A Walk Through The Word

⁴⁴ So Moses came with Joshua^[g] son of Nun and recited all the words of this song to the people.

⁴⁵ When Moses had finished reciting all these words to the people of Israel, ⁴⁶ he added: “Take to heart all the words of warning I have given you today. Pass them on as a command to your children so they will obey every word of these instructions. ⁴⁷ These instructions are not empty words—they are your life! By obeying them you will enjoy a long life in the land you will occupy when you cross the Jordan River.”

Moses’ Death Foretold

⁴⁸ That same day the Lord said to Moses, ⁴⁹ “Go to Moab, to the mountains east of the river,^[h] and climb Mount Nebo, which is across from Jericho. Look out across the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the people of Israel as their own special possession. ⁵⁰ Then you will die there on the mountain. You will join your ancestors, just as Aaron, your brother, died on Mount Hor and joined his ancestors. ⁵¹ For both of you betrayed me with the Israelites at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh^[i] in the wilderness of Zin. You failed to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel there. ⁵² So you will see the land from a distance, but you may not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Be Ready for the Lord’s Coming

³⁵ “Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning, ³⁶ as though you were waiting for your master to return from the wedding feast. Then you will be ready to open the door and let him in the moment he arrives and knocks. ³⁷ The servants who are ready and waiting for his return will be rewarded. I tell you the truth, he himself will seat them, put on an apron, and serve them as they sit and eat! ³⁸ He may come in the middle of the night or just before dawn.^[a] But whenever he comes, he will reward the servants who are ready.

³⁹ “Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would not permit his house to be broken into. ⁴⁰ You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.”

⁴¹ Peter asked, “Lord, is that illustration just for us or for everyone?”

⁴² And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. ⁴³ If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. ⁴⁴ I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. ⁴⁵ But what if the servant thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? ⁴⁶ The master will return unannounced and unexpected, and he will cut the servant in pieces and banish him with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷ “And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished. ⁴⁸ But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly. When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

Jesus Causes Division

⁴⁹ “I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish it were already burning! ⁵⁰ I have a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of me, and I am under a heavy burden until it is accomplished. ⁵¹ Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to divide people against each other! ⁵² From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or two in favor and three against.

⁵⁴ Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said, “When you see clouds beginning to form in the west, you say, ‘Here comes a shower.’ And you are right. ⁵⁵ When the south wind blows, you say, ‘Today will be a scorcher.’ And it is. ⁵⁶ You fools! You know how to interpret the weather signs of the earth and sky, but you don’t know how to interpret the present times.

⁵⁷ “Why can’t you decide for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ When you are on the way to court with your accuser, try to settle the matter before you get there. Otherwise, your accuser may drag you before the judge, who will hand you over to an officer, who will throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ And if that happens, you won’t be free again until you have paid the very last penny.^[c]”

Joshua Becomes Israel’s Leader

31 When Moses had finished giving these instructions^[a] to all the people of Israel, ² he said, “I am now 120 years old, and I am no longer able to lead you. The Lord has told me, ‘You will not cross the Jordan River.’ ³ But the Lord your God himself will cross over ahead of you. He will destroy the nations living there, and you will take possession of their land. Joshua will lead you across the river, just as the Lord promised.

⁴ “The Lord will destroy the nations living in the land, just as he destroyed Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites. ⁵ The Lord will hand over to you the people who live there, and you must deal with them as I have commanded you. ⁶ So be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid and do not panic before them. For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

⁷ Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, “Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the Lord swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land. ⁸ Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.”

Public Reading of the Book of Instruction

⁹ So Moses wrote this entire body of instruction in a book and gave it to the priests, who carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, and to the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ Then Moses gave them this command: “At the end of every seventh year, the Year of Release, during the Festival of Shelters, ¹¹ you must read this Book of Instruction to all the people of Israel when they assemble before the Lord your God at the place he chooses. ¹² Call them all together—men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns—so they may hear this Book of Instruction and learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions. ¹³ Do this so that your children who have not known these instructions will hear them and will learn to fear the Lord your God. Do this as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy.”

Israel’s Disobedience Predicted

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tabernacle,^[b] so that I may commission him there.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the Tabernacle. ¹⁵ And the Lord appeared to them in a pillar of cloud that stood at the entrance to the sacred tent.

