The Commander of the Lord's Army

¹³ When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, ^(A)a man was standing before him ^(B)with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” ¹⁴ And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the Lord. Now I have come.” And Joshua ^(C)fell on his face to the earth and worshiped^[a] and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” ¹⁵ And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, ^(D)“Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

The Fall of Jericho

6 Now Jericho was shut up inside and outside because of the people of Israel. None went out, and none came in. ² And the Lord said to Joshua, “See, ^(E)I have given Jericho into your hand, with its king and mighty men of valor. ³ You shall march around the city, all the men of war going around the city once. Thus shall you do for six days. ⁴ Seven priests shall bear seven ^(F)trumpets of ^(G)rams' horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and ^(H)the priests shall blow the trumpets. ⁵ And when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, when you hear the sound of the trumpet, then all the people shall shout with a great shout, and the wall of the city will fall down flat,^[b] and the people shall go up, everyone straight before him.” ⁶ So Joshua the son of Nun called the priests and said to them, “Take up the ark of the covenant and let seven priests bear seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord.” ⁷ And he said to the people, “Go forward. March around the city and let ^(I)the armed men pass on before the ark of the Lord.”

⁸ And just as Joshua had commanded the people, the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the Lord went forward, blowing the trumpets, with the ark of the covenant of the Lord following them. ⁹ The armed men were walking before the priests who were blowing the trumpets, and the ^(J)rear guard was walking after the ark, while the trumpets blew continually. ¹⁰ But Joshua commanded the people, “You shall not shout or make your voice heard, neither shall any word go out of your mouth, until the day I tell you to shout. Then you shall shout.” ¹¹ So he caused the ark of the Lord to circle the city, going about it once. And they came into the camp and spent the night in the camp.

¹² Then Joshua rose early in the morning, and ^(K)the priests took up the ark of the Lord. ¹³ And the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark of the Lord walked on, and they blew the trumpets continually. And the armed men were walking before them, and the rear guard was walking after the ark of the Lord, while the trumpets blew continually. ¹⁴ And the second day they marched around the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did for six days.

¹⁵ On the seventh day they rose early, at the dawn of day, and marched around the city in the same manner seven times. It was only on that day that they marched around the city seven times. ¹⁶ And at the seventh time, when the priests had blown the trumpets, Joshua said to the people, “Shout, for the Lord has given you the city. ¹⁷ And the city and all that is within it shall be ^(L)devoted to the Lord for destruction.^[c] Only Rahab the prostitute and all who are with her in her house shall live, because she ^(M)hid the messengers whom we sent. ¹⁸ But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel ^(N)a thing for destruction and ^(O)bring trouble upon it. ¹⁹ But all silver and gold, and every vessel of bronze and iron, are holy to the Lord; they shall go into the treasury of the Lord.” ²⁰ So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and ^(P)the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.

Rehoboam's Folly

12 ^(A)Rehoboam went to ^(B)Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king. ² And as soon as ^(C)Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for ^(D)he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from^[a] Egypt. ³ And they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam, ^4 (E)“Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” ⁵ He said to them, ^(F)“Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?” ⁷ And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.” ⁸ But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him. ⁹ And he said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?” ¹⁰ And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father's thighs. ¹¹ And now, whereas ^(G)my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.’”

¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, ^(H)“Come to me again the third day.” ¹³ And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him, ¹⁴ he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, ^(I)“My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.” ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for ^(J)it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which ^(K)the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.

The Kingdom Divided

¹⁶ And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. ^(L)To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents. ¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over ^(M)the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah. ¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent ^(N)Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. And King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. ^19 (O)So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day. ²⁰ And when all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but ^(P)the tribe of Judah only.

A Lamp Under a Basket

^21 (A)And he said to them, ^(B)“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? ^22 (C)For nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. ^23 (D)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴ And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^(E)with the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. ^25 (F)For to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

²⁶ And he said, ^(G)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. ²⁷ He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^(H)he knows not how. ²⁸ The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once ^(I)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

^30 (J)And he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? ³¹ It is like ^(K)a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

^33 (L)With many such parables he spoke ^(M)the word to them, ^(N)as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ He did not speak to them ^(O)without a parable, but ^(P)privately to his own disciples he ^(Q)explained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm

^35 (R)On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” ³⁶ And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves ^(S)were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. ³⁸ But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹ And he awoke and ^(T)rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and ^(U)there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ He said to them, “Why are you ^(V)so afraid? Have you still no faith?” ⁴¹ And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ^(W)“Who then is this, that even ^(X)the wind and the sea obey him?”

Paul in Athens

¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was ^(A)provoked within him as he saw that the city was ^(B)full of idols. ¹⁷ So ^(C)he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. ¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, ^(D)“What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because ^(E)he was preaching ^(F)Jesus and the resurrection. ¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to ^(G)the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this ^(H)new teaching is that you are presenting? ²⁰ For you bring some ^(I)strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.” ²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Paul Addresses the Areopagus

²² So Paul, standing in the midst of the Areopagus, said: “Men of Athens, I perceive that in every way you are very religious. ²³ For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ^(J)‘To the unknown god.’ ^(K)What therefore you worship ^(L)as unknown, this I proclaim to you. ^24 (M)The God who made the world and everything in it, being ^(N)Lord of heaven and earth, ^(O)does not live in temples made by man,^{[a] 25} nor is he served by human hands, ^(P)as though he needed anything, since he himself ^(Q)gives to all mankind ^(R)life and breath and everything. ²⁶ And ^(S)he made from one man every nation of mankind to live ^(T)on all the face of the earth, ^(U)having determined allotted periods and ^(V)the boundaries of their dwelling place, ^27 (W)that they should seek God, ^(X)and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. ^(Y)Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, ²⁸ for

as even some of ^(AA)your own poets have said,

^29 (AB)Being then God's offspring, ^(AC)we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man. ^30 (AD)The times of ignorance ^(AE)God overlooked, but ^(AF)now he ^(AG)commands all people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed ^(AH)a day on which ^(AI)he will judge the world ^(AJ)in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and ^(AK)of this he has given assurance to all ^(AL)by raising him from the dead.”

³² Now when they heard of ^(AM)the resurrection of the dead, ^(AN)some mocked. But others said, ^(AO)“We will hear you again about this.” ³³ So Paul went out from their midst. ³⁴ But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius ^(AP)the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.