Month: March 2024

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)

Heading
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

Heading

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

2 Then we turned and traveled toward the wilderness on the road to the Red Sea, as the Lord had told me, and we traveled for many days to get around the area of Mount Seir.^[a]

The Journey Past Edom

² Then the Lord said to me, ³ “You have been traveling around this mountainous region long enough. Turn north ⁴ and command the people, ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who are living in Seir, and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. ⁵ Do not wage war against them because I am not going to give you any of their land, not even an area the size of a footprint, because I have given the Mount Seir region to Esau as a possession. ⁶ You may buy food from them with money so you can eat, and you may purchase water from them with money so you can drink. ⁷ For the Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your trek through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you. You have not lacked anything.’” ⁸ So we passed by the territory of our brothers, the people of Esau, who were living in Seir. After leaving the Arabah Road, Elat, and Ezion Geber behind us, we turned and we traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab.

The Journey Past Moab

⁹ Then the Lord said to me, “Do not be hostile toward Moab and do not wage war against them in battle, because I am not going to give you any of their land as a possession, since I have given Ar to the people of Lot as a possession.”

¹⁰ (The Emites formerly lived in it, a strong, numerous people and tall like the Anakites. ¹¹ They, like the Anakites, are also considered to be Rephaim,^[b] but the Moabites call them Emites. ¹² The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau took possession of their land and destroyed them from their midst. They settled there in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the Lord gave to them as their possession.)

¹³ Then the Lord told us:^[c] “Now get ready and cross the Zered Canyon.” So we crossed over the Zered Canyon. ¹⁴ The time that we traveled from Kadesh Barnea until we crossed over the Zered Canyon was thirty-eight years, until that whole generation of fighting men were eliminated from the camp, just as the Lord had sworn to them. ¹⁵ Yes indeed, the hand of the Lord was against them to destroy them from the camp until they were eliminated.

The Journey Past Ammon

¹⁶ Just as soon as all those fighting men were eliminated from the people by their death, ¹⁷ the Lord spoke to me: ¹⁸ “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. ¹⁹ When you come near the people of Ammon, do not be hostile toward them and do not wage war against them, because I am not going to give any of the land of the people of Ammon to you as a possession, since I have given it to the people of Lot as a possession.”

²⁰ (It also is considered to be the land of the Rephaim. The Rephaim lived in it formerly, but the Ammonites call them Zamzumites. ²¹ They are a strong and numerous people and as tall as the Anakites. But the Lord destroyed the Rephaim from among the Ammonites. The Ammonites took possession of their land and lived there in their place. ²² The Lord had done the same things for the people of Esau, who live in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites before them, and they took possession of their land and settled there in their place and remain there to this day. ²³ Now the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor,^[d] destroyed the Avvites who were living in villages as far as Gaza and settled in their place.)

Confrontation With the Amorites

²⁴ Then the Lord told us:^[e] “Get ready to travel and cross over the Arnon Canyon. See, I have given into your hands Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Start to take possession of it and wage war against him. ²⁵ This very day I will begin to put dread and fear of you on the faces of the people everywhere under heaven, so that they will hear reports about you and they will tremble, and they will be shaking because of you.”

²⁶ So I sent messengers from the Wilderness of Kedmoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with an offer of peace. I said, ²⁷ “Let us pass through your land. We will proceed only on the road. We will not turn aside to the right or to the left. ²⁸ You can sell us food in exchange for money so we can eat, and you can give us water in exchange for money so we can drink. Only let us pass through on foot, ²⁹ as did the people of Esau living in Seir and the Moabites living in Ar, until we can cross over the Jordan into the land that the Lord our God is giving us.”

³⁰ But Sihon king of the Amorites was not willing to let us pass through on the road, because the Lord your God gave him a stubborn attitude by making his heart obstinate, in order to give him over into your hands, as is now the case today. ³¹ Then the Lord said to me, “Look now, I have begun to give you Sihon and his land. Start taking action to take possession of his land.”

³² Then Sihon and all of his people went out to meet us in battle at Jahaz. ³³ The Lord our God gave him to us, and we struck him down, as well as his sons and all his people. ³⁴ So we captured each of his cities at that time. We devoted each city to destruction, with the men, women, and children. We did not leave a survivor. ³⁵ We took only the livestock as plunder for ourselves, as well as the spoils of war from the cities that we captured. ³⁶ From Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Canyon, from the city that is in the canyon, all the way up to Gilead, there was not a city that was out of reach for us. The Lord our God gave us everything. ³⁷ But it was only the land of the people of Ammon that you did not approach: the land along both sides of the Jabbok Canyon, the cities of the hill country, and everything that the Lord our God had forbidden us to take.

3 Then we turned and went up on the road to Bashan, and Og the king of Bashan came out to confront us. He and all his people came for war at Edrei. ² But the Lord said to me, “Do not be afraid of him, because I have given him into your hands, as well as all of his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived at Heshbon.” ³ So the Lord our God gave into our hands also Og king of Bashan and all his people. We struck them down until they had no survivor remaining.

⁴ So we took all of his cities at that time. There was not a city that we did not take from them—sixty cities, the whole area of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ⁵ All of these were fortified cities with high walls, gates, and bars, besides very many small unwalled towns.^{[f] 6} We devoted them to destruction, just as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon. There was a total destruction of every city, of men, women, and children, ⁷ but all of the cattle and the plunder of the cities we took as spoils for ourselves.

⁸ So at that time we took the land out of the hands of the two kings of the Amorites who were east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Canyon to Mount Hermon. ⁹ (The Sidonians call Hermon Sirion, but the Amorites call it Senir.) ¹⁰ We took all the cities of the tableland and all of Gilead and all of Bashan, up to Salecah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan. ¹¹ (Only Og king of Bashan had remained from what was left of the Rephaim. His bed,^[g] a bed of iron, is it not in Rabbah of the people of Ammon? Its length is thirteen feet, and its width is six feet,^[h] according to the standard measure.)

¹² So we took possession of this land at that time. I gave to Reuben and to Gad the land starting at Aroer, which is at the Arnon Canyon, and half of the hill country^[i] of Gilead, as well as its cities. ¹³ I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh the remainder of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, all the territory of Argob (all that part of Bashan is called the land of the Rephaim). ¹⁴ Jair, the descendant of Manasseh, took all the territory of Argob up to the border of the Geshurites and the Ma’acathites, and he named the villages of Bashan after himself, Havvoth Jair,^[j] as they are called to this day. ¹⁵ I gave Gilead to Makir. ¹⁶ To the Reubenites and to the Gadites I gave the land of Gilead from the Arnon Canyon (that is, from the middle of the canyon), which served as one of their borders, up to the Jabbok Canyon, which served as their border with the people of Ammon. ¹⁷ Also the Arabah and the Jordan served as their border from the Sea of Kinneret^[k] to the Sea of the Arabah, that is, the Salt Sea,^[l] under the slopes of Pisgah on the east.

¹⁸ I gave you a command at that time: “The Lord your God gave you this land as a possession. All of your soldiers, armed for battle, are to cross over before your brother Israelites. ¹⁹ Only your wives and your children and your livestock (I know that you have a lot of livestock) may stay in your cities that I have given you, ²⁰ until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also have taken possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving them on the other side of the Jordan. After that you may return, each man to his possession that I have given you.”

²¹ I also gave a command to Joshua at that time: “With your own eyes you have been observing everything that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms to which you are crossing. ²² Do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God himself is fighting for you.”

²³ I also begged the favor of the Lord at that time: ²⁴ “My Lord God, you have begun to show your servant your greatness and your strong hand. Indeed, what god in heaven or on earth is there that has done anything like your works and your mighty deeds? ²⁵ Let me cross over, please, and let me see the good land on the other side of the Jordan—this good hill country and the mountains of Lebanon.”

²⁶ But the Lord was furious with me because of you, and he did not listen to me but said to me, “Enough from you! Do not continue to speak to me anymore about this matter. ²⁷ Go up to the top of Pisgah and lift up your eyes toward the west and the north and the south and the east. Take a good look, because you will not be crossing over this Jordan. ²⁸ But commission Joshua for duty and strengthen him and encourage him, because he will cross over in front of these people, and he will enable them to take possession of the land that you will only see.” ²⁹ So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth Peor.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

¹² It happened in those days that Jesus went up on the mountain to pray, and he spent all night in prayer to God. ¹³ When it was day, he summoned his disciples and chose twelve of them, whom he also called apostles: ¹⁴ Simon, whom he also named Peter, and his brother Andrew; James and John; Philip and Bartholomew; ¹⁵ Matthew and Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, also Simon, who was called the Zealot; ¹⁶ Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.

