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and Jacob fathered Joseph the husband of Mary,
who gave birth to Jesus who is called the Messiah.
“She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star at its rising and have come to worship him.”[fn]
“And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah:
Because out of you will come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.”
Then Herod secretly summoned the wise men and asked them the exact time the star appeared.
He stayed there until Herod's death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called my Son.
Then Herod, when he realized that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men.
“And don't presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.' For I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
“His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn. But the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.”
and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written:
He will give his angels orders concerning you,
and they will support you with their hands
so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone.”
Then Jesus told him, “Go away,[fn] Satan! For it is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
As he was walking along the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter), and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.
Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat with Zebedee their father, preparing their nets, and he called them.
“No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
“Don't think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
“Truly I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the last penny.[fn]
“As for the one who wants to sue you and take away your shirt, let him have your coat as well.
“Give to the one who asks you, and don't turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.
“so that you may be[fn] children of your Father in heaven. For he causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
“So whenever you give to the poor, don't sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be applauded by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
“Whenever you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites, because they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
“Whenever you fast, don't be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward.
“No one can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
“If that's how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won't he do much more for you — you of little faith?
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — then he told the paralytic, “Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
When Jesus came to the leader's house, he saw the flute players and a crowd lamenting loudly.
“If anyone does not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that house or town.
“It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master. If they called the head of the house ‘Beelzebul,' how much more the members of his household!
“Don't fear those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
“The one who welcomes you welcomes me, and the one who welcomes me welcomes him who sent me.
“And whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple,[fn] truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.”
“This is the one about whom it is written:
See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
“All things have been entrusted to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son desires[fn] to reveal him.
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
“how he entered the house of God, and they ate[fn] the bread of the Presence — which is not lawful for him or for those with him to eat, but only for the priests?
Then a demon-possessed man who was blind and unable to speak was brought to him. He healed him, so that the man[fn] could both speak and see.
“If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?
“How can someone enter a strong man's house and steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can plunder his house.
“Either make the tree good and its fruit will be good, or make the tree bad[fn] and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.
“Then it says, ‘I'll go back to my house that I came from.' Returning, it finds the house vacant, swept, and put in order.
Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat down, while the whole crowd stood on the shore.
“When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is the one sown along the path.
“And the one sown on rocky ground — this is one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.
“But he has no root and is short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.
“Now the one sown among the thorns — this is one who hears the word, but the worries of this age and the deceitfulness[fn] of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
“But the one sown on the good ground — this is one who hears and understands the word, who does produce fruit and yields: some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times what was sown.”
“ ‘No,' he said. ‘When you pull up the weeds, you might also uproot the wheat with them.
“Let both grow together until the harvest. At harvest time I'll tell the reapers: Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to burn them, but collect the wheat in my barn.' ”
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.
“and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones.
For Herod had arrested John, chained[fn] him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife,
Though Herod wanted to kill John, he feared the crowd since they regarded John as a prophet.
Then he commanded the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed them. He broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.
He said, “Come.”
And climbing out of the boat, Peter started walking on the water and came toward Jesus.
But when he saw the strength of the wind,[fn] he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me! ”
“For God said:[fn] Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.
“It's not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth — this defiles a person.”
Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said? ”
“These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”
He answered, “It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”
So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they gave glory to the God of Israel.
Jesus called his disciples and said, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they've already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don't want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”
They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
“For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life?
“Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves.
“Lord,” he said, “have mercy on my son, because he has seizures[fn] and suffers terribly. He often falls into the fire and often into the water.
“But, so we won't offend them, go to the sea, cast in a fishhook, and take the first fish that you catch. When you open its mouth you'll find a coin.[fn] Take it and give it to them for me and you.”
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea.
“If your brother sins against you,[fn] go tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.
“and he also said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh'?
He responded, “Not everyone can accept this saying, but only those to whom it has been given.
When the young man heard that, he went away grieving, because he had many possessions.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
“After agreeing with the workers on one denarius,[fn] he sent them into his vineyard for the day.
“He said to them, ‘You also go into my vineyard, and I'll give you whatever is right.' So off they went.
“ ‘Because no one hired us,' they said to him.
“ ‘You also go into my vineyard,' he told them.[fn]
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the last and ending with the first.'
“‘These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day's work and the burning heat.'
They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their clothes on them, and he sat on them.
Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, he went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again! ” At once the fig tree withered.
“But if we say, ‘Of human origin,' we're afraid of the crowd, because everyone considers John to be a prophet.”
“But when the tenant farmers saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.'
“He will completely destroy those terrible men,” they told him, “and lease his vineyard to other farmers who will give him his fruit at the harvest.”
“Whoever falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”[fn]
“But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business,
He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
“Blind fools! For which is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?
“And throw this good-for-nothing servant into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
“Go into the city to a certain man,” he said, “and tell him, ‘The Teacher says: My time is near; I am celebrating the Passover at your place[fn] with my disciples.' ”
Then Jesus said to them, “Tonight all of you will fall away because of me, for it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.
Taking along Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
After leaving them, he went away again and prayed a third time, saying the same thing once more.
“Friend,” Jesus asked him, “why have you come? ”[fn]
Then they came up, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him.
At that moment one of those with Jesus reached out his hand and drew his sword. He struck the high priest's servant and cut off his ear.
Then Jesus told him, “Put your sword back in its place because all who take up the sword will perish by the sword.
“Or do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will provide me here and now with more than twelve legions of angels?
Those who had arrested Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders had convened.
stated, “This man said, ‘I can destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.' ”
“You have said it,” Jesus told him. “But I tell you, in the future[fn] you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming on the clouds of heaven.”
When he had gone out to the gateway, another woman saw him and told those who were there, “This man was with Jesus the Nazarene! ”
Then he started to curse and to swear with an oath, “I don't know the man! ” Immediately a rooster crowed,
So he threw the silver into the temple and departed. Then he went and hanged himself.
The chief priests took the silver and said, “It's not permitted to put it into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.”
They conferred together and bought the potter's field with it as a burial place for foreigners.
So when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Who is it you want me to release for you — Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ? ”
The chief priests and the elders, however, persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to execute Jesus.
The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you? ”
“Barabbas! ” they answered.
Pilate asked them, “What should I do then with Jesus, who is called Christ? ”
They all answered, “Crucify him! ”
Then he released Barabbas to them and, after having Jesus flogged, handed him over to be crucified.
Then the governor's soldiers took Jesus into the governor's residence and gathered the whole company[fn] around him.
As they were going out, they found a Cyrenian man named Simon. They forced him to carry his cross.
and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross! ”
“He trusts in God; let God rescue him now — if he takes pleasure in him![fn] For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.' ”
When the centurion and those with him, who were keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they were terrified and said, “Truly this man was the Son of God! ”
“So give orders that the tomb be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come, steal him, and tell the people, ‘He has been raised from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first.”
They went and secured the tomb by setting a seal on the stone and placing the guards.
After the Sabbath, as the first day of the week was dawning, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to view the tomb.
There was a violent earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and approached the tomb. He rolled back the stone and was sitting on it.
The angel told the women, “Don't be afraid, because I know you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.
“He is not here. For he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
He proclaimed, “One who is more powerful than I am is coming after me. I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the strap of his sandals.
In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized in the Jordan by John.
As he passed alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, Simon's brother, casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen.
Going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat putting their nets in order.
Immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.
Yet he went out and began to proclaim it widely and to spread the news, with the result that Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. But he was out in deserted places, and they came to him from everywhere.
So many people gathered together that there was no more room, not even in the doorway, and he was speaking the word to them.
Since they were not able to bring him to[fn] Jesus because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and after digging through it, they lowered the mat on which the paralytic was lying.
“Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat, and walk'?
Immediately he got up, took the mat, and went out in front of everyone. As a result, they were all astounded and gave glory to God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this! ”
Then, passing by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax office, and he said to him, “Follow me,” and he got up and followed him.
Jesus said to them, “The wedding guests cannot fast while the groom is with them, can they? As long as they have the groom with them, they cannot fast.
“how he entered the house of God in the time of Abiathar the high priest and ate the bread of the Presence — which is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests — and also gave some to his companions? ”
Then he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, so that the crowd wouldn't crush him.
and to James the son of Zebedee, and to his brother John, he gave the name “Boanerges” (that is, “Sons of Thunder”);
Andrew; Philip and Bartholomew; Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot,
“But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.
“But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”[fn] —
“Some are like the word sown on the path. When they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word sown in them.[fn]
“And others are like seed sown on rocky ground. When they hear the word, immediately they receive it with joy.
