Bible Reading for May 20 and 21
World English Bible
May
20
Joshua
21, 22
Jos
21:1 Then the heads of fathers' houses of the Levites came near to
Eleazar the priest, and to Joshua the son of Nun, and to the heads of
fathers' houses of the tribes of the children of Israel.
Jos
21:2 They spoke to them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying,
"Yahweh commanded Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with
their suburbs for our livestock."
Jos
21:3 The children of Israel gave to the Levites out of their
inheritance, according to the commandment of Yahweh, these cities
with their suburbs.
Jos
21:4 The lot came out for the families of the Kohathites. The
children of Aaron the priest, who were of the Levites, had thirteen
cities by lot out of the tribe of Judah, out of the tribe of the
Simeonites, and out of the tribe of Benjamin.
Jos
21:5 The rest of the children of Kohath had ten cities by lot out of
the families of the tribe of Ephraim, out of the tribe of Dan, and
out of the half-tribe of Manasseh.
Jos
21:6 The children of Gershon had thirteen cities by lot out of the
families of the tribe of Issachar, out of the tribe of Asher, out of
the tribe of Naphtali, and out of the half-tribe of Manasseh in
Bashan.
Jos
21:7 The children of Merari according to their families had twelve
cities out of the tribe of Reuben, out of the tribe of Gad, and out
of the tribe of Zebulun.
Jos
21:8 The children of Israel gave these cities with their suburbs by
lot to the Levites, as Yahweh commanded by Moses.
Jos
21:9 They gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of
the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are mentioned
by name:
Jos
21:10 and they were for the children of Aaron, of the families of
the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi; for theirs was the
first lot.
Jos
21:11 They gave them Kiriath Arba, named after the father of Anak
(the same is Hebron), in the hill country of Judah, with its suburbs
around it.
Jos
21:12 But they gave the fields of the city and its villages to Caleb
the son of Jephunneh for his possession.
Jos
21:13 To the children of Aaron the priest they gave Hebron with its
suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Libnah with its
suburbs,
Jos
21:14 Jattir with its suburbs, Eshtemoa with its suburbs,
Jos
21:15 Holon with its suburbs, Debir with its suburbs,
Jos
21:16 Ain with its suburbs, Juttah with its suburbs, and Beth
Shemesh with its suburbs; nine cities out of those two tribes.
Jos
21:17 Out of the tribe of Benjamin, Gibeon with its suburbs, Geba
with its suburbs,
Jos
21:18 Anathoth with its suburbs, and Almon with its suburbs; four
cities.
Jos
21:19 All the cities of the children of Aaron, the priests, were
thirteen cities with their suburbs.
Jos
21:20 The families of the children of Kohath, the Levites, even the
rest of the children of Kohath, had the cities of their lot out of
the tribe of Ephraim.
Jos
21:21 They gave them Shechem with its suburbs in the hill country of
Ephraim, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Gezer with its
suburbs,
Jos
21:22 Kibzaim with its suburbs, and Beth Horon with its suburbs;
four cities.
Jos
21:23 Out of the tribe of Dan, Elteke with its suburbs, Gibbethon
with its suburbs,
Jos
21:24 Aijalon with its suburbs, Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; four
cities.
Jos
21:25 Out of the half-tribe of Manasseh, Taanach with its suburbs,
and Gath Rimmon with its suburbs; two cities.
Jos
21:26 All the cities of the families of the rest of the children of
Kohath were ten with their suburbs.
Jos
21:27 They gave to the children of Gershon, of the families of the
Levites, out of the half-tribe of Manasseh Golan in Bashan with its
suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Be Eshterah with
its suburbs; two cities.
Jos
21:28 Out of the tribe of Issachar, Kishion with its suburbs,
Daberath with its suburbs,
Jos
21:29 Jarmuth with its suburbs, En Gannim with its suburbs; four
cities.
Jos
21:30 Out of the tribe of Asher, Mishal with its suburbs, Abdon with
its suburbs,
Jos
21:31 Helkath with its suburbs, and Rehob with its suburbs; four
cities.
Jos
21:32 Out of the tribe of Naphtali, Kedesh in Galilee with its
suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, Hammothdor with its
suburbs, and Kartan with its suburbs; three cities.
Jos
21:33 All the cities of the Gershonites according to their families
were thirteen cities with their suburbs.
Jos
21:34 To the families of the children of Merari, the rest of the
Levites, out of the tribe of Zebulun, Jokneam with its suburbs,
Kartah with its suburbs,
Jos
21:35 Dimnah with its suburbs, and Nahalal with its suburbs; four
cities.
Jos
21:36 Out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with its suburbs, Jahaz with
its suburbs,
Jos
21:37 Kedemoth with its suburbs, and Mephaath with its suburbs; four
cities.
Jos
21:38 Out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with its suburbs,
the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with its suburbs,
Jos
21:39 Heshbon with its suburbs, Jazer with its suburbs; four cities
in all.
Jos
21:40 All these were the cities of the children of Merari according
to their families, even the rest of the families of the Levites.
Their lot was twelve cities.
Jos
21:41 All the cities of the Levites in the midst of the possession
of the children of Israel were forty-eight cities with their suburbs.
Jos
21:42 Each of these cities included their suburbs around them. It
was this way with all these cities.
Jos
21:43 So Yahweh gave to Israel all the land which he swore to give
to their fathers. They possessed it, and lived in it.
Jos
21:44 Yahweh gave them rest all around, according to all that he
swore to their fathers. Not a man of all their enemies stood before
them. Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand.
Jos
21:45 Nothing failed of any good thing which Yahweh had spoken to
the house of Israel. All came to pass.
Jos
22:1 Then Joshua called the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the
half-tribe of Manasseh,
Jos
22:2 and said to them, "You have kept all that Moses the
servant of Yahweh commanded you, and have listened to my voice in all
that I commanded you.
Jos
22:3 You have not left your brothers these many days to this day,
but have performed the duty of the commandment of Yahweh your God.
Jos
22:4 Now Yahweh your God has given rest to your brothers, as he
spoke to them. Therefore now return and go to your tents, to the land
of your possession, which Moses the servant of Yahweh gave you beyond
the Jordan.
Jos
22:5 Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which
Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, to love Yahweh your God,
to walk in all his ways, to keep his commandments, to hold fast to
him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul."
Jos
22:6 So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went to
their tents.
Jos
22:7 Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given
inheritance in Bashan; but to the other half gave Joshua among their
brothers beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them
away to their tents, he blessed them,
Jos
22:8 and spoke to them, saying, "Return with much wealth to
your tents, with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with
brass, with iron, and with very much clothing. Divide the spoil of
your enemies with your brothers."
Jos
22:9 The children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the
half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of
Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go to the
land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, which they owned,
according to the commandment of Yahweh by Moses.
Jos
22:10 When they came to the region about the Jordan, that is in the
land of Canaan, the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and
the half-tribe of Manasseh built there an altar by the Jordan, a
great altar to look at.
Jos
22:11 The children of Israel heard this, "Behold, the children
of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh have
built an altar in the forefront of the land of Canaan, in the region
about the Jordan, on the side that pertains to the children of
Israel."
Jos
22:12 When the children of Israel heard of it, the whole
congregation of the children of Israel gathered themselves together
at Shiloh, to go up against them to war.
Jos
22:13 The children of Israel sent to the children of Reuben, and to
the children of Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, into the land
of Gilead, Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest,
Jos
22:14 and with him ten princes, one prince of a fathers' house for
each of the tribes of Israel; and they were everyone of them head of
their fathers' houses among the thousands of Israel.
Jos
22:15 They came to the children of Reuben, and to the children of
Gad, and to the half-tribe of Manasseh, to the land of Gilead, and
they spoke with them, saying,
Jos
22:16 "Thus says the whole congregation of Yahweh, 'What
trespass is this that you have committed against the God of Israel,
to turn away this day from following Yahweh, in that you have built
you an altar, to rebel this day against Yahweh?
Jos
22:17 Is the iniquity of Peor too little for us, from which we have
not cleansed ourselves to this day, although there came a plague on
the congregation of Yahweh,
Jos
22:18 that you must turn away this day from following Yahweh? It
will be, seeing that you rebel today against Yahweh, that tomorrow he
will be angry with the whole congregation of Israel.
