Jesus’ Parents Take Him to Egypt

¹³ After they left, an angel of the Lord ·came [appeared] to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the child and his mother and ·escape [flee] to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is ·starting [intending; going] to ·look [search] for the child so he can kill him.”

¹⁴ So Joseph got up and left for Egypt during the night with the child and his mother. ¹⁵ And Joseph stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This happened to ·bring about [fulfill] what the Lord had said through the prophet: “I called my son out of Egypt [Hos. 11:1; ^CJesus fulfills the role of Israel by leading a spiritual Exodus].”

Herod Kills the Baby Boys

¹⁶ When Herod saw that the ·wise men [astologers; magi] had ·tricked [outwitted; outsmarted] him, he was furious. So he ·gave an order [or sent soldiers] to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem and in the surrounding area who were two years old or younger. This was ·in keeping with [based on] the time he learned from the ·wise men [astologers; magi]. ¹⁷ ·So [Then] what ·God had said [^Lwas spoken; ^Cthe passive verb implies God as subject] through the prophet Jeremiah ·came true [was fulfilled]:

Joseph and Mary Return

¹⁹ After Herod died, an angel of the Lord ·spoke [appeared] to Joseph in a dream while he was in Egypt. ²⁰ The angel said, “Get up! Take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, because the people who were ·trying to kill [^Lseeking the life of] the child are now dead.”

²¹ So Joseph [^Lgot up,] took the child and his mother and ·went [returned] to Israel. ²² But he heard that Archelaus [^Creigned from 4 bc to ad 6] was now ·king [reigning] in Judea ·since his father Herod had died [^Lin place of his father Herod]. So Joseph was afraid to go there. After being warned in a dream, he ·went [withdrew] to the ·area [region; district] of Galilee, ²³ to a town called Nazareth, and lived there. And so what ·God had said [was spoken; ^Cthe passive verb implies God as subject] through the prophets ·came true [was fulfilled]: “He will be called a Nazarene [^Ca person from the town of Nazareth; perhaps a reference to Is. 11:1, where the Hebrew word translated “branch” sounds like “Nazarene”].”

Jesus Prays Alone^(A)

³⁶ Then Jesus went with his ·followers [disciples] to a place called Gethsemane. He said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” ³⁷ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee with him, and he began to be very ·sad [sorrowful] and ·troubled [anguished; distressed]. ³⁸ He said to them, “My ·heart [soul] is ·full of sorrow [overwhelmed with grief], to the point of death. Stay here and ·watch [stay awake; be alert] with me.”

³⁹ After walking a little farther away from them, Jesus fell [with his face] to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, ·do not give me [^Llet pass from me] this ·cup of suffering [^Lcup; ^Csuffering is metaphorically portrayed as something bitter to drink]. But do ·what you want [your will], not ·what I want [my will].” ⁴⁰ Then Jesus went back to his ·followers [disciples] and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “You men could not ·stay awake [watch] with me for one hour? ⁴¹ ·Stay awake [Keep watch] and pray for strength ·against temptation [or not to fail the test]. The spirit ·wants to do what is right [is willing], but ·the body [or human nature; ^Tthe flesh] is weak.”

⁴² Then Jesus went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for ·this painful thing [^Lthis thing; ^Cthe cup of suffering; v. 39] to be taken from me, and if I must ·do [drink] it, ·I pray that what you want [^Lmay your] will be done.”

⁴³ Then he went back to his ·followers [disciples], and again he found them asleep, because their eyes were heavy. ⁴⁴ So Jesus left them and went away and prayed a third time, saying the same thing.

⁴⁵ Then Jesus went back to his ·followers [disciples] and said, “·Are you still sleeping and resting? [or Go ahead, sleep and have your rest!] The time has come for the Son of Man to be ·handed over to [^Lbetrayed/delivered into the hands of] sinful people. ⁴⁶ Get up, we must go. Look, here comes ·the man who has turned against me [my betrayer].”

