Genesis 14
The War of the Kings
1In those days Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim 2went to war against Bera king of Sodom, Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar).
3The latter five came as allies to the Valley of Siddim (that is, the Salt Sea). 4For twelve years they had been subject to Chedorlaomer, but in the thirteenth year they rebelled.
5In the fourteenth year, Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him went out and defeated the Rephaites in Ashteroth-karnaim, the Zuzites in Ham, the Emites in Shaveh-kiriathaim, 6and the Horites in the area of Mount Seir, as far as El-paran, which is near the desert. 7Then they turned back to invade En-mishpat (that is, Kadesh), and they conquered the whole territory of the Amalekites, as well as the Amorites who lived in Hazazon-tamar.
8Then the king of Sodom, the king of Gomorrah, the king of Admah, the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (that is, Zoar) marched out and arrayed themselves for battle in the Valley of Siddim 9against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, Tidal king of Goiim, Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar— four kings against five.
Abram Rescues Lot
10Now the Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits, and as the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, some men fell into the pits, but the survivors fled to the hill country.
11The four kings seized all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah and all their food, and they went on their way. 12They also carried off Abram’s nephew Lot and his possessions, since Lot was living in Sodom.
13Then an escapee came and reported this to Abram the Hebrew. Now Abram was living near the Oaks of Mamre the Amorite, a brother of Eshcol and Aner, all of whom were bound by treaty to Abram. 14And when Abram heard that his relative had been captured, he mobilized the 318 trained men born in his household, and they set out in pursuit as far as Dan.
15During the night, Abram divided his forces and routed Chedorlaomer’s army, pursuing them as far as Hobah, north of Damascus. 16He retrieved all the goods, as well as his relative Lot and his possessions, together with the women and the rest of the people.
Melchizedek Blesses Abram
17After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings allied with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley).
18Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine — since he was priest of God Most High — 19and he blessed Abram and said:
“Blessed be Abram by God Most High,
Creator of heaven and earth,
20and blessed be God Most High,
who has delivered your enemies into your hand.”
Then Abram gave Melchizedek a tenth of everything.
21The king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the people, but take the goods for yourself.”
22But Abram replied to the king of Sodom, “I have raised my hand to the LORD God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, 23that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ 24I will accept nothing but what my men have eaten and the share for the men who went with me— Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. They may take their portion.”
Luke 5
The First Disciples
1On one occasion, while Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret with the crowd pressing in on Him to hear the word of God, 2He saw two boats at the edge of the lake. The fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3Jesus got into the boat belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore. And sitting down, He taught the people from the boat.
4When Jesus had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
5“Master,” Simon replied, “we have worked hard all night without catching anything. But because You say so, I will let down the nets.” 6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to tear. 7So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees. “Go away from me, Lord,” he said, “for I am a sinful man.” 9For he and his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10and so were his partners James and John, the sons of Zebedee.
“Do not be afraid,” Jesus said to Simon. “From now on you will catch men.” 11And when they had brought their boats ashore, they left everything and followed Him.
The Leper’s Prayer
12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell facedown and begged Him, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
13Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately the leprosy left him.
14“Do not tell anyone,” Jesus instructed him. “But go, show yourself to the priest and present the offering Moses prescribed for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.”
15But the news about Jesus spread all the more, and great crowds came to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16Yet He frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.
Jesus Heals a Paralytic
17One day Jesus was teaching, and the Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. People had come from Jerusalem and from every village of Galilee and Judea, and the power of the Lord was present for Him to heal the sick.
18Just then some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They tried to bring him inside to set him before Jesus, 19but they could not find a way through the crowd. So they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
20When Jesus saw their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”
21But the scribes and Pharisees began thinking to themselves, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus replied, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? 23Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins…” He said to the paralytic, “I tell you, get up, pick up your mat, and go home.”
25And immediately the man stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26Everyone was taken with amazement and glorified God. They were filled with awe and said, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
Jesus Calls Levi
27After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the tax booth. “Follow Me,” He told him, 28and Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him.
29Then Levi hosted a great banquet for Jesus at his house. A large crowd of tax collectors was there, along with others who were eating with them. 30But the Pharisees and their scribes complained to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
Questions about Fasting
33Then they said to Him, “John’s disciples and those of the Pharisees frequently fast and pray, but Yours keep on eating and drinking.”
34Jesus replied, “Can you make the guests of the bridegroom fast while He is with them? 35But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.”
