Category: DAB Readings

Various Laws

23 ^[a]A man whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off may never join the assembly of the Lord.

² A man born from an illicit union may not join the assembly of the Lord. No descendant of his may join the assembly of the Lord for ten generations.

³ Ammonites or Moabites may not join the assembly of the Lord. Not one descendant of theirs may join the assembly of the Lord for ten generations. ⁴ They cannot join because they didn’t greet you with food and water on your trip from Egypt. They even hired Balaam, son of Beor, from Pethor in Aram Naharaim, to curse you. ⁵ But the Lord your God refused to listen to Balaam. Instead, he turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves you. ⁶ Never offer them peace or friendship as long as you live.

⁷ Never consider the Edomites disgusting. They’re your relatives. Never consider the Egyptians disgusting. You once were foreigners living in their country. ⁸ Their grandchildren may join the assembly of the Lord.

⁹ When you’re at war and have set up camp to fight your enemies, stay away from anything that will make you unclean.^{[b] 10} If one of your men becomes unclean from a nocturnal emission, he must go outside the camp and stay there. ¹¹ Toward evening he must wash, and at sunset he may come back to camp.

¹² Choose a place outside the camp where you can go ⌞to relieve yourself⌟. ¹³ You must carry a pointed stick as part of your equipment. When you go outside to squat, dig a hole with it. When you’re done, cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ The Lord your God moves around in your camp to protect you and hand your enemies over to you. So your camp must always be holy. This way, the Lord will never see anything offensive among you and turn away from you.

¹⁵ If a slave escapes from his master and comes to you, don’t return him to his master. ¹⁶ Let him stay with you ⌞and live⌟ among your people wherever he chooses, in any of your cities that seems best to him. Never mistreat him.

¹⁷ No Israelite man or woman should ever become a temple prostitute. ¹⁸ Never bring gifts or money earned by prostitution into the house of the Lord your God as an offering you vowed to give. These earnings are disgusting to the Lord your God.

¹⁹ Never charge another Israelite any interest on money, food, or anything else that is borrowed. ²⁰ You may charge a foreigner interest, but not an Israelite. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do once you’ve entered the land and taken possession of it.

²¹ If you make a vow to the Lord your God, don’t avoid keeping it. The Lord your God expects you to keep it. You would be guilty of a sin if you didn’t. ²² If you didn’t make a vow, you would not be guilty. ²³ Make sure you do what you said you would do ⌞in your vow⌟. You freely chose to make your vow to the Lord your God.

²⁴ If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you like until you’re full. But never put any in your basket. ²⁵ If you go into your neighbor’s grain field, you may pick grain by hand. But never use a sickle to cut your neighbor’s grain.

Various Laws

24 This is what you must do if a husband writes out a certificate of divorce, gives it to his wife, and makes her leave his house. (He divorced her because he found out something indecent about her and she no longer pleased him.) ² She might marry another man after she leaves his house. ³ If her second husband doesn’t love her and divorces her, or if he dies, ⁴ her first husband is not allowed to marry her again. She has become unclean.^[c] This would be disgusting in the Lord’s presence. Don’t pollute with sin the land that the Lord your God is giving you as your property.

⁵ A man who has recently been married will be free from military duty or any other public service. For one year he is free to stay at home and make his new wife happy.

⁶ Never let a family’s handmill for grinding flour—or even part of a handmill—be taken to guarantee a loan. The family wouldn’t be able to prepare food in order to stay alive.

⁷ Whoever kidnaps another Israelite must die. The kidnapper must die, whether he treated the other person like a slave or sold him. You must get rid of this evil.

⁸ Guard against outbreaks of serious skin diseases. Be very careful to do exactly as the Levitical priests instruct you. Make sure you do what I commanded them. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on your trip from Egypt.

¹⁰ When you make a loan to your neighbor, don’t go into his house to take a security deposit. ¹¹ Wait outside, and the person to whom you’re making the loan will bring the deposit out to you. ¹² If the person is poor, don’t keep the coat you took as a deposit overnight. ¹³ Make sure you bring it back to him at sunset. When he wears his coat to bed ⌞that night⌟, he’ll bless you. You will have done the right thing in the presence of the Lord your God.

¹⁴ Don’t withhold pay from hired workers who are poor and needy, whether they are Israelites or foreigners living in one of your cities. ¹⁵ Pay them each day before sunset because they are poor and need their pay. Otherwise, they will complain to the Lord about you, and you will be condemned for your sin.

¹⁶ Parents must never be put to death for the crimes of their children, and children must never be put to death for the crimes of their parents. Each person must be put to death for his own crime.

¹⁷ Never deprive foreigners and orphans of justice. And never take widows’ clothes to guarantee a loan. ¹⁸ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God freed you from slavery. So I’m commanding you to do this.

¹⁹ This is what you must do when you’re harvesting wheat in your field. If you forget to bring in one of the bundles of wheat, don’t go back to get it. Leave it there for foreigners, orphans, and widows. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

²⁰ When you harvest olives from your trees, never knock down all of them. Leave some for foreigners, orphans, and widows.

²¹ When you pick the grapes in your vineyard, don’t pick all of them. Leave some for foreigners, orphans, and widows. ²² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. So I’m commanding you to do this.

Various Laws

25 This is what you must do whenever ⌞two⌟ people have a disagreement that is brought into court. The judges will hear the case and decide who’s right and who’s wrong. ² If the person who’s in the wrong deserves to be beaten, the judge will order him to lie down. Then the judge will have him beaten with as many lashes as the crime deserves. ³ Forty lashes may be given, but no more. If an Israelite were given more than that, he would be publicly humiliated.

⁴ Never muzzle an ox when it’s threshing ^[d] grain.

⁵ When brothers live together and one of them dies without having a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother must marry her and sleep with her. He must do his duty as her brother-in-law. ⁶ Then the first son she has will carry the dead brother’s name so that his name won’t die out in Israel.

⁷ But if the man doesn’t want to marry his brother’s widow, she must go to the leaders of the city at the city gate. She must say, “My brother-in-law refuses to let his brother’s name continue in Israel. He doesn’t want to do his duty as my brother-in-law.” ⁸ Then the leaders of the city must summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying that he doesn’t want to marry her, ⁹ his brother’s widow must go up to him in the presence of the leaders. She must take off one of his sandals and spit in his face. She must make this formal statement: “This is what happens to a man who refuses to continue his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰ Then in Israel his family will be called the Family of the Man Without a Sandal.

¹¹ This is what you must do when two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from the man who is beating him. If she tries to stop the fight by grabbing the other man’s genitals, ¹² cut off her hand. Have no pity on her.

¹³ Never carry two sets of weights, a heavier one and a lighter one. ¹⁴ Never have two kinds of measures in your house, a larger one and a smaller one. ¹⁵ Use accurate and honest weights and measures. Then you will live for a long time in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ Everyone who uses dishonest weights and measures is disgusting to the Lord.

¹⁷ Remember what the Amalekites did to you on your trip from Egypt. ¹⁸ They attacked you when you were tired and exhausted and killed all those who were lagging behind. They weren’t afraid of God. ¹⁹ So when the Lord your God gives you peace from all your enemies around you in the land that he is giving you as your own property, don’t forget to erase every memory of the Amalekites from the earth.

¹³ “How horrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How horrible it will be for you, Bethsaida! If the miracles worked in your cities had been worked in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed the way they thought and acted. Long ago they would have worn sackcloth and sat in ashes. ¹⁴ Judgment day will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. ¹⁵ And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to heaven? No, you will go to hell!

¹⁶ “The person who hears you hears me, and the person who rejects you rejects me. The person who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

¹⁷ The 70 disciples came back very happy. They said, “Lord, even demons obey us when we use the power and authority of your name!”

¹⁸ Jesus said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning. ¹⁹ I have given you the authority to trample snakes and scorpions and to destroy the enemy’s power. Nothing will hurt you. ²⁰ However, don’t be happy that evil spirits obey you. Be happy that your names are written in heaven.”

²¹ In that hour the Holy Spirit filled Jesus with joy. Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for hiding these things from wise and intelligent people and revealing them to little children. Yes, Father, this is what pleased you.

²² “My Father has turned everything over to me. Only the Father knows who the Son is. And no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son is willing to reveal him.”

²³ He turned to his disciples in private and said to them, “How blessed you are to see what you’ve seen. ²⁴ I can guarantee that many prophets and kings wanted to see and hear what you’ve seen and heard, but they didn’t.”

A Story about a Good Samaritan

²⁵ Then an expert in Moses’ Teachings stood up to test Jesus. He asked, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

²⁶ Jesus answered him, “What is written in Moses’ Teachings? What do you read there?”

²⁷ He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ ”

²⁸ Jesus told him, “You’re right! Do this, and life will be yours.”

²⁹ But the man wanted to justify his question. So he asked Jesus, “Who is my neighbor?”

³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man went from Jerusalem to Jericho. On the way robbers stripped him, beat him, and left him for dead.

³¹ “By chance, a priest was traveling along that road. When he saw the man, he went around him and continued on his way. ³² Then a Levite came to that place. When he saw the man, he, too, went around him and continued on his way.

³³ “But a Samaritan, as he was traveling along, came across the man. When the Samaritan saw him, he felt sorry for the man, ³⁴ went to him, and cleaned and bandaged his wounds. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ The next day the Samaritan took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. He told the innkeeper, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than that, I’ll pay you on my return trip.’

³⁶ “Of these three men, who do you think was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by robbers?”

³⁷ The expert said, “The one who was kind enough to help him.”

Jesus told him, “Go and imitate his example!”

For the choir director; al tashcheth; a psalm by Asaph; a song.

