6    Who is this sweeping in from the wilderness like a cloud of smoke? Who is it, fragrant with myrrh and frankincense and every kind of spice?

7    Look, it is Solomon’s carriage, surrounded by sixty heroic men, the best of Israel’s soldiers.

8    They are all skilled swordsmen, experienced warriors. Each wears a sword on his thigh, ready to defend the king against an attack in the night.

9    King Solomon’s carriage is built of wood imported from Lebanon.

10  Its posts are silver, its canopy gold; its cushions are purple. It was decorated with love by the young women of Jerusalem.

11  Come out to see King Solomon, young women of Jerusalem. He wears the crown his mother gave him on his wedding day, his most joyous day.

19  For God is pleased when, conscious of his will, you patiently endure unjust treatment. 

20  Of course, you get no credit for being patient if you are beaten for doing wrong. But if you suffer for doing good and endure it patiently, God is pleased with you.

21  For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.

22  He never sinned, nor ever deceived anyone.

23  He did not retaliate when he was insulted, nor threaten revenge when he suffered. He left his case in the hands of God, who always judges fairly.

24  He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.

25  Once you were like sheep who wandered away. But now you have turned to your Shepherd, the Guardian of your souls.

9    I will sing a new song to you, O God! I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.

10  For you grant victory to kings! You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.

11  Save me! Rescue me from the power of my enemies. Their mouths are full of lies; they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.

12  May our sons flourish in their youth like well-nurtured plants. May our daughters be like graceful pillars, carved to beautify a palace.

13  May our barns be filled with crops of every kind. May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands, even tens of thousands,

14  and may our oxen be loaded down with produce. May there be no enemy breaking through our walls, no going into captivity, no cries of alarm in our town squares.

15  Yes, joyful are those who live like this! Joyful indeed are those whose God is the Lord.

31   Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many terrible things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. 

32   As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.

33   Jesus turned around and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said. “You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”

34   Then, calling the crowd to join his disciples, he said, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. 

35   If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will save it. 

36   And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? 37   Is anything worth more than your soul? 

38   If anyone is ashamed of me and my message in these adulterous and sinful days, the Son of Man will be ashamed of that person when he returns in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

1   Jesus went on to say, “I tell you the truth, some standing here right now will not die before they see the Kingdom of God arrive in great power!”

1   Again, I observed all the oppression that takes place under the sun. I saw the tears of the oppressed, with no one to comfort them. The oppressors have great power, and their victims are helpless. 

2   So I concluded that the dead are better off than the living. 

3   But most fortunate of all are those who are not yet born. For they have not seen all the evil that is done under the sun.

1    Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take all your fighting men and attack Ai, for I have given you the king of Ai, his people, his town, and his land. 

2    You will destroy them as you destroyed Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the plunder and the livestock for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the town.” 

3    So Joshua and all the fighting men set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose 30,000 of his best warriors and sent them out at night

4    with these orders: “Hide in ambush close behind the town and be ready for action. 

5    When our main army attacks, the men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away from them. 

6    We will let them chase us until we have drawn them away from the town. For they will say, ‘The Israelites are running away from us as they did before.’ Then, while we are running from them, 

7    you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the town, for the Lord your God will give it to you. 

8   Set the town on fire, as the Lord has commanded. You have your orders.”

9    So they left and went to the place of ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained among the people in the camp that night. 

10   Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai, accompanied by the elders of Israel. 

11   All the fighting men who were with Joshua marched in front of the town and camped on the north side of Ai, with a valley between them and the town. 

12   That night Joshua sent about 5,000 men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the town. 

13   So they stationed the main army north of the town and the ambush west of the town. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley.

14   When the king of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurried out early in the morning and attacked the Israelites at a place overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn’t realize there was an ambush behind the town. 

15   Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness as though they were badly beaten. 

16   Then all the men in the town were called out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the town. 

17   There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the Israelites, and the town was left wide open.

18   Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Point the spear in your hand toward Ai, for I will hand the town over to you.” Joshua did as he was commanded. 

19   As soon as Joshua gave this signal, all the men in ambush jumped up from their position and poured into the town. They quickly captured it and set it on fire.

20   When the men of Ai looked behind them, smoke from the town was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go. For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now turned on their pursuers. 

21   When Joshua and all the other Israelites saw that the ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the town, they turned and attacked the men of Ai. 

22   Meanwhile, the Israelites who were inside the town came out and attacked the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were caught in the middle, with Israelite fighters on both sides. Israel attacked them, and not a single person survived or escaped. 

23   Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.

3    Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. 

4    After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.

5    And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to you as his children? He said, “My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you.

6    For the Lord disciplines those he loves,

and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.”

7    As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? 

8    If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children at all. 

9    Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever?

10   For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 

11   No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

12   So take a new grip with your tired hands and strengthen your weak knees. 

13   Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.

1   I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.

2   Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!

3   Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow.

4   Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Please, Lord, save me!”

5   How kind the Lord is! How good he is! So merciful, this God of ours!

6   The Lord protects those of childlike faith; I was facing death, and he saved me.

7   Let my soul be at rest again, for the Lord has been good to me.

8   He has saved me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.

9   And so I walk in the Lord’s presence as I live here on earth!

2   Six days later Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain to be alone. As the men watched, Jesus’ appearance was transformed, 

3   and his clothes became dazzling white, far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them. 

4   Then Elijah and Moses appeared and began talking with Jesus.

5   Peter exclaimed, “Rabbi, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” 

6   He said this because he didn’t really know what else to say, for they were all terrified.

7   Then a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him.” 

8   Suddenly, when they looked around, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus with them.

9   As they went back down the mountain, he told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 

10  So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what he meant by “rising from the dead.”

11  Then they asked him, “Why do the teachers of religious law insist that Elijah must return before the Messiah comes?”

12  Jesus responded, “Elijah is indeed coming first to get everything ready. Yet why do the Scriptures say that the Son of Man must suffer greatly and be treated with utter contempt? 

13  But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they chose to abuse him, just as the Scriptures predicted.”