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The Feasts of Passover, of Weeks, and of Booths
16 “Observe (A)the month of Abib and [a](B)celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, for in the month of Abib the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You shall sacrifice the Passover to the Lord your God from the flock and the herd, in the place where the Lord chooses to establish His name. 3 (C)You shall not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread with it, the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in a hurry), so that you will remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt (D)all the days of your life. 4 For seven days no leaven shall be seen with you in your entire territory, and (E)none of the meat which you sacrifice on the evening of the first day shall be left overnight until the morning. 5 You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your [b]towns which the Lord your God is giving you; 6 but only (F)at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name, you shall sacrifice the Passover in the evening at sunset, at the time that you came out of Egypt. 7 You shall (G)cook and eat it in the place which the Lord your God chooses. In the morning you are to return to your tents. 8 For six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and (H)on the seventh day there shall be (I)a festive assembly to the Lord your God; you shall do no work on it.
9 “(J)You shall count seven weeks for yourself; you shall begin to count seven weeks from the time you begin to put the sickle to the standing grain. 10 Then you shall [c]celebrate the Feast of Weeks to the Lord your God with a [d]voluntary offering of your hand in a proportional amount, which you shall give just as the Lord your God blesses you; 11 and you shall (K)rejoice before the Lord your God, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and (L)the Levite who is in your [e]town, and (M)the stranger, the [f]orphan, and the widow who are in your midst, at the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish His name. 12 (N)You shall also remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and you shall be careful and [g]comply with these statutes.
13 “(O)You shall [h]celebrate the Feast of [i]Booths for seven days when you have gathered in from your threshing floor and your wine vat; 14 and you shall (P)rejoice in your feast, you, your son and your daughter, and your male and female slaves, and the Levite, the stranger, the [j]orphan, and the widow who are in your [k]towns. 15 For seven days you shall celebrate a feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.
16 “(Q)Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God at the place which He chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths; and (R)they are not to appear before the Lord empty-handed. 17 Everyone [l]shall give as he is able, in accordance with the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you.
18 “You shall appoint for yourself judges and officers in all your [m]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. 19 (S)You shall not distort justice, (T)you shall not [n]show partiality; and (U)you shall not accept a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and distorts the words of the righteous. 20 Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue, so that (V)you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
21 “(W)You shall not plant for yourself an [o]Asherah of any kind of tree beside the altar of the Lord your God, which you shall make for yourself. 22 And (X)you shall not set up for yourself a memorial stone, which the Lord your God hates.
Administration of Justice
17 “(Y)You shall not sacrifice to the Lord your God an ox or a sheep which has a blemish or any [p]defect, for that is a detestable thing to the Lord your God.
2 “(Z)If there is found in your midst, in any of your [q]towns which the Lord your God is giving you, a man or a woman who does what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, by violating His covenant, 3 and that person has gone and (AA)served other gods and worshiped them, (AB)or the sun, the moon, or any of the heavenly [r]lights, (AC)which I have commanded not to do, 4 and if it is reported to you and you have heard about it, then you shall investigate thoroughly. And [s]if it is true and the report is trustworthy that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, 5 then you are to bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil deed, that is, the man or the woman, and (AD)you shall stone them to [t]death. 6 (AE)On the [u]testimony of two witnesses or three witnesses, the [v]condemned shall be put to death; he shall not be put to death on the [w]testimony of only one witness. 7 (AF)The hands of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. (AG)So you shall eliminate the evil from your midst.
8 “(AH)If a case is too difficult for you to decide, between [x]one kind of homicide or another, between [y]one kind of lawsuit or another, and between [z]one kind of assault or another, that are cases of dispute in your [aa]courts, then you shall arise and go up to (AI)the place which the Lord your God chooses. 9 So you shall come to (AJ)the Levitical priests or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them and they will declare to you the [ab]verdict. 10 Then you shall act in accordance with the [ac]terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses; and you shall be careful to act in accordance with everything that they instruct you to do. 11 (AK)In accordance with the [ad]terms of the law about which they instruct you, and in accordance with the verdict which they tell you, you shall act; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. 12 But the person who acts (AL)insolently by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that person shall die; so you shall eliminate the evil from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act (AM)insolently again.
