Danites Take the Levite and the Idol

¹jIn those days there was no king in Israel. And in those days kthe tribe of the people of Dan was seeking for itself an inheritance to dwell in, for until then no inheritance among the tribes of Israel had fallen to them. ²So the people of Dan sent five able men from the whole number of their tribe, lfrom Zorah and from Eshtaol, mto spy out the land and to explore it. And they said to them, “Go and explore the land.” And they came nto the hill country of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, and lodged there. ³When they were by the house of Micah, they recognized the voice of the young Levite. And they turned aside and said to him, “Who brought you here? What are you doing in this place? What is your business here?” ⁴And he said to them, “This is how Micah dealt with me: ohe has hired me, and I have become his priest.” ⁵And they said to him, p“Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” ⁶And the priest said to them, q“Go in peace. The journey on which you go is under the eye of the Lord.”

⁷Then the five men departed and came to rLaish and saw the people who were there, how they lived in security, after the manner of the Sidonians, squiet and unsuspecting, lacking1 nothing that is in the earth and possessing wealth, and how tthey were far from the Sidonians and had no dealings with anyone. ⁸And when they came to their brothers at uZorah and Eshtaol, their brothers said to them, “What do you report?” ⁹They said, v“Arise, and let us go up against them, for we have seen the land, and behold, it is very good. wAnd will you do nothing? xDo not be slow to go, to enter in and possess the land. ¹⁰As soon as you go, you will come to an yunsuspecting people. The land is spacious, for God has given it into your hands, za place where there is no lack of anything that is in the earth.”

¹¹So 600 men of the tribe of Dan, aarmed with weapons of war, set out from Zorah and Eshtaol, ¹²and went up and encamped at Kiriath-jearim in Judah. On this account that place is called bMahaneh-dan2 to this day; behold, it is west of cKiriath-jearim. ¹³And they passed on from there to dthe hill country of Ephraim, and came to the house of Micah.

¹⁴Then the five men who had gone to scout out the country of Laish said to their brothers, “Do you know that ein these houses there are an ephod, household gods, a carved image, and a metal image? Now therefore consider what you will do.” ¹⁵And they turned aside there and came to the house of the young Levite, at the home of Micah, and fasked him about his welfare. ¹⁶Now the 600 men of the Danites, garmed with their weapons of war, stood by the entrance of the gate. ¹⁷And hthe five men who had gone to scout out the land went up and entered and took ithe carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, while the priest stood by the entrance of the gate with the 600 men armed with weapons of war. ¹⁸And when these went into Micah's house and took ithe carved image, the ephod, the household gods, and the metal image, the priest said to them, “What are you doing?” ¹⁹And they said to him, “Keep quiet; jput your hand on your mouth and come with us and be to us ka father and a priest. Is it better for you to be priest to the house of one man, or to be priest to a tribe and clan in Israel?” ²⁰And the priest's heart was glad. He took the ephod and the household gods and the carved image and went along with the people.

²¹So they turned and departed, putting the little ones and the livestock and lthe goods in front of them. ²²When they had gone a distance from the home of Micah, the men who were in the houses near Micah's house were called out, and they overtook the people of Dan. ²³And they shouted to the people of Dan, who turned around and said to Micah, “What is the matter with you, that you come with such a company?” ²⁴And he said, m“You take my gods that I made and the priest, and go away, and what have I left? How then do you ask me, ‘What is the matter with you?’” ²⁵And the people of Dan said to him, “Do not let your voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows fall upon you, and you lose your life with the lives of your household.” ²⁶Then the people of Dan went their way. And when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back to his home.

²⁷But the people of Dan took what Micah had made, and the priest who belonged to him, and they came to Laish, to a people nquiet and unsuspecting, and ostruck them with the edge of the sword and burned the city with fire. ²⁸And there was no deliverer because it was pfar from Sidon, and they had no dealings with anyone. It was in the valley that belongs to qBeth-rehob. Then they rebuilt the city and lived in it. ²⁹And they named the city rDan, after the name of Dan their ancestor, who was born to Israel; but sthe name of the city was Laish at the first. ³⁰And the people of Dan set up the carved image for themselves, and Jonathan the son of Gershom, tson of Moses,3 uand his sons were priests to the tribe of the Danites until the day vof the captivity of the land. ³¹So they set up Micah's carved image that he made, was long as the house of God was at Shiloh.

¹w“Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.”

