Exodus 23 Cross References - ISV

¹ Laws about Truthful Testimony“You are not to spread a false report, nor are you to join forces with the wicked to be a malicious witness. ² You are not to follow the majority in doing wrong, and you are not to testify in a lawsuit so as to follow the majority and pervert justice. ³ You are not to show partiality to a poor man in his lawsuit.
⁴ “If you come across your enemy’s ox or donkey wandering off, you are to certainly return it to him. ⁵ If you see your enemy’s donkey lying helpless under its load, you must not abandon it; rather, you are certainly to return it to him.
⁶ “You are not to pervert justice for the poor among you in their lawsuits. ⁷ Stay far away from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent or the righteous, because I won’t acquit the guilty. ⁸ You are not to take a bribe because a bribe blinds the clear-sighted and distorts the words of the righteous. ⁹ You are not to oppress the resident alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.”
¹⁰ Instructions for Sabbaths and Sabbatical Years“You are to sow your land and gather its crops for six years, ¹¹ but you are to let it rest the seventh year, leaving it unplanted. The poor of your people may eat from it, and the wild animals may eat what they leave. You are to do the same with your vineyards and olive groves. ¹² You are to do your work for six days, but on the seventh day you are to refrain from work so that your ox and donkey may rest, and so the son of your maidservant and the alien may be refreshed.
¹³ “Be careful about everything I’ve told you, and don’t mention the name of other gods. Don’t let them be heard in your mouth!”
¹⁴ The Three Major Festivals“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival for me. ¹⁵ You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month Abib, because in it you came out of Egypt. No one is to appear before me empty handed. ¹⁶ You are to observe the Festival of Harvest, celebrating the first fruits of your work in planting the field, and the Festival of Ingathering at the end of the year, when you gather the fruit of your work from the field. ¹⁷ Three times a year all your males shall appear in the presence of the Lord GOD.”
¹⁸ Various Laws“You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, and you are not to let the fat portion of my sacrifice remain overnight until morning.
¹⁹ “You are to bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God.
“You are not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
²⁰ God Promises Help as the Israelis Enter Canaan“Look, I’m sending an angel in front of you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I’ve prepared. ²¹ Be careful! Be sure to obey him. Don’t rebel against him, because he won’t forgive your transgression, since my Name is in him. ²² Indeed, if you carefully obey him and do everything that I say, then I’ll be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries, ²³ because my angel will go ahead of you and will bring you to the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, and I’ll annihilate them. ²⁴ You are not to bow down to their gods or serve them. You are not to follow their practices, but you are to overthrow them completely and smash their sacred stones to pieces. ²⁵ You are to serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your food and water, and I’ll remove sickness from you. ²⁶ No woman will miscarry or be barren in your land, and I’ll make every day of your life complete.
²⁷ “I’ll go ahead of you and terrorize all the people to whom you are coming. I’ll confuse your enemies and make them turn their backs on you and run away. ²⁸ I’ll send hornets ahead of you and they’ll drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites before you. ²⁹ I won’t drive them out before you in a single year, so that the land does not become desolate and so that wild animals do not overrun you. ³⁰ I’ll drive them out ahead of you little by little until you increase in numbers and possess the land.
³¹ “I’ll set your borders from the Reed Sea to the Sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, bringing the inhabitants of the land under your control, and you are to drive them out ahead of you. ³² You are not to make a covenant with them or with their gods. ³³ They are not to live in your land. Otherwise they will cause you to sin against me. If you worship their gods, it will become a snare for you.”

¹⁶ “You are not to testify falsely against your neighbor.י

⁷ Stay far away from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent or the righteous, because I won’t acquit the guilty.

¹¹ Just Dealings“You are not to steal or lie or deal falsely with your neighbor.

¹⁶ Social Responsibility“You are not to go around slandering your people.
“You are not to stand idle when your neighbor’s life is at stake. I am the LORD.

²⁰ “‘You are not to testify falsely against your neighbor.י

¹⁶ When a malicious witness takes the stand against a man and accuses him, ¹⁷ then both must stand with their dispute in the LORD’s presence, the priests, and the judges at that time. ¹⁸ The judges will investigate thoroughly. If the false witness lies in testifying against his relative, ¹⁹ do to him just as he intended to do to his relative. By doing this you will purge evil from your midst. ²⁰ When others hear of this, they will be afraid and will not do such an evil deed again in your midst. ²¹ Your eyes must not show pity—life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, and foot for foot.”

³ Then the king asked, “Where is your master’s son?”
“He’s staying in Jerusalem!” Ziba answered the king. “He’s saying ‘The nation of Israel will restore my father’s kingdom to me today!’”

²⁷ by slandering your servant to your majesty. But your majesty the king is like an angel from God: so do what you think is best.

¹⁰ Seat two wicked men in front of him, and make them testify against him. Tell them to claim ‘You cursed God and the king.’ Then take him out and stone him to death.”
¹¹ So the leading men of the city, along with the elders and nobles who lived there, did precisely what Jezebel had directed them to do. They followed the instructions that she had set forth in the memos: ¹² They proclaimed a public fast and seated Naboth in the front row. ¹³ Two wicked men came in, sat down in front of them, and testified against Naboth in public, “Naboth cursed God and the king!” So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death.

³ The one who does not slander with his tongue, who does no evil to his neighbor, and who does not destroy his friend’s reputation.

¹² Do not hand me over to the desires of my enemies; for false witnesses have risen up against me; even the one who breathes out violence.

¹¹ False witnesses stepped forward and questioned me concerning things about which I knew nothing.

⁵ I will destroy the one who secretly slanders a friend. I will not allow the proud and haughty to prevail.

³ What will be given to you, and what will be done to you, you treacherous tongue?

¹⁹ a false witness snorting lies, and someone sowing quarrels between brothers.

¹⁸ Whoever conceals hatred is a deceitful liar, and whoever spreads slander is a fool.

¹⁷ The truth teller speaks what is right, but the false witness speaks what is deceitful.

⁴ Whoever practices evil pays attention to wicked speech, and the liar listens to malicious talk.

⁵ A witness to lies will not go unpunished; the teller of falsehoods will not escape.

⁹ A witness to lies will not go unpunished; the teller of falsehoods will perish.

²⁸ A corrupt witness mocks justice, and the wicked person feeds on iniquity.

²⁸ A false witness will perish, but whoever listens will testify successfully.

²⁸ Don’t testify against your neighbor without a cause, and don’t lie when you speak.

¹⁸ A club, a sword, and a sharp arrow— that’s what a man is who lies about his neighbor.

²³ The north wind brings rain, and a backbiting tongue an angry look.

¹⁰ Indeed, I hear many people whispering, “Terror on every side. Denounce him, let’s denounce him!” All my close friends watch my steps and say, “Perhaps he will be deceived, and we can prevail against him and take vengeance on him.”

¹⁸ The young man asked him, “Which ones?”
Jesus said, “‘You must not murder, you must not commit adultery, you must not steal, you must not give false testimony,

⁵⁹ Meanwhile, the high priests and the whole Council were looking for false testimony against Jesus in order to have him put to death. ⁶⁰ But they couldn’t find any, even though many false witnesses had come forward. At last two men came forward ⁶¹ and stated, “This man said, ‘I can destroy the sanctuary of God and rebuild it in three days.’”

¹⁴ If this is reported to the governor, we’ll personally persuade him to keep you out of trouble.” ¹⁵ So the soldiers took the money, did as they were instructed, and this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

¹⁴ Even some soldiers were asking him, “And what should we do?”
He told them, “Never extort money from anyone by threats or blackmail, and be satisfied with your pay.”

⁸ Later, Zacchaeus stood up and announced to the Lord, “Look! I’m giving half of my possessions to the destitute, and if I have accused anyone falsely, I’m repaying four times as much as I owe.”

¹¹ So they secretly got some men to say, “We have heard him speaking blasphemous words against Moses and God.” ¹² They stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes. Then they rushed at Stephen, grabbed him, and brought him before the Council.
¹³ They had false witnesses stand up and say, “This man never stops saying things against this Holy Place and against the Law.

⁸ Or can we say—as some people slander us by claiming that we say—“Let’s do evil that good may result”? They deserve to be condemned!

²⁵ Therefore, stripping off falsehood, “let each of us speak the truth to his neighbor,” for we belong to one another.

³ unfeeling, uncooperative, slanderous, degenerate, brutal, hateful of what is good,

¹⁶ But do this gently and respectfully, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak evil of your good conduct in the Messiah will be ashamed of slandering you.

¹⁰ The Vision of the Cry of VictoryThen I heard a loud voice in heaven say, “Now the salvation, the power, the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Messiah have come. For the one who accuses our brothers, who accuses them day and night in the presence of our God, has been thrown out.

¹² God looked at the earth, observing how corrupt its population had become, because the entire human race had corrupted itself.

¹ Entering the ArkThen the LORD told Noah, “Come—you and all your household—into the ark, because I’ve seen that you alone are righteous in this generation.

⁴ Before they could lie down, all the men of Sodom and its outskirts, both young and old, surrounded the house.

⁷ and said, “I urge you, my brothers, don’t do such a wicked thing. ⁸ Look here, I have two daughters who are virgins. Let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them whatever you wish, only don’t do anything to these men, because they’re here under my protection.”
⁹ But they replied, “Get out of the way! This man came here as a foreigner, and now he’s acting like a judge! So we’re going to deal more harshly with you than with them.” Then they pushed hard against the man (that is, against Lot), intending to break down the door.

⁶ “You are not to pervert justice for the poor among you in their lawsuits. ⁷ Stay far away from a false charge, and don’t kill the innocent or the righteous, because I won’t acquit the guilty.

¹ Aaron Makes the Golden CalfWhen the people saw that Moses took a long time to come down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and told him, “Come here and make us a god who will go before us, because, as for this fellow Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don’t know what has become of him.”
² Aaron told them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.”
³ All the people tore off the gold rings that were in their ears and brought them to him. ⁴ He took them from them and, using a tool, fashioned them into a molten calf. The people said, “This, Israel, is your god who brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of it, and then he proclaimed, “Tomorrow is to be a festival to the LORD.”

