The Greatest Command

6 “This is the command—the statutes and ordinances—the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess.^{(A) 2} Do this so that you may fear^(B) the Lord your God^(C) all the days of your life^(D) by keeping all his statutes and commands I am giving you, your son, and your grandson, and so that you may have a long life.^{(E) 3} Listen, Israel, and be careful to follow them, so that you may prosper and multiply greatly, because the Lord, the God of your ancestors, has promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.^(F)

⁴ “Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a](G) 5} Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.^{(H) 6} These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart.^{(I) 7} Repeat them to your children.^(J) Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. ⁸ Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol^[b] on your forehead.^{[c](K) 9} Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

Remembering God through Obedience

¹⁰ “When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that he would give you—a land with large and beautiful cities that you did not build, ¹¹ houses full of every good thing that you did not fill them with, cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant^(L)—and when you eat and are satisfied,^{(M) 12} be careful not to forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.^{(N) 13} Fear the Lord your God, worship him, and take your oaths in his name.^{(O) 14} Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you, ¹⁵ for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God.^(P) Otherwise, the Lord your God will become angry with you and obliterate you from the face of the earth. ¹⁶ Do not test^(Q) the Lord your God as you tested him at Massah.^{(R) 17} Carefully observe the commands of the Lord your God, the decrees and statutes he has commanded you. ¹⁸ Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight, so that you may prosper and so that you may enter and possess the good land^(S) the Lord your God swore to give your ancestors,^{(T) 19} by driving out all your enemies before you, as the Lord has said.^(U)

²⁰ “When your son asks you in the future, ‘What is the meaning^(V) of the decrees, statutes, and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded you?’ ²¹ tell him, ‘We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.^{(W) 22} Before our eyes the Lord inflicted great and devastating signs and wonders on Egypt,^(X) on Pharaoh, and on all his household, ²³ but he brought us from there in order to lead us in and give us the land that he swore to our ancestors. ²⁴ The Lord commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the Lord our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today. ²⁵ Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

Israel to Destroy Idolatrous Nations

7 “When the Lord your God brings you into the land^(Y) you are entering to possess,^(Z) and he drives out many nations before you—the Hethites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations^(AA) more numerous and powerful than you^(AB)— ² and when the Lord your God delivers them over to you and you defeat them, you must completely destroy^(AC) them. Make no treaty with them and show them no mercy.^{(AD) 3} You must not intermarry with them, and you must not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons,^{(AE) 4} because they will turn your sons away from me to worship other gods.^(AF) Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you,^(AG) and he will swiftly destroy you. ⁵ Instead, this is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, cut down their Asherah poles,^(AH) and burn their carved images. ⁶ For you are a holy people^(AI) belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession^(AJ) out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.

⁷ “The Lord had his heart set on you and chose you, not because you were more numerous than all peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ⁸ But because the Lord loved^(AK) you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors, he brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed^(AL) you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his gracious covenant loyalty for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commands.^{(AM) 10} But he directly pays back^[d] and destroys those who hate him.^(AN) He will not hesitate to pay back directly^[e] the one who hates him. ¹¹ So keep the command—the statutes and ordinances—that I am giving you to follow today.

¹² “If you listen to and are careful to keep these ordinances, the Lord your God will keep his covenant loyalty with you, as he swore to your ancestors.^{(AO) 13} He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will bless your offspring,^[f](AP) and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and fresh oil—the young of your herds, and the newborn of your flocks, in the land he swore to your ancestors that he would give you. ¹⁴ You will be blessed above all peoples; there will be no infertile male or female among you or your livestock. ¹⁵ The Lord will remove all sickness from you; he will not put on you^(AQ) all the terrible diseases of Egypt that you know about, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. ¹⁶ You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God is delivering over to you and not look on them with pity. Do not worship their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you say to yourself, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I drive them out?’ ¹⁸ do not be afraid of them. Be sure to remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and all Egypt: ¹⁹ the great trials that you saw, the signs and wonders, the strong hand and outstretched arm, by which the Lord your God brought you out. The Lord your God will do the same to all the peoples you fear. ²⁰ The Lord your God will also send hornets against them until all the survivors and those hiding from you perish.^{(AR) 21} Don’t be terrified of them, for the Lord your God, a great and awesome God, is among you. ²² The Lord your God will drive out these nations before you little by little. You will not be able to destroy them all at once; otherwise, the wild animals will become too numerous for you.^{(AS) 23} The Lord your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ²⁴ He will hand their kings over to you, and you will wipe out their names under heaven. No one will be able to stand against you; you will annihilate them. ²⁵ Burn up the carved images of their gods. Don’t covet the silver and gold on the images and take it for yourself, or else you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God. ²⁶ Do not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it. You are to abhor and detest it utterly because it is set apart for destruction.

