The Altar on Mount Ebal

27 Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands^(A) that I give you today. ² When you have crossed the Jordan^(B) into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones^(C) and coat them with plaster.^{(D) 3} Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(E) just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. ⁴ And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal,^(F) as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. ⁵ Build there an altar^(G) to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool^(H) on them. ⁶ Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. ⁷ Sacrifice fellowship offerings^(I) there, eating them and rejoicing^(J) in the presence of the Lord your God.^{(K) 8} And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones^(L) you have set up.”^(M)

Curses From Mount Ebal

⁹ Then Moses and the Levitical^(N) priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God.^{(O) 10} Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”

¹¹ On the same day Moses commanded the people:

¹² When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim^(P) to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar,^(Q) Joseph and Benjamin.^{(R) 13} And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal^(S) to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.

¹⁴ The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:

Blessings for Obedience

28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow^(AK) all his commands^(AL) I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.^{(AM) 2} All these blessings will come on you^(AN) and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies^(AS) who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.^(AT)

⁸ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless^(AU) you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people,^(AV) as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands^(AW) of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name^(AX) of the Lord, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock^(AY) and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.^(AZ)

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse^(BA) of his bounty,^(BB) to send rain^(BC) on your land in season and to bless^(BD) all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.^{(BE) 13} The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow^(BF) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.^{(BG) 14} Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left,^(BH) following other gods and serving them.

Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ However, if you do not obey^(BI) the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today,^(BJ) all these curses will come on you and overtake you:^(BK)

²⁰ The Lord will send on you curses,^(BP) confusion and rebuke^(BQ) in everything you put your hand to, until you are destroyed and come to sudden ruin^(BR) because of the evil^(BS) you have done in forsaking him.^{[a] 21} The Lord will plague you with diseases until he has destroyed you from the land you are entering to possess.^{(BT) 22} The Lord will strike you with wasting disease,^(BU) with fever and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought,^(BV) with blight^(BW) and mildew, which will plague^(BX) you until you perish.^{(BY) 23} The sky over your head will be bronze, the ground beneath you iron.^{(BZ) 24} The Lord will turn the rain^(CA) of your country into dust and powder; it will come down from the skies until you are destroyed.

²⁵ The Lord will cause you to be defeated^(CB) before your enemies. You will come at them from one direction but flee from them in seven,^(CC) and you will become a thing of horror^(CD) to all the kingdoms on earth.^{(CE) 26} Your carcasses will be food for all the birds^(CF) and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away.^{(CG) 27} The Lord will afflict you with the boils of Egypt^(CH) and with tumors, festering sores and the itch, from which you cannot be cured. ²⁸ The Lord will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind. ²⁹ At midday you will grope^(CI) about like a blind person in the dark. You will be unsuccessful in everything you do; day after day you will be oppressed and robbed, with no one to rescue^(CJ) you.

³⁰ You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.^(CK) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.^(CL) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.^{(CM) 31} Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. ³² Your sons and daughters will be given to another nation,^(CN) and you will wear out your eyes watching for them day after day, powerless to lift a hand. ³³ A people that you do not know will eat what your land and labor produce, and you will have nothing but cruel oppression^(CO) all your days.^{(CP) 34} The sights you see will drive you mad.^{(CQ) 35} The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils^(CR) that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.^(CS)

³⁶ The Lord will drive you and the king^(CT) you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your ancestors.^(CU) There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.^{(CV) 37} You will become a thing of horror,^(CW) a byword^(CX) and an object of ridicule^(CY) among all the peoples where the Lord will drive you.^(CZ)

³⁸ You will sow much seed in the field but you will harvest little,^(DA) because locusts^(DB) will devour^(DC) it. ³⁹ You will plant vineyards and cultivate them but you will not drink the wine^(DD) or gather the grapes, because worms will eat^(DE) them.^{(DF) 40} You will have olive trees throughout your country but you will not use the oil, because the olives will drop off.^{(DG) 41} You will have sons and daughters but you will not keep them, because they will go into captivity.^{(DH) 42} Swarms of locusts^(DI) will take over all your trees and the crops of your land.

⁴³ The foreigners who reside among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower.^{(DJ) 44} They will lend to you, but you will not lend to them.^(DK) They will be the head, but you will be the tail.^(DL)

⁴⁵ All these curses will come on you. They will pursue you and overtake you^(DM) until you are destroyed,^(DN) because you did not obey the Lord your God and observe the commands and decrees he gave you. ⁴⁶ They will be a sign and a wonder to you and your descendants forever.^{(DO) 47} Because you did not serve^(DP) the Lord your God joyfully and gladly^(DQ) in the time of prosperity, ⁴⁸ therefore in hunger and thirst,^(DR) in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the Lord sends against you. He will put an iron yoke^(DS) on your neck^(DT) until he has destroyed you.

