The Lord’s Call to Israel
12 “Listen to me, O Jacob,
and Israel, whom I called!
and I am the last.
13 My hand vlaid the foundation of the earth,
and my right hand spread out the heavens;
when I call to them,
they stand forth together.
14 “Assemble, all of you, and listen!
Who among them has declared these things?
The Lord loves him;
he shall perform his purpose on Babylon,
and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans.
15 wI, even I, have spoken and called him;
I have brought him, and he will prosper in his way.
16 Draw near to me, hear this:
from the beginning I xhave not spoken in secret,
from the time it came to be I have been there.”
And now the Lord God has sent me, and his Spirit.
17 Thus says the Lord,
your yRedeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
“I am the Lord your God,
who teaches you to profit,
who leads you in the way you should go.
18 zOh that you had paid attention to my commandments!
Then your apeace would have been like a river,
and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
19 byour offspring would have been like the sand,
and your descendants like its grains;
their name would never be cut off
or destroyed from before me.”
20 cGo out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea,
declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it,
send it out to the end of the earth;
say, “The Lord dhas redeemed his servant Jacob!”
21 They did not thirst when he led them through the deserts;
ehe made water flow for them from the rock;
he split the rock and the water gushed out.
18 Then cafter three years I went up to Jerusalem dto visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. 19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother. 20 (In what I am writing to you, ebefore God, fI do not lie!) 21 gThen I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia. 22 And I was still unknown in person to hthe churches of Judea that are in Christ. 23 They only were hearing it said, “He who used to persecute us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.” 24 And ithey glorified God because of me.
Paul Accepted by the Apostles
1 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem jwith Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a krevelation and set before them (though privately before lthose who seemed influential) mthe gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run nin vain. 3 oBut even Titus, who was with me, pwas not qforced to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. 4 Yet because of false brothers rsecretly brought in—who slipped in to spy out our sfreedom that we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might tbring us into uslavery— 5 to them we did not yield in submission even for a moment, so that the vtruth of the gospel might be preserved for you. 6 And from those who seemed to be influential (what they were makes no difference to me; God wshows no partiality)—those, I say, who seemed influential added nothing to me. 7 On the contrary, when they saw that xI had been yentrusted with the gospel to the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel to the circumcised 8 (for he who zworked through Peter for his aapostolic ministry to the circumcised bworked also through me for mine to the Gentiles), 9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived cthe grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. 10 Only, they asked us to dremember the poor, the very thing I was eager to do.
Jesus Rejected at Nazareth
1 jHe went away from there and came to his khometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 And on the Sabbath he began to lteach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were mastonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things? What is the wisdom given to him? How are such mighty works done by his hands? 3 nIs not this the carpenter,1 the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they otook offense at him. 4 And Jesus said to them, p“A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” 5 And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And he marveled because of their unbelief.
And he went about among the villages teaching.
Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles
7 qAnd he called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and rgave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He charged them to take snothing for their journey except a staff—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts— 9 but to wear sandals and not put on two tunics.2 10 And he said to them, t“Whenever you enter a house, stay there until you depart from there. 11 And if any place will not receive you and they will not listen to you, when you leave, ushake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that people should vrepent. 13 And they wcast out many demons and xanointed with oil many who were sick and healed them.
