¹⁶ And I charged your judges at that time, “Hear the disputes between your people and judge^(A) fairly,^(B) whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.^{(C) 17} Do not show partiality^(D) in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be afraid of anyone,^(E) for judgment belongs to God. Bring me any case too hard for you, and I will hear it.”^{(F) 18} And at that time I told you everything you were to do.^(G)

Spies Sent Out

¹⁹ Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites^(H) through all that vast and dreadful wilderness^(I) that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.^{(J) 20} Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. ²¹ See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession^(K) of it as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, told you. Do not be afraid;^(L) do not be discouraged.”^(M)

²² Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy^(N) out the land^(O) for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”

²³ The idea seemed good to me; so I selected^(P) twelve of you, one man from each tribe. ²⁴ They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshkol^(Q) and explored it. ²⁵ Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported,^(R) “It is a good land^(S) that the Lord our God is giving us.”^(T)

Rebellion Against the Lord

²⁶ But you were unwilling to go up;^(U) you rebelled^(V) against the command of the Lord your God. ²⁷ You grumbled^(W) in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller^(X) than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites^(Y) there.’”

²⁹ Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid^(Z) of them.^{(AA) 30} The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight^(AB) for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness. There you saw how the Lord your God carried^(AC) you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”^(AD)

³² In spite of this,^(AE) you did not trust^(AF) in the Lord your God, ³³ who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day,^(AG) to search^(AH) out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.

¹³ When the devil had finished all this tempting,^(A) he left him^(B) until an opportune time.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

¹⁴ Jesus returned to Galilee^(C) in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside.^{(D) 15} He was teaching in their synagogues,^(E) and everyone praised him.

¹⁶ He went to Nazareth,^(F) where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue,^(G) as was his custom. He stood up to read,^{(H) 17} and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:

²⁰ Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down.^(L) The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled^(M) in your hearing.”

²² All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” they asked.^(N)

²³ Jesus said to them, “Surely you will quote this proverb to me: ‘Physician, heal yourself!’ And you will tell me, ‘Do here in your hometown^(O) what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.’”^(P)

²⁴ “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown.^{(Q) 25} I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land.^{(R) 26} Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.^{(S) 27} And there were many in Israel with leprosy^[b] in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”^(T)

²⁸ All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of the town,^(U) and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. ³⁰ But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.^(V)