God Blesses and Renames Jacob

35 God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to ^(A)Bethel and dwell there. Make an altar there to the God who appeared to you ^(B)when you fled from your brother Esau.” ² So Jacob said to his ^(C)household and to all who were with him, “Put away ^(D)the foreign gods that are among you and ^(E)purify yourselves and change your garments. ³ Then let us arise and go up to Bethel, so that I may make there an altar to the God ^(F)who answers me in the day of my distress and ^(G)has been with me wherever I have gone.” ⁴ So they gave to Jacob all the foreign gods that they had, and the rings that were in their ears. Jacob hid them under ^(H)the terebinth tree that was near Shechem.

⁵ And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. ⁶ And Jacob came to ^(I)Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, ⁷ and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel,^[a] because ^(J)there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. ⁸ And ^(K)Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.^[b]

⁹ God appeared^[c] to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. ¹⁰ And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; ^(L)no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but ^(M)Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. ¹¹ And God said to him, ^(N)“I am God Almighty:^[d] be ^(O)fruitful and multiply. ^(P)A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body.^{[e] 12 (Q)}The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” ¹³ Then God ^(R)went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. ¹⁴ And Jacob ^(S)set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. ¹⁵ So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him ^(T)Bethel.

²² But the people, the men of Israel, took courage, and again formed the battle line in the same place where they had formed it on the first day. ^23 (A)And the people of Israel went up and wept before the Lord until the evening. And they inquired of the Lord, “Shall we again draw near to fight against our brothers, the people of Benjamin?” And the Lord said, “Go up against them.”

²⁴ So the people of Israel came near against the people of Benjamin the second day. ²⁵ And Benjamin ^(B)went against them out of Gibeah the second day, and destroyed 18,000 men of the people of Israel. All these were men who ^(C)drew the sword. ²⁶ Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to ^(D)Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. ²⁷ And the people of Israel inquired of the Lord ^(E)(for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days, ²⁸ and ^(F)Phinehas the son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, ^(G)ministered before it in those days), saying, “Shall we go out once more to battle against our brothers, the people of Benjamin, or shall we cease?” And the Lord said, “Go up, for tomorrow I will give them into your hand.”

^29 (H)So Israel set men in ambush around Gibeah. ³⁰ And the people of Israel went up against the people of Benjamin on the third day and set themselves in array against Gibeah, as at other times. ³¹ And the people of Benjamin went out against the people and were drawn away from the city. And as at other times they began to strike and kill some of the people in the highways, ^(I)one of which goes up to ^(J)Bethel and the other to Gibeah, and in the open country, about thirty men of Israel. ³² And the people of Benjamin said, ^(K)“They are routed before us, as at the first.” But the people of Israel said, “Let us flee and draw them away from the city to the highways.” ³³ And all the men of Israel rose up out of their place and set themselves in array at Baal-tamar, and the men of Israel who were in ambush rushed out of their place from Maareh-geba.^{[a] 34} And there came against Gibeah 10,000 chosen men out of all Israel, and the battle was hard, ^(L)but the Benjaminites did not know that disaster was close upon them. ³⁵ And the Lord defeated Benjamin before Israel, and the people of Israel destroyed 25,100 men of Benjamin that day. All these were men who ^(M)drew the sword. ³⁶ So the people of Benjamin saw that they were defeated.

