Joshua to Succeed Moses

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into ^(A)this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. ¹³ When you have seen it, you also ^(B)shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, ^14 (C)because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing ^(D)to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are ^(E)the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) ¹⁵ Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ¹⁶ “Let the Lord, ^(F)the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation ¹⁷ who ^(G)shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be ^(H)as sheep that have no shepherd.” ¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “Take ^(I)Joshua the son of Nun, a man ^(J)in whom is the Spirit, and ^(K)lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall ^(L)commission him in their sight. ²⁰ You shall invest him with some of your authority, ^(M)that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. ²¹ And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him ^(N)by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.” ²² And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, ²³ and he laid his hands on him and ^(O)commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.

The Sons of Sceva

¹¹ And ^(A)God was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, ^12 (B)so that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and ^(C)the evil spirits came out of them. ¹³ Then some of the itinerant Jewish ^(D)exorcists ^(E)undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ^(F)“I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” ¹⁴ Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. ¹⁵ But the evil spirit answered them, ^(G)“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” ¹⁶ And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all^[a] of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and ^(H)the name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. ¹⁸ Also many of those who were now believers came, ^(I)confessing and divulging their practices. ¹⁹ And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. ²⁰ So the word of the Lord ^(J)continued to increase and prevail mightily.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

^14 (A)Now after John was arrested, Jesus ^(B)came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵ and saying, ^(C)“The time is fulfilled, and ^(D)the kingdom of God is at hand;^{[a] (E)}repent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

^16 (F)Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷ And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become ^(G)fishers of men.”^{[b] 18} And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹ And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰ And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.