Morning Devotion

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD!
² O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
³ If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
⁴ But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
⁵ I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;
⁶ my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
⁷ O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
⁸ And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (ESV)

A Maskil of Asaph.
¹ Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
² I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old,
³ things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us.
⁴ We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done.
⁵ He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,
⁶ that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,
⁷ so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments;
⁸ and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.
⁹ The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle.
¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹ They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them.
¹² In the sight of their fathers he performed wonders in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan.
¹³ He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap.
¹⁴ In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light.
¹⁵ He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
¹⁶ He made streams come out of the rock and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
¹⁷ Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
¹⁸ They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved.
¹⁹ They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰ He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for his people?”
²¹ Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob; his anger rose against Israel,
²² because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power.
²³ Yet he commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven,
²⁴ and he rained down on them manna to eat and gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵ Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance.
²⁶ He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind;
²⁷ he rained meat on them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas;
²⁸ he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.
²⁹ And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved.
³⁰ But before they had satisfied their craving, while the food was still in their mouths,
³¹ the anger of God rose against them, and he killed the strongest of them and laid low the young men of Israel.
³² In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe.
³³ So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror.
³⁴ When he killed them, they sought him; they repented and sought God earnestly.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer.
³⁶ But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again.
⁴⁰ How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert!
⁴¹ They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
⁴² They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
⁴³ when he performed his signs in Egypt and his marvels in the fields of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the destroying locust and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamores with frost.
⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail and their flocks to thunderbolts.
⁴⁹ He let loose on them his burning anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down every firstborn in Egypt, the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of Ham.
⁵² Then he led out his people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
⁵³ He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.
⁵⁶ Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies,
⁵⁷ but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸ For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their idols.
⁵⁹ When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
⁶¹ and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.
⁶² He gave his people over to the sword and vented his wrath on his heritage.
⁶³ Fire devoured their young men, and their young women had no marriage song.
⁶⁴ Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵ Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine.
⁶⁶ And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame.
⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of Joseph; he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves.
⁶⁹ He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever.
⁷⁰ He chose David his servant and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ from following the nursing ewes he brought him to shepherd Jacob his people, Israel his inheritance.
⁷² With upright heart he shepherded them and guided them with his skillful hand. (ESV)

A Song of Ascents.
¹ Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways!
² You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you.
³ Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
⁴ Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the LORD.
⁵ The LORD bless you from Zion! May you see the prosperity of Jerusalem all the days of your life!
⁶ May you see your children’s children! Peace be upon Israel!

A Song of Ascents.
¹ “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth”— let Israel now say—
² “Greatly have they afflicted me from my youth, yet they have not prevailed against me.
³ The plowers plowed upon my back; they made long their furrows.”
⁴ The LORD is righteous; he has cut the cords of the wicked.
⁵ May all who hate Zion be put to shame and turned backward!
⁶ Let them be like the grass on the housetops, which withers before it grows up,
⁷ with which the reaper does not fill his hand nor the binder of sheaves his arms,
⁸ nor do those who pass by say, “The blessing of the LORD be upon you! We bless you in the name of the LORD!” (ESV)

¹ But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared.
² And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb,
³ but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
⁴ While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel.
⁵ And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead?
⁶ He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee,
⁷ that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”
⁸ And they remembered his words,
⁹ and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. (ESV)

¹ Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
² And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.
³ And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
⁴ So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
⁵ And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
⁶ For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
⁷ And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.
⁸ So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry.
¹⁰ You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.
¹¹ There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’
¹² And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
¹³ You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
¹⁴ Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
¹⁵ And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.
¹⁶ When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants.
¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan,
¹⁸ and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’
¹⁹ And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
²⁰ Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²⁴ Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”
²⁵ So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob.
²⁶ And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them.
²⁷ But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.
²⁸ And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” (ESV)

