The Report of the Guard
11 While they were going, behold, some of athe guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place. 12 And when they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers 13 and said, “Tell people, b‘His disciples came by night and stole him away while we were asleep.’ 14 And if this comes to cthe governor’s ears, we will dsatisfy him and keep you out of trouble.” 15 So they took the money and did as they were directed. And this story has been spread among the Jews eto this day.
The Great Commission
16 Now the eleven disciples fwent to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they gworshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, h“All authority iin heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 jGo therefore and kmake disciples of lall nations, jbaptizing them min1 nthe name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them oto observe all that pI have commanded you. And behold, qI am with you always, to rthe end of the age.”
Personal Greetings
1 I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant1 of the church at pCenchreae, 2 that you qmay welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints, and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well.
3 Greet rPrisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also sthe church in their house. Greet my beloved Epaenetus, who was tthe first convert2 to Christ in Asia. 6 Greet Mary, who has worked hard for you. 7 Greet Andronicus and Junia,3 my kinsmen and my ufellow prisoners. They are well known to the apostles,4 and they were in Christ before me. 8 Greet Ampliatus, my beloved in the Lord. 9 Greet Urbanus, our fellow worker in Christ, and my beloved Stachys. 10 Greet Apelles, who is approved in Christ. Greet those vwho belong to the family of Aristobulus. 11 Greet my kinsman Herodion. Greet those in the Lord who belong to the family of Narcissus. 12 Greet those workers in the Lord, Tryphaena and Tryphosa. Greet the beloved Persis, who has worked hard in the Lord. 13 Greet Rufus, chosen in the Lord; also his mother, who has been a mother to me as well. 14 Greet Asyncritus, Phlegon, Hermes, Patrobas, Hermas, and the brothers5 who are with them. 15 Greet Philologus, Julia, Nereus and his sister, and Olympas, and all the saints who are with them. 16 wGreet one another with a holy kiss. All the churches of Christ greet you.
Final Instructions and Greetings
17 I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles xcontrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; yavoid them. 18 For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but ztheir own appetites,6 and aby smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive. 19 For byour obedience is known to all, so that I rejoice over you, but I want you cto be wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil. 20 dThe God of peace ewill soon crush Satan under your feet. fThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
21 gTimothy, my fellow worker, greets you; so do Lucius and Jason and Sosipater, my kinsmen.
22 I Tertius, hwho wrote this letter, greet you in the Lord.
23 iGaius, who is host to me and to the whole church, greets you. Erastus, the city treasurer, and our brother Quartus, greet you.7
Doxology
25 jNow to him who is able to strengthen you kaccording to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, laccording to the revelation of the mystery mthat was kept secret for nlong ages 26 but ohas now been disclosed and through the prophetic writings has been made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, pto bring about the obedience of faith— 27 to qthe only wise God rbe glory forevermore through Jesus Christ! Amen.
Forsake Me Not When My Strength Is Spent
1 iIn you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
let me never be put to shame!
2 In your righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline your ear to me, and save me!
3 Be to me a rock of jrefuge,
to which I may continually come;
you have kgiven the command to save me,
for you are my lrock and my fortress.
4 mRescue me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
from the grasp of the unjust and cruel man.
5 For you, O Lord, are my nhope,
my trust, O Lord, from my youth.
6 Upon you I have leaned ofrom before my birth;
you are he who ptook me from my mother’s womb.
My praise is continually of you.
7 I have been as qa portent to many,
but you are my strong refuge.
8 My rmouth is filled with your praise,
and with your glory all the day.
9 sDo not cast me off in the time of old age;
forsake me not when my strength is spent.
10 For my enemies speak concerning me;
those who twatch for my life uconsult together
11 and say, “God has forsaken him;
pursue and seize him,
for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, be not vfar from me;
O my God, wmake haste to help me!
13 May my accusers be xput to shame and consumed;
ywith scorn and disgrace may they be covered
who zseek my hurt.
14 But I will ahope continually
and will bpraise you yet more and more.
15 My cmouth will tell of your righteous acts,
of your deeds of salvation all the day,
for dtheir number is past my knowledge.
16 With the mighty deeds of the Lord God I will come;
I will remind them of your righteousness, yours alone.
17 O God, from my youth you have taught me,
and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds.
18 So even to eold age and gray hairs,
O God, fdo not forsake me,
until I proclaim your might to another generation,
your power to all those to come.
