Deuteronomy 27:1-28:46
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 27
The Altar on Mount Ebal. 1 Then Moses, with the elders of Israel, commanded the people, saying: Keep this whole commandment which I give you today. 2 On the day you cross the Jordan into the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 3 Write on them,(A) at the time you cross, all the words of this law, so that you may enter the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 When you cross the Jordan, on Mount Ebal you shall set up these stones concerning which I command you today, and coat them with plaster, 5 (B)and you shall build there an altar to the Lord, your God, an altar made of stones that no iron tool has touched. 6 You shall build this altar of the Lord, your God, with unhewn stones, and shall offer on it burnt offerings to the Lord, your God. 7 You shall also offer communion sacrifices[a] and eat them there, rejoicing in the presence of the Lord, your God. 8 On the stones you shall inscribe all the words of this law very clearly.
9 Moses, with the levitical priests, then said to all Israel: Be silent, Israel, and listen! This day you have become the people of the Lord, your God.(C) 10 You shall obey the voice of the Lord, your God, and keep his commandments and statutes which I am giving you today.
Preparation for Blessings and Curses. 11 That same day Moses commanded the people, saying: 12 (D)When you cross the Jordan, these shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. 13 And these shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
The Twelve Curses. 14 The Levites shall proclaim in a loud voice to all the Israelites: 15 [b]“Cursed be anyone who makes a carved or molten idol,(E) an abomination to the Lord, the work of a craftsman’s hands, and sets it up in secret!” And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
16 “Cursed be anyone who dishonors father or mother!”(F) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
17 “Cursed be anyone who moves a neighbor’s boundary markers!”(G) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
18 “Cursed be anyone who misleads the blind on their way!”(H) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
19 “Cursed be anyone who deprives the resident alien, the orphan or the widow of justice!”(I) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
20 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed!”(J) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
21 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with any animal!”(K) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
22 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with his sister, whether his father’s daughter or his mother’s daughter!”(L) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
23 “Cursed be anyone who has relations with his mother-in-law!”(M) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
24 “Cursed be anyone who strikes down a neighbor in secret!”(N) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
25 “Cursed be anyone who accepts payment to kill an innocent person!”(O) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
26 “Cursed be anyone whose actions do not uphold the words of this law!”(P) And all the people shall answer, “Amen!”
Chapter 28
Blessings for Obedience. 1 Now,(Q)(R) if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord, your God, carefully observing all his commandments which I give you today, the Lord, your God, will set you high above all the nations of the earth.(S) 2 All these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you when you obey the voice of the Lord, your God:
3 (T)May you be blessed in the city,
and blessed in the country!
4 Blessed be the fruit of your womb,
the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock,
the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks!(U)
5 Blessed be your grain basket and your kneading bowl!
6 May you be blessed in your coming in,
and blessed in your going out
Victory and Prosperity. 7 The Lord will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; they will come out against you from one direction, and flee before you in seven.[d](W) 8 The Lord will affirm the blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings; he will bless you in the land that the Lord, your God, is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a holy people, as he swore to you,(X) if you keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and walk in his ways. 10 All the peoples of the earth will see that the name of the Lord is proclaimed over you,[e] and they will be afraid of you.(Y) 11 The Lord will generously increase the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, upon the land which the Lord swore to your ancestors he would give you.(Z) 12 The Lord will open up for you his rich storehouse, the heavens, to give your land rain in due season and to bless all the works of your hands. You will lend to many nations but borrow from none.(AA) 13 The Lord will make you the head not the tail, the top not the bottom, if you obey the commandments of the Lord, your God, which I am giving you today, observing them carefully, 14 not turning aside, either to the right or to the left, from any of the words which I am giving you today, following other gods and serving them.(AB)
Curses for Disobedience. 15 But if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, your God,(AC) carefully observing all his commandments and statutes which I give you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you:
16 (AD)May you be cursed in the city, and cursed in the country! 17 Cursed be your grain basket and your kneading bowl! 18 Cursed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks! 19 May you be cursed in your coming in, and cursed in your going out!
Sickness and Defeat. 20 The Lord will send on you a curse, panic, and frustration in everything you set your hand to, until you are speedily destroyed and perish for the evil you have done in forsaking me. 21 (AE)The Lord will make disease cling to you until he has made an end of you from the land you are entering to possess. 22 The Lord will strike you with consumption, fever, and inflammation, with fiery heat and drought, with blight and mildew, that will pursue you until you perish. 23 The heavens over your heads will be like bronze and the earth under your feet like iron.(AF) 24 For rain the Lord will give your land powdery dust, which will come down upon you from the heavens until you are destroyed. 25 The Lord will let you be beaten down before your enemies; though you advance against them from one direction, you will flee before them in seven,[f] so that you will become an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth.(AG) 26 Your corpses will become food for all the birds of the air and for the beasts of the field, with no one to frighten them off.(AH) 27 The Lord will strike you with Egyptian boils(AI) and with tumors, skin diseases and the itch, from none of which you can be cured. 28 (AJ)And the Lord will strike you with madness, blindness and panic, 29 so that even at midday you will grope in the dark as though blind, unable to find your way.