“But they have no root; they are short-lived. When distress or persecution comes because of the word, they immediately fall away.
“but the worries of this age, the deceitfulness[fn] of wealth, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.
“And those like seed sown on good ground hear the word, welcome it, and produce fruit thirty, sixty, and a hundred times what was sown.”
He also said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket or under a bed? Isn't it to be put on a lampstand?
He was speaking the word to them with many parables like these, as they were able to understand.
So they left the crowd and took him along since he was in the boat. And other boats were with him.
And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you before God, don't torment me! ”
They came to Jesus and saw the man who had been demon-possessed, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
Jesus did not let him but told him, “Go home to your own people, and report to them how much the Lord has done for you and how he has had mercy on you.”
His disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing against you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me? ' ”
While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue leader's house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the teacher anymore? ”
When Jesus overheard[fn] what was said, he told the synagogue leader, “Don't be afraid. Only believe.”
They came to the leader's house, and he saw a commotion — people weeping and wailing loudly.
They laughed at him, but he put them all outside. He took the child's father, mother, and those who were with him, and entered the place where the child was.
“If any place does not welcome you or listen to you, when you leave there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”[fn]
For Herod himself had given orders to arrest John and to chain him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, because he had married her.
because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing he was a righteous and holy man. When Herod heard him he would be very perplexed,[fn] and yet he liked to listen to him.
At once she hurried to the king and said, “I want you to give me John the Baptist's head on a platter immediately.”
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all that they had done and taught.
He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke the loaves. He kept giving them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all.
Immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd.
“For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.
“You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.”
“Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”[fn]
He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don't you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him?
“For it doesn't go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated” (thus he declared all foods clean).
He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, because it isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”
Then he told her, “Because of this reply, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.”
When she went back to her home, she found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.
Looking up to heaven, he sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha! ”[fn] (that is, “Be opened! ”).
“I have compassion on the crowd, because they've already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat.
They answered him, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.”
Then he began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and rise after three days.
Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain by themselves to be alone. He was transfigured in front of them,
“Elijah does come first and restores all things,” he replied. “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
Someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you. He has a spirit that makes him unable to speak.
“How long has this been happening to him? ” Jesus asked his father.
“From childhood,” he said.
“Whoever welcomes[fn] one little child such as this in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me does not welcome me, but him who sent me.”
“And whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ — truly I tell you, he will never lose his reward.
“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
“You know the commandments: Do not murder; do not commit adultery; do not steal; do not bear false witness; do not defraud; honor your father and mother.”
Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.”
So they called the blind man and said to him, “Have courage! Get up; he's calling for you.”
and some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt? ”
He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again! ” And his disciples heard it.
“But if we say, ‘Of human origin' ” — they were afraid of the crowd, because everyone thought that John was truly a prophet.
“He still had one to send, a beloved son. Finally he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.'
“What then will the owner[fn] of the vineyard do? He will come and kill the farmers and give the vineyard to others.
They were looking for a way to arrest him but feared the crowd because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. So they left him and went away.
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.[fn]
“The second is, Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other command greater than these.”
“And to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding,[fn] and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself, is far more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
“For they all gave out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had — all she had to live on.”
“Truly I tell you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”
Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will fall away,[fn] because it is written:
I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.
He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.
One of those who stood by drew his sword, struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his ear.
They led Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes assembled.
“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with human hands, and in three days I will build another not made by hands.' ”
Then the high priest stood up before them all and questioned Jesus, “Don't you have an answer to what these men are testifying against you? ”
“I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.”
When she saw Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth.”
As soon as it was morning, having held a meeting with the elders, scribes, and the whole Sanhedrin, the chief priests tied Jesus up, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate.
But the chief priests stirred up the crowd so that he would release Barabbas to them instead.
Pilate asked them again, “Then what do you want me to do with the one you call the king of the Jews? ”
Wanting to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas to them; and after having Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified.
They forced a man coming in from the country, who was passing by, to carry Jesus's cross. He was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus.
Those who passed by were yelling insults at[fn] him, shaking their heads, and saying, “Ha! The one who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days,
Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the Sanhedrin who was himself looking forward to the kingdom of God, came and boldly went to Pilate and asked for Jesus's body.
Pilate was surprised that he was already dead. Summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had already died.
They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone from the entrance to the tomb for us? ”
“Don't be alarmed,” he told them. “You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they put him.
So the Lord Jesus, after speaking to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.
And they went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them and confirmed the word by the accompanying signs.]
it happened that he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and burn incense.
“How can I know this? ” Zechariah asked the angel. “For I am an old man, and my wife is well along in years.”
“Now listen. You will become silent and unable to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”
Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah, amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.
Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man? ”[fn]
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped inside her, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue set free, and he began to speak, praising God.
The child grew up and became strong in spirit,[fn] and he was in the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.
Then she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him tightly in cloth and laid him in a manger,[fn] because there was no guest room available for them.
Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host[fn] with the angel, praising God and saying:
When the angels had left them and returned to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let's go straight to Bethlehem and see what has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
They hurried off and found both Mary and Joseph, and the baby who was lying in the manger.
The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard, which were just as they had been told.
And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were finished, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he saw the Lord's Messiah.
When they had completed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, God's word came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.
“Therefore produce fruit consistent with repentance. And don't start saying to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones.
John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one who is more powerful than I am is coming. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with[fn] the Holy Spirit and fire.
“His winnowing shovel is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with fire that never goes out.”
When all the people were baptized, Jesus also was baptized. As he was praying, heaven opened,
And Jesus answered him,[fn] “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.”
“and
they will support you with their hands,
so that you will not strike
your foot against a stone.”
The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:
Also, demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are the Son of God! ” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.
As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God's word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret.[fn]
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
and so were James and John, Zebedee's sons, who were Simon's partners.
“Don't be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.”
While he was in one of the towns, a man was there who had leprosy[fn] all over him. He saw Jesus, fell facedown, and begged him, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.”
Since they could not find a way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.
“But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins” — he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”
Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.
Then everyone was astounded, and they were giving glory to God. And they were filled with awe and said, “We have seen incredible things today.”
“how he entered the house of God and took and ate the bread of the Presence, which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat? He even gave some to those who were with him.”
Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew;
“If anyone hits you on the cheek, offer the other also. And if anyone takes away your coat, don't hold back your shirt either.
“Give, and it will be given to you; a good measure — pressed down, shaken together, and running over — will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.”
“A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher.
When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, requesting him to come and save the life of his servant.
When they reached Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to grant this,
When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant in good health.
and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else? ”
“This is the one about whom it is written:
See, I am sending my messenger
ahead of you;
he will prepare your way before you.
(And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God's way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John's baptism.
Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.
“A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it.
“The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved.
“And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.
“But the seed in the good ground — these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring, produce fruit.
Then his mother and brothers came to him, but they could not meet with him because of the crowd.
But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”
When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said in a loud voice, “What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torment me! ”
Then people went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man the demons had departed from, sitting at Jesus's feet, dressed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.
“Go back to your home, and tell all that God has done for you.” And off he went, proclaiming throughout the town how much Jesus had done for him.
Just then, a man named Jairus came. He was a leader of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus's feet and pleaded with him to come to his house,
A woman suffering from bleeding for twelve years, who had spent all she had on doctors[fn] and yet could not be healed by any,
While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue leader's house and said, “Your daughter is dead. Don't bother the teacher anymore.”
After he came to the house, he let no one enter with him except Peter, John, James, and the child's father and mother.
“If they do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”
Late in the day, the Twelve approached and said to him, “Send the crowd away, so that they can go into the surrounding villages and countryside to find food and lodging, because we are in a deserted place here.”
“You give them something to eat,” he told them.
“We have no more than five loaves and two fish,” they said, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.”
Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them. He kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They answered, “John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, that one of the ancient prophets has come back.”[fn]
“But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am? ”
Peter answered, “God's Messiah.”
saying, “It is necessary that the Son of Man suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day.”
“For what does it benefit someone if he gains the whole world, and yet loses or forfeits himself?
As the two men were departing from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it's good for us to be here. Let's set up three shelters: one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah” — not knowing what he was saying.
Just then a man from the crowd cried out, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, because he's my only child.
Jesus replied, “You unbelieving and perverse[fn] generation, how long will I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.”
As the boy was still approaching, the demon knocked him down and threw him into severe convulsions. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father.
But Jesus, knowing their inner thoughts,[fn] took a little child and had him stand next to him.
He told them, “Whoever welcomes[fn] this little child in my name welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes him who sent me. For whoever is least among you — this one is great.”
Then he said to another, “Follow me.”
“Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.”
Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.”
He told them, “The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few. Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.
“‘We are wiping off even the dust of your town that clings to our feet as a witness against you. Know this for certain: The kingdom of God has come near.'
“Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”
He answered, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,” and “your neighbor as yourself.”
“In the same way, a Levite, when he arrived at the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.
“What father among you, if his son[fn] asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?
“When an unclean spirit comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest, and not finding rest, it then[fn] says, ‘I'll go back to my house that I came from.'
“No one lights a lamp and puts it in the cellar or under a basket,[fn] but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see its light.
“But I will show you the one to fear: Fear him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the one to fear!
“Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.
“I will do this,' he said. ‘I'll tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there.
“If that's how God clothes the grass, which is in the field today and is thrown into the furnace tomorrow, how much more will he do for you — you of little faith?
“You are to be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet so that when he comes and knocks, they can open the door for him at once.
“But know this: If the homeowner had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into.
“Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but why don't you know how to interpret this present time?
“As you are going with your adversary to the ruler, make an effort to settle with him on the way. Then he won't drag you before the judge, the judge hand you over to the bailiff, and the bailiff throw you into prison.
“He told the vineyard worker, ‘Listen, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil? '
Then he laid his hands on her, and instantly she was restored and began to glorify God.
But the Lord answered him and said, “Hypocrites! Doesn't each one of you untie his ox or donkey from the feeding trough on the Sabbath and lead it to water?
“The one who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this man,' and then in humiliation, you will proceed to take the lowest place.
“But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.' You will then be honored in the presence of all the other guests.
“At the time of the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come, because everything is now ready.'
“Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and make them come in, so that my house may be filled.
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, and even his own life — he cannot be my disciple.
“and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep! '
“The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.' So he distributed the assets[fn] to them.
“I'll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.
The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I'm no longer worthy to be called your son.'
“‘Your brother is here,' he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'[fn]
“But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets[fn] with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.'
“So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.'
“The master praised the unrighteous manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the children of this age are more shrewd than the children of light in dealing with their own people.[fn]
“No servant can serve two masters, since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.”
“But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter in the law to drop out.
“One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side.[fn] The rich man also died and was buried.
“because I have five brothers — to warn them, so that they won't also come to this place of torment.'
“It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to stumble.
But one of them, seeing that he was healed, returned and, with a loud voice, gave glory to God.
“For as the lightning flashes from horizon to horizon and lights up the sky, so the Son of Man will be in his day.
“For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, ‘Even though I don't fear God or respect people,
“But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even raise his eyes to heaven but kept striking his chest and saying, ‘God, have mercy on me,[fn] a sinner! '
“I tell you, this one went down to his house justified rather than the other, because everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
“You know the commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not bear false witness; honor your father and mother.”
Instantly he could see, and he began to follow him, glorifying God. All the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.
He was trying to see who Jesus was, but he was not able because of the crowd, since he was a short man.
When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down because today it is necessary for me to stay at your house.”
But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, I'll give half of my possessions to the poor, Lord. And if I have extorted anything from anyone, I'll pay back four times as much.”
As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, “Why are you untying the colt? ”
Then they brought it to Jesus, and after throwing their clothes on the colt, they helped Jesus get on it.
Now he came near the path down the Mount of Olives, and the whole crowd of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the miracles they had seen:
“They will crush you and your children among you to the ground, and they will not leave one stone on another in your midst, because you did not recognize the time when God visited you.”
One day as he was teaching the people in the temple and proclaiming the good news, the chief priests and the scribes, with the elders, came
Now he began to tell the people this parable: “A man planted a vineyard, leased it to tenant farmers, and went away for a long time.
“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What should I do? I will send my beloved son. Perhaps[fn] they will respect him.'
“He will come and kill those farmers and give the vineyard to others.”
But when they heard this they said, “That must never happen! ”
“Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but on whomever it falls, it will shatter him.”
Then the scribes and the chief priests looked for a way to get their hands on him that very hour, because they knew he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
“Moses even indicated in the passage about the burning bush that the dead are raised, where he calls the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.
“For all these people have put in gifts out of their surplus, but she out of her poverty has put in all she had to live on.”
The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put him to death, because they were afraid of the people.
But they kept insisting, “He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, from Galilee where he started even to here.”
Herod was very glad to see Jesus; for a long time he had wanted to see him because he had heard about him and was hoping to see some miracle[fn] performed by him.
and said to them, “You have brought me this man as one who misleads the people. But in fact, after examining him in your presence, I have found no grounds to charge this man with those things you accuse him of.
and released the one they were asking for, who had been thrown into prison for rebellion and murder. But he handed Jesus over to their will.
As they led him away, they seized Simon, a Cyrenian, who was coming in from the country, and laid the cross on him to carry behind Jesus.
When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.
But the other answered, rebuking him: “Don't you even fear God, since you are undergoing the same punishment?
When the centurion saw what happened, he began to glorify God, saying, “This man really was righteous! ”[fn]
So the women were terrified and bowed down to the ground.
“Why are you looking for the living among the dead? ” asked the men.
“saying, ‘It is necessary that the Son of Man be betrayed into the hands of sinful men, be crucified, and rise on the third day'? ”
“But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it's the third day since these things happened.
“Wasn't it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory? ”
It was as he reclined at the table with them that he took the bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.
He also said to them, “This is what is written:[fn] The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead the third day,
No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father's side[fn] — he has revealed him.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah”[fn] (which is translated “the Christ”),
Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the law (and so did the prophets): Jesus the son of Joseph, from Nazareth.”
Then Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said about him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
Then he said, “Truly I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”
Now six stone water jars had been set there for Jewish purification. Each contained twenty or thirty gallons.[fn]
When the headwaiter tasted the water (after it had become wine), he did not know where it came from — though the servants who had drawn the water knew. He called the groom
and told him, “Everyone sets out the fine wine first, then, after people are drunk, the inferior. But you have kept the fine wine until now.”
He told those who were selling doves, “Get these things out of here! Stop turning my Father's house into a marketplace! ”[fn]
“No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven — the Son of Man.[fn]
“Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
“This is the judgment: The light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.
So they came to John and told him, “Rabbi, the one you testified about, and who was with you across the Jordan, is baptizing — and everyone is going to him.”
The one who believes in the Son has eternal life, but the one who rejects the Son[fn] will not see life; instead, the wrath of God remains on him.
“But whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well[fn] of water springing up in him for eternal life.”
“I sent you to reap what you didn't labor for; others have labored, and you have benefited from[fn] their labor.”
Now many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of what the woman said[fn] when she testified, “He told me everything I ever did.”
When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea into Galilee, he went to him and pleaded with him to come down and heal his son, since he was about to die.
Instantly the man got well, picked up his mat, and started to walk.
Now that day was the Sabbath,
and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “This is the Sabbath. The law prohibits you from picking up your mat.”
Therefore, the Jews began persecuting Jesus[fn] because he was doing these things on the Sabbath.
This is why the Jews began trying all the more to kill him: Not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God.
Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, the Son is not able to do anything on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[fn] does, the Son likewise does these things.
“For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he is doing, and he will show him greater works than these so that you will be amazed.
“so that all people may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Anyone who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.
“Truly I tell you, anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not come under judgment but has passed from death to life.
“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. Your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
Jesus said, “Have the people sit down.”
There was plenty of grass in that place; so they sat down. The men numbered about five thousand.
When the people saw the sign[fn] he had done, they said, “This truly is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
After they had rowed about three or four miles,[fn] they saw Jesus walking on the sea. He was coming near the boat, and they were afraid.
Some boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, Moses didn't give you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.
“Everyone the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never cast out.
“For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him will have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
They were saying, “Isn't this Jesus the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven'? ”
“not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
“Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
“This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna[fn] your ancestors ate — and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever.”
He was referring to Judas, Simon Iscariot's son,[fn] one of the Twelve, because he was going to betray him.
And there was a lot of murmuring about him among the crowds. Some were saying, “He's a good man.” Others were saying, “No, on the contrary, he's deceiving the people.”
“Didn't Moses give you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. Why are you trying to kill me? ”
Then Jesus said, “I am only with you for a short time. Then I'm going to the one who sent me.
“Our law doesn't judge a man before it hears from him and knows what he's doing, does it? ”
Then they asked him, “Where is your Father? ”
“You know neither me nor my Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew me, you would also know my Father.”
“I have many things to say and to judge about you, but the one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him — these things I tell the world.”
So Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own. But just as the Father taught me, I say these things.
“You're doing what your father does.”
“We weren't born of sexual immorality,” they said. “We have one Father — God.”
