Old/New Testament
Review of the Covenant for a New Generation
4 So now, Israel, listen to the statutes and the ordinances that I am teaching you, and carry them out so that you may live and so that you may enter the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving to you and take possession of it. 2 Do not add to the word that I am commanding you, and do not subtract from it, so that you keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you. 3 With your own eyes you have been observing what the Lord did at Baal Peor. Indeed, the Lord your God destroyed from among you every man who followed the Baal of Peor.
4 But all of you, who are clinging to the Lord your God, are still alive today. 5 Note well now, I have taught you statutes and ordinances, as the Lord my God commanded me, so that you may carry them out also in the land that you are entering to take as a possession. 6 Keep them and put them into practice, because in this way your wisdom and your understanding will be recognized by all the people who hear about all these statutes; and they will say, “This great nation is certainly a wise and understanding people,” 7 because what other great nation is there that has a god as close to it as the Lord our God is to us whenever we call on him? 8 What other great nation is there that has statutes and ordinances as righteous as this entire law that I am presenting to you today?
9 But guard yourselves and guard your whole being[a] diligently, so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen and so that those things do not disappear from your heart all the rest of the days of your life. Make them known to your children and to your children’s children. 10 Tell about the day that you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb when the Lord said to me, “Bring the people near to me and I will make sure that they hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they are living in the land, and so that they may teach their children.” 11 So you drew near and you stood under the mountain while the mountain was burning with fire up to the very heavens. There was darkness, a thick cloud, and gloom. 12 Then the Lord your God spoke to you from the middle of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but you did not see a form. You only heard the sound. 13 He declared to you his covenant that he commanded you to carry out, namely, the Ten Commandments.[b] Then he wrote them on two tablets of stone. 14 At that time the Lord commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances for you to carry out in the land that you are entering in order to occupy it.
15 So guard your hearts very carefully, because you did not see any form on the day that the Lord your God spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. 16 Do this so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves an idol of any form. Do not make an image of a male or female, 17 an image of any animal that walks on the earth, an image of any bird that flies in the sky, 18 an image of anything that creeps on the ground, or an image of any fish that swims in the water below the earth. 19 Beware so that you do not lift up your eyes to the heavens and see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the vast army of the heavens, and you are lured away, and you bow down to them and worship them—things that the Lord your God has allotted to all the nations under all the heavens.
20 But you are the ones that the Lord has chosen and has brought out of the iron furnace of Egypt, to be a nation that is his possession, as is the case today. 21 But the Lord was angry with me because of your words, and he swore that I would not cross the Jordan and would not come into the good land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance. 22 I will die in this land without crossing over the Jordan, but you will cross over and take possession of this good land. 23 Be on guard so that you do not forget the covenant that the Lord your God made[c] with you and so that you do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything that the Lord your God prohibited. 24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.[d]
25 But when you become the father of children, and you have grandchildren, and you have grown old in the land, if you then act corruptly by making an idol of any form, and you do evil in the eyes of the Lord your God, provoking him to anger, 26 I today call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you, that you will most certainly perish quickly from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live many days in it, because you will most certainly be destroyed. 27 The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left as a people that are few in number among the nations where the Lord your God will force you to go. 28 There you will worship gods, the work of human hands, made of wood and stone—things that do not see or hear or eat or smell.
29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find him when you search for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you experience misery and all these things have happened to you in future days, then you will return to the Lord your God, and you will be obedient to his voice. 31 For the Lord your God is a compassionate God. He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath.
32 So ask now about the former days, long before your time, beginning from the day when God created man on the earth. Search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has there ever been anything like this great event, or has anything like it ever been heard? 33 Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire as you heard and yet continued to live? 34 Or has a god ever tried to go and take for himself a nation from inside another nation by tests, signs, and warnings, or by war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great awe-inspiring acts like all those that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt in front of your very eyes? 35 You yourselves were shown this so that you could know that the Lord—he is God! There is none except him alone. 36 He let you hear his voice from the heavens to discipline you, and on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words from the middle of the fire. 37 Yes, because he loved your fathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by the great power of his Presence, 38 driving out from your presence nations greater and stronger than you are, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as it is this day. 39 Therefore know this today and again take it to heart that the Lord is God in the heavens above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his statutes and his commandments that I am commanding you today, so that it may go well for you and for your children after you, and so that you may live long on the land[e] that the Lord your God is giving you for all time.[f]
Cities of Refuge
41 Then Moses set aside three cities in the region east of the Jordan, the place where the sun rises, 42 so that someone who killed a man could flee to them, that is, someone who killed his neighbor unintentionally and who did not previously hate him—he could flee to one of these cities and remain alive: 43 Bezer in the wilderness in the tableland belonging to the Reubenites, Ramoth in Gilead belonging to the Gadites, and Golan in Bashan belonging to the Manassites.
A Review of the Law
44 This is the Law that Moses set before the people of Israel. 45 These are the testimonies and statutes and ordinances that Moses spoke to the people of Israel when they went out of Egypt, 46 in the region east of the Jordan opposite Beth Peor in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel struck down when they came out of Egypt. 47 So they took possession of his land as well as the land of Og king of Bashan, the two kings of the Amorites who were in the region east of the Jordan, where the sun rises. 48 They took possession from Aroer, which is on the edge of the Arnon Canyon, all the way to Mount Siyon, that is, Mount Hermon, 49 including all of the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan, up to the Sea of the Arabah[g] below the slopes of Pisgah.
5 Moses called together all Israel and said this to them: Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am speaking in your hearing today so that you learn them and are conscientious about carrying them out. 2 The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. 3 The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, with those who are here today, all of us who are living today. 4 Face-to-face the Lord spoke with you at the mountain from the middle of the fire. 5 At that time I was standing between the Lord and you to relate to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and you did not go up on the mountain.
