¹So it was, when all the kings of the Amorites who were on the west side of the Jordan, and all the kings of the Canaanites who were by the sea, heard that the Lᴏʀᴅ had dried up the waters of the Jordan from before the children of Israel until we had crossed over, that their heart melted; and there was no spirit in them any longer because of the children of Israel. ²At that time the Lᴏʀᴅ said to Joshua, “Make flint knives for yourself, and circumcise the sons of Israel again the second time.” ³So Joshua made flint knives for himself, and circumcised the sons of Israel at the hill of the foreskins. ⁴And this is the reason why Joshua circumcised them: All the people who came out of Egypt who were males, all the men of war, had died in the wilderness on the way, after they had come out of Egypt. ⁵For all the people who came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness, on the way as they came out of Egypt, had not been circumcised. ⁶For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people who were men of war, who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they did not obey the voice of the Lᴏʀᴅ—to whom the Lᴏʀᴅ swore that He would not show them the land which the Lᴏʀᴅ had sworn to their fathers that He would give us, “a land flowing with milk and honey.” ⁷Then Joshua circumcised their sons whom He raised up in their place; for they were uncircumcised, because they had not been circumcised on the way. ⁸So it was, when they had finished circumcising all the people, that they stayed in their places in the camp till they were healed. ⁹Then the Lᴏʀᴅ said to Joshua, “This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” Therefore the name of the place is called Gilgal to this day. ¹⁰Now the children of Israel camped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight on the plains of Jericho. ¹¹And they ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and parched grain, on the very same day. ¹²Then the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate the food of the land of Canaan that year. ¹³And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” ¹⁴So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lᴏʀᴅ I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” ¹⁵Then the Commander of the Lᴏʀᴅ’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

¹A Song of Ascents. Lᴏʀᴅ, remember David And all his afflictions; ²How he swore to the Lᴏʀᴅ, And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: ³“Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house, Or go up to the comfort of my bed; ⁴I will not give sleep to my eyes Or slumber to my eyelids, ⁵Until I find a place for the Lᴏʀᴅ, A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.” ⁶Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; We found it in the fields of the woods. ⁷Let us go into His tabernacle; Let us worship at His footstool. ⁸Arise, O Lᴏʀᴅ, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. ⁹Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness, And let Your saints shout for joy. ¹⁰For Your servant David’s sake, Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed. ¹¹The Lᴏʀᴅ has sworn in truth to David; He will not turn from it: “I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body. ¹²If your sons will keep My covenant And My testimony which I shall teach them, Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.” ¹³For the Lᴏʀᴅ has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place: ¹⁴“This is My resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it. ¹⁵I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. ¹⁶I will also clothe her priests with salvation, And her saints shall shout aloud for joy. ¹⁷There I will make the horn of David grow; I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed. ¹⁸His enemies I will clothe with shame, But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”

¹A Song of Ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity! ²It is like the precious oil upon the head, Running down on the beard, The beard of Aaron, Running down on the edge of his garments. ³It is like the dew of Hermon, Descending upon the mountains of Zion; For there the Lᴏʀᴅ commanded the blessing— Life forevermore.

¹A Song of Ascents. Behold, bless the Lᴏʀᴅ, All you servants of the Lᴏʀᴅ, Who by night stand in the house of the Lᴏʀᴅ! ²Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, And bless the Lᴏʀᴅ. ³The Lᴏʀᴅ who made heaven and earth Bless you from Zion!

¹“I was sought by those who did not ask for Me; I was found by those who did not seek Me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ To a nation that was not called by My name. ²I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts; ³A people who provoke Me to anger continually to My face; Who sacrifice in gardens, And burn incense on altars of brick; ⁴Who sit among the graves, And spend the night in the tombs; Who eat swine’s flesh, And the broth of abominable things is in their vessels; ⁵Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, Do not come near me, For I am holier than you!’ These are smoke in My nostrils, A fire that burns all the day. ⁶“Behold, it is written before Me: I will not keep silence, but will repay— Even repay into their bosom— ⁷Your iniquities and the iniquities of your fathers together,” Says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “Who have burned incense on the mountains And blasphemed Me on the hills; Therefore I will measure their former work into their bosom.” ⁸Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “As the new wine is found in the cluster, And one says, ‘Do not destroy it, For a blessing is in it,’ So will I do for My servants’ sake, That I may not destroy them all. ⁹I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, And from Judah an heir of My mountains; My elect shall inherit it, And My servants shall dwell there. ¹⁰Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, And the Valley of Achor a place for herds to lie down, For My people who have sought Me. ¹¹“But you are those who forsake the Lᴏʀᴅ, Who forget My holy mountain, Who prepare a table for Gad, And who furnish a drink offering for Meni. ¹²Therefore I will number you for the sword, And you shall all bow down to the slaughter; Because, when I called, you did not answer; When I spoke, you did not hear, But did evil before My eyes, And chose that in which I do not delight.” ¹³Therefore thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God: “Behold, My servants shall eat, But you shall be hungry; Behold, My servants shall drink, But you shall be thirsty; Behold, My servants shall rejoice, But you shall be ashamed; ¹⁴Behold, My servants shall sing for joy of heart, But you shall cry for sorrow of heart, And wail for grief of spirit. ¹⁵You shall leave your name as a curse to My chosen; For the Lᴏʀᴅ God will slay you, And call His servants by another name; ¹⁶So that he who blesses himself in the earth Shall bless himself in the God of truth; And he who swears in the earth Shall swear by the God of truth; Because the former troubles are forgotten, And because they are hidden from My eyes. ¹⁷“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. ¹⁸But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. ¹⁹I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. ²⁰“No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. ²¹They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. ²²They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. ²³They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the Lᴏʀᴅ, And their offspring with them. ²⁴“It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. ²⁵The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the Lᴏʀᴅ.

¹On the same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the sea. ²And great multitudes were gathered together to Him, so that He got into a boat and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. ³Then He spoke many things to them in parables, saying: “Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴And as he sowed, some seed fell by the wayside; and the birds came and devoured them. ⁵Some fell on stony places, where they did not have much earth; and they immediately sprang up because they had no depth of earth. ⁶But when the sun was up they were scorched, and because they had no root they withered away. ⁷And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them. ⁸But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. ⁹He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” ¹⁰And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. ¹²For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. ¹³Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says: ‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; ¹⁵For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ ¹⁶“But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; ¹⁷for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it. ¹⁸“Therefore hear the parable of the sower: ¹⁹When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. ²⁰But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. ²²Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. ²³But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” ²⁴Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; ²⁵but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. ²⁶But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. ²⁷So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ ²⁸He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.” ‘ ” ³¹Another parable He put forth to them, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, ³²which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.” ³³Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.” ³⁴All these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them, ³⁵that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying: “I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.” ³⁶Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” ³⁷He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. ³⁹The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. ⁴¹The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, ⁴²and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! ⁴⁴“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. ⁴⁵“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, ⁴⁶who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. ⁴⁷“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, ⁴⁸which, when it was full, they drew to shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, ⁵⁰and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” ⁵¹Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” ⁵²Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old.” ⁵³Now it came to pass, when Jesus had finished these parables, that He departed from there. ⁵⁴And when He had come to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” ⁵⁷So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.” ⁵⁸Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.