Today's Reading

¹If there is a controversy between men, and they come to judgment, and the judges judge them; then they shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked;

²and it shall be, if the wicked man be worthy to be beaten, that the judge shall cause him to lie down, and to be beaten before his face, according to his wickedness, by number.

³Forty stripes he may give him, he shall not exceed; lest, if he should exceed, and beat him above these with many stripes, then your brother should seem vile to you.

⁴You shall not muzzle the ox when he treads out the grain.

⁵If brothers dwell together, and one of them die, and have no son, the wife of the dead shall not be married outside to a stranger: her husband's brother shall go in to her, and take her to him as wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her.

⁶It shall be, that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed in the name of his brother who is dead, that his name not be blotted out of Israel.

⁷If the man doesn't want to take his brother's wife, then his brother's wife shall go up to the gate to the elders, and say, "My husband's brother refuses to raise up to his brother a name in Israel; he will not perform the duty of a husband's brother to me."

⁸Then the elders of his city shall call him, and speak to him: and if he stand, and say, "I do not want to take her";

⁹then his brother's wife shall come to him in the presence of the elders, and loose his shoe from off his foot, and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, "So shall it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house."

¹⁰His name shall be called in Israel, The house of him who has his shoe untied.

¹¹When men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draws near to deliver her husband out of the hand of him who strikes him, and puts forth her hand, and takes him by the secrets;

¹²then you shall cut off her hand, your eye shall have no pity.

¹³You shall not have in your bag diverse weights, a great and a small.

¹⁴You shall not have in your house diverse measures, a great and a small.

¹⁵You shall have a perfect and just weight. You shall have a perfect and just measure, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you.

¹⁶For all who do such things, all who do unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God.

¹⁷Remember what Amalek did to you by the way as you came forth out of Egypt;

¹⁸how he met you by the way, and struck the hindmost of you, all who were feeble behind you, when you were faint and weary; and he did not fear God.

¹⁹Therefore it shall be, when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies all around, in the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance to possess it, that you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the sky; you shall not forget.

¹It shall be, when you have come in to the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance, and possess it, and dwell therein,

²that you shall take of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you shall bring in from your land that the Lord your God gives you; and you shall put it in a basket, and shall go to the place which the Lord your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there.

³You shall come to the priest who shall be in those days, and tell him, "I profess this day to the Lord your God, that I am come to the land which the Lord swore to our fathers to give us."

⁴The priest shall take the basket out of your hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord your God.

⁵You shall answer and say before the Lord your God, "A Syrian ready to perish was my father; and he went down into Egypt, and lived there, few in number; and he became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.

⁶The Egyptians dealt ill with us, and afflicted us, and laid on us hard bondage:

⁷and we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers, and the Lord heard our voice, and saw our affliction, and our toil, and our oppression;

⁸and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terror, and with signs, and with wonders;

⁹and he has brought us into this place, and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

¹⁰Now, behold, I have brought the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, Lord, have given me." You shall set it down before the Lord your God, and worship before the Lord your God.

¹¹You shall rejoice in all the good which the Lord your God has given to you, and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the foreigner who is in the midst of you.

¹²When you have made an end of tithing all the tithe of your increase in the third year, which is the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, that they may eat within your gates, and be filled.

¹³You shall say before the Lord your God, "I have put away the holy things out of my house, and also have given them to the Levite, and to the foreigner, to the fatherless, and to the widow, according to all your commandment which you have commanded me: I have not transgressed any of your commandments, neither have I forgotten them:

¹⁴I have not eaten of it in my mourning, neither have I put away of it, being unclean, nor given of it for the dead: I have listened to the voice of the Lord my God; I have done according to all that you have commanded me.

¹⁵Look down from your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless your people Israel, and the ground which you have given us, as you swore to our fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey."

¹⁶This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances: you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul.

¹⁷You have declared the Lord this day to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice:

¹⁸and the Lord has declared you this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments;

¹⁹and to make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, and in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he has spoken.

¹Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, "Keep all the commandment which I command you this day.

²It shall be on the day when you shall pass over the Jordan to the land which the Lord your God gives you, that you shall set yourself up great stones, and plaster them with plaster:

³and you shall write on them all the words of this law, when you have passed over; that you may go in to the land which the Lord your God gives you, a land flowing with milk and honey, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has promised you.

⁴It shall be, when you have passed over the Jordan, that you shall set up these stones, which I command you this day, in Mount Ebal, and you shall plaster them with plaster.

⁵There you shall build an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones: you shall lift up no iron on them.

⁶You shall build the altar of the Lord your God of uncut stones; and you shall offer burnt offerings thereon to the Lord your God:

⁷and you shall sacrifice peace offerings, and shall eat there; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God.

⁸You shall write on the stones all the words of this law very plainly."

⁹Moses and the priests the Levites spoke to all Israel, saying, "Keep silence, and listen, Israel: this day you have become the people of the Lord your God.

¹⁰You shall therefore obey the voice of the Lord your God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command you this day."

¹¹Moses commanded the people the same day, saying,

¹²"These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have passed over the Jordan: Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin.

¹³These shall stand on Mount Ebal for the curse: Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.

¹⁴The Levites shall answer, and tell all the men of Israel with a loud voice,

¹⁵'Cursed is the man who makes an engraved or molten image, an abomination to the Lord, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and sets it up in secret.' All the people shall answer and say, 'Amen.'

