Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 “^(A)Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way of the ^[a]Red Sea, as the Lord spoke to me, and we circled ^(B)Mount Seir for many days. ² And the Lord spoke to me, saying, ³ ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, ^4 (C)and command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the ^(D)territory of your brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir; and ^(E)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; ⁵ do not ^[b]provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even as much as a ^[c]footprint, ^(F)because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You are to buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all ^[d]that you have done; He has known your ^[e]wandering through this ^(G)great wilderness. These ^(H)forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked anything.”’

⁸ “So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the ^(I)Arabah road, away from Elath and ^(J)Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not attack Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of ^[f]their land as a possession, because I have given ^(K)Ar to ^(L)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ¹⁰ (The ^(M)Emim lived there previously, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. ¹¹ Like the Anakim, they too are regarded as ^(N)Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. ^12 (O)The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before ^[g]them, and settled in their place; ^(P)just as Israel did to the land of ^[h]their possession which the Lord gave them.) ¹³ ‘Now arise and cross over the ^[i]Wadi Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the ^[j]Wadi Zered. ¹⁴ Now the ^[k]time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the ^[l]Wadi Zered was ^(Q)thirty-eight years, until ^(R)all the generation of the men of war perished from within the camp, just as ^(S)the Lord had sworn to them. ^15 (T)Indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from within the camp until they all perished.

¹⁶ “So it came about, when ^(U)all the men of war had finally perished from among the people, ¹⁷ that the Lord spoke to me, saying, ¹⁸ ‘Today you shall cross over ^(V)Ar, the border of Moab. ¹⁹ When you come opposite the ^(W)sons of Ammon, do not attack them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(X)the sons of Lot as a possession.’ ²⁰ (It is also regarded as the land of the ^(Y)Rephaim, because the Rephaim previously lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, ²¹ a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim; but the Lord destroyed them before ^[m]them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, ²² just as He did for the sons of Esau, who ^(Z)live in Seir, when He destroyed ^(AA)the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place, where they remain even to this day. ²³ And as for the ^(AB)Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the ^[n](AC)Caphtorim, who came from ^[o](AD)Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) ²⁴ ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the ^[p](AE)Valley of Arnon. Look! I have handed over to you Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land; start taking possession and plunge into battle with him. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put ^(AF)the dread and fear of you upon the faces of ^[q]people everywhere, ^[r]who, when they hear the news of you, ^(AG)will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

²⁶ “^(AH)So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ²⁷ ‘Let me pass through your land; I will ^[s]travel only on the road. I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink, ^(AI)only let me pass through on ^[t]foot, ²⁹ just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in ^(AJ)Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.’ ³⁰ But ^(AK)Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass ^[u]through his land; for the ^(AL)Lord your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to hand him over to you, as he is today. ³¹ And the Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to turn Sihon and his land over ^[v]to you. Begin taking possession, so that you may possess his land.’

³² “Then Sihon came out ^[w]with all his people to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ And ^(AM)the Lord our God turned him over ^[x]to us, and we ^[y](AN)defeated him with his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured all his cities at that time and ^[z](AO)utterly destroyed ^[aa]the men, women, and children of every city. We left no survivor. ³⁵ We took ^(AP)only the animals as our plunder, and the spoils of the cities which we had captured. ³⁶ From ^(AQ)Aroer which is on the edge of the ^[ab]Valley of Arnon and from the city which is in the ^[ac]valley, even to Gilead, there was no city that was too ^[ad]high for us; the Lord our God turned it all over ^[ae]to us. ^37 (AR)Only you did not go near the land of the sons of Ammon, all along the ^[af]river ^(AS)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, and wherever the Lord our God had commanded us to avoid.

Conquests Recounted

3 “^(AT)Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, came out ^[ag]with all his people to meet us in battle at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, ‘Do not fear him, for I have handed him and all his people and his land over to you; and you shall do to him just as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’ ³ So the Lord our God also handed over to us Og, king of Bashan, with all his people, and we struck ^[ah]them until no survivor was ^[ai]left. ⁴ We captured all his cities at that time; there was not a city which we did not take from them: sixty cities, all the region of ^(AU)Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All these were cities fortified with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many ^[aj]unwalled towns. ⁶ We ^[ak]utterly destroyed them, as we did to ^(AV)Sihon king of Heshbon, ^[al](AW)utterly destroying ^[am]the men, women, and children of every city. ^7 (AX)But all the animals and the spoils of the cities we took as our plunder.

⁸ “^(AY)So at that time we took the land from the hand of the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, from the ^[an]Valley of Arnon to Mount Hermon ⁹ (Sidonians ^(AZ)call Hermon ^(BA)Sirion, and the Amorites call it ^(BB)Senir): ¹⁰ all the cities of the plateau, all Gilead, and ^(BC)all Bashan, as far as Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ (For only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the ^(BD)Rephaim. Behold, his ^[ao]bed was a ^[ap]bed of iron; it is in ^(BE)Rabbah of the sons of Ammon. Its length was nine cubits, and its width four cubits by ^[aq]the usual cubit.)