Jesus Heals Many

¹⁷ He went down with them and stood on a level place with a large crowd of his disciples and a large number of people from all Judea and Jerusalem, as well as from the coastal area of Tyre and Sidon. These people came to listen to him and to be healed of their diseases. ¹⁸ Those who were troubled by unclean spirits were also cured. ¹⁹ The whole crowd kept trying to touch him, because power was going out from him and healing them all.

Blessings and Woes

²⁰ He lifted up his eyes to his disciples and said:

²³ “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy because of this: Your reward is great in heaven! The fact is, their fathers constantly did the same things to the prophets.”

Love Your Enemies

²⁷ “But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you. Pray for those who mistreat you. ²⁹ If someone strikes you on one cheek, offer the other too. If someone takes away your coat, do not withhold your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes away your things, do not demand them back.

³¹ “Treat others just as you would want them to treat you. ³² If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? To be sure, even the sinners love those who love them. ³³ And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners do the same thing. ³⁴ If you lend to those from whom you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even the sinners lend to sinners in order to be paid back in full. ³⁵ Instead, love your enemies, do good and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the unthankful and the evil. ³⁶ Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Consider the Beam in Your Own Eye

³⁷ “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. ³⁸ Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”

Psalm 67

Your Kingdom Come

Heading
For the choir director. With stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

The Prayer

The Rights of Women to Inherit Land

36 The heads of the households whose families were descended from Gilead, son of Machir and grandson of Manasseh, (families of Joseph’s descendants) came and spoke to Moses and the leaders of the other Israelite households. ² They said, “Sir, the Lord commanded you to give the Israelites their land by drawing lots. The Lord also commanded you to give the land of our relative Zelophehad to his daughters. ³ Suppose they marry men from the other tribes of Israel. Their land will be taken away from that of our ancestors and added to the land of the tribe they marry into. Then we will have lost part of our land. ⁴ When the Israelites’ jubilee year comes, their land will be added to that of the tribe they married into. Then part of the land of our ancestors’ tribe will be gone.”

⁵ So Moses gave the Israelites a command from the Lord. “The tribe of Joseph’s descendants is right. ⁶ This is what the Lord commands for Zelophehad’s daughters: They may marry anyone they want to, but only within a family of their ancestor’s tribe. ⁷ In this way no land of the Israelites will pass from one tribe to another. Every Israelite must keep the tribal land inherited from his ancestors. ⁸ A woman who inherits land in any of the tribes of Israel may marry a man from any family in her ancestor’s tribe. In this way every Israelite keeps the land inherited from his ancestors. ⁹ No land may pass from one tribe to another. Each Israelite tribe must keep the land it inherits.”

¹⁰ Zelophehad’s daughters did as the Lord commanded Moses. ¹¹ Mahlah, Tirzah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Noah married their cousins on their father’s side of the family. ¹² They married within the families of the descendants of Manasseh, son of Joseph. So their land stayed in the tribe of their father’s family.

¹³ These are the commands and rules the Lord gave the Israelites through Moses on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho.

Moses Speaks to the People 40 Years after Leaving Egypt

1 This is the speech Moses gave in the desert east of the Jordan River, on the plains, near Suph, between Paran and Tophel, and near Laban, Hazeroth, and Di Zahab. He spoke to all the Israelites. ² (It takes 11 days to go from Mount Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by way of Mount Seir.)

³ On the first day of the eleventh month in the fortieth year ⌞after they had left Egypt⌟, Moses told the Israelites everything the Lord had commanded him to tell them. ⁴ This was after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth and ^[a] in Edrei. ⁵ The Israelites were east of the Jordan River in Moab when Moses began to review God’s teachings.

Moses Reminds Israel of the Events at Mount Horeb

This is what he said:

⁶ At Mount Horeb the Lord our God said to us, “You have stayed at this mountain long enough. ⁷ Break camp, and get ready! Go to the mountain region of the Amorites, and go to everyone living on the plains, in the mountains, in the foothills, in the Negev, on the whole Mediterranean coast (the land of the Canaanites), and into Lebanon as far as the Euphrates River. ⁸ I’m giving you this land. Enter, and take possession of the land the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to you, their descendants.”