14 “When you enter the land which the Lord your God is giving you, and you (AN)take possession of it and live in it, and you say, ‘(AO)I will appoint a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall in fact appoint a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses. One (AP)from among your countrymen you shall appoint as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves, anyone who is not your countryman. 16 (AQ)In any case, he is not to acquire many horses for himself, nor shall he (AR)make the people return to Egypt in order to acquire many horses, since (AS)the Lord has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 And (AT)he shall not acquire many wives for himself, so that his heart does not turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
18 “Now it shall come about, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this Law on a scroll [ae](AU)in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it (AV)all the days of his life, so that he will learn to fear the Lord his God, [af]by carefully following all the words of this Law and these statutes, 20 so that his heart will not be haughty toward his countrymen, (AW)and that he will not turn away from the commandment to the right or the left, so that he and his sons may [ag]live long in his kingdom in the midst of Israel.
7 (A)Now (B)Herod the tetrarch heard about all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that (C)John had risen from the dead, 8 and by some that (D)Elijah had appeared, and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen. 9 Herod said, “I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man about whom I hear such things?” And (E)he kept trying to see Him.
10 (F)When the apostles returned, they gave an account to Him of all that they had done. (G)And taking them with Him, He withdrew privately to a city called (H)Bethsaida. 11 But the crowds were aware of this and followed Him; and He welcomed them and began speaking to them about the kingdom of God, and curing those who had need of healing.
Five Thousand Men Fed
12 Now the day [a]was ending, and the twelve came up and said to Him, “Dismiss the crowd, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside and find lodging and get [b]something to eat; because here, we are in a secluded place.” 13 But He said to them, “You give them something to eat!” But they said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless perhaps we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (For there were about five thousand men.) But He said to His disciples, “Have them recline to eat (I)in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so, and had them all recline. 16 And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, He blessed them and broke them, and gave them to the disciples again and again, to serve the crowd. 17 And they all ate and were satisfied; and [c]the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve (J)baskets full.
Peter Says Jesus is The Christ
18 (K)And it happened that while He was (L)praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying, “Who do the [d]people say that I am?” 19 They answered and said, “John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen.” 20 And He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered and said, “(M)The [e]Christ of God.” 21 But He [f](N)warned them and instructed them not to tell this to anyone, 22 (O)saying, “(P)The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day.”
23 And He was saying to them all, “(Q)If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For (R)whoever wants to save his [g]life will lose it, but whoever loses his [h]life for My sake, this is the one who will save it. 25 For what good does it do a person if he gains the whole world, but (S)loses or forfeits himself? 26 (T)For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory and the glory of the Father and the holy angels. 27 But I say to you truthfully, (U)there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
The Reign of the Righteous King.
A Psalm of Solomon.
72 Give the king (A)Your judgments, God,
And (B)Your righteousness to the king’s son.
2 [a]May [b]he (C)judge Your people with righteousness
And [c](D)Your afflicted with justice.
3 [d]May the mountains bring [e](E)peace to the people,
And the hills, in righteousness.
4 [f]May he (F)vindicate the [g]afflicted of the people,
Save the children of the needy,
And crush the oppressor.
5 [h]May they fear You (G)while the sun shines,
And [i]as long as the moon shines, throughout all generations.
6 [j]May he come down (H)like rain upon the mown grass,
Like (I)showers that water the earth.
7 [k]May the (J)righteous flourish in his days,
As well as an (K)abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
8 May he also rule (L)from sea to sea,
And from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.
9 [l]May (M)the nomads of the desert (N)bow before him,
And his enemies (O)lick the dust.
10 [m]May the kings of (P)Tarshish and of the [n](Q)islands bring gifts;
May the kings of (R)Sheba and (S)Seba (T)offer tributes.
11 [o]And may all (U)kings bow down before him,
All (V)nations serve him.
12 For he will (W)save the needy when he cries for help,
The [p]afflicted also, and him who has no helper.
13 He will have (X)compassion on the poor and needy,
And he will save the [q]lives of the needy.
14 He will [r](Y)rescue their [s]life from oppression and violence,
And their blood will be (Z)precious in his sight;
15 So may he live, and may the (AA)gold of Sheba be given to him;
And [t]they are to pray for him continually;
[u]They are to bless him all day long.
16 May there be abundance of grain on the earth on top of the mountains;
Its fruit will wave like the cedars of (AB)Lebanon;
And may those from the city flourish like the (AC)vegetation of the earth.
17 May his (AD)name endure forever;
May his name produce descendants [v](AE)as long as the sun shines;
And may people (AF)wish blessings on themselves by him;
(AG)May all nations call him blessed.
18 (AH)Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
Who alone (AI)works wonders.
19 And blessed be His (AJ)glorious name forever;
And may the whole (AK)earth be filled with His glory.
(AL)Amen and Amen.
20 The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.
8 A person will be praised according to his insight,
But one of perverse [a]mind will be despised.
9 Better is one who is lightly esteemed and has a servant,
Than one who honors himself and lacks bread.
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.