¹ And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”
² And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”
³ And as he sat on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
⁴ “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”
⁵ And Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.
⁶ Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.
⁷ And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. This must take place, but the end is not yet.
⁸ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.
⁹ “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them.
¹⁰ And the gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations.
¹¹ And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, do not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour, for it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit.
¹² And brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death.
¹³ And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.
¹⁴ “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (let the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
¹⁵ Let the one who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out,
¹⁶ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak.
¹⁷ And alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days!
¹⁸ Pray that it may not happen in winter.
¹⁹ For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, and never will be.
²⁰ And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, whom he chose, he shortened the days.
²¹ And then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it.
²² For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
²³ But be on guard; I have told you all things beforehand. (ESV)

⁶⁶ On the tenth day Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai, the chief of the people of Dan:
⁶⁷ his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
⁶⁸ one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense;
⁶⁹ one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
⁷⁰ one male goat for a sin offering;
⁷¹ and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
⁷² On the eleventh day Pagiel the son of Ochran, the chief of the people of Asher:
⁷³ his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
⁷⁴ one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense;
⁷⁵ one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
⁷⁶ one male goat for a sin offering;
⁷⁷ and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Pagiel the son of Ochran.
⁷⁸ On the twelfth day Ahira the son of Enan, the chief of the people of Naphtali:
⁷⁹ his offering was one silver plate whose weight was 130 shekels, one silver basin of 70 shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, both of them full of fine flour mixed with oil for a grain offering;
⁸⁰ one golden dish of 10 shekels, full of incense;
⁸¹ one bull from the herd, one ram, one male lamb a year old, for a burnt offering;
⁸² one male goat for a sin offering;
⁸³ and for the sacrifice of peace offerings, two oxen, five rams, five male goats, and five male lambs a year old. This was the offering of Ahira the son of Enan.
⁸⁴ This was the dedication offering for the altar on the day when it was anointed, from the chiefs of Israel: twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, twelve golden dishes,
⁸⁵ each silver plate weighing 130 shekels and each basin 70, all the silver of the vessels 2,400 shekels according to the shekel of the sanctuary,
⁸⁶ the twelve golden dishes, full of incense, weighing 10 shekels apiece according to the shekel of the sanctuary, all the gold of the dishes being 120 shekels;
⁸⁷ all the cattle for the burnt offering twelve bulls, twelve rams, twelve male lambs a year old, with their grain offering; and twelve male goats for a sin offering;
⁸⁸ and all the cattle for the sacrifice of peace offerings twenty-four bulls, the rams sixty, the male goats sixty, the male lambs a year old sixty. This was the dedication offering for the altar after it was anointed.
⁸⁹ And when Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the LORD, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat that was on the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and it spoke to him.

¹ Now the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
² “Speak to Aaron and say to him, When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.”
³ And Aaron did so: he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, as the LORD commanded Moses.
⁴ And this was the workmanship of the lampstand, hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the LORD had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.
⁵ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
⁶ “Take the Levites from among the people of Israel and cleanse them.
⁷ Thus you shall do to them to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification upon them, and let them go with a razor over all their body, and wash their clothes and cleanse themselves.
⁸ Then let them take a bull from the herd and its grain offering of fine flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another bull from the herd for a sin offering.
⁹ And you shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the people of Israel.
¹⁰ When you bring the Levites before the LORD, the people of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites,
¹¹ and Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD as a wave offering from the people of Israel, that they may do the service of the LORD.
¹² Then the Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering to the LORD to make atonement for the Levites.
¹³ And you shall set the Levites before Aaron and his sons, and shall offer them as a wave offering to the LORD.
¹⁴ “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the people of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
¹⁵ And after that the Levites shall go in to serve at the tent of meeting, when you have cleansed them and offered them as a wave offering.
¹⁶ For they are wholly given to me from among the people of Israel. Instead of all who open the womb, the firstborn of all the people of Israel, I have taken them for myself.
¹⁷ For all the firstborn among the people of Israel are mine, both of man and of beast. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself,
¹⁸ and I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the people of Israel.
¹⁹ And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the people of Israel, to do the service for the people of Israel at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the people of Israel, that there may be no plague among the people of Israel when the people of Israel come near the sanctuary.”
²⁰ Thus did Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel to the Levites. According to all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, the people of Israel did to them.
²¹ And the Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes, and Aaron offered them as a wave offering before the LORD, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.
²² And after that the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron and his sons; as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.
²³ And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
²⁴ “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall come to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting.
²⁵ And from the age of fifty years they shall withdraw from the duty of the service and serve no more.
²⁶ They minister to their brothers in the tent of meeting by keeping guard, but they shall do no service. Thus shall you do to the Levites in assigning their duties.”