The Patches and the Wineskins
36He also told them a parable: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will tear the new garment as well, and the patch from the new will not match the old.
37And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will spill, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins. 39And no one after drinking old wine wants new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’”
Micah 1-3
MIC.1
Judgment to Come
1This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah — what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:
2Hear, O peoples, all of you;
listen, O earth, and everyone in it!
May the Lord GOD bear witness against you,
the Lord from His holy temple.
3For behold, the LORD comes forth
from His dwelling place;
He will come down and tread
on the high places of the earth.
4The mountains will melt beneath Him,
and the valleys will split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
5All this is for the transgression of Jacob
and the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6Therefore I will make Samaria
a heap of rubble in the open field,
a planting area for a vineyard.
I will pour her stones into the valley
and expose her foundations.
7All her carved images will be smashed to pieces;
all her wages will be burned in the fire,
and I will destroy all her idols.
Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,
they will be used again on a prostitute.
Weeping and Mourning
8Because of this I will lament and wail;
I will walk barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
and mourn like an ostrich.
9For her wound is incurable;
it has reached even Judah;
it has approached the gate of my people,
as far as Jerusalem itself.
10Do not tell it in Gath; do not weep at all.
Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.
11Depart in shameful nakedness,
O dwellers of Shaphir.
The dwellers of Zaanan
will not come out.
Beth-ezel is in mourning;
its support is taken from you.
12For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good,
but calamity came down from the LORD,
even to the gate of Jerusalem.
13Harness your chariot horses,
O dweller of Lachish.
You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion,
for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib will prove deceptive
to the kings of Israel.
15I will again bring a conqueror against you,
O dweller of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
16Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair
in mourning for your precious children;
make yourselves as bald as an eagle,
for they will go from you into exile.
MIC.2
Woe to Oppressors
1Woe to those who devise iniquity
and plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they accomplish it
because the power is in their hands.
2They covet fields and seize them;
they take away houses.
They deprive a man of his home,
a fellow man of his inheritance.
3Therefore this is what the LORD says:
“I am planning against this nation a disaster
from which you cannot free your necks.
Then you will not walk so proudly,
for it will be a time of calamity.
4In that day they will take up a proverb against you
and taunt you with this bitter lamentation:
‘We are utterly ruined!
He has changed the portion of my people.
How He has removed it from me!
He has allotted our fields to traitors.’”
5Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of the LORD
to divide the land by lot.
Reproof of False Prophets
6“Do not preach,” they preach.
“Do not preach these things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
7Should it be said, O house of Jacob,
“Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient?
Are these the things He does?”
Do not My words bring good
to him who walks uprightly?
8But of late My people have risen up
like an enemy:
You strip off the splendid robe
from unsuspecting passersby
like men returning from battle.
9You drive the women of My people
from their pleasant homes.
You take away My blessing
from their children forever.
10Arise and depart,
for this is not your place of rest,
because its defilement brings destruction—
a grievous destruction!
11If a man of wind were to come
and say falsely,
“I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
he would be just the preacher for this people!
The Remnant of Israel
12I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob;
I will collect the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in the midst of its pasture —
a noisy throng.
13One who breaks open the way
will go up before them;
they will break through the gate,
and go out by it.
Their King will pass through before them,
the LORD as their leader.
MIC.3
Rulers and Prophets Condemned
1Then I said:
“Hear now, O leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
Should you not know justice?
2You hate good and love evil.
You tear the skin from my people
and strip the flesh from their bones.
3You eat the flesh of my people
after stripping off their skin
and breaking their bones.
You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot,
like meat in a cauldron.”
4Then they will cry out to the LORD,
but He will not answer them.
At that time He will hide His face from them
because of the evil they have done.
5This is what the LORD says:
“As for the prophets
who lead My people astray,
who proclaim peace
while they chew with their teeth,
but declare war against one
who puts nothing in their mouths:
6Therefore night will come over you without visions,
and darkness without divination.
The sun will set on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn black over them.
7Then the seers will be ashamed
and the diviners will be disgraced.
They will all cover their mouths
because there is no answer from God.”
8As for me, however, I am filled with power
by the Spirit of the LORD,
with justice and courage,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
9Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
who despise justice
and pervert all that is right,
10who build Zion with bloodshed
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11Her leaders judge for a bribe,
her priests teach for a price,
and her prophets practice divination for money.
Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying,
“Is not the LORD among us?
No disaster can come upon us.”
12Therefore, because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
