22 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to Aaron and his sons so that they ^(A)abstain from the holy things of the people of Israel, which they ^(B)dedicate to me, so that they do not ^(C)profane my holy name: I am the Lord. ³ Say to them, ‘If any one of all your offspring throughout your generations approaches the holy things that the people of Israel dedicate to the Lord, while ^(D)he has an uncleanness, that person shall be cut off from my presence: I am the Lord. ⁴ None of the offspring of Aaron who has a leprous disease or a ^(E)discharge may eat of the holy things ^(F)until he is clean. ^(G)Whoever touches anything that is unclean through contact with the dead or ^(H)a man who has had an emission of semen, ⁵ and ^(I)whoever touches a swarming thing by which he may be made unclean or ^(J)a person from whom he may take uncleanness, whatever his uncleanness may be— ⁶ the person who touches such a thing shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat of the holy things unless he has ^(K)bathed his body in water. ⁷ When the sun goes down he shall be clean, and afterward he may eat of the holy things, because ^(L)they are his food. ^8 (M)He shall not eat what dies of itself or is torn by beasts, and so make himself unclean by it: I am the Lord.’ ⁹ They shall therefore keep my charge, ^(N)lest they bear sin for it and die thereby when they profane it: ^(O)I am the Lord who sanctifies them.

^10 (P)“A lay person shall not eat of a holy thing; no foreign guest of the priest or hired worker shall eat of a holy thing, ¹¹ but if a priest buys a slave^[a] as his property for money, the slave^[b] may eat of it, and ^(Q)anyone born in his house may eat of his food. ¹² If a priest's daughter marries a layman, she shall not eat of the contribution of the holy things. ¹³ But if a priest's daughter is widowed or divorced and has no child and ^(R)returns to her father's house, ^(S)as in her youth, she may eat of her father's food; yet no lay person shall eat of it. ^14 (T)And if anyone eats of a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add ^(U)the fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest. ¹⁵ They ^(V)shall not profane the holy things of the people of Israel, which they contribute to the Lord, ¹⁶ and so cause them ^(W)to bear iniquity and guilt, by eating their holy things: ^(X)for I am the Lord who sanctifies them.”

The Death of Elisha

¹⁴ Now when Elisha had fallen sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash king of Israel went down to him and wept before him, crying, ^(A)“My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” ¹⁵ And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. ¹⁶ Then he said to the king of Israel, “Draw the bow,” and he drew it. And Elisha laid his hands on the king's hands. ¹⁷ And he said, “Open the window eastward,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot,” and he shot. And he said, “The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Syria! For you shall fight the Syrians in ^(B)Aphek until you have made an end of them.” ¹⁸ And he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground with them.” And he struck three times and stopped. ¹⁹ Then ^(C)the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only ^(D)three times.”

²⁰ So Elisha died, and they buried him. Now bands of ^(E)Moabites used to invade the land in the spring of the year. ²¹ And as a man was being buried, behold, a marauding band was seen and the man was thrown into the grave of Elisha, and as soon as the man touched the bones of Elisha, he revived and stood on his feet.

^22 (F)Now Hazael king of Syria oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. ^23 (G)But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, ^(H)and he turned toward them, ^(I)because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

²⁴ When Hazael king of Syria died, Ben-hadad his son became king in his place. ²⁵ Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz took again from Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities ^(J)that he had taken from Jehoahaz his father in war. ^(K)Three times Joash defeated him and recovered the cities of Israel.

^41 (A)And they shall ^(B)burn your houses and ^(C)execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women. ^(D)I will make you stop playing the whore, and ^(E)you shall also give payment no more. ^42 (F)So will I satisfy my wrath on you, and my jealousy shall depart from you. I will be calm and will no more be angry. ⁴³ Because you have not remembered ^(G)the days of your youth, but have enraged me with all these things, therefore, behold, ^(H)I have returned your deeds upon your head, declares the Lord God. Have you not ^(I)committed lewdness in addition to all your abominations?

