Matthew 22 Cross References - ISV

¹ The Parable about a Banquet
Again Jesus spoke to them in parables. He said, ² “The kingdom from heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding, but they refused to come. ⁴ So he sent other servants after saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! I’ve prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention to this and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. ⁶ The rest grabbed the king’s servants, treated them brutally, and then killed them. ⁷ Then the king became outraged. He sent his troops, and they destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
⁸ “Then he told his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ So go into the roads leading out of town and invite as many people as you can find to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ Those servants went out into the streets and brought in everyone they found, evil and good alike, and the wedding hall was packed with guests.
¹¹ “When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king told his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the darkness outside!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, ¹⁴ because many are invited, but few are chosen.”
¹⁵ A Question about Paying Taxes
Then the Pharisees went and planned how to trap Jesus in conversation. ¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. They said, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere and that you teach the way of God truthfully. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. ¹⁷ So tell us what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
¹⁸ Recognizing their wickedness, Jesus asked, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites? ¹⁹ Show me the coin used for the tax.”
They brought him a denarius. ²⁰ Then he asked them, “Whose face and name is this?”
²¹ They told him, “Caesar’s.”
So he told them, “Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
²² When they heard this, they were amazed. Then they left him and went away.
²³ A Question about the Resurrection
That same day some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him, ²⁴ “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.’ ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his widow to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened with the second brother, and then the third, and finally with the rest of the brothers. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died, too. ²⁸ Now in the resurrection, whose wife of the seven will she be, since all of them had married her?”
²⁹ Jesus answered them, “You are mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power, ³⁰ because in the resurrection, people neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. ³¹ As for the resurrection from the dead, haven’t you read what was spoken to you by God when he said, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”
³³ When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.
³⁴ The Greatest Commandment
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they met together in the same place. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the Law, tested him by asking, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
³⁷ Jesus told him, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the greatest and most important commandment. ³⁹ The second is exactly like it: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments.”
⁴¹ A Question about David’s Son
While the Pharisees were still gathered, Jesus asked them, ⁴² “What do you think about the Messiah? Whose son is he?”
They told him, “David’s.”
⁴³ He asked them, “Then how can David by the Spirit call him ‘Lord’ when he says, ⁴⁴ ‘The Lord told my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’?
⁴⁵ If David calls him ‘Lord’, how can he be his son?”
⁴⁶ No one could answer him at all, and from that day on no one dared to ask him another question.

¹⁵ Jesus asked them, “The wedding guests can’t mourn as long as the groom is with them, can they? But the time will come when the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
¹⁶ The Unshrunk Cloth
“No one patches an old garment with a piece of unshrunk cloth, because the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results. ¹⁷ Nor do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will spill out, and the skins will be ruined. Instead, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.”

⁴³ The Return of the Unclean Spirit
“Whenever an unclean spirit goes out of a person, it wanders through waterless places looking for a place to rest, but finds none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will go back to my home that I left.’ When it arrives, it finds it empty, swept clean, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they go in and settle there. And so the final condition of that person becomes worse than the first. That’s just what will happen to this evil generation!”

³ Then he began to tell them many things in parables. He said, “Listen! A farmer went out to sow. ⁴ As he was sowing, some seeds fell along the path, and birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Other seeds fell on stony ground, where they did not have a lot of soil. They sprouted at once because the soil wasn’t deep. ⁶ But when the sun came up, they were scorched. Since they did not have any roots, they dried up. ⁷ Other seeds fell among thorn bushes, and the thorn bushes grew higher and choked them out. ⁸ But other seeds fell on good soil and produced a crop, some 100, some 60, and some 30 times what was sown. ⁹ Let the person who has ears listen!”
¹⁰ The Purpose of the Parables
Then the disciples came and asked Jesus, “Why do you speak to people in parables?”
¹¹ He answered them, “You have been given knowledge about the secrets of the kingdom from heaven, but it hasn’t been given to them,

¹ The Workers in the Vineyard “The kingdom from heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing to pay the workers one denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing in the marketplace without work. ⁴ He told them, ‘You go into the vineyard, too, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So off they went. He went out again about noon and about three o’clock and did the same thing. ⁶ About five o’clock he went out and found some others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why are you standing here all day long without work?’ ⁷ They told him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He told them, ‘You go into the vineyard as well.’
⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ ⁹ Those who were hired at five o’clock came, and each received a denarius.
¹⁰ “When the first came, they thought they would receive more, but each received a denarius as well. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to complain to the landowner, ¹² ‘These last fellows worked only one hour, but you paid them the same as us, and we’ve been working all day, enduring the scorching heat!’
¹³ “But he told one of them, ‘Friend, I’m not treating you unfairly. You did agree with me for a denarius, didn’t you? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go. I want to give this last man as much as I gave you. ¹⁵ I am allowed to do what I want with my own money, am I not? Or are you envious because I’m generous?’
¹⁶ “In the same way, the last will be first, and the first will be last, because many are called, but few are chosen.”

²⁸ The Parable about Two Sons“But what do you think? A man had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ ²⁹ His son replied, ‘I don’t want to,’ but later he changed his mind and went. ³⁰ Then the father went to the other son and told him the same thing. He replied, ‘I will, sir,’ but he didn’t go. ³¹ Which of the two did the father’s will?”
They answered, “The first one.”
Jesus told them, “I tell all of you with certainty, tax collectors and prostitutes will get into God’s kingdom ahead of you! ³² John came to you living a righteous life, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and prostitutes did. But even when you saw that, you didn’t change your minds at last and believe him.”
³³ The Parable about the Tenant Farmers
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad. ³⁴ When harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his produce. ³⁵ But the farmers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and attacked another with stones. ³⁶ Again, he sent other servants to them, a greater number than the first, but the tenant farmers treated them the same way. ³⁷ Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ ³⁹ So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. ⁴⁰ Now when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those farmers?”
⁴¹ They told him, “He will put those horrible men to a horrible death. Then he will lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his produce at harvest time.”
⁴² Jesus asked them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.’?
⁴³ That is why I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce fruit for it. ⁴⁴ The person who falls over this stone will be broken to pieces, but it will crush anyone on whom it falls.”
⁴⁵ When the high priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was talking about them. ⁴⁶ Although they wanted to arrest him, they were afraid of the crowds, who considered Jesus to be a prophet.

³³ Why Jesus Used Parables
With many other parables like these, Jesus kept speaking his message to them according to their ability to understand. ³⁴ He did not tell them anything without using a parable, though he explained everything to his disciples in private.

¹⁰ So he said, “You have been given knowledge about the secrets of the kingdom of God. But to others they are given in parables, so that ‘they might look but not see, and they might listen but not understand.’”

¹⁶ Jesus told him, “A man gave a large banquet and invited many people.

¹⁰ Listen, daughter! Consider and pay attention. Forget your people and your father’s house, ¹¹ and the king will greatly desire your beauty. Because he is your lord, you should bow in respect before him. ¹² The daughter of Tyre will come with a wedding gift; wealthy people will entreat your favor. ¹³ In her chamber, the king’s daughter is glorious; her clothing is embroidered with gold thread. ¹⁴ In embroidered garments she is presented to the king. Her virgin companions who follow her train will be presented to you. ¹⁵ Filled with joy and gladness, they are presented when they enter the king’s palace. ¹⁶ Your sons will take the place of your ancestors, and you will set them up as princes in all the earth.

²⁴ The Parable about the Weeds among the WheatHe presented another parable to them: “The kingdom from heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field.

³¹ The Parables about a Mustard Seed and Yeast
He presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom from heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field. ³² Although it is the smallest of all seeds, when it is fully grown it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, and the birds in the sky come and nest in its branches.”
³³ He told them another parable: “The kingdom from heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”

⁴⁴ The Parable about a Hidden Treasure“The kingdom from heaven is like treasure hidden in a field that a man found and hid. In his excitement he went and sold everything he had and bought that field.”
⁴⁵ The Parable about a Valuable Pearl“Again, the kingdom from heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found a very valuable pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.”
⁴⁷ The Parable about a Net“Again, the kingdom from heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea that gathered all kinds of fish.

² “The kingdom from heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³ He sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding, but they refused to come. ⁴ So he sent other servants after saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited, “Look! I’ve prepared my dinner. My oxen and fattened calves have been slaughtered. Everything is ready. Come to the wedding!”’ ⁵ But they paid no attention to this and went away, one to his farm, another to his business. ⁶ The rest grabbed the king’s servants, treated them brutally, and then killed them. ⁷ Then the king became outraged. He sent his troops, and they destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
⁸ “Then he told his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy. ⁹ So go into the roads leading out of town and invite as many people as you can find to the wedding.’ ¹⁰ Those servants went out into the streets and brought in everyone they found, evil and good alike, and the wedding hall was packed with guests.
¹¹ “When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless. ¹³ Then the king told his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet, and throw him into the darkness outside!’ In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, ¹⁴ because many are invited, but few are chosen.”

¹ The Parable about the Ten Bridesmaids “At that time, the kingdom from heaven will be comparable to ten bridesmaids who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the groom. ² Now five of them were foolish, and five were wise, ³ because when the foolish ones took their lamps, they didn’t take any oil with them. ⁴ But the wise ones took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ Since the groom was late, all of them became sleepy and lay down. ⁶ But at midnight there came a shout: ‘The groom is here! Come out to meet him!’ ⁷ Then all the bridesmaids woke up and got their lamps ready. ⁸ “But the foolish ones told the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out!’ ⁹ “But the wise ones replied, ‘No! There will never be enough for us and for you. You’d better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’
¹⁰ “While they were away buying it, the groom arrived. Those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was closed. ¹¹ Later, the other bridesmaids arrived and said, ‘Lord, lord, open up for us!’
¹² “But he replied, ‘I tell all of you with certainty, I don’t know you!’ ¹³ So keep on watching, because you don’t know the day or the hour.”
¹⁴ The Parable about the Talents“Similarly, it is like a man going on a trip, who called his servants and turned his money over to them.

¹⁶ Jesus told him, “A man gave a large banquet and invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come! Everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸ Every single one of them began asking to be excused. The first told him, ‘I bought a field, and I need to go out and inspect it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I bought five pairs of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I recently got married, so I can’t come.’
²¹ “So the servant went back and reported all this to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and told his servant, ‘Go quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring back the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.’ ²² The servant said, ‘Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.’ ²³ Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the streets and the lanes and make the people come in, so that my house may be full. ²⁴ Because I tell all of you, none of those men who were invited will taste anything at my banquet.’”

²⁹ It is the bridegroom who gets the bride, yet the bridegroom’s friend, who merely stands by and listens for him, is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That’s why this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must become more important, but I must become less important.”

² I am jealous of you with God’s own jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to the Messiah.

²⁴ Indeed, just as the church is submissive to the Messiah, so wives must be submissive to their husbands in everything.
²⁵ Husbands, love your wives as the Messiah loved the church and gave himself for it, ²⁶ so that he might make it holy by cleansing it, washing it with water and the word, ²⁷ and might present the church to himself in all its glory, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, but holy and without fault. ²⁸ In the same way, husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies. A man who loves his wife loves himself. ²⁹ For no one has ever hated his own body, but he nourishes and tenderly cares for it, as the Messiah does the church.
³⁰ For we are parts of his body—of his flesh and of his bones. ³¹ “That is why a man will leave his father and mother and be united with his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” ³² This is a great secret, but I am talking about the Messiah and the church.

⁷ Let us rejoice, be glad, and give him glory, because the marriage of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. ⁸ She has been given the privilege of wearing fine linen, dazzling and pure.”(The fine linen represents the righteous deeds of the saints.)
⁹ Then the angel told me, “Write this: ‘How blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the lamb!’” He also told me, “These are the true words of God.”

