DEUTERONOMY 29:1- 30:20
LUKE 11:37- 12:7
PSALM 78:1- 31
PROVERBS 12:19- 20
These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites while they were in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Mount Sinai. 2 Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them, "You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and his whole country-- 3 all the great tests of strength, the miraculous signs, and the amazing wonders. 4 But to this day the LORD has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear! 5 For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out. 6 You had no bread or wine or other strong drink, but he gave you food so you would know that he is the LORD your God. 7 When we came here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half- tribe of Manasseh as their inheritance. 9" Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. 10 All of you-- your tribal leaders, your judges, your officers, all the men of Israel-- are standing today before the LORD your God. 11 With you are your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are standing here today to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God. The LORD is making this covenant with you today, and he has sealed it with an oath. 13 He wants to confirm you today as his people and to confirm that he is your God, just as he promised you, and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 But you are not the only ones with whom the LORD is making this covenant with its obligations. 15 The LORD your God is making this covenant with you who stand in his presence today and also with all future generations of Israel. 16 "Surely you remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. 17 You have seen their detestable idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 The LORD made this covenant with you so that no man, woman, family, or tribe among you would turn away from the LORD our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you would bear bitter and poisonous fruit. 19 Let none of those who hear the warnings of this curse consider themselves immune, thinking, `I am safe, even though I am walking in my own stubborn way. 'This would lead to utter ruin! 20 The LORD will not pardon such people. His anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the LORD will erase their names from under heaven. 21 The LORD will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the covenant curses recorded in this Book of the Law. 22" Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the LORD will send against it. 23 They will find its soil turned into sulfur and salt, with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It will be just like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed in his anger. 24 The surrounding nations will ask, `Why has the LORD done this to his land? Why was he so angry?' 25 "And they will be told, `This happened because the people of the land broke the covenant they made with the LORD, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 They turned to serve and worship other gods that were foreign to them, gods that the LORD had not designated for them. 27 That is why the LORD's anger burned against this land, bringing down on it all the curses recorded in this book. 28 In great anger and fury the LORD uprooted his people from their land and exiled them to another land, where they still live today! '29" There are secret things that belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we may obey these words of the law. 30:1 "SUPPOSE all these things happen to you-- the blessings and the curses I have listed-- and you meditate on them as you are living among the nations to which the LORD your God has exiled you. 2 If at that time you return to the LORD your God, and you and your children begin wholeheartedly to obey all the commands I have given you today, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. 4 Though you are at the ends of the earth, the LORD your God will go and find you and bring you back again. 5 He will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. He will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors! 6" The LORD your God will cleanse your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so that you will love him with all your heart and soul, and so you may live! 7 The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and persecutors. 8 Then you will again obey the LORD and keep all the commands I am giving you today. 9 The LORD your God will make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and your fields will produce abundant harvests, for the LORD will delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors. 10 The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and laws written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. 11 "This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand or perform. 12 It is not up in heaven, so distant that you must ask, `Who will go to heaven and bring it down so we can hear and obey it?' 13 It is not beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, `Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear and obey it? '14 The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. 15" Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between prosperity and disaster, between life and death. 16 I have commanded you today to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, laws, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and become a great nation, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. 17 But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. 19 "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! 20 Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life. Then you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the ceremonial washing required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, "You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are still filthy-- full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn't God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So give to the needy what you greedily possess, and you will be clean all over. 42" But how terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you completely forget about justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things. 43 "How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For how you love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the respectful greetings from everyone as you walk through the markets! 44 Yes, how terrible it will be for you. For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on." 45 "Teacher," said an expert in religious law, "you have insulted us, too, in what you just said." 46 "Yes," said Jesus, "how terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you crush people beneath impossible religious demands, and you never lift a finger to help ease the burden. 47 How terrible it will be for you! For you build tombs for the very prophets your ancestors killed long ago. 48 Murderers! You agree with your ancestors that what they did was right. You would have done the same yourselves. 49 This is what God in his wisdom said about you:`I will send prophets and apostles to them, and they will kill some and persecute the others.' 50" And you of this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God's prophets from the creation of the world-- 51 from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will surely be charged against you. 52 "How terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you hide the key to knowledge from the people. You don't enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering." 53 As Jesus finished speaking, the Pharisees and teachers of religious law were furious. From that time on they grilled him with many hostile questions, 54 trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him. 12:1 MEANWHILE, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and crushing each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees-- beware of their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything will be revealed; all that is secret will be made public. 3 Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear! 4" Dear friends, don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill the body; they cannot do any more to you. 5 But I'll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill people and then throw them into hell. 6 "What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows."