When a Murder Is Committed, but the Murderer Can’t Be Found

21 This is what you must do if you find a murder victim lying in a field in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. If no one knows who committed the murder, ² your leaders and judges must go and measure the distance from the body to each of the neighboring cities. ³ When it has been determined which city is nearest the body, the leaders from that city must choose a heifer that has never been put to work and never worn a yoke.^{[a] 4} The leaders of that city will bring the heifer down to a river, to a location where the land hasn’t been plowed or planted. At the river they must break the heifer’s neck. ⁵ The priests, the descendants of Levi, must come forward. The Lord your God has chosen them to serve him as priests and to bless people in the Lord’s name. Their decision is final in all cases involving a disagreement or an assault. ⁶ All the leaders from the city which was nearest the murder victim must wash their hands over the dead heifer. ⁷ Then they must make this formal statement: “We didn’t commit this murder, and we didn’t witness it. ⁸ Lord, make peace with your people Israel, whom you freed. Don’t let the guilt of this unsolved murder remain among your people Israel.” Then there will be peace with the Lord despite the murder. ⁹ This is how you will get rid of the guilt of an unsolved murder by doing what the Lord considers right.

Laws about Marriage and Family

¹⁰ When you go to war with your enemies and the Lord your God hands them over to you, you may take them captive. ¹¹ If you see a beautiful woman among the captives and have your heart set on her, you may marry her. ¹² Bring her into your home. She must shave her head, cut her nails, ¹³ and no longer wear the clothes she was wearing when you captured her. Then she may live in your house and mourn ⌞the loss of⌟ her father and mother for one month. After that, you may sleep with her. Then you will become husband and wife.

¹⁴ But if it happens that you are no longer pleased with her, let her go wherever she wants. You must never sell her or mistreat her as if she were a slave, since you’ve already had sex with her.

¹⁵ A man might have two wives and love one but not the other. Both wives might have children, and the firstborn son might belong to the wife that the man doesn’t love. ¹⁶ When the day comes for the father to give his sons their inheritance, he can’t treat the son of the wife he loves as if that son were the firstborn. This would show a total disregard for the real firstborn (the son of the wife he doesn’t love). ¹⁷ Instead, he must recognize the son of the wife he doesn’t love as the firstborn. He must give that son a double portion of whatever he owns. That son is the very first son he had. The rights of the firstborn son are his.

¹⁸ Parents might have a stubborn and rebellious son who doesn’t obey them. Even though they punish him, he still won’t listen to them. ¹⁹ His father and mother must take him to the leaders of the city at the city gate. ²⁰ They will say to the leaders of the city, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He won’t obey us. He eats too much and is a drunk.” ²¹ All the men of the city should stone him to death. You must get rid of this evil. When all Israel hears about it, they will be afraid.

Various Laws

²² When a convicted person is put to death, ²³ never leave his dead body hung on a pole overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone whose body is hung on a pole is cursed by God. The land that the Lord your God is giving you must never become unclean.^[b]

22 If you see another Israelite’s ox or sheep out where it doesn’t belong, don’t pretend that you don’t see it. Make sure you take it back. ² If the owner doesn’t live near you or you don’t know who owns it, take the animal home with you. Keep it until the owner comes looking for it. Then give it back. ³ Do the same if you find a donkey, some clothes, or anything else that another Israelite may have lost. Don’t pretend that you don’t know what to do.

⁴ If you see another Israelite’s donkey or ox lying on the road, don’t pretend that you don’t see it. Make sure you help him get it back on its feet.

⁵ A woman must never wear anything men would wear, and a man must never wear women’s clothes. Whoever does this is disgusting to the Lord your God.

⁶ Whenever you’re traveling and find a nest containing chicks or eggs, this is what you must do. If the mother bird is sitting on the nest, never take her with the chicks. ⁷ You may take the chicks, but make sure you let the mother go. Then things will go well for you, and you will live for a long time.

⁸ Whenever you build a new house, put a railing around the edge of the roof. Then you won’t be responsible for a death at your home if someone falls off the roof.

⁹ Never plant anything between the rows in your vineyard. Otherwise, you will have to give everything that grows there to the holy place. This includes the crop you planted and the grapes from the vineyard.

¹⁰ Never plow with an ox and a donkey harnessed together.

¹¹ Never wear clothes made of wool and linen woven together.

¹² Make tassels on the four corners of the shawl you wear over your clothes.

Laws about Sex and Marriage

¹³ A man might marry a woman, sleep with her, and decide he doesn’t like her. ¹⁴ Then he might make up charges against her and ruin her reputation by saying, “I married this woman. But when I slept with her, I found out she wasn’t a virgin.” ¹⁵ The girl’s father and mother must go to the city gate where the leaders of the city are and submit the evidence that their daughter was a virgin. ¹⁶ The girl’s father will tell the leaders, “I gave my daughter in marriage to this man, but he doesn’t like her. ¹⁷ Now he has made up charges against her. He says he found out that my daughter wasn’t a virgin. But here’s the evidence!” Then the girl’s parents must spread out the cloth in front of the leaders of the city. ¹⁸ The leaders of that city must take the man and punish him. ¹⁹ They will fine him 2¼ pounds of silver and give it to the girl’s father. The husband ruined the reputation of an Israelite virgin. She will continue to be his wife, and he can never divorce her as long as he lives.

²⁰ But if the charge is true, and no evidence that the girl was a virgin can be found, ²¹ they must take the girl to the entrance of her father’s house. The men of her city must stone her to death because she has committed such a godless act in Israel: She had sex before marriage, while she was still living in her father’s house. You must get rid of this evil.

²² If a man is caught having sexual intercourse with a married woman, both that man and the woman must die. You must get rid of this evil in Israel.

²³ This is what you must do when a man has sexual intercourse with a virgin who is engaged to another man. If this happens in a city, ²⁴ take them to the gate of the city and stone them to death. The girl must die because she was in a city and didn’t scream for help. The man must die because he had sex with another man’s wife. You must get rid of this evil.

²⁵ But if a man rapes an engaged girl out in the country, then only the man must die. ²⁶ Don’t do anything to the girl. She has not committed a sin for which she deserves to die. This is like the case of someone who attacks and murders another person. ²⁷ The man found the girl out in the country. She may have screamed for help, but no one was there to rescue her.

²⁸ This is what you must do when a man rapes a virgin who isn’t engaged. When the crime is discovered, ²⁹ the man who had sexual intercourse with her must give the girl’s father 1¼ pounds of silver, and she will become his wife. Since he raped her, he can never divorce her as long as he lives.^[c]

³⁰ A man must never marry his father’s wife because this would disgrace his father.

People from a Samaritan Village Reject Jesus

⁵¹ The time was coming closer for Jesus to be taken to heaven. So he was determined to go to Jerusalem. ⁵² He sent messengers ahead of him. They went into a Samaritan village to arrange a place for him to stay. ⁵³ But the people didn’t welcome him, because he was on his way to Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ James and John, his disciples, saw this. They asked, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to burn them up?”

⁵⁵ But he turned and corrected them.^{[a] 56} So they went to another village.

What It Takes to Be a Disciple^(A)

⁵⁷ As they were walking along the road, a man said to Jesus, “I’ll follow you wherever you go.”

⁵⁸ Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to sleep.”

⁵⁹ He told another man, “Follow me!”

But the man said, “Sir, first let me go to bury my father.”

⁶⁰ But Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead. You must go everywhere and tell about God’s kingdom.”

⁶¹ Another said, “I’ll follow you, sir, but first let me tell my family goodbye.”

⁶² Jesus said to him, “Whoever starts to plow and looks back is not fit for God’s kingdom.”

Jesus Sends Disciples to Do Mission Work

10 After this, the Lord appointed 70 ^[b] other disciples to go ahead of him to every city and place that he intended to go. They were to travel in pairs.

² He told them, “The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord who gives this harvest to send workers to harvest his crops. ³ Go! I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves. ⁴ Don’t carry a wallet, a traveling bag, or sandals, and don’t stop to greet anyone on the way. ⁵ Whenever you go into a house, greet the family right away with the words, ‘May there be peace in this house.’ ⁶ If a peaceful person lives there, your greeting will be accepted. But if that’s not the case, your greeting will be rejected. ⁷ Stay with the family that accepts you. Eat and drink whatever they offer you. After all, the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from one house to another. ⁸ Whenever you go into a city and the people welcome you, eat whatever they serve you. ⁹ Heal the sick that are there, and tell the people, ‘God’s kingdom is near you!’

¹⁰ “But whenever you go into a city and people don’t welcome you, leave. Announce in its streets, ¹¹ ‘We are wiping your city’s dust from our feet in protest against you! But realize that God’s kingdom is near you!’ ¹² I can guarantee that judgment day will be easier for Sodom than for that city.

A maskil ^[a] by Asaph.

Laws for the Levites

18 The Levitical priests—in fact, the whole tribe of Levi—will receive no land or property of their own like the rest of the Israelites. They will eat what has been sacrificed to the Lord. These sacrifices will be what they receive.^{[a] 2} So the Levites will have no land of their own like the other Israelites. The Lord will be their inheritance, as he promised them.

³ This is what the people owe the priests whenever they sacrifice an ox, a sheep, or a goat: the shoulder, jaws, and stomach. ⁴ Also, give them the first produce harvested: grain, new wine, olive oil, and the first wool you shear from your sheep. ⁵ Out of all your tribes, the Lord your God has chosen the Levites and their descendants to do the work of serving in the name of the Lord forever.

⁶ A Levite from any of your cities in Israel may come from where he has been living to the place the Lord will choose. He may come as often as he wants ⁷ and may serve in the name of the Lord his God like all the other Levites who do their work in the Lord’s presence. ⁸ If he does, he’ll get the same amount of food as they do, in addition to what he gets from selling his family’s goods.

