Jacob Blesses His Sons

49 ^(A)Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you ^(B)in days to come.

Jacob's Death and Burial

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. ²⁹ Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be ^(AS)gathered to my people; ^(AT)bury me with my fathers ^(AU)in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, ^(AV)which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. ^31 (AW)There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There ^(AX)they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— ³² the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.”

Jesus Is Mocked

^27 (A)Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the ^(B)governor's headquarters,^[a] and they gathered the whole ^(C)battalion^[b] before him. ²⁸ And they stripped him and put ^(D)a scarlet robe on him, ²⁹ and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they ^(E)mocked him, saying, “Hail, ^(F)King of the Jews!” ³⁰ And ^(G)they spit on him and took the reed and struck him on the head. ³¹ And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and ^(H)led him away to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

^32 (I)(J)As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to ^(K)carry his cross. ^33 (L)And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), ^34 (M)they offered him wine to drink, mixed with ^(N)gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. ³⁵ And when they had crucified him, ^(O)they divided his garments among them by casting lots. ³⁶ Then they sat down and ^(P)kept watch over him there. ³⁷ And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, ^(Q)the King of the Jews.” ³⁸ Then two ^(R)robbers were crucified with him, ^(S)one on the right and one on the left. ³⁹ And ^(T)those who passed by ^(U)derided him, ^(V)wagging their heads ⁴⁰ and saying, ^(W)“You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! ^(X)If you are ^(Y)the Son of God, come down from the cross.” ⁴¹ So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, ^42 (Z)“He saved others; ^(AA)he cannot save himself. ^(AB)He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. ^43 (AC)He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’” ^44 (AD)And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

The Death of Jesus

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour^[c] there was darkness over all the land^[d] until the ninth hour.^{[e] 46} And about the ninth hour Jesus ^(AE)cried out with a loud voice, saying, ^(AF)“Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with ^(AG)sour wine, and put it on a reed and ^(AH)gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus ^(AI)cried out again with a loud voice and ^(AJ)yielded up his spirit.

⁵¹ And behold, ^(AK)the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And ^(AL)the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of ^(AM)the saints ^(AN)who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into ^(AO)the holy city and appeared to many. ^54 (AP)When the centurion and those who were with him, ^(AQ)keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, ^(AR)“Truly this was the Son^[f] of God!”

⁵⁵ There were also ^(AS)many women there, looking on ^(AT)from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ^(AU)ministering to him, ⁵⁶ among whom were ^(AV)Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and ^(AW)the mother of the sons of Zebedee.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)an apostle of Christ Jesus ^(B)by the will of God, and Timothy ^(C)our brother,

² To the ^(D)saints and faithful brothers^[a] in Christ at Colossae:

^(E)Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

Thanksgiving and Prayer

^3 (F)We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, ⁴ since we heard of ^(G)your faith in Christ Jesus and of ^(H)the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵ because of ^(I)the hope ^(J)laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in ^(K)the word of the truth, the gospel, ⁶ which has come to you, as indeed ^(L)in the whole world it is ^(M)bearing fruit and increasing—as it also does among you, since the day you ^(N)heard it and understood ^(O)the grace of God in truth, ⁷ just as you learned it from ^(P)Epaphras our beloved ^(Q)fellow servant.^[b] He is ^(R)a faithful minister of Christ on your^[c] behalf ⁸ and has made known to us your ^(S)love in the Spirit.

⁹ And so, ^(T)from the day we heard, ^(U)we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that ^(V)you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all ^(W)spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰ so as ^(X)to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, ^(Y)fully pleasing to him: ^(Z)bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ^11 (AA)being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for ^(AB)all endurance and patience ^(AC)with joy; ^12 (AD)giving thanks^[d] to the Father, who has qualified you^[e] to share in ^(AE)the inheritance of the saints in light. ¹³ He ^(AF)has delivered us from ^(AG)the domain of darkness and transferred us to ^(AH)the kingdom of ^(AI)his beloved Son, ^14 (AJ)in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

The Preeminence of Christ

^15 (AK)He is the image of ^(AL)the invisible God, ^(AM)the firstborn of all creation. ¹⁶ For by^[f] him all things were created, ^(AN)in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^(AO)thrones or ^(AP)dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^(AQ)through him and for him. ¹⁷ And ^(AR)he is before all things, and in him all things ^(AS)hold together. ¹⁸ And ^(AT)he is the head of the body, the church. He is ^(AU)the beginning, ^(AV)the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. ¹⁹ For ^(AW)in him all the ^(AX)fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰ and ^(AY)through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^(AZ)making peace ^(BA)by the blood of his cross.