¹⁵ “You are not to be unjust in deciding a case. You are not to show partiality to the poor or honor the great. Instead, decide the case of your neighbor with righteousness.”

¹ The People RebelAt this, the entire assembly complained, started to shout, and cried through the rest of that night. ² All the Israelis complained against Moses and Aaron. Then the entire assembly responded, “We wish that we had died in Egypt or in this wilderness. ³ What’s the point in the LORD bringing us to this land? To die by the sword so our wives and children would become war victims? Wouldn’t it be better for us to return to Egypt?”
⁴ Then they told each other, “Let’s assign a leader and go back to Egypt.”
⁵ Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in front of the entire assembly of the congregation of Israel. ⁶ Nun’s son Joshua and Jephunneh’s son Caleb, who had accompanied the others who also had explored the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and attempted to reason with the entire congregation of Israel. They told them, “The land that we went through and explored is very, very good. ⁸ If the LORD is pleased with us, he’ll bring us into this land and give it to us. It flows with milk and honey. ⁹ However, don’t rebel against the LORD or be afraid of the people who live in the land, because we’ll gobble them right up. Their defenses will collapse, because the LORD is with us. You are not to be afraid of them.”
¹⁰ But the entire congregation was talking about stoning them to death.
God Rebukes Unbelieving IsraelSuddenly, the glory of the LORD appeared at the Tent of Meeting to all of the Israelis.

¹⁷ When you hold a hearing, don’t be partial in judgment toward the least important or toward the great. Never fear men, because judgment belongs to God. If the matter is difficult for you, bring it to me for a hearing.’

¹⁹ You must not twist justice, show favoritism, or take bribes, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the speech of the righteous.

¹⁷ “Don’t deny justice to a foreigner or to an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment as collateral for a loan.

¹⁵ If you think it’s the wrong thing for you to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—the gods whom your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose territories you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

⁹ Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle—the fattened animals and lambs—along with all that was good. They were not willing to completely destroy them, but they did completely destroy everything that was worthless and inferior.

¹⁰ “I’ve been very zealous for the LORD God of the Heavenly Armies,” he replied. “The Israelis have abandoned your covenant, demolished your altars, executed your prophets with swords, and I—that’s right, just me!—am the only one left. Now they’re seeking my life, to get rid of me!”

³⁴ Have I feared large crowds? Has my family’s contempt ever terrified me so that I remained silent and wouldn’t go outside?”

² May he rule your people with right decisions and your oppressed ones with justice.

¹⁰ Avoid Evil CounselMy son, if sinners entice you, do not consent. ¹¹ If they say, “Come with us! Let’s lie in wait for blood; let’s ambush some innocent person for no reason at all.

¹⁵ My son, do not go along with them, and keep your feet away from their paths!

¹⁴ Avoiding the Ways of the WickedDo not enter the path of the wicked, or go along the way of evil men.

¹⁵ The officials were angry with Jeremiah and beat him. They put him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe because they had made it into a prison.

²¹ So King Zedekiah gave the order, and they assigned Jeremiah to the courtyard of the guard. Each day they gave him a loaf of bread from the bakers’ street until all the bread in the city was gone. So Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

⁵ King Zedekiah said, “Look, he’s in your hands, and the king can do nothing to you.” ⁶ So they threw Jeremiah into a cistern that belonged to the king’s son Malchijah and was located in the courtyard of the guard. When they let Jeremiah down with ropes, because there was no water in the cistern—only mud—Jeremiah sank into the mud.

⁹ “Your majesty, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into the cistern. He will die where he is because of the famine since there is no more bread in the city.”

⁹ “The house of Israel and Judah is guilty—and theirs is a stubborn guilt, at that!” he replied to me. “The land is filled with blood, and the city overflows with injustice, because they keep saying, ‘The LORD has abandoned the land,’ and ‘The LORD isn’t watching.’

⁴ “Is it the right time for all of you to live in your own paneled houses while this house remains in ruins?”

²⁴ Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that a riot was about to break out instead. So he took some water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this man’s blood. Attend to that yourselves.”
²⁵ All the people answered, “Let his blood be on us and our children!” ²⁶ Then he released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

¹⁵ So Pilate, wanting to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them, but he had Jesus whipped and handed over to be crucified.

²³ But they kept pressing him with loud shouts, demanding that Jesus be crucified, and their shouts began to prevail.
²⁴ Then Pilate pronounced his sentence that their demand should be carried out.

⁵¹ he had not voted for their plan and action—from the Jewish town of Arimathea; and he was waiting for the kingdom of God.

⁵⁰ One of their own, Nicodemus (the man who had previously met with Jesus), asked them, ⁵¹ “Surely our Law does not condemn a person without first hearing from him and finding out what he is doing, does it?”

²⁷ After two years had passed, Felix was succeeded by Porcius Festus. Since Felix wanted to do the Jews a favor, he left Paul in prison.

⁹ Then Festus, wanting to do the Jewish leaders a favor, asked Paul, “Are you willing to go up to Jerusalem to be tried there before me on these charges?”

³² Although they know God’s just requirement—that those who practice such things deserve to die—they not only do these things but even applaud others who practice them.

¹¹ Paul Confronts Cephas in AntiochBut when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly wrong. ¹² Until some men arrived from James, he was in the habit of eating with the gentiles, but after those men came, he withdrew from the gentiles and would not associate with them any longer, because he was afraid of the circumcision party. ¹³ The other Jews also joined him in this hypocritical behavior, to the extent that even Barnabas was caught up in their hypocrisy.

² “How long will you judge partially by showing favor on the wicked? Interlude ³ “Defend the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the afflicted and the poor.

¹⁷ However, the wisdom that comes from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, willing to yield, full of compassion and good deeds, and without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.

¹ Hospitality to Neighbors“When you see the ox or sheep of your fellow countryman straying, don’t go away and leave them. Instead, be sure to return them to him. ² If your fellow countryman doesn’t live near you or you don’t know who he is, bring the animal to your house and let it remain with you until he claims it. Then return it to him. ³ Do the same for his donkey, his garment, and for anything lost that belongs to your fellow countryman. When you find it, you must not ignore it. ⁴ When you see the donkey or the ox of your fellow countryman fallen on the road, don’t ignore them. Instead be sure to help them get up.”

²⁹ No Rejoicing over the Plight of Adversary“Have I rejoiced in the destruction of those who hate me, or have I been happy that evil caught up with him? ³⁰ No, I haven’t allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse.

¹⁷ Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls; don’t let yourself be glad when he stumbles. ¹⁸ Otherwise the LORD will observe and disapprove, and he will turn his anger away from him.

²¹ If your enemy hungers, give him food to eat; and if he thirsts, give him water to drink.

⁴⁴ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you,

²⁷ Teaching about Love for Enemies
“But I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who insult you.

¹⁷ Do not pay anyone back evil for evil, but focus your thoughts on what is right in the sight of all people. ¹⁸ If possible, so far as it depends on you, live in peace with all people. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me. I will pay them back, declares the Lord.” ²⁰ But “if your enemy is hungry, feed him. For if he is thirsty, give him a drink. If you do this, you will pile burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.

¹⁵ Make sure that no one pays back evil for evil. Instead, always pursue what is good for each other and for everyone else.

⁴ When you see the donkey or the ox of your fellow countryman fallen on the road, don’t ignore them. Instead be sure to help them get up.”

² You are not to follow the majority in doing wrong, and you are not to testify in a lawsuit so as to follow the majority and pervert justice. ³ You are not to show partiality to a poor man in his lawsuit.

¹⁹ “‘Cursed is the one who perverts justice due the foreigner, the orphan, or the widow.’“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’

⁷ So let the fear of the LORD rest upon you, be on your guard, and act carefully, because with the LORD our God there is neither injustice, nor partiality, nor bribery.”

¹³ No Abuse of Servants“If I’ve refused to help my male and female servants when they complain against me,

²¹ if I’ve raised my hand against an orphan when I thought I would against him in court, ²² then let my arm fall from its socket; and may my arm be torn off at the shoulder.

³ “Defend the poor and the fatherless. Vindicate the afflicted and the poor. ⁴ Rescue the poor and the needy, delivering them from the power of the wicked.

⁸ The Use and Abuse of WealthDon’t be surprised when you see the poor oppressed and the violent perverting both justice and verdicts in a province, for one high official watches another, and there are ones higher still over them.

¹ Judgment on Unjust Lawmakers “How terrible it will be for the one who enacts unjust decrees, for those who write oppressive laws that they have prescribed ² to deprive the needy of justice and to rob the poor of my people of their rights, so that widows may become their spoil and so that they may plunder orphans!

²⁸ and have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They don’t argue the case of the orphan to secure justice. They don’t defend the rights of the poor.

²⁸ All of them are very rebellious, going around as slanderers. They’re bronze and iron, and all of them are corrupt.

⁶ and if you don’t oppress the alien, the orphan, and the widow, and don’t shed an innocent person’s blood in this place, and if you don’t follow other gods to your own harm,

¹¹ ‘Therefore, since you trample the poor continuously, taxing his grain, building houses of stone in which you won’t live and planting fine vineyards from which you won’t drink— ¹² and because I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins are numerous as you oppose the righteous, taking bribes as a ransom, and turning away the poor in court—

¹ “He will say, ‘Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you officials of the house of Israel! You should know justice, should you not?— ² you who despise good and love evil, who tear off the skin of my people, along with the flesh from their bones. ³ You eat the flesh of my people, flaying their skin from them. You break their bones, chopping them in pieces like meat for a pot, like meat destined for a soup kettle.’ ⁴ “Then they will cry to the LORD, but he will not listen to them. In fact, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they were so wicked in what they were doing.”

