Deuteronomy 16:18-18:22

New International Version

Judges

¹⁸Appoint judges^(A) and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly.^(B) ¹⁹Do not pervert justice^(C) or show partiality.^(D) Do not accept a bribe,^(E) for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. ²⁰Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Worshiping Other Gods

²¹Do not set up any wooden Asherah pole^(F) beside the altar you build to the Lord your God,^(G) ²²and do not erect a sacred stone,^(H) for these the Lord your God hates.

17 Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep that has any defect^(I) or flaw in it, for that would be detestable^(J) to him.^(K)

²If a man or woman living among you in one of the towns the Lord gives you is found doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God in violation of his covenant,^(L) ³and contrary to my command^(M) has worshiped other gods,^(N) bowing down to them or to the sun^(O) or the moon or the stars in the sky,^(P) ⁴and this has been brought to your attention, then you must investigate it thoroughly. If it is true^(Q) and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done in Israel,^(R) ⁵take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death.^(S) ⁶On the testimony of two or three witnesses a person is to be put to death, but no one is to be put to death on the testimony of only one witness.^(T) ⁷The hands of the witnesses must be the first in putting that person to death,^(U) and then the hands of all the people.^(V) You must purge the evil^(W) from among you.

Law Courts

⁸If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge^(X)—whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults^(Y)—take them to the place the Lord your God will choose.^(Z) ⁹Go to the Levitical^(AA) priests and to the judge^(AB) who is in office at that time. Inquire of them and they will give you the verdict.^(AC) ¹⁰You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose. Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do. ¹¹Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you. Do not turn aside from what they tell you, to the right or to the left.^(AD) ¹²Anyone who shows contempt^(AE) for the judge or for the priest who stands ministering^(AF) there to the Lord your God is to be put to death.^(AG) You must purge the evil from Israel.^(AH) ¹³All the people will hear and be afraid, and will not be contemptuous again.^(AI)

The King

¹⁴When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession^(AJ) of it and settled in it,^(AK) and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,”^(AL) ¹⁵be sure to appoint^(AM) over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites.^(AN) Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite. ¹⁶The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses^(AO) for himself^(AP) or make the people return to Egypt^(AQ) to get more of them,^(AR) for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.”^(AS) ¹⁷He must not take many wives,^(AT) or his heart will be led astray.^(AU) He must not accumulate^(AV) large amounts of silver and gold.^(AW)

¹⁸When he takes the throne^(AX) of his kingdom, he is to write^(AY) for himself on a scroll a copy^(AZ) of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. ¹⁹It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life^(BA) so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees^(BB) ²⁰and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law^(BC) to the right or to the left.^(BD) Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.^(BE)

Offerings for Priests and Levites

18 The Levitical^(BF) priests—indeed, the whole tribe of Levi—are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the food offerings^(BG) presented to the Lord, for that is their inheritance.^(BH) ²They shall have no inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance,^(BI) as he promised them.^(BJ)

³This is the share due the priests^(BK) from the people who sacrifice a bull^(BL) or a sheep: the shoulder, the internal organs and the meat from the head.^(BM) ⁴You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and olive oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,^(BN) ⁵for the Lord your God has chosen them^(BO) and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister^(BP) in the Lord’s name always.^(BQ)

⁶If a Levite moves from one of your towns anywhere in Israel where he is living, and comes in all earnestness to the place the Lord will choose,^(BR) ⁷he may minister in the name^(BS) of the Lord his God like all his fellow Levites who serve there in the presence of the Lord. ⁸He is to share equally in their benefits, even though he has received money from the sale of family possessions.^(BT)

Occult Practices

⁹When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate^(BU) the detestable ways^(BV) of the nations there. ¹⁰Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire,^(BW) who practices divination^(BX) or sorcery,^(BY) interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,^(BZ) ¹¹or casts spells,^(CA) or who is a medium or spiritist^(CB) or who consults the dead. ¹²Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.^(CC) ¹³You must be blameless^(CD) before the Lord your God.^(CE)

The Prophet

¹⁴The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination.^(CF) But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. ¹⁵The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites.^(CG) You must listen to him. ¹⁶For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”^(CH)

¹⁷The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. ¹⁸I will raise up for them a prophet^(CI) like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words^(CJ) in his mouth.^(CK) He will tell them everything I command him.^(CL) ¹⁹I myself will call to account^(CM) anyone who does not listen^(CN) to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.^(CO) ²⁰But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods,^(CP) is to be put to death.”^(CQ)

²¹You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?” ²²If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true,^(CR) that is a message the Lord has not spoken.^(CS) That prophet has spoken presumptuously,^(CT) so do not be alarmed.

