¹Now the Lᴏʀᴅ said to Joshua: “Do not be afraid, nor be dismayed; take all the people of war with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, I have given into your hand the king of Ai, his people, his city, and his land. ²And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did to Jericho and its king. Only its spoil and its cattle you shall take as booty for yourselves. Lay an ambush for the city behind it.” ³So Joshua arose, and all the people of war, to go up against Ai; and Joshua chose thirty thousand mighty men of valor and sent them away by night. ⁴And he commanded them, saying: “Behold, you shall lie in ambush against the city, behind the city. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you be ready. ⁵Then I and all the people who are with me will approach the city; and it will come about, when they come out against us as at the first, that we shall flee before them. ⁶For they will come out after us till we have drawn them from the city, for they will say, ‘They are fleeing before us as at the first.’ Therefore we will flee before them. ⁷Then you shall rise from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lᴏʀᴅ your God will deliver it into your hand. ⁸And it will be, when you have taken the city, that you shall set the city on fire. According to the commandment of the Lᴏʀᴅ you shall do. See, I have commanded you.” ⁹Joshua therefore sent them out; and they went to lie in ambush, and stayed between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of Ai; but Joshua lodged that night among the people. ¹⁰Then Joshua rose up early in the morning and mustered the people, and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. ¹¹And all the people of war who were with him went up and drew near; and they came before the city and camped on the north side of Ai. Now a valley lay between them and Ai. ¹²So he took about five thousand men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the city. ¹³And when they had set the people, all the army that was on the north of the city, and its rear guard on the west of the city, Joshua went that night into the midst of the valley. ¹⁴Now it happened, when the king of Ai saw it, that the men of the city hurried and rose early and went out against Israel to battle, he and all his people, at an appointed place before the plain. But he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. ¹⁵And Joshua and all Israel made as if they were beaten before them, and fled by the way of the wilderness. ¹⁶So all the people who were in Ai were called together to pursue them. And they pursued Joshua and were drawn away from the city. ¹⁷There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. So they left the city open and pursued Israel. ¹⁸Then the Lᴏʀᴅ said to Joshua, “Stretch out the spear that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the spear that was in his hand toward the city. ¹⁹So those in ambush arose quickly out of their place; they ran as soon as he had stretched out his hand, and they entered the city and took it, and hurried to set the city on fire. ²⁰And when the men of Ai looked behind them, they saw, and behold, the smoke of the city ascended to heaven. So they had no power to flee this way or that way, and the people who had fled to the wilderness turned back on the pursuers. ²¹Now when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had taken the city and that the smoke of the city ascended, they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. ²²Then the others came out of the city against them; so they were caught in the midst of Israel, some on this side and some on that side. And they struck them down, so that they let none of them remain or escape. ²³But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him to Joshua. ²⁴And it came to pass when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness where they pursued them, and when they all had fallen by the edge of the sword until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned to Ai and struck it with the edge of the sword. ²⁵So it was that all who fell that day, both men and women, were twelve thousand—all the people of Ai. ²⁶For Joshua did not draw back his hand, with which he stretched out the spear, until he had utterly destroyed all the inhabitants of Ai. ²⁷Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as booty for themselves, according to the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ which He had commanded Joshua. ²⁸So Joshua burned Ai and made it a heap forever, a desolation to this day. ²⁹And the king of Ai he hanged on a tree until evening. And as soon as the sun was down, Joshua commanded that they should take his corpse down from the tree, cast it at the entrance of the gate of the city, and raise over it a great heap of stones that remains to this day. ³⁰Now Joshua built an altar to the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel in Mount Ebal, ³¹as Moses the servant of the Lᴏʀᴅ had commanded the children of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses: “an altar of whole stones over which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lᴏʀᴅ, and sacrificed peace offerings. ³²And there, in the presence of the children of Israel, he wrote on the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. ³³Then all Israel, with their elders and officers and judges, stood on either side of the ark before the priests, the Levites, who bore the ark of the covenant of the Lᴏʀᴅ, the stranger as well as he who was born among them. Half of them were in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, as Moses the servant of the Lᴏʀᴅ had commanded before, that they should bless the people of Israel. ³⁴And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. ³⁵There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, with the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them.

