17 ^(A)“You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep in which is a blemish, any defect whatever, for that is an abomination to the Lord your God.

^2 (B)“If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the Lord your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, ^(C)in transgressing his covenant, ³ and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or ^(D)the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, ^(E)which I have forbidden, ⁴ and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire ^(F)diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel, ⁵ then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you ^(G)shall stone that man or woman to death with stones. ^6 (H)On the evidence of two witnesses or of three witnesses the one who is to die shall be put to death; a person shall not be put to death on the evidence of one witness. ^7 (I)The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So ^(J)you shall purge^[a] the evil^[b] from your midst.

Legal Decisions by Priests and Judges

⁸ “If any case arises requiring decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to ^(K)the place that the Lord your God will choose. ^9 (L)And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and ^(M)they shall declare to you the decision. ¹⁰ Then you shall do according to what they declare to you from that place that the Lord will choose. And you shall be careful to do according to all that they direct you. ¹¹ According to the instructions that they give you, and according to the decision which they pronounce to you, you shall do. You shall not turn aside from the verdict that they declare to you, either to the right hand or to the left. ¹² The man who ^(N)acts presumptuously by not obeying the priest ^(O)who stands to minister there before the Lord your God, or the judge, that man shall die. So ^(P)you shall purge the evil from Israel. ¹³ And all the people ^(Q)shall hear and fear and not act presumptuously again.

Laws Concerning Israel's Kings

¹⁴ “When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ^(R)‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ ¹⁵ you may indeed set a king over you ^(S)whom the Lord your God will choose. One ^(T)from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother. ¹⁶ Only he must not acquire many ^(U)horses for himself or cause the people ^(V)to return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since the Lord has said to you, ^(W)‘You shall never return that way again.’ ¹⁷ And he ^(X)shall not acquire many wives for himself, lest his heart turn away, ^(Y)nor shall he acquire for himself excessive silver and gold.

¹⁸ “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, ^(Z)he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, ^(AA)approved by^[c] the Levitical priests. ¹⁹ And ^(AB)it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, ^(AC)that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them, ²⁰ that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he ^(AD)may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, ^(AE)so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.

Provision for Priests and Levites

18 “The Levitical priests, all the tribe of Levi, ^(AF)shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They ^(AG)shall eat the Lord's food offerings^[d] as their^[e] inheritance. ² They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. ³ And this shall be the priests' due from the people, from those offering a sacrifice, whether an ox or a sheep: ^(AH)they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. ^4 (AI)The firstfruits of your grain, of your wine and of your oil, and the first fleece of your sheep, you shall give him. ⁵ For the Lord your God has chosen him out of all your tribes ^(AJ)to stand and minister in the name of the Lord, him and his sons for all time.

⁶ “And if a Levite comes from any of your towns out of all Israel, ^(AK)where he lives—and he may come when he desires^[f]—^(AL)to the place that the Lord will choose, ⁷ and ministers in the name of the Lord his God, ^(AM)like all his fellow Levites who stand to minister there before the Lord, ⁸ then he may have equal ^(AN)portions to eat, besides what he receives from the sale of his patrimony.^[g]

Abominable Practices

⁹ “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, ^(AO)you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone ^(AP)who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,^[h] anyone who ^(AQ)practices divination or ^(AR)tells fortunes or interprets omens, or ^(AS)a sorcerer ¹¹ or a charmer or ^(AT)a medium or a necromancer or ^(AU)one who inquires of the dead, ^12 (AV)for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And ^(AW)because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. ¹³ You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, ¹⁴ for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this.

A New Prophet like Moses

^15 (AX)“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— ¹⁶ just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb ^(AY)on the day of the assembly, when you said, ^(AZ)‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ ¹⁷ And the Lord said to me, ^(BA)‘They are right in what they have spoken. ^18 (BB)I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. ^(BC)And I will put my words in his mouth, and ^(BD)he shall speak to them all that I command him. ^19 (BE)And whoever will ^(BF)not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. ^20 (BG)But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or^[i] who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ ²¹ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— ^22 (BH)when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; ^(BI)the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

My Soul Waits for God Alone

To the choirmaster: according to ^(A)Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.