⁹ At that time I said to you, “I’m not able to take care of you by myself. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has made your population increase so that you are now as numerous as the stars in the sky. ¹¹ May the Lord God of your ancestors make you a thousand times more numerous, and may he bless you as he has promised. ¹² How can I take care of your problems, your troubles, and your disagreements all by myself? ¹³ From each of your tribes, choose some men who are wise, intelligent, and experienced, and I’ll appoint them to be your leaders.”

¹⁴ You agreed that this was a good idea.

¹⁵ So I took the heads of your tribes who were wise and experienced men and made them officers for each of your tribes. I put them in charge of groups of 1,000, or 100, or 50, or 10 people. ¹⁶ Also at that time I gave these instructions to your judges: “Hear the cases that your people bring. Judge each case fairly, no matter whether it is ⌞a dispute⌟ between two Israelites or ⌞a dispute⌟ between an Israelite and a non-Israelite. ¹⁷ Be impartial in your decisions. Listen to the least important people the same way you listen to the most important people. Never be afraid of anyone, since your decisions come from God. You may bring me any case that’s too hard for you, and I will hear it.” ¹⁸ So I told you how to handle these situations.

Moses Reminds Israel of the Events at Kadesh Barnea

¹⁹ So we left Mount Horeb, as the Lord our God had commanded. We traveled through all that vast and dangerous desert you saw on the way to the mountain region of the Amorites. At last we came to Kadesh Barnea. ²⁰ Then I said to you, “We have come to the mountain region of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. ²¹ The Lord your God is giving you this land. Go ahead! Take possession of it, as the Lord God of your ancestors told you. Don’t be afraid or terrified.”

²² All of you came to me and said, “Let’s send men ahead of us to gather information about the land for us. Have them report to us about the route we should take and the cities we’ll come to.”

²³ It seemed like a good idea to me. So I chose 12 of your men, one from each tribe. ²⁴ They left and went into the mountains. When they came to the Eshcol Valley, they explored it. ²⁵ They took some of the region’s fruit with them and brought it back to us. They reported, “The land that the Lord our God is giving us is good.”

²⁶ But you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God and refused to go. ²⁷ You complained in your tents and said, “The Lord hates us! That’s why he brought us out of Egypt. He wanted to hand us over to the Amorites so that they could destroy us! ²⁸ Where are we going anyway? Our own men have discouraged us by saying, ‘The people there are taller and stronger than we are. The cities are big with sky-high walls! We even saw the people of Anak there.’ ”

²⁹ Then I said to you, “Don’t tremble. Don’t be afraid of them. ³⁰ The Lord your God, who is going ahead of you, will fight for you as you saw him fight for you in Egypt ³¹ and in the desert.” There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as parents carry their children. He carried you wherever you went until you came to this place.

³² In spite of this, you didn’t trust the Lord your God, ³³ who went ahead of you to find places for you to camp. He appeared in a column of fire at night and in a column of smoke during the day to show you which route to take.

³⁴ When the Lord heard what you said, he was angry and took this oath: ³⁵ “Not one of these evil people will ever see the good land that I swore to give to your ancestors, ³⁶ except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give the land that he set his feet on to him and his descendants, because he wholeheartedly followed the Lord.”

³⁷ The Lord became angry with me because of you. He said, “You won’t go there either. ³⁸ But your assistant Joshua, son of Nun, will go there. Encourage him, because he will help Israel take possession of the land. ³⁹ Although you thought the little children would be captured in war, your children, who are still too young to know the difference between good and evil, will enter that land. I will give it to them, and they will take possession of it. ⁴⁰ Turn around, go back into the desert, and follow the road that goes to the Red Sea.”

⁴¹ You responded, “We have sinned against the Lord. We’ll go and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us to do.” Each of you armed yourself for war, thinking you could easily invade the mountain region.

⁴² But the Lord said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go and fight, because I won’t be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’ ”

⁴³ I told you, but you wouldn’t listen. You defied the Lord’s command and invaded the mountain region. ⁴⁴ The Amorites who lived there came out and attacked you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They defeated you, chasing you from Seir all the way to Hormah. ⁴⁵ When you came back, you cried to the Lord, but the Lord didn’t listen to you or hear you. ⁴⁶ That’s why you stayed in Kadesh as long as you did.