“I do not have a demon,” Jesus answered. “On the contrary, I honor my Father and you dishonor me.
Then the Jews said, “Now we know you have a demon. Abraham died and so did the prophets. You say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.'
“You do not know him, but I know him. If I were to say I don't know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I keep his word.
After he said these things he spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes.
He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.' So when I went and washed I received my sight.”
So a second time they summoned the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
Jesus heard that they had thrown the man out, and when he found him, he asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man? ”[fn]
Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, in order that those who do not see will see and those who do see will become blind.”
“The hired hand, since he is not the shepherd and doesn't own the sheep, leaves them[fn] and runs away when he sees a wolf coming. The wolf then snatches and scatters them.
“just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.
“do you say, ‘You are blaspheming' to the one the Father set apart and sent into the world, because I said: I am the Son of God?
So he departed again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there.
Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair, and it was her brother Lazarus who was sick.
Then Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother wouldn't have died.
“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who comes into the world.”
“Remove the stone,” Jesus said.
Martha, the dead man's sister, told him, “Lord, there is already a stench because he has been dead four days.”
So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me.
“I know that you always hear me, but because of the crowd standing here I said this, so that they may believe you sent me.”
“If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
They were looking for Jesus and asking one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? He won't come to the festival, will he? ”
Then a large crowd of the Jews learned he was there. They came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, the one he had raised from the dead.
because he was the reason many of the Jews were deserting them[fn] and believing in Jesus.
Meanwhile, the crowd, which had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead, continued to testify.[fn]
So they came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and requested of him, “Sir, we want to see Jesus.”
Then the crowd replied to him, “We have heard from the law that the Messiah will remain forever. So how can you say, ‘The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man? ”
Jesus cried out, “The one who believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me.
“I have come as light into the world, so that everyone who believes in me would not remain in darkness.
“If anyone hears my words and doesn't keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
“The one who rejects me and doesn't receive my sayings has this as his judge:[fn] The word I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God.
Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.
“You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.
Jesus replied, “If I don't wash you, you have no part with me.”
“I'm not speaking about all of you; I know those I have chosen. But the Scripture must be fulfilled: The one who eats my bread[fn] has raised his heel against me.
“Truly I tell you, whoever receives anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives me receives him who sent me.”
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
“If you know me, you will also know[fn] my Father. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father'?
“Truly I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor[fn] to be with you forever.
Jesus answered, “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.
“You have heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.' If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I.
“On the contrary, so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do as the Father commanded me.
“Get up; let's leave this place.
“You did not choose me, but I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit and that your fruit should remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.
“Remember the word I spoke to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.
“But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they don't know the one who sent me.
“If I had not done the works among them that no one else has done, they would not be guilty of sin. Now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.
“But now I am going away to him who sent me, and not one of you asks me, ‘Where are you going? '
“about righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will no longer see me;
Then some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this he's telling us: ‘In a little while, you will not see me; again in a little while, you will see me,' and, ‘Because I am going to the Father'? ”
“When a woman is in labor, she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world.
“In that day you will not ask me anything. Truly I tell you, anything you ask the Father in my name, he will give you.
“On that day you will ask in my name, and I am not telling you that I will ask the Father on your behalf.
“I came from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father.”
“I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so that the Son may glorify you,
“This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and the one you have sent — Jesus Christ.
“Now, Father, glorify me in your presence with that glory I had with you before the world existed.
“I have revealed your name to the people you gave me from the world. They were yours, you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
“I have given them your word. The world hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples.
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they answered.
“I am he,” Jesus told them.
Judas, who betrayed him, was also standing with them.
Then he asked them again, “Who is it that you're seeking? ”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they said.
Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it, struck the high priest's servant, and cut off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.)
Then the company of soldiers, the commander, and the Jewish officials arrested Jesus and tied him up.
But Peter remained standing outside by the door. So the other disciple, the one known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the girl who was the doorkeeper and brought Peter in.
Then they led Jesus from Caiaphas to the governor's headquarters. It was early morning. They did not enter the headquarters themselves; otherwise they would be defiled and unable to eat the Passover.
Pilate told them, “You take him and judge him according to your law.”
“It's not legal for us to put anyone to death,” the Jews declared.
Then Pilate went back into the headquarters, summoned Jesus, and said to him, “Are you the king of the Jews? ”
“You are a king then? ” Pilate asked.
“You say that I'm a king,” Jesus replied. “I was born for this, and I have come into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.”
“You have a custom that I release one prisoner to you at the Passover. So, do you want me to release to you the king of the Jews? ”
They shouted back, “Not this man, but Barabbas! ” Now Barabbas was a revolutionary.[fn]
Then Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, “Here is the man! ”
“We have a law,” the Jews replied to him, “and according to that law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.”
When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside. He sat down on the judge's seat in a place called the Stone Pavement (but in Aramaic,[fn] Gabbatha).
They shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him! ”
Pilate said to them, “Should I crucify your king? ”
“We have no king but Caesar! ” the chief priests answered.
Carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called Place of the Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha.
There they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, with Jesus in the middle.
Many of the Jews read this sign, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, Latin, and Greek.
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, a part for each soldier. They also took the tunic, which was seamless, woven in one piece from the top.
So they said to one another, “Let's not tear it, but cast lots for it, to see who gets it.” This happened that the Scripture might be fulfilled that says: They divided my clothes among themselves, and they cast lots for my clothing. This is what the soldiers did.
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing there, he said to his mother, “Woman, here is your son.”
Since it was the preparation day, the Jews did not want the bodies to remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special[fn] day). They requested that Pilate have the men's legs broken and that their bodies be taken away.
When they came to Jesus, they did not break his legs since they saw that he was already dead.
After this, Joseph of Arimathea, who was a disciple of Jesus — but secretly because of his fear of the Jews — asked Pilate that he might remove Jesus's body. Pilate gave him permission; so he came and took his body away.
They placed Jesus there because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby.
On the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark. She saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb.
So she went running to Simon Peter and to the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said to them, “They've taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they've put him! ”
They said to her, “Woman, why are you crying? ”
“Because they've taken away my Lord,” she told them, “and I don't know where they've put him.”
Having said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know it was Jesus.
“Don't cling to me,” Jesus told her, “since I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and tell them that I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, “I have seen the Lord! ” And she told them what[fn] he had said to her.
When it was evening on that first day of the week, the disciples were gathered together with the doors locked because they feared the Jews. Jesus came, stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Having said this, he showed them his hands and his side. So the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
So the other disciples were telling him, “We've seen the Lord! ”
But he said to them, “If I don't see the mark of the nails in his hands, put my finger into the mark of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here and look at my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Don't be faithless, but believe.”
When daybreak came, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not know it was Jesus.
The disciple, the one Jesus loved, said to Peter, “It is the Lord! ”
When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he tied his outer clothing around him (for he had taken it off) and plunged into the sea.
He said this to indicate by what kind of death Peter would glorify God. After saying this, he told him, “Follow me.”
So Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following them, the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and asked, “Lord, who is the one that's going to betray you? ”
And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which, if every one of them were written down, I suppose not even the world itself could contain the books[fn] that would be written.
While he was going, they were gazing into heaven, and suddenly two men in white clothes stood by them.
They said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking up into heaven? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen him going into heaven.”
So they proposed two: Joseph, called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.
“to take the place[fn] in this apostolic ministry that Judas left to go where he belongs.”
Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying.
Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven.
“Fellow Israelites, listen to these words: This Jesus of Nazareth was a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did among you through him, just as you yourselves know.
“For David says of him:
I saw the Lord ever before me;
because he is at my right hand,
I will not be shaken.
“Since he was a prophet, he knew that God had sworn an oath to him to seat one of his descendants[fn] on his throne.
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know with certainty that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”
When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do? ”
So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number[fn] those who were being saved.
So he jumped up and started to walk, and he entered the temple with them — walking, leaping, and praising God.
While he[fn] was holding on to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astonished, ran toward them in what is called Solomon's Colonnade.
When Peter saw this, he addressed the people: “Fellow Israelites, why are you amazed at this? Why do you stare at us, as though we had made him walk by our own power or godliness?
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our ancestors, has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied before Pilate, though he had decided to release him.
“You killed the source[fn] of life, whom God raised from the dead; we are witnesses of this.
“In this way God fulfilled what he had predicted through all the prophets — that his Messiah would suffer.
“that seasons of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send Jesus, who has been appointed for you as the Messiah.
“God raised up his servant[fn] and sent him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your evil ways.”
While they were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple police, and the Sadducees confronted them,
because they were annoyed that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
But many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men[fn] came to about five thousand.
