Feasts of the Lord

23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(A)These are the appointed feasts of the Lord that you shall ^(B)proclaim as ^(C)holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts.

The Sabbath

^3 (D)“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.

The Passover

^4 (E)“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, the ^(F)holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. ^5 (G)In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight,^[a] is the Lord's Passover. ⁶ And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the Lord; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. ^7 (H)On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ⁸ But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work.”

The Feast of Firstfruits

⁹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹⁰ “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, ^(I)When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of ^(J)the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹ and he shall ^(K)wave the sheaf before the Lord, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. ¹² And on the day when you ^(L)wave the sheaf, you shall offer a ^(M)male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the Lord. ^13 (N)And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah^[b] of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the Lord with a pleasing aroma, ^(O)and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin.^{[c] 14} And you shall eat neither bread nor grain ^(P)parched or ^(Q)fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Azariah Reigns in Judah

15 ^(A)In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, ^(B)Azariah the son of Amaziah, king of Judah, began to reign. ² He was ^(C)sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. ³ And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. ^4 (D)Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places. ^5 (E)And the Lord touched the king, so that he was a leper^[a] to the day of his death, ^(F)and he lived in a separate house.^[b] And Jotham the king's son was over the household, governing the people of the land. ⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ⁷ And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers ^(G)in the city of David, and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

Zechariah Reigns in Israel

⁸ In the thirty-eighth year of Azariah king of Judah, Zechariah the son of Jeroboam reigned over Israel in Samaria six months. ⁹ And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his fathers had done. He did not depart from the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, ^(H)which he made Israel to sin. ¹⁰ Shallum the son of Jabesh conspired against him and ^(I)struck him down at Ibleam and put him to death and reigned in his place. ¹¹ Now the rest of the deeds of Zechariah, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹² (This was ^(J)the promise of the Lord that he gave to Jehu, “Your sons shall sit on the throne of Israel to the fourth generation.” And so it came to pass.)

Shallum Reigns in Israel

¹³ Shallum the son of Jabesh began to reign in the thirty-ninth year of ^(K)Uzziah^[c] king of Judah, and he reigned one month in ^(L)Samaria. ¹⁴ Then Menahem the son of Gadi came up from ^(M)Tirzah and came to Samaria, and he struck down Shallum the son of Jabesh in Samaria and put him to death and reigned in his place. ¹⁵ Now the rest of the deeds of Shallum, and the conspiracy that he made, behold, they are written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel. ¹⁶ At that time Menahem sacked Tiphsah and all who were in it and its territory from Tirzah on, because they did not open it to him. Therefore he sacked it, ^(N)and he ripped open all the women in it who were pregnant.

⁹ “Say, Thus says the Lord God: ^(A)Will it thrive? Will he not pull up its roots and cut off its fruit, so that it withers, so that all its fresh sprouting leaves wither? It will not take a strong arm or many people to pull it from its roots. ¹⁰ Behold, it is planted; will it thrive? ^(B)Will it not utterly wither when the east wind strikes it—wither away on the bed where it sprouted?”

¹¹ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ¹² “Say now to ^(C)the rebellious house, ^(D)Do you not know what these things mean? Tell them, behold, ^(E)the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem, and took her king and her princes and brought them to him to Babylon. ^13 (F)And he took one of the royal offspring^{[a] (G)}and made a covenant with him, ^(H)putting him under oath (^(I)the chief men of the land he had taken away), ¹⁴ that the kingdom might be humble and not lift itself up, and keep his covenant that it might stand. ^15 (J)But he rebelled against him by sending his ambassadors ^(K)to Egypt, that they might give him horses and a large army. ^(L)Will he thrive? Can one escape who does such things? Can he ^(M)break the covenant and yet escape?

