^20 (A)“He who sacrifices to any god, except to the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

^21 (B)“You shall neither mistreat a ^[a]stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

^22 (C)“You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. ²³ If you afflict them in any way, and they ^(D)cry at all to Me, I will surely ^(E)hear their cry; ²⁴ and My ^(F)wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; ^(G)your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.

^25 (H)“If you lend money to any of My people who are poor among you, you shall not be like a moneylender to him; you shall not charge him ^(I)interest. ^26 (J)If you ever take your neighbor’s garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. ²⁷ For that is his only covering, it is his garment for his skin. What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am ^(K)gracious.

^28 (L)“You shall not revile God, nor curse a ^(M)ruler of your people.

²⁹ “You shall not delay to offer ^(N)the first of your ripe produce and your juices. ^(O)The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me. ^30 (P)Likewise you shall do with your oxen and your sheep. It shall be with its mother ^(Q)seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

³¹ “And you shall be ^(R)holy men to Me: ^(S)you shall not eat meat torn by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.

Justice for All

23 “You ^(T)shall not circulate a false report. Do not put your hand with the wicked to be an ^(U)unrighteous witness. ^2 (V)You shall not follow a crowd to do evil; ^(W)nor shall you testify in a dispute so as to turn aside after many to pervert justice. ³ You shall not show partiality to a ^(X)poor man in his dispute.

^4 (Y)“If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. ^5 (Z)If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, and you would refrain from helping it, you shall surely help him with it.

^6 (AA)“You shall not pervert the judgment of your poor in his dispute. ^7 (AB)Keep yourself far from a false matter; ^(AC)do not kill the innocent and righteous. For ^(AD)I will not justify the wicked. ⁸ And ^(AE)you shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds the discerning and perverts the words of the righteous.

⁹ “Also ^(AF)you shall not oppress a ^[b]stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

The Law of Sabbaths

^10 (AG)“Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, ¹¹ but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. In like manner you shall do with your vineyard and your ^[c]olive grove. ^12 (AH)Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed.

¹³ “And in all that I have said to you, ^(AI)be circumspect and ^(AJ)make no mention of the name of other gods, nor let it be heard from your mouth.

Three Annual Feasts^(AK)

^14 (AL)“Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year: ^15 (AM)You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread (you shall eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; ^(AN)none shall appear before Me empty); ^16 (AO)and the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors which you have sown in the field; and ^(AP)the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in the fruit of your labors from the field.

^17 (AQ)“Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord ^[d]God.

Rejected by His Own

⁴¹ The Jews then ^[a]complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” ⁴² And they said, ^(A)“Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

⁴³ Jesus therefore answered and said to them, ^[b]“Do not murmur among yourselves. ^44 (B)No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me ^(C)draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the prophets, ^(D)‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ ^(E)Therefore everyone who ^[c]has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. ^46 (F)Not that anyone has seen the Father, ^(G)except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. ⁴⁷ Most assuredly, I say to you, ^(H)he who believes ^[d]in Me has everlasting life. ^48 (I)I am the bread of life. ^49 (J)Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. ^50 (K)This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹ I am the living bread ^(L)which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and ^(M)the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.”

⁵² The Jews therefore ^(N)quarreled among themselves, saying, “How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?”

⁵³ Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless ^(O)you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. ^54 (P)Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. ⁵⁵ For My flesh is ^[e]food indeed, and My blood is ^[f]drink indeed. ⁵⁶ He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood ^(Q)abides in Me, and I in him. ⁵⁷ As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me. ^58 (R)This is the bread which came down from heaven—not ^(S)as your fathers ate the manna, and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

⁵⁹ These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.

Many Disciples Turn Away

^60 (T)Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, “This is a ^[g]hard saying; who can understand it?”

⁶¹ When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples ^[h]complained about this, He said to them, “Does this ^[i]offend you? ^62 (U)What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? ^63 (V)It is the Spirit who gives life; the ^(W)flesh profits nothing. The ^(X)words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. ⁶⁴ But ^(Y)there are some of you who do not believe.” For ^(Z)Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. ⁶⁵ And He said, “Therefore ^(AA)I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”

^66 (AB)From that time many of His disciples went ^[j]back and walked with Him no more. ⁶⁷ Then Jesus said to the twelve, “Do you also want to go away?”

⁶⁸ But Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have ^(AC)the words of eternal life. ^69 (AD)Also we have come to believe and know that You are the ^[k]Christ, the Son of the living God.”

⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, ^(AE)“Did I not choose you, the twelve, ^(AF)and one of you is a devil?” ⁷¹ He spoke of ^(AG)Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, for it was he who would ^(AH)betray Him, being one of the twelve.

^18 (A)“You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened ^(B)bread; nor shall the fat of My ^[a]sacrifice remain until morning. ^19 (C)The first of the firstfruits of your land you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God. ^(D)You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.

The Angel and the Promises

^20 (E)“Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. ²¹ Beware of Him and obey His voice; ^(F)do not provoke Him, for He will ^(G)not pardon your transgressions; for ^(H)My name is in Him. ²² But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then ^(I)I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. ^23 (J)For My Angel will go before you and ^(K)bring you in to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites and the Hivites and the Jebusites; and I will ^[b]cut them off. ²⁴ You shall not ^(L)bow down to their gods, nor serve them, ^(M)nor do according to their works; ^(N)but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars.

²⁵ “So you shall ^(O)serve the Lord your God, and ^(P)He will bless your bread and your water. And ^(Q)I will take sickness away from the midst of you. ^26 (R)No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will ^(S)fulfill the number of your days.

²⁷ “I will send ^(T)My fear before you, I will ^(U)cause confusion among all the people to whom you come, and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. ²⁸ And ^(V)I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. ^29 (W)I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. ³⁰ Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. ³¹ And ^(X)I will set your ^[c]bounds from the Red Sea to the sea, Philistia, and from the desert to the ^[d]River. For I will ^(Y)deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you shall drive them out before you. ^32 (Z)You shall make no ^[e]covenant with them, nor with their gods. ³³ They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, ^(AA)it will surely be a snare to you.”

The Whole Armor of God

¹⁰ Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. ^11 (A)Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the ^[a]wiles of the devil. ¹² For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against ^(B)principalities, against powers, against ^(C)the rulers of ^[b]the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. ^13 (D)Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand ^(E)in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

¹⁴ Stand therefore, ^(F)having girded your waist with truth, ^(G)having put on the breastplate of righteousness, ^15 (H)and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; ¹⁶ above all, taking ^(I)the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. ¹⁷ And ^(J)take the helmet of salvation, and ^(K)the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; ^18 (L)praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, ^(M)being watchful to this end with all perseverance and ^(N)supplication for all the saints— ¹⁹ and for me, that utterance may be given to me, ^(O)that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, ²⁰ for which ^(P)I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

A Gracious Greeting

²¹ But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, ^(Q)Tychicus, a beloved brother and ^(R)faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you; ^22 (S)whom I have sent to you for this very purpose, that you may know our affairs, and that he may ^(T)comfort your hearts.

²³ Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Amen.