Moses Makes New Tablets

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke.^{(A) 2} Be ready in the morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.^{(B) 3} No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain, and do not let flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”^{(C) 4} So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. ⁵ The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name, “The Lord.”^{[a](D) 6} The Lord passed before him and proclaimed,

⁸ And Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped.^{(G) 9} He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, my Lord, I pray, let my Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”^(H)

The Covenant Renewed

¹⁰ He said, “I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been done^[c] in all the earth or in any nation, and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the Lord, for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.^(I)

³⁶ When Balak heard that Balaam had come, he went out to meet him at Ir-moab, on the boundary formed by the Arnon, at the farthest point of the boundary. ³⁷ Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not send to summon you? Why did you not come to me? Am I not able to honor you?”^{(A) 38} Balaam said to Balak, “I have come to you now, but do I have power to say just anything? The word God puts in my mouth, that is what I must say.”^{(B) 39} Then Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. ⁴⁰ Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep and sent them to Balaam and to the officials who were with him.

Balaam’s First Oracle

⁴¹ On the next day Balak took Balaam and brought him up to Bamoth-baal, and from there he could see part of the people of Israel.^[a](C) 23 ¹ Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build me seven altars here, and prepare seven bulls and seven rams for me.”^{(D) 2} Balak did as Balaam had said and offered^[b] a bull and a ram on each altar.^{(E) 3} Then Balaam said to Balak, “Stay here beside your burnt offerings while I go aside. Perhaps the Lord will come to meet me. Whatever he shows me I will tell you.” And he went to a bare height.^(F)

⁴ Then God met Balaam, and Balaam^[c] said to him, “I have arranged the seven altars and have offered a bull and a ram on each altar.”^{(G) 5} The Lord put a word in Balaam’s mouth and said, “Return to Balak, and this is what you must say.”^{(H) 6} So he returned to Balak,^[d] who was standing beside his burnt offerings with all the officials of Moab. ⁷ Then Balaam^[e] uttered his oracle, saying,

¹¹ Then Balak said to Balaam, “What have you done to me? I brought you to curse my enemies, but now you have done nothing but bless them.”^{(M) 12} He answered, “Must I not take care to say what the Lord puts into my mouth?”^(N)

Suffering for Doing Right

⁸ Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind.^{(A) 9} Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse, but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing.^{(B) 10} For

¹³ Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? ¹⁴ But even if you do suffer for doing what is right,^[a] you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear,^[b] and do not be intimidated,^{(C) 15} but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you,^{(D) 16} yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned,^[c] those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.^{(E) 17} For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. ¹⁸ For Christ also suffered^[d] for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you^[e] to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,^{(F) 19} in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, ²⁰ who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight lives, were saved through water.^{(G) 21} And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for^[f] a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,^{(H) 22} who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.^(I)

The Death of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.^{(A) 2} Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.^{(B) 3} So the sisters sent a message to Jesus,^[a] “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather, it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”^{(C) 5} Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶ after having heard that Lazarus^[b] was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.

⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”^{(D) 8} The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?”^{(E) 9} Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰ But those who walk at night stumble because the light is not in them.” ¹¹ After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.”^{[c] 13} Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶ Thomas, who was called the Twin,^[d] said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Jesus the Resurrection and the Life

¹⁷ When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus^[e] had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸ Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother.^{(F) 20} When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.”^{(G) 23} Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”^{(H) 25} Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life.^[f] Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,^{(I) 26} and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah,^[g] the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”^(J)

Jesus Weeps

²⁸ When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come to the village but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹ The Jews who were with her in the house consoling her saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”^{(K) 33} When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴ He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus began to weep.^{(L) 36} So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”^(M)

Jesus Raises Lazarus to Life

³⁸ Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.^{(N) 39} Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”^{(O) 40} Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”^{(P) 41} So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me.^{(Q) 42} I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.”^{(R) 43} When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”^(S)