Praise for the Lord’s Goodness.

A Psalm, a Song for the Sabbath day.

Israel Invoked to Praise the Lord.

²³ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁴ “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘^(A)In the ^[a]seventh month on the first of the month you shall have a ^[b]rest, a ^(B)reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. ²⁵ You shall ^(C)not do any laborious work, but you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord.’”

The Day of Atonement

²⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ²⁷ “On exactly ^(D)the tenth day of this seventh month is ^(E)the Day of Atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble ^[c]yourselves and present an offering by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ You shall not do any work on this very day, for it is a ^(F)Day of Atonement, ^(G)to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. ²⁹ If there is any ^[d]person who does not humble himself on this very day, ^(H)he shall be cut off from his people. ³⁰ As for any person who does any work on this very day, that person I will eliminate from among his people. ³¹ You shall not do any work. It is to be a permanent statute throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. ³² It is to be a Sabbath of complete rest for you, and you shall humble ^[e]yourselves; on the ninth of the month at evening, from evening until evening, you shall keep your Sabbath.”

³³ Again the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ³⁴ “Speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘On ^(I)the fifteenth of this ^[f]seventh month is the ^(J)Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. ³⁵ On the first day is a holy convocation; you shall ^(K)not do any laborious work. ^36 (L)For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On ^(M)the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall not do any laborious work.

³⁷ ‘These are ^(N)the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord—burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, ^(O)each day’s matter on its own day— ³⁸ besides those of the Sabbaths of the Lord, and besides your gifts and besides all your ^[g]vowed and ^[h]voluntary offerings, which you give to the Lord.

³⁹ ‘On exactly the fifteenth day of the seventh month, ^(P)when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with a ^[i]rest on the first day and a ^[j]rest on the eighth day. ⁴⁰ Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the ^[k]foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and branches of trees with thick branches and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. ⁴¹ So you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a permanent statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² You shall live ^(Q)in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, ⁴³ so that ^(R)your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.’” ⁴⁴ So Moses declared to the sons of Israel ^(S)the appointed times of the Lord.

Request for Prayer

3 ^(A)Finally, brothers and sisters, ^(B)pray for us that ^(C)the word of the Lord will ^[a]spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it was also with you; ² and that we will be ^(D)rescued from troublesome and evil people; for not all have the faith. ³ But ^(E)the Lord is faithful, ^[b]and He will strengthen and protect you ^[c]from ^(F)the evil one. ⁴ We have ^(G)confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you ^(H)are doing, and will do, what we command. ⁵ May the Lord ^(I)direct your hearts to the love of God and to the perseverance of Christ.

⁶ Now we command you, brothers and sisters, ^(J)in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you ^[d](K)keep away from every brother or sister who ^[e]leads a ^[f](L)disorderly life and not one in accordance with ^(M)the tradition which ^[g]you received from us. ⁷ For you yourselves know how you ought to ^[h](N)follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined way among you, ⁸ nor did we ^(O)eat ^[i]anyone’s bread ^[j]without paying for it, but with ^(P)labor and hardship we kept ^(Q)working night and day so that we would not be a burden to any of you; ⁹ not because we do not have ^(R)the right to this, but in order to offer ourselves ^(S)as a role model for you, so that you would ^[k]follow our example. ¹⁰ For even ^(T)when we were with you, we used to give you this order: ^(U)if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. ¹¹ For we hear that some among you are ^(V)leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting like ^(W)busybodies. ¹² Now we command and ^(X)exhort such persons in the Lord Jesus Christ to ^(Y)work ^[l]peacefully and eat their own bread. ¹³ But as for you, ^(Z)brothers and sisters, ^(AA)do not grow weary of doing good.

¹⁴ If anyone does not obey our ^[m]instruction ^[n](AB)in this letter, take special note of that person so as ^(AC)not to associate with him, so that he will be ^(AD)put to shame. ¹⁵ And yet ^(AE)do not regard that person as an enemy, but ^[o](AF)admonish that one as a ^(AG)brother or sister.

¹⁶ Now ^(AH)may the Lord of peace ^(AI)Himself continually grant you peace in every ^[p]circumstance. ^(AJ)The Lord be with you all!

^17 [q]I, Paul, write this greeting ^(AK)with my own hand, and this is a distinguishing mark in every letter; this is the way I write. ^18 (AL)The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all.

The Narrow and Wide Gates

¹³ “^(A)Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. ¹⁴ For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

A Tree and Its Fruit

¹⁵ “Beware of the ^(B)false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ^(C)ravenous wolves. ¹⁶ You will ^[a](D)know them by their fruits. ^[b]Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? ¹⁷ So ^(E)every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸ A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ^19 (F)Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰ So then, you will ^[c]know them ^(G)by their fruits.

²¹ “^(H)Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.