Old/New Testament
A Copy of the Ten Commandments
10 “At that time, the Lord told me, ‘Chisel two tablets of stone for yourself just like the first ones, and then come up to me on the mountain. Also make for yourself a wooden chest. 2 I’ll write on the tablets what was[a] on the first tablets that you broke, and then you are to place them into the wooden chest.’ 3 So I made a chest out of acacia wood and chiseled two tablets of stone just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. 4 Then the Lord[b] inscribed on the tablets what he wrote before—that is, the Ten Commandments that the Lord declared to you on the mountain from the middle of the fire during the day of the assembly. And the Lord gave them to me. 5 Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets in the chest that I had made. They are there now, just as the Lord commanded me.”
Aaron Dies and the Descendants of Levi are Appointed
6 “The Israelis traveled from the wells of the descendants of Jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there. His son Eleazar succeeded him as priest. 7 From there they moved on to Gudgodah and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with flowing streams. 8 At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, to stand in the Lord’s presence, to serve, and to bless his name until this day. 9 That is why the descendants of Levi do not have a portion and an inheritance among their relatives. As for[c] the Lord, he is their inheritance, just as the Lord your God told them. 10 When I stood on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights as I did the first time, the Lord listened to me once again. The Lord was not willing to destroy you. 11 So the Lord told me, ‘Get up and proceed to lead[d] the people, so they may enter and take possession of the land that I promised to give their ancestors by an oath.’”
Love the Lord
12 “Now Israel, what does the Lord your God desire from you? Only this: fear him,[e] walk in all his ways, love him, serve him[f] with all your heart and in all your life,[g] 13 and observe his[h] commands and statutes that I’m commanding you today for your own good. 14 You see, heaven—even the highest heavens—belongs to the Lord, along with the earth and all that is in it, 15 yet the Lord committed himself to love your ancestors—and did so! He chose you—their descendants after them—from all the nations, as it is[i] today. 16 Therefore, circumcise your heart and stop being stubborn. 17 For the Lord your God is the God of all gods, the Lord of all lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show favoritism or take bribes. 18 He executes justice for the orphan and the widows, loves the foreigner, and gives them food and clothing.”
Love Others
19 “You are to love the foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You are to fear the Lord your God and serve him. Cling to him and swear by his name. 21 He is the one you are to praise, because he is[j] your God who carried out those great and awesome things for you that you witnessed. 22 Your ancestors went down to Egypt with 70 people, but the Lord your God has now made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.”
Remember God’s Power
11 “Therefore love the Lord your God and be very careful to keep his injunctions, statutes, ordinances, and commands all the time.[k] 2 Keep in mind today that I am not speaking to your children, who neither were aware of nor did they witness the discipline of the Lord your God—that is, his great and far-reaching power, 3 including: the signs and works that he did within Egypt to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and to all his land; 4 what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses, and to its chariots, when he caused the water of the Reed[l] Sea to engulf them as they pursued you; how the Lord destroyed them, even to this day; 5 what he did for you in the desert until you came to this place; 6 and what he did to Eliab’s sons Dathan and Abiram, descendants of Reuben, when the ground opened up and swallowed them, their households, their tents, and every living thing belonging to them in the full sight[m] of Israel. 7 Your very own eyes saw all the great things that the Lord did.”