Psalm 105

New International Version

Psalm 105^(A)

¹Give praise to the Lord,^(B) proclaim his name;^(C)
    make known among the nations what he has done.
²Sing to him,^(D) sing praise to him;^(E)
    tell of all his wonderful acts.^(F)
³Glory in his holy name;^(G)
    let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
⁴Look to the Lord and his strength;
    seek his face^(H) always.

⁵Remember the wonders^(I) he has done,
    his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,^(J)
⁶you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,^(K)
    his chosen^(L) ones, the children of Jacob.
⁷He is the Lord our God;
    his judgments are in all the earth.

⁸He remembers his covenant^(M) forever,
    the promise he made, for a thousand generations,
⁹the covenant he made with Abraham,^(N)
    the oath he swore to Isaac.
¹⁰He confirmed it^(O) to Jacob as a decree,
    to Israel as an everlasting covenant:^(P)
¹¹“To you I will give the land of Canaan^(Q)
    as the portion you will inherit.”^(R)

¹²When they were but few in number,^(S)
    few indeed, and strangers in it,^(T)
¹³they wandered from nation to nation,^(U)
    from one kingdom to another.
¹⁴He allowed no one to oppress^(V) them;
    for their sake he rebuked kings:^(W)
¹⁵“Do not touch^(X) my anointed ones;
    do my prophets^(Y) no harm.”

¹⁶He called down famine^(Z) on the land
    and destroyed all their supplies of food;
¹⁷and he sent a man before them—
    Joseph, sold as a slave.^(AA)
¹⁸They bruised his feet with shackles,^(AB)
    his neck was put in irons,
¹⁹till what he foretold^(AC) came to pass,
    till the word^(AD) of the Lord proved him true.
²⁰The king sent and released him,
    the ruler of peoples set him free.^(AE)
²¹He made him master of his household,
    ruler over all he possessed,
²²to instruct his princes^(AF) as he pleased
    and teach his elders wisdom.^(AG)

²³Then Israel entered Egypt;^(AH)
    Jacob resided^(AI) as a foreigner in the land of Ham.^(AJ)
²⁴The Lord made his people very fruitful;
    he made them too numerous^(AK) for their foes,
²⁵whose hearts he turned^(AL) to hate his people,
    to conspire^(AM) against his servants.
²⁶He sent Moses^(AN) his servant,
    and Aaron,^(AO) whom he had chosen.^(AP)
²⁷They performed^(AQ) his signs^(AR) among them,
    his wonders^(AS) in the land of Ham.
²⁸He sent darkness^(AT) and made the land dark—
    for had they not rebelled against^(AU) his words?
²⁹He turned their waters into blood,^(AV)
    causing their fish to die.^(AW)
³⁰Their land teemed with frogs,^(AX)
    which went up into the bedrooms of their rulers.
³¹He spoke,^(AY) and there came swarms of flies,^(AZ)
    and gnats^(BA) throughout their country.
³²He turned their rain into hail,^(BB)
    with lightning throughout their land;
³³he struck down their vines^(BC) and fig trees^(BD)
    and shattered the trees of their country.
³⁴He spoke,^(BE) and the locusts came,^(BF)
    grasshoppers^(BG) without number;^(BH)
³⁵they ate up every green thing in their land,
    ate up the produce of their soil.
³⁶Then he struck down all the firstborn^(BI) in their land,
    the firstfruits of all their manhood.
³⁷He brought out Israel, laden with silver and gold,^(BJ)
    and from among their tribes no one faltered.
³⁸Egypt was glad when they left,
    because dread of Israel^(BK) had fallen on them.

³⁹He spread out a cloud^(BL) as a covering,
    and a fire to give light at night.^(BM)
⁴⁰They asked,^(BN) and he brought them quail;^(BO)
    he fed them well with the bread of heaven.^(BP)
⁴¹He opened the rock,^(BQ) and water gushed out;
    it flowed like a river in the desert.

⁴²For he remembered his holy promise^(BR)
    given to his servant Abraham.
⁴³He brought out his people with rejoicing,^(BS)
    his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
⁴⁴he gave them the lands of the nations,^(BT)
    and they fell heir to what others had toiled^(BU) for—
⁴⁵that they might keep his precepts
    and observe his laws.^(BV)