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O my people, listen to my teaching.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past--
3 stories we have heard and know,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children
but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD.
We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did.
5 For he issued his decree to Jacob;
he gave his law to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them--
even the children not yet born--
that they in turn might teach their children.
7 So each generation can set its hope anew on God,
remembering his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors--
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
9 The warriors of Ephraim, though fully armed,
turned their backs and fled when the day of battle came.
10 They did not keep God's covenant,
and they refused to live by his law.
11 They forgot what he had done--
the wonderful miracles he had shown them,
12 the miracles he did for their ancestors in Egypt, on the plain of Zoan.
13 For he divided the sea before them and led them through!
The water stood up like walls beside them!
14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud,
and at night by a pillar of fire.
15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness
to give them plenty of water, as from a gushing spring.
16 He made streams pour from the rock,
making the waters flow down like a river!
17 Yet they kept on with their sin,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They willfully tested God in their hearts,
demanding the foods they craved.
19 They even spoke against God himself, saying,
"God can't give us food in the desert.
20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,
but he can't give his people bread and meat."
21 When the LORD heard them, he was angry.
The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.
Yes, his anger rose against Israel,
22 for they did not believe God
or trust him to care for them.
23 But he commanded the skies to open--
he opened the doors of heaven--
24 and rained down manna for them to eat.
He gave them bread from heaven.
25 They ate the food of angels!
God gave them all they could hold.
26 He released the east wind in the heavens
and guided the south wind by his mighty power.
27 He rained down meat as thick as dust--
birds as plentiful as the sands along the seashore!
28 He caused the birds to fall within their camp
and all around their tents.
29 The people ate their fill.
He gave them what they wanted.
30 But before they finished eating this food they had craved,
while the meat was yet in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed their strongest men;
he struck down the finest of Israel's young men.
Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed. Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace
LUKE 11:37- 12:7
PSALM 78:1- 31
PROVERBS 12:19- 20
These are the terms of the covenant the LORD commanded Moses to make with the Israelites while they were in the land of Moab, in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Mount Sinai. 2 Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them, "You have seen with your own eyes everything the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and his whole country-- 3 all the great tests of strength, the miraculous signs, and the amazing wonders. 4 But to this day the LORD has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear! 5 For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out. 6 You had no bread or wine or other strong drink, but he gave you food so you would know that he is the LORD your God. 7 When we came here, King Sihon of Heshbon and King Og of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it to the tribes of Reuben and Gad and to the half- tribe of Manasseh as their inheritance. 9" Therefore, obey the terms of this covenant so that you will prosper in everything you do. 10 All of you-- your tribal leaders, your judges, your officers, all the men of Israel-- are standing today before the LORD your God. 11 With you are your little ones, your wives, and the foreigners living among you who chop your wood and carry your water. 12 You are standing here today to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God. The LORD is making this covenant with you today, and he has sealed it with an oath. 13 He wants to confirm you today as his people and to confirm that he is your God, just as he promised you, and as he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14 But you are not the only ones with whom the LORD is making this covenant with its obligations. 15 The LORD your God is making this covenant with you who stand in his presence today and also with all future generations of Israel. 