Old/New Testament

The Second Pieces of Stone

10 “At that time the Lord said to me, ‘Cut out for yourself two pieces of stone like the other ones. Then come up to Me on the mountain, and make a box of wood. ² I will write on the pieces of stone the words that were on the other pieces of stone which you broke. And you will put them in the box.’ ³ So I made a box of acacia wood and cut out two pieces of stone like the other ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two stone pieces in my hand. ⁴ The Lord wrote the Ten Laws the same as before on the pieces of stone which He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire on the day of the meeting. And the Lord gave them to me. ⁵ Then I turned and came down from the mountain, and put the stone pieces in the box I had made. There they are, as the Lord told me.”

⁶ (The people of Israel traveled from the wells of the sons of Jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died there and was buried and his son Eleazar took his place as religious leader. ⁷ From there they traveled to Gudgodah. And from Gudgodah they went to Jotbathah, a land of rivers of water. ⁸ At that time the Lord set apart the family of Levi to carry the special box of the Law of the Lord, and to stand before the Lord to work for Him and honor His name to this day. ⁹ So Levi does not have a share of what is given to his brothers. The Lord is his share, just as the Lord your God promised him.)

¹⁰ “Once more I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, like the first time. And the Lord listened to me that time also. The Lord did not destroy you. ¹¹ Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Travel in front of the people, so they may go in and take the land which I promised to give their fathers.’

What God Wants

¹² “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? He wants you to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him. He wants you to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul. ¹³ He wants you to keep all the Laws of the Lord which I am telling you today for your good. ¹⁴ See, heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that is in it belong to the Lord your God. ¹⁵ The Lord had joy in loving your fathers more than other nations, and you are still His chosen people to this day. ¹⁶ So then, from now on, obey the Lord. Do not be strong-willed any more. ¹⁷ For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords. He is the great and powerful God and is to be honored with fear. He does not show favor, and cannot be bought with money. ¹⁸ He does what is right and fair for the child without parents and the woman whose husband has died. He shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing. ¹⁹ So show your love for the stranger. For you were strangers in the land of Egypt. ²⁰ Fear the Lord your God. Work for Him, hold on to Him, and swear by His name. ²¹ He is your praise and He is your God. You have seen the great and powerful things He has done for you. ²² Your fathers went to Egypt, seventy people in all. And now the Lord your God has made you as many as the stars of heaven.

Love and Obey the Lord

11 “Love the Lord your God. Always do what He tells you and keep all His Laws. ² I am not speaking to your children. They have not seen how the Lord worked and how great He is. ³ They have not seen the special things you have seen, what He did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land. ⁴ They have not seen what He did to Egypt’s army, the horses and war-wagons. He made the water of the Red Sea flow over them while they were coming after you. He destroyed every one of them. ⁵ They have not seen what He did to you in the desert until you came to this place. ⁶ They do not know what He did to Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, those of their house, their tents, and every living thing that followed them among Israel. ⁷ But your own eyes have seen all the great work the Lord has done.

⁸ “So keep every Law which I am telling you today. And you will be strong and go in and take the land which is to be yours. ⁹ You will live long in the land the Lord promised to your fathers and their children, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land you are going in to take is not like the land you came from in Egypt. There you planted your seed and watered it using your feet, like a vegetable garden. ¹¹ But the land you are about to go into and take for your own is a land of hills and valleys. It drinks water from the rain of heaven. ¹² The Lord your God cares for this land. His eyes watch over it from the beginning to the end of the year.

¹³ “Listen to and obey all the Laws I am telling you today. Love the Lord your God. Work for Him with all your heart and soul. If you do, ¹⁴ He will give the rain for your land at the right times, the early and late rain. So you may gather in your grain, your new wine and your oil. ¹⁵ He will give grass in your fields for your cattle. And you will eat and be filled. ¹⁶ Be careful not to let your hearts be fooled so you turn away and work for other gods and worship them. ¹⁷ Or the anger of the Lord will burn against you. He will shut the heavens so there will be no rain and the ground will not give its fruit. Then you will be quick to die from the good land the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ “Keep these words of mine in your heart and in your soul. Tie them as something special to see upon your hand and on your forehead between your eyes. ¹⁹ Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. ²⁰ Write them beside the door of your house and on your gates. ²¹ And your days and the days of your children will become many in the land the Lord promised to give to your fathers, as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² Be careful to obey all this Law which I am telling you. Love the Lord your God. Walk in all His ways and hold on to Him. If you do, ²³ the Lord will drive out all these nations in front of you. And you will take for your own what has belonged to nations greater and stronger than you. ²⁴ Every place where your foot steps will be yours. Your land will be from the desert to Lebanon, and from the River Euphrates to the sea in the west. ²⁵ There no man will be able to stand in front of you. The Lord your God will put the fear of you on all the land where you walk, as He has promised you.

