DEUTERONOMY 9:1- 10:22
LUKE 8:4- 21
PSALM 69:19- 36
PROVERBS 12:2- 3
"Hear, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to occupy the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky! 2 They are strong and tall-- descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You've heard the saying, `Who can stand up to the Anakites? '3 But the LORD your God will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the LORD has promised. 4" After the LORD your God has done this for you, don't say to yourselves, `The LORD has given us this land because we are so righteous!' No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is doing it. 5 It is not at all because you are such righteous, upright people that you are about to occupy their land. The LORD your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he had sworn to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 I will say it again:The LORD your God is not giving you this good land because you are righteous, for you are not-- you are a stubborn people. 7 "Remember how angry you made the LORD your God out in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until now, you have constantly rebelled against him. 8 Remember how angry you made the LORD at Mount Sinai, where he was ready to destroy you. 9 That was when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate nothing and drank no water. 10 The LORD gave me the covenant, the tablets on which God himself had written all the words he had spoken to you from the fire on the mountain. 11" At the end of the forty days and nights, the LORD handed me the two stone tablets with the covenant inscribed on them. 12 Then the LORD said to me, `Go down immediately because the people you led out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have already turned from the way I commanded them to live and have cast an idol for themselves from gold. '13 "The LORD said to me, `I have been watching this people, and they are extremely stubborn. 14 Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.' 15" So I came down from the fiery mountain, holding in my hands the two stone tablets of the covenant. 16 There below me I could see the gold calf you had made in your terrible sin against the LORD your God. How quickly you had turned from the path the LORD had commanded you to follow! 17 So I raised the stone tablets and dashed them to the ground. I smashed them before your very eyes. 18 Then for forty days and nights I lay prostrate before the LORD, neither eating bread nor drinking water. I did this because you had sinned by doing what the LORD hated, thus making him very angry. 19 How I feared for you, for the LORD was ready to destroy you. But again he listened to me. 20 The LORD was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron, and the LORD spared him. 21 I took your sin-- the calf you had made-- and I melted it in the fire and ground it into fine dust. I threw the dust into the stream that cascades down the mountain. 22 "You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth- hattaavah. 23 And at Kadesh- barnea the LORD sent you out with this command:`Go up and take the land I have given you. 'But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to trust him or obey him. 24 Yes, you have been rebelling against the LORD as long as I have known you. 25" That is why I fell down and lay before the LORD for forty days and nights when he was ready to destroy you. 26 I prayed to the LORD and said, `O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your own people. They are your special possession, redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength. 27 Overlook the stubbornness and sin of these people, but remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 28 If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, "The LORD destroyed them because he wasn't able to bring them to the land he had sworn to give them." Or they might say, "He destroyed them because he hated them; he brought them into the wilderness to slaughter them." 29 But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength.' 10:1 "AT that time the LORD said to me, `Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones, and make a sacred chest of wood to keep them in. Return to me on the mountain, 2 and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the sacred chest-- the Ark of the Covenant. '3" So I made a chest of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first two, and I took the tablets up the mountain. 4 The LORD again wrote the terms of the covenant-- the Ten Commandments-- on them and gave them to me. They were the same words the LORD had spoken to you from the heart of the fire on the mountain as you were assembled below. 5 Then I came down and placed the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant, which I had made, just as the LORD commanded me. And the tablets are still there in the Ark. 6 "The people of Israel set out from the wells of the people of Jaakan and traveled to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried. His son Eleazar became the high priest in his place. 7 Then they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from there to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. 