Wickedness in the Church

5 It is actually being ·said [reported] that there is sexual sin among you. And it is a kind that ·does not happen [or is not tolerated] even among ·people who do not know God [pagans; Gentiles]. A man there ·has [is living in sin with; is sleeping with] his father’s wife [^Cprobably his stepmother; Lev. 18:7–8; 20:11]. ² And you are ·proud [arrogant; puffed up]! ·You should [^LShould you not…?] have been filled with ·sadness [grief; mourning] so that the man who did this should be put out of your group. ³ I am not there with you in person, but I am with you in spirit. And I have already ·judged [condemned] the man who did that sin as if I were really there. ⁴ When you meet together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I meet with you in spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus, ⁵ then hand this man over to Satan. So his ·sinful self will be destroyed [sinful nature will be purged; or body/flesh will be destroyed; or body will be beaten down by sin], and his spirit will be saved on the day of the Lord.

⁶ Your ·bragging [boasting] is not good. You know the saying, “Just a little ·yeast [or leaven; ^Cleaven is a small lump of fermented dough used to make a loaf rise, as yeast is today] makes the whole batch of dough rise [^Cyeast/leaven symbolizes the permeating influence of this man’s sin within the community; Gal. 5:9].” ⁷ ·Take out all [Cleanse; Purge] the old ·yeast [leaven] so that you will be a new batch of dough without ·yeast [leaven], which you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed [^CChrist’s sacrificial death rescued us from spiritual death, just as the blood of the first Passover lambs rescued the children of Israel; Ex. 11—12]. ⁸ So let us celebrate this feast [^Ca new kind of Passover feast], but not with the bread that has the old ·yeast [leaven]—the ·yeast [leaven] of ·sin [evil; malice] and wickedness [^Cunleavened bread was used in the Passover celebration; Ex. 12:15; Deut. 16:3]. Let us celebrate this feast with the bread that has no ·yeast [leaven]—the bread of ·goodness [sincerity] and truth.

⁹ I wrote you in my earlier letter not to associate with those who sin sexually. ¹⁰ But I did not [^Lat all] mean you should not associate with those of this world who sin sexually, or with the greedy, or ·robbers [or swindlers], or those who worship idols. To get away from them you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ I am writing to tell you that you must not associate with those who call themselves ·believers in Christ [a brother or sister] but who sin sexually, or are greedy, or worship idols, or ·abuse others with words [slander], or get drunk, or ·cheat [swindle] people. Do not even eat with people like that.

It is not my business to judge those who are ·not part of the church [^Loutside]. God will judge them. But you must judge the people who are ·part of the church [^Linside]. The Scripture says, “You must ·get rid of [expel; remove] the evil person among you [Deut. 17:7; 19:19; 22:21, 24; 24:7].”

The Unity of the Body

4 [^LTherefore,] As a prisoner [3:1] ·for [because I belong to; or in] the Lord, I urge you to ·live [walk] in a manner worthy of the calling ·you have received [^Lto which you were called]. ² ·Always be [or Be completely] humble, gentle, and patient, ·accepting [putting up/bearing with] each other in love. ³ Make every effort to preserve the unity ·of [provided by; available through] the Spirit ·in [through] the ·peace that joins us together [^Lbond of peace]. ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, and God called you to ·have one hope [^Lone hope of your calling]. ⁵ There is one Lord, one faith, and one baptism. ⁶ There is one God and Father of everything. ·He rules everything and is everywhere and is in everything [^L…who is over all and through all and in all].

⁷ Each one of us has been given the ·special gift of grace [^Lgrace; or gift], ·showing how generous Christ is [or in proportion to Christ’s gift; ^Laccording to the measure of Christ’s gift]. ⁸ That is why it says in the Scriptures,

⁹ When it says, “He ·went up [ascended],” what does it mean? ·It means [^L…except] that he first ·came down [descended] to the ·earth [or lower regions, namely the earth; or the depths of the earth; ^Cprobably refers to (1) the Incarnation, though possibly (2) Christ’s descent to Hades after his death (1 Pet. 3:19–20), or (3) Christ’s descent through the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2)]. ¹⁰ So the one who ·came down [descended] is the same one who ·went up [ascended] above all the heavens. ·Christ did that [^L…in order] to fill ·everything with his presence [^Lall things]. ¹¹ And ·Christ gave gifts to people—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God’s people [^Lhe himself gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors/shepherds, and teachers]. ¹² ·Christ gave those gifts to prepare [^L…to equip] God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. ¹³ This work must continue until we ·are all joined together in the same faith [or all reach unity in the faith] and in the same knowledge of the Son of God. We must become like ·a mature person [or the perfect Man; ^CChrist], ·growing until we become like Christ and have his perfection [^Lto the measure of the stature of Christ’s fullness].

