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Psalm 145:1-12
A psalm of praise of David.
1
I will exalt you, my God and King,
and praise your name forever and ever.2
I will praise you every day;
yes, I will praise you forever.3
Great is the Lord! He is most worthy of praise!
No one can measure his greatness.4
Let each generation tell its children of your mighty acts;
let them proclaim your power.5
I will meditate on your majestic, glorious splendor
and your wonderful miracles.6
Your awe-inspiring deeds will be on every tongue;
I will proclaim your greatness.7
Everyone will share the story of your wonderful goodness;
they will sing with joy about your righteousness.8
The Lord is merciful and compassionate,
slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.9
The Lord is good to everyone.
He showers compassion on all his creation.10
All of your works will thank you, Lord,
and your faithful followers will praise you.11
They will speak of the glory of your kingdom;
they will give examples of your power.12
They will tell about your mighty deeds
and about the majesty and glory of your reign.Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 21
10 “If you go out to war against your enemies, and God, your God, delivers him into your hands, and you take captives,
11 and you see a beautiful woman among the captives, and you desire her and take her for yourself as a wife,
12 you must bring her into your home, and she must shave her head and let her nails grow.
13 She must take off the garment she is wearing in her captivity. She must remain in your house, and she must weep for her father and her mother for a full month. After that, you may go to her and have marital relations with her, and she will become your wife.
14 If you do not desire her, you must divorce her and send her away on her own. You may not sell her for money, nor may you keep her as a bondwoman, since you afflicted her.
15 If a man has two wives—one beloved and the other despised—and they bear him sons, the beloved one and the despised one, and the firstborn son is from the despised one,
16 on the day that he bequeaths his estate to his sons, he will not able to give the son of the beloved one birthright precedence over the son of the despised one, who is the firstborn son.
17 Rather, he must acknowledge the firstborn—the son of the despised one—by giving him a double share of all that he possesses, because he is the first product of his virility; the birthright entitlement is therefore his.
18 If a man has a son who is wayward and rebellious, not obeying his father or his mother, they may chasten him. If he does not heed them,
19 his father and his mother must seize him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his locale.
20 They must say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is wayward and rebellious. He does not obey us: he is a glutton and guzzler.’
21 All the men of his city must pelt him with stones until he dies. So must you eradicate this evil from your midst, so all Israel will hear and be afraid.
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God Is Gracious and Merciful
Isaiah 6:1-8; 38:1-5
6 Isaiah’s Cleansing and Call
1 It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.”
6 Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here I am. Send me.”
38
Hezekiah’s Sickness and Recovery1 About that time Hezekiah became deathly ill, and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz went to visit him. He gave the king this message: “This is what the Lord says: ‘Set your affairs in order, for you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.’”
2 When Hezekiah heard this, he turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, 3 “Remember, O Lord, how I have always been faithful to you and have served you single-mindedly, always doing what pleases you.” Then he broke down and wept bitterly.
4 Then this message came to Isaiah from the Lord: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah and tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will add fifteen years to your life,
honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 21
22If a man commits a sin for which he is sentenced to death, and he is put to death, you must suspend him on a gibbet of wood.
23But you must not leave his body on the wooden gibbet overnight. Rather, you must bury him on that day, for a hanged person is an affront to God. You must not defile your land, which God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 22
1You must not see your brother’s work-bull or sheep straying and ignore it. You must return it to your brother.
2But if your brother is not near you, or if you do not know who he is, you must bring it into your house. It must remain with you until your brother seeks it out, whereupon you must return it to him.
3So must you do with his donkey, and so must you do with his garment, and so must you do with any lost article of your brother that he has lost and that you have found. You cannot ignore it.
4You must not see your brother’s donkey or his work-bull fallen under its load on the road and ignore it. You must pick up the load with him.
5A man’s attire must not be worn by a woman, and a man may not wear a woman’s garment, for whoever does these things is an abomination to God, your God.
