The Daughters of Zelophehad

27 Then drew near the daughters of ^(A)Zelophehad the son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Machir, son of Manasseh, from the clans of Manasseh the son of Joseph. The names of his daughters were: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ² And they stood before Moses and before Eleazar the priest and before the chiefs and all the congregation, at the entrance of the tent of meeting, saying, ³ “Our father ^(B)died in the wilderness. He was not among the company of those who gathered themselves together against the Lord ^(C)in the company of Korah, but ^(D)died for his own sin. And he had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? ^(E)Give to us a possession among our father's brothers.”

⁵ Moses ^(F)brought their case before the Lord. ⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, ⁷ “The daughters of Zelophehad ^(G)are right. ^(H)You shall give them possession of an inheritance among their father's brothers and transfer the inheritance of their father to them. ⁸ And you shall speak to the people of Israel, saying, ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall transfer his inheritance to his daughter. ⁹ And if he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ And if he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father's brothers. ¹¹ And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the nearest ^(I)kinsman of his clan, and he shall possess it. And it shall be for the people of Israel ^(J)a statute and rule, as the Lord commanded Moses.’”

Joshua to Succeed Moses

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Go up into ^(K)this mountain of Abarim and see the land that I have given to the people of Israel. ¹³ When you have seen it, you also ^(L)shall be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, ^14 (M)because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing ^(N)to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.” (These are ^(O)the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.) ¹⁵ Moses spoke to the Lord, saying, ¹⁶ “Let the Lord, ^(P)the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation ¹⁷ who ^(Q)shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be ^(R)as sheep that have no shepherd.” ¹⁸ So the Lord said to Moses, “Take ^(S)Joshua the son of Nun, a man ^(T)in whom is the Spirit, and ^(U)lay your hand on him. ¹⁹ Make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation, and you shall ^(V)commission him in their sight. ²⁰ You shall invest him with some of your authority, ^(W)that all the congregation of the people of Israel may obey. ²¹ And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him ^(X)by the judgment of the Urim before the Lord. At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, both he and all the people of Israel with him, the whole congregation.” ²² And Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and made him stand before Eleazar the priest and the whole congregation, ²³ and he laid his hands on him and ^(Y)commissioned him as the Lord directed through Moses.

Vengeance on Midian

31 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (A)“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall ^(B)be gathered to your people.” ³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian. ⁴ You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵ So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand ^(C)armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and ^(D)the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷ They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and ^(E)killed every male. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, ^(F)Evi, Rekem, ^(G)Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed ^(H)Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. ⁹ And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their ^(I)encampments, they burned with fire, ^11 (J)and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast. ¹² Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on ^(K)the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³ Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ And Moses was angry with ^(L)the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, “Have you ^(M)let all the women live? ¹⁶ Behold, ^(N)these, ^(O)on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of ^(P)Peor, and so ^(Q)the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, ^(R)kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸ But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him ^(S)keep alive for yourselves. ^19 (T)Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and ^(U)whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified ^(V)with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. ²⁴ You must ^(W)wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, ²⁷ and ^(X)divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. ²⁸ And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, ^(Y)one out of five hundred, of the people and of the oxen and of the donkeys and of the flocks. ²⁹ Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord. ³⁰ And from the people of Israel's half you shall take ^(Z)one drawn out of every fifty, of the people, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites ^(AA)who keep guard over the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³² Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, ³⁵ and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶ And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ and ^(AB)the Lord's tribute of sheep was 675. ³⁸ The cattle were 36,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 72. ³⁹ The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord's tribute was 61. ⁴⁰ The persons were 16,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 32 persons. ⁴¹ And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, ^(AC)as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴² From the people of Israel's half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army— ⁴³ now the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ and 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 persons— ^47 (AD)from the people of Israel's half Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ Then ^(AE)the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses ⁴⁹ and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. ⁵⁰ And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, ^(AF)to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all crafted articles. ⁵² And all the gold of the contribution that they presented to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.^{[a] 53 (AG)}(The men in the army had each taken plunder for himself.) ⁵⁴ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, ^(AH)as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord.

You Must Be Born Again

3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named ^(A)Nicodemus, ^(B)a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus^{[a] (C)}by night and said to him, ^(D)“Rabbi, ^(E)we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do ^(F)unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is ^(G)born ^(H)again^[b] he cannot ^(I)see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born ^(J)of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ^6 (K)That which is born of the flesh is ^(L)flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.^{[c] 7 (M)}Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You^[d] must be born ^(N)again.’ ^8 (O)The wind^[e] blows ^(P)where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

⁹ Nicodemus said to him, ^(Q)“How can these things be?” ¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel ^(R)and yet you do not understand these things? ¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, ^(S)we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but ^(T)you^[f] do not receive our testimony. ¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things? ^13 (U)No one has ^(V)ascended into heaven except ^(W)he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.^{[g] 14} And ^(X)as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man ^(Y)be lifted up, ¹⁵ that whoever believes ^(Z)in him ^(AA)may have eternal life.^[h]

For God So Loved the World

¹⁶ “For ^(AB)God so loved ^(AC)the world,^{[i] (AD)}that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not ^(AE)perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For ^(AF)God did not send his Son into the world ^(AG)to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. ^18 (AH)Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not ^(AI)believed in the name of the only Son of God. ^19 (AJ)And this is the judgment: ^(AK)the light has come into the world, and ^(AL)people loved the darkness rather than the light because ^(AM)their works were evil. ^20 (AN)For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, ^(AO)lest his works should be exposed. ²¹ But whoever ^(AP)does what is true ^(AQ)comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John the Baptist Exalts Christ

²² After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and ^(AR)was baptizing. ²³ John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized ²⁴ (for ^(AS)John had not yet been put in prison).

²⁵ Now a discussion arose between some of John's disciples and a Jew over ^(AT)purification. ²⁶ And they came to John and said to him, ^(AU)“Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, ^(AV)to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and ^(AW)all are going to him.” ²⁷ John answered, ^(AX)“A person cannot receive even one thing ^(AY)unless it is given him ^(AZ)from heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ^(BA)‘I am not the Christ, but ^(BB)I have been sent before him.’ ^29 (BC)The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. ^(BD)The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, ^(BE)rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete. ^30 (BF)He must increase, but I must decrease.”^[j]

^31 (BG)He who comes from above ^(BH)is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and ^(BI)speaks in an earthly way. ^(BJ)He who comes from heaven ^(BK)is above all. ^32 (BL)He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, ^(BM)yet no one receives his testimony. ³³ Whoever receives his testimony ^(BN)sets his seal to this, ^(BO)that God is true. ³⁴ For he whom ^(BP)God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit ^(BQ)without measure. ^35 (BR)The Father loves the Son and ^(BS)has given all things into his hand. ^36 (BT)Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; ^(BU)whoever does not obey the Son shall not ^(BV)see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.