Matthew 3-4

English Standard Version

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

3 ^(A)In those days ^(B)John the Baptist came preaching in ^(C)the wilderness of Judea, ²^(D)“Repent, for ^(E)the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”^[a] ³For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said,

^(F)“The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
^(G)‘Prepare^[b] the way of the Lord;
make his paths straight.’”

⁴Now John wore ^(H)a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was ^(I)locusts and ^(J)wild honey. ⁵Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him, ⁶and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, ^(K)confessing their sins.

⁷But when he saw many of ^(L)the Pharisees and ^(M)Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, ^(N)“You brood of ^(O)vipers! Who warned you to flee from ^(P)the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruit ^(Q)in keeping with repentance. ⁹And do not presume to say to yourselves, ^(R)‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from ^(S)these stones to raise up children for Abraham. ¹⁰Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. ^(T)Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

¹¹^(U)“I baptize you with water ^(V)for repentance, but ^(W)he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you ^(X)with the Holy Spirit and ^(Y)fire. ¹²His ^(Z)winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and ^(AA)gather his wheat into the barn, ^(AB)but the chaff he will burn with ^(AC)unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

¹³^(AD)Then Jesus came ^(AE)from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. ¹⁴^(AF)John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” ¹⁵But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. ¹⁶And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, ^(AG)the heavens were opened to him,^[c] and he ^(AH)saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; ¹⁷and behold, ^(AI)a voice from heaven said, ^(AJ)“This is my beloved Son,^[d] with whom I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(AK)Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^(AL)to be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting ^(AM)forty days and forty nights, he ^(AN)was hungry. ³And ^(AO)the tempter came and said to him, “If you are ^(AP)the Son of God, command ^(AQ)these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, ^(AR)“It is written,

^(AS)“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵^(AT)Then the devil took him to ^(AU)the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

^(AV)“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again ^(AW)it is written, ^(AX)‘You shall not ^(AY)put the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸^(AZ)Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, ^(BA)Satan! For ^(BB)it is written,

^(BC)“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and ^(BD)him only shall you serve.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, ^(BE)angels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹²Now when he heard that ^(BF)John had been arrested, ^(BG)he withdrew into Galilee. ¹³And leaving ^(BH)Nazareth he went and lived in ^(BI)Capernaum by ^(BJ)the sea, in the territory of ^(BK)Zebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴^(BL)so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵^(BM)“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
    the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—
¹⁶^(BN)the people dwelling in darkness
    have seen a great light,
and for those dwelling in the region and ^(BO)shadow of death,
    on them a light has dawned.”

¹⁷^(BP)From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ^(BQ)“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”^[e]

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹⁸^(BR)While walking by ^(BS)the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you ^(BT)fishers of men.”^[f] ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

²³^(BU)And he went throughout all Galilee, ^(BV)teaching in their synagogues and ^(BW)proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and ^(BX)healing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴So his fame spread throughout all ^(BY)Syria, and ^(BZ)they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ^(CA)pains, ^(CB)those oppressed by demons, ^(CC)those having seizures, and ^(CD)paralytics, and he healed them. ²⁵^(CE)And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the ^(CF)Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Notas al pie

Matthew 3:2 Or the kingdom of heaven has come near
Matthew 3:3 Or crying: Prepare in the wilderness
Matthew 3:16 Some manuscripts omit to him
Matthew 3:17 Or my Son, my (or the) Beloved
Matthew 4:17 Or the kingdom of heaven has come near
Matthew 4:19 The Greek word anthropoi refers here to both men and women

Jeremiah 3-4

English Standard Version

3 ^(A)“If^[a] a man divorces his wife
    and she goes from him
and becomes another man's wife,
    will he return to her?
^(B)Would not that land be greatly polluted?
^(C)You have played the whore with many lovers;
    and would you return to me?
declares the Lord.
²Lift up your eyes to ^(D)the bare heights, and see!
    Where have you not been ravished?
^(E)By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers
    like an Arab in the wilderness.
^(F)You have polluted the land
    with your vile whoredom.
³^(G)Therefore the showers have been withheld,
    and the spring rain has not come;
yet you have ^(H)the forehead of a whore;
    you refuse to be ashamed.
⁴Have you not just now ^(I)called to me,
    ‘My father, you are the friend of my youth—
⁵^(J)will he be angry forever,
    will he be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken,
    but you have done all the evil that you could.”