“There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.”
And since they saw the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in opposition.
“But so that this does not spread any further among the people, let's threaten them against speaking to anyone in this name again.”
After threatening them further, they released them. They found no way to punish them because the people were all giving glory to God over what had been done.
When they heard this, they raised their voices together to God and said, “Master, you are the one who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, and everything in them.
“For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed,
“And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness,
When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God boldly.
Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.”
Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband.
Hearing this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.
When the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they convened the Sanhedrin — the full council of the Israelites — and sent orders to the jail to have them brought.
Someone came and reported to them, “Look! The men you put in jail are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”
Then the commander went with the servants and brought them in without force, because they were afraid the people might stone them.
Every day in the temple, and in various homes, they continued teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.
The Twelve summoned the whole company of the disciples and said, “It would not be right for us to give up preaching the word of God to wait on tables.
Then they secretly persuaded some men to say, “We heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.”
They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; so they came, seized him, and took him to the Sanhedrin.
“For we heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.”
“Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this land in which you are now living.
“And so he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. After this, he fathered Isaac and circumcised him on the eighth day. Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
“The patriarchs became jealous of Joseph and sold him into Egypt, but God was with him
“and rescued him out of all his troubles. He gave him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who appointed him ruler over Egypt and over his whole household.
“When he saw one of them being mistreated, he came to his rescue and avenged the oppressed man by striking down the Egyptian.
“But the one who was mistreating his neighbor pushed Moses aside, saying: Who appointed you a ruler and a judge over us?
“This Moses, whom they rejected when they said, Who appointed you a ruler and a judge? — this one God sent as a ruler and a deliverer through the angel who appeared to him in the bush.
“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the testimony in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses commanded him to make it according to the pattern he had seen.
Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! ”
When the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them.
“Pray to the Lord for me,” Simon replied, “so that nothing you have said may happen to me.”
So, after they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they traveled back to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.
When Philip ran up to it, he heard him reading the prophet Isaiah, and said, “Do you understand what you're reading? ”
“How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me? ” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.
Philip proceeded to tell him the good news about Jesus, beginning with that Scripture.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him any longer but went on his way rejoicing.
Barnabas, however, took him and brought him to the apostles and explained to them how Saul had seen the Lord on the road and that the Lord had talked to him, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus.
Peter sent them all out of the room. He knelt down, prayed, and turning toward the body said, “Tabitha, get up.” She opened her eyes, saw Peter, and sat up.
He was a devout man and feared God along with his whole household. He did many charitable deeds for the Jewish people and always prayed to God.
He saw heaven opened and an object that resembled a large sheet coming down, being lowered by its four corners to the earth.
While Peter was deeply perplexed about what the vision he had seen might mean, right away the men who had been sent by Cornelius, having asked directions to Simon's house, stood at the gate.
They said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who has a good reputation with the whole Jewish nation, was divinely directed by a holy angel to call you to his house and to hear a message from you.”
“He sent the message to the Israelites, proclaiming the good news of peace through Jesus Christ — he is Lord of all.
“how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how he went about doing good and healing all who were under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him.
“All the prophets testify about him that through his name everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.”
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came down on all those who heard the message.
For they heard them speaking in tongues[fn] and declaring the greatness of God.
Then Peter responded,
The apostles and the brothers and sisters who were throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
“The Spirit told me to accompany them with no doubts at all. These six brothers also accompanied me, and we went into the man's house.
“He reported to us how he had seen the angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa, and call for Simon, who is also named Peter.
“If, then, God gave them the same gift that he also gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, how could I possibly hinder God? ”
When they heard this they became silent. And they glorified God, saying, “So then, God has given repentance resulting in life even to the Gentiles.”
Now those who had been scattered as a result of the persecution that started because of Stephen made their way as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews.
But there were some of them, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began speaking to the Greeks[fn] also, proclaiming the good news about the Lord Jesus.
When Peter came to himself, he said, “Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent his angel and rescued me from Herod's grasp and from all that the Jewish people expected.”
She recognized Peter's voice, and because of her joy, she did not open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the outer gate.
Herod had been very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon. Together they presented themselves before him. After winning over Blastus, who was in charge of the king's bedroom, they asked for peace, because their country was supplied with food from the king's country.
After they had completed their relief mission, Barnabas and Saul returned to[fn] Jerusalem, taking along John who was called Mark.
As they were worshiping[fn] the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”
Arriving in Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. They also had John as their assistant.
He was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man summoned Barnabas and Saul and wanted to hear the word of God.
But Elymas the sorcerer (that is the meaning of his name) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul away from the faith.
“Now, look, the Lord's hand is against you. You are going to be blind, and will not see the sun for a time.” Immediately a mist and darkness fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand.
After the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the leaders of the synagogue sent word to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, you can speak.”
Paul stood up and motioned with his hand and said, “Fellow Israelites, and you who fear God, listen!
“The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors, made the people prosper during their stay in the land of Egypt, and led them out of it with a mighty[fn] arm.
“Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years.
“After removing him, he raised up David as their king and testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my will.'
“Now as John was completing his mission, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not the one. But one is coming after me, and I am not worthy to untie the sandals on his feet.'
“Brothers and sisters, children of Abraham's race, and those among you who fear God, it is to us that the word of this salvation has been sent.
“and he appeared for many days to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.
“Therefore he also says in another passage, You will not let your Holy One see decay.
The following Sabbath almost the whole town assembled to hear the word of the Lord.[fn]
Paul and Barnabas boldly replied, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.
When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.
But the Jews incited the prominent God-fearing women and the leading men of the city. They stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas and expelled them from their district.
But Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off their feet against them and went to Iconium.
The apostles Barnabas and Paul tore their robes when they heard this and rushed into the crowd, shouting,
“People! Why are you doing these things? We are people also, just like you, and we are proclaiming good news to you, that you turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything in them.
Some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and when they won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead.
But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”
After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you,[fn] that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.
“Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples' necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear?
“so that the rest of humanity
may seek the Lord —
even all the Gentiles
who are called by my name —
declares the Lord
who makes these things
“Therefore, in my judgment, we should not cause difficulties for those among the Gentiles who turn to God,
Then the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, decided to select men who were among them and to send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas: Judas, called Barsabbas, and Silas, both leading men among the brothers.
But Paul and Barnabas, along with many others, remained in Antioch, teaching and proclaiming the word of the Lord.
After some time had passed, Paul said to Barnabas, “Let's go back and visit the brothers and sisters in every town where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they're doing.”
But Paul insisted that they should not take along this man who had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not gone on with them to the work.
They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company, and Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed off to Cyprus.
They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
A God-fearing woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, was listening. The Lord opened her heart to respond to what Paul was saying.
After she and her household were baptized, she urged us, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
When her owners realized that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.”
He brought them into his house, set a meal before them, and rejoiced because he had come to believe in God with his entire household.
The jailer reported these words to Paul: “The magistrates have sent orders for you to be released. So come out now and go in peace.”
explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and rise from the dead: “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Messiah.”
But the Jews became jealous, and they brought together some wicked men from the marketplace, formed a mob, and started a riot in the city. Attacking Jason's house, they searched for them to bring them out to the public assembly.
As soon as it was night, the brothers and sisters sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. Upon arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
The people here were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, since they received the word with eagerness and examined[fn] the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
Then the brothers and sisters immediately sent Paul away to go to the coast, but Silas and Timothy stayed on there.
Those who escorted Paul brought him as far as Athens, and after receiving instructions for Silas and Timothy to come to him as quickly as possible, they departed.
Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him. Some said, “What is this ignorant show-off[fn] trying to say? ”
Others replied, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign deities” — because he was telling the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.
They took him and brought him to the Areopagus,[fn] and said, “May we learn about this new teaching you are presenting?
“The God who made the world and everything in it — he is Lord of heaven and earth — does not live in shrines made by hands.
“He did this so that they might seek God, and perhaps they might reach out and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself to preaching the word[fn] and testified to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah.
So he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God, whose house was next door to the synagogue.
“This man,” they said, “is persuading people to worship God in ways contrary to the law.”
And they all[fn] seized Sosthenes, the leader of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal, but none of these things mattered to Gallio.
For he vigorously refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the Scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.
While Apollos was in Corinth, Paul traveled through the interior regions and came to Ephesus. He found some disciples
Paul said, “John baptized with a baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus.”
This went on for two years, so that all the residents of Asia, both Jews and Greeks, heard the word of the Lord.