Laws about Prophets

⁹ When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, never learn the disgusting practices of those nations. ¹⁰ You must never sacrifice your sons or daughters by burning them alive, practice black magic, be a fortuneteller, witch, or sorcerer, ¹¹ cast spells, ask ghosts or spirits for help, or consult the dead. ¹² Whoever does these things is disgusting to the Lord. The Lord your God is forcing these nations out of your way because of their disgusting practices. ¹³ You must have integrity ⌞in dealing⌟ with the Lord your God. ¹⁴ These nations you are forcing out listen to fortunetellers and to those who practice black magic. But the Lord your God won’t let you do anything like that.

¹⁵ The Lord your God will send you a prophet, an Israelite like me. You must listen to him. ¹⁶ This is what you asked the Lord your God to give you on the day of the assembly at Mount Horeb. You said, “We never want to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this raging fire again. If we do, we’ll die!”

¹⁷ The Lord told me, “What they’ve said is good. ¹⁸ So I will send them a prophet, an Israelite like you. I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. ¹⁹ Whoever refuses to listen to the words that prophet speaks in my name will answer to me. ²⁰ But any prophet who dares to say something in my name that I didn’t command him to say or who speaks in the name of other gods must die.”

²¹ You may be wondering, “How can we recognize that the Lord didn’t speak this message?” ²² If a prophet speaks in the Lord’s name and what he says doesn’t happen or come true, then it didn’t come from the Lord. That prophet has spoken on his own authority. Never be afraid of him.

Criminal Laws

19 The Lord your God will destroy all the nations that are living in the land that he’s giving you. You will force them out and live in their cities and houses. ² When all this is done, set aside three cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. ³ Provide a route to each of these cities and divide the land that the Lord your God is giving you into three regions. Whoever kills someone may run to one of these cities.

⁴ A person who unintentionally kills someone he never hated in the past may run to one of these cities to save his life. ⁵ Suppose two people go into the woods to cut wood. As one of them swings the ax to cut down a tree, the head flies off the handle, hits, and kills the other person. The one who accidentally killed the other person may run to one of these cities and save his life. ⁶ Otherwise, in a rage the relative who has the authority to avenge the death will pursue him. If the place is too far away, the relative may catch up with him and take his life even though he didn’t deserve the death penalty, because in the past he never hated the person he killed. ⁷ This is why I’m commanding you to set aside three cities for yourselves.

⁸ The Lord your God may expand your country’s borders as he promised your ancestors with an oath. He may give you the whole land he promised to give them. ⁹ He may do this because you faithfully obey all these commands I am now giving you—to love the Lord your God and follow his directions as long as you live. If this happens, you may add three more cities of refuge to these three. ¹⁰ That way, innocent people won’t be killed in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you won’t be guilty of murder.

¹¹ Suppose someone hates another person, waits in ambush for him, attacks him, takes his life, and runs to one of these cities. ¹² If someone does this, the leaders of your city must send for that person. They must take him from that city and hand him over to the relative who has the authority to avenge the death. He must die. ¹³ They must have no pity on him. The guilt of murdering an innocent person must be removed from Israel. Then things will go well for Israel.

¹⁴ Never move your neighbor’s original boundary marker on any property in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

¹⁵ One witness is never enough to convict someone of a crime, offense, or sin he may have committed. Cases must be settled based on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

¹⁶ This is what you must do whenever a witness takes the stand to accuse a person falsely of a crime. ¹⁷ The two people involved must stand in the Lord’s presence, in front of the priests and judges who are serving at that time. ¹⁸ The judges must make a thorough investigation. If it is found that the witness lied when he testified against the other Israelite, ¹⁹ then do to him what he planned to do to the other person. You must get rid of this evil. ²⁰ When the rest of the people hear about this, they will be afraid. Never again will such an evil thing be done among you. ²¹ Have no pity on him: ⌞Take⌟ a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Laws for Warfare

20 When you go to war against your enemies, you may see horses, chariots, and armies larger than yours. Don’t be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, will be with you. ² Before the battle starts, a priest must come and speak to the troops. ³ He should tell them, “Listen, Israel, today you’re going into battle against your enemies. Don’t lose your courage! Don’t be afraid or alarmed or tremble because of them. ⁴ The Lord your God is going with you. He will fight for you against your enemies and give you victory.”

⁵ The officers should tell the troops, “If you have built a new house but not dedicated it, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will dedicate it. ⁶ If you have planted a vineyard and not enjoyed the grapes, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will enjoy the grapes. ⁷ If you are engaged to a woman but have not married her, you may go home. Otherwise, you might die in battle, and someone else will marry her.”

⁸ The officers should also tell the troops, “If you are afraid or have lost your courage, you may go home. Then you won’t ruin the morale of the other Israelites.” ⁹ When the officers finish speaking to the troops, they should appoint commanders to lead them.

¹⁰ When you approach a city to attack it, offer its people a peaceful way to surrender. ¹¹ If they accept it and open ⌞their gates⌟ to you, then all the people there will be made to do forced labor and serve you. ¹² If they won’t accept your offer of peace but declare war on you, set up a blockade around the city. ¹³ When the Lord your God hands the city over to you, kill every man in that city with your swords. ¹⁴ But take the women and children, the cattle and everything else in the city, including all its goods, as your loot. You may enjoy your enemies’ goods that the Lord your God has given you. ¹⁵ This is what you must do to all the cities that are far away which don’t belong to the nations nearby.

¹⁶ However, you must not spare anyone’s life in the cities of these nations that the Lord your God is giving you as your property. ¹⁷ You must claim the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites for the Lord and completely destroy them, as the Lord your God has commanded you. ¹⁸ Otherwise, they will teach you to do all the disgusting things they do for their gods, and you will sin against the Lord your God.

¹⁹ This is what you must do whenever you blockade a city for a long time in order to capture it in war. Don’t harm any of its fruit trees with an ax. You can eat the fruit. Never cut those trees down, because the trees of the field are not people you have come to blockade. ²⁰ You may destroy trees that you know are not fruit trees. You may cut them down and use them in your blockade until you capture the city.

Moses and Elijah Appear with Jesus^(A)

²⁸ About eight days after he had said this, Jesus took Peter, John, and James with him and went up a mountain to pray. ²⁹ While Jesus was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³⁰ Suddenly, both Moses and Elijah were talking with him. ³¹ They appeared in heavenly glory and were discussing Jesus’ approaching death and what he was about to fulfill in Jerusalem.

³² Peter and the men with him were sleeping soundly. When they woke up, they saw Jesus’ glory and the two men standing with him. ³³ As Moses and Elijah were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Teacher, it’s good that we’re here. Let’s put up three tents—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Peter didn’t know what he was saying.

³⁴ While he was saying this, a cloud overshadowed them. They were frightened as they went into the cloud. ³⁵ A voice came out of the cloud and said, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen. Listen to him!”

³⁶ After the voice had spoken, they saw that Jesus was alone. The disciples said nothing, and for some time they told no one about what they had seen.

Jesus Cures a Demon-Possessed Boy^(B)

³⁷ The next day, when they had come down from the mountain, a large crowd met Jesus. ³⁸ A man in the crowd shouted, “Teacher, I beg you to look at my son. He’s my only child. ³⁹ Whenever a spirit takes control of him, he shrieks, goes into convulsions, and foams at the mouth. After a struggle, the spirit goes away, leaving the child worn out. ⁴⁰ I begged your disciples to force the spirit out of him, but they couldn’t do it.”

⁴¹ Jesus answered, “You unbelieving and corrupt generation! How long must I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here!”

⁴² While he was coming ⌞to Jesus⌟, the demon knocked the boy to the ground and threw him into convulsions.

Jesus ordered the evil spirit to leave. He cured the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ Everyone was amazed to see God’s wonderful power.

The Son of Man Again Foretells His Betrayal^(C)

Everyone was amazed at all the things that Jesus was doing. So he said to his disciples, ⁴⁴ “Listen carefully to what I say. The Son of Man will be betrayed and handed over to people.”

⁴⁵ They didn’t know what he meant. The meaning was hidden from them so that they didn’t understand it. Besides, they were afraid to ask him about what he had said.

Greatness in the Kingdom^(D)

⁴⁶ A discussion started among them about who would be the greatest. ⁴⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he took a little child and had him stand beside him. ⁴⁸ Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me. Whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. The one who is least among all of you is the one who is greatest.”

Using the Name of Jesus^(E)

⁴⁹ John replied, “Master, we saw someone forcing demons out of a person by using the power and authority of your name. We tried to stop him because he was not one of us.”

⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Don’t stop him! Whoever isn’t against you is for you.”

BOOK THREE

(Psalms 73–89)

A psalm by Asaph.

Three Major Festivals

16 Honor the Lord your God by celebrating Passover in the month of Abib. In the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt at night. ² Slaughter an animal from your flock or herd as the Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God. Do this at the place where the Lord will choose for his name to live. ³ Never eat leavened bread with the meat from this sacrifice. Instead, for seven days you must eat unleavened bread at this festival. (It is the bread of misery because you left Egypt in a hurry.) Eat this bread so that, as long as you live, you will remember the day you left Egypt. ⁴ There should be no yeast anywhere in your land for seven days. Never leave until morning any of the meat you slaughter on the evening of the first day.

⁵ You’re not allowed to slaughter the animals for Passover in any of the cities the Lord your God is giving you. ⁶ Instead, slaughter your animals for Passover in the place where the Lord your God will choose for his name to live. Do this in the evening as the sun goes down. This is the same time you did it when you left Egypt. ⁷ Cook the meat, and eat it at the place the Lord your God will choose. In the morning you may go back to your tents. ⁸ For six days eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day hold a religious assembly dedicated to the Lord your God. Don’t do any work that day.

