Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Then Joshua rose early in the morning; and they set out ^(A)from ^[a]Acacia Grove and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel, and lodged there before they crossed over. ² So it was, ^(B)after three days, that the officers went through the camp; ³ and they commanded the people, saying, ^(C)“When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, ^(D)and the priests, the Levites, ^[b]bearing it, then you shall set out from your place and go after it. ^4 (E)Yet there shall be a space between you and it, about two thousand cubits by measure. Do not come near it, that you may know the way by which you must go, for you have not passed this way before.”

⁵ And Joshua said to the people, ^(F)“Sanctify^[c] yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” ⁶ Then Joshua spoke to the priests, saying, ^(G)“Take up the ark of the covenant and cross over before the people.”

So they took up the ark of the covenant and went before the people.

⁷ And the Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to ^(H)exalt^[d] you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, ^(I)as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. ⁸ You shall command ^(J)the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, saying, ‘When you have come to the edge of the water of the Jordan, ^(K)you shall stand in the Jordan.’ ”

⁹ So Joshua said to the children of Israel, “Come here, and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ And Joshua said, “By this you shall know that ^(L)the living God is among you, and that He will without fail ^(M)drive out from before you the ^(N)Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites: ¹¹ Behold, the ark of the covenant of ^(O)the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan. ¹² Now therefore, ^(P)take for yourselves twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from every tribe. ¹³ And it shall come to pass, ^(Q)as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, ^(R)the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they ^(S)shall stand as a heap.”

¹⁴ So it was, when the people set out from their camp to cross over the Jordan, with the priests bearing the ^(T)ark of the covenant before the people, ¹⁵ and as those who bore the ark came to the Jordan, and ^(U)the feet of the priests who bore the ark dipped in the edge of the water (for the ^(V)Jordan overflows all its banks ^(W)during the whole time of harvest), ¹⁶ that the waters which came down from upstream stood still, and rose in a heap very far away ^[e]at Adam, the city that is beside ^(X)Zaretan. So the waters that went down ^(Y)into the Sea of the Arabah, ^(Z)the Salt Sea, failed, and were cut off; and the people crossed over opposite Jericho. ¹⁷ Then the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan; ^(AA)and all Israel crossed over on dry ground, until all the people had crossed completely over the Jordan.

The Queen of Sheba’s Praise of Solomon^(A)

10 Now when the ^(B)queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came ^(C)to test him with hard questions. ² She came to Jerusalem with a very great ^[a]retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. ³ So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing ^[b]so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her. ⁴ And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵ the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, ^(D)and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. ⁶ Then she said to the king: “It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. ⁷ However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard. ^8 (E)Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! ^9 (F)Blessed be the Lord your God, who ^(G)delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, ^(H)to do justice and righteousness.”

¹⁰ Then she ^(I)gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones. There never again came such abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. ^11 (J)Also, the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought great quantities of ^[c]almug wood and precious stones from Ophir. ^12 (K)And the king made ^[d]steps of the almug wood for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such ^(L)almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day.

¹³ Now King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

A House Divided Cannot Stand^(A)

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, ^(B)so that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹ But when His ^(C)own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, ^(D)for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ^(E)“He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ^(F)ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

^23 (G)So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. ^27 (H)No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin^(I)

^28 (J)“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; ²⁹ but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— ³⁰ because they ^(K)said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Send for Him^(L)

^31 (M)Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. ³² And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers ^[a]are outside seeking You.”

³³ But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” ³⁴ And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the ^(N)will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”

The Macedonian Call

⁶ Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of ^(A)Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in ^[a]Asia. ⁷ After they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the ^[b]Spirit did not permit them. ⁸ So passing by Mysia, they ^(B)came down to Troas. ⁹ And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A ^(C)man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰ Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go ^(D)to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.

Lydia Baptized at Philippi

¹¹ Therefore, sailing from Troas, we ran a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day came to Neapolis, ¹² and from there to ^(E)Philippi, which is the ^[c]foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony. And we were staying in that city for some days. ¹³ And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. ¹⁴ Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of ^(F)Thyatira, who worshiped God. ^(G)The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. ¹⁵ And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” So ^(H)she persuaded us.

Paul and Silas Imprisoned

¹⁶ Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl ^(I)possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters ^(J)much profit by fortune-telling. ¹⁷ This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” ¹⁸ And this she did for many days.

But Paul, ^(K)greatly ^[d]annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” ^(L)And he came out that very hour. ¹⁹ But ^(M)when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and ^(N)dragged them into the marketplace to the authorities.

²⁰ And they brought them to the magistrates, and said, “These men, being Jews, ^(O)exceedingly trouble our city; ²¹ and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe.” ²² Then the multitude rose up together against them; and the magistrates tore off their clothes ^(P)and commanded them to be beaten with rods. ²³ And when they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴ Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Saved

²⁵ But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ^26 (Q)Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately ^(R)all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. ²⁷ And the keeper of the prison, awaking from sleep and seeing the prison doors open, supposing the prisoners had fled, drew his sword and was about to kill himself. ²⁸ But Paul called with a loud voice, saying, “Do yourself no harm, for we are all here.”

²⁹ Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ And he brought them out and said, ^(S)“Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

³¹ So they said, ^(T)“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household.” ³² Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³ And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. ³⁴ Now when he had brought them into his house, ^(U)he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all his household.