Possessing a Fertile Land
8 “Keep all the commands that I’m giving[n] you today, so you can be strong enough to enter and possess the land that you are crossing over to inherit 9 and so you’ll live long in the land that the Lord your God promised by an oath to give your ancestors and their descendants—a land flowing with milk and honey, 10 since the land that you are about to enter to inherit isn’t like the land of Egypt that you just left, where you plant a seed and irrigate it with your feet like a vegetable garden. 11 Instead, the land that you are crossing over to inherit is a land of hills and valleys that drinks water supplied by rain from heaven, 12 a land about which the Lord your God is always concerned, because the eyes of the Lord are continuously on it throughout the entire year.”[o]
Delights of a Bountiful Land
13 “If you carefully observe the commands that I’m giving you today—that is, to love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul— 14 then he[p] will send rain on the land in its season (the early and latter rains)[q] and you’ll gather grain, new wine, and oil. 15 He[r] will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you’ll eat and be satisfied. 16 Be careful! Otherwise, your hearts will deceive you and you will turn away to serve other gods and worship them. 17 The wrath of God will burn against you so that he will restrain the heavens and it won’t rain. The ground won’t yield its produce and you’ll be swiftly destroyed from the good land that the Lord is about to give you. 18 Take these commands to heart and keep them in mind, tying them as reminders on your arm and as bands on your forehead. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them while sitting in your house, walking on the road, or when you are about to lie down or get up. 20 Also write them upon the doorposts of your house and gates,[s] 21 so that you and your children may live a long time in the land that the Lord promised to give your ancestors—as long as the sky remains above the earth.”
Boundaries of the Land
22 “If you carefully observe all of these commands that I’m giving you to do—to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cling to him— 23 then the Lord will dispossess all these nations before you and you’ll dispossess nations that are even greater and stronger than you. 24 Every place upon which the soles of your feet tread will be yours as boundaries—from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, from the Euphrates) to the Mediterranean[t] Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you. 26 Look! I’m about to grant you a blessing and a curse— 27 a blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I’m giving you today, 28 or a curse if you don’t obey the commands of the Lord your God, by turning from the way that I’m commanding you today and following other gods whom you have not known.”
Declaration of the Blessings and Curses
29 “When the Lord brings you to the land that you are about to enter to inherit, repeat the blessings on Mount Gerizim and the curses on Mount Ebal. 30 They’re across the Jordan River to the west in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah opposite Gilgal near the Oak of Moreh, aren’t they? 31 For you are about to cross the Jordan River to go in and possess the land that the Lord your God is about to give you to inherit and live in. 32 Be careful to obey all the statutes and ordinances that I’m placing before you today.”
Destroying Altars to False Gods
12 “These are the statutes and ordinances that you must carefully observe in the land that the Lord God of your ancestors has given you to possess every day that you live on the earth. 2 Be sure you destroy there all the places where the nations that you’re going to dispossess serve their gods—upon the high mountains and hills and under every leafy tree. 3 Tear down their altars, then cut down their sacred poles[u] and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods in order to destroy their names from that place.”
Sacrifice at the Central Sanctuary
4 “You must not act like this with respect to the Lord your God. 5 Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the Lord your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live. 6 Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely-given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the Lord your God and rejoice with all the things you have made by your own effort[v] and with which he[w] blessed you.
8 “You must not act as we have been doing here today, where everyone acts as they see fit, 9 since you haven’t arrived yet to your allotted place[x] that the Lord your God is about to give you. 10 But after you have crossed the Jordan River and settled in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and after you have received relief from the enemies around you and are living securely, 11 then bring to the place that the Lord your God will choose as a dwelling place—where he will establish his name—everything that I’m commanding you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, and all your best offerings in fulfillment of promises that you pledged to the Lord.
12 “Rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God—you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your city—because there is no territorial allotment[y] for him as you have. 13 Be careful not to offer burnt offerings at any location you happen to see[z] 14 instead of at the place the Lord will choose in one of the tribal areas. There you may offer burnt offerings, and there you may do everything that I’m commanding you.”
Instructions Pertaining to Food
15 “You may slaughter and eat as much meat as you desire,[aa] according to the blessing of the Lord your God, when he provides for you in all your cities.[ab] Both ritually unqualified and qualified people[ac] may eat it as they would gazelle and deer. 16 However, you are not to consume the blood;[ad] instead, you are to pour it out on the ground as you would water.