²⁶ “See, I am putting in front of you today good and a curse. ²⁷ Good will come to you if you listen to the Laws of the Lord your God, which I am telling you today. ²⁸ But a curse will come to you if you do not listen to the Laws of the Lord your God and turn aside from the way I am telling you today, by following other gods you have not known. ²⁹ When the Lord your God brings you into the land which is to be yours, you are to speak on Mount Gerizim about the good and on Mount Ebal the curses. ³⁰ You know they are on the other side of the Jordan, west of the road where the sun goes down. They are in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, beside Gilgal, next to the trees of Moreh. ³¹ You are about to cross the Jordan to go in to take the land the Lord your God is giving you. It will be your land and you will live in it. ³² Be careful to obey all the Laws which I am giving you today.

The One Place for Worship

12 “These are the Laws you should be careful to obey in the land which the Lord, the God of your fathers, has given you for your own as long as you live on the earth. ² Be sure to destroy all the places of worship of the nations whose place you are taking. Destroy them on the high mountains, on the hills, and under every green tree. ³ Break down their altars and crush their pillars of worship. Burn their wooden female gods of worship named Asherim with fire. Cut down the objects made to look like their gods. And destroy their name from that place. ⁴ But do not act like this toward the Lord your God. ⁵ Look for the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your family groups. There He will make His name known, and make His home there, and there you will come. ⁶ Bring to this place your burnt gifts, your gifts of worship, the tenth part of what you receive, the gifts of your hands, your promises, your free-will gifts, and the first-born of your cattle and your flock. ⁷ You and those of your house will eat there before the Lord your God, and have joy in all that you do, in which the Lord your God has brought good to you. ⁸ You will not do at all the things we are doing here today, for every man is doing whatever is right in his own eyes. ⁹ For you have not yet come to the resting place and the land the Lord your God is giving you. ¹⁰ You will cross the Jordan and live in the land the Lord your God is giving you. He will give you rest from all those around you who hate you, so you will be safe. ¹¹ Then bring all I tell you to the place where the Lord your God will choose to make His name known. Bring your burnt gifts, your gifts of worship, the tenth part of what you receive, the gifts of your hands, and all the special gifts that you promised to the Lord. ¹² Be full of joy before the Lord your God, you and your sons and daughters, your men and women servants, and the Levite within your town who has no share of their gift. ¹³ Be careful that you do not give your burnt gifts in just any place you see. ¹⁴ But give your burnt gifts in the place which the Lord chooses in the land where your families live. There you should do all that I tell you.

¹⁵ “But you may kill and eat meat within any of your towns, as much as you want, as the Lord your God has given you His good gifts. Both the clean and the unclean may eat of it, as you would of the gazelle and the deer. ¹⁶ Only do not eat the blood. You are to pour it out on the ground like water. ¹⁷ You are not allowed to eat within your towns the tenth part of your grain, or new wine, or oil, or the first-born of your cattle or flock, or any of your promised gifts, or your free-will gifts, or the gifts of your hands. ¹⁸ But you should eat them before the Lord your God in the place which the Lord your God will choose, you and your son and daughter, your men and women servants, and the Levite who is within your towns. Be full of joy before the Lord your God in everything you do. ¹⁹ Be careful that you do not stop caring for the Levites as long as you live in your land.

