Purification After Childbirth

12 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then ^(A)she shall be unclean seven days. ^(B)As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. ³ And on the ^(C)eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. ⁴ Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed. ⁵ But if she bears a female child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation. And she shall continue in the blood of her purifying for sixty-six days.

^6 (D)“And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, ⁷ and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female. ⁸ And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take ^(E)two turtledoves or two pigeons,^{[a] (F)}one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. ^(G)And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”

Micaiah Prophesies Against Ahab

¹³ And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” ¹⁴ But Micaiah said, ^(A)“As the Lord lives, ^(B)what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.” ¹⁵ And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall we refrain?” And he answered him, “Go up and triumph; the Lord will give it into the hand of the king.” ¹⁶ But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” ¹⁷ And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, ^(C)as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” ¹⁸ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, ^(D)“Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” ¹⁹ And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: ^(E)I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, ^(F)and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left; ²⁰ and the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. ²¹ Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ ²² And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be ^(G)a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ ²³ Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”

²⁴ Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near ^(H)and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “How did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” ²⁵ And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go ^(I)into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” ²⁶ And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah, and take him back to Amon the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son, ²⁷ and say, ‘Thus says the king, ^(J)“Put this fellow in prison and feed him meager rations of bread and water, ^(K)until I come in peace.”’” ²⁸ And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, ^(L)the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, ^(M)“Hear, all you peoples!”

3 And he said to me, ^(A)“Son of man, eat whatever you find here. ^(B)Eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” ² So I opened my mouth, and he gave me this scroll to eat. ³ And he said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly with this scroll that I give you and fill your stomach with it.” ^(C)Then I ate it, and it was in my mouth ^(D)as sweet as honey.

⁴ And he said to me, ^(E)“Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with my words to them. ⁵ For you are not sent to a people of foreign speech and a hard language, but to the house of Israel— ⁶ not to many peoples of foreign speech and a hard language, whose words you cannot understand. ^(F)Surely, if I sent you to such, they would listen to you. ^7 (G)But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel ^(H)have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart. ^8 (I)Behold, I have made your face as hard as their faces, and your forehead as hard as their foreheads. ⁹ Like ^(J)emery harder than flint have I made your forehead. ^(K)Fear them not, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.” ¹⁰ Moreover, he said to me, “Son of man, ^(L)all my words that I shall speak to you receive ^(M)in your heart, and hear with your ears. ¹¹ And go to the exiles, ^(N)to your people, and speak to them and say to them, ^(O)‘Thus says the Lord God,’ ^(P)whether they hear or refuse to hear.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

5 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by ^(A)the lake of Gennesaret, ^2 (B)and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were ^(C)washing their nets. ³ Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And ^(D)he sat down and taught the people from the boat. ⁴ And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ^(E)“Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ And Simon answered, “Master, ^(F)we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, ^(G)they enclosed a large number of fish, and ^(H)their nets were breaking. ⁷ They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. ^(I)And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, ^(J)“Depart from me, for ^(K)I am a sinful man, O Lord.” ⁹ For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, ¹⁰ and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”^{[a] 11} And when they had brought their boats to land, ^(L)they left everything and followed him.

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. ² And if I have ^(A)prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, ^(B)so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ^3 (C)If I give away all I have, and ^(D)if I deliver up my body to be burned,^[a] but have not love, I gain nothing.

^4 (E)Love is patient and ^(F)kind; love ^(G)does not envy or boast; it ^(H)is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It ^(I)does not insist on its own way; it ^(J)is not irritable or resentful;^{[b] 6} it ^(K)does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but ^(L)rejoices with the truth. ^7 (M)Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ^(N)endures all things.

⁸ Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For ^(O)we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but ^(P)when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. ¹¹ When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. ¹² For ^(Q)now we see in a mirror dimly, but ^(R)then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as ^(S)I have been fully known.

¹³ So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.