A Chosen People

7 “When the ^(A)Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, ^(B)the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations ^(C)more numerous and mightier than you, ^2 (D)and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must ^(E)devote them to complete destruction.^{[a] (F)}You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. ^3 (G)You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, ⁴ for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. ^(H)Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you ^(I)quickly. ⁵ But thus shall you deal with them: ^(J)you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their ^(K)pillars and chop down their ^(L)Asherim and ^(M)burn their carved images with fire.

⁶ “For ^(N)you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be ^(O)a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. ⁷ It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but ^(P)it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping ^(Q)the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, ^(R)the faithful God ^(S)who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, ¹⁰ and ^(T)repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. ^(U)He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. ^11 (V)You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

^12 (W)“And because you listen to these rules and keep and do them, the Lord your God will keep with you ^(X)the covenant and the steadfast love that he swore to your fathers. ¹³ He will ^(Y)love you, bless you, and multiply you. ^(Z)He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your wine and your oil, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock, in the land that he swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples. ^(AA)There shall not be male or female barren among you or among your livestock. ¹⁵ And the Lord will take away from you all sickness, and none of the evil ^(AB)diseases of Egypt, which you knew, will he inflict on you, but he will lay them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ And ^(AC)you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. ^(AD)Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^(AE)a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’ ^18 (AF)you shall not be afraid of them but you shall ^(AG)remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, ¹⁹ the great trials that your eyes saw, ^(AH)the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. So will the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Moreover, ^(AI)the Lord your God will send hornets among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you are destroyed. ²¹ You shall not be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is ^(AJ)in your midst, ^(AK)a great and awesome God. ^22 (AL)The Lord your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once,^[b] lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. ^23 (AM)But the Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. ²⁴ And ^(AN)he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall ^(AO)make their name perish from under heaven. ^(AP)No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The carved images of their gods ^(AQ)you shall burn with fire. You ^(AR)shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ^(AS)ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the Lord your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction^[c] like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, ^(AT)for it is devoted to destruction.

Remember the Lord Your God

8 “The whole commandment that I command you today ^(AU)you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. ² And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you ^(AV)these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, ^(AW)testing you ^(AX)to know what was in your heart, ^(AY)whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you and ^(AZ)let you hunger and ^(BA)fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that ^(BB)man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word^[d] that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ^4 (BC)Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that, ^(BD)as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, ^(BE)a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, ^(BF)of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ^12 (BG)lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ^14 (BH)then your heart be lifted up, and you ^(BI)forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵ who ^(BJ)led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, ^(BK)with its fiery serpents and scorpions ^(BL)and thirsty ground where there was no water, ^(BM)who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with ^(BN)manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, ^(BO)to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware ^(BP)lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God, for ^(BQ)it is he who gives you power to get wealth, ^(BR)that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, ^(BS)I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, ^(BT)so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

Not Because of Righteousness

9 “Hear, O Israel: you are ^(BU)to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations ^(BV)greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, ² a people great and tall, ^(BW)the sons of the Anakim, ^(BX)whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ ³ Know therefore today that he who ^(BY)goes over before you ^(BZ)as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. ^(CA)So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

^4 (CB)“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is ^(CC)because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. ^5 (CD)Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm ^(CE)the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶ “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are ^(CF)a stubborn people. ⁷ Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. ^(CG)From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. ⁸ Even ^(CH)at Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, and the Lord was so angry with you that he was ready to destroy you. ^9 (CI)When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained on the mountain ^(CJ)forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰ And ^(CK)the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone written with the finger of God, and on them were all the words that the Lord had spoken with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire ^(CL)on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. ¹² Then the Lord said to me, ^(CM)‘Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have ^(CN)turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.’

The Golden Calf

^13 (CO)“Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is ^(CP)a stubborn people. ^14 (CQ)Let me alone, that I may destroy them and ^(CR)blot out their name from under heaven. And ^(CS)I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ ^15 (CT)So I turned and came down from the mountain, and ^(CU)the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And ^(CV)I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden^[e] calf. ^(CW)You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. ¹⁷ So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. ¹⁸ Then I ^(CX)lay prostrate before the Lord ^(CY)as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, ^(CZ)in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. ¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. ^(DA)But the Lord listened to me that time also. ²⁰ And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. ²¹ Then ^(DB)I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.

