Samson Defeats the Philistines

1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with ^ka young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, ^lso I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.” 4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards. 6 Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife ^mand given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up and ⁿburned her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will be avenged on you, and after that I will quit.” 8 And he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow, and he went down and stayed in the ^ocleft of the rock of Etam.

9 Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah and ^pmade a raid on ^qLehi. 10 And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11 Then 3,000 men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you not know that ^rthe Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so have I done to them.” 12 And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” And Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.” 13 They said to him, “No; we will only bind you and give you into their hands. We will surely not kill you.” So they bound him with two ^snew ropes and brought him up from the rock.

14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. ^tThen the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, ^uand with it he struck 1,000 men. 16 And Samson said,

17 As soon as he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone out of his hand. And that place ^vwas called Ramath-lehi.¹

18 And he was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, ^w“You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is ^vat Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, ^xhis spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore the name of it was called En-hakkore;² it is at Lehi to this day. 20 And he judged Israel ^yin the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Paul in Ephesus

1 And it happened that while ^tApollos was at Corinth, Paul passed ^uthrough the inland¹ country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. 2 And he said to them, ^v“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, ^wwe have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, ^x“Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into ^yJohn’s baptism.” 4 And Paul said, ^y“John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people ^zto believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” 5 On hearing this, ^athey were baptized in² the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And ^bwhen Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and ^cthey began speaking in tongues and ^dprophesying. 7 There were about twelve men in all.

8 And ^ehe entered the synagogue and for three months spoke boldly, reasoning and persuading them ^fabout the kingdom of God. 9 ^gBut when some became stubborn and ^hcontinued in unbelief, speaking evil of ⁱthe Way before the congregation, he withdrew from them and took the disciples with him, reasoning daily in the hall of Tyrannus.³ 10 This continued for ^jtwo years, so that ^kall the residents of Asia heard the word of the Lord, both Jews and Greeks.

The Sons of Sceva

11 And ^lGod was doing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, 12 ^lso that even handkerchiefs or aprons that had touched his skin were carried away to the sick, and their diseases left them and ^mthe evil spirits came out of them. 13 Then some of the itinerant Jewish ⁿexorcists ^oundertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, ^p“I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” 14 Seven sons of a Jewish high priest named Sceva were doing this. 15 But the evil spirit answered them, ^q“Jesus I know, and Paul I recognize, but who are you?” 16 And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them, mastered all⁴ of them and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. 17 And this became known to all the residents of Ephesus, both Jews and Greeks. And fear fell upon them all, and ^rthe name of the Lord Jesus was extolled. 18 Also many of those who were now believers came, ^sconfessing and divulging their practices. 19 And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. 20 So the word of the Lord ^tcontinued to increase and prevail mightily.

A Riot at Ephesus

21 Now after these events Paul resolved in the Spirit ^uto pass through ^vMacedonia and Achaia and ^wgo to Jerusalem, saying, “After I have been there, ^xI must also see Rome.” 22 And having sent into Macedonia two of ^yhis helpers, ^zTimothy and Erastus, he himself stayed in Asia ^afor a while.

23 About that time ^bthere arose no little disturbance concerning ^cthe Way. 24 For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, ^dbrought no little business to the craftsmen. 25 ^dThese he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth. 26 And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, ^esaying that ^fgods made with hands are not gods. 27 And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the ^ggreat goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing, and that she may even be deposed from her magnificence, she whom all Asia and the world worship.”

28 When they heard this they were enraged and were crying out, ^g“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!” 29 So the city was filled with the confusion, and they rushed together into the theater, dragging with them Gaius and ^hAristarchus, Macedonians who were Paul’s ⁱcompanions in travel. 30 But when Paul wished to go in among the crowd, the disciples would not let him. 31 And even some of the Asiarchs,⁵ who were friends of his, sent to him and were urging him not to venture into the theater. 32 ^jNow some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together. 33 Some of the crowd prompted Alexander, whom the Jews had put forward. And Alexander, ^kmotioning with his hand, wanted to make a defense to the crowd. 34 But when they recognized that he was a Jew, for about two hours they all cried out with one voice, ^l“Great is Artemis of the Ephesians!”

