Prophecy about Gog and Future Invasion of Israel

38 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, set your face toward ^(A)Gog of the land of ^(B)Magog, the ^(C)chief prince of ^(D)Meshech and ^(E)Tubal, and prophesy against him, ³ and say, ‘This is what the Lord ^[a]God says: “Behold, I am against you, Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. ⁴ So I will turn you around and put hooks into your jaws, and I will ^(F)bring you out, and all your army, ^(G)horses and horsemen, all of them magnificently dressed, a great contingent with shield and ^[b]buckler, all of them wielding swords; ^5 (H)Persia, ^[c](I)Cush, and ^(J)Put with them, all of them with buckler and helmet; ^6 (K)Gomer with all its troops; ^(L)Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many peoples with you.

⁷ “^(M)Be ready, and be prepared, you and all your contingents that are assembled around you, and be a guard for them. ^8 (N)After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come into the land that is restored from the sword, whose inhabitants have been ^(O)gathered from many ^[d]nations to the ^(P)mountains of Israel which had been a continual place of ruins; but ^[e]its people were brought out from the ^[f]nations, and they are ^(Q)living securely, all of them. ⁹ And you will go up, you will come ^(R)like a storm; you will be like a ^(S)cloud covering the land, you and all your troops, and many peoples with you.”

¹⁰ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “It will come about on that day, that ^[g]thoughts will come into your mind and you will ^(T)devise an evil plan, ¹¹ and you will say, ‘I will go up against the land of ^[h](U)unwalled villages. I will go against those who are ^(V)at rest, who live securely, all of them living without walls and having no bars or gates, ¹² to ^(W)capture spoils and to seize plunder, to turn your hand against the ruins that are now inhabited, and against the people who are gathered from the nations, who have acquired livestock and goods, who live at the ^[i]center of the world.’ ^13 (X)Sheba and ^(Y)Dedan and the merchants of ^(Z)Tarshish with all its ^[j]villages will say to you, ‘Have you come to capture spoils? Have you assembled your contingent to seize plunder, to carry away silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods, to capture great ^(AA)spoils?’”’

¹⁴ “Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “On that day when My people Israel are ^(AB)living securely, will you not know it? ^15 (AC)You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding horses, a large assembly and a mighty army; ¹⁶ and you will come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may ^(AD)know Me when I ^(AE)show Myself holy through you before their eyes, Gog.”

¹⁷ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who ^(AF)prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? ¹⁸ It will come about on that day, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” declares the Lord God, “that My fury will mount up in My ^(AG)anger. ¹⁹ In My ^(AH)zeal and in My blazing wrath I declare that on that day there will certainly be a great ^[k](AI)earthquake in the land of Israel. ^20 (AJ)The fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, all the crawling things that crawl on the earth, and all mankind who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; and the ^(AK)mountains will be thrown down, the steep pathways will ^[l]collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground. ²¹ And I will call for a ^(AL)sword against ^[m]him on all My mountains,” declares the Lord God. “^(AM)Every man’s sword will be against his brother. ²² With plague and with blood I will enter into ^(AN)judgment with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, ^[n]a torrential rain, ^(AO)hailstones, fire, and brimstone. ²³ So I will prove Myself great, show Myself holy, and ^(AP)make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.”’

Jesus Heals a Centurion’s Slave

7 ^(A)When He had completed all His ^[a]teaching in the hearing of the people, ^(B)He went to Capernaum.

² Now a centurion’s slave, who was highly regarded by him, was sick and about to die. ³ When he heard about Jesus, ^(C)he sent some ^[b]Jewish elders to Him, asking Him to come and save the life of his slave. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they strongly urged Him, saying, “He is worthy for You to grant this to him; ⁵ for he loves our nation, and it was he who built us our synagogue.” ⁶ Now Jesus started on His way with them; but already, when He was not yet far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to Him, “^[c]Lord, do not trouble Yourself further, for I am not worthy for You to enter under my roof; ⁷ for that reason I did not even consider myself worthy to come to You; but just ^[d]say the word, and my servant ^[e]shall be healed. ⁸ For I also am a man placed under authority, with soldiers under myself; and I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.” ⁹ Now when Jesus heard this, He was amazed at him, and turned and said to the crowd that was following Him, “I say to you, ^(D)not even in Israel have I found such great faith.” ¹⁰ And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the slave in good health.

¹¹ Soon afterward Jesus went to a city called Nain; and His disciples were going along with Him, ^[f]accompanied by a large crowd. ¹² Now as He approached the gate of the city, ^[g]a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow; and a sizeable crowd from the city was with her. ¹³ When ^(E)the Lord saw her, He felt compassion for her and said to her, “Do not go on weeping.” ¹⁴ And He came up and touched the coffin; and the bearers came to a halt. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” ¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother. ^16 (F)Fear gripped them all, and they began ^(G)glorifying God, saying, “A great ^(H)prophet has appeared among us!” and, “God has ^[h]visited His people!” ^17 (I)And this report about Him spread throughout Judea and in all the surrounding region.

The Messengers from John

^18 (J)The disciples of John also reported to him about all these things. ¹⁹ And after summoning ^[i]two of his disciples, John sent them to ^(K)the Lord, saying, “Are You the Coming One, or are we to ^[j]look for another?” ²⁰ When the men came to Him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to You, ^[k]to ask, ‘Are You the Coming One, or are we to ^[l]look for another?’” ²¹ At that very ^[m]time He ^(L)cured many people of diseases and ^(M)afflictions and evil spirits; and He gave sight to many who were blind. ²² And He answered and said to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: people who were ^(N)blind receive sight, people who limped walk, people with leprosy are cleansed and people who were deaf hear, dead people are raised up, and ^(O)people who are poor have the gospel preached to them. ²³ And blessed is ^[n]anyone who does not take offense at Me.”

²⁴ When the messengers of John had left, He began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the ^[o]wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ^25 [p]But what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Those who are splendidly clothed and live in luxury are found in royal palaces! ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and one who is more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written:

²⁸ I say to you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is ^[r]least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged ^(Q)God’s justice, ^(R)having been baptized with ^(S)the baptism of John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the ^[s](T)lawyers rejected God’s purpose for themselves, not having been baptized by ^[t]John.

³¹ “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children who sit in the marketplace and call to one another, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did not weep.’ ³³ For John the Baptist has come neither ^(U)eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a ^[u]heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and ^[v]sinners!’ ³⁵ And yet wisdom ^(V)is vindicated by all her children.”

The Anointing in Galilee

³⁶ Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to eat with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ^37 (W)And there was a woman in the city who was a ^[w]sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, ³⁸ and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head, and began kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were ^(X)a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a ^[x]sinner!”

Parable of Two Debtors

⁴⁰ And Jesus responded and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” And he ^[y]replied, “Say it, Teacher.” ⁴¹ “A moneylender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred ^[z](Y)denarii, and the other, fifty. ⁴² When they ^(Z)were unable to repay, he canceled the debts of both. So which of them will love him more?” ⁴³ Simon answered and said, “I assume the one for whom he canceled the greater debt.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴ And turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you ^(AA)gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You ^[aa](AB)gave Me no kiss; but she has not stopped kissing My feet since the time I came in. ^46 (AC)You did not ^[ab]anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ And He said to her, “^(AD)Your sins have been forgiven.” ⁴⁹ And then those who were reclining at the table with Him began saying ^[ac]to themselves, “^(AE)Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ⁵⁰ And He said to the woman, “^(AF)Your faith has saved you; ^(AG)go in peace.”

An Evening Prayer for Sanctification and Protection.

A Psalm of David.