Jesus and Nicodemus

John 3 There was a Jewish leader named Nicodemus, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees. ²One night he went to Jesus and said to him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher sent by God. No one could perform the miracles you are doing unless God were with him."
³Jesus answered, "I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again."
⁴"How can a grown man be born again?" Nicodemus asked. "He certainly cannot enter his mother's womb and be born a second time!"
⁵"I am telling you the truth," replied Jesus, "that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. ⁶A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. ⁷Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again. ⁸The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit."
⁹"How can this be?" asked Nicodemus.
¹⁰Jesus answered, "You are a great teacher in Israel, and you don't know this? ¹¹I am telling you the truth: we speak of what we know and report what we have seen, yet none of you is willing to accept our message. ¹²You do not believe me when I tell you about the things of this world; how will you ever believe me, then, when I tell you about the things of heaven? ¹³And no one has ever gone up to heaven except the Son of Man, who came down from heaven."
¹⁴As Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the desert, in the same way the Son of Man must be lifted up, ¹⁵so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. ¹⁶For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to be its judge, but to be its savior.
¹⁸Those who believe in the Son are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged, because they have not believed in God's only Son. ¹⁹This is how the judgment works: the light has come into the world, but people love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. ²⁰Those who do evil things hate the light and will not come to the light, because they do not want their evil deeds to be shown up. ²¹But those who do what is true come to the light in order that the light may show that what they did was in obedience to God.

David's Early Followers from the Tribe of Benjamin

1 Chronicles 12 David was living in Ziklag, where he had gone to escape from King Saul. There he was joined by many experienced, reliable soldiers, ²members of the tribe of Benjamin, to which Saul belonged. They could shoot arrows and sling stones either right-handed or left-handed. ^3-7They were under the command of Ahiezer and Joash, sons of Shemaah, from Gibeah.
These were the soldiers:
Jeziel and Pelet, sons of Azmaveth
Beracah and Jehu from Anathoth
Ishmaiah from Gibeon, a famous soldier and one of the leaders of "The Thirty"
Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johannan, and Jozabad, from Gederah
Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, and Shephatiah, from Hariph
Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, of the clan of Korah
Joelah and Zebadiah, sons of Jeroham, from Gedor

David's Followers from the Tribe of Gad

⁸These are the names of the famous, experienced soldiers from the tribe of Gad who joined David's troops when he was at the desert fort. They were experts with shields and spears, as fierce looking as lions and as quick as mountain deer. ^9-13They were ranked in the following order: Ezer, Obadiah, Eliab, Mishmannah, Jeremiah, Attai, Eliel, Johanan, Elzabad, Jeremiah, and Machbannai.
¹⁴Some of these men from the tribe of Gad were senior officers in command of a thousand men, and others were junior officers in command of a hundred. ¹⁵In the first month of one year, the time when the Jordan River overflowed its banks, they crossed the river, scattering the people who lived in the valleys both east and west of the river.

Followers from Benjamin and Judah

¹⁶Once a group of men from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah went out to the fort where David was. ¹⁷David went to meet them and said, "If you are coming as friends to help me, you are welcome here. Join us! But if you intend to betray me to my enemies, even though I have not tried to hurt you, the God of our ancestors will know it and punish you."
¹⁸God's spirit took control of one of them, Amasai, who later became the commander of "The Thirty," and he called out,
"David son of Jesse, we are yours!
Success to you and those who help you!
God is on your side."
David welcomed them and made them officers in his army.

Followers from Manasseh

¹⁹Some soldiers from the tribe of Manasseh went over to David's side when he was marching out with the Philistines to fight King Saul. Actually he did not help the Philistines, for their kings were afraid that he would betray them to his former master Saul, so they sent him back to Ziklag. ²⁰These are the soldiers from Manasseh who went over to David's side when he was returning: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai. In Manasseh they had all commanded units of a thousand men. ²¹They served David as officers over his troops, because they were all outstanding soldiers. Later they were officers in the Israelite army. ²²Almost every day new men joined David's forces, so that his army was soon enormous.

List of David's Forces

^23-37When David was at Hebron, many trained soldiers joined his army to help make him king in place of Saul, as the LORD had promised. Their numbers were as follows:
Judah: 6,800 well-equipped men, armed with shields and spears;
Simeon: 7,100 well-trained men;
Levi: 4,600 men;
Followers of Jehoiada, descendant of Aaron: 3,700 men;
Relatives of Zadok, an able young fighter: 22 leading men;
Benjamin (Saul's own tribe): 3,000 men (most of the people of Benjamin had remained loyal to Saul);
Ephraim: 20,800 men famous in their own clans;
West Manasseh: 18,000 men chosen to go and make David king;
Issachar: 200 leaders, together with the men under their command (these leaders knew what Israel should do and the best time to do it);
Zebulun: 50,000 loyal and reliable men ready to fight, trained to use all kinds of weapons;
Naphtali: 1,000 leaders, together with 37,000 men armed with shields and spears;
Dan: 28,600 trained men;
Asher: 40,000 men ready for battle;
Tribes east of the Jordan--Reuben, Gad, and East Manasseh: 120,000 men trained to use all kinds of weapons.
³⁸All these soldiers, ready for battle, went to Hebron, determined to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of the people of Israel were united in the same purpose. ³⁹They spent three days there with David, feasting on the food and drink which their relatives had prepared for them. ⁴⁰From as far away as the northern tribes of Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, people came bringing donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen loaded with food--flour, figs, raisins, wine, and olive oil. They also brought cattle and sheep to kill and eat. All this was an expression of the joy that was felt throughout the whole country.

The Vision of the Measuring Line

Zechariah 2 In another vision I saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ²"Where are you going?" I asked.
"To measure Jerusalem," he answered, "to see how long and how wide it is."
³Then I saw the angel who had been speaking to me step forward, and another angel came to meet him. ⁴The first one said to the other, "Run and tell that young man with the measuring line that there are going to be so many people and so much livestock in Jerusalem that it will be too big to have walls. ⁵The LORD has promised that he himself will be a wall of fire around the city to protect it and that he will live there in all his glory."

The Exiles Are Called to Come Home

^6-7The LORD said to his people, "I scattered you in all directions. But now, you exiles, escape from Babylonia and return to Jerusalem. ⁸Anyone who strikes you strikes what is most precious to me."
So the LORD Almighty sent me with this message for the nations that had plundered his people: ⁹"The LORD himself will fight against you, and you will be plundered by the people who were once your servants."
When this happens, everyone will know that the LORD Almighty sent me.
¹⁰The LORD said, "Sing for joy, people of Jerusalem! I am coming to live among you!"
¹¹At that time many nations will come to the LORD and become his people. He will live among you, and you will know that he has sent me to you. ¹²Once again Judah will be the special possession of the LORD in his sacred land, and Jerusalem will be the city he loves most of all.
¹³Be silent, everyone, in the presence of the LORD, for he is coming from his holy dwelling place.