Abimelech's Conspiracy

¹Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to phis mother's relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother's family, ²“Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all qseventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that pI am ryour bone and your flesh.”

³And his mother's relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, s“He is our brother.” ⁴And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of tBaal-berith with which Abimelech hired uworthless and reckless fellows, who followed him. ⁵And he went to his father's house at vOphrah wand killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. ⁶And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all xBeth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem.

⁷When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of yMount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. ⁸zThe trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, a‘Reign over us.’ ⁹But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁰And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹¹But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹²And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹³But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that bcheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ ¹⁴Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ ¹⁵And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and ctake refuge in my shade, but if not, dlet fire come out of the bramble and devour ethe cedars of Lebanon.’

¹⁶“Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with fJerubbaal and his house and have done to him gas his deeds deserved— ¹⁷for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, ¹⁸and you have risen up against my father's house this day hand have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made iAbimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, jbecause he is your relative— ¹⁹if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then krejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. ²⁰But if not, llet fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” ²¹And Jotham ran away and fled and went to mBeer and lived there, because of Abimelech his brother.

The Downfall of Abimelech

²²Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. ²³nAnd God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem odealt treacherously with Abimelech, ²⁴pthat the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. ²⁵And the leaders of Shechem put men in ambush against him on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way. And it was told to Abimelech.

²⁶And Gaal the son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his relatives, and the leaders of Shechem put confidence in him. ²⁷And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them and held a festival; and they went into qthe house of their god and ate and drank and reviled Abimelech. ²⁸And Gaal the son of Ebed said, r“Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of sHamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? ²⁹Would that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech. I would say1 to Abimelech, ‘Increase your army, and come out.’”

³⁰When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. ³¹And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly,2 saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up3 the city against you. ³²Now therefore, go by night, you and the people who are with you, and set an ambush in the field. ³³Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, rise early and rush upon the city. And when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may do to them tas your hand finds to do.”

³⁴So Abimelech and all the men who were with him rose up by night and set an ambush against Shechem in four companies. ³⁵And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, and Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from the ambush. ³⁶And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from uthe mountaintops!” And Zebul said to him, “You mistake4 the shadow of the mountains for men.” ³⁷Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming from the direction of the Diviners' Oak.” ³⁸Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, v‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them.” ³⁹And Gaal went out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. ⁴⁰And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. And many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. ⁴¹And Abimelech lived at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives, so that they could not dwell at Shechem.

⁴²On the following day, the people went out into the field, and Abimelech was told. ⁴³He took his people and divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. And he looked and saw the people coming out of the city. So he rose against them and killed them. ⁴⁴Abimelech and the company that was with him wrushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and killed them. ⁴⁵And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and xhe razed the city and ysowed it with salt.

⁴⁶When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered zthe stronghold of the house of aEl-berith. ⁴⁷Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together. ⁴⁸And Abimelech went up to Mount bZalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.” ⁴⁹So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against cthe stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women.

⁵⁰Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. ⁵¹But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went up to the roof of the tower. ⁵²And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire. ⁵³dAnd a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech's head and crushed his skull. ⁵⁴eThen he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’” And his young man thrust him through, and he died. ⁵⁵And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, everyone departed to his home. ⁵⁶fThus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. ⁵⁷And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came gthe curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal.

Barnabas and Saul Sent Off

¹Now there were in the church at Antioch nprophets and nteachers, oBarnabas, Simeon who was called Niger,1 Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of pHerod the tetrarch, and Saul. ²While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, qthe Holy Spirit said, r“Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul sfor the work to which I have called them.” ³Then after fasting and tpraying they laid their hands on them and usent them off.

Barnabas and Saul on Cyprus

⁴So, being sent out vby the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. ⁵When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God win the synagogues of the Jews. And they had xJohn to yassist them. ⁶When they had gone through the whole island as far as Paphos, they came upon a certain zmagician, aa Jewish false prophet named Bar-Jesus. ⁷He was with bthe proconsul, Sergius Paulus, a man of intelligence, who summoned Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. ⁸But Elymas the zmagician (for that is the meaning of his name) copposed them, seeking to turn dthe proconsul away from the faith. ⁹But Saul, who was also called Paul, efilled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him ¹⁰and said, “You fson of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and gvillainy, will you not stop hmaking crooked ithe straight paths of the Lord? ¹¹And now, behold, jthe hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.” Immediately mist and darkness fell upon him, and he went about seeking kpeople to lead him by the hand. ¹²Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had occurred, for he was astonished at lthe teaching of the Lord.

