Messengers from John the Baptist

18 ^stThe disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, 19 calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one ^uwho is to come, or ^vshall we look for another?” 20 And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one ^uwho is to come, or ^vshall we look for another?’” 21 In that hour ^whe healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and ^xon many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: ^ythe blind receive their sight, the lame walk, ^zlepers¹ are cleansed, and ^athe deaf hear, ^bthe dead are raised up, ^cthe poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is ^dnot offended by me.”

24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus² began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out ^einto the wilderness to see? ^fA reed shaken by the wind? 25 What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings’ courts. 26 What then did you go out to see? ^gA prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is he of whom it is written,

28 I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” 29 (ⁱWhen all the people heard this, and ^jthe tax collectors too, they declared God just,^{3 j}having been baptized with ^kthe baptism of John, 30 ^lbut the Pharisees and ^mthe lawyers ⁿrejected ^othe purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

31 “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

33 For John the Baptist has come ^peating no bread and ^qdrinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come ^reating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, ^sa friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 Yet ^twisdom is justified by all her children.”

The Preeminence of Christ

15 ⁱHe is the image of ^jthe invisible God, ^kthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For by¹ him all things were created, ^lin heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^mthrones or ⁿdominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created ^othrough him and for him. 17 And ^phe is before all things, and in him all things ^qhold together. 18 And ^rhe is the head of the body, the church. He is ^sthe beginning, ^tthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For ^uin him all the ^vfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and ^wthrough him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^xmaking peace ^yby the blood of his cross.

21 ^zAnd you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, ^adoing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled ^bin his body of flesh by his death, ^cin order to present you holy and blameless and ^dabove reproach before him, 23 ^eif indeed you continue in the faith, ^fstable and steadfast, not shifting from ^gthe hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed ^hin all creation² under heaven, ⁱand of which I, Paul, became a minister.

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

24 Now ^jI rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh ^kI am filling up ^lwhat is lacking in Christ’s afflictions ^mfor the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 ⁿof which I became a minister according to ^othe stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 ^pthe mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 ^qTo them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are ^rthe riches of the glory of ^pthis mystery, which is Christ in you, ^sthe hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that ^twe may present everyone ^umature in Christ. 29 For this ^vI toil, ^wstruggling ^xwith all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

The Lord Surrounds His People

A Song of ^mAscents.

Descendants of David

1 ⁿThese are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, Amnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, ^oDaniel, by Abigail the Carmelite, 2 the third, Absalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith; 3 the fifth, Shephatiah, by Abital; the sixth, Ithream, by his wife Eglah; 4 six were born to him in Hebron, ^pwhere he reigned for seven years and six months. ^qAnd he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 5 ^rThese were born to him in Jerusalem: ^sShimea, Shobab, Nathan and ^tSolomon, four by ^uBath-shua, the daughter of ^uAmmiel; 6 then Ibhar, ^vElishama, Eliphelet, 7 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 8 Elishama, ^wEliada, and Eliphelet, nine. 9 All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines, ^xand Tamar was their sister.

10 The son of Solomon was ^yRehoboam, ^zAbijah his son, ^aAsa his son, ^bJehoshaphat his son, 11 ^cJoram his son, ^dAhaziah his son, ^eJoash his son, 12 ^fAmaziah his son, ^gAzariah his son, ^hJotham his son, 13 ⁱAhaz his son, ^jHezekiah his son, ^kManasseh his son, 14 ^lAmon his son, ^mJosiah his son. 15 The sons of Josiah: ⁿJohanan the firstborn, the second ^oJehoiakim, the third ^pZedekiah, the fourth Shallum. 16 The descendants of ^qJehoiakim: ^rJeconiah his son, ^sZedekiah his son; 17 and the sons of Jeconiah, the ^tcaptive: ^uShealtiel his son, 18 Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah; 19 and the sons of Pedaiah: ^vZerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of ^vZerubbabel: Meshullam and Hananiah, and Shelomith was their sister; 20 and Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-hesed, five. 21 The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, his son¹ Rephaiah, his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah. 22 The son² of Shecaniah: ^wShemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: ^xHattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat, six. 23 The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam, three. 24 The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani, seven.

Descendants of Judah

1 ^yThe sons of Judah: ^zPerez, Hezron, ^aCarmi, Hur, and Shobal. 2 ^bReaiah the son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the ^cZorathites. 3 These were the sons³ of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi, 4 and ^dPenuel fathered ^eGedor, and Ezer fathered Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of ^fEphrathah, the father of Bethlehem. 5 ^gAshhur, the father of Tekoa, had two wives, Helah and Naarah; 6 Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the sons of Naarah. 7 The sons of Helah: Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan. 8 Koz fathered Anub, Zobebah, and the clans of Aharhel, the son of Harum. 9 Jabez was ^hmore honorable than his brothers; and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, “Because I bore him in pain.”⁴ 10 Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm⁵ so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked. 11 Chelub, the brother of Shuhah, fathered Mehir, who fathered Eshton. 12 Eshton fathered Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah, the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah. 13 The sons of ⁱKenaz: ^jOthniel and Seraiah; and the sons of Othniel: Hathath and Meonothai.⁶ 14 Meonothai fathered Ophrah; and Seraiah fathered Joab, the father of Ge-harashim,⁷ so-called because they were craftsmen. 15 The sons of ^kCaleb the son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam; and the son⁸ of Elah: Kenaz. 16 The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel. 17 The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. These are the sons of Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married;⁹ and she conceived and bore¹⁰ Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah, the father of Eshtemoa. 18 And his Judahite wife bore ^lJered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah. 19 The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were the fathers of Keilah the Garmite and Eshtemoa the Maacathite. 20 The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth. 21 The sons of ^mShelah the son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the clans of the house of linen workers at Beth-ashbea; 22 and Jokim, and the men of Cozeba, and Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab and returned to Lehem¹¹ (now the records¹² are ancient). 23 These were the potters who were inhabitants of Netaim and Gederah. They lived there in the king’s service.

Descendants of Simeon

24 ⁿThe sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, Shaul; 25 Shallum was his son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son. 26 The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son. 27 Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters; but his brothers did not have many children, ^onor did all their clan multiply ^plike the men of Judah. 28 ^qThey lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual, 29 ^rBilhah, Ezem, ^sTolad, 30 ^sBethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, 31 Beth-marcaboth, ^tHazar-susim, ^tBeth-biri, and ^tShaaraim. These were their cities until David reigned. 32 And their villages were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan, five cities, 33 along with all their villages that were around these cities as far as ^uBaal. These were their settlements, and they kept a genealogical record.

34 Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah the son of Amaziah, 35 Joel, Jehu the son of Joshibiah, son of Seraiah, son of Asiel, 36 Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, 37 Ziza the son of Shiphi, son of Allon, son of Jedaiah, son of Shimri, son of Shemaiah— 38 these mentioned by name were princes in their clans, ^vand their fathers’ houses increased greatly. 39 They journeyed to the entrance of ^wGedor, to the east side of the valley, to seek pasture for their flocks, 40 where they found rich, good pasture, and the land was very broad, ^xquiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham. 41 ^yThese, registered by name, came in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and destroyed their tents and the Meunites who were found there, and marked them for destruction to this day, ^zand settled in their place, because there was pasture there for their flocks. 42 And some of them, five hundred men of the Simeonites, went to ^aMount Seir, having as their leaders Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. 43 And they defeated ^bthe remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.