¹For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David. O Lᴏʀᴅ, You have searched me and known me. ²You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. ³You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. ⁴For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lᴏʀᴅ, You know it altogether. ⁵You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. ⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it. ⁷Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? ⁸If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. ⁹If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, ¹⁰Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. ¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me; ¹²Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You. ¹³For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. ¹⁵My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁶Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them. ¹⁷How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! ¹⁸If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You. ¹⁹Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. ²⁰For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain. ²¹Do I not hate them, O Lᴏʀᴅ, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? ²²I hate them with perfect hatred; I count them my enemies. ²³Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; ²⁴And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

¹Moreover the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ came to me, saying, ²“Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “I remember you, The kindness of your youth, The love of your betrothal, When you went after Me in the wilderness, In a land not sown. ³Israel was holiness to the Lᴏʀᴅ, The firstfruits of His increase. All that devour him will offend; Disaster will come upon them,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ.’ ” ⁴Hear the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ, O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “What injustice have your fathers found in Me, That they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, And have become idolaters? ⁶Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lᴏʀᴅ, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and pits, Through a land of drought and the shadow of death, Through a land that no one crossed And where no one dwelt?’ ⁷I brought you into a bountiful country, To eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land And made My heritage an abomination. ⁸The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lᴏʀᴅ?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit. ⁹“Therefore I will yet bring charges against you,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “And against your children’s children I will bring charges. ¹⁰For pass beyond the coasts of Cyprus and see, Send to Kedar and consider diligently, And see if there has been such a thing. ¹¹Has a nation changed its gods, Which are not gods? But My people have changed their Glory For what does not profit. ¹²Be astonished, O heavens, at this, And be horribly afraid; Be very desolate,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹³“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. ¹⁴“Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he plundered? ¹⁵The young lions roared at him, and growled; They made his land waste; His cities are burned, without inhabitant. ¹⁶Also the people of Noph and Tahpanhes Have broken the crown of your head. ¹⁷Have you not brought this on yourself, In that you have forsaken the Lᴏʀᴅ your God When He led you in the way? ¹⁸And now why take the road to Egypt, To drink the waters of Sihor? Or why take the road to Assyria, To drink the waters of the River? ¹⁹Your own wickedness will correct you, And your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing That you have forsaken the Lᴏʀᴅ your God, And the fear of Me is not in you,” Says the Lᴏʀᴅ God of hosts. ²⁰“For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds; And you said, ‘I will not transgress,’ When on every high hill and under every green tree You lay down, playing the harlot. ²¹Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? ²²For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap, Yet your iniquity is marked before Me,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ God. ²³“How can you say, ‘I am not polluted, I have not gone after the Baals’? See your way in the valley; Know what you have done: You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways, ²⁴A wild donkey used to the wilderness, That sniffs at the wind in her desire; In her time of mating, who can turn her away? All those who seek her will not weary themselves; In her month they will find her. ²⁵Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘There is no hope. No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.’ ²⁶“As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, So is the house of Israel ashamed; They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets, ²⁷Saying to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave birth to me.’ For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face. But in the time of their trouble They will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ ²⁸But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise, If they can save you in the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah. ²⁹“Why will you plead with Me? You all have transgressed against Me,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ³⁰“In vain I have chastened your children; They received no correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion. ³¹“O generation, see the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are lords; We will come no more to You’? ³²Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number. ³³“Why do you beautify your way to seek love? Therefore you have also taught The wicked women your ways. ³⁴Also on your skirts is found The blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found it by secret search, But plainly on all these things. ³⁵Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, Surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ ³⁶Why do you gad about so much to change your way? Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria. ³⁷Indeed you will go forth from him With your hands on your head; For the Lᴏʀᴅ has rejected your trusted allies, And you will not prosper by them.

¹Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. ²He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; ³and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. ⁴A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed. ⁵Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. ⁶Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” ⁷And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.” ⁸But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread? ⁹Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? ¹⁰Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? ¹¹How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹²Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. ¹³When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” ¹⁴So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. ²¹From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day. ²²Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” ²³But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” ²⁴Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works. ²⁸Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”