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses, “You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they will be devoured. Terrible trouble will come down on them, and on that day they will say, ‘These disasters have come down on us because God is no longer among us!’ ¹⁸ At that time I will hide my face from them on account of all the evil they commit by worshiping other gods.

¹⁹ “So write down the words of this song, and teach it to the people of Israel. Help them learn it, so it may serve as a witness for me against them. ²⁰ For I will bring them into the land I swore to give their ancestors—a land flowing with milk and honey. There they will become prosperous, eat all the food they want, and become fat. But they will begin to worship other gods; they will despise me and break my covenant. ²¹ And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants. I know the intentions of these people, even now before they have entered the land I swore to give them.”

²² So that very day Moses wrote down the words of the song and taught it to the Israelites.

²³ Then the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun with these words: “Be strong and courageous, for you must bring the people of Israel into the land I swore to give them. I will be with you.”

²⁴ When Moses had finished writing this entire body of instruction in a book, ²⁵ he gave this command to the Levites who carried the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant: ²⁶ “Take this Book of Instruction and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, so it may remain there as a witness against the people of Israel. ²⁷ For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Even now, while I am still alive and am here with you, you have rebelled against the Lord. How much more rebellious will you be after my death!

²⁸ “Now summon all the elders and officials of your tribes, so that I can speak to them directly and call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹ I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and will turn from the way I have commanded you to follow. In the days to come, disaster will come down on you, for you will do what is evil in the Lord’s sight, making him very angry with your actions.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰ So Moses recited this entire song publicly to the assembly of Israel:

⁸ “I tell you the truth, everyone who acknowledges me publicly here on earth, the Son of Man^[a] will also acknowledge in the presence of God’s angels. ⁹ But anyone who denies me here on earth will be denied before God’s angels. ¹⁰ Anyone who speaks against the Son of Man can be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹ “And when you are brought to trial in the synagogues and before rulers and authorities, don’t worry about how to defend yourself or what to say, ¹² for the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what needs to be said.”

Parable of the Rich Fool

¹³ Then someone called from the crowd, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide our father’s estate with me.”

¹⁴ Jesus replied, “Friend, who made me a judge over you to decide such things as that?” ¹⁵ Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.”

¹⁶ Then he told them a story: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. ¹⁷ He said to himself, ‘What should I do? I don’t have room for all my crops.’ ¹⁸ Then he said, ‘I know! I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones. Then I’ll have room enough to store all my wheat and other goods. ¹⁹ And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!”’

²⁰ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’

²¹ “Yes, a person is a fool to store up earthly wealth but not have a rich relationship with God.”

Teaching about Money and Possessions

²² Then, turning to his disciples, Jesus said, “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food to eat or enough clothes to wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and your body more than clothing. ²⁴ Look at the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for God feeds them. And you are far more valuable to him than any birds! ²⁵ Can all your worries add a single moment to your life? ²⁶ And if worry can’t accomplish a little thing like that, what’s the use of worrying over bigger things?

²⁷ “Look at the lilies and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. ²⁸ And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?

²⁹ “And don’t be concerned about what to eat and what to drink. Don’t worry about such things. ³⁰ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers all over the world, but your Father already knows your needs. ³¹ Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.

³² “So don’t be afraid, little flock. For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom.

³³ “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. ³⁴ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Israel’s Past, Present, and Future

29 ^[a]These are the terms of the promise ^[b] that the Lord commanded Moses to give to the Israelites in Moab. This was in addition to the promise the Lord gave them at Mount Horeb.

² Moses summoned all the people of Israel and said to them:

You’ve seen with your own eyes everything that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials, and to his whole country. ³ You also saw those terrible plagues, those miraculous signs, and those spectacular, amazing things. ⁴ But to this day the Lord hasn’t given you a mind that understands, eyes that see, or ears that hear. ⁵ For 40 years I led you through the desert. During that time your clothes and shoes never wore out. ⁶ You ate no bread and drank no wine or liquor. I did this so that you would know that I am the Lord your God.

⁷ When you came to this place, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight us, but we defeated them. ⁸ We took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half of the tribe of Manasseh as their property. ⁹ Faithfully obey the terms of this promise. Then you will be successful in everything you do.

¹⁰ All of you are standing here today in the presence of the Lord your God. The heads of your tribes,^[c] your leaders, your officers, and all the men of Israel are here. ¹¹ Your children, your wives, and the foreigners who cut wood and carry water in your camp are also here. ¹² You are ready to accept the terms and conditions of the promise that the Lord your God is giving you today. ¹³ With this promise the Lord will confirm today that you are his people and that he is your God. This is what he told you, and this is what he promised your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath. ¹⁴ You aren’t the only people to receive this promise and its conditions. ¹⁵ It is for those of you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God and also for those who are not here today.

¹⁶ You know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through other countries on our way here. ¹⁷ You saw their disgusting gods and idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. ¹⁸ Make sure there is no man, woman, family, or tribe among you today who turns from the Lord our God to worship the gods of those nations. Make sure that no one among you is the source of this kind of bitter poison.

¹⁹ Someone may hear the conditions of this promise. He may think that he is so blessed that he can say, “I’ll be safe even if I go my own stubborn way. After all, ⌞the Lord would never⌟ sweep away well-watered ground along with dry ground.” ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive that person, because the Lord’s burning anger will smolder against him. All the curses described in this book will happen to him. The Lord will erase ⌞every memory of⌟ that person’s name from the earth. ²¹ And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster based on all the conditions of the promise written in this Book of the Teachings.

²² Then the next generation of your children and foreigners who come from distant countries will see the plagues that have happened in this land and the diseases the Lord sent here. ²³ They will see all the soil poisoned with sulfur and salt. Nothing will be planted. Nothing will be growing. There will be no plants in sight. It will be as desolate as Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, cities the Lord destroyed in fierce anger. ²⁴ Then all the other nations in the world will ask, “Why has the Lord done this to their land? Why is he so angry?”

²⁵ The answer will be, “Because they abandoned the promise of the Lord God of their ancestors. He made this promise to them when he brought them out of Egypt. ²⁶ They worshiped other gods and bowed down to them. These were gods they never heard of, gods the Lord didn’t permit them to have. ²⁷ So the Lord became angry with this land and brought on it all the curses described in this book. ²⁸ In his fierce anger and fury the Lord uprooted these people from their land and deported them to another country, where they still are today.”

²⁹ Some things are hidden. They belong to the Lord our God. But the things that have been revealed in these teachings belong to us and to our children forever. We must obey every word of these teachings.

30 All these blessings and curses I have spoken about will happen to you. Take them to heart when you are among all the nations where the Lord your God will scatter you. ² If you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, doing everything I command you today, ³ he will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you from all the nations of the world where he will scatter you. ⁴ Even if you are scattered to the most distant country in the world, the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back from there. ⁵ The Lord your God will bring you to the land your ancestors owned. You will take possession of it, and the Lord will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors were.

⁶ The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will live. ⁷ Then the Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies, those who hate you and persecute you. ⁸ You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands that I’m giving you today. ⁹ The Lord your God will give you many blessings in everything you do: You will have many children. Your animals will have many offspring. Your soil will produce many crops. The Lord will again delight in making you as prosperous as he made your ancestors. ¹⁰ He will do this if you obey him and follow his commands and laws that are written in this Book of Teachings and return to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

¹¹ This command I’m giving you today isn’t too hard for you or beyond your reach. ¹² It’s not in heaven. You don’t have to ask, “Who will go to heaven to get this command for us so that we can hear it and obey it?” ¹³ This command isn’t on the other side of the sea. You don’t have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it for us so that we can hear it and obey it?” ¹⁴ No, these words are very near you. They’re in your mouth and in your heart so that you will obey them.

Choose between Life and Death

¹⁵ Today I offer you life and prosperity or death and destruction. ¹⁶ This is what I’m commanding you today: Love the Lord your God, follow his directions, and obey his commands, laws, and rules. Then you will live, your population will increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you’re about to enter and take possession of.

¹⁷ But your hearts might turn away, and you might not listen. You might be tempted to bow down to other gods and worship them. ¹⁸ If you do, I tell you today that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live for a long time in the land that you’re going to take possession of when you cross the Jordan River.

¹⁹ I call on heaven and earth as witnesses today that I have offered you life or death, blessings or curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants will live. ²⁰ Love the Lord your God, obey him, and be loyal to him. This will be your way of life, and it will mean a long life for you ^[d] in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Jesus Criticizes Some Jewish Leaders

³⁷ After Jesus spoke, a Pharisee invited him to have lunch at his house. So Jesus accepted the invitation. ³⁸ The Pharisee was surprised to see that Jesus didn’t wash before the meal.

