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The fourth heading: Moses’ blessing
33 This is the blessing that Moses the man of God gave the Israelites before he died. 2 He said:
The Lord came from Sinai:
from Seir he shone like the dawn on us,[a]
from Paran Mountain he beamed down.
Thousands of holy ones were with him;[b]
his warriors were next to him, ready.[c]
3 Yes, those who love[d] the nations—
all his holy ones—were at your command;
they followed your footsteps;
they got moving when you said so.
4 Moses gave the Instruction to us—
it’s the prized possession of Jacob’s assembly.
5 A king came to rule in Jeshurun,
when the people’s leaders gathered together,
when Israel’s tribes were one.
6 “I pray that Reuben lives, doesn’t die,
though his numbers are so few.”
7 Moses said this to Judah:
“Lord, listen to Judah’s voice!
Bring him back to his own people,
strengthen his hands;[e]
be his help against every enemy.”
8 Then he told Levi:
“Give your Thummim to Levi,[f]
your Urim to your faithful one—
the one you tested at Massah,
the one you challenged by Meribah’s waters;
9 the one who said of his own mother and father:
‘I don’t consider them as such’;
of their siblings: ‘I don’t recognize them’;
of their own children, ‘I don’t know them’—
but who obeyed your words
and who guarded your covenant!
10 They teach your case laws to Jacob,
your Instruction to Israel.
They hold sweet incense to your nose;
put the entirely burned offering on your altar.
11 I pray that the Lord blesses Levi’s strength,
favors his hard work,
and crushes the insides of his enemies
so that those who hate him can’t fight anymore.”
12 He said to Benjamin:
“The Lord’s dearest one
rests safely on him.
The Lord always shields him;
he rests on God’s chest.”
13 Then he told Joseph:
“I pray that his land is blessed by God:
with heaven’s gifts from above,[g]
with the deep waters stretching out underneath;
14 with the gifts produced by the sun,
with the gifts generated by the moon;[h]
15 with the best fruit from ancient mountains,
with the gifts of eternal hills;
16 with the gifts of the earth and all that fills it,
and the favor of the one who lives on Sinai.[i]
I pray that all these rest on Joseph’s head,
on the crown of that prince among brothers.
17 A firstborn bull[j]—that’s how majestic he is!
A wild ox’s horns—those are his horns!
With them he gores all peoples
completely, to the far ends of the earth!
His horns[k] are Ephraim’s tens of thousands.
His horns are Manasseh’s thousands.”
18 Then he told Zebulun:
“Zebulun: celebrate when you are out and about;
Issachar: celebrate when you are at home in your tents!
19 They call all sorts of people to the mountain,
where they offer right sacrifices.
It’s true: They’re nourished on the sea’s abundance;
they are nourished on buried treasures in the sand.”
20 Then he told Gad:
“May Gad’s broad lands[l] be blessed!
He lives like a lion:
he rips an arm, even a head!
21 He chose the best part for himself
because there, where the commander’s portion was,
the leaders of the people gathered together.[m]
Gad executed the Lord’s justice
and the Lord’s judgments for Israel.”[n]
22 Then he told Dan:
“Dan is a lion cub.
He jumps up from Bashan.”
23 Then he told Naphtali:
“Naphtali—you are full of favor,
overflowing with the Lord’s blessing—
go possess the west and the south!”
24 Finally, he told Asher:
“Asher is the most blessed of sons.
I pray that he’s his brothers’ favorite—
one who dips his foot in fine oil.
25 I pray that your dead bolts are iron and copper,
and that your strength lasts all your days.”[o]
26 Jeshurun! No one compares to God!
He rides through heaven to help you,
rides majestically through the clouds.
27 The most ancient God is a place of safety;[p]
the eternal arms are a support.[q]
He drove out the enemy before you.
He commanded: “Destroy them!”
28 So Israel now lives in safety—
Jacob’s residence[r] is secure—
in a land full of grain and wine,
where the heavens drip dew.
29 Happy are you, Israel! Who is like you?
You are a people saved by the Lord!
He’s the shield that helps you,
your majestic sword!
Your enemies will come crawling on their knees to you,
but you will stomp on their backs![s]
Demand for genuine change
13 Some who were present on that occasion told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2 He replied, “Do you think the suffering of these Galileans proves that they were more sinful than all the other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did. 4 What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think that they were more guilty of wrongdoing than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did.”
6 Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ 8 The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer. 9 Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’”
Healing on a Sabbath
10 Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 A woman was there who had been disabled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and couldn’t stand up straight. 12 When he saw her, Jesus called her to him and said, “Woman, you are set free from your sickness.” 13 He placed his hands on her and she straightened up at once and praised God.
14 The synagogue leader, incensed that Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, responded, “There are six days during which work is permitted. Come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord replied, “Hypocrites! Don’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from its stall and lead it out to get a drink? 16 Then isn’t it necessary that this woman, a daughter of Abraham, bound by Satan for eighteen long years, be set free from her bondage on the Sabbath day?” 17 When he said these things, all his opponents were put to shame, but all those in the crowd rejoiced at all the extraordinary things he was doing.
Growth of God’s kingdom
18 Jesus asked, “What is God’s kingdom like? To what can I compare it? 19 It’s like a mustard seed that someone took and planted in a garden. It grew and developed into a tree and the birds in the sky nested in its branches.”
20 Again he said, “To what can I compare God’s kingdom? 21 It’s like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through the whole.”
65 But then my Lord woke up—
as if he’d been sleeping!
Like a warrior shaking off wine,
66 God beat back his foes;
he made them an everlasting disgrace.
67 God rejected the tent of Joseph
and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim.
68 Instead, he chose the tribe of Judah,
the mountain of Zion, which he loves.
69 God built his sanctuary like the highest heaven
and like the earth, which he established forever.
70 And God chose David, his servant,
taking him from the sheepfolds.
71 God brought him from shepherding nursing ewes
to shepherd his people Jacob,
to shepherd his inheritance, Israel.
72 David shepherded them with a heart of integrity;
he led them with the skill of his hands.
25 Anxiety leads to depression,
but a good word encourages.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible