The Ten Commandments

20 ^(A)And ^(B)God spoke all these words, saying,

^2 (C)“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

^3 (D)“You shall have no other gods before^[a] me.

^4 (E)“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. ^5 (F)You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am ^(G)a jealous God, ^(H)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, ⁶ but showing steadfast love to thousands^[b] of those who love me and keep my commandments.

^7 (I)“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

^8 (J)“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ^9 (K)Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, ¹⁰ but the ^(L)seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the ^(M)sojourner who is within your gates. ¹¹ For ^(N)in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

^12 (O)“Honor your father and your mother, ^(P)that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

^13 (Q)“You shall not murder.^[c]

^14 (R)“You shall not commit adultery.

^15 (S)“You shall not steal.

^16 (T)“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

^17 (U)“You shall not covet ^(V)your neighbor's house; ^(W)you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw ^(X)the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid^[d] and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, ^(Y)“You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” ^20 (Z)Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to ^(AA)test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” ²¹ The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the ^(AB)thick darkness where God was.

Solomon's Birth

²⁴ Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and ^(A)she bore a son, and he called his name ^(B)Solomon. And the Lord loved him ²⁵ and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah,^[a] because of the Lord.

Rabbah Is Captured

^26 (C)Now Joab ^(D)fought against ^(E)Rabbah of the Ammonites and took the royal city. ²⁷ And Joab sent messengers to David and said, “I have fought against Rabbah; moreover, I have taken the city of waters. ²⁸ Now then gather the rest of the people together and encamp against the city and take it, lest I take the city and it be called by my name.” ²⁹ So David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah and fought against it and took it. ³⁰ And he took the crown of their king from his head. The weight of it was a talent^[b] of gold, and in it was a precious stone, and it was placed on David's head. And he brought out the spoil of the city, a very great amount. ³¹ And he brought out the people who were in it and set them to labor with saws and iron picks and iron axes and made them toil at^[c] the brick kilns. And thus he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.

Jeremiah Threatened with Death

26 ^(A)In the beginning of the reign of ^(B)Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord: ² “Thus says the Lord: ^(C)Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord ^(D)all the words that I command you to speak to them; ^(E)do not hold back a word. ^3 (F)It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, ^(G)that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them ^(H)because of their evil deeds. ⁴ You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: ^(I)If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, ^5 (J)and to listen to the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you ^(K)urgently, ^(L)though you have not listened, ⁶ then I will make this house ^(M)like Shiloh, and I will make this city ^(N)a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

^7 (O)The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. ⁸ And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then ^(P)the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! ⁹ Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be ^(Q)like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, ^(R)without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

¹⁰ When ^(S)the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the ^(T)entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord.

O Lord, Be Gracious to Me

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

¹² then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, ¹³ thus ^(A)making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

What Defiles a Person

¹⁴ And he called the people to him again and said to them, ^(B)“Hear me, all of you, and understand: ^15 (C)There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”^{[a] 17} And when he had entered ^(D)the house and left the people, ^(E)his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then ^(F)are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart ^(G)but his stomach, and is expelled?”^[b] (^(H)Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, ^(I)“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, ^(J)murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, ^(K)sensuality, ^(L)envy, ^(M)slander, ^(N)pride, ^(O)foolishness. ^23 (P)All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

God's Righteous Judgment

2 Therefore you have ^(A)no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For ^(B)in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. ² We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. ³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on ^(C)the riches of his kindness and ^(D)forbearance and ^(E)patience, ^(F)not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? ⁵ But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are ^(G)storing up ^(H)wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

^6 (I)He will render to each one according to his works: ⁷ to those who ^(J)by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; ⁸ but for those who are self-seeking^[a] and ^(K)do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. ⁹ There will be tribulation and distress ^(L)for every human being who does evil, the Jew ^(M)first and also the Greek, ¹⁰ but glory and honor and ^(N)peace for everyone who does good, ^(O)the Jew first and also the Greek. ¹¹ For ^(P)God shows no partiality.

God's Judgment and the Law

¹² For all who have sinned ^(Q)without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For ^(R)it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. ¹⁴ For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, ^(S)by nature do what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. ¹⁵ They show that the work of the law is ^(T)written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness, and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even excuse them ^16 (U)on that day when, ^(V)according to my gospel, God judges ^(W)the secrets of men ^(X)by Christ Jesus.