Laws About Altars

²² And the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: ‘You have seen for yourselves that I have ^(A)talked with you from heaven. ^23 (B)You shall not make gods of silver to be with me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. ²⁴ An altar of earth you shall make for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your oxen. ^(C)In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and ^(D)bless you. ^25 (E)If you make me an altar of stone, ^(F)you shall not build it of hewn stones, for if you wield your tool on it you profane it. ²⁶ And you shall not go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness be not exposed on it.’

Amnon and Tamar

13 Now ^(A)Absalom, David's son, had a beautiful sister, whose name was ^(B)Tamar. And after a time Amnon, David's son, loved her. ² And Amnon was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. ³ But Amnon had a friend, whose name was Jonadab, the son of ^(C)Shimeah, David's brother. And Jonadab was a very crafty man. ⁴ And he said to him, “O son of the king, why are you so haggard morning after morning? Will you not tell me?” Amnon said to him, “I love Tamar, my brother Absalom's sister.” ⁵ Jonadab said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill. And when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me bread to eat, and prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat it from her hand.’” ⁶ So Amnon lay down and pretended to be ill. And when the king came to see him, Amnon said to the king, “Please let my sister Tamar come and ^(D)make a couple of cakes in my sight, that I may eat from her hand.”

⁷ Then David sent home to Tamar, saying, “Go to your brother Amnon's house and prepare food for him.” ⁸ So Tamar went to her brother Amnon's house, where he was lying down. And she took dough and kneaded it and made cakes in his sight and baked the cakes. ⁹ And she took the pan and emptied it out before him, but he refused to eat. And Amnon said, ^(E)“Send out everyone from me.” So everyone went out from him. ¹⁰ Then Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food into the chamber, that I may eat from your hand.” And Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them into the chamber to Amnon her brother. ¹¹ But when she brought them near him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.” ¹² She answered him, “No, my brother, do not violate^[a] me, for ^(F)such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this ^(G)outrageous thing. ¹³ As for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of ^(H)the outrageous fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.” ¹⁴ But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.

¹⁵ Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. And Amnon said to her, “Get up! Go!” ¹⁶ But she said to him, “No, my brother, for this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you did to me.”^[b] But he would not listen to her. ¹⁷ He called the young man who served him and said, “Put this woman out of my presence and bolt the door after her.” ¹⁸ Now she was wearing ^(I)a long robe with sleeves,^[c] for thus were the virgin daughters of the king dressed. So his servant put her out and bolted the door after her. ¹⁹ And Tamar ^(J)put ashes on her head and ^(K)tore the long robe that she wore. And ^(L)she laid her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.

²⁰ And her brother Absalom said to her, “Has Amnon your brother been with you? Now hold your peace, my sister. He is your brother; do not take this to heart.” So Tamar lived, a desolate woman, in her brother Absalom's house. ²¹ When King David heard of all these things, he was very angry.^{[d] 22} But Absalom spoke to Amnon ^(M)neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon, because he had violated his sister Tamar.

¹¹ Then ^(A)the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, ^(B)“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

¹² Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. ¹³ Now therefore ^(C)mend your ways and your deeds, ^(D)and obey the voice of the Lord your God, ^(E)and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. ^14 (F)But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. ¹⁵ Only know for certain that if you put me to death, ^(G)you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Jeremiah Spared from Death

^16 (H)Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, ^(I)“This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” ^17 (J)And certain of ^(K)the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, ¹⁸ “Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,

¹⁹ Did Hezekiah king of Judah and all Judah put him to death? ^(M)Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, ^(N)and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? ^(O)But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves.”

²⁰ There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from ^(P)Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. ²¹ And when ^(Q)King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. ²² Then ^(R)King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, ^(S)Elnathan the son of ^(T)Achbor and others with him, ²³ and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, ^(U)who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

²⁴ But the hand of ^(V)Ahikam the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah so that he was not given over to the people to be put to death.

Book Two

Why Are You Cast Down, O My Soul?

To the choirmaster. A Maskil^[a] of ^(A)the Sons of Korah.

Send Out Your Light and Your Truth

The Syrophoenician Woman's Faith

²⁴ And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.^[a] And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. ²⁵ But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. ^26 (A)Now the woman was a ^(B)Gentile, ^(C)a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷ And he said to her, “Let the children be ^(D)fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and ^(E)throw it to the dogs.” ²⁸ But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's ^(F)crumbs.” ²⁹ And he said to her, “For this statement you may ^(G)go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” ³⁰ And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Jesus Heals a Deaf Man

^31 (H)Then he returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to ^(I)the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the ^(J)Decapolis. ³² And they brought to him ^(K)a man who was deaf and ^(L)had a speech impediment, and they begged him to ^(M)lay his hand on him. ³³ And ^(N)taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and ^(O)after spitting touched his tongue. ³⁴ And ^(P)looking up to heaven, ^(Q)he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” ^35 (R)And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶ And ^(S)Jesus^[b] charged them to tell no one. But ^(T)the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷ And they were ^(U)astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

¹⁷ But if you call yourself a Jew and ^(A)rely on the law and boast in God ¹⁸ and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; ¹⁹ and if you are sure that you yourself are ^(B)a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, ²⁰ an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law ^(C)the embodiment of ^(D)knowledge and truth— ^21 (E)you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? ²² You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you ^(F)rob temples? ²³ You who ^(G)boast in the law ^(H)dishonor God by breaking the law. ²⁴ For, ^(I)as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed ^(J)among the Gentiles because of you.”

²⁵ For circumcision indeed is of value ^(K)if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. ²⁶ So, if ^(L)a man who is uncircumcised keeps ^(M)the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded^[a] as circumcision? ²⁷ Then he who is physically^[b] uncircumcised but keeps the law ^(N)will condemn you who have ^(O)the written code^[c] and circumcision but break the law. ²⁸ For ^(P)no one is a Jew ^(Q)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(R)inwardly, and ^(S)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(T)His praise is not from man but from God.