Abraham and the Covenant of Circumcision

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty;1 walk before me, and be nblameless, ²that I may make my covenant between me and you, and omay multiply you greatly.” ³Then Abram pfell on his face. And God said to him, ⁴“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be qthe father of a multitude of nations. ⁵No longer shall your name be called Abram,2 but ryour name shall be Abraham,3 sfor I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. ⁶I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make tyou into nations, and ukings shall come from you. ⁷And I will vestablish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, wto be God to you and to your offspring after you. ⁸And xI will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and yI will be their God.”

⁹And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. ¹⁰This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. ¹¹You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a zsign of the covenant between me and you. ¹²He who is aeight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bbought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, ¹³both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. ¹⁴Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Isaac's Birth Promised

¹⁵And God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah4 shall be her name. ¹⁶I will bless her, and moreover, I will cgive5 you a son by her. I will bless her, and dshe shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.” ¹⁷Then Abraham efell on his face fand laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” ¹⁸And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” ¹⁹God said, “No, but gSarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name hIsaac.6 I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. ²⁰As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and imultiply him greatly. He jshall father twelve princes, and kI will make him into a great nation. ²¹But lI will establish my covenant with Isaac, mwhom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year.”

²²When he had finished talking with him, nGod went up from Abraham. ²³Then Abraham took Ishmael his son and all those born in his house or bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house, and he circumcised the flesh of their foreskins that very day, as God had said to him. ²⁴Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁵And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. ²⁶That very day Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised. ²⁷And all the men of his house, those born in the house and those bought with money from a foreigner, were circumcised with him.

The Pharisees and Sadducees Demand Signs

¹fAnd the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and gto test him hthey asked him to show them ia sign from heaven. ²He answered them,1 j“When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ ³And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ kYou know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret lthe signs of the times. ⁴mAn evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So nhe left them and departed.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

⁵When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶Jesus said to them, “Watch and obeware of pthe leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” ⁸But qJesus, aware of this, said, r“O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? ⁹sDo you not yet perceive? Do you not remember tthe five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹⁰Or uthe seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹¹How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? oBeware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹²vThen they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of wthe teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

¹³xNow when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴And they said, “Some say yJohn the Baptist, others say zElijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter replied, a“You are bthe Christ, cthe Son of dthe living God.” ¹⁷And Jesus answered him, e“Blessed are you, fSimon Bar-Jonah! For gflesh and blood has not revealed this to you, hbut my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you, iyou are Peter, and jon this rock2 I will build my church, and kthe gates of lhell3 shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you mthe keys of the kingdom of heaven, and nwhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed4 in heaven.” ²⁰oThen he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

²¹pFrom that time Jesus began to show his disciples that qhe must go to Jerusalem and rsuffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on sthe third day be raised. ²²And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord!5 This shall never happen to you.” ²³But he turned and said to Peter, t“Get behind me, Satan! You are ua hindrance6 to me. For you vare not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus

²⁴Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him wdeny himself and xtake up his cross and follow me. ²⁵For xwhoever would save his life7 will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. ²⁶For ywhat will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or zwhat shall a man give in return for his soul? ²⁷aFor the Son of Man is going to come with bhis angels in the glory of his Father, and cthen he will repay each person according to what he has done. ²⁸Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not dtaste death euntil they see the Son of Man fcoming in his kingdom.”

Conspiracy Against Nehemiah

¹Now when aSanballat and Tobiah and bGeshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (calthough up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), ²Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of dOno.” But they intended to do me harm. ³And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” ⁴And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. ⁵In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. ⁶In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem1 also says it, that you and ethe Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. ⁷And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” ⁸Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” ⁹For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God,2 strengthen my hands.

¹⁰Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was fconfined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” ¹¹But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live?3 I will not go in.” ¹²And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, gbut he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. ¹⁴hRemember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also ithe prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

The Wall Is Finished

¹⁵So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. ¹⁶And jwhen all our enemies heard of it, all the nations around us were afraid and fell greatly in their own esteem, kfor they perceived that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. ¹⁷Moreover, in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah's letters came to them. ¹⁸For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of lArah: and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of mMeshullam the son of Berechiah as his wife. ¹⁹Also they spoke of his good deeds in my presence and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

Timothy Joins Paul and Silas

¹Paul1 came also to Derbe and to Lystra. A disciple was there, named zTimothy, athe son of a Jewish woman who was a believer, but his father was a Greek. ²He was well spoken of by bthe brothers2 at Lystra and Iconium. ³Paul wanted Timothy to accompany him, and he ctook him and circumcised him because of the Jews who were in those places, for they all knew that his father was a Greek. ⁴As they went on their way through the cities, they delivered to them for observance dthe decisions ethat had been reached by fthe apostles and elders who were in Jerusalem. ⁵gSo the churches were strengthened in hthe faith, and they increased in numbers idaily.

The Macedonian Call

⁶And jthey went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia. ⁷And when they had come up to Mysia, they attempted to go into Bithynia, but kthe Spirit of Jesus did not allow them. ⁸So, passing by Mysia, they went down lto Troas. ⁹And a vision appeared to Paul in the night: a man of Macedonia was standing there, urging him and saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” ¹⁰And when Paul3 had seen the vision, immediately mwe sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

The Conversion of Lydia

¹¹So, setting sail from Troas, we nmade a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis, ¹²and from there to oPhilippi, which is a leading city of the4 district of Macedonia and pa Roman colony. We remained in this city some days. ¹³And qon the Sabbath day we went outside the gate rto the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we ssat down and spoke to the women who had come together. ¹⁴One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, twho was a worshiper of God. The Lord uopened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵And after she was baptized, vand her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she wprevailed upon us.

Paul and Silas in Prison

¹⁶As we were going to xthe place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had ya spirit of zdivination and abrought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. ¹⁷She followed Paul and us, bcrying out, “These men are cservants of dthe Most High God, who proclaim to you ethe way of salvation.” ¹⁸And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, f“I command you gin the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And hit came out that very hour.

¹⁹But iwhen her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and jdragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. ²⁰And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. ²¹They kadvocate customs that are not lawful for us las Romans to accept or practice.” ²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders mto beat them with rods. ²³And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. ²⁴Having received this order, he put them into the inner nprison and fastened their feet in othe stocks.

The Philippian Jailer Converted

²⁵pAbout midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, ²⁶and suddenly qthere was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately rall the doors were opened, and severyone's bonds were unfastened. ²⁷When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and twas about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” ²⁹And the jailer5 called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he ufell down before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, vwhat must I do to be wsaved?” ³¹And they said, x“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you yand your household.” ³²And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. ³³And he took them zthe same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he awas baptized at once, he and all his family. ³⁴Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he brejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.

³⁵But when it was day, the magistrates sent the police, saying, “Let those men go.” ³⁶And the jailer reported these words to Paul, saying, “The magistrates have sent to let you go. Therefore come out now and go in peace.” ³⁷But Paul said to them, “They have beaten us publicly, cuncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and do they now throw us out secretly? No! Let them come themselves and take us out.” ³⁸The police reported these words to the magistrates, and cthey were afraid when they heard that they were Roman citizens. ³⁹So they came and apologized to them. And they took them out and dasked them to leave the city. ⁴⁰So they went out of the prison and visited eLydia. And when they had seen fthe brothers, they encouraged them and departed.