Old/New Testament
Hospitality to Neighbors
22 “When you see the ox or sheep of your fellow countryman[a] straying, don’t go away and leave it. Instead, be sure to return it to him.[b] 2 If your fellow countryman doesn’t live near you or you don’t know who he is, bring the animal[c] to your house and let it remain with you until he[d] claims it. Then return it to him. 3 Do the same for his donkey, his garment, and for anything lost that belongs to your fellow countryman. When you find it, you must not ignore it. 4 When you see the donkey or the ox of your fellow countryman fallen on the road, don’t ignore it. Instead be sure to help it get up.”
Miscellaneous Laws
5 “A woman is not to wear what is appropriate to a man, nor is a man to put on a woman’s garment, because anyone who does this is detestable to the Lord your God.
6 “When you encounter a bird’s nest along the road, whether in a tree or on the ground, and the mother bird is sitting on its chicks[e] or eggs, don’t take the mother along with its young.[f] 7 You may take the young, but be sure to release the mother, so that life will go well for you and that you may have a long life.
8 “When you build a new house, install a parapet along your roof so that if someone falls from the roof, you won’t bring guilt of bloodshed on your house.”
Principles of Distinction
9 “Don’t plant two kinds of seeds in your vineyard. Otherwise, the entire crop will have to be forfeited, both the seed that you have sown and the produce from it.
10 “Don’t plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together.
11 “Don’t wear material made from wool and linen mixed together.
12 “Sew tassels for yourself on the four corners of the garment with which you cover yourself.”
Integrity in Marriage
13 “Suppose a man marries a wife, but after having sexual relations with her, he despises her, 14 invents charges against her, and defames her by saying, ‘I have married this woman, but when I had sexual relations with her I found that she wasn’t a virgin.’ 15 Then the father of the young lady, along with her mother, is to bring evidence of the young lady’s virginity to the elders at the gate. 16 The father of the young lady is to then say to the elders: ‘I have given my daughter to this man as a wife, but he despises her. 17 Now look, he has invented charges against her by saying, “I haven’t found your daughter to be a virgin.” But here is the proof of my daughter’s virginity.’ Then they are to spread the cloth before the elders of the city. 18 The elders of that city will then take the man, punish him, 19 fine him 100 shekels of silver, and then give them to the young lady’s father, because he defamed a virgin of Israel. She is to remain his wife and he can’t divorce her as long as he lives. 20 But if this charge is true, and the evidence of the young lady’s virginity wasn’t found, 21 they are to bring her to the door of her father’s house. Then the men of the city are to stone her with boulders until she dies for doing a detestable thing in Israel—acting like a prostitute while in her father’s house. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.
22 “If a man is caught having sexual relations with a married woman, then both of them must die—the man who had sex with the woman and the woman herself—so that this evil will be removed from Israel.
23 “If a man meets a young virgin lady in the city who is engaged to be married and has sexual relations with her, 24 then the two must be brought to the city gate and there they must be stoned to death—the girl because she was in a city but did not cry out for help, and the man who abused a woman who was engaged to another man. By doing this you are to remove this evil from among you.
25 “If a man meets a girl in the country who is engaged to be married and then rapes[g] her, the man alone—the one who had sexual relations with her—must die. 26 As for the young lady, don’t do anything to her. The young lady did nothing worthy of death. This case is similar to when a man attacks his countryman and kills him. 27 Since he found her in the country, the engaged girl may have cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.
28 “However, if a man meets a girl who isn’t engaged to be married, and he seizes her, rapes her, and is later found out, 29 then the man who raped her must give 50 shekels of silver to the girl’s father. Furthermore, he must marry her. Because he violated her, he is to not divorce her as long as he lives.
30 [h]“A man must not marry his father’s wife, so that he will not dishonor his father’s memory.”[i]
Qualifications for Assembling
23 [j]“No man whose testicles have been crushed[k] or whose penis has been cut off may participate in the assembly of the Lord. 2 Furthermore, no one born due to an illicit sexual relationship may participate in the assembly of the Lord, including his descendants to the tenth generation. 3 No Ammonite or Moabite may participate in the assembly of the Lord, and none of their descendants is to be admitted to the assembly of the Lord, to the tenth generation, 4 because they didn’t come to meet you with food and water along the way as you were coming out of Egypt. Instead, they hired Beor’s son Balaam from Pethor in Aram-naharaim[l] to curse you. 5 However, the Lord your God didn’t listen to Balaam. The Lord your God turned Balaam’s[m] curse into a blessing, because the Lord your God loves you. 6 Don’t seek a peace treaty with them as long as you live. 7 Don’t detest Edomites, since they are related to you. Don’t detest Egyptians, either, because you were strangers in their land. 8 Their grandchildren[n] may participate in the assembly of the Lord.”
Community Sanitation
9 “When you are encamped for battle against your enemies, be on guard against every form of impropriety. 10 If someone among you becomes unclean due to nocturnal emissions, he must leave the camp and stay outside. 11 As evening approaches, he must wash himself with water. Then at sunset, he may return to the camp.
12 “Choose a place outside the camp for a latrine. 13 Include a spade among your equipment so that when you squat to relieve yourself, you can dig a hole and then cover your excrement. 14 For the Lord your God is on the move within your camp to deliver you and to hand your enemies over to you. Therefore, your camp must be holy so that he will not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.”
Treatment of Slaves
15 “Don’t hand over a slave who escaped from his master when he runs to you. 16 Let him live among you wherever he chooses in any of your cities that he likes. Don’t mistreat him.”
Cultic Prostitution Prohibited
17 “There are to be no cultic prostitutes among the daughters or the sons of Israel. 18 Don’t bring the earnings of a female prostitute nor the income of a male prostitute into the house of the Lord your God as payment for any vow. Both of these are detestable to the Lord your God.”