6If you happen upon a bird’s nest on the road, on any tree, or on the ground, and inside it are chicks or eggs, and the mother is brooding upon the chicks or upon the eggs, you must not take the mother while she is sitting upon the young.
7You must send away the mother, and then you may take the young for yourself, in order that it go well for you and that you live long.
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Psalm 145:13-21
13
For your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom.
You rule throughout all generations.The Lord always keeps his promises;
he is gracious in all he does.14
The Lord helps the fallen
and lifts those bent beneath their loads.15
The eyes of all look to you in hope;
you give them their food as they need it.16
When you open your hand,
you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing.17
The Lord is righteous in everything he does;
he is filled with kindness.18
The Lord is close to all who call on him,
yes, to all who call on him in truth.19
He grants the desires of those who fear him;
he hears their cries for help and rescues them.20
The Lord protects all those who love him,
but he destroys the wicked.21
I will praise the Lord,
and may everyone on earth bless his holy name
forever and ever.Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 22
8When you build a new house, you must make a parapet for your roof, in order that you not cause blood to be shed in your house by not preventing one who starts to fall from falling off the roof.
9You must not sow your vineyard with a mixture of species, lest the increase—i.e., the yield of the seed that you sow and the yield of the vineyard—become out of bounds for you.
10You must not plow with both a work-bull and a donkey.
11You must not wear a pressed, woven, or twisted (sha’atnez) mixture of wool and linen together.
12You must make yourself twisted threads and hang them as tassels on the four corners of your garment with which you cover yourself.
13If a man takes a wife, has marital relations with her, and comes to hate her,
14and then accuses her of improper conduct and slanders her, saying, ‘I took this woman as my wife, and when I approached her through marital relations, I did not find any evidence of virginity for her,’
15the girl’s father and mother must obtain evidence of the girl’s virginity, and bring them to the elders of the city at the gate.
16The girl’s father must say to the elders, ‘I gave my daughter to this man as a wife, and he hated her,
17and behold, he accused her of improper conduct, saying, “I did not find evidence of your daughter’s virginity.” But here is the evidence of my daughter’s virginity!’ And they must display their evidence like a sheet before the elders of the city.
18The elders of that city must take the man and chasten him by whipping him.
19They must fine him 100 shekels of silver for having slandered a Jewish virgin, and he must give it to the girl’s father. She must be his wife; he may not divorce her as long as he lives.
20If this matter was true, no evidence of the girl’s virginity was found,
21they must take the girl out to the entrance of her father’s house. The men of her city must pelt her with stones. She must die, for she did a disgraceful thing in Israel, committing adultery while living in her father’s house. So must you eradicate this evil from your midst.
22If a man is found fornicating with a married woman, both of them must be put to death—the man who fornicated with the woman as well as the woman. You must eradicate this evil from Israel.
23If there is a virgin girl betrothed to a man, and a man finds her in the city and fornicates with her,
24you must take them both to the gate of that city, and you must pelt them with stones. They must die: the girl, because she did not cry out for help in the city; and the man, because he violated his neighbor’s wife. You must eradicate this evil from your midst.
25But if a man finds the betrothed girl in the field, and the man overpowers her and fornicates with her, only the man who fornicated with her must be put to death.
26You must take no action against the girl. The girl did not commit a sin deserving of death, for just as a man rises up against his fellow and murders him, so is this case,
27because he found her in the field: the betrothed girl cried out, but there was no one to rescue her.
28If a man finds a virgin girl who is not betrothed, seizes her and fornicates with her, and they are discovered,
29the man who fornicated with her must give fifty shekels of silver to the girl’s father, and she must become his wife, because he violated her. He may not divorce her as long as he lives.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 23
1A man may not take his father’s wife in marriage. One may not ‘uncover the corner of his father’s cloak,’ i.e., fornicate with his deceased brother’s wife who is waiting for him to marry her or release her.
2A man with injured testicles or whose reproductive organ is cut may not enter the assembly of God by marrying a born Jewess.
3A bastard may not enter the assembly of God by marrying a legitimate born Jew. Even the tenth-generation descendant of a bastard may not enter the assembly of God.
