One Year Bible.

The Rejection at Nazareth

¹Jesus went on from there and came to His hometown, accompanied by His disciples. ²When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard Him were astonished. “Where did this man get these ideas?” they asked. “What is this wisdom He has been given? And how can He perform such miracles? ³Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? Aren’t His sisters here with us as well?” And they took offense at Him.

⁴Then Jesus said to them, “Only in his hometown, among his relatives, and in his own household is a prophet without honor.” ⁵So He could not perform any miracles there, except to lay His hands on a few of the sick and heal them. ⁶And He was amazed at their unbelief.

And He went around from village to village, teaching the people.

The Ministry of the Twelve

⁷Then Jesus called the Twelve to Him and began to send them out two by two, giving them authority over unclean spirits. ⁸He instructed them to take nothing but a staff for the journey — no bread, no bag, no money in their belts — ⁹and to wear sandals, but not a second tunic.

¹⁰And He told them, “When you enter a house, stay there until you leave that area. ¹¹If anyone will not welcome you or listen to you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that place, as a testimony against them.”

¹²So they set out and preached that the people should repent. ¹³They also drove out many demons and healed many of the sick, anointing them with oil.

The Beheading of John

¹⁴Now King Herod heard about this, for Jesus’ name had become well known, and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead! That is why miraculous powers are at work in him.” ¹⁵Others were saying, “He is Elijah,” and still others, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.”

¹⁶But when Herod heard this, he said, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen from the dead!” ¹⁷For Herod himself had ordered that John be arrested and bound and imprisoned, on account of his brother Philip’s wife Herodias, whom Herod had married. ¹⁸For John had been telling Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife!”

¹⁹So Herodias held a grudge against John and wanted to kill him. But she had been unable, ²⁰because Herod feared John and protected him, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man. When he heard John’s words, he was greatly perplexed; yet he listened to him gladly.

²¹On Herod’s birthday, her opportunity arose. Herod held a banquet for his nobles and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee. ²²When the daughter of Herodias came and danced, she pleased Herod and his guests, and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you wish, and I will give it to you.” ²³And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give you, up to half my kingdom!”

²⁴Then she went out and asked her mother, “What should I request?”

And her mother answered, “The head of John the Baptist.”

²⁵At once the girl hurried back to the king with her request: “I want you to give me the head of John the Baptist on a platter immediately.”

²⁶The king was consumed with sorrow, but because of his oaths and his guests, he did not want to refuse her. ²⁷So without delay, the king commanded that John’s head be brought in. He sent an executioner, who went and beheaded him in the prison. ²⁸The man brought John’s head on a platter and presented it to the girl, who gave it to her mother.

²⁹When John’s disciples heard about this, they came and took his body and placed it in a tomb.

The Feeding of the Five Thousand

³⁰Meanwhile, the apostles gathered around Jesus and brought Him news of all they had done and taught. ³¹And He said to them, “Come with Me privately to a solitary place, and let us rest for a while.” For many people were coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.

³²So they went away in a boat by themselves to a solitary place. ³³But many people saw them leaving and recognized them. They ran together on foot from all the towns and arrived before them. ³⁴When Jesus stepped ashore and saw a large crowd, He had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And He began to teach them many things.

³⁵By now the hour was already late. So the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is already late. ³⁶Dismiss the crowd so they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.”

³⁷But Jesus told them, “You give them something to eat.”

They asked Him, “Should we go out and spend two hundred denarii to give all of them bread to eat?”

³⁸“Go and see how many loaves you have,” He told them.

And after checking, they said, “Five — and two fish.”

³⁹Then Jesus directed them to have the people sit in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties.

⁴¹Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, Jesus spoke a blessing and broke the loaves. Then He gave them to His disciples to set before the people. And He divided the two fish among them all.

⁴²They all ate and were satisfied, ⁴³and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces of bread and fish. ⁴⁴And there were five thousand men who had eaten the loaves.

Jesus Walks on Water

⁴⁵Immediately Jesus made His disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of Him to Bethsaida, while He dismissed the crowd. ⁴⁶After bidding them farewell, He went up on the mountain to pray.

⁴⁷When evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and Jesus was alone on land. ⁴⁸He could see that the disciples were straining to row, because the wind was against them. About the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went out to them, walking on the sea. He intended to pass by them, ⁴⁹but when they saw Him walking on the sea, they cried out, thinking He was a ghost — ⁵⁰for they all saw Him and were terrified.

But Jesus spoke up at once: “Take courage! It is I. Do not be afraid.” ⁵¹Then He climbed into the boat with them, and the wind died down. And the disciples were utterly astounded, ⁵²for they had not understood about the loaves, but their hearts had been hardened.

Jesus Heals at Gennesaret

⁵³When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and moored the boat. ⁵⁴As soon as they got out of the boat, the people recognized Jesus ⁵⁵and ran through that whole region, carrying the sick on mats to wherever they heard He was. ⁵⁶And wherever He went — villages and towns and countrysides — they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged Him just to let them touch the fringe of His cloak. And all who touched Him were healed.

The Tradition of the Elders

¹Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, ²and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled— that is, unwashed.

³Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially. ⁴And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.

⁵So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”

⁶Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘These people honor Me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from Me.

⁷They worship Me in vain;

they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’

⁸You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”

⁹He went on to say, “You neatly set aside the command of God to maintain your own tradition. ¹⁰For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’ ¹¹But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever you would have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God ), ¹²he is no longer permitted to do anything for his father or mother. ¹³Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.”

What Defiles a Man

¹⁴Once again Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “All of you, listen to Me and understand: ¹⁵Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him; but the things that come out of a man, these are what defile him.”

¹⁷After Jesus had left the crowd and gone into the house, His disciples inquired about the parable.

¹⁸“Are you still so dull?” He asked. “Do you not understand? Nothing that enters a man from the outside can defile him, ¹⁹because it does not enter his heart, but it goes into the stomach and then is eliminated.” (Thus all foods are clean.)

²⁰He continued: “What comes out of a man, that is what defiles him. ²¹For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²²greed, wickedness, deceit, debauchery, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. ²³All these evils come from within, and these are what defile a man.”

The Faith of the Gentile Woman

²⁴Jesus left that place and went to the region of Tyre. Not wanting anyone to know He was there, He entered a house, but was unable to escape their notice. ²⁵Instead, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit soon heard about Jesus, and she came and fell at His feet. ²⁶Now she was a Greek woman of Syrophoenician origin, and she kept asking Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter.

²⁷“First let the children have their fill,” He said. “For it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”

²⁸“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.”

²⁹Then Jesus told her, “Because of this answer, you may go. The demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰And she went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon was gone.

The Deaf and Mute Man

³¹Then Jesus left the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis. ³²Some people brought to Him a man who was deaf and hardly able to speak, and they begged Jesus to place His hand on him.

³³So Jesus took him aside privately, away from the crowd, and put His fingers into the man’s ears. Then He spit and touched the man’s tongue. ³⁴And looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means, “Be opened!”). ³⁵Immediately the man’s ears were opened and his tongue was released, and he began to speak plainly.

³⁶Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone. But the more He ordered them, the more widely they proclaimed it. ³⁷The people were utterly astonished and said, “He has done all things well! He makes even the deaf hear and the mute speak!”

The Sins of Jerusalem

¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“As for you, son of man, will you judge her? Will you pass judgment on the city of bloodshed? Then confront her with all her abominations ³and tell her that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘O city who brings her own doom by shedding blood within her walls and making idols to defile herself, ⁴you are guilty of the blood you have shed, and you are defiled by the idols you have made. You have brought your days to a close and have come to the end of your years. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations and a mockery to all the lands. ⁵Those near and far will mock you, O infamous city, full of turmoil.

⁶See how every prince of Israel within you has used his power to shed blood. ⁷Father and mother are treated with contempt. Within your walls the foreign resident is exploited, the fatherless and the widow are oppressed.

⁸You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹Among you are slanderous men bent on bloodshed; within you are those who eat on the mountain shrines and commit acts of indecency.

¹⁰In you they have uncovered the nakedness of their fathers; in you they violate women during their menstrual impurity. ¹¹One man commits an abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another wickedly defiles his daughter-in-law; and yet another violates his sister, his own father’s daughter.

¹²In you they take bribes to shed blood. You engage in usury, take excess interest, and extort your neighbors. But Me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.

¹³Now look, I strike My hands together against your unjust gain and against the blood you have shed in your midst. ¹⁴Will your courage endure or your hands be strong in the day I deal with you? I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will act. ¹⁵I will disperse you among the nations and scatter you throughout the lands; I will purge your uncleanness. ¹⁶And when you have defiled yourself in the eyes of the nations, then you will know that I am the LORD.’”

The Refining Furnace

¹⁷Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ¹⁸“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to Me. All of them are copper, tin, iron, and lead inside the furnace; they are but the dross of silver.

¹⁹Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because all of you have become dross, behold, I will gather you into Jerusalem. ²⁰Just as one gathers silver, copper, iron, lead, and tin into the furnace to melt with a fiery blast, so I will gather you in My anger and wrath, leave you there, and melt you.

²¹Yes, I will gather you together and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you will be melted within the city. ²²As silver is melted in a furnace, so you will be melted within the city. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have poured out My wrath upon you.’”

Israel’s Wicked Leaders

²³And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²⁴“Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’

²⁵The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.

²⁶Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them.

²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain.

²⁸Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken.

²⁹The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice.

³⁰I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. ³¹So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”

The Two Adulterous Sisters

¹Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²“Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother, ³and they played in Egypt, prostituting themselves from their youth. Their breasts were fondled there, and their virgin bosoms caressed. ⁴The older was named Oholah, and her sister was named Oholibah. They became Mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their identities, Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem.

⁵Oholah prostituted herself while she was still Mine. She lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians — warriors ⁶clothed in blue, governors and commanders, all desirable young men, horsemen mounted on steeds. ⁷She offered sexual favors to all the elite of Assyria. She defiled herself with all the idols of those for whom she lusted.

⁸She did not give up the prostitution she began in Egypt, when men slept with her in her youth, caressed her virgin bosom, and poured out their lust upon her. ⁹Therefore I delivered her into the hands of her lovers, the Assyrians for whom she lusted. ¹⁰They exposed her nakedness, seized her sons and daughters, and put her to the sword. Thus she became a byword among women, and they executed judgment against her.

¹¹Her sister Oholibah saw this, yet in her lust and prostitution she was more depraved than her sister. ¹²She too lusted after the Assyrians — governors and commanders, warriors dressed in splendor, horsemen riding on steeds, all desirable young men. ¹³And I saw that she too had defiled herself; both of them had taken the same path.

¹⁴But Oholibah carried her prostitution even further. She saw the men portrayed on the wall, images of the Chaldeans, engraved in vermilion, ¹⁵wearing belts on their waists and flowing turbans on their heads; all of them looked like officers of the Babylonians in Chaldea, the land of their birth. ¹⁶At the sight of them, she lusted for them and sent messengers to them in Chaldea. ¹⁷Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and in their lust they defiled her. But after she had been defiled by them, she turned away in disgust.

¹⁸When Oholibah openly prostituted herself and exposed her nakedness, I turned away from her in disgust, just as I had turned away from her sister. ¹⁹Yet she multiplied her promiscuity, remembering the days of her youth, when she had prostituted herself in the land of Egypt ²⁰and lusted after their lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of stallions. ²¹So you revisited the indecency of your youth, when the Egyptians caressed your bosom and pressed your young breasts.

Oholibah to Be Plagued

²²Therefore, Oholibah, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will incite your lovers against you, those from whom you turned away in disgust. And I will bring them against you from every side — ²³the Babylonians and all the Chaldeans, the men of Pekod, Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians with them— all desirable young men, governors and commanders, officers and men of renown, mounted on horses.

²⁴They will come against you with a host of peoples, with weapons, chariots, and wagons. They will array themselves against you on every side with buckler and shield and helmet. I will delegate judgment to them, and they will punish you according to their own standards. ²⁵And I will set My jealous rage against you, and they will deal with you in fury. They will cut off your noses and ears, and your survivors will fall by the sword. They will seize your sons and daughters, and your remnant will be consumed by fire. ²⁶They will strip off your clothes and take your fine jewelry. ²⁷So I will put an end to your indecency and prostitution, which began in the land of Egypt, and you will not lift your eyes to them or remember Egypt anymore.’

²⁸For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Surely I will deliver you into the hands of those you hate, from whom you turned away in disgust. ²⁹They will treat you with hatred, take all for which you have worked, and leave you naked and bare, so that the shame of your prostitution will be exposed. Your indecency and promiscuity ³⁰have brought these things upon you, because you have prostituted yourself with the nations and defiled yourself with their idols. ³¹Because you have followed the path of your sister, I will put her cup into your hand.’

³²This is what the Lord GOD says:

‘You will drink your sister’s cup,

a cup deep and wide.

It will bring scorn and derision,

for it holds so much.

³³You will be filled with drunkenness and grief,

with a cup of devastation and desolation,

the cup of your sister Samaria.

³⁴You will drink it and drain it;

you will dash it to pieces,

and tear your breasts.

For I have spoken,’

declares the Lord GOD.

³⁵Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because you have forgotten Me and have cast Me behind your back, you must bear the consequences of your indecency and prostitution.’”

Judgment on Both Sisters

³⁶Then the LORD said to me: “Son of man, will you pass judgment against Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominations. ³⁷For they have committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols. They have even sacrificed their children, whom they bore to Me, in the fire as food for their idols.

³⁸They have also done this to Me: On that very same day, they defiled My sanctuary and profaned My Sabbaths. ³⁹On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered My sanctuary to profane it. Yes, they did this inside My house.

⁴⁰Furthermore, you sisters sent messengers for men who came from afar; and behold, when they arrived, you bathed for them, painted your eyes, and adorned yourself with jewelry. ⁴¹You sat on a couch of luxury with a table spread before it, on which you had set My incense and My oil, ⁴²accompanied by the sound of a carefree crowd. Drunkards were brought in from the desert along with men from the rabble, who put bracelets on your wrists and beautiful crowns on your head.

⁴³Then I said of her who had grown old in adulteries: ‘Now let them use her as a prostitute, for that is all she is!’

⁴⁴And they slept with her as with a prostitute; they slept with Oholah and Oholibah, those lewd women. ⁴⁵But righteous men will sentence them to the punishment of those who commit adultery and bloodshed, because they are adulteresses with blood on their hands.

⁴⁶This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Bring a mob against them and consign them to terror and plunder. ⁴⁷The mob will stone them and cut them down with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and burn down their houses. ⁴⁸So I will put an end to indecency in the land, and all the women will be admonished not to imitate your behavior. ⁴⁹They will repay you for your indecency, and you will bear the consequences of your sins of idolatry. Then you will know that I am the Lord GOD.’”