What the Bible Says About Historical Context

Scripture

¹ Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.
² And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
³ I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
⁴ So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.
⁵ Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.
⁶ Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.
⁷ Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built there an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him.
⁸ From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.
⁹ And Abram journeyed on, still going toward the Negeb.

Genesis 12:1-9

Exodus 3:1-22: ¹ Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.
³ And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.”
⁴ When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
⁵ Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
⁶ And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings,
⁸ and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
⁹ And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.
¹⁰ Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.”
¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”
¹² He said, “But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.”
¹³ Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”
¹⁴ God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”
¹⁵ God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.
¹⁶ Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt,
¹⁷ and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.”
¹⁸ And they will listen to your voice, and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; and now, please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.’
¹⁹ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.
²⁰ So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all the wonders that I will do in it; after that he will let you go.
²¹ And I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and when you go, you shall not go empty,
²² But each woman shall ask of her neighbor, and any woman who lives in her house, for silver and gold jewelry, and for clothing. You shall put them on your sons and on your daughters. So you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

Deuteronomy 6:1-25: ¹ “Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,”
² that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son’s son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.
³ Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey.
⁴ “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
⁵ You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
⁶ And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
⁷ You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
⁸ You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
⁹ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
¹⁰ “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build,
¹¹ and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full,
¹² then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
¹³ It is the Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear.
¹⁴ You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—
¹⁵ for the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.
¹⁶ “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah.
¹⁷ You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you.
¹⁸ And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers,
¹⁹ to thrust out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised.
²⁰ “When your son asks you in time to come, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the Lord our God has commanded you?’”
²¹ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt. And the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.
²² And the Lord showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes.
²³ And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers.
²⁴ And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day.
²⁵ And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

Joshua 1:1-9: ¹ After the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, the Lord said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant,
² “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel.”
³ Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.
⁴ From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory.
⁵ No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
⁶ Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.
⁷ Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go.
⁸ This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.
⁹ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.

Judges 2:6-23: ⁶ And when Joshua had dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land.
⁷ And the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the Lord had done for Israel.
⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died at the age of 110 years.
⁹ And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
¹⁰ And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.
¹¹ And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.
¹² and they abandoned the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt.
¹³ They abandoned the Lord and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
¹⁴ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
¹⁵ Whenever they marched out, the hand of the Lord was against them for harm, as the Lord had warned, and as the Lord had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
¹⁶ Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
¹⁷ Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so.
¹⁸ Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge.
¹⁹ But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
²⁰ So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,
²¹ I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died,
²² in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not.”
²³ So the Lord left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.

1 Samuel 8:1-22: ³ Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.
² The name of his firstborn son was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judges in Beersheba.
³ Yet his sons did not walk in his ways but turned aside after gain. They took bribes and perverted justice.
⁴ Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah
⁵ and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”
⁶ But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord.
⁷ And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them.
⁸ According to all the deeds that they have done, from the day I brought them up out of Egypt even to this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are also doing to you.
⁹ Now then, obey their voice; only you shall solemnly warn them and show them the ways of the king who shall reign over them.”
¹⁰ So Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking for a king from him.
¹¹ He said, “These will be the ways of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to his chariots and to be his horsemen and to run before his chariots.
¹² He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties, and some to plow his ground and to reap his harvest, and to make his implements of war and the equipment of his chariots.
¹³ He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.
¹⁴ He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive orchards and give them to his servants.
¹⁵ He will take the tenth of your grain and of your vineyards and give it to his officers and to his servants.
¹⁶ He will take your male servants and female servants and the best of your young men and your donkeys, and put them to his work.
¹⁷ He will take the tenth of your flocks, and you shall be his slaves.
¹⁸ And in that day you will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.”
¹⁹ But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel. And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us,
²⁰ that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.”
²¹ And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he repeated them in the ears of the Lord.
²² And the Lord said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king.” Samuel then said to the men of Israel, “Go every man to his city.”

