Do Not Be Anxious

^25 (A)“Therefore I tell you, ^(B)do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ^26 (C)Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. ^(D)Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his ^(E)span of life?^{[a] 28} And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹ yet I tell you, ^(F)even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, ^(G)O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For ^(H)the Gentiles seek after all these things, and ^(I)your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. ³³ But ^(J)seek first ^(K)the kingdom of God and his righteousness, ^(L)and all these things will be added to you.

^34 (M)“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

^39 (A)And he came out and went, ^(B)as was his custom, to ^(C)the Mount of Olives, and the disciples followed him. ^40 (D)And when he came to ^(E)the place, he said to them, ^(F)“Pray that you may not ^(G)enter into temptation.” ⁴¹ And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, and ^(H)knelt down and prayed, ⁴² saying, ^(I)“Father, if you are willing, remove ^(J)this cup from me. ^(K)Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”

The Call of Gideon

¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash ^(A)the Abiezrite, while his son ^(B)Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites. ¹² And ^(C)the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ^(D)“The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.” ¹³ And Gideon said to him, “Please, my lord, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are ^(E)all his wonderful deeds ^(F)that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.” ¹⁴ And the Lord^[a] turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; ^(G)do not I send you?” ¹⁵ And he said to him, ^(H)“Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, ^(I)my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house.” ¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, ^(J)“But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.” ¹⁷ And he said to him, ^(K)“If now I have found favor in your eyes, then ^(L)show me a sign that it is you who speak with me. ¹⁸ Please ^(M)do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”

¹⁹ So Gideon went into his house ^(N)and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah^[b] of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them. ²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them ^(O)on this rock, and ^(P)pour the broth over them.” And he did so. ²¹ Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. ^(Q)And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight. ²² Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, ^(R)“Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” ²³ But the Lord said to him, ^(S)“Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” ²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, ^(T)The Lord Is Peace. To this day it still stands at ^(U)Ophrah, which belongs to the Abiezrites.

²⁵ That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down ^(V)the Asherah that is beside it ²⁶ and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the ^(W)stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” ²⁷ So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the Lord had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night.

Gideon Destroys the Altar of Baal

²⁸ When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. ²⁹ And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” ³⁰ Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” ³¹ But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” ³² Therefore on that day Gideon^[c] was called ^(X)Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar.

⁵ Keep your life ^(A)free from love of money, and ^(B)be content with what you have, for he has said, ^(C)“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

⁷ for God gave us ^(A)a spirit not of fear but ^(B)of power and love and self-control.

^9 (A)If we confess our sins, he is ^(B)faithful and just to forgive us our sins and ^(C)to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.