Men and Vows

30 Moses spoke to ^(A)the heads of the tribes of the people of Israel, saying, “This is what the Lord has commanded. ^2 (B)If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or ^(C)swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. ^(D)He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Women and Vows

³ “If a woman vows a vow to the Lord and binds herself by a pledge, while within her father's house in her youth, ⁴ and her father hears of her vow and of her pledge by which she has bound herself and says nothing to her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁵ But if her father opposes her on the day that he hears of it, no vow of hers, no pledge by which she has bound herself shall stand. And the Lord will forgive her, because her father opposed her.

⁶ “If she marries a husband, while under her ^(E)vows or any thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she has bound herself, ⁷ and her husband hears of it and says nothing to her on the day that he hears, then her vows shall stand, and her pledges by which she has bound herself shall stand. ⁸ But if, on the day that her husband comes to hear of it, he opposes her, then he makes void her ^(F)vow that was on her, and the thoughtless utterance of her lips by which she bound herself. ^(G)And the Lord will forgive her. ⁹ (But any vow of a widow or of a divorced woman, anything by which she has bound herself, shall stand against her.) ¹⁰ And if she vowed in her husband's house or bound herself by a pledge with an oath, ¹¹ and her husband heard of it and said nothing to her and did not oppose her, then all her vows shall stand, and every pledge by which she bound herself shall stand. ¹² But if her husband makes them null and void on the day that he hears them, then whatever proceeds out of her lips concerning her vows or concerning her pledge of herself shall not stand. Her husband has made them void, and ^(H)the Lord will forgive her. ¹³ Any vow and any binding oath to afflict herself,^[a] her husband may establish,^[b] or her husband may make void. ¹⁴ But if her husband says nothing to her from day to day, then he establishes all her vows or all her pledges that are upon her. He has established them, because he said nothing to her on the day that he heard of them. ¹⁵ But if he makes them null and void after he has heard of them, then ^(I)he shall bear her iniquity.”

¹⁶ These are the statutes that the Lord commanded Moses about a man and his wife and about a father and his daughter while she is in her youth within her father's house.

Vengeance on Midian

31 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ^2 (J)“Avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall ^(K)be gathered to your people.” ³ So Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm men from among you for the war, that they may go against Midian to execute the Lord's vengeance on Midian. ⁴ You shall send a thousand from each of the tribes of Israel to the war.” ⁵ So there were provided, out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand from each tribe, twelve thousand ^(L)armed for war. ⁶ And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand from each tribe, together with Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, with the vessels of the sanctuary and ^(M)the trumpets for the alarm in his hand. ⁷ They warred against Midian, as the Lord commanded Moses, and ^(N)killed every male. ⁸ They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain, ^(O)Evi, Rekem, ^(P)Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. And they also killed ^(Q)Balaam the son of Beor with the sword. ⁹ And the people of Israel took captive the women of Midian and their little ones, and they took as plunder all their cattle, their flocks, and all their goods. ¹⁰ All their cities in the places where they lived, and all their ^(R)encampments, they burned with fire, ^11 (S)and took all the spoil and all the plunder, both of man and of beast. ¹² Then they brought the captives and the plunder and the spoil to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the people of Israel, at the camp on ^(T)the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

¹³ Moses and Eleazar the priest and all the chiefs of the congregation went to meet them outside the camp. ¹⁴ And Moses was angry with ^(U)the officers of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, who had come from service in the war. ¹⁵ Moses said to them, “Have you ^(V)let all the women live? ¹⁶ Behold, ^(W)these, ^(X)on Balaam's advice, caused the people of Israel to act treacherously against the Lord in the incident of ^(Y)Peor, and so ^(Z)the plague came among the congregation of the Lord. ¹⁷ Now therefore, ^(AA)kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man by lying with him. ¹⁸ But all the young girls who have not known man by lying with him ^(AB)keep alive for yourselves. ^19 (AC)Encamp outside the camp seven days. Whoever of you has killed any person and ^(AD)whoever has touched any slain, purify yourselves and your captives on the third day and on the seventh day. ²⁰ You shall purify every garment, every article of skin, all work of goats' hair, and every article of wood.”

²¹ Then Eleazar the priest said to the men in the army who had gone to battle: “This is the statute of the law that the Lord has commanded Moses: ²² only the gold, the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead, ²³ everything that can stand the fire, you shall pass through the fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless, it shall also be purified ^(AE)with the water for impurity. And whatever cannot stand the fire, you shall pass through the water. ²⁴ You must ^(AF)wash your clothes on the seventh day, and you shall be clean. And afterward you may come into the camp.”