8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the LORD's covenant, to minister before the LORD, and to pronounce blessings in his name. These are still their duties. 9 That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance reserved for them among the other Israelite tribes. The LORD himself is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them. 10" As I said before, I stayed on the mountain in the LORD's presence for forty days and nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the LORD yielded to my pleas and didn't destroy you. 11 But the LORD said to me, `Get up and lead the people into the land I swore to give their ancestors, so they may take possession of it.' 12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires you to fear him, to live according to his will, to love and worship him with all your heart and soul, 13 and to obey the LORD's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good. 14 The highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God. 15 Yet the LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above every other nation, as is evident today. 16 Therefore, cleanse your sinful hearts and stop being stubborn. 17" The LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribes. 18 He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19 You, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21 He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen. 22 When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky! "
One day Jesus told this story to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him:5" A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds came and ate it. 6 Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. This seed began to grow, but soon it withered and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop one hundred times as much as had been planted. "When he had said this, he called out," Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand! "9 His disciples asked him what the story meant. 10 He replied," You have been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I am using these stories to conceal everything about it from outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:`They see what I do,
but they don't really see;
they hear what I say,
but they don't understand. '
11 "This is the meaning of the story:The seed is God's message. 12 The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the message, but then the Devil comes and steals it away and prevents them from believing and being saved. 13 The rocky soil represents those who hear the message with joy. But like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep. They believe for a while, but they wilt when the hot winds of testing blow. 14 The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15 But the good soil represents honest, good- hearted people who hear God's message, cling to it, and steadily produce a huge harvest. 16" No one would light a lamp and then cover it up or put it under a bed. No, lamps are mounted in the open, where they can be seen by those entering the house. 17 For everything that is hidden or secret will eventually be brought to light and made plain to all. 18 So be sure to pay attention to what you hear. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they think they have will be taken away from them. "19 Once when Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, they couldn't get to him because of the crowds. 20 Someone told Jesus," Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to see you. "21 Jesus replied," My mother and my brothers are all those who hear the message of God and obey it. "
You know the insults I endure--
the humiliation and disgrace.
You have seen all my enemies
and know what they have said.
20 Their insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
If only one person would show some pity;
if only one would turn and comfort me.
21 But instead, they give me poison for food;
they offer me sour wine to satisfy my thirst.
22 Let the bountiful table set before them become a snare,
and let their security become a trap.
23 Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see,
and let their bodies grow weaker and weaker.
24 Pour out your fury on them;
consume them with your burning anger.
25 May their homes become desolate
and their tents be deserted.
26 To those you have punished, they add insult to injury;
they scoff at the pain of those you have hurt.
27 Pile their sins up high,
and don't let them go free.
28 Erase their names from the Book of Life;
don't let them be counted among the righteous.
29 I am suffering and in pain.
Rescue me, O God, by your saving power.
30 Then I will praise God's name with singing,
and I will honor him with thanksgiving.
31 For this will please the LORD more than sacrificing an ox
or presenting a bull with its horns and hooves.
32 The humble will see their God at work and be glad.
Let all who seek God's help live in joy.
33 For the LORD hears the cries of his needy ones;
he does not despise his people who are oppressed.
34 Praise him, O heaven and earth,
the seas and all that move in them.
35 For God will save Jerusalem
and rebuild the towns of Judah.
His people will live there
and take possession of the land.
36 The descendants of those who obey him will inherit the land,
and those who love him will live there in safety.
