The Death of Jacob

²⁹ Then he gave them these instructions:^(A) “I am about to be gathered to my people.^(B) Bury me with my fathers^(C) in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,^{(D) 30} the cave in the field of Machpelah,^(E) near Mamre^(F) in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field^(G) as a burial place^(H) from Ephron the Hittite. ³¹ There Abraham^(I) and his wife Sarah^(J) were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah^(K) were buried, and there I buried Leah.^{(L) 32} The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.^[a](M)”

³³ When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.^(N)

50 Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.^{(O) 2} Then Joseph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Israel. So the physicians embalmed him,^{(P) 3} taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.^(Q)

⁴ When the days of mourning^(R) had passed, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s court,^(S) “If I have found favor in your eyes,^(T) speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him, ⁵ ‘My father made me swear an oath^(U) and said, “I am about to die;^(V) bury me in the tomb I dug for myself^(W) in the land of Canaan.”^(X) Now let me go up and bury my father;^(Y) then I will return.’”

⁶ Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father. All Pharaoh’s officials^(Z) accompanied him—the dignitaries of his court^(AA) and all the dignitaries of Egypt— ⁸ besides all the members of Joseph’s household and his brothers and those belonging to his father’s household.^(AB) Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Goshen.^{(AC) 9} Chariots^(AD) and horsemen^[b] also went up with him. It was a very large company.

¹⁰ When they reached the threshing floor^(AE) of Atad, near the Jordan, they lamented loudly and bitterly;^(AF) and there Joseph observed a seven-day period^(AG) of mourning^(AH) for his father.^{(AI) 11} When the Canaanites^(AJ) who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “The Egyptians are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning.”^(AK) That is why that place near the Jordan is called Abel Mizraim.^[c]

¹² So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them:^{(AL) 13} They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah,^(AM) near Mamre,^(AN) which Abraham had bought along with the field^(AO) as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.^{(AP) 14} After burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.^(AQ)

²² David left his things with the keeper of supplies,^(A) ran to the battle lines and asked his brothers how they were. ²³ As he was talking with them, Goliath, the Philistine champion from Gath, stepped out from his lines and shouted his usual^(B) defiance, and David heard it. ²⁴ Whenever the Israelites saw the man, they all fled from him in great fear.

²⁵ Now the Israelites had been saying, “Do you see how this man keeps coming out? He comes out to defy Israel. The king will give great wealth to the man who kills him. He will also give him his daughter^(C) in marriage and will exempt his family from taxes^(D) in Israel.”

²⁶ David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills this Philistine and removes this disgrace^(E) from Israel? Who is this uncircumcised^(F) Philistine that he should defy^(G) the armies of the living^(H) God?”

²⁷ They repeated to him what they had been saying and told him, “This is what will be done for the man who kills him.”

²⁸ When Eliab, David’s oldest brother, heard him speaking with the men, he burned with anger^(I) at him and asked, “Why have you come down here? And with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know how conceited you are and how wicked your heart is; you came down only to watch the battle.”

²⁹ “Now what have I done?” said David. “Can’t I even speak?” ³⁰ He then turned away to someone else and brought up the same matter, and the men answered him as before. ³¹ What David said was overheard and reported to Saul, and Saul sent for him.

³² David said to Saul, “Let no one lose heart^(J) on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”

³³ Saul replied,^(K) “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a young man, and he has been a warrior from his youth.”

³⁴ But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion^(L) or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, ³⁵ I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized^(M) it by its hair, struck it and killed it. ³⁶ Your servant has killed both the lion^(N) and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. ³⁷ The Lord who rescued^(O) me from the paw of the lion^(P) and the paw of the bear will rescue me from the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go, and the Lord be with^(Q) you.”

³⁸ Then Saul dressed David in his own^(R) tunic. He put a coat of armor on him and a bronze helmet on his head. ³⁹ David fastened on his sword over the tunic and tried walking around, because he was not used to them.

“I cannot go in these,” he said to Saul, “because I am not used to them.” So he took them off. ⁴⁰ Then he took his staff in his hand, chose five smooth stones from the stream, put them in the pouch of his shepherd’s bag and, with his sling in his hand, approached the Philistine.