³⁹ The Lord said to him, “You Pharisees clean the outside of cups and dishes. But inside you are full of greed and evil. ⁴⁰ You fools! Didn’t the one who made the outside make the inside too? ⁴¹ Give what is inside as a gift to the poor, and then everything will be clean ^[a] for you.

⁴² “How horrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give ⌞God⌟ one-tenth of your mint, spices, and every garden herb. But you have ignored justice and the love of God. You should have done these things without ignoring the others.

⁴³ “How horrible it will be for you Pharisees! You love to sit in the front seats in the synagogues and to be greeted in the marketplaces. ⁴⁴ How horrible it will be for you! You are like unmarked graves. People walk on them without knowing what they are.”

⁴⁵ One of the experts in Moses’ Teachings said to him, “Teacher, when you talk this way, you insult us too.”

⁴⁶ Jesus said, “How horrible it will be for you experts in Moses’ Teachings! You burden people with loads that are hard to carry. But you won’t lift a finger to carry any of these loads.

⁴⁷ “How horrible it will be for you! You build the monuments for the prophets. But it was your ancestors who murdered them. ⁴⁸ So you are witnesses and approve of what your ancestors did. They murdered the prophets for whom you build monuments. ⁴⁹ That’s why the Wisdom of God said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles. They will murder some of those prophets and apostles and persecute others.’ ⁵⁰ So the people living now will be charged with the murder of every prophet since the world was made. ⁵¹ This includes the murders from Abel to Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the temple. Yes, I can guarantee this truth: The people living today will be held responsible for this.

⁵² “How horrible it will be for you experts in Moses’ Teachings! You have taken away the key that unlocks knowledge. You haven’t gained entrance into ⌞knowledge⌟ yourselves, and you’ve kept out those who wanted to enter.”

⁵³ When Jesus left, the experts in Moses’ Teachings and the Pharisees held a terrible grudge against him. They questioned him about many things ⁵⁴ and watched him closely to trap him in something he might say.

Jesus Speaks to His Disciples

12 Meanwhile, thousands of people had gathered. They were so crowded that they stepped on each other. Jesus spoke to his disciples and said, “Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees. I’m talking about their hypocrisy. ² Nothing has been covered that will not be exposed. Whatever is secret will be made known. ³ Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. Whatever you have whispered in private rooms will be shouted from the housetops.

⁴ “My friends, I can guarantee that you don’t need to be afraid of those who kill the body. After that they can’t do anything more. ⁵ I’ll show you the one you should be afraid of. Be afraid of the one who has the power to throw you into hell after killing you. I’m warning you to be afraid of him.

⁶ “Aren’t five sparrows sold for two cents? God doesn’t forget any of them. ⁷ Even every hair on your head has been counted. Don’t be afraid! You are worth more than many sparrows.

A maskil by Asaph.

Blessings from the Lord

28 Carefully obey the Lord your God, and faithfully follow all his commands that I’m giving you today. If you do, the Lord your God will place you high above all the other nations in the world. ² These are all the blessings that will come to you and stay close to you because you obey the Lord your God:

³ You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.

⁴ You will be blessed. You will have children. Your land will have crops. Your animals will have offspring. Your cattle will have calves, and your flocks will have lambs and kids.

⁵ The grain you harvest and the bread you bake will be blessed.

⁶ You will be blessed when you come and blessed when you go.

⁷ The Lord will defeat your enemies when they attack you. They will attack you from one direction but run away from you in seven directions.

⁸ The Lord will bless your barns and everything you do. The Lord your God will bless you in the land that he is giving you.

⁹ You will be the Lord’s holy people, as he promised you with an oath. He will do this if you obey the commands of the Lord your God and follow his directions. ¹⁰ Then all the people in the world will see that you are the Lord’s people, and they will be afraid of you. ¹¹ The Lord will give you plenty of blessings: You will have many children. Your animals will have many offspring. Your soil will produce many crops in the land the Lord will give you, as he swore to your ancestors.

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, his rich storehouse, for you. He will send rain on your land at the right time and bless everything you do. You will be able to make loans to many nations but won’t need to borrow from any. ¹³ The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. You will always be at the top, never at the bottom, if you faithfully obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. ¹⁴ Do everything I’m commanding you today. Never worship other gods or serve them.