4An Ammonite or Moabite may not enter the assembly of God by marrying a born Jewess. Even the tenth-generation descendant of an Ammonite or Moabite convert for all time may never enter the assembly of God,
5because they did not greet you with bread and water when you were traveling after you left Egypt, and because they hired Balaam son of Be’or from Petor in Aram Naharayim against you, to curse you.
6But God, your God, did not want to listen to Balaam, so God, your God, transformed the curse into a blessing for you, because God, your God, loves you.
7You must never look out for their welfare or their good, all your days.
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Matthew 3:4-12
4 John’s clothes were woven from coarse camel hair, and he wore a leather belt around his waist. For food he ate locusts and wild honey. 5 People from Jerusalem and from all of Judea and all over the Jordan Valley went out to see and hear John. 6 And when they confessed their sins, he baptized them in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to watch him baptize, he denounced them. “You brood of snakes!” he exclaimed. “Who warned you to flee the coming wrath? 8 Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God. 9 Don’t just say to each other, ‘We’re safe, for we are descendants of Abraham.’ That means nothing, for I tell you, God can create children of Abraham from these very stones. 10 Even now the ax of God’s judgment is poised, ready to sever the roots of the trees. Yes, every tree that does not produce good fruit will be chopped down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 12 He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.”
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 23
8 You must not despise an Edomite, for he is your brother. You must not despise an Egyptian, for you were a sojourner in his land.
9 Children who are born to them the third generation after their conversion may enter the assembly of God by marrying born Jews.
10 When you go forth as a military camp against your enemies, you must be wary of any evil thing.
11 If there be among you a man who becomes ritually defiled due to a nocturnal seminal discharge, he must go outside the camp. He must not enter the camp until,
12 in the late afternoon, he immerses himself in the water of a mikveh. When the sun sets, he may enter the camp.
13 You must have a designated place outside the camp, so that you can go out there to use it as a latrine.
14 You must keep a spike on your person in addition to your weapons, and when you sit down outside to relieve yourself, you must dig with it, and you must turn back and cover your excrement.
15 For God, your God, accompanies you in the midst of your camp, to rescue you and to deliver your enemies before you. Your camp must be holy, so that He not see anything unseemly in you and because of that turn away from you.
16 You may not hand over a slave to his master if he seeks refuge with you from his master.
17 He must reside among you wherever he chooses within any of your cities, where it is good for him. You must not taunt him.
18 There must be no prostitute among the daughters of Israel, and there must be no male prostitute among the sons of Israel.
19 You may not bring an article used to pay a prostitute’s fee or an article that was used to pay for a dog to the House of God, your God as fulfillment of any sacrificial vow, because both of them are an abomination to God, your God.
20 You must not pay interest to your brother, whether interest on money, interest on food, or interest on any other article on which interest is taken.
21 You may pay interest to a gentile. But you must not pay interest to your brother, in order that God, your God, bless you in all your endeavors in the land that you are entering in order to possess.
22 When you make a vow to offer up a sacrifice to God, your God, you must not delay in fulfilling it, for God, your God, will demand it of you, and this delay will be counted as a sin for you.
23 If you refrain from making sacrificial vows, you will not accrue any sin.
24 Observe and fulfill whatever obligation issues from your lips exactly as you have vowed to God, your God. The same applies to a sacrificial dedication that you have uttered with your mouth.
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Acts 3:12-20
Peter Preaches in the Temple
12 Peter saw his opportunity and addressed the crowd. “People of Israel,” he said, “what is so surprising about this? And why stare at us as though we had made this man walk by our own power or godliness? 13 For it is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—the God of all our ancestors—who has brought glory to his servant Jesus by doing this. This is the same Jesus whom you handed over and rejected before Pilate, despite Pilate’s decision to release him. 14 You rejected this holy, righteous one and instead demanded the release of a murderer. 15 You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. And we are witnesses of this fact!
16 “Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed—and you know how crippled he was before. Faith in Jesus’ name has healed him before your very eyes.
