Cain and Abel

¹Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten1 a man with the help of the Lord.” ²And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. ³In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of uthe fruit of the ground, ⁴and Abel also brought of vthe firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord whad regard for Abel and his offering, ⁵but xfor Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. ⁶The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? ⁷yIf you do well, will you not be accepted?2 And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. zIts desire is contrary to3 you, but you must rule over it.”

⁸Cain spoke to Abel his brother.4 And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and akilled him. ⁹Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, b“I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” ¹⁰And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cis crying to me from the ground. ¹¹And now dyou are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. ¹²When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” ¹³Cain said to the Lord, “My epunishment is greater than I can bear.5 ¹⁴Behold, fyou have driven me today away from the ground, and gfrom your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, hand whoever finds me will kill me.” ¹⁵Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him isevenfold.” And the Lord jput a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. ¹⁶Then Cain went away from the presence of the Lord and settled in the land of Nod,6 east of Eden.

¹⁷Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch. ¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad, and Irad fathered Mehujael, and Mehujael fathered Methushael, and Methushael fathered Lamech. ¹⁹And Lamech took two wives. The name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. ²¹His brother's name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. ²²Zillah also bore Tubal-cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives:

“Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;

you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say:

I have killed a man for wounding me,

a young man for striking me.

²⁴kIf Cain's revenge is sevenfold,

then Lamech's is seventy-sevenfold.”

²⁵And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed7 for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.” ²⁶To lSeth also a son was born, and he called his name mEnosh. At that time people began nto call upon the name of the Lord.

The Temptation of Jesus

¹sThen Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness tto be tempted by the devil. ²And after fasting uforty days and forty nights, he vwas hungry. ³And wthe tempter came and said to him, “If you are xthe Son of God, command ythese stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, z“It is written,

a“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

⁵bThen the devil took him to cthe holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple ⁶and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

d“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

⁷Jesus said to him, “Again eit is written, f‘You shall not gput the Lord your God to the test.’” ⁸hAgain, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, iSatan! For jit is written,

k“‘You shall worship the Lord your God

and lhim only shall you serve.’”

¹¹Then the devil left him, and behold, mangels came and were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹²Now when he heard that nJohn had been arrested, ohe withdrew into Galilee. ¹³And leaving pNazareth he went and lived in qCapernaum by rthe sea, in the territory of sZebulun and Naphtali, ¹⁴tso that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:

¹⁵u“The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,

the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—

¹⁶vthe people dwelling in darkness

have seen a great light,

and for those dwelling in the region and wshadow of death,

on them a light has dawned.”

¹⁷xFrom that time Jesus began to preach, saying, z“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”1

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹⁸aWhile walking by bthe Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁹And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you cfishers of men.”2 ²⁰Immediately they left their nets and followed him. ²¹And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. ²²Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Jesus Ministers to Great Crowds

²³dAnd he went throughout all Galilee, eteaching in their synagogues and fproclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and ghealing every disease and every affliction among the people. ²⁴So his fame spread throughout all hSyria, and gthey brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and ipains, jthose oppressed by demons, kthose having seizures, and lparalytics, and he healed them. ²⁵mAnd great crowds followed him from Galilee and the nDecapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

Adversaries Oppose the Rebuilding

¹Now when gthe adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, ²they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers' houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever hsince the days of iEsarhaddon king of Assyria jwho brought us here.” ³But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' houses in Israel said to them, k“You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, las King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

⁴Then mthe people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build ⁵and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

