Jacob's Dream

¹⁰ Jacob left ^(A)Beersheba and went toward ^(B)Haran. ¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. ¹² And he ^(C)dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder^[a] set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, ^(D)the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! ¹³ And behold, ^(E)the Lord stood above it^[b] and said, ^(F)“I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ^(G)The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring. ¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like ^(H)the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and ^(I)your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. ¹⁵ Behold, ^(J)I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and ^(K)will bring you back to this land. For I will ^(L)not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” ¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is ^(M)in this place, and I did not know it.” ¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

¹⁸ So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up ^(N)for a pillar ^(O)and poured oil on the top of it. ¹⁹ He called the name of that place ^(P)Bethel,^[c] but the name of the city was Luz at the first. ²⁰ Then Jacob ^(Q)made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, ^21 (R)so that I come again to my father's house in peace, ^(S)then the Lord shall be my God, ²² and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, ^(T)shall be God's house. And ^(U)of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

³⁷ Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming from the direction of the Diviners' Oak.” ³⁸ Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ^(A)‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them.” ³⁹ And Gaal went out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰ And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. And many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹ And Abimelech lived at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives, so that they could not dwell at Shechem.

⁴² On the following day, the people went out into the field, and Abimelech was told. ⁴³ He took his people and divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. And he looked and saw the people coming out of the city. So he rose against them and killed them. ⁴⁴ Abimelech and the company that was with him ^(B)rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and killed them. ⁴⁵ And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and ^(C)he razed the city and ^(D)sowed it with salt.

⁴⁶ When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered ^(E)the stronghold of the house of ^(F)El-berith. ⁴⁷ Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸ And Abimelech went up to Mount ^(G)Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.” ⁴⁹ So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against ^(H)the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women.

⁵⁰ Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹ But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵² And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ^53 (I)And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. ^54 (J)Then he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵ And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, everyone departed to his home. ^56 (K)Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷ And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came ^(L)the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

^36 (A)And the angel of the Lord went out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians. And when people arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies. ³⁷ Then Sennacherib king of Assyria departed and returned home and lived at ^(B)Nineveh. ³⁸ And as he was worshiping in the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, struck him down with the sword. And after they escaped into the land of ^(C)Ararat, ^(D)Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place.

Hezekiah's Sickness and Recovery

38 ^(E)In those days Hezekiah became ^(F)sick and was at the point of death. And ^(G)Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover.”^{[a] 2} Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, ³ and said, “Please, O Lord, remember how ^(H)I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight.” And Hezekiah wept bitterly.

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: ⁵ “Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add ^(I)fifteen years to your life.^{[b] 6 (J)}I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will defend this city.

⁷ “This shall be the sign to you from the Lord, that the Lord will do this thing that he has promised: ^8 (K)Behold, I will make the shadow cast by the declining sun on the dial of Ahaz turn back ten steps.” So the sun turned back on the dial the ten steps by which it had declined.^[c]

⁹ A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah, after he had been sick and had recovered from his sickness:

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

^21 (A)And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, ^(B)a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, ^(C)“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, ^(D)“Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, ^(E)“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(F)knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and ^(G)throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat ^(H)the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, ^(I)great is your faith! ^(J)Be it done for you as you desire.” ^(K)And her daughter was ^(L)healed instantly.^[a]

Paul and Barnabas Separate

³⁶ And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit ^(A)the brothers ^(B)in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” ³⁷ Now Barnabas wanted to take with them ^(C)John called Mark. ³⁸ But Paul thought best not to take with them one ^(D)who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. ³⁹ And there arose ^(E)a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. ^(F)Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, ⁴⁰ but Paul chose Silas and departed, ^(G)having been commended by ^(H)the brothers to ^(I)the grace of the Lord. ⁴¹ And he went through Syria and Cilicia, ^(J)strengthening the churches.

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

16 Paul^[a] came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named ^(K)Timothy, ^(L)the son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. ² He was well spoken of by ^(M)the brothers^[b] at Lystra and Iconium. ³ Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he ^(N)took him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴ As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance ^(O)the decisions ^(P)that had been reached by ^(Q)the apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. ^5 (R)So the churches were strengthened in ^(S)the faith, and they increased in numbers ^(T)daily.