Clean and Unclean Animals

11 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying to them, ² “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^(A)These are the living things that you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth. ³ Whatever parts the hoof and is cloven-footed and chews the cud, among the animals, you may eat. ⁴ Nevertheless, among those that chew the cud or part the hoof, you shall not eat these: The camel, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁵ And the ^(B)rock badger, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁶ And the hare, because it chews the cud but does not part the hoof, is unclean to you. ⁷ And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, ^(C)is unclean to you. ⁸ You shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall not touch their carcasses; they are unclean to you.

⁹ “These you may eat, of all that are in the waters. Everything in the waters that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. ¹⁰ But anything in the seas or the rivers that does not have fins and scales, of the swarming creatures in the waters and of the living creatures that are in the waters, is ^(D)detestable to you. ¹¹ You shall regard them as detestable; you shall not eat any of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses. ¹² Everything in the waters that does not have fins and scales is detestable to you.

¹³ “And these you shall detest among the birds;^[a] they shall not be eaten; they are ^(E)detestable: ^(F)the eagle,^[b] the bearded vulture, the black vulture, ¹⁴ the kite, ^(G)the falcon of any kind, ¹⁵ every raven of any kind, ¹⁶ the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the ^(H)hawk of any kind, ¹⁷ the ^(I)little owl, the cormorant, the ^(J)short-eared owl, ¹⁸ the barn owl, the ^(K)tawny owl, the carrion vulture, ¹⁹ the stork, the heron of any kind, the hoopoe, and ^(L)the bat.

²⁰ “All winged insects that go on all fours are detestable to you. ²¹ Yet among the winged insects that go on all fours you may eat those that have jointed legs above their feet, with which to hop on the ground. ²² Of them you may eat: ^(M)the locust of any kind, the bald locust of any kind, the cricket of any kind, and the grasshopper of any kind. ²³ But all other winged insects that have four feet are detestable to you.

²³ And the servants of the king of Syria said to him, “Their gods are gods of the hills, and so they were stronger than we. But let us fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they. ²⁴ And do this: remove the kings, each from his post, and put commanders in their places, ²⁵ and muster an army like the army that you have lost, horse for horse, and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight against them in the plain, and surely we shall be stronger than they.” And he listened to their voice and did so.

Ahab Defeats Ben-hadad Again

^26 (A)In the spring, Ben-hadad mustered the Syrians and went up to ^(B)Aphek to fight against Israel. ²⁷ And the people of Israel were mustered and were provisioned and went against them. The people of Israel encamped before them like two little flocks of goats, but the Syrians filled the country. ²⁸ And a ^(C)man of God came near and said to the king of Israel, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because the Syrians have said, ^(D)“The Lord is a god of the hills but he is not a god of the valleys,” therefore ^(E)I will give all this great multitude into your hand, and you shall know that I am the Lord.’” ²⁹ And they encamped opposite one another seven days. Then on the seventh day the battle was joined. And the people of Israel struck down of the Syrians 100,000 foot soldiers in one day. ³⁰ And the rest fled into the city of ^(F)Aphek, and the wall fell upon 27,000 men who were left.

Ben-hadad also fled and entered ^(G)an inner chamber in the city. ³¹ And his servants said to him, “Behold now, we have heard that the kings of the house of Israel are merciful kings. Let us ^(H)put sackcloth around our waists and ropes on our heads and go out to the king of Israel. Perhaps he will spare your life.” ³² So they ^(I)tied sackcloth around their waists and put ropes on their heads and went to the king of Israel and said, “Your servant Ben-hadad says, ‘Please, let me live.’” And he said, “Does he still live? He is my brother.” ³³ Now the men were watching for a sign, and they quickly took it up from him and said, “Yes, your brother Ben-hadad.” Then he said, “Go and bring him.” Then Ben-hadad came out to him, and he caused him to come up into the chariot. ³⁴ And Ben-hadad said to him, ^(J)“The cities that my father took from your father I will restore, and you may establish bazaars for yourself in ^(K)Damascus, as my father did in Samaria.” And Ahab said, “I will let you go on these terms.” So he made a covenant with him and let him go.

