?

⁴ “To you, O men, I call out, and my cry is to the sons of men. ⁵ O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding. ⁶ Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right.

⁴ Pay attention to Me, My people, and listen to Me, My nation; for a law will go out from Me, and My justice will become a light to the nations; I will bring it about quickly.

³ Incline your ear and come to Me; listen, so that your soul may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant—My loving devotion promised to David.

⁹ He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle with the harp:

⁶ by understanding the proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise.

¹¹ He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. ¹² Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables: ‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’

³⁴ Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables. He did not tell them anything without using a parable. ³⁵ So was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.”

³⁴ He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.

²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ ²⁷ you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

⁸ And on that day you are to explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’

¹⁴ In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of man and beast. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’

¹ For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. We have heard with our ears, O God; our fathers have told us the work You did in their days, in the days of old.

⁸ As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the LORD of Hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish her forever. Selah

²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’

¹⁴ In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

⁹ Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren.

⁷ And you shall teach them diligently to your children and speak of them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

¹⁹ Teach them to your children, speaking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

⁶ to serve as a sign among you. In the future, when your children ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ ⁷ you are to tell them, ‘The waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD. When it crossed the Jordan, the waters were cut off.’ Therefore these stones will be a memorial to the Israelites forever.”

²¹ Then Joshua said to the Israelites, “In the future, when your children ask their fathers, ‘What is the meaning of these stones?’ ²² you are to tell them, ‘Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’ ²³ For the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, just as He did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over. ²⁴ He did this so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, and so that you may always fear the LORD your God.”

¹⁸ what was declared by wise men and was not concealed from their fathers,

¹⁴ that I may declare all Your praises—that within the gates of Daughter Zion I may rejoice in Your salvation.

¹ Why, O LORD, do You stand far off? Why do You hide in times of trouble? ² In pride the wicked pursue the needy; let them be caught in the schemes they devise. ³ For the wicked man boasts in the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the LORD. ⁴ In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God. ⁵ He is secure in his ways at all times; Your lofty judgments are far from him; he sneers at all his foes.

⁷ to raise my voice in thanksgiving and declare all Your wonderful works.

¹⁷ O God, You have taught me from my youth, and to this day I proclaim Your marvelous deeds. ¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.

⁴ One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts— ⁵ the glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will meditate on Your wondrous works. ⁶ They will proclaim the power of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness.

⁷ I will make known the LORD’s loving devotion and His praiseworthy acts, because of all that the LORD has done for us—the many good things for the house of Israel according to His great compassion and loving devotion. ⁸ For He said, “They are surely My people, sons who will not be disloyal.” So He became their Savior. ⁹ In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. ¹⁰ But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them. ¹¹ Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them, ¹² who sent His glorious arm to lead them by the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to gain for Himself everlasting renown, ¹³ who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble? ¹⁴ Like cattle going down to the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led Your people this way to make for Yourself a glorious name. ¹⁵ Look down from heaven and see, from Your holy and glorious habitation. Where are Your zeal and might? Your yearning and compassion for me are restrained. ¹⁶ Yet You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. ¹⁷ Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage. ¹⁸ For a short while Your people possessed Your holy place, but our enemies have trampled Your sanctuary. ¹⁹ We have become like those You never ruled, like those not called by Your name.

³ Tell it to your children; let your children tell it to their children, and their children to the next generation.

¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”

¹⁶ And place inside the ark the Testimony, which I will give you.

²¹ Set the mercy seat atop the ark, and put the Testimony that I will give you into the ark.

³ Put the ark of the Testimony in it and screen off the ark with the veil.

²⁰ Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark.

⁴⁵ These are the testimonies, statutes, and ordinances that Moses proclaimed to them after they had come out of Egypt,

⁷ The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.

³ that we have heard and known and our fathers have relayed to us. ⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but will declare to the next generation the praises of the LORD and His might, and the wonders He has performed.

⁵ He ordained it as a testimony for Joseph when he went out over the land of Egypt, where I heard an unfamiliar language:

¹⁵² Long ago I learned from Your testimonies that You have established them forever.

¹⁹ He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and judgments to Israel.

²⁰ To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, they have no light of dawn.

¹⁹ The living, only the living, can thank You, as I do today; fathers will tell their children about Your faithfulness.

² Much in every way. First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.

⁴ Fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath; instead, bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

⁹ Even if we accept human testimony, the testimony of God is greater. For this is the testimony that God has given about His Son. ¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son. ¹¹ And this is that testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. ¹² Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

¹⁰ The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”

²⁴ But in fact we have done this for fear that in the future your descendants might say to ours, ‘What have you to do with the LORD, the God of Israel? ²⁵ For the LORD has made the Jordan a border between us and you Reubenites and Gadites. You have no share in the LORD!’ So your descendants could cause ours to stop fearing the LORD.

²⁸ These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.

³¹ They will come and proclaim His righteousness to a people yet unborn—all that He has done.

¹³ consider her ramparts, tour her citadels, that you may tell the next generation.

¹⁸ Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, until I proclaim Your power to the next generation, Your might to all who are to come.

¹⁶ May Your work be shown to Your servants, and Your splendor to their children.

¹⁸ Let this be written for the generation to come, so that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.

⁴ One generation will commend Your works to the next, and will proclaim Your mighty acts—

²⁴ And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service.

²⁹ If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

¹² be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹⁸ But do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt: ¹⁹ the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, and the mighty hand and outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. The LORD your God will do the same to all the peoples you now fear.

² Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments.

¹¹ Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.

²⁷ the Jews bound themselves to establish the custom that they and their descendants and all who join them should not fail to celebrate these two days at the appointed time each and every year, according to their regulation. ²⁸ These days should be remembered and celebrated by every generation, family, province, and city, so that these days of Purim should not fail to be observed among the Jews, nor should the memory of them fade from their descendants.

⁴ Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.

⁵ Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.

¹⁰ So I said, “I am grieved that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” ¹¹ I will remember the works of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old. ¹² I will reflect on all You have done and ponder Your mighty deeds.

¹⁴ “Because he loves Me, I will deliver him; because he knows My name, I will protect him.

² Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all His kind deeds—

⁵ Remember the wonders He has done, His marvels, and the judgments He has pronounced,

⁶ My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning—more than watchmen wait for the morning. ⁷ O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is loving devotion, and with Him is redemption in abundance.

⁵ Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the LORD his God,

⁷ But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him. ⁸ He is like a tree planted by the waters that sends out its roots toward the stream. It does not fear when the heat comes, and its leaves are always green. It does not worry in a year of drought, nor does it cease to produce fruit.

²¹ Whoever has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and reveal Myself to him.” ²² Judas (not Iscariot) asked Him, “Lord, why are You going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus replied, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word that you hear is not My own, but it is from the Father who sent Me.

²⁴ and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take and eat. This is My body, which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

²¹ Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.

²² and we will receive from Him whatever we ask, because we keep His commandments and do what is pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded. ²⁴ Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.

³ For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome,

¹² Here is a call for the perseverance of the saints who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

⁹ The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”

⁵ For the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I should go with you for a single moment, I would destroy you. Now take off your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.’”

⁹ “O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

⁴ But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.

⁶ Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. ⁷ Remember this, and never forget how you provoked the LORD your God in the wilderness. From the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place, you have been rebelling against the LORD.

¹³ The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.

²⁴ You have been rebelling against the LORD since the day I came to know you.

²⁷ For I know how rebellious and stiff-necked you are. If you are already rebelling against the LORD while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after my death!

⁸ Although my brothers who went with me made the hearts of the people melt with fear, I remained loyal to the LORD my God. ⁹ On that day Moses swore to me, saying, ‘Surely the land on which you have set foot will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’

¹⁴ But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God.

¹⁴ And Rehoboam did evil because he did not set his heart to seek the LORD.

³ However, some good is found in you, for you have removed the Asherah poles from the land and have set your heart on seeking God.”

³³ The high places, however, were not removed; the people had not yet set their hearts on the God of their fathers.

⁷ Do not be like your fathers and brothers who were unfaithful to the LORD, the God of their fathers, so that He made them an object of horror, as you can see.

¹⁹ who sets his heart on seeking God—the LORD, the God of his fathers—even if he is not cleansed according to the purification rules of the sanctuary.”

¹³ As for you, if you direct your heart and lift up your hands to Him,

⁶ God settles the lonely in families; He leads the prisoners out to prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a sun-scorched land.

³⁷ Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea.

⁹ These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to obey the LORD’s instruction.

³ “Son of man,” He said to me, “I am sending you to the Israelites, to a rebellious nation that has rebelled against Me. To this very day they and their fathers have rebelled against Me. ⁴ They are obstinate and stubborn children. I am sending you to them, and you are to say to them, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says.’ ⁵ And whether they listen or refuse to listen—for they are a rebellious house—they will know that a prophet has been among them. ⁶ But you, son of man, do not be afraid of them or their words. Do not be afraid, though briers and thorns surround you, and you dwell among scorpions. Do not be afraid of their words or dismayed by their presence, though they are a rebellious house. ⁷ But speak My words to them, whether they listen or refuse to listen, for they are rebellious. ⁸ And you, son of man, listen to what I tell you. Do not be rebellious like that rebellious house. Open your mouth and eat what I give you.”

⁸ But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt.

¹⁸ In the wilderness I said to their children: ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers or keep their ordinances or defile yourselves with their idols.

³¹ So you testify against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets. ³² Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your fathers. ³³ You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape the sentence of hell?

⁵¹ You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.

²³ When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.

⁴¹ “We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. ⁴² But the LORD said to me, “Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies.” ⁴³ So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the LORD and presumptuously went up into the hill country. ⁴⁴ Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah.

¹⁶ “The hill country is not enough for us,” they replied, “and all the Canaanites who live in the valley have iron chariots, both in Beth-shean with its towns and in the Valley of Jezreel.” ¹⁷ So Joshua said to the house of Joseph—to Ephraim and Manasseh—“You have many people and great strength. You shall not have just one allotment, ¹⁸ because the hill country will be yours as well. It is a forest; clear it, and its farthest limits will be yours. Although the Canaanites have iron chariots and although they are strong, you can drive them out.”

²⁸ Then Gaal son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? You are to serve the men of Hamor, the father of Shechem. Why should we serve Abimelech?

³⁸ “Where is your gloating now?” Zebul replied. “You said, ‘Who is Abimelech that we should serve him?’ Are these not the people you ridiculed? Go out now and fight them!” ³⁹ So Gaal went out before the leaders of Shechem and fought against Abimelech, ⁴⁰ but Abimelech pursued him, and Gaal fled before him. And many Shechemites fell wounded all the way to the entrance of the gate.

³⁹ the men of Israel would turn in the battle. When the Benjamites had begun to strike them down, killing about thirty men of Israel, they said, “They are defeated before us as in the first battle.”

¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great—thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.

¹ Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before them, and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa.

² they were archers using both the right and left hands to sling stones and shoot arrows; and they were Saul’s kinsmen from Benjamin):

⁵⁷ They turned back and were faithless like their fathers, twisted like a faulty bow.

³³ “Lord,” said Peter, “I am ready to go with You even to prison and to death.”

¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them.

²⁰ When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.

¹⁰ After that whole generation had also been gathered to their fathers, another generation rose up who did not know the LORD or the works that He had done for Israel. ¹¹ And the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals. ¹² Thus they forsook the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, and they followed after various gods of the peoples around them. They bowed down to them and provoked the LORD to anger,

¹⁴ But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God. ¹⁵ They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.

²⁶ But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies. ²⁷ So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hands of their enemies. ²⁸ But as soon as they had rest, they again did evil in Your sight. So You abandoned them to the hands of their enemies, who had dominion over them. When they cried out to You again, You heard from heaven, and You delivered them many times in Your compassion. ²⁹ You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly shrugged their shoulders; they stiffened their necks and would not obey.

³² It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD.

¹⁸ You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth.

⁷ that they should put their confidence in God, not forgetting His works, but keeping His commandments.

¹³ Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel.

²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt, ²² wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

³² Does a maiden forget her jewelry or a bride her wedding sash? Yet My people have forgotten Me for days without number.

³ Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom.

