My food is to do what God wants! He is the one who sent me, and I must finish the work that he gave me to do. ³⁵You may say that there are still four months until harvest time. But I tell you to look, and you will see that the fields are ripe and ready to harvest.

³⁶Even now the harvest workers are receiving their reward by gathering a harvest that brings eternal life. Then everyone who planted the seed and everyone who harvests the crop will celebrate together. ³⁷So the saying proves true, "Some plant the seed, and others harvest the crop." ³⁸I am sending you to harvest crops in fields where others have done all the hard work.

³⁹A lot of Samaritans in that town put their faith in Jesus because the woman had said, "This man told me everything I have ever done." ⁴⁰They came and asked him to stay in their town, and he stayed on for two days.
⁴¹Many more Samaritans put their faith in Jesus because of what they heard him say. ⁴²They told the woman, "We no longer have faith in Jesus just because of what you told us. We have heard him ourselves, and we are certain that he is the Savior of the world!"

David's Song of Praise
(Psalms 105.1-15; 96.1-13; 106.1, 47, 48)

1 Chronicles 16 ⁷That same day, David instructed Asaph and his relatives for the first time to sing these praises to the LORD:
⁸Praise the LORD and pray in his name!
Tell everyone what he has done.
⁹Sing praises to the LORD! Tell about his miracles.
¹⁰Celebrate and worship his holy name with all your heart.

¹¹Trust the LORD and his mighty power.
Worship him always.
¹²Remember his miracles and all his wonders
and his fair decisions.
¹³You belong to the family of Israel, his servant;
you are his chosen ones, the descendants of Jacob.

¹⁴The LORD is our God,
bringing justice everywhere on earth.
¹⁵We must never forget his agreement and his promises,
not in thousands of years.
^*16God made an eternal promise
¹⁷to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
¹⁸when he said, "I'll give you the land of Canaan."

¹⁹At the time there were only a few of us,
and we were homeless.
²⁰We wandered from nation to nation,
from one country to another.
²¹God did not let anyone mistreat our people.
Instead he protected us by punishing rulers
²²and telling them,
"Don't touch my chosen leaders or harm my prophets!"

²³Everyone on this earth, sing praises to the LORD.
Day after day announce, "The LORD has saved us!"
²⁴Tell every nation on earth, "The LORD is wonderful
and does marvelous things!
²⁵The LORD is great and deserves our greatest praise!
He is the only God worthy of our worship.
²⁶Other nations worship idols,
but the LORD created the heavens.
²⁷Give honor and praise to the LORD,
whose power and beauty fill his holy temple."

²⁸Tell everyone of every nation,
"Praise the glorious power of the LORD.
²⁹He is wonderful! Praise him
and bring an offering into his temple.
Worship the LORD, majestic and holy.
³⁰Everyone on earth, now tremble!"
The world stands firm, never to be shaken.

³¹Tell the heavens and the earth to be glad and celebrate!
And announce to the nations, "The LORD is King!"
³²Command the ocean to roar with all of its creatures
and the fields to rejoice with all of their crops.
³³Then every tree in the forest
will sing joyful songs to the LORD.
He is coming to judge all people on earth.

³⁴Praise the LORD because he is good to us,
and his love never fails.
³⁵Say to him, "Save us, LORD God!
Bring us back from among the nations.
Let us celebrate and shout in praise of your holy name.
³⁶LORD God of Israel,
you deserve to be praised forever and ever."
After David finished, the people shouted, "Amen! Praise the LORD!"

David Appoints Worship Leaders
at Jerusalem and Gibeon

³⁷David chose Asaph and the Levites in his clan to be in charge of the daily worship at the place where the sacred chest was kept. ³⁸Obed-Edom and sixty-eight of his relatives were their assistants, and Hosah and Obed-Edom the son of Jeduthun were the guards.
³⁹David also chose Zadok the priest and his relatives who were priests to serve at the LORD's sacred tent at Gibeon. ⁴⁰They were to offer sacrifices on the altar every morning and evening, just as the LORD had commanded in the Law he gave Israel. ⁴¹Heman and Jeduthun were their assistants, as well as the other men who had been chosen to praise the LORD for his never-ending love. ⁴²Heman and Jeduthun were also responsible for blowing the trumpets, and for playing the cymbals and other instruments during worship at the tent. The Levites in Jeduthun's clan were the guards at Gibeon.
⁴³After that, everyone went home, and David went home to his family.

Sixth Vision: A Flying Scroll

Zechariah 5 When I looked the next time, I saw a flying scroll, ²and the angel asked, "What do you see?"
"A flying scroll," I answered. "About thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide."
³Then he told me:

This scroll puts a curse on everyone in the land who steals or tells lies. The writing on one side tells about the destruction of those who steal, while the writing on the other side tells about the destruction of those who lie.

⁴The LORD All-Powerful has said, "I am sending this scroll into the house of everyone who is a robber or tells lies in my name, and it will remain there until every piece of wood and stone in that house crumbles."

Seventh Vision: A Woman in a Basket

⁵Now the angel who was there to explain the visions came over and said, "Look up and tell me what you see coming."
⁶"I don't know what it is," was my reply.
"It's a big basket," he said. "And it shows what everyone in the land has in mind."
⁷The lead cover of the basket was opened, and in the basket was a woman. ⁸"This woman represents evil," the angel explained. Then he threw her back into the basket and slammed the heavy cover down tight.
⁹Right after this I saw two women coming through the sky like storks with wings outstretched in the wind. Suddenly they lifted the basket into the air, ¹⁰and I asked the angel, "Where are they taking the basket?"
¹¹"To Babylonia," he answered, "where they will build a house for the basket and set it down inside."