¹⁶ Then the men set out from there, and they looked down toward Sodom. And Abraham went with them to set them on their way. ¹⁷ The Lord said, ^(A)“Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do, ¹⁸ seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be ^(B)blessed in him? ¹⁹ For I have ^(C)chosen^[a] him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” ²⁰ Then the Lord said, “Because ^(D)the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, ^21 (E)I will go down to see whether they have done altogether^[b] according to the outcry that has come to me. And if not, ^(F)I will know.”

Abraham Intercedes for Sodom

^22 (G)So the men turned from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham ^(H)still stood before the Lord. ²³ Then Abraham drew near and said, ^(I)“Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city. Will you then sweep away the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, ^(J)so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! ^(K)Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” ²⁶ And the Lord said, ^(L)“If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

²⁷ Abraham answered and said, ^(M)“Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose five of the fifty righteous are lacking. Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five?” And he said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ Again he spoke to him and said, “Suppose forty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of forty I will not do it.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak. Suppose thirty are found there.” He answered, “I will not do it, if I find thirty there.” ³¹ He said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord. Suppose twenty are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of twenty I will not destroy it.” ³² Then he said, ^(N)“Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak again but this once. Suppose ten are found there.” He answered, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” ³³ And the Lord went his way, when he had finished speaking to Abraham, and Abraham returned to his place.

Jacob Meets Esau

33 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(A)Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two female servants. ² And he put the servants with their children in front, then Leah with her children, and Rachel and Joseph last of all. ³ He himself went on before them, ^(B)bowing himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.

^4 (C)But Esau ran to meet him and embraced him ^(D)and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. ⁵ And when Esau lifted up his eyes and saw the women and children, he said, “Who are these with you?” Jacob said, ^(E)“The children whom God has graciously given your servant.” ⁶ Then the servants drew near, they and their children, and bowed down. ⁷ Leah likewise and her children drew near and bowed down. And last Joseph and Rachel drew near, and they bowed down. ⁸ Esau said, “What do you mean by ^(F)all this company^[a] that I met?” Jacob answered, ^(G)“To find favor in the sight of my lord.” ⁹ But Esau said, “I have enough, my brother; keep what you have for yourself.” ¹⁰ Jacob said, “No, please, if I have found favor in your sight, then accept my present from my hand. ^(H)For I have seen your face, which is like seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me. ¹¹ Please accept my ^(I)blessing that is brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough.” Thus he ^(J)urged him, and he took it.

¹² Then Esau said, “Let us journey on our way, and I will go ahead of^[b] you.” ¹³ But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail, and that the nursing flocks and herds are a care to me. If they are driven hard for one day, all the flocks will die. ¹⁴ Let my lord pass on ahead of his servant, and I will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at the pace of the children, until I come to my lord ^(K)in Seir.”

¹⁵ So Esau said, “Let me leave with you some of the people who are with me.” But he said, “What need is there? ^(L)Let me find favor in the sight of my lord.” ¹⁶ So Esau returned that day on his way to ^(M)Seir. ¹⁷ But Jacob journeyed to ^(N)Succoth, and built himself a house and made booths for his livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.^[c]

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ^(A)always to pray and not ^(B)lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who ^(C)neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ^(D)‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And ^(E)will not God give justice to ^(F)his elect, ^(G)who cry to him day and night? ^(H)(I)Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them ^(J)speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, ^(K)will he find faith on earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some ^(L)who trusted ^(M)in themselves that they were righteous, ^(N)and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men ^(O)went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, ^(P)standing by himself, prayed^{[a] (Q)}thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ^12 (R)I fast twice a week; ^(S)I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, ^(T)standing far off, ^(U)would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but ^(V)beat his breast, saying, ‘God, ^(W)be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For ^(X)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

¹⁸ For you have not come to ^(A)what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹ and ^(B)the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words ^(C)made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not endure the order that was given, ^(D)“If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” ²¹ Indeed, ^(E)so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” ²² But you have come to ^(F)Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, ^(G)the heavenly Jerusalem, and to ^(H)innumerable angels in festal gathering, ²³ and to ^(I)the assembly^[a] of the firstborn who are ^(J)enrolled in heaven, and to ^(K)God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, ^(L)the mediator of a new covenant, and to ^(M)the sprinkled blood ^(N)that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁵ See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For ^(O)if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. ²⁶ At that time ^(P)his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ^(Q)“Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” ²⁷ This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates ^(R)the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore let us be grateful for receiving ^(S)a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus ^(T)let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our ^(U)God is a consuming fire.