Israel Urged to Obey God’s Law

4 “Now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the judgments which ^(A)I am teaching you to perform, so that ^(B)you may live and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. ^2 (C)You shall not add to the word which ^(D)I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you. ^3 (E)Your eyes have seen what the Lord has done in the case of Baal-peor, for all the men who followed Baal-peor, the Lord your God has destroyed ^[a]them from among you. ⁴ But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.

⁵ “See, I have taught you statutes and judgments ^(F)just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do thus in the land where you are entering to possess it. ⁶ So keep and do them, ^(G)for that is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ ⁷ For ^(H)what great nation is there that has a god ^(I)so near to it as is the Lord our God ^(J)whenever we call on Him? ⁸ Or what great nation is there that has ^(K)statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today?

⁹ “Only ^(L)give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart ^(M)all the days of your life; but ^(N)make them known to your sons and your grandsons. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when the Lord said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words ^(O)so they may learn to ^[b]fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may ^(P)teach their children.’ ¹¹ You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, ^(Q)and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom. ¹² Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice. ¹³ So He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, that is, ^(R)the Ten ^[c]Commandments; and ^(S)He wrote them on two tablets of stone. ¹⁴ The Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that you might perform them in the land where you are going over to possess it.

¹⁵ “So ^(T)watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any ^(U)form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, ¹⁶ so that you do not ^(V)act corruptly and ^(W)make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, ¹⁷ the likeness of any animal that is on the earth, the likeness of ^(X)any winged bird that flies in the sky, ¹⁸ the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the water below the earth. ¹⁹ And beware not to lift up your eyes to heaven and see the sun and the moon and the stars, ^(Y)all the host of heaven, ^(Z)and be drawn away and worship them and serve them, those which the Lord your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. ²⁰ But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of ^(AA)the iron furnace, from Egypt, to ^(AB)be a people for His own possession, as today.

²¹ “^(AC)Now the Lord was angry with me on your account, and swore that I would not cross the Jordan, and that I would not enter the good land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. ²² For ^(AD)I will die in this land, I shall not cross the Jordan, but you shall cross and take possession of this ^(AE)good land. ²³ So watch yourselves, ^(AF)that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and ^(AG)make for yourselves a graven image in the form of anything against which the Lord your God has commanded you. ²⁴ For the Lord your God is a ^(AH)consuming fire, a ^(AI)jealous God.

²⁵ “When you ^[d]become the father of children and children’s children and have remained long in the land, and ^(AJ)act corruptly, and ^(AK)make an ^[e]idol in the form of anything, and ^(AL)do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger, ²⁶ I ^(AM)call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will ^(AN)surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. You shall not ^[f]live long on it, but will be utterly destroyed. ²⁷ The Lord will ^(AO)scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you. ^28 (AP)There you will serve gods, the work of man’s hands, ^(AQ)wood and stone, ^(AR)which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. ^29 (AS)But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him ^(AT)with all your heart and all your soul. ³⁰ When you ^(AU)are in distress and all these things have come upon you, ^(AV)in the latter days ^(AW)you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. ³¹ For the Lord your God is a ^(AX)compassionate God; ^(AY)He will not fail you nor ^(AZ)destroy you nor ^(BA)forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them.

³² “Indeed, ^(BB)ask now concerning the former days which were before you, since the ^(BC)day that God created ^[g]man on the earth, and inquire ^(BD)from one end of the heavens to the other. ^(BE)Has anything been done like this great thing, or has anything been heard like it? ^33 (BF)Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived? ^34 (BG)Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation ^(BH)by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and ^(BI)by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, ^[h]as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? ³⁵ To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; ^(BJ)there is no other besides Him. ^36 (BK)Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice ^(BL)to discipline you; and on earth He let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. ^37 [i](BM)Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose ^[j]their descendants after them. And He ^[k](BN)personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, ³⁸ driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and ^(BO)to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. ³⁹ Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that ^(BP)the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. ^40 (BQ)So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am ^[l]giving you today, that ^(BR)it may go well with you and with your children after you, and ^(BS)that you may ^[m]live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”

^41 (BT)Then Moses set apart three cities across the Jordan to the ^[n]east, ⁴² that a manslayer might flee there, who unintentionally slew his neighbor without having enmity toward him in time past; and by fleeing to one of these cities he might live: ^43 (BU)Bezer in the wilderness on the plateau for the Reubenites, and Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.

⁴⁴ Now this is the law which Moses set before the sons of Israel; ⁴⁵ these are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances which Moses spoke to the sons of Israel, when they came out from Egypt, ⁴⁶ across the Jordan, in the valley ^(BV)opposite Beth-peor, in the land of ^(BW)Sihon king of the Amorites who lived at Heshbon, whom Moses and the sons of Israel ^[o]defeated when they came out from Egypt. ⁴⁷ They took possession of his land and the land of ^(BX)Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites, who were across the Jordan to the ^[p]east, ⁴⁸ from ^(BY)Aroer, which is on the edge of the ^[q]valley of Arnon, even as far as ^(BZ)Mount Sion (that is, Hermon), ⁴⁹ with all the Arabah across the Jordan to the east, even as far as the sea of the Arabah, ^[r]at the foot of the slopes of Pisgah.