⁹ Count seven weeks from the time you start harvesting grain. ¹⁰ Then celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God. Bring a freewill offering in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given you. ¹¹ Enjoy yourselves in the presence of the Lord your God along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites who live in your cities, the foreigners, orphans, and widows who live among you. Enjoy yourselves at the place the Lord your God will choose for his name to live. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, and obey these laws carefully.

¹³ After you have gathered the grain from your threshing floor ^[a] and made your wine, celebrate the Festival of Booths for seven days. ¹⁴ Enjoy yourselves at the festival along with your sons, daughters, male and female slaves, the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities. ¹⁵ For seven days you will celebrate this festival dedicated to the Lord your God in the place he will choose. You will enjoy yourselves, because the Lord your God will bless all your harvest and all your work.

¹⁶ Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Lord your God at the place he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths. But no one may come into the presence of the Lord without an offering. ¹⁷ Each man must bring a gift in proportion to the blessings the Lord your God has given him.

Administering Justice

¹⁸ Appoint judges and officers for your tribes in every city that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Never pervert justice. Instead, be impartial. Never take a bribe, because bribes blind wise people and deny justice to those who are in the right. ²⁰ Strive for nothing but justice so that you will live and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

²¹ When you build the altar for the Lord your God, never plant beside it any tree dedicated to the goddess Asherah. ²² Never set up a sacred stone. These are things the Lord your God hates.

17 Never offer an ox or a sheep that has a defect or anything seriously wrong with it as a sacrifice to the Lord your God. That would be disgusting to him.

² In one of the cities the Lord your God is giving you, there may be a man or woman among you who is doing what the Lord considers evil. This person may be disregarding the conditions of the Lord’s promise ^{[b] 3} by worshiping and bowing down to other gods, the sun, the moon, or the whole army of heaven. I have forbidden this. ⁴ When you are told about it, investigate it thoroughly. If it’s true and it can be proven that this disgusting thing has been done in Israel, ⁵ then bring the man or woman who did this evil thing to the gates of your city, and stone that person to death. ⁶ The person can only be sentenced to death on the testimony of two or three witnesses, but no one should ever be sentenced to death on the testimony of only one witness. ⁷ The witnesses must start the execution, then all the other people will join them in putting the person to death. You must get rid of this evil.

⁸ There may be a case that is too hard for you to decide. It may involve murder, assault, or a dispute—any case which may be brought to court in your cities. Take this case to the place that the Lord your God will choose. ⁹ Go to the Levitical priests and the judge who is serving at that time. Ask for their opinion, and they will give you their verdict ¹⁰ at the place that the Lord will choose. Do what they tell you. Follow all their instructions carefully, ¹¹ and do what they tell you to do in their verdict. Do exactly what they tell you to do in their decision. ¹² If anyone deliberately disobeys the priest (who serves the Lord your God) or the judge, that person must die. You must get rid of this evil in Israel. ¹³ When all the people hear about it, they will be afraid and will never defy ⌞God’s law⌟ again.

¹⁴ You will enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You will take possession of it and live there. You will say, “Let’s have our own king like all the other nations around us.” ¹⁵ Be sure to appoint the king the Lord your God will choose. He must be one of your own people. Never let a foreigner be king, because he’s not one of your own people.

¹⁶ The king must never own a large number of horses or make the people return to Egypt to get more horses. The Lord has told you, “You will never go back there again.” ¹⁷ The king must never have a large number of wives, or he will turn away ⌞from God⌟. And he must never own a lot of gold and silver.

¹⁸ When he becomes king, he should have the Levitical priests make him a copy of these teachings on a scroll. ¹⁹ He must keep it with him and read it his entire life. He will learn to fear the Lord his God and faithfully obey everything found in these teachings and laws. ²⁰ Then he won’t think he’s better than the rest of his people, and he won’t disobey these commands in any way. So he and his sons will rule for a long time in Israel.

Rumors about Jesus^(A)

⁷ Herod the ruler heard about everything that was happening. He didn’t know what to make of it. Some people were saying that John had come back to life. ⁸ Others said that Elijah had appeared, and still others said that one of the prophets from long ago had come back to life.

⁹ Herod said, “I had John’s head cut off. Who is this person I’m hearing so much about?” So Herod wanted to see Jesus.

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand^(B)

¹⁰ The apostles came back and told Jesus everything they had done. He took them with him to a city called Bethsaida so that they could be alone. ¹¹ But the crowds found out about this and followed him. He welcomed them, talked to them about God’s kingdom, and cured those who were sick.

¹² Toward the end of the day, the twelve apostles came to him. They said to him, “Send the crowd to the closest villages and farms so that they can find some food and a place to stay. No one lives around here.”

¹³ Jesus replied, “You give them something to eat.”

They said to him, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish. Unless we go to buy food for all these people, that’s all we have.” ¹⁴ (There were about five thousand men.)

Then he told his disciples, “Have them sit in groups of about fifty.” ¹⁵ So they did this.

¹⁶ Then he took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, and blessed the food. He broke the loaves apart and kept giving them to the disciples to give to the crowd. ¹⁷ All of them ate as much as they wanted. When they picked up the leftover pieces, they filled twelve baskets.

Peter Declares His Belief about Jesus^(C)

¹⁸ Once when Jesus was praying privately and his disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

¹⁹ They answered, “Some say you are John the Baptizer, others Elijah, and still others say that one of the prophets from long ago has come back to life.”

²⁰ He asked them, “But who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, whom God has sent.”

²¹ He ordered them not to tell this to anyone.

Jesus Foretells That He Will Die and Come Back to Life^(D)

²² Jesus said that the Son of Man would have to suffer a lot. He would be rejected by the leaders, the chief priests, and the experts in Moses’ Teachings. He would be killed, but on the third day he would come back to life.

What It Means to Follow Jesus^(E)

²³ He said to all of them, “Those who want to come with me must say no to the things they want, pick up their crosses every day, and follow me. ²⁴ Those who want to save their lives will lose them. But those who lose their lives for me will save them. ²⁵ What good does it do for people to win the whole world but lose their lives by destroying them? ²⁶ If people are ashamed of me and what I say, the Son of Man will be ashamed of those people when he comes in the glory that he shares with the Father and the holy angels.

²⁷ “I can guarantee this truth: Some people who are standing here will not die until they see God’s kingdom.”

By Solomon.

False Prophets and Fortune Tellers

13 If a prophet or an interpreter of dreams arises among you, and he predicts a sign or wonder for you,^{[a] 2} and the sign or wonder that he promised you comes true, and he says, “Let’s go after other gods that you do not know, and let’s serve them,” ³ do not listen to the words of that prophet or that interpreter of dreams, because the Lord your God is testing you to see whether you really love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴ Follow the Lord your God, fear him, keep his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him.

⁵ That prophet or that interpreter of dreams is to be put to death because he advised you to turn against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, in order to draw you away from the path on which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. Purge the evil from among you.

The Penalty for Idolatry

⁶ If your full brother or your mother’s son, your son or your daughter, the wife you embrace, or your closest friend tempts you by saying secretly, “Let’s go and serve other gods,”—gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, ⁷ from among the gods of the peoples around you, either near or far from you, anywhere from one end of the land to the other— ⁸ do not be influenced by him and do not listen to him. Your eye is not to look on him with compassion. Do not spare him and do not pardon him, ⁹ but kill him. Your hand is to be the first one on him when putting him to death, and afterward the hands of all the other people. ¹⁰ Stone him to death, because he tried to pull you away from the Lord your God, who led you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. ¹¹ Then all of Israel will hear and fear, and such an evil thing as this will not be done among you again.

¹² If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you so that you can live in them, ¹³ men of worthless character have gone out from among you and have pulled the inhabitants of their city away from the Lord, saying, “Let’s go and serve other gods,” gods whom you have not known, ¹⁴ then investigate, search out the truth, and inquire diligently. If it becomes established truth that this abomination has been done among you, ¹⁵ you are to strike down the inhabitants of that city with the blade of the sword. Devote it and everything in it to complete destruction by the blade of the sword, including its cattle. ¹⁶ Gather all its plunder at the center of its town square. Then burn the city and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. It is to be a permanent mound of ruins, never to be rebuilt.

¹⁷ Let nothing that has been devoted to destruction stick to your hands, so that the Lord will turn away from his anger and show you compassion. In his compassion he will increase your population, as he swore to your fathers, ¹⁸ if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by keeping all of his commandments that I am commanding you today, by doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

14 You are the children of the Lord your God.

Do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your forehead for a dead person, ² because you are set apart as holy people for the Lord your God, and the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the people that are on the face of the earth, to be his people that are his treasured possession.

Clean and Unclean Foods

³ Do not eat any detestable thing.

⁴ These are the animals that you may eat: cattle, sheep, and goats; ⁵ deer, gazelle, roebuck, wild goat, ibex, antelope, and mountain sheep. ⁶ Every animal that has divided hoofs with splits in the middle and that rechews its food^[b] among the animals—you may eat them.

⁷ But these you are not to eat from among those that either rechew their food or have divided hoofs with splits in the middle: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, because even though they rechew their food, their hoofs are not divided. They are unclean for you. ⁸ The pig, because it has divided hoofs but does not rechew its food, is unclean for you. You are not to eat their flesh and you are not to touch their carcasses.

⁹ These you may eat of all the creatures that live in the water: Any that have fins and scales you may eat. ¹⁰ Any that do not have fins and scales you are not to eat. They are unclean for you.

¹¹ Any clean bird you may eat. ¹² But you are not to eat the following: the eagle, the black vulture, and the bearded vulture, ¹³ the red kite, the black kite, and falcons of every kind, ¹⁴ ravens and crows of every kind, ¹⁵ the eagle owl, the short-eared owl, the long-eared owl, all species of hawks, ¹⁶ the tawny owl, the fisher owl, the screech owl, ¹⁷ the white owl, and the scops owl, the osprey, ¹⁸ the stork and herons of every kind, the hoopoe, and the bat.^{[c] 19} Any swarming insect that flies is unclean for you. None of them are to be eaten. ²⁰ Any clean winged creature you may eat.