Jos
22:19 However, if the land of your possession is unclean, then pass
over to the land of the possession of Yahweh, in which Yahweh's
tabernacle dwells, and take possession among us; but don't rebel
against Yahweh, nor rebel against us, in building an altar other than
the altar of Yahweh our God.
Jos
22:20 Didn't Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted
thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man
didn't perish alone in his iniquity.' "
Jos
22:21 Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the
half-tribe of Manasseh answered, and spoke to the heads of the
thousands of Israel,
Jos
22:22 "The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, the Mighty One, God,
Yahweh, he knows; and Israel shall know: if it was in rebellion, or
if in trespass against Yahweh (don't save us this day),
Jos
22:23 that we have built us an altar to turn away from following
Yahweh; or if to offer burnt offering or meal offering, or if to
offer sacrifices of peace offerings, let Yahweh himself require it.
Jos
22:24 If we have not out of concern done this, and for a reason,
saying, 'In time to come your children might speak to our children,
saying, "What have you to do with Yahweh, the God of Israel?
Jos
22:25 For Yahweh has made the Jordan a border between us and you,
you children of Reuben and children of Gad. You have no portion in
Yahweh." ' So your children might make our children cease from
fearing Yahweh.
Jos
22:26 Therefore we said, 'Let's now prepare to build ourselves an
altar, not for burnt offering, nor for sacrifice;
Jos
22:27 but it will be a witness between us and you, and between our
generations after us, that we may perform the service of Yahweh
before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and with
our peace offerings;' that your children may not tell our children in
time to come, 'You have no portion in Yahweh.'
Jos
22:28 Therefore we said, 'It shall be, when they tell us or our
generations this in time to come, that we shall say, "Behold the
pattern of the altar of Yahweh, which our fathers made, not for burnt
offering, nor for sacrifice; but it is a witness between us and you."
'
Jos
22:29 Far be it from us that we should rebel against Yahweh, and
turn away this day from following Yahweh, to build an altar for burnt
offering, for meal offering, or for sacrifice, besides the altar of
Yahweh our God that is before his tabernacle!"
Jos
22:30 When Phinehas the priest, and the princes of the congregation,
even the heads of the thousands of Israel that were with him, heard
the words that the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the
children of Manasseh spoke, it pleased them well.
Jos
22:31 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest said to the children of
Reuben, to the children of Gad, and to the children of Manasseh,
"Today we know that Yahweh is in the midst of us, because you
have not committed this trespass against Yahweh. Now you have
delivered the children of Israel out of the hand of Yahweh."
Jos
22:32 Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, and the princes,
returned from the children of Reuben, and from the children of Gad,
out of the land of Gilead, to the land of Canaan, to the children of
Israel, and brought them word again.
Jos
22:33 The thing pleased the children of Israel; and the children of
Israel blessed God, and spoke no more of going up against them to
war, to destroy the land in which the children of Reuben and the
children of Gad lived.
Jos
22:34 The children of Reuben and the children of Gad named the altar
"A Witness Between Us that Yahweh is God."
May
21
Joshua
23, 24
Jos
23:1 It happened after many days, when Yahweh had given rest to
Israel from their enemies all around, and Joshua was old and well
advanced in years,
Jos
23:2 that Joshua called for all Israel, for their elders and for
their heads, and for their judges and for their officers, and said to
them, "I am old and well advanced in years.
Jos
23:3 You have seen all that Yahweh your God has done to all these
nations because of you; for it is Yahweh your God who has fought for
you.
Jos
23:4 Behold, I have allotted to you these nations that remain, to be
an inheritance for your tribes, from the Jordan, with all the nations
that I have cut off, even to the great sea toward the going down of
the sun.
Jos
23:5 Yahweh your God will thrust them out from before you, and drive
them from out of your sight. You shall possess their land, as Yahweh
your God spoke to you.
Jos
23:6 Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is
written in the book of the law of Moses, that you not turn aside from
it to the right hand or to the left;
Jos
23:7 that you not come among these nations, these that remain among
you; neither make mention of the name of their gods, nor cause to
swear by them, neither serve them, nor bow down yourselves to them;
Jos
23:8 but hold fast to Yahweh your God, as you have done to this day.