Now some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists also attempted to pronounce the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I command you by the Jesus that Paul preaches! ”
The evil spirit answered them, “I know Jesus, and I recognize Paul — but who are you? ”
When the city clerk had calmed the crowd down, he said, “People of Ephesus! What person is there who doesn't know that the city of the Ephesians is the temple guardian of the great[fn] Artemis, and of the image that fell from heaven?
After the uproar was over, Paul sent for the disciples, encouraged them, and after saying farewell, departed to go to Macedonia.
On the first day of the week, we assembled to break bread. Paul spoke to them, and since he was about to depart the next day, he kept on talking until midnight.
After going upstairs, breaking the bread, and eating, Paul talked a long time until dawn. Then he left.
We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul on board, because these were his instructions, since he himself was going by land.
When they came to him, he said to them, “You know, from the first day I set foot in Asia, how I was with you the whole time,
“I testified to both Jews and Greeks about repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
“But I consider my life of no value to myself; my purpose is to finish my course[fn] and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God's grace.
After we sighted Cyprus, passing to the south of it,[fn] we sailed on to Syria and arrived at Tyre, since the ship was to unload its cargo there.
When our time had come to an end, we left to continue our journey, while all of them, with their wives and children, accompanied us out of the city. After kneeling down on the beach to pray,
When we completed our voyage[fn] from Tyre, we reached Ptolemais, where we greeted the brothers and sisters and stayed with them for a day.
The next day we left and came to Caesarea, where we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the Seven, and stayed with him.
He came to us, took Paul's belt, tied his own feet and hands, and said, “This is what the Holy Spirit says: ‘In this way the Jews in Jerusalem will bind the man who owns this belt and deliver him over to the Gentiles.' ”
When they heard it, they glorified God and said, “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law.
“Take these men, purify yourself along with them, and pay for them to get their heads shaved. Then everyone will know that what they were told about you amounts to nothing, but that you yourself are also careful about observing the law.
When the seven days were nearly over, some Jews from the province of Asia saw him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd, and seized him,
shouting, “Fellow Israelites, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere against our people, our law, and this place. What's more, he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”
For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple.
Taking along soldiers and centurions, he immediately ran down to them. Seeing the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.
Some in the crowd were shouting one thing and some another. Since he was not able to get reliable information because of the uproar, he ordered him to be taken into the barracks.
Paul said, “I am a Jewish man from Tarsus of Cilicia, a citizen of an important city. Now I ask you, let me speak to the people.”
“Someone named Ananias, a devout man according to the law, who had a good reputation with all the Jews living there,
“And he said, ‘The God of our ancestors has appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One, and to hear the words from his mouth,
They listened to him up to this point. Then they raised their voices, shouting, “Wipe this man off the face of the earth! He should not be allowed to live! ”
As they were yelling and flinging aside their garments and throwing dust into the air,
As they stretched him out for the lash, Paul said to the centurion standing by, “Is it legal for you to scourge a man who is a Roman citizen and is uncondemned? ”
The next day, since he wanted to find out exactly why Paul was being accused by the Jews, he released him[fn] and instructed the chief priests and all the Sanhedrin to convene. He brought Paul down and placed him before them.
Then Paul said to him, “God is going to strike you, you whitewashed wall! You are sitting there judging me according to the law, and yet in violation of the law are you ordering me to be struck? ”
When it was morning, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves under a curse not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
These men went to the chief priests and elders and said, “We have bound ourselves under a solemn curse that we won't eat anything until we have killed Paul.
Paul called one of the centurions and said, “Take this young man to the commander, because he has something to report to him.”
So he took him, brought him to the commander, and said, “The prisoner Paul called me and asked me to bring this young man to you, because he has something to tell you.”
“The Jews,” he said, “have agreed to ask you to bring Paul down to the Sanhedrin tomorrow, as though they are going to hold a somewhat more careful inquiry about him.
So the commander dismissed the young man and instructed him, “Don't tell anyone that you have informed me about this.”
“Also provide mounts to ride so that Paul may be brought safely to Felix the governor.”
When this man had been seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them, I arrived with my troops and rescued him because I learned that he is a Roman citizen.
So the soldiers took Paul during the night and brought him to Antipatris as they were ordered.
When these men entered Caesarea and delivered the letter to the governor, they also presented Paul to him.
“For we have found this man to be a plague, an agitator among all the Jews throughout the Roman world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes.
“But I admit this to you: I worship the God of my ancestors according to the Way, which they call a sect, believing everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets.
“I have a hope in God, which these men themselves also accept, that there will be a resurrection,[fn] both of the righteous and the unrighteous.
Several days later, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and listened to him on the subject of faith in Christ Jesus.
After two years had passed, Porcius Festus succeeded Felix, and because Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.
Festus, however, answered that Paul should be kept at Caesarea, and that he himself was about to go there shortly.
When he had spent not more than eight or ten days among them, he went down to Caesarea. The next day, seated at the tribunal, he commanded Paul to be brought in.
Then Paul made his defense: “Neither against the Jewish law, nor against the temple, nor against Caesar have I sinned in any way.”
Several days later, King Agrippa and Bernice arrived in Caesarea and paid a courtesy call on Festus.
Since they were staying there several days, Festus presented Paul's case to the king, saying, “There's a man who was left as a prisoner by Felix.
“So when they had assembled here, I did not delay. The next day I took my seat at the tribunal and ordered the man to be brought in.
Agrippa said to Festus, “I would like to hear the man myself.”
“Tomorrow you will hear him,” he replied.
“I found that he had not done anything deserving of death, but when he himself appealed to the Emperor, I decided to send him.
Agrippa said to Paul, “You have permission to speak for yourself.”
Then Paul stretched out his hand and began his defense:
“to open their eyes so that they may turn[fn] from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a share among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
“Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.
Agrippa said to Paul, “Are you going to persuade me to become a Christian so easily? ”[fn]
and told them, “Men, I can see that this voyage is headed toward disaster and heavy loss, not only of the cargo and the ship but also of our lives.”
When they had eaten enough, they began to lighten the ship by throwing the grain overboard into the sea.
After cutting loose the anchors, they left them in the sea, at the same time loosening the ropes that held the rudders. Then they hoisted the foresail to the wind and headed for the beach.
But the centurion kept them from carrying out their plan because he wanted to save Paul, and so he ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to land.
The local people showed us extraordinary kindness. They lit a fire and took us all in, since it was raining and cold.
Now in the area around that place was an estate belonging to the leading man of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably for three days.
Publius's father was in bed suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went to him, and praying and laying his hands on him, he healed him.
“when he said,
Go to these people and say:
You will always be listening,
but never understanding;
and you will always be looking,
but never perceiving.
For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.
And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.
Therefore, every one of you[fn] who judges is without excuse. For when you judge another, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.
A man who is physically uncircumcised, but who keeps the law, will judge you who are a lawbreaker in spite of having the letter of the law and circumcision.
God presented him to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so that he would be just and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.
What then will we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?[fn]
But to the one who does not work, but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness.
Likewise, David also speaks of the blessing of the person to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
but also for us. It will be credited to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace[fn] with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.[fn]
Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness[fn] of life.
But now, since you have been set free from sin and have become enslaved to God, you have your fruit, which results in sanctification — and the outcome is eternal life!
For what the law could not do since it was weakened by the flesh, God did. He condemned sin in the flesh by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering,[fn]
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead lives in you, then he who raised Christ from the dead will also bring your mortal bodies to life through[fn] his Spirit who lives in you.
For the creation was subjected to futility — not willingly, but because of him who subjected it — in the hope
For this is the statement of the promise: At this time I will come, and Sarah will have a son.
And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory on objects of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory —
Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God concerning them[fn] is for their salvation.
But the righteousness that comes from faith speaks like this: Do not say in your heart, “Who will go up to heaven? ” that is, to bring Christ down
But to Israel he says, All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and defiant people.
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Or don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah — how he pleads with God against Israel?
Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and their backs be bent continually.
Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor.
Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
The commandments, Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal;[fn] do not covet; and any other commandment, are summed up by this commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself.
Besides this, since you know the time, it is already the hour for you[fn] to wake up from sleep, because now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed.
But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires.
One who eats must not look down on one who does not eat, and one who does not eat must not judge one who does, because God has accepted him.
But you, why do you judge your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.[fn]
so that you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ with one mind and one voice.
and so that Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,
Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,
and I will sing praise to your name.
Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in prayers to God on my behalf.
who risked their own necks for my life. Not only do I thank them, but so do all the Gentile churches.
Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those who belong to the household of Aristobulus.
Greet Herodion, my fellow Jew.[fn] Greet those who belong to the household of Narcissus who are in the Lord.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don't recall if I baptized anyone else.
For since, in God's wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of what is preached.
