Close of the Day

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
² Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!
³ May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth! (ESV)

To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony. Of Asaph, a Psalm.
¹ Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.
² Before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up your might and come to save us!
³ Restore us, O God; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
⁴ O LORD God of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people’s prayers?
⁵ You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.
⁶ You make us an object of contention for our neighbors, and our enemies laugh among themselves.
⁷ Restore us, O God of hosts; let your face shine, that we may be saved!
⁸ You brought a vine out of Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it.
⁹ You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land.
¹⁰ The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches.
¹¹ It sent out its branches to the sea and its shoots to the River.
¹² Why then have you broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit?
¹³ The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it.
¹⁴ Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine,
¹⁵ the stock that your right hand planted, and for the son whom you made strong for yourself.
¹⁶ They have burned it with fire; they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of your face!
¹⁷ But let your hand be on the man of your right hand, the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself!
¹⁸ Then we shall not turn back from you; give us life, and we will call upon your name!
¹⁹ Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! Let your face shine, that we may be saved! (ESV)

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Remember, O LORD, in David’s favor, all the hardships he endured,
² how he swore to the LORD and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob,
³ “I will not enter my house or get into my bed,
⁴ I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids,
⁵ until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”
⁶ Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah; we found it in the fields of Jaar.
⁷ “Let us go to his dwelling place; let us worship at his footstool!”
⁸ Arise, O LORD, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might.
⁹ Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy.
¹⁰ For the sake of your servant David, do not turn away the face of your anointed one.
¹¹ The LORD swore to David a sure oath from which he will not turn back: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne.
¹² If your sons keep my covenant and my testimonies that I shall teach them, their sons also forever shall sit on your throne.”
¹³ For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place:
¹⁴ “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
¹⁵ I will abundantly bless her provisions; I will satisfy her poor with bread.
¹⁶ Her priests I will clothe with salvation, and her saints will shout for joy.
¹⁷ There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed.
¹⁸ His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”

A Song of Ascents. Of David.
¹ Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
² It is like the precious oil on the head, running down on the beard, on the beard of Aaron, running down on the collar of his robes!
³ It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion! For there the LORD has commanded the blessing, life forevermore.

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Come, bless the LORD, all you servants of the LORD, who stand by night in the house of the LORD!
² Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the LORD!
³ May the LORD bless you from Zion, he who made heaven and earth! (ESV)

¹⁶ So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.
¹⁷ For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
¹⁸ as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (ESV)

²⁹ Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
³⁰ in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place.
³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah—
³² the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.”
³³ When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
¹ Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.
² And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.
³ Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
⁴ And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
⁵ ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’”
⁶ And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds.
¹⁵ He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor.
¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that his rider falls backward.
¹⁸ I wait for your salvation, O LORD.
¹⁹ “Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.
²⁰ “Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies.
²¹ “Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.
²² “Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.
²³ The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely,
²⁴ yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵ by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
²⁶ The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. (ESV)

¹ It was now two days before the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to arrest him by stealth and kill him,
² for they said, “Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar from the people.”
³ And while he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he was reclining at table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of ointment of pure nard, very costly, and she broke the flask and poured it over his head.
⁴ There were some who said to themselves indignantly, “Why was the ointment wasted like that?
⁵ For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they scolded her.
⁶ But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing to me.
⁷ For you always have the poor with you, and whenever you want, you can do good for them. But you will not always have me.
⁸ She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for burial.
⁹ And truly, I say to you, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in memory of her.”
¹⁰ Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them.
¹¹ And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him. (ESV)

⁴ Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!
⁵ We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
⁶ But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
⁷ Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.
⁸ The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.
⁹ When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
¹⁰ Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.
¹¹ Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?
¹² Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?
¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
¹⁴ I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.
¹⁵ If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
¹⁶ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.
¹⁷ And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.
¹⁸ And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat.
¹⁹ You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,
²⁰ but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
²¹ But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’
²² Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?”
²³ And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.
²⁵ Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
²⁶ Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.
²⁷ And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
²⁸ And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”
²⁹ But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the LORD’s people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them!”
³⁰ And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
³¹ Then a wind from the LORD sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the ground.
³² And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
³³ While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague.
³⁴ Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving.
³⁵ From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

¹ Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.
² And they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it.
³ Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.
⁴ And suddenly the LORD said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out.
⁵ And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.
⁶ And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.
⁷ Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house.
⁸ With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
⁹ And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed.
¹⁰ When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
¹¹ And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned.
¹² Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”
¹³ And Moses cried to the LORD, “O God, please heal her—please.”
¹⁴ But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.”
¹⁵ So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again.
¹⁶ After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

¹ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a chief among them.”
³ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, according to the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the people of Israel.
⁴ And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;
⁵ from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;
⁶ from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;
⁷ from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;
⁸ from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;
⁹ from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu;
¹⁰ from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;
¹¹ from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi;
¹² from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;
¹³ from the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael;
¹⁴ from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;
¹⁵ from the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
¹⁶ These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun, Joshua.
¹⁷ Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negeb and go up into the hill country,
¹⁸ and see what the land is, and whether the people who dwell in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,
¹⁹ and whether the land that they dwell in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they dwell in are camps or strongholds,
²⁰ and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be of good courage and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.
²¹ So they went up and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.
²² They went up into the Negeb and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)
²³ And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.
²⁴ That place was called the Valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.
²⁵ At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land. (ESV)

²³ Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, being the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli,
²⁴ the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph,
²⁵ the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai,
²⁶ the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda,
²⁷ the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri,
²⁸ the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er,
²⁹ the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi,
³⁰ the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim,
³¹ the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David,
³² the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Sala, the son of Nahshon,
³³ the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Arni, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah,
³⁴ the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor,
³⁵ the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah,
³⁶ the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech,
³⁷ the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan,
³⁸ the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

¹ And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness
² for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry.
³ The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
⁴ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’”
⁵ And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
⁶ and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
⁷ If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.”
⁸ And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
⁹ And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,
¹⁰ for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
¹¹ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
¹² And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
¹³ And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. (ESV)

²¹ With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.
²² All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast
²³ till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
²⁴ And now, O sons, listen to me, and be attentive to the words of my mouth.
²⁵ Let not your heart turn aside to her ways; do not stray into her paths,
²⁶ for many a victim has she laid low, and all her slain are a mighty throng.
²⁷ Her house is the way to Sheol, going down to the chambers of death. (ESV)

¹ “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber.
² But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
³ To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
⁴ When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.
⁵ A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.”
⁶ This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them.
⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.
⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them.
⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.
¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
¹² He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them.
¹³ He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep.
¹⁴ I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,
¹⁵ just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep.
¹⁶ And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.
¹⁷ For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.
¹⁸ No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”
¹⁹ There was again a division among the Jews because of these words.
²⁰ Many of them said, “He has a demon, and is insane; why listen to him?”
²¹ Others said, “These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?”
²² At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter,
²³ and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
²⁴ So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
²⁵ Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me,
²⁶ but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.
²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
²⁸ I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.
²⁹ My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
³⁰ I and the Father are one.”
³¹ The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.
³² Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?”
³³ The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
³⁴ Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’?
³⁵ If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—
³⁶ do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
³⁷ If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me;
³⁸ but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”
³⁹ Again they sought to arrest him, but he escaped from their hands.
⁴⁰ He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing at first, and there he remained.
⁴¹ And many came to him. And they said, “John did no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true.”
⁴² And many believed in him there.