¹ The LORD answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet. ² You are to speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron is to tell Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of his land. ³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, ⁴ Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay My hand on Egypt, and by mighty acts of judgment I will bring the divisions of My people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt. ⁵ And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded them. ⁷ Moses was eighty years old and Aaron was eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh. ⁸ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ⁹ “When Pharaoh tells you, ‘Perform a miracle,’ you are to say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and throw it down before Pharaoh,’ and it will become a serpent.” ¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the LORD had commanded. Aaron threw his staff down before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent. ¹¹ But Pharaoh called the wise men and sorcerers and magicians of Egypt, and they also did the same things by their magic arts. ¹² Each one threw down his staff, and it became a serpent. But Aaron’s staff swallowed up the other staffs. ¹³ Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said. ¹⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. ¹⁵ Go to Pharaoh in the morning as you see him walking out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. ¹⁶ Then say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to tell you: Let My people go, so that they may worship Me in the wilderness. But you have not listened until now. ¹⁷ This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’” ¹⁹ And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.” ²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood. ²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt. ²² But the magicians of Egypt did the same things by their magic arts. So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. ²³ Instead, Pharaoh turned around, went into his palace, and did not take any of this to heart. ²⁴ So all the Egyptians dug around the Nile for water to drink, because they could not drink the water from the river. ²⁵ And seven full days passed after the LORD had struck the Nile.

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ² But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. ³ The Nile will teem with frogs, and they will come into your palace and up to your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. ⁴ The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’” ⁵ And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷ But the magicians did the same thing by their magic arts, and they also brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt. ⁸ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.” ⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me. When shall I pray for you and your officials and your people that the frogs (except for those in the Nile) may be taken away from you and your houses?” ¹⁰ “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh answered. “May it be as you say,” Moses replied, “so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. ¹¹ The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.” ¹² After Moses and Aaron had left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD for help with the frogs that He had brought against Pharaoh. ¹³ And the LORD did as Moses requested, and the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died. ¹⁴ They were piled into countless heaps, and there was a terrible stench in the land. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said. ¹⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your staff and strike the dust of the earth, that it may turn into swarms of gnats throughout the land of Egypt.’” ¹⁷ This they did, and when Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff and struck the dust of the earth, gnats came upon man and beast. All the dust of the earth turned into gnats throughout the land of Egypt. ¹⁸ The magicians tried to produce gnats using their magic arts, but they could not. And the gnats remained on man and beast. ¹⁹ “This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said. ²⁰ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, and when Pharaoh goes out to the water, stand before him and tell him that this is what the LORD says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ²¹ But if you will not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies upon you and your officials and your people and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground where they stand will be full of flies. ²² But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms of flies will be found there. In this way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land. ²³ I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.’” ²⁴ And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by swarms of flies. ²⁵ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Go, sacrifice to your God within this land.” ²⁶ But Moses replied, “It would not be right to do that, because the sacrifices we offer to the LORD our God would be detestable to the Egyptians. If we offer sacrifices that are detestable before the Egyptians, will they not stone us? ²⁷ We must make a three-day journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as He commands us.” ²⁸ Pharaoh answered, “I will let you go and sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness, but you must not go very far. Now pray for me.” ²⁹ “As soon as I leave you,” Moses said, “I will pray to the LORD, so that tomorrow the swarms of flies will depart from Pharaoh and his officials and his people. But Pharaoh must not act deceitfully again by refusing to let the people go and sacrifice to the LORD.” ³⁰ Then Moses left Pharaoh and prayed to the LORD, ³¹ and the LORD did as Moses requested. He removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh and his officials and his people; not one fly remained. ³² But Pharaoh hardened his heart this time as well, and he would not let the people go.

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ² But if you continue to restrain them and refuse to let them go, ³ then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. ⁴ But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’” ⁵ The LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the LORD did just that. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died. ⁷ Pharaoh sent officials and found that none of the livestock of the Israelites had died. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the people go. ⁸ Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Take handfuls of soot from the furnace; in the sight of Pharaoh, Moses is to toss it into the air. ⁹ It will become fine dust over all the land of Egypt, and festering boils will break out on man and beast throughout the land.” ¹⁰ So they took soot from the furnace and stood before Pharaoh. Moses tossed it into the air, and festering boils broke out on man and beast. ¹¹ The magicians could not stand before Moses, because the boils had broken out on them and on all the Egyptians. ¹² But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said to Moses. ¹³ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Get up early in the morning, stand before Pharaoh, and tell him that this is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ¹⁴ Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth. ¹⁵ For by this time I could have stretched out My hand and struck you and your people with a plague to wipe you off the earth. ¹⁶ But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth. ¹⁷ Still, you lord it over My people and do not allow them to go. ¹⁸ Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹ So give orders now to shelter your livestock and everything you have in the field. Every man or beast that remains in the field and is not brought inside will die when the hail comes down upon them.’” ²⁰ Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their servants and livestock to shelter, ²¹ but those who disregarded the word of the LORD left their servants and livestock in the field. ²² Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt—on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.” ²³ So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation. ²⁵ Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast; it beat down every plant of the field and stripped every tree. ²⁶ The only place where it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. ²⁷ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. ²⁸ Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.” ²⁹ Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. ³⁰ But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the LORD our God.” ³¹ (Now the flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom; ³² but the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.) ³³ Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. ³⁴ When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart—he and his officials. ³⁵ So Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials, that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them, ² and that you may tell your children and grandchildren how severely I dealt with the Egyptians when I performed miraculous signs among them, so that all of you may know that I am the LORD.” ³ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and told him, “This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let My people go, so that they may worship Me. ⁴ But if you refuse to let My people go, I will bring locusts into your territory tomorrow. ⁵ They will cover the face of the land so that no one can see it. They will devour whatever is left after the hail and eat every tree that grows in your fields. ⁶ They will fill your houses and the houses of all your officials and every Egyptian—something neither your fathers nor your grandfathers have seen since the day they came into this land.’” Then Moses turned and left Pharaoh’s presence. ⁷ Pharaoh’s officials asked him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go, so that they may worship the LORD their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is in ruins?” ⁸ So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh. “Go, worship the LORD your God,” he said. “But who exactly will be going?” ⁹ “We will go with our young and old,” Moses replied. “We will go with our sons and daughters, and with our flocks and herds, for we must hold a feast to the LORD.” ¹⁰ Then Pharaoh told them, “May the LORD be with you if I ever let you go with your little ones. Clearly you are bent on evil. ¹¹ No, only the men may go and worship the LORD, since that is what you have been requesting.” And Moses and Aaron were driven from Pharaoh’s presence. ¹² Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.” ¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be. ¹⁵ They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt. ¹⁶ Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. ¹⁷ Now please forgive my sin once more and appeal to the LORD your God, that He may remove this death from me.” ¹⁸ So Moses left Pharaoh’s presence and appealed to the LORD. ¹⁹ And the LORD changed the wind to a very strong west wind that carried off the locusts and blew them into the Red Sea. Not a single locust remained anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰ But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let the Israelites go. ²¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that darkness may spread over the land of Egypt—a palpable darkness.” ²² So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and total darkness covered all the land of Egypt for three days. ²³ No one could see anyone else, and for three days no one left his place. Yet all the Israelites had light in their dwellings. ²⁴ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, “Go, worship the LORD. Even your little ones may go with you; only your flocks and herds must stay behind.” ²⁵ But Moses replied, “You must also provide us with sacrifices and burnt offerings to present to the LORD our God. ²⁶ Even our livestock must go with us; not a hoof will be left behind, for we will need some of them to worship the LORD our God, and we will not know how we are to worship the LORD until we arrive.” ²⁷ But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he was unwilling to let them go. ²⁸ “Depart from me!” Pharaoh said to Moses. “Make sure you never see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die.” ²⁹ “As you say,” Moses replied, “I will never see your face again.”

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, “I will bring upon Pharaoh and Egypt one more plague. After that, he will allow you to leave this place. And when he lets you go, he will drive you out completely. ² Now announce to the people that men and women alike should ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” ³ And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people. ⁴ So Moses declared, “This is what the LORD says: ‘About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, ⁵ and every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the servant girl behind the hand mill, as well as the firstborn of all the cattle. ⁶ Then a great cry will go out over all the land of Egypt. Such an outcry has never been heard before and will never be heard again. ⁷ But among all the Israelites, not even a dog will snarl at man or beast.’ Then you will know that the LORD makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. ⁸ And all these officials of yours will come and bow before me, saying, ‘Go, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will depart.” And hot with anger, Moses left Pharaoh’s presence. ⁹ The LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, so that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let the Israelites go out of his land.

¹ Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ² “This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year. ³ Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household. ⁴ If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly. ⁵ Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. ⁷ They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸ They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire—its head and legs and inner parts. ¹⁰ Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over. ¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover. ¹² On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ¹³ The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. ¹⁴ And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come. ¹⁵ For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do. ¹⁷ So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come. ¹⁸ In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹ For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel. ²⁰ You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.” ²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²² Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning. ²³ When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down. ²⁴ And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service. ²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ ²⁷ you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. ²⁸ And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. ²⁹ Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock. ³⁰ During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead. ³¹ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. ³² Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.” ³³ And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing. ³⁵ Furthermore, the Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing. ³⁶ And the LORD gave the people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they granted their request. In this way they plundered the Egyptians. ³⁷ The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves. ⁴⁰ Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt. ⁴² Because the LORD kept a vigil that night to bring them out of the land of Egypt, this same night is to be a vigil to the LORD, to be observed by all the Israelites for the generations to come. ⁴³ And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it. ⁴⁴ But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵ A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover. ⁴⁶ It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of the bones. ⁴⁷ The whole congregation of Israel must celebrate it. ⁴⁸ If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it. ⁴⁹ The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.” ⁵⁰ Then all the Israelites did this—they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.

²² They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, dwelled. It had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.

³⁴ Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?

²² Before our eyes the LORD inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on all his household.

¹⁰ You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his officials, and all the people of his land, for You knew they had acted with arrogance against our fathers. You made a name for Yourself that endures to this day.

⁴² They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary, ⁴³ when He performed His signs in Egypt and His wonders in the fields of Zoan. ⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood, and from their streams they could not drink. ⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. ⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper, the fruit of their labor to the locust. ⁴⁷ He killed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore-figs with sleet. ⁴⁸ He abandoned their cattle to the hail and their livestock to bolts of lightning. ⁴⁹ He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels. ⁵⁰ He cleared a path for His anger; He did not spare them from death but delivered their lives to the plague.

²⁷ They performed His miraculous signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham. ²⁸ He sent darkness, and it became dark—yet they defied His words. ²⁹ He turned their waters to blood and caused their fish to die. ³⁰ Their land teemed with frogs, even in their royal chambers. ³¹ He spoke, and insects swarmed—gnats throughout their country. ³² He gave them hail for rain, with lightning throughout their land. ³³ He struck their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country. ³⁴ He spoke, and the locusts came—young locusts without number. ³⁵ They devoured every plant in their land and consumed the produce of their soil. ³⁶ Then He struck all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigor. ³⁷ He brought Israel out with silver and gold, and none among His tribes stumbled. ³⁸ Egypt was glad when they departed, for the dread of Israel had fallen on them.

²² wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.

⁹ He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹¹ The princes of Zoan are mere fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a son of eastern kings”?

¹³ The princes of Zoan have become fools; the princes of Memphis are deceived. The cornerstones of her tribes have led Egypt astray.

¹⁴ I will lay waste Pathros, set fire to Zoan, and execute judgment on Thebes.

¹ Then the LORD said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’ ⁴ And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. But I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So this is what the Israelites did. ⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.” ⁶ So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. ⁷ He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. ⁸ And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly. ⁹ The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon. ¹⁰ As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” ¹³ But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. ¹⁴ The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” ¹⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided,

⁸ At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

¹⁶ the flowing water stood still. It backed up as far upstream as Adam, a city in the area of Zarethan, while the water flowing toward the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea) was completely cut off. So the people crossed over opposite Jericho.

⁷ For my loins are full of burning pain, and no soundness remains in my body.

⁶ He turned the sea into dry land; they passed through the waters on foot; there we rejoiced in Him.

⁹ He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert. ¹⁰ He saved them from the hand that hated them; He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.

