Birth of Isaac Promised

18 Now ^(A)the Lord appeared to him by the ^[a](B)oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day. ² When he lifted up his eyes and looked, behold, three ^(C)men were standing opposite him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth, ³ and said, “^[b]My Lord, if now I have found favor in Your sight, please do not ^[c]pass Your servant by. ⁴ Please let a little water be brought and ^(D)wash your feet, and ^[d]rest yourselves under the tree; ⁵ and I will ^[e](E)bring a piece of bread, that you may ^[f]refresh yourselves; after that you may go on, since you have ^[g]visited your servant.” And they said, “So do, as you have said.” ⁶ So Abraham hurried into the tent to Sarah, and said, “^[h]Quickly, prepare three ^[i]measures of fine flour, knead it and make bread cakes.” ⁷ Abraham also ran to the herd, and took a tender and ^[j]choice calf and gave it to the servant, and he hurried to prepare it. ⁸ He took curds and milk and the calf which he had prepared, and placed it before them; and he was standing by them under the tree ^[k]as they ate.

⁹ Then they said to him, “Where is Sarah your wife?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” ¹⁰ He said, “^(F)I will surely return to you ^[l]at this time next year; and behold, Sarah your wife will have a son.” And Sarah was listening at the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹ Now ^(G)Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; Sarah was ^(H)past ^[m]childbearing. ¹² Sarah laughed ^[n]to herself, saying, “^(I)After I have become old, shall I have pleasure, my ^(J)lord being old also?” ¹³ And the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, saying, ‘Shall I indeed ^[o]bear a child, when I am so old?’ ^14 (K)Is anything too ^[p]difficult for the Lord? At the ^(L)appointed time I will return to you, ^[q]at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁵ Sarah denied it however, saying, “I did not laugh”; for she was afraid. And He said, “No, but you did laugh.”

¹⁶ Then ^(M)the men rose up from there, and looked down toward Sodom; and Abraham was walking with them to send them off. ^17 (N)The Lord said, “Shall I hide from Abraham ^(O)what I am about to do, ¹⁸ since Abraham will surely become a great and ^[r]mighty nation, and in him ^(P)all the nations of the earth will be blessed? ¹⁹ For I have ^[s](Q)chosen him, so that he may ^(R)command his children and his household after him to ^(S)keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring upon Abraham ^(T)what He has spoken about him.” ²⁰ And the Lord said, “^(U)The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave. ²¹ I will ^(V)go down now, and see if they have done entirely according to its outcry, which has come to Me; and if not, I will know.”

²² Then ^(W)the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham was still standing before ^(X)the Lord. ²³ Abraham came near and said, “^(Y)Will You indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴ Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city; will You indeed sweep it away and not ^[t]spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous who are in it? ²⁵ Far be it from You to do ^[u]such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from You! Shall not ^(Z)the Judge of all the earth ^[v]deal justly?” ²⁶ So the Lord said, “^(AA)If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will ^[w]spare the whole place on their account.” ²⁷ And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ^[x]ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but ^(AB)dust and ashes. ²⁸ Suppose the fifty righteous are lacking five, will You destroy the whole city because of five?” And He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” ²⁹ He spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose forty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it on account of the forty.” ³⁰ Then he said, “Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak; suppose thirty are found there?” And He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” ³¹ And he said, “Now behold, I have ^[y]ventured to speak to the Lord; suppose twenty are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the twenty.” ³² Then he said, “^(AC)Oh may the Lord not be angry, and I shall speak only this once; suppose ten are found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it on account of the ten.” ³³ As soon as He had finished speaking to Abraham ^(AD)the Lord departed, and Abraham returned to his place.

The Transfiguration

17 ^(A)Six days later Jesus *took with Him ^(B)Peter and ^[a]James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. ² And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. ³ And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. ⁴ Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, ^(C)I will make three ^[b]tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵ While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, ^(D)a voice out of the cloud said, “^(E)This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell ^[c]face down to the ground and were terrified. ⁷ And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, “Get up, and ^(F)do not be afraid.” ⁸ And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.

^9 (G)As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “^(H)Tell the vision to no one until ^(I)the Son of Man has ^(J)risen from the dead.” ¹⁰ And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that ^(K)Elijah must come first?” ¹¹ And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; ¹² but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did ^[d]to him whatever they wished. So also ^(L)the Son of Man is going to suffer ^[e]at their hands.” ¹³ Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.

The Demoniac

^14 (M)When they came to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying, ¹⁵ “^[f]Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is a ^[g](N)lunatic and is very ill; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. ¹⁶ I brought him to Your disciples, and they could not cure him.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to Me.” ¹⁸ And Jesus rebuked him, and the demon came out of him, and the boy was cured ^[h]at once.

¹⁹ Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” ²⁰ And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, ^(O)if you have faith ^[i]the size of ^(P)a mustard seed, you will say to ^(Q)this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and ^(R)nothing will be impossible to you. ²¹ [^[j](S)But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”]

^22 (T)And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be ^[k]delivered into the hands of men; ²³ and ^(U)they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day.” And they were deeply grieved.

The Tribute Money

²⁴ When they came to Capernaum, those who collected ^(V)the ^[l]two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay ^(W)the ^[m]two-drachma tax?” ²⁵ He *said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect ^(X)customs or ^(Y)poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?” ²⁶ When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are ^[n]exempt. ²⁷ However, so that we do not ^[o](Z)offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up; and when you open its mouth, you will find ^[p]a shekel. Take that and give it to them for you and Me.”