¹Now there was a man from the mountains of Ephraim, whose name was Micah. ²And he said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you, and on which you put a curse, even saying it in my ears—here is the silver with me; I took it.” And his mother said, “May you be blessed by the Lᴏʀᴅ, my son!” ³So when he had returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, “I had wholly dedicated the silver from my hand to the Lᴏʀᴅ for my son, to make a carved image and a molded image; now therefore, I will return it to you.” ⁴Thus he returned the silver to his mother. Then his mother took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to the silversmith, and he made it into a carved image and a molded image; and they were in the house of Micah. ⁵The man Micah had a shrine, and made an ephod and household idols; and he consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest. ⁶In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes. ⁷Now there was a young man from Bethlehem in Judah, of the family of Judah; he was a Levite, and was staying there. ⁸The man departed from the city of Bethlehem in Judah to stay wherever he could find a place. Then he came to the mountains of Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. ⁹And Micah said to him, “Where do you come from?” So he said to him, “I am a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, and I am on my way to find a place to stay.” ¹⁰Micah said to him, “Dwell with me, and be a father and a priest to me, and I will give you ten shekels of silver per year, a suit of clothes, and your sustenance.” So the Levite went in. ¹¹Then the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man became like one of his sons to him. ¹²So Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and lived in the house of Micah. ¹³Then Micah said, “Now I know that the Lᴏʀᴅ will be good to me, since I have a Levite as priest!”

¹Now it came to pass, that when we had departed from them and set sail, running a straight course we came to Cos, the following day to Rhodes, and from there to Patara. ²And finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia, we went aboard and set sail. ³When we had sighted Cyprus, we passed it on the left, sailed to Syria, and landed at Tyre; for there the ship was to unload her cargo. ⁴And finding disciples, we stayed there seven days. They told Paul through the Spirit not to go up to Jerusalem. ⁵When we had come to the end of those days, we departed and went on our way; and they all accompanied us, with wives and children, till we were out of the city. And we knelt down on the shore and prayed. ⁶When we had taken our leave of one another, we boarded the ship, and they returned home. ⁷And when we had finished our voyage from Tyre, we came to Ptolemais, greeted the brethren, and stayed with them one day. ⁸On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. ⁹Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied. ¹⁰And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. ¹¹When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’ ” ¹²Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. ¹³Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” ¹⁴So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.” ¹⁵And after those days we packed and went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁶Also some of the disciples from Caesarea went with us and brought with them a certain Mnason of Cyprus, an early disciple, with whom we were to lodge. ¹⁷And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. ¹⁸On the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. ¹⁹When he had greeted them, he told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry. ²⁰And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord. And they said to him, “You see, brother, how many myriads of Jews there are who have believed, and they are all zealous for the law; ²¹but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, saying that they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs. ²²What then? The assembly must certainly meet, for they will hear that you have come. ²³Therefore do what we tell you: We have four men who have taken a vow. ²⁴Take them and be purified with them, and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads, and that all may know that those things of which they were informed concerning you are nothing, but that you yourself also walk orderly and keep the law. ²⁵But concerning the Gentiles who believe, we have written and decided that they should observe no such thing, except that they should keep themselves from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.” ²⁶Then Paul took the men, and the next day, having been purified with them, entered the temple to announce the expiration of the days of purification, at which time an offering should be made for each one of them. ²⁷Now when the seven days were almost ended, the Jews from Asia, seeing him in the temple, stirred up the whole crowd and laid hands on him, ²⁸crying out, “Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place; and furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.” ²⁹(For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian with him in the city, whom they supposed that Paul had brought into the temple.) ³⁰And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. ³¹Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar. ³²He immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul. ³³Then the commander came near and took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done. ³⁴And some among the multitude cried one thing and some another. So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. ³⁵When he reached the stairs, he had to be carried by the soldiers because of the violence of the mob. ³⁶For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, “Away with him!” ³⁷Then as Paul was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the commander, “May I speak to you?” He replied, “Can you speak Greek? ³⁸Are you not the Egyptian who some time ago stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?” ³⁹But Paul said, “I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people.” ⁴⁰So when he had given him permission, Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people. And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying,

¹The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lᴏʀᴅ, saying, ²“Thus speaks the Lᴏʀᴅ God of Israel, saying: ‘Write in a book for yourself all the words that I have spoken to you. ³For behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lᴏʀᴅ, ‘that I will bring back from captivity My people Israel and Judah,’ says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ‘And I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it.’ ” ⁴Now these are the words that the Lᴏʀᴅ spoke concerning Israel and Judah. ⁵“For thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘We have heard a voice of trembling, Of fear, and not of peace. ⁶Ask now, and see, Whether a man is ever in labor with child? So why do I see every man with his hands on his loins Like a woman in labor, And all faces turned pale? ⁷Alas! For that day is great, So that none is like it; And it is the time of Jacob’s trouble, But he shall be saved out of it. ⁸‘For it shall come to pass in that day,’ Says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts, ‘That I will break his yoke from your neck, And will burst your bonds; Foreigners shall no more enslave them. ⁹But they shall serve the Lᴏʀᴅ their God, And David their king, Whom I will raise up for them. ¹⁰‘Therefore do not fear, O My servant Jacob,’ says the Lᴏʀᴅ, ‘Nor be dismayed, O Israel; For behold, I will save you from afar, And your seed from the land of their captivity. Jacob shall return, have rest and be quiet, And no one shall make him afraid. ¹¹For I am with you,’ says the Lᴏʀᴅ, ‘to save you; Though I make a full end of all nations where I have scattered you, Yet I will not make a complete end of you. But I will correct you in justice, And will not let you go altogether unpunished.’ ¹²“For thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Your affliction is incurable, Your wound is severe. ¹³There is no one to plead your cause, That you may be bound up; You have no healing medicines. ¹⁴All your lovers have forgotten you; They do not seek you; For I have wounded you with the wound of an enemy, With the chastisement of a cruel one, For the multitude of your iniquities, Because your sins have increased. ¹⁵Why do you cry about your affliction? Your sorrow is incurable. Because of the multitude of your iniquities, Because your sins have increased, I have done these things to you. ¹⁶‘Therefore all those who devour you shall be devoured; And all your adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; Those who plunder you shall become plunder, And all who prey upon you I will make a prey. ¹⁷For I will restore health to you And heal you of your wounds,’ says the Lᴏʀᴅ, ‘Because they called you an outcast saying: “This is Zion; No one seeks her.” ’ ¹⁸“Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: ‘Behold, I will bring back the captivity of Jacob’s tents, And have mercy on his dwelling places; The city shall be built upon its own mound, And the palace shall remain according to its own plan. ¹⁹Then out of them shall proceed thanksgiving And the voice of those who make merry; I will multiply them, and they shall not diminish; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small. ²⁰Their children also shall be as before, And their congregation shall be established before Me; And I will punish all who oppress them. ²¹Their nobles shall be from among them, And their governor shall come from their midst; Then I will cause him to draw near, And he shall approach Me; For who is this who pledged his heart to approach Me?’ says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²²‘You shall be My people, And I will be your God.’ ” ²³Behold, the whirlwind of the Lᴏʀᴅ Goes forth with fury, A continuing whirlwind; It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. ²⁴The fierce anger of the Lᴏʀᴅ will not return until He has done it, And until He has performed the intents of His heart. In the latter days you will consider it.

