Old/New Testament

Devote the Nations to Destruction

7 “^(A)When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and He clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, ^(B)seven nations more numerous and stronger than you, ² and when Yahweh your God gives them over before you and you strike them down, ^(C)then you shall devote them to destruction. ^(D)You shall cut no covenant with them ^(E)and show no favor to them. ³ Furthermore, ^(F)you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your ^[a]daughters to ^[b]their sons, nor shall you take ^[c]their daughters for your ^[d]sons. ⁴ For ^[e]they will turn your ^[f]sons away from ^[g]following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and ^(G)He will quickly destroy you. ⁵ But thus you shall do to them: ^(H)you shall tear down their altars and shatter their sacred pillars and cut their ^[h]Asherim in pieces and burn their graven images with fire. ⁶ For you are ^(I)a holy people to Yahweh your God; Yahweh your God has chosen you to be ^(J)a people for His ^[i]own treasured possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the ^[j]earth.

⁷ “^(K)Yahweh did not set His affection on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, ⁸ but because Yahweh loved you and kept the ^(L)oath which He swore to your fathers, ^(M)Yahweh brought you out with a strong hand and redeemed you from the house of ^[k]slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ You shall know therefore that Yahweh your God, ^(N)He is God, ^(O)the faithful God, ^(P)who keeps ^[l]His covenant and ^[m]His lovingkindness to a thousand generations with those who ^(Q)love Him and keep His commandments; ¹⁰ but ^(R)repays those who hate Him to ^[n]their faces, to make ^[o]them perish; He will not delay ^[p]with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. ¹¹ Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.

Yahweh’s Covenant Blessings

¹² “^(S)Then it will be, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you ^[q]His covenant and ^[r]His lovingkindness which He swore to your fathers. ¹³ And He will ^(T)love you and bless you and ^(U)multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock, ^[s]in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you. ¹⁴ You shall be blessed above all peoples; there will be no male or female ^(V)barren among you or among your cattle. ^15 (W)And Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt which you have known, but He will give them to all who hate you. ¹⁶ And you shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God will give over to you; ^(X)your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods, for that would be ^(Y)a snare to you.

¹⁷ “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are more numerous than I; how can I ^(Z)dispossess them?’ ¹⁸ you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well ^(AA)remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: ^19 (AB)the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. ²⁰ Moreover, Yahweh your God will send ^(AC)the hornet against them until those who remain and hide themselves from you perish. ²¹ You shall not dread ^[t]them, for ^(AD)Yahweh your God is in your midst, ^(AE)a great and fearsome God. ^22 (AF)And Yahweh your God will clear away these nations before you little by little; you will not be able to put an end to them quickly, lest the ^[u]wild beasts become too numerous for you. ^23 (AG)But Yahweh your God will give them over before you and will ^[v]throw them into great confusion until they are destroyed. ^24 (AH)And He will give their kings into your hand so that you will make their name perish from under heaven; ^(AI)no man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. ²⁵ The graven images of their gods you are to ^(AJ)burn with fire; you shall ^(AK)not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, lest you be ^(AL)snared by it, for it is an ^(AM)abomination to Yahweh your God. ²⁶ And you shall not bring an abomination into your house and become devoted to ^(AN)destruction like it; you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.

Do Not Forget Yahweh Your God

8 “The entire commandment that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, that you ^(AO)may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to give to your fathers. ^2 (AP)And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has ^(AQ)led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, ^(AR)testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. ³ And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that ^(AS)man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh. ^4 (AT)Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. ^5 (AU)Thus you shall know in your heart that Yahweh your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. ⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways and to ^[w]fear Him. ⁷ For ^(AV)Yahweh your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; ⁹ a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. ¹⁰ And so ^(AW)you will eat and be satisfied, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which He has given you.

¹¹ “^[x]Beware lest you ^(AX)forget Yahweh your God by not keeping His commandments and His judgments and His statutes which I am commanding you today; ¹² lest ^(AY)you eat and are satisfied and build good houses and live in them, ¹³ and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, ¹⁴ and your heart becomes ^[y]lifted up and you ^(AZ)forget Yahweh your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of ^[z]slavery. ¹⁵ He led you through ^(BA)the great and fearsome wilderness, with its ^(BB)fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He ^(BC)brought water for you out of the rock of flint. ¹⁶ In the wilderness He fed you manna ^(BD)which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might ^(BE)test you, to do good for you ^[aa]in the end, ¹⁷ lest ^(BF)you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand made me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for ^(BG)it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ Now it will be, if you ever forget Yahweh your God and walk after other gods and serve them and worship them, ^(BH)I testify against you today that you will surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so ^(BI)you shall perish, because you would not listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

Israel Provoked Yahweh

9 “Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess ^(BJ)nations greater and mightier than you, great cities ^[ab](BK)fortified to heaven, ² a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know and of whom you have heard it said, ‘^(BL)Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ ³ So you shall know today that ^(BM)it is Yahweh your God who is crossing over before you as ^(BN)a consuming fire. He will destroy them, and He will subdue them before you, so that ^(BO)you may dispossess them and make them perish quickly, just as Yahweh has spoken to you.

