Exodus 20
The Ten Commandments
1 Now the Lord spoke all these words, saying:†
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.†
3 You shall have no other gods before Me.†
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol or a likeness of anything in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth.†
5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, recompensing the sins of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me;†
6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.
7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.
8 “Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: neither you, nor your son, your daughter, your male servant, your female servant, your cattle, nor your stranger who sojourns with you.
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath Day and hallowed it.
12 “Honor your father and mother that it may be well with you, and your days may be long upon the good land the Lord your God is giving you.†
13 “You shall not murder.†
14 “You shall not commit adultery.
15 “You shall not steal.
16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife or his house, and neither shall you covet his field, nor his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, any of his cattle, or whatever belongs to your neighbor.”†
The People Tremble
18 Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw this, they trembled and stood afar off.
19 Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”†
20 And Moses said to the people, “Be of good courage, for God is come to test you, that His fear may be among you so you may not sin.”
21 So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.†
Making an Altar
22 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and report it to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I talked with you from heaven.
23 You shall not make for yourselves gods of silver, and gods of gold you shall not make for yourselves.
24 An altar of earth you shall make for Me, and you shall sacrifice on it your whole burnt offerings, your peace offerings, your sheep and your calves. In every place where I record My name I will come to you and bless you.†
25 If you make Me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of hewn stone; for if you use your tool on it, you defile it.
26 Nor shall you go up by steps to My altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.’
Psalms 61
1 For the End, for Jeduthun; a psalm by David. †
2 Shall not my soul be submissive to God? For from Him is my salvation.
3 For He is my God and my savior, My protector; I shall be shaken no more.
4 How long will you attack a man? All of you murder him; You attack him as you would a leaning wall and a broken hedge.
5 They also planned to remove my honor; They ran with a lie; They blessed with their mouth, and they cursed with their heart. (Pause)
6 However, be submissive to God, O my soul, For my patient endurance is from Him.
7 For He is my God and my savior, My protector; I shall never be moved.
8 In God is my salvation and my glory; He is the God of my help, and my hope is in God.
9 Hope in Him, all you congregation of people; Pour out your hearts before Him; God is our helper. (Pause)
10 But the sons of men are useless; The sons of men are liars with the yokes of wrongdoing; They are altogether useless.
11 Do not hope in wrongdoing, And do not hunger for booty; If riches flow in, Do not set your heart on them.
12 God spoke once; I heard these two things:
13 That power is of God, and to You, O Lord, is mercy; For You will repay every man according to his works.
Proverbs of Solomon 12
21 Truthful lips establish a testimony, But a hasty witness has an unrighteous tongue.
22 There is deceit in the heart of a man who devises evil things, But those who counsel peace shall be glad.†
23 Nothing unrighteous will ever be pleasing to the righteous, But the ungodly will be filled with evil things.
24 Lying lips are an abomination to the Lord, But he who shows faithfulness is acceptable to Him.
25 A man of understanding is a throne of perception, But the heart of the undiscerning will meet with curses.†
Mark 11
The Fig Tree Withered
20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.†
21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.
23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.†
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.
26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.Ӡ
By Whose Authority?
27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him.†
28 And they said to Him, “By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?”
29 But Jesus answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things:
30 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.”
31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
32 But if we say, ‘From men’ ”—they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed.
33 So they answered and said to Jesus, “We do not know.” And Jesus answered and said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”