John 3:1-21; 1 Chronicles 12; Zechariah 2

John 3:1-21

1 There was a man from the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.

2 This man came to Him at night and said, "Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform these signs You do unless God were with him."

3 Jesus replied, "I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

4 "But how can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked Him. "Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?"

5 Jesus answered, "I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

6 Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again.

8 The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.

9 "How can these things be?" asked Nicodemus.

10 "Are you a teacher of Israel and don't know these things?" Jesus replied.

11 "I assure you: We speak what We know and We testify to what We have seen, but you do not accept Our testimony.

12 If I have told you about things that happen on earth and you don't believe, how will you believe if I tell you about things of heaven?

13 No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven-the Son of Man.

14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,

15 so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life.

16 "For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.

18 Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the One and Only Son of God.

19 "This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

20 For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed.

21 But anyone who lives by the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be shown to be accomplished by God."

1 Chronicles 12

1 The following were the men who came to David at Ziklag while he was still banned from the presence of Saul son of Kish. They were among the warriors who helped him in battle.

2 They were archers who, using either their right or left hand, could [throw] stones [with a sling] or [shoot] arrows with a bow. They were Saul's relatives from Benjamin:

3 Their chief was Ahiezer son of Shemaah the Gibeathite. Then there was his brother Joash; Jeziel and Pelet sons of Azmaveth; Beracah, Jehu the Anathothite;

4 Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a warrior among the Thirty and [a leader] over the Thirty; Jeremiah, Jahaziel, Johanan, Jozabad the Gederathite;

5 Eluzai, Jerimoth, Bealiah, Shemariah, Shephatiah the Haruphite;

6 Elkanah, Isshiah, Azarel, Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites;

7 and Joelah and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham from Gedor.

8 Some Gadites defected to David at his stronghold in the desert. They were fighting men, trained for battle, expert with shield and spear. Their faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as gazelles on the mountains.

9 Ezer was the chief, Obadiah second, Eliab third,

10 Mishmannah fourth, Jeremiah fifth,

11 Attai sixth, Eliel seventh,

12 Johanan eighth, Elzabad ninth,

13 Jeremiah tenth, and Machbannai eleventh.

14 These Gadites were army commanders; the least of them was a match for a hundred, and the greatest of them for a thousand.

15 These are the men who crossed the Jordan in the first month when it was overflowing all its banks, and put to flight all [those in] the valleys to the east and to the west.

16 Other Benjaminites and men from Judah also went to David at the stronghold.

17 David went out to meet them and said to them, "If you have come in peace to help me, my heart will be united with you, but if you have come to betray me to my enemies even though my hands have done no wrong, may the God of our ancestors look on it and judge."

18 Then the Spirit took control of Amasai, chief of the Thirty, [and he said]: [We are] yours, David, [we are] with you, son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to him who helps you, for your God helps you. So David received them and made them leaders of his troops.

19 Some Manassites defected to David when he went with the Philistines to fight against Saul. However, they did not help the Philistines because the Philistine rulers, following consultation, sent David away. They said, "It will be our heads if he defects to his master Saul."

20 When David went to Ziklag, some men from Manasseh defected to him: Adnah, Jozabad, Jediael, Michael, Jozabad, Elihu, and Zillethai, chiefs of thousands in Manasseh.

21 They helped David against the marauders, for they were all brave warriors and commanders in the army.

22 At that time, men came day after day to help David until there was a great army, like an army of God.

23 The numbers of the armed troops who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul's kingdom over to him, according to the Lord's word, were as follows:

24 From the Judahites: 6,800 armed troops bearing shields and spears.

25 From the Simeonites: 7,100 brave warriors ready for war.

26 From the Levites: 4,600

27 in addition to Jehoiada, leader of the house of Aaron, with 3,700 men;

28 and Zadok, a young brave warrior, with 22 commanders from his own ancestral house.

29 From the Benjaminites, the relatives of Saul: 3,000 (up to that time the majority of the Benjaminites maintained their allegiance to the house of Saul).

30 From the Ephraimites: 20,800 brave warriors who were famous men in their ancestral houses.

31 From half the tribe of Manasseh: 18,000 designated by name to come and make David king.

32 From the Issacharites, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their relatives under their command.

33 From Zebulun: 50,000 who could serve in the army, trained for battle with all kinds of weapons of war, with singleness of purpose to help David.

34 From Naphtali: 1,000 commanders accompanied by 37,000 men with shield and spear.

35 From the Danites: 28,600 trained for battle.

36 From Asher: 40,000 who could serve in the army, trained for battle.

37 From across the Jordan-from the Reubenites, Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh: 120,000 men equipped with all the military weapons of war.

38 All these warriors, lined up in battle formation, came to Hebron with wholehearted determination to make David king over all Israel. All the rest of Israel was also of one mind to make David king.

39 They were there with David for three days, eating and drinking, for their relatives had provided for them.

40 In addition, their neighbors from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali came bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen-abundant provisions of flour, fig cakes, raisins, wine and oil, oxen, and sheep. Indeed, there was joy in Israel.

Zechariah 2

1 I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

2 I asked, "Where are you going?" He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length."

3 Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him.

4 He said to him, "Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the number of people and livestock in it."

5 The declaration of the Lord: "I will be a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it."

6 "Get up! Leave the land of the north"-the Lord's declaration-"for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven"-the Lord's declaration.

7 "Go, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon."

8 For the Lord of Hosts says this: "He has sent Me for [His] glory against the nations who are plundering you, for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of His eye.

9 I will move against them with My power, and they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me.

10 "Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you"-the Lord's declaration.

11 "Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you.

12 The Lord will take possession of Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will once again choose Jerusalem.

13 Let all people be silent before the Lord, for He is coming from His holy dwelling."