Book of Common Prayer

11 “Therefore, you are to love Adonai your God and always obey his commission, regulations, rulings and mitzvot. ² Today it is you I am addressing — not your children, who haven’t known or experienced the discipline of Adonai your God, his greatness, his strong hand, his outstretched arm, ³ his signs and his actions which he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to his entire country. ⁴ They didn’t experience what he did to Egypt’s army, horses and chariots — how Adonai overwhelmed them with the water of the Sea of Suf as they were pursuing you, so that they remain destroyed to this day. ⁵ They didn’t experience what he kept doing for you in the desert until you arrived at this place; ⁶ or what he did to Datan and Aviram, the sons of Eli’av the descendant of Re’uven — how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households, tents and every living thing in their company, there in front of all Isra’el. ⁷ But you have seen with your own eyes all these great deeds of Adonai. ⁸ Therefore, you are to keep every mitzvah I am giving you today; so that you will be strong enough to go in and take possession of the land you are crossing over to conquer; ⁹ and so that you will live long in the land Adonai swore to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.

(vi) ¹⁰ “For the land you are entering in order to take possession of it isn’t like the land of Egypt. There you would sow your seed and had to use your feet to operate its irrigation system, as in a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are crossing over to take possession of is a land of hills and valleys, which soaks up water when rain falls from the sky. ¹² It is a land Adonai your God cares for. The eyes of Adonai your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

10 Next I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was dressed in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head; his face was like the sun, his legs like columns of fire; ² and he had a little scroll lying open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, ³ and shouted in a voice as loud as the roar of a lion; and when he shouted, seven thunderclaps sounded with voices that spoke. ⁴ When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a voice from heaven say,

⁵ Then the angel I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted his right hand toward heaven ⁶ and swore by the One who lives forever and ever,^[a] who created heaven and what is in it, earth and what is in it, and the sea and what is in it:^[b] “There will be no more delay; ⁷ on the contrary, in the days of the sound from the seventh angel when he sounds his shofar, the hidden plan of God will be brought to completion, the Good News as he proclaimed it to his servants the prophets.”

⁸ Next the voice which I had heard from heaven spoke to me again and said, “Go, take the scroll lying open in the hand of the angel standing on the sea and on the land!” ⁹ So I went over to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll; and he said to me, “Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” ¹⁰ I took the little scroll from the angel’s hand and ate it; and in my mouth it was sweet as honey; but after I had swallowed it, my stomach turned bitter. ¹¹ Then I was told, “You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings.”

⁴⁴ “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field. A man found it, hid it again, then in great joy went and sold everything he owned, and bought that field.

⁴⁵ “Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a merchant on the lookout for fine pearls. ⁴⁶ On finding one very valuable pearl he went away, sold everything he owned and bought it.

⁴⁷ “Once more, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net thrown into the lake, that caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen brought the net up onto the shore, sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad fish away. ⁴⁹ So it will be at the close of the age — the angels will go forth and separate the evil people from among the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will wail and grind their teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. ⁵² He said to them, “So then, every Torah-teacher who has been made into a talmid for the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a home who brings out of his storage room both new things and old.”

⁵³ When Yeshua had finished these parables, he left ⁵⁴ and went to his home town. There he taught them in their synagogue in a way that astounded them, so that they asked, “Where do this man’s wisdom and miracles come from? ⁵⁵ Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Miryam? and his brothers Ya‘akov, Yosef, Shim‘on and Y’hudah? ⁵⁶ And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all this?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Yeshua said to them, “The only place people don’t respect a prophet is in his home town and in his own house.” ⁵⁸ And he did few miracles there because of their lack of trust.