¹pNow these are the nations that the Lord left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan. ²It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before. ³These are the nations: qthe five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. ⁴They were for rthe testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the Lord, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses. ⁵So the people of Israel lived samong the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁶tAnd their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.

Othniel

⁷uAnd the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and vthe Asheroth. ⁸Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, wand he sold them into the hand of xCushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years. ⁹But when the people of Israel ycried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up a zdeliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, aOthniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother. ¹⁰bThe Spirit of the Lord was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the Lord gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim. ¹¹cSo the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.

Ehud

¹²dAnd the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon ethe king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the fAmalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of gthe city of palms. ¹⁴And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵Then the people of Israel hcried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them ha deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, ia left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit1 in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. ¹⁷And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. ¹⁹But he himself turned back jat the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. ²⁰And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his kcool roof chamber. lAnd Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²²And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. ²³Then Ehud went out into the porch2 and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him mand locked them.

²⁴When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, n“Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” ²⁵And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

²⁶Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond othe idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷When he arrived, phe sounded the trumpet in qthe hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. ²⁸And he said to them, “Follow after me, rfor the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized sthe fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. ²⁹And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. ³⁰So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. tAnd the land had rest for eighty years.

Shamgar

³¹After him was uShamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines vwith an oxgoad, and he also wsaved Israel.

Stephen's Speech

¹And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” ²And Stephen said:

j“Brothers and fathers, hear me. kThe God lof glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, mbefore he lived in Haran, ³and said to him, n‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ ⁴mThen he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And oafter his father died, pGod removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. ⁵Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot's length, but promised qto give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, rthough he had no child. ⁶And God spoke to this effect—that shis offspring would tbe sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them ufour hundred years. ⁷‘But vI will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out wand worship me in this place.’ ⁸And xhe gave him the covenant of circumcision. And yso Abraham became the father of Isaac, and zcircumcised him on the eighth day, and aIsaac became the father of Jacob, and bJacob of the twelve patriarchs.

⁹“And the patriarchs, cjealous of Joseph, dsold him into Egypt; but eGod was with him ¹⁰and rescued him out of all his afflictions and fgave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, gwho made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. ¹¹Now hthere came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. ¹²iBut when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. ¹³And jon the second visit kJoseph made himself known to his brothers, and lJoseph's family became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴And mJoseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, nseventy-five persons in all. ¹⁵And oJacob went down into Egypt, and phe died, he qand our fathers, ¹⁶and rthey were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that sAbraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

¹⁷“But tas the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, uthe people increased and multiplied in Egypt ¹⁸until there arose over Egypt another king vwho did not know Joseph. ¹⁹wHe dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, xso that they would not be kept alive. ²⁰yAt this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God's sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father's house, ²¹and zwhen he was exposed, Pharaoh's daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. ²²And Moses awas instructed in ball the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was cmighty in his words and deeds.

²³“When he was forty years old, it came into his heart dto visit his brothers, the children of Israel. ²⁴And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. ²⁵He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. ²⁶eAnd on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ ²⁷But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, f‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? ²⁸Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ ²⁹At this retort gMoses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, hwhere he became the father of two sons.

³⁰“Now when forty years had passed, ian angel appeared to him jin the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. ³¹When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ³²k‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. ³³Then the Lord said to him, l‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ³⁴mI have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and nhave heard their groaning, and oI have come down to deliver them. pAnd now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

³⁵“This Moses, whom they rejected, qsaying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer rby the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶sThis man led them out, performing twonders and signs uin Egypt and vat the Red Sea and win the wilderness for xforty years. ³⁷This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you ya prophet like me from your brothers.’ ³⁸This is the one zwho was in the congregation in the wilderness with athe angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. bHe received cliving doracles to give to us. ³⁹Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and ein their hearts they turned to Egypt, ⁴⁰saying to Aaron, f‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ ⁴¹And gthey made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and hwere rejoicing in ithe works of their hands. ⁴²But jGod turned away and kgave them over to worship lthe host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

m“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,

nduring the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

⁴³You took up the tent of oMoloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship;

and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

⁴⁴“Our fathers had pthe tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses qdirected him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. ⁴⁵Our fathers in turn rbrought it in with Joshua when they sdispossessed the nations tthat God drove out before our fathers. So it was uuntil the days of David, ⁴⁶vwho found favor in the sight of God and wasked to find a dwelling place for xthe God of Jacob.1 ⁴⁷But it was ySolomon who built a house for him. ⁴⁸zYet the Most High does not dwell ain houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

⁴⁹b“‘Heaven is my throne,

cand the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is the place of my rest?

