Old/New Testament
The Passover
16 Observe the month Abib[a] and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month[b] he[c] brought you out of Egypt by night. 2 You must sacrifice the Passover animal[d] (from the flock or the herd) to the Lord your God in the place where he[e] chooses to locate his name. 3 You must not eat any yeast with it; for seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, as symbolic of affliction,[f] for you came out of Egypt hurriedly. You must do this so you will remember for the rest of your lives the day you came out of the land of Egypt. 4 There must not be a scrap of yeast within your land[g] for seven days, nor can any of the meat you sacrifice on the evening of the first day remain until the next morning.[h] 5 You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your villages[i] that the Lord your God is giving you, 6 but you must sacrifice it[j] in the evening in[k] the place where he[l] chooses to locate his name, at sunset, the time of day you came out of Egypt. 7 You must cook[m] and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses; you may return the next morning to your tents. 8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day.[n]
The Feast of Weeks
9 You must count seven weeks; you must begin to count them[o] from the time you begin to harvest the standing grain. 10 Then you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks[p] before the Lord your God with the voluntary offering[q] that you will bring, in proportion to how he[r] has blessed you. 11 You shall rejoice before him[s]—you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites in your villages,[t] the resident foreigners,[u] the orphans, and the widows among you—in the place where the Lord chooses to locate his name. 12 Furthermore, remember that you were a slave in Egypt, and so be careful to observe these statutes.
The Feast of Temporary Shelters
13 You must celebrate the Feast of Shelters[v] for seven days, at the time of the grain and grape harvest.[w] 14 You are to rejoice in your festival, you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the Levites, the resident foreigners, the orphans, and the widows who are in your villages.[x] 15 You are to celebrate the festival seven days before the Lord your God in the place he[y] chooses, for he[z] will bless you in all your productivity and in whatever you do;[aa] so you will indeed rejoice! 16 Three times a year all your males must appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses for the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Shelters; and they must not appear before him[ab] empty-handed. 17 Every one of you must give as you are able,[ac] according to the blessing of the Lord your God that he has given you.
Provision for Justice
18 You must appoint judges and civil servants[ad] for each tribe in all your villages[ae] that the Lord your God is giving you, and they must judge the people fairly.[af] 19 You must not pervert justice or show favor. Do not take a bribe, for bribes blind the eyes of the wise and distort[ag] the words of the righteous.[ah] 20 You must pursue justice alone[ai] so that you may live and inherit the land the Lord your God is giving you.
Examples of Legal Cases
21 You must not plant any kind of tree as a sacred Asherah pole[aj] near the altar of the Lord your God which you build for yourself. 22 You must not erect a sacred pillar,[ak] a thing the Lord your God detests.
17 You must not sacrifice to him[al] a bull or sheep that has a blemish or any other defect, because that is considered offensive[am] to the Lord your God. 2 Suppose a man or woman is discovered among you in one of your villages[an] that the Lord your God is giving you who sins before the Lord your God[ao] and breaks his covenant 3 by serving other gods and worshiping them—the sun,[ap] moon, or any other heavenly bodies that I have not permitted you to worship.[aq] 4 When it is reported to you and you hear about it, you must investigate carefully. If it is indeed true that such a disgraceful thing[ar] is being done in Israel, 5 you must bring to your city gates[as] that man or woman who has done this wicked thing—that very man or woman—and you must stone that person to death.[at] 6 At the testimony of two or three witnesses the person must be executed. They cannot be put to death on the testimony of only one witness. 7 The witnesses[au] must be first to begin the execution, and then all the people[av] are to join in afterward. In this way you will purge the evil from among you.
Appeal to a Higher Court
8 If a matter is too difficult for you to judge—bloodshed,[aw] legal claim,[ax] or assault[ay]—matters of controversy in your villages[az]—you must leave there and go up to the place the Lord your God chooses.[ba] 9 You will go to the Levitical priests and the judge in office in those days and seek a solution; they will render a verdict. 10 You must then do as they have determined at that place the Lord chooses. Be careful to do just as you are taught. 11 You must do what you are instructed, and the verdict they pronounce to you, without fail. Do not deviate right or left from what they tell you. 12 The person who pays no attention[bb] to the priest currently serving the Lord your God there, or to the judge—that person must die, so that you may purge evil from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and not be so presumptuous again.