¹³ When you come into town you can find him before he goes up to the high place to eat. For the people don’t eat until he arrives, because he must bless the sacrifice and then after that those who are invited will eat. So go up right now because you can find him now.”

¹¹ The Lord issues a command. Numerous are the women who announce the news:

¹⁰ I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, open your mouth that I may fill it. ¹¹ Yet my people didn’t obey my voice; Israel didn’t submit to me. ¹² So I allowed them to continue in their stubbornness, living by their own advice.

²⁴ The Consequences of Refusing Wisdom“Because I called out to you and you refused to respond— I appealed, but no one paid attention— ²⁵ because you neglected all my advice and did not want my correction, ²⁶ I will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when what you fear comes, ²⁷ when what you dread comes like a storm, and your calamity comes on like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. ²⁸ “Then they will call out to me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. ²⁹ “Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD; ³⁰ they did not want my advice, and they rejected all my correction. ³¹ They will eat the fruit of their way, and they will be filled with their own devices. ³² Indeed, the waywardness of the naïve will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.

¹ Wisdom’s Invitation Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out her seven pillars. ² She has prepared her food, she has spiced her wine, and she also has set her dining table. ³ She has sent out her young women, while calling out from the heights of the city,

¹⁵ For this is what the LORD GOD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest you will be saved; in staying calm and trusting will be your strength. But you refused.

¹ An Invitation to Life “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters! Also, you that have no money, come, buy, and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in rich food.

¹⁶ Israel Refuses to RepentThis is what the LORD says: “Stand beside the roads and watch. Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is. Walk in it and find rest for yourselves. But they said, ‘We won’t walk in it!’ ¹⁷ I appointed watchmen over you. Listen for the sound of the trumpet. But they said, ‘We won’t listen!’

⁴ Again and again, the LORD sent all his servants, the prophets, to you, but you wouldn’t listen or even turn your ears in my direction to hear.

¹⁵ I’ve sent you all my servants, the prophets, sending them again and again. I’ve said, ‘Each of you turn from his evil behavior and make your deeds right. Don’t follow other gods to serve them. Then you will remain in the land that I gave to you and to your ancestors.’ But you haven’t paid attention and you haven’t obeyed me.

² The more I called out to them, the farther they fled from me; they sacrificed to Baals, burning incense to carved images.

⁷ My people are determined to turn away from me; though they call to the Most High, no one is worshiping.

⁷ Remain silent in the presence of the Lord GOD, because the Day of the LORD approaches, and because the LORD has prepared a sacrifice for those whom he has invited to be consecrated.

² “Repent, because the kingdom from heaven is near!”

⁶ Instead, go to the lost sheep of the nation of Israel. ⁷ As you go, make this announcement: ‘The kingdom from heaven is near!’

³⁴ When harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenant farmers to collect his produce.

³⁷ Jesus Rebukes Jerusalem
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

⁷ Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
He called the Twelve and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits. ⁸ He instructed them to take nothing along on the trip except a walking stick—no bread, no traveling bag, nothing in their moneybag. ⁹ They could wear sandals but not take along an extra shirt. ¹⁰ He told them repeatedly, “Whenever you go into a home, stay there until you leave that place. ¹¹ If any place will not welcome you and the people refuse to listen to you, when you leave, shake its dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

¹ Jesus Sends Out the Twelve
Jesus called the Twelve together and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. ² Then he sent them to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ³ He told them, “Don’t take anything along on your trip—no walking stick, traveling bag, bread, money, or even an extra shirt. ⁴ When you visit a home and stay there, and go out from there, ⁵ if people don’t welcome you, when you leave that city, shake its dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶ So they left and went from village to village, spreading the good news and healing diseases everywhere.

³⁴ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you people were unwilling!

¹⁵ The Parable about a Banquet
Now one of those eating with him heard this and told him, “How blessed is the person who will eat in the kingdom of God!”
¹⁶ Jesus told him, “A man gave a large banquet and invited many people. ¹⁷ When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come! Everything is now ready.’

²⁸ “Then the older son became angry and wouldn’t go into the house. So his father came out and began to plead with him.

²⁷ But as for these enemies of mine who didn’t want me to be their king—bring them here and slaughter them in my presence!’”

⁴⁰ But you are not willing to come to me to have life.

⁴⁵ But when the Jewish leaders saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to object to the statements made by Paul and even to abuse him.

²¹ But about Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and rebellious people.”

²⁵ See to it that you do not ignore the one who is speaking. For if the hearers did not escape when they ignored the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who is from heaven!

¹⁷ Concluding InvitationThe Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
Let everyone who hears this say, “Come!”
Let everyone who is thirsty come!
Let anyone who wants the water of life take it as a gift!

¹⁷ They would not listen, and did not remember the miracles you did among them. Instead, they became stubborn and appointed a leader to return them to their slavery. “But you are a God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and rich in gracious love; therefore you did not abandon them.

⁵ Indeed you, Lord, are kind and forgiving, overflowing with gracious love to everyone who calls on you.

¹ Wisdom’s Invitation Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out her seven pillars. ² She has prepared her food, she has spiced her wine, and she also has set her dining table.

¹ The Lover I’ve come into my garden, my sister, my bride; I’ve gathered my myrrh with my spices. I’ve eaten my honeycomb with my honey. I’ve drunk my wine with my milk. Eat, friends! Drink and become drunk with love.

³⁶ Again, he sent other servants to them, a greater number than the first, but the tenant farmers treated them the same way.

⁸ “Then he told his servants, ‘The wedding is ready, but those who were invited were not worthy.

¹ The Mission of the SeventyAfter this, the Lord appointed 70 other disciples and was about to send them ahead of him in pairs to every town and place that he intended to go. ² So he instructed them, “The harvest is vast, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send workers out into his harvest. ³ Get going! See, I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Don’t carry a wallet, a traveling bag, or sandals, and don’t greet anyone on the way.
⁵ “Whatever house you go into, first say, ‘May there be peace in this house.’ ⁶ If a peaceful person lives there, your greeting of peace will remain with him. But if that’s not the case, your greeting will come back to you. ⁷ Stay with the same family, eating and drinking whatever they provide, because the worker deserves his pay. Don’t move from house to house.
⁸ “Whenever you go into a town and the people welcome you, eat whatever they serve you, ⁹ heal the sick that are there, and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God is near you!’ ¹⁰ But whenever you go into a town and people don’t welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹ ‘We’re wiping off your town’s dust that clings to our feet in protest against you! But realize this: the kingdom of God is near!’ ¹² I tell you, on the last day it will be easier for Sodom than for that town!”
¹³ Jesus Denounces Unrepentant Cities
“How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that happened in you had taken place in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. ¹⁴ It will be easier for Tyre and Sidon at the judgment than for you!
¹⁵ And you, Capernaum! You won’t be lifted up to heaven, will you? You’ll go down to Hell! ¹⁶ The person who listens to you listens to me, and the person who rejects you rejects me. The person who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

¹⁷ When it was time for the banquet, he sent his servant to tell those who were invited, ‘Come! Everything is now ready.’

⁴⁶ He told them, “This is how it is written: the Messiah was to suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and then repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

⁵⁰ This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. ⁵¹ I’m the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats this bread, he’ll live forever. And the bread I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
⁵² Then the Jewish leaders debated angrily with each other, asking, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
⁵³ So Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you don’t have life in yourselves. ⁵⁴ Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I’ll raise him to life on the last day, ⁵⁵ because my flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink. ⁵⁶ The person who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will also live because of me.

⁸ But you’ll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you’ll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

¹⁹ The New Church in AntiochNow the people who were scattered by the persecution that started because of Stephen went as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. ²⁰ But among them were some men from Cyprus and Cyrene, who came to Antioch and began proclaiming the Lord Jesus even to the Hellenistic Jews.

⁴⁶ Then Paul and Barnabas boldly declared, “We had to speak God’s word to you first, but since you reject it and consider yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are now going to turn to the gentiles.

¹⁷ Paul in RomeThree days later, Paul called the leaders of the Jews together. When they assembled, he told them, “Brothers, although I haven’t done anything against our people or the customs of our ancestors, I was arrested in Jerusalem and handed over to the Romans. ¹⁸ They examined me and wanted to let me go because there was no reason for me to receive the death penalty in my case. ¹⁹ But the Jews objected and forced me to appeal to the emperor, even though I have no countercharge to bring against my own people. ²⁰ That’s why I asked to see you and speak with you, since it is for the hope of Israel that I’m wearing this chain.”
²¹ The Jewish leaders told him, “We haven’t received any letters from Judea about you, and none of the brothers coming here has reported or mentioned anything bad about you. ²² However, we’d like to hear from you what you believe, because people are talking against this sect everywhere.” ²³ So they set a day to meet with Paul and came out in large numbers to see him where he was staying.
From morning until evening, he continued to explain the kingdom of God to them, trying to convince them about Jesus from the Law of Moses and the Prophets. ²⁴ Some of them were convinced by what he said, but others wouldn’t believe. ²⁵ They disagreed with one another as they were leaving, so Paul added this statement: “The Holy Spirit was so right when he spoke to your ancestors through the prophet Isaiah! ²⁶ He said, ‘Go to this people and say, “You will listen and listen but never understand, and you will look and look but never see! ²⁷ For this people’s minds have become stupid, and their ears can barely hear, and they have shut their eyes so that they may never see with their eyes, and listen with their ears, and understand with their heart and turn and let me heal them.”’
²⁸ You must understand that this message about God’s salvation has been sent to the gentiles, and they will listen.”
^{29 30} For two whole years Paul lived in his own rented place and welcomed everyone who came to him. ³¹ He continued to preach about the kingdom of God and to teach boldly and freely about the Lord Jesus, the Messiah.

³² The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son, won’t he?

⁷ Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed. ⁸ So let’s keep celebrating the festival, neither with old yeast nor with yeast that is evil and wicked, but with yeast-free bread that is both sincere and true.

¹⁴ Lot then went out and told his sons-in-law (they had married his daughters), “Get out of here! The LORD is going to destroy this city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

³⁴ Then Jacob gave Esau some of his food, along with some boiled stew. So Esau ate, drank, got up, and left, after having belittled his own birthright.

²⁴ They rejected the desirable land, and they didn’t trust his promise. ²⁵ They murmured in their tents, and didn’t listen to the voice of the LORD.

⁷ The Major ThemeThe fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

²⁴ The Consequences of Refusing Wisdom“Because I called out to you and you refused to respond— I appealed, but no one paid attention— ²⁵ because you neglected all my advice and did not want my correction,

²² As for what was sown among the thorn bushes, this is the person who hears the word, but the worries of life and the deceitful pleasures of wealth choke the word so that it can’t produce a crop.

³⁸ In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage right up to the day when Noah went into the ark. ³⁹ They were unaware of what was happening until the flood came and swept all of them away. That’s how it will be when the Son of Man comes.

¹⁸ Every single one of them began asking to be excused. The first told him, ‘I bought a field, and I need to go out and inspect it. Please excuse me.’ ¹⁹ Another said, ‘I bought five pairs of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ ²⁰ Still another said, ‘I recently got married, so I can’t come.’

²⁶ “Just as it was in Noah’s time, so it will be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage right up to the day when Noah went into the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed all of them. ²⁸ So it was in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹ But on the day when Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed all of them. ³⁰ The day when the Son of Man is revealed will be like that.
³¹ “The person who is on the housetop that day must not come down to get his belongings out of his house. The person in the field, too, must not turn back to what’s left behind. ³² Remember Lot’s wife!

¹³ But others kept saying in derision, “They’re drunk on sweet wine!”

²⁵ As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment, Felix became afraid and said, “For the present you may go. When I get a chance, I will send for you again.”

