Moses Makes New Tablets^(A)

34 And the Lord said to Moses, ^(B)“Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and ^(C)I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke. ² So be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there ^(D)on the top of the mountain. ³ And no man shall ^(E)come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither flocks nor herds feed before that mountain.”

⁴ So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

⁵ Now the Lord descended in the ^(F)cloud and stood with him there, and ^(G)proclaimed the name of the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord ^(H)God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in ^(I)goodness and ^(J)truth, ^7 (K)keeping mercy for thousands, ^(L)forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, ^(M)by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation.”

⁸ So Moses made haste and ^(N)bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. ⁹ Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, ^(O)let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a ^(P)stiff-necked^[a] people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as ^(Q)Your inheritance.”

The Covenant Renewed^(R)

¹⁰ And He said: “Behold, ^(S)I make a covenant. Before all your people I will ^(T)do ^[b]marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is ^(U)an awesome thing that I will do with you.

³⁶ Now when Balak heard that Balaam was coming, ^(A)he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, ^(B)which is on the border at the Arnon, the boundary of the territory. ³⁷ Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not earnestly send to you, calling for you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able ^(C)to honor you?”

³⁸ And Balaam said to Balak, “Look, I have come to you! Now, have I any power at all to say anything? ^(D)The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak.” ³⁹ So Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kirjath Huzoth. ⁴⁰ Then Balak offered oxen and sheep, and he sent some to Balaam and to the princes who were with him.

Balaam’s First Prophecy

⁴¹ So it was, the next day, that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the ^(E)high places of Baal, that from there he might observe ^[a]the extent of the people.

The Prophecies of Balaam

23 Then Balaam said to Balak, ^(F)“Build seven altars for me here, and prepare for me here seven bulls and seven rams.”

² And Balak did just as Balaam had spoken, and Balak and Balaam ^(G)offered a bull and a ram on each altar. ³ Then Balaam said to Balak, ^(H)“Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go; perhaps the Lord will come ^(I)to meet me, and whatever He shows me I will tell you.” So he went to a desolate height. ^4 (J)And God met Balaam, and he said to Him, “I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered on each altar a bull and a ram.”

⁵ Then the Lord ^(K)put a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, “Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak.” ⁶ So he returned to him, and there he was, standing by his burnt offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

⁷ And he ^(L)took up his ^[b]oracle and said:

¹¹ Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? ^(T)I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!”

¹² So he answered and said, ^(U)“Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?”

Called to Blessing

⁸ Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be ^[a]courteous; ^9 (A)not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary ^(B)blessing, knowing that you were called to this, ^(C)that you may inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For

Suffering for Right and Wrong

^13 (I)And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? ^14 (J)But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. ^(K)“And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” ¹⁵ But ^[c]sanctify ^[d]the Lord God in your hearts, and always ^(L)be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the ^(M)hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; ^16 (N)having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. ¹⁷ For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.

Christ’s Suffering and Ours

¹⁸ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring ^[e]us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, ¹⁹ by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ who formerly were disobedient, ^[f]when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water. ^21 (O)There is also an antitype which now saves us—baptism ^(P)(not the removal of the filth of the flesh, ^(Q)but the answer of a good conscience toward God), through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, ²² who has gone into heaven and ^(R)is at the right hand of God, ^(S)angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him.

The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of ^(A)Mary and her sister Martha. ^2 (B)It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³ Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”

⁴ When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶ So, when He heard that he was sick, ^(C)He stayed two more days in the place where He was. ⁷ Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

⁸ The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to ^(D)stone You, and are You going there again?”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? ^(E)If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the ^(F)light of this world. ¹⁰ But ^(G)if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” ¹¹ These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus ^(H)sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.”

¹² Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” ¹³ However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep.

¹⁴ Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

¹⁶ Then ^(I)Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about ^[a]two miles away. ¹⁹ And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.

²⁰ Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. ²¹ Now Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that ^(J)whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴ Martha said to Him, ^(K)“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am ^(L)the resurrection and the life. ^(M)He who believes in Me, though he may ^(N)die, he shall live. ²⁶ And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷ She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, ^(O)I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Jesus and Death, the Last Enemy

²⁸ And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is calling for you.” ²⁹ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to Him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but ^[b]was in the place where Martha met Him. ^31 (P)Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, ^[c]saying, “She is going to the tomb to weep there.”

³² Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw Him, she ^(Q)fell down at His feet, saying to Him, ^(R)“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³ Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. ³⁴ And He said, “Where have you laid him?”

They said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”

^35 (S)Jesus wept. ³⁶ Then the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”

³⁷ And some of them said, “Could not this Man, ^(T)who opened the eyes of the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”

Lazarus Raised from the Dead

³⁸ Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a ^(U)stone lay against it. ³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”

Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would ^(V)see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ Then they took away the stone ^[d]from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² And I know that You always hear Me, but ^(W)because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me.” ⁴³ Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” ⁴⁴ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with ^(X)graveclothes, and ^(Y)his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”