Curses from the Lord

¹⁵ Obey the Lord your God, and faithfully follow all his commands and laws that I am giving you today. If you don’t, all these curses will come to you and stay close to you:

¹⁶ You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country.

¹⁷ The grain you harvest and the bread you bake will be cursed.

¹⁸ You will be cursed. You will have few children. Your land will have few crops. Your cattle will be cursed with few calves, and your flocks will have few lambs and kids.

¹⁹ You will be cursed when you come and cursed when you go.

²⁰ The Lord will send you curses, panic, and frustration in everything you do until you’re destroyed and quickly disappear for the evil you will do by abandoning the Lord. ²¹ The Lord will send one plague after another on you until he wipes you out of the land you’re about to enter and take possession of. ²² The Lord will strike you with disease, fever, and inflammation; heat waves,^[a] drought,^[b] scorching winds,^[c] and ruined crops. They will pursue you until you die. ²³ The sky above will look like bronze, and the ground below will be as hard as iron. ²⁴ The Lord will send dust storms and sandstorms on you from the sky until you’re destroyed.

²⁵ The Lord will let your enemies defeat you. You will attack them from one direction but run away from them in seven directions. You will become a thing of horror to all the kingdoms in the world. ²⁶ Your dead bodies will be food for all the birds and wild animals. There will be no one to scare them away. ²⁷ The Lord will strike you with the same boils that plagued the Egyptians. He will strike you with hemorrhoids,^[d] sores,^[e] and itching that won’t go away. ²⁸ The Lord will strike you with madness, blindness, and panic. ²⁹ You will grope in broad daylight as blind people grope in their blindness. You won’t be successful in anything you do.^[f] As long as you live, you will be oppressed and robbed with no one to rescue you.

³⁰ You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will have sex with her. You will build a house, but you won’t live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you won’t enjoy the grapes. ³¹ Your ox will be butchered as you watch, but you won’t eat any of its meat. You will watch as your donkey is stolen from you, but you’ll never get it back. Your flock will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue it. ³² You will watch with your own eyes as your sons and daughters are given to another nation. You will strain your eyes looking for them all day long, but there will be nothing you can do. ³³ People you never knew will eat what your land and your hard work have produced. As long as you live, you will know nothing but oppression and abuse. ³⁴ The things you see will drive you mad. ³⁵ The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with severe boils that can’t be cured. The boils will cover your whole body from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.

³⁶ The Lord will lead you and the king you choose to a nation that you and your ancestors never knew. There you will worship gods made of wood and stone. ³⁷ You will become a thing of horror. All the nations where the Lord will send you will make an example of you and ridicule you.

³⁸ You will plant many crops in your fields, but harvest little because locusts will destroy your crops. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and take care of them, but you won’t drink any wine or gather any grapes, because worms will eat them. ⁴⁰ You will have olive trees everywhere in your country but no olive oil to rub on your skin, because the olives will fall off the trees. ⁴¹ You will have sons and daughters, but you won’t be able to keep them because they will be taken as prisoners of war. ⁴² Crickets will swarm all over your trees and the crops in your fields.

⁴³ The ⌞standard of living for the⌟ foreigners who live among you will rise higher and higher, while your ⌞standard of living⌟ will sink lower and lower. ⁴⁴ They will be able to make loans to you, but you won’t be able to make loans to them. They will be the head, and you will be the tail.

⁴⁵ All these curses will come to you. They will pursue you and stay close to you until you’re destroyed, because you didn’t obey the Lord your God or follow his commands and laws, which I’m giving you. ⁴⁶ These curses will be a sign and an amazing thing to warn you and your descendants forever. ⁴⁷ You didn’t serve the Lord your God with a joyful and happy heart when you had so much. ⁴⁸ So you will serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you. You will serve them even though you are already hungry, thirsty, naked, and in need of everything. The Lord will put a heavy burden of hard work on you until he destroys you.