Remember the Lord

8 “Carefully follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase, and may enter and take possession of the land^(AT) the Lord swore to your ancestors. ² Remember that the Lord your God led you on the entire journey these forty years in the wilderness, so that he might humble you and test you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. ³ He humbled you by letting you go hungry; then he gave you manna to eat, which you and your ancestors had not known, so that you might learn that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.^{(AU) 4} Your clothing did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years.^{(AV) 5} Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. ⁶ So keep the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land,^(AW) a land with streams, springs, and deep water sources, flowing in both valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat, barley, vines, figs, and pomegranates; a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without shortage, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you will mine copper. ¹⁰ When you eat and are full,^(AX) you will bless the Lord your God for the good land^(AY) he has given you.

¹¹ “Be careful that you don’t forget the Lord your God by failing to keep his commands, ordinances, and statutes that I am giving you today. ¹² When you eat and are full, and build beautiful houses to live in, ¹³ and your herds and flocks grow large, and your silver and gold multiply, and everything else you have increases, ¹⁴ be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.^{(AZ) 15} He led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its poisonous^[g] snakes and scorpions, a thirsty land where there was no water. He brought water out of the flint rock for you. ¹⁶ He fed you in the wilderness with manna,^(BA) which your ancestors had not known, in order to humble and test you, so that in the end he might cause you to prosper. ¹⁷ You may say to yourself, ‘My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me,’ ¹⁸ but remember that the Lord your God gives you the power to gain wealth, in order to confirm his covenant he swore to your ancestors,^(BB) as it is today. ¹⁹ If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve them and bow in worship to them, I testify against you today that you will certainly perish.^{(BC) 20} Like the nations the Lord is about to destroy before you, you will perish if you do not obey the Lord your God.

Warning against Self-Righteousness

9 “Listen, Israel: Today you are about to cross the Jordan to enter and drive out nations greater and stronger than you,^(BD) with large cities fortified to the heavens.^{(BE) 2} The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim.^(BF) You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?’ ^{(BG) 3} But understand that today the Lord your God will cross over ahead of you^(BH) as a consuming fire;^(BI) he will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly,^(BJ) as the Lord has told you. ⁴ When the Lord your God drives them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord brought me in to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’^(BK) Instead, the Lord will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.^{(BL) 5} You are not going to take possession of their land because of your righteousness or your integrity. Instead, the Lord your God will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness, in order to fulfill the promise he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ⁶ Understand that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land^(BM) to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(BN)

Israel’s Rebellion and Moses’s Intercession

⁷ “Remember^(BO) and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place. ⁸ You provoked the Lord at Horeb, and he was angry enough with you to destroy you. ⁹ When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant^(BP) the Lord made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat food or drink water. ¹⁰ On the day of the assembly the Lord gave me the two stone tablets, inscribed by God’s finger.^(BQ) The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.^{(BR) 11} The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant, at the end of the forty days and forty nights.

¹² “The Lord said to me, ‘Get up and go down immediately from here. For your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have quickly turned from the way that I commanded them; they have made a cast image for themselves.’^{(BS) 13} The Lord also said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁴ Leave me alone, and I will destroy them and blot out their name under heaven.^(BT) Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.’

¹⁵ “So I went back down the mountain, while it was blazing with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands. ¹⁶ I saw how you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made a calf image for yourselves. You had quickly turned from the way the Lord had commanded for you. ¹⁷ So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands, shattering them before your eyes.^{(BU) 18} I fell down like the first time in the presence of the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and angering him. ¹⁹ I was afraid of the fierce anger the Lord had directed against you,^(BV) because he was about to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me on that occasion.^{(BW) 20} The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him. But I prayed for Aaron at that time also. ²¹ I took the sinful calf you had made and burned it. I crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust, and threw its dust into the stream that came down from the mountain.^(BX)

²² “You continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.^{(BY) 23} When the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, he said, ‘Go up and possess the land I have given you’; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You did not believe or obey him.^{(BZ) 24} You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have^[h] known you.^(CA)

²⁵ “I fell down in the presence of the Lord forty days and forty nights because the Lord had threatened to destroy you. ²⁶ I prayed to the Lord:

