John the Baptist Tells about Jesus
(Matthew 3.1-12; Mark 1.1-8; Luke 3.15-17)

John 1 ^19-20The leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and temple helpers to ask John who he was. He told them plainly, "I am not the Messiah." ²¹Then when they asked him if he were Elijah, he said, "No, I am not!" And when they asked if he were the Prophet, he also said "No!"
²²Finally, they said, "Who are you then? We have to give an answer to the ones who sent us. Tell us who you are!"
²³John answered in the words of the prophet Isaiah, "I am only someone shouting in the desert, 'Get the road ready for the Lord!' "
²⁴Some Pharisees had also been sent to John. ²⁵They asked him, "Why are you baptizing people, if you are not the Messiah or Elijah or the Prophet?"
²⁶John told them, "I use water to baptize people. But here with you is someone you don't know. ²⁷Even though I came first, I am not good enough to untie his sandals." ²⁸John said this as he was baptizing east of the Jordan River in Bethany.

The Lamb of God

²⁹The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said:

Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! ³⁰He is the one I told you about when I said, "Someone else will come. He is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born." ³¹I didn't know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him.

³²I was there and saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven. And the Spirit stayed on him. ³³Before this I didn't know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, "You will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone. Then you will know that he is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit." ³⁴I saw this happen, and I tell you that he is the Son of God.

The Descendants of Issachar

1 Chronicles 7 Issachar was the father of four sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.
²Tola was the father of Uzzi, Rephaiah, Jeriel, Jahmai, Ibsam, and Shemuel, who were all brave soldiers and family leaders in their clan. There were 22,600 people in Tola's family by the time David became king.
³Uzzi was the father of Izrahiah and the grandfather of Michael, Obadiah, Joel, and Isshiah, who were also family leaders. ⁴Their families were so large that they had 36,000 soldiers in their clans. ⁵In fact, according to family records, the tribe of Issachar had a total of 87,000 warriors.

The Descendants of Benjamin and Dan

⁶Benjamin was the father of three sons: Bela, Becher, and Jediael.
⁷Bela was the father of Ezbon, Uzzi, Uzziel, Jerimoth, and Iri. They were all brave soldiers and family leaders in their father's clan. The number of soldiers in their clan was 22,034.
⁸Becher was the father of Zemirah, Joash, Eliezer, Elioenai, Omri, Jeremoth, Abijah, Anathoth, and Alemeth. ⁹The official family records listed 20,200 soldiers in the families of this clan, as well as their family leaders.
¹⁰Jediael was the father of Bilhan and the grandfather of Jeush, Benjamin, Ehud, Chenaanah, Zethan, Tarshish, and Ahishahar. ¹¹They were family leaders in their clan, which had 17,200 soldiers prepared to fight in battle. ¹²Ir was the father of Shuppim and Huppim, who also belonged to this clan.
Dan was the father of Hushim.

The Descendants of Naphtali

¹³Naphtali's mother was Bilhah, and he was the father of Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shallum.

The Descendants of Manasseh

¹⁴Manasseh and his Syrian wife were the parents of Asriel and Machir the father of Gilead. ¹⁵Machir found a wife for Huppim and one for Shuppim. Machir had a sister named Maacah.
Zelophehad was also a descendant of Manasseh, and he had five daughters.
¹⁶Machir and his wife Maacah were the parents of Peresh and Sheresh. Peresh was the father of Ulam and Rekem. ¹⁷Ulam was the father of Bedan. These were all descendants of Gilead, the son of Machir and the grandson of Manasseh.
¹⁸Gilead's sister Hammolecheth was the mother of Ishhod, Abiezer, and Mahlah.
¹⁹Shemida, another descendant of Manasseh, was the father of Ahian, Shechem, Likhi, and Aniam.

