Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Then Joshua got up early in the morning; and he and all the sons of Israel set out from ^(A)Shittim and came to the Jordan, and they spent the night there before they crossed. ² Then ^(B)at the end of three days the officers went through the midst of the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, “When you see the ^(C)ark of the covenant of the Lord your God with the Levitical priests carrying it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. ⁴ However, there shall be a distance between you and it of about ^[a]two thousand cubits by measurement. Do not come near it, so that you may know the way by which you shall go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵ Then Joshua said to the people, “^(D)Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do miracles among you.” ⁶ And Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, “Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over ahead of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went ahead of the people.

⁷ Now the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(E)exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they will know that just as I have been with Moses, I will be with you. ⁸ So you shall command the priests who are carrying the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’” ⁹ Then Joshua said to the sons of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ And Joshua said, “By this you will know that ^(F)the living God is among you, and that He will assuredly ^(G)drive out from you the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Perizzite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, and the Jebusite. ¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(H)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over ahead of you into the Jordan. ¹² Now then, ^(I)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man for each tribe. ¹³ And it will come about when the soles of the feet of the priests who carry the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan will be cut off, that is, the waters which are ^[b]flowing down from above; and they will ^(J)stand in one heap.”

¹⁴ So when the people set out from their tents to cross the Jordan, with the priests carrying ^(K)the ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and when those who were carrying the ark came up to the Jordan and the feet of the priests carrying the ark ^[c]stepped down into the edge of the water (for the ^(L)Jordan overflows all its banks all the days of harvest), ¹⁶ then ^(M)the waters which were ^[d]flowing down from above stood and rose up in ^(N)one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were ^[e]flowing down toward the sea of the ^(O)Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ And the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm ^(P)on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan while all Israel crossed on dry ground, until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.

The Queen of Sheba

10 ^(A)Now when the ^(B)queen of ^(C)Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon in relation to the name of the Lord, she came ^(D)to test him with riddles. ² So she came to Jerusalem with a very large entourage, with camels ^(E)carrying balsam oil and a very large quantity of gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she spoke to him about everything that was in her heart. ³ And Solomon ^[a]answered all her questions; nothing was concealed from the king which he did not explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that he had built, ⁵ and the food of his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their attire, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the Lord, ^[b]she was breathless. ⁶ Then she said to the king, “It was a true ^[c]story that I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁷ But I did not believe the ^[d]stories until I came and my own eyes saw it all. And behold, the half of it was not reported to me. You have exceeded in wisdom and prosperity the report which I heard. ^8 (F)Blessed are your men, and blessed are these servants of yours who stand before you continually and hear your wisdom! ^9 (G)Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to put you on the throne of Israel; ^(H)because the Lord loves Israel forever, He made you king, ^(I)to do justice and righteousness.” ¹⁰ Then ^(J)she gave the king ^[e]120 talents of gold, and a very large amount of balsam oil and precious stones. Never again did such a large quantity of balsam oil come in as that which the queen of Sheba gave King Solomon.

^11 (K)And the ships of Hiram as well, which brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir a very great number of almug trees and precious stones. ^12 (L)The king made from the almug trees supports for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, and lyres and harps for the singers; such almug trees have not come in again, nor have they been seen to this day.

¹³ And King Solomon granted the queen of Sheba everything she desired, whatever she requested, besides what he gave her in proportion to ^[f]his royal bounty. Then she ^[g]departed and went to her own land ^[h]together with her servants.

²⁰ And He *came ^[a](A)home, and the ^(B)crowd *gathered again, ^(C)to such an extent that they could not even eat ^[b]a meal. ²¹ And when ^(D)His own ^[c]people heard about this, they came out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, “^(E)He has lost His senses.” ²² The scribes who came down ^(F)from Jerusalem were saying, “He ^[d]is possessed by ^[e](G)Beelzebul,” and “^(H)He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.” ^23 (I)And so He called them to Himself and began speaking to them in ^(J)parables: “How can ^(K)Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ If a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if ^(L)Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but ^[f]he is finished! ^27 (M)But no one can enter the strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong man, and then he will plunder his house.