⁴ “^(BP)Do not say in your heart when Yahweh your God has driven them out before you, saying, ‘Because of my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land,’ but it is ^(BQ)because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh is dispossessing them before you. ⁵ It is ^(BR)not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that Yahweh your God is dispossessing them before you, in order to confirm ^(BS)the ^[ac]oath which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

⁶ “So you shall know it is not because of your righteousness that Yahweh your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are ^(BT)a ^[ad]stiff-necked people. ⁷ Remember, do not forget how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness; ^(BU)from the day that you went out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. ⁸ Even ^(BV)at Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was so angry with you that He would have destroyed you. ⁹ When I went up to the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh had cut with you, then I remained on the mountain forty days and nights; ^(BW)I neither ate bread nor drank water. ¹⁰ And Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone ^(BX)written by the finger of God; and on them were all the words which Yahweh had spoken with you at the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly. ¹¹ Now it happened ^(BY)at the end of forty days and nights, that Yahweh gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant. ^12 (BZ)Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Arise, go down from here quickly, for your people whom you brought out of Egypt have acted corruptly. They have ^(CA)quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them; they have made a molten image for themselves.’ ^13 (CB)Yahweh spoke further to me, saying, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed, ^[ae]they are a ^[af](CC)stiff-necked people. ^14 (CD)Let Me alone, that I may destroy them and ^(CE)blot out their name from under heaven; and I will make of you a nation mightier and more numerous than they.’

¹⁵ “^(CF)So I turned and came down from the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire, and the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. ¹⁶ And I saw that you had indeed sinned against Yahweh your God. You had made for yourselves a molten calf; you had turned aside quickly from the way which Yahweh had commanded you. ¹⁷ And I took hold of the two tablets and threw them from my hands and shattered them before your eyes. ^18 (CG)And I fell down before Yahweh, ^(CH)as at the first, forty days and nights; ^(CI)I neither ate bread nor drank water ^(CJ)because of all your sin which you had committed in doing what was evil in the sight of Yahweh to provoke Him to anger. ¹⁹ For ^(CK)I was afraid of the anger and the wrath with which Yahweh was provoked against you in order to destroy you, ^(CL)but Yahweh listened to me that time also. ²⁰ And Yahweh was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him; so I also prayed for Aaron at the same time. ^21 (CM)Now I took your ^[ag]sinful thing, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that came down from the mountain.

²² “Again at ^(CN)Taberah and at ^(CO)Massah and at ^(CP)Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to wrath. ²³ When Yahweh sent you from ^(CQ)Kadesh-barnea, saying, ‘^(CR)Go up and possess the land which I have given you,’ then you rebelled against the ^[ah]command of Yahweh your God; ^(CS)you did not believe Him, and you did not listen to His voice. ^24 (CT)You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day I knew you.

²⁵ “^(CU)So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and the forty nights, which I ^[ai]did because Yahweh had said He would destroy you. ^26 (CV)And I prayed to Yahweh and said, ‘O Lord Yahweh, do not destroy Your people, even Your inheritance, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a strong hand. ²⁷ Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; do not look at the stiff-neck of this people or at their wickedness or their sin, ²⁸ lest the land from which You brought us say, “^(CW)Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which He had ^[aj]promised them and because He hated them He has brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.” ²⁹ Yet they are Your people, even ^(CX)Your inheritance, whom You have brought out by Your ^(CY)great power and Your outstretched arm.’

^19 (A)And when evening came, ^[a]they were going out of the city.

^20 (B)And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. ²¹ And being reminded, Peter *said to Him, “^(C)Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered and *said to them, “^(D)Have faith in God. ^23 (E)Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says ^[b]is going to happen, it will be granted him. ²⁴ For this reason I say to you, ^(F)all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted to you. ²⁵ And whenever you ^(G)stand praying, ^(H)forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. ^26 [c][^(I)But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”]

The Authority of Jesus Challenged

²⁷ Then they *came again to Jerusalem. ^(J)And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders *came to Him, ²⁸ and began saying to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?” ²⁹ And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. ³⁰ Was the baptism of John from heaven, or from men? Answer Me.” ³¹ And they began reasoning among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Then why did you not believe him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘From men’?”—they were afraid of the crowd, for everyone was regarding John to have been a real prophet. ³³ And answering Jesus, they *said, “We do not know.” And Jesus *said to them, “Neither ^[d]will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”