Israel’s History after the Exodus

1 These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel ^(A)across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the ^(B)Arabah opposite ^[a]Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. ² It is eleven days’ journey from ^(C)Horeb by way of Mount ^(D)Seir to ^(E)Kadesh-barnea. ³ In the ^(F)fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, ^(G)in accordance with everything that the Lord had commanded him to declare to them, ⁴ after he had ^[b](H)defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and ^(I)Og the king of Bashan, who lived in ^(J)Ashtaroth ^[c]and in Edrei. ⁵ Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses began to explain this Law, saying,

⁶ “The Lord our God ^(K)spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain. ⁷ Turn and set out on your journey, and go to ^(L)the hill country of the Amorites, and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country, in the lowland, in ^(M)the ^[d]Negev, by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. ⁸ See, I have placed the land before you; go in and take possession of the land which the Lord ^(N)swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and their ^[e]descendants after them.’

⁹ “And I spoke to you at that time, saying, ‘^(O)I am not able to endure you alone. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has ^(P)multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your fathers increase you a thousand times more than you are, and bless you, ^(Q)just as He has ^[f]promised you! ¹² How can I alone endure the burden and weight of you and your strife? ^13 (R)Obtain for yourselves men who are wise, discerning, and informed from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.’ ¹⁴ And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have said to do is good.’ ¹⁵ So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and informed men, and ^[g]appointed them as heads over you, commanders of thousands, ^[h]hundreds, ^[i]fifties, and ^[j]tens, and officers for your tribes.

¹⁶ “Then I ordered your judges at that time, saying, ‘Hear the cases between your fellow countrymen and ^(S)judge righteously between a person and his fellow countryman, or the stranger who is with him. ^17 (T)You are not to ^[k]show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike. You are ^(U)not to be afraid of any person, for the judgment is God’s. ^(V)The case that is too difficult for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.’ ¹⁸ At that time ^(W)I commanded you all the things that you were to do.

¹⁹ “Then we set out from ^(X)Horeb, and went through all that ^(Y)great and terrible wilderness that you saw on the way to the ^(Z)hill country of the Amorites, just as the Lord our God had commanded us; and we came to ^(AA)Kadesh-barnea. ²⁰ And I said to you, ‘You have come to the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is about to give us. ²¹ See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. ^(AB)Do not fear or be dismayed.’

²² “^(AC)Then all of you approached me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead of us, so that they may spy out the land for us, and bring back to us word of the way by which we should go up, and the cities which we should enter.’ ²³ The ^[l]plan pleased me, and I took twelve of your men, one man for each tribe. ²⁴ Then ^(AD)they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol, and spied it out. ²⁵ And they took some of the fruit of the land in their hands and brought it down to us. They also brought us back a report and said, ‘The land that the Lord our God is about to give us is good.’

²⁶ “^(AE)Yet you were unwilling to go up; instead you ^(AF)rebelled against the ^[m]command of the Lord your God; ²⁷ and ^(AG)you grumbled in your tents and said, ‘Because the Lord hates us, He has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to hand us over to the Amorites to destroy us. ²⁸ Where can we go up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, by saying, “The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we saw ^(AH)the sons of the Anakim there.”’ ²⁹ But I said to you, ‘Do not be terrified, nor fear them. ³⁰ The Lord your God, who goes before you, will ^(AI)Himself fight for you, ^[n]just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, ³¹ and in the wilderness where you saw how ^(AJ)the Lord your God carried you, just as a man carries his son, on all of the road which you have walked until you came to this place.’ ³² Yet ^[o](AK)in spite of all this, you did not trust the Lord your God, ^33 (AL)who goes before you on your way, ^(AM)to seek out a place for you to make camp, in the fire by night to show you the way by which you should go, and in the cloud by day.

³⁴ “Then the Lord heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and ^(AN)swore an oath, saying, ³⁵ ‘^(AO)Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers, ³⁶ except Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and ^(AP)to him I will give the land on which he has set foot, and to his sons, because he has followed the Lord fully.’ ^37 (AQ)The Lord was angry with me also on your account, saying, ‘^(AR)Not even you shall enter there. ³⁸ Joshua the son of Nun, who stands before you, ^(AS)shall himself enter there; encourage him, for ^(AT)he will give it to Israel as an inheritance. ³⁹ Moreover, ^(AU)your little ones who, you said, would become plunder, and your sons, who this day have ^(AV)no knowledge of good and evil, shall enter there, and I will give it to them and they shall take possession of it. ⁴⁰ But as for you, ^(AW)turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way of the ^[p]Red Sea.’

