The Sign of Jonah

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, ^wwe wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, ^x“An evil and ^yadulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For ^zjust as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, ^aso will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 ^bThe men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and ^ccondemn it, for ^dthey repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, ^esomething greater than Jonah is here. 42 ^fThe queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, ^esomething greater than Solomon is here.

Return of an Unclean Spirit

43 “When ^gthe unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through ^hwaterless places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and ⁱthe last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this ^jevil generation.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, ^khis mother and his ^lbrothers¹ stood outside, asking to speak to him.² 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For ^mwhoever ⁿdoes the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Paul in Corinth

1 After this Paul¹ left Athens and went to Corinth. 2 And he found a Jew named ^vAquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife ^vPriscilla, because ^wClaudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 3 and ^xbecause he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 4 And ^yhe reasoned in the synagogue ^yevery Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

5 ^zWhen Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul ^awas occupied with the word, ^btestifying to the Jews that the Christ was ^cJesus. 6 And when they opposed and reviled him, ^dhe shook out his garments and said to them, ^e“Your blood be on your own heads! ^fI am innocent. ^gFrom now on I will go to the Gentiles.” 7 And he left there and went to the house of a man named Titius ^hJustus, ⁱa worshiper of God. His house was next door to the synagogue. 8 ^jCrispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed in the Lord, together ^kwith his entire household. And many of the Corinthians hearing Paul believed and were baptized. 9 And the Lord said to Paul ^lone night in ^ma vision, ⁿ“Do not be afraid, but go on speaking and do not be silent, 10 ⁿfor I am with you, and ^ono one will attack you to harm you, for ^pI have many in this city who are my people.” 11 And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.

12 But when Gallio was ^qproconsul of Achaia, ^rthe Jews² made a united attack on Paul and ^sbrought him before the tribunal, 13 saying, “This man is persuading people to worship God contrary to ^tthe law.” 14 But when Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were a matter of wrongdoing or vicious ^ucrime, O Jews, I would have reason to accept your complaint. 15 But ^vsince it is a matter of questions about words and names and ^wyour own law, see to it yourselves. I refuse to be a judge of these things.” 16 And he drove them from the tribunal. 17 And they all seized Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to any of this.

Ascribe to the Lord Glory

A Psalm of David.

Bread from Heaven

1 They ^kset out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel ^lgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, ^m“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ⁿwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain ^obread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^ptest them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, ^qit will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ^r“At evening ^syou shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the ^tglory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^uwhat are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—^vwhat are we? Your grumbling is not ^wagainst us but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses ^xsaid to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ^y‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the ^tglory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I ^zhave heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At ^atwilight you shall eat meat, and ^bin the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 In the evening ^cquail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^ddew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ^e“What is it?”¹ For they ^fdid not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ^g“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an ^homer,² according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, ⁱwhoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and ^jit bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

22 On ^kthe sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of ^lsolemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and ^mit did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for ^ltoday is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, ⁿ“How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people ^orested on the seventh day.

31 Now the house of Israel called its name ^pmanna. It was ^qlike coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a ^rjar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^sthe testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ^tate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till ^uthey came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is ^vthe tenth part of an ephah.)³

Water from the Rock

1 ^wAll the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 ^xTherefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^ytest the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and ^zthe people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ^ato stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with ^bwhich you struck the Nile, and go. 6 ^cBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place ^dMassah⁴ and ^eMeribah,⁵ because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Israel Defeats Amalek

8 ^fThen Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to ^gJoshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with ^hthe staff of God in my hand.” 10 So ^gJoshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and ⁱHur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses ^jheld up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and ⁱHur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And ^gJoshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of ^gJoshua, that ^kI will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses ^lbuilt an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne⁶ of the Lord! ^kThe Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Jethro’s Advice

1 ^mJethro, ⁿthe priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel his people, how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. 2 Now Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, had taken Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her home, 3 along with her ^otwo sons. The name of the one was Gershom (^pfor he said, ^q“I have been a sojourner⁷ in a foreign land”), 4 and the name of the other, Eliezer⁸ (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”). 5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was encamped at the ^rmountain of God. 6 And when he sent word to Moses, “I,⁹ your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her,” 7 Moses ^swent out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down and ^tkissed him. And they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent. 8 Then Moses told his father-in-law ^uall that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9 And Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the Lord had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.

10 Jethro said, ^v“Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh and has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that ^wthe Lord is greater than all gods, because in this affair they ^xdealt arrogantly with the people.”¹⁰ 12 And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law ^ybefore God.

13 The next day Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all the people stand around you from morning till evening?” 15 And Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because ^zthe people come to me to inquire of God; 16 ^awhen they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I ^bmake them know the statutes of God and his laws.” 17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. ^cYou are not able to do it alone. 19 Now obey my voice; I will give you advice, and God be with you! You shall ^drepresent the people before God and ^ebring their cases to God, 20 and you shall warn them about the statutes and the laws, and make them know ^fthe way in which they must walk and ^gwhat they must do. 21 Moreover, look for ^hable men from all the people, men who fear God, who are trustworthy and hate a bribe, and place such men over the people as chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 22 And ⁱlet them judge the people at all times. ^jEvery great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will ^kbear the burden with you. 23 If you do this, God will direct you, you will be ^lable to endure, and all this people also will go to their place in peace.”

24 So Moses listened to the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 ^mMoses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, chiefs of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. 26 And ⁿthey judged the people at all times. Any hard case they brought to Moses, but any small matter they decided themselves. 27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and ^ohe went away to his own country.