⁴⁹ The Lord will bring a nation against you^(DU) from far away, from the ends of the earth,^(DV) like an eagle^(DW) swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand,^{(DX) 50} a fierce-looking nation without respect for the old^(DY) or pity for the young. ⁵¹ They will devour the young of your livestock and the crops of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain, new wine^(DZ) or olive oil,^(EA) nor any calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks until you are ruined.^{(EB) 52} They will lay siege^(EC) to all the cities throughout your land until the high fortified walls in which you trust fall down. They will besiege all the cities throughout the land the Lord your God is giving you.^(ED)

⁵³ Because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege, you will eat the fruit of the womb, the flesh of the sons and daughters the Lord your God has given you.^{(EE) 54} Even the most gentle and sensitive man among you will have no compassion on his own brother or the wife he loves or his surviving children, ⁵⁵ and he will not give to one of them any of the flesh of his children that he is eating. It will be all he has left because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of all your cities.^{(EF) 56} The most gentle and sensitive^(EG) woman among you—so sensitive and gentle that she would not venture to touch the ground with the sole of her foot—will begrudge the husband she loves and her own son or daughter^{(EH) 57} the afterbirth from her womb and the children she bears. For in her dire need she intends to eat them^(EI) secretly because of the suffering your enemy will inflict on you during the siege of your cities.

⁵⁸ If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law,^(EJ) which are written in this book, and do not revere^(EK) this glorious and awesome name^(EL)—the Lord your God— ⁵⁹ the Lord will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰ He will bring on you all the diseases of Egypt^(EM) that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹ The Lord will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law,^(EN) until you are destroyed.^{(EO) 62} You who were as numerous as the stars in the sky^(EP) will be left but few^(EQ) in number, because you did not obey the Lord your God. ⁶³ Just as it pleased^(ER) the Lord to make you prosper and increase in number, so it will please^(ES) him to ruin and destroy you.^(ET) You will be uprooted^(EU) from the land you are entering to possess.

⁶⁴ Then the Lord will scatter^(EV) you among all nations,^(EW) from one end of the earth to the other.^(EX) There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your ancestors have known.^{(EY) 65} Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place^(EZ) for the sole of your foot. There the Lord will give you an anxious mind, eyes^(FA) weary with longing, and a despairing heart.^{(FB) 66} You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. ⁶⁷ In the morning you will say, “If only it were evening!” and in the evening, “If only it were morning!”—because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see.^{(FC) 68} The Lord will send you back in ships to Egypt on a journey I said you should never make again.^(FD) There you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but no one will buy you.

Repent or Perish

13 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate^(A) had mixed with their sacrifices. ² Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?^{(B) 3} I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴ Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam^(C) fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵ I tell you, no! But unless you repent,^(D) you too will all perish.”

⁶ Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any.^{(E) 7} So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down!^(F) Why should it use up the soil?’

⁸ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. ⁹ If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

Jesus Heals a Crippled Woman on the Sabbath

¹⁰ On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues,^{(G) 11} and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years.^(H) She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. ¹² When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” ¹³ Then he put his hands on her,^(I) and immediately she straightened up and praised God.

¹⁴ Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath,^(J) the synagogue leader^(K) said to the people, “There are six days for work.^(L) So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

¹⁵ The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?^{(M) 16} Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham,^(N) whom Satan^(O) has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

¹⁷ When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated,^(P) but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing.

The Parables of the Mustard Seed and the Yeast^(Q)(R)

¹⁸ Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God^(S) like?^(T) What shall I compare it to? ¹⁹ It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree,^(U) and the birds perched in its branches.”^(V)

²⁰ Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? ²¹ It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds^[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”^(W)

The Narrow Door

²² Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.^{(X) 23} Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”

He said to them, ²⁴ “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door,^(Y) because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. ²⁵ Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’

“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’^(Z)

²⁶ “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’

²⁷ “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’^(AA)

²⁸ “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth,^(AB) when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. ²⁹ People will come from east and west^(AC) and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. ³⁰ Indeed there are those who are last who will be first, and first who will be last.”^(AD)

Jesus’ Sorrow for Jerusalem^(AE)(AF)

³¹ At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod^(AG) wants to kill you.”

³² He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’^{(AH) 33} In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet^(AI) can die outside Jerusalem!

³⁴ “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(AJ) and you were not willing. ³⁵ Look, your house is left to you desolate.^(AK) I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[b]”^(AL)