God's Promise to Isaac

26 Now there was a famine in the land, besides ^(A)the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to ^(B)Abimelech king of the ^(C)Philistines. ² And the Lord appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell ^(D)in the land of which I shall tell you. ^3 (E)Sojourn in this land, and ^(F)I will be with you and will bless you, for ^(G)to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish ^(H)the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. ^4 (I)I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And ^(J)in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, ⁵ because ^(K)Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

Isaac and Abimelech

⁶ So Isaac settled in Gerar. ⁷ When the men of the place asked him about his wife, ^(L)he said, “She is my sister,” for ^(M)he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because ^(N)she was attractive in appearance. ⁸ When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with^[a] Rebekah his wife. ⁹ So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” ¹⁰ Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and ^(O)you would have brought guilt upon us.” ¹¹ So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

¹² And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The Lord ^(P)blessed him, ¹³ and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. ¹⁴ He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines ^(Q)envied him. ¹⁵ (Now the Philistines had stopped and filled with earth all the wells ^(R)that his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father.)

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

²⁸ When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. ²⁹ And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” ³² Therefore on that day Gideon^[a] was called ^(A)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

³³ Now ^(B)all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East came together, and they crossed the Jordan and encamped in ^(C)the Valley of Jezreel. ³⁴ But ^(D)the Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon, ^(E)and he sounded the trumpet, and the Abiezrites were called out to follow him. ^35 (F)And he sent messengers throughout all Manasseh, and they too were called out to follow him. ^(G)And he sent messengers to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and they went up to meet them.

The Sign of the Fleece

^36 (H)Then Gideon said to God, “If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, ³⁷ behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.” ³⁸ And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. ³⁹ Then Gideon said to God, ^(I)“Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.” ⁴⁰ And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.

Judgment on the Nations

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven ^(A)is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy ^(B)he goes and sells all that he has and ^(C)buys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, ⁴⁶ who, on finding ^(D)one pearl of great value, ^(E)went and sold all that he had and ^(F)bought it.

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is ^(G)like a net that was thrown into the sea and ^(H)gathered fish of every kind. ⁴⁸ When it was full, ^(I)men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. ⁴⁹ So it will be at ^(J)the end of the age. The angels will come out and ^(K)separate the evil from the righteous ^50 (L)and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^(M)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

New and Old Treasures

^51 (N)“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” ⁵² And he said to them, “Therefore every ^(O)scribe ^(P)who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who ^(Q)brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

⁵³ And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, ^54 (R)and coming to ^(S)his hometown ^(T)he taught them in their synagogue, so that ^(U)they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ^55 (V)Is not this ^(W)the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not ^(X)his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And ^(Y)they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ^(Z)“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many mighty works there, ^(AA)because of their unbelief.

Paul and Barnabas at Iconium

14 Now at Iconium ^(A)they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. ^2 (B)But the ^(C)unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against ^(D)the brothers.^{[a] 3} So they remained for a long time, speaking boldly for ^(E)the Lord, who bore witness to ^(F)the word of his grace, ^(G)granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. ⁴ But the people of the city ^(H)were divided; ^(I)some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles. ⁵ When an attempt was made by both Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, ^(J)to mistreat them and ^(K)to stone them, ⁶ they learned of it and ^(L)fled to ^(M)Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding country, ⁷ and there they continued to preach the gospel.