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 Parable of the Sower

⁴ As a large crowd was gathering, and people were coming to Jesus from every town, he said in a parable,^{(A) 5} “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some seed fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds of the sky devoured it. ⁶ Other seed fell on the rock; when it grew up, it withered away, since it lacked moisture. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns; the thorns grew up with it and choked it. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good ground; when it grew up, it produced fruit: a hundred times what was sown.”^(B) As he said this, he called out, “Let anyone who has ears to hear listen.”^(C)

Why Jesus Used Parables

⁹ Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?” ^{(D) 10} So he said, “The secrets of the kingdom of God have been given for you^(E) to know, but to the rest it is in parables, so that

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹¹ “This is the meaning of the parable:^(G) The seed is the word of God.^{(H) 12} The seed along the path are those who have heard and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. ¹³ And the seed on the rock are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy. Having no root, these believe for a while and fall away in a time of testing.^{(I) 14} As for the seed that fell among thorns, these are the ones who, when they have heard, go on their way and are choked with worries, riches, and pleasures of life,^(J) and produce no mature fruit. ¹⁵ But the seed in the good ground—these are the ones who, having heard the word with an honest and good heart, hold on to it and by enduring,^(K) produce fruit.

Using Your Light

¹⁶ “No one, after lighting a lamp,^(L) covers it with a basket or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lampstand so that those who come in may see its light.^{(M) 17} For nothing is concealed that won’t be revealed, and nothing hidden that won’t be made known and brought to light.^{(N) 18} Therefore take care how you listen. For whoever has, more will be given to him; ^(O) and whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken away from him.”

True Relationships

¹⁹ Then his mother and brothers^(P) came to him,^(Q) but they could not meet with him because of the crowd. ²⁰ He was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.”

²¹ But he replied to them, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear and do the word of God.”^(R)