Exclusion and Inclusion

23 “No man whose testicles have been crushed or whose penis has been cut off may enter the Lord’s assembly. ² No one of illegitimate birth may enter the Lord’s assembly; none of his descendants, even to the tenth generation, may enter the Lord’s assembly. ³ No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the Lord’s assembly;^(A) none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the Lord’s assembly. ⁴ This is because they did not meet you with food and water on the journey after you came out of Egypt, and because Balaam son of Beor from Pethor in Aram-naharaim was hired to curse you.^{(B) 5} Yet the Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but he turned the curse into a blessing for you because the Lord your God loves^(C) you.^{(D) 6} Never pursue their welfare or prosperity as long as you live. ⁷ Do not despise an Edomite, because he is your brother. Do not despise an Egyptian, because you were a resident alien in his land. ⁸ The children born to them in the third generation may enter the Lord’s assembly.

Cleanliness of the Camp

⁹ “When you are encamped against your enemies, be careful to avoid anything offensive. ¹⁰ If there is a man among you who is unclean because of a bodily emission during the night, he must go outside the camp; he may not come anywhere inside the camp. ¹¹ When evening approaches, he is to wash with water, and when the sun sets he may come inside the camp.^{(E) 12} You are to have a place outside the camp and go there to relieve yourself. ¹³ You are to have a digging tool in your equipment; when you relieve yourself, dig a hole with it and cover up your excrement. ¹⁴ For the Lord your God walks throughout your camp to protect you and deliver your enemies to you; so your encampments must be holy. He must not see anything indecent among you or he will turn away from you.

Fugitive Slaves

¹⁵ “Do not return a slave to his master when he has escaped from his master to you. ¹⁶ Let him live among you wherever he wants within your city gates. Do not mistreat him.

Cult Prostitution Forbidden

¹⁷ “No Israelite woman is to be a cult prostitute, and no Israelite man is to be a cult prostitute. ¹⁸ Do not bring a female prostitute’s wages or a male prostitute’s^[a] earnings into the house of the Lord your God to fulfill any vow, because both are detestable to the Lord your God.

Interest on Loans

¹⁹ “Do not charge your brother interest on silver, food, or anything that can earn interest. ²⁰ You may charge a foreigner interest, but you must not charge your brother Israelite interest, so that the Lord your God may bless you in everything you do^[b] in the land you are entering to possess.^(F)

Keeping Vows

²¹ “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, do not be slow to keep it, because he will require it of you, and it will be counted against you as sin. ²² But if you refrain from making a vow, it will not be counted against you as sin. ²³ Be careful to do whatever comes from your lips, because you have freely vowed what you promised to the Lord your God.^(G)

Neighbor’s Crops

²⁴ “When you enter your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat as many grapes as you want until you are full, but do not put any in your container. ²⁵ When you enter your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck heads of grain with your hand, but do not put a sickle to your neighbor’s grain.

Marriage and Divorce Laws

24 “If a man marries a woman, but she becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he may write her a divorce certificate, hand it to her, and send her away from his house.^{(H) 2} If after leaving his house she goes and becomes another man’s wife, ³ and the second man hates her, writes her a divorce certificate, hands it to her, and sends her away from his house or if he dies, ⁴ the first husband who sent her away may not marry her again after she has been defiled, because that would be detestable to the Lord. You must not bring guilt on the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.^(I)

⁵ “When a man takes a bride, he must not go out with the army or be liable for any duty. He is free to stay at home for one year, so that he can bring joy to the wife he has married.

Safeguarding Life

⁶ “Do not take a pair of grindstones or even the upper millstone as security for a debt, because that is like taking a life as security.

⁷ “If a man is discovered kidnapping^(J) one of his Israelite brothers, whether he treats him as a slave or sells him, the kidnapper must die. You must purge the evil from you.

