Deuteronomy 25

New International Version

25 When people have a dispute, they are to take it to court and the judges^(A) will decide the case,^(B) acquitting^(C) the innocent and condemning the guilty.^(D) ²If the guilty person deserves to be beaten,^(E) the judge shall make them lie down and have them flogged in his presence with the number of lashes the crime deserves, ³but the judge must not impose more than forty lashes.^(F) If the guilty party is flogged more than that, your fellow Israelite will be degraded in your eyes.^(G)

⁴Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.^(H)

⁵If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her.^(I) ⁶The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.^(J)

⁷However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife,^(K) she shall go to the elders at the town gate^(L) and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.”^(M) ⁸Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” ⁹his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals,^(N) spit in his face^(O) and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

¹¹If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, ¹²you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity.^(P)

¹³Do not have two differing weights in your bag—one heavy, one light.^(Q) ¹⁴Do not have two differing measures in your house—one large, one small. ¹⁵You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long^(R) in the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁶For the Lord your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly.^(S)

¹⁷Remember what the Amalekites^(T) did to you along the way when you came out of Egypt. ¹⁸When you were weary and worn out, they met you on your journey and attacked all who were lagging behind; they had no fear of God.^(U) ¹⁹When the Lord your God gives you rest^(V) from all the enemies^(W) around you in the land he is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you shall blot out the name of Amalek^(X) from under heaven. Do not forget!

Jeremiah 17

New International Version

17 “Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool,^(A)
    inscribed with a flint point,
on the tablets of their hearts^(B)
    and on the horns^(C) of their altars.
²Even their children remember
    their altars and Asherah poles^[a]^(D)
beside the spreading trees
    and on the high hills.^(E)
³My mountain in the land
    and your^[b] wealth and all your treasures
I will give away as plunder,^(F)
    together with your high places,^(G)
    because of sin throughout your country.^(H)
⁴Through your own fault you will lose
    the inheritance^(I) I gave you.
I will enslave you to your enemies^(J)
    in a land^(K) you do not know,
for you have kindled my anger,
    and it will burn^(L) forever.”

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,^(M)
    who draws strength from mere flesh
    and whose heart turns away from the Lord.^(N)
⁶That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;
    they will not see prosperity when it comes.
They will dwell in the parched places^(O) of the desert,
    in a salt^(P) land where no one lives.

⁷“But blessed^(Q) is the one who trusts^(R) in the Lord,
    whose confidence is in him.
⁸They will be like a tree planted by the water
    that sends out its roots by the stream.^(S)
It does not fear when heat comes;
    its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought^(T)
    and never fails to bear fruit.”^(U)

⁹The heart^(V) is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

¹⁰“I the Lord search the heart^(W)
and examine the mind,^(X)
to reward^(Y) each person according to their conduct,
according to what their deeds deserve.”^(Z)

¹¹Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay
are those who gain riches by unjust means.
When their lives are half gone, their riches will desert them,
and in the end they will prove to be fools.^(AA)

¹²A glorious throne,^(AB) exalted from the beginning,
    is the place of our sanctuary.
¹³Lord, you are the hope^(AC) of Israel;
    all who forsake^(AD) you will be put to shame.
Those who turn away from you will be written in the dust^(AE)
    because they have forsaken the Lord,
    the spring of living water.^(AF)

¹⁴Heal me, Lord, and I will be healed;^(AG)
    save^(AH) me and I will be saved,
    for you are the one I praise.^(AI)
¹⁵They keep saying to me,
    “Where is the word of the Lord?
    Let it now be fulfilled!”^(AJ)
¹⁶I have not run away from being your shepherd;
    you know I have not desired the day of despair.
    What passes my lips^(AK) is open before you.
¹⁷Do not be a terror^(AL) to me;
    you are my refuge^(AM) in the day of disaster.^(AN)
¹⁸Let my persecutors be put to shame,
    but keep me from shame;
let them be terrified,
    but keep me from terror.
Bring on them the day of disaster;
    destroy them with double destruction.^(AO)

Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy

¹⁹This is what the Lord said to me: “Go and stand at the Gate of the People,^[c] through which the kings of Judah go in and out; stand also at all the other gates of Jerusalem.^(AP) ²⁰Say to them, ‘Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah and all people of Judah and everyone living in Jerusalem^(AQ) who come through these gates.^(AR) ²¹This is what the Lord says: Be careful not to carry a load on the Sabbath^(AS) day or bring it through the gates of Jerusalem. ²²Do not bring a load out of your houses or do any work on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your ancestors.^(AT) ²³Yet they did not listen or pay attention;^(AU) they were stiff-necked^(AV) and would not listen or respond to discipline.^(AW) ²⁴But if you are careful to obey me, declares the Lord, and bring no load through the gates of this city on the Sabbath, but keep the Sabbath day holy^(AX) by not doing any work on it, ²⁵then kings who sit on David’s throne^(AY) will come through the gates of this city with their officials. They and their officials will come riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by the men of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.^(AZ) ²⁶People will come from the towns of Judah and the villages around Jerusalem, from the territory of Benjamin and the western foothills, from the hill country and the Negev,^(BA) bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, and bringing thank offerings to the house of the Lord. ²⁷But if you do not obey^(BB) me to keep the Sabbath^(BC) day holy by not carrying any load as you come through the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle an unquenchable fire^(BD) in the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses.’”^(BE)

Footnotes

Jeremiah 17:2 That is, wooden symbols of the goddess Asherah
Jeremiah 17:3 Or hills / ³and the mountains of the land. / Your
Jeremiah 17:19 Or Army

2 Corinthians 3

New International Version

3 Are we beginning to commend ourselves^(A) again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation^(B) to you or from you? ²You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone.^(C) ³You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God,^(D) not on tablets of stone^(E) but on tablets of human hearts.^(F)

⁴Such confidence^(G) we have through Christ before God. ⁵Not that we are competent in ourselves^(H) to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God.^(I) ⁶He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant^(J)—not of the letter^(K) but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.^(L)

The Greater Glory of the New Covenant

⁷Now if the ministry that brought death,^(M) which was engraved in letters on stone, came with glory, so that the Israelites could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of its glory,^(N) transitory though it was, ⁸will not the ministry of the Spirit be even more glorious? ⁹If the ministry that brought condemnation^(O) was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness!^(P) ¹⁰For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. ¹¹And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts!

¹²Therefore, since we have such a hope,^(Q) we are very bold.^(R) ¹³We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face^(S) to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. ¹⁴But their minds were made dull,^(T) for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant^(U) is read.^(V) It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. ¹⁵Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. ¹⁶But whenever anyone turns to the Lord,^(W) the veil is taken away.^(X) ¹⁷Now the Lord is the Spirit,^(Y) and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.^(Z) ¹⁸And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate^[a]^(AA) the Lord’s glory,^(AB) are being transformed into his image^(AC) with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.