Today's Reading

¹If there arise in the midst of you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and he give you a sign or a wonder,

²and the sign or the wonder come to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, "Let us go after other gods" (which you have not known) "and let us serve them";

³you shall not listen to the words of that prophet, or to that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proves you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

⁴You shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cling to him.

⁵That prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death, because he has spoken rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to draw you aside out of the way which the Lord your God commanded you to walk in. So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.

⁶If your brother, the son of your father or the son of your mother, or your son, or your daughter, or the wife of your bosom, or your friend, who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which you have not known, you, nor your fathers;

⁷of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near to you, or far off from you, from the one end of the earth even to the other end of the earth;

⁸you shall not consent to him, nor listen to him; neither shall your eye pity him, neither shall you spare, neither shall you conceal him:

⁹but you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first on him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people.

¹⁰You shall stone him to death with stones, because he has sought to draw you away from the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

¹¹All Israel shall hear, and fear, and shall not do any more such wickedness as this is in the midst of you.

¹²If you shall hear tell concerning one of your cities, which the Lord your God gives you to dwell there, saying,

¹³Certain base fellows are gone out from the midst of you, and have drawn away the inhabitants of their city, saying, "Let us go and serve other gods," which you have not known;

¹⁴then you shall inquire, and make search, and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that such abomination is done in the midst of you,

¹⁵you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, destroying it utterly, and all that is therein and its livestock, with the edge of the sword.

¹⁶You shall gather all its plunder into the midst of its street, and shall burn with fire the city, and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God: and it shall be a ruin forever; it shall not be built again.

¹⁷Nothing of the devoted thing shall cling to your hand; that the Lord may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and show you mercy, and have compassion on you, and multiply you, as he has sworn to your fathers;

¹⁸when you shall listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to keep all his commandments which I command you this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the Lord your God.

¹You are the children of the Lord your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

²For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.

³You shall not eat any abominable thing.

⁴These are the animals which you may eat: the ox, the sheep, and the goat,

⁵the hart, and the gazelle, and the roebuck, and the wild goat, and the ibex, and the antelope, and the chamois.

⁶Every animal that parts the hoof, and has the hoof cloven in two and chews the cud, among the animals, that may you eat.

⁷Nevertheless these you shall not eat of them that chew the cud, or of those who have the hoof cloven: the camel, and the hare, and the rabbit; because they chew the cud but do not part the hoof, they are unclean to you.

⁸The pig, because it has a split hoof but doesn't chew the cud, is unclean to you: of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch.

⁹These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales may you eat;

¹⁰and whatever doesn't have fins and scales you shall not eat; it is unclean to you.

¹¹Of all clean birds you may eat.

¹²But these are they of which you shall not eat: the eagle, and the vulture, and the osprey,

¹³and the red kite, and the falcon, and the kite after its kind,

¹⁴and every raven after its kind,

¹⁵and the ostrich, and the owl, and the seagull, and the hawk after its kind,

¹⁶the little owl, and the great owl, and the horned owl,

¹⁷and the pelican, and the vulture, and the cormorant,

¹⁸and the stork, and the heron after its kind, and the hoopoe, and the bat.

¹⁹All winged creeping things are unclean to you: they shall not be eaten.

²⁰Of all clean birds you may eat.

²¹You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself: you may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may eat it; or you may sell it to a foreigner: for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

²²You shall surely tithe all the increase of your seed, that which comes forth from the field year by year.

²³You shall eat before the Lord your God, in the place which he shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, the tithe of your grain, of your new wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock; that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always.

²⁴If the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry it, because the place is too far from you, which the Lord your God shall choose, to set his name there, when the Lord your God shall bless you;

²⁵then you shall turn it into money, and bind up the money in your hand, and shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose:

²⁶and you shall bestow the money for whatever your soul desires, for cattle, or for sheep, or for wine, or for strong drink, or for whatever your soul asks of you; and you shall eat there before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice, you and your household.

²⁷The Levite who is within your gates, you shall not forsake him; for he has no portion nor inheritance with you.

²⁸At the end of every three years you shall bring forth all the tithe of your increase in the same year, and shall lay it up within your gates:

²⁹and the Levite, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you, and the foreigner living among you, and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates, shall come, and shall eat and be satisfied; that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hand which you do.

¹At the end of every seven years you shall make a release.

²This is the way of the release: every creditor shall release that which he has lent to his neighbor; he shall not exact it of his neighbor and his brother; because the Lord's release has been proclaimed.

³Of a foreigner you may exact it: but whatever of your is with your brother your hand shall release.

⁴However there shall be no poor with you; (for the Lord will surely bless you in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it;)

⁵if only you diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, to observe to do all this commandment which I command you this day.

⁶For the Lord your God will bless you, as he promised you: and you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; and you shall rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over you.

⁷If a poor man, one of your brothers, is with you within any of your gates in your land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not harden your heart, nor shut your hand from your poor brother;

⁸but you shall surely open your hand to him, and shall surely lend him sufficient for his need, which he lacks.

⁹Beware that there not be a base thought in your heart, saying, "The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand"; and your eye be evil against your poor brother, and you give him nothing; and he cry to the Lord against you, and it be sin to you.

¹⁰You shall surely give him, and your heart shall not be grieved when you give to him; because that for this thing the Lord your God will bless you in all your work, and in all that you put your hand to.

¹¹For the poor will never cease out of the land: therefore I command you, saying, You shall surely open your hand to your brother, to your needy, and to your poor, in your land.

¹²If your brother, a Hebrew man, or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you, and serves you six years; then in the seventh year you shall let him go free from you.

¹³When you let him go free from you, you shall not let him go empty:

¹⁴you shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, and out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress; as the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him.

¹⁵You shall remember that you were a bondservant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you: therefore I command you this thing today.

¹⁶It shall be, if he tells you, "I will not go out from you"; because he loves you and your house, because he is well with you;

¹⁷then you shall take an awl, and thrust it through his ear to the door, and he shall be your servant forever. Also to your female servant you shall do likewise.

¹⁸It shall not seem hard to you, when you let him go free from you; for to the double of the hire of a hireling has he served you six years: and the Lord your God will bless you in all that you do.

¹⁹All the firstborn males that are born of your herd and of your flock you shall sanctify to the Lord your God: you shall do no work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

²⁰You shall eat it before the Lord your God year by year in the place which the Lord shall choose, you and your household.

²¹If it has any blemish, is lame or blind, or has any defect whatever, you shall not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

²²You shall eat it within your gates: the unclean and the clean shall eat it alike, as the gazelle, and as the hart.

²³Only you shall not eat its blood; you shall pour it out on the ground as water.

¹Meanwhile, when a multitude of many thousands had gathered together, so much so that they trampled on each other, he began to tell his disciples first of all, "Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.

²But there is nothing covered up, that will not be revealed, nor hidden, that will not be known.

³Therefore whatever you have said in the darkness will be heard in the light. What you have spoken in the ear in the inner chambers will be proclaimed on the housetops.

⁴"I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.

⁵But I will warn you whom you should fear. Fear him, who after he has killed, has power to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.

⁶"Are not five sparrows sold for two assaria coins? Not one of them is forgotten by God.

⁷But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Therefore do not be afraid. You are of more value than many sparrows.

⁸"I tell you, everyone who confesses me before men, him will the Son of Man also confess before the angels of God;

⁹but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God.

¹⁰Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but those who blaspheme against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

¹¹When they bring you before the synagogues, the rulers, and the authorities, do not be anxious how or what you will answer, or what you will say;

¹²for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that same hour what you must say."

¹³One of the multitude said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me."

¹⁴But he said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?"

¹⁵He said to them, "Beware! Keep yourselves from all covetousness, for a man's life does not consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses."

¹⁶He spoke a parable to them, saying, "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth abundantly.

¹⁷He reasoned within himself, saying, 'What will I do, because I do not have room to store my crops?'

¹⁸He said, 'This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns, and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.

¹⁹I will tell my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry."'

²⁰"But God said to him, 'You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared-whose will they be?'

²¹So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."

²²He said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious for your life, what you will eat, nor yet for your body, what you will wear.

²³Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.

²⁴Consider the ravens: they do not sow, they do not reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!

²⁵Which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his height?

²⁶If then you are not able to do even the least things, why are you anxious about the rest?

²⁷Consider the lilies, how they grow. They do not toil, neither do they spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

²⁸But if this is how God clothes the grass in the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith?

²⁹Do not seek what you will eat or what you will drink; neither be anxious.

³⁰For the nations of the world seek after all of these things, but your Father knows that you need these things.

³¹But seek his Kingdom, and these things will be added to you.

³²Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

³³Sell that which you have, and give gifts to the needy. Make for yourselves purses which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches, neither moth destroys.

³⁴For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

³⁵"Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.

³⁶Be like people watching for their lord, when he returns from the marriage feast; that, when he comes and knocks, they may immediately open to him.

