The Feast of Booths

³³ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, ^(A)On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths^[a] to the Lord. ³⁵ On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. ³⁶ For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord. ^(B)On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a ^(C)solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work.

^37 (D)“These are the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the Lord food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, ^38 (E)besides the Lord's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord.

³⁹ “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have ^(F)gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. ⁴⁰ And ^(G)you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and ^(H)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God seven days. ^41 (I)You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ^42 (J)You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, ⁴³ that ^(K)your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.”

⁴⁴ Thus Moses ^(L)declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the Lord.

Ahaz Reigns in Judah

16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah the son of Remaliah, Ahaz the son of Jotham, king of Judah, began to reign. ² Ahaz was ^(A)twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done, ³ but he walked in the way of the kings of Israel. ^(B)He even burned his son as an offering,^{[a] (C)}according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. ^4 (D)And he sacrificed and made offerings ^(E)on the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.

^5 (F)Then Rezin king of Syria and ^(G)Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to wage war on Jerusalem, and they besieged Ahaz ^(H)but could not conquer him. ⁶ At that time Rezin the king of Syria recovered ^(I)Elath for Syria and drove the men of Judah from ^(J)Elath, and the Edomites came to Elath, where they dwell to this day. ^7 (K)So Ahaz sent messengers to ^(L)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” ⁸ Ahaz also ^(M)took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house and sent a present to the king of Assyria. ^9 (N)And the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria marched up against Damascus ^(O)and took it, carrying its people captive to ^(P)Kir, and he killed Rezin.

¹⁰ When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet ^(Q)Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria, he saw the altar that was at Damascus. And King Ahaz sent to ^(R)Uriah the priest a model of the altar, and its pattern, exact in all its details. ¹¹ And Uriah the priest built the altar; in accordance with all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus, so Uriah the priest made it, before King Ahaz arrived from Damascus. ¹² And when the king came from Damascus, the king viewed the altar. ^(S)Then the king drew near to the altar and went up on it ¹³ and burned his burnt offering and his grain offering and poured his drink offering and threw the blood of his peace offerings on the altar. ¹⁴ And ^(T)the bronze altar that was before the Lord he removed ^(U)from the front of the house, from the place between ^(V)his altar and the house of the Lord, and put it on the north side of ^(W)his altar. ¹⁵ And King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, saying, “On the great altar burn ^(X)the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering and the king's burnt offering and his grain offering, with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, and their grain offering and their drink offering. And throw on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, but ^(Y)the bronze altar shall be for me to inquire by.” ¹⁶ Uriah the priest did all this, as King Ahaz commanded.

¹⁷ And King Ahaz cut off the frames of the stands and removed the basin from them, and he took down ^(Z)the sea^[b] from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on a stone pedestal. ¹⁸ And the covered way for the Sabbath that had been built inside the house and the outer entrance for the king he caused to go around the house of the Lord, because of the king of Assyria. ¹⁹ Now the rest of the acts of Ahaz that he did, are they not written ^(AA)in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? ²⁰ And Ahaz slept with his fathers and ^(AB)was buried with his fathers in the city of David, and Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.

¹⁵ he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife, ¹⁶ does not oppress anyone, ^(A)exacts no pledge, ^(B)commits no robbery, ^(C)but gives his bread to the hungry ^(D)and covers the naked with a garment, ¹⁷ withholds his hand from iniquity,^[a] takes no interest or profit, obeys my rules, ^(E)and walks in my statutes; he shall not die for his father's iniquity; ^(F)he shall surely live. ¹⁸ As for his father, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother, and did what is not good among his people, ^(G)behold, he shall die for his iniquity.

¹⁹ “Yet you say, ^(H)‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done ^(I)what is just and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, ^(J)he shall surely live. ^20 (K)The soul who sins shall die. ^(L)The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. ^(M)The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, ^(N)and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.

^21 (O)“But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does ^(P)what is just and right, ^(Q)he shall surely live; he shall not die. ^22 (R)None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. ^23 (S)Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? ^24 (T)But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? ^(U)None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for ^(V)the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die.

^25 (W)“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? ^26 (X)When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. ²⁷ Again, ^(Y)when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. ²⁸ Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. ²⁹ Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

³⁰ “Therefore ^(Z)I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. ^(AA)Repent and turn from all your transgressions, ^(AB)lest iniquity be your ruin.^{[b] 31 (AC)}Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and ^(AD)make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! ^(AE)Why will you die, O house of Israel? ^32 (AF)For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; ^(AG)so turn, and live.”

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed ^(A)seventy-two^[a] others and ^(B)sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ^2 (C)And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ^(D)Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; ^(E)behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ^4 (F)Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and ^(G)greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ^(H)‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, ^(I)it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for ^(J)the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ^(K)‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ^11 (L)‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that ^(M)the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, ^(N)it will be more bearable on ^(O)that day for Sodom than for that town.

Commendation of Titus

¹⁶ But ^(A)thanks be to God, ^(B)who put into the heart of Titus the same earnest care I have for you. ¹⁷ For ^(C)he not only accepted our appeal, but being himself very earnest he is going^[a] to you of his own accord. ¹⁸ With him we are sending^{[b] (D)}the brother who is famous among ^(E)all the churches for his preaching of the gospel. ¹⁹ And not only that, but he has been ^(F)appointed by the churches to travel with us as we carry out this act of ^(G)grace that is being ministered by us, ^(H)for the glory of the Lord himself and to show our good will. ²⁰ We take this course so that no one should blame us about this generous gift that is being administered by us, ²¹ for ^(I)we aim at what is honorable ^(J)not only in the Lord's sight but also in the sight of man. ²² And with them we are sending our brother whom we have often tested and found earnest in many matters, but who is now more earnest than ever because of his great confidence in you. ²³ As for Titus, he is ^(K)my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers^[c] of the churches, the glory of Christ. ²⁴ So give proof before the churches of your love and of ^(L)our boasting about you to these men.