35 And when the town clerk had quieted the crowd, he said, “Men of Ephesus, who is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple keeper of the great Artemis, and of the sacred stone that fell from ^mthe sky?⁶ 36 Seeing then that these things cannot be denied, you ought to be quiet and do nothing rash. 37 For you have brought ⁿthese men here who are neither ^osacrilegious nor blasphemers of our goddess. 38 If therefore Demetrius and the craftsmen with him have a complaint against anyone, the courts are open, and there are ^pproconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. 39 But if you seek anything further,⁷ it shall be settled in the regular assembly. 40 For we really are in danger of being charged with rioting today, since there is no cause that we can give to justify this commotion.” 41 And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly.

Hananiah the False Prophet

1 In that same year, at the beginning of the reign of ⁿZedekiah king of Judah, in the fifth month of the fourth year, Hananiah the son of ^oAzzur, the prophet from ^pGibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priests and all the people, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ^qI have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. 3 ^rWithin ^stwo years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord’s house, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. 4 I will also bring back to this place ^tJeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the exiles from Judah who went to Babylon, declares the Lord, ^qfor I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.”

5 Then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to Hananiah the prophet in the presence of the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the Lord, 6 and the prophet Jeremiah said, ^u“Amen! May the Lord do so; may the Lord make the words that you have prophesied come true, and bring back to this place from Babylon the vessels of the house of the Lord, and all the exiles. 7 Yet hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. 8 ^vThe prophets who preceded you and me from ancient times prophesied war, famine, and pestilence against many countries and great kingdoms. 9 ^wAs for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the prophet.”

10 Then the prophet Hananiah took the ^xyoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them. 11 And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, ^y“Thus says the Lord: ^zEven so will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of ^aall the nations within two years.” But Jeremiah the prophet went his way.

12 Sometime after the prophet ^bHananiah had broken the yoke-bars from off the neck of Jeremiah the prophet, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: 13 “Go, tell Hananiah, ‘Thus says the Lord: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron. 14 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations ^can iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, ^dand they shall serve him, ^efor I have given to him even the beasts of the field.’” 15 And Jeremiah the prophet said to the prophet Hananiah, “Listen, Hananiah, ^fthe Lord has not sent you, ^gand you have made this people trust in a lie. 16 Therefore thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die, ^hbecause you have uttered rebellion against the Lord.’”

17 In that same year, in the seventh month, the prophet Hananiah died.

The Plot to Kill Jesus

1 ^xIt was now two days before ^ythe Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes ^zwere seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him, 2 for they said, “Not during the feast, ^alest there be an uproar from the people.”

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

3 ^bAnd while he was at ^cBethany in the house of Simon the leper,¹ as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head. 4 There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that? 5 For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii² and ^dgiven to the poor.” And they ^escolded her. 6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. 7 For ^fyou always have the poor with you, and whenever ^gyou want, you can do good for them. But ^hyou will not always have me. 8 ⁱShe has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand ^jfor burial. 9 And truly, I say to you, wherever ^kthe gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told ^lin memory of her.”

Judas to Betray Jesus

10 ^mThen ⁿJudas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, ⁿwent to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. 11 And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to ^obetray him.

