Punishment for Blasphemy

¹⁰ Now an Israelite woman's son, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the people of Israel. And the Israelite woman's son and a man of Israel fought in the camp, ¹¹ and the Israelite woman's son ^(A)blasphemed the ^(B)Name, and cursed. Then they ^(C)brought him to Moses. His mother's name was Shelomith, the daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan. ¹² And ^(D)they put him in custody, ^(E)till the will of the Lord should be clear to them.

¹³ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^14 (F)“Bring out of the camp the one who cursed, and let all who heard him ^(G)lay their hands on his head, and let all the congregation stone him. ¹⁵ And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall ^(H)bear his sin. ¹⁶ Whoever ^(I)blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.

An Eye for an Eye

^17 (J)“Whoever takes a human life shall surely be put to death. ^18 (K)Whoever takes an animal's life shall make it good, life for life. ¹⁹ If anyone injures his neighbor, ^(L)as he has done it shall be done to him, ²⁰ fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; whatever injury he has given a person shall be given to him. ^21 (M)Whoever kills an animal shall make it good, ^(N)and whoever kills a person shall be put to death. ²² You shall have the ^(O)same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.” ²³ So Moses spoke to the people of Israel, and ^(P)they brought out of the camp the one who had cursed and stoned him with stones. Thus the people of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.

Assyria Resettles Samaria

^24 (A)And the king of Assyria brought people from ^(B)Babylon, Cuthah, ^(C)Avva, ^(D)Hamath, and ^(E)Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the people of Israel. And they took possession of Samaria and lived in its cities. ²⁵ And at the beginning of their dwelling there, they did not fear the Lord. Therefore the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. ²⁶ So the king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you have carried away and placed in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they are killing them, because they do not know the law of the god of the land.” ²⁷ Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him^[a] go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.” ²⁸ So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in ^(F)Bethel and taught them how they should fear the Lord.

²⁹ But every nation still made gods of its own and put them ^(G)in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived. ³⁰ The men of ^(H)Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, ³¹ and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites ^(I)burned their children in the fire to ^(J)Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of ^(K)Sepharvaim. ^32 (L)They also feared the Lord ^(M)and appointed from among themselves all sorts of people as priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the shrines of ^(N)the high places. ³³ So they feared the Lord but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.

³⁴ To this day they do according to the former manner. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not follow the statutes or the rules or the law or the commandment that the Lord commanded the children of Jacob, ^(O)whom he named Israel. ³⁵ The Lord made a covenant with them and commanded them, ^(P)“You shall not fear other gods ^(Q)or bow yourselves to them or serve them or sacrifice to them, ³⁶ but ^(R)you shall fear the Lord, ^(S)who brought you out of the land of Egypt with great power and ^(T)with an outstretched arm. You shall bow yourselves to him, and to him you shall sacrifice. ³⁷ And the statutes and the rules and the law and the commandment that he wrote for you, ^(U)you shall always be careful to do. ^(V)You shall not fear other gods, ³⁸ and ^(W)you shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you. ^(X)You shall not fear other gods, ³⁹ but ^(Y)you shall fear the Lord your God, and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies.” ⁴⁰ However, they would not listen, but they did according to their former manner.

^41 (Z)So these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images. Their children did likewise, and their children's children—as their fathers did, so they do to this day.

Israel's Continuing Rebellion

20 ^(A)In the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, certain of ^(B)the elders of Israel came to inquire of the Lord, ^(C)and sat before me. ² And the word of the Lord came to me: ^3 (D)“Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Is it to inquire of me that you come? ^(E)As I live, declares the Lord God, ^(F)I will not be inquired of by you. ^4 (G)Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? ^(H)Let them know the abominations of their fathers, ⁵ and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: ^(I)On the day when I chose Israel, ^(J)I swore^[a] to the offspring of the house of Jacob, ^(K)making myself known to them in the land of Egypt; ^(L)I swore to them, saying, I am the Lord your God. ⁶ On that day I swore to them that ^(M)I would bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, a land ^(N)flowing with milk and honey, ^(O)the most glorious of all lands. ⁷ And I said to them, ^(P)‘Cast away the detestable things ^(Q)your eyes feast on, every one of you, and do not defile yourselves with ^(R)the idols of Egypt; ^(S)I am the Lord your God.’ ^8 (T)But they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me. ^(U)None of them cast away the detestable things their eyes feasted on, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.

“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them ^(V)and spend my anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt. ^9 (W)But I acted ^(X)for the sake of my name, ^(Y)that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, ^(Z)in whose sight I made myself known to them in bringing them out of the land of Egypt. ^10 (AA)So I led them out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. ^11 (AB)I gave them my statutes and made known to them my rules, ^(AC)by which, if a person does them, he shall live. ¹² Moreover, I gave them ^(AD)my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them, ^(AE)that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. ^13 (AF)But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. ^(AG)They did not walk in my statutes but rejected my rules, by which, if a person does them, he shall live; ^(AH)and my Sabbaths they greatly profaned.

^(AI)“Then I said I would pour out my wrath upon them in the wilderness, to make a full end of them. ¹⁴ But I acted for the sake of my name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, ^(AJ)in whose sight I had brought them out.

Jesus Rejoices in the Father's Will

^21 (A)In that same hour ^(B)he rejoiced ^(C)in the Holy Spirit and said, “I thank you, Father, ^(D)Lord of heaven and earth, that ^(E)you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and ^(F)revealed them to little children; yes, Father, for ^(G)such was your gracious will.^{[a] 22 (H)}All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is ^(I)except the Father, or who the Father is ^(J)except the Son and anyone ^(K)to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”

²³ Then turning to the disciples he said privately, ^(L)“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see! ²⁴ For I tell you ^(M)that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

The Parable of the Good Samaritan

^25 (N)And behold, a ^(O)lawyer stood up to ^(P)put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to ^(Q)inherit eternal life?” ²⁶ He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?” ²⁷ And he answered, ^(R)“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and ^(S)your neighbor as yourself.” ²⁸ And he said to him, “You have answered correctly; ^(T)do this, and you will live.”

²⁹ But he, ^(U)desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” ³⁰ Jesus replied, “A man ^(V)was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ Now by chance a ^(W)priest was going down that road, and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. ³² So likewise ^(X)a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. ³³ But a ^(Y)Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him, he had compassion. ³⁴ He went to him and ^(Z)bound up his wounds, pouring on ^(AA)oil and wine. Then he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. ³⁵ And the next day he took out two ^(AB)denarii^[b] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ ³⁶ Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” ³⁷ He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.”

Paul Defends His Ministry

10 ^(A)I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the ^(B)meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— ² I beg of you ^(C)that when I am present I may not have to show ^(D)boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. ³ For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. ⁴ For the ^(E)weapons of ^(F)our warfare are not of the flesh but have ^(G)divine power ^(H)to destroy strongholds. ⁵ We destroy arguments and ^(I)every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to ^(J)obey Christ, ^6 (K)being ready to punish every disobedience, ^(L)when your obedience is complete.

^7 (M)Look at what is before your eyes. ^(N)If anyone is confident that he is Christ's, let him remind himself that just as ^(O)he is Christ's, ^(P)so also are we.