Old/New Testament

Do Not Worship Other Gods

13 Suppose a prophet appears among you. Or someone comes who uses dreams to tell what’s going to happen. He tells you that a sign or something amazing is going to take place. ² The sign or amazing thing he has spoken about might really take place. And then the prophet might say, “Let’s serve other gods. Let’s worship them.” But you haven’t known anything about those gods before. ³ So you must not listen to what that prophet or dreamer has said. The Lord your God is testing you. He wants to know whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ You must worship him. You must honor him. Keep his commands. Obey him. Serve him. Remain true to him. ⁵ That prophet or dreamer must be put to death. He told you not to obey the Lord your God. The Lord brought you out of Egypt. He set you free from the land where you were slaves. He commanded you to live the way he wants you to. But that prophet or dreamer has tried to get you to be unfaithful to the Lord. Get rid of that evil person.

⁶ Suppose your very own brother or sister secretly tempts you to do something wrong. Or your child or the wife you love tempts you. Or your closest friend does it. Suppose one of them says, “Let’s go and worship other gods.” But you and your people of long ago hadn’t known anything about those gods before. ⁷ They are the gods of the nations around you. Those nations might be near or far away. In fact, they might reach from one end of the land to the other. ⁸ Don’t give in to those who are tempting you. Don’t listen to them. Don’t feel sorry for them. Don’t spare them or save them. ⁹ You must certainly put them to death. You must be the first to throw stones at them. Then all the people must do the same thing. ¹⁰ Put them to death by throwing stones at them. They tried to turn you away from the Lord your God. He brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves. ¹¹ After you kill those who tempted you, all the Israelites will hear about it. And they will be too scared to do an evil thing like that again.

¹² The Lord your God is giving you towns to live in. But suppose you hear something bad about one of those towns. ¹³ You hear that people who cause trouble have appeared among you. They’ve tried to get the people of their town to do something wrong. They’ve said, “Let’s go and worship other gods.” But you haven’t known anything about those gods before. ¹⁴ So you must ask people some questions. You must check out the matter carefully. If it’s true, an evil thing has really happened among you. It’s something the Lord hates. ¹⁵ Then you must certainly kill with your swords everyone who lives in that town. You must destroy it completely. You must wipe out its people and livestock. ¹⁶ You must gather all the goods of that town into the middle of the main street. You must burn the town completely. You must burn up everything in it. It’s a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God. The town must remain a pile of stones forever. It must never be built again. ¹⁷ Don’t keep anything that should be destroyed. Then the Lord will turn away from his great anger. He will show you mercy. He’ll have deep concern for you. He’ll cause there to be many of you. That’s what he promised your people of long ago. He gave his word when he made the promise. ¹⁸ The Lord your God will do those things if you obey him. I’m giving you his commands today. And you must obey all of them. You must do what is right in his eyes.

“Clean” and “Unclean” Food

14 You are the children of the Lord your God. Don’t cut yourselves to honor the dead. Don’t shave the front of your heads to honor the dead. ² You are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth.

³ Don’t eat anything the Lord hates. ⁴ Here are the only animals you can eat. You can eat oxen, sheep, goats, ⁵ deer, gazelles, roe deer, wild goats, ibexes, antelope and mountain sheep. ⁶ You can eat any animal that has a divided hoof. But it must also chew the cud. ⁷ Some animals only chew the cud. Others only have a divided hoof. The camel, rabbit and rock badger chew the cud, but they don’t have a divided hoof. So you can’t eat them. They are not “clean” for you. ⁸ Pigs aren’t “clean” for you either. They have a divided hoof, but they don’t chew the cud. So don’t eat their meat. And don’t touch their dead bodies.

⁹ Many creatures live in water. You can eat all the ones that have fins and scales. ¹⁰ But don’t eat anything that doesn’t have fins and scales. It isn’t “clean” for you.

¹¹ You can eat any “clean” bird. ¹² But there are many birds you can’t eat. They include eagles, vultures, and black vultures. ¹³ They include red kites, black kites and all kinds of falcons. ¹⁴ They include all kinds of ravens. ¹⁵ They include horned owls, screech owls, gulls and all kinds of hawks. ¹⁶ They include little owls, great owls, white owls ¹⁷ and desert owls. They include ospreys and cormorants. ¹⁸ They include storks and all kinds of herons. They also include hoopoes and bats.

¹⁹ All flying insects are “unclean” for you. So don’t eat them. ²⁰ But you can eat any creature that has wings and is “clean.”

²¹ If you find something that’s already dead, don’t eat it. You can give it to an outsider living in any of your towns. They may eat it. Or you can sell it to someone from another country. But you are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself.

Don’t cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.

Give a Tenth of What You Produce

²² Be sure to set apart a tenth of everything your fields produce each year. ²³ Here are the things you should eat in the sight of the Lord your God. You should eat a tenth part of your grain, olive oil and fresh wine. You should also eat the male animals among your livestock that were born first to their mothers. Eat all these things at the special place the Lord your God will choose. He will put his Name there. You will learn to honor him always. ²⁴ But suppose the place the Lord will choose for his Name is too far away from you. And suppose your God has blessed you. And your tenth part is too heavy for you to carry. ²⁵ Then sell it for silver. Take the silver with you. Go to the place the Lord your God will choose. ²⁶ Use the silver to buy anything you like. It can be cattle or sheep. It can be any kind of wine. In fact, it can be anything else you wish. Then you and your family can eat there in the sight of the Lord your God. You can be filled with joy. ²⁷ Don’t forget to take care of the Levites who will live in your towns. They won’t receive any part of the land as their share.

