⁷ “But,” someone might still argue, “how can God condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?”

⁴ Of course not! Even if everyone else is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say about him,

¹⁹ Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

²⁰ No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”

²⁷ The people in Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus as the one the prophets had spoken about. Instead, they condemned him, and in doing this they fulfilled the prophets’ words that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸ They found no legal reason to execute him, but they asked Pilate to have him killed anyway.

²⁹ “When they had done all that the prophecies said about him, they took him down from the cross^[a] and placed him in a tomb.

Peter Denies Jesus

⁶⁹ Meanwhile, Peter was sitting outside in the courtyard. A servant girl came over and said to him, “You were one of those with Jesus the Galilean.”

⁷⁰ But Peter denied it in front of everyone. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said.

⁷¹ Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.^[a]”

⁷² Again Peter denied it, this time with an oath. “I don’t even know the man,” he said.

⁷³ A little later some of the other bystanders came over to Peter and said, “You must be one of them; we can tell by your Galilean accent.”

⁷⁴ Peter swore, “A curse on me if I’m lying—I don’t know the man!” And immediately the rooster crowed.

⁷⁵ Suddenly, Jesus’ words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And he went away, weeping bitterly.

³⁴ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

¹⁰ And Elisha replied, “Go and tell him, ‘You will surely recover.’ But actually the Lord has shown me that he will surely die!” ¹¹ Elisha stared at Hazael^[a] with a fixed gaze until Hazael became uneasy.^[b] Then the man of God started weeping.

¹² “What’s the matter, my lord?” Hazael asked him.

Elisha replied, “I know the terrible things you will do to the people of Israel. You will burn their fortified cities, kill their young men with the sword, dash their little children to the ground, and rip open their pregnant women!”

¹³ Hazael responded, “How could a nobody like me^[c] ever accomplish such great things?”

Elisha answered, “The Lord has shown me that you are going to be the king of Aram.”

¹⁴ When Hazael left Elisha and went back, the king asked him, “What did Elisha tell you?”

And Hazael replied, “He told me that you will surely recover.”

¹⁵ But the next day Hazael took a blanket, soaked it in water, and held it over the king’s face until he died. Then Hazael became the next king of Aram.

²⁶ When the prophet heard the report, he said, “It is the man of God who disobeyed the Lord’s command. The Lord has fulfilled his word by causing the lion to attack and kill him.”

²⁷ Then the prophet said to his sons, “Saddle a donkey for me.” So they saddled a donkey, ²⁸ and he went out and found the body lying in the road. The donkey and lion were still standing there beside it, for the lion had not eaten the body nor attacked the donkey. ²⁹ So the prophet laid the body of the man of God on the donkey and took it back to the town to mourn over him and bury him. ³⁰ He laid the body in his own grave, crying out in grief, “Oh, my brother!”

³¹ Afterward the prophet said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried. Lay my bones beside his bones. ³² For the message the Lord told him to proclaim against the altar in Bethel and against the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria will certainly come true.”

²³ But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him.