The Descendants of Ephraim

²⁰Ephraim was the father of Shuthelah and the ancestor of Bered, Tahath, Eleadah, Tahath, ²¹Zabad, and Shuthelah.
Ephraim had two other sons, Ezer and Elead. But they were killed when they tried to steal livestock from the people who lived in the territory of Gath. ²²Ephraim mourned for his sons a long time, and his relatives came to comfort him. ²³Some time later his wife gave birth to another son, and Ephraim named him Beriah, because he was born during a time of misery.
²⁴Ephraim's daughter was Sheerah. She built the towns of Lower Beth-Horon, Upper Beth-Horon, and Uzzen-Sheerah.
²⁵Ephraim also had a son named Rephah, and his descendants included Resheph, Telah, Tahan, ²⁶Ladan, Ammihud, Elishama, ²⁷Nun, and Joshua.
²⁸The descendants of Ephraim took over the territory as far south as Bethel, as far east as Naaran, and as far west as Gezer. Their territory included all the villages around these towns, as well as Shechem, Ayyah, and the nearby villages.
²⁹The descendants of Manasseh settled in the territory that included Beth-Shan, Taanach, Megiddo, Dor, and the nearby villages.
The descendants of Joseph lived in these towns and villages.

The Descendants of Asher

³⁰Asher had four sons, Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and one daughter, Serah.
³¹Beriah was the father of Heber and Malchiel the father of Birzaith. ³²Heber was the father of three sons, Japhlet, Shomer, and Hotham, and one daughter, Shua. ³³Japhlet was the father of Pasach, Bimhal, and Ashvath. ³⁴Shomer was the father of Ahi, Rohgah, Hubbah, and Aram. ³⁵And Japhlet's brother Hotham was the father of Zophah, Imna, Shelesh, and Amal. ³⁶Zophah was the father of Suah, Harnepher, Shual, Beri, Imrah, ³⁷Bezer, Hod, Shamma, Shilshah, Ithran, and Beera. ³⁸Jether was the father of Jephunneh, Pispa, and Ara.
³⁹Ulla was the father of Arah, Hanniel, and Rizia.
⁴⁰These were the descendants of Asher, and they were all respected family leaders and brave soldiers. The tribe of Asher had a total of 26,000 soldiers.

More Descendants of Benjamin

1 Chronicles 8 Benjamin had five sons, who were born in the following order: Bela, Ashbel, Aharah, ²Nohah, and Rapha. ³Bela was the father of Addar, Gera, Abihud, ⁴Abishua, Naaman, Ahoah, ⁵Gera, Shephuphan, and Huram.
^6-7Ehud was the father of Naaman, Ahijah, and Gera. They were clan leaders in the town of Geba, but were later forced to move to the town of Manahath, and Gera led the way. He had two sons: Uzza and Ahihud.
^8-11Shaharaim and his wife Hushim had two sons: Abitub and Elpaal. But Shaharaim later divorced her and his other wife, Baara. Then he moved to the country of Moab and married Hodesh, and they had seven sons: Jobab, Zibia, Mesha, Malcam, Jeuz, Sachia, and Mirmah. They were all family leaders in his clan. ¹²Elpaal was the father of Eber, Misham, and Shemed, who settled the towns of Ono and Lod, as well as the nearby villages.
¹³Beriah and Shema were family leaders in the clan that lived in the town of Aijalon and that forced out the people of Gath. ^14-16Beriah's descendants included Ahio, Shashak, Jeremoth, Zebadiah, Arad, Eder, Michael, Ishpah, and Joha. ^17-18Elpaal's descendants included Zebadiah, Meshullam, Hizki, Heber, Ishmerai, Izliah, and Jobab. ^19-21Shimei's descendants included Jakim, Zichri, Zabdi, Elienai, Zillethai, Eliel, Adaiah, Beraiah, and Shimrath. ^22-25Shashak's descendants included Ishpan, Eber, Eliel, Abdon, Zichri, Hanan, Hananiah, Elam, Anthothijah, Iphdeiah, and Penuel. ^26-27Jeroham's descendants included Shamsherai, Shehariah, Athaliah, Jaareshiah, Elijah, and Zichri. ²⁸These were the family leaders in their ancestor's clan, and they and their descendants lived in Jerusalem.
²⁹Jeiel settled the town of Gibeon. He and his wife Maacah lived there ³⁰along with their sons, who were born in the following order: Abdon, Zur, Kish, Baal, Ner, Nadab, ³¹Gedor, Ahio, Zecher, ³²and Mikloth the father of Shimeah. Some of them went to live in Jerusalem near their relatives.

The Descendants of King Saul

³³Ner was the father of Kish and the grandfather of King Saul.
Saul had four sons: Jonathan, Malchishua, Abinadab, and Eshbaal. ³⁴Jonathan was the father of Meribbaal, the grandfather of Micah, ³⁵and the great-grandfather of Pithon, Melech, Tarea, and Ahaz. ³⁶Saul's other descendants were Jehoaddah, Alemeth, Azmaveth, Zimri, Moza, ³⁷Binea, Raphah, Eleasah, Azel, ³⁸as well as Azel's six sons: Azrikam, Bocheru, Ishmael, Sheariah, Obadiah, and Hanan. ³⁹Azel's brother Eshek was the father of Ulam, Jeush, and Eliphelet. ⁴⁰Ulam's sons were brave soldiers who were experts at using a bow and arrows. They had a total of one hundred fifty children and grandchildren.
All of these belonged to the tribe of Benjamin.

Sinful Jerusalem

Zephaniah 3 Too bad for that disgusting, corrupt, and lawless city!
²Forever rebellious and rejecting correction,
Jerusalem refuses to trust or obey the LORD God.
³Its officials are roaring lions, its judges are wolves;
in the evening they attack, by morning nothing is left.
⁴Jerusalem's prophets are proud and not to be trusted.
The priests have disgraced the place of worship
and abused God's Law.
⁵All who do evil are shameless,
but the LORD does right and is always fair.
With the dawn of each day, God brings about justice.

⁶The LORD wiped out nations
and left fortresses crumbling in the dirt.
Their streets and towns were reduced to ruins
and emptied of people.
⁷God felt certain that Jerusalem
would learn to respect and obey him.
Then he would hold back from punishing the city
and not wipe it out.
But everyone there was eager to start sinning again.

Nations Will Turn to the LORD

⁸The LORD said:
Just wait for the day when I accuse you nations.
I have decided on a day, when I will bring together
every nation and kingdom
and punish them all in my fiery anger.
I will become furious and destroy the earth.

⁹I will purify each language
and make those languages acceptable for praising me.
Then, with hearts united,
everyone will serve only me, the LORD.
¹⁰From across the rivers of Ethiopia,
my scattered people, my true worshipers,
will bring offerings to me.

¹¹When that time comes, you won't rebel against me
and be put to shame.
I'll do away with those who are proud and arrogant.
Never will any of them strut around
on my holy mountain.
¹²But I, the LORD, won't destroy any of your people
who are truly humble and turn to me for safety.
¹³The people of Israel who survive will live right
and refuse to tell lies.
They will eat and rest with nothing to fear.

A Song of Celebration

¹⁴Everyone in Jerusalem and Judah,
celebrate and shout with all your heart!
¹⁵Zion, your punishment is over.
The LORD has forced your enemies to turn and retreat.
Your LORD is King of Israel and stands at your side;
you don't have to worry about any more troubles.

¹⁶Jerusalem, the time is coming,
when it will be said to you:
"Don't be discouraged or grow weak from fear!
¹⁷The LORD your God wins victory after victory
and is always with you.
He celebrates and sings because of you,
and he will refresh your life with his love."

The LORD's Promise to His People

¹⁸The LORD has promised:
Your sorrow has ended, and you can celebrate.
¹⁹I will punish those who mistreat you.
I will bring together the lame and the outcasts,
then they will be praised, instead of despised,
in every country on earth.
²⁰I will lead you home, and with your own eyes
you will see me bless you with all you once owned.
Then you will be famous everywhere on this earth.
I, the LORD, have spoken!