The Passover with the Disciples

12 ^pAnd on ^qthe first day of Unleavened Bread, when they ^rsacrificed the Passover lamb, his disciples said to him, “Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the Passover?” 13 And he sent ^stwo of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him, 14 and wherever he enters, say to the master of the house, ^t‘The Teacher says, Where is ^umy guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 15 And he will show you ^va large upper room furnished and ready; there prepare for us.” 16 And the disciples set out and went to the city and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

17 ^wAnd when it was evening, he came with the twelve. 18 And as they were reclining at table and eating, ^xJesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, ^yone who is eating with me.” 19 They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” 20 He said to them, “It is ^zone of the twelve, ^yone who is dipping bread into the dish with me. 21 For the Son of Man goes ^aas it is written of him, but ^bwoe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! ^cIt would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

Institution of the Lord’s Supper

22 ^dAnd as they were eating, he took bread, and after ^eblessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; ^fthis is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had ^ggiven thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, ^f“This is my ^hblood of the³ covenant, which is poured out for ⁱmany. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus Foretells Peter’s Denial

26 ^jAnd when they had sung a hymn, ^kthey went out to ^lthe Mount of Olives. 27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will ^mstrike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ 28 But after I am raised up, ⁿI will go before you to Galilee.” 29 ^oPeter said to him, “Even though they all fall away, I will not.” 30 And ^pJesus said to him, “Truly, I tell you, this very night, before ^qthe rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.” 31 But ^rhe said emphatically, “If I must die with you, I will not deny you.” And they all said the same.

Jesus Prays in Gethsemane

32 ^sAnd they went ^kto a place called Gethsemane. And he said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.” 33 And he took with him ^tPeter and James and John, and began ^uto be greatly distressed and troubled. 34 And he said to them, ^v“My soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Remain here and ^wwatch.”⁴ 35 And going a little farther, he fell on the ground ^xand prayed that, if it were possible, ^ythe hour might pass from him. 36 And he said, ^z“Abba, Father, ^aall things are possible for you. Remove ^bthis cup from me. ^cYet not what I will, but what you will.” 37 And he came and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not watch one hour? 38 ^wWatch and ^dpray that you may not ^eenter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 39 And again he went away and prayed, ^fsaying the same words. 40 And again he came and found them sleeping, for ^gtheir eyes were very heavy, and ^hthey did not know what to answer him. 41 And he came the third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? ⁱIt is enough; ^jthe hour has come. ^kThe Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 42 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

Betrayal and Arrest of Jesus

43 ^lAnd immediately, while he was still speaking, ^mJudas came, one of the twelve, and with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. 44 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man. Seize him and lead him away under guard.” 45 And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ⁿ“Rabbi!” And he ^okissed him. 46 And they laid hands on him and seized him. 47 But one of those who stood by drew his ^psword and struck the servant⁵ of the high priest and cut off his ear. 48 And Jesus said to them, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? 49 ^qDay after day I was with you in the temple ^rteaching, and you did not seize me. But ^slet the Scriptures be fulfilled.” 50 ^tAnd they all left him and fled.

A Young Man Flees

51 And a young man followed him, with nothing but ^ua linen cloth about his body. And they seized him, 52 but he left the linen cloth and ran away naked.

Jesus Before the Council

53 ^vAnd ^wthey led Jesus to the high priest. And all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes came together. 54 ^wAnd ^xPeter had followed him at a distance, ^yright into ^zthe courtyard of the high priest. And he was sitting with ^athe guards and ^bwarming himself at the fire. 55 Now the chief priests and the whole council⁶ were seeking testimony against Jesus to put him to death, but they found none. 56 ^cFor many bore false witness against him, but their testimony ^ddid not agree. 57 And some stood up and bore false witness against him, saying, 58 ^e“We heard him say, ^f‘I will destroy this temple ^gthat is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, ^hnot made with hands.’” 59 Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. 60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”⁷ 61 But ⁱhe remained silent and made no answer. ^jAgain the high priest asked him, “Are you ^kthe Christ, the Son of ^lthe Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and ^myou will see the Son of Man ⁿseated at the right hand of Power, and ^mcoming with the clouds of heaven.” 63 And the high priest ^otore his garments and said, “What further witnesses do we need? 64 You have heard ^phis blasphemy. What is your decision?” And they ^qall condemned him as ^rdeserving death. 65 ^sAnd some began ^tto spit on him and ^uto cover his face and to strike him, saying to him, “Prophesy!” And the guards received him ^vwith blows.