¹ Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
² It was Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was ill.
³ So the sisters sent to him, saying, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.”
⁴ But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”
⁵ Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
⁶ So, when he heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
⁷ Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
⁸ The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone you, and are you going there again?”
⁹ Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
¹⁰ But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
¹¹ After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”
¹² The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
¹³ Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he meant taking rest in sleep.
¹⁴ Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus has died,
¹⁵ and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”
¹⁶ So Thomas, called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”
¹⁷ Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days.
¹⁸ Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off,
¹⁹ and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother.
²⁰ So when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, but Mary remained seated in the house.
²¹ Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.
²² But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”
²³ Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
²⁴ Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
²⁵ Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
²⁷ She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”
²⁸ When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary, saying in private, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
²⁹ And when she heard it, she rose quickly and went to him.
³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha had met him.
³¹ When the Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary rise quickly and go out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
³² Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
³³ When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
³⁴ And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.”
³⁵ Jesus wept.
³⁶ So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”
³⁷ But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man also have kept this man from dying?”
³⁸ Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it.
³⁹ Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days.”
⁴⁰ Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?”
⁴¹ So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me.
⁴² I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.”
⁴³ When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.”
⁴⁴ The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”
⁴⁵ Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him,
⁴⁶ but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
⁴⁷ So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs.
⁴⁸ If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and our nation.”
⁴⁹ But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, “You know nothing at all.
⁵⁰ Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.”
⁵¹ He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation,
⁵² and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
⁵³ So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.
⁵⁴ Jesus therefore no longer walked openly among the Jews, but went from there to the region near the wilderness, to a town called Ephraim, and there he stayed with the disciples.
⁵⁵ Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and many went up from the country to Jerusalem before the Passover to purify themselves.
⁵⁶ They were looking for Jesus and saying to one another as they stood in the temple, “What do you think? That he will not come to the feast at all?”
⁵⁷ Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was, he should let them know, so that they might arrest him.

¹ Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
² So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table.
³ Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.
⁴ But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said,
⁵ “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?”
⁶ He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.
⁷ Jesus said, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of my burial.
⁸ For the poor you always have with you, but you do not always have me.”
⁹ When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.
¹⁰ So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well,
¹¹ because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
¹² The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.
¹³ So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!”
¹⁴ And Jesus found a young donkey and sat on it, just as it is written,
¹⁵ “Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on a donkey’s colt!”
¹⁶ His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
¹⁷ The crowd that had been with him when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.
¹⁸ The reason why the crowd went to meet him was that they heard he had done this sign.
¹⁹ So the Pharisees said to one another, “You see that you are gaining nothing. Look, the world has gone after him.”
²⁰ Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.
²¹ So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”
²² Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus.
²³ And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
²⁴ Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.
²⁵ Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
²⁶ If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him.
²⁷ “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour.
²⁸ Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven: “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.”
²⁹ The crowd that stood there and heard it said that it had thundered. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.”
³⁰ Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not mine.
³¹ Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
³² And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”
³³ He said this to show by what kind of death he was going to die.
³⁴ So the crowd answered him, “We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?”
³⁵ So Jesus said to them, “The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.
³⁶ While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may become sons of light.” When Jesus had said these things, he departed and hid himself from them.
³⁷ Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him,
³⁸ so that the word spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “Lord, who has believed what he heard from us, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?”
³⁹ Therefore they could not believe. For again Isaiah said,
⁴⁰ “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and turn, and I would heal them.”
⁴¹ Isaiah said these things because he saw his glory and spoke of him.
⁴² Nevertheless, many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue;
⁴³ for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.
⁴⁴ And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
⁴⁵ And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
⁴⁶ I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
⁴⁷ If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
⁴⁸ The one who rejects me and does not receive my words has a judge; the word that I have spoken will judge him on the last day.
⁴⁹ For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak.
⁵⁰ And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

¹ Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
² During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
³ Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,
⁴ rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.
⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
⁷ Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”
⁸ Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”
⁹ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”
¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”
¹¹ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
¹² When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?
¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.
¹⁴ If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
¹⁵ For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.
¹⁶ Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
¹⁷ If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
¹⁸ I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
¹⁹ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.
²⁰ Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
²¹ After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
²² The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
²³ One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side,
²⁴ so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
²⁵ So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?”
²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
²⁷ Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
²⁸ Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.
²⁹ Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.
³⁰ So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
³¹ When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
³² If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.
³³ Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
³⁴ A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
³⁵ By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
³⁶ Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
³⁷ Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
³⁸ Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times. (ESV)