Preschool

⁴Surely our griefs He Himself bore,

And our sorrows He carried;

Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,

Smitten of God, and afflicted.

⁵But He was pierced through for our transgressions,

He was crushed for our iniquities;

The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,

And by His scourging we are healed.

⁶All of us like sheep have gone astray,

Each of us has turned to his own way;

But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all

To fall on Him.

⁷He was oppressed and He was afflicted,

Yet He did not open His mouth;

Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,

And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,

So He did not open His mouth.

⁸By oppression and judgment He was taken away;

And as for His generation, who considered

That He was cut off out of the land of the living

For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?

⁹His grave was assigned with wicked men,

Yet He was with a rich man in His death,

Because He had done no violence,

Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.

¹⁰But the LORD was pleased

To crush Him, putting Him to grief;

If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,

He will see His offspring,

He will prolong His days,

And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

¹¹As a result of the anguish of His soul,

He will see it and be satisfied;

By His knowledge the Righteous One,

My Servant, will justify the many,

As He will bear their iniquities.

¹²Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,

And He will divide the booty with the strong;

Because He poured out Himself to death,

And was numbered with the transgressors;

Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,

And interceded for the transgressors.

⁹For you have made the LORD, my refuge,

Even the Most High, your dwelling place.

¹⁰No evil will befall you,

Nor will any plague come near your tent.

¹¹For He will give His angels charge concerning you,

To guard you in all your ways.

¹²They will bear you up in their hands,

That you do not strike your foot against a stone.

¹³You will tread upon the lion and cobra,

The young lion and the serpent you will trample down.

¹⁴“Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him;

I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.

¹⁵“He will call upon Me, and I will answer him;

I will be with him in trouble;

I will rescue him and honor him.

¹⁶“With a long life I will satisfy him

And let him see My salvation.”

The Perfect High Priest

¹For every high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men in things pertaining to God, in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins;²he can deal gently with the ignorant and misguided, since he himself also is beset with weakness;³and because of it he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins, as for the people, so also for himself.⁴And no one takes the honor to himself, but receives it when he is called by God, even as Aaron was.

⁵So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him,

“YOU ARE MY SON,

TODAY I HAVE BEGOTTEN YOU”;

⁶just as He says also in another passage,

“YOU ARE A PRIEST FOREVER

ACCORDING TOTHE ORDER OF MELCHIZEDEK.”

⁷In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.⁸Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.⁹And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,¹⁰being designated by God as a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.

³⁵James and John, the two sons of Zebedee, *came up to Jesus, saying, “Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.”³⁶And He said to them, “What do you want Me to do for you?”³⁷They said to Him, “Grant that we may sit, one on Your right and one on Your left, in Your glory.”³⁸But Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”³⁹They said to Him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.⁴⁰“But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give; but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.”

⁴¹Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John.⁴²Calling them to Himself, Jesus *said to them, “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them.⁴³“But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant;⁴⁴and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all.⁴⁵“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Bartimaeus Receives His Sight

⁷For thus says the LORD,

“Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob,

And shout among the chief of the nations;

Proclaim, give praise and say,

‘O LORD, save Your people,

The remnant of Israel.’

⁸“Behold, I am bringing them from the north country,

And I will gather them from the remote parts of the earth,

Among them the blind and the lame,

The woman with child and she who is in labor with child, together;

A great company, they will return here.

⁹“With weeping they will come,

And by supplication I will lead them;

I will make them walk by streams of waters,

On a straight path in which they will not stumble;

For I am a father to Israel,

And Ephraim is My firstborn.”

¹When the LORD brought back the captive ones of Zion,

We were like those who dream.

²Then our mouth was filled with laughter

And our tongue with joyful shouting;

Then they said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great things for them.”

³The LORD has done great things for us;

We are glad.

⁴Restore our captivity, O LORD,

As the streams in the South.

⁵Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

⁶He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,

Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him.

²³The former priests, on the one hand, existed in greater numbers because they were prevented by death from continuing,²⁴but Jesus, on the other hand, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently.²⁵Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.

²⁶For it was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens;²⁷who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people, because this He did once for all when He offered up Himself.²⁸For the Law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath, which came after the Law, appoints a Son, made perfect forever.

⁴⁶Then they *came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road.⁴⁷When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”⁴⁸Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”⁴⁹And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they *called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.”⁵⁰Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus.⁵¹And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”⁵²And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

⁶The LORD of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;

A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,

And refined, aged wine.

⁷And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,

Even the veil which is stretched over all nations.

⁸He will swallow up death for all time,

And the Lord GOD will wipe tears away from all faces,

And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;

For the LORD has spoken.

⁹And it will be said in that day,

“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.

This is the LORD for whom we have waited;

Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”

¹The earth is the LORD’S, and all it contains,

The world, and those who dwell in it.

²For He has founded it upon the seas

And established it upon the rivers.

³Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?

And who may stand in His holy place?

⁴He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood

And has not sworn deceitfully.

⁵He shall receive a blessing from the LORD

And righteousness from the God of his salvation.

⁶This is the generation of those who seek Him,

Who seek Your face—even Jacob.

Selah.

⁷Lift up your heads, O gates,

And be lifted up, O ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in!

⁸Who is the King of glory?

The LORD strong and mighty,

The LORD mighty in battle.

⁹Lift up your heads, O gates,

And lift them up, O ancient doors,

That the King of glory may come in!

