Old Testament

Genesis 20-21

^20:1Abraham journeyed from there toward the land of the South, and lived between Kadesh and Shur. He sojourned in Gerar. ^20:2Abraham said about Sarah his wife, "She is my sister." Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. ^20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man's wife."

^20:4Now Abimelech had not come near her. He said, "Lord, will you kill even a righteous nation? ^20:5Didn't he tell me, 'She is my sister?' She, even she herself said, 'He is my brother.' In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands have I done this."

^20:6God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also withheld you from sinning against me. Therefore I didn't allow you to touch her. ^20:7Now therefore, restore the man's wife. For he is a prophet, and he will pray for you, and you will live. If you don't restore her, know for sure that you will die, you, and all who are yours.

^20:8Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ear. The men were very scared. ^20:9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said to him, "What have you done to us? How have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? You have done deeds to me that ought not to be done!" ^20:10Abimelech said to Abraham, "What did you see, that you have done this thing?"

^20:11Abraham said, "Because I thought, 'Surely the fear of God is not in this place. They will kill me for my wife's sake.' ^20:12Moreover she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. ^20:13It happened, when God caused me to wander from my father's house, that I said to her, 'This is your kindness which you shall show to me. Everywhere that we go, say of me, "He is my brother."'"

^20:14Abimelech took sheep and oxen, men-servants and women-servants, and gave them to Abraham, and restored Sarah, his wife to him. ^20:15Abimelech said, "Behold, my land is before you. Dwell where it pleases you." ^20:16To Sarah he said, "Behold, I have given your brother a thousand pieces of silver. Behold, it is for you a covering of the eyes to all that are with you. In front of all you are vindicated."

^20:17Abraham prayed to God. God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maid-servants, and they bore children. ^20:18For Yahweh had closed up tight all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah, Abraham's wife.

^21:1Yahweh visited Sarah as he had said, and Yahweh did to Sarah as he had spoken. ^21:2Sarah conceived, and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ^21:3Abraham called his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. ^21:4Abraham circumcised his son, Isaac, when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. ^21:5Abraham was one hundred years old when his son, Isaac, was born to him. ^21:6Sarah said, "God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me." ^21:7She said, "Who would have said to Abraham, that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age."

^21:8The child grew, and was weaned. Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. ^21:9Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, mocking. ^21:10Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this handmaid and her son! For the son of this handmaid will not be heir with my son, even with Isaac."

^21:11The thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight on account of his son. ^21:12God said to Abraham, "Don't let it be grievous in your sight because of the boy, and because of your handmaid. In all that Sarah says to you, listen to her voice. For from Isaac will your seed be called. ^21:13Also of the son of the handmaid will I make a nation, because he is your seed." ^21:14Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread and a bottle of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and gave her the child, and sent her away. She departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba. ^21:15The water in the bottle was spent, and she cast the child under one of the shrubs. ^21:16She went and sat down opposite him, a good way off, about a bow shot away. For she said, "Don't let me see the death of the child." She sat over against him, and lifted up her voice, and wept. ^21:17God heard the voice of the boy.

The angel of God called to Hagar out of the sky, and said to her, "What ails you, Hagar? Don't be afraid. For God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. ^21:18Get up, lift up the boy, and hold him in your hand. For I will make him a great nation."

^21:19God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. She went, filled the bottle with water, and gave the boy drink. ^21:20God was with the boy, and he grew. He lived in the wilderness, and became, as he grew up, an archer. ^21:21He lived in the wilderness of Paran. His mother took a wife for him out of the land of Egypt.

^21:22It happened at that time, that Abimelech and Phicol the captain of his host spoke to Abraham, saying, "God is with you in all that you do. ^21:23Now therefore swear to me here by God that you will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son. But according to the kindness that I have done to you, you shall do to me, and to the land in which you have sojourned."

^21:24Abraham said, "I will swear." ^21:25Abraham complained to Abimelech because of a water well, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. ^21:26Abimelech said, I don't know who has done this thing. Neither did you tell me, neither did I hear of it, until today."

^21:27Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them to Abimelech. Those two made a covenant. ^21:28Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. ^21:29Abimelech said to Abraham, "What do these seven ewe lambs which you have set by themselves mean?"

^21:30He said, "You shall take these seven ewe lambs from my hand, that it may be a witness to me, that I have dug this well." ^21:31Therefore he called that place Beersheba, because they both swore there. ^21:32So they made a covenant at Beersheba. Abimelech rose up with Phicol, the captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. ^21:33Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and called there on the name of Yahweh, the Everlasting God. ^21:34Abraham sojourned in the land of the Philistines many days.

New Testament

Matthew 12

^12:1At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. ^12:2But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, "Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath."

^12:3But he said to them, "Haven't you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him; ^12:4how he entered into the house of God, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ^12:5Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? ^12:6But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. ^12:7But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. ^12:8For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath."

^12:9He departed there, and went into their synagogue. ^12:10And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" that they might accuse him.

^12:11He said to them, "What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won't he grab on to it, and lift it out? ^12:12Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day." ^12:13Then he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other. ^12:14But the Pharisees went out, and conspired against him, how they might destroy him. ^12:15Jesus, perceiving that, withdrew from there. Great multitudes followed him; and he healed them all, ^12:16and charged them that they should not make him known: ^12:17that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying,

 ^12:18"Behold, my servant whom I have chosen;
      My beloved in whom my soul is well pleased:

 I will put my Spirit on him.
      He will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

 ^12:19He will not strive, nor shout;
      Neither will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

 ^12:20He won't break a bruised reed.
      He won't quench a smoking flax,

 Until he leads justice to victory.
      ^12:21In his name, the Gentiles will hope."

^12:22Then one possessed by a demon, blind and mute, was brought to him and he healed him, so that the blind and mute man both spoke and saw. ^12:23All the multitudes were amazed, and said, "Can this be the son of David?" ^12:24But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, "This man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebul, the prince of the demons."

^12:25Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. ^12:26If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ^12:27If I by Beelzebul cast out demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ^12:28But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you. ^12:29Or how can one enter into the house of the strong man, and plunder his goods, unless he first bind the strong man? Then he will plunder his house.

^12:30"He who is not with me is against me, and he who doesn't gather with me, scatters. ^12:31Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven men. ^12:32Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in that which is to come.

^12:33"Either make the tree good, and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt; for the tree is known by its fruit. ^12:34You offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. ^12:35The good man out of his good treasure brings out good things, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings out evil things. ^12:36I tell you that every idle word that men speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. ^12:37For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

^12:38Then certain of the scribes and Pharisees answered, "Teacher, we want to see a sign from you."

^12:39But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, but no sign will be given it but the sign of Jonah the prophet. ^12:40For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. ^12:41The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, someone greater than Jonah is here. ^12:42The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation, and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, someone greater than Solomon is here. ^12:43But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passes through waterless places, seeking rest, and doesn't find it. ^12:44Then he says, 'I will return into my house from which I came out,' and when he has come back, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. ^12:45Then he goes, and takes with himself seven other spirits more evil than he is, and they enter in and dwell there. The last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Even so will it be also to this evil generation."

^12:46While he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, seeking to speak to him. ^12:47One said to him, "Behold, your mother and your brothers stand outside, seeking to speak to you."

^12:48But he answered him who spoke to him, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?" ^12:49He stretched out his hand towards his disciples, and said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers! ^12:50For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother."