20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but iGod meant it for good, to bring it about that many people1 should be kept alive, as they are today.
4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.
8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
11 And ohis brothers were jealous of him, pbut his father kept the saying in mind.
5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, sfor God sent me before you to preserve life.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and vruler over all the land of Egypt.
17 And lI will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and mI will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen.
39 “‘See now that hI, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
iI kill and I make alive;
jI wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
20 For it was the Lord’s doing hto harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, ijust as the Lord commanded Moses.
4 His father and mother did not know that it was wfrom the Lord, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. xAt that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
25 If someone sins against a man, God will mediate for him, but if someone sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” But they would not listen to the voice of their father, mfor it was the will of the Lord to put them to death.
David in Saul’s Service
14 lNow the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, mand a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him.
11 Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, gbut I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’”
David’s Census
1 zaAgain the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, b“Go, number Israel and Judah.”
The Lord’s Judgment of David’s Sin
10 But kDavid’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, l“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done mvery foolishly.”
12 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer1 you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall pthree2 years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, qfor his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”
15 rSo the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from sDan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16 And when tthe angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem uto destroy it, vthe Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel uwho was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And tthe angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of wAraunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”
David’s Census Brings Pestilence
1 fThen gSatan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
14 And the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.
23 God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master oHadadezer king of Zobah.
23 Now therefore behold, the Lord has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the Lord has declared disaster for you.”
28 Because you have raged against me
and your complacency has come into my ears,
I will kput my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and lI will turn you back on the way
by which you came.
21 And he said, g“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I hreturn. The Lord igave, and the Lord has taken away; jblessed be the name of the Lord.”
10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the wfoolish women would speak. xShall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”1 yIn all this Job did not zsin with his lips.
25 He eturned their hearts to hate his people,
to fdeal craftily with his servants.
Judgment on Arrogant Assyria
5 Woe to Assyria, ethe rod of my anger;
the staff in their hands is my fury!
6 Against a fgodless nation I send him,
and against the people of my wrath I command him,
to take gspoil and seize plunder,
and to htread them down like the mire of the streets.
7 But he idoes not so intend,
and his heart does not so think;
but it is in his heart to destroy,
and to cut off nations not a few;
8 for he says:
j“Are not my commanders all kings?
9 kIs not lCalno like mCarchemish?
pIs not qSamaria like Damascus?
10 As my hand has reached to rthe kingdoms of the idols,
whose carved images were greater than those of Jerusalem and Samaria,
11 shall I not do to Jerusalem and sher idols
tas I have done to Samaria and her images?”
12 uWhen the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, vhe1 will punish the speech2 of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes. 13 wFor he says:
“By the strength of my hand I have done it,
and by my wisdom, for I have understanding;
I remove the boundaries of peoples,
and plunder their treasures;
like a bull I bring down those who sit on thrones.
14 My hand has found like a nest
the wealth of the peoples;
and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken,
so I have gathered all the earth;
and there was none that moved a wing
or opened the mouth or chirped.”
15 Shall xthe axe boast over him who hews with it,
or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?
As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,
or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood!
16 Therefore the Lord God of hosts
will send wasting sickness among his ystout warriors,
and under his glory za burning will be kindled,
like the burning of fire.
17 aThe light of Israel will become a fire,
and bhis Holy One a flame,
and cit will burn and devour
his thorns and briers din one day.
18 The glory of ehis forest and of his ffruitful land
the Lord will destroy, both soul and body,
and it will be as when a sick man wastes away.
19 The remnant of the trees of his forest will be so few
that a child can write them down.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and acreate calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
17 O Lord, why do you make us wander from your ways
and kharden our heart, so that we fear you not?
lReturn for the sake of your servants,
the tribes of your heritage.
37 eWho has spoken and it came to pass,
unless the Lord has commanded it?
38 fIs it not from the mouth of the Most High
that good and bad come?
9 nbehold, I will send for all the tribes of the north, declares the Lord, and for Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, omy servant, and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations. I will devote them to destruction, pand make them a horror, a hissing, and an everlasting desolation.
12 Then after useventy years are completed, vI will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, vthe land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares the Lord, vmaking the land an everlasting waste.
9 And if the prophet is deceived and speaks a word, qI, the Lord, have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand against him and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
6 mIs a trumpet blown in a city,
and the people are not afraid?
nDoes disaster come to a city,
unless the Lord has done it?
4 lAnd if they go into captivity before their enemies,
there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them;
mand I will fix my eyes upon them
for evil and not for good.”
Temptations to Sin
7 “Woe to the world for btemptations to sin!1 cFor it is necessary that temptations come, dbut woe to the one by whom the temptation comes!
22 For the Son of Man goes pas it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed!”
24 The Son of Man goes qas it is written of him, but rwoe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! sIt would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”
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.”
40 r“He has blinded their eyes
and shardened their heart,
lest they see with their eyes,
and understand with their heart, and turn,
and I would heal them.”
23 this Jesus,1 hdelivered up according to ithe definite plan and jforeknowledge of God, kyou crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.
26 The kings of the earth set themselves,
and sthe rulers were gathered together,
27 for truly in this city there were gathered together against your uholy servant Jesus, vwhom you anointed, both wHerod and xPontius Pilate, along ywith the Gentiles and zthe peoples of Israel, 28 ato do whatever your hand and byour plan had predestined to take place.
11 Therefore tGod sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe uwhat is false, 12 in order that all may be condemned vwho did not believe the truth but whad pleasure in unrighteousness.
8 and
x“A stone of stumbling,
and a rock of offense.”
They stumble because they disobey the word, yas they were destined to do.