²⁸ At the end of every three years, bring a tenth of everything you produce that year. Store it in your towns. ²⁹ Then the Levites can come and eat. That’s because they won’t receive any part of the land as their share. The outsiders and widows who live in your towns can come. So can the children whose fathers have died. Everyone can have plenty to eat. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

The Year for Forgiving People What They Owe

15 At the end of every seven years you must forgive people what they owe you. ² Have you made a loan to one of your own people? Then forgive what is owed to you. You can’t require that person to pay you back. The Lord’s time to forgive what is owed has been announced. ³ You can require someone from another nation to pay you back. But you must forgive what any of your own people owes you. ⁴ There shouldn’t be any poor people among you. The Lord will greatly bless you in the land he is giving you. You will take it over as your own. ⁵ The Lord your God will bless you if you obey him completely. Be careful to follow all the commands I’m giving you today. ⁶ The Lord your God will bless you, just as he has promised. You will lend money to many nations. But you won’t have to borrow from any of them. You will rule over many nations. But none of them will rule over you.

⁷ Suppose someone is poor among you. And suppose they live in one of the towns in the land the Lord your God is giving you. Then don’t be mean to them. They are poor. So don’t hold back money from them. ⁸ Instead, open your hands and lend them what they need. Do it freely. ⁹ Be careful not to have an evil thought in your mind. Don’t say to yourself, “The seventh year will soon be here. It’s the year for forgiving people what they owe.” If you think like that, you might treat the needy people among you badly. You might not give them anything. Then they might make their appeal to the Lord against you. And he will find you guilty of sin. ¹⁰ So give freely to needy people. Let your heart be tender toward them. Then the Lord your God will bless you in all your work. He will bless you in everything you do. ¹¹ There will always be poor people in the land. So I’m commanding you to give freely to those who are poor and needy in your land. Open your hands to them.

Set Your Hebrew Servants Free

¹² Suppose any Hebrew men or women sell themselves to you. If they do, they will serve you for six years. Then in the seventh year you must let them go free. ¹³ But when you set them free, don’t send them away without anything to show for all their work. ¹⁴ Freely give them some animals from your flock. Also give them some of your grain and wine. The Lord your God has blessed you richly. Give to them as he has given to you. ¹⁵ Remember that you were slaves in Egypt. The Lord your God set you free. That’s why I’m giving you this command today.

¹⁶ But suppose your servant says to you, “I don’t want to leave you.” He loves you and your family. And you are taking good care of him. ¹⁷ Then take him to the door of your house. Poke a hole through his earlobe into the doorpost. And he will become your servant for life. Do the same with your female servant.

¹⁸ Don’t think you are being cheated when you set your servants free. After all, they have served you for six years. The service of each of them has been worth twice as much as the service of a hired worker. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

Male Animals Born First to Their Mothers

¹⁹ Set apart every male animal among your livestock that was born first to its mother. Set it apart to the Lord your God. Don’t put a firstborn cow to work. Don’t clip the wool from a firstborn sheep. ²⁰ Each year you and your family must eat them. Do it in front of the Lord your God at the place he will choose. ²¹ Suppose an animal has something wrong with it. It might not be able to see or walk. Or it might have a bad flaw. Then you must not sacrifice it to the Lord your God. ²² You must eat it in your own towns. Those who are “clean” and those who are “unclean” can eat it. Eat it as if it were antelope or deer meat. ²³ But you must not eat meat that still has blood in it. Pour the blood out on the ground like water.

The Most Important Commandment

²⁸ One of the teachers of the law came and heard the Sadducees arguing. He noticed that Jesus had given the Sadducees a good answer. So he asked him, “Which is the most important of all the commandments?”

²⁹ Jesus answered, “Here is the most important one. Moses said, ‘Israel, listen to me. The Lord is our God. The Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Love him with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Deuteronomy 6:4,5) ³¹ And here is the second one. ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ (Leviticus 19:18) There is no commandment more important than these.”

³² “You have spoken well, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one. There is no other God but him. ³³ To love God with all your heart and mind and strength is very important. So is loving your neighbor as you love yourself. These things are more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

³⁴ Jesus saw that the man had answered wisely. He said to him, “You are not far from God’s kingdom.” From then on, no one dared to ask Jesus any more questions.

Whose Son Is the Messiah?

³⁵ Jesus was teaching in the temple courtyard. He asked, “Why do the teachers of the law say that the Messiah is the son of David? ³⁶ The Holy Spirit spoke through David himself. David said,

³⁷ David himself calls him ‘Lord.’ So how can he be David’s son?”

The large crowd listened to Jesus with delight.

Warning Against the Teachers of the Law

³⁸ As he taught, he said, “Watch out for the teachers of the law. They like to walk around in long robes. They like to be greeted with respect in the market. ³⁹ They love to have the most important seats in the synagogues. They also love to have the places of honor at dinners. ⁴⁰ They take over the houses of widows. They say long prayers to show off. God will punish these men very much.”

The Widow’s Offering

⁴¹ Jesus sat down across from the place where people put their temple offerings. He watched the crowd putting their money into the offering boxes. Many rich people threw large amounts into them. ⁴² But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins. They were worth only a few pennies.

⁴³ Jesus asked his disciples to come to him. He said, “What I’m about to tell you is true. That poor widow has put more into the offering box than all the others. ⁴⁴ They all gave a lot because they are rich. But she gave even though she is poor. She put in everything she had. That was all she had to live on.”