Book of Common Prayer

12 The men of Efrayim assembled, crossed into Tzafon and said to Yiftach, “Why didn’t you call us to go with you when you went over to fight the people of ‘Amon? We’re ready to burn down your house with you in it!” ² Yiftach answered, “When my people and I were in a serious dispute with the people of ‘Amon, I called you; and you didn’t rescue me from their power. ³ When I saw that you weren’t rescuing me, I put my life in my own hands and went over to attack the people of ‘Amon; and Adonai gave them over into my power. So why have you come up today to fight me?” ⁴ Then Yiftach gathered together all the men of Gil‘ad and fought with Efrayim, and the men of Gil‘ad defeated Efrayim; because they were saying, “You Gil‘ad men who live in Efrayim and M’nasheh have deserted Efrayim!” ⁵ The men of Gil‘ad cut off Efrayim from the crossings over the Yarden, and whenever anyone from Efrayim tried to escape and said, “Let me go across,” the men of Gil‘ad would ask him, “Are you from Efrayim?” and if he said, “No,” ⁶ they would tell him to say “Shibbolet.” If he said, “Sibbolet,” because he could not make his mouth pronounce it right, they took hold of him and killed him on the spot at the Yarden crossing; at that time 42,000 men of Efrayim died.

⁷ Yiftach judged Isra’el for six years. Then Yiftach from Gil‘ad died, and he was buried in one of the cities of Gil‘ad.

¹² Meanwhile, through the emissaries many signs and miracles continued to be done among the people. United in mind and purpose, the believers met in Shlomo’s Colonnade; ¹³ and no one else dared to join them. Nevertheless, the people continued to regard them highly; ¹⁴ and throngs of believers were added to the Lord, both men and women. ¹⁵ They went so far as to bring the sick into the streets and lay them on mattresses and stretchers, so that at least Kefa’s shadow might fall on them as he passed by. ¹⁶ Crowds also gathered from the towns around Yerushalayim, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits; and every one of them was healed.

¹⁷ But the cohen hagadol and his associates, who were members of the party of the Tz’dukim, were filled with jealousy. ¹⁸ They arrested the emissaries and put them in the public jail. ¹⁹ But during the night, an angel of Adonai opened the doors of the prison, led them out and said, ²⁰ “Go, stand in the Temple court and keep telling the people all about this new life!” ²¹ After hearing that, they entered the Temple area about dawn and began to teach.

Now the cohen hagadol and his associates came and called a meeting of the Sanhedrin (that is, of Isra’el’s whole assembly of elders) and sent to the jail to have them brought. ²² But the officers who went did not find them in the prison. So they returned and reported, ²³ “We found the jail securely locked and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened it, we found no one inside!” ²⁴ When the captain of the Temple police and the head cohanim heard these things, they were puzzled and wondered what would happen next.

²⁵ Then someone came and reported to them, “Listen! The men you ordered put in prison are standing in the Temple court, teaching the people!” ²⁶ The captain and his officers went and brought them, but not with force; because they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

3 There was a man among the P’rushim, named Nakdimon, who was a ruler of the Judeans. ² This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know it is from God that you have come as a teacher; for no one can do these miracles you perform unless God is with him.” ³ “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” ⁵ Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. ⁶ What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above! ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.”

⁹ Nakdimon replied, “How can this happen?” ¹⁰ Yeshua answered him, “You hold the office of teacher in Isra’el, and you don’t know this? ¹¹ Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know; and what we give evidence of, we have seen; but you people don’t accept our evidence! ¹² If you people don’t believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? ¹³ No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. ¹⁸ Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son.

¹⁹ “Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won’t be exposed. ²¹ But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God.”