¹³ He divided the Red Sea in two His loving devotion endures forever. ¹⁴ and led Israel through the midst, His loving devotion endures forever. ¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His loving devotion endures forever.

¹³ who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble?

¹⁵ You trampled the sea with Your horses, churning the great waters.

² They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food

²¹ And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night. ²² Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place before the people.

²⁴ At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion.

³⁵ Moses was unable to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled on it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. ³⁶ Whenever the cloud was lifted from above the tabernacle, the Israelites would set out through all the stages of their journey. ³⁷ If the cloud was not lifted, they would not set out until the day it was taken up. ³⁸ For the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel through all their journeys.

¹² You led them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to light for them the way in which they should travel.

¹⁹ You in Your great compassion did not forsake them in the wilderness. By day the pillar of cloud never turned away from guiding them on their path; and by the night the pillar of fire illuminated the way they should go.

³⁹ He spread a cloud as a covering and a fire to light up the night.

⁶ Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.

⁴¹ He opened a rock, and water gushed out; it flowed like a river in the desert.

⁸ who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of water!

¹⁸ I will open rivers on the barren heights, and fountains in the middle of the valleys. I will turn the desert into a pool of water, and the dry land into flowing springs.

²⁰ The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.

²¹ They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He made water flow for them from the rock; He split the rock, and water gushed out.

³⁷ On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. ³⁸ Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: ‘Streams of living water will flow from within him.’”

⁴ and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

¹ Then the angel showed me a pure river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” Let the one who hears say, “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come, and the one who desires the water of life drink freely.

⁸ “Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”

¹⁰ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.

¹⁵ He led you through the vast and terrifying wilderness with its venomous snakes and scorpions, a thirsty and waterless land. He brought you water from the rock of flint.

²¹ And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain.

⁸ At Horeb you provoked the LORD, and He was angry enough to destroy you.

¹² And the LORD said to me, “Get up and go down from here at once, for your people, whom you brought out of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten image.” ¹³ The LORD also said to me, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. ¹⁴ Leave Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Then I will make you into a nation mightier and greater than they are.” ¹⁵ So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands. ¹⁶ And I saw how you had sinned against the LORD your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the LORD had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took the two tablets and threw them out of my hands, shattering them before your eyes. ¹⁸ Then I fell down before the LORD for forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD and provoking Him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and wrath that the LORD had directed against you, enough to destroy you. But the LORD listened to me this time as well. ²⁰ The LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I also prayed for Aaron. ²¹ And I took that sinful thing, the calf you had made, and burned it in the fire. Then I crushed it and ground it to powder as fine as dust, and I cast it into the stream that came down from the mountain. ²² You continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe.

⁸ do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness, ⁹ where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work. ¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with that generation, and I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known My ways.”

¹³ Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel. ¹⁴ They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. ¹⁵ So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them. ¹⁶ In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD. ¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram. ¹⁸ Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked. ¹⁹ At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰ They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. ²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt, ²² wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. ²³ So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them. ²⁴ They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. ²⁵ They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD. ²⁶ So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness, ²⁷ to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. ²⁸ They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods. ²⁹ So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. ³⁰ But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained. ³¹ It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. ³² At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them.

¹⁰ But they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit. So He turned and became their enemy, and He Himself fought against them.

¹⁶ For some heard and rebelled, but not all those Moses led out of Egypt. ¹⁷ And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? ¹⁸ And to whom did He swear that they would never enter His rest? Was it not to those who disobeyed? ¹⁹ So we see that it was because of their unbelief that they were unable to enter.

² And there in the desert they all grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”

⁴ Meanwhile, the rabble among them had a strong craving for other food, and again the Israelites wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?

¹⁶ Do not test the LORD your God as you tested Him at Massah.

⁹ where your fathers tested and tried Me, though they had seen My work.

¹⁴ They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. ¹⁵ So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them.

⁶ These things took place as examples to keep us from craving evil things as they did.

⁹ We should not test Christ, as some of them also did, and were killed by snakes.

² You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. ³ And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures.

³ “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”

⁸ And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.” ⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of Israel, ‘Come before the LORD, for He has heard your grumbling.’” ¹⁰ And as Aaron was speaking to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the desert, and there in a cloud the glory of the LORD appeared.

¹³ Where can I get meat for all these people? For they keep crying out to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’

³ The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished with our brothers before the LORD!

⁵ and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!”

¹⁹ They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth—the work of human hands.

³⁷ For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God.”

⁵ You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

²⁰ But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”

⁶ And the beast opened its mouth to speak blasphemy against God and to slander His name and His tabernacle—those who dwell in heaven.

¹² So she laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?” ¹³ And the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Can I really bear a child when I am old?’ ¹⁴ Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”

⁶ Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

¹⁸ And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the LORD, saying: ‘Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat.

²¹ But Moses replied, “Here I am among 600,000 men on foot, yet You say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ ²² If all our flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” ²³ The LORD answered Moses, “Is the LORD’s arm too short? Now you will see whether or not My word will come to pass.”

⁴¹ Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

¹ Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. ² And the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. ³ So that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD had burned among them.

¹⁰ Then Moses heard the people of family after family weeping at the entrances to their tents, and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly, and Moses was also displeased.

²² For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

³¹ God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel.

⁵ Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the wilderness.

¹¹ Now all these things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

²⁹ “For our God is a consuming fire.”

⁵ Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after the Lord had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.

³² But in spite of all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,

²⁴ They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise.

⁹ The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you do not stand firm in your faith, then you will not stand at all.’”

¹² See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.

⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who approaches Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.

¹⁰ Whoever believes in the Son of God has this testimony within him; whoever does not believe God has made Him out to be a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has given about His Son.

¹¹ In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.

² But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”

¹⁹ And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?” So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”

⁹ For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.

⁶ I will make it a wasteland, neither pruned nor cultivated, and thorns and briers will grow up. I will command the clouds that rain shall not fall on it.”

¹⁰ Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour out for you blessing without measure.

⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.

¹⁴ When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.

³ He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

¹⁵ In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land which You had sworn to give them.

²⁰ You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.

⁹ You sent abundant rain, O God; You refreshed Your weary inheritance.

⁴⁰ They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.

³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” ³² Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³ For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ “Sir,” they said, “give us this bread at all times.” ³⁵ Jesus answered, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me will never hunger, and whoever believes in Me will never thirst. ³⁶ But as I stated, you have seen Me and still you do not believe. ³⁷ Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never drive away. ³⁸ For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me. ³⁹ And this is the will of the Father who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. ⁴⁰ And it is the will of Him who sent Me that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” ⁴¹ At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” ⁴² They were asking, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How then can He say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’” ⁴³ “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus therefore replied. ⁴⁴ “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets: ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who has heard the Father and learned from Him comes to Me— ⁴⁶ not that anyone has seen the Father except the One who is from God; only He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes in Me has eternal life. ⁴⁸ I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹ Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. ⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that anyone may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And this bread, which I will give for the life of the world, is My flesh.” ⁵² At this, the Jews began to argue among themselves, “How can this man give us His flesh to eat?” ⁵³ So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. ⁵⁶ Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.” ⁵⁹ Jesus said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. ⁶⁰ On hearing it, many of His disciples said, “This is a difficult teaching. Who can accept it?” ⁶¹ Aware that His disciples were grumbling about this teaching, Jesus asked them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what will happen if you see the Son of Man ascend to where He was before? ⁶³ The Spirit gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words I speak to you are spirit and they are life. ⁶⁴ However, there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray Him.) ⁶⁵ Then Jesus said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless My Father has granted it to him.” ⁶⁶ From that time on many of His disciples turned back and no longer walked with Him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to leave too?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” ⁷¹ He was speaking about Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. For although Judas was one of the Twelve, he was later to betray Jesus.

³ They all ate the same spiritual food

⁸ And Moses added, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the LORD.”

²⁰ Bless the LORD, all His angels mighty in strength who carry out His word, who hearken to the voice of His command.

²⁰ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

³⁷ They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.

³¹ Now a wind sent by the LORD came up, drove in quail from the sea, and brought them near the camp, about two cubits above the surface of the ground, for a day’s journey in every direction around the camp.

⁷ He causes the clouds to rise from the ends of the earth. He generates the lightning with the rain and brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

¹² “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’” ¹³ That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.

¹⁸ And say to the people: Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, because you have cried out in the hearing of the LORD, saying: ‘Who will feed us meat? For we were better off in Egypt!’ Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat. ¹⁹ You will eat it not for one or two days, nor for five or ten or twenty days,

³² All that day and night, and all the next day, the people stayed up gathering the quail. No one gathered less than ten homers, and they spread them out all around the camp.

¹⁹ You will eat it not for one or two days, nor for five or ten or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and makes you nauseous—because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have cried out before Him, saying, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”

¹⁵ So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them.

³³ But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and the LORD struck them with a severe plague. ³⁴ So they called that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

²⁰ That night God came to Balaam and said, “Since these men have come to summon you, get up and go with them, but you must only do what I tell you.” ²¹ So in the morning Balaam got up, saddled his donkey, and went with the princes of Moab. ²² Then God’s anger was kindled because Balaam was going along, and the angel of the LORD stood in the road to oppose him. Balaam was riding his donkey, and his two servants were with him.

³² For the waywardness of the simple will slay them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

¹⁹ Now there was a rich man dressed in purple and fine linen, who lived each day in joyous splendor. ²⁰ And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with sores ²¹ and longing to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. ²² One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried. ²³ In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham from afar, with Lazarus by his side.

¹⁶ Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.

¹ Then the whole congregation lifted up their voices and cried out, and that night the people wept. ² All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the LORD bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and children will become plunder. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.” ⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell facedown before the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the whole congregation of Israel, “The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us. ⁹ Only do not rebel against the LORD, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the LORD is with us. Do not be afraid of them!” ¹⁰ But the whole congregation threatened to stone Joshua and Caleb. Then the glory of the LORD appeared to all the Israelites at the Tent of Meeting. ¹¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them? ¹² I will strike them with a plague and destroy them—and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are.” ¹³ But Moses said to the LORD, “The Egyptians will hear of it, for by Your strength You brought this people from among them. ¹⁴ And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. ¹⁵ If You kill this people as one man, the nations who have heard of Your fame will say, ¹⁶ ‘Because the LORD was unable to bring this people into the land He swore to give them, He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’ ¹⁷ So now I pray, may the power of my Lord be magnified, just as You have declared: ¹⁸ ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.” ²⁰ “I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied. ²¹ “Yet as surely as I live and as surely as the whole earth is filled with the glory of the LORD, ²² not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times— ²³ not one will ever see the land that I swore to give their fathers. None of those who have treated Me with contempt will see it. ²⁴ But because My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me wholeheartedly, I will bring him into the land he has entered, and his descendants will inherit it. ²⁵ Now since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys, turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea.” ²⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ²⁷ “How long will this wicked congregation grumble against Me? I have heard the complaints that the Israelites are making against Me. ²⁸ So tell them: As surely as I live, declares the LORD, I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. ²⁹ Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me. ³⁰ Surely none of you will enter the land in which I swore to settle you, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ But I will bring your children, whom you said would become plunder, into the land you have rejected—and they will enjoy it. ³² As for you, however, your bodies will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and they will suffer for your unfaithfulness until the last of your bodies lies in the wilderness. ³⁴ In keeping with the forty days you spied out the land, you shall bear your guilt forty years—a year for each day—and you will experience My alienation. ³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.” ³⁶ So the men Moses had sent to spy out the land, who had returned and made the whole congregation grumble against him by bringing out a bad report about the land— ³⁷ those men who had brought out the bad report about the land—were struck down by a plague before the LORD. ³⁸ Of those men who had gone to spy out the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive. ³⁹ And when Moses relayed these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned bitterly. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they got up and went up toward the ridge of the hill country. “We have indeed sinned,” they said, “but we will go to the place the LORD has promised.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you transgressing the commandment of the LORD? This will not succeed! ⁴² Do not go up, lest you be struck down by your enemies, because the LORD is not among you. ⁴³ For there the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned away from the LORD, He will not be with you.” ⁴⁴ But they dared to go up to the ridge of the hill country, though neither Moses nor the ark of the covenant of the LORD moved from the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them all the way to Hormah.

