The Bronze Serpent

From Mount Hor (A)they set out by the way to the Red Sea, (B)to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people (C)spoke against God and against Moses, (D)“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and (E)we loathe this worthless food.” (F)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and (G)they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. (H)And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. (I)Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So (J)Moses made a bronze[a] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 21:9 Or copper

King Sihon Defeated

21 Then (A)Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, 22 (B)“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the King's Highway until we have passed through your territory.” 23 (C)But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and (D)came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. 24 (E)And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the (F)Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. 25 And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. 26 For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. 27 Therefore the (G)ballad singers say,

“Come to (H)Heshbon, let it be built;
    let the city of Sihon be established.
28 For (I)fire came out from (J)Heshbon,
    flame from the city of Sihon.
It devoured (K)Ar of Moab,
    and swallowed[a] the heights of the Arnon.
29 (L)Woe to you, O Moab!
    You are undone, O people of (M)Chemosh!
He has made his sons fugitives,
    and his daughters captives,
    to an Amorite king, Sihon.
30 So we overthrew them;
    Heshbon, as far as (N)Dibon, perished;
    and we laid waste as far as Nophah;
    fire spread as far as (O)Medeba.”[b]

King Og Defeated

31 Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. 32 And Moses sent to spy out (P)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. 33 Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle (Q)at Edrei. 34 (R)But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And (S)you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” 35 So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 21:28 Septuagint; Hebrew the lords of
  2. Numbers 21:30 Compare Samaritan and Septuagint; Hebrew and we laid waste as far as Nophah, which is as far as Medeba

12 (A)Many of them therefore believed, with not a few Greek (B)women of high standing as well as men. 13 But when the Jews from Thessalonica learned that the word of God was proclaimed by Paul at Berea also, they came there too, (C)agitating and stirring up the crowds. 14 Then the brothers (D)immediately sent Paul off on his way to the sea, but Silas and (E)Timothy remained there. 15 (F)Those who conducted Paul brought him as far as (G)Athens, and after receiving a command (H)for Silas and Timothy to come to him as soon as possible, they departed.

Paul in Athens

16 Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was (I)provoked within him as he saw that the city was (J)full of idols. 17 So (K)he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. 18 Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, (L)“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because (M)he was preaching (N)Jesus and the resurrection. 19 And they took him and brought him to (O)the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this (P)new teaching is that you are presenting? 20 For you bring some (Q)strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” 21 Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

22 So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: (R)‘To the unknown god.’ (S)What therefore you worship (T)as unknown, this I proclaim to you. 24 (U)The God who made the world and everything in it, being (V)Lord of heaven and earth, (W)does not live in temples made by man,[a] 25 nor is he served by human hands, (X)as though he needed anything, since he himself (Y)gives to all mankind (Z)life and breath and everything. 26 And (AA)he made from one man every nation of mankind to live (AB)on all the face of the earth, (AC)having determined allotted periods and (AD)the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 (AE)that they should seek God, (AF)and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. (AG)Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for

(AH)“‘In him we live and move and have our being’;[b]

as even some of (AI)your own poets have said,

“‘For we are indeed his offspring.’[c]

29 (AJ)Being then God's offspring, (AK)we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. 30 (AL)The times of ignorance (AM)God overlooked, but (AN)now he (AO)commands all people everywhere to repent, 31 because he has fixed (AP)a day on which (AQ)he will judge the world (AR)in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and (AS)of this he has given assurance to all (AT)by raising him from the dead.”

32 Now when they heard of (AU)the resurrection of the dead, (AV)some mocked. But others said, (AW)“We will hear you again about this.” 33 So Paul went out from their midst. 34 But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius (AX)the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.

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Footnotes

  1. Acts 17:24 Greek made by hands
  2. Acts 17:28 Probably from Epimenides of Crete
  3. Acts 17:28 From Aratus's poem “Phainomena”

A Woman with a Disabling Spirit

10 Now (A)he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had had (B)a disabling spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not fully straighten herself. 12 When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, “Woman, you are freed from your disability.” 13 And he (C)laid his hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and she (D)glorified God. 14 But (E)the ruler of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus (F)had healed on the Sabbath, said to the people, (G)“There are six days in which work ought to be done. Come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.” 15 Then the Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! (H)Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to water it? 16 And ought not this woman, (I)a daughter of Abraham whom (J)Satan bound for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?” 17 As he said these things, (K)all his adversaries were put to shame, and (L)all the people rejoiced at all the glorious things that were done by him.

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