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,^(A) with large cities fortified to the heavens.^{(B) 2} The people are strong and tall, the descendants of the Anakim.^(C) You know about them and you have heard it said about them, ‘Who can stand up to the sons of Anak?’ ^{(D) 3} But understand that today the Lord your God will cross over ahead of you^(E) as a consuming fire;^(F) he will devastate and subdue them before you. You will drive them out and destroy them swiftly,^(G) 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.’^(H) Instead, the Lord will drive out these nations before you because of their wickedness.^{(I) 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^(J) to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(K)

Israel’s Rebellion and Moses’s Intercession

⁷ “Remember^(L) 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^(M) 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.^(N) The exact words were on them, which the Lord spoke to you from the fire on the mountain.^{(O) 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.’^{(P) 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.^(Q) 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.^{(R) 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,^(S) because he was about to destroy you. But again the Lord listened to me on that occasion.^{(T) 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.^(U)

²² “You continued to provoke the Lord at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah.^{(V) 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.^{(W) 24} You have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have^[a] known you.^(X)

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^(Y) 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.’^{(Z) 29} But they are your people, your inheritance, whom you brought out by your great power and outstretched arm.^(AA)

The Covenant Renewed

10 “The Lord said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to me on the mountain and make a wooden ark. ² I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’ ³ So I made an ark of acacia wood,^(AB) cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. ⁴ Then on the day of the assembly, the Lord wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that he had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The Lord gave them to me, ⁵ and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the Lord commanded me.”^(AC)

⁶ The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan^[b] to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar his son became priest in his place.^{(AD) 7} They traveled from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with flowing streams.^(AE)

⁸ “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi^(AF) to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before the Lord to serve him, and to pronounce blessings in his name, as it is today. ⁹ For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.^(AG)

¹⁰ “I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights like the first time. The Lord also listened to me on this occasion;^(AH) he agreed not to annihilate you. ¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their ancestors.’^(AI)

What God Requires

¹² “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you except to fear^(AJ) the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, to love him, and to worship the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul?^{(AK) 13} Keep the Lord’s commands and statutes I am giving you today, for your own good.^{(AL) 14} The heavens, indeed the highest heavens, belong to the Lord your God, as does the earth and everything in it.^{(AM) 15} Yet the Lord had his heart set on your ancestors and loved them.^(AN) He chose their descendants after them—he chose you out of all the peoples, as it is today.^{(AO) 16} Therefore, circumcise your hearts^(AP) and don’t be stiff-necked any longer. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is the God of gods^(AQ) and Lord of lords,^(AR) the great, mighty, and awe-inspiring God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.^{(AS) 18} He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the resident alien, giving him food and clothing.^{(AT) 19} You are also to love the resident alien, since you were resident aliens in the land of Egypt.^{(AU) 20} You are to fear the Lord your God and worship him. Remain faithful^[c] to him and take oaths in his name.^{(AV) 21} He is your praise and he is your God, who has done for you these great and awe-inspiring works your eyes have seen. ²² Your ancestors went down to Egypt, seventy people in all,^(AW) and now the Lord your God has made you numerous, like the stars of the sky.^(AX)

The Plot to Kill Jesus

14 It^(A) was two days before the Passover^(B) and the Festival^(C) of Unleavened Bread.^(D) The chief priests and the scribes^(E) were looking for a cunning^(F) way to arrest Jesus and kill him.^{(G) 2} “Not during the festival,” they said, “so that there won’t be a riot among the people.”

The Anointing at Bethany

³ While^(H) he was in Bethany^(I) at the house of Simon the leper,^[a](J) as he was reclining at the table,^(K) a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured it on his head.^{(L) 4} But some were expressing indignation to one another: “Why has this perfume been wasted? ⁵ For this perfume might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii^[b](M) and given to the poor.”^(N) And they began to scold her.

⁶ Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a noble thing^(O) for me. ⁷ You always have the poor^(P) with you, and you can do what is good for them whenever you want, but you do not always have me.^{(Q) 8} She has done what she could; she has anointed my body^(R) in advance for burial.^{(S) 9} Truly I tell you,^(T) wherever the gospel^(U) is proclaimed in the whole world,^(V) what she has done will also be told in memory of her.”

¹⁰ Then^(W) Judas Iscariot,^(X) one of the Twelve,^(Y) went to the chief priests^(Z) to betray Jesus^(AA) to them. ¹¹ And when they heard this, they were glad and promised to give him money.^(AB) So he started looking for a good opportunity to betray^(AC) him.

Preparation for Passover

¹² On^(AD) the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they sacrifice the Passover lamb,^(AE) his disciples^(AF) asked him, “Where do you want us to go and prepare the Passover so that you may eat it?”

¹³ So he sent two of his disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. ¹⁴ Wherever he enters, tell the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher^(AG) says, “Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?”’ ¹⁵ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make the preparations for us there.” ¹⁶ So the disciples^(AH) went out, entered the city, and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

Betrayal at the Passover

¹⁷ When^(AI) evening came, he arrived with the Twelve.^{(AJ) 18} While they were reclining and eating, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”

¹⁹ They began to be distressed and to say to him one by one, “Surely not I?”

²⁰ He said to them, “It is one of the Twelve—the one who is dipping bread in the bowl with me. ²¹ For the Son of Man^(AK) will go just as it is written^(AL) about him,^(AM) but woe^(AN) to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had not been born.”

The First Lord’s Supper

²² As^(AO) they were eating, he took bread,^(AP) blessed and broke^(AQ) it, gave it to them,^(AR) and said, “Take it; this is my body.”^{(AS) 23} Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks,^(AT) he gave it to them, and they all drank from it. ²⁴ He said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant,^[c](AU) which is poured out^(AV) for many.^{(AW) 25} Truly I tell you,^(AX) I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine^(AY) until that day when I drink it new^[d](AZ) in the kingdom of God.”^(BA)