The Ten Commandments Repeated

5 Then Moses summoned all Israel and said to them:

“Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I am speaking today in your ^[s]hearing, that you may learn them and observe ^[t]them carefully. ² The Lord our God made ^(CA)a covenant with us at Horeb. ^3 (CB)The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with all those of ^[u]us alive here today. ⁴ The Lord spoke to you ^(CC)face to face at the mountain ^(CD)from the midst of the fire, ⁵ while ^(CE)I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; ^(CF)for you were afraid because of the fire and did not go up the mountain. ^[v]He said,

⁶ ‘^(CG)I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[w]slavery.

⁷ ‘^(CH)You shall have no other gods ^[x]before Me.

⁸ ‘^(CI)You shall not make for yourself ^[y]an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above ^[z]or on the earth beneath ^[aa]or in the water under the earth. ⁹ You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, ^(CJ)visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, ¹⁰ but ^(CK)showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

¹¹ ‘^(CL)You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not ^[ab]leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

¹² ‘^(CM)Observe the sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. ¹³ Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but ^(CN)the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your cattle or your sojourner who ^[ac]stays with you, so that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. ^15 (CO)You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

¹⁶ ‘^(CP)Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(CQ)that your days may be prolonged and that it may go well with you on the land which the Lord your God gives you.

¹⁷ ‘^(CR)You shall not murder.

¹⁸ ‘^(CS)You shall not commit adultery.

¹⁹ ‘^(CT)You shall not steal.

²⁰ ‘^(CU)You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

²¹ ‘^(CV)You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field or his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’

Moses Interceded

²² “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice, and He added no more. ^(CW)He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. ²³ And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. ²⁴ You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. ^25 (CX)Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. ²⁶ For ^(CY)who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? ^27 [ad]Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’

²⁸ “The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, ^(CZ)and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. ^29 (DA)Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and ^(DB)keep all My commandments always, that ^(DC)it may be well with them and with their sons forever! ³⁰ Go, say to them, “Return to your tents.” ^31 (DD)But as for you, stand here by Me, that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I give them to possess.’ ³² So you shall observe to do just as the Lord your God has commanded you; ^(DE)you shall not turn aside to the right or to the left. ^33 (DF)You shall walk in all the way which the Lord your God has commanded you, ^(DG)that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you will possess.

Obey God and Prosper

6 “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, ² so that you and your son and your grandson might ^(DH)fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments which I command you, ^(DI)all the days of your life, and that your days may be prolonged. ³ O Israel, you should listen and ^[ae]be careful to do it, that ^(DJ)it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in ^(DK)a land flowing with milk and honey.

⁴ “^(DL)Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the ^(DM)Lord is one! ^5 (DN)You shall love the Lord your God ^(DO)with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. ^6 (DP)These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. ^7 (DQ)You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. ^8 (DR)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as ^[af]frontals ^[ag]on your forehead. ^9 (DS)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁰ “Then it shall come about when the Lord your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, ^(DT)great and splendid cities which you did not build, ¹¹ and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and ^(DU)you eat and are satisfied, ¹² then watch yourself, that ^(DV)you do not forget the Lord who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[ah]slavery. ^13 (DW)You shall ^[ai]fear only the Lord your God; and you shall ^[aj]worship Him and ^(DX)swear by His name. ^14 (DY)You shall not follow other gods, any of the gods of the peoples who surround you, ¹⁵ for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a ^(DZ)jealous God; otherwise the anger of the Lord your God will be kindled against you, and He will ^[ak]wipe you off the face of the earth.

¹⁶ “^(EA)You shall not put the Lord your God to the test, ^(EB)as you tested Him at Massah. ^17 (EC)You should diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you. ¹⁸ You shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that ^(ED)it may be well with you and that you may go in and possess the good land which the Lord swore to give your fathers, ¹⁹ by driving out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has spoken.

²⁰ “^(EE)When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What do the testimonies and the statutes and the judgments mean which the Lord our God commanded you?’ ²¹ then you shall say to your son, ‘We were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us from Egypt with a mighty hand. ²² Moreover, the Lord showed great and distressing signs and wonders before our eyes against Egypt, Pharaoh and all his household; ²³ He brought us out from there in order to bring us in, to give us the land which He had sworn to our fathers.’ ²⁴ So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, ^(EF)to fear the Lord our God for our good always and ^(EG)for our survival, as it is today. ^25 (EH)It will be righteousness for us if we ^[al]are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us.

Ministry of the Twelve

9 ^(A)And He called the twelve together, and gave them power and authority over all the demons and to heal diseases. ² And He sent them out to ^(B)proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing. ³ And He said to them, “^(C)Take nothing for your journey, ^(D)neither a staff, nor a ^[a]bag, nor bread, nor money; and do not even have ^[b]two tunics apiece. ⁴ Whatever house you enter, stay there ^[c]until you leave that city. ⁵ And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, ^(E)shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” ⁶ Departing, they began going ^[d]throughout the villages, ^(F)preaching the gospel and healing everywhere.

