Jesus and Nicodemus

3 There was a man named Nicodemus who was a Pharisee and a Jewish leader. ² One night he went to Jesus and said, “Rabbi, we know that God has sent you to teach us. You could not work these miracles, unless God were with you.”

³ Jesus replied, “I tell you for certain that you must be born from above^[a] before you can see God's kingdom!”

⁴ Nicodemus asked, “How can a grown man ever be born a second time?”

⁵ Jesus answered:

I tell you for certain that before you can get into God's kingdom, you must be born not only by water, but by the Spirit. ⁶ Humans give life to their children. Yet only God's Spirit can change you into a child of God. ⁷ Don't be surprised when I say that you must be born from above. ⁸ Only God's Spirit gives new life. The Spirit is like the wind that blows wherever it wants to. You can hear the wind, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going.

⁹ “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.

¹⁰ Jesus replied:

How can you be a teacher of Israel and not know these things? ¹¹ I tell you for certain we know what we are talking about because we have seen it ourselves. But none of you will accept what we say. ^12 (A) If you don't believe when I talk to you about things on earth, how can you possibly believe if I talk to you about things in heaven?

^13 (B) No one has gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from there. ^14 (C) And the Son of Man must be lifted up, just as the metal snake was lifted up by Moses in the desert.^{[b] 15} Then everyone who has faith in the Son of Man will have eternal life.

¹⁶ God loved the people of this world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who has faith in him will have eternal life and never really die. ¹⁷ God did not send his Son into the world to condemn its people. He sent him to save them! ¹⁸ No one who has faith in God's Son will be condemned. But everyone who doesn't have faith in him has already been condemned for not having faith in God's only Son.

¹⁹ The light has come into the world, and people who do evil things are judged guilty because they love the dark more than the light. ²⁰ People who do evil hate the light and won't come to the light, because it clearly shows what they have done. ²¹ But everyone who lives by the truth will come to the light, because they want others to know that God is really the one doing what they do.

David's Men at Ziklag

12 Some time earlier, David had gone to live in the town of Ziklag to escape from King Saul. While David was there, several brave warriors joined him to help fight his battles.^[a]

Warriors from the Benjamin tribe

² Several of these warriors were from King Saul's own tribe of Benjamin. They were experts at using a bow and arrows, and they could shoot an arrow or sling a stone with either hand. ^3-7 Their leaders were Ahiezer and Joash, the sons of Shemaah from Gibeah. Here is a list of those men from Benjamin: Jeziel and Pelet the sons of Azmaveth; Beracah and Jehu from Anathoth; Ishmaiah from Gibeon, who was the leader of the Thirty Warriors; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, and Jozabad from Gederah; Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, and Shephatiah from Haruph; Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam from the Korah clan; Joelah and Zebadiah the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.

Warriors from the Gad tribe

⁸ Men from the tribe of Gad also joined David at his fortress in the desert and served as his warriors. They were also brave soldiers—fierce as lions and quick as gazelles. They were always prepared to fight with shields and spears. ^9-13 There were eleven of them, ranked in the following order: Ezer the leader, then Obadiah, Eliab, Mishmannah, Jeremiah, Attai, Eliel, Johanan, Elzabad, Jeremiah, and Machbannai.

¹⁴ All these men were army officers; some were high-ranking officers over a thousand troops, and others were officers over a hundred troops. ¹⁵ Earlier, they had crossed the Jordan River when it flooded, and they chased out the people who lived in the valleys on each side of the river.

Warriors from the Benjamin and Judah tribes

¹⁶ One time a group of men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah went to the fortress where David was staying. ¹⁷ David met them outside and said, “If you are coming as friends to fight on my side, then stay and join us. But if you try to turn me over to my enemies, the God our ancestors worshiped will punish you, because I have done nothing wrong.”

¹⁸ Amasai, who later became the leader of the Thirty Warriors, was one of these men who went to David. God's Spirit took control of him, and he said, “We will join you, David son of Jesse! You and your followers will always be successful, because God fights on your side.”

So David agreed to let them stay, and he even put them in charge of his soldiers who raided enemy villages.

Warriors from the Manasseh tribe

¹⁹ Some of the warriors who joined David were from the tribe of Manasseh. They had earlier gone with David when he agreed to fight on the side of the Philistines against King Saul. But as soon as the Philistine rulers realized that David might turn against them and rejoin Saul, they sent David away to the town of Ziklag. ²⁰ That's when the following men from Manasseh joined him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. They had all been commanders in Saul's army ²¹ and brave soldiers, and so David made them officers in his army. They fought on his side when enemy troops attacked.

²² Day after day, new men came to join David, and soon he had a large, powerful army.

David's Men at Hebron

^23-37 The kingdom of Israel had been taken away from Saul, and it now belonged to David. He was ruling from Hebron, and thousands of well-trained soldiers from each tribe went there to crown David king of all Israel, just as the Lord had promised. These soldiers, who were always prepared for battle, included: 6,800 from Judah, who were armed with shields and spears; 7,100 from Simeon; 4,600 from Levi, including Jehoiada, who was a leader from Aaron's descendants, and his 3,700 men, as well as Zadok, who was a brave soldier, and 22 of his relatives, who were also officers; 3,000 from Benjamin, because this was Saul's own tribe and most of the men had remained loyal to him; 20,800 from Ephraim, who were not only brave, but also famous in their clans; 18,000 from West Manasseh, who had been chosen to help make David king; 200 leaders from Issachar, along with troops under their command—these leaders knew the right time to do what needed to be done; 50,000 from Zebulun, who were not only loyal, but also trained to use any weapon; 1,000 officers from Naphtali and 37,000 soldiers armed with shields and spears; 28,600 from Dan; 40,000 from Asher; and 120,000 from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh, who were armed with all kinds of weapons.

³⁸ All of these soldiers voluntarily came to Hebron because they wanted David to become king of Israel. In fact, everyone in Israel wanted the same thing. ³⁹ The soldiers stayed in Hebron three days, eating and drinking what their relatives had prepared for them. ⁴⁰ Other Israelites from as far away as the territories of Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali brought cattle and sheep to slaughter for food. They also brought donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen that were loaded down with flour, dried figs and raisins, wine, and olive oil.

Everyone in Israel was very happy.

Third Vision: A Measuring Line

2 This time I saw someone holding a measuring line, ² and I asked, “Where are you going?”

“To measure Jerusalem,” was the answer. “To find out how wide and long it is.”

³ The angel who had spoken to me came toward me, when another angel came up to him ⁴ and said, “Hurry! Tell that man with the measuring line that Jerusalem won't have any boundaries. It will be too full of people and animals even to have a wall. ⁵ The Lord himself has promised to be a protective wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem, and he will be its shining glory in the heart of the city.”

A Call to Action

⁶ The Lord says to his people, “Run! Escape from the land in the north, where I scattered you to the four winds. ⁷ Leave Babylonia and hurry back to Zion.”

⁸ Then the glorious Lord All-Powerful ordered me to say to the nations that had raided and robbed Zion:

Zion is as precious to the Lord as are his eyes. Whatever you do to Zion, you do to him. ⁹ And so, he will put you in the power of your slaves, and they will raid and rob you. Then you will know that I am a prophet of the Lord All-Powerful.

¹⁰ City of Zion, sing and celebrate! The Lord has promised to come and live with you. ¹¹ When he does, many nations will turn to him and become his people. At that time you will know that I am a prophet of the Lord All-Powerful. ¹² Then Judah will be his part of the holy land, and Jerusalem will again be his chosen city.