⁵⁰Did not my hand make all these things?’

⁵¹d“You stiff-necked people, euncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. fAs your fathers did, so do you. ⁵²gWhich of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of hthe Righteous One, iwhom you have now betrayed and murdered, ⁵³you who received the law jas delivered by angels and kdid not keep it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴Now when they heard these things lthey were enraged, and they mground their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But he, nfull of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw othe glory of God, and Jesus standing pat the right hand of God. ⁵⁶And he said, “Behold, I see qthe heavens opened, and rthe Son of Man standing pat the right hand of God.” ⁵⁷But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together2 at him. ⁵⁸Then sthey cast him out of the city and tstoned him. And uthe witnesses laid down their garments vat the feet of a young man named Saul. ⁵⁹And as they were stoning Stephen, whe called out, “Lord Jesus, xreceive my spirit.” ⁶⁰And yfalling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, z“Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, ahe fell asleep.

Famine, Sword, and Death

¹The word of the Lord came to me: ²“You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place. ³For thus says the Lord concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land: ⁴jThey shall die of deadly diseases. kThey shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. lThey shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. mThey shall perish by the sword and by famine, nand their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.

⁵“For thus says the Lord: oDo not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the Lord. ⁶Both great and small shall die in this land. kThey shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or pcut himself qor make himself bald for them. ⁷No one shall rbreak bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother. ⁸You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink. ⁹For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: sBehold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.

¹⁰“And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, t‘Why has the Lord pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the Lord our God?’ ¹¹then you shall say to them: u‘Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the Lord, and vhave gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law, ¹²and because wyou have done worse than your fathers, for behold, xevery one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. ¹³Therefore yI will hurl you out of this land into za land that neither you nor your fathers have known, aand there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.’

The Lord Will Restore Israel

¹⁴b“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, c‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ ¹⁵but c‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel dout of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For eI will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.

¹⁶“Behold, fI am sending for many fishers, declares the Lord, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out gof the clefts of the rocks. ¹⁷For hmy eyes are on all their ways. iThey are not hidden from me, inor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes. ¹⁸But first jI will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and khave filled my inheritance with their abominations.”

¹⁹lO Lord, my strength and my stronghold,

mmy refuge in the day of trouble,

nto you shall the nations come

from the ends of the earth and say:

“Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies,

oworthless things in which there is no profit.

²⁰Can man make for himself pgods?

Such are not gods!”

²¹“Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that qmy name is the Lord.”

Jesus Heals a Paralytic

¹And when he returned to tCapernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. ²And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. ³uAnd they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. ⁴And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, vthey removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. ⁵And when Jesus wsaw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, xyour sins are forgiven.” ⁶Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, ⁷“Why does this man speak like that? yHe is blaspheming! zWho can forgive sins but God alone?” ⁸And immediately Jesus, aperceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? ⁹Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? ¹⁰But that you may know that bthe Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— ¹¹“I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” ¹²And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and cglorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”

Jesus Calls Levi

¹³He went out again beside the sea, and dall the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴eAnd as he passed by, he saw fLevi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵And as he reclined at table in his house, many gtax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶And hthe scribes of1 the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, g“Why does he eat2 with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. iI came not to call the righteous, jbut sinners.”

A Question About Fasting

¹⁸Now kJohn's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, l“Why do John's disciples and mthe disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” ¹⁹And Jesus said to them, n“Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. ²⁰oThe days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and pthen they will fast in that day. ²¹No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. ²²And no one puts new wine into old qwineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”3

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath

²³rOne Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples sbegan to pluck heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, twhy are they doing uwhat is not lawful on the Sabbath?” ²⁵And he said to them, v“Have you never read wwhat David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: ²⁶how he entered the house of God, in the time of4 xAbiathar the high priest, and ate ythe bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” ²⁷And he said to them, z“The Sabbath was made for man, anot man for the Sabbath. ²⁸So bthe Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”