Teach Me Your Paths

^[a] Of David.

The Lord's Chosen Place of Worship

12 ^(A)“These are the statutes and rules that you shall be careful to do in the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess, ^(B)all the days that you live on the earth. ^2 (C)You shall surely destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess served their gods, ^(D)on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. ³ You shall tear down their altars and dash in pieces ^(E)their pillars and burn their ^(F)Asherim with fire. You shall chop down the carved images of their gods and ^(G)destroy their name out of that place. ^4 (H)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way. ⁵ But you shall seek ^(I)the place that the Lord your God will choose out of all your tribes to put his name and make his habitation^[a] there. There you shall go, ⁶ and there you shall bring your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(J)your tithes and the contribution that you present, your vow offerings, your freewill offerings, and the ^(K)firstborn of your herd and of your flock. ⁷ And ^(L)there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and ^(M)you shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

⁸ “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, ^(N)everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes, ⁹ for you have not as yet come to ^(O)the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ But when ^(P)you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, ^(Q)and when he gives you rest from all your enemies around, so that you live in safety, ¹¹ then to ^(R)the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, ^(S)your tithes and the contribution that you present, and all your finest vow offerings that you vow to the Lord. ¹² And ^(T)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, and the Levite that is within your towns, since ^(U)he has no portion or inheritance with you. ^13 (V)Take care that you do not offer your burnt offerings at any place that you see, ¹⁴ but at ^(W)the place that the Lord will choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I am commanding you.

¹⁵ “However, you may slaughter and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you desire, ^(X)according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you. ^(Y)The unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle and as of the deer. ^16 (Z)Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ¹⁷ You may not eat within your towns ^(AA)the tithe of your grain or of your wine or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, or any of your vow offerings that you vow, or your freewill offerings or the contribution that you present, ¹⁸ but ^(AB)you shall eat them before the Lord your God in ^(AC)the place that the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your towns. And ^(AD)you shall rejoice before the Lord your God in all that you undertake. ^19 (AE)Take care that you do not neglect the Levite as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “When the Lord your God ^(AF)enlarges your territory, ^(AG)as he has promised you, and you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you crave meat, you may eat meat whenever you desire. ²¹ If ^(AH)the place that the Lord your God will choose to put his name there is too far from you, ^(AI)then you may kill any of your herd or your flock, which the Lord has given you, as I have commanded you, and you may eat within your towns whenever you desire. ²² Just ^(AJ)as the gazelle or the deer is eaten, so you may eat of it. ^(AK)The unclean and the clean alike may eat of it. ^23 (AL)Only be sure that you do not eat the blood, ^(AM)for the blood is the life, and you shall not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴ You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth like water. ²⁵ You shall not eat it, ^(AN)that all may go well with you and with your children after you, ^(AO)when you do what is right in the sight of the Lord. ²⁶ But the ^(AP)holy things that are due from you, and ^(AQ)your vow offerings, you shall take, and you shall go to ^(AR)the place that the Lord will choose, ²⁷ and ^(AS)offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God, but the flesh you may eat. ²⁸ Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, ^(AT)that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

Warning Against Idolatry

²⁹ “When ^(AU)the Lord your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land, ³⁰ take care ^(AV)that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’ ^31 (AW)You shall not worship the Lord your God in that way, for every ^(AX)abominable thing that the Lord hates they have done for their gods, for ^(AY)they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.

^32 [b] “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. ^(AZ)You shall not add to it or take from it.

Jesus Raises a Widow's Son

¹¹ Soon afterward^[a] he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a great crowd went with him. ¹² As he drew near to the gate of the town, behold, a man who had died was being carried out, ^(A)the only son of his mother, and she was a widow, and a considerable crowd from the town was with her. ¹³ And when the Lord saw her, ^(B)he had compassion on her and ^(C)said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴ Then he came up and touched ^(D)the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, ^(E)arise.” ¹⁵ And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus^{[b] (F)}gave him to his mother. ¹⁶ Fear seized them all, and ^(G)they glorified God, saying, ^(H)“A great prophet has arisen among us!” and ^(I)“God has visited his people!” ¹⁷ And this report about him spread through the whole of Judea and all the surrounding country.

Messengers from John the Baptist

^18 (J)(K)The disciples of John reported all these things to him. And John, ¹⁹ calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to the Lord, saying, “Are you the one ^(L)who is to come, or ^(M)shall we look for another?” ²⁰ And when the men had come to him, they said, “John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the one ^(N)who is to come, or ^(O)shall we look for another?’” ²¹ In that hour ^(P)he healed many people of diseases and plagues and evil spirits, and ^(Q)on many who were blind he bestowed sight. ²² And he answered them, “Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: ^(R)the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, ^(S)lepers^[c] are cleansed, and ^(T)the deaf hear, ^(U)the dead are raised up, ^(V)the poor have good news preached to them. ²³ And blessed is the one who is ^(W)not offended by me.”

²⁴ When John's messengers had gone, Jesus^[d] began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out ^(X)into the wilderness to see? ^(Y)A reed shaken by the wind? ²⁵ What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are dressed in splendid clothing and live in luxury are in kings' courts. ²⁶ What then did you go out to see? ^(Z)A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. ²⁷ This is he of whom it is written,

²⁸ I tell you, among those born of women none is greater than John. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.” ²⁹ (^(AB)When all the people heard this, and ^(AC)the tax collectors too, they declared God just,^{[e] (AD)}having been baptized with ^(AE)the baptism of John, ^30 (AF)but the Pharisees and ^(AG)the lawyers ^(AH)rejected ^(AI)the purpose of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.)

³¹ “To what then shall I compare the people of this generation, and what are they like? ³² They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another,

³³ For John the Baptist has come ^(AJ)eating no bread and ^(AK)drinking no wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ ³⁴ The Son of Man has come ^(AL)eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, ^(AM)a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ ³⁵ Yet ^(AN)wisdom is justified by all her children.”