³⁷Blessed are those servants, whom the lord will find watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, that he will dress himself, and make them recline, and will come and serve them.

³⁸They will be blessed if he comes in the second or third watch, and finds them so.

³⁹But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what hour the thief was coming, he would not have allowed his house to be broken into.

⁴⁰Therefore be ready also, for the Son of Man is coming in an hour that you do not expect him."

⁴¹Peter said to him, "Lord, are you telling this parable to us, or to everybody?"

⁴²The Lord said, "Who then is the faithful and wise steward, whom his lord will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the right times?

⁴³Blessed is that servant whom his lord will find doing so when he comes.

⁴⁴Truly I tell you, that he will set him over all that he has.

⁴⁵But if that servant says in his heart, 'My lord delays his coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken,

⁴⁶then the lord of that servant will come in a day when he is not expecting him, and in an hour that he does not know, and will cut him in two, and place his portion with the unfaithful.

⁴⁷That servant, who knew his lord's will, and did not prepare, nor do what he wanted, will be beaten with many stripes,

⁴⁸but he who did not know, and did things worthy of stripes, will be beaten with few stripes. To whomever much is given, of him will much be required; and to whom much was entrusted, of him more will be asked.

⁴⁹"I came to throw fire on the earth. I wish it were already kindled.

⁵⁰But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!

⁵¹Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.

⁵²For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three.

⁵³They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

⁵⁴He said to the multitudes also, "When you see a cloud rising from the west, immediately you say, 'A shower is coming,' and so it happens.

⁵⁵When a south wind blows, you say, 'There will be a scorching heat,' and it happens.

⁵⁶You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how is it that you do not interpret this time?

⁵⁷Why do you not judge for yourselves what is right?

⁵⁸For when you are going with your adversary before the magistrate, try diligently on the way to be released from him, lest perhaps he drag you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.

⁵⁹I tell you, you will by no means get out of there, until you have paid the very last penny."

¹ Be merciful to me, God, for man wants to swallow me up. All day long, he attacks and oppresses me.

²My enemies want to swallow me up all day long, for they are many who fight proudly against me.

³When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.

⁴In God, I praise his word. In God, I put my trust. I will not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?

⁵All day long they twist my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil.

⁶They conspire and lurk, watching my steps, they are eager to take my life.

⁷Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, God.

⁸You number my wanderings. You put my tears into your bottle. Aren't they in your book?

⁹Then my enemies shall turn back in the day that I call. I know this, that God is for me.

¹⁰In God, I will praise his word. In the Lord, I will praise his word.

¹¹I have put my trust in God. I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

¹²Your vows are on me, God. I will give thank offerings to you.

¹³For you have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

¹These also are proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out.

²It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

³As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth, so the hearts of kings are unsearchable.

⁴Take away the dross from the silver, and material comes out for the refiner;

⁵Take away the wicked from the king's presence, and his throne will be established in righteousness.

⁶Do not exalt yourself in the presence of the king, or claim a place among great men;

⁷for it is better that it be said to you, "Come up here," than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whom your eyes have seen.

⁸Do not be hasty in bringing charges to court. What will you do in the end when your neighbor shames you?

⁹Debate your case with your neighbor, and do not betray the confidence of another;

¹⁰lest one who hears it put you to shame, and your bad reputation never depart.

¹¹A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.

¹²As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover to an obedient ear.

¹³As the cold of snow in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the soul of his masters.

¹⁴As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.

¹⁵By patience a ruler is persuaded. A soft tongue breaks the bone.

¹⁶Have you found honey? Eat as much as is sufficient for you, lest you eat too much, and vomit it.

¹⁷Let your foot be seldom in your neighbor's house, lest he be weary of you, and hate you.

¹⁸A man who gives false testimony against his neighbor is like a club, a sword, or a sharp arrow.

¹⁹Confidence in someone unfaithful in time of trouble is like a bad tooth, or a lame foot.

²⁰As one who takes away a garment in cold weather, or vinegar on soda, so is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.

²¹If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink:

²²for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and the Lord will reward you.

²³The north wind brings forth rain: so a backbiting tongue brings an angry face.

²⁴It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than to share a house with a contentious woman.

²⁵Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.

²⁶Like a muddied spring, and a polluted well, so is a righteous man who gives way before the wicked.

²⁷It is not good to eat much honey; nor is it honorable to seek one's own honor.

²⁸Like a city that is broken down and without walls is a man whose spirit is without restraint.