²⁹ Levi held a large reception at his home for Jesus. A huge crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them.

³⁰ The Pharisees and their experts in Moses’ Teachings complained to Jesus’ disciples. They asked, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

³¹ Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor; those who are sick do. ³² I’ve come to call sinners to change the way they think and act, not to call people who think they have God’s approval.”

Jesus Is Questioned about Fasting^(A)

³³ They said to him, “John’s disciples frequently fast and say prayers, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees. But your disciples eat and drink.”

³⁴ Jesus asked them, “Can you force wedding guests to fast while the groom is still with them? ³⁵ The time will come when the groom will be taken away from them. At that time they will fast.”

³⁶ He also used these illustrations: “No one tears a piece of cloth from a new coat to patch an old coat. Otherwise, the new cloth will tear the old. Besides, the patch from the new will not match the old. ³⁷ People don’t pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the new wine will make the skins burst. The wine will run out, and the skins will be ruined. ³⁸ Rather, new wine is to be poured into fresh skins.

³⁹ “No one who has been drinking old wine wants new wine. He says, ‘The old wine is better!’ ”

Jesus Has Authority over the Day of Rest—a Holy Day^(B)

6 Once, on a day of rest—a holy day, Jesus was walking through some grainfields. His disciples were picking the heads of grain, removing the husks, and eating the grain.

² Some of the Pharisees asked, “Why are your disciples doing something that is not right to do on the day of rest—a holy day?”

³ Jesus answered them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his men were hungry? ⁴ Haven’t you read how he went into the house of God, ate the bread of the presence, and gave some of it to the men who were with him? He had no right to eat those loaves. Only the priests have that right.”

⁵ Then he added, “The Son of Man has authority over the day of rest—a holy day.”

Jesus Heals on the Day of Rest—a Holy Day^(C)

⁶ On another day of rest—a holy day, Jesus went into a synagogue to teach. A man whose right hand was paralyzed was there. ⁷ The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the Pharisees were watching Jesus closely. They wanted to see whether he would heal the man on the day of rest—a holy day, so that they could find a way to accuse him of doing something wrong.

⁸ But Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he told the man with the paralyzed hand, “Get up, and stand in the center ⌞of the synagogue⌟!” The man got up and stood there. ⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “I ask you—what is the right thing to do on a day of rest—a holy day: to do good or evil, to give a person his health or to destroy it?” ¹⁰ He looked around at all of them and then said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man did so, and his hand became normal again.

¹¹ The experts in Moses’ Teachings and Pharisees were furious and began to discuss with each other what they could do to Jesus.

For the choir director; a song; a psalm.

⁴⁰ (The Canaanite king of Arad, who lived in the Negev, which was in Canaan, heard that the Israelites were coming.)

⁴¹ They moved from Mount Hor and set up camp at Zalmonah.

⁴² They moved from Zalmonah and set up camp at Punon.

⁴³ They moved from Punon and set up camp at Oboth.

⁴⁴ They moved from Oboth and set up camp at Iye Abarim on the border of Moab.

⁴⁵ They moved from Iyim ^[a] and set up camp at Dibon Gad.

⁴⁶ They moved from Dibon Gad and set up camp at Almon Diblathaim.

⁴⁷ They moved from Almon Diblathaim and set up camp in the Abarim Mountains east of Nebo.

⁴⁸ They moved from the Abarim Mountains and set up camp on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho. ⁴⁹ They set up camp on the plains of Moab along the Jordan. Their camp extended from Beth Jeshimoth to Abel Shittim.

The Canaanites Must Be Forced Out

⁵⁰ The Lord said to Moses on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho, ⁵¹ “Tell the Israelites, ‘You will be crossing the Jordan River and entering Canaan. ⁵² As you advance, force out all the people who live there. Get rid of all their stone and metal idols, and destroy all their places of worship. ⁵³ Take possession of the land and live there, because I will give it to you for your own. ⁵⁴ Divide the land among your families by drawing lots. Give more land to larger families and less land to smaller ones. The land must be given to each family by drawing lots. Divide it among your ancestors’ tribes.

⁵⁵ “ ‘But if you do not force out those who live in the land, they will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will constantly fight with you over the land you live in. ⁵⁶ Then I will do to you what I planned to do to them.’ ”

The Boundaries of Israel’s Land

34 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Give the Israelites these instructions. When you enter Canaan, the land that will be given to you as your inheritance has these borders:

³ “The southern side includes part of the Desert of Zin along the border of Edom. In the east the southern border starts from the end of the Dead Sea ⁴ and turns south of the Akrabbim Pass. It then goes past Zin and ends at Kadesh Barnea. From there it goes to Hazar Addar and on to Azmon. ⁵ From Azmon it turns toward the River of Egypt so that the border ends at the Mediterranean Sea.

⁶ “The western border is the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea.

⁷ “The northern border extends from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor, ⁸ and from Mount Hor to the border of Hamath so that it ends at Zedad. ⁹ From there the border goes to Ziphron and ends at Hazar Enan.

¹⁰ “The eastern border extends from Hazar Enan to Shepham. ¹¹ From Shepham the border goes down to Riblah, east of Ain, and continues along the eastern slope of the Sea of Galilee. ¹² Then the border goes along the Jordan River so that it ends at the Dead Sea.

“This will be your land and the borders around it.”

¹³ Moses commanded the Israelites, “This is the land you will divide by drawing lots. The Lord has commanded that this land will be given to the nine-and-a-half tribes. ¹⁴ The households from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh have already received their land. ¹⁵ Those two-and-a-half tribes received land east of the Jordan River across from Jericho.”

Men Are Appointed to Divide the Land

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁷ “These are the names of the men who will divide the land for you: the priest Eleazar and Joshua, son of Nun. ¹⁸ You must also take one leader from each tribe to divide the land. ¹⁹ These are their names:

Caleb, son of Jephunneh, from the tribe of Judah;

²⁰ Shemuel, son of Ammihud, from the tribe of Simeon;

²¹ Elidad, son of Kislon, from the tribe of Benjamin;

²² Bukki, son of Jogli, the leader of the tribe of Dan;

²³ Hanniel, son of Ephod, the leader of the tribe of Manasseh;

²⁴ Kemuel, son of Shiphtan, the leader of the tribe of Ephraim;

(Manasseh and Ephraim are Joseph’s descendants.) ^[b]

²⁵ Elizaphan, son of Parnach, the leader of the tribe of Zebulun;

²⁶ Paltiel, son of Azzan, the leader of the tribe of Issachar;

²⁷ Ahihud, son of Shelomi, the leader of the tribe of Asher;

²⁸ Pedahel, son of Ammihud, the leader of the tribe of Naphtali.”

²⁹ These are the men the Lord commanded to divide Canaan for the Israelites.

Cities for the Levites

35 The Lord spoke to Moses on the plains of Moab near the Jordan River across from Jericho. He said, ² “Tell the Israelites to give the Levites some cities from their own property. They must also give the Levites the pastureland around those cities. ³ Then the Levites will have cities to live in and pastureland for their cattle, the flocks they own, and any other animals they have.

⁴ “The land around the cities that you give the Levites will extend 1,500 feet from the city wall. ⁵ Outside the city measure off 3,000 feet on the east side, 3,000 feet on the south side, 3,000 feet on the west side, and 3,000 feet on the north side, with the city in the center. This will be their pastureland around the city.

⁶ “Six of the cities you give the Levites will be cities of refuge. You must allow murderers to escape to these cities. In addition, you must also give the Levites 42 other cities. ⁷ So you will give a total of 48 cities with pastureland to the Levites. ⁸ The cities you give the Levites from the property of the other Israelites must be given based on the amount of land each tribe owns. Take more cities from larger tribes and fewer from smaller tribes.”

Cities of Refuge

⁹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹⁰ “Tell the Israelites: When you cross the Jordan River and enter Canaan, ¹¹ select certain cities to be places of refuge. Anyone who unintentionally kills another person may run to them. ¹² These cities will be places of refuge from any relative who can avenge the death. So anyone accused of murder will not have to die until he has had a trial in front of the community. ¹³ There will be six cities you select as places of refuge, ¹⁴ three on the east side of the Jordan River and three in Canaan. ¹⁵ These six cities will be places of refuge for Israelites, foreigners, and strangers among you. Anyone who unintentionally kills another person may flee to these cities.

¹⁶ “But if any of you uses an iron weapon to kill another person, you are a murderer. Murderers must be put to death. ¹⁷ If any of you picks up a stone as a weapon and uses it to kill another person, you are a murderer. Murderers must be put to death. ¹⁸ Or if any of you picks up a piece of wood as a weapon and uses it to kill another person, you are a murderer. Murderers must be put to death. ¹⁹ The relative who can avenge the death must make sure a murderer is put to death. When he catches up with the murderer, he must kill him. ²⁰ If any of you kills someone you hate by shoving him or by deliberately throwing something at him, ²¹ or if you beat your enemy to death with your bare hands, you must be put to death. You are a murderer. The relative who can avenge the death must kill you when he catches up with you, because you are a murderer.

²² “But suppose you accidentally kill someone who wasn’t your enemy. Maybe you shoved him or threw something at him but didn’t mean to kill him. ²³ Or suppose you drop a big stone, and someone is killed. However, you didn’t know the person was there, he wasn’t your enemy, and you weren’t trying to harm him. ²⁴ Then the community must use these rules in order to decide if you ⌞are innocent⌟ or if the dead person’s relative can avenge the death. ²⁵ ⌞If you are innocent,⌟ the community must protect you from that relative. They must take you back to the city of refuge you fled to. You must live there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

²⁶ “But don’t go outside the city of refuge you fled to. ²⁷ If the relative who can avenge the death finds you outside the city of refuge and kills you, the relative is not guilty of murder. ²⁸ Accused murderers must stay in their city of refuge until the death of the high priest. They may go back to their own property only after his death.

²⁹ “These will be the rules for future generations wherever you live.

³⁰ “Whoever kills another person will be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of more than one witness. No one can be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.

³¹ “Never accept a cash payment in exchange for the life of a convicted murderer who has been given the death penalty. Murderers must be put to death.

³² “An accused murderer who has fled to a city of refuge must never go back and live on his own land before the death of the high priest. Don’t accept a cash payment to allow him to do this.

³³ “You must not pollute the land where you live. Murder is what pollutes the land. The land where a murder was committed can never make peace with the Lord except through the death of the murderer. ³⁴ Never make the land where you and I live unclean.^[c] I, the Lord, live among the Israelites.”

Jesus Cures a Man with a Skin Disease^(A)

¹² One day Jesus was in a city where there was a man covered with a serious skin disease. When the man saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground. He begged Jesus, “Sir, if you want to, you can make me clean.” ^[a]

¹³ Jesus reached out, touched him, and said, “I want to. So be clean!” Immediately, his skin disease went away.

¹⁴ Jesus ordered him, “Don’t tell anyone. Instead, show yourself to the priest. Then offer the sacrifice as Moses commanded as proof to people that you are clean.”

¹⁵ The news about Jesus spread even more. Large crowds gathered to hear him and have their diseases cured. ¹⁶ But he would go away to places where he could be alone for prayer.

Jesus Forgives Sins^(B)

¹⁷ One day when Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and experts in Moses’ Teachings were present. They had come from every village in Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. Jesus had the power of the Lord to heal.

¹⁸ Some men brought a paralyzed man on a stretcher. They tried to take him into the house and put him in front of Jesus. ¹⁹ But they could not find a way to get him into the house because of the crowd. So they went up on the roof. They made an opening in the tiles and let the man down on his stretcher among the people. (They lowered him in front of Jesus.)

²⁰ When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Sir, your sins are forgiven.” ²¹ The experts in Moses’ Teachings and the Pharisees thought, “Who is this man? He’s dishonoring God! Who besides God can forgive sins?”

²² Jesus knew what they were thinking. So he said to them, “What are you thinking? ²³ Is it easier to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? ²⁴ I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then he said to the paralyzed man, “Get up, pick up your stretcher, and go home.”

²⁵ The man immediately stood up in front of them and picked up the stretcher he had been lying on. Praising God, he went home.

²⁶ Everyone was amazed and praised God. They were filled with awe and said, “We’ve seen things today we can hardly believe!”

Jesus Chooses Levi [Matthew] to Be a Disciple^(C)

²⁷ After that, Jesus left. He saw a tax collector named Levi sitting in a tax office. Jesus said to him, “Follow me!” ²⁸ So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.

For the choir director; a psalm by David; a song.