The Lord's Chosen Place of Worship

12 ^(A)“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, ^(B)all the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (C)You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(D)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces ^(E)their pillars and burn their ^(F)Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and ^(G)destroy their name out of that place. ^4 (H)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. ⁵ But you shall seek ^(I)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation^[a] there. There you shall go, ⁶ and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(J)your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(K)firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And ^(L)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(M)you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, ^(N)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, ⁹ for you have not as yet come to ^(O)the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when ^(P)you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, ^(Q)and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, ¹¹ then to ^(R)the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(S)your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. ¹² And ^(T)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your towns, since ^(U)he has no portion or inheritance with you. ^13 (V)Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, ¹⁴ but at ^(W)the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

¹⁵ “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, ^(X)according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. ^(Y)The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. ^16 (Z)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat within your towns ^(AA)the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, ¹⁸ but ^(AB)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in ^(AC)the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And ^(AD)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. ^19 (AE)Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “When the Lord your God ^(AF)enlarges your territory, ^(AG)as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat’, because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire. ²¹ If ^(AH)the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, ^(AI)then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. ²² Just ^(AJ)as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. ^(AK)The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. ^23 (AL)Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(AM)for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, ^(AN)that all may go well with you and with your children after you, ^(AO)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶ But the ^(AP)holy things that are due from you, and ^(AQ)your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to ^(AR)the place that the Lord will choose, ²⁷ and ^(AS)offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat. ²⁸ Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, ^(AT)that it may go well with you and with your children after you for ever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Warning Against Idolatry

²⁹ “When ^(AU)the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, ³⁰ take care ^(AV)that you are not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not enquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ ^31 (AW)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every ^(AX)abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for ^(AY)they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

^32 [b] “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. ^(AZ)You shall not add to it or take from it.

Jesus Is Buried

^42 (A)And when evening had come, since it was ^(B)the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea, ^(C)a respected member of the Council, who ^(D)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.^[a] And summoning ^(E)the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. ⁴⁵ And when he learned from ^(F)the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶ And Joseph^[b] bought ^(G)a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and ^(H)laid him in a tomb ^(I)that had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled ^(J)a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ^47 (K)Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

The Resurrection

16 ^(L)(M)When the Sabbath was past, ^(N)Mary Magdalene and ^(O)Mary the mother of James and ^(P)Salome ^(Q)bought spices, so that they might go and anoint him. ² And very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb. ³ And they were saying to one another, “Who will roll away ^(R)the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” ⁴ And looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back—^(S)it was very large. ⁵ And ^(T)entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, ^(U)dressed in ^(V)a white robe, and ^(W)they were alarmed. ⁶ And he said to them, ^(X)“Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. ⁷ But go, tell his disciples and Peter that ^(Y)he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, ^(Z)just as he told you.” ⁸ And they went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had seized them, and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

[Some of the earliest manuscripts do not include 16:9-20.]^[c]

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

⁹ [[Now when he rose early on the first day of the week, ^(AA)he appeared first to ^(AB)Mary Magdalene, ^(AC)from whom he had cast out seven demons. ^10 (AD)She went and told those who had been with him, ^(AE)as they ^(AF)mourned and wept. ¹¹ But when they heard that he was alive and had been seen by her, they ^(AG)would not believe it.

Jesus Appears to Two Disciples

^12 (AH)After these things ^(AI)he appeared in ^(AJ)another form to two of them, as they were walking into the country. ^13 (AK)And they went back and told the rest, but they did not believe them.

The Great Commission

¹⁴ Afterwards ^(AL)he appeared ^(AM)to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their ^(AN)unbelief and ^(AO)hardness of heart, because ^(AP)they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. ¹⁵ And he said to them, ^(AQ)“Go into all the world and ^(AR)proclaim the gospel to ^(AS)the whole creation. ^16 (AT)Whoever believes and is ^(AU)baptized ^(AV)will be saved, but ^(AW)whoever ^(AX)does not believe will be condemned. ¹⁷ And ^(AY)these signs will accompany those who believe: ^(AZ)in my name they will cast out demons; ^(BA)they will speak in new tongues; ^18 (BB)they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; ^(BC)they will lay their hands ^(BD)on the sick, and they will recover.”

¹⁹ So then the Lord Jesus, ^(BE)after he had spoken to them, ^(BF)was taken up into heaven and ^(BG)sat down at the right hand of God. ²⁰ And they went out and preached everywhere, while ^(BH)the Lord worked with them and confirmed ^(BI)the message ^(BJ)by accompanying signs.]]