⁴ Or are you unaware of his rich kindness, forbearance, and patience, that it is God’s kindness that is leading you to repent?

⁶ To focus our minds on the human nature leads to death, but to focus our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace.

⁹ But people who want to get rich keep toppling into temptation and are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires that plunge them into destruction and ruin. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, in their eagerness to get rich, have wandered away from the faith and caused themselves a lot of pain.

⁴ traitors, reckless, conceited, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.

³ how will we escape if we neglect a salvation as great as this? It was first proclaimed by the Lord himself, and then it was confirmed to us by those who heard him,

¹⁵ Stop loving the world and the things that are in the world. If anyone persists in loving the world, the Father’s love is not in him. ¹⁶ For everything that is in the world—the desire for fleshly gratification, the desire for possessions, and worldly arrogance—is not from the Father but is from the world.

¹⁰ “How blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, because the kingdom from heaven belongs to them!
¹¹ “How blessed are you whenever people insult you, persecute you, and say all sorts of evil things against you falsely because of me! ¹² Rejoice and be extremely glad, because your reward in heaven is great! That’s how they persecuted the prophets who came before you.”

¹² As you enter the house, greet its occupants. ¹³ If the household is receptive, let your blessing of peace come on it. But if it isn’t receptive, let your blessing of peace return to you. ¹⁴ If no one welcomes you or listens to your words, as you leave that house or town, shake its dust off your feet. ¹⁵ I tell all of you with certainty, it will be more bearable for the region of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town!”
¹⁶ Future Persecutions
“Pay attention, now! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves. ¹⁷ Watch out for people who will hand you over to the local councils and whip you in their synagogues. ¹⁸ You will be brought before governors and kings because of me, to testify to them and to unbelievers.

²² You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the person who endures to the end will be saved. ²³ So when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, because I tell all of you with certainty that you will not have gone through the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.
²⁴ “A disciple is not above his teacher, and a slave is not above his master. ²⁵ It is enough for a disciple to be like his teacher and a slave to be like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they do the same to those of his household!”

³⁵ But the farmers took his servants and beat one, killed another, and attacked another with stones. ³⁶ Again, he sent other servants to them, a greater number than the first, but the tenant farmers treated them the same way. ³⁷ Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, ‘They will respect my son.’ ³⁸ But when the tenant farmers saw his son, they told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him and get his inheritance!’ ³⁹ So they grabbed him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him.

³⁴ “That is why I am sending you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will whip in your synagogues and persecute from town to town. ³⁵ As a result, you will be held accountable for all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Berechiah’s son Zechariah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar. ³⁶ I tell all of you with certainty, all these things will happen to those living today.”
³⁷ Jesus Rebukes Jerusalem
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones to death those who have been sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as one of its own. But because you do not belong to the world and I have chosen you out of it, the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.

² You’ll be thrown out of the synagogues. Yes, a time is coming when the one who kills you will think he’s serving God. ³ They’ll do this because they haven’t known the Father or me.

¹ Peter and John are Tried before the Jewish CouncilWhile they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the Temple guards, and the Sadducees came to them. ² They were greatly disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people and announcing that Jesus had been resurrected from the dead. ³ So they arrested them and placed them in custody until the next day, since it was already evening.

⁴⁰ After calling in the apostles and beating them, they again ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus and let them go. ⁴¹ They left the Council, rejoicing to have been considered worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the Name.

⁵¹ “You stubborn people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are always opposing the Holy Spirit, just as your ancestors used to do. ⁵² Which of the prophets did your ancestors fail to persecute? They killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have become his betrayers and murderers. ⁵³ You received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet you haven’t obeyed it!”
⁵⁴ Stephen is Stoned to DeathWhile they were listening to these things, they became more and more furious and began to grind their teeth at him. ⁵⁵ But Stephen, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. ⁵⁶ He said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”
⁵⁷ But they shouted out loud, stopped listening, and together they all rushed at him,

¹ The Church is ScatteredNow Saul heartily approved of putting Stephen to death. That day a severe persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and everyone except for the apostles was scattered throughout the countryside of Judea and Samaria.

¹⁴ For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Judea that are in union with the Messiah Jesus. You suffered the same persecutions from the people of your own country as they did from those Jews ¹⁵ who killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, who have persecuted us, and who please neither God nor any group of people,

⁴⁹ “The LORD will raise a distant nation against you from the other side of the earth. Swooping down like a vulture, ⁵⁰ it will be a nation whose language you don’t understand, whose stern appearance neither shows regard nor extends grace to anyone whether old or young. ⁵¹ Its army will consume the offspring of your animals and the produce of your soil until you are exterminated. They will leave you without your grain, wine, oil, the increase of your cattle, and the lamb of your flock, until you are completely destroyed. ⁵² They’ll besiege all your cities until your high and fortified walls in which you have trusted collapse throughout the land. Indeed, they will besiege all your cities, which the LORD your God gave you.”
⁵³ Cannibalism“You’ll eat your own children—the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God gave you—on account of the siege and the distress with which your enemy will oppress you. ⁵⁴ Even the compassionate man among you—the very sensitive one—will look with evil in his eyes toward his brother, his beloved wife, and his surviving sons, whom he spared. ⁵⁵ He will withhold from each of them the flesh of his sons that he is eating—since there will be nothing left—on account of the siege and distress with which your enemy will oppress you in all your cities. ⁵⁶ The most tender and sensitive lady among you, who doesn’t venture to touch the soles of her feet to the ground on account of her daintiness, will look with hostility in her eyes against her beloved husband, her sons, and her daughters. ⁵⁷ She will eat her afterbirth and her newborn children secretly—since there will be nothing left—on account of the siege and distress with which your enemy will oppress you in your cities.”
⁵⁸ Reduction in Population“If you aren’t careful to observe all the words of this Law that have been written in this book, instructing you to fear this glorious and awesome name of the LORD your God, ⁵⁹ then he will inflict extraordinary plagues on you and your children, great and lasting plagues, and severe and lasting illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will inflict on you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they won’t be curable. ⁶¹ Moreover, the LORD will inflict you with illnesses and plagues that were not written in this Book of the Law, until you are exterminated. ⁶² Because you will not have obeyed the LORD your God, very few of you will be left—instead of you being as numerous as the stars in the heavens. ⁶³ Just as the LORD delighted to prosper and increase you, so now the LORD will delight to destroy, exterminate, and banish you from the land that you are about to enter to possess.”
⁶⁴ Scattering among the Nations“He’ll scatter you among the peoples from one end of the earth to the other, and there you’ll serve other gods made of wood and stones, which neither you nor your ancestors have known. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you’ll have no rest. There’ll be no resting place for the soles of your feet. Instead, the LORD will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a despairing spirit. ⁶⁶ You’ll cling to life, being fearful by both night and day, with no assurance of survival. ⁶⁷ In the morning you’ll say, ‘I wish it were evening.’ Yet in the evening you’ll say, “I wish it were morning,” on account of what you’ll dread and what you’ll see. ⁶⁸ Finally, the LORD will bring you back to Egypt by ship, a place that I said you’ll never see again. There you’ll try to sell yourselves to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.”

⁵ Assyria is an Instrument of Judgment“How terrible it will be for Assyria, the rod of my anger! The club is in their hands! ⁶ I’m sending my fury against a godless nation, and I’ll command him against the people with whom I’m angry to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. ⁷ But this is not what he intends, and this is not what he thinks in his mind; but it is in his mind to destroy, and to cut down many nations.

² “Raise a banner on a bare hilltop! Cry out loud to them! Give a wave of the hand, signaling for them to enter the gates of the nobles. ³ I myself have commanded my consecrated ones; I have also summoned my warriors, those who rejoice in my triumph, to carry out my angry judgments. ⁴ “Listen! There’s a noise on the mountains like that of a great multitude! Listen! There’s an uproar among the kingdoms, like that of nations massing together! The LORD of the Heavenly Armies is mustering an army for battle. ⁵ They’re coming from a faraway land, from the distant horizon— the LORD and the weapons of his anger— to destroy the entire land.”

²⁰ The LORD’s Instrument of Judgment“You are my war-club and weapons of war. I’ll smash nations with you and destroy kingdoms with you. ²¹ I’ll smash the horse and its rider with you. I’ll smash the chariot and its rider with you. ²² I’ll smash man and woman with you. I’ll smash old man and young boy with you. I’ll smash young man and young woman with you. ²³ I’ll smash the shepherd and his flock with you. I’ll smash the farmer and his team of oxen with you. I’ll smash governors and officials with you.

²⁶ Then after the 62 weeks, the anointed one will be cut down (but not for himself). Then the people of the Coming Commander will destroy both the city and the Sanctuary. Its ending will come like a flood, and until the end there will be war, with desolations having been decreed.

¹¹ The LORD will shout in the presence of his forces, because his encampment is very great; for powerful is he who carries out his message. Truly the Day of the LORD is great, and very terrifying. Who will be able to survive it?”

²⁵ “Then I will restore to you the years that the locust swarm devoured, as did the young locust, the other locusts, and the ravaging locust, that great army of mine that I sent among you.

² I will gather all nations, bringing them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. I will set out my case against them there, on behalf of my people, my heritage Israel, whom they scattered among the nations, apportioning my land among themselves.

¹ The LORD Comes to the Mount of Olives“Look! A day is coming for the LORD, when your plunder will be divided among you. ² I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem, to lay siege against it. The city will be captured, the houses will be ransacked, the women raped, and half of the city will go into exile, but the remaining people will not be cut off from the city.

⁴⁰ Now when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those farmers?”
⁴¹ They told him, “He will put those horrible men to a horrible death. Then he will lease the vineyard to other farmers who will give him his produce at harvest time.”

⁴² “If you had only known today what could have brought you peace! But now it is hidden from your sight, ⁴³ because the days will come when your enemies will build walls around you, surround you, and close you in on every side. ⁴⁴ They will level you to the ground—you and those who live within your city limits. They will not leave one stone on another within your walls, because you didn’t recognize the time when you were visited.”

²¹ Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, those inside the city must leave it, and those in the countryside must not go into it,

²⁴ They will fall by the edge of the sword and be carried off as captives among all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the unbelievers until the times of the unbelievers are fulfilled.”

¹⁶ as they try to keep us from telling the gentiles how they can be saved. As a result, they are constantly adding to the number of sins they have committed. However, wrath has overtaken them at last!

¹⁷ For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who refuse to obey the gospel of God? ¹⁸ “If it is hard for the righteous person to be saved, what will happen to the ungodly and sinful person?”

¹¹ “Whatever town or village you enter, find out who is receptive in it and stay there until you leave. ¹² As you enter the house, greet its occupants. ¹³ If the household is receptive, let your blessing of peace come on it. But if it isn’t receptive, let your blessing of peace return to you.

³⁷ The Cost of Discipleship
“The one who loves his father or mother more than me isn’t worthy of me, and the one who loves a son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me. ³⁸ The one who doesn’t take up his cross and follow me isn’t worthy of me.

³⁵ but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.

³⁶ So be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place and to take your stand in the presence of the Son of Man.”

⁵ This is evidence of God’s righteous judgment and is intended to make you worthy of God’s kingdom, for which you are suffering.

⁴ But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white clothes because they are worthy.

¹⁴ “How blessed are those who wash their robes so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city!

²⁰ The Benefits of Choosing WisdomWisdom cries out in the street; she raises her voice in the public squares. ²¹ She calls out at the busiest part of the noisy streets, and at the entrance to the gates of the city she utters her words: ²² “You naïve ones, how long will you love naiveté? And how long will scoffers delight in scoffing or fools hate knowledge?” ²³ Return to my correction! Look, I will pour out my spirit on you, and I will make my words known to you.