⁸ “Be careful with a person who has a case of serious skin disease, following carefully everything the Levitical priests instruct you to do. Be careful to do as I have commanded them. ⁹ Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.^(K)

Consideration for People in Need

¹⁰ “When you make a loan of any kind to your neighbor, do not enter his house to collect what he offers as security. ¹¹ Stand outside while the man you are making the loan to brings the security out to you. ¹² If he is a poor man, do not sleep with the garment he has given as security. ¹³ Be sure to return it^[c] to him at sunset. Then he will sleep in it and bless you, and this will be counted as righteousness to you before the Lord your God.^(L)

¹⁴ “Do not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether one of your Israelite brothers or one of the resident aliens in a town^[d] in your land. ¹⁵ You are to pay him his wages each day before the sun sets, because he is poor and depends on them.^(M) Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be held guilty.

¹⁶ “Fathers are not to be put to death for their children, and children are not to be put to death for their fathers; each person will be put to death for his own sin.^{(N) 17} Do not deny justice to a resident alien or fatherless child, and do not take a widow’s garment as security. ¹⁸ Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed^(O) you from there. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.^(P)

¹⁹ “When you reap the harvest in your field, and you forget a sheaf in the field, do not go back to get it. It is to be left for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.^{(Q) 20} When you knock down the fruit from your olive tree, do not go over the branches again. What remains will be for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow. ²¹ When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left. What remains will be for the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow. ²² Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. Therefore I am commanding you to do this.^(R)

Fairness and Mercy

25 “If there is a dispute between men, they are to go to court, and the judges will hear their case. They will clear the innocent and condemn the guilty. ² If the guilty party deserves to be flogged, the judge will make him lie down and be flogged in his presence with the number of lashes appropriate for his crime. ³ He may be flogged with forty lashes, but no more. Otherwise, if he is flogged with more lashes than these, your brother will be degraded in your sight.

⁴ “Do not muzzle an ox while it treads out grain.^(S)

Preserving the Family Line

⁵ “When brothers live on the same property^[e] and one of them dies without a son, the wife of the dead man may not marry a stranger outside the family. Her brother-in-law is to take her as his wife, have sexual relations with her, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law for her. ⁶ The first son she bears will carry on the name of the dead brother, so his name will not be blotted out from Israel.^{(T) 7} But if the man doesn’t want to marry his sister-in-law, she is to go to the elders at the city gate^(U) and say, ‘My brother-in-law refuses to preserve his brother’s name in Israel. He isn’t willing to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me.’ ⁸ The elders of his city will summon him and speak with him. If he persists and says, ‘I don’t want to marry her,’ ⁹ then his sister-in-law will go up to him in the sight of the elders, remove his sandal from his foot, and spit in his face. Then she will declare, ‘This is what is done to a man who will not build up his brother’s house.’ ¹⁰ And his family name in Israel will be ‘The house of the man whose sandal was removed.’^(V)

¹¹ “If two men are fighting with each other, and the wife of one steps in to rescue her husband from the one striking him, and she puts out her hand and grabs his genitals, ¹² you are to cut off her hand. Do not show pity.

Honest Weights and Measures

¹³ “Do not have differing weights in your bag, one heavy and one light.^{(W) 14} Do not have differing dry measures in your house, a larger and a smaller. ¹⁵ You must have a full and honest weight, a full and honest dry measure, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶ For everyone who does such things and acts unfairly is detestable to the Lord your God.^(X)

Revenge on the Amalekites

¹⁷ “Remember what the Amalekites did to you on the journey after you left Egypt.^{(Y) 18} They met you along the way and attacked all your stragglers from behind when you were tired and weary. They did not fear God. ¹⁹ When the Lord your God gives you rest^(Z) from all the enemies around you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance,^(AA) blot out the memory of Amalek under heaven. Do not forget.^(AB)

Giving the Firstfruits

26 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance,^(AC) and you take possession of it and live in it, ² take some of the first of all the land’s produce that you harvest from the land the Lord your God is giving you and put it in a basket. Then go to the place where the Lord your God chooses to have his name dwell.^{(AD) 3} When you come before the priest who is serving at that time, say to him, ‘Today I declare to the Lord your^[f] God that I have entered the land the Lord swore to our ancestors to give us.’