16 "Surely you remember how we lived in the land of Egypt and how we traveled through the lands of enemy nations as we left. 17 You have seen their detestable idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold. 18 The LORD made this covenant with you so that no man, woman, family, or tribe among you would turn away from the LORD our God to worship these gods of other nations, and so that no root among you would bear bitter and poisonous fruit. 19 Let none of those who hear the warnings of this curse consider themselves immune, thinking, `I am safe, even though I am walking in my own stubborn way. 'This would lead to utter ruin! 20 The LORD will not pardon such people. His anger and jealousy will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will come down on them, and the LORD will erase their names from under heaven. 21 The LORD will separate them from all the tribes of Israel, to pour out on them all the covenant curses recorded in this Book of the Law. 22" Then the generations to come, both your own descendants and the foreigners who come from distant lands, will see the devastation of the land and the diseases the LORD will send against it. 23 They will find its soil turned into sulfur and salt, with nothing planted and nothing growing, not even a blade of grass. It will be just like Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD destroyed in his anger. 24 The surrounding nations will ask, `Why has the LORD done this to his land? Why was he so angry?' 25 "And they will be told, `This happened because the people of the land broke the covenant they made with the LORD, the God of their ancestors, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 They turned to serve and worship other gods that were foreign to them, gods that the LORD had not designated for them. 27 That is why the LORD's anger burned against this land, bringing down on it all the curses recorded in this book. 28 In great anger and fury the LORD uprooted his people from their land and exiled them to another land, where they still live today! '29" There are secret things that belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we may obey these words of the law. 30:1 "SUPPOSE all these things happen to you-- the blessings and the curses I have listed-- and you meditate on them as you are living among the nations to which the LORD your God has exiled you. 2 If at that time you return to the LORD your God, and you and your children begin wholeheartedly to obey all the commands I have given you today, 3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes. He will have mercy on you and gather you back from all the nations where he has scattered you. 4 Though you are at the ends of the earth, the LORD your God will go and find you and bring you back again. 5 He will return you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will possess that land again. He will make you even more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors! 6" The LORD your God will cleanse your heart and the hearts of all your descendants so that you will love him with all your heart and soul, and so you may live! 7 The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and persecutors. 8 Then you will again obey the LORD and keep all the commands I am giving you today. 9 The LORD your God will make you successful in everything you do. He will give you many children and numerous livestock, and your fields will produce abundant harvests, for the LORD will delight in being good to you as he was to your ancestors. 10 The LORD your God will delight in you if you obey his voice and keep the commands and laws written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. 11 "This command I am giving you today is not too difficult for you to understand or perform. 12 It is not up in heaven, so distant that you must ask, `Who will go to heaven and bring it down so we can hear and obey it?' 13 It is not beyond the sea, so far away that you must ask, `Who will cross the sea to bring it to us so we can hear and obey it? '14 The message is very close at hand; it is on your lips and in your heart so that you can obey it. 15" Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between prosperity and disaster, between life and death. 16 I have commanded you today to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, laws, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and become a great nation, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. 17 But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, 18 then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. 19 "Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, that you and your descendants might live! 20 Choose to love the LORD your God and to obey him and commit yourself to him, for he is your life. Then you will live long in the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."
