One Year Bible.

Genealogy from Benjamin to Saul

¹Benjamin was the father of Bela his firstborn, Ashbel the second, Aharah the third, ²Nohah the fourth, and Rapha the fifth.

³The sons of Bela:

Addar, Gera, Abihud, ⁴Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah, ⁵Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram.

⁶These were the descendants of Ehud who were the heads of the families living in Geba and were exiled to Manahath:

⁷Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera, who carried them into exile and who was the father of Uzza and Ahihud.

⁸Shaharaim had sons in the country of Moab after he had divorced his wives Hushim and Baara. ⁹His sons by his wife Hodesh:

Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam, ¹⁰Jeuz, Sachia, and Mirmah. These were his sons, heads of families.

¹¹He also had sons by Hushim:

Abitub and Elpaal.

¹²The sons of Elpaal:

Eber, Misham, Shemed (who built Ono and Lod with its villages), ¹³and Beriah and Shema (who were the heads of families living in Aijalon and who drove out the inhabitants of Gath).

¹⁴Ahio, Shashak, Jeremoth, ¹⁵Zebadiah, Arad, Eder, ¹⁶Michael, Ishpah, and Joha were the sons of Beriah.

¹⁷Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber, ¹⁸Ishmerai, Izliah, and Jobab were the sons of Elpaal.

¹⁹Jakim, Zichri, Zabdi, ²⁰Elienai, Zillethai, Eliel, ²¹Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath were the sons of Shimei.

²²Ishpan, Eber, Eliel, ²³Abdon, Zichri, Hanan, ²⁴Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah, ²⁵Iphdeiah, and Penuel were the sons of Shashak.

²⁶Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah, ²⁷Jaareshiah, Elijah, and Zichri were the sons of Jeroham.

²⁸All these were heads of families, the chiefs according to their genealogies, and they lived in Jerusalem.

²⁹Jeiel the father of Gibeon lived in Gibeon. His wife’s name was Maacah, ³⁰and Abdon was his firstborn son, then Zur, Kish, Baal, Nadab, ³¹Gedor, Ahio, Zecher, ³²and Mikloth, who was the father of Shimeah. They too lived alongside their relatives in Jerusalem.

The Family of Saul

³³Ner was the father of Kish, Kish was the father of Saul, and Saul was the father of Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Esh-baal.

³⁴The son of Jonathan:

Merib-baal, and Merib-baal was the father of Micah.

³⁵The sons of Micah:

Pithon, Melech, Tarea, and Ahaz.

³⁶Ahaz was the father of Jehoaddah, Jehoaddah was the father of Alemeth, Azmaveth, and Zimri, and Zimri was the father of Moza.

³⁷Moza was the father of Binea. Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, and Azel his son.

³⁸Azel had six sons, and these were their names:

Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. All these were the sons of Azel.

³⁹The sons of his brother Eshek:

Ulam was his firstborn, Jeush second, and Eliphelet third. ⁴⁰The sons of Ulam were mighty men of valor, archers, and they had many sons and grandsons— 150 in all.

All these were the descendants of Benjamin.

The Leper’s Prayer

¹When Jesus came down from the mountain, large crowds followed Him. ²Suddenly a leper came and knelt before Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”

³Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.

⁴Then Jesus instructed him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift prescribed by Moses, as a testimony to them.”

The Faith of the Centurion

⁵When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came and pleaded with Him, ⁶“Lord, my servant lies at home, paralyzed and in terrible agony.”

⁷“I will go and heal him,” Jesus replied.

⁸The centurion answered, “Lord, I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁹For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell one to go, and he goes, and another to come, and he comes. I tell my servant to do something, and he does it.”

¹⁰When Jesus heard this, He marveled and said to those following Him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹I say to you that many will come from the east and the west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. ¹²But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! As you have believed, so will it be done for you.” And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Jesus Heals at Peter’s House

¹⁴When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, He saw Peter’s mother-in-law sick in bed with a fever. ¹⁵So He touched her hand, and the fever left her, and she got up and began to serve Him.

¹⁶When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to Jesus, and He drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. ¹⁷This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

“He took up our infirmities

and carried our diseases.”

The Cost of Discipleship

¹⁸When Jesus saw a large crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the sea. ¹⁹And one of the scribes came to Him and said, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”

²⁰Jesus replied, “Foxes have dens and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

²¹Another of His disciples requested, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

²²But Jesus told him, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”

Jesus Calms the Storm

²³When He got into the boat, His disciples followed Him. ²⁴Suddenly a violent storm came up on the sea, so that the boat was engulfed by the waves. But Jesus was sleeping. ²⁵The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

²⁶“You of little faith,” Jesus replied, “why are you so afraid?” Then He got up and rebuked the winds and the sea, and it was perfectly calm.

²⁷The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the sea obey Him!”

The Demons and the Pigs

²⁸When Jesus arrived on the other side in the region of the Gadarenes, He was met by two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.

²⁹“What do You want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have You come here to torture us before the appointed time?”

³⁰In the distance a large herd of pigs was feeding. ³¹So the demons begged Jesus, “If You drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”

³²“Go!” He told them. So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and died in the waters.

³³Those tending the pigs ran off into the town and reported all this, including the account of the demon-possessed men. ³⁴Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him, they begged Him to leave their region.

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath

¹Once again Jesus entered the synagogue, and a man with a withered hand was there. ²In order to accuse Jesus, they were watching to see if He would heal on the Sabbath.

³Then Jesus said to the man with the withered hand, “Stand up among us.” ⁴And He asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?”

But they were silent.

⁵Jesus looked around at them with anger and sorrow at their hardness of heart. Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out, and it was restored.

⁶At this, the Pharisees went out and began plotting with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

Jesus Heals the Multitudes

⁷So Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, accompanied by a large crowd from Galilee, Judea, ⁸Jerusalem, Idumea, the region beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. The large crowd came to Him when they heard what great things He was doing.

⁹Jesus asked His disciples to have a boat ready for Him so that the crowd would not crush Him. ¹⁰For He had healed so many that all who had diseases were pressing forward to touch Him. ¹¹And when the unclean spirits saw Him, they fell down before Him and cried out, “You are the Son of God!” ¹²But He warned them sternly not to make Him known.

The Twelve Apostles

¹³Then Jesus went up on the mountain and called for those He wanted, and they came to Him. ¹⁴He appointed twelve of them, whom He designated as apostles, to accompany Him, to be sent out to preach, ¹⁵and to have authority to drive out demons.

¹⁶These are the twelve He appointed: Simon (whom He named Peter), ¹⁷James son of Zebedee and his brother John ( whom He named Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”), ¹⁸Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, ¹⁹and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.

A House Divided

²⁰Then Jesus went home, and once again a crowd gathered, so that He and His disciples could not even eat. ²¹When His family heard about this, they went out to take custody of Him, saying, “He is out of His mind.”

²²And the scribes who had come down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and, “By the prince of the demons He drives out demons.”

²³So Jesus called them together and began to speak to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? ²⁴If a kingdom is divided against itself, it cannot stand. ²⁵If a house is divided against itself, it cannot stand. ²⁶And if Satan is divided and rises against himself, he cannot stand; his end has come. ²⁷Indeed, no one can enter a strong man’s house to steal his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin

²⁸Truly I tell you, the sons of men will be forgiven all sins and blasphemies, as many as they utter. ²⁹But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of eternal sin.”

³⁰Jesus made this statement because they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

³¹Then Jesus’ mother and brothers came and stood outside. They sent someone in to summon Him, ³²and a crowd was sitting around Him. “Look,” He was told, “Your mother and brothers are outside, asking for You.”

³³But Jesus replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴Looking at those seated in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵For whoever does the will of God is My brother and sister and mother.”

The Parable of the Sower

¹Once again Jesus began to teach beside the sea, and such a large crowd gathered around Him that He got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people crowded along the shore.

²And He taught them many things in parables, and in His teaching He said, ³“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴And as he was sowing, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.

⁵Some fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly because the soil was shallow. ⁶But when the sun rose, the seedlings were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.

⁷Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the seedlings, and they yielded no crop.

⁸Still other seed fell on good soil, where it sprouted, grew up, and produced a crop — one bearing thirtyfold, another sixtyfold, and another a hundredfold.”

⁹Then Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Purpose of Jesus’ Parables

¹⁰As soon as Jesus was alone with the Twelve and those around Him, they asked Him about the parable.

¹¹He replied, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to those on the outside everything is expressed in parables, ¹²so that,

‘they may be ever seeing but never perceiving,

and ever hearing but never understanding;

otherwise they might turn

and be forgiven.’”

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹³Then Jesus said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?

¹⁴The farmer sows the word. ¹⁵Some are like the seeds along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them.

¹⁶Some are like the seeds sown on rocky ground. They hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷But they themselves have no root, and they remain for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.

¹⁸Others are like the seeds sown among the thorns. They hear the word, ¹⁹but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth, and the desire for other things come in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

²⁰Still others are like the seeds sown on good soil. They hear the word, receive it, and produce a crop — thirtyfold, sixtyfold, or a hundredfold.”

The Lesson of the Lamp

²¹Jesus also said to them, “Does anyone bring in a lamp to put it under a basket or under a bed? Doesn’t he set it on a stand? ²²For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be brought to light.

²³If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.”

²⁴He went on to say, “Pay attention to what you hear. With the measure you use, it will be measured to you, and even more will be added to you. ²⁵For whoever has will be given more. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.”

The Seed Growing Secretly

²⁶Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. ²⁷Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how. ²⁸All by itself the earth produces a crop— first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within. ²⁹And as soon as the grain is ripe, he swings the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰Then He asked, “To what can we compare the kingdom of God? With what parable shall we present it? ³¹It is like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds sown upon the earth. ³²But after it is planted, it grows to be the largest of all garden plants and puts forth great branches, so that the birds of the air nest in its shade.”

³³With many such parables Jesus spoke the word to them, to the extent that they could understand. ³⁴He did not tell them anything without using a parable. But privately He explained everything to His own disciples.

Jesus Calms the Storm

³⁵When that evening came, He said to His disciples, “Let us cross to the other side.” ³⁶After they had dismissed the crowd, they took Jesus with them, since He was already in the boat. And there were other boats with Him.

³⁷Soon a violent windstorm came up, and the waves were breaking over the boat, so that it was being swamped. ³⁸But Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion. So they woke Him and said, “Teacher, don’t You care that we are perishing?”

³⁹Then Jesus got up and rebuked the wind and the sea. “Silence!” He commanded. “Be still!” And the wind died down, and it was perfectly calm.

⁴⁰“Why are you so afraid?” He asked. “Do you still have no faith?”

⁴¹Overwhelmed with fear, they asked one another, “Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”