¹ Wisdom Calls for an Audience Isn’t wisdom calling out; isn’t understanding raising her voice? ² On top of the highest places along the road she stands where the roads meet. ³ Beside the gates, at the city entrance— at the entrance to the portals she cries aloud: ⁴ “I’m calling to you, men! What I have to say pertains to all mankind! ⁵ Understand prudence, you naïve people; and gain an understanding heart, you foolish ones.

⁴ “Let whoever is naïve, turn in here.” To anyone lacking sense, she says, ⁵ “Come! Eat my food, and drink the wine that I have mixed. ⁶ Leave your naïve ways, and live. Walk in the path of understanding.”

¹ An Invitation to Life “Come, everyone who is thirsty, come to the waters! Also, you that have no money, come, buy, and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without price. ² Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in rich food. ³ Pay attention to me, come to me; and listen, so that you may live; then I’ll make an everlasting covenant with you, as promised by my faithful, sure love for David.

⁶ Steps to Reconciliation“Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near. ⁷ Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous person his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, So he’ll have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he’ll pardon abundantly.

²¹ “Meanwhile, Babylon’s king is standing at the fork of the road, where he can head in either of two directions, and that’s where he is practicing divination. Shaking his arrows, he’s asking questions of his teraphim while he examines livers.

¹⁵ Then he told them, “As you go into all the world, proclaim the gospel to everyone. ¹⁶ Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever doesn’t believe will be condemned.

⁴⁷ and then repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

⁴⁷ For that is what the Lord ordered us to do: ‘I have made you a light to the gentiles to be the means of salvation to the very ends of the earth.’”

⁸ To me, the very least of all the saints, this grace was given so that I might proclaim to the gentiles the immeasurable wealth of the Messiah

³⁸ while the field is the world. The good seed are those who belong to the kingdom, while the weeds are those who belong to the evil one.

⁴⁷ The Parable about a Net“Again, the kingdom from heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea that gathered all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen hauled it ashore. Then they sat down, sorted the good fish into containers, and threw the bad ones away.

¹¹ “When the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ¹² He asked him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But the man was speechless.

¹ The Parable about the Ten Bridesmaids “At that time, the kingdom from heaven will be comparable to ten bridesmaids who took their oil lamps and went out to meet the groom. ² Now five of them were foolish, and five were wise,

¹⁰ “While they were away buying it, the groom arrived. Those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet, and the door was closed.

⁹ You know that wicked people will not inherit the kingdom of God, don’t you? Stop deceiving yourselves! Sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals, ¹⁰ thieves, greedy people, drunks, slanderers, and robbers will not inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ That is what some of you were! But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah and by the Spirit of our God.

²¹ I am afraid that when I come my God may again humble me before you and that I may have to grieve over many who formerly lived in sin and have not repented of their impurity, sexual immorality, and promiscuity that they once practiced.

¹⁹ They left us, but they were not part of us, for if they had been part of us, they would have stayed with us. Their leaving made it clear that none of them was really part of us.

¹⁴ But I have a few things against you: You have there some who hold to the teaching of Balaam, the one who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the people of Israel so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practice immorality. ¹⁵ You also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans.

²⁰ But I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet and who teaches and leads my servants to practice immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. ²¹ I gave her time to repent, but she refused to repent of her immorality. ²² Look! I am going to strike her with illness. Those who commit adultery with her will also suffer greatly, unless they repent from acting like her. ²³ I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will reward each of you as your actions deserve.

⁹ They sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered. With your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation.

⁹ The Vision of Tribulation SaintsAfter these things, I looked, and there was a crowd so large that no one was able to count it! They were from every nation, tribe, people, and language. They were standing in front of the throne and the lamb and were wearing white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

⁶ The Vision of the Marriage Supper of the LambThen I heard what sounded like the voice of a large crowd, like the sound of raging waters, and like the sound of powerful thunderclaps, saying, “Hallelujah! The Lord our God, the Almighty, is reigning.

²² Then Jehu ordered the one in charge of the wardrobe, “Bring out garments for all of the worshipers of Baal.” So he brought out garments for them.

¹³ In her chamber, the king’s daughter is glorious; her clothing is embroidered with gold thread. ¹⁴ In embroidered garments she is presented to the king. Her virgin companions who follow her train will be presented to you.

¹ The Redemption of Zion Awake, awake! Clothe yourself with strength, O Zion! Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for the uncircumcised and the unclean won’t enter you.

³ to provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” “Then people will call them “Oaks of Righteousness”, “The Planting of the LORD”, in order to display his splendor. ⁴ They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the places long devastated; they will build again the ruined cities, they will build again the places devastated for many generations. ⁵ Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will work your land and dress your vines. ⁶ But as for you, you will be called priests of the LORD, and you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of the nations, and you will boast about their riches. ⁷ Instead of your shame you will receive double, and instead of disgrace people will shout with joy over your inheritance; therefore you will inherit a double portion in their land; everlasting joy will be yours.” ⁸ “For I, the LORD, love justice, and I hate robbery and iniquity; I will faithfully present your reward and make an everlasting covenant with you. ⁹ Your offspring will be known among the nations, and your descendants among the people. All who see them will acknowledge them, that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.”
¹⁰ Rejoicing in God’s Deliverance“I will heartily rejoice in the LORD, my soul will delight in my God; for he has wrapped me in garments of salvation; he has arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, just like a bridegroom, like a priest with a garland, and like a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

⁶ All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like a filthy rag; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind, our iniquities sweep us away.

²² unless you have utterly rejected us and are angry with us without limit.

¹² And it will come about that I will search Jerusalem with candles, punishing the self-satisfied and complacent, who say to themselves, ‘The LORD will do neither good nor evil.’

³ Now Joshua was wearing filthy clothes as he stood in the presence of the angel.
⁴ So the angel continued to tell those who were standing in his presence, “Remove his filthy clothes.”
And he told Joshua, “Look how I’ve removed your iniquity. Now I’m clothing you with fine garments.”

¹² His winnowing fork is in his hand. He will clean up his threshing floor and gather his grain into the barn, but he will burn the chaff with inextinguishable fire.”

³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles for burning, but bring the wheat into my barn.”’”

³¹ The Judgment of the Nations“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels are with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be assembled in front of him, and he will cull them out, one from another, like a shepherd separates sheep from goats.

²² God’s righteousness through the faithfulness of Jesus the Messiah— for all who believe. For there is no distinction among people,

¹⁴ Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and do not obey your flesh and its desires.

⁵ Therefore, stop judging prematurely, before the Lord comes, for he will bring to light what is now hidden in darkness and reveal the motives of our hearts. Then each person will receive his praise from God.

³ Of course, if we do put it on, we will not be found without a body.

²⁷ Indeed, all of you who were baptized into the Messiah have clothed yourselves with the Messiah.

²⁴ and to clothe yourselves with the new nature, which was created according to God’s image in righteousness and true holiness.

¹⁰ and have clothed yourselves with the new nature, which is being renewed in full knowledge, consistent with the image of the one who created it. ¹¹ In him there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free person. Instead, the Messiah is all and in all.

¹² For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow, as it judges the thoughts and purposes of the heart. ¹³ No creature can hide from him, but everyone is exposed and helpless before the eyes of the one to whom we must give a word of explanation.

²³ I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will reward each of you as your actions deserve.

⁴ But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me in white clothes because they are worthy. ⁵ The person who conquers in this way will wear white clothes, and I will never erase his name from the Book of Life. I will acknowledge his name in the presence of my Father and his angels.

¹⁸ Therefore, I advise you to buy from me gold purified in fire so you may be rich, white clothes to wear so your shameful nakedness won’t show, and ointment to put on your eyes so you may see.

¹⁵ “See, I am coming like a thief. How blessed is the person who remains alert and keeps his clothes on! He won’t have to go naked and let others see his shame.”

⁸ She has been given the privilege of wearing fine linen, dazzling and pure.”(The fine linen represents the righteous deeds of the saints.)

⁹ He guards the steps of his faithful ones, while the wicked are made silent in darkness. He grants the request of the one who prays. He blesses the year of the righteous. Indeed it’s not by strength that a person prevails.

¹⁶ Therefore there is hope for those who are poor, and iniquity shuts its mouth.

⁴² The upright see it and rejoice, but the mouth of an evil person is shut.

²³ Israel’s Passion for Sin“How can you say, ‘I’m not defiled. I haven’t gone after the Baals.’? Look at what you’ve done in the valley. Know what you have done. You are a swift young camel galloping aimlessly;

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced when he’s caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced— they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets,

²⁰ because I tell you, unless your righteousness greatly exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom from heaven!”

¹³ “But he told one of them, ‘Friend, I’m not treating you unfairly. You did agree with me for a denarius, didn’t you?

⁵⁰ Jesus asked him, “Friend, why are you here?” Then the other men surged forward, took hold of Jesus, and arrested him.

² With his wife’s full knowledge, he kept back some of the money for himself and brought the remainder and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
³ Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart so that you should lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back some of the money you got for the land? ⁴ As long as it remained unsold, wasn’t it your own? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? So how could you have thought of doing what you did? You didn’t lie only to men, but also to God!”
⁵ When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. And great fear seized everyone who heard about it. ⁶ The young men got up, wrapped him up, carried him outside, and buried him. ⁷ After an interval of about three hours, Ananias’ wife came in, not knowing what had happened. ⁸ So Peter asked her, “Tell me, did you sell the land for that price?”
She answered, “Yes, that was the price.”
⁹ “How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter asked her. “Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well.” ¹⁰ She instantly fell down at Peter’s feet and died. When the young men came in, they found her dead. So they carried her out and buried her next to her husband. ¹¹ And great fear seized the whole church and everyone else who heard about this.

²⁰ But Peter told him, “May your money perish with you, because you thought you could obtain God’s free gift with money! ²¹ You have no part or share in what we’re saying, because your heart isn’t right with God. ²² So repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, your heart’s intent may be forgiven you. ²³ For I see that you’re being poisoned by bitterness and you’re a prisoner of wickedness!”

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.

¹¹ For you know that a person like this is corrupt and keeps on sinning, being self-condemned.

¹² The wicked person plots against the righteous, and grinds his teeth at him.

¹⁰ The wicked person sees this and flies into a rage; his teeth gnash and wear away. The desire of the wicked will amount to nothing.

²⁰ Then he issued orders to his elite guard to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego with ropes and throw them into the blazing fire furnace.

¹² But the unfaithful heirs of that kingdom will be thrown into the darkness outside. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

²⁹ How can someone go into a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions without first tying up the strong man? Then he can ransack his house.

⁴² and they will throw them into a blazing furnace. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

⁵⁰ and will throw them into a blazing furnace. In that place there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

⁵¹ Then his master will punish him severely and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

³⁰ Throw this useless servant into the darkness outside! In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

²⁸ In that place there will be crying and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves being driven away on the outside.

¹⁸ “Truly, I tell you emphatically, when you were young, you would fasten your belt and go wherever you liked. But when you get old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten your belt and take you where you don’t want to go.”

⁵⁴ Stephen is Stoned to DeathWhile they were listening to these things, they became more and more furious and began to grind their teeth at him.

¹¹ He came to us, took Paul’s belt, and tied his own feet and hands with it. Then he said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘This is how the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will tie up the man who owns this belt. Then they will hand him over to the gentiles.’”

⁹ Such people will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction by being separated from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious power

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but threw them into the lowest hell and imprisoned them in chains of deepest darkness, holding them for judgment;

¹⁷ These men are dried-up springs, mere clouds driven by a storm. Gloomy darkness is reserved for them.

⁶ He has also held in eternal chains those angels who did not keep their own position but abandoned their assigned place. They are held in deepest darkness for judgment on the great day.

