Old/New Testament
The Lord Will Bless His People
30 I have told you about all these blessings and curses. The Lord your God will bring them on you. Then you will think carefully about the blessings and curses. You will think about them everywhere the Lord your God scatters you among the nations. 2 You and your children will return to the Lord your God. You will obey him with all your heart and with all your soul. That will be according to everything I’m commanding you today. 3 When all that happens, the Lord your God will bless you with great success again. He will be very kind to you. He’ll bring you back from all the nations where he scattered you. 4 Suppose you have been forced to go away to the farthest land on earth. The Lord your God will bring you back even from there. 5 He will bring you to the land that belonged to your people of long ago. You will take it over. He’ll make you better off than your people were. He’ll cause there to be more of you than there were of them. 6 The Lord your God will keep you from being stubborn. He’ll do the same thing for your children and their children. Then you will love him with all your heart and with all your soul. And you will live. 7 The Lord your God will put all these curses on your enemies. They hated you and hunted you down. 8 You will obey the Lord again. You will obey all his commands that I’m giving you today. 9 Then the Lord your God will give you great success in everything you do. You will have many children. Your livestock will have many little ones. Your crops will do very well. The Lord will take delight in you again. He’ll give you success. That’s what he did for your people of long ago. 10 But you must obey the Lord your God. You must keep his commands and rules. They are written in this Book of the Law. You must turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Choose Life, Not Death
11 What I’m commanding you today is not too hard for you. It isn’t beyond your reach. 12 It isn’t up in heaven. So you don’t have to ask, “Who will go up into heaven to get it? Who will announce it to us so we can obey it?” 13 And it isn’t beyond the ocean. So you don’t have to ask, “Who will go across the ocean to get it? Who will announce it to us so we can obey it?” 14 No, the message isn’t far away at all. In fact, it’s really near you. It’s in your mouth and in your heart so that you can obey it.
15 Today I’m giving you a choice. You can have life and success. Or you can have death and harm. 16 I’m commanding you today to love the Lord your God. I’m commanding you to live exactly as he wants you to live. You must obey his commands, rules and laws. Then you will live. There will be many of you. The Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to take as your own.
17 Don’t let your hearts turn away from the Lord. Instead, obey him. Don’t let yourselves be drawn away to other gods. And don’t bow down to them and worship them. 18 If you do, I announce to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed. You are about to go across the Jordan River and take over the land. But you won’t live there very long.
19 I’m calling for the heavens and the earth to be witnesses against you this very day. I’m offering you the choice of life or death. You can choose either blessings or curses. But I want you to choose life. Then you and your children will live. 20 And you will love the Lord your God. You will obey him. You will remain true to him. The Lord is your very life. He will give you many years in the land. He promised to give that land to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Joshua Becomes the New Leader
31 Here are the words Moses spoke to all the Israelites. 2 He said, “I am now 120 years old. I’m not able to lead you anymore. The Lord has said to me, ‘You will not go across the Jordan River.’ 3 The Lord your God himself will go across ahead of you. He’ll destroy the nations there in order to make room for you. You will take over their land. Joshua will also go across ahead of you, just as the Lord said he would. 4 The Lord will do to those nations what he did to Sihon and Og. He destroyed those Amorite kings along with their land. 5 The Lord will hand those nations over to you. Then you must do to them everything I’ve commanded you to do. 6 Be strong and brave. Don’t be afraid of them. Don’t be terrified because of them. The Lord your God will go with you. He will never leave you. He’ll never desert you.”
7 Then Moses sent for Joshua. Moses spoke to him in front of all the Israelites. He said, “Be strong and brave. You must go with these people. They are going into the land the Lord promised to give to their people of long ago. You must divide it up among them. They will each receive their share. 8 The Lord himself will go ahead of you. He will be with you. He will never leave you. He’ll never desert you. So don’t be afraid. Don’t lose hope.”
The Law Must Be Read to the People
9 Moses wrote down this law. He gave it to the priests, who are sons of Levi. They carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He also gave the law to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them, “You must read this law at the end of every seven years. Do it in the year when you forgive people what they owe. Read it during the Feast of Booths. 11 That’s when all the Israelites come to appear in front of the Lord your God at the holy tent. It will be at the place he will choose. You must read this law to them. 12 Gather the people together. Gather the men, women and children. Also bring together the outsiders living in your towns. Then they can listen and learn to have respect for the Lord your God. And they’ll be careful to obey all the words of this law. 13 Their children must hear it read too. They don’t know this law yet. They too must learn to have respect for the Lord your God. They must honor him as long as you live in the land. You are about to go across the Jordan River and take that land as your very own.”