¹ The LORD’s Rebuke to Jerusalem Woe to this filthy, polluted, and oppressive city! ² It won’t obey anyone. It won’t accept discipline. It does not trust in the LORD. It does not approach God. ³ Its national officials are roaring lions; its judges are like wolves of the night that don’t leave the bones for the morning. ⁴ Its prophets are arrogant and treacherous. Its priests have contaminated the sanctuary. They give perverse interpretations of the Law. ⁵ The Judgment of God“I’ll come near to you for judgment. I’ll be a witness, quick to speak against sorcerers, against adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who defraud the laborer of his wage, against those who defraud the widow and the orphan, against those who deprive the alien of justice, and against those who don’t fear me,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁵ Listen, my dear brothers! God has chosen the poor in the world to become rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he promised to those who keep on loving him, has he not? ⁶ But you have humiliated the man who is poor. Are not rich people the ones who oppress you and drag you into court?

¹³ “You are not to commit murder.ז

¹ Laws about Truthful Testimony“You are not to spread a false report, nor are you to join forces with the wicked to be a malicious witness.

⁷ He graciously loves thousands, and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. But he does not leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the ancestors on their children, and on their children’s children to the third and fourth generation.”

²⁵ “‘Cursed is one who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.“Then all the people are to respond by saying, ‘Amen!’

²³ “If you return to the Almighty you’ll be restored, as you remove iniquity from your household.

¹⁴ Avoiding the Ways of the WickedDo not enter the path of the wicked, or go along the way of evil men. ¹⁵ Avoid it! Don’t travel on it! Turn away from it, and pass on by.

¹⁵ Exonerating the wicked and condemning the righteous are both detestable to the LORD.

¹⁵ The one who walks righteously and has spoken sincere words, who rejects gain from extortion and waves his hand, rejecting bribes, who blocks his ears from hearing plots of murder and shuts his eyes against seeing evil—

³ The LORD is slow to anger and powerful, and he will never let the guilty go unpunished. The LORD’s path is in the windstorm and hurricane; thunderclouds are dust beneath his feet.

¹⁸ God’s Wrath against Sinful HumanityFor God’s wrath is being revealed from heaven against all the ungodliness and wickedness of those who in their wickedness suppress the truth.

⁵ But because of your stubborn and unrepentant heart you are reserving wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. ⁶ For he will repay everyone according to what that person has done:

²² Keep away from every kind of evil.

¹⁷ For the LORD your God is the God of all gods, the LORD of all lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who does not show favoritism or take bribes.

³ His sons did not follow Samuel’s example. Instead, they pursued dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice.

³ Here I am. Testify against me in the LORD’s presence and before his anointed. Whose ox have I taken, or whose donkey have I taken? Who have I cheated? Who have I oppressed? Who bribed me to look the other way? I’ll restore it to you.”

¹⁰ Their hands are filled with wicked schemes, and their right hands with bribes.

²⁷ Those who are greedy for unjust gain bring trouble into their homes, but the person who hates bribes will live.

⁸ A bribe works wonders in the eyes of its giver; wherever he turns he prospers.

²³ The wicked man takes a bribe in secret in order to pervert the course of justice.

⁴ Wealth brings many friends, but a poor man is deserted by his friend.

⁷ Avoiding the Evils of LifeUnjust gain makes the wise foolish, and a bribe corrupts the heart.

¹³ Stop bringing useless offerings! Incense is detestable to me, as are your New Moons, Sabbaths, and calling of convocations. I cannot stand iniquity within a solemn assembly.

²³ who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of justice!”

¹² They take bribes among you to shed blood. You’ve taken usury and exacted interest. You’ve gained control over your neighbor through extortion. And you’ve forgotten me,” declares the Lord GOD.

¹⁸ While drinking to excess, they prostitute themselves. They’re in love with dishonor.

¹² and because I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins are numerous as you oppose the righteous, taking bribes as a ransom, and turning away the poor in court—

³ And speaking of evil, they practice it eagerly—with both hands! Both leader and judge demand a bribe, the famous confess their perverted desires, and they scheme together.

²¹ But if the servant survives a day or two, the master is not to be punished because the servant is his property.

²¹ “You are not to wrong or oppress an alien, because you were aliens in the land of Egypt.

¹⁹ Love Others“You are to love the foreigner, because you were foreigners in the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ Don’t take advantage of a hired person who is poor and needy, whether he’s your fellow citizen or a foreigner who lives in your city. ¹⁵ Pay his wages that same day before the sun sets, because he is poor and his livelihood depends on it. Otherwise, he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will incur guilt.”
¹⁶ Practicing Justice“Fathers must not be put to death on account of their children’s sin; nor shall children die on account of their fathers’ sin. Each person is to be put to death for his own sin.
¹⁷ “Don’t deny justice to a foreigner or to an orphan, nor take a widow’s garment as collateral for a loan. ¹⁸ Remember to observe this because you were slaves in Egypt, and the LORD your God redeemed you from there. That is why I am commanding you to do this.

⁶ The wicked kill widows and foreigners; they murder orphans.

⁷ They’ve treated mothers and fathers among you with contempt. They’ve oppressed the foreigner among you. They’ve maltreated the orphan and the widow among you.

³³ Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’

¹⁷ thereby becoming like his brothers in every way, so that he could be a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God and could atone for the people’s sins. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

³ For six years you may plant your fields, and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce. ⁴ But the seventh year is to be a Sabbath of rest for the land—a Sabbath for the LORD. You are not to plant your field or prune your vineyard.

² “Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I’m about to give you, you are to let the land observe a Sabbath to the LORD. ³ For six years you may plant your fields, and for six years you may prune your vineyard and gather its produce. ⁴ But the seventh year is to be a Sabbath of rest for the land—a Sabbath for the LORD. You are not to plant your field or prune your vineyard. ⁵ You are not to gather what grows from the spilled kernels of your crops. You are not to pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines. Let it be a year of Sabbath for the land. ⁶ You may take the Sabbath produce of the land for your food—you, your male and maid servants, your hired laborers, and the resident alien with you. ⁷ The cattle and the wild animals in your land—everything it produces—are for your food.

¹¹ The fiftieth year is to be a year of jubilee for you. You are not to sow or harvest the spilled kernels that grow of themselves or pick grapes from the untrimmed vines ¹² because it’s the jubilee—it’s sacred for you. But you may eat its produce from the field.

²⁰ “Now if you ask, ‘What will we eat during the seventh year? After all, we may not plant or even gather our produce!’

²² That way, you are to sow in the eighth year, eating the produce from the old harvest. Until the ninth year when its produce comes in, you’ll eat from the old harvest.”

³⁴ Then the land will finally be pleased with its Sabbaths as long as it lies desolate while you are in the land of your enemies. At that time, the land will rest and take its Sabbaths. ³⁵ As long as it lies desolate, it will have rest that it will not have had during your Sabbaths when you were living in it.

⁸ “Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy. ⁹ You are to labor and do all your work during six days, ¹⁰ but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You are not to do any work—neither you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your livestock, nor the alien who is within your gates— ¹¹ because the LORD made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them, in six days, then he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.ה

¹⁵ Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does work on the Sabbath is certainly to die. ¹⁶ The Israelis are to keep the Sabbath to make the Sabbath observance a perpetual covenant from generation to generation.

²¹ “For six days you are to work, but on the seventh day you are to rest; even during plowing time and harvest you are to rest.

³ You are not to light a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath.”

¹³ Six days you are to labor and do all your work, ¹⁴ but the seventh day is a Sabbath for the LORD your God. You are not to do any work—neither you, your children, your male and female servants, your oxen and donkeys, nor any of your livestock—as well as any of the foreigners who live among you, so that your male and female servants may rest as you do. ¹⁵ You are to remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, but the LORD your God brought you out from there with great power and a show of force. Therefore, the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.ה

³ ‘Why have we fasted,’ they ask, ‘but you do not see? ‘Why have we humbled ourselves,’ they ask, ‘but you take no notice?’”
Fasting that God Approves “Look! On your fast day you serve your own interest and oppress all your workers.

¹⁴ But the synagogue leader, indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, told the crowd, “There are six days when work is to be done. So come on those days to be healed, and not on the Sabbath day.”

³⁸ Nebo, Baal-meon (after having changed their names), and Sibmah. The cities that they rebuilt were renamed.

⁹ Only guard yourselves carefully so you won’t forget the things that you saw and let them slip from your mind for the rest of your life. Tell them to your children and to your grandchildren.

¹⁵ “Therefore, for your own sake, be very careful, since you did not see any form on the day that the LORD your God spoke to you in Horeb from the midst of the fire.

³ Tear down their altars, cut down their sacred poles, and burn them. Cut down the carved images of their gods to erase their memory from that place.”

⁵ Only be very careful to keep the commands and the Law that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you—that is, to love the LORD your God, to follow in all of his ways, to keep his commands, to stay close to him, and to serve him with all your heart and soul.”

⁷ That way, you will not mingle with those nations that remain among you, nor mention the name of their gods, nor make oaths by them, nor serve them, nor worship them.

¹¹ “So be very diligent to love the LORD your God,

⁷ I will establish his kingdom forever, assuming he remains strongly committed to carry out my commandments and ordinances, as he is doing today.’
⁸ Therefore, in the presence of all of Israel, the assembly of the LORD, and while our God is listening, observe and search through all of the commandments of the LORD your God, so that you may continue to possess this good land, leaving it for an inheritance forever to benefit your descendants who come after you.”
⁹ David Addresses Solomon Directly“Now as for you, my son Solomon, get to know the God of your father. Serve him with a sound heart and a devoted soul, because the LORD is searching every heart, every plan and thought. He will be found by you, assuming you are seeking him, but if you abandon him, he will abandon you forever.

⁴ Those who hurry after another god will have many sorrows; I will not present their drink offerings of blood, nor will my lips speak their names.

¹ To the Director: To Jeduthun. A Davidic Psalm.
A Prayer about Life’s Priorities I told myself, “I will keep watch over my tongue to keep from sinning. I will muzzle my mouth when the wicked are around.”

¹¹ Tell this to them: “The gods who didn’t make the heavens and the earth will perish from the earth and from these heavens.”

¹⁷ I will remove the names of the Baals from her vocabulary— they will not be remembered by their names anymore.

² Cessation of Prophecy“At that time,” declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “I will eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will not be remembered anymore. I will also force both prophet and demon to leave the land.

¹² For it is shameful even to mention what is done by these disobedient people in secret.