2 Samuel 7:1-17: ¹ Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies,
² that the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”
³ And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.”
⁴ But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan,
⁵ “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in?
⁶ I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling.
⁷ In all the places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”
⁸ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.
⁹ And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.
¹⁰ And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly,
¹¹ from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
¹² When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
¹³ He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
¹⁴ I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,
¹⁵ but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
¹⁶ And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
¹⁷ In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

1 Kings 12:1-24: ¹² Rehoboam went to Shechem, for all Israel had come to Shechem to make him king.
² And when Jeroboam the son of Nebat heard of it (for he was still in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon), then Jeroboam returned from Egypt.
³ Then they sent and called him, and Jeroboam and all the assembly of Israel came and said to Rehoboam,
⁴ “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.”
⁵ He said to them, “Go away for three days, then come again to me.” So the people went away.
⁶ Then King Rehoboam took counsel with the old men, who had stood before Solomon his father while he was yet alive, saying, “How do you advise me to answer this people?”
⁷ And they said to him, “If you will be a servant to this people today and serve them, and speak good words to them when you answer them, then they will be your servants forever.”
⁸ But he abandoned the counsel that the old men gave him and took counsel with the young men who had grown up with him and stood before him.
⁹ He said to them, “What do you advise that we answer this people who have said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke that your father put on us’?”
¹⁰ And the young men who had grown up with him said to him, “Thus shall you speak to this people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you lighten it for us,’ thus shall you say to them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s thighs.
¹¹ And now, whereas my father laid on you a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.
¹² So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam the third day, as the king said, “Come to me again the third day.”
¹³ And the king answered the people harshly, and forsaking the counsel that the old men had given him,
¹⁴ and he spoke to them according to the counsel of the young men, saying, “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke. My father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with scorpions.”
¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the Lord that he might fulfill his word, which the Lord spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
¹⁶ So when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, “What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.” So Israel went to their tents.
¹⁷ But Rehoboam reigned over the people of Israel who lived in the cities of Judah.
¹⁸ Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who was taskmaster over the forced labor, and all Israel stoned him to death with stones. So King Rehoboam hurried to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem.
¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.
²⁰ When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had returned, they sent and called him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. There was none that followed the house of David but the tribe of Judah only.
²¹ When Rehoboam came to Jerusalem, he assembled all the house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, 180,000 chosen warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam the son of Solomon.
²² But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God:
²³ Speak good words to them and they will be your servants forever.
²⁴ ‘Thus says the Lord, You shall not go up or fight against your relatives the people of Israel. Every man return to his home, for this thing is from me.’” So they listened to the word of the Lord and went home again, according to the word of the Lord.

2 Kings 17:1-23: ¹ In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years.
² And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
³ Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute.
⁴ And the king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison.
⁵ Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it.
⁶ In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
⁷ And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods.
⁸ and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced.
⁹ And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city.
¹⁰ They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree,
¹¹ and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger,
¹² they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.”
¹³ Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.”
¹⁴ But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God.
¹⁵ They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them.
¹⁶ And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal.
¹⁷ And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger.
¹⁸ Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.
¹⁹ Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced.
²⁰ And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
²¹ When he had torn Israel from the house of David, they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. And Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord and made them commit great sin.
²² For the people of Israel walked in all the sins that Jeroboam did. They did not depart from them,
²³ until the Lord removed Israel out of his sight, as he had spoken by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was exiled from their own land to Assyria until this day.

Ezra 1:1-11: ¹ In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
² “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.”
³ Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.
⁴ And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
⁵ Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.
⁶ And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.
⁷ Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.
⁸ Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.
⁹ And this was the inventory: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers,
¹⁰ thirty basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers,
¹¹ All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

Nehemiah 2:1-20: ¹ In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.
² And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.”
³ And I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
⁴ Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.
⁵ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.”
⁶ And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time.
⁷ And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah,
⁸ And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.
⁹ Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen.
¹⁰ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
¹¹ So I went to Jerusalem and was there three days.
¹² Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There was no animal with me but the one on which I rode.
¹³ I went out by night by the Valley Gate to the Dragon Spring and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.
¹⁴ Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King’s Pool, but there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.
¹⁵ Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall, and I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned.
¹⁶ And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, and I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.
¹⁷ Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.”
¹⁸ And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king had spoken to me. And they said, “Let us rise up and build.” So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
¹⁹ But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they jeered at us and despised us and said, “What is this thing that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?”
²⁰ Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven will make us prosper, and we his servants will arise and build, but you have no portion or right or claim in Jerusalem.”