²¹ Do not eat the carcass of any animal that is found dead. You may give it to the alien who resides in your town, and he may eat it or sell it to a foreigner, but you are a people who are set apart as holy for the Lord your God.

Do not boil a baby goat in its mother’s milk.

Tithes

²² Give a tenth of all the yield from your seed that comes out of the field every year.

²³ Eat the tithe in the presence of the Lord your God in the place that he will choose to establish his name—the tenth of your grain, your new wine, and your fresh oil, as well as the firstborn of your herd and flock, so that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

²⁴ When the Lord your God blesses you, if the distance of your journey is so long that you cannot carry the tithe with you, because the place that the Lord your God will choose to establish his name is far away from you, ²⁵ then you may exchange the tithe for silver and take the silver in your hand and travel to the place that the Lord your God will choose for himself. ²⁶ There exchange the silver for anything that you desire—animals from the herd or the flock, or wine or beer, or anything that you may want. Then eat it there before the Lord your God and rejoice, both you and your household.

²⁷ But you must not neglect the Levites who reside within the gates of your cities, because they do not have an allotted inheritance among you. ²⁸ At the end of every third year, bring out the entire tithe of your produce from that year and store it in your towns. ²⁹ Then the Levites may come, because they do not have an allotted inheritance among you, and also the aliens and the fatherless and the widows within your towns, and they may eat and be satisfied, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work that your hands perform.

The Sabbatical Year

15 At the end of seven years grant a release.^[d]

² This is how the release is to be done: Every creditor is to release^[e] what he has loaned to his neighbor. He must not exact it from his neighbor or from his brother Israelite, because the Lord’s release has been proclaimed. ³ You may exact it from a foreigner, but your hand is to release whatever your brother Israelite owes you.^[f]

⁴ However, there should be no poor people among you, because the Lord will greatly bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance for you to possess, ⁵ if you obey the voice of the Lord your God by carefully carrying out all of this command that I am giving you today. ⁶ For the Lord your God will bless you, just as he has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you.

⁷ However, if there is a poor person among you, any one of your fellow Israelites within the gates of your towns in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your poor brother. ⁸ Rather, open up your hand to him and freely lend him enough of whatever he needs for himself. ⁹ Be careful that you do not harbor this wicked thought: Year seven, the year of release, is near! So as a result you have a harsh attitude toward your poor brother and do not give him anything. Then he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin. ¹⁰ Give freely to him, and do not feel resentful about giving to him, because on account of your giving, the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and whatever you put your hand to. ¹¹ Since there will never cease to be poor people in the land, I command you, open up your hand to your brother in your land, to the afflicted and the poor among you.

The Release of Servants

¹² If your brother, that is, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year you are to set him free. ¹³ When you set him free, do not send him out empty-handed. ¹⁴ Provide for him generously from your flock and from your threshing floor and from your winepress. Give to him from the blessings that the Lord your God has given to you. ¹⁵ You should remember that you yourself were a slave in the land of Egypt, but the Lord your God redeemed you. Therefore I am commanding this procedure to you today.

¹⁶ But he might say to you, “I don’t want to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, and he is well off with you. ¹⁷ In that case you are to take an awl and bore through his ear into the door, and he will be a slave to you permanently. Do the same in the case of your female slave. ¹⁸ When you do set a servant free, it should not seem like a hardship to you, because for six years he has earned for you double the income that a hired worker would. The Lord your God will bless you in everything that you do.

The Firstborn

¹⁹ Set apart for the Lord your God every firstborn male from your herd and your flock. Do not work the firstborn of your oxen, and do not shear the firstborn of your flock. ²⁰ You and your household are to eat the firstborn in the presence of the Lord each year, in the place that the Lord will choose. ²¹ But if it has a defect (if it is lame or blind, or if it has any other serious defect), you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²² You may eat it within the gates of your towns. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it, as you would a gazelle or a deer. ²³ But you must not eat its blood. You are to pour it out on the ground like water.

The Daughter of Jairus

⁴⁰ When Jesus returned, the crowd welcomed him, because they were all waiting for him. ⁴¹ Just then a man named Jairus arrived. He was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet and begged him to come to his house, ⁴² because he had an only daughter who was about twelve years old and she was dying.

As he went, the crowds pressed tightly against him. ⁴³ There was a woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, yet although she had paid physicians all she had to live on, she could not be healed by anyone. ⁴⁴ She approached Jesus from behind and touched the fringe of his garment. Immediately her flow of blood stopped. ⁴⁵ And Jesus said, “Who touched me?”

As everyone was denying it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the crowds are pressing in and crowding you, yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’”

⁴⁶ But Jesus said, “Someone touched me, because I know that power has gone out from me.” ⁴⁷ When the woman saw that she did not escape his notice, she came trembling and fell down before Jesus. In the presence of all the people she told him why she had touched him and how she was healed immediately. ⁴⁸ And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

⁴⁹ While he was still speaking, someone came from the synagogue ruler’s house, saying, “Your daughter has died. Don’t trouble the Teacher anymore.”

⁵⁰ But when Jesus heard it, he told Jairus, “Do not be afraid. Only believe, and she will be saved.”

⁵¹ When he came to the house, he did not let anyone enter, except Peter, John, James, and the child’s father and mother. ⁵² All the people were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Stop weeping, because she is not dead, but sleeping.”

⁵³ They laughed at him, knowing that she was dead. ⁵⁴ But he^[a] took her by the hand and called out, “Child, get up!” ⁵⁵ Her spirit returned, and she immediately got up. He ordered that something be given to her to eat. ⁵⁶ Her parents were amazed, but he instructed them not to tell anyone what had happened.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

9 Jesus called the Twelve^[b] together and gave them power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. ² He sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to heal the sick. ³ He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money; and do not take two coats.^{[c] 4} Whatever house you enter, stay there until you leave. ⁵ If they do not welcome you, when you leave that town, shake off the dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”

⁶ They set out and went throughout the villages, proclaiming the good news and healing everywhere.

Psalm 71

Do Not Throw Me Away When I Am Old

Opening Prayer

Remembrance of Past Help

Statement of Present Need

Plea for Help in Present Trouble

Present and Future Praise

Closing Confidence

Closing Praise

11 Love the Lord your God and always carry out his requirements, his statutes, his ordinances, and his commandments.

² Know this today! I am not addressing your children, who have not known and seen all these things:

⁷ Know today it is your own eyes that have seen every deed that the Lord your God performed.

⁸ Therefore, keep the whole set of commands that I am giving you today so that you may have the strength to enter and take possession of the land that you are about to cross into and possess, ⁹ and so that you may live for a long time on the land that the Lord your God swore to give to your fathers and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰ The land that you are about to enter and possess is not like that land of Egypt that you left, where you were accustomed to sow your seed and water it by hand^[a] like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are entering to possess is a land of mountains and valleys. It drinks water provided by rain from the heavens. ¹² It is a land that the Lord your God takes care of. The eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it, from the start to the end of the year.

¹³ If you faithfully listen to my commandments that I am giving you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ then I will provide rain for your land in season, early fall rain and late spring rain, and you will gather your grain and your new wine and your fresh oil. ¹⁵ I will provide grass in your field for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.

¹⁶ Be careful, or your heart will be deceived and you will turn away and serve other gods and bow down to them. ¹⁷ Then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and he will close up the heavens. There will be no rain, the ground will not produce crops, and you will perish quickly from the good land that the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ Put these words of mine in your hearts and in your soul, and tie them on your wrists as signs and as symbols on your forehead. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children by talking about them when you sit in your house and when you travel on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your children may be many on the land that the Lord promised to your fathers with an oath, as many as the days that the heavens remain over the earth.

²² If you carefully keep the whole set of commandments that I am giving you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and clinging to him, ²³ then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will take possession of nations larger and stronger than you.

²⁴ Every place where the sole of your foot walks will be yours. From the Wilderness to Lebanon, from the River—the River Euphrates—to the Mediterranean Sea,^[b] all of it will be your territory.

²⁵ No one will be able to stand up to you. The Lord your God will put the fear and dread of you over the whole land on which you walk, just as he promised you.

²⁶ You see, I am placing before you today a blessing and a curse: ²⁷ the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God that I am giving you today, ²⁸ or the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God and you turn away from the path that I am commanding you today by walking after other gods whom you did not know.

²⁹ When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and possess, you are to pronounce the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. ³⁰ As you know, they are on the other side of the Jordan, beyond the west road,^[c] toward the setting sun, in the land of the Canaanites that live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, by the oaks of Moreh.

³¹ You are about to cross over the Jordan to go in and take the land that the Lord your God is giving you. You will take it and live in it. ³² But be careful to carry out all the statutes and the ordinances that I am giving you today.

12 These are the statutes and the ordinances that you are to be conscientious about keeping in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given to you to possess all the days that you live in the land:

² Completely destroy all the places where the nations that you are driving out serve their gods, whether on the high mountains or on the hills or under every beautiful green tree. ³ Tear down their altars! Smash their sacred memorial stones! Burn their Asherah poles^[d] with fire, and cut down the carved images of their gods! In this way you will destroy their names from those places.

⁴ Do not serve the Lord your God in the way that they worship, ⁵ but seek out and go to the site that the Lord your God will choose from within all your tribes to place his name and his dwelling place. ⁶ There you are to bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes and the elevated offerings from your hands, your offerings to fulfill a vow, your voluntary offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and your flock. ⁷ Eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, and rejoice in everything you do, you and your household, because the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ Do not in any way do what we are doing here today, that is, each person doing whatever is right in his own eyes, ⁹ because you have not yet come to your place of rest, the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving to you.

