Old/New Testament
Chapter 13
Penalties for Enticing to Idolatry. 1 Every word that I command you, you shall be careful to observe, neither adding to it nor subtracting from it.
2 (A)If there arises in your midst a prophet or a dreamer[a] who promises you a sign or wonder, 3 saying, “Let us go after other gods,” whom you have not known, “and let us serve them,” and the sign or wonder foretold to you comes to pass, 4 do not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer; for the Lord, your God, is testing you to know whether you really love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and soul.(B) 5 The Lord, your God, shall you follow, and him shall you fear; his commandments shall you observe, and to his voice shall you listen; him you shall serve, and to him you shall hold fast.(C) 6 But that prophet or that dreamer shall be put to death, because, in order to lead you astray from the way which the Lord, your God, has commanded you to take, the prophet or dreamer has spoken apostasy against the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery. Thus shall you purge the evil from your midst.(D)
7 If your brother, your father’s child or your mother’s child, your son or daughter, your beloved spouse, or your intimate friend entices you secretly, saying, “Come, let us serve other gods,” whom you and your ancestors have not known, 8 any of the gods of the surrounding peoples, near to you or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: 9 do not yield or listen to any such person; show no pity or compassion and do not shield such a one,(E) 10 (F)but kill that person. Your hand shall be the first raised to put such a one to death; the hand of all the people shall follow. 11 You shall stone that person to death, for seeking to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 12 And all Israel shall hear of it and fear, and never again do such evil as this in your midst.(G)
13 If you hear it said concerning one of the cities which the Lord, your God, gives you to dwell in, 14 that certain scoundrels have sprung up in your midst and have led astray the inhabitants of their city, saying, “Come, let us serve other gods,” whom you have not known, 15 you must inquire carefully into the matter and investigate it thoroughly. If you find that it is true and an established fact that this abomination has been committed in your midst,(H) 16 (I)you shall put the inhabitants of that city to the sword, placing the city and all that is in it, even its livestock, under the ban. 17 Having heaped up all its spoils in the middle of its square, you shall burn the city with all its spoils as a whole burnt offering to the Lord, your God. Let it be a heap of ruins forever, never to be rebuilt. 18 You shall not hold on to anything that is under the ban; then the Lord will turn from his burning anger and show you mercy, and in showing you mercy multiply you as he swore to your ancestors, 19 because you have listened to the voice of the Lord, your God, keeping all his commandments, which I give you today, doing what is right in the sight of the Lord, your God.
Chapter 14
Improper Mourning Rites. 1 You are children of the Lord, your God. You shall not gash yourselves nor shave the hair above your foreheads for the dead.(J) 2 For you are a people holy to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own.(K)
Clean and Unclean Animals. 3 You shall not eat any abominable thing.(L) 4 (M)These are the animals you may eat: the ox, the sheep, the goat, 5 the deer, the gazelle, the roebuck, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope, and the mountain sheep. 6 Any among the animals that has divided hooves, with the foot cloven in two, and that chews the cud you may eat. 7 But you shall not eat any of the following that chew the cud or have cloven hooves: the camel, the hare, and the rock badger, which indeed chew the cud, but do not have divided hooves; they are unclean for you. 8 And the pig, which indeed has divided hooves, with cloven foot, but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall not touch.
9 These you may eat, of all that live in the water: whatever has both fins and scales you may eat, 10 but all those that lack either fins or scales you shall not eat; they are unclean for you.
11 You may eat all clean birds. 12 [b]But you shall not eat any of the following: the griffon vulture, the bearded vulture, the black vulture, 13 the various kites and falcons, 14 all kinds of crows, 15 the eagle owl, the kestrel, the long-eared owl, all species of hawks, 16 the little owl, the screech owl, the barn owl, 17 the horned owl, the osprey, the cormorant, 18 the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat. 19 [c]All winged insects are also unclean for you and shall not be eaten. 20 Any clean winged creatures you may eat.
