Blessings on Obedience^(A)

28 “Now it shall come to pass, ^(B)if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God ^(C)will set you high above all nations of the earth. ² And all these blessings shall come upon you and ^(D)overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:

^3 (E)“Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be ^(F)in the country.

⁴ “Blessed shall be ^(G)the ^[a]fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks.

⁵ “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.

^6 (H)“Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.

⁷ “The Lord ^(I)will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways.

⁸ “The Lord will ^(J)command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you ^(K)set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

^9 (L)“The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. ¹⁰ Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are ^(M)called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be ^(N)afraid of you. ¹¹ And ^(O)the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord ^[b]swore to your fathers to give you. ¹² The Lord will open to you His good ^[c]treasure, the heavens, ^(P)to give the rain to your land in its season, and ^(Q)to bless all the work of your hand. ^(R)You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. ¹³ And the Lord will make ^(S)you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you ^[d]heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. ^14 (T)So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or the left, to go after other gods to serve them.

Israel’s War with the Benjamites

20 So ^(A)all the children of Israel came out, from ^(B)Dan to ^(C)Beersheba, as well as from the land of Gilead, and the congregation gathered together as one man before the Lord ^(D)at Mizpah. ² And the leaders of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God, four hundred thousand foot soldiers ^(E)who drew the sword. ³ (Now the children of Benjamin heard that the children of Israel had gone up to Mizpah.)

Then the children of Israel said, “Tell us, how did this wicked deed happen?”

⁴ So the Levite, the husband of the woman who was murdered, answered and said, “My concubine and ^(F)I went into Gibeah, which belongs to Benjamin, to spend the night. ^5 (G)And the men of Gibeah rose against me, and surrounded the house at night because of me. They intended to kill me, ^(H)but instead they ravished my concubine so that she died. ⁶ So ^(I)I took hold of my concubine, cut her in pieces, and sent her throughout all the territory of the inheritance of Israel, because they ^(J)committed lewdness and outrage in Israel. ⁷ Look! All of you are children of Israel; ^(K)give your advice and counsel here and now!”

⁸ So all the people arose as one man, saying, “None of us will go to his tent, nor will any turn back to his house; ⁹ but now this is the thing which we will do to Gibeah: We will go up ^(L)against it by lot. ¹⁰ We will take ten men out of every hundred throughout all the tribes of Israel, a hundred out of every thousand, and a thousand out of every ten thousand, to make provisions for the people, that when they come to Gibeah in Benjamin, they may repay all the vileness that they have done in Israel.” ¹¹ So all the men of Israel were gathered against the city, united together as one man.

^12 (M)Then the tribes of Israel sent men through all the tribe of Benjamin, saying, “What is this wickedness that has occurred among you? ¹³ Now therefore, deliver up the men, ^(N)the ^[a]perverted men who are in Gibeah, that we may put them to death and ^(O)remove the evil from Israel!” But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. ¹⁴ Instead, the children of Benjamin gathered together from their cities to Gibeah, to go to battle against the children of Israel. ¹⁵ And from their cities at that time ^(P)the children of Benjamin numbered twenty-six thousand men who drew the sword, besides the inhabitants of Gibeah, who numbered seven hundred select men. ¹⁶ Among all this people were seven hundred select men who were ^(Q)left-handed; every one could sling a stone at a hair’s breadth and not miss. ¹⁷ Now besides Benjamin, the men of Israel numbered four hundred thousand men who drew the sword; all of these were men of war.

The Parable of the Talents^(A)

^14 (B)“For the kingdom of heaven is ^(C)like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. ¹⁵ And to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, ^(D)to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. ¹⁶ Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and made another five talents. ¹⁷ And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. ¹⁸ But he who had received one went and dug in the ground, and hid his lord’s money. ¹⁹ After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.

²⁰ “So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ ²¹ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were ^(E)faithful over a few things, ^(F)I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into ^(G)the joy of your lord.’ ²² He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ ²³ His lord said to him, ^(H)‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into ^(I)the joy of your lord.’

²⁴ “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. ²⁵ And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’

²⁶ “But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You ^(J)wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. ²⁷ So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents.

^29 (K)‘For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. ³⁰ And cast the unprofitable servant ^(L)into the outer darkness. ^(M)There will be weeping and ^(N)gnashing of teeth.’