²⁰ “The Lord your God will give you more land as He has promised you. And when you say, ‘I will eat meat,’ because you want to eat meat, then you may eat as much meat as you want. ²¹ If the place where the Lord your God chooses to put His name is too far from you, then you may kill from your cattle or flock which the Lord has given you, as I have told you, and you may eat within your towns whatever you want. ²² You will eat it just as a gazelle or a deer is eaten. Both the clean and unclean may eat of it. ²³ Only be sure not to eat the blood. For the blood is the life. You must not eat the life with the flesh. ²⁴ Do not eat it, but pour it out on the ground like water. ²⁵ Do not eat it, so it may go well with you and your children after you. For you will be doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord. ²⁶ Take your holy things which you may have and all the special gifts you promised to give to the place which the Lord chooses. ²⁷ Give your burnt gifts, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of the Lord your God. The blood of your gifts will be poured out on the altar of the Lord your God. And you will eat the flesh. ²⁸ Be careful to listen to all these words I am telling you. Then it will go well with you and your children after you forever. For you will be doing what is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

Israel to Watch out for False Gods

²⁹ “The Lord your God will cut off before you the nations whose land you will take. You will take their place and live in their land. ³⁰ But be careful that you are not fooled into following them, after they are destroyed before you. Do not ask about their gods, saying, ‘How do these nations worship their gods so that I may do the same?’ ³¹ Do not act this way toward the Lord your God. For they have done for their gods every sinful act which the Lord hates. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire for their gods.

³² “Be careful to do whatever I tell you. Do not add to it or take away from it.

The Picture-Story of the Grape-Field ^(A)

12 Jesus began to teach them by using picture-stories, saying, “There was a man who planted grapes in a field. He put a fence around it and made a place for making wine. He built a tower to look over the field. Then he let farmers rent it and went into another country.

² “The time came for gathering the grapes. He sent his servant to the farmers to get some of the grapes. ³ The farmers took him and beat him. They sent him back with nothing. ⁴ The owner sent another servant. The farmers threw stones at him and hit him on the head and did other bad things to him. ⁵ Again the owner sent another servant. The farmers killed that one. Many other servants were sent. They beat some and they killed others.

⁶ “He had a much-loved son to send yet. So last of all he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ ⁷ The farmers said to themselves, ‘This is the one who will get everything when the owner dies. Let us kill him and we will get everything.’ ⁸ They took him and killed him. They threw his body outside the field. ⁹ What will the owner of the field do? He will come and kill the farmers. He will give the field to other farmers.

¹⁰ “Have you not read what the Holy Writings say? ‘The Stone that was put aside by the workmen has become the most important Stone in the corner of the building. ¹¹ The Lord has done this. It is great in our eyes.’” ^{(B) 12} The leaders wanted to take Him but they were afraid of the people. They knew He had told the picture-story against them. They left Him and went away.

They Try to Trap Jesus ^(C)

¹³ Some of the proud religious law-keepers and Herod’s men were sent to trap Jesus in His talk. ¹⁴ They came to Him and said, “Teacher, we know You are true. We know You are not afraid of what men think or say about You. You teach the way of God in truth. Is it right to pay taxes to Caesar or not? ¹⁵ Should we pay or not pay?” Jesus knew how they pretended to be someone they were not. He said to them, “Why do you try to trap Me? Bring Me a small piece of money so I may look at it.” ¹⁶ They brought Him one. He asked them, “Whose picture is this? Whose name is on it?” They answered, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ Then Jesus said to them, “Pay to Caesar the things that belong to Caesar. Pay to God the things that belong to God.” They were surprised and wondered at Him.

They Ask about Being Raised from the Dead ^(D)

¹⁸ Some people from the religious group who believe no one will be raised from the dead came to Jesus. They asked Him, ¹⁹ “Teacher, Moses gave us a Law. It said, ‘If a man’s brother dies and leaves his wife behind, but no children, then his brother should marry his wife and raise children for his brother.’ ^{(E) 20} There were seven brothers. The first was married. He died before he had any children. ²¹ The second married her and died. He had no children. The same happened with the third. ²² All seven had her for a wife. All died without children. Last of all the woman died. ²³ When people are raised from the dead, whose wife will she be? All seven had her for a wife.” ²⁴ Jesus said to them, “Is this not the reason you are wrong, because you do not know the Holy Writings or the power of God? ²⁵ When people are raised from the dead, they do not marry and are not given in marriage. They are like angels in heaven. ²⁶ As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses how God spoke to him in the burning bush? He said, ‘I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.’ ^{(F) 27} He is not the God of the dead, He is the God of the living. So you are very much wrong.”