¹² As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord^(A) saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.”

Jesus Heals Many^(A)

¹⁴ When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. ¹⁵ He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him.

¹⁶ When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick.^(B)

³¹ When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her,^(A) noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³² When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”^(B)

³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved^(C) in spirit and troubled.^{(D) 34} “Where have you laid him?” he asked.

“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵ Jesus wept.^(E)

²¹ Finally the opportune time came. On his birthday Herod gave a banquet^(A) for his high officials and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee.^{(B) 22} When the daughter of^[a] Herodias came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests.

The king said to the girl, “Ask me for anything you want, and I’ll give it to you.” ²³ And he promised her with an oath, “Whatever you ask I will give you, up to half my kingdom.”^(C)

²⁴ She went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?”

“The head of John the Baptist,” she answered.

²⁵ At once the girl hurried in to the king with the request: “I want you to give me right now the head of John the Baptist on a platter.”

²⁶ The king was greatly distressed, but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷ So he immediately sent an executioner with orders to bring John’s head. The man went, beheaded John in the prison, ²⁸ and brought back his head on a platter. He presented it to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ²⁹ On hearing of this, John’s disciples came and took his body and laid it in a tomb.

³⁸ When they came to the home of the synagogue leader,^(A) Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. ³⁹ He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.”^{(B) 40} But they laughed at him.

After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. ⁴¹ He took her by the hand^(C) and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means “Little girl, I say to you, get up!”).^{(D) 42} Immediately the girl stood up and began to walk around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. ⁴³ He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this,^(E) and told them to give her something to eat.

³⁰ That very night Belshazzar,^(A) king^(B) of the Babylonians,^[a] was slain,^(C)

The Writing on the Wall

5 King Belshazzar^(A) gave a great banquet^(B) for a thousand of his nobles^(C) and drank wine with them. ² While Belshazzar was drinking^(D) his wine, he gave orders to bring in the gold and silver goblets^(E) that Nebuchadnezzar his father^[a] had taken from the temple in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines^(F) might drink from them.^{(G) 3} So they brought in the gold goblets that had been taken from the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. ⁴ As they drank the wine, they praised the gods^(H) of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone.^(I)