¹³ They are wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their own shame. They are wandering stars for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved forever.

²⁷ Nothing unclean, or anyone who does anything detestable, and no one who tells lies will ever enter it. Only those whose names are written in the lamb’s Book of Life will enter it.

¹³ The Narrow Gate
“Go in through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the road is spacious that leads to destruction, and many people are entering by it. ¹⁴ How narrow is the gate and how constricted is the road that leads to life, and there aren’t many people who find it!”

¹⁶ “In the same way, the last will be first, and the first will be last, because many are called, but few are chosen.”

²² If those days hadn’t been limited, no one would survive. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be limited.

²³ Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He told them, ²⁴ “Keep on struggling to enter through the narrow door, because I tell you that many people will try to enter, but won’t be able to do so.

¹⁰ So then, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election certain, for if you keep on doing this you will never fail.

¹⁴ They will wage war against the lamb, but the lamb will conquer them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those who are called, chosen, and faithful are with him.”

² As the kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers conspire together against the LORD and his anointed one, they say,

⁶ The one who comes to visit me speaks lies; in his heart he thinks slanderous things about me and goes around spreading them.

⁵ All day long people distort what I say; all their schemes against me are for evil purposes. ⁶ They gather together and hide in ambush. They watch my every step as they lie in wait for my life. ⁷ Cast them away because of their wickedness. In wrath, God, cast down these people!

⁶ They have set a snare for my feet, which makes me depressed. They dug a pit in front of me, but they are the ones who fell into it! Interlude

³ Look, they lie in ambush for my life; these violent men gather together against me, but not because of any transgression or sin of mine, LORD.

²¹ those who make a person appear to be the offender in a lawsuit, who set a trap for someone who is making his defense in court, and push aside the innocent with specious arguments.

¹⁸ Jeremiah Reacts to the Plot against HimThen they said, “Come, let’s make up a plot against Jeremiah. After all, the priest’s instruction, the wise man’s counsel, and the prophet’s message won’t be destroyed. So let’s verbally attack him. Pay no attention to anything he says!”

¹⁰ Indeed, I hear many people whispering, “Terror on every side. Denounce him, let’s denounce him!” All my close friends watch my steps and say, “Perhaps he will be deceived, and we can prevail against him and take vengeance on him.”

¹³ A Question about Paying Taxes
Then they sent some Pharisees and some Herodians to him, intending to trap him in what he said. ¹⁴ They came and told him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or shouldn’t we?”
¹⁵ Seeing through their hypocrisy, Jesus replied to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
¹⁶ So they brought one. Then he asked them, “Whose face and name are on this?”
They told him, “Caesar’s.”
¹⁷ So Jesus told them, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.

⁵³ As Jesus was leaving, the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose him fiercely, interrogating him about many things. ⁵⁴ They watched him closely in an effort to trap him in something he might say.

²⁰ A Question about Paying Taxes
So they watched him closely and sent spies who pretended to be honest men in order to trap him in what he would say. They wanted to hand him over to the jurisdiction of the governor, ²¹ so they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you’re right in what you say and teach, and that you don’t favor any individual, but teach the way of God truthfully. ²² Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”
²³ But he discerned their craftiness and responded to them, ²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose face and name does it have?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.
²⁵ So he told them, “Then give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
²⁶ So they couldn’t catch him before the people in what he said. Amazed at his answer, they became silent.

³ The Father Disciplines UsThink about the one who endured such hostility from sinners, so that you may not become tired and give up.

⁹ the one who told his mother and father, ‘I don’t know them,’ and who would neither acknowledge his brothers nor know his own children. For they kept your word and guarded your covenant.

¹⁴ “As the LORD lives,” Micaiah replied, “I’ll say what my God tells me to say.”

²¹ I won’t discriminate against anyone, and I won’t flatter any person, ²² since I don’t know the first thing about how to flatter; and the one who made me would sweep me away as if I were nothing.”

⁹ But as for the wicked, they do not speak truth at all. Inside them there is only wickedness. Their throat is an open grave, on their tongue is deceitful flattery.

² Everyone speaks lies to his neighbor; they speak with flattering lips and hidden motives.

²¹ His mouth is as smooth as butter, while war is in his heart. His words were as smooth as olive oil, while his sword is drawn.

⁵ A strong man who flatters his neighbor is setting a trap where he walks.

¹³ they’ve rebelled in treachery against the LORD, and are turning away from following our God; and they’ve spoken oppression and revolt, and are conceiving lying words from the heart. ¹⁴ I’ll drive back justice, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth has fallen in the public square, and honesty cannot enter. ¹⁵ Truth is missing, and whoever turns away from evil becomes a prey.”
God Brings His Own Salvation “Then the LORD looked, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

³ They use their tongues like a bow. Lies rather than truth fly throughout the land. They progress from one evil to another, and they don’t know me,” declares the LORD. ⁴ “Beware of your neighbors, and don’t trust any of your relatives. For all of your relatives act deceitfully, and every friend goes around as a slanderer. ⁵ People deceive their friends, and they don’t tell the truth. They have taught their tongues to tell lies. They exhaust themselves practicing evil.

³⁰ The Disobedient Exiles of Babylon“Now as for you, Son of Man, your nation’s children keep gathering together to talk about you beside the walls and at the doorway to their houses. Everyone tells one another, ‘Please come! Let’s go hear what the LORD has to say!’ ³¹ Then they come to you as a group, sit down right in front of you as if they were my people, hear your words—and then they don’t do what you say— because they’re seeking only their own desires, they pursue ill-gotten profits, and they keep following their own self-interests.

⁹ Please listen to this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you officials of the house of Israel, you who hate administering justice, who pervert the very meaning of equity, ¹⁰ who are building up Zion by means of bloodshed, and Jerusalem by means of iniquity. ¹¹ Her leaders judge for the money, her priests teach only when they’re paid, and her prophets prophesy for cash. Even so, don’t they all rely on the LORD as they ask, ‘The LORD is among us, is he not? Nothing bad can possibly happen to us!’ ¹² “Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed up like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the Temple Mount like a forest high place.”

⁶ True teachings were in his mouth, and falsehood was not found on his lips. He walked with me peacefully and righteously, and he turned many from sin.

⁹ “So I also made you despised, humiliating you before all of the people, because you aren’t following my ways and are showing partiality when you teach.”

¹¹ How can you fail to understand that I wasn’t talking to you about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”
¹² Then they understood that he did not say to beware of the yeast used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

²⁴ “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and have children for his brother.’

²⁶ The same thing happened with the second brother, and then the third, and finally with the rest of the brothers.

¹⁸ He said, “Go to a certain man in the city and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near. I will celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.”’”

⁴⁹ So Judas immediately went up to Jesus and said, “Hello, Rabbi!” and kissed him tenderly.

⁶ Immediately the Pharisees and Herodians went out and began to plot how to kill him.

¹⁵ Jesus had been warning them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and the yeast of Herod!”

¹⁷ A Rich Man Comes to Jesus
As Jesus was setting out again, a man ran up to him, knelt down in front of him, and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

¹⁴ They came and told him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. Rather, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or shouldn’t we?”

⁴⁰ Jesus told him, “Simon, I have something to ask you.”
“Teacher,” he replied, “ask it.”

²¹ so they asked him, “Teacher, we know that you’re right in what you say and teach, and that you don’t favor any individual, but teach the way of God truthfully.

¹⁸ The one who speaks on his own seeks his own praise. But the one who seeks the praise of him who sent him is genuine, and there’s nothing false in him.

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

³⁷ Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?”
Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. I was born for this, and I came into the world for this: to testify to the truth. Everyone who is committed to the truth listens to my voice.”

¹⁷ At least we are not commercializing God’s word like so many others. Instead, we speak with sincerity in the Messiah’s name, like people who are sent from God and are accountable to God.

² Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not use trickery or pervert God’s word. By clear statements of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

¹⁶ So then, from now on we do not think of anyone from a human point of view. Even if we did think of the Messiah from a human point of view, we don’t think of him that way anymore.

¹⁰ Am I now trying to win the approval of people or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be the Messiah’s servant.

⁶ Now those who were reputed to be important added nothing to my message. (What sort of people they were makes no difference to me, since God pays no attention to outward appearances.)

⁴ Rather, because we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, we speak as we do, not trying to please people but God, who tests our motives.

¹⁷ However, the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, willing to yield, full of compassion and good deeds, and without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

²⁰ We also know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding so that we may know the true God. We are in union with the one who is true, his Son Jesus the Messiah, who is the true God and eternal life.

¹⁴ Duties of the Future King“When you have come to the land that the LORD your God is about to give you, and you have taken possession of it, and have settled in it, then you will say, ‘I will appoint a king over me like all the nations around me.’ ¹⁵ You will certainly set a king over you, whom the LORD your God will choose from among your relatives, but you must not place a foreign king over you who is not from your relatives.

¹³ May the king be further advised that if this city is rebuilt and its walls erected, its citizens will refuse to pay tributes, taxes, and tariffs, thereby restricting royal revenues.

²⁴ Furthermore, we decree that with respect to any of the priests, descendants of Levi, singers, gatekeepers, Temple Servants, or other servants of this Temple of God, it is not to be lawful to impose any tribute, tax, or toll on them.

⁴ Still others were saying “We’ve borrowed money against our fields and vineyards to pay the king’s taxes.

³⁷ But now its abundant produce belongs to the kings whom you placed over us because of our sin. They also have power over our bodies and our herds at their pleasure, and we are in great distress.

² They told Jeremiah the prophet, “Please listen to what we have to ask of you. Pray to the LORD your God for us and for all these survivors. Indeed, only a few of us remain out of many, as you can see. ³ Pray that the LORD your God may inform us as to how we should live and what we should do.”

²⁰ that you have deceived yourselves. Indeed, you yourselves sent me to the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray to the LORD your God for us, and whatever the LORD our God tells us we will do.’

²⁵ He answered, “Yes.”
When Peter went home, Jesus spoke to him first and asked him, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings on the earth collect tolls or tributes? From their own subjects, or from foreigners?”

¹ The Birth of Jesus
Now in those days an order was published by Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be registered.

¹ John the Baptist Prepares the Way for Jesus
Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Caesar Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene,

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to release him, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you release this fellow, you’re not a friend of Caesar! Anyone who claims to be a king is defying Caesar!”
¹³ When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat down on the judgment seat in a place called The Pavement, which in Hebrew is called Gabbatha. ¹⁴ Now it was the Preparation Day for the Passover, about noon. He told the Jewish leaders, “Here is your king!”
¹⁵ Then they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”
Pilate asked them, “Should I crucify your king?”
The high priests responded, “We have no king but Caesar!”

³⁷ After that man, at the time of the census, Judas the Galilean appeared and got people to follow him. He, too, died, and all his followers were scattered.

⁷ and Jason has welcomed them as his guests. All of them oppose the emperor’s decrees by saying that there is another king—Jesus!”

⁸ Paul said in his defense, “I have done nothing wrong against the Law of the Jews, or of the Temple, or of the emperor.”

²² However, we’d like to hear from you what you believe, because people are talking against this sect everywhere.”

⁶ This is also why you pay taxes. For rulers are God’s servants faithfully devoting themselves to their work. ⁷ Pay everyone whatever you owe them—taxes to whom taxes are due, tolls to whom tolls are due, fear to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due.

¹ Interpreting the Time
When the Pharisees and Sadducees arrived, in order to test Jesus they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. ² He replied to them, “You say, ‘Red sky at night, what a delight! ³ Red sky in the morning, cloudy and storming.’
You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, yet you can’t interpret the signs of the times? ⁴ An evil and adulterous generation craves a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” Then he left them and went away.