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be ·babies [children]. We will not be tossed about like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be ·influenced by every new teaching [^Lcarried along by every wind of (false) teaching] we hear from people who are trying to ·fool [trick] us. They ·make plans [scheme] and try any kind of trick to fool people into following ·the wrong path [error; false teaching]. ¹⁵ ·No! [Instead; Rather] ·Speaking [or Living out; Practicing] the truth with love, we will grow up in every way into Christ, who is the head. ¹⁶ ·The whole body depends on Christ, and [^L…through/by whom] all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each ·part [supporting joint/ligament] ·does its own work [performs its function] to make the whole body grow and ·be strong with [to build itself up in] love.

The Way You Should Live

¹⁷ ·In the Lord’s name [or By the Lord’s authority; ^LIn the Lord], I ·tell you [^Lspeak and testify to] this. Do not continue ·living [walking] like ·those who do not believe [the pagans; ^Lthe Gentiles], whose thoughts are ·worth nothing [futile]. ¹⁸ They ·do not understand [^Lare darkened in their minds/understanding] and they are ·separated [excluded; alienated] from the life ·God gives [or God has; ^Lof God] because of their ignorance ·and because of [or caused by] ·their stubbornness [or their closed minds; ^Lthe stubbornness of their heart/mind]. ¹⁹ They have lost ·all feeling of shame [or any sense of right and wrong; ^Lall feeling/sensitivity], and they ·use their lives for doing evil [abandon themselves to indecency/depravity]. They ·continually want to do [or greedily pursue] all kinds of ·evil [impurity]. ²⁰ But ·what you learned in Christ was not like this [or that is not how you learned about Christ; ^Lyou did not learn Christ that way]. ²¹ ·I know that [^L…if indeed] you heard ·about him [or him], and you ·are in him, so you were taught the truth that is in Jesus [or were taught by him, because the truth is in Jesus]. ²² You were taught to ·leave [put off; lay aside] your old ·self [^Lperson]—to stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self ·becomes worse [is decaying/being corrupted], because ·people are fooled by the evil things they want to do [^Lof the deceitfulness of their desires]. ²³ But you were taught to be made new in ·your hearts [the spirit/attitude of your minds], ²⁴ to ·become [put on; clothe yourself with] the new ·self [^Lperson; or Man; ^Cbecome like Christ]. That new person is created ·to be like God [or in God’s image; ^Laccording to God]—truly good and holy [or in the righteousness and holiness that comes from truth].

²⁵ So you must stop telling lies. ·Tell each other the truth [^LLet each one of you speak truthfully to his neighbor; Zech. 8:16], because we ·all belong to each other in the same body [^Lare members of one another]. ²⁶ ·When you are angry, [or Be angry, and] do not sin [Ps. 4:4; ^Cthere is a time for righteous anger, but it must not result in sin], and ·be sure to stop being angry before the end of the day [^Ldon’t let the sun set on your anger]. ²⁷ Do not give the devil a ·way to defeat you [foothold; opportunity]. ²⁸ Those who are stealing must stop stealing and start working. They should ·earn an honest living for themselves [do something good/useful with their hands]. Then they will have something to share with those who ·are poor [^Lhave need].

²⁹ Don’t ·say anything that will hurt others [^Llet any rotten/unhealthy word come from your mouth], but only say what is ·helpful [good] to ·make others stronger [build others up] ·and meet [^Laccording to] their needs. Then what you say will ·do good [give grace; be a gift] to those who listen to you. ³⁰ And do not ·make the Holy Spirit sad [grieve/bring sorrow to the Holy Spirit]. ·The Spirit is God’s proof that you belong to him and he will make you free when the final day comes […by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption]. ³¹ Do not be bitter or angry or ·mad [raging]. Never shout angrily or ·say things to hurt [slander; insult] others. ·Never do anything [Get rid of all kinds of] evil. ³² Be kind and ·loving [compassionate; tenderhearted] to each other, and forgive each other just as God forgave you in Christ.

¹¹ ·He was too old to have children, and Sarah [or Sarah was too old and] ·could not have children [was barren/sterile]. It was by faith that ·Abraham was made able to become a father, because he [or Sarah was made able to bear children, because she] ·trusted God [^Lconsidered God faithful/trustworthy] to do what he had promised^[a] [Gen. 21:2]. ¹² This man was so old he was ·almost [as good as] dead, but from ·him [^Lone man] ·came [^Lwere fathered/^Tbegotten] as many descendants as there are stars in the sky. Like the sand on the seashore, they could not be counted [Gen. 15:5; 22:17; 32:12].