Jos
23:9 For Yahweh has driven great and strong nations out from before
you. But as for you, no man has stood before you to this day.
Jos
23:10 One man of you shall chase a thousand; for it is Yahweh your
God who fights for you, as he spoke to you.
Jos
23:11 Take good heed therefore to yourselves, that you love Yahweh
your God.
Jos
23:12 Else if you do at all go back, and hold fast to the remnant of
these nations, even these who remain among you, and make marriages
with them, and go in to them, and they to you;
Jos
23:13 know for a certainty that Yahweh your God will no longer drive
these nations from out of your sight; but they shall be a snare and a
trap to you, a scourge in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until
you perish from off this good land which Yahweh your God has given
you.
Jos
23:14 Behold, today I am going the way of all the earth. You know in
all your hearts and in all your souls that not one thing has failed
of all the good things which Yahweh your God spoke concerning you.
All have happened to you. Not one thing has failed of it.
Jos
23:15 It shall happen that as all the good things have come on you
of which Yahweh your God spoke to you, so Yahweh will bring on you
all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good
land which Yahweh your God has given you,
Jos
23:16 when you disobey the covenant of Yahweh your God, which he
commanded you, and go and serve other gods, and bow down yourselves
to them. Then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and
you will perish quickly from off the good land which he has given to
you."
Jos
24:1 Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called
for the elders of Israel, for their heads, for their judges, and for
their officers; and they presented themselves before God.
Jos
24:2 Joshua said to all the people, "Thus says Yahweh, the God
of Israel, 'Your fathers lived of old time beyond the River, even
Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nahor: and they
served other gods.
Jos
24:3 I took your father Abraham from beyond the River, and led him
throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave
him Isaac.
Jos
24:4 I gave to Isaac Jacob and Esau: and I gave to Esau Mount Seir,
to possess it. Jacob and his children went down into Egypt.
Jos
24:5 I sent Moses and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that
which I did in its midst: and afterward I brought you out.
Jos
24:6 I brought your fathers out of Egypt: and you came to the sea.
The Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and with
horsemen to the Red Sea.
Jos
24:7 When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and
the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and
your eyes saw what I did in Egypt: and you lived in the wilderness
many days.
Jos
24:8 I brought you into the land of the Amorites, that lived beyond
the Jordan: and they fought with you; and I gave them into your hand.
You possessed their land; and I destroyed them from before you.
Jos
24:9 Then Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and fought
against Israel. He sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse
you;
Jos
24:10 but I would not listen to Balaam; therefore he blessed you
still. So I delivered you out of his hand.
Jos
24:11 You went over the Jordan, and came to Jericho. The men of
Jericho fought against you, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the
Canaanite, the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite;
and I delivered them into your hand.
Jos
24:12 I sent the hornet before you, which drove them out from before
you, even the two kings of the Amorites; not with your sword, nor
with your bow.
Jos
24:13 I gave you a land whereon you had not labored, and cities
which you didn't build, and you live in them. You eat of vineyards
and olive groves which you didn't plant.'
Jos
24:14 Now therefore fear Yahweh, and serve him in sincerity and in
truth. Put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River,
in Egypt; and serve Yahweh.
Jos
24:15 If it seems evil to you to serve Yahweh, choose this day whom
you will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were
beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you
dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Yahweh."
Jos
24:16 The people answered, "Far be it from us that we should
forsake Yahweh, to serve other gods;
Jos
24:17 for it is Yahweh our God who brought us and our fathers up out
of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those
great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way in which we
went, and among all the peoples through the midst of whom we passed.
Jos
24:18 Yahweh drove out from before us all the peoples, even the
Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore we also will serve Yahweh;
for he is our God."
Jos
24:19 Joshua said to the people, "You can't serve Yahweh; for
he is a holy God. He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your
disobedience nor your sins.
Jos
24:20 If you forsake Yahweh, and serve foreign gods, then he will
turn and do you evil, and consume you, after he has done you good."
Jos
24:21 The people said to Joshua, "No; but we will serve
Yahweh."
