⁴⁷ “When there is a case of leprous disease in a ^(A)garment, whether a woolen or a linen garment, ⁴⁸ in warp or woof of linen or wool, or in a skin or in anything made of skin, ⁴⁹ if the disease is greenish or reddish in the garment, or in the skin or in the warp or the woof or in any article made of skin, it is a case of leprous disease, and it shall be shown to the priest. ⁵⁰ And the priest shall examine the disease and shut up that which has the disease for seven days. ⁵¹ Then he shall examine the disease on the seventh day. If the disease has spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in the skin, whatever be the use of the skin, the disease is a ^(B)persistent leprous disease; it is unclean. ⁵² And he shall burn the garment, or the warp or the woof, the wool or the linen, or any article made of skin that is diseased, for it is a persistent leprous disease. It shall be burned in the fire.

⁵³ “And if the priest examines, and if the disease has not spread in the garment, in the warp or the woof or in any article made of skin, ⁵⁴ then the priest shall command that they wash the thing in which is the disease, and he shall shut it up for another seven days. ⁵⁵ And the priest shall examine the diseased thing after it has been washed. And if the appearance of the diseased area has not changed, though the disease has not spread, it is unclean. You shall burn it in the fire, whether the rot is on the back or on the front.

⁵⁶ “But if the priest examines, and if the diseased area has faded after it has been washed, he shall tear it out of the garment or the skin or the warp or the woof. ⁵⁷ Then if it appears again in the garment, in the warp or the woof, or in any article made of skin, it is spreading. You shall burn with fire whatever has the disease. ⁵⁸ But the garment, or the warp or the woof, or any article made of skin from which the disease departs when you have washed it, shall then be washed a second time, and be clean.”

⁵⁹ This is the law for a case of leprous disease in a garment of wool or linen, either in the warp or the woof, or in any article made of skin, to determine whether it is clean or unclean.

¹³ And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. ¹⁴ Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” And when he had struck the water, ^(A)the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.

Elisha Succeeds Elijah

¹⁵ Now when ^(B)the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho saw him opposite them, they said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. ¹⁶ And they said to him, “Behold now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. It may be that ^(C)the Spirit of the Lord has caught him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send.” ¹⁷ But when they urged him ^(D)till he was ashamed, he said, “Send.” They sent therefore fifty men. And for three days they sought him but did not find him. ¹⁸ And they came back to him while he was staying at Jericho, and he said to them, “Did I not say to you, ‘Do not go’?”

¹⁹ Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.” ²⁰ He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him. ²¹ Then he went to the spring of water and ^(E)threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.” ²² So the water has been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

²³ He went up from there to Bethel, and while he was going up on the way, some small boys came out of the city and jeered at him, saying, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” ²⁴ And he turned around, and when he saw them, ^(F)he cursed them in the name of the Lord. And two she-bears came out of the woods and tore forty-two of the boys. ²⁵ From there he went on to ^(G)Mount Carmel, and from there he returned ^(H)to Samaria.

Judgment Against Idolatry

6 The word of the Lord came to me: ^2 (A)“Son of man, ^(B)set your face toward ^(C)the mountains of Israel, and ^(D)prophesy against them, ³ and say, ^(E)You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God! Thus says the Lord God to ^(F)the mountains and ^(G)the hills, to ^(H)the ravines and the valleys: Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, ^(I)and I will destroy your high places. ^4 (J)Your altars shall become desolate, and your ^(K)incense altars shall be broken, and I will cast down your slain before your idols. ^5 (L)And I will lay the dead bodies of the people of Israel before their idols, ^(M)and I will scatter your bones around your altars. ⁶ Wherever you dwell, ^(N)the cities shall be waste and ^(O)the high places ruined, so that your altars will be waste and ruined,^[a] your idols broken and destroyed, your ^(P)incense altars cut down, and your works wiped out. ⁷ And the slain shall fall in your midst, and you shall know that I am the Lord.

^8 (Q)“Yet I will leave some of you alive. When you have among the nations ^(R)some who escape the sword, and when you are scattered through the countries, ⁹ then those of you who escape ^(S)will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, how ^(T)I have been broken over their whoring heart that has departed from me and over their eyes ^(U)that go whoring after their idols. ^(V)And they will be loathsome in their own sight for the evils that they have committed, for all their abominations. ¹⁰ And they shall know that I am the Lord. ^(W)I have not said in vain that I would do this evil to them.”

¹¹ Thus says the Lord God: ^(X)“Clap your hands ^(Y)and stamp your foot and say, Alas, because of all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, ^(Z)for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. ^12 (AA)He who is far off shall die of pestilence, and he who is near shall fall by the sword, and he who is left and is preserved shall die of famine. ^(AB)Thus I will spend my fury upon them. ¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, ^(AC)when their slain lie among their idols around their altars, ^(AD)on every high hill, ^(AE)on all the mountaintops, ^(AF)under every green tree, and under ^(AG)every leafy oak, wherever ^(AH)they offered pleasing aroma to all their idols. ¹⁴ And ^(AI)I will stretch out my hand against them and ^(AJ)make the land desolate and waste, ^(AK)in all their dwelling places, from the wilderness to ^(AL)Riblah.^[b] Then ^(AM)they will know that I am the Lord.”

The Twelve Apostles

¹² In these days ^(A)he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God. ¹³ And when day came, ^(B)he called his disciples ^(C)and ^(D)chose from them twelve, whom he named ^(E)apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, ^(F)whom he named Peter, and ^(G)Andrew his brother, and ^(H)James and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, ¹⁵ and ^(I)Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called ^(J)the Zealot, ¹⁶ and ^(K)Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Ministers to a Great Multitude

¹⁷ And ^(L)he came down with them and stood on a level place, with ^(M)a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the seacoast of ^(N)Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. ^(O)And those who were troubled with unclean spirits were cured. ¹⁹ And all the crowd ^(P)sought to touch him, for ^(Q)power came out from him and healed them all.

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now I would remind you, brothers,^[a] of the gospel ^(A)I preached to you, which you received, ^(B)in which you stand, ² and by which ^(C)you are being saved, if you ^(D)hold fast to the word I preached to you—^(E)unless you believed in vain.

³ For ^(F)I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died ^(G)for our sins ^(H)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised ^(I)on the third day ^(J)in accordance with the Scriptures, ⁵ and that ^(K)he appeared to Cephas, then ^(L)to the twelve. ⁶ Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to ^(M)James, then ^(N)to all the apostles. ⁸ Last of all, as to one untimely born, ^(O)he appeared also to me. ⁹ For ^(P)I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because ^(Q)I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, ^(R)I worked harder than any of them, ^(S)though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. ¹¹ Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.