Days of Elijah

¹Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” ²Then the LORD’s word came to him, saying, ³“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.

⁵The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. ⁶He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. ⁷My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house. ⁸With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see the LORD’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” ⁹The LORD’s anger burned against them; and he departed. ¹⁰The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

³For the LORD has comforted Zion. He has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD. Joy and gladness will be found in them, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. ⁴“Listen to me, my people; and hear me, my nation, for a law will go out from me, and I will establish my justice for a light to the peoples. ⁵My righteousness is near. My salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples. The islands will wait for me, and they will trust my arm. ⁶Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment. Its inhabitants will die in the same way, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. ⁷“Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law. Don’t fear the reproach of men, and don’t be dismayed at their insults. ⁸For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool; but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations.” ⁹Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster? ¹⁰Isn’t it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?

¹“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. ²“Speak comfortably to Jerusalem, and call out to her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.” ³The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of the LORD in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God. ⁴Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven shall be made level, and the rough places a plain. ⁵The LORD’s glory shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.” ⁶The voice of one saying, “Cry out!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field. ⁷The grass withers, the flower fades, because the LORD’s breath blows on it. Surely the people are like grass.

¹In those days, John the Baptizer came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, saying, ²“Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” ³For this is he who was spoken of by Isaiah the prophet, saying, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, make the way of the Lord ready! Make his paths straight!” ⁴Now John himself wore clothing made of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. ⁵Then people from Jerusalem, all of Judea, and all the region around the Jordan went out to him.

⁴Jesus answered them, “Be careful that no one leads you astray. ⁵For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will lead many astray. ⁶You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you aren’t troubled, for all this must happen, but the end is not yet. ⁷For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. ⁸But all these things are the beginning of birth pains. ⁹“Then they will deliver you up to oppression and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for my name’s sake. ¹⁰Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.

¹The LORD’s hand was on me, and he brought me out in the LORD’s Spirit, and set me down in the middle of the valley; and it was full of bones. ²He caused me to pass by them all around; and behold, there were very many in the open valley, and behold, they were very dry. ³He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I answered, “Lord GOD, you know.” ⁴Again he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them, ‘You dry bones, hear the LORD’s word. ⁵The Lord GOD says to these bones: “Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and you will live. ⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will bring up flesh on you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you will live. Then you will know that I am the LORD.”’” ⁷So I prophesied as I was commanded. As I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, there was an earthquake. Then the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I saw, and, behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the wind, prophesy, son of man, and tell the wind, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Come from the four winds, breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”’” ¹⁰So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an exceedingly great army. ¹¹Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost. We are completely cut off.’ ¹²Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

¹³After they were silent, James answered, “Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴Simeon has reported how God first visited the nations to take out of them a people for his name. ¹⁵This agrees with the words of the prophets. As it is written, ¹⁶‘After these things I will return. I will again build the tabernacle of David, which has fallen. I will again build its ruins. I will set it up ¹⁷that the rest of men may seek after the Lord: all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who does all these things.’ ¹⁸“All of God’s works are known to him from eternity. ¹⁹Therefore my judgment is that we don’t trouble those from among the Gentiles who turn to God,

¹David the king said to all the assembly, “Solomon my son, whom alone God has chosen, is yet young and tender, and the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God. ²Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, the silver for the things of silver, the bronze for the things of bronze, iron for the things of iron, and wood for the things of wood, also onyx stones, stones to be set, stones for inlaid work of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance. ³In addition, because I have set my affection on the house of my God, since I have a treasure of my own of gold and silver, I give it to the house of my God, over and above all that I have prepared for the holy house: ⁴even three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, with which to overlay the walls of the houses; ⁵of gold for the things of gold, and of silver for the things of silver, and for all kinds of work to be made by the hands of artisans. Who then offers willingly to consecrate himself today to the LORD?” ⁶Then the princes of the fathers’ households, and the princes of the tribes of Israel, and the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with the rulers over the king’s work, offered willingly; ⁷and they gave for the service of God’s house of gold five thousand talents and ten thousand darics, of silver ten thousand talents, of bronze eighteen thousand talents, and of iron one hundred thousand talents.

¹“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. ⁴He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. ⁵Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. ⁶About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ ⁷“They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ ⁸“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ ⁹“When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.