17 “Friends, I realize that what you and your leaders did to Jesus was done in ignorance. 18 But God was fulfilling what all the prophets had foretold about the Messiah—that he must suffer these things. 19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away. 20 Then times of refreshment will come from the presence of the Lord, and he will again send you Jesus, your appointed Messiah.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 23
25 If you enter your neighbor’s vineyard as a hired harvester, you may eat as many grapes as you desire, until you are sated; you may not put any into your container.
26 If you enter your neighbor’s field of standing grain as a hired harvester, you may pick the ears of grain manually in order to eat the kernels, but you may not lift a sickle upon your neighbor’s standing grain to cut any of it for yourself.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 24
1 If a man takes a wife and has marital relations with her, and she becomes unfavorable to him because he discovers in her an unseemly moral matter, he should write her a bill of divorce and place it into her hand, and thus send her away from his house.
2 If, after she leaves his house, she goes and marries another man,
3 the latter husband will come to hate her and write her a bill of divorce, place it into her hand, and send her away from his house, or the latter husband who took her as a wife will die before her.
4 In either case, her first husband, who had sent her away, may not take her again as his wife, since she became defiled to him, for that is an abomination before God. You must not bring sin upon the land that God, your God, is giving you as an inheritance.
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James 5:12-18
12 But most of all, my brothers and sisters, never take an oath, by heaven or earth or anything else. Just say a simple yes or no, so that you will not sin and be condemned.
The Power of Prayer
13 Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
16 Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. 17 Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! 18 Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 24
5 When a man takes a new wife, he must not go out in the army, nor must he be obligated to do anything. He must remain exempt to attend to his home affairs for one year and gladden his wife whom he has married.
6 A creditor must not take a debtor’s lower or upper millstone as collateral, because by doing so he is in effect taking the life of his debtor as collateral.
7 If a man is found to have kidnapped any person from among his brothers—from the Israelites—and to have enslaved and sold him, that kidnapper must be put to death. You must eradicate the evil of kidnapping from your midst.
8 Regarding the lesion of tzara’at, take care to meticulously safeguard the practice of these laws by studying how to observe them, in order to perform them properly. Take care to act in accordance with all that the Levitic priests instruct you, as I have commanded them.
9 Remember what God, your God, did to Miriam when we were traveling after you left Egypt.
10 When you demand back something that you loaned your fellow, you must not enter his home to take his collateral.
11 You must stand outside, and the person from whom you are demanding the return of your loan must bring the collateral to you outside.
12 If he is a poor man, you must not lie down to sleep with his collateral still in your possession.
13 You must return the collateral to him by sunset, in order that he be able to lie down to sleep in his garment. He will bless you, and it will be counted for you as a merit before God, your God.
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Exodus 12:3-14
3 Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. 4 If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. 5 The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.
6 “Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. 7 They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal. 8 That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire. 10 Do not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.
11 “These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed, wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover. 12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! 13 But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 24
14 You must not withhold the wages of a poor or destitute employee, whether of your brothers or of your converts, in your land or in your cities.
15 You must give him his wage on his promised day—the sun must not set on it, because he is poor, and he risks his life to earn it—that he not cry out to God against you, and this sin be counted against you.
16 Fathers must not be put to death by virtue of their sons’ testimony, nor must sons be put to death by virtue of their fathers’ testimony. A man may be put to death only for his own transgression.
17 You must not pervert the judgment of a convert or an orphan. You must not take a widow’s garment as collateral.
18 You must recall that you were a slave in Egypt, and that God, your God, redeemed you from there. I therefore command you to do this thing.
19 When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you must not go back to take it. It must be left for the convert, the orphan, and the widow, in order that God, your God, bless you in all that you do.
20 When you beat your olive tree, you must not remove its glory by picking all its fruit, nor pick up what you have left behind you; it must be left for the convert, the orphan, and the widow.
21 When you pick the grapes of your vineyard, you must not glean the young grapes, nor pick up what you have left behind you; it must be left for the convert, the orphan, and the widow.
