A Lamp Under a Basket

21 ^wAnd he said to them, ^x“Is a lamp brought in to be put under a basket, or under a bed, and not on a stand? 22 ^yFor nothing is hidden except to be made manifest; nor is anything secret except to come to light. 23 ^zIf anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear: ^awith the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and still more will be added to you. 25 ^bFor to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

The Parable of the Seed Growing

26 And he said, ^c“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; ^dhe knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once ^ehe puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 ^fAnd he said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it? 31 It is like ^ga grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, 32 yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

33 ^hWith many such parables he spoke ⁱthe word to them, ^jas they were able to hear it. 34 He did not speak to them ^kwithout a parable, but ^lprivately to his own disciples he ^mexplained everything.

Jesus Calms a Storm

35 ⁿOn that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves ^owere breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. 38 But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” 39 And he awoke and ^prebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and ^qthere was a great calm. 40 He said to them, “Why are you ^rso afraid? Have you still no faith?” 41 And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, ^s“Who then is this, that even ^tthe wind and the sea obey him?”

Food Offered to Idols

1 Now concerning^{1 m}food offered to idols: we know that ⁿ“all of us possess knowledge.” This “knowledge” ^opuffs up, ^pbut love builds up. 2 ^qIf anyone imagines that he knows something, ^rhe does not yet know as he ought to know. 3 But if anyone loves God, ^she is known by God.²

4 Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that ^t“an idol has no real existence,” and that ^u“there is no God but one.” 5 For although there may be ^vso-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”— 6 yet ^wfor us there is one God, the Father, ^xfrom whom are all things and for whom we exist, and ^yone Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and ^zthrough whom we exist.

7 However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, ^athrough former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and ^btheir conscience, being weak, is defiled. 8 ^cFood will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. 9 But take care ^dthat this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block ^eto the weak. 10 For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating³ in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged,⁴ if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols? 11 And so by your knowledge this weak person is ^fdestroyed, the brother for whom Christ died. 12 Thus, sinning against your brothers⁵ and ^gwounding their conscience when it is weak, ^hyou sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, ⁱif food makes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat, lest I make my brother stumble.

Oh, That My People Would Listen to Me

To the choirmaster: according to ^fThe Gittith.¹ Of ^gAsaph.

The Covenant Renewal at Shechem

1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel ^cto Shechem and ^dsummoned the elders, the heads, the judges, and the officers of Israel. And ^ethey presented themselves before God. 2 And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘Long ago, ^fyour fathers lived beyond the Euphrates,¹ Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and ^gthey served other gods. 3 ^hThen I took your father Abraham from beyond the River² and ⁱled him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many. ^jI gave him Isaac. 4 And to Isaac I gave ^kJacob and Esau. ^lAnd I gave Esau the hill country of Seir to possess, ^mbut Jacob and his children went down to Egypt. 5 ⁿAnd I sent Moses and Aaron, ^oand I plagued Egypt with what I did in the midst of it, and ^pafterward I brought you out.

6 “‘Then ^pI brought your fathers out of Egypt, and ^qyou came to the sea. ^rAnd the Egyptians pursued your fathers with chariots and horsemen to the Red Sea. 7 ^sAnd when they cried to the Lord, ^the put darkness between you and the Egyptians ^uand made the sea come upon them and cover them; ^vand your eyes saw what I did in Egypt. ^wAnd you lived in the wilderness a long time. 8 Then I brought you to the land of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan. ^xThey fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you took possession of their land, and I destroyed them before you. 9 ^yThen Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought against Israel. ^zAnd he sent and invited Balaam the son of Beor to curse you, 10 ^abut I would not listen to Balaam. ^aIndeed, he blessed you. So I delivered you out of his hand. 11 ^bAnd you went over the Jordan and came to Jericho, ^cand the leaders of Jericho fought against you, and also ^cthe Amorites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And I gave them into your hand. 12 And I sent ^dthe hornet before you, which drove them out before you, the two kings of the Amorites; it was ^enot by your sword or by your bow. 13 I gave you a land on which you had not labored ^fand cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

Choose Whom You Will Serve

14 ^g“Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. ^hPut away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 ⁱAnd if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, ^jchoose this day whom you will serve, whether ^hthe gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or ^kthe gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. ^lBut as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods, 17 for it is the Lord our God who brought us and our fathers up from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, and who did those great signs in our sight and preserved us in all the way that we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the peoples, the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve the Lord, for he is our God.”

19 But Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord, for he is ^ma holy God. He is ⁿa jealous God; ^ohe will not forgive your transgressions or your sins. 20 ^pIf you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, then ^qhe will turn and do you harm and consume you, after having done you good.” 21 And the people said to Joshua, “No, but we will serve the Lord.” 22 Then Joshua said to the people, “You are witnesses against yourselves that ^ryou have chosen the Lord, to serve him.” And they said, “We are witnesses.” 23 He said, “Then ^sput away the foreign gods that are among you, and incline your heart to the Lord, the God of Israel.” 24 And the people said to Joshua, “The Lord our God we will serve, and his voice we will obey.” 25 So Joshua ^tmade a covenant with the people that day, and put in place ^ustatutes and rules for them at Shechem. 26 And Joshua ^vwrote these words in the Book of the Law of God. And ^whe took a large stone and set it up there ^xunder the terebinth that was by the sanctuary of the Lord. 27 And Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, ^ythis stone shall be a witness against us, for ^zit has heard all the words of the Lord that he spoke to us. Therefore it shall be a witness against you, lest you deal falsely with your God.” 28 So Joshua ^asent the people away, every man to his inheritance.

Joshua’s Death and Burial

29 ^bAfter these things Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died, being 110 years old. 30 And they buried him in his own inheritance at ^cTimnath-serah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.

31 ^dIsrael served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua ^eand had known all the work that the Lord did for Israel.

32 ^fAs for the bones of Joseph, which the people of Israel brought up from Egypt, they buried them at Shechem, in the piece of land ^gthat Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred pieces of money.³ It became an inheritance of the descendants of Joseph.

33 And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah, the town of ^hPhinehas his son, which had been given him in ⁱthe hill country of Ephraim.