¹³ All these great people died in faith. They did not ·get [receive] the things that God promised his people, but they saw them ·coming far in the future [^Lfrom afar] and ·were glad [welcomed/greeted them]. They ·said [acknowledged/recognized that] they were like ·strangers [foreigners] and ·visitors [sojourners; refugees; resident aliens] on earth. ¹⁴ When people say such things, they show they are looking for a ·country that will be their own [homeland]. ¹⁵ If they had been thinking about the country they had left, they ·could have gone back [^Lwould have had an opportunity to return]. ¹⁶ But [as it is; ^Lnow] they were ·waiting [desiring; longing] for a better country—a heavenly one. So God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them.

¹⁷ It was by faith that Abraham, when God tested him, offered his son Isaac as a sacrifice [Gen. 22:1–10]. ·God made the promises to Abraham, but Abraham [^LThe one who received the promises] was ready to offer his ·own [unique; one of a kind; John 3:16] son as a sacrifice. ¹⁸ God had said, “·The descendants I promised you will be from Isaac [Through Isaac your offspring/seed will carry on your name; Gen. 21:12].” ¹⁹ Abraham ·believed [considered; reasoned] that God ·could [had the power to] raise the dead, and ·really [in one sense; in a manner of speaking; figuratively speaking], it was as if Abraham ·got [received] Isaac back from death.

²⁰ It was by faith that Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau ·in regard to their future [^Lconcerning things to come; Gen. 27].

The 144,000 People of Israel

7 After ·the vision of these things [^Lthis] I saw four angels standing at the four corners [^Cfrom every direction] of the earth. The angels were ·holding [restraining] the four winds [Dan. 7:2; 8:8; 11:4] of the earth to keep them from blowing on the land or on the sea or on any tree. ² Then I saw another angel coming up from the ·east [^Lrising of the sun] who had the seal [5:1] of the living God. And he ·called out [cried out; shouted] in a loud voice to the four angels to whom God had given power to ·harm [damage] the earth and the sea. ³ He said to them, “Do not ·harm [damage] the land or the sea or the trees until we ·mark with a sign [place a seal upon] the foreheads [^Cto spare them from harm; Ezek. 9:4–6] of the ·people who serve [^Lthe slaves/servants of] our God.” ⁴ Then I heard how many people were ·marked with the sign [sealed]. There were one hundred forty-four thousand [^Cthe square of 12 multiplied by 1000; a symbolic number indicating completeness] from every tribe of the ·people [children; sons] of Israel.

The Great Crowd Worships God

⁹ After ·the vision of these things [^Lthese things] I looked, and ·there was a great number of people [^Lbehold a great crowd/multitude], so many that no one could count them. They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language of the earth. They were all standing before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes [^Csignifying high status and purity] and holding palm branches [^Cused to celebrate a festive occasion, specifically a victory] in their hands. ¹⁰ They were ·shouting [crying out] in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ¹¹ [^LAnd] All the angels were standing around the throne and the elders [4:4] and the four living creatures. They all ·bowed [fell] down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying, “Amen [^CHebrew for “so be it”]! ·Praise [Blessing], glory, wisdom, thanks, honor, power, and ·strength [might] belong to our God forever and ever. Amen!”

¹³ Then one of the elders asked me, “Who are these people dressed in white robes? Where did they come from?”

¹⁴ I answered, “You know, ·sir [or my lord].”

And the elder said to me, “These are the people who have come out of the great ·distress [persecution; tribulation]. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb [^Chaving believed in Jesus, their sins are forgiven through Christ’s death and resurrection]. ¹⁵ Because of this, they are before the throne of God. They worship him day and night in his temple. And the One who sits on the throne will ·be present with [dwell with; or shelter; spread his tent over] them. ¹⁶ Those people will never be hungry again, and they will never be thirsty again. The sun will not ·hurt [strike; beat on; Is. 49:10] them, and no [scorching] heat will burn them, ¹⁷ because the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd [Ps. 23; John 10]. He will ·lead [guide] them to springs of ·water that give life [living water; the water of life; John 4:14]. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes [21:4; Is. 25:8].”