The True Family of Jesus.^* 46^x While he was still speaking to the crowds, his mother and his brothers appeared outside, wishing to speak with him. 47[Someone told him, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak with you.”]^* 48But he said in reply to the one who told him, “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” 49And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50For whoever does the will of my heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

Memorial Stones. 1After the entire nation had completed the crossing of the Jordan, 2the LORD said to Joshua: Choose twelve men^a from the people, one from each tribe, 3and command them, “Take up twelve stones from this spot in the Jordan riverbed where the priests have been standing.^b Carry them over with you, and place them where you are to stay tonight.”

4Summoning the twelve men he had selected from among the Israelites, one from each tribe, 5Joshua said to them: “Go to the Jordan riverbed in front of the ark of the LORD, your God; lift to your shoulders one stone apiece, so that they will equal in number the tribes of the Israelites. 6In the future, these are to be a sign among you. When your children ask you,^* ‘What do these stones mean to you?’^c 7you shall answer them, ‘The waters of the Jordan ceased to flow before the ark of the covenant of the LORD when it crossed the Jordan.’^d Thus these stones are to serve as a perpetual memorial to the Israelites.” 8The twelve Israelites did as Joshua had commanded: they took up twelve stones from the Jordan riverbed as the LORD had said to Joshua, one for each of the tribes of the Israelites. They carried them along to the camp site, and there they placed them. 9Joshua set up the twelve stones that had been in the Jordan riverbed on the spot where the priests stood who were carrying the ark of the covenant. They are there to this day.

10^* The priests carrying the ark stood in the Jordan riverbed until everything had been done that the LORD had commanded Joshua to tell the people, just as Moses had commanded Joshua. The people crossed over quickly, 11and when all the people had completed the crossing, the ark of the LORD also crossed; and the priests were now in front of them. 12The Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh, armed, marched in the vanguard of the Israelites, as Moses had ordered. 13About forty thousand troops, equipped for battle, crossed over before the LORD to the plains of Jericho for war.

14That day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel,^e and so during his whole life they feared him as they had feared Moses.

9Woe to anyone who contends with their Maker;^d

a potsherd among potsherds of the earth!^*

Shall the clay say to the potter, “What are you doing?”

or, “What you are making has no handles”?

10Woe to anyone who asks a father, “What are you begetting?”

or a woman, “What are you giving birth to?”

11Thus says the LORD,

the Holy One of Israel, his maker:

Do you question me about my children,

tell me how to treat the work of my hands?

12It was I who made the earth

and created the people upon it;

It was my hands that stretched out the heavens;

I gave the order to all their host.

13It was I who stirred him^* up for justice;

all his ways I make level.

He shall rebuild my city

and let my exiles go free

Without price or payment,

says the LORD of hosts.

14Thus says the LORD:

The earnings of Egypt, the gain of Ethiopia,

and the Sabeans,^* tall of stature,

Shall come over to you and belong to you;

they shall follow you, coming in chains.

Before you they shall bow down,

saying in prayer:

“With you alone is God; and there is none other,

no other god!^e

15Truly with you God is hidden,^*

the God of Israel, the savior!^f

16They are put to shame and disgrace, all of them;

they go in disgrace who carve images.

17Israel has been saved by the LORD,

saved forever!

You shall never be put to shame or disgrace

in any future age.”

18For thus says the LORD,

The creator of the heavens,

who is God,

The designer and maker of the earth

who established it,

Not as an empty waste^* did he create it,

but designing it to be lived in:

I am the LORD, and there is no other.

19I have not spoken in secret

from some place in the land of darkness,

I have not said to the descendants of Jacob,

“Look for me in an empty waste.”

I, the LORD, promise justice,

I declare what is right.

The Worship of the First Covenant.^* 1Now [even] the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. 2For a tabernacle was constructed, the outer one,^* in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of offering; this is called the Holy Place.^a 3^* Behind the second veil was the tabernacle called the Holy of Holies,^b 4in which were the gold altar of incense^* and the ark of the covenant entirely covered with gold. In it were the gold jar containing the manna, the staff of Aaron that had sprouted, and the tablets of the covenant.^c 5^* Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the place of expiation. Now is not the time to speak of these in detail.^d

6With these arrangements for worship, the priests, in performing their service,^* go into the outer tabernacle repeatedly,^e 7but the high priest alone goes into the inner one once a year, not without blood^* that he offers for himself and for the sins of the people.^f 8In this way the holy Spirit shows that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been revealed while the outer tabernacle still had its place. 9This is a symbol of the present time,^* in which gifts and sacrifices are offered that cannot perfect the worshiper in conscience 10but only in matters of food and drink and various ritual washings: regulations concerning the flesh, imposed until the time of the new order.^g

Sacrifice of Jesus. 11^* But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that have come to be,^* passing through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made by hands, that is, not belonging to this creation,^h 12he entered once for all into the sanctuary, not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.ⁱ