⁴ “Then the priest will take the basket from you and place it before the altar of the Lord your God. ⁵ You are to respond by saying in the presence of the Lord your God:

My father was a wandering Aramean.^(AE) He went down to Egypt with a few people and resided there as an alien.^(AF) There he became a great, powerful, and populous nation. ⁶ But the Egyptians mistreated and oppressed us, and forced us to do hard labor. ⁷ So we called out to the Lord, the God of our ancestors, and the Lord heard our cry and saw our misery, hardship, and oppression.^{(AG) 8} Then the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with terrifying power, and with signs and wonders. ⁹ He led us to this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.^{(AH) 10} I have now brought the first of the land’s produce that you, Lord, have given me.

You will then place the container before the Lord your God and bow down to him. ¹¹ You, the Levites, and the resident aliens among you will rejoice^(AI) in all the good things the Lord your God has given you and your household.

The Tenth in the Third Year

¹² “When you have finished paying all the tenth of your produce in the third year,^(AJ) the year of the tenth, you are to give it to the Levites, resident aliens, fatherless children, and widows, so that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. ¹³ Then you will say in the presence of the Lord your God:

I have taken the consecrated portion out of my house; I have also given it to the Levites, resident aliens, fatherless children, and widows, according to all the commands you gave me. I have not violated or forgotten your commands. ¹⁴ I have not eaten any of it while in mourning, or removed any of it while unclean, or offered any of it for the dead.^(AK) I have obeyed the Lord my God; I have done all you commanded me. ¹⁵ Look down from your holy dwelling, from heaven, and bless your people Israel and the land you have given us as you swore to our ancestors, a land flowing with milk and honey.

Covenant Summary

¹⁶ “The Lord your God is commanding you this day to follow these statutes and ordinances. Follow them carefully with all your heart and all your soul. ¹⁷ Today you have affirmed that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commands, and ordinances, and obey him. ¹⁸ And today the Lord has affirmed that you are his own possession as he promised you, that you are to keep all his commands, ¹⁹ that he will elevate you to praise, fame, and glory above all the nations he has made, and that you will be a holy people^(AL) to the Lord your God as he promised.”

The Lord’s Prayer

11 He was praying^(A) in a certain place, and when he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.”^(B)

² He said to them, “Whenever you pray, say,^(C)

Ask, Search, Knock

⁵ He also said to them, “Suppose one of you^[f] has a friend and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, ⁶ because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I don’t have anything to offer him.’ ⁷ Then he will answer from inside and say, ‘Don’t bother me! The door is already locked, and my children and I have gone to bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even though he won’t get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his friend’s shameless boldness,^[g] he will get up and give him as much as he needs.^(L)

⁹ “So^(M) I say to you, ask,^(N) and it will be given to you. Seek,^(O) and you will find. Knock,^(P) and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. ¹¹ What father among you, if his son^[h] asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? ¹² Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? ¹³ If you then, who are evil,^(Q) know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father^(R) give the Holy Spirit^(S) to those who ask him?”

A House Divided

¹⁴ Now^(T) he was driving out a demon^(U) that was mute.^(V) When the demon came out, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He drives out demons by Beelzebul,^(W) the ruler^(X) of the demons.”^{(Y) 16} And others, as a test,^(Z) were demanding of him a sign^(AA) from heaven.

¹⁷ Knowing their thoughts,^(AB) he told them, “Every kingdom divided^(AC) against itself is headed for destruction, and a house divided against itself falls. ¹⁸ If Satan^(AD) also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom^(AE) stand? For you say I drive out demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ And if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons^(AF) drive them out? For this reason they will be your judges. ²⁰ If I drive out demons by the finger of God,^(AG) then the kingdom of God^(AH) has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his estate, his possessions are secure. ²² But when one stronger than he attacks and overpowers^(AI) him, he takes from him all his weapons^[i](AJ) he trusted^(AK) in, and divides up his plunder.^{(AL) 23} Anyone who is not with me is against me,^(AM) and anyone who does not gather with me scatters.