Esther 4:1-17: ¹ When Mordecai learned all that had been done, Mordecai tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst of the city, and he cried out with a loud and bitter cry.
² And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
³ And in every province, wherever the king’s command and his decree reached, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting and weeping and lamenting, and many of them lay in sackcloth and ashes.
⁴ When Esther’s young women and her eunuchs came and told her, the queen was deeply distressed. She sent garments to clothe Mordecai, so that he might take off his sackcloth, but he would not accept them.
⁵ Then Esther called for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs, who had been appointed to attend her, and ordered him to go to Mordecai to learn what this was and why it was.
⁶ And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
⁷ And Mordecai told him all that had happened to him, and the exact sum of money that Haman had promised to pay into the king’s treasuries for the destruction of the Jews.
⁸ Mordecai also gave him a copy of the written decree issued in Susa for their destruction, that he might show it to Esther and explain it to her and command her to go to the king to beg his favor and plead with him on behalf of her people.
⁹ And Hathach went and told Esther what Mordecai had said.
¹⁰ Then Esther spoke to Hathach and commanded him to go to Mordecai and say,
¹¹ “All the king’s servants and the people of the king’s provinces know that if any man or woman goes to the king inside the inner court without being called, there is but one law—to be put to death, except the one to whom the king holds out the golden scepter so that he may live. But as for me, I have not been called to come in to the king these thirty days.”
¹² And they told Mordecai what Esther had said.
¹³ Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.
¹⁴ For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”
¹⁵ Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai,
¹⁶ “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.”
¹⁷ So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.

Isaiah 6:1-13: ¹ In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.
² Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.
³ And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!”
⁴ And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.
⁵ And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
⁶ Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.
⁷ And he touched my mouth and said: “Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.”
⁸ And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
⁹ And he said, “Go, and say to this people: “‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’
¹⁰ Make the heart of this people dull,
and their ears heavy,
and blind their eyes;
lest they see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears,
and understand with their hearts,
and turn and be healed.
¹¹ Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said: “Until cities lie waste without inhabitant, and houses without people, and the land is a desolate waste,
¹² And the Lord removes people far away,
and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land.
¹³ And though a tenth remain in it, it will be burned again, like a terebinth or an oak, whose stump remains when it is felled.” The holy seed is its stump.

Jeremiah 29:1-14: ⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:”
² This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem.
³ Send to all the exiles, saying, “Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah of Nehelam: Because Shemaiah had prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,
⁴ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:”
⁵ Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.
⁶ Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.
⁷ But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.
⁸ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream,
⁹ For they are prophesying falsely to you in my name; I have not sent them, declares the Lord.
¹⁰ “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.”
¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
¹² Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.
¹³ You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.
¹⁴ I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Ezekiel 37:1-14: ¹ The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.
² And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.
³ And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”
⁴ Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.”
⁵ Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
⁶ And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.
⁷ So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
⁸ And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.
⁹ Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”
¹⁰ So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
¹¹ Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’
¹² Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.
¹³ And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.

Daniel 2:1-49: ¹ In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him.
² Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king.
³ And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.”
⁴ Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.”
⁵ The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “The word from me is firm: if you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you shall be torn limb from limb, and your houses shall be laid in ruins.
⁶ But if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.”
⁷ They answered a second time and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will show its interpretation.”
⁸ The king answered and said, “I know with certainty that you are trying to gain time, because you see that the word from me is firm—
⁹ if you do not make the dream known to me, there is but one sentence for you. You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the times change. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can show me its interpretation.”
¹⁰ The Chaldeans answered the king and said, “There is not a man on earth who can meet the king’s demand, for no great and powerful king has asked such a thing of any magician or enchanter or Chaldean.
¹¹ The thing that the king asks is difficult, and no one can show it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.
¹² Because of this the king was angry and very furious, and commanded that all the wise men of Babylon be destroyed.
¹³ So the decree went out, and the wise men were about to be killed; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.
¹⁴ Then Daniel replied with prudence and discretion to Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon.
¹⁵ He declared to Arioch, the king’s captain, “Why is the decree of the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the matter known to Daniel.
¹⁶ And Daniel went in and requested the king to appoint him a time, that he might show the interpretation to the king.
¹⁷ Then Daniel went to his house and made the matter known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions,
¹⁸ That they might seek mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his companions might not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
¹⁹ Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night.
²⁰ Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might.
²¹ He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding;
²² he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.
²³ To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you, for you have made known to us the king’s matter.
²⁴ Therefore Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; bring me in before the king, and I will show the king the interpretation.”
²⁵ Then Arioch brought in Daniel before the king in haste and said thus to him: “I have found among the exiles from Judah a man who will make known to the king the interpretation.”
²⁶ The king declared to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its interpretation?”
²⁷ Daniel answered the king and said, “No wise men, enchanters, magicians, or astrologers can show to the king the mystery that the king has asked,”
²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days.
²⁹ To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be after this, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.
³⁰ But as for me, this mystery has been revealed to me, not because of any wisdom that I have more than all the living, but in order that the interpretation may be made known to the king, and that you may know the thoughts of your mind.
³¹ You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening.
³² The head of this image was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its middle and thighs of bronze,
³³ its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
³⁴ As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
³⁵ Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
³⁶ This was the dream. Now we will tell the king its interpretation.
³⁷ You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory,
³⁸ And wherever the children of man dwell, the beasts of the field and the birds of the heavens he has given into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all. You are the head of gold.
³⁹ Another kingdom inferior to you shall arise after you, and yet a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
⁴⁰ And there shall be a fourth kingdom, strong as iron, because iron breaks to pieces and shatters all things. And like iron that crushes, it shall break and crush all these.
⁴¹ And as you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, it shall be a divided kingdom, but some of the firmness of iron shall be in it, just as you saw iron mixed with the soft clay.
⁴² And as the toes of the feet were partly iron and partly clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly brittle.
⁴³ As you saw the iron mixed with soft clay, so they will mix with one another in marriage, but they will not hold together, just as iron does not mix with clay.
⁴⁴ And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,
⁴⁵ just as you saw that a stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold.
⁴⁶ Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face and paid homage to Daniel, and commanded that an offering and incense be offered up to him.
⁴⁷ The king answered and said to Daniel, “Truly, your God is God of gods and Lord of kings, and a revealer of mysteries, for you have been able to reveal this mystery.”
⁴⁸ Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
⁴⁹ At Daniel’s request the king appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the province of Babylon.

Hosea 1:1-11: ¹ The word of the Lord that came to Hosea, the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
² When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.”
³ So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
⁴ And the Lord said to him, “Call his name Jezreel, for in just a little while I will punish the house of Jehu for the blood of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
⁵ And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel.
⁶ She conceived again and bore a daughter. And the Lord said to him, “Call her name No Mercy, for I will no more have mercy on the house of Israel, to forgive them at all.
⁷ But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Lord their God. I will not save them by bow or by sword or by war or by horses or by horsemen.
⁸ When she had weaned No Mercy, she conceived and bore a son.
⁹ And the Lord said, “Call his name Not My People, for you are not my people, and I am not your God.”
¹⁰ Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, “Children of the living God.”
¹¹ And the children of Judah and the children of Israel shall be gathered together, and they shall appoint for themselves one head. And they shall go up from the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel.

Amos 5:1-27: ¹ Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel:
² “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.”
³ For thus says the Lord God: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.”
⁴ For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live;
⁵ “Seek the Lord and live,
lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,
and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,”
⁶ Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel,
⁷ O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth!
⁸ He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name;
⁹ He makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress.
¹⁰ They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth.
¹¹ Therefore because you trample on the poor
and you exact taxes of grain from him,
you have built houses of hewn stone,
but you shall not dwell in them;
you have planted pleasant vineyards,
but you shall not drink their wine.
¹² For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate.
¹³ Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time.
¹⁴ Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and so the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you, as you have said.
¹⁵ Hate evil, and love good,
and establish justice in the gate;
it may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,
will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.
¹⁶ Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the Lord: “In all the squares there shall be wailing, and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’ They shall call the farmers to mourning and to wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,
¹⁷ In all vineyards there shall be wailing, for I will pass through your midst,” says the Lord.
¹⁸ Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,
¹⁹ It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him.
²⁰ Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?
²¹ “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.”
²² Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.
²³ Take away from me the noise of your songs; to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
²⁴ But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
²⁵ “Did you bring to me sacrifices and offerings during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?”
²⁶ You shall take up Sikkuth your king, and Kiyyun your star-god—your images that you made for yourselves.
²⁷ Therefore I will make you go into exile beyond Damascus,” says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.

Micah 6:1-8: ⁶ Hear what the Lord says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.”
² “Hear, you mountains, the indictment of the Lord,
and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
and he will contend with Israel.
³ “O my people, what have I done to you?
How have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴ For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵ “O my people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.”
⁶ “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?”
⁷ Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸ He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?