⁴⁹ The Lord will bring against you a nation from far away, from the ends of the earth. The nation will swoop down on you like an eagle. It will be a nation whose language you won’t understand. ⁵⁰ Its people will be fierce-looking. They will show no respect for the old and no pity for the young. ⁵¹ They’ll eat the offspring of your animals and the crops from your fields until you’re destroyed. They’ll leave you no grain, no new wine, no olive oil, no calves from your herds, and no lambs or kids from your flocks. They’ll continue to do this until they’ve completely ruined you. ⁵² They will blockade all your cities until the high, fortified walls in which you trust come down everywhere in your land. They’ll blockade all the cities everywhere in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

⁵³ Because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade, you will eat the flesh of your own children, the sons and daughters, whom the Lord your God has given you. ⁵⁴ Even the most tender and sensitive man among you will become stingy toward his brother, the wife he loves, and the children he still has left. ⁵⁵ He will give none of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all that he has left, because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of all your cities. ⁵⁶ The most tender and sensitive woman among you—so sensitive and tender that she wouldn’t even step on an ant—will become stingy toward the husband she loves or toward her own son or daughter. ⁵⁷ She won’t share with them the afterbirth from her body and the children she gives birth to. She will secretly eat them out of dire necessity, because of the hardships your enemies will make you suffer during the blockade of your cities.

⁵⁸ You might not faithfully obey every word of the teachings that are written in this book. You might not fear this glorious and awe-inspiring name: the Lord your God. ⁵⁹ If so, the Lord will strike you and your descendants with unimaginable plagues. They will be terrible and continuing plagues and severe and lingering diseases. ⁶⁰ He will again bring all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The Lord will also bring you every kind of sickness and plague not written in this Book of Teachings. They will continue until you’re dead. ⁶² At one time you were as numerous as the stars in the sky. But only a few of you will be left, because you didn’t obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ At one time the Lord was more than glad to make you prosperous and numerous. Now the Lord will be more than glad to destroy you and wipe you out. You will be torn out of the land you’re about to enter and take possession of.

⁶⁴ Then the Lord will scatter you among all the people of the world, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will serve gods made of wood and stone that neither you nor your ancestors ever knew. ⁶⁵ Among those nations you will find no peace, no place to call your own. There the Lord will give you an unsettled mind, failing eyesight, and despair. ⁶⁶ Your life will always be hanging by a thread. You will live in terror day and night. You will never feel sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you’ll say, “If only it were evening!” And in the evening you’ll say, “If only it were morning!” You’ll talk this way because of the things that will terrify you and because of the things you’ll see. ⁶⁸ The Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships ^[g] on a journey that I said you would never take again. There you will try to sell yourselves as slaves to your enemies, but no one will buy you.

Jesus Is Accused of Working with Beelzebul^(A)

¹⁴ Jesus was forcing a demon out of a man. The demon had made the man unable to talk. When the demon had gone out, the man began to talk.

The people were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He can force demons out of people only with the help of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons.” ¹⁶ Others wanted to test Jesus and demanded that he show them some miraculous sign from heaven.

¹⁷ Since Jesus knew what they were thinking, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is ruined. A house divided against itself falls. ¹⁸ Now, if Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom last? I say this because you say Beelzebul helps me force demons out of people. ¹⁹ If I force demons out with the help of Beelzebul, who helps your followers force them out? That’s why they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I force out demons with the help of God’s power, then God’s kingdom has come to you.

²¹ “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own mansion, his property is safe. ²² But a stronger man than he may attack him and defeat him. Then the stronger man will take away all the weapons in which the strong man trusted and will divide the loot.

²³ “Whoever isn’t with me is against me. Whoever doesn’t gather with me scatters.

²⁴ “When an evil spirit comes out of a person, it goes through dry places looking for a place to rest. But it doesn’t find any. Then it says, ‘I’ll go back to the home I left.’ ²⁵ When it comes, it finds the house swept clean and in order. ²⁶ Then the spirit goes and brings along seven other spirits more evil than itself. They enter and take up permanent residence there. In the end the condition of that person is worse than it was before.”

The Sign of Jonah^(B)

²⁷ While Jesus was speaking, a woman in the crowd shouted, “How blessed is the mother who gave birth to you and the breasts that nursed you.”

²⁸ Jesus replied, “Rather, how blessed are those who hear and obey God’s word.”

²⁹ As the people were gathering around him, Jesus said, “The people living today are evil. They look for a miraculous sign. But the only sign they will get is the sign of Jonah. ³⁰ Just as Jonah became a miraculous sign to the people of Nineveh, so the Son of Man will be a miraculous sign to the people living today. ³¹ The queen from the south will stand up at the time of judgment with the men who live today. She will condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom. But look, someone greater than Solomon is here! ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the time of judgment with the people living today. Since the men of Nineveh turned to God and changed the way they thought and acted when Jonah spoke his message, they will condemn the people living today. But look, someone greater than Jonah is here!