⁴¹ “^(AX)Then you replied to me, ‘We have sinned against the Lord; we ourselves will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us.’ And every man of you strapped on his weapons of war, and you viewed it as easy to go up into the hill country. ^42 (AY)But the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, “Do not go up nor fight, for I am not among you; otherwise you will be ^[q]defeated ^[r]by your enemies.”’ ⁴³ So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead, ^(AZ)you rebelled against the ^[s]command of the Lord, and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. ^44 (BA)And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out against you and chased you ^(BB)as bees do, and they scattered you from Seir to Hormah. ⁴⁵ Then you returned and wept before the Lord; but the ^(BC)Lord did not listen to your voice, nor pay attention to you. ⁴⁶ So you remained at ^(BD)Kadesh for many days, ^[t]the days that you spent there.

Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 “^(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the ^[a]Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled ^(B)Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ³ ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, ^4 (C)and command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the ^(D)territory of your brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and ^(E)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; ⁵ do not ^[b]provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a ^[c]footprint, ^(F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You are to buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all ^[d]that you have done; He has known your ^[e]wandering through this ^(G)great wilderness. These ^(H)forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’

⁸ “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the ^(I)Arabah road, away from Elath and ^(J)Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of ^[f]their land as a possession, because I have given ^(K)Ar to ^(L)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ¹⁰ (The ^(M)Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as ^(N)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (O)The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before ^[g]them, and settled in their place; ^(P)just as Israel did to the land of ^[h]their possession which the Lord gave them.) ¹³ ‘Now arise and cross over the ^[i]Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the ^[j]Wadi Zered. ¹⁴ Now the ^[k]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^[l]Wadi Zered was ^(Q)thirty-eight years, until ^(R)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as ^(S)the Lord had sworn to them. ^15 (T)Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

¹⁶ “So it came about, when ^(U)all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸ ‘Today you shall cross over ^(V)Ar, the border of Moab. ¹⁹ When you come opposite the ^(W)sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(X)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ²⁰ (It is also regarded as the land of the ^(Y)Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, ²¹ a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before ^[m]them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, ²² just as He did for the sons of Esau, who ^(Z)live in Seir, when He destroyed ^(AA)the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day. ²³ And as for the ^(AB)Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the ^[n](AC)Caphtorim, who came from ^[o](AD)Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) ²⁴ ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the ^[p](AE)Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put ^(AF)the dread and fear of you upon the faces of ^[q]people everywhere, ^[r]who, when they hear the news of you, ^(AG)will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

²⁶ “^(AH)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land; I will ^[s]travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, ^(AI)only let me pass through on ^[t]foot, ²⁹ just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in ^(AJ)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But ^(AK)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^[u]through his land; for the ^(AL)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. ³¹ And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over ^[v]to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’

³² “Then Sihon came out ^[w]with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ And ^(AM)the Lord our God turned him over ^[x]to us, and we ^[y](AN)defeated him with his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured all his cities at that time and ^[z](AO)utterly destroyed ^[aa]the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took ^(AP)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured. ³⁶ From ^(AQ)Aroer which is on the edge of the ^[ab]Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the ^[ac]valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too ^[ad]high for us; the Lord our God turned it all over ^[ae]to us. ^37 (AR)Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the ^[af]river ^(AS)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us to avoid.

Conquests Recounted

3 “^(A)Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out ^[a]with all his people to meet us in battle at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him and all his people and his land over to you; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’ ³ So the Lord our God also handed over to us Og, king of Bashan, with all his people, and we struck ^[b]them until no survivor was ^[c]left. ⁴ We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of ^(B)Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many ^[d]unwalled towns. ⁶ We ^[e]utterly destroyed them, as we did to ^(C)Sihon king of Heshbon, ^[f](D)utterly destroying ^[g]the men, women, and children of every city. ^7 (E)But all the animals and the spoils of the cities we took as our plunder.

⁸ “^(F)So at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the ^[h]Valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹ (Sidonians ^(G)call Hermon ^(H)Sirion, and the Amorites call it ^(I)Senir): ¹⁰ all the cities of the plateau, all Gilead, and ^(J)all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the ^(K)Rephaim. Behold, his ^[i]bed was a ^[j]bed of iron; it is in ^(L)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits, and its width four cubits by ^[k]the usual cubit.)

¹² “So we took possession of this land at that time. From ^(M)Aroer, which is by the ^[l]Valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of ^(N)Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. ¹³ The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob. (As to all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim. ^14 (O)Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, that is, Bashan, and named ^[m]it after his own name: ^[n]Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) ^15 (P)To Machir I gave Gilead. ¹⁶ To the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the ^[o]Valley of Arnon, the middle of the ^[p]valley ^[q]as a border, and as far as the ^[r]river ^(Q)Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; ¹⁷ the Arabah also, with the Jordan ^[s]as a border, from ^[t](R)Chinnereth ^(S)even as far as the sea of the Arabah, ^(T)the Salt Sea, ^[u]at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ “Then I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘^(U)The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it; ^(V)all you ^[v]valiant men shall cross over armed ahead of your brothers, the sons of Israel. ^19 (W)However, your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have ^(X)much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you, ^20 (Y)until the Lord gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. ^(Z)Then you may return, each man to his possession which I have given you.’ ²¹ And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; the Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. ²² Do not fear them, for the Lord your God ^(AA)is the One fighting for you.’

