Cain and Abel

4 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten^[a] a man with the help of the Lord.” ² And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³ In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of ^(A)the fruit of the ground, ⁴ and Abel also brought of ^(B)the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord ^(C)had regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵ but ^(D)for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶ The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ^7 (E)If you do well, will you not be accepted?^[b] And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. ^(F)Its desire is for^[c] you, and you must rule over it.”

⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother.^[d] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and ^(G)killed him. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, ^(H)“I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood ^(I)is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now ^(J)you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. ¹² When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³ Cain said to the Lord, “My ^(K)punishment is greater than I can bear.^{[e] 14} Behold, ^(L)you have driven me today away from the ground, and ^(M)from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, ^(N)and whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him ^(O)sevenfold.” And the Lord ^(P)put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. ¹⁶ Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod,^[f] east of Eden.

¹⁷ Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸ To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹ And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰ Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. ²¹ His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. ²² Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³ Lamech said to his wives:

²⁵ And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed^[g] for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ²⁶ To ^(R)Seth also a son was born, and he called his name ^(S)Enosh. At that time people began ^(T)to call upon the name of the Lord.

The Temptation of Jesus

4 ^(A)Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness ^(B)to be tempted by the devil. ² And after fasting ^(C)forty days and forty nights, he ^(D)was hungry. ³ And ^(E)the tempter came and said to him, “If you are ^(F)the Son of God, command ^(G)these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, ^(H)“It is written,

^5 (J)Then the devil took him to ^(K)the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶ and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

and

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again ^(M)it is written, ^(N)‘You shall not ^(O)put the Lord your God to the test.’” ^8 (P)Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, ^(Q)Satan! For ^(R)it is written,

¹¹ Then the devil left him, and behold, ^(U)angels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹² Now when he heard that ^(V)John had been arrested, ^(W)he withdrew into Galilee. ¹³ And leaving ^(X)Nazareth he went and lived in ^(Y)Capernaum by ^(Z)the sea, in the territory of ^(AA)Zebulun and Naphtali, ^14 (AB)so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

^17 (AF)From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ^(AG)“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”^[a]

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

^18 (AH)While walking by ^(AI)the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹ And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you ^(AJ)fishers of men.”^{[b] 20} Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹ And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²² Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

^23 (AK)And he went throughout all Galilee, ^(AL)teaching in their synagogues and ^(AM)proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and ^(AN)healing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴ So his fame spread throughout all ^(AO)Syria, and ^(AP)they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ^(AQ)pains, ^(AR)those oppressed by demons, ^(AS)those having seizures, and ^(AT)paralytics, and he healed them. ^25 (AU)And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the ^(AV)Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

4 Now when ^(A)the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever ^(B)since the days of ^(C)Esarhaddon king of Assyria ^(D)who brought us here.” ³ But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, ^(E)“You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, ^(F)as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴ Then ^(G)the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build ⁵ and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶ And in the reign of ^(H)Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

⁷ In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and ^(I)Mithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written ^(J)in Aramaic and translated.^{[a] 8} Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: ⁹ Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the ^(K)judges, the ^(L)governors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the ^(M)Elamites, ¹⁰ and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble ^(N)Osnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River. ¹¹ (This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now ¹² be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are ^(O)finishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³ Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay ^(P)tribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. ¹⁴ Now because we eat the salt of the palace^[b] and it is not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, ¹⁵ in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste. ¹⁶ We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”

The King Orders the Work to Cease

¹⁷ The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now ¹⁸ the letter that you sent to us has been ^(Q)plainly read before me. ¹⁹ And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. ²⁰ And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, ^(R)who ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom ^(S)tribute, custom, and toll were paid. ²¹ Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. ²² And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”

²³ Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. ²⁴ Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.