^16 (N)“As I live, declares the Lord God, surely ^(O)in the place where the king dwells ^(P)who made him king, whose oath he despised, and whose covenant with him he broke, in Babylon he shall die. ^17 (Q)Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company will not help him in war, ^(R)when mounds are cast up and siege walls built to cut off many lives. ¹⁸ He despised the oath in breaking the covenant, and behold, he gave his hand and did all these things; he shall not escape. ¹⁹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely it is my oath that he despised, and my covenant that he broke. I will return it upon his head. ^20 (S)I will spread my net over him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon ^(T)and enter into judgment with him there ^(U)for the treachery he has committed against me. ²¹ And all the pick^[b] of his troops shall fall by the sword, ^(V)and the survivors shall be scattered to every wind, and you shall know that ^(W)I am the Lord; I have spoken.”

²² Thus says the Lord God: ^(X)“I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out. ^(Y)I will break off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and ^(Z)I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain. ^23 (AA)On the mountain height of Israel will I plant it, that it may bear branches and produce fruit and become a noble cedar. ^(AB)And under it will dwell every kind of bird; in the shade of its branches birds of every sort will nest. ²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord; ^(AC)I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree, dry up ^(AD)the green tree, and make ^(AE)the dry tree flourish. ^(AF)I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it.”

Tell of All His Wondrous Works

Who Is the Greatest?

^46 (A)An argument arose among them as to which of them was the greatest. ⁴⁷ But Jesus, knowing the reasoning of their hearts, took a child and put him by his side ⁴⁸ and said to them, ^(B)“Whoever receives this child in my name receives me, and ^(C)whoever receives me receives him who sent me. For ^(D)he who is least among you all is the one who is great.”

Anyone Not Against Us Is For Us

^49 (E)John answered, “Master, we saw someone ^(F)casting out demons in your name, and ^(G)we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us.” ⁵⁰ But Jesus said to him, “Do not stop him, ^(H)for the one who is not against you is for you.”

A Samaritan Village Rejects Jesus

⁵¹ When the days drew near for ^(I)him to be taken up, ^(J)he set his face ^(K)to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² And ^(L)he sent messengers ahead of him, who went and entered a village of ^(M)the Samaritans, to make preparations for him. ⁵³ But ^(N)the people did not receive him, because ^(O)his face was set toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ And when his disciples James and John saw it, they said, “Lord, do you want us to tell ^(P)fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”^{[a] 55} But he turned and rebuked them.^{[b] 56} And they went on to another village.

Paul's Joy

^2 (A)Make room in your hearts^[a] for us. ^(B)We have wronged no one, we have corrupted no one, we have taken advantage of no one. ³ I do not say this to condemn you, for I said before that ^(C)you are in our hearts, to die together and to live together. ⁴ I am acting with ^(D)great boldness toward you; ^(E)I have great pride in you; ^(F)I am filled with comfort. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.

⁵ For even ^(G)when we came into Macedonia, our bodies had no rest, but we were afflicted at every turn—^(H)fighting without and fear within. ⁶ But ^(I)God, who comforts the downcast, ^(J)comforted us by the coming of Titus, ⁷ and not only by his coming but also by the comfort with which he was comforted by you, as he told us of your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me, so that I rejoiced still more. ⁸ For ^(K)even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though ^(L)I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. ⁹ As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but ^(M)because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us.

¹⁰ For ^(N)godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas ^(O)worldly grief produces death. ¹¹ For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, but also what eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, ^(P)what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves innocent in the matter. ¹² So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the one ^(Q)who did the wrong, nor for the sake of the one who suffered the wrong, but in order that your earnestness for us might be revealed to you in the sight of God. ¹³ Therefore ^(R)we are comforted.

And besides our own comfort, we rejoiced still more at the joy of Titus, because his spirit ^(S)has been refreshed by you all. ¹⁴ For ^(T)whatever boasts I made to him about you, I was not put to shame. But just as everything we said to you ^(U)was true, so also our boasting before Titus has proved true. ¹⁵ And his affection for you is even greater, as he remembers ^(V)the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. ¹⁶ I rejoice, because I have complete ^(W)confidence in you.