²³ “I also pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ²⁴ ‘Lord ^[w]God, You have begun to show Your servant ^(AB)Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what ^(AC)god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? ²⁵ Please let me cross over and see the ^(AD)good land that is beyond the Jordan, ^[x]that good hill country, and Lebanon.’ ²⁶ But ^(AE)the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; instead, the Lord said to me, ‘^[y]Enough! Do not speak to Me any more about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of ^(AF)Pisgah and raise your eyes to the west, the north, the south, and the east, and see it with your eyes; ^(AG)for you shall not cross over this Jordan. ^28 (AH)But commission Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, ^(AI)for he shall go across ^[z]leading this people, and he will give to them, as an inheritance, the land which you will see.’ ²⁹ So we remained in the valley opposite ^(AJ)Beth-peor.

The First Disciples

5 ^(A)Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by ^(B)the lake of Gennesaret; ² and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. ³ And ^(C)He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little distance from the land. And He sat down and continued teaching the crowds from the boat. ⁴ Now when He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and ^(D)let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵ Simon responded and said, “^(E)Master, ^(F)we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but ^[a]I will do as You say and let down the nets.” ⁶ And when they had done this, ^(G)they caught a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to tear; ⁷ so they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, to the point that they were sinking. ⁸ But when Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹ For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; ¹⁰ and likewise also were ^[b]James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “^(H)Do not fear; from now on you will be ^(I)catching people.” ¹¹ When they had brought their boats to land, ^(J)they left everything and followed Him.

A Man with Leprosy Healed

^12 (K)While He was in one of the cities, behold, there was a man ^[c]covered with leprosy; and when he saw Jesus, he fell on his face and begged Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” ¹³ And He reached out with His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately the leprosy left him. ¹⁴ And He ordered him to tell no one, saying, “But go and ^(L)show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, just as Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” ¹⁵ But ^(M)the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. ¹⁶ But Jesus Himself would often slip away ^[d]to the ^[e]wilderness and ^(N)pray.

A Man Lowered Through a Roof

^17 [f]One day He was teaching, and ^(O)there were some Pharisees and ^(P)teachers of the Law sitting there who had ^(Q)come from every village of Galilee and Judea, and from Jerusalem; and ^(R)the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. ^18 (S)And some men were carrying a man on a stretcher who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. ¹⁹ But when they did not find any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on ^(T)the roof and let him down ^(U)through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. ²⁰ And seeing their faith, He said, “^[g]Friend, ^(V)your sins are forgiven you.” ²¹ The scribes and the Pharisees ^(W)began thinking of the implications, saying, “^(X)Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? ^(Y)Who can forgive sins, except God alone?” ²² But Jesus, ^[h]aware of their thoughts, responded and said to them, “Why are you thinking this way in your hearts? ²³ Which is easier, to say: ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the ^(Z)man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher, and go home.” ²⁵ And immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home ^(AA)glorifying God. ²⁶ And ^[i]they were all struck with astonishment and began ^(AB)glorifying God. They were also filled ^(AC)with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today!”

Call of Levi (Matthew)

^27 (AD)After that He went out and looked at a tax collector named ^[j](AE)Levi sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” ²⁸ And he ^(AF)left everything behind, and got up and began following Him.

²⁹ And ^(AG)Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a large crowd of ^(AH)tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. ^30 (AI)The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling to His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and ^[k]sinners?” ³¹ And Jesus answered and said to them, “^(AJ)It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. ³² I have not come to call the righteous to repentance, but sinners.”

³³ And they said to Him, “^(AK)The disciples of John often fast and offer prayers, the disciples of the Pharisees also do ^[l]the same, but Yours eat and drink.” ³⁴ And Jesus said to them, “You cannot make the ^[m]attendants of the groom fast while the groom is with them, can you? ^35 (AL)But the days will come; and when the groom is taken away from them, then they will fast in those days.” ³⁶ And He was also telling them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and puts it on an old garment; otherwise he will both tear the new, and the patch from the new garment will not match the old. ³⁷ And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the new wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. ³⁹ And no one, after drinking old wine wants new; for he says, ‘The old is fine.’”

Wickedness of Humanity and Goodness of God.

For the music director. A Psalm of David the servant of the Lord.