^7 (G)Now ^(H)Herod the tetrarch heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that ^(I)John had risen from the dead, ⁸ and by some that ^(J)Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. ⁹ Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And ^(K)he kept trying to see Him.

^10 (L)When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. ^(M)Taking them with Him, He withdrew by Himself to a city called ^(N)Bethsaida. ¹¹ But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God and curing those who had need of healing.

Five Thousand Fed

¹² Now the day ^[e]was ending, and the twelve came and said to Him, “Send the crowd away, that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get ^[f]something to eat; for here we are in a desolate place.” ¹³ But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” And they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” ¹⁴ (For there were about five thousand men.) And He said to His disciples, “Have them ^[g]sit down to eat ^(O)in groups of about fifty each.” ¹⁵ They did so, and had them all ^[h]sit down. ¹⁶ Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the ^[i]people. ¹⁷ And they all ate and were satisfied; and ^[j]the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve ^(P)baskets full.

^18 (Q)And it happened that while He was ^(R)praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the ^[k]people say that I am?” ¹⁹ They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” ²⁰ And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “^(S)The ^[l]Christ of God.” ²¹ But He ^[m](T)warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, ^22 (U)saying, “^(V)The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised up on the third day.”

²³ And He was saying to them all, “^(W)If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. ²⁴ For ^(X)whoever wishes to save his ^[n]life will lose it, but whoever loses his ^[o]life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. ²⁵ For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and ^(Y)loses or forfeits himself? ^26 (Z)For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. ²⁷ But I say to you truthfully, ^(AA)there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

The Transfiguration

^28 (AB)Some eight days after these sayings, He took along ^(AC)Peter and John and James, and ^(AD)went up on the mountain ^(AE)to pray. ²⁹ And while He was ^(AF)praying, the appearance of His face ^(AG)became different, and His clothing became white and ^[p]gleaming. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, ³¹ who, appearing in ^[q]glory, were speaking of His ^(AH)departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² Now Peter and his companions ^(AI)had been overcome with sleep; but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men standing with Him. ³³ And as ^[r]these were leaving Him, Peter said to Jesus, “^(AJ)Master, it is good for us to be here; ^(AK)let us make three ^[s]tabernacles: one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—^(AL)not realizing what he was saying. ³⁴ While he was saying this, a cloud ^[t]formed and began to overshadow them; and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ Then ^(AM)a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “^(AN)This is My Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!” ³⁶ And when the voice ^[u]had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And ^(AO)they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen.

^37 (AP)On the next day, when they came down from the mountain, a large crowd met Him. ³⁸ And a man from the crowd shouted, saying, “Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my ^[v]only boy, ³⁹ and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams, and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth; and only with difficulty does it leave him, mauling him as it leaves. ⁴⁰ I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.” ⁴¹ And Jesus answered and said, “You unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you and put up with you? Bring your son here.” ⁴² While he was still approaching, the demon ^[w]slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. ⁴³ And they were all amazed at the ^[x](AQ)greatness of God.

^(AR)But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, ⁴⁴ “Let these words sink into your ears; ^(AS)for the Son of Man is going to be ^[y]delivered into the hands of men.” ⁴⁵ But ^(AT)they ^[z]did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about this statement.

The Test of Greatness

^46 (AU)An argument ^[aa]started among them as to which of them might be the greatest. ⁴⁷ But Jesus, ^(AV)knowing ^[ab]what they were thinking in their heart, took a child and stood him by His side, ⁴⁸ and said to them, “^(AW)Whoever receives this child in My name receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me; ^(AX)for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great.”

^49 (AY)John answered and said, “^(AZ)Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.” ⁵⁰ But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; ^(BA)for he who is not against you is ^[ac]for you.”

⁵¹ When the days were approaching for ^(BB)His ^[ad]ascension, He ^[ae]was determined ^(BC)to go to Jerusalem; ⁵² and He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the ^(BD)Samaritans to ^[af]make arrangements for Him. ⁵³ But they did not receive Him, ^(BE)because ^[ag]He was traveling toward Jerusalem. ⁵⁴ When His disciples ^(BF)James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to ^(BG)command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” ⁵⁵ But He turned and rebuked them, [^[ah]and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; ⁵⁶ for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they went on to another village.

Exacting Discipleship

^57 (BH)As they were going along the road, ^(BI)someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” ⁵⁸ And Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes and the birds of the ^[ai]air have ^[aj]nests, but ^(BJ)the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.” ⁵⁹ And He said to another, “^(BK)Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, permit me first to go and bury my father.” ⁶⁰ But He said to him, “Allow the dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and ^(BL)proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.” ⁶¹ Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord; but ^(BM)first permit me to say good-bye to those at home.” ⁶² But Jesus said to him, “^(BN)No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”