Renewal of the Covenant

29 ^[a]These are the terms of the covenant the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Israelites in Moab,^(A) in addition to the covenant he had made with them at Horeb.^(B)

² Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them:

Your eyes have seen all that the Lord did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.^{(C) 3} With your own eyes you saw those great trials, those signs and great wonders.^{(D) 4} But to this day the Lord has not given you a mind that understands or eyes that see or ears that hear.^{(E) 5} Yet the Lord says, “During the forty years that I led^(F) you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet.^{(G) 6} You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink.^(H) I did this so that you might know that I am the Lord your God.”^(I)

⁷ When you reached this place, Sihon^(J) king of Heshbon^(K) and Og king of Bashan came out to fight against us, but we defeated them.^{(L) 8} We took their land and gave it as an inheritance^(M) to the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh.^(N)

⁹ Carefully follow^(O) the terms of this covenant,^(P) so that you may prosper in everything you do.^{(Q) 10} All of you are standing today in the presence of the Lord your God—your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel, ¹¹ together with your children and your wives, and the foreigners living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.^{(R) 12} You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the Lord your God, a covenant the Lord is making with you this day and sealing with an oath, ¹³ to confirm you this day as his people,^(S) that he may be your God^(T) as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ¹⁴ I am making this covenant,^(U) with its oath, not only with you ¹⁵ who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.^(V)

¹⁶ You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. ¹⁷ You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold.^{(W) 18} Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns^(X) away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.^(Y)

¹⁹ When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing^(Z) on themselves, thinking, “I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way,”^(AA) they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. ²⁰ The Lord will never be willing to forgive^(AB) them; his wrath and zeal^(AC) will burn^(AD) against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot^(AE) out their names from under heaven. ²¹ The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster,^(AF) according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.^(AG)

²² Your children who follow you in later generations and foreigners who come from distant lands will see the calamities that have fallen on the land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it.^{(AH) 23} The whole land will be a burning waste^(AI) of salt^(AJ) and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah,^(AK) Admah and Zeboyim, which the Lord overthrew in fierce anger.^{(AL) 24} All the nations will ask: “Why has the Lord done this to this land?^(AM) Why this fierce, burning anger?”

²⁵ And the answer will be: “It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt.^{(AN) 26} They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. ²⁷ Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book.^{(AO) 28} In furious anger and in great wrath^(AP) the Lord uprooted^(AQ) them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.”

²⁹ The secret things belong to the Lord our God,^(AR) but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.^(AS)

Prosperity After Turning to the Lord

30 When all these blessings and curses^(AT) I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations,^{(AU) 2} and when you and your children return^(AV) to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart^(AW) and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, ³ then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes^[b](AX) and have compassion^(AY) on you and gather^(AZ) you again from all the nations where he scattered^(BA) you.^{(BB) 4} Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens,^(BC) from there the Lord your God will gather^(BD) you and bring you back.^{(BE) 5} He will bring^(BF) you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous^(BG) than your ancestors. ⁶ The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants,^(BH) so that you may love^(BI) him with all your heart and with all your soul, and live. ⁷ The Lord your God will put all these curses^(BJ) on your enemies who hate and persecute you.^{(BK) 8} You will again obey the Lord and follow all his commands I am giving you today. ⁹ Then the Lord your God will make you most prosperous in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock and the crops of your land.^(BL) The Lord will again delight^(BM) in you and make you prosperous, just as he delighted in your ancestors, ¹⁰ if you obey the Lord your God and keep his commands and decrees that are written in this Book of the Law^(BN) and turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.^(BO)

The Offer of Life or Death

¹¹ Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach.^{(BP) 12} It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, “Who will ascend into heaven^(BQ) to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”^{(BR) 13} Nor is it beyond the sea,^(BS) so that you have to ask, “Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?”^{(BT) 14} No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it.^(BU)

¹⁵ See, I set before you today life^(BV) and prosperity,^(BW) death^(BX) and destruction.^{(BY) 16} For I command you today to love^(BZ) the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live^(CA) and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess.

¹⁷ But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, ¹⁸ I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed.^(CB) You will not live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess.

¹⁹ This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you^(CC) that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.^(CD) Now choose life, so that you and your children may live ²⁰ and that you may love^(CE) the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life,^(CF) and he will give^(CG) you many years in the land^(CH) he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Jesus at a Pharisee’s House^(A)

14 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee,^(B) he was being carefully watched.^{(C) 2} There in front of him was a man suffering from abnormal swelling of his body. ³ Jesus asked the Pharisees and experts in the law,^(D) “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath or not?”^{(E) 4} But they remained silent. So taking hold of the man, he healed him and sent him on his way.

⁵ Then he asked them, “If one of you has a child^[a] or an ox that falls into a well on the Sabbath day, will you not immediately pull it out?”^{(F) 6} And they had nothing to say.

⁷ When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table,^(G) he told them this parable: ⁸ “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. ⁹ If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this person your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all the other guests. ¹¹ For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”^(H)

¹² Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind,^{(I) 14} and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”^(J)

The Parable of the Great Banquet^(K)

¹⁵ When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast^(L) in the kingdom of God.”^(M)

¹⁶ Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. ¹⁷ At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’

¹⁸ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’

¹⁹ “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’

²⁰ “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’

²¹ “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’^(N)

²² “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’

²³ “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. ²⁴ I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’”^(O)

The Cost of Being a Disciple

²⁵ Large crowds were traveling with Jesus, and turning to them he said: ²⁶ “If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.^{(P) 27} And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.^(Q)

²⁸ “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? ²⁹ For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’

³¹ “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. ³³ In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.^(R)

³⁴ “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?^{(S) 35} It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.^(T)

“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(U)