Law Courts

⁸ If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge^(A)—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults^(B)—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose.^{(C) 9} Go to the Levitical^(D) priests and to the judge^(E) who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.^{(F) 10} You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. ¹¹ Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.^{(G) 12} Anyone who shows contempt^(H) for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering^(I) there to the Lord your God is to be put to death.^(J) You must purge the evil from Israel.^{(K) 13} All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.^(L)

¹⁹ I will give you the keys^(A) of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be^[a] bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be^[b] loosed in heaven.”^(B)

⁴⁶ An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest.^{(A) 47} Jesus, knowing their thoughts,^(B) took a little child and had him stand beside him. ⁴⁸ Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.^(C) For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”^(D)

²⁴ A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest.^{(A) 25} Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. ²⁶ But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest,^(B) and the one who rules like the one who serves.^{(C) 27} For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.^{(D) 28} You are those who have stood by me in my trials. ²⁹ And I confer on you a kingdom,^(E) just as my Father conferred one on me, ³⁰ so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom^(F) and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.^(G)

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee.^(A) Jesus’ mother^(B) was there, ² and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. ³ When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

⁴ “Woman,^[a](C) why do you involve me?”^(D) Jesus replied. “My hour^(E) has not yet come.”

⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”^(F)

⁶ Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing,^(G) each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.^[b]

⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

⁸ Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, ⁹ and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine.^(H) He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside ¹⁰ and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

¹¹ What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs^(I) through which he revealed his glory;^(J) and his disciples believed in him.^(K)

¹² After this he went down to Capernaum^(L) with his mother^(M) and brothers^(N) and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.

Jesus Clears the Temple Courts^(O)

¹³ When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover,^(P) Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{(Q) 14} In the temple courts he found people selling cattle, sheep and doves,^(R) and others sitting at tables exchanging money.^{(S) 15} So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ To those who sold doves he said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house^(T) into a market!” ¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”^[c](U)

¹⁸ The Jews^(V) then responded to him, “What sign^(W) can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”^(X)

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”^(Y)

²⁰ They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?” ²¹ But the temple he had spoken of was his body.^{(Z) 22} After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said.^(AA) Then they believed the scripture^(AB) and the words that Jesus had spoken.

²³ Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Festival,^(AC) many people saw the signs^(AD) he was performing and believed^(AE) in his name.^{[d] 24} But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all people. ²⁵ He did not need any testimony about mankind,^(AF) for he knew what was in each person.^(AG)