22 You must recall that you were a slave in Egypt. I therefore command you to do this thing.
Devarim (Deuteronomy) Chapter 25
1 If there is a quarrel between people, they should approach the court for judgment. The judges must judge them; they must acquit the innocent party and condemn the guilty party.
2 If the guilty party has incurred the penalty of lashes, the judge must have him bend over and flog him in front of him, as befits his crime. The maximum number of lashes that
3 the sheriff must administer is one less than 40. He must not exceed this number, lest he give him a much more severe flogging than these 39 lashes, and your brother be belittled in your eyes.
4 You must not muzzle a work-bull when it is threshing.
5 If brothers born of the same father are living at the same time, and one of them dies having no child, the dead man’s wife will not be free to marry an outsider. Her husband’s brother must engage in carnal relations with her, taking her as a wife for himself and marrying her.
6 This duty devolves upon the eldest brother, but only if she can bear children. The brother will succeed to his brother’s estate in his deceased brother’s name, so that his name not be obliterated from Israel.
7 If the man does not wish to take his brother’s wife as his own, the brother’s wife must go up to the gate, to the elders, and say, ‘My husband’s brother has refused to perpetuate his brother’s name in Israel. He does not want to marry me.’
8 The elders of his city must summon him and speak to him, and he must stand up and say, ‘I do not want to take her as a wife.’
9 His brother’s wife must approach him in view of the elders and remove his shoe from his foot. She must spit in front of him and respond by saying, ‘Thus must be done to the man who will not build up his brother’s household!’
10 His name must be called one time by those of Israel present at the ceremony, ‘This is the house of he who had his shoe removed.’
11 If two men, a man and his brother Israelite, are quarreling, and the wife of the attacked one approaches to rescue her husband from his assailant, and she stretches forth her hand and grabs hold of his private parts,
12 you must ‘cut off’—make her pay the value of—her hand. You must not take pity on her.
13 You must not keep two supposedly identical but different weights in your pocket: a heavy one for buying and a light one for selling.
14 You must not keep two different ephah-measures in your house: a large one for buying and a small one for selling.
15 You must possess a full and correct weight and a full and correct ephah-measure, in order that you live long on the land that God, your God, is giving you,
16 for whoever does such wicked things, whoever perpetrates such injustice, is an abomination to God, your God.
17 You must remember what the nation of Amalek did to you when you were traveling after you left Egypt—
18 how, on the way, it attacked you by surprise, and mutilated all the weak ones at your rear. You were faint from thirst and weary, and they did not fear God.
19 When God, your God, grants you respite from all your enemies surrounding you in the land that God, your God, is giving you to possess as an inheritance, you must obliterate the remembrance of Amalek from beneath heaven. You must not forget.”
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Yeshayahu (Isaiah) Chapter 54
1 "Sing you barren woman who has not borne; burst out into song and jubilate, you who have not experienced birth pangs, for the children of the desolate one are more than the children of the married woman," says the Lord.
2 Widen the place of your tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations, do not spare; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes.
3 For right and left shall you prevail, and your seed shall inherit nations and repeople desolate cities.
4 Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed, and be not embarrassed for you shall not be put to shame, for the shame of your youth you shall forget, and the disgrace of your widowhood you shall no longer remember.
5 For your Master is your Maker, the Lord of Hosts is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, shall be called the God of all the earth.
6 For, like a wife who is deserted and distressed in spirit has the Lord called you, and a wife of one's youth who was rejected, said your God.
7 "For a small moment have I forsaken you, and with great mercy will I gather you.
8 With a little wrath did I hide My countenance for a moment from you, and with everlasting kindness will I have compassion on you," said your Redeemer, the Lord.
9 "For this is to Me [as] the waters of Noah, as I swore that the waters of Noah shall never again pass over the earth, so have I sworn neither to be wroth with you nor to rebuke you.
10 For the mountains shall depart and the hills totter, but My kindness shall not depart from you, neither shall the covenant of My peace totter," says the Lord, Who has compassion on you.