¹ And the LORD spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
² “Let the people of Israel keep the Passover at its appointed time.
³ On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.”
⁴ So Moses told the people of Israel that they should keep the Passover.
⁵ And they kept the Passover in the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at twilight, in the wilderness of Sinai; according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so the people of Israel did.
⁶ And there were certain men who were unclean through touching a dead body, so that they could not keep the Passover on that day, and they came before Moses and Aaron on that day.
⁷ And those men said to him, “We are unclean through touching a dead body. Why are we kept from bringing the LORD’s offering at its appointed time among the people of Israel?”
⁸ And Moses said to them, “Wait, that I may hear what the LORD will command concerning you.”
⁹ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
¹⁰ “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If any one of you or of your descendants is unclean through touching a dead body, or is on a long journey, he shall still keep the Passover to the LORD.
¹¹ In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
¹² They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any of its bones; according to all the statute for the Passover they shall keep it.
¹³ But if anyone who is clean and is not on a journey fails to keep the Passover, that person shall be cut off from his people because he did not bring the LORD’s offering at its appointed time; that man shall bear his sin.
¹⁴ And if a stranger sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner and for the native.” (ESV)

⁴¹ Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover.
⁴² And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom.
⁴³ And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it,
⁴⁴ but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances,
⁴⁵ and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.
⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.
⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.
⁴⁸ And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”
⁴⁹ And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”
⁵⁰ And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.
⁵¹ And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
⁵² And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (ESV)

¹¹ Malicious witnesses rise up; they ask me of things that I do not know.
¹² They repay me evil for good; my soul is bereft.
¹³ But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.
¹⁴ I went about as though I grieved for my friend or my brother; as one who laments his mother, I bowed down in mourning.
¹⁵ But at my stumbling they rejoiced and gathered; they gathered together against me; wretches whom I did not know tore at me without ceasing;
¹⁶ like profane mockers at a feast, they gnash at me with their teeth.
¹⁷ How long, O Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their destruction, my precious life from the lions!
¹⁸ I will thank you in the great congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you. (ESV)

¹ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
² He was in the beginning with God.
³ All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
⁴ In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
⁵ The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
⁶ There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
⁷ He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him.
⁸ He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
⁹ The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.
¹⁰ He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
¹¹ He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him.
¹² But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,
¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
¹⁴ And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
¹⁵ (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’”)
¹⁶ For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
¹⁷ For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
¹⁸ No one has ever seen God; God the only Son, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.
¹⁹ And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”
²⁰ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.”
²¹ And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”
²² So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
²³ He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.”
²⁴ (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)
²⁵ They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”
²⁶ John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know,
²⁷ even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”
²⁸ These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.
²⁹ The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
³⁰ This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’
³¹ I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.”
³² And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.
³³ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
³⁴ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
³⁵ The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples,
³⁶ and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
³⁷ The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.
³⁸ Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?”
³⁹ He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
⁴¹ He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
⁴² He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter).
⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.”
⁴⁴ Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”
⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”
⁴⁷ Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!”
⁴⁸ Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.”
⁴⁹ Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”
⁵⁰ Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”
⁵¹ And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