¹⁰ But you will cross over the Jordan and settle in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies all around you, so that you will live in safety. ¹¹ Then go to the place that the Lord your God chooses as the place to establish his name. There you are to bring everything that I am commanding you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes, the offerings from your hands, and all the best voluntary offerings that you vow to the Lord.

¹² You will rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, and your male servants and your female servants, and the Levites who live within the gates of your cities, because they do not have an allotted inheritance among you.

¹³ Be careful that you do not offer up your burnt offering in just any place that you see fit, ¹⁴ but only in the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes. That is where you are to offer up your burnt offerings and where you are to do everything that I am commanding you.

¹⁵ But in any town you may butcher and eat meat to your heart’s content, as the Lord your God has blessed you. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it as they would a gazelle or a deer, ¹⁶ but you must never eat the blood. Pour it on the ground like water.

¹⁷ You are not to eat the tithe from your grain, your new wine, or your fresh oil in your towns. The same applies to the firstborn of your herd and your flock, or anything you vow, or your voluntary offerings, or your special elevated offerings. ¹⁸ Eat those things before the Lord your God in the place that the Lord your God will choose—you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levites within your cities. Rejoice before the Lord your God in everything that you are doing.

¹⁹ Be careful that you do not neglect the Levites as long as you live on your land.

²⁰ When the Lord your God expands your territory as he promised you, and you say, “I would like to eat meat,” because you are hungry for meat, then you may eat it to your heart’s content. ²¹ If the place that the Lord your God will choose to establish his name is too far away for you, then you may slaughter^[e] animals from your herd and flock which the Lord has given you, just as I commanded you, and you may eat within your cities as you desire. ²² Yes, just as gazelle and deer are eaten, you may eat it. The unclean and the clean person alike may eat it. ²³ Only be very sure not to eat the blood, because the blood is the life, and you must not eat the life together with the flesh. ²⁴ Do not eat it. Pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵ Do not eat it, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you when you do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

²⁶ But as for the holy things that you have and your voluntary offerings, gather them up and take them to the place that the Lord will choose. ²⁷ Offer your burnt offerings, both the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of the sacrifice is to be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the meat you may eat.

²⁸ Be careful that you obey all these words that I am commanding you so that it may go well for you and for your children after you in the distant future when you do what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

²⁹ When the Lord your God cuts off the nations where you are going and drives them out before you, and when you take possession of their land and settle in it, ³⁰ be careful that you are not snared after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods and ask, “How did these people serve their gods? I also want to do the same thing.”

³¹ Do not serve the Lord your God in the way that they worship, because they do for their gods every detestable thing that the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in fire for their gods.

³² Be careful to do everything that I am commanding you. Do not add to it, and do not subtract from it.

Jesus Calms the Storm

²² One day Jesus got into a boat with his disciples and told them, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they set out. ²³ As they were sailing, he fell asleep. A powerful windstorm came down on the lake, the boat was filling up with water, and they were in danger.

²⁴ They went to him and woke him, saying, “Master, master, we’re going to die!”

He woke up, rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they stopped. Then it was calm.

²⁵ He said to them, “Where is your faith?”

They were afraid and amazed and said to one another, “Who, then, is this, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”

A Demon-Possessed Man and a Herd of Pigs

²⁶ They sailed down to the region of the Gerasenes,^[a] which is across from Galilee. ²⁷ When Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town met him. He was possessed by demons and for a long time had not worn any clothes. He did not live in a house but in the tombs. ²⁸ When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” ²⁹ For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. In fact, the unclean spirit had seized him many times. He was kept under guard, and although he was bound with chains and shackles, he would break the restraints and was driven by the demon into deserted places.

³⁰ Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Legion,” because many demons had gone into him. ³¹ They were begging Jesus that he would not order them to go into the abyss. ³² A herd of many pigs was feeding there on the mountain. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. ³³ The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

³⁴ When those who were feeding the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and reported it in the town and in the countryside. ³⁵ People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and the people were afraid. ³⁶ Those who saw it told them how the demon-possessed man was saved. ³⁷ The whole crowd of people from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes^[b] asked Jesus to leave them, because they were gripped with great fear.

As Jesus got into the boat and started back, ³⁸ the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, ³⁹ “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” Then he went through the whole town proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.

Psalm 70

Hurry to Save Me
(Psalm 40:13-17)

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For the choir director. By David. To bring to remembrance.

Hurry to Help Me

9 Listen, Israel, today you are about to cross the Jordan to go in and to take possession of nations larger and stronger than you, nations with large cities that have fortified walls reaching up to the skies, ² with people strong and tall, the Anakites, whom you know and about whom you have heard it said: “Who can stand up against the descendants of Anak?”

³ So know today that the Lord your God himself is crossing over in front of you. Like a consuming fire he will destroy them, and he will subdue them before you. You will take possession of their land and destroy them quickly, just as the Lord promised you.

⁴ When the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say in your heart, “Because of my righteousness the Lord brought me in to take possession of this land,” when actually it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is handing over their land to you.

⁵ You are not entering to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart, but because of the wickedness of these nations. The Lord your God is handing over their land to you, in order to confirm the promise that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

⁶ Know, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, because a stiff-necked people^[a] is what you are. ⁷ Remember and do not forget how you made the Lord your God angry in the wilderness. From the day that you went out of the land of Egypt until your arrival at this place, you have been rebels against the Lord. ⁸ Even at Horeb you made the Lord angry. Yes, the Lord was angry enough at you to destroy you.

⁹ When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread and I did not drink water. ¹⁰ Then the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you from the middle of the fire on the mountain, on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ At the end of the forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.

¹² Then the Lord said to me, “Get moving and go down quickly from here because your people, whom you led out of Egypt, have acted corruptly. They have turned away quickly from the way that I commanded them. They have made for themselves a thing of molten metal.”

¹³ The Lord also said to me, “I have seen these people, and what a stiff-necked people they are! ¹⁴ Leave me alone, and I will destroy them. I will blot out their name from under the heavens, and I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.”

¹⁵ So I turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant in my two hands, while the mountain was burning with fire.

¹⁶ I saw how you were sinning against the Lord your God by making for yourselves a calf from molten metal and by quickly turning aside from the way that the Lord your God had commanded you to go.

¹⁷ I grabbed the two tablets and I threw them from my two hands^[b] and I shattered them right before your eyes.

¹⁸ Then I lay facedown before the Lord forty days and forty nights like the first time. I did not eat bread and I did not drink water, because of all the sin that you committed by doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and making him angry.

¹⁹ I was afraid of the heated anger of the Lord, who was angry enough at you to destroy you, but the Lord listened to me again at that time.

²⁰ The Lord was even angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. So I prayed also for Aaron at that time.

²¹ Then I took that wicked thing that you had made, the calf. I burned it with fire and crushed it by grinding it until it was as fine as dust. Then I threw its dust into the gully that goes down from the mountain.

²² Again and again, at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hatta’avah, you made the Lord angry.

²³ Then, when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, and he said, “Go up and take possession of the land that I have given to you,” you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not put your faith in him, and you did not obey him. ²⁴ You have been rebels against the Lord ever since I have known you.

²⁵ So I lay facedown before the Lord for forty days and forty nights. I lay facedown because the Lord said he would destroy you. ²⁶ So I prayed to the Lord and said, “Lord God, do not destroy your people, your inheritance that you have redeemed by your greatness, whom you brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.

²⁷ “Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of these people and at their wickedness and their sin. ²⁸ Otherwise the land out of which you brought us will say, ‘This happened because the Lord did not have the power to bring them to the land that he had promised to them, or this happened because he hated them and brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’

²⁹ “But they are your people and your possession, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.”

10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Cut out two tablets of stone like the first ones, and come up to me on the mountain, and make an ark^[c] out of wood. ² Then I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the first ones that you shattered, and you are to put them in the ark.”

³ So I made an ark of acacia wood and I cut out two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ He wrote on the tablets the same writing as on the first tablets, the Ten Commandments^[d] that the Lord had spoken to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire, on the day of the assembly. Then the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ I turned and came back down the mountain, and I put the tablets in the ark that I had made. There they are kept, as the Lord commanded me to do.

⁶ The people of Israel traveled from Be’eroth Bene Ja’akan to Moserah. Aaron died there, and he was buried there, and Eleazar his son served as priest in his place. ⁷ From there they traveled to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of gullies filled with water.

⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord and to serve him, and to pronounce a blessing in his name, as they do to this day. ⁹ That is why Levi did not have an allotment of land and an inheritance with his brothers. The Lord himself is their inheritance, as the Lord your God promised him.

¹⁰ I had stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights like the first time, and the Lord listened to me again on this second occasion. The Lord agreed not to destroy you. ¹¹ So the Lord said to me, “Set out and continue the journey at the head of the people, and they will enter and take possession of the land that I promised to give them with an oath to their fathers.”

¹² So now, Israel, what is the Lord your God asking of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹³ to keep the commandments of the Lord and his statutes that I am commanding you today for your own good.

¹⁴ Indeed, the heavens and the heaven of heavens,^[e] the earth and everything that is on it—these belong to the Lord your God. ¹⁵ Still, the Lord attached himself to your fathers, loved them, and he chose their descendants after them (that’s you!) from all peoples, as it is today.

¹⁶ So cut away the tough shell of your sinful nature,^[f] and do not be stubborn any longer.

¹⁷ The Lord your God is God of Gods and Lord of Lords, the great God, the mighty one and the awesome one, who does not show favoritism and does not take a bribe. ¹⁸ He carries out justice for the fatherless and widows. He loves the alien who dwells among you and gives him food and clothing. ¹⁹ So you are to love the alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

²⁰ Fear the Lord your God, serve him, cling to him, and take your oaths in his name.

