The Day of Atonement

16 The Lord spoke to Moses after ^(A)the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before the Lord and died, ² and the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron your brother not to ^(B)come at any time into the Holy Place inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die. For ^(C)I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. ³ But in this way Aaron shall come into the Holy Place: ^(D)with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and ^(E)a ram for a burnt offering. ⁴ He shall put on ^(F)the holy linen coat and shall have the linen undergarment on his body, and he shall tie the linen sash around his waist, and wear the linen turban; these are the holy garments. ^(G)He shall bathe his body in water and then put them on. ⁵ And he shall take from ^(H)the congregation of the people of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

⁶ “Aaron shall ^(I)offer the bull as a sin offering for himself and shall ^(J)make atonement for himself and for his house. ⁷ Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. ⁸ And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for ^(K)Azazel.^{[a] 9} And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, ¹⁰ but the goat on which the lot fell for ^(L)Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to ^(M)Azazel.

¹¹ “Aaron shall present ^(N)the bull as a sin offering for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the bull as a sin offering for himself. ¹² And he shall take ^(O)a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and he shall bring it inside the veil ^13 (P)and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may cover ^(Q)the mercy seat that is over the testimony, so that he does not die. ¹⁴ And ^(R)he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side, and in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

Ben-hadad's Siege of Samaria

²⁴ Afterward ^(A)Ben-hadad king of Syria mustered his entire army and went up and besieged Samaria. ²⁵ And there was a great famine in Samaria, as they besieged it, until a donkey's head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and the fourth part of a kab^[a] of dove's dung for five shekels of silver. ²⁶ Now as the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” ²⁷ And he said, “If the Lord will not help you, how shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the winepress?” ²⁸ And the king asked her, “What is your trouble?” She answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ ^29 (B)So we boiled my son and ate him. And on the next day I said to her, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him.’ But she has hidden her son.” ³⁰ When the king heard the words of the woman, ^(C)he tore his clothes—now he was passing by on the wall—and the people looked, and behold, ^(D)he had sackcloth beneath on his body— ³¹ and he said, ^(E)“May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on his shoulders today.”

³² Elisha was sitting in his house, ^(F)and the elders were sitting with him. Now the king had dispatched a man from his presence, but before the messenger arrived Elisha said to the elders, “Do you see how this ^(G)murderer has sent to take off my head? Look, when the messenger comes, shut the door and hold the door fast against him. Is not the sound of his master's feet behind him?” ³³ And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! ^(H)Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

Elisha Promises Food

7 But Elisha said, “Hear the word of the Lord: thus says the Lord, ^(I)Tomorrow about this time a seah^[b] of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel,^[c] and two seahs of barley for a shekel, at the gate of Samaria.” ² Then ^(J)the captain on whose hand the king leaned said to the man of God, ^(K)“If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could this thing be?” But he said, “You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.”

Judgment on Wicked Counselors

11 ^(A)The Spirit lifted me up and brought me to ^(B)the east gate of the house of the Lord, which faces east. And behold, at the entrance of the gateway there were ^(C)twenty-five men. And I saw among them Jaazaniah ^(D)the son of Azzur, and ^(E)Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people. ² And he said to me, ^(F)“Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city; ^3 (G)who say, ^(H)‘The time is not near^[a] to build houses. ^(I)This city is the cauldron, and we are the meat.’ ⁴ Therefore prophesy against them; prophesy, O son of man.”

⁵ And ^(J)the Spirit of the Lord fell upon me, and he said to me, “Say, Thus says the Lord: So you think, O house of Israel. ^(K)For I know the things that come into your mind. ^6 (L)You have multiplied your slain in this city and have filled its streets with the slain. ⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ^(M)Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, ^(N)they are the meat, and ^(O)this city is the cauldron, but you shall be brought out of the midst of it. ^8 (P)You have feared the sword, and I will bring the sword upon you, declares the Lord God. ⁹ And I will bring you out of the midst of it, and ^(Q)give you into the hands of foreigners, and ^(R)execute judgments upon you. ^10 (S)You shall fall by the sword. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ^(T)and you shall know that I am the Lord. ^11 (U)This city shall not be your cauldron, nor shall you be the meat in the midst of it. I will judge you at the border of Israel, ¹² and you shall know that I am the Lord. For you have not walked in my statutes, nor obeyed my rules, ^(V)but have acted according to the rules of the nations that are around you.”

¹³ And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, ^(W)that ^(X)Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. ^(Y)Then I fell down on my face and cried out with a loud voice and said, ^(Z)“Ah, Lord God! ^(AA)Will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?”

Worship in the Splendor of Holiness

Messengers from John the Baptist

^18 (A)(B)The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, ¹⁹ calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one ^(C)who is to come, or ^(D)shall we look for another?” ²⁰ And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one ^(E)who is to come, or ^(F)shall we look for another?’” ²¹ In that hour ^(G)he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and ^(H)on many who were blind he bestowed sight. ²² And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: ^(I)the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, ^(J)lepers^[a] are cleansed, and ^(K)the deaf hear, ^(L)the dead are raised up, ^(M)the poor have good news preached to them. ²³ And blessed is the one who is ^(N)not offended by me.”

²⁴ When John's messengers had gone, Jesus^[b] began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out ^(O)into the wilderness to see? ^(P)A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵ What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts. ²⁶ What then did you go out to see? ^(Q)A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is he of whom it is written,

²⁸ I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ (^(S)When all the people heard this, and ^(T)the tax collectors too, they declared God just,^{[c] (U)}having been baptized with ^(V)the baptism of John, ^30 (W)but the Pharisees and ^(X)the lawyers ^(Y)rejected ^(Z)the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

³¹ “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

³³ For John the Baptist has come ^(AA)eating no bread and ^(AB)drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come ^(AC)eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, ^(AD)a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵ Yet ^(AE)wisdom is justified by all her children.”

^13 (A)Be watchful, ^(B)stand firm in the faith, ^(C)act like men, ^(D)be strong. ^14 (E)Let all that you do be done in love.

¹⁵ Now I urge you, brothers^[a]—you know that ^(F)the household^[b] of Stephanas were ^(G)the first converts in Achaia, and that they have devoted themselves ^(H)to the service of the saints— ^16 (I)be subject to such as these, and to every fellow worker and laborer. ¹⁷ I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for ^(J)your absence, ¹⁸ for they ^(K)refreshed my spirit as well as yours. ^(L)Give recognition to such people.

Greetings

¹⁹ The churches of Asia send you greetings. ^(M)Aquila and Prisca, together with ^(N)the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. ²⁰ All the brothers send you greetings. ^(O)Greet one another with a holy kiss.

²¹ I, Paul, write ^(P)this greeting with my own hand. ²² If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be ^(Q)accursed. Our Lord, come!^{[c] 23 (R)}The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. ²⁴ My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen.