8 And the Lord said to Joshua, f“Do not fear and do not be dismayed. Take all the fighting men with you, and arise, go up to Ai. See, gI have given into your hand the king of Ai, and his people, his city, and his land. 2 And you shall do to Ai and its king as you did hto Jericho and its king. Only iits spoil and its livestock you shall take as plunder for yourselves. Lay an ambush against the city, behind it.”
3 So Joshua and all the fighting men arose to go up to Ai. And Joshua chose 30,000 mighty men of valor and sent them out by night. 4 And he commanded them, “Behold, jyou shall lie in ambush against the city, behind it. Do not go very far from the city, but all of you remain ready. 5 And I and all the people who are with me will approach the city. And when they come out against us kjust as before, we shall flee before them. 6 And they will come out after us, until we have ldrawn them away from the city. For they will say, ‘They are fleeing from us, just as before.’ So we will flee before them. 7 Then you shall rise up from the ambush and seize the city, for the Lord your God will give it into your hand. 8 And as soon as you have taken the city, you shall set the city on fire. You shall do according to the word of the Lord. mSee, I have commanded you.” 9 So Joshua sent them out. And they went to the place of ambush and lay between Bethel and Ai, to the west of Ai, but Joshua spent that night among the people.
10 Joshua arose early in the morning and mustered the people and went up, he and the elders of Israel, before the people to Ai. 11 And nall the fighting men who were with him went up and drew near before the city and encamped on the north side of Ai, with a ravine between them and Ai. 12 He took about 5,000 men and set them in ambush between Bethel and Ai, to the west of the city. 13 So they stationed the forces, the main encampment that was north of the city and its rear guard west of the city. But Joshua spent that night in the valley. 14 And as soon as the king of Ai saw this, he and all his people, the men of the city, hurried and went out early to the appointed place1 toward othe Arabah to meet Israel in battle. pBut he did not know that there was an ambush against him behind the city. 15 And Joshua and all Israel qpretended to be beaten before them and fled in the direction of the wilderness. 16 So all the people who were in the city were called together to pursue them, and as they pursued Joshua they rwere drawn away from the city. 17 Not a man was left in Ai or Bethel who did not go out after Israel. They left the city open and pursued Israel.
18 Then the Lord said to Joshua, s“Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand toward Ai, for I will give it into your hand.” And Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand toward the city. 19 And the men in the ambush rose quickly out of their place, and as soon as he had stretched out his hand, they ran and entered the city and captured it. And they hurried to set the city on fire. 20 So when the men of Ai looked back, behold, the smoke of the city went up to heaven, and they had no power to flee this way or that, for the people who fled to the wilderness turned back against the pursuers. 21 And when Joshua and all Israel saw that the ambush had captured the city, and that the smoke of the city went up, then they turned back and struck down the men of Ai. 22 And the others came out from the city against them, so they were in the midst of Israel, some on this side, and some on that side. And Israel struck them down, until there was tleft none that survived or escaped. 23 But the king of Ai they took alive, and brought him near to Joshua.
24 When Israel had finished killing all the inhabitants of Ai in the open wilderness where they pursued them, and all of them to the very last had fallen by the edge of the sword, all Israel returned to Ai and struck it down with the edge of the sword. 25 And all who fell that day, both men and women, were 12,000, all the people of Ai. 26 But Joshua did not draw back his hand with which he ustretched out the javelin until he had devoted all the inhabitants of Ai to destruction.2 27 Only the livestock and the spoil of that city Israel took as their plunder, according to the word of the Lord that he vcommanded Joshua. 28 So Joshua burned Ai and made it forever a wheap of ruins, as it is to this day. 29 xAnd he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening. yAnd at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree and threw it at the entrance of the gate of the city and zraised over it a great heap of stones, which stands there to this day.
30 At that time Joshua built an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel, aon Mount Ebal, 31 just as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded the people of Israel, as it is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, “an altar of uncut stones, upon which no man has wielded an iron tool.” And they offered on it burnt offerings to the Lord and sacrificed peace offerings. 32 And there, in the presence of the people of Israel, he wrote on bthe stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he had written. 33 And all Israel, csojourner as well as native born, with their elders and officers and their judges, stood on opposite sides of the ark before the Levitical priests dwho carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, half of them in front of Mount Gerizim and half of them in front of Mount Ebal, ejust as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded at the first, to bless the people of Israel. 34 And afterward fhe read all the words of the law, gthe blessing and the curse, according to all that is written in the Book of the Law. 35 There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, hand the women, and the little ones, and ithe sojourners who lived3 among them.
139 O Lord, you have psearched me and known me!
2 You qknow when I sit down and when I rise up;
you rdiscern my thoughts from afar.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
behold, O Lord, syou know it altogether.
5 You them me in, behind and before,
and ulay your hand upon me.
6 vSuch knowledge is wtoo wonderful for me;
it is high; I cannot attain it.
7 xWhere shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where yshall I flee from your presence?
8 zIf I ascend to heaven, you are there!
aIf I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall blead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, c“Surely the darkness shall cover me,
and the light about me be night,”
12 deven the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is bright as the day,
for darkness is as light with you.
13 For you eformed my inward parts;
you fknitted me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.1
gWonderful are your works;
15 hMy frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in ithe depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your jbook were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
17 How precious to me are your kthoughts, O God!
18 lIf I would count them, they are more than mthe sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.
19 Oh that you would nslay the wicked, O God!
O omen of blood, pdepart from me!
20 They qspeak against you with malicious intent;
your enemies rtake your name in vain.2
21 sDo I not hate those who hate you, O Lord?
And do I not tloathe those who urise up against you?
22 I hate them with complete hatred;
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart!
vTry me and know my thoughts!3
24 And see if there be any grievous way in me,
2 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,
“I remember the devotion of kyour youth,
your love las a bride,
mhow you followed me in the wilderness,
nin a land not sown.
3 oIsrael was holy to the Lord,
pthe firstfruits of his harvest.
qAll who ate of it incurred guilt;
4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:
r“What wrong did your fathers find in me
sand went after tworthlessness, and became worthless?
6 They did not say, u‘Where is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us vin the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that none passes through,
7 wAnd I brought you into a plentiful land
to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, xyou defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
yThose who handle the law did not know me;
zthe shepherds1 transgressed against me;
athe prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after bthings that do not profit.
9 “Therefore cI still contend with you,
and dwith your children's children I will contend.
10 For cross to the coasts of eCyprus and see,
or send to fKedar and examine with care;
see if there has been such a thing.
11 gHas a nation changed its gods,
heven though they are no gods?
But my people ihave changed their glory
for bthat which does not profit.
12 Be appalled, jO heavens, at this;
be shocked, be utterly desolate,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
the fountain of mliving waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
broken cisterns that can hold no water.
14 n“Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
Why then has he become a prey?
15 oThe lions have roared against him;
They have made his land a waste;
his cities are in ruins, pwithout inhabitant.
16 Moreover, the men of qMemphis and rTahpanhes
shave shaved2 the crown of your head.
17 tHave you not brought this upon yourself
by forsaking the Lord your God,
when uhe led you in the way?
18 vAnd now what do you gain by going to Egypt
to drink the waters of wthe Nile?
xOr what do you gain by going to Assyria
to drink the waters of ythe Euphrates?3
19 zYour evil will chastise you,
and ayour apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and bbitter
for cyou to forsake the Lord your God;
declares the Lord God of hosts.
20 “For long ago I dbroke your yoke
but you said, e‘I will not serve.’
Yes, fon every high hill
you bowed down glike a whore.
21 hYet I planted you a choice vine,
iHow then have you turned degenerate
22 Though you wash yourself with lye
jthe stain of your guilt is still before me,
23 kHow can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way lin the valley;
a restless young camel running here and there,
24 ma wild donkey used to the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
None who seek her need weary themselves;
in her month they will find her.
25 Keep nyour feet from going unshod
and oyour throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
pfor I have loved foreigners,
26 “As a thief is shamed when caught,
so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
qthey, their kings, their officials,
their priests, and their prophets,
27 who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to me,
But rin the time of their trouble they say,
28 But swhere are your gods
Let them arise, tif they can save you,
for uas many as your cities
29 “Why do you contend with me?
You have all transgressed against me,
30 In vain have I vstruck your children;
wyour own sword devoured your prophets
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
32 xCan a virgin forget her ornaments,
Yet ymy people have forgotten me
33 “How well you direct your course
34 Also on your skirts is found
zthe lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them abreaking in.
Yet in spite of all these things
surely his anger has turned from me.’
bBehold, I will bring you to judgment
for csaying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 dHow much you go about,
You shall be eput to shame by Egypt
as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 From it too you will come away
with fyour hands on your head,
16 fAnd the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and gto test him hthey asked him to show them ia sign from heaven. 2 He answered them,1 j“When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.’ 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ kYou know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret lthe signs of the times. 4 mAn evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So nhe left them and departed.
5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and obeware of pthe leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” 8 But qJesus, aware of this, said, r“O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 sDo you not yet perceive? Do you not remember tthe five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or uthe seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? oBeware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 vThen they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of wthe teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
13 xNow when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say yJohn the Baptist, others say zElijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, a“You are bthe Christ, cthe Son of dthe living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, e“Blessed are you, fSimon Bar-Jonah! For gflesh and blood has not revealed this to you, hbut my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, iyou are Peter, and jon this rock2 I will build my church, and kthe gates of lhell3 shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you mthe keys of the kingdom of heaven, and nwhatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed4 in heaven.” 20 oThen he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.
21 pFrom that time Jesus began to show his disciples that qhe must go to Jerusalem and rsuffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on sthe third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord!5 This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, t“Get behind me, Satan! You are ua hindrance6 to me. For you vare not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
24 Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him wdeny himself and xtake up his cross and follow me. 25 For xwhoever would save his life7 will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 26 For ywhat will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or zwhat shall a man give in return for his soul? 27 aFor the Son of Man is going to come with bhis angels in the glory of his Father, and cthen he will repay each person according to what he has done. 28 Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not dtaste death euntil they see the Son of Man fcoming in his kingdom.”
[1] 16:2
[2] 16:18
[3] 16:18
[4] 16:19
[5] 16:22
[6] 16:23
[7] 16:25