Jesus Feeds Five Thousand
(Matthew 14.13-21; Mark 6.30-44; Luke 9.10-17)

John 6 After this, Jesus went across Lake Galilee (or, Lake Tiberias, as it is also called). ²A large crowd followed him, because they had seen his miracles of healing the sick. ³Jesus went up a hill and sat down with his disciples. ⁴The time for the Passover Festival was near. ⁵Jesus looked around and saw that a large crowd was coming to him, so he asked Philip, "Where can we buy enough food to feed all these people?" ( ⁶He said this to test Philip; actually he already knew what he would do.)
⁷Philip answered, "For everyone to have even a little, it would take more than two hundred silver coins to buy enough bread."
⁸Another one of his disciples, Andrew, who was Simon Peter's brother, said, ⁹"There is a boy here who has five loaves of barley bread and two fish. But they will certainly not be enough for all these people."
¹⁰"Make the people sit down," Jesus told them. (There was a lot of grass there.) So all the people sat down; there were about five thousand men. ¹¹Jesus took the bread, gave thanks to God, and distributed it to the people who were sitting there. He did the same with the fish, and they all had as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were all full, he said to his disciples, "Gather the pieces left over; let us not waste a bit." ¹³So they gathered them all and filled twelve baskets with the pieces left over from the five barley loaves which the people had eaten.
¹⁴Seeing this miracle that Jesus had performed, the people there said, "Surely this is the Prophet who was to come into the world!" ¹⁵Jesus knew that they were about to come and seize him in order to make him king by force; so he went off again to the hills by himself.

Jesus Walks on the Water
(Matthew 14.22-33; Mark 6.45-52)

¹⁶When evening came, Jesus' disciples went down to the lake, ¹⁷got into a boat, and went back across the lake toward Capernaum. Night came on, and Jesus still had not come to them. ¹⁸By then a strong wind was blowing and stirring up the water. ¹⁹The disciples had rowed about three or four miles when they saw Jesus walking on the water, coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰"Don't be afraid," Jesus told them, "it is I!" ²¹Then they willingly took him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached land at the place they were heading for.

Preparations for Building the Temple

1 Chronicles 22 ²King David gave orders for all the foreigners living in the land of Israel to assemble, and he put them to work. Some of them prepared stone blocks for building the Temple. ³He supplied a large amount of iron for making nails and clamps for the wooden gates, and so much bronze that no one could weigh it. ⁴He had the people of Tyre and Sidon bring him a large number of cedar logs. ⁵David thought, "The Temple that my son Solomon is to build must be splendid and world-famous. But he is young and inexperienced, so I must make preparations for it." So David got large amounts of the materials ready before he died.
⁶He sent for his son Solomon and commanded him to build a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel. ⁷David said to him, "Son, I wanted to build a temple to honor the LORD my God. ⁸But the LORD told me that I had killed too many people and fought too many wars. And so, because of all the bloodshed I have caused, he would not let me build a temple for him. ⁹He did, however, make me a promise. He said, 'You will have a son who will rule in peace, because I will give him peace from all his enemies. His name will be Solomon, because during his reign I will give Israel peace and security. ¹⁰He will build a temple for me. He will be my son, and I will be his father. His dynasty will rule Israel forever.'"
¹¹David continued, "Now, son, may the LORD your God be with you, and may he keep his promise to make you successful in building a temple for him. ¹²And may the LORD your God give you insight and wisdom so that you may govern Israel according to his Law. ¹³If you obey all the laws which the LORD gave to Moses for Israel, you will be successful. Be determined and confident, and don't let anything make you afraid. ¹⁴As for the Temple, by my efforts I have accumulated almost four thousand tons of gold and nearly forty thousand tons of silver to be used in building it. Besides that, there is an unlimited supply of bronze and iron. I also have wood and stone ready, but you must get more. ¹⁵You have many workers. There are stonecutters to work in the quarries, and there are masons and carpenters, as well as a large number of skilled workers of every sort who can work ¹⁶with gold, silver, bronze, and iron. Now begin the work, and may the LORD be with you."
¹⁷David commanded all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon. ¹⁸He said, "The LORD your God has been with you and given you peace on all sides. He let me conquer all the people who used to live in this land, and they are now subject to you and to the LORD. ¹⁹Now serve the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. Start building the Temple, so that you can place in it the Covenant Box of the LORD and all the other sacred objects used in worshiping him."
1 Chronicles 23 When David was very old, he made his son Solomon king of Israel.