²¹ He is your glory. He is your God, who performed for you these great and awesome things that your own eyes have seen.

²² When your fathers went down to Egypt, they numbered seventy people, but now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of the sky.

The Parable of the Sower

⁴ As a large crowd was gathering and people from one town after another were making their way to him, he spoke using a parable. ⁵ “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the path. It was trampled, and the birds of the sky devoured it. ⁶ Other seed fell on rocky ground. As soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns. The thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ Other seed fell into good soil. It grew and produced fruit—one hundred times as much as was sown.” As he said these things, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear!”

⁹ His disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”

¹⁰ He said, “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest I speak in parables so that ‘even though they see, they may not see, and even though they hear, they may not understand.’^{[a] 11} This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. ¹² Those along the path are the ones who hear it, but then the Devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts to keep them from believing and being saved. ¹³ Those on the rocky ground are the ones who, when they hear, receive the word with joy, but they have no root. So they believe for a while, but then fall away in a time of testing. ¹⁴ The seeds that fell into the thorns are the ones who hear the word, but as they go on their way they are choked by the worries, riches, and pleasures of life, so they do not mature. ¹⁵ And the seeds in the good ground are the ones who hear the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it tightly, and produce fruit as they patiently endure.

¹⁶ “No one lights a lamp and then hides it under a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand so that those who enter may see the light. ¹⁷ For nothing is hidden that will not be revealed, and nothing is secret that will not be made known and come to light. ¹⁸ So listen carefully, because whoever has will be given more, and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers

¹⁹ Jesus’ mother and brothers came to him, but they could not get near him because of the crowd. ²⁰ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹ But he answered them, “My mother and brothers are those who are hearing and doing the word of God.”

His Shame

His Curse

His Closing Prayer

7 When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take as a possession, and when he clears away many nations before you (the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you), ² and when the Lord your God has given them over to you and he has struck them down, you are to devote them to destruction. Do not make a treaty with them, and do not show mercy to them. ³ Do not form marriage alliances with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons, and do not take their daughters for your sons, ⁴ because they will turn your sons away from following me, and they will serve other gods. The anger of the Lord will burn against you, and then he will destroy you quickly. ⁵ Instead, this is the way you must deal with them: Break down their altars. Smash their sacred memorial stones. Cut down their Asherah poles. ^[a]Burn their idols with fire.

⁶ For you are a people that is holy to the Lord your God, because the Lord your God has chosen you to belong to him as a people that is his treasured possession, chosen from all the peoples that are on the face of the earth. ⁷ The Lord became attached to you by love and has chosen you, not because you were more numerous than all the peoples. Actually you were the fewest of all the peoples. ⁸ But because of the Lord’s love for you and because he was keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that is why the Lord brought you out by a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁹ He did this so that you would know that the Lord your God, yes, he is God, the faithful God who maintains both his covenant and his mercy for those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations. ¹⁰ But he also repays the ones who hate him to their face by destroying them. He will not delay repaying anyone who hates him. To his face he will fully repay him. ¹¹ So you are to be careful to keep the set of commandments and the statutes and the ordinances that I am commanding you today.

¹² When you obey these ordinances and are careful to keep them, the Lord your God will keep for your benefit the covenant and the mercy that he promised to your fathers with an oath. ¹³ He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit from your womb and the fruit from your soil, your grain and your new wine and your fresh olive oil, the offspring of your cattle and the young of your flock upon the land that he swore to your fathers that he would give you. ¹⁴ You will be blessed beyond all the peoples. There will not be an infertile male or infertile female among you or among your livestock. ¹⁵ The Lord will remove from you all sickness, and he will not place on you all of the diseases of Egypt, the calamities that you experienced. Instead he will put them on all those who hate you. ¹⁶ You will consume all the peoples that the Lord your God is giving to you. Your eye is not to look with compassion on them. You are not to serve their gods, because that would be a snare to you.

¹⁷ If you say in your heart, “These nations are more numerous than we are. How are we able to take possession of their land?” ¹⁸ do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all the Egyptians. ¹⁹ The great test which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the strong hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out—that is what the Lord your God will do to all the peoples that you fear.

²⁰ The Lord your God will also send the hornet against them until those who are left and are hiding from you have been destroyed. ²¹ Do not be overwhelmed before them, because the Lord your God is right among you, a great and awe-inspiring God.

²² The Lord your God, the God before you, will clear away the nations little by little. You will not succeed in finishing them off too quickly, so that the wild animals do not become too numerous for you. ²³ But the Lord your God will give them over to you, and he will throw these peoples into complete confusion until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will give their kings into your hands, and he will cause their names to die out under the heavens, because none of them will be able to hold their ground against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ Burn the images of their gods with fire, and do not covet the silver and gold on them or take it for yourself, so that you are not snared by it, because it is an abomination to the Lord your God. ²⁶ Do not bring a detestable thing to your house and in that way become devoted to destruction just like it. Detest it and regard it as an utterly disgusting thing, because it is devoted to destruction.

8 Be conscientious about carrying out the entire body of commands that I am giving you today so that you may thrive and increase and you may go in and possess the land that the Lord promised by oath to give to your fathers. ² Remember the whole journey on which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you and to test you, in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. ³ So he humbled you and allowed you to be hungry. Then he fed you manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known before, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ The clothes you wore did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. ⁵ So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ Therefore you are to keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by revering him.

⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of gullies filled with water, a land with springs and groundwater that flows out into the valleys and down the mountains, ⁸ a land with wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil, and honey,^{[b] 9} a land where you can eat bread and not be poor, where you will not lack anything, a land whose rocks are iron and from whose mountains you can mine copper.

¹⁰ Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. ¹¹ Be very careful so that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and ordinances and his statutes that I am commanding you today. ¹² When you eat and are satisfied, and you build nice houses and move into them, ¹³ and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have prospers, ¹⁴ watch out so that your heart does not become arrogant and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. ¹⁵ Do not forget the Lord, who led you in the great and terrifying wilderness, where there were venomous snakes and scorpions, where the thirsty ground had no water, but the Lord made water come out of a flint rock for you. ¹⁶ Do not forget the Lord, who in the wilderness fed you manna, which your fathers had not known before, to humble you and to test you so that it would be good for you later on.

¹⁷ You might say in your heart, “My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.” ¹⁸ But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, to confirm his covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath, as he does to this day.

¹⁹ But if you ever do forget the Lord your God and you follow other gods, and if you serve them and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish. ²⁰ Just like the nations that the Lord is about to destroy in front of you, you also will perish, because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

Jesus Is Anointed by a Sinful Woman

³⁶ A certain one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. ³⁷ Just then a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, ³⁸ stood behind him near his feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. ³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would realize who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, because she is a sinner.”

⁴⁰ Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

He said, “Teacher, say it.”

⁴¹ “A certain moneylender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii,^[a] and the other fifty. ⁴² When they could not pay, he forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the larger debt forgiven.”

Then he told him, “You have judged correctly.” ⁴⁴ Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, but you did not give me water for my feet. Yet she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You did not give me a kiss, but she, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. ⁴⁶ You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

⁴⁹ Those reclining at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

⁵⁰ He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Preaching the Gospel

8 Soon afterward Jesus was traveling from one town and village to another, preaching and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him ² and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and diseases: Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out; ³ Joanna, the wife of Cuza, Herod’s household manager; Susanna; and many others who provided support for them^[b] out of their own possessions.

Psalm 69

Prayer of an Innocent Sufferer: Save Me, O God

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For the choir director. According to “Lilies.”^[a] By David.

Prayer of an Innocent Sufferer

The Unfairness of His Enemies

His Guilt and Shame

An Interlude of Prayer

More Examples of Righteous Behavior

5 Moses called together all Israel and said this to them: Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am speaking in your hearing today so that you learn them and are conscientious about carrying them out. ² The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. ³ The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with those who are here today, all of us who are living today. ⁴ Face-to-face the Lord spoke with you at the mountain from the middle of the fire. ⁵ At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to relate to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and you did not go up on the mountain.

Then the Lord said:

²² These are the words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the thick cloud, and the gloom, with a loud voice, and he did not add anything. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ When you heard the voice from the middle of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me—all the heads of your tribes and your elders.

²⁴ Then you said, “See how the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the middle of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even though God has spoken to him. ²⁵ But now, why should we die, because this great fire will consume us? If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we will die. ²⁶ For who of all flesh has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of fire as we have and has lived? ²⁷ You go near and listen to everything that the Lord our God says, and then you speak to us everything that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.”

²⁸ The Lord heard what you said when you spoke to me. So the Lord said to me, “I heard what these people said when they spoke to you. Everything that they spoke to you is good. ²⁹ If only this would be in their hearts—to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well for them and for their children continually. ³⁰ Go and say to them, ‘Go back to your tents.’ ³¹ As for you, stand here with me and I will speak to you all the commands and the statutes and the ordinances that you are to teach them and that they are to do in the land that I am giving them as a possession. ³² Tell them:^[f] ‘Be conscientious about doing just as the Lord your God commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. ³³ Walk in every way the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and it may be good for you and you may live long in the land that you will possess.’”

6 Moses spoke as follows:^[g]

Now this is the body of commands, and these are the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, so you may carry them out in the land to which you are crossing over to receive as a possession, ² so that you may fear the Lord your God by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding to you, as well as to your children and grandchildren, all the days of your life, and so that your days may be long.

³ Listen, O Israel, and be conscientious about doing those things, so it may go well for you and so you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. ⁴ Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God. The Lord is one! ⁵ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul^[h] and with all your might. ⁶ These words that I am commanding you today are to be on your heart. ⁷ Teach them diligently to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Tie them as a sign on your wrists, and they will serve as symbols on your forehead. ⁹ Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

¹⁰ When the Lord your God brings you to the land about which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to you, he will bring you to great and good cities that you did not build, ¹¹ to houses full of all kinds of good things that you did not fill, to wells that you did not dig, and to vineyards and olives that you did not plant. Then, when you eat and are full, ¹² watch yourself, so that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. ¹³ Fear the Lord your God, serve him, and swear by his name. ¹⁴ Do not go after other gods from among the gods of the peoples around you. ¹⁵ If you do, the Lord your God will be a jealous God in your midst, and the anger of the Lord your God will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the earth.

