Wanderings in the Wilderness

2 Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea,^[a](A) as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.^(B)

² Then the Lord said to me, ³ “You have made your way around this hill country long enough;^(C) now turn north. ⁴ Give the people these orders:^(D) ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau,^(E) who live in Seir.^(F) They will be afraid^(G) of you, but be very careful. ⁵ Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.^{(H) 6} You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

⁷ The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched^(I) over your journey through this vast wilderness.^(J) These forty years^(K) the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.^(L)

⁸ So we went on past our relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from^(M) the Arabah^(N) road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber,^(O) and traveled along the desert road of Moab.^(P)

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar^(Q) to the descendants of Lot^(R) as a possession.”

¹⁰ (The Emites^(S) used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites.^{(T) 11} Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites,^(U) but the Moabites called them Emites. ¹² Horites^(V) used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did^(W) in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.)

¹³ And the Lord said, “Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.^(X)” So we crossed the valley.

¹⁴ Thirty-eight years^(Y) passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea^(Z) until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation^(AA) of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them.^{(AB) 15} The Lord’s hand was against them until he had completely eliminated^(AC) them from the camp.

¹⁶ Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died, ¹⁷ the Lord said to me, ¹⁸ “Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar.^{(AD) 19} When you come to the Ammonites,^(AE) do not harass them or provoke them to war,^(AF) for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.^(AG)”

²⁰ (That too was considered a land of the Rephaites,^(AH) who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. ²¹ They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites.^(AI) The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place. ²² The Lord had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir,^(AJ) when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. ²³ And as for the Avvites^(AK) who lived in villages as far as Gaza,^(AL) the Caphtorites^(AM) coming out from Caphtor^[b](AN) destroyed them and settled in their place.)

Defeat of Sihon King of Heshbon

²⁴ “Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge.^(AO) See, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite,^(AP) king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage^(AQ) him in battle. ²⁵ This very day I will begin to put the terror^(AR) and fear^(AS) of you on all the nations under heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble^(AT) and be in anguish because of you.”

²⁶ From the Desert of Kedemoth^(AU) I sent messengers to Sihon^(AV) king of Heshbon offering peace^(AW) and saying, ²⁷ “Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left.^{(AX) 28} Sell us food to eat^(AY) and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot^(AZ)— ²⁹ as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us—until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.” ³⁰ But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord^(BA) your God had made his spirit stubborn^(BB) and his heart obstinate^(BC) in order to give him into your hands,^(BD) as he has now done.

³¹ The Lord said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”^(BE)

³² When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle^(BF) at Jahaz, ³³ the Lord our God delivered^(BG) him over to us and we struck him down,^(BH) together with his sons and his whole army. ³⁴ At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed^[c](BI) them—men, women and children. We left no survivors. ³⁵ But the livestock^(BJ) and the plunder^(BK) from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. ³⁶ From Aroer^(BL) on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead,^(BM) not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave^(BN) us all of them. ³⁷ But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God,^(BO) you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites,^(BP) neither the land along the course of the Jabbok^(BQ) nor that around the towns in the hills.

Psalm 119^[a]

א Aleph

ב Beth

ג Gimel

Zacchaeus the Tax Collector

19 Jesus entered Jericho^(A) and was passing through. ² A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³ He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig^(B) tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.^(C)

⁵ When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶ So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.

⁷ All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”^(D)

⁸ But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord,^(E) “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything,^(F) I will pay back four times the amount.”^(G)

⁹ Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.^{(H) 10} For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”^(I)

The Parable of the Ten Minas^(J)

¹¹ While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God^(K) was going to appear at once.^{(L) 12} He said: “A man of noble birth went to a distant country to have himself appointed king and then to return. ¹³ So he called ten of his servants^(M) and gave them ten minas.^[a] ‘Put this money to work,’ he said, ‘until I come back.’

¹⁴ “But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our king.’

¹⁵ “He was made king, however, and returned home. Then he sent for the servants to whom he had given the money, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

¹⁶ “The first one came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned ten more.’

¹⁷ “‘Well done, my good servant!’^(N) his master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take charge of ten cities.’^(O)

¹⁸ “The second came and said, ‘Sir, your mina has earned five more.’

¹⁹ “His master answered, ‘You take charge of five cities.’

²⁰ “Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is your mina; I have kept it laid away in a piece of cloth. ²¹ I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’^(P)

²² “His master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words,^(Q) you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow?^{(R) 23} Why then didn’t you put my money on deposit, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

²⁴ “Then he said to those standing by, ‘Take his mina away from him and give it to the one who has ten minas.’

²⁵ “‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

²⁶ “He replied, ‘I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what they have will be taken away.^{(S) 27} But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.’”

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King^(T)(U)

²⁸ After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.^{(V) 29} As he approached Bethphage and Bethany^(W) at the hill called the Mount of Olives,^(X) he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, ³⁰ “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it.’”

³² Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them.^{(Y) 33} As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

³⁴ They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

³⁵ They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. ³⁶ As he went along, people spread their cloaks^(Z) on the road.

³⁷ When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives,^(AA) the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

³⁹ Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”^(AD)

⁴⁰ “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”^(AE)

⁴¹ As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it^{(AF) 42} and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. ⁴³ The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side.^{(AG) 44} They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls.^(AH) They will not leave one stone on another,^(AI) because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming^(AJ) to you.”

Jesus at the Temple^(AK)

⁴⁵ When Jesus entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling. ⁴⁶ “It is written,” he said to them, “‘My house will be a house of prayer’^[c];^(AL) but you have made it ‘a den of robbers.’^[d]”^(AM)

⁴⁷ Every day he was teaching at the temple.^(AN) But the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the leaders among the people were trying to kill him.^{(AO) 48} Yet they could not find any way to do it, because all the people hung on his words.