Faithless Israel Called to Repentance

⁶The Lord said to me in the days of ^(K)King Josiah: “Have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, ^(L)how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there ^(M)played the whore? ⁷And I thought, ‘After she has done all this she will return to me,’ but she did not return, and her treacherous ^(N)sister Judah saw it. ⁸She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, ^(O)I had sent her away with ^(P)a decree of divorce. ^(Q)Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went ^(R)and played the whore. ⁹Because she took her whoredom lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with ^(S)stone and tree. ¹⁰Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me ^(T)with her whole heart, but in pretense, declares the Lord.”

¹¹And the Lord said to me, ^(U)“Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. ¹²Go, and proclaim these words toward ^(V)the north, and say,

^(W)“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
    for ^(X)I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
^(Y)I will not be angry forever.
¹³^(Z)Only acknowledge your guilt,
    that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under ^(AA)every green tree,
    and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.
¹⁴^(AB)Return, O faithless children,
declares the Lord;
    ^(AC)for I am your master;
I will take you, one from a city and two from a family,
    and I will bring you to Zion.

¹⁵“‘And ^(AD)I will give you shepherds after my own heart, ^(AE)who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. ¹⁶And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. ¹⁷At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, ^(AF)and all nations shall gather to it, ^(AG)to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. ¹⁸^(AH)In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land ^(AI)of the north to ^(AJ)the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.

¹⁹“‘I said,
    How I would set you among my sons,
and give you a pleasant land,
    a heritage most beautiful of all nations.
And I thought you would ^(AK)call me, My Father,
    and would not turn from following me.
²⁰^(AL)Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband,
    so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel,
declares the Lord.’”

²¹A voice on the ^(AM)bare heights is heard,
    ^(AN)the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons
because they have perverted their way;
    they have forgotten the Lord their God.
²²^(AO)“Return, O faithless sons;
    ^(AP)I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
    for you are the Lord our God.
²³Truly ^(AQ)the hills are a delusion,
    the orgies^[b] on the mountains.
^(AR)Truly in the Lord our God
    is the salvation of Israel.

²⁴“But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. ²⁵^(AS)Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonor cover us. For ^(AT)we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

4 “If you return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
    ^(AU)to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
    ^(AV)and do not waver,
²^(AW)and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
    in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then ^(AX)nations shall bless themselves in him,
    ^(AY)and in him shall they glory.”

³For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:

^(AZ)“Break up your fallow ground,
    and ^(BA)sow not among thorns.
⁴^(BB)Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
    remove the foreskin of your hearts,
    O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
^(BC)lest my wrath go forth like fire,
    and burn with none to quench it,
    ^(BD)because of the evil of your deeds.”

Disaster from the North

⁵Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say,

^(BE)“Blow the trumpet through the land;
    cry aloud and say,
^(BF)‘Assemble, and let us go
    into the fortified cities!’
⁶^(BG)Raise a standard toward Zion,
    flee for safety, stay not,
for I bring disaster from ^(BH)the north,
    ^(BI)and great destruction.
⁷^(BJ)A lion has gone up from his thicket,
    a destroyer of nations has set out;
    he has gone out from his place
to make your land a waste;
    your cities will be ruins
    ^(BK)without inhabitant.
⁸For this ^(BL)put on sackcloth,
    lament and wail,
for ^(BM)the fierce anger of the Lord
    has not turned back from us.”

⁹“In that day, declares the Lord, ^(BN)courage shall fail both king and officials. The priests shall be appalled and the prophets astounded.” ¹⁰Then I said, “Ah, Lord God, ^(BO)surely you have utterly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘It shall be well with you,’ whereas the sword has reached their very life.”

