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Not Because of Righteousness
9 Hear, O Israel! You are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to possess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified up to heaven, 2 a great and tall people, the children of the Anakites, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, “Who can stand before the children of Anak?” 3 Understand therefore today that the Lord your God is He who goes over before you as a consuming fire. He shall destroy them and shall bring them down before you, so that you drive them out and destroy them quickly, as the Lord has spoken to you.
4 Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has driven them out before you, “On account of my righteousness the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,” but it is because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord is driving them out before you. 5 It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you enter to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 6 Understand, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess on account of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.
The Golden Calf
7 Remember, and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you departed out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord. 8 Also in Horeb you provoked the Lord to wrath, so that the Lord was angry enough with you to destroy you. 9 When I went up into the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which the Lord made with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread or drink water. 10 The Lord delivered to me two tablets of stone, written with the finger of God, and on them was written all the words which the Lord spoke to you at the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly.
11 At the end of forty days and forty nights, the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. 12 Then the Lord said to me, “Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They are quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molded image for themselves.”
13 Furthermore the Lord spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and indeed, they are a stubborn people. 14 Let Me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven, and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.”
15 So I returned and came down from the mount, and the mount burned with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 I looked, and indeed, you had sinned against the Lord your God and had made yourselves a molded calf. You had quickly turned aside out of the way which the Lord had commanded you. 17 I took the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes.
18 I fell down before the Lord, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all your sins which you committed, doing what was wicked in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with which the Lord was wrathful against you to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me at that time also. 20 The Lord was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. 21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire, and crushed it, and ground it very small until it was as small as dust. Then I threw the dust into the brook that descended down from the mountain.
22 Also at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath.
23 Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh Barnea, saying, “Go up and possess the land which I have given you,” then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him or listen to His voice. 24 You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day I knew you.
25 So I fell down before the Lord forty days and forty nights; I fell down because the Lord had said He would destroy you. 26 I prayed therefore to the Lord, and said, “O Lord God, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, which You have redeemed through Your greatness, which You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do not look at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or their sin. 28 Otherwise, the land from which You brought us may say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He promised them and because He hated them, He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.’ 29 Yet they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your stretched-out arm.”
The Second Pair of Tablets
10 At that time the Lord said to me, “Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone like the first and come up to Me onto the mountain and make an ark of wood for yourself. 2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets which you broke, and you shall put them in the ark.”
3 So I made an ark of acacia wood and cut out two tablets of stone just like the first and went up onto the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. 4 He wrote on the tablets just like the first writing, the Ten Commandments which the Lord spoke to you at the mountain out of the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them to me. 5 I turned around and came down from the mountain and put the tablets in the ark which I had made, and there they are, just as the Lord commanded me.
6 (The children of Israel set out from Beeroth of the sons of Jaakan to Moserah. There Aaron died and was buried, and his son Eleazar ministered in the priest’s office in his place. 7 From there they journeyed to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of waters. 8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him, and to bless in His name, to this day. 9 Therefore, Levi has no portion or inheritance with his brothers. The Lord is his inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised him.)
10 As for me, I stayed on the mountain like the first time, forty days and forty nights, and the Lord listened to me at that time also. The Lord was not willing to destroy you. 11 The Lord said to me, “Arise, take your journey before the people, so that they may go in and possess the land which I swore to give to their fathers.”
The Essence of the Law
12 Now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?
14 Indeed, heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it. 15 The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, even you above all people, as it is today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your heart, and do not be stubborn anymore. 17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the fearsome God who is unbiased and takes no bribe. 18 He executes the judgment of the orphan and the widow and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. 19 Therefore, love the foreigner, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the Lord your God. You must serve Him and cling to Him, and swear by His name. 21 He is your praise, and He is your God, who has done for you these great and fearsome things which your eyes have seen. 22 Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy people, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.
The Parable of the Sower(A)
4 When a large crowd had gathered together and people were coming to Him from every city, He told this parable: 5 “A sower went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled down, and the birds of the air devoured it. 6 Some fell on a rock. And as soon as it sprang up, it withered away, because it lacked moisture. 7 Yet some fell among thorns. And the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. 8 And other seed fell on good ground and sprang up and yielded a hundred times the amount sown.”
When He had said these things, He cried out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The Purpose of the Parables(B)
9 His disciples asked Him, “What might this parable mean?” 10 He said, “To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, but to others they are in parables, so that
‘seeing they may not see,
and hearing they may not understand.’[a]
The Parable of the Sower Explained(C)
11 “Now the parable means this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are those who hear. Then comes the devil, who takes away the word from their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rock are the ones who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root, for they believe for a while, then in the time of temptation fall away. 14 That which fell among thorns are those who, when they have heard, go out and are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. 15 But the seed on the good ground are those who, having heard the word, keep it in an honest and good heart and bear fruit with patience.
A Light Under a Vessel(D)
16 “No one, when he lights a candle, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but sets it on a candlestick, that those who enter may see the light. 17 For nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and revealed. 18 Take heed therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given. And whoever has not, from him will be taken even what he thinks he has.”
The Mother and Brothers of Jesus(E)
19 Then His mother and His brothers came to Him, but could not reach Him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told Him, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.”
21 He answered them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”
19 You have known how I am insulted, and my shame and my dishonor;
my adversaries are all before You.
20 Insults have broken my heart,
and I am sick;
and I looked for some to take pity, but there was none;
and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me poison for my food,
and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 May their table become a snare before them,
and may security become a trap.
23 May their eyes be darkened so they do not see,
and make their sides shake continually.
24 Pour out Your indignation on them,
and may Your wrathful anger overtake them.
25 May their habitation be desolate,
and may no one dwell in their tents.
26 For they persecute him whom You have struck down,
and they recount the pain of those You have wounded.
27 Add punishment to their iniquity,
and do not let them come into Your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living,
and not be written along with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and in pain;
may Your salvation, O God, set me secure on high.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song,
and will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
31 This also will please the Lord
more than an ox or bull with horns and hoofs.
32 The humble will see this and be glad;
and you who seek God, may your heart live.
33 For the Lord hears the poor,
and does not despise His prisoners.
34 Let heaven and earth praise Him,
the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion,
and will build the cities of Judah;
that they may dwell there, and take possession of it.
36 The descendants of His servants will inherit it;
and those who love His name will dwell in it.
2 A good man obtains favor of the Lord,
but a man of wicked devices will He condemn.
3 A man will not be established by wickedness,
but the root of the righteous will not be moved.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.