Jos
24:22 Joshua said to the people, "You are witnesses against
yourselves that you have chosen Yahweh yourselves, to serve him."
They said, "We are witnesses."
Jos
24:23 "Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among
you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel."
Jos
24:24 The people said to Joshua, "We will serve Yahweh our God,
and we will listen to his voice."
Jos
24:25 So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made
for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem.
Jos
24:26 Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he
took a great stone, and set it up there under the oak that was by the
sanctuary of Yahweh.
Jos
24:27 Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall
be a witness against us; for it has heard all the words of Yahweh
which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you,
lest you deny your God."
Jos
24:28 So Joshua sent the people away, every man to his inheritance.
Jos
24:29 It happened after these things, that Joshua the son of Nun,
the servant of Yahweh, died, being one hundred and ten years old.
Jos
24:30 They buried him in the border of his inheritance in
Timnathserah, which is in the hill country of Ephraim, on the north
of the mountain of Gaash.
Jos
24:31 Israel served Yahweh all the days of Joshua, and all the days
of the elders who outlived Joshua, and had known all the work of
Yahweh, that he had worked for Israel.
Jos
24:32 They buried the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel
brought up out of Egypt, in Shechem, in the parcel of ground which
Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for a hundred
pieces of money. They became the inheritance of the children of
Joseph.
Jos
24:33 Eleazar the son of Aaron died. They buried him in the hill of
Phinehas his son, which was given him in the hill country of Ephraim.
May 20,
21
John 3
Joh 3:1
Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews.
Joh 3:2
The same came to him by night, and said to him, "Rabbi, we know
that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs
that you do, unless God is with him."
Joh 3:3
Jesus answered him, "Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is
born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God."
Joh 3:4
Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?"
Joh 3:5
Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born
of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God!
Joh 3:6
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the
Spirit is spirit.
Joh 3:7
Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.'
Joh 3:8
The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't
know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is
born of the Spirit."
Joh 3:9
Nicodemus answered him, "How can these things be?"
Joh
3:10 Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel, and
don't understand these things?
Joh
3:11 Most certainly I tell you, we speak that which we know, and
testify of that which we have seen, and you don't receive our
witness.
Joh
3:12 If I told you earthly things and you don't believe, how will
you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
Joh
3:13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of
heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
Joh
3:14 As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must
the Son of Man be lifted up,
Joh
3:15 that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have
eternal life.
Joh
3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal
life.
Joh
3:17 For God didn't send his Son into the world to judge the world,
but that the world should be saved through him.
Joh
3:18 He who believes in him is not judged. He who doesn't believe
has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of
the one and only Son of God.
Joh
3:19 This is the judgment, that the light has come into the world,
and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works
were evil.
Joh
3:20 For everyone who does evil hates the light, and doesn't come to
the light, lest his works would be exposed.
Joh
3:21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his works
may be revealed, that they have been done in God."
Joh
3:22 After these things, Jesus came with his disciples into the land
of Judea. He stayed there with them, and baptized.
Joh
3:23 John also was baptizing in Enon near Salim, because there was
much water there. They came, and were baptized.
Joh
3:24 For John was not yet thrown into prison.
Joh
3:25 There arose therefore a questioning on the part of John's
disciples with some Jews about purification.
Joh
3:26 They came to John, and said to him, "Rabbi, he who was
with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, the
same baptizes, and everyone is coming to him."
Joh
3:27 John answered, "A man can receive nothing, unless it has
been given him from heaven.
Joh
3:28 You yourselves testify that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but,
'I have been sent before him.'
Joh
3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the
bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the
bridegroom's voice. This, my joy, therefore is made full.
Joh
3:30 He must increase, but I must decrease.
Joh
3:31 He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the Earth
belongs to the Earth, and speaks of the Earth. He who comes from
heaven is above all.
Joh
3:32 What he has seen and heard, of that he testifies; and no one
receives his witness.
Joh
3:33 He who has received his witness has set his seal to this, that
God is true.
Joh
3:34 For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives
the Spirit without measure.
Joh
3:35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his
hand.
Joh
3:36 One who believes in the Son has eternal life, but one who
disobeys the Son won't see life, but the wrath of God remains on
him."