¹ Now Korah son of Izhar, the son of Kohath son of Levi, along with some Reubenites—Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—conducted ² a rebellion against Moses, along with 250 men of Israel renowned as leaders of the congregation and representatives in the assembly. ³ They came together against Moses and Aaron and told them, “You have taken too much upon yourselves! For everyone in the entire congregation is holy, and the LORD is in their midst. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?” ⁴ When Moses heard this, he fell facedown. ⁵ Then he said to Korah and all his followers, “Tomorrow morning the LORD will reveal who belongs to Him and who is holy, and He will bring that person near to Himself. The one He chooses, He will bring near to Himself. ⁶ You, Korah, and all your followers are to do as follows: Take censers, ⁷ and tomorrow you are to place fire and incense in them in the presence of the LORD. Then the man the LORD chooses will be the one who is holy. It is you sons of Levi who have taken too much upon yourselves!” ⁸ Moses also said to Korah, “Now listen, you sons of Levi! ⁹ Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them? ¹⁰ He has brought you near, you and all your fellow Levites, but you are seeking the priesthood as well. ¹¹ Therefore, it is you and all your followers who have conspired against the LORD! As for Aaron, who is he that you should grumble against him?” ¹² Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! ¹³ Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us? ¹⁴ Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you gouge out the eyes of these men? No, we will not come!” ¹⁵ Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.” ¹⁶ And Moses said to Korah, “You and all your followers are to appear before the LORD tomorrow—you and they and Aaron. ¹⁷ Each man is to take his censer, place incense in it, and present it before the LORD—250 censers. You and Aaron are to present your censers as well.”

¹ When the Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, heard that Israel was coming along the road to Atharim, he attacked Israel and captured some prisoners. ² So Israel made a vow to the LORD: “If You will deliver this people into our hands, we will devote their cities to destruction.” ³ And the LORD heard Israel’s plea and delivered up the Canaanites. Israel devoted them and their cities to destruction; so they named the place Hormah. ⁴ Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey ⁵ and spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you led us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread or water, and we detest this wretched food!” ⁶ So the LORD sent venomous snakes among the people, and many of the Israelites were bitten and died.

¹ While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with the daughters of Moab, ² who also invited them to the sacrifices for their gods. And the people ate and bowed down to these gods. ³ So Israel joined in worshiping Baal of Peor, and the anger of the LORD burned against them. ⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that His fierce anger may turn away from Israel.” ⁵ So Moses told the judges of Israel, “Each of you must kill all of his men who have joined in worshiping Baal of Peor.” ⁶ Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. ⁷ On seeing this, Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, got up from the assembly, took a spear in his hand, ⁸ followed the Israelite into his tent, and drove the spear through both of them—through the Israelite and on through the belly of the woman. So the plague against the Israelites was halted, ⁹ but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000. ¹⁰ Then the LORD said to Moses, ¹¹ “Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned My wrath away from the Israelites; for he was zealous for My sake among them, so that I did not consume the Israelites in My zeal. ¹² Declare, therefore, that I am granting him My covenant of peace. ¹³ It will be a covenant of permanent priesthood for him and his descendants, because he was zealous for his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” ¹⁴ The name of the Israelite who was slain with the Midianite woman was Zimri son of Salu, the leader of a Simeonite family. ¹⁵ And the name of the slain Midianite woman was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur, a tribal chief of a Midianite family. ¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses, ¹⁷ “Attack the Midianites and strike them dead. ¹⁸ For they assailed you deceitfully when they seduced you in the matter of Peor and their sister Cozbi, the daughter of the Midianite leader, the woman who was killed on the day the plague came because of Peor.”

¹¹ They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them.

²² because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

¹³ Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness.

³¹ Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

³⁷ Although Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still did not believe in Him.

¹⁶ To the woman He said: “I will sharply increase your pain in childbirth; in pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” ¹⁷ And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because of you; through toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. ¹⁸ Both thorns and thistles it will yield for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹ By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

²⁹ Your bodies will fall in this wilderness—all who were numbered in the census, everyone twenty years of age or older—because you have grumbled against Me.

³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will surely do these things to this entire wicked congregation, which has conspired against Me. They will meet their end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”

⁶⁴ Among all these, however, there was not one who had been numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they counted the Israelites in the Wilderness of Sinai. ⁶⁵ For the LORD had told them that they would surely die in the wilderness. Not one was left except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun.

¹⁴ The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. ¹⁵ Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished. ¹⁶ Now when all the fighting men among the people had died,

⁶ For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground. ⁷ Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

¹ “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.

⁷ For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath. ⁸ You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. ⁹ For all our days decline in Your fury; we finish our years with a sigh.

² “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher, “futility of futilities! Everything is futile!”

¹³ And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom all that is done under heaven. What a heavy burden God has laid upon the sons of men to occupy them! ¹⁴ I have seen all the things that are done under the sun, and have found them all to be futile, a pursuit of the wind.

⁸ “Futility of futilities,” says the Teacher. “Everything is futile!”

¹³ When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is this: Fear God and keep His commandments, because this is the whole duty of man. ¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.

⁷ Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you. Intercede with the LORD so He will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses interceded for the people.

⁸ Then the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Aram-naharaim, and the Israelites served him eight years. ⁹ But when the Israelites cried out to the LORD, He raised up Othniel son of Caleb’s younger brother Kenaz as a deliverer to save them.

¹² Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD. ¹³ After enlisting the Ammonites and Amalekites to join forces with him, Eglon attacked and defeated Israel, taking possession of the City of Palms. ¹⁴ The Israelites served Eglon king of Moab eighteen years. ¹⁵ And again they cried out to the LORD, and He raised up Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed Benjamite, as their deliverer. So they sent him with tribute to Eglon king of Moab.

³ Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

⁷ So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and Ammonites, ⁸ who that very year harassed and oppressed the Israelites, and did so for eighteen years to all the Israelites on the other side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites. ⁹ The Ammonites also crossed the Jordan to fight against Judah, Benjamin, and the house of Ephraim, and Israel was in deep distress. ¹⁰ Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, saying, “We have sinned against You, for we have indeed forsaken our God and served the Baals.”

⁶ Feet trample it down—the feet of the oppressed, the steps of the poor.

²³ O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”

¹⁵ Then I will return to My place until they admit their guilt and seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”

¹⁴ They do not cry out to Me from their hearts when they wail upon their beds. They slash themselves for grain and new wine, but turn away from Me.

⁶ Therefore tell the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

¹³ With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.

⁸ But because the LORD loved you and kept the oath He swore to your fathers, He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

²⁶ And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

⁴ He is the Rock, His work is perfect; all His ways are just. A God of faithfulness without injustice, righteous and upright is He.

¹⁵ But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.

³⁰ How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up? ³¹ For their rock is not like our Rock, even our enemies concede.

² Remember Your congregation, which You purchased long ago and redeemed as the tribe of Your inheritance—Mount Zion where You dwell.

⁴² They did not remember His power—the day He redeemed them from the adversary,

²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt,

¹⁴ Do not fear, O worm of Jacob, O few men of Israel. I will help you,” declares the LORD. “Your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.

⁶ Thus says the LORD, the King and Redeemer of Israel, the LORD of Hosts: “I am the first and I am the last, and there is no God but Me.

¹⁷ Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.

⁸ For He said, “They are surely My people, sons who will not be disloyal.” So He became their Savior. ⁹ In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.

¹⁴ He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

²⁸ And the LORD heard the words you spoke to me, and He said to me, “I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. ²⁹ If only they had such a heart to fear Me and keep all My commandments always, so that it might be well with them and with their children forever.

⁴⁴ When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me.

¹² Then they believed His promises and sang His praise. ¹³ Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel.

¹³ Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.

¹¹ Whom have you dreaded and feared, so that you lied and failed to remember Me or take this to heart? Is it not because I have long been silent that you do not fear Me?

³¹ So My people come to you as usual, sit before you, and hear your words; but they do not put them into practice. Although they express love with their mouths, their hearts pursue dishonest gain.

¹² Ephraim surrounds Me with lies, the house of Israel with deceit; but Judah still walks with God and is faithful to the Holy One.

¹⁷ All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant. ¹⁸ Our hearts have not turned back; our steps have not strayed from Your path.

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

⁸ Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

⁸⁰ May my heart be blameless in Your statutes, that I may not be put to shame.

¹⁶ They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue; for this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.

² Their hearts are devious; now they must bear their guilt. The LORD will break down their altars and demolish their sacred pillars.

²¹ You have no part or share in our ministry, because your heart is not right before God.

⁶ Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, ⁷ maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” ⁸ Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped. ⁹ “O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

¹⁸ ‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, I pray, the iniquity of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your loving devotion, just as You have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt.” ²⁰ “I have pardoned them as you requested,” the LORD replied.

⁴⁴ and the LORD said to Moses, ⁴⁵ “Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown. ⁴⁶ Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.” ⁴⁷ So Aaron took the censer as Moses had ordered and ran into the midst of the assembly. And seeing that the plague had begun among the people, he offered the incense and made atonement for the people. ⁴⁸ He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.

²⁰ And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, as his father Manasseh had done.

⁴³ Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity. ⁴⁴ Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress. ⁴⁵ And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.

²¹ Remember these things, O Jacob, for you are My servant, O Israel. I have made you, and you are My servant; O Israel, I will never forget you. ²² I have blotted out your transgressions like a cloud, and your sins like a mist. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.

⁹ For the sake of My name I will delay My wrath; for the sake of My praise I will restrain it, so that you will not be cut off.

⁸ But they rebelled against Me and refused to listen. None of them cast away the abominations before their eyes, and they did not forsake the idols of Egypt. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the land of Egypt. ⁹ But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the eyes of the nations among whom they were living, in whose sight I had revealed Myself to Israel by bringing them out of the land of Egypt.

¹³ Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness. They did not follow My statutes and they rejected My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they utterly profaned My Sabbaths. Then I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and put an end to them in the wilderness. ¹⁴ But I acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

¹⁷ Yet I looked on them with pity and did not destroy them or bring them to an end in the wilderness.

²¹ But the children rebelled against Me. They did not walk in My statutes or carefully observe My ordinances—though the man who does these things will live by them—and they profaned My Sabbaths. So I resolved to pour out My wrath upon them and vent My anger against them in the wilderness. ²² But I withheld My hand and acted for the sake of My name, so that it would not be profaned in the eyes of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

³ So the LORD said, “My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days shall be 120 years.”

⁷ Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.

¹⁶ I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.

⁹ Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?

¹⁴ For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust. ¹⁵ As for man, his days are like grass—he blooms like a flower of the field; ¹⁶ when the wind passes over, it vanishes, and its place remembers it no more.

⁶ Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.

¹⁴ You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

¹¹ And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will this people treat Me with contempt? How long will they refuse to believe in Me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?

¹⁷ But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

¹⁴ They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. ¹⁵ So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them. ¹⁶ In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD. ¹⁷ The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram. ¹⁸ Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked. ¹⁹ At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. ²⁰ They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. ²¹ They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt, ²² wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. ²³ So He said He would destroy them—had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them. ²⁴ They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. ²⁵ They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD. ²⁶ So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness, ²⁷ to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. ²⁸ They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods. ²⁹ So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. ³⁰ But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained. ³¹ It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. ³² At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them. ³³ For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.

¹¹ because they rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High.

¹³ Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well?

³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.

¹⁵ As it has been said: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion.” ¹⁶ For some heard and rebelled, but not all those Moses led out of Egypt. ¹⁷ And with whom was God angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and return to Egypt.”

²² not one of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness—yet have tested Me and disobeyed Me these ten times—

²² Whom have you taunted and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes in pride? Against the Holy One of Israel!

¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?”

¹⁸ Surely our shield belongs to the LORD, and our king to the Holy One of Israel.

³⁵ While He was still speaking, messengers from the house of Jairus arrived and said, “Your daughter is dead; why bother the Teacher anymore?” ³⁶ But Jesus overheard their conversation and immediately said to Jairus, “Do not be afraid; just believe.”

³⁹ But our fathers refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.

⁸ do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness, ⁹ where your fathers tested and tried Me, and for forty years saw My works. ¹⁰ Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.’ ¹¹ So I swore on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest.’”

²¹ It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn away from the holy commandment passed on to them. ²² Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud.”

⁹ It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.

¹² Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

³⁰ That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. ³¹ When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.

³⁴ The Israelites failed to remember the LORD their God who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side.

²¹ Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel, ²² because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation.

⁷ Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea. ⁸ Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known.

¹⁰ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt His loving devotion endures forever. ¹¹ and brought Israel out from among them His loving devotion endures forever. ¹² with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. His loving devotion endures forever.

¹¹ On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.

²¹ You brought Your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and with great terror.

¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go unless a mighty hand compels him. ²⁰ So I will stretch out My hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders I will perform among them. And after that, he will release you.

²¹ The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.

³ But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I will multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,

¹⁷ This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD. Behold, with the staff in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will turn to blood. ¹⁸ The fish in the Nile will die, the river will stink, and the Egyptians will be unable to drink its water.’” ¹⁹ And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt—over their rivers and canals and ponds and reservoirs—that they may become blood.’ There will be blood throughout the land of Egypt, even in the vessels of wood and stone.” ²⁰ Moses and Aaron did just as the LORD had commanded; in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials, Aaron raised the staff and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was turned to blood. ²¹ The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. And there was blood throughout the land of Egypt.

²⁹ He turned their waters to blood and caused their fish to die.

³ And the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it turned to blood like that of the dead, and every living thing in the sea died. ⁴ And the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they turned to blood. ⁵ And I heard the angel of the waters say: “Righteous are You, O Holy One, who is and was, because You have brought these judgments. ⁶ For they have spilled the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, as they deserve.”

² But if you refuse to let them go, I will plague your whole country with frogs. ³ The Nile will teem with frogs, and they will come into your palace and up to your bedroom and onto your bed, into the houses of your officials and your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. ⁴ The frogs will come up on you and your people and all your officials.’” ⁵ And the LORD said to Moses, “Tell Aaron, ‘Stretch out your hand with your staff over the rivers and canals and ponds, and cause the frogs to come up onto the land of Egypt.’” ⁶ So Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up and covered the land of Egypt. ⁷ But the magicians did the same thing by their magic arts, and they also brought frogs up onto the land of Egypt. ⁸ Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Pray to the LORD to take the frogs away from me and my people. Then I will let your people go, that they may sacrifice to the LORD.” ⁹ Moses said to Pharaoh, “You may have the honor over me. When shall I pray for you and your officials and your people that the frogs (except for those in the Nile) may be taken away from you and your houses?” ¹⁰ “Tomorrow,” Pharaoh answered. “May it be as you say,” Moses replied, “so that you may know that there is no one like the LORD our God. ¹¹ The frogs will depart from you and your houses and your officials and your people; they will remain only in the Nile.” ¹² After Moses and Aaron had left Pharaoh, Moses cried out to the LORD for help with the frogs that He had brought against Pharaoh. ¹³ And the LORD did as Moses requested, and the frogs in the houses, the courtyards, and the fields died. ¹⁴ They were piled into countless heaps, and there was a terrible stench in the land. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, however, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said.

²¹ But if you will not let My people go, I will send swarms of flies upon you and your officials and your people and your houses. The houses of the Egyptians and even the ground where they stand will be full of flies. ²² But on that day I will give special treatment to the land of Goshen, where My people live; no swarms of flies will be found there. In this way you will know that I, the LORD, am in the land. ²³ I will make a distinction between My people and your people. This sign will take place tomorrow.’” ²⁴ And the LORD did so. Thick swarms of flies poured into Pharaoh’s palace and into the houses of his officials. Throughout Egypt the land was ruined by swarms of flies.

³⁰ Their land teemed with frogs, even in their royal chambers. ³¹ He spoke, and insects swarmed—gnats throughout their country.

³ And the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it turned to blood like that of the dead, and every living thing in the sea died.

¹² Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt, so that the locusts may swarm over it and devour every plant in the land—everything that the hail has left behind.” ¹³ So Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and throughout that day and night the LORD sent an east wind across the land. By morning the east wind had brought the locusts. ¹⁴ The locusts swarmed across the land and settled over the entire territory of Egypt. Never before had there been so many locusts, and never again will there be. ¹⁵ They covered the face of all the land until it was black, and they consumed all the plants on the ground and all the fruit on the trees that the hail had left behind. Nothing green was left on any tree or plant in all the land of Egypt.

³⁴ He spoke, and the locusts came—young locusts without number. ³⁵ They devoured every plant in their land and consumed the produce of their soil.

⁴ What the devouring locust has left, the swarming locust has eaten; what the swarming locust has left, the young locust has eaten; and what the young locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten. ⁵ Wake up, you drunkards, and weep; wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it has been cut off from your mouth. ⁶ For a nation has invaded My land, powerful and without number; its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and its fangs are the fangs of a lioness. ⁷ It has laid waste My grapevine and splintered My fig tree. It has stripped off the bark and thrown it away; the branches have turned white.

²⁵ I will repay you for the years eaten by locusts—the swarming locust, the young locust, the destroying locust, and the devouring locust—My great army that I sent against you.

¹ This is what the Lord GOD showed me: He was preparing swarms of locusts just after the king’s harvest, as the late spring crop was coming up. ² And when the locusts had eaten every green plant in the land, I said, “Lord GOD, please forgive! How will Jacob survive, since he is so small?”

² The star opened the pit of the Abyss, and smoke rose out of it like the smoke of a burning furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from the pit. ³ And out of the smoke, locusts descended on the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. ⁴ They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. ⁵ The locusts were not given power to kill them, but only to torment them for five months, and their torment was like the stinging of a scorpion. ⁶ In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will escape them. ⁷ And the locusts looked like horses prepared for battle, with something like crowns of gold on their heads, and faces like the faces of men. ⁸ They had hair like that of women, and teeth like those of lions. ⁹ They also had thoraxes like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the roar of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. ¹⁰ They had tails with stingers like scorpions, which had the power to injure people for five months. ¹¹ They were ruled by a king, the angel of the Abyss. His name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek it is Apollyon.

¹⁸ Behold, at this time tomorrow I will rain down the worst hail that has ever fallen on Egypt, from the day it was founded until now. ¹⁹ So give orders now to shelter your livestock and everything you have in the field. Every man or beast that remains in the field and is not brought inside will die when the hail comes down upon them.’” ²⁰ Those among Pharaoh’s officials who feared the word of the LORD hurried to bring their servants and livestock to shelter, ²¹ but those who disregarded the word of the LORD left their servants and livestock in the field. ²² Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven, so that hail may fall on all the land of Egypt—on man and beast and every plant of the field throughout the land of Egypt.” ²³ So Moses stretched out his staff toward heaven, and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning struck the earth. So the LORD rained down hail upon the land of Egypt. ²⁴ The hail fell and the lightning continued flashing through it. The hail was so severe that nothing like it had ever been seen in all the land of Egypt from the time it became a nation. ²⁵ Throughout the land of Egypt, the hail struck down everything in the field, both man and beast; it beat down every plant of the field and stripped every tree. ²⁶ The only place where it did not hail was in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites lived. ²⁷ Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. “This time I have sinned,” he said. “The LORD is righteous, and I and my people are wicked. ²⁸ Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.” ²⁹ Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s. ³⁰ But as for you and your officials, I know that you still do not fear the LORD our God.” ³¹ (Now the flax and barley were destroyed, since the barley was ripe and the flax was in bloom; ³² but the wheat and spelt were not destroyed, because they are late crops.) ³³ Then Moses departed from Pharaoh, went out of the city, and spread out his hands to the LORD. The thunder and hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured down on the land. ³⁴ When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had ceased, he sinned again and hardened his heart—he and his officials.

³² He gave them hail for rain, with lightning throughout their land. ³³ He struck their vines and fig trees and shattered the trees of their country.

¹⁹ So give orders now to shelter your livestock and everything you have in the field. Every man or beast that remains in the field and is not brought inside will die when the hail comes down upon them.’”

²⁸ Pray to the LORD, for there has been enough of God’s thunder and hail. I will let you go; you do not need to stay any longer.”

¹³ The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

⁷ You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

¹⁶ But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

²¹ Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD, and said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the LORD. ²² And he replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him and prevail,’ said the LORD. ‘Go and do it.’

¹² “Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “Everything he has is in your hands, but you must not lay a hand on the man himself.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.

⁶ “Very well,” said the LORD to Satan. “He is in your hands, but you must spare his life.” ⁷ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

²³ When he has filled his stomach, God will vent His fury upon him, raining it down on him as he eats.

⁶ On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.

²⁵ So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to heart.

¹¹ The LORD has exhausted His wrath; He has poured out His fierce anger; He has kindled a fire in Zion, and it has consumed her foundations.

⁸ Therefore wait for Me,” declares the LORD, “until the day I rise to testify. For My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out upon them My indignation—all My burning anger. For all the earth will be consumed by the fire of My jealousy.

⁸ But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be anger and wrath. ⁹ There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil, first for the Jew, then for the Greek;

³ then the hand of the LORD will bring a severe plague on your livestock in the field—on your horses, donkeys, camels, herds, and flocks. ⁴ But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die.’” ⁵ The LORD set a time, saying, “Tomorrow the LORD will do this in the land.” ⁶ And the next day the LORD did just that. All the livestock of the Egyptians died, but not one animal belonging to the Israelites died.

²² It hurls itself against him without mercy as he flees headlong from its power.

¹¹ Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.

⁴ I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’

⁹ I will not look on you with pity, nor will I spare you, but I will punish you for your ways and for the abominations among you. Then you will know that it is I, the LORD, who strikes the blow.

¹⁸ Therefore I will respond with wrath. I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. Although they shout loudly in My ears, I will not listen to them.”

¹⁰ But as for Me, I will not look on them with pity, nor will I spare them. I will bring their deeds down upon their own heads.”

³² He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?

⁴ For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment; ⁵ if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;

²² And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness and told his two brothers outside. ²³ Then Shem and Japheth took a garment and placed it across their shoulders, and walking backward, they covered their father’s nakedness. Their faces were turned away so that they did not see their father’s nakedness. ²⁴ When Noah awoke from his drunkenness and learned what his youngest son had done to him, ²⁵ he said, “Cursed be Canaan! A servant of servants shall he be to his brothers.”

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

³ Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

¹² On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.

²⁹ Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock. ³⁰ During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.

¹⁵ And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of man and beast. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’

²³ Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob dwelt in the land of Ham.

²⁷ They performed His miraculous signs among them, and wonders in the land of Ham.

³⁶ Then He struck all the firstborn in their land, the firstfruits of all their vigor.

⁸ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt, of both man and beast.

¹⁰ He struck down the firstborn of Egypt His loving devotion endures forever.

²⁸ By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.

²⁰ You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

⁷ For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, the sheep under His care. Today, if you hear His voice,

³ Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

³⁷ He brought Israel out with silver and gold, and none among His tribes stumbled.

¹¹ He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

¹¹ Then His people remembered the days of old, the days of Moses. Where is He who brought them through the sea with the shepherds of His flock? Where is the One who set His Holy Spirit among them, ¹² who sent His glorious arm to lead them by the right hand of Moses, who divided the waters before them to gain for Himself everlasting renown, ¹³ who led them through the depths like a horse in the wilderness, so that they did not stumble? ¹⁴ Like cattle going down to the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. You led Your people this way to make for Yourself a glorious name.

² Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD. ³ Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴ I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the LORD.

¹¹ For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will tend My flock and make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. ¹⁶ I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’ ¹⁷ This is what the Lord GOD says to you, My flock: ‘I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the goats. ¹⁸ Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ Why must My flock feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied?’ ²⁰ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Since you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, ²² I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken. ²⁵ I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest. ²⁶ I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing. ²⁷ The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be prey for the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not consume them. They will dwell securely, and no one will frighten them. ²⁹ And I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations. ³⁰ Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,’ declares the Lord GOD. ³¹ ‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord GOD.”

