The Death of Miriam

20 And the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came ^(A)into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. And ^(B)Miriam died there and was buried there.

The Waters of Meribah

^2 (C)Now there was no water for the congregation. ^(D)And they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³ And the people ^(E)quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished ^(F)when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴ Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? ⁵ And ^(G)why have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^(H)fell on their faces. ^(I)And the glory of the Lord appeared to them, ⁷ and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^8 (J)“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So ^(K)you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” ⁹ And Moses took the staff ^(L)from before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

¹⁰ Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ^(M)“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹ And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, ^(N)and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. ¹² And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^(O)you did not believe in me, ^(P)to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” ^13 (Q)These are the waters of Meribah,^[a] where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Edom Refuses Passage

^14 (R)Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to ^(S)the king of Edom: “Thus says ^(T)your brother Israel: You know all the hardship that we have met: ^15 (U)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(V)and we lived in Egypt a long time. ^(W)And the Egyptians dealt harshly with us and our fathers. ¹⁶ And ^(X)when we cried to the Lord, he heard our voice and ^(Y)sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. And here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. ^17 (Z)Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, ^(AA)or drink water from a well. We will go along the King's Highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.” ¹⁸ But Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through, lest I come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹ And the people of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, ^(AB)and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, ^(AC)then I will pay for it. Let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.” ²⁰ But he said, ^(AD)“You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against them with a large army and with a strong force. ²¹ Thus Edom ^(AE)refused to give Israel passage through his territory, so Israel ^(AF)turned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

²² And they journeyed from ^(AG)Kadesh, and the people of Israel, the whole congregation, came to ^(AH)Mount Hor. ²³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, ^24 (AI)“Let Aaron be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel, because ^(AJ)you rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵ Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up to Mount Hor. ²⁶ And strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron ^(AK)shall be gathered to his people and shall die there.” ²⁷ Moses did as the Lord commanded. And they went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ^28 (AL)And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. And Aaron died there ^(AM)on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹ And when all the congregation saw that Aaron had perished, ^(AN)all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.

Arad Destroyed

21 When ^(AO)the Canaanite, the king of Arad, who lived in ^(AP)the Negeb, heard that Israel was coming by the way of Atharim, he fought against Israel, and took some of them captive. ^2 (AQ)And Israel vowed a vow to the Lord and said, “If you will indeed give this people into my hand, then I will devote their cities to destruction.”^{[b] 3} And the Lord heeded the voice of Israel and gave over the Canaanites, and they devoted them and their cities to destruction. So the name of the place was called ^(AR)Hormah.^[c]

The Bronze Serpent

⁴ From Mount Hor ^(AS)they set out by the way to the Red Sea, ^(AT)to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. ⁵ And the people ^(AU)spoke against God and against Moses, ^(AV)“Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and ^(AW)we loathe this worthless food.” ^6 (AX)Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and ^(AY)they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. ^7 (AZ)And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. ^(BA)Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. ⁸ And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” ⁹ So ^(BB)Moses made a bronze^[d] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Song of the Well

¹⁰ And the people of Israel set out and ^(BC)camped in Oboth. ^11 (BD)And they set out from Oboth and ^(BE)camped at Iye-abarim, in the wilderness that is opposite Moab, toward the sunrise. ¹² From there they set out and camped in ^(BF)the Valley of Zered. ¹³ From there they set out and camped on the other side of the Arnon, which is in the wilderness that extends from the border of the Amorites, for the ^(BG)Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites. ¹⁴ Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Lord,

¹⁶ And from there they continued ^(BI)to Beer;^[e] that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that ^(BJ)I may give them water.” ¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song:

And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah, ¹⁹ and from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth, ²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley lying in the region of Moab by the top of Pisgah ^(BL)that looks down on the desert.^[f]

