Exodus 22:20-23:17
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
20 “Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord alone shall be devoted to destruction.(A)
21 “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.(B) 22 You shall not abuse any widow or orphan.(C) 23 If you do abuse them, when they cry out to me, I will surely heed their cry;(D) 24 my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children orphans.(E)
25 “If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, you shall not deal with them as a creditor; you shall not exact interest from them.(F) 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as guarantee, you shall restore it before the sun goes down, 27 for it may be your neighbor’s only clothing to use as a cover. In what else shall that person sleep? And when your neighbor cries out to me, I will listen, for I am compassionate.
28 “You shall not revile God or curse a leader of your people.(G)
29 “You shall not delay to make offerings from the fullness of your harvest and from the outflow of your presses.[a]
“The firstborn of your sons you shall give to me.(H) 30 You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep: seven days it shall remain with its mother; on the eighth day you shall give it to me.(I)
31 “You shall be people consecrated to me, so you shall not eat any meat that is mangled by beasts in the field; you shall throw it to the dogs.(J)
Justice for All
23 “You shall not spread a false report. You shall not join hands with the wicked to act as a malicious witness.(K) 2 You shall not follow a majority in wrongdoing; when you bear witness in a lawsuit, you shall not side with the majority so as to pervert justice,[b](L) 3 nor shall you be partial to the poor in a lawsuit.
4 “When you come upon your enemy’s ox or donkey going astray, you shall bring it back.(M)
5 “When you see the donkey of one who hates you struggling under its burden and you would hold back from setting it free, you must help to set it free.(N)
6 “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in their lawsuits.(O) 7 Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and those in the right, for I will not acquit the guilty.(P) 8 You shall take no bribe, for a bribe blinds officials and subverts the cause of those who are in the right.(Q)
9 “You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.(R)
Sabbatical Year and Sabbath
10 “Six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield,(S) 11 but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow so that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard and with your olive orchard.
12 “Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest so that your ox and your donkey may have relief and your homeborn slave and the resident alien may be refreshed.(T) 13 Be attentive to all that I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
The Annual Festivals
14 “Three times in the year you shall hold a festival for me. 15 You shall observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread; as I commanded you, you shall eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt.
“No one shall appear before me empty-handed.(U)
16 “You shall observe the Festival of Harvest, of the first fruits of your labor, of what you sow in the field. You shall observe the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather in from the field the fruit of your labor.(V) 17 Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God.
John 6:41-71
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
41 Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” 42 They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”(A) 43 Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me, and I will raise that person up on the last day.(B) 45 It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.(C) 46 Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.(D) 47 Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life.(E) 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”(F)
52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”(G) 53 So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.(H) 54 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day,(I) 55 for my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me and I in them.(J) 57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which the ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in a synagogue at Capernaum.
The Words of Eternal Life
60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you?(K) 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before?(L) 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who were the ones who did not believe and who was the one who would betray him.(M) 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”(N)
66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”[a](O) 70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? Yet one of you is a devil.”(P) 71 He was speaking of Judas son of Simon Iscariot,[b] for he, though one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
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Exodus 23:18-33
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
18 “You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened or let the fat of my festival remain until the morning.
19 “The choicest of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the Lord your God.
“You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.(A)
The Conquest of Canaan Promised
20 “I am going to send an angel in front of you, to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared.(B) 21 Be attentive to him and listen to his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him.(C)
22 “But if you listen attentively to his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.(D)
23 “When my angel goes in front of you and brings you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,(E) 24 you shall not bow down to their gods or serve them or follow their practices, but you shall utterly demolish them and break their pillars in pieces.(F) 25 You shall serve the Lord your God, and I[a] will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you.(G) 26 No one shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.(H) 27 I will send my terror in front of you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. 28 And I will send swarms of hornets[b] in front of you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you.(I) 29 I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild animals multiply against you.(J) 30 Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. 31 I will set your borders from the Red Sea[c] to the sea of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates, for I will hand over to you the inhabitants of the land, and you shall drive them out before you.(K) 32 You shall make no covenant with them and their gods.(L) 33 They shall not live in your land, lest they make you sin against me, for if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”(M)
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Ephesians 6:10-24
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Whole Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power; 11 put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil, 12 for our[a] struggle is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present[b] darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.[c](A) 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to withstand on the evil day and, having prevailed against everything, to stand firm.(B) 14 Stand, therefore, and belt your waist with truth and put on the breastplate of righteousness(C) 15 and lace up your sandals in preparation for the gospel of peace. 16 With all of these,[d] take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one.(D) 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.(E) 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.(F) 19 Pray also for me, so that when I speak a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,[e](G) 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it boldly, as I must speak.(H)
Personal Matters and Benediction
21 So that you also may know how I am and what I am doing, Tychicus will tell you everything. He is a dear brother and a faithful minister in the Lord.(I) 22 I am sending him to you for this very purpose, to let you know how we are and to encourage your hearts.
23 Peace be to the brothers and sisters and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.(J) 24 Grace be with all who have an undying love for[f] our Lord Jesus Christ.[g]
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