³ Some Pharisees came to him in order to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

⁸ At once, Jesus knew in his spirit what they were saying to themselves. “Why are you arguing about such things among yourselves?” he asked them.

⁵ Then the man sent another, and that one they killed. So it was with many other servants. Some of these they beat, and others they killed.

²² Because Jesus knew that they were arguing, he asked them, “Why are you arguing about this among yourselves?

⁴⁷ But Jesus, knowing their inner thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him.

²⁵ The Good SamaritanJust then an expert in the Law stood up to test Jesus. He asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²³ But he discerned their craftiness and responded to them,

²⁵ and didn’t need anyone to tell him what people were like, because he himself knew what was in every person.

⁶ They said this to test him, so that they might have a charge against him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.

⁹ “How could you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord?” Peter asked her. “Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and these men will carry you outside as well.”

²⁸ “But when that servant went away, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him, seized him by the throat, and said, ‘Pay what you owe!’

² After agreeing to pay the workers one denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

⁶ I heard what sounded like a voice from among the four living creatures, saying, “One day’s ration of wheat for a day’s wage, or three day’s ration of barley for a day’s wage! But don’t damage the olive oil or the wine!”

²⁴ “Show me a denarius. Whose face and name does it have?”
“Caesar’s,” they replied.

²¹ My son, fear both the LORD and the king, and don’t keep company with rebels.

¹⁶ Daniel’s Friends Answer King NebuchadnezzarShadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered King Nebuchadnezzar, “It’s not necessary for us to respond in this matter. ¹⁷ Your majesty, if it be his will, our God whom we serve can deliver us from the blazing fire furnace, and he will deliver us from you. ¹⁸ But if not, rest assured, your majesty, that we won’t serve your gods, and we won’t worship the golden statue that you have set up.”

¹⁰ Daniel is AccusedWhen Daniel learned that the written document had been signed, he went to an upstairs room in his house that had windows opened facing Jerusalem. Three times a day he would kneel down, pray, and give thanks to his God, just as he had previously done.
¹¹ The conspirators then went as a group and found Daniel praying and seeking help before his God.

²⁰ As he approached where Daniel was in the pit, he cried out to him in a voice filled with anguish, “Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve constantly, been able to deliver you from the lions?”
²¹ Daniel replied to the king, “May your majesty live forever! ²² My God sent his angel and sealed the mouths of the lions. They have not harmed me, proving that I’m innocent before him. Also against you, your majesty, I’ve committed no offense.”
²³ The king was ecstatic, so he gave orders for Daniel to be released from the pit. Daniel was taken up from the pit, and no injury was found to have been inflicted on him, because he had believed in his God.

⁶ God’s Second Complaint: Against His Priests—A Despised Offering“A son honors his father and a servant his master. So if I’m a father, where is my honor? And if I’m a master, where is my respect?” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies to you priests who are despising my name. “But you ask, ‘How have we despised your name?’ ⁷ By presenting defiled food on my altar. And you ask, ‘How have we defiled you?’ By saying, ‘The Table of the LORD is contemptible.’ ⁸ When you bring blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? And when you sacrifice crippled or diseased animals, is that not wrong? Offer that to your governor—would he be pleased with you or receive you favorably?” asks the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁸ “Will a person rob God? Yet you are robbing me! But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “By the tithe and the offering. ⁹ You are cursed under the curse—the entire nation—because you are robbing me!
¹⁰ “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure.

¹⁰ Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! Because it is written, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

²⁵ He answered, “Yes.”
When Peter went home, Jesus spoke to him first and asked him, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do kings on the earth collect tolls or tributes? From their own subjects, or from foreigners?”
²⁶ “From foreigners,” he replied.
So Jesus told him, “In that case, the subjects are exempt. ²⁷ However, so that we don’t offend them, go to the sea and throw in a hook. Take the first fish that comes up, open its mouth, and you will find a coin. Take it and give it to them for me and you.”

³⁷ Jesus told him, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

² They began to accuse him, “We found this man corrupting our nation, forbidding us to pay taxes to Caesar, and saying that he is the Messiah, a king.”

¹⁹ But Peter and John answered them, “You must decide whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God,

²⁹ But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men!

⁷ Pay everyone whatever you owe them—taxes to whom taxes are due, tolls to whom tolls are due, fear to whom fear is due, honor to whom honor is due.

¹³ For the Lord’s sake submit yourselves to every human authority: whether to the king as supreme, ¹⁴ or to governors who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right. ¹⁵ For it is God’s will that by doing right you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. ¹⁶ Live like free people, and do not use your freedom as an excuse for doing evil. Instead, be God’s servants. ¹⁷ Honor everyone. Keep on loving the community of believers, fearing God, and honoring the king.

⁴ Don’t answer a fool according to his foolishness, or you will be just like him. ⁵ Answer a fool according to his foolishness, or he will think himself to be wise.

¹⁶ Future Persecutions
“Pay attention, now! I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So be as cunning as serpents and as innocent as doves.

³³ When the crowds heard this, they were amazed at his teaching.

⁴⁶ No one could answer him at all, and from that day on no one dared to ask him another question.

¹² They were trying to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. Realizing that he had spoken this parable against them, they left him alone and went away.

¹⁵ because I will give you the ability to speak, along with wisdom, that none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.

¹⁰ But they could neither refute the wisdom nor withstand the Spirit by which he kept speaking.

⁶ Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone.

⁷ But when John saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he told them, “You children of serpents! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

⁶ Jesus told them, “Watch out! Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!”

¹⁸ A Question about the Resurrection
Then some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers. The first one married and died without having children. ²¹ Then the second married her and died without having children, and so did the third. ²² None of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died, too. ²³ In the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had married her?”
²⁴ Jesus answered them, “Aren’t you mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power? ²⁵ When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. ²⁶ As for the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? ²⁷ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

²⁷ A Question about the Resurrection
Now some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus ²⁸ and asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man should marry the widow and have children for his brother. ²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died childless. ³⁰ Then the second ³¹ and the third married her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children. ³² Finally, the woman died, too. ³³ Now in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be, since the seven had married her?”
³⁴ Jesus told them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are married, ³⁵ but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ Nor can they die anymore, because they are like the angels and, since they share in the resurrection, are God’s children. ³⁷ Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, because he considers all people to be alive to him.”
³⁹ Then some of the scribes replied, “Teacher, you have given a fine answer.” ⁴⁰ Then they no longer dared to ask him another question.

¹ Peter and John are Tried before the Jewish CouncilWhile they were speaking to the people, the priests, the commander of the Temple guards, and the Sadducees came to them.

¹⁷ The Apostles are Tried before the Jewish CouncilThen the high priest and all those from the sect of the Sadducees who were with him were filled with jealousy. So they went out,

⁶ When Paul saw that some of them were Sadducees and others were Pharisees, he shouted in the Council, “Brothers, I’m a Pharisee and a descendant of Pharisees. I’m on trial concerning the hope that the dead will be resurrected.”
⁷ After he said that, an angry quarrel broke out between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided, ⁸ because the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection and that there is no such thing as an angel or spirit, but the Pharisees believe in all those things.

¹² The Resurrection of the DeadNow if we preach that the Messiah has been raised from the dead, how can some of you keep claiming there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then the Messiah has not been raised, ¹⁴ and if the Messiah has not been raised, then our message means nothing and your faith means nothing.

¹⁸ They have abandoned the truth by claiming that the resurrection has already taken place, and so they destroy the faith of others.

⁸ So Judah instructed Onan, “You are to have sexual relations with your dead brother’s wife, performing the duty of a brother-in-law with her, and have offspring for your brother.”

¹¹ After this, Judah told his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Go live as a widow in your father’s house until my son Shelah grows up.” But he was really thinking, “…otherwise, Shelah might die like his brothers.” So Tamar left and lived in her father’s house.

⁵ Levirate Marriage“When two brothers are living together and one of them dies without leaving a son, his widow must not be married outside the family to a foreigner. Instead, the brother-in-law must go to her, take her as his wife, and by doing so perform the duty of a brother-in-law. ⁶ The firstborn whom she will bear will continue the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be erased from Israel. ⁷ But if the man does not want to marry his brother’s widow, then she must go to the elders at the city gate and declare, ‘My husband’s brother refuses to perform the duty of a brother-in-law in order to preserve the name of his brother in Israel. He is not willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law.’ ⁸ Then the elders of the city are to summon him and speak with him. If he insists on saying, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹ then she is to approach her brother-in-law in the presence of the elders, remove his sandal, spit in his face, and say in response, ‘May this be done to the man who does not preserve the lineage of his brother.’ ¹⁰ Then his family name in Israel will be known ‘as the family of the one whose sandal was removed.’”

¹¹ But Naomi responded, “Go back, my daughters. Why go with me? Are there still sons to be born to me as future husbands for you?

²¹ I Never Knew You
“Not everyone who keeps saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom from heaven, but only the person who keeps doing the will of my Father in heaven.

¹⁶ They sent their disciples to him along with the Herodians. They said, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere and that you teach the way of God truthfully. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance.

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother.

⁴⁶ The Two Foundations
“Why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but don’t do what I tell you?

²⁸ and asked him, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, the man should marry the widow and have children for his brother.

¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother. ²⁰ There were seven brothers. The first one married and died without having children. ²¹ Then the second married her and died without having children, and so did the third. ²² None of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died, too. ²³ In the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had married her?”

²⁹ Now there were seven brothers. The first one married and died childless. ³⁰ Then the second ³¹ and the third married her. In the same way, all seven died and left no children. ³² Finally, the woman died, too. ³³ Now in the resurrection, whose wife will the woman be, since the seven had married her?”

²⁷ Indeed, just as people are destined to die once and after that to be judged,

¹⁴ Is anything impossible for the LORD? At the time set for it, I will return to you—about a year from now—and Sarah will have a son.”

²⁵ “As for me, I know that my Vindicator is alive; And he, the Last One, will take his stand on the soil. ²⁶ Even after my skin has been destroyed, clothed in my flesh I will see God, ²⁷ whom I will see for myself. My own eyes will look at him— there won’t be anyone else for me!— He is the culmination of my innermost desire.”

⁹ Therefore, my heart is glad, my whole being rejoices, and my body will dwell securely. ¹⁰ For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, you will not allow your holy one to experience corruption. ¹¹ You cause me to know the path of life; in your presence is joyful abundance, at your right hand there are pleasures forever.

¹⁵ But as for me, justified, I will behold your face; when I awake, your presence will satisfy me.

¹⁴ Like sheep, they are destined for the realm of the dead, with death as their shepherd. The upright will have dominion over them in the morning; their strength will be consumed in the afterlife, so that they have no home. ¹⁵ God will truly redeem me from the power of Sheol. He will surely receive me! Interlude

²⁵ Whom do I have in heaven but you? I desire nothing on this earth. ²⁶ My body and mind may fail, but God is my strength and my portion forever.

⁸ he has swallowed up death forever! Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and he will take away the disgrace of his people from the entire earth.” for the LORD has spoken.

¹⁹ The Resurrection of the Dead“But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. Those who live in the dust will wake up and shout for joy! For your dew is like the dew of dawn, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

¹ Israel’s Idolatry “Also the righteous are perishing, but no one takes it to heart; devout people are taken away, while no one understands that the righteous person is taken away from calamity. ² Then he enters into peace, and they’ll rest on his couches, each one living righteously.

¹⁷ ‘LORD! Look, you made the heavens and the earth with your great power and your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for you!

² Many of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will awaken—some to life everlasting, and some to disgrace and everlasting contempt. ³ Those who manifest wisdom will shine like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who turn many to righteousness will shine like the stars for ever and ever.

¹⁴ “From the power of Sheol I will rescue them, from death I will redeem them. Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? My eyes will remain closed to your pleas for compassion.

³⁷ Nothing is impossible with respect to any of God’s promises.”

⁴⁴ Then he told them, “These are the words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms had to be fulfilled.”
⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so that they might understand the Scriptures.

⁹ For they did not yet understand the Scripture that said that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

⁸ Why is it thought incredible by all of you that God should raise the dead?

⁴ For everything that was written long ago was written to instruct us, so that we might have hope through the endurance and encouragement that the Scriptures give us.

²¹ He will change our unassuming bodies and make them like his glorious body through the power that enables him to bring everything under his authority.

²⁰ Bless the LORD, you angels who belong to him, you mighty warriors who carry out his commands, who are obedient to the sound of his words.

⁷ “This is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: ‘If you will live according to my ways, and if you will keep what I have entrusted to you, then you will also administer my Temple, and you will also guard my courtyards. And I will give you access to these who serve here.

⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father’s kingdom. Let the person who has ears listen!”

¹⁰ “See to it that you do not despise one of these little ones, because I tell you, their angels in heaven always have access to my Father in heaven.

³⁸ In those days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage right up to the day when Noah went into the ark.

²⁴ Jesus answered them, “Aren’t you mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power? ²⁵ When people rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven.

²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying, and being given in marriage right up to the day when Noah went into the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed all of them.

³⁴ Jesus told them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are married, ³⁵ but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. ³⁶ Nor can they die anymore, because they are like the angels and, since they share in the resurrection, are God’s children.

²⁸ Don’t be amazed at this, because the time is approaching when everyone in their graves will hear the Son of Man’s voice ²⁹ and will come out—those who have done what is good to the resurrection that leads to life, and those who have practiced what is evil to the resurrection that ends in condemnation.

²⁹ This is what I mean, brothers: The time is short. From now on, those who have wives should live as though they had none, ³⁰ and those who mourn as though they did not mourn, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they did not own a thing, ³¹ and those who use the things in the world as though they were not dependent on them. For the world in its present form is passing away.

¹ We are God’s ChildrenSee what kind of love the Father has given us: We are called God’s children—and that is what we are! For this reason the world does not recognize us, because it did not recognize him, either.
² Dear friends, we are now God’s children, but what we will be like has not been revealed yet. We know that when the Messiah is revealed, we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.

⁹ They sang a new song: “You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered. With your blood you purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation. ¹⁰ You made them a kingdom and priests for our God, and they will reign on the earth.”
¹¹ The Vision of the Song of the LambThen I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels, the living creatures, and the elders surrounding the throne. They numbered 10,000’s times 10,000 and thousands times thousands.

¹⁰ I bowed down at his feet to worship him, but he told me, “Don’t do that! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who rely on what Jesus is saying. Worship God, because what Jesus is saying is the spirit of prophecy!”

¹³ Go and learn what this means: ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice,’ because I did not come to call righteous people, but sinners.”

³ But he told them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?

⁷ If you had known what ‘I want mercy and not sacrifice’ means, you would not have condemned the innocent,

¹⁶ and asked him, “Do you hear what these people are saying?”
Jesus told them, “Yes! Haven’t you ever read, ‘From the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have created praise’?”

⁴² Jesus asked them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes.’?

⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

¹⁵ God also told Moses, “Tell the Israelis, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
¹⁶ “Go and gather the elders of Israel. Tell them, ‘The LORD God of your ancestors, appeared to me—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—and he said, “I have paid close attention to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.

³⁷ Even Moses demonstrated in the story about the bush that the dead are raised, when he calls the Lord, ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ ³⁸ He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, because he considers all people to be alive to him.”

³² ‘I am the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.’ Moses became terrified and didn’t dare to look.

¹⁶ Instead, they were longing for a better country, that is, a heavenly one. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, because he has prepared a city for them.

²⁸ When Jesus had finished saying all these things, the crowds were utterly amazed at his teaching, ²⁹ because he was teaching them like a person who had authority, and not like their scribes.

²² When they heard this, they were amazed. Then they left him and went away.

² When the Sabbath came, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were utterly amazed. “Where did this man get all these things?” they asked. “What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What great miracles are being done by his hands!

¹⁷ So Jesus told them, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.

⁴⁷ All who heard him were amazed at his intelligence and his answers.

²² All the people began to speak well of him and to wonder at the gracious words that flowed from his mouth. They said, “This is Joseph’s son, isn’t it?”

⁴⁶ The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like that!”

⁵ Idolators Encourage Each Other“The coastlands have looked and are afraid; the ends of the earth have drawn near together and come forward. ⁶ Each helps his neighbor, saying to each other, ‘Be strong!’ ⁷ The craftsman encourages the goldsmith, and the hammersmith encourages the one who strikes the anvil. He says about the welding, ‘It’s good!’ and he reinforces it with nails so that it won’t topple.”

¹⁴ The Pharisees, however, went out and plotted against Jesus to kill him.

³ because when the foolish ones took their lamps, they didn’t take any oil with them. ⁴ But the wise ones took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ Since the groom was late, all of them became sleepy and lay down.

²⁸ The Greatest Commandment
Then one of the scribes came near and heard the Sadducees arguing with one another. He saw how well Jesus answered them, so he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of them all?”
²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, ³⁰ and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

⁴⁷ So the high priests and the Pharisees assembled the Council and said, “What are we going to do? This man is performing many signs. ⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our Temple and our nation.”
⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, told them, “You don’t know anything! ⁵⁰ You don’t realize that it is better for you to have one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed.”

²⁴ When the commander of the Temple guards and the high priests heard these words, they were utterly at a loss as to what could have happened to them.
²⁵ Then someone came and told them, “Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the Temple and teaching the people!” ²⁶ So the commander of the Temple guards went with his men to bring them back without force, because they were afraid of being stoned to death by the people. ²⁷ When they brought them back, they made them stand before the Council, and the high priest began to question them. ²⁸ He said, “We gave you strict orders not to teach in his name, didn’t we? Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to bring this man’s blood on us!”

²³ A Riot in EphesusNow about that time a great commotion broke out concerning the Way. ²⁴ By making silver shrines of Artemis, a silversmith named Demetrius provided a large income for skilled workers. ²⁵ He called a meeting of these men and others who were engaged in similar trades and said, “Men, you well know that we get a good income from this business. ²⁶ You also see and hear that, not only in Ephesus, but almost all over Asia, this man Paul has won over and taken away a large crowd by telling them that gods made by human hands are not gods at all. ²⁷ There is a danger not only that our business will lose its reputation but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis will be brought into disrepute and that she will be robbed of her majesty that brought all Asia and the world to worship her.”
²⁸ When they heard this, they became furious and began to shout, “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

²⁸ yelling, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches everyone everywhere to turn against our people, the Law, and this place. More than that, he has even brought Greeks into the Temple and desecrated this Holy Place.” ²⁹ For they had earlier seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him and assumed that Paul had taken him into the Temple. ³⁰ The whole city was in chaos. The people rushed together, grabbed Paul, dragged him out of the Temple, and at once the doors were sealed shut.

¹⁸ Recognizing their wickedness, Jesus asked, “Why are you testing me, you hypocrites?

² Some Pharisees came to test him. They asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?”

³⁰ But the Pharisees and the experts in the Law rejected God’s plan for themselves by refusing to be baptized by John.

²⁵ The Good SamaritanJust then an expert in the Law stood up to test Jesus. He asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
²⁶ Jesus answered him, “What is written in the Law? What do you read there?”
²⁷ He answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor as yourself.”
²⁸ Jesus told him, “You have answered correctly. ‘Do this, and you will live.’”
²⁹ But the man wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
³⁰ After careful consideration, Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho when he fell into the hands of bandits. They stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. ³¹ By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he went by on the other side. ³² Similarly, a descendant of Levi came to that place. When he saw the man, he also went by on the other side. ³³ But as he was traveling along, a Samaritan came across the man. When the Samaritan saw him, he was moved with compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day, he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take good care of him. If you spend more than that, I’ll repay you when I come back.’
³⁶ “Of these three men, who do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the bandits?”
³⁷ He said, “The one who showed mercy to him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do what he did.”

⁴⁵ Then one of the experts in the Law told him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us, too.”
⁴⁶ Jesus said, “How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law, too! You load people with burdens that are hard to carry, yet you don’t even lift a finger to ease those burdens.

⁵² How terrible it will be for you experts in the Law! You have taken away the key to knowledge. You didn’t go in yourselves, and you kept out those who were trying to go in.”

³ So Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the Law, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”

¹³ Do all you can to send Zenas the expert in the Law and Apollos on their way, and see that they have everything they need.

¹² I prescribed great things from my Law for them, but they considered them profane.

¹⁹ So whoever sets aside one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom from heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom from heaven ²⁰ because I tell you, unless your righteousness greatly exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom from heaven!”

⁶ does not have to honor his father.’ Because of your tradition, then, you have disregarded the authority of God’s word.

²³ “How terrible it will be for you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your mint, dill, and cummin, but have neglected the more important matters of the Law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others. ²⁴ You blind guides! You filter out a gnat, yet swallow a camel!

²⁸ The Greatest Commandment
Then one of the scribes came near and heard the Sadducees arguing with one another. He saw how well Jesus answered them, so he asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of them all?”
²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, ³⁰ and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”
³² Then the scribe told him, “Well said, Teacher! You have told the truth that ‘God is one, and there is no other besides him.’ ³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

⁴² “How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give a tenth of your mint, spices, and every kind of herb, but you neglect justice and the love of God. These are the things you should have practiced, without neglecting the others.

⁵ You are to love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.

¹² Love the LORD“Now Israel, what does the LORD your God desire from you? Only this: fear him, walk in all his ways, love him, serve him with all your heart and in all your life,

⁶ Then the LORD your God will circumcise both your hearts and those of your descendants so that you can love him with your heart and with your soul and therefore live.

²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord, ³⁰ and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’

³³ To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

²⁷ He answered, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And you must love your neighbor as yourself.”

⁷ That is why the mind that focuses on human nature is hostile toward God. It refuses to submit to the authority of God’s Law because it is powerless to do so.

¹⁶ “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts and will write them on their minds, ¹⁷ and I will never again remember their sins and their lawless deeds.”

² This is how we know that we love God’s children: we love God and keep his commandments. ³ For this demonstrates our love for God: We keep his commandments, and his commandments are not difficult, ⁴ because everyone who is born from God has overcome the world. Our faith is the victory that overcomes the world. ⁵ Who overcomes the world? Is it not the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

¹⁸ “You are not to seek vengeance or hold a grudge against the descendants of your people. Instead, love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.”
¹⁹ honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘you must love your neighbor as yourself.’”

³¹ The second is this: ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

⁹ For the commandments, “You must not commit adultery; you must not murder; you must not steal; you must not covet,” and every other commandment are summed up in this statement: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” ¹⁰ Love never does anything that is harmful to its neighbor. Therefore, love is the fulfillment of the Law.

² Each of us must please our neighbor for the good purpose of building him up.

¹⁴ For the whole Law is summarized in a single statement: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹⁰ So then, whenever we have the opportunity, let’s practice doing good to everyone, especially to the family of faith.

⁸ Nevertheless, you are doing the right thing if you obey the royal Law in keeping with the Scripture, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

¹² Therefore, whatever you want people to do for you, do the same for them, because this summarizes the Law and the Prophets.”

¹⁷ because while the Law was given through Moses, grace and truth came through Jesus the Messiah.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says applies to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. ²⁰ Therefore, God will not justify any human being by means of the actions prescribed by the Law, for through the Law comes the full knowledge of sin.
²¹ God Gives Us Righteousness through FaithBut now, apart from the Law, God’s righteousness is revealed and is attested by the Law and the Prophets—

⁹ For the commandments, “You must not commit adultery; you must not murder; you must not steal; you must not covet,” and every other commandment are summed up in this statement: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

⁵ The goal of this instruction is love that flows from a pure heart, from a clear conscience, and from a sincere faith.