As Jesus was speaking, one of the Pharisees invited him home for a meal. So he went in and took his place at the table. 38 His host was amazed to see that he sat down to eat without first performing the ceremonial washing required by Jewish custom. 39 Then the Lord said to him, "You Pharisees are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are still filthy-- full of greed and wickedness! 40 Fools! Didn't God make the inside as well as the outside? 41 So give to the needy what you greedily possess, and you will be clean all over. 42" But how terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you completely forget about justice and the love of God. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the more important things. 43 "How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! For how you love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the respectful greetings from everyone as you walk through the markets! 44 Yes, how terrible it will be for you. For you are like hidden graves in a field. People walk over them without knowing the corruption they are stepping on." 45 "Teacher," said an expert in religious law, "you have insulted us, too, in what you just said." 46 "Yes," said Jesus, "how terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you crush people beneath impossible religious demands, and you never lift a finger to help ease the burden. 47 How terrible it will be for you! For you build tombs for the very prophets your ancestors killed long ago. 48 Murderers! You agree with your ancestors that what they did was right. You would have done the same yourselves. 49 This is what God in his wisdom said about you:`I will send prophets and apostles to them, and they will kill some and persecute the others.' 50" And you of this generation will be held responsible for the murder of all God's prophets from the creation of the world-- 51 from the murder of Abel to the murder of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, it will surely be charged against you. 52 "How terrible it will be for you experts in religious law! For you hide the key to knowledge from the people. You don't enter the Kingdom yourselves, and you prevent others from entering." 53 As Jesus finished speaking, the Pharisees and teachers of religious law were furious. From that time on they grilled him with many hostile questions, 54 trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him. 12:1 MEANWHILE, the crowds grew until thousands were milling about and crushing each other. Jesus turned first to his disciples and warned them, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees-- beware of their hypocrisy. 2 The time is coming when everything will be revealed; all that is secret will be made public. 3 Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be shouted from the housetops for all to hear! 4" Dear friends, don't be afraid of those who want to kill you. They can only kill the body; they cannot do any more to you. 5 But I'll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill people and then throw them into hell. 6 "What is the price of five sparrows? A couple of pennies? Yet God does not forget a single one of them. 7 And the very hairs on your head are all numbered. So don't be afraid; you are more valuable to him than a whole flock of sparrows."
A psalm of Asaph.
1 O my people, listen to my teaching.
Open your ears to what I am saying,
2 for I will speak to you in a parable.
I will teach you hidden lessons from our past--
3 stories we have heard and know,
stories our ancestors handed down to us.
4 We will not hide these truths from our children
but will tell the next generation about the glorious deeds of the LORD.
We will tell of his power and the mighty miracles he did.
5 For he issued his decree to Jacob;
he gave his law to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
6 so the next generation might know them--
even the children not yet born--
that they in turn might teach their children.
7 So each generation can set its hope anew on God,
remembering his glorious miracles
and obeying his commands.
8 Then they will not be like their ancestors--
stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful,
refusing to give their hearts to God.
9 The warriors of Ephraim, though fully armed,
turned their backs and fled when the day of battle came.
10 They did not keep God's covenant,
and they refused to live by his law.
11 They forgot what he had done--
the wonderful miracles he had shown them,
12 the miracles he did for their ancestors in Egypt, on the plain of Zoan.
13 For he divided the sea before them and led them through!
The water stood up like walls beside them!
14 In the daytime he led them by a cloud,
and at night by a pillar of fire.
15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness
to give them plenty of water, as from a gushing spring.
16 He made streams pour from the rock,
making the waters flow down like a river!
17 Yet they kept on with their sin,
rebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They willfully tested God in their hearts,
demanding the foods they craved.
19 They even spoke against God himself, saying,
"God can't give us food in the desert.
20 Yes, he can strike a rock so water gushes out,
but he can't give his people bread and meat."
21 When the LORD heard them, he was angry.
The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.
Yes, his anger rose against Israel,
22 for they did not believe God
or trust him to care for them.
23 But he commanded the skies to open--
he opened the doors of heaven--
24 and rained down manna for them to eat.
He gave them bread from heaven.
25 They ate the food of angels!
God gave them all they could hold.
26 He released the east wind in the heavens
and guided the south wind by his mighty power.
27 He rained down meat as thick as dust--
birds as plentiful as the sands along the seashore!
28 He caused the birds to fall within their camp
and all around their tents.
29 The people ate their fill.
He gave them what they wanted.
30 But before they finished eating this food they had craved,
while the meat was yet in their mouths,
31 the anger of God rose against them,
and he killed their strongest men;
he struck down the finest of Israel's young men.
Truth stands the test of time; lies are soon exposed. Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace
