Old/New Testament
Chapter 4
Advantages of Fidelity. 1 Now therefore, Israel, hear the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to observe, that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land which the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.(A) 2 In your observance of the commandments of the Lord, your God,(B) which I am commanding you, you shall not add to what I command you nor subtract from it. 3 You have seen with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal-peor:(C) the Lord, your God, destroyed from your midst everyone who followed the Baal of Peor; 4 but you, who held fast to the Lord, your God, are all alive today. 5 See, I am teaching you the statutes and ordinances as the Lord, my God, has commanded me, that you may observe them in the land you are entering to possess. 6 Observe them carefully, for this is your wisdom and discernment in the sight of the peoples, who will hear of all these statutes and say, “This great nation is truly a wise and discerning people.”(D) 7 (E)For what great nation is there that has gods so close to it as the Lord, our God, is to us whenever we call upon him? 8 Or what great nation has statutes and ordinances that are as just as this whole law which I am setting before you today?(F)
Revelation at Horeb. 9 However, be on your guard and be very careful not to forget the things your own eyes have seen, nor let them slip from your heart as long as you live, but make them known to your children(G) and to your children’s children, 10 that day you stood before the Lord, your God, at Horeb, when the Lord said to me: Assemble the people for me, that I may let them hear my words, that they may learn to fear[a] me as long as they live in the land and may so teach their children. 11 (H)You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain blazed to the heart of the heavens with fire and was enveloped in a dense black cloud. 12 Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire.(I) You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. 13 He proclaimed to you his covenant, which he commanded you to keep: the ten words,[b] which he wrote on two stone tablets.(J) 14 At that time the Lord charged me to teach you the statutes and ordinances for you to observe in the land you are about to cross into and possess.
Danger of Idolatry. 15 Because you saw no form at all on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, be strictly on your guard 16 not to act corruptly by fashioning an idol for yourselves to represent any figure, whether it be the form of a man or of a woman,(K) 17 the form of any animal on the earth, the form of any bird that flies in the sky, 18 the form of anything that crawls on the ground, or the form of any fish in the waters under the earth. 19 And when you look up to the heavens and behold the sun or the moon or the stars, the whole heavenly host, do not be led astray into bowing down to them and serving them.(L) These the Lord, your God, has apportioned to all the other nations under the heavens; 20 but you the Lord has taken and led out of that iron foundry, Egypt, that you might be his people, his heritage, as you are today.(M) 21 But the Lord was angry with me on your account(N) and swore that I should not cross the Jordan nor enter the good land which the Lord, your God, is giving you as a heritage. 22 I myself shall die in this country; I shall not cross the Jordan; but you are going to cross over and take possession of that good land.(O) 23 Be careful, therefore, lest you forget the covenant which the Lord, your God, has made with you, and fashion for yourselves against his command an idol in any form whatsoever.(P) 24 For the Lord, your God, is a consuming fire, a jealous God.[c](Q)
God’s Fidelity and Love. 25 (R)When you have children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, should you then act corruptly by fashioning an idol in the form of anything, and by this evil done in his sight provoke the Lord, your God, 26 I call heaven and earth this day to witness against you, that you shall all quickly perish from the land which you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You shall not live in it for any length of time but shall be utterly wiped out.(S) 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and there shall remain but a handful of you among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. 28 There you shall serve gods that are works of human hands, of wood and stone, gods which can neither see nor hear, neither eat nor smell.(T) 29 Yet when you seek the Lord, your God, from there, you shall indeed find him if you search after him with all your heart and soul.(U) 30 In your distress, when all these things shall have come upon you, you shall finally return to the Lord, your God, and listen to his voice. 31 Since the Lord, your God, is a merciful God, he will not abandon or destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your ancestors that he swore to them.(V)
32 Ask now of the days of old, before your time, ever since God created humankind upon the earth; ask from one end of the sky to the other: Did anything so great ever happen before? Was it ever heard of? 33 Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking from the midst of fire, as you did, and live?(W) 34 Or did any god venture to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders,(X) by war, with strong hand and outstretched arm, and by great terrors, all of which the Lord, your God, did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? 35 All this you were allowed to see that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other.(Y) 36 Out of the heavens he let you hear his voice to discipline you; on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard him speaking out of the fire. 37 For love of your ancestors he chose their descendants after them and by his presence and great power led you out of Egypt, 38 dispossessing before you nations greater and mightier than you, so as to bring you in and to give their land to you as a heritage, as it is today. 39 This is why you must now acknowledge, and fix in your heart, that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on earth below, and that there is no other.(Z) 40 And you must keep his statutes and commandments which I command you today, that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may have long life on the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you forever.(AA)
Cities of Refuge. 41 (AB)Then Moses set apart three cities in the region east of the Jordan, 42 to which a homicide might flee who killed a neighbor unintentionally, where there had been no hatred previously, so that the killer might flee to one of these cities and live: 43 Bezer in the wilderness, in the region of the plateau, for the Reubenites; Ramoth in Gilead for the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan for the Manassites.
II. Second Address
A. The Lord’s Covenant with Israel
Introduction. 44 This is the law[d] which Moses set before the Israelites.(AC) 45 These are the decrees, and the statutes and ordinances[e] which Moses proclaimed to the Israelites after they came out of Egypt,(AD) 46 (AE)beyond the Jordan in the valley opposite Beth-peor, in the land of Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, whom Moses and the Israelites defeated after they came out of Egypt.(AF) 47 They took possession of his land and the land of Og, king of Bashan, as well—the land of these two kings of the Amorites in the region beyond the Jordan to the east: 48 from Aroer on the edge of the Wadi Arnon to Mount Sion[f] (that is, Hermon) 49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan to the east, as far as the Arabah Sea[g] under the slopes of Pisgah.
Chapter 5
The Covenant at Horeb. 1 Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances which I proclaim in your hearing this day, that you may learn them and take care to observe them.(AG) 2 The Lord, our God, made a covenant with us at Horeb; 3 not with our ancestors[h] did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, all of us who are alive here this day. 4 (AH)Face to face, the Lord spoke with you on the mountain from the midst of the fire,(AI) 5 while I was standing between the Lord and you at that time, to announce to you these words of the Lord, since you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain:
The Decalogue. 6 (AJ)I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt,(AK) out of the house of slavery. 7 (AL)You shall not have other gods beside me. 8 You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters beneath the earth; 9 [i]you shall not bow down before them or serve them. For I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous[j] God, bringing punishment for their parents’ wickedness on the children of those who hate me, down to the third and fourth generation, 10 but showing love down to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.
11 You shall not invoke the name of the Lord, your God, in vain.(AM) For the Lord will not leave unpunished anyone who invokes his name in vain.
12 (AN)Observe the sabbath day—keep it holy, as the Lord, your God, commanded you. 13 Six days you may labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey or any work animal, or the resident alien within your gates, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do. 15 Remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, brought you out from there with a strong hand and outstretched arm. That is why the Lord, your God, has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.
16 (AO)Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord, your God, has commanded you, that you may have a long life and that you may prosper in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
18 (AQ)You shall not commit adultery.
19 (AR)You shall not steal.
20 (AS)You shall not bear dishonest witness against your neighbor.
21 (AT)You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.