The men of Israel gave ground to Benjamin, because they trusted the men in ambush whom they had set against Gibeah. ^37 (N)Then the men in ambush hurried and rushed against Gibeah; the men in ambush moved out and struck all the city with the edge of the sword. ³⁸ Now the appointed signal between the men of Israel and the men in the main ambush was that when they made a great cloud of smoke rise up out of the city ³⁹ the men of Israel should turn in battle. Now Benjamin had begun to strike and kill about thirty men of Israel. They said, ^(O)“Surely they are defeated before us, as in the first battle.” ⁴⁰ But when the signal began to rise out of the city in a column of smoke, the Benjaminites looked behind them, and behold, ^(P)the whole of the city went up in smoke to heaven. ⁴¹ Then the men of Israel turned, and the men of Benjamin were dismayed, ^(Q)for they saw that disaster was close upon them. ⁴² Therefore they turned their backs before the men of Israel in ^(R)the direction of the wilderness, but the battle overtook them. And those who came out of the cities were destroying them in their midst. ⁴³ Surrounding the Benjaminites, they pursued them and trod them down from Nohah^[b] as far as opposite Gibeah on the east. ⁴⁴ Eighteen thousand men of Benjamin fell, all of them men of valor. ⁴⁵ And they turned ^(S)and fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^(T)Rimmon. Five thousand men of them were cut down in the highways. And they were pursued hard to Gidom, and 2,000 men of them were struck down. ⁴⁶ So all who fell that day of Benjamin were 25,000 men who drew the sword, all of them men of valor. ⁴⁷ But 600 men turned and ^(U)fled toward the wilderness to the rock of ^(V)Rimmon and remained at the rock of Rimmon four months. ⁴⁸ And the men of Israel turned back against the people of Benjamin and struck them with the edge of the sword, the city, men and beasts and all that they found. And all the towns that they found they set on fire.

Israel Refined for God's Glory

Elihu Condemns Job

35 And Elihu answered and said:

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

^17 (A)And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, ¹⁸ “See, ^(B)we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will ^(C)condemn him to death ¹⁹ and ^(D)deliver him over to the Gentiles ^(E)to be mocked and flogged and ^(F)crucified, and he will be raised on ^(G)the third day.”

A Mother's Request

^20 (H)Then ^(I)the mother of the sons of Zebedee came up to him with her sons, and ^(J)kneeling before him she asked him for something. ²¹ And he said to her, “What do you want?” She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine ^(K)are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, ^(L)in your kingdom.” ²² Jesus answered, ^(M)“You do not know what you are asking. Are you able ^(N)to drink the cup that I am to drink?” They said to him, “We are able.” ²³ He said to them, ^(O)“You will drink ^(P)my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, ^(Q)but it is for those for whom it has been ^(R)prepared by my Father.” ²⁴ And when the ten heard it, they were indignant at the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus called them to him and said, ^(S)“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles ^(T)lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. ^26 (U)It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant,^{[a] 27} and whoever would be first among you must be your slave,^{[b] 28} even as the Son of Man came not to be served but ^(V)to serve, and ^(W)to give his life as a ransom for ^(X)many.”

²⁵ And now, behold, ^(A)I know that none of you among whom I have gone about ^(B)proclaiming the kingdom will see my face again. ²⁶ Therefore ^(C)I testify to you this day that ^(D)I am innocent of the blood of all, ²⁷ for ^(E)I did not shrink from declaring to you ^(F)the whole counsel of God. ^28 (G)Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all ^(H)the flock, in which ^(I)the Holy Spirit has made you ^(J)overseers, ^(K)to care for ^(L)the church of God,^[a] which he ^(M)obtained ^(N)with his own blood.^{[b] 29} I ^(O)know that after my departure ^(P)fierce wolves will come in among you, ^(Q)not sparing the flock; ³⁰ and ^(R)from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. ³¹ Therefore ^(S)be alert, remembering that ^(T)for three years I did not cease night or day ^(U)to admonish every one ^(V)with tears. ³² And now ^(W)I commend you to God and to ^(X)the word of his grace, which is able to ^(Y)build you up and to give you ^(Z)the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. ^33 (AA)I coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. ^34 (AB)You yourselves know that ^(AC)these hands ministered to my necessities and ^(AD)to those who were with me. ³⁵ In all things ^(AE)I have shown you that ^(AF)by working hard in this way we must ^(AG)help the weak and ^(AH)remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed ^(AI)to give than to receive.’”

³⁶ And when he had said these things, ^(AJ)he knelt down and prayed with them all. ³⁷ And ^(AK)there was much weeping on the part of all; ^(AL)they embraced Paul and ^(AM)kissed him, ³⁸ being sorrowful most of all because of ^(AN)the word he had spoken, that they would not see his face again. And ^(AO)they accompanied him to the ship.