Not Peace, but a Sword

^34 (A)“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. ^(B)I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

Not Peace, but Division

^49 (A)“I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! ^50 (B)I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how ^(C)great is my distress until it is accomplished! ^51 (D)Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? ^(E)No, I tell you, but rather division. ⁵² For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. ⁵³ They will be divided, ^(F)father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.”

⁴ But the people of the city ^(A)were divided; ^(B)some sided with the Jews and some with the apostles.

^45 (A)But ^(B)when the Jews^[a] saw the crowds, they were filled with ^(C)jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, ^(D)reviling him. ⁴⁶ And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God ^(E)be spoken first to you. ^(F)Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves ^(G)unworthy of eternal life, behold, we ^(H)are turning to the Gentiles. ^47 (I)For so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

⁴⁸ And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and ^(M)glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹ And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. ^50 (N)But the Jews incited the devout ^(O)women of high standing and the leading men of the city, ^(P)stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and ^(Q)drove them out of their district.

^2 (A)But the ^(B)unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against ^(C)the brothers.^[a]

Division Among the People

⁴⁰ When they heard these words, ^(A)some of the people said, “This really is ^(B)the Prophet.” ⁴¹ Others said, “This is ^(C)the Christ.” But some said, ^(D)“Is the Christ to come from Galilee? ⁴² Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes ^(E)from the offspring of David, and comes ^(F)from Bethlehem, the village ^(G)where David was?” ⁴³ So there was ^(H)a division among the people over him. ^44 (I)Some of them wanted to arrest him, but no one laid hands on him.

^45 (J)The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees, who said to them, “Why did you not bring him?” ⁴⁶ The officers answered, ^(K)“No one ever spoke like this man!” ⁴⁷ The Pharisees answered them, ^(L)“Have you also been deceived? ^48 (M)Have any of the authorities or the Pharisees believed in him? ⁴⁹ But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed.” ^50 (N)Nicodemus, who had gone to him before, and who was one of them, said to them, ^51 (O)“Does our law judge a man without first ^(P)giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” ⁵² They replied, ^(Q)“Are you from Galilee too? Search and see that ^(R)no prophet arises from Galilee.”

Jeremiah's Complaint

^10 (A)Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! ^(B)I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.