¹¹At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem, “A hot wind from ^(BP)the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹²a wind too full for this comes for me. Now it is I who ^(BQ)speak in judgment upon them.”

¹³Behold, he comes up like clouds;
    ^(BR)his chariots like the whirlwind;
his horses are ^(BS)swifter than eagles—
    woe to us, ^(BT)for we are ruined!
¹⁴O Jerusalem, ^(BU)wash your heart from evil,
    that you may be saved.
How long shall your wicked thoughts
    lodge within you?
¹⁵For a voice ^(BV)declares from Dan
    and proclaims trouble from ^(BW)Mount Ephraim.
¹⁶Warn the nations that he is coming;
    announce to Jerusalem,
“Besiegers come ^(BX)from a distant land;
    they shout against the cities of Judah.
¹⁷Like keepers of a field ^(BY)are they against her all around,
    because she has rebelled against me,
declares the Lord.
¹⁸Your ways and your deeds
    have brought this upon you.
This is your doom, and ^(BZ)it is bitter;
    it has reached your very heart.”

Anguish over Judah's Desolation

¹⁹^(CA)My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain!
    Oh the walls of my heart!
My heart is beating wildly;
    I cannot keep silent,
for I hear the sound of the trumpet,
    the alarm of war.
²⁰^(CB)Crash follows hard on crash;
    the whole land is laid waste.
^(CC)Suddenly my tents are laid waste,
    my curtains in a moment.
²¹How long must I see the standard
    and hear the sound of the trumpet?

²²“For ^(CD)my people are foolish;
    they know me not;
they are stupid children;
    they have no understanding.
^(CE)They are ‘wise’—in doing evil!
    But how to do good they know not.”

²³I looked on the earth, and behold, it was ^(CF)without form and void;
    ^(CG)and to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴I looked on ^(CH)the mountains, and behold, they were quaking,
    and all the hills moved to and fro.
²⁵^(CI)I looked, and behold, there was no man,
    and all the birds of the air had fled.
²⁶I looked, and behold, the ^(CJ)fruitful land was a desert,
    and all its cities were laid in ruins
    before the Lord, before ^(CK)his fierce anger.

²⁷For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation; ^(CL)yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸^(CM)“For this the earth shall mourn,
^(CN)and the heavens above be dark;
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
^(CO)I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

²⁹At the noise of horseman and archer
    every city takes to flight;
they enter thickets; they climb among rocks;
    all the cities are forsaken,
    and ^(CP)no man dwells in them.
³⁰And you, O desolate one,
what do you mean that you dress in scarlet,
    ^(CQ)that you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold,
    ^(CR)that you enlarge your eyes with paint?
In vain you beautify yourself.
    ^(CS)Your lovers despise you;
    they seek your life.
³¹For I heard ^(CT)a cry as of a woman in labor,
    anguish as of one giving birth to her first child,
the cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,
    ^(CU)stretching out her hands,
“Woe is me! I am fainting before murderers.”

Notas al pie

Jeremiah 3:1 Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew Saying, “If
Jeremiah 3:23 Hebrew commotion

Job 2

English Standard Version

Satan Attacks Job's Health

2 Again ^(A)there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the Lord. ²And the Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” ³And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still ^(B)holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him ^(C)without reason.” ⁴Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. ⁵But ^(D)stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will ^(E)curse you to your face.” ⁶And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

⁷So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome ^(F)sores from ^(G)the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. ⁸And he took ^(H)a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in ^(I)the ashes.

⁹Then his wife said to him, “Do you still ^(J)hold fast your integrity? ^(K)Curse God and die.” ¹⁰But he said to her, “You speak as one of the ^(L)foolish women would speak. ^(M)Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”^[a] ^(N)In all this Job did not ^(O)sin with his lips.

Job's Three Friends

¹¹Now when Job's three ^(P)friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz ^(Q)the Temanite, Bildad ^(R)the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to ^(S)show him sympathy and comfort him. ¹²And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they ^(T)tore their robes and sprinkled ^(U)dust on their heads toward heaven. ¹³And they sat with him on the ground ^(V)seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.