The Parable of the Persistent Widow

18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought ^(A)always to pray and not ^(B)lose heart. ² He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who ^(C)neither feared God nor respected man. ³ And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ ⁴ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ^(D)‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, ⁵ yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” ⁶ And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. ⁷ And ^(E)will not God give justice to ^(F)his elect, ^(G)who cry to him day and night? ^(H)(I)Will he delay long over them? ⁸ I tell you, he will give justice to them ^(J)speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, ^(K)will he find faith on earth?”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

⁹ He also told this parable to some ^(L)who trusted ^(M)in themselves that they were righteous, ^(N)and treated others with contempt: ¹⁰ “Two men ^(O)went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. ¹¹ The Pharisee, ^(P)standing by himself, prayed^{[a] (Q)}thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. ^12 (R)I fast twice a week; ^(S)I give tithes of all that I get.’ ¹³ But the tax collector, ^(T)standing far off, ^(U)would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but ^(V)beat his breast, saying, ‘God, ^(W)be merciful to me, a sinner!’ ¹⁴ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For ^(X)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Let the Children Come to Me

^15 (Y)Now they were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them. And when the disciples saw it, they ^(Z)rebuked them. ¹⁶ But Jesus called them to him, saying, ^(AA)“Let the children come to me, and ^(AB)do not hinder them, ^(AC)for to such belongs the kingdom of God. ^17 (AD)Truly, I say to you, whoever does not ^(AE)receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”

The Rich Ruler

^18 (AF)And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to ^(AG)inherit eternal life?” ¹⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. ²⁰ You know the commandments: ^(AH)‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” ²¹ And he said, ^(AI)“All these I have kept from my youth.” ²² When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. ^(AJ)Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have ^(AK)treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” ^23 (AL)But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. ²⁴ Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, ^(AM)“How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter ^(AN)the kingdom of God! ²⁵ For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter ^(AO)the kingdom of God.” ²⁶ Those who heard it said, “Then who can be saved?” ²⁷ But he said, ^(AP)“What is impossible with man is possible with God.” ²⁸ And Peter said, “See, ^(AQ)we have left our homes and followed you.” ²⁹ And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, ^(AR)there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers^[b] or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, ³⁰ who will not receive ^(AS)many times more ^(AT)in this time, and in ^(AU)the age to come eternal life.”

Jesus Foretells His Death a Third Time

^31 (AV)And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, ^(AW)we are going up to Jerusalem, and ^(AX)everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. ³² For he will be ^(AY)delivered over to the Gentiles and will be ^(AZ)mocked and shamefully treated and ^(BA)spit upon. ³³ And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on ^(BB)the third day he will rise.” ^34 (BC)But they understood none of these things. ^(BD)This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said.

Jesus Heals a Blind Beggar

^35 (BE)As he drew near to Jericho, ^(BF)a blind man was sitting by the roadside begging. ³⁶ And hearing a crowd going by, he inquired what this meant. ³⁷ They told him, ^(BG)“Jesus of Nazareth is passing by.” ³⁸ And he cried out, “Jesus, ^(BH)Son of David, have mercy on me!” ³⁹ And those who were in front ^(BI)rebuked him, telling him to be silent. But he cried out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!” ⁴⁰ And Jesus stopped and commanded him to be brought to him. And when he came near, he asked him, ^41 (BJ)“What do you want me to do for you?” He said, “Lord, let me recover my sight.” ⁴² And Jesus said to him, “Recover your sight; ^(BK)your faith has ^(BL)made you well.” ⁴³ And immediately he recovered his sight and followed him, ^(BM)glorifying God. And ^(BN)all the people, when they saw it, gave praise to God.