The Israelites Will Refuse to Obey the Lord
14 The Lord said to Moses, “The day when you will die is near. Have Joshua go to the tent of meeting. Join him there. That is where I will appoint him as the new leader.” So Joshua and Moses went to the tent of meeting.
15 Then the Lord appeared at the tent in a pillar of cloud. It stood over the entrance to the tent. 16 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, “You are going to join the members of your family who have already died. The Israelites will not be faithful to me. They will soon join themselves to the false gods that are worshiped in the land they are entering. The people will desert me. They will break the covenant I made with them. 17 In that day I will become angry with them. I will desert them. I will turn my face away from them. And they will be destroyed. Many horrible troubles and hard times will come on them. On that day they will say, ‘Trouble has come on us. Our God isn’t with us!’ 18 I will certainly turn away from them on that day. I will do it because they did a very evil thing when they turned to other gods.
19 “I want you to write down a song and teach it to the Israelites. Have them sing it. It will be my witness against them. 20 I will bring them into a land that has plenty of milk and honey. I promised the land to their people of long ago. In that land they will eat until they have had enough. They will get fat. When they do, they will turn to other gods and worship them. They will turn their backs on me. They will break my covenant. 21 Many horrible troubles and hard times will come on them. Then the song I am giving you will be a witness against them. That is because the song will not be forgotten by their children and their children’s children. I know what they are likely to do. I know it even before I bring them into the land I promised them.” 22 So that day Moses wrote the song down. And Moses taught it to the Israelites.
23 The Lord gave a command to Joshua, the son of Nun. He said, “Be strong and brave. You will bring the Israelites into the land I promised them. I myself will be with you.”
24 Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book. He wrote them down from beginning to end. 25 Then he gave a command to the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord. Moses said, 26 “Take this Book of the Law. Place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you. 27 I know how you refuse to obey the Lord. I know how stubborn you are. You have refused to obey him while I’ve been living among you. So you will certainly refuse to obey him after I’m dead! 28 Gather together all the elders of your tribes and all your officials. Bring them to me. Then I can speak these words to them. I can call for the heavens and the earth to be witnesses against them. 29 I know that after I’m dead you will certainly become very sinful. You will turn away from the path I’ve commanded you to take. In days to come, trouble will fall on you. That’s because you will do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. You will make him very angry because of the statues of gods your hands have made.”
The Song of Moses
30 Moses spoke the words of this song from beginning to end. The whole community of Israel heard them. Here is what he said.
Jesus Is Brought to Pilate
15 It was very early in the morning. The chief priests, with the elders, the teachers of the law, and the whole Sanhedrin, made their plans. So they tied Jesus up and led him away. Then they handed him over to Pilate.
2 “Are you the king of the Jews?” asked Pilate.
“You have said so,” Jesus replied.
3 The chief priests brought many charges against him. 4 So Pilate asked him again, “Aren’t you going to answer? See how many things they charge you with.”
5 But Jesus still did not reply. Pilate was amazed.
6 It was the usual practice at the Passover Feast to let one prisoner go free. The people could choose the one they wanted. 7 A man named Barabbas was in prison. He was there with some other people who had fought against the country’s rulers. They had committed murder while they were fighting against the rulers. 8 The crowd came up and asked Pilate to do for them what he usually did.
9 “Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?” asked Pilate. 10 He knew that the chief priests had handed Jesus over to him because they wanted to get their own way. 11 But the chief priests stirred up the crowd. So the crowd asked Pilate to let Barabbas go free instead.
12 “Then what should I do with the one you call the king of the Jews?” Pilate asked them.
13 “Crucify him!” the crowd shouted.
14 “Why? What wrong has he done?” asked Pilate.
But they shouted even louder, “Crucify him!”
15 Pilate wanted to satisfy the crowd. So he let Barabbas go free. He ordered that Jesus be whipped. Then he handed him over to be nailed to a cross.
The Soldiers Make Fun of Jesus
16 The soldiers led Jesus away into the palace. It was called the Praetorium. They called together the whole company of soldiers. 17 The soldiers put a purple robe on Jesus. Then they twisted thorns together to make a crown. They placed it on his head. 18 They began to call out to him, “We honor you, king of the Jews!” 19 Again and again they hit him on the head with a stick. They spit on him. They fell on their knees and pretended to honor him. 20 After they had made fun of him, they took off the purple robe. They put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him out to nail him to a cross.
Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross
21 A man named Simon was passing by. He was from Cyrene. He was the father of Alexander and Rufus. Simon was on his way in from the country. The soldiers forced him to carry the cross. 22 They brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha. The word Golgotha means the Place of the Skull. 23 Then they gave him wine mixed with spices. But he did not take it. 24 They nailed him to the cross. Then they divided up his clothes. They cast lots to see what each of them would get.
25 It was nine o’clock in the morning when they crucified him.
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