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.

The Crown of Thorns

19 So Pilate then took Jesus and ^[a](A)had Him flogged. ^2 (B)And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and placed it on His head, and put a purple ^[b]cloak on Him; ³ and they repeatedly came up to Him and said, “^(C)Hail, King of the Jews!” and ^(D)slapped Him in the face again and again. ⁴ And then Pilate ^(E)came out again and *said to them, “See, I am bringing Him out to you so that you will know that ^(F)I find no grounds at all for charges in ^[c]His case.” ⁵ Jesus then came out, ^(G)wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate *said to them, “Behold, the Man!” ⁶ So when the chief priests and the ^(H)officers saw Him, they shouted, saying, “Crucify, crucify!” Pilate *said to them, “Take Him yourselves and crucify Him; for ^(I)I find no grounds for charges in ^[d]His case!” ⁷ The Jews answered him, “^(J)We have a law, and by that law He ought to die, because He ^(K)made Himself out to be the Son of God!”

⁸ Therefore when Pilate heard this statement, he was even more afraid; ⁹ and he ^(L)entered the ^[e]Praetorium again and *said to Jesus, “Where are You from?” But ^(M)Jesus gave him no answer. ¹⁰ So Pilate *said to Him, “Are you not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have authority to release You, and I have authority to crucify You?” ¹¹ Jesus answered him, “^(N)You would have no authority ^[f]over Me at all, if it had not been given to you from above; for this reason ^(O)the one who handed Me over to you has the greater sin.” ¹² As a result of this, Pilate ^[g]made efforts to release Him; but the Jews shouted, saying, “^(P)If you release this Man, you are not a friend of Caesar; everyone who makes himself out to be a king ^[h]opposes Caesar!”

¹³ Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and ^(Q)sat down on the judgment seat at a place called ^[i]The Pavement—but ^(R)in ^[j]Hebrew, Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was ^(S)the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the ^[k](T)sixth hour. And he *said to the Jews, “Look, ^(U)your King!” ¹⁵ So they shouted, “^(V)Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate *said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king except Caesar.”

The Crucifixion

¹⁶ So he then ^(W)handed Him over to them to be crucified.

^17 (X)They took Jesus, therefore, and He went out, ^[l](Y)carrying His own cross, to the place called ^(Z)the Place of a Skull, which ^(AA)in ^[m]Hebrew is called, Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they crucified Him, and with Him ^(AB)two other men, one on either side, and Jesus in between. ¹⁹ Now Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It was written: “^(AC)JESUS THE NAZARENE, ^(AD)THE KING OF THE JEWS.” ²⁰ Therefore many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written ^(AE)in ^[n]Hebrew, Latin, and in Greek. ²¹ So the chief priests of the Jews were saying to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘^(AF)The King of the Jews’; rather, write that He said, ‘I am ^(AG)King of the Jews.’” ²² Pilate answered, “^(AH)What I have written, I have written.”

²³ Then ^(AI)the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took His outer garments and made ^(AJ)four parts: a part to each soldier, and the ^[o]tunic also; but the tunic was seamless, woven ^[p]in one piece. ²⁴ So they said to one another, “^(AK)Let’s not tear it, but cast lots for it, to decide whose it shall be.” ^(AL)This happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “They ^(AM)divided My garments among themselves, and they cast ^[q]lots for My clothing.” Therefore the soldiers did these things.

^25 (AN)Now beside the cross of Jesus stood ^(AO)His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and ^(AP)Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ So when Jesus saw His mother, and ^(AQ)the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He *said to His mother, “^(AR)Woman, behold, your son!” ²⁷ Then He *said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her into ^(AS)his own household.

²⁸ After this, Jesus, ^(AT)knowing that all things had already been accomplished, ^(AU)in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, *said, “^(AV)I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar full of sour wine was standing there; so ^(AW)they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a branch of hyssop and brought it up to His mouth. ³⁰ Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “^(AX)It is finished!” And He bowed His head and ^(AY)gave up His spirit.

Care of the Body of Jesus

³¹ Now then, since it was ^(AZ)the day of preparation, to prevent ^(BA)the bodies from remaining on the cross on the Sabbath (^[r]for that Sabbath was a ^(BB)high day), the Jews requested of Pilate that their legs be broken, and the bodies be taken away. ³² So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other who was ^(BC)crucified with Him; ³³ but after they came to Jesus, when they saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴ Yet one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately ^(BD)blood and water came out. ³⁵ And he who has seen has ^(BE)testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you also may believe. ³⁶ For these things took place ^(BF)so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “^(BG)Not a bone of Him shall be ^[s]broken.” ³⁷ And again another Scripture says, “^(BH)They will look at Him whom they pierced.”

³⁸ Now ^(BI)after these things Joseph of Arimathea, being a disciple of Jesus, but a ^(BJ)secret one for ^(BK)fear of the ^[t]Jews, requested of Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus; and Pilate granted permission. So he came and took away His body. ^39 (BL)Nicodemus, who had first come to Him by night, also came, ^(BM)bringing a ^[u]mixture of ^(BN)myrrh and aloes, about a ^[v](BO)hundred litras weight. ⁴⁰ So they took the body of Jesus and ^(BP)bound it in ^(BQ)linen wrappings with the spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. ⁴¹ Now in the place where He was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden was a ^(BR)new tomb ^(BS)in which no one had yet been laid. ⁴² Therefore because of the Jewish day of ^(BT)preparation, since the tomb was ^(BU)nearby, they laid Jesus there.