21 You shall not eat the carcass of any animal that has died of itself; but you may give it to a resident alien within your gates to eat, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord, your God.(N)
You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.[d]
Tithes. 22 Each year you shall tithe all the produce of your seed that grows in the field;(O) 23 then in the place which the Lord, your God, chooses as the dwelling place of his name(P) you shall eat in his presence the tithe of your grain, wine and oil, as well as the firstlings of your herd and flock, that you may learn always to fear the Lord, your God. 24 (Q)But if, when the Lord, your God, blesses you, the journey is too much for you and you are not able to bring your tithe, because the place which the Lord, your God, chooses to put his name is too far for you, 25 you may exchange the tithe for money, and with the money securely in hand, go to the place which the Lord, your God, chooses. 26 You may then exchange the money for whatever you desire, oxen or sheep, wine or beer, or anything else you want, and there in the presence of the Lord, your God, you shall consume it and rejoice, you and your household together.(R) 27 But do not neglect the Levite within your gates, for he has no hereditary portion with you.(S)
28 (T)At the end of every third year you shall bring out all the tithes of your produce for that year and deposit them within your own communities, 29 that the Levite who has no hereditary portion with you, and also the resident alien, the orphan and the widow within your gates, may come and eat and be satisfied; so that the Lord, your God, may bless you in all that you undertake.
Chapter 15
Debts and the Poor. 1 At the end of every seven-year period[e] you shall have a remission of debts,(U) 2 and this is the manner of the remission. Creditors shall remit all claims on loans made to a neighbor, not pressing the neighbor, one who is kin, because the Lord’s remission has been proclaimed. 3 You may press a foreigner, but you shall remit the claim on what your kin owes to you.(V) 4 (W)However, since the Lord, your God, will bless you abundantly in the land the Lord, your God, will give you to possess as a heritage, there shall be no one of you in need 5 if you but listen to the voice of the Lord, your God, and carefully observe this entire commandment which I enjoin on you today. 6 Since the Lord, your God, will bless you as he promised, you will lend to many nations, and borrow from none;(X) you will rule over many nations, and none will rule over you.
7 (Y)If one of your kindred is in need in any community in the land which the Lord, your God, is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor close your hand against your kin who is in need. 8 Instead, you shall freely open your hand and generously lend what suffices to meet that need.(Z) 9 Be careful not to entertain the mean thought, “The seventh year, the year of remission, is near,” so that you would begrudge your kin who is in need and give nothing, and your kin would cry to the Lord against you and you would be held guilty.(AA) 10 When you give, give generously and not with a stingy heart; for that, the Lord, your God, will bless you in all your works and undertakings. 11 The land will never lack for needy persons; that is why I command you: “Open your hand freely to your poor and to your needy kin in your land.”(AB)
Hebrew Slaves. 12 (AC)If your kin, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself or herself to you, he or she is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall release him or her as a free person. 13 (AD)When you release a male from your service, as a free person, you shall not send him away empty-handed, 14 but shall weigh him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press; as the Lord, your God, has blessed you, so you shall give to him. 15 For remember that you too were slaves in the land of Egypt, and the Lord, your God, redeemed you. That is why I am giving you this command today.(AE) 16 (AF)But if he says to you, “I do not wish to leave you,” because he loves you and your household, since he is well off with you, 17 you shall take an awl and put it through his ear[f] into the door, and he shall be your slave forever. Your female slave, also, you shall treat in the same way. 18 Do not be reluctant when you let them go free, since the service they have given you for six years was worth twice a hired laborer’s salary; and the Lord, your God, will bless you in everything you do.
Firstlings. 19 (AG)You shall consecrate to the Lord, your God, every male firstling born in your herd and in your flock. You shall not work the firstlings of your cattle, nor shear the firstlings of your flock. 20 In the presence of the Lord, your God, you shall eat them year after year, you and your household, in the place that the Lord will choose.(AH) 21 (AI)But if a firstling has any defect, lameness or blindness, any such serious defect, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord, your God, 22 but in your own communities you may eat it, the unclean and the clean eating it together, as you would a gazelle or a deer. 23 Only, you must not eat of its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground like water.
28 One of the scribes,(A) when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, asked him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” 29 Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! 30 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’(B) 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”(C) 32 The scribe said to him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, ‘He is One and there is no other than he.’ 33 And ‘to love him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself’ is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”(D) 34 And when Jesus saw that [he] answered with understanding, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask him any more questions.(E)
The Question About David’s Son.[a] 35 As Jesus was teaching in the temple area he said,(F) “How do the scribes claim that the Messiah is the son of David? 36 David himself, inspired by the holy Spirit, said:
‘The Lord said to my lord,
“Sit at my right hand
until I place your enemies under your feet.”’(G)
37 David himself calls him ‘lord’; so how is he his son?” [The] great crowd heard this with delight.
Denunciation of the Scribes.[b] 38 In the course of his teaching he said,(H) “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces, 39 seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets. 40 They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
The Poor Widow’s Contribution.[c] 41 He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury.(I) Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. 43 Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. 44 For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”
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.