¹⁰Who is this King of glory?

The LORD of hosts,

He is the King of glory.

Selah.

The New Heaven and Earth

¹Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.²And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.³And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,⁴and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

⁵And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He *said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”⁶Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

³²Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”³³When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,³⁴and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”³⁵Jesus wept.³⁶So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”³⁷But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”

³⁸So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.³⁹Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”⁴⁰Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”⁴¹So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.⁴²“I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”⁴³When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”⁴⁴The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying,⁹“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”¹⁰So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”¹¹As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand.”¹²But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.”¹³Then Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son.¹⁴“For thus says the LORD God of Israel, ‘The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth.’”¹⁵So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days.¹⁶The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

¹Praise the LORD!

Praise the LORD, O my soul!

²I will praise the LORD while I live;

I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

³Do not trust in princes,

In mortal man, in whom there is no salvation.

⁴His spirit departs, he returns to the earth;

In that very day his thoughts perish.

⁵How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,

Whose hope is in the LORD his God,

⁶Who made heaven and earth,

The sea and all that is in them;

Who keeps faith forever;

⁷Who executes justice for the oppressed;

Who gives food to the hungry.

The LORD sets the prisoners free.

⁸The LORD opens the eyes of the blind;

The LORD raises up those who are bowed down;

The LORD loves the righteous;

⁹The LORD protects the strangers;

He supports the fatherless and the widow,

But He thwarts the way of the wicked.

¹⁰The LORD will reign forever,

Your God, O Zion, to all generations.

Praise the LORD!

²⁴For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;²⁵nor was it that He would offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own.²⁶Otherwise, He would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.²⁷And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,²⁸so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.

³⁸In His teaching He was saying: “Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the market places,³⁹and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets,⁴⁰who devour widows’ houses, and for appearance’s sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.”

The Widow’s Mite

⁴¹And He sat down opposite the treasury, and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums.⁴²A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent.⁴³Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury;⁴⁴for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.”

The Time of the End

¹“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.²“Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt.³“Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

¹Preserve me, O God, for I take refuge in You.

²I said to the LORD, “You are my Lord;

I have no good besides You.”

³As for the saints who are in the earth,

They are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight.

⁴The sorrows of those who have bartered for another god will be multiplied;

I shall not pour out their drink offerings of blood,

Nor will I take their names upon my lips.

⁵The LORD is the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You support my lot.

⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Indeed, my heritage is beautiful to me.

⁷I will bless the LORD who has counseled me;

Indeed, my mind instructs me in the night.

⁸I have set the LORD continually before me;

Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will dwell securely.

¹⁰For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol;

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

¹¹You will make known to me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

¹¹Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins;¹²but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,¹³waiting from that time onward UNTIL HISENEMIES BE MADE A FOOTSTOOL FOR HIS FEET.¹⁴For by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are sanctified.¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us; for after saying,

¹⁶“THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE WITH THEM

AFTER THOSE DAYS, SAYS THE LORD:

I WILL PUT MY LAWS UPON THEIR HEART,

AND ON THEIR MIND I WILL WRITE THEM,”

He then says,

¹⁷“AND THEIR SINS AND THEIR LAWLESS DEEDS

I WILL REMEMBER NO MORE.”

¹⁸Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there is no longer any offering for sin.

A New and Living Way

¹⁹Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus,²⁰by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh,²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God,²²let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.²³Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;²⁴and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,²⁵not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Christ or Judgment

Things to Come

¹As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples *said to Him, “Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”²And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.”

³As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately,⁴“Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?”⁵And Jesus began to say to them, “See to it that no one misleads you.⁶“Many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He!’ and will mislead many.⁷“When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end.⁸“For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.

⁹“I kept looking

Until thrones were set up,

And the Ancient of Days took His seat;

His vesture was like white snow

And the hair of His head like pure wool.

His throne was ablaze with flames,

Its wheels were a burning fire.

¹⁰“A river of fire was flowing

And coming out from before Him;

Thousands upon thousands were attending Him,

And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him;

The court sat,

And the books were opened.

¹¹“Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire.¹²“As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time.

The Son of Man Presented

¹³“I kept looking in the night visions,

And behold, with the clouds of heaven

One like a Son of Man was coming,

And He came up to the Ancient of Days

And was presented before Him.

¹⁴“And to Him was given dominion,

Glory and a kingdom,

That all the peoples, nations and men of every language

Might serve Him.

His dominion is an everlasting dominion

Which will not pass away;

And His kingdom is one

Which will not be destroyed.

The Vision Interpreted

¹The LORD reigns, He is clothed with majesty;

The LORD has clothed and girded Himself with strength;

Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved.

²Your throne is established from of old;

You are from everlasting.

³The floods have lifted up, O LORD,

The floods have lifted up their voice,

The floods lift up their pounding waves.

⁴More than the sounds of many waters,

Than the mighty breakers of the sea,

The LORD on high is mighty.

⁵Your testimonies are fully confirmed;

Holiness befits Your house,

O LORD, forevermore.

³³Therefore Pilate entered again into the Praetorium, and summoned Jesus and said to Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?”³⁴Jesus answered, “Are you saying this on your own initiative, or did others tell you about Me?”³⁵Pilate answered, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests delivered You to me; what have You done?”³⁶Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.”³⁷Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”