Repentance and Forgiveness

30 ^(A)“And ^(B)when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and ^(C)you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, ² and ^(D)return to the Lord your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, ³ then the Lord your God ^(E)will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will ^(F)gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. ^4 (G)If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. ⁵ And the Lord your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. ^(H)And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers. ⁶ And ^(I)the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, ^(J)so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. ⁷ And the Lord your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you. ⁸ And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. ^9 (K)The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. ^(L)For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, ¹⁰ when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

The Choice of Life and Death

¹¹ “For this commandment that I command you today ^(M)is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. ^12 (N)It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹³ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ ¹⁴ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

¹⁵ “See, ^(O)I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. ¹⁶ If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God^[a] that I command you today, ^(P)by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules,^[b] then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. ¹⁷ But if ^(Q)your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, ^18 (R)I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹ I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, ^(S)blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, ²⁰ loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice ^(T)and holding fast to him, for ^(U)he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in ^(V)the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua to Succeed Moses

31 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel. ² And he said to them, “I am ^(W)120 years old today. I am no longer able to ^(X)go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, ^(Y)‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’ ³ The Lord your God ^(Z)himself will go over before you. He will destroy these nations before you, so that you shall dispossess them, and Joshua will go over at your head, ^(AA)as the Lord has spoken. ⁴ And the Lord will do to them ^(AB)as he did to Sihon ^(AC)and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them. ⁵ And the Lord will give them over to you, and you shall do to them ^(AD)according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you. ^6 (AE)Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, ^(AF)for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. ^(AG)He will not leave you or forsake you.”

⁷ Then ^(AH)Moses summoned Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, ^(AI)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. ⁸ It is the Lord ^(AJ)who goes before you. He will be with you; ^(AK)he will not leave you or forsake you. ^(AL)Do not fear or be dismayed.”

The Reading of the Law

⁹ Then Moses ^(AM)wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi, ^(AN)who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. ¹⁰ And Moses commanded them, ^(AO)“At the end of every seven years, at the set time in the year of release, at ^(AP)the Feast of Booths, ¹¹ when all Israel comes ^(AQ)to appear before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose, ^(AR)you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. ^12 (AS)Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law, ¹³ and that their children, ^(AT)who have not known it, ^(AU)may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, ^(AV)as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Joshua Commissioned to Lead Israel

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(AW)“Behold, the days approach when you must die. Call Joshua and present yourselves in the tent of meeting, that ^(AX)I may commission him.” And Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves in the tent of meeting. ¹⁵ And ^(AY)the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud. And the pillar of cloud stood over the entrance of the tent.

¹⁶ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(AZ)“Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers. Then this people will rise and ^(BA)whore after the foreign gods among them in the land that they are entering, and they will ^(BB)forsake me and ^(BC)break my covenant that I have made with them. ¹⁷ Then my anger will be kindled against them in that day, and ^(BD)I will forsake them and ^(BE)hide my face from them, and they will be devoured. And many evils and troubles will come upon them, so that they will say in that day, ^(BF)‘Have not these evils come upon us because ^(BG)our God is not among us?’ ¹⁸ And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because ^(BH)they have turned to other gods.

¹⁹ “Now therefore write ^(BI)this song and ^(BJ)teach it to the people of Israel. Put it in their mouths, that this song may be ^(BK)a witness for me against the people of Israel. ²⁰ For when I have brought them into the land ^(BL)flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers, and they have eaten and are full and ^(BM)grown fat, ^(BN)they will turn to other gods and serve them, and ^(BO)despise me and ^(BP)break my covenant. ²¹ And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as ^(BQ)a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring). For ^(BR)I know what they are inclined to do even today, before I have brought them into the land that I swore to give.” ²² So Moses wrote this song the same day and taught it to the people of Israel.

^23 (BS)And the Lord^[c] commissioned Joshua the son of Nun and said, ^(BT)“Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the people of Israel into the land that I swore to give them. ^(BU)I will be with you.”

²⁴ When Moses had finished ^(BV)writing the words of this law in a book to the very end, ²⁵ Moses commanded ^(BW)the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, ²⁶ “Take this Book of the Law ^(BX)and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may be there for ^(BY)a witness against you. ²⁷ For I know how rebellious and ^(BZ)stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, ^(CA)you have been rebellious against the Lord. How much more after my death! ²⁸ Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak ^(CB)these words in their ears and ^(CC)call heaven and earth to witness against them. ²⁹ For I know that after my death ^(CD)you will surely act corruptly and turn aside from the way that I have commanded you. And ^(CE)in the days to come ^(CF)evil will befall you, because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord, ^(CG)provoking him to anger through the work of your hands.”

The Song of Moses

³⁰ Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel:

My Help and My Deliverer

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

Greeting

1 Paul, ^(A)called ^(B)by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes,

² To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those ^(C)sanctified in Christ Jesus, ^(D)called to be saints together with all those who in every place ^(E)call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:

^3 (F)Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanksgiving

⁴ I ^(G)give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, ⁵ that in every way ^(H)you were enriched in him in all ^(I)speech and all knowledge— ⁶ even as ^(J)the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you— ⁷ so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you ^(K)wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^8 (L)who will sustain you to the end, ^(M)guiltless ^(N)in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. ^9 (O)God is faithful, by whom you were called into the ^(P)fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Divisions in the Church

¹⁰ I appeal to you, brothers,^[a] by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree, and that there be no ^(Q)divisions among you, but that you be united ^(R)in the same mind and the same judgment. ¹¹ For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there is ^(S)quarreling among you, my brothers. ¹² What I mean is that ^(T)each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” or “I follow ^(U)Apollos,” or “I follow ^(V)Cephas,” or “I follow Christ.” ^13 (W)Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you ^(X)baptized in the name of Paul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I baptized none of you except ^(Y)Crispus and ^(Z)Gaius, ¹⁵ so that no one may say that you were baptized in my name. ¹⁶ (I did baptize also ^(AA)the household of Stephanas. Beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized anyone else.) ¹⁷ For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and ^(AB)not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.

Christ the Wisdom and Power of God

¹⁸ For the word of the cross is ^(AC)folly to ^(AD)those who are perishing, but to us ^(AE)who are being saved it is ^(AF)the power of God. ¹⁹ For it is written,

^20 (AH)Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? ^(AI)Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach^[b] to save those who believe. ²² For ^(AJ)Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ ^(AK)crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ ^(AL)the power of God and ^(AM)the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: ^(AN)not many of you were wise according to worldly standards,^[c] not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But ^(AO)God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; ^(AP)God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; ²⁸ God chose what is low and despised in the world, even ^(AQ)things that are not, to ^(AR)bring to nothing things that are, ²⁹ so ^(AS)that no human being^[d] might boast in the presence of God. ³⁰ And because of him^[e] you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us ^(AT)wisdom from God, ^(AU)righteousness and ^(AV)sanctification and ^(AW)redemption, ³¹ so that, as it is written, ^(AX)“Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”