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The Festivals
The Passover
16 Observe the month of Abib[a] and keep the Passover for the Lord your God, because it was in the month of Abib that the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt at night.
2 As a Passover sacrifice to the Lord your God, slaughter an animal from the flock or herd at the place where the Lord will choose to establish his name. 3 Do not eat leavened bread with it. For seven days eat unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you went out of the land of Egypt in a hurry. Do this so that you may remember the day that you went out from the land of Egypt for all the days of your life.
4 No yeast or leaven is to be found among you for seven days, and none of the meat that you sacrifice on the evening of the first day is to be left until morning.
5 You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover inside the gates of any of the cities that the Lord your God is giving you. 6 Rather, it is at the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish his name that you are to sacrifice the Passover, in the evening at the setting of the sun, the time of day that you went out of Egypt.
7 Cook it and eat it at the place that the Lord your God will choose. In the morning return to your tents.
8 Six days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a special convocation to the Lord your God. Do not do any regular work.
The Festival of Weeks
9 Count off seven weeks. As the starting point of the seven weeks, mark the time that the sickle first strikes the standing grain.
10 Then observe the Festival of Weeks[b] for the Lord your God and give a voluntary offering of as much as you can afford, in keeping with how much the Lord has blessed you.
11 Rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within the gates of your city, and the alien and the fatherless and the widow who are among you. Do this in the place where the Lord your God will choose to establish his name.
12 Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, so you are to be careful to carry out these statutes.
The Festival of Shelters
13 After you have gathered in the produce from your threshing floor and your winepress, celebrate the Festival of Shelters[c] for seven days.
14 Rejoice in your festival, you and your son and your daughter, and your male servant and your female servant, and the alien and the orphan and the widow within your gates.
15 For seven days celebrate to the Lord your God in the place that the Lord will choose, because the Lord your God will bless you in all of your crops and in all the work of your hands, and you will most certainly be joyful.
16 Three times a year all of your males are to present themselves before the Lord your God at the place that he will choose: at the Festival of Unleavened Bread, at the Festival of Weeks, and at the Festival of Shelters. They are not to present themselves before the Lord empty-handed, 17 but each person is to have in his hand a gift that is in keeping with the blessing that the Lord your God has given you.
Judges
18 Appoint judges and officers for your tribes to serve at the gates of all the cities that the Lord your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
19 Do not distort justice. Do not show partiality. Do not take a bribe, because a bribe blinds the eyes of wise people and twists the actions of righteous people.
20 Justice! You are to pursue justice, so that you may live and possess the land that the Lord your God is giving you!
The Penalty for Idolatry
21 Do not set up any kind of wooden Asherah pole beside the altar of the Lord your God that you have made for yourself. 22 Do not set up for yourself a sacred memorial stone, which is something that the Lord your God hates.
17 Do not sacrifice to the Lord your God any ox or sheep that has any kind of defect or serious flaw, because that is something detestable to the Lord your God.
2 If there is found among you (within the gates of one of your cities that the Lord your God is giving you) a man or a woman who is doing something that is evil in the eyes of the Lord your God by transgressing his covenant, 3 or a man or a woman who is going and serving other gods and bowing down to them or to the sun or to the moon or to any of the army of the heavens, something that I have not commanded, 4 and you are told about it and you listen and investigate diligently, and it is established that the charge is true and that this abomination has been committed in Israel, 5 then you are to bring that man or that woman who has committed this evil out to your city gate, and you are to stone that person to death, whether man or woman.
6 A person is to be put to death on the basis of the testimony of two or three witnesses. No one is to be put to death based on the testimony of one witness. 7 The hands of the witnesses are to be the first ones raised against him when putting him to death, and after that the hands of all the other people. In that way you are to purge the evil from among you.
8 If a case is too difficult for you to make a decision, whether it involves a homicide, a lawsuit, or an assault, or any matters of controversy within the gates of your cities, then proceed by going up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. 9 Go to the priests, who are from the tribe of Levi, and to the presiding judge at that time and lay out the case. They will declare the verdict to you. 10 Then you are to act according to the verdict that they will declare to you from the place that the Lord will choose, and you are to be careful to carry out everything that they instruct you to do.
11 Act according to the instructions they give you and according to the judgment that they speak to you. Do not turn to the right or to the left from the word that they declare to you.
12 Any man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest, who presides and serves the Lord your God there, or by not listening to the judge, that man is condemned to die. In that way you will purge the evil from Israel. 13 Then all the people will hear and fear and not act presumptuously anymore.
The King
14 When you have entered the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I am determined to set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” 15 you may set a king over yourself, one whom the Lord your God will choose. You may set over yourself a king who is from among your brother Israelites. You must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your brother.
16 But the king must not accumulate more and more horses for himself, and he must not send people back to Egypt in order to accumulate more horses, because the Lord has said to you, “You must not go back that way again.” 17 He must not accumulate more and more wives for himself, or his heart may go astray. He must not accumulate excessive silver and gold for himself.
18 When he sits on his royal throne, he is to have a copy of this law written for him on a scroll in the presence of the priests, who are from the tribe of Levi. 19 It is to remain with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he learns to fear the Lord his God by being careful to carry out all the words of this law and these statutes, 20 so that his heart does not grow haughty toward his brothers and turn away from this set of commands, either to the right or the left, so that the days of his royal reign in Israel, as well as that of his sons, may be many.
Recalling the Death of John the Baptist
7 Herod the tetrarch heard about everything that was happening, and he was quite puzzled because some said that John had risen from the dead. 8 Others said that Elijah had appeared, and still others that one of the ancient prophets had risen. 9 But Herod said, “I beheaded John, but who is this, about whom I hear such great things?” So he wanted to see him.
Jesus Feeds More Than Five Thousand
10 The apostles returned and told Jesus what they had done. He took them and withdrew privately to a town called Bethsaida. 11 But when the crowds found out, they followed him. He welcomed them and spoke to them about the kingdom of God. He also healed those who needed healing. 12 As the day began to draw to a close, the Twelve came and said to him, “Dismiss the crowd so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms to find lodging and food, because we are in a deserted place here.”
13 But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.”
“We have no more than five loaves and two fish,” they replied, “unless we go and buy food for all these people.” 14 (There were about five thousand men.)
He said to his disciples, “Have them sit down in groups of about fifty each.” 15 They did so and got them all to sit down. 16 Then Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, and, looking up to heaven, he blessed and broke them. Then he kept giving them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17 They all ate and were satisfied. And they picked up twelve basketfuls of the broken pieces that were left over.
Jesus Is the Christ
18 One time when Jesus was praying alone and the disciples were with him, he asked them, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”
19 They answered, “‘John the Baptist,’ but others say, ‘Elijah,’ and others say, ‘one of the ancient prophets come back to life.’”
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.”
21 He gave them a strict command not to tell this to anyone. 22 He said, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law. He must be killed and be raised on the third day.”
Take Up the Cross
23 Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 After all, what will it benefit a man if he gains the whole world, but destroys himself or is lost? 26 In fact, whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory, and the glory of the Father, and of the holy angels. 27 I am telling you the truth: There are some standing here who will certainly not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
Psalm 72
The Rule of the Righteous King
Heading
By Solomon.
The King’s Justice
1 God, give your authority to judge to the King.
Give your righteousness to the Son of the King.
2 He will judge your people with righteousness.
He will judge your afflicted ones with justice.
3 The mountains will deliver peace to the people.
The hills will produce righteousness.
4 He will obtain justice for the afflicted among the people.
He will save the children of the poor,
but he will crush the oppressor.
The King’s Eternal Reign
5 They will fear you[a] as long as the sun remains,
and as long as the moon endures, through all generations.
6 He will come down like rain on a mown field,
like showers, like a downpour on the earth.
7 In his days the righteous will flourish,
and peace will be plentiful till the moon is no more.
The King’s Universal Reign
8 He will rule[b] from sea to sea
and from the River[c] to the ends of the earth.
9 Those who dwell in the desert will bow before him,
and his enemies will lick the dust.
10 The kings of Tarshish and of the sea coasts will bring tribute.
The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer him gifts.
11 All kings will bow down to him.
All nations will serve him.
The Blessings of His Rule
12 He will certainly deliver the poor person who cries out,
as well as the afflicted, and the one who has no helper.
13 He will take pity on the weak and the poor.
He will save the lives of the poor.
14 From oppression and violence he will redeem their lives,
because their blood is precious in his sight.
A Prayer for His Blessings
15 May the King live![d]
May gold from Sheba be offered to him.
May people always pray for him.
May they bless him all day long.
16 Let there be an abundance of grain in the land.
Let it wave on the top of the mountains.
Let its fruit trees be like the cedars of Lebanon.[e]
Let people from the city flourish like the grass of the land.
17 May his name endure forever.
May his name flourish as long as the sun.
They will be blessed through him.
All nations will call him blessed.
Closing Doxology
18 Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel,
who alone does marvelous deeds.
19 Blessed be his glorious name forever.
May the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and Amen.
20 This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.
8 A person is praised for the good sense that he speaks,
but a person with a twisted heart will be despised.
9 Better to be underestimated and have a servant
than to pretend to be wealthy and lack bread.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.