Matthew 1:1-17: ¹ The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
² Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers,
³ and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Ram,
⁴ and Ram the father of Amminadab, and Amminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon,
⁵ and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse,
⁶ and Jesse the father of David the king.
⁷ and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,
⁸ and Asa the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah,
⁹ and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud,
¹⁰ and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos, and Amos the father of Josiah,
¹¹ and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.
¹² And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Shealtiel, and Shealtiel the father of Zerubbabel.
¹³ and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor,
¹⁴ and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud,
¹⁵ and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob,
¹⁶ and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ.
¹⁷ So all the generations from Abraham to David were fourteen generations, and from David to the deportation to Babylon fourteen generations, and from the deportation to Babylon to the Christ fourteen generations.

Luke 2:1-20: ² In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered.
² This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria.
³ And all went to be registered, each to his own town.
⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David,
⁵ to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
⁶ And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth.
⁷ And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
⁸ And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
⁹ And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear.
¹⁰ And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
¹² And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
¹⁵ When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”
¹⁶ And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger.
¹⁷ And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child.
¹⁸ And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

John 1:1-18: ¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
² He was in the beginning with God.
³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)
¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

Acts 2:1-47: ¹ When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.
² And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
³ And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them.
⁴ And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
⁵ Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
⁶ And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.
⁷ And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans?
⁸ And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
⁹ Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia,
¹⁰ Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,
¹¹ both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”
¹² And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”
¹³ But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”
¹⁴ But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words.
¹⁵ For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
¹⁶ But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:
¹⁷ “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;”
¹⁸ even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
¹⁹ And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
²⁰ the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
²¹ And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
²² “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—
²³ this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
²⁴ God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
²⁵ For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
²⁶ therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.
²⁷ For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.
²⁸ You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.
²⁹ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.
³⁰ Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,
³¹ he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
³² This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.
³³ Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.
³⁴ For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
³⁵ until I make your enemies your footstool.”
³⁶ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
³⁷ Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
³⁸ And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
³⁹ For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”
⁴⁰ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
⁴¹ So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
⁴³ And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
⁴⁵ And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Romans 1:1-17: ¹ Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
² which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
³ concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
⁴ and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
⁵ through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
⁶ including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
⁷ To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
⁸ First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world.
For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers,
¹⁰ always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
¹¹ For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—
¹² that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.
¹⁴ I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
¹⁵ So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.
¹⁶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

Galatians 3:1-29: ³ O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.
² Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith?
³ Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?
⁴ Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
⁵ Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith—
⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?
⁷ Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.
⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”
⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
¹⁰ For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.”
¹¹ Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
³:12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.”
¹³ Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
¹⁴ so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
¹⁵ To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.
¹⁶ Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ.
¹⁷ This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
¹⁸ For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise.
¹⁹ Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
²⁰ Now an intermediary implies more than one, but God is one.
²¹ Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law.
²² But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.
²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
²⁹ And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Ephesians 2:11-22: ¹¹ Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—
¹² remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
¹⁵ by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
¹⁶ and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
¹⁷ And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
¹⁸ For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
¹⁹ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
²² In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Hebrews 11:1-40: ¹ Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
² For by it the people of old received their commendation.
³ By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.
⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.
By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God.
⁶ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
⁷ By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.
⁸ By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going.
⁹ By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise.
¹⁰ For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
¹¹ By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.
¹² Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.
¹³ These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
¹⁴ For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.
¹⁵ If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return.
¹⁶ But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
¹⁷ By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
¹⁸ of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
¹⁹ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
²⁰ By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau.
By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff.
²² By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones.
²³ By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.
²⁴ By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,
²⁵ choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
²⁶ He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.
²⁷ By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.
By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them.
²⁹ By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned.
³⁰ By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days.
³¹ By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.
³² And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets—
³³ who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
³⁴ quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
³⁵ Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life.
³⁶ Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.
They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated.
³⁸ of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
³⁹ And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised,
⁴⁰ since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.

Revelation 1:1-20: ¹ The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John,
² who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
³ Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,
⁵ and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.
⁶ and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
⁷ Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.
⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
⁹ I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
¹⁰ I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet.
¹¹ saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
¹² Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands,
¹³ and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest.
¹⁴ The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,
¹⁵ his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters.
¹⁶ In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
¹⁷ When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,
¹⁸ and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
¹⁹ Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.
²⁰ As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.