¹⁵ Wise BehaviorSo, then, be careful how you live. Do not be unwise but wise,

¹⁶ Pay close attention to your life and your teaching. Persevere in these things, because if you do so, you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.

¹⁵ See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up and causes you trouble, or many of you will become defiled.

¹⁷ Three times a year all your males shall appear in the presence of the Lord GOD.”

²² “You are to observe the Festival of Weeks, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³ Three times during the year all your males are to appear in the presence of the LORD God of Israel, ²⁴ since I’m going to drive out nations before you, and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land, when you go up to appear in the presence of the LORD your God three times a year.

⁵ “The LORD’s Passover is to begin on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight.

¹⁶ Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, then bring a new meal offering to the LORD.

³⁴ “Tell the Israelis that starting the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the week-long Festival of Tents to the LORD.

¹⁶ “Every male must appear in the presence of the LORD your God three times a year at the place where he will choose: for the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Seven Weeks, and the Festival of Tents. He must not appear in the LORD’s presence empty-handed,

¹⁴ “‘This day is to be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to the LORD. You are to celebrate it as a perpetual ordinance from generation to generation. ¹⁵ You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day be sure to remove all the leaven from your houses, because any person who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh will be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ Also, on the first day you’re to hold a holy assembly, and on the seventh day you’re to hold a holy assembly. No work is to be done during those days, except for preparing what is to be eaten by each person.
¹⁷ “‘You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, since on this very day I brought your tribal divisions from the land of Egypt. You are to observe this day from generation to generation as a perpetual ordinance. ¹⁸ In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you are to eat unleavened bread. ¹⁹ For seven days leaven is not to be found in your houses. Indeed, any person who eats anything leavened, is to be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether an alien or a native of the land. ²⁰ You are not to eat what is leavened. You are to eat unleavened bread in all your settlements.’”
²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Choose sheep for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bundle of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you is to go out of the doorway of his house until morning, ²³ because the LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway, and won’t allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you down. ²⁴ You are to observe this event as a perpetual ordinance for you and your children forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the LORD will give you, just as he promised, you are to observe this ritual. ²⁶ And when your children say to you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ ²⁷ you are to say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelis in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” Then the people bowed down and worshipped. ²⁸ The Israelis did this. Moses and Aaron did just what the LORD had commanded.

⁴³ Instructions for the PassoverThe LORD told Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover: No foreigner is to eat it, ⁴⁴ though any slave purchased with money may eat it after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵ But no temporary resident or a hired servant is to eat it. ⁴⁶ It is to be eaten in one house, and you are not to take any of the meat outside the house, nor are you to break any of its bones. ⁴⁷ The whole congregation of Israel is to observe it. ⁴⁸ If an alien who resides with you wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may come near to observe it. He is to be like a native of the land, but no uncircumcised person is to eat it. ⁴⁹ A single law exists for the native and the alien who resides among you.”

⁴ Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.

⁶ You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the LORD. ⁷ Unleavened bread is to be eaten for seven days, and nothing leavened is to be seen among you, nor is leaven to be seen among you throughout your territory.

¹⁸ “You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days, at the appointed time in the month Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you, for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

²⁰ You are to redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, and if you don’t redeem it, you are to break its neck. You are to redeem every firstborn of your sons, and no one is to appear before me empty-handed.

⁵ “The LORD’s Passover is to begin on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of that month is the Festival of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread. ⁷ On the first day that you hold the sacred assembly, you are to do no servile work. ⁸ Instead, you are to bring an offering made by fire to the LORD daily for seven days. On the seventh day, you are also to hold a sacred assembly during which you are to do no servile work.”

¹⁰ “Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I’m about to give you and gather its produce, you are to bring a sheaf from the first portion of your harvest to the priest,

² “The Israelis are to observe the Passover at its appointed time ³ on the fourteenth day of this month. You are to observe it at this appointed time between the evenings. You are to observe it according to all its decrees and laws.”
⁴ So Moses instructed the Israelis to observe the Passover. ⁵ They observed the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at twilight, in the Wilderness of Sinai. The Israelis did everything that the LORD had commanded through Moses.
⁶ Special Passover RulesBut there were men who couldn’t observe the Passover that day because they had come in contact with a corpse. That very day, they approached Moses and Aaron ⁷ and asked, “Why can’t we bring an offering to the LORD at the appointed time among the Israelis, even though we are unclean because we came in contact with a corpse?”
⁸ “Wait while I hear what the LORD has to say about you,” Moses replied.
⁹ Then the LORD told Moses, ¹⁰ “Instruct the Israelis that when any of you or your descendants becomes unclean due to contact with a corpse, or if he is on a long journey, he nevertheless is to observe the LORD’s Passover. ¹¹ On the fourteenth day of the second month at twilight, they are to eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ¹² They are not to leave any of it to remain until morning nor are they to break any of its bones. They are to observe it according to all the statutes of the Passover. ¹³ Now as to the person who is clean and isn’t traveling, but fails to observe the Passover, that person is to be eliminated from his people, because he didn’t bring an offering to the LORD at its appointed time. That person is to bear his sin. ¹⁴ If a resident alien lives with you and wants to observe the LORD’s Passover, let him observe it according to the statutes and laws of the Passover. You are to maintain the same statute for the resident alien as you do for the native of the land.”

¹⁶ Annual Offerings“The LORD’s Passover is to take place on the fourteenth day of the first month. ¹⁷ You are to hold a festival on the fifteenth day of this month for seven days, during which time unleavened bread is to be eaten.”
¹⁸ A Week of Post-Passover Offerings“On the first day, you are to hold a sacred assembly. No servile work is to be done. ¹⁹ Bring an offering that is to be incinerated in the LORD’s presence, consisting of two young bulls, a ram, and seven one year old lambs, all without any defects, ²⁰ along with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with olive oil. Offer three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths of an ephah for the ram, ²¹ and one tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs. ²² Then present one goat for a sin offering to make atonement for you, ²³ apart from the burnt offering in the morning, which you are to continue offering. ²⁴ Do this every day for seven days, as an edible sacrifice to the LORD made by fire, a pleasing aroma. It is to be offered apart from the regular burnt offering and its corresponding drink offering. ²⁵ On the seventh day you are to hold another sacred assembly for your benefit, on which no servile work is to be done.”

¹ Celebrate the Passover“Observe the month of Abib, keeping the Passover to the LORD your God, because the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt during the night in the month of Abib. ² Then sacrifice sheep and cattle for the Passover to the LORD your God at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name. ³ You must not eat any yeast with it. Instead, for seven days eat bread without yeast—the bread of affliction—because you left the land of Egypt in haste. Remember the day you went out of the land of Egypt for the rest of your lives. ⁴ Yeast is not to be seen in any of your territories for seven days. The meat is not to remain from the evening of the first day until morning.
⁵ “You must not sacrifice the Passover in just any of your cities that the LORD your God is about to give you. ⁶ But at the place where your God will choose to establish his name, you are to sacrifice the Passover in the evening at dusk, at the time of day you left Egypt. ⁷ Boil and eat the Passover meal at the place that the LORD your God will choose. In the morning you may go back to your tents. ⁸ Eat bread without yeast for six days. Then on the seventh day, hold an assembly to the LORD your God. Don’t do any work.”

¹⁰ The Manna CeasesWhile the Israelis remained encamped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they observed the Passover during the evening of the fourteenth day of the month. ¹¹ On the day following Passover—on that exact day—they ate the produce of the land, unleavened cakes and parched grain.

²¹ Josiah Reinstates the PassoverAfter this, the king commanded all of the people, “Celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, just as it’s prescribed in this Book of the Covenant.” ²² From the days of the judges who ruled in Israel, no Passover had been celebrated like this, not even in all the reigns of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah. ²³ In the eighteenth year of the reign of King Josiah, this Passover was observed in Jerusalem to honor the LORD.

⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the first of all your produce, ¹⁰ so your barns will be filled with abundance, and your vats will burst open with new wine.

¹² The Passover with the Disciples
On the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover meal?”

⁷ The Passover with the Disciples
Then the day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread came, on which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed.

⁷ Get rid of the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough, since you are to be free from yeast. For the Messiah, our Passover, has been sacrificed. ⁸ So let’s keep celebrating the festival, neither with old yeast nor with yeast that is evil and wicked, but with yeast-free bread that is both sincere and true.

²⁹ “You are not to hold back the fullness of your harvest and the outflow of your wine presses. You are to give to me the firstborn of your sons.

²² “You are to observe the Festival of Weeks, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

⁹ First Fruit OfferingsThe LORD told Moses, ¹⁰ “Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I’m about to give you and gather its produce, you are to bring a sheaf from the first portion of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹ who will offer the sheaf in the LORD’s presence for your acceptance. The priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a one year old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering in the LORD’s presence. ¹³ Also present a meal offering of two tenths of a measure of fine flour mixed with olive oil as an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma. Now as to a drink offering, you are to present a fourth of a hin of wine. ¹⁴ You are not to eat bread, parched grain, or fresh grain until that day when you’ve brought the offering of your God. This is to be an eternal ordinance throughout your generations, wherever you live.”
¹⁵ New Meal Offerings“Starting the day after the Sabbath, count for yourselves seven weeks from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. They are to be complete. ¹⁶ Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, then bring a new meal offering to the LORD. ¹⁷ Bring two loaves of bread from home as wave offerings made from two tenths of fine flour baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD. ¹⁸ Along with the loaves of bread, bring seven lambs (each of them one year old and without defect), one young bull as an offering, and two rams as offerings to the LORD—along with your gift and drink offerings—and present them as an offering made by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD. ¹⁹ Prepare one male goat for a sin offering and two one year old rams for peace offerings. ²⁰ Then the priest is to wave them—the two lambs with the bread of first fruits—as raised offerings in the LORD’s presence. They’ll be sacred to the LORD on account of the priest.
²¹ “On the same day, proclaim a sacred assembly for yourselves. You are not to do any servile work—and this is to be an eternal ordinance wherever you live throughout your generations.