Paul and Barnabas at Antioch in Pisidia

¹³Now Paul and his companions set sail from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia. And mJohn left them and returned nto Jerusalem, ¹⁴but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And oon the Sabbath day pthey went into the synagogue and sat down. ¹⁵After qthe reading from rthe Law and the Prophets, sthe rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any tword of encouragement for the people, say it.” ¹⁶So Paul stood up, and umotioning with his hand said:

“Men of Israel and vyou who fear God, listen. ¹⁷wThe God of this people Israel xchose our fathers and ymade the people great zduring their stay in the land of Egypt, and awith uplifted arm he led them out of it. ¹⁸And for about bforty years che put up with2 them in the wilderness. ¹⁹And dafter destroying eseven nations in the land of Canaan, fhe gave them their land as an inheritance. ²⁰All this took about 450 years. And after that ghe gave them judges until hSamuel the prophet. ²¹Then ithey asked for a king, and God gave them Saul jthe son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. ²²And kwhen he had removed him, lhe raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, m‘I have found in David the son of Jesse na man after my heart, owho will do all my will.’ ²³pOf this man's offspring God has brought to Israel qa Savior, Jesus, ras he promised. ²⁴Before his coming, sJohn had proclaimed ta baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. ²⁵And as John was finishing his course, uhe said, ‘What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.’

²⁶“Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you vwho fear God, to us has been sent wthe message of xthis salvation. ²⁷For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because ythey did not recognize him nor understand zthe utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, afulfilled them by condemning him. ²⁸And bthough they found in him no guilt worthy of death, cthey asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹And when dthey had carried out all that was written of him, ethey took him down from fthe tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰But gGod raised him from the dead, ³¹and for many days hhe appeared to those iwho had come up with him jfrom Galilee to Jerusalem, kwho are now lhis witnesses to the people. ³²And we bring you the good news mthat what God promised to the fathers, ³³nthis he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm,

o“‘You are my Son,

today I have begotten you.’

³⁴And as for the fact that he raised him from the dead, pqno more to return to corruption, he has spoken in this way,

“‘I will give you rthe holy and sure blessings of David.’

³⁵Therefore he says also in another psalm,

s“‘You will not let your Holy One see corruption.’

³⁶For David, after he had tserved the purpose of God in his own generation, ufell asleep and vwas laid with his fathers and saw corruption, ³⁷but he whom wGod raised up did not see corruption. ³⁸Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, xthat through this man yforgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹and by him zeveryone who believes is freed3 from everything afrom which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

⁴¹b“‘Look, you scoffers,

be astounded and perish;

for I am doing a work in your days,

a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

⁴²As they went out, the people begged that these things might be told them the next Sabbath. ⁴³And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and cdevout dconverts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them eto continue in fthe grace of God.

⁴⁴The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. ⁴⁵gBut hwhen the Jews4 saw the crowds, they were filled with ijealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, jreviling him. ⁴⁶And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God kbe spoken first to you. lSince you thrust it aside and judge yourselves munworthy of eternal life, behold, we nare turning to the Gentiles. ⁴⁷oFor so the Lord has commanded us, saying,

p“‘I have made you qa light for the Gentiles,

that you may rbring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

⁴⁸And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and sglorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. ⁴⁹And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. ⁵⁰tBut the Jews incited the devout uwomen of high standing and the leading men of the city, vstirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and wdrove them out of their district. ⁵¹But they xshook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. ⁵²And the disciples were filled ywith joy and zwith the Holy Spirit.

¹Thus says the Lord: “Go down to the house of the king of Judah and speak there this word, ²and say, w‘Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, who sits on the throne of David, you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates. ³Thus says the Lord: xDo justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And ydo no wrong or violence zto the resident alien, xthe fatherless, and the widow, nor ashed innocent blood in this place. ⁴For if you will indeed obey this word, bthen there shall enter the gates of this house kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their servants and their people. ⁵But if you will not obey these words, I cswear by myself, declares the Lord, that dthis house shall become a desolation. ⁶For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

“‘You are like Gilead to me,

like the summit of eLebanon,

yet surely I will make you a desert,

fan uninhabited city.1

⁷gI will prepare destroyers against you,

each with his weapons,

hand they shall cut down your choicest cedars

and cast them into the fire.

⁸“‘And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, i“Why has the Lord dealt thus with this great city?” ⁹jAnd they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”’”

¹⁰kWeep not for him who is dead,

nor grieve for him,

lbut weep bitterly for him who goes away,

for he shall return no more

to see his native land.

