Teaching at Nazareth

6 Jesus went out from there and *came into ^[a]His hometown; and His disciples *followed Him. ² When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such ^[b]miracles as these performed by His hands? ³ Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of ^[c]James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. ⁴ Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in ^[d]his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household.” ⁵ And He could do no ^[e]miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. ⁶ And He wondered at their unbelief.

And He was going around the villages teaching.

The Twelve Sent Out

⁷ And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits; ⁸ and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff—no bread, no ^[f]bag, no money in their belt— ⁹ but ^[g]to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two ^[h]tunics.” ¹⁰ And He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you ^[i]leave town. ¹¹ Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust ^[j]off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” ¹² They went out and ^[k]preached that men should repent. ¹³ And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them.

John’s Fate Recalled

¹⁴ And King Herod heard of it, for His name had become well known; and people were saying, “John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in Him.” ¹⁵ But others were saying, “He is Elijah.” And others were saying, “He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.” ¹⁶ But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, “John, whom I beheaded, has risen!”

¹⁷ For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. ¹⁸ For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” ¹⁹ Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; ²⁰ for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; ^[l]but he ^[m]used to enjoy listening to him. ²¹ A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and ^[n]military commanders and the leading men of Galilee; ²² and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and ^[o]his dinner guests; and the king said to the girl, “Ask me for whatever you want and I will give it to you.” ²³ And he swore to her, “Whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you; up to half of my kingdom.” ²⁴ And she went out and said to her mother, “What shall I ask for?” And she said, “The head of John the Baptist.” ²⁵ Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, “I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.” ²⁶ And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oaths and because of ^[p]his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. ²⁷ Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison, ²⁸ and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl; and the girl gave it to her mother. ²⁹ When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb.

Restoration Promised

33 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the second time, while he was still ^[a]confined in the court of the guard, saying, ² “Thus says the Lord who made ^[b]the earth, the Lord who formed it to establish it, the Lord is His name, ³ ‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ ⁴ For thus says the Lord God of Israel concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah which are broken down to make a defense against the siege ramps and against the sword, ⁵ ‘While they are coming to fight with the Chaldeans and to fill them with the corpses of men whom I have slain in My anger and in My wrath, and I have hidden My face from this city because of all their wickedness: ⁶ Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them; and I will reveal to them an abundance of peace and truth. ⁷ I will restore the ^[c]fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel and will rebuild them as they were at first. ⁸ I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned against Me and by which they have transgressed against Me. ^9 [d]It will be to Me a name of joy, praise and glory before all the nations of the earth which will hear of all the good that I do for them, and they will fear and tremble because of all the good and all the peace that I make for it.’

¹⁰ “Thus says the Lord, ‘Yet again there will be heard in this place, of which you say, “It is a waste, without man and without beast,” that is, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate, without man and without inhabitant and without beast, ¹¹ the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who say,

and of those who bring a thank offering into the house of the Lord. For I will restore the ^[e]fortunes of the land as they were at first,’ says the Lord.

¹² “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘There will again be in this place which is waste, without man or beast, and in all its cities, a ^[f]habitation of shepherds who rest their flocks. ¹³ In the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland, in the cities of the Negev, in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah, the flocks will again pass under the hands of the one who numbers them,’ says the Lord.

The Davidic Kingdom

¹⁴ ‘Behold, days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will fulfill the good word which I have spoken concerning the house of Israel and the house of Judah. ¹⁵ In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and righteousness on the earth. ¹⁶ In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell in safety; and this is the name by which she will be called: the Lord is our righteousness.’ ¹⁷ For thus says the Lord, ‘^[g]David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel; ^18 [h]and the Levitical priests shall never lack a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to prepare sacrifices ^[i]continually.’”

¹⁹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁰ “Thus says the Lord, ‘If you can break My covenant for the day and My covenant for the night, so that day and night will not be at their appointed time, ²¹ then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant so that he will not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levitical priests, My ministers. ²² As the host of heaven cannot be counted and the sand of the sea cannot be measured, so I will multiply the ^[j]descendants of David My servant and the Levites who minister to Me.’”

²³ And the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, saying, ²⁴ “Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, ‘The two families which the Lord chose, He has rejected them’? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation ^[k]in their sight. ²⁵ Thus says the Lord, ‘If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the ^[l]fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, ²⁶ then I would reject the ^[m]descendants of Jacob and David My servant, ^[n]not taking from his ^[o]descendants rulers over the ^[p]descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But I will restore their ^[q]fortunes and will have mercy on them.’”