³⁴ “Tell the Israelis that starting the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the week-long Festival of Tents to the LORD. ³⁵ On the first day, you are to hold a sacred assembly, when you are not to do any servile work. ³⁶ For seven days, bring offerings made by fire to the LORD. The eighth day is also to be a sacred assembly for you. Bring offerings made by fire to the LORD. It’s a sacred assembly. You are not to do any servile work.
³⁷ “These are the LORD’s appointed festivals that you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. Bring offerings made by fire to the LORD—a whole burnt offering, a meal offering, a sacrifice, and drink offerings. Do this every day on its assigned date ³⁸ in addition to the LORD’s Sabbath—regarding your gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of vows, and your freely given offerings that you will bring to the LORD.
³⁹ “On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you’ve harvested the produce of the land, you are to observe the festival of the LORD for seven days. The first day is to be a Sabbath rest, and the eighth day also is to be a Sabbath rest.
⁴⁰ “On the first day, take branches from impressive fruit trees, branches from palm trees, boughs from thick trees, and poplars from the brooks. Then you are to rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God for seven days. ⁴¹ Observe it as a pilgrimage festival in the presence of the LORD for seven days of the year. This is to be an eternal ordinance throughout your generations. Observe the festival during the seventh month. ⁴² You are to live in tents for seven days. Every native born of Israel is to live in tents ⁴³ in order for your future generations to know that the Israelis lived in tents when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.”
⁴⁴ This is what Moses spoke about to the Israelis regarding the LORD’s appointed festivals.

²⁶ First Fruit Offerings“On the first day of your harvest season, you are to hold a sacred assembly when you present your first fruits during the Festival of Weeks. No servile work is to be done. ²⁷ You are to offer this burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: two young bulls, one ram, and seven one year old lambs, ²⁸ along with their corresponding grain offerings of fine flour mixed with olive oil; specifically, three tenths of an ephah for each bull, two tenths of an ephah for the one ram, ²⁹ one tenth of an ephah for each of the seven lambs, ³⁰ and one goat to make atonement for you. ³¹ Offer them in addition to the regular burnt offering, accompanied by its grain offering and its corresponding drink offerings.”

¹² Eight Days of Celebration: Day One“You are to hold a sacred assembly on the fifteenth day of the same seventh month. No servile work is to be done. You are to celebrate a festival to the LORD for seven days by ¹³ bringing these burnt offerings made by fire as a pleasing aroma to the LORD: Thirteen young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one year old lambs, all without any defects, ¹⁴ along with their grain offering of fine flour mixed with olive oil—three tenths for each of the thirteen bulls, two tenths for each of the two rams, ¹⁵ and one tenth for each of the fourteen lambs, ¹⁶ accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with its corresponding grain and drink offerings.”
¹⁷ Eight Days of Celebration: Day Two“On the second day, you are to present twelve young bulls, two rams, and fourteen one year old lambs, all without defects, ¹⁸ along with corresponding grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to their number, based on the ordinances, ¹⁹ and accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with its corresponding grain and drink offerings.”
²⁰ Eight Days of Celebration: Day Three“On the third day, you are to present eleven bulls, two rams, and fourteen one year old lambs, all without defects, ²¹ along with corresponding grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to their number, based on the ordinances, ²² and accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with its corresponding grain and drink offerings.”
²³ Eight Days of Celebration: Day Four“On the fourth day, you are to present ten bulls, two rams, and fourteen one year old lambs, all without defects, ²⁴ along with corresponding grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to their number, based on the ordinances, ²⁵ and accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with its corresponding grain and drink offerings.”
²⁶ Eight Days of Celebration: Day Five“On the fifth day, you are to present nine bulls, two rams, and fourteen one year old lambs, all without defects, ²⁷ along with corresponding grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to their number, based on the ordinances, ²⁸ and accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with its corresponding grain and drink offerings.”
²⁹ Eight Days of Celebration: Day Six“On the sixth day, you are to present eight bulls, two rams, and fourteen one year old lambs, all without defects, ³⁰ along with corresponding grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to their number, based on the ordinances, ³¹ and accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with its corresponding grain and drink offerings.”
³² Eight Days of Celebration: Day Seven“On the seventh day, you are to present seven bulls, two rams, and fourteen one year old lambs, all without defects, ³³ along with corresponding grain and drink offerings for the bulls, rams, and lambs, according to their number, based on the ordinances, ³⁴ and accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with corresponding grain and drink offerings.”
³⁵ Eight Days of Celebration: Day Eight“On the eighth day, you are to call a sacred assembly. No servile work is to be done. ³⁶ You are to offer these burnt offerings by fire, a pleasing aroma to the LORD: one bull, one ram, and seven one year old lambs, all without defects, ³⁷ along with corresponding grain and drink offerings for the bull, ram, and lambs, according to their number, based on the ordinances, ³⁸ and accompanied by one goat for a sin offering, in addition to the regular burnt offering, with corresponding grain and drink offerings.
³⁹ “Present these to the LORD at your appointed festival, in addition to your offerings in fulfillment of vows, free will offerings, burnt offerings, grain offerings, drink offerings, and peace offerings.”

⁹ Celebrate the Festival of Weeks“Count off seven weeks from when the sickle is first put to standing grain. ¹⁰ Then observe the Festival of Weeks in the presence of the LORD your God by giving your tribute and the freewill offering of your hands in proportion to the manner in which the LORD your God blessed you. ¹¹ Rejoice in the presence of the LORD your God with your son, daughter, male and female slaves, the descendant of Levi who is in your city, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow among you, at the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name. ¹² Remember that you were slaves in Egypt, so keep and observe these statutes.”
¹³ Celebrate the Festival of Tents“Celebrate the Festival of Tents for seven days after you harvest from your threshing floor and your wine press. ¹⁴ Rejoice in your festival—you, your son, your daughter, your male and female slaves, the descendants of Levi, foreigners, orphans, and widows who live in your cities. ¹⁵ For seven days you are to celebrate in the presence of the LORD your God at the place where the LORD will choose; for the LORD your God will bless you in all your harvest and in everything you do, and your joy will be complete.

¹⁴ They found written in the Law that the LORD had commanded through Moses that the Israelis were to live in tents during the festival scheduled for the seventh month. ¹⁵ So they circulated a proclamation throughout their towns and in Jerusalem. It said, “Go out to the hill country and bring back olive branches, wild olive branches, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of mature trees, in order to set up tents, as has been written.”
¹⁶ Then the people went out and found branches to make tents for themselves on the roofs of their houses, in their courtyards, and in the courts of God’s Temple, in the plaza near the Water Gate, and in the plaza near the Gate of Ephraim. ¹⁷ The entire assembly of those who had returned from exile erected tents and lived in them. Indeed, from the days of Nun’s son Joshua until that day the Israelis had not done so. Joy was everywhere, ¹⁸ and Ezra continued to read from the Book of the Law of God day by day, from the first day through the last. They celebrated for seven days, and on the eighth day they held a solemn assembly according to regulation.

¹⁶ Discipline of the Nations“It will come about that all of the survivors of the nations who came against Jerusalem will come there from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, and to observe the Festival of Tents. ¹⁷ If anyone from the families of the earth will not come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, there will be no rain for them. ¹⁸ If the people of Egypt do not come to Jerusalem to take part, they will have no annual Nile overflow. A plague will come from the LORD to strike the nations who do not come to observe the Festival of Tents. ¹⁹ This will be the punishment for Egypt and all nations who do not come to observe the Festival of Tents.”

² Now the Jewish Festival of Tents was approaching.

³⁷ Rivers of Living WaterOn the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and shouted, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink!

¹ The Coming of the Holy SpiritWhen the day of Pentecost was being celebrated, all of them were together in one place.

¹⁴ The Three Major Festivals“Three times a year you are to celebrate a festival for me.

²³ Three times during the year all your males are to appear in the presence of the LORD God of Israel,

⁵ Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live.

¹¹ when all of Israel comes to appear in the presence of the LORD your God at the place that he’ll choose, read this Law aloud to them.

⁷ They will walk from strength to strength; each will appear before God in Zion.

⁴² When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to the festival as usual.

⁸ That very night they’re to eat the meat, roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

¹⁰ Don’t leave any of it until morning, and whatever does remain of it until morning you are to burn in the fire.

¹⁵ You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day be sure to remove all the leaven from your houses, because any person who eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh will be cut off from Israel.

²⁵ “You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, nor are you to allow the sacrifice of the Festival of Passover to remain until morning.

¹¹ Prohibitions Regarding Yeast“Any grain offering that you bring to the LORD is not to be prepared with yeast, because anything with leaven and honey may not be offered in smoke as an offering by fire to the LORD.

¹² If someone brings it to demonstrate thanksgiving, then he is to present along with the thanksgiving offering unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers spread with olive oil, and cakes of mixed fine flour with olive oil.

¹⁵ As to the meat contained in his peace offerings, it is to be eaten on the day it is offered. Nothing of it is to remain until morning.”

⁴ Yeast is not to be seen in any of your territories for seven days. The meat is not to remain from the evening of the first day until morning.

²⁶ “You are to bring the best of the first fruits of the ground to the house of the LORD your God.
“You are not to boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

¹⁰ “Tell the Israelis that when you enter the land that I’m about to give you and gather its produce, you are to bring a sheaf from the first portion of your harvest to the priest, ¹¹ who will offer the sheaf in the LORD’s presence for your acceptance. The priest is to wave it on the day after the Sabbath. ¹² On the day you wave the sheaf, you are to offer a one year old male lamb without defect for a burnt offering in the LORD’s presence. ¹³ Also present a meal offering of two tenths of a measure of fine flour mixed with olive oil as an offering made by fire to the LORD, a pleasing aroma. Now as to a drink offering, you are to present a fourth of a hin of wine. ¹⁴ You are not to eat bread, parched grain, or fresh grain until that day when you’ve brought the offering of your God. This is to be an eternal ordinance throughout your generations, wherever you live.”
¹⁵ New Meal Offerings“Starting the day after the Sabbath, count for yourselves seven weeks from the day you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. They are to be complete. ¹⁶ Count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath, then bring a new meal offering to the LORD. ¹⁷ Bring two loaves of bread from home as wave offerings made from two tenths of fine flour baked with leaven as first fruits to the LORD.

¹² All the best oil, wine, grain, and first fruits that they give to the LORD are to belong to you. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat it.
¹³ “The first ripe fruits of everything that the land produces and that they bring to the LORD are yours, too. Everyone who is clean in your household may eat it.

⁵ Instead, you must seek to enter only the place that the LORD your God will choose among your tribes. There he will establish his name and live. ⁶ Bring your burnt offerings there, along with your sacrifices, your tithes, your hand-carried gifts, your offerings in fulfillment of promises, your freely given offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. ⁷ Then you and your household will eat in the presence of the LORD your God and rejoice with all the works of your hand with which he blessed you.

²¹ “You must not eat any carcass. But you may give it to the alien in your cities so he may eat it or sell it to a foreigner, for you are a holy people to the LORD your God.
“You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

² Gather all the first produce of the ground that you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is about to give you, place it in a basket, and bring it to the place where the LORD your God will choose to establish his name.

¹⁰ Now, look—I brought the first produce of the land that you, LORD, have given me.’
Then set it in the presence of the LORD your God and worship him.

³⁵ We also cast lots to determine when to bring the first fruits of our land and the annual first fruits of all fruit of every tree to the Temple of the LORD,

¹⁰ The righteous person looks out for the welfare of his livestock, but even the compassion of the wicked is cruel.

³ For the practices of the people are worthless. Indeed, a tree is cut down from the forest; it’s the work of the hands of a craftsman with an ax.

²⁰ But at this moment the Messiah stands risen from the dead, the first one offered in the harvest of those who have died.

⁴ They have not defiled themselves with women, for they are virgins, and they follow the lamb wherever he goes. They have been redeemed from among humanity as the first fruits for God and the lamb.

¹⁸ That very day the LORD made this covenant with Abram: “I’m giving this land to your descendants, from the river of Egypt to the great Euphrates River—

¹⁶ the angel who has been rescuing me from all sorts of evil, bless these young men. May my name continue to live on within them, including the names of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a vast multitude throughout the earth.”

² the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flaming fire from the center of a bush. As Moses continued to watch, amazingly the bush kept on burning, but was not consumed. ³ Then Moses told himself, “I’ll go over and see this remarkable sight. Why isn’t the bush burning up?”
⁴ When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from the center of the bush, “Moses! Moses!”
He said, “Here I am.”
⁵ “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Remove your sandals from your feet, because the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ Then he said, “I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

¹⁹ Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the camp of Israel, moved behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front of them and stood behind them,

¹⁷ “You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. You have made a place where you will reside, LORD. Your own hands have established a sanctuary, LORD.

³⁴ Now, go, and lead the people where I told you, and now my angel will go before you, but on the day when I do punish, I’ll punish them for their sin.”

² I’ll send an angel in front of you and I’ll drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

¹⁴ He said, “My presence will go with you, and I’ll give you rest.”

¹⁶ Then we cried to the LORD and he heard our voice, sending us a messenger who brought us out of Egypt. Now look! We’ve arrived in Kadesh, a city at the extreme end of your territory.

¹³ Joshua is Visited by the LORDNow it happened that while Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and much to his amazement, he saw a man standing in front of him, holding a drawn sword in his hand! Joshua approached him and asked him, “Are you one of us, or are you with our enemies?”

² The LORD told Joshua, “Look! I have given Jericho over to your control, along with its kings and valiant soldiers.

¹¹ for he will command his angels to protect you in all your ways.

⁹ In all their distress he wasn’t distressed, but the angel of his presence saved them; in his acts of love and in his acts of pity he redeemed them; he carried them and lifted them up all the days of old.

¹ The Coming of the Messenger“Watch out! I’m sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly, the LORD you are looking for will come to his Temple. He is the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Watch out! He is coming!” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

³⁴ “Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who have been blessed by my Father! Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world,

³ And since I’m going away to prepare a place for you, I’ll come back again and welcome you into my presence, so that you may be where I am.

⁹ Let’s stop putting the Lord to the test, as some of them were doing, and were destroyed by snakes. ¹⁰ You must stop complaining, as some of them were doing, and were annihilated by the destroyer.

¹⁴ God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and then said, “Tell the Israelis: ‘I AM sent me to you.’”

³ I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, and did I not reveal to them my name ‘LORD’?

⁵ The LORD came down in a cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed the name of the LORD. ⁶ The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and filled with gracious love and truth. ⁷ He graciously loves thousands, and forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin. But he does not leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the ancestors on their children, and on their children’s children to the third and fourth generation.”

¹¹ “How long will this people keep on spurning me and refusing to trust me, despite all the miracles that I’ve done among them?” the LORD asked Moses.

³⁵ I, the LORD, have spoken. I will indeed do this to this evil congregation, who gathered together against me. They’ll be eliminated in this wilderness and will surely die.”

¹⁹ But if someone will not listen to those words that the prophet speaks in my name, I will hold him accountable.

¹⁹ So Joshua told the people, “You will not be able to serve the LORD, because he is a God of Holiness. He is a jealous God, and he will forgive neither your transgressions nor your sins.

¹² Kiss the son before he becomes angry, and you die where you stand. Indeed, his wrath can flare up quickly. How blessed are those who take refuge in him.

¹⁹ And blessed be his glorious name forever, and may the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!

⁴⁰ How they rebelled against him in the desert, grieving him in the wilderness!

⁵⁶ But they tested the Most High God by rebelling against him, and they did not obey his statutes.

¹⁸ Then they will know that you alone— whose name is LORD— are the Most High over all the earth.

¹⁴ “Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. Watch! The virgin is conceiving a child, and will give birth to a son, and his name will be called Immanuel.

⁶ For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name is called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

⁸ I, the LORD, am the one, and I won’t give my name and glory to another, nor my praise to idols.

⁶ so that from the sun’s rising to the west people may know that there is none besides me. “I am the LORD, and there is no other.”

¹⁵ “For this is what the high and lofty One says, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “He lives in the height and in holiness, and also with the one who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.

⁷ Why should I forgive you? Your sons have forsaken me, and you have sworn by those who aren’t gods. When I gave them enough food to satisfy them, they committed adultery and marched to the prostitute’s house.

⁶ In his time Judah will be delivered and Israel will dwell in safety. This is the name by which he will be known: ‘The LORD Our Righteousness.’

²³ “See, a virgin will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they will name him Immanuel,”
which means, “God with us.”

⁵ He was still speaking when a bright cloud suddenly overshadowed them.
A voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love. I am pleased with him. Keep on listening to him!”

²³ so that everyone may honor the Son as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.

³⁰ I and the Father are one.”

³⁸ But if I’m doing them, even though you don’t believe me, believe the actions, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.”

⁹ “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?” Jesus asked him. “The person who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ You believe, don’t you, that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I don’t speak on my own. It is the Father who dwells in me and who carries out his work.

³⁰ Do not grieve the Holy Spirit, by whom you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption.

⁹ because all the essence of deity inhabits him in bodily form.

¹⁰ for 40 years. That is why I was indignant with that generation and said, ‘They are always going astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’ ¹¹ So in my anger I swore a solemn oath that they would never enter my rest.”

¹⁶ Now who heard him and provoked him? Was it not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

²⁶ For if we choose to go on sinning after we have learned the full truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷ but only a terrifying prospect of judgment and a raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. ²⁸ Anyone who violates the Law of Moses dies without mercy “on the testimony of two or three witnesses.” ²⁹ How much more severe a punishment do you think that person deserves who tramples on God’s Son, treats as common the blood of the covenant by which it was sanctified, and insults the Spirit of grace?

²⁵ See to it that you do not ignore the one who is speaking. For if the hearers did not escape when they ignored the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we turn away from the one who is from heaven!

¹⁶ If anyone sees his brother committing a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray that God would give him life. This applies to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not telling you to pray about that.

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” declares the Lord God, “the one who is, who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”

⁸ The Letter to the Church in Smyrna“To the messenger of the church in Smyrna, write:
‘The first and the last, who was dead and became alive, says this:

²³ I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am the one who searches minds and hearts. I will reward each of you as your actions deserve.

⁷ The Letter to the Church in Philadelphia“To the messenger of the church in Philadelphia, write: ‘The one who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens a door that no one can shut, and who shuts a door that no one can open, ‘says this:

³ I’ll bless those who bless you, but I’ll curse the one who curses you, and through you all the people of the earth will be blessed.”

⁹ He crouches, laying low like a lion. Who would awaken him? Those who bless you are blessed, and those who curse you are cursed.”

⁷ Then the LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate and persecute you.”

²⁰ Their children will be as they were before, and their congregation will be established before me. I’ll punish all who oppress them.

⁸ For this is what the LORD of the Heavenly Armies says: “In pursuit of glory I was sent to the nations who plundered you, because whoever injures you injures the pupil of my eye.

⁴ He dropped to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul! Why are you persecuting me?”
⁵ He asked, “Who are you, Lord?”
The voice said, “I’m Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

¹⁹ including the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

² When Hamor the Hivite’s son Shechem, the regional leader, saw her, he grabbed her and raped her, humiliating her.

¹⁷ I have said that I will bring you out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’

²⁰ God Promises Help as the Israelis Enter Canaan“Look, I’m sending an angel in front of you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place I’ve prepared.

² Aaron told them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring them to me.”

⁸ ‘I brought you into the territory of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan River. They fought you, but I gave them into your control, and you took possession of their land. I destroyed them from your presence. ⁹ ‘Then Zippor’s son, King Balak of Moab, showed up and fought against Israel. He sent word to Balaam, summoning Beor’s son to put a curse on you. ¹⁰ But I wasn’t willing to listen to Balaam. So he had to bless you, and I delivered you from his control. ¹¹ ‘Next, you crossed the Jordan River and arrived at Jericho. But the citizens of Jericho fought you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, so I gave them into your control.

¹³ Therefore my people go into exile because they lack understanding; my honored men go hungry, and the crowd is parched with thirst.

