The Penalty for Israel's Rebellion

³⁴ “And the Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ^35 (A)‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, ^36 (B)except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the Lord!’ ³⁷ Even with me ^(C)the Lord was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there. ^38 (D)Joshua the son of Nun, ^(E)who stands before you, he shall enter. ^(F)Encourage him, for he shall cause Israel to inherit it. ³⁹ And as for ^(G)your little ones, who you said would become a prey, and your children, who today ^(H)have no knowledge of good or evil, they shall go in there. And to them I will give it, and they shall possess it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, ^(I)turn, and journey into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.’

⁴¹ “Then you answered me, ^(J)‘We have sinned against the Lord. We ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every one of you fastened on his weapons of war and thought it easy to go up into the hill country. ⁴² And the Lord said to me, ^(K)‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, ^(L)for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ ⁴³ So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and ^(M)presumptuously went up into the hill country. ^44 (N)Then the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you ^(O)as bees do and beat you down in Seir as far as ^(P)Hormah. ⁴⁵ And you returned and wept before the Lord, but the Lord did not listen to your voice or give ear to you.

⁸ The men of Israel took captive 200,000 ^(A)of their relatives, women, sons, and daughters. They also took much spoil from them and brought the spoil to Samaria. ⁹ But a prophet of the Lord was there, whose name was Oded, and he went out to meet the army that came to Samaria and said to them, “Behold, because the Lord, the God of your fathers, ^(B)was angry with Judah, he gave them into your hand, but you have killed them in a rage ^(C)that has reached up to heaven. ¹⁰ And now you intend to subjugate the people of Judah and Jerusalem, male and female, as your slaves. Have you not sins of your own against the Lord your God? ¹¹ Now hear me, and send back the captives ^(D)from your relatives whom you have taken, for the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you.”

¹² Certain chiefs also of the men of Ephraim, Azariah the son of Johanan, Berechiah the son of Meshillemoth, Jehizkiah the son of Shallum, and Amasa the son of Hadlai, stood up against those who were coming from the war ¹³ and said to them, “You shall not bring the captives in here, for you propose to bring upon us guilt against the Lord in addition to our present sins and guilt. For our guilt is already great, and there is fierce wrath against Israel.” ¹⁴ So the armed men left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the assembly. ¹⁵ And ^(E)the men who have been mentioned by name rose and took the captives, and with the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them. They clothed them, gave them sandals, ^(F)provided them with food and drink, and anointed them, and carrying all the feeble among them on donkeys, they brought them to their kinsfolk at Jericho, ^(G)the city of palm trees. Then they returned to Samaria.

^16 (H)At that time King Ahaz sent to the king^[a] of Assyria for help. ¹⁷ For the Edomites had again invaded and defeated Judah and carried away captives. ^18 (I)And the Philistines had made raids on ^(J)the cities in the Shephelah and the Negeb of Judah, and had taken Beth-shemesh, Aijalon, Gederoth, Soco ^(K)with its villages, Timnah with its villages, and Gimzo with its villages. And they settled there. ¹⁹ For the Lord humbled Judah because of Ahaz king of Israel, for he had made ^(L)Judah act sinfully^[b] and had been very unfaithful to the Lord. ²⁰ So ^(M)Tiglath-pileser^[c] king of Assyria came against him and afflicted him instead of strengthening him. ^21 (N)For Ahaz took a portion from the house of the Lord and the house of the king and of the princes, and gave tribute to the king of Assyria, but it did not help him.

Ahaz's Idolatry

²² In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. ²³ For ^(O)he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that had defeated him and said, ^(P)“Because the gods of the kings of Syria helped them, I will sacrifice to them that they may help me.” But they were the ruin of him and of all Israel. ²⁴ And Ahaz gathered together the vessels of the house of God and ^(Q)cut in pieces the vessels of the house of God, and he shut up the doors of the house of the Lord, and he made himself ^(R)altars in every corner of Jerusalem. ²⁵ In every city of Judah he made high places to ^(S)make offerings to other gods, provoking to anger the Lord, the God of his fathers. ^26 (T)Now the rest of his acts and all his ways, from first to last, behold, they are written in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ²⁷ And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city, in Jerusalem, for ^(U)they did not bring him into the tombs of the kings of Israel. And Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

A Plea to Return to the Lord

¹⁰ But after ^(A)his brothers had gone up to the feast, then he also went up, not publicly but in private. ^11 (B)The Jews ^(C)were looking for him at the feast, and saying, “Where is he?” ¹² And there was much ^(D)muttering about him among the people. ^(E)While some said, “He is a good man,” others said, “No, ^(F)he is leading the people astray.” ¹³ Yet ^(G)for fear of the Jews no one spoke openly of him.

¹⁴ About the middle of the feast Jesus went up ^(H)into the temple and began teaching. ¹⁵ The Jews therefore ^(I)marveled, saying, “How is it that this man has learning,^[a] when he has never studied?” ¹⁶ So Jesus answered them, ^(J)“My teaching is not mine, but his ^(K)who sent me. ^17 (L)If anyone's will is to do God's^[b] will, ^(M)he will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I ^(N)am speaking on my own authority. ¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own authority ^(O)seeks his own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and in him there is no falsehood. ^19 (P)Has not Moses given you the law? Yet none of you keeps the law. ^(Q)Why do you seek to kill me?” ²⁰ The crowd answered, ^(R)“You have a demon! Who is seeking to kill you?” ²¹ Jesus answered them, “I did ^(S)one work, and you all marvel at it. ^22 (T)Moses gave you circumcision (not that it is from Moses, but ^(U)from the fathers), and you circumcise a man on the Sabbath. ²³ If on the Sabbath a man receives circumcision, so that the law of Moses may not be broken, ^(V)are you angry with me because on the Sabbath I made a man's whole body well? ^24 (W)Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment.”

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by command of ^(C)God our Savior and of Christ Jesus ^(D)our hope,

² To Timothy, ^(E)my true child in the faith:

^(F)Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

Warning Against False Teachers

^3 (G)As I urged you when I was going to Macedonia, remain at Ephesus so that you may charge certain persons not ^(H)to teach any different doctrine, ⁴ nor ^(I)to devote themselves to myths and endless ^(J)genealogies, which promote ^(K)speculations rather than the stewardship^[a] from God that is by faith. ⁵ The aim of our charge is love ^(L)that issues from a pure heart and ^(M)a good conscience and ^(N)a sincere faith. ⁶ Certain persons, by ^(O)swerving from these, have wandered away into ^(P)vain discussion, ⁷ desiring to be teachers of the law, ^(Q)without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make confident assertions.

⁸ Now we know that ^(R)the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, ⁹ understanding this, that the ^(S)law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, ¹⁰ the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers,^[b] liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to ^(T)sound^[c] doctrine, ¹¹ in accordance with ^(U)the gospel of the glory of ^(V)the blessed God ^(W)with which I have been entrusted.