Death, Resurrection Foretold

¹⁷ As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve [disciples] aside, and along the way He said to them, ¹⁸ “Listen carefully: we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes (Sanhedrin, Jewish High Court), and they will [judicially] condemn Him and sentence Him to death, ¹⁹ and will hand Him over to the Gentiles (Roman authorities) to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and He will be raised [to life] on the third day.”

Preferred Treatment Asked

²⁰ Then [Salome] the ^[a]mother of Zebedee’s children [James and John] came up to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down [in respect], asked a favor of Him.^{(A) 21} And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit [in positions of honor and authority] one on Your right and one on Your left.” ²² But Jesus replied, “You do not realize what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup [of suffering] that I am about to drink?” They answered, “We are able.” ²³ He said to them, “You will drink My cup [of suffering]; but to sit on My right and on My left this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

²⁴ And when the [other] ten heard this, they were resentful and angry with the two brothers. ²⁵ But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles have absolute power and lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them [tyrannizing them].^{(B) 26} It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your [willing and humble] slave; ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many [paying the price to set them free from the penalty of sin].”

Sight for the Blind

²⁹ As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.^{(C) 30} And two blind men were sitting by the road, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David (Messiah)!” ³¹ The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David (Messiah) have mercy on us!” ³² Jesus stopped and called them, and asked, “What do you want Me to do for you?” ³³ They answered Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” ³⁴ Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him [as His disciples].

The Lord Provides Manna

16 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of Israel came to the Wilderness of ^[a]Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of Egypt. ² The whole congregation of the Israelites [grew discontented and] murmured and rebelled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³ and the Israelites said to them, “^[b]Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will cause bread to rain from heaven for you; the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may test them [to determine] whether or not they will walk [obediently] in My instruction (law). ⁵ And it shall be that on the sixth day, they shall prepare to bring in twice as much as they gather daily [so that they will not need to gather on the seventh day].” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all Israel, “At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your murmurings against the Lord. What are we, that you murmur and rebel against us?”

The Lord Provides Meat

⁸ Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning [enough] bread to be fully satisfied, because the Lord has heard your murmurings against Him; for what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of Israel, ‘Approach the Lord, because He has heard your murmurings.’” ¹⁰ So it happened that as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory and brilliance of the Lord appeared in the cloud! ¹¹ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites; speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ So in the evening the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a blanket of dew around the camp. ¹⁴ When the layer of dew evaporated, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine, flake-like thing, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “^[c]What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.^{(A) 16} This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every man gather as much of it as he needs. Take an ^[d]omer for each person, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷ The Israelites did so, and some gathered much [of it] and some [only a] little. ¹⁸ When they measured it with an omer, he who had gathered a large amount had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered according to his need (family size). ¹⁹ Moses said, “Let none of it be left [overnight] until [the next] morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses, and some left a supply of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul and rotten; and Moses was angry with them. ²¹ So they gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed, because when the sun was hot it melted.

The Sabbath Observed

²² Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each person; and all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord’; bake and boil what you will bake and boil [today], and all that remains left over put aside for yourselves to keep until morning.” ²⁴ They put it aside until morning, as Moses told them, and it did not become foul nor was it wormy. ²⁵ Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶ Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none [in the field].”

²⁷ Now on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you [people] refuse to keep My commandments and My instructions (laws)? ²⁹ See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you the bread for two days on the sixth day. Let every man stay in his place; no man is to leave his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The house of Israel called the bread manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like flat pastry (wafers) made with honey. ³² Then Moses said, “This is the word which the Lord commands, ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” ³³ So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron [eventually] placed it in the presence of the ^[e]Testimony, to be kept.^{(B) 35} The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they reached an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ (Now an ^[f]omer is the tenth of an ^[g]ephah.)

Water in the Rock

17 Then all the congregation of the children of Israel moved on from the Wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water so we may [have something to] drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you tempt the Lord and try His patience?” ³ But the people were thirsty for water; and the people murmured against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord for help, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at ^[h]Horeb; there you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may [have something to] drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.^{(C) 7} He named the place [where this miracle occurred] Massah (test) and ^[i]Meribah (contention) because of the quarreling of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the [patience of the] Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

Amalek Fought

⁸ Then ^[j]Amalek [and his people] came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. ⁹ So Moses said to ^[k]Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek [and his people]. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses said, and fought with Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and ^[l]Hur went up to the hilltop. ¹¹ Now when Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and when he lowered his hand [due to fatigue], Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands were heavy and he grew tired. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other side; so it was that his hands were steady until the sun set. ¹³ So Joshua overwhelmed and defeated ^[m]Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in the book as a memorial and ^[n]recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the memory of Amalek [and his people] from under heaven.”^{(D) 15} And Moses built an altar and named it ^[o]The Lord Is My Banner; ¹⁶ saying, “The Lord has sworn [an oath]; the Lord will have war against [the people of] Amalek from generation to generation.”