¹ On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.
² Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.
³ When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”
⁴ And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”
⁵ His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
⁶ Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.
⁷ Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.
⁸ And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.
⁹ When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom
¹⁰ and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
¹¹ This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.
¹² After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.
¹³ The Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
¹⁴ In the temple he found those who were selling oxen and sheep and pigeons, and the money-changers sitting there.
¹⁵ And making a whip of cords, he drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and oxen. And he poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables.
¹⁶ And he told those who sold the pigeons, “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.”
¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
¹⁸ So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?”
¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
²⁰ The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?”
²¹ But he was speaking about the temple of his body.
²² When therefore he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.
²³ Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing.
²⁴ But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people
²⁵ and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man.

¹ Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.”
³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
⁷ Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’
⁸ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
⁹ Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?”
¹⁰ Jesus answered him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?
¹¹ Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.
¹² If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
¹³ No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.
¹⁴ And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
¹⁵ that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
¹⁸ Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
¹⁹ And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.
²⁰ For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.
²¹ But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
²² After this Jesus and his disciples went into the Judean countryside, and he remained there with them and was baptizing.
²³ John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because water was plentiful there, and people were coming and being baptized
²⁴ (for John had not yet been put in prison).
²⁵ Now a discussion arose between some of John’s disciples and a Jew over purification.
²⁶ And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, he who was with you across the Jordan, to whom you bore witness—look, he is baptizing, and all are going to him.”
²⁷ John answered, “A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven.
²⁸ You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before him.’
²⁹ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is now complete.
³⁰ He must increase, but I must decrease.”
³¹ He who comes from above is above all. He who is of the earth belongs to the earth and speaks in an earthly way. He who comes from heaven is above all.
³² He bears witness to what he has seen and heard, yet no one receives his testimony.
³³ Whoever receives his testimony sets his seal to this, that God is true.
³⁴ For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure.
³⁵ The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.
³⁶ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

¹ Now when Jesus learned that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus was making and baptizing more disciples than John
² (although Jesus himself did not baptize, but only his disciples),
³ he left Judea and departed again for Galilee.
⁴ And he had to pass through Samaria.
⁵ So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
⁶ Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.
⁷ A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.”
⁸ (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)
⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.)
¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
¹¹ The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water?
¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”
¹³ Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again,
¹⁴ but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.”
¹⁷ The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’;
¹⁸ for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
¹⁹ The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.
²⁰ Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”
²¹ Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.
²² You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.
²³ But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.
²⁴ God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
²⁵ The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming (he who is called Christ). When he comes, he will tell us all things.”
²⁶ Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am he.”
²⁷ Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?”
²⁸ So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people,
²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”
³⁰ They went out of the town and were coming to him.
³¹ Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, saying, “Rabbi, eat.”
³² But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.”
³³ So the disciples said to one another, “Has anyone brought him something to eat?”
³⁴ Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
³⁵ Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.
³⁶ Already the one who reaps is receiving wages and gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together.
³⁷ For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’
³⁸ I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
³⁹ Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.”
⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days.
⁴¹ And many more believed because of his word.
⁴² They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.”
⁴³ After the two days he departed for Galilee.
⁴⁴ (For Jesus himself had testified that a prophet has no honor in his own hometown.)
⁴⁵ So when he came to Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, having seen all that he had done in Jerusalem at the feast. For they too had gone to the feast.
⁴⁶ So he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had made the water wine. And at Capernaum there was an official whose son was ill.
⁴⁷ When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and asked him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death.
⁴⁸ So Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.”
⁴⁹ The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.”
⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went on his way.
⁵¹ As he was going down, his servants met him and told him that his son was recovering.
⁵² So he asked them the hour when he began to get better, and they said to him, “Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him.”
⁵³ The father knew that was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” And he himself believed, and all his household.
⁵⁴ This was now the second sign that Jesus did when he had come from Judea to Galilee. (ESV)