¹⁶ Do not put the Lord your God to the test the way you tested him at Massah. ¹⁷ Be very conscientious about keeping the commandments of the Lord your God and his testimonies and his statutes, which he commanded you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord, so that it may go well for you and you may go and take possession of the good land that the Lord promised to your fathers with an oath, ¹⁹ driving out all your enemies from your presence, as the Lord promised.

²⁰ When your son asks you in the future, “What are these testimonies and statutes and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded for you?” ²¹ then you are to say to your son, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²² Right before our eyes the Lord gave great, devastating signs and wonders in Egypt against Pharaoh and against his whole household. ²³ Then he brought us out of there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised to our fathers with an oath.”

²⁴ Then the Lord commanded us to carry out all of these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our own lasting good, to keep us alive, even as we are today. ²⁵ Righteousness will be ours when we are conscientious about carrying out this entire set of commands in the presence of the Lord our God as he commanded us.

Jesus Raises a Widow’s Son

¹¹ Soon afterward^[a] Jesus went on his way to a town called Nain, and^[b] his disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him. ¹² As he was approaching the town gate, there was a dead man being carried out, the only son of his mother. She was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not cry.” ¹⁴ He went up to the open coffin, touched it, and the pallbearers stopped. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” ¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.

¹⁶ Fear gripped all of them, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us” and “God has visited his people!” ¹⁷ This was reported about him in all of Judea and in all the surrounding countryside.

John the Baptist and Christ

¹⁸ John’s disciples told him about all these things. ¹⁹ Calling two of his disciples to him, he sent them to Jesus^[c] to ask, “Are you the one who was to come or should we look for someone else?” ²⁰ When the men had arrived, they said to Jesus, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who was to come or should we look for someone else?’”

²¹ At that time Jesus healed many people of their diseases, afflictions, and evil spirits. And he gave many blind people the ability to see. ²² Jesus answered them, “Go, tell John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are healed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. ²³ Blessed is the one who does not fall away on account of me.”

²⁴ After John’s messengers had left, Jesus began to talk to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵ No. Then what did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Yet those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶ But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and much more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written: ‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’^[d]

²⁸ “Yes, I tell you,^[e] among those born of women there is no prophet^[f] greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹ When all the people (including the tax collectors) heard this, they declared that God was just, since they were baptized with the baptism of John. ³⁰ But the Pharisees and the legal experts rejected God’s purpose for themselves by not being baptized by him.

³¹ “To what then will I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We sang a dirge, and you did not weep.’ ³³ For John the Baptist has come without eating bread or drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a man who is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵ Yet wisdom is declared right by all her children.”

God’s Daily Care

God’s Future Victories

God’s Procession Into the Temple

Prayer for Future Victory

God Rules the Nations

Closing Praise

Review of the Covenant for a New Generation

4 So now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I am teaching you, and carry them out so that you may live and so that you may enter the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving to you and take possession of it. ² Do not add to the word that I am commanding you, and do not subtract from it, so that you keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you. ³ With your own eyes you have been observing what the Lord did at Baal Peor. Indeed, the Lord your God destroyed from among you every man who followed the Baal of Peor.

⁴ But all of you, who are clinging to the Lord your God, are still alive today. ⁵ Note well now, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may carry them out also in the land that you are entering to take as a possession. ⁶ Keep them and put them into practice, because in this way your wisdom and your understanding will be recognized by all the people who hear about all these statutes; and they will say, “This great nation is certainly a wise and understanding people,” ⁷ because what other great nation is there that has a god as close to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call on him? ⁸ What other great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this entire law that I am presenting to you today?

⁹ But guard yourselves and guard your whole being^[a] diligently, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen and so that those things do not disappear from your heart all the rest of the days of your life. Make them known to your children and to your children’s children. ¹⁰ Tell about the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb when the Lord said to me, “Bring the people near to me and I will make sure that they hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they are living in the land, and so that they may teach their children.” ¹¹ So you drew near and you stood under the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire up to the very heavens. There was darkness, a thick cloud, and gloom. ¹² Then the Lord your God spoke to you from the middle of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but you did not see a form. You only heard the sound. ¹³ He declared to you his covenant that he commanded you to carry out, namely, the Ten Commandments.^[b] Then he wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances for you to carry out in the land that you are entering in order to occupy it.

¹⁵ So guard your hearts very carefully, because you did not see any form on the day that the Lord your God spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. ¹⁶ Do this so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves an idol of any form. Do not make an image of a male or female, ¹⁷ an image of any animal that walks on the earth, an image of any bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ an image of anything that creeps on the ground, or an image of any fish that swims in the water below the earth. ¹⁹ Beware so that you do not lift up your eyes to the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the vast army of the heavens, and you are lured away, and you bow down to them and worship them—things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations under all the heavens.

²⁰ But you are the ones that the Lord has chosen and has brought out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to be a nation that is his possession, as is the case today. ²¹ But the Lord was angry with me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan and would not come into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²² I will die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you will cross over and take possession of this good land. ²³ Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God made^[c] with you and so that you do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything that the Lord your God prohibited. ²⁴ For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.^[d]

²⁵ But when you become the father of children, and you have grandchildren, and you have grown old in the land, if you then act corruptly by making an idol of any form, and you do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, provoking him to anger, ²⁶ I today call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you, that you will most certainly perish quickly from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live many days in it, because you will most certainly be destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left as a people that are few in number among the nations where the Lord your God will force you to go. ²⁸ There you will worship gods, the work of human hands, made of wood and stone—things that do not see or hear or eat or smell.

²⁹ But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him when you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul. ³⁰ When you experience misery and all these things have happened to you in future days, then you will return to the Lord your God, and you will be obedient to his voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a compassionate God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath.

³² So ask now about the former days, long before your time, beginning from the day when God created man on the earth. Search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has there ever been anything like this great event, or has anything like it ever been heard? ³³ Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire as you heard and yet continued to live? ³⁴ Or has a god ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from inside another nation by tests, signs, and warnings, or by war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great awe-inspiring acts like all those that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt in front of your very eyes? ³⁵ You yourselves were shown this so that you could know that the Lord—he is God! There is none except him alone. ³⁶ He let you hear his voice from the heavens to discipline you, and on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words from the middle of the fire. ³⁷ Yes, because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by the great power of his Presence, ³⁸ driving out from your presence nations greater and stronger than you are, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. ³⁹ Therefore know this today and again take it to heart that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other. ⁴⁰ Keep his statutes and his commandments that I am commanding you today, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you, and so that you may live long on the land^[e] that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.^[f]

Cities of Refuge

⁴¹ Then Moses set aside three cities in the region east of the Jordan, the place where the sun rises, ⁴² so that someone who killed a man could flee to them, that is, someone who killed his neighbor unintentionally and who did not previously hate him—he could flee to one of these cities and remain alive: ⁴³ Bezer in the wilderness in the tableland belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.

A Review of the Law

⁴⁴ This is the Law that Moses set before the people of Israel. ⁴⁵ These are the testimonies and statutes and ordinances that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they went out of Egypt, ⁴⁶ in the region east of the Jordan opposite Beth Peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck down when they came out of Egypt. ⁴⁷ So they took possession of his land as well as the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were in the region east of the Jordan, where the sun rises. ⁴⁸ They took possession from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Canyon, all the way to Mount Siyon, that is, Mount Hermon, ⁴⁹ including all of the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan, up to the Sea of the Arabah^[g] below the slopes of Pisgah.

³⁹ He also told them a parable: “A blind man cannot guide a blind man, can he? Won’t they both fall into a pit? ⁴⁰ A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like his teacher. ⁴¹ Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but fail to notice the beam in your own eye? ⁴² Or how can you tell your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck in your eye,’ when you do not see the beam in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck in your brother’s eye.

Listen and Do

⁴³ “Certainly a good tree does not produce bad fruit, and a bad tree does not produce good fruit. ⁴⁴ In fact, each tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not gather figs from thorn bushes, and they do not gather grapes from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ The good person brings what is good out of the good stored in his heart, and the evil person brings what is evil out of the evil within.^[a] To be sure, what his mouth speaks flows from the heart.

⁴⁶ “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? ⁴⁷ Everyone who comes to me and listens to my words and does them—I will show you what he is like: ⁴⁸ He is like a man building a house who dug down deep and laid a foundation on bedrock. When a flood came, the river beat against that house but could not shake it, because it was founded on bedrock.^{[b] 49} But the one who listened to my words and did not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river broke against it, it fell immediately, and that house was completely destroyed.”

A Believing Centurion

7 After Jesus had finished saying all these things to the people who were listening, he went into Capernaum. ² A centurion’s servant, who was valuable to him, was sick and about to die. ³ When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. ⁴ When they came to Jesus, they begged him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy of having you do this for him, ⁵ because he loves our nation, and he built our synagogue for us.”

⁶ Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell Jesus, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, because I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. ⁷ That is why I did not consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. ⁸ For I am also a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another one, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

⁹ When Jesus heard these things, he was amazed at him. He turned to the crowd that was following him and said, “I tell you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel.” ¹⁰ And when the men who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Psalm 68

The Procession of God

Heading
For the choir director. By David. A psalm. A song.

Judgment on God’s Enemies

Blessing on God’s People

God Brings His People Into His Land

The Lord Defeats the Kings of the Land

The Lord Makes His Dwelling in Zion