⁷ God’s Love Lives in UsDear friends, let us continuously love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. ⁸ The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent his unique Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love one another.

¹⁹ We love because God first loved us. ²⁰ Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates his brother is a liar. The one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love the God whom he has not seen. ²¹ And this is the commandment that we have from him: the person who loves God must also love his brother.

¹⁵ A Question about Paying Taxes
Then the Pharisees went and planned how to trap Jesus in conversation.

³⁴ The Greatest Commandment
When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they met together in the same place.

³⁵ A Question about David’s Son
While Jesus was teaching in the Temple, he asked, “How can the scribes say that the Messiah is David’s son? ³⁶ David himself said by the Holy Spirit, ‘The Lord told my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’
³⁷ David himself calls him ‘Lord,’ so how can he be his son?” And the large crowd kept listening to him with delight.

⁴¹ A Question about David’s Son
Then he asked them, “How can people say that the Messiah is David’s son? ⁴² Because David himself in the book of Psalms says, ‘The Lord told my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, ⁴³ until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.”’
⁴⁴ So David calls him ‘Lord.’ Then how can he be his son?”

¹³ In reply, the LORD announced, “Please listen, you household of David. Is it such a minor thing for you to try the patience of men? Must you also try the patience of my God?
¹⁴ “Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. Watch! The virgin is conceiving a child, and will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel.

⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷ Of the growth of his government and peace there will be no end. He will rule over his kingdom, sitting on the throne of David, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies will accomplish this.

¹ The Reign of the Davidic King “A shoot will come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch will bear fruit from his roots. ² The Spirit of the LORD will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and power, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the LORD. ³ His delight will be in the fear of the LORD. He won’t judge by what his eyes see, nor decide disputes by what his ears hear, ⁴ but with righteousness he will judge the needy, and decide with equity for earth’s poor. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and the wicked will be killed with the breath of his lips.

⁵ “The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I’ll raise up a righteous branch for David. He will be a king who rules wisely, and he will administer justice and righteousness in the land. ⁶ In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’

²³ God’s Shepherd: His Servant David“‘Then I’ll install one shepherd for them—my servant David—and he will feed them, will be there for them, and will serve as their shepherd. ²⁴ I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will rule among them as Prince.’ I, the LORD, have spoken this.

¹¹ Israel to be Restored“At that time I will restore David’s fallen tent, restoring its torn places. I will restore its ruins, rebuilding it as it was long ago,

¹ An Introduction to Jesus the MessiahThis is a record of the life of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham.

⁴ He called together all the high priests and scribes of the people and asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, because that is what was written by the prophet: ⁶ ‘O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, you are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, because from you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

²⁷ Jesus Heals Two Blind MenAs Jesus was traveling on from there, two blind men followed him, shouting, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

³³ Then the men in the boat began to worship Jesus, saying, “You certainly are the Son of God!”

¹³ Peter Declares His Faith in Jesus
When Jesus had come to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
¹⁴ They said, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
¹⁵ He asked them, “But who do you say I am?”
¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
¹⁷ Then Jesus told him, “How blessed you are, Simon son of Jonah, since flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, though my Father in heaven has.

⁹ Both the crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed him kept shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! How blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

⁶⁹ He has raised up a mighty Savior for us from the family of his servant David, ⁷⁰ just as he promised long ago through the mouth of his holy prophets

⁴⁹ Nathaniel replied to him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ Besides, we have believed and remain convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”

⁴¹ while others were saying, “This is the Messiah!”
But some were saying, “The Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? ⁴² Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah is from David’s family and from Bethlehem, the village where David lived?”

²⁸ Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”

²² Then God removed Saul and made David their king, about whom he testified, ‘I have found that David, the son of Jesse, is a man after my own heart, who will carry out all my wishes.’ ²³ It was from this man’s descendants that God, as he promised, brought to Israel a Savior, who is Jesus.

⁹ Now lifted up by God to heaven, a name above all others given, this matchless name possessing. ¹⁰ And so, when Jesus’ name is called, the knees of everyone should fall, wherever they’re residing. ¹¹ Then every tongue in one accord, will say that Jesus the Messiah is Lord, while God the Father praising.

⁷ But whatever things were assets to me, these I now consider a loss for the sake of the Messiah. ⁸ What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the Law, but one that comes through the faithfulness of the Messiah, the righteousness that comes from God and that depends on faith. ¹⁰ I want to know the Messiah—what his resurrection power is like and what it means to share in his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, ¹¹ In him there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, or free person. Instead, the Messiah is all and in all.

⁴ As you come to him, the living stone who was rejected by people but was chosen and precious in God’s sight, ⁵ you, too, as living stones, are building yourselves up into a spiritual house and a holy priesthood, so that you may offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus, the Messiah. ⁶ This is why it says in Scripture: “Look! I am laying a chosen, precious cornerstone in Zion. The one who believes in him will never be ashamed.” ⁷ Therefore he is precious to you who believe, but to those who do not believe, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,

¹² They sang with a loud voice, “Worthy is the lamb who was slaughtered to receive power, wealth, wisdom, strength, honor, glory, and praise!” ¹³ I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, and on the sea, and everything that is in them, saying, “To the one who sits on the throne and to the lamb be praise, honor, glory, and power forever and ever!” ¹⁴ Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!”, and the elders bowed down and worshipped.

² The Spirit of the LORD speaks within me; his word is on my tongue!

³⁶ David himself said by the Holy Spirit, ‘The Lord told my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’

²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
²⁷ Led by the Spirit, he went into the Temple. When the parents brought the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the Law,

¹⁶ “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago through the voice of David about Judas, who was the guide for those who arrested Jesus,

³⁰ Therefore, since he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him with an oath to put one of his descendants on his throne, ³¹ he looked ahead and spoke about the resurrection of the Messiah: ‘He was not abandoned to Hades, and his flesh did not experience decay.’

⁷ A Rest for the People of GodTherefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice,

²¹ because no prophecy ever originated through a human decision. Instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

¹⁰ I came to be in the Spirit on the Day of the Lord, when I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet,

² Instantly I was in the Spirit, and I saw a throne in heaven with a person seated on the throne.

¹⁵ “I’ll place hostility between you and the woman, between your offspring and her offspring. He’ll strike you on the head, and you’ll strike him on the heel.”

⁸ Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession. ⁹ You will break them with an iron rod, you will shatter them like pottery.”

⁹ When you appear, you will set them ablaze like a fire furnace. In his wrath, the LORD will consume them, and the fire will devour them.

¹ A Davidic psalm
A Priestly Ruler A declaration from the LORD to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

¹ God’s Day of Vengeance “Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, in garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in such splendor, marching in his great might? It is I, speaking in vindication, mighty to save. ² “Why is your clothing red, and your garments like those worn by the ones who tread in the winepress? ³ “I have trodden the winepress alone, and from my people no one was with me, I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and I stained all my clothing. ⁴ “For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year for my redeeming work had come. ⁵ I looked, but there was no helper, I was appalled that there was no one to give support; so my own arm brought me victory, and as for my wrath, it supported me. ⁶ I trampled people in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and I poured out their lifeblood on the ground.”

³⁴ After all, David did not go up to heaven, but he said, ‘The Lord told my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, ³⁵ until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

² To: God’s church in Corinth, to those who have been sanctified by the Messiah Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah—their Lord and ours.

²⁵ For he must rule until God puts all the Messiah’s enemies under his feet.

⁸ What is more, I continue to consider all these things to be a loss for the sake of what is far more valuable, knowing the Messiah Jesus, my Lord. It is because of him that I have experienced the loss of all those things. Indeed, I consider them rubbish in order to gain the Messiah

³ He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact likeness of his being, and he holds everything together by his powerful word. After he had provided a cleansing from sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Highest Majesty

¹³ But to which of the angels did he ever say, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?

¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God.” ¹³ Since that time, he has been waiting for his enemies to be made a footstool for his feet.

² fixing our attention on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of the faith, who, in view of the joy set before him, endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

¹⁹ The Vision of the Judgment of the Beast and False ProphetThen I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army.

¹¹ The Vision of the White Throne JudgmentThen I saw a large, white throne and the one who was sitting on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. ¹² I saw the dead, both unimportant and important, standing in front of the throne, and books were open. Another book was opened—the Book of Life. The dead were judged according to their actions, as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to their actions. ¹⁴ Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. (This is the second death—the lake of fire.) ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

⁵⁸ Jesus told them, “Truly, I tell all of you emphatically, before there was an Abraham, I AM!”

³ regarding his Son. He was a descendant of David with respect to his humanity ⁴ and was declared by the resurrection from the dead to be the powerful Son of God according to the spirit of holiness—Jesus the Messiah, our Lord.

⁵ To the Israelis belong the patriarchs, and from them, the Messiah descended, who is God over all, the one who is forever blessed. Amen.

⁶ In God’s own form existed he, and shared with God equality, deemed nothing needed grasping. ⁷ Instead, poured out in emptiness, a servant’s form did he possess, a mortal man becoming. In human form he chose to be, ⁸ and lived in all humility, death on a cross obeying.

¹⁶ By common confession, the secret of our godly worship is great: In flesh was he revealed to sight, kept righteous by the Spirit’s might, adored by angels singing. To nations was he manifest, believing souls found peace and rest, our Lord in heaven reigning!

¹⁴ Therefore, since the children have flesh and blood, he himself also shared the same things, so that by his death he might destroy the one who has the power of death (that is, the devil)

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give this testimony to you for the churches. I am the root and descendent of David, the bright morning star.”

¹⁵ “Job’s friends won’t reason with him anymore; discouraged, words escape them. ¹⁶ Shall I continue to wait, since they’re no longer talking? After all, they’re only standing there; they’re no longer responding.

² Why is it that when I came, no one was there? Why was there no answer when I called? Was my arm too short to redeem you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? Look! By my mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert. Their fish stink for lack of water and die of thirst. ³ I clothe the skies with darkness and make sackcloth their covering.”
⁴ The Servant’s Obedience“The Lord GOD has given me a learned tongue, so that I may know how to sustain the weary with words. And morning after morning he wakens, and he wakens my ear to listen like those who are being taught. ⁵ My Lord GOD has opened my ears, and I did not rebel; I did not shrink back. ⁶ I gave my back to those who beat me and my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard. I did not turn away my face from insults and spitting. ⁷ For the Lord GOD helps me, so I won’t be disgraced. Therefore I’ve made my face like flint, and I know that I won’t be put to shame.”
⁸ The Servant’s VindicationThe one who vindicates me is near. Who, then, will bring a charge against me? Let’s face each other! Who has a case against me? Let him confront me! ⁹ See! It is the Lord GOD who will help me. Who is it that will declare me guilty? See! They will all wear out like a garment; moths will eat them up.

²⁷ So they told Jesus, “We don’t know.”
He in turn told them, “Then I won’t tell you by what authority I am doing these things.”

³⁴ When Jesus saw how wisely the man answered, he told him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that, no one dared to ask him another question.

¹⁷ Even as he was saying this, all of his opponents were blushing with shame. But the rest of the crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things he was doing.

⁶ And they couldn’t argue with him about this.

⁴⁰ Then they no longer dared to ask him another question.

⁷ When they persisted in questioning him, he straightened up and told them, “Let the person among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” ⁸ Then he bent down again and continued writing on the ground. ⁹ When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the oldest, and he was left alone with the woman standing there.

¹⁴ And seeing the man who was healed standing with them, they could not say anything against them.