Isaac Blesses Jacob

27 When Isaac was old and ^(A)his eyes were dim so that he could not see, he called Esau his older son and said to him, “My son”; and he answered, “Here I am.” ² He said, “Behold, I am old; I do not know the day of my death. ^3 (B)Now then, take your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt game for me, ⁴ and prepare for me delicious food, such as I love, and bring it to me so that I may eat, that my soul ^(C)may bless you before I die.”

⁵ Now Rebekah was listening when Isaac spoke to his son Esau. So when Esau went to the field to hunt for game and bring it, ⁶ Rebekah said to her son Jacob, “I heard your father speak to your brother Esau, ⁷ ‘Bring me game and prepare for me delicious food, that I may eat it and bless you before the Lord before I die.’ ⁸ Now therefore, my son, ^(D)obey my voice as I command you. ⁹ Go to the flock and bring me two good young goats, so that I may prepare from them delicious food for your father, such as he loves. ¹⁰ And you shall bring it to your father to eat, ^(E)so that he may bless you before he dies.” ¹¹ But Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, “Behold, ^(F)my brother Esau is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. ¹² Perhaps my father ^(G)will feel me, and I shall seem to be mocking him and bring ^(H)a curse upon myself and not a blessing.”

Gideon Defeats Zebah and Zalmunna

8 ^(A)Then the men of Ephraim said to him, “What is this that you have done to us, not to call us when you went to fight against Midian?” And they accused him fiercely. ² And he said to them, “What have I done now in comparison with you? Is not ^(B)the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the grape harvest of Abiezer? ^3 (C)God has given into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. What have I been able to do in comparison with you?” ^(D)Then their anger^[a] against him subsided when he said this.

⁴ And Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and ^(E)the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing. ⁵ So he said to the men of ^(F)Succoth, “Please give loaves of bread to the people who follow me, for they are exhausted, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian.” ⁶ And the officials of Succoth said, ^(G)“Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, ^(H)that we should give bread to your army?” ⁷ So Gideon said, “Well then, when the Lord has given Zebah and Zalmunna into my hand, ^(I)I will flail your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.” ⁸ And from there he went up to ^(J)Penuel, and spoke to them in the same way, and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered. ⁹ And he said to the men of Penuel, ^(K)“When I come again in peace, ^(L)I will break down this tower.”

¹⁰ Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor with their army, about 15,000 men, all who were left of all the army of ^(M)the people of the East, for there had fallen 120,000 men ^(N)who drew the sword. ¹¹ And Gideon went up by the way of the tent dwellers east of ^(O)Nobah and Jogbehah and attacked the army, for the army felt ^(P)secure. ¹² And Zebah and Zalmunna fled, and he pursued them ^(Q)and captured the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and he threw all the army into a panic.

¹³ Then Gideon the son of Joash returned from the battle by the ascent of Heres. ¹⁴ And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men. ¹⁵ And he came to the men of Succoth and said, “Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, about whom you taunted me, saying, ^(R)‘Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hand, that we should give bread to your men who are exhausted?’” ¹⁶ And he took the elders of the city, and he took thorns of the wilderness and briers and with them taught the men of Succoth a lesson. ^17 (S)And he broke down the tower of Penuel and killed the men of the city.

¹⁸ Then he said to Zebah and Zalmunna, “Where are the men whom you killed at ^(T)Tabor?” They answered, “As you are, so were they. Every one of them resembled the son of a king.” ¹⁹ And he said, “They were my brothers, the sons of my mother. ^(U)As the Lord lives, if you had saved them alive, I would not kill you.” ²⁰ So he said to Jether his firstborn, “Rise and kill them!” But the young man did not draw his sword, for he was afraid, because he was still a young man. ²¹ Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, “Rise yourself and fall upon us, for as the man is, so is his strength.” And Gideon arose and ^(V)killed Zebah and Zalmunna, and he took ^(W)the crescent ornaments that were on the necks of their camels.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

36 ^(A)In the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, ^(B)Sennacherib king of Assyria came up against all the fortified cities of Judah and took them. ^2 (C)And the king of Assyria sent the Rabshakeh^[a] from ^(D)Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem, with a great army. And he stood ^(E)by the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer's Field. ³ And there came out to him ^(F)Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and ^(G)Shebna the secretary, and Joah the son of Asaph, the recorder.

⁴ And the Rabshakeh said to them, “Say to Hezekiah, ‘Thus says the ^(H)great king, the king of Assyria: On what do you rest this trust of yours? ⁵ Do you think that mere words are strategy and power for war? In whom do you now trust, that you have rebelled against me? ^6 (I)Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him. ⁷ But if you say to me, “We trust in the Lord our God,” is it not he ^(J)whose high places and altars Hezekiah has removed, saying to Judah and to Jerusalem, “You shall worship before this altar”? ⁸ Come now, make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to set riders on them. ⁹ How then can you repulse ^(K)a single captain among the least of my master's servants, when ^(L)you trust in Egypt for chariots and for horsemen?

Job Replies: God's Majesty Is Unsearchable

26 Then Job answered and said:

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

¹³ Now when Jesus heard this, ^(A)he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When he went ashore he ^(B)saw a great crowd, and ^(C)he had compassion on them and healed their sick. ¹⁵ Now when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; ^(D)send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” ¹⁶ But Jesus said, “They need not go away; ^(E)you give them something to eat.” ¹⁷ They said to him, “We have only five loaves here and two fish.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Bring them here to me.” ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass, and taking the five loaves and the two fish, ^(F)he looked up to heaven and ^(G)said a blessing. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over. ²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

²¹ When they had preached the gospel to that city and had ^(A)made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, ^22 (B)strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them ^(C)to continue in ^(D)the faith, and saying that ^(E)through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God. ²³ And when they had ^(F)appointed ^(G)elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting ^(H)they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria

²⁴ Then they passed through Pisidia and came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ And when they had spoken the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia, ²⁶ and from there they sailed to Antioch, ^(I)where they had been ^(J)commended to the grace of God for the work that they had fulfilled. ²⁷ And when they arrived and gathered the church together, ^(K)they declared all that God had done with them, and ^(L)how he had ^(M)opened ^(N)a door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸ And they remained no little time with the disciples.