Message to the Sons of Josiah

¹¹For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum the son of Josiah, king of Judah, who reigned instead of Josiah his father, and mwho went away from this place: “He shall return here no more, ¹²but min the place where they have carried him captive, there shall he die, and he shall never see this land again.”

¹³n“Woe to him who builds his house by ounrighteousness,

and his upper rooms by injustice,

pwho makes his neighbor serve him for nothing

and does not give him his wages,

¹⁴who says, ‘I will build myself a great house

with spacious upper rooms,’

who cuts out windows for it,

paneling it with cedar

and qpainting it with vermilion.

¹⁵Do you think you are a king

because you compete in cedar?

Did not your father eat and drink

and rdo justice and righteousness?

sThen it was well with him.

¹⁶tHe judged the cause of the poor and needy;

sthen it was well.

Is not this uto know me?

declares the Lord.

¹⁷But you have eyes and heart

only for your dishonest gain,

vfor shedding innocent blood,

and for practicing oppression and violence.”

¹⁸Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah:

w“They shall not lament for him, saying,

x‘Ah, my brother!’ or ‘Ah, sister!’

They shall not lament for him, saying,

y‘Ah, lord!’ or ‘Ah, his majesty!’

¹⁹With the burial of a donkey zhe shall be buried,

dragged and dumped beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

²⁰“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,

and lift up your voice in Bashan;

cry out from aAbarim,

for all byour lovers are destroyed.

²¹I spoke to you in your prosperity,

but you said, ‘I will not listen.’

cThis has been your way from dyour youth,

that you have not obeyed my voice.

²²eThe wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,

and byour lovers shall go into captivity;

fthen you will be ashamed and confounded

because of all your evil.

²³O inhabitant of gLebanon,

nested among the cedars,

how you will be pitied when pangs come upon you,

hpain as of a woman in labor!”

²⁴i“As I live, declares the Lord, though Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were jthe signet ring on my right hand, yet I would tear you off ²⁵and kgive you linto the hand of those who seek your life, into the hand of those of whom you are afraid, even into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and into the hand of the Chaldeans. ²⁶mI will hurl you and nthe mother who bore you into another country, where you were not born, and there you shall die. ²⁷But to the land to which they will long to return, there they shall not return.”

²⁸Is this man oConiah a despised, broken pot,

a pvessel no one cares for?

Why are he and his children hurled and cast

into a qland that they do not know?

²⁹rO land, land, land,

hear the word of the Lord!

³⁰Thus says the Lord:

“Write this man down as schildless,

a man who shall not succeed in his days,

tfor none of his offspring shall succeed

tin sitting on the throne of David

and ruling again in Judah.”

Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand

¹lIn those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, he called his disciples to him and said to them, ²m“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. ³And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” ⁴And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” ⁵And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, n“Seven.” ⁶And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and ohaving given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. ⁷And they had a few small fish. And phaving blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. ⁸And qthey ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, nseven baskets full. ⁹And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. ¹⁰And immediately he got into rthe boat with his disciples and went to the district of sDalmanutha.1

The Pharisees Demand a Sign

¹¹tThe Pharisees came and began to argue with him, useeking from him va sign from heaven wto test him. ¹²And xhe sighed deeply yin his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” ¹³And zhe left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Herod

¹⁴Now they had forgotten to bring bread, and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. ¹⁵And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; abeware of bthe leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of cHerod.”2 ¹⁶And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. ¹⁷And dJesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? eDo you not yet perceive for understand? fAre your hearts hardened? ¹⁸gHaving eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? ¹⁹When I broke hthe five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” ²⁰“And ithe seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” ²¹And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?”

Jesus Heals a Blind Man at Bethsaida

²²And they came jto Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. ²³And khe took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when khe had lspit on his eyes and mlaid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” ²⁴And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” ²⁵Then Jesus3 laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. ²⁶And he sent him to his home, saying, n“Do not even enter the village.”

Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ

²⁷oAnd Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” ²⁸And they told him, p“John the Baptist; and others say, qElijah; and others, one of the prophets.” ²⁹And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, r“You are sthe Christ.” ³⁰tAnd he strictly charged them to tell no one about him.

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

³¹uAnd he began to teach them that vthe Son of Man must wsuffer many things and xbe rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and yafter three days rise again. ³²And he said this zplainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, a“Get behind me, Satan! For you bare not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

³⁴And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him cdeny himself and dtake up his cross and follow me. ³⁵For dwhoever would save his life4 will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake eand the gospel's will save it. ³⁶fFor what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? ³⁷For gwhat can a man give in return for his soul? ³⁸For hwhoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this iadulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed jwhen he comes in the glory of his Father with kthe holy angels.”