The LORD approves of those who are good, but he condemns those who plan wickedness. Wickedness never brings stability; only the godly have deep roots
LUKE 8:4- 21
PSALM 69:19- 36
PROVERBS 12:2- 3
"Hear, O Israel! Today you are about to cross the Jordan River to occupy the land belonging to nations much greater and more powerful than you. They live in cities with walls that reach to the sky! 2 They are strong and tall-- descendants of the famous Anakite giants. You've heard the saying, `Who can stand up to the Anakites? '3 But the LORD your God will cross over ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy them. He will subdue them so that you will quickly conquer them and drive them out, just as the LORD has promised. 4" After the LORD your God has done this for you, don't say to yourselves, `The LORD has given us this land because we are so righteous!' No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is doing it. 5 It is not at all because you are such righteous, upright people that you are about to occupy their land. The LORD your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfill the oath he had sworn to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 I will say it again:The LORD your God is not giving you this good land because you are righteous, for you are not-- you are a stubborn people. 7 "Remember how angry you made the LORD your God out in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until now, you have constantly rebelled against him. 8 Remember how angry you made the LORD at Mount Sinai, where he was ready to destroy you. 9 That was when I was on the mountain receiving the tablets of stone inscribed with the covenant that the LORD had made with you. I was there for forty days and forty nights, and all that time I ate nothing and drank no water. 10 The LORD gave me the covenant, the tablets on which God himself had written all the words he had spoken to you from the fire on the mountain. 11" At the end of the forty days and nights, the LORD handed me the two stone tablets with the covenant inscribed on them. 12 Then the LORD said to me, `Go down immediately because the people you led out of Egypt have become corrupt. They have already turned from the way I commanded them to live and have cast an idol for themselves from gold. '13 "The LORD said to me, `I have been watching this people, and they are extremely stubborn. 14 Leave me alone so I may destroy them and erase their name from under heaven. Then I will make a mighty nation of your descendants, a nation larger and more powerful than they are.' 15" So I came down from the fiery mountain, holding in my hands the two stone tablets of the covenant. 16 There below me I could see the gold calf you had made in your terrible sin against the LORD your God. How quickly you had turned from the path the LORD had commanded you to follow! 17 So I raised the stone tablets and dashed them to the ground. I smashed them before your very eyes. 18 Then for forty days and nights I lay prostrate before the LORD, neither eating bread nor drinking water. I did this because you had sinned by doing what the LORD hated, thus making him very angry. 19 How I feared for you, for the LORD was ready to destroy you. But again he listened to me. 20 The LORD was so angry with Aaron that he wanted to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron, and the LORD spared him. 21 I took your sin-- the calf you had made-- and I melted it in the fire and ground it into fine dust. I threw the dust into the stream that cascades down the mountain. 22 "You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth- hattaavah. 23 And at Kadesh- barnea the LORD sent you out with this command:`Go up and take the land I have given you. 'But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to trust him or obey him. 24 Yes, you have been rebelling against the LORD as long as I have known you. 25" That is why I fell down and lay before the LORD for forty days and nights when he was ready to destroy you. 26 I prayed to the LORD and said, `O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy your own people. They are your special possession, redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength. 27 Overlook the stubbornness and sin of these people, but remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 28 If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, "The LORD destroyed them because he wasn't able to bring them to the land he had sworn to give them." Or they might say, "He destroyed them because he hated them; he brought them into the wilderness to slaughter them." 29 But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought from Egypt by your mighty power and glorious strength.' 10:1 "AT that time the LORD said to me, `Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones, and make a sacred chest of wood to keep them in. Return to me on the mountain, 2 and I will write on the tablets the same words that were on the ones you smashed. Then place the tablets in the sacred chest-- the Ark of the Covenant. '3" So I made a chest of acacia wood and cut two stone tablets like the first two, and I took the tablets up the mountain. 4 The LORD again wrote the terms of the covenant-- the Ten Commandments-- on them and gave them to me. They were the same words the LORD had spoken to you from the heart of the fire on the mountain as you were assembled below. 5 Then I came down and placed the tablets in the Ark of the Covenant, which I had made, just as the LORD commanded me. And the tablets are still there in the Ark. 6 "The people of Israel set out from the wells of the people of Jaakan and traveled to Moserah, where Aaron died and was buried. His son Eleazar became the high priest in his place. 7 Then they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from there to Jotbathah, a land with brooks of water. 8 At that time the LORD set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the LORD's covenant, to minister before the LORD, and to pronounce blessings in his name. These are still their duties. 