⁵ You are not to bow down to them in worship or serve them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the iniquity of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me,

²⁰ He took the calf that they had made, burned it with fire, and ground it into powder. He scattered it on the water and made the Israelis drink it.

¹³ Rather, you are to tear down their altars, you are to smash their sacred pillars, and you are to cut down their sacred poles— ¹⁴ indeed, you are not to bow down in worship to any other god, because the LORD’s name is Jealous—he’s a jealous God—

³ You are not to do what you used to do in the land of Egypt where you lived. You are not to do what Canaan does, where I’m about to bring you, so that you live according to their statutes.

²⁶ “Therefore, keep my statutes and ordinances. You are not to do any of these detestable things—this applies to the native born and the resident alien who lives among you— ²⁷ because the inhabitants of the land did all of these detestable things and by doing so defiled the land before you. ²⁸ So you are not to let the land vomit you up because of your uncleanness as it is vomiting the nations that were here before you. ²⁹ Anyone who does any of these detestable things—whoever the person may be—is to be eliminated from contact with his people. ³⁰ Therefore, keep my injunctions so that you won’t practice these detestable things that have been done before you, and so that you won’t be defiled in them. I am the LORD.”

⁵² they are to drive out all the inhabitants of the land and destroy all their idols and their molten images. You are to demolish all their high places,

⁵ This is what you are to do to them: tear down their altars, break their pillars, cut down their ritual pillars, and burn their carved idols in fire,

²⁵ Burn the images of their gods in the fire. Desire neither the silver nor the gold that adorns them, nor take them for yourselves, so you won’t be ensnared by them, because the gold and silver is detestable to the LORD your God. ²⁶ Don’t bring any detestable thing to your house, because you yourself will be utterly destroyed along with these detestable things. You must absolutely abhor and detest all of it, because it has been devoted to destruction.”

³⁰ after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.’ ³¹ You must not do the same to the LORD your God, because they practiced in the presence of their gods every sort of abomination that the LORD hates. Moreover, they sacrificed their sons and daughters to their gods.

² But he practiced what the LORD considered to be evil by behaving detestably, as did the nations whom the LORD expelled in front of the Israelis.

⁹ This is how Manasseh deceived Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to practice more evil than the nations whom the LORD had eliminated in front of the Israelis.

³ In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young, he began to seek the God of his ancestor David. In the twelfth year of his reign, he began to remove the high places, Asherim, carved images, and cast images from Judah and Jerusalem.
⁴ They tore down the altars of Baals in his presence. He chopped down the incense altars that stood high above them. He broke into pieces the Asherim, the carved images, and the cast images, ground them to dust, and scattered the residue on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars, thus purging Judah and Jerusalem. ⁶ In the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, Simeon, and as far as Naphtali and their surrounding ruins, ⁷ he also tore down altars, destroyed the Asherim and the carved images, grinding them into dust, and chopped down all the incense altars throughout the land of Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

³ I will not even think about doing anything lawless; I hate to do evil deeds; I will have none of it.

³⁵ Instead, they mingled among the nations and learned their ways. ³⁶ They worshipped their idols, and this became a trap for them. ³⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. ³⁸ They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters— whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, thereby polluting the land with blood.

⁴⁷ It wasn’t just that you lived like they did and committed their detestable practices, but in just a little while your behavior led you to become more corrupt than they were!”

²⁶ He said, “If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what he sees to be right, listen to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then I won’t inflict on you all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, because I am the LORD your healer.”

¹³ Fear the LORD your God, serve him, and make your oaths in his name.

¹³ He’ll love you and increase your numbers. He’ll bless the fruit of your womb, the fruit of your land (the grain, new wine, and oil), the offspring of your herds, and the lambs of your flock, in the land that the LORD promised your ancestors he would give you.

¹⁵ The LORD will turn aside every disease from you. He won’t inflict on you the terrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but will inflict them instead on all who hate you.

¹² Love the LORD“Now Israel, what does the LORD your God desire from you? Only this: fear him, walk in all his ways, love him, serve him with all your heart and in all your life,

²⁰ You are to fear the LORD your God and serve him. Cling to him and swear by his name.

¹³ Delights of a Bountiful Land“If you carefully observe the commands that I’m giving you today, to love the LORD your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, ¹⁴ then he will send rain on the land in its season—the early and latter rains—then you’ll gather grain, new wine, and oil.

⁴ You must follow the LORD your God, fear him, observe his commandments, listen to his voice, serve him, and cling to him.

¹ Rewards for Obedience“Indeed, if you diligently obey the LORD your God to carry out all his commands that I’m giving you today, then the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. ² Moreover, all these blessings will come upon you in abundance, if you obey the LORD your God:
³ “Blessed will you be in the city and blessed will you be in the country.
⁴ “Blessed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.
⁵ “Blessed will be your grain basket and your kneading bowl.
⁶ “Blessed will you be in your comings and goings.”
⁷ “The LORD will make your enemies, who rise against you and attack from one direction, to flee from you in seven directions.
⁸ “The LORD will send blessings for you with regard to your barns and everything you undertake. Indeed, he will bless you in the land that the LORD your God is about to give you.
⁹ “The LORD will assign you to be a holy people for himself, just as he promised you, as long as you keep his commands and walk in his ways.
¹⁰ “Then all the people of the earth will observe that the name of the LORD is proclaimed among you, and they will fear you.
¹¹ “The LORD will show his abundant goodness with respect to your children, the offspring of your animals, and the produce of your farmland that he promised your ancestors he would give you.
¹² “The LORD will open his rich treasury, the heavens, to release rain upon your land in season and bless everything you undertake so that you’ll lend to many nations but won’t borrow.
¹³ “The LORD your God will make you the head and not the tail—placing you above and not beneath—if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I’m giving you today to keep and observe. ¹⁴ Do not deviate from any of his commands that I’m giving you today—neither to the right nor the left—to follow and serve other gods.”

¹⁴ “Now you must fear the LORD and serve him in faithfulness and truth. Throw away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Instead, serve the LORD. ¹⁵ If you think it’s the wrong thing for you to serve the LORD, then choose for yourselves today whom you will serve—the gods whom your ancestors served on the other side of the Euphrates River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose territories you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”

²¹ “No,” the people replied to Joshua. “We will serve the LORD.”

²⁴ The people replied, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey his voice.”

³ The Philistines are Defeated at EbenezerThen Samuel told the whole house of Israel, “If you’re returning to the LORD with all your heart, then remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you, direct your hearts back to the LORD, and serve him only. Then he will deliver you from the control of the Philistines.”

²⁰ Samuel told all the people, “Don’t be afraid. You have done all this evil. Yet don’t turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart.

²⁴ Only, fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Indeed, consider what great things he has done for you.

³ He continues to forgive all your sins, he continues to heal all your diseases,

¹⁶ this is the one who will live on the heights; his refuge will be a mountain fortress. His food will be supplied, and his water will be guaranteed.

²⁴ And no one living there will say, ‘I am ill.’ The people living there will have their sins forgiven.”

² They’ll be spread out to the sun, the moon, and all the stars of the heavens, which they loved and served, and which they followed, consulted, and worshipped. Their bones won’t be collected, nor will they be buried. They’ll be like dung on the surface of the ground.

¹⁰ “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure.

¹⁰ Then Jesus told him, “Go away, Satan! Because it is written, ‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’”

⁸ then passed away, dying at a ripe old age, having lived a full life, and joined his ancestors.

²⁹ when he died and joined his ancestors at a ripe old age. Then his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹⁴ You’ll be blessed among all the nations. There’ll be no infertility among you, not even among your herds.

⁴ “Blessed will your children be, as well as the produce of your land, the offspring of your beasts and cattle, and the offspring of your flock.

¹ The Levitical DivisionsAfter David had reached old age, and had completed his reign, he set his son Solomon as king over Israel.

²⁶ You’ll go to your grave at a ripe old age; like a stack of grain that’s harvested at just the right time.

¹⁰ Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages.

¹⁷ Then Job died at an old age, having lived a full life.

²³ But you, God, bring them down to the Pit of corruption; bloodthirsty and deceitful people will not live out half their days. But I put my full confidence in you.

¹⁰ We live for 70 years, or 80 years if we’re healthy, yet even in the prime years there are troubles and sorrow. They pass by quickly and we fly away.

³⁸ Then he blessed them, and they became numerous; he multiplied their cattle.

¹³ May our granaries be filled, storing produce in abundance; may our sheep bring forth thousands, even tens of thousands in our fields.

²⁰ “And there will no longer be in it a young boy who lives only a few days, or an old person who does not live out his days; for one who dies at a hundred years will be thought a mere youth, and one who falls short of a hundred years will be considered accursed.

¹⁰ “Bring the entire tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. So put me to the test in this right now,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, “and see if I won’t throw open the windows of heaven for you and pour out on you blessing without measure. ¹¹ And I’ll prevent the devourer from harming you, so that he does not destroy the crops of your land. Nor will the vines in your fields drop their fruit,” says the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

⁵ As they set out on their journey, because the people who lived in the cities around them feared God, they did not pursue Jacob’s sons.

¹⁴ “The people heard and they quaked, anguish has seized the inhabitants of Philistia. ¹⁵ Then the chiefs of Edom were terrified, the nobles of Moab trembled uncontrollably, and all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. ¹⁶ Dread and fear have fallen on them, because of the strength of your arm. They have become silent as a stone, until your people pass by, LORD, until this people you acquired pass by.

²⁵ Starting today I will begin to instill fear and terror of you on the part of every nation under heaven who hears reports about you. They’ll tremble in anguish before you.’”

²³ But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion, until they are destroyed.

²³ then the LORD will dispossess all these nations before you and you’ll dispossess nations that are even greater and stronger than you.

²⁵ No one will be able to stand against you. The LORD your God will instill terror and fear of you throughout the entire land wherever you go, just as he promised you.

⁹ “I’m really convinced that the LORD has given you the land,” she said, “because we’re overwhelmed with fear of you. All the other inhabitants of the land are demoralized at your presence, ¹⁰ because we heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Reed Sea right in front of you as you were coming out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan River—to Sihon and Og—whom you completely destroyed. ¹¹ When we heard these reports, we all became terrified and discouraged because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath.

