Light Under a Basket^(A)

^21 (B)Also He said to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be set on a lampstand? ^22 (C)For there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed, nor has anything been kept secret but that it should come to light. ^23 (D)If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

²⁴ Then He said to them, “Take heed what you hear. ^(E)With the same measure you use, it will be measured to you; and to you who hear, more will be given. ^25 (F)For whoever has, to him more will be given; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ And He said, ^(G)“The kingdom of God is as if a man should ^[a]scatter seed on the ground, ²⁷ and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and ^(H)grow, he himself does not know how. ²⁸ For the earth ^(I)yields crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain ripens, immediately ^(J)he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed^(K)

³⁰ Then He said, ^(L)“To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; ³² but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

Jesus’ Use of Parables

^33 (M)And with many such parables He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. ³⁴ But without a parable He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, ^(N)He explained all things to His disciples.

Wind and Wave Obey Jesus^(O)

^35 (P)On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, “Let us cross over to the other side.” ³⁶ Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. ³⁷ And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. ³⁸ But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, ^(Q)“Teacher, ^(R)do You not care that we are perishing?”

³⁹ Then He arose and ^(S)rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ^(T)“Peace,^[b] be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. ⁴⁰ But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? ^(U)How^[c] is it that you have no faith?” ⁴¹ And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”

Be Sensitive to Conscience

8 Now ^(A)concerning things offered to idols: We know that we all have ^(B)knowledge. ^(C)Knowledge ^[a]puffs up, but love ^[b]edifies. ² And ^(D)if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. ³ But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.

⁴ Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that ^(E)an idol is nothing in the world, ^(F)and that there is no other God but one. ⁵ For even if there are ^(G)so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), ⁶ yet ^(H)for us there is one God, the Father, ^(I)of whom are all things, and we for Him; and ^(J)one Lord Jesus Christ, ^(K)through whom are all things, and ^(L)through whom we live.

⁷ However, there is not in everyone that knowledge; for some, ^(M)with consciousness of the idol, until now eat it as a thing offered to an idol; and their conscience, being weak, is ^(N)defiled. ⁸ But ^(O)food does not commend us to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, nor if we do not eat are we the worse.

⁹ But ^(P)beware lest somehow this liberty of yours become ^(Q)a ^[c]stumbling block to those who are weak. ¹⁰ For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will not ^(R)the conscience of him who is weak be emboldened to eat those things offered to idols? ¹¹ And ^(S)because of your knowledge shall the weak brother perish, for whom Christ died? ¹² But ^(T)when you thus sin against the brethren, and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. ¹³ Therefore, ^(U)if food makes my brother stumble, I will never again eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

An Appeal for Israel’s Repentance

To the Chief Musician. ^(A)On^[a] an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of Asaph.

The Covenant at Shechem^(A)

24 Then Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to ^(B)Shechem and ^(C)called for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for their officers; and they ^(D)presented themselves before God. ² And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ^(E)‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of ^[a]the River in old times; and ^(F)they served other gods. ^3 (G)Then I took your father Abraham from the other side of ^[b]the River, led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his ^[c]descendants and ^(H)gave him Isaac. ⁴ To Isaac I gave ^(I)Jacob and Esau. To ^(J)Esau I gave the mountains of Seir to possess, ^(K)but Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. ^5 (L)Also I sent Moses and Aaron, and ^(M)I plagued Egypt, according to what I did among them. Afterward I brought you out.

⁶ ‘Then I ^(N)brought your fathers out of Egypt, and you came to the sea; and the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. ⁷ So they cried out to the Lord; and He put ^(O)darkness between you and the Egyptians, brought the sea upon them, and covered them. And ^(P)your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. Then you dwelt in the wilderness ^(Q)a long time. ⁸ And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, who dwelt on the other side of the Jordan, ^(R)and they fought with you. But I gave them into your hand, that you might possess their land, and I destroyed them from before you. ⁹ Then ^(S)Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose to make war against Israel, and ^(T)sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you. ^10 (U)But I would not listen to Balaam; ^(V)therefore he continued to bless you. So I delivered you out of his hand. ¹¹ Then ^(W)you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho. And ^(X)the men of Jericho fought against you—also the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I delivered them into your hand. ^12 (Y)I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but ^(Z)not with your sword or with your bow. ¹³ I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and ^(AA)cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’

^14 (AB)“Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in ^(AC)sincerity and in truth, and ^(AD)put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of ^[d]the River and ^(AE)in Egypt. Serve the Lord! ¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, ^(AF)choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether ^(AG)the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of ^[e]the River, or ^(AH)the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. ^(AI)But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

¹⁶ So the people answered and said: “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods; ¹⁷ for the Lord our God is He who brought us and our fathers up out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, who did those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way that we went and among all the people through whom we passed. ¹⁸ And the Lord drove out from before us all the people, including the Amorites who dwelt in the land. ^(AJ)We also will serve the Lord, for He is our God.”

¹⁹ But Joshua said to the people, ^(AK)“You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a ^(AL)holy God. He is ^(AM)a jealous God; ^(AN)He will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins. ^20 (AO)If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, ^(AP)then He will turn and do you harm and consume you, after He has done you good.”

²¹ And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord!”

²² So Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^(AQ)you have chosen the Lord for yourselves, to serve Him.”

And they said, “We are witnesses!”

²³ “Now therefore,” he said, ^(AR)“put away the foreign gods which are among you, and ^(AS)incline your heart to the Lord God of Israel.”

²⁴ And the people ^(AT)said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!”

²⁵ So Joshua ^(AU)made^[f] a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance ^(AV)in Shechem.

²⁶ Then Joshua ^(AW)wrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And he took ^(AX)a large stone, and ^(AY)set it up there ^(AZ)under the oak that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. ²⁷ And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be ^(BA)a witness to us, for ^(BB)it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.” ²⁸ So ^(BC)Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance.

Death of Joshua and Eleazar

^29 (BD)Now it came to pass after these things that Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being one hundred and ten years old. ³⁰ And they buried him within the border of his inheritance at ^(BE)Timnath Serah, which is in the mountains of Ephraim, on the north side of Mount Gaash.

^31 (BF)Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had ^(BG)known all the works of the Lord which He had done for Israel.

^32 (BH)The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground ^(BI)which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred ^[g]pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph.

³³ And ^(BJ)Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in a hill belonging to ^(BK)Phinehas his son, which was given to him in the mountains of Ephraim.