Exodus 19-21
19
Israel at Sinai
1 Now in the third month after the children of Israel departed from the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came into the Sinai Desert. 2 For they departed from Rephidim, came into the Sinai Desert, and camped in the desert. So Israel camped there before the mountain.
3 Then Moses went up to the mountain of God, and God called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel: 4 ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. 5 Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be a special people to Me above all nations; for all the earth is Mine. 6 You shall be to Me a royal priesthood and a holy nation.’ These are the words you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
7 So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words the Lord commanded him. 8 Then all the people answered with one accord and said, “Everything the Lord said we will do and hearken to.” So Moses reported these words to God. 9 The Lord then said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in the pillar of cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you and believe you forever.” So Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord.
10 Again the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly charge the people and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. 11 Let them be ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will descend upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12 You shall set bounds for the people all around, saying, ‘Take heed to yourselves that you do not go up to the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely die. 13 Not a hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot with an arrow; whether man or beast, he shall not live.’ When the thunders, the trumpets, and the cloud depart from the mountain, they shall ascend the mountain.”
14 So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified them, and they washed their clothes. 15 Then he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.”
16 So it was that on the third day in the morning, there were thunderings and lightnings and a dark cloud on Mount Sinai; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, and all the people in the camp trembled. 17 And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. 18 Now Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because God descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the people were exceedingly amazed. 19 And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by voice.
20 Then the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21 Then God spoke to Moses, “Go down and solemnly charge the people, lest they break through to gaze at God, and many of them perish. 22 Also let the priests who come near the Lord God sanctify themselves, lest He destroy some of them.” 23 But Moses said to God, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai; for You solemnly charged us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain and sanctify it.’ ” 24 The Lord then said to him, “Go! Go down and then come up, you and Aaron with you. But do not let the priests and the people break through to come up to God, lest the Lord destroy some of them.” 25 So Moses went down to the people and spoke to them.
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.’
21
Buying a Servant
1 “Now these are the ordinances you shall set before them: 2 If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free and pay nothing. 3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. 4 If his lord gave him a wife, and she bore him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her lord’s, and he shall go out by himself. 5 But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my lord, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ 6 then his lord shall bring him to the judgment seat of God, and also to the door, or to the doorpost, and his lord shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever.
7 “If a man sells his daughter to be a domestic, she shall not go out as the maidservants do. 8 If she does not please her lord who betrothed her to himself, he shall let her go free. But he has no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her. 9 If he betrothed her to his son, he shall deal with her according to the right of daughters. 10 But if he takes another wife, he shall not deprive her of necessities, clothing, and marriage rights. 11 If he will not do these three things for her, she shall go out free, without paying money.
Responding to Violence
12 “He who so strikes a man that he dies shall surely be put to death. 13 However, if he did not willfully lie in wait, but God delivered him into his hands, I will appoint for you a place where the slayer may flee. 14 But if a man acts with premeditation against his neighbor to kill him by treachery, you shall take him from My altar that he may die. 15 He who strikes his father or his mother shall surely be put to death. 16 He who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death. 17 Whoever kidnaps one of the children of Israel and overcomes and sells him, and he is found with him, let him surely die.
18 “If two men revile one another, and one strikes the other with a stone or with his fist, and he does not die but is confined to his bed, 19 if the man rises again and walks about outside with his staff, then he who struck him shall be acquitted. He shall only pay for his loss of time and for his healing. 20 If a man beats his male or female servant with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished. 21 Notwithstanding, if he remains alive a day or two, the lord shall not be punished; for he is his property.
22 “If two men fight and hurt a woman with child, and her child is born imperfectly formed, he shall surely be punished accordingly as the woman’s husband imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if the child is perfectly formed, he shall give life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. 26 If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant and destroys it, he shall let them go free for their eye’s sake. 27 If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he shall let them go free for their tooth’s sake.
Owners of Animals
28 “If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, then the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall be acquitted. 29 But if the bull tended to gore in times past, and it was made known to its owner, but he did not keep it confined, and it killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner also shall be put to death. 30 But if a sum of money is imposed on him, then he shall pay the amount imposed so as to redeem his life. 31 If a bull gores a son or daughter, it shall be done to him according to this ordinance. 32 If a bull gores a male or female servant, he shall pay their lord thirty shekels of silver, and the bull shall be stoned.
33 “If a man opens a pit, or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or a donkey falls into it, 34 the owner of the pit shall make it good; he shall give money to their owner, but the dead animal shall be his. 35 If any man’s bull gores his neighbor’s bull, and it dies, they shall sell the live bull and divide the money; and the dead bull they shall also divide. 36 But if the bull was known to gore in times past, and its owner did not keep it confined, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
Stolen Property
37 “Now if a man steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters or sells it, he shall restore five oxen for an ox and four sheep for a sheep.
Psalms 26
1 Of David; before he was anointed.
The Lord is my light and my savior; whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the defender of my life; whom shall I dread?
2 When the wicked drew near against me to eat up my flesh,
Those who afflict me and are my enemies, they weakened and fell.
3 Though an army should array itself against me, my heart shall not be afraid;
Though war should rise up against me, in this I shall hope.
4 One thing I ask from the Lord; this I will seek,
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
And behold the delights of the Lord,
And visit His temple.
5 For He hid me in His tabernacle in the day of my troubles;
He sheltered me in the secret place of His tabernacle;
He set me high upon a rock.
6 And now, behold, He has lifted up my head above my enemies;
I went around and offered in His tabernacle a sacrifice of joy;
I will sing to the Lord, and praise Him with the harp.
7 O Lord, hear my voice, wherein I cry;
Have mercy on me and hear me.
8 My heart speaks to You; my face seeks You;
Your face, O Lord, I will seek.
9 Do not turn away Your face from me;
Do not turn away from Your servant in wrath;
Be my helper; do not utterly cast me away,
Nor forsake me, O God my savior.
10 For my father and my mother forsook me,
But the Lord laid hold of me.
11 Instruct me, O Lord, in the way of Your law;
Set me on a straight path because of my enemies.
12 Do not deliver me to the souls of those who afflict me,
For unjust witnesses rise up against me;
And injustice lies to itself.
13 I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord;
Be courageous, and strengthen your heart,
And wait on the Lord.
Proverbs 5:7–14
7 Now therefore, my son, hear me,
And do not make my words invalid;
8 Make your way distant from her
And do not come near the doors of her house,
9 That you may not give away your life to others
And your existence to the merciless;
10 That strangers may not be filled with your strength,
And your labors go into the houses of strangers,
11 And you should feel regret at the last,
When the flesh of your body is consumed;
12 And you will say, “How I hated instruction
And turned my heart away from reproofs;
13 I did not hear the voice of my instructor and teacher,
Nor did I incline my ear;
14 Little by little I was in every evil
In the midst of the church and congregation.”
Matthew 16
The Pharisees and Sadducees Seek a Sign
1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from heaven.
2 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’;
3 “and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.
4 “A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed.
The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees
5 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread.
6 Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.”
7 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”
8 But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, “O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?
9 “Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?
10 “Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up?
11 “How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?—but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”
12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Peter Confesses Jesus as the Christ
13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”
14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.
18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
19 “And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.
Jesus Predicts His Death and Resurrection
21 From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day.
22 Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!”
23 But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
Take Up the Cross and Follow Him
24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
25 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.
26 “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
27 “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works.28 “Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”