⁶And in the reign of nAhasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

The Letter to King Artaxerxes

⁷In the days of Artaxerxes, Bishlam and oMithredath and Tabeel and the rest of their associates wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia. The letter was written pin Aramaic and translated.1 ⁸Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows: ⁹Rehum the commander, Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their associates, the qjudges, the rgovernors, the officials, the Persians, the men of Erech, the Babylonians, the men of Susa, that is, the sElamites, ¹⁰and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble tOsnappar deported and settled in the cities of Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River. ¹¹(This is a copy of the letter that they sent.) “To Artaxerxes the king: Your servants, the men of the province Beyond the River, send greeting. And now ¹²be it known to the king that the Jews who came up from you to us have gone to Jerusalem. They are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are vfinishing the walls and repairing the foundations. ¹³Now be it known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and the walls finished, they will not pay wtribute, custom, or toll, and the royal revenue will be impaired. ¹⁴Now because we eat the salt of the palace2 and it is not fitting for us to witness the king's dishonor, therefore we send and inform the king, ¹⁵in order that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will find in the book of the records and learn that this city is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from of old. That was why this city was laid waste. ¹⁶We make known to the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls finished, you will then have no possession in the province Beyond the River.”

The King Orders the Work to Cease

¹⁷The king sent an answer: “To Rehum the commander and Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province Beyond the River, greeting. And now ¹⁸the letter that you sent to us has been xplainly read before me. ¹⁹And I made a decree, and search has been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it. ²⁰And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, ywho ruled over the whole province Beyond the River, to whom ztribute, custom, and toll were paid. ²¹Therefore make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city be not rebuilt, until a decree is made by me. ²²And take care not to be slack in this matter. Why should damage grow to the hurt of the king?”

²³Then, when the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum and Shimshai the scribe and their associates, they went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease. ²⁴Then the work on the house of God that is in Jerusalem stopped, and it ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

Peter and John Before the Council

¹And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and lthe captain of the temple and mthe Sadducees came upon them, ²greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming nin Jesus the resurrection from the dead. ³And they arrested them and oput them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. ⁴But many of those who had heard the word believed, and pthe number of the men came to about five thousand.

⁵On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, ⁶with qAnnas the high priest and rCaiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. ⁷And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, s“By what power or tby what name did you do this?” ⁸Then Peter, ufilled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, ⁹if we are being examined today vconcerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, ¹⁰let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that wby the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, xwhom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. ¹¹yThis Jesus1 is the stone that was zrejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.2 ¹²And there is asalvation bin no one else, for cthere is no other dname under heaven given among men3 by which we must be saved.”

¹³eNow when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But seeing the man who was healed fstanding beside them, gthey had nothing to say in opposition. ¹⁵But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, ¹⁶saying, h“What shall we do with these men? For that ia notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them jto speak no more to anyone in this name.” ¹⁸So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John answered them, k“Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, ²⁰for lwe cannot but speak of what mwe have seen and heard.” ²¹And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, nbecause of the people, for all were praising God ofor what had happened. ²²For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

The Believers Pray for Boldness

²³When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. ²⁴And when they heard it, they lifted their voices ptogether to God and said, “Sovereign Lord, qwho made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, ²⁵who through the mouth of our father David, your servant,4 said by the Holy Spirit,

r“‘Why did the Gentiles rage,

and the peoples plot in vain?

²⁶The kings of the earth set themselves,

and sthe rulers were gathered together,

against the Lord and against his tAnointed’5—

²⁷for truly in this city there were gathered together against your uholy servant Jesus, vwhom you anointed, both wHerod and xPontius Pilate, along ywith the Gentiles and zthe peoples of Israel, ²⁸ato do whatever your hand and byour plan had predestined to take place. ²⁹And now, Lord, clook upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all dboldness, ³⁰while eyou stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed fthrough the name of your gholy servant Jesus.” ³¹And when they had prayed, hthe place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and ithey were all filled with the Holy Spirit and jcontinued to speak the word of God with boldness.

They Had Everything in Common

³²Now the full number of those who believed were of kone heart and lsoul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but mthey had everything in common. ³³And with great npower the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and ogreat grace was upon them all. ³⁴pThere was not a needy person among them, for qas many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold ³⁵and rlaid it at the apostles' feet, and sit was distributed to each as any had need. ³⁶Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means tson of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, ³⁷sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and ulaid it at the apostles' feet.