^15 (A)“Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood ^(B)inside the veil and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. ¹⁶ Thus he shall ^(C)make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleannesses of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions, all their sins. And so he shall do for the tent of meeting, which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleannesses. ^17 (D)No one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. ¹⁸ Then he shall go out to the altar that is ^(E)before the Lord and ^(F)make atonement for it, and shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar all around. ¹⁹ And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it and consecrate it from the uncleannesses of the people of Israel.

²⁰ “And when he has made an end of ^(G)atoning for the Holy Place and the tent of meeting and the altar, he shall present the live goat. ²¹ And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins. And he shall ^(H)put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. ²² The goat shall ^(I)bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area, and ^(J)he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness.

²³ “Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting and ^(K)shall take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the Holy Place and shall leave them there. ²⁴ And he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments and come out and ^(L)offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people and make atonement for himself and for the people. ²⁵ And ^(M)the fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar. ²⁶ And he who lets the goat go to ^(N)Azazel shall wash his clothes and ^(O)bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp. ^27 (P)And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. ²⁸ And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.

²⁹ “And it shall be a statute to you forever that ^(Q)in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall ^(R)afflict yourselves^[a] and shall do no work, either ^(S)the native or the stranger who sojourns among you. ³⁰ For on this day shall atonement be made for you ^(T)to cleanse you. You shall be clean before the Lord from all your sins. ^31 (U)It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall ^(V)afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever. ^32 (W)And the priest who is anointed and ^(X)consecrated as priest in his father's place ^(Y)shall make atonement, wearing the holy linen garments. ³³ He shall make atonement for ^(Z)the holy sanctuary, and he shall make atonement for the tent of meeting and for ^(AA)the altar, and he shall make atonement for ^(AB)the priests and for ^(AC)all the people of the assembly. ³⁴ And this shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel ^(AD)once in the year because of all their sins.” And Aaron^[b] did as the Lord commanded Moses.

The Syrians Flee

³ Now there were four men who were lepers^{[a] (A)}at the entrance to the gate. And they said to one another, “Why are we sitting here until we die? ⁴ If we say, ‘Let us enter the city,’ the famine is in the city, and we shall die there. And if we sit here, we die also. So now come, let us go over to the camp of the Syrians. If they spare our lives we shall live, and if they kill us we shall but die.” ⁵ So they arose at twilight to go to the camp of the Syrians. But when they came to the edge of the camp of the Syrians, behold, there was no one there. ⁶ For the Lord had made the army of the Syrians ^(B)hear the sound of chariots and of horses, the sound of a great army, so that they said to one another, “Behold, the king of Israel has hired against us ^(C)the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Egypt to come against us.” ^7 (D)So they fled away in the twilight and abandoned their tents, their horses, and their donkeys, leaving the camp as it was, and fled for their lives. ⁸ And when these lepers came to the edge of the camp, they went into a tent and ate and drank, and they carried off silver and gold and clothing and went and hid them. Then they came back and entered another tent and carried off things from it and went and hid them.

⁹ Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household.” ¹⁰ So they came and called to the gatekeepers of the city and told them, “We came to the camp of the Syrians, and behold, there was no one to be seen or heard there, nothing but the horses tied and the donkeys tied and the tents as they were.” ¹¹ Then the gatekeepers called out, and it was told within the king's household. ¹² And the king rose in the night and said to his servants, “I will tell you what the Syrians have done to us. They know that we are hungry. Therefore they have gone out of the camp to hide themselves in the open country, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we shall take them alive and get into the city.’” ¹³ And one of his servants said, “Let some men take five of the remaining horses, seeing that those who are left here will fare like the whole multitude of Israel who have already perished. Let us send and see.” ¹⁴ So they took two horsemen, and the king sent them after the army of the Syrians, saying, “Go and see.” ¹⁵ So they went after them as far as the Jordan, and behold, all the way was littered with garments and equipment that the Syrians had thrown away in their haste. And the messengers returned and told the king.

¹⁶ Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Syrians. So a seah of fine flour was sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley for a shekel, ^(E)according to the word of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now the king had appointed ^(F)the captain on whose hand he leaned to have charge of the gate. And the people trampled him in the gate, so that he died, as the man of God had said ^(G)when the king came down to him. ¹⁸ For when the man of God had said to the king, “Two seahs of barley shall be sold for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour for a shekel, about this time tomorrow in the gate of Samaria,” ^19 (H)the captain had answered the man of God, “If the Lord himself should make windows in heaven, could such a thing be?” And he had said, ^(I)“You shall see it with your own eyes, but you shall not eat of it.” ²⁰ And so it happened to him, for the people trampled him in the gate and he died.

Israel's New Heart and Spirit

¹⁴ And the word of the Lord came to me: ^15 (A)“Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, your kinsmen,^[a] the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, ^(B)‘Go far from the Lord; to us this land is given for a possession.’ ¹⁶ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet ^(C)I have been a sanctuary to them for a while^[b] in the countries where they have gone.’ ¹⁷ Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God: ^(D)I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, ^(E)and I will give you the land of Israel.’ ¹⁸ And when they come there, ^(F)they will remove from it all its ^(G)detestable things and all its abominations. ^19 (H)And I will give them one heart, and ^(I)a new spirit I will put within them. ^(J)I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh ^(K)and give them a heart of flesh, ^20 (L)that they may walk in my statutes and keep my rules and obey them. ^(M)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ^21 (N)But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, ^(O)I will^[c] bring their deeds upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

^22 (P)Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them, ^(Q)and the glory of the God of Israel was over them. ²³ And the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city and ^(R)stood on the mountain that is on the east side of the city. ^24 (S)And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me ^(T)in the vision by the Spirit of God ^(U)into Chaldea, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me. ²⁵ And I told the exiles all the things that the Lord had shown me.

The Lord Reigns

A Sinful Woman Forgiven

^36 (A)One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. ^37 (B)And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, ³⁸ and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and ^(C)wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If ^(D)this man were ^(E)a prophet, he ^(F)would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” ⁴⁰ And Jesus answering said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he answered, “Say it, Teacher.”

⁴¹ “A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred ^(G)denarii, and the other fifty. ^42 (H)When they could not pay, he ^(I)cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered, “The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.” And he said to him, “You have judged rightly.” ⁴⁴ Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; ^(J)you gave me no water for my feet, but ^(K)she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ^45 (L)You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to ^(M)kiss my feet. ^46 (N)You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. ⁴⁷ Therefore I tell you, her sins, ^(O)which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ And he said to her, ^(P)“Your sins are forgiven.” ⁴⁹ Then those who were at table with him began to say among^[a] themselves, ^(Q)“Who is this, who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And he said to the woman, ^(R)“Your faith has saved you; ^(S)go in peace.”

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and ^(C)Timothy our brother,

To the church of God that is at Corinth, ^(D)with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia:

^2 (E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God of All Comfort

^3 (F)Blessed be the ^(G)God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and ^(H)God of all comfort, ^4 (I)who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ⁵ For as we share abundantly in ^(J)Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.^{[a] 6 (K)}If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. ⁷ Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you ^(L)share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

⁸ For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers,^[b] of ^(M)the affliction we experienced in Asia. For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. ⁹ Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us ^(N)rely not on ourselves ^(O)but on God ^(P)who raises the dead. ^10 (Q)He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. ^(R)On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again. ^11 (S)You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf ^(T)for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many.