17 “You won’t be allowed to eat your tithe of grain, new wine, or oil, the firstborn of your herd and flock, your voluntary offerings that you pledged, your free-will offerings, or the works of your hands in your own cities. 18 You’ll eat only in the presence of the Lord your God at the place that he[ae] will choose—you, your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the descendant of Levi who is in your cities.[af] Rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God in everything you undertake.[ag] 19 Be careful not to forget the descendant of Levi while you live[ah] in the land. 20 When the Lord your God enlarges your territory—just as he told you—and you say ‘I want to eat meat’ since you desire to eat it,[ai] you may do so as much as you please.[aj]
21 “If the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish his name is distant from you, then you may slaughter from your herd and your flock what the Lord has provided for you, as he instructed you. You may consume them in your cities[ak] as much as you please. 22 You may eat them just as you would gazelle and deer. Ritually unqualified and qualified people may eat them. 23 Only be sure to refrain from eating blood, because blood is the source of[al] life and you are not to consume blood with the meat. 24 You are not to eat it; instead, you are to pour it on the ground as you would water. 25 You are not to eat it, so that life may go well for you and for your children after you. Then you’ll do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.
26 “You may carry and bring only your consecrated gifts and offerings in fulfillment of promises to the place that the Lord will choose. 27 You must offer your burnt offerings—both the meat and the blood—on the altar of the Lord your God. You are to offer the blood by pouring it on the altar of the Lord your God while you consume the meat. 28 Be sure to observe all these words that I’m commanding you, in order that life may go well for you and your children after you forever, for this is good and right in the eyes of the Lord your God.”
Don’t Become Ensnared
29 “When the Lord your God eliminates the nations that you are about to dispossess so you can live in their land, 30 after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.’ 31 You must not do the same to the Lord your God, because they practiced in the presence of their gods every sort of abomination that the Lord hates. Moreover, they sacrificed[am] their sons and daughters to their gods. 32 [an]Now as to everything I’m commanding you, you must be careful to observe it. Don’t add to or subtract from it.”
The Parable about the Tenant Farmers(A)
12 Then Jesus[a] began to speak to them in parables. “A man planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a pit for the wine press, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenant farmers and went abroad. 2 At the right time, he sent a servant to the farmers to collect from them a share of the produce from the vineyard. 3 But the farmers[b] grabbed the servant,[c] beat him, and sent him back empty-handed. 4 Again, the man[d] sent another servant to them. They beat the servant[e] over the head and treated him shamefully. 5 Then the man[f] sent another, and that one they killed. So it was with many other servants.[g] Some of these they beat, and others they killed. 6 He still had one more person to send,[h] a son whom he loved. Finally, he sent him to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 7 But those farmers told one another, ‘This is the heir. Come on, let’s kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!’ 8 So they grabbed him, killed him, and threw him out of the vineyard.
9 “Now what will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come, execute the farmers, and give the vineyard to others. 10 Haven’t you ever read this Scripture:
‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone.[i]
11 This was the Lord’s[j] doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes’?”[k]
12 They were trying to arrest him but were afraid of the crowd. Realizing that he had spoken this parable against them, they left him alone and went away.
A Question about Paying Taxes(B)
13 Then they sent some Pharisees and some Herodians[l] to him, intending to trap him in what he said. 14 They came and told him, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere. You don’t favor any individual, because you pay no attention to external appearance. Instead, you teach the way of God truthfully. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? Should we pay them or shouldn’t we?”
15 Seeing through their hypocrisy, Jesus[m] replied to them, “Why are you testing me? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.”
16 So they brought one. Then he asked them, “Whose face and name are on this?”
They told him, “Caesar’s.”
17 So Jesus told them, “Give back to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they were utterly amazed at him.
A Question about the Resurrection(C)
18 Then some Sadducees, who claim there is no resurrection, came to Jesus[n] and asked him, 19 “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies and leaves a wife but no child, he should marry the widow and have children for his brother.[o] 20 There were seven brothers. The first one married and died without having children. 21 Then the second married her and died without having children, and so did the third. 22 None of the seven left any children. Last of all, the woman died, too. 23 In the resurrection, whose wife will she be, since all seven had married her?”[p]
24 Jesus answered them, “Aren’t you mistaken because you don’t know the Scriptures or God’s power? 25 When people[q] rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven. 26 As for the dead being raised, haven’t you read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?[r] 27 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”
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