Fair Dealings
19 “Don’t charge interest to your relatives, whether for money, food, or for anything that has been loaned at interest. 20 You may charge interest to a foreigner, but don’t charge interest to your relatives, so the Lord your God may bless you in everything you undertake in the land that you are about to enter and possess.
21 “When you make a vow to the Lord your God, don’t delay paying it, because the Lord your God will certainly demand payment from you, and then you will be guilty of sin. 22 But if you refrain from making a vow, then you won’t be guilty. 23 Be sure you do whatever you promise, because you have given your word voluntarily to the Lord your God.
24 “When you enter your countrymen’s vineyard, you may eat the grapes to your satisfaction, but don’t take any in a basket. 25 When you enter your countrymen’s grain fields, you may pluck the grain with your hand, but don’t put a sickle to his standing grain.”
Various Laws
24 “If a man chooses to enter into marriage with a woman, but she finds herself displeasing to him because he has found something objectionable[o] about her, he must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her out of his house. 2 If she goes out from his house, becomes the wife of another man, 3 and this second husband[p] dislikes her, he, also, must draw up divorce papers, hand them to her, and then send her away from his house. Should the second husband die, 4 her first husband who married her and divorced her earlier must not remarry her,[q] because she was defiled, since this is detestable to the Lord. Don’t defile the land that the Lord your God is about to give you as a possession.
5 “When a man is newly married, he must not be sent out to war or have a related duty placed on him. Let him stay home for one year and be happy with his wife whom he has married.
6 “Don’t take a pair of millstones, especially the upper millstone, as collateral for a loan, because this means taking a man’s[r] livelihood.
7 “If a man is found kidnapping his relative, a fellow Israeli, and mistreats or sells him, that kidnapper must die. By doing this, you will remove this evil from among you.
8 “In cases of leprosy, be very careful to observe exactly what the Levitical priests instructed you. Carefully follow what I have commanded them. 9 Remember what the Lord your God did to Miriam along the way as you were coming out of Egypt.”
Respecting the Poor
10 “When you loan something to your neighbor, don’t enter his house to seize what he offered as collateral. 11 Stay outside and let the man to whom you made the loan bring it[s] out to you. 12 If he is a poor man, don’t go to sleep with his collateral in your possession.[t] 13 Be sure to return his garment[u] to him at sunset so that he may sleep with it, and he will bless you. It will be a righteous deed in the presence of the Lord your God. 14 Don’t take advantage of a hired person who is poor and needy, whether he’s your fellow citizen or a foreigner who lives in your city. 15 Pay his wages that same day before the sun sets, because he is poor and his livelihood[v] depends on it. Otherwise, he may cry out to the Lord against you, and you will incur guilt.”
Practicing Justice
16 “Fathers are not to be put to death on account of their children’s sin; nor are children to die on account of their fathers’ sin. Each person is to be put to death for his own sin.
17 “Don’t deny justice to a foreigner or to an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment as collateral for a loan. 18 Remember to observe this because you were slaves in Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.
19 “When you are reaping in the field, and you overlook a sheaf, don’t return to get it. Let it remain for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless everything you undertake. 20 When you harvest the olives from your trees, don’t go back to the branches a second time. What remains is for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow. 21 When you harvest the grapes in your vineyard, don’t go back a second time. What remains is for the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow. 22 Remember to do this because you were slaves in the land of Egypt. That is why I’m commanding you to do this.”
The Plot to Kill Jesus(A)
14 Now it was two days before the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread. The high priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus secretly and to have him put to death, 2 because they kept saying, “This must not happen during the festival. Otherwise, there’ll be a riot among the people.”
A Woman Anoints Jesus(B)
3 While Jesus[a] was in Bethany sitting at the table in the home of Simon the leper, a woman arrived with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume made from pure nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume on his head. 4 Irritated, some who were there asked one another, “Why was the perfume wasted like this? 5 This perfume could have been sold for more than 300 denarii[b] and the money[c] given to the destitute.” So they got extremely angry with her.
6 But Jesus said, “Leave her alone. Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing for me, 7 because you’ll always have the destitute with you and can help them whenever you want, but you won’t always have me. 8 She has done what she could. She poured perfume on my body in preparation for my burial. 9 I tell all of you[d] with certainty, wherever the gospel is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”
Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus(C)
10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the high priests to betray Jesus[e] to them. 11 After they had listened to him,[f] they were delighted and promised to give him money. So he began to look for a good opportunity to betray him.
The Passover with the Disciples(D)
12 On the first day of the Festival[g] of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’[h] disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?”
13 He sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and you will meet a man carrying a jug of water. Follow him. 14 When he goes into a house,[i] say to its owner that the Teacher asks, ‘Where is my room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ 15 Then he will show you a large upstairs room that is furnished and ready. Get everything ready for us there.” 16 So the disciples left and went into the city. They found everything just as Jesus[j] had told them, and they prepared the Passover meal.
17 When evening came, Jesus[k] arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were at the table eating, Jesus said, “I tell all of you[l] with certainty, one of you is going to betray me, one who is eating with me.”
19 They began to be very sad and asked him, one after the other, “Surely I am not the one, am I?”
20 He told them, “It’s one of you Twelve, the one who is dipping his bread into the bowl with me. 21 For the Son of Man is going away, just as it has been written about him, but how terrible it will be for that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for him if he had never been born.”
The Lord’s Supper(E)
22 While they were eating, Jesus[m] took a loaf of bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and handed it to them, saying, “Take some. This is my body.” 23 Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 He told them, “This is my blood of the covenant that is being poured out for many people. 25 I tell all of you[n] with certainty, I’ll never again drink the product of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”
26 After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
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