You shall not desire your neighbor’s house or field, his male or female slave, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
Moses as Mediator. 22 These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your entire assembly on the mountain from the midst of the fire and the dense black cloud, and added no more. He inscribed them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.(AU) 23 But when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, you came near to me, all your tribal heads and elders, 24 and said, “The Lord, our God, has indeed let us see his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire.(AV) Today we have found out that God may speak to a mortal and that person may still live. 25 Now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the Lord, our God, any more, we shall die.(AW) 26 For what mortal has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of fire, as we have, and lived? 27 You go closer and listen to all that the Lord, our God, will say, and then tell us what the Lord, our God, tells you; we will listen and obey.”(AX)
28 The Lord heard your words as you were speaking to me and said to me, I have heard the words these people have spoken to you, which are all well said.(AY) 29 Would that they might always be of such a mind, to fear me and to keep all my commandments! Then they and their descendants would prosper forever. 30 Go, tell them: Return to your tents. 31 Then you stand here near me and I will give you all the commandments, the statutes and the ordinances; you must teach them, that they may observe them in the land I am giving them to possess.(AZ)
32 Be careful, therefore, to do as the Lord, your God, has commanded you, not turning aside to the right or to the left, 33 but following exactly the way that the Lord, your God, commanded you that you may live and prosper, and may have long life in the land which you are to possess.(BA)
Chapter 6
1 This then is the commandment, the statutes and the ordinances,(BB) which the Lord, your God, has commanded that you be taught to observe in the land you are about to cross into to possess, 2 so that you, that is, you, your child, and your grandchild, may fear the Lord, your God, by keeping, as long as you live, all his statutes and commandments(BC) which I enjoin on you, and thus have long life. 3 Hear then, Israel, and be careful to observe them, that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly; for the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.(BD)
The Great Commandment.[l] 4 (BE)Hear, O Israel![m] The Lord is our God, the Lord alone! 5 Therefore, you shall love the Lord, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.(BF) 6 (BG)Take to heart these words which I command you today.(BH) 7 Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.(BI) 8 Bind them on your arm as a sign[n] and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.(BJ) 9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.(BK)
Fidelity in Prosperity. 10 (BL)When the Lord, your God, brings you into the land which he swore to your ancestors, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give you, a land with fine, large cities that you did not build,(BM) 11 with houses full of goods of all sorts that you did not garner, with cisterns that you did not dig, with vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant; and when, therefore, you eat and are satisfied,(BN) 12 (BO)be careful not to forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that house of slavery. 13 (BP)The Lord, your God, shall you fear; him shall you serve,[o] and by his name shall you swear. 14 (BQ)You shall not go after other gods, any of the gods of the surrounding peoples— 15 for the Lord, your God who is in your midst, is a passionate God—lest the anger of the Lord, your God, flare up against you and he destroy you from upon the land.
16 You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test, as you did at Massah.(BR) 17 But keep the commandments of the Lord, your God, and the decrees and the statutes he has commanded you. 18 Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and you may enter in and possess the good land which the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors, 19 driving all your enemies out of your way, as the Lord has promised.(BS)
Instruction to Children. 20 (BT)Later on, when your son asks you, “What do these decrees and statutes and ordinances mean?”(BU) which the Lord, our God, has enjoined on you, 21 (BV)you shall say to your son, “We were once slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand(BW) 22 and wrought before our eyes signs and wonders, great and dire, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and his whole house. 23 He brought us from there to bring us in and give us the land he had promised on oath to our ancestors.(BX) 24 (BY)The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes in fear of the Lord, our God, that we may always have as good a life as we have today. 25 This is our justice before the Lord, our God: to observe carefully this whole commandment he has enjoined on us.”
Chapter 11
The Entry into Jerusalem.[a] 1 When they drew near to Jerusalem,(A) to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately on entering it, you will find a colt tethered on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone should say to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ reply, ‘The Master has need of it and will send it back here at once.’” 4 So they went off and found a colt tethered at a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. 5 Some of the bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They answered them just as Jesus had told them to, and they permitted them to do it. 7 So they brought the colt to Jesus and put their cloaks over it. And he sat on it. 8 Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 Those preceding him as well as those following kept crying out:(B)
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that is to come!
Hosanna in the highest!”
11 He entered Jerusalem and went into the temple area. He looked around at everything and, since it was already late, went out to Bethany with the Twelve.(C)
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree.[b] 12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry.(D) 13 Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went over to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. 14 And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!” And his disciples heard it.
Cleansing of the Temple.[c] 15 They came to Jerusalem,(E) and on entering the temple area he began to drive out those selling and buying there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. 16 He did not permit anyone to carry anything through the temple area. 17 Then he taught them saying, “Is it not written:
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples’?
But you have made it a den of thieves.”(F)
18 The chief priests and the scribes came to hear of it and were seeking a way to put him to death, yet they feared him because the whole crowd was astonished at his teaching.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.