None of the rulers of this age knew this wisdom, because if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Now he who plants and he who waters are one,[fn] and each will receive his own reward according to his own labor.
For no one can lay any foundation other than what has been laid down. That foundation is Jesus Christ.
If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw,
If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and that is what you are.
But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk, but the power of those who are arrogant.
Even though I am absent in the body, I am present in spirit. As one who is present with you in this way, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who has been doing such a thing.
hand that one over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
If any of you has a dispute against another, how dare you take it to court before the unrighteous,[fn] and not before the saints?
Or don't you know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the trivial cases?
But because sexual immorality is so common,[fn] each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman should have sexual relations with her own husband.
Also, if any woman has an unbelieving husband and he is willing to live with her, she must not divorce her husband.
Wife, for all you know, you might save your husband. Husband, for all you know, you might save your wife.[fn]
and those who use the world as though they did not make full use of it. For this world in its current form is passing away.
For if someone sees you, the one who has knowledge, dining in an idol's temple, won't his weak conscience be encouraged[fn] to eat food offered to idols?
Therefore, if food causes my brother or sister to fall, I will never again eat meat, so that I won't cause my brother or sister to fall.
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not my work in the Lord?
Who serves as a soldier at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat its fruit? Or who shepherds a flock and does not drink the milk from the flock?
The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a sharing in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a sharing in the body of Christ?
Consider the people of Israel.[fn] Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar?
But if someone says to you, “This is food from a sacrifice,” do not eat it, out of consideration for the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience.[fn]
For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
So, then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body[fn] and blood of the Lord.
Moreover, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified wrongly about God that he raised up Christ — whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead are not raised.
He has also put his seal on us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a down payment.
I call on God as a witness, on my life, that it was to spare you that I did not come to Corinth.
I had no rest in my spirit because I did not find my brother Titus. Instead, I said good-bye to them and left for Macedonia.
For we do not market the word of God for profit like so many.[fn] On the contrary, we speak with sincerity in Christ, as from God and before God.
Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful things, not acting deceitfully or distorting the word of God, but commending ourselves before God to everyone's conscience by an open display of the truth.
In their case, the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ,[fn] who is the image of God.
Now we have this treasure in clay jars, so that this extraordinary power may be from God and not from us.
For we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you.
Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.
In fact, we are confident, and we would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.
Therefore, since we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your consciences.
That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.
He made the one who did not know sin to be sin[fn] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
and not only by his arrival but also by the comfort he received from you. He told us about your deep longing, your sorrow, and your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced even more.
We have sent with him the brother who is praised among all the churches for his gospel ministry.[fn]
We have also sent with them our brother. We have often tested him in many circumstances and found him to be diligent — and now even more diligent because of his great confidence in you.
As it is written:
He distributed freely;
he gave to the poor;
his righteousness endures forever.
Now the one who provides seed for the sower and bread for food will also provide and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness.
Because of the proof provided by this ministry, they will glorify God for your obedient confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone.
We are not boasting beyond measure about other people's labors. On the contrary, we have the hope that as your faith increases, our area of ministry will be greatly enlarged,
But I fear that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your minds may be seduced from a sincere and pure[fn] devotion to Christ.
I know a man in Christ who was caught up to the third heaven fourteen years ago. Whether he was in the body or out of the body, I don't know; God knows.
I know that this man — whether in the body or out of the body I don't know; God knows —
was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words, which a human being is not allowed to speak.
I urged Titus to go, and I sent the brother with him. Titus didn't take advantage of you, did he? Didn't we walk in the same spirit and in the same footsteps?
But we pray to God that you do nothing wrong — not that we may appear to pass the test, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to fail.
For am I now trying to persuade people,[fn] or God? Or am I striving to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.
to reveal his Son in me, so that I could preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone.[fn]
When the time came to completion, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
You did not despise or reject me though my physical condition was a trial for you.[fn] On the contrary, you received me as an angel of God, as Christ Jesus himself.
For it is written,
Rejoice, childless woman,
unable to give birth.
Burst into song and shout,
you who are not in labor,
for the children of the desolate woman will be many,
more numerous than those
of the woman who has a husband.
But just as then the child born as a result of the flesh persecuted the one born as a result of the Spirit, so also now.
But what does the Scripture say? “Drive out the slave and her son, for the son of the slave will never be a coheir with the son of the free woman.”
Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law.
Brothers and sisters, if someone is overtaken in any wrongdoing, you who are spiritual, restore such a person with a gentle spirit,[fn] watching out for yourselves so that you also won't be tempted.
Let each person examine his own work, and then he can take pride in himself alone, and not compare himself with someone else.
May peace come to all those who follow this standard, and mercy even to the Israel of God![fn]
In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed.
in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit now working in the disobedient.[fn]
he made of no effect the law consisting of commands and expressed in regulations, so that he might create in himself one new man from the two, resulting in peace.
I pray that he may grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power in your inner being through his Spirit,
and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. I pray that you, being rooted and firmly established in love,
to take off[fn] your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires,
and to put on[fn] the new self, the one created according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth.
For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.
To sum up, each one of you is to love his wife as himself, and the wife is to respect her husband.
Stand, therefore, with truth like a belt around your waist, righteousness like armor on your chest,
In every situation take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.
filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God.
Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word[fn] fearlessly.
the others proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely, thinking that they will cause me trouble in my imprisonment.
since you are engaged in the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I have.
But I considered it necessary to send you Epaphroditus — my brother, coworker, and fellow soldier, as well as your messenger and minister to my need —
But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ.
Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the profit[fn] that is increasing to your account.
if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.
I have become its servant, according to God's commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,
and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your[fn] Creator.
Slaves, obey your human masters in everything. Don't work only while being watched, as people-pleasers, but work wholeheartedly, fearing the Lord.
and you yourselves became imitators of us and of the Lord when, in spite of severe persecution, you welcomed the message with joy from the Holy Spirit.
For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith[fn] in God has gone out. Therefore, we don't need to say anything,
for they themselves report[fn] what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead — Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
For you remember our labor and hardship, brothers and sisters. Working night and day so that we would not burden any of you, we preached God's gospel to you.
who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets and persecuted us. They displease God and are hostile to everyone,
And we sent Timothy, our brother and God's coworker[fn] in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you concerning your faith,
This means one must not transgress against and take advantage of a brother or sister in this manner, because the Lord is an avenger of all these offenses, as we also previously told and warned you.
Consequently, anyone who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.
He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits[fn] in God's temple, proclaiming that he himself is God.
Now we command and exhort such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and provide for themselves.[fn]
This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” — and I am the worst of them.
An overseer, therefore, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, self-controlled, sensible, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them learn to practice godliness toward their own family first and to repay their parents, for this pleases God.
Don't continue drinking only water, but use a little wine because of your stomach and your frequent illnesses.
and constant disagreement among people whose minds are depraved and deprived of the truth, who imagine that godliness is a way to material gain.[fn]
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of eternal life to which you were called and about which you have made a good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
So don't be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, or of me his prisoner. Instead, share in suffering for the gospel, relying on the power of God.
This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.
Be diligent to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed, correctly teaching the word of truth.
Flee from youthful passions, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.
Just as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. They are men who are corrupt in mind and worthless in regard to the faith.
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching.
because Demas has deserted me, since he loved this present world, and has gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia.
When you come, bring the cloak I left in Troas with Carpus, as well as the scrolls, especially the parchments.
In his own time he has revealed his word in the preaching with which I was entrusted by the command of God our Savior:
As an overseer of God's household, he must be blameless, not arrogant, not hot-tempered, not an excessive drinker, not a bully, not greedy for money,
Diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey, so that they will lack nothing.
because I hear of your love for all the saints and the faith that you have in the Lord Jesus.
Again, when he[fn] brings his firstborn into the world, he says,
And let all God's angels worship him.
but to[fn] the Son:
Your throne, God,
is forever and ever,
and the scepter of your kingdom
is a scepter of justice.
But we do see Jesus — made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God's grace he might taste death for everyone — crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.
For in bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was entirely appropriate that God — for whom and through whom all things exist — should make the pioneer[fn] of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through his death he might destroy the one holding the power of death — that is, the devil —
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.[fn]
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens — Jesus the Son of God — let us hold fast to our confession.
For every high priest taken from among men is appointed in matters pertaining to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
also says in another place,
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
During his earthly life,[fn] he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God's revelation again. You need milk, not solid food.
Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God,
and who have fallen away. This is because,[fn] to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding him up to contempt.
For the ground that drinks the rain that often falls on it and that produces vegetation useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.
so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us.
Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because he has become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.
The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people — that is, from their brothers and sisters — though they have also descended from Abraham.
But one without this[fn] lineage collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.
For it has been testified:
You are a priest forever
according to the order of Melchizedek.
but he became a priest with an oath made by the one who said to him:
The Lord has sworn
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever.”
For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.
These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain.
And each person will not teach his fellow citizen,[fn]
and each his brother or sister, saying, “Know the Lord,”
because they will all know me,
from the least to the greatest of them.
This is a symbol for the present time, during which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper's conscience.
For when every command had been proclaimed by Moses to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats,[fn] along with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll itself and all the people,
According to the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.
For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands (only a model[fn] of the true one) but into heaven itself, so that he might now appear in the presence of God for us.
Therefore, as he was coming into the world, he said:
You did not desire sacrifice and offering,
but you prepared a body for me.
How much worse punishment do you think one will deserve who has trampled on the Son of God, who has regarded as profane[fn] the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
For we know the one who has said,
Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay,[fn]
and again,
The Lord will judge his people.
Now without faith it is impossible to please God, since the one who draws near to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
By faith Noah, after he was warned about what was not yet seen and motivated by godly fear, built an ark to deliver his family. By faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
By faith even Sarah herself, when she was unable to have children, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since she[fn] considered that the one who had promised was faithful.
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He received the promises and yet he was offering his one and only son,
For he considered reproach for the sake of Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, since he was looking ahead to the reward.
By faith he left Egypt behind, not being afraid of the king's anger, for Moses persevered as one who sees him who is invisible.
Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us,
For consider him who endured such hostility from sinners against himself, so that you won't grow weary and give up.
and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.
See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven.
His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
Remember your leaders who have spoken God's word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith.
Therefore, Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so that he might sanctify[fn] the people by his own blood.
Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus — the great Shepherd of the sheep — through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, he will be with me when I see you.
For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
Blessed is the one who endures trials, because when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life that God[fn] has promised to those who love him.
Therefore, ridding yourselves of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent,[fn] humbly receive the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom and perseveres in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer who works — this person will be blessed in what he does.
if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,”
Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself, you are doing well.
For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.
And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed[fn] among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.
With the tongue we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in God's likeness.
Don't criticize one another, brothers and sisters. Anyone who defames or judges a fellow believer[fn] defames and judges the law. If you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.
There is one lawgiver and judge[fn] who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
Therefore, brothers and sisters, be patient until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth and is patient with it until it receives the early and the late rains.
Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won't fall under judgment.[fn]
The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
If you appeal to the Father who judges impartially according to each one's work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during your time living as strangers.
Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.
but the word of the Lord endures forever.
And this word is the gospel that was proclaimed to you.
Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles,[fn] so that when they slander you as evildoers, they will observe your good works and will glorify God on the day he visits.
Submit to every human authority because of the Lord, whether to the emperor[fn] as the supreme authority
For you were like sheep going astray, but you have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer[fn] of your souls.
But even if you should suffer for righteousness, you are blessed. Do not fear them[fn] or be intimidated,
in order to live the remaining time in the flesh no longer for human desires, but for God's will.
But if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed but let him glorify God in having that name.[fn]
We also have the prophetic word strongly confirmed, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.
There were indeed false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, and will bring swift destruction on themselves.
that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us —
My little children, I am writing you these things so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father — Jesus Christ the righteous one.
But whoever keeps his word, truly in him the love of God is made complete. This is how we know we are in him:
The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother or sister is in the darkness until now.
The one who loves his brother or sister remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.[fn]
But the one who hates his brother or sister is in the darkness, walks in the darkness, and doesn't know where he's going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have conquered the evil one.
I have written to you, children,
because you have come to know the Father.
I have written to you, fathers,
because you have come to know
the one who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men,
because you are strong,
God's word remains in you,
and you have conquered the evil one.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.
Who is the liar, if not the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This one is the antichrist: the one who denies the Father and the Son.
No one who denies the Son has the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.
This is how God's children and the devil's children become obvious. Whoever does not do what is right is not of God, especially the one who does not love his brother or sister.
unlike Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.
Everyone who hates his brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
If anyone has this world's goods and sees a fellow believer[fn] in need but withholds compassion from him — how does God's love reside in him?
Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
but every spirit that does not confess Jesus[fn] is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming; even now it is already in the world.
We are from God. Anyone who knows God listens to us; anyone who is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
God's love was revealed among us[fn] in this way: God sent his one and only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice[fn] for our sins.
And we have seen and we testify that the Father has sent his Son as the world's Savior.
There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment.[fn] So the one who fears is not complete in love.
If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.[fn]
And we have this command from him: The one who loves God must also love his brother and sister.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father[fn] also loves the one born of him.
This is how we know that we love God's children: when we love God and obey[fn] his commands.
because everyone who has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
Who is the one who conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
The one who believes in the Son of God has this testimony within himself. The one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony God has given about his Son.
The one who has the Son has life. The one who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true one.[fn] We are in the true one — that is, in his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
Many deceivers have gone out into the world; they do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Anyone who does not remain in Christ's teaching but goes beyond it does not have God. The one who remains in that teaching, this one has both the Father and the Son.
Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. The one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen God.
For some people, who were designated for this judgment long ago,[fn] have come in by stealth; they are ungodly, turning the grace of our God into sensuality and denying Jesus Christ, our only Master and Lord.
Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns committed sexual immorality and perversions,[fn] and serve as an example by undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.
save others by snatching them from the fire; have mercy on others but with fear, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.
I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
“I know your works, your labor, and your endurance, and that you cannot tolerate evil people. You have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and you have found them to be liars.
“Don't be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown[fn] of life.
“I know your works. Look, I have placed before you an open door that no one can close because you have but little power; yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.
“Because you have kept my command to endure, I will also keep you from the hour of testing that is going to come on the whole world to test those who live on the earth.
Immediately I was in the Spirit, and there was a throne in heaven and someone was seated on it.
Then I heard something like a voice among the four living creatures say, “A quart of wheat for a denarius,[fn] and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not harm the oil and the wine.”
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given.[fn]
And I heard the number of the sealed:
144,000 sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:
The angel took the incense burner, filled it with fire from the altar, and hurled it to the earth; there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.
They were told not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green plant, or any tree, but only those people who do not have God's seal on their foreheads.
In those days people will seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them.
and he held a little scroll opened in his hand. He put his right foot on the sea, his left on the land,
Then the angel that I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven.
He swore by the one who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it, “There will no longer be a delay,
So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take and eat it; it will be bitter in your stomach, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.”
They have authority to close up the sky so that it does not rain during the days of their prophecy. They also have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague whenever they want.
Then they heard[fn] a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “Come up here.” They went up to heaven in a cloud, while their enemies watched them.
The nations were angry,
but your wrath has come.
The time has come
for the dead to be judged
and to give the reward
to your servants the prophets,
to the saints, and to those who fear your name,
both small and great,
and the time has come to destroy
those who destroy the earth.
A great sign[fn] appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She gave birth to a Son, a male who is going to rule[fn] all nations with an iron rod. Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
They conquered him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
for they did not love their lives
to the point of death.
When the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he persecuted[fn] the woman who had given birth to the male child.
The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent's presence to her place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for a time, times, and half a time.
But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had spewed from his mouth.
The beast I saw was like a leopard, its feet were like a bear's, and its mouth was like a lion's mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority.
It began to speak[fn] blasphemies against God: to blaspheme his name and his dwelling — those who dwell in heaven.
so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark: the beast's name or the number of its name.
He spoke with a loud voice: “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship the one who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water.”
So the angel swung his sickle at the earth and gathered the grapes from the vineyard of the earth, and he threw them into the great winepress of God's wrath.
Then the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
The fourth[fn] poured out his bowl on the sun. It was allowed to scorch people with fire,
and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they did not repent of their works.
The sixth[fn] poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east.
For they are demonic spirits performing signs, who travel to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty.
Enormous hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds,[fn] fell from the sky on people, and they blasphemed God for the plague of hail because that plague was extremely severe.
The kings of the earth who have committed sexual immorality and shared her sensual and excessive ways will weep and mourn over her when they see the smoke from her burning.
They will stand far off in fear of her torment, saying,
Woe, woe, the great city,
Babylon, the mighty city!
For in a single hour
your judgment has come.
The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their cargo any longer —
The merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand far off in fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,
as they watched the smoke from her burning and kept crying out, “Who was like the great city? ”
Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war.
And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army.
He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan,[fn] and bound him for a thousand years.
Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.
Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them.
down the middle of the city's main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations,
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