Sarah's Death and Burial

¹Sarah lived 127 years; these were the years of the life of Sarah. ²And Sarah died at dKiriath-arba (that is, eHebron) in the land of Canaan, and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. ³And Abraham rose up from before his dead and said to the Hittites,1 ⁴f“I am a sojourner and foreigner among you; ggive me property among you for a burying place, that I may bury my dead out of my sight.” ⁵The Hittites answered Abraham, ⁶“Hear us, my lord; you are a prince of God2 among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our tombs. None of us will withhold from you his tomb to hinder you from burying your dead.” ⁷Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. ⁸And he said to them, “If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me and entreat for me Ephron the son of Zohar, ⁹that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as property for a burying place.”

¹⁰Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites, and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who hwent in at the gate of his city, ¹¹“No, my lord, hear me: I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it. In the sight of the sons of my people I give it to you. Bury your dead.” ¹²Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. ¹³And he said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, “But if you will, hear me: I give the price of the field. Accept it from me, that I may bury my dead there.” ¹⁴Ephron answered Abraham, ¹⁵“My lord, listen to me: a piece of land worth four hundred ishekels3 of silver, what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.” ¹⁶Abraham listened to Ephron, and Abraham jweighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.

¹⁷So kthe field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, was made over ¹⁸to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, before all who went in at the gate of his city. ¹⁹After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah east of Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. ²⁰The field and the cave that is in it lwere made over to Abraham as property for a burying place by the Hittites.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

¹And again Jesus ospoke to them in parables, saying, ²p“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave qa wedding feast for his son, ³and rsent his servants1 to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. ⁴sAgain he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my tdinner, umy oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ ⁵But vthey paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶while the rest seized his servants, wtreated them shamefully, and xkilled them. ⁷The king was angry, and he sent his troops and ydestroyed those murderers and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not zworthy. ⁹Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ ¹⁰And those servants went out into the roads and bgathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

¹¹“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there ca man who had no wedding garment. ¹²And he said to him, d‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. ¹³Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ecast him into the outer darkness. In that place ethere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴For many are fcalled, but few are fchosen.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

¹⁵gThen the Pharisees went and plotted how hto entangle him in his words. ¹⁶And they sent itheir disciples to him, along with jthe Herodians, saying, “Teacher, kwe know that you are true and teach lthe way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for myou are not swayed by appearances.2 ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay ntaxes to oCaesar, or not?” ¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why pput me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.3 ²⁰And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” ²¹They said, “Caesar's.” Then he said to them, q“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.” ²²When they heard it, they marveled. And they rleft him and went away.

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

²³The same day sSadducees came to him, twho say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, ²⁴saying, “Teacher, Moses said, u‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ ²⁵Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. ²⁶So too the second and third, down to the seventh. ²⁷After them all, the woman died. ²⁸In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

²⁹But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, vbecause you know neither the Scriptures nor wthe power of God. ³⁰For in the resurrection they neither xmarry nor xare given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. ³¹And as for the resurrection of the dead, yhave you not read what was said to you by God: ³²z‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” ³³And when the crowd heard it, athey were astonished at his teaching.

The Great Commandment

³⁴bBut when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced cthe Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵dAnd one of them, ea lawyer, asked him a question fto test him. ³⁶“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” ³⁷And he said to him, g“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹And ha second is like it: iYou shall love your neighbor as yourself. ⁴⁰jOn these two commandments depend kall the Law and the Prophets.”

Whose Son Is the Christ?

⁴¹lNow while the Pharisees mwere gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, ⁴²saying, “What do you think about nthe Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, n“The son of David.” ⁴³He said to them, “How is it then that David, oin the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

⁴⁴p“‘The Lord said to my Lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

⁴⁵If then David calls him Lord, qhow is he his son?” ⁴⁶rAnd no one was able to answer him a word, snor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Priests and Levites

¹These are bthe priests and the Levites who came up with cZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and dJeshua: eSeraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, ²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, ³Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, ⁴Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, ⁵Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, ⁶Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, ⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.

⁸And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brothers was fin charge of the songs of thanksgiving. ⁹And Bakbukiah and Unni and their brothers stood opposite them gin the service. ¹⁰And Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada, ¹¹Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.

¹²hAnd in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers' houses: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; ¹³of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; ¹⁴of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; ¹⁵of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; ¹⁶of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; ¹⁷of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; ¹⁸of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; ¹⁹of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; ²⁰of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; ²¹of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

²²In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the Levites were recorded as heads of fathers' houses; so too were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. ²³As for the sons of Levi, their heads of fathers' houses iwere written in the Book of the Chronicles until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. ²⁴And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and jJeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers who stood opposite them, kto praise and to give thanks, laccording to the commandment of David mthe man of God, nwatch by watch. ²⁵Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers standing guard at othe storehouses of the gates. ²⁶These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of pNehemiah the governor and of pEzra, the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Wall

²⁷And at qthe dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, rwith cymbals, harps, and lyres. ²⁸And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites; ²⁹also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. ³⁰And the priests and the Levites spurified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.

³¹Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. tOne went to the south on the wall to uthe Dung Gate. ³²And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, ³³and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, ³⁴Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, ³⁵and certain of the priests' sons vwith trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; ³⁶and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, wwith the musical instruments of David xthe man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. ³⁷At ythe Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by zthe stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to athe Water Gate on the east.

³⁸bThe other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above cthe Tower of the Ovens, to dthe Broad Wall, ³⁹and above ethe Gate of Ephraim, and by fthe Gate of Yeshanah,1 and by gthe Fish Gate and hthe Tower of Hananel and hthe Tower of the Hundred, to ithe Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at jthe Gate of the Guard. ⁴⁰So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; ⁴¹and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, kwith trumpets; ⁴²and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. ⁴³And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

Service at the Temple

⁴⁴lOn that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered. ⁴⁵And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, maccording to the command of David and his son Solomon. ⁴⁶For long ago in the days of David and nAsaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs2 of praise and thanksgiving to God. ⁴⁷And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the odaily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; pand they set apart that which was for the Levites; qand the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

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.