Lord God, do not annihilate your people, your inheritance, whom you redeemed^(CB) through your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²⁷ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people’s stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin. ²⁸ Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’^{(CC) 29} But they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and outstretched arm.^(CD)

A Centurion’s Faith

7 When he had concluded saying all this to the people who were listening, he entered Capernaum.^{(A) 2} A centurion’s servant, who was highly valued by him, was sick and about to die. ³ When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent some Jewish elders to him, requesting him to come and save the life of his servant. ⁴ When they reached Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He is worthy for you to grant this, ⁵ because he loves our nation and has built us a synagogue.”^(B)

⁶ Jesus went with them, and when he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to tell him, “Lord, don’t trouble yourself, since I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. ⁷ That is why I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to you. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.^{[a](C) 8} For I too am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

⁹ Jesus heard this and was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following him, he said, “I tell you, I have not found so great a faith even in Israel.” ¹⁰ When those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant in good health.

A Widow’s Son Raised to Life

¹¹ Afterward he was on his way to a town called Nain. His disciples and a large crowd were traveling with him. ¹² Just as he neared the gate of the town, a dead man was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow.^(D) A large crowd from the town was also with her. ¹³ When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her^(E) and said, “Don’t weep.” ¹⁴ Then he came up and touched the open coffin, and the pallbearers stopped. And he said, “Young man, I tell you, get up!”^(F)

¹⁵ The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.^{(G) 16} Then fear^[b] came over everyone,^(H) and they glorified God,^(I) saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,”^(J) and “God has visited^[c] his people.”^{(K) 17} This report about him went throughout Judea and all the vicinity.

In Praise of John the Baptist

¹⁸ Then John’s disciples told him about all these things.^(L) So John summoned two of his disciples ¹⁹ and sent them to the Lord, asking, “Are you the one^(M) who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

²⁰ When the men reached him, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to ask you, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

²¹ At that time Jesus healed many people of diseases,^(N) afflictions, and evil spirits,^(O) and he granted sight to many blind people.^{(P) 22} He replied to them, “Go and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, those with leprosy^[d] are cleansed, the deaf hear,^(Q) the dead are raised, and the poor are told the good news,^{(R) 23} and blessed is the one who isn’t offended by me.”

²⁴ After John’s messengers left, he began to speak to the crowds about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swaying in the wind? ²⁵ What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothes? See, those who are splendidly dressed and live in luxury are in royal palaces. ²⁶ What then did you go out to see? A prophet?^(S) Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is the one about whom it is written:

²⁸ I tell you, among those born of women no one is greater than John,^[f] but the least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

²⁹ (And when all the people, including the tax collectors, heard this, they acknowledged God’s way of righteousness, because they had been baptized with John’s baptism.^{(U) 30} But since the Pharisees and experts in the law^(V) had not been baptized by him, they rejected the plan of God for themselves.^(W))

An Unresponsive Generation

³¹ “To what then should I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to each other:

³³ For John the Baptist did not come eating bread or drinking wine,^(X) and you say, ‘He has a demon!’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’^{(Y) 35} Yet wisdom is vindicated by all her children.”

Much Forgiveness, Much Love

³⁶ Then one of the Pharisees invited him to eat with him. He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table.^{(Z) 37} And a woman in the town who was a sinner found out that Jesus was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house.^(AA) She brought an alabaster jar of perfume ³⁸ and stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to wash his feet with her tears. She wiped his feet with her hair, kissing them and anointing them with the perfume.^(AB)

³⁹ When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “This man, if he were a prophet, would know who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—she’s a sinner!” ^(AC)

⁴⁰ Jesus replied to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”

He said, “Say it, teacher.”

⁴¹ “A creditor had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii,^[g](AD) and the other fifty. ⁴² Since they could not pay it back,^(AE) he graciously forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”

⁴³ Simon answered, “I suppose the one he forgave more.”

“You have judged correctly,” he told him. ⁴⁴ Turning to the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet,^(AF) but she, with her tears, has washed my feet and wiped them with her hair. ⁴⁵ You gave me no kiss,^(AG) but she hasn’t stopped kissing my feet since I came in. ⁴⁶ You didn’t anoint my head with olive oil,^(AH) but she has anointed my feet with perfume. ⁴⁷ Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that’s why she loved much. But the one who is forgiven little, loves little.” ⁴⁸ Then he said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”^(AI)

⁴⁹ Those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” ^(AJ)

⁵⁰ And he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you.^(AK) Go in peace.”^(AL)