A Spirit of Infirmity

¹⁰ Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. ¹¹ And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way ^[a]raise herself up. ¹² But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your ^(A)infirmity.” ^13 (B)And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

¹⁴ But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had ^(C)healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, ^(D)“There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and ^(E)not on the Sabbath day.”

¹⁵ The Lord then answered him and said, ^[b]“Hypocrite! ^(F)Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? ¹⁶ So ought not this woman, ^(G)being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” ¹⁷ And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were ^(H)done by Him.

The Parable of the Mustard Seed^(I)

^18 (J)Then He said, “What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and put in his garden; and it grew and became a ^[c]large tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.”

The Parable of the Leaven^(K)

²⁰ And again He said, “To what shall I liken the kingdom of God? ²¹ It is like ^[d]leaven, which a woman took and hid in three ^(L)measures^[e] of meal till it was all leavened.”

Glory to God for His Grace^(A)

¹² And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has ^(B)enabled me, ^(C)because He counted me faithful, ^(D)putting me into the ministry, ¹³ although ^(E)I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an ^[a]insolent man; but I obtained mercy because ^(F)I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ^14 (G)And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, ^(H)with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. ^15 (I)This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that ^(J)Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. ¹⁶ However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. ¹⁷ Now to ^(K)the King eternal, ^(L)immortal, ^(M)invisible, to ^[b]God ^(N)who alone is wise, ^(O)be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

Fight the Good Fight

¹⁸ This ^[c]charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, ¹⁹ having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck, ²⁰ of whom are ^(P)Hymenaeus and ^(Q)Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to ^(R)blaspheme.

The Value of Wisdom

Worship Restored at Jerusalem

3 And when the ^(A)seventh month had come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. ² Then ^[a]Jeshua the son of ^(B)Jozadak^[b] and his brethren the priests, ^(C)and Zerubbabel the son of ^(D)Shealtiel and his brethren, arose and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is ^(E)written in the Law of Moses the man of God. ³ Though fear had come upon them because of the people of those countries, they set the altar on its ^[c]bases; and they offered ^(F)burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening burnt offerings. ^4 (G)They also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, ^(H)as it is written, and ^(I)offered the daily burnt offerings in the number required by ordinance for each day. ⁵ Afterwards they offered the ^(J)regular burnt offering, and those for New Moons and for all the appointed feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and those of everyone who willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. ⁶ From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple of the Lord had not been laid. ⁷ They also gave money to the masons and the carpenters, and ^(K)food, drink, and oil to the people of Sidon and Tyre to bring cedar logs from Lebanon to the sea, to ^(L)Joppa, ^(M)according to the permission which they had from Cyrus king of Persia.

Restoration of the Temple Begins

⁸ Now in the second month of the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, ^(N)Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Jeshua the son of ^[d]Jozadak, and the rest of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began work ^(O)and appointed the Levites from twenty years old and above to oversee the work of the house of the Lord. ⁹ Then Jeshua with his sons and brothers, Kadmiel with his sons, and the sons of ^[e]Judah, arose as one to oversee those working on the house of God: the sons of Henadad with their sons and their brethren the Levites.

¹⁰ When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, ^(P)the^[f] priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the ^(Q)ordinance^[g] of David king of Israel. ^11 (R)And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord:

Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

¹² But many of the priests and Levites and ^(U)heads of the fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, ¹³ so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.