Then the Lord said:
6 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from the land of Egypt, where you were slaves.[h]
7 You shall have no other gods beside me.[i] 8 You shall not make any carved image for yourself or a likeness of anything in heaven above, on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. 9 Do not bow down to them or be subservient to[j] them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.[k] I follow up on[l] the guilt of the fathers with their children, their grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren if they also hate me. 10 But I show mercy to thousands who love me and keep my commandments.
11 You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not permit anyone who misuses his name to escape unpunished.
12 Observe the Sabbath day by setting it apart as holy, just as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you are to serve and perform all of your regular work, 14 but the seventh day is a sabbath rest to the Lord your God. You are not to do any regular work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock or the alien who resides inside your gates, in order that your male servant and your female servant may rest like you. 15 Remember that you were slaves in the land of Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out from there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the day of rest.
16 Honor your father and your mother, just as the Lord your God commanded you, so that you may prolong your days and so that it may go well for you on the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
17 You shall not commit murder.
18 You shall not commit adultery.
19 You shall not steal.
20 You shall not give lying testimony against your neighbor.
21 You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house or his field, his male servant or his female servant, his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
22 These are the words the Lord spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the thick cloud, and the gloom, with a loud voice, and he did not add anything. He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 When you heard the voice from the middle of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me—all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
24 Then you said, “See how the Lord our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the middle of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even though God has spoken to him. 25 But now, why should we die, because this great fire will consume us? If we continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we will die. 26 For who of all flesh has ever heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of fire as we have and has lived? 27 You go near and listen to everything that the Lord our God says, and then you speak to us everything that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.”
28 The Lord heard what you said when you spoke to me. So the Lord said to me, “I heard what these people said when they spoke to you. Everything that they spoke to you is good. 29 If only this would be in their hearts—to fear me and to keep all my commandments always, so that it might go well for them and for their children continually. 30 Go and say to them, ‘Go back to your tents.’ 31 As for you, stand here with me and I will speak to you all the commands and the statutes and the ordinances that you are to teach them and that they are to do in the land that I am giving them as a possession. 32 Tell them:[m] ‘Be conscientious about doing just as the Lord your God commanded you. Do not turn aside to the right or to the left. 33 Walk in every way the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and it may be good for you and you may live long in the land that you will possess.’”
6 Moses spoke as follows:[n]
Now this is the body of commands, and these are the statutes and the ordinances that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, so you may carry them out in the land to which you are crossing over to receive as a possession, 2 so that you may fear the Lord your God by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I am commanding to you, as well as to your children and grandchildren, all the days of your life, and so that your days may be long.
3 Listen, O Israel, and be conscientious about doing those things, so it may go well for you and so you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your fathers, promised you. 4 Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God. The Lord is one! 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul[o] and with all your might. 6 These words that I am commanding you today are to be on your heart. 7 Teach them diligently to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as a sign on your wrists, and they will serve as symbols on your forehead. 9 Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.
10 When the Lord your God brings you to the land about which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that he would give it to you, he will bring you to great and good cities that you did not build, 11 to houses full of all kinds of good things that you did not fill, to wells that you did not dig, and to vineyards and olives that you did not plant. Then, when you eat and are full, 12 watch yourself, so that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. 13 Fear the Lord your God, serve him, and swear by his name. 14 Do not go after other gods from among the gods of the peoples around you. 15 If you do, the Lord your God will be a jealous God in your midst, and the anger of the Lord your God will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the earth.
16 Do not put the Lord your God to the test the way you tested him at Massah. 17 Be very conscientious about keeping the commandments of the Lord your God and his testimonies and his statutes, which he commanded you. 18 Do what is right and good in the eyes of the Lord, so that it may go well for you and you may go and take possession of the good land that the Lord promised to your fathers with an oath, 19 driving out all your enemies from your presence, as the Lord promised.
20 When your son asks you in the future, “What are these testimonies and statutes and ordinances that the Lord our God has commanded for you?” 21 then you are to say to your son, “We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand. 22 Right before our eyes the Lord gave great, devastating signs and wonders in Egypt against Pharaoh and against his whole household. 23 Then he brought us out of there to bring us in and give us the land that he promised to our fathers with an oath.”
24 Then the Lord commanded us to carry out all of these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our own lasting good, to keep us alive, even as we are today. 25 Righteousness will be ours when we are conscientious about carrying out this entire set of commands in the presence of the Lord our God as he commanded us.
Jesus’ Triumphal Entry Into Jerusalem
11 As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, on the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples 2 and told them, “Go into the village ahead of you. As soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord needs it, and he will send it back here without delay.’”
4 They left and found a colt on the street, tied at a door; and they untied it. 5 Some who were standing there asked them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” 6 The disciples answered them just as Jesus had instructed them, and the men let them go.
7 They brought the colt to Jesus, threw their garments on it, and Jesus sat on it. 8 Many people spread their garments on the road. Others spread branches that they had cut from the fields. 9 Those who went in front and those who followed were crying out,
Hosanna![a]
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord![b]
10 Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!
Hosanna in the highest!
11 Jesus went into the temple courts in Jerusalem and looked around at everything. Since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve.
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree
12 The next day, after they had set out from Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 When he saw a fig tree in leaf in the distance, he went to see if he might find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, since it was not the season for figs. 14 Jesus said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his disciples were listening.
Jesus Cleanses His Father’s House
15 They came to Jerusalem. Jesus went into the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those who were selling doves. 16 He would not allow anyone to carry any merchandise through the temple courts. 17 He began to teach them: “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?[c] But you have made it ‘a den of robbers’!”[d]
18 The chief priests and the experts in the law heard this and were looking for a way to kill him. Indeed they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.