What the Bible Says About the Meanings of Places

Scripture

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran.
¹¹ And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep.
¹² And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!
²⁸ And behold, the Lord stood above it and said, “I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac.
¹⁴ Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.
¹⁵ Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
¹⁶ Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.”
¹⁷ And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”
¹⁸ So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
¹⁹ He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

Genesis 28:10-19

Genesis 32:24-30: ²⁴ And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day.
²⁵ When he saw that he did not prevail against him, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob’s hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him.
²⁶ Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
²⁷ And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.”
²⁸ Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.”
²⁹ Then Jacob asked him, “Please tell me your name.” But he said, “Why is it that you ask my name?” And there he blessed him.
³⁰ So Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, saying, “For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life has been delivered.”

Exodus 3:1-6: 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.

Exodus 17:1-7: ¹ All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?”
³ But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”
⁴ So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
⁷ And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Numbers 21:16-20: ¹⁶ And from there they continued to Beer; that is the well of which the Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people together, so that I may give them water.”
¹⁷ Then Israel sang this song: “Spring up, O well!—Sing to it,
¹⁸ the well that the princes made, that the nobles of the people dug, with the scepter and with their staffs.” And from the wilderness they went on to Mattanah,
¹⁹ And from Mattanah to Nahaliel, and from Nahaliel to Bamoth,
²⁰ and from Bamoth to the valley that is in the region of Moab, to the top of Pisgah that looks down on the desert.

Joshua 4:19-24: ¹⁹ The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they encamped at Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.
²⁰ And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up at Gilgal.
²¹ And he said to the people of Israel, “When your children ask their fathers in times to come, ‘What do these stones mean?’
²² then you shall let your children know, ‘Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’
²³ For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up for us until we passed over,
²⁴ so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”

Judges 6:11-24: ¹¹ Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
¹² And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor.”
¹³ And Gideon said to him, “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our fathers recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has forsaken us and given us into the hand of Midian.”
¹⁴ And the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and save Israel from the hand of Midian; do not I send you?”
¹⁵ And he said to him, “Please, Lord, how can I save Israel? Behold, my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.”
¹⁶ And the Lord said to him, “But I will be with you, and you shall strike the Midianites as one man.”
¹⁷ And he said to him, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, then show me a sign that it is you who speak with me.
¹⁸ Please do not depart from here until I come to you and bring out my present and set it before you.” And he said, “I will stay till you return.”
¹⁹ So Gideon went into his house and prepared a young goat and unleavened cakes from an ephah of flour. The meat he put in a basket, and the broth he put in a pot, and brought them to him under the terebinth and presented them.
²⁰ And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened cakes, and put them on this rock, and pour the broth over them.” And he did so.
²¹ Then the angel of the Lord reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened cakes. And fire sprang up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened cakes. And the angel of the Lord vanished from his sight.
²² Then Gideon perceived that he was the angel of the Lord. And Gideon said, “Alas, O Lord God! For now I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.”
²³ But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.”
²⁴ Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace.

1 Samuel 7:12-14: ¹² Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.”
¹³ So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel.
¹⁴ And the cities that the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, from Ekron to Gath, and Israel delivered their territory from the hand of the Philistines. And there was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.

1 Samuel 23:28-29: ²⁸ So Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore that place was called the Rock of Escape.
²⁹ And David went up from there and lived in the strongholds of Engedi.

2 Samuel 5:6-10: ⁶ And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off”—thinking, “David cannot come in here.”
⁷ Nevertheless, David took the stronghold of Zion, that is, the city of David.
⁸ And David said on that day, “Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack ‘the lame and the blind,’ who are hated by David’s soul.” Therefore it is said, “The blind and the lame shall not come into the house.”
⁹ And David lived in the stronghold and called it the city of David. And David built the city all around from the Millo inward.
¹⁰ And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.