¹“At the same time,” says the Lᴏʀᴅ, “I will be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be My people.” ²Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “The people who survived the sword Found grace in the wilderness— Israel, when I went to give him rest.” ³The Lᴏʀᴅ has appeared of old to me, saying: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you. ⁴Again I will build you, and you shall be rebuilt, O virgin of Israel! You shall again be adorned with your tambourines, And shall go forth in the dances of those who rejoice. ⁵You shall yet plant vines on the mountains of Samaria; The planters shall plant and eat them as ordinary food. ⁶For there shall be a day When the watchmen will cry on Mount Ephraim, ‘Arise, and let us go up to Zion, To the Lᴏʀᴅ our God.’ ” ⁷For thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “Sing with gladness for Jacob, And shout among the chief of the nations; Proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O Lᴏʀᴅ, save Your people, The remnant of Israel!’ ⁸Behold, I will bring them from the north country, And gather them from the ends of the earth, Among them the blind and the lame, The woman with child And the one who labors with child, together; A great throng shall return there. ⁹They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn. ¹⁰“Hear the word of the Lᴏʀᴅ, O nations, And declare it in the isles afar off, and say, ‘He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.’ ¹¹For the Lᴏʀᴅ has redeemed Jacob, And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. ¹²Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming to the goodness of the Lᴏʀᴅ— For wheat and new wine and oil, For the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, And they shall sorrow no more at all. ¹³“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, And the young men and the old, together; For I will turn their mourning to joy, Will comfort them, And make them rejoice rather than sorrow. ¹⁴I will satiate the soul of the priests with abundance, And My people shall be satisfied with My goodness, says the Lᴏʀᴅ.” ¹⁵Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, Refusing to be comforted for her children, Because they are no more.” ¹⁶Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “Refrain your voice from weeping, And your eyes from tears; For your work shall be rewarded, says the Lᴏʀᴅ, And they shall come back from the land of the enemy. ¹⁷There is hope in your future, says the Lᴏʀᴅ, That your children shall come back to their own border. ¹⁸“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself: ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, Like an untrained bull; Restore me, and I will return, For You are the Lᴏʀᴅ my God. ¹⁹Surely, after my turning, I repented; And after I was instructed, I struck myself on the thigh; I was ashamed, yes, even humiliated, Because I bore the reproach of my youth.’ ²⁰Is Ephraim My dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For though I spoke against him, I earnestly remember him still; Therefore My heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²¹“Set up signposts, Make landmarks; Set your heart toward the highway, The way in which you went. Turn back, O virgin of Israel, Turn back to these your cities. ²²How long will you gad about, O you backsliding daughter? For the Lᴏʀᴅ has created a new thing in the earth— A woman shall encompass a man.” ²³Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts, the God of Israel: “They shall again use this speech in the land of Judah and in its cities, when I bring back their captivity: ‘The Lᴏʀᴅ bless you, O home of justice, and mountain of holiness!’ ²⁴And there shall dwell in Judah itself, and in all its cities together, farmers and those going out with flocks. ²⁵For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.” ²⁶After this I awoke and looked around, and my sleep was sweet to me. ²⁷“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lᴏʀᴅ, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. ²⁸And it shall come to pass, that as I have watched over them to pluck up, to break down, to throw down, to destroy, and to afflict, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ²⁹In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children’s teeth are set on edge.’ ³⁰But every one shall die for his own iniquity; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge. ³¹“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lᴏʀᴅ, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— ³²not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ³³But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lᴏʀᴅ: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. ³⁴No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lᴏʀᴅ,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lᴏʀᴅ. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” ³⁵Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ, Who gives the sun for a light by day, The ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, Who disturbs the sea, And its waves roar (The Lᴏʀᴅ of hosts is His name): ³⁶“If those ordinances depart From before Me, says the Lᴏʀᴅ, Then the seed of Israel shall also cease From being a nation before Me forever.” ³⁷Thus says the Lᴏʀᴅ: “If heaven above can be measured, And the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel For all that they have done, says the Lᴏʀᴅ. ³⁸“Behold, the days are coming, says the Lᴏʀᴅ, that the city shall be built for the Lᴏʀᴅ from the Tower of Hananel to the Corner Gate. ³⁹The surveyor’s line shall again extend straight forward over the hill Gareb; then it shall turn toward Goath. ⁴⁰And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes, and all the fields as far as the Brook Kidron, to the corner of the Horse Gate toward the east, shall be holy to the Lᴏʀᴅ. It shall not be plucked up or thrown down anymore forever.”

¹Now when the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, that they might come and anoint Him. ²Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. ³And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” ⁴But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. ⁵And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed. ⁶But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. ⁷But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.” ⁸So they went out quickly and fled from the tomb, for they trembled and were amazed. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. ⁹Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons. ¹⁰She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. ¹¹And when they heard that He was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. ¹²After that, He appeared in another form to two of them as they walked and went into the country. ¹³And they went and told it to the rest, but they did not believe them either. ¹⁴Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. ¹⁵And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. ¹⁶He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; ¹⁸they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.” ¹⁹So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. Amen.