⁴ “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, ⁶ comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’

¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. ¹² The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. ¹³ The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. ¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me, ¹⁵ just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep. ¹⁶ I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them in as well, and they will listen to My voice. Then there will be one flock and one shepherd. ¹⁷ The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to take it up again. ¹⁸ No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from My Father.” ¹⁹ Therefore there was again division among the Jews because of Jesus’ message. ²⁰ Many of them said, “He is demon-possessed and insane. Why would you listen to Him?” ²¹ But others replied, “These are not the words of a man possessed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” ²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, ²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple courts in Solomon’s Colonnade. ²⁴ So the Jews gathered around Him and demanded, “How long will You keep us in suspense? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.” ²⁵ “I already told you,” Jesus replied, “but you did not believe. The works I do in My Father’s name testify on My behalf. ²⁶ But because you are not My sheep, you refuse to believe, just as I said to you. ²⁷ My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹ My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰ I and the Father are one.” ³¹ At this, the Jews again picked up stones to stone Him. ³² But Jesus responded, “I have shown you many good works from My Father. For which of these do you stone Me?” ³³ “We are not stoning You for any good work,” said the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because You, who are a man, declare Yourself to be God.” ³⁴ Jesus replied, “Is it not written in your Law: ‘I have said you are gods’? ³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and the Scripture cannot be broken— ³⁶ then what about the One whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world? How then can you accuse Me of blasphemy for stating that I am the Son of God? ³⁷ If I am not doing the works of My Father, then do not believe Me. ³⁸ But if I am doing them, even though you do not believe Me, believe the works themselves, so that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I am in Him.” ³⁹ At this, they tried again to seize Him, but He escaped their grasp. ⁴⁰ Then Jesus went back across the Jordan to the place where John had first been baptizing, and He stayed there. ⁴¹ Many came to Him and said, “Although John never performed a sign, everything he said about this man was true.” ⁴² And many in that place believed in Jesus.

¹⁵ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward.

¹⁹ And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰ so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other.

²⁷ So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea. ²⁸ The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.

¹⁰ But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹⁵ but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His loving devotion endures forever.

²⁹ By faith the people passed through the Red Sea as on dry land; but when the Egyptians tried to follow, they were drowned.

¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance—the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established.

³ For it was not by their sword that they took the land; their arm did not bring them victory. It was by Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your face, because You favored them.

¹⁶ Why do you gaze in envy, O mountains of many peaks? This is the mountain God chose for His dwelling, where the LORD will surely dwell forever.

⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the sea is full of water.

¹⁶ O Lord, in keeping with all Your righteous acts, I pray that Your anger and wrath may turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all around us. ¹⁷ So now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of Your servant. For Your sake, O Lord, cause Your face to shine upon Your desolate sanctuary. ¹⁸ Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears Your name. For we are not presenting our petitions before You because of our righteous acts, but because of Your great compassion. ¹⁹ O Lord, listen! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, hear and act! For Your sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people bear Your name.” ²⁰ While I was speaking, praying, confessing my sin and that of my people Israel, and presenting my petition before the LORD my God concerning His holy mountain—

⁴⁵ He will pitch his royal tents between the sea and the beautiful holy mountain, but he will meet his end with no one to help him.

¹⁴ who is the pledge of our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession, to the praise of His glory.

⁵⁴ And you are to divide the land by lot according to your clans. Give a larger inheritance to a larger clan and a smaller inheritance to a smaller one. Whatever falls to each one by lot will be his. You will receive an inheritance according to the tribes of your fathers.

¹⁰ And when the LORD your God brings you into the land He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you—a land with great and splendid cities that you did not build, ¹¹ with houses full of every good thing with which you did not fill them, with wells that you did not dig, and with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant—and when you eat and are satisfied, ¹² be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

¹ Now Jericho was tightly shut up because of the Israelites. No one went out and no one came in. ² And the LORD said to Joshua, “Behold, I have delivered Jericho into your hand, along with its king and its mighty men of valor. ³ March around the city with all the men of war, circling the city one time. Do this for six days. ⁴ Have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark. Then on the seventh day, march around the city seven times, while the priests blow the horns. ⁵ And when there is a long blast of the ram’s horn and you hear its sound, have all the people give a mighty shout. Then the wall of the city will collapse and all your people will charge straight into the city.” ⁶ So Joshua son of Nun summoned the priests and said, “Take up the ark of the covenant and have seven priests carry seven rams’ horns in front of the ark of the LORD.” ⁷ And he told the people, “Advance and march around the city, with the armed troops going ahead of the ark of the LORD.” ⁸ After Joshua had spoken to the people, seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns before the LORD advanced and blew the horns, and the ark of the covenant of the LORD followed them. ⁹ While the horns continued to sound, the armed troops marched ahead of the priests who blew the horns, and the rear guard followed the ark. ¹⁰ But Joshua had commanded the people: “Do not give a battle cry or let your voice be heard; do not let one word come out of your mouth until the day I tell you to shout. Then you are to shout!” ¹¹ So he had the ark of the LORD carried around the city, circling it once. And the people returned to the camp and spent the night there. ¹² Joshua got up early the next morning, and the priests took the ark of the LORD. ¹³ And the seven priests carrying seven rams’ horns kept marching ahead of the ark of the LORD and blowing the horns. The armed troops went in front of them and the rear guard followed the ark of the LORD, while the horns kept sounding. ¹⁴ So on the second day they marched around the city once and returned to the camp. They did this for six days. ¹⁵ Then on the seventh day, they got up at dawn and marched around the city seven times in the same manner. That was the only day they circled the city seven times. ¹⁶ After the seventh time around, the priests blew the horns, and Joshua commanded the people, “Shout! For the LORD has given you the city! ¹⁷ Now the city and everything in it must be devoted to the LORD for destruction. Only Rahab the prostitute and all those with her in her house will live, because she hid the spies we sent. ¹⁸ But keep away from the things devoted to destruction, lest you yourself be set apart for destruction. If you take any of these, you will set apart the camp of Israel for destruction and bring disaster upon it. ¹⁹ For all the silver and gold and all the articles of bronze and iron are holy to the LORD; they must go into His treasury.” ²⁰ So when the rams’ horns sounded, the people shouted. When they heard the blast of the horn, the people gave a great shout, and the wall collapsed. Then all the people charged straight into the city and captured it. ²¹ At the edge of the sword they devoted to destruction everything in the city—man and woman, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys.

⁷ Now therefore divide this land as an inheritance to the nine tribes and the half-tribe of Manasseh.”

⁵¹ These are the inheritances that Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the heads of the families distributed by lot to the tribes of Israel at Shiloh before the LORD at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting. So they finished dividing up the land.

⁴ See, I have allotted as an inheritance to your tribes these remaining nations, including all the nations I have already cut off, from the Jordan westward to the Great Sea.

²² You gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner of the land. So they took the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and of Og king of Bashan. ²³ You multiplied their descendants like the stars of heaven and brought them to the land You had told their fathers to enter and possess. ²⁴ So their descendants went in and possessed the land; You subdued before them the Canaanites dwelling in the land. You delivered into their hands the kings and peoples of the land, to do with them as they wished. ²⁵ They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness.

² With Your hand You drove out the nations and planted our fathers there; You crushed the peoples and cast them out.

⁴⁴ He gave them the lands of the nations, that they might inherit the fruit of others’ labor, ⁴⁵ that they might keep His statutes and obey His laws. Hallelujah!

¹⁰ He struck down many nations and slaughtered mighty kings: ¹¹ Sihon king of the Amorites, Og king of Bashan, and all the kings of Canaan. ¹² He gave their land as an inheritance, as a heritage to His people Israel.

¹⁸ and slaughtered mighty kings—His loving devotion endures forever. ¹⁹ Sihon king of the Amorites His loving devotion endures forever. ²⁰ and Og king of Bashan—His loving devotion endures forever. ²¹ and He gave their land as an inheritance, His loving devotion endures forever. ²² a heritage to His servant Israel. His loving devotion endures forever.

¹⁶ And the LORD said to Moses, “You will soon rest with your fathers, and these people will rise up and prostitute themselves with the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake Me and break the covenant I have made with them. ¹⁷ On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’ ¹⁸ And on that day I will surely hide My face because of all the evil they have done by turning to other gods. ¹⁹ Now therefore, write down for yourselves this song and teach it to the Israelites; have them recite it, so that it may be a witness for Me against them. ²⁰ When I have brought them into the land that I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. Then they will turn to other gods and worship them, and they will reject Me and break My covenant.

¹⁵ But Jeshurun grew fat and kicked—becoming fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation. ¹⁶ They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear. ¹⁸ You ignored the Rock who brought you forth; you forgot the God who gave you birth. ¹⁹ When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters. ²⁰ He said: “I will hide My face from them; I will see what will be their end. For they are a perverse generation—children of unfaithfulness. ²¹ They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.

⁷ All this happened because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They had worshiped other gods ⁸ and walked in the customs of the nations that the LORD had driven out before the Israelites, as well as in the practices introduced by the kings of Israel. ⁹ The Israelites secretly did things against the LORD their God that were not right. From watchtower to fortified city, they built high places in all their cities. ¹⁰ They set up for themselves sacred pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every green tree. ¹¹ They burned incense on all the high places like the nations that the LORD had driven out before them. They did wicked things, provoking the LORD to anger. ¹² They served idols, although the LORD had told them, “You shall not do this thing.” ¹³ Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.” ¹⁴ But they would not listen, and they stiffened their necks like their fathers, who did not believe the LORD their God. ¹⁵ They rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers, as well as the decrees He had given them. They pursued worthless idols and themselves became worthless, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate. ¹⁶ They abandoned all the commandments of the LORD their God and made for themselves two cast idols of calves and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the host of heaven and served Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire and practiced divination and soothsaying. They devoted themselves to doing evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger. ¹⁸ So the LORD was very angry with Israel, and He removed them from His presence. Only the tribe of Judah remained, ¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but lived according to the customs Israel had introduced. ²⁰ So the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel. He afflicted them and delivered them into the hands of plunderers, until He had banished them from His presence. ²¹ When the LORD had torn Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nebat king, and Jeroboam led Israel away from following the LORD and caused them to commit a great sin. ²² The Israelites persisted in all the sins that Jeroboam had committed and did not turn away from them. ²³ Finally, the LORD removed Israel from His presence, as He had declared through all His servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their homeland into Assyria, where they are to this day.

²⁵ They captured fortified cities and fertile land and took houses full of all goods, wells already dug, vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled; they grew fat and delighted in Your great goodness. ²⁶ But they were disobedient and rebelled against You; they flung Your law behind their backs. They killed Your prophets, who had admonished them to return to You. They committed terrible blasphemies.

⁴⁰ How often they disobeyed Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! ⁴¹ Again and again they tested God and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

¹⁵ But because of your fame, you trusted in your beauty and played the harlot. You lavished your favors on everyone who passed by, and your beauty was theirs for the asking. ¹⁶ You took some of your garments and made colorful high places for yourself, and on them you prostituted yourself. Such things should not have happened; never should they have occurred! ¹⁷ You also took the fine jewelry of gold and silver I had given you, and you made male idols with which to prostitute yourself. ¹⁸ You took your embroidered garments to cover them, and you set My oil and incense before them. ¹⁹ And you set before them as a pleasing aroma the food I had given you—the fine flour, oil, and honey that I had fed you. That is what happened, declares the Lord GOD. ²⁰ You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough? ²¹ You slaughtered My children and delivered them up through the fire to idols. ²² And in all your abominations and acts of prostitution, you did not remember the days of your youth when you were naked and bare, wallowing in your own blood. ²³ Woe! Woe to you, declares the Lord GOD. And in addition to all your other wickedness, ²⁴ you built yourself a mound and made yourself a lofty shrine in every public square. ²⁵ At the head of every street you built your lofty shrines and degraded your beauty. With increasing promiscuity, you spread your legs to all who passed by. ²⁶ You prostituted yourself with your lustful neighbors, the Egyptians, and increased your promiscuity to provoke Me to anger.

⁵ Thus the Israelites continued to live among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁶ And they took the daughters of these people in marriage, gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods. ⁷ So the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

¹² Once again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. So He gave Eglon king of Moab power over Israel, because they had done evil in the sight of the LORD.