⁴¹ Meanwhile, the Philistine, with his shield bearer^(S) in front of him, kept coming closer to David. ⁴² He looked David over and saw that he was little more than a boy, glowing with health and handsome,^(T) and he despised^(U) him. ⁴³ He said to David, “Am I a dog,^(V) that you come at me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ⁴⁴ “Come here,” he said, “and I’ll give your flesh to the birds^(W) and the wild animals!^(X)”

⁴⁵ David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin,^(Y) but I come against you in the name^(Z) of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.^{(AA) 46} This day the Lord will deliver^(AB) you into my hands, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. This very day I will give the carcasses^(AC) of the Philistine army to the birds and the wild animals, and the whole world^(AD) will know that there is a God in Israel.^{(AE) 47} All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword^(AF) or spear that the Lord saves;^(AG) for the battle^(AH) is the Lord’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

⁴⁸ As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. ⁴⁹ Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground.

⁵⁰ So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling^(AI) and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him.

⁵¹ David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut^(AJ) off his head with the sword.^(AK)

When the Philistines saw that their hero was dead, they turned and ran. ⁵² Then the men of Israel and Judah surged forward with a shout and pursued the Philistines to the entrance of Gath^[a] and to the gates of Ekron.^(AL) Their dead were strewn along the Shaaraim^(AM) road to Gath and Ekron. ⁵³ When the Israelites returned from chasing the Philistines, they plundered their camp.

⁵⁴ David took the Philistine’s head and brought it to Jerusalem; he put the Philistine’s weapons in his own tent.

⁵⁵ As Saul watched David^(AN) going out to meet the Philistine, he said to Abner, commander of the army, “Abner,^(AO) whose son is that young man?”

Abner replied, “As surely as you live, Your Majesty, I don’t know.”

⁵⁶ The king said, “Find out whose son this young man is.”

⁵⁷ As soon as David returned from killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him before Saul, with David still holding the Philistine’s head.

⁵⁸ “Whose son are you, young man?” Saul asked him.

David said, “I am the son of your servant Jesse^(AP) of Bethlehem.”

¹⁴ Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says:

¹⁸ “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy^(S) you completely. ¹⁹ And when the people ask,^(T) ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods^(U) in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners^(V) in a land not your own.’

Psalm 18^[a](A)

For the director of music. Of David the servant of the Lord. He sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said:

Jesus Before the Sanhedrin^(A)

⁵⁷ Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas^(B) the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled. ⁵⁸ But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest.^(C) He entered and sat down with the guards^(D) to see the outcome.

⁵⁹ The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin^(E) were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death. ⁶⁰ But they did not find any, though many false witnesses^(F) came forward.

Finally two^(G) came forward ⁶¹ and declared, “This fellow said, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild it in three days.’”^(H)

⁶² Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus, “Are you not going to answer? What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?” ⁶³ But Jesus remained silent.^(I)

The high priest said to him, “I charge you under oath^(J) by the living God:^(K) Tell us if you are the Messiah,^(L) the Son of God.”^(M)

⁶⁴ “You have said so,”^(N) Jesus replied. “But I say to all of you: From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One^(O) and coming on the clouds of heaven.”^[a](P)

⁶⁵ Then the high priest tore his clothes^(Q) and said, “He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Look, now you have heard the blasphemy. ⁶⁶ What do you think?”

“He is worthy of death,”^(R) they answered.

⁶⁷ Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists.^(S) Others slapped him ⁶⁸ and said, “Prophesy to us, Messiah. Who hit you?”^(T)

Submit Yourselves to God

4 What causes fights and quarrels^(A) among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle^(B) within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill.^(C) You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive,^(D) because you ask with wrong motives,^(E) that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴ You adulterous^(F) people,^[a] don’t you know that friendship with the world^(G) means enmity against God?^(H) Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.^{(I) 5} Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us^[b]?^{(J) 6} But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

⁷ Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil,^(L) and he will flee from you. ⁸ Come near to God and he will come near to you.^(M) Wash your hands,^(N) you sinners, and purify your hearts,^(O) you double-minded.^{(P) 9} Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.^{(Q) 10} Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.^(R)

¹¹ Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.^(S) Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister^[d] or judges them^(T) speaks against the law^(U) and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it,^(V) but sitting in judgment on it. ¹² There is only one Lawgiver and Judge,^(W) the one who is able to save and destroy.^(X) But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?^(Y)