God’s Fidelity Assured

30 “When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you^{(A) 2} and return to the Lord your God, and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, just as I am commanding you today,^{(B) 3} then the Lord your God will return you from your captivity and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you.^{(C) 4} Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world,^[a] from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you back.^{(D) 5} The Lord your God will bring you into the land that your ancestors possessed, and you will possess it; he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.

⁶ “Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, in order that you may live.^{(E) 7} The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies and on the adversaries who took advantage of you. ⁸ Then you shall again obey the Lord, observing all his commandments that I am commanding you today, ⁹ and the Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all your undertakings, in the fruit of your body, in the fruit of your livestock, and in the fruit of your soil. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, just as he delighted in prospering your ancestors,^{(F) 10} when you obey the Lord your God by observing his commandments and decrees that are written in this book of the law, because you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Paul Defends His Ministry

10 I myself, Paul, appeal to you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you but bold toward you when I am away!^(A)— ² I ask that when I am present I need not show boldness by daring to oppose those who think we are acting according to human standards.^{[a](B) 3} Indeed, we live as humans^[b] but do not wage war according to human standards,^{[c] 4} for the weapons of our warfare are not merely human,^[d] but they have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments^{(C) 5} and every proud obstacle raised up against the knowledge of God, and we take every thought captive to obey Christ.^{(D) 6} We are ready to punish every disobedience when your obedience is complete.^(E)

⁷ Look^[e] at what is before your eyes. If you are confident that you belong to Christ, remind yourself of this, that just as you belong to Christ, so also do we.^{(F) 8} Now, even if I boast a little too much of our authority, which the Lord gave for building you up and not for tearing you down, I will not be ashamed of it.^{(G) 9} I do not want to seem as though I am trying to frighten you with my letters. ¹⁰ For someone says,^[f] “His letters are weighty and strong, but his bodily presence is weak and his speech contemptible.”^{(H) 11} Let such a person understand that what we say by letter when absent we will also do when present.

¹² We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense.^{(I) 13} We, however, will not boast beyond limits but will keep within the field that God has assigned to us, to reach out even as far as you. ¹⁴ For we were not overstepping our limits when we reached you; we were the first to come all the way to you with the good news^[g] of Christ.^{(J) 15} We do not boast beyond limits, that is, in the labors of others, but our hope is that, as your faith increases, our field among you may be greatly enlarged, ¹⁶ so that we may proclaim the good news^[h] in lands beyond you, without boasting of work already done in someone else’s field. ¹⁷ “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”^{(K) 18} For it is not those who commend themselves that are approved but those whom the Lord commends.^(L)

A Third Time Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

³¹ Then he took the twelve aside and said to them, “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished.^{(A) 32} For he will be handed over to the gentiles, and he will be mocked and insulted and spat upon.^{(B) 33} After they have flogged him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise again.” ³⁴ But they understood nothing about all these things; in fact, what he said was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.^(C)

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar Near Jericho

³⁵ As he approached Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶ When he heard a crowd going by, he asked what was happening. ³⁷ They told him, “Jesus of Nazareth^[a] is passing by.” ³⁸ Then he shouted, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”^{(D) 39} Those who were in front sternly ordered him to be quiet, but he shouted even more loudly, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”^{(E) 40} Jesus stood still and ordered the man to be brought to him, and when he came near, he asked him, ⁴¹ “What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me see again.” ⁴² Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has saved you.”^{(F) 43} Immediately he regained his sight and followed him, glorifying God, and all the people, when they saw it, praised God.^(G)