²⁵ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁶ “Take the count of the plunder that was taken, both of man and of beast, you and Eleazar the priest and the heads of the fathers' houses of the congregation, ²⁷ and ^(AG)divide the plunder into two parts between the warriors who went out to battle and all the congregation. ²⁸ And levy for the Lord a tribute from the men of war who went out to battle, ^(AH)one out of five hundred, of the people and of the oxen and of the donkeys and of the flocks. ²⁹ Take it from their half and give it to Eleazar the priest as a contribution to the Lord. ³⁰ And from the people of Israel's half you shall take ^(AI)one drawn out of every fifty, of the people, of the oxen, of the donkeys, and of the flocks, of all the cattle, and give them to the Levites ^(AJ)who keep guard over the tabernacle of the Lord.” ³¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the Lord commanded Moses.

³² Now the plunder remaining of the spoil that the army took was 675,000 sheep, ³³ 72,000 cattle, ³⁴ 61,000 donkeys, ³⁵ and 32,000 persons in all, women who had not known man by lying with him. ³⁶ And the half, the portion of those who had gone out in the army, numbered 337,500 sheep, ³⁷ and ^(AK)the Lord's tribute of sheep was 675. ³⁸ The cattle were 36,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 72. ³⁹ The donkeys were 30,500, of which the Lord's tribute was 61. ⁴⁰ The persons were 16,000, of which the Lord's tribute was 32 persons. ⁴¹ And Moses gave the tribute, which was the contribution for the Lord, to Eleazar the priest, ^(AL)as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴² From the people of Israel's half, which Moses separated from that of the men who had served in the army— ⁴³ now the congregation's half was 337,500 sheep, ⁴⁴ 36,000 cattle, ⁴⁵ and 30,500 donkeys, ⁴⁶ and 16,000 persons— ^47 (AM)from the people of Israel's half Moses took one of every 50, both of persons and of beasts, and gave them to the Levites who kept guard over the tabernacle of the Lord, as the Lord commanded Moses.

⁴⁸ Then ^(AN)the officers who were over the thousands of the army, the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, came near to Moses ⁴⁹ and said to Moses, “Your servants have counted the men of war who are under our command, and there is not a man missing from us. ⁵⁰ And we have brought the Lord's offering, what each man found, articles of gold, armlets and bracelets, signet rings, earrings, and beads, ^(AO)to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord.” ⁵¹ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received from them the gold, all crafted articles. ⁵² And all the gold of the contribution that they presented to the Lord, from the commanders of thousands and the commanders of hundreds, was 16,750 shekels.^{[c] 53 (AP)}(The men in the army had each taken plunder for himself.) ⁵⁴ And Moses and Eleazar the priest received the gold from the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and brought it into the tent of meeting, ^(AQ)as a memorial for the people of Israel before the Lord.

Healing of a Man on the Sabbath

14 One Sabbath, ^(A)when he went to dine at the house of a ruler of the Pharisees, they were ^(B)watching him carefully. ² And behold, there was a man before him who had dropsy. ³ And Jesus responded to ^(C)the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, ^(D)“Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, or not?” ⁴ But they remained silent. Then he took him and healed him and sent him away. ⁵ And he said to them, ^(E)“Which of you, having a son^[a] or an ox that has fallen into a well on a Sabbath day, will not immediately pull him out?” ^6 (F)And they could not reply to these things.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

⁷ Now he told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed ^(G)how they chose the places of honor, saying to them, ⁸ “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, ⁹ and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. ¹⁰ But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, ^(H)so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. ¹¹ For ^(I)everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

The Parable of the Great Banquet

¹² He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give ^(J)a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers^[b] or your relatives or rich neighbors, ^(K)lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. ¹³ But when you give a feast, ^(L)invite ^(M)the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, ¹⁴ and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid ^(N)at ^(O)the resurrection of the just.”

¹⁵ When one of those who reclined at table with him heard these things, he said to him, ^(P)“Blessed is everyone who will ^(Q)eat bread in the kingdom of God!” ¹⁶ But he said to him, ^(R)“A man once ^(S)gave a great banquet and invited many. ¹⁷ And at the time for the banquet he ^(T)sent his servant^[c] to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ ¹⁸ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ ²⁰ And another said, ^(U)‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ ²¹ So the servant came and reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in ^(V)the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ ²² And the servant said, ‘Sir, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out to the highways and hedges and compel people to come in, that my house may be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you,^{[d] (W)}none of those men who were invited shall taste my banquet.’”

The Cost of Discipleship

²⁵ Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, ^26 (X)“If anyone comes to me and ^(Y)does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, ^(Z)yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. ^27 (AA)Whoever does not ^(AB)bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ²⁸ For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not ^(AC)first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ ³¹ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not ^(AD)sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? ³² And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. ^33 (AE)So therefore, any one of you who ^(AF)does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple.

Salt Without Taste Is Worthless

^34 (AG)“Salt is good, ^(AH)but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? ³⁵ It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. ^(AI)He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

The Lord Reigns

Make a Joyful Noise to the Lord

A Psalm.

The Lord Our God Is Holy