Reward for Obedience

26 “‘Do not make idols^(A) or set up an image^(B) or a sacred stone^(C) for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone^(D) in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

² “‘Observe my Sabbaths^(E) and have reverence for my sanctuary.^(F) I am the Lord.

³ “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey^(G) my commands, ⁴ I will send you rain^(H) in its season,^(I) and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.^{(J) 5} Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want^(K) and live in safety in your land.^(L)

⁶ “‘I will grant peace in the land,^(M) and you will lie down^(N) and no one will make you afraid.^(O) I will remove wild beasts^(P) from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷ You will pursue your enemies,^(Q) and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸ Five^(R) of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.^(S)

⁹ “‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers,^(T) and I will keep my covenant^(U) with you. ¹⁰ You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.^{(V) 11} I will put my dwelling place^[a](W) among you, and I will not abhor you.^{(X) 12} I will walk^(Y) among you and be your God,^(Z) and you will be my people.^{(AA) 13} I am the Lord your God,^(AB) who brought you out of Egypt^(AC) so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke^(AD) and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

¹⁴ “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,^{(AE) 15} and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws^(AF) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,^{(AG) 16} then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever^(AH) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.^(AI) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.^{(AJ) 17} I will set my face^(AK) against you so that you will be defeated^(AL) by your enemies;^(AM) those who hate you will rule over you,^(AN) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.^(AO)

¹⁸ “‘If after all this you will not listen to me,^(AP) I will punish^(AQ) you for your sins seven times over.^{(AR) 19} I will break down your stubborn pride^(AS) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.^{(AT) 20} Your strength will be spent in vain,^(AU) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.^(AV)

²¹ “‘If you remain hostile^(AW) toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,^(AX) as your sins deserve. ²² I will send wild animals^(AY) against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few^(AZ) in number that your roads will be deserted.^(BA)

²³ “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction^(BB) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁴ I myself will be hostile^(BC) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵ And I will bring the sword^(BD) on you to avenge^(BE) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague^(BF) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread,^(BG) ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

²⁷ “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me^(BH) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸ then in my anger^(BI) I will be hostile^(BJ) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.^{(BK) 29} You will eat^(BL) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.^{(BM) 30} I will destroy your high places,^(BN) cut down your incense altars^(BO) and pile your dead bodies^[b] on the lifeless forms of your idols,^(BP) and I will abhor^(BQ) you. ³¹ I will turn your cities into ruins^(BR) and lay waste^(BS) your sanctuaries,^(BT) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.^{(BU) 32} I myself will lay waste the land,^(BV) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.^{(BW) 33} I will scatter^(BX) you among the nations^(BY) and will draw out my sword^(BZ) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,^(CA) and your cities will lie in ruins.^{(CB) 34} Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate^(CC) and you are in the country of your enemies;^(CD) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest^(CE) it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶ “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf^(CF) will put them to flight.^(CG) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.^{(CH) 37} They will stumble over one another^(CI) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.^{(CJ) 38} You will perish^(CK) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.^{(CL) 39} Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’^(CM) sins they will waste away.^(CN)

⁴⁰ “‘But if they will confess^(CO) their sins^(CP) and the sins of their ancestors^(CQ)—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, ⁴¹ which made me hostile^(CR) toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts^(CS) are humbled^(CT) and they pay^(CU) for their sin, ⁴² I will remember my covenant with Jacob^(CV) and my covenant with Isaac^(CW) and my covenant with Abraham,^(CX) and I will remember the land. ⁴³ For the land will be deserted^(CY) by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected^(CZ) my laws and abhorred my decrees.^{(DA) 44} Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,^(DB) I will not reject them or abhor^(DC) them so as to destroy them completely,^(DD) breaking my covenant^(DE) with them. I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵ But for their sake I will remember^(DF) the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt^(DG) in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

⁴⁶ These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai^(DH) between himself and the Israelites through Moses.^(DI)

Psalm 55^[a]

For the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maskil^[b] of David.

Moral Benefits of Wisdom

23 Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate.^{(A) 2} And they began to accuse him, saying, “We have found this man subverting our nation.^(B) He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar^(C) and claims to be Messiah, a king.”^(D)

³ So Pilate asked Jesus, “Are you the king of the Jews?”

“You have said so,” Jesus replied.

⁴ Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no basis for a charge against this man.”^(E)

⁵ But they insisted, “He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching. He started in Galilee^(F) and has come all the way here.”

⁶ On hearing this, Pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.^{(G) 7} When he learned that Jesus was under Herod’s jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod,^(H) who was also in Jerusalem at that time.

⁸ When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him.^(I) From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort. ⁹ He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.^{(J) 10} The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him. ¹¹ Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him. Dressing him in an elegant robe,^(K) they sent him back to Pilate. ¹² That day Herod and Pilate became friends^(L)—before this they had been enemies.

¹³ Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers and the people, ¹⁴ and said to them, “You brought me this man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.^{(M) 15} Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death. ¹⁶ Therefore, I will punish him^(N) and then release him.” ^[17] [a]

¹⁸ But the whole crowd shouted, “Away with this man! Release Barabbas to us!”^{(O) 19} (Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for murder.)

²⁰ Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them again. ²¹ But they kept shouting, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

²² For the third time he spoke to them: “Why? What crime has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him punished and then release him.”^(P)

²³ But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. ²⁴ So Pilate decided to grant their demand. ²⁵ He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus to their will.

The Crucifixion of Jesus^(Q)

²⁶ As the soldiers led him away, they seized Simon from Cyrene,^(R) who was on his way in from the country, and put the cross on him and made him carry it behind Jesus.^{(S) 27} A large number of people followed him, including women who mourned and wailed^(T) for him. ²⁸ Jesus turned and said to them, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children.^{(U) 29} For the time will come when you will say, ‘Blessed are the childless women, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’^{(V) 30} Then

³¹ For if people do these things when the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”^(X)

³² Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.^{(Y) 33} When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. ³⁴ Jesus said, “Father,^(Z) forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”^[c](AA) And they divided up his clothes by casting lots.^(AB)

³⁵ The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him.^(AC) They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”^(AD)

³⁶ The soldiers also came up and mocked him.^(AE) They offered him wine vinegar^{(AF) 37} and said, “If you are the king of the Jews,^(AG) save yourself.”

³⁸ There was a written notice above him, which read: this is the king of the jews.^(AH)

³⁹ One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”^(AI)

⁴⁰ But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”^(AJ)

⁴² Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.^[d]”^(AK)

⁴³ Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”^(AL)

The Death of Jesus^(AM)

⁴⁴ It was now about noon, and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon,^{(AN) 45} for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple^(AO) was torn in two.^{(AP) 46} Jesus called out with a loud voice,^(AQ) “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”^[e](AR) When he had said this, he breathed his last.^(AS)

⁴⁷ The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God^(AT) and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” ⁴⁸ When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts^(AU) and went away. ⁴⁹ But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee,^(AV) stood at a distance,^(AW) watching these things.

The Burial of Jesus^(AX)

⁵⁰ Now there was a man named Joseph, a member of the Council, a good and upright man, ⁵¹ who had not consented to their decision and action. He came from the Judean town of Arimathea, and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God.^{(AY) 52} Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body. ⁵³ Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had yet been laid. ⁵⁴ It was Preparation Day,^(AZ) and the Sabbath was about to begin.

⁵⁵ The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee^(BA) followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it. ⁵⁶ Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes.^(BB) But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.^(BC)