¹⁵ There was terror in the camp, in the field, and among all the people. Even the garrison and the raiders were terrified. The earth shook, and there was even greater terror.

⁶ The LORD had made the Aramean army hear the sounds of chariots, horses, and a large army, so they told one another, “Look! The king of Israel has hired the kings of the Hittites and the Egyptians to come attack us!”

¹⁴ They attacked all the cities that surrounded Gerar, because fear of the LORD had overwhelmed them. The Israelis spoiled all the cities, because there was a lot to plunder in them.

⁴⁰ You have made my enemies turn their back to me, and I will destroy those who hate me.

²⁰ He’ll send plagues against them until the survivors who hide from you have perished.

¹¹ ‘Next, you crossed the Jordan River and arrived at Jericho. But the citizens of Jericho fought you, as did the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites, and the Jebusites, so I gave them into your control. ¹² ‘Then I sent hornets ahead of you to drive out two kings of the Amorites before you without your using either sword or bow.

²² He slowly will dislodge these nations before you, but he won’t destroy them quickly, so the wild animals won’t multiply around you.

⁶³ Now as for the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem, the descendants of Judah could not expel them, so Jebusites live with the descendants of Judah in Jerusalem to this day.

¹⁰ However, they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites live within the territory of Ephraim to this day, but they serve as forced laborers.

¹² The descendants of Manasseh did not take possession of these cities, because the Canaanites predominated in that territory. ¹³ Later on, when the Israelis had become strong, they forced the Canaanites to work for them, but they never did expel them completely.

¹ Unconquered Canaanite NationsHere’s a list of nations that the LORD caused to remain in order to test Israel (that is, everyone who had not gained any battle experience in Canaan) ² only so that successive Israeli generations, who had not known war previously, might come to know it by experience. ³ These nations included the five lords of the Philistines, all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in Mount Baal-hermon as far as Lebo-hamath. ⁴ They remained there to test Israel, to reveal if they would obey the commands of the LORD that he issued to their ancestors through Moses.

³⁴ The LORD told Moses, “You are not to fear him, because I’m going to deliver him, his entire army, and his land into your control. Do to him just what you’ve done to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who used to live in Heshbon.”

³ The Southern Border of Israel“‘To your south is the Wilderness of Zin, bordering Edom. Your southern border is to extend east toward the far end of the Dead Sea, ⁴ then it is to turn southward to the ascent of Akrabbim, cross Zin, and then run south of Kadesh-barnea and proceed from there to Hazar-addar and across to Azmon. ⁵ Then the border is to turn from Azmon toward the wadi of Egypt and from there to the Mediterranean Sea.’”
⁶ The Western Border of Israel“‘The western border is to be the Mediterranean Sea. This is to be the western border.’”
⁷ The Northern Border of Israel“‘Your northern border is to extend from the Mediterranean Sea to Mount Hor. ⁸ From Mount Hor, you are to mark out the entrance to Hammath, with the border running through Zedad, ⁹ then through Ziphron, and then to Hazar-enan. This is to be the northern border.’”
¹⁰ The Eastern Border of Israel“‘You are to mark the border on the east from Hazar-enan to Shepham. ¹¹ The border is then to extend from Shepham to Riblah, on the east side of Ain, then to the Sea of Chinnereth on the east. ¹² The border is to continue along the Jordan River all the way to the Dead Sea. This is to be your land, as measured by its boundaries.’”
¹³ Assigning Tribal ResponsibilitiesMoses commanded the Israelis, “You are to inherit this land by lot, just as the LORD commanded to give it to the remaining nine and a half tribes. ¹⁴ The tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, as defined by their ancestral houses, have received their inheritance. ¹⁵ These two and a half tribes received their inheritance this side of the Jordan River, east of Jericho, facing the rising sun.”

² Then the LORD told me, ‘Don’t fear him, because I’ve delivered him, his army, and his territory into your control. Do to him just as you have done to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.’

²⁴ Every place upon which the soles of your feet tread will be yours as boundaries—from the desert to Lebanon and from the River (that is, from the Euphrates) to the Mediterranean Sea.

⁴ Your territorial border will extend from the wilderness to the Lebanon Mountains, to the river—that great River Euphrates—all the land of the Hittites—as far as the Mediterranean Sea where the sun sets.

⁷ you get up from the ambush and seize the city, because the LORD your God will give it into your control.

¹⁸ Then the LORD told Joshua, “Stretch out the battle lance that’s in your hand toward Ai, because I will give it into your control.” So Joshua stretched out the battle lance that was in his hand toward the city.

⁸ The LORD told Joshua, “Don’t fear them, because I have handed them over to you. Not one of them will withstand you.”

¹⁹ but don’t stay there yourselves. Instead, pursue your enemies and attack them from behind. Don’t allow them to enter their cities, because the LORD your God has delivered them into your control.”

⁴⁴ The LORD gave them peace all around them, just as he had promised their ancestors. Not one of their enemies was able to oppose them—the LORD placed all of their enemies under their control.

¹⁴ “Look here: today I’m going down the path that everyone on earth takes, and you know with all your hearts and souls that not a single word of all of the good things that the LORD your God spoke about you has failed to happen. Everything has been fulfilled about you—not one of them has failed.

⁸ ‘I brought you into the territory of the Amorites, who lived on the other side of the Jordan River. They fought you, but I gave them into your control, and you took possession of their land. I destroyed them from your presence.

¹² ‘Then I sent hornets ahead of you to drive out two kings of the Amorites before you without your using either sword or bow.

¹⁸ The LORD expelled all the people before us, including the Amorites who lived in the land. Therefore, we also will serve the LORD, since he is our God.”

⁴ When the army of the tribe of Judah went into battle, the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their control, and they defeated 10,000 men at Bezek.

²¹ The LORD God of Israel handed Sihon and his entire army into the control of Israel, and defeated them. As a result, Israel took control over the entire land of the Amorites, who were living in that country.

⁴ David inquired of the LORD again, and the LORD answered him: “Get up, go down to Keilah. I’ll give the Philistines into your control.”

²¹ Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the territory of the Philistines and south to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon throughout his lifetime.

²⁴ He ruled over everything west of the Euphrates River from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all of the kings west of the Euphrates River, and he enjoyed peace on all sides around him.

¹³ God’s Prophets Rebuke AhabRight about then, a prophet approached King Ahab of Israel and told him, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You see all of this great big army, do you? Well now, I’m going to deliver them all right into your hand, and you will learn that I am the LORD!’”

⁸ May he rule from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

¹² “Be very careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, so they won’t be a snare among you.

¹⁵ Otherwise, you may make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land and when they prostitute themselves with their gods and offer sacrifices to their gods, someone may invite you and then you may eat some of their sacrifices.

¹ Worship of Baal of PeorWhile Israel remained encamped in Shittim, the people began to commit sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who also invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. So the people ate what they had sacrificed and then worshipped their gods.

² So when the LORD your God delivers them to you and you have defeated them, then utterly destroy them. You are not to make any covenant with them nor be gracious to them.

¹⁶ You are to utterly destroy everyone whom the LORD your God will deliver to you. Don’t have pity on them nor serve their gods. Otherwise, they will become a snare for you.”

¹⁴ So the leaders of Israel sampled their provisions, but did not ask the LORD about it. ¹⁵ They made a treaty with them, guaranteeing their lives with a covenant, and the leaders of the congregation confirmed it with an oath to them.
¹⁶ But three days after they had made the treaty with them, they learned that they were their neighbors and were living in their midst. ¹⁷ So the Israelis set out for their cities and three days later they reached their cities of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-jearim. ¹⁸ The Israelis did not attack them, because the leaders of the congregation had made an oath with them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. Nevertheless, the entire congregation grumbled against their leaders.
¹⁹ Then all of the leaders spoke to the entire congregation, “We have sworn to them in the name of the LORD, the God of Israel, and we cannot touch them. ²⁰ So this is what we’ll do to them: we’ll let them live, so that wrath won’t come upon us because of the oath that we swore to them.”
²¹ The leaders told them, “Let them live.” So they became wood cutters and water carriers for the entire congregation, which is what the leaders had decided concerning them.
²² Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and asked them, “Why did you deceive us by saying ‘We live far away from you,’ even though you were, in fact, living in our midst? ²³ Now therefore you are under a curse. Some of you will always be slaves, wood cutters, and water carriers for the house of my God.”

¹ Retribution for the GibeonitesOne time there was a famine during David’s reign that went on for three straight years. David sought the LORD, who said, “Saul and his household are guilty because he executed the Gibeonites.”
² So the king called together the Gibeonites and conferred with them. Now the Gibeonites weren’t part of the nation of Israel, but were the survivors from the Amorites. Although the Israelis had promised to spare them, Saul had started to execute them in his zeal for the people of Israel and Judah.

³⁵ Instead, they mingled among the nations and learned their ways.

¹⁵ What harmony exists between the Messiah and Beliar, or what do a believer and an unbeliever have in common?

² So when the LORD your God delivers them to you and you have defeated them, then utterly destroy them. You are not to make any covenant with them nor be gracious to them. ³ You are not to intermarry with them. You are not to give your daughters to their sons nor take their daughters for your sons,

³⁰ after they have been destroyed in your sight, be careful not to be ensnared as they were. Otherwise, you will seek their gods and ask yourselves, ‘How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise.’

¹³ know for certain that the LORD your God will not continue to drive out these nations ahead of you. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap for you, a whip to your backs, and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land that the LORD your God has given you.

³ Therefore I’m now saying, ‘I won’t expel them before you. Instead, they’ll remain at your side, and their gods will ensnare you.’”

²¹ Saul told himself, “I’ll give her to him and she can be a snare to him and the Philistines will harm him.” So Saul told David, “For a second time you can be my son-in-law today.”

¹⁶ He will give up Israel because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and by which Jeroboam caused Israel to sin.”

³⁶ They worshipped their idols, and this became a trap for them.

²⁶ so that they might escape from the devil’s snare, even though they’ve been held captive by him to do his will.