1
After the death of Joshua, the people of Israel inquired of the LORD, "Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?"
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The LORD said, "Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand."
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And Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites. And I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you." So Simeon went with him.
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Then Judah went up and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they defeated 10,000 of them at Bezek.
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They found Adoni-bezek at Bezek and fought against him and defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
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Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.
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And Adoni-bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to pick up scraps under my table. As I have done, so God has repaid me." And they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.
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And the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
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And afterward the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who lived in the hill country, in the Negeb, and in the lowland.
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And Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron was formerly Kiriath-arba), and they defeated Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
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From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. The name of Debir was formerly Kiriath-sepher.
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And Caleb said, "He who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will give him Achsah my daughter for a wife."
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And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife.
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When she came to him, she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, "What do you want?"
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She said to him, "Give me a blessing. Since you have set me in the land of the Negeb, give me also springs of water." And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
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And the descendants of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the city of palms into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the Negeb near Arad, and they went and settled with the people.
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And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they defeated the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and devoted it to destruction. So the name of the city was called Hormah.
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Judah also captured Gaza with its territory, and Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory.
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And the LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.
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And Hebron was given to Caleb, as Moses had said. And he drove out from it the three sons of Anak.
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But the people of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, so the Jebusites have lived with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
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The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
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And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.)
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And the spies saw a man coming out of the city, and they said to him, "Please show us the way into the city, and we will deal kindly with you."
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And he showed them the way into the city. And they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go.
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And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day.
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Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages, for the Canaanites persisted in dwelling in that land.
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When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.
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And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
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Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol, so the Canaanites lived among them, but became subject to forced labor.
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Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon or of Ahlab or of Achzib or of Helbah or of Aphik or of Rehob,
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so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.
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Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, so they lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became subject to forced labor for them.
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The Amorites pressed the people of Dan back into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the plain.
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The Amorites persisted in dwelling in Mount Heres, in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim, but the hand of the house of Joseph rested heavily on them, and they became subject to forced labor.
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And the border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
1
Now the angel of the LORD went up from Gilgal to Bochim. And he said, "I brought you up from Egypt and brought you into the land that I swore to give to your fathers. I said, 'I will never break my covenant with you,
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and you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall break down their altars.' But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done?
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So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you."
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As soon as the angel of the LORD spoke these words to all the people of Israel, the people lifted up their voices and wept.
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And they called the name of that place Bochim. And they sacrificed there to the LORD.
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When Joshua dismissed the people, the people of Israel went each to his inheritance to take possession of the land.
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And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great work that the LORD had done for Israel.
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And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of the LORD, died at the age of 110 years.
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And they buried him within the boundaries of his inheritance in Timnath-heres, in the hill country of Ephraim, north of the mountain of Gaash.
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And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD or the work that he had done for Israel.
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And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals.
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And they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went after other gods, from among the gods of the peoples who were around them, and bowed down to them. And they provoked the LORD to anger.
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They abandoned the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth.
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So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he gave them over to plunderers, who plundered them. And he sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies, so that they could no longer withstand their enemies.
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Whenever they marched out, the hand of the LORD was against them for harm, as the LORD had warned, and as the LORD had sworn to them. And they were in terrible distress.
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Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.
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Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the LORD, and they did not do so.
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Whenever the LORD raised up judges for them, the LORD was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them.
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But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways.
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So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he said, "Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice,
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I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died,
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in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the LORD as their fathers did, or not."
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So the LORD left those nations, not driving them out quickly, and he did not give them into the hand of Joshua.
1
Now these are the nations that the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not experienced all the wars in Canaan.
2
It was only in order that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, to teach war to those who had not known it before.
3
These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath.
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They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.
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So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
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And their daughters they took to themselves for wives, and their own daughters they gave to their sons, and they served their gods.
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And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.
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Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia. And the people of Israel served Cushan-rishathaim eight years.
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But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, the LORD raised up a deliverer for the people of Israel, who saved them, Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother.
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The Spirit of the LORD was upon him, and he judged Israel. He went out to war, and the LORD gave Cushan-rishathaim king of Mesopotamia into his hand. And his hand prevailed over Cushan-rishathaim.
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So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.
12
And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the LORD.
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He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms.
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And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.
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Then the people of Israel cried out to the LORD, and the LORD raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab.
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And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes.
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And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man.
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And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute.
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But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, "I have a secret message for you, O king." And he commanded, "Silence." And all his attendants went out from his presence.
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And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, "I have a message from God for you." And he arose from his seat.
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And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly.
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And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out.
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Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.
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When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, "Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber."
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And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.
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Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah.
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When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader.
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And he said to them, "Follow after me, for the LORD has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand." So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over.
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And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped.
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So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.
31
After him was Shamgar the son of Anath, who killed 600 of the Philistines with an oxgoad, and he also saved Israel.
1
But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."
2
And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.
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So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.
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When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.
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But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses."
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The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.
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And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
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And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,
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and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
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Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?
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But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will."
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And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
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After they finished speaking, James replied, "Brothers, listen to me.
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Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.
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And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
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"'After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,
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that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things
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Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
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but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
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For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues."
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Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,
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with the following letter: "The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia, greetings.
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Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us and troubled you with words, unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions,
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it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,
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men who have risked their lives for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who themselves will tell you the same things by word of mouth.
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For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay on you no greater burden than these requirements:
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that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell."
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So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter.
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And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.
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And Judas and Silas, who were themselves prophets, encouraged and strengthened the brothers with many words.
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And after they had spent some time, they were sent off in peace by the brothers to those who had sent them.
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But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord, with many others also.
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And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are."
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Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark.
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But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work.
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And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus,
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but Paul chose Silas and departed, having been commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord.
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And he went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.
