¹³ Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ And Moses was angry with ^(A)the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, “Have you ^(B)let all the women live? ¹⁶ Behold, ^(C)these, ^(D)on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of ^(E)Peor, and so ^(F)the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, ^(G)kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸ But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him ^(H)keep alive for yourselves. ^19 (I)Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and ^(J)whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified ^(K)with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. ²⁴ You must ^(L)wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.”

Asa Reigns in Judah

14 ^{[a] (A)}Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. ^2 [b] And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. ³ He took away the foreign altars ^(B)and the high places and broke down ^(C)the pillars and cut down the ^(D)Asherim ⁴ and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. ⁵ He also took out of all the cities of Judah ^(E)the high places and the ^(F)incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. ⁶ He built ^(G)fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, ^(H)for the Lord gave him peace. ⁷ And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with ^(I)walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, ^(J)and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. ⁸ And Asa had an army of ^(K)300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

⁹ Zerah ^(L)the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as ^(M)Mareshah. ¹⁰ And Asa went out to meet him, and ^(N)they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at ^(O)Mareshah. ¹¹ And Asa ^(P)cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, ^(Q)for we rely on you, ^(R)and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” ^12 (S)So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ¹³ Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as ^(T)Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah^[c] carried away very much spoil. ¹⁴ And they attacked all the cities around ^(U)Gerar, ^(V)for the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. ¹⁵ And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

⁹ Then the latter shall come into the realm of the king of the south but shall return to his own land.

¹⁰ “His sons shall wage war and assemble a multitude of great forces, which shall keep coming ^(A)and overflow and pass through, and again shall carry the war as far as his ^(B)fortress. ¹¹ Then the king of the south, ^(C)moved with rage, shall come out and fight against the king of the north. ^(D)And he shall raise a great multitude, but it shall be given into his hand. ¹² And when the multitude is taken away, his heart shall be exalted, and he shall cast down tens of thousands, but he shall not prevail. ¹³ For the king of the north shall again ^(E)raise a multitude, greater than the first. And ^(F)after some years^[a] he shall come on with a great army and abundant supplies.

¹⁴ “In those times many shall rise against the king of the south, and the violent among your own people shall lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but ^(G)they shall fail. ¹⁵ Then the king of the north shall come and ^(H)throw up siegeworks and take a well-fortified city. And the forces of the south shall not stand, or even his best troops, for there shall be no strength to stand. ¹⁶ But he who comes against him shall ^(I)do as he wills, and ^(J)none shall stand before him. And he shall stand in ^(K)the glorious land, with destruction in his hand. ¹⁷ He shall ^(L)set his face to come with the strength of his whole kingdom, and he shall bring terms of an agreement and perform them. He shall give him the daughter of women to destroy the kingdom,^[b] but it shall not stand or be to his advantage. ¹⁸ Afterward he shall turn his face to the coastlands and shall capture many of them, but a commander shall put an end to his insolence. Indeed,^[c] he ^(M)shall turn his insolence back upon him. ¹⁹ Then he shall turn his face back toward the ^(N)fortresses of his own land, but he shall ^(O)stumble and fall, ^(P)and shall not be found.

²⁰ “Then shall arise in his place one who shall send an ^(Q)exactor of tribute for the glory of the kingdom. But within a few days he shall be broken, neither in anger nor in battle. ²¹ In his place shall arise a contemptible person to whom royal majesty has not been given. ^(R)He shall come in without warning and obtain the kingdom ^(S)by flatteries.

The Proverbs of Solomon

10 ^(A)The proverbs of Solomon.

¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ^12 (A)Are you greater than our father Jacob? ^(B)He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” ¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but ^(C)whoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^(D)will never be thirsty again.^[a] The water that I will give him will become ^(E)in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” ¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, ^(F)give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, ^(G)call your husband, and come here.” ¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that ^(H)you are ^(I)a prophet. ^20 (J)Our fathers worshiped on ^(K)this mountain, but you say that ^(L)in Jerusalem is ^(M)the place where people ought to worship.” ²¹ Jesus said to her, ^(N)“Woman, believe me, ^(O)the hour is coming when ^(P)neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. ^22 (Q)You worship what you do not know; ^(R)we worship what we know, for ^(S)salvation is ^(T)from the Jews. ²³ But ^(U)the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father ^(V)in spirit and ^(W)truth, for the Father ^(X)is seeking such people to worship him.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath. For those who formerly became priests were made such without an oath, ²¹ but this one was made a priest with an oath by the one who said to him:

²² This makes Jesus the guarantor of ^(B)a better covenant.

²³ The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, ²⁴ but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues ^(C)forever. ²⁵ Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost^{[a] (D)}those who draw near to God ^(E)through him, since he always lives ^(F)to make intercession for them.

²⁶ For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, ^(G)holy, innocent, unstained, ^(H)separated from sinners, and ^(I)exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, ^(J)first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this ^(K)once for all when he offered up himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints men ^(L)in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made ^(M)perfect forever.