²⁸ “^(N)Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons and daughters of men, and whatever blasphemies they commit; ²⁹ but ^(O)whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

^31 (P)Then His mother and His brothers *came, and while standing outside they sent word to Him, calling for Him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they *said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He *said, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ And looking around at those who were sitting around Him, He *said, “^(Q)Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever ^(R)does the will of God, this is My brother, and sister, and mother.”

⁶ They passed through the ^[a](A)Phrygian and ^(B)Galatian region, after being forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in ^[b](C)Asia; ⁷ and after they came to ^(D)Mysia, they were trying to go into ^(E)Bithynia, and the ^(F)Spirit of Jesus did not allow them; ⁸ and passing by ^(G)Mysia, they went down to ^(H)Troas. ^9 (I)And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of ^(J)Macedonia was standing and pleading with him, and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ When he had seen ^(K)the vision, ^(L)we immediately sought to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to ^(M)preach the gospel to them.

¹¹ So after setting sail from ^(N)Troas, we ran ^(O)a straight course to Samothrace, and on the following day to Neapolis; ¹² and from there to ^(P)Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of ^(Q)Macedonia, ^(R)a Roman colony; and we were spending some days in this city. ¹³ And on ^(S)the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we were thinking that there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and began speaking to the women who had assembled.

First Convert in Europe

¹⁴ A woman named Lydia was listening; she was a seller of purple fabrics from the city of ^(T)Thyatira, and ^(U)a worshiper of God. ^[c]The Lord ^(V)opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ Now when she and ^(W)her household had been baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

¹⁶ It happened that as we were going to ^(X)the place of prayer, a slave woman who had ^(Y)a spirit of divination met us, who was bringing great profit to her masters by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ She followed Paul and us and cried out repeatedly, saying, “These men are bond-servants of ^(Z)the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you a way of salvation.” ¹⁸ Now she continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and he turned and said to the spirit, “I command you ^(AA)in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very ^[d]moment.

¹⁹ But when her masters saw that their hope of ^(AB)profit was suddenly gone, they seized ^(AC)Paul and Silas and ^(AD)dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities, ²⁰ and when they had brought them to the chief magistrates, they said, “These men, Jews as they are, are causing our city trouble, ²¹ and they ^(AE)are proclaiming customs that are not lawful for us to accept or to practice, since we are ^(AF)Romans.”

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

²² The crowd joined in an attack against them, and the chief magistrates tore their ^[e]robes off them and proceeded to order ^[f]them to be ^(AG)beaten with rods. ²³ When they had struck them with many blows, they threw them into prison, commanding ^(AH)the jailer to guard them securely; ^24 [g]and he, having received such a command, threw them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in ^(AI)the ^[h]stocks.

²⁵ Now about midnight ^(AJ)Paul and Silas were praying and ^(AK)singing hymns of praise to God, and the prisoners were listening to them; ²⁶ and suddenly ^(AL)there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately ^(AM)all the doors were opened, and everyone’s ^(AN)chains were unfastened. ²⁷ When ^(AO)the jailer awoke and saw the prison doors opened, he drew his sword and was about ^(AP)to kill himself, thinking that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸ But Paul called out with a loud voice, saying, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!” ²⁹ And the jailer asked for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear, he fell down before ^(AQ)Paul and Silas; ³⁰ and after he brought them out, he said, “Sirs, ^(AR)what must I do to be saved?”

The Jailer Converted

³¹ They said, “^(AS)Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and ^(AT)your household.” ³² And they spoke the word of God to him together with all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them ^(AU)that very hour of the night and washed their wounds, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household. ³⁴ And he brought them into his house and set ^[i]food before them, and was ^[j]overjoyed, since he had become a believer in God together with ^(AV)his whole household.