¹After Abimelech there arose to save Israel Tola the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man of Issachar; and he dwelt in Shamir in the mountains of Ephraim. ²He judged Israel twenty-three years; and he died and was buried in Shamir. ³After him arose Jair, a Gileadite; and he judged Israel twenty-two years. ⁴Now he had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkeys; they also had thirty towns, which are called “Havoth Jair” to this day, which are in the land of Gilead. ⁵And Jair died and was buried in Camon. ⁶Then the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lᴏʀᴅ, and served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the people of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines; and they forsook the Lᴏʀᴅ and did not serve Him. ⁷So the anger of the Lᴏʀᴅ was hot against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon. ⁸From that year they harassed and oppressed the children of Israel for eighteen years—all the children of Israel who were on the other side of the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, in Gilead. ⁹Moreover the people of Ammon crossed over the Jordan to fight against Judah also, against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim, so that Israel was severely distressed. ¹⁰And the children of Israel cried out to the Lᴏʀᴅ, saying, “We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!” ¹¹So the Lᴏʀᴅ said to the children of Israel, “Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? ¹²Also the Sidonians and Amalekites and Maonites oppressed you; and you cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. ¹³Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. ¹⁴Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress.” ¹⁵And the children of Israel said to the Lᴏʀᴅ, “We have sinned! Do to us whatever seems best to You; only deliver us this day, we pray.” ¹⁶So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lᴏʀᴅ. And His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel. ¹⁷Then the people of Ammon gathered together and encamped in Gilead. And the children of Israel assembled together and encamped in Mizpah. ¹⁸And the people, the leaders of Gilead, said to one another, “Who is the man who will begin the fight against the people of Ammon? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of Gilead.”

¹Now it happened in Iconium that they went together to the synagogue of the Jews, and so spoke that a great multitude both of the Jews and of the Greeks believed. ²But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren. ³Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands. ⁴But the multitude of the city was divided: part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles. ⁵And when a violent attempt was made by both the Gentiles and Jews, with their rulers, to abuse and stone them, ⁶they became aware of it and fled to Lystra and Derbe, cities of Lycaonia, and to the surrounding region. ⁷And they were preaching the gospel there. ⁸And in Lystra a certain man without strength in his feet was sitting, a cripple from his mother’s womb, who had never walked. ⁹This man heard Paul speaking. Paul, observing him intently and seeing that he had faith to be healed, ¹⁰said with a loud voice, “Stand up straight on your feet!” And he leaped and walked. ¹¹Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” ¹²And Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. ¹³Then the priest of Zeus, whose temple was in front of their city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes. ¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard this, they tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude, crying out ¹⁵and saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, ¹⁶who in bygone generations allowed all nations to walk in their own ways. ¹⁷Nevertheless He did not leave Himself without witness, in that He did good, gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” ¹⁸And with these sayings they could scarcely restrain the multitudes from sacrificing to them. ¹⁹Then Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there; and having persuaded the multitudes, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. ²⁰However, when the disciples gathered around him, he rose up and went into the city. And the next day he departed with Barnabas to Derbe. ²¹And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, ²²strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” ²³So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. ²⁴And after they had passed through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. ²⁵Now when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia. ²⁶From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been commended to the grace of God for the work which they had completed. ²⁷Now when they had come and gathered the church together, they reported all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. ²⁸So they stayed there a long time with the disciples.

