Deuteronomy 4
Moses Urges Israel to Obey
1 “Now, O Israel, listen to the ordinances and judgments I teach you today to observe, that you may live and become numerous and inherit the land the Lord God of your fathers is giving you.
2 You shall not add to the word I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God, all that I command you today.†
3 Your eyes saw all the things the Lord our God did at Baal Peor; for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed Baal of Peor.
4 But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.
5 “Surely I taught you ordinances and judgments, as the Lord commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land you go to inherit.†
6 Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the Gentiles, who will hear all these ordinances and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’†
7 For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the Lord our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?†
8 “Also, what great nation is there that has such ordinances and righteous judgments as are in all this law I set before you today?
9 Only take heed to yourself and diligently guard your soul, lest you forget all the things your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; and you shall teach them to your sons and the sons of your sons,†
10 especially concerning the day you stood before the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of assembly, when the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to Me and let them hear My words, so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and may teach their sons.’
11 Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, gloom, storm, and a great voice.
12 The Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.†
13 So He declared to you His covenant, the Ten Commandments, which He commanded you to perform; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone.†
Avoid Idolatry
14 “Then the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you ordinances and judgments, so you might observe them in the land you are crossing over to inherit.
15 So be careful to guard your souls, for you saw no form when the Lord spoke to you at Horeb on the mountain from the midst of the fire.
16 Do not act lawlessly and make for yourselves a carved form of any image: the likeness of male or female,
17 the likeness of any cattle on the earth, or the likeness of any winged bird that flies under heaven,
18 the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground, or the likeness of any fish in the waters beneath the earth.
19 “Also do not act lawlessly when you lift your eyes to heaven and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the adornment of heaven, and you thus go astray and worship and serve them, which the Lord your God assigned to all the nations under heaven.†
20 But the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be His people, an inheritance, as you are this day.
21 Furthermore, the Lord was angry with me about what you said, and swore I would not cross over the Jordan and enter the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.
22 But I am going to die in this land, thus I am not going to cross over this Jordan; but you will cross over and inherit this good land.
23 Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant the Lord your God made with you and make for yourselves a carved form of anything, concerning which the Lord your God forbade you.
24 For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.†
25 “If you beget sons and the sons of sons and dwell a long time in the land, and act lawlessly and make a carved form of anything, and do evil in the sight of the Lord your God to provoke Him to anger,
26 I call heaven and earth to witness to you today that you will be utterly destroyed from the land you are crossing over the Jordan to inherit. You will not live long on it, but will be utterly annihilated.†
27 Then the Lord will scatter you among all the nations, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will bring you.
28 There you will serve different gods, the works of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, hear, eat, nor smell.
29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him when you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul in your tribulation;
30 and all these words will find you at the end of days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice;
31 for the Lord your God is a merciful God. He will not forsake you nor annihilate you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers, which He swore to them.
32 “For ask now concerning former days, before your day, in which God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard.
33 Did any people ever hear the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, in the manner you heard, and live?
34 Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, in testing, signs, wonders, and war, and by a mighty hand and outstretched arm, and by great visions, according to all the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
35 To you it was shown that you might know the Lord your God is God; there is none other besides Him.†
36 Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire.
37 Because He loved your fathers, therefore, He chose you their seed after them; and He brought you out of Egypt with His great strength,
38 destroying from before your face nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land as an inheritance, as you have it today.
39 Therefore know today and bear in mind, the Lord your God, this God, is in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other besides Him.†
40 You shall therefore guard His ordinances and His commandments I command you today that it may be well with you and with your sons after you, and may prolong your days in the land the Lord your God is giving you to guard all the time.”
Cities of Refuge
41 Then Moses set apart three cities beyond the Jordan, toward the rising of the sun,
42 so the manslayer who kills his neighbor without foreknowledge, without hating him previously, might flee into one of these cities and live there:
43 Bezer in the desert on the plateau for Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for Gad, and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh.
The Law of Moses
44 Now this is the law Moses set before the sons of Israel.
45 These are the testimonies, the ordinances, and the judgments Moses spoke to the sons of Israel in the desert after they came out of Egypt,
46 beyond the Jordan, in the valley near Beth Peor, in the land of Sihon king of the Amorites, who dwelt in Heshbon, whom Moses and the children of Israel defeated after they came out of Egypt.
47 So they inherited his land and the land of Og king of Bashan, two kings of the Amorites, beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun,
48 from Aroer, which is on the bank of the Arnon River, even to Mount Sion (that is, Hermon),
49 and all the Arabah beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun, below Asedoth hewn in the rock.
Psalms 81
1 A psalm for Asaph. †God stood in the assembly of gods; He judges in the midst of gods, saying,
2 “How long will you judge unjustly, And favor the persons of sinners?” (Pause)
3 Judge an orphan and a poor man; Justify a humble and poor man;
4 Rescue a poor and needy man; Deliver them from a sinner’s hand.
5 They do not know nor understand; They carry on in darkness; All the foundations of the earth shall be shaken.
6 I said, “You are gods, And you are all sons of the Most High.
7 But you die like men, And like one of the rulers, you fall.”
8 Arise, O God; judge the earth, For You shall inherit all the Gentiles.
Proverbs of Solomon 17
11 A threat breaks the heart of a man with discernment, But a man without discernment, though flogged, has no perception.
12 Every evil man stirs up controversy, But the Lord will send him a merciless messenger.
13 Care will befall a thoughtful man, But men without discernment devise evil things.
14 He who repays evil for good, Evil will not be removed from his house.†
15 The foundation of righteousness gives authority to words, But discord and quarreling precede poverty.
Luke 9
Peter’s Confession: Jesus is the Christ
18 And it happened, as He was alone praying, that His disciples joined Him, and He asked them, saying, “Who do the crowds say that I am?”†
19 So they answered and said, “John the Baptist, but some say Elijah; and others say that one of the old prophets has risen again.”
20 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”†
First Prediction of the Passion
21 And He strictly warned and commanded them to tell this to no one,†
22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.”
23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.†
24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?
26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.
27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.Ӡ
The Transfiguration
28 Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.†
29 As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.
30 And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah,
31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.†
32 But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him.
33 Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said.
34 While he was saying this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered the cloud.
35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!”
36 When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.