¹³ Moses, Eleazar the priest and all the leaders of the community went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ Moses was angry with the officers of the army^(A)—the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.

¹⁵ “Have you allowed all the women to live?” he asked them. ¹⁶ “They were the ones who followed Balaam’s advice^(B) and enticed the Israelites to be unfaithful to the Lord in the Peor incident,^(C) so that a plague^(D) struck the Lord’s people. ¹⁷ Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man,^{(E) 18} but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

¹⁹ “Anyone who has killed someone or touched someone who was killed^(F) must stay outside the camp seven days.^(G) On the third and seventh days you must purify yourselves^(H) and your captives. ²⁰ Purify every garment^(I) as well as everything made of leather, goat hair or wood.^(J)”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the soldiers who had gone into battle,^(K) “This is what is required by the law that the Lord gave Moses: ²² Gold, silver, bronze, iron,^(L) tin, lead ²³ and anything else that can withstand fire must be put through the fire,^(M) and then it will be clean. But it must also be purified with the water of cleansing.^(N) And whatever cannot withstand fire must be put through that water. ²⁴ On the seventh day wash your clothes and you will be clean.^(O) Then you may come into the camp.^(P)”

14 ^[a]And Abijah rested with his ancestors and was buried in the City of David. Asa his son succeeded him as king, and in his days the country was at peace for ten years.

Asa King of Judah^(A)

² Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God.^{(B) 3} He removed the foreign altars^(C) and the high places, smashed the sacred stones^(D) and cut down the Asherah poles.^{[b](E) 4} He commanded Judah to seek the Lord,^(F) the God of their ancestors, and to obey his laws and commands. ⁵ He removed the high places^(G) and incense altars^(H) in every town in Judah, and the kingdom was at peace under him. ⁶ He built up the fortified cities of Judah, since the land was at peace. No one was at war with him during those years, for the Lord gave him rest.^(I)

⁷ “Let us build up these towns,” he said to Judah, “and put walls around them, with towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God; we sought him and he has given us rest^(J) on every side.” So they built and prospered.

⁸ Asa had an army of three hundred thousand^(K) men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men.

⁹ Zerah the Cushite^(L) marched out against them with an army of thousands upon thousands and three hundred chariots, and came as far as Mareshah.^{(M) 10} Asa went out to meet him, and they took up battle positions in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah.

¹¹ Then Asa called^(N) to the Lord his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us,^(O) Lord our God, for we rely^(P) on you, and in your name^(Q) we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail^(R) against you.”

¹² The Lord struck down^(S) the Cushites before Asa and Judah. The Cushites fled, ¹³ and Asa and his army pursued them as far as Gerar.^(T) Such a great number of Cushites fell that they could not recover; they were crushed^(U) before the Lord and his forces. The men of Judah carried off a large amount of plunder.^{(V) 14} They destroyed all the villages around Gerar, for the terror^(W) of the Lord had fallen on them. They looted all these villages, since there was much plunder there. ¹⁵ They also attacked the camps of the herders and carried off droves of sheep and goats and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

⁹ Then the king of the North will invade the realm of the king of the South but will retreat to his own country. ¹⁰ His sons will prepare for war and assemble a great army, which will sweep on like an irresistible flood^(A) and carry the battle as far as his fortress.

¹¹ “Then the king of the South will march out in a rage and fight against the king of the North, who will raise a large army, but it will be defeated.^{(B) 12} When the army is carried off, the king of the South will be filled with pride and will slaughter many thousands, yet he will not remain triumphant. ¹³ For the king of the North will muster another army, larger than the first; and after several years, he will advance with a huge army fully equipped.

¹⁴ “In those times many will rise against the king of the South. Those who are violent among your own people will rebel in fulfillment of the vision, but without success. ¹⁵ Then the king of the North will come and build up siege ramps^(C) and will capture a fortified city. The forces of the South will be powerless to resist; even their best troops will not have the strength to stand. ¹⁶ The invader will do as he pleases;^(D) no one will be able to stand against him.^(E) He will establish himself in the Beautiful Land and will have the power to destroy it.^{(F) 17} He will determine to come with the might of his entire kingdom and will make an alliance with the king of the South. And he will give him a daughter in marriage in order to overthrow the kingdom, but his plans^[a] will not succeed^(G) or help him. ¹⁸ Then he will turn his attention to the coastlands^(H) and will take many of them, but a commander will put an end to his insolence and will turn his insolence back on him.^{(I) 19} After this, he will turn back toward the fortresses of his own country but will stumble and fall,^(J) to be seen no more.^(K)

²⁰ “His successor will send out a tax collector to maintain the royal splendor.^(L) In a few years, however, he will be destroyed, yet not in anger or in battle.

²¹ “He will be succeeded by a contemptible^(M) person who has not been given the honor of royalty.^(N) He will invade the kingdom when its people feel secure, and he will seize it through intrigue.

Proverbs of Solomon

10 The proverbs^(A) of Solomon:^(B)

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well^(A) and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst.^(B) Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water^(C) welling up to eternal life.”^(D)

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty^(E) and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet.^{(F) 20} Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,^(G) but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”^(H)

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming^(I) when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.^{(J) 22} You Samaritans worship what you do not know;^(K) we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.^{(L) 23} Yet a time is coming and has now come^(M) when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit^(N) and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

²⁰ And it was not without an oath! Others became priests without any oath, ²¹ but he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.^(C)

²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood.^{(D) 25} Therefore he is able to save^(E) completely^[b] those who come to God^(F) through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.^(G)

²⁶ Such a high priest^(H) truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners,^(I) exalted above the heavens.^{(J) 27} Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices^(K) day after day, first for his own sins,^(L) and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all^(M) when he offered himself.^{(N) 28} For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness;^(O) but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son,^(P) who has been made perfect^(Q) forever.