The Ark Comes to Jerusalem

15 David built houses for himself in the city of David, and he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.^{(A) 2} Then David said, “No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord has chosen them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever.”^(B)

³ David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem^(C) to bring the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it.^{(D) 4} Then he gathered together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites:

⁵ From the Kohathites, Uriel the leader and 120 of his relatives; ⁶ from the Merarites, Asaiah the leader and 220 of his relatives; ⁷ from the Gershomites,^[a] Joel the leader and 130 of his relatives; ⁸ from the Elizaphanites, Shemaiah the leader and 200 of his relatives; ⁹ from the Hebronites, Eliel the leader and 80 of his relatives; ¹⁰ from the Uzzielites, Amminadab the leader and 112 of his relatives.

¹¹ David summoned the priests Zadok^(E) and Abiathar^(F) and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab. ¹² He said to them, “You are the heads of the Levite families. You and your relatives must consecrate yourselves^(G) so that you may bring the ark of the Lord God of Israel to the place I have prepared for it.^{(H) 13} For the Lord our God burst out in anger against us because you Levites were not with us the first time, for we didn’t inquire of him about the proper procedures.”^{(I) 14} So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel. ¹⁵ Then the Levites carried the ark of God the way Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord: on their shoulders with the poles.^(J)

¹⁶ Then David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their relatives as singers and to have them raise their voices with joy accompanied by musical instruments—harps, lyres, and cymbals.^{(K) 17} So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his relatives, Asaph son of Berechiah; and from their relatives the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah. ¹⁸ With them were their relatives second in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel,^[b] Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, and the gatekeepers Obed-edom and Jeiel. ¹⁹ The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals; ²⁰ Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah were to play harps according to Alamoth^{[c] 21} and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah were to lead the music with lyres according to the Sheminith. ²² Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites in music, was to direct the music because he was skillful. ²³ Berechiah and Elkanah were to be gatekeepers for the ark. ²⁴ The priests, Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, were to blow trumpets^(L) before the ark of God. Obed-edom and Jehiah were also to be gatekeepers for the ark.

²⁵ David,^(M) the elders of Israel, and the commanders of thousands went with rejoicing to bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-edom.^{(N) 26} Because God helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, with God’s help, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams.^(O)

²⁷ Now David was dressed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, as well as the singers and Chenaniah, the music leader of the singers. David also wore a linen ephod. ²⁸ So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, the sound of the ram’s horn, trumpets, and cymbals, and the playing of harps and lyres. ²⁹ As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from the window and saw King David leaping^[d] and dancing, and she despised him in her heart.

The Sin of Favoritism

2 My brothers and sisters, do not show favoritism as you hold on to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ.^{(A) 2} For if someone comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and dressed in fine clothes, and a poor person dressed in filthy clothes also comes in, ³ if you look with favor on the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here in a good place,” and yet you say to the poor person, “Stand over there,” or “Sit here on the floor by my footstool,” ⁴ haven’t you made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers and sisters: Didn’t God choose the poor in this world^(B) to be rich in faith^(C) and heirs^(D) of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶ Yet you have dishonored the poor.^(E) Don’t the rich oppress you and drag^(F) you into court? ⁷ Don’t they blaspheme the good name that was invoked over you?^(G)

⁸ Indeed, if you fulfill the royal law prescribed in the Scripture, Love your neighbor as yourself,^[a](H) you are doing well. ⁹ If, however, you show favoritism,^(I) you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰ For whoever keeps the entire law, and yet stumbles at one point, is guilty of breaking it all.^{(J) 11} For he who said, Do not commit adultery,^[b] also said, Do not murder.^[c](K) So if you do not commit adultery, but you murder, you are a lawbreaker.

¹² Speak and act as those who are to be judged by the law of freedom.^{(L) 13} For judgment is without mercy to the one who has not shown mercy.^(M) Mercy triumphs over judgment.

Faith and Works

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can such faith save him?

¹⁵ If a brother or sister is without clothes and lacks daily food ¹⁶ and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, stay warm, and be well fed,” but you don’t give them what the body needs, what good is it?^{(N) 17} In the same way faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.