²² “At ^(DC)Taberah also, and at ^(DD)Massah and at ^(DE)Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath. ²³ And ^(DF)when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘Go up and take possession of the land that I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God and ^(DG)did not believe him or obey his voice. ^24 (DH)You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

^25 (DI)“So I lay prostrate before the Lord for these forty days and forty nights, because the Lord had said he would destroy you. ^26 (DJ)And I prayed to the Lord, ‘O Lord God, do not destroy your people and your heritage, whom you have redeemed through your greatness, whom you have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not regard the stubbornness of this people, or their wickedness or their sin, ²⁸ lest the land from which you brought us say, ^(DK)“Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land that he promised them, and because he hated them, he has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” ^29 (DL)For they are your people and your heritage, whom you brought out by your great power and by your outstretched arm.’

Jesus Delivered to Pilate

15 ^(A)And as soon as it was morning, the chief priests ^(B)held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And ^(C)they bound Jesus and ^(D)led him away and ^(E)delivered him over to ^(F)Pilate. ^2 (G)And Pilate asked him, ^(H)“Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, ^(I)“You have said so.” ³ And the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴ And Pilate again asked him, ^(J)“Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” ⁵ But Jesus ^(K)made no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

^6 (L)Now at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. ⁷ And among the rebels in prison, who had ^(M)committed murder ^(N)in the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. ⁸ And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. ⁹ And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰ For he perceived that ^(O)it was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. ¹² And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with ^(P)the man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³ And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” ¹⁴ And Pilate said to them, “Why? ^(Q)What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” ¹⁵ So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having ^(R)scourged^[a] Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^16 (S)And the soldiers led him away inside ^(T)the palace (that is, ^(U)the governor's headquarters),^[b] and they called together the whole ^(V)battalion.^{[c] 17} And they clothed him in ^(W)a purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. ¹⁸ And they began to salute him, ^(X)“Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ And they were striking his head with a reed and ^(Y)spitting on him and ^(Z)kneeling down in homage to him. ²⁰ And when they had ^(AA)mocked him, they stripped him of ^(AB)the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they ^(AC)led him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

^21 (AD)And they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. ^22 (AE)And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). ²³ And they offered him wine mixed with ^(AF)myrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴ And they crucified him and ^(AG)divided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. ²⁵ And ^(AH)it was the third hour^[d] when they crucified him. ²⁶ And the inscription of the charge against him read, ^(AI)“The King of the Jews.” ²⁷ And with him they crucified two ^(AJ)robbers, ^(AK)one on his right and one on his left.^{[e] 29} And ^(AL)those who passed by derided him, ^(AM)wagging their heads and saying, ^(AN)“Aha! ^(AO)You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ save yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹ So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, ^(AP)“He saved others; ^(AQ)he cannot save himself. ³² Let ^(AR)the Christ, ^(AS)the King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may ^(AT)see and believe.” ^(AU)Those who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The Death of Jesus

³³ And when the sixth hour^[f] had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.^{[g] 34} And at the ninth hour Jesus ^(AV)cried with a loud voice, ^(AW)“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵ And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶ And someone ran and filled a sponge with ^(AX)sour wine, put it on a reed ^(AY)and gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷ And Jesus ^(AZ)uttered a loud cry and ^(BA)breathed his last. ³⁸ And ^(BB)the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ^39 (BC)And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he^[h] breathed his last, he said, ^(BD)“Truly this man was the Son^[i] of God!”

⁴⁰ There were also ^(BE)women looking on ^(BF)from a distance, among whom were ^(BG)Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and ^(BH)Salome. ⁴¹ When he was in Galilee, they followed him and ^(BI)ministered to him, and there were also many other women who ^(BJ)came up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

^42 (BK)And when evening had come, since it was ^(BL)the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, ^(BM)a respected member of the council, who ^(BN)was also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.^[j] And summoning ^(BO)the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. ⁴⁵ And when he learned from ^(BP)the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶ And Joseph^[k] bought ^(BQ)a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and ^(BR)laid him in a tomb ^(BS)that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled ^(BT)a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ^47 (BU)Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.