Messengers from John the Baptist

18 ^qThe 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 ^rthe one who is to come, or shall 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 who is to come, or shall we look for another?’” 21 In that hour he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and on many who were blind he bestowed sight. 22 And he answered them, “Go and tell John ^swhat you have seen and heard: ^tthe blind receive their sight, the ^ulame walk, lepers¹ are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the ^vdead are raised up, the ^wpoor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

24 When John’s messengers had gone, Jesus² began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out ^xinto the wilderness to see? A 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? A ^yprophet? 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 (When all the people heard this, and the tax collectors too, they declared God just,³ having been baptized with the baptism of John, 30 but the Pharisees and the lawyers ^arejected the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

31 “To what then shall I compare the people of ^bthis 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 ^ceating no bread and ^ddrinking no wine, and you say, ^e‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a ^ffriend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 ^gYet wisdom is justified by all her children.”

The Preeminence of Christ

15 He is the ^zimage of the ^ainvisible God, ^bthe firstborn of all creation. 16 For ^cby¹ him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether ^dthrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is ^ebefore all things, and in him all things ^fhold together. 18 And he is the ^ghead of the body, the church. He is ^hthe beginning, ⁱthe firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be ^jpreeminent. 19 For in him all the ^kfullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him ^lto reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, ^mmaking peace by the blood of his cross.

21 And you, ⁿwho once were ^oalienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now ^preconciled ^qin his body of flesh by his death, ^rin order to present you ^sholy and blameless and ^tabove reproach before him, 23 ^uif indeed you continue in the faith, ^vstable and ^wsteadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation² under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a ^xminister.

Paul’s Ministry to the Church

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am ^yfilling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his ^zbody, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the ^astewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the ^bmystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them ^cGod chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the ^driches of the glory of this ^emystery, which is Christ ^fin you, the ^ghope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone ^hmature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling ⁱwith all his energy that he powerfully ^jworks within me.

The Lord Surrounds His People

A Song of Ascents.

Descendants of David

1 ^uThese are the sons of David who were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn, ^vAmnon, by Ahinoam the Jezreelite; the second, Daniel, by ^wAbigail the Carmelite, 2 the third, ^xAbsalom, whose mother was Maacah, the daughter of Talmai, king of Geshur; the fourth, ^yAdonijah, 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, ^zwhere he reigned for seven years and six months. And he reigned thirty-three years ^ain Jerusalem. 5 ^bThese were born to him in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan and ^cSolomon, four by Bath-shua, the daughter of Ammiel; 6 then Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet, 7 Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, 8 Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet, nine. 9 All these were David’s sons, besides the sons of the concubines, and ^dTamar was their sister.

10 The son of Solomon was ^eRehoboam, ^fAbijah his son, ^gAsa his son, ^hJehoshaphat his son, 11 ⁱJoram his son, ^jAhaziah his son, ^kJoash his son, 12 ^lAmaziah his son, ^mAzariah his son, ⁿJotham his son, 13 ^oAhaz his son, ^pHezekiah his son, ^qManasseh his son, 14 ^rAmon his son, ^sJosiah his son. 15 The sons of Josiah: Johanan the firstborn, the second ^tJehoiakim, the third ^uZedekiah, the fourth ^vShallum. 16 The descendants of Jehoiakim: ^wJeconiah his son, Zedekiah his son; 17 and the sons of Jeconiah, ^xthe captive: ^yShealtiel his son, 18 Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama and Nedabiah; 19 and the sons of Pedaiah: ^zZerubbabel and Shimei; and the sons of Zerubbabel: 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: Shemaiah. And the sons of Shemaiah: ^aHattush, 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 ^bThe sons of Judah: ^cPerez, Hezron, Carmi, ^dHur, and Shobal. 2 Reaiah the son of Shobal fathered Jahath, and Jahath fathered Ahumai and Lahad. These were the clans of the ^eZorathites. 3 These were the sons³ of ^fEtam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash; and the name of their sister was Hazzelelponi, 4 and Penuel fathered Gedor, and Ezer fathered Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the firstborn of ^gEphrathah, the father of Bethlehem. 5 ^hAshhur, 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 more 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 Kenaz: ⁱOthniel 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 ^jCaleb 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 Jered 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 ^kShelah 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 ^lGederah. They lived there in the king’s service.

Descendants of Simeon

24 ^mThe 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, ⁿnor did all their clan multiply ^olike the men of Judah. 28 They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual, 29 Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, 30 Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, 31 Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and Shaaraim. These were their cities until David reigned. 32 And their villages were ^pEtam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and ^qAshan, five cities, 33 along with all their villages that were around these cities as far as Baal. 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, and their fathers’ houses increased greatly. 39 They journeyed to the entrance of Gedor, 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, quiet, and peaceful, for the former inhabitants there belonged to Ham. 41 These, registered by name, came in the days of ^rHezekiah, king of Judah, and destroyed their tents and the ^sMeunites who were found there, and marked them for destruction ^tto this day, and 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 Mount ^uSeir, having as their leaders Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi. 43 And they defeated the remnant of ^vthe Amalekites who had escaped, and they have lived there to this day.