Jesus Talks about Light

³³ “No one lights a lamp and hides it or puts it under a basket. Instead, everyone who lights a lamp puts it on a lamp stand so that those who come in will see its light.

³⁴ “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is unclouded, your whole body is full of light. But when your eye is evil, your body is full of darkness. ³⁵ So be careful that the light in you isn’t darkness. ³⁶ If your whole body is full of light and not darkness, it will be as bright as a lamp shining on you.”

For the choir director; according to Jeduthun; a psalm by Asaph.

A Reminder to Keep God’s Laws

26 Soon you will enter and take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you as your property. When you have settled there, ² take some of the first produce harvested from the fields in the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and put it in a basket. Then go to the place where the Lord your God will choose for his name to live. ³ Go to the priest who is serving at that time, and tell him, “I declare today to the Lord your God that I have come to the land that the Lord is giving us, as he swore to our ancestors.” ⁴ Then the priest will take the basket from you and set it down in front of the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵ You will make this formal statement in the presence of the Lord your God: “My ancestors were wandering Arameans. There were only a few of them when they went to Egypt and lived as foreigners. But then they became a great, powerful, and large nation. ⁶ So the Egyptians treated us cruelly, oppressed us, and made us do back-breaking work for them. ⁷ We cried out to the Lord God of our ancestors, and he heard us. He saw our misery, suffering, and oppression. ⁸ Then the Lord used his mighty hand and powerful arm to bring us out of Egypt. He used spectacular and awe-inspiring deeds, miraculous signs, and amazing things. ⁹ He brought us to this place and gave us this land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ So now I’ve brought the first produce harvested from the fields you gave me, Lord.”

You will place the basket in the presence of the Lord your God and bow down in front of him. ¹¹ Then you, the Levites, and the foreigners who live among you can enjoy all the good things which the Lord your God has given you and your family.

¹² Every third year is the year when you will store a tenth of that year’s crops ⌞in your houses⌟. During that year distribute what you have stored to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows in your cities, and they may eat all they want. ¹³ When you have distributed all that was stored, say to the Lord your God, “Nothing is left of the holy offering stored in my house. I distributed it to the Levites, foreigners, orphans, and widows as you commanded me. I disobeyed none of your commands, and I didn’t forget to do what you commanded. ¹⁴ I didn’t eat any of this holy offering while I was in mourning. I didn’t distribute any of it while I was unclean.^[a] I didn’t offer any of it to the dead. I have obeyed the Lord my God. I have done everything you commanded me. ¹⁵ Look down from your holy place in heaven. Bless your people Israel and the land flowing with milk and honey that you have given us, as you promised with an oath to our ancestors.”

¹⁶ Today the Lord your God is commanding you to obey these laws and rules. You must faithfully obey them with all your heart and with all your soul. ¹⁷ Today you have declared that the Lord is your God and that you will follow his directions, obey his laws, commands, and rules, and listen to him. ¹⁸ Today the Lord has declared that you are his people, his own special possession, as he told you. But you must be sure to obey his commands. ¹⁹ Then he will place you high above all the other nations he has made. He will give you praise, fame, and honor, and you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.

Write the Law on Stones

27 Moses and the leaders of Israel told the people, “Obey every command I’m giving you today.

² “The day you cross the Jordan River and enter the land that the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and cover them with plaster. ³ The Lord God of your ancestors is giving you a land flowing with milk and honey, as he promised you. After you’re in that land, write all the words of these teachings on the stones. ⁴ After you cross the Jordan River, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, and cover them with plaster, following the command I’m giving you today. ⁵ Build an altar of stones there dedicated to the Lord your God. Don’t use an iron chisel on the stones. ⁶ You must use uncut stones to build the altar of the Lord your God. Sacrifice burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷ Sacrifice fellowship offerings, eat them there, and enjoy yourselves in the presence of the Lord your God. ⁸ Write clearly and carefully all the words of these teachings on the stones you set up.”

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be quiet and listen, Israel. Today you have become the people of the Lord your God. ¹⁰ Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and laws which I’m giving you today.”

