Joseph Deals with the Famine

¹³ Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, ^(A)so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ^14 (B)And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵ So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for ^(C)why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he ^[a]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸ When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may ^(D)live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ Then Joseph ^(E)bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ And as for the people, he ^[b]moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ^22 (F)Only the land of the ^(G)priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴ And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵ So they said, “You have saved ^(H)our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶ And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, ^(I)except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Amaziah Reigns in Judah^(A)

25 Amaziah ^(B)was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. ² And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, ^(C)but not with a loyal heart.

^3 (D)Now it happened, as soon as the kingdom was established for him, that he executed his servants who had murdered his father the king. ⁴ However he did not execute their children, but did as it is written in the Law in the Book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, ^(E)“The fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall die for his own sin.”

The War Against Edom^(F)

⁵ Moreover Amaziah gathered Judah together and set over them captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, according to their fathers’ houses, throughout all Judah and Benjamin; and he numbered them ^(G)from twenty years old and above, and found them to be three hundred thousand choice men, able to go to war, who could handle spear and shield. ⁶ He also hired one hundred thousand mighty men of valor from Israel for one hundred talents of silver. ⁷ But a ^(H)man of God came to him, saying, “O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the Lord is not with Israel—not with any of the children of Ephraim. ⁸ But if you go, be gone! Be strong in battle! Even so, God shall make you fall before the enemy; for God has ^(I)power to help and to overthrow.”

⁹ Then Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents which I have given to the troops of Israel?”

And the man of God answered, ^(J)“The Lord is able to give you much more than this.” ¹⁰ So Amaziah discharged the troops that had come to him from Ephraim, to go back home. Therefore their anger was greatly aroused against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.

¹¹ Then Amaziah strengthened himself, and leading his people, he went to ^(K)the Valley of Salt and killed ten thousand of the people of Seir. ¹² Also the children of Judah took captive ten thousand alive, brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, so that they all were dashed in pieces.

¹³ But as for the soldiers of the army which Amaziah had discharged, so that they would not go with him to battle, they raided the cities of Judah from Samaria to Beth Horon, killed three thousand in them, and took much ^[a]spoil.

¹⁴ Now it was so, after Amaziah came from the slaughter of the Edomites, that ^(L)he brought the gods of the people of Seir, set them up to be ^(M)his gods, and bowed down before them and burned incense to them. ¹⁵ Therefore the anger of the Lord was aroused against Amaziah, and He sent him a prophet who said to him, “Why have you sought ^(N)the gods of the people, which ^(O)could not rescue their own people from your hand?”

¹⁶ So it was, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Cease! Why should you be killed?”

Then the prophet ceased, and said, “I know that God has ^(P)determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.”

Israel Defeats Judah^(Q)

¹⁷ Now ^(R)Amaziah king of Judah asked advice and sent to ^[b]Joash the son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, saying, “Come, let us face one another in battle.”

¹⁸ And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, “The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, ‘Give your daughter to my son as wife’; and a wild beast that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled the thistle. ¹⁹ Indeed you say that you have defeated the Edomites, and your heart is lifted up to ^(S)boast. Stay at home now; why should you meddle with trouble, that you should fall—you and Judah with you?”

²⁰ But Amaziah would not heed, for ^(T)it came from God, that He might give them into the hand of their enemies, because they ^(U)sought the gods of Edom. ²¹ So Joash king of Israel went out; and he and Amaziah king of Judah faced one another at ^(V)Beth Shemesh, which belongs to Judah. ²² And Judah was defeated by Israel, and every man fled to his tent. ²³ Then Joash the king of Israel captured Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of ^(W)Jehoahaz, at Beth Shemesh; and he brought him to Jerusalem, and broke down the wall of Jerusalem from the Gate of Ephraim to the Corner Gate—four hundred cubits. ²⁴ And he took all the gold and silver, all the articles that were found in the house of God with ^(X)Obed-Edom, the treasures of the king’s house, and hostages, and returned to Samaria.

Death of Amaziah^(Y)

^25 (Z)Amaziah the son of Joash, king of Judah, lived fifteen years after the death of Joash the son of Jehoahaz, king of Israel. ²⁶ Now the rest of the acts of Amaziah, from first to last, indeed are they not written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel? ²⁷ After the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there. ²⁸ Then they brought him on horses and buried him with his fathers in ^[c]the City of Judah.

²³ After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of ^(A)Galatia and Phrygia ^[a]in order, ^(B)strengthening all the disciples.

Ministry of Apollos

^24 (C)Now a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. ²⁵ This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being ^(D)fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, ^(E)though he knew only the baptism of John. ²⁶ So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. ²⁷ And when he desired to cross to Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him; and when he arrived, ^(F)he greatly helped those who had believed through grace; ²⁸ for he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, ^(G)showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.

Paul at Ephesus

19 And it happened, while ^(A)Apollos was at Corinth, that Paul, having passed through ^(B)the upper regions, came to Ephesus. And finding some disciples ² he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

So they said to him, ^(C)“We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.”

³ And he said to them, “Into what then were you baptized?”

So they said, ^(D)“Into John’s baptism.”

⁴ Then Paul said, ^(E)“John indeed baptized with a baptism of repentance, saying to the people that they should believe on Him who would come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.”

⁵ When they heard this, they were baptized ^(F)in the name of the Lord Jesus. ⁶ And when Paul had ^(G)laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and ^(H)they spoke with tongues and prophesied. ⁷ Now the men were about twelve in all.

^8 (I)And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading ^(J)concerning the things of the kingdom of God. ⁹ But ^(K)when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil ^(L)of the Way before the multitude, he departed from them and withdrew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus. ¹⁰ And ^(M)this continued for two years, so that all who dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

Miracles Glorify Christ

¹¹ Now ^(N)God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, ^12 (O)so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them. ^13 (P)Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists ^(Q)took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ^[a]“We ^[b]exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul ^(R)preaches.” ¹⁴ Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, who did so.

¹⁵ And the evil spirit answered and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?”

¹⁶ Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, ^[c]overpowered them, and prevailed against ^[d]them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. ¹⁷ This became known both to all Jews and Greeks dwelling in Ephesus; and ^(S)fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. ¹⁸ And many who had believed came ^(T)confessing and telling their deeds. ¹⁹ Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. ^20 (U)So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed.

The Riot at Ephesus

^21 (V)When these things were accomplished, Paul ^(W)purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through ^(X)Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^(Y)I must also see Rome.” ²² So he sent into Macedonia two of those who ministered to him, ^(Z)Timothy and ^(AA)Erastus, but he himself stayed in Asia for a time.