The Work of the Levites

²King David brought together all the Israelite leaders and all the priests and Levites. ³He took a census of all the male Levites aged thirty or older. The total was thirty-eight thousand. ⁴The king assigned twenty-four thousand to administer the work of the Temple, six thousand to keep records and decide disputes, ⁵four thousand to do guard duty, and four thousand to praise the LORD, using the musical instruments provided by the king for this purpose.
⁶David divided the Levites into three groups, according to their clans: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
⁷Gershon had two sons: Ladan and Shimei. ⁸Ladan had three sons: Jehiel, Zetham, and Joel, ⁹who were the heads of the clans descended from Ladan. (Shimei had three sons: Shelomoth, Haziel, and Haran.) ^10-11Shimei had four sons: Jahath, Zina, Jeush, and Beriah, in order of age. Jeush and Beriah did not have many descendants, so they were counted as one clan.
¹²Kohath had four sons: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. ¹³His oldest son, Amram, was the father of Aaron and Moses. (Aaron and his descendants were set apart to be in charge of the sacred objects forever, to burn incense in the worship of the LORD, to serve him, and to bless the people in his name. ¹⁴But the sons of Moses, the man of God, were included among the Levites.) ¹⁵Moses had two sons, Gershom and Eliezer. ¹⁶The leader among Gershom's sons was Shebuel. ¹⁷Eliezer had only one son, Rehabiah, but Rehabiah had many descendants.
¹⁸Kohath's second son, Izhar, had a son, Shelomith, the head of the clan. ¹⁹Kohath's third son, Hebron, had four sons: Jeriah, Amariah, Jahaziel, and Jekameam. ²⁰Kohath's fourth son, Uzziel, had two sons, Micah and Isshiah.
²¹Merari had two sons, Mahli and Mushi. Mahli also had two sons, Eleazar and Kish, ²²but Eleazar died without having any sons, only daughters. His daughters married their cousins, the sons of Kish. ²³Merari's second son, Mushi, had three sons: Mahli, Eder, and Jeremoth.
²⁴These were the descendants of Levi, by clans and families, every one of them registered by name. Each of his descendants, twenty years of age or older, had a share in the work of the LORD's Temple.
²⁵David said, "The LORD God of Israel has given peace to his people, and he himself will live in Jerusalem forever. ²⁶So there is no longer any need for the Levites to carry the Tent of the LORD's presence and all the equipment used in worship." ²⁷On the basis of David's final instructions all Levites were registered for service when they reached the age of twenty, ²⁸and were assigned the following duties: to help the priests descended from Aaron with the Temple worship, to take care of its courtyards and its rooms, and to keep undefiled everything that is sacred; ²⁹to be responsible for the bread offered to God, the flour used in offerings, the wafers made without yeast, the baked offerings, and the flour mixed with olive oil; to weigh and measure the Temple offerings; ³⁰and to praise and glorify the LORD every morning and every evening ³¹and whenever offerings to the LORD are burned on the Sabbath, the New Moon Festival, and other festivals. Rules were made specifying the number of Levites assigned to do this work each time. The Levites were assigned the duty of worshiping the LORD for all time. ³²They were given the responsibility of taking care of the Tent of the LORD's presence and the Temple, and of assisting their relatives, the priests descended from Aaron, in the Temple worship.

Judgment on Neighboring Nations

Zechariah 9 This is the LORD's message:
He has decreed punishment for the land of Hadrach and for the city of Damascus. Not only the tribes of Israel but also the capital of Syria belong to the LORD. ²Hamath, which borders on Hadrach, also belongs to him, and so do the cities of Tyre and Sidon, with all their skill. ³Tyre has built fortifications for herself and has piled up so much silver and gold that it is as common as dirt! ⁴But the Lord will take away everything she has. He will throw her wealth into the sea, and the city will be burned to the ground.
⁵The city of Ashkelon will see this and be afraid. The city of Gaza will see it and suffer great pain. So will Ekron, and her hopes will be shattered. Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will be left deserted. ⁶People of mixed race will live in Ashdod. The LORD says, "I will humble all these proud Philistines. ⁷They will no longer eat meat with blood in it, or other forbidden food. All the survivors will become part of my people and be like a clan in the tribe of Judah. Ekron will become part of my people, as the Jebusites did. ⁸I will guard my land and keep armies from passing through it. I will not allow tyrants to oppress my people any more. I have seen how my people have suffered."

The Future King

⁹Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion!
Shout for joy, you people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you!
He comes triumphant and victorious,
but humble and riding on a donkey--
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
¹⁰The LORD says,
"I will remove the war chariots from Israel
and take the horses from Jerusalem;
the bows used in battle will be destroyed.
Your king will make peace among the nations;
he will rule from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth."

The Restoration of God's People

¹¹The LORD says,
"Because of my covenant with you
that was sealed by the blood of sacrifices,
I will set your people free--
free from the waterless pit of exile.
¹²Return, you exiles who now have hope;
return to your place of safety.
Now I tell you that I will repay you twice over
with blessing for all you have suffered.
¹³I will use Judah like a soldier's bow
and Israel like the arrows.
I will use the men of Zion like a sword,
to fight the men of Greece."

¹⁴The LORD will appear above his people;
he will shoot his arrows like lightning.
The Sovereign LORD will sound the trumpet;
he will march in the storms from the south.
¹⁵The LORD Almighty will protect his people,
and they will destroy their enemies.
They will shout in battle like drunk men
and will shed the blood of their enemies;
it will flow like the blood of a sacrifice
poured on the altar from a bowl.

¹⁶When that day comes, the LORD will save his people,
as a shepherd saves his flock from danger.
They will shine in his land
like the jewels of a crown.
¹⁷How good and beautiful the land will be!
The young people will grow strong on its grain and wine.