²⁵ On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, ^(A)Simeon and Levi, ^(B)Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. ²⁶ They killed Hamor and his son Shechem with the sword and took Dinah out of Shechem's house and went away. ²⁷ The sons of Jacob came upon the slain and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. ²⁸ They took their flocks and their herds, their donkeys, and whatever was in the city and in the field. ²⁹ All their wealth, all their little ones and their wives, all that was in the houses, they captured and plundered.

³⁰ Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ^(C)“You have brought trouble on me ^(D)by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, ^(E)the Canaanites and the Perizzites. ^(F)My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” ³¹ But they said, “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?”

Israel's War with the Tribe of Benjamin

20 Then ^(A)all the people of Israel came out, ^(B)from Dan to Beersheba, including the land of Gilead, and the congregation assembled as one man to the Lord at ^(C)Mizpah. ² And the ^(D)chiefs of all the people, of all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, 400,000 men on foot ^(E)that drew the sword. ³ (Now the people of Benjamin heard that the people of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.) And the people of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this evil happen?” ⁴ And the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, ^(F)“I came to Gibeah that belongs to Benjamin, I and my concubine, to spend the night. ^5 (G)And the leaders of Gibeah rose against me and surrounded the house against me by night. They meant to kill me, and they violated my concubine, and she is dead. ^6 (H)So I took hold of my concubine and cut her in pieces and sent her throughout all the country of the inheritance of Israel, for they have committed abomination and ^(I)outrage in Israel. ⁷ Behold, you people of Israel, all of you, ^(J)give your advice and counsel here.”

⁸ And all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, and none of us will return to his house. ⁹ But now this is what we will do to Gibeah: we will go up against it by lot, ¹⁰ and we will take ten men of a hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, and a hundred of a thousand, and a thousand of ten thousand, to bring provisions for the people, that when they come they may repay Gibeah of Benjamin for all the outrage that they have committed in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel gathered against the city, united as one man.

^12 (K)And the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What evil is this that has taken place among you? ¹³ Now therefore give up the men, ^(L)the worthless fellows in Gibeah, that we may put them to death ^(M)and purge evil from Israel.” But the Benjaminites would not listen to the voice of their brothers, the people of Israel. ¹⁴ Then the people of Benjamin came together out of the cities to Gibeah to go out to battle against the people of Israel. ¹⁵ And the people of Benjamin mustered out of their cities on that day ^(N)26,000 men ^(O)who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who mustered 700 chosen men. ¹⁶ Among all these were 700 chosen men who were ^(P)left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss. ¹⁷ And the men of Israel, apart from Benjamin, mustered ^(Q)400,000 men who drew the sword; all these were men of war.

¹⁸ The people of Israel arose and went up to ^(R)Bethel and inquired of God, ^(S)“Who shall go up first for us to fight against the people of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, ^(T)“Judah shall go up first.”

¹⁹ Then the people of Israel rose in the morning and encamped against Gibeah. ²⁰ And the men of Israel went out to fight against Benjamin, and the men of Israel drew up the battle line against them at Gibeah. ^21 (U)The people of Benjamin came out of Gibeah and destroyed on that day 22,000 men of the Israelites. ²² But the people, the men of Israel, took courage, and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day.

The Humiliation of Babylon

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^[a] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And ^(A)about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸ And ^(B)when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his ^(C)foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and ^(D)the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ^(E)‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take ^(F)what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ^15 (G)Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or ^(H)do you begrudge my generosity?’^{[b] 16} So ^(I)the last will be first, and the first last.”

¹³ But going ahead to the ship, we set sail for Assos, intending to take Paul aboard there, for so he had arranged, intending himself to go by land. ¹⁴ And when he met us at Assos, we took him on board and went to Mitylene. ¹⁵ And sailing from there we came the following day opposite Chios; the next day we touched at Samos; and^[a] the day after that we went to Miletus. ¹⁶ For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening ^(A)to be at Jerusalem, if possible, ^(B)on the day of Pentecost.

Paul Speaks to the Ephesian Elders

¹⁷ Now from Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called ^(C)the elders of the church to come to him. ¹⁸ And when they came to him, he said to them:

^(D)“You yourselves know ^(E)how I lived among you the whole time ^(F)from the first day that I set foot in Asia, ^19 (G)serving the Lord ^(H)with all humility and with ^(I)tears and with trials that happened to me through ^(J)the plots of the Jews; ²⁰ how I ^(K)did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and ^(L)teaching you in public and from house to house, ^21 (M)testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of ^(N)repentance toward God and of ^(O)faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.^{[b] 22} And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained ^(P)by^[c] the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, ²³ except that ^(Q)the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that ^(R)imprisonment and ^(S)afflictions await me. ²⁴ But ^(T)I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only ^(U)I may finish my course and ^(V)the ministry ^(W)that I received from the Lord Jesus, ^(X)to testify to ^(Y)the gospel of ^(Z)the grace of God.