The Death of Moses

34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab ^(A)to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, ² all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah ^(B)as far as the western sea, ^3 (C)the Negeb, and ^(D)the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho ^(E)the city of palm trees, as far as ^(F)Zoar. ⁴ And the Lord said to him, ^(G)“This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ ^(H)I have let you see it with your eyes, but ^(I)you shall not go over there.” ⁵ So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, ⁶ and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but ^(J)no one knows the place of his burial to this day. ^7 (K)Moses was 120 years old when he died. ^(L)His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. ⁸ And the people of Israel ^(M)wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

⁹ And Joshua the son of Nun was full of ^(N)the spirit of wisdom, for ^(O)Moses had laid his hands on him. So ^(P)the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁰ And there has not ^(Q)arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, ^(R)whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ none like him for all ^(S)the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹² and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

¹⁸ But the Jews who were in Susa gathered ^(A)on the thirteenth day and on the fourteenth, and rested ^(B)on the fifteenth day, making that a day of feasting and gladness. ¹⁹ Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in ^(C)the rural towns, hold the fourteenth day of the month of Adar as a day for gladness and feasting, as ^(D)a holiday, and ^(E)as a day on which they send gifts of food to one another.

The Feast of Purim Inaugurated

²⁰ And Mordecai recorded these things and sent letters to all the Jews who were in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, both near and far, ²¹ obliging them to keep the fourteenth day of the month Adar and also the fifteenth day of the same, year by year, ²² as the days on which the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month that had been turned for them from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into ^(F)a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, days for sending gifts of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

²³ So the Jews accepted what they had started to do, and what Mordecai had written to them. ²⁴ For Haman the Agagite, the son of Hammedatha, ^(G)the enemy of all the Jews, ^(H)had plotted against the Jews to destroy them, and ^(I)had cast Pur (that is, cast lots), to crush and to destroy them. ²⁵ But when it came before the king, he gave orders in writing ^(J)that his evil plan that he had devised against the Jews ^(K)should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows. ²⁶ Therefore they called these days Purim, after the term ^(L)Pur. Therefore, because of all that was written in ^(M)this letter, and of what they had faced in this matter, and of what had happened to them, ²⁷ the Jews firmly obligated themselves and their offspring and ^(N)all who joined them, that without fail they would keep ^(O)these two days according to what was written and at the time appointed every year, ²⁸ that these days should be remembered and kept throughout every generation, in every clan, province, and city, and that these days of Purim should never fall into disuse among the Jews, nor should the commemoration of these days cease among their descendants.

²⁹ Then Queen Esther, ^(P)the daughter of Abihail, and Mordecai the Jew gave full written authority, confirming ^(Q)this second letter about Purim. ³⁰ Letters were sent to all the Jews, ^(R)to the 127 provinces of the kingdom of Ahasuerus, in words of peace and truth, ³¹ that these days of Purim should be observed at their appointed seasons, as Mordecai the Jew and Queen Esther obligated them, and as they had obligated themselves and their offspring, with regard to ^(S)their fasts and their lamenting. ³² The command of Esther confirmed these practices of ^(T)Purim, and it was recorded in writing.

The Greatness of Mordecai

10 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on ^(U)the coastlands of the sea. ² And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, ^(V)to which the king advanced him, are they not written in ^(W)the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? ³ For Mordecai the Jew was ^(X)second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he ^(Y)sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people.

⁸ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. ^(A)But you say, ‘How have we robbed you?’ ^(B)In your tithes and contributions. ^9 (C)You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. ^10 (D)Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby ^(E)put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open ^(F)the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. ¹¹ I will rebuke ^(G)the devourer^[a] for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. ¹² Then ^(H)all nations will call you blessed, for you will be ^(I)a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.

^13 (J)“Your words have been hard against me, says the Lord. ^(K)But you say, ‘How have we spoken against you?’ ¹⁴ You have said, ^(L)‘It is vain to serve God. ^(M)What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts? ¹⁵ And now we call ^(N)the arrogant blessed. ^(O)Evildoers not only prosper but ^(P)they put God to the test and they escape.’”

The Book of Remembrance

¹⁶ Then those who feared the Lord ^(Q)spoke with one another. The Lord paid attention and heard them, and ^(R)a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared the Lord and esteemed his name. ¹⁷ “They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts, ^(S)in the day when I make up ^(T)my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. ¹⁸ Then once more you shall ^(U)see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him.

The Great Day of the Lord

4 ^[b] “For behold, ^(V)the day is coming, ^(W)burning like an oven, when ^(X)all the arrogant and ^(Y)all evildoers ^(Z)will be stubble. The day that is coming ^(AA)shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ² But for you ^(AB)who fear my name, ^(AC)the sun ^(AD)of righteousness shall rise ^(AE)with healing in its wings. You shall go out ^(AF)leaping like calves from the stall. ³ And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, ^(AG)on the day when I act, says the Lord of hosts.

^4 (AH)“Remember ^(AI)the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules^[c] that I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel.

^5 (AJ)“Behold, I will send you ^(AK)Elijah the prophet ^(AL)before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. ⁶ And he will ^(AM)turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and ^(AN)strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”^[d]

Longing for Her Beloved

Final Advice

Others

She

He

She

Jesus and Peter

¹⁵ When they had ^(A)finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ^(B)“Simon, ^(C)son of John, ^(D)do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, “Feed ^(E)my lambs.” ¹⁶ He said to him a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” He said to him, ^(F)“Tend ^(G)my sheep.” ¹⁷ He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was grieved because he said to him ^(H)the third time, “Do you love me?” and he said to him, “Lord, ^(I)you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed ^(J)my sheep. ^18 (K)Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, ^(L)you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.” ¹⁹ (This he said to show ^(M)by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, ^(N)“Follow me.”

Jesus and the Beloved Apostle

²⁰ Peter turned and saw ^(O)the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, ^(P)the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” ²¹ When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” ²² Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain ^(Q)until ^(R)I come, what is that to you? ^(S)You follow me!” ²³ So the saying spread abroad among ^(T)the brothers^[a] that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

²⁴ This is the disciple ^(U)who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and ^(V)we know ^(W)that his testimony is true.

²⁵ Now ^(X)there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that ^(Y)the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.

⁸ I, ^(A)John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, ^(B)I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, ^9 (C)but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those ^(D)who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

¹⁰ And he said to me, ^(E)“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. ^11 (F)Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

¹² “Behold, ^(G)I am coming soon, ^(H)bringing my recompense with me, ^(I)to repay each one for what he has done. ^13 (J)I am the Alpha and the Omega, ^(K)the first and the last, ^(L)the beginning and the end.”

¹⁴ Blessed are those who ^(M)wash their robes,^[a] so that they may have the right to ^(N)the tree of life and that ^(O)they may enter the city by the gates. ^15 (P)Outside are ^(Q)the dogs ^(R)and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

^16 (S)“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things ^(T)for the churches. I am ^(U)the root and ^(V)the descendant of David, ^(W)the bright morning star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and ^(X)the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And ^(Y)let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the ^(Z)water of life without price.

¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: ^(AA)if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in ^(AB)the tree of life and in ^(AC)the holy city, which are described in this book.

²⁰ He who testifies to these things says, “Surely ^(AD)I am coming soon.” Amen. ^(AE)Come, Lord Jesus!

²¹ The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.^[b] Amen.