Despoilment. You will be oppressed and robbed continually, with no one to come to your aid. 30 Though you betroth a wife, another will have her. Though you build a house, you will not live in it. Though you plant a vineyard, you will not pluck its fruits.(AK) 31 (AL)Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat its flesh. Your donkey will be stolen in your presence, but you will never get it back. Your flocks will be given to your enemies, with no one to come to your aid. 32 Your sons and daughters will be given to another people while you strain your eyes looking for them every day, having no power to do anything. 33 A people you do not know will consume the fruit of your soil and of all your labor, and you will be thoroughly oppressed and continually crushed, 34 until you are driven mad by what your eyes must look upon. 35 The Lord will strike you with malignant boils of which you cannot be cured, on your knees and legs, and from the soles of your feet to the crown of your head.
Exile. 36 (AM)The Lord will bring you, and your king whom you have set over you, to a nation which you and your ancestors have not known, and there you will serve other gods, of wood and stone, 37 and you will be a horror, a byword, a taunt among all the peoples to which the Lord will drive you.
Fruitless Labors. 38 (AN)Though you take out seed to your field, you will harvest but little, for the locusts will devour it. 39 Though you plant and cultivate vineyards, you will not drink or store up the wine, for the worms will eat them. 40 Though you have olive trees throughout your country, you will have no oil for ointment, for your olives will drop off. 41 Though you beget sons and daughters, they will not remain with you, for they will go into captivity. 42 Buzzing insects will take possession of all your trees and the crops of your soil. 43 (AO)The resident aliens among you will rise above you higher and higher, while you sink lower and lower. 44 They will lend to you, not you to them. They will become the head, you the tail.
45 All these curses will come upon you, pursuing you and overwhelming you, until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord, your God, by keeping his commandments and statutes which he gave you.(AP) 46 They will be a sign and a wonder[g] for you and your descendants for all time.
Footnotes
- 27:7 Communion sacrifices: The principal feature of this ritual (see Lv 3:1–17) is the sharing of the sacrifice with God, the priest and the person offering the sacrifice, who eat it as a holy thing (cf. Ex 24:5).
- 27:15–26 The ceremony described here reflects the structure of covenant. The people assent to the directives their covenant Lord sets forth; their “Amen” ratifies the proscription of idolatry, injustice, incest, murder, and infidelity in general. Thus the “love” of the Lord which is at the heart of Israel’s existence as his covenant people (6:4–5) is spelled out in terms of particular actions. The “Amen” is an acceptance of the curses or sanctions entailed by breaking faith with the Lord. Cf. 30:15–20, a concise statement of covenant theology.
- 28:6 In your coming in…in your going out: at the beginning and end of every action, or in all actions in general. The rhetorical figure is called merismus. See also 6:7.
- 28:7 From one direction…in seven: in one disciplined body, contrasted with many scattered groups.
- 28:10 The name of the Lord is proclaimed over you: an expression signifying ownership and protection. Cf. 2 Sm 12:28; 1 Kgs 8:43; Is 4:1; 63:19; Jer 7:10–11; 14:9; 15:16; 25:29; Am 9:12.
- 28:25 From one direction…in seven: see note on v. 7.
- 28:46 A sign and a wonder: an ominous example, attracting attention; cf. 29:21–28.
Psalm 100
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Psalm 100[a]
Processional Hymn
1 A psalm of thanksgiving.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands;
2 serve the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful song.
3 [b]Know that the Lord is God,
he made us, we belong to him,
we are his people, the flock he shepherds.(A)
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him, bless his name;(B)
5 good indeed is the Lord,
His mercy endures forever,
his faithfulness lasts through every generation.
Acts 27:27-44
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
27 On the fourteenth night, as we were still being driven about on the Adriatic Sea, toward midnight the sailors began to suspect that they were nearing land. 28 They took soundings and found twenty fathoms; a little farther on, they again took soundings and found fifteen fathoms. 29 Fearing that we would run aground on a rocky coast, they dropped four anchors from the stern and prayed for day to come. 30 The sailors then tried to abandon ship; they lowered the dinghy to the sea on the pretext of going to lay out anchors from the bow. 31 But Paul said to the centurion and the soldiers, “Unless these men stay with the ship, you cannot be saved.” 32 So the soldiers cut the ropes of the dinghy and set it adrift.
33 Until the day began to dawn, Paul kept urging all to take some food. He said, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have been waiting, going hungry and eating nothing. 34 I urge you, therefore, to take some food; it will help you survive. Not a hair of the head of anyone of you will be lost.” 35 When he said this, he took bread,[a] gave thanks to God in front of them all, broke it, and began to eat.(A) 36 They were all encouraged, and took some food themselves. 37 In all, there were two hundred seventy-six of us on the ship. 38 After they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship by throwing the wheat into the sea.
39 When day came they did not recognize the land, but made out a bay with a beach. They planned to run the ship ashore on it, if they could. 40 So they cast off the anchors and abandoned them to the sea, and at the same time they unfastened the lines of the rudders, and hoisting the foresail into the wind, they made for the beach. 41 But they struck a sandbar and ran the ship aground. The bow was wedged in and could not be moved, but the stern began to break up under the pounding [of the waves]. 42 The soldiers planned to kill the prisoners so that none might swim away and escape, 43 but the centurion wanted to save Paul and so kept them from carrying out their plan. He ordered those who could swim to jump overboard first and get to the shore, 44 and then the rest, some on planks, others on debris from the ship. In this way, all reached shore safely.
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