Miraculous Signs for Pharaoh

4 Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’ ”

² So the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

He said, “A rod.”

³ And He said, “Cast it on the ground.” So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail” (and he reached out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand), ⁵ “that they may ^(A)believe that the ^(B)Lord God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶ Furthermore the Lord said to him, “Now put your hand in your bosom.” And he put his hand in his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, ^(C)like snow. ⁷ And He said, “Put your hand in your bosom again.” So he put his hand in his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, ^(D)it was restored like his other flesh. ⁸ “Then it will be, if they do not believe you, nor heed the message of the ^(E)first sign, that they may believe the message of the latter sign. ⁹ And it shall be, if they do not believe even these two signs, or listen to your voice, that you shall take water from ^[a]the river and pour it on the dry land. ^(F)The water which you take from the river will become blood on the dry land.”

¹⁰ Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but ^(G)I am slow of speech and ^[b]slow of tongue.”

¹¹ So the Lord said to him, ^(H)“Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? ¹² Now therefore, go, and I will be ^(I)with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

¹³ But he said, “O my Lord, ^(J)please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.”

¹⁴ So ^(K)the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and He said: “Is not Aaron the Levite your ^(L)brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, ^(M)he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. ¹⁵ Now ^(N)you shall speak to him and ^(O)put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and ^(P)I will teach you what you shall do. ¹⁶ So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and ^(Q)you shall be to him as God. ¹⁷ And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.”

Solomon Prepares to Build the Temple^(A)

5 Now ^(B)Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, because he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, ^(C)for Hiram had always loved David. ² Then ^(D)Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

⁷ So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said,

⁸ Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying:

¹⁰ Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire. ^11 (M)And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand ^[e]kors of wheat as food for his household, and ^[f]twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year.

¹² So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, ^(N)as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together.

Peter’s Approaching Death

¹² For this reason ^(A)I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, ^(B)though you know and are established in the present truth. ¹³ Yes, I think it is right, ^(C)as long as I am in this ^[a]tent, ^(D)to stir you up by reminding you, ^14 (E)knowing that shortly I must ^[b]put off my tent, just as ^(F)our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. ¹⁵ Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my ^[c]decease.

The Trustworthy Prophetic Word^(G)

¹⁶ For we did not follow ^(H)cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the ^(I)power and ^(J)coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were ^(K)eyewitnesses of His majesty. ¹⁷ For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ^(L)“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on ^(M)the holy mountain.

^19 [d]And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a ^(N)light that shines in a dark place, ^(O)until ^(P)the day dawns and the morning star rises in your ^(Q)hearts; ²⁰ knowing this first, that ^(R)no prophecy of Scripture is of any private ^[e]interpretation, ²¹ for ^(S)prophecy never came by the will of man, ^(T)but ^[f]holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.