¹⁶'Cursed is he who sets light by his father or his mother.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

¹⁷'Cursed is he who removes his neighbor's landmark.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

¹⁸'Cursed is he who makes the blind to wander out of the way.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

¹⁹'Cursed is he who wrests the justice due the foreigner, fatherless, and widow.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁰'Cursed is he who lies with his father's wife, because he has uncovered his father's skirt.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²¹'Cursed is he who lies with any kind of animal.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²²'Cursed is he who lies with his sister, the daughter of his father, or the daughter of his mother.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²³'Cursed is he who lies with his mother-in-law.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁴'Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁵'Cursed is he who takes a bribe to kill an innocent person.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'

²⁶'Cursed is he who doesn't confirm the words of this law to do them.' All the people shall say, 'Amen.'"

¹He also said to his disciples, "There was a certain rich man who had a manager. An accusation was made to him that this man was wasting his possessions.

²He called him, and said to him, 'What is this that I hear about you? Give an accounting of your management, for you can no longer be manager.'

³"The manager said within himself, 'What will I do, seeing that my lord is taking away the management position from me? I do not have strength to dig. I am ashamed to beg.

⁴I know what I will do, so that when I am removed from management, they may receive me into their houses.'

⁵Calling each one of his lord's debtors to him, he said to the first, 'How much do you owe to my lord?'

⁶He said, 'A hundred batos of oil.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.'

⁷Then said he to another, 'How much do you owe?' He said, 'A hundred cors of wheat.' He said to him, 'Take your bill, and write eighty.'

⁸"His lord commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness, for the sons of this world are, in their own generation, more shrewd than the sons of light.

⁹I tell you, make for yourselves friends by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails, they may receive you into the eternal tents.

¹⁰He who is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much. He who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much.

¹¹If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

¹²If you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own?

¹³No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to one, and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and wealth."

¹⁴The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they scoffed at him.

¹⁵He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

¹⁶The Law and the Prophets were until John. From that time the Good News of the Kingdom of God is preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

¹⁷But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one tiny stroke of a pen in the Law to become void.

¹⁸Everyone who divorces his wife, and marries another, commits adultery. He who marries one who is divorced from a husband commits adultery.

¹⁹"Now there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day.

²⁰A certain beggar, named Lazarus, was placed at his gate, full of sores,

²¹and desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Yes, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

²²It happened that the beggar died, and that he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.

²³In hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus at his bosom.

²⁴He called out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue! For I am in anguish in this flame.'

²⁵"But Abraham said, 'Son, remember that you, in your lifetime, received your good things, and Lazarus, in like manner, bad things. But now here he is comforted and you are in anguish.

²⁶Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, that those who want to pass from here to you are not able, and that none may cross over from there to us.'

²⁷"He said, 'I ask you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house;

²⁸for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, so they won't also come into this place of torment.'

²⁹"But Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.'

³⁰"He said, 'No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'

³¹"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rises from the dead.'"

¹ God, you have rejected us. You have broken us down. You have been angry. Restore us, again.

²You have made the land tremble. You have torn it. Mend its fractures, for it quakes.

³You have shown your people hard things. You have made us drink the wine that makes us stagger.

⁴You have given a banner to those who fear you, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

⁵So that your beloved may be delivered, save with your right hand, and answer us.

⁶God has spoken from his sanctuary: "I will triumph. I will divide Shechem, and measure out the valley of Succoth.

⁷Gilead is mine, and Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is the defense of my head. Judah is my scepter.

⁸Moab is my wash basin. I will throw my shoe on Edom. I shout in triumph over Philistia."

⁹Who will bring me into the strong city? Who has led me to Edom?

¹⁰Haven't you, God, rejected us? You do not go out with our armies, God.

¹¹Give us help against the adversary, for the help of man is vain.

¹²Through God we shall do valiantly, for it is he who will tread down our adversaries.

¹He who is often rebuked and stiffens his neck will be destroyed suddenly, with no remedy.

²When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.

³Whoever loves wisdom brings joy to his father; but a companion of prostitutes squanders his wealth.

⁴The king by justice makes the land stable, but he who takes bribes tears it down.

⁵A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.

⁶An evil man is snared by his sin, but the righteous can sing and be glad.

⁷The righteous care about justice for the poor. The wicked aren't concerned about knowledge.

⁸Mockers stir up a city, but wise men turn away anger.

⁹If a wise man goes to court with a foolish man, the fool rages or scoffs, and there is no peace.

¹⁰The bloodthirsty hate a man of integrity; and they seek the life of the upright.

¹¹A fool vents all of his anger, but a wise man brings himself under control.

¹²If a ruler listens to lies, all of his officials are wicked.

¹³The poor man and the oppressor have this in common: The Lord gives sight to the eyes of both.

¹⁴The king who fairly judges the poor, his throne shall be established forever.

¹⁵The rod of correction gives wisdom, but a child left to himself causes shame to his mother.

¹⁶When the wicked increase, sin increases; but the righteous will see their downfall.

¹⁷Correct your son, and he will give you peace; yes, he will bring delight to your soul.

¹⁸Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but one who keeps the Law is blessed.

¹⁹A servant can't be corrected by words. Though he understands, yet he will not respond.

²⁰Do you see a man who is hasty in his words? There is more hope for a fool than for him.

²¹He who pampers his servant from youth will have him become a son in the end.

²²An angry man stirs up strife, and a wrathful man abounds in sin.

²³A man's pride brings him low, but one of lowly spirit gains honor.

²⁴Whoever is an accomplice of a thief is an enemy of his own soul. He takes an oath, but dares not testify.

²⁵The fear of man proves to be a snare, but whoever puts his trust in the Lord is kept safe.

²⁶Many seek the ruler's favor, but a man's justice comes from the Lord.

²⁷A dishonest man detests the righteous, and the upright in their ways detest the wicked.