Curses Which Are to Be Recited

¹¹ That same day Moses gave the people this command: ¹² After you cross the Jordan River, these are the tribes that will stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin. ¹³ These are the tribes that will stand on Mount Ebal to announce the curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴ The Levites will declare to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

¹⁵ “Whoever has a carved or metal statue, anything disgusting to the Lord that was made by a craftsman, and sets it up in secret will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁶ “Whoever curses his father or mother will himself be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁷ “Whoever moves his neighbor’s boundary marker will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁸ “Whoever leads blind people in the wrong direction will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

¹⁹ “Whoever deprives foreigners, orphans, or widows of justice will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁰ “Whoever has sexual intercourse with his father’s wife will be cursed. He has disgraced his father.” Then all the people will say amen.

²¹ “Whoever has sexual intercourse with any animal will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²² “Whoever has sexual intercourse with his sister, his father’s daughter, or his mother’s daughter will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²³ “Whoever has sexual intercourse with his mother-in-law will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁴ “Whoever kills another person secretly will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁵ “Whoever accepts money to kill an innocent person will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

²⁶ “Whoever doesn’t obey every word of these teachings will be cursed.” Then all the people will say amen.

Mary Listens to Jesus

³⁸ As they were traveling along, Jesus went into a village. A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to him talk.

⁴⁰ But Martha was upset about all the work she had to do. So she asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself? Tell her to help me.”

⁴¹ The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. ⁴² There’s only one thing you need.^[a] Mary has made the right choice, and that one thing will not be taken away from her.”

The Lord’s Prayer^(A)

11 Once Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he stopped praying, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray as John taught his disciples.”

² Jesus told them, “When you pray, say this:

The Power of Prayer^(B)

⁵ Jesus said to his disciples, “Suppose one of you has a friend. Suppose you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, let me borrow three loaves of bread. ⁶ A friend of mine on a trip has dropped in on me, and I don’t have anything to serve him.’ ⁷ Your friend might answer you from inside his house, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ ⁸ I can guarantee that although he doesn’t want to get up to give you anything, he will get up and give you whatever you need because he is your friend and because you were so bold.

⁹ “So I tell you to ask, and you will receive. Search, and you will find. Knock, and the door will be opened for you. ¹⁰ Everyone who asks will receive. The one who searches will find, and for the person who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “If your child asks you, his father, for a fish, would you give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if your child asks you for an egg, would you give him a scorpion? ¹³ Even though you’re evil, you know how to give good gifts to your children. So how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

For the choir director; on stringed instruments; a psalm by Asaph; a song.

Various Laws

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Various Laws

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Various Laws

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Story about a Good Samaritan

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Laws about Marriage and Family

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

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

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

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

Various Laws

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Laws about Sex and Marriage

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

People from a Samaritan Village Reject Jesus

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

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

What It Takes to Be a Disciple^(A)

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

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

⁵⁹ He told another man, “Follow me!”

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

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

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

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

Jesus Sends Disciples to Do Mission Work

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

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

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

A maskil ^[a] by Asaph.

Laws for the Levites

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

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

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

Laws about Prophets

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

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

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

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

Criminal Laws

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Laws for Warfare

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

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

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

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

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

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

Moses and Elijah Appear with Jesus^(A)

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

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

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

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

Jesus Cures a Demon-Possessed Boy^(B)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Greatness in the Kingdom^(D)

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

Using the Name of Jesus^(E)

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

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

BOOK THREE

(Psalms 73–89)

A psalm by Asaph.

Three Major Festivals

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

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

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

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

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

Administering Justice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rumors about Jesus^(A)

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

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

Jesus Feeds Five Thousand^(B)

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

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

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

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

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

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

Peter Declares His Belief about Jesus^(C)

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

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

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

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

²¹ He ordered them not to tell this to anyone.

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

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

What It Means to Follow Jesus^(E)

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

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

By Solomon.

False Prophets and Fortune Tellers

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

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

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

The Penalty for Idolatry

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

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

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

14 You are the children of the Lord your God.

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

Clean and Unclean Foods

³ Do not eat any detestable thing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tithes

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

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

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

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

The Sabbatical Year

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

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

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

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

The Release of Servants

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

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

The Firstborn

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

The Daughter of Jairus

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve

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

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

Psalm 71

Do Not Throw Me Away When I Am Old

Opening Prayer

Remembrance of Past Help

Statement of Present Need

Plea for Help in Present Trouble

Present and Future Praise

Closing Confidence

Closing Praise