King Sihon Defeated

²¹ Then ^(BM)Israel sent messengers to Sihon king of the Amorites, saying, ^22 (BN)“Let me pass through your land. We will not turn aside into field or vineyard. We will not drink the water of a well. We will go by the King's Highway until we have passed through your territory.” ^23 (BO)But Sihon would not allow Israel to pass through his territory. He gathered all his people together and went out against Israel to the wilderness and ^(BP)came to Jahaz and fought against Israel. ^24 (BQ)And Israel defeated him with the edge of the sword and took possession of his land from the Arnon to the ^(BR)Jabbok, as far as to the Ammonites, for the border of the Ammonites was strong. ²⁵ And Israel took all these cities, and Israel settled in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all its villages. ²⁶ For Heshbon was the city of Sihon the king of the Amorites, who had fought against the former king of Moab and taken all his land out of his hand, as far as the Arnon. ²⁷ Therefore the ^(BS)ballad singers say,

King Og Defeated

³¹ Thus Israel lived in the land of the Amorites. ³² And Moses sent to spy out ^(CB)Jazer, and they captured its villages and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. ³³ Then they turned and went up by the way to Bashan. And Og the king of Bashan came out against them, he and all his people, to battle ^(CC)at Edrei. ^34 (CD)But the Lord said to Moses, “Do not fear him, for I have given him into your hand, and all his people, and his land. And ^(CE)you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” ³⁵ So they defeated him and his sons and all his people, until he had no survivor left. And they possessed his land.

Jesus Sends Out the Seventy-Two

10 After this the Lord appointed ^(A)seventy-two^[a] others and ^(B)sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. ^2 (C)And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. ^(D)Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³ Go your way; ^(E)behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. ^4 (F)Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and ^(G)greet no one on the road. ⁵ Whatever house you enter, first say, ^(H)‘Peace be to this house!’ ⁶ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, ^(I)it will return to you. ⁷ And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for ^(J)the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. ⁸ Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. ⁹ Heal the sick in it and say to them, ^(K)‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ ¹⁰ But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, ^11 (L)‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that ^(M)the kingdom of God has come near.’ ¹² I tell you, ^(N)it will be more bearable on ^(O)that day for Sodom than for that town.

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

^13 (P)“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in ^(Q)Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ^14 (R)But it will be more bearable in the judgment for ^(S)Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, ^(T)will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to ^(U)Hades.

^16 (V)“The one who hears you hears me, and ^(W)the one who rejects you rejects me, and ^(X)the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me.”

The Return of the Seventy-Two

^17 (Y)The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, ^(Z)even the demons are subject to us in your name!” ¹⁸ And he said to them, ^(AA)“I saw Satan ^(AB)fall like lightning from heaven. ¹⁹ Behold, I have given you authority ^(AC)to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of ^(AD)the enemy, and ^(AE)nothing shall hurt you. ^20 (AF)Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that ^(AG)your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus Rejoices in the Father's Will

^21 (AH)In that same hour ^(AI)he rejoiced ^(AJ)in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, ^(AK)Lord of heaven and earth, that ^(AL)you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and ^(AM)revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for ^(AN)such was your gracious will.^{[b] 22 (AO)}All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is ^(AP)except the Father, or who the Father is ^(AQ)except the Son and anyone ^(AR)to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³ Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ^(AS)“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ For I tell you ^(AT)that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

^25 (AU)And behold, a ^(AV)lawyer stood up to ^(AW)put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to ^(AX)inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ And he answered, ^(AY)“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and ^(AZ)your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; ^(BA)do this, and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, ^(BB)desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man ^(BC)was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a ^(BD)priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise ^(BE)a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a ^(BF)Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and ^(BG)bound up his wounds, pouring on ^(BH)oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two ^(BI)denarii^[c] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Martha and Mary

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus^[d] entered a village. And a woman named ^(BJ)Martha ^(BK)welcomed him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called ^(BL)Mary, who ^(BM)sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are ^(BN)anxious and troubled about many things, ⁴² but one thing is necessary.^[e] Mary has chosen ^(BO)the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

My Refuge and My Fortress