Love the Lord Your God

6 These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, ² so that you, your children and their children after them may fear^(A) the Lord your God as long as you live^(B) by keeping all his decrees and commands^(C) that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life.^{(D) 3} Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey^(E) so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly^(F) in a land flowing with milk and honey,^(G) just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised^(H) you.

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a](I) 5} Love^(J) the Lord your God with all your heart^(K) and with all your soul and with all your strength.^{(L) 6} These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.^{(M) 7} Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.^{(N) 8} Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.^{(O) 9} Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.^(P)

¹⁰ When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,^{(Q) 11} houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig,^(R) and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied,^{(S) 12} be careful that you do not forget^(T) the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

¹³ Fear the Lord^(U) your God, serve him only^(V) and take your oaths^(W) in his name.^{(X) 14} Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; ¹⁵ for the Lord your God^(Y), who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land. ¹⁶ Do not put the Lord your God to the test^(Z) as you did at Massah. ¹⁷ Be sure to keep^(AA) the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you.^{(AB) 18} Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight,^(AC) so that it may go well^(AD) with you and you may go in and take over the good land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, ¹⁹ thrusting out all your enemies^(AE) before you, as the Lord said.

²⁰ In the future, when your son asks you,^(AF) “What is the meaning of the stipulations, decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you?” ²¹ tell him: “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand.^{(AG) 22} Before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders—great and terrible—on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household. ²³ But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God,^(AH) so that we might always prosper and be kept alive, as is the case today.^{(AI) 25} And if we are careful to obey all this law^(AJ) before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.^(AK)”

Blessings for Obedience

28 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow^(A) all his commands^(B) I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth.^{(C) 2} All these blessings will come on you^(D) and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:

⁷ The Lord will grant that the enemies^(I) who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven.^(J)

⁸ The Lord will send a blessing on your barns and on everything you put your hand to. The Lord your God will bless^(K) you in the land he is giving you.

⁹ The Lord will establish you as his holy people,^(L) as he promised you on oath, if you keep the commands^(M) of the Lord your God and walk in obedience to him. ¹⁰ Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name^(N) of the Lord, and they will fear you. ¹¹ The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity—in the fruit of your womb, the young of your livestock^(O) and the crops of your ground—in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you.^(P)

¹² The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse^(Q) of his bounty,^(R) to send rain^(S) on your land in season and to bless^(T) all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none.^{(U) 13} The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow^(V) them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom.^(W)

At the Home of Martha and Mary

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha^(A) opened her home to him. ³⁹ She had a sister called Mary,^(B) who sat at the Lord’s feet^(C) listening to what he said. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care^(D) that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

⁴¹ “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried^(E) and upset about many things, ⁴² but few things are needed—or indeed only one.^[a](F) Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus’ Teaching on Prayer^(G)(H)

11 One day Jesus was praying^(I) in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord,^(J) teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.”

² He said to them, “When you pray, say:

⁵ Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; ⁶ a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ ⁷ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity^[f] he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.^(N)

⁹ “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you;^(O) seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

¹¹ “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for^[g] a fish, will give him a snake instead? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

The Parable of the Sower^(A)(B)

4 Again Jesus began to teach by the lake.^(C) The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat and sat in it out on the lake, while all the people were along the shore at the water’s edge. ² He taught them many things by parables,^(D) and in his teaching said: ³ “Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed.^{(E) 4} As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”^(F)

⁹ Then Jesus said, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”^(G)

¹⁰ When he was alone, the Twelve and the others around him asked him about the parables. ¹¹ He told them, “The secret of the kingdom of God^(H) has been given to you. But to those on the outside^(I) everything is said in parables ¹² so that,

¹³ Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable? ¹⁴ The farmer sows the word.^{(K) 15} Some people are like seed along the path, where the word is sown. As soon as they hear it, Satan^(L) comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. ¹⁶ Others, like seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy. ¹⁷ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. ¹⁸ Still others, like seed sown among thorns, hear the word; ¹⁹ but the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth^(M) and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful. ²⁰ Others, like seed sown on good soil, hear the word, accept it, and produce a crop—some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown.”