The Feast of Unleavened Bread

³ Then Moses said to the people, ^(A)“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ^(B)for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. ^(C)No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴ Today, in the month of ^(D)Abib, you are going out. ⁵ And when the Lord brings you into ^(E)the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which ^(F)he swore to your fathers to give you, a land ^(G)flowing with milk and honey, ^(H)you shall keep this service in this month. ^6 (I)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ^8 (J)You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ And it shall ^(K)be to you as a sign on your hand and as ^(L)a memorial ^(M)between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ^10 (N)You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, ^(O)as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ^12 (P)you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. ^13 (Q)Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every ^(R)firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ^14 (S)And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ^(T)‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ^(U)slavery. ¹⁵ For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the ^(V)Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but ^(W)all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ^16 (X)It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for ^(Y)by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did ^(Z)not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people ^(AA)change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ But God ^(AB)led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph^[a] had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, ^(AC)“God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” ²⁰ And ^(AD)they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And ^(AE)the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²² The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

²² Just then the servants of David arrived with Joab from a raid, bringing much spoil with them. But Abner was not with David at Hebron, for he had sent him away, and he had gone in peace. ²³ When Joab and all the army that was with him came, it was told Joab, “Abner the son of Ner came to the king, and he has let him go, and he has gone in peace.” ²⁴ Then Joab went to the king and said, “What have you done? Behold, Abner came to you. Why is it that you have sent him away, so that he is gone? ²⁵ You know that Abner the son of Ner came to deceive you and to know ^(A)your going out and your coming in, and to know all that you are doing.”

Joab Murders Abner

²⁶ When Joab came out from David's presence, he sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah. But David did not know about it. ²⁷ And when Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside into the midst of the gate to speak with him privately, ^(B)and there he struck him ^(C)in the stomach, so that he died, for the blood of Asahel his brother. ²⁸ Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “I and my kingdom are forever guiltless before the Lord for the blood of Abner the son of Ner. ^29 (D)May it fall upon the head of Joab and upon all his father's house, and may the house of Joab never be without ^(E)one who has a discharge or who is ^(F)leprous or who holds a spindle or who falls by the sword or who lacks bread!” ³⁰ So Joab and Abishai his brother killed Abner, because ^(G)he had put their brother Asahel to death in the battle at Gibeon.

David Mourns Abner

³¹ Then David said to Joab and to all the people who were with him, ^(H)“Tear your clothes and ^(I)put on sackcloth and mourn before Abner.” And King David followed the bier. ³² They buried Abner at Hebron. And the king lifted up his voice and wept at the grave of Abner, and all the people wept. ³³ And the king ^(J)lamented for Abner, saying,

And all the people wept again over him. ³⁵ Then all the people came ^(M)to persuade David to eat bread while it was yet day. But David swore, saying, ^(N)“God do so to me and more also, if I taste bread or anything else ^(O)till the sun goes down!” ³⁶ And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them, as everything that the king did pleased all the people. ³⁷ So all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's will to put to death Abner the son of Ner. ³⁸ And the king said to his servants, “Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel? ³⁹ And I was gentle today, though anointed king. ^(P)These men, the sons of Zeruiah, are more severe than I. ^(Q)The Lord repay the evildoer according to his wickedness!”

¹⁸ Then they said, ^(A)“Come, let us make plots against Jeremiah, ^(B)for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. ^(C)Come, let us strike him with the tongue, and let us not pay attention to any of his words.”

The Broken Flask

19 Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy ^(O)a potter's earthenware ^(P)flask, and take some of ^(Q)the elders of the people and some of ^(R)the elders of the priests, ² and go out ^(S)to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you. ³ You shall say, ^(T)‘Hear the word of the Lord, ^(U)O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that ^(V)the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. ^4 (W)Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; ^(X)and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, ^5 (Y)and have built the high places of Baal ^(Z)to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, ^(AA)which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind— ⁶ therefore, ^(AB)behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or ^(AC)the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter. ⁷ And in this place ^(AD)I will make void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem, ^(AE)and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those who seek their life. ^(AF)I will give their dead bodies for food to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the earth. ⁸ And I will make this city ^(AG)a horror, ^(AH)a thing to be hissed at. Everyone who passes by it will be horrified and will hiss because of all its wounds. ^9 (AI)And I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and their daughters, and everyone shall eat the flesh of his neighbor ^(AJ)in the siege and in the distress, with which their enemies and those who seek their life afflict them.’

¹⁰ “Then ^(AK)you shall break ^(AL)the flask in the sight of the men who go with you, ¹¹ and shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: So will I break this people and this city, ^(AM)as one breaks a potter's vessel, ^(AN)so that it can never be mended. ^(AO)Men shall bury in Topheth because there will be no place else to bury. ¹² Thus will I do to this place, declares the Lord, and to its inhabitants, making this city ^(AP)like Topheth. ¹³ The houses of Jerusalem and the houses of the kings of Judah—^(AQ)all the houses on whose ^(AR)roofs offerings have been offered ^(AS)to all the host of heaven, and ^(AT)drink offerings have been poured out to other gods—shall be defiled ^(AU)like the place of Topheth.’”

¹⁴ Then Jeremiah came from ^(AV)Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, ^(AW)and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and said to all the people: ¹⁵ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, ^(AX)because they have stiffened their neck, ^(AY)refusing to hear my words.”

Jesus Heals a Man with a Demon

5 ^(A)They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.^{[a] 2} And when Jesus^[b] had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. ^3 (B)He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, ⁴ for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. ⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. ⁶ And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and ^(C)fell down before him.

God Is Love

⁷ Beloved, ^(A)let us love one another, for love is from God, and ^(B)whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ^8 (C)Anyone who does not love does not know God, because ^(D)God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that ^(E)God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, ^(F)not that we have loved God ^(G)but that he loved us and sent his Son to be ^(H)the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ^12 (I)No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and ^(J)his love is perfected in us.

^13 (K)By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And ^(L)we have seen and testify that ^(M)the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of ^(N)the world. ^15 (O)Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So ^(P)we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. ^(Q)God is love, and ^(R)whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ By this ^(S)is love perfected with us, so that ^(T)we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because ^(U)as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but ^(V)perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not ^(W)been perfected in love. ^19 (X)We love because he first loved us. ^20 (Y)If anyone says, “I love God,” and ^(Z)hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot^[a] love God ^(AA)whom he has not seen. ²¹ And ^(AB)this commandment we have from him: ^(AC)whoever loves God must also love his brother.