¹⁰ They failed to keep God’s covenant and refused to live by His law. ¹¹ They forgot what He had done, the wonders He had shown them. ¹² He worked wonders before their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. ¹³ He split the sea and brought them through; He set the waters upright like a wall. ¹⁴ He led them with a cloud by day and with a light of fire all night. ¹⁵ He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas. ¹⁶ He brought streams from the stone and made water flow down like rivers. ¹⁷ But they continued to sin against Him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High. ¹⁸ They willfully tested God by demanding the food they craved. ¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, “Can God really prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ When He struck the rock, water gushed out and torrents raged. But can He also give bread or supply His people with meat?” ²¹ Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel, ²² because they did not believe God or rely on His salvation. ²³ Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens. ²⁴ He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven. ²⁵ Man ate the bread of angels; He sent them food in abundance. ²⁶ He stirred the east wind from the heavens and drove the south wind by His might. ²⁷ He rained meat on them like dust, and winged birds like the sand of the sea. ²⁸ He felled them in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. ²⁹ So they ate and were well filled, for He gave them what they craved. ³⁰ Yet before they had filled their desire, with the food still in their mouths, ³¹ God’s anger flared against them, and He put to death their strongest and subdued the young men of Israel. ³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; despite His wonderful works, they did not believe. ³³ So He ended their days in futility, and their years in sudden terror. ³⁴ When He slew them, they would seek Him; they repented and searched for God. ³⁵ And they remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer. ³⁶ But they deceived Him with their mouths, and lied to Him with their tongues. ³⁷ Their hearts were disloyal to Him, and they were unfaithful to His covenant.

²⁷ Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: In this way also your fathers blasphemed Me by their unfaithfulness against Me. ²⁸ When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up their fragrant incense, and poured out their drink offerings.

¹⁶ They turn, but not to the Most High; they are like a faulty bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword for the cursing of their tongue; for this they will be ridiculed in the land of Egypt.

⁴ You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in the heavens above, on the earth below, or in the waters beneath. ⁵ You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on their children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me,

¹⁴ For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

³⁰ I will destroy your high places, cut down your incense altars, and heap your lifeless bodies on the lifeless remains of your idols; and My soul will despise you.

⁵² you must drive out before you all the inhabitants of the land, destroy all their carved images and cast idols, and demolish all their high places.

¹⁶ that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female, ¹⁷ of any beast that is on the earth or bird that flies in the air, ¹⁸ or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish that is in the waters below. ¹⁹ When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. ²⁰ Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today. ²¹ The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²² For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land. ²³ Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you. ²⁴ For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. ²⁵ After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol of any form—doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger—

² Destroy completely all the places where the nations you are dispossessing have served their gods—atop the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree.

⁴ You shall not worship the LORD your God in this way.

¹⁵ ‘Cursed is the man who makes a carved idol or molten image—an abomination to the LORD, the work of the hands of a craftsman—and sets it up in secret.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’

¹⁶ They provoked His jealousy with foreign gods; they enraged Him with abominations. ¹⁷ They sacrificed to demons, not to God, to gods they had not known, to newly arrived gods, which your fathers did not fear.

²¹ They have provoked My jealousy by that which is not God; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will make them jealous by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation without understanding.

¹⁷ Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done.

²⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He said, “Because this nation has transgressed the covenant I laid down for their fathers and has not heeded My voice,

⁶ And again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD. They served the Baals, the Ashtoreths, the gods of Aram, Sidon, and Moab, and the gods of the Ammonites and Philistines. Thus they forsook the LORD and did not serve Him.

⁷ At that time on a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites.

¹⁰ Although He had warned Solomon explicitly not to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD’s command.

³¹ Jeroboam also built shrines on the high places and appointed from every class of people priests who were not Levites.

⁵ How long, O LORD? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

⁷ All worshipers of images are put to shame—those who boast in idols. Worship Him, all you gods!

¹⁹ Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they provoked Me to anger with their carved images, with their worthless foreign idols?”

³ He stretched out what looked like a hand and took me by the hair of my head. Then the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and carried me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the idol that provokes jealousy was seated. ⁴ And there I saw the glory of the God of Israel, like the vision I had seen in the plain. ⁵ “Son of man,” He said to me, “now lift up your eyes to the north.” So I lifted up my eyes to the north, and in the entrance north of the Altar Gate I saw this idol of jealousy.

²⁸ When I brought them into the land that I swore to give them and they saw any high hill or leafy tree, there they offered their sacrifices, presented offerings that provoked Me, sent up their fragrant incense, and poured out their drink offerings. ²⁹ So I asked them: ‘What is this high place to which you go?’ (And to this day it is called Bamah.)

² Now they sin more and more and make for themselves cast images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen. People say of them, “They offer human sacrifice and kiss the calves!”

²² Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?

²⁰ Then the LORD said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great. Because their sin is so grievous, ²¹ I will go down to see if their actions fully justify the outcry that has reached Me. If not, I will find out.”

²³ You must not follow the statutes of the nations I am driving out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.

⁴⁴ Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject or despise them so as to destroy them and break My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God.

¹⁹ When the LORD saw this, He rejected them, provoked to anger by His sons and daughters.

⁴ The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD is on His heavenly throne. His eyes are watching closely; they examine the sons of men.

² The LORD looks down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if any understand, if any seek God. ³ All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. ⁴ Will the workers of iniquity never learn? They devour my people like bread; they refuse to call upon the LORD. ⁵ There they are, overwhelmed with dread, for God is in the company of the righteous.

⁴⁰ So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance.

⁷ The Lord has rejected His altar; He has abandoned His sanctuary; He has delivered the walls of her palaces into the hand of the enemy. They have raised a shout in the house of the LORD as on the day of an appointed feast.

⁸ And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.

¹ Then the whole congregation of Israel assembled at Shiloh and set up the Tent of Meeting there. And though the land was subdued before them,

³ Year after year Elkanah would go up from his city to worship and sacrifice to the LORD of Hosts at Shiloh, where Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests to the LORD.

⁴ So the people sent men to Shiloh, and they brought back the ark of the covenant of the LORD of Hosts, who sits enthroned between the cherubim. And the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God. ⁵ When the ark of the covenant of the LORD entered the camp, all the Israelites raised such a great shout that it shook the ground. ⁶ On hearing the noise of the shout, the Philistines asked, “What is this loud shouting in the camp of the Hebrews?” And when they realized that the ark of the LORD had entered the camp, ⁷ the Philistines were afraid. “The gods have entered their camp!” they said. “Woe to us, for nothing like this has happened before. ⁸ Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues in the wilderness. ⁹ Take courage and be men, O Philistines! Otherwise, you will serve the Hebrews just as they served you. Now be men and fight!” ¹⁰ So the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and each man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great—thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. ¹¹ The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹² But go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for My Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ¹³ And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, and because I have spoken to you again and again but you would not listen, and I have called to you but you would not answer, ¹⁴ therefore what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears My Name, the house in which you trust, the place that I gave to you and your fathers.

⁶ then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’” ⁷ Now the priests and prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the LORD, ⁸ and as soon as he had finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests and prophets and all the people seized him, shouting, “You must surely die! ⁹ How dare you prophesy in the name of the LORD that this house will become like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted!” And all the people assembled against Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.

³⁴ Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

³⁰ The Danites set up idols for themselves, and Jonathan son of Gershom, the son of Moses, and his sons were priests for the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.

¹⁷ The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

²¹ And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.

⁴¹ Now therefore, arise, O LORD God, and enter Your resting place, You and the ark of Your might. May Your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and may Your godly ones rejoice in goodness.

⁷ Lift up your heads, O gates! Be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may enter!

² So I have seen You in the sanctuary and beheld Your power and glory.

⁸ Arise, O LORD, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength.

² The Philistines arrayed themselves against Israel, and as the battle spread, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who struck down about four thousand men on the battlefield.

³⁸ Now, however, You have spurned and rejected him; You are enraged by Your anointed one.

⁹ Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!

¹ Soon the people began to complain about their hardship in the hearing of the LORD, and when He heard them, His anger was kindled, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.

²⁰ The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven

²¹ Therefore the LORD heard and was filled with wrath; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and His anger flared against Israel,

¹ In that day seven women will take hold of one man and say, “We will eat our own bread and provide our own clothes. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our disgrace!”

³⁴ I will remove from the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the sounds of joy and gladness and the voices of the bride and bridegroom, for the land will become a wasteland.”

⁹ For this is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: I am going to remove from this place, before your very eyes and in your days, the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom.

¹⁰ Moreover, I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of the bride and bridegroom, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the lamp.

³³ And every one of you that I do not cut off from My altar, your eyes will fail and your heart will grieve. All your descendants will die by the sword of men. ³⁴ And this sign shall come to you concerning your two sons Hophni and Phinehas: They will both die on the same day.

¹¹ The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

¹⁹ Now Eli’s daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and about to give birth. When she heard the news of the capture of God’s ark and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband, she collapsed and gave birth, for her labor pains overtook her. ²⁰ As she was dying, the women attending to her said, “Do not be afraid, for you have given birth to a son!” But she did not respond or pay any heed.

¹⁸ So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod. ¹⁹ He also put to the sword Nob, the city of the priests, with its men and women, children and infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep.

¹⁵ His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.

²³ Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.

⁶ Arise, O LORD, in Your anger; rise up against the fury of my enemies. Awake, my God, and ordain judgment.

²³ Wake up, O Lord! Why are You sleeping? Arise! Do not reject us forever.

²⁰ Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.

¹³ The LORD goes forth like a mighty one; He stirs up His zeal like a warrior. He shouts; yes, He roars in triumph over His enemies: ¹⁴ “I have kept silent from ages past; I have remained quiet and restrained. But now I will groan like a woman in labor; I will at once gasp and pant.

⁹ Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?

⁶ Now the hand of the LORD was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity, ravaging them and afflicting them with tumors.

⁴ “What guilt offering should we send back to Him?” asked the Philistines. “Five gold tumors and five gold rats,” they said, “according to the number of rulers of the Philistines, since the same plague has struck both you and your rulers.

¹² Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand.

⁴⁰ And I will bring upon you everlasting shame and perpetual humiliation that will never be forgotten.”

²¹ So they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up with you.”

² And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the LORD of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

¹⁷ So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

⁸ Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. ⁹ Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? ¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

¹⁷ The neighbor women said, “A son has been born to Naomi,” and they named him Obed. He became the father of Jesse, the father of David. ¹⁸ Now these are the generations of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, ¹⁹ Hezron was the father of Ram, Ram was the father of Amminadab, ²⁰ Amminadab was the father of Nahshon, Nahshon was the father of Salmon, ²¹ Salmon was the father of Boaz, Boaz was the father of Obed, ²² Obed was the father of Jesse, and Jesse was the father of David.

¹ Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem, for I have selected from his sons a king for Myself.”

⁶ But now I have chosen Jerusalem for My Name to be there, and I have chosen David to be over My people Israel.’

² The LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.

¹² If your sons keep My covenant and the testimony I will teach them, then their sons will also sit on your throne forever and ever.” ¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home: ¹⁴ “This is My resting place forever and ever; here I will dwell, for I have desired this home.

⁸ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.

