Book of Common Prayer

²¹ Victory over Sihon and Og.^[a] Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying, ²² “Let us pass through your land. We will not wander into the fields nor into the vineyards. We will not drink water from any well. We will pass along the King’s Highway until we have crossed over your borders.”

²³ But Sihon would not allow Israel to cross over his border. Sihon gathered all of his people and marched out into the desert against Israel. He went out to Jahaz and fought with Israel.

²⁴ But Israel put him to the sword and occupied his land from the Arnon to the Jabbok up to the Ammonite territory (for the boundary with the Ammonites was fortified). ²⁵ Israel captured all of these cities, and Israel settled in all of the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon and in all of its surrounding villages. ²⁶ Heshbon was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, for he had fought with the former king of Moab, conquering all of his lands up to the Arnon. ^27 [b]This is why those who speak in proverbs say,

³¹ So Israel settled in the land of the Amorites. ³² Moses sent out spies to Jazer, and they captured those villages, driving out the Amorites who lived there. ³³ They then turned and went along the road to Bashan.^[d] Og, the king of Bashan, went out with all his people to battle them in Edrei.

³⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Do not be afraid of him, for I have delivered him and all his people and land into your hands. You will do to him what you did to Sihon, the king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon.” ³⁵ So they killed him and his sons and all of his people until there was not a single one alive, and they conquered his land.

¹² Many of them became believers, as did a considerable number of influential Greek women and men.

¹³ However, when the Jews of Thessalonica learned that the word of God was being proclaimed by Paul in Beroea, they followed him there to cause trouble and stir up the crowds. ¹⁴ Therefore, the brethren immediately sent Paul on his way to the coast, while Silas and Timothy remained behind. ¹⁵ After Paul’s escorts brought him as far as Athens, they returned with instructions for Silas and Timothy to join him as soon as possible.

¹⁶ Paul in Athens.^[a] While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was outraged to note that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷ Therefore, he debated in the synagogue with the Jews and God-fearing Gentiles, and also in the city square with whoever chanced to be there. ¹⁸ Even a few Epicurean and Stoic philosophers^[b] argued with him. Some asked, “What is this man babbling about?” Others said, “Apparently, he is here to promote foreign deities,” because he was preaching about Jesus and the resurrection.

¹⁹ Therefore, they took him and brought him to the Areopagus^[c] and asked him, “Can you explain to us what this new doctrine is that you are teaching? ²⁰ You are presenting strange ideas to us, and we would like to find out what they all mean.” ²¹ The major pastime of the Athenians and the foreigners living there was to spend their time telling or listening to the latest ideas.

²² Paul’s Speech at the Areopagus.^[d]Then Paul stood before them in the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens, I have seen how religious you are. ²³ For as I walked around, looking carefully at your shrines, I noticed among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an Unknown God.’ What, therefore, you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you.

²⁴ “The God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in shrines made by human hands. ²⁵ Nor is he served by human hands as though he were in need of anything. Rather, it is he who gives to everyone life and breath and all other things. ²⁶ From one ancestor,^[e] he created all peoples to occupy the entire earth, and he decreed their appointed times and the boundaries of where they would live.

²⁷ “He did all this so that people might seek God in the hope that by groping for him they might find him, even though indeed he is not far from any one of us. ²⁸ For ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’^[f] As even your own poets have said, ‘We are all his offspring.’

²⁹ “Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like an image of gold or silver or stone, fashioned by human art and imagination. ³⁰ God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, but now he commands people everywhere to repent, ³¹ because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world with justice by a man whom he has appointed. He has given public confirmation of this to all by raising him from the dead.”

³² When they heard about the resurrection of the dead, some scoffed, but others said, “We should like to hear you speak further on this subject at another time.” ³³ After that, Paul left them. ³⁴ However, some of them joined him and became believers, including Dionysius^[g] the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, as well as some others.

¹⁰ Jesus Heals a Woman on the Sabbath.^[a] On one Sabbath as Jesus was teaching in the synagogue, ¹¹ a woman was present, possessed by a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and completely unable to stand up straight. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said, “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity.” ¹³ Then he laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God.

¹⁴ But the leader of the synagogue was indignant because Jesus had effected a cure on the Sabbath, and he said to the assembled people, “There are six days when work is permitted. Come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath.” ¹⁵ The Lord said to him in reply, “You hypocrites! Is there a single one of you who does not untie his ox or his donkey and lead it from its stall to give it water on the Sabbath? ¹⁶ Should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has held bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath?” ¹⁷ At these words, all his adversaries were put to shame, and the people rejoiced at all the wonderful things he was doing.