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¹² Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
   and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure,
   and weighed the mountains in scales
   and the hills in a balance?
¹³ Who has directed the spirit of the Lord,
   or as his counsellor has instructed him?
¹⁴ Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
   and who taught him the path of justice?
Who taught him knowledge,
   and showed him the way of understanding?
¹⁵ Even the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
   and are accounted as dust on the scales;
   see, he takes up the isles like fine dust.
¹⁶ Lebanon would not provide fuel enough,
   nor are its animals enough for a burnt-offering.
¹⁷ All the nations are as nothing before him;
   they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.

¹⁸ To whom then will you liken God,
   or what likeness compare with him?
¹⁹ An idol? —A workman casts it,
   and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,
   and casts for it silver chains.
²⁰ As a gift one chooses mulberry wood^*
   —wood that will not rot—
then seeks out a skilled artisan
   to set up an image that will not topple.

²¹ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
   Has it not been told you from the beginning?
   Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
²² It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
   and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
   and spreads them like a tent to live in;
²³ who brings princes to naught,
   and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.

²⁴ Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
   scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
   and the tempest carries them off like stubble.

THE LETTER OF PAUL TO THE

Ephesians

Salutation

1Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,

To the saints who are in Ephesus and are faithful^* in Christ Jesus:

2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Spiritual Blessings in Christ

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴just as he chose us in Christ^* before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless before him in love. ⁵He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace ⁸that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight ⁹he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, ¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance,^* having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, ¹²so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. ¹³In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; ¹⁴this^* is the pledge of our inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of his glory.

The Gospel According to

Mark

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

1The beginning of the good news^* of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.^*

2 As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,^*
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,^*
   who will prepare your way;
³ the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
   “Prepare the way of the Lord,
   make his paths straight” ’,
⁴John the baptizer appeared^* in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. ⁵And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. ⁶Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. ⁷He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. ⁸I have baptized you with^* water; but he will baptize you with^* the Holy Spirit.’

The Baptism of Jesus

9 In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved;^* with you I am well pleased.’

The Temptation of Jesus

12 And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness for forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.