²And when they heard that he was addressing them in xthe Hebrew language,1 they became even more quiet. And he said:

³y“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated zat the feet of aGamaliel2 baccording to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, cbeing zealous for God das all of you are this day. ⁴eI persecuted fthis Way gto the death, binding and delivering to prison both men and women, ⁵as hthe high priest and ithe whole council of elders can bear me witness. From them I received letters to jthe brothers, and I journeyed toward Damascus to take those also who were there and bring them in bonds to Jerusalem to be punished.

⁶k“As I was on my way and drew near to Damascus, about noon a great light from heaven suddenly shone around me. ⁷And I fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to me, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ ⁸And I answered, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said to me, ‘I am lJesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting.’ ⁹mNow those who were with me saw the light but did not understand3 the voice of the one who was speaking to me. ¹⁰And I said, n‘What shall I do, Lord?’ And the Lord said to me, ‘Rise, and go into Damascus, and there you will be told all that is appointed for you to do.’ ¹¹And since I could not see because of the brightness of that light, I was led by the hand by those who were with me, and came into Damascus.

¹²“And oone Ananias, a devout man paccording to the law, qwell spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³rcame to me, and standing by me said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight.’ And sat that very hour I received my sight and saw him. ¹⁴And he said, t‘The God of our fathers uappointed you to know his will, vto see wthe Righteous One and xto hear a voice from his mouth; ¹⁵for yyou will be a witness for him to everyone of what zyou have seen and heard. ¹⁶And now why do you wait? aRise and be baptized and bwash away your sins, ccalling on his name.’

¹⁷d“When I had returned to Jerusalem and ewas praying in the temple, I fell into fa trance ¹⁸and saw him saying to me, g‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not accept your testimony about me.’ ¹⁹And I said, ‘Lord, they themselves know that in one synagogue after another hI imprisoned and ibeat those who believed in you. ²⁰And when the blood of Stephen jyour witness was being shed, kI myself was standing by and lapproving and kwatching over the garments of those who killed him.’ ²¹And he said to me, ‘Go, for I will send you mfar away to the Gentiles.’”

Paul and the Roman Tribune

²²Up to this word they listened to him. Then they raised their voices and said, n“Away with such a fellow from the earth! For ohe should not be allowed to live.” ²³And as they were shouting and throwing off their cloaks and flinging dust into the air, ²⁴the tribune ordered him to be brought into pthe barracks, saying that he should be qexamined by flogging, to find out why they were shouting against him like this. ²⁵But when they had stretched him out for the whips,4 Paul said to the centurion who was standing by, “Is it lawful for you to flog ra man who is a Roman citizen and uncondemned?” ²⁶When the centurion heard this, he went to the tribune and said to him, “What are you about to do? For this man is a Roman citizen.” ²⁷So the tribune came and said to him, “Tell me, are you a Roman citizen?” And he said, “Yes.” ²⁸The tribune answered, “I bought this citizenship for a large sum.” Paul said, “But I am a citizen by birth.” ²⁹So those who were about sto examine him withdrew from him immediately, and the tribune also twas afraid, ufor he realized that Paul was a Roman citizen and that vhe had bound him.

Paul Before the Council

³⁰But on the next day, wdesiring to know the real reason why he was being accused by the Jews, he unbound him and commanded the chief priests and all the council to meet, and he brought Paul down and set him before them.

Jeremiah Buys a Field During the Siege

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord nin the tenth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, owhich was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. ²At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet pwas shut up in qthe court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. ³For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, “Why do you prophesy and say, ‘Thus says the Lord: rBehold, I am giving this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall capture it; ⁴sZedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans, rbut shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. ⁵And the shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. uThough you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed’?”

⁶Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, v‘Buy my field that is at wAnathoth, xfor the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ ⁸Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in qthe court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at wAnathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹“And I bought the field at wAnathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and yweighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰zI signed the deed, asealed it, bgot witnesses, and yweighed the money on scales. ¹¹Then I took the sealed deed of purchase, containing the terms and conditions and the open copy. ¹²And I gave the deed of purchase to cBaruch the son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of Hanamel my cousin, in the presence of dthe witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in qthe court of the guard. ¹³I charged cBaruch in their presence, saying, ¹⁴‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware vessel, that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and efields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land.’