¹⁸ But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.”^[d] Show me your faith without works, and I will show you faith by my works.^{(O) 19} You believe that God is one. Good! Even the demons believe—and they shudder.^(P)

²⁰ Senseless person! Are you willing to learn that faith without works is useless? ²¹ Wasn’t Abraham our father justified by works in offering Isaac his son on the altar? ²² You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was made complete,^{(Q) 23} and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,^[e](R) and he was called God’s friend.^{(S) 24} You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. ²⁵ In the same way, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also justified by works in receiving the messengers and sending them out by a different route?^{(T) 26} For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.

Fifth Vision: The Lord beside the Altar

9 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar,^(A) and he said:

Announcement of Judgment

Announcement of Restoration

The Temptation of Jesus

4 Then Jesus^(A) left the Jordan,^(B) full of the Holy Spirit,^(C) and was led by the Spirit^(D) in the wilderness ² for forty days^(E) to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and when they were over, he was hungry. ³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ But Jesus answered him, “It is written: Man must not live on bread alone.”^[a][b](F)

⁵ So he took him up^[c] and showed him all the kingdoms of the world^(G) in a moment of time. ⁶ The devil said to him, “I will give you their splendor and all this authority, because it has been given over to me,^(H) and I can give it to anyone I want. ⁷ If you, then, will worship me,^[d] all will be yours.”

⁸ And Jesus answered him,^[e] “It is written: Worship the Lord your God, and serve^[f] him only.”^(I)

⁹ So he took him to Jerusalem, had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰ For it is written:

¹² And Jesus answered him, “It is said: Do not test the Lord your God.”^[i](L)

¹³ After the devil had finished every temptation, he departed from him for a time.

Ministry in Galilee

¹⁴ Then Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit,^(M) and news about him spread throughout the entire vicinity.^{(N) 15} He was teaching in their synagogues,^(O) being praised^[j] by everyone.

Rejection at Nazareth

¹⁶ He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up.^(P) As usual, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath day^(Q) and stood up to read.^{(R) 17} The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written:

²⁰ He then rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.^(T) And the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fixed on him. ²¹ He began by saying to them, “Today as you listen, this Scripture has been fulfilled.”^(U)

²² They were all speaking well of him^[n] and were amazed by the gracious words that came from his mouth; yet they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” ^(V)

²³ Then he said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb^[o] to me: ‘Doctor, heal yourself. What we’ve heard that took place in Capernaum,^(W) do here in your hometown also.’”

²⁴ He also said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in his hometown.^{(X) 25} But I say to you, there were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days,^(Y) when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. ²⁶ Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon.^{(Z) 27} And in the prophet Elisha’s time, there were many in Israel who had leprosy,^[p] and yet not one of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”^(AA)

²⁸ When they heard this, everyone in the synagogue was enraged. ²⁹ They got up, drove him out of town,^(AB) and brought him to the edge of the hill that their town was built on, intending to hurl him over the cliff. ³⁰ But he passed right through the crowd and went on his way.^(AC)

Driving Out an Unclean Spirit

³¹ Then he went down to Capernaum,^(AD) a town in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. ³² They were astonished at his teaching because his message had authority.^{(AE) 33} In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice,^{(AF) 34} “Leave us alone! What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” ^(AG)

³⁵ But Jesus rebuked him^(AH) and said, “Be silent and come out of him!”^(AI) And throwing him down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all.

³⁶ Amazement came over them all, and they were saying to one another, “What is this message? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out!” ³⁷ And news about him began to go out to every place in the vicinity.

Healings at Capernaum

³⁸ After he left the synagogue, he entered Simon’s house.^(AJ) Simon’s mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him about her.^{(AK) 39} So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She got up immediately^(AL) and began to serve them.

⁴⁰ When the sun was setting, all those who had anyone sick with various diseases brought them to him. As he laid his hands on each one of them, he healed them.^{(AM) 41} Also, demons were coming out of many, shouting and saying, “You are the Son of God!” ^(AN) But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew he was the Messiah.^(AO)

⁴² When it was day, he went out and made his way to a deserted place.^(AP) But the crowds were searching for him. They came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. ⁴³ But he said to them, “It is necessary for me to proclaim the good news about the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because I was sent for this purpose.” ⁴⁴ And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.^[q](AQ)