19 Your grighteousness, O God,
reaches the high heavens.
You who have done hgreat things,
O God, iwho is like you?
20 You who have jmade me see many troubles and calamities
will krevive me again;
from the depths of the earth
you will bring me up again.
21 You will increase my greatness
and comfort me again.
22 I will also praise you with lthe harp
for your faithfulness, O my God;
I will sing praises to you with the lyre,
O mHoly One of Israel.
23 My lips will shout for joy,
when I sing praises to you;
my soul also, which you have nredeemed.
24 And my otongue will talk of your righteous help all the day long,
for they have been pput to shame and disappointed
who sought to do me hurt.
Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel
1 This is the blessing with which Moses ythe man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said,
z“The Lord came from Sinai
and dawned from Seir upon us;1
he shone forth from Mount Paran;
he came afrom the ten thousands of holy ones,
with flaming fire2 at his right hand.
call his holy ones were in his4 hand;
dso they followed5 in your steps,
receiving direction from you,
4 when eMoses commanded us a law,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 Thus the Lord6 fbecame king in gJeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.
6 h“Let Reuben live, and not die,
but let his men be few.”
7 And this he said of Judah:
“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,
and bring him in to his people.
With your hands contend7 for him,
and be a help against his adversaries.”
8 And iof Levi he said,
and your Urim to your godly one,
kwhom you tested at Massah,
with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;
9 who said of his father and mother,
‘I regard them not’;
lhe disowned his brothers
and ignored his children.
For mthey observed your word
and kept your covenant.
10 nThey shall teach Jacob your rules
and Israel your law;
othey shall put incense before you
and pwhole burnt offerings on your altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, his substance,
and qaccept the work of his hands;
crush the loins of his adversaries,
of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”
12 rOf Benjamin he said,
“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.
The High God9 surrounds him all day long,
and dwells between his shoulders.”
13 And sof Joseph he said,
t“Blessed by the Lord be his land,
with the choicest gifts of heaven uabove,10
and of the deep that crouches beneath,
14 with the choicest fruits of the sun
and the rich yield of the months,
15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains
and the abundance of vthe everlasting hills,
16 with the best gifts of the earth and wits fullness
and the favor of xhim who dwells in the bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.
17 yA firstborn bull11—he has majesty,
and his horns are the horns of a zwild ox;
with them ahe shall gore the peoples,
all of them, to the ends of the earth;
bthey are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
18 And of Zebulun he said,
c“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,
and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They shall call peoples dto their mountain;
there they offer eright sacrifices;
for they draw from the abundance of the seas
and the hidden treasures of the sand.”
20 And fof Gad he said,
“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!
Gad crouches glike a lion;
he tears off arm and scalp.
21 hHe chose the best of the land for himself,
for there a commander’s portion was reserved;
and ihe came with the heads of the people,
with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord,
and his judgments for Israel.”
22 And jof Dan he said,
k“Dan is a lion’s cub
lthat leaps from Bashan.”
23 And mof Naphtali he said,
“O Naphtali, sated with favor,
and full of the blessing of the Lord,
24 And oof Asher he said,
“Most blessed of sons be Asher;
let him be the favorite of his brothers,
and let him pdip his foot in oil.
25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze,
and as your days, so shall your strength be.
26 q“There is none like God, O rJeshurun,
swho rides through the heavens to your help,
through the skies in his majesty.
27 The eternal God is your tdwelling place,13
and underneath are the everlasting arms.14
And he thrust out the enemy before you
and said, ‘Destroy.’
28 So Israel lived in safety,
in a land of grain and wine,
whose heavens drop down dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel! wWho is like you,
a people xsaved by the Lord,
ythe shield of your help,
and the sword of your triumph!
Your enemies shall come fawning to you,
and you shall tread upon their backs.”
The Death of Moses
1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab ato Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah bas far as the western sea, 3 cthe Negeb, and dthe Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho ethe city of palm trees, as far as fZoar. 4 And the Lord said to him, g“This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ hI have let you see it with your eyes, but iyou shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, 6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but jno one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 kMoses was 120 years old when he died. lHis eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8 And the people of Israel mwept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of nthe spirit of wisdom, for oMoses had laid his hands on him. So pthe people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 10 And there has not qarisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, rwhom the Lord knew face to face, 11 none like him for all sthe signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