2 Samuel 5:17-21: ¹⁷ When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. But David heard of it and went down to the stronghold.
¹⁸ Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim.
¹⁹ And David inquired of the Lord, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you give them into my hand?” And the Lord said to David, “Go up, for I will certainly give the Philistines into your hand.”
²⁰ So David came to Baal-perazim, and David defeated them there. And he said, “The Lord has broken through my enemies before me like a breaking flood.” So the name of that place is called Baal-perazim.
²¹ And the Philistines left their idols there, and David and his men carried them away.

2 Samuel 6:1-8: ¹ David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
² And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the Lord of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim.
³ And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart.
⁴ And they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart,
⁵ And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.
⁶ And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.
⁷ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.
⁸ And David was angry because the Lord had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day.

1 Kings 17:1-7: ¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
² And the word of the Lord came to him:
³ “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.”
⁴ You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.
⁵ So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan.
⁶ And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
⁷ And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

1 Kings 19:1-8: ¹ Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword.
² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.”
³ Then he was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life and came to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there.
⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”
⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep.
⁶ And he looked, and behold, there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again.
⁷ And the angel of the Lord came again a second time and touched him and said, “Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.”
⁸ And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God.

2 Kings 2:19-22: ¹⁹ Now the men of the city said to Elisha, “Behold, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees, but the water is bad, and the land is unfruitful.”
²⁰ He said, “Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it.” So they brought it to him.
²¹ Then he went out to the spring of water and threw salt in it and said, “Thus says the Lord, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.”
²² So the waters have been healed to this day, according to the word that Elisha spoke.

2 Kings 4:38-41: ³⁸ And Elisha came again to Gilgal when there was a famine in the land. And as the sons of the prophets were sitting before him, he said to his servant, “Set on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.”
³⁹ Then one went out into the field to gather herbs and found a wild vine and gathered from it his lap full of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot of stew, not knowing what they were.
⁴⁰ So they poured out for the men to eat. And when they ate of the stew, they cried out, “O man of God, there is death in the pot!” And they could not eat it.
⁴¹ But he said, “Then bring flour.” And he threw it into the pot and said, “Pour some out for the men, that they may eat.” And there was no harm in the pot.

2 Kings 6:1-7: ¹ Now the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See, the place where we dwell under your charge is too small for us.
² Let us go to the Jordan and each of us get there a log, and let us make a place for us to dwell there.” And he answered, “Go.”
³ Then one said, “Please come with your servants.” And he answered, “I will come.”
⁴ So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down trees.
⁵ But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, “Alas, my master! It was borrowed.”
⁶ And the man of God said, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float.
⁷ Therefore he said, “Take it up.” So he reached out his hand and took it.

2 Kings 14:25-27: ²⁵ He restored the border of Israel from Lebo-hamath as far as the Sea of the Arabah, according to the word of the Lord, the God of Israel, which he spoke by his servant Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet, who was from Gath-hepher.
²⁶ For the Lord saw that the affliction of Israel was very bitter, for there was none left, bond or free, and there was none to help Israel.
²⁷ And the Lord did not say that he would blot out the name of Israel from under heaven, so he saved them by the hand of Jeroboam the son of Joash.

2 Chronicles 20:1-2: ²¹ And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
² Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi).

Nehemiah 2:11-16: 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.

Isaiah 7:3-9: ³ Then the Lord said to Isaiah, “Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field.
⁴ And say to him, ‘Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smoldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.
⁵ Because Syria, with Ephraim and the son of Remaliah, has devised evil against you, saying,
⁶ “Let us go up against Judah and terrify it, and let us conquer it for ourselves, and set up the son of Tabeel as king in the midst of it,”
⁷ Thus says the Lord God: It shall not stand, and it shall not come to pass.
⁸ For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Rezin. And within sixty-five years Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.
⁹ And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.

Isaiah 8:1-4: ¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’
² And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.”
³ And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, “Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz;
⁴ for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.”

