Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? oHas he not spoken through us also?” And pthe Lord heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And qthe Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him rin a vision; I speak with him sin a dream. 7 Not so with tmy servant Moses. uHe is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak vmouth to mouth, clearly, and not in wriddles, and he beholds xthe form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.
10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, yMiriam was zleprous,1 like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, ado not punish us2 because we have done foolishly and have sinned. 12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” 13 And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but bspit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be cshut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” 15 So Miriam dwas shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. 16 After that the people set out from eHazeroth, and camped in fthe wilderness of Paran.
Spies Sent into Canaan
1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 g“Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.” 3 So Moses sent them from hthe wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the Lord, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel. 4 And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori; 6 ifrom the tribe of Judah, jCaleb the son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, kHoshea the son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called kHoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into lthe Negeb and go up into mthe hill country, 18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many, 19 and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds, 20 and whether the land is nrich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. oBe of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
21 So they went up and spied out the land pfrom the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, qnear Lebo-hamath. 22 They went up into mthe Negeb and came to rHebron. sAhiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the tdescendants of Anak, were there. (uHebron was built seven years before uZoan in Egypt.) 23 And vthey came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol,3 because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
Report of the Spies
25 At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. 26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at wKadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It xflows with milk and honey, yand this is its fruit. 28 zHowever, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 aThe Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. bAnd the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan.”
30 But cCaleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” 31 dThen the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are.” 32 So ethey brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, saying, “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and fall the people that we saw in it are of great height. 33 And there we saw the gNephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the gNephilim), and we seemed to ourselves hlike grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”
1 And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not ltaste death muntil they see the kingdom of God after it has come nwith power.”
The Transfiguration
2 oAnd after six days Jesus took with him pPeter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was qtransfigured before them, 3 and rhis clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one1 on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 5 And Peter said to Jesus, s“Rabbi,2 it is good that we are here. Let us make three ttents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For uhe did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And va cloud overshadowed them, and va voice came out of the cloud, w“This is my beloved Son;3 xlisten to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.
9 yAnd as they were coming down the mountain, zhe charged them to tell no one what they had seen, auntil the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 bSo they kept the matter to themselves, cquestioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say dthat first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first eto restore all things. And fhow is it written of the Son of Man that he should gsuffer many things and hbe treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and ithey did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit
14 jAnd when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. 15 And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, kwere greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. 16 And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” 17 And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has la spirit that makes him mute. 18 And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and mthey were not able.” 19 And he answered them, “O nfaithless generation, nhow long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” 20 And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it oconvulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. 21 And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. 22 And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But pif you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” 23 And Jesus said to him, p“‘If you can’! qAll things are possible for one who believes.” 24 Immediately the father of the child cried out4 and said, “I believe; rhelp my unbelief!” 25 And when Jesus saw that sa crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, t“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” 26 And after crying out and oconvulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” 27 But Jesus utook him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. 28 And when he had ventered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” 29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”5
Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection
30 wThey went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, 31 for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, xafter three days he will rise.” 32 yBut they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.
Who Is the Greatest?
33 And zthey came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house ahe asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” 34 But they kept silent, for on the way bthey had argued with one another about who was the greatest. 35 And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, c“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” 36 And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and dtaking him in his arms, he said to them, 37 e“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and ewhoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”
Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us
38 fJohn said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone gcasting out demons in your name,6 and hwe tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” 39 But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 iFor the one who is not against us is for us. 41 For truly, I say to you, jwhoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.
Temptations to Sin
42 k“Whoever causes one of lthese little ones who believe in me to sin,7 mit would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. 43 nAnd if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to ohell,8 to pthe unquenchable fire.9 45 qAnd if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into ohell. 47 rAnd if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into shell, 48 ‘where ttheir worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ 49 For everyone will be salted with fire.10 50 vSalt is good, wbut if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? xHave salt in yourselves, and ybe at peace with one another.”
