^24 (A)Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.” ²⁵ And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. ^26 (B)Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, ^27 (C)but your servants will pass over, every man who is ^(D)armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.”

²⁸ So ^(E)Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to ^(F)Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. ²⁹ And Moses said to them, “If the people of Gad and the people of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the Lord, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. ³⁰ However, if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.”

Jehoshaphat Allies with Ahab

18 Now Jehoshaphat ^(A)had great riches and honor, ^(B)and he made a marriage alliance with Ahab. ^2 (C)After some years he went down to Ahab in Samaria. And Ahab killed an abundance of sheep and oxen for him and for the people who were with him, and induced him to go up against Ramoth-gilead. ³ Ahab king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat king of Judah, “Will you go with me to Ramoth-gilead?” He answered him, “I am as you are, my people as your people. We will be with you in the war.”

⁴ And Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, “Inquire first for the word of the Lord.” ⁵ Then the king of Israel gathered the prophets together, four hundred men, and said to them, “Shall we go to battle against Ramoth-gilead, or shall I refrain?” And they said, “Go up, for God will give it into the hand of the king.” ⁶ But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire?” ⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the Lord, Micaiah the son of Imlah; but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but always evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.” ⁸ Then the king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Bring quickly Micaiah the son of Imlah.” ⁹ Now the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah were sitting on their thrones, arrayed in their robes. And they were sitting at the threshing floor ^(D)at the entrance of the gate of Samaria, and all the prophets were prophesying before them. ¹⁰ And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made for himself horns of iron and said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘With these you shall push the Syrians until they are destroyed.’” ¹¹ And all the prophets prophesied so and said, “Go up to Ramoth-gilead and triumph. The Lord will give it into the hand of the king.”

¹² And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” ¹³ But Micaiah said, ^(E)“As the Lord lives, ^(F)what my God says, that I will speak.” ¹⁴ And when he had come to the king, the king said to him, “Micaiah, shall we go to Ramoth-gilead to battle, or shall I refrain?” And he answered, “Go up and triumph; they will be given into your hand.” ¹⁵ But the king said to him, “How many times shall I make you swear that you speak to me nothing but the truth in the name of the Lord?” ¹⁶ And he said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, ^(G)as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, ‘These have no master; let each return to his home in peace.’” ¹⁷ And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Did I not tell you that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?” ¹⁸ And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the Lord: ^(H)I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing on his right hand and on his left. ¹⁹ And the Lord said, ‘Who will entice Ahab the king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another. ²⁰ Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, saying, ‘I will entice him.’ And the Lord said to him, ‘By what means?’ ²¹ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be ^(I)a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’ ²² Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of these your prophets. The Lord has declared disaster concerning you.”

²³ Then Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah came near ^(J)and struck Micaiah on the cheek and said, “Which way did the Spirit of the Lord go from me to speak to you?” ²⁴ And Micaiah said, “Behold, you shall see on that day when you go into an inner chamber to hide yourself.” ²⁵ And the king of Israel said, “Seize Micaiah and take him back to Amon ^(K)the governor of the city and to Joash the king's son, ²⁶ and say, ‘Thus says the king, ^(L)Put this fellow in prison and feed him with meager rations of bread and water until I return in peace.’” ²⁷ And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” And he said, ^(M)“Hear, all you peoples!”

^10 [a] Yet ^(A)the number of the children of Israel shall be ^(B)like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. ^(C)And ^(D)in the place where it was said to them, ^(E)“You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, ^(F)“Children^[b] of ^(G)the living God.” ¹¹ And ^(H)the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and ^(I)they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Israel's Unfaithfulness Punished

2 ^[c] Say to your brothers, ^(J)“You are my people,”^[d] and to your sisters, ^(K)“You have received mercy.”^[e]

The Healing at the Pool on the Sabbath

5 After this there was a ^(A)feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

² Now there is in Jerusalem by ^(B)the Sheep Gate a pool, in Aramaic^[a] called Bethesda,^[b] which has five roofed colonnades. ³ In these lay a multitude of invalids—blind, lame, and ^(C)paralyzed.^{[c] 5} One man was there who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had already been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” ⁷ The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, ^(D)“Get up, take up your bed, and walk.”

²³ Thus it was necessary for ^(A)the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. ²⁴ For Christ has entered, not into holy places ^(B)made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God ^(C)on our behalf. ²⁵ Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as ^(D)the high priest enters ^(E)the holy places every year with blood not his own, ²⁶ for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, ^(F)he has appeared ^(G)once for all ^(H)at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. ²⁷ And just as ^(I)it is appointed for man to die once, and ^(J)after that comes judgment, ²⁸ so Christ, having been offered once ^(K)to bear the sins of ^(L)many, will appear ^(M)a second time, ^(N)not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly ^(O)waiting for him.

Christ's Sacrifice Once for All

10 For since the law has but ^(P)a shadow ^(Q)of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, ^(R)it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. ² Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? ³ But ^(S)in these sacrifices ^(T)there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For ^(U)it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵ Consequently, ^(V)when Christ^[a] came into the world, he said,

⁸ When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in ^(X)sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law),