A Prophet Condemns Ben-hadad's Release

³⁵ And a certain man of ^(L)the sons of the prophets said to his fellow ^(M)at the command of the Lord, “Strike me, please.” But the man refused to strike him. ³⁶ Then he said to him, “Because you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, behold, as soon as you have gone from me, a lion shall strike you down.” And as soon as he had departed from him, ^(N)a lion met him and struck him down. ³⁷ Then he found another man and said, “Strike me, please.” And the man struck him—struck him and wounded him. ³⁸ So the prophet departed and waited for the king by the way, ^(O)disguising himself with a bandage over his eyes. ³⁹ And as the king passed, he cried to the king and said, “Your servant went out into the midst of the battle, and behold, a soldier turned and brought a man to me and said, ‘Guard this man; if by any means he is missing, ^(P)your life shall be for his life, or else you shall pay a talent^[a] of silver.’ ⁴⁰ And as your servant was busy here and there, he was gone.” The king of Israel said to him, “So shall your judgment be; you yourself have decided it.” ⁴¹ Then he hurried to take the bandage away from his eyes, and the king of Israel recognized him as one of the prophets. ⁴² And he said to him, “Thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have let go out of your hand the man whom I had devoted to destruction,^[b] therefore ^(Q)your life shall be for his life, and your people for his people.’” ⁴³ And the king of Israel ^(R)went to his house vexed and sullen and came to Samaria.

Ezekiel in Babylon

1 ^(A)In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by ^(B)the Chebar canal, ^(C)the heavens were opened, and I saw ^(D)visions of God.^{[a] 2} On the fifth day of the month (it was ^(E)the fifth year of ^(F)the exile of King Jehoiachin), ³ the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel ^(G)the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by ^(H)the Chebar canal, and ^(I)the hand of the Lord was upon him there.

The Glory of the Lord

⁴ As I looked, behold, ^(J)a stormy wind came ^(K)out of the north, and a great cloud, with ^(L)brightness around it, and fire flashing forth continually, and in the midst of the fire, ^(M)as it were gleaming metal.^{[b] 5} And from the midst of it came the likeness of ^(N)four living creatures. ^(O)And this was their appearance: they had a human likeness, ^6 (P)but each had four faces, and each of them had four wings. ⁷ Their legs were straight, and the soles of their feet were like the sole of a calf's foot. And they sparkled ^(Q)like burnished bronze. ⁸ Under their wings ^(R)on their four sides ^(S)they had human hands. And the four had their faces and their wings thus: ⁹ their wings touched one another. ^(T)Each one of them went straight forward, ^(U)without turning as they went. ¹⁰ As for the likeness of their faces, ^(V)each had a human face. The four had the face of a lion on the right side, the four had the face of an ox on the left side, and the four had the face of an eagle.

Glorious Things of You Are Spoken

A Psalm of ^(A)the Sons of Korah. A Song.

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

^16 (A)And he came to ^(B)Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And ^(C)as was his custom, ^(D)he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up ^(E)to read. ¹⁷ And ^(F)the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written,

²⁰ And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and ^(N)sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were ^(O)fixed on him. ²¹ And he began to say to them, “Today ^(P)this Scripture ^(Q)has been fulfilled in your hearing.” ²² And all spoke well of him and marveled at ^(R)the gracious words that were coming from his mouth. And they said, ^(S)“Is not this ^(T)Joseph's son?” ²³ And he said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ^(U)‘“Physician, heal yourself.” What we have heard you did ^(V)at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” ²⁴ And he said, “Truly, I say to you, ^(W)no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. ²⁵ But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when ^(X)the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, ²⁶ and Elijah was sent to none of them ^(Y)but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. ²⁷ And ^(Z)there were many lepers^[a] in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, ^(AA)but only Naaman the Syrian.” ²⁸ When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. ²⁹ And they rose up and ^(AB)drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. ³⁰ But ^(AC)passing through their midst, he went away.

Spiritual Gifts

12 Now ^(A)concerning^[a] spiritual gifts,^[b] brothers,^[c] I do not want you to be uninformed. ² You know that ^(B)when you were pagans ^(C)you were led astray to ^(D)mute idols, however you were led. ³ Therefore I want you to understand that ^(E)no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is ^(F)accursed!” and ^(G)no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.

⁴ Now ^(H)there are varieties of gifts, but ^(I)the same Spirit; ⁵ and ^(J)there are varieties of service, but ^(K)the same Lord; ⁶ and there are varieties of activities, but it is ^(L)the same God who empowers them all in everyone. ^7 (M)To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of ^(N)wisdom, and to another the utterance of ^(O)knowledge according to the same Spirit, ⁹ to another ^(P)faith by the same Spirit, to another ^(Q)gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ to another ^(R)the working of miracles, to another ^(S)prophecy, to another ^(T)the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another ^(U)various kinds of tongues, to another ^(V)the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, ^(W)who apportions to each one individually ^(X)as he wills.