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 the1 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.
Final Warnings
1 kThis is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established lby the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2 mI warned nthose who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that oif I come again I will not spare them— 3 since you seek proof that Christ pis speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but qis powerful among you. 4 For rhe was crucified in weakness, but slives by the power of God. For twe also are weak in him, but in dealing with you uwe will live with him by the power of God.
5 Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. vTest yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that wJesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do wrong—not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we are glad when xwe are weak and you are strong. Your yrestoration is what we pray for. 10 For this reason I write these things while I am away from you, that when I come zI may not have to be asevere in my use of bthe authority that the Lord has given me for building up and not for tearing down.
Final Greetings
11 Finally, brothers,1 rejoice. cAim for restoration, comfort one another,2 dagree with one another, elive in peace; and the God of love and fpeace will be with you. 12 gGreet one another with a holy kiss. 13 hAll the saints greet you.
14 iThe grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and jthe love of God and kthe fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
2 For wicked and vdeceitful mouths are opened against me,
speaking against me with lying tongues.
The Philistines and the Ark
1 When the Philistines captured the ark of God, they brought it from qEbenezer to rAshdod. 2 Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside sDagon. 3 And when the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, behold, tDagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord. So they took Dagon and put him back in his place. 4 But when they rose early on the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen face downward on the ground before the ark of the Lord, uand the head of Dagon and both his hands were lying cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. 5 This is why the priests of Dagon and all who enter the house of Dagon vdo not tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod to this day.
6 wThe hand of the Lord was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with xtumors, both Ashdod and its territory. 7 And when the men of Ashdod saw how things were, they said, “The ark of the God of Israel must not remain with us, for his hand is hard against us and against Dagon our god.” 8 So they sent and gathered together all ythe lords of the Philistines and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the God of Israel?” They answered, “Let the ark of the God of Israel be brought around to Gath.” So they brought the ark of the God of Israel there. 9 But after they had brought it around, zthe hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that xtumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 yThey sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. wThe hand of God was very heavy there. 12 The men who did not die were struck with xtumors, and the cry of the city went up to heaven.
The Ark Returned to Israel
1 The ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months. 2 And the Philistines called for the priests and athe diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 3 They said, “If you send away the ark of the God of Israel, do not send it empty, but by all means return him ba guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and it will be known to you why chis hand does not turn away from you.” 4 And they said, “What is the guilt offering that we shall return to him?” They answered, “Five golden dtumors and five golden mice, eaccording to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for the same plague was on all of you and on your lords. 5 So you must make images of your dtumors and images of your mice that ravage the land, fand give glory to the God of Israel. Perhaps ghe will lighten his hand from off you hand your gods and your land. 6 Why should you harden your hearts as ithe Egyptians and jPharaoh hardened their hearts? After he had dealt severely with them, kdid they not send the people away, and they departed? 7 Now then, take and prepare la new cart and two milk cows mon which there has never come a yoke, and yoke the cows to the cart, but take their calves home, away from them. 8 And take the ark of the Lord and place it on the cart and put in a box at its side nthe figures of gold, which you are returning to him as ba guilt offering. Then send it off and let it go its way 9 and watch. If it goes up on the way to its own land, to oBeth-shemesh, then it is he who has done us this great harm, but if not, then we shall know that it is not phis hand that struck us; it happened to us by coincidence.”
10 The men did so, and took two milk cows and yoked them to the cart and shut up their calves at home. 11 And they put the ark of the Lord on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of qBeth-shemesh along rone highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of qBeth-shemesh. 13 Now the people of qBeth-shemesh were reaping their wheat harvest in the valley. And when they lifted up their eyes and saw the ark, they rejoiced to see it. 14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. sA great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord. 15 And the Levites took down the ark of the Lord and the box that was beside it, in which were the golden figures, and set them upon sthe great stone. And the men of qBeth-shemesh offered burnt offerings and sacrificed sacrifices on that day to the Lord. 16 And when tthe five lords of the Philistines saw it, they returned that day to Ekron.
17 These are the golden tumors that the Philistines returned as a uguilt offering to the Lord: one for Ashdod, one for Gaza, one for Ashkelon, one for Gath, one for Ekron, 18 and the golden mice, according to the number of all the cities of the Philistines belonging to the five lords, vboth fortified cities and unwalled villages. wThe great stone beside which they set down the ark of the Lord is a witness to this day in the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh.
19 xAnd he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the Lord. He struck seventy men of them,1 and the people mourned because the Lord had struck the people with a great blow. 20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, y“Who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 21 So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of zKiriath-jearim, saying, “The Philistines have returned the ark of the Lord. Come down and take it up to you.”
1 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord and brought it to the house of aAbinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the Lord. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord.
Samuel Judges Israel
3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, b“If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then cput away the foreign gods and the dAshtaroth from among you and edirect your heart to the Lord fand serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only.
5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at gMizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at gMizpah hand drew water and poured it out before the Lord iand fasted on that day and said there, j“We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah. 7 Now when the Philistines heard that the people of Israel had gathered at Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And when the people of Israel heard of it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 8 And the people of Israel said to Samuel, “Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that he may save us from the hand of the Philistines.” 9 So Samuel took a nursing lamb and offered it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. And kSamuel cried out to the Lord for Israel, and the Lord answered him. 10 As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. lBut the Lord thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 11 And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car.
12 Then Samuel mtook a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen2 and called its name Ebenezer;3 for he said, “Till now the Lord has helped us.” 13 nSo 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 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. There was peace also between Israel and the Amorites.
15 oSamuel judged Israel all the days of his life. 16 And he went on a circuit year by year to Bethel, Gilgal, and Mizpah. And he judged Israel in all these places. 17 Then he would return to pRamah, for his home was there, and there also he judged Israel. qAnd he built there an altar to the Lord.