Jeremiah 19:1-6: ¹ Thus says the Lord, “Go, buy a potter’s earthenware flask, and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests,
² and go out to the Valley of the Son of Hinnom at the entry of the Potsherd Gate, and proclaim there the words that I tell you.
³ and say, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing such disaster upon this place that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle.
⁴ Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents,
⁵ and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—
⁶ therefore, behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when this place shall no more be called Topheth, or the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.

Ezekiel 47:1-12: ¹ Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and behold, water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from below the south end of the threshold of the temple, south of the altar.
² Then he brought me out by way of the north gate and led me around on the outside to the outer gate that faces towards the east, and behold, the water was trickling out on the south side.
³ Going on eastward with a measuring line in his hand, the man measured a thousand cubits, and then led me through the water, and it was ankle-deep.
⁴ Again he measured a thousand, and led me through the water, and it was knee-deep.
⁵ Again he measured a thousand, and it was a river that I could not pass through, for the water had risen. It was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.
⁶ And he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river.
⁷ When I returned, behold, on the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other.
⁸ And he said to me, “This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, and enters the sea; when the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh.
⁹ And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.
¹⁰ Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Their fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.
¹¹ But its swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they are to be left for salt.
¹² And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.

Matthew 2:1-6: Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,
² saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
³ When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
⁴ and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
⁵ They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
⁶ “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”

Matthew 4:12-16: ²³ And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
¹³ And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali,
¹⁴ so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled:
¹⁵ “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—”
¹⁶ the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.”

Matthew 16:13-20: ¹³ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
²⁰ Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

Matthew 26:36-46: ³⁶ Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.”
³⁷ And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled.
³⁸ Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
³⁹ And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
⁴⁰ And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour?
⁴¹ Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
⁴² Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”
⁴³ And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy.
⁴⁴ So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again.
⁴⁵ Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.
⁴⁶ Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.

Mark 5:1-20: ¹ They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.
² And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.
³ He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain,
⁴ for he had often been bound with shackles and chains, but he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles in pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him.
⁵ Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
⁶ And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him.
⁷ And crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, do not torment me.”
⁸ For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
⁹ And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
¹⁰ And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
¹¹ Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside.
¹² And they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.”
¹³ So he gave them permission. And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs; and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.
¹⁴ The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened.
¹⁵ And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.
¹⁶ And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs.
¹⁷ And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region.
¹⁸ As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him.
¹⁹ And he did not permit him but said to him, “Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you.”
²⁰ And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Mark 8:22-26: ²² And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him.
²³ And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?”
²⁴ And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.”
²⁵ Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
²⁶ And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Luke 1:26-38: ²⁶ In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
²⁷ to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
²⁸ And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
²⁹ But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
³⁰ And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David,
³³ and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
³⁴ And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
³⁵ And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
³⁶ And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.
³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Luke 2:1-7: 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.

John 1:44-51: ⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
⁵⁰ Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

John 4:1-6: ⁴ Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
² (though Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),
³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.
⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria.
⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
⁶ Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.

John 11:1-7: ¹ Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”

Acts 9:1-9: ¹ But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
² and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
³ Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him.
⁴ And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
⁵ And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
⁶ But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
⁷ The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.
⁸ Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
⁹ And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Acts 16:11-15: ¹¹ So, setting sail from Troas, we made a direct voyage to Samothrace, and the following day to Neapolis,
¹² and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city some days.
¹³ And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
¹⁴ One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul.
¹⁵ And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” And she prevailed upon us.

Acts 17:16-21: ¹⁶ Now while Paul was waiting for them at Athens, his spirit was provoked within him as he saw that the city was full of idols.
¹⁷ So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there.
¹⁸ Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
¹⁹ And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?
²⁰ For you bring some strange things to our ears. We wish to know therefore what these things mean.”
²¹ Now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time in nothing except telling or hearing something new.

Acts 18:1-4: ¹ After this Paul left Athens and went to Corinth.
² And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them,
³ and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
⁴ And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Revelation 1:9-11: 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.”

Revelation 2:12-17: ¹² “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword.
¹³ “‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality.
¹⁵ So also you have some who hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.
¹⁶ Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth.
¹⁷ He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’