Put Not Your Trust in Princes

The Wilderness Years

2 “Then we turned and journeyed into the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea, ^(A)as the Lord told me. And for many days we traveled around Mount Seir. ² Then the Lord said to me, ³ ‘You have been traveling around this mountain country ^(B)long enough. Turn northward ⁴ and command the people, “You are about to pass through the territory of ^(C)your brothers, the people of Esau, ^(D)who live in Seir; and ^(E)they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. ⁵ Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because ^(F)I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. ^6 (G)You shall purchase food from them with money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water from them with money, that you may drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. ^(H)He knows your going through this great wilderness. ^(I)These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.”’ ⁸ So ^(J)we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from ^(K)the Arabah road from ^(L)Elath and ^(M)Ezion-geber.

“And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. ⁹ And the Lord said to me, ^(N)‘Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given ^(O)Ar to ^(P)the people of Lot for a possession.’

¹⁴ And the time from our leaving ^(A)Kadesh-barnea until we crossed ^(B)the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, ^(C)until the entire generation, that is, the men of war, had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ For indeed the hand of the Lord was against them, to destroy them from the camp, until they had perished.

¹⁶ “So as soon as all the men of war had perished and were dead from among the people, ¹⁷ the Lord said to me, ¹⁸ ‘Today you are to cross the border of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ And when you approach the territory of the people of Ammon, ^(D)do not harass them or contend with them, for I will not give you any of the land of the people of Ammon as a possession, because I have given it to ^(E)the sons of Lot for a possession.’

²⁴ ‘Rise up, set out on your journey and ^(A)go over the Valley of the Arnon. Behold, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of ^(B)Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession, and ^(C)contend with him in battle. ²⁵ This day I will begin to put ^(D)the dread and fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you.’

The Defeat of King Sihon

²⁶ “So I sent messengers from the wilderness of ^(E)Kedemoth to Sihon the king of ^(F)Heshbon, ^(G)with words of peace, saying, ^27 (H)‘Let me pass through your land. I will go only by the road; I will turn aside neither to the right nor to the left. ^28 (I)You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink. Only let me pass through on foot, ^29 (J)as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I go over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving to us.’ ³⁰ But ^(K)Sihon the king of ^(L)Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the Lord your God ^(M)hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day. ³¹ And the Lord said to me, ‘Behold, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to take possession, that you may occupy his land.’ ³² Then ^(N)Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Jahaz. ³³ And ^(O)the Lord our God gave him over to us, and ^(P)we defeated him and his sons and all his people. ³⁴ And we captured all his cities at that time and devoted to destruction^[a] every ^(Q)city, men, women, and children. We left no survivors. ³⁵ Only the livestock we took as spoil for ourselves, with the plunder of the cities that we captured. ^36 (R)From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Valley of the Arnon, and from ^(S)the city that is in the valley, as far as Gilead, there was not a city too high for us. ^(T)The Lord our God gave all into our hands. ³⁷ Only to the land of the sons of Ammon you did not draw near, that is, to all the banks of the river ^(U)Jabbok and the cities of the hill country, whatever the Lord our God had forbidden us.

Jesus Presented at the Temple

²² And ^(A)when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem ^(B)to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in ^(C)the Law of the Lord, ^(D)“Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in ^(E)the Law of the Lord, ^(F)“a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was ^(G)righteous and ^(H)devout, ^(I)waiting for ^(J)the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not ^(K)see death before he had seen ^(L)the Lord's Christ. ²⁷ And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when ^(M)the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, ²⁸ he took him up in his arms and ^(N)blessed God and said,

³³ And ^(W)his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴ And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed ^(X)for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign ^(Y)that is opposed ³⁵ (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

³⁶ And there was ^(Z)a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, ³⁷ and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.^[b] She did not depart from the temple, ^(AA)worshiping with ^(AB)fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸ And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were ^(AC)waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

The Return to Nazareth

³⁹ And when they had performed everything according to ^(AD)the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of ^(AE)Nazareth. ^40 (AF)And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

The Boy Jesus in the Temple

⁴¹ Now ^(AG)his parents went ^(AH)to Jerusalem every year at ^(AI)the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when he was twelve years old, ^(AJ)they went up according to custom. ⁴³ And when the feast ^(AK)was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. ^(AL)His parents did not know it, ⁴⁴ but supposing him to be in the group they went a day's journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, ⁴⁵ and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple, ^(AM)sitting among ^(AN)the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ And when his parents^[c] saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, ^(AO)your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” ⁴⁹ And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that ^(AP)I must be in ^(AQ)my Father's house?”^{[d] 50} And ^(AR)they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. ⁵¹ And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And ^(AS)his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.

⁵² And Jesus ^(AT)increased in wisdom and in stature^[e] and in ^(AU)favor with God and man.