Jeremiah Prays for Understanding

¹⁶“After I had given the deed of purchase to fBaruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying: ¹⁷‘Ah, Lord God! It is gyou who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by hyour outstretched arm! iNothing is too hard for you. ¹⁸jYou show steadfast love to thousands, jbut you repay the guilt of fathers kto their children after them, O great and lmighty God, whose name is the mLord of hosts, ¹⁹ngreat in counsel and omighty in deed, pwhose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man, qrewarding each one according to his ways and according to the fruit of his deeds. ²⁰You have shown rsigns and wonders in the land of Egypt, and to this day in Israel and among all mankind, sand have made a name for yourself, as at this day. ²¹tYou brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and uoutstretched arm, tand with great terror. ²²And you gave them this land, vwhich you swore to their fathers to give them, va land flowing with milk and honey. ²³And they entered and took possession of it. wBut they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing of all you commanded them to do. Therefore you have made all this disaster come upon them. ²⁴Behold, xthe siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and ybecause of sword and famine and pestilence zthe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it. ²⁵Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, a“Buy the field for money band get witnesses”—though zthe city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’”

²⁶The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: ²⁷“Behold, I am the Lord, cthe God of all flesh. dIs anything too hard for me? ²⁸Therefore, thus says the Lord: eBehold, I am giving this city into the hands of the Chaldeans and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall capture it. ²⁹The Chaldeans who are fighting against this city fshall come and set this city on fire and burn it, gwith the houses on whose roofs offerings have been made to Baal gand drink offerings have been poured out to other gods, hto provoke me to anger. ³⁰For the children of Israel and the children of Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight ifrom their youth. The children of Israel have done nothing but hprovoke me to anger jby the work of their hands, declares the Lord. ³¹This city has aroused my anger and wrath, from the day it was built to this day, kso that I will remove it from my sight ³²because of all the evil of the children of Israel and the children of Judah that they did to provoke me to anger—ltheir kings and their officials, their priests and their prophets, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. ³³mThey have turned to me their back and not their face. And though I have taught them npersistently, they have not listened oto receive instruction. ³⁴They set up ptheir abominations in the house that is called by my name, to defile it. ³⁵They built the high places of Baal qin the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, rto offer up their sons and daughters to Molech, sthough I did not command them, nor did it enter into my mind, that they should do pthis abomination, tto cause Judah to sin.

They Shall Be My People; I Will Be Their God

³⁶“Now therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, u‘It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence’: ³⁷vBehold, I will gather them from all the countries wto which I drove them in xmy anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, yand I will make them dwell in safety. ³⁸zAnd they shall be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹aI will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, bfor their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰cI will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. dAnd I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me. ⁴¹eI will rejoice in doing them good, fand I will plant them in this land in faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.

⁴²“For thus says the Lord: gJust as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them. ⁴³hFields shall be bought in this land iof which you are saying, ‘It is a desolation, without man or beast; jit is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.’ ⁴⁴Fields shall be bought for money, and kdeeds shall be signed and ksealed and kwitnessed, lin the land of Benjamin, lin the places about Jerusalem, land in the cities of Judah, lin the cities of the hill country, lin the cities of the Shephelah, and in the cities of the Negeb; for mI will restore their fortunes, declares the Lord.”

Psalm 1

Book One

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

¹Blessed is the man1

who awalks not in bthe counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in cthe way of sinners,

nor dsits in ethe seat of fscoffers;

²but his gdelight is in the law2 of the Lord,

and on his hlaw he meditates day and night.

³He is like ia tree

planted by jstreams of water

that yields its fruit in its season,

and its kleaf does not wither.

lIn all that he does, he prospers.

⁴The wicked are not so,

but are like mchaff that the wind drives away.

⁵Therefore the wicked nwill not stand in the judgment,

nor sinners in othe congregation of the righteous;

⁶for the Lord pknows qthe way of the righteous,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Psalm 2

The Reign of the Lord's Anointed

¹rWhy do sthe nations rage1

and the peoples plot in vain?

²The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord and against his tAnointed, saying,

³“Let us uburst their bonds apart

and cast away their cords from us.”

⁴He who vsits in the heavens wlaughs;

the Lord holds them in derision.

⁵Then he will speak to them in his xwrath,

and terrify them in his fury, saying,

⁶“As for me, I have yset my King

on zZion, my aholy hill.”

⁷I will tell of the decree:

The Lord said to me, b“You are my Son;

today I have begotten you.

⁸Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage,

and cthe ends of the earth your possession.

⁹You shall dbreak2 them with ea rod of iron

and dash them in pieces like fa potter's vessel.”

¹⁰Now therefore, O kings, be wise;

be warned, O rulers of the earth.

¹¹gServe the Lord with hfear,

and irejoice with htrembling.

¹²jKiss kthe Son,

lest he be angry, and you perish in the way,

for his lwrath is quickly kindled.

mBlessed are all who take refuge in him.