¹ In the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt, in the month of Ziv, the second month of the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, he began to build the house of the LORD. ² The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high. ³ The portico at the front of the main hall of the temple was twenty cubits long, extending across the width of the temple and projecting out ten cubits in front of the temple. ⁴ He also had narrow windows framed high in the temple. ⁵ Against the walls of the temple and the inner sanctuary, Solomon built a chambered structure around the temple, in which he constructed the side rooms. ⁶ The bottom floor was five cubits wide, the middle floor six cubits, and the third floor seven cubits. He also placed offset ledges around the outside of the temple, so that nothing would be inserted into its walls. ⁷ The temple was constructed using finished stones cut at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any other iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. ⁸ The entrance to the bottom floor was on the south side of the temple. A stairway led up to the middle level, and from there to the third floor. ⁹ So Solomon built the temple and finished it, roofing it with beams and planks of cedar. ¹⁰ He built chambers all along the temple, each five cubits high and attached to the temple with beams of cedar. ¹¹ Then the word of the LORD came to Solomon, saying: ¹² “As for this temple you are building, if you walk in My statutes, carry out My ordinances, and keep all My commandments by walking in them, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father David. ¹³ And I will dwell among the Israelites and will not abandon My people Israel.” ¹⁴ So Solomon built the temple and finished it. ¹⁵ He lined the interior walls with cedar paneling from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and he covered the floor with cypress boards. ¹⁶ He partitioned off the twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. ¹⁷ And the main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. ¹⁸ The cedar paneling inside the temple was carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; not a stone could be seen. ¹⁹ Solomon also prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. ²⁰ The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. ²¹ So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold, and he extended gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, which was overlaid with gold. ²² So he overlaid with gold the whole interior of the temple, until everything was completely finished. He also overlaid with gold the entire altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary. ²³ In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim, each ten cubits high, out of olive wood. ²⁴ One wing of the first cherub was five cubits long, and the other wing was five cubits long as well. So the full wingspan was ten cubits. ²⁵ The second cherub also measured ten cubits; both cherubim had the same size and shape, ²⁶ and the height of each cherub was ten cubits. ²⁷ And he placed the cherubim inside the innermost room of the temple. Since their wings were spread out, the wing of the first cherub touched one wall, while the wing of the second cherub touched the other wall, and in the middle of the room their wingtips touched. ²⁸ He also overlaid the cherubim with gold. ²⁹ Then he carved the walls all around the temple, in both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved engravings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. ³⁰ And he overlaid the temple floor with gold in both the inner and outer sanctuaries. ³¹ For the entrance to the inner sanctuary, Solomon constructed doors of olive wood with five-sided doorposts. ³² The double doors were made of olive wood, and he carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers and overlaid the cherubim and palm trees with hammered gold. ³³ In the same way he made four-sided doorposts of olive wood for the sanctuary entrance. ³⁴ The two doors were made of cypress wood, and each had two folding panels. ³⁵ He carved into them cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers; and he overlaid them with gold, hammered evenly over the carvings. ³⁶ Solomon built the inner courtyard with three rows of dressed stone and one row of trimmed cedar beams. ³⁷ The foundation of the house of the LORD was laid in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, in the month of Ziv. ³⁸ In his eleventh year and eighth month, the month of Bul, the temple was finished in every detail and according to every specification. So he built the temple in seven years.

⁸ And when this temple has become a heap of rubble, all who pass by it will be appalled and will hiss and say, ‘Why has the LORD done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’

¹ Then King David said to the whole assembly, “My son Solomon, the one whom God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The task is great because this palace is not for man, but for the LORD God.

¹⁹ And give my son Solomon a whole heart to keep and carry out all Your commandments, decrees, and statutes, and to build Your palace for which I have made provision.”

⁹ to prepare for me timber in abundance, because the temple I am building will be great and wonderful.

⁴ The portico at the front, extending across the width of the temple, was twenty cubits long and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold.

⁷ He stretches out the north over empty space; He hangs the earth upon nothing.

²⁵ In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.

⁵ He set the earth on its foundations, never to be moved.

⁹⁰ Your faithfulness continues through all generations; You established the earth, and it endures. ⁹¹ Your ordinances stand to this day, for all things are servants to You.

¹³ Surely My own hand founded the earth, and My right hand spread out the heavens; when I summon them, they stand up together.

⁶ Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth below; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and its people will die like gnats. But My salvation will last forever, and My righteousness will never fail.

¹⁶ For in Him all things were created, things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities. All things were created through Him and for Him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

¹¹ Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.

¹ Meanwhile, Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

¹⁰ Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹ And Samuel asked him, “Are these all the sons you have?” “There is still the youngest,” Jesse replied, “but he is tending the sheep.” “Send for him,” Samuel replied. “For we will not sit down to eat until he arrives.” ¹² So Jesse sent for his youngest son and brought him in. He was ruddy, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him, for he is the one.”

¹⁵ but David went back and forth from Saul to tend his father’s sheep in Bethlehem. ¹⁶ For forty days the Philistine came forward every morning and evening to take his stand. ¹⁷ One day Jesse said to his son David, “Take this ephah of roasted grain and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers and hurry to their camp. ¹⁸ Take also these ten portions of cheese to the commander of their unit. Check on the welfare of your brothers and bring back an assurance from them. ¹⁹ They are with Saul and all the men of Israel in the Valley of Elah, fighting against the Philistines.” ²⁰ So David got up early in the morning, left the flock with a keeper, loaded up, and set out as Jesse had instructed him. He reached the camp as the army was marching out to its position and shouting the battle cry. ²¹ And Israel and the Philistines arrayed in formation against each other. ²² Then David left his supplies in the care of the quartermaster and ran to the battle line. When he arrived, he asked his brothers how they were doing. ²³ And as he was speaking with them, suddenly the champion named Goliath, the Philistine from Gath, came forward from the Philistines and shouted his usual words, which David also heard. ²⁴ When all the men of Israel saw Goliath, they fled from him in great fear. ²⁵ Now the men of Israel had been saying, “Do you see this man who keeps coming out to defy Israel? To the man who kills him the king will give great riches. And he will give him his daughter in marriage and exempt his father’s house from taxation in Israel.” ²⁶ David asked the men who were standing with him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace from Israel? Just who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” ²⁷ The people told him about the offer, saying, “That is what will be done for the man who kills him.” ²⁸ Now when David’s oldest brother Eliab heard him speaking to the men, his anger burned against David. “Why have you come down here?” he asked. “And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and wickedness of heart—you have come down to see the battle!” ²⁹ “What have I done now?” said David. “Was it not just a question?” ³⁰ Then he turned from him toward another and asked about the offer, and those people answered him just as the first ones had answered. ³¹ Now David’s words were overheard and reported to Saul, who called for him. ³² And David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail on account of this Philistine. Your servant will go and fight him!” ³³ But Saul replied, “You cannot go out against this Philistine to fight him. You are just a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth.” ³⁴ David replied, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and whenever a lion or a bear came and carried off a lamb from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it down, and delivered the lamb from its mouth. If it reared up against me, I would grab it by its fur, strike it down, and kill it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed lions and bears; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, for he has defied the armies of the living God.” ³⁷ David added, “The LORD, who delivered me from the claws of the lion and the bear, will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” “Go,” said Saul, “and may the LORD be with you.” ³⁸ Then Saul clothed David in his own tunic, put a bronze helmet on his head, and dressed him in armor. ³⁹ David strapped his sword over the tunic and tried to walk, but he was not accustomed to them. “I cannot walk in these,” David said to Saul. “I am not accustomed to them.” So David took them off. ⁴⁰ And David took his staff in his hand, selected five smooth stones from the brook, and put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag. And with his sling in hand, he approached the Philistine. ⁴¹ Now the Philistine came closer and closer to David, with his shield-bearer before him. ⁴² When the Philistine looked and saw David, he despised him because he was just a boy, ruddy and handsome. ⁴³ “Am I a dog,” he said to David, “that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ “Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!” ⁴⁵ But David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. ⁴⁶ This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand. This day I will strike you down, cut off your head, and give the carcasses of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the creatures of the earth. Then the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel. ⁴⁷ And all those assembled here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give all of you into our hands.” ⁴⁸ As the Philistine started forward to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Then David reached into his bag, took out a stone, and slung it, striking the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. ⁵⁰ Thus David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. ⁵¹ David ran and stood over him. He grabbed the Philistine’s sword and pulled it from its sheath and killed him; and he cut off his head with the sword. When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah charged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath and to the gates of Ekron. And the bodies of the Philistines were strewn along the Shaaraim road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from their pursuit of the Philistines, they plundered their camps. ⁵⁴ David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem, and he put Goliath’s weapons in his own tent.

¹⁸ Now take action, because the LORD has said to David, ‘Through My servant David I will save My people Israel from the hands of the Philistines and of all their enemies.’”

²¹ But David said to Michal, “I was dancing before the LORD, who chose me over your father and all his house when He appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel. I will celebrate before the LORD,

⁸ Now then, you are to tell My servant David that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: I took you from the pasture, from following the flock, to be the ruler over My people Israel.

¹⁹ So Elijah departed and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve teams of oxen, and he was with the twelfth team. Elijah passed by him and threw his cloak around him. ²⁰ So Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, and then I will follow you.” “Go on back,” Elijah replied, “for what have I done to you?”

¹⁹ You once spoke in a vision; to Your godly ones You said, “I have bestowed help on a warrior; I have exalted one chosen from the people. ²⁰ I have found My servant David; with My sacred oil I have anointed him.

¹⁴ “I was not a prophet,” Amos replied, “nor was I the son of a prophet; rather, I was a herdsman and a tender of sycamore-fig trees. ¹⁵ But the LORD took me from following the flock and said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.’

¹⁸ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ “Come, follow Me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” ²⁰ And at once they left their nets and followed Him. ²¹ Going on from there, He saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. Jesus called them, ²² and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed Him.

²² After removing Saul, He raised up David as their king and testified about him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse a man after My own heart; he will carry out My will in its entirety.’

¹³ But Jacob replied, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and I must care for sheep and cattle that are nursing their young. If they are driven hard for even a day, all the animals will die.

⁷ The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts. ⁸ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap. He seats them among princes and bestows on them a throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s, and upon them He has set the world.

¹ Then Samuel took a flask of oil, poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him, and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you ruler over His inheritance?

² Even in times past, while Saul was king over us, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And to you the LORD said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”

² Even in times past, while Saul was king, you were the one who led Israel out and brought them back. And the LORD your God said, ‘You will shepherd My people Israel, and you will be ruler over them.’”

⁹ Save Your people and bless Your inheritance; shepherd them and carry them forever.

⁶ For exaltation comes neither from east nor west, nor out of the desert, ⁷ but it is God who judges; He brings down one and exalts another.

⁷ He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the dump ⁸ to seat them with nobles, with the princes of His people.

⁵ By My great power and outstretched arm, I made the earth and the men and beasts on the face of it, and I give it to whom I please. ⁶ So now I have placed all these lands under the authority of My servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. I have even made the beasts of the field subject to him.

²³ I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

² But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come forth for Me One to be ruler over Israel—One whose origins are of old, from the days of eternity. ³ Therefore Israel will be abandoned until she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of His brothers will return to the children of Israel. ⁴ He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majestic name of the LORD His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

⁴ This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter, ⁵ whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them. ⁶ For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.” ⁷ So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock. ⁸ And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish; and let those who remain devour one another’s flesh.” ¹⁰ Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹ It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD. ¹² Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. ¹³ And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. ¹⁴ Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. ¹⁵ And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves. ¹⁷ Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”

⁶ ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.’”

¹⁵ When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.” ¹⁶ Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.” ¹⁷ Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.

² Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly; not out of greed, but out of eagerness;

¹⁵ Thus David reigned over all Israel and administered justice and righteousness for all his people:

⁶ Solomon replied, “You have shown much loving devotion to Your servant, my father David, because he walked before You in faithfulness, righteousness, and uprightness of heart. And You have maintained this loving devotion by giving him a son to sit on his throne this very day. ⁷ And now, O LORD my God, You have made Your servant king in my father David’s place. But I am only a little child, not knowing how to go out or come in. ⁸ Your servant is here among the people You have chosen, a people too numerous to count or number. ⁹ Therefore give Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

²⁸ When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

⁴ And as for you, if you walk before Me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and uprightness, doing all I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and ordinances,

⁵ For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not turned aside from anything the LORD commanded all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

² “When I choose a time, I will judge fairly.

¹ A Psalm of David. I will sing of Your loving devotion and justice; to You, O LORD, I will sing praises. ² I will ponder the way that is blameless—when will You come to me? I will walk in my house with integrity of heart. ³ I will set no worthless thing before my eyes. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. ⁴ A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know nothing of evil. ⁵ Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes and a proud heart, I will not endure. ⁶ My eyes favor the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way of integrity shall minister to me. ⁷ No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who tells lies shall stand in my presence. ⁸ Every morning I will remove all the wicked of the land, that I may cut off every evildoer from the city of the LORD.

² The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD. ³ And He will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what His eyes see, and He will not decide by what His ears hear, ⁴ but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.

³⁶ For when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep. His body was buried with his fathers and saw decay.

⁵ Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim that anything comes from us, but our competence comes from God. ⁶ And He has qualified us as ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

¹⁵ Make every effort to present yourself approved to God, an unashamed workman who accurately handles the word of truth.

⁵ Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.