¹² “So we took possession of this land at that time. From ^(BF)Aroer, which is by the ^[ar]Valley of Arnon, and half the hill country of ^(BG)Gilead and its cities I gave to the Reubenites and to the Gadites. ¹³ The rest of Gilead and all Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half-tribe of Manasseh, all the region of Argob. (As to all Bashan, it is called the land of Rephaim. ^14 (BH)Jair the son of Manasseh took all the region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites, that is, Bashan, and named ^[as]it after his own name: ^[at]Havvoth-jair, as it is to this day.) ^15 (BI)To Machir I gave Gilead. ¹⁶ To the Reubenites and the Gadites I gave from Gilead even as far as the ^[au]Valley of Arnon, the middle of the ^[av]valley ^[aw]as a border, and as far as the ^[ax]river ^(BJ)Jabbok, the border of the sons of Ammon; ¹⁷ the Arabah also, with the Jordan ^[ay]as a border, from ^[az](BK)Chinnereth ^(BL)even as far as the sea of the Arabah, ^(BM)the Salt Sea, ^[ba]at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ “Then I commanded you at that time, saying, ‘^(BN)The Lord your God has given you this land to possess it; ^(BO)all you ^[bb]valiant men shall cross over armed ahead of your brothers, the sons of Israel. ^19 (BP)However, your wives, your little ones, and your livestock (I know that you have ^(BQ)much livestock) shall remain in your cities which I have given you, ^20 (BR)until the Lord gives rest to your fellow countrymen as to you, and they also take possession of the land which the Lord your God is giving them beyond the Jordan. ^(BS)Then you may return, each man to his possession which I have given you.’ ²¹ And I commanded Joshua at that time, saying, ‘Your eyes have seen everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings; the Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. ²² Do not fear them, for the Lord your God ^(BT)is the One fighting for you.’

²³ “I also pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying, ²⁴ ‘Lord ^[bc]God, You have begun to show Your servant ^(BU)Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what ^(BV)god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours? ²⁵ Please let me cross over and see the ^(BW)good land that is beyond the Jordan, ^[bd]that good hill country, and Lebanon.’ ²⁶ But ^(BX)the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me; instead, the Lord said to me, ‘^[be]Enough! Do not speak to Me any more about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of ^(BY)Pisgah and raise your eyes to the west, the north, the south, and the east, and see it with your eyes; ^(BZ)for you shall not cross over this Jordan. ^28 (CA)But commission Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, ^(CB)for he shall go across ^[bf]leading this people, and he will give to them, as an inheritance, the land which you will see.’ ²⁹ So we remained in the valley opposite ^(CC)Beth-peor.

Choosing the Twelve

¹² Now it was ^[a]at this time that He went off to ^(A)the mountain to ^(B)pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer with God. ¹³ And when day came, ^(C)He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as ^(D)apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom He also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; and ^[b]James and John; and Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ and ^(E)Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

¹⁷ And then Jesus ^(F)came down with them and stood on a level place; and there was ^(G)a large crowd of His disciples, and a great multitude of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem, and the coastal region of ^(H)Tyre and Sidon, ¹⁸ who had come to hear Him and to be healed of their diseases; and those who were troubled by unclean spirits were being cured. ¹⁹ And all the ^[c]people were trying to ^(I)touch Him, because ^(J)power was coming from Him and healing them all.

The Beatitudes

²⁰ And He raised His eyes toward His disciples and began saying, “^(K)Blessed are ^[d]you who are poor, for ^(L)yours is the kingdom of God. ²¹ Blessed are ^[e]you who are hungry now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are ^[f]you who weep now, for you will laugh. ^22 (M)Blessed are you when the people hate you, and when they ^[g](N)exclude you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man. ²³ Rejoice on that day and ^(O)jump for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For their fathers used to ^[h]treat the prophets ^(P)the same way. ²⁴ But woe to ^(Q)you who are rich, for ^(R)you are receiving your comfort in full. ²⁵ Woe to you who ^[i]are well-fed now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. ²⁶ Woe to you when all the people speak well of you; for their fathers used to ^[j]treat the ^(S)false prophets the same way.

²⁷ “But I say to you who hear, ^(T)love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, ^(U)pray for those who are abusive to you. ^29 (V)Whoever hits you on the cheek, offer him the other also; and whoever takes away your ^[k]cloak, do not withhold your ^[l]tunic from him either. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks of you, and whoever takes away what is yours, do not demand it back. ^31 [m](W)Treat people the same way you want them to ^[n]treat you. ^32 (X)If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. ^34 (Y)And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. ³⁵ But ^(Z)love your enemies and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be ^(AA)sons of ^(AB)the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil people. ^36 [o]Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

³⁷ “^(AC)Do not ^[p]judge, and you will not be judged; and do not ^[q]condemn, and you will not be condemned; ^[r](AD)pardon, and you will be pardoned. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. They will ^[s]pour ^(AE)into your lap a ^(AF)good measure—pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return.”

The Nations Exhorted to Praise God.

For the music director; with stringed instruments. A Psalm. A Song.