Israel Crosses the Jordan

3 Early in the morning Joshua rose and set out from Shittim with all the Israelites, and they came to the Jordan. They camped there before crossing over.^{(A) 2} At the end of three days, the officers went through the camp^{(B) 3} and commanded the people, “When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God being carried by the Levitical priests, then you shall set out from your place. Follow it,^{(C) 4} so that you may know the way you should go, for you have not passed this way before. Yet there shall be a space between you and it, a distance of about two thousand cubits; do not come any nearer to it.” ⁵ Then Joshua said to the people, “Sanctify yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.”^{(D) 6} To the priests Joshua said, “Take up the ark of the covenant, and pass on in front of the people.” So they took up the ark of the covenant and went in front of the people.

⁷ The Lord said to Joshua, “This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, so that they may know that I will be with you as I was with Moses.^{(E) 8} You are the one who shall command the priests who bear the ark of the covenant, ‘When you come to the edge of the waters of the Jordan, you shall stand still in the Jordan.’ ”^{(F) 9} Joshua then said to the Israelites, “Draw near and hear the words of the Lord your God.” ¹⁰ Joshua said, “By this you shall know that among you is the living God who without fail will drive out from before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites:^{(G) 11} the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass before you into the Jordan. ¹² So now select twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one from each tribe.^{(H) 13} When the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, come to rest in the waters of the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan flowing from above shall be cut off; they shall stand in a single heap.”^(I)

¹⁴ When the people set out from their tents to cross over the Jordan, the priests bearing the ark of the covenant were in front of the people. ¹⁵ Now the Jordan overflows all its banks throughout the time of harvest. So when those who bore the ark had come to the Jordan and the feet of the priests bearing the ark were dipped in the edge of the water,^{(J) 16} the waters flowing from above stood still, rising up in a single heap far off at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan, while those flowing toward the sea of the Arabah, the Dead Sea,^[a] were wholly cut off. Then the people crossed over opposite Jericho.^{(K) 17} While all Israel were crossing over on dry ground, the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firmly on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan, until the entire nation finished crossing over the Jordan.^(L)

Visit of the Queen of Sheba

10 When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon (fame due to^[a] the name of the Lord), she came to test him with riddles.^{(A) 2} She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones, and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. ³ Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. ⁴ When the queen of Sheba had observed all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ⁵ the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his valets, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the Lord, it took her breath away.^(B)

⁶ So she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your accomplishments and of your wisdom, ⁷ but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes saw it. Not even half had been told me; your wisdom and prosperity far surpass the report that I had heard. ⁸ Happy are your wives!^[b] Happy are these your servants who continually attend you and hear your wisdom! ⁹ Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.”^{(C) 10} Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones; never again did spices come in such quantity as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

¹¹ Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which carried gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a great quantity of almug wood and precious stones.^{(D) 12} From the almug wood the king made supports for the house of the Lord and for the king’s house, lyres also and harps for the singers; no such almug wood has come or been seen to this day.^(E)

¹³ Meanwhile, King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba every desire that she expressed, as well as what he gave her out of Solomon’s royal bounty. Then she returned to her own land with her servants.

Jesus and Beelzebul

²⁰ Then he went home, and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat.^{(A) 21} When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, “He has gone out of his mind.”^{(B) 22} And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.”^{(C) 23} And he called them to him and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan?^{(D) 24} If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.^(E)

²⁸ “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter,^{(F) 29} but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

The True Kindred of Jesus

³¹ Then his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him.^{(G) 32} A crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers^[a] are outside asking for you.” ³³ And he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.”

Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia

⁶ They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.^{(A) 7} When they had come opposite Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them;^{(B) 8} so, passing by Mysia, they went down to Troas.^{(C) 9} During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”^{(D) 10} When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia, being convinced that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.^(E)

The Conversion of Lydia

¹¹ We therefore^[a] set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis,^{(F) 12} and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days.^{(G) 13} On the Sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed^[b] there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴ A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵ When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home.” And she prevailed upon us.^(H)

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶ One day as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a female slave who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling.^{(I) 17} While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you^[c] the way of salvation.”^{(J) 18} She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.

¹⁹ But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.^{(K) 20} When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men, these Jews, are disturbing our city^{(L) 21} and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us, being Romans, to adopt or observe.” ²² The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.^{(M) 23} After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely.^{(N) 24} Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.^(O)

²⁵ About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.^{(P) 26} Suddenly there was an earthquake so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken, and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened.^{(Q) 27} When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped.^{(R) 28} But Paul shouted in a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” ²⁹ The jailer^[d] called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰ Then he brought them outside and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”^{(S) 31} They answered, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”^{(T) 32} They spoke the word of the Lord^[e] to him and to all who were in his house. ³³ At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. ³⁴ He brought them up into the house and set food before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.^(U)