⁴⁴ “Behold, everyone ^(J)who uses proverbs will use this proverb about you: ‘Like mother, like daughter.’ ⁴⁵ You are the daughter of your mother, who loathed her husband and her children; and you are the sister of ^(K)your sisters, who loathed their husbands and their children. ^(L)Your mother was a Hittite and ^(M)your father an Amorite. ⁴⁶ And ^(N)your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and ^(O)your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. ^47 (P)Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time ^(Q)you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. ^48 (R)As I live, declares the Lord God, your sister ^(S)Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. ⁴⁹ Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, ^(T)excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. ⁵⁰ They were haughty and ^(U)did an abomination before me. So ^(V)I removed them, when I saw it. ^51 (W)Samaria has not committed half your sins. You have committed more abominations than they, and ^(X)have made your sisters appear righteous by all the abominations that you have committed. ^52 (Y)Bear your disgrace, you also, for you have intervened on behalf of your sisters. Because of your sins in which you acted more abominably than they, they are more in the right than you. So be ashamed, you also, and bear your disgrace, for you have made your sisters appear righteous.

^53 (Z)“I will restore their fortunes, both the fortunes of Sodom and her daughters, and the fortunes of Samaria and her daughters, and I will restore your own fortunes in their midst, ⁵⁴ that you may bear your disgrace ^(AA)and be ashamed of all that you have done, ^(AB)becoming a consolation to them. ⁵⁵ As for your sisters, Sodom and her daughters shall return to their former state, ^(AC)and Samaria and her daughters shall return ^(AD)to their former state, ^(AE)and you and your daughters shall return ^(AF)to your former state. ⁵⁶ Was not your sister Sodom a byword in your mouth ^(AG)in the day of your pride, ⁵⁷ before your wickedness was uncovered? Now you have become ^(AH)an object of reproach for the daughters of Syria^[a] and all those around her, and for ^(AI)the daughters of the Philistines, ^(AJ)those all around who despise you. ^58 (AK)You bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, declares the Lord.

Jesus Foretells His Death

^21 (A)And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, ^22 (B)saying, ^(C)“The Son of Man must ^(D)suffer many things and ^(E)be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on ^(F)the third day be raised.”

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

²³ And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him ^(G)deny himself and ^(H)take up his cross ^(I)daily and follow me. ²⁴ For ^(J)whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. ^25 (K)For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? ²⁶ For ^(L)whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed ^(M)when he comes in ^(N)his glory and the glory of the Father and of ^(O)the holy angels. ²⁷ But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not ^(P)taste death ^(Q)until they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration

^28 (R)Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him ^(S)Peter and John and James and ^(T)went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was ^(U)altered, and ^(V)his clothing became dazzling white. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure,^[a] which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² Now Peter and those who were with him ^(W)were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake ^(X)they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. ³³ And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three ^(Y)tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—^(Z)not knowing what he said. ³⁴ As he was saying these things, ^(AA)a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ And ^(AB)a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, ^(AC)my Chosen One;^{[b] (AD)}listen to him!” ³⁶ And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. ^(AE)And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

6 ^(A)Working together with him, then, ^(B)we appeal to you ^(C)not to receive the grace of God in vain. ² For he says,

Behold, ^(E)now is the ^(F)favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. ³ We ^(G)put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but ^(H)as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: ^(I)by great endurance, ^(J)in afflictions, ^(K)hardships, calamities, ^5 (L)beatings, imprisonments, ^(M)riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ^6 (N)by purity, ^(O)knowledge, patience, kindness, ^(P)the Holy Spirit, ^(Q)genuine love; ⁷ by ^(R)truthful speech, and ^(S)the power of God; with ^(T)the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ through honor and dishonor, ^(U)through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; ⁹ as unknown, and ^(V)yet well known; ^(W)as dying, and behold, we live; ^(X)as punished, and yet not killed; ^10 (Y)as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; ^(Z)as poor, yet making many rich; ^(AA)as having nothing, ^(AB)yet possessing everything.

¹¹ We have spoken freely to you,^[a] Corinthians; ^(AC)our heart is wide open. ¹² You are not restricted by us, but ^(AD)you are restricted in your own affections. ^13 (AE)In return (I speak ^(AF)as to children) widen your hearts also.