Provision for Kingship
14 When you come to the land the Lord your God is giving you and take it over and live in it and then say, “I will select a king like all the nations surrounding me,” 15 you must select without fail[bc] a king whom the Lord your God chooses. From among your fellow citizens[bd] you must appoint a king—you may not designate a foreigner who is not one of your fellow Israelites.[be] 16 Moreover, he must not accumulate horses for himself or allow the people to return to Egypt to do so,[bf] for the Lord has said you must never again return that way. 17 Furthermore, he must not marry many[bg] wives lest his affections turn aside, and he must not accumulate much silver and gold. 18 When he sits on his royal throne he must make a copy of this law[bh] on a scroll[bi] given to him by the Levitical priests. 19 It must be with him constantly, and he must read it as long as he lives, so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and observe all the words of this law and these statutes and carry them out. 20 Then he will not exalt himself above his fellow citizens or turn from the commandments to the right or left, and he and his descendants will enjoy many years ruling over his kingdom[bj] in Israel.
Provision for Priests and Levites
18 The Levitical priests[bk]—indeed, the entire tribe of Levi—will have no allotment or inheritance with Israel; they may eat the burnt offerings of the Lord and of his inheritance.[bl] 2 They[bm] will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites;[bn] the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them. 3 This shall be the priests’ fair allotment[bo] from the people who offer sacrifices, whether bull or sheep—they must give to the priest the shoulder, the jowls, and the stomach. 4 You must give them the best of your[bp] grain, new wine, and olive oil, as well as the best of your wool when you shear your flocks. 5 For the Lord your God has chosen them and their sons from all your tribes to stand[bq] and serve in his name[br] permanently. 6 Suppose a Levite comes by his own free will[bs] from one of your villages, from any part of Israel where he is living,[bt] to the place the Lord chooses 7 and serves in the name of the Lord his God like his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. 8 He must eat the same share they do, despite any profits he may gain from the sale of his family’s inheritance.[bu]
Prohibited Occult Practices
9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. 10 There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire,[bv] anyone who practices divination,[bw] an omen reader,[bx] a soothsayer,[by] a sorcerer,[bz] 11 one who casts spells,[ca] one who conjures up spirits,[cb] a practitioner of the occult,[cc] or a necromancer.[cd] 12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord, and because of these detestable things[ce] the Lord your God is about to drive them out[cf] from before you. 13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God. 14 Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things.
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites;[cg] you must listen to him. 16 This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our[ch] God anymore or see this great fire anymore lest we die.” 17 The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. 18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. 19 I will personally hold responsible[ci] anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet[cj] speaks in my name.
20 “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized[ck] him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. 21 Now if you say to yourselves,[cl] ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’[cm]— 22 whenever a prophet speaks in my[cn] name and the prediction[co] is not fulfilled,[cp] then I have[cq] not spoken it;[cr] the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”
The Destruction of the Temple
13 Now[a] as Jesus[b] was going out of the temple courts, one of his disciples said to him, “Teacher, look at these tremendous stones and buildings!”[c] 2 Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left on another.[d] All will be torn down!”[e]
Signs of the End of the Age
3 So[f] while he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John,[g] and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will these things[h] happen? And what will be the sign that all these things are about to take place?” 5 Jesus began to say to them, “Watch out[i] that no one misleads you. 6 Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’[j] and they will mislead many. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. These things must happen, but the end is still to come.[k] 8 For nation will rise up in arms[l] against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and there will be famines.[m] These are but the beginning of birth pains.
Persecution of Disciples
9 “You must watch out for yourselves. You will be handed over[n] to councils[o] and beaten in the synagogues.[p] You will stand before governors and kings[q] because of me, as a witness to them. 10 First the gospel must be preached to all nations. 11 When they arrest you and hand you over for trial,[r] do not worry about what to speak. But say whatever is given you at that time,[s] for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. 12 Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against[t] parents and have them put to death. 13 You will be hated by everyone because of my name.[u] But the one who endures to the end will be saved.[v]
The Abomination of Desolation
14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation[w] standing where it[x] should not be” (let the reader understand),[y] “then those in Judea must flee[z] to the mountains. 15 The one on the roof[aa] must not come down or go inside to take anything out of his house.[ab] 16 The one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 17 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days! 18 Pray that it may not be in winter. 19 For in those days there will be suffering[ac] unlike anything that has happened[ad] from the beginning of the creation that God created until now, or ever will happen. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no one would be saved. But because of the elect, whom he chose, he has cut them[ae] short.
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