An Unclean Spirit’s Return

²⁴ “When^(AN) an unclean spirit^(AO) comes out of a person, it roams through waterless places looking for rest,^(AP) and not finding rest, it then^[j] says, ‘I’ll go back to my house that I came from.’ ²⁵ Returning, it finds the house swept and put in order. ²⁶ Then it goes and brings seven other spirits^(AQ) more evil than itself, and they enter and settle down there. As a result, that person’s last condition is worse than the first.”^(AR)

True Blessedness

²⁷ As he was saying these things, a woman from the crowd^(AS) raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the one who nursed you!” ^(AT)

²⁸ He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God^(AU) and keep it.”^(AV)

The Sign of Jonah

²⁹ As the crowds were increasing, he began saying, “This generation^(AW) is an evil generation.^(AX) It demands a sign,^(AY) but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.^{[k](AZ) 30} For just as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so also the Son of Man^(BA) will be to this generation. ³¹ The queen of the south^(BB) will rise up at the judgment^(BC) with the men of this generation and condemn^(BD) them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon,^(BE) and look—something greater than Solomon is here. ³² The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at Jonah’s preaching, and look—something greater than Jonah is here.

The Lamp of the Body

³³ “No^(BF) one lights a lamp^(BG) and puts it in the cellar or under a basket,^[l] but on a lampstand, so that those who come in may see its light. ³⁴ Your eye is the lamp of the body.^(BH) When your eye is healthy, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad,^(BI) your body is also full of darkness. ³⁵ Take care, then, that the light in you is not darkness. ³⁶ If, therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you.”

Religious Hypocrisy Denounced

³⁷ As he was speaking, a Pharisee^(BJ) asked him to dine with him. So he went in and reclined at the table. ³⁸ When the Pharisee saw this, he was amazed that he did not first perform the ritual washing^[m](BK) before dinner.^{(BL) 39} But the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed^(BM) and evil.^{(BN) 40} Fools!^(BO) Didn’t he who made the outside make the inside too? ⁴¹ But give from what is within to the poor,^[n](BP) and then everything is clean^(BQ) for you.

⁴² “But woe^(BR) to you Pharisees! You give a tenth^[o](BS) of mint, rue, and every kind of herb, and you bypass^[p] justice^(BT) and love for God.^[q](BU) These things you should have done without neglecting the others.

⁴³ “Woe to you Pharisees! You love the front seat^(BV) in the synagogues^(BW) and greetings in the marketplaces.

⁴⁴ “Woe to you!^[r] You are like unmarked graves; ^(BX) the people who walk over them don’t know it.”

⁴⁵ One of the experts in the law^(BY) answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things you insult us too.”

⁴⁶ Then he said, “Woe also to you experts in the law! You load people with burdens^(BZ) that are hard to carry, and yet you yourselves don’t touch these burdens with one of your fingers.^(CA)

⁴⁷ “Woe to you! You build tombs^[s] for the prophets,^(CB) and your fathers killed^(CC) them. ⁴⁸ Therefore, you are witnesses^(CD) that you approve^[t](CE) the deeds of your fathers, for they killed them, and you build their monuments.^{[u] 49} Because of this, the wisdom of God^(CF) said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles,^(CG) and some of them they will kill and persecute,’^{(CH) 50} so that this generation^(CI) may be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world^[v](CJ) — ⁵¹ from the blood of Abel^(CK) to the blood of Zechariah,^(CL) who perished between the altar and the sanctuary.

“Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible.^[w]

⁵² “Woe to you experts in the law! You have taken away the key to knowledge.^(CM) You didn’t go in yourselves, and you hindered^(CN) those who were trying to go in.”

⁵³ When he left there,^[x] the scribes and the Pharisees began to oppose^(CO) him fiercely and to cross-examine him about many things; ⁵⁴ they were lying in wait^(CP) for him to trap him in something he said.^[y](CQ)