Israel's Disobedience

¹Now the angel of the Lord went up from Gilgal to jBochim. And he said, “I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, k‘I will never break my covenant with you, ²land you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; myou shall break down their altars.’ But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? ³So now I say, nI will not drive them out before you, but they shall become othorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you.” ⁴As soon as the angel of the Lord spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept. ⁵And they called the name of that place Bochim.1 And they sacrificed there to the Lord.

The Death of Joshua

⁶When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land. ⁷pAnd the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel. ⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years. ⁹And they buried him within the boundaries of qhis inheritance in Timnath-heres, rin the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash. ¹⁰And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

Israel's Unfaithfulness

¹¹sAnd the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals. ¹²tAnd they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. uThey went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and vbowed down to them. wAnd they provoked the Lord to anger. ¹³They abandoned the Lord xand served the Baals and the Ashtaroth. ¹⁴ySo the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he zgave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. aAnd he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, bso that they could no longer withstand their enemies. ¹⁵Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, cand as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.

The Lord Raises Up Judges

¹⁶dThen the Lord raised up judges, ewho saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. ¹⁷Yet they did not listen to their judges, for fthey whored after other gods and bowed down to them. gThey soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. ¹⁸Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, hthe Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. iFor the Lord was moved to pity by jtheir groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. ¹⁹But kwhenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. ²⁰lSo the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people mhave transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, ²¹nI will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, ²²in order oto test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.” ²³So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

Seven Chosen to Serve

¹Now in these days kwhen the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists1 arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in lthe daily distribution. ²And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. ³mTherefore, brothers,2 pick out from among you seven men nof good repute, ofull of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. ⁴But pwe will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” ⁵And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, qa man full of faith and rof the Holy Spirit, and sPhilip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, ta proselyte of Antioch. ⁶These they set before the apostles, and uthey prayed and vlaid their hands on them.

⁷And wthe word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests xbecame obedient to ythe faith.

Stephen Is Seized

⁸And Stephen, full of grace and zpower, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. ⁹Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. ¹⁰But athey could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking. ¹¹Then bthey secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹²And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, ¹³and they cset up false dwitnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against ethis holy place and the law, ¹⁴for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth fwill destroy this place and will gchange hthe customs that Moses delivered to us.” ¹⁵And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face iwas like the face of an angel.

The Lord Will Not Relent

¹Then the Lord said to me, p“Though qMoses rand Samuel sstood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! ²And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord:

t“‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence,

and those who are for the sword, to the sword;

those who are for famine, to famine,

and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’

³uI will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and vthe birds of the air wand the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. ⁴xAnd I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what yManasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.

⁵z“Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem,

zor who will grieve for you?

Who will turn aside

to ask about your welfare?

⁶aYou have rejected me, declares the Lord;

byou keep going backward,

so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you—

cI am weary of relenting.

⁷dI have winnowed them with ea winnowing fork

in the gates of the land;

I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people;

fthey did not turn from their ways.

⁸I have made their widows more in number

than gthe sand of the seas;

I have brought against the mothers of young men

a destroyer at noonday;

I have made anguish and terror

fall upon them suddenly.

⁹hShe who bore seven has grown feeble;

ishe has fainted away;

jher sun went down while it was yet day;

she has been shamed and disgraced.

And the rest of them I will give to the sword

before their enemies,

declares the Lord.”

Jeremiah's Complaint

¹⁰kWoe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! lI have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me. ¹¹The Lord said, “Have I not1 set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress? ¹²Can one break iron, iron mfrom the north, and bronze?

¹³n“Your wealth and your treasures I will give as ospoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory. ¹⁴I will make you serve your enemies pin a land that you do not know, qfor in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

¹⁵rO Lord, you know;

sremember me and visit me,

stand take vengeance for me on my persecutors.

In your forbearance take me not away;

uknow that vfor your sake I bear reproach.

¹⁶Your words were found, wand I ate them,

and xyour words became to me a joy

and the delight of my heart,

yfor I am called by your name,

O Lord, God of hosts.

¹⁷zI did not sit in the company of revelers,

nor did I rejoice;

aI sat alone, because your hand was upon me,

for you had filled me with indignation.

¹⁸Why is my pain unceasing,

bmy wound incurable,

refusing to be healed?

Will you be to me clike a deceitful brook,

like waters that fail?

¹⁹Therefore thus says the Lord:

d“If you return, I will restore you,

and you shall estand before me.

If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,

you shall be as my mouth.

They shall turn to you,

but you shall not turn to them.

²⁰fAnd I will make you to this people

a fortified wall of bronze;

they will fight against you,

gbut they shall not prevail over you,

hfor I am with you

to save you and deliver you,

declares the Lord.

²¹gI will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,

and redeem you from the grasp of ithe ruthless.”

John the Baptist Prepares the Way

¹The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, athe Son of God.1

²bAs it is written in Isaiah the prophet,2

c“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,

who will prepare your way,

³dthe voice of one crying in the wilderness:

e‘Prepare3 the way of the Lord,

make his paths straight,’”

⁴fJohn appeared, baptizing in gthe wilderness and proclaiming ha baptism of irepentance jfor the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, kconfessing their sins. ⁶Now John was lclothed with camel's hair and lwore a leather belt around his waist and ate mlocusts and nwild honey. ⁷And he preached, saying, o“After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. ⁸pI have baptized you with water, but qhe will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

The Baptism of Jesus

⁹rIn those days Jesus scame from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And when he came up out of the water, immediately he tsaw uthe heavens being torn open vand the Spirit descending on him like a dove. ¹¹And wa voice came from heaven, x“You are my beloved Son;4 with you I am well pleased.”

The Temptation of Jesus

¹²yThe Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³yAnd he was in the wilderness forty days, being ztempted by aSatan. And he was with the wild animals, and bthe angels were ministering to him.

Jesus Begins His Ministry

¹⁴cNow after John was arrested, Jesus dcame into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, ¹⁵and saying, e“The time is fulfilled, and fthe kingdom of God is at hand;5 grepent and believe in the gospel.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

¹⁶hPassing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. ¹⁷And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become ifishers of men.”6 ¹⁸And immediately they left their nets and followed him. ¹⁹And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. ²⁰And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Jesus Heals a Man with an Unclean Spirit

²¹jAnd they went into Capernaum, and immediately kon the Sabbath lhe entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²²And mthey were astonished at his teaching, mfor he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴n“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? oI know who you are—pthe Holy One of God.” ²⁵But Jesus qrebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶And the unclean spirit, rconvulsing him and scrying out with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷And they were all tamazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? uA new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Jesus Heals Many

²⁹vAnd immediately he7 wleft the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now xSimon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever, and immediately they told him about her. ³¹And he came and ytook her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

³²That evening at sundown they brought to him all who were sick or zoppressed by demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered together at the door. ³⁴aAnd he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons. And bhe would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.

Jesus Preaches in Galilee

³⁵cAnd rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and dthere he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, ³⁷and they found him and said to him, e“Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for fthat is why I came out.” ³⁹gAnd hhe went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Jesus Cleanses a Leper

⁴⁰iAnd a leper8 came to him, imploring him, and jkneeling said to him, k“If you will, you can make me clean.” ⁴¹Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, “I will; be clean.” ⁴²And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. ⁴³And lJesus9 sternly charged him and sent him away at once, ⁴⁴and said to him, m“See that you say nothing to anyone, but go, nshow yourself to the priest and ooffer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, pfor a proof to them.” ⁴⁵qBut he went out and began to talk freely about it, and to spread the news, so that Jesus could no longer openly enter ra town, but was out in rdesolate places, and speople were coming to him from every quarter.