9 That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance reserved for them among the other Israelite tribes. The LORD himself is their inheritance, as the LORD your God told them. 10" As I said before, I stayed on the mountain in the LORD's presence for forty days and nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the LORD yielded to my pleas and didn't destroy you. 11 But the LORD said to me, `Get up and lead the people into the land I swore to give their ancestors, so they may take possession of it.' 12 "And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you? He requires you to fear him, to live according to his will, to love and worship him with all your heart and soul, 13 and to obey the LORD's commands and laws that I am giving you today for your own good. 14 The highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the LORD your God. 15 Yet the LORD chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above every other nation, as is evident today. 16 Therefore, cleanse your sinful hearts and stop being stubborn. 17" The LORD your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and takes no bribes. 18 He gives justice to orphans and widows. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19 You, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the LORD your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21 He is your God, the one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done mighty miracles that you yourselves have seen. 22 When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky! "
One day Jesus told this story to a large crowd that had gathered from many towns to hear him:5" A farmer went out to plant some seed. As he scattered it across his field, some seed fell on a footpath, where it was stepped on, and the birds came and ate it. 6 Other seed fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. This seed began to grow, but soon it withered and died for lack of moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns that shot up and choked out the tender blades. 8 Still other seed fell on fertile soil. This seed grew and produced a crop one hundred times as much as had been planted. "When he had said this, he called out," Anyone who is willing to hear should listen and understand! "9 His disciples asked him what the story meant. 10 He replied," You have been permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of God. But I am using these stories to conceal everything about it from outsiders, so that the Scriptures might be fulfilled:`They see what I do,
but they don't really see;
they hear what I say,
but they don't understand. '
11 "This is the meaning of the story:The seed is God's message. 12 The seed that fell on the hard path represents those who hear the message, but then the Devil comes and steals it away and prevents them from believing and being saved. 13 The rocky soil represents those who hear the message with joy. But like young plants in such soil, their roots don't go very deep. They believe for a while, but they wilt when the hot winds of testing blow. 14 The thorny ground represents those who hear and accept the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. 15 But the good soil represents honest, good- hearted people who hear God's message, cling to it, and steadily produce a huge harvest. 16" No one would light a lamp and then cover it up or put it under a bed. No, lamps are mounted in the open, where they can be seen by those entering the house. 17 For everything that is hidden or secret will eventually be brought to light and made plain to all. 18 So be sure to pay attention to what you hear. To those who are open to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But to those who are not listening, even what they think they have will be taken away from them. "19 Once when Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, they couldn't get to him because of the crowds. 20 Someone told Jesus," Your mother and your brothers are outside, and they want to see you. "21 Jesus replied," My mother and my brothers are all those who hear the message of God and obey it. "
You know the insults I endure--
the humiliation and disgrace.
You have seen all my enemies
and know what they have said.
20 Their insults have broken my heart,
and I am in despair.
If only one person would show some pity;
if only one would turn and comfort me.
21 But instead, they give me poison for food;
they offer me sour wine to satisfy my thirst.
22 Let the bountiful table set before them become a snare,
and let their security become a trap.
23 Let their eyes go blind so they cannot see,
and let their bodies grow weaker and weaker.
24 Pour out your fury on them;
consume them with your burning anger.
25 May their homes become desolate
and their tents be deserted.
26 To those you have punished, they add insult to injury;
they scoff at the pain of those you have hurt.
27 Pile their sins up high,
and don't let them go free.
28 Erase their names from the Book of Life;
don't let them be counted among the righteous.
29 I am suffering and in pain.
Rescue me, O God, by your saving power.
30 Then I will praise God's name with singing,
and I will honor him with thanksgiving.
31 For this will please the LORD more than sacrificing an ox
or presenting a bull with its horns and hooves.
32 The humble will see their God at work and be glad.
Let all who seek God's help live in joy.
33 For the LORD hears the cries of his needy ones;
he does not despise his people who are oppressed.
34 Praise him, O heaven and earth,
the seas and all that move in them.
35 For God will save Jerusalem
and rebuild the towns of Judah.
His people will live there
and take possession of the land.
36 The descendants of those who obey him will inherit the land,
and those who love him will live there in safety.
The LORD approves of those who are good, but he condemns those who plan wickedness. Wickedness never brings stability; only the godly have deep roots