¹“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²Therefore thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel against the shepherds who feed My people: “You have scattered My flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ³“But I will gather the remnant of My flock out of all countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase. ⁴I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them; and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ ⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. ⁶In His days Judah will be saved, And Israel will dwell safely; Now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. ⁷“Therefore, behold, the days are coming,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “that they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lᴏʀᴅ lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ ⁸but, ‘As the Lᴏʀᴅ lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ And they shall dwell in their own land.” ⁹My heart within me is broken Because of the prophets; All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, And like a man whom wine has overcome, Because of the Lᴏʀᴅ, And because of His holy words. ¹⁰For the land is full of adulterers; For because of a curse the land mourns. The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, And their might is not right. ¹¹“For both prophet and priest are profane; Yes, in My house I have found their wickedness,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹²“Therefore their way shall be to them Like slippery ways; In the darkness they shall be driven on And fall in them; For I will bring disaster on them, The year of their punishment,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹³“And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria: They prophesied by Baal And caused My people Israel to err. ¹⁴Also I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem: They commit adultery and walk in lies; They also strengthen the hands of evildoers, So that no one turns back from his wickedness. All of them are like Sodom to Me, And her inhabitants like Gomorrah ¹⁵“Therefore thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts concerning the prophets: ‘Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, And make them drink the water of gall; For from the prophets of Jerusalem Profaneness has gone out into all the land.’ ” ¹⁶Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They make you worthless; They speak a vision of their own heart, Not from the mouth of the Lᴏʀᴅ. ¹⁷They continually say to those who despise Me, ‘The Lᴏʀᴅ has said, “You shall have peace” ’; And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’ ” ¹⁸For who has stood in the counsel of the Lᴏʀᴅ, And has perceived and heard His word? Who has marked His word and heard it? ¹⁹Behold, a whirlwind of the Lᴏʀᴅ has gone forth in fury— A violent whirlwind! It will fall violently on the head of the wicked ²⁰The anger of the Lᴏʀᴅ will not turn back Until He has executed and performed the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. ²¹“I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied ²²But if they had stood in My counsel, And had caused My people to hear My words, Then they would have turned them from their evil way And from the evil of their doings. ²³“Am I a God near at hand,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “And not a God afar off? ²⁴Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the Lᴏʀᴅ; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²⁵“I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ ²⁶How long will this be in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart, ²⁷who try to make My people forget My name by their dreams which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot My name for Baal. ²⁸“The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream; And he who has My word, let him speak My word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat?” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²⁹“Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? ³⁰“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “who steal My words every one from his neighbor. ³¹Behold, I am against the prophets,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “who use their tongues and say, ‘He says.’ ³²Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “and tell them, and cause My people to err by their lies and by their recklessness. Yet I did not send them or command them; therefore they shall not profit this people at all,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ³³“So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, ‘What is the oracle of the Lᴏʀᴅ?’ you shall then say to them, ‘What oracle?’ I will even forsake you,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ³⁴And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say, ‘The oracle of the Lᴏʀᴅ!’ I will even punish that man and his house. ³⁵Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor, and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lᴏʀᴅ answered?’ and, ‘What has the Lᴏʀᴅ spoken?’ ³⁶And the oracle of the Lᴏʀᴅ you shall mention no more. For every man’s word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God, the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts, our God ³⁷Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lᴏʀᴅ answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lᴏʀᴅ spoken?’ ³⁸But since you say, ‘The oracle of the Lᴏʀᴅ!’ therefore thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Because you say this word, “The oracle of the Lᴏʀᴅ!” and I have sent to you, saying, “Do not say, ‘The oracle of the Lᴏʀᴅ!’ ³⁹therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and will cast you out of My presence. ⁴⁰And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’ ”

¹And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” ²Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. ³His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”— ⁶because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid. ⁷And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” ⁸Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. ⁹Now as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should tell no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰So they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant. ¹¹And they asked Him, saying, “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” ¹²Then He answered and told them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and restores all things. And how is it written concerning the Son of Man, that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³But I say to you that Elijah has also come, and they did to him whatever they wished, as it is written of him.” ¹⁴And when He came to the disciples, He saw a great multitude around them, and scribes disputing with them. ¹⁵Immediately, when they saw Him, all the people were greatly amazed, and running to Him, greeted Him. ¹⁶And He asked the scribes, “What are you discussing with them?” ¹⁷Then one of the crowd answered and said, “Teacher, I brought You my son, who has a mute spirit. ¹⁸And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down; he foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth, and becomes rigid. So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not.” ¹⁹He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.” ²⁰Then they brought him to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth. ²¹So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²And often he has thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” ²⁵When Jesus saw that the people came running together, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!” ²⁶Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.” ²⁷But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” ³⁰Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it. ³¹For He taught His disciples and said to them, “The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day.” ³²But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him. ³³Then He came to Capernaum. And when He was in the house He asked them, “What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?” ³⁴But they kept silent, for on the road they had disputed among themselves who would be the greatest. ³⁵And He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶Then He took a little child and set him in the midst of them. And when He had taken him in His arms, He said to them, ³⁷“Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me.” ³⁸Now John answered Him, saying, “Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.” ³⁹But Jesus said, “Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me. ⁴⁰“For he who is not against us is on our side. ⁴¹For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in My name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. ⁴²“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea. ⁴³If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— ⁴⁴where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’ ⁴⁵And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— ⁴⁶where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’ ⁴⁷And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— ⁴⁸where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’ ⁴⁹“For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. ⁵⁰Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another.”